Photographer Captures Moments in the Tragic Lives of Child Brides

Mejgon, 16, with her caseworker at a shelter run by Afghan women in Herat, Afghanistan. Mejgon’s father sold her at the age of 11 to a 60-year-old man for two boxes of heroin.

Worldwide, each year a staggering 14.2 million girls under the age of 18 are forced to marry. After learning about heartbreaking cases such as Mejgon's (above photo), National Geographic photographer Stephanie Sinclair set out to document the problems of child brides.
Sinclair's series, "Too Young To Wed," is a campaign to raise awareness and funds for girls who are trapped in child marriages, which can lead to situations such as abuse, death from complications of childbirth and other health issues. Sinclair said,

“I have no idea what became of [Mejgon]. I’m sure it wasn’t good. The fact that I was powerless to do anything about it has been one of the main reasons why I continued the project and why I’m still working on it today.”

See additional pictures and learn more about Sinclair's project here.

The Nepalese wedding ceremony of Niruta, 14. Niruta moved in with the family of Durga, 17, and became pregnant when they were engaged. She was nine months pregnant at her wedding.

Refugee Rights

What Rights Do Refugees Have?

Europe is faced with the worst refugee crisis since World War II, forcing countries to change their policies toward new faces on their borders.

Where the Children Sleep

It is estimated that two million children have fled from the war in Syria and surrounding countries with or without their families over the past five years. Award-winning photographer Magnus Wennman traveled to various refugee camps and gatherings of refugee groups in many countries to document their plight. A series of his pictures showing where the children sleep is accompanied by their stories at the Swedish site Aftonbladet. Shown above is 5-year-old Lamar, and here’s her story.

Back home in Baghdad, the dolls, the toy train, and the ball are left; Lamar often talks about these items when home is mentioned. The bomb changed everything. The family was on its way to buy food when it was dropped close to their house. It was not possible to live there anymore, says Lamar’s grandmother, Sara. After two attempts to cross the sea from Turkey in a small, rubber boat, they succeeded in coming here to Hungary’s closed border. Now Lamar sleeps on a blanket in the forest, scared, frozen, and sad.

That is only one of 22 such stories in the post. See more of Wennman’s photography at Instagram. Some of it may be disturbing.

City Intentionally Endangered School Kids with Illegal Traffic Signs so Cops Could Write More Tickets

City Intentionally Endangered School Kids with Illegal Traffic Signs so Cops Could Write More Tickets

The Evidence was on Facebook

John Mogan and Ashley Duboe were arrested last week in connection with a bank robbery in Asheville, Ohio. The bank was robbed on August 24 when a man wearing a hoodie demanded cash from a teller. Just a few days later, Mogan and Duboe began posting a series of photographs on Facebook featuring Mogan posing with wads of cash.

Mogan is a convicted felon who was just released from prison after serving about five years for robbing a bank in Lancaster, a city 20 miles east of Ashville. A female accomplice was also arrested in connection with Mogan's July 2010 robbery of a Fairfield National Bank branch.
Mogan began serving a three-year parole term immediately following his July 19 release from an Ohio state lockup. The heavily tattooed Mogan has the phrases “Loyalty’s Thin” and “Betrayal’s Thick” on opposite cheeks.
Investigators allege that prior to driving Mogan to the Ashville bank, Duboe applied makeup to his face and neck to cover numerous tattoos.

Mogan and Duboe are being held in the Pickaway County jail in lieu of $250,000 bond. You can see a slideshow of the incriminating images at The Smoking Gun.

Motorist set car and gas pump on fire after trying to kill spider with lighter

A man trying to kill a spider at a gas station in Center Line, Michigan, caused a dangerous fire. Using a lighter to kill the bug, he started a blaze that quickly engulfed the pump.

He somehow escaped serious injury and the station's damage was contained to one pump, which was destroyed. Employee Susan Adams kept calm and hit the fuel automatic stop button and quickly called the Center Line fire department.

The man grabbed a nearby extinguisher and put out the flames before firefighters arrived. Later he admitted what he did, saying he spotted a spider on his gas tank and because he's deathly afraid of them. He pulled out his lighter and decided to burn it. But his embarrassing mistake didn't stop the man from coming back the next day as a customer.
LiveLeak link.
"He was sorry," Susan said. "He was sorry, he said he didn't know. It is just one of those things that happen - stupidity." Adams said this serves as a reminder about being careful around gas pumps. Whether it is using a cell phone or static electricity, the smallest spark can cause a fire. The accident is expected to be covered by the station's insurance.

Good Guy With A Gun Shoots Carjacking Victim In Head, Runs Away Before Police Arrive

A “good guy with a gun” accidentally shot a carjacking victim, allowing the criminals to escape — then ran away before police arrived.

Read more 

Man who tried to open plane door at 30,000ft thinking it was the toilet banned by airline

A hapless passenger has been banned from flying with a major airline for five years after he mistook a jet’s outside door for the toilet. James Gray said airline staff accused him of trying to open the door of the plane he was on while traveling at 30,000ft. However, he claims he only touched the handle after confusing it for the door to the toilet.
James, from Alloa, Scotland, was marched off the KLM flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam the moment it touched down at Schiphol Airport. He was then whisked away to a nearby detention center where he spent the night before he was fined £434 (600 euros). But when he went to fly home he said KLM staff refused to let him board and said he was banned from flying with them for five years. He only made it back after a pal paid for him to travel with a rival airline.
James said: “The crew told me to stay in my seat and I was to be arrested when the plane landed. I tried to explain it was a simple mistake. It was a misunderstanding. The police came and arrested me. They weren’t too friendly.” James claims he spoke to a translator by phone as he was being interviewed by Dutch police officers. He also had to borrow money after the fine wiped out his holiday funds. He said: “I was charged and fined 600 euros.
"I only had 750 euros with me so I had to borrow money for the rest of the stay over there.” James said he doesn’t know if he will face any further action over the incident but is adamant he wouldn’t dream of opening a plane door on purpose. “I realize the danger of that sort of thing,” he added. A spokeswoman for Schiphol Airport and a spokesperson for the Royal Dutch Border Police both refused to comment. KLM said a passenger had been handed over to authorities due to “his misbehavior” on-board.

Man avoids jail after dry humping woman who complained that he'd urinated over toilet seat

A man “dry humped” a woman after she complained that he had urinated over the toilet seat, a court heard. Oliver Johns, aged 24, sexually assaulted her when she asked him to clean up. Johns also made an indecent suggestion, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

A judge said it was not necessary to send him to prison because he had apologized to the woman by text. Johns, of Greenbank, Devon, admitted sexual assault on May 15. He also pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage when he punched a door two days later. Kelly Scrivener, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Johns had used a communal lavatory.
She added the woman had asked him to clean up because he had urinated over the seat. Miss Scrivener said Johns exposed himself, made an indecent suggestion and grabbed the woman’s hand. She added they had fallen to the floor and he had “dry humped” her. The court heard that the offense put Johns in breach of a conditional discharge for possession of cannabis imposed two months before.
Recorder Lawrie cut across the defense barrister to say he would follow a recommendation in the probation report. He told Johns: “You were in drink or under the influence of something. You duly apologized. This could have been dealt with by a significant custodial sentence.” He handed the defendant an 11-month community order with probation’s Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. He must also pay £900 criminal court charge and £60 victim surcharge.

Police hunt woman who stole large pink piggy bank from hotel

Police in the Sunbury suburb of Melbourne, Australia, are appealing for public assistance to identify a woman who stole a large pink piggy bank from a hotel last week.

The incident happened at the Sunbury Hotel when the woman approached the cashier’s office on Wednesday 23 September just before 12.30pm.
No one was in the office and the woman was seen on CCTV moving the large pink piggy bank across the counter, closer to the window. The woman then threw a black jacket over the piggy bank, lifted it from the counter and walked away.
The large pink piggy bank collects donations for terminally ill children and their families. The woman is perceived to be Caucasian, aged in her 30s, with brown hair and a medium build. Investigators have released images of the woman they believe may be able to assist them with their inquiry.

Woman fined after recreating Psycho knife scene in prank to give neighbour a fright

A mother-of-two who tried to give her friend a fright by recreating a knife-wielding scene from the film Psycho has been fined more than £400. Lisa Peck knocked on her neighbors door holding a black kitchen knife to scare her. Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho is the favorite film of Peck and her pal. However, another neighbor spotted her through her front window and called the police.

When they arrived, Peck, 36, of Colchester, Essex, was back in her home, but when they searched the house they found a knife on the floor in her hall and she was arrested. Peck admitted possessing an offensive weapon in public when she appeared at Colchester Magistrates' Court. Lesla Small, prosecuting said: “Miss Peck said she thought it would be funny to knock on the door and give her friend a bit of a fright.”
James O'Toole, mitigating, said Peck is extremely remorseful and was under considerable pressure at the time because her two teenage children had moved back in with her after living with their father. He said: “For whatever reason, it came into her head to re-enact a scene from their favorite film, Psycho. It was absolutely stupid and foolish beyond belief. She had absolutely no intention of using the knife and she knows it was absolutely stupid.”
The court heard Peck is a binge drinker rather than someone who has habitual trouble with alcohol. She admitted to being drunk at the time of the incident. Robert Clubb, chairman of the bench, said he accepted Peck’s excuse but added: “The court takes a pretty dim view of someone rushing around with a knife in a public place. However, we are minded to view this in the lowest level of this particular offense.” Peck was ordered to pay £405.

Irate lady kicked woman in the face after victim farted near her

As she was being transported to jail, a Florida woman became “irate” and kicked another female detainee in the face after the victim “‘farted’ near her,” police allege. Jeanelle Callahan, 48, was arrested on Thursday afternoon after she punched her male roommate in the face, according to an arrest affidavit.

Callahan, who was reportedly “highly intoxicated,” left the man with a bloody nose. Following that arrest, Callahan was placed into a jail transport, where she encountered Virginia Turner, 60, who had been arrested for trespassing. Both women were handcuffed in the police vehicle.
En route to the county lockup, “the suspect claimed that Virginia Turner ‘farted’ near her,” reported Officer Stephen Zulauf. Callahan became “irate” and attempted to strike Turner in the face with her elbow. Callahan then “raised her right leg and kicked Virginia Turner’s right side of her face.”
Turner did not fight back during the attack, which was recorded by the vehicle’s camera system. Callahan, who was already facing a battery charge for punching her roommate, was then charged with a second battery count for attacking Turner. Callahan is locked up in the county jail on $1,000 bond.

Quick Hits

Anonymous knocks Saudi government websites offline over plan to publicly crucify man

Soldiers keep girls as young as 12 as sex slaves in South Sudan 'rape camps'

John Oliver busts Fox News using 5-year-old clip of chanting Muslims to create fear of 'terrorist' refugees

Oklahoma man who shot wife is then fatally shot by neighbor

Missouri AG finds no evidence Planned Parenthood mishandled fetal tissue

It is now clear that the hippies won the culture war

Belgian scientists look for biofuel clues in panda poo

Junipero Serra statue at California mission vandalized days after Pope Francis made him a saint

8-year-old girl suspended from school for wearing wrong shade of green

Los Angeles police fatally shoot woman armed with knife

New York woman gets seven years prison for helping inmates escape

Trump Hotel workers use candidate's anti-Latino rhetoric to push for union

How French Artists in 1899 Envisioned Life in the Year 2000

In 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1910, French artists Jean-Marc Côté and other of his contemporaries prepared these illustrations of what life in France would be like in the year 2000. Initially they were printed on paper cards placed in cigarette and cigar boxes; later they were used as artwork on post cards. The first series was created exclusively for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris.
Some of these now whimsical drawings come close to actual inventions that appeared in future years. Others are simply amusing in their fanciful ideas, such as the "whale bus."
See a collection of these drawings at The Public Domain Review. Via Open Culture

Wild Yeast

Wild Yeast Could Yield New Kinds of Beer

Wild strains of yeast could one day help brewers develop new kinds of suds.

Hear the World

Our Ancestors Heard the World Differently

Our ancestors apparently had a lot to say 2 million years ago, even if they said it quietly.

Mummy's Kidney

Kidney Spotted For First Time in Egyptian Mummy

The mummy dates back to some 2,800 years and his kidney was preserved thanks to end-stage renal tuberculosis.

Fossil Michigan

350-Million-Year-Old Fossil Stone Dug Up in Mich.

The 93-pound Petoskey stone is a reminder of the state's ancient history as a warm sea.

Martian Water

NASA scientist: ‘There is liquid water today on the surface of Mars’

Liquid water runs down canyons and crater walls over the summer months on Mars, according to researchers who say the discovery raises the odds of the planet being home to some form of life.

Animal News

World's Top Heavyweight Reptiles

These cold-blooded behemoths would be ranked contenders in any ring.

U.S., China Agree to Near-Complete Ban on Ivory Trading

The announcement was welcomed by conservationists, who, citing its detrimental impact on wildlife, have long been pushing for an all-out ban.

Viruses Are Alive and Are Oldest Living Creatures

Viruses have just joined the tree of life in a dramatic way -- they even predate modern cells.

Bat Has Conveyor Belt Tongue

A new way of drinking has just been discovered, providing certain bats with a quirky claim to animal fame.

Dog Gently Covers Sleeping Baby

Papa Dog loves his puppy, even though he's not blood kin. It takes a pack to raise one, you know. So he makes sure that the vulnerable infant stays warm while napping.

(Video Link)

This Monkey Looks Like Wolverine

On the left is Marvel superhero Wolverine. On the right is a Wolf's mona monkey (Cercopithecus wolfi) photographed by Lessy Sebastian. Comic Book Resources points out that they're almost mirror images! If Marvel ever creates an alternate universe in which the X-Men are lower primates, then the Wolf's mona monkey is ready for a starring role.
But wait--Marvel apparently already has! Now it's time for Marvel Apes to be a movie trilogy.

Zoo meerkat-keeper glassed monkey-keeper in the face over love rival llama-keeper

A London zoo love triangle between keepers of meerkats, monkeys and llamas led to bloody fight at a Christmas party, a court has heard. Caroline Westlake, who worked in the meerkat enclosure, was convicted on Friday of assault by beating after glassing her colleague, Kate Sanders, in the face.
Sanders, who cared for the attraction’s monkeys, and Westlake came to blows in the zoo’s Prince Albert Suite after a row over llama-keeper Adam Davies, who dated Sanders for five years but after they split started a relationship with Westlake. Sanders saw the couple together for the first time at the Christmas party on 8 December and made a derisory comment about Westlake’s appearance. Her comments sparked an argument that ended with Sanders being struck in the face with a wine glass, for which she required stitches.
Westlake, from Banstead in Surrey, denied one count of assault by beating but was found guilty at Westminster magistrates court. The 30-year-old, who worked at the zoo for four and a half years, was sacked from her job looking after the meerkats and the rainforest zone. Sanders, from north London, was given a final warning and banned from Zoological Society of London events for two years as a result of the fight. Sanders earlier told the court of her shock when blood came pouring out of her mouth during the fight. “Things were being said on both sides that shouldn’t have been said,” she said.
“I told her I’d seen a text she sent him asking him out for a drink while we were still dating and the next thing I know I was hit in the face with something very hard. I was hit on the left cheek and from the feeling it was a glass and had come from a low position. I was extremely shocked when it hit me. I tried to protect myself by reaching out my right hand and pushing her against the nearest thing to me, which was some railings.” Defense solicitor Suzanne Kelly told Sanders it was she who instigated the fight with Westlake by punching her in the face, lunging at her and pushing her over nearby railings, which she denied. Westlake is to be sentenced on 14 October.

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

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Today in History

876		Charles the Bald is defeated at the Battle of Andernach.
1690		Belgrade is retaken by the Turks.
1840		King William I of Holland abdicates.
1855		Arrow, a ship flying the British flag, is boarded by Chinese who arrest the crew, thus beginning the Second Chinese War.
1862		The Union is victorious at the Battle of Perryville, the largest Civil War combat to take place in Kentucky.
1871		The Great Chicago Fire begins in southwest Chicago, possibly in a barn owned by Patrick and Katherine O’Leary. Fanned by strong southwesterly winds, the flames raged for more than 24 hours, eventually leveling three and a half square miles and wiping out one-third of the city. Approximately 250 people were killed in the fire; 98,500 people were left homeless; 17,450 buildings were destroyed.
1897		Journalist Charles Henry Dow, founder of the Wall Street Journal, begins charting trends of stocks and bonds.
1900		Maximilian Harden is sentenced to six months in prison for publishing an article critical of the German Kaiser.
1906		Karl Ludwig Nessler first demonstrates a machine in London that puts permenant waves in hair. The client wears a dozen brass curlers, each wearing two pounds, for the six-hour process.
1912		First Balkan War begins as Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire.
1918		US Army corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132 in the Argonne Forest; promoted to sergeant and awarded US Medal of Honor and French Croix de Guerre.
1919		The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives pass the Volstead Prohibition Enforcement Bill.
1921		First live radio broadcast of a football game; Harold W. Arlin was the announcer when KDKA of Pittsburgh broadcast live from Forbes Field as the University of Pittsburgh beat West Virginia University 21–13.
1922		Lilian Gatlin becomes the first woman pilot to fly across the United States.
1932		Indian Air Force established.
1939		Nazi Germany annexes Western Poland.
1956		Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitches the first perfect game in World Series history against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1967		Guerrilla Che Guevara captured in Bolivia.
1968		U.S. forces in Vietnam launch Operation SEALORDS (South East Asia Lake, Ocean, River and Delta Strategy), an attack on communist supply lines and base areas in and around the Mekong Delta.
1969		The "Days of Rage" begin in Chicago; the Weathermen faction of the Students for a Democratic Society initiate 3 days of violent antiwar protests.
1973		In the Yom Kippur War an Israeli armored brigade makes an unsuccessful attack on Egyptian positions on the Israeli side of the Suez Canal.
1978		Ken Warby of Australia sets the world water speed record, 317.60 mph, at Blowering Dam in Australia; no other human has yet (2013) exceeded 300 mph on water and survived.
1982		The musical Cats begins a run of nearly 18 years on Broadway.
1991		Croatia votes to sever its ties with Yugoslavia.
2001		The shrub fabricates the Office of Homeland Security.

Editorial Comment

Wow.

You want to talk about a “perfect storm”.

After a week of more or less solid rain we were expecting up to 10 inches more over the past weekend with all the moisture Joaquin was funneling into the air and said moisture being sucked in over us by a high level low pressure and just as it was beginning to come down the winds really picked up and the trees began to fall …

Needless to say power outages began to occur and phone lines began to fail.

To top it off our modem decided that then was the time to give over the ghost and up and died right in the middle of one of the Mrs.' Rom-Com's.

Being of Scots heritage we still have the first penny we found on the ground (OK, so we have a few more, now), and we have the equipment maintenance plan with our ISP so we got a new modem 'free' but we had to wait three to five business days for it to be delivered so we were unable to post until it arrived and we plugged it in.

We could have went out and bought one but we still have our money because we do not run willy-nilly and buy something we have already paid for so we waited - with the constant rain we decided we would rather stay dry anyway.

Luckily we did not have any outages here but the neighbors lost power and phone service so we became emergency central for all the neighbors seeking assistance in getting their power and/or phone turned back on asap.

What was noticeable during all this was that friends and neighbors stayed positive – after a week of no sunshine that can be a feat in of itself – some even turned the situation into an impromptu 'soggy bottom' party because they argued that since their asses were getting wet anyway why not have fun with it. Even though we had resolved to remain dry we did go to the party at a local eatery and let our asses 'get wet' as it were with our friends.

It was good to be around positive people especially since it seems that all the negativity is glorified today along with the stupidity … don't you think the last 35 years of ever more negativity and increasing stupidity is enough?

The severity of the weather was not quite as bad as predicted locally which was a good thing – the damages were light when compared to the possible damages the weather could have inflicted so all in all life here was hardly interrupted.

Be Happy and Have Fun