Bus driver convicted of murder for IRA dissidents’ killing of colleague on Irish border (Washington Post)
(A Northern Ireland bus driver has been convicted of murder for a 2008 killing of an Irish Republican Army dissident by his own colleagues. The three judges of Dublin’s no-jury Special Criminal Court found 37-year-old Martin Kelly guilty of driving Andrew Burns to his death. Kelly told police that a senior IRA dissident had ordered him to drive the 27-year-old Burns to a meeting in a Catholic church parking lot on the Irish border.)
Hero coach who kept runaway bus from crashing shares his story (KHOU)
(Their driver passed out. His bus swerved out-of-control. What happened next is the kind of thing students at a Hitchcock Middle School can never forget. When they put on Crosby Middle School’s red jerseys, they hear his voice.
"(Coach always says) stay focused and represent your school how you want to represent your parents," said Wayland Hurst, a captain on the 8th grade basketball team.)
Hunter Recovering After Being Shot By Dog (Sky News)
(A man from the US state of Utah is recovering in hospital after being shot by a dog during a hunting trip. The 46-year-old, who has not been named, was shot in the buttocks on a duck-hunting trip near Brigham City, according to local reports. Local sheriff Kevin Potter said the man was hunting in a canoe with his friend at the north end of the Great Salt Lake when the accident happened.)
NY trio stole toys in 91-store spree (Sky News)
(A man from the US state of Utah is recovering in hospital after being shot by a dog during a hunting trip. The 46-year-old, who has not been named, was shot in the buttocks on a duck-hunting trip near Brigham City, according to local reports. Local sheriff Kevin Potter said the man was hunting in a canoe with his friend at the north end of the Great Salt Lake when the accident happened.)
Stern yanks CNN (NY Post)
(Howard Stern says he can’t believe that CNN allowed well-known Stern prank caller “Captain Janks” to get onto its air — again. Janks’ latest crank call to CNN came last Sunday, when he referred to “Baba Booey’s monkey nuts” while on the air with anchor Fredricka Whitfield, pretending to be Gregory Porter, one of the Cairo University exchange students freed by the Egyptian government. “Baba Booey” is Stern’s pet name for his producer, Gary Dell’Abate.)
Fake doctor makes harassing phone calls (Ohio.com)
(Akron General Medical Center is the latest area hospital to warn that a man pretending to be a staff physician is making harassing phone calls to area residents. The latest incident happened on Tuesday, when a 64-year-old Sagamore Hills Township woman received an early-morning call from a man claiming to work for Akron General. The man asked the woman’s height, weight and age and then questioned when she got a mammogram and whether she gave herself breast examinations, according to a Sagamore Hills Township police report.)
Mayan tablet does not predict end of the world in 2012, says expert (Guardian UK)
(The end is not quite nigh. At least that is the conclusion of a German expert who says his decoding of a Mayan tablet with a reference to a 2012 date denotes a transition to a new era and not a possible end of the world as others have read it. The interpretation of the hieroglyphs by Sven Gronemeyer of La Trobe University in Australia was presented for the first time on Wednesday at the archaeological site of Palenque in southern Mexico.)
Paris cleans lipstick off Oscar Wilde grave (Reuters)
(For over a decade, Oscar Wilde fans have flocked to a famous Paris cemetery with lipstick in hand and left red and pink kiss marks all over the Irish writer's cream-colored grave. But from this week onwards, with Wednesday marking the 111th anniversary of the Dublin playwright's death, Wilde enthusiasts will have to contend with paying their tributes through a glass screen at arm's length from the tomb.)
Eiffel Tower could become giant jungle (or not) (News Lite)
(Environmentalists say they would like to see the Eiffel Tower transformed into a giant green "jungle" and covered in 600,000 plants. The plans, it's suggested, could make the Paris icon into the most "ecologically correct" tourist attraction in the world. An article in Le Figaro said that within two years their could be 600,000 hanging from the tower in basket and an irrigation system made up of 12 tonnes of rubber tubing.)
Crematory Workers Arrested For Stealing Gold Teeth (My Fox NY)
(Six crematory workers were arrested in South Korea on suspicion of stealing gold teeth from the incinerated remains of the dead, the Yonhap news agency reported. One of the suspects allegedly sold the gold he collected from a crematory in Seoul, where he worked as a stoker for five years from August 2006. The sale of the gold netted an estimated US$17,000, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA).)
UK Couple Ruins Rented House Searching For Illusive Rat (My Fox NY)
(A British couple wrecked a house looking for a rat -- and never found it. The pair caused £5,500 ($8,647) worth of damage to the rented home. Drunk ex-soldier Gary Taylor tore out a fireplace and pulled up floorboards, but could not find the rodent. Taylor, 42, even smashed up concrete foundations in the cellar of the house in Rochdale, northern England, after a terrified Leanne Fay, 38, claimed she spotted a rat last April.)
Man accused of burning wife with iron claims she assaulted him with sex toy (Statesman)
(A Hutto man accused of burning his wife with an iron brought court to a brief standstill Wednesday when he testified that his wife attacked him with a sex toy. Hugo Alquicira, charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, told a Williamson County jury that he never struck his wife, Maria Isabel Puente, with an object but he did push her onto a bed after she penetrated his buttocks with a plastic sex toy.)
Person in gorilla suit dumps sand in Little Caesars and runs away ... numerous times (Macomb Daily)
(Someone in a gorilla suit went into Little Caesars Pizza, 13248 Eureka Road, at about 11 p.m. Nov. 25, emptied a bag of sand on the floor and ran away. An employee told police he saw the person in the suit get into a dark blue Chevy Cobalt with a white man at the wheel and speed away. The employee told police a gorilla-suited person has done this numerous times and has also done it at another Little Caesars in Lincoln Park.)
Fire Erupts on Woman’s Face During Routine Surgery (ABC)
(A Florida woman was rushed by helicopter to an Alabama burn center after her face caught fire during routine surgery. Kim Grice, a 29-year-old mother of three, was having cysts removed from her head at an outpatient surgery center in Crestview, Fla., when the flash fire erupted. “A flash fire is basically a fire that flashes up and then goes out,” Crestview Fire Department Chief Joseph Traylor told ABC News. “The fire was already out when our staff arrived.”)
Kevin Smith Lashes Out At Independent Spirit Awards For Red State Snub (Cinema Blend)
(The Independent Spirit Award nominations came out a few days ago, and there weren't too many surprises, with buzzed-about indies such as Another Earth and The Artist receiving nominations. One person who wasn't pleased with the noms, however, is filmmaker/full-time podcaster Kevin Smith, who took to Twitter earlier this week to lambast the Spirit awards for not nominating anyone from his horror film Red State...)
AFTER GETTING CLEAN, JASON MEWES COMES CLEAN IN JAY AND SILENT BOB GET OLD (Planets Mag)
(If you know anything about the movies of director Kevin Smith, you know Jason Mewes as Jay, the long-haired, offensively loud-mouthed, pot-smoking dick-wagging counterpart to Smith’s Silent Bob. His acting credits include Clerks,Chasing Amy,Dogma and a starring role in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,in which he was supported by names like Will Farrell, Ben Affleck, George Carlin, Jon Stewart, Jason Lee and Chris Rock. Currently, Mewes is on tour with his soul mate, writer/director Smith performing (and recording) their wildly popular podcast, Jay and Silent Bob Get Old. He took some time before their Saskatoon visit to talk with Planet S.)
'Batman: Arkham City' Batcave Revealed (MTV)
(A couple days ago we told you about the new "Batman: Arkham City" downloadable content, featuring a new challenge map taking place in the Dark Knight's own digs. What we couldn't tell you was what the Batcave would look like in-game. Well, great news: thanks to the fine folks over at GameTrailers, the first images of the new environment have surfaced. As it turns out, my suspicions in regards to the presentation of the "Arkham City" Batcave were fairly accurate. Based on thirty-seconds or so of video footage presented during GTTV's "GameStop Unwrapped" special, Wayne's lair is pretty much what you would expect.)
Eating fish reduces risk of Alzheimer’s disease (Xenophilius)
(People who eat baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis may be improving their brain health and reducing their risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).)
How animals predict earthquakes (BBC)
(Animals may sense chemical changes in groundwater that occur when an earthquake is about to strike. This, scientists say, could be the cause of bizarre earthquake-associated animal behaviour. Researchers began to investigate these chemical effects after seeing a colony of toads abandon its pond in L'Aquila, Italy, in 2009 - days before a quake.)
Adolescent Sex May Affect Brain Development, Study Suggests (BBC)
(The uproar that followed a November episode of Fox's "Glee" in which two teen couples had sex for the first time may have some scientific legs. New research shows sex during the adolescent years could affect mood and brain development into adulthood. The study, which was carried out on hamsters, reveals how social experiences during adolescence when the brain is still developing can have broad consequences, say the researchers from Ohio State University College of Medicine.)
Facebook was 'the first innovator in privacy,' COO says (CNN)
( Facebook routinely gets itself in hot water over privacy issues, a problem that led this week to a settlement with federal regulators and an agreement that Facebook will undergo regular audits of its compliance with its privacy promises. But in Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's eyes, the company is a trailblazer. At a technology conference Thursday morning, she referred to Facebook as "the first innovator in privacy.")
Mall Santas Switch Strategies for a Slumping Economy (Time)
(It’s that time of year again, when the malls start lighting up with twinkly bulbs and the sounds of Mariah Carey fill stores. And amid this festive atmosphere likely snakes a line of both excited and terrified children, with their beleaguered parents in tow, waiting to see the season’s main man: Santa Claus. It’s a familiar scene, but with this year’s battered economy, those parents just might seem a little more beleaguered than before.)
Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Key to Peace in the Middle East? (Time)
(Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz says he recently sent an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in hopes that he invites Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over for a screening that could restart peace talks. The particular episode, called “Palestinian Chicken,” aired in July and featured David making a wrenching decision between his Jewish roots and a delicious Palestinian-owned chicken restaurant.)
To Skirt Ban, McDonald’s to Charge for Happy Meal Toys in San Francisco (Time)
(In an effort to skirt a new San Francisco law that bans toy giveaways in kids’ meals that don’t comply with the city’s strict nutritional standards, local McDonald’s restaurants have found a McLoophole: charging an extra 10 cents for the plastic toys. The controversial Healthy Food Incentives Ordinance, which goes into effect on Thursday, was passed last fall by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The idea behind the law was to crack down on rewarding children for eating unhealthy meals full of fat, sodium and sugar, but drew scrutiny from those who claimed it was a form of “nanny politics.”)
Crap Tattoo Story is Fake (Gather)
(A tattoo of crap on a woman's back has gone viral lately with a story of a lawsuit and all kinds of intricate details. However, it appears that this viral story is all a hoax. This might come as a disappointment to those who were honestly believing this was some "get even" story, or those who were ready to jump on the tattoo-bashing bandwagon.)
HBO Boss to Netflix: You’ll Never Get Our Shows (Time)
(Consider this a quiet declaration of war. Talking at the VideoSchmooze NYC event yesterday, HBO Co-President Eric Kessler said that there is “no chance” the company will make its original series like Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones and True Blood available digitally to non-HBO subscribers. Kessler explained that HBO not only considers companies like Netflix and Hulu to be competitors, but that the company also believes that “cord cutting” is a “temporary phenomenon” that will disappear as the U.S. economy improves. The idea of licensing its content to other services, he said, isn’t one that the company would seriously consider because the company considers content, and not licensing, to be its core revenue source.)
Penn State Recently Bought Four .XXX Domain Names, Should Have Bought More (Dead Spin)
No comments:
Post a Comment