Breaking News

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Snake on a plane forces Aussie pilot to make emergency landing

DARWIN, Australia – If only Samuel L. Jackson had been on board.

An Australian pilot was forced to deal with his own "Snakes on a Plane" drama after one of the slithering reptiles crawled out of the cockpit dashboard in mid-flight.

Air Frontier pilot Braden Blennerhassett was 20 minutes into a flight from Darwin to the remote community of Peppimenarti in far northern Australia on Tuesday to drop off cargo when the snake suddenly appeared.

If that was not enough, the reptile was chasing a tree frog that had also stowed away underneath the front passenger seat of the small plane, the Northern Territory News reported.

Blennerhassett made a mayday call and returned safely to Darwin.

"I have heard of crocodiles being loose in planes but not snakes," Air Frontier director Geoffrey Hunt told Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC.

Snake catchers were called in but the reptile has not been found. Hunt said the aircraft remains grounded and he hopes the plane will not have to be pulled apart to find it.

"Until we find the snake, it's not good for business," he said.

Hollywood star Jackson starred in the cult 2006 action thriller "Snakes on a Plane," where he played an FBI agent forced to take on a plane full of poisonous snakes.

2013 SRT Viper steals New York Auto Show

Show stolen.

The much-anticipated 2013 Viper from Chrysler’s newly formed SRT high-performance division made its debut at the New York Auto Show today and lived up to months of hype surrounding the car since it was announced last year.

The made-in-Detroit supercar takes the classic looks of the two generations of Dodge Vipers it succeeds and pushes them to new levels of sexy enhanced by an injection of modern technology.

The long hood, short deck, double-bubble roof remains along with a massive hood scoop, twin air extractors, fender vents and side exhausts servicing the big V10 engine underneath the deeply drawn curves of the lightweight carbon fiber and aluminum body.

The massive 8.4-liter motor sends a 640 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual transmission. An automatic is not available.

Unlike previous Vipers, this time around the power is tempered by traction and stability control, with a steering wheel-mounted launch control feature, but it can all be defeated for drivers looking for the ultimate thrills.

Inside, it gets a cabin treatment worthy of its place at the top of Chrysler's food chain, with improved materials, an LCD performance monitor, infotainment system and a grab handle for frightened passengers.

And just because you needed proof of the car’s mettle, SRT also announced that it will be campaigning the new Viper in the American Le Mans Series against the likes of the Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911 and its corporate cousin Ferrari 458 Italia starting this year.

Baseball's greats from seasons past

Federal agency accused of spending $820G on Vegas bash also spent $250G on incentive program

WASHINGTON – The obscure federal agency that has come under intense scrutiny after a report it spent $820,000 of taxpayer funds on a lavish Las Vegas bash spent another $250,000 on an employee's incentive program.

Fox News has learned a House Transportation subcommittee investigating a Las Vegas junket by the General Services Administration (GSA) will expand its probe into an employee-rewards program known as “Hats Off.”

The GSA spent $250,000 on “Hats Off,” a workplace incentive initiative where administration employees could garner “points” for good work around the office.

Much like patrons of Dave and Buster’s, GSA employees could rack up points based on a scoring system. If they accumulated a certain level of points an employee could qualify for a gift card, an iPod or other electronics.

The GSA’s Inspector General (IG) ordered a cessation to the "Hats Off" program around the same time it initiated its investigation of the Las Vegas trip in 2010.

However, Fox has learned that the GSA’s Public Building Services Commissioner Bob Peck reportedly allocated additional funds for the program after its ordered cessation.

Peck was fired by former GSA Administator Martha Johnson before she resigned amid the scandal.

The House panel will hear from Johnson and others at a hearing on April 19.

Jen Aniston into 'laser porn,' obsessed with staying young

Last month it was revealed Jennifer Aniston, recently voted the Hottest Woman Of All Time by Men's Health magazine, spends a staggering $400 a day on beauty treatments.

And the ex-"Friends" star admits she has an obsession with keeping the years at bay, The Sun reports.

“I’d love to be a dermatologist. I’d be so obsessive about it," she said. "I’m fascinated by skin, products and lasers. I go on the internet and read all about it. I call it ‘laser porn’.”

Despite her keen interest, Aniston admits she wasn’t looking her best when Men’s Health made the announcement.

PHOTOS: Jen's pregnancy rumors.

“You should have seen me when I heard that news,” she said. "My hair was greasy, I’d just had a facial and my skin was gross.”

However Jen, who is in a relationship with actor Justin Theroux, admits she still doesn’t feel her 43-years.

“I don’t feel my age. I feel young every day," she said. “I feel sexy wearing jeans and my boyfriend’s T-shirt.”

Good news, bad news on first anniversary of Obama's reelection announcement

On the first anniversary of President Obama’s announcement of his reelection, he has every reason to be confident.

The RealClearPolitics daily poll average shows the president with a four-point (48%-44%) lead over Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney.

And with his job approval rating now at 48% in the RCP average, it appears that the president is nearing the crucial 50% mark that gives incumbents a reason to feel comfortable. George W. Bush after all had a job approval rating of 51% on Election Day 2004 when he won a narrow victory over John Kerry.

More to the point, the USA Today/Gallup poll released on Monday showed the president holding an even larger, nine point lead in key swing states – with the president garnering 51 percent support, compared to 42 percent for Romney.

These results are buttressed by specific swing state polls that Scott Rasmussen and others have done in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia – which show President Obama leading Mitt Romney in these key swing states.

And while it appears that Mitt Romney is all but the official nominee for the Republican Party, he still must fight on for at least another month against Rick Santorum and a weakened Newt Gingrich.

While it is likely that he will wrap things up in three weeks with a victory in Pennsylvania, he will still have lost the month of April by being at least partially distracted.

Moreover, Romney’s negative rating of 50% in the most recent ABC News/Washington Post survey exceeds his positive rating (34%) by 16 points – suggesting that the former Massachusetts governor also has to recast his image and offer voters a reason to vote for him so that his campaign is not purely negative.

Why then is the Obama campaign not yet ready to pop the corks on the champagne bottles?

Simply because the economic recovery is anemic, growth is 2.5% or less, unemployment remains unacceptably high at 8.3% and while the president rails against Republican social Darwinism – particularly the Ryan budget plan – it is clear that he is not offering any answers of his own.

As I discuss in my newly released book, "Hopelessly Divided: The New Crisis in American Politics and What It Means for 2012 and Beyond" (Rowman and Littlefield) that is what Democrats typically do when they fail to offer policy prescriptions is to turn to populism.

And by attacking the wealthy and the powerful -- the oil companies, the Supreme Court, the banks and the so-called "one percent" – President Obama has made it clear that 2012 is going to be a divisive election campaign rather than one where he tries to offer more inclusive solutions to the nation’s problems.

Indeed, this campaign will probably look very much like the 2004 campaign when George W. Bush and his allies made a much greater effort to demonize John Kerry than to outline a bold vision for a second term—a second term that proved to be, at least on domestic policy, a failure.

Another reason why the Obama campaign is not yet ready to start celebrating is that they understand that, notwithstanding its obvious political vulnerabilities, the Romney campaign and its allies on the right have extraordinary resources – both directly and indirectly through so-called "Super PACs."

And finally, more than three years into his presidency, it is clear that the "hope and change" Obama promised during the 2008 election has not been realized.

In fact, things have gotten worse.

As more and more time passes since his historic election, voters increasingly blame President Obama rather than George W. Bush for the economic problems we are facing -- which is why this election is likely to devolve into one of the ugliest in recent American history.

The Obama campaign has, to be sure, an extraordinary infrastructure across the swing states. They will have close to a billion dollars to spend and control of the bully pulpit in the White House.

What remains unclear is whether the president has a message that will give him 50% +1 from an increasingly angry and restive electorate.

How to Hit a Nude Beach

When I first begin researching the question of how to hit a nude beach, one of the first answers came from the general manager of a hotel in New Hampshire, Jerry Jacobson, who responded “very carefully.”

My immediate reaction was that I usually don’t need any help in the weak joke department, as regular readers of this column will verify. But as I gathered more sources I realized that Jerry’s right. Most of us can’t wake up one morning and decide that taking off our clothes is just another day at the beach.

Or can we?

According to the American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) [site NSFW] “most first-timers adjust to social nudity in a matter of minutes and discover it’s not nearly as big a deal as they thought it would be.”

Case in point is a source who said I could identify her by her “fake nude beach name of Krystal,” who wanted to experience a nude beach for the first time and went with a friend to Sandy Hook, NJ. “We chose not to go nude and wore our bikinis instead,” Krystal recalls. “Everybody else at the beach was nude though.” At first the pair kept to themselves, rejecting “invitations from nude beach goers to play games with them. Finally we opened up and played Frisbee with a bunch of nude guys,” Krystal says. “It was lot more fun than we thought it would be. We were very shocked at how friendly nude beach goers are. However, we were still distracted by their packages.”

While still a bit apprehensive – hence telling her Frisbee pals her name was Krystal -- she offers that “the key to feeling comfortable at a nude beach is to just let loose, be yourself, and don't focus so much on the nudity. Because we had so much fun we made plans to go again this year and go topless.”

What else can you expect when you hit a nude beach -- or, to use the term trademarked by the AANR --when you take a “nakation”? Read on.

Nude beaches are not about sex…usually.

Relationship coach John Wilder went to a nude beach in Germany a couple times while he was a serviceman, noting that “that after five minutes on the beach, I was struck with how normal and unaffected everyone was, adding that the nude beach was “kind of the opposite of sex. I saw beautiful young women on the beach and even spent the day with a beautiful girl on a blanket and there was no hanky panky. Finally I was so bored that I had to go back to the family beach and see a girl in a bikini to get interested again.”

Concurs Improper Bostonian magazine columnist Jonathan Soroff, who has been to nude beaches in Brazil, Portugal , Martha's Vineyard, and Sandy Hook, “in order for everyone to feel comfortable on a nude beach, you have to take sex out of the equation, and therefore hitting on someone is a big no-no. In fact, the biggest.” Adds a source from Boston who I’ll call “Norm,” who has hit nude beaches in Florida, Hawaii, and Holland, some nude beaches are akin to neighborhood bars. “There are all sorts of people there, from 20-somethings to 70-somethings. Some beaches even have or encourage whole families, and this may take some getting used to for a neophyte.”

There are exceptions, however. Some nude beaches, says Norm, are more like singles bars. “Singles nude beaches are generally about hooking up. Ibiza in Spain is infamous for people in a hurry, going off into the dunes rather than getting a hotel room. These beaches are populated by the crowd you'd expect in a singles bar: 18-30, (probably) single, very interested in their own appearance... and yours. If you're the least bit awkward or unsure of your body, going to such a beach will make you more so. Generally, anything goes on these beaches, but explicit sex acts may run afoul of local lewdness ordinances.”

Nudists are not all nubile.

Just as not all nude beaches are Hedonistic, not all nude beach goers are nubile. “Americans have this idea that a European topless beach is populated entirely by nubile 16-year-old C-cups,” Norm says. “If you go to one, however, you find those 16-year-olds... and their mothers... and sometimes their grandmothers, all topless. On a nude beach, you realize quickly, or should, that people come in all shapes and sizes, and so does their equipment.” Adds Soroff, “like anything that sounds provocative, the nudity on beaches turns out to be quite mundane. You're just as likely to see an octogenarian or someone approaching the morbidly obese as you are an Adonis or supermodel.”

Know when to cover up.

While enjoying a nude beach experience means lowering your inhibitions, there are times when you’re expected to raise your towel. (See what I mean by weak jokes, Jerry?) Among its rules of etiquette for nude beaches, the AANR says ”for those visiting the nude section of a local beach, dress before leaving designated clothing-optional use areas” so that you don’t upset vacationers in areas where clothing is required. Along those lines, says the association, “always carry a towel with you when you leave your spot on the beach, whether to sit on or wrap around yourself when you walk to public areas such as picnic benches, food stands, [or restrooms], you will be more comfortable, as will those around you.”

Apply sunscreen…carefully.

In her primer on how to visit a nude beach in Greece, About.com guide deTraci Regula says that it’s probably a good idea to “test sunscreen on sensitive soon-to-be-nude areas which may not normally be exposed to sunscreen or sunshine. Areas that readily sweat are most likely to react to ingredients in sunscreen. Soroff puts a finer point on it, noting that you might want to avoid rubbing alcohol-laden sunscreen on your nether regions. Norm goes so far as to suggest that if you're a newbie, “consider applying sunscreen to those parts ahead of time, in private, so that you don't rush due to excitement or embarrassment when you are on the beach.”

No snapping or leering, please.

“Leave your camera in your hotel room,” Regula suggests, “or point it only at yourself or non-human scenery. Intrusive photography on a nude beach is so uncool.” Howcast’s video tutorial on nude beach etiquette [NSFW] makes the salient point that you shouldn’t “stare at people’s private parts,” adding that “if it would be unseemly to gape at that body part when it’s fully clothed, it’s downright rude to gawk at it undressed.” Since you went through the effort of hitting a nude beach, Norm adds that you might want to “go have a conversation instead of staring. It may be the first time in a long time you've had an honest conversation.”