What Middle Eastern country bought its Twitter name from a porn site?

by Tom Johansmeyer on

@Israel hasn’t been used much since being registered on Twitter in 2007. Back then, well before the company crossed the 100 million-user mark, you could get just about any Twitter name you wanted, and Israel Melendez decided he wanted to use his first name. Think of the glory! If this Twitter thing ever hit it big (which, obviously, it did), he’d have the equivalent of a first name Gmail addressor AIM handle. This can be a real badge of honor in some circles.

Well, right away, Melendez thought better of tweeting under @Israel. It turns out that some people thought he was tweeting on behalf of the country, and the Miami resident – and porn site owner – found himself on the receiving end of hefty amounts of political anger and anti-Semitism … 140 tiny characters at a time.

The NY Times reports:

“My account was basically unused because I was getting dozens of replies every day from people who thought the account belonged to the state of Israel,” Mr. Meléndez said.

The country bearing the same name as Melendez was more than happy to take it over, but it didn’t get to do so as a favor to the original owner. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the country did have to pay, and it refused to disclose the terms.

Follow @Gadling on Twitter!

[Via Gawker]

Universal Orlando offering new wedding packages during Halloween Horror Nights

by Leigh Caldwell on

If your idea of the perfect wedding involves his and hers coffins, chainsaws and a ride in a hearse, then you’re in luck, because Universal Orlando is now offering wedding packages during Halloween Horror Nights.

The new horror-filled wedding packages include options such as having a “chainsaw drill team” at your nuptials, and taking a post-ceremony hearse ride through the fog-filled streets of the event.

As for the food at your romantic evening, you can serve your guests “Deadly Romance” spring rolls, “Bride of Frankenstein Lady Fingers” stuffed jalapeno peppers, and “Creepy Wellingtons.”

Halloween Horror Nights runs on select nights Sept. 24 through Oct. 31 at Universal Orlando.

To celebrate this new way to tie the knot, Universal Orlando is offering one lucky couple a free Halloween Horror Nights wedding.

To enter, send a Halloween-themed picture of you and your eternal beloved to hhnwed@universalorlando.com. All entries are due by noon Eastern on Monday, Sept. 20. Check with Universal for a complete list of contest rules.

Harry Potter ride seats modified for larger riders

by Leigh Caldwell on

Universal Orlando has modified some seats on ride cars for the new Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and many people who couldn’t ride the centerpiece attraction at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter should be able to now.

When I saw the Wizarding World of Harry Potter during an early preview in May, the ride was not in operation, but the “test seats” outside the ride were working. Would-be riders can sit in the seat to check it out before entering the ride queue. The seats have an over-the-shoulder harness that has to be pulled down and “click” three times. You get a green light if it does, and a red light if it doesn’t.

After watching folks check out that seat, it was evident that the Harry Potter ride would not accommodate riders of size.

But new seats were introduced over the weekend. Now there is also a yellow light on the test seats. If you get yellow, as some rounder or taller guests will, you will be asked to wait until a ride car with modified seats comes around.

Theme park employees told Orlando Attractions Magazine the seats are allowing more people to ride the marquee ride:

Team members we talked to said the modified seats have helped tremendously. They said before they had to turn away hundreds of guests, but over the two days since the modified seats have been in place, they’ve only had to turn away one guest.

The modified seats are on the inside and outside positions on a handful of the ride cars. The seat itself is not any larger; it’s the locking mechanism on the harness that has been changed. Universal says it is safe for both larger and smaller riders to sit in the modified seats.

[Image credit: Flickr user calleecakes]

Mikhail Baryshnikov to headline Sarasota’s Ringling International Arts Festival

by Melanie Nayer on

When Mikhail Baryshnikov graces a stage, the whole world stops to stare. This year, all eyes will be on Sarasota, Florida, when Baryshnikov and others headling the Ringling International Arts Festival.

The five-day showcase of music, theater and dance presents 45 performances of 11 stage productions, which run from October 13-17 at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla. In addition to the premieres by Philip Glass and the Forman Brothers, the Festival boasts the debut of Hurricane, a new play written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Nilo Cruz and Solos with Mikhail Baryshnikov & David Neumann featuring a world premiere by choreographer Susan Marshall. Those productions all debut at the Festival’s Night of Premieres on Wednesday, October 13. They then join the roster of seven additional productions of dance, theater, and music all presented in repertoire on three stages through Sunday, October 14.

Art lovers can make a trip out of this, thanks to the InterContinental’s Hotel Indigo, which just launched a package for the festival. The “Sarasota Arts Package” at Hotel Indigo includes:

  • Overnight accommodations
  • Two cocktails at the hotel’s H20 Bistro
  • In-room gift: Sarasota Architecture Book, chronicling the city’s history as Florida’s “Cultural Coast”
  • Two member-for-a-day passes to RIAF, which include access to the award-winning Ringling Art Museum as well as all RIAF 360 events (e.g., jazz sunsets, private gallery tours, Family FunFest, etc.).

Rates start at $153/night. Package valid October 13 – 17, 2010.

Get off a cruise and into custody: Passenger wrongly nailed as hooker

by Tom Johansmeyer on

What do you do when your mom is arrested for prostitution? Well, you probably claim that she didn’t do it. After all, she’s your mom, and nobody admits to guilt on these things anyway. If you were Paola Londono’s kid, you’d actually be right to proclaim her innocence.

Thanks to a clerical error in the Osceola County Sheriff’s office, Londono, from Orlando, was arrested when she stepped off a cruise ship for allegedly making a living in the world’s oldest profession. She spent more than 36 hours in the Broward County pokey, because she had the same name as the actual suspect, who is seven years younger … five inches taller and 40 pounds lighter. The younger Londono is going to face charge of heroin possession and possession of drug paraphernalia – in addition to prostitution.

[photo by indi.ca via Flickr]