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Definitely an interesting, if not controversial, invention for the field of law enforcement, a new set of handcuffs delivers electric shocks like a taser. Covered in detail on Patent Bolt recently, a patent application for an advanced set of handcuffs was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark office during late November 2012. Filed by a group called Scottsdale Inventions during late 2010, technology that could potentially go into the handcuff design includes an accelerometer, a location sensing device, a microphone; a camera and a biometric sensor to measure a detainee’s physical state. However, the group has also designed the...

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse.And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Isaiah 11:1-2

Earlier speculation that GREATER MEDIA Talk WTKK/BOSTON is considering a format change sooner rather than later (NET NEWS, 12/11) may be getting closer to reality with the news that station veteran and current afternoon host MICHAEL GRAHAM has left the building. His departure follows that of middayer DOUG MEEHAN (NET NEWS, 12/17). The fate of other staffers is still unconfirmed; the station is currently airing "best ofs" of morning duo JIM AND MARGERY. We'll have more details on anything else as soon as we can confirm them. In the meantime, GRAHAM is actively looking for his next opportunity.

A knifeman has killed at least eight pupils in a rampage at their school in western Japan. Officials say more than 20 other pupils were hurt, along with several teachers. Some are seriously ill in hospital. It is believed the children were aged six or seven.

Edward M. Kennedy Jr. announced today he would not run for US Senate in Massachusetts, removing a potentially formidable contender for the seat that will be left vacant if US Senator John F. Kerry is confirmed as secretary of state. “Although I have a strong desire to serve in public office, I consider Connecticut to be my home, and I hope to have the honor to serve at another point in my future,” Kennedy said in a statement. Kennedy lives in Connecticut but also owns a house at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport. He is the son of the late...

GALVESTON, Tex. — Angelica Gonzales marched through high school in Goth armor — black boots, chains and cargo pants — but undermined her pose of alienation with a place on the honor roll. She nicknamed herself after a metal band and vowed to become the first in her family to earn a college degree. “I don’t want to work at Walmart” like her mother, she wrote to a school counselor. Weekends and summers were devoted to a college-readiness program, where her best friends, Melissa O’Neal and Bianca Gonzalez, shared her drive to “get off the island” — escape the prospect...

I just saw Zero Dark Thirty, and I thought I'd give a quick review of it for the benefit of those of you who might consider seeing it in the coming weeks. I'll try not to give away too many spoilers, but obviously it's a true story, so it shouldn't be too hard. First off, I don't think it's pro-Obama propaganda. The hero of the movie is the CIA agent who made it her personal decade-long mission to track down bin Laden, and then secondarily, Seal Team Six of course, but also the other CIA personnel who participated in the...

Venus, the minimalist high-tech yacht commissioned by the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, has become embroiled in a row over a disputed bill. French designer Philippe Starck claims Mr. Jobs’ heirs still owe him €3 million of a €9 million fee for the project, according to Dutch paper Het Financieele Dagblad. Mr. Starck called in the debt collectors and had the yacht impounded. … The sleek, 260-foot-long aluminum super-yacht cost €105 million ($138 million; £85 million) and was launched in October, at Aalsmeer, The Netherlands. …

Dental assistant Melissa Nelson was fired by her boss of 10 years because he felt her presence was a threat to his marriage Horndog bosses in Iowa have a new tool to save their marriages — they can fire employees who are too hot for the workplace. The state’s all-male Supreme Court ruled 7-0 Friday that an Iowa City dentist legally canned his female assistant because she was “irresistibly attractive” and a threat to his marriage. The bombshell ruling came after Melissa Nelson sued her boss of 10 years, Dr. James Knight, for discrimination. The married mother claims she was...

Pot farms wreaking havoc on Northern California environment • Burgeoning marijuana growing operations are sucking millions of gallons of water from coho salmon lifelines and taking other environmental tolls, scientists say. EUREKA, Calif. — State scientists, grappling with an explosion of marijuana growing on the North Coast, recently studied aerial imagery of a small tributary of the Eel River, spawning grounds for endangered coho salmon and other threatened fish. In the remote, 37-square-mile patch of forest, they counted 281 outdoor pot farms and 286 greenhouses, containing an estimated 20,000 plants — mostly fed by water diverted from creeks or a...

President George H.W. Bush, who has been in a Houston hospital with a lingering cough since November, needs to "build up his energy" before he can be released, doctors said Sunday. Methodist Hospital spokesman George Kovacik said in an emailed statement that doctors are still optimistic the 88-year-old Bush will make a full recovery, but are being "extra cautious" with his care. Bush is in stable condition, he said.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA, Australia (CBSDC) – Researchers at the University of Adelaide in Australia have found another purpose for mistletoe – apart from helping potential suitors steal kisses around the holidays. Mistletoe could also be used to help the effectiveness of chemotherapy, or could even act as an alternative to chemotherapy for treatment of colon cancer, according to Newswise. The American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. noted on its official website that colorectal cancers are preventable – as many as 45 percent of occurrences could be curbed with dietary and habit modifications. Despite that fact, the news of a...

Her silence is deafening. Twenty-five years after the spotlight first glared on Tawana Brawley — a black woman who as a teen claimed she was raped by a gang of white men, smeared with feces and stuffed in a garbage bag — she’s desperately struggling to stay hidden from public view. “I don’t want to talk to anyone about that,” Brawley, 40, said recently after The Post found her in Hopewell, Va., where she lives in a neatly kept brick apartment complex with signs warning of video surveillance cameras. By all appearances, her life — so chaotic a quarter-century ago...

(Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge ruled on Friday against an attempt by the California Public Employees Retirement System to bypass the bankruptcy court and collect overdue pension payments from the bankrupt city of San Bernardino. The decision, while only one step in a highly complex legal proceeding, was a blow to Calpers' argument that pension payments and California law should take precedence in a bankruptcy.

The nurse who committed suicide after answering a hoax phone call about the Duchess of Cambridge made two attempts to kill herself last winter, and had been prescribed antidepressants. Jacintha Saldanha, who took her own life days after the call from Australian DJs pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles, attempted to commit suicide last December with an overdose of pills during a family visit to India. She survived after being rushed to hospital, but tried to commit suicide again just nine days later by apparently jumping from a building. … Although Saldanha’s family have previously said she did...

At least 39 people have been killed in fresh clashes between rival communities in the Tana River district of Kenya's Coast province, police say. The attack by ethnic Pokomo farmers on an Orma village, Kipao, came in the early hours of the morning, they say. Thirteen children and six women were among those killed.Police say the latest attack was revenge for the killing of more than 100 villagers earlier this year, but some say the raids are political. Elections are due in March 2013. Police say there have been casualties on both sides. Houses were reportedly burnt and villagers cut...

John Kerry calls American troops terrorists John Kerry says American troops terrorize women and children and that they should stop...because that's the job of the Iraqi military.

Rebels have threated to storm two predominantly Christian towns in central Syria if residents do not “evict” government troops they say are using the towns as a base to attack nearby areas. A video released by rebels showed Rashid Abul-Fidaa, who identified himself as the commander of the Ansar Brigade for Hama province, calling on locals in Mahrada and Sqailbiyeh to rise up against President Bashar Assad’s forces or prepare for an assault. “Assad’s gangs in the cities are shelling our villages with mortars and rockets destroying our homes, killing our children and displacing our people,” said Abdul-Fidaa, who wore...

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath–a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.