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10 Apr 2010 12:16

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Offbeat: RyanAir charges for bathrooms, American Restroom Association exists

  • It is a human right to freely eliminate yourself. It’s conceivable that people could be stuck on an airline for 15 to 20 hours. The idea of having only one bathroom in a situation like that is … strange.
  • University of Maryland professor Dr. Steven Soifer • Regarding RyanAir’s decision to cut the number of bathrooms from three to one, and make that one coin-operated. While he may miss the boat on some aspects of this (he argues that it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, even though RyanAir is a European company, on other aspects he’s dead-on. Fun fact: Soifer is the co-founder of the American Restroom Association and Shy Bladder Center, two organizations we can’t believe exist. source

10 Apr 2010 10:44

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World: In Thailand, the protests are getting even more intense

  • 130+ Red Shirts injured by Thai security forces source

10 Apr 2010 10:37

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World: Journalists nearly on board deadly Polish plane crash

  • Russia Today has totally owned this story, by the way. In this clip, one journalist notes that he barely missed being a part of this deadly, awful plane crash himself. The plane was mostly filled with Polish political elite headed to Russia; the journalists had to take another flight that didn’t crash. They totally escaped death. Scary.

10 Apr 2010 10:26

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World: RIP Lech Kaczynski: Three fast facts about the Polish president

  • one He had a twin brother, Jaroslaw, who was also involved in Polish politics. They founded a party together.
  • two Both brothers were
    child actors who initially shot to fame in the 1962 film “Two Boys Who Stole the Moon.”
  • three After the fall of Soviet Russia, the right-winger was a political outsider who later returned to prominence. source

10 Apr 2010 10:17

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10 Apr 2010 10:12

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World: Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s death has huge symbolic value

  • It is a damned place. It sends shivers down my spine. First the flower of the Second Polish Republic is murdered in the forests around Smolensk, now the intellectual elite of the Third Polish Republic die in this tragic plane crash when approaching Smolensk airport. This is a wound which will be very difficult to heal.
  • Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski • Regarding the plane crash that killed the current Polish president today. Lech Kaczynski and dozens of other Polish leaders and members of the elite were killed on their way to a ceremony commemorating the deaths of many Polish officers at the hands of the Red Army during World War II. This incident feels just as sad. source