Can't Resist Hero Dog Stories: Maxx Leads FIrefighters To Trapped Children In Fire

Maxx leading firefighters to two children
trapped in a burning Florida home.  

The latest hero in the news is Maxx.

A house burst into flames one recent night in an Orlando suburb.

Arriving firefighters quickly realized that two children, ages four and two, were trapped somewhere in the large, flaming house, but they really didn't know where.

But Maxx, the family dog knew exactly where they were.

He led firefighters through thick smoke to where the children were, says television station WFLA and the Associated Press. 

Everyone from the house, including Maxx, were seriously injured in the fire, mostly from smoke inhalation, but because of Maxx, everyone survived.

At last report Maxx was doing well.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family, and Maxx of course. As of Saturday morning, about $41,000 had been raised, which is great, especially given the huge hospital bills and rebuilding the family will have to face.

Hey, the family deserves the help, and Maxx sure could use a reward!

Good boy, Maxx!

Vermont City Might Sic Debt Collector On Donald Trump

People wait in line for a vastly overbooked Donald
Trump rally January 7 in Burlington, Vermont.
The city is trying to bill Trump for police and fire overtime. 

Donald Trump is supposedly a billionaire, but will he have a debt collector harassing him soon anyway?

Maybe.

According to NECN, Burlington, Vermont mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, says Trump is about three months late paying an $8,500 bill for police and fire overtime costs from January 7.

That was from the notorious rally Trump held in which his campaign gave away far, far more tickets than there were available seats at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, where the rally was held.'

There's no guarantee Burlington will hire a collection agency yet. Weinberger and his city are wrestling with free speech issues versus a campaign basically running roughshod over a small city and not coordinating things at all with the muncipality.

Weinberger told NECN that given the importance of democracy and free speech, candidates should travel to communities like Burlington to give speeches and get a sense of how people are feeling about the issues.

But just popping into town with no plan for security, and what to do with all the people holding tickets for an event they can't get into and all the other issues is a bit much.

Generally speaking, national candidates don't cover the cost of police overtime in cities they visit, despite the disruption they cause. (Note: It's good disruption. As Weinberger notes, candidates really do have an obligation to travel and talk about their ideas.)

In neighboring South Burlington, NECN says Barack Obama's campaign didn't reimburse that city for a 2011 fundraiser in which police worked overtime to deal with the visit.

Trevor Whipple, South Burlington's police chief, drew a distinction between a politician's visit for official business and a fundraiser. Maybe the city should be reimbursed for political fundraisers, but not actual working on doing their job.

An exception to major campaigns not reimbursing cities for events is Bernie Sanders, NECN reports.

Last May, Sanders, the former mayor of Burlington,  held a very big rally on that city's waterfront to announce his presidential candidacy.

The Sanders campaign paid Burlington's bills for police and fire overtime in full and on time, Weinberger told NECN. 

It's not like Burlington is going to go bankrupt if Trump doesn't pay up. The police portion of the Trump bill is $7,200. The city's police department  has roughly a $10 million annual budget.

Soccer Is Serious Business, Until.....

Soccer is a game, so you play, right? The dog
that ran onto the field knew how to do it.  

Soccer is serious business in Latin America.

It's very important which nation wins, in a tournament like the recent 2016 Copa Libertadores match between Mexico and Venezeula.

There's one little guy who didn't get the memo, however. Soccer is a game, right? You play a game, right? So let's play!

This video shows how playing can disrupt a game in the best possible way:

City Embeds Traffic Signals To Alert Distracted "Smombie" Smartphone Addicts

Warning: Smombies, people who are glued
to their smart phones, are causing all sorts of problems.  

It's gotten this bad:

A German city has embedded traffic signals in a sidewalk for people so wrapped up in texting about their date last night that they can't be bothered to look up,  maybe, to not step out into traffic.

The traffic lights are in the sidewalks so that pedestrians staring at their cell phones without looking up will know whether the light at the intersection in Augsburg, Germany is green or red, reports the Washington Post. 

While of course I'm glad the fine city engineers in Augsburg are trying to save the lives of distracted smart phone addicts, I still wish we can get people to pay attention while they walk or drive instead of forwarding the latest Justin Bieber photo to their friends on Instagram or something.

However,  that's clearly a lost cause.

I know you can relate. How many times have you almost been slammed into by a driver who is texting his girlfriend because that's more important than the fact that you just stopped for a red light?

How many people have bumped into you on the sidewalk because they can't bear to look away from a smart phone for Just. One. Second. to share a goofball scene from Vine?

There's even a word for these people: "Smombies." That's a mashup of "smart phone and "zombies" and pretty accurately describes these phone obsessed idiots bumping  into you as you stroll the city streets.

No, nobody can wait to pull over to make that text, or lean against a building out of the way of sidewalk pedestrians to watch a quick video. Because other people don't matter.

I am sounding like a cranky old man. I do love playing with my phone, too. Can't live without that Twitter feed! But jeez, Twitter can wait for two seconds until I pull over into that parking lot and look.

According to the Washington Post: 

"A survey by the University of Washington found that one in three Americans is busy texting or working on a smart phone at dangerous road crossings. The Department of Transportation has established a clear connection between such habits and an increase in pedestrian deaths."

But that won't matter to Smombies. I believe they think we need to stop our cars and get out of their way because that Facebook post just can't wait.

Sharp-Eyed Cop Prevents Sinkhole Disaster

This cop in China spotted a weird crack in the road
at a major intersection. He then prevented LOTS
of problems 

There's a wicked busy, congestion main road in the large city of Hangzhou, China, where traffic slows to a crawl at a major intersection.

Recently, a cop there noticed what seemed to him to be an odd, worrisome crack right in the middle of the intersection.

Security cameras caught what came next. He was nervous enough about it, to direct all the traffic around the crack.

He got his cop cohorts to grab some orange traffic cones and place them around the crack in the road, so drivers would go around them.

This caused quite a little traffic backup and probably some steamed motorists who had to maneuver around the cones.

But good thing. Had it not been for this cop, things would have gotten worse for some motorists than some annoying traffic cones:

Watch:

Drone Smacks Guy In Head After Crashing Through Window, Then He Experiences Social Media Weirdness

Dan Perel's office window after a drone accidentally
flew through it and clonked him on the head.  

Earlier this year, Dan Perel was minding his own business on the fifth floor of a Cape Town, South Africa office building when a drone crashed through the window and smacked him in the head.

He wasn't badly hurt and downloaded the video the drone was taking using an attached GoPro.

The video went viral and Perel got a lesson in social media and trolls that was much more painful than getting clonked on the head by a drone.

Writing in Medium, he said he was attacked from all sides for supposedly faking the video to gain money and fame and all that. And maybe to hate on drones.

I understand the suspicion. If you believe everything you see on the internet,  have I got a wealthy Nigerian for you who could make you rich!

A lot of videos and such that go viral later turn out to be fakes.

This drone one seems legit, though. Perel says he made little money off the video, and the amount of vitriol he got online was stunning.

"To this day I am still dumbfounded by the reaction. Why would I go to such great lengths to CGI a fake video of a drone crashing into my head?"

Well, people have done stranger things than that, but I get Perel's point. It does seem like an awful lot of effort to go through to get yourself some fame.

It's well worth reading his essay in Medium before pursuing internet fame and fortune, or just getting a viral video out there.

Here's the drone's view of it crashing through the window and hitting Perel that started this whole thing:

Lawyer Might Sue Restaurant Because He Didn't Get Soup

This Texas restauranteur might get sued because
he ran out of soup that a lawyer customer wanted. 

Believe me, I'm all for consumer protection.

Sometimes, when a company or business is unfair to customers and the general public, they deserve to be sued or worse.

This story is not one of those cases.

There's a special that often runs at the Our Place Restaurant in Mansfield, Texas in which you get an entree, two sides and a soup.

The verbiage around that special on the menu states that the soup often runs out, and if you get the special, you might have to live without the soup. "While supplies last," the menu says.

The owner of the restaurant, Benji Arslanovksi, says people understand the soup is kind of a freebie, like the pickle you get next to your hamburger.

OK, not getting the soup at Our Place Restaurant is a bit of a bummer, but it's no reason to sue, right?

Oh yes it is!

Arslanovksi was recently slapped with the threat of a lawsuit for a whopping $2.25, but $250 in lawyer's fees, for not offering the soup to attorney Dwain Downing, who is the guy who might sue, says Dallas television station WFAA.   

A menu is an offer of a contract, and that the restaurant uses deceptive trade practices by running out of soup, apparently. Even though the menu warns that there might not be soup.

I fear poor Downing is bored, and maybe needs practice to keep his legal chops going, so he's launching this lawsuit just for practice? I have no idea.

His web site says Downing has been practicing law since 1981, so he must be pretty good. And probably busy. But the lawsuit threat over a cup of soup sounds like a teeny weeny bit of overkill, no?

I always thought if you don't like the service or the food or the lack thereof at a particular restaurant, you just stop going there if you don't like it.

I'm sure Our Place Restaurant is fine, but if people don't like it there, I'm pretty sure Texas has other restaurants to try.

"I really don't whant to think. I mean, it's a cup of soup," Arslanovksi told WFAA.

Exactly!

Downing declined an on-camera interview with WFAA, but said the restaurant should be prepared if it regularly runs out of soup.

Well, yes. But a lawsuit?

As is almost always the case with this type of thing, the lawsuit threat appears to be backfiring on our attorney, thanks to social media.

Arslanovksi posted Downing's lawsuit threat letter on Facebook,

Plus there's a bright side. Our Place has a new special in which if you bring a can of soup with you to the restaurant, you'll get 10 percent off your bill.

No, they won't heat up that can of soup for you. Instead, they'll donate it to the local food shelf. Which is mmm mmmm good thing!

Corvette's Prince Tribute Ad Hits The Mark, Respectfully

Chevrolet/Corvette's
tribute to Prince.  

Whenever a famous person like Prince dies, brands capitalize on these events by putting out tribute ads, either on social media like Twitter, and sometimes in print publications.

To me, this is a little tacky. The brands want to pay respects, yes, that's good. But also putting their name out there to take advantage of the death is a little weird.

That said, Chevrolet had a good tribute.

One of Prince's most famous songs was "Little Red Corvette."

You remember the tune: "Little red Corvette! Baby, you're much too fast!"

Chevrolet, maker of Corvette, placed the ad you see in this post. (Click on it to make it bigger and easier to see)

Sometimes less is more when you do something like this. Nice tribute.

The Geniuses At UC Davis Never Heard Of The Striesand Effect

UC Davis tried to get stuff related to former UC Davis
officer John Pike casually pepper spraying demonstrators
off the Internet. It just made everybody think about it
again, and Google it again, too.  

Back in 2011, a searing image became an Internet meme and sensation.

It was a photo of a University of California/Davis cop casually pepper spraying a group of peaceful protesters.

He looked as if he was bored and decided to spray raid on the ants getting into the kitchen.

The whole thing as you can imagine caused an enormous uproar.

UC Davis tried to put it behind them, but of course this whole thing still comes up in a lot of internet searches.

UC Davis hates, hates the results of those internet searches. So, apparently never having heard of the Streisand Effect, UC Davis spent at least $175,000 hiring a company to help it scrub those internet searches that yielded stuff about that pepper spraying cop, reports the Sacramento Bee. 
'
The Streisand Effect, which I've written about before and still can't believe PR people apparently never heard of, is when someone takes an action meant to quash news of an embarrassing or private thing, and that attempt at quashing the information does a fantastic job of calling attention to it.

The Streisand Effect is so named because the singer tried to suppress an online photographic record of homes along the California coast, including hers. When she did this, suddenly everybody who didn't give a damn about her house were seeking out photos of it.

She should have just kept her mouth shut. Or at least kept singing instead of worrying about photographs.

Similarly, the UC Davis effort to suppress internet searches of the pepper spraying cop backfired spectacularly. The whole thing is back in the forefront again.

"We wanted to promote and advance the important teaching, research and public service done by our students, faculty and staff, which is the core mission of our university", said UC Davis spokeswoman Dana Topousis, according to the Sacramento Bee.  

That's some way to go about it! All I'm thinking now in relation to UC Davis is pepper spraying cop, pepper spraying cop..

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article71659992.html#storylink=cpy

As the Sacramento Bee reported, UC Davis is a public institution. How could they possibly think they could hide the fact they were trying to burnish their image by spending $175,000 on a consultant?

The Sacramento Bee obtained the information through a public records request under the California Public Records Act.

People and small businesses sometimes hire these online scrubbers if they've been unfairly maligned on the net and want to clean things up.  

But a public university is quite another thing. UC Davis flunked PR 101.

"For a public university that is funded through taxpayer funds, who has repeatedly stepped into a vast hole, it is surprising that they thought this could be done without the light of day shining on the act.......It is one more example of how out of touch the leadership at UC Davis is when it comes to their public perspective," said Doug Elmets, a Sacramento public affairs consultant in the Sacramento Bee. 

A lot of good this all did, too. When the Sacramento Bee broke this story on April 13, it said there were about 100,000 hits when they Googled "UC Davis pepper spray"

When I Googled "UC Davis pepper spray" yesterday,,April 21, just over a week after the Sacramento Bee article landed, I got 353,000 hits.

A lot of those hits I got were articles describing how UC Davis was apologizing for their latest screwup.

"In hindsight, we should have been more careful in reviewing some of the more unrealistic and ridiculous scope-of-work claims in the written proposals of our outside vendors," UC Davis chancellor Linda Katehi said.

Ya think?

Bubble Burst Bernie Points To Fun New Video Game

Whatever happens with Bernie Sanders next, at
least he inspired a potential video game with all
his pointing out things. 

Stephen Colbert of the Late Show has a genius idea.

It was literally pointed out to him by Bernie Sanders.

Sanders makes lots of points during his stump speech, pointing out those points with his always pointed finger, pointing out money in politics, pointing out economic inequality. You get the idea

All this pointing has Colbert dreaming up a new video game.

Introducing, Bubble Burst Bernie!

Are People Charged With Felonies In Flint Water Crime Scapegoats, Too

Three people now face criminal charges for helping
cause Flint, Michigan's epic water crisis, but
will Gov. Rick Snyder face charges, too?
I hope an investigation into what he did or didn't
do stays aggressive.  

A lot of us heard the news yesterday that three people involved in the Flint water crisis has been charged with crimes.

This is part of the whole mess in which the entire city was poisoned by bad municipal water basically because the govenor of Michigan wanted to save money, to prove what a High and Mighty fiscal conservative he is.

You know, for future political gain. Maybe he could one day be president!!

Or not. Gov. Rick Snyder's political career is on the ropes because of all the negative publicity swirling around this fiasco.

The Flint Journal, and basically the rest of the national media said Michael Glasgow, a Flint municpal water employee and Steven Busch, and Michael Prysby, both Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees, are charged with felonies.

They're accused of falsifying and tampering with water test results that downplayed the high levels of lead in the water. The high levels that permanently damaged many of Flint's children,

But Snyder saved money switching to the Flint River for the city's water, away from Detroit's system. The governor is fiscally conservative!  It's worth it to poison kids to save taxpayer's money, right?

I'm harping on the governor so much because I'm still convinced the three charged with crimes were under immense pressure from the highest levels of Michigant government to falsify data.

If the three charged with doing so actually did tamper with evidence and alter test results, they ought to be punished.

But the ones that ordered them to do so need even greater punishment.

The Flint Journal/MLive notes that Glasgow, the municipal water employee, tried to warn against switching Flint's drinking water source to the Flint River. He knew something bad was happening.

Just before the switch, Glasgow wrote in an email: "If water is distributed from this plant in the next couple weeks, it will be against my direction."

Sounds to me like someone in state government told Glasgow to change his direction or he will face some sort of awful hell from the governor's office. Or someone high up there.

For what it's worth, Marc Edwards, the Virginia Tech professor who uncovered how bad the Flint water situation really was says Glasgow "should not be put in the same category" as the two state employees who are facing criminal charges, the Flint Journal/MLive reported.

"He made mistakes, but I've see nothing in the evidence I've uncovered that puts him in the same league as the other instigators," Edwards said.

It seems Busch, too, tried to warn against using Flint River water, but someone made him change his tune, too.

Michigan's attorney general says the investigation is far from over and more criminal charges against other people might well be coming.

I just hope this goes to whoever was ordering the coverup that led to so much suffering in Flint.

If the governor indeed drove this, he deserves to be in prison too. For a lot longer time than the low level employees who are facing charges.

We'll see if justice is served. I have my doubts, but you never know.

This is important for all of us, not just Flint. Politicians and everyone need to understand if you hurt people, hurt them severely for political gain, you won't get away with it.

That seems like a minimum requirement for a public official, right?

Spider-Man Shows Up At Funeral, Nobody Thinks It's Weird And Everyone's Touched

Fort Worth Police Officer Damon Cole showed up
at a five-year-old boy's funeral dressed as Spider Man,
and it was probably the classiest thing anyone
could have done in this siuation 

One of the tackiest things you could do is show up a a funeral dressed up as Spider Man.

Except at one recent funeral in Texas, in which somebody did just that - came dressed as Spider Man -- and everyone was touched and honored.

For good reason.  It turned out to have been the classiest thing anyone could have done.

On April 2, Fort Worth, Texas Police Officer Damon Cole was dispatched to search for a five year old boy who suddenly went missing.

Cole searched for the kid, Joshua Garcia in the murky water of a neighbor's neglected backyard pool. Sadly, he found the child's lifeless body at the bottom on the pool, dressed in Spider Man shoes and a Spider Man shirt.

Cole said he wishes he had super powers to save the kid's life, but he couldn't. Nobody could.

"It just broke my heart," Cole told Today. "I have an 8-year-old daughter and I just couldn't imagine something like this. I heard all these stories about how Joshua was just happy and full of life, and this just made it more personal."

Joshua's favorite thing was Spider Man and his family decided to give him a Spider Man funeral. Officer Cole showed up dressed as Spider Man, which I think is as touching a tribute as any for a child who died far, far too young.

Cole has a habit of doing the super hero thing for kids anyway, so the Spider Man thing wasn't entirely new. He is a membef of Heroes, Cops and Kids, a group of Dallas-area offices who dress up as superheroes to cheer up children at various events and venues.

They do this on their own time and their own dime, notes Today.  

Cole might not have had super powers to save the kid's life. But he certainly does have super powers enought to make a sad situation as much less bad as possible.

Television station WLTX, reporting on this said it best: "The actions of this officer prove that it's not the cape or the custome that make the hero, it's the heart. Even a broken one."

Here's a news video of Cole at Joshua's funeral:

Restaurant Patrons Who Think They Are Christians Insult Waiter In Un-Christian Way

Click to make it bigger
and see how some
so called "religious"
people insulted a
waitress at a North
Carolina restaurant. 

Alexandra Judd is a waitress in a Charlotte, North Carolina restaurant and a recent experience she had proves that there definitely are bigots in that state.

North Carolina is in the news spotlight over the so-called "bathroom bill" that in some cases would force transgendered people to use public restrooms that don't correspond with their gender. It also effectively endorses the "right" of some people to discriminate against the LGBT community.

Judd, who is a lesbian, said a group of patrons left without leaving a tip.

Yeah, that happens sometimes. People don't leave tips and that screws over the waitstaff.

But that wasn't what bothered Judd.

The group left a hateful message on the bill, and pointed Judd to that ever popular Bible verse, Leviticus 20:13 that bigots use to shroud their homophobia in "religion," says television station WBTV in Charlotte. 

"If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both them have committed an abomination....They shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them," reads the Old Testament Bible verse.

So there you have it. This group of so-called Christians thought the Christian, holy thing to do is insult somebody.

If these "Christians" don't like gay people, fine. Going out of their way to insult people?

If that's what their religion says to do, I'm staying away from it as far as possible.

This post isn't a swipe at all Christians. It's a swipe at the small minority of them who are actually confused over who is holier than thou.

Certainly not the idiots that visited the restaurant where Judd works.

The people who left this "tip" for Judd also wrote "praying for you."

Yeah, right. Praying that the only see and hear from people exactly like them, is more like it.

Anyway, Judd was of course infuriated and hurt by this, but she's not going to let it get her down. Why should she? Why should she waste her time thinking about morons who are nothings anyway?

She wrote this message to the morons on Facebook: "Don't pray for me, darling. I have everything I could possibly want and need in my life."

Which is certainly more than the people who left the "tip" have. It must be awful to have so empty a life that they have to go around insulting random people in the name of "religion."

Pathetic.

The Weirdest Supermarket Ad EVER

A strange scene from a strange new ad from
a British supermarket.  

This has to be the weirdest ad for a supermarket ever, as noted in the headline.

I take that back. It's the weirdest ad for anything anywhere I've ever seen.  But it is compelling in a very strange way.

I warn you, you can't un-see it once you view it, but go ahead and look.

The ad shows a very oddball encounter in a parking garage, with a big production number, an interesting outfit to say the least and some dancing.

The ad is very gay, in a very strange way.

By the way, there's a series of ads from MoneySuperMarket featuring the guy in hot pants and high heels that were judged Britain's most annoying ads of 2015.

You be the judge, but I'm not sure how the latest in this series of ads would inspire me or anyone to go shop at the MoneySuperMarket, unless you're hoping for unusual finds, maybe.

So watch the video, and be amazed. And frightened. And open-jawed. You get the idea.

Wow

Justin Trudeau Knows Quanum Mechanics, And Charms Us With That Knowledge

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is
comfortable talking about science, unlike
many American politicians.  

Like many Americans, I'm swooning a bit over Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

No, not because he's very good looking. He most certainly is that.  But a politician's good looks are besides the point.

One reason I'm swooning, though, is his ease, his knowledge, and willingness to learn things. His intellectual curiosity. Even about seemingly esoteric things like quantum computing.

I bring this up because I'm swooning in particular over Trudeau's knowledge of quantum computing, with is a sentence I never thought I'd find myself writing.

During a press conference at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, Canada Friday, a reporter snarkily said he basically decided to not ask Trudeau about quantum computing, implying a cute prime minister like that couldn't possibly handle such a weighty subject.

But, Nope, Trudeau insisted on answering the quantum computer question. Sure he was showing off a bit, but you kind of want your prime minister to be the smartest person in the room, right?

Here's part of Trudeau's answer:

"Normal computers work, either there's one power going through a wire or not. It's one or a zero, they're binary systems. What quantum states allow for is much more complex information to be encoded into a single bit. "

Boom! He explained it and it ways that you and me can understand. By the way, physicists who heard Trudeau's spiel - people who ought to know this stuff -- said the prime minister was perfectly correct in his explanation.

Here's the video, with more thoughts below that:



I'm swooning over Trudeau, not so much because he can explain quantum computing, but because he's such a contrast to so many American politicians.

Many American politicians hate, HATE facts and research and science. So we get the spectacle of a United States Senator walking into the Capitol building in Washington DC with a snowball to "prove" global warming isn't happening.

Members of the U.S. Congress repeatedly try to cut funding on science research because the results might conflict with their political agenda.

"There is an attack on the actual substance of the science being done in an attempt to limit the type of science that federal agencies can do because the results of that investigation would be politically inconvenient," University of North Carolina-Wilmington Marine Biology professor Will White said in Scientific American last year. 

Conservative politicians offer ridiculous justifications for discriminating against gay people, relying on "studies" and "research" that aren't really science but just a politicailly motivated sham. f

Congress Creatures also try to cut funding to the National Institutes of Health because some of their research conflicts with their views on contraceptives, teen sex and other hot button issues.

Certainly, not all scientists or scientific research is wonderful. Some of it is flawed, or worse. We shouldn't accept it all at face value.

But shouldn't we demand that our politicians, our leaders, at least have the intellect to understand and evaluate research? And the intellectual honesty to accurately and open mindedly assess the value and accuracy of scientific results?

American politicians don't always deny science. Say what you want about Bernie Sanders, but it's evident he actually reads scientific research on climate change, or is at least briefed on it.

I hope more American politicians accept the model of Justin Trudeau.

No, American politicians don't have to be good looking. But it would be nice if they didn't treat science like an (un-researched) plague epidemic.













 ”

It's something that's become rare in politics, at least on the United States side of the border.

British Couple Might Get Rich Off Whale Vomit

This weird, stinky lump found on a British beach might
be worth as much as $70,000  

A couple in Lancashire found something foul smelling on the beach, and could make quite a monetary windfall because of it.

Gary and Angela Williams were walking along a fairly remote stretch of beach when they found a piece of something known as ambergris, reports The Guardian. 

It's kinda of, sort of whale vomit. It comes out of bile ducts and intestines of sperm whales when they've eaten something sharp and hard and need help passing the difficult food.

Luckily, the Williams had read about ambergris, so suspected right away they'd found a rugby ball sized lump of it. They wrapped it in a scarf and took it home.

When it's found, ambergris stinks "It's a very distinctive smell, like a cross between squid and farmyard manure," Gary Williams told the Guardian.  

Oddly, because of the smell, you'd think the perfume industry wouldn't be interested in such a thing. But they are, big time.

Perfumers uses this stuff to make scents, presumably pleasant ones, last longer. Ambergris is rare, so people get into bidding wars to obtain the stuff.

The lump the Williams found might be worth as much as $70,000.

Which has Gary Williams very happy. "If it's worth a lot of money, it will go a long way towards buying us a static caravan. It would be a dream come true."

(For you non-British readers, a static caravan is a mobile home.)

I hope that nice couple in Britain, then, have fun with the potential bidding war.

Gorilla Does Pretty Little Dance To Cheer Up Your Weekend.

This gorilla is a darned good
 ballet dancer 

A gorilla is going to charm you by playing like a baby, then gracefully dancing like a ballernina in the video within this post.

Just because a little cuteness never hurt anyone.

Note in the video below that Lope, 3 years old, tilts his head and gracefully sets his arms just right, exactly as if he was a professional ballet dancer. This guy is good!

Lope lives at theTwycross Zoo in Leicestershire,  England, and like many human kids, likes to twirl around and dance and have fun.

We should all do that!

Here's the video, though you'll have to click on "Watch On You Tube" once you get into the video because of some copywright thing. Totally worth doing it, though.

Romantic Couple Don't Even Notice The Scary Armed Robbery Right Next To Them

Romance lives on as an armed robbery progresses
in this Billings, Montana bar. The couple kiss, while
the bartender has his hands up, under orders
from the armed robbers.  

I'm happy to report that nobody got hurt during a recent armed robbery at the Tap Inn bar in Billings, Montana.

I'm also happy to report the robbery did not kill romance, at least for one couple.

The two young lovers sitting just a couple feet away from the robbery in the bar didnt even notice.

You can see the surveillance video at the bottom of this post.

I'll let NPR set the scene in the video for you:   

"Three masked assailants storm into a bar in Billings, Montana, brandishing raised weapons, security video shows. The bartender at the Tap Inn throws his hands up. One of the robbers cleans out the cash register as the others wave their guns at the terrified bar patrons.

But for one couple, armed robbery was no match for amour. The intertwined pair continues kissing - just feet from the cash register - throughout the holdup, which lasted less than a minute. Both wear baseball caps on backward and oscillate between locking lips and staring intensely into each other's eyes, apparently so preoccupied that they failed to notice the gun-toting criminals."

We're not sure how much money was taken during the robbery. At least no hearts were stolen, apparently.

The bartender in the incident is fine, and has worked there again since the crime took place.

No word on whether that couple is still making lovey-dovey.

Here's the video, passed along by the Billings Gazette:

This Week's Idiot Wants Everyone To Bring Loaded Guns To Quran-Destroying Ceremony

This moron wants people to bring loaded
guns to his stupid anti-Muslim rally
in Georgia next week. 

Every week or so, the nation gets a new National Village Idiot who somehow manages to top the previous week's National Village Idiot.

Meet Jim Stachowiak. 

His bright idea is to hold a rally in Atlanta next Monday during which he will shred a Quran and a picture of the Prophet Muhammad, which of course is among the most offensive things you can do against the Muslim religion.

Oh, and Stachowiak is encouraging everybody who comes to his hate rally to bring a loaded gun.

What could possibly go wrong?

Stachowiak who is - Surprise! - a Donald Trump supporter, says he has to do this because Muslims are an invading army taking over the nation. I missed that tidbit in the news, but what do I know.

This fun-filled rally will also feature desecrations of copies of photographs of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Who as we all know are secret Muslims plotting to destroy our country. Or something.

My theory is Stachowiak is a double agent for ISIS. What better way to recruit potential new terrorists by holding an event like this? Is Stachowiak a secret Muslim terrorist himself?

Doubt it. Just askin'. Looking for explanations for his stupidity, I guess.

Stachowiak's Idiot's Fair is going to be held in front of the Georgia State Capitol. Public safety officials in Georgia seem less than thrilled by Stachowiak's plans.

"The Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Georgia Building Authority anticipate a non-permitted, anti-Islamic protest on the sidewalks of the Georgia State Capitol....You are hereby notified that protest organizers have encourage their participants to carry loaded long guns," said Georgia Capitol Police Director Lewis G. Young, who clearly doesn't want anybody to show up at Stachowiak's little gathering.

Who can blame Young?

As lovely as Georgia is, it's probably best to stay as far away as possible from their State Capitol next week.

Of course everyone, including Stachowiak has every right to free speech in the United States. Even exceptionally stupid free speech.  So let him have his little rally.

But he clearly wants to cause trouble. Let's not play into this guy's hands.

The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is urging local Muslims to ignore the rally so as not to give Stachowiak and his minions free publicity regarding their message of hate.

Which makes sense. And I'm kinda giving him free publicity here. Georgia Muslims are right to avoid this guy, but it also behooves us to expose idiots like Stachowiak to public scrutiny and ridicule.

One of the best ways to knock back a bully and a jerk is through mocking and jeers, so have at it

Turns Out Robot Waiters Aren't As Good As Humans After All

Turns out, thank goodness, robot waiters aren't nearly
as good as humans for the job. n

A restaurant in China decided to obtain robots to serve meals to customers rather than deal with the expense, messiness and, well, human-ness of actual people as waiters.

It didn't go well, which means at least for now, the legions of waiters at all those restaurants out there can keep their jobs, unless of course they keep forgetting orders, dumping beer on customers or steal from the till.

Luckily, almost all human waiters are better than those described in the above paragraph, which is more than I can say for the robot waiters in China.

According to The Verge, the Chinese restaurant chain bought several waiter robots at $7,000 a pop, but the robots couldn't even pour drinks right. Or serve soup. Or take orders from customers and understand them correctly. Plus they kept breaking down.

Two of the restaurants had to close down due to the incompetent robots. A third restaurant in the chain was able to stay open, but only because it hired flesh and blood humans to serve customers.

Apparently, robots can handle repetitive tasks well, but have trouble when interacting with us quirky, weird humans.

Maybe you don't have to tip robot waiters, but its probably worth tipping humans if it means you actually get the food and drinks you want at the restaurant.

Now HERE'S A Strange Plane Crash

A little clumsy when it came to moving this plane
with a crane.  

Plane crashes are always bad. People get hurt and killed, and there's a lot of destruction.

As plane crashes go this one in India wasn't so bad, and - Bonus! - nobody was killed or injured.

This time, a crane was moving an abandoned Air India Airbus A320 from a airport to a nearby flight training center.

The crane was hoisting the plane over a wall to move it. As you'll see in this video, things didn't go so great:

North Carolina Residents Can't Even Get Porn Because Everybody Is So Angry Over Hate Law

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Virginia Ticketing/Municipal Revenue Generating Scam Being Broken Up

This cop in Fairfax County, Virginia spent
a lot of time ticketing cars in auto repair shop
parking lots for expired inspection stickers.
The cars were in these parking lots
because their owners were trying to get
these cars inspected.  

One of my pet peeves is municipalities who derive revenue from fines against people in ways that are total scams.

I highlighted one of these last year, when it turned out Fairfax County, Virginia were ticketing cars that had expired inspection stickers.

Ticketing people for expired inspection stickers is fine by me, except when the cars they were ticketing were in repair shop parking lots, awaiting required state inspections. 

In a rare dose of common sense, the Virginia legislature has stepped in and banned this practice.

Says the Washington Post:

"State Det. James M. LeMunyon (R-Fairfax) investigated the situation after reading about it in the Washington Post in October. He introduced a bill in December to prohibit ticketing cars awaiting state inspection, and it passed both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly unanimously. 

On Wednesday, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed the bill into law, his spokesman said."

I'm certainly glad Virginia lawmakers did this, but the whole thing still smells like a scam between the industrial park condo association where the repair shops were being targeted, and local police.

Nobody has formally accused these parties of doing this, and I have no proof that I'm right. Still, the whole thing  stinks to high heaven.

The industrial park management and board gave Fairfax police a letter about seven years ago giving police permission to enforce traffic and vehicle ordinances on their private property.

So, police had a field day ticketing the cars there awaiting inspection. I'm pretty sure that the police department reaped oodles of money on fines, and maybe, just maybe kicked back some of these profits to the property managers and condo board.

No proof of that, but what else could it be?

Tellingly, the condo board is not talking to the press.

Fairfax police said they were merely responding to calls for service in the area

Riiiiggght.

A particular parking enforcement officer, Jacqueln Hogue, would always show up and start ticketing like crazy. (Bet there were bonuses in her paycheck!)

Shop owners would hastily move cars inside repair shops whe they saw Hogue.

Hogue one day had the balls to go inside a shop owned by Bruce Redwine to write a ticket on a car in the buidling.

Redwine snatched the ticket out of Hogues hand and admitted using colorful words to describe her. Who wouldn't?

She brought Redwine up on trumped up felony assault charges, but after several court appeals and such a jury took a grand total of 20 minutes to acquit him.

But the legal proceedings cost Redwine thousands of dollars in attorneys fees. That was the message from Hogue, and Fairfax County Police and the condo association. Mess with us, interfere with our scam and it'll cost you big time.

Here's why I care so much about this local case: Corruption like that exhibited by Fairfax, Virginia county police, with the collaboration of the rich guys in the condo association, is why faith in government has collapsed.

Corruption is rampant, people are pissed, and they turn to whoever  can channel their anger. The people who are best able to channel this anger are strongmen, fascists, and in their own right corrupt.

In other words, people like Donald Trump.

In their big get rich quick scheme, Fairfax police and the people around them contributed to this dangerous shift in American government toward more crookedness.

Which makes me doubly grateful to the Virginia legislature and governor for putting a stop to this mess.

Here's a quote from the Washington Post:

"One would think you don't need to legislate common sense, said Dickson Young, Redwine's attorney who won his acquital. "If the Fairfax police had exercised common sense, legislation wouldn't have been necessary."

Yeah, but common sense flies out the window when there's money to be made through a municipally run scam, right Fairfax County, Virginia police?

Palm Fronds Spelling "Help" And A Fire Prevent An Extended Gilligan's Island Stay On Uninhabited Island

Three guys marooned on an uninhabited Pacifici island spelled
the word "Help" in palm fronds on the beach, which
helped lead to their rescue.  

Old farts like me remember the theme song from the 1960s television show "Gilligan's Island" in which a boat went out on a "three hour tour" and the people on the boat ended up stranded on an "uncharted desert isle."

That comedy adventure lasted years.

In real life last week, a boat went out on a "three hour tour" and its occupants ended up marooned, shipwrecked on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean.

Their boat capsized and the three men, wearing life vests, swam two miles to the island last week.

For these guys, the  adventure didn't last years, like on Gilligan's Island.  Still, they were there for three days.

The three men stuck on the island spelled out the word "Help" with palm fronds on the beach.

Nice idea, and it probably would have gotten the found eventually, but the men also set a fire, which enabled U.S. Coast Guard and other searchers in airplanes to spot them. It also helped that those life vests the guys had were flourescent orange.

When a U.S. Navy plane flew over,  the guys waved those bright orange vests next to their "Help" sign.

It all worked.

Our castaways were quickly rescued, and they're in good health.

When Coast Guard spokesman Lt. William White announced the good news about the rescue, they played the "Gilligan's Island" theme song for the press that was gathered there.

Boston Globe Headlines From 2017 Are Truly Scary

The would be April 9 2017
edition of the Boston Globe.  

UPDATE: 

Donald Trump reacted to the Boston Globe fake front page, predictably calling it "stupid"

"How about that stupid Boston Globe? It's worthless. It sold for a dollar."

I guess if a newspaper sells for $1 it's automatically stupid. Sell it for much more, and I guess it's OK.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

In case you missed it, the front page of the April 9,  2017 editions of the Boston Globe are really a nightmare.

I know, I know, it's not 2017 yet and the first paragraph of this post is not one of my famous typos.

But that imagined front page, which is on the actual front page of today's opinion/editorial section of the Sunday Boston Globe, imagines a world in which Donald Trump is indeed president.

It takes Trump's campaign promises at face value, and brings us to what the world would be like.

"It is an exercise in taking a man at his word," writes the Boston Globe editorial staff.

"Deportations To Begin " screams the headline at the top of the April 9, 2017 Boston Globe. There's a subhead that reads: "President Trump Calls For Tripling of ICE Force" and as almost an afterthought continues. "Riots Continue"

Other headlines on the front page are just as grim: "Markets Sink As Trade War Looms" and maybe one of the scariest: "U.S. Soldiers Refuse Orders To Kill ISIS Families."

That's a riff on Trump's off-stated idea that not only should we kill ISIS terrorists, but their families, too.

I guess to teach them a lesson? I dunno. What lesson?

The soldier story goes on, "The military faces a 'crisis of good order and discipline,' Pentagon officials said yesterday, after days of widespread unrest in the ranks over White House orders to kill relatives of ISIS militants. More protests were planned in support of two Army Special Forces soldiers who disobeyed direct orders to kill everyone in an ISIS compound."

It's worth going on the Boston Globe web site, read the editorial explaining their mock paper, and then clicking on each April 9, 2017 article to read them in detail.

Here's a good PDF of this front page if that makes it easier to read (probably does)

The Boston Globe does insert a bit of humor in the front page that mocks Trump. In a column that advertises articles on the inside pages of the April 9, 2017, Boston Globe, we learn that NASA engineers halted an unmanned probe on fears that the new gold leaf trim would interfere with radio communications.

We also learn that heavy spring snow has closed "Trump National Park for the first time since it dropped its loser name, 'Yellowstone' in January."

The U.S. Education Secretary is also trying to force PBS to remake "Celebrity Apprentice" using hand puppets, and the president's new romance novel has been pulled from store shelves because some of it plagarizes from a May, 1986 edition of Penthouse magazine.

Nevertheless, the April 9, 2017 Boston Globe is a clever bit of clairvoyance we should all pay attention to.

The scary thing to me is that the scenarios that play out in these articles seem totally plausible if Trump is serious about what hes saying now.  (Except maybe the humorous bits.)

Here's the basic problem: Demagogues like Trump love to spill what seem like easy, common sense solutions to deep, complex problems. But he either won't or can't predict the chain reaction of stuff that will go on.

Trump and his followers are mostly a subset of the type of people who can't think: "If I do A, then B, C and D will happen." They don't have the brain firepower to to get past "I Will Do A"

Today's Boston Globe full throttle blast won't make any of his supporters think twice, I'm sure. But it is quite an exercise in predicting the future.

And it's not a future I or most people I know want.

Color Commentary Of Strange L.A. Car Chase Is Even Stranger

Mid chase: A battered Mustang leads cops on a very
weird chase through L.A. this week.  

A staple of Los Angeles and L.A. television is the car chase.

Every five minutes or so, somebody steals a car and leads police on a chase through the L.A. basin's freeways and boulevards.

Television news helicopters follow the chases, which always eventually lead to a dramatic arrest.

For some reason they keep televising these things, although they're always the same. At least usually.

There was a weird one this week though, in which a couple of guys lead police in a chase in a Mustang convertable.

From Jalopnik, we get the entire update:

It was a slow speed chase through some unseasonable rain in L.A.  The two guys in the car did do some donuts on a wet overpass halfway through the chase, just for fun.

This being L.A., a TMZ Tour Bus driver appeared to try and  stop the chase by cutting in front of the Mustang on one freeway, but the guys in the car got away.

The color commenntary from is strange, too, as the reporters debate whether the car is a BMW or a Mustang.

Then they tell us this is like Ferris Bueller's Day Off, speculate hows they would stop the chase with their own cars, comment on the alleged lackadaisical incompetence of the cops chasing the Mustang, and, because the chase is so weird and slow, tell us that this is the future car chase under Bernie Sanders.

(By the way, the cops said they were deliberately slow on this because they didnt want to endanger people by flying down the streets and freeways at top speed.)

The television footage is mysteriously interrupted by a brief soundless clip of a backstage interview at American Idol, but we quickly get back to the crisis in question here.

The chase ends when the Mustang parks in the neighborhood, the driver casually gets out and makes a phone call. He and the other guy in the car take selfies and greet friends. People in the neighborhood come out, whip out their cell phones and take pictures.

Seven minutes later, the cops arrive to make an anticlimatic arrest.

The Los Angeles Times identified the driver in the chase as Herschel Reynolds, 20 and his passenger was Isaiah Young, 19. Both face numerous charges, including some related to an alleged burglary that touched off the chase.

Reynolds was apparently trained as a tactical driver for the U.S. Marines, but was "prematurely discharged" under murky circumstances, though it is clear the Marines weren't happy with Reynolds, says the L.A. Times.

I'm glad I don't live in L.A. The weirdness is too much, even or me.

Here's the video clips with the commentary from television anchors and reporters:

Terrible Road Rage Incident Video: Miraculously No Injuries

A YouTube video shows one of the most dangerous road rage incidents I have yet found online

Gawd, people calm down.

Kristian Rosa, in the car, tries to cut off the motorcyclist
filming the incident. A chase between the two
ensued, reaching speeds of over 100 mph.  

In it, Rone Gonzalez, 23 has a GoPro, or cell phone or some other video device on as he's driving his motorcycle around Homestead, Florida.

The  wild video recorded by Gonzalez is at the botom of this post. Worth a terrifying watch.

Something happened that annoyed an idiot named Kristian Rosa, 30, in a red car, to start trying to chase Gonzalez and cut him off and knock him off his bike.

Both guys really put a lot of motorists in grave danger. In a desperate attempt to get away from Rosa, Gonzalez goes top speed down a four lane road, in the wrong lane, nearly causing head on collisions with several vehicles.

He was right to try to get away, and I guess his hands were tied by Gonzalez swerving all over the road to try t run him down, but still.

Meanwhile Rosa persists for miles and miles. I don't know what got him so angry, but he really needs some help with anger management.

Gonzalez, the motorcyle driver was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and Rosa, in the car, faces a felony aggravated assault charge and misdemeanor reckless driving.

Both guys later said they regret what they did, says local10.com, the ABC affiliate in the Miami area.  A little late now.

Gonzalez said he is an inexperienced rider and panicked when the chase started. "I will admit when I am wrong. All of this stuff wasn't on purpose but an attempt to get away.....I didn't choose to get on to oncoming traffic. He blocked my path in both lanes. I didn't want to harm myself or other people."

As for Rosa:

"I'm not proud of what I did....All I can say is that I learned a big lesson. A lot of things could have happened in that short time. It only takes a second for an accident to happen, yet we both took no consideration over our loved ones or the people around us at the time."

Remember that, kiddies, before you act on  your anger at other drivers, no matter how stupid they might be.

Here's the video:

Thin-Skinned Rick Scott Freaks Over Rude Woman; Attacks Back

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, bald guy on the far left of
this photo, being berated in a Starbucks by Cara
Jennings, in the green shirt. Scott's people
later released an attack an against Jennings.  

The other day, Florida Gov. Rick Scott went to a Starbucks to get a coffee.

While he was there, a woman started yelling at him for what she said was a terrible job he is doing as governor, how he's screwing low income residents, that he's a jerk and an "embarassment to the state"

Based on the evidence, the woman might well be right, but still, it was kinda rude of her to cause a scene when the gov was just trying to get a simple cup of coffee for crissakes.

Especially since she yelled at the gov that he is a, quote, "asshole."

The video of this incident went viral, so a lot of people saw it. Most normal politicians, if there is such a thing, would have let it go by, and the whole thing would have quickly been forgotten.

But Gov. Scott, Important Man that he is can't let it go. How dare somebody insult the Exalted Governor Of Florida!

So, in a very Trumpian move, he, or at least his political action committee,  quickly issued an attack ad against this woman, reports The Hill.

Both the original video of the woman yelling at Scott, and Scott's response attack ad are at the bottom of this post for your viewing pleasure.

The governor's ad, up on Scott's official YouTube channel,  pulls no punches. 'Well, that woman clearly has a problem, and it turns out she's a former government official who refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and calls herself an anarchist!"

Ooooh! She won't recite the Pledge of Allegiance! That automatically disqualifies her for expressing her First Amendment rights. Especially since her First Amendment exercise was demonstratively rude!

Will we have another Donald Trump in Rick Scott? Trump thinks Megyn Kelly of Fox News insulted him during a Republican debate last year and he still can't let it go. Will Rick Scott forever hold a smoldering, hateful grudge against the woman in Starbucks for preventing him from enjoying that All Important cup of coffee?

The woman in the video is Cara Jennings, who told the Florida Sun-Sentinel she's a bit perplexed about why the goverorn would release a video attacking a private citizen.

"So I guess he doesn't want to meet me for coffee?" she asked.

Um, probably not.

I just hope Rick Scott won't make an attack ad against me now because I'm criticizing him. Hey Ricky! (Can I call you Ricky?) I promise not to call you an off-color name.

I'll just call you way, wayy too sensitive. Sorry you got your feelings hurt.

Maybe Jennings can make a retaliatory attack ad against Rick Scott. Won't that be fun!

Here's the original viral video of Jennings yelling at the governor:



And here's the attack ad against Jennings from the governor's camp: