Archive for 2012

Shy Obamas finally comply on “Kiss Cam”

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By the Associated Press

President Obama and the first lady were caught on the “Kiss Cam” during the Men’s USA Basketball vs. Brazil game at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., Monday night.

The president received a loud cheer when he arrived, but like the U.S. players, he got off to a slow start.

The Obamas wouldn’t oblige with a smooch during the first half, despite roars and some boos from the crowd. But in the fourth quarter, “Kiss Cam” peered back on the first couple and the president was ready: He put his arm around his wife, Michelle Obama, and planted a big kiss on the first lady as the crowd roared.

“You know, PDA is not for everybody, you know what I mean?” team member (Kobe) Bryant said. “But he makes the important decisions, so it’s all good.”

Players were just walking onto the floor for the jump ball when Obama and Vice President Biden emerged from the tunnel to take their seats. The start was delayed while they greeted fans, and perhaps the break had the U.S. players out of rhythm at the beginning of the game.

Obama is an avid basketball fan and the tune-up games before the start of the London Olympics allowed him to wrap himself in the Olympic spirit four months before Election Day.

“Obviously the talent that we’ve got at this point is unbelievable,” Obama said during a halftime interview on ESPN2. “So there’s no reason that we shouldn’t bring home the gold. We just have to stay focused.”

Angry with ISP, man hacks servers, then shows up with ax

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(Fotolia.com)

We’ve all been there. We just didn’t grab an ax.

A man in Australia, frustrated with his Internet service provider, hacked into its servers, deleting data, and then walked into its offices and threatened the owner with an ax. He pleaded guilty to all this today, the Herald Sun is reporting.

A judge remanded Bryce Kingsley Quilley, 29, of Tailem Bend, South Australia, on continuing bail until his sentencing in August.

Has your ISP ever made you this angry?

H/T Gizmodo

Beyonce reads personal letter to Michelle Obama

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The mutual love between Beyonce and First Lady Michelle Obama was apparent back when Michelle told People magazine she wanted to trade places with the famous singer — and when Beyonce joined Michelle’s “Let’s Move!” campaign.

Now, Beyonce professes her admiration for the First Lady from a personal letter she previously shared on her blog in a new Obama campaign video.

The singer says she is in awe of Michelle Obama, “Every time I see her, she inspires me, she empowers me, she encourages me to live a healthy lifestyle.”

Now is this really a campaign for President Barack Obama or for his wife?

A gallup poll last May revealed that Michelle is more popular than her husband — 66% of Americans have a favorable view of her compared to 52% for the president.

The poll suggested that the Obama re-election team might consider using her on the campaign on behalf of her husband, and it looks like their predictions were right.

And Beyonce isn’t the only celebrity featured in the campaign.

In fact, the GOP has routinely criticized celebrity support for Obama. In recent Republican National Committee video “Meanwhile”, unemployment rates flash on the screen next to clips from a campaign video featuring Vogue Editor Anna Wintour.

Are the Obamas getting too cozy with the music artists and actors we look up to? Or do they just have a lot of friends?

Target “coming out” with greeting cards in support of gay marriage

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AP

Target is stocking its shelves with same sex marriage greeting cards.

The Huffington Post  reports the cards feature phrases such as “Mr. & Mr.” and “Two very special women, one very special love.”

Target has a checkered background when it comes to supporting gay rights. The store previously sold T-shirts with gay pride themes online only a month before these cards were stocked in mid-June. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports Target’s recent boost in enthusiasm for gay rights is seen as an attempt to make amends after donating $150,000 to Minnesotans for Marriage, a group that supported Tom Emmer, the Republican gubernatorial candidate who opposed gay marriage.

 Target also received negative feedback after deciding not to sell Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, when it was released a week earlier for sale on iTunes, rather than the original album debut date of July 17. There was speculation that their repeal of the album was because of Ocean admitting to fans that his first love was a man.

Entertainment Weekly reported that Ocean’s manager, Christian Clancy, sarcastically wrote on his Twitter account, “Target has refused to carry Frank’s album because of iTunes exclusive. Interesting since they also donate to non-equal rights organizations.”

Target later denied the allegations about Ocean and told MTV News, “we focus on offering our guests a wide assortment of physical CDs, so our selection of new releases is dedicated to physical CDs rather than titles that are released digitally in advance of the street date.”

Target is one of the many companies that has taken sides with the gay rights issue. The retail giant’s headquarters are situated in Minnesota, where people will vote in November, on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in the state.

Target may be bringing more to the table than just politics, however. According to CAGLCC, the collective buying power of the American LGBT community will be $719 billion in 2012. That figure comes from Witeck Communications which has counseled Fortune 500 companies on strategies to target LGBT communities.

Drifting through San Francisco

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Watch pro Ken Block tear up the streets of San Francisco in a heavily modified, 650-hp Ford Focus. Filmed over four days earlier this year, he makes Steve McQueen look like a downright sissy.

Screamotron 3000 snaps a picture whenever you scream. For therapy

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Scream Portraits by Billy Hunt from Billy Hunt on Vimeo.

There is a new invention for the stressed out or angry individual: the Screamotron 3000. The device is a renovated karaoke boombox that snaps a picture when it hears you scream.

Billy Hunt, a commercial photographer and the inventor of the unusual device says it’s a therapeutic way to tap into the amygdala, the part of the brain that processes emotions and memories.

“Some people scream inward and some people scream outward … and some people go to crazy town,” Hunt told NPR. “I find it interesting how human emotion plays out.”

 Screaming is considered therapeutic in some scientific circles. For example, Psychology Today reported on Dr. Arthur Janov’s primal therapy that claimed screaming and sobbing can release suppressed hurt from childhood and eliminate mental illness.

 Also, humorous inventions have been dedicated to therapeutic screaming, such as ScreamBody, a backpack looking device that “silences the user’s screams so they may feel free to vocalize without fear of environmental retaliation,” at work or in public areas.

ScreamBody is  “designed to be noticed,” and “acts to call attention to the social repression addressed” instead of  going virtually  unnoticed like other devices such as  hearing aids.   Kelly Dobson, the inventor of the device, does not want to cover the individual’s anger but wants people to notice the impact of stress on the individual.

Helium reports that depression is anger turned inwards and that “stress, anger, and anxiety play interchangeable roles in the brain, all affected by the frontal lobe of the brain.”

Check out these other interesting anger and stress-reducing practices.

Amazing high-speed car crash in New Jersey

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New Jersey traffic cameras captured a dramatic crash after a car police say was speeding through an intersection, was struck by an oncoming vehicle and then went airborne.

Amazingly, no one was seriously injured.

– Associated Press

Teen says adrenaline spared him in gator attack

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In a 911 call released Wednesday, a friend of a Kaleb ‘Fred” Langdale told the dispatcher: “A gator just got my friend,” and that the teen’s arm wasn’t attached.

Langdale was swimming Monday in a Glades County river in Florida when an alligator bit off his right arm below the elbow. He remains in the hospital in good condition, but doctors were unable to reattach his arm when it was removed from the alligator.

On Friday, he told the Today show that in the days since the attack, he suffered the most pain Thursday night but that adrenaline kept him from feeling anything when it was happening. The teen said he knew what to do when the gator grabbed him from watching reality TV.

“My adrenaline was running so fast I didn’t feel the pain and I knew if I freaked our or got scared, that was going to be the end of it,” he told Today.

The Glades County area near Lake Okeechobee where Langdale was swimming is known for large alligators, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Jorge Pino said.

Alligators are more active this time of year because it’s their mating season, which makes them more aggressive and inquisitive as they’re looking for food and for mates. Wildlife officers warn that alligators can call just about any body of water in Florida home.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.