When Candid Camera Goes Wrong. Horribly, Horribly Wrong.

He fell victim to one of the classic blunders - The most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia" - but only slightly less well-known is this: "Never 'Punk'd' an Egyptian actor by saying he is on Israeli TV"



Notice the high level of tolerance and respect that's being shown.

I do have to admit that if it was Ashton Kutcher that was slapped and pushed around, it would have made it the best Punk'd show of all.   

More background about this here. 

How Do You Say, "Potemkin Villages" In Mandarin?

A visual tour of China and it's ghost cities.

Via the sidebar at Ace's place.

Videos: Up Close And Personal Of The Tsunami In Japan

It's unbelievable to power and the force that water has.

When the waves first start coming in, it's moving a lot of trash. Then cars. Then trucks. Then the waves start to pick up houses off of their foundations and they float them away.



One more here that I couldn't embed.

Video: Tsunami Hits Japan

I've watched this clip and others like several times and it's still difficult for me to believe how destructive the wave was.

This starts out looking like dirty water being poured out on the drive way until the camera zooms in. Then what looked like twigs and trash is actually homes and cars. If you look careful enough, you can see other cars on the ground driving away as fast as they can.

The weird thing is watching what I think is a house burning in the middle of the water. A huge bonfire going along for the ride.



Video sniped from here.

Pray for the victims of this catastrophe.

I Think I've Noticed A Trend

That once someone said something that must be said, others are more willing to speak up and say the same things.

First, it was Germany last year.

Germany's attempt to create a multicultural society has "utterly failed," Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday, adding fuel to a debate over immigration and Islam polarizing her conservative camp.

Speaking to a meeting of young members of her Christian Democrats (CDU), Merkel said allowing people of different cultural backgrounds to live side by side without integrating had not worked in a country that is home to some four million Muslims.

"This (multicultural) approach has failed, utterly failed," Merkel told the meeting in Potsdam, south of Berlin.

Then earlier this month in England.

David Cameron condemned Britain's long-standing policy of multiculturalism as a failure Saturday, calling for better integration of young Muslims to combat home-grown extremism.
[. . .]
"What I mean to say is that for years, for decades, the approach was that integration was not something that needed to be addressed, that people would live side-by-side and that it would sort itself out," Merkel said in November.

"This turned out to be false."

And finally, France.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Thursday that multiculturalism had failed, joining a growing number of world leaders or ex-leaders who have condemned it.

"My answer is clearly yes, it is a failure," he said in a television interview when asked about the policy which advocates that host societies welcome and foster distinct cultural and religious immigrant groups.

"Of course we must all respect differences, but we do not want... a society where communities coexist side by side.

"If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France," the right-wing president said.

Religion of Peace Strikes Again

This time using a 12 year old boy as a suicide bomber in a recruiter's office.

Islamabad-- The suicide bombing in the town of Mardan, an area that had been relatively free from attack, undermines government claims that it has weakened the militant threat.

Witnesses said the boy detonated his explosives during morning exercises at an army recruiting centre. Dozens more cadets were wounded.

Just barbaric.

Would Be Suicide Bomber Killed By Spam Text Message And Hellfire Missiles. . .

Well, pretty much by spam text message.

An unexpected and unwanted text message from a wireless company prematurely exploded a would-be suicide bomber’s vest bomb in Russia New Year’s Eve, inadvertently thwarting a planned attack on revelers in Moscow, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The would-be suicide bomber was planning to detonate a suicide belt bomb near Red Square, a plan that was foiled when her wireless carrier sent her an SMS while she was still at a safe house, setting off the bomb and killing her.

Radical Right Wing Religious Group Threatened Talented Actress For Appearing In Movies About Witches And Wizards

No, not Christian groups. Or even Right Wing. Afshan Azad's own father and brother. According to the article, for no reason whatsoever.

Afshan Azad, 22, has appeared in four of the movies as Padma Patil, a classmate of the young wizard.

She was allegedly attacked at her home in Longsight, Manchester, on May 21 this year. Now her father Abdul Azad, 54, and brother Ashraf Azad, 28, both of Beresford Road, Longsight, have appeared in court.

Abdul is accused of threatening to kill his daughter and Ashraf of threatening to kill and assault occasioning actual bodily harm against his sister. Both men appeared at Manchester magistrates' court and the case was adjourned until later this month for committal proceedings to crown court.

The Telegraph doesn't really going the reason why her family threatened her. It only how she won her role in the Harry Potter franchise.

After a some looking, it turns out she was beaten because she didn't want to break up with her boyfriend.

Her dad and brother allegedly began arguing with the star over her boyfriend and demanded that she end the relationship. When Afshan refused she was allegedly attacked and left "badly bruised", reports Britain's Daily Express. Abdul Azad, 54, and his son Ashraf, 28, appeared at Manchester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, June 29, accused of threatening to kill Afshan. Her brother was also charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

The case was adjourned and both Abdul and Ashraf have been released on bail until July 12. As part of the bail conditions the two men must not contact the actress at her new London address, where she is thought to be staying with friends.
[. . .]
Speaking outside of the family home on Thursday, July 1, accused brother Ashraf Azad said, "I don't want to comment on anything. My dad is at the solicitors at the moment. We are going to get trouble from the community now. I am not happy at all. I could lose my job over this because the people at work will see this."[Emphasis Mine]

His job. At least you know where his priorities are.

Dude

Not exactly your normal tale of revenge.

The story began in October 2009 when a 17-year-old Garadag district-dweller lured an unsuspecting eight-year-old boy into his KamAZ truck, beat him up and raped him. A passerby then got into the truck and threatened to make the boy’s misery public, and then raped the boy himself.

Learning about the crime, the victim’s father, along with a group of relatives, tracked down the first rapist and revenge-raped him – all the while filming the event on a camera phone.

Those crazy Ruskies.

One More Thought: Tiger Woods is lucky his wife is only Swedish.