Daily Threat Assessment
The good, the bad, and the scary
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It's a motherf@#kin' B-O-O-K
Multi-platinum rapper 50 Cent has written an anti-bullying novel for kids. Playground, set to drop in January 2013, is 50's third book – he's penned an autobiography and a self-help guide – and his first aimed at children. "I had a strong desire to write Playground because I wanted to explore how a kid becomes a bully," says 50, a much-shot-at former drug dealer "This book would have been very helpful for me growing up and now that I have a teenage son, it is my goal that this will have a positive influence on all teenagers." [BBC, 6/22/11]
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US Airways dress code: Drag, no sag
A middle-aged male passenger dressed in women's underwear and thigh-high stockings recently boarded a US Airways flight and, over the objections of fellow passengers, was allowed to take his seat. Funny, because a few days earlier, college football player DeShon Marmon had been booted from another US Airways flight and arrested after refusing to pull up his baggy sweatpants. "It just shows the hypocrisy involved," said Marmon's lawyer. "A white man is allowed to fly in underwear without question, but my client was asked to pull up his pajama pants because they hung below his waist." [AP, 6/22/11]
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Rich getting (What else?) richer
What recession? The world's wealthiest individuals are only getting richer, according to an annual report by Merrill Lynch. The total cash of high-net-worth individuals worldwide – about 11 million people – amounted to over $42.7 trillion last year, a 10 percent increase from 2009. While the world economy continues to stagnate, the number of individuals in the "super-rich" bracket (those with over $30 million in disposable cash) jumped by 10 percent as well, for a total of 103,000 people. They represent less than 1 percent of high net worth indiviudals, but carry a remarkable 36 percent of the group's wealth. [Guardian, 6/22/11]
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Mountaintop removal linked to birth defects
Mountaintop-removal mining – the practice of blasting away peaks and wildlife to get to coal inside – has caused a rise in birth defects in children, according to a study of 2 million health records. The study, says one of its co-authors, "offers one of the first indications that health problems are disproportionately concentrated" in polluted mining regions. [Mother Jones, 6/22/11]
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OBAMA, BABY WHISPERER
If babies could vote, the president would be on a glide path to reelection. [YouTube, 6/17/11]
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NO QUICK RECOVERY FOR METRO AREAS
At least 50 metro areas won't be back on their feet economically for years, according to an economic report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The report, which surveyed nearly 400 cities, says that employment in these areas (including Reno, NV, Cleveland, OH, and Atlantic City, NJ) won't return to pre-recession employment levels for a decade. [TIME, 6/21/11]
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GROSS-OUT TOBACCO LABELS UNVEILED
F.D.A. released a new series of gruesome ads and tobacco package labels depicting dead bodies, decaying lungs and a man on a ventilator. Officials hope the images will deter people from smoking and inspire current smokers to quit. The new warning labels must appear on cigarette boxes and advertisements no later than September 2012. [Reuters, 6/20/11]
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JUMBO JUMBO JETS
Boeing's 747-8 is the company's largest-ever plane and, the company says, much more than an elongated version of the classic 747. With room for over 400 passengers and two spacious floors, the jet has been modified from a windowless freight plane model. Not only is the plane massive, but it's lighter per seat, and so more energy-efficient, than current models (says Boeing). Boeing has invested about $27 billion in the "dash-eight" planes, but raked in $5.4 billion in orders for the plane on its first day on the market alone. Fifty-five "dash-eights" have been ordered to date, with deliveries expected at the end of 2011. [BBC, 6/20/11]
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WHINING IS THE WORST
SUNY researchers got people to do math problems with a variety of annoying sounds in the background – an infant crying, a table saw, baby talk and a kid whining – and people made the most mathematical mistakes while working through the whines. Not only that, but they were able to complete the fewest problems. “You’re basically doing less work and doing it worse when you’re listening to the whines,” said study co-author Rosemarie Sokol Chang. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, everybody’s equally distracted.” [MSNBC, 6/20/11]
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8 PERCENT OF AMERICAN KIDS HAVE FOOD ALLERGIES
Nearly 6 million American kids have some sort of food allergy, according to a new national survey. The most common foods causing problems are peanuts (25 percent of cases), milk (21 percent) and shellfish (17 percent), and teens are the most prone to severe reactions. The findings suggest that food allergies are more common than previously thought, though it's a little hard to say since even experts disagree about what constitutes a "food allergy." [NPR, 6/20/11]
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GOVT ORDERED TO PAY FOR COUPLE'S MEDICAL POT
The Canadian province of Nova Scotia has been ordered to pay for an ill couple's medical marijuana. An appeals board ruled the couple needed treatment – the wife was injured in a car accident and her husband suffers from glaucoma – but were unable to afford growing supplies, and ordered the province to pay for setup ($2,500) and maintenance of their growing operation. [BBC, 6/20/11]
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ISRAELI DOG NOT CONDEMNED TO DEATH BY STONING
An Israeli newspaper sparked outrage recently when it reported that a Jewish rabbinical court had condemned a stray dog to death by stoning. The report claimed the dog reminded a judge of a curse passed on a now-deceased secular lawyer about 20 years ago, when judges bid his spirit to enter the body of a dog. The court strongly denied the charges, saying the dog had entered the court and been removed, and the newspaper, Maariv, apologized for any offense caused. [BBC, 6/20/11]
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OVERFISHING, POLLUTION WIPING OUT MARINE LIFE
Overfishing and pollution are putting fish, sharks, whales and other marine species at risk of extinction at a scale "unprecedented in human history," says a new report by International Program on the State of the Ocean (Ipso). "The findings are shocking," said Alex Rogers, Ipso's scientific director. "As we considered the cumulative effect of what humankind does to the ocean, the implications became far worse than we had individually realized." [Guardian, 6/20/11]
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BLACK HOLE CHEWS UP SUN-SIZED STAR
Astronomers have solved the mystery of a huge blast first spotted in March, when an unusually bright burst of energy emanated from a galaxy 3.8 billion light-years away. Turns out a sun-sized star fell into a black hole and was torn to pieces, causing an explosion the like of which won't be seen for another million years. And get this: While most star-death events last hours or maybe days, this one is still going on, three months later (though of course, in reality, it happened nearly 4 billion years ago). [Popular Science via Daily Beast, 6/20/11]
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CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AT $300 MILLION A HEAD
The U.S. government and the state of California have together spent around $4 billion since 1978 on the state's death row, yet only 13 prisoners have been executed, for an average of $300 million per execution, a new study reveals. The cost includes keeping 714 inmates on death row as well as steering them through the tangled judicial process all the way to the death chamber. "We really want voters to wake up and realize this is a horrible waste of money," says one of the study's authors, a professor at Loyola law school. "If they are going to insist on keeping the death penalty they are going to have to spend even more money to fix it." [Guardian]
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RUSSIAN POLICE FAKE CAR CRASH
Car accidents are so common in Russia that drivers barely slow down, much less stop to help, when they pass one. In a stunt to highlight the problem, police in the Astrakhan region staged an accident with a fake-blood-smeared 14-year-old boy posed face-down on a road. Human rights activists are up in arms about the use of the young boy – with his mother's consent, mind you – as a "prop." But the stunt made its point: Some drivers slowed down but no-one called for help. [BBC, 6/17/11]
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PIMP MY RIDE (AFGHAN VERSION)
The number 39 is Afghanistan's equivalent to our unlucky 13 – with the twist that it's vaguely associated with pimps. So trouble arose when then last of Afghanistan's five-digit plate numbers beginning with 38 were recently taken, and new 39 plates started to appear. Traffic department officials are accused of accepting bribes to issue 39-free plates and car prices have been affected by high demand for non-39 cars. "You wouldn't dare to drive a car containing number plate 39 on roads in Herat," Fawad Heravi, a local car dealer, told the BBC. "You'd be called a pimp and followed by other road users." [BBC, 6/17/11]
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MAGIC MUSHROOMS ARE GOOD TIMES
A yearlong experiment by Johns Hopkins researchers on the effects of psilocybin, the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms," has revealed that shrooming … gets you high. Of the eighteen volunteers that took the substance, nearly all reported having one of the most spiritually significant experiences of their lives, and almost as many cited positive changes in their behavior and outlook. [Good, Kevin Drum, 6/18/11]
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AGENT ORANGE CLEAN UP IN VIETNAM
The United States is funding an effort to clean up traces of the toxic chemical Agent Orange from Vietnam. Between 1962 and 1971, American planes dropped up to 12 million gallons of Agent Orange on Vietnamese jungle to the destroy tree cover and expose enemy guerillas. The substance has since been linked to birth defects and cancers, and it's estimated that as 3 million Vietnamese citizens, including 150,000 newborns, have been affected. [BBC, 6/17/11]
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BILL CLINTON: THE OPERA
"Billy Blythe," a folk opera inspired the autobiography of former president Bill Clinton, opened in New York last weekend. It follows a day in the life of a teenage Clinton during the summer of 1959, when the future president lived with his mother and abusive stepfather. Why an opera? "[Clinton's] personality is mythical and where he came from provides the perfect mythical backdrop," says director Bonnie Motgomery, like Clinton an Arkansan, adding that his life story is "full of action and exaggerated Southern characters." [BBC, 6/19/11]
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COMEDIAN GOES TOO FAR AT GOP CONFERENCE
Obama impersonator Reggie Brown was stopped mid-act at the Republican Leadership Conference on Saturday, after making "racially tinged jokes" and ridiculing Republican presidential candidates. Brown said that the bi-racial president only celebrates half of Black History Month, and was starting in on a Michele Bachmann joke when he was pulled off the stage. The incident came a day after high-profile Republicans urged activists not to engage in personal attacks on Obama. [Politico, 6/18/11]
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MAN TAKES 8-MILLION-GALLON LEAK
Portland, Oregon is draining an 8-million-gallon reservoir at a cost of $35,000 because a man was caught on camera taking a leak in it. Amazingly, the operation is completely unnecessary, as urine is harmless (animals pee in reservoirs all the time). So why the overkill? A water board official explained: "I think just dealing with the yuck factor, I can imagine how many people would be saying I made orange juice with that water. That's not what I want to hear." [Good]
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HMM, SCHWEDDY BALLS ICE CREAM
Rumor has it Ben & Jerry's is developing a new "Schweddy Balls"-themed flavor in honor of the immortal SNL skit starring Ana Gasteyer, Molly Shannon, and Alec Baldwin. If the rumors are true, the flavor will arrive sometime in September and run through Christmas, but a Ben & Jerry's rep was keeping mum, explaining "we like all of our new flavors to have an element of surprise." [Gothamist]
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HOME SWEET SNAKE-INFESTED HOME
Shortly after buying their dream home in rural Idaho, Ben Sessions and his wife discovered it was infested with thousands of snakes. (They were tipped off by a slithering sound behind the walls at night a the foul-smelling musk in their drinking water.) So numerous were the two-foot-long snakes that Sessions killed 42 in a single day. Turns out their neighbors had known about the snakes. "I felt bad," said Dustin Chambers, a local. "By the time we knew someone had bought it, they were already moving in. It was too late." The house is back on the market. [AP]
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WORLD'S LONGEST-BURNING LIGHTBULB
This weekend, the 4-watt "Centennial Light," hanging in Fire Station No. 6 in Livermore, California, celebrates its 110th year of continuous illumination. [Contra Costa Times]
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TEA PARTY SUMMER CAMP
The Tampa 912 Project, a tea party group, is offering a weeklong summer camp in July where Florida kids can learn about the principles that make America America, such as: "America is good"; "I believe in God, and he is the center of my life"; and "I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable." [Washington Post]
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TUNISIA'S 'HEAVY-HANDED' TOURISM CAMPAIGN
A new ad campaign designed to coax back tourists scared off by the Tunisia's violent revolution last January includes billboards of a woman getting a massage, next to the words: "They say that in Tunisia some people receive heavy-handed treatment" – a reference to the 200 or more people killed at the hands of the ousted Tunisian regime during the uprising. The firm behind the ads says the idea is "to be provocative to address possible fears around the issue of the Arab spring." [BBC]
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American kids don't know much about history
A mere 13 percent of high school seniors are proficient in American history, compared with 22 percent of fourth-graders and 18 percent of eighth-graders, according to a national survey. One question asked fourth-graders to name an important result of the U.S. building canals in the 1800s; only 44 percent knew that it increased trade among states. Educators blame the lagging scores on the No Child Left Behind Act and its test-driven focus on reading and math. "We need to make sure other subjects like history, science and the arts are not forgotten in our pursuit of the basic skills," said education historian Diane Ravitch. [AP, 6/14/11]
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IRANIAN FASHION POLICE CRACK DOWN
In an effort to stave off a "Western cultural invasion," Iranian authorities have dispatched 70,000 special forces into Tehran and other cities to enforce a stringent new dress code. The "moral security plan" includes a ban on tight overcoats and shortened trousers for women and on non-traditional hairstyles, shorts and necklaces for men. [Guardian, 6/14/11]
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Americans want action on climate
Washington is doing nothing about climate change because voters don't care about it, right? Wrong. Fully 71 percent of the Americans think Congress and the Obama administration should make tackling the problem a top priority, according to a Yale University study. An even larger number – 91 percent – said developing alternative sources of energy should be a priority for the federal government. [Treehugger, 6/14/11]
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World's worst countries for women
Poverty, violence, and dismal health care make Afghanistan the world's worst place to be a woman, according to a new survey. Not much better: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan, Somalia and – unexpectedly – India, which suffers from a high rate of female infanticide and sex trafficking (India has 3 million prostitutes, almost half of them children; and 50 million girls are thought to have gone 'missing' over the past century). The survey was compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation to mark the launch of a website, TrustLaw Woman, which provides free legal advice for women's groups around the world. [Guardian]
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U.S. Army ditches 'sock-like' beret
After 10 years' service in U.S. Army's standard uniform, the black wool beret has been declared "impractical" and retired. The hat, which "does not have a visor and doesn't shield the sun, doesn't absorb sweat well," in the words of a U.S. army spokesman, will be replaced by a patrol cap, which, in addition to having a visor costs half as much. The beret will be mourned by few. As one officer remarked to the BBC, "I hate wearing a sock on my head." [BBC]
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Diver to search for Osama's body
American diver Bill Warren says he'll believe it when he see it: he wants to scour the Arabian Sea for Osama bin Laden's corpse. Warren says the mission will cost about $400,000 and, if successful, he will photograph the corpse and take a hair sample. He says that, while it's a long shot, "we might get lucky," thanks to modern equipment. Good luck with that, Bill. [BBC]
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From Weedkiller to Killer Weed
Scotts Miracle-Gro is considering branching out into a slightly new area of gardening – medical marijuana. "I want to target the pot market," said the company's chief executive Jim Hagedorn. "There's no good reason we haven't." The idea is in its early stages, but Miracle-Gro would conceivably take over niche dirt companies that already market to growers rather than creating its own line. Hagedorn says the sour economy has forced him to think creatively about revenue, noting that he previously wouldn't have considered an idea that netted less than $10 million a year. But now, said Hagedorn, "We can't operate our business like that anymore." [WSJ, 6/14/11]
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Montel Williams opening pot dispensary
Former singer and talk-show host Montel Williams is a longtime sufferer of multiple sclerosis and, as of this week, the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Sacramento, California. Williams credits pot with having improved his health far more than prescription drugs, and he wants to help banish the drug's stigma so that other people can benefit. "I can go get morphine pumped into my system and nobody's got a problem," he said. "But all of a sudden they're really worried if I smoked a joint!" He added: "While adhering to every single state law, we want to provide safe access for patients and really medicalize this. Patients should be put first." [Sacramento City News, 6/14/11]
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Unsafe bus companies 'reincarnate' to dodge rules
A fresh paint job and new name is sometimes all it takes for unsafe bus companies to evade federal regulators, according to a report by ProPublica. Just days after Sky Express bus company was ordered to shut down (after an accident in Virginia that killed four), employees were found painting over the company's buses and the company operating under new names. The tactic — known as "reincarnation" — is apparently pretty common, but the Transportation Department and Congress are only now focusing on it. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who's working on a bus safety bill, says: "These chameleon carriers are fly-by-night operators that drive under the radar screen and cut corners on safety." [ProPublica, 6/13/11]
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U.S. loses $6 billion in Iraq
Starting in late 2003, the U.S. government began sending planeloads of cash – $12 billion on 21 flights – for reconstruction and other projects. Problem: federal auditors are unable to account for $6.6 billion, and U.S. officials are beginning to suspect the money was stolen. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, said the missing cash may be "the largest theft of funds in national history."
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Scientists create transgender goats
Scientists in New Zealand are successfully breeding female goats in males' bodies to create milk similar to human breast milk. Transgender goats are apparently born naturally on occasion, and the researchers are now breeding for the trait specifically. Though it sounds strange, a similar experiment has been done in China using cows with modified genes, notes Dr. Jimmy Suttie, one of the goat researchers. "All these experiments are supervised by vets and the animal ethics committee, and they have given us no concern at all." [TreeHugger, 6/12/11]
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Internet dominated by opinionated loudmouths
The Internet is often hailed as a perfectly democratic virtual town hall, where participants can share information and freely interact with one another on terms of equality. But no. A recent study gathered eight million messages from news forums and discussion groups and found that 50 percent of all replies were directed at just 2 percent of people. [Scientific American, 6/13/11]
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'Racist' anti-abortion ads set to debut in L.A.
A pro-life billboard campaign launching soon in Los Angeles will feature ads showing a silouhette of a baby accompanied by the text, "The most dangerous place for a Latino is in the womb." Sponsored by the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, the ads rip off an almost identical campaign targeting African-American women, and they have Latino groups up in arms. "These offensive billboards are nothing more than political ploys designed to stigmatize Latina women and communities of color and restrict access to reproductive health care," said the National Latina Institute in a statement. [American Independent, 6/9/11]
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Dream of retirement fast becoming … a dream
Working well past age 65 is fast becoming the new normal, says a new study. Nearly a fifth of Americans already toil into their late sixties and seventies, and more will join them, thanks to years of slow economic growth and wage stagnation. Workers in lower income brackets (earning an average of $11,700 per year) will have to work until age 84 to have just a 50 percent chance of funding their retirement, says the study, by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The outlook isn't much better for higher earners: even people earning up to $72,500 will need to work until age 72. [MarketWatch, 6/9/11]
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TX movie theater exacts revenge on loud talker
A Texas movie theater, the Alamo Drafthouse, kicked a woman out for breaking its strict no talking/texting rules. She hit back with a drunken, voicemail message (among other things, calling the Drafthouse the most "crappy ass theater" in the "Magnited States of America"). The theater in turn used her obnoxious rant in a new PSA – to discourage texting and talking during films. [Village Voice, 6/7/11]
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Barbie destroying Indonesian rainforests?
Mattel, maker of Barbie and Ken dolls, sources its packaging from rainforests in Jakarta, Indonesia, thereby contributing to rainforest destruction, claims environmental group Greenpeace. The organization hung a sign on the Mattel building in LA that pictured a sad-looking Ken saying, "Barbie, it's over. I don't date girls that are into deforestation." The head of Greenpeace's campaign for Indonesian forests, said that "Barbie is trashing rainforests and pushing critically-endangered wildlife, like tigers, toward extinction." Mattel, for its part, said that it has "been in communication with Greenpeace on a variety of paper sourcing issues." [Scientific American via Reuters, 6/8/11]
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Libyan graffiti artists flourish
While the news out of Libya has focused on the rebel fighters combating. Qaddafi's regime, there are other, quieter opponents taking aim as well: Libyan graffiti artists. Walls in Benghazi and beyond have become canvases for oppressed Libyans, reports the BBC. In one, a swastika-wearing devil looks down at Qaddafi, with the caption "Like father, like son!" Many of the artists draw in honor of Qais al-Halali, a young man who distributed paper cartoons of the dictator and died at the hands of Libyan police. [BBC, 6/9/11]
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Osama hogged the AC
Sure, Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound was huge and heavily fortified, but it was no dream home, AP reports. For starters, the house had only one air conditioner, and it was in Bin Laden's room, meaning his couple dozen housemates had to sweat through 100-degree summer heat. Conditions generally were "bleak, even prison-like," say Pakistani officials, with residents subsisting on one goat per week plus some milk and eggs. And while bin Laden may have stayed cool during the summers, he shivered in the winters like everyone else, as the complex had no heating (which probably explains why in home videos he appears shrouded in blankets). [AP 6/8/11]
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Jellyfish poop messing with ocean ecosystems
Jellyfish are throwing off the ecological balance of the Chesapeake Bay and god knows where else, a new study says. Swarming "Warty comb jellies" and "Atlantic stinging sea nettles" have overrun the bay, devouring the plankton that fish eat and defecating left and right. If that isn't bad enough, bacteria feast on their excrement and then (perhaps understandably) lose the urge to reproduce, further disrupting the delicate marine food web. [Scientific American, 6/7/11]
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In California, Styrofoam to go?
Styrofoam, the go-to material for to-go containers, is pretty much indestructible. In coastal California, it's also a nuisance, since it gets into storm drains and ends up in the ocean (or on beaches, where it's the second most common form of debris). And so the state senate just passed a bill prohibiting food vendors and restaurants from dispensing food in Styrofoam starting in January of 2014. San Francisco banned Styrofoam in 2007 and many localities have similar laws, but if this bill passes the state assembly in August it will be the first statewide ban in the nation. [Good, 6/8/11]
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'Psychic' leads Texas police to mass grave on wild goose chase
Texas police received numerous tip from a woman claiming to be a psychic, and obtained a search warrant to investigate her claims that up to 30 bodies were hidden inside a home in rural Hardin. Media went nuts, and police, Texas Rangers and FBI agents searched the property, finding … absolutely nothing. Now the woman could face false reporting charges for wasting everyone's time. [Guardian, 6/8/11]
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Millionaires to Obama: Raise our taxes!
A 200-strong group called Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength is demanding that President Obama please raise their taxes. "For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens," pleads a message to Obama on the group's website, "we ask that you increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000." It goes on: "Our country has been good to us. It provided a foundation through which we could succeed. Now, we want to do our part to keep that foundation strong so that others can succeed as we have. Please do the right thing for our country. Raise our taxes." [NPR, 6/8/11]
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Freshman GOP reps spending big
GOP House freshmen may be talking about cutting trillions of dollars from the federal budget, but when it comes to spending they don't always practice what they preach. At least 15 rookies have shelled out tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on postage, car leases and campaign consultants. Case in point: Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger spent a staggering $78,518 on pamphlets and mailings. There's nothing improper about such spending, but as Politico notes, it suggests that some GOP newbies, despite their rhetoric, "are already enjoying the perks of their congressional office budget." [Politico, 6/8/11]