An airplane baggage screener faces dismissal for leaving a note in a passenger’s bag that said “Get Your Freak On, Girl” after discovering a vibrator.

The agency randomly selects checked baggage for screening on flights originating in the United States. Lawyer and writer Jill Filipovic tweeted a picture of the note Monday and later blogged about it on Feministe.

“This is what TSA will do when they inspect a bag you checked and find a, um, ‘personal item,’ ” she wrote. “Total violation of privacy, wildly inappropriate and clearly not OK, but I also just died laughing in my hotel room.”

The TSA identified and removed the employee from screening operations, the TSA said Wednesday on its blog. After completing an investigation, action was initiated to remove the individual from federal service.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/28/travel/tsa-officer-faces-dismissal/index.html?iref=obnetwork

 

Today’s date is believed by some to be a spiritual signal linked to 2012 Mayan prophecies of both doom and spiritual renewal.

The ancient Mayan long-count calendar ends on Dec. 21, 2012, and some people believe that this date will usher in a new spiritual era, or even doomsday. Nov. 11, 2011 most likely became linked with Dec. 21, 2012, when believers noticed that the U.S. Naval Observatory had set the exact time of the 2012 winter solstice for 11:11 Universal Time on Dec. 21, according to John Hoopes, a scholar of Maya history at the University of Kansas.

“It’s essentially based on the notion of synchronicities,” Hoopes told LiveScience. Synchronicities are meaningful coincidences, he said. And while everyone has a psychological tendency to find minding in random patterns the subcultures that believe in 2012 mythology tend to be those that dabble in psychedelics and cannabis, drugs that increase feelings of synchronicity.

“If it seems like the 2012 mythology was thought up by people on drugs, it’s because it was,” Hoopes said.

Indeed, the U.S. Naval Observatory now lists the official time of the 2012 winter solstice, when Earth’s tilt is angled as far away as possible from the sun, at 11:11 Universal Time on Dec. 21. This has not stopped 2012 believers from focusing on the 11:11 time.

In part, this is because 11:11 mythology has been floating around online for some time. The website 1111spiritguardians.com holds that noticing a clock when the time is 11:11 is a signal from “1,111 fun-loving Spirit Guardians, or Angels.” Other times, such as 12:12, 10:10 or 12:34 are messages, too, according to the site.

These numbers may seem special to people because they stick in our minds, Hoopes said. No one remembers looking at the clock when the numbers don’t make a pattern.

“People are more likely to remember 11:11 than they are, say, 4:29 or 6:53 or 3:17 or something like that,” Hoopes said.

Psychologists call the temptation to find patterns in random data pareidolia. This phenomenon is also responsible for visions of the Virgin Mary in toast or other objects.

New Age adherents have predicted everything from end-of-world scenarios to the ushering in of a new spiritual era.

“The buzz on the net and on Twitter and elsewhere is that 11/11/11 is the unofficial start of the 2012 metaphysical year,” Hoopes said.

Even moviemakers are cashing in on the action, with a horror/thriller movie titled “11-11-11” set for release on the date. The plot of the movie centers on a scary, mysterious force that will enter the Earthly realm at 11:11 on 11/11/11. 

Non-commercial predictions tend to be more positive than doom-centered, however. The number 11 is seen as a signal that all people are one, for example, and the date is more likely to be seen as an end to greed and disconnection than as an end to humanity. That puts 11/11/11 prophets in a different class than those such as Harold Camping, who predicted a Biblical doomsday in late October.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45248022/ns/technology_and_science-science/

 

Heavy D collapsed in his Beverly Hills home Tuesday morning and died a short time later at a Los Angeles hospital, according to police and the coroner. He was 44.

Heavy D, whose real name is Dwight Arrington Myers, was found conscious with difficulty breathing at his home after police were called there at 11:25 a.m., the Beverly Hills police said in a news release.

He was pronounced dead in the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s operations chief Craig Harvey. The cause of death has not been determined, Harvey said.

His hip-hop recording career began in 1987 with his group Heavy D & the Boyz and on his first album he released the hit single “The Overweight Lover’s in the House.” Another one of his breakthrough hits came in 1991 with a remake of the O’Jays’ “Now That We Found Love.”

Heavy D’s rapping was featured on Janet Jackson’s 1990 hit “Alright.”

He rapped on Michael Jackson’s 1991 hit “Jam,” which he performed at last month’s Michael Jackson tribute show in Cardiff, Wales.

He also composed and performed the theme songs several television shows, including “In Living Color,” “MADtv” and “The Tracy Morgan Show.”

His last CD, “Love Opus,” was released this year.

Heavy D also pursued an acting career, which included mostly roles on TV shows and movies.

He played a courthouse guard in the Eddie Murphy film “Tower Heist,” released last weekend.

He used his Twitter account Monday night to express sadness about the death of boxer Joe Frazier:

“SMOKIN JOE FRAZIER..RIP.. truly one of the best heavyweight champs that ever lived.. GODS SPEED,MR FRAZIER!”

Heavy D’s last Twitter message, posted late Monday, was: “BE INSPIRED!”

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/08/showbiz/ent-heavy-d-dead/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

 

 

Yesterday, a discolored molar that once belonged to John Lennon sold 19,500 pounds (U.S. $31,200), according to auction results posted online.

Michael Zuk, a Canadian dentist, is claiming responsibility for the winning bid. Omega Auction House, which sold the tooth, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.

Lennon gave the tooth to Dorothy “Dot” Jarlett when she worked as his housekeeper at his Kenwood home in Weybridge, Surrey, according to her son, Barry. Jarlett, who was employed between 1964 and 1968, developed a warm relationship with Lennon, her son said.

“She was very close with John, and one day whilst chatting in the kitchen, John gave my mother the tooth (he had been to the dentist to have it removed that day) and suggested giving it to my sister as a souvenir, as she was a huge Beatles fan,” he said. “It has been in the family ever since.”

With the exception of the past two years, the tooth has been in Canada for 40 years after Dot Jarlett’s daughter married a Canadian.

Barry Jarlett, who said his mother is now 90 years old, said it was the right time to pass it on rather than to risk the tooth getting lost.

Karen Fairweather, the owner of Omega Auction House, told CNN last month that the tooth is too fragile for DNA testing but she has no doubt about its authenticity.

“Because it’s coming directly from Dot, we don’t doubt the provenance of the item,” she said.

Some fans will sink their teeth into anything if they feel it’s worth plunking down thousands to get closer their idols. A clump of hair believed to have been trimmed from Elvis Presley’s head when he joined the Army in 1958 sold for $18,300 in 2009 at Chicago’s Leslie Hindman auctioneers.

Jarlett said Lennon gave his family many gifts over the years. He plans to keep a leather wallet, and his mother still has a pearl necklace Lennon gave her when he returned from Japan.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/05/world/europe/uk-lennon-tooth-auction/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

A medical examiner was expected to begin work on an autopsy Monday to determine the identity of a body found in a freezer last week that police believe could be the remains of a woman who has been missing for 28 years.

Kitty Wardwell has not been seen since June 6, 1983, according to Maine State Police. A friend reported the 29-year-old missing several days later and her “on-again off-again boyfriend,” Frank Julian, claimed he dropped her off at a motel in Salem after a fight. Police eventually determined that she was likely the victim of foul play.

The unidentified body was discovered Friday in an unplugged freezer inside a storage unit that belonged to Julian until his recent death. Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland confirmed Monday that Julian had rented that unit since 1992.

Julian, who was 52 at the time of Wardwell’s disappearance, died unexpectedly on October 1, according to an obituary in the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Family members found the body while cleaning out his storage unit, McCausland said. He would not discuss the condition of the body, but he confirmed a Sun Journal report that the freezer unit was removed with the body still inside to be transported for autopsy under the direction of the chief medical examiner.

“It’s likely DNA will be needed to make the positive identification,” McCausland said, adding that he does not expect immediate results.

Wardwell’s family has been notified of the discovery, and McCausland said authorities will continue to update them as the investigation proceeds.

 

Burger King in Japan will be rolling out a 22-cm wide pizza-sized burger in two flavors: “fresh avocado” and “nacho flavor”.

Osaka has a tradition of “eating till you drop”.

The giant burger is part of a Christmas promotion. Fast food has become a big deal around the holidays in Japan. Last year, buckets of KFC were so in demand, patrons had to place orders two weeks in advance. “Our holiday sales are five to ten times higher than other months,” a Japan-based KFC spokesman told ABC News in 2010. “In Japan, Christmas equals KFC.”

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/japans-burger-king-to-make-fast-foods-largest-burger-2608964/

Thanks to Mr. C for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.