World News(Stuff to Discuss) Free For All

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akes more sense than marrying one who fucks dudes on film for free. just sayin...

[ThatHaole]

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What if you are the dude on the film??? You know, homemade?

Does she like...photography?

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im sorry, i thought you were talking about normal "married" people....you know, the dudes who dont fuck anybody

[ThatHaole]

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Bwahahahah

I'll even let the missed Monty Python reference slide.

[maxbailey]

Lack of sleep 'linked to early death'

Getting less than six hours sleep a night can lead to an early grave, UK and Italian researchers have warned.

They said people regularly having such little sleep were 12% more likely to die over a 25-year period than those who got an "ideal" six to eight hours.

They also found an association between sleeping for more than nine hours and early death, although that much sleep may merely be a marker of ill health.

Sleep journal reports the findings, based on 1.5m people in 16 studies.

The study looked at the relationship between sleep and mortality by reviewing earlier studies from the UK, US and European and East Asian countries.

Premature death from all causes was linked to getting either too little or too much sleep outside of the "ideal" six to eight hours per night.

But while a lack of sleep may be a direct cause of ill health, ultimately leading to an earlier death, too much sleep may merely be a marker of ill health already, the UK and Italian researchers believe.

Time pressures

Professor Francesco Cappuccio, leader of the Sleep, Health and Society Programme at the UK's University of Warwick, said: "Modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take and this pattern is more common amongst full-time workers, suggesting that it may be due to societal pressures for longer working hours and more shift-work.

"On the other hand, the deterioration of our health status is often accompanied by an extension of our sleeping time."

If the link between a lack of sleep and death is truly causal, it would equate to over 6.3 million attributable deaths in the UK in people over 16 years of age.

Prof Cappuccio said more work was needed to understand exactly why sleep seemed to be so important for good health.

Professor Jim Horne, of the Loughborough Sleep Research Centre, said other factors may be involved rather than sleep per se.

"Sleep is just a litmus paper to physical and mental health. Sleep is affected by many diseases and conditions, including depression," he said.

And getting improved sleep may not make someone better or live longer, he said.

"But having less than five hours a night suggests something is probably not right.

"Five hours is insufficient for most people and being drowsy in the day increases your risk of having an accident if driving or operating dangerous machinery."

Ears save boy from death as crowds watch him dangle from window
A six-year-old boy was saved from certain death by his ears, which prevented him from falling from a high-rise apartment block.


Adventurous Ming Ming managed to get his head stuck in window bars of his home in Yinchang, China.

Crowds gathered after hearing his screams and rescuers moved into save the child from an eight storey drop.


An onlooker said: 'The only thing stopping him from plunging to the ground below was the fact his head was trapped between two window bars.'

Once inside the flat firefighters quickly used a hydraulic pressure expander to force the bars apart and pulled Ming Ming back into the apartment.

[ThatHaole]

A singular dispute
License plate pits man, lawmakers vs. Registry

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | May 6, 2010



MARBLEHEAD ? Biff Michaud lifted the door to his garage, looked at the license plate on his black Cadillac Escalade, and began to weep.

This, Michaud insisted, is not just any old tag.

In a state where drivers covet low-number plates, clamoring by the thousands for the few made available every year, Michaud's is among the creme de la creme: He is the proud owner of the lowest possible bus license plate "1" which was passed down from his late father and which he believes is a rightful part of his family legacy.

My dad used to say, "This is the single most important thing to me other than my personal health and family," he said, choking up.

Now, the cherished plate, known as Bus 1, is at the center of an emotional tug of war among the Legislature, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and Michaud, the chief executive of the Salem Witch Museum, whose large North Shore family founded Michaud Bus Lines in 1914.

Registry officials suspended Bus 1 last year, after they learned it was not on a bus, as required by law, but on Michaud's Cadillac. Then House lawmakers, prodded by Michaud's state representative, fought back, quietly passing a bill last month that would forever designate the Bus 1 plate for Biff Michaud and permit it on any type of vehicle he chooses; bus or no bus.

State Representative John D. Keenan, a Salem Democrat who knew Michaud's father through the Rotary Club, sponsored the legislation, which is awaiting action in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. It is one of many bills before the Legislature, derided as special favors by critics, that would change state law to benefit a single person or entity. Keenan said he sees nothing wrong with making a law for Michaud, whose father, J. Alex Michaud, was a decorated Navy commander, co-owner of the Trailways Bus Company, and longtime member of the Governor's Highway Safety Bureau.

"I don't care if it's Biff Michaud or John Q. Public, I would make the same determination," Keenan said. "It's because of the history, not because of who it is, but because of the facts behind the case."

Registry officials strongly oppose the legislation, saying it would set a dangerous precedent for the Legislature to grant a special license plate to one driver. They say it would also be unfair to the thousands of drivers who enter the annual lottery for low-number plates. In fact, Registry officials note, the Legislature established the lottery years ago to ensure that the plates were not given to drivers because of their political connections.

"The RMV does not normally comment on pending legislation and, obviously, we have to follow the dictates of any law," Registry spokeswoman Ann Dufresne said in a statement. "However, this legislation would throw the whole registration system into question."

The tale of Bus 1 begins in 1966, when Governor John Volpe awarded it to Michaud's father to honor his service to the community. Michaud said the plate was more important to his father than even his World War II medals, which include a Bronze Star.

After he inherited the plate, Michaud said, he put it on a black Cadillac Fleetwood that he used to drive VIPs around Boston. Frank Sinatra, Smokey Robinson, and Willie Mays were among his passengers, he said. The Canadian racecar driver Gilles Villeneuve, he said, once looked at the Bus 1 plate and exclaimed, as he climbed in for a ride, "I feel like a king."

State officials and business executives, he said, often requested Bus 1 for special occasions.

"We've used that for 50 years for the benefit of Massachusetts and for our community," Michaud said.

It is difficult to overstate how emotional Michaud is about the plate. At night, he said, he sometimes raises the garage door just to look at it.

"This has just absolutely torn my heart out," said Michaud, a burly 62-year-old with a monogrammed ring and monogrammed shirt cuffs. "I don't have my dad. This is his badge of honor. It keeps him alive in my memory, and not having this reminds me daily that he's dead."

"No one ever made a fuss about the Bus 1 plate not being on a bus, he said, until two years ago when a "two-bit jealous individual" whom he declined to name called the Registry to complain.

"He brings down and dishonors my father's memory in this way?" Michaud said. "It's just appalling."

He recalled how months later, in late 2008, his teenage son found a letter from the Registry, warning that the plate would be suspended.

"?My son saw that and he said, "Dad, read it," " Michaud said. I said, "They want me to turn in Bus 1.? And he said, "Why, Dad" It's grandpa's license plate." And I said, "It's just jealousy, son."

Registry officials said that after two hearings with Michaud, they had no choice but to suspend the plate. State law, they said, requires that bus plates be used only on vehicles that carry 10 passengers or more. Michaud said his Escalade fits nine. He said he would never display the Bus 1 plate as a mere showpiece, and doesn't want to put it on an actual bus. "It would look like you're bringing someone to the Ramada Inn," he said disdainfully. "It has never been on a vehicle other than a black Cadillac."

State Senators Bruce E. Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, and Frederick E. Berry, a Peabody Democrat, are helping Keenan push Michaud's bill. No one in the Legislature has expressed opposition, Keenan said. But Michaud is deeply worried. He said his drive to reinstate Bus 1 is finally "on the 2-yard line" so close but still not there.

"It is my dad," he said, pointing at the plate. "Everybody knows it's my dad. And I just hope the Legislature understands that."

^^^
"Agreed"
"+1 I agree"
"hahaha lol"
"My thoughts exactly"
WTF. That's f*cked up. Bizarre.
"What the fuck, man?"
"I dont know, man."
"I dont fucking care, man."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rshdJZruH_0

[gimmebeer]

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In a great example of how companies need evolve their customer service in the new world of openness, I wanted to share this story with you. My 8 year old son, Harry, loves to draw planes. In fact, that's all he likes to draw. After drawing a couple of hundred pictures over the last six months, Harry had a great idea. He'd send one of his favorite drawings to Boeing and ask them if they'd like to build his new jet he designed. He was so passionate about it and must have rewritten the letter a dozen times. We sent it off. You can only imagine what happened.



Yep. We got the form letter, above. It's the standard fare that most legal departments send out to make sure they aren't at risk of any IP infringement issues. As a business owner, I get it. It is logical. But, my sense is that companies who don't figure out how to do customer service and innovation in the world of openness will, in the short-run, stunt their growth and, in the long-run cease to exist. And, if you don't ave any customers you certainly don't need customer service.

Some brave companies are venturing into the deep end to figure this out. Zappos, Best Buy, Nokia, Starbucks and Dell have all set up web sites to accept customer input in new and open ways. These are the leaders of the revolution. They are the early winners in the first days of the age of openness.

Now, I have a moral dilemma. Do I show the letter to Harry and kill his dream of being an airplane designer or throw it away and tell him I didn't receive anything so he keeps his artistic passion alive.