Jason Leach is just 41 and in good health, but he’s already made arrangements for his cremains. Part of it has to do with his family history. “I’ve heard stories about my father trying to scatter his grandfather’s ashes from a boat,” Leach says. “It went terribly wrong, and they ended up sweeping him off the deck.” Things didn’t turn out much better at his own grandfather’s memorial service. “There was a strong breeze,” he remembers, grimacing. “And the ashes blew right into my face.” When his time comes, Leach, who lives in Scarborough, on the northeast coast of England, wants a more dignified ending. So he’s having his ashes pressed into a vinyl record.

It’s not the most conventional final resting place, but for Leach—a 20-year veteran of the U.K. music business, as a producer, performer, and co-founder of such independent labels as Subhead and House of Fix—it was the only logical choice. And he’s not alone. In 2009, Leach founded And Vinyly (rhymes with “And Finally”), an online service for people who, like him, want their earthly remains to live on as an analog recording. At first, the site was mostly ignored. “I didn’t expect much from it,” Leach says. “It was just for fun.” But word slowly began to spread, and over the past six months he’s been inundated with requests. He’s only processed four records so far—including one with the ashes of a DJ whose parents wanted their late son “to be played at his favorite clubs a few more times”—but Leach has had hundreds of inquiries. “I’m sometimes up 24 hours a day just answering calls,” he says.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-07/odd-jobs-turning-your-ashes-into-a-vinyl-record

A man tried to smuggle his pet turtle through security in Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport by hiding it in a KFC hamburger.

The incident occurred on the morning of July 29, when a man, surnamed Li, was about to board China Southern Airlines flight 345 to Beijing, Guangzhou Daily reported. As Li passed through airport security, X-ray screening machines detected a few “odd protrusions” sticking out of a KFC burger that the man had packed in his bag.

Airport staff determined that the protrusions looked suspiciously like turtle limbs, and asked to inspect Li’s luggage.

“There’s no turtle in there, just a hamburger,” Li reportedly insisted. “There’s nothing special to see inside.”

http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1293310/man-tries-smuggle-turtle-plane-hiding-it-hamburger

Nervous flyers might have been in for a shock when flicking through the movie selections on Qantas this year.

The Denzel Washington air-crash drama Flight was on the airline's on-demand entertainment system with other recent blockbusters from Hollywood.

Washington is the pilot during the film's white-knuckle opening scenes when his plane has a mechanical failure that sends it into a steep dive and, eventually, upside down.

Despite the scheduling of Flight, which would make anyone tighten their seatbelt, Qantas says it avoids movies likely to raise passenger anxiety about personal safety.
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"Excessively violent or culturally insensitive movies are generally avoided too," a spokesman said.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/travel/on-board-tv-terror-would-you-watch-flight-on-a-flight-20130729-2quj0.html#ixzz2aZU3sMsY

FORT MILL — A Fort Mill man was charged with criminal domestic violence Wednesday after deputies say he assaulted his girlfriend with a pizza, splattering pizza sauce on her face, arms and clothes.

Deputies were called to 1034 JW Wilson Road where they met with a 40-year-old woman who told police her boyfriend, Jimmy Ray Poage, threw pizza at her, according to a York County Sheriff’s report. Poage then grabbed her around her neck and slammed her against the kitchen counter.

When deputies arrived at the home, the woman’s arms, face and clothing were still covered in pizza sauce, the report states. There were also red marks on her neck and a cut on her back.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/07/27/5058652/deputies-fort-mill-man-assaulted.html#storylink=cpy

Apple of late has had a rough time in China, as the iPhone has been electrocuting many Chinese citizens. But it appears Apple is not alone and its arch rival Samsung is also facing some problems of its own with the Galaxy S4. Xianguo is reporting that a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone exploded while the owner was playing a game on it. The owner flung the burning device across his apartment onto a flammable couch while resulted in a nasty fire that burnt down the entire apartment.

The owner of the phone, Mr Du, said that he was playing Love Machine on the smartphone when the incident happened. He was charging the phone while playing the game, but he also insisted that he used official Samsung gear, neither the phone or any accessories including the charger were duplicates.

Samsung for its part is looking into the matter and will run a chemical analysis on the rubble to verify if the phone was indeed an original Samsung smartphone.



http://www.bgr.in/manufacturers/samsung/samsung-galaxy-s4-explodes-burns-down-hong-kong-apartment/

Paging Lex Luthor: Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson knows how to defeat your archenemy Superman.

According to Superman lore, the wavelengths emitted by red stars cause Kryptonians and Daxamites to lose their powers. The wavelengths emitted by yellow stars, on the other hand, are what give Superman his powers.

But all wavelengths of light are created equally, regardless of whether they come from a star or some other source.

“It is just light, so if it’s light that gave Superman his powers and it’s red light that took them away, then all you need to do is shine a red light on Superman and he’d be a crying mess,” Tyson explained. “We would have had him figured out long ago.”

Scientists also know how much energy Superman’s skin could absorb from a star. The hero would need some extra solar panels to account for his superpowers, Tyson said.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/29/neil-degrasse-tyson-explains-how-to-defeat-superman-with-a-flashlight/

The IKEA chain is known for providing its customers with amenities that extend beyond your run-of-the-mill shopping experiences, including babysitting services and a cafeteria.

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But one Israeli woman, it turns out, took that signature Swedish hospitality a bit too far.

During a visit last week to the Netanya outlet of the do-it-yourself mega-chain, the woman felt ill and vomited on one of the couches.

Apparently unembarrassed by her antics, she sauntered over to the bed section, where she proceeded to remove her shoes, settle into a queen-sized, and fall fast asleep.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/woman-pukes-at-ikea-stays-for-a-nap/

The most massive fruiting body of any fungus yet documented has been discovered growing on the underside of a tree in China.

The fruiting body, which is equivalent to the mushrooms produced by other fungi species, is up to 10m long, 80cm wide and weighs half a tonne.

That shatters the record held previously by a fungus growing in Kew Gardens in the UK.

The new giant fungus is thought to be at least 20 years old.

The first example of the new giant fungus was recorded by scientists in 2008 in Fujian Province, China, by Professor Yu-Cheng Dai of the Herbarium of biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shenyang and his assistant Dr Cui.

"But the type collection was not huge," Prof Dai told BBC Nature.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14294283

Original Story: A Good Samaritan snapped photos of what appeared to be two men impersonating police officers involved in a pistol-whipping and robbery outside a Citgo gas station on Detroit's east side on July 21.

Once Fox 2 aired those photos, an even more disturbing picture developed.

"Several unidentified police officers were working this particular robbery case, recognized one of the suspects in the photographs as being a member of the Detroit Police Department," Chief James Craig said Monday.

Now under arrest are two police sergeants, a 47-year-old officer and 20-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department and his 42-year-old buddy from the police academy, who is a former DPD cop and 17-year veteran of the St. Clair Shores Police Department. The later recently received a distinguished service award.

Read more: http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/22949343/breaking-news-police#ixzz2aXzWHR1P