Canadian Public Warned of Exploding Fireplaces

Health Canada has announced a stoppage of the use of certain Majestic fireplaces.

There have been six incidents of their fireplaces exploding when ignited.

Consumers who purchased Insta-flame or Northern Flame fireplaces, made by Majestic, should stop using them immediately.

Majestic Fireplace is no longer in business, so no actual recall or replacement is possible.

21 Now Dead From Meningitis

The meningitis death toll has risen to twenty-one, with 268 confirmed cases of the deadly brain disease, and an additional three in hospitals due to related joint infections.

All of the meningitis cases came from contaminated anti inflammation shots that were put into the spine, the joint infections came from the same shots that were injected elsewhere.

Seventy-six locations, in twenty-three states, were sent the shots, which were given to as many as fourteen thousand people.

New England Compounding Center made the shots, and has complied completely with government officials who are conducting the investigation.

Investigators are worried that at least two other drugs, made by NECC, may have also been contaminated.

8 Killed, 78 Wounded in Beirut Car Bombing

Eight people are dead and seventy-eight were wounded when a car bomb exploded in Beirut, Lebanon, on Friday.

The blast ripped through the Christian Achrafieh neighborhood, which is heavily populated with popular cafes and stores.

One of the eight killed was Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, who was the head of Lebanon's domestic security forces' intelligence division.

Lebanon has been quick to accuse Syria of being behind the bombing, as al-Hassan was one of the most vocal against Syria.

He had headed multiple investigations into Lebanese citizens who brought back explosives, from Syria, and were under Syrian orders.

The highest profile case was that of Michel Samaha, who had at the time been the Lebanese Information Minister.

For it's part, Syria has denounced the attack, as did the terrorist organization, Hezbollah which runs a lot of Lebanon.

Must See: The Man from Laramie (1955)

The best of the classic westerns are the most complex, while also keeping their clear good vs. evil themes. If, when someone says cowboy, you just think John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, make room for one of the best actors to play the type, Jimmy Stewart. Here Stewart plays an undercover cavalry officer out for revenge, but first he has to discover the identity of the gunrunner who sold the guns to the Apaches that murdered his brother.

Director Anthony Mann was good at bringing crime themes and noir styles to the western genre, then further raising those movies to epic levels by throwing in some Shakespearean, mythological or Biblical themes and structure. Laramie stands out among the eight movies Mann made with Jimmy Stewart, and is one of the most interesting, powerful and beautifully shot westerns ever made.

There's a tough old rancher named Waggoman, who's going blind and whose real son is a fully grown spoiled brat with a talent for dispensing brutal violence. The foreman, their future in law, acts more like a son; he's a decent fellow who cares more about the family and land than the biological heir, but sees he will probably be left out when the patriarch dies. Though the violent scenes will be seared into your memory, such as Stewart getting dragged through a campfire, or his agony at having his hand shot, the most haunting might be Waggoman's nagging premonition that a tall man will come one day to kill his son. Realizing Stewart is that avenging figure, Waggoman is desperate to get rid of him. He has good reason to be afraid; Stewart may seem meek, but you wouldn’t want to see him when he’s angry.

Jimmy Stewart was a fantastic actor, still a little underrated; the western is a genre as wide and varied as the setting is sweeping; they don’t make them like this anymore: this movie is your proof of all those claims. And just try to get the theme song out of your head. Watch if you're a western fan, and recommend it to that friend who says they don't like the genre.

See it Sunday, October 21 at 6:00 PM on TCM.

Find me at the Speakeasy for much more classic entertainment.

Romney Campaign Confident Enough to Begin Leaving North Carolina

North Carolina seems to be a sealed deal, at least the Romney campaign is acting that way.

They've announced that they have begun pulling out campaign staffers from the state, due to their growing lead in the polls.

It is unclear just how much of the staff will be sent elsewhere, but the moves have begun.

According to a spokesman, the "victory centers will remain open", so not all staff will be leaving.

The Obama campaign says that they still consider the state up for grabs.

Young Voter Enthusiasm for Romney High While Young Support for Obama Declines

Young US voters back President Obama by a slimmer margin than they did in the presidential election of 2008. At the same time, a surge in enthusiasm can be seen among young voters who support Republican challenger Mitt Romney. This is according to a poll conducted by the Institute of Politics at President Obama’s alma mater, Harvard University.

Among likely voters under the age of thirty, Obama leads Romney fifty-five percent to thirty-six percent. But, in the 2008 presidential election, young voters favored Obama over McCain fixty-eight percent to thirty-three percent.

In 2008, Obama surpassed his opponent in obtaining the youth vote by thirty-four percentage points.  

Currently, Obama leads Romney, among the young, by only twenty-five percentage points. The youth vote, in the 2008 election, was key to the president’s win.

Romney has the advantage when it comes to young voter enthusiasm. The Harvard poll demonstrates that enthusiam among these newest members of the electorate is higher for Romney than for Obama. Sixty-five percent of Romney’s young supporters said they will “definitely” vote in the November 6 election, compared with fifty-five percent of Obama’s supporters who said they would “definitely” show at the polls.

The poll encompassed voters ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-four and revealed that enthusiam overall is declining, within a group that has historically had a lower level of enthusiasm than the general electorate. “As enthusiasm for voting continues to slip among America’s eighteen to twenty-nine year olds, the IOP’s latest poll shows a clear sentiment by young adults that Washington is broken,” Trey Grayson, director of the Institute of Politics, explained in a statement.

Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate, however, had an adverse effect on the Republican ticket. According to the survey, nine percent of the young respondents said that Ryan’s addition to the ticket made them “much more likely” to vote for Romney, but forty percent said adding Ryan made them “much less likely” to lend their support to Romney.

Harvard’s poll was conducted by surveying 2,123 U.S. citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine, was carried out between September 19 and October 3 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

North Dakota Town Wiped Off the Map

A small town in North Dakota was all but wiped off the map, Wednedsay.

Winds as high as sixty miles per hour sent a wildfire right through Bucyrus, burning down almost every building in town.

The raging winds drove the fire for nearly ten miles, mostly through farmland.

Luckily the people of the town were able to evacuate in time, so no one was killed or injured.

Residents of the surrounding area were able to put out the fire, using their personally owned water trucks to rush ahead of the blaze and spray it down.

The nearby town of Hettinger has opened up a shelter for the residents of Bucyrus.

Remodeling Begins on Aurora Theater

Remodeling work began on the Century 16 Theaters, in Aurora, Colorado, on Thursday.

The first step was the taking down the sixteen sign from on top of the building.

It is scheduled to open in early 2013, as a Cinemark XD theater.

Plans are for the theater to be turned into an "extreme digital" experience, with ceiling to floor screens.

Costs for the remodel will be near one million dollars.

The theater was the location of a mass shooting, in July, that saw thirteen killed.

There has been no word on whether there will be any kind of memorial at the site.

Colorado Keeping an Eye on 3 Fires

Efforts continue to put out two fires burning in Southwest Colorado. Sixty homes are being evacuated, between the two fires, that are both burning north of Durango.

The Vallecito fire is around two hundred fifty acres, and in inaccessible terrain, for ground based firefighters. High winds have kept air crews from having much luck either. It has forced the evacuation of twenty homes at the Vallecito Reservoir.

Near Mancos, the Little East Fire is threatening forty homes, as it grows to over a hundred acres. Firefighters are hoping winds die down, in both areas, to allow air power to attack the blazes.

Meanwhile, in Rocky Mountain National Park the Fern Lake Fire continues to burn. Now over six hundred acres, firefighters are keeping an eye on it, but for now letting it have it's way. A fire line has been placed, just in case it moves in a direction they don't like. The decision to let it burn was made due to the terrain which is too dangerous for firefighters to enter.

Newsweek Going Out of Print

Newsweek, which has been in print since 1933, announced on Wednesday, that it will be going fully digital.

The move will take place by the end of 2012.

Employees of the magazine were warned that there will be layoffs coming.

Plans are for the all digital version to be called Newsweek Global and a subscription will be required.

The company plans to save at least forty-two million dollars a year with the move.