Bus Stops - November 22

School bus reportedly hit by rifle fire (Buffalo News) 

(No injuries were reported to nearly three dozen Randolph Central School students and a school bus driver early today when their vehicle was struck by apparent rifle fire in what State Police are calling a "hunting-related" incident. The bus was traveling on Route 241 about 7:30 a.m., when it was struck by a projectile that entered the bus above the side doorway, troopers said.)

Bus driver kept distressed girl on bus (This Is Wiltshire) 

(A BUS driver refused to let a 16-year-old girl off at her stop minutes after telling her “just you and me now” when they were alone, a court heard. Mark Williams, of Burbage Road, Penhill, said “I don’t stop at this stop” when the schoolgirl rang the bell to get off the bus, which by then had an elderly man at the back.)

Greyhound plans to discipline bus driver who left bus, passengers stranded in southeast Mo. (Washington Post) 

(Greyhound says it plans to discipline a bus driver who abandoned his bus and passengers in southeastern Missouri, about 100 miles from their destination. Passengers told KSDK (http://on.ksdk.com/u81KuZ ) that the bus was headed from Memphis to St. Louis on Interstate 55 Friday when the driver ordered a passenger off the bus near Sikeston. The driver then pulled over in Cape Girardeau, left and waited for someone to pick her up.)

Bus passenger attacked by teenage girl (Great Reading) 

(A bus traveller was kicked in the back by a teenage girl in Thatcham in the early hours of Tuesday, November 15. Police want to talk to other people on the rail replacement bus service travelling between Reading and Newbury who may have been disturbed by a rowdy group of teenagers at around 1am.)

School bus with 30 kids on board crashes into home (CBC) 

(A school bus full of 30 children crashed into a home in Dalhousie on Monday afternoon, according to the Calgary Fire Department. The bus crashed just after 4 p.m. in the 100 block of Dalgleish Bay N.W. The vehicle veered off the road and hit the home after hitting a large mailbox, according to the fire department.)

Driver walks off Greyhound bus in Missouri, stranding passengers (Reuters) 

(Greyhound officials located a driver on Monday who walked away from her bus in the middle of the night in rural Missouri, leaving 45 passengers stranded for about eight hours at a gas station, the company said. The company was conducting an investigation of the incident and will take "appropriate disciplinary actions," spokeswoman Maureen Richmond said.)

Man gets 36 days in jail after dumping water on bus driver (Toronto Star) 

(A Toronto man was sentenced to 36 days behind bars after pleading guilty to assaulting a TTC bus driver. Police say the incident happened on a bus near The Queensway and Park Lawn Rd. on Nov. 13 around 1:45 p.m., when the driver and a passenger got into a fare dispute. The passenger dumped a bottle of water on the bus driver’s head, and shoved him.)

Mystery after man 'bursts into flames' outside Swedish station (News AU) 

(A MAN suffered severe burns after he seemingly burst into flames outside a Swedish railway station, the Goteborgs-Posten newspaper reported today. A streetcar driver returning from his break yesterday evening saw the man suddenly covered in fire while he was standing outside a vinyl record store at the station.)

Zurich residents to vote on drive-in sex stalls (The Local) 

(The Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has gathered enough signatures to call a cantonal referendum in Zurich on the planned development of a new red-light district in Alstetten, on the outskirts of the city. By gathering hundreds more than the 2,000 signatures needed to call a vote, the SVP hopes to block what it sees as the injudicious use of public funds. Plans to open the new district and end prostitution in the Sihlquai district, behind the main railway station, were scheduled for the spring of 2012.)

Crocodile given 'bikini wax' and pedicure ahead of annual mating season (Daily Mail) 

(This looks like a job you could really get your teeth into. Staff at a salon Down Under have given a particularly scaly customer a 'bikini wax' and full body exfoliation. In a bizarre bid to show off their skills to potential new customers, they plucked and pedicured a crocodile.)

Nebraska refuses pot-promoting vanity plate (Reuters) 

(The American Civil Liberties Union is suing Nebraska's motor vehicle department for refusing to issue a personalized license plate that refers to an unofficial holiday known as National Pot Smoking Day. An attorney who supports marijuana legalization had requested a plate reading "NE 420", letters and numerals that refer to Nebraska and April 20, the date of the unofficial holiday.)

Desperate fans burn ticket booth at stadium (Reuters) 

(Success-starved Indonesia soccer fans, desperate to watch the final of a regional tournament against rivals Malaysia, set a ticket booth on fire at the national stadium in Jakarta ahead of the game Monday. Police doused the flames and fired warning shots in the air, scattering a crowd of thousands of supporters who were unable to get into the Bung Karno stadium, with a capacity of 88,000, after tickets quickly sold out.)

Two headed snake up for grabs (Orange UK) 

(Success-starved Indonesia soccer fans, desperate to watch the final of a regional tournament against rivals Malaysia, set a ticket booth on fire at the national stadium in Jakarta ahead of the game Monday. Police doused the flames and fired warning shots in the air, scattering a crowd of thousands of supporters who were unable to get into the Bung Karno stadium, with a capacity of 88,000, after tickets quickly sold out.)

Woman Gets in Line 9 Days Before Black Friday (Newser) 

(Sure, Black Friday isn't for another week, but it's tough to resist the siren call of cheap TVs... A Florida woman and three other families pitched tents in front of a Best Buy in St. Petersburg on Wednesday—yep, 9 days before the big day—and the eager shopper sounds not unlike an ad for the superstore: "You can't beat some of the deals they have on plasmas, flat screens, and laptops. You get to buy it in large quantities,” Christine Orta tells the local NBC affiliate.)

Mysterious, triangle-shaped ‘alien skull’ found in Peru (Yahoo) 

(Peruvian anthropologist Renato Davila Riquelme has discovered the remains of an unidentified creature with a "triangle shaped" skull nearly as large as its 20-inch-tall body. Has the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull --the setting for the underwhelming 2008 Indiana Jones vehicle--finally been discovered? Well, don't be expecting a victory lap from Steven Spielberg or George Lucas anytime soon.)

British Grandmother Plagued by 'Groping Octopus Ghost' (My Fox NY) 

(A British grandmother claimed that she cannot sleep at night as she is plagued by a groping, octopus-like ghost that is haunting her apartment. Doris Birch, 73, said the ghost began haunting her home in Herne Bay, on England's southeastern coast, four months ago. "It's like an octopus," she told local newspaper the Herne Bay Times. "It started four months ago. I was lying in bed when I felt this creepy pair of hands. I kicked frantically, and it went away. Next time it came, I hurled the duvet on to the floor.")

Batman to the rescue (Al Jazeera) 

(We live in an age of Superbowls and Super Committees with millions hoping that some new superheroes will turn up to save us from a downward spiral of intractable problems. A week ago, while New York's Mayor was scolding Occupy Wall Street protesters for blocking sidewalks and streets, his Police Department was assisting a movie company that was making a new Batman film that screwed up traf fic on a major highway for hours.Hollywood movies bring big bucks into town, even if the people have to be inconvenienced, but now the Batman story has a new meaning.)

Batman & Bane Revealed on 'Dark Knight Rises' Empire Mag Covers (Hollywood) 

(The Dark Knight Rises has earned itself a pair of covers on Empire Magazine (plus an additional limited edition Bane cover for subscribers only). Below, we can see Christian Bale in full bat-garb, and Tom Hardy dressed as the third film's ruthless central villain Bane. And now that we have new images, it's time for some new questions. What on Earth is Batman holding? Does my memory fail me, or have we not seen this contraption before? And really, could they have picked a less impressive-looking gadget?)

Frank Miller Rages Against The Occupy Wall Street Movement (Geeks of Doom) 

(Last week comic book writer-artist Frank Miller decided to share his opinions on the steadily-growing Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread to many major cities around the world. Miller, who’s best known for his acclaimed run on Marvel’s Daredevil — which gave the series its largest readership since its debut — as well as the classic and influential Batman miniseries The Dark Knight Returns and his own creations Sin City and Hard-Boiled, posted his thoughts at his blog.)

Logan woman posts husband for sale on Craigslist (SL Trib) 

(A Utah woman listed her video game-obsessed husband for sale on Craigslist after she tired of being ignored. Alyse Bradley, of Logan, said she put the post up as a joke. “I didn’t see him much at all. So one day I told him: ‘I am going to post you on Craigslist, you know,’ ” Alyse told the Herald Journal of Logan. “My mother-in-law said: ‘Do it!’”)

iPads survive 1300ft fall -- work perfectly (NewsLite) 

(Skydivers have hurled their iPads to the ground from a height of 1300ft in a bid to test a new protective case. A video, captured by head-mounted cameras, shows the skydivers using their Apple devices in the airplane before calmly jumping out. They then continue to use the iPads as they hurtle towards the ground -- before zipping them into the protective sleeves and dropping them as they reach 1300ft.)

World's fastest toilet takes on mobility scooter (Telegraph UK) 

(More than 300,000 people around the world have been trying to break records to mark Guinness World Records Day. Records already broken include the largest Cream Tea Party, which was held in Essex and was attended by 334 people; the largest gathering of people dressed as leprechauns (262 people), which was held in Dublin, and the oldest yoga teacher, which was won by 91-year-old Bernice Mary Bates in Florida.)

Forget 'six degrees'--we are actually closer (CNET) 

(In a continuation of the concept of "six degrees of separation," Facebook and the University of Milan announced tonight they had determined that the average number of people who separate any two individuals in the world is actually 4.74. While Stanley Milgram's 1967 "small world study" drew on 296 volunteers and pegged the average number of people separating two individuals at 5.2, or six "hops," Facebook's findings were extrapolated during the course of a month from all of Facebook's 721 million active users, more than 10 percent of the world's population.)

Hugh Grant says he suspects his phone was hacked by non-Murdoch Mail on Sunday tabloid in 2007 (Yahoo) 

(Actor Hugh Grant told a London courtroom Monday about the dark side of celebrity life, describing mysterious break-ins, leaked medical details and hacked voice mails — and laying blame on the entire tabloid press, not just the now-shuttered News of the World. Grant's testimony to a judge-led media ethics inquiry capped a tough day for Britain's beleaguered press. Earlier, the parents of a murdered schoolgirl whose phone was targeted by the tabloid described how the hacking had given them false hope that their daughter was still alive.)