Boston terrier sets 'eye-popping' world record

Wed, 30 May 2012 10:16:32 GMT

Bruschi, a 4-year-old Boston terrier in Grapevine, Texas, has set a Guinness World Record for a dog with the largest eyes -- each one measuring a whopping 1.1 inches in diameter.

Bruschi's owner, Victoria Reed, said she didn't really notice his superlatively large eyes at first. But after friends, family and his veterinarian commented on how large they were she submitted an application for a GWR title on his behalf -- which quickly led to the title he now holds.

Reed said Bruschi loves to play wither her other Boston terrier, Toby, and particularly enjoys dressing up in T-shirts and bandannas and chewing on tennis balls.

According to Reed, Bruschi had a very worrying medical scare one night in 2011, when one of his eyes popped out of its socket. Fortunately, a local vet was able to patch him up, and he is now perfectly healthy -- although he now only has peripheral vision.

As for whether other dogs have noticed Bruschi's extraordinary peepers, Reed said some area canines seem intimidated by him on occasion.

"He will growl at random dogs, maybe he's saying 'don't laugh at me,'" she told GWR officials.

Reed told the Huffington Post that Bruschi was named after former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, and was adopted from a rescue center in 2009

She said abuse by his previous owner led him to suffer from inflamed intestines, limiting him to eating bland food and treats. But she said he is healthy and happy in his new home with her.

Although his new fame is linked to his odd looks, Reed said she feels that Bruschi is delighted about his new title.

"I honestly feel like he would be really happy about it. Some people do make fun of him for his looks, but I feel like he would go up to them and say, 'Ha, look where I am now, I've got a record for my looks,'" she said.

Elvis' original crypt up for auction

Tue, 29 May 2012 15:04:30 GMT

The King is dead -- or so they say, even though his original crypt is empty.

And one person could soon own the place that served as Elvis Presley's first, but not final, resting place, by being the highest bidder.

Starting the middle of next month, Julien's Auctions of Beverly Hills, California, will conduct the sale of the crypt, which is part of a large granite and marble mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.

This is no fleeting prize: The winner or their loved one can be interred for all of eternity exactly where Presley and his mother were for about two months.

Unless conspiracy theorists are to be believed -- in which case a 77-year-old Presley may be still snacking on peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwiches on some secluded isle -- the late legendary singer is currently buried in the meditation garden at Graceland, his Memphis estate.

Presley purchased that home and its 14 acres in 1957, a few years after his career had taken off. In his career, he sold more than a billion records, starred in 33 films, captured 14 Grammy nominations and earned the moniker "The King of Rock 'n' Roll," not to mention the adoration of hundreds of thousands of rabid fans, according to his official biography.

It was in a bathroom of his Graceland mansion that Presley was found dead August 16, 1977, due to what authorities said was an irregular heartbeat.

But after 200 friends and relatives attended his funeral there two days later, he had to leave -- his body was moved about five miles south to Forest Hill Cemetery.

His father, Vernon, wanted to bury Elvis at Graceland, but needed time for the state of Tennessee to grant permission to bury a person on private grounds, according to the Julien's Auctions website. Until then, the late singer was put in the crypt at the Memphis cemetery, soon joined by his mother -- Vernon's widow, Gladys Presley -- who also was disinterred and put in the same mausoleum vault.

The bodies of both son and mother were moved within two months to Graceland, where visitors pay their respects to them to this day.

As to Elvis's original crypt, it has remained empty since the King left the mausoleum, marked by a statue commemorating his weeks there.

The lot up for auction includes Presley's original crypt, the chance to open and close the vault and crypt for burial, an inscription and the use of a small, abutting chapel for a committal service, Julien's Auctions notes.

Those wishing to purchase this eternal piece of music history can't come empty-handed: Bids start at $100,000.

More than 100 items found in belly of SC gator

Tue, 29 May 2012 12:44:01 GMT

Alligator trappers in Hilton Head Island, S.C., said they found some interesting things when they cut open the stomach of a 13-foot nuisance gator they caught in the area -- some sports balls and a smaller gator were among its previous meals.

Mark Carinus, who works for the pest control company Critter Management, said the alligator was caught at an area park, and inside its stomach the trappers found 53 fishing lures, a half-pound of metal sinkers, two baseballs, one tennis ball and two other balls -- that were unidentifiable because they had been partially digested -- as well as a 4-foot gator, the Island Packet reported.

According to the publication, some of the gator's other meals included two turtles, a beer can and 48 rocks.

"People don't understand that this gator could not be relocated," Carinus told the newspaper. "It would eat any smaller gator. It snapped up the soccer ball at the water's edge, and it could easily snatch a dog or a small child."

Carinus said the gator ate just about anything that crossed its path.

To read the original story click here.

Man pays off $114K in student loans -- in cash

Mon, 28 May 2012 17:46:30 GMT

A Canadian man stunned loan officers when he used $114,000 in cash to pay off his student loans.

His Facebook photo of the receipt for $114,460 (US $111,350) has since gone viral.

Alex Kenjeev graduated from the University of Toronto in 2009 and found himself in a position to pay off his college debt after selling off a successful software start-up. He's currently president of O'Leary Ventures, a company owned by Kevin O'Leary of ABC's "Shark Tank," ABC News reported.

Kenjeev said he thought it would be funny to pay off the loans in cash.

So he went to his local Royal Bank of Canada and asked to withdraw $114,460. His request was delayed for three days as bank staff collected and counted the cash, the Vancouver Sun reported.

"Their initial reaction was they didn't want to do it," Kenjeev told ABC News. "Then they said, 'We can't give you this much." And I said, 'What do you mean? I deposit my money here with the expectation that I can take it out. Is this not what banks have been doing for hundreds of years?'"

He received the cash in a small, window-less room in the bank.

Kenjeev put the stack of bills in a grocery bag and walked two blocks away to the bank where the student loan was held. Once again, bank staff had to be mobilized to count the cash, but eventually his transaction was processed and he walked out debt-free, according to the Sun.

"It feels good," he told ABC News. "It feels like a weight has been lifted."

Engineers find cure for ketchup stuck in bottles

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:40:57 GMT

A team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found a solution to one of life's greatest mysteries: how to make ketchup pour as easily as milk.

PhD candidate Dave Smith and his team of mechanical engineers and nano-technologists at the Varanasi Research Group said they spent the past two months developing LiquiGlide -- a slippery bottle coating made of nontoxic, FDA-approved materials -- that solves the frustratingly difficult act of pouring thick sauces out of bottles, Co.Exist on Fast Company reported.

"It's funny: Everyone is always like, 'Why bottles? What's the big deal?'" Smith told Fast Company. "But then you tell them the market for bottles -- just the sauces alone -- is a $17 billion market. And if all those bottles had our coating, we estimate that we could save about one million tons of food from being thrown out every year."

The group posted videos of LiquiGlide in action on its website.

The scientists said the substance can be sprayed onto the surfaces of many types of packaging -- including glass and plastic -- with the same results.

As for the ingredients of the coating, Smith and his team would only say that they worked with materials that already have an FDA stamp of approval for use in food packaging.

According to the reports, the group is shopping LiquiGlide around to prospective bottle companies and also considering future applications in the aviation industry as well as oil and gas.

To read the original story click here.

Woman trapped in folding chair for 2 days

Thu, 24 May 2012 17:55:30 GMT

An 84-year-old Swedish woman is recovering after being trapped in a folding chair on her balcony for two days.

The chair collapsed underneath the woman on Saturday as she was enjoying the sunshine on her balcony in Karlskrona, southeast Sweden, the Kvallsposten newspaper reported.

She was unable to free herself and remained trapped for 48 hours.

Friends became concerned when she didn't show up for church on Sunday and a newspaper outside her apartment had not been picked up. A caretaker opened the door with a spare key on Monday and discovered the woman, Kvallsposten reported.

Firefighters freed the woman and she was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries, according to the newspaper.

Police: Drinking man brought zebra, parrot along for ride

Wed, 23 May 2012 16:47:41 GMT

The charge is rather routine -- an Iowa man was arrested over the weekend, accused of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, according to a police report. What makes this case unusual are the passengers that police in Dubuque say were with him: a parrot on his shoulder and a zebra in the back seat.

"They love going for rides," John Reiter's girlfriend, Vicky Teters, said to CNN affiliate KCRG.

"We treat them like our kids. They come in the house, we take them outside and take them for walks. We take them for car rides," Teters told KCRG. "They go and get the mail with me."

Dubuque Police Lt. Samuel Baxter told CNN that quite a few people called in to alert the police about a "zebra and parrot trapped in a vehicle parked at a bar."

Officer Chad Leitzen described in his report what he saw as he arrived: "I did observe two white male subjects in the front of the vehicle. I also observed a zebra in the back seat of the vehicle and a parrot on the driver's shoulder."

Leitzen then conducted a breathalyzer test that he said Reiter subsequently failed with a blood alcohol content of .148. The legal limit in Iowa is .08, according to Iowa's Department of Transportation website.

Reiter was arrested Sunday and held overnight, while the zebra and parrot were taken safely to a friend's house.

Tons of pot found floating off Calif. coast

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:25:06 GMT

Three and a half tons of marijuana were found by a boater floating in the ocean off Southern California.

A boater spotted the 160 bales of pot at about noon Sunday. Orange County authorities and the Coast Guard sent boats to gather up the pot and turn it over to the U.S. Border Patrol, The Associated Press reported.

It's unclear who dumped the marijuana, which weighs about 7,000 pounds and has an estimated street value of $3 million, according to the AP.

Border Patrol spokesman Jerry Conlin told The Huffington Post that the discovery was "not normal" because officials didn't see a boat or high-speed chase near the abandoned bales.

"To find that much out there floating in the water is not normal," he said. "There have been no arrests made at this moment, and there's no vessel that's been seized. It is an ongoing investigation."

Candidate for Mexican congress appears topless on billboards

Tue, 22 May 2012 15:46:48 GMT

It's a campaign that's raising a lot of eyebrows in Mexico.

The campaign involves a 34-year-old philosophy professor named Natalia Juarez, who's running for the Mexican congress. When Juarez realized her bid for office was off to a slow start a few weeks ago, the leftist candidate quickly decided she was going to be transparent with voters in a way they didn't expect.

Juarez decided to appear topless on a billboard surrounded by half-a-dozen supporters of her party, the PRD (Party of the Democratic Revolution). The billboard shows the seven women, including Juarez, naked from the waist up and covering sensitive areas with their right hands while they raise their left fists. (See billboard)

The candidate says it's her way of giving voters in Mexico a wake-up call.

"Society is lethargic. We don't seem to be aware of our role. We need to get energized. We need to tell people, 'Hey, wake up because if you don't, sharks are going to eat you up. Wake up, you citizen and politician," Juarez said.

A caption above the women on the billboard reads: "I dare you to build a new project for a nation with no prejudices."

Another billboard shows the bare legs of four women with their pelvic areas covered with a semi-transparent yellow cloth. The caption on the cloth reads: "It's better for one thousand of us to take a step forward than for one leader to take one thousand steps for us."

At a recent campaign stop in Guadalajara, Juarez shook hands with voters and high-fived one supporter.

Juarez heads the philosophy department at the University of Guadalajara. She says she has received strong support from most of her female students, "but some of my male students just look at me from a distance," she said.

So far Juarez has posted the two billboards in Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city and also one of the most conservative. She has been the target of harsh criticism and dismissed as a novice trying to make in politics no matter at what cost.

"Conservative people are never going to vote for me, never!" Juarez said. "Even if I dressed as a nun and carried a rosary and said that my party was going to give away Bibles and rosaries, they wouldn't. Conservatives are never going to vote for me."

Juarez also says she has the full backing of her family, including her elderly mother, whom she describes as a small-town, conservative woman.

And if people were shocked by her first round of campaigning, Juarez says, that is nothing compared with the second one she will unveil in the next few weeks, although she's not giving out details.

In the meantime, she has been targeted on social media. "Who needs brains when you have these?" reads one comment on Twitter.

Juarez says that won't deter her from advancing her political platform.

The bottom line, Juarez says, is that she's a radical candidate with radical ideas for a better Mexico.

"When it comes to drugs and the violence generated by drug trafficking, we need to start thinking in a radical way. What do I mean by that? Well, we need to start a debate. Let's legalize (drugs), tax them and use the money for other things," Juarez said.

Mexico will hold presidential and congressional elections on July 1. In addition to a president, Mexicans will also elect 128 senators, 500 representatives, six governors, 375 local legislators and 641 mayors.

$1M parking space up for sale

Tue, 22 May 2012 14:15:28 GMT

How much is a personal parking space in New York City worth? A Big Apple developer said he's offering a 12-foot-wide by 23-foot-long spot in his new private garage for a cool $1 million.

The ritzy parking space at 66 East 11th St., is expected to hit the market this fall and will have its own deed, sales contract and be charged monthly maintenance fees, the New York Post reported.

According to the publication, developer Morad Fareed purchased the eight-story prewar loft building for $120 million last year, and has been converting the former parking garage into six luxury condominiums with 15-foot-high ceilings, and an 8,000-square-foot duplex penthouse with a private 3,000-square-foot terrace -- which will be listed for $38.8 million.

"The parking spot will go to the 8,000-square-foot town house or to the penthouse," Fareed said.

The parking space would be an optional owner amenity, along with shower water pumped full of vitamin C and aloe, and heat reflexology flooring.

The Post reported that buying the parking space -- which costs six times more than the national average price of a single-family home -- would be the same as paying a $115 ticket for illegal parking every day for 24 years.

"If you have an opportunity to buy a space in your building, you’re going to take advantage of that," Robert Knackal, chairman of Massey Knackal Realty, told the Post. "The reality of New York City is that people are willing to pay more for a parking spot than the average person in the country pays for a home."

To read the original story click here.

Top Stories

Boston terrier sets 'eye-popping' world record

Elvis' original crypt up for auction

More than 100 items found in belly of SC gator

Man pays off $114K in student loans -- in cash

Engineers find cure for ketchup stuck in bottles

Woman trapped in folding chair for 2 days

Police: Drinking man brought zebra, parrot along for ride

Tons of pot found floating off Calif. coast

Candidate for Mexican congress appears topless on billboards

$1M parking space up for sale