Former Staten Island Minister Continues in Rather Epic Plummet from Grace

?It's hard to get to the end of even the headline of this New York Post story about a former Staten Island minister who embezzled $84,000 from his parish to keep himself in plastic surgeries and Botox treatments, who got busted...and who's now been arrested for drunk driving. Whew, dude's got a lot going on!

Not only was he driving drunk, 68-year-old William Blasingame was drinking vodka mixed with pineapple-flavored Fanta "in a 20-ounce bottle stashed between his legs" (just like high school!). Cops caught up to him after he crashed into another car, and then a tree, at the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and Tompkins Avenue in Stapleton.

Via the Post,

"I dropped my buddy off at rehab and he had some vodka left," Blasingame allegedly told officers. "Honestly, I didn't even have that much.".

Well, sheesh, we had better lies than that, even back in high school. Though we're not sure if that comes out for or against Blasingame.

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An Earthquake Hit Long Island Today. Did the Earth Move for You?

?This is nothing to our West Coast brethren, but it's kind of a big deal to us. A 3.9 magnitude earthquake in the Atlantic Ocean, about 80 miles off the coast of Long Island's Southampton, occurred around 10:45 a.m. today. According to WNYC, it was even "felt by a New York Times reporter in Bergen County in New Jersey."

No one was injured, fortunately, though there were reports of the ground shaking in Ditmas Park. Did you feel it?

By the way, for historical reference, the biggest earthquake EVER in New York, a magnitude 5.8, happened in 1944. In comparison, Chile's 2010 earthquake was an 8.8. So, doomsdayers, we have a ways to go (fingers crossed).

[JDoll]

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The Internet is Actually an Island in Japan, Full of Cats

The "wonky Japanense language, culture" blog Tofugo isn't exactly breaking news so much as reading Wikipedia and scouring YouTube, but it bears repeating, especially in light of yesterday's New York Times investigation: there is an island in Japan called Cat Island. And the internet goes wild! But it really does exist -- Tashiro Island (田代島) -- and only about 100 people live there; nearly everyone is over 60-years-old. The rest of the island is run by cats or made up of cat-related things, like houses or shrines. Video above and pictures after the jump.

Via the online encyclopedia:

There is a small cat shrine (neko jinja (猫神社?)) in the middle of the island, roughly situated between the two villages. In the past, the islanders raised silkworms for silk, and cats were kept in order to keep the mouse population down (because mice are a natural predator of silkworms).
...
There are at least ten cat shrines in Miyagi Prefecture. There are also 51 stone monuments in the shape of cats, which is an unusually high number compared to the other prefectures. In particular, these shrines and monuments are concentrated in the southern area of the island, overlapping with the regions where silkworms were raised.

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Just thought that you should know.

Cat Island, Japan. It's Like That "Cat Lady," But An Entire Island [Tofugu]

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