Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Philippines woman orders crispy fried chicken, gets ‘fried towel’ instead

A family’s late night snack craving turned into a sad incident, when instead of juicy fried chicken, they were delivered fried towel! A woman said she ordered chicken for her son from Jollibee, a popular fast-food chain in the Philippines. On first glance, the pieces didn’t seem any different from usual pieces of fried chicken, with similar-looking brown crust, but things started to get weird after she failed to make her son take a bite. Saying that as she was trying to get him a bite, she found it “super hard to even slice”. So, she tried to use her hands to break the crispy fried delicacy and upon opening was stunned to see no meat but deep fried towel. “This is really disturbing… How the hell do you get the towel in the batter and even fry it!?!?” the woman wrote on Facebook, sharing images and videos to show the unusual incident. The video shared by her has got over 2.5 million views and has reached other platforms as well. The post where she shared the invoice of the order, along with the videos, caught the eyes of many online and got over 87,000 shares on the platform. After the popular fast-food chain in the country started receiving backlash online, the company had to announce a temporary closure of the outlet to review the branch’s compliance with procedures as well as retrain the store staff to ensure the incident will not happen again, the fast-food giant said in a statement. (Indian Express)

Florida woman discovered naked in storm drain rescued underground — again

A 43-year-old South Florida woman who went missing for several weeks before being discovered naked in a storm drain in Delray Beach has been rescued underground for a second time. She wandered off and was reported missing by local police a little over a week after she had checked herself into a rehab facility in Texas, her family told the news outlet. Her best friend said that when Grand Prairie police spotted the woman near a creek, she slipped into a nearby storm drain when authorities approached her. However, thanks to a tracking app on the woman’s cell phone, her family was able to “ping” her last location before entering the underground system where they began their search. During the search, her family and friends located nearby manholes, as well as the storm drain, dropping bags of food and Gatorade to sustain her. Finally, the woman climbed out of a 6-foot drain pipe and was transported to a nearby hospital under a psychiatric hold. This is the second time she has been reported missing and later discovered underground. According to her family, she suffers from psychosis and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after being involved for years in an abusive relationship. (Click Orlando)

The internet is having a bad day

Dozens of popular websites, including Reddit, Amazon, Spotify and CNN, were down around the world for about an hour yesterday (6/8). The massive outage was believed to be a result of a glitch at Fastly, a widely-used cloud computing provider. While the cause of the content delivery network problem has not yet been specified, “the issue has been identified and a fix is being implemented,” the San Francisco-based company said. Among the affected websites:

• Media outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, Bloomberg News and the Financial Times.
• Twitch
• Pinterest
• PayPal
• HBO Max
• Shopify
• The U.K. government website

(TechCrunch)

Fed predicts $68B student loan loss

With pandemic-relief efforts leading to lower repayment rates, the federal government now expects to lose $68 billion on its $1.6 trillion student debt portfolio, a significant increase from last-year’s $15 billion-loss projection. For the 43 million student loan borrowers, monthly installments will resume October 1st, but for recent graduates, making payments is especially hard when incomes are typically lower or when jobs haven’t been secured. Some policy experts are calling for the forbearance period to be extended until a program is put in place to help borrowers resume payments. Adding to America’s burgeoning student debt problem, Parent PLUS loans, which account for nearly 25% of new federal borrowing for undergraduates, are being called “problematic” because they allow families to borrow without regard to their ability to repay. (The Washington Examiner)

US recoups $2.3M in pipeline ransom

The Justice Department has retrieved roughly $2.3 million of the ransom Colonial Pipeline paid to Russian hackers who shut down the pipeline’s computer systems last month. Colonial paid a total of $4.4 million in Bitcoin to resume its pipeline, which is a leading fuel provider to the eastern U.S. that stretches from Texas to New Jersey. It’s the first time a DOJ task force has been able to “turn the tables” and hack a cybercriminal group’s Bitcoin wallet and marks “progress undermining criminals’ ability” to wreak havoc on U.S. business and infrastructure. (The Mercury News)

Bezos to launch self into space

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark are set to be passengers on his company Blue Origin’s first crewed flight to space in July. In an Instagram post, he said the pair will join the winner of an online auction for a seat on the autonomous spacecraft, with bidding currently sitting at $2.8 million. The New Shepard rocket flies to the edge of space, where passengers will experience “a few minutes of weightlessness and an unbeatable view of Earth” before returning to a parachute-assisted landing in Texas. (Vanity Fair)

Minneapolis residents suing the city, say ‘defund the police’ movement caused rise in violence

A Minneapolis couple and their neighbors have filed a lawsuit against the city and its mayor, alleging that both parties have failed to keep residents safe amid a spike in crime over the past year. The lawsuit accuses the city of operating outside a charter that requires a minimum threshold of police officers per citizen in Minneapolis. The petitioners say the city council’s move to de-fund the police, have caused officers to quit in droves, which in turn has contributed to an escalation in crime. Minneapolis has been ground zero for the “de-fund the police” movement in the wake of Floyd’s death. Though Chauvin was found guilty in Floyd’s death in April, unrest has continued and violence has escalated. In February, the city backtracked on its original push to de-fund the police department after residents begged the city to hire more officers, citing longer response times, and increased violent crime. (Fox News)

Woman shot nail salon owner because she was unhappy with cost of mani-pedi, police say

A 21-year-old woman is accused of shooting a Texas nail salon owner because she wasn’t happy with the price of her manicure-pedicure, officials said. The woman and her 20-year-old sister each got a manicure and pedicure at Katy Nails in Houston, Texas, but started arguing with the owner because they were “unhappy with the price of the services,” said a statement from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. She left her sister arguing in the store, but then returned, at which point the male owner tried to push her out of the store. At that point, the woman shot the a 42-year-old male owner with a handgun, and she and her sister fled the salon. However, she had left her phone in the salon when she fled, the statement said. The owner was airlifted to Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center in critical but stable condition, according to the statement from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. The woman was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to Harris County jail records. Her bond was set at $60,000. The sister was arrested for evading, but not charged in connection with the nail salon shooting. (NBC News)

 
Apple pays out millions in compensation to student after iPhone repair facility shared her explicit personal images online

Apple has settled a case with a 21-year-old student after she sent her iPhone to a repair facility in 2016 only to find that employees had uploaded personal explicit images and videos to her Facebook account from the phone during the repair process. The student had sent in her iPhone to Apple to get repaired. The invasion of privacy ultimately took place at a repair center in California, run by Pegatron, an Apple contractor. About 10 images and videos from her personal on-device photo library were shared online by the repair technicians. The lawsuit was suing Apple for invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress. The employees involved were fired. Apple paid out millions in settlement compensation. (9 To 5 Mac)

Feds to explore wind potential in Gulf of Mexico

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced it plans to assess potential opportunities to advance clean energy development on the Gulf of Mexico. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will issue a Request for Interest (RFI) in the Federal Register to assess interest in the potential offshore wind development in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), according to a press release. The plan is part of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal to create thousands of jobs through the deployment of 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030. The Department of the Interior says the RFI will be focused on the Western and Central Planning Areas of the Gulf of Mexico offshore the states of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. (The White House)

Beer industry brings $2.9 billion back to Oklahoma economy during pandemic

A new study shows that the Oklahoma beer industry is directly responsible for bringing $2.9 billion to the Oklahoma economy in 2020, despite the pandemic causing the national beer industry to suffer. In addition, the industry is responsible for 8,256 jobs and $270 million in wages. Jobs for brewers increased 6.58% since 2018, the study noted, also saying that each brewing job creates 30 additional jobs in wholesaling, retailing, manufacturing, and agriculture. Nationally, the beer industry supported 2 million jobs, provided $102.8 billion in wages, and added $331.8 billion to the economy in 2020, according to the study. (Beer Serves America)

UPDATE: Judge Orders Reinstatement of Teacher Suspended After Criticizing Draft Transgender Policy

A Virginia judge ruled to reinstate a suspended Loudoun County, Virgina Public Schools teacher booted for refusing to accept the idea biological boys can become girls. The grade school gym teacher made the declaration at a Loudon County School Board meeting. Two days later he was removed from the classroom. The Circuit Court Judge ordered that the teacher, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), be reinstated to his former position at Leesburg Elementary School. The Circuit Court Judge said the school district violated the teacher’s constitutional rights and harmed his reputation. The decision also notes that the school system went beyond a normal suspension by also restricting his access to all Loudoun County Public Schools properties, which would include the administration building where the School Board meets. “The Court finds that the Plaintiff’s speech and religious content are central to the determination made by the Defendants to suspend Plaintiff’s employment. The Court further finds that the weight of the evidence and the totality of the circumstances, clearly show that the four prongs for issuance of temporary injunction have been satisfied,” The Circuit Court Judge wrote.  (Loudoun Now)

Police around the world have arrested criminals from 18 countries through the use of “ANoM,” an encrypted messaging app that could only be found on phones purchased through the black market

The “watershed” moment comes after the FBI and Australia’s Federal Police (AFP) spent three years monitoring criminal communications on the app. The FBI had previously infiltrated two encrypted communication platforms run by criminals. After this, the FBI created “ANoM”, a company that sold closed encryption communication services to criminals worldwide. For nearly two years, criminals used the FBI’s system to communicate. They were monitored by police from law enforcement agencies worldwide, including the FBI, the AFP, New Zealand Police, and Europol as part of “Operation Ironside.” The investigation has led to the arrest of 224 suspects in Australia and 35 in New Zealand. Australian police have seized $35 Million Dollars in cash and assets. New Zealand police have seized $2.7 Million Dollars. The Australian Federal Police commissioner said the operation had saved the lives of a “significant number of innocent bystanders.” (BBC)

Wednesday Gives Us Whiplash From:

• Donald Duck Day
• International Archives Day
• Earl Baltes Day
• Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day
• Toy Industry Day

Historical Events

• 1885 – A peace treaty is signed to end the Sino-French War, with China eventually giving up Tonkin and Annam – most of present-day Vietnam – to France.
• 1923 – Bulgaria’s military takes over the government in a coup.
• 1924 – In the second attempt to climb Mount Everest, George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine disappear, possibly having first made it to the top.
• 1944 – World War II: 99 civilians are hung from lampposts and balconies by German troops in Tulle, France, in reprisal for maquisards attacks.
• 1946 – King Bhumibol Adulyadej ascends to the throne of Thailand. He is currently the world’s longest reigning monarch.
• 1958 – Queen Elizabeth II officially opens London Gatwick Airport, (LGW) in Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
• 1965 – Civilian Prime Minister of South Vietnam Phan Huy Quat resigned after being unable to work with a junta led by Nguyen Cao Ky.
• 1973 – Secretariat wins the Triple Crown.
• 1979 – The Ghost Train Fire at Luna Park Sydney (New South Wales, Australia) kills seven.
• 1985 – Thomas Sutherland is kidnapped in Lebanon (he will not be released until 1991).