Archive for October, 2011

Screenshot of the Day: Huh. So that’s what ESPN stands for.

[thanks writerdiva!]

Playing With Your Food of the Day: A lioness attempts to consume a young zoo patron, but is blocked by some sort of impenetrable force field.

[sayomg.]

Animal Cruelty Accusation of the Day: Police in Gatineau have come under fire for their treatment of a calf that escaped from a truck on its way to a slaughterhouse. In the incident, caught on camera, officers can be seen shooting the cow multiple times as it attempts to limp away.

Const. Pierre Lanthier defending the action, saying police “have to decide if it’s threatening for the population” and, in this case, determined that “they had no choice but to shoot the animal.”

Witness Lucille Cloutier thinks the cops should have handled the situation differently. “What I saw yesterday was the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen,” she told CTV. “Coming from a region where our cops have tranquilizers, they didn’t. This would have been the most appropriate thing for them to do.”

An investigation of the incident is ongoing, but Gatineau police say there are no plans to add tranquilizers to the officers’ arsenal. 

[ctv / thanks mathieu!]

Grounded Airline of the Day: Qantas, Australia’s national carrier, announced today that it has grounded its entire fleet as a result of an ongoing dispute with three major Australian unions.

Daughter companies QantasLink and Jetstar will continue to operate for the time being.

In addition to the indefinite grounding of 108 aircraft worldwide, all union-affiliated employees will be locked out effective Monday night.

The dispute involves three industry unions: the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA). Pay, conditions, and outsourcing of jobs are at the heart of the matter.

Despite annoucing in August that its full-year net profit had more than doubled, Qantas still sought to slash over 1,000 jobs and move many of them to Asia. It certainly didn’t help matters that, shortly after annoucing its restructing plan, Qantas revealed that it had given its CEO, Alan Joyce, a 71% raise, bumping his pay package to $5 million a year.

Qantas is offering the 80,000 passengers affected alternative flights to their destinations, or refunds for those whose flights were canceled. Each day the fleet remains grounded costs the airline $20 million. 

“I would hope the parties to this dispute act like adults,” said Australian Transport Minister Anthony Albanese at a press conference. “”[The Government] remains of the view, that with a little bit of commonsense and acknowledgment that there is a common interest between management and employees a solution can be found.”

The industrial relations commission is set to discuss the dispute tonight. 

[abc / smh / image: pixiedub.]

Heartwarming Tearjerker of the Day: Redditor bbilbay asked the Reddit community if they would be so kind as to cheer up his daughter and her best friend, who had recently been diagnosed with leukemia, by photoshopping “something pretty or fun” into the background of this photo of them together.

The outpouring, to say the least, has been incredible, amazing, breathtaking, phenomenal, and so much more.

[reddit.]

Bad Lip Reading of the Day: As everybody knows by now, you’re not considered a legitimate presidential contender until you get dubbed by a the folks at Bad Lip-Reading.

So, congratulations Herman Cain: You are now officially running for President.

[blr.]

Earlier: Rick Perry; Mitt Romney; Michele Bachmann; Barack Obama.

In Case You Missed It of the Day: Third time’s just as charming when Jimmy Fallon and  Justin Timberlake reunite for another installment of “The History of Rap.”

(Spotify playlist here.)

[lnwjf.]

Earlier: Part 1, Part 2.

It’s Caturday!

[ichc.]

Lights Out: Master of horror John Carpenter presents Blockhead’s Revenge — a “gritty, sexy, scary” Peanuts reboot starring the cast of MTV’s Teen Wolf.

[fod.]

This x That:

Know This:

• Occupy Movement: Occupy San Diego, Nashville protesters arrested, camps dismantled; FDNY and NYPD remove Occupy Wall Street power generators ahead of snowstorm; St. Paul’s Cathedral set to reopen, but Occupy London protesters are staying put; Follow Up: Injured Iraq war vet Scott Olsen awake but “cannot talk”; unions support Occupy Oakland call for general strike but won’t join; Above: Egyptian march from Tahrir square to US Embassy in solidarity with Occupy Oakland.

• International Criminal Court reportedly conducting indirect surrender talks with Gaddafi’s son Seif al-Islam; Gaddafi’s killers to be tried in Libya; al Qaeda flag spotted atop courthouse in Benghazi.

• Off-duty NYPD officers gather outside Bronx court to support colleagues accused of corruption.

• Other banks won’t follow Bank of America’s lead on debit-card fees.

• St. Louis Cardinals win 11th World Series title, defeating the Texas Rangers in 7 games.

Read This:

• NBA commissioner David Stern cancels games through November, says no full season “under any circumstances.”

• The checkered past of Herman Cain’s smoking Chief of Staff, Mark Block (with bonus mug shot).

• Follow Up: Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr reportedly released from prison.

• Leaders of the Queen’s realms agree to significant shakeup in succession rules.

• New York City’s first casino opens in Queens.

• LOLjournalism: WaPo’s Gene Weingarten and Cheezburger’s Ben Huh fight each other for the future of news reporting.

The Other:

• NewsFeed: Harold Camping’s Family Radio Pulls Doomsday Predictions from Website.

• Tea x Time List: 9 Essential Geek Books You Must Read Right Now.

[photos: @mar3e.]