Archive for February, 2008
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Employee’s suit: Company used waterboarding to motivate workers
A supervisor at a motivational coaching business in Provo is accused of waterboarding an employee in front of his sales team to demonstrate that they should work as hard on sales as the employee had worked to breathe.
In a lawsuit filed last month, former Prosper, Inc. salesman Chad Hudgens alleges his managers also allowed the supervisor to draw mustaches on employees’ faces, take away their chairs and beat on their desks with a wooden paddle “because it resulted in increased revenues for the company.”
Prosper president Dave Ellis responded that the allegations amount to “sensationalized” versions of events that have gone uncorroborated by Hudgens’ former coworkers.
“They just roll their eyes and say, ‘This is ridiculous . . . That’s not how it went down,’ ” Ellis said.
The suit claims that Hudgens’ team leader, Joshua Christopherson, asked for volunteers in May for “a new motivational exercise,” which he did not describe. Hudgens, who was 26 at the time, volunteered in order to “prove his loyalty and determination,” the suit claims.
Christopherson led the sales team to the top of a hill near the office and told Hudgens to lie down with his head downhill, the suit claims. Christopherson then told the rest of the team to hold Hudgens by the arms and legs.
Christopherson poured water from a gallon jug over Hudgens’ mouth and nostrils – like the interrogation strategy known as “waterboarding” – and told the team members to hold Hudgens down as he struggled, the suit alleges.
“At the conclusion of his abusive demonstration, Christopherson told the team that he wanted them to work as hard on making sales as Chad had worked to breathe while he was being waterboarded,” the suit alleges.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Concentrated Stupidity, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Blind Man Regains Sight After Doctors Implant Son’s Tooth in His Eye
Bob McNichol has been fighting to get his sight back, tooth and … eye?
The 57-year-old Irishman was blinded two years ago after an aluminum explosion at a recycling plant, AFP reported Thursday. His sight has been miraculously restored after doctors inserted his son’s tooth in his eye.
“I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life,” McNichol told RTE state radio, AFP reported.
After doctors told McNichol there was nothing more they could do for him, he heard about an offbeat operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed in England.
OOKP, first performed in Italy in the 1960s, involves creating an artificial cornea by using the patient’s tooth and surrounding bone as a support, AFP reported.
McNichol’s son Robert, 23, donated a tooth, its root and part of his jaw for his father’s surgery. McNichol’s right eye socket was rebuilt, and a lens was inserted into a hole drilled in Robert’s tooth. The procedure required two surgeries lasting a total of 15 hours.
Posted in Mad Scientists, Medical Monstrosities, Weird Science | Comments Off
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Teens in jail sex romp row
JUVENILE delinquents had a “sex romp” at a detention centre after staff accidentally left security doors unlocked.
Boys were abl
e to sneak into a girls’ dormitory at the Don Dale centre in Darwin after dark.
“About six inmates” – aged between 15 and 17 – took part in the Valentine’s Day orgy, the Northern Territory News was told yesterday.
Police were brought in to question the inmates.
A Territory mother said she was “furious” when her 15-year-old son – who is serving three months for a minor crime – told her he had taken part in the jailhouse sex escapade.
“He told me that they had all had sex in the one room – it was a big Valentine’s Day sex romp,” the 31-year-old mother said.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Idiot Authorities, Sex, Teen Antics | Comments Off
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Cannibalism May Have Wiped Out Neanderthals
A Neanderthal-eat-Neanderthal world may have spread a mad cow-like disease that weakened and reduced populations of the large Eurasian human, thereby contributing to its extinction, according to a new theory based on cannibalism that took place in more recent history.
Aside from illustrating that consumption of one’s own species isn’t exactly a healthy way to eat, the new theoretical model could resolve the longstanding mystery as to what caused Neanderthals, which emerged around 250,000 years ago, to disappear off the face of the Earth about 30,000 years ago.
“The story of Neanderthal extinction is one of the most intriguing in all of human evolution,” author Simon Underdown told Discovery News. “Why did a large-brained, intelligent hominid that shared so many traits with us disappear?”
Posted in Cannibal Update, Paleontology Update | Comments Off
Friday, February 29th, 2008
Deadly toxin found at Las Vegas hotel
Police in Las Vegas, Nevada, are investigating the discovery of the deadly poison ricin in a hotel room Thursday.
Authorities were called to an Extended Stay America hotel around 3 p.m. after a man brought a bag holding a small container to the manager’s office. The man said he found it while retrieving items from a hotel room.
It’s “100 percent ricin,” said Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “We don’t know who (the ricin) belongs to or why it would be here at this time.”
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Most Mysterious | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Starving student blames stingy host family
Jonathan McCullum was in perfect health at 155 pounds when he left last summer to spend the school year as an exchange student in Egypt.
But when he returned home to Maine just four months later, the 5-foot-9 teenager weighed a mere 97 pounds and was so weak that he struggled to carry his baggage or climb a flight of stairs. Doctors said he was at risk for a heart attack.
McCullum says he was denied sufficient food while staying with a family of Coptic Christians, who fast for more than 200 days a year, a regimen unmatched by other Christians.
Posted in Bad Parents, Crazy is as Crazy Does, Cultural Oddities, Sinners in the hands of an angry God | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Rogue wheat trader costs $141.5m
A rogue trader dealing in wheat future contracts has caused his company more than $140m (£70m) in losses.
Trading giant, MF Global, said it detected unusual trades at one of its US offices on Wednesday.
It found that an employee had been taking large, unauthorised bets on the direction of wheat prices, which cost the company $141.5m to reverse.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Greed is Good | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Tourist has penis chopped in D.R
A British tourist is recovering in the Dominican Republic after mystery attackers apparently tried to slice off his penis.
Alan Reed, 43, was found lying in a pool of blood by his fiancée Ellie Rothery, 21, after a night out in the popular resort of Cabarete near Puerto Plata.
Reed, who claims not to remember very much about his ordeal, is expected to fully recover.
“I have a lot of stitches and I’m still in a lot of pain but it could be a lot worse,” he said Wednesday. “The doctors have sewn me up and have told me there’ll be no long term damage.
The pair, both from London, separated after Rothery accompanied a pal to a nearby taxi stand at the end of a dinner. When she returned, Reed was gone.
Rothery said she spent nearly two hours combing the town and nearby beach in search of him after he disappeared from the restaurant table she left him at, before heading back to their hotel and finding him lying semi-conscious on their bed.
Hat tip to Kara!
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Kara's Classics, Yuck! | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Biker surprise for Sydney robbers
Two armed robbers who targeted a Sydney bar that was hosting a bikers’ meeting must have “failed robber school”, said the club’s chairman.
The men stormed the bar brandishing machetes and wearing balaclavas – unaware that 50 bikers were holding a meeting in an adjoining room.
Alerted to the robbery, some of the bikers chased the men as they fled.
One was caught after trying to escape through a back door. He was later treated in hospital for minor injuries.
The other man ran off but was arrested by police in a street nearby.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Concentrated Stupidity, I hate it when that happens | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Boy George denies chaining escort to wall
Boy George, the former Culture Club singer, appeared in court today accused of chaining a Norwegian male escort to the wall of his Shoreditch home.
The 46-year-old pop-star and DJ denied assaulting and imprisoning Audun Carlsen on April 28 last year when he appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court, east London.
Dressed in black and wearing dark glasses, the 1980s icon stood outside the court and smoked a cigarette before entering the building.
Posted in Crazy is as Crazy Does, Idiot Celebrities, Sexual Deviants | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
‘Bird boy’ found in Russia
A BOY can reportedly only communicate by ‘chirping’ – after living his life in a virtual aviary.
According to reports from Russia, the 7-year-old ‘bird boy’ has spent his life in a flat filled with bird cages with a mum who treated him like one of her pets.
Pravda said the boy’s 31-year-old mum did not talk him and treated him like a bird, forcing him to learn avian language.
Social worker Galina Volskaya said shocked authorities discovered the boy in a two-bedroom apartment with bird mess littering the floor.
Posted in Animal Weirdness, Bad Parents, Cultural Oddities | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Whites tricked blacks into consuming urine, university says
White students at a South African university tricked black residence hall workers into eating stew containing urine, prompting a march Wednesday in which five people were arrested, university officials said.
The white students made a video of the incident, which they staged in reaction to the university’s efforts to integrate its residences, according to a statement from the University of the Free State.
The protesters on Wednesday included black and white students who later marched to the residence where the video was made and demanded that it be shut down, witnesses said.
Posted in College Antics, Fun with Alcohol, Politically Incorrect | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Alligators guard drug den
Officers trying to track down a drug dealer in Ohio stumbled across two alligators guarding his back door instead.
The snipping and snapping gators were far from full-sized – one was about two feet long and the other was about four feet long – but were scary enough to make a team of tough federal marshals and Dayton, Ohio police officers call for help.
“Nobody wanted to play catch a gator,” said William Taylor, supervisory deputy US Marshal.
“We haven’t got any Crocodile Dundees on the task force,” he joked, adding that the marshals are having fun putting on fake Australian accents as he made reference to the adventurous croc hunter from the Hollywood movie.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update, Concentrated Criminality, Drugs | Comments Off
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Cocaine galore! £7m of Colombia’s finest washes up on Cornish beaches
Frank Partridge is partial to a spot of beachcombing. He likes to pop down to Pentreath Beach on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall and find out what odds and ends have been washed in by the tide.
But rather than the usual hunks of weather-beaten wood and pieces of broken lobster pot, Partridge’s latest expedition yielded a rather more valuable haul – a package of cocaine with a street value of more than £1m.
As a law-abiding citizen – and clerk of the local parish council – Partridge knew he had to had to prevent the drugs from falling into the wrong hands.
“I thought if I didn’t take it, someone who might not go to the police would.” So he dragged the 25kg (55lb) package off the beach and rolled it home in a wheelbarrow.”
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Drugs | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Alcoholic parents force children to suckle dogs
Aboriginal children in Outback Australia are so neglected by their alcoholic parents that some have suckled from dogs’ teats in a desperate search for food, it has been reported.
The shocking revelation came from a coroner investigating the appalling rates of suicide among Aborigines living in the remote and beautiful Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Earlier this month the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, delivered a much-publicised apology to Aborigines for past injustices, but critics questioned whether his words would lead to any practical improvement in the wretched lives of indigenous people.
“The plight of the little children was especially pathetic and, for many of these, the future is bleak,” said coroner Alastair Hope.
Posted in Bad Parents, Cultural Oddities, Fun with Alcohol | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Cops say driver was unaware he was missing a wheel
There may have been a reason that Jeffrey Ho lost control of his car and hit a stop sign and a snowbank on Rose Hill Avenue early Sunday.
Besides being intoxicated, that is.
Police said the 24-year-old Katonah, N.Y. man’s vehicle was missing it’s right front wheel when they arrived at the accident scene about 3:15 a.m., and Ho had no idea that it was gone.
Police started looking for Ho’s car after receiving a call from the Food Bag on West Street about a vehicle leaving the convenience store, minus the wheel. They found the car a short distance away, with Ho behind the wheel. The driver did know he was in Danbury, Lt. Shaun McColgan said, although he misidentified the officers who were questioning him as “Danbury State Troopers.” Ho also knew that he was intoxicated, but said that was alright, because “he wasn’t driving.’”
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Concentrated Stupidity, Fun with Alcohol | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Giant Meteor Fireball Explodes Over Northwest U.S.
A meteor zipped across the U.S. Pacific Northwest sky early Tuesday morning before exploding, possibly littering eastern Oregon with marble- to basketball-size space rocks, an expert says.
Impact sites are yet to be found, according to Richard Pugh, a scientist with the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory at Portland State University in Oregon.
Pugh is coordinating a search for potential meteorites. He said 40 to 50 eyewitnesses have contacted his lab to report the fireball.
According to the reports, the event happened around 5:30 a.m. PT on Tuesday. The meteor was first spotted over Washington State moving in an east-southeast direction.
Posted in Space | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Teacher’s aide who had hotel party quits
A special-education aide at Highlands Senior High School resigned under pressure yesterday and faces possible drug and corruption of minors charges for a hotel party involving high school teenagers.
New Kensington police said they found suspected crack cocaine, empty beer cans and used condoms in a room that Abbiejane Swogger, 34, of Harrison, shared with minors Thursday night at New Kensington’s Clarion Hotel. The room contained drug paraphernalia and a marijuana odor when officers arrived just before noon on Friday to follow up on reports of missing teens, said Detective Dennis Marsili.
Investigators questioned Ms. Swogger at the New Kensington police station Friday afternoon, but did not arrest her. Charges could be filed as soon as today, Detective Marsili said.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Concentrated Stupidity, Drugs, Fun with Alcohol, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Blink and you’ll miss these eyeball tattoos
If even the sight of someone being needled with a normal tattoo is enough to make your eyes water, then it might be best to look away now.
For body-art enthusiasts have developed a new technique that gives a whole new meaning to beauty being in the eye of the beholder.
What is thought to be the first ever “eyeball tattoo” has been inflicted on a man in Toronto – good news, perhaps, for anyone who ever dreamed of having blue eyes.
Posted in Cultural Oddities, Yuck! | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Python Stalked, Then Ate Family Dog in Front of Children
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, aged 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.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Robot wars ‘will be a reality within 10 years’
The world is sleepwalking into an international robot arms race, an expert will warn today.
The Foster-Miller Armed TALON Robot, used by the US army
US forces recently deployed remote-controlled robots equipped with automatic weapons in Iraq
Prof Noel Sharkey fears increased research by countries including America, Russia, China and Israel will lead to the use of battlefield robots that can decide when to kill within 10 years.
He will also predict that it is only a matter of time before robots become a standard terrorist weapon, replacing suicide bombers.
Prof Sharkey, of the University of Sheffield’s Department of Computer Science, will outline his concerns in a speech at a conference in Whitehall, London, on the ethics of unmanned military systems organised by the Royal United Services Institute, a respected defence think tank.
Posted in End of the World Update, Mad Scientists, Technological Travesties | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling
Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile — the list goes on and on.
No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA’s GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.
Meteorologist Anthony Watts compiled the results of all the sources. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C — a value large enough to erase nearly all the global warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year time. For all sources, it’s the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.
Posted in End of the World Update, Gore Effect Update, Weird Science | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
134-pound burger is savored in Southgate; then it’s sold and eaten
Saturday was probably the first time the line at the back of Mallie’s Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate wasn’t for the restrooms.
Dozens of customers — some with a cell phone in each hand ready to take a picture — jockeyed for position just outside the entrance to the kitchen.
They wanted to get the first glimpse at a 134-pound hamburger that could break the Guinness world record for the largest commercially available hamburger.
Posted in Modern Narcissism, Yuck! | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Diver in chummed waters dies after shark bite
An Austrian tourist died Monday after being bitten by a shark while diving near the Bahamas in waters that had been baited with bloody fish parts to attract the predators.
Markus Groh, 49, a Vienna lawyer and diving enthusiast, was on a commercial dive trip Sunday when he was bitten about 50 miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, said Karlick Arthur, Austrian counsel general in Miami, Florida.
Groh was in the open water without a cage or similar protection.
The crew aboard the Shear Water, of Riviera Beach-based Scuba Adventures, immediately called the U.S. Coast Guard, which received a mayday from the vessel, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Nick Ameen.
Groh was airlifted to a hospital, where he died. Groh was bitten on the leg, Ameen said, but he could not be more specific about the extent of his injuries.
It was unclear what type of shark was involved in the attack. The shark got away before anyone could identify the species.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update, Concentrated Stupidity, Darwin Award, Yuck! | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Gynecologist Accused of Mutilating, Abusing Hundreds of Women
Australian police have launched an investigation into the rogue doctor, known as the Butcher of Bega, who is accused of mutilating and sexually abusing hundreds of women.
As ex-doctor Graeme Reeves, of Castle Hill, New South Wales, went into hiding Monday, The Daily Telegraph can reveal that other doctors accused of serious misconduct, including removing the wrong breast from a cancer victim, continue to practice.
Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione’s office confirmed allegations made against Graeme Reeves by hundreds of women across the state was likely to be referred to the state crime command.
As many as 500 of his female patients have come forward with complaints that Reeves sexually assaulted them or mutilated their genitals during operations performed when he was illegally practicing as an obstetrician on the South Coast.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Medical Monstrosities | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008
Scientists Predict When World Will End
Scientist have nailed down how and when the Earth will cease to exist.
The sun will slowly expand into a red giant, pushing the Earth farther out into space, but not far enough.
Our home planet will be snagged by the sun’s outer atmosphere, gradually plunging to its doom inside the fiery stellar furnace.
“The drag caused by this low-density gas is enough to cause the Earth to drift inwards, and finally to be captured and vaporized by the sun,” explains astronomer Robert Smith of the University of Sussex in southern England.
Posted in End of the World Update, Weird Science | Comments Off
Monday, February 25th, 2008
Pilot sacked after fly-by stunt
A British pilot has been sacked after performing a low-flying stunt with a brand new Boeing 777.
Captain Ian Wilkinson flew the Cathay Pacific plane within 28 feet of the ground with its undercarriage raised, at Boeing’s Seattle airfield.
The aircraft was on its delivery flight and packed with the airline’s VIPs.
The airline said Capt Wilkinson, 55, had not sought or obtained permission for the fly-by on January 30, and had been dismissed.
The co-pilot, Ray Middleton, has also been “subject to disciplinary actions” – understood to be suspension from training duties for six months.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Idiot Authorities, Toys! | Comments Off
Monday, February 25th, 2008
Pakistan causes YouTube outage for two-thirds of world
Most of the world’s Internet users lost access to YouTube for several hours Sunday after an attempt by Pakistan’s government to block access domestically affected other countries.
The outage highlighted yet another of the Internet’s vulnerabilities, coming less than a month after broken fiber-optic cables in the Mediterranean took Egypt off line and caused communications problems from the Middle East to India.
An Internet expert explained that Sunday’s problems arose when a Pakistani telecommunications company accidentally identified itself to Internet computers as the world’s fastest route to YouTube. But instead of serving up videos of skateboarding dogs, it sent the traffic into oblivion.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Crazed Dictatorships, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Monday, February 25th, 2008
Circus lion bites off 10-year-old boy’s arm in east China
A lion attacked a 10-year-old boy visiting a circus in eastern China, biting off his arm through the bars of its cage, state media said Monday.
The boy was looking at the lion Saturday at Wanfota Park in Mengcheng, a county in Anhui province, when the feline lunged and grabbed the boy with its paws, the Xinhua News Agency said.
“Park workers managed to pull the boy away, but his left arm had been torn away by the animal,” Xinhua said.
The reason behind the attack was not immediately clear. Doctors at the No. 1 People’s Hospital operated on the boy, Xinhua said.
Hat tip to Kara!
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update, I hate it when that happens, Kara's Classics | Comments Off
Monday, February 25th, 2008
FLOWERS PUTTING CLINTON PHONE CONVERSATIONS UP FOR BID
Gennifer Flowers is putting the tapes of her recorded conversations with Bill Clinton during their 12-year affair on the auction block, Vegas Confidential learned Monday.
Flowers, who came forward during Clinton’s 1992 Presidential election campaign with details of the relationship, said she decided to part with the tapes after renewed interest surfaced. She was offered $5 million by a Japanese collector in the 1990s, she said.
Asked about the timing of her announcement coming out as Hillary Clinton continues to slide in her presidential bid, “I don’t need to hurt Hillary. She is doing a fine job of that herself, along with her idiot husband. Karma is an interesting thing. If these two don’t get elected, and they are a team, it will be karma coming back to visit them. It’s about time.”
When President Clinton denied the relationship during his presidential campaign, Flowers called a press conference played what she said were secretly recorded phone conversations.
Posted in Greed is Good, Idiot Authorities, Se7en Deadly Sins, Sexual Deviants, Sinners in the hands of an angry God | Comments Off
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
Man dies in cake-eating contest
An inquest is to be held on a man who died during a contest to see who could eat the most fairy cakes.
The man, thought to be from Birmingham, collapsed at a Swansea nightclub during the event at the end of a party to raise funds for an art exhibition.
Police say there are no suspicious circumstances following the incident at the city’s Monkey Cafe and Bar during the early hours of Friday.
Posted in Modern Narcissism, Se7en Deadly Sins | Comments Off
Sunday, February 24th, 2008
EU withdraws from Kosovo as Serbia protests
Hopes for a peaceful conclusion to the declaration of Kosovo’s independence were fading as the European Union announced it had withdrawn its staff from the north of the fledgling country in the face of increasingly angry Serb protests.
The civilian staff were meant to be preparing for the EU to take over responsibility for security in Kosovo from the United Nations.
The announcement of the withdrawal came as the United States – which backed Kosovo’s drive for independence – began to evacuate its American staff and their families from Serbia, offering US citizens the chance to join a convoy of 40 cars leaving Belgrade for Croatia.
“We are not sufficiently confident that they are safe here,” said US ambassador Cameron Munter. On Thursday protesters stormed and burned the US embassy in Belgrade. A week after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Kosovan capital Pristina to celebrate the country’s unilateral declaration of independence, Kosovo is already effectively partitioned.
Posted in Anarchy, Concentrated Stupidity, Idiot Authorities, War | Comments Off
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Court upholds conviction
A state appeals court has upheld a Superior man’s conviction for having sex with a dead deer.
The 3rd District Court of Appeals in Wausau rejected Bryan Hathaway’s argument that the charge should be dismissed because the law against committing an act of sexual gratification with animals does not apply if they are dead.
“He rather convincingly contends that animal means a living creature,” Judge Gregory Peterson wrote in a ruling issued Tuesday. “However, Hathaway pleaded no contest to the charge. A plea of guilty or no contest waives all nonjurisdictional defects and defenses.”
Posted in Sexual Deviants | Comments Off
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Earthquakes are caused by gays
AN Israeli politician has blamed a spate of recent earthquakes in the Middle East on gays
Shlomo Benizri of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party said the only way to prevent the earthquakes was for parliament to stop liberalising laws concerning homosexuals, AP reported.
“Why do earthquakes happen? One of the reasons is the things to which the Knesset (parliament) gives legitimacy, to sodomy,” Mr Benizri said.
Mr Benizri said earthquake damage could be avoided if the parliament stopped “passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes”.
Posted in Idiot Authorities, Politically Incorrect | Comments Off
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Did Adolf Hitler draw Disney characters?
The director of a Norwegian museum claimed yesterday to have discovered cartoons drawn by Adolf Hitler during the Second World War.
William Hakvaag, the director of a war museum in northern Norway, said he found the drawings hidden in a painting signed “A. Hitler” that he bought at an auction in Germany.
He found coloured cartoons of the characters Bashful and Doc from the 1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which were signed A.H., and an unsigned sketch of Pinocchio as he appeared in the 1940 Disney film.
Hitler tried to make a living as an artist before his rise to power. While there was no independent confirmation yesterday that the drawings were the work of the Nazi leader, Hitler is known to have owned a copy of Snow White, the classic animated adaptation of a German fairy tale, and to have viewed it in his private cinema.
Posted in Ars Gratia Artis, Crazed Dictatorships, Historical Oddities, Nazis | Comments Off
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008
Report: 30 Fired After Cockroach Scurries Across TV News Set
Thirty people have been fired by the president of Turkmenistan after a cockroach scurried across the studio table of the nation’s nightly television news program, the Guardian reports.
President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov fired 30 workers from the main state TV station after the roach made an appearance during the 9 p.m. broadcast of Vatan, the nation’s nightly news program, the paper reports. The show — and the bug’s jaunt around the news desk — were repeated at 11 p.m.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update, Crazed Dictatorships, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
New York and the ‘crack-pot tax’
Struggling to close a $4.4 billion state government budget gap caused by excessive spending — as is usually the case, revenues continue to rise — Democratic Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer has proposed making New York’s illicit drug dealers pay a tax on their stashes. The new tax would apply to cocaine, heroin and marijuana, and could be paid by buying and affixing “tax stamps” to bags of dope.
The proposal has brought a predictable wave of ridicule.
“I guess if it moves, he’ll tax it,” charged Republican state Sen. Martin J. Golden, who dubbed the proposal “the crack tax.” Other opponents told The Washington Post that because cocaine and weed would be subject to the new levies, it should more aptly be called “the crack-pot tax.”
“How do I explain to my 16-year-old son that we’re giving a certain legitimacy to marijuana, cocaine and heroin?” asked Sen. Golden, a former New York City police officer who represents a Brooklyn district. “Is prostitution next?”
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Drugs, Greed is Good, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
City phone greeting calls mayor a ‘moron’
A Toledo city hall prank at the expense of Mayor Carty Finkbeiner created a downtown whodunit yesterday.
For several hours during the day, the telephone voice mail greeting for the city’s purchasing hot line was, “Carty Finkbeiner is a complete moron.”
Katerina Bekyarska, a spokesman for Mr. Finkbeiner, said the outgoing message was changed immediately after it was brought to her attention.
“Someone obviously went in and – trying to do a joke, not a very good one – went in and recorded the message,” Ms. Bekyarska said.
Posted in Doh!, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Tampa Boy’s Elmo Starts Making Death Threats
You have probably heard of Tickle-Me-Elmo, but what about Death-Threat-Elmo?
That’s what a Tampa-area boy now has.
James Bowman loves Elmo, and his mother thought getting him the high-tech toy, which hooks up to a computer to learn phrases and the child’s name would be a great gift.
But when Melissa Bowman changed the batteries earlier this week, Elmo began making the threat.
Posted in Most Mysterious, Toys! | Comments Off
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Spending by Clinton Campaign Worries Supporters
Nearly $100,000 went for party platters and groceries before the Iowa caucuses, even though the partying mood evaporated quickly. Rooms at the Bellagio luxury hotel in Las Vegas consumed more than $25,000; the Four Seasons, another $5,000. And top consultants collected about $5 million in January, a month of crucial expenses and tough fund-raising.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s latest campaign finance report, published Wednesday night, appeared even to her most stalwart supporters and donors to be a road map of her political and management failings. Several of them, echoing political analysts, expressed concerns that Mrs. Clinton’s spending priorities amounted to costly errors in judgment that have hamstrung her competitiveness against Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
Posted in Greed is Good, Idiot Activists, Idiot Authorities, Modern Narcissism | Comments Off
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
New threat to our way of life: giant pythons
In addition to everything else to worry about, now comes the Burmese python.
The giant snakes are slithering from Florida toward the Bay Area, very slowly to be sure, but inexorably. And they can strangle and eat an entire alligator.
The U.S. Geological Survey released a map Wednesday showing that the Bay Area has comfortable climatic conditions for the python. It also said the reptile, which prefers to swallow its prey in one gulp, is “highly adaptable to new environments” and cannot be stopped.
The snakes weigh up to 250 pounds and slither at a rate of 20 miles per month, according to USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. They are not staying put. In fact, one of them has already slithered about 100 miles toward San Francisco.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | Comments Off
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Police arrest man suspected of having sex with a dog
A woman responding to a break-in in her garage found a man having sexual intercourse with her 4-year-old female rottweiler, police said Wednesday.
The woman called police Tuesday night after finding the 20-year-old man.
Police arrested the man, who they say had a prior conviction for the same crime less than six months ago.
“This is the first time that I’ve ever seen this… and I’ve been in law enforcement a long time,” said Lt. Sam Hanley, who leads the department’s sex crimes unit.
The man was booked into Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of criminal sodomy and aggravated burglary.
The burglary was included because the man is suspected of breaking into the garage while someone was home, police said.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Sexual Deviants | Comments Off
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Protesters Storm U.S. Embassy in Serbia and Set Fire Over Kosovo Independence
Rioters stormed the U.S. embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday and started a fire in protest of Kosovo’s declaration of independence earlier this week.
Serbian media said a charred body was found inside the embassy.
U.S. officials told FOX News that the embassy building was secured and the fire was extinguished, but angry demonstrators were still rioting well into the night. The mayhem came after a large organized protest against the situation in Kosovo.
Sources have provided conflicting reports on how extensive the breach of the U.S. Embassy was. Some told FOX News that no protesters made it into the building, which has been closed this week.
Other reports from The Associated Press noted masked attackers had gained entry and tried to throw furniture from an office. The reports also said a blaze had broken out inside one of the offices.
Posted in Anarchy, Concentrated Criminality, Fire, Idiot Authorities, Unintended Consequences | Comments Off
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Government Still Declares Living Woman Dead
A woman who has been considered dead found out recently that the government still doesn’t believe she’s alive.
According to government paperwork, Laura Todd has been dead off and on for eight years, and Todd said there’s no end to the complications the situation creates.
“One time when I (was) ruled dead, they canceled my health insurance because it got that far,” she said.
Todd’s struggle started with a typo at the Social Security administration. She said the government has assured her since the problem that they have deleted her death record, but she said the problems keep cropping up.
On Wednesday, the IRS once again rejected her electronic tax return. She said she’s gone through it before.
Posted in Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
The Milky Way is twice the size we thought it was
It took just a couple of hours using data available on the internet for University of Sydney scientists to discover that the Milky Way is twice as wide as previously thought.
Astrophysicist Professor Bryan Gaensler led a team that has found that our galaxy – a flattened spiral about 100,000 light years across – is 12,000 light years thick, not the 6,000 light years that had been previously thought.
Proving not all science requires big, expensive apparatus, Professor Gaensler and colleagues, Dr Greg Madsen, Dr Shami Chatterjee and PhD student Ann Mao, downloaded data from the internet and analysed it in a spreadsheet.
“We were tossing around ideas about the size of the Galaxy, and thought we had better check the standard numbers that everyone uses. It took us just a few hours to calculate this for ourselves. We thought we had to be wrong, so we checked and rechecked and couldn’t find any mistakes.”
Posted in Space, Weird Science | Comments Off
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Zimbabwe’s official inflation hits 100,000pc
Robert Mugabe wakes up to his 84th birthday today with a damning present from Zimbabwe’s government statisticians – official inflation figures of more than 100,000 per cent.
With Harare’s shop shelves bare of basic commodities and prices rising daily, it is a wonder that inflation can be calculated at all, but the Central Statistical Office’s work is a marvel of precision.
“The year-on-year inflation rate for the month of January 2008, as measured by the All-items Consumer Price Index, stood at 100,580.2 per cent,” it said in a statement yesterday.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Concentrated Stupidity, Crazed Dictatorships, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Killer fish terrifies Britain
A SAVAGE fish that eats everything it comes across, including people, has been hooked by a British fisherman — sparking fears of a deadly invasion.
The giant snakehead, originating from South-East Asia, has a mouth crammed with teeth.
It’s deadly in the water, but it can also “crawl” on land and survive out of water for up to four days.
The discovery of the fish in Linconshire, northern England, has caused widespread panic amongst conservationists and anglers.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update, End of the World Update | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Mexican drug hitmen kill singer near U.S. border
Drug hitmen have killed a popular Mexican singer along with his manager and assistant near the U.S. border, authorities said on Wednesday, the latest murder among musicians who sing “narcocorrido” ballads glorifying drug traffickers.
The body of Jesus Rey David Alfaro, known as “The Little Rooster,” was one of six that turned up tortured, murdered and pinned with threatening messages for Mexico’s army last week in the border town of Tijuana near San Diego.
“We believe Alfaro had links to the Arellano Felix cartel,” said an official with the Baja California state attorney general’s office who declined to be named.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Anarchy, Concentrated Criminality | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Man gets 8 years for 19 DUIs
A Hamilton man’s 19th drunken driving conviction earned him eight years in prison and a lecture about his 30-year record, which ranks him among Ohio’s six worst drunken drivers.
“You knew a long time ago that you had a problem with drinking and driving and you’ve never chosen to do anything,” Judge Noah Powers told Stephen W. Wolf in Butler County Common Pleas Court during sentencing Tuesday.
Wolf faced up to 10 years in prison as a result of a hit-and-run crash in Fairfield Township last summer.
He’s among four Ohio drivers with 19 drunken-driving convictions; two others are tied for the state record of 20 convictions.
Powers also imposed a lifetime driving suspension. But Wolf has disregarded suspensions since at least 1984.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Fun with Alcohol | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
German puts out cigarette with fire extinguisher
A virulent anti-smoker in Germany was so angry when his girlfriend lit up he emptied a fire extinguisher to put out the cigarette, caking her and their apartment in powder.
“My colleagues said it looked like a bomb had gone off in there,” said a spokesman for police in the western city of Bielefeld. “He managed to put the cigarette out though.”
Hat tip to Steve!
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Idiot Activists | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
‘Asians hate’ column ignites firestorm at CU
An editorial penned this week by a University of Colorado student has divided some past and present members of the Campus Press — the official student newspaper at CU — and enraged other students for what some said is a racist and inflammatory commentary about people of Asian ethnicity.
The column, titled “If it’s war the Asians want … It’s war they’ll get,” was written by Max Karson, a staff editor at the Campus Press.
Administrators in November 2006 investigated Karson because of a satirical newsletter he circulated called “The Yeti,” which angered some students and faculty members for writings that included columns about how women are not designed to enjoy sex and that he is “afraid of black people.”
…
“The Asian was so jaded by his experiences with the whitebread, brainless tree sloths of CU that even though three people had explained to him that he was trying to return the ball to the wrong court, it was inconceivable to him that we might be right,” Karson wrote. “And when he looked into my eyes, it wasn’t just irritation and disgust that I saw — it was hate. Pure hate.
“They hate us all. And I say it’s time we started hating them back.”
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Politically Incorrect | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Danish police arrest almost 30 people in 8th night of youth violence
Nearly 30 people were arrested for setting fires to buildings, cars and trash bins in an eight consecutive night of youth violence in Danish cities, mostly in immigrant neighborhoods, police said Monday.
The violence appears to be subsiding after peaking over the weekend, police said.
It was not clear what triggered the unrest, which started on Feb. 10. Some observers say the youth are frustrated over police harassment and the reprinting of a cartoon lampooning the Prophet Muhammad.
Danish newspapers reproduced the drawing on Wednesday to show their commitment to free speech after police foiled an alleged plot to kill the cartoonist who created it.
About 90 fires were reported late Sunday in Copenhagen and other Danish cities, mostly small fires in trash bins and cars, police said. No one was injured.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Concentrated Criminality, Fire, T.R.O.P. | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Tab in Scam At Tax Office In D.C. Nears $50 Million
Federal authorities think that nearly $50 million was stolen in an embezzlement scheme run out of the D.C. tax office, more than double the amount they had previously uncovered, four sources close to the investigation said.
The corruption at the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue went undetected much longer than initially thought, the sources said, extending back almost 20 years. In addition to tracking the missing money, authorities are looking into gifts suspected of being provided to co-workers and others by the woman accused of leading the scam, former tax office manager Harriette Walters.
The scheme is the largest corruption case in the city’s history. Witnesses have told investigators that Walters, who is accused of issuing larger and larger bogus tax refund checks over the years, lavishly spread the wealth, the sources said.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Conspiracies, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Thousands of starlings flock together in Scotland, distracting drivers
Motorists in the UK are being warned not to be distracted by huge flocks of starlings swooping in the sky above a motorway in Scotland.
Drivers have been slowing down or even stopping to watch the birds swirling above the M74 north of Gretna Green and the A75 west of the town.
Flocks of thousands of starlings are turning the sky black as they dip through the air for food at dawn and dusk.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Their Deepest, Darkest Discovery
Black is getting blacker.
Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made — about 30 times as dark as the government’s current standard for blackest black.
The material, made of hollow fibers, is a Roach Motel for photons — light checks in, but it never checks out. By voraciously sucking up all surrounding illumination, it can give those who gaze on it a dizzying sensation of nothingness.
Posted in Weird Science | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Farting woman loses employment case
A woman who said she was relentlessly taunted by colleagues because of chronic flatulence has lost her discrimination claim, an employment tribunal confirmed today.
The woman, who cannot be named, claimed she was subjected to cruel jibes from staff at Leeds Metropolitan University because she suffered from severe irritable bowel syndrome.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, I hate it when that happens, Yuck! | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Drunk man in ill-advised firewalking mishap
A drunk man in Wigan discovered the painful way that firewalking isn’t, in fact, terribly easy, as he suffered severely burned feet after trying to walk across a bonfire.
The 23-year-old man had reportedly been drinking with a group of young people, by a bonfire which they had started on playing fields by St Annes Primary School in Wigan.
As is the way of these things, it appears he was dared to walk across the flames. Naturally, he removed his shoes and socks and did so, according to Wigan Today.
He suffered serious burns, including an amount of melted plastic stuck to his skin, probably due to the fact that the bonfire had been built partially out of plastic bread trays.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Fire, Fun with Alcohol | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
(Frat) Boys Will Be (Frat) Boys
In what could give fraternities everywhere a bad name, a Delta Chi chapter in Colorado has been suspended after nine of its underage pledges were arrested early Sunday for allegedly trashing motel rooms that police found strewn with broken furniture and splattered with blood and vomit. Oh, and there was the matter of a coffee pot that had somehow been filled with urine.
Posted in College Antics, Fun with Alcohol, Yuck! | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008
Kosovo Serbs burn border points
Kosovo Serbs have set fire to two border crossings to protest against Kosovo’s declaration of independence.
The attacks took place at the northern Jarinje and Banja crossings, manned by United Nations and Kosovo police.
In response, Nato-led peacekeepers were deployed at the crossings. There have been no reports of any injuries so far.
This is the most serious incident since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Sunday, the BBC’s Nick Thorpe in Kosovo says.
Belgrade has said Kosovo’s declaration violates international law.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Fire, Idiot Activists, Idiot Authorities, War | Comments Off
Monday, February 18th, 2008
Clinton aide accuses Obama of plagiarism
Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign’s communications director, today accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) of committing “plagiarism” in a speech in Milwaukee on Saturday night.
Wolfson made the explosive charge in an interview with Politico after suggesting as much in a conference call with reporters.
On the call, Wolfson said: “Sen. Obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, he’s breaking his promises and his rhetoric isn’t his own.”
“When an author plagiarizes from another author there is damage done to two different parties. One is to the person he plagiarized from. The other is to the reader,” said Wolfson.
Back in the 1988 campaign, Mike Dukakis’ campaign chief of staff, John Sasso, secretly leaked a video of Joe Biden plagiarizing Neil Kinnock. Back then, things like honor and character mattered a bit more than they do today, and Biden was driven from the race. Later, Sasso was exposed and Dukakis had to sack him.
It looks like Team Hillary is so devoid of inspiration that they feel the need to plagiarize a winner like President Dukakis.
Posted in Idiot Activists, Politico Follies | Comments Off
Monday, February 18th, 2008
DUI hearing postponed; defendant was drunk
A Woodinville man who went to court in Redmond on Monday to face a drunken-driving charge showed up drunk at the hearing and ended up at a hospital instead.
King County District Court Judge Linda Jacke ordered Joseph T. Longfellow, 35, to take an alcohol breath test after his attorney informed her that Longfellow appeared to be intoxicated.
Longfellow recorded a 0.32 percent in a portable breath test at the courthouse, four times the state level for intoxication of 0.08, court filings note.
Jacke ordered Longfellow taken into custody, but jail guards refused to accept him after paramedics said he needed to be taken to a hospital to prevent possible alcohol poisoning.
Posted in Fun with Alcohol, Idiot Criminals | Comments Off
Monday, February 18th, 2008
Passed-out student loses fingers, toes
A University of Iowa student lost fingers and toes to frostbite after passing out in an alley for six hours during his walk home from downtown Iowa City bars early Sunday amidst subzero temperatures, police say.
The man, whom police would not identify because there is not a criminal complaint, reportedly had to have some fingers and toes amputated, Iowa City Police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said.
Police received a 911 call at 8:25 a.m. Sunday after employees of Bud Maas Concrete discovered a man who smelled of alcohol passed out in an alley at 300 N. Gilbert St. The temperature at the time was minus 4 degrees with a wind chill of minus 25 degrees, National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Ervin said.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Fun with Alcohol, I hate it when that happens | Comments Off
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Man’s Body Found At Grand Canyon
The body of a man believed to have fallen off the edge of the Grand Canyon has been recovered from approximately 300 feet below the rim at an undeveloped view point on the South Rim.
National Park Rangers said they were trying to determine the man’s hometown.
Rangers said they first noted what appeared to be an unattended vehicle in the Buggeln picnic area on Wednesday afternoon.
Investigators said they determined that the car was a rental and had recently been abandoned.
Posted in Suicidal Tendencies, Yuck! | Comments Off
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Woman dies after fall from UN building
A woman who worked for the United Nations died Sunday after falling from the 19th floor of the U.N.’s Secretariat Building, authorities said.
Police and U.N. security officers at the scene, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said the woman in her 40s had jumped from a window after showing up to work early in the morning.
“A U.N. agency staff member died after falling from the 19th floor of the U.N. Secretariat Building,” U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. “At this time there is no suspicion of foul play.”
Posted in Most Mysterious, Suicidal Tendencies, Yuck! | Comments Off
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
A week or two ago, I issued you all a war warning about Kosovo. Well, it has finally come to pass.
Enjoy the bloody mess! Hat tip to the USA (especially Condi Rice) and the EU…
Kosovo Declares Independence From Serbia
Kosovo’s parliament declared the disputed territory a nation on Sunday, mounting a historic bid to become an “independent and democratic state” backed by the U.S. and European allies but bitterly contested by Serbia and Russia.
Fireworks lit up the night sky over Kosovo’s capital Pristina, where thousands of giddy ethnic Albanians braved subfreezing temperatures to ride on the roofs of their cars, singing patriotic songs and chanting: “KLA! KLA!” the acronym for the now-disbanded rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
“Kosovo is a republic _ an independent, democratic and sovereign state,” Kosovo’s parliament speaker Jakup Krasniqi said as the chamber burst into applause.
Serbia immediately denounced the declaration as illegal, and Russia also rejected it, demanding an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
President Bush said the U.S. would work to prevent violence after the declaration and the European Union appealed for calm, mindful of the risk that the declaration could plunge the turbulent Balkans back into instability.
Hours after the declaration, an explosion apparently caused by a hand-grenade rocked a U.N. courthouse in the Serb-controlled north of Kosovo, but no one was injured.
Update @ 16:45 – More here: Protestors riot at US embassy and here: Troops on standby for Kosovo duty
Update @ 18:45 – War fears as Kosovo declares ‘freedom’
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Anarchy, Concentrated Stupidity, Idiot Activists, Idiot Authorities, War | Comments Off
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Arrests on 7th night of unrest across Denmark
Angry youths who have been setting fires in immigrant neighborhoods across Denmark for seven consecutive nights should expect no sympathy from society, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Sunday.
“I think it will be the opposite, that a lot of people will turn their backs on them,” the prime minister said in interview with Denmark’s TV2 news channel.
It was the first time he had commented publicly on the weeklong youth violence that has kept police and firefighters busy in cities across Denmark.
It’s not clear what triggered the unrest but some observers say youths from Denmark’s immigrant communities were protesting against perceived police harassment, and suggested Wednesday’s reprinting of a cartoon lampooning the Prophet Muhammad may have aggravated the situation.
Posted in Anarchy, Concentrated Criminality, Fire, T.R.O.P. | Comments Off
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Waves sweep 2 off beaches – officials fear the worst
Waves swept two people off Northern California beaches Saturday, and authorities said their chances of survival are slim.
In northern Sonoma County, a woman trying to help her dog out of the rough surf was pulled in around 11:30 a.m., witnesses at a nearby lodge told police. Boats and helicopters from county, state and federal agencies searched the ocean and shoreline around Gualala Point Regional Park but could not locate her, said Lt. Scott Dunn of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department.
The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for a man who was swept off the rocks at the beach at Limekiln State Park south of Big Sur shortly after midnight early Saturday. The missing person is 27-year-old Christopher Partridge, said Petty Officer Jonathan Cilley, spokesman for the Coast Guard. Crews stopped looking for him around noon.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, I hate it when that happens, Restless Earth | Comments Off
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Fatal 44 shots of tequila served to boy
Two bartenders were convicted of grievous bodily harm by a Berlin state court on Monday for their role in serving at least 44 shots of tequila to a 16-year-old German boy who died after the drinking binge.
The court sentenced the two men, aged 21 and 18, to 10 months of social training.
A third bartender was acquitted while the trial for a fourth bartender, who is facing more serious charges of bodily harm with fatal consequences, has not yet started.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Concentrated Stupidity, Fun with Alcohol | Comments Off
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
‘Penis murder’ like a Hitchcock horror
A SYDNEY man accused of murdering his former wife’s lover has told a jury he was provoked into cutting off the man’s penis.
The NSW Supreme Court has been told Gabor Ziha repeatedly stabbed Barry Corbett who was in bed with his estranged wife, Marija Ziha.
A human penis was found in the bedside drawer on top of a magazine, the jury of 11 men and one woman has been told.
Ziha has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Corbett, 58, on August 1, 2006, in a flat at Parramatta in Sydney’s west.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Concentrated Criminality | Comments Off
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
Danish youths riot for sixth night
Gangs of rioters set fire to cars and garbage trucks in northern Copenhagen on Friday, the sixth night of rioting and vandalism that has spread from the capital to other Danish cities, police said on Saturday.
Five youths were arrested in the capital on Friday after 28 cars and 35 garbage trucks were burned, Copenhagen police duty officer Jakob Kristensen told Reuters.
Danish media said arrests in other towns brought to 29 the number of people police were holding.
Scores of cars and several schools have been vandalized or burned in the past week. Police could give no reason, but said that unusually mild weather and the closure of schools for a winter break might have contributed.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Anarchy, T.R.O.P. | Comments Off
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Third foot washed ashore in B.C. adds to mystery
The mystery began when one severed foot washed ashore last summer.
The second foot was found a week later, on a busy beach trail.
Now, what began as a strange coincidence has taken on downright baffling dimensions with the discovery earlier this month of a third male foot.
All three feet washed up on a Gulf Island between B.C.’s mainland and Vancouver Island.
The connection between the feet doesn’t end there.
They were all right feet, size 12, and all three were shod in sneakers.
The RCMP and the coroner’s office are investigating who the three men were and what may have happened. The feet are being investigated individually as separate cases.
Posted in Most Mysterious, Yuck! | Comments Off
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
7 Killed As Car Hits Md. Drag-Race Crowd
A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch a drag race on a suburban road early Saturday, killing seven people and injuring at least four, police said.
Witnesses said they had just watched two cars in the illegal street race speed past when a car without any lights on came up behind them and veered into a crowd of about 50.
“There were just bodies everywhere; it was horrible,” said Crystal Gaines, 27, whose father was among the dead.
Gaines said she grabbed her child but could not help her father, William Gaines Sr., 61.
“He wasn’t breathing, he wasn’t moving,” she said. “His body was in pieces.”
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Concentrated Stupidity | Comments Off
Friday, February 15th, 2008
Arrested judge wore dress, women’s hosiery
A Boston-based federal judge wore a black cocktail dress, fish-net stockings and high heels when police arrested him for drunk driving after he rear-ended a pickup truck last week, sources said.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Somma, 63, struck a plea deal with the city Wednesday in which he pleaded no contest to a first-offense misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge in Manchester District Court. In exchange, the judge agreed to pay $600 in fines and penalties and a 12-month license suspension, which can be reduced to six months if he proves he successfully completed a driver education and alcohol awareness course, court records show.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Fun with Alcohol | Comments Off
Friday, February 15th, 2008
Vikings Go On Rampage At Lodge
Presumedly seeking revenge against the Mid-Atlantic Hockey League for calling it quits in the middle of the season, several players with the Jamestown Vikings trashed the historic Vikings Lodge on the corner of Washington and West Fourth Street early Thursday, leaving most of the building in shambles.
Trash and debris were everywhere, especially on the second and third floors where the stench of beer and rotting food was almost overpowering. Bar stools were smashed through doors, and virtually every piece of glass in the building had been shattered, the broken shards unavoidable underfoot.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Fun with Alcohol | Comments Off
Friday, February 15th, 2008
Musician’s Fall Down Stairs Smashes $1M Violin to Bits
Can his fractured fiddle — a million-dollar Guadagnini — be fixed? It’s too early to tell.
David Garrett, a former model who has been called the David Beckham of the classical scene, said he tripped while carrying his 18th century violin as he was leaving London’s Barbican Hall after a performance, smashing it to bits.
“I had it over my shoulder in its case and I fell down a concrete flight of stairs backward,” Garrett said Thursday. “When I opened the case, much of my G.B. Guadagnini had been crushed.”
Garrett said he bought the 1772 violin for US$1 million in 2003, and he is now hoping to get it repaired in New York, where he is based.
Hat tip to Kara!
Posted in Doh!, Kara's Classics, Oops | Comments Off
Friday, February 15th, 2008
Pleas for condemned Saudi ‘witch’
Human Rights Watch has appealed to Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of a woman convicted of witchcraft.
In a letter to King Abdullah, the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice.
The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read.
Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Cultural Oddities | Comments Off
Friday, February 15th, 2008
The hero bear who went to war (and loved a smoke and a beer)
Like any soldier, he loved to relax with a cigarette and a bottle of beer when out of the firing line.
But in the heat of battle, he became an inspiring figure – bravely passing ammunition along to supply the guns.
All the men in the Second Polish Transport Company agreed that the recruit they called Voytek was the perfect comrade.
As for Voytek, he was just happy to be part of the unit… ever ready to lend a helping paw.
The 250lb brown bear, standing more than 6ft tall, was possibly the most remarkable combatant of the Second World War, seeing action amid the hell of Monte Cassino in Italy.
After the war, he and his fellow troops were billeted in Scotland and he lived out his days in Edinburgh Zoo, dying in 1963.
Posted in Animal Weirdness, War | Comments Off
Friday, February 15th, 2008
Copenhagen police arrest six in fifth night of riots
Six youths were arrested in Copenhagen for setting cars and dumpsters ablaze and throwing stones at police in a fifth night of riots in a predominantly immigrant area of the Danish capital, police said Friday.
“We’ve had six arrests so far. They’ve been charged with throwing stones at police and setting fires to cars and waste containers,” Chief Inspector Henrik Olesen of the Copenhagen police told AFP.
At least 11 cars were torched in various neighbourhoods of Copenhagen, and 10 others in the nearby town of Kokkedal.
On Thursday, 17 youths were arrested for rioting the previous night.
“We don’t know why they’re rioting. I think it’s because they’re bored. Some people say it’s because of the cartoons but that’s not my opinion,” Olesen said.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Anarchy, T.R.O.P. | Comments Off
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Man Accused of Posting Bond for Strangers in Exchange for Sex
A man is accused of using court records as a way to find victims for sex crimes. An alert judge stopped him in his tracks. Jason Lee is a registered sex offender. He is accused of looking up women on the Clerk of Court’s website. Lee is now behind bars on un-related charges.
In this developing story alert, Local 12’s Richard Jordan shares how the judge sensed something was wrong.
So far, Lee is accused of posting bond for two different women, women he never met before, but the move was not an act of goodwill, there was an ulterior motive.
“After 21 years up here, this little bell went off and I said, what are you doing here, and he said he posted her bond.”
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Sexual Deviants | Comments Off
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Woman Says She Mistakenly Put Meth Into ATM
An 18-year-old Bremerton woman told police last week that she may have mistakenly placed a bag of meth into a local ATM for deposit into her bank account, according to documents filed in Kitsap County Superior Court.
An employee at Kitsap Credit Union told police that a bag of suspected methamphetamine showed up in a deposit envelope to be deposited in the woman’s account at an ATM at the 100 block of Washington Avenue.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Drugs, Idiot Criminals | Comments Off
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Jewish Rep. Cohen Battles Antisemitism and Racism In Re-Election
If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, wait ’til you get a load of what’s going on in the Democratic primary in the Memphis area’s 9th District of Tennessee, where a shockingly worded flier paints Jewish Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) as a Jesus hater.
“Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the JEWS HATE Jesus,” blares the flier, which Cohen himself received in the mail — inducing gasps — last week.
Circulated by an African-American minister from Murfreesboro Tenn., which isn’t even in Cohen’s district, the literature encourages other black leaders in Memphis to “see to it that one and ONLY one black Christian faces this opponent of Christ and Christianity in the 2008 election.”
Posted in Politically Incorrect, Politico Follies | Comments Off
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Shock horror for would-be power cable thief
Police in central England are hunting for a badly scorched would-be copper power cable thief after finding a hacksaw embedded in an 11,000 volt power cable Saturday night.
The thief, who also left a lit blow torch at the scene, is expected to be badly charred, spiky haired and not exactly the brightest bulb in the socket.
Hat tip to Steve!
Posted in Idiot Criminals, You lucky bastard | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
THEY BEAT IT OUT OF ME
The kinky college professor who was almost strangled during an S&M session at a Midtown club told The Post yesterday he’s deeply ashamed and is finally through with the double life he’s lived since he was kid.
“I don’t want this to spoil my marriage,” said Robert Benjamin, 67, still disoriented from the three days he spent in a coma but sitting upright in a chair in his room at St. Vincent’s Hospital.
“I don’t want my wife to leave me, but I have to tell her the truth,” he said. “I’m going to share everything with her. I think my family will forgive me”
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Sexual Deviants | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Badri Patarkatsishvili Death Was Suspicious After Georgia Plot Claims
The sudden death of an exiled Georgian billionaire may have been another “Alexander Litvinenko-style” murder, it is feared.
Badri Patarkatsishvili
A major crime squad is investigating the death of 52-year-old Badri Patarkatsishvili, whose body was found at his country mansion in Surrey at about 11pm last night.
His family said he suffered a heart attack – but Surrey Police have launched an investigation to confirm the exact cause of death after reports of a plot to kill him.
However, officers say there is no suggestion any radioactive substance were involved in his death.
Sky News’ home affairs correspondent Mark White said: “The police want to leave no stone uncovered.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Crazed Dictatorships | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Space songs ‘could attract alien danger’
Aliens could misinterpret earth’s classic songs as declarations of war if they are recklessly broadcast into space, some scientists say.
Last week NASA broadcast a Beatles song, Across the Universe, towards the North Star, in the hope it would be noticed by extra-terrestrial beings.
But scientists have urged NASA to be more cautious, saying aliens could misinterpret the song, and even take it as a battle cry.
“Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks,” New Scientist magazine reported Dr Douglas Vakoch of the SETI Institute as saying.
Posted in Aliens, War | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
New York Psychologist Hacked to Death in Meat Cleaver Attack at Her Office
Police have identified the 56-year-old psychologist who was hacked to death with a meat cleaver at her office on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Police were searching for a male suspect in the Tuesday night killing of Kathryn Faughey at her office on East 79th Street. She lived across the street.
Police say a male therapist who attempted to assist Faughey during the attack was also seriously injured with cuts to his face and was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill/Cornell. He has not been identified.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Concentrated Criminality, Yuck! | Comments Off
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
German court OKs surveillance on Church of Scientology
A German administrative court has upheld a lower court ruling allowing the country’s intelligence services to monitor activities of the Church of Scientology.
The North Rhine-Westphalia Higher Administrative Court in Muenster says there is sufficient information to permit intelligence agencies to keep the organization under observation.
The court ruled there are concrete indications that the church and its members maintain ambitions against Germany’s democratic order.
The court said, however, that it specifically left open whether Scientology is considered a religious organization,” saying that the issue had no bearing on the ruling.
Posted in Cultural Oddities, Scientology, War | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
Restraining Order Issued for Woman Who Sent Ex-Boyfriend 10,000 Text Messages in Two Months
Timothy Mortimore’s Valentine’s Day may be less than romantic this year. Mortimore, 37, tells the UK’s Daily Mail he has been unable to lead a normal life since his bitter ex-girlfriend, Lee Amor, 23, bombarded him with 10,000 abusive phone and text messages in two months — an average of one every eight minutes.
Mortimore took Amor to court after she followed him and his current girlfriend, approached him at work demanding they talk, sent a piece of glass she had used to cut herself and tried to convince him he was the father of her unborn child.
Posted in Crazy is as Crazy Does | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
Florida Deputies Dump Quadriplegic Man From Wheelchair
A veteran Florida sheriff’s deputy is in hot water after she was caught on video dumping a quadriplegic man out of his wheelchair while he was being booked on Jan. 29, MyFOXTampaBay.com reported.
The video shows Brian Sterner, 32, out of his wheelchair and on the floor while Deputy Charlotte Marshall Jones is booking him into the Hillsborough County Jail, the Web site reported.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Idiot Authorities | Comments Off
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
Cleaners Find Mummified Body in Arizona Bathtub
A dried and decomposing body was found in a bathtub filled with dirt in a Phoenix apartment that was stacked to the ceiling with garbage and human waste.
Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter said Monday that the apartment owners thought it had been abandoned in August.
But the owners didn’t decide to do anything about the filthy apartment until last week, when they paid other people in their complex to clean it out.
Posted in Most Mysterious, Yuck! | Comments Off
