The folks at CBS News didn’t pull any punches saying Dow Falls Off A Cliff:

(CBS/AP) The Dow Jones industrials plunged 679 points on Thursday, driving the blue chip index below the 9,000 mark for the first time since 2003. A steep decline in General Motors stock helped to fuel the decline.

The blue chip index extended its selling to a seventh straight day as investors grapple with worries about the credit markets and the economy.

[...] “The story is getting to be like that movie Groundhog Day,“ said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. He pointed to the still-frozen credit markets, and Libor, the bank-to-bank lending rate that remains stubbornly high despite the Fed’s recent rate cut.

“Until that starts coming down, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone getting excited about stocks,“ Hogan said. “Everything we’re seeing his historic. The problem is historic, the solutions are historic, and unfortunately, the sell-off is historic. It’s not the kind of history you want to be making.“

At close the Dow was at 8,579 which puts it within striking distance of the last record low of 8,235.81 which occurred just after 9/11. The recent rate cut by the Feds and the $700 billion in taxpayer money that’s been promised have done nothing to stop the bloodshed. Hold onto your butts. Things are likely to get worse before they get better.

But always remember that John McCain thinks the fundamentals of our economy are still strong!

I don’t condone violence outside of video games as a rule, but I’d be lying if I tried to claim I didn’t feel a small bit of satisfaction at reading about how Richard Fuld, former CEO of the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers, got punched in the face while working out:

Following rumours that the incident had occurred, Vicki Ward, a US journalist, said “two very senior sources - one incredibly senior source” had confirmed it to her. “He went to the gym after ... Lehman was announced as going under,“ she told CNBC. “He was on a treadmill with a heart monitor on. Someone was in the corner, pumping iron and he walked over and he knocked him out cold.

“And frankly after having watched [Mr Fuld’s testimony to the committee], I’d have done the same too.“

“I thought he was shameless ... I thought it was appalling. He blamed everyone ... He blamed everybody but himself.“

I wouldn’t do such a thing myself, though I might rant to his face a bit, and I don’t encourage others to do it either, but, yeah, it does feel a little good that someone did do it. That doesn’t justify it in any way, but, hell, I’m only human.

In what is yet another example of the sort of thing I wouldn’t have thought people would have to be told not to do comes the following news story out of West Virginia:

The West Virginia Poison Center reports that so far this year four people have been treated for drinking the refillable liquid that fuels the tropical-themed torches, popular as patio décor and a favorite for backyard parties.

The yellowish oil frequently is left sitting out and mistaken for a beverage, said Dr. Elizabeth Scharman, director of the poison center.

“People were at a picnic and thought it was apple juice and swallowed it,“ Scharman said of one call the center received this year.

Folks, don’t drink the Tiki Torch fuel. It’ll make you sick and ruin your BBQ. Granted a couple of these incidents were children who probably don’t know any better, though I don’t recall my parents ever having to teach me not to drink the stuff, but if they’re sufficiently young then I can understand. I don’t understand the adults who are doing this.

And while you’re at it, don’t drink the fluid in those damn glow sticks either. Apparently a shit load of you people have been doing that as well:

[M]ore than 193 people in the state—many of them children—reported ingesting glow products, the liquid used to light children’s toys and the necklaces and bracelets that are sold at many fairs, festivals and fireworks displays.

That number rose from 143 glow-related calls in 2006, according to data from the poison center’s annual reports.

[...] “They used to be novelty items,“ she said. “Now you can go into any store around the holidays and buy them.“

Many makers of glow products say the materials are non-toxic. Typically, they are made from a combination of hydrogen peroxide, a dye and various chemicals that cause the glow.

The West Virginia Poison Center receives most of its calls about glow products from worried parents whose toddlers have chewed through the plastic and ingested the liquid inside.

Even some pet owners have called the poison center after animals turned the glow sticks or jewelry into chew toys.

Which reminds us to remind you not to give glow sticks to toddlers or your pets. Fortunately for the clueless people who are drinking their glow sticks the amount of fluid involved probably means they won’t die from it, but it will burn your mouth and hopefully teach you to be careful of what you put into it.

Seriously, 193 people in West Virginia alone tried to drink those things? Makes some of the jokes about that state seem a little more believable…

Or you may end up like the fellow in this news item:

Cameron Sands, 19, of Fort Worth kicked in the door of the house and then shot himself in the stomach as he pulled a gun out of his pants to shoot the homeowner, Grand Prairie police said.  The homeowner was not injured.

After Mr. Sands shot himself, he dropped the gun and ran out of the home.  Police found his body around 5:30 a.m. in the driveway of the home in the 2800 block Garden Grove Road, said Lt. John Brimmer, a Grand Prairie police spokesman.

“This is the first that I’ve heard of a robbery suspect killing himself as he is drawing a gun out of his waist band,” Lt. Brimmer said. “The criminal evidence points to that. It certainly isn’t common.”

I know I shouldn’t laugh at a story like this, but I couldn’t help myself.

Either there’s a lot of unrepentant sinners attending church these days or God really hates contemporary Christian rock music:

More than 40 injured after floor collapses at church concert in B.C. - CBC News

More than 40 people were taken to hospital — three with serious injuries — after the floor caved in at a packed concert in an Abbotsford, B.C, church late Friday night.

“We were dancing in the front of the stage,“ Kyle Weber, a teenager who was at the Christian rock concert, told CBC News. “The floor just collapsed. All the speakers just fell down [and] crashed a lot of people…. A lot of people fell through the floor.“

[...] A mosh pit in front of the stage was filled with teenagers, she said, and they were jumping and dancing. After the lighting fell, the floor beneath the mosh pit collapsed, she said, and the people on it fell through to the basement about three metres below.

About 1,200 people were watching the concert at the church, at 1661 McCallum Road, she said.

[...] Ian Hern, a youth pastor at the concert, said there were hundreds of youth jumping and dancing at the time.

“All of a sudden, one of the light poles started to tilt and then the whole floor just caved,“ Hern said.

Some of the young members in his group suffered injuries such as a broken arm or a dislocated shoulder, Hern said.

“Obviously, the church floor wasn’t built to handle that number of people,“ Hern said.

Or perhaps there was a thirteenth commandment: THOU SHALT NOT PARTY IN THE HOUSE OF THY LORD!

Is anyone else as amused by the idea of a Christian mosh pit as I am?

Nobody is too surprised to hear that there is another recall on Chinese products, toys or otherwise. However, there’s a new twist in the latest one reported by CNN, and it’s not lead:

Millions of toys recalled; contain ‘date rape’ drug
Two U.S. children went into comas after who swallowing Chinese-made Aqua Dots found to contain a chemical that converts into ‘date rape’ drug when ingested.
November 7 2007: 9:04 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP)—Millions of Chinese-made toys have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful date rape drug when ingested. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads.

Yikes.  I guess this is even more reason for me to be glad I don’t have children.

Full CNN Story here

Sometimes the news article says it all:

SALAMANCA – A man cut off his own penis and threw it in a toilet ‘so he would stop sinning’.

The 30-year-old was recovering in the Hospital Clinico Universitario in Salamanca in western Spain.

Doctors said his condition was ‘stable’ and he was not in danger of losing his life.

The man, from Salamanca, cut off his penis with a knife on Thursday morning.

The local newspaper La Gaceta reported when relatives called emergency services, he told ambulance workers he did it “so would not sin any more”.

A relative found the man, who has not been named, in the house where they lived in the city and raised the alarm.

He was bleeding heavily.

The newspaper said it was not known if the man’s penis could be sewn back.

There was also a suggestion he may be suffering from psychological problems.

Gee, ya think? I mean, sure, that’s one solution to one possible sin, but there’s so many other ways to do it that I’m afraid that’s just not going to cut it… so to speak.

Proving the maxim that you can take some things entirely too seriously is this news report out of Pakistan:

The deaths and injuries were caused by stray bullets, sharpened kite-strings, electrocution and people falling off rooftops yesterday at the conclusion of the two-day Basant festival, said Ruqia Bano, spokeswoman for emergency service in the city of Lahore.

The festival is regularly marred by casualties caused by sharp kite strings or celebratory gunshots fired into the air.

Kite flyers often use strings made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cross and cut a rival’s string or damage the other kite, often after betting on the outcome.
...
Police arrested more than 700 people for using sharpened kite strings or firing guns and seized 282 illegally held weapons during this year’s festival, said Aftab Cheema, a senior Lahore police officer.

Back off man, or I’ll cut you with my kite!

Or rather was recently trying to pass a stone. He tells us about it over on his blog and it sounds like it was a lot of no fun. Here’s his summary:

Ow, ow-ow-ow!

Can’t get much more succinct than that. So stop by his site and tell him how

much you’re happy it was him instead of you

you sympathize and hope him a speedy recovery.

Remember the news clip I linked to a few days back about the cars playing ping-pong on icy Portland streets? Well it could’ve been worse, they could’ve been driving in Russia’s Tunnel of Death:

The 3,150 meter long Lefortovo Tunnel in Russia is the longest ‘in-city’ tunnel in all of Europe. There is a river running over it and water leaks at some points. When the temperature reaches minus 38 degrees like it did last winter, the road freezes and the result is the attached video taken during a single day with the tunnel camera. Congratulations to the driver of the dual bus!!

Jinkies!

Link via Boing Boing.

The ice storm that moved through here last week has largely melted from the trees and things are just cold and a bit snowy now. It could’ve been a lot worse, though. I could’ve moved to Portland:

Mainly because it’s just not very profitable for them anymore:

Americans, it seems, hate calling a help desk or customer service number to find an Indian on the line. Well, guess what, America? India doesn’t particularly want to talk to you, either. As India’s top companies get more sophisticated at taking over outsourced work from U.S. and European multinationals, they’re finding that the lowest end of the business—call centers—just doesn’t pay anymore. “Call centers have become commoditized,“ says B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd.

Like almost everyone, Indian operators dislike dealing with abusive customers frustrated by shoddy service. But more important, India’s leading outsourcing shops say their U.S. corporate clients continually try to ratchet down prices, which inevitably drives down the quality of service they can provide. So lately, Indian outsourcers have begun turning down call center contracts, preferring better-paying deals for processing mortgages, handling insurance claims, overseeing payrolls, and more.

That doesn’t mean India won’t be doing call center work anymore. But outsourcing powerhouse Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., for instance, has turned away potential clients offering call-center-only work. “We are thinking about whether this is work we really want to do,“ says TCS Executive Vice-President Phiroz Vandrevala. At Satyam, just 35% of business process outsourcing employees are in call centers, down from 60% 18 months ago, Raju says. “We try to get into call centers only when it’s in association with other business,“ says Raju. And New Delhi-based EXL Services annulled a help desk call center contract with Dell Inc. because EXL was losing money on the deal. In April, 2005, EXL asked Dell to take back that business, but it kept other contracts such as one under which EXL operators call Dell customers to remind them to make loan payments. Dell officials in India didn’t respond to a request for comment.

SEB reader Michi, who sent me the link to the news item, sums it up in this way:

“Hey, we already pay the tech support drones next to nothing, but I’ll bet we could do it even cheaper….“   “I know! Let’s fire everyone and move our call centre to India!“   “Great! But… wait…. what about when they learn everything about our business from us and then decide they don’t need us anymore?“   “Don’t be silly, that’s never happen.“

Here’s a scary thought: Over 60% of the country is experiencing drought conditions:

STEELE, N.D. - More than 60 percent of the United States now has abnormally dry or drought conditions, stretching from Georgia to Arizona and across the north through the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist for the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

An area stretching from south central North Dakota to central South Dakota is the most drought-stricken region in the nation, Svoboda said.

“It’s the epicenter,“ he said. “It’s just like a wasteland in north central South Dakota.“

...

Brad Rippey, a federal Agriculture Department meteorologist in Washington, said this year’s drought is continuing one that started in the late 1990s. “The 1999 to 2006 drought ranks only behind the 1930s and the 1950s. It’s the third-worst drought on record — period,“ Rippey said.

Global warming? What global warming? Things are only going to get worse before they get better.

If you’ve got to die anyway then you may as well do it in a memorable way:

The accident happened when a work crew from Precision Lawn Care was mowing the grounds of the North East Business Center off Route 17K.

Police said Jorge Trinidad, 25, was riding a mower when he rolled into a pond. The mower fell on top of him, pinning him under about 3 feet of water.

I think this qualifies as a great example of a freak accident. Trinidad didn’t do anything particularly stupid, just happened to fall victim to a malevolent lawnmower.

One thing about Pat Robertson that makes him so memorable (besides an amazing ability leg press a ton) is his supposed direct line to God.  I mean, G-d supposedly tells him when hurricanes are coming, and also supposedly listens to his prayers to avert hurriances.  Apparently, Pat and G-d are pretty good buddies.  You can understand the surprise, then, that G-d didn’t let his best friend in on His secret to crash a plane owned by Robertson and kill the two pilots.  Maybe they had an argument and aren’t on speaking terms anymore?