Reporters on the scene in Ferguson say the protests erupted into chaos as police began firing tear gas at crowds of protestors Sunday night—well before the official curfew time was set to begin—hitting media and children in the abrupt offensive.

Singer/songwriter/lamb herder/wearer of the dress above Mariah Carey reportedly caused chaos earlier this week when she showed up four hours late to the taping of Tuesday's World Music Awards in Monaco. At least, that's according to the UK's Mirror:

For centuries, it has been taken for granted that America's greatest resource, black yoga pants, would exist in shameless abundance forever.

The Rihanna plane, which earlier today was on the verge of anarchy, officially descended into total chaos somewhere between Berlin and London. Journalists are chanting, Australians are streaking, and passengers are being forced to consume strange foods.

Sometimes when you wake up in your nice comfortable (or at least reasonably comfortable) bed in your nice (or at least moderately serviceable) house or apartment here in the United States of America, it is useful to take a moment to reflect upon how fortunate we all are, by comparing ourselves to those in countries that may be our geographic neighbors, but whose state of life is quite different. One good way to do this is simply by taking in this, the very first paragraph from a Washington Post story by William Booth today:

At the end of last night's fluffy-duffy speech to the public about the debt ceiling, President Obama urged everyone to call their representatives to request his "balanced" approach to deficit reduction, which apparently means $3 trillion dollars in spending cuts along with zero dollars in new tax revenue. What the hell was he talking about? Who cares! Because people too his cue, and are now breaking the phone system.

Fires, car accidents, and power outages are crippling Washington, DC. Traffic signals are all out! 30 blocks of downtown chaos! Don't you see what this means? Live Free or Die Hard is happening for real! [WP]

Cranes collapsing! Threatened power outages! Scary parades full of rowdy Spanish-speaking people! Manhattan's East Side is a veritable third-world country this week! Now, our Midtown East correspondent Ray Wert reports that, uh, "boulder-sized pieces of buildings" are falling from his apartment onto cars below. Seriously! A piece fell onto a BMW 3-Series (he edits Jalopnik, you know). His only advice is to avoid both the area and East Coast Restoration. MORE DETAILS HERE. WE WILL UPDATE AS THE SITUATION WARRANTS. STAY INDOORS. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS. IMAGE OF THE DISASTER HERE AND BELOW.

An emailer: "15 people are to be let go at Fortune mag; about 8 through buyouts." Also, "[Money executive editor] Craig Matters left to run Fortune.com, the two deputy MEs were promoted to co-ExecEd's (yes, that is a bit bizarre and not so workable) and the photo editor Jane Clark was fired Friday. Mg. Ed. Eric Schurenberg also just lost superstar Jason Zweig and another editor (Cybele Weisser) to the WSJ. Craig was in charge of the Best Places to Live uber-franchise and many writers at the mag have said they'd bolt if Craig left." Folio confirms all this besides the Jane Clark firing. Anyone else have more details?

Already all burnt out on your Christoga DVD? Newly Netflixable today is "Yoga For Indie Rockers," featuring an instructor named "Chaos" and "songs from Kevin Devine, Paulson, Jet Lag Gemini, Roses Are Red, the Bruises, Two Lone Swordsmen, House of Fools, Dillinger Escape Plan, Crash Romeo and many others." [Netflix via Lindsayism]