omg what crazy days!!!

 http://www.womples.com/

at the site above you can see what people put in the paper. i think my favorite was the "tooter" that was needed to speak and write fluently. what one did u find funny?




on a serious note-

Moscow, Russia (CNN) -- The death toll from a Russian coal mine accident has reached 52, with 38 people still missing, the RuProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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ian Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday.
"The rescue operation to locate and recover the missing people is being carried out around the clock," Veronica Smolskaya, spokeswoman for the ministry, told CNN.
More than 80 survivors are currently in hospitals, according to the Russian State Health authorities.
Emergency Situation Minister Sergei Shoigu said more than 700 rescue workers are now combing numerous underground tunnels of the mine, and the plan is to complete the operation within the next 24 hours, according to the ministry's website.
He was speaking at a special meeting of the rescue headquarters in Kemerovo region, which was also attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who traveled to the region Tuesday.
Russian officials are still displaying hope and optimism in public, but several sources at the mine told Russian reporters on conditions of anonymity that finding anyone underground who survived the explosions would be a miracle.
"Hope is always the last one to die, but there is indeed little hope left," Sergei Cheremnov, spokesman for the local regional Kemerovo governor, told CNN on the phone from the site of the accident.
Cheremnov also said the first six funerals took place Tuesday. Five miners were buried in the town of Mezhdurechensk itself, where the accident took place, and one was buried in the town of Tashtagol, also in Kemerovo region.
The gas explosion in the Raspadskaya mine occurred around 8:55 p.m. Saturday (12:55 p.m. ET), when 359 people were working at the time. The mine is located near the western Siberian town of Mezhdurechensk, more than 2,300 miles east of Moscow, Russia. Almost 300 people were evacuated shortly after the explosion.
More than 50 rescue workers had gone into the mine to recover the rest of the victims when a second gas explosion rocked the structure about four-and-a-half hours later, officials said, causing more fatalities and destruction. Dozens of miners and rescue workers were trapped as a result of that second, much more powerful explosion, and all communications with them were disrupted.
Thick smoke and high methane concentrations in the mine prevented active rescue operations underground on Sunday and most of Monday morning, Russian officials said.
The operation was further complicated by the very size of the mine: Raspadskaya is one of the largest in Russia's mining industry. It has dozens of underground tunnels with a total length of almost 200 miles, according to Kemerovo Gov. Aman Tuleyev.
Putin said on Russian state television Tuesday the investigation is closely analyzing all possible clues to determine the cause of the blasts.
"When such disasters are investigated, attention is always given to studying all aspects of the problem, including the so-called human factor, which means unsafe handling of fire," Putin said while talking to victims' families.
But once the groups of rescuers entered the mine after the first blast, he said, "there could have not been any unsafe handling of fire or equipment. It's simply out of the question," he said. "The second blast was the hardest."
The victims' families will be paid 1 million rubles (more than $33,000) in moral damages, and underage children of those killed in the accident will be paid a pension of 10,000 rubles (more than $330) every month until they reach the age of 18, the Russian government decided Tuesday.
The injured will receive 400,000 rubles (more than $13,300), and miners sustaining light injuries will receive 200,000 rubles (more than $6,600). Local authorities and the management of Raspadskaya mine will also allocate money to those affected, in addition to the federal government.

On Tuesday, the first working day in Russia following three days of the May 9 Victory Day holidays, the shares of Raspadskaya mine plummeted by 15 percent at the Moscow stock exchange.

Are Smart Meters Really Smart?

Smart meters sound like a really good idea in theory. They are electric meters that can be read electronically. This means that the electric guy no longer has to trek around to every house in the area to read the meter. The meter can simply be read by computer at the headquarters of the utility company. It should save time and money for everyone.
Sounds, good, right? However, Dave Moore over at the Norman Transcript makes a pretty good case for why smart meters are actually a really stupid idea. Why this might actually be a stupid idea:

• Your home’s electricity will be able to be turned off remotely. The idea here is that the electric company can shut off electricity as needed in case of an emergency or suspicious overuse at the home. However, the reality is that this could end up meaning your electricity goes out frequently for no reason. The electric company is bound to make mistakes in this area and consumers will have to deal with those mistakes.
• Hackers could get into your electricity. The way that smart meters work is through computers located on site. Hackers could break into the electric meters in an area and shut off the electricity or turn it up to increase your rates. There probably aren’t enough security measures in place to prevent this from happening.

So, what do you think? Are smart meters a good idea? Or do their drawbacks actually make them a really stupid product that we aren’t ready to endure just yet?

the tornados are back

follow the link to see the video
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/weather/05/10/severe.storms/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn

(CNN) -- At least four people were killed in Oklahoma on Monday after a severe storm system spawned multiple tornadoes across the state, the director of the state emergency management department said.
The state medical examiner's office confirmed three of the deaths as a result of the storm, spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard said. One person died in southeastern Oklahoma City and another in Cleveland County. Ballard did not know the location of the third death.
Brenda Finkle, director of corporate communications for Norman Regional Health System, said the company's hospital in Norman admitted eight patients Monday night in critical condition with crush injuries and head trauma.
At least 25 other people filled the waiting room of Norman Regional Hospital with lacerations and head wounds, Finkle said, adding hospital staff expected more patients to continue to seek treatment.
Another 20 people were either getting medical care or awaiting treatment at Moore Medical Center, just north of Norman, according to Finkle.
OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, received two patients with broken bones, according to spokesman Allen Poston.
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management reported seven injuries.
Video out of Norman showed overturned cars, snapped utility poles, downed trees and severely damaged homes. Several mobile homes were blown to pieces in one neighborhood where debris littered yards and streets alongside large trees ripped straight from the ground.
A truck stop east of Oklahoma City was demolished, taking a direct hit from one of the tornadoes, according to a spokeswoman for Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores.
Motorists pulled off Interstate 40 and sought shelter in the truck stop's large coolers and restrooms before the tornado tore the roof off the building, blew out car windows and overturned tractor-trailers, spokeswoman Christina Dukeman said.
Video showed people outside the truck stop receiving treatment for minor injuries. Laura O'Leary, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Medical Services Authority, said seven people were transported from around the immediate area to local hospitals in good and fair condition, "a miraculously low number ... considering the volume of area the tornado covered."
Love's employee Charlescie Greenway said she and two other women made it to one cooler before the twister tore through the building.
"The three of us were kind of trapped in there, holding the door shut, praying to God that we don't die and that everybody else was safe," Greenway told CNN affiliate KWTV, adding, "it was really scary -- the wind was like trying to pull the door off the latch."
Sammy Ward and his partner rode the twister out in their truck in the parking lot.
"It started hailing and then it quit hailing and then all of a sudden the wind hit and it just went dark and here went everything," Ward told KWTV. "Trucks went to rocking ... and next thing we know the whole roof and everything was gone."
Ward, who said he felt "very lucky," said the event lasted two to three minutes.
Albert Ashwood, director of the state emergency management department, said crews were working to assess the damages in at least 13 counties, adding "numerous" homes had been affected.
The American Red Cross opened at least two shelters in McCloud, Oklahoma, and Tecumseh, Oklahoma, and continued to assess needs across the state.
More than 31,000 homes were without power in the metro Oklahoma City area -- nearly 15,000 in Norman alone, according to Oklahoma Gas & Electric.
Ashwood said preliminary reports out of Norman indicate the damages are "similar to what you would see with an EF3" tornado, referring to the Enhanced Fujita Scale for measuring the strength of tornadoes. An EF3 is capable of producing winds up to 165 mph.
CNN iReporter Rebecca Barbato said tornado sirens were going off in her neighborhood in Moore, just north of Norman, when tennis-ball-sized hail began raining down on her roof.
Other tornadoes were reported in Yukon, Medford and Shawnee in Oklahoma, and in Wichita, Kansas.
The storms struck around 5 p.m. CT (6 p.m. ET).

Meteorologists warned throughout the day Monday of the potential for tornadoes.

happy mothers day? i think.....

CNN) -- For one group of women in Chicago on Sunday, Mother's Day was marked not with flowers, but with a stark reminder of their loss.
One by one, they filed toward a newly unveiled sculpture at the city's St. Sabina Church, placing small white cards emblazoned with names such as Blair Holt and Matthew Michael Rodriguez at the foot of the two figures in the sculpture.
For some of the women, the realistic work of a faceless, gun-wielding assailant killing a young girl was too much to bear, CNN affiliate WGN reported.
Instead of being celebrated by their children this holiday, these mothers were mourning the deaths of their children -- all victims of gun violence on Chicago's streets.
"Today, as I woke up, instead of what a lot of mothers get, which are flowers or Happy Mom's Day or a kiss, I didn't get any of that," said Maria Ramirez, whose son, Matthew, was killed at 16. "I don't even get to hear anybody say 'Mama' anymore. I'll never hear that again."
The sculpture's artist, J.S. Kenar, said he was trying to "show the pain, to show that something unhuman is going on here."
The city has been plagued by bloodshed on its streets this year, including a particularly deadly stretch last month in which seven people were killed and 18 wounded in a 12-hour period.
Statistics released Sunday by Chicago police show that while the overall violent crime rate has decreased by 11 percent this year, the city's homicide rate has risen 8 percent. As of Saturday, 127 killings have been recorded this year -- three more homicides than the 2008 yearly total.
"We cannot ignore the destructive nature of guns, and how their presence can escalate a volatile situation into a tragic one," police Superintendent Jody Weis said in a statement announcing the statistics.
Annette Holt knows firsthand how destructive gun violence can be to a family. Her son, Blair, an honor student at Chicago's Percy L. Julian high school, was shot on a city bus in 2007. He was killed in a hail of gang bullets when he jumped into the line of fire to save the life of a teenage girl. He was 16.
At Sunday's unveiling, Holt implored other mothers to do all they can to stop the cycle of violence.

"Do something to make a difference now before you're like us (and) your child is either in the cemetery for Mother's Day or birthdays, or your child is in jail for 100 years," she said.

PT

Happy mothers day! i guess. i tried to find something for mothers day in the news but this is all i could find. sorry its a sad story.

kid tasered at a philli game!?!

 

Philadelphia police say an officer appears to have acted appropriately when he used a Taser to subdue a teenager who ran onto the field during a Phillies game.

Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, says Commissioner Charles Ramsey reviewed the tape and felt the officer had acted within the department’s guidelines, which allow officers to use Tasers to arrest fleeing suspects. Vanore says internal affairs is still investigating.

The teen ran on the field at the top of the eighth inning of Monday night’s game against St. Louis. He dodged two security officers and ran around the outfield before the officer subdued him.

Police say the teen is charged with defiant trespass, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. 

PT-

Lawsuits? public apology's? what do you see coming out of this