h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Texas judge won't face charges for beating daughter

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/03/texas-judge-william-adams-beats-daugther?newsfeed=true

The video on YouTube is pretty shocking and is surely a strong argument against corporal punishment of minors.

Argentinian train in fatal crash with school bus.

At least eight people have been killed in the Argentinian province of San Luis after a train ploughed into a bus full of children heading to a religious retreat.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/nov/03/argentinian-train-school-bus-video

This would have been terrible but we can be glad that those 8 are now with the Lord they worshipped...maybe it was 'His plan' for them...

"Greenhouse gases rise by record amountLevels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/04/greenhouse-gases-rise-record-levels

Old news but beautifully reported.

http://geekmontage.com/a-man-stabbed-a-marine-while/

PP

Judging from his injuries I would guess they have some tall curbs to fall off of.

watch out for kerbs in Augusta, Georgia

http://geekmontage.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/marines.jpg

doh, PP beat me to it by an hour, that'll teach me to read first!

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Marmite_and_beer_inspire_new_perfume

"Burton-on-Trent has got its own designer scent which apparently smells of Marmite, leather, pickle and beer."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQpbzQ6gzs

Don't eat an American kid's candy!

Brazilian cops bashing & busting airborne baddies before they bolt:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15586909

Expect to see this in a movie next year.

'Occupy Vancouver protesters say they will defy orders from the fire department to clean up fire hazards at the camp, but city officials remain hopeful they can negotiate a peaceful solution with the campers.

On Friday morning a camp spokeswoman, who only gave her name as Kiki, said *the protesters don't recognize the authority of police, firefighters* or other city officials in the camp.'

and

'The standoff between the protesters and city officials began on Thursday after firefighters were called to the site when a protester had a cardiac arrest from an apparent heroin overdose.

Fire Chief McKearney said when firefighters arrived they had trouble accessing the camp and found two propane tanks inside some of the tents, despite previous orders from fire officials.'

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/11/04/bc-occupy-vancouver-victoria.html

This particular group has become irresponsible and anti-social.

And demanding!

And demanding a great many ridiculous things.

I am one of the 99%, and I am quite certain that a number of these demands would be very harmful if actually acceded to.

http://www.cbc.ca/bc/news/bc-111104-occupy-vancouver-demands.pdf

And, some of them, for example the demand for eye care to be covered by our public health insurance, are simply uninformed: I've never in my life paid for eye care, from all those universal eye tests in elementary school, to the retinal reattachment surgery I had after vision problems were discovered in one of those school eye tests, to all the checkups I've had with ophthalmologists since then, including the one I had just this week.

These people are demanding some things they already enjoy and demanding a number of others I expect they wouldn't enjoy if they actually got them.

Being bullied? Just act less gay, advise teachers

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24004687-being-bullied-just-act-less-gay-advise-teachers.do

In the US bullying is also a topic particularly in Michigan.
The Michigan Senate this week passed a bill to authorize the law, Matt's Safe School Law, which is named after Matt Epling, a freshman from East Lansing, Mich., who killed himself after being bullied by upperclassmen in 2002.

But in a change before Wednesday's vote, Republican lawmakers added a clause ensuring that the bill "does not prohibit a statement of a sincerely held belief or moral conviction" of a student or school worker.

"They kind of snuck in this extra paragraph, really kind of setting apart kids that feel their religious beliefs, their moral convictions, basically, can allow them to bully," said Matt Epling's father, Kevin Epling. "That one paragraph, though, negates most of the things that we tried to put in."

Michigan is one of three U.S. states without an anti-bullying law.

Opponents of the amendment are saying Free Speech, and seriously held beliefs should never have been introduced that it is just a smokescreen for homophobia.
Meanwhile nobody is looking at what the bill actually says
that School districts must come up with a plan to prohibit bullying.

So, do the Michiganders have to apply for an official state bigot license to carry in their wallet or can they just announce their religion at each bullying session?

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=486495&type=Metro

"the male dentist told his female patient to close her eyes and open her mouth which was considered to be normal for an oral surgery but he suddenly put his genitals into her mouth."

http://waxy.org/2011/10/google_kills_its_other_plus/

Google Kills Its Other Plus

"On Wednesday, Google retired a longer-standing "plus": the + operator, a standard bit of syntax used to force words and phrases to appear in search results. The operator was part of Google since its launch in 1997 and built into every search engine since."



Exactly! I had noticed this a few days ago when I totally failed to look for something because Google wouldn't allow me to force the presence of a word in my search.

a few days after paramedics had trouble reaching a man who had had a heart attack in the Occupy Vancouver camp because of the state of that camp

and

one day after an Occupy Vancouver spokesperson announced that the camp did not recognize the authority of firefighters or police

and

a few days after Occupy Vancouver issued a list of demands which included the demand that heroin be dispensed by pharmacists free of charge . . .


a young woman in the camp has died of an apparent heroin overdose.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/11/05/bc-occupy-vancouver-death.html

I can't even find anything about this in the BBC news. There is an entry on the Cinque Terra on h2g2. It is now suffering horrendous flooding and several have died.

http://www.worldcrunch.com/italys-deadly-floods-devastate-cinque-terre-tourist-paradise/4005

Perhaps he's not very intelligent? A hidden dwarf. Mr Bean. The Kraut.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/europes-insult-diplomacy-11032011-gfx.html

Europe's insult diplomacy.