Random News Stories

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

At the link, for added ghoulishness, is a link titled:

"Are you there? Share your stories, videos and images."

Not

"Are you there?  GET THE HELL OUT!"

or

"Are you there?  STOP READING THIS AND TRY TO HELP A VICTIM!"

No.  It's "give us your atrocity porn".

That's my American Dream!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Speaking of funny:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20660791

Wife of Nigerian Finance minister kidnapped. He can't even e-mail anyone for help really.

Odd, I didn't find it  funny at all.

too soon, huh?

No, just that it isn't funny.

I mean, it might actually be horrormirth in an ironic sense if the finance minister had actually been unable to contact anyone for help because of Nigeria's scammer problem, but since that wasn't the case, it's really just that his mom got kidnapped.

Hey, whatever tickles your funny bone, I guess.

my comment was just a joke, too.

sometimes it's fun to be superficial.
nobody's suggesting that her abduction is actually funny.

I don't find nigger or rape jokes funny, either.

I guess I'm just no fun. 

But that's not even why I found it unfunny. I found it unfunny because there was no punch line. It simply wasn't funny.

[Cainad (dec.)]

http://us.cnn.com/2012/12/14/health/kentucky-overdoses/index.html?sr=sharebar_facebook

So basically everyone in Kentucky is dying of painkiller overdose and leaving a bunch of orphans behind

[AFK]

It's very tragic what this is doing to families and communities.  The Watkins kid was spot on:

"People have to understand that this is a problem," he said. "It doesn't affect just the person that uses, it affects the entire family."

and it effects the entire community, particularly when you have that many kids being orphaned. 

[Pæs]

http://us.cnn.com/2012/12/14/health/kentucky-overdoses/index.html?sr=sharebar_facebook

So basically everyone in Kentucky is dying of painkiller overdose and leaving a bunch of orphans behind

"She wanted to call the police and the other adults in the home were so high they wouldn't allow her to call," said Kelly. "So she crawled up into her mother's arms while her mother died. Now she's just living with a lady she met at the local Boys and Girls Club.
"Those are the situations we're dealing with in eastern Kentucky."

[inode_buddha]

Anybody up for some irony and/or hypocrisy? NY newspaper that published lists of gun owners hires armed guards...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/01/03/0122219/newspaper-that-published-gun-owners-list-hires-armed-guards

(it links thru to Reuters but the slashdot debate is always entertaining...
.

[Cain]

So, while we've been spazzing out about Islamic terrorism abroad and at home, it turns out the UVF are behind the recent spate of "flag riots" in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland has been festering for years, as the remnants of republican paramilitiaries were ignored in favour of Bin Laden's "database" of mujahideen mercenaries.  No surprise, loyalist elements used that to rebuild their own networks and justify a violent street presence.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/article/20130107/NEWS/130109196

According to court documents, witnesses observed Potter leaving the vehicle that attracted attention at Valley Forge Drive. While investigating, officials learned of another disturbance near Nos. 169 and 170 Valley Forge Drive. Both units were on fire and officers saw Potter throw two objects toward witnesses.

The objects were later identified as human arms.

and

http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/do-not-call-group-fined-for-phoning-households/story-fnda1bsz-1226549152663

THE company that operates the nation's Do Not Call Register has been penalised for making nuisance phone calls to thousands of Melburnians.

[Junkenstein]

Also, Doing it Right:

http://www.thedailydolt.com/2013/01/07/actually-officer-i-have-some-corporation-papers-in-the-glove-compartment-so-the-two-of-us-people-have-every-right-to-be-in-the-carpool-lane/

His plan was as simple as it was brilliant: Frieman  just drove around in one of California's carpool lanes by himself until he eventually was stopped by police for not having an additional person in the car. (Sidenote: Apparently carpool laws are enforced rather loosely in California. It took Frieman over 10 years of driving around like that before he was finally ticketed.)

Once Frieman was finally pulled over, he handed the officer a certificate of incorporation and voila!!  According to the Supreme Court's own precedent, Frieman suddenly had two "people" in his vehicle. Obviously, the officer still gave him the $481 ticket, so today Frieman is heading to traffic court to argue his case.

[Cain]

While funny, I think this will backfire spectacularly.

[Junkenstein]

Well, he already lost and is yet to appeal.

And as one of the comments noted, he is somewhat visionary by doing this for several years before the law came about.

I would be quite pleased if it started a trend. I've no idea what US costs for registering a company are, but it's relatively cheap in the UK.

[Reginald Ret]

While funny, I think this will backfire spectacularly.

I can't imagine how.
Oh wait.
It will become legal for robotic cars to drive themselves if they are a corporation.
These will then be used by other corporations as cheap assasination tools.
CorpoCar hits target.
CorpoCar gets tried for murder.
CorpoCar files bankruptcy, effectively killing itsself.
Junkenstein, Why do you want murder to be legalised?

[Cain]

 

[Junkenstein]

While funny, I think this will backfire spectacularly.

Junkenstein, Why do you want murder to be legalised?

You mean it isn't already?

[Cain]

For the record my objection is that if this his attempt to undermine corporate personhood, it would backfire by adding further legal justifications for this dubious premise.

"Yeah, I helped fuck the entire concept of personhood, but I didn't get fined.  A winner is me!"

Not that it matters anyway, since the law doesn't work like that.  Intention, past application and common sense are all used in evaluating possible breaches of the law.  It's not like some clever word game, where you can declare your enemy defeated because they forgot to use a semi-colon.

So pretty much he just fucked himself.