Author: Sean Patterson

Oreck Corporation, the vacuum cleaner and air purifier manufacturer, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Tennessee company announced the bankruptcy on its website, stating that it will be consolidating its assets and restructuring as a part of the move. The bankruptcy, Oreck stated, is meant to help get the company in shape for a sale in the near future. The bankruptcy will be overseen by a bankruptcy judge in Nashville, Tennessee.

Oreck emphasized in its statement that its day-to-day operations will continue as normal. Retailers can continue to sell Oreck products as usual. From the company’s statement:

Oreck will continue to operate in the ordinary course of business while the sale process takes place, with authorized and exclusive dealers and other trade customers continuing to receive product for sale to ultimate consumers. It is anticipated that following the closing of the sale that plant operations and corporate headquarters will remain in Tennessee.

Oreck was founded in 1963 by David Oreck shortly after he left electronics company RCA. The company was originally a vacuum manufacturer for U.S. hotels, and Oreck claims today that more than 50,000 hotels around the world use its vacuum cleaners. The machines gained popularity among hotels for their light weight.

A hiker who went missing on Sunday, May 5 in Yosemite National Park has been found dead.

According to the National Park Service, the body of Kenneth Stensby was found near the bottom of Vernal Fall, a 317-foot waterfall located on the Merced River in Yosemite. Stensby’s body was found on Monday afternoon by park rangers, who have stated that it appears the 73-year-old fell from a cliff near the top of the waterfall. The body was found following a full-scale search that included California Highway Patrol helicopters.

Stensby, who is from Edina, Minnesota, is reported to have taken daily hikes through the park while staying at a Yosemite hotel. On Sunday he left a note with hotel staff, as he always did, outlining his hiking plans. Stensby had planned to take a morning hike to the top of Vernal Fall and return by midday. Park Rangers were dispatched to look for Stensby when he had not returned that evening. His backpack was found near the guardrails at the top of Vernal Fall.

This is not the first occasion on which a hiker has died around Vernal Fall. In 2011, three hikers crossed guardrails erected to keep hikers out of the water above the fall. They were swept over the falls by the water’s flow, which was greater than usual due to a large melting snowpack from that winter.

(Image courtesy God of War at the English language Wikipedia)

One of the Dixie Chicks has struck out on her own and released a solo album. Natalie Maines this week released Mother, a rock album that breaks from the Dixie Chicks’ country music past.

Maines told CBS in an interview this week that the album has a “harder-edge rock feel” than what the Dixie Chicks were playing. Maines told CBS that it would be hard for her to return to country music after fans lashed out in 2003 when she spoke out against the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“It’s definitely difficult for me to go back to country music,” said Maines. “So, yes, I’m sure that 10 years ago did have an effect on where I’m at right now and the fact that I’m doing this solo album.”

The Dixie Chicks have not released an album since 2006′s Taking the Long Way. Maines stated that she has not seen her former bandmates in around one year.

Maines also appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday to promote the Album. She and Ben Harper performed her first single from the album, titled “Without You.”

Maines is also promoting her album through her various social media channels. She is currently answering questions from fans via her Twitter account using the hashtag #chatwithnat.

Megyn Kelly has been a Fox News fixture since she began hosting America Live in 2010. Since that time, she has become one of the most recognizable faces of the channel along with Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. Now, Fox is making sure its star female anchor will stay on with the cable TV news network.

The New York Times is reporting that Kelly has renewed her contract with Fox News. The publication cites unnamed sources as stating Kelly’s contract renewal was not a given. The anchor reportedly had intrest from other news channels such as CNN and ABC. A New York Magazine expose on NBC’s Today show published in March mentioned that morning show executives at one point were considering Kelly as a replacement for Ann Curry.

Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren has also reportedly renewed her contract with the TV channel. The Times is quoting Van Susteren’s husband, John Coale, as stating Van Susteren could be bumped from her 10 pm time slot. The speculation is that Kelly, who currently hosts the afternoon Fox show America Live, could be moving into the channel’s primetime lineup.

One factor that could throw a wrench into these plans is the fact that Kelly is currently pregnant. She announced the pregnancy back in February, live on Fox News.

Early this year, as Tim Tebow‘s praying pose (“Tebowing”) craze began to subside, another NFL quarterback stepped up to inject a celebration pose into internet culture.

In January, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s bicep kiss started a new trend on Twitter. Now, “Kaepernicking,” as it’s called, has reached all the way to the White House.

Kaepernick this week tweeted out that he was lucky enough to meet the First Lady of the United States. It turns out Michelle Obama might be a football fan, as she posed with the quarterback in the infamous “Kaepernicking” pose:

Follow @Kaepernick7

Colin Kaepernick
@Kaepernick7

I got the opportunity to meet one of the greatest women in the world, the first lady first_obama and… http://t.co/58kxGmmBkR

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22 hours ago via Instagram · powered by @socialditto

How do we know that the summer movie blockbuster season has begun? The product tie-in ads are beginning to take over television.

This week a new Audi ad pitted Leonard Nimoy against Zachary Quinto. For those not well-versed in popular culture, Nimoy played the character Spock in the original Star Trek series and movies. Quinto now plays Spock in the re-booted J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie franchise.

Though the ad is not explicitly affiliated or branded with Star Trek, there are numerous references to the show during the nearly 3-minute ad. For example, the actors start out playing a virtual version of three-dimensional chess, and at one point Nimoy recreates his famous death scene from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The music and camera angels employed to show off Quinto’s Audi vehicle are reminiscent of those often used to show off Enterprise ships in Star Trek movies. The ad also perfectly demonstrates why you should never challenge someone who can correctly employ a Vulcan nerve pinch.

Oh, and if you were wondering what bizarre song Nimoy is singing along with during his drive, it’s actually a song Nimoy performed himself in the 60s called “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.” The music video for the song is one of the best things to come out of the 60s:

With no jackpot winners in the month of April, the Powerball Jackpot has now risen to an incredible $222 million. There were no jackpot winners for Saturday’s (May 4) drawing, and also no ‘Match 5′ winners, who would have won a $2 million payout. Though no big payouts came this weekend, over one million people across the U.S. won a combined $11.2 million in prizes.

The Mega Millions jackpot has also been growing, and now sits at $154 million. There were also no Mega Millions jackpot winners for Tuesday’s drawing.

Though the odds of any one person winning are, obviously, low, stories constantly pop up to remind players that the odds of someone eventually winning are certain. Just this week, a California woman who accidentally purchased an extra SuperLotto Plus ticket won $14 million for her mistake.

The Phoenix Suns announced this week that Ryan McDonough has been named the general manager of the NBA team. The 33-year-old McDonough will be officially placed as the GM during an event at the US Airways Center on Thursday.

“Ryan distinguished himself among an impressive group of candidates for our GM position,” said Lon Babby, president of basketball operations with the Suns. “His natural leadership and communication skills will serve the Suns well. And, his prodigious work ethic and ability to identify talent will enable us to take full advantage of the 10 draft choices, including six in the first round, that we have over the next three years. We welcome his championship pedigree to our organization.”

McDonough began his NBA career in 2003 as a special assistant to basketball operations with the Boston Celtics. In that position, McDonough was heavily involved in scouting work.

Most recently McDonough served as the assistant general manager of the Boston Celtics. According to the Suns, his experience in draft evaluation and scouting will make him perfect for the organization, considering the team’s six first-round draft picks over the next three years.

It seems that Justin Bieber isn’t the only pop star that is having trouble getting to concerts on time.

According to a Boston Magazine report, R&B star Rihanna was three hours late taking the stage at her Boston concert Monday night. As expected, fans gave her a hard time about the delay on Twitter using very colorful language.

What makes Rihanna’s tardiness worse is that the concert in question was actually a make-up concert. The singer had cancelled a concert in Boston in March, citing laryngitis as the cause.

Rihanna has not addressed being late through her social media accounts, though she has tweeted out an Instagram pic of the concert through her Twitter feed as if nothing odd has happened. She stated that “I will never forget this night!!!” and that she now has a deeper love of Boston:

Follow @rihanna

Rihanna
@rihanna

#BOSTON I will never forget this night!!! I truly have deeper love for you now!!! Thank you for making… http://t.co/bYHnsGwC9k

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15 hours ago via Instagram · powered by @socialditto

In other Rihanna news, Chris Brown this week confirmed the rumor that he and Rihanna are no longer a couple. He told an Australian radio program that he is a “grown man” who is moving forward with his life.

(Image courtesy Marc Schiller/Wikimedia Commons)

Though President Barack Obama easily won two presidential elections, it doesn’t mean he coasted into the White House. Perhaps his biggest political challenge came before he ran for president in 2008, when he fought Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president. Now that Obama’s time as president is coming to an end, speculation has begun that Clinton will again attempt to gain the Democratic nomination for president, which many Democrats believe she should have gotten five years ago.

With that history in mind, it isn’t surprising that former President Bill Clinton is beginning to field questions about Hillary’s plans for 2016. It’s also not surprising that the former president is already sick of those questions.

According to a Washington Post report, Bill rebuffed questions about Hillary’s future at a fiscal summit this week. He stated that Hillary is writing books, working with the Clinton foundation, and “having a little fun being a private citizen for the first time in 20 years.” Bill also stated that speculation about a Hillary 2016 campaign is “the worst expenditure of our time.”

In many ways, Hillary Clinton is the shoe-in for the 2016 Democratic nomination for president. Her candidacy in 2008 was supported by nearly half of Democrats, and it’s easy to imagine the entire party falling in line behind the Clinton name once again. In addition to her experience as a Senator, Hillary now has years of diplomatic experience as U.S. Secretary of State to run on. Also, while Republicans have begun frantically searching for a party spokesperson who can connect with mainstream U.S. voters, no Democratic stars seem to have appeared to challenge current party orthodoxy, and certainly none that could beat Hillary in a Democratic primary. A PPP poll just weeks ago showed that Hillary might enjoy over two-thirds of primary votes in New Hampshire, with Vice President Joe Biden coming a distant second.

Allergies can be crippling, but usually some choice drugs and patience can get even the worst allergy sufferers through allergy season. Suffering a runny nose for over a year and a half, however, is another matter entirely. An Arizona man recently found that what he thought was allergies was actually brain fluid leaking from his nose.

According to a Fox 10 report, after suffering a leaking nose for 18 months, Joe Nagy was told by a doctor that the fluid coming from his nose was actually brain fluid. It turned out that Nagy had a hole in the membrane protecting his brain.

Doctors told Fox 10 that such a condition can be easy to miss, since many people simply assume they have a constantly running nose. Many patients find out about the problem when the fluid becomes infected. Nagy himself developed a serious case of meningitis just before undergoing brain surgery to repair his leaking membrane.

The surgery used cartilage from Nagy’s nose to repair the membrane. It was successful and Nagy stated he was surprised by how quickly the issue was repaired.

“I was waiting for the dribble, you know?” said Nagy. “I was so used to it every day, I got a hanky, a cloth ready, a tissue. Nothing. And all of a sudden, it’s never come back.”

A woman who won $14 million in the California Lottery this week claims that she hadn’t meant to purchase the ticket.

Thuan Le, a single mother of four, told lottery officials last week that she normally purchases $4 of Powerball tickets and $1 of SuperLotto Plus tickets on a regular basis. On May 1, however, Le accidentally put $6 into the self-serve lottery machine at her local CVS store. With the extra dollar she purchased an extra SuperLotto Plus ticket, which ended up being worth $14 million.

Le reportedly ran screaming from the store when she verified her ticket numbers had won. She immediately called her sons and traveled to the California Lotto’s local district office to claim her $14 million prize. Le has stated that she plans to use the money to buy a house, travel, and visit her parents, who live in Vietnam.

“We thought she was joking, but we thought would she really joke like this?” said one of Le’s sons. “My older brother said, ‘yes, she would’.”

As the finale of The Office approaches, speculation is growing on where the show’s characters will end up and what the ending will be for what was once the most popular comedy on network TV.

As a major part of the show’s success before leaving in 2011, it seemed like a given that Steve Carell would return to reprise his role as ineffectual manager Michael Scott. However, last week The Office Executive Producer Greg Daniels stated that Carell will not be a part of the show, saying that Carell felt it wouldn’t fit the character.

Now, however, the rumor of Carell’s return is back, despite the denial. TVLine is reporting that Daniels’ statement was a ruse, and that Michael Scott will, in fact, be making a cameo in the final episode of The Office. The publication’s unnamed sources have stated that his appearance in the episode will be very brief.

It seems only fitting that Carell should be seen in the series’ finale. His character was one of the most important on the show, a linchpin that held The Office together. Despite Will Ferrell coming on as the big-name replacement for Carell in the show’s seventh season, ratings for The Office have fallen since the departure of Michael Scott.

It’s no secret that the NRA doesn’t agree with the gun legislation President Obama has endorsed in the wake of the Newtown school shooting in December. However, a political disagreement isn’t the same as a threat, even when the topic is gun rights. To prove this, the NRA has gone to great lengths to distance itself from a few of the more disturbing aspects of the U.S. gun culture.

This week, BuzzFeed is reporting that the NRA has asked Zombie Industries to remove a specific mannequin target from its booth at the NRA Annual Meeting last weekend. A booth-worker for the company told the publication that an NRA representative asked them to remove the mannequin because it looks too much like President Barack Obama.

Zombie Industries sells mannequin targets styled to look like zombies. The targets are life-sized and “bleed” pink goo when shot. The questionable mannequin is dubbed the “Rocky Zombie,” and does resemble the current U.S. president, despite being a bright shade of green.

Zombie Industries sells over a dozen different zombie mannequin target models, including a boar, a wolf, a kangaroo, a clown, a “nazi,” and a “terrorist” that greatly resembles Osama bin Laden.

The company’s zombies were featured last year in an episode of the Discovery Channel reality TV show Sons of Guns:

Zombie Industries has also posted some demonstration videos to YouTube:

(Image courtesy Zombie Industries)

Former Atlanta Braves outfielder Otis Nixon was caught with a crack pipe and crack rock during a traffic stop near Atlanta on Saturday.

According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report on the arrest, Nixon told police that the crack cocaine found in his truck did not belong to him, and that the pipe belonged to his son. Another crack pipe was found following a search of the truck.

Nixon was reportedly transporting a female passenger at the time of the arrest. Police subjected Nixon to field sobriety tests, and noted that the former MLB player did not appear to be high or drunk. According to the Journal-Constitution report, Nixon has now been charged with cocaine and paraphernalia possession.

Nixon had a 16-year career in the Major Leagues. He first appeared with the Yankees in 1983, but played for many teams during his career, including the Cleveland Indians, the Montreal Expos, the Boston Red Sox, the Texas Rangers, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Minnesota Twins. He ended his career in 1999 with the Atlanta Braves, where he had also played from 1991 to 1993.

Nixon has had a history of drug abuse. He was arrested on drug charges in 1987 and sent to rehab. In 1991, Nixon missed the World Series due to failing a drug test for cocaine.

Los Angeles police are no strangers to racial scandal, but now even USC students are claiming the department has racist tendencies.

According to a Fox 11 report on the incident, two parties directly across the street from one another received very different treatment this weekend. One house party was attended by mostly white students, and the other by mostly black. When dozens of police in riot gear showed up, witnesses stated, the white party was told to quiet down while the black party was dispersed. Six people were arrested in the aftermath.

Charges of excessive force and racial bias have been levied against the LAPD and a student protest took place on campus this week. According to the Fox 11 report, the LAPD and USC administrators will be meeting to discuss a possible forum on racial profiling.

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Now that nearly everyone has video cameras in their pocket, videos of police doing (or failing to do) their jobs has become a staple on YouTube. Some citizens will even go so far as to test police by aggressively asserting their rights on camera, and now it seems that young adults are getting in on the action of holding the police accountable.

A 12-year-old that identifies himself as Jeremy Drew last year approached a Las Vegas police officer to question him about parking on the sidewalk. The video, which was posted in September 2012, now has over 3.1 million YouTube views.

In the video, the officer can be seen returning to his motorcycle with some sort of iced beverage in-hand. Drew asks him if there is some sort of emergency which would justify his parking on the sidewalk, then asks for the officer’s badge number. The officer refuses repeatedly and eventually drives off.

(Via BoingBoing)

Last year, Lauryn Hill was charged for not paying taxes on over $1.8 million dollars she earned between 2005 and 2007. Despite the singer’s attempts to come to an arrangement, she was sentenced yesterday for three charges of tax evasion. Though Hill faced up to three years in prison for her crimes, it has now been revealed that she will serve only 3 months.

According to an Associated Press report on the sentencing, Hill compared the current U.S. economic system to the system of slavery imposed on her ancestors. Hill pleaded guilty to the tax evasion charges. She will spend three months in prison, three months under house arrest, and pay a $60,000 fine.

Hill became famous as part of hip hop group the Fugees before striking out on her own and finding success with her solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

Hill last week confirmed on her Tumblr blog that she had signed a new record deal with Sony. She also vaguely commented on her legal and financial troubles:

I’ve remained silent, after an extensive healing process. This has been a 10+ year battle, for a long time played out behind closed doors, but now in front of the public eye. This is an old conflict between art and commerce… free minds, and minds that are perhaps overly tethered to structure. This is about inequity, and the resulting disenfranchisement caused by it. I’ve been fighting for existential and economic freedom, which means the freedom to create and live without someone threatening, controlling, and/or manipulating the art and the artist, by tying the purse strings…

…Only a completely complicated set of traps, manipulations, and inequitable business arrangements could put someone who has accomplished the things that I have, financially in need of anything. I am one artist who finds value in openly discussing the dynamics within this industry that force artists to compromise or distort themselves and what they do, rather than allowing them to make the music that people need. There are volumes that could (and will) be said.

Last week, journalist Josh Stearns blogged about some LEGO stickers he recently saw while looking for a present for his son. Stearns stated that he was “stunned” when he realized one of the stickers in a construction worker sticker pack had a worker in sunglasses saying, “Hey babe!” He took it as a form of street harassment toward women and bemoaned the path LEGO has recently taken with their brand.

Nonprofit organization Stop Street Harassment (SSH) picked up the story and spread it on social media, pointing out that street harassment does not just come from construction workers and that it can often be more serious than a simple “hey babe!” From the SSH blog post:

Street harassment is normalized in our society, in part because it is regularly portrayed as a compliment, a joke, or no big deal in kids’ cartoons, television shows, comedy routines, movies, commercials, product packaging, and even in kids toys, like these stickers by Lego that are aimed at kids, particularly boys.

Now, LEGO has responded to Stearns’ cat-calling criticism, distancing itself from the content seen on the stickers. In an email sent to the journalist, a LEGO PR rep stated that the stickers were actually designed by Creative Imagination, a company that shut down at the end of 2012. It is also revealed that the stickers in question were discontinued in 2010.

Though the stickers may have been discontinued, they can still be found for purchase online, including through Amazon.

Stearns found LEGO’s response to be rather bland, and followed up with the company. His concerns finally got some real attention late last week as LEGO’s head of Outbound Licensing contacted Stearns, stating that LEGO “would not approve such a product again.”

LEGO has recently been designing and marketing toy sets specifically to girls. The company’s ‘LEGO Friends’ playsets have become a big hit, causing the company to focus more on girls as LEGO customers.

A woman hiking in the Pyrenees mountains in France who fell to her death is igniting a debate over a protected species of vulture.

According to an International Business Times report, a 52-year-old woman fell down a 300-meter cliff while walking with friends. Vultures immediately took to the body, reducing it to only clothes and bones in less than one hour.

The event has highlighted calls by some farmers in France to be able to kill the Griffon vulture, a protected species that has been turning to attacking livestock. Recent European Union laws have required dead animal carcasses, a staple of the vultures’ diets, to be burnt to prevent the spread of mad cow disease. According to the IBT report, this policy has “critically” lowered the food available for the vultures.

Farmers are now making compensation claims for livestock killed or carried off by the birds. Hunters have also complained of the vultures stealing their kills. The birds, which can grow to have 9-foot wingspans and live over 40 years in captivity, are also reportedly spreading out further into Europe in search of food.

(Image courtesy Ingrid Taylar/Wikimedia Commons)