Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[JokerD]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I think, above a certain per capita consumption, they should just get charged more. Whatever it costs to import water from wetter states. If it's not enough of a deterrent, well, you have enough money to import water. Win/win!

I'm thinking a tiered water usage rate which can be scaled up to reflect the scarcity of water.
I'm wondering if these are the same people who like to reject alternative ways of getting water like reverse osmosis from sea water or treated wastewater

[Irenicus]

The vast majority of Californian water usage is irrigation, which includes agriculture, lawns, and golf courses.

So yup, the Californian water authorities are targeting the right people. Agriculture's kind of important, given that California provides a very significant portion of Americans' diets that are not maize, potato, or wheat. Rich people and their lawns and golf courses, however, can deal with it. Bloody WASPs.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

The vast majority of Californian water usage is irrigation, which includes agriculture, lawns, and golf courses.

So yup, the Californian water authorities are targeting the right people. Agriculture's kind of important, given that California provides a very significant portion of Americans' diets that are not maize, potato, or wheat. Rich people and their lawns and golf courses, however, can deal with it. Bloody WASPs.

Why blame the White Anglo-Sax Protestants?

[aohige]

Meanwhile we're drowning in flood over here in Texas.


.... I wish we could physically move this storm over to Cali, it'd be a win-win.

[Shyni]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...th-note/.89380

Yet another kid in school investigated for having a Death Note notebook.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by aohige

Meanwhile we're drowning in flood over here in Texas.


.... I wish we could physically move this storm over to Cali, it'd be a win-win.

It is a CHRISTIAN land. Aren't you supposed to build a bloody ark instead of griping?

Christian Texas, USA baby.

[MrTerrorist]

A Russian Official Wants To Investigate The Apollo Missions

Yup, another kooky politician after the Texan Governor.

[Ithekro]

Eh? Just means that NASA of the 1970s was as bad as the BBC in wiping important stuff because they were cheap.
At least NASA knew there were copies.

[Shyni]

For the record: NASA admitted it had erased the original tapes, as part of a mass-erase of 200,000 tapes, to save money.

There's something amusing about how an organization with enough money and resources to send people to outer space couldn't afford to get more videotape.

[Ithekro]

Government cutback are cutbacks.

[Draco Spirit]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Eh? Just means that NASA of the 1970s was as bad as the BBC in wiping important stuff because they were cheap.
At least NASA knew there were copies.

Like Doctor Who episodes, some of them lost to the wiping of tapes frenzy.

[SaintessHeart]

A QR Code on Heinz Ketchup Linked Straight to German Porn

When Daniel Korell scanned a QR code on a bottle of Heinz Ketchup, he got more than he bargained for. Rather than bring up the competition page he was expecting to see, it instead linked to a German porn site called Fundorado. Oops.

According to The Local, the reason it happened isn’t because of hijinks in the Heinz factory, but because the domain name that the company had registered for the contest expired in 2014; Fundorado had since snapped it up and therefore was directing unsuspecting ketchup consumers it to its own sex-video website.

After complaining about the error on Facebook, Heinz apparently responded saying rather robotically “we really regret the event very much and we’re happy to take your suggestions for how we implement future campaigns on board”. To make it up to Daniel, the company has apparently offered him the chance to design his own ketchup bottle and have it printed, which was the original contest.

As for the rest of us, the lesson here is plain: it’s probably best to keep ignoring QR codes.

[Cosmic Eagle]

It's clearly a BIG bratwurst advert

[RRW]

North Korea says it has succeeded where the greatest minds in science have failed.

The authoritarian, impoverished nation announced it has a drug that can prevent and cure Mers, Ebola, Sars and Aids.

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said scientists developed Kumdang-2 from ginseng grown from fertiliser mixed with rare-earth elements and “micro-quantities of gold and platinum”, according to its website kumdang2.com.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-ebola-vaccine

[Anh_Minh]

... That sounds like medieval medicine.

[Draco Spirit]

Hopefully the ruling party will get one of the above and try to cure themselves with it...

[AnimeFan188]

Anakin Skywalker Takes Cops On Crazy Landspeeder Chase:

"By ‘landspeeder’ I’m referring to the wheeled type of landspeeders we tend to
write about on this site a lot. Sometimes they’re called “cars.” By ‘Anakin Skywalker’
I mean the actor who played the young, larval Darth Vader, Jake Lloyd, and by ‘cops’
I mean real, South Carolina Sherriff’s deputies. Okay, glad that’s clear.

Here’s what happened, according to TMZ: young Anakin, now goatee’d but still
looking basically the same, was driving in Charleston, SC, when Sheriff’s deputies
began pursuit. It’s not yet clear why the initial pursuit started.

Jake Lloyd, possibly re-living flashbacks of his podrace scene, seems to have gone
nuts and started driving recklessly and very fast, passing cars on double-yellows
and taking the cops into another county.

Eventually, he lost control of the car, which ran off the road, plowing through a
fence and finally stopping after impacting a few trees."

See:

http://jalopnik.com/anakin-skywalker...ase-1712915229

[MrTerrorist]

^That is kinda sad since the actor hated his role as Anakin since he was mocked and teased when he was a kid.

[Marcus H.]

Now that is a sad childhood.

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Fate of child actors I guess. Most get tossed out to dry when the studio is done.they don't get much support either, well maybe these days it's a bit different with how connected everything is.