November 28, 2014

36 pound cat found in San Antonio will undergo weight loss program

SAN ANTONIO — A female cat named Butterball that weighed a whopping 36 pounds when Animal Care Services took her in earlier this month will undergo a dietary program designed to help obese cats lose weight.

Officers with Bexar County Animal Control Services picked up Butterball on Nov. 11 in the 2200 block of Mobeetie Trail on the West Side of Bexar County after a person said the animal bit them.

When weighed hours later, Butterball came in at 36 pounds, a record for San Antonio Animal Care Services, spokeswoman Lisa Norwood said. That’s roughly equivalent to a 5'9” human male that weighs 633 pounds, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention.

The average domestic cat weighs eight to 10 pounds, according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/36-pound-cat-found-in-San-Antonio-will-undergo-5920211.php

November 28, 2014

Harris County reserve deputy constable charged in road rage shooting

A reserve deputy constable with Harris County Precinct 6 has been charged with shooting a driver in a road rage incident earlier this month on the 610 South Loop, Houston police said.

Kenneth Caplan, 34, was arrested on Wednesday. He is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, accused of shooting a woman and grazing her head.

She was driving on the South Loop between Buffalo Speedway and Kirby on Nov. 11 when she was shot, according to Houston Police Department spokesman Kese Smith. She had non-life-threatening injuries, Smith said.

Caplan had fled the scene, but authorities found him at his home Wednesday and he confessed to shooting at the other driver, according to Smith.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Reserve-deputy-constable-charged-in-road-rage-5921850.php

November 28, 2014

Man arrested; deputies say he aimed banana at them

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — A man is facing a felony menacing charge after two western Colorado sheriff's deputies say he pointed a banana at them and they thought it was a gun.

The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reports 27-year-old Nathan Rolf Channing, of Fruitvale, was arrested Sunday.

According to an arrest affidavit, Mesa County deputies Joshua Bunch and Donald Love said they feared for their lives even though they saw that the object was yellow. Bunch wrote in the affidavit that he has seen handguns in many shapes and colors.

He wrote that Love was drawing his service weapon when Channing yelled, "It's a banana!"

The deputies say Channing told them he was doing a trial run for a planned YouTube video and he thought it would "lighten the holiday spirit."

http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-11-27/man-arrested-deputies-say-he-aimed-banana-them

November 28, 2014

Is dyed armpit hair the next big beauty trend? Will California Peggy be next?

Julia Roberts caused quite the media frenzy when the actress showed up at her 1999 movie premiere of "Notting Hill" with unshaven armpits. She proudly waved raised arms to her fans, not caring about the patches of hair under her arms catching the light of dozens of camera flashes.

Imagine for a moment the frenzy that could have ensued if her pits had been dyed blue.

Armpit hair and whether to shave it or not has been a subject of debate for years. And now, some woman are experimenting with dyeing their armpit hair. Yes, you read that correctly. They are dyeing their armpit hair blue, green, red and any other color that suits their fancy.

Roxie Hunt, a stylist at a salon called Vain in Seattle, has always wanted to experiment with dyeing a customer's armpit hair. She recenlty decided to give it a try and dyed a young woman's pits blue to match her blue hair.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/fashion/alltherage/la-ar-dyed-armpits-beauty-trend-20141125-story.html

November 28, 2014

From a FSU student at the shooting: The proper theology can save you.

[font color=green]I was checking out the Facebook page of an acquaintance and ran across this story. BTW, the acquaintance has gone ultra right-wing holy roller, posts anti-Islamic stories and memes, and used steroids which are some of the milder changes in his life.[/font]


Florida State senior Jason Derfuss was leaving the Strozier Library after checking out books just after midnight Thursday, when he heard the first shots. He ran from the scene, only to find later that his textbooks saved his life. (picture of theology textbook)

Florida State senior Jason Derfuss was leaving the Strozier Library after checking out books just after midnight Thursday, when he heard the first shots.

"I heard what was unmistakably a gunshot behind me, and initially, I kind of tried to rationalize it as a firecracker, but I knew exactly what it was," he told WESH 2 News.

"I didn't really know what to do, until I saw the gunman sprint across the front of Strozier, and he gunned down another student right in front of me about 50 feet away."

Derfuss said he was in shock as he saw the shooter, identified as FSU alumnus Myron May, opening fire on fellow students.

Read more: http://www.wesh.com/news/florida-state-shooting-witness-textbooks-stopped-bullet/29840050?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=wesh+2+news

November 28, 2014

Soccer Legend Pele in Special Care Unit at Brazil Hospital

Brazilian great Pele, who is being treated for a urinary tract infection, is in good condition and is expected to leave the hospital in the next few days, his spokesman said Thursday.

The Albert Einstein hospital released a statement saying the 74-year-old Pele was transferred to a "special care" unit after his condition became unstable, but his spokesman and personal aide denied his health condition deteriorated.

"He is fine," Jose Fornos Rodrigues, known as Pepito, told The Associated Press. "The problem was that he was receiving too many visitors and that wasn't helping, so they transferred him to a calmer area to continue receiving the proper treatment. He should be out of the hospital in a few days."

The hospital's statement created a scare in Brazil, with local media widely reporting that Pele's condition had worsened. The story was highlighted by most of the country's top web portals. Widely known as the greatest footballer of all time, Pele is a national hero in the South American country.

Read more: http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/Pele-Soccer-Hospitalized-Special-Care-Unit--284090491.html

[font color=green]I'm not sure if I posted this story in the correct group. Is soccer a sport?[/font]

November 28, 2014

Will El Supremo be changing his avatar after tonight's game?

No matter how the Texas vs. TCU game ends he will come out a winner.

November 27, 2014

Ready For A Thanksgiving Day Dust-Up?

Banning political discussion from Turkey Day would probably be a great idea in many families. But if you have a brother-in-law who parrots, verbatim, the most recent Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage show every time he opens his mouth, it's probably hopeless. Place settings of the nice red, white and blue illustration above aren't likely to solve anything. Facts don't penetrate the conservative mind. As Ken made clear when he defined "the whole hulking Modern American Right" Tuesday: "Our brains are like a fortress, and no way can you come in."

That isn't going to stop someone like Twitter superstar @LOLGOP from trying. Yesterday he published 5 Things To Tell Your Republican Relatives At Thanksgiving Dinner. "If," he suggests, "you make it to dessert and your uncle wants to rub in some election results, here are a few truth nuggets to salt his defensive wounds. To make sure he takes you seriously, tell him you read them all in email forwards."



- See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2014/11/ready-for-thanksgiving-day-dust-up.html

November 27, 2014

Amarillo strip clubs pay $300K in wage-and-hour suit

Beavers Gentlemen’s Club has paid a more than $300,000 court judgement in a federal wage-and-hour suit, effectively ending a suit filed by former employees.

The federal lawsuit, filed last year in Amarillo’s U.S. District by Perry Stevenson and Michael Clark, named Roozi Inc., Beavers Gentlemen’s Club, Cheetahs and Babes Gentleman’s Club and longtime Amarillo businessman Behrooz Sadigh-Pour as defendants.

Under terms of the settlement, the clubs will pay $318,379 plus interest to 21 employees who filed or joined the suit, according to a court judgment. Employees will receive unpaid wages in amounts ranging from $2,312 to $27,565.

The defendants also were ordered to pay $120,051 in attorneys’ fees and costs.

The suit claimed the clubs, owned by Sadigh-Pour, did not pay overtime or minimum wage to a class of employees, including disc jockeys, security personnel, bartenders, waiters and greeters, violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Read more: http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2014-11-27/amarillo-strip-clubs-pay-300k-wage-and-hour-suit

November 27, 2014

Dallasnews.com attacked by hackers early Thanksgiving morning

The Dallas Morning News was one of several large media and entertainment websites to briefly be attacked on Thanksgiving morning by hackers identifying themselves as the Syrian Electronic Army.

Some users of dallasnews.com who attempted to post comments on news stories between approximately 6:30 and 9 a.m. were greeted by a message that read: “You’ve been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA)” and then redirected to an image of the group’s logo, a Syrian flag and a message in Arabic.

Nicki Purcell, digital publisher of The News, said since dallasnews.com is a 24-hour news source, employees caught the intrusion and were able to resolve it quickly. The attack was focused on a widely used third-party tool that facilitates comments on news stories.

Even though the threat has been resolved, Purcell said editors of dallasnews.com have disabled the tool out of an abundance of caution. Readers will only be able to comment via the site’s live chats on Thursday.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/headlines/20141127-dallasnews.com-attacked-by-hackers-early-thanksgiving-morning.ece

[font color=green]The readers of The Dallas Morning News should be thankful that they won't have to read the ridiculous comments made by right wing trolls today.[/font]