That Media Hut: May 31, 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Picture: Students Celebrate As College Burns

In what looks to be the greatest graduation pic ever, a group of college students in Northeastern China toss their mortarboards in the air. In the background, their school dormitory is engulfed in flames.

In the city of Dalian, a warehouse near the Dalian University of Technology caught on fire and then spread to the school's dormitory. Knowing a photo op when they saw one, the students didn't pass up the chance to pose with the smoking complex.

The photo is apparently not Photoshopped; online in China, there are more pictures (and even video) of the incident. Thankfully, the students were not injured, and those residing in the dorms were evacuated to a nearby hotel.

[ABC]

Scarf-Wearing Pig Spotted On Pittsburgh Highway

First of all, PLEASE STAY CALM. Yes, there has been a pig wearing a scarf spotted on the side of Interstate 376 in Pittsburgh. The pig was not apprehended, but jumped a guard rail and ran off into the woods.

While no other information is known about the pig, state troopers have confirmed that the young-looking pig is wearing a scarf. This means, of course that if you encounter the piglet, please exercise extreme caution as the pig's neck is very likely to be extremely toasty.

This piglet-in-a-scarf is a grave threat to America's already over-excited cute glands, which have been released at record levels for the past decade, thanks to the terrifyingly easy access to adorable kittens and puppies and bunnies and other weapons-grade adorability.

Again, if you encounter any pig wearing anything adorable, please think about how people eat it in other countries and think twice before you pick on a pig wearing a scarf.

[WTOV9]

Scientists Confirm Existence Of 'Old Person Smell'

Old people do not stink, scientists found yesterday. A large-scale study of people who wore things in their armpits and then had other people smell those things concluded that "the underarm odor of 75-to-95-year-olds was judged to be less intense and far more pleasant than the scent of either young or middle-aged adults."

Do you feel guilty now for avoiding the nursing home? Put your answer in a letter to your grandparents. Women in general were found to smell better than men. Is that because women are sexy? The answer is yes.

Do these findings give you just the excuse you need to have sex with an elderly person? You sicko.
What do you smell like?

[LA Times/Photo: Ryan Ruppe/ Flickr]

Little Boy Wins Trip To Disney World, Donates It To Family Of Fallen Soldier

Brendan Haas, a 9-year-old, earned a trip to Disney World through a trading contest he set up on Facebook and donated the trip to a fallen soldier's family.

Brendan started the trading contest with a toy soldier in February. The idea was to continually trade an item up for something better and eventually he earned the Disney World trip.

Brendan held a drawing to donate his trip and the name of a fallen soldier's 2-year-old daughter, Liberty Hope Steele, was chosen. Liberty's father, Timothy Steele, was killed in Afghanistan last August.

Brendan said he made the donation to help make a military family a lot happier.

[ABC/Video via HLNTV]

8-Year-Old Girl Receives "Catastrophe Award" For Most Homework Excuses‎

In Tucson, Arizona, 8-year-old Cassandra Garcia received a sarcastic 'Catastrophe Award,' from her teacher at Desert Springs Academy, for the most excuses for not having her homework (video below). Garcia apparently has a folder full of completed homework and her mother, Christina Valdez, is furious over the award.

Valdez told Fox News: “She said the teachers announced the award in front of the whole class and all the children were laughing at her."

Valdez called the school principal, but says that didn't help: “She blew me off. And said it was a joke that was played and that the teachers joke around with the children."

The Desert Springs Academy principal refused to comment on the "joke."

[Fox4/Video via Sub4News]

Russian Millionaire Throws Money From Office Window

Pavel Durov, founder of the popular Russian Facebook-alike VKontakte, took a bread-and-circuses approach to generosity over the weekend, spending time with VK's vice president tossing paper airplanes made of money out of the company's St. Petersburg offices.

A crowd soon formed outside the building, eager to catch every 5,000-rouble ($160) bill Durov and his cohort were throwing. As tends to happen in these situations, the scene quickly devolved into an all-out brawl.

"People turned into dogs as they were literally attacking the notes," said one eyewitness. "They broke each other's noses, climbed the traffic lights with their prey – just like monkeys. Shame on Durov!"

For his part, the 27-year-old, whose net worth is valued at some $260 million, appeared to be enjoying the commotion, reportedly "laughing and filming" as people trampled over each other in desperation. He later claimed he was simply hoping to create "a festive atmosphere," and stopped as soon as "people turned into animals."

Despite online critics calling his experiment "too cruel," Durov promised that "more such actions are to follow."

[MSN Now, photo via Facebookru]

Six-Year-Old Eliminated From Spelling Bee After Mistake

How do you spell go-getter?

For six-year-old Lori Anne Madison, who was bounced from the National Spelling Bee Wednesday, it doesn’t matter anymore. Madison, the youngest contestant to enter the competition, had no trouble spelling her first word “dirigible” (which, as we all know, is an adjective for “capable of being steered”). What brought down the precocious young girl? Spelling “ingluvies” with an “e” instead of an “i.”

After hearing the news of Madison’s exit, we imagine millions of people across the nation, aged 6 to 26, breathed a sigh of relief, blissfully unaware of the “widened portion of the esophagus, in many mollusks, insects, and birds, which serves to accumulate, store, and sometimes also begin the chemical processing of food.”

[NPR]