An innocent carnival arcade game turned into a vicious cycle for Henry Gribbohm of Epsom, New Hampshire, who spent his entire life savings, only to walk away with a giant banana. The 30-year-old father reportedly got “caught up” playing “Tubs of Fun” at a local carnival, which involves attempting to lob a ball into a plastic tub without it bouncing out. The prize was a motion-sensing video game controller, the XBox Kinect, which goes for about $96 online. After dropping $300 in just a few minutes, Gribbohm upped the ante, returning home to grab $2,300 more—all the money he had to his name. “You just get caught up in that whole ‘I’ve got to win my money back,” said Gribbohm, who ultimately lost the game. However, he did return the the next day to plead his case, and the vendor agreed to give him back $600, along with a giant banana clad in a Rasta wig. John Flynn, Vice President of Fiesta, the company that manages the carnival, says it’s “pretty next to impossible” to have lost that much money to a single game, but acknowledges that Tubs of Fun is hard to win. At Gribbolhm’s request, the Manchester Police Department is investigating if any fraud was involved, and he’s also considering a lawsuit. “For once in my life I happened to become that sucker,” says Gribbohm. “It was foolish for putting up my life savings.”Continue Reading… … Read More
Wendy Greuel, LA Mayor Candidate 2013, Talks Pot, Condoms In Porn, Walmart & More (PHOTOS)
Perhaps Wendy Greuel’s strongest advantage as she campaigns for mayor of Los Angeles is her current role as the official watchdog of City Hall. As city controller, her job is to uncover fraud and waste in city government, and she’s enjoyed media coverage for doing just that.However, Greuel, 51, is not exactly an outsider. She served two terms as an LA city council member, representing portions of the San Fernando Valley from 2002 to 2009.Greuel’s also had some private-sector experience. She and her brother own a family building-supply company, and she was an executive with the Dreamworks film studio from 1997 to 2002.Read More…
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Divers find tractor teen’s body under the ice
The 17-year-old boy who went missing on Christmas Day when his tractor plunged through the ice was found dead on Friday afternoon.Teenager missing after tractor goes through ice (26 Dec 12)
“He was found at lunch time with the help of an underwater camera that was used to find the body,” said Tommy Lindh of the Vrmlands police to the Expressen newspaper.The boy was out on a tractor with a friend late on Christmas Even on Lake Lillsjn, northwest of Sunne in western Sweden, when the pair plunged into the icy water below.The 17-year-old’s companion managed to get to safety, but his friend never resurfaced.Emergency services were called immediately, but it wasn’t until the early hours of the morning, however, that divers could begin searching for the body.The tractor was found the next day 11 metres below the surface.The boys were reportedly trying to clear snow off the lake’s surface with the tractor.”They were trying to plough a track on the ice. I think they were eventually planning to make a track to drive cars on,” said Lennart Edvardsson, head of emergency services in Sunne, to P4 Vrmland at the time.Police said it took so long to find the body because of unfavourable conditions beneath the ice, which may also have led to the ice breaking in the first place.Local police spokesperson Thomas Hertzberg said the lake muddy bed emitted swamp gas that most likely contributed to the accident.”The gas may have weakened the ice from below, as this ice was thick enough to carry the weight of a tractor,” he told the Nya Wermlands-Tidningen newspaper.TT/The Local/ogFollow The Local on Twitter … Read More
Sweden slashes 2013 growth forecast
Sweden – Up North, Down to Earth is a book about Sweden today. A country of natural beauty and open space, and a society focused on equality, human rights and sustainability. Meet regular and astonishing Swedes, supercars and indie rock bands, vampires and royalties. Buy your copy of Sweden – Up North, Down to Earth from Sweden Bookshop … Read More
Reactor switched of after sea water infiltration
Sweden shut down another reactor on Thursday, this time at the country’s biggest nuclear plant near Gothenburg after an infiltration of sea water, the operator Vattenfall and the national nuclear industry watchdog said.
“There is no safety problem” at Reactor 4 at the Ringhals plant near Gothenburg in the country’s southwest, nuclear authority inspector Jan Gllsjo told the national TT news agency.He added that the presence of salt water in the pressurised water system
was nonetheless an anomaly which needed to be fixed.Earlier this month, a reactor at another Swedish nuclear plant was shut down after the nuclear watchdog said the operator had failed to comply with its safety requirements, safety officials said.The Oskarshamn plant’s number two reactor was taken out of service after the operator was unable to show the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority that standard maintenance work had been performed on two diesel generators used for emergency power supply.Some 35 percent of electricity in Sweden is generated from nuclear power.AFP/The Local/atFollow The Local on Twitter … Read More
Swedes and donkeys: a language peculiarity
Northern Swedes have an unusual habit of saying the word “yes” with just a single gasp of air, a speech trait which experts have compared to the language of donkeys and cheetahs. The Local finds out more about this language peculiarity.Gender-neutral ‘hen’ makes its legal debut (14 Dec 12)
‘To hell with traditional Swedish behaviour’ (30 Nov 12)
Swedes’ most common English errors exposed (29 Nov 12)
“Theres a joke about the ‘northern vacuum cleaner’,” Linkping University’s Professor of Phonetics Robert Eklund tells The Local. “If you want to clean up the dust beneath your sofa, just ask a northerner to pick up something from underneath it. When hes down there, ask if hes found it, and when he says yes, the dust will be gone.”An exaggeration, perhaps, but there is an element of truth to it.Northern Swedes have the unique ability to give their assent with a simple inhalation a sharp sound of apparent shock, often mistaken by foreigners as a gasp of surprise. Perhaps not strong enough to suck up dust, but strong enough to shock a foreigner.In fact, many a visitor to Sweden can remember the first time they came across a the “northern vacuum”, a short, sharp noise pronounced like “shhh” but while breathing inwards. Let’s spell it “Shoop”.For those perhaps sitting on the train right now, unwilling to try your hand at pronouncing the sound out loud, this 2009 advert for Norrlands Guld beer provides a light-hearted example. Here, Swedes in a pub have an entire conversation just using the “shoop” sound.According to Eklund, the phenomenon is called “ingressive speech” or “phonation”. “Ingressive speech is when people produce language sounds, single words, or even entire phrases while breathing in,” he explains.For Swedes, “shoop” is reserved exclusively for “yes”, and Eklund estimates that Swedes make the sound once for every ten yesses they say.Eklund has collected data on the phenomena from around the world, concluding that the sound is not so unique, and is even found among donkeys and purring cheetahs.In the human race, ingressive speech is often cited by proud Swedes as unique to Sweden, especially to northern Sweden, but Eklund’s research suggests otherwise.”In Norway they say it only happens in Norway,” Eklund laughs.In fact, ingressive speech takes place in every continent, in as many as fifty languages. In Canada and the US, some people even use it in the same way as the Swedes.”But in the Philippines and Greece boys used it when flirting with girls to disguise it from their fathers,” says Eklund. So, why do humans, donkeys, and cheetahs all use ingressive speech and phonation?”There is no explanation,” Eklund confesses. “Its easier to answer why we dont do it more. Your lips can get dried out faster, so its more effective to make sounds while breathing outwardly.”So is the northern vacuum cleaner unique to Sweden? Probably not. But will the Swedes keep on using it as their own any old how?You know the answer.Shoop.Salomon Rogberg … Read More
