Good Day Goodies!
December 29, 2014

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Despite superficial similarities, AirAsia and MH370 incidents very different
December 29, 2014

A Malaysia-based airliner vanishes over the waters of a Southeast Asia ocean. There's no distress call, no wreckage, nothing but water and questions.

So far, the story of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 sounds remarkably similar to that of Malaysia Airlines MH370, which remains missing nearly 10 months after it disappeared from radar screens on a flight between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Beijing.

But it isn't, analysts say.

Here are four ways the two incidents appear to differ:

1. There's not anywhere near as much intrigue.

When MH370 disappeared, the plane's identifying transponders appeared to be intentionally shut off, its pilots stopped making radio transmissions and the airliner made a mysterious turn before possibly traveling for hours until all traces vanished.

Concerns over hijackings and terror permeated that case, but so far they haven't come up in the AirAsia case.

"In this case you had normal communications with the pilot, a line of weather that appeared to be pretty difficult, severe, and he was asking to climb as high as he could to get out of it," said Peter Goelz, an aviation expert and former National Transportation Safety Board official.

2. The water is much shallower and a commonly used shipping channel, making wreckage easier to find.

The area where MH370 is believed to have gone down features extraordinarily deep water. It's also relatively mysterious -- the seabed had never been charted in some places, making getting a fix on the plane's pingers very difficult.

In the AirAsia case, if the plane went down in the water, it likely rests in no more than a few hundred feet of heavily traveled ocean, making the task of locating and recovering it much simpler, analysts say.

3. Airlines and governments have learned a lot since MH370.

In the hours after the Malaysia Airlines jetliner vanished in March, confusion reigned. When officials spoke at all, the information was often contradictory or confusing, and families of passengers and crew complained about how they were treated.

In this case, both government and airline officials appear to be striking a more appropriate tone.

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Doug and My Cool Inventions
December 27, 2014

Doug teams up with Akos Jankura 'The Solutionist' and John Cremeans 'The Doctor of Shopology' from My Cool Inventions Radio in a search for America's Top Invention weekday mornings at 9am (Eastern)!

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'The Interview' release marked by capacity crowds
December 26, 2014

Hundreds of theaters made special arrangements for the highly-talked about comedy depicting actors James Franco and Seth Rogen assassinating the North Korean dictator to be shown in its theaters Christmas Day.

It turned out to be a mega hit.

Sony Pictures received a lot of backlash for initially calling off the release of the controversial film, "The Interview," but the turnaround made the movie available on digital platforms and in more than 300 theaters on Christmas making it a special event for families around the nation.

"We are taking a stand for freedom," said theater manager Lee Peterson of the Cinema Village East in Manhattan, where most of Thursday's seven screenings had sold out by early afternoon. "We want to show the world that Americans will not be told what we can or cannot watch. Personally, I am not afraid."

At Atlanta's Plaza Theater, a sell-out crowd Thursday hailed the film's release, washing down popcorn with beer and cocktails and uniting for a boisterous sing-along of "God Bless America" before the opening credits.

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ISIS governor of Mosul killed in coalition airstrikes
December 26, 2014

The latest ISIS-appointed governor of Mosul was killed in coalition airstrikes on Thursday, according to Iraqi police.

Hassan Hassan Saeed Al-Jabouri, also known as Abu Taluut, was killed 18 miles south of Mosul in the village of Qayyara, according to Maj. Gen. Watheq Al-Hamdani, a senior regional Iraqi police commander who is leading the government's efforts to retake Mosul from ISIS.

Jabouri is the second ISIS-appointed governor of Mosul killed by airstrikes and had been in office for less than 25 days.

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Doug Stephan Coffee
December 24, 2014

Click the link below to find out how you can give a daily cup of milk to a child in need with your daily cup of coffee!

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North Korea loses all Internet for 9 hours
December 23, 2014

North Korea's Internet was back up Tuesday after a more than nine-hour outage, according to Dyn Research, a company that monitors Internet performance.

The disruption came amid an escalating war of words between the United States and North Korea over a massive cyberattack on Sony Pictures.

"Usually there are isolated blips, not continuous connectivity problems. I wouldn't be surprised if they are absorbing some sort of attack presently," Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research, said when the Internet was down.

Matthew Prince, president of CloudFlare, a performance and security company, described the disruption as if "all the routes to get to North Korea just disappeared.

"It's as if North Korea got erased from the global map of the Internet," he said.

Prince, who also spoke when the Internet was down, told CNN it's well within the realm of possibility that a single individual could have been behind the interruption but said he can't conclude at this point that an attack took place.

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U.S. and Cuba Move to Thaw Relations After Prisoner Exchange
December 18, 2014

The U.S. will begin efforts to normalize diplomatic relations with Cuba and will open an embassy on the island nation following the release of an American government subcontractor and a swap of intelligence assets, President Barack Obama said Wednesday. It marks the most significant change in the U.S.-Cuba relationship since the Cuban revolution.

"Neither the American nor Cuban people are served by a rigid policy that's rooted in events that took place before most of us were born," Obama said in a televised address. "I believe we can do more to support the Cuban people and our values through engagement. After all, these 50 years have shown the isolation has not worked. It's time for a new approach."

Following a year of secret back-channel talks in Canada and at the Vatican, and culminating with a historic nearly hour-long call between Obama and Cuban President Ra�l Castro on Tuesday, the Cuban government released 65-year-old Alan Gross on Wednesday on humanitarian grounds. His release clears the way for a broad relaxation of the 53-year U.S. embargo on Cuba.

In a prisoner swap, Cuba released an unnamed U.S. intelligence asset who has been imprisoned for 20 years, while the U.S. government released the final three members of the spy ring known as the Cuban Five remaining in federal prison.

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Sydney hostage-taker called himself a cleric -- and had a criminal record
December 16, 2014

Before he was killed in a Sydney cafe, the gunman who held hostages there for more than 16 hours was no stranger to police.

The hostage-taker was Man Haron Monis, an official with direct knowledge of the situation said Monday.

"He had a long history of violent crime, infatuation with extremism and mental instability," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters.

Australian media reports paint a harrowing picture of Monis, 50, detailing his lengthy criminal history.

The self-styled Muslim cleric, also known as Sheikh Haron, pleaded guilty last year to writing offensive letters to the families of Australian troops.

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Crude oil swoons to 5-year low, gas prices to follow
December 10, 2014

Crude oil prices accelerated their six-month slide Monday, plunging to fresh five-year lows after a key investment bank bearclawed the energy market, a major producer slashed its drilling and exploration budget by more than 20% and fresh reports pointed to slowing global economic growth.

The 4% drop in crude oil prices crimped Wall Street, pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 0.7% to 2060 and igniting big losses among already hard-hit energy producers and oil patch stocks. The latest drop in oil is likely to fuel fresh cuts in gasoline prices in the weeks ahead, saving consumers, shippers and airlines billions. Oil prices have yet to find a bottom.

"We're in a tailspin,'' says Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service. "The world is facing a possible glut of oil in 2015. Consumers typically paid $470 billion-$480 billion for motor fuel between 2011 to 2013. We're on track for about $449 billion this year and likely to pay $75 billion to $100 billion less next year."

Gasoline prices, averaging $2.67 a gallon nationwide - vs. $3.26 a year ago - are likely to fall to about $2.50 before year's end, Kloza says.

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