In what could have been the world's largest shopping spree a cybercrook succeeded in pilfering more than half the Greek nation's online identities.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Go For It
In what could have been the world's largest shopping spree a cybercrook succeeded in pilfering more than half the Greek nation's online identities.
Deer Blow Chance To Grab Free Merchandise.
3 deer use automatic doors to enter Iowa store Nov 19 2012
Associated Press
CORALVILLE, Iowa (AP) —
Shoppers in Iowa got an unusual glimpse of wildlife Monday morning when a
doe and two fawns entered a Kohl's department store thru the automatic doors.
Coralville Police Chief Barry Bedford says the deer used doors that open automatically to get into a Kohl's store.
He says the fawns remained in the store's vestibule, but their mother made it into the store and headed toward the back and women's lingerie, holding some discount coupons in her mouth.
Police say employees opened up some back doors permitting the doe to exit. The two fawns waited patiently until the doe left the store and then turned around and used the automatic exit doors to leave.
No injuries or damage were reported.
A Kohls spokesman indicated that Kohls welcomed all customers regardless of race, color, creed, ethnicity or species.
Coralville Police Chief Barry Bedford says the deer used doors that open automatically to get into a Kohl's store.
He says the fawns remained in the store's vestibule, but their mother made it into the store and headed toward the back and women's lingerie, holding some discount coupons in her mouth.
Police say employees opened up some back doors permitting the doe to exit. The two fawns waited patiently until the doe left the store and then turned around and used the automatic exit doors to leave.
No injuries or damage were reported.
Cannibalism: A Growing American Pastime.
NYC officer pleads not guilty in cannibalism case
Published - Nov 19 2012 07:42PM EST
Associated Press
(AP Photo/Elizabeth Williams)
In this courtroom drawing Federal Defender Julie Gatto requests bail for her client, New York City Police Officer Gilberto Valle, right, at Manhattan Federal Court, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 in New York.
NEW YORK (AP) — A city police officer pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he plotted to kidnap, torture, cook and eat at least 100 women whose photos, names and addresses authorities say he pulled from a confidential law enforcement database.
Gilberto Valle entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan. Authorities arrested the 28-year-old New York Police Department officer last month based on a tip from his estranged wife.
One document on Valle's computer was titled "Abducting and Cooking (Victim 1): A Blueprint," according to a criminal complaint. The file also had the woman's birthdate and other personal information and a list of "materials needed" — a car, chloroform and rope.
"I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus ... cook her over low heat, keep her alive as long as possible," Valle wrote in one exchange in July, the complaint says.
In other online conversations, investigators said, Valle talked about the mechanics of fitting the woman's body into an oven (her legs would have to be bent), said he could make chloroform at home to knock a woman out and discussed how "tasty" one woman looked.
"Her days are numbered," he wrote, according to the complaint.
That woman told the FBI she knew Valle and met him for lunch in July.
Valle had created a computer catalog with records of at least 100 women with their names, addresses and photos, the complaint says. Some of the information came from his unauthorized use of a restricted law enforcement database, authorities said. He claimed, according to the complaint, that he knew many of them.
No women were actually harmed, and Valle's lawyer claims he was never a threat. She says the alleged plot was pure fantasy.
Valle, a graduate of the University of Maryland, where he studied psychology and criminal justice, was suspended from the police force after his arrest.
The jailed Valle is due back in court Tuesday for a bail hearing.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Twinkie, twinkie...little cake
Twinkie maker Hostess reaches the end of the line
Published - Nov 16 2012 06:56PM CST
CANDICE CHOI, Associated Press
(Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — Twinkies may not last forever after all.
Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of the spongy snack with a mysterious cream filling, said Friday it would shutter after years of struggling with management turmoil, rising labor costs and the ever-changing tastes of Americans even as its pantry of sugary cakes seemed suspended in time.
Some beloved Hostess brands such as Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's likely will be snapped up by buyers and find a second life, but for now the company says its snack cakes should be on shelves for another week or so. The news stoked an outpouring of nostalgia around kitchen tables, water coolers and online as people relived childhood memories of their favorite Hostess goodies.
Customers streamed into the Wonder Hostess Bakery Outlet in a strip mall in Indianapolis Friday afternoon after they heard about the company's demise. Charles Selke, 42, pulled a pack of Zingers raspberry-flavored dessert cakes out of a plastic bag stuffed with treats as he left the store.
"How do these just disappear from your life?" he asked. "That's just not right, man. I'm loyal. I love these things, and I'm diabetic."
After hearing the news on the radio Friday morning, Samantha Caldwell of Chicago took a detour on her way to work to stop at a CVS store for a package of Twinkies to have with her morning tea and got one for her 4-year-old son as well.
"This way he can say, 'I had one of those,'" Caldwell, 41, said.
It's a sober end for a storied name. Hostess, whose roster of brands dates as far back as 1888, hadn't invested heavily in marketing or innovation in recent years as it struggled with debt and management changes.
As larger competitors inundated supermarket shelves with an array of new snacks and variations on popular brands, Hostess cakes seemed caught in a bygone time. The company took small stabs at keeping up with Americans' movement toward healthier foods, such as the introduction of its 100-calorie packs of cupcakes.
But the efforts did little to change its image as a purveyor of empty calories with a seemingly unlimited shelf life: Twinkies, for instance, have 150 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. A Ding Dong chocolate cake with filling has 368 calories and 19.4 grams of fat.
CEO Gregory Rayburn, who was hired as a restructuring expert, said Friday that sales volume was flat to slightly down in recent years. He said the company booked about $2.5 billion in revenue a year, with Twinkies alone generating $68 million so far this year.
Hostess' problems ran far deeper than changing tastes, however. In January, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a decade. Its predecessor company, Interstate Bakeries, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004 and changed its name to Hostess after emerging in 2009.
Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, said it was saddled with costs related to its unionized workforce. The company had been contributing $100 million a year in pension costs for workers; the new contract offer would've slashed that to $25 million a year, in addition to wage cuts and a 17 percent reduction in health benefits.
Management missteps were another problem. Hostess came under fire this spring after it was revealed that nearly a dozen executives received pay hikes of up to 80 percent last year even as the company was struggling. Although some of those executives later agree to reduced salaries, others — including former CEO Brian Driscoll — had left the company by the time the pay hikes came to light.
Then, last week, thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike after rejecting the company's latest contract offer. The bakers union represents about 30 percent of the company's workforce.
By that time, the company had reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which this week urged the bakery union to hold a secret ballot on whether to continue striking. Although many bakery workers decided to cross picket lines this week, Hostess said it wasn't enough to keep operations at normal levels.
The company filed a motion to liquidate Friday with U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The shuttering means the loss of about 18,500 jobs. Hostess said employees at its 33 factories were sent home and operations suspended. Its roughly 500 bakery outlet stores will stay open for several days to sell remaining products.
In a statement, the bakery union said Hostess failed because the six management teams over the past eight years weren't able to make it profitable — not because workers didn't make concessions.
"Despite a commitment from the company after the first bankruptcy that the resources derived from the workers' concessions would be plowed back into the company, this never materialized," the union said.
Ken Hall, general secretary-treasurer for the Teamsters, said his union members decided to make concessions after hiring consultants who found the company's financials were in a dire situation. But he said that he believed the company could've survived.
"Frankly it's tragic, particularly at this this time of year with the holidays around the corner," Hall said, noting that his 6,700 members at Hostess were now out of a job.
Kenneth McGregor, a shipper for Hostess in East Windsor, Conn., arrived at the plant Friday morning and said he was told he was laid off immediately.
In a statement on the company website, CEO Rayburn said there would be "severe limits" on the assistance the company could offer workers because of the bankruptcy. The liquidation hearing will go before a bankruptcy judge Monday afternoon; Rayburn said he's confident the judge will approve the motion.
"The strike impacted us in terms of cash flow. The plants were operating well below 50 percent capacity and customers were not getting products," he said. "There's no other alternative."
Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of the spongy snack with a mysterious cream filling, said Friday it would shutter after years of struggling with management turmoil, rising labor costs and the ever-changing tastes of Americans even as its pantry of sugary cakes seemed suspended in time.
Some beloved Hostess brands such as Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's likely will be snapped up by buyers and find a second life, but for now the company says its snack cakes should be on shelves for another week or so. The news stoked an outpouring of nostalgia around kitchen tables, water coolers and online as people relived childhood memories of their favorite Hostess goodies.
Customers streamed into the Wonder Hostess Bakery Outlet in a strip mall in Indianapolis Friday afternoon after they heard about the company's demise. Charles Selke, 42, pulled a pack of Zingers raspberry-flavored dessert cakes out of a plastic bag stuffed with treats as he left the store.
"How do these just disappear from your life?" he asked. "That's just not right, man. I'm loyal. I love these things, and I'm diabetic."
After hearing the news on the radio Friday morning, Samantha Caldwell of Chicago took a detour on her way to work to stop at a CVS store for a package of Twinkies to have with her morning tea and got one for her 4-year-old son as well.
"This way he can say, 'I had one of those,'" Caldwell, 41, said.
It's a sober end for a storied name. Hostess, whose roster of brands dates as far back as 1888, hadn't invested heavily in marketing or innovation in recent years as it struggled with debt and management changes.
As larger competitors inundated supermarket shelves with an array of new snacks and variations on popular brands, Hostess cakes seemed caught in a bygone time. The company took small stabs at keeping up with Americans' movement toward healthier foods, such as the introduction of its 100-calorie packs of cupcakes.
But the efforts did little to change its image as a purveyor of empty calories with a seemingly unlimited shelf life: Twinkies, for instance, have 150 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. A Ding Dong chocolate cake with filling has 368 calories and 19.4 grams of fat.
CEO Gregory Rayburn, who was hired as a restructuring expert, said Friday that sales volume was flat to slightly down in recent years. He said the company booked about $2.5 billion in revenue a year, with Twinkies alone generating $68 million so far this year.
Hostess' problems ran far deeper than changing tastes, however. In January, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a decade. Its predecessor company, Interstate Bakeries, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004 and changed its name to Hostess after emerging in 2009.
Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, said it was saddled with costs related to its unionized workforce. The company had been contributing $100 million a year in pension costs for workers; the new contract offer would've slashed that to $25 million a year, in addition to wage cuts and a 17 percent reduction in health benefits.
Management missteps were another problem. Hostess came under fire this spring after it was revealed that nearly a dozen executives received pay hikes of up to 80 percent last year even as the company was struggling. Although some of those executives later agree to reduced salaries, others — including former CEO Brian Driscoll — had left the company by the time the pay hikes came to light.
Then, last week, thousands of members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike after rejecting the company's latest contract offer. The bakers union represents about 30 percent of the company's workforce.
By that time, the company had reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which this week urged the bakery union to hold a secret ballot on whether to continue striking. Although many bakery workers decided to cross picket lines this week, Hostess said it wasn't enough to keep operations at normal levels.
The company filed a motion to liquidate Friday with U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The shuttering means the loss of about 18,500 jobs. Hostess said employees at its 33 factories were sent home and operations suspended. Its roughly 500 bakery outlet stores will stay open for several days to sell remaining products.
In a statement, the bakery union said Hostess failed because the six management teams over the past eight years weren't able to make it profitable — not because workers didn't make concessions.
"Despite a commitment from the company after the first bankruptcy that the resources derived from the workers' concessions would be plowed back into the company, this never materialized," the union said.
Ken Hall, general secretary-treasurer for the Teamsters, said his union members decided to make concessions after hiring consultants who found the company's financials were in a dire situation. But he said that he believed the company could've survived.
"Frankly it's tragic, particularly at this this time of year with the holidays around the corner," Hall said, noting that his 6,700 members at Hostess were now out of a job.
Kenneth McGregor, a shipper for Hostess in East Windsor, Conn., arrived at the plant Friday morning and said he was told he was laid off immediately.
In a statement on the company website, CEO Rayburn said there would be "severe limits" on the assistance the company could offer workers because of the bankruptcy. The liquidation hearing will go before a bankruptcy judge Monday afternoon; Rayburn said he's confident the judge will approve the motion.
"The strike impacted us in terms of cash flow. The plants were operating well below 50 percent capacity and customers were not getting products," he said. "There's no other alternative."
Ecuador officials reject donkey as candidate
Published - Nov 16 2012 01:23PM CST
Associated Press
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
People
lead a donkey named "Mr. Donkey" to the National Electoral Council in
hopes of registering him to run for a seat on the National Assembly in
Guayaquil, Ecuador, Thursday, Nov. 15 2012. Daniel Molina, leader of
the Mr. Donkey support group, said his group's goal was to raise
awareness among voters about the seriousness of the National Assembly
elections and the importance of choosing effective candidates. Although
Mr. Donkey didn't get on the ballot for the Feb. 17, 2012 elections,
supporters threw confetti and banged on drums to express their continued
support. (AP Photo/Diario Expreso)
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The
demand of dozens of citizens has been denied in the Ecuadorean city of
Guayaquil: There will be no jackass running for the legislature.
At least 40 people paraded their candidate through the city's streets to the electoral council offices. Mr. Burro even wore a tie. But officials refused to even let them in the door on Thursday, even though backers had dummied up a mock voter registration card showing the candidate's photo superimposed on a man wearing a business suit.
Donkey backer
Daniel Molina told local television stations the goal was to call
voters' attention to the seriousness of the February election, not to
insult any party.
At least 40 people paraded their candidate through the city's streets to the electoral council offices. Mr. Burro even wore a tie. But officials refused to even let them in the door on Thursday, even though backers had dummied up a mock voter registration card showing the candidate's photo superimposed on a man wearing a business suit.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A
missing family cat has been rescued from the ruins of a home near the
center of the deadly Indianapolis house explosion.
Fire Capt. Rita Burris says the black cat named Gidget had been missing since the fiery blast late Saturday night.
A federal investigator found Gidget on Friday hiding behind a couch in the home of her owners, Glenn and Gloria Olvey. Burris says the cat was scared but otherwise in good condition. The carpet behind the couch, where Gidget had been hiding for several days was in need of replacement.
The Olveys already had recovered their other three pets, one of which was a boa constrictor named Tor.
The family lives next door to the house where the blast is believed to have originated.
Glenn Olvey says the blast hurled him several feet and trapped him, his wife and one of their two teenage daughters when their roof collapsed. Tor helped with the rescue by slithering out from behind the couch where he had been hiding with Gidget.
Federal investigators indicated they found no evidence of terrorist involvement but said the investigation would not be completed for 18 months.
Shelters are housing several recovered pets.
Fire Capt. Rita Burris says the black cat named Gidget had been missing since the fiery blast late Saturday night.
A federal investigator found Gidget on Friday hiding behind a couch in the home of her owners, Glenn and Gloria Olvey. Burris says the cat was scared but otherwise in good condition. The carpet behind the couch, where Gidget had been hiding for several days was in need of replacement.
The Olveys already had recovered their other three pets, one of which was a boa constrictor named Tor.
The family lives next door to the house where the blast is believed to have originated.
Glenn Olvey says the blast hurled him several feet and trapped him, his wife and one of their two teenage daughters when their roof collapsed. Tor helped with the rescue by slithering out from behind the couch where he had been hiding with Gidget.
Federal investigators indicated they found no evidence of terrorist involvement but said the investigation would not be completed for 18 months.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Flipping Off the Utah cops for fun and profit
|
Orem,Utah settles with man who flipped off cop.
Published - Nov 15 2012 05:08PM EST
Associated Press
OREM, Utah (AP) — A man who was pulled over and cited after flipping off a Utah police officer in 2010 has agreed to drop his complaint after the city of Orem agreed to pay him $2,500 in damages and promised not to ticket anyone else for the obscene gesture.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah had threatened a lawsuit on behalf of Seth Dame, saying an officer violated Dame's constitutional right to express himself after Dame flipped him off on June 25, 2010.
"Allowing police to detain and charge people for impolite behavior would grant police wide discretionary power to harass people they do not like," said John Mejia, Legal Director of the ACLU of Utah, in a statement Thursday. "Any police overstep of power to crack down on expression, even rude expression, is therefore worth serious attention."
The city declined to prosecute the case, but ACLU claimed the incident violated Dame's First Amendment free speech rights and his Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure.
In the settlement, Orem agrees it shouldn't have stopped Dame solely for giving the finger, and won't do so in the future. The police department also agreed to continue training its officers about First Amendment protection.
"We do view this as a one-time, isolated incident, and don't anticipate it happening again," Orem City Attorney Greg Stephens said.
The settlement provides $2,500 in attorneys' fees to the ACLU, and $2,500 in damages to Dame.
Officials with the Orem city attorney's office didn't immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
The ACLU notes similar cases have been settled in Pennsylvania and Kansas.
"Various courts have concluded that using your middle finger to express discontent or frustration is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment," Mejia said. "We are very pleased that Orem has responded to our efforts to ensure that everyone's free speech rights are protected."
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