The secret story behind Admiral Ackbar’s "It’s a trap!" line (io9)
(Thirty odd years ago, radio dramatist Erik Bauersfeld recorded the voices of Admiral Ackbar and Bib Fortuna for Return of the Jedi, saw the movie, and promptly forgot about the whole experience. It wasn't until decades later that he began receiving fan mail from Star Wars lovers wanting an autograph from the guy who knew how to properly articulate a trap.)
"Holy Grail" of Football Cards Found In Michigan Farmhouse (Fox 17)
(Legends Sports and Games, located inside the Woodland Mall in Kentwood, has plenty of vintage trading cards and is always looking for more to add to the collection. "We get a lot of calls from a lot of people saying they've got something, and usually it's not what you expect," said Lou Brown, President of Legends Sports & Games and an avid collector himself. On Monday, he got a visit from a mid-Michigan family who really did score big. While cleaning out an old farmhouse after a family death, they came across an old notebook of vintage boxing and football cards. They thought about tossing it, but instead did some research. Good thing.)
North Bergen Target employee staged accident to collect workers' comp, but scheme was caught on video (NJ.com)
(A Target employee who police say staged an elaborate scheme in an effort to fake an accident and collect workers' compensation apparently forgot one thing in the planning -- the cameras in the storeroom were rolling. "If you are considering a crime, you have to remember eyes are on you when you least expect it," said Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Mike Zevitz of the indictment of Victoria Colon, 28, of Union City, which was handed up yesterday.)
Mormon Baptism Targets Anne Frank -- Again (Huffington Post)
(Anne Frank, the Jewish girl whose diary and death in a Nazi concentration camp made her a symbol of the Holocaust, was allegedly baptized posthumously Saturday by a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to whistleblower Helen Radkey, a former member of the church.)
Ex-Playboy Playmate Stephanie Adams wins $1.2M excessive force judgment from NYPD for 2006 arrest (New York Daily News)
(An ex-Playboy playmate stripped the city of a $1.2 million payout Tuesday after suing the cops for manhandling her. A Manhattan jury of four women and two men took 81/2 hours deliberating before tossing fistfuls of money at Miss November 1992, Stephanie Adams, 41, for the injuries she suffered in a 2006 scuffle with police.)
Austin cab drivers hurl $100 fees at sick passengers (Kens5)
(Beginning Thursday, Austin cab drivers will be allowed to charge up to $100 extra for passengers who’ve had too much to drink and “mess up” the cab. The money is for clean up costs and to pay for taking the cabs out of the mix. “It takes me like a couple of hours because when I clean it my car needs to be dry,” said local cab driver Joseph Ngaleu.)
Utah residential facility to offer treatment for porn ‘addicts’ (SL-Tribune)
(A St. George couple hopes to open what they believe would be Utah’s first residential treatment center for pornography “addiction.” Mark Jorgensen and his wife, Jerri, are seeking state approval to open the 5-acre Desert Solace for up to eight men whose treatment would consist of 45 days of talk therapy combined with outdoor exercise and a healthy diet. Cellphones and computers will not be allowed, and sex offenders will not be eligible. The treatment will cost $8,000, but the Jorgensens believe insurers will cover at least the psychotherapy portion.)
Tyler beauty shop owner sought for illegal breast augmentation (WFAA)
(Tyler police are asking for help in finding a beauty shop owner wanted for allegedly performing an illegal breast augmentation. A 26-year-old Longview woman is hospitalized in critical condition after she said she underwent the procedure one week ago in the back room of Queen Divas Hair Salon and Spa, 102 East Martin Luther King Street, in Tyler.)
Does this Chicken McNugget look like George Washington to you? (Desmoines Register)
(A Nebraska woman is auctioning a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget that she believes resembles President George Washington. The Sioux City Journal (http://bit.ly/ABqXH1 ) says Rebekah Speights, of Dakota City, Neb., is selling the presidential McNugget on eBay to raise money for a church summer camp.)
Watch the trailer for Morgan Spurlock’s Comic-Con documentary and decide: geek celebration or nerdsploitation? (i09)
(Morgan Spurlock, the director behind Super Size Me, has turned his lens to the world's biggest geek gathering, the San Diego Comic-Con. Interviewing such nerd icons as Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon, Eli Roth and Stan Lee, Spurlock attempts to dissect the cultural phenomenon that is SDCC. How so? By following a handful of attendees as they make their way through the convention center. )
Ga. bus driver stabbed with pen is suspended; Official says he didn’t follow protocol (Washington Post)
(Authorities say a Georgia commuter bus driver who was stabbed in the face with a pen while trying to resolve a dispute with a passenger has been suspended for not following protocol in the incident. Cobb County Transit Director Rebecca Gutowsky told the Marietta Daily Journal the driver should have called dispatch for assistance and not confronted the passenger.)
Lethal Blast Strikes Northwest Pakistan Bus Terminal (New York Times)
(An explosion apparently caused by a car bomb ripped through a bus terminal in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, on Thursday, killing 15 people including two children and wounding at least 35, the provincial information minister said. It was the largest such attack for months in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, although there have been sporadic strikes against security forces guarding the city perimeter.)
Goon movie poster stripped from city bus shelters (Toronto Star)
(An offside call from the city saw lewd Goon movie posters torn from city bus shelters Wednesday, just hours before the hockey comedy made its Toronto premiere. Outdoor advertiser Astral Media has pulled posters of Canadian actor Jay Baruchel making a sexually suggestive gesture with his tongue and fingers after several public complaints to city staff, said Frank Mendicino, senior vice-president of marketing of Goon distributor Alliance Films. “Today of all days, they had to take them down.”)
Holy windfall, Batman! Man's childhood comic collection fetches $3.5 million (San Jose Mercury News)
(The bulk of a man's childhood comic book collection that included many of the most prized issues ever published sold at auction Wednesday for about $3.5 million. A copy of Detective Comics No. 27, which sold for 10 cents in 1939 and features the debut of Batman, got the top bid at the New York City auction Wednesday. It sold for about $523,000, including a buyer's premium, said Lon Allen, managing director of comics for Heritage Auctions, the Dallas-based auction house overseeing the sale.)
In a battle of ethics, Vic Toews is no match for Batman (National Post)
(In the Hollywood blockbuster The Dark Knight, Batman commandeers every cellphone in Gotham City to create a surveillance network in order to apprehend The Joker. His associate, Lucius Fox, agrees to operate the surveillance network while Batman runs out to fight The Joker and saves the passengers held hostage on two ferry boats armed with explosives.)
DOLPHINS SHOULD BE CLASSIFIED AS "NON-HUMAN PERSONS" (Shortlist)
(Whoever deals with the PR for dolphins should be given a raise, a promotion and some sort of award. We've all heard someone wax lyrical about how swimming with them is simply amazing and seen a fair amount of videos where they do variously adorable things. But it seems that they shouldn't just be viewed as fun, holiday-sharing creatures.)
Dino-bots will help scientists study how dinosaurs lived (MNN)
(Using 3-D printing technology will allow scientists to understand how dinosaurs moved, and the dino-bots can be created again and again. Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara is looking to print out some robot dinosaurs.)
Faster-than-light neutrino result reportedly a mistake caused by loose cable (ARS)
(Since September, scientists have been scratching their head over results that appear to show neutrinos traveling between Switzerland and Italy faster than light would. As far as anyone could tell, the team behind the results had done everything they could to eliminate errors, and had even released some preliminary data that had strengthened their results. But the results remained difficult to square with everything else we know about how the Universe operates.)
The myth of the eight-hour sleep (BBC)
(We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you. A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural. In the early 1990s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr conducted an experiment in which a group of people were plunged into darkness for 14 hours every day for a month.)
Menu of last lunch served on Titanic set to fetch $157, 000 at auction (Fox News)
(A menu of the last lunch served to first-class passengers onboard the Titanic is expected to sell for $157,960 at a UK auction. The lunch menu, dated April 14, 1912, was on the table of passenger Dr. Washington Dodge, a banker from San Francisco who was traveling to the US with his wife, Ruth, and son, Washington Jr.)
Why Mass Effect is the Most Important Science Fiction Universe of Our Generation (io9)
(Mass Effect is epic. It's the product of the best parts of Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and more with a protagonist who could be the love-child of Picard, Skywalker, and Starbuck. It's one of the most important pieces of science fiction narrative of our generation. Mass Effect goes so far beyond other fictional universes in ways that you may not have yet realized. It is cosmic in scope and scale. Basically, Mass Effect is the most important science fiction universe of our generation. Here's why.)
Porn site coders expose user info of millions (Eurosecure)
(I got contacted by Alltid Nyheter, from Swedish public broadcasting radio, regarding a thread on Flashback.org, Sweden's largest web forum. User info of well over a million registered users was openly accessible on the chat site of YouPorn until the server was taken down yesterday. The exposed information contains e-mail addresses and passwords. This information can be used to identify porn consumers, but for some users more than a reputation is at stake.)
Do You Need a Bounty Hunter for Your Cat? (Time)
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