26 Mar 2009
Hungry Crustaceans Eat Climate Change Experiment

Stop! No more!

Earlier this month, an expedition fertilized 300 square kilometers of the Atlantic Ocean with six metric tons of dissolved iron. This triggered a bloom of phytoplankton, which doubled their biomass within two weeks by taking in carbon dioxide from the seawater. The dead phytoplankton were then expected to sink to the ocean bed, dragging carbon along with them. Instead they experiment turned into an example of how the food chain works as the bloom was eaten by a swarm of hungry copepods. The huge swarm of copepods were in turn eaten by larger crustaceans called amphipods, which are often eaten by squid and whales. "I think we are seeing the last gasps of ocean iron fertilization as a carbon storage strategy," says Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University. While the experiment failed to show ocean fertilization as a viable carbon storage strategy, it has pushed the old "My dog ate my homework" excuse to an unprecedented level.

(link) [Slashdot]

17:20 /Humor | 1 comment | permanent link

Toilet sausage chef causes prison unit evacuation

I can't take any more of these today ...

AP - An inmate's attempt to heat up sausages in his toilet went up in smoke when the cooking fire forced a unit evacuation at a Washington prison. Clallam Bay Corrections Center spokeswoman Denise Larson says 130 inmates were evacuated to a dining hall when smoke was spotted coming from a sewer vent pipe Wednesday evening.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

17:13 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Legalize pot? Not a change Obama can believe in

And there you have it, in, dare I say it? black and white. Apparently it's fine for our leadership to have blown coke or not inhaled, but for the rest of us, well, it's hard time with a hard fine.

But thanks for clearing that up, Mr. President: I have now lost all hope for liberty in my lifetime. But I have gained some hope that some scales will be dropping off some eyeballs, as more of the enemies of freedom are revealed.

Reuters - Legalizing marijuana is not the kind of change President Barack Obama can believe in -- -- at least not as a remedy for the ailing U.S. economy.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

16:57 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link

Michigan man jailed for humping car wash vacuum

What can I possibly add to this?

A Michigan man who was caught red-handed having sex with a car wash vacuum hose has been jailed for 90 days, the Saginaw News reports.

(link) [The Register]

13:58 /Humor | 1 comment | permanent link

States consider drug tests for welfare recipients

Gosh, I wonder if they'll require us to sing Horst-Wessel-Lied next?

AP - Want government assistance? Just say no to drugs.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

06:56 /Politics | 1 comment | permanent link