No, this is not a concept sketch for Roland Emmerich’s next disaster-porn spectacular:

This photo just posted to the Guatemalan Government’s Flickr feed shows a spontaneous sinkhole (“hundimiento”) 20 meters deep and 15 wide that appeared today in Zone 2 of Guatemala City, after overwhelming saturation of rains from tropical storm Agatha. Local press reports that it swallowed an entire 3-story building.

Guatemala also endured a volcano eruption last Thursday, which killed a reporter on the scene.

Guatemala: First, volcanic eruption; then, devastating tropical storm [Boing Boing, via Sully]

“Fences have been known to make good neighbors and everybody knows we could use a lot more of those around here. So if the fence keeps McGinniss on one side and the Palins content, why would the ‘Today’ show or ABC care? Finally, those who are fond of Joe McGinniss might remind him (if he doesn’t already know) that Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property.” [Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, via Political Wire]

“Al and Tipper Gore, whose playful romance enlivened Washington and the campaign trail for a quarter century, have decided to separate after 40 years of marriage, the couple told friends Tuesday.” [Politico]

We spent a few hours Monday night trying to nail down a few facts — any facts— about Israel’s raid on the “Freedom Flotilla” heading for Gaza.

We gave up.

It’s not just that every fact is disputed — it’s that every fact is part of a larger politically charged narrative, and part of an immediate land rush following the incident. Whoever wins the facts, wins the story.

How bad is it? Well, there are disputed facts about the raid itself. There are disputed facts about Israel’s right to conduct the raid in international waters. There are disputed facts about Israel’s right to blockade Gaza, and disputed facts about Israel’s conduct of that blockade.

Hell, there are even disputed facts about the ships in the flotilla.

We thought we’d spare ourselves a long detour into post-Ottoman Middle East history by focusing on that last fact — the flotilla’s provenance — but even that led us back to Turkey.

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