Weird News

[Lamplighter]

In Ghana during the ebola outbreak, mobs of people panicked over rumors of doctors
killing people with syringes and drinking their blood and other acts of cannibalism.

Were they really that much different than Texans this week,
panicking over underground prisons being built in empty Walmart stores,
and Obama ordering military takeovers of Texas, Utah, and southern California ?

Conspiracy Theories Over Jade Helm Training Exercise Get Some Traction in Texas
NY Times - MANNY FERNANDEZ - MAY 6, 2015

The eight-week exercise starting in July and planned for locations in Texas, New Mexico, California
and other Southwestern states, they say, is part of a secret plan to impose martial law,
take away people’s guns, arrest political undesirables, launch an Obama-led hostile takeover
of red-state Texas, or do some combination thereof.

But when Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive to the Texas State Guard to keep watch
over the military operation, seeming to give those concerns some official credence,
it raised a more credible question: To what degree has the extreme become mainstream in Texas?
<snip>
Chuck Norris has also weighed in, questioning, in a commentary on the conservative website WND,
“those who are pulling the strings at the top of Jade Helm 15 back in Washington.”

Walmart has responded as well, in the other direction — it dismissed rumors that tunnels
were being built by the military beneath closed stores, including one in Midland, Tex.,
as part of a Pentagon-led takeover.
...

[Gravdigr]

They took a picture of thunder. Yes, thunder.

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by glatt

4 people rescued from burial alive in rubble in Nepal by relatively new technology developed by NASA and given to rescuers as a hand held device that can actually detect the location of heartbeats under a couple meters of rubble. ...

Originally Posted by glatt

... This is handheld and only works in close proximity. But I wonder if it can someday be adapted to be aircraft mounted ...

A good use would be to mount them on the dashboards of Philadelphia Duck Boats so operators can detect people in front of them through the vehicle:

Philadelphia duck boat runs over, kills woman, police say

A small, amphibious tourist boat ran over a woman crossing a downtown street Friday evening, killing her, police said. ...

... Police said the duck boat driver reportedly could not see her.

The duck boats are a popular way for tourists to see the sights of Philadelphia from both land and water. ...

[xoxoxoBruce]

On the local TV news. Old woman from Texas, walking with her husband, nose buried in her smart phone, stepped off the curb against the light... squish goes the weasel.
Wonder if her husband saw it coming and kept quiet?

[BigV]

I learned from that Simon Pegg movie that swans were dangerous, but now I see I need to ducks to the list. We have ducks all over the place here, I didn't realize they killed people.

[Lamplighter]

Which is worse ?

Georgia Principal:

You people are being so rude...

Or, her apology ?

“I’m sorry it happened,” she added. “So sorry, but God has forgiven me, and we’ll just go on from there.”

[BigV]

I watched that clip, we probably both took the same clickbait from the duck story.

Here's how I see it. The woman was very upset, thinks weren't going her way. These strong emotions required a great deal of her energy and attention to "keep it together" as the leader of the school, the emcee; she was under a lot of pressure at the moment. But she has only a limited amount of wherewithal/composure/calm/attention/etc and in this circumstance, she didn't have enough to cover all imminent loss of control of the audience (the people leaving in the first place) AND control her own emotional response "Look who's leaving: all the black people!".

I think that statement reveals an uncomfortable reality about her perspective, namely that skin color is an important and substantive aspect of groups of people that can be a reliable indicator about lots of other aspects of those same people; "If black, then XYZ."

She saw the people who are leaving and saw black people leaving. She didn't notice or comment on the people leaving as the offended people leaving or the impatient people leaving or the rude people leaving or any other people leaving. The people who were leaving were the people who acted on her instructions "Thanks for attending, that concludes our ceremony, you are dismissed." or words to that effect. I think the very fact that it was her mistake at forgetting to introduce the speaker and prematurely dismissing the audience that flustered her in the first place. That's an embarrassing mistake. The people leaving drew attention to that mistake, people who were leaving precisely because she'd dismissed them. Oooops. That would certainly be uncomfortable.

But in other stories I've read on the incident, there are remarks attributed to her that are just as mean and unflattering, though not as racially prejudiced. The story says she called the man making the video we watched a "goober" and a "coward". Why? Shame, she's ashamed, so she's lashing out. There's another one where she's reported to have said that a crying baby should have his mouth taped shut. Maybe she said these things, maybe not. But they're consistent, and they're awful. I find such revelations about the inner perspectives of people fascinating. And this case, I find them saddening and sickening. I wouldn't want someone who feels like this to run a school, any school.

And her apology is nothing. She's insincere and unrepentant. She just wants the attention to her shameful words to go away and have things return to "normal" where she's the boss and no one can see her inner feelings.

[Gravdigr]

Oh good grief...

Remember the sinkhole at the Nat'l Corvette Meseum? They thought about putting a glass floor over the sinkhole and leaving a couple of the Vettes in there. That idea was nixed as too expensive. I find it questionable at best, but, I can see that there might be an attraction aspect to such a thing.

Here's the latest:

They're gonna build a miniature version of the Skydome where the sinkhole occurred, and make a simulated-sinkhole-multi-media "experience", for 15 people at a time.

It's a simulated hole in the ground.

And it's gonna be called, get this:

The Thunderdome.

I shit you not.

Ever seen a big hole in the ground? There ya go. I just saved you a trip to Kentucky.

[BigV]

Bwaaahahahahahahaaaaa!

[Lamplighter]

If you don't believe corporations (businesses) are trying to be people, try this one...

Are online reviews free speech or cyberbullying? Court dives into legal fight
Portland TRibune - Peter Wong/Capital Bureau - 5/12/15

A negative online review of a wedding venue has emerged as a test case
of whether Oregon’s anti-defamation law can be invoked by
businesses against consumers commenting on the Internet.

The Oregon Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday, May 12, in the case,
which has drawn attention from a coalition of news organizations because
of its implications for free expression in the Internet age.

“It is critical that consumers be able to post reviews without fear that
their negative opinions and frequent hyperbole will result in a lawsuit
and a potentially staggering amount of financial penalties,”
said Derek Green, a Portland lawyer who represents the coalition,
when he urged the court last fall to take the case.

But the owner of the wedding venue says she lost business as the
result of the negative comments, although it has recovered,
and wants her day in court to prove damages.
<snip>

... just a further warning:

Don't mention bed bugs in Oregon unless you specify their exact number and location.

.

[footfootfoot]

I recently met an innkeeper who complained of a person who had never stayed at her inn, but because she refused to go on a date with him, he left a scathing review full of defamatory comments about her inn - anonymously. She can't get yelp or whatever it's called to remove it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's what hit-men are for.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

...he left...a scathing review - anonymously...

[Lamplighter]

If you don't believe corporations (businesses) are trying to be people, here is one more....

Reddit's new anti-harassment rules anger some users
Zach Miners - IDG News Service - May 14, 2015

Upon learning of Reddit’s plan to change its rules to prohibit harassment and
make the site friendlier, some users reacted with resentment and confusion.

Reddit, known for the unconstrained nature of its discussions among people who post anonymously,
said on Thursday that it will also now let users contact Reddit employees to report abusive posts.
The changes were made to balance free expression with privacy and safety,
and improve the quality and range of discourse on the site, according to the company.

But in a discussion thread on Reddit, some users called the changes vague
because they didn’t clarify what constituted harassment.
Others said the changes would destroy free expression on the site,
or characterized them as a ploy to attract advertisers.
<snip>

Don't be surprised if this spreads through the corporate universe...
"It's my website. I own it. If you want to use it... obey my rules"

.

[Undertoad]

Look at LL's filter on the world. It's almost like if a corporation does something, anything, that is evidence of the corporate persona, and is Bad merely because a corporation did it.

In the 20th Century it would be "Looks like a negro did it"; now it's "Looks like a corporation did it."

They are all identical and all bad merely by having made the misfortunate act of having decided to exist. This time the crime is preventing people from harassing others on their site. Yeah don't do that, stupid dickhead corporation. It doesn't matter if it's the least "corporate" website ever. They did something. That's bad.