quote:

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A family from the Mescalero Apache tribe is suing the producers of a Steven Spielberg TV series for cutting their daughter's hair for the show.

The family said the hair of Christina Ponce, aged eight, was cut without regard for their tribal customs.

"It's part of our culture not to cut a girl's hair until her Coming of Age ceremony," her father Danny Ponce said.

"The only ones allowed to do that are the parents." His daughter had been acting in mini-series Into the West.

Mr Ponce added that "nobody asked for permission" before a stylist cut Christina's hair. He said he had filed his claim in the US District Court in Albuquerque.

Steven Spielberg
Spielberg has been a leading director for more than 30 years

His legal papers, which seek $250,000 (£142,000) for emotional distress and $75,000 (£43,000) in damages, named Turner Films Inc and the unknown stylist as defendants.

A Turner Films spokeswoman said the company did not comment on pending litigation.

Into the West is executive produced by Spielberg and is based on the novel by Max McCoy.

It explores the expansion of the American West through the eyes of two families - one white, the other native American.

According to legal papers filed by Mr Ponce, Christina responded through her parents last March to an open casting call for work on Into the West.

'Like a boy'

She attended a three-day shoot near Carrizozo, New Mexico.

Her hair was cut by a stylist to "make her look more 'Indian' and like a male Indian child because the movie casting call failed to produce sufficient young male extras of Indian heritage", the papers state.

The Mescalero tradition forbids cutting a girl's hair as she approaches puberty, in preparation for a sacred Coming of Age ceremony that requires her hair to reach her waist.

Mr Ponce said that before it was cut, his daughter's hair fell midway down her back.

"It was cut very short above her ears. She looked like a boy," he said.

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has increased state efforts to attract the film industry there in recent years.

Mr Ponce said that, while he welcomed this, film-makers from outside the state should try to be more culturally sensitive.

"Just because you're wealthy, you don't do something without checking first," he said.

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Awwwwwww, if you can't handle showbiz, get the heck out! link to BBC
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-17-2007, 08:29 PM:
 
Row over angry, penis-removing doctor

link

quote:

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Doctors' unions in Romania have criticised a decision to make a surgeon pay £100,000 in damages after he lost his temper and hacked off a patient's penis during surgery.

Surgeon Naum Ciomu, who had been suffering from stress at the time, had been operating on patient Nelu Radonescu, 36, to correct a testicular malformation when he suddenly lost his temper.

Grabbing a scalpel, he sliced off the penis in front of shocked nursing staff, and then placed it on the operating table where he chopped it into small pieces before storming out of the operating theatre at Bucharest hospital.

A Romanian court has now awarded Radonescu £20,000 costs – to pay for the operation to rebuild his ruined penis using tissue from his arm – as well as 100,000 pounds in damages.

The medical costs will be paid by the hospital's insurer, but doctors' unions have criticised the decision that the money for the damages has to be paid by the doctor.

They say the move sets a dangerous precedent and that Professor Ciomu, a urologist and lecturer in anatomy, has already been punished enough after having his medical licence suspended.

They said he had been under stress and had lost his temper after he accidentally cut the man's urinary channel and 'overreacted' to the situation. He told the court it was a temporary loss of judgement due to personal problems.

Vice-president of the Romanian Doctors Union, Vasile Astarastoae, said: 'Ciomu's case is a dangerous precedent for all Romanian doctors. In future doctors may have to think very carefully about what work they undertake.'

Because obviously, the last thing you want is a doctor thinking carefully about the work they're doing.

The director of the ophthalmology hospital in Bucharest, Dr Monica Pop (yes, actually her name), agreed saying that doctors would in future avoid any cases where they could end up in court having to pay damages.

She added: 'Doctors in Romanian earn too little to be able to pay amounts like this. As a result it will be entirely fair if they only accept cases where they cannot make mistakes. The only way this can be avoided is if the insurance companies cover all the risk.'

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quote:

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By KEN MAGUIRE, Associated Press Writer

BOSTON - Several illuminated electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. Most if not all of the devices depict a character giving the finger.


Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, was arrested on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said later Wednesday. He had been hired to place the devices, she said.

Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.

Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner Inc. and parent of Cartoon Network, later said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball.

Authorities are investigating whether Turner and any other companies should be criminally charged, Coakley said. It wasn't immediately clear Wednesday who might have hired Berdovsky.

"We're not going to let this go without looking at the further roots of how this happened to cause the panic in this city," Coakley said at a news conference.

Those conducting the campaign should have known the devices could cause panic because they were placed in sensitive areas, she said. Turner did not notify officials of the publicity campaign until around 5 p.m., nearly four hours after the first calls came in about the devices, she and others said.

Berdovsky was arrested at 8:15 p.m. at his lawyer's office, Coakley said. His lawyer's name wasn't available, and phone number believed to be Berdovsky's did not accept messages.

Berdovsky planted many of the devices, Coakley said, although he is charged in connection with just one. He is to be arraigned Thursday in state court.

Berdovsky told The Boston Globe earlier Wednesday that he was an artist and installed the devices for an advertising company hired by Turner. He described himself as "a little kind of freaked out," the Globe reported.

The law under which Berdovsky was charged allows the state to pursue restitution. Mayor Thomas Menino said estimated the security scare may have cost the city more than $500,000.

At least 14 of the devices were found, and at least 24 more are still around the city, officials said.

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement.

It said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.

"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said. As soon as the company realized the problem, it said, law enforcement officials were told of their locations in all 10 cities.

The marketing firm that put them up, Interference Inc., has been ordered to remove them immediately, said Phil Kent, Turner chairman.

"We apologize to the citizens of Boston that part of a marketing campaign was mistaken for a public danger," Kent said. "We appreciate the gravity of this situation and, like any responsible company would, are putting all necessary resources toward understanding the facts surrounding it as quickly as possible."

Interference Inc. had no immediate comment. A woman who answered the phone at the New York-based firm's offices Wednesday afternoon said the firm's CEO was out of town and would not be able to comment until Thursday.

There were no reports from police Wednesday of residents in the other nine cities spotting similar devices.

Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke praised Boston authorities for sharing their knowledge quickly with Washington officials and the public.

"Hoaxes are a tremendous burden on local law enforcement and counter-terrorism resources and there's absolutely no place for them in a post-9/11 world," Knocke said.

Authorities said some of the objects looked like circuit boards or had wires hanging from them.

The first device was found at a subway and bus station underneath Interstate 93, forcing the shutdown of the station and the highway.

Later, police said four calls, all around 1 p.m., reported devices at the Boston University Bridge, which spans the Charles River, and at a Boston street corner.

A similar device was found Wednesday evening just north of Fenway Park, police spokesman Eddy Chrispin said.

The scare caused some subway service to be suspended and closed a road.

Wanda Higgins, a 47-year-old Weymouth resident and a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, heard about the threat as she watched television news coverage while preparing to leave work at 4 p.m.

"I saw the bomb squad guys carrying a paper bag with their bare hands," Higgins said. "I knew it couldn't be too serious."

Messages seeking additional comment from the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network were left with several publicists.

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs as part of the Adult Swim late-night block of programs for adults on the Cartoon Network. A feature length film based on the show is slated for release March 23.

The cartoon also includes two trouble-making, 1980s-graphic-like characters called "mooninites," named Ignignokt and Err — who were pictured on the suspicious devices. They are known for making the obscene hand gesture depicted on the devices.

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link

I am a huge fan of this show. Watching the National Guard guys blow these up...just...perfect.


 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-02-2007, 02:58 PM:
 

quote: BBC News Online

---

A claim by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh that he can cure AIDS in three days has been lambasted by a leading South African HIV/Aids specialist.

"I'm astonished. The danger of a president standing up [to say this] is shocking," Jerry Coovadia told the BBC.

Mr Jammeh said last month he had begun treating 10 patients on Thursdays with secret medicinal herb ingredients.

His health minister backs his claims, saying in trials so far patients had gained weight and physically improved.

"A response within three to 10 days and a three-day course is almost inconceivable for a disease like HIV/Aids," said Prof Coovadia, who heads the HIV research team at the University of KwaZulu Natal and is a member of South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign.

He said that science was many years away from finding a cure "so the fact that someone announces a cure like this is exceedingly difficult to accept".

President Jammeh, who says he can also cure asthma, made his announcement to a gathering of foreign diplomats last month.

"I can treat asthma and HIV/Aids... Within three days the person should be tested again and I can tell you that he/she will be negative," he said in a statement.

"I am not a witch doctor and in fact you cannot have a witch doctor. You are either a witch or a doctor." Gambian Health Minister Tamsir Mbow says the herbal medicines are taken orally and applied to the body.

"We cannot actually tell you the type of herbs we are using presently, it will be known to the whole world later on," Dr Mbow told the BBC.

One of the patients currently undergoing the treatment is Gambian university lecturer Ousman Sowe. "I've noticed I've increased weight substantially over the last 10 days. I am no longer suffering from constipation, but we have yet to receive result of the tests," he told the BBC. "I have 100% confidence in the president and I'm taking the medication with all confidence."

But Mr Coovadia said it was tragic that The Gambia had a "political environment that allows a minister of health and a president to violate every foundation of science and public health. The entire exercise is circumscribed by secrecy - that's not how science works," he said.

It would be impossible to measure the negative impact of Mr Jammeh's claims, but it could lead to risky sexual behaviour, instead of following preventative advice, he said.

The World Health Organisation told the BBC it did not wish to comment on the issue at this stage.

Last year, South Africa's health minister came in for severe criticism for promoting a diet of garlic and beetroot to those with HIV, while not rolling out the anti-retroviral drugs which are the only recognised treatment. South Africa has now reversed its controversial advice.

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quote: BBC News Online

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Hecklers urge on car park jumper

Police have condemned hecklers who urged a man to "get on with it" as he threatened to jump off the top of a multi-storey car park.

A crowd gathered as the 21-year-old was perched on the eight-storey building in Mexborough, South Yorkshire, while officers tried to calm him down.

But some onlookers started shouting at the man, urging him to jump.

Trained negotiators later arrived at the scene near the town centre and persuaded the man to come down. He was later reunited with his family and given counselling.

South Yorkshire Police said about 50 people had gathered at the scene in John Street on 22 February and about half a dozen started telling the man to jump. PC Mark Dyson, of South Yorkshire Police, said: "It was incredibly frustrating to see this happening when we were just trying to help the guy.

"It might have been a bit easier to understand if it was teenagers messing about but these were adults shouting things like 'jump' and 'get on with it'. When you've also got people shouting things like this out of vans driving past it's terrible really. What would these people have thought if it was one of their relatives up there?"

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Posted by Edwin Sheldon (Member # 4001) on 03-02-2007, 02:59 PM:
 
Mr. Miller, you did not quote the full text of the article to maintain the archive!

quote:

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Family of faggot fans fly the flag

A West Midlands family is playing a central role in the quest to raise the profile of a forgotten British dish - faggots.

The Doody family from Wolverhampton has been crowned The Faggot Family in a national competition, and to kick off their reign they will launch National Faggot Week.

The family will be touring the country extolling the virtues of the dish, which is best-known for its links with the Black Country.

The Doody family were chosen to front the campaign after impressing judges at the Savoy Hotel in London in November.

They displayed their fanaticism for the delicacy during quizzes, role-plays and mock commercials.

"The nation knows that the Cornish pasty, Yorkshire pudding, haggis and fish and chips are great British dishes, but all too often the faggot is left off that list," said Janet Doody.

Her husband Fred added: "It's unfair because faggots were a British delicacy long before any of the others.

"The great British faggot is full of flavour and a great belly warmer at this time of year."

The family, including Lewis, 13, and Grace, 7, eat faggots twice a week, with mashed potato and mushy peas, and will be launching the awareness campaign on Tuesday at Liverpool University, followed by visits this week to Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham.

The competition was organised by faggot producer Mr Brain's Faggots.

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quote:

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"The great British faggot is full of flavour and a great belly warmer at this time of year."

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Love it.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 03-03-2007, 10:17 PM:
 
They sort of sound like hot dogs, by composition.


 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 03-04-2007, 02:36 AM:
 
Brains? Eeeeeooooowwww....
 

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Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 03-23-2007, 09:55 AM:
 
by Marlowe Hood
Thu Mar 22, 11:53 AM ET


PARIS (AFP) - France became the first country to open its files on UFOs Thursday when the national space agency unveiled a website documenting more than 1,600 sightings spanning five decades.


The online archives, which will be updated as new cases are reported, catalogues in minute detail cases ranging from the easily dismissed to a handful that continue to perplex even hard-nosed scientists.

"It is a world first," said Jacques Patenet, the aeronautical engineer who heads the office for the study of "non-identified aerospatial phenomena."

Known as OVNIs in French, UFOs have always generated intense interest along with countless conspiracy theories about secretive government cover-ups of findings deemed too sensitive or alarming for public consumption.

"Cases such as the lady who reported seeing an object that looked like a flying roll of toilet paper" are clearly not worth investigating, said Patenet.

But many others involving multiple sightings -- in at least one case involving thousands of people across France -- and evidence such as burn marks and radar trackings showing flight patterns or accelerations that defy the laws of physics are taken very seriously.

A phalanx of beefy security guards formed a barrier in front of the space agency (CNES) headquarters where the announcement was made, "to screen out uninvited UFOlogists," an official explained.

Of the 1,600 cases registered since 1954, nearly 25 percent are classified as "type D", meaning that "despite good or very good data and credible witnesses, we are confronted with something we can't explain," Patenet said.

On January 8, 1981 outside the town of Trans-en-Provence in southern France, for example, a man working in a field reported hearing a strange whistling sound and seeing a saucer-like object about 2.5 meters (eight feet) in diameter land in his field about 50 meters (yards) away.

A dull-zinc grey, the saucer took off, he told police, almost immediately, leaving burn marks. Investigators took photos, and then collected and analyzed samples, and to this day no satisfactory explanation has been made.

The nearly 1,000 witness who said they saw flashing lights in the sky on November 5, 1990, by contrast, had simply seen a rocket fragment falling back into earth's atmosphere.

Patenet's answer to questions about evidence of life beyond Earth was sure to inflame the suspicions of those convinced the government is holding back: "We do not have the least proof that extra-terrestrials are behind the unexplained phenomena."

But then he added: "Nor do we have the least proof that they aren't."

The CNES fields between 50 and 100 UFO reports ever year, usually written up by police. Of these, 10 percent are the object of on-site investigations, Patenet said.

Other countries collect data more or less systematically about unidentified flying objects, notably in Britain and in the United States, where information can be requested on a case-by-case basis under the Freedom of Information Act.

"But we decided to do it the other way around and made everything available to the public," Patenet said.

The aim was to make it easier for scientists and other UFO buffs to access the data for research.

The website itself -- which crashed host servers hours after it was unveiled due to heavy traffic -- is extremely well organized and complete, even including scanned copies of police reports.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-24-2007, 10:19 AM:
 
Hmmm.... sounds like the effect of a little too much cheap Cognac if you ask me!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-27-2007, 01:07 AM:
 
Neighbors react to alleged slay-grilling

quote:

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By MONICA RHOR, Associated Press Writer Sun Mar 25, 6:16 PM ET

HOUSTON - For at least two days, neighbors at a city apartment complex noticed an acrid aroma, black smoke and leaping flames coming from two barbecue grills on the balcony of a second-floor apartment.

What, neighbors at the Red Oak Place apartments wondered, was going on in the unit where 27-year-old Timothy Wayne Shepherd lived? What was he burning at all hours, for days at a time? The answer turned their stomachs.

According to law enforcement officials, Shepherd dismembered, and then burned the body of his former girlfriend, Tynesha Stewart, a 19-year-old Texas A&M University student. Nothing remains of Stewart's body, Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas said at a press conference Saturday.

"I just don't know what to think about it," said Louis Evans, whose balcony faces Shepherd's in the quiet tree-lined enclave in northern Houston. "I thought he was a nice normal person. I guess you never know what your neighbors are doing."

Authorities said Shepherd has confessed to strangling and dismembering Stewart, a college freshman who was home on spring break, because he was angry that she had started a new relationship.

Officials first thought Shepherd had disposed of her remains in a large commercial trash bin that had since been emptied, launching an intense debate in the area about whether the Sheriff's Department should conduct a massive and expensive search of area landfills for Stewart's remains.

Stewart was last seen March 15 and was reported missing March 19. The next day the Harris County Sheriff's Office homicide division launched its investigation.

On March 16, neighbors said they first noticed the unusual activity — and the unpleasant odor — on Shepherd's balcony.

"The smell was awful," said Evans, who also became alarmed after seeing a blaze shoot out from the grills. "I was wondering: What is he burning? Not cooking, but burning. There is a difference."

At times, Evans said, the flames from the grills leapt dangerously close to the roof of the balcony. Evans says he called 911, but when firefighters arrived, the flames had calmed and Shepherd assured them everything was under control.

A leasing agent at the apartment complex also noticed the thick dark smoke and the intense flames and asked Shepherd what he was doing, Evans said. Another neighbor, 18-year-old James Hebert, told The Houston Chronicle that he often cooked out with Shepherd, and even left his grill at Shepherd's apartment. When he wasn't invited over, he asked his neighbor what was going on. Shepherd replied that he was cooking for a wedding, the newspaper said.

Dionne Whitaker, 31, who lives in the complex, said she saw Shepherd carry the grill and smoker to a garbage bin a day or so later, the newspaper said.

Human remains generally require extremely high temperatures to destroy, and authorities have not said how it is possible that Stewart's remains could be completely burned on a patio grill.

"This certainly turned out to be one of the most heinous crimes I've ever seen in my 38 years (in law enforcement)," Thomas, the sheriff, said Saturday.

Shepherd, who is charged with murder, is being held on $250,000 bond in the Harris County Jail. Telephone message left with his attorney, Chip Lewis, were not immediately returned. On Sunday, the door to Shepherd's apartment was covered with plywood boards.

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 04-27-2007, 09:40 AM:
 
Did you want a happy ending with that?

-----------------------------------
Happy Meal
-----------------------------------

Happy Meal came with a condom
April 26, 2007 - 9:20AM

WELLINGTON.- A New Zealand mother says she was shocked and disgusted that a condom had been found in her seven-year-old daughter's McDonald's meal.

Louise Whitaker from Wellington said her daughter Maia was with her sister April and her grandparents at a store when the condom was found on Tuesday night.

She said her mother discovered the opened condom after her daughter ordered a Happy Meal.

"I was just disgusted after I heard about it," Whitaker said.

"I was shocked. A seven-year-old ... I don't think she actually saw it, so she doesn't understand the whole thing. I am just lucky my mother discovered it."

She said the condom was returned before her mother checked whether or not it had been used.

McDonald's replaced the meal.

She said the fast food restaurant had not given her a formal apology nor explained how the condom came to be in the meal.

A McDonald's spokeswoman said the restaurant was embarrassed by the incident and was studying in-store video to see how the condom ended up in the package.

She said it was likely Maia had been given a display model that had been on a counter facing customers.

"It sounds like ... someone has actually come along and thought they were potentially clever or funny - of which they were neither - and has put this in,'' she said.

"We have been overseas recently and we always went to McDonald's, thinking they had an international policy where everything is safe and done the right way. This has just sort of changed my opinion," Mrs Whitaker said.

-----------------------------------

Now I know why McDonalds has that rubbery taste.
 

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 05-04-2007, 04:33 PM:
 
Teachers have refused to stop an annual striptease by pupils despite a video of an onstage lesbian love romp ending up on YouTube.

Film of the girls stripping off in front of teachers and pupils sparked outrage among education chiefs who now want it banned. But officials at the school in Denmark are fighting to hold onto the annual event.
web page of 'Metro' newspaper


I suspect that we would never have heard of this if it wasn't for mobile 'phone cameras, and the Internet.

I remember a group of girls staging a similar end of year 'show', when I was at school. I think it was done in some toilet or changing room, or some such place, in an out of the way part of the building, using some tables as a stage, while the staff were having their end of year party elsewhere. I would imagine that the staff knew it was going on, but didn't say anything about it. This does seem to be rather different to the Danish case, where the staff seem to be the organisers of the event, which really doesn't seem right. I'm pretty sure that 'touching' wouldn't have been allowed at my school, nor would cameras, so nobody ever got to hear about it.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-11-2007, 09:49 AM:
 
I know women are useless at reading maps, but this lady takes the biscuit:

quote: BBC News Online

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A 20-year-old student's car was wrecked by a train after she followed her sat nav system onto a railway track.

Paula Ceely, was driving her Renault Clio from Redditch, Worcestershire, to see her boyfriend at his parents' home in Carmarthenshire for the first time. She was trying to cross the line in the dark when she heard a train horn, realised she was on the track, and the train smashed into the car.

Transport police said drivers must take care with satellite navigation.

The car was carried about half a mile (800m) down the line by the Pembroke Dock to Swansea train, although Ms Ceely escaped injury in the incident near Whitland. A second-year student at Birmingham University, she had borrowed the sat nav from her boyfriend, Tom Finucane, 21.

"I put my complete trust in the sat nav and it led me right into the path of a speeding train," she said. "The crossing wasn't shown on the sat nav, there were no signs at all and it wasn't lit up to warn of an oncoming train. Obviously I had never done the journey before so I was using the sat nav - completely dependent on it," she said.

"I came to this crossing at Ffynongain and there was like a metal gate, which looked like just a normal farmers' gate with a red circle on it. I thought it was a dead end at first and then there was a little sign saying, if the light is green, open the gates and drive through. So I opened the gate, drove forward, closed the gate behind me and then went to go and open the gate in front of me. Then I heard this train and I noticed there was train tracks. It was only then that I did realise I was on a train crossing. I just stood back and I just watched this train come in front of me. I could feel the air just pass me and then my car just did a 360 degree turn on the tracks and was knocked to the other side."

She said her initial thought when she heard the horn had been to get into her car and move it. "It was so quick that if I had done that, I would have been in the car when it was hit," she said. "I can't completely blame the sat nav because up until there, it did get me where I needed to go," she added. If maybe I had been more aware of the situation, I wouldn't have had the accident. But I would be a bit more wary of the sat nav next time because they try to take you the shortest route and not always the most accessible route and not always the safest route."

She has returned to Wales since, but took the train rather than drive.

"I'll never use a sat nav again. You rely on them and if it all goes wrong, you're horribly stuck. People should be more careful with them - you never know where they might lead you."

Chief Inspector Paul Richards of British Transport Police said they was investigating the incident. "We would advise people to use sat navs with due caution," he added.

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Good job she isn't blonde, or I could think of some more politically incorrect responses to this story...
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-15-2007, 03:20 AM:
 
How to get pissed in Russia

quote: BBC News Online

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Russian men are risking death by drinking aftershave and cleaning agents, a study has suggested.

UK researchers estimated that half of all deaths in working age men in the country are due to hazardous drinking. The products, which also include herbal tinctures sold in pharmacies, are widely available, cheap and contain up to 97% alcohol, the Lancet study says. It was found that they contain very few toxins but are deadly simply because of the extreme alcohol levels.

Russian men have an "exceptionally low" life expectancy of 59 years, compared with 72 years for women. Men of working age are three-and-a-half times more likely to die than men in Britain. Past studies have shown levels of alcohol consumption among the Russian population, where spirits such as vodka are popular, are high.

But the team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine wanted to take into account non-beverage alcohol. They looked at 1,750 deaths in men aged 25 to 54 years in 2003 and 2005 in Izhevsk, a typical Russian city in the Ural mountains. Family members were interviewed about the drinking habits of the deceased.

Hazardous drinking - classed as excessive consumption of regular drinks such as beer, wine and spirits or drinking of non-beverage alcohol - was found to cause 43% of deaths. Men who drank heavily or who drank non-beverage alcohol, were six times more likely to die than similar men who did not drink at all or did not have a drinking problem.

Those who specifically drank non-beverage alcohol were nine times more likely to die than those who did not. Lead researcher Professor David Leon said: "We're talking about things like eau de cologne and aftershave which are widely available at kiosks and cheaper because they are not subject to excise duty.

"The important work we have done is the toxicology and with many of these products all that's in them is water and ethanol and something to make them smell a bit - people are dying because of the concentration of alcohol in a cheap, readily available form.

Andrew McNeill, director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies said there was a problem with heavy drinking in Eastern Europe in general. "It has fluctuated in Russia - under Communism, alcohol was the only thing people could afford. "Gorbachev tried to sober everyone up but he couldn't sustain it."

He added that rapid economic development in recent years may have added to the social problems which often underlie heavy drinking. "In Western countries, there's a link between alcohol and health inequalities. We don't find much more heavy drinking in poorer populations but morbidity and mortality tends to be higher because it compounds other problems."

Dr Jurgen Rehm from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada, said that many factors might have affected death rates in Russia during the time covered by the study, with non-beverage alcohol "highly unlikely to the main contributor".

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quote:

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03/27/2007 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Dotmusic

Michael Jackson is in discussions about creating a 50-foot robotic replica of himself to roam the Las Vegas desert, according to reports.

The pop legend is currently understood to be living in the city, as he considers making a comeback after 2004's turbulent child sex case.

It has now been claimed that his plans include an elaborate show in Vegas, which would feature the giant Jacko striding around the desert, firing laser beams.

If built, the metal monster would apparently be visible to aircraft as they come in to land in the casino capital.

It is the centerpiece of an elaborate Jackson-inspired show in Vegas, according to Andre Van Pier, the robot's designer.

Luckman Van Pier, his partner at the company behind the proposal, claims blueprints have been drawn up for the show and seen by the star.

"Michael's looked at the sketches and likes them," he told the New York Daily News.

On the subject of the robot, he continued: "It would be in the desert sands. Laser beams would shoot out of it so it would be the first thing people flying in would see."

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quote:

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(CNN) -- A teen who lost her feet in an accident at a Kentucky amusement park has undergone surgery, a park spokeswoman said Friday, while two park operators closed similar rides around the country.

The Superman Tower of Power at Louisville's Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom was shut down after Thursday's accident, and Six Flags spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg said Friday the company closed similar rides at parks in St. Louis, Missouri; Gurnee, Illinois; and near Washington, D.C., as a precaution, The Associated Press reported.

Another park operator, Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., closed drop rides at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio; Canada's Wonderland in Toronto, Ontario; Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia.; Carowinds, in Charlotte, North Carolina; and Great America in Santa Clara, California, the AP reported.

"We're going to keep these things down until we're certain it's safe," Cedar Fair spokesman Craig Ross told the AP. "We'll wait and see."

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom spokeswoman Carolyn McLean said she has been in touch with the injured 13-year-old girl's family and believed the girl is still receiving treatment at the University of Louisville Hospital.

Hospital spokeswoman Julie Gordon would not discuss details of the surgery or recovery, citing patient privacy.

The girl's name was not released because she is a minor.

The girl's feet were completely amputated just below the ankle Thursday afternoon while riding the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville.

Her feet were recovered by Six Flags staff and were sent to the hospital with her, McLean said.

During the Tower of Power ride, passengers are hoisted aloft, suspended momentarily, then pulled down, according to the park's Web site. Passengers -- secured with bars and seat belts but with arms and legs free -- drop 154 feet at 54 mph, stopping "just 20 terrifying feet above the pavement," the Web site says.

A police dispatcher said a cord wrapped around the girl's feet while she was on the ride.

"I seen the car go up. Then, like, the cable broke ... and I heard a lot of people screaming," Chris Stinnett, who was at a ride next to the Tower of Power, told CNN affiliate WDRB/WMYO-TV in Louisville.

"The cable went under the car -- and I seen it pull up and hit a lot of people -- and I seen them bring their legs up," he said. (Watch witnesses describe the accident Video)

"We are not confirming that happened," McLean said. "There was a lot of misinformation from witnesses."

The ride will remain closed until a full investigation by state officials and "our team of experts" is conducted, McLean said.

The inspectors will interview staff members, witnesses and speak with the girl and her family, she said.

"Every ride, every investigation is different," she said.

The rest of the park was operating as normal on Friday.

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quote:

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Car culture meets car crusher as squeeze put on street racing
Six vehicles were destroyed at an auto graveyard as local law enforcement ramped up enforcement against illegal street racing.
From the Associated Press
9:25 PM PDT, June 20, 2007



RIALTO -- Charles Hoang winced when the whoosh went out of the tires. Daniel Maldonado took pictures with a digital camera as glass exploded and rained down to the ground.

The two teens didn't know each other but they shared a common grief standing near each other under the sweltering sun Wednesday. They both watched helplessly as the cars they had so meticulously souped up and tricked out were crushed and turned into metal pancakes as part of a crackdown on illegal street racing in Southern California.

"That's my heart, my dream," said a visibly upset Hoang, 18, of Chino, who was surrounded by friends as his 1998 Acura Integra was put into a compactor. "That's my girlfriend, the love of my life. The cops can crush my car, but they can't crush my memories."

Six vehicles were destroyed at an auto graveyard as local law enforcement ramped up enforcement against illegal street racing, which is responsible for or suspected in 13 deaths in Southern California since March.

The thrill-seeking, adrenaline-pumping activity is rampant in Riverside and San Bernardino counties east of Los Angeles where rows of tract homes line wide streets ideal for racing. Nearly 1,000 people have been arrested for investigation of street racing activities over the past two years in San Bernardino County alone. That includes spectators as well as drivers.

Police need a court order to destroy the cars. They must prove that the serial or identification numbers on a vehicle or its parts are removed, altered or destroyed.

Although police said they have managed to reduce illegal racing and related fatal collisions, they are well aware the underground hobby still thrives.

"We are making a dent," said Ontario police Cpl. Jeff Higbee. "But it's summertime and ... we expect to see more activity."

Hoang said he was caught late last year racing his prized car on which he spent at least $10,000 to get into top shape. The 350-horsepower engine topped out at 160 mph, Hoang said, swearing it could beat a Corvette or even a Ferrari.

When police popped open the hood, Hoang said, they found a stolen transmission. Hoang flashed a receipt for the transmission he bought from his father who runs an auto shop and doubted the item was hot.

"Everything on that car was practically brand new," Hoang said as he watched his car get moved to auto death row. "They should take out the stuff that matters, auction it off, and give the money to charity."

Because racers put heavy stress on their vehicles, they often burn out or blow up parts. Higbee said the need for the expensive parts has created a "theft mill" where additional cars -- usually Hondas or Acuras -- are stolen and stripped of the necessary replacements.

Most of the cars police examine are illegally modified. Sergio Zavala, 18, was pulled over in his 1993 yellow Honda Civic for a broken tail light in December. He had purchased a B-20 Vtech engine with a double-overhead cam a couple months before, and after a police investigation, was told it was stolen.

Zavala, who admits he's been involved in street racing, estimates he and his mother spent about $10,000 to make improvements to his car.

After watching his Civic demolished, Zavala is left without a car as he plans to attend a fire academy in the fall.

"It's heartbreaking to see this," said Zavala, who graduated from high school last week. "This is where all my time and money went."

Maldonado also said he put plenty of time and effort working on his 1992 black Honda Civic. He was stopped in November by police in what Higbee described as an area where racers gather.

The 18-year-old mechanic said a vehicle identification sticker apparently fell off and without it, police suspected some of the parts were stolen. Maldonado stood several feet away from his car as it was pounded into a heap of metal.

Maldonado said he has taken the advice of police -- by racing legally on one of several race courses around Southern California. For the money spent in fines and other penalties -- on average about $5,000 for illegally modified cars -- Higbee said street racers could compete about 250 times a year at a legitimate track.

"If you have to race, take it to a legal venue," Higbee said. "But as long as they keep racing illegally, we keep crushing their cars."

All three men who saw their vehicles destroyed accused the police of auto profiling. They said they target only Hondas and Acuras, hoping to find something. Maldonado said he's driven a 1989 Toyota Supra but never been stopped.

They also believe illegal street racing will continue to prosper across the region.

"It will never go away," Maldonado said. "If it's in your heart, you will continue to do it until you can't anymore."

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quote: York Evening Press

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Police have received reports of a man having sex with a cow.

The shocking incident is said to have happened in the early hours of the morning in Skipwith.

A passer-by saw a young man with what is believed to have been an English longhorn cow and when challenged the man pulled up his brief-style underwear and rode off on a bicycle.

Police say it is not the first time an incident of this nature in Skipwith - which is between York and Selby - has been reported to them.

Farmer Richard Parish, who owns the longhorn cattle in Skipwith, said he could hardly believe it when police telephoned him, but thought anyone who wanted to engage in an unnatural act with one of his cows would have serious difficulty. He said that if the animals know a person is there, but cannot see them, they will move until the person is in their eye line.

But he added: "If we get a bovine-cross-human it might be the making of me."

Sgt Mike Pickersgill, of Selby Police, confirmed that a man had been seen with an animal last month and that it was not the first time.

Sgt Pickersgill said the man has been seen by members of the public engaged in activity with animals at least twice. He has been challenged by members of the public and he has quickly ridden off on his bike.

He added that police have spoken to a man in his 20s from the local area about the incident and that someone found to have had sex with animals could be charged with bestiality. Under UK law the maximum sentence for someone found guilty of bestiality is two years imprisonment.

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quote: 11-year-old charged with driving drunk in Alabama

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MIAMI (Reuters) - An 11-year-old girl was charged with drunken driving after leading police on a chase at speeds of up to 100 mph that ended when she flipped the car in an Alabama beach town.

A video camera in the police car captured the look of surprise on the officer's face when he approached the wrecked car and got a look at the motorist.

The Mobile Press-Register newspaper said the patrolman saw the Chevrolet Monte Carlo speeding and flashed his lights to signal the driver to stop. Instead, the car sped faster, travelling at up to 100 mph (160 kph) before sideswiping another vehicle and flipping over in the Gulf Coast town of Orange Beach, Alabama, on Tuesday night.

The young driver, who lived nearby in Perdido Key, Florida, was treated at a hospital for scrapes and bruises and released to relatives. Police also charged her with speeding, leaving the scene of an accident and reckless endangerment.

The car belonged to a relative and police were still trying to find out where she got the alcohol. There was none in the vehicle but her blood alcohol level was over the limit for adult motorists, police told the newspaper.

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 07-24-2007, 10:13 AM:
 
I love Drew Carey, but I just can't see him doing well on this show since many of his ad-libs fall flat on "Whose Line is it, Anyway?" I am overjoyed to hear Bob Barker's leaving, though. I've never been able to tolerate him.

I'm really surprised to find Rosie O'Donnell, as hateful and polarizing as she is, had the audacity to think she had a chance at landing this gig!

Drew Carey tapped to replace Bob Barker on "The Price is Right"

NEW YORK (AP) -- Genial comic Drew Carey was tapped Monday to replace silver-haired legend Bob Barker on the CBS daytime game show "The Price is Right." The deal was set Monday afternoon shortly before a taping of CBS' "Late Show" with David Letterman, where he confirmed it.

"I realize what a big responsibility this is," he said. "It's only a game show, but it's the longest-running game show in American television and I plan to keep it that way."

The selection attracted more attention than usual for a daytime show because of the prospect of replacing Barker, 83. Barker retired after 35 years in the job last month following taping of his 6,586th episode.

The opening attracted widespread interest, including from comic Rosie O'Donnell after she left "The View."

Carey, 49, spent a decade on his own ABC sitcom and also was host of the improvisational game show "Whose Line is It Anyway?"

He will also be host of a new CBS prime-time game show, "The Power of 10," that will air first next month. He told The Associated Press on Monday that CBS officials first contacted him about "The Price is Right" immediately after he completed a pilot of the other game show this spring.

"My agent called me and said `I was talking to CBS casting today' and in my head I was thinking, `Oh, `CSI' guest star?' And he said what would you think about replacing Bob Barker on `The Price is Right?'"

Asked if he found the prospect of replacing such a TV legend daunting, Carey recalled talking to a friend who knows the game show business who told him, "as long as Bob Barker is cool with it, the fans will be cool with it."

"I'm cool with it," Barker said after hearing Carey's remarks.

Barker said he's not familiar enough with Carey's past performances to offer an opinion on his selection. But, he said, "I understand he ad-libs very well and that he has a very nice, friendly way of working, and I think both of those would be helpful to him on 'The Price Is Right.'"

His advice for Carey: "Go out there and do that show the way you think it should be done. Don't imitate me and don't imitate anyone else."

CBS entertainment President Nina Tassler said she was "beyond delighted" to land Carey.

"He is one of the most well-liked personalities working in entertainment, and I have no doubt his humor, charm and enthusiasm will endear him to 'Price is Right' viewers," she said.

While Carey said doesn't know Barker personally, the younger comedian said he was comfortable that his predecessor would be accepting when he took on the job.

The negotiation process was nerve-racking. While he was talking with CBS about the job, Carey said he got a call from another lawyer in Hollywood who told him one of his clients was offered "The Price is Right" job.

He figured CBS had lined up back-ups if the first choice did not come through.

"If I was going after a second baseman, I wouldn't just talk to one second baseman," the Cleveland Indians fan said. "If I were the general manager, I would be talking to a few second basemen."
 

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-26-2007, 06:24 PM:
 
This has got to be the funniest article ever published in the Salt Lake Trib... Short but to the point and the comments are even funnier!
Mark

Link To Article

"LDS home teachers get violent welcome"

The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 07/26/2007 10:25:41 AM MDT

PROVO -A Spanish Fork man attacked his LDS home teachers after he called them over to his apartment saying he needed to talk.
Police say 73-year-old Carl C. Chandler called the two men assigned to him by the LDS Church last week and told them he needed to talk.
Home teachers are responsible for watching over the members of the church to whom they're assigned. They teach and counsel members often forming a relationship where they help provide strength.
Police say Chandler got into an argument with one of the men and it escalated. According to an affidavit, Chandler pulled out a large silver revolver and struck one of the men with it.
He's also accused of threatening them.
The two men left Chandler's apartment and called police. Chandler was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail for aggravated assault. He is scheduled to make an initial court appearance tomorrow.

Readers comments are also below:
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Sidekick: 7/26/2007 10:11:00 AM +3

This sounds like the beginning of a great Kirby column.
Hide
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Scartissue: 7/26/2007 10:21:00 AM +6

Will he call his home teachers for help with bail money?
Hide
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Jeffjames2005: 7/26/2007 10:30:00 AM +5

Like the guys in the elders quorum need another reason not to go home teaching: "You're assigned to visit Brother Chandler. Careful, he pistol whipped the last pair that went. Before you start your lesson, be sure to show him that you both have concealed carry permits."
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lisat: 7/26/2007 11:05:00 AM +3

Well for all you that wanted to know how to get rid of Missionaries.....

Just for those of you who have no sense of humor that was sarcastic.

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Sidekick: 7/26/2007 10:11:00 AM +1

This sounds like the beginning of a great Kirby column.

Right on, that mans as funny as Jeff Foxworthy. No, I take that back, funnier.
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stinkingliberal: 7/26/2007 12:02:00 PM 0

I'll bet he is a distant relative of Clinton.

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nowar: 7/26/2007 1:11:00 PM 0

Let me guess when he goes to court he'll be standing in front of an Irish Catholic Judge
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RealWorld: 7/26/2007 2:10:00 PM -8

I'll bet the Mormons started spouting & spewing their typical brain washing crap & he got a little too pissed! I've had so many of them really try to push their crap on me & my kids I have felt like slapping a couple of them my self as well.
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Wink: 7/26/2007 3:02:00 PM +2

Sheesh, those home teachers must have been real push overs. I seldom get them to leave by merely pistol whipping them. Usually it takes at least a couple of warning shots.
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Wink:
LOL!!!!!!!! Funniest thing I've read all day. You are TOOOO cool.
 

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Posted by John Hegel (Member # 628) on 08-21-2007, 03:21 AM:
 
Only in Iowa...

Thieves steal an Arm and a Leg by Cole Mathisen
KIMT News 3

An unusual burglary in Clear Lake has police asking for the public's help in finding the stolen items. About a month ago Tom Leisure, owner of Tom Leisure Prosthetics realized an arm and leg belonging to two different women were stolen from his lab in Clear Lake.

What police believe is a bad prank, even got a laugh out of one of the owners of the missing limbs. "I thought it was funny, it cost an arm and a leg,” said Dorothy Wolfe

Dorothy lives at Lakeside Lutheran Home in Emmetsburg, IA. About a year ago doctors amputated Dorothy’s leg just below the knee, due to complications from hip surgery. When she found out her prosthetic leg was gone, she thought it was funny at first, but then grew angry. "Without it I can't walk, I can't get around, I have to have somebody help me" Dorothy said.

Dorothy handled it better than the woman who lost her arm. She was devastated. "She had waited the majority of her life to get one and then on the day were going to deliver it, to realize 'hey it's gone,' it was a big deal" said Tom Leisure.

So how much does an arm and leg cost? Leisure says between $25,000 and $30,000 total. Emotional cost not included.

"I mean, you can't assign a price tag to bein’ able to walk or to function," said Leisure.

Clear Lake police asked the local newspaper to run a story on the burglary.

"We thought that kind of a story would stick with people, if they saw it and there might be a high probability that if they saw the missing arm and leg they would give us a call and we could recover the items," said Clear Lake Police Chief Greg Peterson.

They still haven't been found. 3 weeks later the arm has been replaced. Dorothy is still waiting on her new leg. "Why would someone do this? I have no Idea what's in their mind,” said Dorothy.

The Clear Lake police and Tom Leisure don't plan on pressing any charges as long as the stolen arm and leg are returned. Leisure says he just wants the limbs back for his patients.

If you know of the whereabouts of the stolen arm and leg, you can make arrangements to deliver them anonymously. Call the Clear Lake Police Department at (641) 357-2186.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-13-2007, 02:48 AM:
 
Recharge your batteries with your own urine!

quote:

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A new battery brand from Japan called NoPoPo comes with a little straw-like attachment. When the batteries get week, just use the straw to RECHARGE THEM WITH YOUR PEE! And, no, I'm not making this up. (props to The Boy Genius Report and Weird Asia News

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quote: CNN

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Crew member on new Batman film killed in crash
LONDON, England (AP) -- A special effects technician has been killed in a crash during production of the latest Batman film, Warner Bros. said Tuesday.
Dark Knight

Christian Bale plays Batman in "The Dark Knight."

The studio said the man, who was not identified, died when a truck carrying a camera platform crashed into a tree while following a stunt vehicle on Monday. Filming on the movie, "The Dark Knight," was not taking place at the time, and no actors were involved in the accident.

The accident took place during a test run at a racetrack near Chertsey, south of London.

The studio said producers, cast and crew "are deeply saddened by this tragedy and their hearts and prayers go out to the family and loved ones of the deceased."

Britain's Health and Safety Executive said it was investigating the accident.

Directed by Christopher Nolan, "The Dark Knight" stars Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader and Heath Ledger as his nemesis the Joker. It's scheduled for release next year.

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quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

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Film is among them...

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quote:

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Can you hear me now? No? Maybe that guy sitting on the other side of the restaurant is jamming your call.

Cell phone jammers, which scramble the signal of any incoming or outgoing cell phone call within a certain range, are illegal in the U.S. But that doesn't stop dozens of online catalogs from selling them to American buyers.

Although available for years, cell phone jammers are rare. You probably have never had your phone jammed. The reason is that, historically, jammers have been expensive, large and generally conspicuous looking.

Suddenly, all that has changed.

An online catalog called Brando, which specializes in all manner of USB gadgets and random peripheral devices, is now selling a very small and very inexpensive jammer. The jammer is actually smaller than a cell phone, costs only $166 and shuts down GSM 850-, 900-, 1,800- and 1,900-MHz cell phone calls within a 30-foot radius. The jammer holds a rechargeable lithium ion battery and comes with a charger.

The Palm Phone Jammer is the first cell phone jammer that I'm aware of that's priced, sized and created like a mass-market consumer electronics device.

Let's hope this product doesn't become a runaway hit this holiday season.

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quote:

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April 06, 2007 (Computerworld) -- How many times have you heard this?

"At this time, all electronic devices, including cell phones and two-way pagers, must be turned off and put away. After takeoff, I'll let you know when you may use approved electronic portable devices."

Of course, those "approved electronic portable devices" won't include your cell phone, not until after you land.

The reason is that cell phones interfere with the airplane's electronics, right?

Well, no, actually. The risk posed by cell phones to airplane equipment is unknown, and will remain unknown for as long as possible.

Phones are banned for two official reasons:

1. Cell phones "might" interfere with the avionics (aviation electronics) of some airplanes.

2. Cell phones aloft "might" cause problems with cell tower systems on the ground.

Both of these risks are easily tested, yet somehow neither the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) nor the Federal Communications Commission has been able to get a definitive answer in the past 20 years as to whether phone calls in flight cause these suspected problems. (The FAA is responsible for the flight safety portion of all this, and the FCC is responsible for the cell tower part.)

The government's dirty little secret is that it cultivates uncertainty about the effects of phones in airplanes as a way to maintain the existing ban without having to confront the expense and inconvenience to airlines and wireless carriers of allowing them.

Why airlines want the ban

The airlines fear "crowd control" problems if cell phones are allowed in flights. They believe cell phone calls might promote rude behavior and conflict between passengers, which flight attendants would have to deal with. The airlines also benefit in general from passengers remaining ignorant about what's happening on the ground during flights, including personal problems, terrorist attacks, plane crashes and other information that might upset passengers.

One way to deal with callers bothering noncallers would be to designate sections of each flight where calling is allowed -- like a "smoking section." But the ban is easier.

Also: If real testing were done, and the nature of the problem fully understood, it would become obvious that airplanes could be designed or retrofitted with shielding and communications systems that would enable safe calling through all phases of flight. But that would cost money. The ban is cheaper.

However, the airlines know that some kind of plane-to-ground communication is coming, and they want to profit from it. Simply allowing passengers to use their own cell phones in flight would leave the airlines out of the profit-taking. Airlines would prefer that phones be banned while they come up with new ways to charge for communication, such as the coming wave of Wi-Fi access. Meanwhile, the ban is potentially more profitable.

Why carriers want the ban

Cell phone and tower designs are based on the assumption that at any given time, only a few cell towers will be close to any specific phone. So any given tower will use different channels than those used by other towers closest to it, but will use the same channels as towers farther away. However, when a phone is used in an airplane, it might have roughly equal access to two or more towers that use the same channels, which confuses the carriers' computer systems. This situation might result in interrupted calls, reduced system capacity and other problems.

Of course, this could be fixed in any number of ways, including an overhaul of the software used to manage calls between towers, but the fix would cost money. The ban is cheaper.

Why the government wants the ban

Cell phones and other electronics vary in how much they could interfere with avionics. If it's determined that some devices do cause problems, all gadgets would have to do extra certification testing, which the government doesn't want to spend the money to do. The ban is cheaper.

Also: No FCC or FAA chairman wants to sign off a change in the rules because if a cell phone does cause either an airplane crash or a cell tower computer system crash, they don't want to be blamed. Keeping the ban is the safe decision for the politically ambitious. The ban is easier.

What are the facts?

DVD players, laptops, portable game machines, CD players, MP3 players all radiate energy, and theoretically could cause interferences with GPS systems, communications equipment and the airplane's interaction with distant navigational systems.

U.S. airlines alone carry on average some 2 million passengers per day. If just 1% of these passengers accidentally or deliberately leaves their cell phones on, that means some 20,000 cell phones remain on during flights every single day. Despite this, no crash has ever been definitively attributed to cell phone or gadget interference.

Many headsets used by private pilots come with jacks for using them with cell phones. The manufacturers say they're for use on the ground only. But many private pilots use them in the air without incident.

Cell phones are used in airplanes every day, and no crash has ever been definitively attributed to cell phone or gadget interference.

The TV show MythBusters "busted" as a myth the conventional wisdom that phones interfere with avionics.

However, a Carnegie Mellon University study conducted some four years ago found that portable electronics interfere with airplane systems -- especially GPS -- even more than previously feared.

The Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA), a nonprofit corporation that advises the FAA, studying the effect of phones on avionics. The RTCA is also looking at technologies that would minimize any disruption, including the use of ultrawideband frequencies and extremely low-power cellular phone systems. They're predicting a definitive answer to all this, but don't hold your breath.

Just this week, the FCC officially dropped its inquiry into lifting an existing ban on using cell phones during commercial flights. The FCC said after the ruling that "given the lack of technical information in the record upon which we may base a decision, we have determined at this time that this proceeding should be terminated."

So the ban remains in place because the government can't seem to come up with definitive answers.

But does that even matter? Interference problems could be overcome with well-understood techniques of shielding, reprogramming and other technology designed to facilitate safe calls.

(When I say "we," I mean we Americans. In Europe, they're working on both legalizing and facilitating calls on airplanes.)

What's wrong with the ban?

The government's reasoning for banning cell phones in airplanes is weak, lame and evasive.

Don't buy the government's bull about electronic interference. The truth is that the ban is cheaper and easier for airlines, carriers and the government than mustering the political will and leadership to make in-flight cell calls a reality.

Here's another problem with the government's abdication of responsibility on this question: Either phones and other gadgets can crash airplanes or they can't. If they can, then we've got a serious problem on our hands, and airplanes need to be upgraded to protect the public safety.

What's to stop terrorists from testing various gadgets, finding the ones with the highest levels of interferences, then turning on dozens of them at some crucial phase of flight, such as during a landing in bad weather?

If gadgets can't crash planes, then the ban is costing billions of hours per year of lost productivity by business people who want to work in flight.

For the government to avoid knowing the answer is incredibly irresponsible.

Clearly, using cell phones is a public benefit, not to mention a business benefit. Shouldn't the airlines and the regulatory agencies figure out how to make that happen?

We can put a man on the moon -- and let him chat with his friends in Houston for the whole trip. Surely, we can solve the problems associated with in-flight cell calls.

Mike Elgan is a technology writer and former editor of Windows Magazine. He can be reached at mike.elgan@elgan.com or his blog: http://therawfeed.com.

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quote:

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PHOENIXVILLE — The Phoenixville Police Department is investigating a freak accident in which a borough woman ran over both of her legs in the drive-through lane at McDonald’s, 651 Nutt Rd., Friday afternoon.

According to Cpl. Pat Mark, a black Chevrolet Blazer, driven by a 53-year-old borough woman, was in the drive-thru lane at McDonald’s around 1:55 p.m. September 28.

“For some unknown reason, her legs were run over by her vehicle,” said Mark. “We are investigating how this accident could’ve happened.”

What police are trying to determine is how the woman exited her vehicle and how her vehicle rolled over both legs.

Emergency personnel arrived on scene and began treatment before placing her on a stretcher.

The woman was conscious while speaking with emergency personnel, as they were focused on her legs.

The woman was transported via West End Ambulance to Friendship Field, where a waiting PennStar helicopter airlifted her to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) for unknown injuries to her legs.

Police are not releasing the name of the woman due to the uncertainty about her injuries.

One witness said that it looked like the woman had placed an order, and her vehicle was slowly moving forward.

The witness said that the next thing they knew, the woman had somehow fallen out of the Blazer and landed partially in the lane, and her legs went underneath her vehicle.

The distance from the Blazer to the restaurant wall in the drive-thru lane was approximately 53 inches, as measured by police.

The Blazer came to a stop just before the next drive-thru window at the restaurant.

Several blood stains were prevalent in the drive-thru lane, but were cleaned up by emergency personnel.

The Blazer was towed away from the scene by Dominick’s Auto Body, Phoenixville.

Mark said this accident is currently under investigation by police.

Assisting at the scene were Phoenixville Police Department, Phoenixville Fire Department and Phoenixville Fire Police.

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quote: Phil Hill

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Thompson had a reputation for handing out stiff sentences.

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 10-03-2007, 01:14 AM:
 
Secret Apartment in Mall Parking Garage Discovered!
Link to story
Link to pictures and QuickTime Movie

quote:

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Secret Apartment in Mall Parking Garage Discovered

What would it be like to live at the mall?
The leader of a Rhode Island artists' cooperative has been placed on probation for trying to find out -- by illegally living inside a secret apartment set up in a parking garage at the Providence Place Mall.

Michael Townsend and other artists started building the apartment nearly four years ago inside a void in the parking garage.

The apartment eventually had a sectional sofa and love seat, coffee and breakfast tables, a rug, paintings and a video game system. The artists built a cinderblock wall to disguise their hideaway.

Townsend says members of the collective would stay for up to three weeks at a time. Plans for a one-year stay fell apart when mall security found Townsend last week and detained him.

He has pleaded no contest to a trespassing charge.

Police Major Stephen Campbell says while he's surprised by what the artists accomplished, their stunt was still illegal.

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quote:

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KERSHAW COUNTY, SC (WIS) - A Kershaw County man is sharing his story of survival. He faced a life or death decision when his hand got stuck in a piece of farm equipment, and then a fire broke out around him. What he did next might shock you, and we have to warn you that some of the details might be disturbing.

"If I was going to die here, I was going to put up a fight, and that's basically what I did," says Sampson Parker.

For Parker, it could've all ended on his Kershaw County farm. He noticed a corn-stalk stuck in an old rusty picker. "I went up with my hand and the roller that takes the shucks off the corn had grabbed the glove and pulled my hand into the rollers."

"The more I tried pulling my hand out, the farther up my hand went."

On his knees, his hand stuck in the picker, Parker tried yelling out for help. No one answered. "Would've probably have passed out before anybody got here."

An hour passed. Parker's hand went numb and he couldn't wait any longer. With a rod he was able to jam the machine. Then, Parker took out "the John Deere pocket knife I had - started cutting away at my fingers like this."

But before he cut himself free, rod and machine started to spark. "It was almost like a gasoline fire - all of a sudden it went 'woosh'."

His right hand still stuck in the machine, Parker used his left to fight the spreading grass fire around him. "My skin was melting. It was dripping off my arm like plastic, plastic melting. I realized I was in trouble."

And he was desperate. So, Parker reached back in his pocket and grabbed his knife. "And I just jammed it into my arm, just like that, just started cutting away from the bone - just dropped."

His right arm now cut off, his body badly burnt, Parker drove to the road in front of his home. A firefighter from the town of Kershaw passed by. Doug Spinks says, "My biggest fear was this guy is going to die on me right here and there's nothing else I can do, other than what I've done."

What Spinks did was pull over, wrap Parker's arm and call for help. "I'm just thankful I was there."

So is Parker, crediting Spinks with saving his life.

On his farm, the idle corn-picker still sits. But Parker is moving on, and he says he isn't upset with anyone or anything. "Came down here, had a prayer with God and the corn picker and me. Made it easier, made peace with it."

"I'm just thankful to be alive - to do an interview with you."

Reported by Dan Tordjman

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 01-21-2008, 12:05 AM:
 
Texas UFO
 

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Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 01-21-2008, 05:23 AM:
 
Phil, about that judge, is that what they mean when they talk about the penal system?
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-25-2008, 11:33 PM:
 
The people behind the most-irritating ad campaign ever get nailed.

Smilin' Bob not smiling anymore.


Supplement Company Faces Fraud Trial

By TERRY KINNEY
The Associated Press

CINCINNATI - The government will prove that an herbal supplement company defrauded customers of $100 million, mostly for sexual enhancement products, a federal prosecutor said during opening statements in the company's trial Wednesday.

The case against Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals and its executives is based on the systematic use of unauthorized credit card charges and thousands of complaints over unordered products, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Porter told jurors.

In opening statements for the defense, an attorney said the government is relying on tainted testimony and said the company's rapid growth caused the customer service problems.

Berkeley Nutraceuticals marketed a number of products it said would help in weight control, memory loss and clear skin, but its main business was sexual enhancement products such as Enzyte "male enhancement" pills.

The company claims Enzyte has 2 million users worldwide. Television ads for Enzyte feature "Smiling Bob," a goofy, grinning man whose life gets much better after he uses the product.

According to an indictment, customers responding to free-trial offers were placed in an automatic shipping program, through which credit cards were billed without authorization. The company at various times offered full refunds, "double your money back," and "triple your money back" guarantees that were false. It also is accused of referring complaints to a director of customer care who did not exist.

Defendants include Berkeley, its president Steve Warshak, his mother, an in-house lawyer, a computer expert and a warehouse manager. They are accused of conspiracy to commit money laundering plus fraud and of obstructing two federal agencies in their investigations.

"Evidence will show that he implemented and directed the entire scheme," Porter said of Warshak.

The government plans to call as witnesses seven co-conspirators, including Warshak's sister and brother-in-law.

However, Warshak attorney Martin Weinberg said the witnesses' cooperation came through "deals and bargains, from fear and threats, and promises of leniency."

He said customer service problems were not from criminal intent, but a result of the company's "meteoric growth," from a one-person startup in 2001 to 1,500 employees by 2004.

The safety and usefulness of the company's products are not on trial.

Last year, Berkeley agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle allegations by attorneys general in Ohio and other states that the company engaged in deceptive practices in the sale of its products. The company did not admit any wrongdoing.

January 9, 2008 2:55 PM
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-26-2008, 03:10 AM:
 
I recall when those tv spots aired, I found them disturbing in a Stepford Wives/Village of the Damned kind of way.
Is the smile a side-effect of the drug? Seems that would discourage sex, not enhance it.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-26-2008, 11:42 AM:
 
Oh, they're still on the air. And, I agree; they're not funny, they're bizarre. The stilted staging, the frozen face, harsh 3-point lighting, and faux light music... eweww!
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-15-2008, 06:24 PM:
 
Remember when we moved back to Mackay, Queensland for a couple of years in 2004? They've had a bit of rain recently...

23.5 inches in 4 hours.

All in my family are OK thank goodness.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-25-2008, 05:48 AM:
 

quote: Daily Telegraph, 25 February 2008

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Monk killed by own runaway lawnmower

Last Updated: 2:04am GMT 25/02/2008

A Monk was killed when he was run over by his own sit-on lawnmower as he trimmed the grass at a convent, an inquest heard. Moments before, the 50-year-old was seen running after the driverless machine as it set off in the 12-acre grounds of a peace temple. The Milton Keynes coroner heard that 10 years earlier, Rev Seiji Handa had lost three fingers in another lawnmower accident.

An eye-witness told the jury how she had found the Buddhist monk after he had fallen beneath the blades of the mower at the Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes, Bucks. Venita Slater said she saw Mr Handa chasing the machine as it pulled away from him while he was cutting lawns at the peace temple. She said that the monk was dragged underneath the blades as he tried to get into the cab and regain control. The mother-of-two said: "The tractor was running away and he was chasing it to stop it. I looked up but he had disappeared."

Emergency services were called, but Mr Handa had died instantly. A post mortem examination revealed that he died of multiple injuries. Taran Hewitt, from the Health and Safety Executive, said officials had inspected the diesel vehicle and found that it should not have been in service. The ratchet on the handbrake was not working, the brakes were not able to hold the tractor steady and the footbrake did not work. Mr Hewitt said: "The only way to get the tractor to stay stationary was to turn the engine off and leave it in gear. It should not have been used."

Mr Handa was in charge of maintenance of the tractor and was also responsible for cutting the grass in the grounds of the convent, where he lived. The jury heard that he was born in Japan and became a Buddhist monk at the age of 21 years. He was ordained at a peace pagoda in Sri Lanka. He arrived in Milton Keynes in 1978 and built a temple with the help of nuns and volunteers.

The inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death. The coroner, Rodney Corner, said: "He got out of the cab and desperately tried to get back in. He must have slipped on wet grass. It was just an unfortunate accident."

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I've submitted this one for a Darwin Award nomination - he'd already had one serious accident with the thing and still couldn't be bothered to make sure the brakes worked!
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 02-25-2008, 07:56 AM:
 
Oh, my!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-28-2008, 11:15 PM:
 
Link to story with pictures

quote:

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The teenage girl who is allergic to WATER
Last updated at 00:26am on 29th February 2008

Comments Comments (17)
Teenager Ashleigh Morris can't go swimming, soak in a hot bath or enjoy a shower after a stressful day's work - she's allergic to water.

Even sweating brings the 19-year-old out in a painful rash.

Ashleigh, from Melbourne, Australia, is allergic to water of any temperature, a condition she's lived with since she was 14.

Scroll down for more ...
ashleigh water

Ashleigh, 19, has been allergic to water for five years

She suffers from an extremely rare skin disorder called Aquagenic Urticaria - so unusual that only a handful of cases are documented worldwide.

When Ashleigh gets wet her body explodes in sore, itchy red lumps that take about two hours to ease.

She has to wash. But showering is a painful experience and she can only do it for a minute at a time.

These brief showers are the only contact Ashleigh has with water. The one thing she doesn't miss is the washing up.

"People find it hard to believe, they say things like 'Oh my god, how do you wash.

Scroll down for more ...
ashleigh water

The rash Ashleigh gets after coming into contact with water is MORE painful than it looks

"That makes me feel dirty, but I consider myself a very clean person," she said.

Most of us take showering for granted but for Ashleigh it's a painful endurance that often reduces her to tears.

"Although my rash is unsightly, and often looks like I'm diseased, the feeling is so much worse than it looks," she said.

"I can't go anywhere for about two hours afterwards because it's so severe.

"There's been many occasions where I've been so itchy, I've made myself bleed from scratching."

Away from water pretty Ashleigh appears like any other healthy teenager.

She leads a busy life studying Journalism and Public Relations at university and working in an office.

But if she gets wet she attracts unwanted attention.

"People stare at me in the street," said Ashleigh who lives with her mum Louise Miller, 42.

"After a shower I stay at home until it goes away, that frees me of the burden of having to explain."

Ashleigh spends a lot of time explaining her condition because few people have heard of it. Most doctors and dermatologists have never seen a case of it. "Many people don't even believe me when I tell them," said Ashleigh, who hardly believed it herself at first.

She developed the condition five years ago after an acute case of tonsillitis. She was prescribed a heavy dose of penicillin that rid her of the tonsillitis but left her with another problem.

"I suddenly started getting a rash after I showered or swam," says Ashleigh who used to swim regularly and spend a lot of time at the beach.

"I tried to ignore it but it got progressively worse so I went to see a dermatologist."

Ashleigh's dermatologist, Professor Rodney Sinclair, told her the penicillin had altered the histamine levels in her body and caused the Aquagenic Urticaria to occur.

There is no cure and no successful treatment for the condition so the gravity of the situation began to dawn on the 14-year-old Ashleigh.

"I was in disbelief for a while, but I soon realised how serious it was.

"I cried for a few hours, then picked myself up, and kept going. I realised it was something I had to live with," she says.

So Ashleigh found ways to avoid water - she stopped doing sports and anything that made her sweat.

She makes sure she stays in air-conditioned places and always has an umbrella in her car. Her family and boyfriend of three years, Adam, 23, are very supportive but her condition makes intimate moments with her Adam a little difficult.

"We have to sleep with a sheet between us at night, and I can't go near him if he's sweaty," said Ashleigh.

Even the experts seem a little vague about Aquagenic Urticaria.

Dermatologists agree there's an association with elevated blood histamine levels, but there are other processes at work since antihistamine drugs often provide no relief at all.

Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists says: "There isn't a wealth of information about Aquagenic Urticaria because it's extremely rare.

"We're not sure how many cases there are in the world and we do not yet fully understand the precise mechanisms that trigger the weals."

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quote: The Daily Telegraph, 3 March 2008

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A Polish worker has come up with an unusual excuse after being caught in the act with a vacuum cleaner.

The building contractor claimed he was cleaning his underpants with Henry Hoover when he was found naked and on his knees in a hospital's staff canteen.

A stunned security guard stumbled onto the man in the middle of a compromising act with the cleaner, which has a large smiley face painted on its front and a hose protruding from its "nose".

According to the Sun, the contractor was supposed to be locking up the building site near the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital where his firm is refurbishing administration offices. The security guard, suitably horrified, told the man to "clean himself and the hoover" before asking him to leave and informing his bosses.

When later questioned by his employers, the man said he was vacuuming his underpants, which was "a common practice in Poland". He has since been fired. The man's employers, HG Construction, told The Sun: "That behaviour is not acceptable, though it gave a few people a laugh".

Henry Hoover is described on a cleaning website as "famous for its looks, but under its fascia lies a powerful, reliable vacuum cleaner ready to go time and time again." The man is not the first person to be caught in the act with an inanimate object. Last year, Robert Stewart was placed on probation for three years after being caught trying to have sex with a bicycle.

The 51-year-old was naked from the waist down when two cleaners walked in on him at the the Aberley House Hostel in south west Scotland. He paused only to ask, "What is it, hen?", before continuing to "move his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex". The court was told that alcohol was the cause of his problems.

And in 1993, Karl Watkins, an electrician, was jailed for having sex with pavements in Redditch, Worcs.

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Click on the link above for a pic of Henry - 'ready to go, time and time again'
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-12-2008, 05:43 PM:
 

quote: York Evening Press, 12 March 2008

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Rat found in toilet

A COUPLE woke up to a nasty surprise when they found an "enormous" dead rat in their toilet. Stacy Reeves, 21, of Ostman Road, Acomb, York, and her husband, Mike Reeves, 35, discovered the huge rodent in a toilet at their council home yesterday morning.

And the couple claim they received a further shock when City of York Council initially said it would not be able to remove the rat. The city council denied refusing to remove the creature, saying Mr Reeves was told by the authority that it would try to arrange for the rat to be disposed of.

Mrs Reeves said after her husband found the rat, he telephoned the council to inform the local authority of his shocking discovery. She said the council asked him where the toilet was, and that he told the authority it was the one in their lobby, which she said was attached to their kitchen.

She claimed the council replied that it could not do anything about the rat because it was "not within the fabrications of the house" - and that the authority said the Reeves would have to get rid of it themselves. She said Mr Reeves told the council the toilet was attached to the house, but that the authority maintained it was not within the house fabrications.

Speaking before the council removed the rat from her home yesterday, Mrs Reeves said: "The rat's massive, enormous. I can't see its tail. It looks like it's come up through the sewer. I don't know what I'm going to do to remove it. I'm certainly not going to touch it myself. I fear they carry all sorts of diseases, and you have to be careful. I don't want to risk it in case we do catch anything. I've got a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter and we don't want her to catch anything either.

"I think it's disgusting really, because the toilet is within the fabrications of the house. City of York Council built the lobby there - all these houses have them. This is what is annoying me - the council built the house this way and they won't come out."

However, a city council spokeswoman said: "There seems to have been some misunderstanding. The housing team understood from Mr Reeves that the rat was in an outside toilet, which would make it the responsibility of the tenant. However, the team arranged for the rat to be removed by the council's street scene team."

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It was in the loo, wasn't it? Why didn't she just pull the flush?
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-16-2008, 03:02 AM:
 
Speaking of toilets...

quote:

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Kansas Woman Sat On Toilet For 2 Years
Woman's Boyfriend Called Police Last Month

POSTED: 2:14 pm PDT March 12, 2008
WICHITA, Kan. -- Authorities are considering charges in the bizarre case of a woman who sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years -- so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time the boyfriend finally called police.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman's skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman's 36-year-old boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,"' Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

The boyfriend called police on Feb. 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.

"She said that she didn't need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.

She was reported in fair condition at a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.

Police have declined to release the couple's names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

The case has been the buzz of Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.

"I don't think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.

Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

"It really doesn't surprise me," Ellis said. "What surprises me is somebody wasn't called in a bit earlier."

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quote:

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By Eric Bangeman | Published: April 03, 2008 - 06:17PM CT

Earlier this week, a decision by the judge presiding over Elektra v. Barker was widely misreported as providing substantial support for the argument that making a song available over a P2P network constitutes copyright infringement. Another decision rendered the same day and just brought to light by the EFF actually does come to that conclusion, and the judge in that case has quashed a subpoena issued by the RIAA to learn the identities of four anonymous Boston University students.

Like the Barker decision, the EFF submitted an amicus curiae brief in London-Sire v. Does 1-4 raising many of the same arguments that it had in Elektra v. Barker and Atlantic v. Howell. The EFF argued that simply making music available on a P2P network did not rise to the level of copyright infringement and that the RIAA needed to demonstrate that someone other than its authorized agent, MediaSentry, downloaded the file. Judge Nancy Gertner agreed.

"Merely because the defendant has 'completed all the steps necessary for distribution' does not necessarily mean that a distribution has actually occurred," wrote Gertner in her order. "As noted above, merely exposing music files to the Internet is not copyright infringement."

Judge Gertner did find another EFF argument unconvincing, however. In this and other cases, the EFF had argued that the Copyright Act mandates that an actually, physical copy change hands in order for infringement to occur. Not so, according to the judge, who ruled that the EFF was relying on an "overly literal" definition of "material object." Whether the distribution takes place electronically or physical makes no difference.

As was the case in Elektra v. Barker, the judge did note that an "offer to distribute" is sufficient basis for a copyright infringement claim, which means that the RIAA can continue to make that allegation in its lawsuits. There is, however, a big difference between having evidence for a copyright infringement claim and showing by a preponderance of evidence that infringement actually took place.

Another issue addressed in the judge's ruling was how far a university should be required to go in order to identify suspected infringers for the RIAA. She notes that IP addresses cannot always be traced to a particular individual with certainty and says that Boston University's coughing up a "long list of possible infringers" would in effect greenlight an RIAA fishing expedition.

While Judge Gertner is throwing out the RIAA's subpoena, she is allowing the labels to refile. Boston University will then need to submit a copy of its terms of service (if it exists) along with the possible identities of those who were using the IP addresses in question when MediaSentry stumbled upon the shared folders. Once that information is in hand, the judge will make a decision on whether or not the data will be disclosed to the RIAA.

The RIAA sees this as only a temporary setback, with a spokesperson telling Ars that it is "confident" that it will get its hands on the identifying information at some point. It also took issue with the judge's decision on the "making available" argument. "We do not believe that the court's findings on this issue—which are at odds with the findings of numerous other courts to have addressed this issue, as well as the United States Copyright Office and Congress itself—are necessary to the court’s decision," the spokesperson said.

The fact that two judges issued such different rulings on the same day shows how much new ground is being covered by the RIAA's lawsuits—in no small part due to defendants that are willing to stand up to the record labels' bullying tactics. Ultimately, the question of what, exactly, needs to happen on a P2P network in order to show infringement is far from a settled issue. As the EFF points out in its press release that the wide variance in rulings so far means that other judges will have to deal with the same issues in other lawsuits brought by the RIAA. So far, there has been only a single trial, while the RIAA has even had some difficulty winning default judgments in cases where the defendants never showed up in court.

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quote:

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From The Sunday Times
April 6, 2008
Coming soon: superfast internet
Jonathan Leake, Science Editor

THE internet could soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds.

At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection, “the grid” will be able to send the entire Rolling Stones back catalogue from Britain to Japan in less than two seconds.

The latest spin-off from Cern, the particle physics centre that created the web, the grid could also provide the kind of power needed to transmit holographic images; allow instant online gaming with hundreds of thousands of players; and offer high-definition video telephony for the price of a local call.

David Britton, professor of physics at Glasgow University and a leading figure in the grid project, believes grid technologies could “revolutionise” society. “With this kind of computing power, future generations will have the ability to collaborate and communicate in ways older people like me cannot even imagine,” he said.

The power of the grid will become apparent this summer after what scientists at Cern have termed their “red button” day - the switching-on of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the new particle accelerator built to probe the origin of the universe. The grid will be activated at the same time to capture the data it generates.

Cern, based near Geneva, started the grid computing project seven years ago when researchers realised the LHC would generate annual data equivalent to 56m CDs - enough to make a stack 40 miles high.

This meant that scientists at Cern - where Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the web in 1989 - would no longer be able to use his creation for fear of causing a global collapse.

This is because the internet has evolved by linking together a hotchpotch of cables and routing equipment, much of which was originally designed for telephone calls and therefore lacks the capacity for high-speed data transmission.

By contrast, the grid has been built with dedicated fibre optic cables and modern routing centres, meaning there are no outdated components to slow the deluge of data. The 55,000 servers already installed are expected to rise to 200,000 within the next two years.

Professor Tony Doyle, technical director of the grid project, said: “We need so much processing power, there would even be an issue about getting enough electricity to run the computers if they were all at Cern. The only answer was a new network powerful enough to send the data instantly to research centres in other countries.”

That network, in effect a parallel internet, is now built, using fibre optic cables that run from Cern to 11 centres in the United States, Canada, the Far East, Europe and around the world.

One terminates at the Rutherford Appleton laboratory at Harwell in Oxfordshire.

From each centre, further connections radiate out to a host of other research institutions using existing high-speed academic networks.

It means Britain alone has 8,000 servers on the grid system – so that any student or academic will theoretically be able to hook up to the grid rather than the internet from this autumn.

Ian Bird, project leader for Cern’s high-speed computing project, said grid technology could make the internet so fast that people would stop using desktop computers to store information and entrust it all to the internet.

“It will lead to what’s known as cloud computing, where people keep all their information online and access it from anywhere,” he said.

Computers on the grid can also transmit data at lightning speed. This will allow researchers facing heavy processing tasks to call on the assistance of thousands of other computers around the world. The aim is to eliminate the dreaded “frozen screen” experienced by internet users who ask their machine to handle too much information.

The real goal of the grid is, however, to work with the LHC in tracking down nature’s most elusive particle, the Higgs boson. Predicted in theory but never yet found, the Higgs is supposed to be what gives matter mass.

The LHC has been designed to hunt out this particle - but even at optimum performance it will generate only a few thousand of the particles a year. Analysing the mountain of data will be such a large task that it will keep even the grid’s huge capacity busy for years to come.

Although the grid itself is unlikely to be directly available to domestic internet users, many telecoms providers and businesses are already introducing its pioneering technologies. One of the most potent is so-called dynamic switching, which creates a dedicated channel for internet users trying to download large volumes of data such as films. In theory this would give a standard desktop computer the ability to download a movie in five seconds rather than the current three hours or so.

Additionally, the grid is being made available to dozens of other academic researchers including astronomers and molecular biologists.

It has already been used to help design new drugs against malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills 1m people worldwide each year. Researchers used the grid to analyse 140m compounds - a task that would have taken a standard internet-linked PC 420 years.

“Projects like the grid will bring huge changes in business and society as well as science,” Doyle said.

“Holographic video conferencing is not that far away. Online gaming could evolve to include many thousands of people, and social networking could become the main way we communicate.

“The history of the internet shows you cannot predict its real impacts but we know they will be huge.”

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Posted by Rick Hunter (Member # 1606) on 04-08-2008, 01:14 AM:
 
If you're going to speed, don't tell Mr Plod!
Leader Surburban Newspapers Melbourne.
link

quote:

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Speeding Youtube video lands hoon in court

07Apr08

A FRANKSTON hoon has been convicted of reckless driving after police found videos he posted on YouTube showing his car hitting speeds of 175km/h.

And the case might not be the last, with police sources telling Leader the world's most popular video sharing site could be scanned more often for gloating lawbreakers.

Have you seen a YouTube video of Melbourne hoonery? If so, post a URL in the story comment field below.
Police charged Robert Edward Read, 21, of Pinehill Drive, over three incidents involving breath-taking speed last year -including two at Tyabb - after they were tipped off about the videos filmed by a friend.

Read pleaded guilty in Frankston Magistrates' Court last Tuesday to reckless driving endangering serious injury (two charges) and driving at a dangerous speed (one).

Police said Read travelled at at least 160km/h at Tyabb's Denham Rd on January 19 and 22 and Hampton's South Rd on June 23.

It is understood the clips have been removed from the site. They were not shown in court.

YouTube potentially allows millions of contributors to disguise themselves with user names while showing the world their home-made clips.

The Victorian Police Force computer crime squad was involved in the Read investigation.

Its media liaison unit said squad members questioned were unaware of a similar YouTube-related prosecution, although unit member Kate Lawson said it was difficult to be sure as collated statistics were not as specific as naming YouTube.

Other police sources were also unaware of such a YouTube case in Victoria. Some saw the site being used more.

Magistrate Ross Betts gave Read a three-month jail term, suspended for two years, and disqualified his driving licence for two years.

Prosecutor Sen-Constable Darryl Hayes told Mr Betts a friend operating a video camera filmed Read's speeding car each time, becoming one of those people put at risk by the recklessness.

He said on June 23 Hastings police arrested Read, who surrendered a camcorder and a computer and made full admissions.

Lawyer Ashley Tickner, for Read, said his client had been into motor racing, particular V8 cars, with other risk-takers.

Read, an apprentice at Hastings, had no previous convictions and had since left the group and the lifestyle with its destructive path, Mr Tickner said.

Mr Betts described Read's behaviour as serious and disgraceful, saying it was fortunate no one had died or been injured.

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quote:

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As DreamWorks Animation, Disney and other studios ramp up production of 3-D films, a newly formed company called D-mented Entertainment has teamed with Ray-Ban maker Luxottica Group and 3-D technological company Kerner Optical to launch a designer line of 3-D eyewear for the masses.
The company is banking on the idea that the public will shell out money for frames that will be higher quality and more stylish than the cardboard tossaways given out free in theaters. The stereoscopically enhanced 3-D glasses will be mounted in Wayfarer frames and should be ready for sale late this year.

The technological production of the glasses will be spearheaded by Kerner Optical founding partner Yuska Siuicki, who thinks designer lenses will eventually become as commonplace as cell phones.

Siuicki predicts consumers will be able to do much more with the lenses than watch the occasional 3-D theatrical release. Videogame makers will begin turning out 3-D games; audiences will watch shows and sports on 3-D television sets; and computer screens will be 3-D capable. Even film library titles will be candidates for 3-D upgrades: Siuicki said Kerner has developed technology to convert 2-D movies and TV shows to 3-D. The conversion cost, $5 million to $7 million for a film, will shrink as demand and technology improve. Kerner is also a partner in SpectonicIQ, one of several 3-D capable TV sets that will hit the retail marketplace this year.

"You will be using these high-end Ray-Ban glasses at home, on your computer and TV, and then you'll stick them in your pocket and take them to the theater," Siuicki said. "They are much more comfortable than what is out there now, and the lenses will soon be available in prescription. This space is exploding."

D-mented, which will spearhead the launch of the lenses into the marketplace, will be run by producer-manager Dave Phillips and live event producer Carter Reese.

Kerner is made up of the physical effects division and operating stages of ILM, which Kerner acquired from George Lucas in 2006.

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I've been saying they should do this for years. Never thought it would actually happen, though. Needless to say, these are copped.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 04-15-2008, 02:51 PM:
 
This book is going into my library. I've got a job fair to go to this afternoon. I'll read this on the way and give its suggestions a try. Will let you know how successful I was.

quote:

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BOOKS
Make Enemies and Alienate People

A satirical new book serves up a 10-step program on how to be, well - an a--hole
By Brian Braiker | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Apr 14, 2008 | Updated: 10:35 a.m. ET Apr 14, 2008

Are you a swell guy, everyone's sunken-chested doormat? Maybe you're a pushover of a gal, a tad overeager to please at the expense of your own tepid desires? Saps of the world, rejoice: Martin Kihn has written the book just for you.

"I was the nicest guy in the world—and it was killing me," he writes in "A$$hole: How I Got Rich and Happy by Not Giving a Damn About Anyone and How You Can Too," his new mock-help masterpiece. "My life was a dictionary without the word 'no.' If you asked me for a favor—even the kind of favor that required me to go so far out of my way that I needed a map, a translator and an oxygen tank—even if I didn't know you that well, I might hesitate a second, but I'd always say yes."

Until, that is, he realized that he was competing for a promotion with a colleague he refers to as the Nemesis (a text-book a-word). Kihn resolved to "blowtorch away [his] old personality and uncover the rock-hard warrior within." Toward that end he devised a "10-step program to [anus]ism" for anyone wanting to acquaint himself with his inner über-alpha. Kihn, who has written for Spy, the New York Times Magazine and VH1's beloved "Pop-Up Video," calls his hilarious send-up of business culture "office-based satire." Think Dogbert on steroids, munching garlic bagels in public while closing deals on his Bluetooth ear thingy. Kihn recently discussed his new life as a walking, talking sphincter with NEWSWEEK's Brian Braiker. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Your book seems to be a hit in the U.K., where it came out first.
Martin Kihn: It was No. 33 at one point. There's been quite a lot of press.

Well, there are a lot of them in England.
[Laughs] I can't figure it out. They really seem to get it. It's doing well in Germany, also. I think there's a slightly anti-American flavor in Europe. Maybe this is helping the situation for me: "He's an [fill in family-unfriendly word that NEWSWEEK generally avoids]; he's American. This makes sense."

In this book you hire an acting coach and a dog whisperer; you have a nemesis competing for a big client. How much is true?
I would say everything in there happened. It certainly didn't happen in that order. The biggest challenge was the acting coach. He wasn't one person; multiple people were made into one. Also, I have a thing about reimagining. It's not malicious intent, it's just that I can't remember what people say. I'm trying to make it funny, too.

But you actively went out into the world and tried to be an, uh, aggressively un-nice person?
Oh sure, absolutely. It started from a really real place where I was actually very serious in the beginning. I had a performance review and it was implied that I was too nice to ever be in charge. It sort of made me sad, to be honest. So I thought, "Why don't I try this experiment." But the original idea was that this would be a serious book: you have to be an [curse word synonymous with "unbelievable jerk" that begins with the letter A] in America, because it came out of being really bitter and enraged. And then it turned funny. I started doing it, and it became ridiculous.

What did you do out of character that you wouldn't normally have done?
It's amazing what you can do in New York and not get much of a reaction, like giving people a dollar to insult me right outside Rockefeller Center. Thinking about it ahead of time was a lot more painful than doing it. I cut in line at a hot dog stand. I threw it down and I demanded my money back. There was somebody I had offended in line. The guy wasn't saying anything, but there was a look about him that made me back down immediately. I did return things without a receipt.

What's the difference between being an [epithet that begins with the first letter of the alphabet] and just a jerk? Where's the line?
The alpha male is someone like Donald Trump. They're simply decisive, commanding. But they have empathy. And if somebody appeals to them on a human level they'll respond, probably. The [buttocks personified] takes it to the next step: he or she is somebody who literally has no empathy. What I was trying to do in this book was press the point and ask, "How far is too far?" What direction are we going in when we try to out-alpha each other to the extreme? It almost becomes a comical character. It's no longer simple dominance, it's ridiculousness.

It becomes a caricature.
Yeah. And the big insight of the whole thing for me is that I was able to adopt a kind of persona that I didn't have. It wasn't really me, but it was a character. And it let me off the hook, because it wasn't really me. We all do that to a certain extent, we do that at the office.

If Donald Trump is just an alpha male, who are the famous [human derrieres] throughout history?
There are [scatological body part] philosophers. Everyone says Nietzsche, Machiavelli. But my favorite is Ayn Rand. Everyone really likes her, but if you look at her books it's like an [rectal] manifesto. It's a big ego trip: either you're the special person and you can do literally whatever you want—that is the definition of an [a-hole]—or you're not, in which case you're the victim of one of these people. It's a pretty clear [orifice] worldview. She even had a book called "The Virtue of Selfishness." But my perfect role model is a fictional character, Tony Montana [in "Scarface"]. He was over the top; he was not quite real.

But now you have a blog where you cite examples of such behavior in the real world.
Women can be [disagreeable people] too. Heather Mills is a classic. She seems a little unhinged. Everyone thinks of Simon Cowell. Some people have said Rupert Murdoch, but I was on Fox News, so I wouldn't call him an [excretory opening]. There are some timeless [proctological] maneuvers: interrupting, taking credit for everything, claiming every idea you've ever heard as your own—that's the one I like.

I like interrupting the person talking to you just to assert something that makes absolutely no sense.
[Laughs] People do that. Neil Cavuto did that on his [Fox News] show! It was pretty funny. He took out his BlackBerry and started looking and he wasn't listening to me. He said, "Oh, uh, I wasn't listening." He didn't say, "Sorry." He was being an [posterior portal]. See?

What's your take on alternate words, like "a--hat" or "douchebag"?
[Laughs] I like "d---head," because apparently you can say that on the radio.

You can?
That's what I've heard. You can't say [the word we have refrained from printing thus far in this interview] in America, but you can say d---head.

Yeah, I'm still not sure how we're going to print this interview, to be honest.
On TV I can say masspole, so I just say masspole the whole time. Or a-hole is all right, or jerk. By the way, the BBC made a new rule for me. I was allowed to say the word [begins with A, you figure it out] after 10 p.m. So I changed history. Me. I'm so proud.

© 2008

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quote: Daily Telegraph, 18 April 2008

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Learner bus driver turns double-decker into open-top

By staff and agencies
Last Updated: 8:58am BST 18/04/2008

A learner driver discovered he had no room up top in his bus after smashing it into a low bridge yesterday.

The top deck was ripped off and left on the road after the accident in the village of Four Ashes, near Wolverhampton. The National Express West Midlands driver, who was alongside an instructor and another trainee, had been following a set training route when disaster struck. The firm is now investigating what happened.

Residents in the quiet village described it as an accident waiting to happen, having watched other lorries and large vehicles try to use the route to get to the local Industrial Estate. Mark Westwood, a 41-year-old farmer, said: “I was making myself a cup of coffee in my kitchen when I heard a loud bang, bang, bang. It was an unbelievable sight. Fortunately no-one has been injured.”

Mr Westwood said that last wee part of his garden wall was demolished by a continental truck trying to reverse up his drive. He added that a training bus had been forced to turn around a couple of weeks ago when using the route. “I think some of them think they are in single decker buses,” he said.

Helen Davies, 57, a company secretary, said: “We have all taken photographs of the incident to support our case to stop large vehicles using this road.” The bridge, which carries the main train line to Scotland, is 12ft 3in, but the bus height is 14ft 9in. Trains were running as normal yesterday. Stuart Henry, of National Express West Midlands, said: “We will be conducting an internal investigation.”

Emma Stanley, a spokeswoman for Staffordshire Police, said there was slight damage to two cars that were travelling behind the bus.

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quote: The Daily Telegraph, 22 April 2008

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A toy manufacturer in the Ukraine has made headlines by announcing it will sell dolls of the former German dictator Adolf Hitler.

The 16in figurine - complete with moveable arms to reproduce Hitler's infamous salute - will first go on sale in the capital Kiev, local media reported.

The owner will be able to choose from a selection of outfits including "early days Adolf" (brown shirts and jodhpurs) and "wartime Adolf" (a grey double breasted tunic, black trousers and simple Iron Cross medal).

The doll will also come with accessories like a miniature Blondi, Hitler's faithful Alsatian whose loyalty was repaid with a cyanide capsule in the Berlin bunker.

Germany's World War Two invasion of the Soviet Union left between two and three million inhabitants in the Ukraine dead, including an estimated 1.5 million Jews.

Most Nazi images are illegal in Ukraine, as are any positive depictions of the Nazi regime. But the former Soviet republic has seen increasing nationalist activism in recent years.

There are also reports of increasing xenophobia and racism, and of some extremists supporting racism similar to that of Nazi Germany under Hitler. Ukraine's Zerkalo Tizhden newspaper reported that the toy manufacturer would release the line of Hitler dolls in the summer.

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quote:

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A Racine, Wis., woman says she has been fined $400 for sending a text message in a movie theater, but police say there's a lot more to the story, MyFOXMilwaukee reported.

Melissa Nelson, 25, claims she was viewing "Prom Night" Friday at Marcus Theatres in Sturtevant, Wis., with friends to celebrate her brother’s birthday when her cell phone vibrated in her purse.

Nelson told MyFOXMilwaukee she received a text message concerning her 5-year-old daughter and that she quietly sent one text message back. Nelson’s friend, who was sitting next to her at the time, says no one complained or even noticed that Nelson was sending a text message on her phone.

Marcus Theatres said in a police report that they were having problems with people talking on their cell phones all day and had made a special announcement to moviegoers that night asking them not to use phones, MyFOXMilwaukee reported.

The movie theater’s usher noticed Nelson’s phone by a small light blinking in the dark.

"He came over like, ‘Put that away.’ That’s how he said it," Nelson’s friend told MyFOXMilwaukee. "She’s like, ‘Just give me a second and I’ll be done.’ And he’s like, ‘Well I’m going to get security.’"

The security guard on duty was an officer with the Sturtevant Police Department.

"I don’t know if he was having a bad night, but from the moment he came into the theater he had an attitude," Nelson told MyFOXMilwaukee.

The Sturtevant police report claims just the opposite, with the officer claiming he repeatedly asked Nelson to put her phone away, but she kept arguing with him. She was given a $400 ticket for disorderly conduct.

Nelson claims it was the officer who was disorderly, saying he pushed her.

"All of this over a text message concerning my daughter," Nelson said.

The Sturtevant police chief told MyFOXMilwaukee they support the officer’s decision.

Marcus Theatres released a statement reading, "Marcus Theatres works hard to provide an environment where all moviegoers can enjoy watching films without visual or audio disturbances. We support the actions of our theatre staff who took the correct steps to politely deal with this guest."

Nelson says she will fight the disorderly conduct ticket.

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Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 04-24-2008, 02:57 PM:
 
GOOD! [RANT] This D-BAG could have excused herself from the theatre to send this message. She was on private property and broke the rules the management of the property clearly stated, then refused to follow direction from a low enforcement officer. I think she was lucky to only get a $400.00 ticket "Disorderly Conduct" is an arrestable offense. Maybe (if he even really did) the usher should have said "please" but you know what? They clearly made an announcement before the film that cell phone use was not allowed and this princess among women decided that she was special and that she could use her cell phone "because it was about HER daughter". If it was me I wouldnt have even gave her the opportunity to put it away, I would have asked her to leave as soon as I saw the phone if an announcement had already been made. NO REFUND either! [/rant]
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-24-2008, 04:41 PM:
 
Sounds to me like we're well and truly into conflicting viewpoints territory. Of course the customer is going to claim that she wasn't disrupting anyone, and of course the policeman is going to claim that she was. If this is going to be taken further, both have an interest in making their side of the story stick.

I was once threatened at knifepoint after politely asking another passenger in the train I was on to refrain from using his mobile in the 'quiet carriage' (the standard class carriage at the back of British trains is one in which mobiles and personal music players should not be used). The guard, who was in the carriage checking tickets at the time, claimed to have seen nothing and made it very clear that if I raised the issue with the Police, he would deny any knowledge of the incident. The bottom line is that the only way we're ever going to be able to deal with this problem is by making it legal to operate short-range signal blocking devices in places like theatres, libraries, quiet carriages, designated mobile free areas of restaurants and so on.

In the meantime, whenever I travel anywhere now, I either go by car or plane.
 

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Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 04-24-2008, 07:02 PM:
 
You should have kicked him in the jimmy
 

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Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 04-24-2008, 10:16 PM:
 
The real problem is that people don't understand the LIGHT causes a problem, and getting that across is difficult. The article doesn't do a terribly good job of explaining it either. Ah well...

--jhawk
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-12-2008, 10:30 PM:
 
Link to story.

Driver straps in beer, not toddler

A Northern Territory driver has been fined by police after he strapped a seatbelt around a carton of beer but left a five-year-old child to sit on the floor of his car.

The man was pulled over on the Ross Highway, south of Alice Springs, about 3.30pm on Friday, when officers on patrol noticed the vehicle was unregistered and uninsured.

But what they found inside the car shocked them.

Four adults occupied the car with two in the front and two in the rear seats.

The carton of beer was buckled safely in the rear centre seat between two of the adults, while the five-year-old boy crouched on the floor.

"The concern is about people's priorities," a Northern Territory police spokesperson said.

"You get a lot of people riding around without seat belts in remote communities here but it is very unusual to see someone go to the trouble of strapping in a carton of beer instead of a small child. That is the shocking thing."

The driver has been fined $750.

----------------------------------

Slap him the fine and then slap him...good!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-30-2008, 07:36 PM:
 
'Sex and the City' gets surprise boom at Mall of America screening

The editors of "The Sex and the City" movie may not have been the ones who lowered the boom on viewers at a private FM107 screening Wednesday night at the Mall of America.

At one point the audience was all snuggled up in the latest travails of Carrie and Big, when a sound boom -- overhead mike --dropped into the picture. There were shutters, giggles and gasps. Just about the time viewers was thinking "What the ..." it happened again and again.

A poll of moviegoers yielded these theories:

"You know what that was? That was the movie version of what's happening in books, in magazines, in everything you can find written between 2003 and now," said Heather of Minneapolis. "People don't care about editing. They don't care about perfectionism, and I don't know why. I think it's the world gone awry. I think we go the cheap print."

Nara Berson, who works in Minneapolis, said, "I think it might have been part of the story. It was too obvious to be missed, so it was kind of making you aware that you were watching a movie. Everyone is so familiar with the story, it kind of takes you out of it a little bit, makes you laugh.

Cyndie Lind, of Bayport, said, "I think they were trying to get the movie out right away to make a buck; slapped together to make a buck." She also said, "I was let down" by the movie plot.

Jodi Jacobson of North St. Paul said she had no comment on the boom, but "I loved it (the movie). I loved seeing the old gals back together again."

FM107's Margery Punnett had a different perspective, perhaps because she was seated near the middle of the MOA theater.

"It looked like it was off frame from the projector, if they even use projectors anymore," she said. "I don't know enough technically about why that would be, because they adjusted it. It was hysterical because you could even see the light filters, the black cardboard that shines the light in a certain way."

"No" it was not the fault of the moviemakers, Punnett added. "My guess is that it was something here."

She's one smart woman and she may be onto something, because there is nothing in reviews I've seen that makes mention of this glitch.

It's something about which a manager at the theater will be asked Thursday when one is available for comment.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/19342354.html?page=1&c=y
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 05-31-2008, 04:40 AM:
 

quote: John Hawkinson

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The real problem is that people don't understand the LIGHT causes a problem

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quote: Richard Hamilton

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Then I should be able to sue UltraStereo $400 for every hearing impaired person that uses their headsets and has a little red L.E.D. moving around in front of me?

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quote: Joe Redifer

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Nara Berson, who works in Minneapolis, said...

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"This movie is the best thing that happened to me since I drove across that bridge last summer."
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-08-2008, 12:10 AM:
 
link

Well Phil...would you?

(Text intentionally not quoted for humorous purposes.)
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 06-08-2008, 12:30 AM:
 
Hubba Hubba!
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-21-2008, 11:07 AM:
 

quote: Daily Telegraph, 21 June 2008

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Six-foot python found in Australian toilet

Horrified tenants of an Australian apartment block were left squirming after discovering a six foot python in their loo. The six-foot python was found in the toilet in an Australian apartment block.

Residents of the 10th floor apartment in the upmarket Cullen Bay complex in Darwin got the shock of their lives when the slimy reptile slithered out of the toilet bowl and on to the bathroom floor.

It is believed the snake had been lurking in the plumbing of the building for some time. Darwin's famous reptile wrangler Chris Peberdy, who rescued the scaly beast, said that even he was surprised that the snake had chosen to take up residence in such a stinky place.

"When I saw it I was pretty shocked," Peberdy told the Northern Territory News. "It's one thing to have a green frog in the toilet but not a six foot python. It would certainly scare you if it came up from the depths of the toilet. "I had to give him a good wash as he was wet and a bit smelly."

Mr Peberdy said the snake, a black-headed python which was as thick as a person's wrist, was likely to be a runaway pet that had travelled through the pipes after escaping a neighbour's home. He said: "Black-headed pythons are quite rare in the Darwin area, but they are popular in captivity. They are a prized pet and are quite valuable."

He added that this snake had had a lucky escape but warned that snake owners should keep their reptiles secured in appropriate cages or their pet could face a much bleaker end. "This could have ended in disaster. The snake could have been killed and chopped up into little pieces."

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quote: The Smoking Gun

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"Can You Hear Me Now?"
Cops: Ohio Peeping Tom hid cell phone camera in his backside

JUNE 23--Meet Jeffrey Barrier. The Ohio man allegedly used a cell phone camera to snap photos of a naked woman at a tanning salon Saturday and then hid the phone in his anus in a bid to thwart police. Standing on a chair, Barrier, 41, took the photos at Cincinnati's Aloha Tanning, where a 35-year-old woman was "in the nude in a tanning room," according to a Hamilton County Municipal Court affidavit. When cops later confronted Barrier, "he kept denying any involvement of the incident" and claimed to not have a camera. However, a second search of the suspect turned up the camera. As noted in a Hamilton County Sheriff's Office report, Barrier "did hide evidence in his anus." Barrier, pictured in the below mug shot, was charged with disorderly conduct for taking the photos and obstructing official business for hampering a police investigation. Barrier, due in court today, is free on $1500 bond. (3 pages)

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 06-28-2008, 01:04 PM:
 
I find this sooo freakin' funny! Counter-culture doesn't like it when someone goes counter to THEIR culture! LOL

Man jailed for setting fire to "Burning Man".

RENO, Nev. - A San Francisco performance artist was sentenced Friday to as many as four years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for the early torching last summer of the signature effigy of the counterculture Burning Man festival.



Paul Addis pleaded guilty in May to one felony count of injury to property stemming from the burning of the 40-foot icon on Aug. 28 — four days earlier than planned. He was ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution.

Addis, 35, was taken into custody after a hearing this week in Pershing County District Court in Lovelock.

Burning Man organizers rebuilt the effigy in time for it to go up in flames in the ceremonial climax of the annual weekend festival in the northern Nevada desert.

In March, Addis pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts related to an alleged arson attempt at San Francisco's historic Grace Cathedral, according to the city prosecutor's office.

Addis was out on bail in the Burning Man case when police say he was found with an ammunition belt of small explosives outside the Episcopal church. He was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered back to Nevada to face the charges there.

Burning Man, an eclectic art, music and performance festival that draws more than 40,000 people, began in 1986 at San Francisco's Baker Beach and was moved to the Black Rock Desert in 1990.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 06-28-2008, 01:50 PM:
 
How can anyone be this clueless in this day and age? Oh that's right, these are DMV people...

quote:

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What the ...? N.C. offers new license plates
If you know what WTF means in text-speak, you’ll understand why

WNCN-TV
updated 12:45 p.m. PT, Fri., June. 27, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. - Thanks to some text message-savvy grandchildren, North Carolina drivers whose license plates have the potentially offensive “WTF” letter combination can replace the tags for free.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Tuesday that the state Division of Motor Vehicles has notified nearly 10,000 holders of license plates with the letter combination. Officials learned last year that the common acronym stands for a vulgar phrase in e-mail and cell phone text messages.

But this week, the DMV officials got another surprise when they learned that the same letters appeared on the agency’s own Web site on a sample personalized plate.

“I can’t believe it,” DMV Commissioner Bill Gore said Monday when told about the online glitch. “Obviously, I didn’t know it was there.”

Officials are working to remove the sample plate.

The WTF-5505 used on the Web site’s sample plate was the first random letter combination available when the DMV switched from blue- to red-lettered plates, officials said. DMV spokeswoman Marge Howell received a sample plate WTF-5506 to use as a prop for news stories about the switch.

A 60-year-old technology teacher from Fayetteville complained about the plate last July after her teenage grandchildren clued her in.

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quote: BBC News Online, 30 June 2008

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An exam board is to review its marking guidance after one of its top examiners gave marks for a script which contained only a two-word sexual expletive.

The Times reported that Assessment and Qualifications Alliance chief examiner Peter Buckroyd gave a pupil two marks out of 27 for an English GCSE paper. He is quoted as saying the candidate had demonstrated more skills than one "who doesn't write anything at all". AQA said this was not in line with its guidelines, which would be clarified.

The pupil is reported to have written "fuck off", and would have had another mark for adding an exclamation point.

Mr Buckroyd is quoted by the Times as saying: "It would be wicked to give it a zero because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for - like conveying some meaning and some spelling."

An AQA spokeswoman said examiners were instructed to contact the board's offices where they would be advised in accordance with the guidelines of the Joint Council for Qualifications, which represents exam boards. She said: "As a result, an obscenity should either be disregarded, or action will be taken against the candidate, depending on the seriousness of the case.

"The example cited was unique in the experience of the senior examiner concerned and was used in a pre-training session to emphasise the importance of adhering to the mark scheme: i.e. if a candidate makes any sort of response to a question then it must be at least given consideration to be awarded a mark.

"We do not condone the use of obscenities in scripts: in the light of this incident we will be reviewing our instructions to examiners which will include reiterating the procedure to be followed when encountering obscenities in scripts."

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quote:

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It's not been a good year for the groins of baseball players. Before the season even started we saw Felix Pie miss time with a twisted testicle and, on Monday, a fastball found Jose Molina's jewels. Molina's okay and it would appear he got off easy. On the same night, Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder took a foul tip to the groin. He went on the 15-day disabled list yesterday with a fractured left testicle.

I know what you're thinking, one of the things anyway, how can you fracture something that isn't a bone? Fairly easily, it seems.

Each testicle is surrounded by the tunica albuginea, a tough, fibrous covering that often takes the hit of trauma to the gland. Like the shell of an egg, it can be easily "fractured" or shattered when confronted by a blunt or violent force.

Kaz Matsui's anal fissures never sounded so good. We'll take a brief pause at this time to allow our male readers to take a deep breath and thank the heavens that they aren't Chris Snyder this morning.

And we're back! Snyder will have surgery to repair the injured testicle today and is, shockingly, not expected to miss much time. The D-Backs expect to have him back after the All-Star Game. I expect to stop grimacing in pain at the thought sometime this afternoon.

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quote:

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Control Room: "South Wales Police, what's your emergency?"

Caller: "It's not really. I just need to inform you that across the mountain there's a bright stationary object."

Control room: "Right."

Caller: "If you've got a couple of minutes perhaps you could find out what it is? It's been there at least half an hour and it's still there."

Control: "It's been there for half an hour. Right. Is it actually on the mountain or in the sky?"

Caller: "It's in the air."

Control: "I will send someone up there now to check it out."

Caller: "OK."

The mystery was soon solved, as the exchange between control and an officer at the scene, makes clear.

Control: "Alpha Zulu 20, this object in the sky, did anyone have a look at it?"

Officer: "Yes, it's the moon. Over."

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quote: London Evening Standard, 14 July 2008

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A ‘vulnerable’ man cut off his own head with a chainsaw after being ordered to move out of his home to make way for developers, police believe. David Phyall’s severed head was found beside the power tool inside his housing association flat shortly after receiving his eviction notice.

Detectives were today investigating the possibility that the 58-year-old killed himself rather than leave his home of eight years. He was the last resident living on an estate earmarked for demolition. All 71 surrounding flats were empty.

Paramedics and police made the gruesome find after receiving a 999 call. An inquest is now being carried out into the exact cause of death and what had happened to Mr Phyall, described as ‘vulnerable’, beforehand. It is understood police are not treating his death as suspicious.

Mr Phyall had lived in his flat at Bishopstoke in Eastleigh, Eastley, Hants, since 2000 and was fighting to stay there despite plans to bulldoze the entire area and rebuild it. Many flats had already been boarded up.

Mr Phyall rented the property from Atlantic Housing Ltd. He had been unhappy since the plans to level the flats and rebuild them were passed in 2006. It is thought that he may have even been served with an eviction notice issued through the courts shortly before his death. An inquest opened and adjourned by deputy central Hampshire coroner Simon Burge.

It listed the possible cause of death of Mr Phyall as ‘complete transaction of the neck’ and ‘chainsaw wound to the neck.’ An ambulance service spokesman said: ‘We were called to an address in Bishopstoke to reports to a “concerns for welfare.” ‘A rapid response vehicle attended and a search found a patient had sustained serious injuries.’

Ron Turtle, chairman of the Stoke Residents’ Association, said there was one tenant left whom he believed to be a disabled man who rented a ground-floor flat from Atlantic Housing. He said: ‘They had offered him several places that were similar but he just didn’t want to move. In the end they had to go to court.’

Lib Dem Bishopstoke Parish Council chairman Anne Winstanley said: ‘The last I heard they were still negotiating with him to try to provide what he required to move into as an alternative. It sounds very tragic for whatever the reason he met his death.’

Councillor Winstanley added that Bodmin Road had become a target for vandalism and nuisance behaviour in recent months. The flats are thought to have been built in the 1960s but Atlantic Housing had revealed it would cost them more to repair than rebuild. Southampton building firm Drew Smith were awarded a 7.8m pounds contract to design and build 54 replacement flats and 24 houses.

Three of the flats at Bodmin Road had been purchased by tenants under the right to buy but were repurchased by Atlantic Housing to enable the redevelopment to take place. Atlantic Housing was unavailable for comment.

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quote: Gay Wired magazine

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While Forrest Gump isn’t one of my favorite films, the line “stupid is as stupid does” has always stuck with me. In fact, it came flying back to me quite recently when the following American Family Association foible came to light.
It seems that AFA, headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, has an automatic word filter on the stories it picks up and runs on its news site, OneNewsNow. When sprinter Tyson Gay qualified for the 2008 Olympics, AFA ran the story renaming the runner, Tyson Homosexual.

To quote—“Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue, sprinting 100 meters faster than anyone ever has.”

How stupid is this? The AFA thinks the word gay gives us a positive spin. A spokesperson for the AFA said “We don’t object to the word ‘gay’ except when it refers to people who practice a homosexual lifestyle.” The AFA think the “G” word, as they put it, has “been co-opted by a particular group of people.”

They’ve also renamed professional basketball player Rudy Gay, Rudy Homosexual.

I’ve been reading the blogs about this and folks have come up with some doozies if we take the AFA’s linguistic stupidity to its logical conclusion.

Enola Homosexual dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.

A typhoon named homosexual caused all that damage in Thailand and eastern India in 1989

In Virginia, we now have Homosexual Mountain and Homosexual Farms, there’s a Homosexual Spring in Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan and West Virginia now have towns called Homosexual, South Dakota sports a Homosexualville, Texas has a Homosexual Hollow and well we all know that in Massachusetts’ the folks in Martha’s Vineyard have a Homosexual Head.

I really want to know how the AFA handles Christmas caroling. Do they don homosexual apparel? Do they change Beach Boys Christmas Day lyric to “And so many hearts are homosexual?” Does the AFA tell all of its Irish supporters that “When Irish hearts are happy all the world seems bright and homosexual?” Do they tell their Kentucky members that when they sing their official state song, “My Old Kentucky Home” they need to sing “Tis summer, the people are homosexual?”

More on next page...
\\\

(continued)

Do they refer to the author as Homosexual Talese? Does the AFA tell its arthritic members to go out and buy Ben Homosexual?

I could go on. But there’s something more important lurking here. It’s the fact, plain and simple, that organizations like the American Family Association and Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council will stoop to any level to demonize us, to cast us as second class citizens, to characterize us as simply sex driven without any regard to who we are as people.

They don’t want to recognize that we’re doctors and lawyers, teachers and accountants; that we’re parents and partners; that we’re fire fighters and police officers; that we serve in the armed forces—albeit having to hide who we really are. We’re rich, middle class and poor. We’re workers and owners. We’re corporate execs and carpenters. We practice every religion and our skin color is just as diverse. We’re Democrats and yes, we’re even Republicans. We’re your neighbors and friends. We’re just human beings just like everyone else.

What defines us as different is who we love; who we wake up with every morning. That’s it. And, it’s that simple fact that we love as our life partners people of the same sex that gets the American Family Association so paranoid about portraying us in any kind of positive light that they change the word gay to homosexual.

What a waste of energy. So is AFA’s latest quixotic boycott. It seems McDonald’s is their newest target. Yes, according to the AFA, the golden arches are now rainbow tinged because the burger giant has become a corporate partner of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. That simple act is defined by AFA as McDonald’s taking sides in “the culture wars” and actively supporting the “homosexual agenda.”

How about it just being a good business decision? We eat. Many of us have kids. Put the two facts together and McDonald’s as well as Burger King, who is also a NGLCC corporate partner, are going to get some of our business. Coors, Pepsi, Marriott, Citibank, Coldwell Banker and Xerox are also among the organization’s multitude of corporate partners.

The AFA can waste their time breathing life into Forrest’s immortal “stupid is as stupid does.” The rest of us will just do what we do best—live our lives and possibly have a Big Mac meal while we’re at it.

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-15-2008, 05:10 PM:
 
I saw that on Headlines with Jay Leno last night. Hilarious!
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 07-15-2008, 05:26 PM:
 
Joe, I saw it there too... but couldn't find the Leno video clip to post.

If you find it, post it...it was hilarious!
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-21-2008, 11:38 AM:
 

quote: Daily Telegraph, 21 July 2008

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By Chris Irvine
Last Updated: 9:36AM BST 21/07/2008

A designer has caused outrage with a set of knitting instructions which allow you to create woolly models of Adolf Hitler and some of the world's other most famous dictators.

Rachael Matthews, credited for starting a new celebrity knitting craze, calls the doll of the Nazi leader Knitler.

Her new book has designs for a number of dictators, including Saddam Hussein, Cambodia's Pol Pot, and Ugandan Idi Amin, who was portrayed by Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland.

A spokesman for the Jewish Network said: "You would hope people would have more sense than to take a cuddly Hitler into work."

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Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 07-27-2008, 08:46 AM:
 
Microsoft lies to XP users—and they start to love Vista
Article

quote: arstechnica.com/

---

In about two weeks, Redmond has managed to turn a marketing idea into something that may just shock you. Microsoft blogger Ina Fried is reporting that Microsoft managed to trick XP users in San Francisco into loving Vista simply by telling them a small fib. The company told these users that they were using a new version of Windows, codenamed "Mojave." When asked about their experience with using Mojave, over 90 percent said they were impressed with what they saw. Then Microsoft told them they had been using Vista all along.

The company hasn't figured out how it will use this to market Vista (the company has video footage of users exclaiming "wow!" and so on), but the Mojave project will likely help in Microsoft's plan to tell the "real Vista story." This is some real ammo here: these are XP lovers saying they love Vista, not just more Microsoft employees giving statements to sell the software giant's latest operating system.

Bill Veghte, Microsoft's senior vice president of Online Services & Windows Business Group and the man who recently outlined the Windows roadmap, strongly believes that Vista's negative opinion by many users is due to poor perceptions created by the media, from Apple's anti-Vista ads to many journalists spewing Vista hate because it brings in the hits. Mojave is a perfect example of this—to an extent. Microsoft has time and again admitted that Vista has its problems, but has also emphasized that the majority of problems have been fixed. What's your take on the Mojave story?

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quote: Sunday Telegraph, 27 July 2008

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By Laura Clout
Last Updated: 8:30PM BST 27 Jul 2008

A man was airlifted to hospital after he blew up his garage attempting to make biodiesel.

The chemical explosion in Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire, left the man with burns to his face, arms and torso.

Fire crews rescued the man using specialist breathing gear, after they were called to reports of a chemical fire just after 3pm on Saturday.

A spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service urged people to take "extreme caution" if attempting such chemical mixtures in their own home.

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quote: BBC News Online, 31 July 2008

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A Kent car dealer who was sent flying when a van struck a barrier was shocked to discover the driver was the German ex-Formula 1 ace, Michael Schumacher. Martin Kingham, 39, said he was closing the security gate at his premises in Lydd on Sunday afternoon when a Fiat van struck the end of it.

The barrier hit his leg "sending him spinning" on to the bonnet of a car. Police called to the incident said they helped both men to swap details and no further action was needed. Mr Kingham was unhurt, while only minor damage was caused to Schumacher's van in the collision outside Millfield Motors, just before 1600 BST.

He recalled how the police officer called to the scene said: "That chap is claiming to be Michael Schumacher, and I said, 'You know what, he doesn't half look like him'. "Then the penny suddenly dropped. When I phoned my business partner later and told him that you'll never guess who I've been run over by, he wouldn't believe me.

"Obviously being a car salesman we do like a wind up but the difference with this story is that it is actually true. Michael's entourage turned up and he left."

A spokesman for the seven-time Formula 1 world champion confirmed the incident had taken place and that Schumacher had co-operated with police.

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WTF was Schumacher doing in a Fiat van in the arse end of Kent? IIRC there's an airport at Lydd which is used by millionaires' private jets quite a lot, but that still wouldn't explain the Fiat. A bit of a comedown from a Ferrari F1 car, to put it mildly!
 

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Posted by Hugh McCullough (Member # 1542) on 07-31-2008, 04:21 PM:
 
Leo.

Schumacher was probably using a Fiat because Enzo Ferrari sold the company to the Fiat group in 1969.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 08-01-2008, 04:45 AM:
 
But in a van?

That having been said, given the driving habits of 'white van man', Schumacher should feel entirely at home in one.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-02-2008, 01:44 PM:
 
Drug gives couch potato mice benefits of a workout

quote:

---

NEW YORK - Here's a couch potato's dream: What if a drug could help you gain some of the benefits of exercise without working up a sweat? Scientists reported Thursday that there is such a drug — if you happen to be a mouse.

Sedentary mice that took the drug for four weeks burned more calories and had less fat than untreated mice. And when tested on a treadmill, they could run about 44 percent farther and 23 percent longer than untreated mice.

Just how well those results might translate to people is an open question. But someday, researchers say, such a drug might help treat obesity, diabetes and people with medical conditions that keep them from exercising.

"We have exercise in a pill," said Ron Evans, an author of the study. "With no exercise, you can take a drug and chemically mimic it."

Evans, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute reports the work with colleagues in a paper published online Thursday by the journal Cell.

They also report that in mice that did exercise training, a second drug made their workout much more effective at boosting endurance. After a month of taking that drug and exercising, mice could run 68 percent longer and 70 percent farther than other mice that exercised but didn't get the drug.

Both drugs have been studied by researchers for other uses. The no-exercise drug is in advanced human testing to see if it can prevent a complication of heart bypass surgery.

Evans noted the drugs might prove irresistible for professional athletes who seek an illegal edge. He said his team has developed detection tests for use by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Evans said he has no financial interest in either drug or the test.

Resveratrol, a substance being studied for anti-aging effects, has also been reported to enable mice to run farther before exhaustion without exercise training. But the drugs in the new study appear to act more specifically on a process in muscles that boosts endurance, the researchers said.

Still, it takes more than just altered muscles to turn a sedentary mouse into a distance runner, Evans said, and "honestly, I just don't know how that happens. Whether it would happen in a person, I don't know. I think it's a small miracle it happened at all."

In fact, Evans said that when the experiment with sedentary mice was suggested by an outside scientist who was reviewing the lab's research, "I didn't think it was going to work."

The no-exercise drug is called AICAR. Previous experiments suggest that it might protect against gaining weight on a high-fat diet, which might make it useful for treating obesity, Evans said. But it would have to be taken for a long time, he said, so its safety in people would have to be assured.

Experts who study muscle agreed that a drug like AICAR may prove useful someday in treating obesity and diabetes. Many drug companies are working on such drugs in diabetes because in animals, AICAR stimulates muscles to remove sugar from the blood, noted Laurie Goodyear of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.

People who can't exercise because of a medical condition like joint pain or heart failure might also benefit from such a drug, experts said.

But Eric Hoffman of the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., noted that AICAR mimics only aerobic exercise, not the strength training that might be more useful to bedridden people or the elderly, for example. He also cautioned that it's not clear whether the new mouse results can be reproduced in people.

Goodyear said exercise has such widespread benefits in the body that she doubts any one pill will ever be able to supply all of them. "For the majority of people," she said, "it would be better to do exercise than to take a pill."

---

quote: Daily Telegraph, 4 August 2008

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Cook parades severed head of murdered girlfriend

A cook beheaded his girlfriend then paraded through a Greek village with her severed head before tossing it into a police car.

Athanassios Arvanitis, 31, carried out the gruesome act on the island of Santorini following a heated argument with partner Adamantia Karkali, 25, police said.

Neighbours claimed Arvanitis also beheaded his girlfriend's dog with a butchers knife before turning the blade on his victim.

He then picked up the severed head of Ms Karkali and roamed through the streets of Vourvoulos while villagers fled inside their homes and called the police.

When police attempted to arrest Arvanitis, he pulled a knife and stabbed one officer before flinging the head of his victim into a patrol car, local officials confirmed.

The cook then stole a second patrol car sparking a high-speed police chase in which he ran over two women doctors who were riding a motorcycle.

During the chase, Arvanitis was shot five times by police as he attempted to flee before he was finally forced to stop the car.

Arvanitis, who worked at a local restaurant suffered serious injuries and was undergoing surgery at a hospital on the island, said Chrysanthos Roussos, head of the Santorini district.

One of the two doctors hit by Arvanitis suffered multiple fractures in the collision. The other was uninjured.

A female bystander was also hit by a stray bullet as police fired at the suspect. She escaped serious harm.

Angelos Roussos, the mayor of Thira, the island's main town told TV station Antenna that Ms Karkali had worked as a teacher in a local village.

Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km southeast from Greece's mainland.

Its nightlife and physical beauty have made the island a tourist hotspot for European travellers.

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quote: Daily Telegraph, 5 August 2008

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Twenty-six cheerleaders rescued from lift

A group of 26 teenage cheerleaders from the University of Texas were trapped in a lift after trying to find out how many of them could squeeze inside.

The girls, aged between 14 and 17, managed to get into the lift on Tuesday night at the appropriately named Jester Residence Hall on the university campus. They had been attending a cheerleading camp - but its lessons on contortion did not include any advice on how to extract their tinsel pom poms from a difficult situation.

After taking deep breaths they managed to close the lift door and descend to the first floor - but when they touched down the doors refused to open, sending them into a panic. After the cheerleaders eventually contacted the outside world by calling from a mobile phone, repairmen were rushed to release them.

However, it took 25 minutes to fix the door and free the increasingly alarmed girls. One fainted and had to be treated in hospital.

The university authorities failed to see the funny side, however. "It's dangerous actually," said Rhonda Weldon, the university police spokeswoman. "They're lucky that that's all that happened. Take the sign seriously. There are signs everywhere: no more than 15 people or 3,000 pounds."

---

Maybe they were trying to gain valuable experience before applying for jobs with a low-budget airline?
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-06-2008, 06:57 PM:
 
Businessmen in Japan would love this story... if the girls were a bit younger than that.
 

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Posted by Ben Wales (Member # 92) on 08-07-2008, 05:30 PM:
 
Any One has Any Spare Cash or would like to visit Friends in Iran or else where

quote:

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Fears for vulcan bomber's future

An airshow could be the last chance to see the only airborne Vulcan bomber unless a new sponsor is found, the Leicestershire-based team behind its restoration has said.
The icon of the Cold War era is one of the star attractions at the Farnborough International Airshow but backers fear a lack of cash could see the aircraft grounded once more.

It took engineers at an airfield in Bruntingthorpe, near Lutterworth, about 15 years to make the bomber fit to fly.

But the team behind the project have faced a constant battle to find funding.

They now hope this week's air display in Hampshire will bring forward a new sponsor to help meet the £1.6m a year needed to keep the Vulcan XH558 in flight.

Spokesman Robert Pleming said: "I know we will bring joy to sell-out crowds once again, but our work here starts much earlier.

"I know we have a fantastic proposition and that £1.6m a year is not beyond the realms of reality - even in these turbulent times.

"If the right person is here at Farnborough our future will be safe.

"The Vulcan's presence and the crowd's reaction will provide all the evidence we need that a business association with XH558 can offer a return on investment far, far beyond your average sponsorship package."

Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2008, All Rights Reserved.

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quote: Sunday Telegraph, 24 August 2008

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Alligator on loose in city was just a soft toy

When an alligator was reported loose on the streets of Bristol, police and the RSPCA snapped into action.

Roads were sealed off as they staked out the creature, which appeared to be lying in garden bushes with the remains of a bird in its jaws. After a tense 30-minute stand-off, emergency workers used a camera to zoom in on the reptile – and discovered that it was a stuffed toy.

RSPCA chief inspector Richard Masling said: "We thought it would be a captive caiman which had escaped or been abandoned, then killed and eaten a wild bird and was laying on the grass digesting it. Caiman are part of the alligator family and have very sharp teeth, so it was very important that the police and RSPCA took all the necessary safety precautions to protect ourselves and the public. But in the end, as animal rescues go - this one really was child's play."

It is unclear if the emergency was a prank but the toy had fluff in its mouth to appear like feathers and an elastic band made to look like a muzzle was wrapped around its jaws. Chief Insp Masling added: "Although this turned out to be a funny call, the number of unwanted and abandoned exotic animals which the Society deals with is no laughing matter. That includes, on occasions, the odd caiman."

Caiman alligators are native to freshwaters in the United States but can be kept as pets.

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quote:

---

"She was taking pictures out the airplane window and said to herself, 'Something is not right,"'

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Well, ain't THAT the understatement of the year...
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-27-2008, 12:18 PM:
 
Does Thinking Make Us Fatter?

Mental Tasks Cause People to Eat More, Researchers Find
By LEE DYE

Sept. 10, 2008 —

Angelo Tremblay noticed something odd every time he worked up a grant application for his research program in a Quebec university. He had a craving for chocolate chip cookies.

Now, thanks to research in his lab at the Universite Laval, he has a better understanding of why. It turns out that performing mental tasks, like trying to solve problems while working at a computer, stimulates the appetite so much that people tend to eat significantly more calories than they burned while performing the "knowledge-based" tasks.

In a study published in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, researchers found a physiological basis for the spike in appetite. Mental work "destabilizes" the levels of insulin and glucose, two critical components in the body's regulatory and energy machinery, thus stimulating the appetite, said Jean-Philippe Chaput, lead author of the study.

"The brain uses only glucose for energy," unlike the "muscles, which use fat and glucose," Chaput said in a telephone interview. So when the level of glucose, or sugar, becomes unstable, the brain demands more.

According to the research, participants consumed far more calories after performing mental tasks than they consumed after relaxing for the same period of time.

The study is quite small, involving only 14 women, so the results are only tentative, but Chaput said he and his fellow researchers have already embarked on a larger study involving 50 men and 50 women. Only women were used in the pilot study because it has been well established that men and women react differently to stress, and the researchers did not want to cloud the results.

At this point, however, the study indicates that a rapidly changing lifestyle toward "knowledge-based work," like time spent at the computer or trying to solve mental challenges, may be a significant factor in the current obesity epidemic, Chaput said.

"There are a lot of people doing this kind of work now, compared to physical work in the past, so we postulate that it can explain in part" why so many people in so many countries are getting fat, he said.

As the researchers put it in their paper, "knowledge-based work represents the main working modality in a context of modernity." In other words, many are spending fewer calories, but taking more in, because of changes in the work environment.

That's true not only in the world of employment, but in the world of entertainment as well. Many people are spending more time playing computer games, some of which can be intellectually challenging, than playing tennis, for example.

The researchers are members of the university's department of medicine, and they specialize in kinesiology, the mechanics and anatomy of human movement. The 14 women in the study were all students, ranging in age from 20 to 30 years. All were in good health, with no eating disorders, normal weight, and free of food allergies.

During a two-month period they were each required to participate in three 45-minute exercises consisting of relaxing in a chair, reading a document and writing a summary of 350 words, and "a cognitive task consisting of a comprehensive battery of computerized tests."

Each participant was tested separately from the others.

Each "came into the lab at 8 a.m., and we gave each participant a standardized breakfast," Chaput said. "After that we started the exercise at 10:30 a.m., one participant at a time, and they came every two weeks. At about 11:30 a.m. we gave them a buffet type of meal, comprising a lot of food."

The food in the buffet was weighed and analyzed before and after the lunch, so researchers knew precisely how much and which type of food each participant had eaten. Various tests during each exercise also told the researchers precisely how many calories the participants were burning at the time.

The participants burned only about three calories more during each of the two "knowledge-based" experiments than during the 45 minutes when they rested in a comfortable chair. So the caloric expenditures were relatively quite low for mental tasks compared to the period spent relaxing.

But the intake was significantly higher. Participants consumed 203 more calories after the reading experiment, and 253 more calories after the computer tests, than the resting participants. That's an increase of 23.6 percent and 29.4 percent, respectively.

Measurements of glucose and insulin became quite erratic during the mental tests. Glucose soared almost immediately when the participants were reading and then dropped dramatically. It dropped and remained below normal during the computerized tests. Insulin rose slightly during the reading test, and then dropped, and it dropped steadily during the computer tests.

That erratic performance by both glucose and insulin caused the appetite to rise, apparently in response to a need to restore the energy balance, the researchers conclude. The results probably would have been different if men had been included in the study, as they will be in future research. That's because mental challenges provoke stress, and it "is expected to be higher in females than in males," according to Chaput. That is also reflected in many other studies. He said women also tend to eat more following stress than men do, although "we don't know why yet."

Although the first study was limited to college-aged participants, Chaput said other research in his lab suggests that the same findings will apply to children as well as to older adults.

But if mental challenges cause people to eat more food, why aren't nearly all college professors fat?

Simple, Chaput said. Eating is only part of the weight control "package," he added. It's possible to spend a lot of time working out problems at the computer if that is balanced with a reasonable amount of time working out, literally.

Some college professors, of course, are fat. Maybe the skinny ones use their computers on the treadmill.

Lee Dye is a former science writer for the Los Angeles Times. He now lives in Juneau, Alaska.

Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
 

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Posted by Drew Daniluck (Member # 4678) on 09-30-2008, 09:26 PM:
 
Latest News from the LHC (Large Hadron Collider)
Restart for LHC scheduled for spring 2009, following a technical failure (more...) .

What had been an exceptionally smooth early commissioning phase for the LHC, following first injection of proton beams on the 10th September (more...), was dramatically de-railed by a technical failure on the 19th September (more...). The first few days of commissioning beams in the LHC had encountered some technical problems, which had been resolved (more...). However, the damage caused by the melting of a faulty electrical connection (during a test) has required that the affected sector be warmed up for repair.

The extensive preparations for the start of LHC experiments have included exhaustive safety assessments, including the potential risk of creating new particles, black holes etc.

From the official website: www.lhc.ac.uk/

-I edited some of the article for length reasons, it was all television advertisements, but in response to Joe, yes I am very interested in this matter, considering the possibility of Black Holes being created...im no expert in the field, but im pretty sure thats a bad thing. Google this and you can see the theories of evidence that these blackholes won't "harm" anything. Considering that their machine broke upon its first run, doesn't make feel to good about their "theories".-
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-30-2008, 10:45 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

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Does Thinking Make Us Fatter?

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Well, it doesn't seem to help this guy.


 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-01-2008, 12:18 AM:
 
Woman In Cow Suit Arrested For Creating Chaos



32-year-old Michelle Allen of Middleton, Ohio was just minding her business, urinating on a neighbor’s porch while dressed as a cow, when cops told her to please go home. Later that day, cops were called once again as Allen was blocking traffic and chasing terrified children. It was at this point that cops went ahead and decided to arrest her. Cows > The Pigs, motherfuckers:

The arresting officer says Allen smelled of alcohol, slurred her speech, and was belligerent. She also alleged cussed at the officer.

Allen informed police that, if brought to jail, she would “cause problems.” She did manage to put on a suit for her court hearing, but not before leaving us with the finest mug shot in the history of the world.
 

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Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 10-01-2008, 01:33 AM:
 

quote: Drew Daniluck

---

the possibility of Black Holes being created...im no expert in the field, but im pretty sure thats a bad thing. Google this and you can see the theories of evidence that these blackholes won't "harm" anything. Considering that their machine broke upon its first run, doesn't make feel to good about their "theories"

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The black holes the machine could create won't harm anything in the same way that the dew on your windshield in the morning won't flood the coastline and sink California. The black holes, as far as my understanding goes, are only technically black holes, and are merely artifacts of the process, and are relatively weak. Now, those HUGE black holes, the ones that notoriously "gobble up" everything and the light with it ... well, those are made up of more densely packed matter than we have in our solar system, and since you can't physically CREATE matter out of nothing, we have nothing to fear (in this regard) out of Geneva.

Heating a lamphouse with a 4000 watt xenon lamp, however, "in theory", shouldn't burn down the building ... but if you have a brainwrap during your theatre's opening weekend, then how can the folks who built the projection booth be credible? Their theories can't be trusted!
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-23-2008, 11:13 PM:
 
This is so weird...

-----------------
Link

Woman accused of mudering 'virtual husband' in MapleStory game

A JAPANESE piano teacher has been arrested on suspicion of killing her "virtual husband" after becoming enraged that he suddenly divorced her in an online game.

The 43-year-old woman allegedly hacked into a man's computer and killed off his avatar in the popular interactive game MapleStory, the Associated Press reported.

The woman, who is in custody on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, allegedly used the man's ID and password to log on and carry out the virtual murder in May, said a police official in the northern city of Sapporo, according to the AP.

"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the police official quoted the woman as telling investigators.

The man behind the woman's online husband, a 33-year-old office worker, complained to police when he discovered that his online avatar was dead.

The woman was arrested on Wednesday, police said.

She had not yet been charged but if convicted could face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to $5000 ($7400).

MapleStory players create and manipulate avatars that represent themselves in relationships, social activities and fighting monsters and other obstacles.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 11-06-2008, 10:43 PM:
 
Golfer records 5 holes-in-one in a week!

Five Aces!

KAPPA, Ill. – Central Illinois amateur golfer Curt Hocker is on a roll. Five rolls, to be exact. Just ask anyone at the El Paso Golf Club, where the 22-year-old has recorded five holes-in-one in the last week, including two on Saturday. In this year alone, Hocker has seven aces, five on par-4s, and two other double eagles.

"I don't know what to think," said Hocker, who works in the club's pro shop. "After each one I say it's over, and it keeps happening."

Friends and family, 15 of whom have witnessed Hocker's strokes of luck while playing with him, are equally mystified.

"It's incomprehensible this kind of luck could happen, but it does happen," said El Paso pro Steve Fulton. "There are other things in life that have been just as weird and eerie that have happened. What are the odds?"

Hocker said he's just glad that his club membership comes with "hole-in-one insurance."

That "insurance" means the club — and not Hocker — has to honor the golf tradition of buying everyone in the clubhouse a drink after an ace is made.

"I think the golf course is getting mad at me for all the drinks," Hocker said. "It's hard to talk about, but it's awesome to have it happen."
 

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Posted by Frank Jerkic (Member # 2446) on 11-11-2008, 04:13 AM:
 
Blockage!!!!!!!!!!

All seats taken for Australia Bowen premiere
If you want to read the full story click on this link
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2008/11/08/21475_news.html

November 8th, 2008
FOUR out of every five seats at the Bowen premiere of Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia will be filled by a local.
Speculation about the guest list to the hottest event in North Queensland has been mounting since the November 18 premiere was announced on Tuesday.
Whitsunday Mayor Mike Brunker said the conjecture would end sometime next week with invitations set to be mailed out on Monday.
Cr Brunker said Premier Anna Bligh and Tourism Minister Desley Boyle were among the first to make the list.
But apart from dignitaries and media representatives, Cr Brunker said at least 80 per cent of invitations would be sent to Bowen residents.
The premiere will be held at Bowen's Summergarden Cinemas which can seat just 273 people in the main theatre.
Cr Brunker again would not be drawn on exactly who would receive an invitation, only to say there would be a focus on volunteers.
"If you get an invitation in the mail you should feel very lucky," he said.
Ironically, the man who would have the best seat in the house, cinema owner Ben De Luca, will not see much of the movie.
Mr De Luca said he would be too busy `wandering around' and making sure everything was running smoothly.
All 15 of Mr De Luca's staff will be working on the night.
He was not taking the chance of even a minor hiccup by having a plumber on call.
"I can remember some years ago when we had a toilet blockage on a big night," he said.
"We took a while to get a plumber so hopefully we'll have a cure for that this time around."
A sound technician from Brisbane will also be on hand to keep an eye on the cinema's state-of-the-art Dolby Digital Surround EX sound system.
The $28,000 system was installed just three weeks ago especially for the release of Australia.

This is from the FEEDBACK section of the paper
Monday, November 10:
From: Frank P. Jerkic
Comment: Re: the Ralph’s View, Saturday, November 8, cartoon about the mystery guest. I think you’ll find the clue on page 9 in ‘All seats taken’. It suggests to me that the mystery guest will be Shane Jacobson (KENNY) as they need a plumber on call in case they have another toilet blockage.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-05-2008, 08:54 PM:
 
From Amateur Radio Newsline 12/5/08 report:

BROADCAST FUN: WKRP IS ON THE AIR - FOR REAL

WKRP is back on the air in Cincinnati, but this time as a TV station.

Several industry news reports say that a low-power TV station has changed its call letters to WKRP. Those are the same call letters used in the 1970's hit series "WKRP in Cincinnati."

Until recently the station went by the call WBQC television. But changed its call letters to promote its new digital TV signal. General Manager Elliott Block says the new call letters give the station recognition because so many people remember the television sit-com.
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As if being low-power isn't hurting this station enough, I see two problems with this:

1) the call spells "krap"
2) ratings will be terrible because of confusion with long-time existing stations WKRC TV-12, and 55 WKRC radio
 

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Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 12-06-2008, 03:10 AM:
 
According to legend, the call letters to KTSA in San Antonio was changed to KAKA...until the McLendons were informed that meant "crap" in Spanish.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-19-2008, 02:27 PM:
 
link to yahoo

Idiots name their kid Adolf Hitler...

quote:

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A US bakery has refused to decorate a three-year-old's birthday cake with his name - Adolf Hitler Campbell. Skip related content
Related photos / videos
Baker: No Cake For Little Hitler

The trouble, the New Jersey shop said, was that it was "inappropriate" to put such a name on the cake.

But the little boy's father, Heath Campbell, said it was unfair of ShopRite supermarket to turn down his request.

Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because "no one else in the world would have that name".

Referring to the baker's decision, he said: "They need to accept a name. A name's a name.

"The kid isn't going to grow up and do what Hitler did."

But the problem does not stop there.

The shop has also refused to make a cake for Mr Campbell's second child, who turns two next February.

Her name is JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell.

Heath and Deborah Campbell's third child will probably not get a cake from that shop either.

The eight-month-old baby has been named Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, apparently a reference to one of the Nazi's most monstrous leaders, SS head Heinrich Himmler.

For the time being, the matter has been settled - the Campbells had their cake made by Wal-Mart.

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quote:

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Here's a story that should help to remind you to back up all your data — even if you're just getting a key replaced on your keyboard.

Reader Marjan says HP has official policy that requires that they erase your hard drive — even if there's nothing wrong with your computer that would require them to even turn it on.

Marjan says:

The "P" key broke off my HP laptop within one month of its purchase back in April. I asked them to send me the key so I could repair it myself, but they said I must send in my entire computer.

Fast forward to December when I (graduate student) finally have the chance/luxury to send in my computer for repair.

I just got my computer back today to find my entire hard drive deleted and re-done.

Nobody at HP even told me it was a possibility (let alone a "STANDARD POLICY") that hard drives are erased when a computer is sent in for repair — regardless of the nature of the repair. Even ONE key on the keyboard. Even a little scratch apparently requires a full hard-drive erasing. Got my "P" key, but at the cost of my computer's hard drive. Unnecessary. Absurd.

I feel like a hospital patient who went in for routine surgery and woke up with an effing amputated leg.

Wasted two hours debating with four different men about why I shouldn't be punished for one idiot's inability to inform me of this supposed standard policy. I told them they had to compensate for my losses, at least by giving me a new Norton Antivirus product key because I still had time left on the warranty. But they said once the computer was shipped to me back in April, my old product key became my responsibility: It was my fault if I lost it. I demanded some sort of compensation or credit. HP had made a mistake. But they refused.

I asked to speak to somebody higher-up. But the senior technician claimed he was the highest-up person I could speak to. He breathed heavily and in an annoyed way. Said anybody higher than him was "just in charge of scheduling bathroom breaks."

I had zero knowledge and not even the slightest warning that HP would erase everything: "Just give us your log-in password in case something goes wrong," the service guy told me before I sent in my computer for repair. "But they shouldn't have to even turn your computer on."

I am fuming. Pictures, research, creative work, personal work. All gone.

What the hell do I do, or how do I even reach someone sane at HP? Thanks.

I'm not going to pretend to know if your data can be recovered, so we'll toss that one out to the crowd of seething internet — but we do have a few posts than can help you reach someone at HP.

This post is about how to get your laptop back from HP — but it contains contact information that might help you reach intelligent life.

And now here's the official obligatory moral of the story: Please remember to back up your data before sending your computer in for any kind of repair.

Now that that's out of the way, is there anything that can save this data?

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quote: Joe Redifer

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The shop can refuse business on any grounds.

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quote: Joe Redifer

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The shop can refuse business on any grounds. It is a private business. I like how the parents act so surprised over the hoopla caused by their kids' names. The parents are attention whores.

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I concur. And the dad tried saying him and his wife aren't racist, despite naming all 3 of their children something related to Nazis.
 

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Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 12-20-2008, 01:55 PM:
 
WKRP --- that's cool, Tim. Hope they can get Les Nessman to deliver the news.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-20-2008, 05:08 PM:
 
Or whoever they do get, should definitely lead off with the hog futures. Unless the president resigns, then that *might* be a bigger story.

(Note: The above requires some knowledge of WKRP to completely get the joke. It is not a political statement.)
 

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Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 12-20-2008, 09:38 PM:
 
There is no Hewlett-Packard.
Hopefully the name was changed to show a bit of respect to the men named: they had class.
The company now called HP has no class.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-21-2008, 11:23 AM:
 

quote: Jeff Stricker

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Hope they can get Les Nessman to deliver the news.

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quote: Wikipedia

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The show was created by Hugh Wilson and was based upon his experiences working in advertising as a client of a classic album-oriented rock radio station.

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quote: Dave Macaulay

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There is no Hewlett-Packard.
Hopefully the name was changed to show a bit of respect to the men named: they had class.
The company now called HP has no class.

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I found it amusing that HP and Compaq were both tending to go downhill and be nowhere near as good as what they used to be, then both decided to merge and create a much larger, mediocre company.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 01-02-2009, 08:00 AM:
 
Washington Post Story

A Subterranean Shangri-La


Gordon Brinckle in a photo from "The Projectionist," artist Kendall Messick's exhibit on Brinckle and his basement theater. (By Kendall Messick -- Hemphill Fine Arts

By Jessica Dawson
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, January 2, 2009; Page C02
In large-scale photographs and a documentary film on view at Hemphill, artist Kendall Messick introduces us to Gordon Brinckle, a nonagenarian who had a decades-long passion for the Alvin Shalimar -- a fully functioning nine-seat movie house that he built into his Delaware basement.

Films? Brinckle (pronounced "Brinkley"), who died in 2007 at age 92 -- could take 'em or leave 'em. The Shalimar never screened one all the way through. Instead, Brinckle's ardor centered on 1930s-era "movie palaces," as he called them, and the escape that their plush interiors offered.

In these pictures, Messick shows us two Brinckles. One, the aged former film projectionist (he held the job several times) hunched to a nearly 90-degree angle, who putters around the house. The other Brinckle lives downstairs, in Technicolor. He poses on the Shalimar proscenium in front of vaudeville-bright curtains, dwarfing the screen beyond. Elsewhere, he's lighted so bright that his shadows conjure a genial Bela Lugosi.

The "Alice in Wonderland" effect of Messick's camera creates scenes that register both claustrophobic and bigger than life. His series serves as metaphor for the confinements of old age and the deliverance offered by imagination.

Watching Messick's half-hour biopic devoted to Brinckle's life, you can practically smell the mothballs. Here Brinckle wears loud jackets -- spiffy, he might say -- while leading us around the projection room and ticket booth. Gesturing with his long fingers, Brinckle talks about his underground utopia.

Of his projectors, which Brinckle calls "the girls," he says: "I couldn't ask for sweeter machines than these two." Of today's multiplex: "It's such a cheap looking affair." Of changing times: "The beauty and the graciousness of the past is just something that isn't anymore."

We could dismiss Brinckle's words as an oldster's lament, yet there is a truth there: the truth of watching your life pass, and the years along with it -- the inability to stop time and the shock of its speed.

In the 1990s, Messick's sympathy for the elderly prompted him to document the aging population of a North Carolina town. Now 43, Messick rediscovered Brinckle -- he was his neighbor growing up -- about seven years ago. When Brinckle died, he bequeathed the theater to Messick.

In an interview with The Post, Messick talked about "The Projectionist" and the weight of his inheritance:

How did you discover Brinckle's theater?

Gordon had one daughter, Sandy, who died of cancer in December of 2001. The day she died, I was visiting my mother across the street and upon learning of her death, we immediately visited Gordon and his wife to pay our respects. It was during that visit that I saw the Shalimar for the first time as an adult (I had seen it once as a boy) and realized that this would be my next project.

You chose black-and-white film to document Brinckle's quotidian, street-level world and saturated color for his basement theater. Could you walk us through the journey from upstairs to downstairs and discuss your approach to shooting these realms?

The profound difference between Gordon's upstairs environment and his constructed reality downstairs is what led me to make images upstairs in black-and-white and downstairs in color. Upstairs, the 1950s-era, three-bedroom house was furnished in a cluttered, modest fashion with numerous items amassed over a lifetime. Due to Gordon and his wife Dot's failing health in recent years, it had been impossible for them to maintain the upstairs. The downstairs theater, on the other hand, was orderly, pristine and clearly preserved with the utmost care.

In this project, I question how we choose to see what we want to see -- whether it's the Gordon upstairs or the one downstairs. The black-and-white images depict what a casual visitor would see in the home of any elderly person. They can be hard images to look at, and we tend to brush past them. The color images of Gordon's downstairs fantasy world are an unexpected window into a world that we might never have seen.

In your pictures, Brinckle appears a giant in cramped quarters. How did it feel to walk around the Shalimar?

Although the theater was small in scale, it was not miniature. I didn't ever feel like a giant when I was there. On the contrary, while it was a bit cramped in certain areas, the overall feeling I always had was one of warmth. In fact, it was rather womblike.

In "The Projectionist" video, Brinckle's skin tones have a strong pink cast, as if you didn't color-correct for the light. Why?

The vibrant pink hues of Gordon's theater struck me from the beginning, particularly in contrast to the blandness of the living areas above. There were rosy hues and pink lights throughout the theater, and I made the conscious choice to play up that otherworldly ambiance. I also consider it a visual representation of the way that the theater literally "colored" Gordon's life.

How, finally, did Brinckle's Shalimar Theater arrive in your care?

The future of the theater was highly uncertain, and the possibility that it could have ended up in a dumpster somewhere would have been an utter tragedy. In 2006, I committed to save it and had it removed piece by piece and reconstructed to travel. The theater is currently crated and in storage, ready to be transported to future exhibition venues. How could I not preserve his life's work?
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-02-2009, 08:13 AM:
 
I wonder if it was 16 or 35? Also, did anyone here know this guy? I've never heard of him before.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 02-04-2009, 02:51 AM:
 
Letter to Richard Branson...
(apologies for the number of photos in this but it really needs them)
Link

Author of 'world's best passenger complaint' revealed
Craig Platt
January 30, 2009

A Virgin airline passenger whose hilarious complaint letter became a viral internet phenomenon has been invited to select food and wine on future flights.

The identity of the letter's author was revealed to be Oliver Beale, 29, a high-flying advertising executive, according to London's Daily Telegraph.

Mr Beale's addressed his letter directly to Virgin boss Richard Branson to complain about the quality of his in-flight meal during a flight from Mumbai to Heathrow in December last year.

He attached photographs of the meal as evidence.

In his colourful complaint, Mr Beale described his feelings about pulling back the tin foil on the main course thus:

Link

Dear Mr Branson

REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008

I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident takes the biscuit.

Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was subjected to at the hands of your corporation.

Look at this Richard. Just look at it:



I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been given it? What have I done to deserve this? And, which one is the starter, which one is the desert?

You don't get to a position like yours Richard with anything less than a generous sprinkling of observational power so I KNOW you will have spotted the tomato next to the two yellow shafts of sponge on the left. Yes, it's next to the sponge shaft without the green paste. That's got to be the clue hasn't it. No sane person would serve a desert with a tomato would they. Well answer me this Richard, what sort of animal would serve a desert with peas in:



I know it looks like a baaji but it's in custard Richard, custard. It must be the pudding. Well you'll be fascinated to hear that it wasn't custard. It was a sour gel with a clear oil on top. It's only redeeming feature was that it managed to be so alien to my palette that it took away the taste of the curry emanating from our miscellaneous central cuboid of beige matter. Perhaps the meal on the left might be the desert after all.

Anyway, this is all irrelevant at the moment. I was raised strictly but neatly by my parents and if they knew I had started desert before the main course, a sponge shaft would be the least of my worries. So lets peel back the tin-foil on the main dish and see what's on offer.

I'll try and explain how this felt. Imagine being a twelve year old boy Richard. Now imagine it's Christmas morning and you're sat their with your final present to open. It's a big one, and you know what it is. It's that Goodmans stereo you picked out the catalogue and wrote to Santa about.

Only you open the present and it's not in there. It's your hamster Richard. It's your hamster in the box and it's not breathing. That's how I felt when I peeled back the foil and saw this:



Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking it's more of that Baaji custard. I admit I thought the same too, but no. It's mustard Richard. MUSTARD. More mustard than any man could consume in a month. On the left we have a piece of broccoli and some peppers in a brown glue-like oil and on the right the chef had prepared some mashed potato. The potato masher had obviously broken and so it was decided the next best thing would be to pass the potatoes through the digestive tract of a bird.

Once it was regurgitated it was clearly then blended and mixed with a bit of mustard. Everybody likes a bit of mustard Richard.

By now I was actually starting to feel a little hypoglycaemic. I needed a sugar hit. Luckily there was a small cookie provided. It had caught my eye earlier due to it's baffling presentation:



It appears to be in an evidence bag from the scene of a crime. A CRIME AGAINST BLOODY COOKING. Either that or some sort of back-street underground cookie, purchased off a gun-toting maniac high on his own supply of yeast. You certainly wouldn't want to be caught carrying one of these through customs. Imagine biting into a piece of brass Richard. That would be softer on the teeth than the specimen above.

I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was relax but obviously I had to sit with that mess in front of me for half an hour. I swear the sponge shafts moved at one point.

Once cleared, I decided to relax with a bit of your world-famous onboard entertainment. I switched it on:



I apologise for the quality of the photo, it's just it was incredibly hard to capture Boris Johnson's face through the flickering white lines running up and down the screen. Perhaps it would be better on another channel:



Is that Ray Liotta? A question I found myself asking over and over again throughout the gruelling half-hour I attempted to watch the film like this. After that I switched off. I'd had enough. I was the hungriest I'd been in my adult life and I had a splitting headache from squinting at a crackling screen.

My only option was to simply stare at the seat in front and wait for either food, or sleep. Neither came for an incredibly long time. But when it did it surpassed my wildest expectations:



Yes! It's another crime-scene cookie. Only this time you dunk it in the white stuff.

Richard. What is that white stuff? It looked like it was going to be yoghurt. It finally dawned on me what it was after staring at it. It was a mixture between the Baaji custard and the Mustard sauce. It reminded me of my first week at university. I had overheard that you could make a drink by mixing vodka and refreshers. I lied to my new friends and told them I'd done it loads of times. When I attempted to make the drink in a big bowl it formed a cheese Richard, a cheese. That cheese looked a lot like your baaji-mustard.

So that was that Richard. I didn't eat a bloody thing. My only question is: How can you live like this? I can't imagine what dinner round your house is like, it must be like something out of a nature documentary.

As I said at the start I love your brand, I really do. It's just a shame such a simple thing could bring it crashing to it's knees and begging for sustenance.

Yours Sincererely

XXXX
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-15-2009, 05:07 PM:
 
Scooter may be world's smallest dog

By staff writers

NEWS.com.au

July 14, 2009 03:00pm



SOMEWHERE inside this tiny ball of white fluff is a dog.

Perhaps the world’s smallest.

His name is Scooter and his New Zealand owner Cheryl McKnight is sure he’s stopped growing at the princely height of 8cm.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, that’s a full 2cm smaller than the current record-holder, Boo Boo – a long-haired Chihuahua from America.

Ms McKnight drinks from cups of tea that are bigger than her Maltese pup, and has had to make a jumper for Scooter out of a purple sock just so she doesn’t accidentally step on him.

"It really is quite something. I can't take him for a walk or put a leash on him,'' Ms McKnight told NZPA.

She said six-month-old Scooter appeared to have stopped growing at roughly the size of a stick of butter.

Originally named Pee Wee, but later renamed due to fears of an inferiority complex, Scooter eats out of an egg cup three times a day and sleeps in a shoebox.

And to think Ms McKnight nearly gave him away.

"For the first 10 weeks or so I didn't really want him,” she told NZPA.

“I thought nah, someone else can have him. But over time I've fallen in love with him.''

Link to story
 

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Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 07-15-2009, 07:55 PM:
 
What you talkin' 'bout, Willis? Like anybody is going to call it that. Mile High Stadium is still Mile High Stadium

Sears Tower name change to become official
July 15, 2009

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Known as the Sears Tower since it opened in 1973, the tallest building in the United States is set to change its name to Willis Tower.

The London-based insurance brokerage Willis Group Holdings will make the name change official Thursday with a ceremony at the downtown Chicago skyscraper. Willis is leasing 140,000 square feet and moving 500 employees to the building.

The new name isn't the only recent change at the tower. Last month, owners announced a $350 million greening effort, along with plans for a 50-story luxury hotel. For tourists, glass-bottomed enclosed balconies on the 103rd floor were opened earlier this month.

Sears Roebuck and Co. was the original tenant before leaving in 1992. A real estate investment group now owns the 1,450-foot, 110-story skyscraper.

Link
 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 07-17-2009, 05:06 AM:
 
Beware of The Blob, it creeps and leaps and glides and slides...

And YOU thought when it was air-dropped in the frozen COLD we were all safe? HA!

Link
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 07-21-2009, 07:24 AM:
 
From last month, but I certainly don't want to neglect Nigaz.

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From the BBC:

Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.

The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.

Rest of the story can be found here
 

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Posted by Ethan Harper (Member # 472) on 07-22-2009, 03:30 PM:
 
Shaq will be in a new ABC reality show where he will challenge the best athletes in other sports to their craft.

He will battle Serena Williams in Tennis, Albert Pujols in Baseball, etc. He will train for 1 week leading up to the versus battle against the best in the world in sports.

It starts on August 18th.
 

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Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 07-22-2009, 04:18 PM:
 

quote: Brad Miller

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Ok so this news story is apparently a few years old, but how can you not read it and laugh?

Family of faggot fans fly the flag

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quote: Ethan Harper

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He will battle Serena Williams in Tennis, Albert Pujols in Baseball, etc.

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Here's the link. I'm assuming the baseball hitting thing will be done very tongue-in-cheek. Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in any sport and Pujols is the best in the world at doing it right now. Shaq will, as he often does, look foolish if he actually tries catching up to a 92 mph fastball. If he throws a bong in the deep end he could distract Michael Phelps, so he may have a chance at the swimming thing. Oscar De La Hoya is about a foot and a half shorter and 200 pounds lighter than Shaq. They should have him fight Butterbean for real. That would be awesome.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-03-2009, 03:10 AM:
 
Star Wars On Tour

Star Wars: In Concert launches for five years

By Ray Waddell

FOR Another Planet Touring, very good news it is.

The San Francisco-based promoter is producing the upcoming global tour of Star Wars: In Concert, a conceptualised, multimedia event driven by live symphonic performances of music from all six of John Williams' Star Wars scores.

"It is the first time in 30 years that George Lucas, Lucasfilm and John Williams have authorised a show to go out," Another Planet chief Gregg Perloff said.

"It's basically the 'greatest hits' of Star Wars, with a rock 'n' roll production."

The tour opens October 1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and will travel the globe in a five-year production deal for Another Planet.

Narrated live by Anthony Daniels (the actor who portrayed C-3PO in all six films), the production features a full symphony orchestra and choir, accompanied by specially edited footage from the films displayed on a three-story-tall high-definition LED screen.

With the combination of clips from the movies and the spectacle of a live orchestra playing Williams' stirring scores, Perloff hopes Star Wars: In Concert will find an enthusiastic audience.

"If we can bring a new audience for this show ... and then also attract what I would call a normal pop-sensibility audience that would say, 'Wow, I didn't have any idea what an orchestra sounded like live,' I would be just ecstatic," Perloff said.

Initially, Star Wars: In Concert will book "several hundred" dates worldwide, beginning with 50 in North America, then Europe.

Another Planet is partnering with arenas and arena management companies in promoting the dates.

As was the case with other nontraditional live tours like Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Walking With Dinosaurs, much of the promotion is geared toward telling ticket buyers about what's being staged.

The tour's website, StarWarsInConcert.com, features information about the show, a message from Williams, videoclips and links to buy tickets when they go on sale.

-----------------------


 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 08-12-2009, 06:54 AM:
 
Story here: knife wedged into a 15-year-old boy's skull


 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-13-2009, 09:03 PM:
 

Link to original letter.

Prankster David Thorne behind McDonald's hoax

By Andrew Ramadge, Technology Reporter

news.com.au

October 14, 2009 09:45am

A FAKE memo claiming McDonald's stores deliberately rip off customers has been revealed to be the work of the same prankster behind an infamous email about a seven-legged spider.

The document, mocked-up with an official McDonald's Australia letterhead and signed by fictitious managing director "Robert Trugabe", outlines a secret plan to save money by leaving items out of drive-through orders.

"If the girls leave one item out of every second or third order, this adds up to several thousand dollars per week revenue," it says.

"We need to work out if there is a way of making this a procedure without making it documented."

The memo became a viral hit, making its way to email boxes and consumer blogs around the world and prompting an official response from the fast food company.

The front page of McDonald's Australia's website currently features a customer alert denouncing the fake memo as an "email scam".

"Robert Trugabe is not, and has never been, a McDonald's Australia employee. The contents of the letter are also completely fabricated," it says.

"McDonald's practices the highest standards of consumer ethics and would never encourage employees to act in a way that undermines our core customer values."

Now South Australian prankster David Thorne, famous for an email exchange in which he attempted to pay a bill with a drawing of a spider, has admitted to the hoax.

"It took me five minutes in Photoshop," he told news.com.au this week.

Something smells Filet-O-Fishy...

Rumour-busting websites including Hoax Slayer had already cottoned on to the prank after becoming suspicious of "Robert Trugabe" – a play on the name of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

In fact the signature at the bottom of the memo is actually a scan of Mr Mugabe's, taken from Wikipedia.

Of creating the hoax, Mr Thorne said: "Paper background and logo courtesy of Google Images. Signature courtesy of the Robert Mugabe page on Wikipedia. Address courtesy of Google Maps. Content courtesy of being ripped off by McDonald's several times."

The memo had appeared on Mr Thorne's website earlier in the year as part of a prank email exchange about test-riding a motorcycle.

External Link See the memo in its original context »

Two weeks ago Mr Thorne altered the image by adding a circle around the drive-through comments and the words "I knew it!" before posting it to social network Reddit.

"The fastest and easiest way to feed anything, true or stupid, to the internet machine is through Reddit," he said.

"I posted it on there under a constructed name and within the day it went viral."

Mr Thorne, who has previously told news.com.au he believes the internet should be a playground, said he was surprised by the reaction.

"People who have seen the original on my website knew and emailed me that it had been posted on several websites as evidence that McDonald's commits fraud," he said.

"I would have thought that the thinly disguised signature and name gave away the fact that it was a joke, but I guess it was a vague context."

Internet pranks have been a thorny subject for journalists in recent years, with several high-profile publications falling prey to elaborate hoaxes.

Last month an Australian TV program fooled several outlets into publishing the results of a fictitious study that found Sydneysiders were the nation's "most gullible" residents.

More recently, news.com.au published an article about a controversial performance art installation that was revealed to be a fake.

Link to story


Screen shot of the main alert page @ McDonalds Australia.

McDonald's Australia
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-08-2009, 08:02 PM:
 
How sad...

Guttenberg, Danson, Selleck Reuniting for 'Three Men and a Bride'

quote:

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Tom Selleck, Ted Danson and Steve Guttenberg are reuniting for a new Three Men and a Baby sequel -- nearly 20 years after the last installment.

The trio played bachelor friends forced to raise a baby together after she's left on their doorstep by desperate mom Nancy Travis in the 1987 original.

They reteamed three years later for the follow-up, 3 Men and a Little Lady.

Now, 19 years later, studio bosses at Disney are planning to reunite the trio for their movie daughter's wedding.

Breaking the news to WENN, an excited Guttenberg says, "Disney's developing Three Men and a Bride. That's going to be a smash. A smash hit. They're bringing everybody back for that.

“Nobody knows about it. I'm the first to talk about it.”

And Guttenberg's not settling for just one sequel -- he wants to bring back all the franchises that helped him find fame in the 1980s.

He adds, "It's definitely time for another Police Academy. And I think they could make another Cocoon.

"They're surefire hits and I think they're good for the world. They make the world a better place and that's what it's all about."

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quote:

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Bourbon Whopper

Burger King is selling a new hamburger, the Bourbon Whopper, which uses bourbon whiskey in the sauce. The product features sauce made with brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and bourbon, considered to blend well with soy sauce to enhance the aroma. Price: 450 yen.

Two types of highball drinks using the whiskey Four Roses (350 yen each) are also on sale. There is a daily 200-yen discount for the Bourbon Whopper and highball set, usually sold at 800 yen, after 5 p.m.

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quote:

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Airlines: New rules keep passengers in seats

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Some airlines were telling passengers on Saturday that new government security regulations prohibit them from leaving their seats beginning an hour before landing

The regulations are a response to a suspected terrorism incident on Christmas Day.

Air Canada said in a statement that new rules imposed by the Transportation Security Administration limit on-board activities by passengers and crew in U.S. airspace. The airline said that during the final hour of flight passengers must remain seated. They won't be allowed access to carryon baggage or to have any items on their laps.

Flight attendants on some domestic flights are informing passengers of similar rules. Passengers on a flight from New York to Tampa Saturday morning were also told they must remain in their seats and couldn't have items in their laps, including laptops and pillows.

The TSA issued a security directive for U.S.-bound flights from overseas, according to a transportation security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.

The official said passengers traveling internationally could see increased security screening at gates and when they check their bags, as well as additional measures on flights such as stowing carryons and personal items before the plane lands.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement Saturday that passengers flying to the U.S. from overseas may notice extra security, but she said the measures "are designed to be unpredictable, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing everywhere."

A Nigerian passenger on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam allegedly attempted to start a fire as the plane prepared to land in Detroit on Friday, according to authorities. The incident has sparked a major international terrorism investigation.

Air Canada said it was limiting passengers to one carryon bag in response to a request from the U.S. and Canadian governments.

The airline advised U.S.-bound passengers to restrict their carryon item to "the absolute minimum" or to not carry any bag on board at all.

"Carriage of any carryon item will result in lengthy security delays for the customer," the airline said.

U.S.-bound flights on all airlines are experiencing significant delays, said Duncan Dee, Air Canada's executive vice president and chief operating officer.

A spokeswoman with Infraero, a Brazilian government agency that oversees airport infrastructure, said that airlines had been asked by federal authorities to add another layer of security for international flights originating in the country after the attempted attack in the U.S.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter, said that passengers would face an extra screening that would take place just before they boarded planes. She would give no more details, citing security concerns.

David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, said the domestic airline industry has been in close coordination with the security administration since Friday's incident and there will be increased scrutiny of passengers. He declined to comment on whether new regulations have been put in place.

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quote: Randy Stankey

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Even then, what's to prevent me from ingesting a test tube full of anthrax spores and eating a pound of baked beans just prior to boarding a 16 hour flight from Europe to the US, then half way across, farting out anthrax-laden gas from my bare-naked ass?

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quote:

---

Airline security is nothing more than a circus act!

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quote: Brad Miller

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But if you even hint at a joke while you are going through it you will be arrested.

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No kidding. As I've said before, the terrorists absolutely, 100% definitely won.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-26-2009, 09:57 PM:
 
Yes, because of that idiot Richard Reid, we all have to take our shoes off at the airport.

What are they gonna do, now? Make us take off our pants?!
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-26-2009, 10:26 PM:
 
Somehow I imagine a pant removal order would "randomly" target a large amount of attractive females.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-26-2009, 10:59 PM:
 
And then there would a large influx of applicants for the "pant removal squad"
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-25-2010, 01:33 AM:
 
Well Phil, I have finally found your dream job.

link

quote:

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Holiday Inn, operator of over 4,000 hotels worldwide, will begin to offer a free five-minute "human bed-warming service" at its London Kensington hotel throughout next week.

If requested, a willing member of hotel staff will jump in your bed, dressed head to foot in an all-in-one sleeper suit, until your nightly chamber warms up.

Holiday Inn spokeswoman Jane Bednall described the plan as something like having a "giant hot water bottle in your bed."

Dr Chris Idzikowski, director of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, said the idea could help people get off to sleep, as cold beds inhibit slumber.

"Holiday Inn's new bed warmers service should help people achieve a good night's sleep especially as it's taking much longer for them to warm up when they come in from the snow."

---

 

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Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 01-26-2010, 06:10 PM:
 
Brad, I'd do it ***IF*** there was a cute 19 y/o guy to share and warm the other side of the bed with me.

Oh, and the hotel guest was not due to arrive in the room for at least 20 minutes...
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-26-2010, 06:48 PM:
 
What happens on his 20th birthday? Fired?
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-26-2010, 08:54 PM:
 
I'm going to bet Phil has faith in the never-ending supply of 19 year olds.

Since when did you need 20 minutes, Phil?
 

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Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 01-27-2010, 12:47 AM:
 
He needs time to shower afterward.
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 02-12-2010, 09:11 AM:
 
Man Busted In TV Smash Rampage.

For unknown reasons, the Georgia man yesterday afternoon smashed 29 flat-screen televisions during a rampage at a Walmart in suburban Atlanta. The destroyed televisions are valued at about $22,887.
smoking gun
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-19-2010, 05:48 PM:
 
School administration perverts

quote:

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School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home

According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The issue came to light when the Robbins's child was disciplined for "improper behavior in his home" and the Vice Principal used a photo taken by the webcam as evidence. The suit is a class action, brought on behalf of all students issued with these machines.

If true, these allegations are about as creepy as they come. I don't know about you, but I often have the laptop in the room while I'm getting dressed, having private discussions with my family, and so on. The idea that a school district would not only spy on its students' clickstreams and emails (bad enough), but also use these machines as AV bugs is purely horrifying.

Schools are in an absolute panic about kids divulging too much online, worried about pedos and marketers and embarrassing photos that will haunt you when you run for office or apply for a job in 10 years. They tell kids to treat their personal details as though they were precious.

---

quote:

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The Superintendant of the Lower Merion School District -- where parents have initiated a class action suit over the covert use of students' laptops to surveil them in school and at home -- has sent a letter to parents with more information about the spying. The school admits that there was spyware installed on students laptops that allowed for remote, covert activation of their webcams, but maintains that the measure was only to be used in the event of theft of the machine (some had speculated that the school was only able to surveil students' hard drives, and that the images of a student engaged in "misconduct" in his home that a vice-principal confronted the student with had been taken by the student, intentionally, and stored on the laptop's hard-drive, from which it was retrieved by the school administration -- this now seems not to have been the case). The school also claims that the system can only capture still images, not audio or video. They have disabled the system for now and deny that it was misused.

As a result of our preliminary review of security procedures today, I directed the following actions:
· Immediate disabling of the security-tracking program.
· A thorough review of the existing policies for student laptop use.
· A review of security procedures to help safeguard the protection of privacy; including a review of the instances in which the security software was activated. We want to ensure that any affected students and families are made aware of the outcome of laptop recovery investigations.
· A review of any other technology areas in which the intersection of privacy and security may come into play.

---

 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 02-19-2010, 06:33 PM:
 
Atlanta police chase zebra discovered running through rush hour traffic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8523821.stm
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-03-2010, 12:35 PM:
 
I don't care how cute you think your kids are, do not let them direct air traffic.

quote:

---

Child Heard Directing Air Traffic at JFK Airport

NEW YORK -- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating whether a child directed planes from Kennedy Airport's air traffic control tower.

A child's voice can be heard on a tape making five transmissions to pilots preparing for takeoff on Feb. 17. The recording was obtained by WFXT-TV in Boston.

In one exchange, the child can be heard saying, " JetBlue 171 contact departure."

A male voice in the tower says: "That's what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school."

The child later clears another plane for takeoff, and says, "Adios, amigo."

The FAA said in a statement: "Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic." It added: "This behavior is not acceptable."

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quote: Paul Mayer

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And yes, that kid was not "controlling traffic" any more than your son is "driving" when he sits in your lap to steer the family car.

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quote: Paul Mayer

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As for your relative, he probably (hopefully) staged those shots in a simulator or at least in a parked aircraft.

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I wish .... Real 737, real left-side seat, while really flying on a real commercial flight full of passengers ... of course, just sitting there for the picture while the copilot kept a close eye and inmediately switched back. In case you wonder: no, the airline doesn't allow that ...

Not that he does it often or whatnot, and I don't really think it's dangerous, but still, it's safer if it is not done at all and there is no need for it.

And I agree about newscasting going downhill everywhere lately. It's amazing how people that know nothing-about-nothing, be it air traffic control or digital cinema, talk any crap they can come out with to sell a paper/magazine or two.

BTW, I happen to have another relative-in-law this time that is an ATC. The stories he tells me ...
 

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Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 03-05-2010, 05:29 AM:
 
Ever been in a cockpit before
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 03-26-2010, 12:31 PM:
 
Higher Prices Make Box Office Debut

quote:

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Higher Prices Make Box-Office Debut
by Lauren A.E. Schuker and Ethan Smith
Thursday, March 25, 2010

provided by
wsjlogo.gif

Tickets get costlier as movie chains seek to cash in on consumers' willingness to pay more for 3-D

Major U.S. movie-theater chains, seeking to accelerate the surge in revenues fueled by such 3-D hits as "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland," are imposing some of the steepest increases in ticket prices in at least a decade.

The new prices take effect Friday in many markets across the country in theaters owned by such major exhibitors as Regal Entertainment Group, Cinemark Holdings Inc. and AMC Entertainment Inc.

More from WSJ.com:

• 3-D Powered Box Office Surge

• Did the Academy Awards Kill the 'Oscar Bump'?

• James Cameron on the Coming DVD Release of 'Avatar'

The increases, in one case as much as 26%, vary from theater to theater, but many cinemas are raising prices most—or even solely—for 3-D showings, which accounted for the vast majority of last year's 10% jump in domestic box-office sales. 3-D movies generated 11% of domestic ticket sales in 2009, up from just 2% in 2008.

At an AMC theater in Danvers, Mass., a Boston suburb, 3-D ticket prices are jumping more than 20% to $17.50 from $14.50, while the adult admission price for a conventional film will remain at $10.50. At one Seattle multiplex, adult admission is rising to $11 from $10 for a conventional film, to $15 from $13.50 for a regular 3-D showing and to $17 from $15 for Imax 3-D.

A 3-D Imax movie at New York City's AMC Loews Kips Bay will cost $19.50, up from $16.50.

The increases weren't announced by the theater operators, but were reflected in prices posted Wednesday on movie-ticketing Web sites, such as Fandango.com.

AMC and Cinemark declined to comment. Comment from Regal wasn't immediately available.

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The industry's move comes on the heels of a record-setting year at the domestic box office, with revenue surpassing $10 billion for the first time. Movie attendance in the U.S. and Canada grew 5.5% in 2009, with 1.42 billion tickets sold, the most since 2004. Ticket sales so far this year are running 10% higher.

Movie theaters typically charged $2 to $3 extra for 3-D movies. But the brisk demand for the premium-priced tickets led many exhibitors to conclude they were still underpriced. About 83% of the record $2.6 billion in ticket sales for "Avatar" came from 3-D and Imax screens. And Walt Disney Co.'s "Alice in Wonderland" also set records when it hit 3-D screens earlier this month.

While the new prices could boost theater owners' already buoyant revenues, some industry watchers think they could also spark a consumer backlash. Studios, theater operators, and trade groups have long touted films as a bargain, compared with other forms of entertainment. A decade ago, the average ticket at a multiplex was $5.39, but prices have edged up between 2.7% and 6.1% a year since then, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

"The U.S. economy isn't in the greatest shape, and there is definitely risk here in pushing price too far in a weak economy," said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst at BTIG LLC, who issued a research report Wednesday on the price hikes.

Mr. Greenfield said the next month will serve as a test of the strategy. "We'll have a sense if there is any pushback" from moviegoers, he said.

Some movie-studio executives expressed concern that the price increases might be too much too soon. "The risk we run is that we will no longer be the value proposition that we as an industry have prided ourselves on," said a distribution executive at one major studio.

Other studio executives agreed that the move was risky, but some, like Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros., expressed support. "The exhibitors are trying to push the needle on ticket prices and see where it ends up," Mr. Fellman said. "So far charging a $3 or $4 premium has had no effect on consumers whatsoever, so I'm in favor of this experiment to raise prices even more. There may be additional revenue to earn here."

Studios are also in a bind. While many are wary of appearing to gouge consumers, they are also facing higher costs as they produce more movies in the technology-heavy 3-D format. Though ticket prices are set by theater operators, the proceeds are split roughly 50-50 with movie studios.

Five major 3-D films are opening in theaters over the next three months, starting this weekend with DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "How to Train Your Dragon." That rich selection is one reason theater owners chose to raise 3-D ticket prices now. It may also help set consumers' expectations for future 3- films.

Imax 3-D tickets to "Dragon" are expected to cost an average $1, or 7%, more than Imax tickets to Disney's "A Christmas Carol," the last children's film to open in the format, just a few months ago.

In his report, Mr. Greenfield said one of the biggest price increases was at an AMC theater in Boston, where a child's 3-D Imax ticket will cost $14.50, up from $11.50. In the 10 markets he surveyed, adult tickets to conventional 2-D films were set to rise by an average of 4%, beginning this weekend.

Price increases on 3-D movies are at least twice as steep, he said, with average adult admission prices rising 8% for 3-D movies and nearly 10% for movies on Imax screens.

---

quote:

---

It should have been a red carpet event. When just one British cinema was given exclusive permission to launch Uma Thurman's new film earlier this month, the film's producers presumably hoped that exclusivity would create a buzz around the movie. Though limiting the release would obviously limit takings, they must have hoped word of mouth could make it a slow-burning success.

But the tactic backfired catastrophically. Instead of audiences queueing round the block of the Apollo West End in Piccadilly Circus, London, to see the star of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, they stayed away in record-breaking numbers.

Over its opening weekend, no more than a dozen people went to see Motherhood, a semi-autobiographical account of stressed-out Manhattan parenting written and directed by Katherine Dieckmann. The film made just £88 on the weekend of Friday 5 March. On its debut Sunday, box office takings were £9, meaning one person bought a ticket.

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quote:

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School Suspends Boy for Bloodshot Eyes

TROPHY CLUB, Texas - Administrators at Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club suspended a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday because his eyes were bloodshot and they thought he might have been smoking marijuana.

The teen said he was not high. Instead his eyes were red because he had been grieving the loss of his murdered father.

Kyler Robertson’s father was stabbed to death on Sunday. His mother honored his wishes and let him go to school on Tuesday to be with his friends.

“I am sure he had a lot on his mind going to school. I had asked him not to go to school,” said Cristy Fritz.

Before returning to class Kyler had to go to the office to get a tardy slip. That’s when school employees accused him of being high because he had red and watery eyes.

Fritz said she got a call from administrators who told her Kyler would be suspended for three days.

“I was pleading with her to understand the severity of the situation, his emotional well being. How could they do this to him at this time? What are the alternatives?” she said.

District spokeswoman Lesley Weaver would not discuss the case with FOX 4, but said when administrators suspect a student is under the influence, a school nurse will observe symptoms like their behavior, odor and their eyes.

The district does not actually test students, though. That’s left to the parents.

Fritz said she was told by the assistant principal that she could have Kyler tested for drugs within two hours and if it was negative he could return to school. She did just that.

Kyler was allowed to return to class after he showed school administrators a copy of his negative test results.

The teen’s mom still wants an apology from administrators and she wants the district to remove the suspension from his permanent record. She is in the process of appealing it.

“We had other things to do this week than worry about a three day window for an appeal, a two hour window for a drug test and my son’s reputation and high school career,” she said.

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Stay classy, Texas. Let's hope none of your students have seasonal allergies.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-13-2010, 11:45 PM:
 
Stupid, stupid people.
 

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Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 09-15-2010, 10:48 AM:
 
Not religious, just stupid. Jesus Toaster

Company Offers Jesus Toaster, Virgin Mary, Star Of David On The Way
Posted by admin on September 15, 2010

A small company in Vermont has produced a toaster that burns the image of Jesus Christ onto every slice of your daily bread. Burnt Impressions, LLC also offers Hemp Leaf and Peace Sign models and hopes to add virgin mary and star of david-themed versions.

For less than 40 dollars consumers can now purchase a toaster that will put the face of Jesus on each piece of bread.

Using special coils that only toast in a specific pattern, the toaster will place a picture of Jesus with radiating beams emanating from Him on your toast.

The man behind the project, Galen Dively III of Vermont, believes these toasters will make a great hit during the holidays and has plans to make a Virgin Mary and Star of David version to compliment the Jesus toaster.

When asked about the choice of putting Jesus on bread, Divley commented that it was simply good public relations for God.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-15-2010, 11:42 AM:
 
Looks to me like they just put a gobo (stencil) between the heating element and the bread.

If that's the case, why don't they just sell toasters with interchangeable gobos?

For Christmas, you can put in a picture of Jesus or a Christmas tree. If you're Jewish, you can put in a menorah for Hanukkah. For the Fourth of July, you can put in an American Flag, etc. The list goes on and on.

Regardless of what gobo the customer actually used, they would avoid the inevitable stigma of the "Jesus on my toast" controversy.

OR..... Is that what this company is trying to do in the first place? Are they just using Jesus to stir the pot and drum up a little publicity for themselves?

As they say, "No publicity is bad publicity." Right?
 

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Posted by Greg Anderson (Member # 235) on 09-15-2010, 01:18 PM:
 
Darth Vader Toaster

...seems a bit disrespectful if the proper function of a toaster is to create religious symbols and/or art.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-22-2010, 12:26 AM:
 
Worm eats Cedar Rapids man’s retina

quote:

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John Matthews loves to hunt turkeys and travel to foreign places like Mexico. During one of those adventures, something crawled inside his body.

“It’s so small, you couldn’t even see it, feel it,” Matthews said.

When two dark spots appeared in his vision and his eyesight became a little hazy, he headed to the doctor.

“It was kind of like looking through a muddy lens,” he said.

Doctors struggled to diagnose what was wrong with John’s left eye. Then, Dr. James Folk at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics found the problem.

“Just by luck, the first picture we looked at, we saw the worm, right in the middle of the retina,” Folk said.

A microscopic worm was swimming around inside John’s eye.

“It actually lives underneath the retina of the eye and crawls around and eats the retina,” Folk said. “The worm goes into the gut, digests in the gut, and actually doesn’t crawl through the blood vessels, but crawls through the tissue all the way to the eyes and the brain.”

There are only about fifteen known cases like this in the world.

Matthews still remembers that day back in January when he got the news. He said, “I was never freaked out by it when they said, ‘You’ve got a worm in your eye.’ I was like, ‘Get it out. What do we do now?’”

Soon after making the diagnosis, Dr. Folk armed himself with a laser and put the worm in the cross-hairs.

John was awake the whole time and said he was thinking, “Hurry up and kill the thing. Good luck shootin’, doc…I saw something wiggling and I asked if the worm was wiggling. The doc said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘I can see it.’”

Dr. Folk said, “When you hit it with the laser, it got very upset. As upset as a worm can get, I suppose…The thing was just thrashing around violently. It would be like one of those titan movies or something.”

The worm is dead. It will decompose over time. Now, John must do computer exercises to strengthen his eye. His vision has improved, but may never return to normal.

“His sharp-shooting days are over,” Folk said.

For the rest of his life, John will be on a different kind of hunting expedition to see if any doctor can restore his eyesight.

Dr. DeAnn Fitzgerald has worked with John throughout this entire process and continues to see him about twice a month.

Although this condition is rare, Dr. Folk says, in one day, an adult raccoon can shed 60 million eggs that contain these kinds of worms. Folk says Matthews could have somehow ingested raccoon dander. However, John will probably never know exactly how or when the worm got inside him.

---

 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 09-25-2010, 11:39 AM:
 
man, I wish I lived in Texas
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-25-2010, 04:57 PM:
 
Well, we will let you if you go back and quote the text from that article you linked to.

Texas...the home of deep fried butter.
 

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 09-25-2010, 06:41 PM:
 

quote:

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Deep-fried beer invented in Texas
A chef in Texas has created what he claims is the world's first recipe for deep-fried beer.


By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 7:50PM BST 31 Aug 2010

Ravioli like pieces of pretzel dough are deep fried for about 20 seconds

The beer is placed inside a pocket of salty, pretzel-like dough and then dunked in oil at 375 degrees for about 20 seconds, a short enough time for the confection to remain alcoholic.

When diners take a bite the hot beer mixes with the dough in what is claimed to be a delicious taste sensation.

Inventor Mark Zable said it had taken him three years to come up with the cooking method and a patent for the process is pending. He declined to say whether any special ingredients were involved.

His deep-fried beer will be officially unveiled in a fried food competition at the Texas state fair later this month.

Five ravioli-like pieces will sell for $5 (£3) and the Texas Alcoholic Commission has already ruled that people must be aged over 21 to try it.

Mr Zable has so far been deep frying Guinness but said he may switch to a pale ale in future.

He said: "Nobody has been able to fry a liquid before. It tastes like you took a bite of hot pretzel dough and then took a drink of beer." Mr Zable previously invented dishes including chocolate-covered strawberry waffle balls and jalapeño corndog shrimps.

Last year's winner of the Texas state fair fried food competition was a recipe for deep-fried butter.

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now can I visit to eat deep fried beer?
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 09-28-2010, 03:54 PM:
 
Not exactly a news story (it's from The Onion) but pretty darn funny.

Link

-------------------
Rocky Horror Picture Show's Cult Following Just Doesn't Have The Energy Anymore



SEPTEMBER 25, 2010 | ISSUE 46•38

Tired, run-down 'Rocky Horror' fans told reporters if they heard the words "hot patootie, bless my soul" one more time they were going to lose their minds.

LOS ANGELES—Longtime fans of the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show reported this week that after 30 years of religiously attending midnight showings of the film, they no longer have the energy to put on red wigs, bras, and lipstick and yell things at a movie screen until two in the morning.

Describing the never-ending ritual of gathering together with fellow fans and re-watching the camp musical comedy as "tiring" and "frankly, a little pathetic," thousands of once-obsessed Rocky Horror fans across the country made it known that their enthusiasm for the whole cult following in general was beginning to wane.

"I'm just exhausted," said Los Angeles attorney Chris Bendel, 51, who has viewed the film with dozens of other mainly middle-aged audience members on an estimated 246 separate occasions. "Sure, there was a time when the idea of standing up in my seat and singing along with 'Dammit Janet' seemed like the greatest thing in the world, but now the mere thought of having to do it all again next week actually fills me with dread. I am a grown man. What am I doing?"

"The last screening I went to I sat there the entire time thinking, 'This movie isn't even that great and I kind of feel like an asshole,'" Bendel added.

Citing hours of missed sleep, thousands of dollars wasted on props and costumes, and an overall leveling out of whatever crazed, youthful energy got them so obsessed in the first place, the entire extended fan base of the film has called for a rethinking of the midnight-screening premise itself.

"Would it kill them to play it three or four times a year instead of every single week?" asked Tom McDougal, 47, who claimed that after a long day at work, staying up all night with 40 near-strangers dressed as sweet transvestites was "not exactly thrilling" anymore. "How about maybe doing a matinee every once in a while? Jesus Christ, I fell asleep last week during 'Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me.'"

In addition, numerous Rocky Horror enthusiasts stated this week that the dozens of audience-participation rituals invented for the screenings over the years had long ago lost their magic, and were now simply a chore.

Fan Deborah Wright, 39, announced that she will no longer be going to Shop 'n Save to pick up a loaf of bread in order to make toast to throw at the screen when the line "A toast!" is spoken. And Chicago-area computer programmer Rob Levin told reporters he was tired of bringing bags of rice, hot dogs, and toilet paper to local screenings, citing the fact that he is a 47-year-old man with a wife and child.

"I actually go out and spend money on supplies for this thing," Levin said. "Supplies. For a movie. How idiotic is that?"

Rocky Horror fan club president Sal Piro addressed concerns at a press conference Monday, saying that he shared fans' growing lack of interest, and that the film itself was to blame.

"Look, for decades there wasn't a bigger Rocky Horror nut on the planet than me," Piro said. "But my tastes have changed over time, and I've got to be honest with myself: The Rocky Horror Picture Show is actually a pretty irritating movie, and the music, while admittedly catchy on first listen, really starts to grate over time. And dressing up like Dr. Frank-N-Furter or Riff Raff and prancing around like an over-caffeinated teenager doesn't make the movie any better, it just compounds everything that is already annoying about it."

"So really, this whole thing has been a colossal waste of time," Piro continued. "And now it appears as though the better part of my life is over, so, there you go. There's your fucking 'time warp' right there.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-28-2010, 03:56 PM:
 
Ha! I love that Onion story. So true.
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 09-28-2010, 04:25 PM:
 
Explosion Damages Downtown L.A. Medical Building..

LINKY
_____________________________________________________________
Explosion damages downtown L.A. medical building [Update]
September 28, 2010 | 7:33 am

An explosion in an underground electrical vault early Tuesday sparked a small fire, shattered windows and cut power to a medical office building in downtown Los Angeles, authorities said.

No injuries were reported.

The explosion and small fire broke out about 2:14 a.m. in the Department of Water and Power vault at the Samaritan Medical Tower, a 15-story building at 1127 Wilshire Blvd., said Erik Scott, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The building was empty at the time, and the fire did not compromise its structural integrity, Scott said.

It took 81 firefighters about 2-1/2 hours to extinguish the blaze.

[Updated at 10:23 p.m.: The DWP is investigating the cause of the explosion, including the possibility it was a heat-related malfunction.

The blast initially cut power to 18 surrounding high rises, spokeswoman Gale Harris said.

By mid-morning, power was restored to all but four buildings. Crews are working to clear the area and reroute lines to restore power to the remaining buildings.]

-- Tony Barboza
_________________________________________________________________

The article understate the damage a bit. Some of the news footage I have seen today shows major damage to the lobby and the room where the building's fire alarm equipment is located has a severely buckled ceiling.

We are currently in record heat it was 110 here in Hawthorne (about 2mi. due east of the ocean) and it will be about 95-100 today.

I have lost power briefly once already and a major underground cable in my area has shorted out for the sixth time in as many years.

Many others in So. Calif. have lost or still don't have power.
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 09-29-2010, 12:17 PM:
 
Star Wars to be re-released in 3D

In a creative decision that is sure to be questioned by critics and fans,

Star Wars creator, George Lucas, will be releasing all six Star Wars movies in 3D. According to Variety, the first movie will be Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (which is considered to be the worst Star Wars film), which is scheduled for release some time in 2012.

A Lucasfilm spokesman told Variety, ”the pic will open wide and ‘as close to day and date (worldwide) as possible.’” 20th Century Fox, the original studio who released all six movies, will once again release the 3D versions of the film.

Star Wars: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, were all re-released in 1997. Visual effects which were not in the original releases, were added to those films, angering diehard Star Wars fans.

The question is, why do this? The only reason we can think of is greed, as Lucas constantly re-releases his movies to make more money! Star Wars purists will undoubtedly argue that Lucas is messing with perfection.


 

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Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 09-30-2010, 08:31 AM:
 
Las Vegas "Death Ray"

Vdara visitor: 'Death ray' scorched hair

Chicago lawyer says bag also melted

By JOAN WHITELY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Hotel pool employees call the phenomenon the "Vdara death ray."

A spokesman for MGM Resorts International, which owns Vdara, said he prefers the term "hot spot" or "solar convergence" to describe it. He went on to say that designers are already working with resort staff to come up with solutions.

Designers foresaw the issue, and thought they had solved it by installing a high-tech film on the south-facing glass panes, according to Gordon Absher, the MGM spokesman. The film scatters more than 70 percent of reflected rays. But that's not enough, Absher acknowledged, as some pool guests are still uncomfortable.

Chicago visitor Bill Pintas experienced Vdara's "death ray" recently. A lawyer, he was here on business for Preferred Capital Lending, which he co-owns. He also co-owns a Vdara condo.

Pintas told the Review-Journal that at midday Sept. 16, after a brief dip in the hotel pool, he was sunning on a recliner. He was on his stomach, relaxed, eyes closed.

But suddenly, the lawyer became so uncomfortably hot that he leaped up to move. He tried to put on his flip-flop sandals but, inexplicably, they were too hot to touch. So he ran barefoot to the shade.

"I was effectively being cooked," Pintas said. "I started running as fast as I could without looking like a lunatic."

Then he smelled an odor, and realized it was coming from his head, where a bit of hair had been scorched. It was about 12:20 p.m., as best Pintas can recall.

Taking brief refuge at the pool's bar area, Pintas chatted with employees. He said they chuckled when he described what had happened. "Yes, we call it the death ray," he says they told him. Sometimes it causes disposable drink glasses to melt, a cocktail waitress added.

After the intense reflection had passed, Pintas returned to his lounge chair. He remembered that a patron nearby laughed, and said something like, It got you, too?

Then he noticed something more -- a flimsy plastic bag holding his newspaper had partially melted. The portion of bag bearing the name Vdara had entirely melted away. Holes marked where the letters, in black ink, had absorbed the heat. Pintas snapped a photo of the bag, which he shared with the newspaper.

After Pintas' experience, a Review-Journal reporter went to the Vdara pool twice. Employees did not know they were talking to a reporter.

The "hot spot" was visible during one of the visits, but no guests were in its reach. An employee pointed out the zone and said it was "like a magnifying glass that shines down" over a space about 10 feet by 15 feet, which moves as the Earth rotates. At this time of year, the bright reflection is present for about an hour and a half, both before noon and after, according to the young man.

The Review-Journal's other visit was well past noon, so the phenomenon was gone. But several employees recognized the "Vdara death ray" nickname, and readily spoke about the effect.

"It's basically a glare," said one.

"It's like 20 degrees hotter" wherever the reflection is hitting, another one said.

Pintas disagrees strongly with the "glare" terminology. Does glare "painfully heat your hair (and scalp)?" he asked in an e-mail after he returned to Chicago. "Glare sounds like what a politician or insurance attorney would call it. ...

"This is a real risk to pool guests and pool employees," Pintas concludes. Plastic shopping bags are often made of polyethylene, which melts at between 120 and 130 degrees. Many disposable plastic cups are made of polypropylene, which melts at about 160 degrees.

Pintas' theory is that Vdara's curved southern wall acts as a parabola to collect and intensify the afternoon rays, which it then reflects.

Viewed from above, the Vdara tower resembles a crescent. The crescent's southern-facing side is concave. There is no tall building farther south to block the sun's hot afternoon rays, so Vdara receives the full brunt. Its pool lies at the center of this southern-facing wall, on top of a low-rise building that is three stories tall.

A concave reflective surface can act "as a lens," according to Kerry Haglund at the Center for Sustainable Building Research, which is at the University of Minnesota. But she declined to speculate on whether the Vdara's wall is acting as one. Sophisticated computer modeling can determine whether its "facade configuration" and "reflective surface" interact in a way that creates a hazard for pool users, Haglund said via e-mail.

The Vdara -- and five other CityCenter buildings -- are LEED-certified, a prestigious designation that means the buildings are designed, built and operated to conserve resources and to reduce impacts on the environment. Rafael Vinoly Architects designed Vdara.

Pintas said he doesn't intend to sue Vdara over the reflection issue. But as a condo owner, he worries about the health consequences and expects the hotel to fix the problem.

A new building's first season of operation always uncovers glitches, Absher also said. Vdara solutions under review include adding more foliage to the pool deck, offering larger sun umbrellas and building a shade structure. But the challenge of constructing shade is that the sun, and the reflection, are moving targets.

CityCenter's Vdara isn't the first high-profile structure to reflect brightly. In Las Vegas, both the AdventureDome at Circus Circus and the Mandalay Bay have reflection issues, Absher noted. In early spring, he added, some pool guests at Mandalay Bay even seek out the hot spots, because they are more comfortable for sunning.

In Los Angeles, the Disney Concert Hall -- by noted architect Frank Gehry -- had to tone down its reflectivity by sanding some of its curving exterior metal surfaces.

Initially, its reflections were raising temperatures in nearby buildings and impairing the vision of passers-by. In 2004, the Los Angeles Times ran a story about the hall, below the headline, "Disney venue reflects badly on downtown."

Reporter Alan Maimon contributed to this article. Contact reporter Joan Whitely at jwhitely@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0268. Contact Alan Maimon at amaimon@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0404.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-23-2010, 01:11 PM:
 
Moron smuggles should-be-extinct creature onto plane, kills humans

quote:

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An escaped crocodile caused a plane crash that killed a British co-pilot and 19 others on board, it emerged yesterday.

The small plane was thrown off balance by a stampede of passengers trying to avoid the reptile.

First Officer Chris Wilson, 39, died alongside Belgian pilot Danny Philemotte, 62, when the twin-engined plane crashed into a house a few hundred yards from its destination in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It has only now emerged that a lone survivor apparently told investigators about the crocodile.

The plane came down despite no apparent mechanical problems during an internal flight from the capital, Kinshasa, to Bandundu regional airport on August 25.

A report by news organisation Jeune Afrique stated: 'According to the inquiry report and the testimony of the only survivor, the crash happened because of a panic sparked by the escape of a crocodile hidden in a sports bag.

'One of the passengers had hidden the animal, which he planned to sell, in a big sports bag, from which the reptile escaped as the plane began its descent into Bandundu.

'The terrified air hostess hurried towards the cockpit, followed by the passengers.'

The plane was then sent off-balance 'despite the desperate efforts of the pilot', said the report.

'The crocodile survived the crash before being cut up with a machete.'

The occupants of the property the plane crashed into were away.

Mr Wilson's mother Jean, 78, paid tribute to her son in her local paper in Shurdington, Gloucestershire.

She said: 'He loved flying and he worked hard to fulfil his dream of becoming a pilot. He had three jobs at once just to pay for his training. He absolutely adored flying.

'I’m very proud of him for working so hard. He loved life and did everything he could to achieve his dream.

'There have been so many messages from people he has known through the years. We didn’t realise so many people cared for him.'

The plane was a Czech-made Let L-410 Turbolet, one of more than 1,100 produced as short-range transport aircraft and used mainly for passenger services.

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quote:

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San Francisco has done the unthinkable. Not win the World Series. It's effectively banned happy meals.

In order to include a toy with purchase, these new, unhappier meals must meet a checklist of nutritional requirements (PDF):

• The meal can't exceed 600 calories
• Less than 35 percent of the calories can come from fat (nuts, nut butters, low-fat cheese excepted)
• It's required to have a half cup of vegetables
• Breakfast meals are required to have a half cup of fruit
• Sodium limits
• A multigrain requirement

Does that sound like a happy meal you've ever eaten? This is a blow to happy meal toy enthusiasts everywhere. While happy meal toys have been getting crappier over the years, bans like these will surely hasten their decline as a mass cultural form. Inside the cardboard walls of a happy meal box, soaked in grease, is where I got my first wind-up car, an army of tiny robots and sweet transforming figures. No more.

San Francisco clearly hates children. And happiness.

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quote:

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Mobile phones and computers will soon be able to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases under innovative plans to cut the UK's rising rate of herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhoea among young people.

Doctors and technology experts are developing small devices, similar to pregnancy testing kits, that will tell someone quickly and privately if they have caught an infection through sexual contact.

People who suspect they have been infected will be able to put urine or saliva on to a computer chip about the size of a USB chip, plug it into their phone or computer and receive a diagnosis within minutes, telling them which, if any, sexually transmitted infection (STI) they have. Seven funders, including the Medical Research Council, have put £4m into developing the technology via a forum called the UK Clinical Research Collaboration.

Sexual health experts hope it will help reduce the growing number of STIs, which have increased for the last decade and reached a record 482,696 last year. Two-thirds of women reporting a new STI were under 25, as were more than half of men.

The self-testing devices are aimed at technology-savvy young people. Public health experts are concerned that, although most STIs occur among that age group, many are too embarrassed to visit a GP or a genito-urinary medicine clinic to get tested and therefore continue to suffer and potentially pass the disease on. Doctors hope that the ability to obtain a private, confidential diagnosis will overcome their widespread reluctance to take a test.

The developers of the rapid testing devices expect them to be sold for as little as 50p or £1 each in vending machines in nightclubs, pharmacies and in supermarkets, as condoms are. They are drawing on nanotechnology and microfluidics, the creation of miniaturised laboratories.

"Your mobile phone can be your mobile doctor. It diagnoses whether you've got one of a range of STIs, such as chlamydia or gonorrhea and tells you where to go next to get treatment," said Dr Tariq Sadiq, a senior lecturer and consultant physician in sexual health and HIV at St George's, University of London, who is leading the project. "We need to tackle the rising epidemic of STIs, which have been going up and up and up. Britain is one of the worst [countries] in western Europe for teenage pregnancy and STIs. That there's a major embarrassment factor here, especially among young people, makes the situation worse." Some people do not get tested because they choose to do nothing about their symptoms, such as an itch or discharge, or dislike clinics' waiting lists or opening times. With some STIs people can remain infectious, even when the initial symptoms have disappeared.

Self-testing could lead to quicker diagnosis, fewer STIs and patients gaining greater control of their sexual health, as well as the ability to alert recent sexual partners, he added.

Sadiq is head of the Electronic Self-testing Instruments for Sexually Transmitted Infections consortium, which includes experts in microbiology, public health, telecommunications and micro-engineering from medical research institutions, the NHS and industry. The NHS's technology adoption centre, the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence and mobile phone operators, including 02, are also involved.

Doctors said the devices could help by removing the need to meet a health professional. "Some people may find going into a doctor's surgery to be tested an intimidating experience, so it's crucial that we find new ways to engage with people," said Dr Marion Henderson, from the MRC's social and public health sciences unit. Some STIs do not always display symptoms, she added. "This is important, particularly for women, as it can lead to future painful pelvic inflammatory disease and even infertility, both of which could be avoided with testing and appropriate treatment."

Prof Noel Gill, head of HIV and STIs at the Health Protection Agency, the government agency that monitors infections and advises on containment strategies, said: "HPA surveillance has shown that the impact of STIs is greatest among young people and we hope that the application of new technology will help to reduce transmission of infection in this age group.

"This is an exciting research and development consortium which will develop new technologies that both improve and expand testing for STIs. As innovations become available, the HPA will co-ordinate large-scale evaluations within a network of collaborating STI clinics," Gill added.

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Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 11-12-2010, 10:06 AM:
 
Randy, It's funny you relate fast food to police officers. It reminds me of an incident when I was in high school. I was in a drive thru behind a patrol car. When they got to the window, the officer behind the wheel opened his door and dumped his ashtray full of cigarettes and ashes on the ground, then took their coffee which they didn't pay for. I took down the car number, but decided not to call it in. I had a few cop friends and the police were always cool with me during my "underage drinking days", gotta love the mid 80's. Also I was paranoid that if I filed a complaint, all the cops would be on the lookout for me.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 11-12-2010, 10:40 PM:
 
If you closed down all the McDonald's restaurants in San Francisco all the cops might actually have to work! Ooh! What a horror that would be!

Shit! If they shut down all the Dunkin Donuts there might actually be law and order in San Fran for a change!

JK

My dad was buddies with most of the cops in town. The bar was closed on Sundays. (Pennsultucky blue laws.) We had back yard picnics on Sunday and most of the guys would come over and get liquored up.

It was a blessing and a curse. When my brother and I started driving we usually got a pass on most minor stuff and, if we did get stopped, we just got a warning but, on the other hand, we almost always heard about it the next Sunday.

When the cop that stopped you on Saturday night comes over on Sunday afternoon, the best thing you can do is make yourself scarce... and QUICK!
 

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Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 12-01-2010, 11:19 PM:
 
Follow-up on the stripper at Will Rogers Airport video I posted in the random video thread.

quote:

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OKLAHOMA CITY -- A lot of people go through Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport, and it was here in Oklahoma where filmmaker John Maringouin says he witnessed something he's never seen before.

"It was hard not to notice. I was kind of already through security, and I just turned around and saw it," he said. "It didn't seem like anyone else was paying much attention to it. I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen in an airport."

Maringouin was visiting Oklahoma to interview a prison inmate for an upcoming movie of his when 52-year-old Tammy Banovac caught his eye.

She was the woman in only a bra and underwear sitting in a wheelchair, petting her dog in airport security.

He immediately got out his camera and started rolling.

"How can anyone possibly shrug this off," he said. "The atmosphere of the TSA and cameras in airports and I just said, 'Screw all that,' and I'm going to film this. People were in a state of somewhat disbelief and I'm not sure if people were just trying to be polite, but there wasn't a lot of hoopla about it."

However, it's getting a lot of hoopla on YouTube where Maringouin posted it.

He says his new internet sensation gets about 5,000 hits per hour since it has been posted.

"I thought what she did was great, protest or not. Even if it was performance art, I thought it was probably the best performance art I've seen in a long time," he said. "She could have just been incredibly poised. Maybe she's a meditator."

At last check, the video has had thousands of views online.

As for the woman, she was back at Will Rogers Airport Wednesday morning, again in only her bra and panties.

This time she did go through the proper security screenings and did make her flight.

Copyright © 2010, KFOR-TV

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-02-2010, 01:03 AM:
 
We should all start flying in bikinis and speedos, that'd show'em!
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-08-2010, 12:05 PM:
 
LOL MIke, especially as ugly as I would be in a speedo.

Here's a good one I found this morning:

Sorry, didn't mean to put 'em there...

quote:

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Authorities Say Teen Committed Sex Crime During Wrestling Practice: A court trial was scheduled to start Thursday in Fresno County to determine if a high school wrestler committed a sex crime during a wrestling practice match.

The teenager was a former Buchanan High School senior who was expelled after an incident on the wrestling mats. He faces a sexual battery charge after police say he rammed two fingers into a teammate's anus during wrestling practice last summer, according to the Fresno Bee.

The maneuver is called a "butt drag" and is used in an attempt to pin an opponent.

The former wrestler's trial begins Thursday in Fresno County Superior Court.

The community is up in arms over the incident with a huge debate raging over whether the wrestler's action was a legal move or an illegal act.

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Never ceases to amaze me, the things that end up wasting time and money in our legal system.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-08-2010, 12:22 PM:
 
That's kind of a stupid move for a sport to have. Just adds to the stereotypes about real wrestling, I guess.
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-08-2010, 12:41 PM:
 
I agree it is a stupid move to be "legal" in wrestling. But did it constitute a sex crime? Give me a break. Now if his opponent stuck his "doodle" up the guy's butt then yeah that can be construed as sexual.

Wrestling is very homoerotic anyways. I did it in high school and I wasn't the only one to get ahem, aroused during a match.
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 12-08-2010, 01:41 PM:
 

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr

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Now if his opponent stuck his "doodle" up the guy's butt

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Rumor has it that's a common move among wrestlers, too.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-11-2010, 05:38 AM:
 
Amazingly pathetic news story.
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 12-12-2010, 06:06 AM:
 
Must've been a slow day.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 12-14-2010, 02:21 PM:
 
Family spends $82k to light christmas lights, clark griswold would approve

quote:

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Christmas is a time of family, friends, and decorations for folks all around the world. I put up the usual decorations with a tree, stockings, and some garland. I even throw a few lights on the house even though it’s two story and really steep.

Some people take decorating their house to a Griswoldian level like the Faucher family in Delaware. These folks hove about a million lights on the house and in the yard. The thing that disturbed me at first glance is the thought of having to take down all those lights and tracking down why that one bulb won’t light up.

Then you think about how much it would cost to turn those lights on. According to HouseLogic the family pays about $686 an hour to run the lights and will rack up a bill of $82,320 over the month. If they went green with LED lights, they could cut that bill down to $10,680.

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-29-2010, 03:36 PM:
 
Hell, their electrician has probably bought his own island on the profits from wiring up all those lights..not to mention the power company crew installing the heavier transformer and service.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 01-05-2011, 05:10 AM:
 
James Naughtie trying to say Jeremy hunt on the BBC
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-07-2011, 01:18 AM:
 
This isn't as exciting as the Y2K doomsday, but regardless...apparently on May 21st, 2011 God will send a terminator to save all the good people so all the bad people can suffer for 153 days before burning for eternity.

Its seriously too long to bother quoting, especially since none of this will matter in a couple of months, right?

CNN article here.
 

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Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 03-07-2011, 04:06 PM:
 
Strangely enough, this will not deter doomsday predicters.
The "Great Dissapointment" was the end of days prediction by the Millerites.
Obviously it didn't come to pass, but the Millerites spawned lots of offshoots including 7th day Adventists.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-07-2011, 05:08 PM:
 
Funny how all the doomsday predictors always ignore the part of the Bible where it says that nobody knows the day or the hour of the 'end of the world' except God himself.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-10-2011, 01:54 AM:
 
@ Mike

And for those who miss the smell of cow farts

quote:

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Tins filled with the air sucked out of an ageing wooden stable, straw lined and filled with gas producing cattle has become an instant hit after it went on sale in Germany.

Managers of the 'Countryside air to go' project say their clients are mainly country people who have moved to the city and want to be reminded of home.

The cans cost £5 a pop and can be ordered from the web site www.stallduft.de

One advert boasts: 'Simply put your nose to the tin and peel back the lid for the authentic smell of the country'.

Designer Daniela Dorrer from the village of Adlkofen in Bavaria in Germany said: 'We hope to make people who miss the countryside happy and remind them of home.

'We are planning other smells such as horse, straw, pigs and manure. But most people miss the smell of the cows in the country, not really surprising as much of the smell is from cows.'

Cows' farting and burping have even been accused of causing global warming problems.

Just one cow gives off enough harmful methane gas in a single day to fill around 400 litre bottles, which is really bad for the environment, say experts.

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quote:

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TMZ was approached several days ago by someone claiming to have the sex tape. The person sent us a short video and two photos. We'll keep this PG-13 and just say ... the people in the video are both givers.

The video and photos are clear -- it's Usher and Tameka.

Sources close to Usher -- without specifically admitting the existence of a sex tape -- tell us they believe this video could have been among the things Usher had stolen out of his car back in December 2009. Usher reported more than $1,000,000 worth of jewelry and electronics taken -- including two laptop computers.

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Speaking of Usher, Justin Bieber humps himself.


 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 03-15-2011, 08:33 PM:
 
The one on the left looks so fake.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 03-19-2011, 04:37 PM:
 
Ouch!

British woman 'bites off' boyfriend's testicles
By staff writers From: NewsCore March 18, 2011 3:09AM

A BRITISH man had surgery to reattach his testicles after his girlfriend allegedly bit them off, the Daily Mirror reported yesterday.

Maria Georgina Topp, 43, appeared in court accused of carrying out the horrific attack on her boyfriend Martin Douglas, 45, in Newcastle, northern England.

Mr Douglas had to call emergency services himself after the incident, but was in so much pain operators could not understand what he was saying. He needed emergency surgery and had to spend several days in the hospital recovering from the attack.

Paramedics who attended the scene called police when they saw the extent of his injuries and Ms Topp was arrested and charged with causing grievous bodily harm.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said, "At around 4am [local time] on Friday, February 18, police were called to a report of an assault. Officers arrested a 43-year-old woman on suspicion of assault. A 45-year-old man was taken to the Freeman Hospital for treatment to injuries to his arm and groin area."


Ms Topp is due to appear at Newcastle Crown Court next month.
 

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 03-21-2011, 10:15 AM:
 
You can re-attach a guy's balls after they've been bitten off? Amazing. And what made the police suspect the wife of this assault? Oh, wait...yah, she had a set of testicles in her mouth! Guess that would do it.

I know a few of my friends who could benefit from this modern miracle surgery, given that their wives, while they might not have actually chewed them off (I am sure it's been years since wifey-poo's lips have gotten even remotely near that area) have caused them to shrivel up and atrophy just the same.

Remindes me of a line Arian Barbeau one delivered to a brow-beaten husband in a movie I can't remember --maybe TALES FROM THE CRYPT: Henry, you'd better get your ass up here when I am talking to you or you are going to be wearing your balls as earings."
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-21-2011, 12:15 PM:
 

quote: Frank Angel

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And what made the police suspect the wife of this assault? Oh, wait...yah, she had a set of testicles in her mouth! Guess that would do it.

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quote:

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Chinese Boob Clamp Commercial: +10 Cleavage FTW

Asia markets products a little differently than we do here in the US. I once saw a Japanese commercial where girls greeted each other by cupping each other’s breasts… I think it was an ad for orange juice. Equally ridiculous, this Chinese commercial for a body shaping garment has the kind of enthusiasm westerners usually reserve for kids products. The ad features a corset with ties in the front that push the wearer’s breasts together to maximize cleavage—which seems pretty exciting on its own. But with the addition of “power up” sound effects every time a woman pulls her breasts together it’s hard not to feel like you’re playing a video game that gives out bonus points based on your character’s cleavage.

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quote:

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A Sign? Man Bursts Into Flames at San Francisco Sex Shop
Apr 15, 2011 – 3:04 PM

David Lohr Crime Journalist

For seven years, Roger Huang, a pastor who runs a rescue mission in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, has been trying to shut down the sex shops there. This week he may have seen a sign that his efforts are working.

On Wednesday, a man burst into flames while inside one of those porn shops, police said.

Could this bizarre incident be attributed to a higher power?
An employee smokes in front of the Golden Gate Adult Superstore in San Francisco, CA is seen on April 15, 2011.
Jeff Costello, AOL News
An employee smokes in front of the Golden Gate Adult Superstore in San Francisco.

"I believe so. I definitely believe so," Huang told AOL News, adding that he hopes the unidentified man is recovering from the burns.

The police aren't ruling anything out.

"We don't know what caused it," Lt. Troy Dangerfield of the San Francisco Police Department told AOL News. "It's still under investigation."

Witnesses reportedly saw the burning man running out of the Golden Gate Adult Superstore in the city's South of Market neighborhood at about 6:20 p.m. Wednesday. The man ran past stunned onlookers and collapsed at the corner of Mission and Sixth streets, police said.

"There was an ambulance crew that was in the area -- a private ambulance company -- that witnessed this person collapse, so they [extinguished the flames and] called it into the dispatch center," San Francisco Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge told AOL News.

The man, whose name has not been released, was taken to the burn center at St. Francis Memorial Hospital, where he is being treated for first-, second- and third-degree burns that reportedly cover 90 percent of his body.

"He suffered life-threatening injuries," Dangerfield said, adding, "He's still recovering."

According to KTVU, an employee said the man had been watching a film in the back of the store when he suddenly ran out screaming and on fire.

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 04-19-2011, 11:18 AM:
 
I still know quite a few guys flying the line that are happy to see this happening. Anything to get away from the 1919 ferry boat captain look. Me? After 32 years wearing a USAF Auxiliary uniform and three years wearing an air tour company pilot uniform, I was quite used to having a hat. It didn't particularly bug me.

quote:

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Captains without the cap: More airline pilots ditch the hat
Some say hat makes them look professional; others say headwear causes confusion

By Harriet Baskas - Travel writer
msnbc.com contributor

updated 2 hours 36 minutes ago

Airlines to airline pilots: You can leave your hat on. Or not.

Last month, American Airlines changed its operations manual to let pilots know it’s OK to go hatless. The carrier is just the latest among North American airlines that have made the hat an optional part of airline captains’ and first officers’ uniforms.

“The reason we made it optional is because it got to be too hard to police,” said George Tucker, American’s chief pilot at San Francisco International Airport. “Hats just seem to be slowly fading away.”

The rule about wearing a hat “is determined airline by airline,” said Doug Baj, spokesperson for the Air Line Pilots Association, International. “However, there are some uniform manual policies that still technically require it.”

For several years now, wearing hats has been optional for flights crews on Alaska, Southwest and several other airlines.

United Airlines changed its hat policy about four years ago. “Hats are part of our pilot uniforms, but are not required,” said spokesperson Megan McCarthy.

Hat hair and mistaken identity

Pilots have a range of opinions about hats, with some saying it makes them look more professional and others saying that they are frequently mistaken for skycaps.

Mike Cingari, a San Francisco-based pilot for American, is delighted that after 27 years, he’s now free to leave his hat at home.

“I’m against hats. They mess up your hair, promote baldness and it looks really stupid to be walking around with a hat on,” said Cingari. “Plus you have to remember it.”

Cingari has found that sometimes his hat causes confusion inside the airport or out on the curb. “Passengers ask you directions to the bathroom or think you’re a skycap and ask you to take their bags,” he said.

Karsten Stadler, an assistant chief pilot at Southwest Airlines, has also been mistaken for someone else when wearing his pilot’s hat. “I once had a man get very angry with me for not bringing the van around in time. But as many pilots say they’ve been confused for someone else, there are others who say the hat helps them get recognized,” said Stadler.

Although his employer now allows pilots to forgo their hats, Kent Wien says he’ll probably continue to wear his pilot cap to and through airports.

Wien, who writes the "Cockpit Chronicles" column for the Gadling.com travel blog, said: “It kind of finishes off the uniform and gives a more professional appearance. I think passengers want to see that. Otherwise, you don’t look much different than the ticket agent or a crew member.”

There’s also the issue of safety. American Airlines' Tucker makes sure his hat is always with him. “Because if, God forbid, I have that day when I have to do an emergency evacuation on my airplane, part of my responsibility is to get passengers together and move them away from the plane. The hat is a visible symbol, and we know customers respond to authority,” said Tucker.

Hatted vs. hatless

“It’s like the white coat on the doctor,” said Janet Bednarek, a history professor specializing in aviation history at the University of Dayton in Ohio. “You want to be able to tell the captain from anyone else.”

While some airlines are just now ditching the pilot hats, others, such as JetBlue and Virgin America, never had hats as part of the official uniform. “Our pilots’ all black uniforms are functional yet hip,” said Virgin America spokesperson Abby Lunardini. “We do not require caps ... but we have found that our pilots do prefer a uniform shirt that has epaulettes or markings that differentiate them from in-flight and guest service teammates.”

At least two North American airlines still require a pilot to wear a full uniform, including a hat, whenever they’re in the public’s view: Air Canada and Delta Air Lines.

“The hat helps identify the pilots and makes them stand out from other crew members, passengers and business people,” said Captain Jay Musselman, director of flight standards and quality for Air Canada.

Hats reflect “leadership and professionalism,” said Delta Air Lines spokesperson Gina Laughlin. “The hat and double-breasted blazer give Delta pilots a sharp, professional appearance.”

Frank Abagnale thinks the airline pilot hat can also be a test of authenticity.

He should know. In the 1960s, Abagnale gained notoriety for forging more than $2 million in bad checks and for adopting a variety of fake identities, including a doctor, a lawyer and, most famously, a Pan American World Airways pilot. Abagnale, whose exploits were depicted in the movie “Catch Me If You Can,” is now a fraud prevention consultant for corporations and the FBI and explained, via e-mail, why he thinks pilots should keep their hats:

“The emblems on their hats, as well as their wings, are actually two of the most difficult things for someone to obtain ... removing the requirement of the hat makes it one step easier to assume the role of a pilot.”

Harriet Baskas is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com, authors the “Stuck at the Airport” blog and is a columnist for USATODAY.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

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CDC Warns Public to Prepare for 'Zombie Apocalypse'

By Joshua Rhett Miller
Published May 18, 2011

Are you prepared for the impending zombie invasion?

That's the question posed by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention in a Monday blog posting gruesomely titled, "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse." And while it's no joke, CDC officials say it's all about emergency preparation.

"There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for," the posting reads. "Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That's right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you'll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you'll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency."

The post, written by Assistant Surgeon General Ali Khan, instructs readers how to prepare for "flesh-eating zombies" much like how they appeared in Hollywood hits like "Night of the Living Dead" and video games like Resident Evil. Perhaps surprisingly, the same steps you'd take in preparation for an onslaught of ravenous monsters are similar to those suggested in advance of a hurricane or pandemic.

"First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house," the posting continues. "This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored)."

Other items to be stashed in such a kit include medications, duct tape, a battery-powered radio, clothes, copies of important documents and first aid supplies.

"Once you've made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan," the posting continues. "This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your doorstep. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake or other emergency."

The idea behind the campaign stemmed from concerns of radiation fears following the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan in March. CDC spokesman Dave Daigle told FoxNews.com that someone had asked CDC officials if zombies would be a concern due to radiation fears in Japan and traffic spiked following that mention.

"It's kind of a tongue-in-cheek campaign," Daigle said Wednesday. "We were talking about hurricane preparedness and someone bemoaned that we kept putting out the same messages."

While metrics for the post are not yet available, Daigle said it has become the most popular CDC blog entry in just two days.

"People are so tuned into zombies," he said. "People are really dialed in on zombies. The idea is we're reaching an audience or a segment we'd never reach with typical messages."

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By Jim Forsyth Jim Forsyth – Thu Jun 2, 7:13 pm ET

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – Don't get on the bus in Ft. Worth, Texas, if you're not properly dressed.

The Ft. Worth Transportation Authority, known as "The T," has implemented a new policy that prohibits any passenger from boarding a bus with "saggy" pants that expose the person's underwear or buttocks.

"Riders don't want to see a person dressed like that on a public bus," Joan Hunter, communications manager for The T, told Reuters on Thursday. "Our customers think it's disrespectful."

The saggy pants look has been around for more than a decade, tracing its roots to prison attire because inmates are not issued belts. It spread to the rap and hip-hop music community, and from there became a popular symbol of freedom and cultural awareness for many young people.

Hunter said the new saggy pants policy is simply an extension of the dress code that The T has had for years, which has long required shirts and shoes.

"A lot of different people ride the bus," she said. "And many of them told us it's not a good idea to have your pants below your buttocks."

So up went signs in city buses, reading "Pull 'em up or find another ride."

Hunter said a Ft. Worth City Council member is looking for a donor to pay for billboards that carry the same message.

She said the decision on whether a potential rider's pants are inappropriate is up to the discretion of the bus driver.

The first day the policy was in place about 50 people were removed for improper pants, Hunter said.

Some passengers have complained that The T is trying to dictate what they can and can't wear, Hunter said, but overall reaction has been positive. She pointed out that many Ft. Worth-area schools have a similar policy.

"Following this rule is actually easier than following any other clothing policy we have," she said.

"All you need to do is pull your pants up before you get onto the bus. You don't have to go home and get a shirt or get a pair of shoes. Then, after you get off the bus, you can dress however you want."

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Wronged homeowners repossess bank
U.S. couple shows up with moving truck, court order to seize bank assets
The Associated Press
Posted: Jun 7, 2011 11:03 AM ET
Last Updated: Jun 7, 2011 11:03 AM ET

Months after Bank of America wrongly foreclosed on a house Warren and Maureen Nyerges had already paid for, they were still fighting to get reimbursed for the court battle.

So on Friday, their attorney showed up at a branch office in Naples with a moving truck and sheriff's deputies who had a judge's permission to seize the furniture if necessary. An hour later, the bank had written a check for $5,772.88.

"The branch manager was visibly shaken," attorney Todd Allen said Monday, recalling the visit to the bank last week. "At that point I was willing to take the desk and the chair he was sitting in."

After the moving company and sheriff's deputies get their share, the Nyerges should receive the rest of the money this week, ending a bizarre saga that started when they paid Bank of America $165,000 cash for a 2,700-square-foot foreclosed home in Naples in 2009.

About four months later, a process server knocked on their door and handed Warren Nyerges a notice of foreclosure.

"This is a big mistake," he recalled saying. "You must have the wrong house. We bought a foreclosure and don't have a mortgage."

That started 18 months of frustrating phone calls, paperwork and court hearings. Whenever Nyerges called the bank, representatives told him to "come up to date" with his payments. When he called 25 different law firms, no attorney would take the case. When he went to court, the lawyers for the bank filed incorrect motions and were woefully unprepared for the hearings.

"It was mind boggling," said Nyerges, a 46-year-old retired police officer. "To try to unscrew the screw up, it's not as easy as it sounds."

Eventually the Nyerges found Allen. They fought the foreclosure and won, proving that they owned the home outright.

During his research, Nyerges heard that his name got transposed from purchase agreements onto the prior foreclosure.

"I don't know if that is a fact, because no one really had the facts," he said.

In September 2010, a judge ordered Bank of America to pay the couple's $2,534 attorney fees. But by last week, the bank hadn't paid up, so Allen got a judge's permission to seize assets.

In an email to the Associated Press on Monday, Bank of America spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens apologized to the couple about the "delay in receiving the funds."

"The original request went to an outside attorney who is no longer in business," she wrote.

The law office of David J. Stern, which handled the Nyerges' case for Bank of America, told judges across Florida in March that it will end its involvement in 100,000 foreclosure cases.

The Florida attorney general's economic crimes division is investigating three law firms, including Stern's, over allegations that they created fraudulent legal documents, gouged homeowners with inflated fees, steered business to companies they owned and filed foreclosures without proving the bank actually had legal interest in the loans.

According to employee testimony filed with Florida authorities, Stern's employees churned out bogus mortgage assignments, faked signatures, falsified notarizations and foreclosed on people without verifying their identities, the amounts they owed or who owned their loans.

The attorney general is also looking at whether Stern paid kickbacks to big banks.

This isn't the first time that Bank of America has tried to foreclose on a property that was owned by a person without a mortgage. In 2009, a Fort Lauderdale man named Jason Grodensky bought a home in cash from Bank of America in a short sale. But in court, the foreclosure case continued and a judge ordered the property to be sold. Bank of America acknowledged the error and rescinded the foreclosure.

Allen sees the Nyerges case as symbolic of the foreclosure crisis. Courts are backlogged, and banks and their attorneys aren't scrutinizing foreclosure paperwork.

And Nyerges said he's still upset with Bank of America.

"They couldn't even spell our name right in the apology," he said.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nintendo has introduced the world to the Wii's touchy new big brother: the Wii U.

The Japanese gaming giant on Tuesday unveiled the Wii video game console's successor, which will broadcast high-definition video and feature a touchscreen controller that can detect motion and interact with what appears on a television display.

"Up until now, home console games had to occupy the TV screen in order to be played," said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. "The new controller for Wii U, with its 6.2-inch screen built in, means you won't need to give up your gameplay when someone else comes in the room and wants to watch a TV program."

The white touchscreen controller, reminiscent of Apple Inc.'s iPad and other tablet computers, can broadcast standard-definition video but also features a directional pad, microphone, dual analog sticks, speakers, two pairs of shoulder buttons and a front-facing camera, which can be used to make video calls.

The console itself will use proprietary high-definition optical discs, 1080p HDMI output and internal memory that can be upgraded with USB and SD technology. No other technical specifications were provided.

The prototype controller was demonstrated during the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the gaming industry's annual convention, in several ways: displaying a player's inventory in a "Legend of Zelda" game, offering an alternative way to play a chasing game, being used as a shield from incoming attacks in a first-person shooter game and showing the image of a teed-up golf ball on the ground before it was struck to a putting green depicted on a TV.

The controller was also shown being used to browse the Internet both on a TV and the controller. Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America president, noted that the touchscreen controller is not meant to be a portable gaming device and that the system is dubbed the Wii U because its "unique, unifying and maybe even utopian."

Nintendo said the Wii U will be released between April and December next year and will be backward-compatible with Wii games and controllers.

"Smash Brothers," ''Darksiders II," ''Batman: Arkham City," ''Tekken," ''Assassin's Creed" and "Metro: Last Light" were among the titles announced that would be released for the system.

The price for Wii U was not revealed.

The unveiling of the Wii U comes after two years of slumping sales for Nintendo's Wii, which remains the overall top-selling home video game console against Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3. Those consoles already feature high-definition graphics and added motion-sensing capabilities similar to the Wii last year with their respective Kinect and Move camera systems.

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KFOR-TV

6:38 p.m. CDT, June 8, 2011

STILLWATER, Okla. -- A divorced couple in Stillwater is behind bars accused of a strange crime. The pair allegedly tried to fake the man's death to escape arrest warrants and so he could start a new life as a woman.

The couple is now charged with false reporting of a crime.

Investigators say the pair lost custody of their children after their underage daughter caught the ex-husband having sex with a blow up doll.

Late last month, the ex-wife Heather Davis told police she dropped off William Davis at his favorite fishing spot in Lake Carl Blackwell.

Just hours later, Heather claimed William went missing.

When the alleged lakeside disappearance story quickly unraveled, police say Heather came clean.

According to court records, she admitted, "William told her he would give up his parental rights to their children and get a sex change if she assisted him in the faked death."

"He had some outstanding warrants and there was visitation issues. So the plan was to report him missing so he could get a sex change operation. Then he could return to the family with a different identity," Stillwater police Captain Randy Dickerson said.

The couple's neighbors had plenty to say about the ill-conceived custody plot.

"Why give up your kids and mess that up to help him out? I'd have told him to jump in a lake somewhere," RC Cox said.

"That's crazy and to do this for a sex change? That's a bit ridiculous," Rhonda Williams said.

Once in jail, Heather allegedly claimed, "She went along with the plan because she wanted William out of her life."

A day after Heather's arrest, William turned himself in to police.

At first he claimed he had been robbed at the lake and that's why he disappeared.

Later he admitted that wasn't true.

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By Zach Honig posted Jun 24th 2011 7:05AM

Would you feel comfortable driving down the highway with a Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP) behind the wheel of your next Volkswagen? A new technology proposed by the German automaker won't take you from A to B automatically, but it will help out with more simple driving, so you can take your hands off the wheel while cruising down the highway at up to 130km/h (about 80 mph), for example. The system pairs Lane Assist with cruise control, and can be overridden by the driver at any time. The TAP system's Pilot Mode uses radar, laser, camera, and ultrasonic sensors to maintain a safe distance between vehicles, start and stop in traffic, and slow down before a bend. Speed is set by the driver, who you'll need to remain aware of your surroundings in case you need to take over control -- so don't get too comfortable poking around the menus on that AppRadio just yet.

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Lytro: The camera that could change photography forever



[quote]Have you ever taken a picture that would have been great if only it were in focus? Of course you have. So have we, countless times. But those days may soon be past all of us with the introduction of Lytro, an entirely new kind of camera that allows users to completely change the focus of a picture after the shutter clicks. And, according to AllThingsD, this next-generation camera will be available before the end of the year.

The secret behind the Lytro camera is a new type of sensor that gathers much more information about the light coming into the camera than the sensors found on all other types of digital cameras. Rather than record a finite amount of information about the light in a photograph, as is the case with other camera sensors, the Lytro sensor records the entire “light field,” which is made up of “all the light rays in a scene,” according to the Lytro website. This includes the color, intensity and direction of the rays of light. Other cameras simply record all the light as a single amount of light.

With this vast amount of data, the focus of a photo can be fully adjusted to match a photographer’s desires, using a computer, in the same way one might use Photoshop to adjusts hue, brightness or contrast on a regular photograph. This means never having to worry about whether auto-focus centered on the right part of a picture, and it makes capturing fast-motion much easier.

The Lytro sensor’s sensitivity to light also makes it possible to take photos in very low-light conditions without the need of a flash. It also makes it possible to take 3D-like photographs with only a single lens, and without the need for glasses to see the immersive effects.

Of course getting into the camera-making business isn’t a cheap endeavor. Not surprisingly (considering the truly astounding capabilities of the Lytro technology), the company has so far managed to raise $50 million from a variety of investors.

“Lytro’s breakthrough technology will make conventional digital cameras obsolete,” says Lytro investor and well-known venture capitalist Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, which has invested in Lytro. “It has to be seen to be believed.”

According to Lytro founder and chief executive, the first Lytro camera “will be a competitively priced consumer product that fits in your pocket,” and will be available for purchase by the end of this year. To reserve a camera now, simply visit Lytro.com and enter your email address.

To try out Lytro’s focus-shifting capabilities, just click here.
[quote]
 

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Posted by Jake Spell (Member # 5294) on 07-02-2011, 11:16 AM:
 
Well apparently were a lot closer to actual terminators than you may think... Science Stuff!!

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We recently chronicled ways that robots are already becoming human and subtly hinted that this would someday lead to the destruction of humanity.
"But Cracked!" some of you said, "The development of intelligent, humanoid robots doesn't mean that they're actually dangerous or Terminator-like in any way! ERROR! ERROR! MUST REBOOT." (Note: We are implying that you are secretly a robot.)
Well, let us now detail five real technologies that, according to our calculations, are 100 percent certain to drag us into a nightmare future infested with killer machines shaped like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
#5. Drones That Can Think

Getty
You've probably heard about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles like Predator drones, the pilotless aircraft the CIA loves sending to places like [REDACTED], [REDACTED] and of course [REDACTED]. The evolution of the UAV's role is similar to that of all robots -- they were originally created for noncombat reconnaissance missions, but over time we just couldn't resist strapping missiles onto them and teaching them how to kill. President Obama alone has ordered at least 192 targeted drone attacks during his term.

Getty

"Hope and change are all well and good, but sometimes you just need to blast a motherfucker."
But really, UAVs are just big remote-controlled planes, with dudes operating them from the ground. What's creepy about that? It's the same as a regular plane, only the pilot doesn't happen to be on board, right? Did we mention that they're now teaching those bastards how to think for themselves?

Via Wikimedia Commons

"LOL, someone drew a dong in the sand."
Right now, the military is developing new AI patterns that allow drones to "recognize the intent of other aircraft" -- that is, accurately predict what they will do next and decide if they should change their flight course based on that info. These drones will be able to connect to air traffic stations and look up information in databases, then cross-reference that data with the images captured by their cameras to get a "read" on the other aircraft.

Alan Radecki

"Hey, you wouldn't want us to trust a dumb machine with big, scary missiles."
The military says this technology isn't meant to be used in battle ... but again, neither were the drones, at one point. If they can teach a UAV how to recognize hostile aircraft, the next logical step would be teaching it how to fight them.

"I learned this from you, dad!"
Now, these future independently thinking flying killbots will surely have oversight from the ground, in the form of a human who can take over control if it starts firing wildly at friendlies. This seems like the right time to mention that we've lost control of military drones more often than you think (sometimes over American soil). When that happens, we have to dispatch a manned aircraft to blow it out of the sky before disaster can strike. Fortunately, that's easy because the drones aren't smart enough to sense the intent of the pursuing aircraft and take evasive action. Which of course is the very ability they're trying to add.

Getty

Cold robotic efficiency is just one more step in the Navy's war on "Top Gunnery."
But even if a drone outright rebelled against its human masters, we just have to wait for it to run out of gas, right? Fortunately, the Air Force is developing new UAVs that will be powered by their own nuclear reactors, so they can stay aloft for months at a time.
Are we being alarmist? Possibly. Are we extrapolating a Terminator-like future based on the shakiest of evidence? Maybe. But we aren't the only ones who worry about this sort of stuff: The British Ministry of Defense recently released a study warning that continued use of military drones could lead to a "Terminator-like reality."

Via Wikimedia Commons

Seriously, military guys. Making super-smart robots and giving them access
to nukes is pretty much exactly the plot of the Terminator movies.
Thankfully, these things are still relatively easy to take down, because it's not like someone has invented such a thing as an "indestructible robot" yet.
#4. Indestructible Robots

Via Wikimedia Commons
One of the main differences between the machines in Terminator and, say, the one you drive to work every morning is how tough those robots are to kill. Guns, bombs, liquid nitrogen -- nothing made a dent. Actual electronics aren't quite that durable; consider the iPhone, which stops working when held at the wrong angle.

Via Wikimedia Commons

But is it malfunctioning ... or refusing to bow down to the human oppressors?
As for robots, we've all pointed and laughed at that video of the robot attempting to climb up stairs, only to wind up dead and broken at the bottom. There are toy robots that can take more abuse than the real ones.
But that's changing. Military and firefighting robots are currently being designed to take impressive amounts of punishment: Take the PackBot, a small tread-wheeled machine that can withstand a 6-foot drop onto concrete and be launched from great distances; or the CHARLI (Cognitive Humanoid Autonomous Robot with Learning Intelligence), which, aside from being super smart, is also being upgraded to be fireproof and waterproof.

Forbes Images

Scientist are predicting this will make him even more of a smug bastard.
Now combine this with what we said before about the intelligent drones. This is the direction we're headed, folks: In the future, indestructible robots will be sent into battle whenever possible in order to avoid risking human lives, which is good news for humans ... as long as those robots don't get smart enough to realize what a terrible deal this is for them.

MilborneOne

"Wait a tic. I have missiles. Why am I listening to these nerds?"
But it turns out that robots meant for scientific exploration are even tougher than military ones: The underwater machines that utterly failed to stop the Gulf oil spill last year were capable of withstanding up to 5,000 pounds of water pressure. NASA's Solar Probe Plus (scheduled for launch by 2018) will tour the sun's outer atmosphere and handle temperatures of up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. For a machine like that, the vat of molten lava at the end of Terminator 2 would be the equivalent of a relaxing bubble bath.

"Ahhhhh."
Another trademark of the Terminators is that they kept going at you even after you chopped them in half -- guess what, that technology exists, too. We have previously mentioned this robotic starfish made by Cornell University, which we thought was remarkable based on its ability to change its movement depending on the condition of its own body. What we need to emphasize is that this ability works even if the condition of its own body is "minus two legs." Seriously, they demonstrate how you can rip limbs off the thing and it will simply reconfigure its gait to accommodate the damage. The newer prototype will almost certainly drag its mangled body across the floor after you think you've incapacitated it, and possibly sneak up on you just as you're telling your sexy co-star how glad you are that the nightmare is over.

Copyright Cornell University

"Our next project is a robotic facehugger."
#3. Robots That Can Learn

Wired.com
If "roboevolution" isn't on your list of the most ominous fake words ever (right after "zombocalypse" and "squeakquel"), it should be, and here's why.
The cutting edge of artificial intelligence isn't just getting creepy, it's also personally threatening to those of us who haven't picked up any new skills since we learned to tie our shoes. Scientists have moved on from robots that follow their programming and are now making robots that learn stuff by themselves. For example, a University of Vermont researcher created a program that allows robots to try different ways to travel until they find the most efficient one. He then built a small model out of Lego pieces and within minutes, his robot learned to crawl, then stagger and then walk upright.

University of Vermont

Humanity will come to regret the day we taught Legos how to walk.
Even freakier is the work of the Fraunhofer Institute, which designed a little robot-making factory that automatically designs robots to fulfill certain tasks and constructs them with a 3-D printer. As of now the robots are pretty simple, but what's troubling to us is that the program sometimes introduces random "mutations" -- arbitrary features not directly related to the task at hand and not foreseen by the designer.

Fraunhofer IPA

Robots that can make more robots. There's no way this could end in screaming and fire.
So these forms of artificial intelligence are already surprising us in small yet significant ways. That's how every insurrection begins, from the machines in The Matrix to the monkeys in the new Planet of the Apes movie. It's only a matter of time before a million of those little shapeshifting robots evolve into Robert Patrick -- that's science.

Getty

Science: Makers of deadly robots, the Gatling gun and (coming soon!) weaponized crotch explodepox.
Keep in mind, though, that progress has been more drastic in some areas than in others. A University of California San Diego robot was programmed to learn how to smile by studying and mimicking human expressions ...

... but as you can see, it still has a long way to go. As of now, it looks about as expressive as Arnold Schwarzene -- OH SHIT.
But still, even if we make smart, adaptable, indestructible robots, it's not like they have the ability to coordinate with each other. For that, you'd need robots to be able to talk to other robots ...

When we say Skynet is coming, we're not talking about the U.K.'s Skynet satellite network: that one's been around since the '60s, and despite its name, it does actually need humans to operate it.
The new SysBrain orbital robots, however, do not.

University of Southampton

"... and then we thought, fuck it, why not embrace the inevitable machine revolution?"
These robots (currently in development) are sophisticated enough to understand simplified English and perform basic reasoning, plus they can send information across the globe with ease. They don't rely on direct orders: instead, they download text documents from the web and "read them to enhance their physical and problem solving skills."

Did anyone else just hear thunder?
Then there's the big one: RoboEarth, an "Internet for robots" that lets them download instructions, share information and even learn from each other. The database can include anything from objects, maps or tasks, which they would instantly learn upon "reading" the downloaded file. In the following video a robot can be seen downloading instructions to care for a bed-ridden patient ...

... but it could just as easily learn how to strangle him to death. Or, if it somehow taught itself how to do that, it could then post the information to RoboEarth, thus letting others find out exactly how many seconds you need to press that pillow against the guy's face to do the job.

"Hey, you know that giant evil robot superconsciousness from Terminator? Let's make one."
So there you have it, robots can now communicate with each other across the planet and share common orders. The chances of every single robot on Earth being connected to the same network seem pretty slim right now -- but ask anyone who was alive 25 years ago if they ever thought there would come a day when practically every computer on the planet would form a massive web of interconnected servers.

Getty

"And one day, this 'Ultranet' will be used to help millions of people masturbate and pretend to kill things!"
But these are still just robots, right? Whether it looks like a gleaming chrome skeleton or a tumbling pile of homicidal Legos, it'll always be easy enough to identify and fight a machine. The whole point of the Terminator films was that the robots looked human, complete with organic tissue. And that brings us to ...
#1. Robot-Made Human Skin

PopSci
The Terminator's artificial skin wasn't just a cosmetic accessory, it was also a huge tactical advantage: the fact that the T-800 didn't always look like a giant C-3PO on steroids allowed it to move freely among humans and eventually sneak up on its prey.

"Oh, it's just another Austrian bodybuilder with a large gun."
When the first Terminator movie came out, the idea of producing humanlike skin and covering a robot with it sounded like pure science fiction, but that's no longer the case. Recent advancements in medical skin grafts have turned fleshy machines into a real possibility: these days, new skin cells are raised over a 3-D structure instead of in a flat petri dish. In other words, we've already figured out how to make skin grow over artificial materials such as metal. You see where this is going?

Getty

Fashionable toasters covered in human skin. Boom.
Fake skin is still pretty expensive and tough to produce, but technology is making this less and less of an issue. For example, a robot-controlled factory in Germany is already mass-producing penny-size discs of human skin for clinical testing -- that's right, there's a whole building full of unsupervised robots fabricating human skin right now.
To be clear, the guys who run that factory have no plans to use all that artificial skin on robots (that we know of). For now, all they have is a monopoly on specialty pizza toppings for Germany's growing cannibal millionaire market. But what if one of those factory robots accidentally falls on the assembly line and comes off looking like a young Haley Joel Osment?

It's only a matter of time before this happens and you know it.
Not that they are satisfied with just growing organic human skin, which of course would have the same weaknesses as ours. Researchers are working on artificial skin made of nanowires that can mimic all of the sensitivity of human skin, but without the issue of bleeding when it gets shot.
The idea is to someday make artificial limbs that can pass for the real thing. But then if you make a person entirely out of artificial limbs, what do you have? A goddamned Terminator, that's what.

Getty

She's three bionic limbs and one positronic brain away from enslaving mankind.
Check and mate.
Fletcher is a freelance writer. His book Triggered is due next March, and you can read more of his brain-thinkings at http://fletchathustra.wordpress.com/.

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A 12-year-old girl in Gothenburg was struck by lightning twice while taking a shower during a thunderstorm on Wednesday evening.

After dinner 12-year-old Alice went downstairs in the basement to take a shower when her parents heard her scream.

Seconds prior to the child’s outburst two loud claps of thunder had suddenly cracked outside and the rain began to pour.

Alice had been struck by lightning in the arm but her parents did not immediately understand what had happened.

The child’s mother, Cecilia Svensson, immediately went downstairs and began to help wash her daughter’s hair when Alice screamed for the second timed.

“She screamed again. She was holding the metal shower hose while rinsing off,” Svensson, who at this point still did not understand what was happening, told local newspaper Göteborgstidningen (GT).

A phone call to an expert on the radio provided clarity.

Although nothing else was damaged in the house, the flash lightening must have struck and travelled, live, through the pipes.

“It could have gone badly,” said Svensson, who also said she learned as a child not to shower during electrical storms but that this localized storm erupted quickly.

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Despite many crackdowns over the years, camcorder piracy is still alive and bringing the latest blockbusters to the masses. What is perhaps less well-known is that this is not a new phenomenon. There are documented instances of camming dating back to just after World War I. Cammers in 1920 were as cunning as their modern-day counterparts and had to contend with surprisingly sophisticated anti-piracy measures.

Born in London in 1892, John William Cotter began his career in film during 1909. At the age of 17 he became the projectionist at the Palace theater in Woolwich, a job that was interrupted in 1914 by the outbreak of World War I.

During the hostilities, Cotter – who would become more commonly known as Jack – served in the balloon section of the Royal Flying Corps, but he later returned to film. Between 1919 and 1920 he worked briefly for Topical Budget, a silent British newsreel that ran from 1911 to 1931. It would be this company’s rights Cotter would breach in his role as one of the world’s first ‘camming’ pirates.

Sometime between 1920 and 1922, Cotter joined film and newsreel company British Pathé but it would be in the following year that he hit the big-time as a notorious pirate. With London’s Wembley Stadium completed, it would play host to the 1923 F.A. Cup Final, the most prestigious event in English soccer. The opposing teams would be Bolton Wanderers and London’s own West Ham United.

But for British Pathé, who hoped to film the match, there was a serious problem. Rival Topical Budget – Cotter’s former employer – had paid £1,000 to secure exclusive rights to the event. Cotter was undeterred. Fans of West Ham United call their team ‘The Hammers’ and this mental image gave Cotter a cunning plan.

Just as the maVen’s of today may hide their cameras in anything from a drinks cup to a modified wheelchair, as can be seen from the images below Cotter hid his camera in a giant hammer he’d fashioned from wood. He successfully recorded much of the event in true camming style, with plenty of heads and other obstacles in the way.

Cottercam

In his piracy efforts, Cotter wasn’t on his own. Intent on getting some aerial shots of the match Pathé hired a plane. Unfortunately that eventuality had been anticipated by Topical Budget who had painted their company name in giant letters across the top of the roof of Wembley Stadium, perhaps providing the first ever anti-piracy ‘watermark’ in the process.

However, according to a 1933 book by news photographer Bernard Grant, in an attempt to thwart the Pathé pirates even more sophisticated anti-piracy measures were put in place during the previous year’s F.A. Cup Final.

“I saw the battle from the top floor of a high building overlooking the ground, from where I had hoped to obtain some photographs with a long-focus camera, but as I was sharing the position with the well-known film man, Frank Bassill, on this occasion a ‘pirate’ [for Pathé], I was handicapped by the efforts of the defenders [Topical Budget],” Grant wrote.

Amazingly, in addition to sending up an air balloon to block the view, around the ground Topical Budget had deployed multiple heliographs, mirrored devices usually used to reflect sunlight in order to send morse code over great distances. In this case they provided blinding light to ruin filming. But it still wouldn’t be enough to deter the swathy pirates of Pathé.

Heliograph

“At the sound of the referee’s whistle starting the match there came a terrific noise of hammering and crashing at a point away to our left, and we saw the corrugated-iron roof of a building alongside the ground fly off in all directions,” wrote Grant.

“A moment later there appeared, rising through the aperture, two heads which I recognised through my glasses as those of Tommy Scales and Leslie Wyand, pioneers in the production of movie news reels. Steadily they rose higher and higher, turning their handles as they came, as the telescopic tower ladder upon which they stood was wound up by friends in the room below,” Grant continued.

“This happening brought into action the defenders’ [rightsholder Topical Budget's] large mobile ‘stand by’ force, members of which, armed with double-poled banners and flags, dashed off to meet the attack.”

While the pirates were ultimately successful, money was rarely made directly from obtaining footage in this way. The prestige of having the events in future news reels was the important thing to Topical Budget and Pathé.

However, despite the ‘immoral’ act of violating someone’s exclusive rights, there is a very interesting cultural footnote to these acts of piracy.

According to Bioscopic, a site dedicated to early and silent cinema, Topical Budget’s footage of the 1922 Cup Final was completely lost. Without Pathé’s pirate footage, the entire event would have been lost forever.

Furthermore, in order to cut the cost of buying exclusive rights to the 1924 F.A. Cup Final, Topical Budget and Pathé decided to put in a joint bid to film the match together.

“It was turned down,” Bioscopic explain. “Consequently no film exists of the F.A. Cup Final of 1924.”

Come back pirates, all is forgiven.

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quote: John Wilson

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"If you are going to carry a handgun on your person, use a holster, not your waistband."

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Don't carry a gun in your pants! You might go off half cocked!
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 08-23-2011, 03:08 PM:
 
But if you put the safety on, it is 100% safe and can even be given to toddlers as a toy.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-23-2011, 04:56 PM:
 
Who needs safeties? Just follow Rule #1: "Keep your booger hook off the bang switch!"
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-27-2011, 02:45 AM:
 
BC Police nab dangerous fridge

According to the RCMP, it was a sunny day in August when Constable Justin Stewart was sent to investigate a report of a “hazardous situation” in the parking lot of Liquidation World in Richmond.

Someone had called police after watching a shopper try to load a full-sized fridge into the trunk of his sedan.

Const. Stewart found the fridge “one-third in the trunk while the remainder teetered over the edge of the car’s bumper,” he said. The man had tied the appliance to the car using ropes and the seat belts from the back seat.

The man told the officer he thought his plan to transport the fridge “was okay,” police noted.

He was warned that the appliance would probably fall out of his car on the ride home, possibly crushing another vehicle. He apologized and arranged “proper transportation,” police said.


 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 08-28-2011, 06:26 PM:
 

quote: Randy Stankey

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quote: John Wilson
"If you are going to carry a handgun on your person, use a holster, not your waistband."

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quote:

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This is a brand-new, all-electric DeLorean

This is a brand-new, all-electric DeLoreanFor several years, DeLorean Motor Company of Texas has been reconstituting the fruit of John Z.'s troubled loins (phrasing!). Now it's working with electric-car startup Epic EV to put an all-electric DMC-12 into production by 2013. You know what that means: Onboard power for the Mr. Fusion.

Humble, Texas-based DeLorean Motor Company not only owns the DMC brand name, but it also maintains a huge stockpile of original, factory parts. The company's primary business has been restoring, servicing and selling DeLorean cars and merch, but it's also been using those parts to assemble new cars to order, using 80% original parts and 20% modern engine and suspension tech. These new models are, in effect, pro-touring versions of the original DeLorean cars.

Full size
The new car the two companies unveiled today at the International DeLorean Owners Event in Houston, Texas is no run-of-the-mill electric DeLorean conversion. It's a development model of a car, called DMCEV, which DeLorean plans to launch into production in two years.

The companies haven't released any specs yet, but if it's anything like Epic EV's Torq Roadster, it'll get a 200 hp+, 44V/156V electric motor, powered by a 24-30 KWh lithium ion phosphate battery. Sure, it's bit low on jiggawatts right now, but the companies have two years to get that sorted out. Though I guess they never did, or else they'd have come back to let us know.

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Plane's emergency signal traced to courier in downtown Regina
Black box was armed and transmitting
CBC News
Posted: Oct 22, 2011 3:32 PM CST
Last Updated: Oct 22, 2011 3:36 PM CST

Aviation officials scrambled on Thursday when they received an emergency signal. It turned out that a shipment containing an emergency device had been activated as the package made its way through downtown Regina. Aviation officials scrambled on Thursday when they received an emergency signal. It turned out that a shipment containing an emergency device had been activated as the package made its way through downtown Regina. Google Street View

Emergency crews were led on a wild-goose chase Thursday when a shipment containing an airplane emergency transmitter device was activated as the package made its way through downtown Regina.

According to a report by federal aviation officials, the device, known as an ELT, emitted a signal shortly after 7 a.m. CST Thursday.

It triggered an emergency response, dispatched by aviation officials in Winnipeg.

"An extensive communication search failed to locate the signal," officials noted in a report about the incident.

Believing a plane may have crashed, search and rescue aircraft were sent to investigate, one from Regina and another, a military Hercules, from Winnipeg.

The Regina search team was able to trace the signal to downtown Regina.

"The signal was homed to an incoming express post truck with a live, armed ELT inside," officials said in their report. "The shipper was contacted and it was found to belong to an amateur-built aircraft."

According to officials, the owner apparently shipped the ELT via express post without removing the battery.

The report noted that the Regina search plane was in the air for about 45 minutes while the Hercules plane was in the air for just over 30 minutes.

"The shipper was informed of the scope of trouble caused," the report noted.

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-22-2011, 09:49 PM:
 
If I am remembering correctly, it takes something like a 20-g impact to trip an ELT's shock sensor.

Yes, the battery should have been disconnected but, under "normal" handling, the beacon should not have been activated.

Basically, this means that somebody from the shipping company was throwing packages around pretty hard.
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 11-14-2011, 05:18 PM:
 
Not quite 20g Randy, though the ELT case and circuit board might be designed to withstand such a force. AFAIK if it is an ELT designed to be mounted to the aircraft, the acceleration in the direction of flight can be as low as 2.3g, or 4.5fps delta-v, and 12g in any other direction. Personal ELTs are typically designed for 5-9g since they can be operated in any orientation. I've seen ELTs go off (and have had to search for a few myself, as in the article) after being put into a bag or sack and tossed into a closet by their unknowing owners.

* * * * *

My apologies in advance to Brad...

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Vegemite-flavored sashimi on Sydney chef's new menu

Food Nov. 13, 2011 - 06:13AM JST ( 5 )

Japanese food has never been so Australian.

SYDNEY —

Australian cuisine is renowned for its fusion techniques—adding local touches to famed dishes.

But a new version of sashimi would surely have many Japanese shaking their heads - until they tasted it, at least.

A California-born, Japanese chef at Sydney’s Star Casino restaurant, Sokyo, which opened this month, has embraced local cuisine by waving goodbye to miso and using Vegemite in his sashimi.

Chef Chase Kojima is sourcing all his ingredients from the Australian continent. The sashimi is made from Moreton Bay bugs and is served with Vegemite-flavored croutons.

‘‘It’s one of my edgy dishes,’’ he said. ‘‘I met this man at the fish markets and he had Moreton Bay bugs and they look funny, right, but they taste like shrimp and lobster and crab. They are so good and so delicate.”

And from there the Aussie flavor just kept coming. He turned his attention to the savory, yeast extract that locals are weaned on. Nine months ago, he didn’t know Vegemite from Marmite, but he soon learned.

‘‘It was hard for me to understand Vegemite at first but it tastes a lot like Japanese miso so I dried it, made it into a powder and — like Vegemite on toast — used it on croutons.’‘

The croutons are served on top the sashimi, along with burnt butter mayo and passion fruit jelly to complete the Moreton Bay Bug sashimi (A$24).

All the food’s coming from an Aussie backyard, even though the chef doesn’t.

He learned the art at his father’s traditional Japanese restaurant in San Francisco, Kabuto, which is regarded as one of the best in the region.

He then started working for Nobu in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and around the globe.

“Trust me and let me play with your palate,” Kojima said.

Sokyo, lobby of The Darling Hotel and Spa, The Star, 80 Pyrmont St, Sydney, dinner served Monday-Thursday, 6 p.m.-10:15 p.m., Friday-Saturday 6 p.m.-11:15 p.m., closed Sunday, www.star.com.au

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-14-2011, 05:40 PM:
 
Hey, don't look at me...I didn't put him up to it.
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 11-25-2011, 11:22 AM:
 
This isn't exactly a news story, but it's certainly well written:

Snowblower ad

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Do you like shoveling snow? Then stop reading this and go back to your pushups and granola because you are not someone that I want to talk to.

Let’s face it, we live in a place that attracts snow like Magnetic Hill attracts cars, only that ain’t an illusion out there. That’s 12 inches of snow piling up and, oh, what’s that sound? Why it’s the snow plow and it’s here to let you know that it hates you and all the time you spent to shovel your driveway. Did you want to get out of your house today? Were you expecting to get to work on time? Or even this week?

You gave it your best shot. You tried to shovel by yourself and I respect you for that. I did it, my parents did it, some of my best friends did it. But deep down inside, we all wanted to murder that neighbor with the snowblower who was finished and on his second beer while you were still trying to throw snow over a snowbank taller than you are.

So, here we are. You could murder your neighbour, which could ensure that you won’t need to shovel a driveway for 25 to life, but there are downsides to that too. What to do?

Here’s the deal. I have a snow blower and I want you to own it. I can tell you’re serious about this. It’s like I can almost see you: sitting there, your legs are probably crossed and your left hand is on your chin. Am I right? How’d I do that? The same way that I know that YOU ARE GOING TO BUY THIS SNOWBLOWER.

I want you to experience the rush that comes with smashing through a snowdrift and blowing that mother trucker out of the way. The elation of seeing the snow plow come back down your street and watching the look of despair as your OTHER neighbour gets his shovel out once more while you kick back with a hot cup of joe (you don’t have a drinking problem like that other guy).

Here’s what you do. You go to the bank. You collect $900. You get your buddy with a truck and you drive over here. You give me some cold hard cash and I give you a machine that will mess up a snowbank sumthin’ fierce. I’ve even got the manual for it, on account of I bought it brand new and I don’t throw that kind of thing away. Don't want to pay me $900? Convince me. Send me an offer and I'll either laugh at you and you'll never hear back from me or I'll counter.

You want a snow blower. You need a snow blower.

This isn’t some entry level snow blower that is just gonna move the snow two feet away. This is an 11 HP Briggs and Stratton machine of snow doom that will cut a 29 inch path of pure ecstasy. And it’s only 4 years old. I dare you to find a harder working 4 year old. My niece is five and she gets tired and cranky after just a few minutes of shoveling. This guy just goes and goes and goes.

You know what else? I greased it every year to help keep the water off it and the body in as good as shape as possible. It's greasier than me when I was 13, and that's saying something.

You know how many speeds it has? Six forward and two in reverse. It goes from “leisurely” slow up to “light speed”. Seriously, I’ve never gone further than five because it terrifies me. I kid you not, you could probably commute to work with it dragging you.

You know what else is crappy about clearing snow in the morning? That you have to do it in the dark. Well, not anymore! It has a halogen headlight that will light your way like some kind of moveable lighthouse (only better, because lighthouses won’t clear your driveway).

Oh, and since it’s the 21st century, this snow blower comes with an electric starter. Just plug that sucker in, push the button, and get ready to punch snow in the throat. If you want to experience what life was like in olden days, it comes with a back-up cord you could pull to start it, but forget that. The reason you’re getting this fearsome warrior was for the convenience, so why make it harder on yourself?

By this point, you’re probably wondering why I would sell my snowblower since the first snowpocalypse is upon us today. I’ll tell you why: because I heard it was time for you to man up and harness some mighty teeth and claws and chew your way to freedom, that’s why.

This is my snow blower. Make it your snow blower.

UPDATE - I assure you that the snowblower is real, and it is still available. Do not despair if you have made an offer on this glorious tribute to man's triumph over nature and I have not responded yet, your time has yet to come.

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Montana Theatre goes to digital
Miles City Star article (article will only appear here for a week or so though)
By Elaine Forman

Last night was the end of an era at the Montana Theatre, with the showing of The Twilight Saga’s Breaking Dawn.

The flickering lights and the clicking of the film projector are now gone.

It was the last night that film was used at the 75-year-old movie theater. After the movie ended, the film projector was shoved aside and the new digital projector was installed.
Montana Theatre’s head manager Bill Lien said the change is like a double-edged sword.

“I’m a little sad. I hate to see the film go ... I really enjoy working with film,” Lien said as he described the click, click, click of the film feeding through the projector. “I think (the change will) affect the projectionist the most.”

Yet he is looking forward to the change.

“I’m stoked. I’m very excited. I can’t wait. Just to see the little preview (of a digital movie clip on the new digital projector), I was in awe,” he said.

He watched a few minutes of digital footage with the new equipment, and just from that short segment he noticed the higher quality of the picture.

“It’s sharp, and it looks really clean and a little brighter. I noticed it right away,” he said.

He also noticed the sound was better, cleaner and in better synch with the picture.

Up until now, the film projector had stood a few feet from the table where the large roll of 35 mm film sat. From there the film would be strung from one sprocket relay to another, and another, and several more, then through the projector and back through more relays until it reached another shelf of the table.
After many years’ experience, Lien could complete the elaborate film-stringing process in 5-10 minutes for each showing.

Now, setting up a digital movie will take a few minutes for the whole week, then each showing will be automatic and the movie will start in an instant.

That will give Lien more time to interact with the movie-goers and make him more available to answer questions.

“It’s going to free up a lot more of my time,” he said.

The improvement was in the works for quite a while, he said. There was a lot of planning, getting the money, approvals and more planning to make sure they’d avoid any “catastrophes” with the switch-over, he said with a smile. “There was a lot of planning, but there was a lot of finger crossing, too.”
Theater owner Bill Campbell of Sheridan, Wyo., is in town for several days to help with the switch-over.

“Digital has been around for a while, but it’s still pretty expensive,” Lien said.

While changing the equipment from film to digital is expensive, the movies are a little cheaper, and shipping is a lot cheaper.
A 35 mm movie film weighs 50 to 75 lbs. and costs about $45-55 to ship, while the digital hard drive, with the film and trailers, weighs 6 lbs. packaged and costs only $5 or $6 in shipping.

Due to the switch-over cost, Lien guesses that 60 percent of the movie theaters still use film, but the films are starting to get more difficult to obtain. The Montana Theatre was starting to run into the problem of “film availability or the lack of film availability,” he said.

With digital, the theater will be able to get movies closer to the release date and not 3-4 weeks later, which has been common in the past.

One change the movie-goers will notice is that the previews will begin right at 7 p.m.

Before Lien would wait to start the projector when most everyone was through the concession stand and sitting down. Now the previews and movie are set to start at exactly 7 p.m.

Tonight the family movie “Arthur Christmas” will be the first movie for the theater to show digitally.

So get there early, get some popcorn and find a seat, for the theater’s digital age is about to begin.

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quote:

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Molly Hayes Staff Reporter

German insurer Munich Re threw one heck of an office party — an orgy — for 100 of its best employees as a reward for their hard work.

Held at a thermal baths in Budapest, Hungary, attendees were reportedly presented with 20 colour-coded prostitutes.

“The women wore red and yellow wrist bands. One lot were hostesses, the others would fulfill your every wish,” reported the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

The white-banded girls were reserved for the big bosses.

Quoting an anonymous attendee, the paper said guests were able to take the women to four-poster beds at the spa “and do whatever they liked.”

The party, held in 2007, was reportedly discovered by a shareholder at the company’s annual general meeting this year. Munich Re is the world’s largest re-insurance company, which means they act as an insurer for other insurance companies.

At the event, women were stamped on the lower arm after each sexual encounter to keep track of how often each one was “frequented,” Handelsblatt reported.

A spokesman for Ergo confirmed to the BBC that the party had happened, but said it was not the usual way of rewarding their employees.

The company said it had since introduced a new code of conduct, and the organizers of the event have left the company.

“We’ve taken all the right steps to prevent it happening again,” the spokesman told the BBC. “It was a mistake but we are very sure that it was a unique event.”

“The new people of the sales organization introduced a very personal commitment that these things should not happen again.”

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-01-2012, 08:30 PM:
 
Will that be the replacement for the film tech drink at the next show west
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-01-2012, 11:14 PM:
 
You planning on attending?

I just want to know what "the usual way of rewarding their employees" is.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 01-02-2012, 12:40 AM:
 
What I like is how the company bosses fully-participated in the event then corrected the problem by removing everyone who scheduled the event. It's like 50 guys signed off on the idea as being alright, then they canned the first 2 that came up with the idea to begin with.
 

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Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 01-02-2012, 01:52 PM:
 

quote: Mike Blakesley

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the Circle theatre is community owned so they might have a real problem.

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Inmates working at a correctional unit’s print shop in Vermont sneaked a prank image of a pig into a state police crest that is emblazoned on police cars, and 30 cruisers sported the design for the last year, according to officials.

The official crest depicts a spotted cow against a background of snowy mountains, but the inmates’ version featured one of the cow’s spots shaped like a pig in an apparent reference to the pejorative word for police, state police spokeswoman Stephanie Dasaro said.

“It dishonors the memory of those past and present members, especially for those who have lost their lives in the line of duty,” Dasaro said.

Vermont contracts with correctional facilities employing prisoners to make some print products, including the cruiser decals. Police said someone who works at the print shop changed the emblem from the officially sanctioned design.

A police employee noticed the prank on Wednesday and reported it. Police said the 60 door decals would be removed as soon as it was practical.

The “source and timing” of the change to the design is under investigation, Dasaro said.

“While some may find humor in the decal modifications, the joke unfortunately comes at the expense of the taxpayers,” Police Major Bill Sheets said in a statement.

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quote:

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“While some may find humor in the decal modifications, the joke unfortunately comes at the expense of the taxpayers,” Police Major Bill Sheets said in a statement.

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Because the inmates really care.
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 02-16-2012, 10:58 AM:
 
Turn the heat down and jack up your attendance at romantic movies
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-16-2012, 12:23 PM:
 
It's not often that my home town makes it onto Fox News, and I wish it had been for somewhat less gruesome reasons.

quote: Fox News

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YORK, England – A male student was arrested after allegedly cooking a live hamster at his apartment in northern England.

Police and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) were investigating Monday after law enforcement officers found the creature lying dead in a frying pan in the man's kitchen, in the city of York.

They made the grim discovery after the unnamed 20 year old was detained for being drunk and disorderly -- and officers inspected his student apartment.

The man was arrested on suspicion of a further offense of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, The York Press reported.

The dead pet belonged to the man's roommate, a foreign student who was said to be "distraught" by the alleged incident.

"This is a horrific and tragic incident for both the poor hamster and the owner concerned," Denise Young, a spokeswoman for the animal welfare charity Blue Cross, said. "We hope that this case is taken as seriously as it deserves to be by the relevant authorities."

The suspect was released on bail while police and the RSPCA continue their enquiries, and was due back in court March 6.

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quote:

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BROCKVILLE, Ont. — A misbehaving bar patron picked the wrong vehicle to try to escape custody early Sunday morning, police say.

Police said a man being escorted by police out of a bar at about 12:45 a.m. on Sunday took off on foot and jumped into the back of a nearby car, ordering the driver to “get out of here.”

“Unfortunately for him, he jumped into an unmarked police car,” Sgt. Surinder Gill said.

Police said the suspect did not attempt another escape after he was in the cruiser. By then, the other officers had arrived and the suspect realized he was not getting away, Gill said.

Cary Patrick Cleyndert, 29, was arrested.

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quote: The Daily Telegraph (UK, not Australia)

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Man Killed While Urinating on Chicago Subway

Zachary McKee, 27, died after coming into contact an electrified third rail while relieving himself at a subway stop in Evanston, Illinois, last night.

According to local police McKee clambered down onto the track at South Boulevard station and fell onto the rails at around 11pm. A companion alerted subway security but were too late to save him. He was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston.

It is not clear whether McKee urinated directly onto the third rail but, contrary to popular belief, the practice is unlikely to result in death. A victim would have to be standing extremely close to the electric rail in order for their stream to hold together and carry the charge. More often the stream breaks into droplets, interrupting the charge.

Many of the deaths reported to have been caused by people peeing onto electric tracks were actually the result of stepping or falling onto the rail. In the American television show Mythbusters a presenter urinated onto an electric fence to prove that there was virtually no danger of electrocution.

It is not clear whether McKee was intoxicated at the time of his death.

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Shocking...
 

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Posted by Matthew McBride (Member # 6598) on 04-23-2012, 03:50 PM:
 
I guess Ren and Stimpy were right. Do whiz on the electric fence.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-06-2012, 07:04 PM:
 
Film-Tech's Michael Barry...

SYDNEY DVD stores are faced with extinction by 2017


Double Bay DVD store owner Michael Barry plans to buck the trend and keep the rental trade alive. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Sunday Telegraph.

Internet, pay television, online outlets and cheap DVD sales are threatening to wipe out the humble video or DVD store altogether, according to new report from market researchers IBISWorld.

The industry generated more than $1.4 billion in 2006-2007, but is expected to slump this financial year by 10.4 per cent to $983 million. And in five years -- the final year of the forecast -- revenue is expected be $858 million.

IBISWorld senior industry analyst Naren Sivasailam said almost 600 stores around the country have closed in the past five years, with 1578 remaining.

But The DVD Gallery owner Michael Barry plans to buck the trend. He has watched seven competitors go out of business since he opened his Double Bay store in 2004.

He stocks every Blu-ray disc ever released in Australia in an attempt to compete with poorer-quality downloads, offers half-price late fees on return and runs competitions on social media to entice the younger generation.

"I plan to be the last man standing," said Mr Barry, who described business as "steady". "As long as the movie studios feel there's an economic model for manufacturing the discs, then there will also be a corresponding demand for renting them."

The report says the reason for decline in business includes legal and illegal internet downloads, online rental outlets, the cheap cost of buying DVDs and limited leisure time.

"Primarily, they're struggling with a rather outdated business model," said Mr Sivasailam. "Competition has been exacerbated by technology and the drastic change in the way consumers have adopted new technology, and where and when they consume their media."

Niche operators are expected to fare best, with some businesses seeking to co-locate with food operators and other retailers to increase foot traffic.

"It is likely the major operators will position themselves as major entertainment stores, which offer computer games and other entertainment for rental, as well as other services, such as cafes and music sales.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-06-2012, 09:00 PM:
 
He doesn't look too pleased about the current situation.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-07-2012, 03:04 PM:
 
His facial expression has a little of that "eww" tone. Naturally, I'm wondering if someone nearby out of view of the camera farted.
 

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Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 05-09-2012, 01:29 AM:
 
http://www.aliceinvideoland.co.nz/
This place was closed for a long time due to the earthquakes.
They are open now and trading really well.
I feel they will survive where traditional stores are going under.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-09-2012, 02:48 AM:
 

quote: Daily Mail

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Former Great Yorkshire Show boss jailed for filming a man having sex with a pony

An ex-policeman and former director of the Great Yorkshire Show was jailed for two-and-a-half years today after he admitted filming a man having sex with a pony.

Charles Littleboy, 55, made the video in his stables while the man was supposedly taking part in an animal breeding practical course, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Police discovered the video along with a stash of images of horrific sexual abuse of young boys on two computers at Littleboy’s home in Howe, Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

He pleaded guilty last month to 11 counts of making indecent images of children, four counts of distributing indecent images of children, five counts of possessing extreme pornographic images and one count of possessing 3,904 indecent photographs of children.

Some of the extreme pornography related to bestiality - including the material he filmed consensually at his property, the court heard. Other images concerned sexual mutilation of men.

The film with the male pony was made a number of years ago while the man stayed at his home, Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said.

Another film police found involved the same man having sex with a dog, the police said.

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quote:

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Your Emo Kid Haircut Will Give You a Lazy Eye

Hey you angsty little jerk, listen up! If you can stop rolling your eyes and cut the whole brooding thing for like 10 seconds, I have something very important to tell you: CUT YOUR HAIR. I don't say this as some out-of-touch baby boomer threatened by the slightest tinge of change, but rather someone concerned with preventing a lazy eye epidemic.

While your asymmetric haircut might Doctors in Australia say that it also blocks the view of one of your eyes to the point that it stops focusing and effectively atrophies.

Optometrists Association of Tasmania education director Andrew Hogan warned that amblyopia, the medical term for lazy eye, can result from obstructed vision caused by hair.

"If a young emo chap has a fringe covering one eye all the time, that eye won't see a lot of detail," he said. "And if it happens from a young age, that eye can become amblyotic."

And to top it all off, the Mercury also says you spend so much time tilting your head sideways just to see anything that it's totally fucking your posture up. You are not a bird. Your body is not meant to do that. Stop it. So unless you want to end up looking like the bastard child of Forrest Whittaker and Quasimodo, I suggest you listen to the nice Tasmanian doctor.

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quote:

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Public restrooms in Beijing must contain no more than two flies per stall, according to a bizarre new directive issued to washroom attendants.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment issued the rule Monday as a "new standard for public toilet management," the Beijing News reported.

Xie Guomin, the official in charge of the initiative, told the newspaper that the two-fly rule was not compulsory, but was a new benchmark to improve the Chinese capital's notoriously unpleasant public restrooms.

Online critics pounced on the new initiative, questioning how officials planned to enforce it and whether inspectors would actually visit the restrooms to count the number of insects per stall.

Xie said, "We will not actually count fly numbers. The regulation is specific and quantified, but the inspection methodology will be flexible."

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Now that I've read the article, I know there's a punchline here somewhere. But I can't quite figure it out.
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-23-2012, 10:19 PM:
 
In the men's rooms at Amsterdam Airport, all the urinals have a decal of a fly on them - usually about an inch or two from the drain hole. I'd noticed them several times and wondered why they were there, but it wasn't until about a year ago that I found out. Listening to a BBC radio documentary about "soft power" (cutting through the management speak-BS, the use of carrots rather than sticks), the presenter explained that this was an experiment to "persuade" those taking a slash to do so more carefully and avoid missing the urinal altogether. The idea was that people would aim for the fly, subconsciously. Apparently it worked, and janitorial costs dropped significantly within a month of the fly stickers being rolled out.
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 05-24-2012, 03:39 PM:
 
I recall seeing the fly image some 10 or more years ago. It probably was Amsterdam. I've also seen pictures of Hanoi Jane. Gives a man someplace to aim his gun.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-26-2012, 11:07 AM:
 
Anybody who says a small-town single screen can't make it in this day and age should read this article. The theater in Deer Lodge, MT was gutted by a fire 5 1/2 years ago and was restored and reopened, thanks to efforts spurred by two seventh-grade girls.

Single-screen theater rises from the rubble after fire

DEER LODGE – Gayle Mizner was determined to get through Thursday dry-eyed. Then the schoolchilden started streaming into the newly restored Rialto Theater that was gutted by fire 5 1/2 years ago.

“Best day of my life!” an exuberant second-grader exclaimed as he scurried past Mizner clutching his free bag of popcorn and pop.

Mizner, one of the more dedicated of the hundreds of volunteers who’ve helped raise the Rialto from the ashes, had to fan tears away as she repaired to the lobby.

“That got to me,” she admitted.

It was that kind of day in Deer Lodge.

Kindergarteners through 12th-graders from this and neighboring towns in Powell County were ushered into the 1921 theater that has become a nationwide symbol of can-do community spirit. They were treated – big kids in the morning, the younger ones in the afternoon – to free showings of the 2010 animated movie “Despicable Me.”

Some were too young to remember when Kevin Costner’s “The Bodyguard” was the last film to play at the Rialto before the fire of undetermined origin struck on the night of Nov. 4, 2006.

Others, like Caitlyn Seaton, clearly recalled the loss of the one-screen theater that for generations served as what one local called “First Kiss Central.”

“We were going to have my 12th birthday party here and then it burned down,” said Seaton, a junior at Powell County High who’ll turn 18 on Nov. 12. “Instead we had to go all the way to Butte.”

***

The youth have been a driving force from the start of the restoration effort, Rialto board president Steve Owens said. They’ve raised upward of $21,000 of what recently topped $3.2 million and is expected to reach $3.5 million when all is said and done.

A profile on the Rialto’s rebirth last August by Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan told the world the tale of two seventh-graders who, days after the fire, began selling baked goods at a table set up in Safeway down the street. When the community met a couple of weeks later to map out a course of action, the girls presented the board with $300. It served to jolt Deer Lodge into action, Owens told Turan.

Thursday’s opening shows were a prelude to a free open house on Saturday followed by a $50-per-ticket gala event that evening. There’ll be another free matinee on Sunday of “Despicable Me” and an evening showing of the romantic comedy “This Means War.”

Then the Rialto, still missing a number of finishing touches, gets busy as a community theater – Monday a “Pink Elephant” program that addresses underage drinking; Tuesday the high school pop concert; Wednesday the grade school spring concert.

Dance recitals, talent shows, Christmas programs, birthday parties, movies every weekend … Deer Lodge is set to make the Rialto its community center once again.

“It’s exciting, because now we don’t have to go to Butte all the time to do something fun,” said Jolene Harper, Seaton’s friend and a fellow junior.

***

It took a monumental effort to get here, said Mizner, who’s been on the volunteer Rialto Community Theater board since it formed and bought the aging theater in 1995. A major reconstruction project followed to turn the Rialto into more than a movie theater, an effort that was almost complete when the fire struck.

The specter of the charred remains and another restoration tried the town’s patience, energy and the pocketbooks.

“There were a lot of naysayers,” said Lee Jewell, another charter board member, “and they were almost right.”

Costs spiraled and the economy reeled as the years crept on. The board, intent on not spending itself into debt, shut down construction at intervals – for six months at one point, Owens said.

The general contractor, Martel Construction of Bozeman, was chosen in part because it was willing to work under those conditions. Subcontracts were awarded to companies elsewhere in Montana, Owens said, “but almost all the local contractors have done something.”

Jewell and another key player, local businessman Ron Mjelde, dragged their own kids to the theater nights and weekends when extra elbow grease and muscle power were needed. Volunteer carpenters and laborers, often as many as 20, showed up Monday nights to pound nails, punch holes for the theater seats and perform the endless stream of tasks as the restoration passed from one phase to the next.

Mizner documented it all with her camera, the website DeerLodgeRialto.com and, more recently, the Rialto’s own Facebook page.

***

Owens in particular was a tireless and relentless force to make this weekend’s opening a reality, all the time juggling his full-time pharmacy job at Warm Springs.

“He is unbelievable,” Mizner said. “I’ll bet he’s raised 75 percent of the money. He’s done all the grants. He just keeps pushing and pushing it.”

Funding came from all corners – from bake sales and donations by those inspired by memories of those first kisses in the balcony or watching the new cinematic sensation, “Gone With The Wind,” in 1939. Californians stirred by the Los Angeles Times piece last year sent thousands of dollars and amazingly touching notes, Owens said.

The Rialto board received endowments of $300,000 or more from a charitable trust in Vancouver, Wash., and a foundation in Reno, Nev. The Foley family of Florida, owner of the Rock Creek Cattle Co. outside of Deer Lodge, came through recently with a grant of $162,500 through its foundation.

That allowed the Rialto to push up purchase of an expensive digital projecting system for movies – something Owens said the board hadn’t planned on springing for so soon. Turns out movie theaters large and small are being forced, as early as this summer, to switch to digital movie projectors as the motion picture industry phases out film.

***

“I’m assuming your teachers have told you why we haven’t been able to use the theater for 5 1/2 years – because we had a big fire,” an emotional Owens told more 400 students, grades kindergarten through sixth, after they were seated and quiet for the afternoon show.

“There was nothing left. No ceiling , no balcony, no seats. It was all gone except the front wall and the stage,” the Rialto board president said. “It took a long time. You guys did pledge drives and lots of people made donations and we got it rebuilt. That’s behind us.

“We just want you to enjoy it, take care of it, come back often, and bring your families.”

“It’s a fantastic building, isn’t it, boys and girls?” elementary school principal Rick Ashworth asked.

The loud cheers that followed caused him to pause.

Ashworth went through rules of behavior in the theater. Clap at school programs, but no whistling or shouting. No cellphones or texting at movies (“Theaters in other towns announce that right on the screen,” he said). Pick up your trash and put it in the garbage. Remove hats. Keep feet off the seats in front of you.

“Most of all,” Ashworth concluded, “enjoy yourselves after the hours and hours and hours of hard work, and the donations and labor that have put this back together again.

“This is a historic building for our little town and it’s going to be here long after you kids grow up. It’s very special to us. Now, are you ready for a movie?”
 

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Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 05-26-2012, 04:13 PM:
 
Great story Mike! Inspirational! I was in Cody last year on a NEC service call - not too far from there. If/When I get back to work I'd love to get back up there some time and see Deer Lodge for myself...
 

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Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 05-26-2012, 04:36 PM:
 
Nice story. They should rename the theater the Rialto Phoenix. After all the conflagration it rises from the ashes.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-26-2012, 08:29 PM:
 
Here is a link to a large PHOTO ALBUM that shows the restoration progress and grand opening festivities.
 

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Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 06-06-2012, 04:36 PM:
 
Fur's flying as artist turns his dead cat into a helicopter

Link

Dutchman Bart Jansen had his pet tabby Orville stuffed after he was accidentally run over by a car.

Then he teamed up with radio controlled helicopter expert Arjen Beltman to attach propellers to each of Orville's four paws.

The moggy — named after pioneering aviator Orville Wright — is now a piece of art.
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-11-2012, 10:35 PM:
 
I put real butter on the popcorn at my theatre. Never liked the "buttery topping" stuff, and I figure that people are paying enough for the popcorn that they should get real butter on it.

A sad kernel of truth: Popcorn’s butter flavour linked to Alzheimer’s

quote:

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What was once a light, airy, crunchy snack – even touted for its antioxidant powers – made headlines today for being a health hazard.

Turns out the artificial butter flavour used in popcorn – particularly the microwave and movie theatre variety – is linked to brain deterioration. The culprit is diacetyl – a chemical compound used to make that salivating butter flavour and smell, which is a contributing factor to the progression of Alzeimer’s disease, according to the journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.

“So far, these effects have only been seen in test-tube studies,” writes Daniel J. DeNoo, who examined the study at Web MD.

Still, many are shocked (”I’m never eating popcorn again!” cried so many baffled poppers on Twitter) but we’ve got to question those who ever thought buttery microwaved or movie theatre popcorn was a good idea in the first place.

True, popcorn can be healthy and low-cal when popped at home. (But let’s be honest: who enjoys tasteless and unsatisfying dry crunch?)

And sure, healthy can sometimes be tasty too (try these kale chips and you will honestly never touch a Ruffles again). But when it comes to popcorn, the more decadent, we’ve found, is always the most rewarding (try this life-changing recipe for cinnamon-bun popcorn).

Other snacks that have the potential to be healthy but can get out-of-control bad-for-you? Yogurt (compare the fat-free Greek variety to cheesecake flavoured decadence), cereal (compare a bowl of oatmeal to chocolate-laced granola. Yikes!) and yes – even your trip to Starbucks (how quickly a latte can turn into a dessert).

Are you THAT surprised about artificial butter flavoured popcorn? Are you going to stop eating it?

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 08-12-2012, 01:41 AM:
 
While there are articles like this making the claim that theaters and the toppings are involved, but I haven't seen anything backing up such a claim and in every one of those articles, 99% of it is devoted to talking about microwave corn, making me think that the theater corn isn't actually involved.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 08-12-2012, 08:29 AM:
 
Funny... Diacetyl is a naturally occurring substance found in beer and alcoholic beverages. It is a natural byproduct of fermentation. I don't see anybody squawking about beer and wine.

Since diacetyl is the substance that gives butter it's buttery taste, it's also found in, guess what? Butter! It is added to margarine and buttermilk and other dairy products to improve the flavor. Especially artificially hydrogenated vegetable oil products because they don't taste like butter without it.

It's just so stupid the way people act!

Strangely enough, THIS ARTICLE has a blurb right in the middle of it that says, "Genetic mutation may protect against Alzheimer's, scientists find."

So, which is it?

quote:

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Diacetyl chemical in artificial butter popcorn linked to Alzheimer's plaque build-up

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(CBS News) An ingredient used in artificial butter flavoring for popcorn may worsen the effects of an abnormal brain protein that's been linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Pictures: 10 worst jobs for your lungs
Genetic mutation may protect against Alzheimer's, scientists find

A new study in Chemical Research in Toxicology examined diacetyl (DA), an ingredient used to produce the buttery flavor and smell in microwave popcorn, margarine, candy, baked goods, and even pet food. It is also created naturally in fermented drinks like beer, and gives some chardonnay wines its buttery taste, according to the study.

Scientists at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis conducted an analysis of DA, a chemical which previously has been linked to respiratory problems in employees at microwave popcorn and food-flavoring factories.

They found that DA has a structure that's similar to a substance that makes beta-amyloid proteins. Too much amyloid that clumps together to form plaques are a tell-tale marker of Alzheimer's disease in the brain. The researchers wanted to see whether DA would clump those proteins in a similar fashion to form plaques.

They found DA did lead to an increase in levels of beta-amyloid clumping, leading to toxic effects on nerve cells the scientists grew in a laboratory. The experiments also showed that DA easily penetrated the blood-brain barrier, a layer of cells that is supposed to keep harmful substances from entering the brain but allows other helpful materials to cross. The chemical was also found to mitigate the effects of glyoxalase I, a protein that protects nerve cells.

The study however did not show a cause and effect relationship between the chemical and Alzheimer's, and the results haven't been replicated in people, only in test tubes.

"In light of the chronic exposure of industry workers to DA, this study raises the troubling possibility of long-term neurological toxicity mediated by DA," the researchers, led by Dr. Robert Vince, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Drug Design, said in a written statement.[/quote]

In my studied opinion, this whole thing is little more than warmed over bullshit.
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 08-28-2012, 06:59 PM:
 
Missing woman unwittingly joins search party for herself

quote:

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Missing woman unwittingly joins search party for herself
By QMI Agency

A group of tourists spent hours Saturday night looking for a missing woman near Iceland's Eldgja canyon, only to find her among the search party.

The group was travelling through Iceland on a tour bus and stopped near the volcanic canyon in the southern highlands Saturday afternoon, reports the Icelandic news organization mbl.is.

One of the women on the bus left to change her clothes and freshen up. When she came back, her busmates didn't recognize her.

Soon, there was word of a missing passenger. The woman didn't recognize the description of herself, and joined in the search.

About 50 people searched the terrain by vehicles and on foot. The coast guard was even readying a helicopter to help.

But the search was called off at about 3 a.m., when it became clear the missing woman was, in fact, accounted for and searching for herself.

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quote:

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Area Man Accidentally Responds To Own 'M4M' Ad
DECEMBER 5, 2006 | ISSUE 44•26 ISSUE 42•49 | MORE NEWS IN BRIEF

ATLANTA—A Craigslist personal advertising a "Hot WM Looking 4 Same – 28" was accidentally responded to this Monday by its author, wardrobebuyer Stephen Mallory. "He lives right in my neighborhood, he's a professional, and he loves to work out—he sounds sexy," said Mallory after discovering the ad he had posted 10 hours earlier seeking a "mature, open-minded, no drama VGL WM for drinks, maybe more…". "In three weeks of searching, I haven't found anyone who really appealed to me, but this guy sounds absolutely perfect." Mallory said that although the slightly taller man described in the ad is a few years younger, he hopes the would-be mate won't mind.

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quote: Daily Mail

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A South Carolina man has died after demonstrating the proper way to shoot yourself in the head police say.

James Gagum, 43, was watching a movie at his home in Conway early Friday morning when a witness said he began to argue a character's handling of a gun, according to WPDE.

He said, 'that's not how it's done,' before pulling the trigger three times while holding it to his head, according to the witness.

Police say the death was an accident and Mr Gagum didn't realize the black handgun was loaded, firing off on the third squeeze.

He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Emergency Medical Services.

According to local reports, Mr Gagum made news several years earlier for his quick trigger finger.

In 2010 he thwarted a home invasion, shooting one of three suspects fatally after they broke into his home and he claimed pointed a gun at him and his wife.

'It was him instead of me or me instead of him,' Mr Gagum told WTOC at the time.

Mr Gagum was not charged in that shooting.

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quote:

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The fastest man-made object ever: A nuclear-powered manhole cover (true!)

The Holy Grail of space-minded dreamers and researchers has always been nuclear-powered propulsion. Nuclear-powered propulsion would be far cleaner, far cheaper, far more efficient, and far less noisy than current roar-and-a-fireball rocket propulsion. (Not sure the last is an advantage. I’m a big fan of roar-and-a-fireball in almost anything, including rocket launches, howitzers, and NASCAR races.)

And in fact we’ve had nuclear propulsion for some time. The small maneuvering engines of deep-space probes are typically nuclear-powered, but not in the way usually envisioned: They are tiny, nearly soundless (even on Earth) little fast-particle emitters that generate fractions of an ounce of thrust. That’s enough to rotate a spacecraft, given time, and their nuclear sources last virtually forever, but they’re hardly the earth-shaking monsters we envisioned blasting from Earth into space. Too bad we’ve not been able to accomplish that.

Or have we? In a round-about way I recently came across the Nuclear Weapons Archive, a wonder world of historical documents, photos, and personal accounts of the Nuclear Age as seen through the history of nuclear bombs and bomb tests. For the historian, the scientist, or the intellectually curious the whole archive is a trove of riches, every link and page another revelation. Jump in anywhere and start reading — you’ll be hooked. And it’s not just about the U.S. nuclear program — it has material covering every declared and non-declared nuclear power.

For illustration I’ll pass along just one event documented in the archives that by itself merits a whole book and a movie:

While all the early nuclear tests had been above ground (what could possibly be wrong with that, right?), by 1956 Los Alamos was working on how to contain radiation and fallout by detonating the bombs underground. Initially the concept was very simple: drill a deep hole, say, 500 feet deep by four feet wide, lower the bomb to the bottom, light the fuse and run. (Well, OK, not quite that simple. But the hole was.) Originally the idea was to leave the holes uncapped, the thinking being that even with the top of the shaft open relatively little would escape. (Which was largely true, though not exactly up to modern expectations.)

By mid-1957 Los Alamos scientist (and famed astrophysicist) Robert Brownlee was ready to try testing with a capped shaft (known as a “stemmed” shaft in nuke-speak). In a test known as Pascal-A, a cap of four-inch-thick solid steel — what one might call the biggest, baddest manhole cover in history — was securely welded to the top of the shaft. With nothing else in the way, that far from the bomb the plate would likely have popped off, but wouldn’t have gone very far.

But something else was in the way. Way down the shaft, hundreds of feet below the cap, was a collimator, a five-foot-thick, multi-ton plug of concrete with a small hole in the middle. The hole served as a small window through which a special detector attached to the inside of the steel cap could make measurements during the first few milliseconds of the explosion. After that first fraction of a second the detector itself would be annihilated, but its brief set of readings would have been captured by above-ground recorders.

It’s significant that what was being tested in Pascal-A was an experimental bomb that was designed to be “one point safe.” That meant that if it was accidentally detonated (a significant concern back then), it would only fire only one of its many trigger points around the explosive core, resulting in a tiny fraction of the yield, not the whole megillah. The explosion in the test was therefore expected to be (relatively) very small.

That’s not quite what happened.

At 10:35pm on August 27, 1957 in Area U3d of the New Mexico Nuclear Test Site, the bomb was detonated. But instead of the expected small yield the bomb detonated with a yield approximately five orders of magnitude greater than expected (that’s about 100 000 times greater). The blast instantly vaporized the entire multi-ton concrete collimator and shot it up the tube as a multi-ton wave of vaporized matter at extremely high temperature, pressure, and velocity. The shaft had, in effect, become a enormous 500-foot long, four-foot wide gun barrel with the energy of billions of pounds of TNT released at one end and, at the other end, the now insignificantly small metal cap, about the equivalent of a bottle cap on the end of a naval gun.

As it happens, a very high speed film camera was recording the event and was expected to capture in slow motion the path and speed of any ejecta from the hole. Unfortunately, the camera, which had quite a wide view of top of the hole and and the area around and above, recorded the “manhole cover” on only one frame. There was no malfunction of the camera, it’s just that the “manhole cover” blasted out of sight so fast that the camera only saw it for one frame. Later calculations showed that the heretofore mundane four-foot metal disk had been launched at six times Earth’s escape velocity. That’s one hundred fifty thousand miles per hour. Forty-five miles per second. Nine times faster than the Space Shuttle, six times faster than the fastest moon rockets. Faster than the Voyager spacecraft, which, having reached over 35000 miles per hour, are now leaving the solar system and have for years been claimed to be the fastest man-made objects ever. To which I now say: Pshaw and poppycock — the Pascal-A “manhole cover” in a fraction of a second achieved more than four times the speed it took Voyager 1 decades to attain.

The “manhole cover” was, of course, never found. And, to my deep disappointment, cold-sober calculations indicate it’s not on its way to the Hercules Cluster which, late on a summer night shot from a vertical hole in New Mexico, may well be about where it was aimed. Instead it almost certainly suffered a meteor’s fate in reverse: At such an extreme speed it would have created an enormous fireball (a fireball going up) and been slowed so much that what didn’t burn off would eventually have come back down.

Being such a tough and massive object, most of it would have survived its “reverse re-entry” (or just plain “entry”?), so it would have come down as a burned, edge-melted, and perhaps quite misshapen chunk of solid steel, a very formidable projectile that would have done very serious damage even to large buildings. Given that no one that night reported any macerated cars or demolished buildings and that the huge object had been launched nearly vertically, it likely came down in the desert somewhere in the wide vicinity of the test site in New Mexico. It would have had some serious hang-time, though.

So somewhere in the New Mexico desert, unknown and unmourned, lies an American relic, a piece of history like no other: the fastest man-made object ever. And I harbor the hope that, whether it’s found or not, our nation and the world of science will someday realize our error all these years and recognize that the Pascal-A Manhole Cover, not Voyager 1, is the fastest man-made object ever.

Here’s hoping.

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quote: Daily Wail

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Stupid passengers who don't print off their boarding passes can 'b*****r off' says Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has launched an extraordinary rant against his own customers – branding those who object to paying a penalty for failing to print their own boarding cards as ‘idiots’ who should ‘b***** off’.

The outspoken chief executive of the budget airline said passengers who arrive for flights without a pass are ‘stupid’ and it is right they are charged £60 a time to have one printed at the check-in desk because it is their ‘**** up’.

His remarks came after passenger Suzy McLeod was forced to pay £236 to print boarding passes for herself, her parents, and her two children so they could fly home to Britain from Alicante, Spain.

Mr O’Leary said: ‘Mother pays £200 for being an idiot and failing to comply with her agreement at the time of booking. We think Mrs McLeod should pay €60 (£47.40) for being so stupid.’

Mrs McLeod, 35, from Newbury, Berkshire, criticised Ryanair’s rule and said she was unable to print her family’s passes while they were in Spain for 15 days last month.

She was backed by more than 350,000 Facebook users after complaining of her ‘unfair’ treatment by the Irish no-frills airline, which has been frequently criticised for its extra charges.

But Mr O’Leary said she should have printed the passes at an internet cafe or asked a friend to print and fax them to her.

Instead, he said, ‘she then comes home and gets on Twitter, God help us all, and somehow we are going to change our policies. No, we’re not’.

He said Mrs McLeod, who was staying at a rural villa without internet access, had written to him last week to ask for ‘compensation and a gesture of goodwill’.

Mr O’Leary, 51, said the airline has replied, ‘politely but firmly’, saying: ‘Thank you Mrs McLeod, but it was your **** up.’

He admitted she was not alone in complaining about the rule, but said the 0.02 per cent of his passengers, which equates to 15,800 of its 79million, who do not print off passes every year should ‘b***** off’.

Mrs McLeod said: ‘His comments say a lot about his airline. They’re so rude.

'Why should anyone have to spend their precious time abroad having to find a cafe or a hotel to print out a boarding pass?’.

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-06-2012, 01:26 AM:
 
As if it actually cost that airline a half a cent to do.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-06-2012, 01:40 AM:
 
I like how "b***** off" is censored. I assume they mean bugger off. As if bugger is a cuss word. But then again, people overseas get really upset when I call them spastics when I simply mean "hyper".
 

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Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 09-06-2012, 03:49 AM:
 
Your use of bugger would not raise an eyebrow in New Zealand, just part of the lexicon.

Pop over to YouTube and search for bugger dog
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-06-2012, 02:20 PM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

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I like how "b***** off" is censored. I assume they mean bugger off. As if bugger is a cuss word. But then again, people overseas get really upset when I call them spastics when I simply mean "hyper".

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quote: The Daily Telegraph

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Abusive expat murderer causing deportation havoc in Australia

Australia may have to charter a plane at a cost of up to A$1 million (£650,000) to fly a British murderer, Keith David Herring, to London.

The murderer spat on passengers, ripped a telephone from the seat of a plane and tried to urinate in the aisle during two attempts to fly him on commercial airlines.

Herring, 66, who is notorious for his extraordinary displays of anger and abuse, is due to be deported after spending two decades in jail for murdering his wife in 1989.

Despite a long criminal history in Britain – reportedly involving 70 offences including assault, grievous bodily harm, dishonesty, and biting off the ear of a prison guard – Herring was granted a visa in Australia in 1988, a year before he murdered his Philippines-born wife, Juiletta Herring, a nurse whom he married in England in 1986.

He had concealed his criminal record, which was not picked up by Australian authorities.

During his trial, Herring reportedly exposed himself, abused the prosecutor – calling him a "fat slug" – and leapt from the dock in an attempt to strangle the judge, whom he called a "silly old devil".

He was convicted in 1995 and received a 22-year sentence, as well as a 2-and-a-half year sentence for contempt of court.

Australian authorities have been seeking to deport Herring since his release from prison in June. However, two attempts to fly him home from Sydney airport failed this week.

On Wednesday, he was removed from a Qantas plane by three security guards and an immigration authority after abusing crew and vandalising the plane.

The following day, he was removed from a Thai Airways plane after similar behaviour.

"He misbehaved in a range of ways and a decision was made by the department in consultation with the airline that we didn't want to risk any incidents with passengers and crew, so we took him off," an immigration official said.

Authorities are seeking the "most cost-effective" way to transport him but have already wasted the cost of ten airfares for Herring and officials. The immigration department may have to charter a plane and is also considering booking a row or rows of seats.

Herring is currently being held in an immigration detention centre in Sydney.

He was found guilty in 1991 of drowning his 38-year-old wife after claiming he found her body floating in their backyard swimming pool after he returned from a date with his lover.

Herring's wild courtroom antics – which followed an incident in the committal hearing when he undid his fly and exposed himself – were described by the trial judge as the worst he had ever seen.

"Mrs Herring's death was planned and premeditated," the court found. "It was carried out in a cold-blooded manner. Since then, (Herring) has sought to cover his foul deed by lies, feigned grief and every device and scheme which his fertile mind could conjure up."

During a recent phone interview, Herring admitted for the first time that he committed the murder.

"I caused a death. I paid my time," Herring told Sydney's Daily Telegraph.

"The rooms are dirty, the areas we live in are dirty. I have heart conditions. I am waiting for an operation."

Immigration officials said Herring's stubbornness had delayed his deportation but would not prevent it.

"The department is continuing to examine options for the removal of this client at the earliest opportunity and in the most cost-effective way," a spokesman said. "Misbehaviour in no way deters the department."

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Reminds me of the joke about the British tourist who arrived at Sydney Airport.

Immigration officer: "And do you have a criminal record, Sir?"
Tourist: "I'm sorry, officer - I didn't know we still needed one."

As for this charming specimen of humanity, the cargo hold of a ship - preferably in leg irons - would surely be a cheaper and more satisfying alternative to a chartered jet...
 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 09-15-2012, 03:06 PM:
 
Sushi shop sign too offensive for neighbourhood
By QMI Agency



The sushi bar menus will wear soon be changed to something more "appropriate". (Chantal Poirier/QMI Agency)

quote:

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MONTREAL - A Quebec Superior Court flipped the bird to sushi restaurant Fukyu.

The name "Fukyu" might be a Japanese word for a form of martial arts, but a judge ruled in August that it was "clearly inappropriate" in the Montreal context.

Sushi bar owner John De Melo, 28, told QMI Agency he wanted to name his Montreal resto something "catchy and Japanese. We didn't think it would be inappropriate."

So the sign outside his restaurant read "Fukyu" since last February. By July, De Melo's landlord began receiving complaints from other tenants.

The landlord, L.G. Plaza, filed a lawsuit claiming De Melo was obliged to get consent before erecting the sign that the landlord claimed was provocative.

Judge Kirkland Casgrain agreed and ordered De Melo to hide the offensive words within 24 hours of the court ruling, which was released at the end of August.


De Melo said he didn't think the ruling would have negative impact on his business.

"I think the financial impacts on my company will be positive," he said, adding that the case has given his sushi bar increased exposure to the public.

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quote: The Independent

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Investigation uncovers rat meat being sold at East London market

Rats are being sold to the public alongside other forms of illegal and possibly contaminated forms of meat by a popular food market.

Grasscutter rats imported from Ghana were sold to undercover reporters by six butchers and shops on Ridley Road market in the Dalston area of Hackney, east London, together with blow-torched goat and sheep meat known as "smokies".

After seeing footage of the meat, filmed by the BBC, environmental health expert Paul Povey said: "It's all illegal and hasn't undergone health control, hasn't been inspected and may well be contaminated.

"You've got to wonder about the contamination level of this meat that anyone's bringing into their kitchens."

Cane rats are regarded as such a delicacy in Ghana that some farmers now rear them in cages. Smokies, which involve an unskinned sheep carcus being flame-cooked without the spine being removed, are banned in the EU on the grounds of public health and animal welfare, have also been linked to gang crime.

Hackney Council said that it regularly carried out inspections, adding that its officers "will look into this and take the appropriate action". There is no suggestion that the practice is more widespread on the market. The two stores that were filmed selling rat meat later denied doing so.

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Why the hell they messed around importing them from Ghana when there is a plentiful supply in the nearest drain or tube tunnel...
 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-17-2012, 05:03 PM:
 
Too late to edit the above post, but herewith a postscript: Here is some video. Note the name of the market stall at 2'18"....
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 09-17-2012, 06:39 PM:
 
It's a tough call. Most regular people wouldn't even think of eating something like that but, to a lot of immigrants, it's Mom's home cooking.

Those people grew up eating rats and all sorts of creepy-crawlies. They grew up taking the risk every time they ate dinner. A lot of them probably got sick from the food they ate and, now, they probably just accept it as a fact of life.

So, what's the harm in selling something that those people want to buy?

The only real, direct negative I can think of is that places that cater such "delicacies" probably don't obey good health practices in their business and, as such, anything they sell, whether it's legal or not, is likely to be unhealthy. Just look at some of those shops in the video. They look like they haven't been cleaned in years. I wouldn't buy ANYTHING from them, let alone rat meat. Those places just look like a general health hazard.

Indirectly, I'd be worried about organized crime. This was alluded to in your article.
That food has to be smuggled into the country. In order to smuggle things, you need a network of people willing to break the law. That fosters crime.

But, mainly, I'm not so worried unless we find A Dead Bishop on the Landing.
 

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Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 09-18-2012, 06:04 AM:
 

quote: Leo Enticknap

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Why the hell they messed around importing them from Ghana when there is a plentiful supply in the nearest drain or tube tunnel...

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quote:

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Travel can be expensive. One man is using a unique way to pay for a trip as a challenge. Pennsylvania comedian Josh Sankey is on a mission to make a cross-country road trip from New York to Los Angeles with no other currency but bacon.

Sankey isn't carrying any cash or credit cards as he makes his cross country trip. He is paying for everything from gas to lodging by using uncooked bacon as currency. He set off on his trip with 3,000 pounds of the popular meat and he seems to be getting good deals with it so far.

"I got two tickets to the Jets game for six bricks [of bacon]," Sankey told ABC. "They were pretty good seats, too."

Sankey's trip is part of a promotion for bacon producer Oscar Mayer. He is being followed by a film crew as they document Sankey's bacon barter.

Sankey, of New Castle, kicked off his trip in New York on Sept. 9. He has until Sept. 23 to make it to Los Angeles as he barters the bacon that he's towing in a trailer.

Sankey has made some interesting trades so far along his journey. He was able to get a taxi ride in NYC, Jets tickets, lodging at stranger's houses who he met through Twitter, homemade moonshine and wine, jumper cables, gas money and more. Sankey was even able to hire 29 college interns for 100 pounds of bacon in Lafayette, Ind. However the strangest trade was paying a fan with 200 bricks of bacon to get a bacon tattoo, which cost another 200 bricks of bacon.

Now Sankey is hoping to make even more impressive trades.

"Now I just really want to up the ante," he told ABC. "I mean, a guy got a permanent tattoo of bacon in exchange for bacon. How do you top that?"

Sankey is aiming for a stay in a penthouse with a hot tub or a helicopter ride. With the help of his 3,200 Twitter followers and the 735K Facebook followers on the Oscar Meyer page, Sankey's goals may be plausible as fans are willing to help him in just about any way.

So far, he has traveled to New York City, East Rutherford, N.J., Hagerstown, Md., Charleston, W.Va., Lesage, W.Va., Louisville, Ky., and Chicago, IL.

Fans can help Sankey arrange bacon barters by visiting the website BaconBarter.com or through Facebook and Twitter.

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quote:

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City authorities in Zimbabwe's second largest city are appealing to home owners to flush their toilets at a specified time as a way to unblock sewers after days of severe water rationing.

Bulawayo City Council has asked its more than 1 million residents to flush their toilets simultaneously at 7:30 p.m. local time Saturday when water supplies are restored.

City officials say "synchronized flushing" is needed to clear waste that would have accumulated in sanitary facilities which will have been affected by days of water outages.

Bulawayo's two main supply dams have been drying up due to drought conditions prevailing in the arid, southwestern part of Zimbabwe raising fears of worsening water shortages before the rainy season starts in November.

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quote:

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by Lauren O'Neil Posted: October 2, 2012 7:40 PM Last Updated: October 2, 2012 7:40 PM

A newly-released study shows that that looking at photos of very young animals might actually boost a person's concentration and productivity at work. (iStock) Office workers take note: you no longer need to minimize that live-streaming kitten cam on your desktop whenever the boss walks by.

If anything, you should show it off proudly. According to Japanese researchers, you're not slacking off by looking at adorable imagery - you're simply improving your performance.

"The Power of Kawaii: Viewing Cute Images Promotes a Careful Behavior and Narrows Attentional Focus" is the name of a study published last week in the open access journal PloS ONE.

Conducted at Japan's Hiroshima University in 2009, the results of the study published this week show that looking at photos of very young animals might actually boost a person's concentration and productivity at work due to "the cuteness-triggered positive emotion that is associated with approach motivation and the tendency toward systematic processing."

Researchers performed a series of three experiments with 102 subjects split into smaller groups.

In the first experiment, the subjects were asked to play the Japanese version of "Operation," then look at a series of photos and then perform the tasks again.

One group looked at photos young puppies and kittens, while another group looked at photos of grown cats and dogs.

Those who looked at photos of cute baby animals before attempting these tests ended up with a performance score 44 per cent higher on average than the group who had looked at adult animals.

The experiment was performed two more times, with subjects trying other skill-testing tasks. A control group was also added that looked at images of delicious food. The results of the first experiment were duplicated- those who looked at the cute pictures did much better than those who looked at adult animals, while looking at food images affected a subject's performance very little.

"Results show that participants performed tasks requiring focused attention more carefully after viewing cute images," the article states. "For future applications, cute objects may be used as an emotion elicitor to induce careful behavioral tendencies in specific situations, such as driving and office work."

Live Science points out the appropriateness of such a study taking place in Japan, known around the world as a capital of all things cute.

"Perhaps unsurprisingly this new study comes from researchers in Japan, where kawaii (Japanese for "cute") reigns. From the characters of 'Hello Kitty' and 'Pokémon's' Pikachu, cute creatures stir positive feelings, researchers say, because they resemble babies with their big eyes and large heads."

Indeed, a "baby schema" was how researchers at Hiroshima University qualified how cute an animal was.

"This is a set of features that are commonly seen in young animals: a large head relative to the body size, a high and protruding forehead, large eyes, and so forth," reads the paper. "In humans, the stimuli are deemed cute, capture attention, bring a smile to the viewer's face, and induce motivation and behavior for approach and caregiving."

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quote:

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A German liquor manufacturer has released a special edition line of rum, vodka and whisky, which it guarantees to have been poured over a sexy model's bare breasts before it's bottled.

Not convinced? G Spirits said every bottle comes with the model's signature on a certificate of authenticity and a photo of the bombshell.

"To create the perfect taste we let every single drop of our spirits run over the breasts of a special type of woman," the G Spirits website says.

The creators said the unique idea was influenced by another vodka that's filtered through diamonds.

"After storing it in (a) bourbon cask for 10 years and 1 year in barrels of French oak, it was poured over Amina's breasts, which lends it a unique erotic character," the website says of its whisky-making process.

The booze-maker said it adheres to health and safety regulations, and medical personnel are present.


Images of half-naked models pouring booze on their breasts are pictured on its website, including model Alexa Varga, Hungary's 2012 Playmate of the Year.

The booze isn't available in Canada.

Bottles of G-Spirits sell on its website for around $160.

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-05-2012, 03:02 PM:
 
Well every now and then a new item gets added to my list of "that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard." This ^^^ one sure qualifies.
 

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Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 10-07-2012, 01:37 PM:
 
Problem is, there are people stupid enough to buy it!

What a bunch of boobs!
 

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 10-15-2012, 10:40 AM:
 
Glitch in new texting security measure at Warren Theatres alerts security to escorts

SOURCE: Carrie Rengers, Wichita Eagle

quote:

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WICHITA – Warren Theatres owner Bill Warren is pleased with the latest security measure he’s taken at his theaters except for one small glitch.

Warren instituted new measures at his theaters in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri following the theater shootings in Aurora, Colo., this summer.

“We had good security, but we just looked it over after Aurora and said, ‘Is there anything we can improve?’

“You do things to make it a lot tougher,” Warren says. “I mean, I spent $100,000 doing this.”

The new system is a custom-designed system on all exit doors that immediately sends texts to the phones of Warren managers and security personnel when the doors are opened.

“So they always know what’s going on in theaters for safety reasons,” Warren says.

He says it’s working well except for at the Palace West theater near Kellogg and Ridge.

“We’re getting texts from escort services,” Warren says. “Can you believe that?”

He says the texts have messages such as “Bubbles is in room number five.”

“I think it’s hilarious,” Warren says. “I’m not sure what some of my off-duty officers are thinking about some of that.”

Warren speculates that the texts are happening because of hotels in the area.

“I’m going to spend another $10,000 to change the frequency on that one theater,” he says.

It’s a lot of money, but Warren says he has to do it.

“Well, it’s better than having Bubbles interfere with our security.”

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quote:

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“I’m going to spend another $10,000 to change the frequency on that one theater,” he says.

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quote: The Daily Telegraph

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Police called to break up violent cat fight in Downing Street

Larry the Downing Street cat and Freya, the Chancellor's moggy, go at it hammer and tongs on the steps of No 10.

Police have been forced to step in to break up a cat fight between Larry the Downing Street cat and Freya, First Moggy of the Treasury.

The two felines were separated after engaging in a full-scale cat fight outside No 10, and retreated spitting to their respective political fiefdoms.

Freyer the silver tabby appeared to have the best of the confrontation, when Larry, who has white and tabby markings, was ordered back inside No 10 to consider his behaviour, leaving the street free for his rival to stalk.

It is not known what caused fur to fly between the feline residents of Nos 10 and 11 Downing Street. Relations between their human occupants are far more amicable than when Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were prime minister and chancellor respectively.

However, both political pusses do possess a ferocious reputation. Larry was appointed to the post of Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office nearly two years ago, after being adopted from the mean streets of south London via Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

In his first few days at No 10 he took a vicious swipe at television reporter Lucy Manning, although he has shown a gentler side with other visitors, reportedly getting on well with United States President Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Freya was reunited with the Osborne family over the summer after going missing from their former home in Notting Hill, west London, three years ago.

She had been living rough and was recognised and returned to the family only after being taken to the vet by a kindly neighbour, where she was identified her from a microchip beneath her skin.

Asked about the apparently frosty relationship between Larry and Freya, a No 10 spokesman said: "They co-exist."

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-13-2012, 04:05 PM:
 

quote: York Evening Press

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A PAY and display parking ticket machine worth about £5000 has been stolen in Ripon.

The machine was taken from the St Marygate car park on Sunday night when thieves ripped it from its concrete base, possibly using a vehicle, police said.

PC Leah Champion said: “If you were in the area of the St Marygate car park and witnessed any suspicious activity I urge you to come forward and contact the police or Crimestoppers straight away.

“I also need to speak to anyone who may have seen people paying unusual attention to pay and display machines in the days prior to the theft.

Anyone who can help police is asked to phone 101.

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quote:

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A home near Victoria had to be demolished after an oil company got its addresses mixed up and delivered a load of furnace oil to the wrong house.

Terry Phillips had recently bought the house on Adelaide Ave. in Saanich, just north of Victoria.

He was in the midst of renovating it when the oil company arrived and started pumping oil into the underground tank. But unfortunately the tank at his house was no longer in service.

"I had disconnected the oil tank and was getting 200 amp service in for electric heat," said Phillips.
Adelaide Drive, Saanich

"They got the wrong address. They filled up the tank. It went into the ground."

More than 300 litres of fuel spilled into the ground, contaminating the yard and under the house.

David Rogers, with B.C. Hazmat Management, the company doing the cleanup, said it was impossible to save the house because of the extent of the spill.

"Quite often we can dig under the house and support it with concrete. Because of the way it is, and the underground oil tank here, we could not support the house and save it."

The cost of the cleanup and rebuilding of the home is being covered by the oil company's insurance.

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quote: BBC News Website

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Dundee man accused of 'recklessly producing household electricity'

A Dundee man has been accused of "recklessly producing household electricity" with a bizarre home-made transformer.

Charles McKenzie is alleged to have rigged up a "dangerous transformer assembly" at his flat in Dundee's Dudhope Court to generate power.

Mr McKenzie, 55, was not at Dundee Sheriff Court to face the charge of culpable and reckless conduct.

Sheriff George Way continued the case without plea for three weeks.

Suspended generator

The charge alleges Mr McKenzie "culpably and recklessly" produced electricity "with total disregard for the safety of yourself and others".

Sheriff Way asked: "I don't quite understand - how does one culpably and recklessly produce electricity?"

Fiscal depute Laura Bruce said: "The Crown's position is that he had this man-made assembly in his house suspended from the ceiling by thin ropes.

"There was a car battery and cans of petrol nearby."

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quote: Daily Mail

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Retired couple claim their £800,000 luxury home must be demolished after oil company flooded it with 500 litres of toxic chemical kerosene by accident

A retired couple say they must knock down and rebuild their £800,000 home, after 500 litres of toxic kerosene was accidentally pumped into it - but their insurers refuse to pay the cost.

The delivery of the highly toxic kerosene had been intended for their neighbours but a new tanker driver picked the wrong pipe and sent it gushing into the side of their house.

Now, 11 months after the accident, Trevor and Elizabeth Piggott have filed a High Court claim for the cost of rebuilding the five-bedroom property to eliminate the toxic vapours that still contaminate it.

Retired businessman Mr Piggott, 66, said: ‘We can’t move back in because it remains contaminated. You can still smell the kerosene in every corner of the house.

‘We simply can’t accept that through no fault of our own we should have our home seriously devalued and left stinking of dangerous chemicals.

‘Our only recourse has been to pay our own costs and go to law to argue that to decontaminate it entirely it would need to be demolished and a new property built.’

The couple were preparing breakfast in their designer kitchen on December 29 last year when disaster struck.

'I wasn't even dressed,' recalled Mrs Piggott, 65. 'We were recovering from having 21 family and friends for Boxing Day and it was one of those lazy mornings between Christmas and New Year.

'We saw the oil tanker pull up outside to deliver next door and Trevor said he was going to have a word with the driver because on recent deliveries they had spilt oil into the hedgerow outside causing it to die back.

'Something distracted us and a couple of minutes later this young man was running up our drive shouting, “Where's your tank?”.

‘The answer was that we don’t have an oil tank as this property has been on Calor gas for 20 years. When Trevor went outside to see what was happening, he found himself paddling in oil. It was the start of a nightmare which is still going on.'

The company, GB Oils, have admitted liability for the error which was caused by a new employee attaching the tanker full of kerosene to the wrong pipe at the front of the properties in the hamlet of Little Billington, Bedfordshire.

Inexplicably, he had not seen the pipe on the right which served the Piggott's neighbours and instead blasted in excess of 500 litres of oil through the redundant pipe which led to the side of their bungalow.

Within seconds the oil dispersed into the clay-built foundations of the £800,000 detached bungalow which stands in five acres of land. Worse still, the vapours from the oil permeated every corner of the home and its contents.

Within hours, GB Oils had sent out a 'spill team' followed by an environmental rep from their insurers with a meter to test for dangerous fumes.

'Wherever he went in the house be it the conversion upstairs or downstairs, his meter was glowing red,' said Mrs Piggott.

'He just said, "This is extremely serious. You can't stay here. You must go to a hotel". The fumes were just overwhelming.

'All the Christmas decorations were up, the fridge was full of food and drink for New Year but we ended up fleeing to a hotel.’

The next day, the spill team fitted an extractor fan to a hole punched through the foundations and told the couple to close the doors and windows to allow it to work effectively. They left at 4pm on Friday, telling them they would be back after the long New Year weekend.

'I remember trying to cook us a meal,' said Mrs Piggott, 'but the fumes were too much. I felt nauseous and had a headache. My husband, who has had a bad heart, was sick and started getting palpitations.

'Despite making endless calls, no-one got back to us until the following Tuesday so we were left to cope with this appalling situation on our own. We ended up retrieving what we could and going to our daughter’s house.’

When their own insurers, Lloyds, sent a loss adjustor to assess the damage, the Piggotts were told that it could be ‘remediated’.

Large trenches have been dug at other end of the property in an attempt to flush out the oil and the Piggott’s have been told that there is no more that the insurance companies are willing to do.

So, 11 months on, the home that had been the hub of their family life, looks like a crime scene with warning tape stretched around it, large holes leading into the foundations and its interior covered in polythene sheeting. The heady smell of chemicals remains.

The Piggott's High Court papers claim damages ‘in excess of £300,000 from the oil company and their home insurers, Lloyds TSB including £60,258.05 for the contents of their home which were ruined in the accident along with losses for personal injury, and costs.

‘Our experts have said that kerosene contains some volatile components and if you can smell them there is a risk to health,’ said Mr Piggott.

‘To decontaminate the house entirely it would need to be demolished and a new property built. Their remediation has not gone far enough.

'At least they should have excavated the entire downstairs, removed the contaminated soil and installed a vapour membrane in the damp proof course.’

The trauma has triggered bouts of insomnia in Mrs Piggott, a mother of four and grandmother of nine.

‘We just woke up one morning and lost our happy home of 14 years,’ she added. 'It is our major asset, our retirement fund and was our pride and joy.

‘You would hope that insurance companies would be there for you. All we seek is a fair and just response to this dreadful incident from those responsible.’

A spokesman for Lloyds TSB said: ‘We are confident that Mr and Mrs Piggot’s home can be restored to its original state with no requirement for demolition, based on the advice we have received from oil spill remediation experts.

‘We appreciate this is a stressful time for our customers and are committed to supporting them through the period of their claim.’

A spokesman for Warrington based GB Oils said: 'All parties are working to ensure an appropriate resolution for those involved. As the case is now a legal matter it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.'

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quote:

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Guards thought there was something suspicious about a little white cat slipping through a prison gate in northeastern Brazil.

A prison official says that when they caught the animal, they found a cellphone, drills, small saws and other contraband taped to its body.

Alagoas state prisons spokeswoman Cinthya Moreno says that the cat was caught New Year's Eve at the medium-security prison in the city of Arapiraca.

The incident took place at a jail in Arapiraca city, 250 kilometres southwest of Recife.

The O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported Saturday that all of the prison's 263 inmates are suspects in the smuggling attempt, though it says a prison spokesman said "It will be hard to discover who is responsible since the cat does not speak."

The items could be used to help someone escape or for communicating with criminals on the outside, said officials.

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Thieves break into office at Microsoft and steal the Apple Ipads, don't bother to take Microsoft products


 

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 01-18-2013, 11:00 AM:
 
Well, this is different. The Bank of Canada has apparently put the "wrong" maple leaf on the new $20 bill:

Canada's new $20 bill at centre of maple leaf flap

quote:

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Some botanists are shaking their heads at the new polymer bills because they say the money features a maple leaf from Norway, and not Canada, although that's not how the Bank of Canada sees it.

The Norway maple came to North America in the 18th century, imported by a Philadelphia merchant and peddled as a garden adornment. But lately it has been turning up in all kinds of places, including the official logos of Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., and the FIFA under-20 World Cup of Soccer.

The Canadian Television Fund and the Alliance of Natural History Museums of Canada have also made maple leaf errors, according to botanists.

Sean Blaney, senior botanist of the Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre, said he never expected to see the Norway maple leaf on a $20 bill.

"It's a species that's invasive in Eastern Canada and is displacing some of our native species, and it's probably not an appropriate species to be putting on our native currency," Blaney told CBC News.
A 'stylized blend' of Canadian maple species

The Bank of Canada, which makes the banknotes, denied the bills include a Norway maple leaf. A spokesperson said the leaf is a stylized blend of different Canadian maple species.

'This could not be confused with a native species of Canada.'—Julian Starr, plant identification expert

But Blaney argued it looks nothing like any of the 10 maples native to Canada.

"It seems a bit like an after-the-fact explanation to me. The bottom line is that, the image on the bill looks exactly like a Norway maple, however it was derived," he said.

University of Ottawa Prof. Julian Starr, also a research scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, specializes in plant identification and classification.

He has been consulted by the Royal Canadian Mint about the botanical accuracy of its coins, but he was not shown this maple leaf.

"This could not be confused with a native species of Canada," said Starr. "It basically looks like a Norway maple."

There are 400 million bank notes already in circulation, including $20, $50 and $100 bills. There are plans to print another 1.2 billion more bank notes, including $5 and $10 bills.

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quote:

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Police in Victoria, B.C., say an accidental pocket dialing incident caused problems for 911 operators and one worried local mom this week.

Const. Mike Russell says Victoria's 911 communications centre received a call from a frantic mother who got a call from her daughter’s cell phone and heard terrified screams.

It turned out the daughter was at a horror movie and had inadvertently called her mother.

"And all she could hear on the other end of the line was screaming and yelling. It sounded like a very big struggle going on,” Russell said.

“So we actually had to have our … staff try to get a hold of the daughter, and with so many pocket dials and abandoned 911s, it's certainly creating an extra burden for our officers and for our communications centre staff.”

Russell says Victoria police have had to deal with 828 accidental calls to 911 in the past six weeks.

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quote:

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A central California retirement home is defending one of its nurses who refused pleas by a 911 operator to perform CPR on an elderly woman who later died, saying the nurse was following policy.

“Is there anybody that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die,” dispatcher Tracey Halvorson says on a 911 tape released by the Bakersfield Fire Department aired by several media outlets on Sunday.

“Not at this time,” said the nurse, who didn’t give her full name and said facility policy prevented her from giving the woman medical help.

At the beginning of the Tuesday morning call, the nurse asked for paramedics to come and help the 87-year-old woman who had collapsed in the home’s dining room and was barely breathing.

Halvorson pleads for the nurse to perform CPR, and after several refusals she starts pleading for her to find a resident, or a gardener, or anyone not employed by the home to get on the phone, take her instructions and help the woman.

“Can we flag someone down in the street and get them to help this lady?” Halvorson says on the call. “Can we flag a stranger down? I bet a stranger would help her.”

The woman was later declared dead at Mercy Southwest Hospital, officials said.

The executive director of Glenwood Gardens, Jeffrey Toomer, defended the nurse’s actions, saying she did indeed follow policy.

“In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives,” Toomer said in a written statement. “That is the protocol we followed.”

Toomer offered condolences to the woman’s family and said a “thorough internal review” of the incident would be conducted.

He told KGET-TV that residents of the home’s independent living community are informed of the policy and agree to it when they move in. He said the policy does not apply at the adjacent assisted living and skilled nursing facilities.

A call to the facility by The Associated Press seeking more information was not immediately returned.

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• There seems to be confusion over whether or not the woman was an actual licensed nurse. Although she apparently identified herself as a nurse, it seems she may not have been. This remains to be confirmed.
  -
• This was NOT a nursing home, or even an assisted care facility. It is an independent living facility, which is just an apartment complex for seniors. According to the story, all the residents knew that there was no on-site medical personnel.
  -
• A voice on the phone telling you that they will take responsibility for your actions means nothing. Only a state law protecting "good Samaritans" from liability will protect you. Some states have them, other do not.

quote: Bobby Henderson

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No one wants to get in lip-lock with another person unless it's their significant other or someone they find very attractive. Otherwise it can be pretty gross. A lot of people who are revived with CPR may vomit as they start to breathe again.

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quote:

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Relatives of an 87-year-old woman who died after a nurse at her retirement home refused a 911 dispatcher's pleas to perform CPR expressed satisfaction with the care she received, saying her wishes were to die naturally. Meanwhile, the company that owns the facility now says its worker failed to follow proper procedures.

Lorraine Bayless' death last week at Glendale Gardens, a Bakersfield independent living facility, prompted outrage after a 7-minute recording of the 911 call was released. Brookdale Senior Living, which owns the facility, initially said its employee acted correctly by waiting until emergency personnel arrived. But late Tuesday, it issued a new statement saying the employee had misinterpreted the company's guidelines and was on voluntary leave while the case is investigated.

"This incident resulted from a complete misunderstanding of our practice with regards to emergency medical care for our residents," the Tennessee-based company said.

Shortly before Brookdale's clarification, Bayless' family sent The Associated Press a statement saying she was aware that Glenwood Gardens did not offer trained medical staff, but opted to live there anyway.

"It was our beloved mother and grandmother's wish to die naturally and without any kind of life prolonging intervention," the family said. "We understand that the 911 tape of this event has caused concern, but our family knows that mom had full knowledge of the limitations of Glenwood Gardens and is at peace."

The family said it would not sue or try to profit from the death, and called it "a lesson we can all learn from."

"We regret that this private and most personal time has been escalated by the media," the statement said.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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Such a policy would bound to hurt that retirement home's business. It would be really bad marketing. Then there's the possible legal ramifications of allowing a customer to die in your place of business.

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quote: Bobby Henderson

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Then there's the possible legal ramifications of allowing a customer to die in your place of business.

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...As everybody who works for Cinemark knows intuitively.

 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-12-2013, 03:27 PM:
 
Not a news story but probably the best movie website I've seen in a long time....primarily because it's long on dry humor and completely devoid of stupid slow-loading, bandwidth-hogging special effects and crap.

Monsters University
 

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Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 05-02-2013, 09:12 AM:
 
Peeping Toms at the Venture Value Cinemas in Duluth Georgia.

Link to story and video.

quote: Atlanta Journal-Consitution

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DULUTH, Ga. —

Two men fell through a restroom ceiling as they tried to spy on women, Gwinnett County police said.

The alleged incident took place Sunday night at the Venture Value Cinema in Duluth.

According to arrest warrants, the manager said he thinks the men went up through the men's restroom, crawled over to the women's and then fell through landing directly inside the stalls. An officer wrote that the men were “invading the privacy” of various customers.

A theater employee allowed Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh inside to see the aftermath of the crash landing. The employee believes the men landed in the stalls.

The suspects, 26-year-old Eduard Petrovich Kovynev and 27-year-old Eduard Alexander Kovynev, are both charged with peeping Tom and criminal damage to property. They have since bonded out of jail.

Kavanaugh tracked down one of the suspects at his Suwanee home, but he did not want to comment.

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Another 2 nominees for this years Darwin Awards...
 

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Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 05-02-2013, 09:33 AM:
 
If this happened here in California, the 'perps' would have already filed
multiple lawsuits against the theater claming the restroom ceiling wasn't
properly constructed.

I love the TV stations' sophisticated "live' on-screen graphics system:

 

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 05-24-2013, 05:37 AM:
 

quote: Jim Cassedy

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I love the TV stations' sophisticated "live' on-screen graphics system:

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quote: The Daily Telegraph

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Heathrow runway closed and three injured after plane on fire makes emergency landing

At least three people have been injured after a plane had to make an emergency landing at Heathrow airport when smoke was seen coming from the back of the plane.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing flames and a trail of smoke from the back of the British Airways plane, which was carrying 75 passengers and travelling to Oslo.

Three people are being treated for minor injuries following the incident.

Both runways were closed following the incident, which happened on a British Airways airbus A319. The southern runway was re-opened first, and the northern runway has now been re-opened.

Smoke was seen coming from the right engine of the plane, and other planes are reported to have been diverted to Stansted airport.

It has been suggested that the cause of the fire was a bird strike.

Clive Cook was walking with his daughter and saw the plane crossing the Thames near Battersea Bridge. He told Sky News: "I looked up and saw the plane coming through the clouds and the right engine was on fire. It wasn't smoking, it was on fire.

"This plane was coming over and suddenly the tone of the engine changed dramatically. I can almost say it sounded like it was a blow-out or an explosion."

A spokeswoman from Heathrow Airport said all the crew and passengers had been safely evacuated from the plane.

The plane had to return to Heathrow shortly after take-off, after what a spokesperson for British Airways said was a "technical fault."

They said: "The aircraft landed safely and emergency slides were deployed and we are currently caring for our customers."

They said they could not confirm the cause of the incident and that the Air Accident Investigation Branch at British Airways would now be conducting a full investigation.

British Airways said two pilots and three crew members had been on board the flight, which took off from Heathrow at about 8.16am. More than 70 British Airways flights have been cancelled so far today.

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quote:

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After 2,000 years, a long-lost secret behind the creation of one of the world’s most durable man-made creations ever—Roman concrete—has finally been discovered by an international team of scientists, and it may have a significant impact on how we build cities of the future.

As anyone who’s ever visited Italy knows, the ancient Romans were master engineers. Their roads, aqueducts, and temples are still holding up remarkably well despite coming under siege over the centuries by waves of sacking marauders, mobs of tourists, and the occasional earthquake. One such structure that has fascinated geologists and engineers throughout the ages is the Roman harbor. Over the past decade, researchers from Italy and the U.S. have analyzed 11 harbors in the Mediterranean basin where, in many cases, 2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) headwaters constructed out of Roman concrete stand perfectly intact despite constant pounding by the sea.

The most common blend of modern concrete, known as Portland cement, a formulation in use for nearly 200 years, can’t come close to matching that track record, says Marie Jackson, a research engineer at the University of California at Berkeley who was part of the Roman concrete research team. “The maritime environment, in particular, is not good for Portland concrete. In seawater, it has a service life of less than 50 years. After that, it begins to erode,” Jackson says.

The researchers now know why ancient Roman concrete is so superior. They extracted from the floor of Italy’s Pozzuoili Bay, in the northern tip of the Bay of Naples, a sample of concrete headwater that dates back to 37 B.C. and analyzed its mineral components at research labs in Europe and the U.S., including at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source. The analysis, the scientists believe, reveals the lost recipe of Roman concrete, and it also points to how much more stable and less environmentally damaging it is than today’s blend.

That’s why the findings, which were published earlier this month in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society and American Mineralogist, are considered so important for today’s industrial engineers and the future of the world’s cities and ports. “The building industry has been searching for a way to make more durable concretes,” Jackson points out.

Another remarkable quality of Roman concrete is that its production was exceptionally green, a far cry from modern techniques. “It’s not that modern concrete isn’t good—it’s so good we use 19 billion tons of it a year,” says Paulo Monteiro, a research collaborator and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. “The problem is that manufacturing Portland cement accounts for 7 percent of the carbon dioxide that industry puts into the air.”

The secret to Roman concrete lies in its unique mineral formulation and production technique. As the researchers explain in a press release outlining their findings, “The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated—incorporating water molecules into its structure—and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.”

The Portland cement formula crucially lacks the lyme and volcanic ash mixture. As a result, it doesn’t bind quite as well when compared with the Roman concrete, researchers found. It is this inferior binding property that explains why structures made of Portland cement tend to weaken and crack after a few decades of use, Jackson says.

Adopting the materials (more volcanic ash) and production techniques of ancient Roman could revolutionize today’s building industry with a sturdier, less CO2-intensive concrete. “The question remains, can we translate the priciniples from ancient Rome to the production of modern concrete? I think that is what is so exciting about this new area of research,” Jackson says.

Of course, if you are no fan of concrete architecture, you’re out of luck. It could be with us for a few millenia more.

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quote: The Independent

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US TV station apologises for broadcasting racially offensive names of San Francisco plane crash pilots

Presenters read out fake names of pilots aboard Asiana Airlines flight 214

{snip}

A presenter for KTVU, Tori Campbell, read the names out live on air in a report on Friday, which was accompanied by a graphic also listing hoax details.

Ms Campbell said: “KTVU has just learned the names of the four pilots who were on board the flight. They are Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk and Bang Ding Ow.

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