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Rhode Island's state Senate just voted 26-12 to allow same sex marriage.

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Rhode Island's state Senate just voted 26-12 to allow same sex marriage. After the bill passes in the House, New England (with all six of its states allowing gay marriage) will officially be America's gayest place.


Man Gets 15 Year Jail Sentence for Having Sex With His Pit Bull

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A man in Michigan convicted of having sex with his pet pit bull faces a 15-year jail sentence for the crime. 37-year-old Kurtis Peterson, who was convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in 1996, was caught having sex with the dog on two separate occasions. The same (unfortunate) person caught Peterson each time.

In April 2010, Joyce Yeaw, who was attempting to return keys she'd borrowed from Peterson's roommate, caught a naked Peterson having sex with his dog on his bed. She called police but, somehow, Peterson was able to convince her or the responding officer that he was “just hugging his dog,” and no arrest was made. Then, two months later Yeaw again walked in on Peterson mid-dog sex, this time on his living room floor. She called the police again and Peterson was arrested.

"He was having sex with the dog, it was disgusting," Yeaw said of the encounter.

In his courtroom testimony, Peterson admitted to being "sexually aroused from accidental contact with the animal's rear," but claims that occurred as he was “just playing with the dog.”

He was sentenced on Monday to one to 15 years in prison. Judge Timothy Hicks went above state sentencing guidelines in his ruling, say Peterson posed a high risk of reoffending. “I fear for what he might do in the community,” the judge said.

If this story sounds vaguely familiar, that's because a similar situation occurred in February, when a woman in Las Vegas was caught by police having sex with her pit bull in her front yard.

Officials are now saying Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was unarmed when police captured him inside a boat Friday

A 53-year-old businessman in Taiwan tested positive for the H7N9 bird flu virus, making him the firs

George W. Bush Is 'Very Comfortable' With His Decision to Invade Iraq

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In an interview with ABC News to promote his new game-filled library, George W. Bush spoke about the most important moment of his presidency: the decision to go to war with Iraq. That war, which led to the deaths of at least 123,000-134,000 Iraqi civilians and over 4,400 U.S. troops, was in large part fought because of the incorrect information that Saddam Hussein was in possession of weapons of mass destruction. But don't worry, Bush is still “very comfortable” with his decision to invade.

"As far as I'm concerned, the debate is over,” he told Diane Sawyer. “I mean, I did what I did. And historians will ultimately judge those decisions."

The lack of WMDs will be acknowledged in the museum, according to Bush.

"We're just laying out the facts. And that was a fact," Bush said. "I am comfortable in the decision-making process. I think the removal of Saddam Hussein was the right decision for not only our own security but for giving people a chance to live in a free society. But history will ultimately decide that, and I won't be around to see it.”

[Image via AP]

To contact the author of this post, write to taylor@gawker.com.

Twitter Co-Founder: Vine Pretty Much Ruined Art

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Just like we'd have trouble going back to silent films and burning the dead to stay warm during winter, Dashing Microblogger King Jack Dorsey can't deal with the primitive ways anymore: Vine is so good, he says, all other visual media are boring.

During a chat at Hearst, deep in the gut of old media, Dorsey lamented away. Why would anyone look at a photograph, admire a painting, or read a poem, when they could stare at a six-second loop of video instead? Betabeat was on the scene:

“I think it’s an entirely new art form, and I think it’s amazing–every picture I look at right now, I want it to move, I’m waiting for it to move. Where’s the sound?”

“It’s changed my perspective on media and art,” he added. “Not only can you take a picture of the beach, but you can actually see the waves move. You can hear the beach.”

Where's the sound indeed. And yet, here's the most recent Vine that popped up on my ol' feed:

The revolution will be looped. [Betabeat]

Gas Explosions Ignite Barge Inferno

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A series of giant explosions on two barges filled with natural gas have left three in critical condition in Mobile, Alabama. The explosions occurred adjacent the disabled, shit-encrusted Carnival Triumph, currently being repaired in Mobile.

"It literally sounded like bombs going off around," Alan Waugh, a witness, told the AP. "The sky just lit up in orange and red." The barges, owned by Kirby Inland Marine, will be allowed to burn out, but officials don't know how long that will take.

The direct cause of the explosions is unknown, but it likely is related to the black magick'd curse of the Hell Cruise Triumph, floating ominously across the river.

[AP | Fox10]

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly confessed and explained to the FBI how he and his brother carried out l

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Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly confessed and explained to the FBI how he and his brother carried out last week's Boston bombings, but he did so in the 16 hours of questioning before he was read his Miranda rights. Tsarnaev stopped cooperating once those rights were read to him, according to officials.


The death toll in yesterday's garment factory collapse in Bangladesh is now over 200.

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The death toll in yesterday's garment factory collapse in Bangladesh is now over 200. The Age reports that even after police ordered the factory shut down, supervisors told workers that "their pay would be docked if they did not return to work."

It's Getting So You Can't Even Have a Four-Foot 4/20 Pot Joint Anymore

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Here's video of UC-Santa Cruz student Gennady Tsarinsky, 25, getting his "2 pound" (or maybe "2.5 pound") joint jacked by a buzzkill campus narc on 4/20. "Dude, were going to court, man. We're totally going to court," you can hear Tsarinsky say, just before getting hauled in for possession. So he was right!

Most importantly, the incident led to this, the greatest correction in the storied history of the LA Times:

For the record, 4:46 p.m., April 24: A previous version of this post said incorrectely that Bob Marley sang "Smoke Two Joints."

Is This The Hunk Deemed 'Too Handsome' for Saudi Arabia?

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When news surfaced last week of three men being deported from Saudi Arabia after having been deemed "too handsome" by the local religious police, many people were up in arms.

Not so much over the deportation as over the lack of photographs of said "irresistible" men.

That may have since been rectified as some websites are now claiming to have identified at least one of the three Emirati heartbreakers.

Dubai-based "fashion photographer, actor, poet" Omar Borkan Al Gala has stirred speculation that he is one of the three men after posting a link to the deportation story on his Facebook page along with a suggestive emoticon.

Several Asian news portals picked up on Borkan Al Gala's wink and reported it as practically fact.

Though he certainly appears to be enjoying the fame that comes with being too handsome for an entire country, there are several reasons to be suspicious of his claim to fame.

For one thing, he has yet to formally acknowledge his involvement in the incident.

For another, being that he is a professional photographer, it is extremely odd that he seems to have no photos of the Saudi Arabian festival he was allegedly ejected from on his Facebook page.

And beyond websites tautologically referencing other websites in reporting the claim that Borkan Al Gala is one of the deported men, no one seems to know where the claim originally came from.

One thing cannot be denied, however: Omar is one handsome habibi.

[photos via Facebook]

Let's Play Spot the Non-Whites Around Rupert Murdoch!

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This photo was posted yesterday to Rupert Murdoch's excellent new Tumblr, Murdoch Here. It's captioned, "Hanging with the Dow Jones team today." Cool hang. I think I might be able to see a couple people who aren't white?

Sorority Email Writer Resigns, Guilty of Caring Too Much

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Delta Gamma is once again a safe space for boners. One week after a foul-mouthed crash course in social etiquette put the sorority on the GODDAMN FUCKING map, Delta Gamma brass have decided that the now infamous University of Maryland email was HORRIBLE, I repeat, HORRIBLE PR FOR THAT CHAPTER. They've just accepted the resignation of its author.

A post on the sorority's official Facebook page referred to the email as "highly inappropriate and unacceptable," adding that it "should not be depicted in any way as standard or routine," because normally Delta Gamma girls are free to literally be so fucking awkward at Greek Week events (and, boy, are they) with impunity.

What the world holds next for the junior who wrote the email is unknown. The only thing we can say for certain is that her enthusiastic management skills ensure she will be infinitely more successful than the "stupid cocks" she now leaves behind.

Here's the sorority's official statement:

Delta Gamma has accepted the resignation of one of its members whose email relating to a social event has been widely distributed and publicized through social media and traditional media channels.

The tone and content of the email was highly inappropriate and unacceptable by any standard.

No matter who released it to the public or how it reached such a mass audience, the email content should not reflect on any sorority woman in general or any fraternal organization at large.

This is a regrettable action by a college junior – a personal email that is now on view for a global audience. And as all reasonable people can agree, this is an email that should never have been sent by its author. Period.

This email should not be depicted in any way as standard or routine or tied to any official sorority voice. It is not an official voice or message and should not be construed as such.

For the young woman who wrote it, we can only express our regret and concerns for landing notoriety in this manner.

We now consider this matter closed.

Though by official edict the matter is now closed, the controversy it stirred will divide the sisterhood for generations to come (in the comments section of the Facebook post).

I am very sorry to say that I completelyl [sic] disagree with you, Cindy. I do not know a DG that would EVER write anything so vile and reprehensible. She sounded like an uneducated man, not a refined educated, cream of the crop lady, that Delta Gammas have been for decades.

Sorry, Sigma Nu.

[Image via Shutterstock]

To contact the author of this post, email: caity@gawker.com.

Here is a discontinued Nike "Boston Massacre" T-shirt apparently selling for $150,000 on eBay.

Polls Confirm Hawaii Has Been Least Stressed State Since Polls Started

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Hawaii! Most of you occupies an island chain land formation that is also one of the most beautiful words in all languages. Photos suggest you have so many flowers that necklaces had to be created. The current U.S. President is from your tropical climate and the nation's premier fictional dreamboat, Don Draper, just visited your shores. You are having a moment.

So why are 32.1 percent of Hawaiian residents stressed, according to a recent Gallup poll? Or rather—the poll suggests that 32.1 percent of people in Hawaii experienced stress on a given day. So 67.9 percent of Hawaiians have days that are entirely without any anxiety, unease, agitation, or any of the angst of the human condition. Nearly 70 percent of Hawaiians have barely heard of stress. While it's certainly true that Hawaiians want to ditch the stereotype that they all live on the beach and professionally relax, this poll is not helping the case. But congratulations, sincerely.

Moreover, Gallup reports that since they started measuring daily stress in 2008, Hawaii has always reported the lowest percent of stress. It's also the only state to rank in the top five ever year since since the polls started. This year—Louisiana, home of the Big Easy, comes in second with a grand 62.4 percent stress free. Then Mississippi, Iowa, and Wyoming.

Meanwhile—over in West Virginia—about 47 percent of those polled say that they experience stress on an average day. Rhode Island, Kentucky, Utah, and Massachusetts round out the five most stressed states.

Gallup has based their polls on daily surveys conducted from January to December of 2012 and count more than 350,000 interviews. Nationally, 40.6 percent of Americans experienced stress, which is similar to past years. So much for all those think-pieces.

LEAST STRESSED STATES

  • Hawaii 32.1%
  • Louisiana 37.6%
  • Mississippi 37.9%
  • Iowa 38.1%
  • Wyoming 38.6%

MOST STRESSED STATES

  • West Virginia 47.1%
  • Rhode Island 46.3%
  • Kentucky 44.8%
  • Utah 44.6%
  • Massachusetts 43.4%

[Gallup, image via Lorcel / Shutterstock]


Here's to Rosalind Franklin, whose work to discover the structure of DNA was published by Watson and

Swedish Police Find Drugs and a Stun Gun on Bieber’s Tour Bus (Duhhh)

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Police in Stockholm have reportedly discovered drugs and a stun gun on the tour bus of World’s Worst Baby Monkey Mother Justin Bieber.

A police spokesman told the AP that a raid of the bus was conducted Wednesday night during Bieber’s concert, after officers reported smelling marijuana coming from inside it. The bus was unoccupied at the time, which means that, in addition to carrying marijuana and a stun gun, it was also being haunted by a pothead spirit.

Police said they have no suspects (al Quaeda?) and have made no arrests. They also declined to identify type of drug discovered, but we have narrowed it down to any drug with a distinctive marijuana scent.

Earlier today, Justin Bieber observed that he loves music.

[AP // Image via Getty]

To contact the author of this post, email: caity@gawker.com

Brown Student Misidentified as Boston Bomber Found Dead in River

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In one of the more major media failings in a long line of media failings last week, Brown University student Sunil Tripathi, who'd been missing since March 16, was widely identified as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. Though the origins of the rumor are difficult to pin down, it appears as if the speculation about Tripathi's involvement in the attack began on Reddit before making the leap to Twitter, various news outlets (including this one), and even, reportedly, police scanners. In the chaos that ensued, Tripathi's family members were inundated with dozens of phone calls from reporters—his sister got nearly 60—and were forced to take down a Facebook page dedicated to finding Tripathi after it became littered with "hateful, angry posts." This morning, a body pulled from the Providence River was officially identified as Sunil Tripathi's, finally putting to rest the rumor mill that had made his family's life hell last week. No foul play is suspected in his death.

On Monday, Reddit General Manager Erik Martin issued an official apology for Reddit's role in the Tripathi "witch hunt," writing, "[S]ome of the activity on reddit fueled online witch hunts and dangerous speculation which spiraled into very negative consequences for innocent parties. The reddit staff and the millions of people on reddit around the world deeply regret that this happened."

It was an important apology to make, but it also gave no indication as to how future witch hunts would be prevented.

Plastic Surgery Blamed for Making All Miss Korea Contestants Look Alike

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It's an accepted truism that all beauty pageant contestants have a certain similar "look," but one Japanese blog has touched off a firestorm of speculation that South Korea's plastic surgery craze may have taken that cliché too far.

It's an established fact that South Korea has one of, if not the highest rate of plastic surgery per capita in the entire world, and a Japanese blog covering South Korean topic recently wondered out loud if the phenomenon hasn't unintentionally turned the country's Miss Korea beauty pageant into a clone parade.

Photos posted on the site claim to show Miss Korea 2013 contestants before and after their "transformation," but it remains unclear if the apparent similarities stem from surgery or from something far more banal such as makeup or photoshop.

Still, the Twilight Zone-sh quality of the result, along with a group photo showing several beauty pageant hopefuls "pre-transformation" has sparked significant dialog concerning South Korea's "plastic surgery problem."

"You arent racist," one local wrote in a Reddit post on the topic. "Those women in fact do look unnervingly similar and yes, Koreans think so too. This is because they all get the exact same plastic surgeries and the surgeons follow the same formulas for noses and eyes and everything else theyve had done."

"Girls here consider eye surgery just like using make up," another Korean Redditor chimed in.

Others, however, weren't entirely in agreement.

Another user claiming to be from Korea insisted the entrants "dont look the same, but they look eerily similar."

And one top comment pointed out that much the same could be said about Miss USA 2013 contestants, several of whom could be mistaken for each other.

"Even in a country as diverse as the US you'll see a lot of similar looking women in these pageants because there's a certain aesthetic they're looking for (styled or shopped) that changes with what's considered attractive to that particular culture at that point in time," wrote user adlauren.

[images via Livedoor.jp, Reddit]

Punky Brewster Raised $2.5 Million for Her Product-Less Startup

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When you're trying to raise millions for a startup without an app or even details besides a plan to sell "affordable physical products" (imagine all the whiteboarding it took to come up with that descriptor) it helps to know the right people.

Today, "Punky Brewster" actress Soleil Moon Frye and ex-IAC executive Kara Nortman launched a new company called Moonfrye and announced a $2.5 million funding round, picking up investment from GRP’s Mark Suster and Google’s Kevin Rose.

Rose and his wife happen to be friends of Frye's. But the child star's tech connections don't end there. She's married to producer Jason Goldberg, who cofounded Katalyst Films with celebrity act-vestor Ashton Kutcher. You can—and should!—thank Katalyst for movies like the time-bending thriller The Butterfly Effect. You can also find Frye regularly tweeting at Chris Sacca or posting Instas with the founder of Instagram to her 1.5 million Twitter followers.

While at IAC, Nortman, her cofounder, oversaw underwhelming mid-aught stalwarts like Citysearch and Urbanspoon.

Moonfyre will be focused on the mommy market and "offer digital and physical DIY (do-it-yourself) craft experiences to families." Think of it as a Brit + Co. (the DIY duct tape recommendations engine run by the wife of Facebook mafioso Dave Morin) for kids or a GOOP for household products, like this Moonfrye guide to disrupting paper with shaving cream.

Frye's self-promotional chops may actually be more impressive that some of the folks of her advisory board, which includes Randi Zuckerberg and Gina Bianchini, former CEO of cofounder Ning, which scored the cover of Fast Company before crashing and burning.

Previously, [Frye] co-founded what she calls the first eco-friendly baby store in LA, The Little Seed. Later, she developed a product line exclusively for Target and is currently the big box retailer’s Mommy Ambassador. She also is a regular contributor to The Today Show on the topic of parenting, and has written two books on the subject titled “Happy Chaos,” and “Let’s Get This Party Started” (to be published in October).

For the past two years, Frye has been building an online community for parents at Moonfrye.com. The company will not release public traffic data and hasn't enabled Quantcast measurement. When we tried to look up the numbers on Compete, it said, "This site has relatively low traffic."

If the startup world were subject to The Butterfly Effect, these people definitely got the good parallel universe.

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