More from Africa



African hot water system




Zimbabwe?







THE NEWS

Thief accidentally gives loot back to victim: "Three days after stealing a rare collection of coins, a thief in Germany took them to the bank for safe keeping - and delivered them into the hands of the man he had robbed. Soon after the deposit, a bank worker handling the coins recognised them as the set worth around $80,000 that had been stolen from his house. Police tracked down the 36-year-old suspect and arrested him, finding a haul of other stolen goods in the process."




Walking catfish in Florida: "Residents in a Pinellas County subdivision found about 30 catfish walking around their neighborhood on Tuesday. The walking catfish uses its pectoral fin to shuffle up the street and can breathe out of water as long as it stays moist. Dianna Fernandez maintains the lawns in the area and drove up on the incredible sight. "I was, like, 'No way, there's fish in the street.' And I kept going further and further, seeing fish everywhere. In driveways. I've never seen anything like it," Paul Shafland, a scientist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said walking catfish can travel short distances on land as long as they stay moist. "Scientists say these walking catfish are pretty tough. They actually live in storm drains, and when it rains a lot they come up with the water and start walking around the streets," Shafland said."


Foul mouth gets woman sent to jail: "A Summerfield woman said she blurted without thinking a couple choice words for a county judge during jury selection at the Marion County Courthouse Monday morning-ones which had landed her in jail by the end of the day. Faced with the prospect of serving as a juror and upset that County Judge R. James McCune Jr. denied her request for dismissal, the 23-year-old insulted the presiding judge by calling him a two-syllable curse word-a crude term referring to the anus - within earshot of several of the other 178 potential jurors seated in the Jury Assembly Room. When the judge asked Muller to clarify her remark, Muller repeated it. He charged her on the spot with direct criminal contempt of the court - a second-degree misdemeanor- and Muller was promptly handcuffed by a court bailiff and taken into custody. At a hearing later in the afternoon, McCune sentenced Muller to three days in jail and ordered her to pay court costs and fines."


Shortlived airline advertisement about sick-leave: "Virgin Blue has been left red-faced after being forced to scrap an advertising campaign which urged people to "chuck a sickie" and jet off on holidays. The controversial online "chuck-a-sickie sale" campaign urged frequent flyers to take time off work and take advantage of "top sale fares". But Virgin Blue chief Brett Godfrey moved to axe the campaign just 29 minutes after first seeing it, following a media inquiry over the slogan. Employer advocates had slammed the promotion, saying it risked worsening the workplace absenteeism crisis. Virgin Blue spokeswoman Heather Jeffrey said Mr Godfrey moved swiftly to can the campaign. "It wasn't some form of provocative advertising, it was simply a debatable advertising slogan that slipped through the cracks," Ms Jeffrey said. "Our boss, CEO Brett Godfrey, didn't see the humour in it," she said. "He saw it online and let's just say 29 minutes later it was gone."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 2:48 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Bigger Bras Pricier

Post below recycled from Interested Participant. See the original for links

British retailer Marks & Spencer has put a surcharge on larger bras, size DD-G, because their construction ostensibly makes them more expensive to produce.

Consequently, a new group called Busts 4 Justice has been formed to protest the higher priced bras.

According to Busts 4 Justice founder, Beckie Williams, "It is like having a tax on bigger breasts."

Maybe the surcharge idea came from someone who was racked with envy.







THE NEWS

Cocaine-packed submarine seized in Mexican waters : "Mexico's navy seized a homemade submarine carrying a drug shipment off the Pacific coast on Wednesday and arrested its four-man crew. Similar vessels carrying cocaine have been discovered off Colombia and Central America, but navy spokesman Capt. Benjamin Mar said the seizure is a first for Mexico. The 30-foot makeshift submarine was detected heading north about 200 miles off the southern state of Oaxaca, Mar said. The green-topped, arrowhead-shaped vessel was intercepted when it surfaced hours later, and the crew was taken into custody without resistance."




Musical Road: "A few years ago in japan, members of the hokkaido industrial research institute started carving thousands of very precise grooves into nearby roads. the slightly loopy brainwave belonged to a mr. shinoda, a guy who accidentally cut a road in several places with a digger and then later drove over the damage in his car. He realised that with some planning and time to kill he could create rows of grooves which, when driven over at a certain speed, would `play a tune'. The results, the `melody road', can be seen above and the grooves are between 6 and 12mm apart: the narrower the interval, the higher the pitch. these stretches of road, each playing a different tune, can currently be found in 3 places in japan - hokkaido, wakayama and gunma - with the optimum musical speed being a depressingly slow 28mph. Don't expect a virtual orchestra - from what i've heard, it's not exactly beautiful music"




Lego harpsichord: "Created and built by Henry Lim, with the exception of the wire strings, the LEGO Harpsichord is entirely constructed out of LEGO parts--the keyboard, jacks, jack rack, jack rail, plectra, soundboard, bridge, hitch pins, tuning pins, wrestplank, nut, case, legs, lid, lid stick, and music stand are all built out of interlocking LEGO plastic bricks and related pieces. With a 61 note range, the instruments size is 6 x 3 ft. weighing approximately 150 lbs, and built with an estimated 100,000 LEGO pieces!


British thief steals dead dog: "Few victims of theft get the chance to exact revenge. But one Tube passenger certainly had the last laugh after she had her suitcase snatched at a station. The woman, named only as Sarah, was tricked into giving up the bag - with the thief unaware it contained a dead dog. The polite, well-dressed man offered to help her carry the case up an escalator, gave her a bag weighted with stones as a distraction and then ran-off with his ill-gotten remains. Witness Liam Carling said: 'The guy was a pro. But I would have liked to have been there when he opened the suitcase.' The incident took place after Sarah was asked by a friend to take beloved family pet 'Sandy' - who had died the night before - to a vet for disposal."


Robber boiled: "A quick-thinking receptionist poured boiling water down the back of a man trying to rob an Ipswich medical practice yesterday afternoon. The man entered the Limestone St practice about 12.40pm and pushed the woman against the wall and demanded money. She had just boiled the kettle and poured it down the man's back before he fled empty-handed through the carpark. He is described as caucasian, wearing a full faced dark coloured balaclava, a dark blue or black jacket, dark faded jeans with torn heels and dark shoes."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 3:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

The Popular Mule

A newlywed farmer and his wife were visited by her mother, who immediately demanded an inspection of the place. While they were walking through the barn, the farmer's mule suddenly reared up and kicked the mother-in-law in the head, killing her instantly.

At the funeral service a few days later, the farmer stood near the casket and greeted folks as they walked by. The pastor noticed that whenever a woman would whisper something to the farmer, he would nod his head "Yes" and say something. Whenever a man walked by and whispered to the farmer, he would shake his head, "No" and mumble a reply. Curious, the pastor later asked the farmer what that was all about.

The farmer replied, ''The women would say, 'What a terrible tragedy' and I would nod my head and say, 'Yes, it was.' The men would ask, 'You wanna sell that mule?' and I would shake my head and say, 'Can't. It's all booked up for a year.'"





THE NEWS

British prisoners being sent to hug trees: "Prisoners are being sent out into the grounds of their jails to hug trees. The Woodland Trust is aiming to identify 100,000 ancient trees and said one of the recommended methods of predicting a tree's age was to measure it by hugging it. Jill Butler, Conservation Policy Officer for the Woodland Trust, said because many prisons are renovated stately homes, they often had very old trees in their grounds, which makes prisoners the ideal testers. "Where you've got a stately home you have parkland, and those old parklands will have the ancient trees," she said. "Some of the people in the prisons will help us record them because it's not very easy to send people from outside in, so we really need people who are living inside those prisons to record them."


A real entrepreneur at work: "Until Wednesday, Carl Kopsho had no idea that the man who collected $800 from him every month was not legally his landlord. When sheriff's deputies told him he was living in the house without permission from the owner, Kopsho was confused. Then it all started to make sense. Deputies say a man pretended to own a house at 15 Olive Drive and rented it to Kopsho, 34, and his girlfriend, Heather Peteck, 23, without the knowledge of the owner, who lives in New York. Grain told him he was in the process of a divorce and wanted to rent out his house. It was close to where Kopsho was already living, so he signed a lease, paid the first and last months' rent and, in early February, moved in. Grain refused to accept checks, saying he had been ripped off in the past, and collected the cash in person at the beginning of each month. Kopsho said he had received bad checks before at his own business, so he found the request strange but not suspicious. According to a Marion County Sheriff's Office report, the deed-holder, Sebastian Wagner, called authorities Wednesday to say he suspected someone was living at his Marion County property, which was supposed to be vacant. Kopsho said authorities told him the real owner may decide to start renting the house, and he hopes he will not have to move. He has already painted the walls and installed a refrigerator and was about to replace the kitchen cabinets."


Italy: Party takes aim at carry-outs: "Diners hungry for Chinese carry-out or Middle Eastern kebabs in Italy could have their choices limited under a regional law proposed by the anti-immigrant Northern League on Thursday. The League called for the Lombardy regional council to allow cities to bar from their historic centers businesses that are `incompatible with the historical context.' `For example, fast food, Chinese restaurants, kebab, sex shops are types of commercial activity that clash heavily with a 1,000-year-old historic district, as is typical of Lombard reality,' Daniele Belotti, a regional councilor with the League, said in a statement. The measure is aimed at maintaining the character of historic town and city centers, it said."


PA: Selling soap is a crime??: "A 38-year-old man who police say tried making a couple of bucks by selling soap as crack cocaine waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Central Court on Monday. Paul Lawson, Jr., of 70 Davis Place, Wilkes-Barre, formerly of Philadelphia, was charged last month with intentional possession of a controlled substance - namely soap in lieu of crack cocaine - with intent to deliver, according to Luzerne County Clerk of Court records. According to an affidavit of probable cause: Wilkes-Barre Police Officer Chris Hardy was on patrol in the area of Academy Street and Davis Place on June 13. Police had already received several complaints regarding a male named Paul, described as wearing a powder blue North Carolina hat, white T-shirt and jean shorts, who was selling fake crack cocaine in the same area. Hardy spotted Lawson, who matched the description of the male wearing the same exact hat and clothing, loitering near South Franklin Street. The officer was involved in an encounter with Lawson, police said."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 7:01 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Hospital Refuses To Accept Their Own Health Insurance Plan

You read this correctly the first time: Employees at St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital in New York State have little choice but to use alternative medicine. "Alternative medicine" in this instance being the hospital 45 minutes away because St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital will no longer accept the St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital employee Health Insurance plan.

"It's insulting to work at a hospital you can't get sick in," says one employee.

The union says the hospital is being spiteful. The hospital says the insurance company sucks. The employees say, well, apparently it doesn't matter what the employees say...

More here







IN OTHER NEWS:



The parrot that cleans teeth: "Meet Rainbow, the bird that thinks it's a dentist. That's right, this little fella cleans its owners teeth with its beak. Plaque is never a problem when this parrot is about. It even provides a feathered flossing. Knowing Rainbow's teeth-cleaning talent proved to be critical when he went missing from his home on Sydney's northern beaches. Our sister masthead, The Manly Daily, was inundated with claims of ownership for the bird after publishing a story earlier this week that he had been found in a Belrose park. There was even a suggestion at one point that all the potential owners would need to be gathered together and the lorikeet left to choose its owner. Michelle Needham, of Brookvale, was among those to step forward to claim the lost lorikeet. 'I know it is Rainbow," she said. "I know his little face and the way his feathers stick out at the front." And "if you open your mouth, he will stick his head in and clean your teeth. Sure enough, the bird who also has a clearly identifiable scar from a nasty fall into a garden pond, had already shown his fondness for cleaning teeth while in the care of the finder's family."


Fiery weedkiller in Scotland: "A scientist using a mini-blowtorch to kill weeds accidentally incinerated his neighbours' front garden. Robert Gailey, 79, watched in horror as sparks from a gas-powered garden tool caused the lawn and shrubs of his neighbours, Stuart and Phyliss McLean, to catch light. Mr Gailey had been using a Weed Wand, a $40 hand-held flaming device which burns weeds, to treat the driveway of his semi-detached home in Paisley, Renfrewshire. Within seconds, the McLeans's manicured lawn and evergreen trees were aflame and Mr Gailey's wife, Mary, called the Fire Brigade. Mr Gailey, who holds a 1st in science from Glasgow University, admitted his embarrassment over the blunder: "I had been using the Weed Wand to get rid of weeds on my driveway. "A couple of sparks had come off and before I knew it they had started a blaze in the garden next door"




Expensive British tree: "An oak tree in Surrey thought to be more than 300 years old has been valued at $1,000,000 by council officials. The tree, in a suburban street in Weybridge, has been assessed according to its size, health, historic significance and the pleasure it brings to residents. It has been valued under a new system adopted by several councils to stop healthy trees from being cut down because they have been blamed for subsidence in buildings. Capital asset value for amenity trees (Cavat) means that from now on, risk-adverse councils or insurers will have to undertake extra engineering work to prove a link between a tree and subsidence, which can also be caused by broken drains and dry weather. It is hoped it will stem the tide of older, healthy trees that are felled each year by insurers and councils on spurious grounds. In London alone, more than 16,000 trees including some over 100 years old have been chopped down because of insurance claims in the past five years, although the London Assembly said that only one per cent of those removals were justified. The Weybridge oak, which is around 40 feet high with branches stretching around the same width, is thought to be over 300 years old, although an exact age cannot be established"


Rome bans 'snacks, fun' at tourist sites: "Tourists to Rome risk no longer being able to quench their thirst or raise their voices as they stroll the city's historic streets. The new right-wing mayor Gianni Alemanno has issued a "public decorum" ordinance forbidding eating, drinking, singing or "lounging around" on the streets of the capital's centre. The measures will be introduced for an experimental period until the end of October and take effect immediately, an official at Alemanno's office said. Mr Alemanno, a former youth leader of a neo-fascist movement, made law and order a central plank of his campaign in April's city election, including a clampdown on immigrants and gypsies. Among more commonplace bans on dropping litter, sleeping out, bill-posting and defecating in the street, it will also be prohibited to "pause to consume food or drink," and "shout, sing or be noisy". The new rules on decorum will apply to "all areas of historic, cultural or artistic value, and in particular in the historic centre", the official said."




And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 2:30 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Scenes from Africa: A leisurely ambulance






Scenes from Africa: Who needs an iPod?







THE NEWS

Mormons make missionary position clear: "The creator of a calendar featuring buff Mormon missionaries has been excommunicated as punishment by local church leaders. Chad Hardy said he bore no ill will toward the council of elders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over his punishment. "I felt like I spoke my truth,'' the 31-year-old entertainment entrepreneur said after the disciplinary meeting in Las Vegas. "Bottom-line, they still felt the calendar is inappropriate and not the image that the church wants to have,'' the Associated Press reported. Men on a Mission, which has sold nearly 10,000 copies, features pictures of 12 returned missionaries wearing trousers but not their trademark white shirts. The men are photographed in traditional missionary garb and share their religious beliefs in biographical sketches. Some of the 12 featured have also been called to disciplinary meetings but have been punished."


Elderly 'Black Widows' jailed for life: "Los Angeles: Two elderly women who befriended and then murdered homeless men to collect millions of dollars in life insurance have been jailed for life. Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, who were convicted of murder in April, have been dubbed the "Black Widows" for orchestrating a scheme that saw them take out insurance policies on destitute men before killing them. The two women received nearly $US3 million in insurance payouts before their crimes were discovered, prosecutors told their trial at Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this year. Prosecutors had not sought the death penalty for Golay and Rutterschmidt, who will now die behind bars after being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. "They made $US2.8 million by murder - murder to collect life insurance benefits of two men who had nothing," deputy district attorney Truc Do told jurors at the women's trial."




England's soldier babe: "A female soldier who fought off a suspected Iraqi insurgent has swapped guns for glamour and won a place in the final of a beauty pageant. Katrina Hodge, 21, dubbed "Combat Barbie" after being honoured for saving the lives of members of her regiment, will represent England at Miss World 2008 if she wins in July. She wants to use her place in the Miss England competition to highlight the work of the Armed Forces, reports Britain's Daily Mail. Ms Hodge was given a bravery commendation in 2005 after members of her regiment were threatened at gunpoint by a suspected Iraqi insurgent after the vehicle they were travelling in overturned. She said: "I was in complete shock at first. The force of the accident caused our vehicle to roll over three times and threw us off guard. "As I came round, the Iraqi suspect was standing over us with the rifles. I knew if I didn't act fast then our lives would be in danger. I punched him and the force startled him enough for me to retrieve the rifles from him."


No singing for British charity workers: "Staff at a charity shop in Exeter have been told to stop singing while they work in case they are accused of acting in concert with an illicit radio. Mind, the mental health charity, told the managers at its 100 shops not to play radios because it does not have a $120 licence from the Performing Rights Society (PRS), which collects royalties on behalf of musicians. Staff and volunteers, who entertained customers by singing at the Exeter shop, were asked to stop in case it raised suspicions of radio backing and brought a $1,000 fine. The PRS and the Association of Charity Shops reached an agreement for a reduced fee last night but it is not clear if Mind will accept it."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 5:31 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Bandage dress or bandaid dress?

Apparently it's a very popular fashion at the moment but there seems to be some disagreement about what it should be called. Anyway they seem to think that it suits both stick insects and the world's most famous boob job



More examples here






THE NEWS

Coke and heroin cheaper than beer in Britain: "Deadly drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine are being peddled for less than a pint of beer on the streets of England. Prices have plummeted because vast quantities of drugs are now flowing into Britain, reports The News of the World. One hit of heroin now costs as little as $4 - less than a pint of beer in a pub, which costs $5.40. A line of coke is just $5.


Tot puts fingers in plughole, destroys bathroom: "He's not the first toddler to be curious about water running down the drain, but he could be the first to destroy his parents' bathroom in the process. Seth from Bendigo in central Victoria, stuck two of his fingers into the bath drain to enjoy the feeling of water suction last night. But the suction dragged his fingers in too much, they became stuck and it took the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and State Emergency Service six hours to free him. Seth, 2, plugged his fingers in the drain at 8pm and rescuers were called 30 minutes later, CFA fire officer Bruce Quarrier told AAP. "The hole was corroded so it turned when we tried to remove it, which caused pain to the young lad and we couldn't do much," he said. "The crews had to work under the house and cut pipes away from there, so we could lift the bath up and get enough clearance. "It has virtually destroyed the bathroom. We had to cut tiles off the wall to dismantle the bath." Electric hacksaws were used first before the crews took Seth to Bendigo Base Hospital with the pipe and drain still attached to him. Once there, they used hydraulic spreaders, similar to the jaws of life, and hacksaws to carefully free him."


Man torn apart by zoo bears: "Three bears at a Ukrainian zoo tore a man "limb from limb" after he fell into their enclosure, local media reports. The 22-year-old man was drunk and trying to take close-up shots of the Siberian Brown bears at Mykolaev city zoo when he lost his footing, witnesses said, acording to Channel 5 television. The three bears charged the man immediately, tearing him "limb from limb" as he tried to escape, according to the station, quoted by the Deutsche Presse-Agentur news agency. The man was dead before keepers could separate the animals from their victim. The brown bear is highly territorial and among the world's largest land carnivores."


Mystery British bug: "Insect experts at the Natural History Museum thought they'd seen it all - they do have 28 million specimens in their collection, spanning roughly half a million species. That was until a tiny red and black bug, no bigger than a grain of rice, turned up in their own back garden. Despite a year's efforts from specialists across Europe, the mystery insect has defied all attempts to identify it. Max Barclay, an entomologist at the museum, came across the bug last spring. "I was in the gardens with my son and there was one under the gate," he told The Times yesterday. "I thought, `That looks interesting, I've never seen anything like that before'." The bug was the most common insect in the museum's wildlife garden last summer and has since been found across southwest London. "It's a bit unsatisfactory that in the garden of the biggest museum in the world there was an insect that we couldn't identify," Mr Barclay said."




And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 12:56 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Fat Pride activists are not the only language guardians

Comment from Britain:

You might have difficulty slipping in to the cinema to watch a US box-office hit when it opens here. The animation Wall-E - a gentle ecological satire featuring a robot who cleans up the planet after wasteful humans - is being picketed in the US by fat activists.

Groups such as the Fat Acceptance Movement are angry at the comic mileage the movie gains at the expense of the overweight. And the great advantage fat activists have when looking to make efficient use of their resources is that it doesn't take too many to form an effective picket line

Fat activism is growing in the US and expanding here. Its principal aim is semantic. Fatima Parker, UK spokesman for the International Size Acceptance Association, says "obese" and "overweight" are morally loaded terms. She would rather celebrate "fat", ridding the word of its pejorative undertow. "Derogatory language and stereotypes about fat people will only make them eat more," suggests Ms Parker.

Her organisation, however, is not the only one manning the linguistic barricades, hoping to reclaim terms from those who would abuse them.

Drug Cheats

Campaigning under the slogan "Human Growth Hormone is only human", the English Pro-pharmaceutical Organisation is seeking to re-engineer the word "cheat". "It is high time athletes who choose to embrace the possibilities of the chemist were recognised for their work in the advancement of knowledge," says Dwayne Muscle, of EPO. "Would medical science be where it is now without half the world's sprinters acting as human laboratories? The sooner we recognise that sport should be all about running, jumping and shooting up the better."

Halitosis Action

"How would you like it if people asked you whether something had died in your mouth overnight?" asks Simon Honk, of Halitosis Action, the body that campaigns for equal rights for the orally different. "Yet, that happened to me only last week. And all I'd done is ask the way to Highgate Hill. Here's something that will shock you: statistics prove that those with bad breath are up to 90 per cent less successful when asking someone out on a date than members of the fresh-breath community. That is pure discrimination. We are not pongos. We are not dog breaths. We are halitoxic and proud."

Sepp's Slaves

According to Sepp Blatter, president of Fifa, for too long the word "slave" has been used to describe people who are made to work for no financial return. From now on, it will apply to preening football mercenaries who, despite earning more in a day than many so-called slaves will earn in a lifetime, are obliged to stick to their contracts and not swan off to whichever club happens to play in a white shirt.

The Stabbing Community

Wendy Wet, the social worker who set up Stab (Stop Talking About Blame), says those who carry knives are suffering from low self-esteem which is not helped when they read in the papers that they are responsible for a growing sense of alarm on our streets. "I am working on a daily basis with members of the stabbing community and going forward what we need is an ongoing reappraisal of the language. These are not thugs, gangsters or murderers. Out on the street they are very much stakeholders. Plus machete holders, sword holders and switchblade holders."

James Blunt

"I have had enough of these two words causing mockery whenever they are announced on the radio," says JB, of the James Blunt Appreciation Society. "To me these are among the most beautiful terms in pop. Right up there with 'royalty' and 'cheque'."

Church of England Gay Vicars

"It is about time we were able to state plainly who we are," says Rev X, of the new grouping CofE And Proud. "Only last week I was on a Gay Pride march and discovered several of my colleagues were obliged to disguise themselves. The irony is, they were dressed as nuns. But we should be shouting it from the roof tops: hallelujah, we are members of the Church of England. Though if you didn't use my name, I'd be grateful. My mum reads the Telegraph and I wouldn't want her knowing that I'm, you know, a vicar."

Original report here






THE NEWS

Australian dickless Tracy charged with handbag hissy fit: "An off-duty police officer has been accused of assaulting a man with a handbag during an argument at a car yard. A couple, including the female senior constable, was charged over the altercation in Sydney's north shore on July 6, police said today. It was alleged a 32-year-old man pushed the business owner into a wall and tore his shirt before he was hit with a handbag by the 31-year-old officer. The pair were charged with common assault and will appear in Hornsby Local Court on August 20".



Medicare scammers cash in using dead doctors' ID numbers: "Scammers have found a lucrative source for squeezing money from Medicare: dead doctors. Over seven years, the federal program for the elderly and disabled paid more than $76 million to purported medical equipment suppliers who used Medicare ID numbers of deceased physicians, says a report out today by congressional investigators. Despite learning of the problem in 2001, the government failed to fix it, the report says. Investigators reviewed billing data submitted by equipment suppliers from 2000 to 2007 using the ID numbers of 1,500 deceased doctors. The government payments went to firms that said they supplied such devices as wheelchairs and oxygen equipment, which require a doctor's order or prescription. The ID numbers investigated were those of doctors who had died 12 months to 15 years before the suppliers' claims were filed."


Dallas police find $400K worth of cocaine in seized car used by undercover officers: "Police didn't have to go far to find $400,000 worth of cocaine - it was in an undercover car they'd been driving for two months. An officer cleaning the car at a patrol station Wednesday discovered the nearly 50 pounds of cocaine carefully hidden in hydraulically controlled compartments. "These compartments have recently been more and more popular with drug operations," said Deputy Chief Julian Bernal, commander of the narcotics division. Dallas police put the two-door 2004 black Infiniti into police service on May 7 after seizing it at a drug house. It had been found at a drug house earlier this year along with a 1999 Honda. Bernal said the narcotics division searched both the vehicles and found nothing unusual after the seizure. The Honda was sold at auction. Bernal said police plan to contact the person who bought the Honda to find out if drugs are hidden in that car, too. And, they are also trying to find out who owned the cocaine they have been secretly driving around with."


Druggie escapes in chase but leaves behind ringing cell phone: "Forrest City police weren't able to catch their man after a high-speed chase through town, but the cell phone he left behind gave away his identity. The chase started just before 11 p.m. Monday after officers received a call about people "fighting in the street with guns," police said. When police arrived, they managed to block one car from getting away. The man in that car spoke briefly with officers before speeding away - and the chase was on. The man crashed his Toyota Camry into a house and ran away, police said. But as officers searched the car, the man's cell phone rang and the caller asked for the suspect by name. Officers said a search of the car uncovered a set of scales and two plastic bags, one containing marijuana and the other containing crack cocaine. Police declined to name the man Tuesday but said they were still searching for him."




And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 5:12 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

New Rooster

A farmer goes out one day and buys a brand new stud rooster for his chicken coop. The rooster struts over to the old rooster and says, "OK, old fart, time to retire."

The old rooster replies, "Come on, you can't handle ALL these chickens. Look what it's done to me. Can't you just let me have the two old hens over in the corner?"

The young rooster says, "Beat it! You're washed up and I'm taking over."

The old rooster says "I'll tell you what, young stud, I'll race you around the farmhouse. Whoever wins gets exclusive domain over the entire chicken coop."

The young rooster laughs, "You know you don't stand a chance old man, so just to be fair, I'll give you a head start."

The old rooster takes off running. About 15 seconds later the young rooster takes off after him. They round the front of the farmhouse and the young rooster has closed the gap. He's already about 5 inches behind the old rooster and gaining fast.

The farmer, meanwhile, is sitting on the front porch when he sees the roosters running by, one right behind the other. He grabs his shotgun and BOOM! -- he blows the young rooster to bits.

The farmer sadly shakes his head, "Damn...third gay rooster I've bought this month."





THE NEWS

Strange Christianity: "'We think the G-spot should be seen as one more way God gave us to share in the pleasure of sex,' announced the Revs. Paul and Lori Byerly, hosts of the online site the Marriage Bed. Evangelicals Melissa and Louis McBurney have endorsed oral sex, mutual masturbation and rear-entry vaginal penetration -- between spouses. The Rev. Charles Shedd has declared that he and his wife, Martha, like anal sex just fine. As Herzog notes, these sex-positive Christians have absorbed from the women's movement of the 1970s and 1980s 'an interest in intensifying women's sexual pleasure,' as well as 'the frustration at male fascination with pornography and emotional nonpresence during sex.' The result is a kind of 'Christian porn,' as sexperts guide their married readers toward the holy land of 'soulgasm,' where spirit and flesh come ecstatically together. If you follow the rules, Herzog writes, 'magnificent sex will be yours forever.'" [It sounds like the Baal worship that the Hebrew prophets kept condemning]


Woman Shoots Self While Trying To Kill Mice: "A Mendocino County woman who was trying to kill mice in her trailer with a gun ended up shooting herself and another person. Sheriff's officials say the 43-year-old woman pulled out her .44-caliber Magnum revolver after she saw the mice scurrying across the floor of her trailer on Highway 20 in Potter Valley. But she accidentally dropped the gun, which went off as it struck the floor. The bullet went through the woman's kneecap, bounced off the keys sitting on the belt loop of a 42-year-old man in the trailer and grazed the man's groin before ending up in his coin pocket. Authorities did not release the shooting victims' names. The mice escaped the shooting unharmed"


Blind air traffic controllers can apply in batty Britain: "A British airport has advertised for an air traffic controller - and offered those interested an application pack in braille. The website for St Mary's Airport on the Isles of Scilly, off the southwest tip of England, says controllers need to be able to keep a close eye on the changeable weather as their work "is not over-dependent upon very costly and sophisticated electronic equipment". But applicants for the job could still ask for an application pack in large type, braille or audio format, newspapers said. A spokesman for the local council said the wording was included on all job advertisements, while the Royal National Institute for the Blind praised its "good practice".


GA: Lawyer wants troopers to prove they can sniff out pot: "The lawyer for a man accused of having 10 pounds of marijuana said something about the arrest smells. He wants two Georgia State Patrol troopers to prove they can sniff out pot tied up in a trash bag inside a car trunk. If troopers Jeff Adamson and Kevin Turner are unable to repeat the feat with a random car in the Gordon County courthouse parking lot, attorney David West says the evidence against Jarmane Vernon Knox should be suppressed for lack of probable cause for a search. West says: 'If these officers really think they are human drug dogs, let's put them to the test.' Knox and passenger Derrick Mikes were stopped on Interstate 75, initially because the license plate tag light was out."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 5:25 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

The Survival of the Sudsiest

The development of civilization depended on urbanization, which depended on beer. To understand why, consult Steven Johnson's marvelous 2006 book, "The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World." It is a great scientific detective story about how a horrific cholera outbreak was traced to a particular neighborhood pump for drinking water. And Johnson begins a mind-opening excursion into a related topic this way:

"The search for unpolluted drinking water is as old as civilization itself. As soon as there were mass human settlements, waterborne diseases like dysentery became a crucial population bottleneck. For much of human history, the solution to this chronic public-health issue was not purifying the water supply. The solution was to drink alcohol."

Often the most pure fluid available was alcohol -- in beer and, later, wine -- which has antibacterial properties. Sure, alcohol has its hazards, but as Johnson breezily observes, "Dying of cirrhosis of the liver in your forties was better than dying of dysentery in your twenties." Besides, alcohol, although it is a poison, and an addictive one, became, especially in beer, a driver of a species-strengthening selection process.

Johnson notes that historians interested in genetics believe that the roughly simultaneous emergence of urban living and the manufacturing of alcohol set the stage for a survival-of-the-fittest sorting-out among the people who abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and, literally and figuratively speaking, went to town.

To avoid dangerous water, people had to drink large quantities of, say, beer. But to digest that beer, individuals needed a genetic advantage that not everyone had -- what Johnson describes as the body's ability to respond to the intake of alcohol by increasing the production of particular enzymes called alcohol dehydrogenases. This ability is controlled by certain genes on chromosome four in human DNA, genes not evenly distributed to everyone. Those who lacked this trait could not, as the saying goes, "hold their liquor." So, many died early and childless, either of alcohol's toxicity or from waterborne diseases.

The gene pools of human settlements became progressively dominated by the survivors -- by those genetically disposed to, well, drink beer. "Most of the world's population today," Johnson writes, "is made up of descendants of those early beer drinkers, and we have largely inherited their genetic tolerance for alcohol."

The connection between civilization and beer is even stronger than that. Nomads can do a lot of things but it's darned hard to brew mead or beer unless you adopt a sedentary habit. There are anthropologists who believe that human beings founded the first permanent settlements in order to brew mead or beer. Beer-drinking anthropologists, naturally.

Original report here






THE NEWS

Chile: Protest stripper arrested: "Police in Chile have arrested a stripper who was attempting to remove her clothes outside the presidential palace in the capital, Santiago. Her arrest comes three days after she performed a series of striptease dances on the Santiago underground, the metro. Monserrat Morilles told reporters that her performances were aimed at challenging the prudishness of Chilean society and that they would continue. Chilean media has dubbed her 'La Diosa del Metro' or the Metro Goddess."


Man sues church, claiming spirit forced his fall: " A man says he was so consumed by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while at a Knoxville church. Now he wants Lakewind Church to pay $2.5 million for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering he says he's endured from his injuries. Matt Lincoln, who is 57, says he decided to sue the church after its insurance company denied his claim for medical bills. Lincoln has had two surgeries since the June 2007 incident but says he still feels pain in his back and his legs. The Sevier County man says he was asking God to have "a real experience" while praying at church. He says he has fallen from the force of the spirit before but has always been caught by someone. Lawyers for the church say other congregants saw him on the floor laughing after his fall. They say he failed to look out for his own safety."


Man Uses Permanent Marker to Fool Photo Radar: "A 44-year-old Arizona man allegedly tried to fool the photo radars that record a vehicle's speed. It worked for a while - until the police caught up with him. Timothy Welsh allegedly used a permanent marker to change both the 3 and the 9 on his license plate to an 8, so when his vehicle got nabbed for speeding, the ticket was sent to someone else, MyFOXPhoenix.com reported. At first, Scottsdale Sgt. Jim Butera thought it was a mistake when a Phoenix man called him complaining he had gotten two speeding tickets mailed to him, but he wasn't the one speeding. When Butera looked at the photo and saw the man making an obscene gesture at the camera he thought, "[we] need to do some more investigating." "He didn't think it was that big of a deal," Butera told the station. "But he admitted to everything that we accused him of." Welsh allegedly was going 14 mph over the speed limit and would have had to pay a $175 fine, but now, he's facing a $1,500 fine and up to a year in jail."




End of the British sandwich board is nigh: "Since the early 19th century, when tradesmen hoisted them on to their backs to flaunt silk wares and fine foods, the sandwich board has played an integral role in the commerce of London. Nowadays they are more likely to advertise two-for-one meals, cheap theatre tickets or tanning salons, but they remain a regular fixture in the West End. Now the sandwich-board men are about to be driven from the teeming pavements and consigned to history. Westminster City Council will use new legislation to remove sandwich boards and advertising placards permanently from the streets next month. Under the new laws, sandwich-board men and the companies they advertise face fines of up to $5,000 if they fail to comply with the ban. Westminster, which believes that other authorities in London will follow its lead, said it was taking steps to remove the clutter from the West End to improve the experience for shoppers. On any given day, more than 100 portable signs are carried through London's leading shopping streets."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 4:59 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Bill Gates Meet Their Maker

Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Bill Gates all died in a plane crash and went to meet their maker. The supreme deity turned to Al and asked, tell what is important about yourself.

Al responded that he felt that the earth was the ultimate importance and that protecting the earth's ecological system was most important.

God looked to Al and said, " I like the way you think, come and sit at my left hand". God then asked Bill Clinton what he revered most.

Bill Clinton responded that he felt people and their personal choices were most important.

God responded, " I like the way you think, come and sit at my right hand". God then turned to Bill Gates, who was staring at him indignantly.

God asked "What is your problem Bill Gates?"

Bill responded " I think you're sitting in my chair".




Lucky penguin

A redneck was walking along Peachtree Street, accompanied by a penguin on a leash. According to the redneck, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, a policeman approached him and said, "What are you doing walking that penguin in this heat? I want you to take him to the zoo right now!"

"Yes, officer," the redneck replied.

A week later, the redneck was walking the penguin along the same stretch of Peachtree Street, when the same officer approached him. "I thought I told you to take that penguin to the zoo," the officer said.

"Oh, officer, I did," said the redneck. "And today we're going to the circus!"






THE NEWS

Smelly Scottish criminal: "A defendant's poor personal hygiene brought court proceedings to a halt yesterday as the judge led lawyers and officials down to the cells under Perth Sheriff Court. Sheriff Michael Fletcher decided that it was in the public interest to move because Neil Turner - who admitted breaching a bail order banning him from approaching his estranged girlfriend - was deemed too unclean to appear in open court. Turner, 59, who pleaded guilty through the cell-door hatch, was remanded in custody for the preparation of social background and community service reports. A court source said: "The decision was taken to move the mountain to Muhammad, as it were, because of the state of Turner. There was a distinctly unfresh odour emanating from his cell and it was decided it would not be hygienic to bring him up to court. "If he had been taken into court the whole place would have had to have been fumigated. There were health issues for the other folk waiting for their cases in court." It was the second time in two months that the defendant had been kept from the dock for the same reason."


British girl told she "doesn't exist": "A 16-year-old Essex schoolgirl who has lived in England virtually all her life has been told she does not officially 'exist.' Jade Jacobs-Brooks has no birth certificate, no passport and no way of proving who she is because of a mix-up when she was born on holiday in Spain. The Spanish authorities issued the incorrect documentation, and without a valid Spanish birth certificate she has never been able to register her birth in the United Kingdom. The problem came to a head when she recently applied for a Saturday job but was turned down because she was unable to prove her ID."


London restaurant's Bollywood Burner 'world's hottest' curry: "A London restaurant is serving up what it hopes will be confirmed as the world's hottest curry, with even the chef admitting it is "too extreme" to keep on the menu. Vivek Singh at The Cinnamon Club grabbed some of the hottest chilli peppers known to man to create the Bollywood Burner, a lamb-based dish with a fierce kick. The curry is so hot that diners are asked to sign a disclaimer confirming they are aware of the risks involved before daring to eat it. Student Toby Steele, 19, from Brighton on the southern English coast, was the first to taste the Bollywood Burner. "I'm usually a korma man and I suspect this is the hottest thing I've ever tasted," he said. "It was nice actually, you could really taste the spices. "The initial taste isn't that hot but now, a couple of minutes later, I feel a bit floaty and light-headed." The dish, inspired by cuisine from Hyderabad in southern India, includes the Naga and its seeds - confirmed by Guinness World Records as the hottest chilli pepper in the world.... Metro newspaper's James Ellis said it was "innocuous enough at the first bite," but one helping "saw my taste buds melt in fury at the inferno in my mouth. "Meanwhile, my heartbeat, which started at a resting pace of 68 beats per minute, zoomed up to 128 - the equivalent of doing aerobic exercise."




Sock fetishist: "A US man [above] with a hankering for women's hosiery has been caught stealing socks again, despite being sent to prison three times already for the bizarre fetish. James Dowdy, 36, of St Louis, Illinois, was charged with burglary after allegedly stealing a pair of women's socks from the laundry of a house. Dowdy has gained a bizarre infamy for stealing woman's socks and has served several lengthy prison terms for the crime since 1993. A man called police after seeing a burglar crawl out of his basement early on Monday, the Belleville News Democrat online reported. Police tracked the offender to Dowdy's home where they allegedly found the victim's socks. In 2004, Dowdy was jailed for seven years after he pleaded guilty to walking into a neighbour's home and taking her socks. Seven years earlier, he was sentenced to six years for breaking into another woman's home and stealing her socks. In 1993, Dowdy received a three-year-prison sentence for attempted burglary after police caught him with a bag of stolen socks. Dowdy will appear in court later on the new charges."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 4:09 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Eminent people at work

Eugene d'Albert (noted German composer) was married six times. At an evening reception which he attended with his fifth wife shortly after their wedding, he presented the lady to a friend who said politely, "Congratulations, Herr d'Albert; you have rarely introduced me to so charming a wife."

During a visit to America, Winston Churchill was invited to a buffet luncheon at which cold fried chicken was served. Returning for a second helping, he asked politely, "May I have some breast?" "Mr. Churchill," replied the hostess, "in this country we ask for white meat or dark meat." Churchill apologized profusely. The following morning, the lady received a magnificent orchid from her guest of honor. The accompanying card read: "I would be most obliged if you would pin this on your white meat."

Sentenced to two years hard labor (for Sodomy), Oscar Wilde stood handcuffed in driving rain waiting for transport to prison. "If this is the way Queen Victoria treats her prisoners," he remarked," she doesn't deserve to have any."

James McNeill Whistler's (painter of "Whistler's Mother") failure in his West Point chemistry examination once provoked him to remark in later life, "If silicon had been a gas, I should have been a major general."

German philosopher) Georg Wilhelm Hegel, on his deathbed, complained, "Only one man ever understood me." He fell silent for a while and then added, "And he didn't understand me."

Driving through a Swiss city one day, Alfred Hitchcock suddenly pointed out of the car window and said, " That is the most frightening sight I have ever seen." His companion was surprised to see nothing more alarming than a priest in conversation with a little boy, his hand on the child's shoulder. "Run, little boy," cried Hitchcock, leaning out of the car. "Run for your life!"

Grover Cleveland, though constantly at loggerheads with the Senate, got on better with the House of Representatives. A popular story circulating during his presidency concerned the night he was roused by his wife crying, "Wake up! I think there are burglars in the house." "No, no, my dear," said the president sleepily, "in the Senate maybe, but not in the House."

Will Rogers, having paid too much income tax one year, tried in vain to claim a rebate. His numerous letters and queries remained unanswered. Eventually the form for the next year's return arrived. In the section marked "DEDUCTIONS," Rogers listed: "Bad debt, US Government -- $40,000."

Lady Astor was giving a costume ball and Winston Churchill asked her what disguise she would recommend for him. She said, "Why don't you come sober, Mr. Prime Minister?"






THE NEWS



Man Locks Criminals in shipping container: " Three criminals thought they had an easy steal until they became captive of their target. On his way to work, a man saw the burglars and decided to take matters into his own hands. It was an ordinary day for Conway Palmer. He pulled up to work in his truck and parked near one of the storage vaults. As he began walking, he noticed two other trucks that he had never seen before. He looked around and saw no one. Then he took a look inside the storage vault and saw three men attempting to steal items. "I saw a couple of men and they were bigger than me so I was pretty scared. My adrenaline started rushing pretty fast," said Palmer. "I asked them, `what are you doing?' And, didn't wait for them to answer because I knew what they were doing. I just shut the door because I knew they wouldn't be able to get out," said Palmer. The walls of the steel storage vault are inches deep and have no windows or holes for the criminals to escape. Provo police took the men into custody. Authorities later found methamphetamine and a rifle was found in one of the men's vehicles."


British woman tickled to discover baby bat in her padded bra: "A hotel receptionist found a bat nestling in the padding of the bra that she had been wearing for 4« hours. Abbie Hawkins, 19, had no idea that the bat, the size of her hand, was there from the moment that she got dressed at 7.30am until her lunchbreak. The bra had been on the washing line the previous day. "I did not notice anything as I put my bra on," she said. "When I was driving to work I felt a slight vibration but I though it was just my mobile." At midday she still felt something moving. "I plucked up the courage to investigate and I pulled out a little baby bat." Her manager released the bat in the garden of the Holiday Inn, near Norwich airport."


Case solved as British police find that wolf-whistler is a parrot: "Police called to investigate reports of a man wolf-whistling at girls were astonished to find that a parrot was to blame. After hours of visiting houses in the area, Police Community Support Officers found the culprit when it whistled at one of the female officers. The bird, a ten-year-old African grey called Charlie, belongs to a retired couple, Terry and Phyllis Burgoine. Mr Burgoine, 69, said that Charlie's repertoire was not limited to wolf-whistling - he could bark like a dog and sing nursery rhymes as well."


Russian woman kills husband with folding couch: "A Russian woman has killed her drunk husband with a folding couch during an argument, local media reports. St Petersburg's Channel Five said the man's wife, upset with her husband for being drunk and refusing to get up, kicked a handle after an argument, activating a mechanism that folds the couch up against a wall. The couch, which doubles as a bed, folds up automatically in order to save space. The man fell between the mattress and the back of the couch, Channel Five quoted emergency workers as saying. The woman then walked out of the room and returned three hours later to check on what she thought was an unusually quiet sleeping husband. Police declined to comment. The St Petersburg Emergency Services Ministry said a private rescue service removed the man's body. Video on the television channel's website showed emergency workers sawing away the side panels of a couch to remove a man in his underwear lying headfirst between the cushions. Emergency workers said the man died instantly."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 5:23 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Marriage advice

This is serious stuff but it has a sting in the tail

Father Pat Connor, a 79-year-old Catholic priest born in Australia and based in Bordentown, N.J., has spent his celibate life - including nine years as a missionary in India - mulling connubial bliss. His decades of marriage counseling led him to distill some "mostly common sense" advice about how to dodge mates who would maul your happiness.

"Hollywood says you can be deeply in love with someone and then your marriage will work," the twinkly eyed, white-haired priest says. "But you can be deeply in love with someone to whom you cannot be successfully married."

For 40 years, he has been giving a lecture - "Whom Not to Marry" - to high school seniors, mostly girls because they're more interested. "It's important to do it before they fall seriously in love, because then it will be too late," he explains. "Infatuation trumps judgment." I asked him to summarize his talk:

"Never marry a man who has no friends," he starts. "This usually means that he will be incapable of the intimacy that marriage demands. I am always amazed at the number of men I have counseled who have no friends. Since, as the Hebrew Scriptures say, `Iron shapes iron and friend shapes friend,' what are his friends like? What do your friends and family members think of him? Sometimes, your friends can't render an impartial judgment because they are envious that you are beating them in the race to the altar. Envy beclouds judgment.

"Does he use money responsibly? Is he stingy? Most marriages that founder do so because of money - she's thrifty, he's on his 10th credit card.

"Steer clear of someone whose life you can run, who never makes demands counter to yours. It's good to have a doormat in the home, but not if it's your husband.

"Is he overly attached to his mother and her mythical apron strings? When he wants to make a decision, say, about where you should go on your honeymoon, he doesn't consult you, he consults his mother. (I've known cases where the mother accompanies the couple on their honeymoon!)

"Does he have a sense of humor? That covers a multitude of sins. My mother was once asked how she managed to live harmoniously with three men - my father, brother and me. Her answer, delivered with awesome arrogance, was: `You simply operate on the assumption that no man matures after the age of 11.' My father fell about laughing.

"A therapist friend insists that `more marriages are killed by silence than by violence.' The strong, silent type can be charming but ultimately destructive. That world-class misogynist, Paul of Tarsus, got it right when he said, `In all your dealings with one another, speak the truth to one another in love that you may grow up.'

"Don't marry a problem character thinking you will change him. He's a heavy drinker, or some other kind of addict, but if he marries a good woman, he'll settle down. People are the same after marriage as before, only more so.

"Take a good, unsentimental look at his family - you'll learn a lot about him and his attitude towards women. Kay made a monstrous mistake marrying Michael Corleone! Is there a history of divorce in the family? An atmosphere of racism, sexism or prejudice in his home? Are his goals and deepest beliefs worthy and similar to yours? I remember counseling a pious Catholic woman that it might not be prudent to marry a pious Muslim, whose attitude about women was very different. Love trumped prudence; the annulment process was instigated by her six months later.

"Imagine a religious fundamentalist married to an agnostic. One would have to pray that the fundamentalist doesn't open the Bible and hit the page in which Abraham is willing to obey God and slit his son's throat.

"Finally: Does he possess those character traits that add up to a good human being - the willingness to forgive, praise, be courteous? Or is he inclined to be a fibber, to fits of rage, to be a control freak, to be envious of you, to be secretive?

"After I regale a group with this talk, the despairing cry goes up: `But you've eliminated everyone!' Life is unfair."

Original report here






THE NEWS

Boy, three, shot dead by confused Brazilian police: "Police shot dead a three-year-old boy in Rio de Janeiro after apparently mistaking the car he was in for that of fleeing armed suspects. "There are no apologies for such a tragedy. This was a disastrous incident. As a father and a police officer, I am ashamed at what happened," Rio secretary of security Jose Mariano Beltrame said today. Two police officers fired 15 shots into the car carrying the three-year-old boy, Joao Roberto Amaral, yesterday. He was hit in the back of the head, in the buttocks and in an ear and was declared brain dead after being taken to hospital. His nine-month-old brother who was with him was unhurt, while his mother, Alessandra Amaral, who was driving the car, was hit with fragments. The father, taxi driver Paulo Roberto Amaral, said the police "shot up my wife's car without any possibility of defence. There were kids in the car. They almost killed my entire family". Witnesses said it looked as if the police had confused the car with another being driven by suspects being pursued. The two officers have been arrested and put under investigation."


Italian bride's dress falls apart at the altar: "A bride is suing a designer after her œ2,000 wedding dress came apart on her big day, leaving her semi naked at the altar. The 30-year-old woman, who cannot be named due to Italian privacy laws, claims her big day was ruined by the poor stitching, which left her bottom on display. According to the writ the bride was left in tears and the priest was left not knowing where to look. The woman is claiming damages of $40,000 from the designer, who was not named but is based at Rapallo, twenty miles from Chiavari. Yesterday her lawyer Alberto Figone said: "This was supposed to be the biggest day of my client's life but it turned out to be the worst, her wedding was ruined. "She was left extremely embarrassed because the stitching of her dress came apart at the altar, slid down and revealed her bottom to the whole congregation. "The priest concluded the ceremony and the couple were married but of course she was not able to take any proper photographs of the ceremony because she was semi naked. "As a result, she has decided to sue the shop in Rapallo that made the dress for moral damages as well as financial damages, and the request is 23,000 Euros."




Lifesaving dog: "A pound pooch called Pippa is credited with saving the life of the woman who plucked her from doggie death row. Victorian mother of two Angie Waters said the one-year-old staffordshire kelpie cross gave her a "canine kiss of life" when she collapsed on her kitchen floor after suffering a brain aneurysm. Home alone with the dog the Waters family adopted just 10 months earlier from an animal shelter, Ms Waters was eventually roused by Pippa's frantic licking and pawing. "She was whining and very upset and distressed. It was obvious she knew something was seriously wrong with me," Ms Waters said. But unable to get an appointment at a nearby medical centre and increasingly disturbed by her dog's concern for her, she went to a chemist where she again collapsed. Taken by ambulance to hospital, the usually healthy 40-year-old was diagnosed with her potentially fatal aneurysm, a bubble of blood at risk of bursting in her brain. "I thought I had a headache and rang work to say I wasn't coming in," Ms Waters said. "It wasn't until after I had collapsed and Pippa was behaving in such a worried and frantic state that I decided to get some medical help. "There's no doubt she saved my life. If she hadn't been able to get me up off that kitchen floor, who knows what would have happened."


German talking victim rescued by police after 30 hours: "A desperate German woman called emergency services to rescue her after a visiting friend talked for 30 hours straight, authorities said Tuesday. A police spokesman in the western city of Speyer confirmed reports that the guest rambled on about personal problems and became increasingly intoxicated until the 48-year-old dialled the emergency hotline. "After an unbelievable 30 hours and failed attempts to encourage the guest to leave last Saturday, the woman did not know what else to do but to call an ambulance," the police said. When the paramedics refused to carry the guest out of the apartment, the woman called the police, who picked up the friend and drove her home."




And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 5:32 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

A successful fisherperson






A big mistake

A traveling salesman knocked on a farmer's door late one night and requested a place to sleep for the night.

"We're a little tight on space," said the farmer, "so I'm going to have to put you in with my three sons."

"Oh, pardon me," said the salesman, "I must be in the wrong joke."






THE NEWS

Stroke victim speaks like seafaring Canadian : "The case of a woman who suffered a stroke and now speaks like a Canadian sailor has doctors baffled. Canadian woman Rosemarie Dore's new accent has confused researchers because most people suffering "foreign-accent syndrome" (FAS) speak with accents from other countries. Researchers say the 50-year-old now speaks like a Canadian east coast resident, using what is described as "Maritime" accent. Ms Dore's case is detailed in the latest edition of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. Alexandre Sevigny, cognitive science professor at McMaster University in Canada, said Ms Dore's speech had slowed and she now pronounced the words "that" and "think" as "dat" and "tink". "It is a fascinating case because Rosemarie has never visited the Maritimes, nor has she been exposed to anyone with an East Coast accent," Dr Sevigny said. "Her family lineage is Irish and Danish, and neither of her parents ever lived anywhere but in southern Ontario." S




Man bitten by Walmart rattlesnake: "A poisonous rattlesnake hidden among leafy plants in the garden section of a Walmart store in Florida sprang out and bit a man who was shopping there. The man was taken to hospital after the 30cm pygmy rattlesnake bit him in the right hand while he was looking at the plants at the store in Pembroke Pines, Florida, about 50km north of Miami. "This is an isolated incident and we're taking precautions to make sure that it doesn't happen again," said Walmart spokeswoman Ashley Hardie. "To ensure the wellbeing of our customers, we immediately closed the garden centre to enable animal control to do a thorough search of the area. The garden centre was reopened once we were convinced it was safe to do so." The Miami Herald newspaper reported that the man received intravenous anti-venom treatment at Miramar Hospital and was expected to make a full recovery. The pygmy rattlesnake's poisonous bite could be fatal for an elderly person or small child, medics said."


An old lady and her car keys: "A woman who crawled under her car to look for her keys ended up stuck beneath it for two days. Betty Borowski got jammed beneath the axle and it was not until the postman noticed letters piling up in her letterbox that she was found. Borowski, 91, of the Milwaukee suburb of Greendale in Wisconsin, America, was taken to hospital and put in critical intensive care, her niece Nancy DiMarco said. The hospital would not give an update on her condition yesterday. Borowski, who lives alone, became stuck on June 29 while looking for her keys; her head apparently got pinned by the axle, Greendale Police Chief Rob Dams said. "She was pretty well wedged in there," Dams said. "It looks like she crawled under headfirst." Borowski's mail carrier noticed that the previous day's mail was still in her mailbox, police said. He rang the doorbell and then asked a neighbor whether he had seen Borowski lately. He hadn't, so they called police. Firefighters lifted the car with a jack and removed Borowski, who was dehydrated and confused. It turned out her keys were in the car door." [Senile, I guess]


British thieves pay a high price: "Three 15-year-old boys were killed in a car crash after ordering $28 worth of takeaway kebabs and then "doing a runner", a court was told yesterday. A staff member at the kebab shop gave chase in a Volkswagen Bora when the youths left in a Ford Escort, driven by a friend, without paying for their food. The Escort then hit a tree, causing it to "almost split in two" and throwing the three teenage passengers from the car to their deaths. The Escort driver, Christopher Kibble, 18, of Sible Hedingham, Essex, and the Volkswagen driver, Sakir Olgun, 27, from Tottenham, North London, both deny three counts of causing death by dangerous driving."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

  ¶ 4:57 PM 0 comments links to this post

 

Emergency Call to Police

(Wales, UK) Here's a transcript of a call from a confused neighborhood watcher.

Control: "South Wales Police, what's your emergency?"

Caller: "It's not really. I just need to inform you that across the mountain there's a bright stationary object."

Control: "Right."

Caller: "If you've got a couple of minutes perhaps you could find out what it is? It's been there at least half an hour and it's still there."

Control: "It's been there for half an hour. Right. Is it actually on the mountain or in the sky?"

Caller: "It's in the air."

Control: "I will send someone up there now to check it out."

Caller: "OK."

After the police patrol car arrives, the script reveals the exchange between the control room and the police officer sent to the scene.

Control: "Alpha Zulu 20, this object in the sky, did anyone have a look at it?"

Officer: "Yes, it's the moon. Over."

(Via Interested Participant)





THE NEWS



Dream girl found lying on doorstep: "Destiny can strike at the strangest times . . . and in the strangest places. Darren Corby should know. He found his dream girl sleeping rough on the doorstep of his record store. More than two years later, this unlikely meeting resulted in a wedding. His new bride Sonya Corby, 40, said Darren was her "knight in shining armour". A former fitness instructor and personal trainer, Sonya found herself homeless after a marriage breakdown. Darren, 41, who was manager of the now-closed store HiFi Acoustics, in Hindmarsh Square, came across Sonya curled up in the doorway when he returned to the store after hours. "I was homeless," Sonya said. "I had absolutely nowhere to go. I just tried to find somewhere to sleep and Darren came back to the store. "He asked me to move out of the way of the door. Then he asked me if I was OK and I said `no'. "We started talking and he invited me into the store and we ended up having coffee, talking for hours and hours. "We seemed to have lots in common. We had both been married, we both had two kids and it just went from there. "I know it's a cliche but for me it really was love at first sight and we have been inseparable ever since. The couple, of Fairview Park, married last month at Golden Grove Lutheran Church at Wynn Vale, followed by a gathering of about 80 family and friends at the church hall."


Nodding correctness: "The select few chosen to serve on the Royal Yacht Britannia had to learn when to nod and not to nod as part of their duties on one of the Royal Navy's most sought-after postings. What to do should a member of the Royal Family happen to pass while the deck was being scrubbed was another of the challenges that faced the crew. The protocols, rules and accepted modes of conduct were laid down in the "precedent book" for crew members, now published by the Ministry of Defence. A nodding acquaintance with members of the Royal Family on board was one of the stipulations - although in this case "the nod" required the following manoeuvre: "Lower your head forward until your chin touches your chest momentarily and then raise your head to an upright position. The whole sequence takes about one second. "There is no need to bend at the waist in the best Sir Walter Raleigh style," the protocol memorandum said under the heading: "Forms of address and nodding by Royal Yacht officers and Royal Yachtsmen."




Any left-handed octopi? "An experiment to discover which of its eight tentacles an octopus favours, or if it is octidextrous, will start today on more than 24 captive octopuses at Sea Life Centres around the country. Just as people tend to favour one hand, scientists believe that octopuses use one tentacle more than the other seven. Items such as balls, jam jars and Lego bricks will be among the objects dropped into tanks. Members of the public will then be asked to record which tentacle was closest to the object and which was used to touch it."


Dictionary growing: "The English language will celebrate its one-millionth word within a year, experts say. At present there are 995,844 official words, with the millionth word predicted to arrive on April 29, 2009. Paul Payack, founding president of the Global Language Monitor, said that the average person uses fewer than 14,000 words. Even a linguistically gifted person would use only about 70,000 words, he said."



And don't forget to catch up with all the Strange Justice before you go.

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