Stalking Venus

In a blind bit of news today, New Scientist Tech reports that more than two dozen ravers who attended the Aquamarine rave at the Open Air outdoor festival near Moscow, may face permanent eye damage due to mismanagement of the party’s laser effects.
Twelve cases of eye damage were recorded by the Central Opthalmological Clinic in [...]

As if the crime in this country wasn’t bad enough, now we have cops shooting each other. Independent Online reports that over 400 protesting metro police blockaded the M2 highway that rings Johannesburg, bringing peak hour traffic to a standstill.
Then along come the SA Police in riot gear. Shooting erupted, with the metro police using [...]

George Carlin, amazingly talented and incredibly funny comedian, who has entertained the world for 50 years, died at age 71 last Sunday.
Carlin, known for his irreverance, comedic anger and cleverly-timed usage of strong language will be missed by audiences around the world.
Known for his comedy routines such as “Seven words you can’t say on television” [...]

Torrential downpours starting Tuesday evening caused major road blockages, destruction of bridges and property and the death of at least six people. Others are still missing, injured or marooned where emergency services cannot reach them. Two of the dead were children - pupils from Sidelile High School. (Sadly ironic is the fact that the word ’sidelile’ means ‘we had enough’ in the Zulu language).

Associated Press reports yet another nail in the coffin for South African commerce. The leading online retailer, Amazon.com has halted all standard shipping to South Africa because of the enormous volume of items being stolen at S.A. post offices countrywide.
South African customers who still wish to purchase goods via Amazon can do so, but only [...]

Major flooding has occurred after recent thunderstorms on Thursday and Friday caused rivers in Iowa to break their banks.
From CNN:
Officials recommended that downtown residents and businesses evacuate parts of downtown on both sides of the river by 6 p.m. Friday. Included are all areas in Des Moines’ 500-year floodplain.
The alert was prompted by rising [...]

Some more tragic news delivered to you with a dollop of bad taste:
If you want your scouting experience to literally blow you away, then head on over to Iowa, where four people were killed and at least 40 injured when a tornado struck the Little Sioux Scout Ranch situated near the Nebraskan state border yestereday [...]

Last month, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake caused an atrocious amount of damage, leaving some 87,000 people dead or missing. Millions more were left homeless and the landscape of the region was massively altered by the ensuing floods and shifted earth.

Locals of the Jiangyou region in China are breathing a sigh of relief as waters from [...]

“Eskom currently finds itself in a position where the demand for electricity may exceed the available supply from time to time. In order to manage the situation in the best possible way, planned supply interruptions may have to be carried out.”
Those are words from South Africa’s electricity department. I honestly can’t think of any other [...]