Bus Stops - March 7

Backstreet Boy reports $120,000 jewelry theft (WRCB TV) 

(A member of the Backstreet Boys pop music group tells police that $120,000 in jewelry was stolen from a Stone Mountain hotel where he and his wife were staying. Brian Littrell tells WSB-TV that they were leaving Stone Mountain Park when they realized the jewelry had been left on a nightstand in their hotel room. He said that when they returned to the hotel to retrieve the items, they were gone.)

We've got the Monopoly on this: Collection of patent designs reveals simple ideas behind world’s most famous toys (Daily Mail) 

(They have become icons in the toy world but, as these amazing pictures show, every one of them was borne out of a simple idea. The original patents for some of the world's most famous toys have been collected and published by history website Retronaut. They detail the origins of heavyweight popular toys going back to the early 20th century.)

Sri Lankan police say man dies while trying to set record for longest time spent buried alive (Washington Post) 

(A Sri Lankan man has died while trying to set a record for the longest time spent buried alive, police said Monday. Police said Janaka Basnayake, 24, buried himself over the weekend with the help of family and friends in a trench sealed with wood and soil in the town of Kantale, about 137 miles (220 kilometers) north of Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. A local newspaper reported that the trench was 10 feet (3 meters) deep.)

'They are 50 per cent of who I am': The woman addicted to growing her toenails - even though it is risking her health (Daily Mail) 

(A woman who was once addicted to growing the nails on her hands has now grown her toenails to a staggering four inches, limiting her motion and jeopardising her health. Known as Ayanna, the 54-year-old is the latest quirky character to appear on TLC's show My Strange Addiction on which she refuses to cut her curly claws calling them her 'babies.')

WASHINGTON MCNUGGET SELLS ON EBAY FOR £5,000 (Short List) 

(People will sell anything on ebay. From Michael Jackson's underwear to a cornflake shaped like Illinois, there's a myriad of odd-ball treasures waiting to be discovered. Now added to that list is the chicken McNugget, which bears a resemblance to former president George Washington (pictured above and below). The nugget was found by Rebekah Speight of Dakota City and was sold on ebay for over £5,000 ($8,100), when the auction ended on Monday to an unnamed bidder.)

'Jay And Silent Bob' star Jason Mewes talks new horror comedy (NME) 

(Jay And Silent Bob star Jason Mewes returns to UK screens tonight in a new horror sitcom he describes as "90210 meets Tales From The Crypt." Mewes played foul-mouthed stoner Jay in director Kevin Smith's first run of movies including Clerks, Chasing Amy and Dogma. Now he is indulging in genre TV as Jimmy The Janitor in Todd And The Book Of Of Pure Evil.)

JAY AND SILENT BOB to Open 2012 Fargo Film Festival 3/6 (Broadway World) 

(The 12th annual Fargo Film Festival will begin with one of comedy’s on-screen duos. JAY AND SILENT BOB, the iconic characters in Kevin Smith’s movies like “Clerks,” “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy,” “Dogma,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and “Clerks 2” will make their local debut 8 p.m. March 6 at the Fargo Theatre.)

North Dakotan shares name with actor Jason Mewes (Inforum) 

(Jason Mewes, 32, of Clayton, N.D., has a pretty uncommon name. It’s so uncommon, in fact, that he’s only ever been able to track down just one person who has the same first and last name, same spelling and all. It just so happens that person is a Hollywood actor who will be appearing at the Fargo Theatre tonight.)

Jason Mewes talks about show with 'Silent Bob' (Inforum) 

(The slackers have grown up. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith – otherwise known as Jay and Silent Bob from Smith’s various slacker-centric films – are bringing their iconic, off-color characters to the Fargo Theatre tonight, kicking off this week’s Fargo Film Festival.)

ason Mewes of 'Jay & Silent Bob': "I almost set myself on fire, I almost went to jail." (The Vine) 

(You can’t keep a good stoner down. Perhaps that's the lesson to take from the life of Jason Mewes (above, left). The New Jersey native has had more than his fair share of ups and downs, but like a punching clown, the harder Mewes gets hit the stronger he seems to bounce back. The product of a broken home, Mewes grew up in the care of his ex-con, drug addicted mother.)

Bus driver had 2100 photos up skirts, say police (MSN) 

(A Sydney bus driver who allegedly installed a hidden camera to take photos up the skirts of schoolgirls today faced court for possessing child abuse material, but is yet to enter a plea. Takuya Koaze, 48, is alleged to have installed the upwards-facing camera on the floor of a State Transit Authority bus to take over 2100 indecent photos and 48 hours of footage of North Shore passengers.)

Bus with dozens of tourists aboard catches fire while leaving Nevada’s Hoover Dam (Washington Post) 

(A tour bus with dozens of international tourists suddenly caught fire Monday as it was leaving the Hoover Dam Visitor Center near the Arizona and Nevada border, officials said. The driver, a tour guide and 59 passengers got off the bus before it was consumed by the fire, said Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Boulder City. No one was injured.)

Braveheart: Hero driver saves 80 passengers' lives after driving bus with failed brakes into a roundabout (Daily Mail UK) 

(If not for DTC driver Kali Das's quick thinking, this could have been a report about how failed brakes of a low floor bus had caused a bloodbath on a major Delhi thoroughfare on Tuesday afternoon. Instead, it is a chronicle of a braveheart who helped save many a life, by dint of his presence of mind and sense of duty. Das, a 35-year-old Rajasthan native, was ferrying 80 passengers on route number 73 - Hari Nagar to Anand Vihar.)

R.I.P. GOLDEN AGE "BATMAN" ARTIST SHELDON MOLDOFF (Comic Book Resources) 

(Last week, the comics community lost another of its foundational talents when Sheldon Moldoff passed away at 91 from kidney failure. Writer and historian Mark Evanier broke the news and offered an appraisal of the career of one of DC Comics early titans. Born on April 19 of 1920, the artist known affectionately as Shelly found his early interest in comics and cartoons turn to professional work at a young age. Like many other up-and-coming New York City comics talents of the era, Moldoff began freelancing for DC during the Depression when at 17 he began selling one-off strips and other short works to the publisher. As Evanier notes, the artist was the last surviving creator who contributed to the landmark "Action Comics" #1 – the first appearance of Superman – with a one-page sports strip that graced the inside back cover.)

Hundreds of rare comics damaged by water leaks at Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum warehouse (Washington Post) 

(Hundreds and possibly thousands of rare comic books were damaged at a comic museum’s warehouse in western Pennsylvania last week. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that water leaks at the ToonSeum warehouse destroyed books, exhibition reproductions and probably thousands of comic books.)

1st ever SU Basketball comic book released to benefit the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation (ABC) 

(Syracuse University Athletics and The Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation will offer the first-ever collector’s edition SU Men’s Basketball comic book, THE ADVENTURES OF ORANGEMAN AND ORANGEWOMAN. The comic book features moments in Syracuse Athletics men’s basketball history as told by the adventures of superheroes “ORANGEMAN” and “ORANGEWOMAN” with the Syracuse University iconic mascot, Otto the Orange.)

Inglorious beginnings: Experts trace humanity's origins to ancient worm (Vancouver Sun) 

(It seems an inglorious beginning, but some scientists are now convinced humanity's origins can be traced to an ancient, flat, fishlike worm. A team of researchers subjected the 505-million-year-old Burgess shale fossils of Pikaia gracilens to the latest technology and found evidence that could settle a decades-long debate about the primitive species.)

Attractive Robotic Fish Developed (Trebuchet Magazine) 

(Robotic fish, developed by researchers at NYU-Poly, prove successful at inducing natural fish to follow them. In the old 'you were so busy trying to figure out how to do it, you never stopped to wonder whether you should' Jurassic Park line, the reasoning behind the research is that it could be used to lead fish away from environmental disasters.)

Hackers elect Futurama's Bender to the Washington DC school board (PC World) 

(Electronic voting has earned a pretty bad reputation for being insecure and completely unreliable. Well, get ready to add another entry to e-voting's list of woes. One Bender Bending Rodríguez was elected to the 2010 school board in Washington DC. A team of hackers from the University of Michigan got Bender elected as a write-in candidate who stole every vote from the real candidates. Bender, of course, is a cartoon character from the TV series Futurama.)