Will Smith laid the smackdown on a reporter who tried not once, but twice, to kiss the Men in Black trilogy star right on the face.

The Ukrainian reporter that tried to make out with Smith reportedly has a habit of trying to kiss celebrities on the mouth, but Mr. Pinkett Smith wasn’t having it, slapping the journalist across the face after attempt two at a red-carpet makeout party.

TMZ has video (below) of the whole incident, and reports that Will Smith was visibly pissed off before and after the strange encounter:

“The Ukrainian reporter tries to kiss Will on the lips on the red carpet and the actor angrily pushes him away and then backhands him across the face… You can clearly see that Will is incredibly pissed that the guy showed overt affection toward him.

After Will slaps the guy, Will says, ‘He’s lucky I didn’t sucker punch him.’”

However, the action film star got over it pretty quickly, and commenced giving autographs after he calmed down.

You know, just as you despair over the unimaginable cruelty and inhuman treatment of animals along comes another incredible story that stops you from wanting to jump over the brink and realize that there is still good people in this world willing to put their own lives on the line in order to save others.

This latest reaffirmation of our inherent goodness comes as a result of a crash that occurred during the 1012 Mazowiecki Rally when the car being driven by Patrick Osowiecki and his navigator Maciej Wrona ended up trapped upside down in a lake.

According to one report so far there were no officials near the scene of the accident, but in their place the spectators rushed in to try and pull the two from their car.

Here is the video of the rescue as it happened.

via The Autoblog

A couple of days ago a trailer purporting to be the ‘official’ trailer of the upcoming The Arrow television series on the CW network made its way around the web and it left pretty well everyone despairing over what could potentially be a good replacement for the network’s hit show Smallville.

Personally I have had a bit of a guilty pleasure over the idea of one of my favorite comic characters making to the small screen but after watching the previously released trailer I started thinking that it was going to be another lame attempt that would suck in the end.

Now today we have a new trailer being posted to the web and this time around I think there might actually be some hope for the show as we see more of the dark and gritty look that something like this character needs.

In the end though we’ll have to wait until the first couple of episodes to see just how good it might actually turn out to be but for now check out the much better trailer for The Arrow.

via Blastr

In recent years, it has become painfully obvious that many chronic conditions would be greatly eased or helped by the use of medicinal marijuana (a non-addictive substance with far fewer side effects than, say, heavy painkillers or sleep aids), and Brooklyn judge Gustin Reichbach is sadly familiar with the frustration of a seriously effective treatment being seriously illegal.

Reichbach is currently battling cancer, and made a strong case in a New York Times op-ed to lawmakers imploring them to reconsider the politically undesirable issue of medical marijuana. The judge admits quite bravely in the piece to regularly puffing the magic dragon and credits the herb with being the only way he is able to keep food down and sleep through the ravages of cancer treatments- and while he suffers from one of the most serious cancers, pancreatic cancer, he says he hopes others will be able to legally obtain marijuana eventually through his advocacy.

In the editorial, the judge explains:

“Nausea and pain are constant companions. One struggles to eat enough to stave off the dramatic weight loss that is part of this disease. Eating, one of the great pleasures of life, has now become a daily battle, with each forkful a small victory. Every drug prescribed to treat one problem leads to one or two more drugs to offset its side effects.”

Reichbach continues:

“Pain medication leads to loss of appetite and constipation. Anti-nausea medication raises glucose levels, a serious problem for me with my pancreas so compromised. Sleep, which might bring respite from the miseries of the day, becomes increasingly elusive.”

The judge admits that being as Marinol, a substitute to smoked marijuana, was useless, friends supply him with the illegal substance despite the “personal risk.” You can read the entire missive over at the Times.

Although the Trayvon Martin case has settled to some degree since assailant George Zimmerman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the unarmed Florida teen’s shooting death, interest in the trial remains high.

Aside from the fact that a man shot a teenager and would have walked free without a Scooby-like unmasking by social media and the subsequent attention given the injustice, perhaps what drove the Trayvon Martin case to such prominence was the fact that it seemed so freaking unnecessary, and there was no taking it back. A 17-year-old kid lay dead, an unchangeable fact, and it seemed plainly obvious that above all else, it didn’t even close to have to happen.

New evidence released in the Trayvon Martin murder trial reveals that even the police who neglected to arrest Zimmerman for shooting someone in the chest for no apparent reason believed the teen’s death was largely “avoidable,” and details the account from the girl who was on the phone with Martin at the time he was confronted.

According to the unidentified girl and USAToday, Martin grew winded from attempting to evade the strange man following him when he was confronted by Zimmerman. The paper says the girl reports that she urged Trayvon to run from Zimmerman before he caught up to the teen:

She said she then heard a man’s voice ask, “What are you doing around here?” She calls out, “Trayvon, what’s going on?” but he doesn’t answer. “I hear something like, ‘bawmp.’ … You could hear that somebody bumped Trayvon. Cuz I could hear the grass.”

The paper also indicates that in a two-month period in late 2011, Zimmerman made several calls to local police about suspicious persons in the neighborhood, and that all were young black males.

A new meta-analysis of existing data has suggested that even healthy adults over the age of 50 should perhaps be regularly taking the medications known as statins, or cholesterol-reducing drugs, given their clear risk to benefit ratio.

Researchers say statins could save “a lot of lives” if used in “apparently healthy people with no previous history of heart disease,” where the drugs cut risk of heart attack or stroke by a fifth. Researchers from the University of Oxford in England looked at the impact of statins in populations suffering from heart disease as well as those with no apparent health problems, and discovered that the benefits of statin therapy in those over 50 outweighs any known risks associated with the medications.

Data from about 175,000 participants across 27 studies was culled for the meta-analysis led by Professor Colin Baigent of Oxford. Baigent commented:

“This benefit [of reduced death risk] greatly exceeds any known hazards of statin therapy… Under present guidelines, such individuals would not typically be regarded as suitable for LDL-lowering statin therapy. The present report suggests, therefore, that these guidelines might need to be reconsidered.”

The meta-analysis of statins was published Wednesday in medical journal The Lancet.

The plight of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai will remind you (if you’ve forgotten) that as women, our primary function is to adhere as closely as possible to the beauty standards of our respective cultures lest we be perceived as lax, uncaring or somehow gaming males for unearned status.

Rai, 38, has been called the most beautiful woman in the world before, and it’s not difficult to see why. (Also, she was Miss World, unlike many of the rude commenters.) But six months- six whole months- after giving birth to her first baby, you can’t bounce a quarter off her abdomen. Clearly, this kind of behavior is unacceptable, and Rai should be called to account for allowing average, not famous women to believe that it’s perfectly fine to look like you just had a baby when you just had a baby.

A video that sparked off the controversy accuses the clearly lazy new mom of having gained a whole five to six kilos, or about 10-15 pounds. Helpfully, pre and post-baby pics of Aishwarya Rai are set to the sounds of elephants to remind us that in the presence of ten extra pounds after making and delivering and entire human being reduce our worth as people by a significant degree.

Below is the YouTube clip featuring many pics of “fat” Aishwarya Rai, does she look all that massive to you?

Vikki Lizzi, the former fiancé of actor Jeff Conaway is claiming that John Travolta raped his Grease co-star while he was sleeping.

Lizzi claims that Conaway woke up to find John Travolta going down on him, an incident that immediately ended their long friendship.

According to the former fiancé the incident happened at Conaway’s home in the 1990s.

The incident led to the New York Post coining the line:

“John Travolta just couldn’t resist a quickie with Kenickie.”

Vikki Lizzi is currently on a tabloid tour where she has also been claiming that John Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston has known all along that he’s gay and that she signed a contract when they entered into their fake marriage to ensure she never let his true homosexuality out of the bag.

As expected John Travolta’s reps are completely denying these most recent claims.

It never fails. Some study comes out saying something is horrendously bad for us but if you wait a couple of years yet another study of the same thing says it’s not so bad for you, in fact it might actually be good for you.

Case in point – coffee.

Remember a few years ago the plethora of studies that came out decrying how bad coffee was for us, that it was killing us, well maybe not killing but pretty darn close.

Well guess what – a new study has come out that says people who drink a large amount of coffee – four to five cups – tend to live longer than those who don’t.

This amazing turnabout came as a result of the National Institutes of Health – AARP Diet and Health Study which analyzed 13 years of data which found that coffee drinking correlated with a 12% decrease in the risk of death for men and a 16% decrease for women.

Now to be clear this isn’t a ‘clinical’ study but rather an ‘observational’ one which means that any time soon another study will come out saying that this is all nonsense. Until then however I’m breaking our the coffee maker again and cranking up the coffee level.

via Geekosystem

Students who are currently attending college and living off student loans in many cases have no idea about the amount of student loan debt they are currently holding.

In a study conducted by Iowa State University faculty and ISU students they found that 40% of students underestimated how much student loan debt they were carrying while 1 in 8 didn’t even realize they had loans at all.

A professor of human development tells the Des Moines Register:

“You’re talking about people who, for them, borrowing is new. Yet these are really critical decisions.”

In 10% of cases students underestimated their debt by more than $10,000.

In the meantime officials are in the middle of a three-year program that is directly intended to educate students about their student loan debt.

Researchers believe that the student loan problems being experienced at Iowa State University are also being experienced by students at other campuses all over the country.

Vermont on Wednesday became the first state to ban the practice of natural gas fracking. Following the ban Governor Peter Shumlin said of the new law “this is a big deal” while adding “We don’t know that we don’t ahve natural gas in Vermont.”

There were no plans to begin fracking in Vermont and there is no proof that natural gas exists in Vermont, however activists and progressives are calling the law a big win. According to one activist in an interview with the Burlington Free Press:

“I think it helps our cause tremendously.”

Next up could be Michigan where the bill’s co-sponsor says officials have contacted him for advice on creating their own ban.

In the meantime the American Petroleum Institute has warned Vermont that it might challenge the law as unconstitutional, the organization cites the commerce clause and the supremacy clause.  Vermont officials do not believe a lawsuit regarding the law will succeed.

Fracking in the meantime has been linked to contaminated drinking water, the loss of wildlife and livestock and in at least one case a fault line crack that may have caused an earthquake.

Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have found two distinct regions of the brain where they believe suspicion resides. According the group the amygdala which processes fear and emotional memories and the parahippocampal gyrus which controls declarative memory and the recognition of scenes.

According to Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory and the Computational Psychiatry Unit at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute:

“We found a strong correlation between the amygdala and a baseline level of distrust, which may be based on a person’s beliefs about the trustworthiness of other people in general, his or her emotional state, and the situation at hand. What surprised us, though, is that when other people’s behavior aroused suspicion, the parahippocampal gyrus lit up, acting like an inborn lie detector.”

To examine the human brain researchers used an fMRI to look at neural activity. The study involved seventy-six pairs of players who played in 60 rounds of a simple bargaining game while there brains were scanned. At the beginning of each round the gambler would learn the value of a “widget” and then suggest a price to the seller. The seller would then set the price. If the seller’s price fell below the widget value the price would be approved with the seller receiving the buy price and the buyer receiving any difference between the selling price and the actual value. If the seller’s price however exceeded the value the trade would not go through and nobody would receive cash.

According to the study 42 percent of participants were incrementalists who were relatively honest about widget pricing, 37 percent were conservatives who withheld some information and 21 percent were strategists who acted deceptively to gain the upper hand and earn the most money.

Because buyers and sellers were not given any feedback about the accuracy of the information they were receiving they could not confirm their suspicions.

Researchers believed the baseline of suspicion for each person would have consequences on their financial success.

The group found that the amygdala activating corresponded directly to an inability to detect a trustworthy behavior while the parahippocampal gyrus interfered with the recognition of scenes.

There are days where I find myself totally and utterly disgusted with the human race, and this is one of those days.

It seems that the Humane Society has been conducting an investigation of stables responsible for training Tennessee Walking Horses and the video of what they have found has been released to the web.

The the investigators found was trainers beating, shocking, and burning the horses with chemicals in order for the horses to achieve their characteristic high stepping gait commonly referred to as “the big lick”.

The Humane Society’s investigation revealed treatment that is not only unethical, but also illegal. The head trainer, Jackie McConnell, is already on probation and yet was clearly seen continuing his work of beating and mutilating show horses. Not only that, the investigation revealed trainers using caustic chemicals applied to the horses’ feet — a practice known as “soring,” which was banned 40 years ago by the Horse Protection Act.

via Geekosystem

If you have a really hard time seeing animals being treated with extreme cruelty you might want to pass this video by.

Having grown up in the era of disco the name Donna Summer was one that you heard all the time on the radio and on the hit lists. She was a great singer and even if you weren’t a fan of disco you could easily be a fan of her style and grace.

Her passing was first reported by TMZ citing sources that Summer had died in Florida after losing her battle with lung cancer. It is also being reported that she was trying hard to wrap up a new album that she had been working on.

“Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith,” her family said Thursday, in a statement to THR. While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can’t express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time.”

via The Hollywood Reporter

Donna Summer was 63.

Virgin Atlantic is about to become the newest consumer airline company to allow cell phone service while flying. The airline announced on Wednesday that it will allow customers to make in-flight phone calls, send and receive text messages, check e-mail and even surf the web (slow GPRS speeds) from their mobile devices.

The new option is being added to A330 Airbus planes on flights from New York to London with 20 planes offering the option by the end of the year. Virgin Atlantic also plans to offer the service on retrofitted Boeing 747s.

According to Virgin Atlantic Chief Operating Officer Steve Griffiths

“We have listened to what customers want and connectivity in the air is always on the wish list. Many people will have experienced that moment when you’re about to take off on a 10-hour flight and you need to send an important message to the office, or even reminding a family member to feed the cat.”

The service will be limited to six passengers at a time and it is not cheap at $1.20 per minute.

According to the airline:

“The service is intended for use in exceptional situations, when passengers need to send an SMS, make a quick call, or access an e-mail on a BlackBerry,” the company said.

At first the program will only be available to O2 and Vodafone customers, however the airline planes to expand carrier options as the program is tested.

Cell phones calls will not be allowed during take-offs, landings, and within 250 miles of U.S. airspace.

Bill was eating at Wisconsin restaurant Chuck’s Place on Friday when the restaurant cut him off, a move he told TODAY’s TMJ4:

“It’s false advertising.”

Wisth then added:

“Well, we asked for more fish and they refused to give us any more fish.”

According to the restaurant they were running out of fish and simply didn’t have more to give. The restaurants manager also points out that they sent Bill home with an additional eight pieces of fish which he says wasn’t enough. The restaurant says Bill is a “problem customer” who actually owes the restaurant from a past meal he never paid for.

After leaving the restaurant Bill Wisth shows back up two days later to protest the restaurants treatment of him, instead of proving his point he was given a disorderly conduct ticket by police and sent on his way.

Bill appears to be alone in his fight, even during his news interview customers interrupted him to show their support for Chuck’s Place.

In the meantime perhaps Bill should rethink his own weight, the generally accepted guideline for a 6’6″ male is 193 – 235 lbs, 350 pounds would make him morbidly obese with an average BMI of 40.6.

Bill plans to protest every Sunday outside of the restaurant until they throw him more food like a seal begging for fish during a Sea World show

Back in September 2010 an undercover FBI agent was cruising around file sharing sites, which apparently have become a common starting point for law enforcement agencies looking to track down pedophiles, when he stumbled across the files being shared by a user going by the name of ‘pedodad36569′ on the GigaTribe P2P network.

At first the case didn’t look like it would be a difficult one to prosecute as the FBI agent had evidence of hundreds of child pornography images in the person’s shared file folder, and on top of that he had a publicly viewable IP address that allowed the FBI to track him right to his door.

With all this information the FBI had no problem getting and executing a search warrant on the home. Except there one one slight problem. After all the computers were examined and the home owner was questioned there was no child pornography found anywhere. It was then that the police realized that the man who they were questioning had an open wireless router which meant that anyone within close proximity could have been using that as their Internet access point.

Of course this put the investigation back to square one and another visit to GigaTribe to try and find another IP address for this ‘pedodad36569′. However it wasn’t until December 6, 2011 that they finally got a break and a new working IP address for their target; which turned out to be about a block away from the first person the police had investigated.

Before rushing in with there search warrants and getting stung the way they had previously two FBI agents drove past the suspect’s Carmel home on April 30 and noted that there was two separate WiFi networks that were reachable from the property, both of which were unsecured.

In the lead up to the actual search of the Carmel home the police and FBI agents discovered that the property was owned to Donald Sachtleben, a 54 year old ex-FBI agent.

The FBI and the Indiana State Police then executed a warrant on the home on May 11, just minutes after Sachtleben returned home from the Indianapolis airport. According to agents, onsite triage of his computers immediately revealed “approximately 30 image and video files containing child pornography,” generally featuring kids under the age of 12.

via Ars Technica

That goes to show you that you can never know these pedophiles can turn out to be.

Memory foam mattresses are taking the world of sleep by storm, increasing in popularity in leaps and bounds but prompting a single, if a bit uncomfortable to ask question: can you shag like bunnies atop them?

It’s kind of awkward to ask a co-worker raving about her own Tempur-Pedic whether sex is as good boning on memory foam as it is on traditional coil mattress. When I considered ordering my own Sleep Innovations memory foam mattress from Amazon, reviews were scoured for literal weeks as the answer appeared to be nowhere to be found on Google- apparently everyone is getting memory foam mattresses, but no one is talking about shagging atop them.

Finally, the price dropped so low (shipping free with Amazon Prime) I decided a potential life of celibacy was worth the plunge, as I ditched my creaky coil mattress for the attractive bargain of about $260. And I have to say, the gamble was worth it sleep-wise- compared to my sister’s Tempur-Pedic, the Sleep Innovations model is not perceptively different.

Whether sex on memory foam mattresses sucks appears to depend on which mattress seller is answering. Sealy seems to clearly insinuate in ads that if you buy a memory foam mattress, your sex life will disintegrate, but Tempur-Pedic’s CEO doubts the data. The memory foam company’s chief explains:

“In all honesty, I have never seen a return for that reason… It’s conceivable that people aren’t buying our beds because of that, but if you speak to the legions of people who own these beds, this isn’t an issue for them.”

Barron’s does an in-depth analysis of whether memory foam mattress sex is measurably better or worse, but having experienced the quality of sleep a memory foam mattress brings, it would appear the answer is “do it on the floor, dude. Totally worth it.”