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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Apr 3, 2013
April 3, 2013
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The White House:
Defense Secretary CHUCK HAGEL plansto reimburse the government for 14 days of pay as a show of solidarity with other civilian Pentagon employees who are losing the same amount of pay due to sequester cuts. Hagel earns about $200-thousand dollars-a-year to head the Pentagon.
As a political employee, Hagel is exempt from any federal budget cuts. (Pacelli)Trolling for publicity:
Hope BEHATI PRINSLOO doesn't have her heart set on a white wedding --her boyfriend has no plans on heading to the altar! ADAM LEVINE reveals in the new issue of Nylon Guys that if "you don't get married, you can't get divorced." The MAROON 5 hottie has been dating the model since last June and wonders why we can't "learn from the devastatingly low percentage of successful marriage that our last generation went through?" (Lee)
On the loose again:
A new problem in communities across the U-S: The theft of metal storm drain grates.
The grates, which weigh around 250 pounds, cover drains that often have a drop of more than 10 feet, making their absence a danger to motorists and pedestrians alike. Replacing them can cost up to $800 a pop which adds up to a hefty sum in Atlanta, where more than 600 grates have been stolen over the last few months.
The grates only fetch around $20 each as scrap metal, but more likely, they're being sold to out-of-state developers for up to $200 each, possibly by thieves who've been posing as work crews. (Maiman)TV Briefs:
HBO's "Game of Thrones" could once again be the most-pirated series, ever.
The website TorrentFreak, which monitors illegal downloads, says in less than 24 hours, pirates around the globe downloaded the episode more than one million times, and at one point there were more than 160-thousand individuals sharing the file using BitTorrent software
Daily Varietymagazine says the illegal downloads didn't stop people from watching the show --more than 4.4 million viewers watched the third season debut.
That pretty much sums up why HBO renewed "Game of Thrones" for a fourth season yesterday.Grace notes from Vinny Marino:
PSY's big follow-up to "Gangnam Style" is called "Gentleman." He'll premiere it for fans in Korea on April 12th, and he's already sold out a stadium in Seoul the next day. Naturally, the song comes with a new dance. Psy told a Korean TV show that everyone in that country already knows the dance, but the rest of theworld will have to learn it. (Marino)
Off the beaten path:
A self-proclaimed video game addict says he's been sitting at the same computer in a Chinese cyber cafe for six-years straight.
30-year-old LI MENG eats, sleeps, and plays games in the same spot 24-hours a day. He only leaves the screen for quick bathroom breaks. Staff at the cafe never talk to him, unless there's a technical problem with the computer, or if he wants some food. One employee says, "He usually plays all night and sleeps through most of the day in front of the screen." (Still) -
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