Texting Champion: "Let your kid text during dinner! Let your kid text during school! It pays off"

Posted by Alex in Gadget on June 24, 2009 at 11:23 pm

Think that all that texting is just a big waste of time? Think again! For 15-year-old Kate Moore, texting sure does pay:

"Let your kid text during dinner! Let your kid text during school! It pays off," 15-year-old Kate Moore said Tuesday after winning the LG U.S. National Texting Championship.

After all, she said: "Your kid could win money and publicity and a phone."

For the Des Moines, Iowa, teenager, her 14,000 texts-per-month habit reaped its own rewards, landing her the competition prize of $50,000 just eight months after she got her first cell phone.

Moore, with a speedy and accurate performance, beat out 20 other finalists from around the country over two days of challenges such as texting blindfolded and texting while maneuvering through a moving obstacle course.

In the final showdown, she outtexted 14-year-old Morgan Dynda, of Savannah, Ga. Both girls had to text three lengthy phrases without making any mistakes on the required abbreviations, capitalization or punctuation. Moore squeaked through by a few seconds on the tiebreaking text, getting the best two out of three.

Link – via Technically Incorrect (Photo: Frank Franklin II/AP)

 
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World Beard Champion

Posted by Miss Cellania in Everything Else on May 25, 2009 at 11:05 am

David Traver of Anchorage, Alaska won the World Beard Championship on Saturday with his 20.5 inch beard. 300 competitors were in Anchorage for the 2009 World Beard and Moustache Championships, and about half were competing for the beard award. Traver’s beard was dyed several colors and woven into a snowshoe shape.

With his beard stylist, Ledjha Carson, Traver months ago started brainstorming a beard shape that was “out of the box,” he said. They considered eagle wings, moose antlers and a sled dog team before settling on the snowshoe. It took Carson 90 minutes to weave it the day of the competition.

“She wanted it right. She was very meticulous,” he said. “But my neck is still stiff.”

Traver, who is 43 and works as a driver for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, got into facial hair competition locally about 10 years ago with the Mr. Fur Face competition during Fur Rendezvous. After that, he got involved with the South Central Alaska Beard and Moustache Club, which bid to bring the international championships to Anchorage this year — beating out Liechtenstein. He dedicated his win to his father, David Traver, who died in September

Traver is willing to shave off his award-winning beard to raise money for his favorite charity, Covenant House. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: ACVB / Rebecca Coolidge)

 
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