samhexum

A mother of five lost control of her vehicle, crashed into a tree and died after her boyfriend cut her brake lines to get a piece of pipe for crack smoking, police said. John Jenkins, of Dunmore, Pennsylvania, is facing homicide charges in the death of 38-year-old Tammy Fox. A witness said the car was traveling about 60 mph on Aug. 22. The brake lights flashed, but the car never slowed down before the crash. According to court documents, Jenkins told police Fox was "driving him crazy" because she was looking for a pipe to smoke crack in. He allegedly told troopers he didn't want to go to the store for a pipe, so he started "hacking away" underneath Fox's vehicle to get something she could use. A GoFundMe page set up to raise money for her funeral expenses and five children called Fox "a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend." Jenkins is currently being held without bail. A preliminary hearing for is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 7. A New Jersey man drowned at a bachelor party while playing a game of “Who can stay underwater the longest,” authorities said Tuesday. Robert Zachary “Zack” Bunsa, 23, of Basking Ridge was at a home on Lake Sinclair in Georgia on Saturday with about a dozen other guests, including his brother, when the group started the contest. “He was attempting to see how long he could hold his breath, and tragically, he drowned,” Baldwin County Sheriff’s Capt. Brad King told The Post. “I don’t know if it was the type of thing that was ongoing all afternoon or if it was a spur-of-the-moment type” game. The group of 15 men didn’t realize Bunsa hadn’t gotten out of the water at first. Thinking he was already back at the house, they went up to find him, authorities said. “He was missing for some time — over 7 minutes, at least — before they realized,” Cpl. Lynn Stanford told the Macon Telegraph. Finally, one of the men back at the lake dove in to look for Bunsa and pulled him out of an area between 5 and 10 feet deep near the dock. Visibility in the lake is about 1 foot, Stanford said. A law enforcement officer living nearby heard a call on the radio and responded to the dock, performing CPR for 10 to 15 minutes before EMS arrived. A helicopter was called to airlift Bunsa for treatment — but he was already pronounced dead at the scene. Bunsa was a graduate of Koinonia Academy in Plainfield, NJ, where he played on the high school’s basketball team. He worked at Urban Table Restaurant in Basking Ridge, a former employer of his, Lauren Rubio, told NJ.com. “He was an awesome young man, we were blessed to have him,” Rubio said. “He always carried himself as a mature, strong person. We only have good things to say about him.”

Get ready to guac out, avocado fans. People who sign up for a weight loss study looking at avocado consumption can get paid for their efforts, Loma Linda University announced. “The study will examine whether eating one avocado per day reduces visceral adipose fat in the abdomen,” Joan Sabaté, MD, PhD, said in an online statement Tuesday. The school laid out certain requirements for the project, including: men and women signing up must have waist measurements of 40 and 35 inches or more, respectively — and all subjects have to be at least 25 years old. They also mentioned another — crucial — stipulation. “Be willing to either eat one avocado per day for six months or eat only two avocados per month for the same period,” the school said. Loma Linda University also explained how the study will work. “The test group will be given 16 avocados every two weeks and required to eat one avocado per day throughout the six-month study,” it said. “The control group will be required to eat no more than two avocados per month during the same period.” Everyone who signs up will get a free MRI and health screening and should meet monthly with a dietician, the school said. “Upon successful completion of the study, participants in both groups will be paid $300 each, and members of the control group will be given 24 avocados to enjoy,” it adds. Loma Linda isn’t the only school that will get people to join. Tufts University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Penn State University will also sign up 250 people a pop.

Birth defect?

If I ever try some, I'll let you know.

Former Olympian shocked to find his dog-sitter with two shirtless men, a camcorder and bottle of lube. A Colorado man said he was stunned when he came home from a trip out of town to find two shirtless men sitting in his living room with a camcorder and an open bottle of lube on a table - while his dog-sitter took a shower. Klete Keller, a three-time Olympian-turned-real-estate-agent, said he hired a sitter through Wag to care for his dog Jimbo while he was away. Keller said he returned to his Colorado Springs home on Monday around 1am to find the two men relaxing on his couch with no shirts on. The 36-year-old former Olympic swimmer, who competed in the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, said he asked them to leave and that's when he spotted a bottle of personal lube on his living room table, as well as a camcorder. 'It's pretty self explanatory what was going on,' he told Fox 21, adding that his bed sheets were dirty and there was what appeared to be bodily fluid on his couch. Klete Keller, a three-time Olympian-turned-real-estate-agent, said he hired a sitter through Wag to care for his dog Jimbo while he was away. He said his dog, Jimbo, had been locked in a bedroom and was sitting in his own urine. 'The general smell in the house is disgusting. I've had all the windows and doors open.' Keller said he later learned that the woman who was supposed to be watching Jimbo had been taking a shower when he came home. The dog was locked in a bedroom sitting in his own urine. 'It was just a total mess and I can only imagine what poor Jimbo saw in there,' he said. The sitter tried to explain what happened telling Fox that she had locked her keys in her car and her two friends helped her get them unstuck with lube. 'To be completely honest, I didn't have WD-40 and my keys were stuck in my car, so I ended up grabbing what I had in my car, for things, that, you know, I do in my personal time and I didn't think to put it back in my car,' she said. As for the alleged bodily fluid on Keller's couch, the sitter offered: 'I wouldn't know anything about that, because I know that I took a shower at his house and I was on the couch in a towel ... and that was before my friends got there.' She did not explain why her friends took their shirts off or why a camcorder was on the table in the living room. 'I'd like to apologize to him for making him feel like I violated his house, because that wasn't my intention. I misinterpreted information and I had guests over when I shouldn't have,' the Wag sitter said. Wag said the sitter had a 4.96 rating out of 5 and had completed 305 dog walks and sittings with the company. She has since been suspended from the platform, the company told Fox in a statement. 'We have launched an investigation into this incident and have suspended the sitter from our platform. The circumstances around this incident are unacceptable, and we expect everyone on our platform to conduct themselves in a professional manner,' the statement read. 'The trust and safety of the Wag! community is a top priority, and we are working with the dog’s owner to restore his trust.' The company added: 'Wag! does extensive background checks on all its walkers and sitters. This includes a SSN Trace (an Identity Check), a Facial Recognition Check (against all official documents provided), a Document Check, a National Criminal Check, a CountyCriminal Check, a Sex Offender Check and a Global Watchlist check. In this case, the walker/sitter passed all of them.' Wag, known as the Uber for dogs, said the sitter has been suspended and they launched an investigation. Wag, which launched in 2014, has come under fire quite in a bit over the past year. In March, a New York woman said her Goldendoodle Simba was hit by a car and almost killed after the Wag walker she hired to take her dog out dropped the leash to answer a phone call. Wag said in a statement at the time that the woman was taking a call about her mother who was in the hospital. Wag has also been accused of losing several dogs. Nicole DiCarlo, also of New York, said she hired a walker to take her Chihuahua Norman out on March 2 and the walker lost her dog. According to the walker, Norman was trailing behind her when he slipped out of his harness. In a Facebook post on August 10, five months after he disappeared, DiCarlo said her pet dog is still missing.

I'm sure almost all of us have "belted one out" into our hairbrush (or remote control) at least once in our lives, especially those of us who can't sing... wishing we could hit that big note, or at least hold our off-key warbling that long. Off the top of my head, my top 3: The end of the MacArthur Park Suite by Donna Summer: Streisand's biggie at the end of The Main Event: The final note of Juice Newton(-John)'s version of Angel Of The Morning:

That's a rather tone-deaf remark.

‘Anne & Frank’ bakery owner considers name change after backlash An Amsterdam bakery owner has been assailed for naming his new store “Anne & Frank” – linking it to the world-famous Jewish diarist who died in the Holocaust after hiding from the Nazis with her parents. Twitter users slammed the owner, named only as Roberto, for being “tasteless” in his decision to tie his Dutch business to the girl, who died of typhus at age 15 in the Bergen-Belsen camp in 1945. Roberto was quoted as saying “it seemed like a nice name to me,” adding that Anne “is a hero for me, too,” according to the BBC. He told Dutch media he would change the name. “I’ll have a good think about it,” he said. “It wasn’t my intention to offend anyone.” Social media user Drukke Toestand tweeted that “even if the owners had been called Anne and Frank it would still be shocking.” Anne wrote in her diary until she and her family were discovered by the Nazis on Aug. 4, 1944, and deported to Auschwitz. Her father, Otto, was the only member of the Frank family to survive. He had his daughter’s diary published and it has since been translated into dozens of languages and become a worldwide bestseller. The Anne Frank House, located in the same neighborhood as the bakery, is one of the top sights for tourists to Amsterdam.

They were on GOOD DAY NEW YORK today, hawking their new children's book. Anthony has a little salt & pepper in his hair now, and it's styled a little and looks terrific.

They were on GOOD DAY NEW YORK today, hawking their new children's book. Anthony has a little salt & pepper in his hair now, and it's styled a little and looks terrific.

I switched from Verizon to Spectrum 2 weeks ago. I dropped my return box off at a UPS store 2:45PM yesterday afternoon. At 2:30AM I got an email... Thank You for returning your equipment. It has been logged in and processed.

A black bear wandered the lobby of the Colorado hotel that inspired Stephen King to write “The Shining.” Stanley Hotel vice president Reed Rowley tells KDVR-TV 300 guests were sound asleep as the bruin figured out how to open the door and climbed over furniture. A front desk supervisor taped the romp. There was no damage, but the furniture got rearranged before the bear walked out of the lower level door. The hotel in Estes Park opened in 1909 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. King wrote “The Shining” after he and his wife stayed at The Stanley in 1974. The 1980 horror film was not shot there. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=523195538131958

Monster 14-foot squid washes up on beach A monster 14-foot-long squid has washed up on the shores of New Zealand’s capital. Three brothers were out for a morning dive in Wellington when they came across the impressive creature. Daniel, Jack and Matthew Aplin were driving along on a track near Red Rocks on the city’s south coast when they came across the beached cephalopods. The brothers said they had come across sharks while on their diving trips but had never seen a squid of that size. The trio contacted the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, who arranged to have the squid collected. A Department of Conservation spokesman said it was almost certainly a giant squid, the bodies of which washed up relatively regularly. Male giant squids can grow as large as 33 feet long and have suckers and barbs running down the length of their arms. The giant squid is the largest type of squid save for the colossal squid. They are chiefly hunted by sperm whales, but juveniles are occasionally hunted by deep-sea sharks. Rumors and sightings of giant squid as long as 66 feet are widespread, but no specimens approaching this size have been scientifically documented. Studies show giant squid feed on deep-sea fish and other squid species. They catch prey using two tentacles, gripping it with serrated sucker rings, then bring it toward the powerful beak and shred it before ingesting it. They are believed to be solitary hunters, as only individuals have ever been caught in fishing nets. Giant squid inhabit all the world’s oceans. Online commenters compared the brothers’ find to the colossal squid held at national museum Te Papa – which is over 17 feet long. In 2017, a 50-foot squid washed up in Indonesia.

Massachusetts man killed in plane crash while spreading his father's ashes An Army National Guard pilot died Saturday in Massachusetts after his plane crashed en route to scatter his late father’s ashes. Scott Landis, 34, of Hanson, Mass., was killed just outside the Cranland Airport in Hanson after the small plane he was piloting crashed into a pond Friday, according to ABC News. His brother Patrick Landis, 29, was injured in the accident, and is reportedly in critical condition at Tufts Medical Center. The siblings’ uncle Don Conway told local ABC affiliate WCVB that the brothers were spreading the ashes of their father. An obituary shows their dad, Richard Landis, died Aug. 7. The listing also shows Scott is also survived by his wife, Staci. “He was on takeoff and the engine lost power, and he tried to turn and come back and it went in [the pond],” airport manager Peter Oakley told WCVB. The crash will be investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. ABC reports Scott was on leave from his Army National Guard base in Kosovo.

4 in group of teens pushing stalled car killed when SUV slams into them A night of teenage fun turned into tragedy on a rural road in Indiana. Four teens, who were attending a slumber party, were killed and four others were injured when an SUV plowed into them while they were pushing a woman's stalled car. It happened Saturday night when a Chevy Suburban driven by Cara Selby broke down just a block away from her home in Cortland, Indiana, officials said. Selby was throwing a slumber party for her daughter. When the teens at the sleepover came out to help push Selby's car back home, another vehicle hit them from behind, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department said. Killed were: Nevaeh Law, 14; Jenna A. Helton, 14; Brittany Watson, 15; and Martin Martinez, 16. Four others were hurt, including Selby's daughter. The crash is still under investigation and the driver of the SUV -- a 24-year-old woman -- hasn't yet been charged, the sheriff's department told CNN.

Texas man shot at female drivers because he found them 'incompetent' A Texas man who fired shots at multiple female drivers was arrested last week, with investigators claiming the road rage was sparked by his belief that women drivers are “incompetent.” Nicholas D’Agostino was arrested Thursday for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon just one day after he was released from jail, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said. D’Agostino was previously cuffed July 19 on the same charges in connection with a July 10 shooting in Harris County. The 29-year-old fired a .45 caliber handgun unprovoked at a woman driving an SUV near his home in Katy, Tex., according to court documents. The woman survived, but suffered “serious bodily injury.” During questioning, D’Agostino admitted that he’d shot at women behind the wheel approximately five other times. Based on that confession, Harris County Sheriff's Office investigator Dennis Palmer was able to connect the dots and link D’Agostino to another shooting on March 7, in which a woman was shot outside a gas station in Katy. The woman said she was driving her SUV back onto the road when she heard a loud noise and felt a pain in her arm, only realizing later that she’d been shot. She noted that she observed a man in an old green SUV driving by, and said he seemed to be peeking into her car to see if he’d hit her. Palmer noted that D’Agostino was driving a green 1996 Ford Explorer when he shot the woman in July, and that both women happened to be driving near his home in similar-looking vehicles. Palmer also said in court documents that D’Agostino’s social media raised several red flags as to his “dim view” of women, including rants about “incompetent” female drivers, and how a woman’s sole purpose is to “give birth to male children.” The documents claim that D’Agostino admitted he’d shot the woman in July, but claimed it was self-defense and that she had “purposefully” swerved at him. In a statement to BuzzFeed News, D’Agostino’s attorney claimed there were “a lot of assumptions” being made about his client, and that there was no evidence he hated women. "You can't take something on Facebook and introduce it into a court of law," he said. "That's not fair. What if you went out to a party and did bad things and it was on your Facebook, and that was used in court against you? It's unfair the way he has been treated." D’Agostino is being held on a $250,000 bond.

Beloved NYPD police cat killed by car Sad mews. The adorable orphaned tabby cat that served as mascot and morale booster for cops at Coney Island’s 60th Precinct was struck by a car and killed, cops said Monday. He was 2 years old. “Sad to announce our Precinct cat Martin has passed away. He was hit by a car and later died due to his injuries. He will truly be missed by all in the command. RIP Marty,” Deputy Inspector Joseph Hayward wrote on Twitter. The lovable feline was dropped off by a woman off at the station house on West Eighth Street and Surf Avenue in late 2016. Cops lobbied for the cat to become a permanent resident. He soon softened the hearts of even the toughest officers — snuggling with them and munching on scraps of turkey. It wasn’t immediately clear how the cat got out of the station or how he got hit.

Simon was married five times, including to actress Marsha Mason, who had appeared in his stage comedy “The Good Doctor” and went to star in several of his films, including “The Goodbye Girl” and “Chapter Two,” which Simon wrote following the 1973 cancer death of his first wife, Joan Baim. After he and Mason divorced, Simon was married twice to Diane Lander — from 1987 to 1988 and again from 1990 to 1998 — before marrying actress Elaine Joyce in 1999. In addition to Joyce, he is survived by his two daughters with Baim, Ellen and Nancy, and Lander’s daughter from a previous marriage, Bryn, who Simon adopted, as well as three grandchildren and a great-grandson. He was 91.

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