Archive for April, 2012

Zimmerman will be charged, reports say

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by:dean.betz@chron.com (Dean Betz)
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Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey will announce that she is charging George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Fox News is reporting via The Washington Post:

It is unclear what charges he will face.

The unarmed Martin, an African-American, was shot and killed in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., by neighborhood watchman Zimmerman, who claims he was acting in self-defense.

Zimmerman’s lack of arrest in the case has sparked nationwide protests by civil rights activists who claim race has been a factor in the investigation.

Corey had told reporters on Tuesday that she would hold a news conference about the case within 72 hours. A news release from her office said the event will be held in Sanford or Jacksonville, Fla., the Washington Post reported. While it’s unclear what charges Zimmerman may face, first-degree murder is not an option since Corey declined to take the case to a grand jury.

Meanwhile, Zimmerman’s attorneys announced earlier they were withdrawing from his case, after being unable to contact him.

Lawyers Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig on Tuesday expressed concern about Zimmerman’s emotional and physical well-being, saying he has taken actions without consulting them, according to the Washington Post report. They said they did not know where Zimmerman is.

“You can stop looking in Florida,” Uhrig said. “Look much further away than that.”

Best and worst jobs of 2012 range from software engineer to lumberjack

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by:ehuet@sfchronicle.com (Ellen Huet)
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Software engineers ranked highest on a new list of best jobs in 2012. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)

Just ask the founders of Instagram: Software engineers have the best job of 2012, according to a new ranking from careercast.com.

Programmers, coders and engineers have a good work environment, low stress, low physical demands and, most enviably, impressive hiring outlooks.

The ranking methodology compared 200 jobs and ranked them based on work environment (physical and emotional), income, growth outlook, stress and physical demands.

Actuaries ranked second, despite having a stressful job that’s emotionally difficult: assessing risk and damages to property in case of disaster, theft and other incidents. Actuaries are in high demand, the ranking found.

Human resources managers, dental hygienists and financial managers also ranked in the top five.

But for those toiling in the bottom five, the jobs are stressful, low-paying and often involve hard physical labor.

Lumberjacks took the dubious honor of dead last, with high physical demands and a low hiring outlook. Dairy farmers, enlisted military soldiers and oil rig workers did not fare much better.

Rounding out the bottom five? Newspaper reporters. We’ll at least be grateful that wood chippers and cow smells aren’t a regular part of our day.

Baby found alive in morgue after being declared dead

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by:Dan McGraw
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An Argentinean mother is planning to sue a hospital after her baby was found alive in the morgue 12 hours after being declared dead, according to a Huffington Post story.

The newborn baby was declared stillborn on April 3, but after her mother demanded to see her, the baby was found alive inside the morgue. The girl has been named Luz Milagros, or “Miracle Light,” the news site reported.

The baby was in critical condition but improving, the site reported.

Five medical professionals have been suspended as officials investigate the incident.

Meth lab found inside Walmart bathroom

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by:Dan McGraw
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(AP file)

A maintenance worker found a meth lab inside a Walmart restroom in Alabama, according to a story from Huntsville news station WHNT.

Police told the station that a maintenance worker found pseudoephedrine pills and a plastic water bottle with residue inside the bottle. Police said someone appeared to be using a “shake and bake” type of lab inside the store’s bathroom.

“That kind of blew my mind when I read the report,” Davis said. “We’ve found a lot of shake and bake meth labs in different places but never inside a business.”

A person can make meth in about 15 to 30 minutes using this method. Oddly enough, the pills used to make the illegal drug weren’t purchased at the Walmart but at another pharmacy, the station reported.

Last year, a shopper was arrested for making meth at an Oklahoma Walmart using drain cleaner and other items in the store to concoct the drug.

Bacon: The candy of the meats

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by:veronicanett@seattlepi.com (Veronica Nett)
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Pizza Hut U.K.’s new hot dog stuffed pizza crust caused an internet sensation this week, not so much for its extreme gluttony and high calorie and fat content, but for the fact that the pairing was not available in America.

As the bloggers at Gizmodo put it:

What the hell, America‽ I thought we were the land of junk food? I thought we were hot dog heaven. I mean, sure, we didn’t invent pizza, but we damn sure invented Pizza Hut! Delicious but disgusting-if-you-think-about-it cuisine is what we do best.

While the British may have out Americanized America with this new take on pigs in a blanket, Burger King has picked up the slack with its new bacon sundae. It’s just what it sounds like: ice cream topped with bacon. But it’s not what the doctor ordered — by a long shot.

And Burger King is not the first fast food chain to try the pairing.

The Huffington Post is reporting:

The new delight may have been inspired by bacon-ice cream combos at smaller fast food chains Denny’s and Jack in the Box. The latter, a bacon milkshake, inspired a national fervor despite the fact that it contained no real bacon and the widely held opinion that it tasted awful.

New superhero ‘Snackman’ revealed, as well as his snack

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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WARNING: Strong language and violence in this first video.

This Youtube video, showing a woman attacking a man allegedly on a New York subway train, has gone viral because of the incredible power of “Snackman,” a seemingly oblivious dude who passively scoots into the negative space between the two, looking like he’s daydreaming while casually munching on chips.

He’s been ID’d by NYULocal.com as Charles Sonder, who said it was about 9:30 p.m. and he was headed uptown, munching on Cheddar Pringles, to grab drinks with friends.

Typically I mind my own business on the train. In this case, I thought someone may have needed help. I would consider myself a helpful person as well as a bit of a “snacker.”

Are New Yorkers rude if they don’t break up a fight?

I don’t think it means that you are rude if you don’t break up a fight. I wouldn’t expect a little old lady to get in the middle of a scuffle. But I wasn’t afraid of these two combatants.

Sonder told DNAinfo Tuesday night that he’s amazed footage of the incident went viral:

Like any good superhero, Charles Sonder — who the Internet dubbed “Snackman” — said he now has his own signal to beam over the city: a Bat-Symbol-like projection of the mustachioed man on Pringles can.

… “(Snackman)’s the hero New York deserves, but not the one it needs right now,” text at the bottom of the graphic Sonder said his friend Fahim Saleh posted to Facebook reads.

CNN says a security expert it spoke with was impressed by the way Sonder moseyed into action, NPR reported. Stepping between the combatants “changed the context … changed the dynamic [and] he deescalated the incident,” Steve Kardian told the cable news network.

Video: Man, texting outside L.A. house, runs into bear

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by:wkane@sfchronicle.com (Will Kane)
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Yes, you read that headline right. No, this isn’t an article from The Onion.

A large black bear roaming the backyards of a Los Angeles suburb snuck up on a man who was texting his boss — wondering what all the fuss was about.

The bear was discovered Tuesday in a backyard in the Verdugo Mountains area, about 10 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, according to The Associated Press. The bear was later tranquilized and released into the wild.

Vaz Terdandenyan was walking down his driveway texting when he looked up and saw the black bear ambling toward him.

“I came out, I knew something was going on, (I was) trying to assess the situation,” Terdandenyan told KTLA-TV. “I was texting my boss that I would be late for work, that something was going on, and I am coming down the stairs and I see the bear coming up the stairs towards me.”

“So I turned back, and I ran for my life,” Terdandenyan said.

William Todd commits 11 felonies in 9 hours in Nashville, cops say

Wednesday, April 11, 2012 by:Laura Weisman
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Police in Nashville may be catching their breath after their run-in with William Todd, a guy who rolled into Music City from Kentucky on a bus and in the next 9 hours,  committed 11 felonies.

“He was just on a terror. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Sgt. Tony Blackburn, told WSMV-TV.

Here’s the breakdown of the March 25  crime spree, according to Nashville police:

  • Break-in at haunted house, steals Taser, revolver and shotgun, shoots up the place, steals T-shirt and sets the business on fire.
  • Mugs four people leaving a bar at gunpoint, pistol-whips one of them.
  • Carjacks a cab at gunpoint.
  • Uses stolen credit cards to buy food.
  • Breaks into a law office at the Hotel Indigo, ransacks the place and defecates on a desk.
  • Knocks on hotel room doors pretending to be a female housekeeper. Steals $600 from a Canadian couple at gunpoint, crying the whole time.
  • Shaves off his long red hair.
  • Crashes stolen cab into a parking garage.
  • Hails a cab to Opryland, then holds cabbie at knifepoint.

Police finally caught him, hiding in a water-cooling vat with water up to his nose.

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