Reviews Category
We don’t just report off-beat news, breaking news and digest the best and worst of the news media analysis and commentary. We give an original take on what happened and why. We add lols, satire, news photos and original content.
Mug shot of the day: he might have been drinking
MUG shot of the day is Cabrone Deron Brewer, 32, who was arrested for parking his Volkswagen Beetle on train tracks in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Police say he had been drinking…
In 2004, TV psychic Sylvia Browne told Louwana Miller that her daughter Amanda Berry was dead
IN 2002, Michele Knight vanished. She was 21. In 2003, Amanda Berry was working at a branch of Burger King in Cleveland, Ohio. She was 16. Tomorrow would be her 17th birthday. She disappeared. In April 2004, Georgina “Gina” DeJesus vanished on her way home from school. She was just 14.
What happened to them was a mystery.
On November 17, 2004, Amanda’s mother, Louwana Miller, appealed for help on the Montel Williams show. Psychic Sylvia Browne told Miller that Amanda was dead. She saw her “in water“. Miller will see her daughter “on the other side, in Heaven”. Said Browne:
“She’s not alive, honey. Your daughter’s not the kind who wouldn’t call.”
The transcript (not in full):
Montel Williams: My next guest needs to know what happened to her missing daughter. Now, this has been crazy, Sylvia…
Williams: On April 21st, 2003, 16-year-old Amanda Berry left her part-time job never to be seen again.
Louwana Miller: It was the day before her 17th birthday. She had just got off of work, and she was walking home. Then she said, `I got a ride. I’ll call you right back.’
Williams: Amanda never made it home that night. She was last seen getting into a vehicle with three men. Local law enforcement and FBI were immediately called in. The FBI, who had tapped the family’s home phone, discovered that the stranger had called from Amanda’s cell.
Miller: I got a phone call four or five days later, and they said, `Amanda’s with me. She’s fine, and I’ll have her home in a few days.’ And then a few days never came. It’s been a year and a half since I’ve heard anything from my daughter. I need to speak with Sylvia to see if she can help me find out where my daughter is.
Williams: To this day, Amanda Berry has never been found.
…
Sylvia Browne: Did she know of anybody by the name of…(censored).
Miller: I don’t–I don’t know. That don’t sound familiar.
Browne: Now, what I don’t understand is her jacket was in a dumpster. Because she’s wearing a jacket.
Williams: Was she wearing a jacket?
Miller: She had on a black, hooded jacket, yes.
Williams: Would that give a clue to who–I mean, obviously…
Browne: Oh, yeah.
Williams: …the last witness who saw her said three people?
Browne: Because with the–the “CSI” and everything else we have on now, the forensics–and I’m not trying to knock the police department, because I know they’re overloaded, and I work with a lot of them.
Williams: But did she not say, `I have a ride home,’ as if it was one person?
Miller: Right, she said, `I have a ride.’
Browne: There was only one person.
…
Miller: Can you tell me if they’ll ever find her? Is she out there?
Browne: She’s–see, I hate this when they’re in water. I just hate this. She’s not alive, honey. And I’ll tell you why, here we go again. Your daughter was not the type that would not have called you.
…
Browne: Well, there’s got to be somebody that you could track or the police could track.
Miller: He was a young kid? Or…
Browne: He was maybe 21, something like that, 21, 22.
Miller: Does he have…
Browne: Always wore his pants very low, you know?
…
Miller: So you don’t think I’ll ever get to see her again?
Browne: Yeah, in heaven, on the other side.
Williams: Let me take a little break. We’ll be right back after this.
Miller told the press:
“Please don’t misunderstand me. I still don’t want to believe it. I want to have hope but, after a year and a half, what else is there? It seems like the God-honest truth. My daughter would always call home.”
In 2006, Louwana Miller died. She was just 46.
Here’s Sylvia Browne:
And then Amanda Berry was found.
Charles Ramsey heard shouting from house in Cleveland:
“[I] heard screaming. I’m eating my McDonalds, I come outside, I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of her house, so I go on the porch and she says: ‘Help me get out, I’ve been here a long time’.” So I figured it was a domestic violence dispute.”
He kicked down the door. The woman told him she was Amanda Berry.
“When she told me it didn’t register. Until I got to call 911. I thought: ‘I’m calling 911 for Amanda Berry? I thought this girl was dead.’ And then she gets on the phone and she says: ‘Yes this is me’…. That girl Amanda told the police: ‘I ain’t just the only one. There’s some more girls up in that house. So they go up there 30 or 40 deep, and when they came out it was just astonishing.”
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Posted: 7th, May 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (4)
In 1967 The Muppets worked as IBM instructors (video)
IN 1967, IMB hired Jim Henson to educate their staff. His Muppets were here to help. Cue the Cookie Monster:
Kermit:
Suits:
Ralph:
Posted: 6th, May 2013 | In: Celebrities, Flashback, Technology | Comment
Feminist steals clothes because she didn’t want boyfriend to pay for them
Air India pilot let air stewardesses turn off auto pilot and fly busy passenger plane
ON Air India flight AI 133 from Bangkok-Delhi flight, First Officer Ravindra Nath and Captain B K Soni decided to take a break from the cockpit. They asked the stewardesses, J Bhatt and Kanika Kala the wheel. At 33,000 feet and with 160 passengers on board, the captain took “a few minutes” to teach the stewardesses how to operate the plane. Then he left and one of the stewardesses turned off the auto-pilot.
Says a source at Air India:
“According to the guidelines it is a standard procedure to ensure the presence of second person in the cockpit so that if the pilot is not able to operate the aircraft for some reason, the other crew member in the cockpit can immediately call for the other pilot. But what actually happened after this made a mockery of air safety. A senior cabin crew member witnessed the entire drama unfold and brought the matter to the notice of the airline’s management. All four were derostered and later suspended for this violation.”
Director General Arun Mishra of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) adds:
“Following a safety violation, the airline has already suspended the people in question. We are conducting a inquiry into the matter.”
Forget it. The stewardess will do fine. It’s easy. Doris Day can do it:
Julie Hagerty can do it:
Lauren Holly can do it:
Flying a plane is easy. Try serving drinks without spilling a drop, captain…
Husband bites dog on nose that had bitten off wife’s nose
TO Madrid, Iowa, where a man has bitten a dog on the nose to get it to let go of his wife’s nose.
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Madeleine McCann: April Jones PR and Robert Murat wants a reconstruction
MADELEINE MCCANN: the sixth anniversary of her vanishing looms. The Express and Star lead with the McCanns, ‘Our Maddie’s parents. Kate and Gerry McCann.
The Star leads with the news that April Jones is in their prayers.
Tracey Kandohla reports on the “low-key” church service to remember Madeleine McCann.
Tearful Kate and Gerry spared a thought for the tragic youngster and her family despite their own heartache.
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Posted: 5th, May 2013 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comment
Niall Ferguson apologises for saying gays are dead ends with no futures
PROLIFIC historian Niall Ferguson said this about John Maynard Keynes in his talk at the Tenth Annual Altegris Conference in Carlsbad, Calif.. He was addressing a group of more than 500 financial advisors and investors. Tom Kostigen at FA Mag writes:
Ferguson responded to a question about Keynes’ famous philosophy of self-interest versus the economic philosophy of Edmund Burke, who believed there was a social contract among the living, as well as the dead. Ferguson asked the audience how many children Keynes had. He explained that Keynes had none because he was a homosexual and was married to a ballerina, with whom he likely talked of “poetry” rather than procreated.
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Shanghai butcher sold mink, rat and fox as lamb
GOOD news for the fur industry and possibly Tesco and Findus: the meat by-products taste like lamb.
The South China Morning Post’s report from Shanghai is that people choosing to eat lamb could well have been chomping down on rat, fox or mink. But not all of the meats is so easy to identify.
Says the Ministry of Public Security:
“Since 2009, the suspect, surnamed Wei, has bought foxes, minks, rats and other uninspected meat products in Shandong. After adding gelatine, carmine, nitrate and other substances, he sold the meat as fake lamb rolls [for hot pot] at farmers’ markets in Jiangsu and Shanghai.”
Police raided Wei’s operation, seizing 10 tons of meat and “additives“.
Yummy! Now for the mane course…
Posted: 4th, May 2013 | In: Reviews, The Consumer | Comment
Prostitute stole boy client’s piggy bank
THE 14-year-old boy from Prospect Heights, Milwaukee, should never forget the prostitute he booked.
Dareka R. Brooks, 22, stole his iPad and piggy bank
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Posted: 4th, May 2013 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment (1)
Poll reveals how many Muslims support suicide bombing
SURVEY of the day:
A substantial number of Palestinians think suicide bombing is justified, a poll by the PEW Research Center published this week found. The survey, that polled Muslims in 21 countries worldwide, found that 40 percent of Palestinians believe that attacks against civilians in defense of Islam can be often or sometimes justified.
…Twenty-nine percent of Egyptians supported suicide bombings, and 15% of Jordanians. In Turkey, 15% view these attacks as a legitimate means to defending Islam against its enemies. In Afghanistan, where suicide bombings against Western targets occur frequently, 39% believed it is a justified means of resistance.
And:
The findings indicate that 89% of Palestinians think homosexuality is immoral, think women must always “obey” their husband and favor the imposition of Sharia Law into their society. A smaller amount (45%) believe honor killing is sometimes justifiable. – JPost
Figures for other religions have not been obtained…
Posted: 4th, May 2013 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Star Wars: The 1970s French disco dance-off between Darth Vader and C-3PO
STAR Wars: the 1970s French disco dance-off between Darth Vader and C3PO:
Primark boasted that it audited its factories before the Savar factory disaster
PRIMARK, the highly profitable budget fashion retailer owned by Associated British Foods, has vowed to compensate loved ones of the 350 people killed when the Savar clothing factory collapsed in Dhaka,Bangladesh. Primark said it “accepts all its responsibilities in this disaster”.
Back on February 21, Retail Week reported on Primark. When the horse meat scandal topped the news cycle, Primark’s Katherine Kirk, Primark’s ethical trading director spoke:
“I agree with the principle of sharing information, which we do through the Better Work Programme, but the issue with other programmes and audits, as we’ve lived and learned, is that if a supplier has paid for an audit it might not have as much detail as one we are paying for ourselves.”
Primark, which previously suffered exposés on alleged poor working practices in its supply chain, has dramatically stepped up monitoring of its suppliers since 2009 when it appointed Kirk. She has built up a team of 30 staff working on ethical trade in Bangladesh, China, India and Turkey. They carry out factory audits of all suppliers before Primark places an order.
Using its own team gives Primark faith in assessments and allows it to immediately tackle any problems.
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In 1977 Stars Wars characters and Vogue magazine models advertised the wonder of fur coats
IN 1977. Vogue magazine hooked onto the Star Wars craze with a feature called THE FORCE OF FUR: Vogue fashion spread from 1977. Jerry Hall, Darth Vader, C3PO, Stormtroopers and Jawas real;sied that with fur comes intergalactic harmony.
In the first picture, Hall is wearing a Wookie:
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Posted: 3rd, May 2013 | In: Fashion, Film, Flashback | Comment (1)
Man calls 911 and asks for weed
STONERS are idiots aren’t they? Hur-hurring away at anything, holed-up with multipacks of crisps and saying stupid things like ‘I really understand bass’.
Well, one such berk from Florida has been arrested for misusing the 911 emergency service line, after attempting to order junk food and drugs.
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Madeleine McCann: six years of staring
AS summer looms, so the tabloids press f9 on the keyboard and turn to the unresolved story of Madeleine McCann. On page 35, the Sun reports on the missing child’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann’s visit to the ITV’s Daybreak sofa.
In “McCANNS BAN KIDS’ SLEEPOVER – Maddie parents’ fears”, the Sun reports:
MADELEINE McCann’s parents have revealed how they haven’t changed their missing girl’s bedroom – nearly six years after she was abducted. Her mother Kate said she seeks comfort at her village church in Rothley, Leicestershire – and in their daughter’s room.
And so the story stagnates.
Says Kate McCann:
“Sometimes people ask me if there will ever come a time when I change that room and it’s difficult because in your head that indicates moving on and I’m not there.”
Neither are the tabloids.
And now mum Kate, speaking ahead of the sixth anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance on Friday, has admitted she hardly lets twins Sean and Amelie out of sight. Kate said: “They haven’t had any sleepovers with friends and I know that goes on a lot.
And so to Friday.
Sky News: “Madeleine McCann’s Parents ‘Closer’ To Truth”
Madeleine McCann’s parents say a police review into their daughter’s disappearance is making “excellent progress” as they mark the sixth anniversary since she went missing.
In an interview with Sky News, Kate and Gerry McCann asked the public to remain vigilant about possible sightings and talked about adapting to life without Madeleine…
“With the review the Met have been doing over the last two years I think we are closer to finding out what happened,” Gerry McCann said.
“But for Kate and I until we find Madeleine or the person responsible then we’re still miles away.”
The couple thanked the public for their “tremendous support”, and urged people travelling abroad to keep vigilant about possible sightings of Madeleine.
“Someone knows – not just the people involved in the crime. Other people will know as well, or will be strongly suspicious,” said Kate.
Her husband added: “The key message is – if someone thinks they’ve seen Madeleine, contact police straight away.”
Daily Record: “McCann family to mark six year anniversary of Madeleine’s disappearance with low-key ceremony”
THE couple will read prayers and poems while remembering Madeleine at a service in the centre of Rothley. Earlier this week Kate and Gerry vowed to continue their search for her.
Can you be low-key and trail the service in the tabloids?
Today marks the sixth anniversary of the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann… The little girl was snatched from her holiday apartment as her parents dined at a tapas restaurant with friends nearby.
Madeleine’s parents have refused to give up hope that they might find their daughter as they prepare to mark the sixth anniversary of her disappearance…
“Probably the last couple of years it’s been a new normality,” said Mr McCann. “We have adapted to our situation. There isn’t so much intrusion and we’re not in the public eye very much so those pressures have disappeared. The thing for Kate and I was always about having a proper search and turning over every stone and we feel like that is being done.”
And on it goes…
Posted: 3rd, May 2013 | In: Madeleine McCann, Reviews | Comments (3)
No pizza for you: Antonio Benito bans Mayor Bloomberg from eating second slice of pizza
NEW York illiberal censorious fat-hating mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted a second slice of pizza at Collegno’s Pizzeria, Brooklyn, reports the Daily Currant spoof news site.The owner, Antonio Benito, he couldn’t.
The exchange reportedly went like this:
Bloomberg: “Hey, could I get another pepperoni over here?”
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North Devon WI dress up as pirates to meet former hostage
COLIN Darch was once captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia. He spent 47 days as a hostage. Held at gun point, the pirates extorted £437,000 for the release of Mr Darch and his crew of five. He wanted to tell the Women’s Institute about it. They wanted to listen. WI treasurer Steph George heard that Mr Darch was to talk about piracy. So. She and 14 fellow WI members dressed up as pirates. She tells the BBC:
“I unfortunately thought it would be a good idea to dress up as pirates. Mr Darch came in and said he had been held hostage by Somali pirates. It was embarrassing, but he was such a great chap and he wasn’t offended.”
Mr Darch adds:
“”There were nine pirates, all armed, with another 20 to 25 who kept coming and going. They were a bit nonplussed, but it didn’t bother me. They had all made an effort. Most of them seemed to be wearing false moustaches and funny hats, it looked like a rehearsal for Pirates of Penzance… One lady even had a parrot on her shoulder, but it was actually a fluffy chick.
Mug Shot smiles: couple caught having sex on beach grin for the police cameras
April Jones: photos from inside Mark Bridger’s home
MARK Bridger allegedly killed five-year-old April Jones. Police have released photos of the inside of his home near Machnylleth, in mid-Wales. They cottage is at Mount Pleasant, Ceinws. Police believe this is where April Jones died. The jury visited the home with judge Mr Justice Griffith-Williams. Who’d be juror? It’s a grim job. Mr Bridger, 47, denies abducting and murdering April Jones and then perverting the course of justice by destroying or concealing her body.
The value of self abuse – it improves your writing and your eyesight
HOW do you seek inspiration to write? A cigarette? A drink. Something a little less legal? What about masturbation? Gustave Flaubert caught syphilis in Constantinople. Prostitutes were once a passion. Could anything else do?
Flaubert renounced masturbation in 1844, when he was 22, but apparently the ban didn’t last long. Four years later, while struggling with the novel The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Flaubert wrote to a close friend, “There are moments when my head bursts with the bloody pains I’m taking over this. Out of sheer frustration I jerked off yesterday, feeling the same bleakness that drove me to masturbate at school, when I sat in detention.” If Flaubert was driven to masturbation by boredom and despair, Balzac used it to further intensify his coffee-fueled writing binges. According to a 2010 Harper’s article (subscription required), the novelist would “masturbate to the very edge of orgasm, but not over, and that state—agitated, excited to the point of near madness—was Balzac’s sweet spot, in terms of composing. ” …
Other writers took the exact opposite point of view. John Cheever, for instance, placed a high value on the salutary effects of erotic release. He thought that his constitution required at least “two or three orgasms a week,” and he believed that sexual stimulation improved his concentration and even his eyesight: “With a stiff prick I can read the small print in prayer books but with a limp prick I can barely read newspaper headlines.”
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Will Stuart Hall school have to change its name?
POOR luck on Stuart Hall school sharing a name with BBC presenter who has admitted to sexually abusing children.
Stuart Hall and Bill Roache are directors of a business owned by convicted rapist Owen Oysten
WHAT links BBC paedophile Stuart Hall with ITV’s alleged sex abuser Bill Roache? Mr Roache vehemently denies any wrongdoing. He has not been charged with any offences.
Well, in March 2013, the Mirror reported that Mr Roache and Hall are co-directors of Ridings Publishing. It publishes such titles as The Lancashire & North West magazine and The Yorkshire Ridings magazine.
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Posted: 2nd, May 2013 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comment
In 1995 Margaret Thatcher refused to jump (video)
MARGARET Thatcher refuses to jump. In 1995, Swedish host Stina Lundberg Dabrowski asked Maggie to jump. Margaret Thatcher said no.
Nick Clegg, David Cameron and Ed Miliband all reply in one voice: “How high do you want us? And when can we come down?”
Posted: 2nd, May 2013 | In: Flashback, Politicians | Comment
Toys: in 1992, Barbie’s sister Judith gave birth to a spring-loaded baby
“IF only childbirth were that easy! Vintage mommy-to-be doll has spring-loaded baby and belly that is INSTANTLY flat afterwards,” reports Margo Peppers for the Daily Mail.
Good to see the Mail supporting single mums. ‘Judith’ Barbie is, of course, unmarried. And Ken, has no penis. The 1992 baby was a result of Barbie’s lesbian relationship with Sindy. The sperm was harvested from one of these swine. (Any similarities to Victoria Beckham are entirely coincidental.)
(Nowadays Barbie’s tum-tum has no room for a baby.)
50 things you never knew about Barbie.
Posted: 2nd, May 2013 | In: Flashback, The Consumer | Comment
