With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks looming large this weekend, news broke tonight that an unconfirmed, but credible threat has been discovered aimed towards New York City and Washington D.C.

While details have been sparse thus far, the rumors are that the plot uncovered by law enforcement say that three people are involved in the plan, and one of them is a U.S. citizen.  While there have been many other uncovered plots, some of which fail to have any credibility in the end, with such an important anniversary looming large, it is definitely hard to ignore.

Hopefully this will be another case of there being nothing to the story, but to everyone, everywhere, while paying attention is always important, a few extra thoughts of anything you see suspicious at this time would not be a bad idea.

Most of all, stay safe.

Sugarland, a hit country duo, was due to take the stage last night at the Indiana State Fair when tragedy struck, leaving five concert goes dead.

As Sugarland was set to take the stage last night for their headlining performance at the fair, the crowd and performers were warned of an approaching storm system with heavy winds.  The band’s manager opted to delay the start of the concert, deciding instead to keep them in the backstage area until the winds passed.  The crowd was warned of the weather and instructed of what to do in case an evacuation was ordered, but sadly no such order came as the winds picked up so suddenly.  As you can see in the embedded video below, things quickly went from bad to worse when the winds did arrive.

(please be aware of strong, albeit understandable, strong language in the video)

In addition to the five confirmed fatalities, one of which was added this morning to the list, an additional 40 some persons are being treated at local hospitals for injuries resulting from the tragedy.

While clearly not my normal “beat” on this blog, this tragedy grabbed my attention due some similarities to what happened in my own town back in June when we were struck by a sudden wind.

And here’s a video of the aftermath. I’m not quite sure why people are passing chairs into the mess.

I am left wondering what has happened with winds this summer.  The weather has been abnormal to say the least, and while tornadoes are frightening enough, at least with them you usually get at least some form of warning.  What happened in Kirksville back in June came seemingly out of nowhere, and what happened last night in Indiana seems to have been of a similar nature.

My deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of those impacted by this tragic event.

There are sometimes events in this world that are just so impossible to comprehend that you never feel that words will adequately describe them or your feelings about them.  What Anders Behring Breivik did in Oslo, Norway yesterday is one of those events.

As if the bombing of a government building wasn’t bad enough with killing seven people, but then traveling to a youth camp, dressed as a policeman, and killing 85 or more children and teenagers is enough to make you wish for this person to rot in Hell.  And it doesn’t matter that this camp was sponsored by the ruling Labor Party, or that Breivik had a difference of political opinion with them, how can anyone view killing children as anything more than monstrous?

It is the right of anyone to disagree with their government.  It is their right to speak up, but to take the lives of children?  Did he somehow think this would make people stand up and listen to his Progressive Party that he was an active member of?  It does nothing but make them look like psychopaths.

Children.

What could these children have possibly done to warrant this?  Absolutely nothing.  I don’t care what potential sick reasoning this man may have come up with in his head, there is never an excuse for killing children.  I am in no way defending the bombing, that sickens me as well, but what he did on the island of Utøya just sickens me to my core.

They were children.  They were innocents.

Evil has a new face, and its name is Anders Behring Breivik.

There is going to ne nothing fancy about this post as I’m grumpy, dirty and have a raging headache.  Around 12:15 AM or so Monday, my hometown of Kirksville, MO was hit by something called a “straight line wind.”  I still have no idea what the heck that really is, and I haven’t had time to research it yet.  All I know is that it was going 80 MPH and tore the town to shreds.  Trees are down, roofs ripped off, power & Internet have been down most of the past few days, and we’re only starting to get everything back to the way it should be.

I got my power back around 10:20 this morning after spending a night in my darkened house with our dogs.  The folks, at my request, went to a hotel, and I stayed behind to take care of the pets.  I have yet to get a shower as we had no hot water, but that is a trifling matter.  Luckily there have been no reports of deaths or injuries, but a few homes were destroyed and the damage is widespread.

For now, I am working from Ruby Tuesday, which a huge thank you to them for allowing me to essentially be camped here for two days as their Internet was working.

No pictures with this post as I didn’t have time to shoot any of my own, but just trust me when I say it was a mess and I can’t be happier the power is back on.

Now … who is going to explain a “straight line wind” to me?

The Joplin Missouri tornado has brought untold destruction to the city, and has made it the deadliest event of its kind in the United States since 1899.

First, a quick personal note. Several people have reached out to me via Twitter, instant message and email to make sure I was not near the destruction. Joplin is in the Southwestern corner of the state, and I’m in the Northeast corner. Kirksville and Joplin are over 330 miles apart, so it was near near us luckily.

That being said, from what we hear via word of mouth is that Joplin is essentially gone. while the news keeps showing the hospital and surrounding area, the destruction was far wider with some estimates saying the funnel reached a mile in width at its base, and 18,000 feet tall. Debris was thrown as high as 20,000 feet and landed as far away as 16 miles.

Currently the death toll stands at 116, and judging by this video, it’s easy to see why.

One of the things I immediately question in this video is you hear the guy yelling for the sirens to be started up, and while it’s easy to see why the police may have ignored him, I notice that you never hear the sirens once in the video. For those who don’t live anywhere near tornadoes, cities are equipped with siren systems to alert us to when a tornado is in the general vicinity.  Even when they do sound, you tend to ignore them at first because you hear them so often, such as I did during the Kirksville Tornado back in May 2009.  So, even if they did sound in Joplin, there is a good chance people ignored them.

There is also a sort of “golden rule” of tornadoes: They don’t generally come into town.  Due to a tornado being generated by cold and warm air mixing, the residual heat given off from a city causes tornadoes tend to skirt the edges of a town or city due to the heat of the pavement would make it begin to come apart.  The problem with this one in particular was that it was just simply too big.  Once it started going, there was no stopping it until it just became too unstable of its own accord.  More than likely, the people in town didn’t feel that endangered no matter how much warning there was.

For information on the city and what is happening, you can check out their information page, and additional updates being posted on its Facebook page.  If you want to donate to the Red Cross, you can find information on their site.

This story will be with us for some time, and just what can be done to rebuild the city remains to be seen.  My best wishes to all of those touched by this tragedy.

Every so often a company comes along with a new drink size that sends scientists into a fit about how it is more than the stomach can hold, and how people are fighting the battle of the waistline and on and on and on.

Okay, we get it. Can we just move on now? We know that Starbuck’s new Trenta (31 oz. cold drink size compared to the Venti’s 24 oz.) is over the top, but you know what?  Who cares.

The National Post compiled the following image that shows the various drink sizes in comparison to the size of the average human stomach size.  Yes, it’s bigger than your stomach … your point?  (click image for a larger view)

This is a cold drink cup only, they expect people to sip on this for hours. It isn’t like a hot drink that you want to finish it before it goes cold, and I highly doubt anyone is going to drink this rapidly enough that there won’t be a couple bathroom breaks involved.

As with anything, Starbucks wouldn’t be making this size if there wasn’t a demand for it, and it is up to each person if they choose to order it.  How about we just allow each person to make this choice for themselves if they buy it.  I know, that’s just crazy talk any more letting people make decisions for themselves.

Okay, so it isn’t just teachers that go off the rails, but also mothers who play Xbox.

Rachel Ann Hicks, a 36-year-old mother of three from Lake Forest, CA, was arrested last Friday suspicion of having sex with a 13-year-old Maryland boy. Apparently the two met on Xbox where Ms. Hicks said she was 23-years-old. The two becae friendly and eventually moved to phone calls, texts and her sending him pornographic materials.

During a visit to see family in Florida during the Thanksgiving holidays, she drove up to Maryland where she met up with the boy. While his parents were asleep it is alleged that two engaged in sexual intercourse.

The boy’s parents eventually discovered text messages on the boys phone and looked into the situation.  Due to Hicks having used a false name it took authorities some time to track her down, but they have now found her and taken her into custody according to NBC Los Angeles.

During the investigation it was discovered she may have molested at least one other boy.

Again … parents, keep any device that your children can use to communicate with people in a supervised area of the home.  While we don’t know if that was done in this case or not, for things to have progressed to this stage you have to assume it wasn’t.

One has to really wonder what this world is coming to when not even Xbox Live is sacred.

It seems that terrorists may have a new target in mind when it comes to how to throw us into a tailspin: buffets.

CBS is reporting that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the same group that recently attempted to blow up cargo planes that were flying into major U.S. cities, has come up with a plan that would see them spreading poisons across multiple locations in numerous cities on the same weekend. The method of delivery would be pouring ricin and cyanide into buffets and salad bars.  The initial symptoms would show up as food poisoning, but it wouldn’t be long before it was discovered what would really be happening.

Apparently this is part of something that is being referred to as “Operation Hemorrhage.”  Propaganda about the operation reportedly says that the plan is about “…attacking the enemy with smaller but more frequent operations” to meet the ends of “add[ing] a heavy economic burden to an already faltering economy.”

This warning was issued to hotel and food management operations, but was not yet supposed to make it out to the general public so as not to panic them.  Gee … thanks.

In less than two weeks I am heading to Las Vegas for a week on business … you know, the land of buffets?  Guess what I won’t be eating while there!

Honestly, I’m not surprised by this news.  I’ve worried for years about how one crazy person with a little bit of knowledge could get a thrill from sticking poison in a buffet or salad bar.  Oh, and now everyone has the idea, so who knows could go about doing this same thing.  I hate to say it folks, but I don’t think going anywhere near a buffet is the brightest idea for at least a few months.  Don’t worry, your waistline will thank you.

Thank goodness no one was hurt, but this morning the Metrodome, home of the Minnesota Vikings, had its roof cave in from the 17-inches of snow that were on it. (watch closely, and around the 22 second mark you can see someone driving a cart on the far sideline to get out of there as quickly as possible.)

How in the world does someone build a structure in Minneapolis, with that much roof, and not plan for this much snow? I mean, if your stadium is in Dallas, I could see having this issue, but you’re in Minneapolis for crying out loud, your roof should be able to take multiple feet of snow at a time without even creaking!

Of course the good news, like I said, was no one was hurt, but can you imagine if this happened during a game? The Vikings were supposed to play the New York Giants tonight in that very stadium, but luckily they had already postponed the game until Monday. What if the stadium had been filled with people? Of course they need to repair the building now, and let us just hope they come up with a better solution.

Over the years many people have told me who wonderful going on a cruise is, and I really should do it yada yada … and then a story like what has happened to the Carnival Splendor and I just have to laugh.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel horrible for the approximately 5,000 people on-board the ship (3,300 passengers, 1,700 staff), I can’t imagine how miserable things are on that ship right now.  For those of you who have missed the story, an engine fire left the ship without power three days ago, and it also lost water, toilets, food coolers and just about every other necessity.  The toilets came back up after day along with cold water and they were able to get the children’s entertainment system up and running to keep kids occupied.

The ship left port in southern California on Sunday, and after making it about 200 miles south the fire broke out.  A single tug boat is now hauling the ship to San Diego, CA, and it will take a few days to get there.  The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy have air lifted supplies to the ship, mainly food, and offered to take people off as they can.

For the first day all passengers were ordered to stay on the upper deck, but they have since been allowed to return to their cabins.

Carnival has been making hotel and ravel arrangements for everyone in San Diego.  Everyone will receive a refund for this trip along with a voucher for another cruise of equal value.  (Oh yeah, just what I would want to do …)

The thing is, you have these huge boats out there these days that have as many people on them as a small town, and people act surprised when something goes wrong.  And no, other things happen on ships, just check out this list of illness outbreaks on cruise ships.

Yes, every form of travel has its potential downfalls, but on a ship, you’re trapped.  You can get off a plane (sometimes), a train you could jump from if necessary and so on.  Boat?  Unless they decide to use the lifeboats, you aren’t going anywhere.

Sorry, but this latest incident just further proves to me that you’ll never get me on a cruise ship.

It’s a sad day for the Rebellion. Ole Miss has picked its new mascot, and it’s not Admiral Ackbar.

In case you’ve forgotten, back in Feb., some students at Ole Miss were lobbying to get the Star Wars character Admiral Ackbar named as the new mascot for the school when the confederate general had been removed over complaints of it being insensitive.  Some students threatened to leave the school if this came to be, so obviously they’ll never have to live up to that threat now.

So, what won out over this noble space fish admiral?  What could be more regal than a giant talking lobster?

A bear.

“Rebel Black Bear” is his name … and he is boring with the obvious cool factor of our dear admiral.  You can see him below, and you can obviously see he is no where nearly as cool as Ackbar, but what can we do.

So, enjoy your boring ole bear, you fun killers.  Those of us who understand the majesty of Admiral Ackbar shall always carry him close to our hearts.

When you think of Las Vegas, what first pops into your head? If their advertising is doing its job, you think of the slogan, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”  You think gambling, gangsters, the Rat Pack, bodies in the desert, legal whore houses (outside of Las Vegas proper) and so on … and, oh yeah, those evil, evil hula hoops!

The Las Vegas City Council wants to ban hula hoops from the area known as the Fremont Street Experience.  Apparently there is talk of restricting people to doing it in something called “free expression zones” so that they don’t impede pedestrian traffic walking through the tourist attraction.  As with any pubic decision like this, there are lots of comments on both sides, and they both make valid arguments, but then you go “… wait a minute … this is Vegas!”

It seems skateboarding and roller blades have already been banned from the area, and hula hoops are being used in promotions for businesses in the area, which drew the attention.  The new rules would restrict people with hula hoops to a 12′ x 100′ area, but some people are saying this is a restriction of free speech/freedom of expression.  You know, I’m all for free speech, but … um … it’s a freakin’ hula hoop.

If this happened anywhere else in the country it would just be ignored, but when you’re a city known for your decadence, then this just gets plain old funny.  Next they’ll be banning Elvis impersonators!