Link roundup

1. Free screenshot tool. Via.

2. The rise and fall of quicksand as a plot device.

3. Apparently Olly Moss's bookmarks will be at Urban Outfitters soon.

Link roundup

1. This movie would practically write itself: a Dirty Dozen of female soldiers sent to fight the Taliban and hunt Bin Laden.

2. New Bulletstorm footage looks great.

3. "If visitors at the Yantai Park in Shangdong province, eastern China, linger too long without feeding the meter [on park benches], dozens of sharp spikes shoot through the seat." Via.

Beastie Boys poster by Eric Tan (link roundup)

Poster by Eric Tan for the Beastie Boys show that will open January 8 at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles.

And a few more links:

1. Russian man who worked for nuclear company in Iran was found dead (and frozen) in a mountainous area. Russian and Iranian press say he died in an accidental rockfall. But no one wants to reveal his name. Via.

2. Fox settled Judith Regan's defamation lawsuit for $10.75 million. Via.

3. Did the American Idol producers knowingly put the woman who had been stalking Paula Abdul for 17 years on the show?

4. Michael Vick spent $201,840 on the day he went to prison. About half of that was for a Mercedes.

*Previously: Tan's X-Men poster.

*Buy Beastie Boys posters at eBay.

Lick Observatory Moonrise (link roundup)

Moonrise over Lick Observatory in San Jose, California. Via.


And a few random links:

1. How a nearly broke prospector named Charles Fipke found a diamond mine in Canada. Via.


2. Free tool for creating watermarks.


3. Creepy frog desktop wallpaper. Via.


4. Firefighter accused of placing fake 911 calls to prevent closure of his firehouse.

*Previously: Stunning diamond necklace for only $25.

*Buy vintage spaceships at eBay.

Prisoners use containers of mackerel as money, and other headlines of the day

1. Since cigarettes are banned, prisoners use containers of mackerel as money. Link.


2. Store security guards have sex in their office, are fired after being secretly videotaped by boss, and are now suing for invasion of privacy. Link.


3. Chris Matthews interviews daughter on tv, doesn't mention it's his daughter. Link.


4. Robber hires unsuspecting decoys via Craigslist. Link.

*See previous news headlines here.

*Buy Sandow Birk's paintings of California prisons at Amazon.

Author of “100 Things to Do Before You Die” dies at age 47 after a fall at home

1. Dave Freeman, co-author of "100 Things to Do Before You Die," died last week after a fall at his home in the Venice section of Los Angeles. He was 47. Link.

2. Man finds lost camera loaded with digital photos, uploads them to Flickr, and community teams up to find camera's owner. Link.

3. Philosopher John Rawls lost two brothers in childhood after infecting them with deadly diseases:

In 1928, the 7-year-old Rawls contracted diphtheria. His brother Bobby, younger by 20 months, visited him in his room and was fatally infected. The next winter, Rawls contracted pneumonia. Another younger brother, Tommy, caught the illness from him and died.

Link.

4. China had the most gold medals at the Beijing Olympics and also had the most last place finishes. Link.

*Find more news stories here.

*Buy 100 Things to Do Before You Die for 32% off at Amazon.

Boy Scouts rescued from Grand Canyon by Native Americans

A boy scout troop's hike through the Grand Canyon nearly turned into a fatal disaster when a flash flood forced them to climb trees. The scouts "were guided to safety by American Indians who live in the area, and plucked out of the wilderness by a Black Hawk helicopter." Link.

*Previously: Passed out hiker protected by machete-wielding witch doctor.

*Buy The Dangerous Book For Boys for 34% off.

Hiker passes out in remote New Guinea and then the witch doctor showed up

Debra Paver had seizures and fell into a coma while hiking in a remote area of New Guinea. "While she clung to life, a woman witch doctor brandishing a machete watched over her." Lucky for Paver, the US Navy was in the area and managed to airlift her to the USNS Mercy, where she was nursed back to health. Cinematic story, told at these sites.

*Previously: US Navy teaming up with Operation Smile to help kids with cleft palates in Nicaragua.

*Buy propaganda poster collections at Amazon.

Three real life stories ready to be turned into movies

*Boy, haunted by discovery of murdered, unidentified child, becomes police officer and figures out identity of child more than 20 years later. Link.

*Boy dies after being infected with brain-eating amoeba that lives in water. Link.

*Police officers accused of kidnapping child, holding him for ransom, and then killing him. Link.

*Buy pulp novels at eBay.

NY Giants fan journeys to to find a Patriots 19-0 shirt

As soon as a championship is won, the players put on commemorative hats and the team starts selling championship merchandise. In order to have that merchandise on hand, both teams must make it in advance, which means a whole bunch of merchandise for the losing team very quickly becomes worthless. The clothing is shipped off to the impoverished of the Third World.

Of course, something like a "Patriots 19-0" t-shirt isn't worthless at all to a NY Giants fan. Aaron Kaplowitz journeyed to a remote village in Nicaragua, and managed to buy some merchandise from incredulous inhabitants. Here's the story, which I expect to be turned into a movie ASAP. Via. (Image via.)

There's actually some Patriots 19-0 merchandise on sale at eBay.

Newspaperman reminisces about the Scientology spy working at the paper

Part of a much larger article about the St. Petersburg Times’ Clearwater Sun newspaper, Mike Pride reminisces:

Besides their secretive ways, two things made covering the Scientologists hard. First, they were confrontational and unpleasant (Hubbard’s doctrine described journalists as "Merchants of Chaos"). Second, our city desk clerk was a Scientology spy. We wrote nearly 200 stories during the year after we disclosed the Scientologists’ presence, and they always seemed to know what we were up to.
[snip]
We knew the newsroom had been infiltrated, but we never guessed the spy was the friendly, efficient, sympathetic "June Phillips." We learned this only years later from FBI files.

Read the whole thing. Via.

Doctor arrested for (allegedly) sexually assaulting female patients...

This story's chock full of interesting facts. The doctor is named Kevin Brown. He's known for organizing fundraisers at the Playboy mansion. His father "heads the government" of Bermuda, so he's considered a major flight risk. He was finally arrested after (allegedly) sexually assaulting an undercover police officer. Here's the story.

Homeless encampment found suspended under Los Angeles overpass

Here's video of firemen cleaning out some of the stuff they found:



Via.

*Update: The LA Times has the story.

**Think that's weird? How about living inside a garbage truck.

"Survivors of Titanic on Carpathia"

This sounded like a great idea for a bad movie - - survivors of the Titanic make their way to Carpathia and face vampires. Alas, the real story is simply that some Titanic survivors were rescued by a ship called the Carpathia. Photo found at Flickr.

Plot Idea of the Day #2: Man receives heart transplant, kills self in same way as donor

The AP: A man who received a heart transplant 12 years ago and later married the donor's widow died the same way the donor did, authorities said: of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Via.

Plot Idea of the Day: Man's home has been hit by meteorites five times

A Bosnian man whose home has been hit an incredible five times by meteorites believes he is being targeted by aliens.

Experts at Belgrade University have confirmed that all the rocks Radivoje Lajic has handed over were meteorites.

They are now investigating local magnetic fields to try and work out what makes the property so attractive to the heavenly bodies.

Link. Via.

Plot idea of the day part 2: Armed men steal Buddhist monk's body

"A group of armed men on Wednesday stole the body of one of Myanmar's most revered Buddhist monks, whose corpse has been preserved in a glass coffin since he died more than four years ago." Link.

Combine with plot idea number 1 and we're well on our way to creating a blockbuster.

Plot idea of the day: Androgenesis

Androgenesis is what happens when kids get all their genes from their father. Link.