Slow Learner

I can't keep track of how many middle school students this teacher is servicing, but I did catch that she had sex with a 16 year old and then left in her boyfriends truck!

A suspended middle school teacher out on bail for allegedly having sex with two students will be back in court Tuesday after police say they caught her having sex with one of them again.

Stephanie Ragusa, 29, was arrested for the third time in about six weeks on charges of sex with a minor, MyFOXTampa reported. She was being held without bond at the Orient Road Jail.

"I can assure you that we are doing everything we can right now to make sure that she’s not out at liberty to do this again," said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Lt. Fred Asteasuainzarra.

Officers discovered Ragusa and the now-16-year-old boy at his house about 12:20 p.m. Monday, the arrest affidavit states. Ragusa had gone to the teen's house to discuss the criminal case but wound up in bed with him, police said.

Detectives nabbed the woman as she was leaving and getting into her boyfriend's truck. Ragusa remained behind bars Tuesday, charged with two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Ragusa was first arrested March 13 and charged with having sex at least three times with a Davidsen Middle School student, then 14, between January and May of 2007. During that relationship, police say she began another with a second Davidsen boy, who was 15 when they started sleeping together in February of 2007.

Ragusa and the second teen, who was one of her math students, had sex at least 20 times, according to the sheriff.

She was initially released March 18 after posting bail, but was re-arrested April 15 when investigators say they determined she'd had sex with a second student. She has been charged with several counts of lewd and lascivious battery.

Ragusa was previously arrested on charges of driving under the influence in 2005, according to police records.

She last taught at Martinez Middle School but remains suspended without pay, according to the Hillsborough County School District.

will 15 get her 20?

Well, I see why she might have to drive that far to get her freak on.

Woman Arrested for Planning to Meet Eau Claire Boy for Sex

A judge set bond for the Albany, New York woman who police say made plans online to meet up with a 15-year-old boy.

Officers are holding 44-year old Tracy Taylor on $50,000 cash.

The Eau Claire Police Department says Taylor was taken into custody for attempted sexual assault of a child, using a computer to facilitate a sex crime and child enticement.

Officers say she met the 15-year-old boy on a social networking web site, and made plans to meet him for apparent sexual relations.

They say she had booked a room at the Days Inn Hotel on Truax Lane in Eau Claire, and checked-in Friday.

That's when detectives say they used a search warrant to go through her room. They say they found evidence that pointed to pre-planned sexual contact.

She's due back in court May 6th.

Here’s what the Albany paper said, don’t you think the candles and alcoholic beverages were a nice touch.

Albany woman jailed in alleged tryst plan

Wisconsin police say Tracy Taylor, 44, booked room for encounter with teen boy she met online

An Albany woman who drove roughly 18 hours to northwestern Wisconsin, allegedly in hopes of having a sexual tryst with a teenage boy she befriended online, remains jailed on attempted sex assault charges.

Tracy Taylor, 44, of 181 Second Ave., was in Eau Claire County Circuit Court Monday morning. A judge set bail at $50,000 bail before Taylor was sent back to county jail pending another appearance next week.

She did not enter a plea and did not qualify for a public defender, according to Erin Hanson, the Eau Claire County assistant district attorney handling the case.

Wisconsin authorities were tipped off to the planned sexual encounter by the teen's mother after the boy confided to his sister that he been corresponding online with a woman he believed to be 30 years old, according to a criminal complaint.

The document says the boy, identified in the court document as "JJF," told his sister he planned to spend the weekend with the woman.

The woman said she would bring condoms, according to the court papers.

As part of the investigation, the county sheriff's detective on the case reviewed text messages, including one from April 22 where the boy asked "Will we be able to have sex?" to which the woman allegedly replied: "I hope so. I love you."

Detectives learned Taylor had reserved a room at the Days Inn on Truax Lane in Eau Claire from Friday through Monday.

Police obtained a search warrant. After Taylor checked into Room 103, police found condoms, candles, baby oil and bottles of alcoholic beverages. Additionally, they found a letter from the teen giving his age, said the criminal complaint.

Eau Claire Deputy Police Chief Eric Larsen, said Monday that Taylor met the teen on the social networking site gaiaonline.com. He characterized it as a children's gaming Web site.

Taylor and the boy had been chatting online for about three months before they started talking on the phone and via text messages, Hanson said.

Besides attempted child sex assault, Taylor has been charged with use of a computer to facilitate a sex crime and child enticement. She due back in court May 6.

Eau Claire is in northwestern Wisconsin, about 90 miles east of the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., area.

Rally Time

Maybe Guitar Hero isn't dead after all. I mean this kid shows promise! I mean imagine the amount of his parents money he has wasted so he could become a hero like us!

NU's nationally ranked Guitar Hero

Student ranked No. 150 of 6 million

Alexandra Finkel

Issue date: 4/29/08

Tommy Giglio/the daily northwestern. Medill seniors Danny Ecker and Frank Bauch watch roommate Lee Linderman, a Weinberg senior, play Guitar Hero Monday night. Linderman is nationally ranked in the video game's online ranking system and attributes his success to 16 years as a violinist.

Correction appended

After 16 years of playing the violin, Weinberg senior Lee Linderman now uses his fast fingers to make music of a different kind.

Linderman has mastered Guitar Hero, a series of rock guitar simulation video games that have garnered more than $1 billion in revenue in less than three years. He plays in his free time when he's not participating in Zeta Beta Tau, working at Norris University Center and playing club baseball.

Linderman is currently ranked 150th out of approximately 6 million people in the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. He attributes his success to 16 years of playing the violin.

"In high school, my teacher told me that even though I wasn't the best violin player, I had the fastest fingers he had ever taught," Linderman said. "And that's exactly what Guitar Hero is, because pressing the buttons on the guitar is just like playing notes on a violin."

Linderman said he stumbled upon the first Guitar Hero game at a Best Buy video game kiosk in late 2006. Once Guitar Hero II debuted, he bought it and began playing nonstop.

"A lot of people start out at the easy or medium level and then slowly move up to hard and expert," Linderman said. "But I started at medium, moved onto hard after one song and then moved right to expert, and I've been playing that ever since."

In the past two years, Linderman has competed in 10 tournaments and has won more than $600 in cash and prizes.

He said he has never lost a game playing against another human being in person. Last fall, he won the chance to play before the Dethklok concert in Ryan Family Auditorium and most recently won Sigma Alpha Epsilon's Paddy Murphy Week Guitar Hero contest.

"Lee spends more times with video games and Guitar Hero than any human being should," said Danny Ecker, one of Linderman's roommates. "But it's really something else when people come by just to watch him play."

Although Linderman said he doesn't play nearly as much as he used to, he said Guitar Hero falls somewhere in between a passion and a hobby.

"I'm not so passionate that I still comb through every song to make sure it's absolutely perfect," he said. "But I'm still going to practice a lot before a tournament."

Tales from airport security

Pilot's Missing Laptop Causes Airport Security Scare

A pilot's laptop, filled with top secret security information was reported missing at Dulles Airport and the ripple effects were felt across the country.
The Mesa Airlines employee couldn't find the personal laptop he brought with him while co-piloting a United Express flight from Birmingham, Alabama to Dulles International Airport.
17 airports were forced to make emergency changes to access codes at Dulles, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago's O'Hare and San Antonio.
Various officials within the airline industry admit that with these access codes, someone who went though security could, with the touch of a few buttons, get onto a plane or get outside, right below a plane.
A TSA spokesperson said, "On April 17, Mesa Airlines notified TSA that an employee reported a laptop, containing confidential information, had been misplaced, lost or stolen."
Federal and airline officials admitted that the classified codes on the computer provided the pilot, through a keypad, access from the gate to the plane and down to ground level right below the plane.

Passengers were appalled. "That's just a major security breach for everyone that flies within the United States."

One airline insider tells ABC 7 News the laptop was probably stored in an overhead compartment used by passengers and likely stolen.

Federal officials quickly contacted 17 U.S. airports used by the pilot, warning them of the security breach. Media representatives for a number of those airports affected, including Dulles, Phoenix and Akron-Canton said the codes were promptly changed. ABC 7 News learned one security official at a midwest airport rushed to work in the middle of the night to prevent a breach.

A Mesa Airlines spokesperson said, "Any breach of aviation security is of primary concern to Mesa Airlines and we are fully cooperating with the TSA."

Meanwhile, a TSA official said the agency, "may look at increasing the standards for anyone who stores this type of information on their computers."

Airline officials said they have very little to go on because they don't know if the pilot was targeted or if it was a crime of opportunity. A spokesperson for Dulles said airport police are investigating.

Awww

How will the dead dolphin be used?

SeaWorld Dolphin Dies Performing Trick In Front Of Show Crowd

UPDATED: 9:31 am EDT April 28, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A SeaWorld dolphin died after it collided with another dolphin during an aerial show trick performed in front of a crowd.
Officials said the dolphin, called Sharky, hit the other dolphin during a Sunday show at SeaWorld's Discovery Cove. The accident was apparently a freak accident.Sharky was a 30-year-old female dolphin that had performed the trick dozens of times, officials said.The dolphin will be used for research at the park, Local 6 reported.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

More signs of the apocalypse

It's the kind of story of love, togetherness and psychopathic girlfriend that just warms th cockles of your heart Porno movie dispute lands woman in jail

A woman is accused of chasing her boyfriend with a knife after thinking he was an actor in a pornographic movie they were watching together. The victim says it all started when he and his girlfriend were inside his southwest Albuquerque home watching a pornographic move at 10:30 Wednesday morning. That’s when the victim called 911 saying his girlfriend, 20-year-old Amanda Montoya, had a knife. “She almost shanked me and everything. She put the (expletive) knife right under my throat," the victim told a 911 operator. The victim, wearing only a pair of shorts took off down Five Points, begging the 911 dispatcher for help. He said Moya had already stabbed him in the face and bitten him on his chest. “She already has battery charges against her. She's not even supposed to be around me," the victim said. The dispatcher told the victim to keep running and try to get inside a store. The victim made it to a business parking lot at Bridge and Sunset with Moya still on his trail when he was able to flag down a deputy who was headed to the victim’s residence. Deputies arrested Moya and charged her with aggravated assault and aggravated battery. She was also charged with child abuse because deputies say she left her eight-month-old boy alone in the home while she chased her boyfriend down the road.

??? Seriously Twisted

• Apr 23, 2008 9:04 am US/Eastern

N.J. Officer Allegedly Performed Sex Acts On Cows

Previously Charged With Sexual Assault On 3 Girls

MOORESTOWN (CBS 3) ― More charges have been filed against a Burlington County police officer who was recently charged with sexually assaulting three girls.

Authorities announced Moorsetown Officer Robert Melia Jr., 38, has been charged with four counts of animal cruelty after allegedly engaging in sex acts with cows between June and December of 2006.

Melia and his former girlfriend, Heather Lewis were previously charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of criminal sexual contact with three girls in his Pemberton home from 2003 until 2006.

Melia is being held on $510,000 bail.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

---

Moorestown Patrolman Robert Melia of Moorestown was arrested without incident on April 12 and charged with aggravated sexual assault of three juvenile females.

CBS

The Mormons and now This.....

Scientology Is 'Brainwashing'
Actor: Scientology Is 'Brainwashing'
Jason Beghe is the bravest actor in Hollywood. He’s come clean about his 14 years in Scientology, the religion that Tom Cruise reveres. He says the purpose of Scientology is to create a "brainwashed, robotic version of you."
He also says that he spent about $1 million to work his way up the Scientology ladder to become what’s known as an "OT5 auditor," or someone who listens to new members and teaches them the ropes.
He was so successful as a celebrity auditor, he says, that David Miscavige, the head of the sect, referred to him as "the poster boy for Scientology."
But now that Beghe and his wife have left the sect, the actor has concerns. They can be, he says, a vicious and vindictive group. When he asked for money back that he had banked for future study — some $60,000 to $70,000 — it was returned and he was banished.

"Once you ask for refund and repayment, that’s what it’s called, you’re not allowed to take another course or speak to another Scientologist ever again," Beghe says.
On Tuesday, I told you that Beghe had posted a three-minute "teaser" video explaining a little about his exit from Scientology. A second, longer video will be going up on YouTube Wednesday or Thursday. It’s not to make money or to get publicity for himself, Beghe says, and I believe him. "If it helps people, that’s what’s important."
And that’s because Beghe says that most Scientologists are completely insulated from the criticism that we all read or publish. All the jokes, the "South Park" stuff, anti-cult stories, real data about people who’ve suffered inside the sect largely go unnoticed by the Scientology community. "They just say, 'You don’t understand.'"
Beghe is just beginning to comprehend what an impact his announcement has made. It should rock the world of celebrity Scientologists, the people Miscavige has counted on to carry the sect’s message to the outside world and make it seem plausible.
But Beghe says not all the celebrity Scientologists are completely "in." Kirstie Alley, he says, is a friend and "could be gotten out." Tom Cruise, he says, was out for several years.
"He was brought back in around the time of his divorce from Nicole Kidman. And then they put him through something called Ethics Cycle after Penelope Cruz left. That’s when you make amends for having not been in it for a while."
Cruise’s Ethics Cycle, Beghe thinks, would account for the campaign Cruise went on while filming "War of the Worlds," through the meeting, courting and recruiting of Katie Holmes, the fight with Matt Lauer on "Today" and telling Diane Sawyer what kind of Scientologist he was on ABC — not to mention the couch-jumping on "Oprah."
Beghe, for one, says he was not a good celebrity Scientologist. "They would ask me to come to parties for Tom or John (Travolta); I would say 'yes' and not go."
Indeed, Beghe says he’s spent the last eight years trying to leave Scientology. "It was good for the first three years or so. But then I got nothing out of it."
"Scientology," Beghe says, "delivers what it promises under the guise of tearing away falsity, neuroses, psychoses. It creates a brainwashed, robotic version of you. It’s a ‘Matrix’ of you, so you’re communicating with people all the time using Scientology. So we’re seeing you ‘via’ Scientology. And it creates an addiction, so you come back for more."
He says that he initially was recruited through acting teacher Milton Katselas’ class. Katselas has been cited in many publications, including The New York Times, for exerting pressure on his students to join the sect.
"He gets kickbacks," Beghe says. Among Katselas’ students have been at least half a dozen celebrity Scientologists, including Giovanni Ribisi (who is thought to have recruited "My Name Is Earl" star Jason Lee and, in turn, Ethan Suplee) and his sister, Marisa, Leah Remini and Anne Archer.
Beghe was brought to the Scientology center in Hollywood by Bodhi Elfman, husband of actress Jenna Elfman, who was in Katselas’ class. His appointment was for 10 a.m. He wound up staying at least 12 hours, as the sect’s auditors embarked on their "brainwashing." It was just before his career was taking off with a role as Demi Moore’s love interest in "G.I. Jane."
"David Miscavige loved me. He took me to Hemet" — the Scientology fortress in the California mountains — "and he came with me to the premiere of 'G.I. Jane.' He let me do voice-overs for Scientology instructional videos, which was unheard of. And it would take a year to do a 15-minute video; he was that meticulous."
But in a short time, Beghe saw that things were not going so well. "I was unhappy and depressed. They would say it was their fault, the way they were handling my ‘case.’ And I’d flip out another $50,000 for another course."
Beghe says the biggest question at Scientology is where all the money has gone. "You never get any answers about it," he says. "And it’s all about money."
It took Beghe and his wife, Angie — whom he’d brought into the sect and who also achieved the high level of OT5 — more than a year to negotiate their way out. (Their first child even endured the Scientology "silent birth" we’ve heard so much about.)
Beghe says during that time his relations with his family and friends — like childhood pal David Duchovny — were strained. "Things are much better now with everyone," Beghe says.

ICEMAN IN THE LATER YEARS

I know you have seen this, but I sure have transitioned better than this "wannabe" iceman. (I was first you know, not the one in the pic, the one in the clip).

http://www.jibjab.com/view/160899

BUT:

I still got sweatty, smelly help in the back (okay they smell like siamese cats not siamese pussy), numb nut co-pilots, and sex all night for less than $20 (okay, it's pay per view porn on TV, but it still counts).
All that's missing is some little bald man jumping on the plane whenever I fly west (aka Thailand)!!! (But we were in the far east..)

Isn't that where all the mormons are from?

Man charged after 5-year-old boy's urine tests positive for cocaine

The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 04/15/2008 12:55:00 AM MDT

A South Salt Lake man has been charged in a drug case in which a 5-year-old boy tested positive for cocaine when a woman used the boy's urine to cheat on a drug screening.
The woman, posing as a man, told authorities that "he" knew parents who were exposing their child to heroin and cocaine, court documents state. The woman admitted "he" used the 5-year-old's urine to take a drug test, but the urine came back positive for cocaine.
Later tests on the child's urine and hair also came back positive for cocaine and opiates, court documents state. A man, 54, was charged Monday with clandestine laboratory endangerment of a child, a third-degree felony. A woman codefendant - not the caller - was charged last week. - Erin Alberty

It's so weird, I can't even keep track of who did what to whom and what gender they were when they did it?

Is this the 15 Minutes of Fame that Warhol talked about??

Report: Marilyn Monroe Sex Tape

Sells for $1.5M
Monday, April 14, 2008

AP
Marilyn Monroe
A secret sex tape of Marilyn Monroe recently sold for $1.5 million, according to a report in the New York Post.
A copy of the 15 minute, 16 mm film was purchased by a New York businessman who plans to lock it up, memorabilia collector Keya Morgan told the paper. The original film is reportedly held by the FBI and still remains classified.
The flick, reportedly shot in the 1950s, shows the blonde bombshell engaging in oral sex with an unidentified male. Former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover reportedly had his agents spend weeks trying to ascertain whether the man was either John F. Kennedy or Robert F. Kennedy, the paper said.
The black-and-white film shows the actress on her knees in front of the man, Morgan told the paper. The collector said he found the film while doing research for a Monroe documentary.
Heavily redacted, declassified FBI documents from the 1960s talk about a "French-type" film starring the late actress, who died in 1962 from an overdose of prescription drugs.

$1.5 Million for an Oral Sex Tape...could you call this the "MONEY SHOT"???

Is this really it?

Delta, Northwest Could Unveil Merger as Early as Tuesday

By Susan Carey and Paulo Prada

Word Count: 1,131 | Companies Featured in This Article: Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines

Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. have spent the last week readying their long-delayed merger announcement, with the aim of unveiling it as early as Tuesday, said people familiar with the matter.

They could go ahead without the support of Delta's 6,000 pilots. Delta and its pilots remained in talks over the weekend on a new post-merger contract that would cover that group only, leaving negotiations with Northwest's 5,000 pilots for a later day, these people said.

Where Can I Buy one of these????

Misfired Artillery Crashes Into New Jersey Home, Fatally Injuring Cat
Friday, April 11, 2008

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, N.J. — A piece of artillery that was apparently misfired by the military crashed through the roof of a home miles away Friday and injured a young girl's cat, which had to be euthanized, officials said.
No people were injured when the 2-pound piece hit the Jefferson Township home about 2 1/2 miles from the Picatinny Arsenal and landed in the girl's bed, said Peter Rowland, arsenal spokesman. She wasn't home, but her cat was sleeping on the bed.
The homeowner told authorities she heard a loud noise around 2:40 p.m. and found the 6-by-4-inch object.
Picatinny officials told The Star-Ledger of Newark they were investigating. The base had been conducting tests Friday, and it wasn't immediately clear what type of artillery hit the home.
Picatinny is the site of the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, whose mission is to conduct research, development and engineering for weapons systems

I'm sure PETA will sue the Aresenal. So much for nine lives , huh....

Parent of the year candidates

Well, at least she didn't give him a hickey

Denver News

Joseph Manzanares was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment and domestic violence for a fight with his girlfriend inside a Hollywood video store.

Parents Fight Over Which Gang Toddler Should Join

Police: Mother A Crip, Father A Westside Baller

POSTED: 7:10 pm MDT April 10, 2008

UPDATED: 7:27 am MDT April 11, 2008

A couple fighting about which gang their 4-year-old toddler should join caused a public disturbance that resulted in the father's arrest, Commerce City police said Thursday.

On Saturday, Joseph Manzanares stormed into the Hollywood Video store where his girlfriend worked, threatened to kill her and knocked over several video displays and even a computer, Commerce City police Sgt. Joe Sandoval said.After he ran out of the store, police were called and the 19-year-old was arrested at his home.

His girlfriend told police that they had been arguing about the upbringing of their son and which gang he should belong to.

The teen mother, who is black, is a member of the Crips. Manzanares is Hispanic and belongs to the Westside Ballers gang, the woman said.

"They have different ideas on how the baby should be raised. Basically, she said they cannot agree on which gang the baby would 'claim,'" Sandoval said.

When is this going to happen and how bad will it suck for me?

Delta Asks Union to Drop Part Of Contract to Boost Deal Prospects

By Susan Carey and Paulo Prada

Delta Air Lines Inc. is asking its union leaders to abandon parts of the Delta pilot labor contract in hopes of pushing forward a merger deal with Northwest Airlines Corp. as early as next week, according to people familiar with the situation.

In return, Delta is promising its 6,000 aviators pay raises, equity and a board seat in the combined carrier, those people say.

Delta executives hope the behind-the-scenes talks could finally break the logjam of pilot resistance from both Delta and Northwest pilots that for months has kept the Atlanta carrier from proceeding with the deal, which would make Delta ...

What is up with Grandstanding Democrats?

Flying the Oberstar Skies
April 11, 2008

Journal readers tend to get around, so there's a good chance that the person reading this editorial has been among the hundreds of thousands of travelers stuck on a tarmac or waylaid in a hotel by the recent wave of flight cancellations. And if you're wondering where to point the finger, we'd suggest Capitol Hill. Allow us to explain.

After the Federal Aviation Administration fined Southwest Airlines more than $10 million last month for inspection lapses, Congress rounded up the usual scapegoats for some hearings. FAA officials told the House Transportation Committee that the Southwest situation was "an isolated problem, not a systematic one." But James Oberstar, the Minnesota Democrat who chairs the panel, was unpersuaded.

"It's clear we have a structural problem at the FAA," declared Mr. Oberstar, to nationwide headlines. "I fear that complacency may have set in at the highest levels of FAA management, reflecting a pendulum swing away from vigorous enforcement of compliance, toward a carrier-favorable, cozy relationship."

The regulators got the message and went into panic mode. As is wont with government bureaucracies like the FAA, it proceeded to swing the pendulum waaaay back in the other direction – and hasn't stopped. An industry-wide "audit" commenced, and FAA inspectors set about finding something – anything – awry with an aircraft to show Mr. Oberstar and other Congressional overseers that the agency was up to the job of enforcing federal maintenance requirements to the letter.

American cuts more flights; Fliers fume

By HARRY R. WEBER, AP Business Writer 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

ATLANTA - American Airlines grounded hundreds more flights Friday as the inspection-related mess frustrated passengers and hurt an industry already bleeding cash thanks to high fuel costs.

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Lawmakers were asking questions and some fed-up air travelers headed for trains. Others gave the airlines a pass, saying the companies were doing the best they could.

"If somebody's got a choice between being in a plane crash and being late, is there a choice?" Jane Bernard, a writer from New York who was delayed by at least three hours en route from LaGuardia Airport to Miami, said Thursday.

Mingo Valencia, a 60-year-old stuck at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport while heading home to Midland, Texas, wasn't so gracious.

"Poor management," he said bluntly.

Congress also weighed in Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration official who ordered safety audits last month, Nicholas Sabatini, faced tough questions from a Senate subcommittee about the agency's lax oversight of airlines and his own accountability for recent breakdowns. The FAA noted that airlines had 18 months to check electrical wiring on MD-80 jets since an initial order was issued in September 2006.

American, a unit of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp., canceled another 595 flights Friday, bringing this week's total to nearly 3,100 due to safety inspections of its MD-80s. The carrier said disruptions will continue through Saturday as it works to comply with the federal safety order.

Alaska Airlines, Midwest Airlines and Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. joined the wave, each canceling a small number of flights on MD-80 aircraft Thursday.

At least 250,000 passengers have been affected by the American cancellations this week alone.

Other carriers like Continental Airlines Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp., AirTran Airways and Northwest Airlines Corp. said they passed the first round of FAA audits with a clean slate and did not expect extra maintenance work or flight delays. It was impossible to say whether that could change since the FAA is conducting another round of safety audits.

The cancellations come at a time of high fuel prices and mixed success among the major air carriers at getting domestic fare increases to stick. The fact that airplanes are flying very full is making it difficult for airlines that cancel flights to find empty seats on other carriers to rebook their passengers.

"This disruption is severe," said Webster O'Brien, an industry expert with aviation consulting firm Simat, Helliesen & Eichner. "People are going to be unhappy. There isn't going to be an easy way to walk everybody out of it."

Don't just sit there, do something about Global Warming

I think we should all go to this site and kill some carbon credits.

The real cause of Global Warming

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Heavy security surrounded runners taking part in the controversial Olympic torch relay in San Francisco Wednesday, as the threat of violent protests prompted officials to make dramatic last-minute changes.

I think the origins of Global Warming can be traced back to the Berlin Olympics, when Hitler started the Torch run!!!

Torch Relay is a non-competitive replication of the ancient Flame relay and a symbolic celebration of the Olympic Games. In a prophetic speech at the end of the Stockholm Games, on June 27, 1912, Baron Pierre de Coubertin said:
“And now… great people have received the Torch… and have thereby undertaken to preserve and… quicken its precious Flame.
Lest our youth temporarily… let the Olympic Torch fall from their hands… other young people on the other side of the world are prepared to pick it up again.”
The Torch Relay, as the opening of the Olympic celebration, was revived in the Berlin Olympiad in 1936 and since then the Torch Relay has preceded every Olympic Summer Games. Starting from Olympia and carried by the first runner, the young athlete Konstantinos Kondylis, the Flame traveled for the first time hand to hand until it reached the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Since, the Flame’s magic has marked and has been identified with the beginning of the Games.
Yes. The answer is Konstantinos Kondylis during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin when the whole Olympic Torch Relay was first instituted.

I've been saving some of these up

WTF?

if you live 'down under' is falling out of bed due to living upside-down??

Belly button ring stuck in nose

April 03, 2008 05:54pm

A YOUNG woman caught her belly button ring in her nostril this morning after falling from her bed.

The distressed 22-year-old called NSW Ambulance at 4am begging for assistance from paramedics.

She told triple zero operators she had fallen out of bed and her belly button piercing had jammed up her nose in the fall.

Ambulance officers rushed to Warwick Farm to assist the woman but she was not taken to hospital.

An ambulance spokeswoman said it had been a tough day for Sydneysiders, with a St Ives man stubbing his toe at 3.30pm.

Cowbell

I've got a fever...

Teachers Gone Wiiiilllldddd!

Kellam High School teacher tied to escort services resigns

Michelle Droelle

By Joanne Kimberlin
Lauren Roth
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 10, 2008

A social studies teacher resigned her position Wednesday as new information surfaced that shows she was involved with operating an escort service while on staff at Kellam High School.

One day earlier, Michelle Droelle told The Virginian-Pilot she got out of the business before she began teaching two years ago. But The Pilot has discovered escort service ad contracts signed by Droelle during the current school year – including one dated March 12, 2008.

Droelle, 33, voluntarily resigned, school officials said.

The contracts for phone book ads list Droelle as the owner of Penthouse V.I.P. and her home address in Ocean Lakes as the company’s location.

Penthouse V.I.P. is the umbrella for an operation that runs ads under at least 20 different names, such as Exotic Playmates, Sinful Seductions and Party Girls.

Droelle did not return calls Wednesday to her home or business. Her lawyer, Mike Joynes, said that “pursuant to an agreement with the School Board, Michelle can’t have any comment.”

However, the school division denies requiring her silence.

“She chose to resign,” spokeswoman Eileen Cox said. “We don’t have any conditions on her resignation.”

As of Tuesday, Droelle still managed the businesses on a day-to-day basis, according to several women who said they have worked recently for the escort service.

One dancer, who appears on the Web site of Penthouse V.I.P. but requested that her name not be used in this article, said she has worked for Droelle for more than a year. She said that once Droelle took the teaching job at Kellam, she tried to keep a lower profile in the company – avoiding the weekly meetings where the dancers settle up their accounts with the service and collect their paychecks, signed by Droelle.

“Michelle didn’t want the newer girls to see her so she stopped coming to the meetings for a while,” the woman said. “But then she started coming again. I saw her at one in the past month.”

The contracts, from 2006 through 2008, are for ads in The Talking Phone Book, Verizon Yellow Pages and Yellow Book USA. Penthouse V.I.P. spent more than $50,000 on ads in 2007 alone, according to the contracts.

The phone book ads, often featuring scantily clad women, appeared in South Hampton Roads and Peninsula editions. Phone numbers for at least eight of the escort service names also are registered in Droelle’s name.

Calls to Penthouse V.I.P. and its affiliates are answered by an operator who sets up appointments and explains that for $100, the “girls” will strip fully nude, perform lap dances and provide companionship for one hour. Such acts are legal in Virginia as long as they take place in private and everyone involved is at least 18.

The company’s Web site features provocative photos of a dozen young women and a list of services, including “1-on-1 encounters … fetishes … light domination.”

Last school year, Droelle was on staff at the Virginia Beach City Public School ’s Open Campus High School. She began working at Kellam High School in September, teaching world history and sociology courses.

Droelle had not informed the school division that she had another line of work, Cox said.

Before they are hired, all employees are run though FBI and State Police databases, according to the school division’s human resources department. Those background checks do not include business licenses.

School Board Chairman Dan Edwards said there is no need for further investigation because Droelle resigned.

“I think the subject is closed,” he said.

News researcher Jakon Hays contributed to this report.

Ohhh Baby !!!

Top designer tells Paris Hilton: Stay away from my store
10:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
Paris Hilton. Photo / Reuters
Related nzherald links:
McQueen shuns celebrity culture as he opens in LA
Paris Hilton has been told to keep away from the opening of a new fashion store.
British designer Alexander McQueen doesn't want The Simple Life star as a customer when he opens his stylish Los Angeles boutique next month.
McQueen said: "If she comes past the shop, hopefully she will just keep walking. I don't really covet that sort of thing. I'm not too fond of these openings, I find them quite superficial.
"The people who wear McQueen wear it because they want to wear it, not because it's the new thing in town."
The designer - whose red carpet creations are favoured by Victoria Beckham, Sienna Miller, Katie Holmes and Lucy Liu - also says he wanted his close friend Amy Winehouse to perform at the star-studded opening, but fears she will unable to travel to America.
McQueen is quoted by Los Angeles Times newspaper as saying: "I wanted Amy to come over and perform but she is having visa problems. I have asked another huge star to sing, but I can't say who!"
Earlier this year, Amy was unable to attend the Grammys because of visa problems. Instead the singer - who scooped five awards at the prestigious ceremony - performed in London via a live satellite link.
- BANG! SHOWBIZ

Global Warming Strikes Again !!

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- The bodies of 54 migrant workers from Myanmar were found Wednesday suffocated in a freezer on the back of a truck, police said.
Torsak Harnsanam, a police officer at Suksumran Police Station in Ranong province in southern Thailand, said a village chief alerted police at 10 p.m. (11 a.m. ET) that he had found the truck.
Police investigated and, in addition to discovering the bodies, found 67 other migrants from Myanmar who were alive inside the freezer, Harnsanam said.
The chief said survivors told him they had tried from inside the freezer to signal the driver, who eventually pulled over, discovered the bodies and fled.
Some survivors were taken to a hospital in a nearby village; others were jailed.
Survivors told police they sneaked into Ranong province from Myanmar's Victoria Point by fishing boat, according to reports from The Associated Press. They were then packed into a small container truck for a trip to Phuket.
Ranong province is located about 467 kilometers (290 miles) south of Bangkok just across from Myanmar's Victoria point. The province is regarded as a major trading route between the two countries, the AP reported.
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Thailand has long depended on inexpensive labor from neighboring countries, including Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, which formerly was known as Burma.
The Thai government allows only a small number of immigrants from those countries, which has led to a number of smuggling cases.
There are about a million Myanmar workers registered to work in Thailand, and an additional million estimated to be in the country illegally to work mostly as laborers, the AP reported.
Some of the Myanmar migrants flee their country to escape armed conflicts between ethnic minority rebels and the Myanmar army, and others for lack of economic opportunity in their impoverished country, one of the poorest in Asia.
Many of those Myanmar migrants who do make it to Thailand, many illegal workers, wind up being abused by their employers.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International found in a 2005 report that workers from Myanmar take jobs that Thais consider too dirty, dangerous or demeaning, the AP reported. E-mail to a friend
CNN's Kochakorn J. Olarn in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
All About Thailand • Myanmar

News you can use

this is for all the neighborhood wives (from the site romanceclass.com) who've been talking a blue streak this week:
How to Give a Hickey
Hickey Facts and Information

Everybody always talks about hickeys in junior high and high school, but how do these mysterious red welts on peoples necks appear?

What Is a Hickey?
A hickey is actually broken blood vessels beneath the skin. It's sort of like a bruise, if you got hit with a baseball and the impact broke the blood vessels. But instead of being caused by a foul ball, it's caused by the other person's mouth.

How Do You Give a Hickey?
What you do is put your mouth against the side of their neck, in a kissing shape. You leave your mouth slightly open in the middle, like you're saying the letter "O". Now you suck in! You suck the skin into your mouth, in essence hurting it, and causing the blood vessels to break. This turns that circular area bright red. It doesn't take long, maybe 30 seconds.

If you really aren't good at suction, you can nibble with your teeth. But that is really a last resort, because now you're not giving them a hickey. Now you're just gnawing their skin to make it red.

Yes, giving a hickey hurts the person you're doing it to. You're breaking their blood vessels! But to some, a hickey is a temporary mark of love. Sort of like a red tattoo that fades naturally after a few days. It says "This girl (or guy) trusted me enough to let me damage their throat, one of the most sensitive parts of the human body".

Who Gives a hickey, the Boy or the Girl?
That's like asking who kisses who! Hickeys aren't a male or female thing. They're an "I was Here!" thing, sort of like a mark of pride. So either the girl or the guy can give it to each other. It's sort of a primitive way of saying "This boy is mine!" or "This girl belongs to me!"

Where does the Hickey Go?
Hickeys are marks of possession, so most people put them on the neck where they're nice and visible. Also, a hickey is caused by lips breaking blood vessels and that's easy to do on the sensitive neck. It's less easy to do, say, on the sole of someone's foot. Plus, nobody would see it there. Sure, you could put a hickey on someone's upper inner thigh, but unless they were wearing a swimsuit, nobody would see it. You might as well draw a smily face with magic marker :)

How Long does a Hickey Last?
A hickey is a bruise. Just like any other bruise you get on your body, it will fade when your body heals. There's no set rate. Some people heal quickly, some people heal slowly. It all depends on your own body. You must have been bruised before in your life! So you know how long bruises tend to last ...

How do I Hide my Hickey?
A hickey is put there to show up! It's a mark of I-Was-Here. Why else did you get a hickey on your neck? But let's assume that some wild hickey attacker got to you and now you have to hide the evidence. Again, it's a bruise. It won't just vanish with warm water or cold water or lukewarm water. You can get make-up concealer and try that, to cover it while it fades away naturally. Wear turtlenecks or scarves. If you tend to be a really slow healer, take vitamins and eat healthy food so your body has half a chance of healing up well. Stand in dark corners :)

It will NOT work to put water, ice, eye drops, or aspirin on your hickey. This is a bruise. Blood vessels are broken, they need to mend.

What if I Don't Want a Hickey on Me / Don't Want to Give a Hickey?
In fact I know MANY people who hate hickeys and would never want to give or receive one. To them, it is deliberately causing a partner pain and anguish, and physically harming them. Why would you ever want to do that to someone you cared about? It's just as bad as hitting them with your open palm and then admiring the welt you left. If you personally do NOT want to give or receive a hickey, that is your right. Never let anybody pressure you into doing something you feel uncomfortable with. A true partner would always value your feelings, and would not try to push you into something you didn't want to do.

Another sign of the apocalypse?

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- They may be pushing 40, but the New Kids are returning to the block.

New Kids on the Block sold millions of records in the late '80s and early '90s.

The boy band New Kids on the Block, which sold 70 million albums in the 1980s and early '90s, has reunited and plans to release a new album and go on tour. The reunion comes 20 years after the release of the group's multiplatinum album, "Hangin' Tough."

"The fan response to this has been incredible," band member Donnie Wahlberg told the Boston Herald.

Wahlberg said he was persuaded to get back together with his former bandmates -- Joey McIntyre, brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood -- when they decided to record new music. Wahlberg said he wrote 80 percent of the new material with McIntyre and Jordan Knight.

"I had no interest going out on a nostalgia tour and singing the same material," said Wahlberg, 38.

But he added: "We absolutely will do the old songs for sure."

Producer Maurice Starr formed the group in Boston in the 1980s, hoping to recreate the success he had with another teen group from Boston, New Edition.

At the height of their popularity, New Kids sold out world tours, marketed millions of dollars in merchandise and spawned a Saturday morning cartoon.

The group disbanded in 1994. Wahlberg has acted on television and in movies, while Jordan Knight, McIntyre and Wood released solo albums. Jonathan Knight became a real estate developer.