In a decision that was reversed as soon as someone with half a brain in their PR department learned about it, Verizon charged a widow a $350 early termination fee. After the death of her marine husband, Michaela Brummund decided to move back to her home town to be with her family. Verizon doesn't offer any coverage in the small town so Michaela tried to cancel her contract, only to be hit with an early termination fee. From the article: "'I called them to cancel. I told them the situation with my husband. I even said I would provide a death certificate,' Michaela said."

jalovick writes "With all the talk of Internet filtering in Australia and the high cost to implement the filter, an Australian technology distributor has come up with a cheaper solution to the government's Internet filter: The Kogan Portector."

cosm writes "Looks like personal responsibility died a little bit again today. From the article: 'A watchdog group says giving away toys with Happy Meals contributes to childhood obesity, and threatens to sue. The [watchdog] organization on Tuesday served the fast food giant with a letter expressing its intent to sue if toys are not removed. The letter is legally required in several states before lawsuits can be brought under consumer protection statutes. ..."McDonald's is the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children," Stephen Gardner, litigation director for the advocacy group, said in a statement. "McDonald's use of toys undercuts parental authority and exploits young children's developmental immaturity."'"

yukk writes "Mark Suppes, a web developer for Gucci, is working on his own personal fusion reactor. His work in a NYC warehouse using $35,000 of his own money and $4,000 raised on a website has made him the 38th independent researcher recognized as creating a working fusion reactor. How's that for a hobby?"

It's not often that you find a paleontologist who moonlights as a stand-up comedian.

According to a study by market research company Zogby International, people trust Google, Apple, and Microsoft more than the traditional media. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter scored lowest on the trust scale, but still soundly beat the media. From the article: "The traditional media received little sympathy from the public, with only eight percent of all adults and six percent of young adults saying they trusted them."

Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a production crew from Little Mountain Productions, a 9-year-old is getting the best fort ever. The crew is making him a Star Wars-themed fort with a gigantic Millennium Falcon with solar-powered LED interior and exterior lighting to sit on top. No word on how fast it can make the Kessel run, but lets hope the kid gets a long trip.

Dutch police are employing a new weapon in the battle against hate crimes, the "decoy Jew." Not to be confused with a Jew decoy, the decoy Jew is a police man dressed in Jewish religious garb and not a facsimile composed of wood or clay. From the article: "Lodewijk Asscher, Amsterdam's mayor, has ordered the new decoy strategy to cut the number of verbal and physical attacks on Jews, amid fears that anti-Semitic 'hate crime' is on the rise. 'Jews in at least six Amsterdam neighborhood's often cannot cross the street wearing a skullcap without being insulted, spat at or even attacked,' according to local reports."

A Florida woman was sentenced to nine months in jail, followed by five years of probation, for starting an office fire so she could get out of work early. From the article: "Pasco sheriff's investigators said Michelle Perrino, 40, started a fire at Bayonet Point Oxygen on May 12, 2009. Perrino drew suspicion when she mentioned the fire's origin — a filing cabinet — during an employee meeting. Employees had not been told where the fire started." I hope she had the good sense to start the fire on Friday so she could have a long weekend.

Young shoplifters in the UK may soon face a punishment far worse than jail. A new program would force them to work weekends in restaurants or in retail stores. The program is designed to keep the children from having a lasting record, and teach them just how terrible working with the public can be. Not everyone thinks it's a good idea to put the little foxes in the hen house however. From the article: "But local shopkeepers have expressed discomfort with the scheme. Tina Sayer, who works at city center store Planet News, said, 'Everybody deserves a second chance, but you would have to be very careful what position you put them in. I believe that a leopard does not change its spots.' She stressed, 'I know that's cynical but I would not be comfortable with shoplifters having anything to do with cash or with stock.'"

Hundreds of children will be spared hours of off-key Tom Jones songs while shopping with their parents if a new law passes in Sullivan Island, South Carolina. The proposed law would make it illegal to sing, yell, shout, or make any other noise if it is annoying to the people around you. From the article: "Town Administrator Andy Benke said the wording of the proposed law came from an ordinance in North Charleston, S.C. The town code already bans crying, calling, shouting and using musical instruments if they are deemed annoying by people nearby."

ThinkGeek, sister company to Slashdot, received a meticulously researched (except on one point) 12-page cease-and-desist letter from the National Pork Board. What had the meat lobbyists up in arms was an April Fools product from the TG catalog: Radiant Farms Canned Unicorn Meat, whose copy included the line "the new white meat." The NPB figured this was confusingly similar to their trademarked "the other white meat" (an advertising slogan the pork industry is considering retiring anyway). Geeknet, parent company of Thinkgeek and Slashdot, issued a press release apologizing for any confusion; you can read it on ThinkGeek's site (PDF), because the newswires refused to distribute it for some reason. Oh, and ThinkGeek has no intention of taking down the protected parody.

Working on the assumption that the Insane Clown Posse's song Miracles was indeed a tribute to the wonder of nature and not the cleverest troll ever, some folks from the hackerspace Noisebridge decided to try and educate ICP fans. Surprisingly, most of the fans seemed to enjoy the science lesson, but representatives of the band didn't seem to think it was funny.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have recorded the "music" produced by the magnetic field in the outer atmosphere of the sun. They discovered that the huge magnetic loops that coil away from the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere, known as coronal loops, vibrate like strings on a musical instrument or behave like soundwaves traveling through a wind instrument. From the article: "Professor Robertus von Fáy-Siebenbürgen, head of the solar physics research group at Sheffield University, said, 'It was strangely beautiful and exciting to hear these noises for the first time from such a large and powerful source. It is a sort of music as it has harmonics. It is providing us with a new way of learning about the sun and giving us a new insight into the physics that goes on at in the sun's outer layers where temperatures reach millions of degrees.'"

Sussex police are creating a number of iPhone apps for the public, including one to renew your gun license. Unsurprisingly, the plan has some anti-gun groups upset. Lyn Costello, of Mothers Against Murder and Aggression (MAMAA), said, "This isn't suitable, especially in light of what happened in Cumbria. We've got to be extra careful giving gun licenses. We have this attitude that gun murders don't happen very often so it's OK to be lax, but it is not OK and we've got to do everything in our power to stop it happening again. We can't put money before life and if you start to do that we are losing our humanity. It is a really stupid idea.''

The Romanian government is taking an unusual approach to fixing its economic problems; it has created a donation box. Everyone except legal entities can donate money to the newly formed "solidarity fund." From the article: "Officials said the new fund is aimed at public officials who earn additional income on top of regular wages by serving on administrative boards of companies entirely or partially owned by the state. Prime Minister Emil Boc has also said he will donate his wages to the fund, but the account is open to anyone who wishes to contribute. Donations can be made by bank transfer to a special account and a list of donations will subsequently be published on the ministry's website."

During a hearing before a subpanel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Cliff Stearns told BP America President Lamar McKay, "Well, in the Asian culture we do things differently. During the Samurai days, we just give you a knife and ask you to commit harakiri." I'm sure Mr. McKay expected to get his fair share of grief at the hearing, but I bet he never thought it would be suggested that he commit ritual suicide.

Boy Wunda writes "Scientists at Flinders University in South Australia found that in an awesome example of design by Mother Nature, Southern Ocean sperm whales offset their carbon footprint by simply defecating – an action that releases tons of iron a year and stimulates the growth of phytoplankton which absorb and trap carbon dioxide. If only we humans could say the same for our poop, which really doesn't do much more than just sit there." I'm going to do my part by buying some iron supplements and a can of chili, and heading off toward the ocean.

The ice cream war in Marysville, Washington, is heating up. A unnamed ice cream man threatened to kill a rival vendor if she didn't get off his turf. According to police, the 51-year-old shouted, "You better not come here again or I will kill you," while threatening the woman with a steak knife.

A package containing 40-60 human heads caused some concern to the Southwest Airlines employee who found them. The package was unlabeled and was supposed to be delivered to a Fort Worth medical research company. From the article: "The heads were being transported to the Fort Worth office of Medtronic, a leading medical research and technology company based in Minnesota. Medtronic spokesman Brian Henry said it is common to ship body parts for medical education and research, but he said it is rare for a shipment to be seized."