"Boring" Photo Is One Of Most Chilling Ones I've Seen In the News In A Long Time

This photo looks pretty routine, but the backstory of it is
absolutely chilling.

The photo in this post is pretty routine, maybe even boring, but it is one of the most chilling I've ever seen.  

The guy I the foreground is Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov. He was in an Ankara, Turkey art gallery this morning looking at the works.

The photo of Karlov was taken just moments before he was assassinated. The person who killed him is the blurry guy in the background.

The gunman, reportedly on off-duty Turkish police officer,  yelled "Don't forget Aleppo! Don't Forget Syria!" before apparently being killed by Turkish forces, Reuters reported.

The Syrian civil war has been a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of people and that is the understatement of the year.

Thousands of innocent civilians died terrible deaths in East Aleppo, and thousands more have been through  months or years of incredible suffering.

Aleppo has been an astounding human failure, an astounding humanitarian failure.

One more death, this time the Russian ambassador to Turkey, is "just" another part of the horror show that is Syria and the monsters who made it happen, and the weak people who let it happen.

The photo above, while not showing any carnage, is another testament to the awfulness in that part of the world right now.

Drinking And Driving Is Bad. So Is Leaving Your Drink On The Roof Of The Car

Alcohol abuse: The tragic aftermath of this guy dropping
his twelve pack of beer on New Year's Eve.

In the video you'll see in this post, somebody in Australia apparently left quite a bit of red wine of the roof of their car and drove off.

Then the motorist decided to hit the brakes.

You'll see what happened in the video at the bottom of this post.

As Yahoo News pointed out, this isn't the only alcohol tragedy in recent days.

A video circulating, which you see in this post, shows the aftermath of a guy dropping his case of beer just after leaving the liquor store.

He certainly looks distraught.

Here's the recent wine incident in Australia:

I Would Have Named This Horse "Echo"

Add caption

Meet DaVinci, pictured here. His nickname is Vinnie.  

He's got the coolest markings. The white pattern on him echoes his profile. So cool!

No, the markings are not painted on. It actually looks like this.

His owner says Vinnie is "so friendly and the kids love him."

Giraffe's Goodbye Has The Whole World Getting Misty

A maintenance man at a Rotterdam zoo who is dying of cancer got a touching sendoff that has everybody on the Internet getting misty.

A giraffe appears to kiss a dying Mario goodbye.
Mario had worked at a Rotterdam zoo for years
and is dying of cancer. He was brought to the
zoo to say goodbye to his coworkers
and animal friends.  

The guy, identified only as Mario, worked a lot in the giraffe area of the zoon. Mario was brought to the zoo in his dying days to say goodbye to the people and the animals he cared for.

The group that facilitated Mario's goodbye put his hospital bed in the giraffe enclosure at the zoo.

In the most heartbreaking, beautiful photo, a giraffe appears to be kissing Mario goodbye.

Who know? Maybe the giraffe was just curious. Maybe the giraffe was just hoping Mario had a morsel of food.

But I like to think this is another example of the connection we have, or can have with animals.

In any event, is someone slicing onions in here? My eyes are watery....

From Movies To Storage: A Fun Way To Change a Business

From the JoeMyGod blog comes a fun photo of what happens when a seven-screen movie theater goes under and a self-storage facility takes its place.

The movie marquee is still up, so the self storage company uses the signboard to promote itself as if movies were still being screened.

My favorite in the photo: "It Came From the Closet:

As always, click on the pic to make it bigger and easier to read.

Great Idea for Your Next Party!

Found this on BoingBoing. Call and make a reservation for your next party! I'm sure demand is high, so call early!

The Smoking Gun Building Is No Misfire

I don't know where this building is, but I'd love to know who painted it. I wounder what business is in there. A gun shop, I presume. Or maybe it's the headquarters for the public records Web site The Smoking Gun. 

Anyway, it's cool.