The "BP squad," a group of federal investigators, are preparing a criminal probe of three companies involved in the Gulf oil spill: BP, Transocean, and everyone's favorite war profiteers, Halliburton. The companies' ties to regulators will be examined. [WaPo; Getty]

A pair of Chilean Rose tarantulas were found separately in backyards in northern Britain recently, and people are getting nervous. So what's the big deal about a couple of furry spiders? They spit hairs into people's eyes and blind them.

[Portaits of soldiers in the Afghan National Army after a patrol in the volatile Arghandab Valley—you know, where the stoner cops are. Pic via AP.]

California Senator Barbara Boxer and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina are battling over Boxer's Senate seat. But that's secondary to a more important question—one that an actual, reputable polling firm just asked Californians: Who has better hair?

An unemployed woman in Colorado Springs spent $1,200 on 10 bus bench ads heralding Christ's return on May 21, 2011. "There are things... I always wanted to do," she said. "But it's not about what I want." [Gazette]

A passenger plane with more than 150 people on board has crashed in Islamabad, according to Pakistani authorities.

Looking for something new to read? Why not one of the 14 13 books on the "longlist" for the prestigious Man Booker Prize for fiction? Some of them probably even have sex scenes!

MasterChef is a cooking show based on another show, which was based on another show. Watch Chef Gordon Ramsay break Dave from Boston's confidence and force him to admit failure.

Seven people have been chosen to receive keys that, when used together from a secure location, can be used to "restart the world wide web" after a "catastrophic event." No, really.

[This is a four-day-old zedonk standing with its mother at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in Georgia. A zedonk is 50 percent zebra, 50 percent donkey, and 100 percent CUTE. Photo via AP.]

Police found eight heads in four different places outside of Durango. They had received an anonymous tip that two heads were located beside each of three roads leaving the nothern Mexican city. Roadside cleaners found the other two. [AFP]

Noah Kalina started a photography project called "Everyday" back when he was 19 years old on January 11, 2000. The idea was to take one picture of himself everyday in the same framing without changing his facial expression.

ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson—the guy responsible for Cavemen—has resigned, to be replaced by ABC Family's Paul Lee.

This is Paul Yarrow, a community worker from South London. Do you recognize him? That may be because he's appeared on at least 20 different British news broadcasts over the last few months. In the background.

New York City agreed to pay over $7 million to settle a civil suit over the shooting death of Sean Bell, a 23-year-old man killed by police on his wedding day in 2006. His fiancee will receive $3.25 million. [NYDN]

Supposedly, everyone on the cast and crew for Star Wars was on drugs, which, due to Rubin's impressions of Chewbacca and R2D2, kind of makes sense.

Chris Poole is looking for hackers for his new startup Canvas Networks, which is pretty strange considering the last website he started, 4chan, is notoriously a place teeming with, uh, hackers. Going legit isn't always an intuitive process.

[A strongman takes a whack at the Spill-O-Rama at the Carnivoil rally in Washington D.C. today. The anti-Big Oil event was billed "The Greatest Mess on Earth." Photo via Flickr]

Chris Hayes says Republicans and fiscal conservatives are fat on cake, and Democrats are far more fit (and trendy) because they eat cupcakes. Basically, the pastries are a metaphor for differing party solutions to the deficit problem. Hayes' explanation inside.

James Franco stars in this digital short where he is a guest on a bizarre show for kids. When the games begin to include knives and pills, Franco must kill the others to survive.