Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903.

In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK. Ford’s former UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land Rover were sold to Tata Motors of India in March 2008. In 2010 Ford sold Volvo to Geely Automobile. Ford discontinued the Mercury brand after the 2011 model year.

Ford introduced methods for large-scale manufacturing of cars and large-scale management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences typified by moving assembly lines. Henry Ford’s methods came to be known around the world as Fordism by 1914.

Dirty Jobs Host

Dirty Jobs Host, Michael Gregory “Mike” Rowe ( born March 18, 1962) is an American media personality best known as the host of the Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs.

 He can also be heard as narrator on a variety of series and has appeared in recurring commercials for Ford Motor Company. In the early 1990s Rowe was an on-air host for the shop-at-home TV channel QVC. When interviewed, Rowe relates how he got the job at QVC:

I was in the opera at the time. I walked across the street with a buddy of mine (during a performance) – we’re dressed as Vikings and we have a drink.

The TV is turned to QVC. … My buddy bets me $100 I can’t get a call back. So … I crashed the audition and got a job on the spot. I basically turned the whole thing into my own stupid David Letterman show – I made fun of the callers and made fun of the products. Rowe currently resides in San Francisco, California.

Wizards Of Waverly Place

Wizards Of Waverly Place, A man accused of stalking and making threats against Selena Gomez recently had his restraining order extended for another three years – and he has signaled that he is OK with it. A Los Angeles judge had in November dismissed a criminal stalking charge against Thomas Brodnicki, 46, but ruled that a temporary civil restraining order issued against him should remain in place. The 19-year-old pop star and Disney Channel actress says the man, who has a history of mental illness, had threatened to harm her.

On Friday, January 6, a judge ruled at a hearing that the restraining order, which states Brodnicki must stay at least 100 yards away from the actress, her house and workplace, will remain in place until Jan. 7, 2015. Brodnicki, who did not appear in court, was also ordered to stay away from Gomez’s mother and stepfather, Mandy and Brian Teefey, and her assistant, Ashley Cook.

“I do not wish to object to the restraining order against me because I know it is the only thing that will make me stay away from Selena,” Brodnicki says in newly-released court documents, obtained by OnTheRedCarpet.com. He signed the papers on Dec. 15, 2011.

He had initially pleaded not guilty to stalking Gomez, who rose to fame with the Disney Channel series “The Wizards of Waverly Place.” The show will air its last episode on January 6, the same day as Brodnicki’s latest court hearing. Gomez is also known known for her pop music and high-profile relationship with fellow teen singer Justin Bieber.

Brodnicki had told his therapist while he was on a 72-hour mental health hold in September 2011 that he “had conversations with God and entertained thoughts of killing Ms. Gomez,” records show. They also say he had traveled to Los Angeles and had visited the star’s workplace at least three times last summer, over the course of three months.

The documents say that a doctor had determined that Brodnicki “presented a serious danger of violence” to the singer and had reported his threats to law enforcement officials.

Brodnicki was in 2010 sentenced to three years in prison for cyber-stalking a woman he had met in 2000, when she was 18. He was given credit for serving 661 days in an Illinois jail since his 2008 arrest. Brodnicki, who is from the Chicago area, had previously been locked up and was forced to undergo psychiatric treatment for years after he was arrested on a 2003 stalking charge.

‘CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD’

“I’ve had conversations with God since 2001,” Brodnicki told TMZ in a video interview in November. “They locked me up for it and then 28 days later, they set me free and I haven’t had conversations with God since. I have no plans except to do exactly what God’s will is. Selena Gomez, perhaps unbeknownst to her at her tender age, are in fact the holy chosen ones of God.”

“I came out here chiefly for the weather and I thought I may run into Selena, and frankly, I’m not overly concerned whether I ever meet her in the flesh,” he added. “Because, it may be, as Scripture says, ‘No man has seen the face of God.’ Maybe us being together is too much like seeing the face of God.”

Gomez also did not attend Friday’s hearing and has not commented about the latest ruling against Brodnicki.

The actress recently talked to MTV about the end of “Wizards of Waverly Place.” The series debuted on the Disney Channel in 2007. The one-hour finale airs at 8 p.m. ET.

Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications, A man armed with what police are saying is “concern for the Discovery Channel” is said to be in the Silver Spring, MD, a building that was evacuated workers. Multiple shots were heard being fired. Employees were told to go

A man with what looks like a bomb has taken at least one of the hostages in the building of Discovery Communications in downtown Silver Spring, Montgomery.

The building of the headquarters of Discovery Communications in Silver Spring, Maryland has been closed after a man armed with explosives, possibly as wellk taking a hostage

The 2nd UPDATE: Ends hostage situation at the headquarters of Discovery Communications Discovery For protester Read more HQ to be evacuated: Requires Man “Stop All the shows glorify Human Childbirth” “A man with what appears to be an explosive device

Discovery Communications Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A man entered Discovery Communications in Silver Spring center on the afternoon of Wednesday, and police report that he had “a small number of hostages.

Discovery Communications, Inc. (DCI) (NASDAQ: DISCA, NASDAQ: DISCB, NASDAQ: disck) half of U.S. global communications, more entertainment.

Discovery Communications Careers. Choose Region: North America & middot; Latin America and Miami & middot; United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, Africa & middot; Asia-Pacific.

Discovery Communications Careers

Headquarters for a media company great nonfiction. Includes information brplus, educational products, and information investments.

Discovery Channel online lets you explore science, history, space, technology, sharks, & more, with videos & news, plus exclusive in their favorite television shows.

Discovery Channel Hostage

Discovery Channel Hostage, UPDATE: NBC News reports that the hijacker James J. Discovery Channel Lee has died after being shot by police at 4:48 PM.

UPDATE: Police said the gunman fired James J. Discovery Channel Lee at 4:48 PM ET and all the hostages are safe.

Original post: The police have identified the hostage taker as Discovery Communications James Jay Lee, according to NBC News.

Lee has a history of protest at the Discovery Channel, in 2008, was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and littering by an organized protest against the network, according to DCist.

Lee is believed to be behind the SaveThePlanetProtest.com website, which contains 11 demands by the Discovery Channel. Among them, specific programming suggestions:
SILVER SPRING, Md. — A gunman police shot to death after he took hostages at Discovery Channel’s headquarters said he hated the company’s shows such as “Kate Plus 8” because they promote population growth and its environmental programming because it did little to save the planet.

Three hostages — two Discovery Communications employees and a security guard — escaped unhurt after the four-hour standoff Wednesday in Silver Spring, just outside the nation’s capital. After several hours negotiating with the gunman, tactical officers moved in when authorities monitoring him on building security cameras saw him pull out a handgun and point it at a hostage, said Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger.

A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing said authorities had identified James J. Lee as the suspect, but police had not released the gunman’s identity.

It wasn’t the first time Lee, a homeless former Californian, had targeted Discovery’s headquarters. In February 2008, he was charged with disorderly conduct for staging a “Save the Planet Protest.” In court and online, he had demanded an end to Discovery Communications LLC’s shows such as TLC’s “Kate Plus 8” and “19 Kids and Counting.”

Instead, he said, the network should air “programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility.”

“Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what’s left of the planet with their false morals and breeding cultures,” Lee wrote in a bitter manifesto on his website.

Lee, 43, also objected to Discovery’s environmental programming. He wrote in 2008 that a show he called “Planet Green” was “about more PRODUCTS to make MONEY, not actual solutions.”

Police say the gunman burst into the building about 1 p.m. and took hostages in the lobby on the first floor. A gun wasn’t his only weapon, as an explosive device on his body detonated when police shot him, Manger said. Police were trying to determine whether two boxes and two backpacks the gunman had also contained explosives and authorities later sent in a robot to disarm a device on the gunman’s body.

NBC News reported that after its producers called Discovery’s general number, a man identifying himself as James J. Lee got on the phone and said he had a gun and several bombs.

“I have several bombs strapped to my body ready to go off. I have a device that if I drop it, if I drop it, it will … explode,” the man told NBC.

He said he built the bombs in about three weeks. “I did a lot of research. I had to experiment,” he said.

Hours after the standoff ended, county police and firefighters looked at a laptop screen that showed a body face-up, surrounded by blood. It was unclear whether the body had been removed from the building Thursday morning. Police Capt. Paul Starks said the suspect had shot a gun at least once and that authorities believe he was acting alone but are investigating all possibilities.

Lee’s mission against the Discovery Channel goes back at least a few years. In the February 2008 protest in which he was arrested, he threw fistfuls of cash in the air and paid homeless people to carry signs condemning the network. Police found his pockets stuffed with more than $20,000, according to court records.

Lee served two weeks in jail after his arrest during which doctors evaluated his competency to stand trial. County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said Lee was ordered to stay 500 feet away from Discovery headquarters as part of his probation, which ended two weeks ago.

Lee faulted the Discovery Channel for shows as varied as “Future Weapons,” “It Takes a Thief” and “Planet Green.” Instead, he sought programming based on “My Ishmael,” a book by philosopher Daniel Quinn in which a telepathic gorilla instructs a 12-year-old girl on society’s failings. On his MySpace page, Lee said his heroes were Quinn and “Star Trek” commander James T. Kirk.

Quinn said in an interview from his Houston home that Lee misinterpreted his book’s message about the folly of continually increasing food production to meet population demands.

The author said he hadn’t heard of Lee before Wednesday but called his death “pretty horrible.” Had he been able to speak with him, he would have told Lee “he’s giving a bad name to the ideas that he’s trying to espouse.”

Lee in 2008 also held a related contest promising $200,000 worth of Hawaiian real estate for the best essay proposing a save-the-planet TV show. On his MySpace page that has since been taken down, he lists his hometown as Hawaii.

The Maui News and KHON-TV reported that Lee had lived in the Lahaina area of West Maui. The newspaper reported that he was a 1985 graduate of Lahainaluna High School and his former classmates and principal described him as a normal person who didn’t cause any trouble.

“As far as I’m concerned, he was a good kid,” former Lahainaluna principal Henry Ariyoshi told The Maui News.

None of the 1,900 people who work in the building were hurt, and most made it out before the standoff ended Wednesday.

“We’re relieved that it ended without any harm to our employees,” said David Leavy, Discovery’s executive vice president for corporate affairs.

Melissa Shepard, 32, of Peterborough, N.H., a consultant who works in the building, said she was on the third floor when someone announced over a loudspeaker that there was a situation in the lobby and people should stay at their desks.

After some time, they were told to move to the other end of the building. She said she was among a dozen workers who went into an office, shut the door and turned off the lights.

Then she said someone knocked on the door and told them to leave the building. She said there was some confusion as they were told to go to an upper floor or down the stairs.

“Finally, I screamed, ‘Tell us where we need to go! … I just want to get out of there,'” she said. “I was shaking. … I was like, ‘What do we do? What do we do?'”

Associated Press Writer Kathleen Miller and Associated Press Photographer Jacquelyn Martin in Silver Spring; Matthew Barakat in Rockville, Md.; Matt Apuzzo, Eileen Sullivan and Nafeesa Syeed in Washington; Ben Nuckols in Baltimore; Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston; and Jacob Jordan in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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