After being trendy back in 2009, sales of the Smart Car have slumped in the US. But Smart is hoping to capitalize on high gas prices with their new all electric Smart Car.
To show off their new EV, Smart set up a huge exhibit at the Frankfurt Motorshow in Germany, where two electric Smart Cars were outfitted to control a pong game being displayed on a large screen.
Since the high torque motors have such strong initial acceleration, the new EVs were perfect for some fast paced video game action.
A 6-year-old East Texas boy's efforts to help his father lessen the burden of expensive cancer treatments with a lemonade stand have paid off: Young Drew Cox's lemonade stand raised over $10,000 in a single day.
After word spread of the little lemonade stand owner's fundraising initiative, people came from miles around to purchase a 25 cent cup. "We never thought it was going to be this big, I just thought it was going to be a fun Saturday afternoon with the boys," said Drew's mom Tonya. "It's incredible."
With the help of one generous donor who put up a $5,000 check, the family managed to raise over $10,000.
"He is so important to me," Drew said of his dad, Randy, who was diagnosed with a rare non-testicular form of seminoma three months ago. "We like to play with each other; Lots of times we like to play games."
If you would like to take part in helping the father of three, you can do so on his GiveForward page.
A school teacher in Washburn, Missouri, is under fire today for allegedly refusing to let a kindergartner go to the restroom, and then forcing her to remain seated in class even after she defecated herself.
The girl's mother, Lisa Skidmore, says the teacher asked students to go to the bathroom before a math test, and then refused to let the student leave while the test was being conducted. The 6-year-old was unable to keep herself from evacuating her bowels, but was told to remain seated until test time was over — approximately 15 minutes.
"They didn't even bother trying to clean her up or anything," said Skidmore. "She still had poop, diarrhea poop, coming out the back, up her front, down her legs." The teacher did hand the girl a trash bag, but Skidmore says that was far from sufficient. "You don't even treat a dog that way!" she told KY3 News.
School District Superintendent Bob Walker said he regretted the incident, and has instructed teachers to be more sensitive in similar situations going forward. The family said it won't be pressing charges, but the girl's father expressed hope that the parties responsible for his daughter's harrowing ordeal truly understood the error of their ways.
"If any parent sent their kid to school with crappy pants, diarrhea-type crap, wrapped up in a garbage bag, stench badly, I believe with all my heart those parents would be facing criminal charges," he said. "I believe that with all my heart."
The Upper Austrian village of "Fucking" is sick and tired of all the f-ing jokes, so its 104 inhabitants (demonyn: Fuckingers) are getting together to mull a name change.
So named after its purported founder, the 6th century Bavarian nobleman Focko, Fucking — meaning "the village of Focko's people" — has undergone several spelling changes over the years, before settling on its current moniker in the 18th century.
The settlement, located not far from the German border, didn't gain its notoriety until US troops made their way to the area during World War II, and discovered the amusingly named village. Since then, local residents have had to deal with their pricey road signs being stolen over a dozen times, and scantily clad tourists snapping lascivious photos by the side of the road.
"People are now willing to discuss changes to the spelling of the name," said Fucking mayor Franz Meindl. "But first all Fuckingers have to agree on whether [they] want to change it or not."
If the name-change measure is approved, the village will likely revert to a previous, less tee-hee version of its appellation.
I've already booked my plane ticket. I want to meet the Mayor of Fucking. I'm going to eat at some Fucking restaurants, meet some Fucking people, go to the Museum of Fucking History, explore the town until I feel like I know everything there is to know about Fucking. I hope I meet a nice Fucking girl while I'm there. Of course, I'll need a travel guide, so it's off to the bookstore to pick up a copy of Let's Go Fucking.
Chris Birch made headlines last fall when he awoke from a stroke to discover he was no longer a straight, engaged-to-a-woman sports addict, but a flaming homosexual who quickly found a boyfriend and a job as a hairdresser.
I Woke Up Gay, a new documentary about his, er, queerness, aired in the U.K. last night, and it has fuelled the controversy over whether it’s possible to become gay overnight. To no one’s surprise, Chris, now Kris, is constantly confronted by people who aren’t quite sure whether to believe his claim that his stroke “turned” him gay — even his new boyfriend, Jak, is skeptical.
In a move intend5d to raise awareness of female genital mutilation, Swedish culture minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth this week commissioned a large cake shaped like a black woman, the cutting of which symbolically starting at the clitoris. The “art installation” instead turned into what most consider a “racist spectacle,” says Kitimbwa Sabuni of the National Afro-Swedish Association, and have prompted calls for the culture minister’s dismissal.
Adelsohn Liljeroth defended her actions, saying the anger should be directed at the cake’s artist, not at her, and claiming the situation was “misinterpreted.” “Art needs to be provocative,” she said.
Air traffic controller and private pilot James Price has spent 12 years of free time converting the nose of a Boeing 737 into a full-on flight simulator in his California garage. Price did all of the simulator’s programming himself, and about 90 percent of the gauges and displays in the cockpit actually function. Price is one of only several in the U.S. to own and operate such a device.
No monkeying around for this man. Inspired by the running style of the wiry Patas monkey of Africa, 29-year-old Kenichi Ito is the world’s fastest man on all fours.
“You know, my face and body kind of look like a monkey, so from a young age everybody used to tease me, saying ‘monkey, monkey.’ But I wasn’t really bothered because I really liked them, and somewhere inside of me I had this ambition to adopt one of their traits. When I saw a monkey that could run fast, I knew I’d found it — and from that point on I practiced running like a monkey every day.”
Ito has developed six distinct forms of four-limbed movement, from a top-speed “gallop” to a leisurely walking pace. His speed at running 100 meters on all fours, just under 20 seconds, won him a Guinness record.
Domino's Pizza the Netherlands uses electric scooters to transport pies from stores to homes, which is great for the environment, but not so great for other people on the road who can't hear the ultra-quiet vehicles coming.
In an effort to reduce the number of accidents caused by the silent scooters, Domino's has come up with a rather satisfying solution: Imitation engine noises.
Produced by a human engine impersonator, the sounds include traditional engine sputters alongside such random outbursts as "Domino's," "pizza," and "lekker" (tasty).
French remix artist and video editor Luc Bergeron just published his latest video that is already picking up steam. Luc mixed over 100 viral and popular videos of dancing at weddings into this ultimate ‘World Wedding Dance 2012′.
