- Setting the Thanksgiving turkey afire in yet another
ill-fated attempt to deep-fry it apparently was not enough to satiate the
pyromaniacal ways of one Norwich, Conn. resident. While dropping the family’s
Butterball turkey into the deep fryer and hoping you don’t burn down the house
in the process is fun, there is nothing quite like torching the entire fleet of
cruisers for the local police department to light up one’s holiday. Sure, the Norwich Police Department lost all of its
cruisers a suspicious early-morning fire Thursday, but why does a town need
police cruisers? Horses and foot patrols worked well for a long time, so maybe
they can work again. According to Norwich police, the fire was put out quickly
but the cruisers were completely destroyed. Evidence of an accelerant was found
in the police parking lot, suggesting the fire was intentionally set. Vermont
State Police investigators have since contradicted that assertion and said the
blaze was not suspicious, but that could just be The Man trying to throw
everyone off the scent of what really happened. Norwich Police Chief Douglas
Robinson is being more cautious in issuing a definitive judgment and managing
to stay in the holiday spirit. "Right now, it's undetermined. They might
think it's mechanical failure and the radiant heat set the other two cruisers
on fire, but that's under preliminary investigation," Robinson said.
"This is a day of thanks and no one was hurt, just some bent metal and
stuff that can be replaced." The destroyed cruisers are valued at $100,000
and even for The Man, insurance red tape could delay the replacement process as
long as two months. In the interim, the department will borrow horses, er,
vehicles from other departments……….
- Life can be difficult for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD). Medication can help ADHD suffers function better in their daily lives
and according to Swedish researchers, that medicine may also make these
individuals less of a threat to society. A Swedish study has suggested that
medications used to control the disorder may also make individuals less likely
to commit crimes. This runs counterintuitive to many of the commonly held
opinions about ADHD sufferers, who are seen as more likely to experience
difficulty in school, holding down jobs, sustaining relationships and to be at
greater risk for alcohol or substance abuse, depression and anxiety. To probe
the topic, researchers used a Swedish registry of more than 25,650 people with
ADHD and compared medication history with criminal records from 2006 to 2009.
Men who were taking medication for ADHD were 32 percent less likely to commit a
crime, while women were 41 percent less likely to do so, regardless of the type
of medication being used. Furthermore, most of the crimes were non-violent,
with burglary being the most common, according to lead researcher Dr. Paul Lichtenstein
of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. “The most probable interpretation would be
that medication reduces symptoms like impulsivity, and that would be similar
regardless of country or culture,” Lichtenstein said. The study did not examine
the direct causality of medication affecting crime levels, but Lichtenstein
theorized it was like because medication reduces symptoms related to ADHD, such
as impulsivity, restlessness and irritability, that could lead to criminal
acts. Either way, it’s definite proof that just because you are able to pay
attention better, you don’t need to use your added focus to knock over a bank
or convenience store………
- The culprit can often be the least likely suspect. In
the NBA’s crusade against flopping, the first player to be fined for taking a
dive and trying to oversell physical contact is a bruising forward known for
his physical play and on-court toughness. Brooklyn Nets reserve power forward
Reggie Evans has the distinction of receiving the first flopping fine after the
league announced Wednesday night that he had been penalized $5,000 for picking
up his second flopping violation of the season late in the third quarter of
Tuesday night's 95-90 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Evans has made his mark
in the league as a rebounder and physical defender, but he sounded anything but
tough after news of his fine broke. "Feel
like the FEDS looking at the Boi. #iaintlyin!!!!!!!!!!!!" he tweeted.
In a wonderfully ironic twist, Evans flop came after contact with the man who
started the biggest athlete-fan brawl in the history of American professional
sports and the player who nearly decapitated an opposing player with a vicious
elbow to the head last season, Metta
World Peace. Evans made a pass near midcourt against the Lakers and ran into
World Peace. Evans oversold the contact as to make it look like a shove and World
Peace was whistled for a foul. After the game, an angry World Peace took issue
with Evans' flop, as well as what he felt were two flops by Gerald Wallace of
the Nets. "What was the best flop tonight? out of the three?i am so happy
the nba charges $5000 per flop......" World Peace tweeted. "The two
gerad wallace flops were crazy..lol i am on the court like"what in the
world"!!! it is crazy because i am still strong but quicker. i was so
nervous when gerald wallace flopped twiced.lol i thought the ref ws going to
call a foul on me.” World Peace, who grew up in the borough of Queens, not far
from Brooklyn, went on to point out that hypocrisy of a player balling for the
Brooklyn Nets and being a serial flopper. “But now its out of hand..... the
refs did a good job on the gerald wallace flops... but they missed the reggie
evans flop.... its ok.. they will catch the next ones ... You can not flop and
play for brooklyn..!! Brooklyn equals , red bricks, streets, the gutter,
marcy,soul in the hole,gershwin park,etc..." World Peace added. Well said,
Metta…….
- Who hasn’t listened to a Slipknot album and thought to
themselves, “This is great, but what would really sound awesome is a mash-up of
Slipknot and that Canadian pop-singing chick Justin Bieber!” The pairing is so
logical that it’s a miracle the death metal band and the embodiment of
bubble-gum pop music haven't found each other before now. That could change now
that Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has expressed an interest in
working with Bieber. Maybe Taylor could
combined his stated interest in venturing into dance music with his hoped-for
collaboration with Bieber because Bieber is more or less a glorified dance
music artist anyhow. Taylor even has a name for his potential dance project
“The Boogie Knight Rises.” Why would the frontman for one of the angriest,
darkest metal bands around want to record a dance album? Taylor explained that
he wants to do something "funny and sarcastic" with music, but does
not want to follow the path paved by alt-metal peers Korn, who released a
dubstep album. Taylor called the dubstep genre "tired" and
"bullsh*t.” "I want to do... something funny and sarcastic, and I'm
not talking '70s dance (and) not that tired f*cking dubstep bullsh*t. I want to
make it something that's got that old school feel to it but with a modern
twinge. Just get ridiculous with it. I've already got a name for myself - the
Boogie Knight,” he added. Ridiculous sounds like the perfect description of a
successful metal lead singer shredding his musical credibility by working with
the prime example of someone squeezing every last second out of their 15
minutes of fame while also pursuing ambitions to release an album of dance
music. A beautiful disaster in the making………..
- Secession: It’s not just an American concept. South Sudan
withdrew from Sudan last year to form the world’s newest country and now, the
Catalonia region of Spain is pushing even harder to do the same. The wealthy northeastern
region of Spain has long favored independence, but the separatist dream of
millions has never come to fruition. Support for independence has never been
stronger, but Catalonians are also facing the harsh realities of what breaking
free could mean. Going out on its own could mean starting out as a country that
has to wait years to join the European Union, placing a major barrier in the
way of doing business with its most important trading partners. EU officials
have made it clear that an independent Catalonia would face the same membership
conditions of any other candidate nation. Elections taking place Sunday
are being cast as a test of the regional government's plans to hold a
referendum on independence. A survey done earlier this month showed that while nearly
half of Catalans support independence, just 37 percent maintain that position
if the new nation would be shut out of the EU. Oh, and the union’s treaty
stipulates that each of the 27 member states can veto a candidate nation's
accession, so a snubbed Spain could EU c*ck-block Catalonia's entry. That
is a major concern for the pro-independence Catalonians holding the
red-and-yellow stripes, blue triangle and white star of the
"estelada" flag that symbolizes the region’s independence drive to
consider. Artur Mas, the movement’s leader, remains optimistic that an
independent Catalonia would be swiftly welcomed into the EU. "Catalonia
has never in its history let Europe down, now we trust Europe will not let us
down,” he proclaimed during a speech in Brussels. Many business owners in the
region remain pro-independence, but Jose Manuel Lara, the president of media
giant Planeta, said he would move his company from Barcelona to Spain if
Catalonia went independent, in order to remain based in the EU. It sounds
like there is still much to figure out before Catalonia steps out to become the
world’s 194th country………
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