Hello Kitty Airlines!!!

Ride the super friendly and cute skies!!

Hooters Air is so yesterday. Girls, make room in the sky for Hello Kitty airlines. Eva Air, a Taiwan airline, has painted an Airbus 330-200 nose-to-tail with the wide-eyed super-sized characters, including the mischievous monkeys Tim and Tammy, the Joy, the blue mouse, and Kitty's sister Mimmy White and parents Mary and George White.

Who knew Kitty had a family? Who knew she was a she? Click Read More below for an unnervingly extensive Kitty biography.

Passengers get pink Hello Kitty boarding passes and luggage tags, inflight Hello Kitty service accessories, Hello Kitty meals, and Hello Kitty duty-free shopping.

And now you can greet arrivals at the gate with Hello Kitty bouquets (Japan only, $19-$57 U.S.)

New cars change color as they drive

Coolest new car colors
A car that changes from pink to white as it drives by? The latest developments in manufacturing make all sorts of hues possible.
By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com staff writer
POSTED: 8:46 p.m. EDT, April 10, 2007
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As I drove north on the New Jersey Turnpike recently, a Mary Kay cosmetics saleswoman in a Cadillac DTS passed me on the right, her big car's paint job hitting me like a punch in the eye from the Pink Panther.

As it zoomed on past the car gradually changed color. Starting at the edges, the pink faded and turned to a pearly white.

Back in New York City, during the media preview days for the New York Auto Show in early April, I spent some time talking to Chris Webb, General Motors' Exterior Color and Trend Designer. He helped design the paint used on that car.

"We have a dedicated line that just runs the Mary Kay cars for them," said Webb.

If you want drive a color-shifting pink-pearl Cadillac yourself, you'll have to get a job with Mary Kay and start moving some serious eye-liner for the privilege.

Color-shifting pigments aren't entirely new - the technology has existed for many years - but they have now entered the mainstream and are bringing new popularity to once-boring shades.

Silver isn't silver anymore. Black might not always be black. Around the edges of the wheel wells it might glisten in purple or gold. Where the body curves inward, hints of blue or red might shine from the shadows.

The secret is extra layers of coatings embedded with tiny metal flakes. The standard process for painting a car in a factory was - and still is - to lay down a layer of color and cover that with a clearcoat. The clearcoat gives the color a wet-looking shine and a sense of depth.

Now, the colored basecoat can be covered with a second translucent layer that could be a different color. And within that second translucent layer there could be little flecks of aluminum and those flecks can, themselves, be another color. Or several other colors.

"The pink you saw had a solid pink base coat with silver layer sprayed on top," said Webb.

At the extreme of color-shifting paints are the ChromaFlair colors created by JDS Uniphase. These pigments use colorless flakes which refract light creating colors in the same way that butterfly wings and bird feathers do.

A ChromaFlair color called "scorched penny" is used in the 2006 special-edition Scion xB Release Series 4.0 from Toyota. It changes colors dramatically from one viewing angle to another, going from a bright copper to nearly black.

The painting process required for these sorts of effects is expensive, so car companies charge more for them. But that just makes them more alluring.

"If you tell people you're going to charge then for a paint they like it even more," said Barb Parker, a color designer with JDS Uniphase.

Of GM's 26 car manufacturing plants, only five can do a "tri-coat" process, said Webb, so paint researchers are creating some of the same effects by just adding color flakes directly into the base coat.

These developments make life even more challenging for people like Webb whose job it is to predict what colors will be popular five or more years from now.

Right now, orange is going strong and should last. "Orange sales are increasing in popularity," he said. "I've developed orange products right up to 2010."

Copper-tinged oranges can be found on everything from the Chevrolet Corvette to the Ford Edge SUV to Honda's Fit subcompact car.

Hues known in the industry as "naturals" - colors you and I would call brown and beige - are benefiting from these new color technologies. Today, browns can have a depth and richness reminiscent of expensive wood furniture. It's the sort of look that reminds one of craftsmanship and luxury rather than Silly Putty or mud.

"You're seeing a lot more consumer products offered in browns than maybe in previous years," said Jane Harrington, manager of color styling for PPG's automotive coatings division.

Greens are expected to see a resurgence as sales of hybrid vehicles increase, said Webb. People like to advertise their car's "greenness" in a fairly literal way. (Greens have been on the outs lately as blues have become more popular. For some inexplicable reason, said Webb, blue and green alternate in popularity.)

Ford is working hard on, quite literally, the new black.

"Black is going to get more special and its going to surprise and delight," said Susan Lampinen, Ford's chief designer for color and materials.

The new black will be used across Ford's line-up.

"We want to be the leaders in black," Lampinen said.

Looking out, the next frontier in car colors is dull. Very dull. By the 2010 model year, Webb hopes to be able to produce special car colors with no sheen to them whatsoever, as dull as a dusty kindergarten chalkboard.

"There would have to be caveats as to how to take care of the vehicles," he said.

Otherwise, someone might wax the car. That would just ruin the whole effect.

Howard K. Stern hires JonBenet Ramsey parents' lawyer

Howard K. Stern hires Ramsey parents' lawyer

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer-turned-partner has hired a prominent Atlanta attorney to represent him in possible litigation against media companies he believes are falsely implicating him in the death of the former Playboy Playmate and her son, Daniel.

Lin Wood said he had been retained by Howard K. Stern, who is one of three men claiming to be the father of the starlet's infant daughter.

Wood, who has handled a number of high profile cases -- including representing the family of slain child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey -- made the announcement in a statement released Monday.

The statement said Wood was retained after meetings over the weekend in the Bahamas, where Smith and Stern lived as a couple before her death in February.

"My representation of Mr. Stern will focus on those individuals and entities guilty of making false accusations of criminal conduct against him related to the tragic deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and her son, Daniel," Wood said in the release.

"Mr. Stern is an innocent individual who has never been charged with any crime but finds himself on trial in the media. The nightly television, tabloid and Internet trial of Mr. Stern in the court of public opinion based on sensational lies, speculation, rumor and gossip is over."

Daniel Smith died September 10 as he visited his mother three days after she gave birth in a Nassau hospital to her daughter, Dannielynn.

Stern, who was Smith's companion at the time of her death, is listed on Dannielynn's birth certificate as her father. But two other men -- Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead and Frederic Von Anhalt, Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, also claim to have fathered the infant. The dispute has led to a drawn-out legal battle.

In the release, Wood also said he would represent Stern, named the executor of Smith's will, in pursuing "those individuals and entities responsible for the theft of personal property of Ms. Smith and/or its unlawful use, sale or other misappropriation in the media."

Dr. Joshua Perper, the Broward County medical examiner, ruled that Smith died of an accidental overdose of the sleeping medication chloral hydrate and at least eight other prescription drugs, along with a case of the flu and a bacterial infection from injecting drugs into her buttocks.

Smith had been taking a lengthy list of medications, including methadone and valium, but those drugs were at therapeutic levels, Perper said. Smith also had been on several antidepressant and antianxiety drugs and had recently taken longevity medications, vitamin B12 and growth hormone, the medical examiner said.

The release of the report marked the end of the Seminole Police Department's investigation and halted -- at least temporarily -- widespread rumors that Smith may have been murdered.

"The medical examiner concluded that the death of Anna Nicole Smith was accidental," Wood said in the release. "No one has produced any evidence to rebut this conclusion because no such evidence exists.

"To those considering making future false accusations against Mr. Stern, please consider the following advice: don't do it."

CRAZY Slovenian man ends 65-day swim down Amazon River

For the record
Slovenian man ends 65-day swim down Amazon River

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- After 3,272 miles of exhaustion, sunburn, delirium and piranhas, a 52-year-old Slovenian successfully completed a swim down the Amazon River Saturday that could set a world record for distance -- something he's already done three times before.

After nine weeks, Martin Strel arrived near the city of Belem, the capital of the jungle state of Para, ending a swim almost as long as the drive from Miami to Seattle. Strel averaged about 50 miles a day since beginning his odyssey at the source of the world's second-longest river in Peru on Feb. 1.

By Thursday evening, he was struggling with dizziness, vertigo, high blood pressure, diarrhea, nausea and delirium, his Web site said. But despite having difficulty standing and being ordered by the doctor not to swim, Strel was obsessed with finishing the course and insisted on night swimming.

"He's hit point zero," Borut Strel, Martin's son and the project coordinator, said by telephone from the Amazon. "There will be a ceremony Sunday in Belem, but he finished today."

Speaking in fluent accented English by satellite phone during a break aboard his support vessel, the elder Strel said that the going got tougher the closer he got to Belem.

"The finish has been the toughest moment so far," he said Thursday. "I've been swimming fewer kilometers as I get closer to the end. The ocean tides have a lot of influence on the river's currents and sometimes they are so strong that I am pushed backward."

He said he was lucky to have escaped encounters with piranhas, the dreaded toothpick fish, which swims into body orifices to suck blood, and even bull sharks that swim in shallow waters and can live for a while in fresh water.

"I think the animals have just accepted me," he said. "I've been swimming with them for such a long time that they must think I'm one of them now. I still have dolphins swimming with me."

Cramps, high blood pressure, diarrhea, chronic insomnia, larvae infections, dehydration and abrasions caused by the constant rubbing of his wet suit against his skin frequently tormented him.

Strel, who lost some 26 pounds, said there were times he felt such pain in his arms, chest and legs, "that I could not get out of the water on my own."

To cope with the delirium and other problems, Strel said he turned to his doctor.

"My doctor, who is a psychotherapist, talks to me, asks about my pains and redirects my thinking to other things," Strel said. "It definitely helps to have someone to talk to when I'm not in the water, even though sometimes I fall asleep while she is talking."

Sunburn was Strel's biggest problem in the first half of his adventure.

Just days after he began his swim, Strel developed second-degree burns on his face and forehead, and his team feared the burns would worsen and become infected.

His team fashioned a mask out of a pillow case for protection, but Strel did not use it all the time because it was too hot and made breathing very difficult, he said.

His lips became blistered, and scabs formed on his nose and upper cheeks.

In addition, his eyes became sore and swollen, probably from sunblock getting inside his goggles.

The sunburn became so bad that while still swimming in Peru he thought of quitting, he said.

"I couldn't sleep at night and I thought we would have to stop for a week or so. But with time things improved," he said. "People from all over the world sent us some creams that helped solve the problem and we improved the mask."

If confirmed by Guinness World Records, the Amazon swim will be the fourth time Strel has broken the world record for long-distance swimming.

In 2000, he completed an 1,866-mile swim along the Danube. He broke that record two years later after swimming 2,360 miles down the Mississippi. In 2004 he broke it again by swimming 2,487 miles along the Yangtze river in China.

Strel's Web site said he broke his 2004 record on March 17 when he arrived in the small town of Urucurituba in the state of Amazonas, 2,490 miles from the river's source.

Kate White, a Guinness spokeswoman, said the organization would only confirm if Strel had established a new record after analyzing data from him and his support team, a process that usually takes six to eight weeks.

Strel's staff said they planned to send Guinness all the documents required by the first week in August, at the latest.

Comparing his Amazon adventure with his other record-breaking swim in Europe, the United States and China, Strel said "it was the toughest expedition by far."

"The Amazon river has no barriers like locks, so the current is constantly flowing," he said. "I didn't expect so many whirlpools and so many currents."

Asked about new adventures, he said: "I am not thinking about that right now ... But I'll find some other crazy swim, maybe in a lake or in an ocean."

"I am not going to do the Nile. It's long but not challenging enough, it is just a small creek, he said. "The Amazon is much more mighty."

Coyotes love Quiznos!

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- For one day, at least, the roadrunner was safe. It seems the coyote was hankering for another kind of fast food.

Employees and customers at a downtown Chicago Quiznos sandwich shop were stunned to see a coyote walk through the propped-open front door Tuesday afternoon and lie down in a cooler stocked with fruit juice and soda.

"It wasn't aggressive at all," restaurant manager Bina Patel told the Chicago Tribune. "It was just looking around." (Watch the coyote take a rest in the cooler Video)

Employees and customers calmly cleared out of the restaurant, though some took the time to finish their sandwiches and snap some cell-phone photos, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Animal control officers took the passive coyote away after about 40 minutes, after a curious crowd had gathered outside.

"This one definitely I will definitely remember forever. A coyote in downtown Chicago," Quiznos employee Rick Torres told WLS-TV.

The city captures 10 to 15 coyotes every year, especially in the spring when they are most active, said Anne Kent, director of Chicago Animal Care and Control. Veterinarians will examine the coyote and, if he is not injured, release him into the wild.

Community Sues To Oust 3-Year-Old

Community Sues To Oust 3-Year-Old
Child With Drug-Addict Mom Lives With Grandparents

LARGO, Fla. -- A Florida homeowners group wants 3-year-old Kimberly Broffman to take her Big Wheel and hit the road.

They've banded together to oust the toddler from their Tampa-area community, which bans residents under 18.

The child's grandparents, Judie and Jimmy Stottler, admit Kimberly's been living there in violation of homeowners' association rules for three years. They said her mother has a drug problem, and isn't capable of caring for the child.

The grandparents said they live on a fixed income and can't afford to move until they sell their house. So far, there have been no takers to buy their house, even after they lowered the $189,000 asking price by $10,000 six months ago.

They also said they can't afford to hire an attorney.

Judie Stottler supports the family with her $18,000-per year dishwashing job because Jimmy Stottler is disabled and is unable to work.

Judie Stottler's friends told the St. Petersburg Times that they are worried.

"It is so ridiculous that this has gone so far," said Keith Tinsley, a cook who works with her. "She's trying her best to sell her house. It's like they are trying to force her to put Kimberly in foster care.

"These people keep batting her down and batting her down. They're just mean."

Judie Stottler said she is scared that she wil lose her house before she is able to sell it.

"We don't have any family to take us in," Judie Stottler said.

The Lakes homeowners association filed suit to oust Kimberly last month.

Man found with 93 lbs of stolen undies

Suspect jailed on 13 counts of burglary and theft charges

PULLMAN, Washington (AP) -- A man was charged with theft and burglary after police said they found 93 pounds of women's panties, brassieres and other underwear at his home.

Investigators believe Garth M. Flaherty, 24, took as many as 1,500 undergarments from apartment complex laundry rooms before he was caught, police Cmdr. Chris Tennant said.

A man was seen taking underwear from two laundry rooms Saturday, a witness recorded his license number, and Flaherty was identified from photographs, Tennant said.

Police found enough underwear in his bedroom to fill five garbage bags, Tennant said.

"He said he had a problem," Tennant said.

Flaherty has been jailed on 12 counts of second-degree burglary and one of first-degree theft.

Police had previously received 12 reports of underwear thefts in the northeast part of town, where Washington State University is located.

"We were kind of concerned about how to match up bras and panties with victims," Tennant said. "Based on the unique descriptions from a couple of women, we can tie him to those thefts."

The underwear will be held as evidence until the case is resolved, after which their disposition is uncertain, Tennant said.

"Would you really want them back?" he asked. "I would say not."