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Caspian airlines - Iran plane crash

2009-07-15T08:33:00.005-03:00

The New York Times:
A passenger plane bound for Armenia from Iran crashed Wednesday morning in northwest Iran, and all 168 people aboard were believed to have perished, Iranian state media reported.
The Russian-made Tupolev plane crashed near the city of Qazvin at about 11:30 local time after leaving Tehran on a flight to Yerevan, the Armenian capital, Hussein Behzadpour, the police chief of Qazvin, said in comments quoted by Iran’s English language Press TV. The crash site was near Jannatabad, a village just outside Qazvin, Mr. Behzadpour said.

The spokesman of Iran’s Aviation Organization, Reza Jafarzadeh, told Press TV that the plane, Caspian Airlines flight 7908, crashed 16 minutes after taking off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport.

The plane was carrying 153 passengers and 15 crew, state television reported. The broadcast showed wreckage mingled with human body parts and a fire brigade official was quoted as saying the debris was strewn over a broad area.

The footage showed a crater gouged into farmland with mangled pieces of metal scattered about, Reuters reported.

News reports said the pilot may have been attempting an emergency landing after technical problems occurred.

The Associated Press quoted a spokesman for the airline in Yeravan as saying most of the passengers were Armenians but that some Georgians also were on board the plane. Caspian Airlines is Russian-Iranian joint venture founded in 1993, The A.P. said.

Iran has been plagued by plane crashes in recent years, a record that aviation experts have attributed to the country’s aging and outdated planes, many of them secondhand aircraft leased from Russia.

In September 2006, a Russian-made Tupolev-154, apparently blew a tire while landing in Mashhad, Iran, slipped off the runway and burst into flames, killing 29 of the 148 people on board and injuring 47, state-run television at the time.

More than 90 people, including 80 journalists, were killed in December 2005 when a military plane crashed into a building in Tehran. In February 2002, a Tupolev TU-154 operated by Iran Air Tours crashed in Khorramabad, Iran, killing all 118 people aboard.

iPhone 3.0 problems

2009-06-17T17:15:00.002-03:00

Many Apple customers are having problems with downloading of the newest software version.

CNET:
While the majority of commenters on CNET and around the Web are reporting success in downloading iPhone OS 3.0 Wednesday, there were scattered reports of problems.

My colleague Stephen Shankland, a CNET News reporter, tried several times to download the OS update around 12 p.m. Pacific to his iPhone and received the same error message, pictured above, each time.

A handful of CNET commenters reported problems accessing iTunes. "I see that the upgrade is now available, but four times the message I get after a couple of minutes is that the download has 'timed out,'" said one reader, and another reported, "Same issue here, cannot connect to the iTunes store to activate so the phone won't work."

A quick perusal of Twitter showed a smattering of people with the same issue.

This, of course, is a repeat of what happened last year, when Apple's iTunes servers couldn't withstand the barrage of traffic when customers tried to update to iPhone 2.0 software at the same time new iPhone 3G buyers were attempting to activate their phones.

Anyone else having problems with the update today?

Update 12:45 p.m. PDT: Reader Michael Samstag wrote in to say his iPhone was rendered unusable when he tried to install the update. "It has the 'connect to iTunes' message and will only allow emergency calls," he says. "I signed up for the 'Apple callback' for tech support and they called back and put me on hold for 20-minutes. Then the call got disconnected and now the earliest callback time is between 6:15 p.m. EDT and 6:30 p.m. EDT. So, I'm looking at having no cell for a minimum of three hours, probably longer."

Gizmodo is also hearing reports of phones "bricked" from the update. We're still waiting for comment from Apple.

Update 1:05 p.m. PDT: We're also getting feedback about general sluggishness and intermittent problems accessing Apple's Mobile Me service. The problems with Mobile Me were far worse last year when the simultaneous launch of the iPhone 3G and Mobile Me wreaked havoc on across Apple's services and related Web services.

Christian Bale's tirade

2009-02-04T05:23:00.002-04:00

Los Angeles Times:
Christian Bale's brutal tirade of verbal abuse hurled at director of photography Shane Hurlbert on the set of “Terminator: Salvation” has become legendary since the audiotape was leaked to the press this week.

But Bruce Franklin, an assistant director and associate producer on the new "Terminator" (Hey, someone had to spring to his defense!) has now told E! News that Bale, whom he refers to as a "consummate professional," was not off-base in his reaction to Hurlbut’s intrusion into his scene.

"If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove ... it was the most emotional scene in the movie," said Franklin. "And for him to get stopped in the middle of it. He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn't walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed.”

Click here to hear the audio of the foul-mouthed snit fit. (Warning: explicit language!)

Transition Flying Car

2009-01-11T08:42:00.004-04:00

from The Sunday Times:

It is the ultimate off-roader and it is coming to an airstrip near you. The flying car has been talked about for almost as long as cars have existed, and now a prototype built by a small American company is finally ready to make the idea a reality.

The Terrafugia Transition is a two-seater plane that at the touch of a button converts into a road-legal car. It takes its maiden flight next month and is scheduled to hit the showrooms by next year. You can’t help but wonder whether, if Bob Nardelli and Rick Wagoner, of Chrysler and General Motors respectively, had been forward-thinking enough to fly into Washington DC in swept-wing Dodge Vipers and Cadillac Escalades instead of corporate jets when they were seeking bailout cash, they would have been showered with government money, downturn or no downturn.

“It’s like a little Transformer,” says Carl Dietrich, the Terrafugia boss, proudly. “This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle. All we have is one simple folding wing, and that means the Transition takes just 15 seconds to switch between flying and driving.”

Dietrich has a well-rehearsed list of reasons why “roadable aircraft” make financial sense. They promise to be quicker than cars for intercity commuting, fit into a normal garage (saving hangar fees) and even run on plain old premium unleaded. However, he’s missing the real reason the Transition is causing such a stir in the automotive as well as the aviation world: flying cars are cool. They’re James Bond. They’re Blade Runner. They’re Back to the Future.

At the moment, though, Terrafugia’s car looks more like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang than The Jetsons. The prototype Transition has been made at Terrafugia’s small workshop in Woburn, Massachusetts, by a team of young engineers recruited from MIT and Nasa. The ungainly vehicle has a single engine — a 100bhp petrol motor that drives either the wheels or a rear-facing propeller. As a car, it has a normal steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals, but no gearstick (the Transition has a continuously variable transmission).

With its wings deployed and the propeller spinning, the Transition can take off from any airfield, although not from roads — it’s illegal everywhere in the US except in sparsely populated Alaska. It can fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising speed of about 115mph. That’s the plan, at least. Though it has reached 90mph in test drives, the prototype Transition’s wheels have yet to leave the ground.

That’s not for technical reasons; it’s because the various road and aircraft licensing authorities have been wondering how to classify it. “It took six months just to get our \plate,” says Dick Gersh, a former lawyer with the car insurance industry and now a vice-president at Terrafugia. “The government, insurance companies and lawyers have never contemplated a flying car. I wanted a car that could fly and drive but you couldn’t do either because you couldn’t get insured.”

Gersh is confident that he will be able to insure the Transition once it makes a successful test flight — and a safe landing. The Transition has a safety cage and crumple zones, although it will not have to pack the latest safety features or undergo a crash test before it takes to the air.

“There are already exemption policies for low-volume manufacturers like Lamborghini,” says Dietrich. “We can’t afford the huge amounts of research and development for motion-sensing airbags, and we certainly can’t afford to crash-test our only prototype. If it makes you feel safer, Boeing doesn’t crash-test its big jets either.”

Terrafugia hopes to deliver the first production flying car by the middle of next year. The company already has orders for 40 aircraft. “The majority of our customers are retired or near-retired couples who want a fun vehicle to putter around the country in. They’ve worked hard their whole lives and now they can have a flying car, a technology that they’ve been promised in films and TV since they were a kid,” says Dietrich. “We even have a couple of orders from people who are not pilots but will learn because of this vehicle. They’re willing to put money down on a vehicle that they can’t fly yet.”

Terrafugia’s Transition will set them back a cool $200,000 (£132,000). “For an airplane, that’s very reasonable, but for a car, that’s very much at the high end,” Dietrich admits. “It’s got to start there. You can’t make a $10,000 flying car yet. This is not going to change overnight and it won’t become a mass-market item any time in the near future. But in the long term we have the potential to make air travel practical for individuals at a price that would meet or beat driving, with huge time savings. And that could be a real game-changer for aviation as well as driving.”

The flying car has been technically possible for years but the legal runway was cleared for take-off only four years ago. The American Federal Aviation Authority created a new category of plane called light sports aircraft. These planes are subject to fewer rules and regulations than traditional passenger aircraft and can be flown by pilots after just 20 hours of training, half the normal American requirement.

At the same time, advances in avionics (the systems that allow you to pilot the plane) have made flying much simpler. Gone are the days when a plane’s cockpit was a kaleidoscope of flashing buttons and switchgear. Instead, new technology means that the inside of a cockpit is little different from that of a luxury car. Navigation can be taken care of by GPS, weather patterns can be displayed on a simple colour screen and automatic throttles help to keep control of the aircraft.

PHI Helicopter Crash, 8 Dead in Louisiana

2009-01-05T11:32:00.003-04:00

Eight people are dead after a helicopter crashed Sunday in the lower southwest portion of Terrebonne Parish, according to Coast Guard officer Jaclyn Young.

There were nine people on board a PHI, Inc. helicopter at the time of the crash, which happened around 3:30 p.m. One of them was transported to a nearby hospital, while the Coast Guard was searching for the ninth person. It is not yet clear whether the eighth person who died was the person transported to the hospital or the person who was missing.

The U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center in Virginia picked up the signal and alerted the Coast Guard station in New Orleans, Young said.

According to their website, PHI, Inc. is a helicopter services company that provides transportation to offshore oil and gas, onshore mining, and medical and technical services industries. They are independently owned.

Last year there was an accident involving a PHI helicopter. In June, three PHI crew members and a patient they were transporting died after their helicopter crashed in Texas.

The exact location of the accident, as well as the cause, is not yet known. The Terrebonne Sheriff's Office and Airforce Rescue Coordination Center is assisting in the investigation.

The identities of the victims has not yet been determined.
(from www.wkrg.com)

Katt Williams plane crash! Did he die?

2008-11-01T18:00:00.004-03:00

There is a rumor spreading that Katt Williams died in a plane crash.
Many people got text messages that he has died at 4 a.m. today.
It has not yet been confirmed and for now I am 99% sure it is not true!

Liz Taylor Murdered? Shocking 250 Million Emails

2008-08-14T13:31:00.004-03:00

This is thankfully not true, but only a wast spam sending aimed at installing malware on unsuspecting victims computers.

An estimated 250 million people have received an email with text:
"msnbc.com: BREAKING NEWS: Elizabeth Taylor found murdered at home."

The emails are made to look exactly like official mailings from CNN or MSNBC, that's why anyone who receives such message should be very careful not to open it. If clicked on the link user is taken to a website which installs a malware.

Everyone is advised to use up to date spyware and virus detection tools.

Ivan Lattimore beating Julie Donaldson of Channel 7 Sports News

2008-07-09T10:36:00.000-03:00

Channel 7 WHDH-TV sports reporter Julie Donaldson has revealed that her boyfriend Ivan Lattimore has beaten her on at least 4 occasions.

Julie a former Miss Florida, lives in East cost, but Lattimore was visiting her every few weeks, coming from California. They have been together since Thanksgiving.

Lattimore is playing Slamball (a variation of basketball) professionally and is 6 foot 4 and weighs 215 pounds.

The first assault, she said, occurred at the Super Bowl in Arizona and resulted in bruises on her arms. "I wore a long sleeve shirt and didn't tell anyone," Julie said.

The second attack was more serious. After a Celtics game against the Miami Heat on March 30, Donaldson said that she lied to Lattimore about her whereabouts and that he was waiting for her when she returned to her apartment. Than: "He grabbed me by my hair and took my hands by my wrists and made me punch my face."

Last attack was on June 27 after partying at a nightclub. He has been groping one of her friends and she said she wanted to break up. Lattimore then became violent and as she says threw her against the wall and punched several times in the face.

She managed to escape to the street and was met by the police.

Ruslana Korshunova - Model Suicide

2008-06-29T10:23:00.000-03:00

On June 28 around 2:30PM the rising modeling star Ruslana Korshunova who was only 20, apparently committed suicide by jumping 9 floors down from her New York apartment.
Since 2003 the young super model had been on covers of Vogue and Elle, she worked with amongst others Nina Ricci and Christian Dior.
There were many eyewitnesses who saw the girl falling to her death, wearing blue jeans and a purple tank top, shoeless.
"She came in this morning, she smiled, no sense of depression," doorman Mahmud Nakeeb, told. "She was a very sweet girl, always smiling, never depressed-looking."
Police claim all evidence point to a suicide.

Three months ago she had written: "I'm so lost. Will I ever find myself."
Deepest condolences to her family and friends.

Philadelphia Police Beating Video

2008-05-07T10:14:00.000-03:00

Police in Philadelphia is investigating a video showing several officers kicking and beating three suspects pulled from a car during a traffic stop.

The scenes were filmed by a TV helicopter crew of local network WTXF-TV on Monday.

Video shows three police cars stopping another car on the street. It happened two days after an officer was shot dead during a bank robbery.

In video more than 10 policemen gather around the car and pull out the suspects. Some of the officers hold two of the men down on the ground.

Both are kicked and beaten repeatedly, the third man is punched and also falls to the ground.

The city's police commissioner said that the video "certainly does not look good", but did not want to "rush to judgment".

Police said that suspects were involved in shooting before.

Philadelphia officers have been on edge since Saturday, when an officer was shot during a bank robbery, one of the robbers was shot by police, another one arrested, but the third still hasn't been found.

The policeman was the third one killed on duty in the last two years.

An attorney for one of the men said he did not know what preceded the traffic stop in the city's Hunting Park neighborhood, but that the video showed an unjustified police beating. He also said that police would charge all three suspects with aggravated assault.

San Diego State Drug Bust (SDSU drug bust)

2008-05-07T05:59:00.000-03:00

75 of San Diego State University students were arrested after a sweeping drug investigation found that some fraternity members openly dealt drugs and one even sent a mass text message advertising cocaine, authorities said Tuesday.
96 people were arrested.
Two kilograms of cocaine were seized, along with 350 Ecstasy pills, marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamine, illicit prescription drugs, several guns and at least $60,000 in cash.

Eighteen of the students were arrested Tuesday when nine search warrants were executed at various locations including fraternities, said Jesse Rodriguez, San Diego County assistant district attorney.

The undercover probe, dubbed Operation Sudden Fall, was sparked by the cocaine overdose death of a student in May 2007, authorities said. As the investigation continued, another student, from Mesa College, died Feb. 26 of a cocaine overdose at an SDSU fraternity house, the DEA said.

Those arrested included a student who was about to receive a criminal justice degree and another who was to receive a master's degree in homeland security.

"A sad commentary is that when one of these individuals was arrested, they inquired as (to) whether or not his arrest and incarceration would have an effect on him becoming a federal law enforcement officer," said Ralph Partridge, special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego.

San Diego State is one of the largest schools in California's state university system with about 34,000 students. The campus has an active network of fraternities and sororities.

Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair Photo Shoot

2008-04-28T12:55:00.001-03:00

Miley Cyrus has apologized ahead of appearing semi-naked in the next issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

Pop star Miley Cyrus said she was "embarrassed" after seeing the images taken by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.

The Disney Channel said "a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines" but the US magazine defended the images and added that "everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley".

The photographs include images of the teenager wrapped in what appears to be a satin bed sheet, looking over her shoulder with her back exposed.

They will appear alongside an interview with Cyrus and her father, singer Billy Ray Cyrus.

"I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," Miss Cyrus said.

"I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about."

But when the images were released by Vanity Fair last week, Cyrus said: "I think it's really artsy.

"It wasn't in a skanky way. Annie took, like, a beautiful shot, and I thought that was really cool. That's what she wanted me to do, and you can't say no to Annie."

A spokesman for The Disney Channel, which airs the Hannah Montana TV show, said: "Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines."

www.GirlsStars.com

Here you can see her previously taken pictures which caused even more controversy.

Father Confesses to Imprisoning Daughter

2008-04-28T12:27:00.000-03:00

AP:
A man in Amstetten, Austria confessed about imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a windowless cell with soundproof door.
Josef Fritzl, now 73, held his daughter captive since 1984. The daughter Elisabeth Fritzl, who is now 42, was found by police on Saturday after police received a tip.

The cell had electronic entry system and was made of solid reinforced concrete. Rooms were at most 5 feet 6 inches feet high. The area had a TV and small hot plates for cooking.

Police say: "He admitted that he locked his daughter, who was 18 at the time, in the cellar, that he repeatedly had sex with her, and that he is the father of her seven children,".

Suspect's wife had no idea of these events and was devastated.

One of the neighbors said: "They appeared normal, just like any other family, I'm totally shocked, this was next door. It's terrible."

Elisabeth Fritzl told police that her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11. In 1984, he handcuffed her and locked her in the cellar.

Jonesville Church of God controversial sign "Obama, Osama — humm, are they brothers"

2008-04-23T10:31:00.000-03:00

http://jonesvillechurchofgod.com

Associated Press writes:
JONESVILLE, S.C. — A pastor from South Carolina says he is not trying to be political by posting a sign in front of his church in which he links Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Pastor Roger Byrd said he just wanted to make people think when he put up a sign reading "Obama, Osama — humm, are they brothers" in front of the Jonesville Church of God on Thursday. He doesn't believe that Obama is Christian.

Obama who is indeed a Christian, regularly attends Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Although 15 percent of respondents to a recent Associated Press-Yahoo News poll said they thought that the Illinois senator actually is Muslim.

WYFF-TV reported Monday that Byrd is not going to take the sign down. He insisted that it is a unanimous vote of his congregation to keep it.

This church is part of the Church of God, a Pentecostal denomination based in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Jonesville itself is a small town of about 1,000 people in northwestern South Carolina.

UPDATE:

The next day Byrd removed the sign because it received so much negative comments from throughout the country. Now the sign is aimed against smokers.

Please feel free to add comments and express your view on this matter.