Archive for January, 2011

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Annual Bubble Wrap Day The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

January 31, 2011

Pop. Pop. Pop. It’s that distinct, crisp and familiar noise that catches everyone’s attention as soon as they hear it. Bubble Wrap is loved by all, and today — the 11th annual Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day — is the day to show it.

“We get excited every year for the day,” said Ken Aurichio, director of corporate communications for Sealed Air of Elmwood Park, which owns the trademark on the bubble-covered cushioning. “It’s the best day of the year!”

Bubble Wrap — now marking its 51st year — was originally intended to be used as textured wallpaper, but that didn’t go over so well. Inventor Marc Chavannes had his “eureka” moment while he was on an airplane over Newark Airport and he noticed how the billowy clouds appeared to be cushioning the plane. He realized his invention would be better than paper and old newspapers for protecting fragile items.

Now, Sealed Air says it produces enough Bubble Wrap each year to stretch from the Earth to the Moon and back.

National Bubble Wrap Day…. the most wonderful time of the year..

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Government Of Malawi Outlaws Breaking Wind

January 31, 2011

Breaking wind is set to be made a crime in an African country.

The government of Malawi plan to punish persistent offenders ‘who foul the air’ in a bid to ‘mould responsible and disciplined citizens.’

But locals fear that pinning responsibility on the crime will be difficult – and may lead to miscarriages of justice as ‘criminals’ attempt to blame others for their offence.

One Malawian told the website Africanews.com: ‘My goodness. What happens in a public place where a group is gathered. Do they lock up half a minibus?

‘And how about at meetings where it is difficult to pinpoint ‘culprits’?

 ‘Children will openly deny having passed bad air and point at an elder. Culturally, this is very embarrassing,’ she said.

  

 

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Hillary States She Will Personally Help Protect Priceless Egyptian Artifacts

January 31, 2011

Due to the violence in Egypt, British Airways chartered an extra aircraft to rescue stranded tourists from Cairo as its airport witnessed chaotic scenes, with tourists desperately trying to flee the violence.

Yesterday mummies in the country’s national museum were destroyed by looters attempting to steal the treasures of King Tutankhamun.

Soldiers were positioned at the Pyramids and Cairo’s Egyptian Museum – the holding place for Tutankhamun’s priceless golden mask and other artifacts – on the fifth day of anti-government demonstrations in the country’s capital.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would personally help protect the priceless Egyptian artifacts.

  

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Obama Picks Up Where Jimmy Left Off

January 31, 2011

PLAINS, Ga. — Former President Jimmy Carter called the weeklong political unrest and rioting in Egypt an “earth shaking event” and said that the country’s president, Hosni Mubarak, “will have to leave.”

Carter’s remarks came at Maranatha Baptist Church, where he regularly teaches a Sunday School class to visitors from across the country and globe.

“This is the most profound situation in the Middle East since I left office,” Carter said Sunday to the nearly 300 people packed into the small sanctuary about a half mile from downtown Plains.

Obama picking up where Jimmy left off..

 

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Vending Machine Owners Fight Crime As Wireless Systems Respond When Thieves Grab The Bait

January 31, 2011

Tough economic times have spurred a rash of vending-machine thefts, prompting operators to fight back with sales-tracking devices and automated text-message alerts.

Theft rings have sprung up in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and New York, among other states. More schools, hospitals and other big vending customers are complaining of such break-ins, especially with outdoor vending machines, according to loss consultants and machine operators.

“My sense is that theft is on the rise as there are so many people in desperate times,” said Mark Manney, chief executive of Loss Prevention Results Inc., a Wake Forest, N.C., vending-theft consultant.

The industry already is struggling. U.S. sales fell 10% in 2009 to $19.85 billion, the latest data available, from $22.05 billion the year before, according to Automatic Merchandiser, a trade magazine. With profit margins as thin as 1%, losses from theft have an impact.

Others like Jodi Glimpse are cracking down on their own. “I’m starting to feel like my own personal detective service,” said Ms. Glimpse, owner of Camelback Vending Services LLC, which operates hundreds of vending machines in the Phoenix area.

 Ms Glimpse stated that for the most part the system is effective in sending her a real time text message when thieves break open the vending machine door and grab the bait.

  

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Obama Has Jimmy Carter Moment As Egypt Experiences The Mummy’s Curse

January 31, 2011

Jimmy Carter will go down in American history as “the president who lost Iran,” which during his term went from being a major strategic ally of the United States to being the revolutionary Islamic Republic. Barack Obama will be remembered as the president who “lost” Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt, and during whose tenure America’s alliances in the Middle East crumbled.

The superficial circumstances are similar. In both cases, a United States in financial crisis and after failed wars loses global influence under a leftist president whose good intentions are interpreted abroad as expressions of weakness. The results are reflected in the fall of regimes that were dependent on their relationship with Washington for survival, or in a change in their orientation, as with Ankara.

America’s general weakness clearly affects its friends. But unlike Carter, who preached human rights even when it hurt allies, Obama sat on the fence and exercised caution. He neither embraced despised leaders nor evangelized for political freedom, for fear of undermining stability.

Obama votes present again and is feeling the Mummy’s Curse.

 

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Comcast Internally To Clean Up NBC Universal Logo By Cutting NBC Peacock Among Other Things

January 30, 2011

On the eve of the Comcast-NBC Universal marriage, some people were perturbed by the party favors. Specifically, they were worried about what was missing — a peacock.

David McNew/Getty Images A new NBC Universal corporate logo doesn’t include the company’s famous peacock, as seen above at its Burbank studio. NBC viewers will still see the peacock.

The 27,000 employees of NBC Universal were given a coffee table book, a notebook and 25 shares of Comcast stock on Thursday ahead of Friday’s expected close of the deal. Some of those employees noticed a new logo for NBC Universal, which lacks the company’s iconic rainbow peacock.

The new logo, it turns out, is chiefly for internal use. NBC viewers will still see the peacock. Comcast wanted to clean up the corporate NBC Universal logo, so it cut the NBC peacock and the Universal globe.

27,000 NBC employees to receive coffee table book to dress up their new offices.

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Suicide Bomber Receives Ultimate Break Up Text Message

January 30, 2011

A “Black Widow” suicide bomber planned a terrorist attack in central Moscow on New Year’s Eve but was killed when an unexpected text message set off her bomb too early, according to Russian security sources.

 The unnamed woman, who is thought to be part of the same group that struck Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on Monday, intended to detonate a suicide belt near Red Square on New Year’s Eve in an attack that could have killed hundreds.

 Security sources believe a message from her mobile phone operator wishing her a happy new year received just hours before the planned attack triggered her suicide belt, killing her at a safe house.

Black Widow Terrorist receives ultimate break up text message.

  

 

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Rahm Emanuel Is Approved For the Ballot, Voters Unaware

January 28, 2011

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled today that Rahm Emanuel can stay on the ballot for mayor of Chicago,  saying in a unanimous decision that he meets the state’s residency requirements despite spending most of the last year as White House chief of staff.

The decision came without a moment to spare; early voting for the Feb. 22 city election begins Monday, Jan. 31.

“The voters deserved the right to make the choice of who should be mayor. And I think what the Supreme Court said was basically, in short, that the voters will make the decision who should be mayor. Nobody else should make it for them,” a victorious Emanuel said after slapping backs and shaking hands with commuters at the Clark and Lake elevated train stop near his downtown headquarters.

“The nice part was to be able to tell the news to voters, because a lot of people had not heard it,” Emanuel said.

Confused voters understanding the Chicago residence requirement  law thought the judges approved his appearance in the ballet not the ballot.

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Controversial Muslim Cleric Caught Being Smuggled Into U.S. Over Mexico Border Chunking Pumpkin Dudes Main Suspects

January 28, 2011

U.S. border guards got a surprise when they searched a Mexican BMW and found a hardline Muslim cleric – banned from France and Canada – curled up in the boot.

Said Jaziri, who called for the death of a Danish cartoonist that drew pictures of the prophet Mohammed, was being smuggled into California when he was arrested, along with his driver Kenneth Robert Lawler.

The 43-year-old was deported from Canada to his homeland Tunisia in 2007 after it emerged he had lied on his refugee application about having served jail time in France.

Border patrol have pumpking chunking dudes as main suspects.

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