Weird News of the World Thread

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Parents Pretty Depressed About Parenting

The percentage of mothers who stay at home has risen sharply in the past 15 years. You might think this would make the lives of fathers easier. Hell no. Everyone is miserable.

The extra moms staying home to take care of their kids aren't all doing it because they read some books on attachment parenting—much of the rise is attributed to women who can't find jobs. Bummer, since staying at home with the kids still does not pay a salary. And now, a new study finds that some younger dads are not so jazzed about the whole thing:

Symptoms of depression increased on average by 68% over the first five years of fatherhood for men who were around 25 years old when they became fathers and lived with their children, according to the study published online today in the journal Pediatrics.
Depressed new fathers can take heart, I guess, in the fact that rates of depression among new mothers is even higher. If these trend lines that we're reading about now continue moving in the same direction, we can look forward to a time when all families feature an unemployed, depressed stay at home mother, an equally depressed father, and then, to cap it all off, they find out that the wife was mistakenly implanted with some other couple's embryos and the twins aren't even yours. A few years down the road you probably have to take the whole sad family to Epcot, even though you don't want to, and Epcot is boring. Your paycheck? A few Mickey-shaped ice cream bars and it's all gone, my friend. Plus they're melting in the sweltering, hellish sun.

Is reproduction worth it?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/14/fathers-depression-babies/7591819/

Gotta use that birth control folks

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

New York's Prostitutes Are Saving Money with Airbnb

It didn't take long for civilization's oldest profession to collide with the economy's latest fad: the New York Post says Airbnb is the new coolest way to run a brothel.

The crux of the "sharing economy" is that someone else's property becomes yours for as long as you're willing to pay for it, usually no questions asked. In the case of Airbnb, you're going to miss out on room service, but in exchange for missing amenities, you get free reign of a stranger's apartment, without regulation or oversight. This is terrific if you want to break the law:

"It's more discreet and much cheaper than The Waldorf," said the sex worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Hotels have doormen and cameras. They ask questions. Apartments are usually buzz-in."

The prostitute, a buxom brunette who charges up to $500 an hour, said her escort service generally rents an Airbnb apartment in the Financial District or Midtown West for up to a week at a time — then cycles numerous hookers through the place for trysts around-the-clock.

One Airbnb user who unwittingly rented her pad to a Manhattan sex worker tells the Post she returned to find it filled with condoms and baby wipes, which is slightly better than hosting an orgy, but still not fun. The startup put the accidental brothel madame up in a nice hotel and offered to clean her flat for free, but it clearly wasn't enough to prevent another PR black eye.

http://nypost.com/2014/04/14/hookers-using-airbnb-to-use-apartments-for-sex-sessions/

i'm surprised it took this long before this started happening. Anyone here use Airbnb before?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Norwegian Fisherman Discovers ***** Inside Cod Stomach

A Norwegian fisherman was gutting a large cod he'd caught when he ran across an unusual lump in his fish. Probably just some semi-digested herrings, right? No big deal. (Spoiler: It wasn't just semi-digested herrings.)

As Bjørn Frilund, 64, got further inside the fish, he realized his catch had somehow swallowed a medium-sized orange *****. The fisherman, who lives in western Norway, confirmed he'd never encountered a sex toy inside a fish before. (You don't say!)

"The ***** looks like what the fish eat. We have a kind of multicolored octopus in Norway, maybe the cod thought this was one of these and ate it," Frilund told The Local.

"There may be a frustrated wife who threw the ***** overboard from the ship," he speculated, acknowledging that "all sorts of stories are equally likely."

The ***** had a vibrator motor in it at one time, but was broken by the time Frilund found it. There were no batteries inside the fish.

http://www.thelocal.no/20140411/man-finds-*****-in-cods-stomach

There is something you don't see every day

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

God Is Having Some Problems With His Credit Rating

A man named God is filing suit against credit rating agency Equifax because the company claims he has no financial history.

God Gazarov, named after his grandfather, says that when he tried to resolve the problem, Equifax told him he should change his first name. His ongoing dispute with the agency started two years ago.

Gazarov, the owner of a Brooklyn cash-for-gold business, says he has scores of more than 720 with competing credit rating agencies TransUnion and Experian, but the glitch in his Equifax score made it impossible for him to buy a car last year.

"It's extremely frustrating," Gazarov told the New York Post. "I worked hard to get good credit to look good to lenders and this happens."

http://nypost.com/2014/04/11/man-with-first-name-god-runs-into-credit-rating-issues/

What does it say about these companies when God can't even get them to straighten there messes out? And screw that company for telling him to change his first name, why would that matter?

 

[Teelie]

Norwegian Fisherman Discovers ***** Inside Cod Stomach

http://www.thelocal.no/20140411/man-finds-*****-in-cods-stomach

There is something you don't see every day

I guess that fish didn't feel the buzz.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Police Discover Seven Dead Babies in Utah Woman's Garage

Police made a gruesome discovery Sunday when they discovered the remains of seven babies hidden in cardboard boxes in a Utah woman's garage.

The investigation began Saturday when a man called police to report that he had discovered a dead infant while cleaning out his garage. His estranged wife, 39-year-old Megan Huntsman, who lived in the home until 2011, quickly became the prime suspect.

When they obtained a search warrant for Huntsman's residence, police discovered six more dead bodies, packaged in individual cardboard boxes in her garage. Huntsman was arrested on murder charges.

According to investigators, Huntsman gave birth to the babies between 1996 and 2006. Bizarrely, police say they believe the estranged husband, who lived with Huntsman during that time period and raised at least three children with her, had no knowledge of her activities.

A neighbor told the Salt Lake Tribune that Huntsman had "gained and lost some weight in the years she lived there," but said she never realized Huntsman was pregnant.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/us/bodies-of-7-babies-found-in-utah.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

This is freaking horrible, I hope they lock this psycho up and throw away the key

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Casino Says World-Famous Gambler Cheated It Out of $10 Million

The Borgata Casino is suing one of the most famous poker players in the world, claiming he won close to $10 million by cheating with a technique called edge sorting.

The suit against nine-time World Series of Poker champion Phillip Ivey Jr. was filed on Tuesday in federal court. The Borgata, in essence, accuses Ivey of exploiting a manufacturer defect when he noticed some of the playing cards used in the casino had different edges.

According to the AP:

The lawsuit claims that Ivey and his companion instructed a dealer to flip cards in particular ways, depending on whether it was a desirable card in baccarat. The numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 are considered good cards. Bad cards would be flipped in different directions, so that after several hands of cards, the good ones were arranged in a certain manner - with the irregular side of the card facing in a specific direction - that Ivey could spot when they came out of the dealer chute.
The Gemaco, Inc.-manufactured playing cards were supposed to feature circles designed to look like the tops of cut diamonds, but the diamonds varied in shape, according to the lawsuit.

According to the AP, the Golden Nugget Casino has already filed suit against Gemaco, claiming gamblers were able to walk away with $1.5 million.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20140411_ap_1e96b1e56a8a48a3befb537c6b19fbe7.html?c=r

Ivey is one of the greats but everyone knows that if you give a gambler an edge we will use it to our full advantage. Had he just used it for himself and not had dealers and others in on it I don't think they could win the suit. However since he made it a business basically if they have people willing to flip on him I can see him going down for it

 

[Teelie]

I don't feel sorry for the casino. They use every trick they can to cheat players out of money so they should expect the same in return.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

The casinos actually don't use any tricks it's just that if you play long enough the House always has the advantage on any game you play. It takes skill to win at any game that's why they call it gambling. The average person just doesn't have the skill to win consistently because they don't take the time to master it. Which in turn means that given enough time the house will always win it's money back. The only trick I would say some casinos use is free drinks for as long as your playing which leads to people becoming way too drunk to think straight and making poor decisions that end up costing them their money

 

[Teelie]

They don't do anything directly, no. But they still stack everything else they can legally against you. The drinks are only one thing. They also set the environment from the lighting to the layout (there are no clocks to tell how much time has passed for instance) and set an environment to get you to continue playing.

And the games are ones that are guaranteed losers in the long run for anyone playing which is why you won't find too many true games of chance where the odds are ever evenly 50-50.

Everything but the game itself is rigged is what I'm saying.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Police Are Testing a "Live Google Earth" To Watch Crime As It Happens

[YT]6VkKeM-OK6g[/YT]

In Compton last year, police began quietly testing a system that allowed them to do something incredible: Watch every car and person in real time as they ebbed and flowed around the city. Every assault, every purse snatched, every car speeding away was on record—all thanks to an Ohio company that monitors cities from the air.

The Center for Investigative Reporting takes a look at a number of emerging surveillance technologies in a new video, but one in particular stands out: A wide-area surveillance system invented by Ross McNutt, a retired Air Force veteran who owns a company called Persistent Surveillance Systems.

McNutt describes his product as "a live version of Google Earth, only with TiVo capabilities," which is intriguing but vague (and also sounds a lot like the plot of this terrible Denzel movie). More specifically, PSS outfits planes with an array of super high-resolution cameras that allow a pilot to record a 25-square-mile patch of Earth constantly—for up to six hours.

It's sort of similar to what your average satellite can do—except, in this case, you can rewind the video, zoom in, and follow specific people and cars as they move around the grid. It's not specific enough to ID people by face, but, when used in unison with stoplight cameras and other on-the-ground video sources, it can identify suspects as they leave the scene of a crime.

The PSS system has been tested in cities including Baltimore and Dayton, and, last year, police officers in Compton used it to track crimes, including a necklace snatching. In one case, they could track a criminal as he approached a woman, grabbed her jewelry, and then ran to a getaway car. They eventually drove out of frame, which meant they weren't caught—but, as the Compton police explain in this video, the system told them that this particular car was involved, at the very least.

Plenty of critics argue the technology is an ominous invasion of privacy: Video surveillance free of any traditional technological barriers, tracking everyone and everything that moves in a city. But according to police and its creators, it's not as invasive as other systems, because it can't see into homes or identify faces. It "allows us to provide more security with less loss of privacy than any of the other options that are out there," says one officer. That's definitely one way to look at it.

http://cironline.org/reports/hollyw...R&utm_medium=social_media&utm_campaign=tumblr

Did somebody say Big Brother? I have a weird feeling I will be adding things to my Abuse Of Power thread in the near future

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Shooting Down a Tiny Drone Is Nearly Impossible, Even with Machine Guns

[YT]rGLxKXtkHpY[/YT]

Turns out, those drone hunting permits that Colorado wisely declined to issue earlier this year man not have done much good anyway. As this video shows, hitting a drone on the wing is really, really hard. Even if you bring fully automatic weapons to the party.

This informal experiment was conducted at the Big Sandy Shoot (a shooting event geared towards machine gun owners) in Arizona earlier this month. A quarter-mile-long row of shooters were invited to fire upon a small, commercial R/C aircraft from a distance of a few hundred yards—though as you can see, they didn't do much beyond waste ammo. The drone was able to make numerous passes over several shooters without sustaining any sort of significant damage, during both the day shoot and again later that night.

"I'm sure to those who have never shot a machine gun outside of Call of Duty, it looks like it would be easy to shoot these down," writes video uploader TAOFLEDERMAUS on Youtube. "The vital components of the plane like the engine, battery, receiver, fuel tank, etc. are very small. The main body of the plane is pretty tough and can take numerous hits without affecting it."

So if you ever find yourself in need of downing a drone, don't try to do it with a machine gun. Pick something with a bit better accuracy and range instead.

http://theaviationist.com/2014/04/14/mg-vs-drones/

Seems like you would want a powerful shotgun or a sniper rifle to take those things out

 

[Teelie]

Or just hack the drone... some of them aren't that hard to override their command signal from the last I'd read.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Gardener Claims He Hasn't Watered This Flourishing Biosphere Since 1972

If you can't raise a plant to save your life you know the appeal of terrariums, which can sustain themselves for months on end without being watered. But a retiree in the UK says he sealed up his bottle garden in 1972—and hasn't watered it since.

The Times reports on David Latimer, a Surrey man who recently called into the BBC Radio 4's "Gardeners' Question Time" to tell experts about his little experiment: A 10-gallon glass bottle that he filled with soil, a single seedling, and a pint of water in 1960. He opened it up to give it another pint in 1972, then shut it up for good.

In the years since, the spiderwort inside has flourished into a thriving ecosystem that the BBC radio presenters described to him as an example of how plants are able to recycle. "Photosynthesis creates oxygen and also puts more moisture in the air," says the Daily Mail. "The leaves it drops rot at the bottom of the bottle, creating the carbon dioxide also needed for photosynthesis and nutrients which it absorbs through its roots."

But Latimer's story isn't without skeptics. Could an ecosystem really survive that long? Plenty of commenters have questioned how carbon dioxide is circulated within the bottle, while others suggest that its survival might be thanks to its cork stopper, which is actually permeable and may have allowed an "exchange of gasses" between the open air and the enclosed ecosystem.

So, biologists among us: Does this story hold water?

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/biology/article3667780.ece

Wish I knew more about this kind of thing to have an opinion on it other than it seems pretty cool

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Berlin Is Threatened From Below By Its Rising Water Table

While the American West stumbles forward into an already dangerous drought—and it's barely even summer—Berliners are simply not using enough water. This means that the city's water table is now on the rise, and it's beginning to threaten the city's buildings from below. Some basements have already been affected.

As The Economist explains, "Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the groundwater level has risen by over half a meter." This is because, amongst other reasons, former East Berliners, price-shocked by the market rate for water and looking to save their money, and former West Berliners, motivated to conserve resources in the name of environment stewardship, both cut back quite drastically on their daily usage. Indeed, contemporary Berliners are now using only two-thirds of what they should be.

Why does this matter? After all, it sounds like a win-win for conservation. But the backstory here is somewhat incredible.

It turns out, The Economist adds, that this silently rising underground flood "now threatens much of the Berlin that tourists see. When Potsdamer Platz, formerly in the Wall's death strip, was remade into its present, modern form, garages had to be built behind dams to keep out the water. The State Opera at Unter den Linden, facing the square where the Nazis burned books in 1933, is temporarily closed for renovation for similar reasons. The Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament, has had to pump water out of its basement at huge cost."

As the water continues to rise, the city has found itself with a subterranean problem on its hands.

As it happens, in fact, I was a backpacker in Berlin way back in the winter of 1998/1999, when the huge platform over what is now the new Potsdamer Platz was still under construction. I remember walking around the massive construction site there, amongst the rebar and piles of building materials, and being able to look down to see workers SCUBA-diving in the very center of the city: a huge open pit with oxygen-tanked construction workers swimming below the surface of Berlin as if some new ocean had appeared, washing and surging against the foundations of buildings.

But it turns out this is now somewhat literally the case: there really is an underground lake on the rise, albeit in the form of the region's natural water table, and it is beginning to interfere with the world of architecture perhaps foolishly constructed above it. What's so interesting is that, in parts of the city such as Potsdamer Platz, Berlin is already engineered as a kind of hydrological bulwark against these encroaching waters, but perhaps the rest of the city will have to follow suit in the decades ahead.

Imagine the dream-like insanity of a city that needs to turn itself into something like a vertical dam to survive: re-engineering itself not to keep the ocean out, but fortifying itself from below to prevent a lake from rising up onto the sidewalks and streets. It's as if the fate of Berlin now is to turn itself into a fleet of inland ships, a grounded armada awaiting its moment at sea.

http://www.economist.com/news/europ...r-rising-dangerous-levels-moisture-down-below

They need to figure out a way to sell it to Cali

 

[cherokeesam]

They don't do anything directly, no. But they still stack everything else they can legally against you. The drinks are only one thing. They also set the environment from the lighting to the layout (there are no clocks to tell how much time has passed for instance) and set an environment to get you to continue playing.

And the games are ones that are guaranteed losers in the long run for anyone playing which is why you won't find too many true games of chance where the odds are ever evenly 50-50.

Everything but the game itself is rigged is what I'm saying.

That's not cheating: that's "enabling."
As a blackjack dealer of 16+ years, I've seen everything and every angle on both sides of the table. The casinos aren't trying to rip any one off; they're just exploiting weak wills. Smart players know that there's no way in hell you can literally "break the bank," because you're putting your few thousand measly dollars (or hundred, or twenty bucks) up against the hundreds of millions of insured dollars in the vault. What smart "winning" players do is pick a strategy to quit while they're ahead; if you don't, you wind up giving it all back (and then some), 100% of the time.

But yeah, just chimed in to say I was shocked to see Ivey behind that play. Ivey is a world class player, and I've seen him more than a few times. He doesn't strike me as that type.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

The Awesome R/C Plane Video That Pissed Off The FAA

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The Federal Aviation Administration has filed an appeal in the case against "commercial drone" pilot Raphael Pirker, accused of reckless operation of what's basically an R/C aircraft near the University of Virginia campus in 2011. Um, does this look reckless to you?

A judge from the NTSB dismissed the case and $10,000 fine last month, but according to Forbes, in the appeal, the FAA argues that the NTSB judge erred by determining that Pirker's small drone was not an "aircraft" as defined by Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). The FAA also says the judge was mistaken by saying the drone was not subject to those FARs.

The government stayed out of the model plane business until 1987, when it set forth voluntary guidelines in an Advisory Circular. Scientific American says:

"It essentially asked radio-controlled copter hobbyists to avoid flying their aircraft above 120 meters, and near airports, spectators (for untested planes), full-scale aircraft and noise-sensitive areas."
Then in 2007, regulators took things a step further, banning model planes (now termed unmanned aerial vehicles) from commercial use. The FAA sends cease and desist letters to aerial video companies that use drones, but admits it can't enforce its policy over their commercial use. The only legal ground the FAA has to stand on is citing reckless operation of an aircraft, and that's what they're trying to pin on Raphael Pirker.

Um, it's this. A RitewingRC Zephyr II.

[YT]1U2LaAnzQQU[/YT]

Back in the good ol' days, they called it "flying a remote-controlled plane" and it was all in good fun. What's next, will NHTSA start cracking down on remote-control cars?

The appeal will be decided by NTSB members who handle appeals, so there's a good chance the FAA will lose this one as well. They'll have the final say whether non-military drones are aircraft, or just really cool, expensive toys. You can read the brief.

http://www.kramerlevin.com/files/upload/FAA-v-Pirker.pdf

If you can afford it you should be able to do what you want with it as long as you aren't endangering anyone IMO

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

That's not cheating: that's "enabling."
As a blackjack dealer of 16+ years, I've seen everything and every angle on both sides of the table. The casinos aren't trying to rip any one off; they're just exploiting weak wills. Smart players know that there's no way in hell you can literally "break the bank," because you're putting your few thousand measly dollars (or hundred, or twenty bucks) up against the hundreds of millions of insured dollars in the vault. What smart "winning" players do is pick a strategy to quit while they're ahead; if you don't, you wind up giving it all back (and then some), 100% of the time.

But yeah, just chimed in to say I was shocked to see Ivey behind that play. Ivey is a world class player, and I've seen him more than a few times. He doesn't strike me as that type.

I know right? Ivey has a rep for being one of the best and most decent guys around. They better have some dang good evidence like I said in the OP

 

[Teelie]

Gardener Claims He Hasn't Watered This Flourishing Biosphere Since 1972

Spoiler

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/science/biology/article3667780.ece

Wish I knew more about this kind of thing to have an opinion on it other than it seems pretty cool

Not a scientist but I keep fish which is similar enough I can contribute some. I don't have them air-tight because even with plants in them, the tanks need to be able to exchange gases with the air.

Obviously fish are more complex and this couldn't work with live animals but I'm kind of skeptical too in the part of how the tank is able to self-sustain.

Cork is not completely airtight so it allows some exchange of gases but it probably is enough to sustain the water inside for decades. Kind of like a wine bottle but with water instead. It doesn't hurt he chose a hardy plant to do this with either.

Whether he really has kept it self-sealed and sustained for 40 years is another matter.

 

[Teelie]

That's not cheating: that's "enabling."
As a blackjack dealer of 16+ years, I've seen everything and every angle on both sides of the table. The casinos aren't trying to rip any one off; they're just exploiting weak wills. Smart players know that there's no way in hell you can literally "break the bank," because you're putting your few thousand measly dollars (or hundred, or twenty bucks) up against the hundreds of millions of insured dollars in the vault. What smart "winning" players do is pick a strategy to quit while they're ahead; if you don't, you wind up giving it all back (and then some), 100% of the time.

But yeah, just chimed in to say I was shocked to see Ivey behind that play. Ivey is a world class player, and I've seen him more than a few times. He doesn't strike me as that type.

I know right? Ivey has a rep for being one of the best and most decent guys around. They better have some dang good evidence like I said in the OP

I still see enabling weak wills of players as cheating and exploiting psychological weakness. They aren't playing fair. There are obviously far fewer players who are able to simply walk away with winnings than there are who lose which is how casinos operate.

I'm not against gambling mind you, just the mentality of the way most casinos operate. If you offer an alcoholic a drink that's what they are doing here.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Burger King's Poo Poo Smoothie Sounds Disgusting, Is Delicious

Asia seems to have a fascination with scatalogically-themed things. From the dessert restaurant in Taiwan and Japan (with a location in NYC), to now Burger King China's latest cold beverage, the PooPoo* Smoothie.P

Smoothies are great. A blend of ice, various fruits and juices creates a cold, flavorful burst of taste in the mouth with each sip. One would expect that having a terrible name like PooPoo* wouldn't affect the overall taste of the smoothie, and in fact, it doesn't. The PooPoo* Smoothie is delicious. P

Keep in mind that this unfortunate name is only the English name of the beverage. In Chinese the beverage is called something along the lines of "mango ice smoothie with blow up pearls cold beverage." Which fits the smoothie very well.

The PooPoo* Smoothie is pretty much like a Taiwanese Boba Tea. It's a mango flavored slushie with what tastes like lychee flavored "pulp pearls" on the bottom of the cup. It's topped off with a swirl of soft serve vanilla ice cream. I asked for chocolate but the staff didn't get the joke.P

The smoothie is, as I've stated above, delicious. The mango flavour works very well with the vanilla. The tartness and sweetness of the mango gives complexity to the vanilla ice cream. Drinking the "pearls" is also kind of fun. It's an unexpected texture that gives a surprise when they explode. Of course there's always the fear of just swallowing them.

I'm not exactly sure what the pearls are made out of. It feels like eating a piece of pulp. The staff at hand in Burger King didn't know. They also didn't know that their newest smoothie's name is related to poop.3P

Burger King's move into China has been vastly different from KFC's and McDonald's. Setting itself up as a more modern and upscale fast food joint, Burger King also charges a little bit more for it's food. Every Burger King restaurant in China has a very modern feel to it, which may be due to the use of chrome and blacks in the restaurant design.P

On top of having more premium-feeling restaurants, Burger King's Chinese translations of its menu have usually been top notch. This also applies to the English translations of its China-only menu items, which makes the naming choice for the PooPoo* Smoothie weird. Then again, it is PooPoo* and not just PooPoo.

Who is down to join me in my quest for the PooPoo* shake? t:

 

[Ant-manic]

Police Discover Seven Dead Babies in Utah Woman's Garage

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/us/bodies-of-7-babies-found-in-utah.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

This is freaking horrible, I hope they lock this psycho up and throw away the key

they should just lock her in the garage with the dead babies; for a month.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Champagne-and-Viagra Ice Cream: Nothing Could Possibly Go Wrong

A British ice cream maker managed to simulate the experience of popping bottles and popping boners with a new flavo(u)r called The Arousal. Key ingredients: Champagne and Viagra.

"Each ball. Of ice cream. Is dosed with 25mgs of Viagra and is flavoured with bubbly champagne. Lovely," writes ice cream maker Charlie Harry Francis of Lick Me I'm Delicious.

The concoction was apparently dreamt up to satisfy an "A-list" celebrity client who wanted something special for a party. And, according to Francis, the guests were "very happy with the end result."

Don't look for a Ben and Jerry's Viagra flavor (Chubby Chubby?) to hit shelves any time soon, though. The drug is still technically prescription-only, even in the U.K. (although an NHS pilot program in Manchester allows pharmacists to sell it to men after a brief health assessment).

Francis is known for his ice cream experiments, including raspberry mojito dark port and stilton, roast beef and horseradish, and a flavor made with jellyfish proteins that glow in the dark after being licked.

http://lickmeimdelicious.com/story/

I can only imagine the kind of party one would need this ice cream at

 

[Teelie]

The kind of party that doesn't want to have soft-serve ice-cream?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Horrible "Onslaught of Snakes" Closes Horrible High School Horribly

Well, that's as good a reason as any to cancel finals.

Via Russia's Interfax news agency, here's a reminder that America's public school system could be a whole lot worse:

OSH. April 15 (Interfax) - Classes have been suspended at a high school in the Alay district of the Osh region in southern Kyrgyzstan because of an onslaught of snakes, a spokesman for the Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Ministry told Interfax on Tuesday.

Up to 30 snakes, which pose a threat to the health of the school's 20 teachers and 144 students, have been spotted in the school building every day since the beginning of spring, the spokesman said. The school is located in the village of Birinchi of the Alay district.

Local residents asked the Public Health Inspectorate and the veterinary department to deal with the situation, but they were unable to take the required measures.

Classes at the school were suspended following a decision made by Emergency Situations Ministry specialists who examined the building, the spokesman said.
What kind of snakes may they be? According to the website "Wildlife of Kyrgyzstan," they could be any number of vipers or racers or mambas or cobras, and maybe they're not poisonous, probably not, but who gives a ****, because a pile of snakes is scary regardless, maybe even scarier than Common Core.

On the plus side, maybe some of those Kyrgyz schoolkids start a garage band called Onslaught Of Snakes, and it's awesome.

http://www.interfax.com/newsinf.asp?id=497319

Snake day > Snow day