The Church Bans Vuvuzelas

Pope Bans The Vuvuzela – The pope has banned faithful followers from bringing vuvuzelas to his public appearances on his UK tour next month. The controversial horns made famous by fans at South Africa’s World Cup in June, were among a number of banned items at Pope Benedict XVI’s events during his four-day tour, the papal press office confirmed. Alcohol, barbecues, gazebos and even traditional candles are on the “do not bring” list on the pope’s official visit website. [dailytelegraph]

Madonna’s $1 Billion Vegas Deal – She’s already one of pop’s top earners. But Mdonna is about to see her personal wealth boosted beyond the stratosphere. The Material Girl is weighing up an offer to spend a five year residency in Las Vegas worth £500,000,000 ($1billion). Her Madgesty is already the fourth highest earning female entertainer in the world – but the megabucks deal will propel her into America’s billionaire’s club. Quite mean. [thesun]

Chinese Traffic Jam Extends 60 Miles And Nine Days – If ever there were a case for the importance of good urban planning that includes mass transit, this is it: a 62-mile traffic standstill on a road leading to Beijing is now in its ninth day, with individual drivers caught in it for as long as three days. The cause of the jam — beyond the skyrocketing number of drivers in China — is heavy use of the route, the Beijing-Tibet expressway, by trucks bringing construction supplies into Beijing. Mellow. [inhabitat]

Gmail Lets You ‘Undo Send’ Up To 30 Seconds After Sending – We’ve all had those moments. You know, when you cc the wrong person, or reply-all when you thought you were writing back to just one person – then you told that person that so-and-so is such a cow and so-and-so happens to be on the list. Not ideal. But the funny thing is you usually realise JUST after sending. Right? Hats off (or “kudos” as those recently introduced to the word might say) to Google for nailing that! [switched]

Michael Douglas’ Ex Wants Half The Money From New Wall Street Movie – 10 years after parting ways, Michael Douglas and ex-wife Diandra Douglas are back in court to battle it out over his latest earnings. The 65-year-old star was said to have paid his former spouse a hefty $45 million in 2000, but Diandra Douglas’ legal eagles claim the original settlement awarded their client a financial share from any future spin-offs of movies he had already completed. I.e. Wall Street. Hmm. Sneaky.. [msnbc]

Catholic Priest Charged With Rape Of 14-Year-Old – German prosecutors say a Roman Catholic priest has been charged with twice raping a 14-year-old girl 20 years ago. Osnabrueck prosecution spokesman Alexander Retemeyer said on Tuesday the 50-year old man, then a chaplain, used force to coerce the girl into having sex with him and also threatened her with punishment by God. Oh very nice. [associated]

Miss Mexico Becomes Miss Universe – A 22-year-old Mexico woman won the Miss Universe pageant Monday night after donning a flowing red gown and telling an audience it’s important to teach kids family values. Jimena Navarrete of Guadalajara was first contestant to answer an interview question onstage and the last of 83 standing in the headline-grabbing pageant on the Las Vegas Strip. Well done, beautiful angel. [chron]

Darwin May Have Been Wrong – Charles Darwin may have been wrong when he argued that competition was the major driving force of evolution. He imagined a world in which organisms battled for supremacy and only the fittest survived. But new research identifies the availability of “living space”, rather than competition, as being of key importance for evolution. Umm, hellooooo! I’ve been saying that for years. Wake up, science people! [bbc]

Man Armed With Two Knives Breaks Into Paris Hilton’s Home – A man has been arrested at Paris Hilton’s Los Angeles home after Hilts said he tried to break into her house while holding two big knives. Hilton wrote on her Twitter page that she was awakened by the man trying to break into her house. Hilton posted a photo on Twitter of police arresting the man (awesome). This is important news, people. It’s this, or the SABC conversation. And you’ll get that result when it comes.. [huffpo / tweet-photo]

Facebook Blocks Ads For Pot Legalisation – Big Mistake – For a typical college student, if it didn’t happen on Facebook, it didn’t happen. That gives the social networking behemoth an out-sized influence on the confines of political debate, if that debate falls outside what Facebook deems acceptable discourse.Proponents of marijuana legalization, which is on the California ballot in 2010, have hit a Facebook wall in their effort to grow an online campaign to rethink the nation’s pot laws. [huffers]

Booty Calls Can Lead To Love – Finally, science steps up to prove what this generation, and the generations before us, have been saying all along: Hookup culture isn’t killing relationships. A University of Iowa sociologist’s survey initially found that “average relationship quality was higher for individuals who waited until things were serious to have sex compared to those who became sexually involved in ‘hookups.’ But when he controlled for people who had zero interest in having a relationship, things changed. [salon]

HIV-Destroying Protein Discovered – Loyola University researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5a that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys. The finding could lead to new TRIM5a-based treatments that would knock out HIV in humans, In 2004, other researchers reported that TRIM5a protects rhesus monkeys from HIV. The TRIM5a protein first latches on to a HIV virus, then other TRIM5a proteins gang up and destroy the virus. Internal bodily gang warfare. Hectique! [kurzweilai]

Finally, 3D TV Without The Silly Glasses – Japanese electronics giant Toshiba plans to market the world’s first 3D television that does not need special glasses later this year. Toshiba will unveil three models of the television, which will cost several thousand dollars, before Christmas. The company has developed a new system that emits a number of rays of light with various angles from the screen so that viewers can see stereoscopic images without glasses. Sick! [luxuo]

Combat Midweek Blues By Tuning-in To 2oceansvibe Radio – live from 8am to 12pm. Today we’ll have 2oceansvibe Character and accomplished muso G-Man in studio to shoot the breeze and chat about the musical state of the nation. Alan Ford will also be showing face to talk about the hunt for the latest Top Billing presenter. Alan is one of the judges who’ll make that big call, so if you’ve got any aspirations in that area, we strongly suggest you listen in. Eitsa, a top Billing presenter? You’d be very much in the vibe. [2oceabsviberadio]

[thanks henk