With Thursday's landing of the Atlantis, the 30-year space shuttle program came to an end.
Let's look back.
1. Which shuttle was the first to lift off for space, on April 12, 1981?
a) Enterprise
b) Columbia
c) Challenger
d) Discovery
2. Last week's mission is officially known as STS-135, as in 135 shuttle flights. What does the STS stand for?
a) Shuttle Transportation Service
b) Servicing the Stars
c) Space Transportation System
d) Space Taxi Syndicate
3. Each member of STS-135's three-man and one-woman crew had flown on a shuttle before.
a) True
b) False
4. Which of the Atlantis crew members was born in Philadelphia?
a) Chris Ferguson
b) Sandra Magnus
c) Doug Hurley
d) Rex Walheim
5. How many missions did Atlantis fly?
a) 28 b) 39
c) 25 d) 33
6. Which shuttle flew the most missions?
a) Endeavour b) Discovery
c) Columbia d) Atlantis
7. Which shuttle was named by school students after a national competition?
a) Endeavour b) Discovery
c) Columbia d) Atlantis
8. All but one of the shuttles is named for a ship involved in science or exploration.
a) True
b) False
9. NASA's first manned space program, Mercury, had seven astronauts. How many individual fliers flew on shuttle missions?
a) 852 b) 541
c) 355 d) 135
10. Sixteen countries were represented by fliers on shuttle missions. Which of the countries below was not represented?
a) Russia
b) Saudi Arabia
c) Belgium
d) Vietnam
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Answers : 1. b ; 2. c ; 3. a ; 4. a ; 5. d ; 6. b ; 7. a ; 8. b ; 9. c ; 10. d
Saturday, July 30, 2011
How to Get Your Boss Fired
It's one thing if your boss doesn't deserve you. It's another thing if you and your coworkers don't deserve your boss. Getting rid of a poor-performing overling isn't easy, but start here:
Document, document, document. If you have a host of complaints about your manager, document them --- not just as a list of faults but as a list of examples. So you don't write "Manager is rude." You write "On March 1, Manager interrupted Tanya six times in a five-minute discussion. She raised her voice and called three people idiots."
Talk directly to HR. Don't rely on an aggrieved coworker to relay information. And don't assume the HR person will come to you if she wants to hear your side. Make your own appointment, or grab the HR person in the hall, but go talk to her now.
Encourage your coworkers to do the same. If all of you explain what's going on, the powers that be will have a better understanding of the true problem.
Make sure you are direct and clear. People tend to downplay the problem when asked directly. So when you go to the HR person, say clearly, "This is not about a conflict between the boss and Tanya." Then refer to your documented list of problems. Do not sugarcoat it with words like sometimes and I feel like the deadlines she gives are unrealistic, and that causes stress." Say "The deadlines she gives are unrealistic. For instance...."
Be prepared for nothing to change. The manager's manager isn't taking care of the problem. If she acknowledges that this manager is an idiot, she has to acknowledge that she made a poor hiring decision. People don't like to admit their faults, so they tend to ignore this type of problem as long possible.
Wishful Thinking
The Ideal Boss
From meetingboy.com and contributors
Doesn't try to have a conversation with you while in the bathroom.
Will do something about his breath come 3 p.m.
Doesn't ask you for a "sit-down" to "get your ducks in a row" or ever ask you to "push the envelope" while "thinking outside the box."
Is always on the road with bad cell reception and no Wi-Fi.
Never traps everyone in his office past 6 p.m. with "one more thing."
Document, document, document. If you have a host of complaints about your manager, document them --- not just as a list of faults but as a list of examples. So you don't write "Manager is rude." You write "On March 1, Manager interrupted Tanya six times in a five-minute discussion. She raised her voice and called three people idiots."
Talk directly to HR. Don't rely on an aggrieved coworker to relay information. And don't assume the HR person will come to you if she wants to hear your side. Make your own appointment, or grab the HR person in the hall, but go talk to her now.
Encourage your coworkers to do the same. If all of you explain what's going on, the powers that be will have a better understanding of the true problem.
Make sure you are direct and clear. People tend to downplay the problem when asked directly. So when you go to the HR person, say clearly, "This is not about a conflict between the boss and Tanya." Then refer to your documented list of problems. Do not sugarcoat it with words like sometimes and I feel like the deadlines she gives are unrealistic, and that causes stress." Say "The deadlines she gives are unrealistic. For instance...."
Be prepared for nothing to change. The manager's manager isn't taking care of the problem. If she acknowledges that this manager is an idiot, she has to acknowledge that she made a poor hiring decision. People don't like to admit their faults, so they tend to ignore this type of problem as long possible.
Wishful Thinking
The Ideal Boss
From meetingboy.com and contributors
Doesn't try to have a conversation with you while in the bathroom.
Will do something about his breath come 3 p.m.
Doesn't ask you for a "sit-down" to "get your ducks in a row" or ever ask you to "push the envelope" while "thinking outside the box."
Is always on the road with bad cell reception and no Wi-Fi.
Never traps everyone in his office past 6 p.m. with "one more thing."
Police : Flordia teen had party after killing parents
Neighbors knew Tyler Hadley as a polite and respectful teen who played basketball with his father in the driveway and built forts of junked wood as a kid ---- not as someone who could kill his parents and throw a party while their bodies lay tucked beneath towels and other items in a locked bedroom.
The 17-year-old made his first court appearance Tuesday after being charged in the killings of his parents, Blake and Mary-Jo Hadley, whom authorities say he bludgeoned with a hammer Saturday before hosting a party for dozens of friends. A motive remains unclear.
In his brief appearance via video conference from jail, the teen glanced downward and calmly replied, "No, sir," to two questions from the judge. He was ordered held without bail and appointed a public defender.
His politeness was baffling to Tom Bakkedahi, the prosecutor who later viewed the bodies of Hadley's parents as they underwent autopsies at the medical examiner's office.
"His demeanor in court was not consistent with what I saw at the autopsy," Bakkedahl said of the parents, whose heads and torsos were maimed in the alleged attack. "It's absolutely horrific. The injuries were just massive."
Hadley's next-door neighbor, Raeann Wallace, said she has known the teen since he was born. He was friendly and polite and never seemed to be the source of any problems. She'd even ask him to keep an eye on her house when she went on vacation.
"How do you go from shooting hoops with your dad in the driveway to beating him with a hammer?" asked Wallace, a 64-year-old retiree. "At some point, he's going to get out of the dark place that he's at and he's going to realize that he killed his parents."
On Tuesday, police continued to come and go from Hadley's modest white ranch, evidence still being processed for a third straight day. Yellow crime scene tape blocked part of Granduer Avenue off to the curious.
Hadley is being charged as an adult in his parents' killings. Although he currently is charged with second-degree murder, Bakkedahi said it's all but certain a grand jury will indict him on more serious charges.
He will not face the death penalty if convicted because of his age.
As police tell it, Hadley posted word on Facebook around 1:15 p.m. Saturday that he would be hosting a party at his house that night. Sometime afterward, the parents were attacked outside their bedroom, where their bodies were brought and covered with varied household items, and the door was locked.
The party went on as planned, with as many as 60 guests having such a raucous time that police were called with a noise complaint. They arrived at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, but the party was already breaking up.
Then, tipped off that a murder may have taken place, they returned to the home at about 4:24 a.m. Hadley was seen pacing inside a front bay window, police said, and when he finally answered the door he appeared nervous.
Inside the master bedroom, they found the bodies.
Since his arrest, Hadley has been questioned by police, but has given no inking what motivated his alleged actions, said Tom Nicholos, a police spokesman in Port St. Lucie, which is about 50 miles (80 Kilometers) north of West Palm Beach.
"He didn't say anything as to why this murder occurred," Nicholas said.
The mother, 47, was an elementary school teacher. The father, 54, worked for the local electric utility. The Hadley's also had a 23-year-old son who lives out of state.
A call to the public defender's office was not immediately returned Tuesday and relatives of the family declined to comment or let calls go unanswered.
The 17-year-old made his first court appearance Tuesday after being charged in the killings of his parents, Blake and Mary-Jo Hadley, whom authorities say he bludgeoned with a hammer Saturday before hosting a party for dozens of friends. A motive remains unclear.
In his brief appearance via video conference from jail, the teen glanced downward and calmly replied, "No, sir," to two questions from the judge. He was ordered held without bail and appointed a public defender.
His politeness was baffling to Tom Bakkedahi, the prosecutor who later viewed the bodies of Hadley's parents as they underwent autopsies at the medical examiner's office.
"His demeanor in court was not consistent with what I saw at the autopsy," Bakkedahl said of the parents, whose heads and torsos were maimed in the alleged attack. "It's absolutely horrific. The injuries were just massive."
Hadley's next-door neighbor, Raeann Wallace, said she has known the teen since he was born. He was friendly and polite and never seemed to be the source of any problems. She'd even ask him to keep an eye on her house when she went on vacation.
"How do you go from shooting hoops with your dad in the driveway to beating him with a hammer?" asked Wallace, a 64-year-old retiree. "At some point, he's going to get out of the dark place that he's at and he's going to realize that he killed his parents."
On Tuesday, police continued to come and go from Hadley's modest white ranch, evidence still being processed for a third straight day. Yellow crime scene tape blocked part of Granduer Avenue off to the curious.
Hadley is being charged as an adult in his parents' killings. Although he currently is charged with second-degree murder, Bakkedahi said it's all but certain a grand jury will indict him on more serious charges.
He will not face the death penalty if convicted because of his age.
As police tell it, Hadley posted word on Facebook around 1:15 p.m. Saturday that he would be hosting a party at his house that night. Sometime afterward, the parents were attacked outside their bedroom, where their bodies were brought and covered with varied household items, and the door was locked.
The party went on as planned, with as many as 60 guests having such a raucous time that police were called with a noise complaint. They arrived at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, but the party was already breaking up.
Then, tipped off that a murder may have taken place, they returned to the home at about 4:24 a.m. Hadley was seen pacing inside a front bay window, police said, and when he finally answered the door he appeared nervous.
Inside the master bedroom, they found the bodies.
Since his arrest, Hadley has been questioned by police, but has given no inking what motivated his alleged actions, said Tom Nicholos, a police spokesman in Port St. Lucie, which is about 50 miles (80 Kilometers) north of West Palm Beach.
"He didn't say anything as to why this murder occurred," Nicholas said.
The mother, 47, was an elementary school teacher. The father, 54, worked for the local electric utility. The Hadley's also had a 23-year-old son who lives out of state.
A call to the public defender's office was not immediately returned Tuesday and relatives of the family declined to comment or let calls go unanswered.
Santas get physical at World Santa Claus Congress
The Olympics have pentathlons ----- and so does the World Santa Congress, sort of.
Santas from all over the world lugged their overweight waistlines to this year's 54th World Santa Claus Congress, throwing sacks of presents and firing cannon balls in a new physical fitness contest.
The five-discipline event is the latest addition to the three-day conference at the world's oldest amusement park: Bakken, just outside the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
Two teams of St. Nicks ---- one from Denmark and the other from the USA, Sweden, Russia, Germany and other countries ---- competed Wednesday for the coveted trophy of Best Santa Team.
The Danish Santas won. Aside from throwing presents, they also had to master a Christmas obstacle course, ride bumper cars and compete in a horse race game.
Santas from all over the world lugged their overweight waistlines to this year's 54th World Santa Claus Congress, throwing sacks of presents and firing cannon balls in a new physical fitness contest.
The five-discipline event is the latest addition to the three-day conference at the world's oldest amusement park: Bakken, just outside the Danish capital of Copenhagen.
Two teams of St. Nicks ---- one from Denmark and the other from the USA, Sweden, Russia, Germany and other countries ---- competed Wednesday for the coveted trophy of Best Santa Team.
The Danish Santas won. Aside from throwing presents, they also had to master a Christmas obstacle course, ride bumper cars and compete in a horse race game.
He awoke in fridge of morgue
A South African health official says a man awoke to find himself in a morgue fridge ---- nearly a day after his family thought he had died.
Health departments spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said yesterday that the man awoke Sunday afternoon, 21 hours after his family called in an undertaker who sent him to the morgue after an asthma attack.
Kupelo says the man started yelling, prompting morgue workers to run away in fear. They eventually returned and removed him from the fridge. He was then taken to a nearby hospital and later discharged by doctors.
The mortuary owner says his family is very happy to have him home.
Health departments spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said yesterday that the man awoke Sunday afternoon, 21 hours after his family called in an undertaker who sent him to the morgue after an asthma attack.
Kupelo says the man started yelling, prompting morgue workers to run away in fear. They eventually returned and removed him from the fridge. He was then taken to a nearby hospital and later discharged by doctors.
The mortuary owner says his family is very happy to have him home.
F. Y. I.
Famous Firsts
The first ice cream cone was produced in New York City in 1896 by Italo Marchiony, who emigrated from Italy.
Still on the Books
In Devon, Conn., it is unlawful to walk backward after sunset.
Fish Fun
By swallowing water, the puffer fish becomes too big for other fish to swallow.
Actually Said
by George Gobel, comedian and actor
"If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight."
So Called
A group of owls is called a parliament.
The first ice cream cone was produced in New York City in 1896 by Italo Marchiony, who emigrated from Italy.
Still on the Books
In Devon, Conn., it is unlawful to walk backward after sunset.
Fish Fun
By swallowing water, the puffer fish becomes too big for other fish to swallow.
Actually Said
by George Gobel, comedian and actor
"If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight."
So Called
A group of owls is called a parliament.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Forklift accident sends $1M worth of fine wine down the drain
A forklift loading cartons on an Australian dock dropped 462 cases of wine, sending $1 million worth of shiraz down the drain, the Adelaide Advertiser reports. Only one carton survived intact.
The cases of 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove shiraz fell more than 18 feet Thursday as they were being loaded in Adelaide for export to the USA.
The highly rated wine, valued at $185 a bottle, was to be formally launched in the USA in September. The accident wiped out a third of the winemaker Spark Marquis' annual production.
Marquis tells the Australian Associated Press that shipping crews who opened the crushed cartons said "it was like a murder scene --- there was red everywhere."
"But," he adds, "it smelled phenomenal."
The cases of 2010 Mollydooker Velvet Glove shiraz fell more than 18 feet Thursday as they were being loaded in Adelaide for export to the USA.
The highly rated wine, valued at $185 a bottle, was to be formally launched in the USA in September. The accident wiped out a third of the winemaker Spark Marquis' annual production.
Marquis tells the Australian Associated Press that shipping crews who opened the crushed cartons said "it was like a murder scene --- there was red everywhere."
"But," he adds, "it smelled phenomenal."
Driver rear-ended by motorcycle discovers dazed biker in back seat
The driver of a minivan that was rear-ended by a motorcycle in Victorville, Calif., got all the way home before he realized the dazed biker had landed in his back seat, the Victorville Daily News reports.
Karen Hunt, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff"s office, says officials call the incident "a non-injury collision with a twist."
Hunt says officers initially feared the biker had gotten caught under the vehicle because callers who reported the accident didn't know where the rider was.
Deputies say the driver had slowed to turn into his street when the crash occurred and proceeded for a half-block to his home.
Calling out to his wife that he'd been rear-ended and needed to go back, he turned around to find the shocked biker in the back seat, the newspaper says.
Hunt says the biker did not need any medical attention because the helmet sustained most of the impact.
All he asked for was an icepack for one of his hands, the paper says.
Karen Hunt, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff"s office, says officials call the incident "a non-injury collision with a twist."
Hunt says officers initially feared the biker had gotten caught under the vehicle because callers who reported the accident didn't know where the rider was.
Deputies say the driver had slowed to turn into his street when the crash occurred and proceeded for a half-block to his home.
Calling out to his wife that he'd been rear-ended and needed to go back, he turned around to find the shocked biker in the back seat, the newspaper says.
Hunt says the biker did not need any medical attention because the helmet sustained most of the impact.
All he asked for was an icepack for one of his hands, the paper says.
Man charged with bike theft in front of courthouse after a hearing
A man leaving a hearing on a charge of carrying an open alcohol container in El Monte, Calif., was arrested minutes later for allegedly stealing a bicycle outside the courthouse, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Police were alerted by a postal worker who said Hector Pineda, 54, had allegedly destroyed a wrought-iron fence to remove the locked bike.
Initially, the newspaper says, Pineda argued that he owned the bicycle and had forgotten his key. But he was booked on suspicion of felony vandalism and petty theft after a Covina resident showed up to identify the bike.
The quick-witted Pineda then told police he was an unemployed welder and asked if he could bid on the repair job for the mangled fence.
There was no word on the answer, the Times notes.
Police were alerted by a postal worker who said Hector Pineda, 54, had allegedly destroyed a wrought-iron fence to remove the locked bike.
Initially, the newspaper says, Pineda argued that he owned the bicycle and had forgotten his key. But he was booked on suspicion of felony vandalism and petty theft after a Covina resident showed up to identify the bike.
The quick-witted Pineda then told police he was an unemployed welder and asked if he could bid on the repair job for the mangled fence.
There was no word on the answer, the Times notes.
Dutch woman, 96, admits mistaken murder in 1946
A 96-year-old woman has confessed to the 1946 murder of a prominent businessman whom she mistakenly believed had been a Nazi collaborator during World War 2, the AP reports.
Though Felix Guje was acquitted of being a Nazi collaborator, rumors persisted. On March 1, 1946, Atie Visser, who worked for the resistance after Germany occupied the Netherlands, shot Gulje in the chest when he came to the door of his home. Gulje was the head of a construction company and being considered for a high politcal post.
It turned out that Gulje had sheltered some Jews and given money to help hide others.
AP writes that "the failure to find the assassin became a point of contention among political parties."
Today, the mayor of Leiden stepped forward with the admission by Atie Ridder-Visser, whom he described as "a very old, very frail woman who hears poorly, is disabled and needs help."
Last month she met two of Gulje's grandchildren to explain what happened and why.
She will not be prosecuted, the mayor said.
Though Felix Guje was acquitted of being a Nazi collaborator, rumors persisted. On March 1, 1946, Atie Visser, who worked for the resistance after Germany occupied the Netherlands, shot Gulje in the chest when he came to the door of his home. Gulje was the head of a construction company and being considered for a high politcal post.
It turned out that Gulje had sheltered some Jews and given money to help hide others.
AP writes that "the failure to find the assassin became a point of contention among political parties."
Today, the mayor of Leiden stepped forward with the admission by Atie Ridder-Visser, whom he described as "a very old, very frail woman who hears poorly, is disabled and needs help."
Last month she met two of Gulje's grandchildren to explain what happened and why.
She will not be prosecuted, the mayor said.
Dad charged with abandoning 4-year-old son along a highway at 3 a.m..
A Texas man has been charged with attempted capital murder for allegedly chocking his 4-year-old son and leaving him alongside a Texas highway at 3 a.m. after having a "religious expereince."
Suffering neck bruises and covered in cactus spines, the boy, named Angel, was rescued three hours later outside the West Texas town of Sweetwater by a high school coach and his son.
Fox34 TV says the boy's father, Carlos Rico, 22, of Lubbock, turned himself in.
The Lubbock TV station quotes Sweetwater Police Chief Jim Kelly as saying Rico and Angel were headed to Saginaw, Texas, when the father abruptly stopped the car along Interstate 20.
"(H)e had a religious experience and was told to choke his son and leave him on the side of the road, and that's what he did," Kelly says.
Kelly tells the Abilene Reporter-News that Rico "threw the boy out of the car like a bag of garbage."
Rico told police that he had a second "religious experience" in which he "saw a bird on the grill of his truck and it told him his son wasn't dead," Kelly says.
Suffering neck bruises and covered in cactus spines, the boy, named Angel, was rescued three hours later outside the West Texas town of Sweetwater by a high school coach and his son.
Fox34 TV says the boy's father, Carlos Rico, 22, of Lubbock, turned himself in.
The Lubbock TV station quotes Sweetwater Police Chief Jim Kelly as saying Rico and Angel were headed to Saginaw, Texas, when the father abruptly stopped the car along Interstate 20.
"(H)e had a religious experience and was told to choke his son and leave him on the side of the road, and that's what he did," Kelly says.
Kelly tells the Abilene Reporter-News that Rico "threw the boy out of the car like a bag of garbage."
Rico told police that he had a second "religious experience" in which he "saw a bird on the grill of his truck and it told him his son wasn't dead," Kelly says.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
POP QUIZ (The first of many major Civil War battles)
For those keeping track of events related to the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Thursday marks the date of the First Battle of Bull Run.
Test your knowledge of the first major engagement of the conflict.
1. Name the commander of the Union forces.
a) George B. McClellan
b) Ulysses S. Grant
c) Irvin McDowell
d) George Meade
2. Who were the principal Confederate commanders?
a) Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston
b) Joseph E. Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard
c) P.G.T. Beauregard and Thomas J. Jackson
d) Thomas J. Jackson and Braxton Bragg
3. The Union forces were hoping to seize this target.
a) Virgina b) Tennessee
c) Alabama d) Maryland
4. The Union forces were hoping to seize this target.
a) A Confederate armory
b) Robert E. Lee
c) President Jefferson Davis
d) A railroad Junction
5. Which of these sites did not play a part in the battle?
a) Henry Hill b) Culp's Hill
c) Stone Bridge d) Sudley Springs Ford
6. This general earned his nom de guerre at Bull Run.
a) Richard "Ramrod" Page
b) Clement "Rock" Stevens
c) Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
d) Elisha "Bull" Paxton
7. The Union named the battle Bull Run after a nearby creek. The South referred to it by this name.
a) Manassas b) Shiloh
c) Antietam d) Cold Harbor
8. When did the Second Battle of Bull Run take place?
a) July 1863
b) December 1861
c) April 1864
d) August 1862
9. After the defeated Union forces retreated to Washington, their commander was replaced by this general.
a) Ulysses S. Grant
b) John Pope
c) George B. McClellan
d) Joseph Hooker
10. When veterans of Bull Run celebrated the Manassas National Jubilee of Peace in 1911, what president delivered the keynote address?
a) Woodrow Wilson
b) William Howard Taft
c) Theodore Roosevelt
d) William McKinley
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. b ; 3. a ; 4. d ; 5. b ; 6. c ; 7. a ; 8. d ; 9. c ; 10. b
Test your knowledge of the first major engagement of the conflict.
1. Name the commander of the Union forces.
a) George B. McClellan
b) Ulysses S. Grant
c) Irvin McDowell
d) George Meade
2. Who were the principal Confederate commanders?
a) Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston
b) Joseph E. Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard
c) P.G.T. Beauregard and Thomas J. Jackson
d) Thomas J. Jackson and Braxton Bragg
3. The Union forces were hoping to seize this target.
a) Virgina b) Tennessee
c) Alabama d) Maryland
4. The Union forces were hoping to seize this target.
a) A Confederate armory
b) Robert E. Lee
c) President Jefferson Davis
d) A railroad Junction
5. Which of these sites did not play a part in the battle?
a) Henry Hill b) Culp's Hill
c) Stone Bridge d) Sudley Springs Ford
6. This general earned his nom de guerre at Bull Run.
a) Richard "Ramrod" Page
b) Clement "Rock" Stevens
c) Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
d) Elisha "Bull" Paxton
7. The Union named the battle Bull Run after a nearby creek. The South referred to it by this name.
a) Manassas b) Shiloh
c) Antietam d) Cold Harbor
8. When did the Second Battle of Bull Run take place?
a) July 1863
b) December 1861
c) April 1864
d) August 1862
9. After the defeated Union forces retreated to Washington, their commander was replaced by this general.
a) Ulysses S. Grant
b) John Pope
c) George B. McClellan
d) Joseph Hooker
10. When veterans of Bull Run celebrated the Manassas National Jubilee of Peace in 1911, what president delivered the keynote address?
a) Woodrow Wilson
b) William Howard Taft
c) Theodore Roosevelt
d) William McKinley
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. b ; 3. a ; 4. d ; 5. b ; 6. c ; 7. a ; 8. d ; 9. c ; 10. b
Symbol in Syriac may be world's first question mark
What could be the world's earliest example of a question mark has been identified in Classical Syriac manuscripts dating from the 5th Century. The symbol, a double dot resembling the modern colon, is known as the "zagwa elaya," or "upper pair." Its function as a question mark was pinned down by Chip Coakley, a manuscript specialist at Cambridge University.
By studying the biblical manuscripts at the British Museum in London, Coakley was able to solve the mystery of the two dots, which has puzzled grammarians for decades, and described his finding as a "significant footnote in the history of writing."
"When you are sitting round a table reading a Syriac text with students, they ask all kinds of questions -- like what the heck does this or that dot mean -- and you want to be able to answer them," said Coakley.
"It's satisfying to have made sense of some of those weird dots."
Although the zagwa elaya is discussed in later grammatical tracts, it was not identified correctly, Coakley told Reuters.
"Later grammarians did talk about it but did not really know how it was used. They thought it indicated sarcasm or reproof, which turns out to only be partly true.
"I went back to the earliest manuscripts in the British Library to see how the zagwa elaya was used there. These were manuscripts later grammarians did not have access to."
Coakley's discovery that the zagwa elaya may in fact be a question mark identifies Syriac as the first language to use punctuation as a grammatical indicator of a question.
"Other languages, such as Hebrew, use particles to mark questions but in Classical Syriac we see the sagwa elaya as a grammatical marker," Coakley said.
The zagwa elaya is written at the start of declarative sentences to indicate their function as questions, something which would otherwise be ambiguous.
It is not used in questions with interrogative words, the equivalents of "wh-words" in English.
This is significant for theories of how the ancient language might have sounded, said the researcher.
"Reading aloud, the same function is served by a rising tone of voice -- or at least it is in English -- and it is interesting to ponder whether zawga elaya really marks the grammar of the question, or whether it is a direction to someone reading the Bible aloud to modulate their voice," Coakley said.
Syriac is thought to have appeared in the Middle East from the 1st Century and boasts a large Christian literature. It declined as a spoken language with the arrival of Islam and Arabic and today is only used in churches.
By studying the biblical manuscripts at the British Museum in London, Coakley was able to solve the mystery of the two dots, which has puzzled grammarians for decades, and described his finding as a "significant footnote in the history of writing."
"When you are sitting round a table reading a Syriac text with students, they ask all kinds of questions -- like what the heck does this or that dot mean -- and you want to be able to answer them," said Coakley.
"It's satisfying to have made sense of some of those weird dots."
Although the zagwa elaya is discussed in later grammatical tracts, it was not identified correctly, Coakley told Reuters.
"Later grammarians did talk about it but did not really know how it was used. They thought it indicated sarcasm or reproof, which turns out to only be partly true.
"I went back to the earliest manuscripts in the British Library to see how the zagwa elaya was used there. These were manuscripts later grammarians did not have access to."
Coakley's discovery that the zagwa elaya may in fact be a question mark identifies Syriac as the first language to use punctuation as a grammatical indicator of a question.
"Other languages, such as Hebrew, use particles to mark questions but in Classical Syriac we see the sagwa elaya as a grammatical marker," Coakley said.
The zagwa elaya is written at the start of declarative sentences to indicate their function as questions, something which would otherwise be ambiguous.
It is not used in questions with interrogative words, the equivalents of "wh-words" in English.
This is significant for theories of how the ancient language might have sounded, said the researcher.
"Reading aloud, the same function is served by a rising tone of voice -- or at least it is in English -- and it is interesting to ponder whether zawga elaya really marks the grammar of the question, or whether it is a direction to someone reading the Bible aloud to modulate their voice," Coakley said.
Syriac is thought to have appeared in the Middle East from the 1st Century and boasts a large Christian literature. It declined as a spoken language with the arrival of Islam and Arabic and today is only used in churches.
When life gives you lemons..
A man angry that a car dealership refused to take back a "lemon" van he had purchased, intentionally crashed it into seven parked vehicles, police said on Thursday. The dispute began when David Cross, 42, of Salisbury, Massachusetts, and his wife on Monday bought a van at the Portsmouth Used Car Superstore, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, said Portsmouth Police Lieutenant Russell Russo.
Cross told police that his mechanic quickly found a variety of problems with the van and advised him to return it to the dealer. But the business declined to take back what Cross said was a "lemon", Russo told Reuters.
After the dealership closed on Tuesday, Cross returned at midnight and used his van to smash into seven vehicles on the dealer's lot, including a Mercedes C300 and a Ford Mustang, causing damage initially estimated at $20,000, police said.
"He damaged each one, and then he left his van that he bought behind," Russo said.
He then crossed the street to where a police cruiser happened to be parked and reported the incident, leading an officer back to the wrecks.
After his arrest, Cross was charged with seven counts of criminal mischief, a felony due to the damage amount, Russo said.
Cross was released on personal recognizance and was scheduled to be arraigned September 19 in Portsmouth District Court, police said.
The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation on Thursday suggested that individuals who believe they have bought a lemon call its hotline for help.
Cross told police that his mechanic quickly found a variety of problems with the van and advised him to return it to the dealer. But the business declined to take back what Cross said was a "lemon", Russo told Reuters.
After the dealership closed on Tuesday, Cross returned at midnight and used his van to smash into seven vehicles on the dealer's lot, including a Mercedes C300 and a Ford Mustang, causing damage initially estimated at $20,000, police said.
"He damaged each one, and then he left his van that he bought behind," Russo said.
He then crossed the street to where a police cruiser happened to be parked and reported the incident, leading an officer back to the wrecks.
After his arrest, Cross was charged with seven counts of criminal mischief, a felony due to the damage amount, Russo said.
Cross was released on personal recognizance and was scheduled to be arraigned September 19 in Portsmouth District Court, police said.
The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation on Thursday suggested that individuals who believe they have bought a lemon call its hotline for help.
Hotel snore controls aim to banish sleepless nights
Guests at an international hotel chain may sleep more soundly after the introduction of "snore patrols" and "snore absorption rooms" at a number of sites worldwide. Crowne Plaza is trialing the first "snore absorption" rooms at 10 hotels in Europe and the Middle East, whilst six branches in Britain have implemented "snore patrols" this month in a bid to combat noisy sleepers.
"Snore monitors" patrol corridors in the designated quiet zones of Crowne Plaza hotels in the cities of London, Leeds and Manchester. Their job is to listen out for offensive noises and knock on the door of guests who snore too loudly.
"We have quiet zones on two floors of the hotel. As Snore Monitor, I conduct floor walks to check for noise disruptions, paying particular attention to the quiet zone rooms," said Laura Simpson, Snore Monitor at Leeds Crowne Plaza hotel in northern England.
"Guests can ask to stay our quiet zone rooms if they are particularly light sleepers."
However, repeat offenders will be offered an alternative room away from the "quiet zone" for their next stay.
"If guests do continue to make noise we will suggest that the quiet zone is not really an area for them, and that they would probably be better off in one of our normal rooms," Simpson said.
Snore-proof rooms are an additional measure being tested by the hotel brand, owned by the InterContinental Hotels Group.
Guests in a "snore absorption room" can expect the latest snore control technology to reduce the repetitive noise. Sound proofing on the walls and headboards, anti-snoring pillows and white noise machines are among the features designed to ease snoring.
"We've all been there -- lying wide awake at three o'clock in the morning burying our head under a pillow to drown out our partner's snoring," said Tom Rowntree, spokesman for Crowne Plaza.
"There's nothing worse than being kept up all night, that's why we've designed this specific snore absorption room to help give our guests a great night's sleep."
Snoring is caused by a partial blockage of the upper airway and affects four in 10 people in the United Kingdom, according to the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association.
"Snore monitors" patrol corridors in the designated quiet zones of Crowne Plaza hotels in the cities of London, Leeds and Manchester. Their job is to listen out for offensive noises and knock on the door of guests who snore too loudly.
"We have quiet zones on two floors of the hotel. As Snore Monitor, I conduct floor walks to check for noise disruptions, paying particular attention to the quiet zone rooms," said Laura Simpson, Snore Monitor at Leeds Crowne Plaza hotel in northern England.
"Guests can ask to stay our quiet zone rooms if they are particularly light sleepers."
However, repeat offenders will be offered an alternative room away from the "quiet zone" for their next stay.
"If guests do continue to make noise we will suggest that the quiet zone is not really an area for them, and that they would probably be better off in one of our normal rooms," Simpson said.
Snore-proof rooms are an additional measure being tested by the hotel brand, owned by the InterContinental Hotels Group.
Guests in a "snore absorption room" can expect the latest snore control technology to reduce the repetitive noise. Sound proofing on the walls and headboards, anti-snoring pillows and white noise machines are among the features designed to ease snoring.
"We've all been there -- lying wide awake at three o'clock in the morning burying our head under a pillow to drown out our partner's snoring," said Tom Rowntree, spokesman for Crowne Plaza.
"There's nothing worse than being kept up all night, that's why we've designed this specific snore absorption room to help give our guests a great night's sleep."
Snoring is caused by a partial blockage of the upper airway and affects four in 10 people in the United Kingdom, according to the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea Association.
Fake Apple Store even fools staff
Chinese counterfeiters have had a field-day pumping out knockoffs of Apple Inc's best-selling iPhones and iPads but one appears to have gone a step further -- a near flawless fake Apple Store that even employees believe is the real deal. The store in Kunming was stumbled upon by a 27-year-old American blogger living in the city, the capital of China's mountainous southwestern Yunnan province.
Complete with the white Apple logo, wooden tables and cheery staff claiming they work for the iPhone maker, the store looks every bit like Apple Stores found all over the world, according to the blogger, who goes by the name "BirdAbroad."
But Apple has no stores in Kunming and only 13 authorized resellers in the city, who are not allowed to call themselves Apple Stores or claim to work for Apple.
"This was a total Apple store rip-off. A beautiful rip-off - a brilliant one - the best rip-off store we had ever seen," the anonymous blogger posted Wednesday. "Being the curious types that we are, we struck up some conversation with these salespeople who, hand to God, all genuinely think they work for Apple."
It was unclear whether the store was selling fake or genuine Apple products -- there are countless unauthorized resellers of Apple and other brands' electronic products throughout the country who sell the real thing but obtain their goods by buying them overseas and smuggling them into the country to skip tax.
The store had sections devoted to different Apple products, similar to real Apple stores, and large posters advertising the iPhone 4 and MacBook Pro, according to photos on the blog. (http://birdabroad.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/are-you-listening-st
eve-jobs/)
Apple declined to comment. The Cupertino, California-based firm reported forecast-smashing results Tuesday, helped by massive growth in Asia, and China in particular.
SHADY ORIGINS
Apple, which was slow to establish its brand in China, currently has four retail outlets in Beijing and Shanghai. The firm plans another two more this year, including one in Shanghai and another in Hong Kong.
But the immense popularity of Apple's iPads, iPhones and Macbook computers has spurred a bumper crop of resellers with dubious credentials.
At one unauthorized Apple reseller in Shanghai visited on Thursday, the shop was decorated in much the same way as Apple stores, with wooden tables and chairs with iPads laid out for customers to try out.
The shop was not contained on a list of authorized Apple resellers in Shanghai. (http://www.apple.com.cn/reseller/index.php)
But the proprietors fell short on the attention to detail displayed by their counterparts in Kunming. For one, the store also sold some other products, like chocolate jigsaw puzzles, that would never see the light of day at a real Apple Store.
"Do you have a web camera for my Macbook?," asked one customer.
"No, but our other store in Lujiazui should have it," said the sales representative, referring to Apple's genuine retail store in the heart of Shanghai's financial district.
When approached, none of the staff claimed to work for Apple or that the store was an actual Apple Store. Customers appeared unfazed.
"I prefer to get my Apple products fixed here. It's very troublesome going to the real Apple store in Lujiazui because not only do you have to pay to get repairs, but you have to make an appointment to see the sales specialist," said Xavier, a 30-something expatriate who declined to give his last name.
"The prices are the same as the real store but the service is better here," he added, before whipping out his two iPads to tinker with.
Complete with the white Apple logo, wooden tables and cheery staff claiming they work for the iPhone maker, the store looks every bit like Apple Stores found all over the world, according to the blogger, who goes by the name "BirdAbroad."
But Apple has no stores in Kunming and only 13 authorized resellers in the city, who are not allowed to call themselves Apple Stores or claim to work for Apple.
"This was a total Apple store rip-off. A beautiful rip-off - a brilliant one - the best rip-off store we had ever seen," the anonymous blogger posted Wednesday. "Being the curious types that we are, we struck up some conversation with these salespeople who, hand to God, all genuinely think they work for Apple."
It was unclear whether the store was selling fake or genuine Apple products -- there are countless unauthorized resellers of Apple and other brands' electronic products throughout the country who sell the real thing but obtain their goods by buying them overseas and smuggling them into the country to skip tax.
The store had sections devoted to different Apple products, similar to real Apple stores, and large posters advertising the iPhone 4 and MacBook Pro, according to photos on the blog. (http://birdabroad.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/are-you-listening-st
eve-jobs/)
Apple declined to comment. The Cupertino, California-based firm reported forecast-smashing results Tuesday, helped by massive growth in Asia, and China in particular.
SHADY ORIGINS
Apple, which was slow to establish its brand in China, currently has four retail outlets in Beijing and Shanghai. The firm plans another two more this year, including one in Shanghai and another in Hong Kong.
But the immense popularity of Apple's iPads, iPhones and Macbook computers has spurred a bumper crop of resellers with dubious credentials.
At one unauthorized Apple reseller in Shanghai visited on Thursday, the shop was decorated in much the same way as Apple stores, with wooden tables and chairs with iPads laid out for customers to try out.
The shop was not contained on a list of authorized Apple resellers in Shanghai. (http://www.apple.com.cn/reseller/index.php)
But the proprietors fell short on the attention to detail displayed by their counterparts in Kunming. For one, the store also sold some other products, like chocolate jigsaw puzzles, that would never see the light of day at a real Apple Store.
"Do you have a web camera for my Macbook?," asked one customer.
"No, but our other store in Lujiazui should have it," said the sales representative, referring to Apple's genuine retail store in the heart of Shanghai's financial district.
When approached, none of the staff claimed to work for Apple or that the store was an actual Apple Store. Customers appeared unfazed.
"I prefer to get my Apple products fixed here. It's very troublesome going to the real Apple store in Lujiazui because not only do you have to pay to get repairs, but you have to make an appointment to see the sales specialist," said Xavier, a 30-something expatriate who declined to give his last name.
"The prices are the same as the real store but the service is better here," he added, before whipping out his two iPads to tinker with.
JetBlue offers $4 L.A.-area "Carmageddon" flights
For some Los Angeles-area travelers looking to beat the gridlock during an upcoming weekend freeway closure widely dubbed "Carmageddon," the best alternative route may be thousands of feet above the city.
JetBlue Airways on Wednesday offered special $4 nonstop flights between Long Beach Airport and Bob Hope Airport in suburban Burbank for Saturday, the first day of a long-planned and much-feared shutdown of the 405 Freeway for two days of construction.
The $4 one-way tickets include taxes and fees, and for $1 more, travelers can buy a bit of first-class treatment, including extra leg room and early boarding privileges.
"We're helping Angelenos get over the gridlock altogether and enjoy the valley or the beach ... without having to brave the traffic jams to get there," JetBlue marketing manager Mark Rogers said in a statement introducing the "Carmageddon" special.
The special offer was promoted with the slogan: "405 Freeway Closure? We're So Over It!"
The offer was obviously popular. Tickets for all four flights -- about 600 seats in all -- sold out in just two hours, airline spokeswoman Jenny Dervin told Reuters.
The airline known for introducing leather seats and satellite TV to U.S. bargain-fare service also offered a 40.5 percent discount on the airfare portion of its JetBlue Getaways vacation to Las Vegas from either Burbank or Long Beach.
As part of its "Over-the-405" special, JetBlue scheduled two one-way, nonstop flights from Burbank to Long Beach -- one in the early afternoon and one in the evening -- and two more in the other direction, from Long Beach to Burbank.
Passengers making a round-trip outing for the day from Burbank to Long Beach and back would have six hours on the ground. Those flying in the other direction would get a four-hour "layover."
Dervin said the promotion was not intended to introduce a new regular Burbank-Long Beach route but "to meet the short-term needs of our customers in Southern California."
Because the airline's Airbus 320 jetliners will be flying below the typical cruising altitude of 28,000 feet, the company needed the cooperation of the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic controllers "to make these flights a reality," she said.
Authorities are warning Los Angeles motorists of area-wide traffic tie-ups of epic proportions during the 53-hour shutdown of the 405 to allow crews to demolish a bridge as part of a $1 billion freeway widening project.
JetBlue Airways on Wednesday offered special $4 nonstop flights between Long Beach Airport and Bob Hope Airport in suburban Burbank for Saturday, the first day of a long-planned and much-feared shutdown of the 405 Freeway for two days of construction.
The $4 one-way tickets include taxes and fees, and for $1 more, travelers can buy a bit of first-class treatment, including extra leg room and early boarding privileges.
"We're helping Angelenos get over the gridlock altogether and enjoy the valley or the beach ... without having to brave the traffic jams to get there," JetBlue marketing manager Mark Rogers said in a statement introducing the "Carmageddon" special.
The special offer was promoted with the slogan: "405 Freeway Closure? We're So Over It!"
The offer was obviously popular. Tickets for all four flights -- about 600 seats in all -- sold out in just two hours, airline spokeswoman Jenny Dervin told Reuters.
The airline known for introducing leather seats and satellite TV to U.S. bargain-fare service also offered a 40.5 percent discount on the airfare portion of its JetBlue Getaways vacation to Las Vegas from either Burbank or Long Beach.
As part of its "Over-the-405" special, JetBlue scheduled two one-way, nonstop flights from Burbank to Long Beach -- one in the early afternoon and one in the evening -- and two more in the other direction, from Long Beach to Burbank.
Passengers making a round-trip outing for the day from Burbank to Long Beach and back would have six hours on the ground. Those flying in the other direction would get a four-hour "layover."
Dervin said the promotion was not intended to introduce a new regular Burbank-Long Beach route but "to meet the short-term needs of our customers in Southern California."
Because the airline's Airbus 320 jetliners will be flying below the typical cruising altitude of 28,000 feet, the company needed the cooperation of the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic controllers "to make these flights a reality," she said.
Authorities are warning Los Angeles motorists of area-wide traffic tie-ups of epic proportions during the 53-hour shutdown of the 405 to allow crews to demolish a bridge as part of a $1 billion freeway widening project.
Vow of "love forever" tested by letter delivered 53 years late
A love letter written to a Pennsylvania college student and proclaiming "love forever" was finally delivered -- 53 years late.
But the tender note written in 1958 still waits forlornly in the mailroom at California University of Pennsylvania as officials search for its intended recipient, Clark Moore, now about 70 years old and living near Indianapolis, according to university spokeswoman Christine Kindl.
The letter, sent from Pittsburgh and postmarked February 20, 1958, arrived in the mailroom last week, Kindl said.
"No one here has any idea why it was delayed," she said.
The letter had been addressed to Mr. Clark C. Moore, then a junior at the university, which was known at the time as California State Teachers College, she said.
It included a return address, but little other information about the sender, who signed the letter, "Love Forever, Vonnie."
"It's very much the same type of letter that students today might write to a boyfriend who's away at college," Kindl said.
"She ends by saying, 'I still miss you as much as ever and love you a thousand times more. Please write me real soon.'"
The university hopes to deliver the letter to Moore and has received a few tips on his possible whereabouts, she said.
But the tender note written in 1958 still waits forlornly in the mailroom at California University of Pennsylvania as officials search for its intended recipient, Clark Moore, now about 70 years old and living near Indianapolis, according to university spokeswoman Christine Kindl.
The letter, sent from Pittsburgh and postmarked February 20, 1958, arrived in the mailroom last week, Kindl said.
"No one here has any idea why it was delayed," she said.
The letter had been addressed to Mr. Clark C. Moore, then a junior at the university, which was known at the time as California State Teachers College, she said.
It included a return address, but little other information about the sender, who signed the letter, "Love Forever, Vonnie."
"It's very much the same type of letter that students today might write to a boyfriend who's away at college," Kindl said.
"She ends by saying, 'I still miss you as much as ever and love you a thousand times more. Please write me real soon.'"
The university hopes to deliver the letter to Moore and has received a few tips on his possible whereabouts, she said.
Live mannequins in Milan shop window anger union
Models appearing in shorts and bikinis in the window of a department store in central Milan caused a stir over the weekend, with Italy's trade unions denouncing the merchandisation of the human body.
The male and female models first appeared last week in the windows of the Coin department store to promote the summer sale on bathing costumes, prompting Italy's Filcams CGIL trade union to criticize work deemed degrading.
"Let's be clear, we're not against the sale, or a free-market economy, or against consumers. But we want to defend the decency of workers and the intelligence of customers," the union said in a statement on Friday.
The models briefly disappeared from the windows, but were back on view on Saturday, this time holding signs saying "Modeling is also a job."
To see pictures of the models on Coin's website, click on: http://www.coin.it/jsp/it/newsdetail/newsid_611.jsp
"Coin did not withdraw the models from the window, we haven't seen any reason to do so. The promotion will continue on Saturday and Sunday," the department store said in a statement.
On Monday, the models were gone, but Coin's chief executive Stefano Beraldo, speaking at the group's general assembly in Mestre near Venice, congratulated himself on the free publicity the union offered his group and said they had provided an employment opportunity for young people.
"We have given these kids a job and we paid their costs. They prefer to work rather than staying idle on the streets. So what? And what about the pin-ups reading the news? Or Big Brother?."
The male and female models first appeared last week in the windows of the Coin department store to promote the summer sale on bathing costumes, prompting Italy's Filcams CGIL trade union to criticize work deemed degrading.
"Let's be clear, we're not against the sale, or a free-market economy, or against consumers. But we want to defend the decency of workers and the intelligence of customers," the union said in a statement on Friday.
The models briefly disappeared from the windows, but were back on view on Saturday, this time holding signs saying "Modeling is also a job."
To see pictures of the models on Coin's website, click on: http://www.coin.it/jsp/it/newsdetail/newsid_611.jsp
"Coin did not withdraw the models from the window, we haven't seen any reason to do so. The promotion will continue on Saturday and Sunday," the department store said in a statement.
On Monday, the models were gone, but Coin's chief executive Stefano Beraldo, speaking at the group's general assembly in Mestre near Venice, congratulated himself on the free publicity the union offered his group and said they had provided an employment opportunity for young people.
"We have given these kids a job and we paid their costs. They prefer to work rather than staying idle on the streets. So what? And what about the pin-ups reading the news? Or Big Brother?."
Can Billy the Kid ever RIP?
Wild West gunslinger Billy the Kid was shot and killed in southern New Mexico 130 years ago, but state officials still can't seem to let him rest in peace.
Last year, then-Governor Bill Richardson made headlines by suggesting he might pardon the 19th-century outlaw, only to decide against it on his last day in office.
This year, Richardson's successor, Governor Susana Martinez, has launched a statewide "manhunt" for the Kid in a campaign to boost tourism to the Land of Enchantment.
The promotion offers a $10,000 grand prize reward to the search "posse" that first completes a prescribed series of challenges in a scavenger hunt-like contest to slap the Kid with a symbolic arrest warrant.
The prize is based on the $500 reward posted for his capture in 1881 by New Mexico Territorial Governor Lew Wallace, adjusted for inflation.
"Others may have considered pardoning Billy the Kid, but we're not letting him off the hook," Martinez said.
Born Henry McCarty but known in New Mexico as William Bonney, the outlaw was shot to death at point-blank range by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881. The Kid was believed to be 21 or 22 at the time of this death.
In weighing the pardon, Richardson said he was acting on a promise of amnesty Wallace was widely believed to have made in 1879 in return for the outlaw's grand jury testimony against three men accused of murder during the so-called Lincoln County War of 1878, a bloody conflict between cattle barons.
The Kid was serving time for having killed then-Sheriff William Brady at the height of that conflict and testified "at great risk to his personal safety" but never received a pardon, according to University of New Mexico historian Paul Hutton.
The Kid eventually escaped from jail and killed two deputies in the process, becoming a highly wanted fugitive.
Supporters of a pardon argued in a petition to Richardson that Wallace had reneged on his pardon offer. But public opinion polls found New Mexico residents divided on the issue. The descendants of Garrett and Wallace argued strenuously against it, insisting no pardon was ever proffered.
The discussion remains fodder for Wild West enthusiasts the world over, particularly in New Mexico. A group of historians and fans -- including Garrett's granddaughter -- packed a small gallery space last week in New Mexico to celebrate the Kid's death and discuss his legacy in the arts.
Newspapers already had turned the young gunslinger, reputed to have killed as many as 21 men, into a larger-than-life character by the time of his death in 1881. A book by Garrett transformed the Kid into a legendary figure of America's western frontier.
Some 65 movies have been made about Billy the Kid, more than any other historical figure in U.S. history, including President Abraham Lincoln, Hutton said.
"He was a very romantic character with a kind of Robin Hood theme," Hutton said, adding that he clashed with corrupt forces of authority in the territory and was said to be charming and great with women.
He also was "a great friend" to Hispanics as "they were the ones who protected him from the white political system that was out to get him," Hutton said.
The Kid was buried in the Old Fort Sumner military cemetery in southern New Mexico. His grave draws up to 20,000 visitors a year, said Don Sweet, who with his son runs the nearby Billy The Kid Museum in Fort Sumner.
The museum claims to have the Kid's rifle, chaps and spurs, an original wanted poster, and locks of his hair."
In a testament to the enduring interest in artifacts from his life, the only confirmed original photo of Billy the Kid was bought at auction in late June for $2.3 million, well above the expected sales price of $300,000 to $400,000.
Martinez said the "Catch the Kid" promotion gives residents and tourists "a chance to interact with one of our state's most infamous historical characters."
Given the governor's background as a prosecutor, it seems fitting that "her whole tack is we're going to bring him to justice," Hutton said.
Those interested in the mythology and history of the outlaw will never let him rest in peace, Hutton said.
"I think we're going to continue to exploit his bones as much as we possibly can," Hutton said.
Last year, then-Governor Bill Richardson made headlines by suggesting he might pardon the 19th-century outlaw, only to decide against it on his last day in office.
This year, Richardson's successor, Governor Susana Martinez, has launched a statewide "manhunt" for the Kid in a campaign to boost tourism to the Land of Enchantment.
The promotion offers a $10,000 grand prize reward to the search "posse" that first completes a prescribed series of challenges in a scavenger hunt-like contest to slap the Kid with a symbolic arrest warrant.
The prize is based on the $500 reward posted for his capture in 1881 by New Mexico Territorial Governor Lew Wallace, adjusted for inflation.
"Others may have considered pardoning Billy the Kid, but we're not letting him off the hook," Martinez said.
Born Henry McCarty but known in New Mexico as William Bonney, the outlaw was shot to death at point-blank range by Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881. The Kid was believed to be 21 or 22 at the time of this death.
In weighing the pardon, Richardson said he was acting on a promise of amnesty Wallace was widely believed to have made in 1879 in return for the outlaw's grand jury testimony against three men accused of murder during the so-called Lincoln County War of 1878, a bloody conflict between cattle barons.
The Kid was serving time for having killed then-Sheriff William Brady at the height of that conflict and testified "at great risk to his personal safety" but never received a pardon, according to University of New Mexico historian Paul Hutton.
The Kid eventually escaped from jail and killed two deputies in the process, becoming a highly wanted fugitive.
Supporters of a pardon argued in a petition to Richardson that Wallace had reneged on his pardon offer. But public opinion polls found New Mexico residents divided on the issue. The descendants of Garrett and Wallace argued strenuously against it, insisting no pardon was ever proffered.
The discussion remains fodder for Wild West enthusiasts the world over, particularly in New Mexico. A group of historians and fans -- including Garrett's granddaughter -- packed a small gallery space last week in New Mexico to celebrate the Kid's death and discuss his legacy in the arts.
Newspapers already had turned the young gunslinger, reputed to have killed as many as 21 men, into a larger-than-life character by the time of his death in 1881. A book by Garrett transformed the Kid into a legendary figure of America's western frontier.
Some 65 movies have been made about Billy the Kid, more than any other historical figure in U.S. history, including President Abraham Lincoln, Hutton said.
"He was a very romantic character with a kind of Robin Hood theme," Hutton said, adding that he clashed with corrupt forces of authority in the territory and was said to be charming and great with women.
He also was "a great friend" to Hispanics as "they were the ones who protected him from the white political system that was out to get him," Hutton said.
The Kid was buried in the Old Fort Sumner military cemetery in southern New Mexico. His grave draws up to 20,000 visitors a year, said Don Sweet, who with his son runs the nearby Billy The Kid Museum in Fort Sumner.
The museum claims to have the Kid's rifle, chaps and spurs, an original wanted poster, and locks of his hair."
In a testament to the enduring interest in artifacts from his life, the only confirmed original photo of Billy the Kid was bought at auction in late June for $2.3 million, well above the expected sales price of $300,000 to $400,000.
Martinez said the "Catch the Kid" promotion gives residents and tourists "a chance to interact with one of our state's most infamous historical characters."
Given the governor's background as a prosecutor, it seems fitting that "her whole tack is we're going to bring him to justice," Hutton said.
Those interested in the mythology and history of the outlaw will never let him rest in peace, Hutton said.
"I think we're going to continue to exploit his bones as much as we possibly can," Hutton said.
Band escapes as stage collapses
Veteran U.S. band Cheap Trick escaped unharmed when a storm blew down much of the stage on which they were performing at a major rock concert in the Canadian capital Ottawa late on Sunday. The band members were about 20 minutes into their set at the Ottawa Bluesfest when the storm suddenly swept over the area.
The band left the stage seconds before a particularly strong gust destroyed most of the structure, pushing it back onto an adjacent road and away from the thousands of spectators, according to eyewitnesses.
"It was just a freak situation," event organizer Mark Monahan told reporters on Monday.
He quoted paramedics as saying three people were injured, all of whom had left the hospital.
Government officials are investigating the incident, which happened on the event's final night.
"Fortunately the band and crew are all lucky to be alive and we'll see you down the road," Cheap Trick's lead vocalist Robin Zander said on the band's website.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who was present at the event, said he did not feel organizers could have prepared for the strength of the storm.
"It's Mother Nature, really, and there are certain things you just can't plan for. ... We're very fortunate there was no one killed," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Monday.
The band left the stage seconds before a particularly strong gust destroyed most of the structure, pushing it back onto an adjacent road and away from the thousands of spectators, according to eyewitnesses.
"It was just a freak situation," event organizer Mark Monahan told reporters on Monday.
He quoted paramedics as saying three people were injured, all of whom had left the hospital.
Government officials are investigating the incident, which happened on the event's final night.
"Fortunately the band and crew are all lucky to be alive and we'll see you down the road," Cheap Trick's lead vocalist Robin Zander said on the band's website.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who was present at the event, said he did not feel organizers could have prepared for the strength of the storm.
"It's Mother Nature, really, and there are certain things you just can't plan for. ... We're very fortunate there was no one killed," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Monday.
Women urged to strip to support Putin as president
An online campaign has been launched in Russia urging young women to support Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in a presidential vote by taking off their clothes, a lawmaker's site showed Sunday.
Called "Putin's Army," it features a video of a blonde student called Diana who struts along Moscow's streets in high heels and a black suit before scrawling "I will tear my clothes off for Putin" on a white top in red lipstick and starting to undo her clothes.
Inviting girls to strip off for Putin for the chance of winning an iPad2, the campaign comes ahead of the March 2012 presidential vote. Putin was president between 2000-2008 before handing the reins to his protege Dmitry Medvedev.
Widely seen as Russia's key decision-maker, Putin may return to the Kremlin next year.
"The goal: For Putin to be president!" said a statement on its page on social networking site vkontakte.ru/armiaputina, Russia's answer to Facebook.
During Russia's Soviet era, nudity in advertising was taboo but has since become widespread, a fact which has outraged Russian feminists who say it only intensifies an already sexualized culture where prostitution is common.
It is unclear who orchestrated the campaign which was posted on the blog of parliamentarian Kirill Shchitov, from Putin's ruling United Russia party.
In October, a band of journalism students posed in lingerie for a calendar for Putin's 58th birthday
Called "Putin's Army," it features a video of a blonde student called Diana who struts along Moscow's streets in high heels and a black suit before scrawling "I will tear my clothes off for Putin" on a white top in red lipstick and starting to undo her clothes.
Inviting girls to strip off for Putin for the chance of winning an iPad2, the campaign comes ahead of the March 2012 presidential vote. Putin was president between 2000-2008 before handing the reins to his protege Dmitry Medvedev.
Widely seen as Russia's key decision-maker, Putin may return to the Kremlin next year.
"The goal: For Putin to be president!" said a statement on its page on social networking site vkontakte.ru/armiaputina, Russia's answer to Facebook.
During Russia's Soviet era, nudity in advertising was taboo but has since become widespread, a fact which has outraged Russian feminists who say it only intensifies an already sexualized culture where prostitution is common.
It is unclear who orchestrated the campaign which was posted on the blog of parliamentarian Kirill Shchitov, from Putin's ruling United Russia party.
In October, a band of journalism students posed in lingerie for a calendar for Putin's 58th birthday
Fatter and fewer German nudists as numbers dwindle
The naked sunbathers who once crowded Germany's Baltic beaches and city parks are becoming an endangered species due to shifting demographics, the fall of the Berlin Wall, growing prosperity and widening girths. Much to the chagrin of Free Body Culture (FKK) enthusiasts who have been stripping off their clothing on beaches and parks since the early 1900s, a cold wind has been blowing across Germany for nudists and their numbers are steadily dwindling.
"German society is changing and it's not easy to be a naturist anymore," said Kurt Fischer, president of the German FKK association (DFK). There are some 500,000 registered nudists and a total of seven million Germans sunbathe naked regularly.
"But the numbers are unfortunately falling by about two percent each year," Fischer told a group of reporters in the Foreign Press Association (VAP) while sitting, fully clothed, at a beach bar in Berlin's government quarter. "Times are tough."
The main problem is the shrinking population, Fischer said.
The number of Germans fell by more than 3.2 million over the last three decades even though the country's total population has managed to remain more or less steady at about 82 million thanks to immigration -- often from countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans as well as Turkey and Arabic countries.
"Our problems are demographic changes and the fact that immigrants aren't interested in social nudity," said Fischer, 70, whose association has such honored standing in Germany that it is even part of the Olympic Sport Federation (DOSB).
"Germany is relying more and more on immigrants to keep the population steady. But many come from countries with strong religious beliefs. They just aren't into FKK." Immigrants who arrive from cultures where headscarves are common will not usually be interested in becoming naturists in Germany, he said.
VIRTUES OF SOCIAL NUDITY
With one of the lowest birth rates in the world, Germany's native population is projected to fall from about 75 million to 50 million by 2050, population researchers say.
The dwindling number of Germans has caused a myriad of problems -- affecting everything from beer and schnitzel sales to the numbers of schoolchildren. The country's proud nudity traditions are not immune. Fischer said the trend is inexorable.
"It's better that we shrink in a controlled fashion and keep a diverse age-group structure with all age-groups than to try to stay bloated with mostly seniors and few young people," he said.
Fischer added they were using "special trial offers," direct recruitment and other gimmicks to attract young people.
Nude sunbathing has a long tradition in Germany. The Free Body Culture (FKK) movement was founded in the early 20th century and succeeded in taking much of the smut and embarrassment out of nudity.
Even Germany's top model Heidi Klum was quoted in the German media recently extolling the virtues of topless sunbathing and describing difficulties she has pursuing it in places such as the United States and Italy where it's frowned upon or illegal.
"I love to get a sun tan and I don't like white stripes," said Klum. "I don't worry about what other people think." Her parents often ran around in the nude and still do, she said.
In Germany, public nudity on beaches and lakes is by and large tolerated and practitioners face no legal consequences, although some courts have fined some caught hiking nude on public trails or riding bikes or horses while naked.
For decades nudity was a popular way for those living in Communist East Germany to express themselves -- and was a small piece of freedom for those behind the Iron Curtain. East German beaches on the Baltic were always filled with nude bathers.
But that began to gradually fall out of fashion in many areas in the east after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and then tensions sometimes flared when some western German tourists unaccustomed to the widespread nudity complained.
"When we moved from western Germany to a town in the east, we noticed there was less of a taboo about nudity," said one American surprised by the ubiquitous nudity in the east. "It really struck me at a nearby lake when people were just naked in the water or getting a tan in the sun and nobody was bothered."
That, however, has also begun to change.
"WE'VE GOT A LOT CHUBBIER"
Increasing wealth and fashion-consciousness in Germany and especially the east has hurt the movement as well.
"We're all equal in the nude," said Fischer, a westerner who admitted it felt like "torture" for him to sit in his clothes on a bright sunny summer afternoon while talking to journalists.
"When people are naked you can't tell the difference between the man with the doctorate and the man who collects trash. There used to be more of an egalitarian attitude. People now want to distinguish themselves and one way to show off is with fancy swimsuits. It's not easy for the nudist in a society like this."
There are other reasons contributing to decline of the unique German cultural tradition. As a 70-year-old eastern woman named Brigitte pointed out, growing prosperity has led to growing waist sizes.
"In East Germany, there were a lot more people with attractive physiques," said Brigitte, a retired dental assistant and avid naturist who asked that her full name not be used.
"But with the rise in prosperity a lot of people have come apart at the seams and they can't show their bodies in public anymore. We've become a lot chubbier with all this prosperity. It's not really very aesthetic anymore."
Brigitte said she misses the East German era when entire beaches and camping areas were packed with nudists even though parts of West Germany, such as Munich's English Garten park and West Berlin's Tiergarten, have proud FKK traditions.
"I miss those places more and more," she said, admitting that she often feels inhibited about being nude and now wraps a towel around herself until she gets to the water. "You definitely see fewer people in then nude. But I don't think the movement will die out. It's too much fun.
"German society is changing and it's not easy to be a naturist anymore," said Kurt Fischer, president of the German FKK association (DFK). There are some 500,000 registered nudists and a total of seven million Germans sunbathe naked regularly.
"But the numbers are unfortunately falling by about two percent each year," Fischer told a group of reporters in the Foreign Press Association (VAP) while sitting, fully clothed, at a beach bar in Berlin's government quarter. "Times are tough."
The main problem is the shrinking population, Fischer said.
The number of Germans fell by more than 3.2 million over the last three decades even though the country's total population has managed to remain more or less steady at about 82 million thanks to immigration -- often from countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans as well as Turkey and Arabic countries.
"Our problems are demographic changes and the fact that immigrants aren't interested in social nudity," said Fischer, 70, whose association has such honored standing in Germany that it is even part of the Olympic Sport Federation (DOSB).
"Germany is relying more and more on immigrants to keep the population steady. But many come from countries with strong religious beliefs. They just aren't into FKK." Immigrants who arrive from cultures where headscarves are common will not usually be interested in becoming naturists in Germany, he said.
VIRTUES OF SOCIAL NUDITY
With one of the lowest birth rates in the world, Germany's native population is projected to fall from about 75 million to 50 million by 2050, population researchers say.
The dwindling number of Germans has caused a myriad of problems -- affecting everything from beer and schnitzel sales to the numbers of schoolchildren. The country's proud nudity traditions are not immune. Fischer said the trend is inexorable.
"It's better that we shrink in a controlled fashion and keep a diverse age-group structure with all age-groups than to try to stay bloated with mostly seniors and few young people," he said.
Fischer added they were using "special trial offers," direct recruitment and other gimmicks to attract young people.
Nude sunbathing has a long tradition in Germany. The Free Body Culture (FKK) movement was founded in the early 20th century and succeeded in taking much of the smut and embarrassment out of nudity.
Even Germany's top model Heidi Klum was quoted in the German media recently extolling the virtues of topless sunbathing and describing difficulties she has pursuing it in places such as the United States and Italy where it's frowned upon or illegal.
"I love to get a sun tan and I don't like white stripes," said Klum. "I don't worry about what other people think." Her parents often ran around in the nude and still do, she said.
In Germany, public nudity on beaches and lakes is by and large tolerated and practitioners face no legal consequences, although some courts have fined some caught hiking nude on public trails or riding bikes or horses while naked.
For decades nudity was a popular way for those living in Communist East Germany to express themselves -- and was a small piece of freedom for those behind the Iron Curtain. East German beaches on the Baltic were always filled with nude bathers.
But that began to gradually fall out of fashion in many areas in the east after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and then tensions sometimes flared when some western German tourists unaccustomed to the widespread nudity complained.
"When we moved from western Germany to a town in the east, we noticed there was less of a taboo about nudity," said one American surprised by the ubiquitous nudity in the east. "It really struck me at a nearby lake when people were just naked in the water or getting a tan in the sun and nobody was bothered."
That, however, has also begun to change.
"WE'VE GOT A LOT CHUBBIER"
Increasing wealth and fashion-consciousness in Germany and especially the east has hurt the movement as well.
"We're all equal in the nude," said Fischer, a westerner who admitted it felt like "torture" for him to sit in his clothes on a bright sunny summer afternoon while talking to journalists.
"When people are naked you can't tell the difference between the man with the doctorate and the man who collects trash. There used to be more of an egalitarian attitude. People now want to distinguish themselves and one way to show off is with fancy swimsuits. It's not easy for the nudist in a society like this."
There are other reasons contributing to decline of the unique German cultural tradition. As a 70-year-old eastern woman named Brigitte pointed out, growing prosperity has led to growing waist sizes.
"In East Germany, there were a lot more people with attractive physiques," said Brigitte, a retired dental assistant and avid naturist who asked that her full name not be used.
"But with the rise in prosperity a lot of people have come apart at the seams and they can't show their bodies in public anymore. We've become a lot chubbier with all this prosperity. It's not really very aesthetic anymore."
Brigitte said she misses the East German era when entire beaches and camping areas were packed with nudists even though parts of West Germany, such as Munich's English Garten park and West Berlin's Tiergarten, have proud FKK traditions.
"I miss those places more and more," she said, admitting that she often feels inhibited about being nude and now wraps a towel around herself until she gets to the water. "You definitely see fewer people in then nude. But I don't think the movement will die out. It's too much fun.
Men who buy sex commit more crimes, U.S. study finds
Men who pay for sex are more likely than men who do not pay for sex to commit a variety of offenses including violent crimes against women, according to research conducted in the Boston area. The study, released this week, was based on interviews with 202 men conducted by the nonprofit group Prostitution Research and Education and was led by Melissa Farley, a clinical psychologist and anti-prostitution activist.
Buyers and non-buyers of commercial sex from the Boston area were paired by age, education and ethnicity to compare their perceptions of women after voluntarily joining the study. About half the men paid for sex and the other half did not.
Men who paid for sex were more likely to report having committed felonies and misdemeanors, including crimes related to violence against women and those related to substance abuse, assault and weapons, the study found.
The study was designed, among other things, to test attitudes of men who buy sex. It found that as a group, they share certain attitudes and behavioral tendencies different from their non-buying peers.
Almost three in four of the sex buyers reported they learned about sex from pornography, whereas only 54 percent of the non-buyers did so.
The two groups also held significantly different attitudes regarding whether prostitution was consenting sex or exploitation. Men who bought sex were significantly less empathetic toward women working as prostitutes.
Two thirds of both groups concluded most women prostitutes had been lured, tricked or trafficked into the work.
But sex buyers "seemed to justify their involvement in the sex industry by stating their belief ... that women in prostitution were intrinsically different from non-prostituting women," the study's authors said.
The majority of both groups, 61 percent of sex buyers and 70 percent of non-buyers, currently had a wife or girlfriend.
Buyers and non-buyers of commercial sex from the Boston area were paired by age, education and ethnicity to compare their perceptions of women after voluntarily joining the study. About half the men paid for sex and the other half did not.
Men who paid for sex were more likely to report having committed felonies and misdemeanors, including crimes related to violence against women and those related to substance abuse, assault and weapons, the study found.
The study was designed, among other things, to test attitudes of men who buy sex. It found that as a group, they share certain attitudes and behavioral tendencies different from their non-buying peers.
Almost three in four of the sex buyers reported they learned about sex from pornography, whereas only 54 percent of the non-buyers did so.
The two groups also held significantly different attitudes regarding whether prostitution was consenting sex or exploitation. Men who bought sex were significantly less empathetic toward women working as prostitutes.
Two thirds of both groups concluded most women prostitutes had been lured, tricked or trafficked into the work.
But sex buyers "seemed to justify their involvement in the sex industry by stating their belief ... that women in prostitution were intrinsically different from non-prostituting women," the study's authors said.
The majority of both groups, 61 percent of sex buyers and 70 percent of non-buyers, currently had a wife or girlfriend.
Curiosity seekers in U.S. pay to spend night in jail
The cheapest room and board in Jefferson City, Missouri, over the weekend was at the county jail, and 170 people gladly checked in.
Cole County charged $30 a night for anyone who volunteered to go behind bars on Friday or Saturday night so officials could give the new jail a test run before it opened for real this week.
People from three states spent the night at the jail, including some lawyers and a couple celebrating their first anniversary.
"It was something they could experience without having to get a criminal record," Cole County Sheriff Greg White said. "They spent the night and gained an understanding that they would not want to ever do this again."
Jailers tried to give the citizens the full experience. They were told to give up their jewelry, cell phones, and other personal belongings. They were booked and photographed and led into the jail commons.
They could keep their cell doors open, but that trapped feeling was still there because the outer room doors were locked, said Bob Watson, 60, a reporter for the Jefferson City News-Tribune who spent Friday night at the jail.
"While it was not a true replication of jail, you got some sense of what it's like to hear that door lock behind you," Watson said.
Watson said two other feelings were boredom and a lack of choice, illustrated by the television being left on one channel and drowned out anyway by everybody talking.
Bed was a steel bunk with a thin mattress. Overhead, a 40-watt bulb stayed lit through the night in each cell. Handy for guards to see inmates, but not conducive to good sleep.
How about the food? Dinner Friday night included cheesy pasta with turkey bits and coffee cake. White called the dinner "pretty tasty," but Watson was less enthused.
"I wouldn't pay for it in a restaurant, but you won't die trying to eat it," he said.
There were small rewards for staying in the jail.
Each guest got their booking photo as a souvenir and a T-shirt touting their night in the slammer. In addition, the $30 went for good purposes, White said. Half goes to the sheriff's office to buy equipment and half to the United Way.
White said the jailers learned a few things from the experience, such as kinks in the door-locking system and linens that came out of the laundry too damp.
And if guests didn't get a good night's sleep, neither did White, who was away from the jail for only a few hours each night. "It was an excellent experience and I was exhausted," White said.
Cole County charged $30 a night for anyone who volunteered to go behind bars on Friday or Saturday night so officials could give the new jail a test run before it opened for real this week.
People from three states spent the night at the jail, including some lawyers and a couple celebrating their first anniversary.
"It was something they could experience without having to get a criminal record," Cole County Sheriff Greg White said. "They spent the night and gained an understanding that they would not want to ever do this again."
Jailers tried to give the citizens the full experience. They were told to give up their jewelry, cell phones, and other personal belongings. They were booked and photographed and led into the jail commons.
They could keep their cell doors open, but that trapped feeling was still there because the outer room doors were locked, said Bob Watson, 60, a reporter for the Jefferson City News-Tribune who spent Friday night at the jail.
"While it was not a true replication of jail, you got some sense of what it's like to hear that door lock behind you," Watson said.
Watson said two other feelings were boredom and a lack of choice, illustrated by the television being left on one channel and drowned out anyway by everybody talking.
Bed was a steel bunk with a thin mattress. Overhead, a 40-watt bulb stayed lit through the night in each cell. Handy for guards to see inmates, but not conducive to good sleep.
How about the food? Dinner Friday night included cheesy pasta with turkey bits and coffee cake. White called the dinner "pretty tasty," but Watson was less enthused.
"I wouldn't pay for it in a restaurant, but you won't die trying to eat it," he said.
There were small rewards for staying in the jail.
Each guest got their booking photo as a souvenir and a T-shirt touting their night in the slammer. In addition, the $30 went for good purposes, White said. Half goes to the sheriff's office to buy equipment and half to the United Way.
White said the jailers learned a few things from the experience, such as kinks in the door-locking system and linens that came out of the laundry too damp.
And if guests didn't get a good night's sleep, neither did White, who was away from the jail for only a few hours each night. "It was an excellent experience and I was exhausted," White said.
Dog bites shark and goes viral
It's got a big yellow dog, sharks, a dead dugong, attracted millions of viewers on YouTube and you couldn't make it up. Video footage of a dog attacking a shark under water on the Australian coast has "gone viral," becoming a top Internet hit.
The footage shows two dogs swimming in the ocean near the West Australian town of Broome, about 1,650 km (1,025 miles) northeast of Perth.
The dogs appear to be herding several sharks toward shore, when one suddenly ducks under the water and attacks a shark.
"The dog is biting the shark," said Russell Hood-Penn in the voice-over as he video-taped the incident. "That is unbelievable. I've seen it all now."
Hood-Penn placed the footage on video-sharing website YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HyIZh5BQZY), where it has been viewed more than 27 million times.
When the camera pans out, a dead dugong (a large marine mammal similar to a manatee) can be seen beached on the shore and Hood-Penn speculates that is the reason the sharks are circling so close to shore.
At the end of the video the dog emerges from the ocean and shakes the water from its fur. There was no word on the fate of the shark.
The footage shows two dogs swimming in the ocean near the West Australian town of Broome, about 1,650 km (1,025 miles) northeast of Perth.
The dogs appear to be herding several sharks toward shore, when one suddenly ducks under the water and attacks a shark.
"The dog is biting the shark," said Russell Hood-Penn in the voice-over as he video-taped the incident. "That is unbelievable. I've seen it all now."
Hood-Penn placed the footage on video-sharing website YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HyIZh5BQZY), where it has been viewed more than 27 million times.
When the camera pans out, a dead dugong (a large marine mammal similar to a manatee) can be seen beached on the shore and Hood-Penn speculates that is the reason the sharks are circling so close to shore.
At the end of the video the dog emerges from the ocean and shakes the water from its fur. There was no word on the fate of the shark.
Calif. man celebrates 7/9/11 as 'Odd Day'
Ron Gordon would like you to take a moment or three to think about what an odd day Saturday is. Why? Because 7/9/11 is one of only six dates this century that features three consecutive odd numbers. Next up, 9/11/13. Gordon, a retired teacher from Redwood City, California, has set up website to celebrate "Odd Day," and offers some ways to celebrate: do odds 'n ends, root for the odds-on-favorite or watch the "Odd Couple." Gordon has been fascinated with curious dates since some 30 years ago when he noticed the upcoming date 9/9/81 while writing a check. That, Gordon saw, was a Square Root Day ---- one in which the day and the month are the same number and, when multiplied, yield the year as it's expressed in one or two digits. That led Gordon to begin thinking about Odd Days, which, somewhat oddly, he has continued to do through the years. "Like a kid, if you find a lady bug on your arm, you run around and show everyone at the pinic, until the lady bug flies away," Gordon said. "This is my lady bug, and it's not gone yet." After 9/11/13, the next Odd Day will be 11/13/15 ---- and that will be it until next century. (Though we still have 4/4/16 to look forward to ---- the next Square Root Day.) Gordon, 65, has turned to the web to promote the days, with his wife illustrating the websites. He has also offered cash prizes to people who do something special to commemorate them. The biggest piece of it is people telling people, 'Hey, It's Odd Day,'" Gordon said. "It creates its own interactions." Some have acted on Gordon's inspiration. In Springfield, Illinois, the Illinois Presbyterian senior home celebrated Odd Day on Saturday by encouraging seniors to eat their dessert before the rest of their meals and wear odd clothes, said Tom O'Fallon, the center's executive director. O'Fallon said he heard Gordon talking about 3/3/9, another Square Root Day, on the radio and decided to celebrate it at the senior cemter. The center also celebrated Odd Day on 5/7/9. "We try and do things to make life exciting for the residents, he said. Seniors were asked Saturday to think about odd recipes and odd relatives, and try to determine when the next Odd Day will be. "It's a way to use numbers to challenge your mental capabilities," O'Fallon said. "This type of thing is also good for reminiscing."
Would you Zumba on an 18th-floor hotel helipad in L.A.?
If you like to stay fit on the road, or you live in Los Angeles -- or you just want a total thrill, come to the Inter Continental Century City for a Zumba exercise class on its helipad -- on the 18th floor. You'll overlook Century City's shiny triangle towers and the Hollywood Hills. If you're daring enough to walk towards the edge of the helipad, you can look down at Fox movie studios, including its old-fashioned New York street scene. All of us in the group were blown away by the experience. "Nothing can top it," says Laura Contreras of Sacramento, who tried Zumba for the first time Thursday. "It was the most awesome experience to be 18 stories up on a helipad." You can try the Zumba class whether you're staying at this busy hotel or not. The class is free for guests. For non-guests, it's still a bargain: $15, which includes valet parking and use of the hotel spa's locker room with a small sauna and steam room. For $40, you'll also gain access to the hotel's large fitness center, large outdoor pool and outdoor jacuzzi. The hotel also offers yoga classes on the helipad in the morning, which would also be special. But personally, I found the intensity of the Zumba workout, world music ranging from samba to cumbia, and the afternoon sunshine to be the best mix for the setting.
F. Y. I.
Quotable
by Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet and artist (1861-1941)
"Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it."
Body Wisdom
people don't sneeze when they are asleep because the nerves involved in the sneeze reflex also are resting.
Still on the Books
In Pennsylvania, a special cleaning ordinance bans housewives from hiding dirt and dust under a rug at home.
Up in Arms
When under extreme stress, such as when held in captivity, some octopuses will eat their own arms, which grow back.
Title Change
"Valley of the Dolls" Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel, was originally titled "They Don't Build Statues to Businessmen."
Health Boost
Spinach consumption in the U.S. rose 33 percent after the Popeye comic strip became a hit in 1931.
by Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet and artist (1861-1941)
"Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it."
Body Wisdom
people don't sneeze when they are asleep because the nerves involved in the sneeze reflex also are resting.
Still on the Books
In Pennsylvania, a special cleaning ordinance bans housewives from hiding dirt and dust under a rug at home.
Up in Arms
When under extreme stress, such as when held in captivity, some octopuses will eat their own arms, which grow back.
Title Change
"Valley of the Dolls" Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel, was originally titled "They Don't Build Statues to Businessmen."
Health Boost
Spinach consumption in the U.S. rose 33 percent after the Popeye comic strip became a hit in 1931.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Okla. woman says she was attacked for looking like Casey Anthony
An Oklahoma woman whose car was rammed as she drove away from the convenience store where she works says she was mistaken for Casey Anthony, KOTV reports. Sammay Blackwell, 26, says the incident happened in Chouteau, Okla., July 8, days after Anthony was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, reports the Tulsa TV station. A woman who had been in the store earlier to buy gas rammed Blackwell's truck with her van as Blackwell was leaving work around 10 p.m. "I said, 'Oh my God, help me,'" Blackwell tells KOTV's Lacie Lowry. "She hit me again, causing my vehicle to flip two and a half times, landing on the driver's side, and I just laid there playing dead." Police arrested Shireen Nalley on charges of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, Lowry reports. Nalley tells police she was "trying to save the children." Blackwell, who has a daughter also named Caylee, says that when Nalley came into the store she said, "You look like Casey Anthony,' I'm like, 'OK." "She said that I was trying to hurt babies, I was killing babies, and she was going to stop it before it happened again," Blackwell recalls. Anthony is scheduled to be released from a Flordia jail Sunday.
Grandma's urn' left at Goodwill store in Michigan
State police in Michigan are trying to find who left what appear to be a grandmother's cremated remains in an urn at a Goodwill store near Flint. Fenton Goodwill store manager Allen Ryckman says "it's got to be the No. 1 or No. 2 weirdest item" the store has ever received. He says it appears to have come from a house that was cleaned out. The Flint journal says store workers found the box just before Easter. The box has the label "grandma's urn." The cream-colored urn is about 10 inches tall and weighs about 10 pounds. It doesn't have any identifying marks or label. The Michigan State Police Flint post asks anyone with information to call. Anyone with information may contact the Flint post at 810-732-1111.
Lawsuit: Chase Bank declared U.S. woman dead
A Flordia woman says she's having numerous financial troubles because of a bank error that caused Chase Bank USA to declare her dead last November. Wrenella Pierre has filed a lawsuit and Chase officials said Monday they're investigating how the mistake happened. According to the lawsuit, the bank notified credit-reporting agencies last year that Pierre had died. They sent a letter of condolence to the family, saying someone from the bank would be in touch about the mortgage. Pierre says she notified bank officials that she was alive and also went to a local branch to correct the mistake. A month later, the lawsuit alleges, credit agencies still reported her dead.
Cops: Wife puts servered penis in garbage disposal
A California woman has been charged with aggravated mayhem for allegedly drugging her estranged husband, cutting off his penis and tossing it into a garbage disposal, police say, the Los Angeles Times reports. Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, of Garden Grove, has also been charged with false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administration of a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse. Police say Becker called 911 to report a medical emergency and allegedly told responding officers that "he deserved it." Investigators found the 51-year-old victim tied to a bed and bleeding from the groin area. He told officers that when he awoke from a drugged state, Becker grabbed his penis, cut it off with a knife, threw it in a garbage disposal and turned it on, the newspaper reports. He is listed in serious condition at UC Irvine Medical Center, the Times reports.
Man survives in trunk after car plunges into river
A Washington state man was listed in satisfactory condition on Monday and was "incredibly lucky to be alive" after his car flipped into a river near the Idaho-Washington border, authorities said. Ned Florea, 20, squeezed through the rear seats and into the trunk of his two-door Hyundai Tiburon as chill, fast-flowing waters engulfed all but 6 inches of head room, creating a life-saving air pocket, Idaho State Trooper Leslie Lehman said.
Rescuers estimated that Florea was in the Pend Oreille River for nearly an hour after the accident, which happened about 11 p.m. on Saturday after his car veered off a northern Idaho roadway and plunged into the water.
A passenger, Keefer Peterson, 18, of Oldtown, Idaho, managed to swim free of the submerged car but later could not recollect how he escaped, Lehman said.
"He was able to get his hand into an opening to the trunk area where Ned was and he stood in the water and held Ned's hand and kept him talking until we got to him," she said.
Questin Youk, sergeant with the Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office in Washington, said rescue crews were unable to pry open the trunk, requiring it to be cut open with a hydraulic tool called the "jaws of life."
"That young man is incredibly lucky to be alive," Youk said.
The doctor who first treated Florea reported that his lungs were so full of water that he was still drowning an hour after being hospitalized, said Lehman.
Florea was in satisfactory condition on Monday at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington, officials said.
Peterson was treated for hypothermia and head injuries he may have suffered from the rollover, said Lehman.
Alcohol may have played a part in the accident, according to police reports.
Rescuers estimated that Florea was in the Pend Oreille River for nearly an hour after the accident, which happened about 11 p.m. on Saturday after his car veered off a northern Idaho roadway and plunged into the water.
A passenger, Keefer Peterson, 18, of Oldtown, Idaho, managed to swim free of the submerged car but later could not recollect how he escaped, Lehman said.
"He was able to get his hand into an opening to the trunk area where Ned was and he stood in the water and held Ned's hand and kept him talking until we got to him," she said.
Questin Youk, sergeant with the Pend Oreille County Sheriff's Office in Washington, said rescue crews were unable to pry open the trunk, requiring it to be cut open with a hydraulic tool called the "jaws of life."
"That young man is incredibly lucky to be alive," Youk said.
The doctor who first treated Florea reported that his lungs were so full of water that he was still drowning an hour after being hospitalized, said Lehman.
Florea was in satisfactory condition on Monday at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington, officials said.
Peterson was treated for hypothermia and head injuries he may have suffered from the rollover, said Lehman.
Alcohol may have played a part in the accident, according to police reports.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Earliest Austen manuscript fetches $1.6 million
The earliest surviving Jane Austen manuscript, a handwritten draft for a book that was never published, sold for 993,250 pounds ($1.6 million) at Sotheby's on Thursday.
The manuscript for "The Watsons" was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder for more than three times the top estimate.
Also in the London sale focusing on rare books, the earliest codified rules of soccer, part of the archive of the oldest football club in the world, Sheffield FC, fetched 881,250 pounds.
Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby's senior specialist in the books and manuscript department, said he was delighted with the Austen sale.
"The sale of The Watsons has afforded an extremely broad audience an insight into the author's writing process and reworkings, which this manuscript uniquely displays," he said.
The manuscript comprises 68 pages, arranged in 11 loose gatherings and written in Austen's small hand, peppered with revisions throughout.
Probably written in 1804, it tells the story of Emma Watson, the youngest of four sisters who is raised by a wealthy aunt but then forced to return to her family while two of her sisters search for husbands.
The novel is only a quarter complete but critic Margaret Drabble described it as "a tantalizing, delightful and highly accomplished fragment, which must surely have proved the equal of her other six novels, had she finished it."
The Watsons contains themes found in other Austen works and also displays her wit, with lines such as: "Female economy will do a great deal, my Lord, but it cannot turn a small income into a large one."
"The Watsons is quintessential Jane Austen in style and the influence of this novel on her later works can clearly be seen," Heaton said.
It was Austen's only literary work during the period between finishing "Northanger Abbey" in 1799 and starting "Mansfield Park" in 1811.
It is not known why Austen abandoned the manuscript, though it was possibly related to her father's death in 1805. Austen had told her sister Cassandra that the father in the novel, Mr Watson, would die in the course of the story.
The Sheffield soccer sale included handwritten drafts from 1858 and the only existing copy of the printed "Rules, Regulations, & Laws of the Sheffield Foot-Ball Club" dating from 1859, two years after the club was formed.
The rules offer an insight into the evolution of the game and state that pushing or hitting the ball with the hands was permitted, as was pushing other players, though tripping others up was prohibited.
Sheffield pioneered the idea of football as a spectator sport and the idea of inter-club matches with strong rivalries.
"We are delighted with the sale of this extraordinary piece of sporting history, the proceeds of which will allow Sheffield Football Club to develop its facilities and secure its future as the home of grass-roots football," club chairman Richard Tims said in a statement.
The manuscript for "The Watsons" was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder for more than three times the top estimate.
Also in the London sale focusing on rare books, the earliest codified rules of soccer, part of the archive of the oldest football club in the world, Sheffield FC, fetched 881,250 pounds.
Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby's senior specialist in the books and manuscript department, said he was delighted with the Austen sale.
"The sale of The Watsons has afforded an extremely broad audience an insight into the author's writing process and reworkings, which this manuscript uniquely displays," he said.
The manuscript comprises 68 pages, arranged in 11 loose gatherings and written in Austen's small hand, peppered with revisions throughout.
Probably written in 1804, it tells the story of Emma Watson, the youngest of four sisters who is raised by a wealthy aunt but then forced to return to her family while two of her sisters search for husbands.
The novel is only a quarter complete but critic Margaret Drabble described it as "a tantalizing, delightful and highly accomplished fragment, which must surely have proved the equal of her other six novels, had she finished it."
The Watsons contains themes found in other Austen works and also displays her wit, with lines such as: "Female economy will do a great deal, my Lord, but it cannot turn a small income into a large one."
"The Watsons is quintessential Jane Austen in style and the influence of this novel on her later works can clearly be seen," Heaton said.
It was Austen's only literary work during the period between finishing "Northanger Abbey" in 1799 and starting "Mansfield Park" in 1811.
It is not known why Austen abandoned the manuscript, though it was possibly related to her father's death in 1805. Austen had told her sister Cassandra that the father in the novel, Mr Watson, would die in the course of the story.
The Sheffield soccer sale included handwritten drafts from 1858 and the only existing copy of the printed "Rules, Regulations, & Laws of the Sheffield Foot-Ball Club" dating from 1859, two years after the club was formed.
The rules offer an insight into the evolution of the game and state that pushing or hitting the ball with the hands was permitted, as was pushing other players, though tripping others up was prohibited.
Sheffield pioneered the idea of football as a spectator sport and the idea of inter-club matches with strong rivalries.
"We are delighted with the sale of this extraordinary piece of sporting history, the proceeds of which will allow Sheffield Football Club to develop its facilities and secure its future as the home of grass-roots football," club chairman Richard Tims said in a statement.
Cuddling, caressing more important for men: study
Contrary to conventional wisdom, cuddling and caressing are more important to men than women in a long-term relationship, according to a new international study. Researchers, who studied responses from adults in the United States, Brazil, Germany, Japan and Spain, also discovered that men were more likely to be happy in their relationship and that frequent kissing or cuddling was an accurate predictor of happiness for men.
"I was a little surprised," said Julia Heiman, the director of Indiana University's Kinsey Institute, which conducted the study that will be published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior journal.
"Some of the stereotypes we have are borne out of what we feel comfortable believing -- that men prefer sex, or women prefer intimacy over sex, for example," she added.
The researchers examined more than 1,000 couples aged 40 to 70 from the five countries who had been together for an average of 25 years.
Unlike men, women were happier as time went on, according to the findings. If they had been with their partner less than 15 years they were also less likely to be sexually satisfied but that percentage rose significantly after the 15-year mark.
"Possibly, women become more satisfied over time because their expectations change, or life changes with the children grown," Heiman said. "On the other hand, those who weren't so sexually happy might not be married so long."
Japanese men and women were significantly happier in their relationships than Americans, who were more content than Brazilians and Spaniards.
Japanese men in particular were more than twice as sexually satisfied in their relationships than other nationalities.
"I honestly don't know why this is," Heiman said in an interview. "Japanese couples may interpret the survey questions slightly different. Maybe Americans interpret this in a much more critical way."
Japanese and Brazilian women were also more likely than American women to be happy with their sex lives.
"Americans are pretty notoriously not satisfied with things," Heiman said. "The United States is certainly not the happiest country when it comes to comparing it to others."
Heiman said that the data may reflect the dynamics of a long-term relationship.
"Maybe it's about durability. A major factor is how long you've been together. What you value as important may mean a lot more after the near-term."
"I was a little surprised," said Julia Heiman, the director of Indiana University's Kinsey Institute, which conducted the study that will be published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior journal.
"Some of the stereotypes we have are borne out of what we feel comfortable believing -- that men prefer sex, or women prefer intimacy over sex, for example," she added.
The researchers examined more than 1,000 couples aged 40 to 70 from the five countries who had been together for an average of 25 years.
Unlike men, women were happier as time went on, according to the findings. If they had been with their partner less than 15 years they were also less likely to be sexually satisfied but that percentage rose significantly after the 15-year mark.
"Possibly, women become more satisfied over time because their expectations change, or life changes with the children grown," Heiman said. "On the other hand, those who weren't so sexually happy might not be married so long."
Japanese men and women were significantly happier in their relationships than Americans, who were more content than Brazilians and Spaniards.
Japanese men in particular were more than twice as sexually satisfied in their relationships than other nationalities.
"I honestly don't know why this is," Heiman said in an interview. "Japanese couples may interpret the survey questions slightly different. Maybe Americans interpret this in a much more critical way."
Japanese and Brazilian women were also more likely than American women to be happy with their sex lives.
"Americans are pretty notoriously not satisfied with things," Heiman said. "The United States is certainly not the happiest country when it comes to comparing it to others."
Heiman said that the data may reflect the dynamics of a long-term relationship.
"Maybe it's about durability. A major factor is how long you've been together. What you value as important may mean a lot more after the near-term."
JetBlue offers $4 L.A.-area "Carmageddon" flights
For some Los Angeles-area travelers looking to beat the gridlock during an upcoming weekend freeway closure widely dubbed "Carmageddon," the best alternative route may be thousands of feet above the city. JetBlue Airways on Wednesday offered special $4 nonstop flights between Long Beach Airport and Bob Hope Airport in suburban Burbank for Saturday, the first day of a long-planned and much-feared shutdown of the 405 Freeway for two days of construction.
The $4 one-way tickets include taxes and fees, and for $1 more, travelers can buy a bit of first-class treatment, including extra leg room and early boarding privileges.
"We're helping Angelenos get over the gridlock altogether and enjoy the valley or the beach ... without having to brave the traffic jams to get there," JetBlue marketing manager Mark Rogers said in a statement introducing the "Carmageddon" special.
The special offer was promoted with the slogan: "405 Freeway Closure? We're So Over It!"
The offer was obviously popular. Tickets for all four flights -- about 600 seats in all -- sold out in just two hours, airline spokeswoman Jenny Dervin told Reuters.
The airline known for introducing leather seats and satellite TV to U.S. bargain-fare service also offered a 40.5 percent discount on the airfare portion of its JetBlue Getaways vacation to Las Vegas from either Burbank or Long Beach.
As part of its "Over-the-405" special, JetBlue scheduled two one-way, nonstop flights from Burbank to Long Beach -- one in the early afternoon and one in the evening -- and two more in the other direction, from Long Beach to Burbank.
Passengers making a round-trip outing for the day from Burbank to Long Beach and back would have six hours on the ground. Those flying in the other direction would get a four-hour "layover."
Dervin said the promotion was not intended to introduce a new regular Burbank-Long Beach route but "to meet the short-term needs of our customers in Southern California."
Because the airline's Airbus 320 jetliners will be flying below the typical cruising altitude of 28,000 feet, the company needed the cooperation of the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic controllers "to make these flights a reality," she said.
Authorities are warning Los Angeles motorists of area-wide traffic tie-ups of epic proportions during the 53-hour shutdown of the 405 to allow crews to demolish a bridge as part of a $1 billion freeway widening project.
The $4 one-way tickets include taxes and fees, and for $1 more, travelers can buy a bit of first-class treatment, including extra leg room and early boarding privileges.
"We're helping Angelenos get over the gridlock altogether and enjoy the valley or the beach ... without having to brave the traffic jams to get there," JetBlue marketing manager Mark Rogers said in a statement introducing the "Carmageddon" special.
The special offer was promoted with the slogan: "405 Freeway Closure? We're So Over It!"
The offer was obviously popular. Tickets for all four flights -- about 600 seats in all -- sold out in just two hours, airline spokeswoman Jenny Dervin told Reuters.
The airline known for introducing leather seats and satellite TV to U.S. bargain-fare service also offered a 40.5 percent discount on the airfare portion of its JetBlue Getaways vacation to Las Vegas from either Burbank or Long Beach.
As part of its "Over-the-405" special, JetBlue scheduled two one-way, nonstop flights from Burbank to Long Beach -- one in the early afternoon and one in the evening -- and two more in the other direction, from Long Beach to Burbank.
Passengers making a round-trip outing for the day from Burbank to Long Beach and back would have six hours on the ground. Those flying in the other direction would get a four-hour "layover."
Dervin said the promotion was not intended to introduce a new regular Burbank-Long Beach route but "to meet the short-term needs of our customers in Southern California."
Because the airline's Airbus 320 jetliners will be flying below the typical cruising altitude of 28,000 feet, the company needed the cooperation of the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic controllers "to make these flights a reality," she said.
Authorities are warning Los Angeles motorists of area-wide traffic tie-ups of epic proportions during the 53-hour shutdown of the 405 to allow crews to demolish a bridge as part of a $1 billion freeway widening project.
Sisters sue cemetery over grave mix-up
American sisters Evelyn and Hortense Edwards spent two decades visiting what they thought was their mother's grave only to discover it contained the remains of a stranger. Now, the sisters are seeking $25 million in damages from the Rosehill Cemetery in Linden, New Jersey, for emotional distress caused when they learned that their mother, Beatrice Williams, had been buried in the wrong plot.
"It was devastating for them," Mark Crawford, the sisters' attorney, said in a telephone interview.
He said they only discovered the mix-up after they complained to the cemetery about their mother's grave falling into disrepair. An employee looked up the plot in question.
"She said, 'There's a man buried there,' and they said, 'What do you mean there's a man buried there?'" Crawford said.
The complaint says the cemetery has acknowledged that the plot location in the sisters' paperwork was incorrect. In a letter sent to the sisters last July, the cemetery said it believed their mother was in fact buried in another section, the complaint said.
The cemetery declined to comment.
Crawford said the sisters are not convinced that the cemetery has not misplaced their mother's remains. They want the cemetery to disinter the remains at the second grave to confirm the remains there are of their mother.
But the cemetery said it will only do so if the sisters take responsibility if the remains of someone else is disturbed and relatives decide to sue.
"They're not willing to take the risk of correcting their own mistake," he said.
The sisters had bought three plots when their mother died in the hope that they might one day be buried by her side.
Crawford said he was not sure whether the mix-up was restricted to just two sets of remains or whether other plots were similarly mislabeled.
"It was devastating for them," Mark Crawford, the sisters' attorney, said in a telephone interview.
He said they only discovered the mix-up after they complained to the cemetery about their mother's grave falling into disrepair. An employee looked up the plot in question.
"She said, 'There's a man buried there,' and they said, 'What do you mean there's a man buried there?'" Crawford said.
The complaint says the cemetery has acknowledged that the plot location in the sisters' paperwork was incorrect. In a letter sent to the sisters last July, the cemetery said it believed their mother was in fact buried in another section, the complaint said.
The cemetery declined to comment.
Crawford said the sisters are not convinced that the cemetery has not misplaced their mother's remains. They want the cemetery to disinter the remains at the second grave to confirm the remains there are of their mother.
But the cemetery said it will only do so if the sisters take responsibility if the remains of someone else is disturbed and relatives decide to sue.
"They're not willing to take the risk of correcting their own mistake," he said.
The sisters had bought three plots when their mother died in the hope that they might one day be buried by her side.
Crawford said he was not sure whether the mix-up was restricted to just two sets of remains or whether other plots were similarly mislabeled.
Sister Wives family to challenge Utah polygamy laws
The family featured on the U.S. reality TV series "Sister Wives," about an advertising executive and four women he calls spouses, is challenging the government's right to criminalize its lifestyle, the family's lawyer said.
The family, in a lawsuit to be filed on Wednesday, will challenge Utah's bigamy statute. It is not trying to get the government to recognize plural marriage, just to stay out of the intimate affairs of consenting adults.
"We are only challenging the right of the state to prosecute people for their private relations and demanding equal treatment with other citizens in living their lives according to their own beliefs," family attorney Jonathan Turley said in a statement.
"Sister Wives", which has just concluded its second season, premiered in the U.S. on cable television in September, earning strong ratings while also drawing the attention of authorities in the Utah town of Lehi, south of Salt Lake city, where the family shared a large house.
The show documents the world of Kody Brown, then 41, and the four women he lives with -- Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn -- along with their children, as they seek to fit in with mainstream society while maintaining their religious beliefs in plural marriage.
Brown is legally married to just one of the women, but counts the three others as "sister wives," a term in polygamous sects that refers to a husband's multiple marital partners.
Turley said earlier this year that the Browns and their 16 children moved from their Lehi, Utah home to an undisclosed location in Nevada.
Lehi residents had complained about the publicity and felt the show depicted their community in an unsavory light.
Utah law enforcement officials conducted an investigation into the family but no charges have been filed, and their lawyer has previously praised prosecutors for their "commendable discretion and judgment" in the case.
He has said that in the past, Utah officials had made it clear to polygamous families that they would not pursue them absent evidence of another crime, such as child abuse.
Plural marriage, an early tenant of the Mormon faith and once common in Utah, was renounced by the church more than 150 years ago and outlawed, as it already was in the rest of the country, as Utah was seeking statehood.
But polygamy persists in secluded communities scattered mostly around the West, especially among followers of a Mormon splinter group called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or the FLDS.
"There are tens of thousands of plural families in Utah and other states. We are one of those families. We only wish to live our private lives according our beliefs," Kody Brown said in a statement.
"While we understand that this may be a long struggle in court, it has already been a long struggle for my family and other plural families to end the stereotypes and unfair treatment given consensual polygamy," he added.
Plural marriage was largely overlooked by Utah authorities until 2001, when polygamist Tom Green went on national TV to espouse his lifestyle. He ultimately was convicted of bigamy for being married to five women simultaneously, and of child rape in connection with his 1986 marriage to a 13-year-old girl. He served several years in prison.
The family, in a lawsuit to be filed on Wednesday, will challenge Utah's bigamy statute. It is not trying to get the government to recognize plural marriage, just to stay out of the intimate affairs of consenting adults.
"We are only challenging the right of the state to prosecute people for their private relations and demanding equal treatment with other citizens in living their lives according to their own beliefs," family attorney Jonathan Turley said in a statement.
"Sister Wives", which has just concluded its second season, premiered in the U.S. on cable television in September, earning strong ratings while also drawing the attention of authorities in the Utah town of Lehi, south of Salt Lake city, where the family shared a large house.
The show documents the world of Kody Brown, then 41, and the four women he lives with -- Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn -- along with their children, as they seek to fit in with mainstream society while maintaining their religious beliefs in plural marriage.
Brown is legally married to just one of the women, but counts the three others as "sister wives," a term in polygamous sects that refers to a husband's multiple marital partners.
Turley said earlier this year that the Browns and their 16 children moved from their Lehi, Utah home to an undisclosed location in Nevada.
Lehi residents had complained about the publicity and felt the show depicted their community in an unsavory light.
Utah law enforcement officials conducted an investigation into the family but no charges have been filed, and their lawyer has previously praised prosecutors for their "commendable discretion and judgment" in the case.
He has said that in the past, Utah officials had made it clear to polygamous families that they would not pursue them absent evidence of another crime, such as child abuse.
Plural marriage, an early tenant of the Mormon faith and once common in Utah, was renounced by the church more than 150 years ago and outlawed, as it already was in the rest of the country, as Utah was seeking statehood.
But polygamy persists in secluded communities scattered mostly around the West, especially among followers of a Mormon splinter group called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or the FLDS.
"There are tens of thousands of plural families in Utah and other states. We are one of those families. We only wish to live our private lives according our beliefs," Kody Brown said in a statement.
"While we understand that this may be a long struggle in court, it has already been a long struggle for my family and other plural families to end the stereotypes and unfair treatment given consensual polygamy," he added.
Plural marriage was largely overlooked by Utah authorities until 2001, when polygamist Tom Green went on national TV to espouse his lifestyle. He ultimately was convicted of bigamy for being married to five women simultaneously, and of child rape in connection with his 1986 marriage to a 13-year-old girl. He served several years in prison.
Woman accused of slicing off husband's penis
A California woman has been arrested over accusations she drugged her estranged husband, cut off his penis and ground it up in a garbage disposal before alerting police, authorities said on Tuesday. Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, was taken into custody on Monday night after telling officers who found her husband tied to the bed and bleeding from his groin that he had "deserved it", Garden Grove Police Lt. Jeff Nightengale said in a written statement.
Becker is accused of drugging her husband's food to make him sleepy, slicing off his penis with a knife, tossing it into the garbage disposal and turning the unit on, Nightengale said. She then called 911, he added.
Becker's 51-year-old husband, who was not identified by police, told detectives he laid down on the bed, believing something was wrong with his food, Nightengale said.
He later woke up to find himself tied to the bed with his wife tugging at his clothes before she grabbed his penis and cut it off, Nightengale said the man had reported.
Becker was arrested on suspicion of aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse and booked into Orange County jail.
Her husband was taken to a local hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and was listed in serious condition.
Nightengale said the couple was apparently married but going through a divorce.
Becker is accused of drugging her husband's food to make him sleepy, slicing off his penis with a knife, tossing it into the garbage disposal and turning the unit on, Nightengale said. She then called 911, he added.
Becker's 51-year-old husband, who was not identified by police, told detectives he laid down on the bed, believing something was wrong with his food, Nightengale said.
He later woke up to find himself tied to the bed with his wife tugging at his clothes before she grabbed his penis and cut it off, Nightengale said the man had reported.
Becker was arrested on suspicion of aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse and booked into Orange County jail.
Her husband was taken to a local hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery and was listed in serious condition.
Nightengale said the couple was apparently married but going through a divorce.
Rock musician uses cell phone stickup note in robbery
A musician, using a stickup note posted on his cell phone, robbed a Massachusetts pharmacy of prescription pain pills just hours before his scheduled rock concert, authorities said on Monday. Michael Todd, 30, a bass player and singer with New York rock band Coheed and Cambria, was arrested Sunday at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, several hours before the group was set to open for headliner Soundgarden.
Prosecutors say Todd went to a Walgreens in nearby Attleboro Sunday afternoon and showed a pharmacy employee a text message on his Blackberry saying he had a bomb and demanding prescription painkillers.
"It is somewhat routine that in robberies, the robber gives a note to the clerk, but obviously this was a little bit more high-tech," said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.
A frightened employee allegedly then handed over a half-dozen bottles of oxycodone pills, and Todd fled the store, taking a taxi to his parked tour bus outside the hall, said Miliote.
Attleboro police managed to track down Todd after piecing together details from surveillance video at the pharmacy and a witness's description of the taxi, he said.
At his arraignment Monday in Attleboro District Court, Todd was charged with armed robbery and drug possession, Miliote said. Judge Dan O'Shea ordered Todd held on $25,000 cash bail.
"Michael Todd was arrested today on what we consider very serious charges and therefore he will not be finishing up the current tour," said a statement from the band on its Facebook page.
Musician Wes Styles will take on bass duties starting Monday for the remaining dates in Poughkeepsie, New York; Quebec City and Halifax, Canada; it added.
"We are surprised, to say the least, and will address the situation with Michael after the tour. For now, we just want to have a great time out here and finish with some killer shows," the band statement said.
Prosecutors say Todd went to a Walgreens in nearby Attleboro Sunday afternoon and showed a pharmacy employee a text message on his Blackberry saying he had a bomb and demanding prescription painkillers.
"It is somewhat routine that in robberies, the robber gives a note to the clerk, but obviously this was a little bit more high-tech," said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.
A frightened employee allegedly then handed over a half-dozen bottles of oxycodone pills, and Todd fled the store, taking a taxi to his parked tour bus outside the hall, said Miliote.
Attleboro police managed to track down Todd after piecing together details from surveillance video at the pharmacy and a witness's description of the taxi, he said.
At his arraignment Monday in Attleboro District Court, Todd was charged with armed robbery and drug possession, Miliote said. Judge Dan O'Shea ordered Todd held on $25,000 cash bail.
"Michael Todd was arrested today on what we consider very serious charges and therefore he will not be finishing up the current tour," said a statement from the band on its Facebook page.
Musician Wes Styles will take on bass duties starting Monday for the remaining dates in Poughkeepsie, New York; Quebec City and Halifax, Canada; it added.
"We are surprised, to say the least, and will address the situation with Michael after the tour. For now, we just want to have a great time out here and finish with some killer shows," the band statement said.
New "win a baby" game draws fire
A controversial IVF lottery will launch in Britain this month giving prospective parents the chance to win thousands of pounds toward expensive fertility treatments in top clinics.
The scheme, which the media have dubbed "win a baby," has already run into trouble on ethical grounds with critics calling it inappropriate and demeaning to human reproduction.
Britain's Gambling Commission has granted a license to fertility charity, To Hatch, to run the game from July 30.
Every month, winners can scoop 25,000 pounds' ($40,175) worth of tailor-made treatments at one of the UK's top five fertility clinics for the price of a 20 pound ticket bought online. The tickets may eventually be sold in newsagents.
The lottery is open to single, gay and elderly players as well as heterosexual couples struggling to start a family.
If standard IVF fails, individuals can be offered reproductive surgery, donor eggs and sperm or a surrogate birth, the charity says, though the winner will only be able to choose one treatment.
Winners will be put up in a luxury hotel before being chauffeur-driven to a treatment center. They will also get a mobile phone and a personal assistant to help with queries.
Camille Strachan, founder and chair of the charity, who has had fertility treatment of her own, told Reuters she wanted to create the "ultimate wish list" for those struggling with the stress of being unable to conceive.
"The license couldn't have come at a better time with drastic (government health service) budget cuts ... where in most cases IVF is the first on the hit list, rendering most couples resorting to private treatment."
But some medical and ethical groups condemned the game and the Gambling Commission said the issues it had thrown up may need further scrutiny.
Britain's fertility regulator, The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said using IVF as a prize was "wrong and entirely inappropriate."
"It trivializes what is for many people a central part of their lives," it added in a statement.
Josephine Quintavalle, from the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said "creation of human life should not be reduced to a public lottery ... this demeans the whole nature of human reproduction."
The Gambling Commission said it had noted reaction to the scheme but said it had no regulatory powers to intervene and that any decision to revoke a license would be a government one.
"This particular example, perhaps, has thrown up some questions which may need looking at and whether that is by us or the government I don't know," a spokesman said.
"There has been concern expressed about this, but from our perspective it's a pretty straightforward granting of a license application for a lottery operator.
Around one couple in seven suffers from fertility problems in the UK, according to the fertility regulator. Latest figures show 40,000 patients were treated with IVF in 2008 which led to 15,000 babies being born as a result of that treatment.
The scheme, which the media have dubbed "win a baby," has already run into trouble on ethical grounds with critics calling it inappropriate and demeaning to human reproduction.
Britain's Gambling Commission has granted a license to fertility charity, To Hatch, to run the game from July 30.
Every month, winners can scoop 25,000 pounds' ($40,175) worth of tailor-made treatments at one of the UK's top five fertility clinics for the price of a 20 pound ticket bought online. The tickets may eventually be sold in newsagents.
The lottery is open to single, gay and elderly players as well as heterosexual couples struggling to start a family.
If standard IVF fails, individuals can be offered reproductive surgery, donor eggs and sperm or a surrogate birth, the charity says, though the winner will only be able to choose one treatment.
Winners will be put up in a luxury hotel before being chauffeur-driven to a treatment center. They will also get a mobile phone and a personal assistant to help with queries.
Camille Strachan, founder and chair of the charity, who has had fertility treatment of her own, told Reuters she wanted to create the "ultimate wish list" for those struggling with the stress of being unable to conceive.
"The license couldn't have come at a better time with drastic (government health service) budget cuts ... where in most cases IVF is the first on the hit list, rendering most couples resorting to private treatment."
But some medical and ethical groups condemned the game and the Gambling Commission said the issues it had thrown up may need further scrutiny.
Britain's fertility regulator, The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said using IVF as a prize was "wrong and entirely inappropriate."
"It trivializes what is for many people a central part of their lives," it added in a statement.
Josephine Quintavalle, from the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said "creation of human life should not be reduced to a public lottery ... this demeans the whole nature of human reproduction."
The Gambling Commission said it had noted reaction to the scheme but said it had no regulatory powers to intervene and that any decision to revoke a license would be a government one.
"This particular example, perhaps, has thrown up some questions which may need looking at and whether that is by us or the government I don't know," a spokesman said.
"There has been concern expressed about this, but from our perspective it's a pretty straightforward granting of a license application for a lottery operator.
Around one couple in seven suffers from fertility problems in the UK, according to the fertility regulator. Latest figures show 40,000 patients were treated with IVF in 2008 which led to 15,000 babies being born as a result of that treatment.
How about a beer with your iPhone?
You can do a lot with an iPhone these days -- text, take pictures, surf the net, and even make a phone call. And soon, thanks to two Australian entrepreneurs, you will be able use it to open a bottle of beer by way of the "Opena," a hard plastic case that fits over the iPhone and is equipped with a slide-out bottle opener.
"Basically, Australians are fairly heavy drinkers, as you may or may not know," said Melbourne-based Chris Peters, an industrial designer who developed the product with Rob Ward, a former toolmaker.
"We're always out at friends' houses and so on, and in some cases you may not have your keys on you... So we thought, why don't we attach a bottle opener to an iPhone case? We always have our phones on us."
Working from three basic rules -- the case had to be slim, there had to be no chance of the opener scratching the iPhone, and the opener had to work without putting any pressure on the phone -- the two developed a prototype.
Testing including running through what a promotional video termed "the worst case scenario" in which a friend has shaken up the beer and it foams over. The case -- and the iPhone -- came through unscathed every time.
Aside from a few initial glitches because the first prototypes were too weak, development went smoothly. Start-up funding via an internet site that allows anybody to pitch in, has also gone well, enabling a sales launch within weeks.
"The strangest thing that happened was when we were doing the filming for the video and we had a courier drop off a parcel," Peters said.
"He gave us some very unusual looks when we had about 20 open beers at seven in the morning."
Though some who posted on the pair's Facebook page expressed doubt about the wisdom of putting a phone that close to a foaming beverage, the response was mainly positive.
"Finally I can combine my love of drinking and tech," one said.
"Basically, Australians are fairly heavy drinkers, as you may or may not know," said Melbourne-based Chris Peters, an industrial designer who developed the product with Rob Ward, a former toolmaker.
"We're always out at friends' houses and so on, and in some cases you may not have your keys on you... So we thought, why don't we attach a bottle opener to an iPhone case? We always have our phones on us."
Working from three basic rules -- the case had to be slim, there had to be no chance of the opener scratching the iPhone, and the opener had to work without putting any pressure on the phone -- the two developed a prototype.
Testing including running through what a promotional video termed "the worst case scenario" in which a friend has shaken up the beer and it foams over. The case -- and the iPhone -- came through unscathed every time.
Aside from a few initial glitches because the first prototypes were too weak, development went smoothly. Start-up funding via an internet site that allows anybody to pitch in, has also gone well, enabling a sales launch within weeks.
"The strangest thing that happened was when we were doing the filming for the video and we had a courier drop off a parcel," Peters said.
"He gave us some very unusual looks when we had about 20 open beers at seven in the morning."
Though some who posted on the pair's Facebook page expressed doubt about the wisdom of putting a phone that close to a foaming beverage, the response was mainly positive.
"Finally I can combine my love of drinking and tech," one said.
Guards over-react to middle finger
South African President Jacob Zuma's elite guards overstepped their authority when they arrested and roughed up a student who they thought made an obscene hand gesture, a government commission said on Thursday.
Chumani Maxwele was arrested by guards brandishing assault rifles who jumped out of a luxury sedan after the University of Cape Town student gestured at siren-blaring vehicles that nearly ran him over while he was jogging, witnesses told local media.
"The SA Human Rights Commission has found that members of the Presidential Special Protection Unit have violated the rights of Mr Chumani Maxwele," the commission said of the February 2010 incident.
"Members of the unit arrested and detained Mr Maxwele for allegedly gesturing with his middle finger at a convoy of police vehicles," it said.
Maxwele told media he kept his middle finger under control and was waving at the convoy to move on. He also said he was assaulted by the guards who told him he had disrespected the president.
The guards dubbed the "blue light bullies" by the main opposition Democratic Alliance were accused by citizens in 2008 of firing shots at a motorist who did not get out of the way of a presidential convoy quickly enough.
Separately, Zuma has filed a criminal suit against a man for spilling a drink on the president at horse race.
Chumani Maxwele was arrested by guards brandishing assault rifles who jumped out of a luxury sedan after the University of Cape Town student gestured at siren-blaring vehicles that nearly ran him over while he was jogging, witnesses told local media.
"The SA Human Rights Commission has found that members of the Presidential Special Protection Unit have violated the rights of Mr Chumani Maxwele," the commission said of the February 2010 incident.
"Members of the unit arrested and detained Mr Maxwele for allegedly gesturing with his middle finger at a convoy of police vehicles," it said.
Maxwele told media he kept his middle finger under control and was waving at the convoy to move on. He also said he was assaulted by the guards who told him he had disrespected the president.
The guards dubbed the "blue light bullies" by the main opposition Democratic Alliance were accused by citizens in 2008 of firing shots at a motorist who did not get out of the way of a presidential convoy quickly enough.
Separately, Zuma has filed a criminal suit against a man for spilling a drink on the president at horse race.
City requires armed guards at some restaurants
Small restaurants in the city of Newark, New Jersey will be required to have an armed security guard at night under a new law approved by the city council.
The rule comes in the wake of a drive-by shooting in May at the Texas Fried Chicken and Pizza restaurant, where an off-duty Newark police officer was killed.
Under the ordinance, approved by the council unanimously on Thursday, restaurants that serve 15 or fewer people must hire an armed guard to stand watch after 9 p.m. Those unwilling to pay for a security guard must close by 10 p.m.
"If they want to stay open that late, they should provide security. If not, they should close," said Councilman Ras Baraka, who wrote the bill, in a telephone interview.
"These restaurants who serve 15 or less people, walk-in eateries where you get your food and you leave, they are havens for criminal activity," said Keith Hamilton, an aide to Baraka.
Jamil Nahiam, owner of the restaurant where the shooting occurred, said he opposes the ordinance, saying it places an expensive and unfair burden on small business owners to do something that should be the responsibility of the police.
"The ordinance is going to put us out of business. If that's what his intention was, I think he's going to succeed," Nahiam said in a telephone interview.
He said it was unrealistic to expect him to turn his business into a sit-down dining establishment.
"My location is right next to the hospital. The customers that come in are working-class people. They have 20 minutes, half an hour for lunch," he said.
The rule comes in the wake of a drive-by shooting in May at the Texas Fried Chicken and Pizza restaurant, where an off-duty Newark police officer was killed.
Under the ordinance, approved by the council unanimously on Thursday, restaurants that serve 15 or fewer people must hire an armed guard to stand watch after 9 p.m. Those unwilling to pay for a security guard must close by 10 p.m.
"If they want to stay open that late, they should provide security. If not, they should close," said Councilman Ras Baraka, who wrote the bill, in a telephone interview.
"These restaurants who serve 15 or less people, walk-in eateries where you get your food and you leave, they are havens for criminal activity," said Keith Hamilton, an aide to Baraka.
Jamil Nahiam, owner of the restaurant where the shooting occurred, said he opposes the ordinance, saying it places an expensive and unfair burden on small business owners to do something that should be the responsibility of the police.
"The ordinance is going to put us out of business. If that's what his intention was, I think he's going to succeed," Nahiam said in a telephone interview.
He said it was unrealistic to expect him to turn his business into a sit-down dining establishment.
"My location is right next to the hospital. The customers that come in are working-class people. They have 20 minutes, half an hour for lunch," he said.
ENRAGED 500-FOOT BIN LADEN EMERGES FROM SEA
Just weeks after his body was buried at sea, Osama bin Laden burst forth from the ocean depts yesterday, rising to the monstrous height of 500 feet and rapidly making his way down the East Coast of the United States in a rampage that so far has left hundreds of thousands dead and easily eclipsed 9/11 as the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
As of last night, much of New York City and Washington, D.C., including the Empire State Building, the White House, and the Capitol Building, lay in ruins, with overwhelmed rescue crews struggling to assist a country ravaged by the gigantic, irate al-Qaeda leader.
"Our nation faces its gravest challenge yet," a visibly shaken President Obama said in a televised address delivered from a secret bunker location. "I cannot say that we will prevail, only that we will fight to the last."
"May God help us all," Obama added as the walls and ceiling shook around him.
The first stirrings of bin Laden were felt yesterday in the form of early morning coastal tremors that reportedly rattled windows as far inland as Ohio. Shortly thereafter, stunned witnesses from a nearby fishing vessel reported that bin Laden, in full robes and with a beard described as "at least 100 feet long ," suddenly rose from beneath the water.
Within an hour, a formidable assembly of U.S. fighter jets and battleships had engaged bin Laden approximately 25 miles off the Atlantic Coast, an encounter officials conceded did not slow the progress of the colossal terrorist mastermind. On the contrary, sources said bin Laden seemed to absorb the bombardment and grow both angrier and, shockingly, larger with each strike.
By the time the unscathed bin Laden entered New York Harbor and flung the Statue of Liberty into Lower Manhattan, some estimates put his height at 800 feet.
As of last night, much of New York City and Washington, D.C., including the Empire State Building, the White House, and the Capitol Building, lay in ruins, with overwhelmed rescue crews struggling to assist a country ravaged by the gigantic, irate al-Qaeda leader.
"Our nation faces its gravest challenge yet," a visibly shaken President Obama said in a televised address delivered from a secret bunker location. "I cannot say that we will prevail, only that we will fight to the last."
"May God help us all," Obama added as the walls and ceiling shook around him.
The first stirrings of bin Laden were felt yesterday in the form of early morning coastal tremors that reportedly rattled windows as far inland as Ohio. Shortly thereafter, stunned witnesses from a nearby fishing vessel reported that bin Laden, in full robes and with a beard described as "at least 100 feet long ," suddenly rose from beneath the water.
Within an hour, a formidable assembly of U.S. fighter jets and battleships had engaged bin Laden approximately 25 miles off the Atlantic Coast, an encounter officials conceded did not slow the progress of the colossal terrorist mastermind. On the contrary, sources said bin Laden seemed to absorb the bombardment and grow both angrier and, shockingly, larger with each strike.
By the time the unscathed bin Laden entered New York Harbor and flung the Statue of Liberty into Lower Manhattan, some estimates put his height at 800 feet.
NOW YOU KNOW
- On June 1, 1861, Capt. John Quincy Marr, CSA, was killed during a skirmish with Union cavalrymen near Fairfax Court House in Virginia; he is widely regarded as the first Confederate officer killed in the Civil War.
- On June 2, 1981, the Japenese video arcade game "Donkey Kong" made its U.S. debut.
- On June 3, 1888, the poem "Casey at the Bat," by Ernest Lawerence Thayer, was first published in the San Francisco Daily Examiner.
- On June 6, 1944, during World War 2, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, on "D-Day," beginning the liberation of German-occupied western Europe.
- On June 7, 1939, King Gerge VI and his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived at Niagara Falls, N.Y., from Canada on the first visit to the United States by a reigning British monarch.
- On June 8, 1953, the Supreme Court ruled that restaurants in the District of Columbia could not refuse to serve blacks.
- On June 9, 1909, Alice Huyler Ramsey, 22, set out from New York to become the first woman to drive across the United States. She arrived in San Francisco on Aug. 7.
- On June 10, 1898, U.S. Marines landed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. For the next month, American troops fought a land war in Cuba that resulted in the end of Spanish colonial rule in the Western Hemisphere.
- On June 13, 1966, the Supreme Court ruled in Miranda vs. Arizona that criminal suspects had to be informed of their constitutional rights to consult with an attorney and to remain silent.
- On June 14, 1777, the Continential Congress resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation.
- On June 15, 2002, the asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles, about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
- On June 16, 1911, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. was incorporated in New York State; it later became known as International Business Machines, or IBM.
- On June 20, 1893, a jury in New Bedford, Mass., found Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.
- On June 21, 1982, John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
- On June 22, 2009, Eastman Kodak Co. announces that it will discontinue sales of the Koda-chrome Color Film, concluding its 74-year run as a photography icon.
- On June 23, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson met with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, N.J., for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.
- On June 27, 1942, the FBI announced the capture of eight Nazi saboteurs who had been put ashore in Flordia and Long Island, N.Y.
- On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed in Paris, formally ending World War 1 between Belgium, Britain, France, Italy, the United States and allies on the one side and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other side.
- On June 29, 1974, Mikhail Barysh-nikov defected from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with Bolshoi Ballet.
- On June 30, 1953, the first Chevrolet Covette rolled off the assembly lines in Flint, Mich.
POP QUIZ ( BE A TRIVIA ALL - STAR )
Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
See what you know about past games.
1. The first All-Star Game was played in 1933, Where?
a) Fenway Park, Boston.
b) Comiskey Park, Chicago.
c) Polo Grounds, New York.
d) Wrigley Field, Chicago.
2. When was the first All-Star Game played in Philadelphia?
a) 1943.
b) 1953.
c) 1967.
d) 1976.
3. When was the last time the game was played in Philadelphia?
a) 1976.
b) 1986.
c) 1996.
d) 2006.
4. Who was the last Phillies player to be named All-Star Game MVP?
a) Steve Carlton.
b) Gary Carter.
c) Cole Hamels.
d) Johnny Callison.
5. This Phillie went to the All-Star Game as a rookie.
a) Mike Schmidt.
b) Jimmy Rollins.
c) Steve Carlton.
d) Ryan Howard.
6. He was the only Phillie to start as a rookie all-star.
a) Steve Carlton.
b) Ryan Howard.
c) Richie Ashburn.
d) Chase Utley.
7. This onetime Phillie would be the oldest non-pitcher in an All-Star Game.
a) Mike Schmidt.
b) Steve Carlton.
c) Pete Rose.
d) Tug McGraw.
8. In 2005 and '06, the Phillies laid claim to the Home Run Derby title. The second winner was Ryan Howard. Who was the first?
a) Pat Burrell.
b) Chase Utley.
c) Jayson Werth.
d) Bobby Abreu.
9. Only one manager from Philadelphia has led back-to-back all-star teams. Name him.
a) Charlie Manuel.
b) Connie Mack.
c) Dallas Green.
d) Gene Mauch.
10. Put these Philadelphia managers in order they ran all-star teams, from earliest year to most recent: Jim Fregosi, Dallas Green, Connie Mack, Charles Manuel, Gene Mauch, Paul Owens, and Eddie Sawyer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. b ; 2. a ; 3. c ; 4. d ; 5. b ; 6. c ; 7. c ; 8. d ; 9. a ; 10. Mack, 1933; Sawyer, '51; Mauch, '65; Green, '81; Owens, '84; Fregosi, '94; Manuel, 2009 and '10.
See what you know about past games.
1. The first All-Star Game was played in 1933, Where?
a) Fenway Park, Boston.
b) Comiskey Park, Chicago.
c) Polo Grounds, New York.
d) Wrigley Field, Chicago.
2. When was the first All-Star Game played in Philadelphia?
a) 1943.
b) 1953.
c) 1967.
d) 1976.
3. When was the last time the game was played in Philadelphia?
a) 1976.
b) 1986.
c) 1996.
d) 2006.
4. Who was the last Phillies player to be named All-Star Game MVP?
a) Steve Carlton.
b) Gary Carter.
c) Cole Hamels.
d) Johnny Callison.
5. This Phillie went to the All-Star Game as a rookie.
a) Mike Schmidt.
b) Jimmy Rollins.
c) Steve Carlton.
d) Ryan Howard.
6. He was the only Phillie to start as a rookie all-star.
a) Steve Carlton.
b) Ryan Howard.
c) Richie Ashburn.
d) Chase Utley.
7. This onetime Phillie would be the oldest non-pitcher in an All-Star Game.
a) Mike Schmidt.
b) Steve Carlton.
c) Pete Rose.
d) Tug McGraw.
8. In 2005 and '06, the Phillies laid claim to the Home Run Derby title. The second winner was Ryan Howard. Who was the first?
a) Pat Burrell.
b) Chase Utley.
c) Jayson Werth.
d) Bobby Abreu.
9. Only one manager from Philadelphia has led back-to-back all-star teams. Name him.
a) Charlie Manuel.
b) Connie Mack.
c) Dallas Green.
d) Gene Mauch.
10. Put these Philadelphia managers in order they ran all-star teams, from earliest year to most recent: Jim Fregosi, Dallas Green, Connie Mack, Charles Manuel, Gene Mauch, Paul Owens, and Eddie Sawyer.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. b ; 2. a ; 3. c ; 4. d ; 5. b ; 6. c ; 7. c ; 8. d ; 9. a ; 10. Mack, 1933; Sawyer, '51; Mauch, '65; Green, '81; Owens, '84; Fregosi, '94; Manuel, 2009 and '10.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
POP QUIZ ( LITERALLY)
For Father's Day, match the book, with some form of dad in the title, with its author.
1. An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us.
2. Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College.
3. Dreams From My Father.
4. Faith of aMy Fathers: A Family Memoir.
5. Fathers and Sons.
6. The Fathers.
7. Flags of Our Fathers.
8. Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the A.M.E. Church, and the Black Founding Fathers.
9. The Godfather.
10. In My Father's Court.
11. The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness.
12. My Father at 100.
13. My Father's Tears and Other Stories.
14. An Obedient Father.
15. Wisdom of Our Fathers.
a) Ivan Turgenev.
b) Richard S. Newman.
c) Isaac Bashevis Singer.
d) Ron Reagan.
e) James Carroll.
f) Pope Benedict XVI.
g) Tim Russert.
h) Akhil Sharma.
i) Andrew Ferguson.
j) James Bradley and Ron Powers.
k) John Updike.
l) Barack Obama.
m) Mario Puzo.
n) Harlow G. Unger.
o) John McCain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers: 1. e ; 2. i ; 3. l ; 4. o ; 5. a ; 6. f ; 7. j ; 8. b ; 9. m ; 10. c ; 11. n ; 12. d ; 13. k ; 14. h ; 15. g
1. An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us.
2. Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College.
3. Dreams From My Father.
4. Faith of aMy Fathers: A Family Memoir.
5. Fathers and Sons.
6. The Fathers.
7. Flags of Our Fathers.
8. Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the A.M.E. Church, and the Black Founding Fathers.
9. The Godfather.
10. In My Father's Court.
11. The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness.
12. My Father at 100.
13. My Father's Tears and Other Stories.
14. An Obedient Father.
15. Wisdom of Our Fathers.
a) Ivan Turgenev.
b) Richard S. Newman.
c) Isaac Bashevis Singer.
d) Ron Reagan.
e) James Carroll.
f) Pope Benedict XVI.
g) Tim Russert.
h) Akhil Sharma.
i) Andrew Ferguson.
j) James Bradley and Ron Powers.
k) John Updike.
l) Barack Obama.
m) Mario Puzo.
n) Harlow G. Unger.
o) John McCain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers: 1. e ; 2. i ; 3. l ; 4. o ; 5. a ; 6. f ; 7. j ; 8. b ; 9. m ; 10. c ; 11. n ; 12. d ; 13. k ; 14. h ; 15. g
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