– This will only anger the kaiju: Supposedly, a physicist has suggested (possibly in jest) that a very large wall might reduce the incidence of tornados in the U.S. Midwest:
Proposed by physicist Rongjia Tao of Temple University, the walls would measure about 1,000 feet high and 150 feet wide. According to his research, it would stop the flow of air from the north and south, preventing tornadoes from forming. The concept stems from China, where mountain ranges from east to west help reduce tornadoes.
Meteorologist and professional storm chaser, Tony Laubach was skeptical about the logistics of this idea. On America’s Newsroom, he told Bill Hemmer, “Scientifically what he’s proposing, I don’t think is going to have an effect on a big enough scale to mitigate tornado dangers.”
It might not have much of an effect, which is not a ringing endorsement of a 1,000-foot-high wall. Every hundred yards of this wall would require 4.5 million cubic feet of building and fill material. That sounds expensive.
The estimated cost is about $60 billion per 100 miles. Laubach said that money could be used to fund better research and build stronger structures to keep people safe from tornadoes.
If we’re going to be building giant structures based on some pretty speculative meteorology and physics, can we just go ahead and start building some arcologies?
If we build enough of these, we can fly to outer space! (Via svtim.es)
No, scratch that. Let’s build a Halo. I call dibs on the Library.
Via halo.wikia.com
– These memories will last a lifetime: The Winter Olympics are over, which means we have to wait another two years before we are once again inundated with listicles identifying the hottest Olympians (both men and women, to be fair) of the moment. While it happened over two weeks ago, at least this year’s Olympiad gave the world the gift (irony intended) of an accidental near-striptease on the ice. Now let’s all go back to our normal lives and leave the athletes alone, because they might seriously mess you up if you don’t.
– I’m too horrified to say anything sarcastic here: The family of Kendrick Johnson, the Georgia teenager whose body was found rolled up in a wrestling mat in his high school gym last year, is suing the funeral home that prepared his body for burial for fraud and negligence:
When Kendrick Johnson’s family ordered a second autopsy for the Georgia teen found dead inside a rolled mat in his high school gym, they were shocked to learn that some of his organs had been replaced with newspaper. The family is now suing the funeral home that prepped Johnson’s body, alleging negligence and fraud, CNN reports.
CNN notes that in the lawsuit, filed Jan. 31 and amended Wednesday, the family alleges that Harrington Funeral Home in Valdosta, Ga., purposefully disposed of organs to thwart the investigation into Johnson’s cause of death.
“This lawsuit challenges the morally despicable, fraudulent, unlawful and unfair business practices” of Harrington Funeral Home, the court document states.
I, uh, um…..yeah, speechless.
