What the bloody hell!?

Curses! As if cyclones in Myanmar, earthquakes in China and Japan, tornadoes doing the slam-dancing wreckage business midwest swing, and wildfires in Florida and on Mount Baldinho were bad enough, here's this!



Marche Taylor ended up in handcuffs after wearing a skimpy dress to her high school prom in Houston.


The fireworks started when a chaperone refused to let the teen into the dance because the gold number she was wearing showed way too much skin. “She shook her head, she was like ‘you are not getting into this prom,’” Taylor tells KHOU-TV.

“We were arguing back and forth because I wanted to know why I can’t get into my prom.”


Eventually, things grew so heated that school officials called in a uniformed police officer, who escorted Taylor out of the building in handcuffs.


“It was revealing in such nature it was not appropriate for the prom,” Madison High School Principal Aubrey Todd tells the station.


In other fashion news, WKMG-TV reports that Bob Hezzelwood is suing the sheriff's department in Lee County, Fla., because deputies gave him a ticket for wearing a Speedo.




Marche...the Bedlam loves you.

Another interesting tidbit on credibility...


CSULB professor's records under scrutiny
By Kevin Butler Staff Writer
Article Launched: 05/13/2008 12:09:53 AM PDT


LONG BEACH -- Cal
State Long Beach is investigating allegations that a professor in its Film and
Electronic Arts Department made misrepresentations of his professional
background and achievements, according to the department chairman.

Craig
Smith, the department chairman, said that the university's Academic Affairs arm
is investigating Associate Professor Michael I. Berlin in connection with some
items of professional experience that were added to his faculty Web page but
were recently removed.

Berlin could not be reached for comment.

Smith noted that two claims on Berlin's faculty Web page - that he got a
master's degree from Columbia University and had worked as a clinical
psychologist - were removed earlier this month.

Smith said that
professors are entitled to due process and a thorough investigation of such
allegations.

The changes to Berlin's Web page were made around the time
that department Professor Brian Alan Lane e-mailed an essay to faculty on May 2
- later published in the campus paper The Union Weekly - alleging that three
faculty members, whom he did not name, had made misrepresentations and
misleading statements regarding their professional backgrounds.

Although
Lane did not mention any faculty members' names in his essay, a complaint from
Lane prompted the university investigation of Berlin, Smith said.

After
a reporter from The Chronicle of Higher Education contacted Berlin for an
article regarding his claimed master's degree, his faculty Web page was changed on May 2 to remove
references to the degree and other items.

The university is currently
investigating the allegations regarding faculty credentials, said CSULB
President F. King Alexander in a statement released to the media.

Alexander did not say how many faculty members are being investigated or
divulge any employee names.

"We do take these claims very seriously and
will respond when all the facts have been gathered and reviewed," he said.

Because it is an ongoing personnel matter, the university cannot comment
further, he said.

If the university finds there have been
misrepresentations, there are various penalties that could result, from letters
of reprimand to dismissal, Smith said.

Until May 2, Berlin - a tenured
associate professor - was described on the department's Web site as a
"screenwriter, playwright and psychologist."

Berlin acknowledged in a
May 6 news article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that he had written his
online bio.

Berlin's department Web page before May 2 also said that he
was a "Phi Delta Kappa graduate from Columbia University's Master's Program," a
member of the American Psychological Association and had worked as a clinical
psychologist in New York for many years.

Neither Columbia University nor
Columbia University Teachers College has a record of a degree for Berlin,
according to university officials.

A master's degree is not listed among
his educational accomplishments in a copy of his curriculum vitae examined by
the Press-Telegram.

But on his CV, Berlin did type the words "Phi Delta
Kappa - Columbia University" immediately underneath his listed Ph.D. from New
York's Yeshiva University in "Educational Administration/Organizational
Development."

His faculty Web site on May 2 was changed to eliminate any
reference to a master's degree. The web bio now states that he "took courses" at
Columbia University "in a shared program with Yeshiva University's Ferkauf
Graduate School."

Before the Web page was changed, Berlin was described
as having "worked as a clinical psychologist in New York for many years" and as
being a member of the American Psychological Association.

The name
Michael Berlin is not among the list of current members of the American
Psychological Association, an official with the organization said.

The
New York State Education Department could not find records showing that Berlin
currently possesses a state license to practice psychology.

The
Press-Telegram was not able to immediately ascertain whether Berlin had a
license previously to practice psychology in New York.

After the
controversy erupted, the APA membership claim was dropped from Berlin's faculty
Web page.

The words "clinical psychologist" were changed to "therapist
and counselor," job titles that can be used without possessing a state
psychologist license.

Berlin's claim that he produced a television
series, "The Outer Limits," also was changed on the Web site, which now states
that he "worked on" the show.

Berlin is not among the names of producers
of "The Outer Limits" listed on The Internet Movie Database - a Web site that
tracks Hollywood credits and projects - though the site does show him as having
worked as a writer and executive script consultant on the show.

Also
dropped from his faculty Web site was a reference to his work on the television
show "Walker, Texas Ranger."

The show is not listed among his credits on
the Internet Movie Database at www.imdb.com. The show also is not listed among
his on-screen credits kept by the Writers Guild of America, West.

kevin.butler@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1308
Man! A lot of students got screwed today. Old and new. And one more:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Defending America's Cup champion Alinghi of Switzerland came up
a winner off the water on Monday when a New York judge ruled that a showdown
against the United States can't begin until mid-March.

New York State
Supreme Court Justice Herman Cahn settled a dispute between billionaires when he
ruled that the 10-month challenge period for San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht
Club, which backs BMW Oracle Racing, began on Monday.

That would make
March 12 the earliest possible date for the start of a rare best-of-three
showdown, or Deed of Gift Match.

Ernesto Bertarelli, the biotech tycoon
who owns two-time champion Alinghi and serves as the crew's navigator, was "very
happy," said Lucien Masmejan, the lead lawyer for Alinghi's sponsoring yacht
club, Societe Nautique de Geneve. "It's a key moment in the 33rd America's Cup."

GGYC felt it had the right to sail for the oldest trophy in
international sports in October. Alinghi was holding out for July 2009, saying
it needed the proper amount of time to build its 90-foot multihull boat.

Bertarelli said recently that his syndicate hadn't started building a
boat. BMW Oracle Racing, owned by Silicon Valley maverick Larry Ellison, who's
also a crew member, is building a boat in Anacortes, Wash., but won't say
whether it's a catamaran or trimaran.

Cahn said it would be
"inequitable" to deprive Alinghi of the full 10-month notice of challenge to
prepare its boat.

"By getting 10 months notice, we will be at full
capacity as a sailing team, which we can express on the water," Masmejan said by
phone from his home in Lausanne. "They will be facing a team willing to keep the
Cup and build a boat that's very competitive."

Cahn ordered that the
match be sailed in Valencia, Spain, or any other location selected by the Swiss,
provided they give the Americans six months notice.

However, the Deed of
Gift, the 19th-century document that governs the America's Cup, prohibits racing
in the Northern Hemisphere from Nov. 1-May 1.

Masmejan said it's
unlikely SNG would be willing to move the races to the Southern Hemisphere. He
said the discrepancy might need to be settled by more litigation or perhaps by
the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court, which on June 5 is scheduled
to hear Alinghi's appeal of Cahn's ruling that GGYC is the Challenger of Record.

BMW Oracle Racing spokesman Tom Ehman said his group's lawyers hadn't
had time to study Cahn's ruling, including the implications of the March dates
in the Northern Hemisphere.

"Overall we're pleased this thing has come
down and that he's moved the process forward," Ehman said by phone from the
syndicate's base in Valencia. "It doesn't look like we got everything we wanted,
but we got a firm date and six months notice on the venue, which is good.

"Obviously we were hoping for October and now that he said March, we'll
have to consider that and see what the implications are," Ehman said.

The dispute began shortly after Alinghi retained the silver trophy with
a 5-2 victory over Team New Zealand in Valencia in July.

Alinghi
announced it had chosen a Spanish yacht club to serve as Challenger of Record
and help the Swiss negotiate the rules for the next multi-challenge regatta.
GGYC issued a challenge, then sued, saying the Spanish club was a sham and that
the Swiss were trying to tilt the rules for the next regatta in their favor.

Cahn ruled in November that GGYC was the valid Challenger of Record.

Since BMW Oracle Racing and Alinghi couldn't agree on terms for a
traditional America's Cup regatta, the Deed of Gift Match was the next option.

Golden Gate's original challenge called for racing this July. After
Cahn's Nov. 27 order, the GGYC proposed the races be sailed in October. The
Swiss argued that the 10-month period should have been suspended during the
legal fight.

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.


As if we should give a rat's ass. The USA sucks at sailing anyway. And no, the Swiss expatriate on ALinghi does not count.

Oy! Uff! Que paso carnaval...Onward!

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