Wednesday 25 January 2012 Submit a story for publication. Want to support Daily Rotten? Buy a membership at Pornopolis! More news on Dr. Sputnik's Society Pages State Bill Outlaws Use of Fetuses In Food Industry NPR | Submitted by: sharkfag "I don't know if it is happening in Oklahoma, it may be, it may not be. What I am saying is that if it does happen then we are not going to allow it to manufacture here." To that end, his proposed statute reads, "No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients." Read article... Comments (61) Jewish Newspaper Floats Trial Balloon Guardian | Submitted by: anonymous The owner of a Jewish newspaper in Atlanta has said he deeply regrets writing a column suggesting that Israel consider "a hit" on Barack Obama if he stands in the way of the Jewish state defending itself. Andrew Adler told the Guardian he wrote the column in the weekly Atlanta Jewish Times "to get a reaction" from the paper's readers. "The reactions indicate that the Americans probably wouldn't let Israel get away with this. That's what I wanted to see," he said. "I feel really disappointed about that." Read article... Comments (24) Liberal Cat Found Dead New York Daily News | Submitted by: scarred 4 life "An Arkansas campaign manager says he came home Sunday and found his family’s cat fatally bludgeoned on his front steps -- with the word liberal scrawled across its side... According to a statement from Democratic congressional candidate Ken Aden's campaign, Jacob Burris’ cat had been hit so violently that one of its eyeballs was barely hanging from its socket." Read article... Comments (30) Accused Abuser Claimed "Ghost" Injured His Wife The Smoking Gun | Submitted by: gargoylezero "A Wisconsin man charged with domestic abuse told cops that a "ghost" was actually responsible for injuries suffered by his wife, according to police. The bizarre claim by Michael West, 41, did not prevent the Fond du Lac man's arrest for strangulation, battery, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest." Read article... Comments (233) Thursday 19 January 2012 Kim Dotcom Is The Coolest Person On Earth TorrentFreak | Submitted by: ditchley "MegaUpload, one of the largest file-sharing sites on the Internet, has been shut down by federal prosecutors in Virginia. The site’s founder Kim Dotcom and three others were arrested by the police in New Zealand at the request of US authorities. MegaVideo, the streaming site belonging to same company, and a total of 18 domains connected to the Mega company were seized and datacenters in three countries raided." [Links on MegaUpload's fascinating founder] Read article... and This... and This... Comments (114) Iran Condemns Pornsite Programmer Guardian | Submitted by: ditchley "Iran's supreme court has upheld the death sentence for a web programmer who faces imminent execution after being found guilty of developing and promoting porn websites... "The use of vaguely worded charges is not new in Iran, but the allegation that these were carried out on the internet is. It is an unwelcome addition to the catalogue of ways in which Iran finds it can execute its own citizens." Read article... Comments (32) German Surveillance Network As Daughter's Payback Naked Security | Submitted by: mambo "Der Spiegel published a story in yesterday's edition of their magazine that the hack on the German police surveillance system "Patras" was prompted by a senior officer spying on his daughter's internet activities... It appears that a senior policeman from Frankfurt am Main installed spyware onto his daughter's computer to keep an eye on her online activities." Read article... and This article... Comments (10) Uighur Organ Harvest Season Weekly Standard | Submitted by: Bort "By the end of 1999, the Uighur crackdown would be eclipsed by Chinese security’s largest-scale action since Mao: the elimination of Falun Gong. By my estimate up to three million Falun Gong practitioners would pass through the Chinese corrections system. Approximately 65,000 would be harvested, hearts still beating, before the 2008 Olympics. An unspecified, significantly smaller, number of House Christians and Tibetans likely met the same fate." Read article... Comments (16) Mossad Kills a 4th Nuclear Scientist Sky | Submitted by: Rosannadanna "Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, died after two unidentified men on a motorbike fastened a magnetic bomb to his vehicle outside a university in east Tehran... The current head of Iran's atomic organisation, Fereydoun Abbasi, escaped another such incident in November 2010, when he managed to scramble out of his car with his wife just before the attached bomb exploded." Read article... Comments (20) Magic Bullets The Economist | Submitted by: rf "The XM25, as the new gun is known, weighs about 13lb and fires a 25mm round. The trick is that instead of having to be aimed directly at the target, this round need only be aimed at a place in proximity to it. Once there, it explodes -- just like Shrapnel’s original artillery shells -- and the fragments kill the enemy. It knows when to explode because of a timed fuse. In Shrapnel’s shells this fuse was made of gunpowder. In the XM25 it is a small computer inside the bullet that monitors details of the projectile’s flight." Read article... Comments (24) Colbert Tries to Buy South Carolina Election The State | Submitted by: gleep glop "We hammered out a contract over barbecue. Colbert Super PAC would pay up to $400,000 directly to the state and counties to defray the cost of the election. In return, the primary’s official name would be The Colbert Super PAC South Carolina Republican Primary. This name would appear on all press releases, official notices and signage, including the debates. We would finally raise democracy to the same level as the Tostitos™ Fiesta Bowl and Kardashian™ weddings." Read article... Comments (18) Masc Fish Trans Sex At Will New Scientist | Submitted by: circus penis "When it comes to selecting mates, hawkfish keep their options open. The flamboyantly coloured reef dwellers start life as females but can transform into males after maturing. Many marine animals do this, but these fickle fish have a rare trick up their fins: they can change back when the situation suits." Read article... Comments (13) Earth's Atmosphere Developing Rings Alabama AWX | Submitted by: spooz "The breaking waveforms of Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds are the result of shearing winds up at cloud level. A particular type of turbulence can develop in a layer of cirrus cloud, which happens to form below an inversion between air currents of differing speeds and/or directions. Sea waves break as their bases are slowed down upon reaching shallow water and their crests surge ahead. Cloud waves break in the same way: when their crests are pushed ahead of their troughs by the difference in air currents." Read article... and This article... Comments (287) Monday 19 December 2011 Family Values Mayor Bills Citizenry for Gay Sex Toy Boston Herald | Submitted by: cheese fries "Receipts show Southaven Mayor Greg Davis, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008 on a family-values platform, charged the city $67 for a purchase at a gay sex shop in Canada... The Mississippi auditor on Nov. 2 demanded Davis pay back more than $170,000 for personal expenses billed to taxpayers. There are no criminal charges from the auditor's investigation." Read article... Comments (672) Elevator Carnage in Brooklyn New York Times | Submitted by: murcuryvapor "The man, who appeared to be in his 40s, first sprays the woman in the face, then douses her methodically from head to toe with what a city official said was an accelerant as she turned and cowered, raising her hands, the grocery bags hanging from her wrists... The man struggles to light a barbecue lighter. He then ignites a Molotov cocktail -- a wine or Champagne bottle filled with accelerant with a rag stuffed in its neck." 2nd article, a couple days later, apprehension. Read article... and This article... Comments (42) Hummus Enrichment Averted Daily Mail | Submitted by: Winston Tastesgood III "The only information I really have is that he became stuck in a rather large machine which some people call an auger and others call it a grinder, Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney's office said... The company, which is the second largest hummus brand on the market according to The Jewish Week, temporarily shut its factory down while an investigation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration ensues." Read article... Comments (34) Raising Basement Veal For Fun and Profit San Francisco Chronicle | Submitted by: exwife bite "Tamara Breeden's ear was badly damaged. She had dozens of welts, bruises and lacerations on her scalp, which led her to wear a wig. She had similar injuries on her legs, arms and back. She also was extremely thin, with her hip bone protruding... Weston had more than 50 Social Security cards, power of attorney documents and similar forms when she was arrested, authorities said." Read article... Comments (23) The Force is Strong in This One Oregon Live | Submitted by: TheRevDirtyHarryHammer Even Jedis have bad days. "Police in Portland, Ore, were alerted to a disturbance in the Force Wednesday night after a man allegedly went on a rampage with a plastic light saber at a local Toys R Us store... Officers arrived and attempted to take the suspect into custody but he continued to swing the light saber and was yelling incoherent statements. One officer attempted to use a Taser but it was ineffective. A second officer used a Taser which made good contact but the suspect used the light saber to break one of the wires." Read article... Comments (29) Dear Departed Leader National Post | Submitted by: Fort McMurray Oil Plant Dictators "We hope his passing brings positive change allowing the people of North Korea to emerge from six decades of isolation, oppression and misery. The regime's reckless decisions and hairstyles have resulted in North Korea being an impoverished nation and a country isolated from the international community because of its rogue elevator shoes and ballistic missile programs." Dull but nice map. Read article... Comments (733) Friday 16 December 2011 Jedi Grows Stronger in Czechia Czech Position | Submitted by: star wart "Overall, 15,070 Czechs identified themselves as Knights of the Jedi with the biggest proportion of adherents in the capital, Prague, with 3,977 followers or 0.31 percent of the population. The fewest knights were found in the central region of Vysocina, just 0.08 percent of the population. It is probably off most Star Wars intergalactic radars or galactic positioning systems." Read article... Comments (36) Drone Capture: FOUO Report Leaked The New York Times | Submitted by: Bort "The timing of the disclosure interested the cybersecurity analyst Jeffrey Carr. Clearly someone with FOUO access wanted this information to be made public to inform the controversy surrounding the incident, he wrote on his blog on Thursday, using the acronym for the report’s classification as for official use only. He said the report outlines drone vulnerabilities that should be taken seriously." Read article... Comments (21) Wal*Mart Prompts Mass Bird Suicide San Francisco Chronicle | Submitted by: Veggie "Thousands of migratory birds are dead or injured after they apparently mistook a Wal-Mart parking lot, football fields, highways and other areas of southern Utah for bodies of water and plummeted to the ground... There's no count on how many died, although officials estimate it's upwards of 1,500." Read article... Comments (19) Asphyxio-Sex Gone Awry Prompts Flight to Kiln Sacramento Bee | Submitted by: furpo "He fell in love after several encounters along his rout and bought her an engagement ring, popping the question Sept. 15, 2009. As part of their celebration in Barstow, Calif., Carpenter agreed to let him bind her arms and legs and put a gag in her mouth as he acted out a fantasy... When he found her dead, Rice panicked and bought all the meth his dealer had and drove to Kiln, Miss., the body in the truck's cab under a tarp, he told police." Read article... Comments (35) Elevated Office Worker Becomes Breakfast Schmeer NBC New York | Submitted by: azdollarbill "Public safety and law enforcement officials said Hart was stepping onto the elevator when her foot became caught in the gap between the elevator car and the lobby floor. They say the car then rose abruptly with its doors still open, pulling her along." Read article... Comments (23) Extra Special Student-Parent Makeout Sessions Huffington Post | Submitted by: DS "Video footage of a school prank which blindfolded parents and children and then made them make out with each other has provoked a mixture of outrage and disbelief... But unbeknown to them, the "special someone" was their mother or father. The principal of the Rosemount High School has been forced to apologise after the stunt provoked outrage." Read article... Comments (27) Da Dumpt, Da Dumpt. Sucks 2 Be U Air Force Times | Submitted by: Hannibal Le Cannaibal "The commander of the 37th Training Group at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, has launched an investigation into a photo of 15 airmen posing with an open casket, in which another airman is posed with a noose around his neck and chains across his body. Da Dumpt, Da Dumpt. Sucks 2 Be U is written under the photo, which was emailed to Air Force Times." Read article... Comments (14) Wartime Secrets Provide Fuel for Fish Dinner MSNBC | Submitted by: azdollarbill "The 400 pages of interrogations, once closely guarded as secrets of war, were supposed to have been destroyed as the last American troops prepare to leave Iraq. Instead, they were discovered along with reams of other classified documents, including military maps showing helicopter routes and radar capabilities, by a reporter for The New York Times at a junkyard outside Baghdad. An attendant was burning them as fuel to cook a dinner of smoked carp." Read article... Comments (28) Newt Gingrich's EMP Doomsday Fantasy Discovery | Submitted by: sgrannel "A nuclear weapon could be detonated above North America, reasons Gingrich, and the resulting electronic interference would render the nation's power grid, satellites, computers etc., useless. Death and mayhem would ensue. It would be a bit like Mad Max, but with less '70's hairdos. Without adequate preparation, people won't know how to walk away from their broken electronic devices and function as normal human beings. We would basically lose our civilization and resort to cannibalism in a matter of seconds." Read article... Comments (50) Cat Takes the Bus! or, How Did This Get on Daily Rotten London Telegraph | Submitted by: puffintop Why would someone submit this to Daily Rotten? "The 15-year-old Tom even sits on bemused passengers' laps as the bus makes up to 10 mile round trips from Bridport to Charmouth in Dorset. Dodger is such a regular customer that some of the drivers take tins of cat food to work with them to give to him. They even know what stop to let him off at. At the end of his journies the roving moggy returns to his home and owner Fee Jeanes." Read article... Comments (358) Thursday 15 December 2011 Corrupt Your Way Into Some VISA Points! Los Angeles Times | Submitted by: Bort "Last spring, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum set out to upgrade the sound system for its new video board. The equipment and shipping costs were steep -- about $270,000... He put the package of high-powered loudspeakers on his personal Chase Visa card... Lederkramer earned roughly enough redeemable reward points for a week at the downtown Ritz-Carlton, two Bulova watches or even a pair of first-class round-trip United Airlines tickets to London or Tokyo worth as much as $24,000, award schedules show." Read article... Comments (19) Book-A-Rest in Secret Prison AP Video | Submitted by: johnnie Where else to put a super secret prison but in the middle of a capital city. "For years, the CIA used a government building in Bucharest, Romania as a makeshift prison for its most valuable detainees. There, it held al-Qaida operative Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and others in a basement prison." Read article... Comments (13) LOLing At Tragedy First Monday | Submitted by: ditchley "This paper examines the emergence of organized trolling behaviors on Facebook, specifically in relation to memorial groups and fan pages. In addition to mapping the development of RIP trolling -- in which online instigators post abusive comments and images onto pages created for and dedicated to the deceased -- the paper also examines the highly contentious and ultimately parasitic relationship(s) between memorial trolls, Facebook’s social networking platform and mainstream media outlets... Recalling Oring’s account of disaster humor, the paper goes on to suggest that, inadvertently or not, Facebook memorial page trolling presents a pointed critique of a tragedy–obsessed global media." Read article... Comments (73) Proposed Cell Phone Ban Based on Bullshit Popular Mechanics | Submitted by: Bort A double-bus crash has prompted NTSB's call for a cellphone ban in automobiles. But it's based on invented fluff: "The Missouri crash was largely caused by more mundane safety issues that the NTSB seems to have deliberately downplayed. For all the discussion of the dangers of texting and driving, the NTSB report contains this rather significant finding: Had the driver of the following school bus maintained the recommended minimum distance from the lead school bus, she would have been able to avoid the accident." Read article... Comments (37) Mother of Storms: Clathrates Give Way Independent | Submitted by: Dr. Sputnik "Earlier we found torch-like structures like this but they were only tens of metres in diameter. This is the first time that we've found continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures, more than 1,000 metres in diameter. It's amazing," Dr Semiletov said. "I was most impressed by the sheer scale and high density of the plumes. Over a relatively small area we found more than 100, but over a wider area there should be thousands of them." Read article... Comments (172) Friday 09 December 2011 On The Financial Frontier DIS Magazine | Submitted by: ditchley "On Monday, October 10th something strange happened in the world of high finance: Goldman Sachs lost its crown. The news, despite trumpeting a major new player in the world of HFT, or high-frequency trading, got no coverage at all from popular media outlets, yet for anyone with an interest in our fragile economy, the development would have been noteworthy: a new, unheard of company listed as Latour Trading LLC had surpassed Goldman Sachs as the most active trader on the New York Stock Exchange... When I clicked on the homepage, my browser window went white. I tried reloading it -- still nothing. It’s a strange feeling, loading a blank web page; it doesn’t happen very often. So I checked the source code of the site. In its entirety it read: <HTML></HTML> Read article... Comments (35) Wilkommen Police-Stadt Huffington Post | Submitted by: Bort "America's police departments have been moving toward more aggressive, force-first, militaristic tactics and their accompanying mindset for 30 years. It's just that, with the exception of protests at the occasional free trade or World Bank summit, the tactics haven't generally been used on mostly white, mostly college-educated kids armed with cellphone cameras and a media platform." Read article... Comments (36) GIs Honored With Ash Heap Disposal BBC | Submitted by: itchley "Incinerated partial remains of at least 274 troops were reportedly dumped at landfills between 2004-08 by the largest military mortuary in the US... Since the landfill dumping ended three years ago, such cremated partial remains are now buried at sea... It emerged that a dead soldier's ankle had been lost and a damaged arm bone was sawed off a dead Marine before burial so he could fit in his uniform and coffin." Read article... Comments (23) French Nuclear Reactors Easily Penetrated Al Jazeera | Submitted by: Soylent "Greenpeace activists secretly entered a French nuclear site before dawn and draped a banner reading Coucou and Facile, (meaning Hey and Easy) on its reactor containment building, to expose the vulnerability of atomic sites in the country... French power company Electricite de France (EDF), which operates the site, denounced the "illegal" break-in at Nogent-sur-Seine and insisted that it did not harm security at the site." Read article... Comments (28) Kentucky Church Bans Interracial Couples The New Civil Rights Movement | Submitted by: miscegenatrix "Parties of such marriages will not be received as members, nor will they be used in worship services and other church functions, with the exception being funerals. All are welcome to our public worship services. This recommendation is not intended to judge the salvation of anyone, but is intended to promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve." Read article... Comments (93) Overgrow the World's Insidious Plan Toke of the Town | Submitted by: st0ne "Overgrow The World has the same goal as most of us: Full re-legalization of cannabis/hemp for all farmers and responsible adults around the world. But OTW plans to achieve this goal through a unique method: planting marijuana in public, highly visible places... Quietly planting a seed and walking away isn't exactly what even the most perverse media or politician can twist into a violent act which must be stamped out." Read article... Comments (34) Tattoo Is A Steaming Pile Sun | Submitted by: The Drifter "Rossie wanted a scene from the Narnia trilogy inked on her back... Instead she was left with a pile of excrement with flies buzzing around it... He tricked me by drinking a bottle of cheap wine with me and doing tequila shots before I signed it and got the tattoo." Nice theory, but potentially debunked by The Smoking Gun, 2nd link. Read article... and This article... Comments (28) Burp In Class, Go Directly To Jail Santa Maria Times | Submitted by: LJ "The boy was transported [to Juvie] without his parents being notified in May after he burped audibly in PE class and his teacher called a school resource officer to complain he was disrupting her class. The lawsuit also details a separate Nov. 8 incident when the same student was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched as he was accused of selling pot to another student; the boy was never charged." Read article... Comments (693) Daily Rotten Archives..