Says English Russia, which posted a series of pictures and a video of this smokestack collapse:

After the Soviet Era too much of objects stay abandoned in Russia and with the modern rise of development of new business and residential areas more and more are need to be removed from the terrain. Many controlled demolition companies act on this market, sometimes they have some nice objects to remove like those two old factory chimneys.

“All neighborhoods … and possibly entire coastal communities … will be inundated during the peak storm tide,” the weather service warned. “Persons not heeding evacuation orders in single family one- or two-story homes will face certain death.”

That’s quite a guarantee. Apparently the last time such language was used, three years ago,  a hurricane named Katrina was bearing down on the Gulf coast.

Now, if just by not evacuating and remaining at or near the coast makes you eligible for “certain death”, what exactly is this guy on the left getting set up for? Immediate certain death? No, I got it: Sudden Death. Sudden Onset Death Syndrome (SODS). Or, Hurricane Induced Denial & Elimination Syndrome (HIDES).

Get out of there, people. Get out.

“Hajj overflow: A parking lot in Arafat, Saudi Arabia, is packed with empty pilgrim buses as more than 2 million Muslim faithful gather at nearby Mecca, the site of Prophet Muhammad’s last sermon 14 centuries ago.”

Caption: “The aftermath tonight of an airstrike in Beirut.”

A week into yet another war, and the horror just keeps coming. Here is another beautiful photo of a decidedly unbeautiful thing, courtesy CNN.com.

Some people, with more moral clarity than me, may be able to not see the beauty in the horror, but I can’t help seeing it. Besides, there are no moral absolutes, and it’s the illusion that such absolutes exist as truth that fuels so much hatred and violence in the name of upholding those absolutes. And that’s really sickening, if you think about it, because it pretty much means we’re all doomed.

Isreal and Hezbollah are intent on destroying each other, and they’re going to take Lebanon down with them. Photo from CNN.com.

Beautiful isn’t it? Enjoy it while it’s here. According to a new story out today about the earth being hotter than it has ever been in at least 400 years, CNN.com captioned this picture, “A newspaper reports this glacier off Greenland has receded 3 miles in two years.”

Hike up your pants, it’s going to get wet.

From CNN.com this morning:

11,000 evacuated as Mount Merapi shoots out lava

Some 11,000 villagers around Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano were evacuated as lava and superheated clouds of gas poured down its upper slopes, officials said. The mountain’s lava dome has swelled in recent weeks, raising fears that it could suddenly collapse and send clouds of fast-moving gas and debris into populated areas.

From CNN.com this morning:

More than 20,000 people have been urged to evacuate their homes ahead of an “imminent” eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Merapi. A lava dome forming at the peak of one of the nation’s most dangerous and active volcanoes has triggered fresh concerns. Authorities are going door to door on Saturday to encourage residents to leave the densely populated slopes.

From CNN.com this morning:

Up to 200 people died today in an oil pipeline explosion on the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria, the state commissioner of police said. “You can see the corpses. Some are burned to ash,” the police commissioner told Reuters. “It seems these people were literally incinerated, almost instantly,” CNN’s Jeff Koinange reports.

From CNN.com:

An explosion at a celebration of Prophet Mohammed’s birthday has killed at least 40 people and sparked a confrontation between Muslims and Karachi police, according to Pakistan’s interior minister and local media reports. Several thousand people were at the rally when the blast detonated during a break for prayer. After the explosion, people at the rally protested and confronted police on the scene.

Breaking news today, photos from CNN.com:

A line of severe thunderstorms and multiple tornadoes swept parts of four states on Friday, with reports of damage north and west of Nashville, Tennessee….

A little later, again from CNN.com:

Ten people died in Tennessee as tornadoes and severe thunderstorms battered parts of nine states, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said. Baseball-sized hail was reported and damage includes destroyed homes and downed power lines. The National Weather Service said the tornado threat for Alabama and Mississippi was now rapidly increasing.

An Air Force C-5 cargo jet carrying 17 people crashed and broke into pieces today while trying to make an emergency landing at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, officials said. The crew declared an emergency and came down short of the runway, officials said. Some people were taken to hospitals with injuries, officials told The Associated Press.