Thursday, April 21, 2011

(12 stories) Tsunami auction gets $73 million bid for piano

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Offbeat - News April 21, 2011

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Tsunami auction gets $73 million bid for piano
Tsunami auction gets $73 million bid for piano (Arab News)
TOKYO: Yahoo Japan says a bidder has pledged a staggering $73 million for a crystal piano put up for a tsunami charity auction but has yet to confirm whether it is a serious offer.

RI man's 1974 traffic violation dismissed in Mass. (WHDH)
A Rhode Island man has finally settled a warrant issued for a traffic violation in Massachusetts nearly four decades ago.

Offbeat Traveler: Cool and unusual hotels in the U.S. (WNOL-TV New Orleans)
Hey, is that a helicopter in your room? Be it a bed-and-breakfast in a beagle or an entire ghost town, we look at weird ways to bed down.

Purring penguin big hit on YouTube (WIVB-TV Buffalo)
A penguin that makes a laughing sound when its belly is rubbed at the Cincinnati Zoo has become one of the latest YouTube video stars.

200-year-old champagne to be auctioned (KRQE Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Two bottles of bubbly, preserved for nearly 200 years in a Baltic Sea shipwreck, are heading for the auction block.

Lady Gaga vs. 'Weird Al' Yankovic
Lady Gaga vs. 'Weird Al' Yankovic (SuperstationWGN TV)
As someone who has been consuming more than a healthy amount of pop-culture for most of their life, there are certain truths that we geeks hold to be self-evident: Vampires that sparkle are not really vampires.

Complaints end goldfish racing at Washington bar (KXTV)
The weekly goldfish races at a Tacoma bar are canceled after it received complaints from animal rights activists.

Canadian authorities make arrest in 'webcam murder' (examiner)
Canadian authorities have made an arrest in the murder of a Chinese student who was attending a Toronto university. She was last seen alive via webcam, by her boyfriend in China who had been video chatting with her.

iPhones, 3G-enabled iPads track your every move: researchers (examiner)
Security researchers have discovered that iOS devices have been saving the locations of users' devices at regular intervals, and storing them in an unencrypted, though hidden file. The data includes locations and time stamps, and is apparently intentional: the database is backed up, and restored across backups, and even onto a new device if a prior one is replaced.

Woman stabbed in face with pen (KXAN-TV Austin)
A New Jersey woman was stabbed in the face with a pen on a New York City subway train after she tried to stop a man from lighting a cigarette.

One of the strangest balks in baseball history (The Hartford Courant)
Check out this bizarre pitch/balk from Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander. According to Verlander he wanted to make a pick off move to first, but didn't turn his body.

9,800 eggs festoon Easter tree in Germany
9,800 eggs festoon Easter tree in Germany (KBCI CBS 2)
Volker Kraft's apple sapling sported just 18 eggs when he first decorated it for Easter in 1965.

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