January 23, 2015

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King Abdulla dies –
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah died today and his brother Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud became king. King Salman has named his half-brother Muqrin as his crown prince and heir in a move designed to reduce fears of a succession crisis.
This image is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel walks with Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, to a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 23, 2013 The new King of Saudi Arabia, King Salman

Tennis player asked to do the twirl –
Tennis Australia commentator Ian Cohen has asked Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard “to give it a twirl” to show off her outfit after her second-round win over Kiki Bertens in the Australian Open causing upset. Bouchard who lost in the final at Wimbledon in 2014 said “… I’m fine with being asked to twirl if they ask the guys to flex their muscles and stuff.”
2014 Australian Open - Eugenie Bouchard 3

It’s teleporting Jim, but not as we know it –
Scientists from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany have invented a real-life teleporter system that can scan in an object and “beam it” to another location. Not quite the level of sophistication seen in Star Trek, the system uses destructive scanning, digital transmission and 3D printing.
Leonard Nimoy William Shatner Star Trek 1968

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April 4, 2015

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New York’s two billion dollar bunny battle –
Brooklyn woman accused of cruelty by keeping more than 170 rabbits in empty lot hits back with law suit against accusers. A New York woman has appeared in court over Easter charged with keeping 176 rabbits in filthy conditions. Dorota Trec, 35, has become known as the Rabbit Woman of Gowanus, after the Brooklyn neighbourhood where she lives with a rapidly proliferating collections of bunnies. She faces up to a year in jail if found guilty of two animal cruelty charges. Prosecutors allege her pets are suffering from diseases such as syphilis and have bite wounds from frequent fights. Trec, who is a piano teacher, is now accusing an animal welfare campaigner, Natalie Reeves, and others of a smear campaign and is seeking $2 billion in damages after the rabbits were taken away. [Daily Telegraph]

Ranulph Fiennes risks his life in 156 mile Sahara race –
Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the explorer, has told how he is “putting his life on the line” by attempting to complete the Marathon des Sables.
Should the 71-year-old succeed, he will become the oldest Briton to complete the six-day ultra-marathon in the Moroccan desert. The explorer will face temperatures of 50C. “People say I must be mad, especially as I don’t like the heat,” he said. “I am putting my life on the line.” The Marathon des Sables covers 251km, including the distance of a marathon a day and a double marathon another day. Runners carry everything they need on their backs. Sir Ranulph will be raising money for Marie Curie. [Daily Telegraph]
Ranulph-FiennesSir Ranulph Fiennes

Video of the Day –

Hockey Sounds from Scott Duffy on Vimeo.

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July 20, 2015

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Grooveshark co-founder Josh Greenberg, 28, found dead –
The co-founder of a recently-shut down music streaming website has been found dead in his Florida home, local police have said. Josh Greenberg, who was aged 28, created Grooveshark in 2006. There was “no evidence of foul play or suicide,” police in Gainesville said via Twitter. Grooveshark closed in April this year following years of legal action from several record labels. A US court had determined that the site could be liable for $736m (£472m) in damages after it was judged to have wilfully breached copyright when building the service’s music library. [BBC]

Open 2015: Zach Johnson triumphs in Open play-off –
American Zach Johnson claimed his second major title with victory in a three-man play-off on a thrilling final day in the 144th Open Championship. The 2007 Masters winner finished a shot ahead of South African Louis Oosthuizen and three ahead of Australian Marc Leishman over four extra holes. Earlier, the three ended on 15 under to lead a competitive field at St Andrews. Jordan Spieth’s hopes of a Grand Slam were ended as he finished on 14 under along with Australia’s Jason Day. [BBC] See List of the Day
Zach-JohnsonZach Johnson

Lee Nelson showers Fifa president Sepp Blatter with dollar bills –
Fifa president Sepp Blatter was showered with fake banknotes by a notorious prankster at a press conference in his Zurich headquarters. The comedian Lee Nelson – real name Simon Brodkin – managed to infiltrate the press conference, which was being held to announce reforms planned to world football’s governing body, and a date for the presidential election. The press conference was delayed by around 10 minutes as organisers cleaned up the notes. [Daily Telegraph] See Video of the Day

Canadian-Owned Infidelity Dating Site Suffers Cyber Attack –
A Canadian-owned dating website for married people seeking affairs says it has suffered a cyberattack after hackers claimed to have stolen confidential customer information, threatening to publish it unless the company is shut down. Avid Life Media, which owns Toronto-based site AshleyMadison.com, said Monday that it had taken steps to secure its sites. Ashley Madison, whose slogan is “Life is short. Have an affair,” claims it has more than 37 million anonymous worldwide members. Online security blog KrebsOnSecurity.com posted what appeared to be a screenshot of the site’s home page on Sunday bearing a message from the hackers, who said they acted to expose alleged lies Ashley Madison told customers about a service that allows members to erase profile information. [NY Times]

 

Video of the Day –

Comedian throws money at Blatter during press conference

List of the Day –

Zach Johnson PGA Tour wins (from Wikipedia)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
1 Apr 4, 2004 BellSouth Classic 69-66-68-72=275 −13 1 stroke Australia Mark Hensby
2 Apr 8, 2007 Masters Tournament 71-73-76-69=289 +1 2 strokes South Africa Retief Goosen, South Africa Rory Sabbatini,
United States Tiger Woods
3 May 20, 2007 AT&T Classic (2) 71-66-69-67=273 −15 Playoff Japan Ryuji Imada
4 Oct 12, 2008 Valero Texas Open 69-66-62-64=261 −19 2 strokes South Korea Charlie Wi, New Zealand Tim Wilkinson,
United States Mark Wilson
5 Jan 18, 2009 Sony Open in Hawaii 69-65-66-65=265 −15 2 strokes Australia Adam Scott, United States David Toms
6 May 17, 2009 Valero Texas Open (2) 68-67-60-70=265 −15 Playoff United States James Driscoll
7 May 30, 2010 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial 65-66-64-64=259 −21 3 strokes England Brian Davis
8 May 27, 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (2) 64-67-65-72=268 −12 1 stroke United States Jason Dufner
9 Jul 15, 2012 John Deere Classic 68-65-66-65=264 −20 Playoff United States Troy Matteson
10 Sep 16, 2013 BMW Championship 64-69-70-65=268 −16 2 strokes United States Nick Watney
11 Jan 6, 2014 Hyundai Tournament of Champions 67-66-74-66=273 −19 1 stroke United States Jordan Spieth
12 Jul 20, 2015 The Open Championship 66-71-70-66=273 −15 Playoff Australia Marc Leishman, South Africa Louis Oosthuizen

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October 20, 2015

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‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Crushes Presale Ticket Records –
Fan demand led to crash of multiple websites like Fandango and MovieTickets.com. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” broke the record for the highest number of first-day presale tickets for Fandango, AMC and IMAX. According to Fandango, the site has sold eight times as many tickets as it did on the first day for the previous record holder, “The Hunger Games” in 2012 — and that’s even before the 24-hour mark was reached. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” in 2010 slipped to third place in first-day advance sales. Traffic on Fandango surged to seven times the site’s typical peak levels, a site spokesperson reported. Similarly, MovieTickets.com reported that the online ticketer saw traffic “three times higher than the highest peak in the company’s 15 plus year history.” Comparably, the advance ticket sales for “The Force Awakens” are already four times greater than advance tickets sold for “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” [The Wrap] See Video of the Day

Fed-up cafe bans money from underwear –
In this tough economic climate, small business owners need every dollar they can get their hands on. Unless said dollar comes from a customer’s undies, apparently. Staff at a Carnarvon cafe were so fed up with patrons paying with money retrieved from undergarments they put the attached sign at the cash register for a six-week period. Fascine Coffee Lounge owner Robin Weeks said the straw that broke the camel’s back was a man who tried to pay his bill with money from his jocks. “My son thought people shouldn’t put money there and he shouldn’t have to touch it,” Weeks said. “We had four or five people that did it. A lot of women think their bra is the best place for their money because they don’t have pockets.” Weeks said while most people approved of the sign, there were some who refused to change their ways. [Western Australian]
Australian cafe signFascine Coffee Lounge sign

Video of the Day –

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer (Official)

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  • Lamar Odom, who had been hospitalized in grave condition after ingesting, in a binge, herbal Viagra, alcohol, and other substances in a 3-day, $75,000 stay at a legal brothel in Nevada, comes out of his coma, improves, and is able to have conversations, though he is still on dialysis to deal with the renal damage he suffered. He is released from intensive care and Sunrise Hospital, to a hospital closer to his Los Angeles home. (MSN via Sporting News)

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October 28, 2015

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Google’s Project Loon internet balloons to circle Earth –
Google believes it is on course to have enough internet-beaming balloons in the stratosphere to form a ring over part of the world next year. It told the BBC the move would let it trial a continuous data service to people living below the balloons’ path. The declaration coincides with the announcement that three of Indonesia’s mobile networks intend to start testing Project Loon’s transmissions next year. One expert said the plan had benefits over other solutions. Sri Lanka previously signed a separate agreement signalling its wish to be another participant in the giant helium balloon-based scheme. [BBC]

Biscuit that survived the Titanic sells for $23,000 –
A cracker that survived the Titanic and lives on, unmunched, today has been sold for $23,000 (£15,034). The biscuit was saved by James Fenwick, a passenger on the Carpathia vessel that saved Titanic passengers at sea, and was kept intact in a Kodak film envelope by Fenwick along with the following notation: “Pilot biscuit from Titanic lifeboat April 1912.” The 103-year-old biscuit was used as part of a survival kit on one of the Titanic lifeboats. [Daily Telegraph]

Apple reports biggest annual profit in history with net income of $53.4bn –
Apple has recorded the biggest annual profit in corporate history, with record sales of the iPhone helping it to make $53.4bn (£35bn) in the last 12 months. The world’s biggest company surpassed the $45.2bn made by ExxonMobil in 2008, after the release of its latest smartphones increased profits by 31pc in its fourth quarter. However, Apple warned that growth is likely to slow down significantly in the crucial Christmas period, and sales of the iPad fell by a fifth to their lowest level since 2011. The company predicted that sales in the current quarter would be between $75.5bn and $77.5bn – as little as 1pc up on the same period last year – partially due to a strong dollar. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

HOW I CRASHED THE SPECTRE PREMIERE AND AFTER PARTY JAMES BOND STYLE

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June 24, 2016

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Brexit fallout, Cameron quits, markets rocked –
Britain has voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealing the biggest blow since World War Two to the European project of forging greater unity. Global stock markets plunged on Friday, and the British pound saw its biggest one day drop in history, as results from a referendum defied bookmakers’ odds to show a 52-48 percent victory for the campaign to leave the bloc Britain joined more than 40 years ago. The United Kingdom itself could now break apart, with the leader of Scotland, where nearly two-thirds of voters wanted to stay in the EU, saying a new referendum on independence from the rest of Britain was “highly likely”. In an emotional speech on Friday, UK Prime Minister Cameron, who led the campaign to remain in Europe to defeat, after promising the referendum in 2013, said he would leave office by October. Lawmakers from the opposition Labour Party launched a no-confidence motion to topple their leader, leftist Jeremy Corbyn, accused by opponents in the party of campaigning tepidly for its Remain stance. The British pound fell as much as 10 percent against the U.S. dollar on Friday to levels last seen in 1985 on fears the decision could hit investment in the world’s fifth-largest economy, threaten London’s role as a global financial capital, and usher in months of political uncertainty. The euro slid 2.0 percent against the U.S. dollar. [Reuters] In February Cameron secured a deal with the EU to try to avoid an exit vote.
David_CameronDavid Cameron

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Brexit: UK prime minister David Cameron addresses British voters on leaving the EU

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