Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Gesture in yearbook photo lands players in trouble
Pages 188 and 189 of Lincoln Park Academy's 2006 yearbook have caused big controversy at the school.
On those pages, six baseball players displayed what some view as an obscene hand gesture known as the "shocker" in their team picture. School administrators discovered the problem after the yearbook's publication and distribution. As discipline, they banned the offending players from Lincoln Park's awards ceremony last Friday and stripped them of their varsity letters and post-season awards.
Some feel the punishment went too far while others think it failed to go far enough.
Free the gnomes
Thousands of Gnomes are enslaved in Gardens across America. For too long we have let our neighbors usurp the rights of these gentle woodland creatures.
Join our boycott. Organize a picket demonstration. Write to Congress. Free a Gnome.
Have you seen a Gnome in captivity? Report it here . This information will be made available to the Garden Gnome Liberation Front, the Local, Federal, and International authorities, the appropriate amnesty organizations and will be transmitted into space via a powerful, world-class radio astronomy dish.
Smithsonian honors Muppets
Kermit the Frog is on display so is Rover, but Miss Piggy apparently took a pass on the Smithsonian's invitation to be on exhibit.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the beloved puppets created by the late Jim Henson.
In the 1960's Henson created a host of characters for children and they all found a home on "Sesame Street". Henson went on to create more characters who starred in their own show called "The Muppet Show."
Katrina autopsy: Police shot mentally disabled man in back
Autopsy results obtained by CNN show a mentally disabled man was shot in the back when he was killed by New Orleans police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
This contradicts testimony by a police sergeant that the victim had turned toward officers and was reaching into his waistband when shot.
"Clearly he was shot from behind," said famed New York pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who examined the body for the family's lawyer.
A prosecutor said the case will go before a grand jury soon and acknowledged the investigation includes the possibility of police wrong-doing.
Madonna under fire over mock crucifixion
Religious groups have reacted furiously after Madonna appeared hanging from a cross and wearing a crown of thorns during her latest world tour.
During her performance at the Los Angeles forum, Madonna appeared strapped to a 20 foot high crucifix, prompting outrage from Christian leaders.
A Church of England spokesman said: "Is Madonna prepared to take on everything else that goes with wearing a crown of thorns?
"And why would someone with so much talent seem to feel the need to promote herself by offending so many people?"
The World's Worst Beers
Here is a list of worst beers in the world as rated by the thousands of beer enthusiasts at RateBeer.com. Dare to try them? We don't advise it. We provide this list in the name of beer education.
We aren't picking on the fat kid as much as we're making a few big brewers accountable for their products that are more about beer hype and marketing than substance. If you're interested in how good real beer can be, we can certainly help you out! Try a link or two in the right hand column.
Chinese Woman Eats Dirt For 11 Years
A young Chinese woman is undergoing medical tests in Beijing after dining on dirt for 11 years.
The 18-year-old from Inner Mongolia was taken to Beijing by her parents, who wanted to know why she finds dirt appetizing.
She told Chinese television she started the habit when she was just 7 years old when she consumed dirt that was attached to the roots of grass.
Yellow mud is her favorite. Her eating habits have caused problems for the family's next-door neighbor, who has a mud roof.
human skull was found on roof
A human skull was found on the roof of Shield's Tire Service in Port Jervis this week, police said.
Someone found the skull on the roof and police, after a preliminary investigation, have determined that it is human, said Lt. Bill VanInwegen.
Police believe the skull was brought or placed there, and that it is not new, VanInwegen said. He said further forensics examinations need to be done, but police believe it was the skull of a young adult.
Einstein shown as relative failure
To many he is the greatest scientist who ever lived, but a unique collection of Albert Einstein's letters and papers has revealed a history of struggle and failure made worse by an apparently shaky grasp of maths.
An archive that goes on sale in London next month with a price tag of £800,000 ($2 million) shows how after transforming physics and securing unprecedented celebrity status with his general theory of relativity in 1916, Einstein suffered years of frustration as he failed to top that with "a grand theory of everything". The 15 manuscripts and 33 letters written between 1933 and 1954 give a glimpse into a period in Einstein's life when he strayed away from mainstream physics and grappled with the most fundamental questions in the universe.