City doesn’t know where 851 million gallons of missing water went

It’s enough to fill 1,300 Olympic-sized swimming pools. And the city has no clue where it went..

City doesn’t know where 851 million gallons of missing water went

A toddler conversation

Ayden: My tummy hurts
Daddy: Where?
Ayden: Here.
Daddy: Why?
Ayden: Because my tummy wants junk food.

CBS NEW YORK REPORTS: Birds Slam Into Windows, Leave Long Island Couple Lying Awake

It has been a full week of rude awakenings for a Long Island couple, who said their home has been under siege by a group of birds slamming into their windows over and over again.

The CBS affiliate in New York reports this:

The loud thumps have been waking them up morning after morning.

“Boom, boom, boom – that’s what it sounds like,” said Peter Kersich.

“It’s a pretty good hit on the window,” said Lisa Kersich.

The thumping started around 6 a.m. one morning and continued throughout the day. The couple sat by their window until they caught the culprits in the act.

It turned out it was a small group of robins flying headfirst into their windows.

“Just right into the window, full steam ahead,” Lisa Kersich said.

“We don’t know how he’s not getting hurt,” Peter Kersich said.

Call my spooky, but old wives tales still exist in my mind’s eye..And if you’re anything like me, you too know of the paranormal tales of birds trying to get into houses as harbingers of doom or death..

This same thing has occurred even in my family.. I heard some tales over deceased grandparents who ended up with dead birds in their kitchens immediately after they died—birds that crashed through windows or found some other means to their end.

The story from the CBS station is New York is probably explainable.. Most likely. Maybe. Kind of.

But creepy nonetheless..

Birds attempting to fly in.. head first.

CBS NEW YORK REPORTS: Birds Slam Into Windows, Leave Long Island Couple Lying Awake

101 Things You Cared About 10 Years Ago (But Don't At All Today)

There are times when thinking back to 2004 seems like just ‘yesterday’.. most likely because I am constantly freaked by how fast time goes.

But when you see the list of what pop culture said mattered in 2004, it feels like a generation ago.

By 2018 we will be so 2000 and late..

And my God, I did have a Cingular phone. Flipped.. 

101 Things You Cared About 10 Years Ago (But Don't At All Today)

GOTHAMIST asks: Who Is Tom Wheeler And Why Is He Killing The Internet?

The FCC chairman was once a lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry.

Get ready to hear a lot about net neutrality and Tom Wheeler, whether you want to or not.

But it’s important you do.

You could be paying more for services online.. for TV.. for streaming .. 

The GOTHAMIST reports a money quote here:

Does it seems fishy that Obama picked someone who pushed industry deregulation to head the federal agency that regulates said industry? It does, doesn’t it. When he was nominated, an insider told Reuters that, “All of the senators in the Commerce Committee know Tom as a lobbyist who funnels funds to them, not as a stand-up guy from a regulatory agency who is able to take heat.” But it’s probably worth pointing out that Wheeler managed to drum up about $700,000 in campaign contributions to both of Obama’s presidential runs.

Understand net neutrality as if your own free speech depends on it. 

It may.

GOTHAMIST asks: Who Is Tom Wheeler And Why Is He Killing The Internet?

This summer will be miserable, Farmer’s Almanac says

HOT.
HUMID.
STORMY.
SANDY-LIKE STORM IN SEPTEMBER.

By August people will be looking forward to another winter that will never end.

This summer will be miserable, Farmer’s Almanac says

Hacker hijacks baby monitor

This is a true story about modern technology turning very scary..

A Cincinnati Ohio family is learning firsthand how easy it can be to be hacked in our modern age.. FOX 19 reports this:

Heather Schreck was asleep around midnight in her Hebron home when a voice startled her.

"All of a sudden, I heard what sounded like a man’s voice but I was asleep so I wasn’t sure," Heather said.

Disoriented and confused, Heather picked up her cell phone to check the camera in her 10-month-old daughter Emma’s room. The camera was moving, but she wasn’t moving it.

"About the time I saw it moving, I also heard a voice again start screaming at my daughter. He was screaming, ‘Wake up baby. Wake up baby.’ Then just screaming at her trying to wake her up."

That’s when Heather’s husband, Adam, ran into Emma’s room. Adam said the camera then turned from his petrified daughter to point directly at him.

"Then it screamed at me," Adam said. "Some bad things, some obscenities. So I unplugged the camera."

But the Schrecks were only beginning to plug into the truth of what had just happened.

"Someone had hacked in from outside," Heather said.

A baby is the most prized and valued possession of a family. It’s urgently important for parents to constantly keep their children safe, sound, and protected.. The fact that someone can easily hack into a baby monitor and do something of this nature is in itself a very scary thing for a parent.

In some weird way, when I read this, it reminded me of that old story ‘the babysitter.’  A man was harrassing a babysitter by calling over and over again—the punchline came when the operator said “the call is coming from a telephone upstairs!”..  but involved 20th century technology. This new modern ‘hacking’ and thwacking than can occur may be even more frightening. At least in old tales of horror, we knew where the culprit was. In this age, we don’t. He can watch your child, or you, from your computer camera. Or in this case, a baby monitor.

A sense of security is important. When something happens to ruin it—as it did to Heather and Adam Schreck—your life can turn upside down. And you’ll realize how scary this world can be..

 

Hacker hijacks baby monitor

If anyone has a spare ark for sale, there’s a few million people along the East Coast that may want to buy it over the next three days.

These rainfall amounts are impressive and scary.. 6 inches in New York City?

My God.. it will be like a scene from the DAY AFTER TOMORROW if this happens!?

From North Korea. Not with love.

North Korea is in the grips of a crystal meth epidemic. And now 99% pure crystal meth from North Korea is flooding United States drugs markets.. According to DAILY MAIL’s report on the North Korean nightmare, the drug is so common there that people are offered it as much as coffee or tea would be to guests in other countries. And in America? Meth has been found in lots of small hometowns across the fruited plain. Now 99% purity is on the way–thanks to corruption and drug gangs in North Korea.

Great.. this is the last thing the already meth-addicted coal region of Pennsylvania needs. The pure stuff..

Cold water challenge worries

Social media has lit up with the ‘cold water challenge’ ..You jump into cold water and before doing so name three other people who should too. In some sense, it’s for charity–it’s up to you to jump in to avoid paying a charitable donation.  

But accidents happen. A man from West Michigan is in the hospital .. he dove into a lake and could not come back up, now ending up paralyzed after he wanted to take part in the Internet fad.. Another cautionary tale for our internet generation.. Food for thought, perhaps, as this fad continues to compel people across the net world to jump into questionable water..

A friend of mine made a comic inspired by me, Bryan.

He obviously gets me perfect..

An urban legend becomes reality..
For years, gamers have told of a story from 1983..A market crash was so bad that Atari buried thousands of ET THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL in a New Mexico landfill. Construction workers found the stash.. as XBOX WIRE reports, it is not in the category of urban legend anymore.

The big unearthing even forced SNOPES to change its page on this ‘legend,’ of course with SNOPES standing by its label of ‘legend’ since it was not millions dug up. 

The Escapist has more photos.

TAKE THAT SNOPES.
Sometimes legends are true..

Saint Nestle and the doves that died: Some thoughts on the big day in Rome

Saint Nestle and the doves that died: Some thoughts on the big day in Rome

Stabbing suspect said, 'I have more people to kill,' complaint says

Stabbing suspect said, 'I have more people to kill,' complaint says

Sun Unleashes Major Solar Flare

The sun erupted with a massive solar flare late Thursday (April 24), triggering a temporary communications blackout on some parts of Earth. See video of the X1.3 solar flare here.

It was a big flare—and for the most part extremely unreported.

Though a lack of information was given to the citizens of the planet earth, they were actually affected, at least in parts, such as with blackouts in the Pacific Ocean region and the Pacific Rim.. 

There are some who believe solar flares affect how people act, too.Though it’s difficult to tell if the sudden burst of solar energy towards the planet earth actually intensifies earthlings’ already bizarre behavior, since humans already act that way anyway.

Some also believe an increase in heart ailments can occur and other types of bodily conditions.

Those are not always based in scientific fact.

What is science fact is that a big solar flare can happen and knock communication and power out for a long time. Something that no one on this planet seems concerned about. Except Newt Gingrich—a man scientists don’t consider themselves sharing a bed with.

But disaster preparedness sure can make strange bedfellows.

Sun Unleashes Major Solar Flare

U.S. Reporters Grill Obama in Asia: Did You Like Your Green-Tea Ice Cream?

Journalism.

I would actually have asked him why he didn’t finish his sushi—something else American reporters have been focusing on.

The world is lucky to have a press core from other nations—if they relied on American ones the news would be filled with 100% political gossip and fear mongering..  The great free press is lax in its responsibilities.. Hardcore questions are over.. People are more worried about sharing a cocktail at some lame D.C. bar to get more access.. They are more concerned about their big wig bosses at the network, who most likely are talking a merger with some other giant corporate conglomerate. And they are too worried about internet bloggers who they see as nothing more than reptile bile, only fitting for mocking instead of propping up.

But when they get their big chance to swing a hard question, they prod the President about his affinity for green tea ice cream..

Name your dead journalist. He or she rolls in a grave somewhere deep in the American heartland..

U.S. Reporters Grill Obama in Asia: Did You Like Your Green-Tea Ice Cream?

US Sees Activity at North Korea Nuke Site During Obama Visit

US Sees Activity at North Korea Nuke Site During Obama Visit

The timing of events so often gives me pause.. Do things happen for a reason? IS there a message in tragedy? A news event did not make too many headlines but I have been thinking deeply about whether there is any potential meaning behind it: Just days before Pope John Paul II is to be declared a saint in front of millions in Rome, a crucifix dedicated to him collapsed and killed a 21-year-old man named Marco Gusmini.

The man was killed instantly .. he was visiting the vilage of Cevo with other younger friends.

There is also some irony: Gusmini lived on a street in Bergamo named John XXII..

Next time you’re watching the beautiful cheerleaders at Buffalo Bills games, think about this little factoid: The “Buffalo Jills” as they are called received an instructional manual from their managers telling them how to eat soup and when to change their tampons..

They say: “The Jill Cheerleaders Code Of Conduct instructs the women on how to keep certain ‘intimate areas’ fresh, offering advice such as ‘When menstruating, use a product that (sic) right for your menstrual flow.’: ..

They were also told to say excuse me when they burp and said “Oh my goodness” instead of Oh my God…

Oh my God…

Autism Nation: America's Chemical Brain Drain

Americans are exposed to over 83,000 industrial chemicals as part of modern civilization. Virtually all pregnant women are walking chemical repositories.

The linked article is interesting and disturbing.. Why is autism so high? Sure, we’re told that it’s because of ‘better screening.’ I am getting tired of the ‘better screening’ argument.. anyone with common sense knows that there are many more instances of severe autism hitting families across the planet.. especially America and other ‘industrialized nations’…

Counties and states killing weeds with sprays.. Food filled with chemicals.. BPA in plastics.. heavy metals, fluoride in water for babies who still don’t have their first set of teeth..

The article details toxins in food, air, and everything. Every place your child plays.. every place your baby in a womb goes.. 

The money quotes you should consider:

Americans are exposed to over 83,000 industrial chemicals as part of modern civilization. Virtually all pregnant women are walking chemical repositories. Tracking 163 chemicals, 99 percent of pregnant women tested positive for at least 43 different chemicals 

And

Other studies show that the average newborn enters the world on day one “pre-polluted,” harboring hundreds of chemicals and heavy metals acquired during intrauterine life, and many of those undoubtedly reach the brain during critical windows of embryonic development. None of those chemicals enhance the natural process of brain maturation; many of them are known to be toxic to neurons and brain tissue.

And this:

Most pesticides work by causing chemical disruption of the brain and nervous system of insects. In fact, many pesticides are merely derivations of chemical warfare agents of the World War I and World War II era, i.e. nerve gases. It should be no surprise, then, that human nerve cells could also be affected, especially when considering that at the critical embryonic stage, the human fetal brain is no larger than that of many insects. 

How ‘safe’.. 

Often I offer only bad news with no hope.

There may be hope today though, hope that wasn’t here before.

There could game changing positive breakthroughs coming.. 7 SAN DIEGO says this, 

Autistic stem cells are starting respond to experimental drugs in what San Diego researchers are calling a breakthrough in the disorder affecting one in 68 children.

UC San Diego scientists took stem cells from children with autism and reprogrammed them into brain cells.

Amazing times we live in.
But poisonous times, too..

While we work on the ‘cure’ for autism, we should also try to find the trigger. Or triggers. Or chemicals. 

The truth is out there… maybe in the air, water.. or land. But it’s there somewhere..

Autism Nation: America's Chemical Brain Drain