Bus Stops - November 16

Bus union says it'll fight driver dismissal (CTV) 

(The head of Ottawa's transit union says he'll file a grievance on the dismissal of an OC Transpo driver for his threats against a passenger. Garry Queale, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union 279, said the punishment is too severe. "We do not condone language used by operators, but believe he was tormented and termination is far too severe," he said. "He lost family members to cancer in the last year or so, has an ailing parent, two days before was spat upon by another passenger on a different route.")

Strollers on bus no reason for rudeness, reader says (Montreal Gazette) 

(On Sunday, Oct. 16, I caught the 11:47 a.m. No. 8 bus at the Longueuil métro. Two women with young children got on the bus with their strollers and went to the stroller-designated area. The seat was lifted and the strollers were well out of the way, leaving the aisles clear. The bus driver, a woman in her 40s, yelled to the back of the bus for the mothers to fold their bulky strollers. Both mothers seemed confused and didn't react right away. Again the bus driver yelled to fold them. One mother removed her baby from the stroller and handed him to her friend to hold while she folded the stroller.)

NC Girl Stuck in Wrecked Car Survives on Pop-Tarts, Gatorade (My Fox LA) 

(A nine-year-old North Carolina girl survived for two days trapped under a wrecked car by living off Pop-Tarts and Gatorade, WNCT reported. Jordan Landon was eventually rescued Sunday evening after unsuccessfully trying to dig herself out of the upside down vehicle.)

The World's Most Expensive Tea To Be Fertilized With Panda Poo (Huffington Post) 

(One may imagine that the world's most expensive tea might have some curative properties, but using panda feces as a fertilizer definitely seems a little bizarre. An Yashi, a college lecturer at Sinchuan University who is developing the tea, explains, "Pandas have a very poor digestive system and only absorb about 30 percent of everything they eat. That means their excrement is rich in fibres and nutrients.")

Kent woman dies from 15-year-old gunshot wound (Seattle Times) 

(A Kent woman died last week from injuries suffered during a 1996 shooting, and her death was declared a homicide on Monday. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said Lakessha LaShawn Johnson, 34, died Nov. 8 from injuries suffered from a much-earlier shooting. Kent Police Lt. Patrick Lowery said Johnson was found dead at her home, but was the victim of a gunshot wound in 1996. That shooting occurred either in Renton or Seattle.)

Was Jane Austen Murdered? (Yahoo) 

(Nearly 200 years after Jane Austen‘s untimely death, crime novelist Lindsay Ashford has come up with a new explanation: arsenic poisoning. Austen, the English author of such classic novels as “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility,” died in 1817 at age 41. Her death has been attributed to everything from cancer to Addison’s disease. But Ashford, who moved to Austen’s village of Chawton three years ago and started writing her new crime novel in the former home of Austen’s brother, stumbled across another possibility — that Austen died of arsenic poisoning.)

Christ on a cliff! American tourist spots the almighty on holiday in Ireland (Daily Mail) 

(When tourist Sandra Clifford went on holiday to Ireland she was hoping to connect with her Catholic roots. But the American never dreamed she would capture an apparent apparition of Jesus Christ at the Cliffs of Moher. The 42-year-old pilot from San Francisco couldn’t believe her eyes when she spotted an imprint of as she visited the famous County Clare tourist attraction.)

Taco Bell customer accused of causing $1,500 in damage with wheelchair (ABC) 

(A late night food run turned into a bizarre incident at the Taco Bell on Cassopolis Street early Sunday morning. Elkhart Police were called to the restaurant around 1:30 a.m. and found the front door shattered. Employees said that 26-year-old Amber Harvey, who lives nearby, had attempted to go through the drive thru lane in her motorized wheelchair. According to the police report, the employees refused to serve Harvey because company policy doesn’t allow service in the drive thru to anyone not in a vehicle.)

Suspect Claims His Dog And Jesus Told Him To Break Into Home (WGME) 

(State Police say a suspect started making bizarre claims after he broke into a home in western Maine last week. They say the suspect, a male who isn't identified, was squatting at a home in Andover while the homeowner was on vacation. A state trooper says the suspect told him that his dog and Jesus told him to break into the home because he was supposed to meet Taylor Swift there and marry her in the back yard.)

Piles Of Mail Found In State Forest; USPS Investigates (CTNOW) 

(The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating how piles of mail ended up in the Natchaug State Forest over the weekend. "It does not appear to be an employee issue at this time," said Maureen P. Marion, a USPS spokeswoman. She said hikers found mail and contacted the park ranger, who recommended calling the postal service.)

Teens drinking bleach to pass drug tests (FOX 10 TV) 

(People will go to great lengths to pass a drug test, but the Mobile County Sheriff's Office says there is a popular trend among young people who try to beat these tests and it could kill you. Some have been ingesting bleach. With a quick search, your browser will be flooded with products claiming to wash away any drugs in your system. There are drinks, chewable tablets and a prosthetic called the Whizzinator.)

NT insures Obama against croc attack (ABC) 

(The Northern Territory Government has announced its insurance company will give Barack Obama a policy that would cover the US president in the event of a crocodile attack. Mr Obama will fly into Darwin on Thursday and the Territory's chief minister Paul Henderson says the state will spare no expense to insure the president's safety.)

Batman movie shooting disrupts traffic on NY bridge (Taiwan News) 

(The Queensboro Bridge was where Simon and Garfunkel felt groovy, where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton watched dawn break in “Manhattan,” where the city could be seen, as F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” Its latest foray into popular culture is in the next Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.” But over the weekend, there was a cost to such fame: snarled traffic and befuddled drivers on both sides of the bridge.)

The Bewildering Case of the Missing Batman: Arkham City Save Files (Crave Online) 

(Have you run into the unfortunate scenario where your save file for Batman: Arkham City mysteriously just up and vanished? Surprisingly, you’re not alone. Over the last day or so, a sizable number of players have experienced this disappearing save file glitch with their Xbox 360 copies of Arkham City. Now, WB Games and Rocksteady are asking for your help to stomp out this nasty bug. Warner Brothers has set up a nice little survey for you to partake in to detail exactly what type of Xbox 360 you’re running at the time of your save file’s disappearance.)

Ex-Brookside actor Brian Regan tells Liverpool court in Bahman 'Batman' Faraji trial how he went from soap star to cocaine courier (Liverpoold Daily) 

(FORMER Brookside actor Brian Regan went from soap star to cocaine courier after his time on screen ended, he told a murder trial today. The 54-year-old, who played Terry Sullivan in the city-based soap for 14 years, took to the witness stand at Liverpool Crown Court today to give evidence in his own defense.)

Dutch Scientist Plans £200k Lab Burger (Odd News) 

(Mark Post, a vascular biologist at the University of Maastricht, said he'll grow 3,000 thin strips of meat in a petri dish, then pack them together with some lab-grown fat. But because 'cultured meat' contains no blood, the flesh will be pale, like a scallop. Dr Post warned the finished product is likely to cost at least £200,000.)

Can you hear me now? 1 in 5 in U.S. suffers hearing loss (MSNBC) 

(Nearly one in five Americans has significant hearing loss, far more than previously estimated, a first-ever national analysis finds. That means more than 48 million people across the United States have impairments so severe that it’s impossible for them to make out what a companion is saying over the din of a crowded restaurant, said Dr. Frank Lin, author of a new study published in the latest issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.)

Strangers can spot 'kindness' gene: study (Yahoo) 

(People with a certain gene trait are known to be more kind and caring than people without it, and strangers can quickly tell the difference, according to US research published on Monday. The variation is linked to the body's receptor gene of oxytocin, sometimes called the "love hormone" because it often manifests during sex and promotes bonding, empathy and other social behaviors.)

Mind Reading: What We Can Learn From the Dutch About Teen Sex (Health Land) 

(Teen birth rates are eight times higher in the U.S. than in Holland. Abortion rates are twice as high. The American AIDS rate is three times greater than that of the Dutch. What are they doing right that we're not? For starters, two-thirds of Dutch parents report allowing their teenage children to have sleepovers with their boyfriend or girlfriend, a situation even the most liberal American parents would rarely permit.)

The Man Who Invented Email (Time) 

(If you’re reading this, you’re online and, as such, you probably have an email account. But have you ever wondered about the origins of email? It’s not exactly a cut-and-dried case, as various forms of electronic messaging have been around since the humble telegraph. I had the opportunity to sit down with V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, who holds the first copyright for “EMAIL”—a system he began building in 1978 at just 14 years of age. It was modeled after the communication system being used at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, New Jersey. His task: replicate the University’s traditional mail system electronically.)

Kotex Tampons Recalled Over Bacterial Contamination (Time) 

(If you use Kotex tampons, you might want to check the product number on the box. Kimberly-Clark is recalling about 1,400 cases of tampons because of contamination with a bacterium that could cause dangerous infections. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the recalled tampons were "manufactured with a raw material contaminated with a bacterium, Enterobacter sakazakii, which may cause health risks, including vaginal infections, urinary tract infections, pelvic inflammatory disease or infections that can be life-threatening." The FDA cautions that women with underlying health problems, cancer or immune-compromised conditions like HIV are at increased risk of infection.)

Louisville Football Coach Blames Modern Warfare 3 for Loss (Time) 

(Pity the poor coach who has to get a team of college kids ready for a big game the week Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 comes out. University of Louisville coach Charlie Strong blamed the Cardinals’ 21-14 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday on the distraction caused by the game, which took in a record $400 million on its opening day. “This video game is that important?” Strong told his team, according to Cardinal Sports. “We’ll see how important it is on Saturday. I said, in about a week or so, you’re going to be throwing that video game away. But we let a video game take control of us.”)

Cleveland bus driver who claims Matthew Fox punched her wants star’s countersuit dismissed (Washington Post) 

(An Ohio private bus driver who claims she was punched by Matthew Fox is asking that the actor’s lawsuit against her be tossed out. The former star of the TV show “Lost” slapped Heather Bormann with a countersuit earlier this month after she sued him in Cleveland for at least $75,000 in damages. Fox also demanded a jury trial.)