Parents using sniffer dogs in their kids' bedrooms.

I feel bad for any teenager with a parent that would do this. From BBC:

Retired sniffer dogs that have spent years on police patrol are now working in the private sector in the US - sniffing out teenagers' bedrooms.

Parents can rent a dog and handler for $200 (£125) an hour from Sniff Dogs, a firm operating in New Jersey and Ohio.

The dogs are highly trained and can detect illegal drugs.

The company says the animals can smell marijuana from up to 15 feet away (5m) and residue on clothing from drugs smoked two days earlier.

Los Angeles: Days 1 - 5

I sat in a conference room for 14 hours a day while staring out at the Santa Monica pier and the beautiful Pacific Ocean beyond.

I left my hotel once, and that was to pick up some Marmite in the little British district near 3rd Street Promenade. I only had 15 minutes.

Why is it that conferences are always held in places where the last thing you want to do is sit indoors all day? I propose all meetings be held in Lubbock.

Ironically, on the flight home I sat next to a career counselor. I meant to ask her if it's a bad sign when a company tortures you by gluing you to a boring conference right next to the beach. Instead, I accidentally sneezed on her, and she turned away and pretended to sleep for the rest of the trip.

Thai prime minister flees from protestors, tossed bottles.

Your popularity's gotta be pretty low when people start throwing their shoes at you. From Breitbart:

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thailand's prime minister was forced to flee one of his own government ministries Wednesday as protesters demanding his resignation taunted him, tossing sandals and plastic bottles at his entourage.

Security officials hustled Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat though a mob of 100-200 demonstrators a day after a Thai court convicted the country's former leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, of violating a conflict of interest law when he was in office from 2001-2006.

Ousted by a 2006 military coup, Thaksin is reviled by protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy, who claim his administration was characterized by massive corruption and abuse of power.

The protesters regard Somchai, who is Thaksin's brother-in-law, as a mere puppet, and accuse him of trying to amend the constitution to help clear Thaksin, who fled to self-imposed exile in Britain before the court's decision.

Wednesday's confrontation started on the grounds of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, outside the headquarters of the state-owned telecom operator.

Pulling scotch tape creates X-rays.

This is wild. From Globe and Mail:

NEW YORK — Two weeks after a Nobel Prize highlighted theoretical work on subatomic particles, physicists are announcing a startling discovery about a much more familiar form of matter: Scotch tape.

It turns out that if you peel the popular adhesive tape off its roll in a vacuum chamber, it emits X-rays. The researchers even made an X-ray image of one of their fingers.

Who knew? Actually, more than 50 years ago, some Russian scientists reported evidence of X-rays from peeling sticky tape off glass. But the new work demonstrates that you can get a lot of X-rays, a study co-author says.

“We were very surprised,” Juan Escobar said. “The power you could get from just peeling tape was enormous.”

TV remote control explodes house.

From Fox News:

BILLINGS, Mo. — Authorities in southwest Missouri say a TV remote control probably triggered an explosion that destroyed a Christian County home.

The only person in the home at the time — 66-year-old Cindy Curry — was blown outside but had only minor injuries. Firefighters say it's amazing she survived at all.

Neighbors said they heard a huge boom when the blast occurred around 6:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Curry's husband, Jerry, says he smelled propane gas in the 10-year-old house late Monday. But the smell was gone Tuesday morning, so he went out to have breakfast with friends.

His wife then turned on the TV — and Billings Fire Chief Henry Bos says it appears the remote control ignited propane still in the house.

The couple lost two of their dogs and a bird.

Palin goes on $150,000 shopping spree.

But she looks fabulous! From HuffingtonPost:

Since her selection as John McCain's running mate, the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothing and make-up for Gov. Sarah Palin, her husband, and even her infant son, it was reported on Tuesday evening.

That entertaining scoop -- which came by way of Politico -- sent almost immediate reverberations through the presidential race. A statement from McCain headquarters released hours after the article bemoaned the triviality of the whole affair.

"With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it's remarkable that we're spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses," said spokesperson Tracey Schmitt. "It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign."

But even the most timid of Democrats are unlikely to heed this call for civility. For starters, the story has the potential to dampen enthusiasm among GOP activists and donors at a critical point in the presidential race. It also creates a huge PR headache for the McCain ticket as it seeks to make inroads among voters worried about the current economic crisis.

Mainly, however, Democrats (in this scenario) are not prone to forgiveness. After all, it was during this same campaign cycle that Republicans belittled the $400 haircut that former Sen. John Edwards had paid for with his own campaign money (the funds were later reimbursed). And yet, the comparison to that once-dominant news story is hardly close: if Edwards had gotten one of his legendary haircuts every singe week, it would still take him 7.2 years to spend what Palin has spent. Palin has received the equivalent of $2,500 in clothes per day from places such as Saks Fifth Avenue (where RNC expenditures totaled nearly $50,000) and Neiman Marcus (where the governor had a $75,000 spree).

Palin ordered travel expense reports to be doctored.

And why shouldn't Twig, Squiggy, Willow, and Frodo join their mother for a trip on the state's dime? From Newsweek:

(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

British buses question the existence of God.

Ironically, I meet people on buses all the time who claim to be God. From BBC:

Bendy-buses with the slogan "There's probably no God" could soon be running on the streets of London.

The atheist posters are the idea of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and have been supported by prominent atheist Professor Richard Dawkins.

The BHA planned only to raise £5,500, which was to be matched by Professor Dawkins, but it has now raised more than £36,000 of its own accord.

It aims to have two sets of 30 buses carrying the signs for four weeks.

The complete slogan reads: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

As the campaign has raised more than anticipated, it will also have posters on the inside of buses as well.

The BHA is also considering extending the campaign to cities including Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Human heads sent to Mexico police.

From BBC News:

The severed heads of four men have been delivered by a courier service to a police station in northern Mexico, according to the local authorities.

The heads, all of men believed aged between 25-35, arrived last week in an icebox marked as containing vaccines.

Police thought the package was meant for a local hospital - they only opened it on Monday, revealing the four heads.

Police are investigating if the heads belong to any of the 10 local people who were kidnapped last week by gunmen.

The gruesome delivery was made in the town of Ascension, not far from Ciudad Juarez, close to the US border.

Ciudad Juarez has a reputation as one of Mexico's most violent cities, with more than a quarter of the country's 3,800 drugs-related murders reported to have taken place there since the start of the year.

The authorities have discounted reports that one of the heads may have been of a police commander who was kidnapped on 18 May this year.

Philanthropist pledges $75 million toward animal condoms.

From the Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Gary Michelson, a California surgeon who invented spinal implants and who started the Found Animals Foundation, has pledged more than $50-million to support research into pet contraceptives and has promised to give $25-million to anyone who can come up with a workable contraceptive for dogs and cats, The Wall Street Journal reports on a blog. Forbes magazine pegged Mr. Michelson’s fortune at $1.5-billion.

Violinist uses gun, bodyguards to protect violin.

This would make an awesome Vin Diesel movie. From Ananova:

A concert violinist has been given a gun permit so he can protect his £6million Stradivarius violin.

Matteo Fedeli, 36, travels all round Italy with his rare instrument and has been given police permission to protect it with a a 357 Smith and Wesson Magnum.

He said he also has a team of bodyguards wherever he goes with the instrument who plan his route meticulously and make sure he is not followed. And he also has an armed escort as he travels to his concerts.

"Thankfully I've never had to use my gun - but a 357 Magnum is certainly a useful deterrent," he said.

"I did once have a concert though where the crowd started to get a bit close to me and the violin and my bodyguards quickly made a human barrier around me.

"Anyone would tried to steal a rare instrument would be a bit silly though because they have satellite alarms built in and it's not as if they could just go and sell it at an auction without being noticed anyway."

Zombie Watch: Doctors get tips on making sure bodies are dead.

It's a sad day when the world's doctors need help distinguishing the dead from the undead. From the BBC:

Doctors are being given tips to help them diagnose when someone is dead.

Although a patient coming back from the dead is rare, there is enough ambiguity in diagnosing death that doctors need guidance, experts have decided.

Rapid advances in life support, where machines take over the breathing of the moribund, have complicated the diagnosis, for example.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges' UK guidelines cover situations like hypothermia and drug-induced coma.

Back from the dead

There have been instances when people exposed to extreme cold have been presumed dead but have later shown signs of life again when their core body temperature has risen again.

Sedative drugs can also make a person appear to be dead when they are not.

Zombie Watch: Man creating army of bloodsuckers.

His blase attitude will destroy us all. From the NY Times:

Mr. Sorkin pushed up his shirt sleeve and pressed the mesh end of the jar against the inside of his right arm. Roused to a frenzy by the twin cues of heat and carbon dioxide that “in evolution equal host,” said Mr. Sorkin, the insects scrambled toward the lid, thrust out their stylets and began to feed. For a good 10 minutes, Mr. Sorkin sat there with the proud placidity of a donor at a blood bank. He did not budge. He held the jar. He let the bedbugs bite.

“I can hardly feel it,” he said matter-of-factly, “and they do need to eat.”

Mr. Sorkin and his bedbugs are featured in the newly published “Dark Banquet,” a jaunty, instructive and charmingly graphic look at nature’s born phlebotomists — creatures from wildly different twigs of the phylogenetic tree that all happen to share a fondness for blood.

Coozer-Bits.

Alternet: The 10 dirtiest election tricks against Obama so far.

BBC: Nebraska decides allowing parents to safely abandon teenage children not a good thing.

BBC: Bee Gees' music can save your life.

Breitbart: Iowa couple ordered apart after woman bites fiance.

LA Times: Women not able to level up in the video game industry.

The Guardian: Exotic animals seized in Mexican drug raid.

NY Times: Tap water safer than bottled water.

FOX News: LittleBigPlanet pulled for music offensive to Sunnis.

Man nabbed with frozen shrimp down his pants.

I hope I don't get arrested for the shrimp in MY pants. From Breitbart:

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) - Authorities said a man tried to steal several bags of frozen shrimp from a supermarket by hiding them down his pants. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office reported that an off-duty detective was shopping at a Sweetbay supermarket Sunday when he noticed what appeared to be a man with groceries stuffed in his pants.

The detective approached the 32-year-old man and ordered him to stop. Authorities said the man then removed several bags of shrimp from his pants and promised to put them back.

When the man fled for the store's exit, the detective tackled and restrained him until patrol deputies arrived.

The man was charged with shoplifting, battery on an officer and resisting arrest. He was being held on $2,600 bail.

Republicans admit illegal attempt to use foreclosure lists to deny voters.

This is pretty dirty. EmptyWheel's got the scoop.

Junk food diet causes heart attacks.

Shocking! From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Diets heavy in fried foods, salty snacks and meat account for about 35 percent of heart attacks globally, researchers reported on Monday.

Their study of 52 countries showed that people who ate a "Western" diet based on meat, eggs and junk food were more likely to have heart attacks, while those who ate more fruits and vegetables had a lower risk.

The study supports previous findings that show junk food and animal fats can cause heart disease, and especially heart attacks.

Entire beach stolen in Jamaica.

From BBC News:

Police in Jamaica are investigating the suspected theft of hundreds of tons of sand from a beach on the island's north coast.

It was discovered in July that 500 truck-loads had been removed outside a planned resort at Coral Spring beach.

Detectives say people in the tourism sector could be suspects, because a good beach is seen as a valuable asset to hotels on the Caribbean island.

Plane engines found with damaged, missing parts.

From Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON – After finding several passenger aircraft engines with damaged and missing parts, safety officials on Thursday urged the Federal Aviation Administration to order inspections of similar engines, particularly those long in service.

The PW2037 engines currently are in use in 725 Boeing 757 jetliners, according to Pratt & Whitney, their manufacturer.

The National Transportation Safety Board, in a letter to the FAA seeking the inspections, cited concerns that pieces of the engine could penetrate fuel tanks, causing a leak and fire.

"Information gathered to date has raised serious concerns that warrant immediate action by the FAA," the safety board wrote Robert Sturgell, the FAA's acting administrator.

FYI.

The Panama travelogue will be continued in a few days. In LA now for meetings and away from my pics. But I'll post some news during boring parts of the meeting! w00t!