Ok so I’m a little behind on this story and stumbled across it while researching the “weird leprechaun of Boulder” a story I’ll be posting soon.
Apparently, a simulacra in a Mobile tree branch lead many to believe a Leprechaun was on the loose in Alabama. A news cast video about the spotting went viral, based mainly on the enthusiasm of a gap toothed guy you can’t miss when you watch it.
Good clean fun that ended up on South Park and got it’s own web site www.wheredagoldat.com.
Sure, the perfect solution is obviously to have the principal proofread the entire yearbook, every year. What I want to know is WHY are they getting yearbooks in AUGUST! Also look at that line break, really “anal-” is just plain sloppy.
Hitler Quote Printed in High School Yearbook
EASTON, Pa., Aug. 27, 2010 | cbsnews.com
Principal Blames Lack of Oversight for Mistake; Some Students and Parents Say they Don’t Believe Choice was Malicious
(CBS3.com) Students from Easton Area High School are talking about more than just Monday’s first day of class; they’re talking about a quote by Adolf Hitler from the 2010 yearbook.
“It is in fact a quote from Hitler and it was selected from numerous quotes and various sources,” Easton Area High School Principal Michael Koch said.
The quote reads: “And in the last analysis, success is what matters.”
Many outlets have covered this story, but only J-Wire: Jewish Online News from Australia and New Zealand, noted it was a Catholic school and that during judging in an assembly fellow students were chanting “HITLER HITLER” and the kids selected the winner. Thanks J-wire! I want to know what the hell the fourth year student was reading? Mein Kampf?
Random kid in Hitler costume image.
Catholic School apologises for Hitler prize
August 28, 2010 | www.jwire.com.au
A Catholic primary school in the inner-city are a of Perth awarded a prize to a pupil who characterised Adolph Hitler for a book-week dress-up day.
As the judges, who included the school’s principal, were going through the decision-making process, the child dressed as Hitler received chants of “Hitler” from his schoolmates as he was being assessed.
The principal told media that he “took umbrage” to the calls being chants. He said they were part of “the voting process”. He said that other characters’ names were called out during the voting.
The school received complaints from parents some of whom objected to the child wearing a swastika on his uniform.
An apology has been circulated to the parents who were offended and The West Australian reports that Junior schoolteachers will “debrief students in a pastoral way to ensure students understand the significance of their choice of character and the impact it has on other people”.
Whoops and wow. Read the whole article because everybody else at her house had an outstanding warrant against them. Maybe the 3 year old was the best one to be handling the shot gun.
Ms. Smullen
Teen mom arrested after child, 3, shoots firehouse
2010.08.26 | 6abc.com
An 18-year-old woman is under arrest after, police say, her 3-year-old child fired a shotgun, hitting a firehouse.
Christy A. Smullen, of Seaford, Delaware, was arrested and faces a number of charges including Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
Police say they were called to the Seaford Volunteer Fire Department around 2:10 p.m. Wednesday.
Once there, officers say they saw two bullet holes in a roll-up style door on the west side of the building.
The investigators say they learned the three year old somehow had gotten a shotgun from the home and brought it to an outside porch.
Police say the shotgun went off, hitting the firehouse door.
The Delaware Division of Family Services responded and placed the child with his father.
Smullen was released on $8,000 secured bond.
Meanwhile, two other women inside the house, Keisha A. Griffith, 39 and Stephanie Brittingham, 36, were found at the home and arrested on outstanding court orders.
The Seaford Police Department reminds everyone to properly lock and secure both their firearms and ammunition in a safe location away from children.
Geotags are a feature that one must WORK to disable, the worst type of creeping technology.
Adam Savage, host of the popular science program “Mythbusters,” posted a picture on Twitter of his automobile parked in front of his house that was geotagged.
Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live
By KATE MURPHY | August 11, 2010 | New York Times
When Adam Savage, host of the popular science program “MythBusters,” posted a picture on Twitter of his automobile parked in front of his house, he let his fans know much more than that he drove a Toyota Land Cruiser.
Embedded in the image was a geotag, a bit of data providing the longitude and latitude of where the photo was taken. Hence, he revealed exactly where he lived. And since the accompanying text was “Now it’s off to work,” potential thieves knew he would not be at home.
Security experts and privacy advocates have recently begun warning about the potential dangers of geotags, which are embedded in photos and videos taken with GPS-equipped smartphones and digital cameras. Because the location data is not visible to the casual viewer, the concern is that many people may not realize it is there; and they could be compromising their privacy, if not their safety, when they post geotagged media online.
Mr. Savage said he knew about geotags. (He should, as host of a show popular with technology followers.) But he said he had neglected to disable the function on his iPhone before taking the picture and uploading it to Twitter.
“I guess it was a lack of concern because I’m not nearly famous enough to be stalked,” he said, “and if I am, I want a raise.”
This is a very sad story. Condolences to the Arnold family, especially the young children who must grow up without knowing their father.
From left to right: Shannon Arnold, Ryan Arnold, Chad Arnold. (July 29, 2010)
A Selfless Gift
www.keloland.com | By Erich Schaffhauser | August 13, 2010, 10:04 PM
WATERTOWN, SD – It was a selfless act for a Watertown dentist and may have been one that saved his brother’s life and cost him his own.
Thirty-four-year-old Ryan Arnold died after donating part of his liver to his brother whose liver was failing.
“Ryan was an amazing father, husband, brother, friend. He had uncommon character,” Ryan’s brother Rod said. “And the thing that Ryan did for his brother Chad in giving his liver to save his brother’s life made perfect sense if you know Ryan.”
Well it’s about time there is was a test for Alzheimer.
John Trojanowski, neuropathologist at Penn, helped develop the test, a measure of proteins in patients' cerebrospinal fluid.
Alzheimer test developed largely at Penn proves effective
By Faye Flam | Inquirer Staff Writer | www.philly.com | Aug. 11, 2010
A screening test developed largely at the University of Pennsylvania has proved surprisingly good at predicting who will go from relatively mild memory decline to full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists are just starting to use this test to identify people at a much earlier stage in the disease and get them into clinical trials of drugs being developed to combat Alzheimer’s.
And that’s raising hopes that new drugs might fight the disease early, before the brain becomes irreparably damaged, said John Trojanowski, a Penn neuropathologist who helped develop the test – a measure of three proteins in patients’ cerebrospinal fluid. Another Penn researcher, Leslie Shaw, also played a lead role in developing the test.
Smuggling may not be the oldest profession but its surely in the top 5.
Click an image to view larger. Photographs courtesy TRAFFIC
Tiger Cub: Freed, Fuzzy Headed
National Geographic | August 26, 2010
The cat’s out of the bag—at least for a woman caught smuggling a live, two-month-old, drugged tiger cub in a suitcase full of toys (pictured) at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Thai national, whose identity has not been revealed by Thai authorities, was scheduled to board a Mahan Air flight to Iran. But when she was seen struggling with a large bag at check-in, airport officials decided to x-ray her luggage.
The x-rays revealed the tranquilized tiger cub among stuffed-tiger toys, according to a statement released Thursday by TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network. (Related video: “Tiger Trade Slashes Big Cats’ Numbers.”)
Officials are investigating whether the cub was wild caught or captive-bred, as well as where the woman intended to bring the tiger.
All Asian tigers are listed as endangered or worse by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), mostly due to the illegal trade in tiger parts. (Read about how to save tigers with National Geographic’s Big Cats Initiative.)
It is a shame these creative, intelligent, young men fired shots at the police and then died in a shootout. Bank robbery is a crime, no matter if Santa Claus, a Leprechaun or Charles Manson is the perp. Shooting at the police is bad and will get you killed, on the spot or perhaps later after a stint on death row.
I stumbled onto the story of Cotton and Skinner while researching a leprechaun sighting. Ha ha ha Leprechaun robs bank! That tangent lead me to Santa robs bank and Darth Vader robs banks.
I was shocked to discover Cotton and Skinner were the Leprechaun AND Santa Claus bank robbers. The story got deeper and sadder as facts revealed that they fired shots while fleeing the Leprechaun heist and died after a chase and a shootout.
Below are links to video of their story, with comments from close friends as well as a horror film that Cotton helped make.
In this undated photo provided by Gallatin Police Department, David Christopher Cotton is shown. Police have linked a deadly St. Patrick's Day bank robbery by a man in a leprechaun costume with a Christmastime bank holdup by a man in a Santa suit. Police on Thursday, March 18, 2010 said the two suspects who died after a shootout with Gallatin police were Cotton of Brentwood and Jonathan Ryan Skinner, a Western Kentucky University student. Both were 20 years old. (AP Photo/Gallatin Police Department)
In this undated photo provided by Gallatin Police Department, Jonathan Ryan Skinner is shown. Police have linked a deadly St. Patrick's Day bank robbery by a man in a leprechaun costume with a Christmastime bank holdup by a man in a Santa suit. Police on Thursday, March 18, 2010 said the two suspects who died after a shootout with Gallatin police were David Christopher Cotton of Brentwood and Skinner, a Western Kentucky University student. Both were 20 years old. (AP Photo/Gallatin Police Department)
In this image made from surveillance video provided by Gallatin Police Department, David Christopher Cotton, dressed as a leprechaun, is seen during a robbery of First State Bank in Gallatin, Tenn., Wednesday, March 17, 2010. Police have linked a deadly St. Patrick's Day bank robbery by a man in a leprechaun costume with a Christmastime bank holdup by a man in a Santa suit. Police on Thursday, March 18, 2010 said the two suspects who died after a shootout with Gallatin police were David Christopher Cotton of Brentwood and Jonathan Ryan Skinner, a Western Kentucky University student. Both were 20 years old. (AP Photo/Gallatin Police Department)
Brentwood HS Grads Killed In Police Shootout
Families Remember Sons, Not Costumed Robbers
March 19, 2010 | www.wsmv.com
GALLATIN, Tenn. — The man who staged a St. Patrick’s Day bank robbery in a leprechaun costume and died during a police shootout also held up a bank three days before Christmas in a Santa suit, police said Thursday.
Investigators in the Nashville suburb of Gallatin said information from the FBI linked David Christopher Cotton, 20, of Brentwood to the December robbery.
The last footage of Cotton and Skinner is video from the dashboard camera of a Gallatin police vehicle. But that’s unlikely what friends and family will remember most.
The two men were both 20 years old and graduates of Brentwood High School. Skinner was a junior at Western Kentucky University, majoring in meteorology. He had an internship at a Nashville television station last year.
Things are tough all over. Santa needed cash in Tennessee to “pay his elves.” Since that heist was so successful a few months later the same lads dressed as Leprechauns to rob a bank. The luck of the Irish was not with them and they met a bad end. After the jump are more photos and a story about the Santa robbery.
This Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009 image made from video released by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department shows a man dressed as Santa robbing the Sun Trust Bank in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)
GALLATIN, Tenn. – The man who staged a St. Patrick’s Day bank robbery in a leprechaun costume and died during a police shootout also held up a bank three days before Christmas in a Santa suit, police said Thursday.
Investigators in the Nashville suburb of Gallatin said information from the FBI linked David Christopher Cotton, 20, of Brentwood to the December robbery.
FBI Supervisor Special Agent Scott Augenbaum told The Associated Press that investigators found a Santa suit at Cotton’s home, and that the suspect made similar comments during both robberies.
Lately bank robbers have been using more creative disguises than just a wig and glasses. In this story, Darth Vader needs cash.
Suffolk County Police Major Case detectives are investigating the robbery of a Chase bank branch in Setauket by a man wearing a Darth Vader mask and a cape. A man entered the bank, located at 4080 Route 347, at 11:30 a.m. today, displayed a gun and demanded cash. The teller complied with the robbers demands and gave him money from the drawer. The man fled eastbound through the parking lot. The man is between 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall. He was wearing a Darth Vader mask, a blue cape and camouflage pants.
Suffolk County Police Major Case detectives are investigating the robbery of a Chase bank branch in Setauket by a man wearing a Darth Vader mask and a cape. A man entered the bank, located at 4080 Route 347, at 11:30 a.m. today, displayed a gun and demanded cash. The teller complied with the robbers demands and gave him money from the drawer. The man fled eastbound through the parking lot. The man is between 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall. He was wearing a Darth Vader mask, a blue cape and camouflage pants.
Man wearing Darth Vader mask and cape robs Long Island bank with gun, shoves customer to floor
BY John Lauinger | DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER | www.nydailynews.com | July 23rd 2010
A lot of robbers use force. This one used the Force.
A bandit decked out in a Darth Vader costume strolled into a Long Island bank on Thursday – and walked out with a wad of cash.
The villain looked ready for Halloween, wearing the “Star Wars” scoundrel’s signature mask and sweeping black cape.
