Category: People
So who cares, right? I mean, despite the fact that he is the leader of the arguably greatest nation on Earth, he still is a private individual to a certain extent. Yes, he has made the lives of tobacco and cigarette companies hell lately, but he admits to smoking every now and then.
Barack Obama has never made it a secret that he is struggling with his smoking habit. Perhaps just like very other smoker who has been wanting to quit, the president is finding it quite hard to totally kick the habit. He says that he is about 95% cured but he finds himself slipping a lot. He goes on to say, however, that he does not do it in front of the children – just like many smoker parents that I know.
So why is this significant? I don’t think it is really – except for the President perhaps. He wants to quit smoking but is finding it hard – big deal! Of course, critics are quick to point fingers and highlight the fact that he is putting a lot of pressure on the tobacco industry while at the same time, patronizing their goods.
What does the President have to say about this?
“Once you go down this path it’s something you continually struggle with, which is precisely why the legislation we signed is so important because what we don’t want is kids going down that path in the first place.”
Yeah, I have to agree with him a hundred percent on this one. And yes, I am trying to kick the habit myself.
…and gets 56 stars for it. The story is that Kimberley Vlaeminck, an 18-year-old Belgian, went to a tattoo parlor to get stars on her face. According to her, she asked the tattoo artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, to put three stars near her eyes. As the procedure progressed, she said that she fell asleep. She only woke up when she felt a pain in her nose as the tattoo artist started adding stars there. BBC quotes her as saying: “I woke up when he was starting to tattoo my nose… I counted 56 stars, it is frightening.”
However, according to the tattoo artist, she knew exactly what was going on. He said that she ordered stars – and lots of them, it seems – all over her face and that she got exactly what she asked for. He also disputes the teenager’s claim that he probably misunderstood her instructions. Toumaniantz says ‘She was awake and looked in the mirror several times as the procedure was being done. She agreed, but when her father saw it, the trouble started.”
The question is, who is telling the truth and who is lying? Two totally contradicting stories – one of them is surely lying. My thoughts on this piece of news…it is one thing to fall asleep while getting a massage or while at the spa, but I don’t really think it’s possible to fall asleep while getting a tattoo. And to fall asleep through 56 stars? I don’t know. What do you think?
Everyone dreams of winning the Powerball. I even know some people who actually believe that they WILL win the Powerball one day, but I haven’t met a single person who has actually won. But check this out, a 23-year-old rancher from Todd County in South Dakota has won the most recent Powerball draw; and his winnings? A mere $232 million. He will be taking home a whopping $88.5 million (after taxes) as a lump sum.
Neal Wanless’s story is something like a modern day fairy tale. He is 23-years-old, a young rancher trying to make a decent living. His father has been buying and selling scrap metal in the recent years in order to survive. Neal bought $15 worth of lottery tickets at a town called Winner, and guess what? He became one himself! Big time.
What’s he going to do with the money? In an interview Neal said that he would expand their 320-acre ranch, repay the townspeople who have shown him and his family kindness over the years, and not squander his money.
That sounds really good. It cannot be denied, however, that lottery winners have encountered problems when dealing with their newfound wealth. While I am not saying that Neal will burn his money away like many other lottery winners, I really am hoping that this young man and his parents, with whom he lives, will be able to handle the rollercoaster ride that is life after winning the lottery.
It looks as if he has a level head on his shoulders, though, doesn’t he?
It was not long ago that we heard of the “best job in the world.” Sandy beaches –among the best in the world – free housing, blogging, fish feeding, and the works; these are the things that the winner will have to face for six months. No wonder that the server of the organizers got swamped and crashed in the days following the announcement!
This time, they have a different sort of announcement: the winner of the contest!
Ben Southall, 34, is the lucky guy who won. He is a British charity fundraiser who was part of the 16 finalists who entered video clips to get the chance to live in paradise for half a year. And how does the winner feel about this? He is quoted as saying:
To go away now as the island caretaker for Tourism Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef is an extreme honor. I hope I can fill the boots as much as everybody is expecting, my swimming hopefully is up to standard and I look forward to all of the new roles and the responsibilities that the task involves.
Starting July 1, Southall would have the chance to “fill the boots.” He will not be alone in the island, however, as his Canadian girlfriend has been allowed to join him. All I can say is that these two are perhaps the luckiest people in the world right now.
As for the tourism department of Queensland? They are hoping that this stunt will result in dollars – lots of it – spent in tourism in the area.
Well, she has not been bitten literally, but boy oh boy, has she been burned in all its figurative sense! When Vice President Joe Biden bought a puppy from Linda Brown in December, she was ecstatic. And why not? It is not everyday that you get to have the Vice President of your country as your customer, right? As Brown said “I thought when Joe Biden bought a puppy from me, what an honor. Out of millions of breeders in the country, in the world, he picked me.”
So what went wrong here? When the word got out about the Bidens buying a puppy from a breeder instead of getting one from a shelter, Brown became the target of pet lovers and animal rights activists. And when we say animal rights, PETA is sure to be close behind. The well known group has grabbed the chance to point fingers at animal breeders; they are saying now that animal shelters have been killed because of animal breeders.
This is only the beginning of Brown’s nightmare. Her kennel has been visited countless times by dog wardens, giving her various citations for things as petty as a piece of kibble on the floor and 5 strands of dog hair. These citations didn’t wash, although Brown has had to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees. According to Brown, both her and the Bidens have received death threats from some animal activists.
Is it just me or is someone overreacting here?
