A candidate running for a state Senate seat said video footage of him dancing in a Speedo for a drink commercial was being taken out of context -- and a little too seriously -- by political opponents.

Eric Brakey, a New Gloucester resident and Republican who recently announced his candidacy for Senate District 15, said a video circulating on the conservative website As Maine Goes and criticized by some activists was an outtake of a commercial for Vita Coco Coconut Water, a drink sold in stores across the country.

Brakey, an actor by profession, also appears in the full-length commercial dancing in a Speedo in front of a mirror. Other Speedo-clad men also appear in different scenes of the commercial dancing the samba, a Brazilian dance, in what is designed to be a comedic performance.

http://www.pressherald.com/politics/State-Senate-candidate-defends-speedo-dance-ad.html

Britain’s biggest ever ‘fatberg’ has been removed from a London sewer.

The bus-sized lump of wrongly-flushed festering food fat mixed with wet wipes formed in drains under London Road in Kingston, Surrey.

Had it not been removed it could have led to sewage flooding many homes, streets and businesses in the leafy London suburb.

Gordon Hailwood, waste contracts supervisor for Thames Water said: "While we've removed greater volumes of fat from under central London in the past, we've never seen a single, congealed lump of lard this big clogging our sewers before.

“Given we’ve got the biggest sewers and this is the biggest fatberg we’ve encountered, we reckon it has to be the biggest such berg in British history.



http://www.thameswater.co.uk/media/press-releases/17205.htm

Kids like scents, of course — scratch and sniff stickers and so on — and little girls experiment with grown-up stuff like lip gloss and heels and nail polish. But what in the name of Gargamel are we doing as a society when a company gleefully sucks $22 away from parents so that a five year old can smell like apples? Such a money-grubbing markeing move. Also, can we talk about how the Smurfs live in the ultimate patriarchy; they are shroom-eating gnomes ruled by one father. PAPA SMURF IS AN OPPRESSOR.

Don't worry, if you're over 10 years old, there's a fragrance for you, too: Smurfette Blue Magic, "billed as a more high-end scent targeting women between the ages of 13 and 30." The bottle looks like a sex toy and the liquid inside smells like "oriental mandarin, pink pepper, red raspberry and peach blossom" with bottom notes of "wet leafy greens, hyacinth and transparent lilac, sheer amber, patchouli and bright wood."

http://jezebel.com/christ-smurfs-2-hath-wrought-a-fragrance-nay-a-smurf-1003798540

The man who has bankrolled the production of the world's first lab-grown hamburger has been revealed as Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The internet entrepreneur has backed the project to the tune of €250,000 (£215,000), allowing scientists to grow enough meat in the lab to create a burger – as a proof of concept – that will be cooked and eaten in London on Monday.

Brin, a computer scientist who set up Google with university colleague Larry Page, is one of the wealthiest men in the world and has a history of backing projects that sound as though they belong in science fiction movies.

The pair have teamed up with film director James Cameron and others to investigate mining asteroids, and Brin is an investor in the private spaceflight company Space Adventures, which is selling $100m (£65m) trips to the moon. Google is also developing driverless cars and its philanthropic arm, Google.org, has invested in green energy projects.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/05/google-sergey-brin-synthetic-beef-hamburger

OLATHE, Kan. - The FAA believes it now knows how many flights at KCI were delayed abruptly on Saturday afternoon due to spiders.

There may have been as many as five flights delayed about 15 minutes after air traffic controllers were bombarded with an infestation of spiders.

Three employees were bitten by the spiders last week at the Air Traffic Control Center in Olathe, Kan., which controls the air space around Kansas City.

Read more: http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/local_news/spider-infestation-delays-five-flights-out-of-kci#ixzz2bIspV4Ct

The machine, which has been created by scientists at the University of Edinburgh, was designed to generate its own witty one-liners following a simple set of rules.

The system was programmed to exploit one of the most successful and popular components of comedy, where a statement is followed up with a surprising comment.

Some comedians, such as Tommy Cooper and Les Dawson, used this style with great affect.

However, like some of its human predecessors, the computerised comedian has developed a rather politically incorrect approach to humour – the jokes it produces can be rather sexist.

Others veer more into the surreal rather than the genuinely funny.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10225501/The-unPC-PC-computer-writes-sexist-jokes.html

EVERETT — A Snohomish woman under investigation for allegedly using her espresso stands as drive-through brothels is demanding that cops give her back the $250,000 in cash they confiscated.

Carmela Panico, the owner of Java Juggs and Twin Peaks coffee stands, recently filed a lawsuit against Everett and the city’s police chief. She alleges detectives wrongfully seized a quarter of a million dollars and a 2012 Ford Expedition. Panico, 51, is asking a Snohomish County Superior Court judge to order Everett to return her property and to award her legal fees.

The lawsuit was filed after the city officials notified Panico that they planned to keep the cash, alleging that it was proceeds from criminal activity, including money laundering. Detectives allege that Panico is “living a lavish lifestyle” financed through “organized crime.”

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130805/NEWS01/130809935#Espresso-stand-owner-in-sex-case-wants-her-$250000-back

A German highway near the Belgian border turned into a circus on Sunday when an escaped zebra strolled into the road with local police in hot pursuit. The animal decided to catch its breath -- perhaps thinking it wouldn't be seen? Police from the nearby town of Bitburg recaptured the animal shortly thereafter and it was returned, safe and sound, to its home in a local circus.



http://www.spiegel.de/international/a-915020.html

Drunken driving charges have been filed against a southern New Jersey man who authorities say was driving a box truck that was on fire and missing its front tires.

Lakehurst police tell the Asbury Park Press that 36-year-old Michael Newmon of Manchester was hanging partially out of the cab window because of a shattered windshield when he was stopped around 3 a.m. Saturday.

Authorities say the truck had tree branches caught in it, with fire and smoke coming from below.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/08/police_man_drove_15_miles_in_flaming_truck_that_had_no_front_tires.html

The two girls, who are cousins, are suspected of robbing a hamburger store in Halmstad, southern Sweden, in late March. During the robbery, the thieves had a large kitchen knife that they used to threaten the staff at the restaurant.

"Give me the money otherwise I'll stab you," they said, according to the restaurant chef account of the robbery, wrote the Aftonbladet newspaper.

"Calm down, I'll open the till," he responded.

The pair managed to get away with 2,420 kronor ($370), but were traced by police sniffer dogs back to their grandparents' apartment, outside which a bag was found with the knife and balaclavas. The girls were arrested on the scene.



http://www.thelocal.se/49260/20130725/