Happy Monday, NSA! And Yetis!

What animal you’ve probably never heard of is 60 feet long, jet powered and made of clones?

A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The Kwikset smartkey locks used in millions of homes and residential buildings worldwide are easily opened with a screwdriver and wire, according to a Def Con presentation today. Well, that’s quieter than just kicking the door in, I guess, but it takes longer.

These Iranian legal reforms are unstoppable! Not only is stoning to death no longer mandatory for adulterous women, it looks like they’ve updated the “hands off” approach to thieves. Photographs appearing to show a blindfolded man having his fingers severed by the mechanical amputation device have been published by an official Iranian press agency.

Kendra Gill, crowned Miss Riverton in June and set to compete in the Miss Utah pageant, was arrested early Saturday morning along with her three friends after allegedly throwing homemade bombs at people and homes. That’s going to cost her points in the congeniality scoring.

New data from Greenland ice cores suggest North America may have suffered a large cosmic impact about 12,900 years ago. A layer of platinum is seen in ice of the same age as a known abrupt climate transition, US scientists report. Is this what ended the Clovis culture?

What happens when you actually click on one of those “One Weird Trick” ads? Prepare to Be SHOCKED!

For the last three weeks, news outlets in Utah have been reporting on a mysterious criminal case involving a sheriff’s deputy, his wife, and his father, who is the local fire chief in Moab, UT. Now the full story can be told: it’s all in the family in Moab UT.

Stay clear of the Asian stock market! This Wednesday, Aug. 7, will mark the beginning of “Hungry Ghost Month”. Swimming, walks after dark in the forest and other behaviors are discouraged lest the spooks make trouble.

Should extraterrestrials be looking down at Earth from space, they would know quite a few things about us humans. Perhaps most of all, they would know that we move around a lot.

Happy belated 150^th birthday to Henry Ford (b. July 30 1863)! Ford set a powerful precedent in 1914 when he doubled wages for workers on his assembly line in Dearborn MI. The move was in part a reaction to high turnover among his workers (it was hard and boring work), but at the same time he argued that it was good for his business.

Tales from the Cryptozoologicon: the Yeti.  A teaser from a new science book on crypto-critters.

Tags: aliens, astroid strike, bombs, Clovis, DefCon, domestic spying, Henry Ford, Hungry Ghost Month, Iran, legal reform, living wage, lock hacking, Miss Congeniality, Moab, NSA, One Weird Trick, pyrosomes, unconstitutional, XKeyscore, Yeti