Weird News of the World Thread - Part 1

[KevanG]

I also agree that gun safety course should be mandatory but I think smart guns are the way of the future. DNA should be used to verify who can fire the weapon and all sales need to go through a licensed dealer so the weapons can be tracked properly

They'll have a way around that a few months and there will still be a quarter billion guns in the US alone.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

American Oil Workers Are on Strike

What with big news such as the Super Bowl and its advertisements, you may have missed the smaller news that large numbers of American oil workers have walked off the job. They have.

Oil prices are currently in the toilet. That does not bode well for ground-level employees of oil companies, some of whom are bound to be laid off in the near future as the companies try to lower their production to meet demand. At the same time, the United Steelworkers union is negotiating new contracts for thousands of workers in oil refineries, pipelines, and factories. It isn't going well. The union has called its first major strike in 35 years. So far, the strike has spread to "plants accounting for 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity," Bloomberg reports—but "a full walkout of USW workers would threaten to disrupt as much as 64 percent of U.S. fuel output."

Disrupting two-thirds of U.S. fuel output would be just the thing to raise oil prices again. Strikes work!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...u-s-begin-first-large-scale-strike-since-1980

Just when you thought going to the pump was safe again

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Woman Driving Herself to the Hospital Delivers Her Own Baby

The most badass woman in Utah basically delivered her own baby when her water broke as she was driving herself to the hospital.

Devi Mariah Ostler told the AP she was dropping her son off at her mother's house when her contractions began. She tried to drive herself to the hospital, but never made it. Via the AP:

On a recording of the call, Ostler is initially calm, telling the dispatcher that she's on the freeway, but soon interrupts herself to say her water broke.

"I'm trying to get over into the other lane — I need to push!" she said. She told the dispatcher her name and described her car, then said: "The baby is coming!"

The 32-year-old expectant mother pulled over on the side of Interstate 15 as dispatcher Brittney Chugg talked her through the labor, telling her to lay her seat back, breathe and even hold the baby's head so he wasn't born too fast.

Two officers were able to reach Ostler "less than a minute" before she gave birth to a healthy, 10-pound boy on the side of the interstate. The officers reportedly wrapped the kid in a sweatshirt and wished him well on his inevitable country music career.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=33320433

Glad everything went well for this lady

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Canada May Have Just Set A Fracking Earthquake World Record

Late last month, a 4.4 magnitude earthquake shook the town of Fox Creek, Alberta. The province's energy regulator is pointing the finger at hydraulic fracturing which, if confirmed, would make it the largest earthquake ever to have been induced by the method.

The earthquake, which was severe enough to cause minor damage, happened on January 22. It was the largest of a swarm of earthquakes to strike the region across a 50 kilometer (31 mile) radius. The town, which is primarily sustained by oil and gas development, is located about 260 kilometers (161 miles) north of Edmonton and is home to about 2,000 people.

"It felt like a big gust of wind hit the house. The door flew open and the couch moved," noted Kelli Mcphee to the CBC. "My husband grabbed a bat and started walking around the house because we didn't know what it was."

In an email to the CBC, the Alberta Energy Regulator says its monitoring system picked up strong evidence that fracking caused this particular earthquake, and that it likely caused the swarm as well. But it admitted that it is "impossible to definitively state that it was not a naturally occurring event."

"The location of the earthquake is consistent with being induced by hydraulic fracturing operations," confirmed AER spokesman Peter Murchland in The Tyee, adding that "The AER regards all changes in seismicity that have the potential to indicate an increased risk associated with hydrocarbon production seriously."

According to The Tyee, several companies are cracking rock in the Duvernay shale at a depth of 3,000 meters to pull up condensates, a commodity worth more than oil and is used to dilute bitumen for pipeline transport.

This is the second earthquake swarm to hit the region.

More from The Tyee:

"When we hit a magnitude of 3.8 this month, I'd thought for sure that the industry would stop and take a smoke break to figure out what's going on," said 57-year-old Barb Ryan, a Fox Creek resident who has been keeping an eye on resource development. "But they didn't. Many are in denial here."

Ryan has pressed for more transparent monitoring over the fracking industry's growing impacts on water, air and public health, but said she has faced resistance from local authorities. (She also graphed the Fox Creek swarms using coordinates from Natural Resources Canada.)

The earthquakes have mostly taken place in the province's first "play based regulation pilot," a geographical area where the regulator has given blanket approval to the development of the formation as opposed to approving one well at a time. The Alberta Energy Regulator says the strategy "results in regulatory efficiencies," but critics call it a new form of deregulation.

Ryan said that most people in Fox Creek know little to nothing about the first or second earthquake swarm, because there has been no public reporting on the events.

Though a contentious issue in the science community, fracking probably does induce earthquakes, but it's important to note that not every injection well is related to fracking. By pumping large quantities of water into regions rich in natural gas, the excess volumes of water allows rocks that would ordinarily be locked together to slip and glide past each other, causing large-scale movement and subsequent earthquakes.

As an aside, British Columbia requires operators to stop if they trigger an earthquake above 4.0 magnitude. Alberta has no such policy.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...to-4-4-magnitude-quake-in-fox-creek-1.2938900

KevanG how could you let this happen?

 

[KevanG]

We knew better but it just happened because our politicians are spineless corrupt *******s.

 

[Teelie]

American Oil Workers Are on Strike

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...u-s-begin-first-large-scale-strike-since-1980

Just when you thought going to the pump was safe again

Oil prices get too high, gas prices go up, the economy suffers because people can't afford to spend as much.

They go down too low and people start complaining it's too low and striking because oil company profits aren't quite as outrageous as normal.

We can't win.

Canada May Have Just Set A Fracking Earthquake World Record

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...to-4-4-magnitude-quake-in-fox-creek-1.2938900

KevanG how could you let this happen?

And this is why I disagree with fracking being safe (a reference to this).

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Robin Williams' Family Divided in Fight Over His Estate

Robin Williams' widow and children have been fighting over his personal belongings in a contentious legal battle for months, according to court documents.

According to the New York Times, Williams—who committed suicide on Aug. 11—left the majority of his estate to his three children from previous marriages, Zak, Zelda and Cody Williams. He also left them "clothing, jewelry, personal photos taken prior to his marriage to Susan," and his "memorabilia and awards in the entertainment industry."

A second trust gave Susan Schneider Williams—his wife of three years—the couple's home in Tiburon, California, some of the personal property within the home, and money for "all costs related to the residence."

Now Susan is in court claiming that third provision should be construed to cover "all expenses associated with daily upkeep as well as unexpected renovations and improvements"—money that would come out of the children's share.

In the meantime, Williams' children claim, Susan has refused to allow them to collect the personal belongings left to them in the will, challenged the trust's definition of certain words, and started expensive renovations on her home. Via the Times:

Her lawyers say in the court papers that, in September, she was given only three days' notice by the trustees of the main trust of their intention to remove home items they believed had been bequeathed to the children.

Mrs. Williams, asserting that she "became frightened of the co-trustees invading her home," blocked their access.

The children countered that Mrs. Williams has continued to block their access to the Tiburon home, even as she has allowed others inside. Those others included appraisers who estimated the value of items that the children contend are rightfully theirs and workers who helped design and complete a $30,000 renovation, the court papers contend.

TMZ reports they're also fighting over whether the definition of "jewelry" includes watches.

Susan's lawyer told the Times her requests were like "a bucket of water in a lake" compared to the estimated $50 million estate. Williams' children say she is "adding insult to a terrible injury."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/movies/robin-williamss-widow-and-children-tangle-over-estate.html

Seems like his widow is a real piece of work

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Google Betrays Uber, And Now It's War

Remember how Eric Schmidt spent years sitting on the Apple board, quietly learning everything about the iPhone — and then, presto, Google suddenly came out with Android and it looked a whole lot like the iPhone operating system and Steve Jobs went nuts on Schmidt for being such a sneaky, backstabbing son of a b****?

Well, Google just snuck up on another victim. This time it's Uber.

BusinessWeek reports that Google has been tinkering with its own ride service, only with Google the service will run on self-driving cars, which means it will be way cheaper and better than Uber, and will present much less chance of getting assaulted by your driver.

You didn't think Google was just making those crazy little robot cars just for fun, did you? Widespread rollout might be a few years away, but Googlers are already using the service, supposedly. And Uber has seen screenshots of the app.

What makes this a lot more interesting and backstabby is that Google has been an investor in Uber, which has given Google access to all sorts of inside information about Uber. Worse, Google's chief counsel, David Drummond, has been on Uber's board of directors since 2013. Now Uber is thinking about throwing Drummond off the board, and so they should!

Meanwhile Uber is now desperately racing to catch up by making its own self-driving cars. According to TechCrunch, Uber just gutted the legendary robotics department at Carnegie Mellon University to get them cranking on an autonomous car for Uber.

This might be a case of too little too late. Google has a huge head start. Moreover, Uber depends on Google Maps. So breaking off from Google would mean not only creating autonomous cars but also finding a new maps partner.

The only question now is this: Does Google buy Uber, or just kill it?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...e-google-and-uber-are-going-to-war-over-taxis

Wow, don't be evil huh Google? This seems pretty damn evil

 

[Lily Adler]

Google, the new evil.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Russia May Slap Germany With A $4.5 Trillion Lawsuit For Nazi Atrocities

A workgroup is being set up by deputies of Russia's parliament to calculate the damage that Nazi Germany inflicted upon the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Initial estimates place the figure between $3.43 to $4.56 trillion dollars — but good luck getting Germany to pay.

As Izvestia is reporting, this idea was proposed by Mikhail Degtyaryov, a member of the supreme council of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). His contention is that Germany has hardly paid any reparations for the destruction and atrocities inflicted on the Soviet Union during WWII.

Degtyaryov referred to the Soviet government commission that assessed WWII damages as 30% of the national wealth, adding that the Nazis destroyed 1,710 Soviet cities and towns, 70,000 villages, 32,000 factories, and 100,000 collective farms during the ill-fated Operation Barbarossa.

"What we have now is that Germany repaid compensations over 6 million victims of the Holocaust but ignored the deaths of 27 million Soviet people, over 16 million of which were civilians," he added.

Degtyaryov contends that, under the Yalta agreements, the USSR recouped some damage by taking away a number of German assets in the form of "furniture, clothing, [and] industrial equipment," and that this insufficiently compensated for the damage incurred by the war economy of the USSR. And while an agreement to cease reparations was signed with the Soviet-propped German Democratic Republic, no similar agreement was ever forged with the Federal Republic of Germany (either before or after reunification).

Revealingly, Degtyaryov admitted that the issue remains open and topical because Germany is supposedly inflicting damage on Russia as it presses forward with "unlawful sanctions" on behalf of the European Union.

Should they go ahead with the lawsuit, Russian parliamentarians concede that the chances of winning are extremely low, but that it's important to remind the Russian people about history.

As noted in RT, Russia risks making an already tense situation with the West even worse:

ome lawmakers were extremely critical of the motion. The deputy head of the upper house Committee for Foreign Relations, Vladimir Dzhabarov, said that all reparations issues between the USSR and Germany were settled in 1950s and returning to the issue could only bring problems.

"All we can achieve through bringing up this question is the deterioration of our relations with Germany, which aren't that good at the moment. Russia has enough problems apart from these reparations," the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily quoted the senator as saying.

The chair of the State Duma Education Committee, MP Vyacheslav Nikonov (United Russia) called the LDPR initiative "utter rubbish" in press comments and noted that the stirring up old conflicts was a stupid thing to do at the moment.

"Germany has paid the reparations, mostly it was done by East Germany. This problem has been solved. They stopped paying in 1953," Nikonov noted.

Germany has already said that it isn't going to pay Russia a single dime. And as Tass reports, "repayment of reparations is possible only upon an interstate agreement and it is practically unrealistic to recover any reparations seventy years after the end of the war."

Russia may or may not hand Germany this lawsuit, but it's clear that some of its more nationalistic elements are using this ploy for propaganda purposes, and as a way to use history to further inflame anti-Western sentiment.

Russia also needs to tread carefully, here — lest it be slapped by countersuits from former Eastern Bloc countries, all of which could argue they suffered tremendous humanitarian and material losses under de facto Soviet occupation.

http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/775042

Talk about picking at an old scab

 

[redhawk23]

Russia May Slap Germany With A $4.5 Trillion Lawsuit For Nazi Atrocities

http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/775042

Talk about picking at an old scab

Can the current Germany even be said to be the same country after the end of the Nazi regime and then spending several decades split into two countries and then re-unified?

 

[Marvolo]

Russia May Slap Germany With A $4.5 Trillion Lawsuit For Nazi Atrocities

http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/775042

Talk about picking at an old scab

Russia is in a very bad economic recession, and they are desperate. Not sure if they will get a dime out of this tactic, but it doesnt hurt to try. But for the record, I dont believe Germany owes Russia a dime. Germany isnt even the same country as Nazi Germany and there has to be a statute of limitations for this sort of thing. Besides Russia needs to consider their own history and thw atrocities they commited against the people in Russia and surrounding countries and regions. *cough**cough* Stalin & the Communist takeover of Eastern Germany*cough* Plus Russian soldiers werent exactly saints in WW2.

 

[KevanG]

Oh please. Russia needs to stop being idiots about everything these days. Putin wants everything his way and just wants to reform the USSR. If Russia decides to sue Germany for that then every single former country of the USSR, including those that changed names and changed over the years, should sue them. Especially the Ukraine.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Multiple Passengers Killed in Horrifying TransAsia Airways Bridge Crash

A small TransAsia flight crashed into a Taipei harbor Wednesday, injuring "a number" of the estimated 53 passengers who are still reportedly awaiting rescue.

[YT]0fWhYJNZt08[/YT]

Flight GE 235 crashed shortly after takeoff, via the Straits Times:

The ATR-72 turboprop aircraft with 58 onboard was flying from Taipei to the offshore island of Kinmen when it crashed into the Keelung River after apparently ramming into a highway viaduct, Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA) said. Taiwan's United Daily News said about 10 people have been sent to hospital, and more than 40 are still awaiting rescue.

The New Taipei City Fire Department has despatched five rescue teams, equipped with speed boats, to the accident site near the Nanyang Bridge in Xizhi district, CNA said.

It's also the second TransAsia crash this year—48 people died in July when Flight 222 crashed in a storm just outside of Penghu.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/world/asia/small-passenger-plane-crashes-into-river-in-taiwan.html

Well that's horrible

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

UPDATE: Red Power Ranger Won't Be Charged with Stabbing His Roommate--For Now

Police are still trying to determine whether the actor who killed his roommate this weekend—apparently during an argument about the actor's girlfriend—should be charged with murder.

Ricardo Medina, Jr. was arrested and booked on murder charges Sunday after he killed his roommate with a sword. But prosecutors reportedly announced Tuesday they planned to release him without charging him, pending a police investigation.

According to reports, Medina—who's claiming self-defense—was arguing with his roommate about Medina's girlfriend when things turned physical.

Via the NYDN:

Charges have not yet been filed against Medina, 36, who argued with Joshua Sutter, 36, after the roommate expressed his annoyance that Medina's girlfriend hung out at their apartment when Medina wasn't home, unnamed police sources told TMZ.

The "Power Rangers Wild Force" star and his girlfriend retreated to his bedroom during the argument, but Sutter forced the door open, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office said. Medina grabbed a sword he kept next to his bedroom door and stabbed Sutter in the abdomen, police said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...te-fought-girlfriend-report-article-1.2101815

This is why you can't mess with a Power Ranger

 

[KevanG]

Saw the plane on CNN. Jeez.

 

[squeekness]

Imagine the poor folks in that yellow car. I don't think they all made it out of there alive. Imagine being hit by a plane while driving to work.

 

[Anita18]

Imagine the poor folks in that yellow car. I don't think they all made it out of there alive. Imagine being hit by a plane while driving to work.

It was a taxi, and the two people inside were injured but in stable condition and expected to survive.

But yeah, super scary to see a big plane come down so close. And driving in Taipei is scary enough already!

 

[Hotwire]

UPDATE: Red Power Ranger Won't Be Charged with Stabbing His Roommate--For Now

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...te-fought-girlfriend-report-article-1.2101815

This is why you can't mess with a Power Ranger

I guess the case wasn't so...
(Takes off sunglasses)
Clear cut.
YYEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

 

[Mustang69]

Not sure if this should go here or under the stupid people doing stupid things thread but here you go -

This guy had his nose cut off so he could look like the Red Skull

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2015/02/superfan-has-nose-cut-off-to-look-like-red-skull.html

 

[squeekness]

It was a taxi, and the two people inside were injured but in stable condition and expected to survive.

But yeah, super scary to see a big plane come down so close. And driving in Taipei is scary enough already!

I'm surprised no one that car died. I saw a photo of it after and it was really mangled. Must have had lots of safety features.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Customer Kicked Out of McDonald's for Crime of Being a Baby Kangaroo

A Wisconsin woman says she was recently asked to leave a McDonald's over her choice of company, even though her companion had done nothing wrong. Nothing, that is, besides being a baby kangaroo.

According to Diana Moyer, an officer made her and Jimmy, her eight-month-old kangaroo, exit the restaurant after another patron called the police. At the time, Jimmy was in a child's car seat, an apparently common occurrence. From the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen:

[Moyer] said she has been visiting the McDonald's at 840 Park Ave. for three months with Jimmy and no one has ever complained. In fact, she said she takes Jimmy everywhere, including her church — Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Beaver Dam — and to the east side of Madison. Recently she and Jimmy drove to Eastgate Cinema in Madison to watch Taken 3.

For their part, police have stood by the blatantly anti-marsupial act.

"While it's an unusual call, it was certainly handled in an appropriate manner going in and ultimately we got what we'd like to get," said Detective Ryan Klavekoske, "which is voluntary compliance with the ordinance."

http://nypost.com/2015/02/04/woman-...w&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

What kind of sick individual would call the cops on that little guy? I could understand if it was a big one, they are notorious a**holes

 

[Duran Man]

They'll roo the day they called the police.

 

[Teelie]

Multiple Passengers Killed in Horrifying TransAsia Airways Bridge Crash

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/world/asia/small-passenger-plane-crashes-into-river-in-taiwan.html

Well that's horrible

Saw the plane on CNN. Jeez.

Imagine the poor folks in that yellow car. I don't think they all made it out of there alive. Imagine being hit by a plane while driving to work.

It was a taxi, and the two people inside were injured but in stable condition and expected to survive.

But yeah, super scary to see a big plane come down so close. And driving in Taipei is scary enough already!

I saw it there too. It was the very definition of a train wreck happening. You know what's going on but you can't look away.

That the people in the taxi survived is surprising. I saw the damage done to it and to the plane.

 

[squeekness]

They'll roo the day they called the police.

LOLs.