“In Lemmingham did Kubla Khan
A sacred pleasure dome decree
Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.”
(With apologies to Coleridge)

Via the Bellingham  Herald–

Feds uncover opium poppy smuggling operation at Bellingham discount store

Six men were arrested Wednesday, Sept. 1, on suspicion of intending to smuggle into Canada opium poppies that they allegedly picked up at a Bellingham discount store.
Immigrations and Customs and Enforcement agents tailed a vehicle containing four of the men as it drove to the Dollar Plus store in the 4100 block of Meridian Street.
Several of the men left the car and brought empty hockey bags into the store; a short while later they exited the rear of the store with full hockey bags, which they began to load into two vehicles, according to a police report read at the suspects’ first appearance in Whatcom County Superior Court….

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A sickened, sensitive shadow writhing in hands that are not hands, and whirled blindly past ghastly midnights of rotting creation, corpses of dead worlds with sores that were cities, charnel winds that brush the pallid stars and make them flicker low. – H.P. Lovecraft, “Nyarlathotep”

Okay, okay. It’s not that bad. Yet.

According to 24/7 Wall Street, these are America’s Ten Dead Cities. Read the full article for details.

1. Buffalo, NY
2. Flint, MI
3. Hartford, CT
4. Cleveland, OH
5. New Orleans, LA
6. Detroit, MI
7. Albany, NY
8. Atlantic City, NJ
9. Allentown, PA
10. Galveston, TX

Up close.

Definitely pertinent to those who live in areas regularly visited by raccoons, AKA, the “Grim Reapers of the Night”–

Via ScienceBuzz

Childhood nightmare spotlight: raccoon poop brain parasites

Remember stumbling through the world as a stupid little kid? You touched bugs. You dug holes. You explored mud. And then… then you heard about killer bees. Killer bees and flesh-eating diseases. Killer bees, flesh-eating diseases, and tiny eggs that could come off a picnic table, get into your body, and hatch into something that would eat your brain.

It wasn’t the end of your childhood, it just gave you something to think about all the time. No, you’re childhood didn’t end until you were able to convince yourself that these things—killer bees, flesh-eating bacteria, brain eggs—were harmless… if they even exist at all.

Well guess what: they do. They exist, and they are dangerous! Your childhood is long gone, and now so is your adulthood. Welcome to the next stage in your life: The childhood nightmare spotlight!

Today’s feature: raccoon poop brain parasites! They’re real, and they’re all up in your brains!

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Here’s something for your Monday.

I have to say that i was a little surprised, if not actually shocked, that so many of my Fellow Fingers expressed such a lack of enthusiasm for the Glory of the Burger. I feel kind of weird about it. Like thinking everyone in the family liked Gunsmoke, and then discovering upon bringing a complete boxed-set of classic Gunsmoke episodes to a family get together, half of the family thinks James Arness was a turd.

It’s meat! What’s not to like?

Ok, maybe you want more veg. I am here to serve you! More veg! In fact it’s actually a salad!

Fellow Fingers I bring to you the Cheeseburger Salad! (bacon bits optional)

Mediafail.com debuted recently, and I think it’s a great idea.  Whether it will have any impact in reviving a more responsible and less “glitzy” media is debatable and remains to be seen, but their slogan,  “Expose the worst of American Media:  Find it. Post it. Fail it.” appeals to me. It’s a place to blow off some steam, to express a little of that rage against the machine.

I’d love to see it exceed icanhascheezburger.com, but I kind of doubt that will happen. More’s the pity.