There was a shooting a couple of blocks from me this morning - cops still searching for shooters

As always when I hear about a large congregation of cops in one spot, I think of what an excellent opportunity it would be to rob a 7-11 in the other end of the county. But I'm being good, staying inside with the doors locked.

Here's a new's report:

STERLING, Va. (WJLA) — A male teenager was shot in Loudoun County early Friday morning.

Police were called to the 400 block of E. Cornell Drive and N. Duke Drive in Sterling at 8:26 a.m. for a report of a shooting.

A Loudoun County official confirms a teenage male was found with gunshot wounds and transported to a local hospital.

According to witnesses, two to three suspects fled the area on foot.

The shooting did not occur at a school, but a police spokesperson confirms the following Sterling Park cluster schools are currently in "lock-out" mode while police investigate nearby:

Sterling Middle School
Sully Elementary
Forest Grove Elementary
Rolling Ridge Elementary
Guilford Elementary

"Lock-out" means the exterior doors are locked, but activities inside the school continue as normal.

Park View High School is on lockdown mode.

Official release from the Loudoun Sheriff's office about the shooting:

LCSO on Scene of Shooting in area of E. Cornell Drive and N. Duke Drive in Sterling Loudoun County, VA- Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office units are currently on the scene of a shooting that was reported at 8:26 AM this morning. Units were summoned to the area of E. Cornell Drive and N. Duke Drive in Sterling for the report of multiple gunshots fired. Responding units located a teenage male with gunshot wounds who has been transported to a local hospital. Witnesses reported that two to three possible suspects fled the area on foot following the shooting. Loudoun Sheriff’s Office personnel, detectives and the Virginia State Police are on scene at this time. Schools in the area of the incident have been placed on lockdown. Anyone who witnessed this incident and has not already talked to the Sheriff’s Office, or has additional information is asked contact the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office at 703-777-0445.

Friday links

The Evolution of Batman in Cinema: From 1939 to Present

World Gravy Wrestling Championships.

Diaper Derbies: gallery of photos from 1950-ish baby races.

Doing the Math: How Many Tribbles Were Aboard the Enterprise? Related: The Politics of Star Trek.

Sketches of Life in a Union POW Camp, by a Confederate Prisoner.
Inside Mussolini's secret bunker.

ICYMI, Wednesday's links are here, and include the 70th anniversary of V-J Day, Bernie Sanders' cringe-inducing 1987 folk song album, the birth of the bicycle after volcanoes killed all of the horses, and movie characters who were supposed to die, but didn't. 

The Evolution of Batman in Cinema: From 1939 to Present

The change in voice is interesting, as well as all of the more obvious changes.

The Evolution of Batman in Cinema from Jacob T. Swinney on Vimeo.

via Vimeo:

A journey through the evolution of Batman (wiki) on the big screen and cinema as a whole. From the serials of the 1940s to the Christopher Nolan blockbusters, watch as the iconic character transforms within the different eras of filmmaking.

Films used:

Batman (1943 serial)

Batman and Robin (1949 serial)

Batman: The Movie (1966)

Batman (1989)

Batman Returns (1992)

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Batman Forever (1995)

Batman & Robin (1997)

Batman Begins (2005)

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Lego Movie (2014)

Cartoon of the day

The nanny state will take care of you:

via

Wednesday links

V-J Day: 70 years ago today, the end of WWI came with Japan's official surrender.

Here's Bernie Sanders cringe-inducing 1987 spoken-word folk song album.  

14 Movie Characters Who Were Supposed To Die, But Didn't.

Taking specialization a bit too far: This Leech Feeds on Hippo Rectums

Doing the math: How Much Lembas Would The Fellowship Need Walking into Mordor?

The birth of the bicycle after volcanoes killed all of the horses.

ICYMI, Friday's links are here, and include the anniversary of Skynet self-awareness. the truth about chastity belts, why some athletes drink their own urine, 1896 advice on electric car driving.

Um, This Leech Feeds on Hippo Rectums

Watch this video on The Scene.

Wired's science blog's Absurd Creature of the Week:

THE YEAR WAS 2003, and Mark Siddall was in South Africa a-hunting the elusive hippo butt leech. This was a good place to look, after all, on account of all the hippos, and on account of all those hippos having rectums—the flesh this particular leech, Placobdelloides jaegerskioeldi, fancies. Happily, a local game officer had gotten wind of the American’s quest, and was more than willing to help.

“He knew that these crazy Americans were in the area trying to get a hippo ass leech,” says Siddall, the curator of invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History. “And they had to cull [a hippo] because it was hanging out in a community of people. So he had the presence of mind to cut its butt out.”

Related: 

Why It's Nearly Impossible to Castrate a Hippo. C'mon, you know you've wondered.

And this: Boneless Pork Rectums (Inverted):

This pallet of delicious pork rectums was spotted outside of a dumpling shop in Taipei, Taiwan. Please note that it is a product of the great republic. Despite complaints to the contary, American workers can still produce goods sought across world.

It appears that pork rectums must be properly deboned and inverted before they become sellable. These can be made into dumplings.

Much more on inverted pork rectums (recta?) at Neatorama, including the mathematics of how many of them would fit into a box/pallet. Short version: "That gives a grand total of between 560,000 to 610,000 rectums per year sailing across the high seas on their way to Korea."