2:34 PM
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1137946.html
In a horribly timed coincidence, two days after the previous incident, a Nigerian national flying from Amsterdam to Detroit (same details as before!) locked himself in the bathroom and refused to come out even when the flight crew ordered him to do so! Given the earlier incident, that must have been a scary time for all of the crew and passengers:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091228/ts_nm/us_security_airline_jitters
The incident where an alleged terrorist tried to detonate his explosive underwear is being used by the TSA and other officials to try to get the whole-body imaging devices approved. The problem is that the devices will capture, record, and store detailed naked images of travelers, eliciting objections from numerous opponents:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/underwear-bomber-renews-calls-for-naked-scanners/
Picoprojectors for phones and other devices are finally starting to ship--this will allow phones to project video and photos onto 40- to 60-inch screens:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/12/picoprojectors-for-phones-and-other.html
Civil War buff in Pennsylvania faced a felony charge for accidentally firing a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of his neighbor's home:
http://www.military.com/entertainment/offbeat/man-who-shot-cannonball-into-home-faces-felony
Children regularly exposed to tobacco smoke at home were more likely to develop early emphysema in adulthood. The study result suggests that the lungs may not recover completely from the effects of early-life exposures to tobacco smoke:
http://www.physorg.com/news181225011.html
Two LA teachers have been ordered to return more than $148k in overpayments. The LA Unified School District has made nearly $60 million in overpayments since 2007 when they changed their payroll software. Most of that money has been returned, but it seems that the school district might need to sue some of its teachers to get the last $9.4 million:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lausd28-2009dec28,0,2789178.story
The Kindle is the most gifted item in Amazon's history! It is also impressive that on Christmas Day for the first time Kindle books outsold physical books. The other top-selling electronic items on Amazon were the 8 GB iTouch and the Garmin nuvi260W:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/27/kindle-most-gifted-item-in-amazons-history-e-books-outsell-phy/
Parents in South Korea are trying extremely hard and sparing no expense to try to get their kids to be taller. Spending $850k in the hope that their kid will become an extra 10 cm tall? With no proof that acupuncture or special harnesses to stretch the spine actually work or growth hormone shots ($850 per month with the possibility of horrible side effects), this has become a huge industry in South Korea:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/world/asia/23seoul.html?em