(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!

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.

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…

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.

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?

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

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.

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!

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.

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.