Former Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez will run for congress.

Air quality alert issued for Albuquerque, so don't breathe between 4 and 8 tonight.

The Las Conchas fire is 3% contained.

Taliban attack luxury hotel in Kabul.

Hackers expose Arizona police officers personal info.

No one likes dollar coins.

Albuquerque named one of America's most sedentary cities.

Michelle Bachmann and John Wayne Gacy have a lot in common.

The company behind FarmVille and Mafia Wars is preparing for an IPO.

Some sort of devil jumping over babies party in Spain.

Read all about the first meteorite recorded in Egypt.

This Princess Diana issue of Newsweek is not at all weird.

Bill Clinton: Brony.

The Daily Beast could only think of eight appalling things about The Bachelorette.

Finally, a combination elliptical machine/office desk chair, and it's only $8,000!

Do gay bars make money?

Florida fishermen catch a 23-foot squid.

Your 4th of July menu.

Hipster Lord of The Rings is awesome.

One hundred mummies from the 16th century found buried in an Italian church.

Should we dig up Shakespeare to see if he smoked pot?

What is ganache?

The mothership is in London.

Happy Brithday Gary Busey!!!

• Parliament's in London? (Madmammajamma) [ Wed Jun 29 2011 5:55 PM ]
  

Cochiti is prepping for a mandatory evacuation. Los Alamos was evacuated this afternoon.

A Facebook event is circulating that invites people to “boycott fireworks of any kind this year in New Mexico!” The guest list has grown exponentially throughout the day. As of right now, almost 6,000 people are attending and about 400 are not.

The Española Valley Humane Society is taking in animal evacuees from the fire. From the news release:

We are accepting dogs, cats and caged pets from evacuees and serving as a staging location for poultry, horses, donkeys, goats and sheep in small numbers. If you or someone you know is evacuating, please have them call us, so we can give them important information about the evacuation process for pets. Call 505-753-8662 or 470-1278.

Donations of cash, dry food, non-clumping cat litter, paper bowls, crates, cat litter boxes and towels are appreciated. The shelter is seeking people who may be able to temporarily house an animal. If you’re willing, send an email to EVHSNina@gmail.com.

Updates from the shelter are also available on Facebook.

• we lost our house in the cerro grande fire. (Nick Brown) [ Mon Jun 27 2011 7:14 PM ]
  
• Snakes and sparklers... OF DOOM! (madamemadcap) [ Tue Jun 28 2011 9:02 PM ]
  

UPDATE 2:30 p.m.: The town of Los Alamos is being evacuated.

Lab officials assured that radioactive materials are being protected from the almost 50,000-acre Las Conchas fire.

The fire has closed in on Los Alamos National Laboratory property—within a mile—but hasn’t reached the lab yet.

Spokesperson Kevin Roark said in an interview with the Alibi that there are a variety of nuclear facilities at LANL and several metric tons of uranium, plutonium, americium and others. These materials are kept in the most secure facilities at the lab, he said—deep inside vaults within concrete and steel buildings. “There is no threat from wildland fires,” he said.

During the Cerro Grande fire eleven years ago, the blaze ate up 7,500 acres of LANL property, Roark added, and there was no release of nuclear or hazardous material.

The Cerro Grande fire raged for more than a month in 2000, burned Bandelier National Monument and left 400 people in Los Alamos without homes.

There were concerns after the fire about the airborne release of contaminants, but Roark says monitoring showed that Cerro Grande was no more or less radioactive than any forest fire. Read a full assessment of the aftermath by the Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety and the Nuclear Policy Project.

The fire also caused erosion and runoff, and contaminants threatened the Rio Grande. But Roark assures: “There were not appreciable levels of radioactivity in the runoff.” After the Cerro Grande fire, LANL installed structures to prevent heavy runoff in the future, he added.

Comparing the two fires to try and predict impact is highly speculative, he pointed out. “The [Las Conchas] fire has not reached lab property.”

• Boycotting fireworks ... (Wednesday) [ Mon Jun 27 2011 5:24 PM ]
  

Miro-Foto / CC BY-SA 2.0

 

There’s a drought. Fires rage around the state. That means if Burque starts blazing, outside agencies can’t come to our rescue.

Today, Mayor Richard Berry and Fire Chief James Breen upped restrictions in all municipal Open Space areas, effective at midnight. That includes the Bosque, arroyos and retention dams, among other things. The full list is available here.

Restrictions in a nutshell:

• No campfires

• No fireworks

• No vehicles off designated roadways

• No chain saws or other tools operated by internal combustion engines

• No combustion engines, internal or external, period

• No equipment that sparks

• No torches, welding or otherwise

• No camping overnight

• UPDATE: Smoking banned, too (marisa) [ Tue Jun 14 2011 5:27 PM ]
  

There's all that annoying smoke from the Wallow fire, but at least we weren't evacuated.

More of these damn tornadoes.

Don't keep dead rhinos in your backyard like this guy does.

A marijuana expo...medical. Of course.

Government hackers want you to make cupcakes, not bombs.

Gunman kills six in Arizona, including himself.

We have a new deadly strand of mutant E coli. Awesome.

Salvador Dali Foundation irked about the artist's name getting slapped on just anything.

This woman has ten reasons why Sarah Palin should run for president. Ten yawl.

• One reason NOT? (xcentricities) [ Sat Jun 4 2011 11:18 AM ]
  

It's Ash Wednesday, sinners!

Gov. Pat Quinn is set to sign legislation to abolish death penalty in Illinois.

Fire destroys 13 homes in Silver City.

Gang rape of 11-year-old girl in Texas leads to the arrest of 18 men and teenagers.

Pennsylvania farmhouse fire kills seven children.

Ron Bell found guilty on DWI charges.

NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller resigned following James O'Keefe's latest prank.

Drivers illegally detained for using large bills on toll roads.

Utah lawmakers passed a bill forcing public school teachers to teach that the United States is a republic, not a democracy, because "Democracy" sort of has the word "Democrat" in it.

Victim's father vows to murder child killer if he gets out of prison.

Top ten things Newt Gingrich doesn't want you to know about Newt Gingrich.

Millions of dead anchovies clog shoreline in Redondo Beach.

Is food poisoning a crime?

Mexican police chief seeks US asylum.

A history of our attempts at communication with aliens.

Teacher quits after students discover her porny past.

Leave it to monkeys to invent a new fishing technique.

"This is the most illegal thing I've seen in the history of wrestling!"

Al Jazeera announces plans to launch English language children's channel that you will never get to watch because your cable company won't carry it.

Michael Chabon is creating a show for HBO about magicians who fight Nazis!

Check out McDonald's fancy new M Selections menu.

Because sometimes an ear of corn is not an ear of corn, or how to interpret your food dreams.

Angry Burger King customer climbs lumbers over counter to attack employees.

Have you tried Sonic's new hot dogs?

Watch every Power Ranger ever battle at the same time!

I wish there was something nerdier I could read to my kids instead of Goodnight Moon.

Here's a nice gallery of 1970s Japanese sci-fi art.

RIP Mike Starr, original bassist for Alice In Chains.

Watch the pilot to the Clarissa Explains It All sequel that never made it to air.

Happy birthday Brian Bosworth!

• So Ron Bell blew a 0.0% (pencil) [ Wed Mar 9 2011 10:30 AM ]
  
• wtf? (romaine) [ Wed Mar 9 2011 1:24 PM ]
  
• Small town in Texas (katjan) [ Thu Mar 10 2011 12:44 AM ]
  

Posted to Alibi's Flickr photo pool by our pal lau.sonrisa.

Flight of the Fire

Apartment complex in the SE heights of Albuquerque goes up in flames.
The Red Cross of New Mexico helped the victims of this fire with food and shelter.
Please show your support by donating to your local chapter of the Red Cross.
From Red Cross website:
The American Red Cross in New Mexico responds to hundreds of fires throughout the state each year, providing food, shelter and clothing to disaster victims virtually every day. Disaster assistance is always free of charge, which is why donations to the Red Cross local disaster relief fund are critical. To donate, please visit www.redcrossnewmexico.org/, or call 505-265-8514.

Posted to Alibi's Flickr photo pool by our pal stay-at-home-gypsy.

While the Crown Burns, the Sun Sets

After photographing the fire from the turquoise bridge over Gibson in Albuquerque, I returned to my car in the Bird parking lot (and bought a bottle of rum), and caught this.
The folks from the burning apartment were encamped in the Highland High School gym, which had been set up to house refugees from houses that had no heat, since the natural gas deliveries from Texas had proved inadequate to the task.
What a week it has been!!

• Landlords suck (rriverstone) [ Mon Feb 7 2011 3:51 PM ]
  

Pot raid at Santa Fe montessori school turns up tomatoes.

Shiny new UNM parking structure opens.

APS teachers are facing layoffs.

Tennessee man doesn't pay $75 fire protection fee, firefighters refuse to help stop his house from burning down.

Alert driver saves abducted California girl.

Rube Goldberg marriage proposal machine.

Ecological disaster in Hungary.

J.K. Rowling says she probably won't, but maybe will write three more Harry Potter novels.

Elf-rockers Sigur Rós use their blog to call-out advertisers for ripping off paying homage to their music.

New language discovered in the Himalayas.

Awesome trailer for new Thai action movie Red Eagle.

Graphical guide to your Facebook portrait.

I would like to retain 'fart in your general direction'

British scientists are searching for alien life in Earth's upper atmosphere.

Debtors' prison is making a comeback.

Dracula Fish discovered in South-East Asia.

$38 million dollar diamond goes on sale next month.

Interesting list of unused jokes and story ideas from former Simpsons showrunners.

Happy birthday to Pink Ranger Amy Jo Johnson!

• Just when I was getting over the pink ranger (Nick Brown) [ Wed Oct 6 2010 11:19 AM ]
  
• Just when I was getting over youtube videos set to crappy Dido songs (Madmammajamma) [ Wed Oct 6 2010 1:26 PM ]
  

Three businesses affected by the fire last night at Broadway and Mountain.

A cyclist pedaling across the U.S. to fight cancer was hit by a car and killed in New Mexico.

Mice infestation closes Smith's at Coors and Central.

After a cockfighting raid, 70 confiscated roosters were killed.

Uranium mining in Churchrock gets a green light from the court.

More risky drilling by BP.

Five Americans convicted of terrorism by a Pakistani court.

Australia appoints its first female prime minister.

American Apparel on the brink.

Masseuse accuses Al Gore of sexual assault.

Use your welfare card in California casinos.

• unbridled hipster package (Jessica) [ Thu Jun 24 2010 3:38 PM ]
  
• To be specific... (nozlkoff) [ Thu Jun 24 2010 3:41 PM ]
  
• New Orleans hipsters (Jessica) [ Thu Jun 24 2010 4:04 PM ]