Jeffrey Bush, 37 screamed for help but was lost even though his brother Jeremy Bush, 35 bravely jumped into the sinkhole to try to save him.  Jeremy continued to frantically work in the collapsing hole until he was ordered out by Sheriff’s  deputies.

Sinkholes are common in Florida, however they usually occur slowly.   The only warning given to this time was the sudden collapse of the bedroom floor.   Already the hole is 30 feet deep and 30 feet across below the house, but 100 feet across at the bottom.   The exterior of the house looks absolutely perfect, but is certain to be eaten as the sinkhole collapses.

This Florida sinkhole has stopped for a break before it goes back to eating this house. The Seffner, Florida sinkhole is still smaller than the house, but will open up in time to swallow the whole thing like you see here.

“All I could see was the tops of his bed,” Jeremy said. “So I jumped in the hole and tried digging him out. I thought I could hear him screaming for me and hollering for me, but they couldn’t do nothing.”

“All they could see was a part of a mattress sticking out of the hole,” said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Chief Ron Rogers. “Essentially the floor of that room had opened up.”

“I feel in my heart he didn’t make it,” Jeremy Bush, 35, told Tampa TV station WFTS. “There were six of us in the house, five got out.”

Authorities lowered cameras and microphones into the hole hoping to find signs of life.  They did not.  Eventually, they had to get back because of the danger of a cave in.

Florida sinkholes are caused by groundwater creating caverns.  The  state’s biggest sinkhole occurred in 1994 when a 15 story deep sinkhole opened up in a phosphate mine near Tampa.

It is unusual for sinkholes to claim victims, but Thursday’s occurrence in Seffner came without warning.

This sinkhole appeared in a Guatemala neighborhood in the 1990s. If you look carefully, you can practically see all the way to China.

Apple is secretly storing time and date stamps on a map of all your locations on a second by second basis.

Apple Tracking

For the last 10 months, Apple has secretly collected the geo locations for 100 million iPhone users and 15 million iPad users.   Wired published the story on Wednesday.  They report that Apple has not responded to a request for an explanation.

Apple may be in violation of the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act which only allows telecom carriers to provide location data in an emergency.

Software investigators found a file called “consolidated.db” in Apple’s iOS 4 operating software that is a list of locations and time stamps.

Here is a related video:

Investigators Peter Warden and Alasdair Allen said, “Ever since iOS 4 arrived, your device has been storing a long list of locations and time stamps. We’re not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it’s clearly intentional, as the database is being restored across backups, and even device migrations.”

If you have a Mac running OS X 10.6 you can download your tracking data with an open source program Warden wrote called “iPhone Tracker.”   Plug in your iPhone or iPad through USB and download the tracking data to an interactive map.

One Wired reader commented, “I exported my data. What’s frightening to me is that my iPhone shows that I’ve spent time in northern Las Vegas. I’ve never been there in my life.”

For more info or to get the iPhone Tracker:  http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/

Summerlin Hospital took away baby Lilia because mom wanted to take the baby home to get over a common case of new born mild jaundice.

Las Vegas police threatened to arrest Cecilia Rogers only hours after giving birth. Her husband Lincoln Rogers was also threatened with arrest.

The couple tried to take their newborn baby Lilia home from Summerlin Hospital against the will of a nurse.  The nurse called  Child Protective Services, who in turn called the police.

“They said, ‘Well, if you leave the hospital I’ll have to arrest you and your husband.’”

Lilia had a mild case of jaundice, a common new born condition.  The nurse believed the baby should be put in NICU and be treated overnight until the jaundice cleared up.

When the couple tried to take the baby home to get over the jaundice by natural means, the trouble began.

“We just really wanted to take the natural approach if we could,” Cecilia explains.

Another pediatrician from the hospital agreed with the Rogers decision saying that a mild case of new born jaundice was not critical.  He said the infant could go home if the Rogers signed a medical release.

Protesters gather in support of the Rogers decision. They say the hospital should lay out all the options.

Local families, many of whom are also new parents, gathered at the hospital in support of the Rogers decision.  They felt that the hospital should make known what the options are instead of trying to force the parents down one path.

“I feel that – especially new parents – we need to know what our rights are and when they’re being overstepped,” says Wyndee Forrest.

Baby Lilia’s dad, Lincoln, said, “It took one nurse to make one horrible decision and a domino effect to happen like that. It’s just been so unfortunate.”

Meanwhile, baby Lilia is at home and doing fine.

NY State Senator Eric Adams spent his own money for his message.

On Wednesday, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe signed a bill that requires students to pull up their pants.  The new law bans styles that expose “underwear, buttocks or the breast of a female.”

“We feel the bill can improve the learning environment in schools,” said Donna Morey, president of the Arkansas Education Association.  Educators say that students are preparing for the workplace and should dress the way that is acceptable to enter the work force.

The Arkansas bill had little opposition, though some voted against it.

Arkansas Governor Beebee signed the bill that gets the school kids to pull up their pants. Better Gov. Beebee than some other kind of beebee.

“Individual expression is important to young people and dress is an especially strong statement of expression, and I don’t think legislators should meddle with that,” said Sue Madison, a Democratic state senator from Fayetteville, Ark.

Arkansas is the first state to enact this kind of law, although others are considering it.

In Florida, a school dress code law was passed two years ago, but without any ability for enforcement.

Florida Dem. Rep. Hazelle Rogers no-sag school dress code likely to pass.

A new bill, introduced by Democratic Rep. Hazelle Rogers,  unanimously passed the Florida House of Representatives’ K-20 Education Innovation Subcommittee last week.  The bill is designed to end “wearing clothing that exposes underwear or body parts in an indecent or vulgar manner.”

The “pro-education, pro-jobs, pro-family legislation is designed to teach our children how important appropriate attire is to future success,”  Rogers said in a press release.

Democratic Sen. Gary Siplin introduced companion legislation called the “Code of Student Conduct.”

“When you come to an interview with your pants sagging or your underwear showing, you may get an interview, but as soon as you leave, your application is going to get tossed in the garbage,” Siplin said.

Florida Dem. State Senator Gary Siplin intorduced companion bill to Rogers' no-sag school dress code.

The NAACP has condemned the legislation.  Since mostly blacks wear their pants below the buttocks, such a law unfairly targets blacks.

The Rogers bill must still pass the House and be signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Also in Florida, voters in Rivera Beach approved a law in 2008 which carries a $150 fine for first time sagging.  Repeat offenders can be jailed.

New York state Senator Eric Adams of Brooklyn, New York has made what he calls “the degrading style statement” his main crusade.  He has even spent his own campaign money renting billboards to carry his message.

“My message is, let us not be the ones to make our communities seem foolish,” Adams said in an interview. “If we raise our pants, we raise our image.”

New York State Senator Eric Adams is a one-man crusade against sagging.

According to Senator Adams, in the African American community, pants-falling-off is a style from the jails, where it represents “part of prison culture where belts are confiscated.”

Regular citizens find the style so vulgar that there are dress codes for the malls to prevent customers from being offended.

In an upscale Dallas mall last week, security guards asked four young men to pull up their pants.  One of them, later identified as Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant, launched into a profanity-laced tirade aimed at the officers, who then escorted the four men out of the mall.

NBC Sports reported Friday that “One team source observed that Bryant has a “lack of life skills” at age 22. ”

Kenneth Bonds of Memphis shot a disrespectful teen in the butt for refusing to pull up his pants.

In Memphis last October, one citizen had enough and unfortunately took the law into his own hands.  Kenneth E. Bonds, 45, told two teens walking past his home to pull up their pants and to obey him because he is an adult.  The teens called Bonds a “fat ass” and told him to “shut up.”

On the way back, the two passed the home again. This time Bonds came out with a semi-automatic pistol and shot one of the teens in the buttocks.

Sugar Puffs just wouldn't be as tasty without that Red No. 10, and it gives Jr. plenty of zip, too.

Food colors

An independent panel of experts advised the Food and Drug Administration Thursday to restrict the use of certain food dyes due to a correlation with hyperactivity in children.

In an article on the Center for Science in the Public Interest website titled “Strong FDA Action on Food Dyes Urged,” CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson wrote, “I’m glad that after many years of denial, the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the evidence linking synthetic food dyes to behavioral problems in children. Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and other dyes have no useful nutritional or preservative value.”

The FDA has defended the dyes for years, but agreed to review the CSPI findings.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, a Washington D.C. lobby for the food, beverage, and consumer products manufacturers, cites a number of studies which exonerate food dyes as components in childhood hyperactivity.

According to their website, the GMA was founded in 1908 to help its members to produce safe products through scientific research and testing.

In an article posted Thursday, the GMA said, “The safety of artificial colors has been affirmed through extensive review by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) (via the food additive review process) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and neither agency sees the need to change current policy.  All of the major safety bodies globally have reviewed the available science and have determined that there is no demonstrable link between artificial food colors and hyperactivity among children.”

“We reviewed the studies and we don’t see a direct, strong link, although certain children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) may have a sensitivity to some substances,” said FDA spokesman Douglas Karas.

CSPI Director Jacobson wrote in his article, “The evidence that these petrochemicals worsen some children’s behavior is convincing, and I hope that the FDA’s advisory committee will advise the agency to both require warning notices and encourage companies voluntarily to switch to safer natural colorings.”

“In Europe, a law requires most dyed foods (there are few) to bear a warning notice, which is a powerful incentive for food manufacturers not to use artificial dyes,”  he wrote.

Jacobson concluded: “It is to the great shame of many U.S.-based food companies that they are marketing safer, naturally colored products in Europe but not in the United States.”

See these other health stories:

Study Links Diet Soda To Heart Attack And Stroke

Iron And Folic Acid Make Smarter Kids

Autism And Freeway Traffic Linked

Amazon is giving away 5 Gigs free on line storage and 20 more if you buy music from them. Sorry Mac owners, PC and Android only.

Amazon launched a cloud based “music locker” service Tuesday. Apple and Google are planning to launch similar products.

The new service offers customers a free 5 gigabyte internet-based storage space for their music.  That is enough for about 1,200 MP3 songs.  Amazon is also offering a music organization and playback app called Cloud Player.

All of it is free.  At least the intro size.

The idea is to allow users to access all of their music from any computer connected to the internet.  Instead of the user’s music being scattered over several computers and mobile devices, all of it is located on the cloud.

Expanded storage space is $20 a year for an additional 20 Gigs.  When music is purchased from Yahoo, it does not count against the free space.

One hitch for now, anyway:  it works on Android, but not iDevices.  Amazon and Apple have been struggling for market share for years, this exclusivity is hoped to get the user to buy music from Amazon.

Another part of the package announced by Amazon is the introduction of their online drive called Cloud Drive.  You can store any kind of data in your space, not just music.

Here’s the CNET “How 2 use with the Android” video:

Bronx Zoo escapee Egyptian cobra on-the-loose and on-the-town. For a venomous cobra, the snake seemed pretty civilized.

Cobra

A highly venomous 50 cm (20 inch) Egyptian cobra escaped from its enclosure at the Bronx Zoo Friday and is still at large.

Bronx Zoo

Zoo officials are confident that the snake is still near the enclosure, which is in the Reptile House, separate from the public area. They say they are certain that the cobra did not enter the main zoo area, and is not a danger to the public.

“To understand the situation, you have to understand snakes,” zoo Director Jim Breheny told the Christian Science Monitor.

He said the snake is probably hiding in some confined space where it feels safe.  After the snake gets hungry or thirsty it will come out and they will find it, Breheney claims.

Breheney may be wrong.

Twitter

There is evidence the snake escaped from the zoo and is out visiting the city’s tourist sites.  The reason for that conclusion is a series of tweets from @BronxZoosCobra.

In the financial district the snake tweeted: “Leaving Wall Street. These guys make my skin crawl. #snakeonthetown.”

From the Museum of Natural History: “Holding very still in the snake exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. This is gonna be hilarious!   #snakeonthetown.”

And finally, from the top of the Empire State building: “All the people look like little mice down there. Delicious little mice. #snakeonthetown.”

The Bronx Zoo Twitter account acknowledged the missing snake and said, “We understand interest in this story & that everyone wants us 2 find the missing snake. Right now, it’s the snake’s game.”

Even in Southern Japan, far from the damaged area, store shelves are stripped bare of anything with a long shelf life. Hoarding and panic buying are to blame.

Miyabi Inoue didn’t feel a thing when the monumental earthquake and tsunami hit the Northeastern region of Japan on March 11, 2011. She was working in a well constructed building on a college campus located about 30 miles north of Kobe. She still remembers the Kobe earthquake vividly and the general consensus in the Southern region is that Kobe never recovered.

Hoarding

Miyabi felt the aftermath of the March 11 quake when she went to a local store about a week later and couldn’t buy batteries and disposable hand-warmers.

Retailers have no idea how to deal with this unprecedented ordeal. Although the U.S. media seems to be impressed with the absence of looting, and gives the Japanese credit for respect for people’s property, the issue is selfishness in a different format: panicked consumers all over Japan are hoarding goods.

Grocery as well as convenience stores cannot keep rice, water, batteries, and toilet paper from flying off the shelves. People buy extra items for their friends, relatives, and even colleagues in all of the affected areas and try to ship them in one way or another.

Hoarding is rampant in spite of repeated televised pleas not to hoard made by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

Retailers said this is the worst panic buying since the oil crisis in the 1970s.

“The needs are surging because people are suddenly preparing for emergencies and stocking up on bottled water, cup noodles and other items with a long shelf-life,” said Shoko Amesara, spokeswoman for Daiei Inc., a major supermarket chain.

Family Mart convenience store owner Kazuhiro Minami said he would have to close early because of electric utility rolling blackouts.

“I’m really, really worried,” he said. He blamed hoarding, distribution problems and the possibility of another quake.

Since the Japanese rejected vegetables imported from China for fear of contamination, together with the existing shortages, people in southern Japan are afraid they may have to start growing vegetables on their balconies and in their yards.

(Aquapour wished to welcome Meg as a contributor.  She is from Kobe, Japan, graduated from San Diego State university with a M.A. in Television and Film.  She is a full time TV Critic/Writer and is a Member of the Television Critics Association as well as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. You can find her at megmimura.com.  Ed.)

Please see this related story:

A Tribute to the Japanese People

A huge solar eruption on March 19 threw a loop of plasma a quarter of a million miles high above the solar surface. The flaming plasma was forced back to the surface by the sun’s magnetic field, but not before a tremendous volume of material was thrown completely into space.

The five-hour solar event was captured on video by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.

The eruption, called a solar prominence, was not facing the Earth the way last Febuary’s aurora-spanning event fired charged particles towards us.

“Prominences are elongated clouds of plasma that hover above the sun’s surface, tethered by magnetic forces,” a scientist with the NASA SDO office said.

The sun goes through a regular cycle of activity, called the 11 year sun spot cycle.  The new cycle is building up after an unusually long prolonged period of inactivity.  Scientists speculate that the present cycle of sun spots may increase in frequency and severity to match the recent long and deep lull.

Take a look at this related story:

Solar Flare 2011 : Northern Lights Tonight

Not a problem, we have lots of these. An American F-15 wreckage has become a must-see for Libyan lookie-loos. At the one week mark in the air campaign the U.S. passes the first $1B mark.

Impeach Obama?

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)  accused the Obama administration of bypassing the U.S. Constitution to begin air strikes against Libya.  He questioned whether or not the command to attack might be an impeachable offense.

“I asked the question as to whether that was an impeachable offense; that’s different than actually calling for an impeachment or inducing a resolution, which I am not intending to do,” Kucinich said in an interview with Fox News. “I am speaking to the limits of executive power.”

An embarrassing  2007 TV interview video of now-Vice President Biden surfaced this week.  In it Biden clearly states that George W. Bush should be impeached if he attacks Iran without congressional approval.

“The president has no constitutional authority to take this nation to war,” Biden said, “unless we’re attacked or unless there is proof that we are about to be attacked. And if he does — if he does — I would move to impeach him.”

Also from 2007, in an interview with the Boston Globe, then Senator Obama stated that presidents have very limited power to order military attacks.

”The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”

The transcript is HERE.

Kucinich held up those two statements as models for his belief that a president is bound by the limits of the constitution:  “So I am in the same company with the now-vice president and -president with respect to the fact that the Constitution should be adhered to,” Kucinich continued.

Kucinich denied any plan to begin the impeachment process.  Instead he would defund the U.S. military involvement in Libya. He also questioned why Democrat leaders did not question the legality of the Libyan intervention when President Obama  briefed them on it at a White House situation-room meeting last Friday.

This is the Biden video: