"Cooking With Poo" Named Oddest Book Title Of The Year

The 114-page cookbook derives its unsanitary title from author Saiyuud Diwong's nickname, Poo, which is Thai for crab. Diwong lives in Bangkok's Klong Toey slum, where she runs a community cookery school. Her book was crowned winner of the Diagram prize following a public vote, beating an array of oddments including Mr Andoh's Pennine Diary: Memoirs of a Japanese Chicken Sexer in 1935 Hebden Bridge; The Great Singapore Penis Panic and the Future of American Mass Hysteria; and Estonian Sock Patterns All Around the World, to win the award.

"Given that this year the three most voted-for works contain the words 'poo', 'sexer' and 'penis' in the title, it appears that this year's prize will go down in history as a blue year," said the award's custodian, Horace Bent. "But there is nothing wrong with that. Many of the world's greatest writers have dabbled in off-colour humour, so I find Cooking with Poo a fitting winner."

There is no prize for the author of the winning title – instead The Bookseller magazine, which runs the award, usually gives a bottle of "fairly passable plonk" to whoever spotted the title. As Cooking with Poo was "unearthed indirectly via Twitter", however, the magazine will be making a donation to Urban Neighbours of Hope, a charity that helped create Diwong's cookery programme.

Diwong may find winning the Diagram award brings other benefits: previous recipient Michael Young, author of Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way, said it had the unlikely effect of increasing his literary clout. "Since the award of the prize, I am pleased to say that my writing career is once again flourishing. Editors are keen to publish my words," he said. "Being the winner of the Diagram prize has, I feel, given both the book and me a great deal of credibility, which perhaps without the epithet 'prize-winning' we would never have achieved."

The award has been running since 1978, when it was conceived at the Frankfurt book fair and given to Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. Previous winners also include Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers, Highlights in the History of Concrete and Bombproof Your Horse.

The Guardian: Cooking with Poo wins oddest book title prize

Cops Raid Wrong Home, Frighten 76-Year-Old Man

A 76-year-old Victory man was caught off-guard when police officers broke through his front door during a drug raid, only to find out they had the wrong house.

Fred Skinner was enjoying a piece of toast at his breakfast table when he says at least six police officers broke into his house on McNeely Road.

“I had no idea what to do,” Skinner said.

Skinner said he didn't hear anybody coming up to the house. He said the first noise he heard was the police smashing through his porch door, and then his front door, busting it into pieces.

For five minutes, Skinner's house was raided for drugs before police realized they had the wrong house by looking through his mail.

“They tried to put the handcuffs on me. They had my arm back here…then they said, ‘Wrong house,” took the handcuffs off me and just left,” Skinner said.

Auburn police officers were involved in the raid conducted by the Finger Lakes Drug Task Force. Auburn Police Chief Gary Giannotta says he only remembers police raiding a wrong house four times in the last 16 years.

“It was a mistake. We're no different than anyone else. We make mistakes just like everybody else. We try to make sure our information is as current and as reliable as possible. Once in a while we get it wrong. When we get it wrong, we make it right,” explained Chief Giannotta.

Police reimbursed Skinner $1,250 to fix his doors.

“They had a jammer or something they put up to the door that had smashed the door all to pieces,” Skinner said.

The door will be fixed this week, but the memory of police officers yelling at him not to move with their guns drawn will be with him forever.

The Auburn Police Chief said the officers in the raid had to hurry to the correct location once they figured out they were in the wrong house, but someone contacted Skinner soon after to apologize and temporarily fix the door.

News Channel 9: Wrong home raided in drug search

Woman Blames McDonald's For Leading Her Into A Life Of Prostitution

We've heard of people blaming McDonald's for getting them fat or burning their grandchildren with hot liquid, but rare is the occasion that the fast food giant is accused of leading one into a life of prostitution. But if you live long enough, you see everything, hence a federal court case in which a woman accuses McDonald's and her franchisee ex-husband of pushing her into the world's oldest profession in the 1980s.

Shelley Lynn, a former prostitute and employee of the Las Vegas Chicken Ranch brothel, has claimed in a federal court complaint that McDonald's played a role in her becoming a sex worker, the Consumerist reports.

Lynn is suing McDonald's along with her ex-husband and his company Ivernia, which owned the local McDonald's franchise where Lynn was employed as a cashier 20 years ago, according to the complaint obtained by Courthouse News Service.

Handley "emotionally and psychologically" coerced Lynn into prostitution in part because McDonald's paid her minimum wage, offered a poor health care plans and no benefits and had no system for filing grievances against employers who abused their power, according to the complaint. All of these factors allowed Handley, her employer when the two began dating, to unjustly terminate her employment and browbeat her into sex work, Lynn claims.

McDonald's did not return calls for comment.

"[McDonald's] failed to properly supervise and train Handley, as a direct result of which Handley used his position as an employer and conspired with his corporation Ivernia to coerce and bribe two of Ivernia's employees to make false statements against Lynn during Handley's dissolution and to suppress relevant evidence he had disclosed about himself," the complaint read. "Handley also engaged in pimping operations out of the McDonald's franchises he owned."

Lynn is suing McDonald's for lost wages as well as a number of damages, according to the Consumerist. According to the career and workplace review site Glassdoor, the average hourly pay for McDonald's crew members is $7.64 per hour, or around $15,000 per year. In comparison, Taco Bell paid an average of $7.83 per hour, Wendy's paid $7.66 per hour and Burger King paid $8 per hour.

Lynn's ordeal occurred over two decades ago, but economic forces continue to plunge women into sex-related work today. MSNBC reported that employers across the adult entertainment industry have seen an influx of applicants from young women who say they turned to stripping or dancing because they couldn't find a job in the field for which they were educated.

Huffington Post: Shelley Lynn Claims McDonald's Low Wages Played Role In Her Turning To Prostitution

Man Bites Police Dog

A dog sent in to subdue an unruly suspect at a Kfar Saba police station Thursday was bitten by the man and required medical treatment.

The man was initially detained for breaching a restraining order issued by his spouse. When police were called in to the woman's home, the suspect threatened to jump out of a window and attempted to assault an officer with a screwdriver.

Police detained the man and took him to the station, where he again became unruly, prompting officers to send in the dog. According to officers, the dog managed to bring down the man, but the suspect did not give up and proceeded to bite the animal.

The dog was taken to a veterinarian for treatment.

The modified indictment against the suspect includes, on top of breaching the restraining order, insulting police officers on duty and assaulting a police dog. Police asked judges to keep the man in custody until the end of legal proceedings.

Officials said the man denied the actions attributed to him and claimed he does not remember the circumstances of the event.

Y Net News: Man bites police dog

Austrian Man Saws Off His Own Foot To Avoid Work

An unemployed Austrian man sawed his foot off, apparently to avoid being found fit to go back to work.

Hours before an appointment on Monday for the labour office to check on his health, the 56-year-old man held his left leg against an electric saw in his home workshop and severed his foot just above the ankle, Austrian broadcaster ORF reported.

Bleeding profusely, the man from the province of Styria then threw the foot into an oven, hobbled to his garage and called an ambulance. An emergency operation was unable to reattach the foot, ORF said.


Reuters: Austrian saws off own foot to avoid work - report

Ugly People Eat For Free Today

New Jersey Middle School Bans Hugging

Of all the things that schools could ban kids from doing, hugging is now apparently unacceptable behavior. At least in one New Jersey middle school.

Tyler Blackmore, the principal of Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School, instituted the rule following some “incidents of unsuitable, physical interactions,” MSNBC reports, declaring it a “no hugging school.”

Perhaps these are just some bold preemptive measures to prevent future Snookis and Situations from representing Jersey? We can’t help but wonder whether the school officials understand how basic human behavior works? Ban people from doing something—especially young teens— and they’ll want to do it even more, at least in the case of relationships.

Besides, even taking into account the “unsuitable” interactions the administration is referring to, what happens when a student’s friend is sobbing in tears after a bad day? Should a student really not be allowed to comfort their friend? What about wishing someone a happy birthday? Is shaking hands going to be the new form of congratulations and well-wishes between close friends?

“It makes our school look bad, and it makes our school look like we do more than hug, but we do not,” a student told MSNBC.

Sure, we all know kids are growing up faster these days, and there probably were students acting inappropriately, but this hardly seems like the answer.

Luckily, school superintendent David Healy told the Huffington Post that no one will be punished for hugging, and that there are separate policies addressing inappropriate relationships and conduct.


TIME News Feed: New Jersey Middle School Bans Hugging

Florida Atlantic University Student Freaks Out in Class, Threatens To Kill Professor & Classmates

WARNING: Video Contains Profanity... A Lot of F***ing Profanity



Associate Professor Stephen M. Kajiura was reviewing with his evolution class in GS 120 for a midterm when FAU student Jonatha Carr interrupted him: “How does evolution kill black people?” she asked. Kajiura attempted to explain that evolution doesn’t kill anyone.

And then, Carr became violent.

A fellow classmate, Rachel Bustamante, was sitting behind Carr prior to her outburst and noticed she had been avoiding looking at the professor until 11:35 a.m. — that’s when she snapped. The classmate reported that Kajiura was discussing attraction between peacocks when Carr raised her hand to ask her question about evolution. She asked it four times, and became increasingly upset each time Kajiura’s answer failed to satisfy her.

A video taken by Bustamante shows Carr ranting and threatening to kill the professor and several students. At this point, the witness who contacted the police claimed, “No one was comfortable in the room. I realized the situation was escalating and went out to call the police.” Seconds later, Carr walked down an aisle of the classroom and slammed the palm of her hand into the forehead of a male student.

Kajiura stayed in the room, trying to keep the class calm, while a few students stepped out to call police. “She became increasingly belligerent,” he said. “It was at this point, a highly emotionally charged individual who was no longer capable of responding rationally. She was threatening to kill both me and the students in the class.”

Then Carr made her way to the back of the classroom. “Some [FAU technician] came in and ordered her to get out,” Kajiura said. “He ordered her to leave the room, and they got into a physical altercation. Several other individuals jumped in and tried to help him.”

Kajiura said he didn’t recognize Carr prior to her outburst, but after looking through his records, he found that she emailed him right after Spring Break. “She had sent me a very nice email asking about one of the lab problems,” he said.

The professor mentioned the entire ordeal took no more than 10 minutes, and he went back to lecturing, although only half the class remained. “No one could concentrate,” Bustamante said. “Everyone gave up and started texting.”

Bustamante gave the professor a copy of the fight, which she recorded on her cell phone and posted on Facebook and YouTube. Kaijura went on to praise his students, claiming they were “Absolutely fantastic. They acted responsibly.”


University Press: FAU student threatens to kill professor and classmates

"Bird Man" Admits Flying Video Is A Fake

A Dutch man named Jarno Smeets became an Internet sensation this week after posting a video on YouTube in which he appears to fly like a bird. In the video, he straps on a contraption that supposedly syncs the motion of his flapping arms to that of a huge pair of wings made of kite fabric, allowing him to flap the wings and take off into the air.

Except not.

As reported yesterday by Life's Little Mysteries, CGI experts quickly found flaws in the footage of Smeets taking flight that revealed the video clip had been tampered with. Internet marketing experts suggested the video may have been a viral ad campaign — for Nintendo Wii, perhaps, as Smeets claimed to have used Wii controllers to operate his wings.

By the end of the day, doubt surrounding the video had soundly overtaken belief in the amazing new invention it seemed to show in action.

And now, the jig is up. Smeets, whose real name is Floris Kaayk, has come clean on Dutch television, admitting that his videos and accompanying blog were nothing more than what he calls "online storytelling." His flying video attracted more than 3 million views on YouTube.

"I’m actually a filmmaker and animator. I am now eight months working on an experiment about online media,” Kaayk told the press, referring to the fact that he began documenting the fake flying machine project on his blog last summer.

Kaayk also said the hoax was not, in fact, commercially sponsored.


MSNBC: Grounded! 'Bird man' admits flying video is a fake

Roman Shusterman Marches For Legalization of "Teacher/Student Love"

Known to many New Yorkers as the founder and presumed sole member of the "Fart Smeller Movement," Brooklyn resident Roman Shusterman again panhandled for the attention of passersby in Manhattan last weekend by advocating the government "Legalize Teacher/Student Love."

Shusterman -- whose other sign-wielding antics have included offering free massages at Coney Island and imploring women to let him smell their rear ends as part of his "Peace Through Face-Sitting" campaign -- said Sunday that he believes the legal ramifications of sexual relationships between teachers and students has "gone too far."

Protesting in Zuccotti Park on March 18, Shusterman sought to tie his fringe belief with the Occupy Wall Street movement for social equality. Shusterman paraded through the park just one day after police removed demonstrators who were marking the six month anniversary of the cause.

"It's like Occupy Wall Street. There's no lines to be drawn. It's more like, we gotta start fighting for an opposite kind of world," Shusterman said. "That's the only way we're going to get what Occupy Wall Street is promising … which is complete equality and for everyone to be equal in the lifestyle of the 99 percent."

Asked if this meant teachers should be having sex with their students, Shusterman said he believed this was the only way to have a society with true equality.

"Yeah, they should have education where they have sex with the students," he said. "I think if students were taught about sex, and if the teachers were directly involved in teaching them sex, that [students] would no longer be loners ... and they would know what they're doing and it would be a better society that way."

No word yet on whether or not Shusterman will advocate teacher/student fart smelling.


Huffington Post: Roman Shusterman, Renowned 'Fart Smeller,' Marches For Legalization of 'Teacher/Student Love'

9-Year-Old Called for Jury Duty for Second Time

For the second time in his life, 9-year-old Jacob Clark was recently invited to join a jury of his peers.

But that jury wasn’t congregating on the elementary school playground: Clark was summoned to appear in Orleans District Court in Massachusetts on April 18 for jury selection.

“I looked at it and said, ‘This is ridiculous!’” Jacob’s grandmother, Deborah Clark, told ABCNews.com.

The Yarmouth, Mass., third grader was summoned to jury duty once before, when he was 2 years old.

Clark said her grandson’s birth year had been listed as 1982, instead of 2002.

When Jacob got home from school last week, Clark told Jacob about the notice.

“At first he thought of jury duty and going to court meant he did something wrong,” Clark said.

She and the boy’s father, Robby Clark, used the experience as a way to teach Jacob a lesson about civic duty.

“We explained to him what it is… When a bunch of people get together and sit and listen to the pros and cons and decide whether a person is guilty or not guilty,” she said. “I asked him if he wanted to go. I said it’s a day off from school and you get lunch.”

The 9-year-old then became excited.

“He goes: ‘I want to be a Yarmouth police officer so maybe this will help me,’” Clark said.

As for the court? Clark said they had no trouble believing Jacob was only half the minimum age to serve.

“My son filled out the bottom half and sent it in stating his age,” she said.

One follow-up call later, Jacob was in the clear and free to go mingle with peers closer to his own age.


ABC News: 9-Year-Old Called for Jury Duty for Second Time

Panda Poo Tea May Become The World's Most Expensive Tea

China's national treasure, the giant panda, will become even more precious if one businessman succeeds in using their dung to grow organic green tea he intends to sell for over $200 a cup.

An Yanshi, an entrepreneur in southwest China, grows the tea in mountainous Ya'an in Sichuan province using tons of excrement from panda bears living at nearby breeding centers.

The first batch of panda dung tea will be sold in lots of 50 grams that will cost some 22,000 yuan ($3,500) each, a price An said makes it the world's most expensive tea. Most people use about 3 grams of tea per cup.

An defended the steep price, saying he would channel profits from the initial batches into an environmental fund. Future batches would be cheaper, he added.

"I thank heaven and earth for blessing us with this environmental panda tea," the 41-year-old former teacher and journalist said at a weekend event to promote the tea.

"I just want to convey to the people of the world the message of turning waste into something useful, and the culture of recycling and using organic fertilizers."

Dressed in a panda suit to promote his tea, An invited a dozen or so guests to help hand-pick the first batch of tea at his plantation at the weekend.

The fertilizer made the tea a health boon, An said, because pandas only eat wild bamboo and absorb only a fraction of the nutrients in their food.

And pandas make plenty of fertilizer.

"They are like a machine that is churning out organic fertilizer." An said. "They keep eating and they keep producing feces."

"Also, they absorb less than 30 percent of the nutrition from the food, and that means more than 70 percent of the nutrients are passed out in their feces."

After brewing the first pickings, An described the tea as fragrant and smooth. Some of his guests, however, were not impressed.

"It's sold at such a sky-high price, perhaps this is just hype," said 49-year-old Li Ximing. ($1 = 6.3227 Chinese yuan)


Yahoo! News: Poo for tea: China's pandas brew a top drop

Law Firm Employees Fired For Wearing Orange Shirts

They wore orange – and got fired for it.

So say four former employees of the Elizabeth R. Wellborn P.A. law firm in Deerfield Beach who were terminated after they came to work in orange shirts on Friday, the company’s pay day, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.

They said they’ve worn orange shirts on pay days for the past few months so they would look like a group when they went out afterward for happy hour, the newspaper reported. Janice Doble, 50, of Sunrise said she was looking forward to the gathering after a busy week.

“Orange happens to be my favorite color. My patio is orange," she told the paper. “My lipstick was orange today.”

Unfortunately for Doble and 13 other employees, an executive viewed things very differently. He told them that he understood there was a protest involving orange, and because they were all wearing the color, they were fired, the Sun Sentinel reported.

One person immediately denied being part of a protest and explained the happy hour connection, but after the law firm’s honchos discussed the matter outside the room, they returned and said everyone was fired, said Lou Erik Ambert, a litigation paralegal.

"There is no office policy against wearing orange shirts. We had no warning. We got no severance, no package, no nothing," said Ambert, 31, of Coconut Creek. "I feel so violated."

A spokeswoman for the firm said it had “no comment at this time,” according to the Sun Sentinel.


NBC Miami: Orange Happy Hour Shirts Lead to Mass Firing at Deerfield Beach Law Firm: Report

Saint Patrick's Day Fails

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Rare Bunny With No Ears Crushed By Cameraman

The future had looked so bright for tiny Til, a baby rabbit born without ears three weeks ago in a small zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna in Saxony, eastern Germany. Earless rabbits are very rare, and that factor combined with his cuteness would surely have made him a media celebrity, especially in Germany, which has a history of worshipping furry baby animals.

But then fate struck. Til was meant to be presented to the press at a news conference on Thursday and the zoo had invited a TV camera team to film him lolloping about happily ahead of the big day. Here is what happened next in the words of Uwe Dempewolf, the director of the zoo, who was still shaken when SPIEGEL ONLINE telephoned him on Wednesday afternoon.

"We are all shocked. During the filming, the cameraman took a step back and trod on the bunny," Dempewolf said. "He was immediately dead, he didn't suffer. It was a direct hit. No one could have foreseen this. Everyone here is upset. The cameraman was distraught."

"We had planned a news conference for tomorrow and we wanted to market it via the media because rabbits without ears are pretty rare. But now this unfortunate event has occurred. The other five bunnies are right as rain. It is regrettable that he was the one who got stepped on."

Til's body will now be frozen while zoo officials decide whether to have him stuffed.


Spiegel Online: Rare Bunny With No Ears Crushed by Cameraman

New Mexico Divorce Attorney Caught On Video Breaking Into House

New Mexico divorce lawyer and past Otero County Bar Association President Raymond Van Arnam has been jailed after pleading no contest for helping a client break into a house where her estranged husband was living.

At the time of the Oct. 28, 2011 incident, Van Arnam was representing Melissa Stonecipher in her petition for divorce from her husband. Stonecipher was separated from her husband at the time of the incident. A temporary domestic order posted on the front window of her estranged husband’s residence stated the client needed to schedule a time to get her belongings. The video shows Van Arnam arrive at his client’s former home with several people where he pounds and kicks the front door.

In a 911 call to the Alamogordo Department of Public Safety, the victim, Stonecipher’s husband, stated that his estranged wife, Stonecipher, and her attorney, Van Arnam, were attempting to forcefully enter into his personal residence. The surveillance video showed Stonecipher’s husband and a roommate leaving the residence. Van Arnam is shown rapping on the driver window with a lollipop and then speaking to the estranged husband.

After Van Arman is captured breaking down the back door, he unlocked the front door to allow two other men into the residence to remove numerous pieces of baby furniture and baby accessories from the residence, then loaded the items into a vehicle. Van Arnam is also seen on video surveillance footage removing the posted, “No Trespassing” sign located in the front window of the residence.

At a particularly touching moment, surveillance video captures Van Arnam telling his client during the break-in, “I need a hug… I need some relaxation.” During the subsequently delivered extended embrace, Van Arnem then says ”Shhh. Shhh. Shhh. Oh yeah.” Blech.

Predictably, Van Arnam’s attorney Todd Holmes said prior to the plea agreement and sentencing that – despite the posted notice and pesky court order – Van Arnam was in the right. Holmes said Van Arnam, “let Stonecipher’s husband get to him” because her husband had moved another woman into the residence while his wife was pregnant with their child.

“I think the law gave Stonecipher permission to get in the house,” Holmes said. “On the law, I think the law was on Van Arnam’s side. He admitted he could’ve done things different.”

Special prosecutor Matthew Chandler countered that it was a simple home invasion.

“Van Arnam gathered his crew of employees and his client, pulled up to the house in droves and demanded entry,” Chandler said. “When he couldn’t get in, he intimidated the victim into leaving his own property and then forced his way into the house where he and his posse cleaned this victim out. It was a planned attack against a person and his property, without any legal backing at all, and Van Arnam needs to be punished.”

Van Arnam entered a plea deal on four criminal counts including criminal damage to property, criminal trespassing, and larceny. Van Arnam will be placed on 334 days of supervised probation after he completes his 30 days in jail. He is subject to drug and alcohol testing. He must also have no contact with the victim in the case. Van Arnam will have to pay a total of $2,732 in court costs and fines along with $5,000 in restitution to the victim in the case. He will also have to do 100 days of community service by either pro bono work or through some other community service means.

Records show that Van Arnam had been temporarily disbarred for a possession of cocaine conviction back in 2003 but his license was reinstated. The New Mexico State Disciplinary Board had tried unsuccessfully to suspend Van Arnam’s law license earlier this year over this latest incident and provided a copy of the video to the State Supreme Court. Transcripts show the high court decided to allow Van Arnam to continue to practice law until he was sentenced, citing his right to due process. Van Arnam’s law license will be the topic of an upcoming hearing.

Melissa Stonecipher also pleaded no contest to criminal damage to property of a household member in Magistrate Court. Stonecipher was placed on 364 days of supervised probation for her part in the incident.


The Dreamin' Demon: Lawyer Jailed After Being Caught On Tape During Home Invasion

New Jersey Capital Will Run Out of Toilet Paper Due to Budget Battle

A budget battle in New Jersey's capital city has some extremely unpleasant fallout, including a toilet paper shortage at police headquarters, fire stations, senior centers and municipal offices.

"It's serious right now," Lauren Ira, spokeswoman for the city administration of Trenton, said on Tuesday.

Supplies have been dwindling down to almost nothing in the months since a spending fight broke out among the City Council in November over a $42,000 spending request for a year's supply of paper products, including toilet paper.

“I’m embarrassed,” Council president Kathy McBride told the Times of Trenton. “I’m a little disgusted, and I feel we’re doing an injustice to the residents of the city and the employees.”

Paper towel and toilet paper dispensers in the city senior centers, police department, fire department, museum, water filtration plant and City Hall aren't expected to last through the week, McBride and maintenance supervisor Paul Heater told the newspaper.

Detective George Dzurkoc painted a desperate picture of conditions at police headquarters. He said the men's rooms are completely bare and just a few rolls are left in the women's rooms.

Dzurkoc, head of the city's Policemen's Benevolent Association, filed complaints Tuesday morning with the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration and the state Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health Program.

"The bottom line is they have a health issue knocking at the door," Dzurkoc said.

The City Council was scheduled to meet late on Tuesday to reconsider the spending request which has been stalled in debate each of the three times it came up for a vote since November. At issue was a line in the spending resolution that included a high unit price for hot drink cups.

“We questioned the cost and why they needed them,” North Ward Councilwoman Marge Caldwell-Wilson told the Times of Trenton.

That line has since been removed, but the debate has reportedly already tainted the city's reputation. “It is another black eye the city just doesn’t need,” Caldwell-Wilson told the newspaper.

Dzurkoc told the newspaper he couldn't believe that supplies were city workers could be held up by a dispute over cup prices.

“They’re just ridiculous over cups,” he said. “It’s a circus-like atmosphere for sure.”


MSNBC: Budget spat wipes out toilet paper supplies in New Jersey's capital city

Officer Claims Girlfriend Attacked Him With Justin Bieber Doll

And I was like baby, baby, baby... Owww bitch that hurt!

A Denver police officer arrested in the beating of his girlfriend claimed that she attacked him with a Justin Bieber doll.

Officer Michael Nuanes, Jr., 37, said that his girlfriend hurled a Barbie-sized Justin Bieber doll at him, injuring his foot. He also accused the girlfriend of kicking him, biting his finger and choking him, according to an Adams County sheriff detective's sworn statement supporting an arrest warrant.

"Michael Nuanes stated that (his girlfriend) had thrown a 'Barbie Doll' at him, which bruised his foot and (said) that it hurt," the affidavit said. "Nuanes pointed out a 'Justin Bieber' doll, which was the item used to injure him."


The Denver Channel: Girlfriend Attacked Me With Justin Bieber Doll

Man Racks Up 3 Speeding Tickets In 1 Hour

Traffic officers along Interstate 84 in Oregon's Columbia River Gorge say a lead-footed driver was in such a hurry to make a court date on a meth possession charge that he racked up $2,000 worth of speeding tickets in an hour.

Police say 34-year-old Jose Romero-Valenzuela of Las Vegas, Nev., was zooming west Wednesday morning and got pulled over three times — first at 105 mph, then at 98 mph and finally at 92 mph.

Police say the last ticket appeared to have an effect. Down the road a bit, a trooper set up watch and clocked him at the limit, 65 mph.

Besides fines and penalties, police say his license could be suspended for up to 90 days if he's found guilty on the citation alleging driving in excess of 100 mph.

Police confirm he was indeed scheduled for a court appearance later Wednesday in Oregon City, south of Portland.


SF Gate: Police say driver gets 3 speeding tickets in hour

17-Year-Old Attempts To Rob Sex Shop, Fills Out Job Application Instead

Cody Conner demanded the money from the cash register at a Florida adult novelty shop, but ended up receiving a job application and an earful of advice, according to police.

Conner, 17, is accused of attempting to rob Cupid's Corner in DeBary, a city located about 25 miles northeast of Orlando. Police said Conner entered the adults-only establishment Wednesday night, pulled a handgun out of his waistband and demanded a female clerk give him all the money in the register.

"The woman told him 'Don't do this. It's not worth it,' but the teen said he had to because his family was sick and he had to support his grandfather," said Brandon Haught, a spokesman for the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

Conner and the clerk, a mother of four named Cheryl Hunter, had a 20-minute discussion, during which she convinced him to unload his firearm and take a job application, according to police. Surveillance footage from the store shows that Conner filled out the application and hugged Hunter. The pair also smoked a cigarette together before Hunter went to a nearby convenience store to report the incident, police said.

"I talked him out of [robbing the store]," Hunter told a 911 dispatcher. "I had him fill an application. I told him I'd give him a job."

When Volusia County deputies arrived on the scene Conner was gone. They were, however, shocked to discover he had supplied his real name, address and home phone number on the job application.

Authorities caught up with the accused would-be robber less than half a mile away and took him into custody without incident.

According to Haught, Conner "admitted to committing the robbery, saying that he had been looking everywhere for a job to help his grandparents pay their bills." Conner told police the weapon was actually a BB gun and that he had thrown it near a lake after the robbery. Deputies have not yet recovered it.

Conner was charged with armed robbery and taken to the Volusia Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Daytona Beach.

Conner's grandmother, Wilda Harris, said he recently moved from Ohio to help his grandfather, who is recovering from a heart attack. "He's a good kid," Harris told WESH.com. "I don't know what happened. My husband's having all this and he needs six surgeries, and there is no money to do nothing."

Harris also said she never expected her grandson to turn to crime to help the family out.

"I'm glad nobody is hurt,that's all I can say," Harris told WESH.


WESH.com: Employee Talks Armed Gunman Out Of Robbery

Man Posts Photo Posing With Judge's Stolen Nameplate On Facebook

Note to thieves: If you steal a nameplate from a judge, don't let anyone post a picture of you holding it on Facebook.

Authorities in South Florida say that's exactly what led to the arrest Thursday of 21-year-old Steven Mulhall on violation of probation charges.

Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Mulhall pried the $40 nameplate from the courtroom door of Broward Circuit Judge Michael Orlando while making a court appearance. He says Mulhall has multiple petty theft convictions and now faces felony charges.

"The nameplate is like only $40, not that big of a crime, but what an idiot. He puts it on Facebook," Lamberti told the Palm Beach Post. "Here he is flaunting it on Facebook. He violated the terms of his parole by stealing, from a judge he appeared before, no less. He's got multiple convictions for petty theft, so now this is a felony."

Deputies picked up Mulhall, Lamberti added, after verifying the suspect had appeared before Judge Orlando. The judge's nameplate was pried from the door around Feb. 23, according to the arrest report. A tip to Broward County Crime Stoppers led authorities to Mulhall.

"The tipster gave us his address, name and the Facebook page," Lamberti told the paper. The picture reportedly was found on Mulhall’s girlfriend's Facebook page. The girlfriend's name was Natalie ComaToze Segura, according to arrest records.

The nameplate will be returned to the judge.


Sun Sentinal: Broward Facebook suspect won't 'like' this

Fox News Anchor Falls Asleep On-Air

It appears that all the excitement of Super Tuesday got a little too much for one reporter. He fell asleep, before a live shot and he was caught on camera taking a snooze.

Men's Pants Have Sexist Washing Instructions

A label found in a pair of pants in England suggested an Internet-trending alternative to machine washing in warm water: “Give it to your woman, it’s her job.”

The instructions were found by British technology writer Emma Barnett of The Telegraph. As she was cleaning up her apartment, she noticed the label in her boyfriend’s pants.

She saw the typical instructions about temperature, bleach and drying, but then she read, “Or, Give it to your woman, it’s her job.”

“If the comment had been remotely funny, I would have been the first to laugh and shrug it off, as it really wouldn’t have bothered me enough to photograph it, tweet it and then write about it,” Barnett wrote in the London newspaper today. “But it was the lack of any implied humor and the horrible surprise of such an incongruous message hidden away inside some trousers, that left me just plain stunned.”

Barnett tweeted the image of the label Monday and was inundated with messages asking her to “name and shame” the pants’ maker.

She disclosed that her boyfriend bought the pants from Madhouse, a discount men’s store in England, but did not name the brand. The store’s website shows that it carries and sells a number of brands.

“The chinos in question are manufactured by a jeans brand that we stock but the care instructions on this product were not proofed by our buyers who normally concern themselves with quality, style and price of the products they order,” Madhouse posted today on its Twitter and Facebook accounts. “The first Madhouse was aware of the care instruction on this product was today.”

The statement said the wording on the label was not “instigated or ordered” by the store.

“The wording is clearly meant as a joke but now it has been pointed out to us it is something we will need to be more careful about in the future,” the store said.

The label has incited so much debate on Twitter that #Madhouse was trending. Some were outraged by the label, while others advised the critics to calm down.

“This is hilarious!!!!!!! I want them!!” someone exclaimed.

“I think its [sic] well funny @MadhouseFashion. Some people just need to learn to take a joke.”

Others were less than amused.

“How dare #Madhouse this is 2012 not 1950′s!” one person wrote.

“I am completely disgusted in #madhouse & would not enter their shops again,” tweeted another.


ABC News: ‘Give It to Your Woman’ Pants’ Care Instructions Divide Twitterverse

Miss Seattle "Can't Stand" Seattle

The newly crowned Miss Seattle says she was just having a bad day back in December when she tweeted, "Ugh can't stand cold rainy Seattle and the annoying people."

Since winning the pageant on Saturday, Jean-Sun Hannah Ahn has said she was just complaining about the weather like any Seattle native and didn't mean that people in Seattle are annoying.

A former Miss Phoenix who graduated from Arizona State University, Ahn told KIRO-FM she was in a transition period three months ago, missing friends and sunshine.

She says she learned a valuable lesson. On Twitter Monday she said, "I really do love Seattle ... the summers are to die for."

Miss Seattle represents the city this summer at the Miss Washington Pageant.


The Seattle Times: Miss Seattle tweeted city cold and people annoying

Man Dies Attempting To Set Record For Being Buried Alive

A Sri Lankan man has died while trying to set a record for the longest time spent buried alive, police said Monday.

Police said Janaka Basnayake, 24, buried himself over the weekend with the help of family and friends in a trench sealed with wood and soil in the town of Kantale, about 137 miles (220 kilometers) north of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo. A local newspaper reported that the trench was 10 feet (3 meters) deep.

Basnayake was buried at around 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Police said that when he was brought to the surface at 4 p.m., he was unconscious and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Dr. D.G. Costa of the Kantale hospital said a post-mortem could not determine the cause of death and further medical investigations are being conducted.

Basnayake's mother, L.D. Leelawathi, said her son had enjoyed performing unusual acts since his childhood – a liking that grew after watching movies, the Lankadeepa newspaper reported.

It quoted her as saying that her son had been buried alive on two previous occasions – for two and a half hours and six hours respectively.

It was unclear whether there is an official world record for the longest time buried alive.


Huffington Post: Janaka Basnayake Tries To Set Record For Being Buried Alive, Dies In Sri Lanka

Helicopter Shakes Itself To Pieces

Man Charged With Drunk Driving On Zamboni

A 34-year-old Apple Valley man accused of drunken driving on a Zamboni in late January had a blood-alcohol content of 0.32 percent -- four times the legal limit, according to court documents.

Joel K. Bruss has been charged in Dakota County District Court with four counts of drunken driving. Three of the charges are gross misdemeanors, one is a misdemeanor.

According to the complaint filed by the Apple Valley city attorney's office, a police officer was sent to the Hayes Ice Arena shortly after 8 p.m. Jan. 30. Witnesses said Bruss, a part-time rink attendant, was driving erratically on the Zamboni and hitting the boards while attempting to resurface the ice between youth games.

The complaint said that when the officer entered the arena, the Zamboni machine was partly off and partly on the ice while the driver was trying to get it unstuck. Once Bruss got off the machine, the officer smelled alcohol on his breath and noted that he was "extremely unsteady" and was hanging onto the Zamboni to keep his balance. Bruss was slurring his words and mumbling and his eyes were red, watery and bloodshot, the complaint said.

Bruss admitted he had been drinking at home earlier that evening and that he had driven himself to work. Shortly before 10 p.m., he agreed to submit a urine sample to measure his blood-alcohol level. The test results showed that it was 0.32 percent. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08.

Bruss is to make his first court appearance April 19. He was convicted of drunken driving in 2002 and twice in 1999.


Star Tribune: Apple Valley Zamboni driver tested at 0.32 alcohol level

Man Attempts To Rob Bank, Returns To Withdraw Money For Cab Fare

When planning a bank robbery, make sure to bring along cab fare before you go off to commit the heist.

Sure, it seems obvious, but it's a tip that alleged robber Trevor Gladston probably wishes he had learned before he attempted to rob a Wells Fargo bank in Chamblee, Ga.

Police says Gladston, 39, left the bank empty-handed after handing a teller a note asking for money, according to Newser.

"[Gladston] came in and handed a note that said something to the effect of 'Give me the money or we start shooting,'" Chamblee Police Chief Marc Johnson told Atlanta's Fox affiliate. "Obviously, feeling safe behind the bulletproof glass, the teller just stepped back and the individual left without any money."

That turned out to be a problem when Gladston got into a cab to make his getaway back to the Chamblee bus station.

The taxi driver told officials she had transported round trip from the station to the bank and back, and upon their return, the man identified as Gladston told the driver he needed to go to the station parking lot to get money out of his car to pay for the trip, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The cabbie, who is female, feared her passenger was going to leave without paying so she blocked his car with the taxi and got the attention of an officer at the station.

Johnson says the officer didn't know about the attempted bank robbery and managed to talk Gladston into going back to the bank to withdraw enough money to pay for the cab fare.

"[The officer] just convinced the guy that you need to get some money and pay your bill or else you'll end up in trouble," Johnson told Fox.

However, once Gladston return to withdraw cash legally, bank employees positively identified him as the attempted bank robber from a few minutes earlier.

He was then arrested, charged with attempted armed robbery and taken to the Chamblee Detention Center before being transferred to the DeKalb County Jail, police said.


Huffington Post: Alleged Bank Robber Trevor Gladston Arrested When He Returns To Get Cab Fare