Friday, August 28, 2009

Michael Jackson's Death Ruled a Homicide


It's official: The Los Angeles County coroner announced on Friday that Michael Jackson's death has been ruled a homicide.

According to the coroner's report, the singer suffered from "acute propofol intoxication." Other drugs detected in his system included lorazepam (Ativan), midazolam, diazepam (Valium), lidocaine (an anesthetic), and ephedrine.

The homicide finding – meaning death at the hands of another – is only one of five rulings a coroner can make in a death investigation. Among the others: natural, suicide, accident, and "could not be determined."

According to unsealed search warrants, Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, told LAPD detectives that he had been treating the singer for insomnia for about six weeks, and had been giving Jackson 50 milligrams of propofol every night intravenously. Jackson referred to propofol, a cloudy white fluid, as his "milk," according to the affidavit.

But Murray told police he was worried Jackson was becoming addicted to the powerful anesthetic and tried to ease him off it. But on the morning of Jackson's death on June 25, Murray told authorities that after repeated demands from the singer to give him propofol, the doctor gave in and administered 25 milligrams of propofol diluted with lidocaine to keep him sedated.

Minutes after giving him the drug, Murray found Jackson not breathing. The singer, 50, was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center.

LAPD had no comment on Friday regarding the coroner's ruling. Murray's attorneys have denied any wrongdoing on behalf of the doctor.

ABC remake of 'V' shuts down; not expected to affect November start date.

Insiders at both ABC and Warner Bros. TV confirmed an online report that V – ABC’s much-anticipated remake of the sci-fi miniseries that stars Elizabeth Mitchell and Scott Wolf – has temporarily halted production. The two-weeek hiatus that’ll begin Sept. 3 is not expected to affect the drama’s Nov. 3 start date. Warner Bros. TV released this statement: “We will take advantage of our November premiere to maximize creative opportunities and deliver the audience the best show possible.”


First Look at New Moon's Evil Volturi


Prepare to be scared.

In New Moon, the second installment in Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular Twilight saga, readers are first introduced to the ancient ruling class of vampires known as the Volturi. Determined to capture their creepy menace for his screen version opening Nov. 20, New Moon director Chris Weitz has given them custom-crafted blood-red eyes. "They're all hand-painted, specially manufactured contacts," Weitz states, "They're opaque red, almost like preying mantis eyes. You can't really see into them. There's something terribly off-putting about it."


British actor Michael Sheen (The Queen) plays Aro, leader of the Italian blood-sucking clan. Although Aro and his brothers Marcus (Christopher Heyerdahl) and Caius (Jamie Campbell Bower) have been "alive" for thousands of years, Weitz says he "deliberately" gave them a younger look in the film – for which he credits author Meyer.


Perhaps most lethal of all the Volturi is Jane (Dakota Fanning), an angelic-looking vampire who inflicts physical torture on her victims. "She is very strange and very spooky in this movie,"

20 Big-Salary Jobs, No Degree Required

While the importance of earning a college degree to secure a good job has been ingrained in our brains for as long we can remember, a four-year degree is not the only path to a successful career.

Just because these jobs don't require a college degree, however, doesn't mean that they don't require hard work or extensive training. Here are 20 of the highest-paying jobs that don't require a degree, according to CBSalary.com.

1. Margin department supervisor
Salary: $83,579/year

Primary duties: Overseeing a company's credit department, which manages customer credit accounts and approves or denies credit to customers.

2. Air traffic controller
Salary: $74,922/year

Primary duties: Controlling air traffic around airports according to established procedures and policies to ensure flight safety.

3. Automobile service station manager
Salary: $72,246/year

Primary duties: Supervising gas stations and planning and implementing policy and procedure like hours of operation, workers' duties and prices for products and services.

4. Real-estate broker
Salary: $71,994/year

Primary duties: Securing real-estate transactions, selling real estate, renting properties and arranging loans.

5. Web surfer
Salary: $70,604/year

Primary duties: Scouring through multiple Web sites to analyze and compare information and user experiences to collect information to help companies understand online users' behaviors.

6. Lead carpenter
Salary: $63,345/year

Primary duties: Leading the on-site completion of construction projects and performing all types of carpentry work and finishing.

7. Cable supervisor
Salary: $60,887/year

Primary duties: Supervising the activities of workers engaged in installation, maintenance and cable repair.

8. Chemical supervisor
Salary: $57,472/year

Primary duties: Overseeing workers who make chemical products, verifying that chemical processes are followed.

9. Home-care aide supervisor
Salary: $56,157/year

Primary duties: Directing aides who care for elderly or disabled people in a home environment, and monitoring the quality and quantity of services provided.

10. Medical facility housekeeping manager
Salary: $55,368/year

Primary duties: Managing the workers and housekeeping program in medical facilities to uphold sanitary and orderly conditions.

11. Flight service manager
Salary: $54,350/year

Primary duties: Ensuring that flight attendants conform to personal appearance and preflight requirements; compiling flight reports.

12. Locomotive engineer
Salary: $54,084/year

Primary duties: Driving electric, diesel-electric or gas-turbine-electric trains to transport passengers or freight.

13. Interior aircraft assembly supervisor
Salary: $53,606/year

Primary duties: Supervising the assembly of everything for the inside of an aircraft from mechanics to furniture.

14. Painting supervisor
Salary: $51,977/year

Primary duties: Overseeing all painting activities such as mixing paint, preparing surfaces before painting and applying decorative or protective finishes to various structures.

15. Gas plant operator
Salary: $51,676/year

Primary duties: Maintaining certain pressures in pipelines to produce and/or transport natural gas.

16. Payroll supervisor
Salary: $51,410/year

Primary duties: Managing employees working on company payroll, ensuring that pay calculation is in accordance with company policy, government regulations and tax codes.

17. Assembly supervisor
Salary: $50,462/year

Primary duties: Overseeing workers who use power tools and other equipment to assemble products.

18. Credit and collection supervisor
Salary: $50,330/year

Primary duties: Supervising employees engaged in the review of credit risks and collections; may also review client credit history to grant or deny extensions of credit.

19. Data control supervisor
Salary: $50,310/year

Primary duties: Managing data entry workers and assuming responsibility for those workers' tasks to be complete and accurate; may sometimes assist with assignments.

20. Reimbursement recovery specialist
Salary: $49,246/year

Primary duties: Negotiating cases where third-party liability reimbursement exists by investigating and identifying responsible third parties, then paying out those parties.

Costco sells a lot -- but not this particular doll


What were they thinking?

The news is getting old now, but the controversy continues to be discussed throughout cyberspace, in newspapers and numerous web sites, including Snopes: earlier this month, Costco Wholesale Corp. pulled from their stores African-American dolls that were deemed to be racially insensitive.

And for understandable reasons. These African-American baby dolls, called "Cuddle with Me," were packaged with stuffed monkeys and wearing a hat that read, "Lil' Monkey."

Recently, a Boston policeman made news for calling a prominent African-American Harvard professor a "banana-eating jungle monkey." It's an ugly racial slur that is, unfortunately, still going strong in certain circles.

Anyway, in this case, it seems like it was just a matter of not thinking things through, than anyone intending to offend people. There were other versions of the doll with the "Lil Monkey" hat, including a Caucasian version, and certainly many parents have referred to their young, climbing, crazy little kids as monkeys.

To its credit, Costco pulled the offending item off the shelves as soon as a customer complained. A vice president later made the statement that the store takes full responsibility for putting the dolls on the shelves, and he said that he has "expressed our regrets that this did have the tendency to offend some folks."

The CEO, Mary Gustaff, of the company that made the dolls put it even better, saying to the press: "It's so unfortunate because now it's being portrayed as a purposeful act to be disrespectful and that's not true. We really apologize. We don't think in that way. We don't operate in that kind of thinking. We really have a diverse family-operated company that's been around for 28 years. What would we have to gain for heaven's sake?"

Indeed. What would they have to gain? Maybe it's a sign of the times, a good sign, that so many people in the process of getting this doll on shelves -- from the toy designer to the person stocking the shelves -- didn't notice that the doll could be taken as a racial insult? As in, they never use the slur, never think about the slur, didn't notice that it could be taken that way? At least, that's my hope. But the store did the right thing in taking the toy down so quickly. The last thing one needs is a bunch of racists -- and we know they're out there -- buying these dolls and somehow using them to spread their message of hate.

Anderson Cooper Rips Into Speidi

We always knew that Anderson Cooper was the silver fox, but we never knew just how sharp his claws were! Thanks to Heidi Montag and her Miss Universe performance, Anderson was ready to pounce and did just that, tearing Heidi (wife of our pal Spencer Pratt) to shreds, saying she has found a "fresh new way to embarrass herself."

Cooper put the hard news on hold this week to dedicate two minutes to eviscerating Montag and her performance, starting off his rant with the following: "I don't really know who this person is, nor why she is pretending to be a singer nor why anyone should listen to her, but apparently she's famous."

He continued, saying that Montag is "so famous she actually Twitters.... And she Twittered to congratulate herself. She tweeted she had so much fun, and she also thanked God. I don't think God had anything to do with this production."

After a quick back-and-forth with a CNN contributor, Cooper hypothesized that "If God has the time to work on this production and that's the best God can do, we're all in trouble." When Cooper continued, saying he wasn't sure who Heidi even was, his counterpart informed him that "she's married that annoying Spencer Pratt." Ouch.

McCartney Says Lennon's Remarks About Beatles Were Fueled by Drugs


Paul McCartney has dismissed John Lennon's criticisms of the Beatles, including those included in a recent Rolling Stone article called 'Why The Beatles Broke Up.' Sir Paul attributes Lennon's negative sentiments, especially the ones made during a December 1970 interview with magazine founder Jann Wenner, to "drugs" and talking "crap" that he did not mean.

During the interview, Lennon said he felt "sick" over selling out as a band and was "fed up" playing sidekick to Paul McCartney, saying that feeling was mutual for Ringo Starr and George Harrison. He also reveals he was upset with how the other Beatles treated his wife, Yoko Ono.

"They despised her," Lennon said. "It seemed I had to be happily married to them or Yoko, and I chose Yoko ... George insulted her right to her face and I didn't hit him, I don't know why. Ringo was alright but the other two really gave it to us. I'll never forgive 'em."

Speaking about Lennon's complaints after the band's 1970 split to Radio Times, McCartney now says, "Oh, he was on drugs, wasn't he? This is the trouble with history, with journalism."

"Whatever bad things John said about me," Macca added, "he would also slip his glasses down to the end of his nose and say, 'I love you.' John said so much crap that he later said he hadn't meant. It's bulls--- ... We were there. We all enjoyed it. I never really criticized John. I'm not that critical. It's a question of personalities."

Wife Shames Cheating Husband During Rush Hour


Burning shame combined with the August morning sun and about a gazillion highly amused stares was the punishment one man endured for cheating on his wife.

William Taylor of Centreville, Va., got caught getting a little action on the side when he forgot to remove the incriminating evidence from his cell phone.

After finding the proof, his wife doled out a rather interesting punishment -- she forced him to stand at one of the busiest intersections in the D.C. metropolitan area wearing a sandwich board telling everyone he's a cheater. Consider it a modern-day version of a scarlet letter -- humiliating, but less catastrophic than some scorned women's destructive revenge tactics.

"I thought she was kidding, but she was serious," Taylor said.
"I figured I got to do what I got to do to makes things right. So here I am."

His punishment is set to last all week. Each day when morning rush hour winds down, William gets a text from his wife, giving him permission to stop the public humiliation for the day, although repeat sightings of Taylor suggest this is at least a week-long punishment. Those daily texts will probably make him happier than all the ones he got from his mistress combined.