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In the News


      August Landmesser
  • August Landmesser was a worker at the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, best known for his appearance in a photograph refusing to perform the Nazi salute at the launch of the navy training vessel Horst Wessel.


    •   Zappos Hacked: Information from 24 Million Users Stolen
  • Online retailer Zappos.com and its discount affiliate, 6pm.com, disclosed that a data breach that compromised customer account information such as billing addresses and the last four digits of credit card numbers.


    •   Jon Bon Jovi Not Dead: Rumor Was Twitter fiction
  • Jon Bon Jovi trended worldwide on Twitter today when people thought he was dead. But he is not dead.


    •   Louisiana Warns About Neti Pots After Brain-Eating Amoeba Infections
  • The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is warning people against the improper use of neti pots, following the deaths of two people who were infected with Naegleria fowleri — the so-called “brain-eating amoeba” — after using tap water to irrigate their sinuses.


    •   Gay Teen Jonah Mowry Says Bullying Made Him Stronger
  • Jonah Mowry, the 14-year-old whose heart-wrenching four-month-old YouTube video described his despair at being bullied for being gay, has resurfaced online, telling his supporters he is doing just fine.


    •   Carrier IQ
  • The company behind the now-notorious Carrier IQ software that has been found to log every keystroke pressed, website visited and text message sent by 150 million mobile phone users said it was shocked to learn that its software was doing that.


    •   Hugh Hefner: I'm Alive and Kicking
  • The Internet apparently tried to claim the life of another celebrity last night, as social media reports circulated that Playboy founder Hugh Hefner had died.


    •   Lightning Strike at Caylee Anthony Memorial
  • A tall tree in the same area where Caylee Marie Anthony's remains were found was struck by lightning just hours after her mother learned she would be released from jail.


    •   VA: 'God' Allowed at Cemetery
  • The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is responding for the first time to complaints the Houston National Cemetery director, Arleen Ocasio, has gone rogue.


    •   Racial Hoax Causes PR Headache for McDonald’s
  • An online hoax that falsely suggests McDonald's discriminates against African-American customers is causing a PR headache for the Golden Arches.


    •   The Body Shop's Campaign Offers Reality, Not Miracles
  • Can a plump plastic doll help change the way that fashion, beauty and cosmetic marketers portray women in advertising?


    •   Meat Glue: The Meat Industry's Dirty Secret
  • A white powder sold by the kilo is the meat industry’s dirty little secret. It's "meat glue." It makes pieces of beef, lamb, chicken or fish that would normally be thrown out stick together so closely that it looks like a solid piece of meat.


    •   Critics Slam ABC Pilot 'Good Christian Bitches'
  • An ABC pilot called "Good Christian Bitches" has religious and women's groups up in arms over what they describe as an extremely offensive and distasteful show title.


    •   Mosque Makeovers with Your Tax Dollars
  • An investigation found that the State Department is sending millions of dollars to save mosques overseas. This investment has received criticism as the United States makes an effort to slash nearly $4 trillion in government spending.


    •   Harmless Prank Ends in Tragedy
  • Harmless prank ends in tragedy? No surprise — it's a Facebook survey scam.


    •   Skin Gun That Sprays Stem Cells Being Used on Burn Victims
  • A sci-fi-like skin gun that sprays stem cells onto burned skin is the latest treatment in helping burn victims, scientists say.

    Dr. Jorg Gerlach of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh developed the gun, which sprays a solution of cells and water onto the damaged skin.


    •   How to Opt Out of Facebook's Instant Personalization
  • If you like the idea of broadcasting which articles, bands and restaurants you like, you are in luck. But if you would rather keep your personal preferences private, beware. If you do not want your activity to be published publicly, follow these instructions on how to reverse it.


    •   Police: Zeta Ranch Invasion Rumors False
  • FM 1472 in Webb County, known as Mines Road, is at the center of an Internet firestorm. Bloggers are posting articles claiming members of the Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas seized at least one ranch in an area northwest of Laredo in July.

    "It was just one of many unconfirmed rumors and threats that we get here on a daily basis," said Laredo Police Department spokesman Joe Baeza. "A rumor that spun out of control."


    •   Dale McFeatters: An Entourage Surpassing the Queen's
  • The heads of government in London for the G-20 summit are discussing serious and weighty issues, which in time will be duly reported on, but right now the British press is entranced by the sheer size of President Obama's traveling entourage. And no wonder.


    •   'Perfect' Sinkhole Forms During Guatemala Storms
  • A cavernous and almost perfectly round sinkhole swallowed an entire intersection in Guatemala City during a tropical storm.


    •   Bubble of Methane Triggered Rig Blast
  • The deadly blowout of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before exploding.


    •   Researchers Claim They Have Discovered Noah's Ark
  • A team of evangelical Christian researchers say they've discovered Noah's ark near the peak of Mount Ararat in Turkey.

    The group, from Noah's Ark Ministries International in Hong Kong, says its members "successfully excavated and ventured inside a large wooden structure" 4,000 metres above sea level.


    •   Flap Flies in Haiti Over U.S. Flag Absence
  • The many nations helping Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake that struck there have set up their own military compounds and fly their flags at the entrances.

    France's tricolor, Britain's Union Jack and even Croatia's coat of arms flap in the breeze.

    But the country whose contributions dwarf the rest of the world's — the United States — has no flag at its main installation near the Port-au-Prince airport.


    •   McAfee Antivirus Program Goes Berserk, Freezes PCs
  • Computers in companies, hospitals and schools around the world got stuck repeatedly rebooting themselves after an antivirus program identified a normal Windows file as a virus.

    McAfee Inc. confirmed that a software update it posted caused its antivirus program for corporate customers to misidentify a harmless file. It has posted a replacement update for download.


    •   Brian Williams: Leaving Behind a Thank-You Note
  • After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.


    •   Gordon Lightfoot Victim of Death Hoax
  • Reports that the Canadian folk singer, 71, died while on a North American tour have proved to be premature.


    •   Safety of Beef Processing Method Is Questioned
  • Eight years ago, federal officials were struggling to remove potentially deadly E. coli from hamburgers when an entrepreneurial company from South Dakota came up with a novel idea: injecting beef with ammonia.


    •   White House Christmas Tree Ornaments
  • The White House Christmas tree has a few controversial ornaments hanging on it for all Americans to view. A ornamental tribute to Mao Zedong, the late Chinese dictator is on the tree. Hedda Lettuce, a drag queen also has a place on the White House tree.


    •   Muslim Prayers and Renewal Near Ground Zero
  • The Sept. 11, 2001, attack killed 2,752 people downtown and doomed the five-story building at 45 Park Place, two blocks north of the World Trade Center, keeping it abandoned for eight years.

    But for months now, out of the public eye, an iron gate rises every Friday afternoon, and with the outside rumblings of construction at ground zero as a backdrop, hundreds of Muslims crowd inside, facing Mecca in prayer and listening to their imam read in Arabic from the Koran.

    The building has no sign that hints at its use as a Muslim prayer space, but these modest beginnings point to a far grander vision: an Islamic center near the city's most hallowed piece of land that would stand as one of ground zero's more unexpected and striking neighbors.


    •   Adobe Confirms PDF Zero-Day Attacks. Disable JavaScript Now
  • Malicious hackers are exploiting a zero-day (unpatched) vulnerability in Adobe's ever-present PDF Reader/Acrobat software to hijack data from compromised computers.

    According to an advisory from Adobe, the critical vulnerability exists in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 and earlier versions. It is being exploited in the wild.


    •   Zhu Zhu Pets Are Safe, U.S. agency says
  • A safety scare involving the holiday season's hottest toy cooled off after federal safety regulators quickly put to rest claims that one model of the bestselling Zhu Zhu Pets contained toxic levels of the element antimony.

    "The Consumer Product Safety Commission confirmed that the popular Zhu Zhu toy is not out of compliance with the antimony or other heavy-metal limits of the new U.S. mandatory toy standard," agency spokesman Scott Wolfson said.


    •   Dying Girl's Notes to Parents, Sister Inspire Book
  • With just days to live and too sick to speak, a six-year-old girl hid notes and drawings all over her house telling her parents and her sister again and again "I love you."

    While Elena Desserich was writing the notes, her parents were keeping a diary so her younger sister Gracie would one day understand what happened after Elena was diagnosed with brain cancer.


    •   Is Obama Poised to Cede US Sovereignty?
  • My inbox has been filling up with messages labelled "Your scam exposed", "The great fraud unravels" and "How do you feel now, jerk?" They are referring to a new "scientific paper", which proves that the "climate change scare" is a tale "worthier of St John the Divine than of science."

    The author of this "research article" is Christopher Monckton, otherwise known as Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. He has a degree in classics and a diploma in journalism and, as far as I can tell, no further qualifications. But he is confident enough to maintain that - by contrast to all those charlatans and amateurs who wrote the reports produced by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - he is publishing "the truth".


    •   Cheerleader Gets Flu Shot, Can't Walk
  • A 26-year-old cheerleader in Virginia claims she came down with dystonia, a rare neurological disorder, just days after receiving a flu shot.

    Desiree Jennings, a Washington Redskins ambassador, says her problems began ten days after receiving the seasonal flu shot at a grocery store. She claims she fell ill with flu-like symptoms and then experienced convulsions and blackouts.


    •   No Einstein in Your Crib? Get a Refund
  • Parent alert: the Walt Disney Company is now offering refunds for all those "Baby Einstein" videos that did not make children into geniuses.

    They may have been a great electronic baby sitter, but the unusual refunds appear to be a tacit admission that they did not increase infant intellect.


    •   Burlington Township Kids Focus of Uproar
  • A YouTube video showing Burlington Township schoolchildren being directed in a song celebrating President Barack Obama has caused a national stir as well as concerns among state and local educators about the partisan politics, appropriate lesson plans and student privacy.

    The video is titled "School Kids Taught To Praise Obama," and runs for nearly 2 1/2 minutes. The clip shows more than a dozen children at B. Bernice Young Elementary School, at the direction of an unknown adult, singing the song. At the conclusion of the song, the children pump their fists and chant "hip, hip, hooray!"


    •   White House Debunks Reports It Will Fly China's Flag on South Lawn
  • The White House dismissed as inaccurate reports from China that the administration will mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic by flying the Chinese flag on the South Lawn.


    •   Jefferson County Sheriff Defends Soldier's Funeral Procession
  • The Jefferson County sheriff has offered a stern response to a woman complaining she was inconvenienced by a procession accompanying a soldier's casket.

    The woman wrote an e-mail to Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer after she had a hard time driving around the procession escorting the casket of Sgt. William Woods, who was killed by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.


    •   Obama's 'Emergency' Powers Over Internet
  • Cybersecurity Bill S. 773

    The second draft of a Senate cybersecurity billappears to tone down language that would grant President Obama the power to shut down the Internet.

    The Senate bill, first introduced in April 2009 by Sen. John Rockefeller, still includes language that gives Obama the authority to direct responses to cyberattacks and declare a cyber emergency.


    •   Michael Jackson Hoax Was 'Experiment,' Broadcaster Says
  • A hoax video purporting to show Michael Jackson hopping out of a coroner's van alive was produced by a German television station as an experiment, the broadcaster told CNN.

    It was made to show how easy it is to spread rumors online, said Heike Schultz, a spokeswoman for RTL, the leading private broadcaster in Germany.


    •   Lady Gaga Sparks Rumours She Is a Hermaphrodite
  • Footage of Lady Gaga dancing on stage has sparked rumours across celebrity gossip websites that she is a hermaphrodite.

    Hollyscoop.com reports there's a rumor spreading like wildfire on the internet that Lady Gaga has both male and female reproductive parts and she's reportedly even addressed it in the past.


    •   John Holdren, Science Czar
  • John Holdren coauthored a book stating that there should be forced sterilizations, abortions and babies forcibly taken from unwed mothers?


    •   Anti-Israel Group Boycotts Trader Joe's
  • Although "World Refugee Day," the boycott of Trader Joe's planned by the anti-Israel group "Don't Buy into Apartheid," came and went on Saturday, June 20, with no apparent incidents in Los Angeles, other cities in California did witness protesters invade the popular supermarket chain.


    •   Blogger's Baby Was a Hoax
  • The unmarried mother's story about giving birth to a child diagnosed as terminally ill in the womb hit a major nerve on the Internet.

    Every night for two months, thousands of abortion opponents across the nation logged on to a blog run by the suburban Chicago woman who identified herself only as "B" or "April's Mom."


    •   Teen Bride: 'My Wedding Cost £100,000'
  • The bride dazzled in her £16,000 Swarovski crystal-covered dress, the guests guzzled dozens of bottles of champagne and the smell of fake tan hung thickly in the air.

    It sounds like a typical celebrity wedding, but the bride was 16-year-old traveller Missy Quinn, whose family threw an extraordinary £100,000 bash, celebrating with 150 guests.


    •   Tapping Your Cell Phone
  • Imagine someone watching your every move, hearing everything you say and knowing where you are at every moment. If you have a cell phone, it could happen to you. 13 Investigates explains how your cell phone can be secretly hijacked and used against you — and how to protect yourself.


    •   Obama Blows Off Medal of Honor Recipients... Not Exactly
  • The American Legion, as it has on every inauguration evening since 1953, hosted the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Banquet & Ball on January 20th.


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