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World news from the SDB network.......

Congrats.....

Conn. couple named 'longest married' in US

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — John and Ann Betar weren't supposed to get married. Her father had arranged for her to wed another man, but she and John fled Bridgeport and eloped in New York.

That was more than 80 years ago. The couple is still happily hitched, a fact that has led to their naming as the "longest married couple" in the U.S. for 2013 by Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a Christian marriage group based in San Bernardino, Calif.

The Betars are scheduled to receive a plaque and other gifts from the group at their granddaughter's home in Fairfield on Saturday.

They told the New York Daily News that there are no secrets to a long marriage, only a few simple rules.

"We just live with contentment and we don't live beyond our means," John Betar said. "Just go with the flow."

John's now 101 years old and Ann is 97, and they're still living in their home along the Fairfield shore. They had five children, 14 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren. Two of their children died in their 60s.

Ron and Judy Pekny of Worldwide Marriage Encounter say the title of "longest married couple" is based on nominations the group received, so there may be some couples who have been married longer.

John and Ann grew up across the street from each other in Bridgeport, and John used to drive Ann to high school in his Ford Roadster. They fell in love. When her father arranged for her to marry someone else, they eloped in Harrison, N.Y., about 25 miles north of New York City.

John went on to open a grocery store in Bridgeport.

Ann Betar told the Hearst Connecticut Media Group around their 80th anniversary in November that family has been a key to their longevity.

"That's what makes life what it is," she said. "We were fortunate enough to live long enough to see this ... and it's really one of the most gratifying things in the world to see your great-grandchildren, to see your grandchildren become adults."

John Betar added, "That's what keeps us alive. We live for them."

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
 
Weather related news.....

For those on the NE coast, please post the weather in your area...snow, wind, etc. ...Yes I know if the power went out, you may not be able to post. Just do so once things get back to normal.
I feel sorry for that area....2-3 FEET of snow and 75 MPH winds.

Hope everyone stays safe and no injuries.
 
I just heard this on the 10 Pm newscast.

Australia is banning "blowing out" candles on birthday cakes for kids.

This is for SCHOOL parties only.

I guess they figure that all that spit on the cake is unsanitary. :)
 
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) – A school principal said no white children were allowed at an after-school tutoring program, and now some parents call it discrimination.

The principal at Mission Viejo Elementary in Aurora sent a letter telling parents the program is only for students of color. Parents CBS4 talked with said they were shocked to see, in this day and age, what they consider to be segregation.

“I was infuriated. I didn’t understand why they would include or exclude certain groups,” said parent Nicole Cox, who is white.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/02/...-school-ad-for-colored-only-tutoring-program/

what what strikes me funny.... "some parents call it discrimination" shouldn't ALL parents ?

where's all fkn sharpton when we need him ?
 
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BRP RAISES WATERCRAFT RACING SUPPORT WITH 2013 SEA-DOO X-TEAM ‘BIG BUCKS’ BOUNTY PROGRAM

Posted on February 19, 2013

by Sea-Doo

BRP continues to lead the watercraft industry in racing success and support with the 2013 Sea-Doo RXP-X and RXT-X models, Sea-Doo X-TEAM ‘BIG BUCKS’ Bounty racer contingency program, and Sea-Doo Promoter support program.

BRP enters the 2013 watercraft racing season with immense momentum following one of the most dominant IJSBA World Finals performances in history. Sea-Doo watercraft racers claimed 16 of the available 21 titles and filled 47 of the 63 available podium positions led by X-TEAM rider James Bushell. Bushell has claimed four PRO Runabout titles in two years aboard his 158 Performance Sea-Doo RXP-X.

Bushell and other RXP-X riders will have the opportunity to claim more money for top finishers in 2013 with an inflated Sea-Doo X-TEAM Bounty racer contingency program, the only program of its kind.

The 2013 Sea-Doo X-TEAM ‘BIG BUCKS’ Bounty program will offer larger payouts for wins and championships, raising the incentive to finish on the podium at IJSBA sanctioned events in the United States and Canada. BRP’s Sea-Doo X-TEAM Bounty is open to all racers competing on modern Sea-Doo models in designated Novice, Expert, and Pro classes. The Sea-Doo contingency is essentially an, “open-sponsorship” that excludes no one, except those competing on watercraft other than Sea-Doo.

The Sea-Doo Promoter Support program provides event promoters sponsorship to help them produce more, high-quality, fun events. BRP works with the promoters to ensure Sea-Doo owners have a place to ride and compete in an organized manner, providing another fun aspect of owning a Sea-Doo watercraft.

“BRP is dedicated to supporting the sport of watercraft racing and giving the high-performance Sea-Doo watercraft owner a place, with incentives, to enjoy their Sea-Doo in a competitive atmosphere,” says Adrien De Alexandris, Brand Manager of Sea-Doo watercraft. “Watercraft racing is a great family sport and supporting this community compliments our efforts in producing the industry’s best high-performance watercraft in the Sea-Doo RXP-X, RXT-X, and GTR 215 models.”

BRP does more for the sport of watercraft racing than any other company. For 2013 it begins this weekend with the Sea-Doo X-TEAM ‘BIG BUCKS’ Bounty program available to Sea-Doo racers competing at the Mark Hahn 300 endurance race and continues through the entire 2013 season culminating at October’s IJSBA World Finals. The 2013 Sea-Doo X-TEAM ‘BIG BUCKS’ Bounty program boasts US National Tour and World Finals championship prizes of up $4000.

The Sea-Doo Promoter Support program will include sponsorship of the following North American watercraft racing series:

•IJSBA World Finals, Lake Havasu City, AZ
•Toyota UWP IJSBA US National Tour, Seven stops across the United States
•Pro Hydro-X Tour, South-East United States
•Texas Championship Tour, Texas and the Sea-Doo X-TEAM Hour on liquidspeedradio.com
•************** HydroDrags, South-East United States (Drag Racing)
•Canadian Watercross Tour, Ontario, Canada
•RPM West Coast Series, California and Arizona (closed course and endurance)
•Great Lakes Watercross, Wisconsin and Minnesota
•Hahn 300, Lake Havasu City, AZ (endurance)
•Aqua-X Series, Florida

Visit this Sea-Doo Blog, OnBoard for complete program details and redemption form information on the 2013 Sea-Doo X-TEAM ‘BIG BUCKS’ Bounty racer contingency program.

For a look at the new Sea-Doo watercraft and iControl technology, visit www.sea-doo.com
 
Irish publican fined for "nuns" drinking illegally

An Irish publican has been prosecuted after police found dozens of "nuns" drinking illegally, several hours past closing time on his premises.

Christy Walsh, who runs the bar in Listowel, County Kerry, has been fined a total of 700 euros (£605) after his pub was raided twice in one night.

He had helped to organize a charity event in the town last July, in which hundreds of people dressed up as nuns.

The "Nunday" event took place in Listowel on 30 June 2012, and set a new record for the "largest gathering of people dressed as nuns". £In total, 1,436 adults made a holy show of themselves at a sports ground in the town. £ The volunteers donned nuns' outfits and gathered in the field, where they were counted by officials acting on behalf of the Guinness Book of World Records. £ The adjudicators also made sure that the 'sisters' observed a strict dress code. It had to include a habit, a veil, black shoes and black socks or tights. £ They were officially counted and set a new Guinness World Record.

Mr Walsh, who was a member of the Nunday organizing committee, said the small town's population doubled for the day as up to 3,000 extra people came to Listowel to either participate in or witness the unusual event.

However, after pub closing time, in the early hours of the following morning, police entered Mr Christy's bar on two separate occasions, and found 51 'nuns' on the premises.

The officers first came in about 45 minutes after closing time and found 30 people dressed as nuns and their second visit was a few hours later, when they observed 21 'sisters' still at the bar.

Mr Walsh said he was at the premises for the first police visit and accepted that the police were "doing their job". ££He said he was not there in person for the second visit, because he was driving people home.

He claimed that many people found to be in the pub after hours were waiting on taxis.

Mr Walsh said Listowel had a population of about 3,000 people and on a typical Saturday night there were only about 10 taxis to cater for late night revelers.

The publican said he was disappointed by the decision to proceed with the prosecution. ££ However, he appeared philosophical about it, adding that the event had raised around 26,000 euros (£22,500) for charity.

The idea had come from a County Kerry couple, who had lost their 17-year-old son to suicide.

Mr Walsh said when the nun costumes were suggested, the organising committee sought reaction from a local convent and from a parish priest before going ahead with it. £ He claimed that both saw the humour, agreed it was for a good cause, and "gave their blessing" to Nunday.
 
Bill Bartleet passes away

As reported by Greenhulk .net on Facebook

The PWC community lost one of the greatest today. Bill Bartleet was a friend to all and the most genuinely nice guy you could ever meet. Always going out of his way to help others. He had a passion for the sport of personal watercrafts. Bill was Osidebill on the forum and has been a moderator at greenhulk . net since day one.

Bill, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Everyone please keep them in your thoughts and prayers through this hard time.

Godspeed Bill we will all miss you my friend!
 
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Didn't know him but RIP bud.. terrible to hear that kind of stuff.
 
Florida man swallowed by sinkhole, presumed dead

By CHRIS O'MEARA and TAMARA LUSH, AP
40 minutes ago
news-national-20130301-US.Sinkhole.Swallows.Man

Family members console each other near the home where Jeff Bush disappeared ...

SEFFNER, Fla. — A sinkhole 20 feet across and 20 feet deep opened up under a man's bedroom and swallowed him up without a trace, taking his bed, TV set and dresser, too, as he screamed for help.

Jeff Bush, 37, was presumed dead after the concrete floor caved in about 11 p.m. Thursday as everyone in the house was turning in for the night. It gave way with a loud crash that brought his brother running.

Jeremy Bush said he jumped into the hole but couldn't see his brother and had to be rescued himself by a sheriff's deputy who reached out and pulled him to safety as the ground crumbled around him.

"The floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down, but I didn't care. I wanted to save my brother," Jeremy Bush, 36, said through tears Friday in a neighbor's yard. "But I just couldn't do nothing."

He added: "I could swear I heard him hollering my name to help him."

Officials lowered equipment into the sinkhole and saw no signs of life, said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico.

The dresser and the TV set had vanished down the hole.

"All I could see was the cable wire running from the TV going down into the hole. I saw a corner of the bed and a corner of the box spring and the frame of the bed," Jeremy Bush said.

Engineers worked to determine whether the ground was stable enough to support heavy machinery to help them recover the body. They said they may have to demolish the small, sky-blue house, even though from the outside, there appeared to be nothing wrong with the four-bedroom, concrete-wall structure, built in 1974.

Florida is prone to sinkholes because below ground is limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water. A sinkhole near Orlando grew to 400 feet across in 1981 and devoured property valued at $2 million, five sports cars, most of two businesses, a three-bedroom house and the deep end of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

Florida law requires that home insurers provide sinkhole coverage

Jeremy Bush said someone came out to the home a couple of months ago to check for sinkholes and other things, apparently for insurance purposes. "He said there was nothing wrong with the house. Nothing. And a couple of months later, my brother dies. In a sinkhole," Bush said.

Six people were at the home at the time, including Jeremy Bush's wife and his 2-year-old daughter. The brothers worked maintenance jobs, including picking up trash along highways.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
 
'Batman' hands suspect over to UK police

1 day ago

LONDON — A man dressed as Batman has brought a suspected burglar into a police station in northern England.

West Yorkshire Police said Monday that they do not know the identity of the man who appeared in "a full Batman outfit" and turned in a 27-year-old suspect to police in Bradford, England.

CCTV images released by police show a caped crusader — fully clad with the comic hero's boots, gloves and logo across his chest — standing alongside a man in a red hooded sweatshirt.

Police said the handover occurred on February 25 and the suspect will appear in court on March 8 charged with handling stolen goods and fraud-related offenses.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
 
Loaded gun found in woman's private parts
Baggies of meth also found in Oklahoma woman's buttocks, police say

Christie-Dawn-Harris.jpg
Christie Dawn Harris

Ada Police Department

An Oklahoma woman is accused of hiding a loaded gun in her vagina and methamphetamine in her buttocks.

The weapon was discovered during a search of Christie Dawn Harris by a female officer with the Ada Police Department, according to a police report obtained by The Smoking Gun website.

The officer wrote she noticed the handle of a .22-caliber revolver sticking out from Harris' private parts.
Quick Clicks

Plastic baggies containing meth were also found lodged in the crack of her buttocks, according to the police report.

Harris, 28, and her friend Jennifer Delancy were arrested early Monday.

They were found sitting in a car parked outside a closed restaurant. One of the women had a warrant for her arrest, and a police dog detected drugs in the vehicle, according to the police report.

Harris faces felony weapon and drug charges.

My comment - I guess she thought with a face like that, no man would look there.

Distributed by Internet Broadcasting.
 
Fla. company rewards workers with Beer Cart Friday

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — PORT ORANGE, Fla. (AP) — Employees at a Florida health care company are allowed to drink on the company's tab, on company time, thanks to a perk known as "Beer Cart Fridays."

Advance Medical CEO Jennifer Fuicelli told the Daytona Beach News-Journal (http://bit.ly/YGXRb2) she's been rolling out the beer cart for two years as part of an "unorthodox corporate culture" that rewards employees for hard work.

She says the company began in 2005 with four employees and now has 350 workers in two locations — Port Orange, Fla., and Broomfield, Colo.

The company also hosts costume days for Halloween, barbecues on the clock and a birthday "get out of jail free" card, which can be used for a paid day off.

Employees are restricted to one beer, which Fuicelli says is a small price that "pays huge dividends."

I want to work for that company!!!

Associated Press
 
Cause of off-color, fetid water eludes Pa. town


Is any member of SDF affected by this????

PITTSBURGH — PITTSBURGH (AP) — What causes clear, fresh country well water to turn orange or black, or smell so bad that it's undrinkable?

Residents of a western Pennsylvania community have been trying for more than a year to get that question answered in their quest to get clean water back.

Some of them say the water was spoiled by drilling deep underground for natural gas. Others point to pollution from old coal mines. They've also been told it could even be a baffling mix of natural and manmade reasons that change the water over time, like the leaves change on trees. But no one knows for sure, and they say the uncertainty is maddening.

In late 2011, the drinking water for about a dozen residents in the Woodlands, a rural community about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, began to change. At first, the families blamed gas drilling, or fracking, being done 2000 feet away. But state tests showed the water wasn't contaminated by drilling, and even more confusingly, many of their neighbors reported no problems.

Families with bad water then turned to federal officials. But last summer the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency quietly sent a letter to one resident, Janet McIntyre, saying the agency agreed with the state finding, since most of the chemicals found in the water could have occurred naturally.

McIntyre wasn't satisfied, noting that the EPA "never set foot on my property to test the water themselves." The EPA didn't respond to a request for comment on why the agency didn't retest the water.

Still, the residents with water problems were hopeful that the Atlanta-based U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry was looking at the issue. But last month the agency said it "is not actively investigating complaints from this area."

"I'm just very, very frustrated," McIntyre said.

So was John Stolz.

He's the director of the Duquesne University Center for Environmental Research in Pittsburgh. Stolz said state and federal agencies failed to do detailed reviews, so a Duquesne team has been monitoring water quality and surveying households in the Woodlands, in what is one of the most in-depth surveys of alleged impacts of gas drilling in the nation. With funding from two foundations, a team has regularly tested area water for more than a year.

"We'll see black water, we'll see orange water, there's often times an odor," Stolz said.

Overall, about 50 out of the 150 households in the community have complaints. "There are certain areas that clearly don't have any problems," Stoltz said. And, he added, a well that has bad water one month may be clear the next, and a few homeowners even say that their well water improved after gas drilling began.

Even in areas with no nearby oil and gas drilling, the water quality in some aquifers changes naturally, groundwater experts say.

"It varies even within the same aquifer. It can vary from the top of the aquifer to the bottom, and from one side to the next," said Mike Paque, executive director of the Oklahoma-based Ground Water Protection Council.

The wells themselves may be causing the problem, too. Stoltz said the depths vary from 90 feet to 900 feet deep, with an average of about 130 feet. Pennsylvania is one of the only states with no standards for rural water well construction, meaning multiple other factors could be contributing to the problems.

Others say the cause could be old coal mines or old oil and gas wells that date back to the 1800s.

Shafts from old mines lie under the region, said Butler County commissioner William L. McCarrier, who worked as a water well driller in the area during the 1970s. Those can fill with water, and that water then gets contaminated. He said pollution from old mines and wells was a common problem long before the recent gas drilling boom, which began about five years ago, adding that the situation is more complicated than many outsiders realize.

"It's very unclear where the problem came from," McCarrier said. He said he accepts the state finding that drilling didn't cause the problem, but that authorities are still trying to find solution for the people who say their water is undrinkable.

That has put local officials in the middle of a fight.

The Woodlands is an unincorporated area that was laid out with no rights of way for public water or sewer lines, and even the idea of extending a public water line to the area has created divisions. Some people who live within a quarter mile of McIntyre say they have no water problems whatsoever, and they don't want to pay for improvements they don't see a need for.

McIntyre said a water company is willing to bring a feed line to the edge of the community and put a pump house in. But the Woodlands residents would still need to form an association to manage and pay for water lines and hookups.

Residents met in January with lawyers to discuss filing lawsuits. But one expert said any claim would be complicated by the variations in water quality and the lack of a contamination finding from state or federal agencies.

"It's a tremendously difficult case," said Emily A. Collins, a professor and supervising attorney with the University of Pittsburgh Environmental Law Clinic. Collins said that even if there is a lawsuit, plaintiffs might find it difficult to get their expert opinion into evidence, since the science isn't clear.

The debate should be over anyway, say both state regulators and the drilling company Rex Energy, because multiple independent reviews found no contamination from drilling at all.

"In each case, the scientific analysis concluded that neither Rex Energy's operations nor natural gas development impacted water quality," said Rex spokesman Derek Smith, who noted that the company provided access to records, shared data, and gave "its complete cooperation and support" to the reviews. Rex is based in State College.

Yet Stoltz expects that ultimately his team's research will provide a definitive answer for the Woodlands residents. The tests haven't found any evidence of drilling chemicals in the water wells, but Stoltz said that even though no gas wells went directly under the Woodlands, the surrounding countryside is full of them. He said that while his team's conclusions aren't final, he believes that the recent gas drilling around the Woodlands has affected groundwater flows, thus indirectly causing problems for some people.

But even if drilling didn't cause the problems, McIntyre said she doesn't understand why the community must struggle to find the answer.

"It just seems like I can't get some kind of justice," she said. "I want water so bad I can taste it."

Associated Press
 
A British man born without a penis is getting a helping hand from his arm.

Andrew Wardle, 39, will undergo three surgeries over the next year to craft a male sex organ out of a large flap of skin on his forearm, The Sun reported.

Wardle was born with his bladder outside his body, leaving him with just a small fold of skin where his penis would be.

Several operations have corrected his bladder and kidney problems, but doctors have been stumped about how to fix Wardle's missing male member until now, according to the UK's South West News Service.

Wardle hopes to have the first surgery this summer. The 12-hour procedure will take skin, muscle and nerves from his arm to build his appendage, according to The Sun.

The next two operations will connect the tubes in his penis to his uretha and testicles.

While rare, the procedure Wardle will undergo is not unheard of.

A Scottish man underwent a similar set of operations just last month after losing his penis in a car accident, according to the International Business Times.

Distributed by Internet Broadcasting.
Wonder if he has a say on the length/width of it????
 
If this doesn't make your butt pucker you have never been on a bike at speed. Notice that they run away from the heli (most will only go 180 max).
Incredible Isle of Man TT Motorcycle Race Video

This is an Isle of Man camera video done really well. It lasts about five minutes.
Keep in mind that this is the last true motorcycle road race in the world.
Each lap is 37.75 miles long with over 200 turns.
And the record for a single lap is over 130 MPH. There are straight sections where the bikes hit over 200 MPH.
It Is hard to imagine such riding speeds but they do it every year at the end of May and have been doing so since 1907.
There have been over 240 rider fatalities in the history of the event but it is bigger than ever today.
Two riders were killed during the 2012 events.

The helmet cam video over the last minute or so of the clip is
breathtaking. This event makes car racers look like a bunch of wussies. Even Sir Jackie Stewart is amazed by what he is seeing in the video. BTW, former Formula One World Champion John Surtees won this event before he switched from motorcycles to race cars.

Here's the video, Talley Ho lads:
http://vimeo.com/53551115

TURN AUDIO ON!
 
Tires, battery stolen from SUV after fatal crash

CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico police investigating a fatal traffic crash found that somebody stole wheels, tires and the battery from a wrecked SUV as it lay on top of the victim.

Carlsbad police say 26-year-old Steven Roy Reese of Carlsbad was killed either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning when he apparently lost control of his 1996 Ford Explorer on a little-used dirt road.

The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports the medical investigator determined Reese was dead for at least eight hours before police found him.

Police Lt. Jennifer Moyers says removal of the items was both illegal and extremely insensitive.

She says possible charges include theft and failure to give notice of an accident.

Last weekend, a family involved in a wreck on Interstate 40 wreck near Albuquerque lost possessions worth thousands of dollars after they say authorities failed to secure the crash site.

wtf ???
 
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