Bus Stops - October 25

Bristol bus passengers in miracle escape after roof torn off by tree (Telegraph) 

(Rush hour passengers in Bristol have had a miracle escape after the roof of their double decker bus was completely ripped off by a low hanging tree branch. Several commuters were taken to hospital suffering head injuries after the First Bus number 342 hit the tree branches partially brought down by strong winds.)

Detroit bus drivers paid to do nothing (Detroit Free Press) 

(As thousands of Detroiters wait for buses this morning, as many as 100 bus drivers for the Detroit Department of Transportation are being paid an average of $12 an hour to do nothing. Hundreds of buses sit idle awaiting repair, so their drivers also sit idle, watching TV, playing cards or chatting with one another until their shifts end or a bus becomes available.)

School bus driver nabbed for drunk driving (Toronto Sun) 

( A school bus driver was arrested after allegedly driving children while he was drunk. Jacques Roberge, 58, was found to have had five prior drunk-driving offences when police ran his name through their computer.)

Bus fire shuts down Thruway (Buffalo News) 

(The eastbound mainline Thruway between exits 50 (Williamsville) and 49 (Depew) was shut down late this morning by a bus fire that occurred in that stretch of the road, State Police at Buffalo reported.)

Passenger attacks on bus drivers soaring, new MTA statistics show (Daily News) 

(Passenger assaults on bus drivers are up 20% this year - with seven attacks on average every month, according to MTA statistics. There were 69 physical assaults in the first nine months of this year - compared with 57 during the same stretch last year, the statistics reveal.)

Jennifer Lopez breaks down on stage (CNN) 

(Her own lyrics hit a little too close to home for Jennifer Lopez, who broke down in tears onstage after singing a song about loves from her past. "I'm going to sing you the last song I wrote about love," Lopez, who recently split from husband Marc Anthony, told the audience at the Mohegan Sun's 15th anniversary celebration on Saturday night after singing an acoustic rendition of her hit "If You Had My Love." "A lot has changed since then.")

The Blob invades Lake District (Orange) 

(A strange gooey substance - similar to that which inspired the alien horror movie The Blob in the US - has invaded the Lake District. Walkers have been left baffled by the quivering, translucent mass, nicknamed Star Jelly because it reputedly fell to Earth from meteors. Four police officers in Philadelphia first came across a huge blob in 1950 and their discovery led to the 1958 sci-fi film, reports The Mirror.)

Escaped bees temporarily shut down Utah highway (Reuters) 

(The Interstate 15 highway in southern Utah has been reopened and millions of bees that closed the road have been accounted for, officials said on Monday. "The driver lost control, hit the concrete barrier and rolled over. Of course we then had bees everywhere," said Corporal Todd Johnson with the Utah Highway Patrol.)

Halloween? Try Jesus Ween (Metro Canada) 

(Break out your Bibles, Halloween’s coming. That’s the message from a Calgary pastor, promoting an initiative called Jesus Ween that aims to turn standard Oct. 31 activities on their head. “I don’t believe Halloween represents anything close to God or close to Christianity,” says Paul Ade, who has been doling out Bibles instead of sugary treats since 2002.)

TVs, fridges and fishing boats: How TWENTY MILLION tons of Japan tsunami debris is closing in on Hawaii (Daily Mail) 

(Televisions, fridges and furniture pieces are heading for Hawaii, as a huge amount of debris from Japan’s earthquake sails across the Pacific. Up to 20 million tons of debris from the earthquake in March is traveling faster than expected and could reach the U.S. West Coast in three years.)

Granny: NASA scared me into returning moon rock (CNET) 

(If you happen to find yourself at a bar on a Monday, it's nice to hear stories that will warm the heart as quickly as your pinot noir. This may not be one of those stories. Indeed, the tale of NASA, Joann Davis, and the tiny piece of moon rock, might make you question the content of the space between some people's ears.)

Bounty of brew for Brazilian jail holding police (Huffington Post) 

(Brazilian police say they are trying to find out why 2,600 cans of beer were delivered to a jail holding police officers charged with crimes. The Rio de Janeiro radio station BandNews FM reports the beer was delivered Sunday to the prison in a northern suburb of the city.)

Good Samaritans helping injured motorcyclist are struck by car (NJ.com) 

(Brazilian police say they are trying to find out why 2,600 cans of beer were delivered to a jail holding police officers charged with crimes. The Rio de Janeiro radio station BandNews FM reports the beer was delivered Sunday to the prison in a northern suburb of the city.Two pedestrians trying to help an injured motorcyclist were struck by a passing car in Buena Vista late Saturday, State Police said. Troopers were still at the scene investigating the accident at Route 54 and Jackson Road in Atlantic County early this morning, police said. Both pedestrians were still alive when State Police arrived, though the extent of their injuries was unknown.)

Uncontacted Amazon tribe shoot arrows at tourists after chance encounter (MNN) 

(A new video released by the Peruvian government (depicted above) shows a chance encounter between tourists on a motor boat and an uncontacted group of Amazonian people called the Mashco-Piro. The video depicts at least one member of the remote tribe firing an arrow at the tourists as the boat floats by.)

£5,000 compensation for falling out of bed (Telegraph) 

(A council employee was awared more than £5,000 compensation after falling out of bed while trying to answer the telephone. Council staff have received a total of £75 million in the past five years as compensation following accidents at work.)

90-year-old man gives stand-up comedy a try (News 9) 

(Bill Leahy loves being the center of attention. He cracked-up co-workers for years at sales meetings, always wondering what it would be like under the bright lights of a theater. "I graduated in 1938. I was the smallest kid in the class, counting the girls," said Leahy. "So, I decided maybe I should tell jokes or something. I'm too small to do anything else.")

Musician suing for age bias says his 88-year-old judge is too old to preside, 'unable to function' (Daily News) 

(A 60-year-old Manhattan musician at the center of an age discrimination lawsuit is trying to get the judge handling his case booted - because he's too old. Violinist Martin Stoner admits he sounds like a big hypocrite for knocking 88-year-old Manhattan Federal Judge Robert Patterson as "slow-witted and unable to function." But Stoner insists his fight against ageism is too important to allow the hard-of-hearing jurist to foul it up.)

Red State Blu-ray Review (The HD Room) 

(I truly don't know where to begin. See, in my head I've been writing my review of Kevin Smith's self-distributed Red State since I saw it on the campus of Butler University back in March. It's fair to say that Red State has had a pretty firm grip on my imagination since Smith announced back in January that he would release and tour the movie himself, and seeing the film itself only tightened its grip on my consciousness.)

Review: Batman: Arkham City (The Huffington Post) 

(Batman: Arkham City, the wonderfully realized sequel to 2009's sleeper Batman: Arkham Asylum, is a flawless return to Gotham. Simply put, it gets just about everything right. Video game sequels are a tricky business. Follow the original too slavishly, and everyone yawns. Deviate too drastically, and the original fanatics will become the game's biggest enemies.)

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ wraps in Los Angeles (Batman News) 

(The Dark Knight Rises filming has been completed in Los Angeles. Earlier this weekend there was an official wrap party for the cast and crew. The photo above was tweeted by Debbie, a medic who was on the Los Angeles set in case an actor was injured. That’s a pretty cool looking t-shirt, as Gordon said in Batman Begins — “I’ve got to get me one of those”. The Dark Knight Rises did a lot of on location shooting in LA, but they also did some studio work.)

Batman: Year One – DVD/Blu-ray Review (Primary Ignition) 

(Based on the 1987 miniseries by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, Batman: Year One chronicles Lieutenant James Gordan’s move from Chicago to Gotham City after an internal affairs scandal. In Gotham, the straight-laced Gordon meets a department of crooked cops from top to bottom, not to mention a city plagued by Carmine “The Roman” Falcone’s criminal empire. Meanwhile, billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne returns to the city after a 12-year absence. And he’s got big plans that will change the city forever.)

Teen violence linked to fizzy drinks (News AU) 

(RESEARCHERS in the US say there's a "shocking" association - if only a statistical one - between violence by teenagers and the amount of fizzy soft drink they drink. High-school students in inner-city Boston who consumed more than five cans of non-diet, fizzy soft drinks every week were between nine and 15 per cent likelier to engage in an aggressive act compared with counterparts who drank less.)

Grow your own meat (BBC) 

(Mark Post has been given €300,000 to make a hamburger, in one year. Easy money, you might think, but try doing that without using meat that has come from an animal. Professor Post is one of the few people on the planet who can. As head of the department of vascular physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, he is in the vanguard of a new wave of research to create a way of producing meat that cuts out the need for animal husbandry altogether.)

Women rather spend time with pals than husband (Newslite) 

(Millions of married women would rather spend time with their girlfriends than their husbands, a study has revealed. Researchers found man women would prefer to spend a day off with their best friend because they were more fun, more likely to indulge in an exchange of gossip.)

Global warming confirmed by independent study (Xenophilia) 

(The Earth’s surface really is getting warmer, a new analysis by a US scientific group set up in the wake of the “Climategate” affair has concluded. The Berkeley Earth Project has used new methods and some new data, but finds the same warming trend seen by groups such as the UK Met Office and Nasa.)

Watch out for 'food swings' when hunger, anger collide (MSNBC) 

(You know how sometimes everyone is terrible and everything is the worst and nothing ever, ever, goes your way? Chill out. You’re probably just hungry. Or, rather, hangry. “Hanger” -- that’s with the hard /g/ sound -- or "food swings" are silly terms used to describe the treacherous intersection where hunger and anger collide. Ever stagger through a terrible morning, only to find yourself in much better spirits after lunch? Then you, my friend, have been hangry.)

New app aims to reduce stress with slow breathing (Reuters) 

(Want to reduce stress and improve mental focus? A new app that promotes slow breathing may help. Called MyCalmBeat, the app uses a heart rate monitor that attaches to the ear to detect a person's optimal breathing rate, or resonant frequency, which is unique to each person. At this breathing rate, the company says the user can increase the variability of their heart rate to lower stress levels.)

iPad 3 could launch in March, with connector issues, report says (CNET) 

(The iPad 3 could debut as early as next March, but will come with a smaller dock connector that could cause compatibility issues with existing products, claims Macotakara. Citing "a reliable Asian source," the Japanese blog site said that the next generation tablet is being rushed into production due to Chinese New Year celebrations running from January 22-28. Factories in China are gearing up to produce the iPad 3 by the end of January.)

Wikileaks Muzzled by Donations Blockade (Technews World) 

(If it's true that money talks, it appears equally true that lack of it silences. Wikileaks is appealing to supporters to jump through whatever hoops are necessary to make donations to keep the site alive, after a number of U.S. based financial institutions essentially cut off its life blood by refusing to process contributions. "The financial blockade is a free speech issue," said EFF's Trevor Timm.)

John Lennon's Tooth Going Up for Auction (Time) 

(The tooth fairy will have to shell out some big bucks if she wants to compete with fans vying to buy John Lennon's tooth. A molar belonging to the former Beatle is headed to the auction block in England, CNN reports.)

'Unwanted' Indian Girls Get New Start in Naming Ceremony (Time) 

(More than 200 Indian girls are hoping for a fresh start after shedding the label "unwanted" in a renaming ceremony Saturday, aimed at combating a nationwide problem with gender discrimination. "Nakusa" or "Nakushi," two variations of the Hindi word meaning "unwanted," were among the names 285 girls abandoned in an effort to promote self-worth and dignity in India's dwindling female population.)

Short-Lived 1987 Sitcom Foreshadowed Gaddafi's 2011 Death (Time) 

(“Second Chance” is getting a second look after its absurdly accurate prediction of Gaddafi's death. It wasn't given a second chance in 1987, but it's getting a second look more than 24 years later as life seems to have imitated art. The show, which aired for just one season in the late 80s, predicted the death of Col. Muammar Gaddafi would occur in 2011.)

Netflix subscribers down, Wall Street disappointed (CNET) 

(As expected, Netflix subscribers deserted the company in droves last quarter, after it raised prices on a popular subscription plan and spooked them with a now scuttled attempt to spin off DVD-by-mail operations.)

Steve Jobs refused cancer treatment for too long, says biographer (Xenophilia) 

(Apple co-founder Steve Jobs refused potentially life-saving cancer surgery for nine months, shrugging off his family’s protests and opting instead for alternative medicine, according to his biographer. When Jobs eventually sought surgery, the rare form of pancreatic cancer had spread to the tissues surrounding the organ, his biographer, Walter Isaacson, said in an interview with 60 Minutes on CBS, to be aired on Sunday.)