If you’ve spent enough time on the subway in New York, you’ve probably noticed the train-conductors pointing at a striped black-and-white sign each time they pull into a station. The conductors are required to do this to show they’ve fully arrived on the platform.

The Food and Drug Administration reports that 12 percent of spices brought to the United States are contaminated with insect parts, whole insects, rodent hairs and “other things.” Seven percent of spice imports are also contaminated with salmonella. 100 percent of this information is gross.

[Meet Pierre the Pelican, the just-premiered new mascot for New Orleans' NBA basketball team. Do what Pierre says and he might not eat your entire family. Image via Twitter]

The third and final mayoral debate took place Wednesday and, like the first and second debate, nothing really happened. At least nothing notable enough to damage Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio’s 39-point lead in the polls.

Joe Lhota’s family spent Wednesday campaigning at the Arrochar Friendship Club in Staten Island where elderly white people complained about Bill de Blasio using the “race card.” Lhota himself did not attend because he was busy preparing for tonight’s final debate at 7 p.m. EST. Watch live here.

Citing its sexually suggestive nature, Aliso Niguel High School in Southern California has officially banned twerking from campus and all school dances: "Twerking now joins 'freaking' and 'grinding' as prohibited dances at the Orange County school."

With the eyes of the nation trained firmly on which state will be next to legalize same-sex marriage, The Daily Show is naturally looking in the opposite direction: Which state will be last.

This is the thing about Anthony Weiner: He's just so very, very seductive. Irresistible. He makes you do things you'd never dream of doing. Well, not you. Some people. They just want to surrender to him. The failed mayoral candidate tells GQ's Marshall Sella about how this sad fact undermined his campaign from the start, when he offered himself and his wife, Huma Abedin, up to the New York Times Magazine for the profile, by Jonathan Van Meter, that was to mark his return to political respectability:

A group of protesters interrupted President Obama's health care speech in Boston this afternoon, shouting “ “Mr. President, [inaudible] Keystone XL! Stop climate change! For our generation! Stop the pipeline!”

Have you ever ridden Megabus, Peter Pan, or any old grungy Chinatown bus around the Eastern Seaboard and thought to yourself, Man, this would be a great way for someone to run drugs? Well, the good news is you're not alone; many people have had that idea. Don't try to turn that fantasy into a reality, however, because the cops are now wise to the game.

What happened on Day 1 of Britain’s epic phone-hacking trial? Let’s see:

What's that? You detected a sweeter, gentler, more luxurious flavor in your Folgers this morning? Why yes, its quality has improved. You liar.

Meredith Vieira expressly denied being drunk while tweeting this lengthy stream of drunk consciousness, but it's unclear how else one might explain it.

For the past half-year, classified documents leaked by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden have revealed dozens of details about the U.S. government's spying operations. But the past ten days have been especially hectic, and especially complicated: First, we heard that the NSA has been spying on... well, basically of our allies and their leaders, and reportedly without the knowledge of President Obama; then the NSA said that wasn't true. It's all very confusing. Let us explain.

A terrifying conspiracy consisting of, uh, the 16 female Democratic senators signed a secret letter of support for Hillary Clinton earlier this year, urging her to run for president. But evidently one senator forgot to keep it under wraps, ABC News reports.

Today, in terrifying clown news: A Wisconsin man dressed as a clown was arrested after drunkenly holding a young child over a railroad overpass.

A retired Frito-Lay salesman who went missing on September 2nd was found dead last week inside an overturned car at the bottom of a rural Utah ravine hundreds of miles from his Manhattan, Kansas home.

The Atlantic ranks "The 50 Greatest Breakthroughs Since the Wheel." Was the moldboard plow really more important than cement? Me-ouch! We're not wading into this hornet's nest!

Recent controversies involving individuals putting on blackface for Halloween apparently failed to deter the football coaches at a San Diego high school from darkening their skin and dressing up as members of the Jamaican bobsled team made famous by the 1993 comedy sport flick Cool Runnings.