Thousands of drunken Santas terrorized Lower Manhattan for SantaCon earlier this month -

Thousands of drunken Santas terrorized Lower Manhattan for SantaCon earlier this month - 


Thousands of drunken Santas terrorized Lower Manhattan when they flooded into the neighborhood for SantaCon earlier this month, openly flouting public drinking and urination laws, locals say.
Angry residents attended Community Board 1's Monday night meeting to complain about the latest incarnation of the annual pub crawl, whose participants have been allowed to grow more rowdy every year, they say.
"There was public urination, people vomiting all over the place, open containers and no police," said John Fratta, chairman of the Seaport/Civic Center Committee which plans to send an angry missive to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and the 1st Precinct complaining about the lack of enforcement during SantaCon.
The committee said that the NYPD devoted more resources to Occupy Wall Street than to SantaCon, and asked police for a better response at the neighborhood's next expected pub-crawl on St. Patrick's Day.
"The mayor put so much power on Occupy Wall Street, he had Downtown under lock and key — but he forgot about Santa," said Ann DeFalco, a member of Community Board 1's Seaport/Civic Center Committee, at a meeting Monday night.
Residents said they saw unruly Santas buying six-packs of bottled beer on Fulton Street, then standing in the middle of the street drinking them and shattering the empty glass bottles on the ground.
The mayor's office referred questions Tuesday morning to the NYPD. The NYPD did not return requests for comment.
CB1 staff said they spoke to Santacon organizers, who acknowledged that they had recieved complaints and planned to make changes for next year, a CB1 representative said.
SantaCon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On its website, the group wrote, "Santa does not accept corporate sponsorship or speak to the press."
Paul Hovitz, a CB1 member, suggested that people who want to dress up as Santa should do a good deed rather than just drinking.
"Instead of going to pubs, they should go to senior centers and do something productive," Hovitz said.
"Santa should be associated with milk and cookies, not beer."




Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20111220/downtown/drunken-santas-terrorized-lower-manhattan-during-santacon-locals-say#ixzz1hBbqHzeu

Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle - most government-supported car since the Trabant -

Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle - most government-supported car since the Trabant - 


Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.


Hohman looked at total state and federal assistance offered for the development and production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors’ plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. His analysis included 18 government deals that included loans, rebates, grants and tax credits. The amount of government assistance does not include the fact that General Motors is currently 26 percent owned by the federal government.


The Volt subsidies flow through multiple companies involed in production. The analysis includes adding up the amount of government subsidies via tax credits and direct funding for not only General Motors, but other companies supplying parts for the vehicle. For example, the Department of Energy awarded a $105.9 million grant to the GM Brownstown plant that assembles the batteries. The company was also awarded approximately $106 million for its Hamtramck assembly plant in state credits to retain jobs. The company that supplies the Volt’s batteries, Compact Power, was awarded up to $100 million in refundable battery credits (combination tax breaks and cash subsidies). These are among many of the subsidies and tax credits for the vehicle.


It’s unlikely that all the companies involved in Volt production will ever receive all the $3 billion in incentives, Hohman said, because many of them are linked to meeting various employment and other milestones. But the analysis looks at the total value that has been offered to the Volt in different aspects of production – from the assembly line to the dealerships to the battery manufacturers. Some tax credits and subsidies are offered for periods up to 20 years, though most have a much shorter time frame.


GM has estimated they’ve sold 6,000 Volts so far. That would mean each of the 6,000 Volts sold would be subsidized between $50,000 and $250,000, depending on how many government subsidy milestones are realized.


If battery manufacturers awarded incentives to produce batteries the Volt may use are included in the analysis, the potential government subsidy per Volt increases to $256,824. For example, A123 Systems has received extensive state and federal support, and bid to be a supplier to the Volt, but the deal instead went to Compact Power. The $256,824 figure includes adding up the subsidies to both companies.


The $3 billion total subsidy figure includes $690.4 million offered by the state of Michigan and $2.3 billion in federal money. That’s enough to purchase 75,222 Volts with a sticker price of $39,828.


Read more - 
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16192

Brazilian baby 'born healthy with two heads - has two brains two spines but shares one heart, lungs, liver and pelvis -

Brazilian baby 'born healthy with two heads - has two brains two spines but shares one heart, lungs, liver and pelvis - 


A Brazilian woman who has given birth to a baby with two heads, admitted she had initially expected twins.
Maria de Nazare, gave birth by caesarean at a hospital in Anajas, in Brazil's northern Para state, with her newborn weighing 9.9lbs.
And in a tribute to the religious celebrations at Christmas, she has decided to call the pair Emanoel and Jesus.
Following the birth of her baby, mother Maria, 25, admitted that she had been told she was set to welcome twins.
But following a number of tests, doctors have revealed that the baby has two brains and two spines but shares one heart, lungs, liver and pelvis.
The hospital's director, Claudionor Assis de Vasconcelos, told Brazil's O Povo newspaper that the woman decided to travel to the hospital because she was feeling strong abdominal pains.


The 25-year-old mother, who lives in a rural area of the state, had no ultra-sound scans during her pregnancy and only found out about the abnormality minutes before the baby was born at 1am on Monday morning.
He said: 'When doctors scanned her they realised that the baby had two heads and that a normal birth would be a great risk both for mother and baby. The caesarean took an hour because the baby was sitting down.
'Despite all the problems we have as a small interior hospital we managed to save both mother and baby, which was our aim. And for us it was a great surprise to find out that the child was in really good health.'




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2076954/Brazilian-baby-born-heads-Dicephalic-parapagus-twins-Emanoel-Jesus.html

20 Year Old Man Dies After Eating Cocaine From Brother’s Butt - one of the most tragic stories of low moment drug use -

20 Year Old Man Dies After Eating Cocaine From Brother’s Butt - one of the most tragic stories of low moment drug use - 






Raw Video: Man Dies After Eating Cocaine From Brother's Butt
North Charleston police say, officers arrested 23-year-old DeAngelo Mitchell Tuesday morning, and charged him with manslaughter in the death of his brother. Video from inside a patrol car shows Mitchell coaxing his brother, 20-year-old Wayne Mitchell to swallow cocaine during a November 30 
traffic stop on Clements Avenue in North Charleston. Police say you can see DeAngelo pass the drugs to Wayne in effort to avoid jail time.


According to North Charleston Police Department spokesman Spencer Pryor, officers arrested Mitchell at a home in Charleston.


Mitchell is expected to face a bond court judge Tuesday night at 7PM.


Read more  -
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/wpix-man-dies-eating-ounce-cocaine,0,1089116.story

Banks gobbled up nearly 490 Billion Euros in loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday -

Banks gobbled up nearly 490 Billion Euros in loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday - 


Banks gobbled up nearly 490 billion euros in three-year cut-price loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday, easing immediate fears of a credit crunch but leaving unresolved how much will flow to needy euro zone economies.


Following a string of failed attempts by euro zone leaders to thwart market attacks on the bloc's weaker members, hopes of crisis relief before the year-end had been pinned on a massive uptake of the ECB's ultra-long and ultra-cheap loans.


The near half a trillion euro take-up of ECB funds exceeded almost all forecasts. A total of 523 banks borrowed with demand way above the 310 billion euros expected by traders polled by Reuters, making it the most the bank has ever pumped into the financial system.


"The take-up was massive ... much higher than the expected 300 billion euros. Liquidity on the banking system has now increased considerably," said Annalisa Piazza at Newedge Strategy.


The funding should bolster banks' finances, ease the threat of a credit crunch and maybe tempt them to buy Italian and Spanish bonds, thereby easing the currency area's sovereign debt crisis.


But analysts said there was little prospect of the cash being hurled at the debt of euro zone weaklings and, while an interbank lending freeze may have been averted, the lack of trust between banks to lend to each other remains unresolved.


Optimism that the lunge for funding would ease Europe's two-year old debt crisis quickly faded, sending the euro and stocks lower after an initial jump.


Banks have struggled to attract funding mainly because of worries about the underlying health of euro zone countries and their exposure to it, so becoming more reliant on the ECB and pledging more assets against those loans may add to the problem.


"It's helpful. It's more than a sticking plaster, although it's by no means the solution longer term," said Chris Wheeler, bank analyst at Mediobanca in London.


Read more - 
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45748250

Bizarre Last Minute Gift Ideas - if you revel in the odd present, here's a list of last minute gift ideas -

Bizarre Last Minute Gift Ideas - if you revel in the odd present, here's a list of last minute gift ideas - 



Pity my friends and family. It's hard for me to give normal gifts. I live for the quizzical look followed by laughter (I hope) when a gift from me is unwrapped.

One of my classics is giving adult diapers to friends who turn 40. Gets a laugh every time. From me.

If you don't understand this, stop reading.

However, if you are like me and revel in the odd present, here's a list of last minute gift ideas.

Awkward Family Photos

You've seen the pictures online. The weird hair, the pained looks, the bad memories. Now they're all collected in one book with hilarious captions. This has become my new coffee table book. Open it and you get instant laughter. 

Anti-theft Lunch Bags

For the loved one who brown bags it and complains his or her lunch is always being pilfered. These bags ingeniously make it look like your sandwich is covered in mold. Store your favorite food in this ... and it'll never be touched again.

Zombie Slippers

Ride the zombie craze AND be comfortable. The undead may be cold, but they'll keep your feet warm. Just don't look down.

Gun Snuggie

So you've already done the Snuggie thing. But what about your weapon?Here's a gift for those who don't believe in the right to bare arms.

For the Kids

I guarantee this present will make you the most popular aunt or uncle: The Doggie Doo Game. Poo-related gag gifts go back to the dawn of Man, but this one brings an air of legitimacy to that ancient endeavor. My son is 19, not 9, but I may still buy this ostensibly for him, just so I can have it.

For the Dog

The Michael Vick Chew Toy. 'Nuff said.

Read more - 

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45739211/

Miami Bar To Pay every customer who came in to watch Miami Heat games at his bar $25 For Every Loss -

Miami Bar To Pay every customer who came in to watch Miami Heat games at his bar $25 For Every Loss - 


When John Todora announced last season that he’d be offering every customer who came in to watch Miami Heat games at his bar a $25 bill credit if the team lost that night, many people thought he was crazy.


And they certainly thought he had made the wrong decision when the Heat lost 6 of 7 games in a stretch from Feb 24 to March 8.


But, as he promised, Todora is offering the promotion at his Whiskey Tango All American Bar & Grill in Hollywood, Fla., for a second year, after the Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals last year.


“I said if they didn’t win the championship, we’ll do it again,” Todora told CNBC on Wednesday. “I didn’t think they were going to lose.”


Todora doesn’t have any insurance on his promotion, but he does admit, the math adds up enough for him to bring it back another year.


Last year, the promotion cost the bar $97,754 in retail costs, Todora said. The real value of how much the bar lost on the Heat losing 24 regular season games and three playoff games (the promotion wasn’t on during the Finals) is closer to $30,000.


Todora writes that off as a well-spent marketing cost. There are over 50,000 hits on Google that reference the promotion from last year.


“It’s great business for us,” Todora said. “Our marketing philosophy is that we want to be the loudest kid in the room. It’s no secret that Florida is a very fair weather state in terms of their rooting interest of their teams. When the Heat weren’t playing well, bars around us were complaining about lack of business. But we retained our customers.”


Not only did Todora say he saw repeat customers come back to watch Heat games, he said that out-of-towners who had come in for convention business came to Whiskey Tango for a game, mentioning the national press the bar had received.


The average customer spends $22 on a check, but Todora said last year’s Heat crowd spent $30, meaning that he’s still making $5 off a customer after their rebate. Many of those customers are people who wouldn’t have come had it not been for the promotion.


To be eligible for the $25 rebate, customers have to arrive at the bar 30 minutes before tip-off and sign up. If the Heat lose, the customer gets a $25 gift card, which can be immediately used on that night's bill.


Read more - 
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45750166/

Siri Doesn't Like Your Accent - easy to use - as long as you're not from England. Or Scotland. Or Tennessee. Or Mexico -

Siri Doesn't Like Your Accent - easy to use - as long as you're not from England. Or Scotland. Or Tennessee. Or Mexico - 




Siri makes the new Apple iPhone 4S incredibly easy to use … as long as you're not from England. Or Scotland. Or Tennessee. Or Mexico.
When the new smartphone launched in October, numerous reports indicated that Siri, its built-in voice-recognition app -- one of the biggest reasons for buying the newest Apple gadget -- struggled with accents and regional dialects. And despite two months of additional development and updates, Apple has yet to resolve the iPhone's issues with accented Americans, users told FoxNews.com.


"It just didn't understand," Joanna Randell, a content manager for a branding firm and a native of Nottingham, England, told FoxNews.com.
Siri comes with support for five languages: three dialects of English (U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia), French and German. But switching to a different language dramatically limits Siri's functionality, Randell said.
"If you want to use it to search for a place or a location on a map, you have to use the American version -- you can't use the British version," Randell explained. Try to find a post office or drug store with British English enabled, and Siri will demurely decline.
"Sorry, I can only look for businesses in the United States and when you're using U.S. English," Siri apologetically explains.
And Siri still doesn't get Randell's accent. "I tried it with the American one and I had to switch, I wasn't getting anywhere," she said.
That's bad news, and not only for Swedes in San Francisco and Aussies in Atlanta. It's also bad for numerous Americans with regional dialects, because, apparently, U.S. English doesn't include Southerners.
"Siri's most common reply to me is that 'it didn't quite get that,'" Gizmodo tech editor Mat Honan wrote recently. "Is this due to my (very slight!) Southern accent?"
“I grew up in Alabama, and lived in Georgia for some time too,” Honan told FoxNews.com, “but it's not like I'm Gomer Pyle.”
"If I wanted a half-baked voice-control system, I could snag an Android phone for $49 at T-Mobile," he groused.




Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/20/apples-siri-still-hates-british-and-southerners/?test=faces?test=faces