Random humor for your start to the weekend…
Monthly Archives: August 2014
Mystery of gaping holes at ‘end of the world’ possibly solved
By Shelley Hazen
Published August 01, 2014
This frame grab made July 16, 2014, shows a crater in the Yamal Peninsula of Siberia.AP Photo/Associated Press Television
Huge, mysterious gaping holes in Northern Siberia may not be such a mystery anymore. One scientist has pinned down a cause and, spoiler alert, it’s not aliens or weapons testing, as had been theorized.
The first hole discovered in the Yamal Peninsula, which is 260 feet wide, is likely a sinkhole caused by melting ice or permafrost, University of Alaska geophysicist Vladimir Romanovsky tells LiveScience.
Plants around the crater suggests the hole is several years old, but closer inspection is needed to determine the exact age. Romanovsky thinks climate change played a role, which means “we will probably see this happen more often now,” he says.
But questions remain, notes LiveScience: Where did the natural gas come from, and why is the hole so even and round? (Click to read about a burning crater that’s been on fire for more than 40 years.)
Filed under Humor and Observations
Rare whale fossil pulled from California backyard by sheriff’s search-and-rescue team
Aug. 1, 2014: Members of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department Search and Rescue team stand around a 16-17-million-year-old fossil lodged in a rock weighing about 2,000-pounds after it was lifted out of a hole in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.AP
A search-and-rescue team pulled a rare half-ton whale fossil from a Southern California backyard Friday, a feat that the team agreed to take on as a makeshift training mission.
The 16- to 17-million-year-old fossil from a baleen whale is one of about 20 baleen fossils known to exist, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County paleontologist Howell Thomas said. Baleen is a filter made of soft tissue that is used to sift out prey, like krill, from seawater.
Gary Johnson, 53, first discovered the fossil when he was a teen exploring the creek behind his family’s home.
At the time, he called another local museum to come inspect the find, but officials passed on adding it to their collection. In January, a 12-million-year-old sperm whale fossil was recovered at a nearby school, prompting Johnson to call the Natural History Museum.
“I thought, maybe my whale is somehow associated,” said Johnson, who works as a cartoonist and art director.
Thomas wanted to add the fossil to the county museum’s collection of baleen whale fossils, but was puzzled over how to get the half-ton boulder from Rancho Palos Verdes, located on a peninsula about 25 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.
The sheriff’s department search-and-rescue unit declined to send a helicopter, but offered to use the fossil recovery as a training mission. The volunteer crew typically rescues stranded hikers and motorcyclists who careen off the freeway onto steep, rugged terrain, search-and-rescue reserve chief Mike Leum said.
“We’ll always be able to say, `it’s not heavier than a fossil,”‘ Leum said.
Filed under Humor and Observations
Cute Dogs for Your Monday Blues
Cute dogs to cheer up the beginning of your work week.
- Samurai
- Sir Canine
- Helping with the dishes
- Helper Dog
- Live like they left the gate open
- Staring contest
- Growing up together
- Best friends
- Flower child
- Nap time
- My face is stuck
- Sleepy time toy
- Helping a friend look out the window
- Fire fighter dog
- Pillow
- Friends
- Snuggles
- Uh, not the normal way to lay on the couch…
- Photo bomb
- Sentry duty
- Chow line
- I have no idea who chew up the toilet paper Mom
- The beginning of a long friendship
- Teddy Bear
Filed under Animals
Federal workers admit watching porn at work out of boredom
The Washington Times says it learned of several porn-craving government employees after requesting investigative records under the Freedom of Information Act.
According to the records, one Federal Communications Commission worker was spending up to eight hours each week viewing online porn in the office. He admitted to investigators that he perused the smut “out of boredom.”
An FCC spokesman declined to tell the Times what action the agency took after the FCC inspector general conducted an investigation. The spokesman said only that the agency disciplines employees based on Office of Personnel Management guidelines.
“This is apparently something that’s a pervasive problem throughout several federal agencies.”- Pete Seep, executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union
The records also show that a Treasury Department worker viewed more than 13,000 pornographic images at work during a six-week span.
“He stated he is aware it is against government rules and regulations, but he often does not have enough work do and has free time,” investigators said, referring to the Treasury worker.
The Times said investigative memos turned up similar cases at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Commerce Department and the General Services Administration. The memos show the cases rarely lead to criminal prosecutions for time and attendance fraud.
At the GSA, investigators nabbed an employee who surfed the web two hours a day looking at pornography and dating sites. The agency’s inspector general reported that the employee “sometimes became bored during these long hours at the computer and would often use the computer for personal uses to pass the time.”
“This is apparently something that’s a pervasive problem throughout several federal agencies,” Pete Seep, executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union, told MyFox DC, adding that it could “mean millions of dollars of wasted money.”
Filed under Humor and Observations
Scientists: Ship found buried at New York’s World Trade Center predates American Revolution
Columbia University scientists say they’ve determined wood used in the ship’s frame came from a Philadelphia-area forest in 1773 — three years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence and start of the Revolutionary War.
Researchers say they’ve tentatively identified the ship as a Philadelphia-built sloop, a ship designed by the Dutch to carry passengers and cargo over shallow, rocky water.
After sailing for two or three decades, pieces of the ship were used as landfill to extend lower Manhattan.
A 32-foot piece of the vessel was found four years ago about 20 feet under a street during construction of the new One World Trade Center. The research was published in July.
Filed under Humor and Observations
Cosplay Pictures for Your Saturday
Cosplay pictures for your enjoyment! If you have not tried costume+play=cosplay, then you are missing out. It is basically having fun with friends, going to cool events and dressing up like you did for Halloween as a kid. Have fun, get out there, don’t miss out!
- Adrianne Curry as Catwoman
- Rogue
- Poison Ivy
- Darth Maul big pimpin with three Twi’leks
- Predator vs. Super Girl
- Mrs. Frankenstein
- Very cool
- Tia Dworshak as Mystique
- Gotham City Bad Girls
- Lara Croft – Tomb Raider
- Kristen Hughley
- Femtrooper Julie as Slave Leia
- Heroes to the rescue
- Gotham bad girls, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Catwoman
- Shauntia Veney
- Aurora O’Brien left
- Mike Syfritt, Steampunk
- Lindsay Elyse
- Katniss Everdeen
- Poison Ivy
- Poison Ivy, Batman, Catwoman
- Twi-lek Sith
- Icy cosplay, left
- Sara Moni, Storm
- Old school Batman
- Wonder woman
- Cara Nicole
- Wonder Woman
- Dinosaur Captive
- Slave Leia
- Jessica Nigri
- Jessica Alba at ComicCon. Not in cosplay, but hey, it’s Jessica Alba…
Filed under Humor and Observations
















































































































































































