As of this morning, 51 people, including 20 children, were killed during last night’s tornado strike in Oklahoma City, which also left over 40,000 homes without power. Some are calling it, as Burnsy noted, the “most destructive tornado in the history of the world,” with wind speeds reaching up to 200 MPH. Curious what a 200-MPH tornado forming in mere seconds looks like? Take a look at the terrifying video below, shot by “Charles Cook.”

Charles’s son, “solvitNOW,” who uploaded the video to Reddit, said:

He was out that way for work today and just happened to be in the right place at the right time. He was worried it was going to come back at him and was searching for a way to scoot out it’s way once he was able to gauge how insanely close it was to him. He hung in there, though. Unbelievable. (Via)

Me, I would’ve driven away from that spinning funnel of destruction and never looked back. Way to be brave.

(Via)

The post Watch Incredible Footage Of The Oklahoma Tornado Going From 0 To 200 MPH In Seconds appeared first on UPROXX.

We’d be outraged that Apple is trying to avoid paying its fair share of taxes, but the reality is, every corporation does this. It’s just that Apple is doing it on a scale Wall Street bros can only dream of, by, legally, being a company without a country.

Essentially, according to a Senate panel, Apple’s been gaming tax codes for years. It’s not a big secret that the company has a massive hoard of cash, what with selling all those iPads and iPhones, but most of that cash is located overseas, specifically Ireland, where they’ve negotiated a 2% tax rate nobody else gets. The company refuses to bring it to the US because they don’t want to pay any taxes on their income, to the point where they’ll issue debt rather than use their cash. But the tax-dodging goes a lot deeper than that.

Apple has creatively set up corporate structures in various countries that let it act as a resident of nowhere; therefore, the company gets to pay barely any or no corporate taxes on its international revenue. In fact, one of Apple’s subsidiaries, Apple Operations International, hasn’t paid corporate taxes for the last five years even though it earned $29.6 billion from 2009 to 2012, according to the Senate panel.

It’s worth noting that Apple paid out $6 billion in taxes last year, so it’s not like this is Facebook taking half a billion of your tax dollars on top of massive profits. Still, there’s a lot of money at stake here and a lot of questionable practices, and it seems likely that fairly soon, like it or not, Apple’s going to have to bring that money home.

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Screen caps like the one above are popping up like cicadas on Twitter right now, and, yes, that is quite the hilarious shirt for someone to be seen wearing in an interview on CNN. If this was Devin the Spring Breaker or Devin the unemployed blogger that lives at home with his parents, that would be one thing.

But given the circumstances, this is Devin Anderson, the guy who is taking a quick break from digging through debris and destroyed houses to try to rescue people who are missing in the wake of today’s horrific tornadoes in Oklahoma and help others find their families or loved ones, so you know what? Let’s not take away from what he’s doing because his shirt is funny.

As far as I’m concerned, this dude can wear whatever the hell he wants.

(Image via @Purrrrfunctory)

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As the sun sets on Oklahoma City and Moore, Oklahoma, rescue and retrieval efforts are still underway to help people find their loved ones and friends. The White House has already issued a statement and President Barack Obama has spoken with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, offering any help necessary.

President Barack Obama told Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin the federal government “stands ready to provide all available assistance” as part of the response to a series of deadly storms that have struck the Oklahoma City area, including Monday’s devastating tornado.

A White House statement said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has deployed a team to assist state operations, and additional personnel are ready to be dispatched as necessary. Obama told Fallin that “the people of Oklahoma” are in the first family’s “thoughts and prayers,” the statement said. (Via CNN)

It’s really hard to report anything as good news right now, but I’ll give plenty of credit to the news agencies focused solely on the aftermath of today’s tornadoes in Oklahoma for trying. For example, KFOR spoke with Paula Price from the Norman Regional Health System and she is trying to track down the parents of a 9-year old girl named Kaylie Hawkins (sp?) who is currently waiting for them at Norman Regional Hospital.

Additionally, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department Tweeted the below image of a dog that was pulled from some debris. As insignificant as it may seem, as one of the KFOR reporters just said, we’re still seeing the positives of humanity in all of this, as reports of people helping each other through all of this coincide with the heartbreak and devastation. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see more positives than negatives.

Again, news and numbers are slowly coming in, and people can check the Red Cross site, www.safeandwell.org, to see if any missing family members or friends have checked in yet. Keep track of the latest news updates via the KFOR live video feed and the KOCO live video feed. CNN also has some early estimates of injuries and people without power.

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As I’ve been glued to KFOR’s live tornado coverage for the last hour or so, reporters on the scenes in Oklahoma City and Moore have been using very basic terms like “gone” and “just dirt” to describe the devastation following today’s estimated EF4 or EF5 storms. Search and rescue missions are currently underway, as people are combing through the remains of homes and commercial buildings, including schools, to try to find people. Information is very sparse right now, but Oklahoma City’s news stations and sources are working to deliver accurate information, and KFOR just reported that there are six confirmed fatalities. (UPDATE: The death toll is now believed to be 30, as 24 children are believed to be deceased in the Plaza Towers Elementary School rubble.)

KFOR’s chief meteorologist Mike Morgan took a moment to compare today’s tornadoes to those of the Oklahoma outbreak from between May 3 and May 6, 1999, and he estimated that the severity and power of today’s weather events could be three times as powerful. In that storm, an estimated 72 tornadoes were created, with the strongest being a category F5. And, as you can see in the image above, the paths then and now were somewhat similar.

In all, the tornadoes of 1999 were responsible for 44 deaths and approximately $1.5 billion in damage, making it the most costly tornado in American history until the EF5 multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011. Approximately 158 people were killed in that severe weather event and damages exceeded $2.8 billion.

The Red Cross is encouraging people to visit www.safeandwell.org for people to either register themselves “safe and well” or search for loved ones in order to assist with providing answers in this chaotic period.

Additionally, the University of Oklahoma is opening up spaces for families that have either lost their homes or have been displaced, and people can receive more information by calling (405) 325-2511.

The post Today’s Oklahoma Tornadoes ’3 Times Worse’ Than May 3, 1999 appeared first on UPROXX.

That is the description being used by some meteorologists in Oklahoma today, in the hours following a massive tornado that struck Oklahoma City and the suburb of Moore, and as tornadoes still threaten the state. Some reports have indicated that the storm of debris has been as wide as two miles and possibly an EF5, which is the most devastating ranking on the enhanced Fujita scale, as the winds can exceed 200 miles per hour.

It’s just unreal. I’m not even sure how to describe any of this.

Obviously, people are trying to gather as much pertinent information as they possibly can in the hours following this horrible natural disaster, and with the footage from KOCO’s live, ongoing video feed, as well as the KFOR live video feed, and the pictures and screen grabs coming in on Twitter and Facebook, it’s evident that this is far from over and we can only pray that people still in harm’s way can make it to safety.

UPDATE: KFOR is reporting that there are at least 75 children and faculty trapped in an elementary school in Moore right now. One teacher named Ronda reportedly laid on top of six students in a bathroom to save them. Another classroom full of children has been rescued and moved to a church, prior to the tornado hitting the city.

SECOND UPDATE: Parents told the KFOR reporter that at least 30 students were evacuated before the tornado hit Moore, but there was a third grade class that was in a hallway. Rescue workers are currently looking for them.

THIRD UPDATE: The aforementioned 75 children and faculty are in Plaza Towers Elementary School. All of the children at Briarwood Elementary School are reportedly accounted for.

FOURTH UPDATE: The 4th, 5th and 6th grade students at Plaza Towers Elementary School are accounted for. The students from the lower grades are still unaccounted for, including the aforementioned third grade class.

FIFTH UPDATE: KFOR is reporting that the Ardmore area is the only area still under a tornado warning. Other areas are still dealing with severe thunder storms; however, they are no longer considered tornadic.

SIXTH UPDATE: KFOR is reporting that the search and rescue for at least 24 children that were trapped in Plaza Tower Elementary has become a recovery, as they are believed to be deceased.

SEVENTH UPDATE: The National Guard has been called in to deal with looters, as people have already been spotted stealing from sites throughout the damaged areas. Meanwhile, the death toll is reportedly at 37 and is expected to keep climbing.

We’ll update more as information becomes available.

For some perspective, the Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925 is considered the worst tornado in U.S. history, with a reported 695 fatalities.

(Images via here, here, here, here and here)

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There are a number of reasons to post this new video for “Go Loko” from New Orleans bounce artist Nicky Da B — most recently seen around these parts collaborating with Diplo — but I think the number one reason is because it probably contains more ass per second than any music video in modern history.

Directed by photographer Clayton Cubitt — the self-proclaimed “Tarantino of tush” who brought you Hysterical Literature — it comes with a seizure warning. So there you go.

So if you can’t handle this GIF, don’t press play.

(GIF via Clayton Cubitt)

The post New Nicky Da B Video May Cause Seizures, Features Lots And Lots Of Ass appeared first on UPROXX.

One has to assume the thought process behind Baguette-me-nots, a Tumblr dedicated to replacing everyday objects with baguettes, went like this: “Hey I just thought of a funny pun: Baguette-me-nots.” “Haha, that’s good. We should turn that into Tumblr, and get our buddies to pose in the photos.” “Totally.” And thus, Baguette-me-nots.

The blog was created by Tim Bierbaum and John Milhiser of Serious Lunch, who got George Takei, Ellie Kemper, and Mathew Broderick, as well as other funny friends, to help them out. If you’ve ever wanted to see a baguette used as Wolverine’s claws, you’re in luck.

The post There’s An Entire Tumblr Dedicated To Celebrities Using Baguettes As Everyday Objects appeared first on UPROXX.

You know, there’s really been something missing from the reboot of the Star Trek series: song and dance. Why J. J. Abrams didn’t consider turning the series into a musical is beyond me. Luckily, the internet imagined what a middle school production of Star Trek would look like. And based on the music alone, it’s something that needs to become a standard in schools across America, like, stat!

The musical was created by the YouTube duo, Rhett and Link, who are responsible for The Mythical Show, a weekly variety show that premieres every Thursday. Watch below as the kids channel their inner-voyagers and bring Kirk, Spock and the rest of the gang to musical-life.

(H/T NewNowNext)

The post ‘Star Trek: The Middle School Musical’ Is Something We All Really Need appeared first on UPROXX.

That headline is not a threat. I repeat: NOT a threat. Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been banished to the nether regions of the Internet, after Rickrolling became one of the world’s most hated memes in the mid-2000s. But we’ve all had some time to cope, though, and as part of YouTube Comedy Week, Reggie Watts has graced us with a cover of the 1987 classic. It’s a perfect fit: Astley sounds like he should be a big black man with a giant afro.

Check out more YouTube Comedy Week videos here.

The post Reggie Watts’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ Cover Will Have You Rickrolling All Over Again appeared first on UPROXX.