03rd Oct2012

World’s Biggest Internet Users…Aren’t Americans

by The Michael Show Podcast

(NEWSER) – If you think the US has “surfing the Internet” cornered, think again: A new global index evaluates the state of the World Wide Web around the globe, and finds that Iceland actually has the greatest web use, boasting 95% of its population online.

The Web Index, put together by Web founder Tim Berners-Lee, ranks Sweden tops overall, based on factors including Internet use but also web readiness and impact. The US comes in second, followed by the UK and Canada.

The index aims to chart “web penetration and adoption,” the Atlantic explains; the BBC says the index measures the web’s “social and political impact.” Some of its findings are disappointing. For example, just one in three people around the world use the Internet, and in Africa that’s one in six. And, in one out of every three countries, there are restrictions on web usage. Says Berners-Lee, “Growing suppression of free speech, both online and offline, is possibly the single biggest challenge to the future of the web.”

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03rd Oct2012

Melanie Vallejo Gets Married in Secret Ceremony

by The Michael Show Podcast

Melanie Vallejo has married Matt Kingston.

The Australian actress, who is best known for her role inPower Rangers Mystic Force, exchanged vows with Kingston in front of 50 family members and friends in a top-secret ceremony this week.

Vallejo and Kingston recently threw media and fans off the scent by giving an exclusive interview about their engagement to Woman’s Day magazine.   She said of her now-husband: “Matt really is the perfect man. I didn’t know all of those wonderful qualities could exist in one person. With each day, I find myself thinking, ‘Oh my God, you are even better than I thought!’”

Kingston has said of Vallejo: “Everyone knows her for being so beautiful and talented and all the rest of it, but what I love about Mel is that she is completely unaware of that beauty and talent.”

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02nd Oct2012

Social Security Orders 174K Bullets

by The Michael Show Podcast

A routine purchase request from the Social Security Administration has caused a flood of conspiracy theories, reports AP.

The agency posted a notice that it’s buying 174,000 hollow-point bullets, causing some to believe that it was stockpiling ammo to put down civil unrest. A retired major-general at the Daily Caller speculated that the agency was planning to “arm illegal immigrants,” or even kill 174,000 US troops and replace them with security forces “loyal to the Administration, not to the Constitution.”

The reality is a little tamer.

The agency explained that it employs 295 agents with full law-enforcement powers to investigate fraud, the Daily Beast reports. Most of the ammunition will be used on the training range. “Our special agents need to be armed and trained appropriately,” the agency says. “They not only investigate allegations of Social Security fraud, but they also are called to respond to threats against Social Security offices, employees, and customers.”

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02nd Oct2012

Security Firm Launching ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ Training

by The Michael Show Podcast

A California security firm is offering training next month at its annual counterterrorism summit on repelling a zombie attack.

More than 1,000 military, government, and law enforcement personnel will attend the five-day San Diego summit, and they’ll grapple with different “terrorist scenarios” on a 44-acre training site—from Mideast bombers to zombies, reports the Military Times. Participants in the “Zombie Apocalypse” are “going to see a lot of stuff go down,” promises the president of the firm, HALO.

The anti-zombie training was inspired by last year’s Centers for Disease Control campaign urging American to be ready for anything, from natural disasters to pandemics, and a similar campaign in Canada. Next month’s “whimsical” scenario will actually serve a real-world function, says HALO’s prez, by helping train emergency responders to deal with extreme medical situations when people can become “crazed and violent,” triggering widespread panic.

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02nd Oct2012

Ariana Grande Topless Pic Leaked on Twitter…

by The Michael Show Podcast

…eh, not really.

But this amazingly done Photoshop gives us a glimmer of hope of things to come.

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01st Oct2012

America’s Richest, Poorest Cities

by The Michael Show Podcast

Of the country’s 25 most populated cities, San Jose has the highest median household income: near $77,000, compared to the national median of $51,000. San Jose’s success is thanks in part to its high-tech culture.MarketWatch lists the five richest, with median incomes:

  • San Jose, $77,000
  • San Francisco: $70,000
  • Washington, DC: $63,000
  • Seattle: $61,000
  • San Diego: $61,000

On the flip side is Detroit, with a $25,000 median income—the lowest of the 25 cities. Just 13% of its residents age 25 and up have college degrees; the national figure is 29%. The bottom five:

  • Detroit, $25,000
  • Philadelphia: $34,000
  • Memphis: $35,000
  • Baltimore: $39,000
  • Indianapolis: $39,000
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28th Sep2012

Most Young Adult Books Bought By Adults

by The Michael Show Podcast

A new study from Bowker Market Research found that 55% of the people buying young adult novels are actually regular adults, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Oh sure, some say they’re buying them for younger relatives, but 78% cop to buying them for themselves.

Hunger Games‘ popularity is skewing the curve a bit, one researcher said, but “our data shows it’s a much larger phenomenon than readership of this single series.”

It seems that adults simply dig the simpler reading experience teen lit can provide, which is why they’re gulping down stuff like Twilight or Harry Potter. “Teen books are shorter, faster-paced, and designed to appeal to discriminating readers,” one librarian says. “They are a quick literary fix without the padding.”

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28th Sep2012

6 Weird Celeb Turn-Ons

by The Michael Show Podcast

Just three weeks before news of her affair with director Rupert Sanders broke, Kristen Stewart dished on a kinda weird kink to Vogue: Speaking of Robert Pattinson, Stewart revealed, “He loves to lick under my armpits.”

The Frisky notes that this fetish is called maschalagnia—and rounds up 5 more celebs with strange turn-ons:

  • Angelina Jolie used to play with knives while in bed with Billy Bob Thornton.
  • Shia LaBeouf wants his partner to pull his hair.
  • Carmen Electra enjoys being spanked with a coat hanger.
  • Justin Timberlake loves a good quickie … during his concerts!
  • Christina Aguilera puts on a nurse outfit and “plays doctor.”
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27th Sep2012

Mom Sues Walmart After Store Employees Ripped Up Her Money

by The Michael Show Podcast

According to Court House News, Julia Garcia is suing Walmart Stores after the “humiliating ordeal” she endured at the hands of two employees who accused her of using counterfeit currency at a San Antonio, Texas, location.

Garcia says she was Christmas shopping with her children at a Walmart in San Antonio in December 2010 and entered a checkout lane around 2 a.m. Garcia says she paid for her $150 purchase with a $100 bill, a $50 bill and change.

“The cashier inspected the $100 bill, turned to another cashier and had a brief discussion, and returned to her register telling the plaintiff her money was ‘fake,’” the complaint states. “The cashier proceeded to rip the $100 bill in half without performing any counterfeit detection tests. The metallic strip in the $100 bill was clearly visible.”

Garcia claims that a manager named Russell was then called over. Russell allegedly told her that the money was counterfeit and that she would have to wait for the police.

According to the complaint, Garcia then pulled out another $100 bill that she had in her possession. She alleges that Russell took the second bill from her and ripped it in half as well, saying that it, too, was counterfeit.

Garcia claims that Walmart made her wait at the front of the store, “in plain sight of all passing customers,” until police arrived. She said she was publicly humiliated by the store’s employees who told other shoppers that she had been trying to use fake currency.

Finally, two police officers arrived at the store. Upon checking the torn notes, they determined that both were legal tender.

Garcia is reportedly seeking “punitive damages for false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

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27th Sep2012

Hunter Moore Says New Website Will Be ‘Scariest On The Internet’

by The Michael Show Podcast

Hunter Moore, the infamous provacateur behind “revenge porn” site Is Anyone Up, is prepping an October launch of a new website according to The Daily. And if 26-year-old Moore’s boast to The Daily is to be believed, we’re in for “the scariest thing on the Internet.”

Moore shut his site down in April 2012, claiming that having to comb through a large amount of daily child pornography submissions was wearying. He sold the site to Internet entrepreneur James McGibney, who turned the domain into Bullyville, an anti-bullying forum.

Details are scarce on Moore’s new venture, which he described as a hodgepodge of Is Anyone Up with options borrowed from Foursquare, Facebook and hacktivism hotbed 4chan. It sounds like more of Moore’s homemade concoction of amateur porngraphy and social media, though this time there is less anonymity for users submitting content.

So what’s actually so scary about Moore’s new venture? Only time will tell. Pressed for a more clear answer by The Daily, Moore replied: “Basically you’re going to be able to get your dick sucked 10 times faster than Match.com, Okcupid or Craigslist. It’s going to be super scary.”

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26th Sep2012

Almost 30% of US Health Care Spending Is Wasted

by The Michael Show Podcast

The US health care system is hopelessly broken, blowing $750 billion a year—or about 30 cents of every dollar that goes into it—on unnecessary procedures, paperwork, fraud, price gouging, and other inefficiencies, a new report from the influential Institute of Medicine has concluded.

“Health care in America presents a fundamental paradox,” the report says. While medical knowledge and technology have taken dramatic leaps, the system “is falling short on basic dimensions of quality, outcomes, cost and equity.”

The report has been in the works for 18 months, the APreports. It suggests several reforms, including changing the way doctors are paid to reward results and discourage unnecessary treatments. “We have a lot of medical care that is not helpful,” one cardiologist says. But “when you talk about getting rid of any type of health care, someone yells, ‘Rationing.’” The report found disturbing things about care quality as well; for example, a third of hospital patients are harmed during their stay.

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26th Sep2012

Mars One, Manned Mission Planned For Red Planet, Gets First Sponsors

by The Michael Show Podcast

A Dutch company that aims to land humans on Mars in 2023 as the vanguard of a permanent Red Planet colony has received its first funding from sponsors.

Mars One plans to fund most of its ambitious activities via a global reality-TV media event, which will follow the mission from the selection of astronauts through their first years on the Red Planet. But the sponsorship money is important, helping the company — which had been self-funded for the last 18 months — get to that point.

“Receipt of initial sponsorship marks the next step to humans setting foot on Mars,” Mars One founder and president Bas Lansdorp said in a statement. “A little more than a year ago we embarked down this path, calling upon industry experts to share in our bold dream. Today, we have moved from a technical plan into the first stage of funding, giving our dream a foundation in reality.”

Initial sponsors include Byte Internet (a Dutch Internet/Webhosting provider); Dutch lawfirm VBC Notarissen; Dutch consulting company MeetIn; New-Energy.tv (an independent Dutch web station that focuses on energy and climate); and Dejan SEO (an Australia-based search engine optimization firm). [Video: 'Big Brother' on Mars?]

“Mars One is not just a daring project, but the core of what drives human spirit towards exploration of the unknown. We are privileged to be a supporter of this incredible project,” said Dan Petrovic, general director of Dejan SEO.

Mars One aims to launch a series of robotic missions between 2016 and 2020 that will build a habitable outpost on the Red Planet. The first four astronauts will set foot on Mars in 2023, and more will arrive every two years after that. There are no plans to return these pioneers to Earth.

Company officials say they’ve talked to a variety of private spaceflight firms around the world and have secured at least one supplier for every major piece of the Mars colony mission. The corporate sponsorship money will be used mostly to fund the conceptual design studies provided by the aerospace suppliers, each of which require 500 to 2,500 man-hours to complete, officials said.

Mars One estimates that it will cost about $6 billion to put the first four humans on the Red Planet. The company hopes the “Big Brother”-style reality show will pay most of these costs. The televised action is slated to begin in 2013, when Mars One begins the process of selecting its 40-person astronaut corps.

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26th Sep2012

Who Makes It to Middle Class?

by The Michael Show Podcast

Roughly two out of every three Americans wind up in the middle class or higher by the time they turn 40, but it’s a lot more likely to happen if you’re born into wealthy family to begin with, according to a new study from the Brookings Institution.

Children born to rich families had a 75% chance of winding up in middle class, here defined as having an income in the top three quintiles. Those born to poor families had only a 40% chance, theNew York Times reports.

Race played a huge factor as well. The study set up benchmarks of success for each stage in life. For teens, for example, they were graduating high school with at least a 2.5 gpa, not having a criminal record, and not having children. Only two in five black teens hit all those marks, compared to two-thirds of whites. The study also emphasized the value of early success—hitting one benchmark made you much more likely to hit the next.

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25th Sep2012

Chuck Norris offers “dire warning for America”

by The Michael Show Podcast

(CBS NEWS) – Chuck Norris believes “our great country and freedom are under attack” and if evangelicals don’t show up at the polls and vote out President Obama, “our country as we know it may be lost forever if we don’t change the course our country is headed.”

That’s the message of a video Norris posted to YouTube with the headline, “Chuck Norris’ dire warning for America – 2012.”

The video features Norris and his wife Gena, who hold hands and speak directly to the camera. Gena Norris states that “it is estimated that in the 2008 election, 30 million evangelical Christians stayed home on voting day, and Obama won the election by 10 million votes.”

“We know you love your family and your freedom as much as Gena and I do,” Chuck Norris then says. “And it is because of that we can no longer sit quietly or stand on the sidelines and watch our country go the way of socialism or something much worse.”

Gena Norris then says “our only hope” is for evangelicals to both register and vote.

That’s followed by Chuck Norris quoting this line from Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and women do nothing.” He then quotes Ronald Reagan saying “freedom is never more then one generation away from extinction.”

Gena Norris continues quoting Reagan saying that if Americans don’t “preserve for our children this last, best hope for man on earth,” “we will sentence them to take the first step into 1,000 years of darkness.”

Chuck Norris then calls on evangelicals to “unite for God and country,” before adding, “see you at the polls.”

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25th Sep2012

World’s Richest Woman’s New Idea: Wages of $2 a Day

by The Michael Show Podcast

Gina Rinehart, an Australian billionaire, last week advised the world’s “jealous” poor to stop whining and drinking so much, is back with more advice.  The world’s richest woman, who amassed her family fortune via iron-ore mining, thinks Australia’s struggling mining industry should look to Africa for inspiration. There, miners “are willing to work for less than $2 per day.”

In a video recorded for the Sydney Mining Club, she explains that “Africans want to work. Such statistics make me worry for this country’s future. Indeed, if we competed at the Olympic Games as sluggishly as we compete economically, there would be an outcry.” PM Julia Gillard responded today, saying, “It’s not the Australian way to toss people … a $2 gold coin and then ask them to work for a day.” Amusingly, the BBC notes that Rinehart is believed to make about $611 a second.

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25th Sep2012

Romney to Latinos: I’ll Permanently Fix Immigration

by The Michael Show Podcast

Mitt Romney will try to win over some of the nation’s skeptical Hispanic voters, with a speech at the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that marks a shift in his tone on immigration.

“Americans may disagree about how to fix our immigration system, but I think we can all agree that it is broken,” he will say, according to excerpts published on CNN. “I will work with Republicans and Democrats to permanently fix our immigration system.”

Romney doesn’t offer any specifics in the excerpt, beyond saying that securing the borders will be his main priority, and that laws should “stem the flow of illegal immigration, while strengthening legal immigration.”  He also adds that “America is a nation of immigrants.”

The speech represents a marked shift in Romney’s immigration rhetoric, US News & World Reportobserves, a fact not lost on Romney’s opponents: The Obama campaign released a two-minute “extreme makeover” parody today bashing Romney for the shift.

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24th Sep2012

Romney: I’m All About ‘the 100%’

by The Michael Show Podcast

Mitt Romney wants to make absolutely sure you know that he’s not for the 1%, and he’s not against the 47%: The candidate is for all 100% of the US.

He repeated the figure four times during a speech in Florida, starting with this declaration: “My campaign is about the 100% of America.”

Politico notes that this is the most he’s backed off from his controversial 47% comments since the video came to light, though he didn’t specifically mention the controversy.

Romney was speaking at a forum for Spanish-language TV network Univision, and he also pivoted on issues close to Latinos, insisting that he wouldn’t actually “round up” illegal immigrants for a mass deportation and saying that he’s open to legislation that would give legal status to illegal immigrants’ children.

Later, at a Miami rally, he alluded to his father’s use of government assistance, noting, “That’s the way America works: We have big hearts, we care for people who have needs, we help lift them up but then we don’t make it a permanent lifestyle.”

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24th Sep2012

Paris Hilton: Gay Guys Are, Like, So Disgusting

by The Michael Show Podcast

Paris Hilton has again been caught on tape, this time by a cab driver who caught the socialite making some pretty inflammatory remarks about gay men earlier this month.

While discussing Grindr—a website some gay men reportedly use in a quest for casual sex—with another passenger in the cab, Hilton says: ” Ewwww … gay guys are the horniest people in the world … they’re disgusting. Dude, most of them probably have AIDS. … I would be so scared if I was a gay guy … you’ll, like, die of AIDS.”

In a statement, Hilton’s rep says the celebutard was actually talking with “a close gay friend,” and this friend told her “a story about a gay man who has AIDS and is knowingly having unprotected sex.”

That’s when the conversation got intense, and Paris was simply trying to “express that it is dangerous for anyone to have unprotected sex that could lead to a life-threatening disease,” the rep says. “Her comments were in reference to those people promoting themselves on the site. The cab driver who recorded this only provided a portion of the conversation. It was not her intent to make any derogatory comments about all gays.”

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24th Sep2012

Black Male High School Graduation Rate Improves

by The Michael Show Podcast

More than half the young black men who graduated high school in 2010 earned their diploma in four years, an improved graduation rate that still lagged behind that of their white counterparts, according to an education group’s report released Wednesday.

The Schott Foundation for Public Education, which has tracked graduation rates of black males from public schools since 2004, said 52 percent of black males who entered ninth grade in the 2006-07 school year graduated in four years. That compared with 78 percent of white, non-Latino males and 58 percent of Latino males.

The foundation releases its report every two years. In 2008, the black male graduation rate was 47 percent.

The progress among blacks closed the racial divide on graduation rates by 3 percentage points over nine years to a 26 percentage-point gap.

“At this rate it would take nearly 50 years for black males to graduate at the same rate as white males,” said John H. Jackson, president and CEO of the foundation. “I don’t think the country can wait. I don’t think any parent or student can wait for half a century to have the same opportunities, education, jobs as their white male counterparts.”

The foundation said improving the graduation rates of black and Latino students has become more urgent now that the majority of babies born in the U.S. are minorities.

“These outcomes are not evidence of flaws of young men, but evidence of willful neglect by federal, state, local elected policymakers and leaders,” said Jackson, who is participating in this week’s Congressional Black Caucus legislative conference, which includes education access on its agenda.

With the release of the report, his organization is calling for a moratorium on school suspensions, which have been shown to be used disproportionately on minority children and children with disabilities. The group also wants more support for students through individual plans that offer help such as mental health and health care, tutoring and mentoring so they can catch up in school.

87.6% of Asian Americans graduate from high school.

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21st Sep2012

Riskiest Celeb to Google? Emma Watson

by The Michael Show Podcast

Harry Potter fans, beware: Emma Watson may pose a threat to your computer.

One in eight sites that appear in a search for the actress are malicious, pushing malware or stealing personal data, according to McAfee.  That makes her the “most dangerous” celeb on the Internet. Also watch out for Jessica Biel, Eva Mendes, and Selena Gomez.

The celebrities on the security company’s yearly watch list tend to be women; Jimmy Kimmel was the only man in the top 20. Cyber crime is soaring exponentially, say Symantec and McAfee: One in five users have seen their mobile gadgets or social networking profiles affected, Sky News reports.

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21st Sep2012

13-Year-Old Girl Drives 700 Miles to Meet Online Beau

by The Michael Show Podcast

A missing 13-year-old girl has been found safe, though 700 miles away from home. It turns out the Texas teen had gotten into an argument with her parents about a boy she met online via Xbox and decided to run away. She snuck out her bedroom window, swiped her brother’s car, and set out for Kentucky to meet up with her 12-year-old beau, reports the Houston Chronicle.

A Tennessee state trooper pulled over the girl in Nashville after he noticed her car matched the description in an Amber Alert. Though a few years away from getting her learner’s permit, she somehow managed to navigate 700 miles cross-country. (She still had another 130 or so miles to go.) “It’s amazing she was able to manipulate the roadways,” says one officer. She was released to her parents, and no charges are expected to be filed.

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20th Sep2012

Alison Pill Tweets Topless Photo

by The Michael Show Podcast

Alison Pill, a star of HBO’s ”The Newsroom” and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, “mistakenly” tweeted out a topless picture of herself.

“Yep. That picture happened,” Pill wrote in the aftermath. “Ugh. My tech issues have now reached new heights, apparently. How a deletion turned into a tweet… Apologies.”

“[A]t least you owned up to it and didn’t blame it on ‘a hack,’” said Twitter user @ChuckReynolds. “No apologies needed btw.

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20th Sep2012

GOP Official Says God Chooses to Bless Raped Women with Pregnancy

by The Michael Show Podcast

The state of Missouri has been in the national spotlight recently because of comments made by Republican Congressman Todd Akin who claimed that raped women rarely get pregnant. After his statements hit the Internet, immediate outrage burned across the country. Akin laterapologized, but his statements have rekindled a nationwide debate. One that republicansdesperately do not want to have, lest they alienate a wide majority of female voters.

Sharon Barnes, a high ranking state Republican, came to the defense of her conservative colleague who she believes only “phrased it (his statement) badly.”

Barnes was quoted by The New York Timessaying, “abortion is never an option.” Barnes went on to biblically claim that, “If God has chosen to bless this person [the rape victim] with a life, you don’t kill it.”

Barnes did not elaborate on her views for post-pregnancy care, or costs.

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20th Sep2012

Maryland School Nixes Homework

by The Michael Show Podcast

It’s every schoolkid’s dream come true: There’s no more homework at a Maryland elementary school.

The new assignment for students: Read a book of their choosing for 30 minutes per night, Fox 5 reports. After becoming principal two years ago, Stephanie Brant and her colleagues “really started evaluating the work that we sent students home with,” and found it lacking, she says. “We were giving students something because we felt we had to give them something.” The school district gave Brant the OK to try a no-homework policy.

Parents seem to support the idea. “When [my son] comes home, he has relaxing time. And I think kids need that relaxing time,” says one. To facilitate kids’ reading habits, students get to go to the library every day, instead of once a week, as at most schools. And the plan seems to be working fine: Fifth graders showed 72% proficiency in math and 81% in reading in the most recent state exams. That’s noteworthy in a school district where 70% of the children don’t speak English at home, and 82% qualify for subsidized lunches.

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19th Sep2012

Sex-Crazed Angelina Jolie Lookalike Forces Taxi Driver to Have Sex with Her at Knife Point

by The Michael Show Podcast

A Romanian taxi driver claims a sex-crazed Angelina Jolie lookalike passenger stabbed him after he refused to satisfy her for a third time.

Nicolae Stan told police Luminita Perijoc, 30, had already forced him at knifepoint to have intercourse and perform oral sex.  He claims Perijoc had asked him to help her with his bags but once inside her apartment she demanded sex.  When he refused she allegedly pulled out a knife and forced him to undress.

Stan said that his life has been made a misery by friends ribbing him about the fact that he had turned down the double of the Hollywood star.  He said: “It is terrible. I am now a local celebrity, every one is talking about me.  They don’t understand why I refused her, but they do not know what it is like to have a mad woman yelling at you at knife point.”

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