Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Smiley

Ohio Teen Charged with Billing School for $37K of Candy


The Associated Press
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:00 UTC
Police: Sweet scam sours when Ohio teen caught billing High School for $37,000 worth of candy.

Police say an Ohio teenager tried to pull off a sweet deal by ordering more than $37,000 of candy online and charging the bill to his former high school.

Police say the 18-year-old used a Middletown High School purchasing number to place orders for thousands of lollipops and candy bars from Michigan-based The Goodies Factory. It wasn't clear how he accessed the number.

The candy company became suspicious, contacted the school and was told by detectives to send an empty box.
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Snowman

Twitter suspends fake Dalai Lama account


The Sydney Morning Herald - Agence France-Presse
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:40 UTC
US micro-blogging service Twitter has suspended an account said to have been set up the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama saying it had been created by an impersonator.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, in an email to AFP on Monday, said "the account was suspended because it violated our Terms of Use regarding impersonation".

The account - twitter.com/ohhdl - was created on Saturday and attracted nearly 20,000 followers in just two days, a phenomenal rate of growth.
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Smiley

'Miracle baby' survives after 20 minutes underwater


The Sydney Morning Herald - Australia Associated Press
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:34 UTC
A two-year-old girl who spent 20 minutes under water after falling into a swimming pool has stunned British doctors by making a full recovery in hospital.

Oluchi Nwaubani was playing at a friend's house when she fell into the pool and sank to the bottom.

The toddler spent 20 minutes under water before she was found and rushed to hospital, where doctors gave her just a two per cent chance of survival.

Her parents, from Petts Wood in south London, were told that if she survived she would not be able to move, speak or eat properly.

But after three months of treatment in hospital, Oluchi has made a full recovery.
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Blackbox

Japan: Police baffled by Y360 million that disappeared from backyard


Japan Today
Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:39 UTC
On Oct 10, 2007, an 83-year-old company owner in Saga Prefecture reported to police that 360 million yen, which he had buried in his yard, had disappeared. The money was never recovered and the man passed away last December. The police revealed details of the case on Jan 28.
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Play

Flashback Recording Industry Calls Radio 'A Kind Of Piracy'

Mike Masnick
TechDirt
Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:49 UTC
from the and-mocks-broadcasters dept

It would appear that the recording industry now likes to call any sort of business model it doesn't like "piracy." At least that's the only explanation I can come up with in its latest battle, where it has referred to traditional radio as "a form of piracy." It's almost too bizarre to be true, and that's before we even explain how this involves a (literal) can of herring.

It's difficult to pick a side to cheer for in a dispute between the RIAA and the NAB -- as we're talking about two organizations with a history of saying the most outrageously incorrect things in misguided attempts to "protect" the industries they represent (which almost always ends up backfiring and hurting the industry). However, in the latest battle between the two, it seems pretty clear that it's the RIAA that's being more ridiculous.
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Smiley

Canadian Woman Offers Free Hugs


United Press International
Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:42 UTC
A 26-year-old Canadian woman says she offering free hugs for the third year in a row on the streets of Toronto.

"Some people will walk by smiling and other people will come running because they love the hugs," said Tanya Neumeyer, who took to the streets Sunday with her older brother Ian in tow.

The Neumeyers and a few friends carried large signs saying "Free Hugs," which startled some passersby and comforted others, The Toronto Star reported Monday.
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Pistol

Freeze, Middle Class!

Watertiger
Dependable Renegade
Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:22 UTC
Geithner
© AFP - Yuri GripasThis is a stick-up!
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Smiley

Software Glitch Leads to Cheap Gas in Dutch Town


The Associated Press
Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:04 UTC
Miniature oil rush in Dutch town after software glitch leads to cheap gas.

Friday night was the right time to get tanked in the Dutch town of Genderen. An unmanned gas station began offering customers gas for 1 cent per liter (around $0.05 per gallon) - a discount of more than 99 percent - thanks to a software glitch in the machine, local paper Brabants Dagblad reported Monday.

As word of the deal spread, business boomed literally overnight at the station, 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Amsterdam.

"At first we thought that the price board was broken, but when it got really busy, we alerted" the station's operator, the paper quoted owner Marijke Thur as saying.
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Smiley

Floridian Man Robs Beer from Convenience Store, Sits Down on Bench Outside

Sara K .Clakre
Orlando Sentinel
Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:03 UTC
A man who tried to rob a convenience store and made off with two bottles of beer didn't make it far -- sheriff's deputies found him sitting on the bench outside the store with the booze.

The suspect came into a Chevron in Deltona shortly after 3:30 a.m. on Saturday and tried to buy two beers, Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. The clerk told the man that liquor laws prohibit the sale of alcohol between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. but the suspect walked behind the counter, shoved the clerk and told him he would kill him if he didn't turn over all of the money, authorities said.

The suspect put his hand under his sweatshirt to imply he had a gun, but the clerk refused to give him money. The suspect shoved the clerk one more time, grabbed the beer and walked out of the store, the sheriff's office said.
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Smiley

Intruder Cooks, Then Eats Steak While Resident Away


Journal Star
Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:39 UTC
Peoria, Illinois - A man returned home Saturday to find someone had broken in, but nothing was missing - except a $6 steak that was apparently cooked and eaten while he was away.

An intruder broke a window to enter 1516 NE Perry Ave. sometime between 11 a.m. and 9:45 p.m.

The resident, returning home that night, discovered the broken window. After searching the house for any missing items, he went into his kitchen and found a large mess.
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