According to subpoenaed cell phone records "Riccardo Blas Rivas II had been sending text messages to a friend just before the May 23 crash." That crash resulted in the death of 32 year old Tracy Cate.

The incident is incredibly sad, but it may turn into an example of how harshly the courts are willing to punish careless idiots who decide to text while driving. Based on what we're seeing, it may be months, possibly even years, before Rivas' case goes to trial and gets wrapped up, but let's hope the charges stick. Don't wuss out on me now, Florida. [Naples News]

After losing contact with Waldo last week, the $130,000 marine robot started to transmit signals again today, at 6:06 a.m. The scientists located it 11 miles out in the Gulf of New Mexico, apparently in good state. [Herald Tribune]

I bet Mote's scientist Gary Kirkpatrick doesn't find the irony funny, however:

Waldo was making reports every two hours, Then, bam, it just stopped sending a signal. There are a few possibilities that we think are likely: It could have had a major leak or malfunction and sank to the bottom and is just sitting there. Or, it could have had a malfunction with its computer or its communication system and is floating on the surface but unable to tell us that it's there.

I'm sad for Gary, but I find it delightful that Waldo is finally missing, even while this one doesn't look like a dork. Of course, these things can only happen in the great state of Florida, the only US territory that looks like a schlong. [Mote via AP]

According to a sheriff's report Friday, Griffin told investigators his cat jumped on the keyboard while he was downloading music. He said he had left the room and found "strange things" on his computer when he returned.

Must be quite a fast connection if the cat managed to download so much porn during Griffin's brief absence. All skepticism aside though, I seriously feel bad for that cat. With Griffin's computer being taken away because of the investigation, how the heck is that pussy supposed to download some pussy now? [Sun-Times]

Photo by peasap

The story: An unmanned, computerized train slowly rolled forward onto a repairman, who unfortunately did not survive. Authorities haven't come to a conclusion, saying it rolled for "unknown reasons," but we'll leave you, excitable readers, to draw your own conclusions. [via Geekologie]

Thankfully, the little guy did not cook from the inside out. He lived, and was simply protesting the fact that we have yet another American in this country that leaves their Christmas lights up Way Too Damn Long. [National Geographic via Neatorama]

"Plasma Pat" aka 60-year-old Joseph Wesley Torma, befriends people outside of Walmart stores and leads them to believe that he is an employee that can use his discount to score them a deal on a new TV set. With cash in hand, Torma walks into the store and sneaks away—leaving his victims hanging in the parking lot. If that wasn't bad enough, he has called the police on several occasions during his crime spree just to taunt them.

So far, Torma has conned victims in at least a dozen spots in Florida, but the police believe he may be on his way to Texas. So if you are a Walmart shopper in the Lone Star State—keep your eyes peeled for Plasma Pat. [CNN]

He's built with a pair of metal rods that run down his face, and over forty screws are bolted to his head holding his jaw and skull together.

Surgeons were forced to construct the biotechnological terror now known as Robo-Croc after a car crushed his formerly ordinary-but-endangered crocodile head last year. He's not eaten in three months. They're hoping that by reinforcing his snout and reconstructing his head and face with a similar texture, they can get him to eat again.

Perhaps they should start with one-handed pirates that have cybernetic limbs. I wonder if he's still going to get his brains scrambled by magnets, though? [Telegraph]

That is just the kind of power needed to test the properties of high-temperature superconductors like iron oxyarsenide, which may result in better, cheaper MRI machines and high-voltage power lines. It could also be used for certain zero-gravity experiments and magnetic propulsion systems that could eliminate the need for traditional rockets down the line. Researchers have been able to create magnetic fields over 100 T for years, but if successful, this would be the first magnet that could repeatedly hold up to the strain. According to Greg Boebinger, director of the Magnet Lab, the magnet will have to resist Lorentz forces “equivalent to the explosive force of 200 sticks of dynamite packed into a volume of space the size of a marble.” [IEEE Spectrum Online via New Launches via Dvice]

When they found Winter injured and flopping around in the ocean, rescuers took her to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where she recovered, but couldn't get her swimmin' skillz back. Worse, her doctors thought she might throw out her back trying to swim with her stump.

Enter prosthetics master Kevin Carroll who, says the Daily Mail, "has designed prosthetics for dogs, an ostrich, and even [one lucky] duck." Carroll checked out the situation and thought coming up with the prosthetic would be easy. In the end, though, it took a year and a half to construct the 30" silicone and plastic tail, due to the fact that inside the prosthesis' slip, the spine of the dolphin has to have the freedom to move any which way. (By contrast, a leg bone typically stays put when a prosthesis is slipped over it.)

Check out more pics of the happy-looking Winter at the Daily Mail. [Daily Mail]

[The Ledger—thanks tinshaker]

The commish—who seems entirely too hot on this project—wants them "everywhere on the beaches and parking" except bathrooms (hmm...), because "anything that deters that kind of activity is going to be good." Los Angeles uses the Big Bro FlashCAMs as well—to stop vandalism, not dudes boinking. [Palm Beach Post via The Raw Feed]

"Stuff like iPods, GPSs, laptops, probably stuff that's easy to sell, sell quick."