September 20, 2009
Recently, two stories hit the news back-to-back about mothers who endangered their children with the use of alcohol or drugs. In Coatsville, PA, police pulled over a Dodge Durango with a woman in the passenger seat and a 6-year old at the wheel. The mother, Lakisha Hogue, was high on marijuana and told officers she was “teaching her daughter to drive”. In Ferndale, MI, Dena Ellington, was driving her 9-year old son to school with a .29 blood alcohol level – nearly four times the legal limit. She was so impaired that she drove him to the wrong school and had to ask a police officer for directions to the correct school. She was arrested and driven to jail while police took her son to school.
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September 19, 2009
When Peggielene Bartels of Silver Spring, Maryland was woken by a 4am phone call, she heard words no American woman ever expects to hear; “You have been named King!” It was explained to her that her uncle, the king of Otuan (population 7,000) in Ghana, Africa had passed away. A ritual involving praying and pouring schnapps on the ground by the town elders revealed she was destined to be the new ruler. Female kings are rare but (apparently) not completely unheard of. While the job is a high honor, it does not pay well. Therefore, Bartels will retain her job, condo, and 1992 Honda in the U.S. while using vacation time to occasionally travel to her kingdom.
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September 18, 2009
On Thursday, September 10, 2009, Pittsburgh Steelers safety, Troy Polamalu suffered a sprained MCL (medial collateral ligament) and may miss up to 6 weeks of play. Now, an NFL player getting injured is not terribly newsworthy. However, when that player is the 10th consecutive person to appear on the cover of the video game Madden NFL and have a season limiting injury, it starts to seem more than coincidence. Known as “The Madden Curse,” it all began in 1999 when the popular video game replaced John Madden’s photo with all-star players.
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September 17, 2009
Los Angeles, California like many other cities in this economy is struggling financially. So much so, that city officials decided to institute an amnesty program for business owners that owe years of taxes. The program ran from May 1 to July 31, 2009 and allowed businesses to pay those back taxes without the normal penalties, potentially running as high as 40%. The program, which was expected to bring in $10 million dollars, instead raised $18.6 million, and was deemed a success by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. However, the city is still considering cutting jobs and issuing furlough days for city employees in an effort to close its $405 million budget gap and avoid bankruptcy in early 2010.
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September 16, 2009
In Norway, the man formerly known as Andreas Jankov is now believed to hold Norway’s record for the longest name. For the past three years, he has been developing his plan to incorporate some of his favorite characters into the new moniker. His new name is Julius Andreas Gimli Arn MacGyver Chewbacka Highlander Elessar-Jankov. If you are interested in learning the significance behind each name, click here.
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September 15, 2009
On Saturday, September 12, 2009, Serena Williams caused quite a scene at the U.S. Open Tennis Women’s Semi-Final match. While competing against Kim Clijsters, the line umpire called Williams for a foot foul on her second serve. This brought her to just one point away from the losing the match. Ash she argued the call, Williams threatened the linesperson by saying “I swear to God, I’m [bleep] taking this ball and shoving it down your [bleep] throat.” After a quick conference of umpires, it was determined that Williams, displayed unsportsmanlike conduct and was assessed a one-point penalty – exactly enough to lose the match. Clijsters went on to win the finals by defeating Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.
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September 14, 2009
On Sunday, September 13, 2009, MTV held their annual Video Music Awards show. While is it has a reputation for being a bit outrageous, Kanye West was outright rude and disrespectful. 19-year old Taylor Swift won for Best Female Video and during her acceptance speech, West took the microphone from her and declared who he thought the winner should be. He stated that he believes Beyonce had “one of the best videos of all time” with Single Ladies. He then handed the microphone back to Swift. Uncertain how to continue, Swift simply handed the microphone to someone else and walked off the stage. This is not the first time West has had wild public outbursts in which he brings his personal agenda. On a live televised fundraiser for Katrina victims, West stated that whites were portrayed better than blacks in media coverage of the devastation and then bluntly stated, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”. In 2006 at the Europe MTV Music Awards, West lost Best Video and during the winner’s acceptance speech, he stormed the stage and stated all the reasons his video was better.
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September 13, 2009
Internet access is so slow in South Africa that Unlimited IT, a local information technology company, decided to prove a point. They ran a test to see if it would be faster to transfer data electronically or by carrier pigeon. The distance is 50 miles from their headquarters in Pietermaritzburg to the city of Durban. It took the pigeon one hour and eight minutes to fly that distance with a 4 gigabyte data card attached to its leg. It took approximately one more hour to download the data for a total of two hours, six minutes, and fifty seven seconds. By comparison, in that same time-frame, only 4% of the electronic data had arrived.
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September 12, 2009
Bennington, Vermont was the scene of a most unusual crime. Four young adults thought it would be funny to steal the red chili pepper from atop the Chili’s restaurant. Apparently, the “plan” was not too well thought out since their electric drill needed 470 feet of extension cords running across a four-lane road and through a Home Depot parking lot. They thought they could haul it away in their SUV. We are guessing it would not have fit but we will never know because they set off an alarm at 4:30am and were arrested by the police.
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September 11, 2009
09/09/09 marked the second “British Invasion” with massive media attention, advertisements, and brisk sales. The cause for all this commotion was the release of the videogame Beatles Rock Band and a box set containing all of the band’s studio albums. The video game, released on all major gaming platforms including Nintendo’s Wii, Sony’s Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, features 45 songs and instruments fashioned after the iconic pieces the band played. The CDs sold out within hours at many stores around the globe and became the top selling item on Amazon. It is estimated that the band will take five of the top twenty spots on the U.K. charts this Sunday. “Beatlemania” swept through the U.K. and Europe in the early 1960s and arrived in America with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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