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26 Jan 2011 13:19

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Offbeat: Canadian woman earns first ever degree in Beatles studies

  • I am so proud of my achievement.
  • Mary-Lu Zahalan-Kennedy • The former Miss Canada finalist graduated from Liverpool Hope University with a Masters degree in Beatles studies. “Beatles, Popular Music and Society” was the first ever such course to offer such a degree, making Zalahan-Kennedy the world’s first collegiately accredited Beatles expert. source

24 Jan 2011 23:07

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Offbeat: What happens when you use a lighter to search under a bed?

  • idea Attempting to find a lost remote control under his bed, a nineteen year-old used a lighter for illumination.
  • backfire He accidentally ignited his mattress, which ultimately set the house on fire and killed the family’s three dogs.
  • lesson When avoidable, don’t use a flame as a light source. Especially when near flammable objects, such as a house. source

22 Jan 2011 23:53

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Offbeat: Unobservant texter suing mall for leaving fountain in bad spot

  • cause A couple of mall security workers started cracking up at some dumb girl who fell into a fountain while texting. It then got posted to the Interwebs, where it became a pretty major viral hit, with a solid three million views in a week and a hearty belly laugh from us.
  • reaction Cathy Cruz Marrero is suing the mall, saying she could’ve been seriously hurt. “I’m just like dumbfounded. And all I kept saying was, ‘I fell. I fell. I fell in the fountain. I fell in the fountain.'” Strike “founded” off of that phrase and we’ll agree. source

19 Jan 2011 14:13

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Offbeat: George Lucas is prepared for doomsday, are you?

  • George Lucas sits down and seriously proceeds to talk for around 25 minutes about how he thinks the world is gonna end in the year 2012, like, for real… He’s going on about the tectonic plates and all the time Spielberg is, like, rolling his eyes…
  • Seth Rogen • Relating the story of a movie meeting he recently had with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, wherein Lucas (apparently at some length) detailed his belief that the world will end in 2012. We especially like the idea of Spielberg as Lucas’ reluctant adult in the room.  source

19 Jan 2011 13:10

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Offbeat: German man charged over endangered tarantula sale

  • 247 tarantulas mailed from Germany to Los Angeles source
  • » “Operation Spiderman” was a success. Federal authorities, posing as tarantula buyers, successfully ordered five packages worth, including 22 Mexican red-kneed tarantulas, a species protected under international convention. Sven Koppler, the German national who made the sale, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

18 Jan 2011 14:05

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Offbeat: Bad Omens, Inc.: First dead birds, then fish, now …

  • 200dead cows found on a farm in Portage County, Wisc. source

17 Jan 2011 12:19

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Offbeat: The Washington Post agrees: The DC Metro makes free-jazz music

  • We’ve been saying for months that there is a great found-sounds album to be made from the incidental noises from the DC Metro’s escalators. Some of the escalators sound like they’re performing free-jazz. It appears the Washington Post agrees with us, because they wrote an article about it. Nobody steal our idea, OK guys? source
 

13 Jan 2011 20:37

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Offbeat, U.S.: Prison escapee from the ’70s finally apprehended

  • 1979 the year Nancy Garces was first sent to prison for credit card fraud
  • three the number of months she spent in prison before breaking out
  • 31 years free before police found her; she was living in New Mexico source

07 Jan 2011 21:22

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Offbeat: Not what you think: Actress swipes infant from young mother

  • yeah … When you think of a story about an actress snatching a baby from its mother, you think of Madonna going to some random third-world country ready to cherry-pick her next family member.
  • … but This time, the case involved an aspiring actress who placed an ad on Craigslist casting for a Bollywood movie in Toronto, and then took some poor mother’s infant. What the hell, lady? source

06 Jan 2011 17:03

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Offbeat: Happiness is a dancer: Crazy dancer turns seizure into dance

  • Does Susan Boyle have a sister? And does she like to dance? Because this woman … her moves are something else. Best part? Her name is Happiness. (Thanks Adam Griffiths) source