Interesting Current Events

[VinReaper]

Airline hires temps to fill plane
Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:52am EDT

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Flybe has given the term low-fare airline an entirely new meaning: it is paying 172 people to fly back and forth across England and the Irish Sea to help it meet a target for passenger numbers at Norwich airport.

Flybe was narrowly falling short of a target to deliver at least 15,000 passengers on the Dublin-Norwich route in the 12 months ending on Monday, which meant it would have to forego a 280,000 pound ($550,000) rebate from the airport.

After the airport rejected a request for a partial rebate for almost hitting the target, Flybe hired 172 temps for 30-40 pounds each, plus a free bar and in-flight entertainment, though it admitted "it probably sounds like an early April fool."

But Richard Jenner, managing director of the airport in eastern England, called the British carrier's move "ludicrous" and said the target had to be met by regular fare-paying passengers.

"The ludicrousness is on the Norwich side who in essence have tried to hold us to ransom, putting at risk routes into Norwich," Flybe Chief Commercial Officer Mike Rutter replied in a joint interview with Jenner on Irish public broadcaster RTE.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely; Editing by Jon Boyle)

VR

[VinReaper]

Defuse Bombs With A Wii Remote
U.S. military adopts Nintendo's remote controller in bomb-defusing bots.
By Ben Silverman
Posted: 31 Mar 2008


You've used it to virtually swing a racket, smack a homerun and hurl a bowling ball. The U.S. military, however, wants to use it to defuse real-world bombs.

According to a report by New Scientist magazine, enterprising engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy have made it possible to control a bomb-defusing robot with the same Nintendo Wii remote that millions of gamers consider a natural extension of their hands.

The military has been working with the hardy Packbot for some time now, using the wheeled robot to sniff out and defuse explosives and landmines for U.S. soldiers. Traditionally, control over the bot has been accomplished with a joypad not unlike the kind that comes with an Xbox or a Playstation. That might seem like an easy fit for today's tech-savvy soldier, but head engineer David Bruemmer notes otherwise.

"Our tests show 90 per cent of the operator's workload goes into driving the robot rather than keeping an eye on the sensor data," he said.

By virtue of its unique motion-detection capabilities, the Wiimote has streamlined the process and allows operators to focus more on the collected data and less on how to steer the Packbot. Bruemmer and his crew have also tweaked the Wii's vibration feedback technology to "buzz" the operator when the Packbot detects something of interest in the field.

iRobot, manufacturers of the Packbot, know a thing or two about cleaning up sticky situations -- they first hit consumer paydirt in 2002 with their automated Roomba vacuum-cleaning robot.

More information on the Packbot can be found at the official site.


VR

[VinReaper]

GIANTS’ Super Bowl Ring
to have 1.5 carats in diamonds
Apr 1, 7:37 pm EDT

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)—Big Upset. Big Super Bowl ring.

The New York Giants unveiled the design of their Super Bowl championship ring on Tuesday, a white gold sparkler that will feature about 1.5 carats in diamonds.

The new ring will even make seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan happy.

Shortly after New York won the championship with a 17-14 win over the previously undefeated New England Patriots, Strahan said he wanted a “10-table ring.”

Giants Super Bowl XLII ring

Loosely defined: He wanted a ring that could be seen 10 tables away in a restaurant.

“There was some discussion about maybe one of the rings was too big,” said center Shaun O’Hara, who was among group of players and team executives who designed the ring with officials from Tiffany and Co.

“I threw out the fact that it was a big win, it was a huge win, so the ring should be designed accordingly,” O’Hara said. “Michael said it best when he said he wanted a 10-table ring. I think everybody is going to be very pleased with the design. It is very clean, very classy, but at the same time it is very strong.”

The ring’s top is covered in diamonds and features three Super Bowl trophies accented with marquise diamonds signifying the Giants’ Super Bowl XXI, XXV and XLII victories. The team’s “NY” logo is in bead set round diamonds, while “World Champions” is emblazoned in raised letters on the top and bottom bezel, with channel set diamonds on left and right bezel.

The ring’s shanks celebrate the Giants’ season, noting the team’s “Eleven Straight on the Road,” an NFL record; the NFL shield; and player name, along with player number in raised letters appear on one shank.

The final score, “Super Bowl XLII,” date (02.03.08) and ‘AZ’ appear on the other shank.

Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon would not disclose the price of the ring.

Tiffany has previously created Super Bowl championship rings for the Washington Redskins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The company annually creates the NFL Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy at its workshop in Parsippany, about 30 minutes from Giants Stadium.

The rings will be presented to the Giants players and coaches at a ceremony later in the spring.



VR

[VinReaper]

Diamond thong shown to the throng
Thu Apr 3, 2008 11:19am EDT

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A diamond thong worth S$168,000 ($122,000) was the highlight of a lingerie fashion show in Singapore on Thursday.

The Triumph Luxurious Diamond Thong had 518 brilliant-cut diamonds, totaling 30 carats, studded into the front of a black lace thong in a floral pattern. The skimpy underwear that left little to the imagination also had 27 white gold tassels hanging off it.

Danielle Luminita, a brunette model from Romania, was carried down the runway on the shoulders of two male models wearing only the diamond thong.

"It is very comfortable, it's not heavy or scratchy or anything," Luminita told Reuters backstage.

A spokeswoman for Triumph International, the lingerie company that commissioned the thong, said that the thong would be dry cleaned before going on display.

"It's a signature piece, obviously we aren't going to sell it," she said.

(Reporting by Melanie Lee)


VR

[VinReaper]

Ex-Stripper Gets 99 Years in Murder Plot
2008-04-03 09:02:19

Mechele Linehan, 35, who until her arrest had been living a quiet life as the wife of an Olympia, Wash., doctor, was convicted in October of first-degree murder in the 1996 shooting death of Kent Leppink.

Prosecutor Pat Gullufsen said Linehan plotted with another man who hoped to marry her, John Carlin III, to lure Leppink to a rural trail, where Carlin shot him with a .44-caliber handgun.

The motive was a $1 million insurance policy that Linehan mistakenly believed named her as the beneficiary, prosecutors said.

Carlin was sentenced in January to 99 years in prison for firing the shots that killed Leppink.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Philip Volland called the crime the worst in its category: premeditated, cold and cruel.

"It was a calculated homicide accomplished through deceit, deception and manipulation," Volland said. "It was done for the most venal of reasons and it was dismissed by the two participants in the most casual of ways. It was a man killed by his friend and his fiance."

Volland rejected the contention that Linehan was not a significant participant in Leppink's murder. The evidence showed her obtaining the life insurance policy on Leppink as she was deceiving him about her intentions to marry him, he said. She also used deceit to lure him to the murder scene.

"Just those facts are ones that support complicity in the event," Volland said.

Dozens of people who knew Linehan in the decade after Leppink's murder wrote letters supporting her, mentioning her generosity and volunteer service. But Volland said he could not offer a sentence different from the one he gave to Carlin.

"In my mind I can find no principal distinction between the puppet who pulls the trigger and the puppeteer who pulls the strings," Volland said. "In my judgment, Ms. Linehan was the puppeteer who pulled the strings."

Linehan showed no emotion as the sentence was pronounced. In a short statement, she said she was not the monster prosecutors and the press made her out to be.

"I beg you from the bottom of my heart to allow me the chance to go back to my family as soon as I possibly can," she told Volland.

She will be eligible for parole after serving 33 years.

Prosecutors said Linehan was inspired by a 1994 movie, "The Last Seduction," in which a woman coaxes her lover into killing her husband for money.

Leppink's body was found by utility workers on the ground near a lonely trail in Hope, more than an hour's drive from Anchorage. He had been shot three times with a .44 Magnum. Prosecutors say Linehan and Carlin had lured him to the desolate mining community by using a fictitious note that Leppink found, saying Linehan was holed up in a cabin. The cabin didn't exist.

Carlin and Linehan have denied they were responsible for Leppink's death. Neither testified.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.


VR

[cblakey1]

Man believes dead wife is contacting him on mobile


By Julia Bennett
IT looks like every house on the street, a normal semi with a bird-bath perched in the front garden.
But the unassuming facade of this home hides a ghostly secret which, almost four decades ago, drove a family to run in terror from "The Thornton Thing".

Today, its resident says he lives with a ghost – no longer the sinister apparition which reduced residents to sheer terror, but the spirit of his late wife.

See our Fylde's most haunted special

And in an amazing story, Frank Jones admits he believes wife Sadie is contacting him from beyond the grave... by mobile phone.

Frank, 59, says the spirit of Sadie and son Steven, who both died five years ago, are visiting him at home in Windsor Avenue, Thornton.

Mr Jones had his home exorcised 12 years ago following disturbing visits from a supernatural being, known as 'The Thing' which had forced another family to flee the house 37 years ago.

The Ross family told The Gazette in 1971 how the 'Thing' pulled at their bed covers while they were asleep. They also told how they sensed a vile smell and felt something breathing in their ears.

When Mr Jones moved into the house 20 years ago he was sceptical about the legend of the 'Thing'. But he soon changed his mind.

He said: "I just thought they were imagining it. But there was a lot of banging and an earthy smell in the house. Then one night I was lying in bed and a mist came across the room.

"I wanted to shout out at it, but I couldn't get my words out. My face seemed to be paralysed. It all got too much for me when that happened."

Mr Jones's daughter, Maureen, 30, also recalls experiences with the 'Thing', including taps coming on full force and the house being "ransacked".

She said: "You think people are exaggerating until you experience it. I was home alone one evening and suddenly heard these footsteps coming up the stairs.

"They went into my dad's bedroom and then I heard all the cupboards banging open. It sounded like burglars."

Mr Jones contacted Fleetwood Spiritualist Church for an exorcism to be carried out.

He added: "A lady came to cleanse the house. Sh
e said a man was trapped between two worlds."

But the strange goings on returned five years ago after Mr Jones suffered a double tragedy when his son Steven, 32, died from a brain tumour and wife Sadie, 69, died from a heart attack three months later.

Mr Jones, who runs his own scrap metal business, said: "Just after Sadie died I came home and I felt like I didn't want to go in the house.

"I got a missed call on my mobile, but it didn't ring. The call was from my own home number, but there was nobody in the house. Then when I went inside there was a smell like cigarettes which Sadie used to smoke and the smell of her perfume."

Mr Jones said the family has also received strange text messages, which they believe to be from her.

He added: "She always had a mobile with her. We buried her with her phone. There have been messages with words Sadie would say but there's no number.

[VinReaper]

Bizarre!!!

VR

[VinReaper]

Farmer cuts property in two to give to ex-wife
Fri Apr 4, 2008 1:38pm EDT

BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Serb farmer used a grinding machine to cut in half his farm tools and machines to comply with a court ruling that he must share all his property with his ex-wife, local media reported on Thursday.

Branko Zivkov, 76, told Belgrade daily Kurir he had been ready to give his wife Vukadinka her equal share of everything earned during their 45-year marriage, but was furious at being asked to give away half his farming equipment.

Instead, he bought a grinder and cut in two all his tools, including large items such as cattle scales, a harrow and a sowing machine.

"I still haven't decided how to split the cow," he told the newspaper. "She should just say what she wants -- the part with the horns or the part with the tail."

(Reporting by Ljilja Cvekic, Editing by Ellie Tzortzi)



This guy is my idol!!!

VR

[VinReaper]

No happy returns as school bans birthday cake
Fri Apr 4, 2008 1:39pm EDT

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Children in a New Zealand school have been banned from bringing cakes to share on their birthdays, due to new government healthy eating guidelines.

Pupils at Oteha Valley primary school north of Auckland have been told they are allowed to celebrate their birthdays, but the cake must stay at home, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.

The Ministry of Education has been on a fat-busting crusade, introducing sweeping guidelines against unhealthy food in New Zealand schools.

Oteha Valley has a large number of pupils born in September and October, and there can be up to four cakes a week in some classes, principal Megan Bowden told the Herald.

It had gotten to the point where parents thought they were required to provide a cake for their child's birthday.

The school has advised parents in a newsletter to stop sending cakes to school from the next term.

A Ministry of Education spokesman told the Herald the government guidelines only applied to food sold on the premises, and schools did not need to monitor food brought in from outside.

(Reporting by Adrian Bathgate; Editing by Valerie Lee)

VR

[Vince-Vell]

Originally Posted by VinReaper

Farmer cuts property in two to give to ex-wife
Fri Apr 4, 2008 1:38pm EDT

BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Serb farmer used a grinding machine to cut in half his farm tools and machines to comply with a court ruling that he must share all his property with his ex-wife, local media reported on Thursday.

Branko Zivkov, 76, told Belgrade daily Kurir he had been ready to give his wife Vukadinka her equal share of everything earned during their 45-year marriage, but was furious at being asked to give away half his farming equipment.

Instead, he bought a grinder and cut in two all his tools, including large items such as cattle scales, a harrow and a sowing machine.

"I still haven't decided how to split the cow," he told the newspaper. "She should just say what she wants -- the part with the horns or the part with the tail."

(Reporting by Ljilja Cvekic, Editing by Ellie Tzortzi)



This guy is my idol!!!

VR

Aww god now thats a great story. he is my hero too.