[source:ebaumsworld]

Local Blog Comments Mayhem – If you haven’t tuned-in to the comments war going on at Mahala, do yourself a favour and check it out – it’s getting pretty hectique. It’s basically a smorgasbord of champagne, hipsters, supermodels, trilbies, Paris Hilton, skinny jeans, Pumas and Doc Martins. What are YOUR thoughts? Are you also angry? Will you find yourself experiencing Net Rage? [mahala]

Aviation Authority Investigating Plett Plane Crash – The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has sent investigators to look into the cause of an aircraft accident near Plettenberg Bay on Tuesday in which nine people died. The CAA said in a statement on Wednesday that the aircraft, a Pilatus PC12 with two crew members and seven passengers on board, took off from Queenstown Aerodrome at 3pm on Tuesday and was to have landed at Plettenberg Bay Aerodrome just after 4pm. [mail&guardian]

Oscar Pistorius Sues Woman For Two Bar – Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius is claiming R2.2m from a student after she allegedly laid a malicious charge of assault against him. Pistorius has stated in documents in the Pretoria High Court that he suffered damages of R2 218 988 because of the actions of Ms Cassidy Taylor-Memmory. He says that two public appearances were cancelled because of him being arrested and in custody. [sport24]

Russia Cancels Daylight Saving Time – For the first time since 1981, Russians won’t be setting their clocks forward for daylight saving time this spring, President Dmitry Medvedev told RIA Novosti news agency yesterday. “I decided to cancel the shift to winter time, starting from this autumn,” Medvedev said, worrying that the seasonal change “may lead to stress and illnesses.” The Russian president has been waging war on the time change for several years now. [slatest]

Lindsay Lohan Posts $40,000 Bail – Lindsay Lohan is back on the outside. Having this routine down to a science by now, she wasted no time in posting $40,000 bail. Lohan pleaded not guilty  to a felony count of grand theft stemming from accusations that she walked out of a jewelry store with a $2,500 necklace that she hadn’t paid for in tow. She’s due back in court for Feb. 23. In addition to a maximum three years in prison for the theft charge, Lohan could be looking at jail time for possibly violating her probation from her 2007 DUI cases, which isn’t set to expire until Aug. 11. [eonline]

Twitter Valued At $10 Billion – As Internet valuations climb and bankers and would-be buyers circle Silicon Valley in an increasingly frothy tech market, many eyes are on one particularly desirable, if still enigmatic, target: Twitter. Discussions with at least some potential suitors have produced an estimated valuation of $8 billion to $10 billion. [wallstreetjournal]

The Vatican Bans iPhone Confessions – The Vatican put its foot down Wednesday over the idea of “confessing” by iPhone, after news that US users can now download an application for the Apple gadget that helps the faithful gain absolution. “It is essential to understand that the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and their confessor… It cannot be replaced by a computer application,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told journalists. And what about an app that let’s you touch little boys, remotely? [associated]

Silvio Berlusconi Condemns ‘Disgusting’ Sex Trial – Italian prosecutors have requested that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stand trial over accusations he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl and then used his influence to try to cover it up. Prosecutors filed their request in Milan on Wednesday and are seeking an immediate trial. A judge must now decide whether to dismiss the request or indict the 74-year-old leader. A decision is expected in the next two weeks. Berlusconi immediately condemned the move by prosecutors, calling it “disgusting.” [cbc]

Charlie Sheen Offers To Pay Crew Whilst In Rehab – Charlie Sheen has notified members of the “Two and a Half isotretinoinonlinebuy.com/cheap-accutane.html Men” crew that he will pay a portion of their salaries for the two weeks the show has been down … if CBS and Warner Bros. agree to pay the remaining portion. Charlie is saying he is ready to come back to work next week to complete the season and is upset that Warner Bros. and show creator Chuck Lorre have not offered to pay the crew for the downtime So he’s made an offer to pay 1/3 of the crew salaries if Warner Bros. and CBS each pay 1/3 as well. [tmz]

Robots To Get Their Own Internet – Robots could soon have an equivalent of the internet and Wikipedia. European scientists have embarked on a project to let robots share and store what they discover about the world. Called RoboEarth it will be a place that robots can upload data to when they master a task, and ask for help in carrying out new ones. Researchers behind it hope it will allow robots to come into service more quickly, armed with a growing library of knowledge about their human masters. [bbc]

Beauty Queen Loses Crown For Eating Too Much – A teenage Texas beauty queen is in court to keep her crown following accusations that the recently coronated Miss San Antonio violated her contract and gained too much weight. A Bexar County judge Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order against the pageant’s promoters that for now keeps the organization from formally stripping Domonique Ramirez, 17, of her title. Ramirez took the Miss Bexar County Organization to court Tuesday, claiming in a lawsuit that she had been unfairly stripped of her title. [abcnews]

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett Remembers Thin Lizzy’s Gary Moore – Days after the news came down that guitar great Gary Moore died, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett called Rolling Stone from his home in Hawaii to talk about his guitar idol. Here is his remembrance. “Gary Moore is definitely in my list of top five guitar influences, right up with Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Michael Schenker. His influence is strong to the point that the opening lick of the guitar solo of “Master of Puppets” is a variation of a lick that Gary Moore played a lot.” Read more.. [rollingstone]

Private Company To Send Rover To The Moon – One private space company says it may claim a portion of the coveted Google Lunar X Prize in the near future–all it has to do is land a robot on the moon, travel roughly 1,640 feet, and then send data back to Earth. The company, Astrobotic Technology, announced this week that it’s getting serious about the moon mission–it reserved a seat for its robot on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Currently scheduled to launch in December 2013, the rocket will shuttle the company’s Red Rover to lunar orbit, where Astrobotic Technology hopes to complete the tasks set for it to claim $24 million of the $30 million prize. Quite Mean. [discover]

Activision Bails Out Of Guitar Hero, Cancels Games – It’s game over for Guitar Hero. Activision Blizzard will close its music-game business division, laying off hundreds of employees, and cancel the Guitar Hero game that was in development for 2011, the publisher said in a conference call Wednesday. The drastic move comes after significant industrywide declines in the music game business. In 2007, Activision sold 1.5 million copies of Guitar Hero III in its first month of sales. Last year, Activision only sold 86,000 copies of the latest game in the series. [wired]

The $85,000 Fender Telecaster – Rock Royalty, a new Nashville-based luxury design house that manufactures one-of-a-kind, custom guitars, is offering the ultimate in rock star decadence: an $85,000 custom alligator skin, diamond and sterling silver Fender Telecaster. Shame. [luxuo]

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