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Post by Aedh on Jan 24, 2008 15:19:47 GMT -5
I'm a media junkie, and one of my favourite parts of the job is reading odd-but-true news stories. I thought I'd kick off a thread sharing a few here and there ... I'll start with one forwarded to me by Mira entitled "Tiny Terrors!" news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1302176,00.html (You will have to paste this into your browser as the direct link doesn't work.)
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Post by Libby on Jan 24, 2008 16:10:31 GMT -5
I'm a media junkie, and one of my favourite parts of the job is reading odd-but-true news stories. I thought I'd kick off a thread sharing a few here and there ... I'll start with one forwarded to me by Mira entitled "Tiny Terrors!" news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1302176,00.html (You will have to paste this into your browser as the direct link doesn't work.) ROFLOL! That's just soooo off-the-wall! But, there again, it's Sweden so par for the course really!
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Post by reveria on Jan 24, 2008 17:11:21 GMT -5
lmfao
oh my God... but hey, brilliant idea! *giggles*
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Post by Aedh on Jan 26, 2008 9:12:30 GMT -5
Happy, happy ... joy joy.
Mr. Coll Bell, a New Zealander who invented a composting toilet supposedly superior to a septic system and who wanted permission from the Auckland Regional Council to install one at a campground, said an ARC bureaucrat had queried him on whether the worms he uses would be traumatized by the volume of work required in the annual two-week period of intensive campground use. Coll told Agence France-Presse in December that vermiculture expert Patricia Naidu had assured him that the worms would be "happy." Agence France-Presse, 12-16-07
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Post by Vespertilio on Jan 26, 2008 16:13:10 GMT -5
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Post by Vespertilio on Jan 26, 2008 17:32:03 GMT -5
LOL!!! Actually I meant to ask you Vesper....are those buttocks in your sig...or do they just look like buttocks??? (Or is it just the way my mind works???) ;D zOMG!!! LoL! I hadn't thought of that...it rather does look like buttocks... (I think it's just light reflecting off the wall). ;D
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Post by Vespertilio on Feb 3, 2008 16:20:07 GMT -5
No, no, it's weird! and daft! ;D I hope the dog is okay in the end though. And another chapter in the return of the Victorian Age... and before reading the story-- this is Virginia's state flag; hamptonroads.com/node/452689
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Post by Vespertilio on Feb 3, 2008 21:23:51 GMT -5
No, no, it's weird! and daft! ;D I hope the dog is okay in the end though. And another chapter in the return of the Victorian Age... and before reading the story-- this is Virginia's state flag; hamptonroads.com/node/452689What IS it with you and buttocks Vesper??? *snort...chortle* (I also had a good laugh at some of the comments posted under the original article! ;D) HeeeHeehEEee ;D I just get a laugh out of how, errr, well, for lack of a better phrase, "anal" Americans have become about them. I'm sitting here looking at a reproduction of a Maxfield Parrish Mazda ad, with a topless woman, which ran in major US magazines 80 years ago and didn't raise an eyebrow... The world is a weird place these days.
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Post by Aedh on Feb 4, 2008 0:24:06 GMT -5
This one Vesper can ignore ... no buttocks involved.
Noxious Substances: State and federal authorities descended on Quality Pork Processors of Austin, Minn., in December after 11 workers contracted a mysterious neurological illness, which apparently came from inhaling the mist that results from blowing hogs' brains out with compressed air. [Tampa Tribune-AP, 12-8-07]
Now ... in the Vesper Dept ...
Authorities in Valentine, Neb., have been on the lookout since November for the vandal who has approached several storefronts at night and, apparently with Vaseline smeared over his nude body, pressed himself against windows and doors. A radio station called the person "the buttcheek bandit" (although some speculate there may also be a copycat). Asked Valentine police chief Ben McBride, "Who in their right mind would do something like that?" [Omaha World-Herald, 11-12-07]
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Post by Vespertilio on Feb 5, 2008 18:28:35 GMT -5
This one Vesper can ignore ... no buttocks involved.Noxious Substances: State and federal authorities descended on Quality Pork Processors of Austin, Minn., in December after 11 workers contracted a mysterious neurological illness, which apparently came from inhaling the mist that results from blowing hogs' brains out with compressed air. [Tampa Tribune-AP, 12-8-07] Gak! Makes me wonder what they were feeding those pigs... Answer: They're not in their right mind! ;D (ba-dum-bum! thank you, I'll be here all week...) Vaseline?!? Ick! That'll never come off...
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Post by Vespertilio on Feb 5, 2008 18:32:58 GMT -5
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Post by Vespertilio on Feb 9, 2008 15:54:25 GMT -5
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Post by Vespertilio on Feb 10, 2008 14:33:25 GMT -5
That's actually rather sad. Well, yes... (but it is also weird, maybe because horse drawn hearses aren't very common around my neck of the woods... )
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Post by Aedh on Feb 19, 2008 6:08:36 GMT -5
"You've SCORED on eBay!!"
A woman in Germany who became pregnant after an online sex auction has won a court battle to force the Web site that hosted the sale to reveal the names of the winners, so she can find out who's the father.
Six different men won Internet auctions to have sex with the woman in April and May last year. They were only known to her by their online names, a spokesman for a court in the southwestern city of Stuttgart said on Wednesday.
"The woman wanted to discover which one of the men had made her pregnant," the spokesman said. "So she needed their contact details. Of course, if they're not willing to go along with the gene test, she'll have to take them to court."
The woman asked the site's operator to reveal the true identity of the men, but it refused, citing a confidentiality clause in its terms and conditions.
The court ruled in her favor, saying the child's right to know who its father was took precedence.
The court declined to give the woman's age and nationality.
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Post by Aedh on Feb 27, 2008 13:34:13 GMT -5
The cradle WILL rock!! ;D I have to give this the Evil Genius stamp of approval. Excuse me ... *picks up phone* Ah, Colonel Boris ... what? You say you 'feel a new CD anthology coming on?' Hmmmm ....
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Post by Aedh on Mar 6, 2008 3:15:48 GMT -5
I see here ... www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/03/nbenefit103.xml ... that new UK rules allow men with multiple wives to collect welfare payments for all of them, and that the payments go directly into his account. Let's hope that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia doesn't decide to retire to Britain!! On the other hand ... hmmmm .... would you mind, Mira, if I changed my name to "Abou ben Aedhem" ... and moved in with you? Oh, and ... um, our wedding ceremony, well ... we'll be having some company ... just a few ladyfriends I'll also be swapping some quick vows with--AFTER you, of course!
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Post by Aedh on Mar 11, 2008 6:52:10 GMT -5
"Dash it all!" SatNavs* steer Brits into sticky wickets ... Apparently Britain's historic landscape, including two-hundred-year old bridges, roads that only roads in a legal sense, and unmarked watercourses are proving too much for some drivers who rely on technology to guide them ... www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080302/FOREIGN/367189742(*That's GPS's to you Yanks.)
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Post by Aedh on Mar 12, 2008 15:36:04 GMT -5
A Denver, Colorado woman faces a $1000 fine for colouring her poodle pink to raise awareness for breast cancer. There's a law against dyeing live animals, aimed at those who colour live chicks commercially for the Easter trade, but she's been warned before on this ... details here. www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15559998/detail.html
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Post by Aedh on Mar 12, 2008 15:45:15 GMT -5
And in Illinois, a mother of three faces a year in prison for child endangerment ... she did not bring along her sleeping two-year-old while she and her two older ones left their car and went 30 feet to donate change they had collected for the Salvation Army. This one could cut either way ... some say the cop who arrested her is weird, while others say she's the weirdo. www.suntimes.com/news/metro/825896,CST-NWS-badmom05.article
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Post by Aedh on Mar 13, 2008 22:46:42 GMT -5
Python Eats Family Dog!!
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — A 16-foot python stalked a family dog for days before swallowing the pet whole in front of horrified children in the Australian tropics, animal experts said Wednesday.
The boy and girl, ages 5 and 7, watched as the scrub python devoured their silky terrier-Chihuahua crossbreed Monday at their home near Kuranda in Queensland state.
Stuart Douglas, owner of the Australian Venom Zoo in Kuranda, said scrub pythons typically eat wild animals such as wallabies, a smaller relative of the kangaroo, but sometimes turn to pets in urban areas.
"It actively stalked the dog for a number of days," Douglas said.
"The family that owned the dog had actually seen it in the dog's bed, which was a sign it was out to get it," he added.
"They should have called me then, but (the snake) got away and three or four days later, I was called and went around and removed it" after the dog had been killed, Douglas said.
By the time Douglas arrived, all that could be seen of the dog was its hind legs and tail.
The zoo manager, Todd Rose, said pythons squeeze their prey to death before swallowing it whole. The 5-year-old dog would have been suffocated within minutes.
"The lady who was there threw some plastic chairs at the snake, but you've got to remember that this is about 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of aggressive muscle," Rose said.
Removing the half-swallowed dog could have harmed or even killed the python, Rose said, because dogs have sharp teeth and claws that could do the snake internal damage if it were wrenched out.
The snake was still digesting the dog at the zoo Wednesday. It will soon be relocated to the bush, Douglas said.
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Post by Aedh on Mar 14, 2008 12:18:43 GMT -5
Democracy in Finland gets easier ... especially for Klingons!
The Intopii computer firm of Helsinki announced in February that it has installed software to assist voters, who, studies suggest, tend to select candidates who look like themselves. When a voter uploads his or her photo, the Web site will use facial-recognition software to find those among the 800 candidates in March parliamentary elections who most resemble that voter, to ease the difficult burden of citizenship in a democracy. [Reuters, 2-27-07]
And in March, incumbent parliamentary candidate Jyrki Kasvi launched the new version of his campaign Web site, written entirely in the Star-Trek language Klingon. [CNN-Reuters, 3-9-07]
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Post by Aedh on Mar 14, 2008 12:20:37 GMT -5
Swindon (UK) gets safer!
The local government's tourist information center in Swindon, England, told author Mark Sutton that his World War I-themed book, "Tell Them of Us," could not be sold in its bookstore unless Sutton demonstrated that he had liability insurance, not for potentially libelous passages but in case readers, for example, suffered paper cuts turning the pages. Said Swindon Borough Council spokesman Richard Freeman, "We have to cover every eventuality." [Evening Standard (London), 2-24-07]
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Post by Aedh on Mar 14, 2008 12:29:25 GMT -5
And Britain makes the world safer for easy women ...
The National Health Service is now funding Virginity Restoration Surgery! This should be welcome news for free enterprise, as it enables girls of Asian families to compete with native British 'bad grrlz,' and still return to their ancestral homelands for arranged marriages--regardless of their ability to pay!
Women are being given controversial "virginity repair" operations on the NHS, it emerged last night.
Taxpayers funded 24 hymen replacement operations between 2005 and 2006, official figures revealed.
And increasing numbers of women are paying up to £4,000 in private clinics for the procedure apparently under pressure from future spouses or in-laws who believe they should be virgins on their wedding night.
Doctors said most patients are immigrants or British of ethnic origin. The popularity of the operation is said by critics to be the result of social regression caused by Islamic fundamentalism. Some countries have made hymen reconstruction operations illegal. However, at least Egypt's clerics have ruled the procedure legal.
In February 2007, the grand mufti of Egypt, Aly Gomaa, told a TV talk show audience in Cairo that he endorsed a recent fatwa by noted scholar Soad Saleh that it is religiously acceptable for women to undergo surgical hymen restoration.
Dr Magdy Hend, consultant gynaecologist at the Regency Clinic, Harley Street, London, who started hymen reconstruction more than 18 years ago in the Middle East and the Gulf, said: "In some cultures they like to see that the women will bleed on the wedding night. If the wife or bride is not a virgin, it is a big shame on the family."
Dr Hend said he was surprised by the "very good response" to the service and said there is "big competition on the market".
Most of his clients, he told More4 News, are in their teens or early 20s.
"They might be British of ethnic background, they might be immigrants, or some people come from abroad, Asia, Middle East, the Gulf, and they don't want to have it done back home," he added.
Dr Hend said demand is increasing, particularly from UK residents. The operation can involve suturing of a tear in the hymen, such as might be caused by sexual assault, to help healing.
But it can also be conducted as a purely cosmetic procedure. A membrane is constructed, sometimes including a capsule of an artificial blood-like substance.
This operation is intended to be performed within a few days before an intended marriage.
Tory health spokesman Mike Penning expressed concern.
He said: "If there is any cultural or other pressure being put on the women from any source to have this done, that would be a very retrograde step.
"If a woman has been violated or raped and lost her virginity, clearly everything possible should be done to assist her.
"But what nobody would understand is if taxpayers' money is being used to fund operations of this kind for cultural or cosmetic reasons."
Labour MP Ann Cryer said she was "absolutely horrified" to learn of the phenomenon.
She added: "We should be trying to protect girls from this. It is a form of abuse of women and it may be that the woman who is asking for the operation to be done does not recognise the abuse that is taking place against her, but in later life she certainly will.
"We have to also ask whether our National Health Service should be providing this sort of facility. I don't think it should be available on the NHS."
The Department of Health said "certain cosmetic procedures" are available on the NHS "to secure physical or psychological health".
Virginity repair operations have become a source of controversy in France, where gynaecologists report a growing number of requests from women.
The procedure is supposed to be funded by the state only if the patient claims she has been raped. But some doctors agree to carry it out for cultural or cosmetic reasons.
Isabelle Levy, an author who studied the issue for her book Religion in the Hospital, said young Muslim girls are "modern and they have adventures like other Europeans - which never happened in the past.
"But on the other hand, fundamentalism is spreading and these girls are getting sent back to their countries of origin to marry. And they will be rejected if it is found out that they are not virgins."
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Post by Aedh on Mar 14, 2008 19:00:37 GMT -5
[Can we change the name of this thread to "News of the Friggin' Loony" please! ] No. For one thing, it requires hotshot staff who know how to do that sort of Internet stuff.
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Post by Aedh on Mar 17, 2008 8:50:35 GMT -5
Not so much weird as scary! Microsoft's future visionA few years from now, when you drive into a McDonald's parking lot, your dashboard computer will start beeping ... "'Big Doctor' is watching you??" Given what my doctors don't know about me, even after years of examinations ... and what they think they do know about me that's dead wrong ... that's more than scary! *electronic phone tone* Excuse me ... yes ... Oh, hullo, Mamba ... Of course it was one of ours--Evil Genius Plot Number 55.2807.96b ... No, I don't know any way to stop it now ... I suggest you buy up as much as you can and stay on top a' that bronco as best you know how. 'Bye now!
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Post by BlackDragon on Mar 17, 2008 9:25:30 GMT -5
Damn... really scary...
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Post by Aedh on Mar 19, 2008 9:18:16 GMT -5
Damn ... really stinky ...
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Post by BlackDragon on Mar 19, 2008 10:44:22 GMT -5
Uuuuu
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Post by Aedh on Mar 19, 2008 11:51:13 GMT -5
Time once again, for the ever-popular ...
Police Blotto Blotter!
Eric Livers, 20, a wanted man in Cheyenne, Wyo., fled apparently scot-free to Portsmouth, N.H., but could not resist calling his former Wyoming employer to ask that his final paycheck be mailed to his New Hampshire address. The employer called authorities, and Portsmouth police picked up Livers in February. [Portsmouth Herald-AP, 2-20-08]
Jeremy Hart, 24, was arrested in Topsham, Maine, in December after allegedly burglarizing a home while the residents were asleep. As Hart was leaving, according to police, he hit a snowbank in the driveway, causing the car to stall, and Hart to become so cold that he sheepishly walked back, rang the victims' doorbell, and asked if he could come in and get warm. The residents, aware that Hart had just been in their house, had already called police. [Times Record (Brunswick, Maine), 12-27-07]
A 17-year-old man was arrested in January and charged with burglary in Tempe, Ariz., based on a victim's description, which included the observation that the man was wearing "monkey-printed pajamas" during the crime. [Arizona State Web Devil, 1-23-08]
William Torres, 21, was arrested in Allentown, Pa., and charged in connection with two homicides; he was taken into custody after a Friday afternoon traffic stop in January, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, pajama bottoms and fuzzy slippers with a lion's face. [Morning Call (Allentown), 1-26-08]
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Post by Aedh on Mar 27, 2008 7:22:11 GMT -5
I don't know what's scarier ... the fact that leeches are touted in Demi's altenative therapy, or that the "veddy propah" British surgeon who ridiculed Demi's leeches admits that he, too uses them "in two very specific areas."
Makes you wonder if modern doctors also still have patients drink potions containing powdered gold and pearls, or if they occasionally still perform the odd exorcism ... "in very specific areas" naturally.
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