I can’t believe the news today…

• Fireball in the Los Angeles sky remains a mystery. More here.
• As if the real ones aren’t bad enough… Fake pesticides: illegal chemicals in counterfeit products sold in Europe.
• Planetary headlines from the Messenger spacecraft: Mercury is shrinking. More here from Nat. Geo. about volcanoes and magnetic fields on Mercury.
• Awesome near-Earth asteroid graphics
• Thailand's Administrative Court handed down an injunction against the Thai cabinet's endorsement of Cambodia's bid to propose the Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site, because such support "might undermine Thailand's future standing on a territorial dispute." Photo of said temple.
• Syria unearths 2300 year old pharoanic engraving.
• The ten worst moments of the Bush presidency.
• Obama backs "faith-based initiatives", and enrages atheist voters.
• Two kids in Spain admitted to mental health institution for the growing problem of mobile phone addiction. Srsly noobz.
• In other childish news... A kid in Sweden has caused political controversy by not inviting two of his classmates to his birthday party.
• Using causality to solve the puzzle of space-time.
• A former miner who’d never picked up a brush hears ‘spirit voices’ and creates ‘spirit paintings’, now on display in Paris.
• Pwnage news - FBI's next generation ID database to store face scans.
• Water-boarding is not a new Olympic event, but…China apparently inspired interrogations at Guantánamo.
• Super atoms turn periodic table upside down.
• The biblical allegories of Pixar's Wall-E.
• Right-Wings Apoplectic Over Pixar's WALL-E: 'Malthusian Fear Mongering,' 'Fascistic Elements'.
• David Byrne: From Talking Heads to musical buildings.
• NASA considers development of student-led 'Satellite Initiative'.
• Foreign security guards in Iraq — read Blackwater & Co. — may lose immunity.
• In space, someone can hear you scream. And by “you” I mean “Earth”…
• The shape of asteroids and space-rocks explained?
• And what would Independence Day be without an alien interview. Because vampires, ghosts and goblins are so passé…
• Green fireworks? Scientist work to build a better roman candle.

Huuuuuge thanks to Greg, Rick, Kat and RPJ… Happy July 4th!

Quote of the Day:

It's an amazing thing to think that ours is the first generation in history that really can end extreme poverty, the kind that means a child dies for lack of food in its belly. We have the science, the technology, and the wealth. What we don't have is the will, and that's not a reason that history will accept....

Bono

Orlando Sentinel

National Post

AP - An Illinois woman says her beloved miniature dachshund gnawed off her right big toe while she was asleep. Linda Floyd told the Alton Telegraph for a story Wednesday that her beloved Roscoe was euthanized because of safety concerns.

AP - One of the fireworks bursting above the city this year will contain a bit of cremated remains — a fitting tribute, organizers say, to the man who ran the annual event for 40 years.

AP - A Duluth man is under arrest after he called police on a cell phone from a purse he had just allegedly snatched. Police arrested the 29-year-old man on Wednesday.

AP - Police in the southeast Missouri town of Poplar Bluff are looking for the gunman who robbed a man on Monday night, then gave him a hug before fleeing.

AP - He's gone from hot-dog top dog to underdog. Renowned competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi is aiming to chomp his way back to the top of the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating competition on Coney Island after a disappointing three-dog loss last year shattered his six-year winning streak.

NYPost

AP - He's gone from hot-dog top dog to underdog. Renowned competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi is aiming to chomp his way back to the top of the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating competition on Coney Island after a disappointing three-dog loss last year shattered his six-year winning streak.

Stuff.co.nz

KNBC

Slate

CBS3.com

Breitbart.com