As many as a dozen children attending a kindergarten in the western Norwegian town of Sola may have sampled some blood that a teacher brought into class for show and tell.
The stock market is reaching new highs every day. Unemployment is at a four year low. Companies are paying higher dividends than ever before. All the wealth lost in the Great Recession has been regained. The consumer is back! Strong banks are back! Real estate development is back! Luxury spending is back! The future is bright! Everyone, everywhere, cobble together what money you can, and spend! Buy! Invest!
Since spring is just around the corner, it makes sense that a big old snow storm is upon us. According to the windows and some weather reports, heavy snow is falling across the tri-state area. Snow will fall until midday and might pile up between one to three inches will fall on New York City. In addition to lovely fresh snow, watch out for wave surges up the New England coast, particularly in Massachusetts—which should reach 19 feet, making tides about three feet above normal levels. This will most likely cause some serious flooding. Unlike the excitable father pictured above, President Obama is not amused:
Sofia Coppola shows off the power of girlish frivolity as expertly as she always has in this super-short teaser for her upcoming movie: The Bling Ring. The teaser is about 40 seconds, but shows all sorts of materialistic thrills and Emma Watson attempting to groove seductively in a LA club.
Good morning. The U.S. is now warning health officials to be on the alert for a scary new virus—a deadly cousin of SARS that's already killed eight and infected 14.
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, who for many years took great glee in voicing anti-American sentiments, died this week at the age of 58, following a long battle with "an unspecified cancer in the pelvic region." Just before he died, Venezuelan vice president Nicholas Maduro ejected two U.S. diplomats from the country and vaguely charged them with infecting Chavez with cancer, saying he was "attacked with this illness."
Peggy Noonan, a woman, of America, is a political columnist, yes. But first, she is an American. She does not go in for all the "data" and "numbers" and "relevant facts" mumbo-jumbo that clouds the political debates of our fine nation. Leave the "worthwhile" political theories for Nate Silver and other dewy younglings; Peggy Noonan will weave her own columns not out of "polls," but out of hazy, gin-soaked memories of Ronald Reagan, and trips to Brooklyn street fairs, and yard signs viewed out of her car window. And now: Peggy Noonan has taken a trip to a hotel. A hotel—in America.
A secret operation sometime last week has brought Osama bin Laden's son-in-law to New York, where he will appear this morning under heavy security in a New York federal courtroom. There, the former high-school teacher will answer charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens as a key member of al Qaeda's inner circle.
Talk about alarm clock: These gags have been generously labeled "wake-up pranks," but make no mistake — they're pure nightmares.
Here's Domino's Pizza Japan president Scott Oellkers introducing a new Domino's pizza iPhone app. What is it about this? The jump cuts? The closeups of Oellkers' eyeballs? Oellkers' own natural showmanship? The little flourish he does at the end?
Footage of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a delirious troop of soldiers on the front line with South Korea was broadcast on state television on Friday following a belligerent exchange of threats between the two Koreas, which are still technically at war. "With their targets set, our intercontinental ballistic missiles and other missiles are on a standby, loaded with lighter, smaller and diversified nuclear warheads," North Korea's vice defense minister, Kang Pyo-yong, told a rally in Pyongyang. "If we push the button, they will blast off and their barrage will turn Washington, the stronghold of American imperialists and the nest of evil, and its followers, into a sea of fire." Experts don't think North Korea has perfected the technology necessary to place nuclear warheads on missiles; nevertheless, South Korea says if Pyongyang does attack with a nuke, Kim Jong-Un and his military "will be erased from the earth." North Korea cancelled its non-aggression agreements with South Korea yesterday after the U.N.—backed by China, Pyongyang's ally and largest trading partner—passed a resolution strengthening sanctions on the impoverished kingdom, but experts think Kim's belligerence is an attempt to consolidate power rather than a real threat.
During his performance Thursday night at London's 02 arena, Justin Bieber reportedly collapsed on stage because of some sort of breathing problems. The recent birthday boy went backstage, where he received oxygen for 20 minutes before bravely returning to finish the concert. Here's a video of his manager Scotter Braun telling the clearly concerned audience about Bieber's health:
Michael Bloomberg hates sugary drinks (but not coffee), has issues with the homeless, and has a history of making sexist remarks in public. But who cares about that. His most egregious mistake as New York's mayor (and the world's 13th richest person) is admitting to not liking movie trailers, which, as others have correctly noted, are often the best part of trips to the multiplex (especially when you're seeing Les Misérables, as Bloomberg had before this interview with M Magazine).
