WEIRD NEWS
When Fate is Cruel
On Tuesday in Alabama, a mother and her 5-year-old daughter were both killed in what can only be described as a bizarre twist of fate and freak coincidence. The little girl was struck and killed by a vehicle on state Route 117 around 3:30pm, although authorities are still trying to figure out why she was on the highway. Meanwhile, just 30 minutes, her mother, whose identity has not been officially released, was driving in Valley Head when her car smashed into another, injuring two people in the vehicle she hit. She was pronounced dead on the scene, and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is now digging deeper into what happened in both fatalities. (WAFF)
It Costs $20K to Be Unconscionably Stupid
Back in July 2015, Canadian Daniel Boria felt his cleaning company needed a promotional boost - so he devised a plan: Tie $10,000 worth of industrial-sized balloons (around 100 in all) to a lawn chair with an advertising banner hanging from it, take off, and then leap from the chair with a parachute strapped to his back, and land in the Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races. And that's exactly what he did. Well almost. Bad weather forced Dan to bail early and land elsewhere. Sure he got plenty of publicity - but he also got arrested. After pleading guilty to dangerous operation of an aircraft he has been sentenced to pay about $20,000, which includes a fine and a victim impact fee. Provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser called the stunt "unconscionably stupid," adding that "there is no precedent for so foolish an escapade." Boria has apologized for the danger he caused but insists he has no regrets. (CBC)
Soon You'll Withdraw ATM Cash Without a Debit Card!
Soon you won't need a debit card to withdraw funds from the ATM - if you've got a cell phone. Wells Fargo plans to upgrade all 13,000 of its ATMs next week to allow customers to access using their cellphones instead of traditional bank cards. Other banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have announced similar upgrades to their ATMs, but only in select markets like San Francisco, Miami, and New York. Wells would be the first to upgrade all of its ATMs across the United States. To access their money, customers would get unique eight-digit codes from their Wells Fargo smartphone app, and enter the code into the ATM along with their PIN number. The machines will still accept debit cards as well. One limitation of the one-time code, though, is that it won't work on the secure doors that many branches have for non-business hours that require a customer to swipe an ATM or debit card to gain entry. (Newser)
The Anne Frank Center Thinks Tim Allen Has Lost His Mind
The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect wants an apology from comedian Tim Allen after he compared the experience of being a conservative in Hollywood to living in Germany in the 1930s. Allen made the comments on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week while discussing his attendance at President Trump's inauguration. Of Hollywood, Allen said, "You've got to be real careful around here or you'll get beat up. If you don't believe what everybody believes, this is like '30s Germany." The Washington Post notes that Allen -- who plays a right-leaning character he describes as an "educated Archie Bunker" on the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing -- is one among a small group of Hollywood celebrities to be vocal about their conservative leanings. In a statement, Anne Frank Center Executive Director Steven Goldstein asks Allen: "Tim, have you lost your mind?" He calls on Allen to "apologize to the Jewish people" and tells the star that "no one in Hollywood today is subjecting you or anyone else to what the Nazis imposed on Jews in the 1930s." No comment from the Tim Allen camp. (Washington Post)
Kids and Guns - When Will It Stop?
A 9-year-old Arizona boy has died after being accidentally shot in the head by his 2-year-old brother with their mother's handgun. Mom told police she had previously let the toddler handle the gun when it wasn't loaded. Landen Lavarnia was declared dead at a Phoenix hospital, where he had been since the Monday shooting. The mother, Wendy Lavarnia, 28, was jailed on child abuse charges. She told police she had put her loaded gun on a bed within reach of her 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons while she turned to get a holster. That's when the 2-year-old grabbed the gun and shot her 9-year-old son, who was playing video games a few feet away, police said. Lavarnia told police she had allowed "the 2-year-old to practice pulling the trigger of this gun when empty on previous occasions." The father, Kansas Lavarnia, arrived home as police investigated the shooting. He was also arrested because he had been barred from having a gun in the family home because of a theft conviction. He was later ordered released on his own recognizance because he isn't accused of directly causing harm in the shooting. (Newser)
Horror on Facebook Live
According to Chicago police, around 40 people watched a 15-year-old girl being gang-raped on Facebook Live and none of them bothered to call authorities! The girl, who went missing on Sunday, was tracked down after her mother showed Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson screenshots of the disturbing attack. Facebook was told to take the video down and investigators located the girl Tuesday morning after working "around the clock." The girl was taken to a children's hospital and is in stable condition. The police superintendent was reportedly "visibly upset when he saw the pictures of the girl and was dismayed when he learned that people were watching the incident live and no one called police." No arrests have been announced yet, but police say they've identified several persons of interest. Reginald King, the girl's uncle, said he believes the attackers were part of a 50-strong gang of teen boys, known as the "beam team," that has been terrorizing the girl's Lawndale neighborhood. (Chicago Tribune)
What the What?
You'll like this one - two babies were born in a South Carolina hospital in rooms right next to each other. The parents of the respective babies had never met and their babies were born just 18 hours apart. The babies names? Romeo and Juliet. No kidding. Morgan and Edwin Hernandez welcomed Romeo into the room at 2.06pm on Sunday. Then, 18 hours and eight minutes later, Christiana and Allan Shifflett announced the delivery of Juliet. The baby's names had been chosen long before they were born but after the coincidence was realized the parents called a photographer to take pictures of the babies laying side by side. Romeo's mother told ABC news: "It's funny because we didn't even name him Romeo after Shakespeare. We named him after a singer named Romeo Santos that my husband and I both love." Juliet's mother said, "We had picked the name out months ago. We wanted a J name to go with our son's name, Jonas. We picked Juliet because we were watching the TV show 'Psych' and the character's name is Jules." (Metro)
On Tuesday in Alabama, a mother and her 5-year-old daughter were both killed in what can only be described as a bizarre twist of fate and freak coincidence. The little girl was struck and killed by a vehicle on state Route 117 around 3:30pm, although authorities are still trying to figure out why she was on the highway. Meanwhile, just 30 minutes, her mother, whose identity has not been officially released, was driving in Valley Head when her car smashed into another, injuring two people in the vehicle she hit. She was pronounced dead on the scene, and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is now digging deeper into what happened in both fatalities. (WAFF)
It Costs $20K to Be Unconscionably Stupid
Back in July 2015, Canadian Daniel Boria felt his cleaning company needed a promotional boost - so he devised a plan: Tie $10,000 worth of industrial-sized balloons (around 100 in all) to a lawn chair with an advertising banner hanging from it, take off, and then leap from the chair with a parachute strapped to his back, and land in the Calgary Stampede chuckwagon races. And that's exactly what he did. Well almost. Bad weather forced Dan to bail early and land elsewhere. Sure he got plenty of publicity - but he also got arrested. After pleading guilty to dangerous operation of an aircraft he has been sentenced to pay about $20,000, which includes a fine and a victim impact fee. Provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser called the stunt "unconscionably stupid," adding that "there is no precedent for so foolish an escapade." Boria has apologized for the danger he caused but insists he has no regrets. (CBC)
Soon You'll Withdraw ATM Cash Without a Debit Card!
Soon you won't need a debit card to withdraw funds from the ATM - if you've got a cell phone. Wells Fargo plans to upgrade all 13,000 of its ATMs next week to allow customers to access using their cellphones instead of traditional bank cards. Other banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have announced similar upgrades to their ATMs, but only in select markets like San Francisco, Miami, and New York. Wells would be the first to upgrade all of its ATMs across the United States. To access their money, customers would get unique eight-digit codes from their Wells Fargo smartphone app, and enter the code into the ATM along with their PIN number. The machines will still accept debit cards as well. One limitation of the one-time code, though, is that it won't work on the secure doors that many branches have for non-business hours that require a customer to swipe an ATM or debit card to gain entry. (Newser)
The Anne Frank Center Thinks Tim Allen Has Lost His Mind
The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect wants an apology from comedian Tim Allen after he compared the experience of being a conservative in Hollywood to living in Germany in the 1930s. Allen made the comments on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week while discussing his attendance at President Trump's inauguration. Of Hollywood, Allen said, "You've got to be real careful around here or you'll get beat up. If you don't believe what everybody believes, this is like '30s Germany." The Washington Post notes that Allen -- who plays a right-leaning character he describes as an "educated Archie Bunker" on the ABC sitcom Last Man Standing -- is one among a small group of Hollywood celebrities to be vocal about their conservative leanings. In a statement, Anne Frank Center Executive Director Steven Goldstein asks Allen: "Tim, have you lost your mind?" He calls on Allen to "apologize to the Jewish people" and tells the star that "no one in Hollywood today is subjecting you or anyone else to what the Nazis imposed on Jews in the 1930s." No comment from the Tim Allen camp. (Washington Post)
Kids and Guns - When Will It Stop?
A 9-year-old Arizona boy has died after being accidentally shot in the head by his 2-year-old brother with their mother's handgun. Mom told police she had previously let the toddler handle the gun when it wasn't loaded. Landen Lavarnia was declared dead at a Phoenix hospital, where he had been since the Monday shooting. The mother, Wendy Lavarnia, 28, was jailed on child abuse charges. She told police she had put her loaded gun on a bed within reach of her 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons while she turned to get a holster. That's when the 2-year-old grabbed the gun and shot her 9-year-old son, who was playing video games a few feet away, police said. Lavarnia told police she had allowed "the 2-year-old to practice pulling the trigger of this gun when empty on previous occasions." The father, Kansas Lavarnia, arrived home as police investigated the shooting. He was also arrested because he had been barred from having a gun in the family home because of a theft conviction. He was later ordered released on his own recognizance because he isn't accused of directly causing harm in the shooting. (Newser)
Horror on Facebook Live
According to Chicago police, around 40 people watched a 15-year-old girl being gang-raped on Facebook Live and none of them bothered to call authorities! The girl, who went missing on Sunday, was tracked down after her mother showed Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson screenshots of the disturbing attack. Facebook was told to take the video down and investigators located the girl Tuesday morning after working "around the clock." The girl was taken to a children's hospital and is in stable condition. The police superintendent was reportedly "visibly upset when he saw the pictures of the girl and was dismayed when he learned that people were watching the incident live and no one called police." No arrests have been announced yet, but police say they've identified several persons of interest. Reginald King, the girl's uncle, said he believes the attackers were part of a 50-strong gang of teen boys, known as the "beam team," that has been terrorizing the girl's Lawndale neighborhood. (Chicago Tribune)
What the What?
You'll like this one - two babies were born in a South Carolina hospital in rooms right next to each other. The parents of the respective babies had never met and their babies were born just 18 hours apart. The babies names? Romeo and Juliet. No kidding. Morgan and Edwin Hernandez welcomed Romeo into the room at 2.06pm on Sunday. Then, 18 hours and eight minutes later, Christiana and Allan Shifflett announced the delivery of Juliet. The baby's names had been chosen long before they were born but after the coincidence was realized the parents called a photographer to take pictures of the babies laying side by side. Romeo's mother told ABC news: "It's funny because we didn't even name him Romeo after Shakespeare. We named him after a singer named Romeo Santos that my husband and I both love." Juliet's mother said, "We had picked the name out months ago. We wanted a J name to go with our son's name, Jonas. We picked Juliet because we were watching the TV show 'Psych' and the character's name is Jules." (Metro)
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