Archive for 2004

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Thursday, November 18, 2004

 

That moose may soon be just a mouse click away

`Hunters soon may be able to sit at their computers and blast away at animals on a Texas ranch via the Internet, a prospect that has state wildlife officials up in arms. [..]

Underwood, 39, said he will offer animal hunting as soon as he gets a fast Internet connection to his remote ranch that will enable hunters to aim the rifle quickly at passing animals.’


‘Thief’ tattooed on man’s forehead over stolen pot

`Four Northern California men have been busted for allegedly tattooing the word “thief” in two-inch-high letters on the forehead of a man they suspected of stealing a pound of marijuana.

Authorities in Mendocino County report the four face charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment, conspiracy and mayhem.’


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English Muffin Blamed for Wis. Evacuation

`A fire alarm set off by smoke in the state Capitol caused an evacuation before firefighters located the source of the problem – a toaster and a singed muffin.

“It was not too badly singed,” said Justin Sargent, an aide to Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, after conceding his English muffin apparently was responsible.’


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Hawke’s Bay woman breastfeeding her pet dog

`A Hawke’s Bay woman says she is breastfeeding her staffordshire bull terrier pup because she wants the dog to protect her baby girl as the pair grow up.

Kura “Kat” Tumanako said she started breastfeeding the pup after her own baby stopped taking her milk. Her nipples were too big for the baby and she had to pour her milk away.

“I didn’t want to waste it so I gave it to Honey Boy,” she said.’


Lard lovers face national crisis

`Christmas dinners throughout the UK are under threat this year from a shortage of lard as Eastern Europeans stockpile cheap cuts of pork. [..]

The current crisis has probably not been matched since lard rationing during World War II.’


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Reward offered for ‘baby Jesus’

`The South Australian Brewing Company has offered six cases of beer to anyone who can produce Jesus.

The company today offered the reward after thieves made off with baby Jesus from its traditional nativity display earlier this week.

Brewery managing director Mark Powell said security footage showed a man scaling a fence and swiping baby Jesus from his manger along the banks of the River Torrens.’


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US accused of ‘torture flights’

`An executive jet is being used by the American intelligence agencies to fly terrorist suspects to countries that routinely use torture in their prisons. [..]

Countries with poor human rights records to which the Americans have delivered prisoners include Egypt, Syria and Uzbekistan, according to the files. The logs have prompted allegations from critics that the agency is using such regimes to carry out “torture by proxy” — a charge denied by the American government. [..]

Witnesses described seeing the prisoners handed to US agents whose faces were masked by hoods. The clothes of the handcuffed prisoners were cut off and they were dressed in nappies covered by orange overalls before being forcibly given sedatives by suppository.’


Creation theory gets boost

`Schools should teach the biblical creation story alongside evolutionary theory, Family First chairman Peter Harris said yesterday.

While his fledgling party – arising out of the Assemblies of God church – had no formal policy on school curriculums, Mr Harris said his personal view was that children should be taught both perspectives.’


Karate Chimp

(3meg mpeg)


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The Journal of Unpublished Chemistry

`Mesylation of One’s Face.
Mesylation of human skin may be accomplished by the application of methanesulphonyl chloride, in a dichloromethane-aerosol. [..]

Upon Cleaning Glassware: Chromic Acid or “Smash-it-and-bin-it”?
Chromic acid is often the last resort for stubborn contamination on glassware. However, the option of smashing the apparatus, and disposing of it as waste glass, is often overlooked. The merits of both techniques are discussed in this communication.’


Friday, October 29, 2004

 

Fatal attraction of swallowed magnets

`American scientists have identified yet another improbable accident waiting to happen. Don’t, they warn today, ever let your baby swallow two magnets at the same time.

One magnet, no problem, says Alan Oestreich of Cincinnati children’s hospital, writing in the latest issue of the journal Radiology. [..]

Two magnets, however, could set up a potentially fatal attraction. “Any time more than one magnet passes beyond the stomach of a child, urgent surgical consideration is required,” he warned.’


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Find Hitler


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Boston police accept ‘full responsibility’ in death of Red Sox fan

`The Boston Police Department “accepts full responsibility” for the death of a 21-year-old college student killed by a police projectile fired to disperse crowds celebrating the Boston Red Sox victory over the New York Yankees. [..]

Preliminary findings indicate that Victoria Snelgrove, a journalism student at Emerson College, was hit in the eye by a projectile that disperses pepper spray on impact, Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole said Thursday.’


Drug tests for PV 7th-graders?

`The Paradise Valley Unified School District is considering testing students as young as those in seventh grade for drugs. [..]

Gina Jeanette, who has a daughter at Sunrise Middle School and a son at Horizon High School, supports random drug testing for all students starting in seventh grade.

“It’s crucial to hit them at that age,” she said. She said she was shocked to hear that when her daughter was in sixth grade, some of the students in her class were experimenting with drugs.’


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Thursday, October 28, 2004

 

Bush website adopts isolationist stance

`International access to the official re-election website of Us President George W. Bush (www.georgewbush.com) has been blocked. Surfers from outside the US trying to reach the site receive an “access denied” message. [..]

Since Monday morning (25 October) GeorgeWBush.com began rejecting web requests from outside the United States, Netcraft reports. Those outside America can only reach the site through US based proxies (such as proxify.com) but not through European proxies, Reg readers report.’


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Cat in substation blamed for city outage

`The feline, of the dark tiger variety, wandered into the Cinergy substation north of town, darkening many city homes and most city TV sets. And then — after an unhealthy jolt of electricity had coursed through its body — the cat wandered away. [..]

“He seemed to be OK, but it seemed to have a bald butt,” [an animal control officer] said. “We could smell cooking fur.”‘


The Assertive Atheist

`Relax! There is no *God* and your are not going to Hell.’


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Office Bricolage Micro-Claymore

`The micro-claymore is a small device designed to deliver a short-ranged, dispersed payload from a concealed location. The mine is created from commonly available office materials. It may be either manually fired or fired by a tripline, depending on the orientation of the firing pin.’


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Two accused of enslaving mentally ill

`Two people have been charged with holding six mentally ill patients at group homes and making them work against their will, authorities said.

A man and a woman were arrested Tuesday under a federal law banning involuntary servitude after 20 FBI agents searched two group homes in Newton, Kansas.’


Disappearance of explosives in question

`The disappearance of nearly 380 tons of sophisticated explosives in Iraq remained in question Tuesday and continued to be an issue in the presidential campaign. [..]

The Iraqi government notified U.N. nuclear monitors in early October that an explosives stockpile was missing from the Al Qaqaa arms depot, blaming the disappearance on looting that followed the collapse of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s government in April 2003.’


Why is war-torn Iraq giving $190,000 to Toys R Us?

`On October 21, Iraq will pay $200m in war reparations to some of the richest countries and corporations in the world. [..]

Here is a small sample of who has been getting “reparation” awards from Iraq: Halliburton ($18m), Bechtel ($7m), Mobil ($2.3m), Shell ($1.6m), Nestlé ($2.6m), Pepsi ($3.8m), Philip Morris ($1.3m), Sheraton ($11m), Kentucky Fried Chicken ($321,000) and Toys R Us ($189,449). In the vast majority of cases, these corporations did not claim that Saddam’s forces damaged their property in Kuwait – only that they “lost profits” or, in the case of American Express, experienced a “decline in business” because of the invasion and occupation of Kuwait.’


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Lovelorn Japanese gangster offers severed pinkie

`An unemployed ex-gangster in Japan in love with a 15-year-old girl has chopped off his little finger and mailed it to her father twice in an unsuccessful bid to prove his commitment, police have said.

Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, 36, was arrested on Monday after the teenager’s father told police the finger had been sent to him again, after marking it return to sender the first time, a police spokesman said.’


WWII RARE ANAL BRIEFCASE


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Health campaign makes ‘L’ of a mistake

`An embarrassing spelling mistake has caused Nova Scotia’s Health Department to recall thousands of pins meant to support the annual flu-shot campaign.

The letter “L” was omitted from the word “public” on pins given out to health-care workers.

The pins are attributed to the “Office of Health Promotion and Pubic Health Services.”‘


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Judge Throws Party for Man Then Jails Him for Life

`A Texas judge welcomed fugitive back to her court, throwing him a party that included balloons and a cake. Then, she sent him to prison for life.

“You just made my day when I heard you had finally come home,” Dallas Judge Faith Johnson told Billy Wayne Williams, who was captured last week after nearly a year on the run. [..]

“It seems like everyone wants to have a party, and it’s fun for you people, but not for me,” Williams said as he was led away in handcuffs.’


NASA expert says US stifling evidence on global warming

`The Bush Administration is trying to stifle scientific evidence of the dangers of global warming in an effort to keep the public uninformed, a NASA scientist said.

“In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now,” James Hansen told a University of Iowa audience on Tuesday.’


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Food fight in Taiwan’s legislature

`They’ve fought with fists. They’ve thrown paper at each other. And on Tuesday, Taiwan’s rowdy lawmakers had an old-fashioned food fight.

Legislators began chucking white cardboard takeout lunch boxes full of rice, meat, hard-boiled eggs and vegetables at each other during a heated debate over whether Taiwan should spend billions on weapons sold by the United States.’


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Nucleus

Jump from electron to electron.


Kyoto deal sealed with Russia’s help

`The Kyoto Protocol deal on the management of global climate change has overcome its final hurdle in Russia, setting the stage for the sweeping environmental treaty to come into force next year. [..]

Russia’s adoption is the final step needed among major industrial countries after the treaty was rejected by the US, which alone accounted for 36 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions in 1990.’


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Alleged mercury bandits not too swift

`Authorities said the suspects broke into the facility on Tuesday and stole a jar of the highly toxic substance. They allegedly spilled 10 pounds on the company’s site and another roughly 10 pounds in the driveway and parking lot of the apartments.

Police said the suspects admitted to playing with the mercury, which forms small beads when released in liquid form. One of the suspects told a TV news crew that one of the four had dipped a cigarette into the mercury.’


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