Archive for July, 2009
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
From humble tool to global icon:
In Switzerland, there is a saying that every good Swiss citizen has one in his or her pocket. It is an object that is recognised all over the world, and it is globally popular.
But the Swiss army knife had humble beginnings, and, at the start, it wasn’t even red.
In the late 19th Century, the Swiss army issued its soldiers with a gun which required a special screwdriver to dismantle and clean it. At the same time, tinned food was becoming common in army rations. Swiss generals decided to issue each soldier with a standard knife. It was a life-saver for Swiss knife makers, who were, at the time, struggling to compete with cheaper German imports.
“My great-grandfather started a small business in 1884, 125 years ago,” explains Carl Elsener, head of the Swiss knife manufacturer Victorinox. “He was making knives for farmers, for in the kitchen and so on, and then he heard that the Swiss army wanted a knife for every Swiss soldier.”
Carl Elsener senior seized that opportunity with both hands, and designed a knife that the army loved. “It was a very simple thing,” explains his great-grandson. “It had a black handle, one big blade, a tin opener and a screwdriver.”
Now, to mark the 125th anniversary, that first knife is on display at an exhibition at the Forum for Swiss History, together with hundreds of other Swiss army knives. “The thing about the army knife is that it really has become a kind of global cult object,” says Pia Schubiger, curator of the museum. “Everyone seems to have one, lots of people even have collections of them, and we wanted to explore this phenomenon.”
Posted in Toys! | No Comments »
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
New York City funds relocation for homeless people
New York has a long history as a magnet for the poor and the homeless. Even the famous poem on the Statue of Liberty, addressed to the world’s “huddled masses”, exhorts: “Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me!”
But now? Not so much. A New York scheme to send hundreds of homeless people on a one-way ticket out of town has led to more than 550 families relocated since 2007. Under the scheme, initiated by New York’s mayor Mike Bloomberg, the city pays for bus and plane tickets, or petrol vouchers, to destinations varying from cities elsewhere within the US mainland to places like South Africa or Puerto Rico.
The scheme is aimed at saving the costs of putting up homeless families in expensive shelters. It only happens if a family can show they have relatives to stay with elsewhere who are willing to look after them. Then New York will stump up the cash and make the arrangements for them to get out of town, often within a few days of agreeing to leave.
The level of help varies. One couple from Michigan were given $400 (£240) in petrol cards so that they could drive home after a failed quest to find New York jobs. Another family of five got free plane tickets to Paris and then free rail tickets when they arrived to get them to the northern French town of Granville. Though the travel expenses can often cost thousands of dollars, city officials say it is cheaper than housing families in shelters which can cost around $36,000 a year.
Posted in Greed is Good, Idiot Authorities | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
It’s Saturday light fever
RESIDENTS in a Highland village were left terrified by a UFO sighting which lasted TWO hours.
The bizarre sightings began at 11pm on Saturday and the spectacular show in the sky above Muir of Ord, Ross-shire ended at 1am.
Residents watched in awe as three bright orange dome-shaped objects hovered then flew at high speed in random spirals closer and closer to the village.
Last night leading expert Nick Pope said: “This could be one of the most significant UFO events in recent history.
…
An RAF spokesman at Lossiemouth said there had been no reports that required a response on Saturday night.
He added: “Usually there are innocent explanations for these things.”
Posted in Aliens | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Shopaholic died under purchases:
The body of an elderly shopaholic was found underneath a pile of clothing and other items after she died of natural causes, an inquest heard.
Joan Cunnane’s bungalow was so crammed with purchases it took five visits to the house before she was found.
She had refused to let her friends into the house in Heaton Mersey, Stockport Magistrates’ Court was told. Her friend Roy Moran said the 77-year-old started shopping to escape youths who once plagued her home.
Mr Moran told the court: “She said it gave her pleasure to buy things, she only bought things she really liked.” Mr Moran last saw his friend on Christmas Day 2008 when they had lunch together. ‘
He visited her bungalow in Rosgill Close four days later and found the side door ajar, but the premises was stacked from floor to ceiling with “bric-a-brac”.
“He couldn’t see her anywhere and got no response,” said coroner John Pollard.
Posted in Crazy is as Crazy Does | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Thirsty piglets love Tequila
The cage opens and six newborn pigs file out and sprint to their mother.
Without a bark or a grunt, a black Rottweiler/pit bull named Tequila lies on her side. The piglets then suckle the dog’s milk for 20 minutes. The pigs are so eager for Tequila’s milk that they push, bump and jump over each other to get it.
“I’ve been farming for a while and I’ve never ever ever seen anything like this,” said James Favreau, who owns the pigs and dog on his Buckingham farm. “It’s amazing. Two weeks ago, this dog was hunting wild pigs with me.”
Now, Tequila is busy nursing six piglets and eight puppies. The 2-year-old Tequila gave birth to the puppies Monday, the same day Favreau’s 3-year-old Yorkshire produced the piglets. Favreau, 45, said Tequila started nursing the pigs Monday morning shortly after the pigs were born during a rainstorm. Favreau said he rescued one of the pigs from drowning and brought all of them into his home.
Posted in Animal Weirdness | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Cat mistakenly euthanized after routine animal hospital stay:
A case of mistaken identity ended up killing a beloved family pet. Maria Velez and her son, Austin, went to pick up their cat, Buddy, from the vet only to discover he had been euthanized, the St. Petersburg Times reports.
Velez said when she arrived at Hernando County Animal Hospital, workers handed over a cat that bore Buddy’s orange tiger-stripe markings but was missing its tail and far too skinny to be her pet. Workers then realized that Buddy was dead.
An animal service worker who meant to call Buddy’s owner called the wrong person. That person said they did not want the cat, and gave the OK to euthanize Buddy.
“I was horrified,” Velez told to St. Petersburg Times. “My poor baby.”
Posted in Medical Monstrosities, Oops | No Comments »
Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Brainy buddies get busted for torching cop car – in front of stationhouse:
Two numskulls busted for drinking in public decided to get even by torching a cop car. Trouble was, they set the fire in front of an NYPD stationhouse – and were promptly arrested again, police said.
“Braniacs these boys are not,” said one police source.
Michael Bower, 18, and Carlos Ortiz, 22, were first nabbed for boozing and disorderly conduct at 2 a.m. Friday on Mace Ave. in the Bronx and given summonses.
After being released, the peeved pair bought motor oil from a BP station across the street from the 52nd Precinct on Webster Ave., police said.
They allegedly poured the oil, and possibly another accelerant, on a patrol car parked in front and tossed a match, sources said.
Posted in Idiot Criminals | No Comments »
Friday, July 24th, 2009
Report: Michael Jackson’s Prosthetic Nose Is Missing
Michael Jackson wore a prosthetic nose, according a report — and it was missing from his surgically mangled face as he lay in an LA morgue. Left behind was a small, dark hole surrounded by bits of cartilage, Rolling Stone magazine said, citing witnesses who saw the King of Pop’s body on the autopsy table.
Jackson, who was notoriously shy about his appearance, wore the prosthetic to mask the effects of decades of plastic surgery, according to the magazine, due to hit newsstands today. Meanwhile, a Texas search warrant unsealed yesterday indicates that Jacko’s doctor, Conrad Murray, is the target of a manslaughter probe into the singer’s death.
Posted in Medical Monstrosities | No Comments »
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Dirty Jersey: Feds Bust Dozens in Corruption Scandal
The mayors of Hoboken, Secaucus, Ridgefield were among 44 people arrested in early morning raids across New Jersey this morning as federal officials unveiled a long-ranging probe into public corruption and international money laundering, officials said
FBI and IRS rounded up various elected officials and several rabbis across the state in what is being described as one of the biggest investigations of its kind in Jersey’s scandal-plagued history.
The corruption investigation, which has been ongoing for over ten years according to officials, dovetails with a “high-volume international money-laundering conspiracy.” It is said to involve rabbis in the Syrian Jewish enclave in Brooklyn and Deal, New Jersey. It started when money transfers drew the interests of the feds who followed the trail back to small-town Jersey corruption.
…
Officials say separate from the corruption probe, some of the suspects charged today were also connected to an illegal human organ-selling ring. Investigators say some charged would take cash payments to help find organs for sick patients in need of transplants. It’s unclear where the body parts might have come from or how many surgeries may have been done.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality | No Comments »
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Town Manager Fired for Porn Star Spouse
Being laid off in Florida isn’t surprising news these days, but what happened to poor Scott Janke doesn’t seem quite right.
Janke, who was the esteemed town manager of Fort Myers Beach, was fired Tuesday because of his wife’s job — or rather the kinds of jobs she did on film.
Janke’s wife, Anabela Mota Janke, is a porn star better known by the name of Jazella Moore. If you’re familiar with her work, then you can see the problem at hand. The couple has been married for about a year, but an adult industry website outed Moore as Janke’s undercover porn wife.
And then the firestorm of debates on political correctness and public decency ensued.
Commissioners voted unanimously to fire Janke, who by all accounts — even those of the commission — had done a stand up job running the town.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Idiot Authorities | No Comments »
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
‘Imbeciles’: Hundreds evacuated from their homes as bushfire caused by French military threatens Marseille
The French Army were branded ‘imbeciles’ today after an artillery exercise caused a massive fire which destroyed dozens of houses and left hundreds homeless.
Rather than improving the marksmanship of the Foreign Legion, the shelling led to mass evacuations in a suburb of Marseilles.
More than 300 people have been evacuated from their homes and more than 1,000 acres of bush were left blazing, as 170 firefighters backed by helicopters and waterbombing aircraft fought the fire.
As it continued to blaze today, military chiefs were making panicked apologies for the disaster.
Posted in Idiot Authorities, Oops | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
Brawl breaks out in South Korean parliament:
Hundreds of competing lawmakers screamed and wrestled in South Korea’s parliament Wednesday as a rivalry over contentious media reform bills descended into a brawl that sent at least one to a hospital.
Lawmakers from the ruling Grand National Party occupied the speaker’s podium in a bid to quickly pass the bills aimed at easing restrictions on ownership of television networks. Opposition parties responded by stacking up furniture to block ruling party members from entering the main hall of the National Assembly.
The parliament plunged into chaos, as lawmakers scuffled and shouted abuse at each other. Women lawmakers from the rival parties joined in the melee, grabbing each other by the neck and trying to bring opponents to the floor.
YTN television network reported some were injured. One woman lawmaker was seen lying on a blue mattress with nurses checking her blood pressure. The lawmaker was later taken to a hospital, YTN said.
Posted in Idiot Authorities, Politico Follies | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Naked Cowboy Throws His Hat in the Ring
After a careful survey of the field of mayoral candidates, the Naked Cowboy has decided the time is right to make his bid for City Hall.
”No one knows how to do more with less than yours truly, and that’s the kind of thinking I plan on sharing with my fellow New Yorkers when you elect me,” Robert Burck, aka The Naked Cowboy, said in the statement announcing his candidacy.
Burck is vowing to bring “transparency to a whole new level,” and says his platform will offer a fresh take on tax breaks, tourism, gay marriage, public transport and homeland security, reports Reuters.
The homepage of Burck’s website now sports a a guitar-picked shaped knock-off of President Obama’s logo. The flash page then evolves to show a silhouette of the Cowboy and then promises a “big announcement” that you can hear first on MySpace, Twitter or facebook.
Posted in Politico Follies | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Store owner: Monkey caught on tape burglarizing business
It’s a crime caught on camera that has the owners of a north Texas business going bananas. They have security camera video of what appears to be a monkey burglarizing their business.
Ellen Goldberg has more on the bizarre break-in.
”Definitely never been robbed by a monkey before,” says store co-owner Jerry Duncan. Yes, a primate is the prime suspect in the latest break-in at this Richardson, Texas nursery.
“I said no way until I look at it and said this is crazy,” said store co-owner Shelley Rosenfeld. The owners of “Plants and Planters” are convinced that’s a monkey in the bottom left hand corner of the security camera tape.
“You can see the back legs the front arms and the white head,” observes Duncan. And with the help of a human accomplice, Shelley Rosenfeld believes the monkey was trained to steal several hundred dollars worth of her merchandise.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
Astrologers: Solar Eclipse Will Cause World Violence
This week’s solar eclipse has Indian astrologers predicting violence and turmoil across the world, AFP reported.
In Hindu mythology, the two demons Rahu and Ketu are said to “swallow” the sun during eclipses. It takes the life-giving life and causes food to become inedile and water undrinkable, AFP reported.
Mothers-to-be are told to stay inside so their baby doesn’t develop birth defects and some are worried a major world catastrophe will take place.
Raj Kumar Sharma, a Mumbai astrologer, told AFP, “some sort of attack by (Kashmiri separatists) Jaish-e-Mohammad or Al Qaeda on Indian soil” and a devastating natural disaster in Southeast Asia.
Posted in End of the World Update, Space | No Comments »
Monday, July 20th, 2009
Mother Allegedly Used Young Sons to Commit 20 Armed Robberies in Arizona
A 51-year-old Arizona mom allegedly used her young sons and their friends to commit at least 20 armed robberies in a calculating and “revolting” scheme, police said.
Cynthia Roberson was arrested Friday and accused of manipulating her adolescent sons and others into scores of gunpoint thefts in the Phoenix area by making them feel guilty about finances.
Roberson was taken into custody along with some of the boys and young men involved in the armed robberies.
Posted in Bad Parents | No Comments »
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
Space exploration volunteers wanted (The catch? It’s a one-way ticket)
It is often described as “the final frontier”, and not just by those who follow the adventures of Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise.
The phrase, though, may take an even more literal meaning for those exploring space in the future. The next generation of astronauts may hurtle through the cosmos for years or decades on a mission to explore distant planets and stars – and never return.
A senior Nasa official has told the Guardian that the world’s space agencies, or the commercial firms that may eventually succeed them, could issue one-way tickets to space, with the travellers accepting that they would not come back.
The prospect of spending years cooped in a spacecraft would not deter people from applying, he said.
“You would find no shortage of volunteers,” said John Olson, Nasa’s director of exploration systems integration. “It’s really no different than the pioneering spirit of many in past history, who took the one-way trip across the ocean, or the trip out west across the United States with no intention of ever returning.”
Posted in Crazy is as Crazy Does, Space, Suicidal Tendencies | No Comments »
Saturday, July 18th, 2009
State parking garage workers busted for smoking, selling pot
Two state workers are off the job tonight after police say they set up a party lounge in a state parking garage and allegedly smoked and sold marijuana.
A maintenance worker at the OGS East Garage on Madison Avenue between Eagle and Philip Streets in downtown Albany has been charged and his boss is accused of being in on a drug ring that ran on the taxpayer’s dime.
Parking garages are pretty ordinary places, except when people who work in them allegedly turn them into essentially a party lounge.
That’s what investigators say 48-year-old OGS cleaner Gary Pivoda and his supervisor 50-year-old Louis Marciano did for months in a maintenance area tucked away in this garage at the Empire State Plaza.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Drugs | No Comments »
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Police investigate ‘Nazi’ gnome
German prosecutors have launched an inquiry into whether a garden gnome with its right arm raised in a Hitler salute in a Nuremberg art gallery breaks the law.
Salutes and Nazi symbols have been illegal in Germany since the Second World War but investigators may decide the figure is in fact ridiculing the Third Reich.
Wolfgang Traeg, a spokesman for the public prosecutors office, said: “The investigation is ongoing and people are being interviewed.
“It is also a question of art a bit,” he said. “It will also depend on what the artist and the owners of the gallery have to say for themselves about the whole thing.”
Posted in Ars Gratia Artis, Nazis | No Comments »
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Man stabbed by La Crosse woman after watching porn
A La Crosse woman is accused of stabbing her boyfriend Tuesday afternoon after she caught him watching pornography and masturbating, according to La Crosse police reports.
Rachel Ferrara, 23, found her 24-year-old boyfriend inside her home at 920 Cameron Ave., No. 4, about 3:30 p.m., reports stated.
The couple argued and Ferrara accused the man of being a “(expletive) cheater,” reports stated. She punched him twice in the abdomen and kicked him in the groin, police said.
Ferrara then backed the man into the kitchen, where she grabbed a 5-inch serrated knife and slashed his arms before stabbing him in the abdomen, according to reports.
She reportedly refused his attempts to calm her down and screamed at him to leave.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Doh! | No Comments »
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Duluth police search for rubber ball fetish burglar
A Duluth man with a history of burglary to satisfy a self-professed sexual fetish for slashing large rubber exercise balls has been at it again, according to a complaint made public on Thursday.
Christopher Neil Bjerkness, 31, is accused of breaking into the St. Mary’s/Duluth Clinic West building at 4212 Grand Ave., where he allegedly slashed exercise balls, apparently with a sharp knife.
Bjerkness is charged in St. Louis County District Court with second- and third-degree burglary in connection with the May 30 break-in at the clinic.
Police have been unable to locate Bjerkness and a warrant was issued for his arrest Wednesday.
SMDC officials turned over to Duluth police video surveillance of the break-in and exit from the building. A police investigator concluded that the burglar was Bjerkness.
Posted in Sexual Deviants | No Comments »
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Mischa Barton Maxes Out, Seeks Medical Help
Skinny vs. bloated. Off the radar vs. all over the news (for all the wrong reasons).
The 23-year-old actress, who has attracted more attention in recent years for her yo-yoing weight and propensity to party than her TV and film roles, missed the premiere of her latest movie after being removed from her home by the Los Angeles Police Department Wednesday.
An LAPD spokeswoman confirmed to ABC News that officers responded to a call at Barton’s home to assist her with a “medical issue.”
While Access Hollywood reported that police placed Barton under an involuntary, 72-hour psychiatric hold (also known as a 5150, the same code used to commit Britney Spears twice in L.A. in 2008), the LAPD would not elaborate on the nature of their role in assisting her or her current health status.
Posted in Idiot Celebrities, Modern Narcissism | No Comments »
Friday, July 17th, 2009
Man uses chain saw in Wyo. mountain lion attack:
Wildlife officials are trying to determine why a mountain lion attacked a Colorado man who says he used a chain saw to fight off the animal during a camping trip with his wife and two toddlers in northwestern Wyoming.
Dustin Britton, a 32-year-old mechanic and ex-Marine from Windsor, Colo., said he was alone cutting firewood about 100 feet from his campsite in the Shoshone National Forest about 27 miles west of Cody when he saw the 100-pound lion staring at him from some bushes.
The 6-foot-tall, 170-pound Britton said he raised his 18-inch chain saw and met the lion head-on as it pounced — a collision he described as feeling like a grown man running directly into him.
“It batted me three or four times with its front paws and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away,” he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | No Comments »
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Jumbo squid invade San Diego shores, spook divers:
Thousands of jumbo flying squid—aggressive 5-foot-long sea monsters with razor-sharp beaks and toothy tentacles—have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and washing up dead on tourist-packed beaches.The carnivorous calamari, which can grow up to 100 pounds, came up from the depths last week and swarms of them roughed up unsuspecting divers. Some divers report tentacles enveloping their masks and yanking at their cameras and gear.
Stories of too-close encounters with the alien-like cephalopods have chased many veteran divers out of the water and created a whirlwind of excitement among the rest, who are torn between their personal safety and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to swim with the deep-sea giants.
The so-called Humboldt squid, which can grow up to 100 pounds, are native to the deep waters off Mexico, where they have been known to attack humans and are nicknamed “red devils” for their rust-red coloring and mean streak.
Those who dive with them there chum the water with bait and sometimes get in a metal cage or wear chain mail to avoid being lashed by tentacles.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | No Comments »
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Ex-tax worker: I stole $11 million for love
A former Colorado Department of Revenue supervisor says love for her ex-boyfriend led her to steal $11 million in unclaimed tax refunds from the state.
The ex-boyfriend, Hysear Randell, is on trial in Denver this week on charges of theft, forgery, computer crime and racketeering.
On Wednesday, Michelle Cawthra testified that she deposited unclaimed tax refunds and other money in Randell’s bank accounts over two years by forging documents and creating fake businesses.
She said she frequently used computer passwords of other workers so she wouldn’t be detected.
Posted in Crazy is as Crazy Does | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
‘Morally dangerous’ Bruno banned in Ukraine:
Ukraine has banned the hit comedy “Bruno” on the grounds that its “unjustified” showing of genitals and homosexual sex could have a damaging effect on Ukrainians’ moral health, officials said Wednesday.
The ban is not the first time “Bruno” star Sacha Baron-Cohen has run into trouble in the former Soviet Union after his previous creation, the Kazakh journalist Borat, caused controversy in the Central Asian state.
The film, which stars Cohen as a gay Austrian fashionista with a habit of making outrageous remarks, has already hit the top spot at the North American box office. But Ukraine’s film censors were less impressed, with nine members out of the culture ministry’s 14-person commission voting for a total ban.
Posted in Idiot Authorities | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies
It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.
A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.
Robotic Technology Inc.’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that’s right, “EATR” — “can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable,” reads the company’s Web site.
That “biomass” and “other organically-based energy sources” wouldn’t necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they’d be plentiful in a war zone.
Posted in End of the World Update, Technological Travesties, War, Wunderwaffen | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
No more electroshock therapy for Chinese internet addicts
INTERNET addicts should stop receiving electroshock therapy because it doesn’t work, the Chinese Health Ministry says.
Nearly 3000 youths have undergone electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, or electroshock) at Linyi Mental Health Hospital, resident psychiatrist Yang Yongxin told the China Youth Daily.
The hospital, based in eastern Shandong, runs a four-month web rehab program which includes medicine and counselling for a monthly fee of 5500 yuan ($1025).
It claims to have stopped electroshock following the health ministry’s recommendation, the Associated Press reported.
According to the ministry, there is no clinical evidence to show ECT, normally used to treat severe depression, has an effect on internet addiction.
Chinese psychologists say internet addicts include those who spend over six hours a day online playing games or watching porn instead of doing work, and can become angry when kept offline.
Posted in Medical Monstrosities, Technological Travesties | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
As Space Station Nears Completion, It Faces End of Mission
A number of times in recent weeks a bright, unblinking light has appeared in the night sky of the nation’s capital: a spaceship. Longer than a football field, weighing 654,000 pounds, the spaceship moved swiftly across the heavens and vanished.
Fortunately, it was one of ours. The international space station is by far the largest spacecraft ever built by earthlings.
Circling the Earth every 90 minutes, it often passes over North America and is visible from the ground when night has fallen but the station, up high, is still bathed in sunlight.
After more than a decade of construction, it is nearing completion and finally has a full crew of six astronauts. The last components should be installed by the end of next year.
And then? “In the first quarter of 2016, we’ll prep and de-orbit the spacecraft,” says NASA’s space station program manager, Michael T. Suffredini.
Umm, do you really want *more* government decision-making in your life?
Posted in Space | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
Bangladesh crackdown on ‘kings of genies’
Police in northern Bangladesh say they have arrested dozens of swindlers who conned people out of money by calling them on mobile phones and pretending to be genies with supernatural powers.”It has become an epidemic here,” said Farhad bin Imrul Kayes, police chief of Gobindaganj district. “In the last three months alone we have arrested 24 of these so-called ‘kings of genies’, some of whom have even become rich in just a year,” he told AFP.
The scammers would gather personal information about their victims beforehand, call them and speak “in a tone similar to Arabic,” Kayes said.
Posted in Cryptozoology, Most Mysterious | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
France unrest before Bastille Day:
French youths set 317 cars on fire and wounded 13 police officers overnight during a series of riots on the eve of the Bastille Day holiday, police say.
Paris police said 240 people had been arrested, almost double the number held after unrest on the same day last year.
The injured officers are suffering from hearing difficulties caused by home-made explosives blowing up beside them.
Last week, the death of a young man in police custody caused three nights of riots in the southern town of Firminy.
Police said Mohamed Benmouna, a 21-year-old of Algerian origin, had died after trying to hang himself in a cell earlier in the week.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, T.R.O.P. | No Comments »
Monday, July 13th, 2009
Saudi family take a genie to court over theft and harassment allegations
A family in Saudi Arabia is taking a genie to court for theft and harassment.
The genie is accused of leaving them threatening voicemails, stealing their mobile phones and hurling rocks at them when they leave their house at night, according to the Al-Watan newspaper.
An investigation was under way, officials at the Shariah court said.
‘We have to verify the truthfulness of this case despite the difficulty of doing so,’ Sheikh Amr Al Salmi, the head of the court, told Al-Watan. ‘What makes this case and complaint more interesting is that it wasn’t filed by just one person. Every member of the family is part of this case.’
Posted in Cryptozoology, Spooky | No Comments »
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
SF Zoo’s Same Sex Penguin Couple Splits Up
The San Francisco Zoo’s popular same-sex penguin couple has broken up. Male Magellan penguins Harry and Pepper have been together since 2003.
The pair nested together and even incubated an egg laid by another penguin in 2008, but their relationship hit the rocks earlier this year when a female penguin, Linda, befriended Harry after her long-time companion died.
This did not go over well with Pepper, who became violent. The three penguins were separated for some time following the fight.
“They have been doing okay since,” said Zookeeper Jennifer Katz. “They have been getting along okay. But Pepper is by himself now, so we are keeping an eye on the three of them.”
Posted in Animal Weirdness | No Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2009
German zoo renames monkey, admits “Obama” insensitive
A German zoo changed the name of one of its monkeys Friday from! ‘Obama’ to ‘Okeke’ after a black group warned the original name implied a racial slur.
The newborn mandrill was named Obama this March, in honour, zookeepers said, of US President Barack Obama.
A Dresden Zoo spokesman said the new name took effect Friday and confirmed a report in an English-language website, The Local. Obama visited Dresden last month.
Tahir Della of the Initiative for Black Germans (ISD) was quoted saying, ‘Black people continue to be confronted by associations with the animal kingdom and primitivity.’
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2009
Tree branch clocks Brooklyn man playing dodgeball:
It was the tree, not the ball, that tagged him out.
Justin Calicchio, 23, and his pals were playing dodge ball in Carroll Park in Brooklyn when he was clobbered by a broken branch.
”I blacked out,” he said last night from his bed in Lutheran Hospital.
“Everything is starting to become clear again. My girlfriend has been telling me about it and I’m starting to remember now.”
His Carroll Gardens pals had to team up with a paramedic to lift the tree-sized limb.
“It happened in a spilt second,” said Christian Miron, 21. “It was too fast and the branch was too big to even run away.”
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | No Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2009
Horror as taxi driver decapitates himself in cab:
A taxi driver decapitated himself after tying a rope around his neck and a post before driving off at high speed.
The incident took place just metres from a 24-hour cafe.
The man, believed to be in his thirties, is said to have then driven off at full speed in the early hours of this morning, aiming straight at a pillar.
His head was found yards from his taxi in Great Suffolk Street in Southwark, London.
A cab driver, who preferred to remain anonymous, said: ‘One of the drivers was at the scene just afterwards.
‘He saw the cab all smashed up against the pillar, with the driver’s body still inside the vehicle.
‘He then saw the head lying on the side of the road next to some rope. It is horrific.’
Posted in Suicidal Tendencies, Yuck! | No Comments »
Friday, July 10th, 2009
Man Gored to Death During Pamplona Bull Run
A charging bull gored a young man to death Friday at Pamplona’s San Fermin festival, the first such fatality in nearly 15 years.
Nine others were injured in a particularly dangerous and chaotic chapter of the running of the bulls.
The San Fermin festival Web site said the unidentified man was gored in the neck and lung during a run in which a rogue bull separated from the pack, which is among the worst things that can happen at Spain’s most popular fiesta.
Photographs showed the man lying on a stretcher moments after the goring, his face and neck stained with blood and his eyes only half-open. An emergency medical worker is leaning over him, applying what appears to be gauze to his neck wound.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | No Comments »
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Jam Legend Paul Weller could face jail after passing out drunk on the streets of Prague with lover Hannah Andrews
MODFATHER PAUL WELLER was threatened with jail by cops after getting blind drunk and collapsing in the street.
THE JAM legend, 50, was told he could be thrown in a cell with other drunks at the local nick after passing out in the arms of his 23-year-old lover HANNAH ANDREWS.
A video handed to The Sun shows boozed-up Hannah – a backing singer for Weller – falling over twice.
…
Weller and Hannah spent two hours knocking back shots of vodka in the bar on Saturday night.
Brad said: “His girlfriend was aggressive and kept blowing me raspberries. She fell off her bar stool and passed out on the floor.”
Posted in Fun with Alcohol | No Comments »
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Russia ’shot down its own planes’:
A report in a Russian military journal claims that half the planes Russia lost in its war with Georgia last year were shot down by friendly fire.The article, in the Moscow Defence Brief magazine, also claims that Russia lost a total of six military aircraft, two more than it is admitting to.
The report is highly critical of Russian forces during the brief war.
…
It says there was a total absence of co-operation between the Russian army and the Russian air force, which led them to conduct completely separate campaigns.
Russian forces easily overwhelmed Georgian troops during the brief war.
Posted in I hate it when that happens, Oops, War | No Comments »
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Turtle Brigade Delays Flights at J.F.K.
Dozens of turtles, presumably on a mating spree, shut down a runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport Wednesday morning for 35 minutes, causing flight delays of an hour and a half.
The 78 diamondback terrapins were picked up, put into a pickup truck and removed from the runway, said John Kelly, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
They were originally spotted around 8:30 a.m. by a pilot, who radioed the tower. “It’s not unprecedented, but it’s not at all common,” he said.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update, Kara's Classics | No Comments »
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Teen pregnant after ‘swimming in pool’
A WOMAN is suing an Egyptian hotel claiming her daughter got pregnant – from using the swimming pool.
Magdalena Kwiatkowska’s 13-year-old returned to Poland from their holiday expecting a baby.
Magdalena believes the teenager conceived from stray sperm after taking a dip in the hotel’s mixed pool.
She is now seeking compensation from the hotel.
A travel industry source said: “The mother is adamant that her daughter didn’t meet any boys while she was there.
“She is determined to go ahead with the case.”
Posted in Teen Antics | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Deal or No Deal contestant trips and falls five storeys to his death while ‘chatting’ on mobile phone
A bank clerk fell five storeys to his death down an office stairwell seconds after being seen using his mobile phone, an inquest heard yesterday.
Investigators are trying to establish if Richard Pow, 26, slipped and fell over the railing while distracted by the handset.
Mr Pow, whose fiance Eleanor Sharman is pregnant with his child, had cycled to work at the HBOS building in Leeds on Monday last week and had just used the office changing rooms on the fifth floor.
Deputy coroner Richard Manning said: ‘He was standing on the fifth floor stairwell landing, apparently either texting or using his mobile phone. Then a member of staff heard a very loud bang. ‘
Mr Pow’s body was found on the ground floor directly below where he had last been seen.
…
Three years ago Mr Pow won £20,000 on the Channel 4 gameshow Deal or No Deal.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Doh!, Oops | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Ozzy’s pet dog eaten by a coyote
ROCKER Ozzy Osbourne is devastated after his pet dog was EATEN by a coyote.
The Pomeranian, who wildman Ozzy called Little Bit, was attacked in the grounds of his family’s Los Angeles mansion.
It is believed the 60-year-old heavy metal veteran and wife Sharon were watching the Michael Jackson memorial on Tuesday when the attack happened and did not hear the dog’s yelps.
Ozzy’s daughter Kelly said: “He is devastated – she was his other woman.”
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Pool Boots Kids Who Might “Change the Complexion”
More than 60 campers from Northeast Philadelphia were turned away from a private swim club and left to wonder if their race was the reason. Pool Boots Kids Who Might “Change the Complexion”
“I heard this lady, she was like, ‘Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?’ She’s like, ‘I’m scared they might do something to my child,’” said camper Dymire Baylor. The Creative Steps Day Camp paid more than $1900 to The Valley Swim Club.
The Valley Swim Club is a private club that advertises open membership. But the campers’ first visit to the pool suggested otherwise.
“When the minority children got in the pool all of the Caucasian children immediately exited the pool,” Horace Gibson, parent of a day camp child, wrote in an email.
“The pool attendants came and told the black children that they did not allow minorities in the club and needed the children to leave immediately.”
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
North Korea May Be Behind Wave of Cyberattacks
South Korean intelligence officials believe North Korea or pro-Pyongyang forces committed cyber attacks that paralyzed major South Korean and U.S. government Web sites, aides to two lawmakers said Wednesday.
The sites of 11 South Korean organizations, including the presidential Blue House and the Defense Ministry, went down or had access problems since late Tuesday, according to the state-run Korea Information Security Agency.
Agency spokeswoman Ahn Jeong-eun said 11 U.S. sites suffered similar problems. She said the agency is investigating the case with police and prosecutors. In the U.S., the Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the July 4 holiday weekend and into this week, according to American officials inside and outside the government.
Posted in Crazed Dictatorships, Hackers and Hacking, N. Korea, War | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Han Chinese groups demand blood in revenge for deadly riots
State police and paramilitaries deploy by the thousands in a bid to contain escalating tensions in Urumqi, in the worst outbreak of ethnic violence China has seen in years.
Thousands of Chinese, many wielding sticks, clubs and knives, marched today through Uighur neighborhoods of the northwestern city of Urumqi chanting “blood for blood” and singing the Chinese national anthem.
Chinese police and paramilitaries deployed by the thousands struggled to contain escalating tensions in the worst outbreak of ethnic violence the country has seen in years.
The marchers, who appeared to be ethnic Han, the majority in China, were demanding revenge for rioting by the Turkic-speaking Uighurs on Sunday in which 156 died.
“Let the government take care of this,” pleaded a local Communist official, Li Zhi, who stood on top of a van, shouting through a bullhorn.
When he continued, “Han and Uighurs need to live in harmony,” the crowd jeered him. Loud booms, which some witnesses said were tear-gas canisters, could be heard in the distance although it was unclear who they were directed against. Earlier in the day, Uighur women and children had marched in protest against the arrests of about 1,400 Uighur men.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Anarchy | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Sun’s storms set to intensify
ASTRONOMERS are claiming that Earth is witnessing the biggest and most powerful Sunspot ever seen and the sunspot is yet to peak in intensity.
A sunspot is a magnetic storm on the surface of the sun and the area of the spot is colder than the normal surface.
The normal surface is about 5000 degrees, the temperature of a sunspot is about 3000 degrees.
The size of a sunspot varies, ranging from the size of the moon to 65 times larger than the size of earth and lasts for about a month then fades away.
This newest sunspot is thought to be 60 to 80 times the size of Earth and has occurred on the side of the sun, which is in view of Australia.
Wappa Falls Observatory head astronomer Owen Bennedick describes the sunspot shape like the letter S and thinks it to be approximately 150,000 km long and 30,000 km wide.
“It’s flares have not yet been measured,” Owen Bennedick said, “but it is like hundreds of thousands of hydrogen bombs.”
Posted in Space | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Social Security Numbering System Is Vulnerable to Fraud, Researchers Say
The nation’s Social Security numbering system has left millions of citizens vulnerable to privacy breaches, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, who for the first time have used statistical techniques to predict Social Security numbers solely from an individual’s date and location of birth.
The findings, published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are further evidence that privacy safeguards created in the era before powerful computers and ubiquitous networks are increasingly failing, setting up an “architecture of vulnerability” around personal digital information, the researchers said.
The researchers, Alessandro Acquisti, an associate professor of information technology and public policy, and Ralph Gross, a postdoctoral researcher, noted that there was a range of implications from the research, including that it was now possible to routinely reconstruct sensitive personal information from the type of online postings frequently found on social networking sites and other public sources.
Posted in Hackers and Hacking | No Comments »
Monday, July 6th, 2009
Need Some Weed? Just Check Twitter
Some California pot sellers are living the high life this summer — because high-tech social-networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are allowing them to legally swap street corners for the Internet.
“Just in! Baby Crunch, Spy Diesel and Critical Mass! Buy a quarter, get a gram,” read the “tweets” listing the strains of pot available from the Los Angeles-based non-profit medical-marijuana dispensary Artists Collective, which also promises “free delivery.”
Posted in Drugs | No Comments »
Monday, July 6th, 2009
The Sun Has Spots, Finally:
After one of the longest sunspot droughts in modern times, solar activity picked up quickly over the weekend. A new group of sunspots developed, and while not dramatic by historic standards, the spots were the most significant in many months.
“This is the best sunspot I’ve seen in two years,” observer Michael Buxton of Ocean Beach, Calif., said on Spaceweather.com.
Solar activity goes in a roughly 11-year cycle. Sunspots are the visible signs of that activity, and they are the sites from which massive solar storms lift off.
The past two years have marked the lowest low in the cycle since 1913, and for a while scientists were wondering if activity would ever pick back up.
During 2009 so far, the sun has been completely free of spots about 77 percent of the time. NASA researchers last month said quiet jet streams inside the sun were responsible, and that activity would soon return to normal.
Posted in Space | No Comments »
Monday, July 6th, 2009
Husband chops wife’s head with meat cleaver for being clumsy, cops say:
An enraged Brooklyn husband whacked his wife in the head with a meat cleaver Monday – screaming he had endured her clumsiness for too long, police sources said.
”I’ve put up with you for all these years!” neighbors said Qi Xian Huang screamed in Chinese after his wife accidentally swept dirt over his feet while cleaning.
A dazed and bleeding Shao Ling Ye stumbled out of the couple’s Bay Ridge apartment into the street.
Huang followed his 54-year-old wife and tried to staunch the blood with towels before leading her back to their upstairs apartment shortly before 9:30 a.m., neighbors said.
Ye survived the attack and is in critical condition at Lutheran Hospital. Her 53-year-old husband was under arrest at the 68th Precinct awaiting assault charges.
Hat tip to Kara!
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Kara's Classics | No Comments »
Monday, July 6th, 2009
New York Congressman Blasts Jackson as ‘Pervert, Low-Life’
A New York congressman says in a YouTube video that Michael Jackson was a “pervert.”
Rep. Peter King said society is “glorifying” a “low-life” while ignoring the efforts of teachers, police officers, firefighters, veterans and volunteers.
Jackson was acquitted of molesting a boy.
In the video, the congressman says the “day in and day out” coverage of Jackson’s death is “too politically correct.” He conceded that Jackson “may have been a good singer” and “did some dancing.”
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Sunday, July 5th, 2009
Formula One Racing Chief Praises Hitler, Saddam Hussein
Bernie Ecclestone, the man who controls Formula One auto racing, said Friday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to “get things done.”
In an outspoken interview with The Times of London, the 78-year-old British billionaire chastised contemporary politicians for their weaknesses and extolled the virtues of strong leadership. Ecclestone said: “In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done.
“In the end he got lost, so he wasn’t a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it … so either way he wasn’t a dictator.”
He also criticized democracy, claiming that “it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries — including this one [Britain].”
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
US man sets hot dog-eating record:
The world record for competitive hot dog eating has been broken in the US.
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut ate 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes at the annual 4 July contest at Coney Island in New York, shattering his old record of 66.
His main rival, Japan’s six-time winner Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi, ate 64 and a half.
It is thought the two men ate around 19,000 calories between them.
The first such hot dog eating contest was held in 1916, when the winner put away only 13 franks.
Posted in Human Oddities | No Comments »
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
McAfee false-positive glitch fells PCs worldwide
IT admins across the globe are letting out a collective groan after servers and PCs running McAfee VirusScan were brought down when the anti-virus program attacked their core system files.
In some cases, this caused the machines to display the dreaded blue screen of death. Details are still coming in, but forums show that it’s affecting McAfee customers in Germany, Italy, and elsewhere.
A UK-based Reg reader, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized by his employer to speak to the press, said the glitch simultaneously leveled half of a customer’s 140 machines after they updated to the latest virus signature file.
“Literally half of the machines were down with this McAfee anti-virus message IDing valid programs as having this trojan,” the IT consultant said. “Literally half the office switched off their PCs and were just twiddling their thumbs.”
…Based on anecdotes, the glitch appears to be caused when older VirusScan engines install DAT 5664, which McAfee seems to have pushed out in the past 24 hours. Affected systems then begin identifying a wide variety of legitimate – and frequently crucial – system files as malware. Files belonging to Microsoft Internet Explorer, drivers for Compaq computers, and even the McAfee-associated McScript.exe were being identified as a trojan called PWS!hv.aq, according to the posts and interviews.
Posted in I hate it when that happens, Oops, Technological Travesties | No Comments »
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
‘Run Hadji Run’ fireworks pulled off shelves:
Fireworks called Run Hadji Run were pulled off the shelves of a Wisconsin store after Minnesota Muslims complained that they were racist.
Fireworks called Run Hadji Run were pulled off the shelves of a Wisconsin store after Minnesota Muslims complained that they were racist. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) said that both the name and the packaging are demeaning.
One side of the package has a drawing of Uncle Sam yanking the long beard of a man in traditional Muslim attire, while the other shows a Stealth bomber flying over a group of Arabs riding camels. In addition, “Hadji” is an honorific for those who have completed the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
Australia probes navy ’sex game’:
An investigation is under way in Australia over claims that navy sailors competed with each other to bed their female colleagues for cash prizes.
According to Channel Seven news, sailors on board HMAS Success put a cash value on each woman’s head.
Sleeping with a female officer or a lesbian, or having sex in a strange place, won more money, the report said.
The Defence Department confirmed that a number of individuals had been sent back to Australia for interviews.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Idiot Authorities, Sex | No Comments »
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
Amtrak train kills two in Alameda County:
Two people have been struck and killed by one Amtrak train in Alameda County.
One was killed in Berkeley, and another two hours later in Oakland.
The first fatality happened around 12:20 p.m. in Berkeley according to Amtrak officials.
After the accident the train was held at the crime scene until 1:50 p.m.
About thirty minutes later, after continuing on it’s route, the same train struck and killed another person in Jack London Square in Oakland.
Posted in I hate it when that happens, Oops | No Comments »
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
Sheriff: Bama man eaten by wild dogs
Authorities in Pickens County are trying to track a pack of wild dogs they believe may have killed a 96-year-old man and consumed his remains.
Israel Pope, Jr. was reported missing Monday night and police found his remains in a field on his property, about a quarter of a mile from his house.
Police believe Pope had been consumed by a pack of dogs authorities tracked to a den under an abandoned mobile home.
Investigators found pieces of Pope’s clothing and what may have been human remains at the mobile home.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | No Comments »
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
Man uses nail clippers to circumcise himself in DIY disaster
DO-IT-YOURSELF is becoming ever more popular these days, but a young man took the concept slightly too far when he used a pair of nail clippers to circumcise himself.
Unfortunately things didn’t work out according to plan, and the unnamed man was taken to Lister Hospital in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, where the wound had to be cleaned and disinfected.
The man was kept in the hospital for further observation.
“This is something we would advise men never to attempt,” a medic told the Telegraph. “The results can be quite horrific and long-lasting and have quite an affect on a man’s sexual performance. Using a pair of nail clippers must have caused excruciating pain, even if he had had a few drinks beforehand.”
Hat tip to Valentina!
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Crazy is as Crazy Does, Yuck! | No Comments »
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
Thrown pig leads to religious riots in India
Three people have been killed in religious rioting in southern India between Muslims and Hindus, police said Friday.
Widespread violence broke out in Mysore Thursday after somebody threw a dead pig into the compound of an under-construction mosque, city police commissioner Sunil Agarwal told CNN.
More than a dozen people were injured in the clashes, he said. Police fired tear gas and used bamboo sticks to break up the rioting, according to Agarwal.
Authorities have, for now, banned assembly of five or more people on the streets of the troubled area, according to the police.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Cultural Oddities | No Comments »
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
The Post’s ‘Salon’ Plan: A Public Relations Disaster:
For a storied newspaper that cherishes its reputation for ethical purity, this comes pretty close to a public relations disaster.
Politico reported this morning that The Post has been soliciting lobbyists to pay from $25,000 to $250,000 to underwrite off-the-record “salons” at the home of publisher Katharine Weymouth that would provide access to administration and congressional leaders and the paper’s reporters and editors.
The story, accurately reported by Politico (and former Post) reporter Mike Allen, is based on a flier being circulated by a new marketing arm of The Post that has been created to host conferences and events.
The problem: The Post often decries those who charge for access to public officials. This raised the specter of a money-losing newspaper doing the same thing — and charging for access to its own reporters and editors as well.
Posted in Career Limiting Move | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Qaeda warns France of revenge for burka stance:
Al-Qaeda’s North Africa wing threatened on Tuesday to take revenge on France for its opposition to the burka, calling on Muslims to retaliate against the country, the US monitoring service SITE Intelligence reported.
Earlier this month, President Nicolas Sarkozy said the burka, which covers the whole face, was not welcome in the strictly secular country.
“Yesterday was the hijab (the Islamic headscarf long banned in French schools) and today, it is the niqab (the full veil),” Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was quoted as saying.
“We will take revenge for the honour of our daughters and sisters against France and against its interests by every means at our disposal.”
Posted in T.R.O.P. | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Mint’s $15.3 M golden dilemma: Was there a heist?:
The distinct possibility that precious metals may have been stolen from the Royal Canadian Mint is “inexcusable,” the federal minister responsible for the Crown corporation said Monday.
The findings of a long-awaited external audit, released earlier in the day, concluded that $15.3 million in missing gold is not the result of accounting or bookkeeping errors, raising even more questions about the whereabouts of the metals from what has been touted as one of the most secure facilities in Canada.
“The mint’s still unexplained loss of precious metals is inexcusable,” Transport Minister John Baird and Minister of State for Transport Rob Merrifield, whose department is responsible for the mint, said in a joint release. “The mint will be held accountable.”
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Most Mysterious, Oops | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Ant mega-colony takes over world:
A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.
Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another.
The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.
What’s more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together. Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) were once native to South America. But people have unintentionally introduced the ants to all continents except Antarctica.
Posted in Animal Rebellion Update | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Flight diverted after passenger undresses in seat
A cross-country US Airways flight was diverted to Albuquerque after a male passenger removed his clothing mid-flight.
Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport, said 50-year-old Keith Wright of New York disrobed Tuesday while sitting in his seat in the back of the aircraft.
He said Wright was unresponsive when a flight attendant asked him repeatedly to get dressed and refused to be covered with a blanket.
Jiron said law enforcement employees who were passengers on the plane helped subdue and handcuff Wright before the flight landed. The FBI said Wright is in federal custody on a charge of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
Father Who Ditched Nine Kids Via Safe Haven Law Has Twins on the Way
The Nebraska man who abandoned his nine children under the state’s Safe Haven law last year is expecting to become the father of twins, FOXNews.com has learned.
Gary Staton, 37, became a single father in February 2007 when his wife, RebelJane, died of a cerebral aneurysm shortly after giving birth to the couple’s ninth child. Unable to handle the burden alone, Staton made national news more than a year later on Sept. 24 when he dropped off his children — ages 1 to 17 — at a hospital in Omaha. According to the law at the time, parents could hand children up to age 18 over to state custody without prosecution. Legislators would later amend the law to limit its reach to infants up to 30 days old.
Joanne Manzer — the wife of RebelJane’s father, Jack Manzer — told FOXNews.com that Staton informed his children last week that he’s expecting to become a father again with his new girlfriend, a woman named Gail.
Posted in Bad Parents | No Comments »
