Saturday, January 04, 2014

Second big Mega-Millions winner steps forward

When Steve Tran woke up in the middle of the night, there was a reason.  He'd gone to San Jose and bought a lottery ticket, in the city where someone had won one-half of a jackpot valued at $648,000,000.  He awoke for the right reason and after ensuring his ticket was the winning one, he left his boss a message.  "I'm really sorry, boss. I hit the jackpot. I don't think I'm going to come in today, tomorrow or ever."  If he chooses the cash option he will receive $173.8 million, before federal and state income taxes.  FYI, while California doesn't tax California lottery prizes, winnings in multi-state games like Mega-Millions and Powerball are taxed by California.

Jennifer Hudson raised the bar for the value of gifts given by celebrities to their personal assistants.  On Christmas Day she gave her long-time assistant, someone she's been friends with since the sixth grade, a house.

The coroner's report in the deaths of Paul Walker and Roger Rodas says the Porsche that Rodas was driving was travelling at speeds in excess of 100 mph when they crashed.

Children's Hospital of Oakland and the family of Jahi McMath have reached an agreement defining the terms under which the family can move her body to another facility.

From the "maybe he was hungry AND broke file" - a 38 year old man was arrested in Whittier after allegedly robbing a pizza deliveryman of his cash and two pizzas.

No fans, the wardrobe malfunction that Britney Spears suffered during her Vegas show was not part of the act.  The back of her costume came undone, but two of her background dancers fixed the malfunction.

According to sources, the following movies are going to be added to the available streaming content list at Netflix:

•American Psycho (2000)
•Raging Bull (1980)
•Thelma And Louise (1991)
•West Side Story (1961)
•What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
•Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
•Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
•Bull Durham (1988)
•Red Dawn (1984)
•Mousehunt (1997)
•Spaceballs (1987)
•Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
•The Chinese Connection (1972)
•Amelie (2001)
•Grapes of Wrath (1940)
•Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)
•Children of a Lesser God (1986)
•Scrooged (1988)
•Days of Thunder (1990)
•The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
•The Talented Mr Ripley (1999)
•Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
•Death Race 2000 (1975)
•Ghost (1990)
•Good Burger (1997)
•Play It Again, Sam (1972)
 
Will this make up for a much longer list of movies that have disappeared from the streaming content list?  You'll have to decide that for yourselves.
 
Time is reporting that the story of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un feeding his uncle and five associates to hungry dogs is probably not true.  Reporter's note:  I've always thought that North Korea was going to the dogs.
 
Molly Schuyler is a competitive eater who just polished off a 12 lb deli sandwich, a pound of fries and a large soda, in less than an hour.  She's a 120 lb housewife and mother of four, and she won $650 for her efforts.  Reporter's note:  She ate something that represents 10% of her body weight.  Weigh yourself and then try to conceptualize doing that.  Frightening.
 
A town councilman in North Carolina decided to resign from the council, in writing, frustrated with he described as a council that did little more than rubber-stamp the town staff's decisions.  If you don't read/write Klingon, you may have trouble understanding his letter, since that's the language he wrote it in.
 
The headline talked about a 20 year old who posted his $55,000 bill for an appendectomy on line.  Read further into the story and learn that because he was on his father's insurance at the time, the bill was really only $11,120 after discounts were applied.  He had surgery.  More on this tomorrow.
 
Amid rumors that she's dating Sean Penn, Charlize Theron is talking about wanting to adopt a child so her son will have a brother.
 
When Megyn Kelly was on the air at Fox News with meteorologist Janice Dean, and she joked about spending "another night in bed", it was an inside joke.  The two were forced to share a hotel room bed during Hurricane Sandy.