http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/15/baby-halloween-costumes_n_5939714.html

A street artist is using his creative talents to bring joy to the homeless by spray-painting beds, windows and furniture onto the walls they sleep against.

The Los Angeles-based artist, who goes by Skid Robot, posts photos on Instagram of all the imaginary homes he creates for homeless people on Skid Row - from four-poster beds and pillows to windows with a view of the moon.

In creating these make-believe spaces, he also befriends the homeless, giving them money, bringing them care packages and raising awareness of poverty by telling their stories

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2797625/graffiti-artist-spray-paints-beds-windows-walls-skid-row-make-homeless-feel-human.html

A Seattle woman has shamed a suspected groper by uploading photos of him to her Twitter account.

Julia Marquand, 28, took a handful of photos of known sex-offender Daryl Sharma, who walked up beside her on a sidewalk near Westlake Park in the city and supposedly touched her inappropriately.

After he tried to calmly walk away from the incident, Marquand followed him and took a collection of snaps on her cellphone.

In response, he tried to apologize in what she believes was 'damage control'.  





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2796745/seattle-woman-shames-suspected-groper-uploading-photos-face-twitter-identified-high-risk-sex-offender.html

The Seattle Police Department acknowledged Marquand's frustration and confirmed a detective was contacted by DOC officers after they recognized the man in photos the victim circulated on Twitter.

Sharma is said to have a history of groping and is a level 3 sex offender - meaning he is most likely to re-offend. 

Following Marquand's tweet, she claims 200 people have come forward with allegations the same man has made advances at them.

In 2011, he was accused of groping a woman on a bench at Seattle's University Village. 

He was convicted twice in 2003 on assault charges related to rubbing himself against a woman and later grabbing another woman’s behind. 

After his actions were noticed on Twitter, Sharma was taken back into custody at the King County Jail on Wednesday for violating his probation.  

+

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Florida-leads-U-S-in-early-voting-5827701.php
Florida leads U.S. in early voting
Associated Press Published 2:01 pm, Thursday, October 16, 2014



ATLANTA — Midterm elections are less than three weeks away, yet more than 904,000 Americans already have cast their ballots, with almost 60 percent of those early votes in Florida, according to data compiled from election officials in 11 states.
Those numbers are climbing daily as more states begin their advance voting periods and more voters return mail-in ballots ahead of Nov. 4.

Early voting doesn’t predict electoral outcomes, but both major parties emphasized the opportunity in recent elections as they try to lock in core supporters. Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia allow some form of advance voting other than traditional absentee voting requiring an excuse

A spokesman for national Democrats, Justin Barasky, said the party is especially focused on encouraging early voting by Democrats who usually don’t participate in midterms.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2795267/dutch-abandon-black-pete-christmas-tradition-racism-row-replace-santa-s-sidekick-cheese-pete.html

abandon 'black Pete' Christmas tradition over racism row - and replace him as santa's sidekick with 'cheese Pete' 
Black Pete is a jolly, but controversial, sidekick of the Dutch Saint Nicholas 
A racism row erupted with critics claiming Pete is a negative stereotype
An Amsterdam court agreed, bringing about a facelift for the character
Black Pete hands out gifts in Holland on December 5 with Saint Nicholas 


By TED THORNHILL FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 04:25 EST, 16 October 2014 | UPDATED: 05:41 EST, 16 October 2014


Black Pete, the jolly sidekick of the Dutch Saint Nicholas, is finally getting a facelift after years of bitter debate including death threats against those calling for change.

An Amsterdam court's ruling in July that Pete - traditionally dressed in a gaudy medieval costume with a blackened face, red lips and an afro wig - is a 'negative stereotype' encouraged many to try to change the deeply rooted custom.

'It's the beginning of change, it will continue for years to come because more and more people agree it should change but it's going to take a long time,' said historian Gabor Kozijn, author of a study on Black Pete for the Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/teens-dumped-bodily-fluids-autistic-boy-fake-ice-bucket-challenge-prosecutor-article-1.1974154

I recall DUers being upset about the incident.

Buckeye Police Department says their officer used a poor choice of words when he pulled over a man in Buckeye on Friday.

CBS 5 News obtained the video from the driver in the traffic stop, where the officer told the man, "If you do something here, I will kill you."

Buckeye police said they learned about the video through social media on Sunday night.

Buckeye police said they received reliable information on Friday from another law enforcement agency on a person driving a gold, 4-door Honda allegedly carrying a large amount of illegal drugs and a gun.


http://www.kpho.com/story/26774529/buckeye-pd-officer-used-poor-choice-of-words-during-stop

Http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/10/14/3579335/arizona-police-officer-threatens-kill-shoot-immigrant/


OFFICER: Do you have a license?
MAN: Yes, sir.
OFFICER: Show me the license right now. If you do something, I will kill you right here. Do you understand me?
MAN: [Spanish here is a bit inaudible] Yes, I am recording you too.
OFFICER: Put your hands up here. You don’t have weapons in the car? Are you sure? Are there any in the car?
MAN: No, if you like, I can get out of the car.
OFFICER: What’s here then?
MAN: I come to work. These are my tools.
OFFICER: Just tools? Are you sure?
MAN: Am sure.
OFFICER: Ok. Don’t get out of the car. Stay there. If you move, I will shoot you right here. Do you understand me?
MAN: Yes. Do you want to check my ID (inaudible)?
OFFICER: Where are you coming from?

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/amazing-pumpkinsteins-put-jack-lantern-shame/story?id=25728312





The mold cost 100k for the farmer to develop.


FILLMORE, Calif. — Like Victor Frankenstein, Tony Dighera was determined to bring a new creature to life. Though he was fairly new to farming, Mr. Dighera saw profit to be made in strangely shaped pumpkins.

So he created a “pumpkinstein.”

Grown in a plastic mold, the pumpkins bear the distinctive face of the Frankenstein monster, and Mr. Dighera has harvested roughly 5,500 of them this year. With a slight smile, a wide button nose, a slightly furrowed brow and ears sticking out just slightly, the pumpkins are easy to mistake for something carved from wax.

“People never believe it’s real the first time they see it; they all want to touch it to make sure,” Mr. Dighera said, holding one of his creations on his 40-acre organic farm north of Los Angeles, as workers harvested cilantro and dill one recent morning. “The point was to make something that would get attention.”

Their distinctive if unnatural shape is so far a major success. Mr. Dighera sold out his crop to suppliers months ago, offering the pumpkins wholesale for $75 each. Retailers expect each to fetch $100 or more in the weeks leading up to Halloween.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/us/its-alive-and-it-grows-into-a-jack-o-lantern.html?_r=0&referrer=

“So they opened it up and they said, ‘What’s it made out of?’ I said, ‘gold.’ And they’re like, ‘Uhhhh. Who gave this to you?’ ‘The King of Sweden.’ ‘Why did he give this to you?’ ‘Because I helped discover the expansion rate of the universe was accelerating.’
“At which point, they were beginning to lose their sense of humour. I explained to them it was a Nobel Prize, and their main question was, ‘Why were you in Fargo?’”

Mr Schmidt, who had been to Fargo to visit his grandmother, said the staff were particularly suspicious as the gold in the medal gave it a somewhat unusual profile under the airport X-ray machine.

"It weighs a half a pound, and it’s made of gold... so it absorbs all the X-rays – it’s completely black. And they had never seen anything completely black.”

Http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11157117/Whats-in-the-box-Scientist-questioned-by-incredulous-Fargo-TSA-agent-for-having-Nobel-Prize-in-his-carry-on.html

WPMI) An Alabama mother is furious that her 5-year-old daughter was forced to sign a school contract stating she wouldn't kill herself or anyone else at school.

School officials told Rebecca, who did not want to give her last name, they had to send 5-year-old Elizabeth home after an incident in class.

"They told me she drew something that resembled a gun. According to them she pointed a crayon at another student and said 'pew pew'," Rebecca explained.

Rebecca says her daughter was then given a questionnaire to evaluate her for suicidal thoughts and given a Mobile County Public School safety contract to sign stating she wouldn't kill herself or others.

"While I was in the lobby waiting, they had my 5-year-old sign a contract about suicide and homicide," Rebecca says. "There should be a different way to handle this situation. If this is protocol it needs to be looked at again."

Rebecca is pushing to have the incident removed from her child's record. She says school officials have requested her child see a psychiatrist. She refused.



http://www.wate.com/story/26749042/5-year-old-told-to-sign-suicide-contract-at-school