February 21, 2015

sad news. kid with yearbook photo with cat and laser beams committed suicide

http://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Suicide-claims-shining-student-6093034.php

imes-Union) — Draven Rodriguez, a quick-witted senior at Schenectady High School who made national news last fall when a proposed yearbook portrait of him with his cat against a background of laser beams went viral online, died Thursday at home. He was 17. The cause was suicide, his parents said.
Although his humor and intelligence were readily apparent, Rodriguez was more cherished by family and schoolmates for his easy facility for friendship.
"He made friends wherever he went," said Rodriguez's father, Jonathan Stewart. "He had friends all over the country — people he'd met at youth-leadership conferences, online, just around town."


Among those was Reza Zand, co-owner of the Schenectady restaurant Persian Bite, which Rodriguez frequented partly for the food and partly to talk to Zand and his brother, Arousol, whose stories as emigres from Iran intrigued him.

February 21, 2015

1000 have applied for this job where it's never dark, temp is -10, no wifi

1,000 apply for job in Antarctic running world’s most southerly post office (candidates must be able to put up with 2,000 ‘smelly’ penguins)

Almost 1,000 people have applied to work at the most southerly post office
UK Antarctic Heritage Trust received so many applications website crashed
Opportunity is to run post office on Goudier Island in -10C temperatures
Worker will 'carry big heavy box over slippery rocks and slushy snow'
No internet, shower, running water, central heating or phone signal


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The staff will spend from November until March running the shop, post office and museum operation at Port Lockroy, which is visited by 18,000 cruise ship passengers each season.
Candidates are required to be able to ‘carry a big heavy box over slippery rocks and slushy snow whilst dodging penguins’, go without a shower and survive with no heating or running water.
The location is so remote that even helicopters are unable to get there, which means the nearest doctor is three days away on a ship.


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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2962396/1-000-apply-Antarctic-job-running-southerly-post-office.html#ixzz3SP3xup4p
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February 20, 2015

man shoveling snow falls for nine seconds

Am I bad for laughing?

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One unfortunate man’s epic struggle to keep his balance while shoveling snow has captured America’s attention, as it sums up pretty well our collective agony this winter.

The nine-second video begins relatively innocently, as the man seems to be clearing a path on a sidewalk.

And then all hell breaks loose as he starts flailing desperately after slipping on ice. In an instant, he loses his balance and tries to save himself by using the shovel for support.

The man’s valiant attempt to regain his balance seems to almost succeed, but the plastic shovel eventually slips and slides right off of the ice.


Read more at http://www.viralspell.com/this-guys-epic-nine-second-fall-perfectly-sums-up-our-winter-agony/#3JTAAQklLL1UxhUf.99

February 20, 2015

vet with throat cancer. gas shut off in January in Michigan. froze to death

The state of Michigan has ordered Consumers Energy to issue a report after a 69-year-old Vietnam veteran died of hypothermia when his gas was shutoff during one of the coldest months of the year.

The Detroit Free Press reported that Consumers Energy shut off the gas at the home where John Skelley was living on Jan. 19. He was found frozen to death on Feb. 1.

Although the Michigan Public Service Commission prohibits companies from shutting off heat from Nov. 1 to March 31 if there is a person older than 65 living in the home, Consumers Energy insisted that it could not have known that Skelley lived in the apartment because the bill was in someone else’s name.
http://www.alternet.org/69-year-old-vietnam-vet-throat-cancer-freezes-death-after-company-shuts-his-gas

February 20, 2015

bird interrupts filming of stadium

http://blog.sfgate.com/sjsharks/2015/02/19/bird-interrupts-levis-stadium-timelapse/

February 20, 2015

'parks and rec' exec dies of overdose

http://www.tmz.com/2015/02/19/harris-wittels-dead-parks-and-recreation-producer-dies-drugs-overdose/
Wittels, one of the executive producers of "Parks and Recreation" died at his home Thursday from a possible drug overdose ... TMZ has learned.
According to law enforcement sources ... Wittels was pronounced dead around 1 PM. We're told the 30-year-old was found lying on his couch ... and there was drug paraphernalia in the house. There were no signs of trauma to his body.
Wittels spoke openly about his battles with drug addiction. He'd gone to rehab twice.
In addition to working on 'Parks & Rec' ... Wittels produced and wrote for "Eastbound and Down" and "The Sarah Silverman Program." He's also credited with making "Humblebrag," a thing on social media ... and even turned it into a coffee table book.
'Parks & Rec' is in its final season, and the last episode is set to air next week.
Wittels performed stand-up Wednesday night at The Meltdown -- an L.A.comedy theater. During his set he talked being clean and sober ... and said he was in a good place.


Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2015/02/19/harris-wittels-dead-parks-and-recreation-producer-dies-drugs-overdose/#ixzz3SFPEt1JP

February 19, 2015

Missouri Lieutenant Governor cries 'gradual impoverishment' and begs for an expense account

Missouri Lieutenant Governor cries 'gradual impoverishment' and begs for an expense account – despite his $86,000 salary being TWICE that of an average family in his state

Per Kinder, the state's second-highest elected official, lives in Cape Girardeau and maintains a second home in Jefferson City, Missouri
He receives an annual salary of about $86,000 - but Kinder says he's experienced 'gradual impoverishment' during his decade in office
His home in Cap Girardeau is worth an estimated $186,000
His salary is less than other statewide executive officials, but well more than the $36,000 that legislators receive


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2960170/Missouri-Lieutenant-Governor-cries-poverty-asks-expenses.html#ixzz3SEEPO3HN

February 19, 2015

Debt Collection Nightmares, CNN special report about Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson

http://money.cnn.com/interactive/pf/debt-collector/nightmares/index.html



Inside the lives of millionaire debt collectors

Yachts. Mansions. Extravagant dinner parties. Life is good for the founders of one of the nation's biggest government debt collectors.

That firm, Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, rakes in big money from government contracts that allow it to pursue debtors over toll violations, taxes and parking tickets. While the debts often start small, the Austin-based firm charges high fees, which can add hundreds or even thousands of dollars to the bill.

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Jim Blair, a former partner who was with the firm since its early years, isn’t shy about his wealth. His nearly 12,000 square-foot home, dubbed “The Blair House,” even has its own website. Blair did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

For more than a decade, Blair and his wife, a successful attorney with her own firm, have hosted hundreds of political and charitable events at the mansion, entertaining the likes of former Governor Rick Perry and U.S. Senator John Cornyn, according to the site. One 2013 political fundraiser at the home, for example, cost as much as $5,200 per person.


http://money.cnn.com/interactive/pf/debt-collector/millionaire/index.html

February 19, 2015

Crazy-dramatic photos show woman rescued from sinking car

Paul Watts and Simon Russell, police constables in Auckland, New Zealand, say there were just doing their job.

The rescuers plunged into the bay on Aukland's north shore to save a woman, whose car went into the water on February 17.

The pair arrived at the scene of an accident, finding bystanders trying to open the doors of a sinking BMW and realized they needed to act quickly.

Simon Maude, a journalist from the NZ Herald was reporting from the scene and photographing the rescue, when he located a large rock and passed it to the consatbles who used it to smash the rear glass of the sedan.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Crazy-dramatic-photos-of-woman-rescued-from-6087944.php#photo-7542809

February 18, 2015

woman gets on stage to dance behind performer, he punches her HARD!!! gets arrested

Woah, the ‘Because I Got High’ singer Afroman really needs to take a chill pill, and an anger management class, apparently.

Performer Joseph Edgar Foreman reacted violently to a fan jumping on-stage Tuesday in Biloxi, Mississippi, punching a woman in the face when she bumped into him during the middle of a guitar solo. Billboard reports the one-hit wonder — who recently updated his hit ‘Because I Got High’ for NORML — was arrested by local police for assault, booked and released. Here’s the whole video below. You can see he pretty much knocks her out. Fans are defending his actions saying the woman initiated the altercation when she jumped up on stage and started grinding him. But there is no world where decking her is the reasonable response. Now, if it was at a punk show — that would be a whole different thing.

Afroman has posted two updates to his Facebook page stating: “Because I didn’t get high.” And: “I apologize for my actions I will be making a full formal apology and excepting full responsibility for my actions. I will address everything today on TMZ at 2 o’clock eastern time.”
http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2015/02/18/performer-afroman-punches-woman-on-stage-gets-arrested-video/