In 2006, Haering's company was drilling in Basel, Switzerland, as part of a project to convert heat in the underground rocks into electricity. But Swiss authorities charge that the drilling activated the major fault line that runs underneath the city, triggering a series of small earthquakes. Although the most intense of these quakes only rated a 3.4 on the Richter Scale and resulted in no injuries, the Swiss government claims Haering's drilling caused $9 million worth of property damage. Furthermore, they claim there is a 15 percent chance that, had the drilling continued, it would have triggered a major quake that could have caused $500 million in damage.

If Haering is found guilty of deliberately triggering the quakes, he could be jailed for up to five years. But this wouldn't be the first time human actions led to shaky ground. Wired lists five ways humans can cause earthquakes of their very own, including examples of a handful of other accidental Lex Luthors.

Switzerland geologist on trial for 'causing quakes' [BBC via Slashdot]

Zack Whedon's one-shot Dr. Horrible comic hits stands on November 18th and will delve into Billy's childhood, his first meeting with Captain Hammer, and his drive to join the Evil League of Evil. Whedon told Newsarama that Penny will make a small appearance, though sadly there will be no singing.

The full seven-page preview is available at MTV and offers some insight into what drove Billy to become Dr. Horrible.

[via Whedonesque]

NPH's episode, "The Mayhem of the Music Meister" premiered at Comic Con, where it wormed its catchy way into our hearts. UK and Canadian fans have already seen the episode in its entirety, but those looking to catch it on Cartoon Network in the US will have to wait until October 23.

[via Topless Robot]

Dr. Horrible (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog): Aspiring supervillain Dr. Horrible sings of his hatred of Captain Hammer, his unrequited love for Penny, and, of course, his freeze ray.

Dr. Abner Sedgwick (It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman): In the television adaptation of this Superman musical, David Wayne plays Dr. Sedgwick, a ten-time Nobel also-ran seeking to take revenge on Sweden.

The Joker (Batman): The Joker was supposed to get a musical number in the never-produced Batman musical. But he does get a song in The Killing Joke.

And another in the Animated Series episode “Christmas with the Joker.”

Dr. Frank-N-Furter (The Rocky Horror Picture Show): When he isn’t building himself living sex toys or murdering Meat Loaf, Frank offers a little musical exposition.

Mr. Hyde (Jekyll & Hyde): Mr. Hyde (who looks and sounds suspiciously like David Hasselhoff in addition to Dr. Jekyll) belts out showtunes about murder, darkness, and lust.

Rotti Largo (Repo! The Genetic Opera): The ruthless head of GeneCo, Rotti helped create and profits from a system that makes organ repossession legal, hiring an army of legal assassins known as Repo Men.

HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey): The homicidal computer system starts to go a little nuts as David Bowman initiates his shutdown sequence. As HAL dies, he sings the same song sung by BM 7094 in 1961, “Daisy Bell.”

Oogie Boogie (The Nightmare Before Christmas): The Boogie Man is one of the few denizens of Halloweentown who is not merely frightening but malevolent as well. And he thinks that “Sandy Claws” will be the perfect addition to his Snake and Spider Stew.

Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors): This alien vegetable takes a break from munching on human flesh to illuminate her plan for world domination in song.

Siren (The Titans): Atlantean ecoterrorist Siren can sing humans into submission, but didn’t get a musical number in the Aquaman pilot.

Dr. Drakken (Kim Possible): How does Kim Possible’s mad scientist nemesis unwind? With karaoke, of course.

Sweet (Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Once More, With Feeling”): The villain of Joss Whedon’s other musical, Sweets is a singing, dancing demon. And when he sings, the world sings with him.

Fu Manchu (The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu): In Peter Selles’ comedy, Fu Manchu must round up the ingredients to his age-regressing elixir. And with ultimate victory comes a musical number.

The Robot Devil (Futurama): When the Robot Devil grows bored with tormenting robot souls in Robot Hell, he rounds up his robot band and sings robot songs.

The Goblin King (Labyrinth): Casting David Bowie as your flamboyant villain doesn’t necessitate musical numbers, but they certainly don’t hurt.

GLaDOS (Portal): After spending most of the game trying to kill you and promising you cake, GLaDOS adds insult to injury by assuring you, in song, that you haven’t destroyed her.

Number 21 and Number 24 (The Venture Bros.): Monach henchmen 21 and 24 may not be so good at the evil, but they do a mean rendition of Holst’s “Mars.”

The Master (Doctor Who): Once the Master has taken over the world, has apparently defeated the Doctor, and is on the verge of creating a massive time paradox, he celebrates with a little Scissor Sisters.

In this scene, Horrible has committed the first true crime of his career, beating Captain Hammer with his exploding Death Ray and accidentally killing Penny in the process. This isn't exactly where you might have expected this musical to go, since the tone was so light in the first two acts.

I was pleased to see the bad guy winning, especially because so-called good guy Captain Hammer was such a dick and Neil Patrick Harris has made Dr. Horrible a very sympathetic mad scientist. One of the best parts of the episode, which you should watch for yourself, is the incredible scene where Dr. Horrible beats Captain Hammer — he leaps out of hiding with his amazing Freeze Ray, interrupting a hilarious and insulting song that Hammer is singing to the homeless about how "everybody is a hero but mostly me."

It's rare to find a show that can reveal layers of character during a musical number that takes place in a satirical universe where heroes wear rubber gloves. And yet Whedon and Co. have pulled it off here. Now that Dr. Horrible has an origin story, complete with tragic death and a bunch of cool supervillain pals, the show ends just as it's really ready to begin.

Like most of the people who've flocked to this online experiment in fictional videoblogging, I am hoping to see more of Dr. Horrible. But please, don't make it a TV show. Just keep it real — keep it in blogland. We deserve a brilliant web show. Something that's as good as Homestar Runner and the Goddamn George Liquor Program, but totally different.

You can catch the whole thing online, buy it on iTunes for $4, or wait for the DVD.

A supervillain, Annaka, is kidnapping sexy hookers and stealing their sexy parts to sell to rich people. It's up to supermodel/secret agent Starrbooty to put a stop to this scheme. Really, the film is a searing indictment of the commodification of body parts (Annaka wants to remove Starrbooty's legs and graft them onto a famous female rapper) and a warning about the nightmarish future of penis transplants. Oh, and there's drag queen incest.

Starrbooty