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How bizarre!
by Thanos Kalamidas
2012-03-19 07:46:30 |
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'Ugliest dog' in the world, Yoda, dies at 15
 The owner of the "world's ugliest dog" has announced the death of her 15-year-old prize winning pet. Yoda, a Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix, shot to fame last year when she won the World's Ugliest Dog contest in California.
When Terry Schumacher found Yoda she initially mistook the abandoned dog for a rat, but the animal went on to win a $1000 (£638) prize for her looks. She had short tufts of hair, a protruding tongue and skinny bald legs. The dog, which died in her sleep on Saturday, only weighed 1.8lbs (0.8kg) and lived a rough life before she was found behind an apartment building.
After the competition Yoda appeared on television and even featured in makeover show. Ms Schumacher says she will miss "her funny little ways" but she is "comforted knowing she will be joining my Mom and Dad who loved her so much. Her memories will live on forever."
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Fleming Drive in flames
 The east end of London became a war zone Saturday night as hundreds of rioters in the Fanshawe College area of the city attacked police and burned vehicles. More than 50 officers in full riot gear surrounded by an alcohol-fuelled mob on St. Patrick’s Day held a one-block sector of Fleming Drive for more than an hour before being repelled by a downpour of broken glass from thrown bottle, rocks and even wooden planks torn off of fences. A TV news truck parked in the middle of the violence was overturned and set on fire. Flames shot 20 feet into the air interspersed by violent explosions, one of which illuminated more than a block of houses in bright orange and sent many in the crowd screaming for shelter.
Even as the truck was exploding, rioters were throwing bottles of alcohol at it causing many smaller blasts, each one inciting the crowd more than the last. Many danced around the flames, while others fed the inferno with any wood they could find to keep it ablaze. Some risked injury by tossed a couch and a mattress into it as others roared their approval. Not long after, at least one more vehicle was torched. A fire-fighter on the scene told the Free Press that some rioters were treated for burns. It’s not known how serious those injuries are.
There were no reports of police or other emergency workers being seriously hurt. “This is awesome, isn’t it?” one shirtless young man bellowed. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
He was asked what started it. “Well, over there, all these cops were on the street and we just started, ah, kicking down fences and throwing the wood at the cops and they backed off and then there was the CTV over here and a couple of the boys, they just tipped it over and a couple of the other boys, they just burnt it... That’s...the boys for you.”
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Passing out business cards is quickly becoming passé
Chalk up another looming casualty of the Internet age: business cards. Ubiquitous as pinstripes, the 2-by-3.5-inch pieces of card stock have long been a staple in executive briefcases. Exchanging cards helps to break the ice and provides a quick reference for forgotten names. But to many young and Web-savvy people who are accustomed to connecting digitally, the cards are irrelevant, wasteful — and just plain lame.
Diego Berdakin, the founder of BeachMint Inc., a fast-growing Santa Monica e-commerce site, has raised $75 million from investors without ever bothering to print up a set. He doesn't see the point. "If someone comes in to meet me, we've already been connected through email, so it really doesn't feel like a necessity in my life," he said. "When I go into a meeting and there are five bankers across the table, they all hand me business cards and they all end up in a pile, in a shoe box somewhere."
U.S. sales of business cards have been falling since the late 1990s, according to IBISWorld Inc., an Australian business data company with offices in Santa Monica whose data go back to 1997. The slide appears to be accelerating. Last year printers posted revenue of $211.1 million from the segment. That's down 13% from 2006. The weak economy has been a factor in recent years. But analysts said printed business cards, like newspapers, books and magazines, are fast giving way to digital alternatives. Smartphones, tablets and social media are helping people connect more quickly and seamlessly than ever before.
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Homeless man, allegedly posed as a woman for medical care
 A homeless man in California is accused of stealing a woman's identity for 13 years and racking up more than $100,000 in medical care expenses. Police in San Clemente say they found Perla Serrano -- who appeared to be a woman -- sleeping Sunday in a public area. But a deputy noted a hospital wristband with a different name than the one the person gave. Soon, the 51-year-old suspect's gender became in doubt.
“The deputy called San Clemente Hospital and was informed by San Clemente personnel that the person was actually a man, not a woman,” Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said. The victim, who is only being named as "Perla K," has apparently suffered a long ordeal because of the alleged identity theft. "It's been a nightmare for 13 years," Amormino told Mission Viejo Patch.
The victim has had to go to court several times to straighten out various arrest warrants for various infractions. Serrano now faces two felony counts, each of unauthorized use of personal identifying information and false impersonation, as well as single felony counts each of second-degree burglary and grand theft, Patch reports.
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