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United Airlines Mistakenly Sends Phoenix-Bound Dog To Ireland

Posted by admin on March 17th, 2013

(Photo: CBS 2)

Newark, New Jersey, USA. March 15th, 2013

Right ticket, wrong destination — by 5,000 miles! A dog that was supposed to fly from Newark Liberty International Airport to Arizona ended up in Ireland. But why? Six-year-old Springer Spaniel “Hendrix,” who was named after the jet-setting rock star, endured a long journey. Like his legendary namesake Jimi, the dog is now an international traveler, but was not supposed to be.

“I was not happy,” the dog’s owner, Edith Alback, told CBS 2′s Dave Carlin. United Airlines is now in the dog house with Alback. She paid $408 for Hendrix to fly, plus $160 for the crate, while fully expecting safe transportation for the dog to Phoenix, Ariz. But instead, the pooch wound up in lush, green Ireland.

At home last night in the Great Kills section of Staten Island, Alback was thinking her dog would land in Arizona any minute. However, that changed when a United Airlines representative contacted her. “Somebody called me and told me that there was something wrong with the dog, and that the dog was on its way to Ireland instead of to Phoenix,” Alback said.

See the full story at CBS New York

8′x10′ Apartment In London Sells For $280,000

Posted by admin on March 13th, 2013

London, United Kingdom. March 11th, 2013

Woman arrested for trying to sell her kids on Facebook

Posted by admin on March 13th, 2013

(Photo via Sequoyah County Police Department)

Sequoyah, Oklahoma, USA. March 11th, 2013.

An Oklahoma woman was arrested last week after police found that she’d used Facebook to try to sell her two children. Sallisaw native Misty Van Horn, 22, was taken to Sequoyah County Jail Wednesday night after police learned that she’d contacted a woman who lived 30 minutes away in Fort Smith, Ark., to offer her youngest child, a 10-month old girl.

According to a police report, Van Horn contacted the Fort Smith woman by sending a Facebook message: “Just come to Sallisaw, it’s only 30 minutes away and I’ll give you all of her stuff and let y’all have her forever for $1,000.” NewsOK reports that in addition to the $1,000 price tag laid on her infant daughter, Van Horn tried selling a package deal including her 2-year-old child for $4,000. Both children were taken into state custody.

Police have reported that they believe Van Horn was attempting to sell her children so that she could accumulate the bond money to get her boyfriend out of jail. Now she’s in jail, awaiting charges of attempting to traffic minors, and facing a $40,000 bond. Don’t sell your kids, okay? They’re not for sale.

See the original story at Daily Dot

TSA confession describes security screenings as ‘a complete joke’

Posted by admin on March 11th, 2013

TSA Airport Wand Security Checkpoint1 TSA confession describes security screenings as a complete joke

USA. March 10th, 2013

Last week, an undercover TSA inspector managed to quite easily sneak a mock explosive device through airport security and onto an airplane. He simply stuffed the fake bomb down his pants and went right through the screenings, including a pat-down. Out of several covert TSA agents attempting to sneak mock explosive devices onto the airplane, only one was pulled aside, and she was carrying a child’s doll with wires hanging out the back, making it ridiculously obvious. (SOURCE)

“This episode once again demonstrates how Newark Airport is the Ground Zero of TSA failures,” said a source published in the NY Post, a newspaper that’s been breaking huge news on the TSA (and actually doing a far better job reporting on this than the NYT).

But the real news isn’t the fact that, time and time again, government officials can easily sneak explosives onto airplanes. The real story is what happened a few days later, when a TSA employee who works at Newark went public with allegations that the TSA is nothing more than pure theater and that TSA employees have no ability or motivation to catch any terrorists whatsoever.

See more on this story at Natural News

Hockey player paralyzed after massive hit; opponent could face criminal charges

Posted by admin on March 9th, 2013

Switzerland. March 8th, 2013.

A hockey player for the Swiss Nationalliga B, the nation’s second-tier league, was injured so severely Thursday night after being checked that he is reported to be paralyzed. And now criminal charges could be brought against the player of the illegal move.

Ronny Keller with the EHC Olten was in a playoff match with SC Langenthal when opponent Stefan Schnyder checked him from behind. The check sent Keller sliding head-first into the side wall of the rink.

Attorney General Felix Bänziger saying that the severity of Keller’s paralysis, which is not yet completely known, and the spirit of the illegal play — whether it was intentional or accidental — will be a factor in the investigation that could lead to prosecution. Bänziger said that the investigation was not initiated by Keller but by the prosecutor’s office.

See more on this story from The Blaze

‘The Nintendo Medal’? New Military Award for Drone Pilots

Posted by admin on March 7th, 2013

USA. March 6th, 2013.

The Pentagon’s newest military honor, symbolized by a two-inch bronze medallion, has sparked fierce debate over the nation’s growing corps of drone pilots and cyberwarriors and how to commend their service, which happens far from an actual battlefield.

The Distinguished Warfare Medal, approved by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last month, is the military’s first new combat-related medal in nearly 70 years. It is intended to recognize extraordinary contributions to combat operations by a service member from afar and will rank as the eighth highest individual award behind the Medal of Honor.

But placement of the new medal in ahead of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, which are given for valor in the line of fire, has created significant stir. Critics have panned it as the “Chair-borne Medal,” “the Nintendo Medal,” “Distant Warfare Medal” and “the Purple Buttocks,” alluding to fact that computer-based warriors do their work from a chair, among other names.

See the full story at Refreshing News

Australian Miners Sacked for Harlem Shake

Posted by admin on March 5th, 2013

Perth, Australia. March 4th, 2013.

An Australian newspaper reports up to 15 miners have been fired for performing the “Harlem Shake” underground in a gold mine. The West Australian newspaper reports the miners lost their six-figure salaries over the stunt in the Agnew Gold Mine last week. A dismissal letter cited by the paper says mine owner Barminco considered the stunt a safety issue. Barminco did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

A YouTube video shows eight miners performing the convulsive dance. A sacked worker who wouldn’t give his name told the newspaper that up to 15 people were fired, including some who watched the performance but did not participate.

See more on this story from The Blaze

Living in a box: Tokyo workers forced to live in tiny ‘coffin apartments’

Posted by admin on March 1st, 2013

Tokyo, Japan. March 1st, 2013.

Tokyo is dense. Packed. And crowded. If you don’t have much money and want to live in places like Shibuya, you could literally live in a box. A Japanese news program recently showed off an “extremely cramped share house” (“geki-sema share house” or 激せまシャアハウス in Japanese). There’s a communal toilet and bath for the residents, who sleep in tiny coffin-like rooms. The sleeping setup is not ideal for those afraid of tight spaces.

What’s more, the bedrooms are stacked on top of each other. “They look more like lockers,” wrote one commenter on a popular Japanese website. The show interviewed a 24 year-old man who lives in one of these cramped share houses. “It might be as big as two tatami mats,” said the man, who hopes to start his own business. Tatami mats, traditionally used to measure room sizes, are about 1.6 square meters. Small rooms are either 4.5 or 6 tatami mats.

What’s truly mind-boggling is the rent. At ¥55,000 per month, tt does include heat and electricity, but that’s US$586. “If you look, you can find a two bedroom apartment for ¥55,000 a month,” wrote a commenter online. “These people are being deceived.”

See the full story and more pictures at Refreshing News

‘Fresh Prince’ theme song on phone sparks school lockdown

Posted by admin on March 1st, 2013

USA. March 1st, 2013.

Take the most ubiquitous of modern gadgets (a cell phone) combine it with a classic ’90s sitcom theme song (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) add in overwhelming, unprecedented and fully justified public worry over school shootings … and you get a story that should be funny but isn’t.

From a report in the Beaver County Times:

Beaver County schools had their lives “flipped, turned upside down” Thursday morning when a phone greeting involving the theme song from the 1990s sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” was taken as a threat.

All schools in the county were advised to lock down for about 20 minutes while police searched for a 19-year-old Ambridge Area High School student whose greeting to callers was mistakenly taken as a threat about “shooting people outside of the school.”

The actual line from the song is “And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school.” It is unclear from listening to Travis Clawson’s phone message whether he inadvertently twisted the words or it just was misheard by the receptionist from his Sewickley eye doctor’s office who sent the day’s events in motion.

See the full story at Network World