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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Friday, July 16, 2010

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:
You tend to work best with people who share your values, so make sure to surround yourself with lots of like-minded peers to keep you on track.
If you can simply keep your eyes down and your heart in the game, you can accomplish far more than you had ever thought possible.
It's also a great time to get something new off the ground, so start brainstorming right away with your people.

Today is:
Today is Thursday, July 16, the 197th day of 2010.
There are 168 days left in the year.
 
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Hotdog Night

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

World endures hottest year on record

Weather analysis blames El Niño for abnormally warm temperatures and droughts.  
Also: 

How to Get a Lot From Your Plot

Backyard Gardening

by Barbara Pleasant
Whether this is your first year growing a kitchen garden or your thumb glows green from years of use, it’s possible to quickly turn dreams of bountiful organic harvests into a reality. Even small gardens can be surprisingly productive, sometimes yielding enough squash to feed the neighborhood. These 10 tips will help you reap top harvests of superb vegetables and herbs.
Shop from Your Garden First. After a lifetime of buying food in stores, you may need to change your shopping habits to accommodate the stream of veggies from your own produce patch. It makes sense to shop there first. When you plan meals based upon your garden’s abundance, much less overripe produce ends up as compost.
Spread on the Mulch. Everywhere but in the subtropics, rain often becomes scarce in summer, so do everything you can to keep plants supplied with consistent moisture. Tomatoes, in particular, are sensitive to changes in soil moisture that can lead to black spots on the bottoms of ripening fruits. In any climate, drip irrigation from soaker hoses on the surface makes watering easy and efficient. Covering the hoses with mulch reduces surface evaporation and discourages weeds at the same time.
Harvest Often. From snap beans to zucchini, vegetables will be longer and stronger if you keep them picked. Gather what’s ripe at least three times a week. Early morning is the best time to gather garden-fresh veggies.
Make Plenty of Pesto. A fast-growing annual herb that loves hot weather, basil will keep producing new leaves over a longer time if you harvest big bunches just as the plants develop buds and flowers (the flowers are edible, too). If you have too much basil to use right away, purée washed leaves with olive oil and lemon juice, then cover with water in ice cube trays and freeze. Store the hard cubes in freezer bags for use in making pesto during non-harvest months.
Squeeze Tomatoes. In choosing your favorite tomatoes, taste them fairly by keeping them in a warm place because cool temperatures can destroy their flavor compounds. In addition to watching the vines for ripe colors, make a habit of gently squeezing tomatoes to judge their firmness, the same way you might check an avocado or peach. Heirloom varieties, in particular, are at their best just as they begin to soften, but may become mealy if you wait too long.
Taste Local Favorites. Trying new crops is always fun, especially if you know they grow well in your region. To learn more about which vegetables and herbs naturally grow well in your climate and soil, visit local farmers’ markets to see what local organic farmers are growing. Any crop that grows well in a neighbor’s field is likely to also do well in your garden.
Keep Your Cool. Take on big garden tasks early in the morning or in the evening, when it’s cool. If you must work outdoors on a hot day, try freezing damp kitchen towels into a U-shape and drape a frozen collar around your neck to keep from overheating.
Bet on Beans. Most vegetables are fast-growing annuals that decline after they have produced for several weeks. Replace tattered spring crops with fast-growing bush snap beans, which will promptly sprout and grow in all but the hottest climates. Where summers are sultry, there is often time to follow spring crops with a planting of edamame (edible green soybeans), which offer sensational taste, texture and nutrition.
Sow More Salad. Lettuce and other salad greens often go to seed and turn bitter when hot weather comes, but a second salad season is right around the corner. Leafy greens, from arugula to tatsoi (a gorgeous Asian mustard), thrive from late summer to fall in most climates. Keep seeds left over from spring in the refrigerator and start planting them outside as soon as cooler nights arrive in late summer. In subtropical areas, start seeds indoors and set the seedlings out after the hottest months have passed.
Fortify Soil. Each time you cultivate a bed, mix in a generous helping of compost or another form of rich, organic matter. Over time, the soil will become better and better, which means ever more beautiful homegrown veggies, fresh from your own garden.
Barbara Pleasant is the author of numerous gardening books; this year’s release is Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens. 
For more information visit BarbaraPleasant.com.

Sage Advice

Life is funny - so laugh once in a while!

Over the Falls

A harrowing plunge at age 7 gave Roger Woodward a top spot in Niagara lore.  
Also: 

In 1966, the Beatles invented the video

 
The Beatles Rain

In 1966, the Beatles invented the video.
They decided to make a film to  send to the ED SULLIVAN SHOW, instead of making a special appearance  inventing in this way - the video clip.
It became a successful format  after this and they and every other band proceeded to do the same.
This along with Paperback Writer  were sent to the show.

 
The Beatles Paperback Writer

My Generation

http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/aae1d12c4f6520132362b2b126a976c3c3bb3380_m.jpg

What Our Flag Says About Us

America’s Power Colors

by Tori Hartman
When we delve into the meaning behind red, white and blue, we learn that this distinctive combination signals a powerful message. Our national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, honoring Old Glory, salutes the intensity that founds the home we call America.
Red gives orders; it doesn’t take them. Red is in charge and represents the source of all power. It is related to the first chakra (also known as the root chakra, or spiritual energy center at the base of the human spine), signifying a rootedness in the physical land.
White deflects and takes nothing personally. Ironically, while white can be seen as clean and pure, it can also indicate being alone, isolated and with a seeming lack of caring that may make it appear aloof and superior. Instead, in its pure form, white simply stands as a neutral presence.
Blue is the color of the creative conformist, especially in the hue of navy blue. This blue assists if one is overly emotional or hasty in communicating, because it helps calm things down. Navy represents truth that has been well thought out before being communicated. It symbolizes trustworthiness and honesty and conveys calm authority. That’s why the favorite corporate color through much of the 1970s and 80s was navy.
Here, then, is how the telling combination of America’s colors plays out:
The rashness of red conveys strength and courage, while white maintains a detached authority, and blue bears the idea that we stand united in trust and truth. Together, these three colors symbolize courage, authority and freedom. The Congress of the Confederation similarly chose these same three colors for the Great Seal of the United States, noting their meaning as white to mean purity and innocence, red for valor and hardiness and blue for vigilance, perseverance and justice.
Americans have carried on with their energetic journey of freedom for themselves and the world since the day the first flag of the United States of America hung outside General George Washington’s headquarters on January 1, 1776.
Tori Hartman is a color consultant and author of Color Wisdom Cards. 
For more information on her work, visit ToriHartman.com.

Benedict Arnold: Hero-Traitor

Before he betrayed America, Benedict Arnold may have saved it, one defender says.  
Also: 

Friends Of Irony


Friends of Irony is a site that collects photos of signs that directly contradict what you can see.

India picks symbol to rival the €£¥$

For those of us still fumbling to find the € symbol on our keyboards, today was a bad news day. Computer and mobile keyboards in India (and possibly around the globe) will soon be adding another new button - the rupee key.

Yesterday a jury selected by the Indian government unveiled a new rupee symbol to rival the internationally recognized the US dollar ($), the euro (€), the UK pound (£) and the Japanese Yen (¥).


The decision to create a new currency symbol reflects India’s aspiration to become a global player on international financial markets, in particular at a time when the Indian rupee has been strengthening against all major currencies. The new symbol - or logo as some people have called it - also aims to distinguish India from its neighbors. Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka all currently use the “Rs” abbreviation to refer to the their local rupee.

Earlier this year Pranab Mukherjee, India’s finance minister, said that the government “intends to formalise a symbol for the Indian rupee, which reflects and captures the Indian ethos and culture”.


So, in classic Indian style, the ministry organized an open competition to design the new symbol. The prize set for the winner was Rs250,000 ($5,352) in cash. And the winner was … Udaya Kumar, a post-graduate student at Mumbai’s Industrial Design Center, which is part of one of India’s elite institutes of technology (IITs). For those who think it looks a bit like an ‘R’ with a line across it, don’t be fooled, the new symbol represents exactly what the finance minister was looking for.

“An amalgam of the Devanagari ‘Ra’ and the Roman capital ‘R’ without the stem…. [it] is based on the Tricolour and “arithmetic equivalence”. While the white space between the two horizontal lines gives the impression of the national flag with the Ashok Chakra, the two bold parallel lines stand for ‘equals to’, representing balance in the economy, both within and with other economies of the world.”

Bringing pictures to the paddies

Japanese rice art
The Japanese twist on crop circles can be seen at its best this month, with anime samurai and other characters adorning rice fields across the country.
http://www.cnngo.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/inline_image_624x416/2010/07/14/rice_art_2010_1_0.jpg

Showcasing Stolen Art

Italian police display hundreds of recovered ancient artifacts at an iconic Roman venue.
Also: 

NY to Vegas rally nets speeding tickets, arrest

It was no Cannon Ball Run but ...
Colorado authorities say five drivers were ticketed and another was arrested for speeding during a luxury auto rally from New York City to Las Vegas.

Ziggy

Ziggy

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know
A telescope that sees heat glow through veils of dust uncovers 25,000 of the cosmic objects. 
Also: 
After tens of thousands of years under the Siberian frost, a baby woolly mammoth is taking a summer vacation in southeast France.

Medici family murder mystery solved

Rumors that two deaths in the late 1500s were by poison apparently aren't true.  
Also: 

Sumo wrestling's dark side exposed

Gambling and drug scandals threaten to derail Japan's wildly popular ancient sport.  
Also: 

And a child will lead them ...

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It's Only The Environment After All

It's Only The Environment After All
A leaking cap isn't the only warning signal that engineers are concerned about.
Also: 
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sea-turtle-gulf-spill.png
Photos via Boston
Just about everyone has been cautiously celebrating the news that the underwater geyser of oil at the Deepwater Horizon source has finally been capped (for now). So I hate to interrupt any momentary lapses of relief with ill news like this: The toll on wildlife and ecosystems in the Gulf continues to be devastating. Just yesterday, I reported that 3,000 birds had been officially recorded as being killed or covered in oil. Today, I'll look at another grim statistic: The BP Gulf spill has claimed the lives of at least 467 endangered sea turtles -- and the survival of many others still hangs in the balance.
It's Not Like We Don't Have Another One

Culinary DeLites

Culinary DeLites
Cheese wasn't a common ingredient until it was added to honor a queen.  
Also: 
Flavored yogurt, turkey burgers, and sugar-free treats are not a dieter's friends.  
Also: 

No more debating in your underwear

The days when a citizen could address the Boulder City Council wearing only underwear may be over.

The perfect handshake

You don't have to understand this scientist's formula to give a greeting that will impress.
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Homeownership myths you should know

Unless there is something special about your home, you probably won't get rich just by owning it.
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Wizard of Id

Wizard of Id

Steal a house then claim you bought it from god, yeah, that's the ticket

Brent Wilson of Lake County, Montana was convicted of illegally taking possession of a foreclosed house and moving in. Apparently, Wilson had filed paperwork with the county claiming that he had actually bought the home... from Yahweh.

From FindLaw:
Many of the journal entries was also addressed to Yahweh, whom Wilson seemed to regard as a sort of sleeping partner in his real estate endeavors. Wilson refused all attempts to assign him counsel for the case and to even to participate. He offered no defense and, writes the AP, read from an IRS document Monday and was reading the Bible during Tuesday's court session.
Here, finally, the strangest fact of all. A court-ordered mental health evaluation found Wilson fit to stand trial. He will be sentenced August 19.

Stupid Things ...

10 Stupid Laws (Possibly Still on the Books)

Japanese man tries to rob police station

From the "What an idiot" Department:

A knife-wielding man entered a police station in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, and demanded money, but was arrested on the spot, police said.

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama, 22, entered Kesennuma Police Station at about 12:40 p.m. on Monday, the police said.

Carrying a kitchen knife with a 16-centimeter blade, the unemployed man threatened a 37-year-old female worker at the reception counter of a traffic safety association on the first floor, saying, "Give me some money, or I'll kill you." But the man was quickly apprehended as several police officers who were nearby.

The police said he was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery and violating the Firearms and Swords Control Law. The man reportedly told police that he thought he could get some money if he robbed a police station.

Bad Cops

Bad Cops







Non Sequitur

Non Sequitur

On The Job

On The Job
Don’t do any of these things that recruiters say will get your resumé thrown out. 
Also: 
From open cubicles to public grooming, the workplace is becoming more annoying for some.   
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SEC hits Goldman with largest fine ever and Wall Street does a victory lap

The firm will pay $550 million to settle charges that arose from the subprime mortgage meltdown.  
Also: 
Wall Street does victory lap following Goldman settlement

As if there was any doubt who owns the US these days. Wall Street has bounced positively following the settlement that was "only" $550 million dollars. This amount is much less than the previously feared $1 billion. If you listen closely, you can hear the Champagne corks popping all around Wall Street.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s $550 million settlement with U.S. regulators yesterday will benefit the firm by ending three months of uncertainty at an affordable price. Now the rest of Wall Street begins calculating the cost.

Investors welcomed the deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the company won key points: The cost was below some analysts’ estimates of at least $1 billion; no management changes were required; and Goldman Sachs said the SEC indicated it doesn’t plan claims related to other mortgage- linked securities it examined. The stock’s late surge on anticipation of a settlement yesterday added more than $3 billion to the company’s market value, and it climbed further after New York trading closed.

“You’d have to look at it as a victory for Goldman,” said Peter Sorrentino, senior portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, which manages $13.3 billion including Goldman Sachs shares. “This takes a cloud off the stock.”

It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid
The landmark 2,319-page bill will touch on everything from credit scores to mortgages.  
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Big question hangs over Wall Street reform
No doubt the financial overhaul is big and historic, but there's still plenty of skepticism.
Will it stop another crisis? 
Also: 

Man pays tax with 200K pennies

A Quebec man, fed up with his skyrocketing property taxes, carted more than 200,000 pennies down to City Hall to pay his bill.

Shoe

Shoe

Americans blame the shrub, not Obama, for deficit, jobs, Afghan war, etc.

And rightly so!

Bloomberg:
Democrats, facing a U.S. electorate angry about the economy and other issues, still have one political asset: George W. Bush.

The former repugican pretender is blamed for the budget deficit, unemployment and illegal immigration, according to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted July 9-12.

Not surprisingly 60 percent say the shrub is primarily responsible for the current situation in Afghanistan.
But Obama isn't exactly surging in the polls. People blame the shrub, but they want Obama to fix it.

Ma Nature is pissed at Congress

As Cookie Jill points out ...

Especially at the Troglodytes in the Senate. She sent a little jolting reminder of who really has the power ... seems this is the only way some repugicans could get off their fat (assets) asses (to run under the door-jam.).
A 3.6 magnitude earthquake rattled the Washington, D.C. area early Friday, with thousands of residents reporting that they felt the ground shake as they slept or were waking. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered in Montgomery county, Maryland and struck at 5:04 a.m.
Earthquake in Maryland Shakes and Surprises
Those who live in earthquake-riddled states like California would shrug off something like the earthquake in Maryland this morning. Folks in Maryland, however, aren't so used to such temblors, even if it was "only" 3.6.

Just the facts

"The Tea Party movement knows that there are tens of thousands of dedicated racists and ultra nationalists in their ranks. 
Those groups must be repudiated by the regular, law-abiding members or they must take responsibility, they can't have it both ways."

     ~ NAACP president Ben Jealous, listing the facts     

Racists don't like being called racist

Accusations of racism and bigotry on both sides have culminated in a bizarre turn
Also: 

Tea Party leader is Stupid Thing of the Week

writes:

As usual, candidates were plentiful for the Stupid Thing of the Week Award. We were leaning toward Mel Gibson, for his startlingly f-ed up rants, released this week; or the judge in Switzerland who freed Roman Polanski; or Glenn Beck, for going ballistic over what Michelle Obama wore to the Gulf (check it out — you know you’re off the rails when even Bill O’Reilly thinks you’re going too far).
All those are worthy contenders, but for sheer, blatant stupidity, you’d be hard-pressed to do better than Mark Williams, honcho of the Tea Party Express group. When the NAACP, earlier this week, condemned the obvious “racist elements” within tea party groups, the overwhelming reaction from the TP-ers was vintage first grade: “Nuh-UHH, we’re not – YOU are!” Williams topped them all, demonstrating the sour, tunnel-visioned mindset that drives many of the Tea Partiers’ actions. First, he called the NAACP — which, in case anyone needs to be reminded, was the primary organization driving the 20th century push for racial equality in America — “professional race-baiters who make … more money off of race than any slave trader, ever.” Afterward, Williams went to his own blog and slathered it with a weird, “through the looking glass” blend of mockery and historical ignorance.
Williams is obsessed, apparently, with the fact that the NAACP uses the term “colored people” in its name, and says that makes the group racist. Well, you see, Mark, the NAACP was founded in 1909. At that time, and, in fact, well into the 1950s, “colored people” was African-Americans’ preferred term for themselves; it was seen as an indication of respect. Do you get it now, Mr. Williams? And don’t even think about saying that since preferred racial terms have changed, the NAACP should keep up with the times. If that’s how it worked, your own Tea Party would be something like the Soy Chai Party.
Williams’ blog entry is in the form of a supposed letter from NAACP head Ben Jealous (whom Williams calls Uncle Tom’s nephew) to Pres. Abraham Lincoln. In the letter, Jealous asks Lincoln to reverse emancipation because, “Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards.” Bad enough, but here’s our favorite part of Williams’ “letter”:
“Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government ’stop raising our taxes.’ That is outrageous! How will we Colored People ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?”
Keep in mind, again, that this is how one of the Tea Party honchos defends his group against charges of harboring racists. So, Mark Williams, for all you do to confuse issues and squelch rational discussion, you’re the winner of the Stupid Thing of the Week Award!

Tea Party Express leader Mark Williams. Thanks for dressing up for
 the rally, Mark.
Tea Party Express leader Mark Williams. Thanks for dressing up for the rally, Mark.

Lunatic Fringe

Lunatic Fringe

When dealing with wingnuts ... Remember the rule: 
If they accuse someone of something, then they're already guilty of it.
Liars and Fools
Faux's Glenn Beck lies "These people will take over the Internet. These people will destroy talk radio. These people will take Faux News off".
You mean take back the internet from the wingnut haters - a good thing. Stopping Hate radio is a good thing and taking Faux News off the air would be the best thing since sliced bread.

David Vitter (reptile-Louisiana) encourages conservative groups to challenge President Obama's citizenship in court.
This douchebag should be in jail for aiding and abetting in an assault with a deadly weapon case (one case of felonious conduct we know of) not 'encouraging lunatics to do further moronic stuff.

Lush Dimbulb repeats bold-faced and preposterous lie that Donald Berwick, newly-named Medicare chief, "is a huge rationing supporter, which ultimately leads to death panels".
That would be the insurance industry that is already 'rationing health care' thereby already manning those 'death panels' of which you shriek.

Faux's Glenn Beck lies: I almost think living in Gitmo might be more pleasant than what they have in store for this country.
So, you're into bondage and discipline, eh, moron. Even money says you're the Masochist in the Sadist-Masochist dynamic as well.

Faux's Glenn Beck lies that Obama is sympathetic to hate speech.
If that were the case he'd be you biggest fan and since he is not, well ...

Tea Party billboard campaign shows Obama alongside Hitler and Lenin.
Ignorant, Bigoted, Philosophically and Historically inaccurate - Yep, that's the 'tea party' for you.

Hate radio's Jim Quinn lies: law school at traditionally black Howard University isn't "teaching law" but is "teaching revenge".
This lunatic needs to take some of the starch out of his sheets he wears - the hoods are so tight they've cut the blood off from his head.

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A repugican says that waiters are hurting their employers

By making so much money on tips. 
Seems that someone had a tip for that moron.
You have to give Tom Emmer credit.
When the presumptive repugican nominee for governor of Minnesota held a town hall meeting with waiters on Wednesday -- as part of a damage control effort after he publicly complained that they were making over $100,000 per year in tips and hurting their employers -- his campaign clearly was not screening the attendees.
The event Wednesday was supposed to last for an hour and a half. instead, it ended a half-hour early, as the Star Tribune reports: "An hour later, he walked out after a bag of 2,000 pennies was dumped inches from his face by a man exclaiming, 'I have a tip for you too, Emmer!' as cascading pennies bounced in every direction and the crowd at a Roseville restaurant erupted into chaos."
....Emmer last week voiced his support for a policy known as a "tip credit," which is used in 43 states but not in Minnesota, which allows employers to pay a lower minimum wage to waiters -- as low as $2.13 per hour, depending on the implementation, by crediting their tips towards the $7.25 federal requirement.
Emmer especially got himself in trouble when he said: "With the tips that they get to take home, there are some that are earning over $100,000 a year -- more than the very people that are providing the jobs and investing not only their life savings but their family's future. Something has to be done about that."
More at TPM

The truth will always come out ...

Republicans are feeling good about the midterms — so good that they’ve started saying what they really think. This week the party’s Senate leadership stopped pretending that it cares about deficits, stating explicitly that while we can’t afford to aid the unemployed or prevent mass layoffs of schoolteachers, cost is literally no object when it comes to tax cuts for the affluent.
They should not be feeling good about the midterms - but then again reality and facts never enter into their tiny little minds in the first place.

Repugicans can't be bothered to show up for Social Security hearing

The House Ways  Means Committee held a hearing on the importance of Social Security as the program turns 75 years old. Every Democrat save one was there. Guess who couldn't bother to show up? You guessed it - repugicans. Only two did.

Utah IDs 2 Allegedly Behind Immigrant List

Utah officials said Friday they have identified at least two state workers who apparently accessed confidential documents to create a list of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants that was mailed to law enforcement officials and the news media.

Broom Hilda

Broom Hilda

Greek man wins £175,000 over Turkish yogurt picture

A Swedish dairy has paid out over £175,000 in compensation to a Greek man whose picture was used to promote a popular Turkish yogurt brand. The 77-year-old man, who was angry at being portrayed as a Turk, the traditional national enemy of Greeks, originally demanded £4.5 million in damages for the use, without permission, of his image.

His photograph, with distinctive long mustache, red hat and traditional Greek dress, has been used on millions of yogurt tubs marketed as a Turkish-style product. Yesterday, Sweden's Lindahls dairy confirmed that an agreement had been reached and a six figure payment made to avoid an emotive court case in the man's native country, where damages could be higher.


Tomas Axelsson, a spokesman for the dairy, said: "We have always maintained that we had the rights to the image, but now we have settled the issue and plan to continue to use it on the product." Anders Lindahl, the family owned managing director of the dairy, said that the image had been legitimately bought from a photo agency. "It is a lot of money," he said. "We have invested a lot in him as a trademark during the past eight years."

The Greek found out that his picture was being used to sell Turkish-style yogurts after a friend, a fellow countryman, recognized his face on supermarket shelves in Stockholm. In his legal writ in April, the man, who has not been named, argued that he is not Turkish and that the use his picture was misleading both for those who know him and for buyers of the yogurt.

Forest Fires Become Weapon, Battleground in Turkey

forest fire blaze turkey photo
A 2008 forest fire in Turkey. Photo via Sabah
As the weather finally starts to heat up in Turkey, hot and dry parts of the country move into their annual state of high alert over forest fires, which generally strike each summer. But villagers in the turbulent Southeast have made disturbing accusations that officials are standing by while the military intentionally sets fire to their forests and crops.

Indian man survives after eating raw poisonous snake for a bet

It was more important for this 35-year-old man from Bhatpor village to win a Rs 100 (£1.39) bet than fear for his life. For, Zaver Rathod ate a raw, poisonous snake to win the bet. Although he survived, he landed at New Civil Hospital in Surat on Tuesday night with severe nausea and symptoms of other illnesses.

However, on Wednesday morning, Rathod fled from the hospital after he was hounded by media and other citizens, all who wanted to meet the man who had eaten a raw snake to win a bet. Rathod was brought to the hospital on Tuesday for treatment of severe vomiting, which doctors realized was due to eating a snake.


Doctors at NCH confirmed that the snake Rathod had eaten was indeed poisonous, but he survived as the poison had gone to his stomach and not his blood stream. "It is when the poison spreads in entire body through blood that it becomes life threatening. However, if treatment is provided in time, when the poison goes directly into the stomach it does not affect severely.

Rathod, a resident of Bhatpor village, works as a farm laborer. On Tuesday evening, he was with his friends Sanjay and Bhupendra in the village when a snake bit Sanjay. Soon after the bite, Sanjay became unconscious. In a fit of rage, Rathod and Bhupendra killed the snake with stones. However, later, Bhupendra challenged Rathod to eat the snake for a Rs 100 note. Rathod took the snake and ate it up from the front side and within minutes of eating it, he started vomiting and fell to the ground. On being taken to NCH, he was immediately given treatment and his situation improved by Wednesday morning.

Man dies after hiring friend to shoot him in bizarre custody plot

A Dallas man died while executing a twisted plot to win custody of his child, Dallas police said. According to investigators, 20-year-old Dwayne Lamont Moten hired a friend to shoot him, intending to blame the crime on his wife's boyfriend and gain custody of his 3-year-old son, Dwayne Jr. "[This] was two individuals trying to frame a third individual," Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse said.

Janse said the plan was that Jacob Wheeler, also 20, would shoot Moten but only injure him. However, the bullets that struck Moten on Saturday mortally wounded the forlorn father. "He drove a short distance before he realized he was shot a little worse than he had planned and got out of his car, and was screaming for help," Janse said.


Witness Michael Brown said he did what he could to help. "Only thing we seen was this young man stopped in the middle of the street, and he got out hollering, 'Man, I been shot. Somebody help me,'" Brown said. "When he hit the ground there was no more conversation going." Moten soon died from his injuries.

Wheeler is charged with murder and for an unrelated aggravated robbery charge. He remains in jail on a $750,000 bond. Police said both Moten and Wheeler had a criminal history and had been convicted of felonies. "There's legal ways to get custody of a child and taking a bullet, and ultimately dying, is definitely not one of those ways," Janse said.