Although much of the more sensational claims Jennifer Toth makes in The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City have been challenged by the likes of Joseph Brennan, her book nevertheless brought subterranean dwelling to the surface and initiated mainstream and academic interest in a phenomenon previously dismissed as urban legend. In a recent article published in The Sun, Pete Samson ventures away from the New York City subway tunnels at the heart of Toth's book and provides the tabloid's readers with a glimpse into the lives of several Las Vegas mole people.

Save for a few peculiarities that suggest a degree of editorial tampering (the Americans quoted in the article rather dubiously use the British word "skip" in lieu of the American "dumpster," for instance), Samson's piece seems to be a fairly reliable, if relatively unoriginal, addition to the discussion of underground dwellers. It's an interesting read.

Labels: homelessness, Las Vegas, Sobriquet 60, the Sun

A few days ago, the Sun reported that the plague (though which variant -- bubonic or pneumonic -- was not specified) had broken out among al-Qaeda recruits training in Algeria, killing more than forty people in the organization's remote enclave in the country's Tisi Ouzou province. Although the tabloid's story seems to make light of the situation ("ANTI-TERROR bosses last night hailed their latest ally in the war on terror — the BLACK DEATH"), a related article in the more reputable Telegraph suggests that the cell may have actually been developing biological weapons when the plague broke out. Given the fact that "[i]t was reported last year that up to 100 potential terrorists had attempted to become postgraduate students in Britain in an attempt to use laboratories" to hone their skills, such possibilities are indeed quite frightening.

Labels: Africa, crime, death, disease, eschatology, health, medicine, plague, Sobriquet 50, the Sun, The Telegraph