• They didn’t seem to learn any lessons from the incidents. They knew it was capable of killing a human being.
• Whale advocate Captain Paul Watson • Discussing the killer whale attack which took place at an Orlando Sea World today (and pretty much chewed up the airwaves all afternoon). As a result, the Shamu show is canceled for tomorrow at least. That may not be enough, according to Watson, who notes that Tilikum, the whale in question, has had anger problems dating back to the early ’90s, and was involved in an incident that led to the closing of a Canadian theme park, Sealand. Watson suggests the 12,000-pound whale get returned to its natural waters: “Put it back where they got it from: the waters of Victoria, British Columbia.” source

• Vernon Hunter’s wife says Sheryl Stack should’ve known Joe was a threat. Joe Stack may have died in his ill-guided plane crash, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any lawsuits. Valerie Hunter is suing Sheryl Stack, saying her actions – including taking her daughter with her to a hotel the night before the crash – suggest she knew something like this might happen. In other news, there’s lots of ego-waving over the incident happening right now, including this example. source

• 101,377 number of followers @ConanOBrien has – in just THREE HOURS; way to rally the troops, dude
• 30,061 number of followers @JayLeno has, which has been running since May and isn’t written by him

The pitch-perfect intro

• Today I interviewed a squirrel in my backyard and then threw to commercial. Somebody help me.
• Conan O’Brien • In his heavily-retweeted “Hello, World” to the Web. There was some question as to whether the account was initially real, but it now has a spankin’ “Verified Account” stamp on it. We wonder if this Twitter account is the suggestion of bigger things. You know, like a tour. source

• 12″ amount of snow expected by the storm; it’s being compared to a hurricane for some reason
• 50 mph the winds expected during the massive storm, which will miss the D.C. area (yes!) source

• 70-28 the party of no said yes to something source

• Protip: If you see a screen like this with a URL like that after clicking on a link labed “This You????”, avoid logging into Twitter. It’s a pretty tricky phishing scheme that has nailed lots of people already. Don’t let one of them be you! source

• 67% of Americans don’t think that the GOP is doing enough to work with Obama
• 52% say the same thing about Obama working together with the Republican Party
• 54% say Democrats, not Republicans have to take the first step to mend the rift source

• We will appeal this astonishing decision because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the video in question. Throughout this long process, they have displayed admirable grace and fortitude. It is outrageous that they have been subjected to a trial at all.
• Google’s VP and Deputy General Counsel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Matt Sucherman • Regarding a decision by Italian courts to criminally convict three Google employees for allowing a video to be posted to YouTube. The video showed schoolboys making fun of an autistic classmate. Despite the fact that Google took it down, the Italian court convicted them anyway – for not having a process of pre-screening videos so it would go up in the first place. In other words, kids, this ruling goes against everything that makes the Internet a cool place. If we were Google, we’d pull out of the Italian market entirely, just to show leadership there how ass-backwards this decision is. We’re sure that after two or three days without cat videos, there will be riots in the streets. Awful decision, Italy. source

• he said Andrew Young, who just wrote a book about the scandal, says the tape was abandoned by Hunter, who briefly lived with Young.
• she said Hunter, on the other hand, told a court that Young stole the tape from a storage unit and in the process invaded her privacy. source