Radar Magazine Sends Letters Posing As A 10-Year-Old Boy:

In the late '90s, pop-culture historian Bill Geerhart had a little too much time on his hands and a surfeit of stamps. So, for his own entertainment, the then-unemployed thirtysomething launched a letter-writing campaign to some of the most powerful and infamous figures in the country, posing as a curious 10-year-old named Billy.

To his surprise, replies soon started pouring in. Everyone from Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld (on tree-fort diplomacy) to Oprah Winfrey, Mister Rogers, Janet Reno, and members of the Supreme Court had words of wisdom for Billy. ("I like the Egg McMuffin," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas when asked about his favorite McDonald's food. "Actually, I like almost everything there.") Responding to Billy's idea for a "Hustler for kids," Larry Flynt wrote back encouraging the fourth grader to "Hang in there. You'll be 18 before you know it."

This is a fantastic read from Radar Magazine. Serial killer Richard Ramirez wanted Billy to send some pictures of 'girls in bikinis.' Charles Manson sent back a bizarre photo of a shack and rambled incoherently. The Unabomber, Ted Kacynzski, had no advice on whether or not Billy should drop out of school because he didn't know enough about him. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested Billy eat an Egg McMuffin and sent back a signed photo. These are just a few of many interesting tales in 'The Billy Letters.'

Up To 40 Drowning Victims May Actually Be Murder Victims:

At least 40 young men who drowned may have died by far more sinister means — serial killings at the hands of a national gang that revels in murdering young men and leaving smiley-face markings at the scene, a team of retired New York City police detectives and criminal justice investigators said Monday.

They believe the victims, including University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins and Fordham University student Patrick McNeill, didn't accidentally drown but were actually killed by members of the so-called "Smiley Face Gang," KSTP News in St. Paul reported.

A smiley-face symbol was found painted at some of the drowning locations — in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa, they told the station.

Oddly enough, a gang by the name of 'The Smileys' appears in several Rock Star video games including the hit Grand Theft Auto. No telling whether or not there's any connection there. There's more than just an inside chance 'The Smiley Face Gang' is about as real as it's video game counterpart. No one has actually seen a member of the gang and the only proof of it's existence is the strange smiley face graffiti at the scene of some of these drownings. That fact would be a little more shocking if smiley face graffiti wasn't so common.

Is a secret cult drowning people and leaving clues in the form of graffiti or is this whole thing a big coincidence?

Miami Doctors Prepare To Remove This Massive Tumor From Girl:

At 15, Lai Thi Dao has never been to school, has no friends and is rarely allowed outside her family's home because her parents hoped to spare her from the curious stares of neighbors in their small mountain village in Vietnam.

All that, she hopes, will change beginning next week, when she undergoes surgery at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital to remove a massive growth that has consumed the lower half of her face.

Lai suffers from a massive Schwannoma tumor, a benign growth that began with a small lump in her tongue but swelled over the years to a size roughly one-third her body weight. The tumor makes it difficult to eat, talk and even walk because its size throws the girl's small frame off balance. The growth is now dangerously close to cutting off her airway, and doctors described the surgery as life-saving.

The photos above are a bit tough to stomach but it's the reality of the situation at hand. This isn't the first bizarre medical story we've featured on this site and it surely won't be the last. The quality of life factor in this case is so low it's astounding. I know that the staff at Jackson Memorial is infinitely qualified in dealing with people like Lai Ti Dao and that she is in good hands. All you can do now is hope.

Meet Ashley Zais, Miss South Carolina And A McCain Staffer:

Ashley Zais, a recent Wofford grad, will serve as McCain's intern coordinator at the campaign's headquarters.

She met McCain last year when the senator gave a speech at South Carolina's Newberry College, where her father is president. Mitchell Zais, a retired Army general, and McCain became friendly after Zais published a piece in 2006 critical of how Rumsfeld's Pentagon had handled the war.

The younger Zais, it should be made clear, is NOT the same South Carolina beauty queen who has become a YouTube legend for her painful flub of a paegant question.

I've never heard of Wofford but I'd hire her in a split second.

Update: A commenter below claims the third photo isn't Zais.

New Anti-Terror Weapon Arrives - The Hand-held Lie Detector:

FORT JACKSON, S.C. - The Pentagon will issue hand-held lie detectors this month to U.S. Army soldiers in Afghanistan, pushing to the battlefront a century-old debate over the accuracy of the polygraph.

The Defense Department says the portable device isn't perfect, but is accurate enough to save American lives by screening local police officers, interpreters and allied forces for access to U.S. military bases, and by helping narrow the list of suspects after a roadside bombing. The device has already been tried in Iraq and is expected to be deployed there as well. “We're not promising perfection — we've been very careful in that,” said Donald Krapohl, special assistant to the director at the Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment, the midwife for the new device. “What we are promising is that, if it's properly used, it will improve over what they are currently doing.”

I don't put much faith in the reliability of these things. I know the hand-held lie detectors to be released by the Pentagon will be a far cry from those Sharper Image toys we've all played with but they seem semi-useless. The results can't be admissible in a court of law.

Meet Jyoti Amg - She's 14-Years-Old And Only 23 Inches Tall:

A teenager from India who stands at a tiny 1ft 11in (58cm) tall is the smallest girl in the world.

Jyoti Amge, 14, is shorter than the average two-year-old child and only weighs 11lb (5kg).

She has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia and won't grow any taller than her current height.

I'm just the same as other people. I eat like you, dream like you and I don't feel any different." Jyoti also says she loves all of the attention.

David And Efraim, 25 And 22, Supply 'Junk' Ammo To U.S. Forces:

With the award last January of a federal contract worth as much as nearly $300 million, the company, AEY Inc., which operates out of an unmarked office in Miami Beach, became the main supplier of munitions to Afghanistan’s army and police forces.

Since then, the company has provided ammunition that is more than 40 years old and in decomposing packaging, according to an examination of the munitions by The New York Times and interviews with American and Afghan officials. Much of the ammunition comes from the aging stockpiles of the old Communist bloc, including stockpiles that the State Department and NATO have determined to be unreliable and obsolete, and have spent millions of dollars to have destroyed.

How in the hell does a company run by a 22-year-old punk who is the only employee get a federal contract worth $300 million? Somewhere along the line there was a massive failure here. AEY has a history of providing less-than-stellar product and accepting large piles of cash to do so. Some of the ammo may have come from China which would be a breach of U.S. law. How many more shady companies just like AEY are flying under the radar? Here's how they did it...

Meet 'Carrot,' A Stripper At Casa Diablo Strip Club In Portland:

TWO things that you can find a lot of in Portland, Ore., are vegans and strip clubs. Johnny Diablo decided to open a business to combine both. At his Casa Diablo Gentlemen’s Club, soy protein replaces beef in the tacos and chimichangas; the dancers wear pleather, not leather. Many are vegans or vegetarians themselves.

But Portland is also home to a lot of young feminists, and some are not happy with Mr. Diablo’s venture. Since he opened the strip club last month, their complaints have been “all over the Internet,” he said. “One of them came in here once. I could tell she had an attitude right when she came in. She was all hostile.”

Diablo isn't the first to try something like this, PETA has been using sex to sell it's message for years. The New York Times jumped all over this story in today's Style section. The vegan strip club even has it's own band aptly named, you guessed it, the Vegan Vixens. They don't seem to have much in the way of musical skills but their willingness to take clothes off has landed them in a music video.



I'm not sure how many customers want to mix politics and nudity but you have to give them credit for being creative here. If you're ever in Portland, look them up and report back to me. Just try to keep it professional, you're on business.

Jan Silva May Just Be The Tiger Woods Of Tennis:



Watch this video and you will be sold on this kid. Jan's already been featured on Nightline and several other news programs and there's no doubt he'll be on the morning show circuit soon. The kid is barely tall enough to see over the net and he can hold his own with adult tennis players. How long until young Jan is selling Nike Shoes or Gatorade?