Green Lantern Opening Weekend w/Spirit Halloween GoGreenLantern says: Though it topped the box-office charts and seems to be doing better with the general public than it has with the… http://dlvr.it/X4VGN
Continue reading …
US tycoon says golf course will open next year – but complex featuring luxury villas and five-star hotel postponed for now Donald Trump has been forced to postpone his plan to create the “world’s greatest” golf resort in Scotland, complete with five-star hotel and luxury villas, because of the global financial crisis. The billionaire property developer flew into Aberdeen on Monday on his latest luxury jet, a Boeing 757-200 fitted out with a master bedroom and five kitchens, to announce that his championship standard 18-hole golf course overlooking the North Sea would open for play in July next year. Before touring the first completed holes, Trump said he had spent £50m to £60m of his own money carving the “amazing” course from the vast dunes, and would start taking advance bookings in 10 days. He hoped that Sir Sean Connery, one of the earliest backers of the resort, would open it for him. “We have been inundated from New York and Scotland from people who want to come and play the course,” he said. “Thousands of people have been calling: ‘how can we play it?’” But the tycoon said that the full scheme, a £750m complex featuring a luxury hotel, Trump Boulevard, a golf academy, a second course and timeshare apartments, had been bunkered by the recession. Trump said “the world has crashed” since he first bought the Menie estate and dunes in 2005, provoking a long-running battle with local residents, councillors and environmental groups about his proposals, which has involved heavily altering the legally protected rare dunes. As Trump flew in, it emerged that a cinema in Aberdeen, the Belmont, had decided to give a new, highly-critical documentary investigating the tycoon’s conflicts with local residents, called You’ve Been Trumped, an extended run this weekend. This was due to “an amazing response” to a screening last Friday. Trump has denounced the film as “a fraud”. He also brushed aside continuing conflicts with his neighbours, particularly David and Moira Milne, owners of a former coastguard station overlooking the new course, and Michael Forbes, the salmon fisherman whose land Trump once described as “disgusting”. Milne has been sent warning letters from Trump’s lawyers threatening legal action in a dispute over boundary fences and demands to demolish a garage which Trump believes intrudes on his land. Trump’s local manager, Sarah Malone, claimed David Milne “has chosen to take an aggressive stance and if he moves his fence, there won’t be an issue. And if he doesn’t, we’re looking at all the options available to us”. Andy Wightman, a land rights expert who has investigated the conflict between the Milnes and Trump, said the Milnes had proper title to land complete with a Ordnance Survey map record, which was legally registered with the Keeper of the Registers of Scotland. “If Trump has a problem with boundaries, it should be taken up with the Keeper,” Wightman said. “It is totally out of order for them to issue threats of legal action to demolish other people’s property. I am dismayed that a Scottish law firm has been persuaded to follow through and issue such threats to people who simply wish to live in peace.” Scotland Donald Trump Global recession Golf Sean Connery Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
US Sen. Charles Schumer on Sunday asked the federal government to post letter grades for discount tour bus companies so consumers will be able to easily see the companies’ safety records. (June 20)
Continue reading …Sen. Durbin’s Bill: If You’re Going To Lease The Assets We Funded, You Have To Reimburse Us First
June 20, 2011 No CommentThis is a great idea . It provides a legitimate basis for the feds to intervene in this madness that’s spreading through the country like wildfire: WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced the introduction of a bill that could make it considerably more difficult for cash-strapped states and cities to lease their transportation assets to private investors. The bill would require states and cities to repay any federal funds they used to build or maintain the assets, such as toll roads or airports, as a condition of leasing them , likely thwarting many deals before they happen. It would also call for more transparency in the negotiation of such deals. In recent years some local governments, such as the City of Chicago and the State of Indiana, have traded their right to collect money on toll roads to foreign investors in exchange for billion-dollar up-front payments. Critics say such deals are short-sighted budget gimmicks that could end up burdening generations down the road. Chicago’s Midway Airport, where he spoke today, was nearly leased for $2.5 billion two years ago, but the deal fell apart. “I’m really trying to stake some ground here on a principle and position that we ought to reflect on,” Durbin told HuffPost. “The federal government is in debt. We are borrowing money to sustain our operations, and we’re sending some of that money to states and localities for investment in infrastructure. We’re making quite a sacrifice. If a decision is made by a local unit of government to privatize that public infrastructure, federal taxpayers should have a seat at the table.” As states and cities across the country face grim budgets, more and more are looking to stem their shortfalls by leasing existing assets, such as roads, lotteries or government buildings. The City of Harrisburg, Pa., may soon lease its parking meters to a private investors, as Chicago has already done for a 75-year period starting in 2008. Durbin remarked that he’s already watched the cost of parking soar in Chicago since that city’s deal was inked.”It’s a caution to all of us,” Durbin said. “When we look at privatization, we have to look at the long-term.”
Continue reading …Two women in Modesto allegedly came up with a decidedly heartless way to score some easy money: They solicited “funeral donations” for a six-month-old who supposedly died of a heart condition while they were on vacation, racking up $700 in just a few hours on Saturday. A police officer spotted…
Continue reading …
Sad Monday news alert: one of our favorite Jackasses has died. Ryan Dunn, the bearded prankster from the MTV series and subsequent movie franchise, Jackass, where he became intimately acquainted with a toy car (we’ll say no more on that incident), has reportedly died in a car accident that happened early Monday morning in Pennsylvania.
Continue reading …A 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped on her way to school and forced to wear a suicide bomb vest managed to escape her captors today as they directed her to attack a paramilitary checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, both she and police officials said. Sohana Jawed, who is in third grade,…
Continue reading …Hats off to Belvin Perry, the judge in the Casey Anthony trial, for trying to keep things moving along. It’s just too bad he had to grind it to a halt to do so. As the trial entered day 23 of testimony, things got off to a slow, jerky start that concluded with Perry dismissing
Continue reading …Raytheon readying directed energy warheads to fry enemy electronics, cook allied Pop Tarts
June 20, 2011 No Comment
Raytheon , the people who brought you the pain ray , are at it again. The defense giant is planning an arsenal of “directed energy warheads” expected to use radio and microwaves to electronically neutralize targets rather than blow them up. The company’s being typically secretive about details, but mentions the recent acquisition of Ktech, a firm specializing in airborne electronic warfare and enemy vulnerability assessment, giving us a clue about how it might all work. It’s believed the tech will be retrofitted to existing missiles: the new payloads will identify vulnerable electronics then disrupt or even destroy them with a radio frequency beam or high-powered microwaves (HPM). The warheads would monitor the results, providing valuable battlefield intelligence — while, of course, killing fewer dudes on the ground. With industry rival BAE working on a seaworthy microwave gun to fry boat engines , we’re looking forward to future of friendly drones circling overhead, always ready to heat up our Hot Pockets. Raytheon readying directed energy warheads to fry enemy electronics, cook allied Pop Tarts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 19:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …The Wolf Pack may have a habit of forgetting what happened to them last night, but they’ll never neglect this piece of movie trivia. According to Deadline Hollywood, this past weekend’s global box office grosses of $21.4 million (accumulated from roughly 5,800 screens in 55 markets) means that the successful sequel has created a significant
Continue reading …