Editor’s note: For the official press release, visit Critical Art Ensemble Defense Fund Web site.

Federal Charges Against Steven Kurtz Dismissed
by Jeff Woodard, Executive Producer
WGRZ.com
April 21, 2008, updated April 22, 2008

The indictment charging UB professor Steve Kurtz with two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud, has been thrown out.

Judge Richard Arcara dismissed the charges in federal court Monday.

FBI agents in Haz-Mat suits went into Kurtz’s Buffalo home in May, 2004. Kurtz had called 911 after finding his wife unresponsive. It turned out that Hope Kurtz had died of natural causes.

But once police entered Kurtz’s home, they found biological samples inside. The F.B.I. was called and a huge investigation followed.

Kurtz told authorities that he used the samples as part of his performance art that deals with bio-technology.

After a lengthy investigation, Kurtz was charged not with bio-terrorism, but with fraudulently obtaining two of the samples that were in his home.

The following is an interview Kurtz conducted with Channel 2′s Scott Brown in 2007, when the indictment was still in place: (more…)

From Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish:

Congress Freaks Out Over Second Life Terrorism
by Sharon Weinberger
Wired.com
April 4, 2008

Oh no, the virtual terrorists are coming to get us! Well, maybe. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, had an entire hearing about virtual worlds and terrorism, even calling in the chief executive of Linden Lab to testify about the possibility of Second Life being used for evil terrorist ends. One of the concerns, brought up by some members of Congress, was that Second Life could be used launder terrorist funds. The possibility was quickly dispelled:

The average withdrawal from Second Life — from Linden dollars into U.S. dollars — is one dollar, so it’s “relatively easy to spot larger transactions,” [Philip] Rosedale said. “We have managed to maintain a fraud rate that is a fraction of a percentage point. The industry average is closer to 1 percent.”

(more…)

Burglar Plays Dead at Funeral Home
by Daniel Woolls
1010Wins
April 2, 2008

Madrid, Spain (AP) — A burglar who broke into a funeral home tried to fool police by playing dead, but two things gave him away. First, he breathed. Plus, he wore grungy clothes rather than the Sunday best of those settling in for eternal rest.

Police and the Crespo Funeral Home said Wednesday they had no idea what the 23-year-old Spanish man was trying to steal in the March 17 break-in at Burjassot, a small town just outside Valencia.

Neighbors living nearby alerted police when they heard the front door of the business being forced open in the middle of the night.

Police officers arrived with the owner, and eventually found the suspect lying on a table in a glassed-in chamber used for viewings of deceased people during wakes, a local police official said from Burjassot.

“The custom here is for dead people to be dressed in suits, in nice clothes that look presentable. This guy was in everyday clothes that were wrinkled and dirty,” the police official said. Department rules barred her from giving her name.

“He was trying to fake being dead, but he was breathing,” the officer said. (more…)

The Art of the Prank is one year old today!

Many, many thanks to all the supporters, contributors, readers, and friends who have made it such a great success!

images: party balloons, zombies

Hospital horse visit ‘well-intended’
by Nathan Eagle
The Garden Island
March 21, 2008

A reportedly intoxicated man recently trotted a horse into the lobby at Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Lihu‘e with a single mission in mind — cheering up his ailing family member, an official said yesterday.

The unidentified dude picked up the phone and told the operator, “I’m coming up to see a relative,” Wilcox Hospital spokeswoman Lani Yukimura said.

The “well-intended” individual and his steed then took an elevator up three levels to a nursing floor, she said, where security greeted them.

The patient was brought out to see the stallion, Yukimura said, but told his allegedly intoxicated relative, “That’s not my horse.” (more…)

Sisters: EBay Pulled Corn Flake Auction
1010WINS
March 19, 2008

Chicago (AP) — Two sisters from Virginia who are selling a corn flake shaped like the state of Illinois on eBay say the online auction Web site canceled their listing.

“Something really dramatic just happened with our corn flake,” Melissa McIntire, 23, of Chesapeake, Va., said Tuesday, explaining that the sisters received an e-mail from eBay saying the state-shaped cereal was in violation of the site’s food policy.

But the flake is back. The sisters say the Land of Lincoln twin they discovered in a box of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes is still available after all.

McIntire and her 15-year-old sister Emily said they’ve relisted the flake on eBay, but this time they’re auctioning a coupon redeemable for it, instead of the cereal itself. Bidding on Wednesday was at $255.00.

Copycat items have popped up on eBay, including corn flakes shaped like Hawaii and Virginia. There’s also been a potato chip shaped like Florida, and Illinois corn flake paraphernalia, including T-shirts and buttons. (more…)

Brought to you courtesy of the City of Santa Ana:

via Wooster Collective

Submitted by Kate McCamy:

via CappedInTheHead

From Steve Lambert:

BBC newscaster Karen Bowerman, thinking she is interviewing a respected technology expert about the Apple Computer vs. Apple Music case, is actually interviewing a cab driver/job interviewee (we’ve seen both accounts) by mistake. Check Biased BBC for more information. Watch this guy’s face as he figures out he’s the wrong guy. He’s game to give his opinion anyway. The show must go on!

Keepers at a Tokyo zoo have been honing their skills in a drill aimed at capturing animals on the loose, in case of a big earthquake…

via LiveLeak and Neatorama

From DailyCandy.com:

Van Morrison wrote the song� “Brown Eyed Girl” as an endearing ode to a former love.

And while some will always argue that brown eyes are classic, others are looking for a change.

It has come to our attention that it is no longer acceptable for your bunghole to be, well, brown. (Yeah, we said bunghole.) And South Beach Skin Solutions has developed a lightening gel that is safe for that sensitive area (no, we have not tried it).

The natural product claims to give� your poopshooter� “a fresher, more youthful look” by making it blend in with your natural skin tone. (Seriously?) Here’s how it works: The gentle formula first exfoliates then naturally depigments and whitens the backdoor by reducing the activity of tyrosinase (an enzyme responsible for darkening) in the skin.

They claim you’ll see results in just a few weeks, or else you get your money back.

Consider it your ace in the hole.

thanks Roger

From ABC News, August, 2007:

You’re looking at a 30-mile stretch of shoreline north of Sydney, Australia. What was once waves of water turned into waves of foam that have not been seen at this Pacific beach for more than three decades. The foam engulfed an entire beach and half the nearby buildings, including the local lifeguard center. It happened at Yamba in New South Wales, Australia. Scientists say the foam is created by impurities in the ocean, such as salts, chemicals, dead plants, decomposed fish and excretions from seaweed.

More pictures: (more…)

Watch What You Put on Trailer Hitches
by Bob Lewis
1010 WINS
January 15, 2008

Richmond, Va. (AP) — It’s one thing to dangle fuzzy dice from a rear view mirror, but decorating a trailer hitch with a large pair of rubber testicles might be a bit much in Virginia.

State Del. Lionel Spruill introduced a bill Tuesday to ban displaying replicas of human genitalia on vehicles, calling it a safety issue because it could distract other drivers.

Under his measure, displaying the ornamentation on a motor vehicle would be a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $250.

He said the idea came from a constituent whose young daughter spotted an example of the trail hitch adornment and asked her father to explain it.

“‘I didn’t know what to tell her,’” Spruill said the constituent told him before Spruill vowed to stop such displays.

Read the rest of the article here.

Dead Man’s Check Leads to Wild Scene on Streets of Manhattan
1010 WINS News
January 9, 2008

New York (AP) — Detective Travis Rapp knew something was wrong when he looked out the window of the restaurant where he was having lunch.

Two men were wheeling their friend down a Manhattan street in a red office chair, and a crowd of suspicious onlookers began to congregate around the lifeless figure.

Initially, Rapp assumed “it was a mannequin or a dummy,” he said. “I thought it was a joke, honestly.”

But upon closer examination, it dawned on him that the body — rigid, white and with glazed-over eyes — was real. As a 15-year veteran with the New York Police Department, he had seen a few dead folks in his time. “But never anything like this,” he recalled.

As it turns out, his instincts were right. The man was dead, and two of his friends had hauled his corpse to a store to cash his $355 Social Security check, police said. (more…)

From Rose Fox:

A UK celebrity deliberately publishes his bank account information to prove that it’s safe, and then is surprised when someone uses it to donate £500 to charity.

Clarkson stung after bank prank
bbc.co.uk
January 7, 2008

TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has lost money after publishing his bank details in his newspaper column.

The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people’s personal details on two computer discs.

He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing.

But Clarkson admitted he was “wrong” after he discovered a reader had used the details to create a £500 direct debit to the charity Diabetes UK. (more…)