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PHOTOS: Plebs Climb Greased Obelisk

2013-05-21T01:08:49Z

Some 1000 Naval Academy freshmen climbed to the top of a 21-foot lard-covered obelisk on Monday afternoon, where they replaced a "dixie cup" hat with a midshipmen's hat, as part of a decades-old tradition.

Story continues below...

The plebs reached the top of the Herndon Monument in 1 hour, 32 minutes and 43 seconds. Tradition -- though not reality -- has it that the first student to the top will earn the rank of admiral from that class.

Patrick Lien, who swapped out this year's caps, told the Capital Gazette that he is not the first member of his family to make the climb:

Lien said he was proud to carry on Herndon climb tradition. His father climbed the monument with the Class of 1981. Covered in sweat and lard, Lien said he had no expectation he'd be the one to top the monument. At one point, he sat out for a little bit, he said, to get some perspective. Then he made his move.
“It just kind of happened,” Lien said. “I'm speechless, to be honest... I don't think (my dad's) going to believe me.”

“In there it’s really wet, it’s really sweaty, it’s really slippery,” Midshipman Rachel Bailey told WJLA.

Some Folks Bring The Grossest Things To LAX

2013-05-20T23:42:30Z

LOS ANGELES — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Los Angeles have made some unusual seizures, including elephant meat, a dead primate and hundreds of handbags made from the skin of snakes, lizards and crocodiles.

The agency says in a press release Monday that the illegal items were seized between May 6 and May 10 at an international mail facility and at Los Angeles International Airport.

The tiny dead macaque primate from Indonesia had been declared as a gift and was addressed to North Port, Fla.

The elephant meat was from a protected species in Thailand and was bound for Fresno, Calif.

The 387 purses were in the baggage of a passenger from Nigeria. They were made from skins of African rock pythons, monitor lizards, dwarf crocodiles, cobras and puff adder snakes.

Think You're An Adventurous Food Fan? Let's See You Try This

2013-05-20T23:23:13Z

If you're like pretty much no one else in the universe, the first thing you thought when Rafiki held up Simba at the beginning of "The Lion King" was, "I wonder what that adorable lion cub would taste like smothered in barbeque sauce?"

But lion is what was for dinner at Mokutanya, a Japanese restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Burlingame. However, after public outcry and alleged death threats, the restaurant has taken it off the menu.

Owner Jason Li, who said he purchased the lion meat from a facility where the animal was raised in Illinois, told ABC San Francisco that he was deluged with calls and emails from animal rights activists after posting on Facebook about his intention to serve $70 lion skewers.

"Some of them [sic] is really nice and peaceful like 'oh, can you stop selling lion meat?'" Li explained. "And some of them is like saying 'oh, I going to come in and rape you and kill you.'"

Mokutanya also briefly offered lion meat last year and it proved so popular that the restaurant sold out of its one-time order in less than a week.

Meat from African lions is legal to consume in the United States because the species is listed as threatened rather than endangered, but that hasn't stopped a lot of people from getting offended at the idea of chowing down on the king of the jungle.

"Whether the lion was raised on a farm in Illinois or shot in the Serengeti and immediately put on ice and shipped to the United States, we think it sucks," the Peninsula Humane Society's Ken White told the San Mateo County Times. "These are animals that we need to treasure."

Similarly, a Mexican restaurant in Tampa, Fla. took lion meat tacos off of its menu earlier this month after employees started receiving bomb threats and the location's general manager was assaulted by one particularly incensed animal lover.

The number of lions in the wild has decreased by over 50 percent in the past two decades and there's been a push to get the big cats put on the endangered species list. Additionally, a bill recently introduced in the Illinois legislature would ban the sale of lion meat in the state.

But, the question remains: what does lion meat taste like?

"It's a little tougher than I expected," San Mateo resident and Mokutanya patron Andy Lee explained to CBS San Francisco. "It's kind of between beef and chicken."

Facebook Wasn't About To Let A 'Day Of Nude' Happen

2013-05-20T23:17:33Z

"Day of Nude on Facebook" -- a French protest aimed at challenging Facebook's unnecessary censorship of photos -- backfired when the social media site took down the event page and suspended the accounts of some involved in the online demonstration.

Launched by French photographer Alain Bachellier, the Facebook event asked its 8,000-plus participants to publish a nude picture on Monday, Le Huffington Post reports. While some chose to post of a photo of their own creation, most instead shared copies of famous works of art that feature human figures, au naturel.

Coinciding with the final day of the European Festival of Nude Photography, the Facebook event sought to fight against "the ridiculous censorship that flouts the basic rules of our freedom of expression in the name of Puritanism or the moral rules of another age," Bachellier explained on the Facebook page (which has seen been taken down), according to Metro France.

A spokesman for Facebook France told the Agence France-Presse that page was closed in the early afternoon.

"Facebook authorizes users to mobilize around common causes, included cultural ones, but it can’t authorize the cause itself to encourage users to disrespect their conditions of use," the spokesman told AFP, adding that nudity is a condition of use. "Certain publications do not fall into the artistic category and fall under pornography."

The line between art and pornography has been a point of contention between Facebook and its artistic users.

Earlier this year, Paris’ Jeu de Paume temporarily lost its account privileges after the museum posted an image from its current exhibition: a nude study. Facebook removed the photo and disabled the institution's account for 24 hours, threatening to deactivate it entirely if the museum persisted in its nude postings.

However, Facebook, which tends to err on the side of caution when it comes to nudity, does not always get everything right.

The operators of Theories of the Deep Understanding of Things Tumblr made that point quite clear when they conducted a Facebook experiment, posting a photo of a woman in a bathtub with her elbows propped up on the sides. Mistaking one of the elbows for a nipple, Facebook pulled the photo off the site but later apologized after its error was exposed on Gawker.

Majority Of Americans Still Believe In JFK Conspiracy, But Not As Much As Before

2013-05-20T23:16:15Z

Fewer Americans now believe that the JFK assassination was part of an elaborate conspiracy. In a matter of ten years, the belief that Lee Harvey Oswald didn't act alone has taken a significant dip.

In 2003, a resounding 75 percent of Americans were convinced that JFK was targeted by a conspiracy that went well beyond Oswald. But ten years later, in an Associated Press poll conducted in April, only 59 percent believed the same thing.

Dem Gov Signs Landmark Bill Into Law

2013-05-20T23:11:10Z

MONTPELIER, Vt. -- After years of debate, Vermont became the fourth state in the country Monday to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medicine to terminally ill patients seeking to end their lives.

Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the bill into law at a Statehouse ceremony even as opponents vowed to push for its repeal.

The End of Life Choices law was effective immediately, although it could be weeks before the state Health Department develops regulations in accordance with the new measure.

Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Harry Chen said he expects doctors to write between 10 and 20 lethal prescriptions a year, with a smaller number of patients actually using the drugs.

He based his figures on the experience in Oregon, the first state to legalize assisted suicide in 1997. Washington state and Montana followed later, with Montana's coming by way of a court order.

"It's used by a very small number, but it brings comfort to a much greater number knowing it's there," Chen said.

During emotionally charged discussion of the bill, proponents said Vermonters of sound mind who are suffering from terminal conditions should be able to choose when to end their lives. But opponents said the law could be abused and vulnerable people, especially the elderly, could be forced to end their lives.

Shumlin offered reassurances before signing the bill.

"This bill does not compel anyone to do anything that they don't choose in sound mind to do," he said. "All it does is give those who are facing terminal illness, are facing excruciating pain, a choice in a very carefully regulated way."

Some critics of the law attended the bill-signing and promised to seek its repeal.

"We need to be more of a caring, compassionate society, not one that says `take a pill, go away,'" said Edward Alonzo of Burlington. "People don't have the best of intentions, always, with their family members," he said.

The Legislature passed the bill last week. A similar measure was defeated in 2007.

"I know from my many years of practice that there are many patients out there that want to have this option available to them, and because it's a new bill I anticipate that a lot of people are going to ask questions about it," said Dr. Diana Barnard, a family practice doctor in Burlington who is certified in hospice care.

"I do know there are providers who will be willing to provide the best possible medicine to their patients regardless of what that means, and that includes all aspects of palliative care," she said.

In its first three years, the Vermont law will resemble the Oregon model, which has built-in safeguards, including requirements that patients state three times – once in writing – that they wish to die. Other safeguards include a concurring opinion from a second doctor that a patient has less than six months to live and a finding that the patient is of sound mind.

In Oregon and Washington, patients who take advantage of the Death with Dignity law use the drug pentobarbital, a barbiturate, that is dissolved in liquid or semi-liquid, said George Eighmey, a board member of the Death with Dignity National Center in Portland, Ore.

The patient doesn't eat for four or five hours before taking an anti-nausea drug and the lethal drug about an hour after that. It takes about five minutes for the patient to fall into a coma. The average length of time until death is about two hours, said Eighmey.

After July 1, 2016, Vermont will move to a model pushed by some senators who complained of too much government intervention. The new model would require less monitoring and reporting by doctors. But many expect lawmakers may push to eliminate those changes and leave the original model in place.

The Health Department will receive reports of how many people were prescribed lethal drugs. Chen said he expects the process will be covered by health insurance.

LOOK: Deputies Rescue Stranded Swedish Family Of 7

2013-05-20T22:55:44Z

Several acts of kindness saved one Swedish family's tumultuous California trip.

On Friday morning, the Trandafilovics, a family of seven, found themselves without any money, food, or shelter on a street in Torrance, Calif.

The family had been visiting the United States for a graduation, KABC reported, but an emergency back in Sweden forced them to cut their trip short and re-book flights.

The cost of re-scheduling drained the funds they had for the trip.

Luckily, when deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Reserve Forces Bureau noticed the parents and their five daughters, ages 2-17, walking around at 4:30 a.m., they that realized something was wrong.

According to DailyBreeze.com, authorities were able to talk to the family despite the language barrier. Once the family was taken to the station, a sergeant who speaks Swedish learned their situation.

That's when generosity struck.

Deputies began a small fundraiser via email, to provide the Trandafilovics with a hotel, food, and transportation to the airport on Sunday, CBS Los Angeles reported.

The family was dropped off that morning for a midday flight to Sweden.

Richard Zombeck: Get to Know Yourself -- It's Masturbation Month

2013-05-20T22:39:46Z

One night, when I was about 13-years-old, my dad caught me doing unspeakable things to myself and said, "You know, if you keep that up you're going to go blind." And I said, "Dad, I'm over here."

I've been telling that joke since I was 19-years-old, working in a bar, trying to get tips. It landed every time, probably because most people can identify with the premise. Not the idea of getting caught, but that it's something that everyone does, no one admits to, and almost nobody talks about. And if they do, it's in jokes, horror, or very quietly with your best friend with whom you've entered into some sort of mutually agreeable suicide pact. After all, we've been told that masturbation will: make you go blind, stunt your growth, make you go insane, give you hairy palms, give you acne, and according to some, will send you straight to Hell, regardless of how many charities you donate to or lepers you cure.

As Jenne Davis of clitical.com puts it:

Of course if that were true, half the world's population would be blind dwarfs with acne and hairy palms because surveys suggest that over 80 percent of women and 99 percent of men masturbate or have masturbated at some time in their lives.

You would think that the jokes, stigmas and myths would be a part of the past, like thinking you can get pregnant from a toilet seat, or that green M&Ms make you horny.

And yet, here we are, in the 21^st century seemingly heading to the 1800s which brought us such pundits as Sylvester Graham, as in Graham Crackers, who toured the country warning people about "self-pollution" and John Kellogg (Rice Krispies and Froot Loops), who on his honeymoon wrote, "Plain Facts for Old and Young, a warning on the evils of sex." Hat tip to clitical.com for a terrific history lesson.

Back in the day, and not that long ago, devices were invented and the U.S. patent office has nearly 200 of these devices, specifically created to dissuade young horny kids from inadvertently feeling good.

On the other hand, there's an entire culture and community of "sex positive" people and groups, that I have spent the better part of the week talking to about masturbation, because this month, May, happens to be Masturbation Month. According to the press release from Good Vibrations:

National Masturbation Month is still a necessary reminder that self-satisfaction is a healthy, accessible form of pleasure engaged in by almost everyone, of every gender and relationship status, at some time of (or throughout) their lives: It's relaxing, allows people to learn more about their own sexual response, is a basic recommendation of sex therapists that can help people with many different sexual concerns, relieves menstrual cramps, and helps keep the genitals fully functional.

It all started, according Carol Queen, PhD, Good Vibrations staff sexologist and one of the originators of the National Masturbation Month concept, in 1995 when President Bill Clinton fired the Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders for what the far right seemingly considered crimes against humanity. Elders opined about masturbation being addressed in sex education curricula.

I think that it is something that's part of human sexuality and it's part of something that perhaps should be taught. But we've not even taught our children the very basics. And I feel that we have tried ignorance for a very long time and it's time we try education.

The movement has since spawned such events as Philadelphia's first Masturbate-a-Thon, China's World AIDS Day Masturbation Contest, and since 2000, the Center for Sex and Culture's (CSC) annual masturbation event. This year, the CSC, will join together with the "Jack-and-Jill-Off." The event, billed as, "a collaboration between the San Francisco Jacks and women from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. Intended to be a safer sex event that made it possible for people of every gender and orientation to enjoy a group sex environment without concern for HIV," will be held in San Francisco.

When I was contemplating writing this piece I immediately started thinking up fake names I could use for myself. I also spent more than my fair share of time staring at a list of sex experts and bloggers who had expressed an overwhelming desire to speak to me about this. I was pretty sure, that as soon as I made my first phone call I would immediately be transformed back into to that giggling middle school kid who had discovered his dad's Playboy collection.

I made my first phone call and before I knew it I was into my second day of chatting about masturbation with bloggers, doctors, and experts from all over the country. What I though was going to be a string of clinical reasoning and rationale for the physical benefits of self-pleasure, turned out to be some fascinating, enlightening conversation about just being human.

As Charlie Glickman PhD in Adult Sexual Education, put it, "We could talk about the physical, psychological and emotional benefits to this, but the bottom line is, it feels good and doesn't hurt anyone. It's so incredibly common and yet it's vilified."

While there are plenty of proven health benefits to masturbating, such as germ avoidance, stress relief, improved circulation, good prostate health, aleviating cramps and PMS symptoms, and curbing insomnia, the overall theme in all the conversations I had was more about the personal pleasure and benefits to relationships.

Walker Thornton, who runs the self-named blog, "Walkerthornton.com," and writes a regular column for betterafter50.com writes:

People have been masturbating since the beginning of time; in recent years there has been a movement to make masturbation a more visible and acceptable form of sexual expression.

Thornton started writing about sex for the over-50 crowd after hearing from other women in their 50s and 60s who had never experienced an orgasm -- alone or with a partner.

"It happens more than woman my age are willing to admit," Thornton said from her Virginia office.

Sarah Jayne, of unboundbox.com, a website that offers quarterly subscription box of products, erotica, and thoughtful guidance, explained, "Most products we feature are partner agnostic and we had originally created them for couples, but more women wanted items they could use themselves. They want to know themselves and help their partner to better know them."

Another blogger, JoEllen Notte from readheadbedhead.com, focuses on the potential benefits masturbation can offer to people in a committed relationship. As her site's tagline reads, "On a mission to save the world from mediocre sex,"

"What feels good? This does! I know because I've tried it," Notte said from her Oregon office. She goes on to say,

People have this impression that you're supposed to know everything about each other and be able to make each other feel good. We all know what feels good, we need to get better about telling each other. You wouldn't try to put up a bookshelf without talking, right?

The month of May has been, for nearly two decades, the month to celebrate masturbation. It was started, in part, by a knowledgeable, high-quality and comfortable "toy store" in California, Good Vibrations, and the movement has blossomed into a worldwide event.

In an era of repression and what some have called a war on women and sexual freedom, maybe events and movements like Masturbation Month will help us to get back to things that are good for us, feel good, and help us better understand each other and ourselves.

Woman Allegedly Tried To Poison Family With Tainted Cheese

2013-05-20T22:33:51Z

BATTLEBORO, N.C. -- A North Carolina woman is charged with trying to poison five family members after one of them refused to share some cheese with her.

A statement from the Nash County Sheriff's Office said 24-year-old Tiara Drake wanted some of a relative's cheese on Friday, but the woman refused to share.

The sheriff's office said Drake awakened before the rest of the family the next morning and used detergent, window cleaner and a household cleanser to poison the cheese. The rest of the family made breakfast with the cheese and began eating it before one of them determined it was tainted.

Drake is charged with five counts of attempted first-degree murder and jailed under $50,000 bond. She had a court appearance Monday but didn't have an attorney at the hearing.

Did Pope Francis Perform An Exorcism?

2013-05-20T22:33:20Z

After Sunday’s Pentecost Mass, Pope Francis approached the children with disabilities who attended the Mass. He put both his hands on top of the head of one of the children. According to a journalist of TV2000, a channel owned by the Italian Episcopal Conference, this gesture represents an act of exorcism. The network, who has a weekly programme called “Vade Retro,” questioned a few exorcists who confirmed his interpretation.

The images in the video show Pope Francis having a brief conversation with the priest who is standing behind the child, after which his expression changes and his hands cover the child’s head.

“The exorcists who have seen the images have no doubt: this was a liberation prayer from evil, or a real act of exorcism,” adds TV2000. Their next episode of “Vade Retro” will focus on Pope Francis’ battle against the Devil and its temptations.

What do you think? Was this an exorcism or a simple blessing? Leave your comments below.

The 7 Worst Types Of Roommates

2013-05-20T21:57:33Z

We've all had to deal with the dreaded roommate; from psychos to painful introverts to sociopaths to slobs, they've become a fixture in the lives of those who can't afford their own place or prefer to live in the company of a crappy roomie over none at all.

Guyism.com has categorized the worst into seven types.

ADORABLE: Baby Foxes Bring Joy To Facebook's Offices

2013-05-20T21:27:42Z

While Facebook breaks ground on its lavish new Menlo Park offices, some unexpected friends have decided to settle into the company's current digs.

And they're the cutest. Little. Creatures. In the world.

It all started when a mother fox made a home for herself underneath a deck next to the tech behemoth's "zen garden." Employees grew attached to the animal, even naming her "Firefox" (get it?!). Then she took up with a gentleman companion, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now Facebookers delight in daily sightings of Firefox and her three babies, all happily roaming the grounds between the product and sales buildings. And they're going viral. A Facebook page dedicated to the family has garnered more than 10,000 likes, and their story has drawn the attention of national outlets like Gawker and the Wall Street Journal.

Check out the little guys for yourselves, and prepare to be overwhelmed by adorableness:

LOOK: Tree Stripped Bare By Lightning

2013-05-20T21:11:25Z

We've never seen anything quite like this.

An ash tree on the campus of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, was apparently stripped of its bark by a bolt of lightning on Sunday night, according to local paper The Telegraph Herald and to a couple of Reddit users who uploaded photos to the social news site early Monday morning.

Take a look at the tree in the pic below:

The Telegraph Herald tweeted another amazing photo of the naked tree. Check that pic out here.

Unfortunately, the future of the ash tree is uncertain. By stripping it of its bark, the lightning may have also stripped its phloem, the tissue responsible for transporting nutrients throughout a tree. Phloem is crucial for its survival.

(Hat tip, Hypervocal)

NJ Sinkhole Swallows Man, Forklift

2013-05-20T21:00:20Z

A sinkhole in East Rutherford, N.J., popped up inside a warehouse around 12:30 p.m. Monday and consumed a man and his forklift entirely.

The forklift operator, identified by The Record as Bronx resident Danny Rodriguez, was taken to a local hospital and treated for a back injury.

Emergency personel were on scene to contain the incident, evacuating the building.

The E Rutherford sinkhole the worker fell in is apparently indoors #breaking twitter.com/JeremySettle/s…
— Jeremy Settle (@JeremySettle) May 20, 2013

Assistant Fire Chief John Giancaspro told NJ.com that officials are still trying to determine the cause of the estimated 40-by-40-foot sinkhole.

Fortunately for Rodriguez, it appears the forklift may have broken his fall. According to NBC News, rescuers said the piece of machinery helped protect him from being crushed during the tumble into the hole.

In April, a massive sinkhole in Illinois swallowed three cars and injured one person on Chicago's South Side. At the time, Water Department Commissioner Thomas Powers blamed the city's sewer system and a water main break for the collapse.

WATCH: Phone Thief Hit With Instant Karma

2013-05-20T20:35:16Z

Talk about getting BUSted.

A surveillance video from Bogota, Colombia shows a man try to steal a woman's cell phone, only to be hit by an oncoming bus seconds later.

The footage of sweet bustice, which was posted to YouTube Saturday, has over 100,000 views.

The victim helped the robber out from under the bus, according to ITN. She was also able to get her phone back.

Luckily for the phone thief, death was not hunting him down and he suffered only minor injuries.

Haven't gotten your fill of crazy bus videos for one day?

Check out this raw footage of a deer leaping through the windshield of a Pennsylvania bus. The bus driver let the poor deer off at the next stop.