Last Ford Crown Victoria rolls off Canadian assembly line

Last Ford Crown Victoria rolls off

The last Ford Crown Victoria, a four-door sedan that has been a popular police car and taxi cab model for three decades, has rolled off at Ford's St. Thomas Assembly plant in Ontario, Canada Thursday.

A Ford spokesperson told the New York Times that the last Crown Victoria, which is colored white and has the VIN number that reads 2FABP7CW8CX104292, will not join the numerous taxis in North America but will be exported to Mexico or Saudi Arabia.

With the end of production of the full-size rear wheel drive body-on-frame platform for the Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car, Ford is promoting the Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS flagships for consumers. Ford is also promoting the Transit Connect Taxicab to replace the Crown Victoria for urban taxi cab usage. Some taxi operators have expressed concerns about replacing the roomy Crown Victoria with smaller, more compact vehicles, due to a "bumpier, more cramped ride" and "knee-bumping back seats and flimsier frames". For police pursuit use, Ford is promoting the Ford Taurus Police Interceptor and the Ford Explorer interceptor to replace the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.

Iran to free US hikers jailed for espionage and illegal entry

Iran to free US hikers | Photo: Jagran.com

Two American hikers held in prison in Iran since 2009 on charges of spying and entering country illegally will be released "in a couple of days," according to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"I am helping to arrange for their release in a couple of days so they will be able to return home. This is, of course, going to be a unilateral humanitarian gesture," Ahmadinejad told The Washington Post.

US hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were sentenced to an eight-year imprisonment last month after they were convicted of espionage by an Iranian court. The two were arrested near the mountainous Iraq-Iran border in July 2009, along with a third American, Sarah Shour, who was granted bail on humanitarian and medical grounds and was released in September 2010.

Conjoined twins separated successfully after 13-hour operation

Conjoined twins separated successfully | Photo: WREG

Conjoined twins Joshua and Jacob Spates were successfully separated during a life saving surgery in Memphis, recently.

The conjoined twins were born on January 24 and were separated during a grueling 13-hour operation at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital on August 29 in what hospital officials called the most complex procedure ever performed in the history of the facility.

Doctors reportedly waited until the twins were seven months old to perform the daring surgery so that they could simulate the surgery and rehearse the delicate procedure. The medical professionals reportedly practiced on beanie babies and cabbage patch dolls sewn together.

"Everyone laughed about the dolls ... but by the time the day of the surgery came, you would have thought we'd been doing it a long time," Joel Saltzman, director of pediatric anesthesiology at the hospital, told Associated Press.

The way Joshua and Jacob were joined makes them pygopagus twins, a rare form of conjoined twins in which the bodies are joined back to back at the pelvis and lower spine but each have their own heart, head and limbs. Pygopagus twins represent about 15 percent of all conjoined twins

After the surgery on August 29, doctors said the twins have health problems that will require ongoing treatment, but said they hope both will be able to walk with braces.

Joshua and Jacob were identified as conjoined twins prenatally through an ultrasound and were delivered via Caesarean section at 34th week to prevent further complications.

According to reports, conjoined twins account for only about one in 200,000 live births, and the vast majority of conjoined twins who survive long enough to be separated are girls.

White Castle sued by obese customer for booth size

White Castle, an American fast food hamburger restaurant chain, has been sued by a 290-pound man from New York, claiming that White Castle has repeatedly broke promises to make their booths bigger to fit persons of his size.

Martin Kessman | Photo: DailyWhat

Martin Kessman, a 64-year-old stockbroker, has filed a federal lawsuit against White Castle, 2 years after complaining to the corporate office about the size of the seats at a White Castle brach in Nanuet, N.Y.  He added in the lawsuit that he only received "condescending responses" along with free hamburger coupons and false promises to increase the booth size.

Kessman's lawsuit reportedly claims that White Castle could not accommodate a customer of his stature which is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The suit seeks bigger chairs be made available in the restaurants and unspecified damages.

White Castle spokeswoman Jamie Richardson told the New York Post that Kessman could have asked a store manager for a regular chair.

82-year-old man celebrates his Bar Mitzvah

Bar Mitzvah

An 82-year-old Holocaust survivor who now resides in Florida held his Bar Mitzvah over the weekend.

Bar Mitzvah is a coming of age ritual traditionally extended to Jewish boys as they reach the age of 13.

Sol Laufer, however, missed his Bar Mitzvah 70 years ago since the Nazis placed him and his family into a Jewish ghetto during World War II. All of Laufer's family died in the Holocaust.

"I am doing this to proclaim to the Nazis that they did not succeed," 82-year-old Sol Laufer told ABC 7. "Here I am, after all of that. I am healthy, I have a nice family, and I am having a Bar Mitzvah."

Witnessed by his wife, three children, and six grand children, Laufer's Bar Mitzvah ceremony was reportedly held at the Chabad of Sarasota Saturday.

iPhone 5 concept features video a hit on Youtube

"iPhone 5 Concept Features," this is the title of the Youtube video that is currently making the rounds on the worldwide web. It showcases the possible features of the much-awaited Apple iPhone 5 - ultra-thin design, laser keyboard and holographic display. But of course, those technology are not yet available as of the present time, thus the said iPhone 5 features aren't real.

Screenshots of the "iPhone 5 Concept Features"Video on Youtube

The said iPhone 5 video was uploaded just barely 3 weeks ago but amazingly it has attracted more than 14.5 million views on Youtube already as of this writing. This only suggests that people from all over the world can't anymore wait to have their hands on the iPhone 5.

Check out the said iPhone 5 video below:

"iPhone 5 Concept Features" | Video courtesy of "AstmaStudio"

Here's the description attached to the clip:

Amazing Concept iPhone 5. This CG iPhone 5 has advanced iPhone features such as a sleeker iPhone design, a laser keyboard & holographic display all rolled into this iPhone 5 video.

The computer generated Concept iPhone 5 features is an exponential leap to the iPhone 4 or iPhone 3gs of today.

We hope you enjoy this iPhone 5 video more than the current trend of iPhone 5 rumors such as iPhone 5 leaked and iPhone 5 unboxing videos. Apple is yet to make the iPhone 5 announcement. So have your fill of this new iPhone video before the iPhone 5 release.

Soundtrack "Movement Proposition" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons "Attribution 3.0"