Archive for December, 2011

Doggy musical enthusiast video goes viral

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Golden retrievers, it seems, are partial to the sound of acoustic guitars.

How else would you explain this YouTube video of a Ridgefield dog bobbing its head to the sound of a guitar playing in the background?

The short clip has been making the Internet rounds this week, generating nearly 3.4 million views in a matter of days. Its creator, Drew Arcoleo, a sophomore at UConn, noticed that Bailey, his friend’s dog and the clip’s protagonist, perked up whenever he started strumming his guitar.

“I noticed that the dog, Bailey the golden retriever, was kind of bobbing her head and really enjoying it and when I stopped playing she would kind of freeze up and shut her month,” Arcoleo told WTNH.

The video, filmed in a basement in Ridgefield, shot up the YouTube charts overnight, garnering over 42,000 “Likes” on the video sharing site.

“When it hit the million mark, which was actually a couple hours into Christmas Day, I was like, ‘I can’t believe that,’” Arcoleo said. “Kind of feels good for me to give people that joy, I guess. And it’s also getting my other music some exposure as well,  which I think is pretty cool.”

Police release 911 call from Texas Christmas Day massacre

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Police released a 911 call believed to be from the accused shooter in the Grapevine massacre, adding more details to what lead up to the deadly shooting.

After all the family members had been shot, police believe 56-year-old Aziz Yazdanpanah called 911 and then shot himself, according to a WFAA story.

“On the recording, we discovered that the caller, whom we believe to be Aziz, additionally saying ‘I am shooting people’ after he said ‘Help… Help.’” said Grapevine police spokesman Lt. Todd Dearing in a statement that accompanies the tape. “The newly discovered audio was not heard on the original audio software over many playbacks, and was not heard/understood by the Dispatcher who took the call on Sunday.”

From the Associated Press:

Investigators say Yazdanpanah, who had marital and financial problems, killed his estranged wife, their two teenage children, his wife’s sister, his brother-in-law and his niece on Christmas day before turning the gun on himself.

They were at an apartment in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine, where his wife and children had been staying.

Yazdanpanah’s niece, 22-year-old Sara Fatemeh Zarei, sent a text to a friend just before 11 a.m. saying they had arrived at the apartment and that Yazdanpanah was there.

“Soo we’re here. We just got here and my uncle is here too. Dressed as Santa. Awesome,” she said in one text.

At 11:15 a.m. she texted, “Now he wants to be all fatherly and win father of the year.”

Twenty minutes later, Yazdanpanah called 911 to report the shootings.

Sharks vs. Killer Whales: Who wins?

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A pod of orcas attacked a group of sharks off a beach in New Zealand as residents watched the two predators fight.

Tracy Thomas, who saw the incident, told The National
that it appeared like the orcas, known as killer whales, were hunting the sharks. One shark washed up with a bloody gash on its snout, she said.

“That particular shark had been beaten up by the orcas,” she said. “There were heaps of sharks just off the beach, swimming in towards the beach then turning around and going back out.”

Another witness, Peter Robertson, said he had never seen orcas and sharks fight.

“It would appear the whales were fighting the sharks … the sharks were coming ashore because they didn’t want to be in the water.”

Jim Fyfe, a marine ranger at the Department of Conservation Otago office, said small sharks are sometimes hunted by killer whales.

NASCAR star ripped, apologizes for breastfeeding remark on Twitter

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NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne apologized Wednesday after expressing his disgust on Twitter when he saw a woman breastfeeding at a grocery store.

The 31-year-old Kahne added, “One boob put away one boob hanging!! #nasty.

“I don’t feel like shopping anymore or eating.”

Breastfeeding moms gathered around the country Tuesday, including about 50 in the Houston area, for “nurse-ins” in support of a Texas woman who says she was harassed last month while nursing her infant son at a Webster Target store.

The nursing flash mobs were planned in 35 states after women heard about the case of Michelle Hickman, who says employees made her feel uncomfortable when she fed her son at the store while Christmas shopping last month.

Kahne’s Twitter posts have since been removed.

His tweets caused outrage on the social networking site, with one woman named Deana P., posting, “I hope someday you have a kid and someone tells your wife that feeding your child looks nasty.”

Kahne, who has 100,000 followers on Twitter, caused further furor by responding, “And your a dumb b*tch,” to which she countered, “Stay classy a**hole.”

Kahne later apologized on his Facebook page.

“I understand that my comments regarding breastfeeding posted on Twitter were offensive to some people,” Kahne acknowledged in a statement on his Facebook page. “For that, I apologize. It was in no way my intention to offend any mother who chooses to breastfeed her child, or, for that matter, anyone who supports breastfeeding children. I want to make that clear.”

“In all honestly, I was surprised by what I saw in a grocery store,” Kahne said in his apology. “I shared that reaction with my fans on Twitter. It obviously wasn’t the correct approach, and, after reading your feedback, I now have a better understanding of why my posts upset some of you.

“My comments were not directed at the mother’s right to breastfeed. They were just a reaction to the location of that choice, and the fashion in which it was executed on that occasion. I respect the mother’s right to feed her child whenever and wherever she pleases.”

Houston-area woman organizes breastfeeding flash mob at Target stores

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Brittany Hinson breastfeeds her 4-month-old son, Kennedy, during a nurse-in in front of the Super Target store Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in Webster. Hinson participated in the event in support of breast feeding and in support of a local woman, Michelle Hickman, after she was approached by Target employees for breastfeeding in the store. “It’s not like she was walking around topless, ” Hinson said. “She was sitting down covered up.” The nurse-in was one of more than 100 planned in at least 35 states. (Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle)

Breastfeeding moms gathered around the country today, including about 50 in the Houston area, for “nurse-ins” in support of a Texas woman who says she was harassed last month while nursing her infant son at a Webster Target store.

The nursing flash mobs were planned in 35 states after women heard about the case of Michelle Hickman, who says employees made her feel uncomfortable when she fed her son at the store while Christmas shopping last month.

“I’ve gotten way more support than I imagined,” Hickman said today outside the Webster store.

The beauty of the protest, she added, was that nursing moms around the country could easily join in the action.

“This is something they can participate in from their own home, their own town. They don’t have to travel with a brand-new infant. They can go to the Target right up the road and support me.”

KHOU-TV had the initial story:

Hickman’s protest plans generated national media coverage and the Facebook nurse-in page had more than 6,000 members as of Wednesday morning.

Antoine LaFromboise, a Target spokesman, told Washington Post blogger Janice D’Arcy that Target had apologized to Hickman and was aware of the planned nurse-ins:

LaFromboise said that store employees will “feel proud to support” the women who join the protest. “Guests who choose to breast-feed in public places in our stores should feel welcome to do so.”

This isn’t the first time moms have been irked by Target’s attitude toward breastfeeding, BabyCenter blogger Betsy Shaw points out. In 2006, a woman was shooed from the fitting rooms for nursing her baby. Target made a public statement in response to that incident.

This time, Hickman hopes the stores will do more to educate their employees about women’s right to breastfeed and to create a friendlier environment in their stores.

Here, moms gather in front of the store after their protest:


(Cody Duty / Chronicle)

In this video, Hickman talks about why she counts the event a success:


(Cody Duty / Chronicle)

Terrible Tweets about Christmas

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View the story “Terrible Christmas tweets” on Storify]

Texas teen leaves YouTube video days before death

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A Texas teenager with a life-threatening heart condition spoke about his life in a video posted on YouTube days before his death.

Ben Breedlove, 18, died on Christmas day, but the teenager left one last video about his life for more than 60,000 followers on YouTube, according to KXAN News in Austin.

Breedlove had been using several YouTube channels to talk about the effects of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes thick that makes it harder for blood to leave the heart.

Using notecards as a visual aid, Breedlove talks about his condition and how it impacted his life.

“The first time I cheated death was when I was 4,” he wrote on one card. “I had a life-threatening seizure, scary right?”

Breedlove talks about having a pacemaker installed and how his heart started to give him trouble again.

In 2011, Breedlove underwent a surgery to remove his tonsils, but during the surgery, he went into cardiac arrest, he wrote.

“It was a miracle that they brought me back,” he wrote.

Breedlove’s final video message, which is split into two videos, has been viewed by nearly a million people.

The 18-year-old signs off by saying, “Do you believe in Angels or God?”

“I do,” he wrote.

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