Arizona plans to fire teachers with accents, but they swear they’re totally not racist.
New York just out and out trolling Tea Partiers now.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Photo released of Chris Hemsworth in costume for upcoming comic-book movie. Streets run red with nerd blood.
Driver of truck with anti-Islamic and Confederate flag decals claims his license plate number isn’t racist. You know what? Yeah, we’ll concede that his license plate is the least racist thing about his truck.

We’re edging ever closer to the summer blockbuster season now, and as April trudges into May the studios are firing their first major salvos: Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia, and Robin Hood all look poised to take in big bucks, carefully spaced out as they are so as not to infringe on each others’ business. And unlike last year’s never-ending festival of crap, this year’s crop of summer flicks looks to be pretty promising.
And not just among the blockbusters, either. As in previous In a World entries, Bureau Chiefs …

I’ll be plain: movies like this one bother me because they’re rigged games. I know, of course, that all movies (and all other kinds of art) are rigged games, if only because they’re created by someone to express a point of view. Nonetheless, the word “rigged” bubbled up in my mind time and time again as I watched Harry Brown unfold. There may be a more graceful way to tell a story like this; I’m skeptical, but I suppose it’s possible. But this is an ungainly enterprise, and quite possibly …

Boy discovered living in Bed, Bath and Beyond store. “Ikea was just a little too gay,” he tells police.
“Alternative” health guru nearly dies after eating his own brand of supplements. We’re just going to let the irony of that one sink in for you all.
Disney introduces fairy boys to Pixie Hollow game. Yeah, yeah, get it out of your system now, chuckles.
California governor’s plan to sell and lease back government buildings displays same kind of budget savvy that led to Planet Hollywood going bankrupt. Twice.

As you may have heard by now, a large gathering (a “drunk”) of the Bureau Chiefs will be at ROFLCon (April 30-May 1 in Cambridge, MA) thanks to their creating a little thing called Fake AP Stylebook. Officially, Bureau Chief heads Ken Lowery and Mark Hale are there to speak on Saturday about “ROFLing the News,” along with the fine folks from Auto-Tune the News and panel moderator David Weinberger from Everything is Miscellaneous.
Unofficially, the Bureau Chiefs will be lousing around ROFLCon both days, and should you spot them in …

poll by twiigs.com

Toys banned from fast food meals, dropping nutritional value by half.
Reality show winner finds a more respectable profession.
Cub Scouts now giving badges for playing video games. Sims, Mass Effect, Fable 2, Bully and Dragon Age excluded.
Voters tricked into registering as Republicans with phony “legalize marijuana” petitions. Well played, GOP. Well played.
“Researchers” discover remains of Noah’s Ark. And not some old wood or a not yet exposed hoax.

Free Comic Book Day was started in 2002, a joint effort between comics retailers and Diamond Comics, the largest distributor of comic books and graphic novels in North America. The stated goal is to increase public awareness of the comic book industry and comic book retailers by giving away free books, specially printed by participating publishers. A secondary goal, of course, is to piggy-back on the coverage of whatever super-hero inspired film is coming out that summer for some free publicity. This year, the event takes place on Saturday, May …

Billed as Donald Westlake’s “final novel,” Memory is actually an early novel, written in the 1960s but never published, by the great mystery and noir writer. Following the writer’s death in December 2008, Hard Case Crime publisher Charles Ardai announced the aquisition of this unpublished work, which had been rejected by Westlake’s agent early in the writer’s career. Memory, in fact, is barely a crime novel: it begins with a crime, and it does have a noirish feel; plus, there is something of a mystery involved. Police occasionally …

Supreme Court to consider causing easily-surmountable minor inconveniences to underage gamers.
Syfy to remake Atari 2600 Haunted House video game, only with fewer ghosts
This might put a crimp in the lucrative chimpsteak market.
U.S. now crime and poverty free utopia, freeing up Senators to investigate Facebook for privacy violations.
“Free Speech” activist drops plans for “Draw Muhammed Day” after realizing she’ll actually have to stand by her speech.