Saturday, August 06, 2011
Beth Tikvah Synagogue is defaced
Vandals used a stencil to spray paint a black and red swastika on the Beth Tikvah Synagogue Thursday afternoon. The words "Islam will rule" was spray painted below the Nazi symbol. The synagogue also houses the Robbins Hebrew Academy, a Jewish elementary school.
Similar stencilled red and black swastikas have been reported in two other locations in Toronto this month. Both a Korean-language church not far from Beth Tikvah and a laneway near Avenue Rd. and Roselawn Ave. were defaced.
I know that members of the Jewish community will play this down. They usually do. It's only a couple of punks and nothing more. Well anti-Semitic acts are on the rise. Some resembles the attack on Beth Tikvah. Others are much more subtle such as the picketing of Jewish businesses because they sell Israeli products. The Nazis also developed rationales for boycotting Jewish businesses in the 1930s.
Friday, August 05, 2011
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Couple offering $500 for return of monkey doll Bongo
Two grief-stricken Manhattanites have frantically papered Park Slope with fliers offering hundreds of dollars for the safe return of their closest companion — a beloved monkey doll named Bongo.
Bonni Marcus and Jack Zinzi said their best friend went missing on Sunday night during a routine outing to their favorite Fifth Avenue restaurant, El Viejo Yayo.
The disappearance occurred around 7 pm, as Marcus and Zinzi were walking from their car near Flatbush Avenue to the eatery.
“I walked over to the restaurant, sat down, ordered the food, and reached into my pocket to put Bongo on the table — and saw that he was gone,” Zinzi said. “I tore the car apart. I was in a bad way. Bongo really means a lot to me, so I kind of broke down.
“It happened so fast, because I couldn’t have been in the restaurant 10 minutes before I realized he was gone,” Zinzi continued.
“Somebody must have come along and thought he was as cute as I know he is.”
It’s unclear if police have been notified, but any decent gumshoe would have no problem tracking down a missing person with this description: Peach skin, jet-black eyes, perpetual smile stitched on his face, eight inches tall.
The doll has been a constant part of Marcus and Zinzi’s lives for 10 years now. The two adults are devastated enough to offer $500 to anyone who has happened across the wayward Beanie Baby.
The chances of finding this absent primate are slim, but the dynamic doll-doting duo is optimistic. Since Monday, when the fliers went up, two people have called — one Samaritan saying that she placed Bongo on a traffic meter after discovering him lying on Flatbush Avenue, the other mentioning a separate Bongo sighting at the corner of Union Street and Eighth Avenue. In both cases, when Marcus and Zinzi returned to the site, Bongo was gone.
How pathetic are these two? Two people in their 50s carrying around a doll for 10 years. But wait, they put up posters offering a reward and people actually call up to reporting sitings.Nest thing you know police divers will be searching the Hudson River.
Wife set up ex-husband to drink and drive
A divorcee will today challenge a custody ruling because he claims that it was based on a DUI charge that came after his ex-wife paid a blonde woman to trick into drink driving.
David Dutcher claims his ex-wife set him up with a woman pretending to be interested in him to help her divorce proceedings.
Mr Dutcher said he was on a second date with a woman he had met on Match.com, when she started chugging shots of hard alcohol and kissing him on the lips.
A second blonde showed up and they both flashed their breasts, before asking him to join them at home in the hot tub.
But minutes after leaving the restaurant, Mr Dutcher was pulled over for drunken driving.
His blood sample revealed an alcohol content of 0.12 per cent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent. He pleaded no contest, paid a fine of $2,200 and performed three days of community service.
Three weeks later, his ex-wife’s lawyer filed an emergency motion in court seeking to discuss Mr Dutcher’s visitation hours with his three children, according to court records.The lawyer claimed to have inadvertently learned of Dutcher’s drunken-driving episode and wanted to make the court aware of his run-in with the law.
A judge then reduced the amount of time he could spend with his children because of his arrest.
sourceWednesday, August 03, 2011
Highest paid NHL players for 2011-12
I've updated the list to reflect the Stamkos signing. Shea Weber doesn't make the list because his arbitration award is for only one season. His $7.5 million cap hit puts him in the top 10 but for actually paid salary he drops down because of the players with front loaded contracts.
| PLAYER | 2011/12 SALARY | CAP HIT |
| Brad Richards | $12,000,000 | $6,667,000 |
| Christian Ehrhoff | $10,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
| Vincent Lecavalier | $10,000,000 | $7,727,000 |
| Ilya Bryzgalov | $10,000,000 | $5,667,000 |
| Sidney Crosby | $9,000,000 | $8,700,000 |
| Eveni Malkov | $9,000,000 | $8,700,000 |
| Alex Ovechkin | $9,000,000 | $9,538,000 |
| Zdeno Chara | $8,500,000 | $6,917,000 |
| Jason Spezza | $8,000,000 | $7,000,000 |
| Dany Heatley | $8,000,000 | $7,500,000 |
| Joe Thornton | $8,000,000 | $7,000,000 |
| Duncan Keith | $8,000,000 | $5,551,000 |
| Steven Stamkos | $8,000,000 | $7,500,000 |
| Marian Hossa | $7,900,000 | $5,233,000 |
| Eric Staal | $7,750,000 | $8,250,000 |
| Henrik Zetterberg | $7,750,000 | $6,083,000 |
Casey Anthony turns up in Ohio
Casey was photographed on Sunday -- trying to blend in by wearing an Ohio State University baseball cap, a tight-fitting top and glasses as she walked around town ... stopping at an Old Navy to check out some dresses.
What's with that? Where is the plastic surgery, dyed and cut hair, the disguises? And shouldn't she be getting into shape for her porno movies? Okay she's a psycho who killed her kid but why dwell on the negative.
see video
What's with that? Where is the plastic surgery, dyed and cut hair, the disguises? And shouldn't she be getting into shape for her porno movies? Okay she's a psycho who killed her kid but why dwell on the negative.
see video
Katie Holmes reveals she's barked at a raccoon
It's this kind of revealing stuff that makes talk shows such a big attraction. After living with a Scientologist I would think you would be afraid of nothing..But apparently not...
Swedish man arrested trying to split atoms in his kitchen
A Swedish man who was arrested after trying to split atoms in his kitchen said Wednesday he was only doing it as a hobby.
Richard Handl told the Associated Press that he had the radioactive elements radium, americium and uranium in his apartment in southern Sweden when police showed up and arrested him on charges of unauthorized possession of nuclear material.
The 31-year-old Handl said he had tried for months to set up a nuclear reactor at home and kept a blog about his experiments, describing how he created a small meltdown on his stove.
Only later did he realize it might not be legal and sent a question to Sweden’s Radiation Authority, which answered by sending the police.
“I have always been interested in physics and chemistry,” Handl said, adding he just wanted to “see if it’s possible to split atoms at home.”
The police raid took place in late July, but police have refused to comment. If convicted, Handl could face fines or up to two years in prison.
Although he says police didn’t detect dangerous levels of radiation in his apartment, he now acknowledges the project wasn’t such a good idea.
“From now on, I will stick to the theory,” he said.
Typical of a socialist government... trying to stamp out individual initiative! If a guy wants to have a meltdown in the privacy of his own home, where's the harm? My wife does it all the time. But seriously this is probably how it went down ... "Police department, how may I direct your call?" "Hi ... umm ... this is Richard from down the street and I just have a wee question. Totally hypothetically, let's say I have some radium and uranium here so I can run some, umm, you know, *experiments* in my kitchen. Before I throw it all in my blender and hit puree, I'm just wondering if I need any sort of permit."
Woman accused of killing boyfriend with her stiletto heel
Authorities in Georgia allege Thelma Carter, 46, struck her boyfriend in the head with the heel, killing him.
Police believe Robert F Higdon, 48, was killed on Sunday evening after a physical dispute between the two inside their trailer on a mobile home estate in Augusta.
Investigators are not sure how many times Ms Carter allegedly struck Mr Higdon with the shoe before he died, but said that his body showed signs of trauma to the head.
Ms Carter told police she fled the trailer after the argument and returned to find Mr Higdon dead.
The Augusta Chronicle reported that police recovered the body on Monday morning after Ms Carter notified them of the death.
Yeah talk about killer heels. Well if I had to live in a trailer I might kill someone too. In Canada we have a gun registry. I'm wondering if they are contemplating putting stiletto shoes on the registry at all. Can you imagine have to wait 48 hours to conduct a police check before letting you buy a pair of shoes.
The women are big in Texas
Usually you see some big brute wrestling a woman or child for a foul ball. Instead we have here an Amazon who turns the table on a over matched guy.
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Happy 47th birthday Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise in the 1991 film Fried Green Tomatoes
Mary-Louise in the 1993 film Mr. Wonderful
Mary-Louise in 2005 episode of West Wing
Mary-Louise in 2009 episode of Weeds
Mayor crushes illegally-parked car with tank
A mayor of a Lithuanian city this week took to driving an armored personnel carrier over a Mercedes-Benz that was parked in the bike lane. "I've had enough of these drivers parking their luxury cars on bike lanes and pedestrian crossings. This tank is a good tool to solve the problem of parking in the wrong place," Mayor Zuokas told the assembled reporters.
See, In the beautiful city of Vilnius, Lithuania, there's a big problem with people who drive fancy cars like Mercedes-Benzes and Ferraris parking them in the bike lanes. Citizens so far have been posting pictures of the jerks on social media so everyone can shake their collective fists. However, the type of people who drive these cars and park them in bike lanes don't seem to care much about what people say about them on Twitter as their behavior hasn't changed. That's what pushed Mayor Zoukas into action and into the tank. After it was over, he rode away on his cute little bike.
Sadly, the entire event was staged and the parked car was one that had been junked. But I bet a few drivers whose butlers mention the story to them will think twice next time before parking their hot ride in a bike lane.
Prisoner uses faulty jail phone to make bail
A prisoner in Florida who realized the jail’s phone system was putting cash on the card he was using phoned enough people to earn his bail money. Larry Stone noticed that Lake County Jail’s payphone added money rather than taking it off. He made another call to check he was not seeing things and then made 77 more until he racked up $1,250. He used the cash to pay his way out of the cells, a probe by the county sheriff found. However, officers soon learned of his wheeze as dozens of other prisoners tried to do the same. Stone was rearrested within hours. He is now facing additional charges of scheming with intent to defraud and grand theft over the calls.
Florida's prison system certainly comes down hard on entrepreneurs. It's like a parking meter that adds on time without putting in money. What are you supposed to do find a meter that will take your money?
Fisherman dies after snorting from brick found floating in ocean
A Merrit Island fisherman died in a South Miami hospital on Thursday after sampling what may have been a brick of cocaine he found floating offshore in the Keys, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. Thomas Swindal, 53, was fishing with his brother near Marathon on Wednesday when they came across what appeared to be a kilo of cocaine floating in the water. The pair discussed what to do with it, Kenneth Swindal told authorities, and shortly stored it in the bait well of their boat and resumed fishing.
Minutes later, Kenneth Swindal said, he saw his brother open the package and sample the contents. Thomas Swindal began acting strangely about 90 minutes later, according to his brother, running around the boat and tossing vital equipment overboard including a VHF radio and cell phone. He then picked up knives, a pair of pliers, a gaff and at one point, MCSO says, removed and sank the engine cowling before damaging the engine with the gaff.
Kenneth Swindal told authorities he threw all the sharp objects from the boat along with the suspicious brick, then climbed atop the crippled boat and began signalling for help. A nearby boat radioed Fish and Wildlife authorities, who transported the brothers to shore where they were met by paramedics.
Thomas Swindal was shortly transferred to South Miami Hospital, where he died. An autopsy will be performed to determine cause of death, but toxicology tests could take months to determine what Swindal may have ingested. The floating brick was not recovered. The MCSO has cautioned boaters to call law enforcement immediately if they find suspected contraband floating in the water.
source
Monday, August 01, 2011
Kinky college chancellor is advertising for female slave
David Lee, University of North Virginia's chancellor and chair of its board of trustees, is so into domination and sadomasochism that he has transformed his basement into a suburban dungeon complete with bondage racks.
In fact, the 64-year-old Lee and his girlfriend recently advertised online seeking “attractive submissive” women who “wish to be part of our poly family. Ideally you will consider yourself a slave or a sub with slave tendencies.”
Lee’s ad appeared on collarme.com, which describes itself as the “largest BDSM Community on the Planet.” “We enjoy almost all kinks, and are expert in most of them. But for us it is more the submission and commitment that matter.” Lee and his girlfriend (who used the handle “polyfamilyinva2”) added, “We provide a safe, sane home with a good balance of love and discipline. We are very serious about finding a permanent addition to our poly family.”
source
Is Anders Behring Breivik really insane?
Everyone just assumes that Anders Behring Breivik is insane. I suppose you can make the argument that there is a very fine line between insanity and right wing extremism. So talking about eliminating your opponents seems to be fine but actually carrying out makes you nuts.
Mark Steyn has been writing anti-Muslim material as far back as 2006 with his infamous Macleans article The Future Belongs To Islam. Around the same time Melanie Phllips wrote a piece called No Surrender in the Daily Mail. There is Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Muslim provocateur and leader of his country’s anti-immigration Freedom Party. So these writers are sane while Breivik is not? They all believe they are in a war against Islam. However, Anders sincerely believed that the killing needed to be done and carried through with it. According to his manifesto, it was to stop the liberals in Europe from letting the Muslims take over.
Was Timothy McVeigh insane for blowing up a government building in Oklahoma City? He killed 168 fellow Americans as revenge against the federal government for its handling of the Waco siege. Are Islamic fanatics also insane for slaughtering innocent people in the name of some convoluted cause?
It's far too easy to label violent extremists as insane. There acts of violence are disturbing and make no sense to us. They know exactly what they are doing and understand the consequences. Sounds pretty sane to me.
More violence breaks out in the Middle East
Maybe this video reinforces a certain stereotype of people in the Middle East but when have you seen this kind of brawling in a basketball game? Can you imagine if they played hockey in that region? There would be blood all over the ice.
Gamer dies ODing on Xbox
No matter how much you love playing video games, you know deep down in your gamer bones it isn't good for you to play for hours on end without taking a break.
In fact, it's not just that it's bad for you. It could kill you.
Chris Staniforth of Sheffield, England — a mere 20 years old — died in May after spending all night playing games on his Xbox 360. Staniforth's family is now campaigning to raise awareness about the risk to those who spend long hours playing.
A coroner has discovered that Chris — who had studied to become a game designer — suffered from deep vein thrombosis (DVT). That is, a blood clot formed in his left calf and then moved to his lungs, which caused a pulmonary embolism. He was on his way to an IT job interview when he collapsed and died.
DVT is the same condition they warn you about when you're going to be stuck on a long-haul flight.
The man's father — David Staniforth — told BBC News that his son was an avid "Halo" fan who would often spend up to 12 hours straight playing games on Xbox Live.
"Sitting still is literally the danger zone," David Staniforth said. "Chris loved to play and would stay up all night. Millions of people worldwide are playing these games for hours, and there is a risk."
Indeed, though it's rare, this is not the first time someone has gamed themselves to death. And, of course, video games are hardly the only reason people spend dangerous amounts of time sitting still. Plenty of people sit for hours on end at their computer simply working at their day jobs or, say, surfing Facebook.
But David Staniforth said he isn't out to blame gaming or game makers. Instead he hopes to raise awareness among those who, like his son, love to play games. He's in the midst of setting up an educational website with the help of his son's friends.
"Don't stop your child from playing games. They love doing it. It's great for them," he said. "It's not to spoil the fun. Just be aware. Enjoy it. But take a break."
All those moms warning their kids about getting addicted to video games were right. Mom are always right. Even if they have no clue about stuff - like video games - they have an intuitive sense of what might kill their kid.
source
Dead bus driver goes unnoticed for 5 hours
A NJ Transit bus from the Meadowlands that was found idling at the Port Authority terminal Thursday for nearly five hours with its driver dead inside has exposed a need for better coordination between the two agencies, transportation officials said Sunday.
Thomas Truex, a bus operator for 26 years, was discovered slumped in a passenger seat at about 3 p.m., hours after he dropped off his last passengers at 10:30 a.m. and was to return the bus to the Meadowlands garage, officials said.
NJ Transit Spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett stopped short of faulting the garage supervisors for not alerting authorities when Truex didn’t return that morning, but said, “We’ll certainly take a look at procedures going forward.”
The incident may have shown cracks in the communication channels between New York and New Jersey bus operations, Port Authority Spokesman Steve Coleman said.
“If anything, we probably need to take a look at coordination we have with operation staff in terms of making sure if anything looks out of place or a driver didn’t report back that there are employees who can notify us ASAP so we can check it out,” he said.
Flags were raised when Truex did not report back to duty at 3 p.m. at the Meadowlands garage Thursday, prompting NJ Transit officials to call his wife, who had not seen him, Hackett said. About the same time, Port Authority called to alert NJ Transit of a bus that was “not in a good location,” she said. A NJ Transit supervisor then went to Port Authority and found Truex. His death is not suspicious, though the cause is undetermined.
Five hours! Most people can't take a prolonged bathroom break without their supervisor breathing down their necks and this guy was literally dead on the job for five hours and no one noticed. When I get back to my office from doing my business I can expect to find a search party being organized to look for me.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Peanut butter and jelly burglar on the loose
A North Seattle resident returned home July 21 to find his house in the 13000 block of Meridian Avenue North covered in peanut butter and jelly, according to the Seattle Police Department.
According to the police report, peanut butter and jelly was smeared on most of the floors, furniture and more. Even the man's dog was covered in peanut butter and jelly, according to the report.
In addition, someone threw up in the bed of the man's daughter, according to the report.
Officers believe an unlocked window was the likely point of entry.
The man's daughter told police she thinks her friend, a known drug user, is the culprit. According to the daughter, her friend smeared lotion all over another friend's apartment the previous night.
The only item missing from the house: a jar of peanut butter.source
Man suing Hilton over 75 cent charge for newspaper
A guest at a Hilton hotel in Santa Rosa who was upset that he was billed 75 cents for a newspaper he assumed was free has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the hotel chain, saying he was deceived by a scheme that also hurts the environment.
Rodney Harmon, 55, of Sacramento said he visited the Hilton Garden Inn Sonoma County Airport on March 28 and saw a copy of USA Today outside his door.
"He did not request a newspaper and assumed it had been placed there by hotel staff," said the suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Harmon didn't realize until later that a 75-cent charge for the paper had been added to his bill.
Harmon accused Hilton of deliberately hiding the newspaper charge by describing the fee in an "extremely small font which is difficult to notice or read" on the sleeve of the room card.
The suit noted that newspaper readership and circulation has drastically declined over the past several decades and that most hotel guests probably aren't reading the paper anyway. The wasted papers are an "offensive waste of precious resources and energy," said the suit, which also said that "deforestation caused by paper production is a matter of concern and worry in this state, country and worldwide."
"Certainly if people who don't want newspapers are getting newspapers and then not using them, that is waste that we don't need," Kirk Wolden, an attorney representing Harmon, said Friday,
"The alleged consumer injury is substantial, causing millions of guests at defendant's hotels to unwittingly part with money for a newspaper they did not request and reasonably believed was provided to them without charge," the suit says.
Having a designated driver is good; using an 8 year old is bad
State Police arrested a man who was intoxicated and let his eight-year-old drive while the family drove from Mississippi to Texas, according to State Police spokeswoman Trooper Melissa Matey.
State Police stopped the truck around 6:30 a.m. on Interstate-12 near Holden, La. Police pulled the truck over after a call from a concered motorist said the truck was driving erratically and a child was at the wheel, said Matey.
“Troopers determined that the driver was an eight-year-old with his four-year-old sister in the rear seat and their father, Billy Joe Madden, 28, of Hattiesburg, Miss., in the passenger seat,” said a statement from Matey.
According to police, Madden was intoxicated and sleeping in the the truck while his son drove the truck from Mississippi to Dallas, Texas.
Both children were turned over to Child Protective Services and are awaiting the arrival of a family member, according to police.
Madden was arrested and booked into the Livingston Parish Jail on two counts of child desertion, parent allowing a minor to drive, open container, and two counts of no child restraint and no seatbelt, according to police.
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