Blog Heap of Links for the day 13 April 2009

a man fathered 14 children with 13 women and owes more than $530,000 in unpaid child support.... jailed Thursday.... hasn't made a support payment in six years....

Two Democrats and a Republican — or perhaps I should say three "Democrats" in the Senate, have moved the ball further down the court to controlling and shutting down the Internet. What?! That's right. Senate Bill 773, the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 written by Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va.; Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, would give the president and the Commerce Department unlimited power to declare an emergency and pull the plug.

"It's like talking to another human. We found no evidence of anything mystical." [Surprise!]

It's Easter weekend and Britain is stocking up on chocolate eggs and hot cross buns, but elsewhere in the world there are some extremely wacky traditions going on...

Caricatures of flame warriors

Text messaging graphic pictures of yourself could soon be legal for teens in Vermont. Lawmakers there are considering a bill that would make it legal for teenagers 18 and under to exchange explicit photos and videos of themselves — an act that's come to be known by teens as "sexting." Under the current law, teenagers could be prosecuted as sex offenders if they get caught sending graphic sexual images of themselves, even if it was consensual.

IS this the filthiest fast-food joint in Australia? Countless discarded brown paper bags and burger wrappers lay strewn across the floor, piled up in trampled heaps around the tables and chairs. Abandoned soft drinks, squashed chips and other rubbish cover the table tops as diners sit eating amidst the detritus. Welcome to McDonald's on Hindley St.

advertisement for Burger King's chili-flavored "Texican" burger that has run in Europe shows a small wrestler dressed in a cape resembling a Mexican flag. The wrestler teams up with a lanky American cowboy twice his height to illustrate the cross-border blend of flavors. "The taste of Texas with a little spicy Mexican," a narrator's voice says. The much-taller cowboy boosts the wrestler up to reach high shelves and clean tall windows, while the Mexican helps the cowboy open a jar. Mexico's ambassador to Spain said Monday he has written a letter to Burger King's offices in that nation objecting to the ad and asking that it be removed. Jorge Zermeno told Radio Formula that the ads "improperly use the stereotyped image of a Mexican." [As opposed to the proper use of the stereotyped image of a Mexican??]

A [69yo] man died Monday, days after he was stabbed in a swordfight with the grandson of a woman who was also fatally stabbed when she tried to intervene in the fight.... [77yo man] also died as a result of stab wounds after the fight early Thursday morning, but police were not initially sure which of the men had stabbed her.

77-year-old woman suffered a fatal stab wound while trying to break up a sword fight

A tragedy thankfully didn't turn into a disaster Sunday when a passenger successfully landed a small airplane at Southwest Florida International Airport after the pilot had a seizure 20 minutes after takeoff. The pilot died before the plane landed.

With the nation's fiscal health in the tank, homegrown marijuana operations have soared by 60 percent. Since Oct. 1, the Drug Enforcement Administration has broken up eight hydroponic pot-growing set-ups around the state -- with five in the Big Apple. That compares with five for all of the previous fiscal year. Growing marijuana hydroponically -- in water -- is a lucrative business, said John Gilbride, head of the DEA's New York office. It is far more potent than the regular stuff -- with a pound going for about $5,000 on the street. A pound of grass smuggled in from Mexico goes for $400 to $1,500.