The glitch in the system caused an error in the FAA’s ability to generate flight plans, including listing flights under their respective flight numbers, as well as equipment issues, runway take offs, as well as flight points and altitude checks.  When that system failed, it took down the warning system the FAA has in place to alert pilots of specific flights of potential cautions or things they should be aware of in the future, such as inclimate weather and runway closures.

The problems cleared up by mid-morning, but there were several delays and backlogs that had to be updated.

The system the FAA uses is dated, and while it was highly touted for its effectiveness when first installed, it has now fallen behind due to age and being obsolete.  Updates are hard to come by and with the frequency of system crashes increasing, the FAA may need to look into an overhaul to prevent disaster.

As a Floridian, I’d like to think that this isn’t necessarily true, but I can’t ignore the facts. There are some very ignorant and straight up stupid people who live here. Considering that Florida has a very large amount of elderly people, perhaps we can blame it on them.

In this new case, we are definitely blaming it on them.

Kimberly Broffman, 6, has a life that many of us can only dream of, and not in a good way.

Broffman has been living with her grandparents, Judie and Jimmy Stottler, since she was six months old, according to Associated Content. Her mother has a chronic drug problem and she has two siblings who live with other relatives.

The problem is that her grandparents live in a retirement community. (They’re everywhere in Florida.) These communities, like all deed restricted communities, have strict rules. The most strongly enforced of these rules is that all residents must be 55 or older or at least 18.

More than three years ago, the community filed a lawsuit against the Stottlers for having little Broffman there. I mean, it is part of the rules, so the Stottlers put their house on the market.

It’s been there for a while. With their house still on the market and pressure from the homeowner’s association, the Stottlers have nowhere to go and a lot to deal with.

It’s an awful situation and it’s making me embarrassed to be a part of this state. The homeowner’s association clearly knows the situation and they still want to evict this little girl. She could end up in foster care (don’t even get me started on that!) and would be away from her family.

I thought the older you get, the wiser you get. Apparently that’s not true. These people should be ashamed of themselves.

Check out the Today’s Show video of the situation here.

The last installment of such a fiasco comes from Ralph Lauren.

The advertisement, featuring model Filippa Hamilton, was seen on the blog Photoshop Disasters in late September. Soon after, the advertisement was all over the place, including the blog Boing Boing.

According to ABC News, PRL USA Holdings, Inc. (Ralph Lauren) informed Boing Boing that their Web site wasn’t “authorized” to post the ad. Ralph Lauren kindly notified everyone with negative responses to the ad that they were in “copyright infringement.”

Boing Boing was not having any of it. They refused to take the picture down. Editor, Cory Doctorow, said, “Instead of responding to their legal threat by suppressing our criticism of their marketing images, we’re gonna mock them… Copyright law doesn’t give you the right to threaten your critics for pointing out the problems with your offerings.”

Ouch!!

Advertisements like this are why so many Americans have eating disorders.

Boing Boing should be proud of themselves for sticking up for what is right.

Ralph Lauren should be ashamed.

But, should we be surprised?

Well, here’s a kicker. According to PR Newswire, the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), led by Executive Director Rick Berman, just launched a million-dollar ad campaign in an attempt to show the world exactly how wrong it has been in falsely accusing our now infamously famous cheaper sweetener.

This nonprofit group blames the Sugar Association, saying that leading nutrition experts say the two are nutritionally equal.

Is this true?

Well, as far as the article publishing most of this “breaking” news information goes, the only portion that makes any assertion to the contrary of what the world has been seemingly convinced of over the past year comes directly from the mouth of Mr. Berman, “The public will soon understand that they have been misled into thinking that high fructose corn syrup is handled differently by the body than other sugars. What people need to understand is that corn, beet and cane sugar are all processed. And they all contain the same amount of fructose. One is no more natural than another.”

All this leaves me with but one question: If the two are the same, why would companies that use sugar to sweeten their products buy the one that costs significantly more than the other?

I don’t know. You tell me.

Someone of merit told American students to get their lives in order.

Since the dawn of school, students have dreaded it. I always dreaded school. I hated it! I couldn’t understand how going to school and writing research papers and studying chemistry could really have any real positive impact on my future. Sure, my parents told me that it was important, but that was their job…or so I thought.

That is why President Obama’s speech today to America’s youth gains my applause—my standing ovation even.

“Every single one of you has something that you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer,” Obama told students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia and to students around the country via CNN.

In this speech, Obama put pressure on students around the country, while encouraging them to study hard, claiming that we need “every single one of you.” And he really tries to cover every… Single. One.

“At the end of the day, the circumstances of your life: what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home. None of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude at school…” Obama said. “There is no excuse for not trying.”

So, President Obama, I applaud you for taking the initiative to encourage the future of America.

That’s precisely the first thought that came to my mind after reading the latest news story about the latest teacher turned latest sex fiend…oh, I’m sorry, porn star. Oh yes, and not to mention, how many times am I going to read about a woman like this in Florida? (Seriously though. What’s up with this trend?)

Maybe we should have taken the hint last fall when Ms. (formerly) Tiffany Shepherd was fired from her teaching job at Florida’s Port St. Lucie High School after pictures of her were discovered on the Web “moonlighting as a bikini mate on Smokin’ Em charters fishing tours,” according to Associated Content News.

Today, Shepherd is now known as Leah Lust and has officially become a porn star. (Official as in just try searching for Leah Lust video, Leah Lust Secret Agent, or Tiffany Shepherd video on your favorite search engine.)

And what does the latest Florida teacher turned porn star have to say about all of this? You may (or may not) be surprised.

“I’m not particularly proud of it. To be honest, I hate it,” said Shepherd (aka Leah Lust) to Page 2 Live. “I’m an educated woman, but I never though it would come to this. No one gets brought up thinking they’ll be a floozy.”

Lust says that since being fired, she has been unable to another form of employment, well, besides the porn-related jobs. She even claims that she’s sent out 2,500 resumes…to no avail.

Gee, I wonder why no one wants to hire this woman. And what types of jobs are on her application list? I don’t think the childcare center is going to call back, or the elementary school, or the… Yeah.

The Volt is a sporty looking car, with the aesthetics surpassing many of the other competitor cars in the electric and hybrid market.  The price is still higher than conventional cars, putting it out of the budget-restricted folk in the majority of the middle class, sitting at an estimated $40,000.  But unlike previous hybrid and electric announcements, there is one detail that stands out with this one the most.  With that detail, GM can use the Volt as a much needed jolt to its public image.

The Volt gets 230 mpg.

While that number sounds high, there are many things to take into consideration.  How can you claim a hybrid or electric vehicle gets 200mpg or even 10mpg?  The engine or whatever other propulsion unit in the car is using electricity from a battery, and in some cases won’t tap into the gasoline at all if the trips are a certain length and the car is drawing its power only from the battery units.  

Hybrids like the Prius that have been established cars for years also don’t get the same mileage as the companies claim, and that’s largely due to the varying methods and styles of driving: from those with lead feet to highway drivers, to those only using the vehicle to navigate through the city.  Many factors play into total mpg, and the numbers can be misleading.

But one thing is true, the Volt has drawn a lot of attention and has put GM in a much needed positive spotlight.

This latest boxing tale changes all of that, and quite literally.

Rob Newbiggin of the U.K., also a 20-year boxing veteran, recently came out to the public about something pretty personal. No, he didn’t come out of the closet. He didn’t even come out of his boxing gloves, in fact, he’s planning on keeping those on through this whole thing.

The 44-year-old British boxer came out to announce his plans to undergo a sex change operation, as reported by the Liverpool Local News.

According to the same report, Newbiggin lost more than a few good buddies with his admittance. He lost every last one of them, save his 27-year-old wife, Emma, who says she’s going to stick by his side though the whole thing.

Newbiggin also announced that in his next fight he will be a woman. He’s even taking the necessary steps now to register for a license to box as a woman.

So where did this all begin, you might just be wondering? Newbiggin says he was born as an intersexual, or couldn’t be classified as either a female or male at the time of his birth.

Now this actually makes some sense. It’s the people who claim to have been “born in the wrong body” at the age of 34 and claim that they were really supposed to be a woman (if they were born a man) or man (if they were born a woman) that make less sense to me. Newbiggin seems to have some standing ground here, even on those always teetering moral grounds.

Either way, this story’s sure to continue to draw more attention as his surgery approaches, and especially his fight. I just wonder if he’ll bring some pink shorts to the ring.

Terrorist? No. Corporate executive suicide to blame on our toilet economy? No. Bozo the clown running around the terminals on fire? No, but you’re getting closer.

The airport was evacuated because a homeless man decided to hold the place up with a dud bomb, and by dud I mean lifeless as in fake, a joke, a total phony.

According to ABC News the incident — really mess — ended quickly with a swift arrest, though thousands of travelers were held up due to what is likely the result of insanity or sheer boredom.

A judge apparently ordered this man, 32-year-old Scott McGann, to undergo psychiatric tests. (Gee, I wonder why?)

We have to wonder what would possess a man at 32 years of age, albeit homeless, to run into an airport and pretend to have a live bomb. Oh yes, and then pretend to detonate it.

Personally, I believe the man was bored. I mean, what else — other than catch sewer rats, rummage through garbage or look for dropped change for booze — does a homeless person have to do on a daily basis? McGann’s motive was probably just an attempt to spice up an otherwise mundane existence. So he put together his illusionary bomb and walked on over to the nearest airport and played some more pretend. May have even cracked a smile, something he probably hadn’t done in a while.

I wonder if he’s thinking it was worth it, now sitting in a jail cell somewhere getting three free meals a day, with a roof over his head, a toilet, a toothbrush, access to a shower, workout facility…and even television.

“You have breast cancer.”

The good news is that this doesn’t have to be a death sentence, especially with this latest discovery.

Millions of dollars have been donated to find the cure for cancer through great organizations like Relay for Life. Yet, for a while there it seemed like the cure was nowhere in sight. That is, until now.

Scientists from the University of Chicago recently found a vitamin A formula, which has been shown to regulate overactive cells characteristic of cancer. This new formula is created from a vitamin A derivative called retinoic acid and has been shown to curb the growth of breast cancer cells.

Two out of the three forms of breast cancer are caused by estrogen levels overtaking some genes and causing cellular malignancy and proliferation, according to Natural News. This new retinoic acid complex has the same ability to alter genes but in a more positive way by “balancing the cells and prohibiting growth.”

Considering this is a new discovery, specific medications may not be immediately available to you. In the future, though, we should expect to see great things coming with this discovery. Scientists are also studying the use of vitamin D for breast cancer. Natural News also reported that this vitamin may be able to keep breast cells growing at the proper rate.

Hopefully, before we know it there will be a cure.