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Study: Men Slack Off More Than Women Each day American men on average have an extra 38 minutes of leisure time compared to women in the United States, according to a study of Western countries by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. Over the year that adds up to 13,870 minutes -- or almost 10 days -- of extra time off for American men compared to the chores that women toil through on a given day. But Italian men are the world's slacker kings. Italian
men have an average of almost 80 minutes more leisure each day than
Italian women do. That's double the U.S. level, according to the OECD.
More
Confucius says no to ‘subversive’ blockbuster Avatar In China the public may not be given the choice at all. Despite long queues for tickets to see Avatar — which was expected to earn more than 500 million yuan (£45 million) at the Chinese box office — reports claim that the film will be removed from screens for being subversive. Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported that the state-run China Film Group had instructed cinemas nationwide to stop showing the 2-D version of Avatar from January 23 on orders from Beijing’s propaganda chiefs. It is not just the desire to entertain the masses with
a Chinese movie that has prompted the censors to step in and pull James
Cameron’s hit from 2-D screens. The Government fears that too many citizens
might be making a link between the plight of Avatar’s Na’vi people as
they are thrown off their land and the numerous, often brutal, evictions
endured closer to home by residents who get in the way of property developers.
More
Placebos getting more effective. Drugmakers wonder why In interviews with the press, Edward Scolnick, Merck's research director, laid out his battle plan to restore the firm to preeminence. Key to his strategy was expanding the company's reach into the antidepressant market, where Merck had lagged while competitors like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline created some of the best-selling drugs in the world. "To remain dominant in the future," he told Forbes, "we need to dominate the central nervous system." His plan hinged on the success of an experimental antidepressant
codenamed MK-869. Still in clinical trials, it looked like every pharma
executive's dream: a new kind of medication that exploited brain chemistry
in innovative ways to promote feelings of well-being. More
Jesus-Shooting-Santa Display Riles Neighbors
Homeowner Ron Lake said his Christmas display in Nipomo is an expression of his repressed creativity, and that Santa represents the commercialism of Christmas. His neighbors disagree and they're upset -- they say the disturbing display will upset children. A school bus stop is just outside the fence that separates the display from the town's main roads. "I know it's freedom of speech, but it's pretty disturbing
and there are lots of children. That's our main concern," one neighbor
said.
More Russian missile failure sparks UFO frenzy
Russia's defense ministry said a Bulava missile was launched Wednesday by a nuclear submarine submerged in the White Sea and its third stage suffered an unspecified failure. Photographs and amateur video footage of the bluish-white in the Norwegian skies have been circulating on the Internet since Wednesday and spawning speculation of UFOs. The ministry did not confirm the lights were the result of the failed launch but military analysts said they clearly came from the Bulava explosion. "This kind of light show comes from a failed missile
launch," said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst. "Russia
has run free fireworks for the Norwegians."
More Overdue Library Books Returned Half Century Later
Camelback High School librarian Georgette Bordine says the two Audubon Society books checked out in 1959 and the money order were sent by someone who wanted to remain anonymous. Bordine says the letter explained that the borrower's
family moved to another state and the books were mistakenly packed.
More
Worldwide Slump Makes Nigeria's Online Scammers Work That Much Harder
The spinal cord aches from sitting at a desk. The eyes itch from staring at a computer. The heart thumps from drinking bitter cola to stay awake for chats with Americans in faraway time zones. The wallet shrinks from buying potions that supposedly compel the Americans to pay. Succeeding in the midst of a worldwide economic meltdown? That, he said, takes even firmer resolve. "We are working harder. The financial crisis is not making it easy for them over there," said Banjo, 24, speaking about Americans, whose trust he has won and whose money he has fleeced, via his Dell laptop. "They don't have money. And the money they don't have, we want." Banjo is a polite young man in a button-down shirt,
and he is the sort of guy on the other end of that block-lettered missive
requesting your "URGENT ASSISTANCE" in transferring millions of dollars.
He is the sort who made Nigeria infamous for cyberscams, which experts
say are increasing in these tough times.
More
Look Ma, No Brakes!
They don't make much sense, yet for one more fleeting season at least, they are the rage in certain circles. Sort of dumb and super hip: the twin characteristics of many things in life. We are talking about a bicycle. A very special kind of road bicycle, called a fixed-gear bike, or fixie for short. A fixie has one speed, which makes it difficult to pedal uphill. A classic fixie has no brakes, which makes it difficult to slow on the downhill. A fixie has no freewheel, the part that makes coasting
possible. Instead, the chain directly drives the rotation of the rear
wheel, which means the pedals always turn while the bike moves.
More
CVS drops Obama Chia pets
Joe Pedott, the owner of the Chia franchise, said he's baffled by the drugstore chain's decision. Walgreens removed the terra cotta heads in April after some complained that the product was racially insensitive. The issue made the round of blogs, talk radio and TV over the summer. Walgreens' decision cost him millions of dollars, Pedott said. Nevertheless, the product's popularity has consistently grown -- especially after the controversy, he said. "I can't think of any reason a store like CVS would
want to stop selling it," he said Wednesday.
More
How the Food Industry Has Made Bacon a Weapon of Mass Destruction
That was then. Today, you don't need to tax yourself applying syrup to bacon -- McDonald's does it for you with the McGriddle. It conveniently takes an egg, American cheese and pork and nestles it between pancakelike biscuits suffused with genuine fake-maple-syrup flavor. The McGriddle is just one moment in an era of extreme
food combinations -- a moment in which bacon plays a starring role,
from high cuisine to low.
More
Cats Do Control Humans, Study Finds
Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings. This meow is actually a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry. While people usually think of cat purring as a sign of happiness, some cats make this purr-cry sound when they want to be fed. The study showed that humans find these mixed calls annoying and difficult to ignore. "The embedding of a cry within a call that we normally
associate with contentment is quite a subtle means of eliciting a response,"
said Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. "Solicitation purring
is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which is likely
to get cats ejected from the bedroom."
More
10 Quirky Economic Indicators
You’ll find all sorts of clues in everyday life to help determine where the economy really stands. The racks of dry cleaners, for instance, may seem a bit more cluttered these days, and it’s true—many people are stalling an extra week before shelling out to pick up their clothes. And to paraphrase a famous quote from other troubled times, don’t shoot back into the market until you see the whites of their eyelids: Eyeliner sales have surged during the recession. When times get tough, people go to the movies. Box-office
sales have increased in all of the last five recession years. According
to the National Association of Theatre Owners, the number of movie tickets
sold in the first quarter of 2009 increased more than 9% from last year.
More
Amsterdam considering bank help -- for prostitutes
The city's red light district is famed the world over for its women in tiny windows and even tinier clothing, but despite the trade being legal, many banks shy away from taking the ladies on as customers. As part of the city's "Project 1012" to remake the De Wallen neighborhood, which includes the sex district, the city council has been asked to find a way to help bordello owners and sex workers gain more access to banks. "Up until now, it's been very difficult for people
in the sex industry to get credit with the banks," a city council spokesman
said on Friday. "For them it is a hazard that they can not get regular
credit or help or mortgages or anything from a regular bank."
More
Astronaut says we're not alone
"We are being visited," the 79-year-old grandfatherly "spacefarer" told 100 or so UFOlogists gathered at a National Press Club conference called by the Paradigm Research Group (motto: "It's not about lights in the sky; it's about lies on the ground"). "It is now time to put away this embargo of truth about
the alien presence," said the astronaut who made the longest moonwalk
in history. "I call upon our government to open up ... and become a
part of this planetary community that is now trying to take our proper
role as a spacefaring civilization." More
Two Buck Chuck Wins Award
Try "Two-Buck Chuck," more formally Charles Shaw, the brand beloved of bargain but palate-sensitive wine shoppers. It's sold by Bronco Wine Co. exclusively through Trader Joe's. Shaw's California Chardonnay took first place for Best
Chardonnay from California. To some in the clubby California wine community,
that must seem like a Michelin's Red Guide giving three stars to a roadside
hamburger stand. More
Spain's Bullet Train Changes Nation -- and Fast
Yet the country is on track to bypass France and Japan to have the world's biggest network of ultrafast trains by the end of next year, figures from the International Union of Railways and the Spanish government show. The growth of the Alta Velocidad Española, or AVE, high-speed rail network is having a profound effect on life in Spain. Many Spaniards are fiercely attached to their home regions and studies show they are unusually reluctant to live or even travel elsewhere. But those centuries-old habits are starting to change
as Spain stitches its disparate regions together with a €100 billion
($130 billion) system of bullet trains designed to traverse the countryside
at up to 218 miles an hour.. More
'Financial Crisis Created By White People With Blue Eyes'
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the comments after talks with the Prime Minister to try to forge a global consensus on how to save the worldwide economy. Sky News' Joey Jones said it was an "uncomfortable" moment for Mr Brown. "The President does not mind using fairly flamboyant
language. He likes to give extensive answers to journalists.But
some of it was rather awkward for the Prime Minister, who was standing
there listening to the President. More
Ryanair mulls charge for toilets
Chief executive Michael O'Leary told the BBC that the Dublin-based carrier was looking at maybe installing a "coin slot on the toilet door". Consumer group Which? said the airline was putting "profit before passengers". Ryanair's PR chief Steven McNamara later played down the idea, saying: "I don't think it's going to happen in the foreseeable future". "Will it happen long-term, I'm not really sure," he
said.
More
Being dead a big pain for Cottonwood woman
"It's getting annoying and embarrassing," Neubauer said. "When I go to buy something, I don't know whether or not I am going to be dead." Neubauer's partner died three years ago. Their finances were comingled in a trust, she said.
In October, the Social Security Administration cut Neubauer's benefits,
believing she had died with her partner.
More
Pranks Involving Electronic Road Signs Stir Worry
The latest breach came Tuesday during the morning rush hour near Collinsville, Ill., where hackers changed a sign along southbound Interstate 255 to read, "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES." A day earlier in Indiana's Hamilton County, the electronic
message on a board in Carmel's construction zone warned drivers of "RAPTORS
AHEAD — CAUTION." And signs in Austin, Texas,
recently flashed: "NAZI ZOMBIES! RUN!!!" and "ZOMBIES IN AREA! RUN."
More
MP3 player guides rescuers to lost tourists
The two -- a skier and snowboarder, both from France -- had got lost late in the day Friday outside marked runs near the resort of Savognin in southeast Switzerland, said Gery Baumann, spokesman for mountain rescue service Rega. They were able to alert authorities using a mobile
phone, but it then ran out of battery power, Baumann said. "The two
winter sports enthusiasts were found by the crew of the Rega helicopter
shortly after midnight -- thanks to the faint light of their MP3 player,"
he said.
More
One artist's determination brings historic Native masks home for a visit
She found it in France, among the towers of a 13th-century fort. Hundreds of items. Bowls, spears, bidarkas. And what may be the largest collection in existence of aged dance masks, witnesses to the era before Russian hunters claimed the area for the czar and Sugpiaq ways began to fade. Her mind reeled as she stood among the artifacts, she said, the first Sugpiaq to view them in more than a century. "I saw a beaded headdress from my mother's village
of Old Afognak," she said. "And I thought, 'It could have been one of
my ancestors who made that.' ".
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Santa is coming - to a Pub
Thousands of Santas across USA who take part in the Running of the Santas pub crawl each year are just one example of the fun to be had when the tinsel is out. Crowds of thirsty guys and girls dressed like Santa charge through towns drinking as much as they can in the name of raising money to help out children with cancer. But the antics have raised the bushy white eyebrows of those in the Santa know. Tim Connaghan, founder of the International University
of Santa Claus, while talking about the pub crawl that he was all for
raising money for charity, but said Santa’s image needed to be respected.
More
Arabs find a hero in Iraqi shoe thrower
In Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported that a man had offered $10 million to buy just one of what has almost certainly become the world's most famous pair of black dress shoes. A daughter of Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy reportedly awarded the shoe thrower, Muntadar al-Zeidi, a 29-year-old journalist, a medal of courage. In the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, people calling
for an immediate U.S. withdrawal removed their footwear and placed the
shoes and sandals at the end of long poles, waving them high in the
air. And in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, people threw their shoes
at a passing U.S. convoy.
More
Births fueling Hispanic growth
The Hispanic baby boom is transforming the demographics of small-town America in a dramatic way. Some rural counties where the population had been shrinking and aging are growing because of Hispanic immigration and births and now must provide services for the young. "In all of the uproar over immigration, this is getting missed," says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute. "All the focus is on immigration, immigration, immigration. At some point, it's not. It's natural increase." This natural increase — more births than deaths — is
accelerating among Hispanics in the USA because they are younger than
the U.S. population as a whole. Their median age is 27.4, compared with
37.9 overall, 40.8 for whites, 35.4 for Asians and 31.1 for blacks.
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Is it Illegal to Drink and Vote?
Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver doesn't know if the woman completed her ballot — she was subsequently transported by ambulance to a local hospital, which has no record of admitting her — but said it will be counted. Poll workers called police after the woman began yelling and screaming at them. When the officers arrived, she had lost consciousness with a bottle of vodka tucked into her waistband. A little checking determined that it was not illegal
to be drunk when casting a ballot, but election laws do prohibit liquor
at voting sites and creating a disturbance. Charges have not been filed.
More
Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found in Mexico
Clad in scuba gear and edging through narrow tunnels, researchers discovered the stone ruins of eleven sacred temples and what could be the remains of human sacrifices at the site in the Yucatan Peninsula. Archeologists say Mayans believed the underground complex of water-filled caves leading into dry chambers -- including an underground road stretching some 330 feet -- was the path to a mythical underworld, known as Xibalba. According to an ancient Mayan scripture, the Popol
Vuh, the route was filled with obstacles, including rivers filled with
scorpions, blood and pus and houses shrouded in darkness or swarming
with shrieking bats, Guillermo de Anda, one of the lead investigators
at the site, said on Thursday.
More
US Government owes Indians $455 million in trust case
But U.S. District Judge James Robertson did not say how the government should award the money, writing that his opinion "leaves for another day the question of how and to whom the award should be distributed." Robertson's final number is close to government estimates
and far from the billions sought by plaintiffs in the 12-year trial.
The lawsuit — filed on behalf of a half-million American Indians and
their heirs — claims they were swindled out of billions of dollars in
oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior
Department since 1887.
More
Wal-Mart Gets a New Logo: Resembles a Sphincter
On June 30, Wal-Mart officially unveiled the new logo,
issuing a statement that in the fall, "Walmart's U.S. locations will
update store logos as part of an ongoing evolution of its overall brand."
The updated logo made its start online on July 1, although the old logo
still appears on the site of Wal-Mart's parent company, walmartstores.com.
More
Rat sales soar as Vietnam seeks cheaper meats
Exports have reached 10 tonnes per month, Governor Ly Marong said, with profits rising to as much as US$15,000 per month in Kandal's Kho Thom district. "In addition to exports, local people are buying rat meat more than ever before," he said. "Grilled rat meat, or spicy, fried meat with basil, is delicious." Live rats sell for about 6,000 to 6,500 riels per kilogram in Vietnam's Long Bin market, across the border from Kandal province, but traders purchase rats from Cambodian farmers for about 4,500 to 5,000 riels per kilogram. The governor said that because heavy rains flood forest
areas, rats swarm to nearby farms. High inflation and the rising cost
of other meats - as high as 20 percent in recent months - have led farmers
to harvest the rats for their own use and for export.
More
Instant-Messagers Really Are About Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon
The "small world theory," embodied in the old saw that there are just "six degrees of separation" between any two strangers on Earth, has been largely corroborated by a massive study of electronic communication. With records of 30 billion electronic conversations among 180 million people from around the world, researchers have concluded that any two people on average are distanced by just 6.6 degrees of separation, meaning that they could be linked by a string of seven or fewer acquaintances. The database covered all of the Microsoft Messenger
instant-messaging network in June 2006, or roughly half the world's
instant-messaging traffic at that time, researchers said.
More
Miracle fruit: A tiny berry that tricks the tongue
The search is always on for replacements for those things that, eaten in excess, make us obese - fatty and sugary foods. There is no miracle pill that can replace either. Nearly four decades ago one man came close to providing a tablet that could reduce our love of sugar. In the 1960s, Robert Harvey, a biomedical postgraduate student, encountered the miracle berry, a fruit from west Africa which turns sour tastes to sweet. "You can eat a berry and then bite into a lemon," says Harvey. "It becomes not only sweeter, but it will be the best lemon you've tasted in your life." But Harvey's sweet dream of making the world healthier came to an abrupt end. On the eve of the launch in 1974, the US Food and Drugs Administration unexpectedly turned against the product. Legal advice and contact with the FDA had led Harvey
to believe that the extract from the berry would be allowed under the
classification "generally recognised as safe". Having been eaten before
meals for centuries in west Africa, without anecdotal reports of problems,
it could be assumed not to be harmful. But the FDA decided it would
be considered as an additive which required several years more testing.
In the poor economic climate of 1974, this could not be funded and the
company folded.
More
We Lost George Carlin!
Carlin, who made his name in the United States in the 1970s as a hip counterculture comedian in the tradition of Lenny Bruce, has died of heart failure in California. He was 71. He won four Grammy Awards for best spoken comedy album and was nominated for five Emmys. An excellent mimic, he started his career as a relatively
conventional comedian in the 1960s before becoming bored with what he
called "wearing the dumb tuxedo and entertaining middle-class morons".
He turned his attention to the satirical treatment of political and
social issues - liberally laced with four-letter words in his "Seven
Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine - and found a new lease on life.says.
More
George Carlin audio clips 2:45
Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil
The Brazilian government says it took the images to prove the tribe exists and help protect its land. The pictures, taken from an aeroplane, show red-painted tribe members brandishing bows and arrows. More than half the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in Brazil or Peru, Survival International says. Stephen Corry, the director of the group - which supports
tribal people around the world - said such tribes would "soon be made
extinct" if their land was not protected.
More
Subway Bans Homeschooled Kids from Essay Contest
The outcome, however, was far different. By banning
homeschooled kids -- children who are educated at home, as an alternative
to public schooling -- Subway has ignited a firestorm of opposition
from a vocal segment of the marketplace. Homeschoolers, offended by
the ban, spontaneously -- and almost literally overnight -- organized
a national Subway boycott that already has Subway's corporate spokesman
hunkering down. All this happened over a holiday weekend, a time when
people usually have better things to do. Imagine the impact today when
millions of homeschooling parents are back in front of their computers,
and discover what Subway has done to them.
More
Swiss scientist who brought the world LSD takes his final trip
Hofmann, who died on Tuesday at his home in Basel, also identified and synthesised the active ingredients of peyote mushrooms and a Mexican psychoactive plant called ololiuqui. He developed at least three related, non-psychoactive compounds that became widely used in medicine. Those other feats would have been little remembered, however, had he not accidentally got a trace amount of an experimental compound called lysergic acid diethylamide on his fingertips and taken the world's first acid trip. Hofmann was a talented synthetic chemist working in
the Basel research centre of Sandoz Laboratories in the 1930s when he
began studying the chemistry of ergot, a fungus that grows on rye, barley
and other plants. Although ergot is poisonous, midwives had for centuries
used a crude extract to induce labour in pregnant women. Researchers
in the US had recently identified the primary active ingredient of ergot,
a chemical called lysergic acid. Hofmann, having devised a technique
to make a series of derivatives of lysergic acid called amides, began
systematically looking for medically useful compounds.
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Raped by lookalike wines
Koch claims that from 1987 to 1990, the Chicago Wine Company, a retailer and auction house, sold him 15 bottles of counterfeit wine for $150,000, including a bottle of 1787 Ch�teau Branne Mouton (now Mouton-Rothschild) that may have been owned by Thomas Jefferson. The lawsuit also alleges that 14 bottles of wine Koch purchased for $63,000, which were imported by Julienne and sold by the Chicago Wine Company and other retailers, are also counterfeit. Ironically, Koch was a major investor in the Chicago Wine Company for seven years. �We have been going through our cellar with our experts
and we have found a lot of counterfeits sold via Chicago Wine Company,�
said Brad Goldstein, Koch's spokesman. �They told us they would cooperate
on getting to the sources for these bogus bottles but when push came
to shove they provided very little�we were left with no other option.�
More
New way to hike credit card rates
Discover announced recently that there's a new penalty for cardholders who exceed their credit limit, in addition to the $39 fee -- a higher interest rate. Many consumers might not even realize that they can
exceed their credit limit, and in fact the term has largely become meaningless.
Card issuers give consumers what some call a "nominal limit," which
is the credit limit printed on monthly bills. But nearly all allow consumers
to exceed that limit by 10 percent or more (precisely how much is a
secret), and then charge fees of $30 to $40 for each month the balance
exceeds that limit. More
Fiorana Launches Line of Latino-Cut Bootylicious Jeans
Fiorana President Mike Braden tells us, "The Latina body is different in waist and hip structure. When wearing Anglo cut jeans, there is always a fit problem around the waist area." Martinez ponders the point by wondering why she, who is of Latina descent, does not possess the bootylicious qualities Braden seems to believe all Latina women possess .Latino celebrities here are more
often than not defined by their daring derri�res. Think Salma Hayek,
America Ferrara and the mother of all Latino-heavenly butts: Jennifer
Lopez.
More
Gaulish coin hoard is France�s biggest ever
The trove consists of 545 gold-silver-copper coins: 58 staters and 487 quarterstaters. �Stater� is the generic term for antique coins. They lay a foot beneath the earth�s surface near Laniscat, 64km south of Saint-Brieuc, at a known Iron Age manor house or farm site, and date to 75- 50BC. They are very well preserved. Inrap, the national institute for preventive archeological research, which has the right to investigate sites ahead of infrastructure work, reports similar finds in the 1930s at Guingamp and Perros-Guirec, but says the latest trove is the biggest yet. Searching ahead of construction work, an Inrapled team found a single coin about 30cm down, then began a systematic search. They found another 50 coins the same day, then brought in metal detectors and found the rest. They believe the coins were all buried together but were disturbed over the centuries by ploughing. The hoard represents a fortune for its period and is
priceless to archeologists. Most deals in Gaulish times were by barter:
coins were for the mega-rich.
More
Dallas hospital room where JFK died now stored in Kansas
It is the end � at least for now � in the long and sometimes strange journey of Parkland Memorial Hospital Trauma Room No. 1, where President John F. Kennedy died on Nov. 22, 1963. The entire room was purchased by the federal government 35 years ago, when Parkland officials decided to modernize their emergency facilities. It was dismantled and the contents � all of them, the
examination table, clocks, floor tiling, lockers, trash cans, surgical
instruments, gloves, cotton balls, even a towel dispenser � were placed
in a locked vault in a Fort Worth warehouse run by the National Archives
and Records Administration.
More
Bear's Activity in Woods Documented
An unidentified correspondent has provided photographic documentation of an unidentified bear relieving itself near a stand of trees in a rural area. The bear paused in that location for nearly a minute before looking around and leaving. An inspection of where the bear stood revealed nearly two pounds of fecal material. Other lines of speculative questions include inquiries into whether the Pope residing in the Vatican is a member of the Catholic religion, and if country singer Dolly Parton sleeps on her back. StaggerOn.org is actively seeking photographic evidence of the latter question. Mexico City starts grope-free buses for women
Millions of people cram into subway trains and buses in the Mexican capital, one of the world's largest cities, and women have long complained of abuse from men taking advantage of overcrowding to sneak in an inappropriate grab. "One time a man stuck his hand up my skirt. They grab
your butt ... It's gross," said 27-year-old office assistant Lourdes
Zendejas, who waited 20 minutes during the evening rush hour to catch
one of the new buses. More
Mitt Romney Demonstrates Campaign Promises
Attorney Installs Shark Tank in Office
On Monday, a crane hoisted a 1,000-gallon aquarium up to a second-story window in Gillette's new office. "I can't watch," Gillette said as half a dozen workers guided the roughly 8-foot-long, 4-foot-wide and 4-foot-tall tank through the window. Gillette plans to fill the saltwater tank with a miniature
marine ecosystem, including at least two sharks - a blacktip reef shark
being flown in from the Caribbean Sea and a bamboo shark that will be
hatched from eggs in the tank.
More
Santa in G-String Arrested on DUI Charge
A man dressed as Kris Kringle was arrested Sunday night for investigation of drunken driving after he was spotted outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood wearing a wig, a red lace camisole and a purple G-string. "We are pretty sure this is not the Santa Claus," police Deputy Chief Ken Garner said. Rick Carroll, 53, of Long Beach, was booked into jail
after his blood-alcohol level measured just above the state's legal
limit of .08, police said. He was later released on $5,000 bail.etup.
More
Police say woman groped Santa
Sandrama Lamy, 33, of Danbury, is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault, according to Danbury Detective Lt. Thomas Michael. Two messages seeking comment were left on Lamy's answering machine. Details leading up to the alleged fondling are sketchy. "I don't know what the deal was. It was just bizarre,"
the mall Santa told a reporter, referring all other questions about
the incident to Cherry Hill Photo, the company that runs the Danbury
Fair mall Santa photo setup. More
Stocking Stuffers Courtesy of TSA, and Your Pocket
Dobbins is a flea-market scavenger who's collected, in his estimation, between 7,000 and 10,000 knives taken from passengers at Washington airports. He gets his goods from the Auburn Retail Store, located inside a warehouse in a World War II�era compound south of the SuperMall. Here, Dobbins rummages through two dozen bins of knives, scissors, and other implements of terror to pick out winners such as 1980s Buck blades. If you're still looking for cheap, albeit potentially blood-letting, stocking stuffers, Dobbins says markdowns average around 75 percent. "Most of the stuff I get is pretty good," says Dobbins,
a 56-year-old Puyallup resident who sells his TSA treasures on eBay.
"I go every time they open. I don't miss a day."
More
Microsoft Shuts Down Santa For Talking Dirty
Last year, Microsoft encouraged kids to connect directly to "Santa" by adding northpolelive.com to their Windows Live Messenger contact lists. The Santa program, which Microsoft reactivated in early December, asks children what they want for Christmas and can respond on topic via instant messaging, thanks to a bit of artificial intelligence. Microsoft's holiday cheer soured this week when a reader of a United Kingdom-based technology news site, The Register, reported that a chat between Santa and his underage nieces about eating pizza prompted Santa to bring up oral sex. One of the publication's writers replicated the chat
Monday. After declining the writer's repeated invitations to eat pizza,
a frustrated Santa burst out with, "You want me to eat what?!? It's
fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else.".
More
Historic Whiskey Could Go Down Drain
Officials seized 2,400 bottles late last month during warehouse raids in Nashville and Lynchburg, the southern Tennessee town where the whiskey is distilled. "Punish the person, not the whiskey," said an outraged Kyle MacDonald, 28, a Jack Daniel's drinker from British Columbia who promotes the whiskey on his blog. "Jack never did anything wrong, and the whiskey itself is innocent." Investigators are also looking into whether some of
the bottles had been stolen from the distillery. No one has been arrested.
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Bra-maker to turn Japanese women into bag ladies
A lingerie maker, in a bid to discourage Japanese from using plastic bags, on Wednesday unveiled a bra whose cup padding unfolds to become a handheld shopping bag. Lingerie maker Triumph has regularly designed bras aimed at drawing attention to social issues and to raise its own profile. Last winter it unveiled a bra that can be heated in a microwave so as to help save on indoor heating costs. The �Bra Rangers� � named after the television characters
that morph into superheroes � come with matching underwear whose pocket
has the inscribed message, �No more plastic bags!�.
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Possible human remains in Disney's 'pirate' ride
A suspicious powder that may or may not have been cremated remains was spotted in the water in the popular attraction, forcing the ride to close briefly Friday afternoon. Security officials were unable to determine what the substance was or find the female visitor who was seen sprinkling the powder. "A witness described the substance as baby powder that quickly dissipated. We reopened the attraction after determining that there was no danger to our guests," said Rob Doughty, a Disneyland spokesman, in a prepared statement. While Disney officials deny this is a recurring problem,
a Disney watchdog blog said that this isn't the only incident of visitors
possibly scattering the ashes of loved ones in the rides, specifically
dark attractions. More
Was Communism created by Acne?
Sam Shuster, professor of dermatology at the University of East Anglia, believes the revolutionary thinker had hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) in which the apocrine sweat glands -- found mainly in the armpits and groin -- become blocked and inflamed. "In addition to reducing his ability to work, which contributed to his depressing poverty, hidradenitis greatly reduced his self-esteem," said Shuster, who published his findings in the British Journal of Dermatology. "This explains his self-loathing and alienation, a
response reflected by the alienation Marx developed in his writing."
More
Russia schools ban 'cult of death' Halloween
Halloween is being forced underground because it "includes religious elements, the cult of death, the mockery of death," a spokesman for the city's education department Alexander Gavrilov said on Wednesday. Pumpkins and images of witches are widespread across
Russia, with many bars organizing special fancy dress parties, despite
the efforts of the Kremlin, and especially the Russian Orthodox Church,
to curb enthusiasm for non-native festivities.
More
Forget Hooters - Twin Peaks, a new place to pitch your tent
A server, Gina, was clad in the regulation uniform of a tiny red-and-black checkered flannel tie-top with an open front, the shortest shorts imaginable and cutsie faux-wilderness-whacking boots. As expected, you can really see more meat on these ladies than on the chicken wings they�re hawking, and the wings are pretty meaty. The indoor dining area is decorated with apropos fake hunting lodge furniture and lots of wood and plaid. Walking through the bar, in between the multitude of flat-screen TVs blaring ESPN, the tables were packed with so many military guys in uniform it looked like Fort Bragg.. And, of course, there were the ladies. From
a purely shallow standpoint, the servers were all pretty hot. Blondes,
brunettes, short, tall, shy, sassy and even a smoky-luscious tattooed
goth girl. A person does not get a tawdry strip-club feel from the place,
the restaurant isn�t quite a nudie bar, but not quite Applebees�something
in between. More
Military mistakenly recruits on gay Web site
When informed Tuesday by USA Today that they were advertising on GLEE.com, a networking Web site for gay professionals, recruiters expressed surprise and said they would remove the job listings. �This is the first I�ve heard about it,� said Maj. Michael Baptista, advertising branch chief for the Army National Guard, which will spend $6.5 million on Internet recruiting this year. �We didn�t knowingly advertise on that particular Web site,� which he said does not �meet the moral standards� of the military. Most of the military jobs posted were "hard-to-fill"
positions requiring advanced training, although some ads sought to fill
core combat slots at a time when the Iraq war has challenged recruiters
to meet goals..More
Commuter Dudes Mount Skateboards, Ignore Wives
Mr. Mahe doesn�t ride to work every day (�Some days it�s all you can do to find your way to the train,� he said), but he has joined a contingent of late�20-something and 30-year-old skateboarders who are riding the concrete waves of New York and Brooklyn on planks of wood atop polyurethane wheels. These aren�t the young skate punks of Union Square,
grinding on railings and clattering down concrete steps at bone-breaking
speed. These are guys with mortgages, iPhone bills and maybe wives and
children, who find time to skateboard to and from work or cruise through
Central Park on the weekends. They�re indulging in nostalgia for a
childhood pastime while convincing themselves it counts as cardio.ppears
the it is not just American presidents who accumulate wealth after "serving"
the public. More
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