Archive for December, 2008
Book publishers and TV personality Oprah Winfrey have once again been duped by an author claiming that his story was real. Readers might remember Winfrey’s support for James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, which was supposed to be his memoir about his struggle with drug addiction. That story broke into a million little pieces when proven to be an exaggerated account of what happened in real life.
This time around, it is the book Angel at a Fence: The True Story of a Love That Survived that is in the limelight. Written by Herman Rosenblat, the book was supposed to be an account of his experience at a concentration camp wherein he first met his future wife – the angel at the fence who threw him apples. According to his story, they met again on a blind date 12 years after the end of the war, this time in Coney Island. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.
If the story were true, it would indeed be one of the greatest love stories of all time. Unfortunately, it is too good to be true. After a lot of media attention – thanks in part to Oprah’s taking them under her wing in her show – it has been revealed that the story is all made up. As such, Berkley Books is cancelling the book and taking back the advance that was given to Mr. Rosenblat. A movie based on the book is also in the works, to be produced by Harris Salomon. Apparently, a good story is a good story – the movie will be still be released but under the label of fiction instead.
Photo courtesy of The New York Times
I get irked by noisy people while I try to enjoy a movie in a theater – who doesn’t? From the crunch of popcorn and chips to the rustling of foil packs to the chatter of people – all these are things that should not get in the way of one’s enjoyment while in the movie theater. I never thought that making noise in the theater could actually hurt you physically and I bet that this family man didn’t either!
A man in Philadelphia got shot in the arm on Christmas night when he took his family to the movies. Apparently, the family was enjoying the movie a little bit too enthusiastically – as it usually is the case when you have children with you – when another viewer got irked. Going by the name of James Joseph Cialella, the guy reportedly told the group to keep quiet. In addition to that, he threw some popcorn at the son. Not satisfied, Cialella walked over to the family, at which point, the father stood up. Apparently, he did not know that the guy had a gun until he got shot in the arm.
Cialella was arrested when detectives rushed to the scene and found him with a .380 caliber handgun. He is currently under the custody of the police.
The moral of the story? Keep quiet when in the theater. Seriously though, even movie theaters should be stricter as to what kinds of things can be brought into the premises. This incident is a prime example of how things can easily get out of hand.
Talk about having belated Christmas presents – not only multiplied twice but five times! First time parents Jamie and Kevin Ferrante gazed upon their first child, or rather, first children when the mother gave birth to the quintuplets on Saturday at the Staten Island University Hospital.
The Associated Press has this report:
The babies — all delivered within 6 minutes by Caesarean section — ranged in weight from 1 pound, 8 ounces, to about 2 pounds, 4 ounces, the newspaper said. It gave their names as Allesia Louise, Amanda Frances, Ella Lilliana, Emily Ann and Matthew Sabatino.
Fertility treatments have made multiple births more common in recent decades, but quintuplets remain rare. The federal government’s National Center for Health Statistics tallied 68 quintuplet and higher-order births in 2005, compared to more than 400 quadruplets, 133,000 twins and 4.1 million births overall.
Hospitals in Houston, Phoenix and Annapolis, Md., also reported quintuplet births this year.
Saturday’s quintuplet birth was a first for the Staten Island hospital, Preston said.
As you may already know, giving birth to quintuplets is not that common of an occurrence. Looking at those statistics presented above, isn’t it beyond amazing how many quintuplet births have occurred in this year alone? Think about it – I don’t think that I even know someone personally who has had triplets, much less quintuplets. One thing I know for sure – the family of these children are going to have a big celebration for the New Year and for many years to come.
How many times have you wondered whether Santa’s reindeers are male or female? I am sure that if you have not thought about it lately, you wondered about it at least once when you were a child. We may never know the answer for sure but scientists over at Texas A&M University are trying their best to figure out the gender of the reindeer.
The Associated Press ran a story yesterday:
“Santa’s reindeers were really females, most likely,” said Alice Blue-McLendon, a veterinary medicine professor specializing in deer who cites the depictions of Santa’s helpers with antlers as the primary evidence. It turns out reindeer grow antlers regardless of gender, and most bulls typically shed their fuzzy protrusions before Christmas.
But Santa’s sleigh helpers might also be castrated males, known as steers, said Greg Finstad, who manages the Reindeer Research Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Young steers finish shedding their antlers in February and March, just as non-expecting females do. Bulls generally lose theirs before Christmas, while expectant mothers retain their antlers until calves are birthed in the spring. This allows them to protect food resources through harsh weather and to have enough for developing fetuses, he said.
Sledders most often use steers because they maintain their body condition throughout the winter, he said. Bulls are tuckered out from rutting season when they mate with as many as a dozen females in the months leading up to December. That leaves them depleted and too lean to pull a sleigh or sled through heavy snows, Finstad said.
Alright, but I really cannot see anyone naming their daughter Rudolph.
Who would name his kid Adolf Hitler? Heath and Deborah Campbell of Hunterdon County, New Jersey would – and did. Their son, Adolf Hitler Campbell, celebrated his 3rd birthday and his mom ordered a birthday cake from ShopRite for the event. Everything was routine and going on well until the ShopRite employee asked the mother to spell out the name to be inscribed on the cake. The employee then called her supervisor, who informed Mrs. Campbell that they had to deny her request.
The supermarket, by way of spokeswoman Karen Meleta states “We reserve the right not to print anything on the cake that we deem to be inappropriate. We considered this inappropriate.” Apparently, the parents have made the same request two years in a row and have been denied as well.
This incident has been much publicized and has gotten a lot of attention, especially on the Internet. What does the father have to say about the whole thing? USA Today writes:
Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because “no one else in the world would have that name.”
The Campbells’ two other children are named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, who turns 2 in a few months, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, who will be 1 in April.
Campbell said he was raised not to avoid people of other races but not to mix with them socially or romantically. He added he would try to raise his children differently.
“Say he grows up and hangs out with black people. That’s fine, I don’t really care,” he said. “That’s his choice.”
Oh, they eventually got him a cake – from Wal-mart, no less.
