Horrorshows

Spoiler Alert: He is.

“Greenland’s massive ice sheet experienced record surface melting and runoff last year, according to research released today. Unusually warm conditions in much of the country helped extend the annual melting season by up to 50 days longer in 2010 than the average observed between 1979 and 2009, researchers found.” [NYT, via PourMeCoffee]

Demrat Governor Not Blago releases the first doggy-snuff video of the 2010 campaign season against Repug opponent Bill Brady, providing us a fresh excuse to revive our once-banned 2008 Swampsow graphic.

The bill in question would have amended a 2009 Illinois law that effectively banned gas euthanizations by shelters, by imposing requirements — particularly against mass dispatches — that made chambers too impractical to use. The bill would have permitted group gassing again, but under vague rules that may or may not be considered loopholes.

Read more »

From the people who probably brought you the formerly ubiquitous (although we saw one yesterday) “Baby on Board” signs:

West Vancouver officials will roll out a new way to keep drivers alert and slow them down: a little girl speed bump. A trompe-l’œil, the apparently 3D girl located near the École Pauline Johnson Elementary School is actually a 2D pavement painting, similar to the one shown here.

Nice idea, we guess, but here’s the problem: Once the novelty wears off, running over kids is going to become a familiar experience. You’ll just keep driving as usual until thumpthumpthumpthump…

Speed Bumps of the Future: Creepy Optical Illusion Children [Discover, via Yahoo]

In his latest installment of Mystery Presidents Theater 3000, Alabama teabagger Rick Barber raises Lincoln from the dead to call income taxes “slavery”. According to published reports, Alabama teabagger Rick Barber is from Alabama.

[via TPM]

“A Southwest Airlines employee called police after finding human heads in a package set to be transported to a Fort Worth medical research company, the airline said. ‘It wasn’t labeled or packaged properly,’ said Ashley Rogers, a Southwest spokeswoman.” [NBC DFW]

“Stephanie Mueller, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department, said that neither Energy Secretary Steven Chu nor anyone else was thinking about a nuclear blast under the gulf. The nuclear option was not — and never had been — on the table, federal officials said. ‘It’s crazy,’ one senior official said.” [NYT]