Bus Stops - December 8

Tacoma school bus driver on leave after reportedly falling asleep at wheel (News Tribune) 

(A Tacoma school bus driver is on leave after apparently falling asleep behind the wheel while barreling down I-5 Monday afternoon with more than two dozen students on board. A teenager in the second row of seats sprang into action as the bus was veering off the highway and grabbed the driver’s arm to wake him, according to students. "All I can say is thank God he was paying attention and acted the way he did because I don’t want to think about what would have happened ," said Roxanne Moore, the mother of one of the students on the bus.)

MPP says bah, hum-bus to Christmas decoration ban (Whig) 

(MPP Randy Hillier has started a petition that aims to reverse a decision to ban Christmas decorations on school buses. The Conservative MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington is opposed to a policy that he says discriminates against Christians. "This intolerance towards Christmas tradition is hypocritical of the very tolerance we expect our children to show to each other," Hillier said in a release.)

Bus falls into canal in Lucknow, three drown (Indian Express) 

(Three persons drowned when a mini-bus carrying them fell into the Indira Canal at Jugaur Marg in Lucknow’s Chinhat area today afternoon. The bodies of all three victims were found trapped inside the bus after it was pulled out of water, while driver of the bus, Jitendra, is missing. Divers have been deployed to search for him. The bus belonged to Babu Banarasi Das College of Dental Sciences. It had gone to Sahelia village to bring patients. The accident took place when it was returning to the college.)

Alec Baldwin abandons Twitter after airline flap (Reuters) 

(Alec Baldwin was unusually quiet Wednesday -- at least on Twitter. The usually outspoken "30 Rock" star has sent his last tweet -- at least for now -- following an altercation on an American Airlines flight Wednesday that led to his removal from the plane. According to New York Daily News, Baldwin began to experience a Twitter meltdown Tuesday after issuing a barrage of tweets about his flight ejection.)

Week in Hell – Five Days Locked in a Hotel Room, Making Art (Oddity Central) 

(Alec Baldwin was unusually quiet Wednesday -- at least on Twitter. The usually outspoken "30 Rock" star has sent his last tweet -- at least for now -- following an altercation on an American Airlines flight Wednesday that led to his removal from the plane. According to New York Daily News, Baldwin began to experience a Twitter meltdown Tuesday after issuing a barrage of tweets about his flight ejection.)

Tom Cruise India trip organisers deny hiring fans (BBC) 

(The organisers of Hollywood star Tom Cruise's recent visit to India have denied reports that they hired 200 fans to welcome the star at Mumbai airport. A spokesman for Wizcraft said they were "not aware of this" and that the "information is incorrect".)

Kittens discarded in cat food bag rescued by dog (CBS) 

(It sounds like the title of a horror flick, but it’s actually a short video documenting artist Molly Crabapple‘s project, for which she locked herself in a hotel room covered the walls with doodles. Molly started contemplating “what happens when an artist leaves their studio, their cliches, and their comfort zone and draws beyond the limits of their endurance” and she also wanted “to see what tarts and squidbeasts look like frollicking on a massive scale”.)

Artist Believes He's Found a Secret Code in the Mona Lisa (My Fox NY) 

(A New York artist believes he's "cracked the code" of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting. Ron Piccirillo stated on his blog that the painting is an optical illusion with one painting hidden within another. He refers to a "secret that has been hiding for five hundred years" as he claims to have found a lion's head, an ape head and a buffalo head in the painting while turning it around.)

Man arrested for shooting mistletoe at North DeKalb Mall (11 Alive) 

(In the twinkling, pine-scented pantheon of Christmas decorating, mistletoe occupies a special place. But in the wild, mistletoe is a parasitic plant that creates a leafy ball in the tops of trees. For centuries, the challenge has been how to get the mistletoe out of the tree most efficiently. "I've gathered it before," said 11Alive photographer Richard Crabbe, a man with roots in rural Georgia. "The traditional southern way-- with a gun!")

Muslim Miss USA 'was weaving through traffic with half-empty bottle of champagne' when she was arrested for drink driving (Daily Mail) 

(Former Miss USA Rima Fakih was speeding and weaving through traffic with an uncorked, half-empty bottle of champagne when she was arrested, a police report said. According to the papers, the beauty queen - who the first Muslim Miss USA - had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when she was stopped in Michigan.)

Japan quake caused double-wave tsunami (ABC) 

(The massive earthquake off the coast of Japan in March caused a rare "merging tsunami" in which two waves combined to amplify the destruction after landfall, according to NASA. For the first time ever, US and European radar satellites captured images of the two wave fronts, confirming the existence of the long-hypothesized process, which forms a "single, double-high wave far out at sea". "This wave was capable of travelling long distances without losing power. Ocean ridges and undersea mountain chains pushed the waves together along certain directions from the tsunami's origin," NASA said in a statement on its website.)

Lake Helen grandmothers go from bake sales to pinup girls (Journal Online) 

(If at first you don't succeed, take off some clothes. That's what a group of grandmothers in Lake Helen did when their fundraising efforts fell flat. It all started because women in town wanted to raise money to remodel the kitchen at American Legion Post 127, a popular gathering spot in Lake Helen for veterans. In the past, the ladies had held bake sales, but they found they were only netting a few hundred dollars. Remodeling expenses would likely be in the thousands.)

Hungary bans homelessness (Bizarre News) 

(As of December 1, 2011, it is illegal to be homeless in the European country of Hungary, as a new law prohibiting it comes into effect. Those who are found to be in breach of this law will initially be given a warning for sleeping out on the streets. Offenders may also face a fine of US$600, which equates to £382 or €445, or a jail sentence.)

Clerks star shares addiction battles (The Star Phoenix) 

(Hearing Jason Mewes’s voice on the phone, you’d never guess any time had passed since Clerks, the 1994 Kevin Smith film that saw the debut of Jay and Silent Bob. He sounds exactly the same, with that signature dude drawl, but Mewes is now 37 years old, podcasts with Smith under the title Jay and Silent Bob Get Old and admits his joints get sore from time to time. “Ten years ago, I felt like I could sleep three hours and run around the block, but now I feel physically like it’s starting to wear on me. I used to be able to eat a large pizza, even five years ago, and I wouldn’t gain any weight.)

Jay and Silent Bob return, on stage and on the air (Vancouver Observer) 

(Ever wished you could eavesdrop on an intimate conversation between cult heroes Jay and Silent Bob? Well you can – every Wednesday when they broadcast their live, uncensored banter via the online podcast, Jay and Silent Bob Get Old. And this week, you can experience it in person here in Vancouver, as actor Jason Mewes and his best friend, director-producer Kevin Smith take over the Vogue Theatre on December 7 for a live taping of their show.)

'Kevin Smith: Live from Behind' Coming to Theaters for One Night Only (First Showing) 

(In today's age of advance technology, it's fantastic that cinephiles have the chance to partake in special events that otherwise would be limited to the those in the vicinity. Yet another one of these opportunities has surfaced in the form of Kevin Smith: Live from Behind, a one night only event from NCM Fathom and AK27 on Thursday, February 2nd at 9:30/8:30c. And for those who know just how much Smith likes to talk, it's no surprise that the event will last three hours and begins with a recording of his podcast Jay and Silent Bob Get Old along with his friend and longtime collaborator Jason Mewes.)

Can Bane Measure Up to the Joker in 'The Dark Knight Rises'? (Reuters) 

(Bane is no Joker. But will that matter for "The Dark Knight Rises"? Christopher Nolan's final Batman installment may well hinge on Bane, a little-known villain outside comic book circles. He will be played by Tom Hardy, star of Nolan's "Inception." And Hardy has a tough act to follow in Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning turn as the Joker.)

The Dark Knight Rises will be a terrific conclusion, says Gary Oldman (Metro UK) 

(The actor, who has been busy promoting his latest film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy over in the US, said the movie would please fans. He told Moviefone: 'It’s a terrific conclusion to the trilogy. Nolan rounds if off: he brings in a bit of the first one, from Batman Begins, and he does some really surprising things with it.' Oldman, who plays Commissioner Jim Gordon, said of his character: 'When we meet him, things are calmer in Gotham. It’s reminiscent of the Gordon that we met in the first one.)

NASA edges closer to finding a new Earth for humans (Silicon Republic) 

(Feeling weary of hearing terms like ‘budget’, ‘downgradings’ and ‘bond markets’? Well, maybe Kepler-22b, a new planet NASA has discovered, will offer some hope. Apparently, this planet offers the best scope yet for a new human abode, other than planet Earth. NASA’s Kepler mission, which incidentally started in 2009, has just discovered Kepler-22b, which the space agency says is known to “comfortably” circle in the habitable zone of a “sun-like star”.)

Guns N' Roses, Chili Peppers in Rock Hall (Time) 

(Welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Guns N' Roses. The seminal rock band of the late 1980s and early '90s, best known for hits like "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "November Rain," leads the 2012 class of inductees announced on Wednesday. Also making the cut is the hip-hop trio Beastie Boys; rockers the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the late singer/songwriter Laura Nyro; Donovan; and influential British rock group The Small Faces/The Faces, which included Rod Stewart and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.)

Radiation Traces Found in Japanese Baby Formula (Time) 

(Traces of radiation spilled from Japan's hobbled nuclear plant were detected in baby formula Tuesday in the latest case of contaminated food in the nation. Major food and candy maker Meiji Co. said it was recalling canned powdered milk for infants, with expiration dates of October 2012, as a precaution. The levels of radioactive cesium were well below government-set safety limits, and the company said the amounts were low enough not to have any affect on babies' health even if they drank the formula every day.)

'M*A*S*H' star Harry Morgan dies at 96 (TV MSN) 

(M*A*S*H" star Harry Morgan died at his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning. The character actor was 96. He was best known for playing Colonel Sherman T. Potter on the long-running army comedy. In a 2004 interview with the The Television Academy Foundation's Archive of American Television, Morgan acknowledged the profound effect that the iconoclastic sitcom had on his career.)