Nyree Holmes is a senior at Cosumnes Oaks High School in Sacramento County. When Mr. Holmes tried to express his African heritage by wearing a kente cloth (a cultural cloth from Ghana) to his graduation ceremony, school officials insisted he remove it.
When he refused, school officials called sheriff's deputies to kick the high school senior out of his graduation ceremony.
Police Escort Black Merit Scholar Out of Graduation After Refusing to Remove Kente Cloth Read the rest
During a House Transportation Committee hearing on a proposal to ban vaping on airplanes, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) took a hit from his vaporizer and exhaled a cloud of mist, saying, There is nothing noxious about this whatsoever." The congresswoman sitting next to him waved the cloud away.
Rep. Duncan Hunter argued the amendment would make it tough for people with asthma inhalers or people inhaling "medicine of the future" through vaporizers to take their hits on a plane.
"For freedom's sake," said Hunter.
Falcon Heene, the "Balloon Boy," is now in a metal band, and he's written a song about his adventure.
Previously on Boing Boing. Read the rest
Dr. Melissa Click, the University of Missouri professor who blocked a student reporter from reporting on a campus protest, has been charged with class C or 3rd degree assault for her actions during the MU campus protests this past fall.
The apartments at 310, 320, and 330 Esplanade in Pacifica, California are literally hanging over the edge of a cliff. Rain, storms, and rising ocean levels are steadily eroding the sandy bluffs on which the apartments are built. After the El Nino storms of 2009 and 2010, tons of rock were piled on the beach and the cliffs were covered with fiber-reinforced concrete, but the erosion-prevention measures have failed in the recent storms.
Duncan Sinfield posted drone video of the cliff collapsing under the apartments on Esplanade.
Coverage: SF Gate | SF Chronicle Read the rest
Donna Stearns is a mom and an elementary school teacher who plays drums. Here's Donna, tearing up the drums on "Wipeout." Read the rest
Here's a fellow who lost control while driving too fast on the Angeles Crest Highway in Southern California, and drove off a cliff.
He survived. His dashcam recorded the entire experience. Read the rest
A video of a protest at the University of Missouri shows a professor of mass media blocking a student reporter from reporting. Read the rest
Students at the University of Texas at Austin will protest a new law that will allow more guns on campus.
Instead of signs, the students are protesting by "strapping gigantic swinging dildos to our backpacks," which is in violation of the campus' obscenity policy.
Jessica Jin, who set up the Campus (DILDO) Carry event on Facebook, invokes the argument that allowing more guns on campus will make students safe is a fallacy. She's urging students to send campus leaders that message by strapping on the plastic phalluses.
"You're carrying a gun to class? Yeah well I'm carrying a HUGE DILDO," Jin says in the group's description. "Just about as effective at protecting us from sociopathic shooters, but much safer for recreational play."
[UPDATE: Never mind. It's a hoax designed to raise interest for an important charity that looks like it has something to do with dogs that have rubber bands stuck on their muzzles but I have stopped believing anything these people say. - Mark]
During a home renovation project, a couple in Mesa, Arizona discovered a safe buried in the floor of their new home. Months earlier, the combination had been discovered written on the inside of a medicine cabinet in the bathroom.
When they opened the safe, they found photographs, a book, a bingo card, a bottle of bourbon with a 1960 tax stamp, and over 50K in bills which have yet to be accurately dated and priced. The book, bingo card, and photos are garnished with a cryptic penciled message from "Vincent" to "Alan."
The book is a first-edition from 1977, and the bills appear even older. The safe has a barcode and is much newer.
Genuine time capsule, or elaborate hoax? D.B. Cooper's stash, or viral marketing for bourbon? The Internet demands answers! Read the rest
The IRS has incorporated an Indianapolis marijuana-smoking church as a tax-exempt religious organization. Donors to the church can now deduct contributions on their taxes.
"We got the approval back in less than 30 days," said church founder Bill Levin. “Somebody at the IRS loves us."
Image: Shutterstock Read the rest
Karen Momsen-Evers was aboard a Southwest Airlines flight when she received a disturbing text from her husband, asking for forgiveness for what he was about to do.
Mrs. Momsen-Evers says she tried to call her husband, but the flight crew refused to allow her to make any calls to her husband, the police, and an ambulance. "The steward slapped the phone down and said, 'You need to go on airplane mode now,'" said Mrs. Momsen-Evers.
Karen says she knew he was serious because he'd been under a lot of stress. Karen sat in her seat for the rest of the flight crying and staring at the text her husband had sent. When the flight landed in Milwaukee, she called police, but it was too late. Her husband was dead.
Southwest Airlines offered Karen a full refund on the flight. Read the rest
Guardian: "An eight-year-old boy has been handed over to Spain’s child protection services after he was found curled up in a suitcase as a woman attempted to smuggle him across the border from Morocco." Read the rest
A mining company employee who refused to submit to biometric hand scanning because he feared the scanner would imprint him with the “Mark of the Beast,” was awarded $150,000 in damages by a federal jury last week. Read the rest
