Charlottesville Fallout

You would expect a typical August day in the college town of Charlottesville, VA to be filled with southern hospitality and students busy getting back to class after summer break. Instead, the Virginia town is ridden with riot-gear, violence and body bags today.

A white nationalist rally in the city prompted a passionate response from protesters. Both sides clashed and violence spread throughout the streets. This violence claimed the life of 32-year-old Heather Heyers after a Neo-Nazi purposely accelerated his Dodge Challenger into a swarm of protesters.

Brittany Cane-Conley, a minister at Sojourner’s United Church of Christ, thought the police could have done much more to contain or even prevent the violent outbursts. “We were watching people punch each other; people were bleeding all the while police were inside of barricades at the park, watching. It was essentially just brawling on the street and community members trying to protect each other.”

 Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe defended his city’s police force saying his officers have done “great work” throughout this “very delicate situation.”

Besides Heyers' death, 19 other protesters were hospitalized from Charlottesville’s state of emergency.

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100-year-old Fruitcake

Just like Jennifer Aniston, fine wine has a reputation of getting better with age. Under normal conditions, you wouldn’t expect the same rules to apply to something like fruitcake. But it’s safe to say the Antarctic tundra doesn’t exactly qualify as normal conditions.

It’s easy to imagine some items going missing in the vast tundra of Antarctica. But recently, a team of researchers unearthed a 106-year-old fruitcake that looked and smelled “almost edible.”  The cake allegedly dates back to the days of Robert Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition (1910-1913).

The bitter cold of Antarctica’s climate played a role in the cake’s preservation, but scientists were still baffled to see the cake survive over a century.

Scientists credited the fruitcake’s container preservation to rust removal, chemical stabilization, and de-acidification of the tin’s label.

Thanks to it's high level of fat and sugar, fruitcake has been a popular food selection for explorers. It looks like Scott’s crew just never got around to this one.

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We are never ever ever, taking another pic together

According to a judge’s recent decision, Taylor Swift was removed as a defendant in the lawsuit involving the firing of a David Mueller. Mueller, a former radio DJ, claims that his termination is tied to Swift’s allegation that he groped her while the two were posing for a photograph.

The incident occurred at a meet and greet in Denver Colorado in June 2013. The former DJ testified that his alleged groping of Swift was nothing more than “jostling” for a photograph. He recalls touching Swift’s rib and arm area, but denied any claim of touching her in a sexually inappropriate manner.

Still, the country music star didn’t back down from her claims. “This was not jostling,”  she said. “He did not touch my rib. He did not touch my arm. He grabbed my bare ass.”

Radio Promotions Director Frank Bell informed Mueller’s superiors at KYGO about the incident. Mueller was fired two days later.

Mueller’s lawsuit will continue with Swift’s mother and Frank Bell serving as defendants. Closing arguments in the singer’s countersuit of Mueller will be presented this week. Regardless, this incident will change the nature of Swift’s meet and greets for the rest of her career.