Ethanol and Meteorites... what could possibly go wrong?

Corn ethanol is useless, but we could have told you that...

Something else I'll need to beat to death when it shows up at my door...

The blind leading the blind.  What ignorance is doing to teaching evolution.

Cereal that looks you in the eye.

Oops... the NYPD attempts to hashtag its way to popularity.

Is the seafood you're eating illegal?

Tracking the meteorites that have hit Earth.

We're all gonna diiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee......

Weird lights over Norway

Halo cloud over Russia

Meteor over Utah:



Update 12/10: New giant virus discovered!!

Update: Mahakal in comments links to the report:

Russia confirms failed missile launch

And this:



Ssshh... we really know space aliens are involved!

Blog sprinkles

Crop circle predicts end of the world!

Cows explain the political systems of the world.

Meteorites, mysterious earthquakes and jellyfish-like lightning

Cookie Jill tells us the oceans are beginning to boil...

Spocko asks: What can we do economically about violent rhetoric on talk radio?

There will always be those waiting to prey on the elderly: How To Protect Susceptible Relatives From Scams

Just an thought: Who the hell thought up the word 'normalcy' and decided to make everybody use it? It's NORMALITY! You don't go around talking about abnormalcy, do you?



China reassesses North Korea:

Immediately after the May 25 nuclear test, Beijing's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) expressed the Chinese government's "resolute opposition", adding that Pyongyang had failed to heed the "international community's general opposition" to nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Yet, the MOFA also called on all parties to use "cool-headed and appropriate means" such as "consultation and dialogue" with the DPRK so as to resolve the question in a peaceful manner. Moreover, Beijing did not employ the highly charged word hanran, or "brazen", that it had used in October 2006 to condemn Pyongyang's first nuclear test after the start of the six-party talks. In a statement on June 2, MOFA spokesman Qin Gang further appealed to relevant countries to "remain calm and restrained, and not to take actions that will further escalate the situation".

Yet it is evident that the Hu leadership is undertaking a thorough revaluation of China's relationship with its "ally". This sea-change in Chinese opinion has apparently been brought about by Beijing's realization that Pyongyang is really serious about building a full-fledged nuclear arsenal.

What could possibly go wrong?

US navy prepares to intercept North Korean ship: The UN sanctions only allow the US to hail a North Korean ship and demand to be allowed to conduct a search, but not forcibly board it. North Korea has said a forcible search would be regarded as an act of war.

Reflecting heightened tension, the US today began moving radar systems and ground-to-air missiles to Hawaii. The Pentagon said it fears that Pyongyang could test-fire an intercontinental missile in the direction of Hawaii over the next few weeks in retaliation for the UN sanctions.

US officials designated the Kang Nam as being of "special interest" soon after it left port.

If the North Koreans refuse to allow a US crew to search the ship, the US could order it into the nearest port. Failing that, the USS John McCain could closely follow the ship until it reaches a port. The US would then be entitled to demand, under the UN sanctions agreement, that that country inspect the ship.

Media Matters' latest post on health care and the idiots who deny its need.

Ummmm....WTF?

WASHINGTON — People on the government’s terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them, according to a new government report.

One less reason to read the Washington Post?

Walking Sausage!

A lightning bolt would have been more efficient

Gerrit Blank, 14, was on his way to school when he saw "ball of light" heading straight towards him from the sky.

A red hot, pea-sized piece of rock then hit his hand before bouncing off and causing a foot wide crater in the ground.

The teenager survived the strike, the chances of which are just 1 in a million - but with a nasty three-inch long scar on his hand.

He said: "At first I just saw a large ball of light, and then I suddenly felt a pain in my hand.

"Then a split second after that there was an enormous bang like a crash of thunder."

"The noise that came after the flash of light was so loud that my ears were ringing for hours afterwards.

"When it hit me it knocked me flying and then was still going fast enough to bury itself into the road," he explained.

Scientists are now studying the pea-sized meteorite which crashed to Earth in Essen, Germany.

I'd be too busy running away to be concerned...

Via Dan of A Blog Named Sue, news that a mysterious illness followed a meteorite strike in Peru:

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

Dan suggests brain-eating zombies, I think it might be more like this:

You always take a swimming organist on expeditions

Into the jungle:

LONDON, March 12 A team of British scientists preparing for an expedition into the Amazon rainforest in Bolivia is seeking a church organist to assist with the mission.

The team, led by accomplished adventurer John Blashford-Snell, plan to deliver a pedal organ to the isolated Ojaki community as a means of persuading the natives to help them reach a remote site where a meteorite landed, The Times of London reported Monday.

The organist should be fit enough to catch a bus and it would be very nice if he or she could swim, Blashford-Snell said. The organist will also share in paying the costs for the trip, nearly $4,000. The team said the locals asked for an organ to be installed in their newly built church in exchange for their assistance, The Times said. The team will also install a clean water supply and offer medical services to the locals.

The research team hopes to recover a portion of the meteorite, which is thought to have landed 5,000 to 30,000 years ago.

The organist might want to consider he could be part of the trade

for a very expensive rock....