WEIRD NEWS
Trump Accusers Band Together
This past Sunday, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said President Trump's accusers "should be heard," and yesterday morning, they were. A total of 16 women have come forward with sexual harassment accusations against Trump-three of them spoke yesterday morning with NBC News' Megyn Kelly. They also appeared at a news conference hosted by Brave New Films. Last month the documentary filmmakers released "16 Women and Donald Trump," and say that these women are now demanding a formal investigation from Congress. The woman who spoke yesterday are Jessica Leeds, Rachel Crooks, and Samantha Holvey. Leeds and Crooks had their accusations detailed by the New York Times in October 2016. Leeds, now in her 70s, says that on a 1980s flight she was sitting next to Trump, whom she had never met, in first-class when he allegedly started groping her; she said she moved to the back of the plane to escape the "assault." In 2005, Rachel Crooks was a 22-year-old secretary working in Trump Tower. One day, she bumped into Trump outside an elevator and introduced herself. Crooks says Trump refused to release her after they shook hands and started kissing her cheeks and mouth; she described the experience as a violation. Holvey says that while participating in the 2006 Miss USA pageant for North Carolina, Trump would repeatedly inspect the contestants "like meat" in a way she found degrading. As for the Trump camp, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "The president addressed these accusations directly during the campaign and we have no changes." (BuzzFeed)
Bullied Kid Gets Amazing Support
In a heartbreaking anti-bullying video filmed by his mother, Tennessee middle schooler Keaton Jones is seen crying and detailing the bullying he faces daily at school. Fighting off tears Jones said, "They make fun of my nose, they call me ugly. They pour milk on me at lunch and stuff food down my pants. I have no friends." But after the video was shared more than 430,000 times and viewed more than 20 million times, his friends now include rappers, Hollywood stars, and football players. Snoop Dogg shared the video, calling Keaton a "friend for life," while Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, invited him to the premiere of Avengers: Infinity Wars. Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker recorded a video supporting Keaton and offered him tickets, and University of Tennessee wide receiver Tyler Byrd said several players plan to visit the boy at school next week. In the video, which mother Kimberly Jones says she recorded after she picked him up because he was afraid to go to lunch, Keaton sobs as he offers advice to other victims of bullying saying: "Stay strong, I guess. It's hard. It will probably get better one day." (CBS News)
What's That Hum?
Don't know if you know it, but our planet hums! Yep-and scientists have for the first time recorded the sound in the ocean. Using seismometers in the Indian Ocean, researchers picked up on the sound that is way, way too low for mere human ears to hear. Spahr Webb, a Columbia University scientist not involved with the study, gave National Geographic a rough description: "It's like taking a piano and slamming all the keys at the same time. Except they're not nice harmonics. They're oddball frequencies." And ultra-low ones: Specifically, the hum is between 2.9 and 4.5 millihertz, and humans can only begin hearing things at about 20 hertz, or roughly 10,000 times higher. The leading theory is that the hum is caused by waves interacting with each other at the bottom of the ocean, which results in vibrations being sent down into the Earth's crust. The process, however, is complex and not fully understood. For instance, "sometimes a wave on a shallow coast somewhere ripples over the rough sea floor and adds its own frequencies to the hum. Whatever the exact reason, one thing is clear: the low drone is a constant one. (Newser)
Got Fingerling?
Looks like the hottest toy going this holiday season might just be a five-inch robotic monkey that grabs onto your fingers, passes gas, and sings a tune. The Fingerling is this year's Beanie Baby or Cabbage Patch Doll and while the manufacturer's suggested retail price is set at $14.99, demand has sent prices soaring over $40 bucks on Amazon and other online sellers as parents are scrambling to find them. WowWee, the Canadian company that is responsible for the Fingerling, says that it has increased production after the robotic animals were out of stock on Walmart's Web site. The company has hired a third factory in China to produce the toys and is now shipping them via airplane, after deciding that container ships were moving too slowly to meet consumer demand. To create the Fingerling phenomenon, WowWee turned to the Internet, sending the toys to YouTube "influencers," many of whom shot videos with the toys, videos that were seen by millions of followers. Soon, the Fingerlings were selling out everywhere. But the Internet can take away just as it gives. Today reports that third-party sellers on Amazon have been issuing refunds to customers after failing to send them their toys. And WowWee has filed a lawsuit against 165 companies for selling fake Fingerlings. (New York Times)
Where's That Darn Binkie?
Oklahoma dad Scott Rogers and his wife couldn't figure out where all their pacifiers were going. Rogers said, "We have a 6-month-old baby and, you know, we have binkies in the house because of the baby and over the past five months, we've been missing many binkies." Then the baby's grandmother saw the family dog swipe one off a counter. One nauseous pooch and a trip to their veterinarian's office confirmed the couple's hunch: Dovey had 21 pacifiers lodged in her stomach! The Rogers said Dovey wasn't eating as much and seemed to be vomiting for a few days, but other than that, they thought she seemed fine. The vet initially thought there were only seven to nine pacifiers in Dovey's stomach, but the surgery proved otherwise. He said, "They're too big to go through the GI tract, so we decided we had to open her up and get them out. And they just kept coming out and we ended up with 21 of them." Dovey is on the mend and has already gone home. The vet cautioned pet owners in a recent Facebook post that "dogs will eat anything, anytime and at any age." (KFOR-TV News)
When American Senators Run on Dunkin'
Former Massachusetts state senator Brian Joyce was arrested Friday on charges he accepted about $1 million in bribes and kickbacks, laundered through his law firm, between 2010 and 2016. But what makes the story especially weird-part of those bribes included hundreds of pounds of free Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Joyce has been charged with more than 100 criminal counts, including federal charges of money laundering, corruption, mail fraud, and embezzlement. As for the coffee-related part of Joyce's alleged schemes: The former Democratic senator is accused of receiving the coffee and more than $125,000 in fake legal fees from "major" Dunkin' Donuts franchisee Carlos Andrade. Joyce allegedly got 504 pounds of coffee worth more than $4,000 on just one occasion in 2015. CBS Boston reports prosecutors say the money and coffee was in exchange for unspecified legislative action beneficial to Andrade. It's been reported that Joyce gave pounds of coffee to his colleagues in the Senate while gunning for a Senate leadership position. Joyce has pleaded not guilty to all charges. (Boston Globe)
Yeah Okay-We Were Wrong... and STUPID!
Three years ago in Beaverton, Oregon, Mats Järlström found himself the target of the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying because he used simple math to defend his wife's red light camera traffic ticket. In 2014 Järlström sent a letter to the board asking for the opportunity to present his research on how too-short yellow lights were making money for the state by putting the public's safety at risk. "I would like to present these fact for your review and comment," he wrote. Instead, the board threatened him, citing state laws that make it illegal to practice engineering without a license. The board told Järlström that even calling himself an "electronics engineer" and using the phrase "I am an engineer" in his letter were enough to "create violations" and they slapped him with a $500 fine. Now the state of Oregon has finally conceded that the board overstepped its authority and violated Järlström's rights. They refunded his money and apologized. However the board is still trying to preserve its ability to go after other people who, like Järlström, want to do nothing more than talk about mathematics and engineering in a public forum. Jarlstrom's attoney says the First Amendment should apply to those people as well, and not just to those who have the time and ability to sue the state. He added, "The board needs to do more than simply refund Järlström's fine and admit they made one mistake." (Reason.com)
What the What?
Funny what people will throw their freedom and their life away for. In Bayonne, New Jersey, 32-year-old Jamie Esposito decided her freedom was worth 144 bottles of fingernail polish (worth $1,400) that she allegedly stole from a CVS pharmacy. She was arrested after she was caught shoplifting from another pharmacy-this time a Rite Aid. She was also carrying a hypodermic needle and drugs and later admitted to the CVS nail polish theft. (NJ.com)
This past Sunday, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said President Trump's accusers "should be heard," and yesterday morning, they were. A total of 16 women have come forward with sexual harassment accusations against Trump-three of them spoke yesterday morning with NBC News' Megyn Kelly. They also appeared at a news conference hosted by Brave New Films. Last month the documentary filmmakers released "16 Women and Donald Trump," and say that these women are now demanding a formal investigation from Congress. The woman who spoke yesterday are Jessica Leeds, Rachel Crooks, and Samantha Holvey. Leeds and Crooks had their accusations detailed by the New York Times in October 2016. Leeds, now in her 70s, says that on a 1980s flight she was sitting next to Trump, whom she had never met, in first-class when he allegedly started groping her; she said she moved to the back of the plane to escape the "assault." In 2005, Rachel Crooks was a 22-year-old secretary working in Trump Tower. One day, she bumped into Trump outside an elevator and introduced herself. Crooks says Trump refused to release her after they shook hands and started kissing her cheeks and mouth; she described the experience as a violation. Holvey says that while participating in the 2006 Miss USA pageant for North Carolina, Trump would repeatedly inspect the contestants "like meat" in a way she found degrading. As for the Trump camp, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, "The president addressed these accusations directly during the campaign and we have no changes." (BuzzFeed)
Bullied Kid Gets Amazing Support
In a heartbreaking anti-bullying video filmed by his mother, Tennessee middle schooler Keaton Jones is seen crying and detailing the bullying he faces daily at school. Fighting off tears Jones said, "They make fun of my nose, they call me ugly. They pour milk on me at lunch and stuff food down my pants. I have no friends." But after the video was shared more than 430,000 times and viewed more than 20 million times, his friends now include rappers, Hollywood stars, and football players. Snoop Dogg shared the video, calling Keaton a "friend for life," while Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, invited him to the premiere of Avengers: Infinity Wars. Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker recorded a video supporting Keaton and offered him tickets, and University of Tennessee wide receiver Tyler Byrd said several players plan to visit the boy at school next week. In the video, which mother Kimberly Jones says she recorded after she picked him up because he was afraid to go to lunch, Keaton sobs as he offers advice to other victims of bullying saying: "Stay strong, I guess. It's hard. It will probably get better one day." (CBS News)
What's That Hum?
Don't know if you know it, but our planet hums! Yep-and scientists have for the first time recorded the sound in the ocean. Using seismometers in the Indian Ocean, researchers picked up on the sound that is way, way too low for mere human ears to hear. Spahr Webb, a Columbia University scientist not involved with the study, gave National Geographic a rough description: "It's like taking a piano and slamming all the keys at the same time. Except they're not nice harmonics. They're oddball frequencies." And ultra-low ones: Specifically, the hum is between 2.9 and 4.5 millihertz, and humans can only begin hearing things at about 20 hertz, or roughly 10,000 times higher. The leading theory is that the hum is caused by waves interacting with each other at the bottom of the ocean, which results in vibrations being sent down into the Earth's crust. The process, however, is complex and not fully understood. For instance, "sometimes a wave on a shallow coast somewhere ripples over the rough sea floor and adds its own frequencies to the hum. Whatever the exact reason, one thing is clear: the low drone is a constant one. (Newser)
Got Fingerling?
Looks like the hottest toy going this holiday season might just be a five-inch robotic monkey that grabs onto your fingers, passes gas, and sings a tune. The Fingerling is this year's Beanie Baby or Cabbage Patch Doll and while the manufacturer's suggested retail price is set at $14.99, demand has sent prices soaring over $40 bucks on Amazon and other online sellers as parents are scrambling to find them. WowWee, the Canadian company that is responsible for the Fingerling, says that it has increased production after the robotic animals were out of stock on Walmart's Web site. The company has hired a third factory in China to produce the toys and is now shipping them via airplane, after deciding that container ships were moving too slowly to meet consumer demand. To create the Fingerling phenomenon, WowWee turned to the Internet, sending the toys to YouTube "influencers," many of whom shot videos with the toys, videos that were seen by millions of followers. Soon, the Fingerlings were selling out everywhere. But the Internet can take away just as it gives. Today reports that third-party sellers on Amazon have been issuing refunds to customers after failing to send them their toys. And WowWee has filed a lawsuit against 165 companies for selling fake Fingerlings. (New York Times)
Where's That Darn Binkie?
Oklahoma dad Scott Rogers and his wife couldn't figure out where all their pacifiers were going. Rogers said, "We have a 6-month-old baby and, you know, we have binkies in the house because of the baby and over the past five months, we've been missing many binkies." Then the baby's grandmother saw the family dog swipe one off a counter. One nauseous pooch and a trip to their veterinarian's office confirmed the couple's hunch: Dovey had 21 pacifiers lodged in her stomach! The Rogers said Dovey wasn't eating as much and seemed to be vomiting for a few days, but other than that, they thought she seemed fine. The vet initially thought there were only seven to nine pacifiers in Dovey's stomach, but the surgery proved otherwise. He said, "They're too big to go through the GI tract, so we decided we had to open her up and get them out. And they just kept coming out and we ended up with 21 of them." Dovey is on the mend and has already gone home. The vet cautioned pet owners in a recent Facebook post that "dogs will eat anything, anytime and at any age." (KFOR-TV News)
When American Senators Run on Dunkin'
Former Massachusetts state senator Brian Joyce was arrested Friday on charges he accepted about $1 million in bribes and kickbacks, laundered through his law firm, between 2010 and 2016. But what makes the story especially weird-part of those bribes included hundreds of pounds of free Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Joyce has been charged with more than 100 criminal counts, including federal charges of money laundering, corruption, mail fraud, and embezzlement. As for the coffee-related part of Joyce's alleged schemes: The former Democratic senator is accused of receiving the coffee and more than $125,000 in fake legal fees from "major" Dunkin' Donuts franchisee Carlos Andrade. Joyce allegedly got 504 pounds of coffee worth more than $4,000 on just one occasion in 2015. CBS Boston reports prosecutors say the money and coffee was in exchange for unspecified legislative action beneficial to Andrade. It's been reported that Joyce gave pounds of coffee to his colleagues in the Senate while gunning for a Senate leadership position. Joyce has pleaded not guilty to all charges. (Boston Globe)
Yeah Okay-We Were Wrong... and STUPID!
Three years ago in Beaverton, Oregon, Mats Järlström found himself the target of the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying because he used simple math to defend his wife's red light camera traffic ticket. In 2014 Järlström sent a letter to the board asking for the opportunity to present his research on how too-short yellow lights were making money for the state by putting the public's safety at risk. "I would like to present these fact for your review and comment," he wrote. Instead, the board threatened him, citing state laws that make it illegal to practice engineering without a license. The board told Järlström that even calling himself an "electronics engineer" and using the phrase "I am an engineer" in his letter were enough to "create violations" and they slapped him with a $500 fine. Now the state of Oregon has finally conceded that the board overstepped its authority and violated Järlström's rights. They refunded his money and apologized. However the board is still trying to preserve its ability to go after other people who, like Järlström, want to do nothing more than talk about mathematics and engineering in a public forum. Jarlstrom's attoney says the First Amendment should apply to those people as well, and not just to those who have the time and ability to sue the state. He added, "The board needs to do more than simply refund Järlström's fine and admit they made one mistake." (Reason.com)
What the What?
Funny what people will throw their freedom and their life away for. In Bayonne, New Jersey, 32-year-old Jamie Esposito decided her freedom was worth 144 bottles of fingernail polish (worth $1,400) that she allegedly stole from a CVS pharmacy. She was arrested after she was caught shoplifting from another pharmacy-this time a Rite Aid. She was also carrying a hypodermic needle and drugs and later admitted to the CVS nail polish theft. (NJ.com)
Comments
Post a Comment