Unique guitar missing from George Clinton and P-Funk's bus (Commercial Appeal.com)
(Note to anyone in the market for a guitar: If someone tries to sell you an axe that looks like it belongs to someone in George Clinton and P-Funk, well, it probably does.Someone ripped off a unique guitar from Clinton’s bus when the band played the Soul Food Festival at Shelby Farms Saturday night.)
Video released of Metro bus narrowly missing baby (WJLA)
(The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority released video today of an incident last April in which a bus narrowly missed hitting a 4-year-old. The near-miss was caught on the "drive cam" which is now on front of all Metro buses to monitor driving. The cameras have been a sore point for the Transit Union.)
School Bus Driver: I Was Fired for Helping Police (NBC New York)
(A school bus driver from West Babylon is fighting to regain his job after being fired last week for being a Good Samaritan, apparently against company policy. George Daw claimed he was terminated because he helped three Nassau County police detectives during last Monday's hail and rain storm. "I felt this was something anyone would do under the circumstances," said Daw, 58.)
New Jersey Proposes New Specs for Law Allowing School Bus Advertising (S.T. Online)
(The New Jersey Department of Education proposed four pages of new rules this month pertaining to a law signed earlier this year that allows school districts to sell advertising space on the outside of school buses as a way to counter act rising fuel prices.)
Pa. woman files suit over fatal NY Megabus crash (Wall Street Journal)
(A Pennsylvania woman left with permanent injuries from a fatal double-decker bus crash believes the crash could have been prevented if Megabus installed GPS devices in its fleet. Lo Wah Chu, 56, of King of Prussia, suffers from catastrophic brain and spinal injuries from the September 2010 crash near Syracuse, according to a lawsuit transferred last week to federal court in Philadelphia.Driver John Tomaszewski missed a turn late at night and failed to clear a low railroad bridge after missing 12 warning signs, some with flashing yellow lights, a New York grand jury concluded this year.)
Thief in Ga. throws 101-year-old to the ground after he steps off church bus (Washington Post)
(Police say a 101-year-old man was attacked and robbed moments after he stepped off a church bus in Georgia. Authorities say the man was walking home Sunday after getting off the bus and was jumped as he tried to open the door to his house. The Savannah Morning News reports he tried to fight back and was thrown to the ground. The suspect grabbed the man’s wallet, which held $61 and his identification card, and then ran off.)
We ran for our lives as thugs ambushed bus: Chaos across the capital as orgy of violence rages on (Daily Mail)
(Masked rioters on BMX bicycles armed with batons attacked a crowded London bus during the evening rush-hour last night, chasing terrified commuters as they tried to escape. The thugs, some as young as eight, forced the driver to stop the double-decker by pelting it with champagne bottles stolen from a nearby Tesco. About 40 passengers – some carrying screaming toddlers – burst out of the exits and sprinted away.)
Ivory Coast Lowers Abidjan Bus-Crash Death Toll to 45 People (Bloomberg)
(The accident that happened when a bus plunged from a bridge into the Ebrie lagoon on Aug. 5 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, killed 45 people, said Zeguela Bakayoko, a spokeswoman for the country’s Communications Ministry. As many as 37 victims were recovered on the day of the crash and 8 more bodies were found today, she said by phone. Earlier, a rescue official reported 47 people had been killed.)
Five killed, 25 injured in Larkana bus-tanker collision (International The News)
(Five people including two women, were killed and 25 others received injuries when a passenger coach rammed into an oil tanker near Sehwan on the Indus Highway on Monday morning. The driver of speeding Karachi-bound passenger coach lost control of the vehicle, which collided with an oil tanker near Sehwan. The coach turned turtle and claimed the lives of five passengers-identified as Rani Meerani (Ratodero), Fahmida, Bashir Ahmed, Dur Mohammad and Sher Mohammad—and caused injuries to 25 others.)
London violence extends into third day, other areas also affected (CNN)
(Violence that appears to have initially been sparked by last week's shooting death of a 29-year-old man broke out for a third consecutive day Monday -- this time in daylight -- with gangs of youths marauding through areas of London.
As night fell, tense standoffs cropped up at several sites around the city. Expanses of street pavement separated police in riot gear from groups of youths milling about a few dozen yards away.)
(BUS DRIVER NOTE: I'd suggest folks in the middle of this take Kevin's suggestion and hit up a local pub until the storm passes but I don't want Riot Squad Leader @andyffgibbons to shit on my head.)Orange goo near remote Alaska village ID'd as eggs (The Associated Press)
(Scientists have identified an orange-colored gunk that appeared along the shore of a remote Alaska village as millions of microscopic eggs filled with fatty droplets. But the mystery is not quite solved. Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday they don't know what species the eggs are or if they are toxic, and that worries many of the 374 residents of Kivalina, an Inupiat Eskimo community located at the tip of an 8-mile barrier reef on Alaska's northwest coast. There's been at least one report of dead minnows found in the lagoon of the village the night the eggs appeared last week. Residents also are worried about the community's dwindling reserves in village water tanks even though the orange mass has dissipated from the lagoon and Wulik River, said city administrator Janet Mitchell.)
Pa. zoo on brink of finishing elephant sperm bank (Herald Online)
(Zoo officials trying to establish North America's first elephant sperm bank have been slowed by bureaucratic hurdles but hope South African officials will approve shipping frozen elephant semen to the United States in about a month. Officials at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium have had difficulty getting export and import permits for 16 liters of semen being stored in the National Zoo's BioBank in Pretoria, South Africa, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Monday. "It is taking longer than we hoped, but we knew when we started that it had not been done before," said Barbara Baker, president and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh zoo.)
'Lucy' look-alikes honor Lucille Ball's 100th birthday (MSNBC)
(More than 900 red-lipsticked, redheaded women — and men — gathered near a "Vitameatavegamin" sign in the hometown of "I Love Lucy" star Lucille Ball to mark her 100th birthday over the weekend, setting a world record for most Lucy look-alikes. Sporting upswept hairdos and blue-and-white polka dot dresses, Saturday's crowd of 915 Lucy Ricardos established the first Guinness world record in her honor. It was all part of the annual Lucy Fest in Jamestown, which drew fans from as far away as Australia to the normally sleepy town of 30,000 people in upstate New York.)
Meet the man with the biggest blue-ming collection in the world — 1,200 items of Smurf memorabilia (The Sun)
(Stephen Parkers, 45, began amassing the haul at the age of ten when he bought a little blue figurine at a petrol station. World record holder Stephen, from Nottingham, has paid hundreds of pounds for some of his pieces.
And the valuable collection is being kept under lock and key at two different properties.)
Hiker told park of aggressive goat before his death (Peninsula Daily News)
(Bob Boardman complained to Olympic National Park about an aggressive mountain goat at Klahhane Ridge several times before he was gored to death by a goat there. Park officials said there’s no way to know if his complaints were about the same mountain goat that killed him. Wrongful death and personal injury claims totalling $10,022,700 have been made against the park over Boardman’s death by his estate; his widow, Susan Chadd of Port Angeles; and her son, Jacob Haverfield. Their lawyer, personal injury attorney John Messina of Tacoma, said a full-blown lawsuit may be imminent in federal District Court in Tacoma. Messina said he does not expect to be engaged in serious negotiations with the park or for a resolution to be reached by Nov. 1, the deadline for the park to answer the claims.)
Meteor Explosion Surprises Pacific Island Nation of Niue (Space.com)
(A meteor that exploded over the Pacific Ocean last week gave a late-night shock to the residents of the small island nation of Niue, according to press reports. Niue police officials say the exploding meteor created a huge bang over the island, waking up some of the 1,200 people who call Niue home, the Agence-France Presse reported.
Officials with New Zealand's Carter Observatory said the bang was most likely a fireball from a meteor exploding about 12 1/2 miles (25 km) above Niue.)
Guy steals $21 million of lunar rocks to have 'sex on the moon'(Blaster)
(We don't know how we missed this story, but a few years ago, a NASA intern was convicted of moon rock theft—specifically, he stole moon rocks so he could have sex with his girlfriend on them.
Author Ben Mezrich, who also wrote The Accidental Network (which was turned into the movie The Social Network), recently published Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History and described the events of the book to CTV. In brief, a few years ago, Thad Roberts, who was in love with his girlfriend of three weeks, decided to show her a grand, romantic gesture by stealing moon rocks so they could jam the rocks under their motel room mattress and have sex on the moon. Because Roberts interned at NASA, he didn't have to go far for his moon rocks ... but he had to circumvent NASA's security system, a heist worthy of Ocean's 11. Of course, things went wrong for our sexonaut when he decided to sell the moon rocks on the Internet.)
Mexican Smugglers Nearly Interrupt California Surf Contest(Fox News)
(Three Mexican nationals attempted to illegally land their boat on California's Huntington Beach Sunday -- about a mile away from where crowds were forming to watch a professional surfing contest. Lifeguards spotted the small fishing boat at around 8:30 a.m., but when the men realized they had been spotted, they turned back to sea and were seen throwing a package overboard, The Orange County Register reported.)
Skip the carrots. Chocolate improves eyesight, too (MSNBC)
(Next time you board a plane, you might want to hand the pilot a chocolate bar, just in case. That’s because a recent study found that dark chocolate might improve your ability to see in low-contrast situations, such as poor weather.)
Sinead O'Connor Sports Dark Look in Ireland (People)
(Nothing compares to ... who? Look closely – that's none other than Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, performing as a backup singer at a summer music festival in Bray, Ireland, over the weekend. O'Connor, 44, appeared onstage at the Bray Seaside Festival, where she was photographed supporting reggae artist Natty Wailer. The singer wore a partially sheer black top, black blazer, black pants and a cross around her neck. She donned glasses and a short, choppy hairstyle – quite a departure from the signature shaved head she sported at the height of her popularity in the '90s.)
Hong Kong iPad Smugglers Use Batman Trick (Information Week)
(During the opening sequence in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, The Joker's henchmen fire a bolt with a rope attached from inside one building to the roof of the bank they're about to rob. They use the rope as a zipline to send their gear and themselves across the street to the roof of the bank, supposedly unseen. Smugglers caught recently in Hong Kong hoped to pull of a similar caper (only with iPads and iPhones), but didn't quite get away with it.)
Taiwan unveils eco-friendly rewritable 'paper' (Yahoo)
(A group of Taiwan scientists have developed an environmentally friendly form of rewritable electronic paper that works without electricity. Unlike the e-book technology now available on the market, the rewritable e-paper called "i2R e-paper" does not need to be back lit and therefore does not consume electricity, according to the island's top industrial research unit Industrial Technology Research Institute. "It only requires heat to store or transmit images onto the flexible display," said Frank Hsiu, a senior official at the Institute's Display Technology Centre based in the northern Hsinchu city.)
Few replicas as first cloned cat nears 10 (AFP)
(Nearly 10 years after scientists cloned the first cat, predictions of a vast commercial market for the "resurrection" of beloved pets through cloning have fallen flat. The leading US pet cloning company halted operations in 2009 and the livestock cloning business remains relatively small with only a few hundred pigs and cows cloned every year worldwide. But CC's doting owners still consider her a great success.)
Garfield Creator Says Comic Boom Software Could Put Him Out of Business (PR News Wire)
(Software that turns mere mortals into superstar cartoonists has Garfield creator Jim Davis worried. Comic strips and even comic books can be created easily with Garfield's Comic Boom, giving birth to a new generation of cartoonists. "Back in my day we had only pencils and paper. This new software is like adding a jet pack to creativity. Kids can craft characters and backgrounds and tell a story with such ease and speed that I'm a little worried I might be out of a job soon.")
DEF CON trains 8-year-olds in hacking (CNN)
(Joseph Horman already had seen the lock-picking videos on YouTube. But it was a different thing entirely for the 13-year-old puzzle-lover to get lessons in lock picking and computer hacking at an event sanctioned by adults. The world's largest gathering of computer hackers -- DEF CON, which is happening this weekend at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas -- held its first-ever hacking classes for kids this year, at an event appropriately called DEF CON Kids. Sessions in hacking were designed for kiddos ages 8 to 16.)
Social media probed for role in U.K. riots (The Globe and Mail)
(Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry smart phones, said on Monday it was assisting the Metropolitan Police with its investigation into the London riots after its messaging service emerged as one of the technological tools used by young people involved in the violence. Police, politicians and some media outlets were quick to blame social media for galvanizing the weekend’s disturbances in Tottenham, Brixton and Enfield, in spite of few incriminating tweets being produced as proof.)
Device serves date-rape drug detection on the rocks (CNET)
(You may be wise enough not to leave your drink unattended if you go to bars or campus parties, but scientists in Israel can still help you ensure you don't get a nasty surprise in your mojito. Fernando Patolsky and Michael Ioffe of Tel Aviv University's school of chemistry say they've developed a sensor that can tell you in real time whether your drink has been spiked with common date-rape drugs. The sensor, which looks like a straw or swizzle stick, works by sucking up a small sample of the drink and mixing it with a testing solution that causes the stick to change color if drugs are present. A red light also goes on, so it can be used in the dark.)
10-Year-Old Hacker Finds Flaws in Video Games (Fox News)
(And you thought you hated Farmville? A 10-year-old girl, reportedly bored with farm-style video games such as the wildly popular game Farmville, has uncovered a security flaw in mobile video games, CNET reported. "It was hard to make progress in the game, because it took so long for things to grow. So I thought, 'Why don't I just change the time?'" the girl, who goes by the hacker name CyFi, told CNET. Doing so revealed a flaw in how the game operates: By manually advancing the clock on a phone or tablet computer to accelerate, say, the growth of a stalk of corn, she jumped ahead in the game, opening up a hole in its security.)
Too Much Technology Breeds Health Problems in Teens (Dale City Patch)
(The American Psychological Association just had its annual convention. Among the speakers was Psychologist Larry Rosen, who has been studying the effect of technology on people for more than 25 years. His most recent studies took a look at how social networking sites affect children, and Rosen presented his findings at the conference. Rosen found that teens whom use more technology (such as video games or the Internet) miss more school and tend to have more stomach aches, sleeping problems, anxiety and depression.)
Maryland mom kills son, self over school costs (E School News)
(Ben Barnhard had reason to be optimistic this summer: The 13-year-old shed more than 100 pounds at a rigorous weight-loss academy, a proud achievement for a boy who had endured classmates’ taunts about his obesity and who had sought solace in the quiet of his bedroom, with his pet black cat and the intricate origami designs he created. But one month before school was to start for the special-needs teen, his mother, psychiatrist Margaret Jensvold, shot him in the head, then killed herself. Officers found their bodies Aug. 2 in the bedrooms of their home in Kensington, Md., an upper-middle class Washington, D.C., suburb. They also found a note. “School – can’t deal with school system,” the letter began, Jensvold’s sister, Susan Slaughter, told The Associated Press.)
Dow Jones industrial average drops more than 600 points (NY Daily News)
(Investors spooked by the first-ever downgrade of U.S. debt sent the Dow plunging 635 points Monday in the worst day for stocks since the crash of 2008. Ironically, traders dumped stocks for Treasury bills - the very instruments Standard & Poor's downgraded on Friday. "People are scared, and they're saying they don't want the risk of the stock market," said Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners. An estimated $1 trillion was wiped off the market in one day, hitting average Americans where it hurt: their stock portfolios, their pension funds and their 401(k)s.)
Syrian death toll rises as Arab states protest (The Guardian)
(Syria defied Arab isolation and mounting international anger on Monday as President Bashar al-Assad's security forces continued attacks on pro-democracy protesters across the country.
The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged al-Assad to return his troops to barracks and release all prisoners, one of the bluntest demands yet made of the Syrian leader, after regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia led a rare chorus of Arab states in condemning the repression. Reports from Deir al-Zor described artillery and heavy machinegun fire and snipers on roofs as troops and intelligence agents carried out mass arrests in the north-eastern city. On Sunday, 42 people were killed there, nudging the death total during five months of the uprising to more than 2,000.)
Anne Hathaway Responds To Negative Catwoman Suit Reactions (MTV)
(It was the photo that launched a thousand blog posts, tweets and message-board debates. Last week, the Web was ablaze when Warner Bros. released the first photo of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle in "The Dark Knight Rises." Now, in knowing how tight-lipped the "Dark Knight Rises" stars are sworn to be about the films, when we caught up with Hathaway as she promoted the upcoming movie "One Day," we didn't expect her to offer any commentary about the photo — but she surprised us.)
FBI: DNA Test Did Not Match D.B. Cooper Suspect (TIME)
(DNA testing has failed to link a new suspect in the D.B. Cooper hijacking to a necktie that he left behind on the plane in 1971, the FBI said Monday. Special Agent Fred Gutt cautioned that the test does not necessarily rule out the deceased man because investigators do not know whether DNA on the tie is that of the hijacker. Gutt said there are three different DNA samples on the necktie and it's not clear where the hijacker got it.)
Fake Apple stores being forced to cover up (CNET)
(With a U.S. lawsuit over fake Apple retail stores in its infancy, officials in Beijing have taken steps to keep lookalike Apple retail stores in the region from fooling passers by. China Daily reports that the city is making a concerted effort to keep unauthorized retailers from using Apple's iconic logo, as well as its related brand names from the exterior of stores. The crackdown will last a month, but as the outlet notes, it's not keeping the look-alike stores from doing business as usual on the inside.)
Angry Birds developer Rovio gets into baby products (Reuters)
(Can an Angry Bird keep your baby safe and warm? Angry Birds developer Rovio is getting into baby products after the Finnish company's foray into toys paid off. Angry Birds has over 40 million players each month and it's one of the top apps on Apple Inc's mobile platform. But Rovio has also sold roughly 7 million Angry Birds toys and gets a "sizable proportion" of its revenue from licensing and merchandising, according to Ville Heijari, vice president of franchise development.)
North Korea may be funding nuclear weapons with video game gold (Globe and Mail)
(Can an Angry Bird keep your baby safe and warm? Angry Birds developer Rovio is getting into baby products after the Finnish company's foray into toys paid off. Angry Birds has over 40 million players each month and it's one of the top apps on Apple Inc's mobile platform. But Rovio has also sold roughly 7 million Angry Birds toys and gets a "sizable proportion" of its revenue from licensing and merchandising, according to Ville Heijari, vice president of franchise development.This spring we heard about a strange case involving Chinese prisoners who were forced to play massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMOs) for profit under the supervision of guards. Now something equally bizarre: A ring of North Korean hackers working out of Northern China have been caught “farming” virtual gold in MMOs like Lineage and selling it to gamers for real-world cash benefiting the Kim Jong-il regime. The New York Times report states that a group of 30 specially trained computer experts managed to take in around $6-million over the course of a couple of years. They used automated software and large groups of unmanned computers in “factory” setups before police in South Korea arrested five people associated with the operation.)
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