Freaky Friday News - December 6, 2013

NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Captures Storm on Saturn

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Hampton University

This is a color-enhanced image of a hexagonal jet stream around the north pole of Saturn.  The winds in the hexagon jet at more than 200 m.p.h., with a diameter of over 20,000 miles.  To put this in perspective, the Earth's diameter is less than 8,000 miles.  To learn more about this storm, read the story at NASA.

Bad-Luck Theft of the Year

Earlier this week, some thieves in Mexico hijacked a cool-looking truck with an attached crane.  I don't know this with certainty, but I bet the crane attracted the thieves more that the truck itself.  Anyway, unbeknownst to the thieves, the crane was needed to move the sealed cargo on and off of the truck.  But the cargo itself?

Image by DMKTirpitz, CC license v 3.0

Cobalt-60 - medical grade radioactive material

That's right - these unfortunate men accidentally stole radioactive material, exposed themselves to the radiation, and then dumped the truck and cargo in an abandoned field.  As of this moment, the Mexican authorities have not apprehended the thieves, but no one is worrying because they will die from exposure soon.

When I first heard of this story, speculation accompanied it that the thieves were going to make a dirty bomb with it.  I actually laughed out loud at this because all the details pointed to a crime of opportunity, not a carefully planned outing.  I also knew that once they opened the box, the people would be dead, and not in a pretty way either. 

Here's one for the 2013 Darwin awards.