Wmy2k7

A copy of the Bay Psalm book, dating back to 1640 known to be one of the 11 surviving copies today, is stated to become the most expensive book in the world, with an estimated value of $30 million. Stated to be put up for auction in November , this rare copy is known to be one of the first printed copies in the United States, and has been in the possession of the Old South Church in Boston, where one more such copy is known to exist. However, the other copy will not be put up for auction, as it will be kept as a heirloom object passed on from the 5th Minister of the church, Reverend Thomas Prince. However, if this book realizes the estimated value at the Sotheby’s auction, it will sit on the top of the list of the most expensive books, a title earlier held by the ‘Birds of America’, created by John James Audubon.

1640 Bay Psalm Book copy stated to become the most expensive book ever sold

David Redden, Vice-Chairman of the Sotheby’s auction house has gone on record to say that, this is by far the most expensive book they will ever see exchange hands this November. Since the lower end of the estimated value stands at $15 million, he feels that the actual winning bid just might exceed the amount, as books far lesser rare have fetched near about this price, in the region of $11.5 million. What also makes it very desirable, is the fact that only 1,700 copies were printed originally out of which, only 11 are known to exist. Many institutions like Princeton and University of Texas are known keen to be ale to own a copy, as it relates to a historical time in America. It came into existence at a time, when America was still a colony of the British empire, and the Bay Psalm became the first American book to be published in America.

1640 Bay Psalm Book copy is one of the 11 known to exist today

The Old South Church, who will be getting the funds from the auction, will be using it to repair and maintain it’s ministries. It will also divert funds towards care for the 2,000 other such rare books which are under it’s possession. However, for the benefit of the audience, there will be a tour of the book at different sites, where one can go and see what the priced hymn book is. The popularity it has amongst the collectors, definitely dwarfs other publications like the first edition luxury books we recently came across.

Via: Art Daily/ News Australia

As I posted back in February, Glock has quietly been shipping two beavertails and two standar back straps with some Gen 4 models.  I like mine but I also prefer the Grip Force Adapter on my Gen3 G17. The GPA actually alters the grip angle to be the same or closer to a 1911.

That said, I find the Glock part to be well constructed and packaged and even if you don't suffer from "rail bite" users of the medium and large Gen 4 backstraps my actually prefer the new beavertails.

We have been hearing rumors about a new range of smartphones from Samsung over the last few week, the Samsung Galaxy Mega, and Samsung has just made these new devices official.

There are two smartphones in the Samsung Galaxy Mega range, the Galaxy Mega 6.3 and the Galaxy Mega 5.8, both devices will come with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and share similar specifications.

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Original Story Samsung Galaxy Mega Gets Official

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A little later than expected the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix hybrid laptop/tablet has now been made available to pre-order for around $1700.

Originally the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix hybrid system was expected to launch in March but after a few delays Lenovo is now back on track and the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix will soon be shipping to customers.

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Original Story Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Hybrid Tablet Now Available To Pre-order

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Some of our reader will remember the CAT B15 rugged Android smartphone that was announced a while back, the SIM free version of the device is now available in the UK for £299.98 including taxes.

The CAT B15 Android smartphone conforms to IP67 certification,the device is designed to be water and dust resistant and it can be submerged in up to 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes.

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Original Story SIM Free CAT B15 Rugged Android Smartphone Lands In the UK

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Thieves are always looking for new ways to steal your expensive gadgets. Like the iPhone. This story combines a thief, some creativity, dexterity and chopsticks.
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Original Story Chinese man pickpockets woman on a bike, steals iPhone…with chopsticks

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If you have a bunch of different consoles all taking up space, why not do what one inspired gamer did, and create a console mod that plays 18 different types of cartridges? Project Unity includes the original boards of 15 different game consoles, but is all controlled through one controller.
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Original Story Console mod takes 18 different types of game cartridges

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Ron Dauphin

The Pennsylvania Game Commission would like you to know that it is not legal to hunt deer in the Burrell Township Walmart parking lot, and, by extension, any other Walmart parking lot.

After a four month investigation, the authorities have concluded that, even if you see what they determine to be “the nicest buck [they've] seen taken in Indiana County in a couple of years,” it is not appropriate or lawful behavior to leap from your car and chase it around the side of the building while firing multiple shots from your handgun.

The incident in question took place last November and was caught on store surveillance video. The “hunter” faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment and several hunting violations, including hunting without a license, shooting on or across highways and unlawful killing or taking of big game.

 

Hunter Shoots Deer In Wal-Mart Parking Lot [IBTimes]
Man Charged For Hunting In A Walmart Parking Lot [CBSLocal]

The label for the recalled salad.

The folks at Publix Super Markets have recalled their ‘Publix Deli Tri Fruit and Grain Salad’ out of concern that it may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes, which is not something you want to be eating.

According to the FDA, Publix learned about the potential contamination from Allison’s Gourmet Kitchens, which actually supplies the salad to the chain.

The recalled salads, UPC # 41415-39662, were distributed to Publix stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

All product sold between Dec. 2012 and March 26, 2013, is involved in the recall.

For those unfamiliar with Listeria monocytogenes, consuming it can cause serious and sometimes fatal infection in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Even healthy individuals can enjoy symptoms like high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. And in pregnant women, Listeria can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.

Luckily, Publix says it knows of no illnesses related to the recall.

If you have some of this stuff in your fridge, you can return it to Publix for a full refund. You can also call Publix Customer Care Center at 1-800-242-1227.

Three labels, one package.

These donuts seem to be a bit indecisive as to when they will be at their prime tastiest. Were they the best before March 31? Or would April 1 do? Maybe April 2 is okay for these baked goods from Walmart. Who’s to say, really, when there are three tags on one package of donuts?

The aforementioned mixed up donuts appeared over on Reddit, where the poster submitted the pic with the caption: “Walmart donuts best before yesterday…I mean today…uhh I mean tomorrow!”

Peeling back the layers of time.

As we’ve said in previous food posts, it’s not like these donuts are going to be dangerous to eat after any of those given dates (well, probably not) — it just means the flavors will be the best and freshest before March 31. Or April 1. Or April 2.

We’re sure whoever purchased these treats is going to be okay eating them whenever because a donut is a donut is a donut, but it’s amusing to see a bakery worker just slapping any old date on when this particular batch failed to sell.

Back where it alllll started.

(snailbooty)

Your mother would yell at you to pull a comb through your tangled hair, tuck in your brother’s shirt for the third time and your dad would awkwardly stand behind everyone with his hand on your mom’s shoulder. It was family portrait time, and for many Americans, it happened inside a department store. But one company that operates thousands of locations in mostly Sears and Walmart stores announced it’s shuttering its shutters for good.

CPI Corp. announced the closing with a simple message on its website, adding that it is trying to fulfilling as many customer orders as possible despite the shutdown.

“After many years of providing family portrait photography, we are sad to announce that all of our U.S. portrait studios are now closed. We appreciate your patronage and allowing us to capture your precious memories,” the statement reads.

It’s a little unclear over how many portrait studios CPI is closing — the Associated Press says over 2,000 in the U.S. while Bloomberg News cites a figure of 3,100 for North America. But one thing is for sure, the studios are shutting down.

Sears said in a statement that it’s working with CPI to fulfill orders, and “exploring all options” to continue photo services. Any customers who had a recent session can order portraits on the Sears site through April 18.

In a time where anyone can become a fairly able photographer with a decent digital camera or heck, even a smartphone and a couple of fancy effects, it’s not surprising that portrait studios have lost popularity. It’s not surprising, but it is a little bit sad.

CPI abruptly closes its US portrait studios [Associated Press]
Sears Says Portrait Studio Operator Shuts Down at U.S. Stores [Bloomberg News]

(The Neil Steininger)

Everyone knows driving drunk is a no good, very bad idea. But one Alaska town wants to take that a step further — or actually, it doesn’t want tipsy people taking any steps, and instead wants to ban drunk walking. Jokey headlines aside, the city doesn’t want drunkards just stopping and dropping, but taking one of the city’s 75 cabs.

KYUK.com reports on the ordinance amending the city’s public decency laws, wherein the Public Safety and Transportation Commission introduced a few tweaks to the public decency laws. The amendment would prohibit drunkenly strolling city streets or ice roads.

“It’s not geared to prohibit the intoxication as much as it’s geared to keep these areas of our community safe. Public streets and roads, ice roads or highways, are very dangerous areas. They have a lot of fast-moving, big vehicles,” explained one city council member. “A lot of foot traffic as well. To have an intoxicated person in those particular areas makes for an exponentially greater risk of harm not only to the person who’s intoxicated, but anyone who’s traveling on those roadways.”

Another council member says he’s not in total agreement with the drunken walking prohibition.

“I can’t support that particular section. I understand people can be a menace, but there’s other ways to handle it than outlawing drunk walking,” he said.

But another council member thinks it’s a grand idea, pointing out the 75 cabs running in the city and designated drivers. And also? It gets really cold in Alaska, like 40 below, so anyone walking on the road in that situation is going to be in danger, much less if you’re hammered.

The city council ultimately voted to introduce the ordinance, which means it’ll still get discussed at future meetings. No one better waltz in with a bottle of whiskey, that’s for darn sure.

(dirtyblueshirts)

Somebody’s watching you — and it might just be your Netflix account. Which turned out to be a very good thing for the owner of a stolen TV in Raleigh, N.C. who had linked up his Netflix account with the device. Police not only recovered the TV in question but a cache of allegedly stolen goods at another home.

The TV was associated with the owner’s Netflix account, so when police were alerted that someone else was watching content on Netflix they were able to track down its location, reports the News Observer. The man watching the purloined device said he’d bought it from someone else, and started naming names.

The investigator on the case had been looking into a string of car break-ins in the area, and used the info from the man who’d bought the TV as well as other evidence to connect the dots and obtain a warrant for a house in Durham.

There, cops found and seized more TVs, eight GPS units, 17 power tools and related equipment, 34 watches and several other items, and arrested the man living in the house.

Here’s to hoping no one peeks at my Netflix account, because they would probably be pretty impressed/scared by the amount of awful rom-coms I can go through in a week.

*Thanks for the tip, catastrophegirl!

Netflix account leads Raleigh detectives to stolen goods [News Observer]

(bendystraw)

If you’re frugal and Internet-savvy, you’ve heard of cord-cutting. Cord-cutters ditch their expensive cable or satellite subscriptions and keep broadband Internet. Then they stream, rent, or (shh) illegally download their favorite programs, and some buy antennae to watch major networks over-the-air like it’s 1972 or something. What broadcasters are trying to figure out is whether they can depend on these consumers, mostly young and childless, to subscribe to traditional cable once they’re older and more settled.

The media-analytics company Nielsen calls households that have no televisions hooked up to an antenna or cable connection “Zero-TV households.” There were two million of them in 2007, and now they estimate that there are about five million. Nielsen finally figured out that maybe they should start measuring what TV programs these people watch and how.

“As these homes change life stage, what will happen to them?” one Nielsen VP asked the Associated Press. Will they subscribe to Nickelodeon to pacify their toddlers, when they have them, or continue with their wacky Netflix-streaming ways?

As broadcasters meet for their annual conference in Vegas this week, they’re trying to figure out how to make money off these people. After all, it’s not the network that makes money when you stream “The Walking Dead” over Amazon.

Broadcasters worry about ‘Zero TV’ homes [AP]

(hesweptlime)

Beyond all the valuable pieces of art on display at the Louvre in Paris, there’s a whole other set of treasures — the pockets and purses of the millions of visitors who walk through its doors every year. The world’s most-visited museum was forced to close today after more than 100 staff walked out in protest over the rampant thievery going on right under Mona Lisa’s nose.

Workers walked off the job today to call attention to the problem of large, organized gangs of thieves who they say roam the museum and are becoming “more aggressive.” Staff and visitors alike have been falling prey to pickpockets, reports The Guardian, with the museum admitting that it’s problem that’s growing bigger.

This, despite the fact that police are working closely with the museum, and those people already known as pickpockets are not allowed to re-enter the museum.

A union official for the staff said workers are afraid of the roving gangs, which include minors who can get into the Louvre for free. There have also been reports of spitting, insults, threats and kicking on the part of the thieves.

The museum will be open tomorrow, however. So keep an eye on your personal belongings or hey, just don’t bring anything with you that’s not absolutely necessary.

Louvre closed on account of pickpockets [The Guardian]

(Listener42)

The thing about car air bags is it’s quite necessary that they deploy at the right time. Which is why the Japanese maker of safety gear is at the center of a recall of more than three million vehicles, scattered across the Honda, Toyota and Nissan brands. Those companies all have cars that could have defective airbag inflators, causing airbags to possibly deploy abnormally in a crash.

The wonky products were made between 2000 and 2002, said a spokesman for Takata, the safety gear company at the crux of the recall, notes Bloomberg.

According to a press release from Toyota, 170,000 front passenger airbag inflators across several models are involved in the safety recall. Those include certain Toyota Corolla, Corolla Matrix, Sequoia, and Tundra, and Lexus SC 430 models manufactured from 2001 to 2003. The company says as many as 510,000 vehicles might have to be inspected to identify problem inflators.

Anyone who owns a Toyota affected by the recall will receive a letter in the mail with further instructions. More information is available at  www.toyota.com/recall, by calling the Toyota Customer Experience at 1-800-331-4331, www.lexus.com/recall and Lexus Customer Satisfaction 1-800-255-3987.

Honda is recalling 1.1 million vehicles, with about 680,000 of those in the United States. Here, the recall covers 2001-2003 Civics; 2002-2003 CR-Vs; 2002 Odyssey. Mailed notification to customers will begin in late-May, 2013. Customers can inquire about recalls by going to www.recalls.honda.com or by calling (800) 999-1009, and selecting option 4.

Nissan has 480,000 vehicles globally in the recall, including the 2000-2004 Maxima, Infiniti FX, Infiniti QX4, Nissan Pathfinder and Nissan Sentra, according to reports. We weren’t able to locate a press release on Nissan’s site but customers will likely receive a letter from the company as well, or call your local Nissan dealer.

Toyota Announces Voluntary Recall of Certain Vehicles for the Front Passenger Airbag [Toyota]
Toyota Joins Honda, Nissan in Car Recall on Airbag Fault [Bloomberg]
Statement by American Honda Regarding Passenger Front Airbag Inflator Recall: 2001-2003 Honda Civic; 2002-2003 Honda CR-V; 2002 Honda Odyssey [Honda]

(Atwater Village Newbie)

The crime wave carrying off the world’s comfort food by the truckload is only continuing and escalating. From maple syrup in Québec and Maine to Nutella in Germany and soup in Florida, criminals are carrying off many of our tastiest and least most comforting foods. Now, criminals in New Jersey have made off with an entire refrigerated shipping container of hamburger patties. Not the burgers!

The hamburger patties–3,000 containers of them–belonged to the Hilton hotel chain, and were bound for the Netherlands, then for Hilton properties outside of the United States. (You may have heard that they’re having beef supply issues over in Europe, though that’s not necessarily why Hilton was shipping patties over.) Sometime between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, the container disappeared. Surveillance video shows a tractor driving off with it around 10:30.

Police search for Hamburglar who stole $100K in hamburger patties from shipping container in Linden [Star-Ledger]

(analogkid281)

We’ve heard of nightmarish customer service experiences, but one Home Depot shopper created a nightmare of his own making when he reportedly grabbed a saw and tried to hack off his own arms inside the store. His fellow customers were apparently a bit disturbed at the scene because a man was trying to cut his own limbs off in public. Yikes.

The Los Angeles Times says the man calmly walked into the store yesterday afternoon and grabbed a couple of handsaws.

“He just began sawing away,” an officer told the LAT.  ”He was pretty much intent on doing what he did.”

While he didn’t succeed in completely severing his limbs, he managed to cut both arms down to the bone as terrified customers called 911 in a panic. When police arrived, the man was passing out. Again, because he tried to cut off his own limbs.

An off-duty paramedic happened to be in the store and ran to assist officers with twine and rags to fashion tourniquets and get the blood to stop flowing. The man was taken to a nearby hospital, where he underwent surgery.

Police say the store was shut down for the rest of the day… because a man tried to cut off his arms in front of everyone.

Pardon me while I spend the rest of the day shuddering in horror.

Man cuts his arms with saws at Home Depot [Los Angeles Times]

(Maulleigh)

Let’s say you have some valuable things you don’t want to keep in your home, so you take out a safety-deposit box at your neighborhood bank. The bank manager leaves you alone in a transaction room to deposit your items, and you discover that your brand-new box isn’t empty. There’s money in it. $100,000 in cash.

That’s what happened to an 81-year-old woman and her boyfriend in Borough Park, Brooklyn, a few months ago. Trying to be honest, they handed the cash over to the manager. If this happened to you, you’d probably tell the story to people afterward, because it’s a good story. The woman did, and her friends and family pointed out to her that the ancient legal principle of “finders, keepers” applies in this case, and the money should be hers. Was that the case? The bank manager wouldn’t say what he had done with the money, and no one at the bank would answer questions about it. Did the evil, greedy bank take it? Did it belong to an extremely small criminal empire? Did the money legally belong to the old lady?

She turned, as people have to do all too often when dealing with large companies, to a local newspaper. The New York Daily News got the answers she wanted, but didn’t get them from the bank. The answer lay in New York State property law.

If she found a wad of cash on the sidewalk and turned it in to the police, it would be hers if it remained unclaimed for a year. No such luck at the bank: the bank holds on to the lost property for fifteen years, then turns it over to the state. Way to reward honesty, New York.

Woman finds extra $100,000 in safety deposit box, but bank takes cash and offers no explanation [New York Daily News] (Thanks, Dov!)

Lookin’ good, man. Lookin’ good.

Ever since FOX ruined the lives of Firefly aficionados by canceling the show after only four months back in 2002, fans have been coping the best way they can, including knitting their own orange “Jayne” hats in an homage to one of its characters. In one of the only 14 episodes, Jayne Cobb’s ma sends him the cozy headgear. He loves it, it’s silly looking and thus, it’s awesome. But attracted by the scent of money changing hands for these handmade versions on Etsy and elsewhere, FOX suddenly seems to care about Firefly.

When we say “care” we mean, FOX is seeking to shut down any vendors selling the Jayne hats, as it holds the license for Firefly and as such, those sellers are infringing on its intellectual property. The network started issuing cease-and-desist letters to Jayne hat peddlers, causing many shops to go out of business.

But as Buzzfeed noted in an in-depth look at the Mom & Pop e-shops, many of the fans only made and sold the hats out of a love for the show, a show FOX didn’t care to keep on the air, and see this as yet another slight against the Browncoat community. After all, many fans came up with their own patterns and unique twists on the hat, pouring all that fan love into a knitted product to be shared with other Browncoats.

ThinkGeek.com caught the backside of fans’ collective hands a few months back when it started selling a licensed version of the Jayne hat on its site for $24.99. While it claims that it had nothing to do with Etsy sellers getting shut down for selling similar products, this week it’s gone a step further to profess its love of Firefly and its fans.

In an update this week to the product page, ThinkGeek says it’s heard the mighty roar of Firefly fans:

Browncoats, we hear your concerns about the cease and desist on Etsy Jayne Hat sellers!

We weren’t involved in that process, but we have reached out to FOX and we’ve definitely heard what you’ve had to say. (We know you guys have Vera to back you up.)

As a result, we’ve decided to donate the profits from all Jayne Hat sales on our site to Can’t Stop the Serenity, a Browncoat charity dear to ThinkGeek’s heart that raises funds and awareness in support of Equality Now. We’ll continue making that donation until we run out of stock of Jayne Hats.

We hope the Hero of Canton himself would approve.

A search for “Jayne hat” on Etsy does pull up a number of results, at least as of this writing. If FOX gets its big, bad way, however, even those listings could disappear.

Fans are likely not holding their collective breath to hear back from FOX, because it’s not like the network would listen to impassioned pleas from a hardcore fanbase anyway, right?

In the meantime, perhaps I’ll just have to ask my talented colleague Laura Northrup to knit me one instead. Because it’s all about the love that goes into the hat, at least to Firefly fans. Hey, even Nathan Fillion approves:

“@PirateKnits:Captain, looking to unload illegal hats. http://t.co/fR1V0wJA9b”

You got a job? We'll do it. Don't much care what it is.—
Nathan Fillion (@NathanFillion) April 11, 2013

Yesterday the Drug Enforcement Administration moved to axe the sale and distribution of three types of "fake pot," synthetic marijuana mixtures imported primarily from China and India. (Maybe you recall discussions about this from Demi Moore's 911 call after she OD'd on the ersatz ganj last winter.)

Read more...

In an effort compete with Amazon.com, Wal-Mart is considering a new service in which they would discount one customers ...

52 percent of Americans say pot smoking should be illegal, a recent Pew Research Center poll finds. Just 45 percent said ...