April 20, 2015

Top News Stories –

Demi Lovato Wishes Joe Jonas ‘Happy #420’ –
To honor 4/20 (See Top Twitter Trends), the day famously celebrated by weed connoisseurs, Demi Lovato decided to post a little message for her friend Joe Jonas. She took to Instagram to share a photoshopped image of herself with Jonas and Miley Cyrus. “In honor of our former escapades, I thought you’d like this to remember your first blaze.. Happy #420 @joejonas. #disneyhighclassof09,” she captioned the eye-popping image. [Billboard.com]
Demi-Lovato_Instagram-4_20
ddlovato_instagram_message

Russia: Police stage mayor’s disappearance to thwart killing –
Police in Russia have staged the disappearance of a city mayor to prevent his contract killing, it’s reported. Pavel Plotnikov, the mayor of Yoshkar Ola in central Russia, was reported missing on Saturday, after apparently failing to meet his wife as planned a day earlier. “All police patrols, criminal investigators – practically all police in Yoshkar Ola” were looking for the mayor, the city’s police spokeswoman Olga Plotnikova told the media at the time. But early on Monday, the mayor’s own website issued a statement saying that his disappearance had actually been staged. “The mayor’s ‘disappearance’ was necessitated by operational activities of Russia’s Interior Ministry staff,” the statement says. “They implemented measures to prevent a planned killing of the mayor and his family.” Later in the day, Mr Plotnikov gave a news conference to shed more light on what had happened. Because of his “principled position”, the mayor said, he was supposed to have been killed in a forest some time between Friday night and Saturday morning. Thanks to swift action by the security services, the would-be killers and those who took out a contract on the mayor have been arrested, Mr Plotnikov told the news conference, adding: “Many thanks to the police for saving my life.” The police have simply said that the mayor “has been found” and that “he’s alive and well, and is currently with his family”. [BBC]

U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal over Arizona ‘fish pedicures’ –
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by the owner a Phoenix-area spa that ran afoul of Arizona state regulations that barred her from providing pedicures in which clients have their feet nibbled by small fish to remove dead skin. The high court’s action, made without comment by the justices, ends a years-long case over fish pedicures, which have become a popular alternative to exfoliation for some spa-goers in recent years but are banned in some U.S. states for health and safety reasons. In 2009, Vong was told by the Arizona Board of Cosmetology that the treatment violated the agency’s safety standards, and that she could face criminal charges. The board said any tool or equipment used in a pedicure must be stored and disinfected in a specific way, and that she could not disinfect the fish coming in contact with clients’ skin. [Reuters]
Garra-Rufa Garra Rufa – the pedicure fish species

Video of the Day –

Paris – NewYork from NORD on Vimeo.

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April 21, 2015

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Flawless 100-carat diamond sells for $22.1 million at NY auction –
An eye-popping, 100-carat diamond, the highlight of a magnificent jewels sale in New York on Tuesday, sold for $22.1 million, Sotheby’s auction house said. The perfect classic emerald-cut D color diamond, which is about the size of a walnut and was mined by De Beers in southern Africa, was purchased by an anonymous buyer via a telephone bid. It had a pre-sale estimate of $19 million to $25 million. Gary Schuler, the head of Sotheby’s jewelry department in New York, said the gem is the definition of perfection. The $22.1 million price, which includes the buyer’s premium, fell short of the $30.6 million world record price paid for a 118.28 carat white diamond in Hong Kong in 2013. Sotheby’s said only six perfect diamonds weighing more than 100 carats have been sold at auction in the last 25 years. [Reuters]

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd pleads guilty to threat to kill –
Phil Rudd, drummer of Australian rock band AC/DC, has changed his plea to guilty on a charge of a threat to kill, at a court in Tauranga, New Zealand. The court heard he was unhappy about his album’s launch party and asked for a former employee to be “taken out”. He had previously denied the charge. He also pleaded guilty to cannabis and methamphetamine possession. Prosecutors dropped a second threat to kill charge, relating to the former employee’s daughter. [BBC] On April 1 2015 AC/DC won their first Grammy.
[Daily Telegraph]
AC_DCAC/DC

Japan maglev train breaks world speed record again –
A Japanese magnetic levitation train has broken its own world speed record, hitting 603km/h (374mph) in a test run near Mount Fuji. The train beat the 590km/h speed it had set last week in another test. Maglev trains use electrically charged magnets to lift and move carriages above the rail tracks. Central Japan Railway (JR Central), which owns the trains, wants to introduce the service between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya by 2027. The 280km journey would take only about 40 minutes, less than half the current time. However, passengers will not get to experience the maglev’s record-breaking speeds because the company said its trains will operate at a maximum of 505km/h. In comparison, the fastest operating speed of a Japanese shinkansen, or “bullet train” is is 320km/h. (See Video of the day). [BBC]
JR-Maglev-MLX01 The SCMaglev test track in the Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan

Video of the Day –

Yasukazu Endo, the head of the research centre run by Central Japan Railways, discusses the new maglev train. [Guardian]

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April 22, 2015

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Traffic chaos on M74 ‘due to a dog taking control of a tractor’ –
A busy stretch of motorway was left in chaos on Wednesday “due to a dog taking control of a tractor”. The bizarre incident was reported by Traffic Scotland at J13 of the M74 near Abington in South Lanarkshire. The transport body tweeted it was “not joking” and a farmer and police were at the scene with the vehicle after it crashed into the central reservation. The dog – believed to be a sheepdog – was unhurt after reportedly leaning on the controls of the tractor, taking it from a field on to the road. [Daily Telegraph]
@TrafficScotland
Traffic Scotland later tweeted that the dog was OK.
@TrafficScotland@Traffic Scotland on Twitter

Man shoots computer in Colorado Springs alley, gets revenge he wanted – and a citation –
When ctrl + alt + delete doesn’t work, just shoot the darn thing. That’s what one man did on Monday night, according to Colorado Springs police. Lucas Hinch, 37, was cited for discharging a weapon within city limits after he took the fight with his computer outside and got the revenge most of us only dream about. “He got tired of fighting with his computer for the last several months,” Lt. Jeff Strossner said. “He was having technology problems, so he took it out in the back alley and shot it.” Strossner tweeted Hinch “executed” his computer in an alley on the 2200 block of West Colorado Avenue. The penalty for the citation will be up to a judge, police said, adding that Hinch was good-natured about the citation and hadn’t realized he was breaking the law when he went Wild West on that useless piece of technology. Hinch shot it eight times, Strossner said, “effectively disabling it.” The computer is not expected to recover. [The Gazette]
Image from The Gazette The shot computer – Image from the Colorado Gazette

Google launches Project Fi mobile phone network –
Google has detailed its plan to run a mobile phone network in the US. The firm will rent voice and data capacity from two existing operators – Sprint and T-Mobile – and use existing wi-fi hotspots, rather than build new infrastructure from scratch. Initially, Project Fi will only be offered to Nexus 6 handset owners. Sundar Pichai, chief of Google’s Android platform, first mentioned the company’s plan to create a phone network in February, but provided little detail at the time. The company has now revealed that its subscribers will be automatically switched between 4G signals provided by Sprint and T-Mobile, depending on whichever is stronger at the time. They will also be able to make calls over wi-fi without having to use a special app, similar in nature to the Wi-fi Calling facility recently introduced by EE in the UK. [BBC]
Sundar_PichaiSundar Pichai

Video of the Day –

The first video posted on YouTube – 10 years ago today –

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April 23, 2015

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Hatton Garden heist: £20,000 reward offered by police –
A £20,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gang responsible for the Hatton Garden heist. On BBC One’s Crimewatch, Det Supt Craig Turner, head of the Flying Squad, appealed for witnesses to the burglary, which took place over Easter. New CCTV images of the thieves entering and leaving Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd have been released. The contents of 56 safe deposit boxes were taken in the raid. Items were removed from the premises in wheelie bins and bags during the raid in Central London. No arrests have yet been made. [BBC]
Hatton_Garden_Road_SignHatton Garden road sign

Student continues Sahara marathon on broken leg but still beats Sir Ranulph Fiennes –
A student broke his leg while competing in the ‘toughest race on earth’ – but still kept going for another 100 miles to overtake the explorer Ranulph Fiennes. James Tuffnell, 20, stumbled down a sand dune on the fourth day of the six-day Marathon Des Sables, a 155 mile ‘ultramarathon’ across the Sahara desert, shattering his ankle and fracturing his tibia. Despite his injuries he carried all his own supplies including food, water and sleeping materials for the length of the race in 50 degree heat. [Daily Telegraph]
James-Tuffnell James Tuffnell [@JamesTuffnell – Twitter]

Japan: Low-level radiation in drone found on PM’s roof –
A drone carrying a tiny amount of radioactive material has been found on the roof of the Japanese prime minister’s office in Tokyo. The four-propeller device was found on top of the building on Wednesday morning [22 April], and was carrying a container of liquid which was marked with a radiation warning symbol, the public broadcaster NHK reports. The 50cm (20in) wide drone was also equipped with a small camera. Police say “minute” levels of radiation were detected on the drone, which they think is likely to be radioactive caesium, but that the amount is too low to be harmful to human health. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wasn’t in the building at the time, as he’s currently in Indonesia. [BBC] In January 2015 the prime minister called the footage of Islamic State hostage Kenji Goto apparently holding a photograph showing the body of fellow captive Haruna Yukawa “outrageous and unacceptable”.
Shinzō Abe April 2014Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe

Video of the Day –

6 Craziest Extinctions ever – from ASAP Science –

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April 24, 2015

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Android peeing on Apple logo spotted on Google Maps –

Rivalry between Google and Apple has always been fierce, but now Google Maps appears to have been emblazoned with the image of the Android mascot urinating on an Apple logo. The image, discovered by a Hacker News user, appears on a patch of land just south of the city of Rawalpindi in Pakistan, at coordinates 33°30’52.5″N 73°03’33.2″E. The origin of the image is unclear. Some have suggested it could be Google’s idea of an Easter Egg (hidden joke), while others claim it was added by a user. The image is most likely a result of a user abusing Map Maker, the tool that allows users to contribute to Google Maps. One Hacker News user claims to have tracked down the culprit – a user called nitricboy. [Daily Telegraph]
Android-peeing-on-Apple

Native American actors walk off Adam Sandler film set over ‘insults’ –
Nearly a dozen Native American actors have walked off the set of a Hollywood film starring Adam Sandler complaining that the script was offensive to their culture. The actors had been hired to take part in filming of The Ridiculous Six, a satirical Western based on The Magnificent Seven. They said the script, which was co-written by Sandler, included offensive names for female Native American characters such as “No Bra”. [Daily Telegraph]
Adam_Sandler Adam Sandler

Drop Dead Sexy –
During this year’s Spring Festival holidays, a man surnamed Zhang watched a strip show somewhere he didn’t expect, at a funeral in his hometown in Cheng’an county, Hebei Province. “Two strippers wearing revealing clothes danced on a stage at a public square in our village at night on February 15. They first danced passionately and then took off their clothes piece by piece. Behind them, an electronic screen was displaying a picture of the deceased with elegiac couplets on either side.”Behind the stripper, an electronic screen hung from a backdrop showed a picture of the deceased. Text at the bottom of the screen read, “we offer profound condolences for the death of Mr Chang.” Zhang said that the show cost 3,000 yuan ($480) as it was held during the Spring Festival holidays, saying that the shows are cheaper at other times of the year. During the performance, the host also announced to the public that the show was sponsored by Chang’s daughter, “as a way to show off his large family,” said Zhang. [Global Times]

‘Embryologic twin’ tumour discovered in student’s brain –
Doctors in California have removed a tumour they have described as an “embryologic twin” deep inside the brain of a young woman. Yamini Karanam, 26, a PhD student in Indiana, had been experiencing difficulties with drowsiness, reading and concentration. The discovery was made when doctors performed a newly-developed form of surgery to remove the tumour. The growth, known as a teratoma, had bone and hair. Ms Karanam, a student at Indiana University, jokingly described the tumour to KNBC, a California TV station, as her “evil twin sister who’s been torturing me for the past 26 years”. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Five Stages of Watching A Marvel Movie – HISHE Features: OnlyLeigh

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April 25, 2015

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Nepal hit by 7.9 magnitude earthquake –
More than 718 people across a swath of four countries were killed on Saturday – the majority in Nepal – following the worst earthquake in the country’s recent history. The quake, which was measured at 7.9 on the Richter Scale, destroyed historic buildings in the capital Kathmandu, including the capital’s 19th Century Dharahara Tower landmark, where more than 50 people are missing in the rubble. Many of them were scaling the 200 feet structure for the best view of the city when the earthquake struck. The city’s historic Darbar Square and many temples were also damaged. Officials said 688 people were confirmed dead in Nepal. Another 20 were killed in India, six in Tibet and two in Bangladesh. Two Chinese citizens died at the Nepal-China border. Given the scale of the destruction, the death toll is almost certain to rise, said Laxmi Dhakal, Home Ministry official. [Daily Telegraph]
Nepal_ethnic_groupsNepal

3-Olympian Bruce Jenner makes transgender history by identifying as a woman –
Olympic gold medalist and reality TV star Bruce Jenner said on Friday that he identifies as a woman, becoming the most high-profile American to come out as transgender. The 65-year-old Jenner made the declaration in a wide-ranging interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, nearly 40 years after his record-breaking Olympic gold-medal win in the decathlon that gave him the unofficial title of “World’s Greatest Athlete.” At the outset of the taped interview, Sawyer asked “Are you a woman?” and Jenner responded, “Yes, for all intents and purposes I am a woman.” [Reuters]
Bruce-JennerBruce Jenner

Couple plan to be oldest newlyweds –
Two elderly lovebirds from East Sussex, England are set to become the world’s oldest newlyweds when they tie the knot in June.
George Kirby, who is 102, finally proposed to 91-year-old Doreen Luckie after they had lived together for 25 years. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

How to Turn Your Apple Watch Gold

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April 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

Nepal earthquake: International aid effort increased –
The international aid effort for Nepal is gathering pace, with Saturday’s massive earthquake now known to have killed 3,726 people and injured 6,500. China, India, Pakistan and Britain are among the countries contributing to the effort, alongside major aid agencies. Nepal has asked for more help, saying it needs everything from helicopters and blankets to paramedics and drivers. At least 200 climbers have now been rescued around Mount Everest, after the quake triggered avalanches. Foreign climbers on Everest and their Nepalese guides were caught by the tremors and a huge avalanche that buried part of the camp (See Video of the Day). At least 18 were killed by avalanches. China has meanwhile announced a halt to all spring expeditions to Mount Everest from the north face of the mountain on its side of the border, state media reports.

Rich List 2015: Super rich’s wealth soars as new money floods in from abroad –
he combined wealth of the 1,000 richest men and women in Britain has more than doubled in the last ten years, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. (See List of the Day) The wealthiest 1,000 individuals and families now have a combined fortune of £547.126 billion, up from £249.615 billion in 2005, despite the world economy being gripped by a punishing recession over much of the last decade. Plain old millionaires increasingly struggle to count themselves among the mega-rich, with a fortune of £100 million now required to make it into the top 1,000. That is £15 million higher than last year’s minimum, while in 1997 it took a personal wealth of ‘just’ £15 million to make the grade. The list includes 117 billionaires, up from 104 last year. They account for a total wealth of £325.131 billion and 80 of them are based in London. It means the capital has more sterling billionaires than any other city in the world. [Daily Telegraph]
Roman_Abramovich Roman Abramovich – Owner of Chelsea FC and 10th richest man in Britain

Paula Radcliffe runs the London Marathon for the last time –
Briton Radcliffe, 41, ran the 26.2-mile course in two hours 36 minutes 55 seconds, less than three years after surgery on a serious foot injury.
“It was just amazing the whole way round,” the world-record holder said. “I wore the sunglasses to keep a lid on my emotions and they definitely hid some tears along the way,” she added. Radcliffe won the London Marathon in 2002, 2003 and 2005, and her 2003 winning time of 2:15:25 remains the world record.
Paula_RadcliffePaula Radcliffe

Video of the Day –

Hit by Avalanche in Everest Basecamp 25.04.2015 –

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