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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - May 9, 2013
May 9, 2013
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Off the beaten path:
The New Delhi subway is so tired of drunken passengers starting fights at night that it's setting up breathalyzers at all its stations. Those who blow over the limit can't board a metro rail car. It's believed to be a worldwide first for any subway system, but critics are asking an obvious question: Do turned-away riders try to drive home instead?
That was the whole point of encouraging partiers to take mass transit: To avoid drunk driving mishaps. Now all those efforts might go for naught.
The move is at least in part a reaction to the December gang rape of a young woman in New Delhi. Though she was on a bus, not the subway, her assailants were believed to be drunk at the time.
Editor's note: Better idea: Anyone who fails the breathalyzer has to ride in the drunk car. Just designate one of the cars on the train for the drunks so when they fight, they don't bother the regular passengers. Boom, problem solved. Just don't volunteer to be part of the cleanup crew. (Maiman)Chic Sh*t:
A new study says that white weddings are out. Red pink and blue dresses are the trend for new brides. And you have celebrities like REESE WITHERSPOON, GWEN STEFANI and JESSICA BIEL to thank for the rainbow of new bridal colors. The Daily Mail says in the study by 3-M:
--27 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds would not get married in traditional white
--One in ten would wear red and four per cent would marry in blue
--One in 20 would wear a pink dress like JESSICA BIEL.
--But traditionalists are still ruling the walk down the aisle: 85 percent of women ages 35 and older would still wear white.
The survey also looked at colors related to different events and emotions:
--Red is largely seen as the color of love.
--Yellow is the most popular choice to represent happiness.
--Women are most likely to say their mother had the greatest impact on their color choices.
--More than a third of men said their favorite sports team had influenced their favorite colors. (Bartha)Idle gossip & unconfirmed rumors:
JUSTIN BIEBER has finally realized it's time to put on his big boy pants and act like a gentleman if he wants SELENA GOMEZ to stick around. Sources tell MIKE WALKER of the National Enquirer that he's concocted a three-step plan to get back in the Disney princess' good graces. Apparently he wants to surprise her on her 21st birthday with a million-dollar piece of jewelry, rent a private jet so they can celebrate wherever her little heart desires and is busy writing a special song just for her! (Lee)
Going Geek-dot-com /Caught in the Web:
Researchers at Georgia Tech examined half a million Tweets from more than 500 Twitter users over 15 months. They identified a list of 28-hundred emotive terms suggesting whether a Tweet was positive or negative, including acronyms, such as LOL, emoticons and slang and swear words.
Three factors that can help Twitter users grow their band of Followers became clear:
--Don't talk about yourself: Content focused on the Tweeter attracts fewer Followers, yet Twitter users talked about themselves in 41 percent of Tweets, on average.
--Be happy: Positive Tweets attract more Followers than negative. "Twitter is mainly based on weak social ties", according to researchers, and such anonymity ups the importance of keeping Tweets up-beat.
--Keep hashtags to a minimum: They're useful for expressing emotional commentary or tying Tweets to larger events or issues, but they can be abused. Researchers found that the higher a Twitter users' "hashtag ratio," the less likely they were to attract new followers. (Kaye)Finders Keepers:
An elderly lady in Australia finally found Mister Right.
106-year-old MARJORIE HEMMERDE has never been married, but says she finally found the love of her life at a nursing home. Hemmerde could be accused of robbing the cradle, since her boyfriend is 73. Hemmerde says, "We just sort of melted into each other. We get along like old friends, the age gap doesn't seem to matter." The elderly woman says she has no intention of marrying the man because she enjoys "living in sin." (Still) -
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