Schapelle Corby -- What About Now?

I usually post goofy pictures and funny videos here but today I was thinking about something serious. We always come across these very interesting stories on the Internet, and we obsess about them for a good couple weeks or so, and then... suddenly, they are gone from the public consciousness. Just gone, and there's a good chance you will never even remember that story that everyone was buzzing about.

For some reason I woke up today thinking about the Schapelle Corby case. In case you don't remember, she was accused of smuggling 4.1 kg (9 lb) of cannabis into Bali, Indonesia. At the time, there was grumbling that such a charge might carry a death sentence, or life imprisonment in Indonesia. Her defense was that she was an unwitting carrier, and the drugs were planted on her. Her story was challenged by a lot of circumstance, like drug offenses in her family's past, drug charges in Australia -- at the same time she was facing her own -- leveled against her travel companions, and more.



Australian Prime Minister John Howard stated, in response to pleas by Schapelle's family, "I feel for her. I understand why there's a lot of public sympathy for her; I would simply say that I hope justice is done and it's a fair and true verdict...I would ask the rhetorical question: My fellow Australians, if a foreigner were to come to Australia and a foreign government were to start telling us how we should handle (it), we would react very angrily to that."

And he was right. The reason I was thinking about this is that I know someone who is getting ready to travel to a place where... well let's just say the risk outweighs the rewards, in my opinion. But the truth is, you are going to have a hard time drumming up sympathy if you venture forth anyways. Especially if you plan to break their laws -- which, to be honest, it's hard to decide whether she did or didn't.

So I wanted to know what was happening with her now. She is currently serving a 20 year sentence in Indonesia. I suppose she's done somewhere between a year and two years of it at this point.

I don't think this case is the pinnacle of interest, I just thought it was interesting to bring up an old, hot story, and remind ourselves how quickly these things fade from our attention.

The Pride of South Carolina

Worst Logo Ever

How do you not catch this? The company's name is Locum. Some genius had the clever idea of making the o a heart. You know, to soften the company's image and make it more cute and cuddly.



Woops.

Batman, Turkey

Here's a fun bit of trivia that people won't believe: there is a city in Turkey named BATMAN.

Let's meet at...

Spotted off the 101 near San Francisco.

Think this guy might be drunk?

Atari 2600 Games You Missed

View 200 more at Glowfoto

UFO over Haiti

I'd love to play along with this, because hyping these things up is real good fun, but the fact is, this video is fake. A little googling will quickly turn up the proof (hint: look at the trees), but it is a hell of a good fake anyways.

Flash Flood

Video of a flash flood in Australia, Kellick Creek at Ringwood Road Crossing 10 miles south west of Merriwa, Upper Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia.

Seenstr - a new blog you really ought to read

Ok, I never plug blogs, but I'm going to make an exception here because I actually know this guy, and he knows some crazy stuff. And he's going to share it on this blog of his, so you won't want to miss this.

Seenstr - Hacking Human Nature

Seenstr is a kind of social engineer, and he spends most of his time figuring out how people work. Ah, I won't babble on too much about him. Just check out his blog, bookmark it, and prepare to get a brain-full of insights into human nature.

How to make a kid afraid of horses

Russians Launch Pig Into Orbit

Click for full size.

White Tiger with Down Syndrome?

I didn't know this was possible, but this white tiger appears to have Down Syndrome.

(click for full-size to get the full effect)



Apparently these tigers are so inbred in order to keep them white, that this sometimes happens. It may be related to the mutation that causes them to be white in the first place.

Diversity of Life

Regular contributor Hematochezia has a gallery of 81 unique, bizarre and highly interesting animal species on his Glowfoto gallery.

Definitely check this one out.

Shark with webbed feet

Welcome Diggers!

A worker of the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board (LKIM) in Batu Maung, Penang, made this unusual find when she was given the 1.7kg fish by a fisherman at the jetty recently.



When contacted, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Muka Head marine research station head Prof Dr Zulfigar Yasin said this is the first time he had heard of fish with legs found in the Malaysian waters.

“There is a possibility that the fish could have swum from other waters into Malaysian waters.

“As far as I am concerned, fish species with legs or bony fins can only be discovered in the waters of North Sulawesi in Indonesia or South Africa,” he said.

The Foot Mouse

I'll give you one guess who this should be marketed to:



Unless you're ambidextrous, you might need to keep your good hand free for, uh, other business while you surf the net. If so, the foot mouse might be for you.

Mindblowing Optical Illusion

At first glance, the silhouette is spinning clockwise. but you can reverse the spinning.

I honestly thought this was a hoax of some kind and I was being made a fool by staring at this thing trying to make it change direction, and then sure enough, I did it.

Here's what worked for me: Look at the shadow. Notice the shadow of the spinning foot. Try to tell yourself that you are looking at the shadow going the other direction. Once you've convinced yourself of that, look back up (if it helps, cover the girl and only look at the shadow until you can get it to change direction).

Coolest RV Ever

News of the Odd - Web 2.0 Style

If you were a fan of the X-Files, or if you are into oddball, paranormal stuff, or if you dig Digg, or even better if you are all three, you might want to check out fallingskies.com, a new social news and bookmarking site dedicated to paranormal news.

Its a new site, but the concept is definitely cool.

Latte Art