CAROLINA NATURALLY: Jan 1, 2010

Friday, January 1, 2010

Cop News

In Cop News

California police officer won't face charges for kicking surrendering suspect in head

Two Texas police officers fired, one arrested the other un-named, amid allegations of misconduct and assault

Judge shields info on arrested Maine police chief

City Councilman says Arkansas police chief facing aggravated assault charges was supposed to have been fired months ago

Oregon deputy gets probation for Tasering man in strip club

Louisiana deputy is booked on domestic violence charge

South Carolina police officer arrested for drunken hit-and-run

What can those new full-body do-dads really do?

The administration has ordered another 150 full body scanners to go to airports around the country, with another 300 to be purchased by 2012.

As Mike Signorile tweeted the other day:

New term for 2010: Airport anorexia: Irrational fear of anticipated full-body scan. U know ppl will be purging days before a flight.

Oh, and the other part of the story is how TSA promises there will be no way the machine will be able to make copies of your nude body. Uh huh. Because no one at TSA has a cell phone.

Mudslide kills 15 people at Brazilian resort

A rain-loosened slab of hillside collapsed on three houses and an upscale lodge after New Year celebrations at a resort city near Rio de Janeiro, killing at least 15 people, Brazilian authorities said.

Full Story

California school official killed in Mexico

The bodies of six men -- including a California educator -- were found Thursday in the north-central Mexican state of Durango, hours after they had been abducted from a nearby restaurant, the man's relatives said Friday.

Full Story

Northwest Airlines Flight Diverted Because of Christmas Ornament

Northwest Airlines must feel snakebit.

Not only was it the airline involved in the Christmas Day incident involving Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian national, that almost resulted in Flight 253 being taken down over Detroit, it was also the "victim" of a false alarm a few days later over intestinal distress.

On New Year's day, there was yet another NWA false alarm.

Full Story

Wyoming man kills mountain lion eating his llama

A Wyoming llama owner says he fatally shot a mountain lion that had killed at least one of his animals.

Full Story

Chicago Cop Tasered Diabetic Undergoing Seizures Eleven Times

A suburban Chicago police officer tasered a man 11 times while he was having a diabetic seizure, says a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Chicago.

The policeman tasered the victim because accidentally lashed out and hit the officer during his seizure.

Full story

Crews contend with 19 pythons at trailer fire

Crews responding to a trailer fire in southern Utah had another factor to contend with: snakes.

Full Story

Hockey game in baseball stadium thrills

Fenway Park's stunning transformation into a hockey arena set the stage for a classic NHL scene.

Overtime finish

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Do airport pat-down searches work?

Restrictive rules often make pat-downs an ineffective last line of defense against terrorism.

Privacy vs. protection

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Iraqis outraged by Blackwater ruling

A U.S. judge throws out the case against a security team accused of killing 17.

'There is no justice'

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Dubai aims high with new skyscraper

The struggling Persian Gulf emirate hopes to polish its image by opening the world's tallest tower.

57 elevators

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How to keep your New Year's resolutions

Expert tips to help you stick to your goals to lose weight, quit bad habits, and more.

'Get better friends'

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Healthy tips to undo holiday damage

Refresh your body and mind for the new year with these simple everyday steps from Dr. Oz.

Eat 'power' foods

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What theaters don't want you to know

Most places would actually prefer that you don't come during a film's opening weekend.

Their take on cell phones

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I-40 likely closed until March

The interstate has been closed near the Tennessee line since late October, and officials say it may not reopen until March.

Crews Working Through Holiday To Stabilize I-40 Rockslide Site

US Marines man eerie outpost with strange lights and whispers in the night ...

The Marines found the bone as they scraped a shallow trench. Long, dry and unmistakably once part of a human leg, it was followed by others.

“The local people say this is a cursed place,” he said. “You will definitely see weird-ass lights up here at night.”

Others in the outgoing unit had reported odd sounds. “It is weird what you hear and don’t hear around here,” he added.

Each successive detachment that guards the Rock appears to add its own layer to the legend, which has spread through the Marine units pushing into southern Helmand.

Full story

'Demon Cat' Carcass Found In Arizona

More from the Creepy Case Files

The carcass resembles that of a domestic cat, but with several noticeable differences.
The animal is described as “sabertoothed” because it’s incisor teeth are elongated into fangs, the front limbs of the creature are also longer than an ordinary cat’s legs and appear to have an extra joint giving the appearance of large feet.
Even more bizarrely the carcass reveals evidence of possible wings protruding from the animal’s back.

Full Story

Medical Humor

Name something a duck can do, that a doctor won't.

Stick his bill up his ass.

Creepy Case Files

Doctors are surprised to find tarantula hairs sticking out of the cornea of a patient.

Tarantula Shoots Hairs into Owner's Eye

Judge Rules California State Worker Furloughs Invalid

Earlier this year, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered state workers to take furloughs in an attempt to close the state's burgeoning budget gap.
On Thursday, an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled that in doing so Schwarzennegger overstepped his powers, and ordered the state to halt to furloughs for a number of state employees.

Full story

Pink car park for women shoppers

A pink car park with wider spaces was built for women to use when they visit a Chinese shopping center.

Pink car park for women shoppers

Smoking, animal shelter, ethics rules arrive in NC

A smoldering cigarette butt in a trash can sparked a fraternity fire that killed five students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996, and smoking materials may have caused a 2007 Brunswick County beach house fire that killed seven South Carolina college students.

Fire safety officials believe legislation taking effect Friday requiring tobacco companies to sell "fire-safe" cigarettes in North Carolina will lead to fewer smoking-related fire fatalities, serious burns and property damage.

North Carolina's law, passed in 2007, is one of more than 30 laws taking effect with the New Year.

People shouldn't have to suffer because someone was careless with a cigarette, said Ernest Grant with the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, which receives as many as 150 patients annually with injuries related to unattended cigarettes.

"The whole purpose of this legislation is not to tell people you can't smoke but if you are smoking there's a safer way to do it," Grant said.

The most high-profile change will begin Saturday when a ban on smoking in the state's restaurants and bars will take effect. Smokers could face $50 fines and restaurants could be penalized $200 a day for ignoring the law.

Other new-year laws will streamline local government animal shelter rules when people try to find lost pets, crack down on motorists inappropriately using handicapped parking permits, and require county commissions and local school boards to adopt ethics codes.

The "fire-safe" cigarettes are made with different paper that slows ignition, making them more likely to go out if left unattended. The standards require cigarettes to burn out at least 75 percent of the time when not in active use. The cigarettes can be lit again.

North Carolina is one of 12 states making the change Friday to require all cigarettes to meet standards first implemented by New York in 2004. Every state but Wyoming now has a similar law that is in effect or will take effect by 2011, said Lorraine Carli, a spokeswoman for the National Fire Protection Association.

Carli said North Carolina's passage helped build momentum for the legislation to go essentially nationwide because of the state's financial and historical connections to tobacco: "If it can happen in a state with a big tobacco industry, it could happen everywhere."

Carli said the association of builders, architects and other fire safety officials projects the laws could help cut smoking-related fire fatalities by up to half -- deaths that typically number 700 to 900 annually.

North Carolina law gives vendors time to sell their inventories of cigarettes that don't meet the standard.

Another law specifies that owners looking for a wayward pet usually are entitled to view every animal held in a shelter operated by or for local governments. The shelter also must be open at least three days a week for four hours a day. Animals also must be made available for adoption before being sold or euthanized following a required 72-hour waiting period.

"We needed to standardize the process so people did get a reasonable opportunity to claim their pets before they were euthanized," said Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, the bill's primary sponsor.

Law enforcement also have more tools to stop motorists from using handicapped parking permits that don't belong to them or have expired.

The expiration date on the placards now will be visible from at least 20 feet. Recipients also will get a registration card that police can check against the placards to prevent fraud.

The new local government ethics law also requires elected and appointed officials to receive two hours of ethics education within 12 months of taking office.

Daredevil sets record with car jump

Travis Pastrana drives his rally car off a pier, soaring 269 feet over water onto a floating barge.

Watch it

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More pics from the jump

NC Restaurants Become Smoke Free On Saturday

From the "Hallelujah, it's about time!" Department:

Smokers could face $50 fines and restaurants $200-a-day penalties for ignoring the law.

NC Restaurants Become Smoke Free On Saturday

Iranian Regime Banning Protestors From Their Schools, Derailing Careers

From Crooks and Liars:

These Iranian students are really putting it on the line for their beliefs, even risking their own futures:

Behind the drama unfolding in the streets of Iran, the regime is quietly clamping down on some of the nation's best students by derailing their academic and professional careers.

On Wednesday, progovernment militia attacked and beat students at a school in northeastern Iran. Since last Sunday's massive protests nationwide, dozens of university students have been arrested as part of an aggressive policy against what are known as Iran's "star students."

In most places, being a star means ranking top of the class, but in Iran it means your name appears on a list of students considered a threat by the intelligence ministry. It also means a partial or complete ban from education.

The term comes from the fact that some students have learned of their status by seeing stars printed next to their names on test results.

Mehrnoush Karimi, a 24-year-old law-school hopeful, found out in August that she was starred. She ranked 55 on this year's national entrance exam for law schools, out of more than 70,000 test-takers. That score should have guaranteed her a seat at the school of her choice. Instead, the government told her she wouldn't be attending law school due to her "star" status.

Ms. Karimi says she thinks she got starred because she volunteered in the presidential campaign of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi last spring. She also participated in several antigovernment "Green Movement" protests that are convulsing Iran.

"They tell me, 'You are not allowed to study or work in this country any more.' Why? Because I voted for Mousavi and wore a green scarf?" says Ms.Karimi in a phone interview from the city of Isfahan, where she lives.

More than 1,000 graduate students have been blocked from higher education since the practice began in 2006, according to statements by Mostafa Moin, a former education minister, in official media in September.

Star treatment is reserved for graduate students, although undergrads also face suspension for political activity, according to student-rights activists. Several hundred undergrads have been suspended for as many as four semesters, according to student activists and human-rights groups in Iran. Under Iran's higher-education law, students are dismissed from school if they miss four terms.

Best careers for the new year

10 best careers for the new year

These fields are expected to add jobs at an above-average pace over the next decade.

One will grow 33%

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Today is ...

Today is Friday, Jan. 1, the 1st day of 2010.

There are 364 days left in the year.

Today In History January 1

January is:

Celebrate Life Month,
International Creativity Month,
National Hot Tea Month

January 1st - 7th is:

Celebration of Life Week

Today is:

Mummer's Parade,
Z Day
and
New Year's Day

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Elverum, Hedmark, Norway
Sanitago, Region Metropolitana, Chile
Coventry, England, United Kingdom
Orangeville, Ontario, Canada
Basildon, England, United Kingdom
Ipswich, England, United Kingdom
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Narbonne, Languedoc-Roussillon, france
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Szczecin, Zachodnipomorskie, Poland
Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom

as well as Wales, Netherlands, and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Try to deal with today's issues immediately - though it may feel as if you've got the whole year to get things done, you are much better off starting with a more-or-less clean plate.

Not a bad idea.

Happy New Year

2010

Welcome to ...

Friday, January 1, 2010

Naturally Friends

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