Man eats handfuls of snow to survive two-month ordeal in his car in sub-zero conditions (Daily Mail)
(A Swedish man has been pulled barely alive from his snow-covered car surviving on nothing but snow for two months after he was trapped in sub-zero temperatures. The man, 44, had eaten nothing but handfuls of snow since December 19 when he became bogged down in drifts near the town of Umea in southern Sweden.)
First Comic Book Store In Costa Rica Opens (Inside Costa Rica)
(Troy, the owner/manager of talked about opening the only comic store in Costa Rica, Boomshop Comics. There are a couple of other shops here that sell toys, games and whatnot and have a couple comics along with them, but we’re the only real “comic shop”. I’m amazed at the amount of people that keep asking me if there is enough comics to keep a comic shop going. I’m having to explain what a subscription service is. They are all amazed that they are getting comics regularly and only paying cover price.)
Simpson Dolls Join Barbie On Iran Ban List (NPR)
(An Iranian government-affiliated agency has banned dolls of the Simpsons cartoon characters, who join Barbie and others on a toy blacklist, an independent newspaper reported on Monday. The report said that the Simpsons were banned to avoid the promotion of Western culture. But Superman and Spiderman were allowed, because they helped the "oppressed.")
N.J. governor vetoes same-sex marriage bill (CNN)
(New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday vetoed a bill that would allow same-sex couples to wed, setting up a confrontation with a Democrat-controlled legislature that has vowed to eventually get the bill into law. The General Assembly on Thursday passed the measure, which the Senate had approved Monday.)
Former kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart marries (Toronto Sun)
(Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at age 14 from her Utah home and held for what she described as "nine months of hell," exchanged vows on Saturday with her boyfriend of the past year at a private wedding in Hawaii, her uncle told Reuters. Smart, 24, and Matthew Gilmour, whom she met while she was serving a religious mission in Europe for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, tied the knot at a Mormon temple overlooking the Pacific on the North Shore of Oahu, her uncle, Tom Smart, said.)
Beirut River mysteriously runs blood red (Daily Star)
(The Beirut River mysteriously turned blood red Wednesday after a stream of unidentified red liquid began pouring from the southern bank of the river in Furn al-Shubbak. The source of the liquid had yet to be determined Wednesday evening, as the river continued to empty the red-colored water into the Mediterranean Sea.)
Builder Leaves Concrete Penises Outside Home Fined for Anti-Gay Abuse (Fox Phoenix)
(A British builder who left concrete model penises outside a man's house was fined for anti-gay abuse, the Bristol Evening Post reported Thursday. Michael Parkes, 34, pleaded guilty in absentia Wednesday to using threatening words and behavior against Richard Ives, including leaving the offensive models and a drawing of a phallus in front of the house in Bristol, southwestern England.)
BABYCCINOS: CAPPUCCINO FOR BABIES (Pursuitist)
(Talk about starting young. A story on ‘babyccinos,’ a trend in which coffee shops are selling decaf cappuccinos to pint-sized tots, is gaining buzz among the caffeinated, hipster-parent crowd. Babyccinos are made from either steamed milk and foam, or — for the gourmand tot — spiked with a shot of decaf espresso, and were featured in a story published in The Brooklyn Paper this week — a piece which has been picked up by popular food blogs and publications like Gothamist, Eater, Zagat and the Atlantic Wire. The trend has become particularly popular in Brooklyn, where locals are obsessive when it comes to coffee culture, the author notes, and the culture even has tots turning into mini coffee-clutching consumers with an early taste for java.)
Forget about painting the town red. Calcutta to be painted ‘sky blue’(Yahoo)
(Calcutta's chief minister has ordered the city of 14 million residents to be painted sky blue, taking inspiration from the new Indian government's motto, "the sky is the limit." The BBC reports the mandatory changes will affect everything from government and private buildings to local taxis and even historic landmarks. "From now on, all government buildings, whenever they are re-painted, will be done in sky blue," Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim told The Indian Express newspaper. "The owners of private buildings will also be requested to follow the same colour pattern. The necessary government orders will be issued soon.")
DMX Accused of Owing $1 MILLION In Child Support (TMZ)
(DMX has been accused of owing more than $1 million in back child support -- but TMZ has learned, the rapper ain't convinced the woman pointing the finger is really his baby mama. X's ex, Patricia Trejo, was in L.A. Superior Court Thursday morning, arguing against a motion DMX filed in their ongoing paternity case -- in which the rapper asked the court for permission to perform in Europe.)
Kevin Smith reveals photo of himself in high school production of ‘Grease’ (Yahoo)
(Before he made a porno with Zack and Miri, filmmaker Kevin Smith was doing something even weirder: He was acting in a musical. The 41-year-old "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" director has released a photo of himself from high school, apparently singing "Greased Lightning" as Kenickie in a production of "Grease" in the late '80s.)
Mother to face charges for unusual punishment (KCTV 5)
(Valerie Borders forced her 10-year-old son to walk nearly five miles to school as punishment after his school suspended his bus privileges for the fifth time due to yelling. Although fourth grader Nequavion Borders said he learned his lesson, his mother is in trouble with the law for her punishment. "She did the right thing, she knew that I had been suspended off the bus five days, so she didn't do nothing wrong. She made me walk. I just had to walk. They shouldn't have picked me up. I could've walked by myself, " said Nequavion.)
This bus shelter smells like a McCain potato (Winnipeg Free Press)
(CANADA'S McCain Foods is taking "scratch-and-sniff" advertising to a whole new level with its latest campaign: potato-scented bus shelters. At 10 bus shelters across the U.K., from London to Glasgow, the British arm of McCain Foods has created sizable 3-D spuds mounted on large posters with a button that, when pushed, releases the smell of potatoes baking in an oven. "People like the whole oven-baked smell that comes from a jacket potato," said Emily Pickard, a spokeswoman for the U.K. McCain Foods. "It's quite a warm, comforting smell.")
Goa carnival called off after bus tragedy (Times of India)
(Four school children were among seven persons drowned on Saturday afternoon when a private mini bus plunged into the Mapusa River at the Aldona-Calvim ferry wharf in Aldona village, 22km from the capital city of Panaji. While six bodies have been fished out, one is yet to be traced.)
UK bus driver gets 17 months in jail for mowing down bicyclist (MSNBC)
(A bus driver who authorities say deliberately mowed down a bicyclist in a road rage incident has been sentenced to 17 months in jail. Gavin Hill, 29, of Frome, previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm.On Friday, Judge Mark Horton handed down the sentences in Bristol Crown Court, telling Hill he ”used the bus as a weapon to bully and intimidate Mr. Mead,” BBC News reported.)
Bus driver returns home after mistaken for fugitive (CTV)
(Vancouver bus driver Richard Brandow is finally home after a case of mistaken identity at the border turned into a costly weeklong ordeal. Brandow, 63, was arrested on a 20-year-old warrant at the Peace Arch border crossing into Washington State on Feb. 11, when U.S. authorities mistook him for an international fugitive with the same name. After spending a night in jail, Brandow's lawyer advised him to remain in the United States to face charges in Seattle Superior Court.)
Toronto’s Batman takes to the streets in video gone viral (Toronto Star)
(There may not be any bat signals in the sky, but Toronto has at least one Dark Knight watching over us — all in good fun of course. In a hilarious video that’s gone viral since its release Friday, a man dressed in a full Batman costume is seen around the city – on the subway, outside City Hall, in a Starbucks — asking (rather, screaming) at passersby : “WHERE ARE THEY?!”)
Concept artist says ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is a war film (Batman News)
(Cine Web Radio interviewed The Dark Knight Rises concept artist Tully Summers about his experience working on the movie. The interview is in French, but I’ve got a translated version below thanks to Comic Book Movie. Summers did concept art for Men in Black III and was asked about going from that, to a more realistic movie like The Dark Knight Rises...)
Nicolas Cage Almost Played The Scarecrow In 'Batman' (MTV)
(Nicolas Cage is one of Hollywood's biggest actors and one who always seems to enter the conversation when comic books are involved. The Academy Award-winning actor has been attached to "Superman," starred in two "Ghost Rider" movies and — it was recently revealed — was in talks for the Scarecrow in "Batman" for director Joel Schumacher.)
Super-predatory humans (BBC)
(...animals don’t appear to have evolved defences against us. Which raises the question why? Is it that these animals simply haven’t had time to evolve defences, or lack the variation in their genes to produce them? Or is it to do with the way we hunt them? These questions are raised by Professor Geerat Vermeij of the University of California at Davies, US, in a scientific paper just published in the journal Evolution. He has been studying the effects of predators on evolution for more than thirty years.)
Food Project Proposes Matrix-Style Vertical Chicken Farms (Xenophilius)
(Architecture student André Ford has proposed a new system for the mass production of chickens that removes the birds’ cerebral cortex so that they don’t experience the horrors of being packed together tightly in vertical farms.Each year, the United Kingdom raises and kills around 800 million broiler chickens for their meat. These creatures are grown in vast sheds with no natural light over the course of six to seven weeks. They are bred to grow particularly quickly and often die because their hearts and lungs cannot keep up with their body’s rapid growth.)
Monster Star's Eruption Snapped By Scientists (Sky News)
(Space scientists have caught a delayed glimpse of a cosmic blast that dazzled observers when it was seen from Earth more than 150 years ago. Astronomers are trying to unravel the mystery of an event known as the Great Eruption, in which a super-massive star 7,500 light years away began spewing out unusually large amounts of light. It caused the star, called Eta Carinae, to appear as the second-brightest star in the sky for several years in the mid-1800s.)
'Embarrassing' Facebook Photos Inspire Aaron Olson To Sue Uncle (Huffington Post)
(Nearly everyone on Facebook has been tagged with an embarrasing photo, but most people don't sue the person who tagged them. Minneapolis resident Eric Olson did. And the person he sued was his uncle, Randall LaBrie. After LaBrie posted childhood photos of Olson in front of a Christmas tree and added snarky comments, Olson got angry and sued his uncle for harassment, according to Newser.com.)
50 Best iPhone Apps 2012 (Techland)
(Of all the apps in the App Store, this is one that every iPhone owner should download. If you misplace your phone, Apple’s Find My iPhone app will pinpoint its location on a map. What’s more, if your phone is buried in the couch cushions, the app will instruct your handset to blast a sound for two minutes at full volume — even if it’s set on silent mode. And in the unfortunate event that your phone gets stolen, Find My iPhone can remotely cause the personal data in your phone’s storage to self destruct.)
Capitol Bomb Arrest Capped 1-Year Probe (Time)
(Within the last week, authorities say, Amine El Khalifi's plan was proceeding as hoped: An al-Qaeda associate handed him an automatic weapon to kill security officers inside the U.S. Capitol. A bomb-laden vest would detonate the building. He'd die as a martyr. But there was a problem: The explosives were inert, the gun inoperable and the man who provided them was an undercover officer — not, as he thought, an al-Qaeda associate, according to court documents.)
Actress Judi Dench Says She’s Battling Blindness (Time)
(Actress Judi Dench is battling to save her sight. The James Bond star said in an interview published Saturday that she had been diagnosed with macular degeneration, an eye condition which can cause blindness, and that her eyesight was already so bad that she couldn’t even read her own scripts.)
Daredevil Approved to Tightrope Walk Over Niagara Falls (Time)
(After months of lobbying the Ontario Parks Commission, Nik Wallenda will finally fulfill his childhood dream. He will walk on a tightrope from the United States to Canada over the Niagara Falls. Though the commission cited worries about cost, natural beauty and of course, safety in their initial dismissal of his application, they finally caved, the Associated Press reports. For more than 100 years, stunts over the landmark have been prohibited.)
Houston to be laid to rest next to her father in N.J.
(CTV)
(Late singer Whitney Houston will be laid to rest on Sunday at the same New Jersey cemetery where her father is buried. The pop diva is expected to be buried in a plot next to John Houston at the Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, about 22 kilometres west of her hometown of Newark. Her father was buried in the cemetery in 2003.)
Stars mourn Whitney Houston at New Jersey funeral (BBC)
(Some 1,500 mourners have attended an emotion-filled funeral for music star Whitney Houston in Newark, New Jersey. Houston's mother Cissy and daughter Bobbi Kristina wept uncontrollably as the casket left the New Hope Baptist Church to the tune of I Will Always Love You after a four-hour service. Houston will be buried beside father John Russell Houston at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield on Sunday.)
Disembodied foot ID solves 25-year-old mystery (Vancouver Sun)
(A disembodied foot found on a B.C. shore last year belongs to a fisherman who died in January 1987, the BC Coroners Service said Friday. Stefan Zahorujko's boat was found overturned in Sasamat Lake in Port Moody, B.C., on Jan. 5, 1987. Despite repeated searches, the 65-year-old's body was never found and it was presumed he had fallen from the boat and drowned.)
Angry Birds Space confirmed with March 22nd release (T3)
(Having already dominated the mobile application scene with the original Angry Birds release, developer Rovio has revealed it is to launch an all new Angry Birds title next month. Set to expand the globally dominant array of bird flinging applications, Rovio has released a new teaser trailer confirming it will launch a new title dubbed Angry Birds Space on March 22nd.)
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