Newser Story Index from August, 2009
Welcome to the Newser Story Index. Here you find stories written by Newser writers and editors, assembled with supporting photos and videos from the files of the news story.
District 9 Beams Up Box Office Win
Bloomberg
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Aug 16, 2009 4:08 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Alien-apartheid flick District 9 abducted $37 million at the box office this weekend for a first-place landing, Bloomberg reports. “This really was an under-the-radar film” before the Comic-Con convention last month, one analyst says. “Sony did a masterful job of marketing.” GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra ($22.5 million),...
Newbie Farmers Pair With Old Hands
Associated Press
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Aug 16, 2009 3:43 PM CDT
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Matchmaking just might save the family farm, the AP reports. States such as Iowa, Virginia, and Washington have started programs pairing would-be farmers with those aiming to retire, in the hopes of beefing up independent agriculture and keeping rural areas populated. "I thought I may never get a chance like this in my life," one farmer-in-training...
Weinsteins to Basterds : Please Save Our Careers
New York Times
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Aug 16, 2009 3:21 PM CDT
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Once Hollywood’s highbrow hitmakers, Bob and Harvey Weinstein are hitless, humbled, and hoping that a movie about Nazi-killers can save them, the New York Times reports. They once raked in Oscars by producing films like Pulp Fiction and The English Patient , but since leaving Miramax to start their own company 4 years ago, they've invested...
Fired Disabled Woman: Abercrombie a 'Sweatshop'
Daily Mail (UK)
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Aug 16, 2009 3:00 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The 22-year-old British student with a prosthetic arm who won nearly $15,000 in a discrimination lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch compares its working conditions to a sweatshop. “I found it disturbing,” Riam Dean tells the Daily Mail . “There were so many people in such a tiny space. People were on their hands and knees, or...
Onscreen and Off, Charlize Is Naked
Vogue
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Aug 16, 2009 2:40 PM CDT
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Charlize Theron is known for her devil-may-care attitude about onscreen nudity. But as Kevin Conley found while writing a profile of the Oscar-winning beauty for Vogue , nakedness follows Theron into her real life as well—though it’s of the metaphorical variety. “I feel like I always reveal too much,” Theron, 34, says. “There’s...
With FriendFeed, Facebook Aims to Rule Social Media
Washington Post
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Aug 16, 2009 2:00 PM CDT
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Facebook’s $47.5 million purchase of FriendFeed is about more than competing with Twitter in real-time search, Chadwick Matlin argues for the Washington Post . Facebook could use FriendFeed and Facebook Connect to become a “social media aggregator”—a hub for all content its users create and peruse on the Internet at large.
RIP, Mix Tapes, Porn Age Limits, Typewriters, and More
PC World
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Aug 16, 2009 1:50 PM CDT
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Word processors, dot-matrix printers, rotary phones, and other formerly state-of-the-art technologies are just about gone and nearly forgotten. Carrying the torch for the likes of holding up a cigarette lighter at a concert is JR Raphael of PC World, who lists 40 leading lights of abandoned technology: Looking up numbers in the...
Skydiver Falls 2K Feet, Hits Steel Roof, Lives
Times (UK)
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Aug 16, 2009 1:26 PM CDT
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A skydiver survived after plummeting 2,000 feet onto a steel roof after his backup parachute malfunctioned. After jumping from 10,000 feet, his first parachute failed at 3,000 feet. When he tried to use his reserve parachute, it “spiraled to the ground,” the Times of London reports. An observer called an ambulance, but it took almost...
Boozing Author/Mom Hits the Wagon
New York Times
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Aug 16, 2009 1:07 PM CDT
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Stefanie Wilder-Taylor made a name for herself penning light-hearted accounts of life as a hard-drinking mom, so her blog readers were shocked when she announced that she was laying off the sauce, the New York Times reports. Drinking-while-parenting “was a way to express that we’re still fun people,” but when she woke up on the...
41 Women, Kids Die in Kuwait Wedding Blaze
BBC
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Aug 16, 2009 12:34 PM CDT
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A fire at a wedding near Kuwait City claimed the lives of 35 women and six children today, the BBC reports. Another 60 women and children were also injured as a tent holding the wedding caught fire and caved in over the course of just 3 minutes, causing a brutal stampede to the lone exit. Separate wedding parties in Kuwait are held for men and women,...
Changing Wars Put GI Jane on Front Lines
New York Times
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Aug 16, 2009 12:01 PM CDT
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Officially, US women soldiers aren't supposed to engage in the same bloody combat as their male counterparts. But as Iraq and Afghanistan force war to evolve, the military increasingly depends on female machine gunners and truck commanders, reports the New York Times . And female soldiers' mettle under fire has led to more high-ranking women and women...
Biography Bares Lord of the Flies Author's Demons
Times (UK)
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Aug 16, 2009 11:42 AM CDT
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In an unpublished autobiography, the author of Lord of the Flies described his attempted rape of a 15-year-old when he was about 18, the Times of London reports. While walking with the girl, he “felt sure she wanted heavy sex, as this was visibly written on her pert, ripe and desirable mouth,” William Golding writes in the memoir. They...
Brit Swimming Pools Demand 'Burkinis' for Muslim Women
Telegraph (UK)
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Aug 16, 2009 11:18 AM CDT
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British pools are calling for top-to-toe "burkinis" for Muslim female swimmers, reports the Telegraph . The stance is in marked contrast to the policy at a pool in France, which last week banned the burkini, saying the garment was not "hygienic." A number of public pools in Britain hold special sessions for Muslims, and are requiring...
Mousavi Launches Grass-Roots Opposition
Los Angeles Times
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Aug 16, 2009 10:38 AM CDT
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Mir Hossein Mousavi announced a new grass-roots political front yesterday, reports the Los Angeles Times, an ill-defined move aimed at resurrecting the Iranian opposition leader's anti-government movement and perhaps staving off his own arrest. The loose-knit Green Path of Hope movement isn't an official political party, and critics say the group...
Sebelius: Public Option Not Essential
Politico
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Aug 16, 2009 9:57 AM CDT
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Liberal lawmakers are demanding that a public option be included in a final health care reform package, but top Obama administration officials seemed to hedge on the subject today, Politico reports. On Face the Nation , Robert Gibbs said “thus far” President Obama sees a government-funded system as the best way to increase competition...
Alyssa Milano Marries Agent
People
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Aug 16, 2009 9:14 AM CDT
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Alyssa Milano and Hollywood agent David Bugliari married yesterday in a nature-themed ceremony at the groom's family estate in New Jersey, reports People . The former Who's the Boss? star, 36, wore a custom Vera Wang gown as she walked down a rose-petal strewn aisle to John Lenon's "Imagine." The couple met in 2006 and Bugliari proposed...
Healthy Food Obsession Is Latest Eating Disorder Trend
Guardian (UK)
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Aug 16, 2009 8:45 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A neurotic fixation on eating only healthy food is the latest eating disorder trend, reports the Guardian . Orthorexia nervosa affects both men and women. Othorexics are so obsessed with "pure" foods that they can become malnourished, say experts. They tend to be extremely proud of their "virtuous" behavior, though constantly refining...
Right-Wing Crazy Is All-American
Washington Post
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Aug 16, 2009 8:23 AM CDT
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With the left back in power, we’re seeing right-wing "crazies"—the “birthers, tea-partiers, town hall hecklers”—getting louder. But that’s nothing new, writes Rick Perlstein in the Washington Post . In America, “the crazy tree blooms in every moment of liberal ascendancy, and elites exploit the crazy...
NY Park Cops Squeeze Kid's Lemonade Stand for $50 Fine
New York Post
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Aug 16, 2009 7:59 AM CDT
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Manhattan's Riverside Park cops put the squeeze on a kid selling lemonade with a $50 fine for doing business without a permit yesterday. "It was such a hot day I figured people would want a cold drink," said Clementine Lee, 10, dreaming of liquidity. Thick-skinned police made Clementine and her irritated pop close up shop. But the parks commissioner...
Posh Reels In $5M Idol Contract
Daily Mail (UK)
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Aug 16, 2009 7:34 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Victoria Beckham has landed a $5 million contract to sit in for Paula Abdul on American Idol , even though inside sources claim she fumbled her audition, reports the Daily Mail . She has host Simon Cowell's support, though program producers are still worried she comes across as too British and is too painfully thin to satisfy American audiences. ...
8 Ways Hollywood Changed Fashion
CNN
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Aug 16, 2009 7:08 AM CDT
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Fashionistas rejoice: Mad Men returns tonight! To celebrate the show's influence on fashion—yes, thin-lapelled suits and Peter Pan collars are back—CNN remembers other Hollywood offerings that dominated the fashion zeitgeist: Some say Clarke Gable's bare chest in It Happened One Night caused undershirt sales to plummet by 75%...
Suu Kyi's Yank Swimmer Lands in Thailand
CNN
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Aug 16, 2009 6:31 AM CDT
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While Myanmar activist Aung San Suu Kyi begins another 18 months under house arrest, the American responsible for her sentence is free and has landed in Thailand, reports CNN. John Yettaw, whose release was won by Sen. Jim Webb, was hospitalized for observation in Bangkok. “He had a medical emergency this morning when they read him his orders...
Docs Warned to Watch for Brain Disease Link to Flu Vaccine
Telegraph (UK)
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Aug 16, 2009 6:08 AM CDT
(Newser) -
British officials have alerted neurologists to watch out for any surge of cases of a deadly brain disease after a massive swine flu vaccination program begins, reports the Telegraph . A 1976 US swine flu vaccine was followed by an eight-fold increase in cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome, which killed 25 people at the time, while only one died...
Obama: Stop Screaming, Get Real
New York Times
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Aug 16, 2009 5:38 AM CDT
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President Barack Obama hit the New York Times Op-Ed pages today, calling for "serious debate" on health-care-reform, "not wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that anyone has actually proposed." Reforms will benefit the 46 million uninsured Americans as well as those with insurance by cutting rampant waste,...
Bollywood Star Grilled at Newark Airport
Washington Post
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Aug 16, 2009 5:15 AM CDT
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Immigration officials at New Jersey's Newark airport detained and questioned the man considered India's king of Bollywood for more than an hour yesterday, renewing criticism of racial profiling some call "flying while brown," reports the Washington Post . Film star Shah Rukh Khan said he felt "angry and humiliated" by the experience....
Was Dylan Touring The Boss' Backstreets?
ABC News
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Aug 16, 2009 4:51 AM CDT
(Newser) -
When police detained Bob Dylan last month they may have inadvertently busted up a nine-month rock heritage tour by the music legend, speculates ABC News. Clueless New Jersey cops picked up Dylan wandering around just blocks from a house where Bruce Springsteen penned Born to Run , Thunder Road , and Backstreets in 1974 and 1975.
Obama Gets Personal, Cites Grandmother's Death
Associated Press
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Aug 15, 2009 9:38 PM CDT
(AP) -
Now it's personal. President Barack Obama invoked his own anguish over the death of his grandmother as he challenged the notion that Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation's health care would include so-called death panels. "I just lost my grandmother last year. I know what it's like to watch somebody you love, who's aging, deteriorate and...
Emanuel Risks It All by Using All His Power
New York Times
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Aug 15, 2009 7:55 PM CDT
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Rahm Emanuel is emerging as the most powerful chief of staff in decades, affecting policy as often as he terrorizes White House staff with expletive-ridden tirades, the New York Times reports. But that means it's Emanuel's job, and reputation, that's at risk if President Obama fails to reform health care and untangle two wars. "He’s about...
Tiger Claws Out 2-Shot Lead at US PGA
Associated Press
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Aug 15, 2009 7:25 PM CDT
(AP) -
Tiger Woods was one round away from winning another major but he squandered a four-shot lead and drew more company than he wanted at the US PGA Championship today. Woods played so-so on another windy afternoon at Hazeltine National until his lead was gone. Only at the end of the day did he find some solace. One birdie on the back nine was enough for...
The Edge Rejects Greenie Criticism of U2 Tour
BBC
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Aug 15, 2009 7:06 PM CDT
(Newser) -
U2 guitarist The Edge stood up to critics who say the band's massive world tour is bad news for the environment, the BBC reports. "I think anybody that's touring is going to have a carbon footprint," he said backstage last night at U2's Wembley Stadium concert. "We'd love to have some alternative to big trucks bringing the stuff...
Hold Music Improves, But Slowly
Newsweek
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Aug 15, 2009 6:40 PM CDT
(Newser) -
We may have Erik Satie to blame for hold music—the composer “developed a very cynical attitude” toward a distracted listening public and decided modern music would be more like a chair than an intellectual pursuit—but the science behind it is state-of-the-art, Newsweek reports. Studies on the intrusion of recorded voices have...
Robber Mocks Victim on Facebook
Telegraph (UK)
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Aug 15, 2009 6:20 PM CDT
(Newser) -
A robber who swiped a family's laptop and iPhone in England this week has returned to haunt them—on Facebook, the Telegraph reports. "I have the laptop, phones OK but a bit scratched itll do," the thief wrote after hacking into the Facebook page of Victoria Richardson, whose West Sussex home was robbed on Thursday. "TV was...
Confessions of a Twitter Addict
Salon
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Aug 15, 2009 5:56 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Last Thursday, the Twitterverse flickered and temporarily went blank. And a writer sat there, staring. “It was funny, in a kind of pathetic, soul-crushing way,” Laurel Snyder writes on Salon. “I stared at the blank screen, hitting refresh over and over.” Her withdrawal worsened as she sat on a park bench, "twittering to...
Jon, Kate Face Off After Late-Night Fight
Us Weekly
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Aug 15, 2009 5:32 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Jon and Kate Gosselin didn’t kiss, but they did seem to make up yesterday after a heated argument over Jon's choice of nanny, Us reports. In a photo of the reunion, Kate appears defensive, putting a hand on her chest as their children look on. One child is wiping her eyes.
Tropical Storms Ana, Bill Aim for US Shores
Miami Herald
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Aug 15, 2009 5:10 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Ana and Bill are on the move, but meteorologists aren't worried just yet, the Miami Herald reports. Both tropical storms formed in the Atlantic today and are moving westward, but a possible US landing is 5 or more days away. The National Hurricane Center says they could strike anywhere from South Carolina to Cuba. “We want people to watch...
$57M Health Care Battle Infects Airwaves
New York Times
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Aug 15, 2009 4:51 PM CDT
(Newser) -
A popular ad blasting President Obama’s health care effort symbolizes the overhaul with a bulging balloon: Eventually, the balloon bursts, as could Obama’s ambitious plan if the White House loses a fierce TV ad war against critics, Katharine Q. Seelye writes in the New York Times . So far pro-Obama groups are outspending rivals by $15...
Dude, Ashton's Actually a 'Genius'
Newsweek
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Aug 15, 2009 4:27 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Is Ashton Kutcher punking all of America? The former Abercrombie model—whose surfer dude shtick climaxed in the slacker classic Dude, Where’s My Car? —runs his own production company, boasts the largest following on Twitter, and speaks eloquently about genetics. “He’s a guy’s answer to celeb brands like Paris Hilton...
Nation's Only Late-Term Abortionist: 'I Will Never Be Safe'
Esquire
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Aug 15, 2009 4:02 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The murder of George Tiller has left the nation with only one provider of late-term abortions—and that makes Warren Hern public enemy No. 1 on the fringes of the anti-abortion camp. "I will never be safe," Hern tells Esquire in a long profile. "I will always be looking over my shoulder." The story details the extraordinary...
A Zombie's Worst Enemy: Canadian Math Geeks
Globe and Mail
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Aug 15, 2009 3:41 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Decades of terrorizing sleepy towns in grade-B horror flicks hasn't prepared zombies for their newest foe: Canadian math geeks. Scholars in Ottawa have formulated a mathematical model to combat a zombie outbreak, dismissing quarantines and cures: “The most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often," they...
Ransom Demand Made for Lost Ship
CNN
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Aug 15, 2009 3:18 PM CDT
(Newser) -
The missing Maltese-flagged ship that was reported off the coast of Africa appears to have been hijacked for a second time, CNN reports. “There has been a demand for ransom,” a Finnish police official said of the Russian-crewed Arctic Sea. “We are now dealing with two separate incidents—the alleged hijacking off the Swedish...
Vick Looks Solid in First Practice
Philadelphia Inquirer
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Aug 15, 2009 2:55 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Michael Vick returned with his No. 7 to the football field today, running the scouts' offense in practice with the Philadelphia Eagles. How'd he do? Apparently, not bad for an ex-con: "His first toss ... was a little wobbler over the middle to Danny Amendola," notes the Eagles blog of the Inquirer . "He looked better during one-on-ones,...
Dems Hope George Washington Can Tame Town Halls
The Hill
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Aug 15, 2009 2:25 PM CDT
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Democrats are taking some unconventional steps to keep town halls civil, the Hill reports. Rep. Betsy Markey plans to hand out copies of George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior to attendees, in a nod to their patriotic zeal. The first rule? “Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those...
Blogger's Case Tests Limits of Free Speech
Washington Post
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Aug 15, 2009 1:46 PM CDT
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When three federal judges rejected an NRA lawsuit, Internet radio host Hal Turner got angry. “These judges deserve to be killed,” he wrote on his blog. “Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty.” Then he posted photos of the judges, maps to their courthouse, and info on the building’s “anti-truck bomb barriers.”...
It's Time for Newspapers to 'Grow a Pair'
SpliceToday
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Aug 15, 2009 1:17 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Newspapers are doomed, and if they’re looking for someone to blame, they should start with themselves, writes Bill Wyman for Splice in the second part of his industry critique. The "garrulous" Luddites working at newspapers—from managers to reporters—never considered the implications of technology. “They were out of...
Lynndie England Speech Canceled by Threats
Associated Press
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Aug 15, 2009 12:31 PM CDT
(AP) -
A lecture by Lynndie England—the woman who became the public face of the Abu Ghraib scandal—had to be canceled at the Library of Congress yesterday after multiple threats led to concerns about staff safety. The former Army reservist had been scheduled to discuss her biography as part of a veterans forum.
'Relaxation' Sodas Promise to 'Slow Your Roll'
Washington Post
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Aug 15, 2009 12:10 PM CDT
(Newser) -
In the boom times, people quaffed energy drinks and the industry bloomed to its current $896 million in sales. Naturally, the Washington Post reports, the recession has produced a new star: “relaxation beverages.” Loaded with a somewhat questionable “calming” ingredient also in green tea, the drinks are on the rise. One slogan:...
Elephant Getting Prosthetic Leg
Associated Press
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Aug 15, 2009 11:29 AM CDT
(Newser) -
A 48-year-old Thai elephant who stepped on a landmine 10 years ago got fitted for permanent artificial leg today, the AP reports. Motola, who's become a cause celebré for the plight of elephants worldwide, got measured for the new limb at an elephant hospital in Thailand. Until now she’s been walking on a temporary canvas leg.
Hotels Owners Walk Out on Mortgages
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 15, 2009 11:00 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Homeowners aren’t the only ones walking away from their underwater mortgages. With the hotel market at its lowest point since the early '90s, many owners, who owe more on their money-losing properties than they’re worth, are simply walking away, the Wall Street Journal reports. Many say they have no choice; their loans were diced up into...
Immigrants Fill Dugouts of Minor League Teams
Wall Street Journal
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Aug 15, 2009 10:29 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Foreigners, willing to work for less money, are taking American jobs … on the baseball diamond, the Wall Street Journal reports. Ever since George W. Bush signed the Compete Act in 2007, which essentially gave baseball teams unlimited work visas, teams have been snapping up foreign talent at a record pace. The Cubs, for example, have 142 immigrants...
Seinfeld Up First for Leno
Associated Press
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Aug 15, 2009 10:05 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Jerry Seinfeld will be the lone guest on Jay Leno’s maiden primetime outing, the LA Times reports. That’s fitting, considering Leno has said he consulted Seinfeld when contemplating NBC’s offer for the 10pm show.
