When we go on vacation, we always worry somewhat paranoiacally that our house has burned down, or that the ants have taken over, or that we left all the major appliances running and the iron and the dishwasher are plotting their coup -- but coming home from a two-week vacation and finding a dead body is not a scenario that had occurred to us! The vacationer mentioned that he did have a catsitter coming in periodically while he was gone, but didn't know if that was the dead person because he didn't check the body. Also, the dead body was naked, in handcuffs, and had a plastic bag over its head. Man, we are never going on another vacation ever again.

A Mountain View preparedness company is facing criticism on a James Kim blog (comments on the topic start around 294 and go through 307) for using the Kim family name to promote its "readiness kits," but only donating 10% of the profits to the James Kim Memorial Fund. A family spokeman (the guy who runs jamesandkati.com) says that they worked with the company and approved the request to use James Kim's name. The kits are designed to fit in the trunk of a car and have supplies sufficient for 72 hours.

And the carousel in Tilden Park has been closed down as unsafe, due to its lack of a guard fence. The 1911 carousel, which was recently awarded $97,000 in grant money due to its participation in the Partners in Preservation contest, is famous for its hand-painted animals and band organs. They're going to put up temporary fencing so they can have the carousel running again by March at the earliest, and then they'll look into getting something a little bit more attractive later down the road.

Picture of the Haight-Ashbury apartment with the dead body in it from CBS 5.