Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Bus Stops - August 31


Elderly man's hearing aid shattered by punch over bus seat (Sacramento Bee) 

(A punch shattered an 83-year-old man's hearing aid in his ear last week after he asked a fellow bus rider to move from the senior citizen seating area, according to sheriff's authorities. Paramedics who responded were not able to remove all the bloodied pieces from the elderly man's ear which they believed were lodged deep in his ear drum and possibly needed to be removed surgically, according to Sacramento County Sheriff's Department report released today.)


Hijacking suspect netted aboard bus (China Daily) 

(The police subdued a fleeing murder suspect on Tuesday after they believed he had taken two people hostage on a long-distance bus during a standoff that lasted two hours. The man was captured at the scene of the hostage taking after being shot by the police, according to an official statement. No one else was injured.)


Matthew Fox 'Scared the Crap Out of Me,' Bus Driver Says (People) 

(The bus driver who accused Matthew Fox of assaulting her in Cleveland says the incident left her beaten and shaken. "It was all tears," Heather Bormann, 29, told Cleveland.com on Monday of the alleged assault that she says left her bruised on her arms, leg, thighs and chest. "He really scared the crap out of me.")


23 suffer minor injuries in Pace bus accident in Austin (Chicago Tribune) 

(Nearly two dozen people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries after their Pace bus was involved in an accident on the West Side, officials said. Eight people were taken in fair-to-serious condition to hospitals while the other 15 people were in good-to-fair condition, according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.)


Five killed in another bus accident (Times Live) 

(Barely a week after 15 people were killed in an horrific bus accident in Knysna, another crash involving a bus claimed five lives and left about 50 other people injured on the N1 outside Pretoria yesterday afternoon. The bus, certified to carry 60 passengers and said to have been carrying about 82, careered off the road, narrowly missing the Murrayhill Bridge's concrete pillars, and rolled down a steep embankment before overturning near the Carousel Toll Plaza in Hammanskraal just after 1.30pm.)


Atheist Bus Ads Roll Into Spokane (KHQ) 

("Are you good without God? Millions are." These words, superimposed over an image of blue sky and white clouds, appear on king-sized ads placed on the outsides of 11 Spokane Transit Authority buses. The ads will continue through September 25, which includes the run of the Spokane County Interstate Fair. They were placed by the Spokane Coalition of Reason with $4,516.00 in funding from the United Coalition of Reason.)


Girl gets lost in school bus shuffle (Las Vegas Review Journal) 

(Mike Collins' 11-year-old daughter was supposed to be bused directly from Hyde Park Middle School to the YMCA after school Monday, but she didn't show up on time. Collins and staff at the Heinrich YMCA, near the Meadows mall, started calling the Clark County School District's transportation department at 3:15 p.m. They couldn't get through.)



Daryl Hannah arrested at White House protest (CNN) 

(Arrested Tuesday during a sit-in in front of the White House protesting a pipeline expansion project that would significantly increase the amount of oil the United States imports from Canada's controversial Alberta oil sands. The "Splash" actress was among more than 100 people arrested at the demonstration, according to the group that organized the protest.)

(BUS DRIVER NOTE: Margot Kidder was arrested at the same place for the same thing last week.)

Justin Bieber Minor Car Crash Honda Collides with Ferrari (TMZ) 

(Justin Bieber and his super-expensive Ferrari are both doing OK after the singer was involved in a minor fender bender in L.A. today ... this according to the LAPD. According to police, a driver in a Honda collided with a Ferrari driven by Bieber.)


The Young Outlawz admit to smoking Tupac Shakur ashes mixed with marijuana in 1996 (Daily News) 

(When Tupac Shakur was cremated following his 1996 death, his ashes weren't kept in an urn on someone's mantle. The rapper's former group, The Young Outlawz, claim that they smoked Shakur's ashes because that was his wishes, based on the lyrics of one of his songs.)


Stanley Cup dented after toppling from table during ceremonies in Newfoundland (Yahoo Canada) 

(The storied Stanley Cup is sporting a new dent today after toppling from a table in Newfoundland. The silver trophy was being readied for a helicopter flight from St. John's to Bonavista, the hometown of former Boston Bruin Michael Ryder, when it fell over.)


Woman pays $180 for wooden iPad (it's fake) (CNET) 

(One's presence in a McDonald's parking lot tends to signify one's enthusiasm to spend a dollar on something that might get one through the afternoon. Ashley McDowell, from Spartanburg, S.C., however, appears to have managed to spend $180 on something that might heat her living room for part of an evening.)


Thieves make historic mistake after stealing museum’s fake rhino horns (Bucks Herald) 

(A BREAK-IN at Tring Natural History Museum backfired for thieves in the early hours of Saturday after the £240,000 rhino horns they stole turned out to be replicas. The horns which were on display had been switched for fake ones by museum staff, following similar thefts across Europe.)


Man Sues NY Strip Club for $28K Bar Tab (Fox DC) 

(They apparently don't call it the Hustler Club for nothing. A man is suing the New York club after saying he ended up with a mysterious $28,000 bar tab during a single visit earlier this year, the New York Post reported Tuesday. W.A. Ilg says he went to the nightspot May 24 -- and doesn't remember much of what happened after that.)

(SUBMITTED BY: @tigger1972)

German city of Bonn taxes prostitutes with meter (BBC) 

(The German city of Bonn has installed a meter to tax prostitutes for soliciting on its streets at a rate of six euros (£5.30; $8.70) per night. Those who fail to pay face fines or even a ban, and 264 euros were found in the meter when it was first emptied, according to AFP news agency. Tax has been levied on prostitutes elsewhere but Bonn is the first city to use a meter, a spokeswoman said.)

(SUBMITTED BY: @fitzman73)

If he hadn't been naked, cops might not have found raccoon (MSNBC) 

(NASCAR fans got an eyeful over the weekend in Bristol, Tenn., when they spotted a man streaking across a busy parking lot near the track. Police said they arrested Joshua Greene, 27, from Parkersburg, W.Va., for streaking through the lot off Route 394 Saturday afternoon.)


Oops! Electronic tag put on offender's false leg (News Lite) 

(Security bosses have been left red-faced after it was revealed they'd put a electronic tag on an offender's false leg. This meant 29-year-old Christopher Lowcock was able to break a court-imposed curfew simply by leaving his leg at home.)


Teen, 15, robs 73-year-old man of 7 cents, gets 2-6 years in prison, felony record (CBS News) 

(A 15-year-old Syracuse boy will now spend the next two to six years in juvenile detention and the rest of his life as a felon. It was all for a robbery that earned him only pocket change. Anthony Stewart was found guilty of first-degree robbery earlier this month for beating and kicking a 73-year-old man and robbing him of seven cents. Prosecutors say the victim was on his way to a store last December when the two teenagers ran up from behind, knocked him into a snow bank, then kicked and punched him. The two teens had handguns, which Stewart later admitted were BB guns, prosecutors said.)


World's Heaviest Mom Donna Simpson Going On Diet (Huffington Post) 

(Donna Simpson, the heaviest woman ever to bear children, may be throwing away her fame by losing the weight that got her there. Yes, she's going on a diet.)


Massage Parlor Mistrial Declared After Masseuse Recognizes Defense Lawyer as Client (ABA Journal) 

(A Chicago federal judge declared a mistrial last week in a sex-trafficking prosecution after a masseuse who worked for the defendant and testified for the prosecution recognized the defense lawyer as a client. After stepping down from the stand, masseuse Liudmyla Ksenych told prosecutors she recognized defense lawyer Douglas Rathe, report the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.)


Sky Harbor worker gets trapped under baggage carousel (AZ Central) 

(A Phoenix maintenance worker became trapped in a conveyor belt under a baggage carousel at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Tuesday morning. The man is believed to be a maintenance employee who was working beneath the baggage carousel area in Terminal 2 where passengers pick up their luggage. The man sustained multiple injuries but is in stable condition and was taken to a hospital.)


The bear who dared: Awesome polar animal descends 300ft cliff in a bid to scavenge eggs from some VERY surprised birds (Daily Mail) 

(For birds nesting on a precarious cliff, the last visitor they might expect to see would be a hulking polar bear clambering down to join them. Yet this bulky beast somehow managed to descend a craggy precipice in Russia’s remote Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zemlya. The young male risked life and limb scavenging for eggs along the 300ft-high rock face thronged with hundreds of squawking Brunnich's Guillemots.)


Man in domestic dispute decapitates self (MSNBC) 

(A Chicago man who quickly accelerated a sport utility vehicle with a cable around his neck decapitated himself after a domestic dispute in Yorktown, authorities said Tuesday. York-Poquoson Sheriff Danny Diggs said a deputy responding to a call of a domestic disturbance Tuesday was taking a statement from the man's ex-wife when another deputy driving by noticed an SUV pulling a utility trailer that was on fire. Authorities say the man started the fire.)


Asteroid Named After Teen Who Saw It (Fox New York) 

(A British teenager spoke of her delight Tuesday after having an asteroid she discovered during a summer internship named after her. Hannah Blyth, 18, was working alongside astronomers at the University of Glamorgan in south Wales when she spotted the chunk of rock the size of a large building hurtling through space 300 million miles (480 million km) from Earth.)


Couple threatened with fine over noisy four-year-old son (The Telegraph) 

(Simon and Pippa Lansdell have been sent a letter by Hull City Council warning if further complaints are made about their 4-year-old son Alfie, they could be served with a noise abatement notice. They could then be fined up to 5,000 pounds and have to pay a further 500 pounds a day if the noise still doesn't stop.)


Father charged after throwing crying son overboard on tour boat (CNN) 

(A Southern California man allegedly hit his crying 7-year-old son and then threw him off on a tour boat in busy Newport Harbor, Orange County, authorities said Tuesday. Sloane Briles, 35, of Irvine, California, has been charged with felony child endangerment and resisting arrest, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said. He was released Monday in lieu of a $100,000 bond.)


Shure Gives On-Air Voice to Kevin Smith for Bi-Coastal Smodcast Internet Radio Podcasts (InfoComm IQ) 

(Shure Incorporated today announced that the production engineering team behind SModcast Internet Radio (SIR) selected Shure’s industry-proven SM27 Multi-Purpose and 55SH Series II Unidyne® Vocal microphones for use in its weekly “Jay & Silent Bob Get Old” and “Plus One Per Diem” broadcasts. Offering reliable and unparalleled speech and vocal performance, the Shure microphones play a critical role in bringing live shows to stage as well as live broadcasts and studio-recorded radio podcasts, or “SModcasts,” to air. Hosted by Kevin Smith and respective co-hosts Jason Mewes and Jen Schwalbach, the shows entertain an average of 300,000 nationwide listeners per week.)


For Sale: Batmobile. Low Miles, Runs Great (Wired.com) 

(The Batmobile is for sale. Not the Batmobile, but a faithful reproduction built by racer and builder Casey Putsch. He’s listed it on eBay and through his website. Putsch’s Batmobile, inspired by the vehicle from the 1989 Tim Burton film Batman, runs on a military surplus helicopter engine that produces 365 horsepower. The engine takes on jet fuel, kerosene, or diesel. An iPad 2 — with the Wayne Enterprises logo as wallpaper, of course — sits next to the dashboard. The odometer shows just 1,989 miles.)


'Dark Knight Rises': The Return Of The Batcave?‎ (MTV) 

(A crucial part of the Batman mythos is the Batcave. Hidden underground with a secret entrance located in Wayne Manor, the Dark Knight’s hideout was rendered inaccessible in the first Christopher Nolan Bat-film, “Batman Begins,” but could possibly be making a return in “The Dark Knight Rises.” Yesterday, Latino Review played Batman, doing some pretty solid detective work based on clues found around the internet. The most interesting among these were the fact that everyone’s favorite Welsh news source, Wales Online reported that a waterfall in Brecon Beacons was standing in as the entrance to the Batcave.)


Holy wardrobe change, Batman! (Market Place) 

(DC Comics gives Caped Crusader, Superman, and other superheroes a makeover. New looks and new storylines are meant to attract a new generation of comic book fans.)


Is Audrey Hepburn the key to stopping the obesity epidemic? (Daily Mail) 

(Audrey Hepburn, iconic star of Breakfast At Tiffany’s, was renowned for her waif-like figure. But her sylph-like beauty masked a lifetime of poor health which culminated in her death at only 63. Now, a leading scientist suggests that her genes were fundamentally altered through suffering starvation as a teenager in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.)


Even 15 mins. of exercise a day can add years to life, study finds, bolstering other research (Yahoo Canada) 

(Don't despair if you can't fit in the recommended 30 minutes of daily exercise. Growing evidence suggests that even half that much can help. It's still no excuse to slack off. Regular exercise strengthens muscles, reduces the risk of some diseases and promotes mental well-being. The more exercise, the better.)


Panda Poop May Be a Treasure Trove of Microbes for Making Biofuels (Science Daily) 

(Panda feces contains bacteria with potent effects in breaking down plant material in the way needed to tap biomass as a major new source of "biofuels" produced not from corn and other food sources, but from grass, wood chips and crop wastes, scientists reported in Denver at the 242nd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society )


Attack of the Monsanto Superinsects (Mother Jones) 

(Over the past decade and a half, as Monsanto built up its globe-spanning, multi-billion-dollar genetically modified seed empire, it made two major pitches to farmers. The first involved weeds. Leave the weed management to us, Monsanto insisted. We've engineered plants that can survive our very own herbicide. Just pay up for our patented, premium-priced seeds, spray your fields with our Roundup herbicide whenever the fancy strikes, and—voilà!—no more weeds.)


Video game competition, not violence, could be culprit in aggression, study says (USA Today) 

(The competitive nature of some video games -- not the violence in them -- that leads to aggression, a new study suggests. This offers a twist on the typical research finding that violent games may increase aggressive behavior in some players. A pair of experiments conducted at Brock University in Canada found that head-to-head fighting games such as Mortal Kombat and racing games could make players more aggressive than gruesome titles such as the zombie-killing game Left 4 Dead.)



"Electronic Nose" Smells Heart Failure (Azo Sensors) 

(A research team in Germany has developed an "electronic nose" for "smelling" heart failure. The nose is part of a novel non-invasive method for early detection of heart failure.)


Young women are 'power users' of social media sites (CNN) 

(People keep on flocking to sites like Facebook and Twitter, and young women are leading the way. The percentage of Internet users who are on social-networking sites continues to climb, according to a survey released Friday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.)


Check Out These New Windows 8 Features and Screenshots (Tech LandE) 

(As we wait for Windows 8 to amble its way into the market, we'll be fed teaser posts and screenshots for what seems like an eternity. That's all part of the fun, though. On that note, Microsoft's Building Windows 8 blog recently took the wraps off of the upcoming operating system's revamped "Windows Explorer" features—you know, the boxes with all the folders.)


Addiction? Video games crowded out man's real life (SMH) 

(At the height of what he calls his addiction, Ryan Van Cleave would stand in the grocery store checkout line with his milk and bread and baby food for his little girls and for a split second think he was living inside a video game. It sounds crazy, but it's true: something would catch his attention out of the corner of his eye — maybe another shopper would make a sudden move for a chocolate bar — and he was mentally and emotionally transported to another world. World of Warcraft, to be exact.)



Baby-Killing Python Slated to Help Train Army Rangers (Time) 

(Do you find this unsettling? A python that killed a 2-year-old Florida girl in 2009 will now be used in training at Eglin Air Force Base. The 8-foot, 6-inch python, named Gypsy, has lived at the Camp Rudder snake house since shortly after the incident. The albino Burmese python now will be used in swamp training at ranger camp.)


Does Drug Testing the Poor Do Anything to Reduce Addiction? (Time) 

(In one of the most emailed articles this week on TIME.com, legal columnist Adam Cohen questions the constitutionality and financial benefit of a new Florida law that requires welfare applicants to take a drug test for eligibility. The legal issues aside, I would also ask, Is this a policy that promotes health or reduces addiction?)


China's Latest Crackdown Targets the Internet—and Katy Perry (Time) 

(Another day, another crackdown in China. This time the country's raucous virtual community, with 485 million Internet users, is feeling the heat. State censors have always policed what appears on the domestic social media sites that have flourished even as Western sites like Facebook and Twitter have been blocked. But various new rules are throwing up further complications. Earlier this month, a top Chinese Communist Party official admonished domestic microblog service Weibo to promote the “Internet's healthy development,” which China-watcher Russell Leigh Moses sees as “code words for staying away from topics which attack the rule of the Communist Party or hold officials up for public ridicule.”)


Travelers Charged $1,000 a Night by Hotel in Irene’s Wake (Time) 

(While Hurricane Irene didn’t do as much damage to major cities like New York as forecasters had feared, some unlucky travelers found that the storm packed a hefty wallop to their wallets, thanks to some hotels that saw the storm as an opportunity to rake in some extra cash. The New York Daily News is reporting that the Hotel Le Bleu in Brooklyn jacked up their usual $250 rate to nearly $1,000. Stranded travelers may have felt like they had no other choice, but a Hotel Le Bleu employee who wouldn’t give her name was unsympathetic when contacted by the paper, telling them, “If you can pay, then it’s on you.”)


World's Most Liveable Cities: U.S. Fails to Make Top 10 (Time) 

(You had better fear the mass exodus from Vancouver, B.C., now that the city has fallen from its perch atop a worldwide most livable city list. But where should everyone up and move to? Australia, for sure (and certainly not anywhere in the United States). Melbourne takes over the top spot in the annual Economist Intelligence Unit's 2011 Global Livability Survey, dropping the crown jewel of Canada all the way to third. And there is nary an American city on the top 10 list.)


A Teacher Is Back in Class After Anti-Gay Diatribe, but Did He Really Win? (Time) 

(Jerry Buell is back in the classroom, as he should be. Or, perhaps, shouldn't be. Buell, 54, a devout Baptist, family man and veteran teacher of American history at public Mount Dora High School in central Florida, might as well be the faculty heavy in an episode of Glee: this summer, he set off a national First Amendment fracas by announcing on Facebook that gay marriage is a "cesspool" that makes him vomit and mocks God. Buell's employer, the Lake County School District, removed him from the classroom last week for the first three days of the new school year, pending an investigation of the Facebook comments, then reinstated him on Aug. 25 presumably because it realized his speech in this case was protected. But though he prevailed, his rant may backfire socially by helping to plant homophobia more firmly alongside racism and sexism on the nation's roster of hate speech.)



Study could identify bear that killed hiker (Billings Gazette) 

(Clues to the identity of the grizzly bear that killed a Yellowstone National Park hiker last week may be revealed in a study to be conducted this fall. The Inter-agency Grizzly Bear Study Team will begin trapping bears in the Hayden Valley as part of its research starting Wednesday and continuing to Oct. 20. Major access points to any areas utilized for trapping and research will be posted with signs closing the area to the public.)


Malaysia brushes off bird flu warning (Herald Sun) 

(MALAYSIA has brushed off a warning by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) about a resurgence of the deadly bird flu virus and a new mutant strain. Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai was quoted in the New Straits Times today as saying that the country remained vigilant about the H5N1 virus but no new cases had been reported. "The public should not worry. We will let them know about the latest developments on the virus," he was quoted as saying.)


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