Category: News

Police in pursuit of two hardware store thieves in Duluth, GA found themselves evading chainsaws thrown from the back of the getaway vehicle.

Vocativ reports:

After the men had robbed $19,000 in Weedwackers and chainsaws from two other stores, the policeman spied the thieves leaving a Howard Brothers hardware at 1:30 a.m. Seeing as it wasn’t exactly the right hour for a gardening goods run, the officer turned on his lights and followed in hot pursuit.

That’s when they threw chainsaws at him.

At least one of the flying death machines found its mark, doing at least $3,000 in damage to the officer’s cruiser and ending the chase three minutes after it started. The two bandits ran from their car and into the woods, where those chainsaws would have also come in handy. They have yet to be found.

Local news would later clarify that the weapons used to evade pursuing officers included “three chainsaws AND a weed-eater.” 

Nine children in a single Colorado hospital are suffering from a mystery virus that is causing spinal tissue scarring and leading to paralysis of limbs. Doctors believe the damage may be linked to the recent outbreak of Enterovirus D68 that is sweeping the country. Enterovirus D68 typically only causes respiratory illness with symptoms similar to the flu, although esvere cases can result in difficulty breathing and sometimes death. Children have proven easily susceptible to the virus, making the latest developments especially frightening.

Scientists investigating the outbreak are in the process of sequencing the D68 genome to see if it has mutated from its earlier form to cause the paralysis. Dr. Mark Pallansch, director of the CDC’s viral diseases division, says the Denver outbreak is unprecedented and that the CDC’s investigation will take some time:

“There is not a lot of definitive information, but all together, it makes for a very unusual situation,” Pallansch said. “I’ve never seen it before.”

No vaccine or treatment options are currently available.

[h/t] NPR

Archaeologists restoring Tokat Castle in Northern Turkey have uncovered a long lost labyrinth of secret tunnels and dungeons where the real-life Dracula, Vlad III (better known as Vlad the Impaler), was believed to be held hostage.

In 1442, the ruler of the kingdom of Wallachia, Vlad II, embarked on a diplomatic mission to secure an alliance with the Ottoman Empire to defend Wallachia against an enemy army in Transylvania. Vlad II’s alliance was successful, but in order to guarantee his loyalty the Ottoman’s demanded that he leave his sons Vlad III and Radu under their control.

Both sons were imprisoned in the Tokat Castle where they built an extreme hatred for the Ottomans. Vlad III was regularly subjected to punishments such as flogging and likely developed his later sadistic taste for brutal executions after witnessing the impalement of other prisoners.

Years later, after he gained the throne, Vlad III is said to have retreated from a battle against the Ottomans, impaling and displaying 20,000 bodies outside the city of Targoviste, in Romania. Upon seeing the horrific display, the Ottoman forces retreated to Constantinople.

Read more about the real inspiration for Dracula here.

See 5 Real Signs That Vampires Actually Exist at Dark5.

There is a remarkable Starbucks whose official existence can neither be confirmed nor denied. At best, this Starbucks can only be described as being in a “government building.” Here the baristas require security clearance and the cups will never scrawled with an a real name. Such is life at the CIA’s most popular on-campus coffee shop.

The interior looks just like any other Starbucks in the world–light wood, dark accents, and soft folk music filling the space; however, the clientele and conversations are far from typical. Spys, analysts, and intelligence officers mix and mingle daily while getting their caffeine fix. It is rumored that the team to take out Osama Bin Laden recruited one of its key members over coffee at this Starbucks.

Read more here, and check out other cool Starbucks locations around the world.

North Korean Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un has been missing for nearly three weeks–including being conspicuously absent from the Supreme Peoples Assembly, North Korea’s rubber stamp legislature. The session typically features the Supreme Leader meeting all of North Korea’s highest ranking party and military officials, but this year he was represented by an empty chair. Conspiracy theories explaining Kim Jong Un’s absence have been running wild and range from the comically absurd to dangerous plots of intrigue.

Tabloids in Britain are suggesting that Kim could have become ill from eating too much imported cheese. The Daily Mirror claims that the dictator has developed an infatuation with Emmental cheese and may be suffering some complications associated with a dramatic weight gain. While no sources are provided, it may not be out of the realm of possibility considering the family’s odd affection for western luxuries at the expense of their impoverished citizens.

A more likely explanation comes from South Korean intelligence officials who speculate that a power struggle in the capital may be afoot. The first signs of military plots against the Supreme Leader emerged in 2013 when Kim Jong Un had his uncle executed to consolidate power and warn off other officials.

North Korea’s official state media is refusing to comment.

A 2012 video reportedly showing a mythical Icelandic worm monster has been declared real by an investigative panel tasked with judging its authenticity. Lagarfljótsormurinn, which means “the worm of Lagarfljót,” has been the source of legend in the area since first appearing in written records in 1350. The panel voted 7-6 to award  a longstanding 500,000 Icelandic krona bounty (about $4,000) to anyone who could capture proof of the monster.

Two separate videos taken in February and March of 2014 appear to show the creature writhing in the icy water:

Security experts are warning of a newly discovered vulnerability in the architecture that supports the entire internet. The Bash Bug poses a serious threat to network infrastructure and attacks through the hole could lead to an internet meltdown.

Also known as a “Shellshock,” the flaw is in a commonly used piece of system software called Bash–created in 1989 and is found on a variety of Unix-based systems. Bash is a command shell, and finding and exploiting a security hole in Bash means hackers can send commands to computers or any piece of equipment running the system.

Mac and Andriod phone users should be particularly vigilant. The Bash Bug makes it easy for attackers to access and control those devices connecting through public WiFi networks. A perhaps bigger fear is that attackers could compromise routers and computer network equipment to consume bandwidth and slow the internet to a halt.

Attempts to patch the flaw have so far proven futile.