Two days ago, we reported on the Church of Scientology's junk science relief efforts in Japan, through its Volunteer Ministry program. Now we have materials the church uses to recruit members for the ministry, which is "an effective way of getting Scientology applied on a broad, grass-roots level through the society."
Notorious Scottsdale porn scribe Rep. Ben Quayle is already making a name for himself during his freshman House term. Unfortunately, most of that is due to his terrible standup comedy. But the boy wonder now has an opportunity to redeem himself and restore the Quayle family name to its fading 1980s glory. He's been tasked with ensuring America's earthquake preparedness, from his chair in a House subcommittee.
A new tsunami warning has been issued after a 7.4 magnitude aftershock hit off the coast of Japan, 73 miles from the nuclear plant at Fukushima. The Japan meteorological agency warned of a wave up to six feet. The tsunami generated by last month's 9.0 earthquake was estimated to be over 120 feet. [Image via AP]
Poor Stefan and Erika Svanstrom! The newly-married Swedish couple and their infant daughter set out on a four-month honeymoon in December and managed to come into contact with six different natural disasters.
Rescued after three weeks afloat a mile and a half from the coast of Kesennuma in northern Japan, an extremely cute dog named Ban has been reunited with his owner.
Stop! Don't move that Oreo! The Environmental Protection Agency has just announced that trace amount of radioactive iodine have been identified in samples taken from the U.S. milk supply. As vegans everywhere chuckle to themselves smugly, you're probably wondering to yourself—how the hell did that happen?
When is it good news to hear that radiation levels are 100,000 times higher than normal? When you at first thought they were 10 million times higher. Officials at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant say readings of staggeringly high radiation levels in water leaking from a reactor were mistaken. From the AP:
It's highly unlikely that you're going to see any new nuclear power plants built any time in the future, given the now worsening situation at Fukushima. But knee-jerk reactions to the accident are not what's really to blame for the inevitable decline in nuclear production.
Scientists have been trying to grow sperm in a test tube for over 100 years, and now they've done it. Researchers in Japan "have made fertile mammalian sperm in a culture dish," reports Nature. The scientists took fragments of mouse testes and coaxed sperm to grow from them in a petri dish; then they injected the sperm into eggs, put the fertilized eggs into mice, and real, live babies came out.
Stephen Colbert thinks America's emotions are far too high right now to be reviewing the safety of nuclear power plants. His suggestion? That we stay calm, keep breathing, and "find the courage to do nothing."
On tonight's Daily Show, Jon Stewart opened with a new segment called "When Reporters Attack." His first target? HLN loudmouth Nancy Grace, and her hilarious fight with a meteorologist who said that radiation from Japan probably wouldn't harm Americans
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency released the first round of photographs from the interior of the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, where 180 workers, operating in rotating shifts, are struggling to contain and control the release of radiation.
