‘A man who neighbors say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn is charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.
Charles Martin, 66, of Union Township, near this city about 20 miles east of Cincinnati, shot next-door neighbor Larry Mugrage in the chest with a shotgun around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police said. The youth was pronounced dead at a hospital. [..]
Martin called 911 on Sunday, saying in a calm voice: “I just killed a kid.”
He also tells the dispatcher: “It’s been going on for five years … I’ve been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up.”‘
Update: now with 911 call audio and video.
(1.5meg Flash video)
see it here »
`As a government scientist, James Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn’t want you to hear but he’s going to say them anyway.
Hansen is arguably the world’s leading researcher on global warming. He’s the head of NASA’s top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the science. [..]
Asked if he believes the administration is censoring what he can say to the public, Hansen says: “Or they’re censoring whether or not I can say it. I mean, I say what I believe if I’m allowed to say it.”‘
`Oh by Seinte Loy if Johannes Gower ys not a bugge in my butte. He ys always up on my aboute my drynkynge. Moral Gowere, indeede. Y have halfe a minde to telle kynge Richarde all of the nastie thinges that Gowere saith aboute hym in the confessio amantis.
Y have inventede a newe wondere. Yt is a rollede piece of papere wyth fierie and honie-smellynge herbe of some ferne londe, called “tobbaco.” Y shall clepen it “cigarette.” Now y smoke my cigarette with muchel relish.’
I have no fucken idea what that says, except for “tobbaco” and “cigarette”. 🙂
`Isaac Hayes did not quit “South Park.” My sources say that someone quit it for him.
I can tell you that Hayes is in no position to have quit anything. Contrary to news reports, the great writer, singer and musician suffered a stroke on Jan. 17. At the time it was said that he was hospitalized and suffering from exhaustion.’
`MIT researchers have developed a tiny light detector that may allow for super-fast broadband communications over interplanetary distances. Currently, even still images from other planets are difficult to retrieve. [..]
The new detector improves the detection efficiency to 57 percent at a wavelength of 1,550 nanometers (billionths of a meter), the same wavelength used by optical fibers that carry broadband signals to offices and homes today. That’s nearly three times the current detector efficiency of 20 percent.’
`A man is being held by German police after walking into a petrol station with his wife’s severed head in a bag.
The 40-year-old man, of Turkish origin, was covered in blood when he approached the night counter at about 0400 GMT and asked the attendant to call the police.
Hamburg police said officers found the head in a bag on a grass verge and arrested the man, who was in a confused state and admitted killing his wife.’
‘A guy convinces his friend to cover his face with a sweatshirt hood to see if he can catch a ball while blind. Thats what friends are for.’
(1.8meg Windows media)
see it here »
`[..] it appears some courts are finally pointing out to the RIAA that they don’t have the right to do some of these things. The latest example involves one of the lawsuits, where the accused claims she never was involved in file sharing. The RIAA demanded full access to her computer — which she rightly felt was a violation of her privacy, as there was a lot more on her computer that obviously had nothing to do with the case. A judge has agreed and told the woman she can hire her own forensics expert, and bill the RIAA for any expenses.’
`Vampire watermelons are a folk legend from the Balkans, in southeastern Europe. The story is associated with the Roma people of the region, who originated much of vampire folklore among other unusual legends.
The belief in vampire watermelons is similar to the belief that any inanimate object left outside during the night of a full moon will become a vampire. According to tradition, virtually any kind of melon or pumpkin kept more than ten days or after Christmas will become a vampire, rolling around on the ground and growling to pester the living. People have little fear of the vampire melons because of the creatures’ lack of teeth. One of the main indications that a melon is about to undergo a vampiric transformation (or has just completed one) is said to be the appearance of a drop of blood on its skin.’
‘Randy from Dover Delaware really loves his new Dell. He gives such a glowing recommendation that I’m thinking about getting one. It even comes with a 30 day money back guarantee and a McGuire rookie card.’
(2meg Windows media)
see it here »
`Companies have patented their method of hiring, and real estate agents have patented the way they sell houses. Lawyers now advise athletes to patent their sports moves, and screenwriters to patent their movie plots. (My screenplay for “Jurassic Park” was cited as a good candidate.)
Where does all this lead? It means that if a real estate agent lists a house for sale, he can be sued because an existing patent for selling houses includes item No. 7, “List the house.” It means that Kobe Bryant may serve as an inspiration but not a model, because nobody can imitate him without fines. It means nobody can write a dinosaur story because my patent includes 257 items covering all aspects of behavior, like item No. 13, “Dinosaurs attack humans and other dinosaurs.”
Such a situation is idiotic, of course. Yet elements of it already exist. And unless we begin to turn this around, there will be worse to come.’
`Saddam Hussein’s fear of internal rebellion led him to distrust his military commanders even after U.S. forces began their invasion in 2003, crippling the country’s defenses, the New York Times reported in Sunday editions.
Citing a classified U.S. military report as well other documents and interviews, the Times also said that top Iraqi commanders were shocked when Saddam told them three months before the war that he had no weapons of mass destruction. [..]
The report also said that Saddam put a general considered to be an incompetent drunk in charge of the elite Republican Guard because he considered him to be loyal. It said commanders were in some cases banned from communicating with other units and were unable to get maps of areas near the airport because those would have disclosed the locations of Saddam’s palaces.’
`One third of Australians are completely ignorant of the Islamic faith, with women and people without tertiary training the most likely to lack knowledge, a new study shows. [..]
The survey revealed only one in six Australians had a decent understanding of Islam, while one third claimed to be completely ignorant of it.
More than 55 per cent of respondents – mainly women, people with no tertiary training and those aged over 50 – reported having no contact with Muslims.
People who had no contact with Islam were twice as likely to be ignorant about the faith compared with those who were linked to it in some way, the study also showed.
It also found that whether people felt threatened by Islam depended on their knowledge of the religion.’
I might have already posted this. Can’t remember. Still, vaguely amusing and worth another quick look. 🙂
`The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has taken its fight against drunken driving to a new level. TABC agents, along with Irving police, targeted 36 bars and clubs Friday, arresting some allegedly intoxicated patrons before they departed the businesses.
The officers and agents also kept watch on bartenders who might have over-served patrons.
Agents arrested 30 people Friday night. Most of the suspects now face charges of public intoxication.’
`”South Park” has declared war on Scientology. Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of the animated satire, are digging in against the celebrity-endorsed religion after a controversial episode mocking outspoken Scientologist Tom Cruise was yanked abruptly from the schedule Wednesday � with Internet rumors it was covert warfare by Cruise that led to its departure.
“So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for earth has just begun!” the “South Park” creators said in a statement Friday in Daily Variety. “Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies… You have obsructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail!”‘
`Fake porn euro notes being sold as a gimmick in Germany are being successfully passed off as real cash.
The notes, in 300, 600 and 1,000 euro denominations have a ring of 12 hearts instead of the usual EU stars and feature hunky men and big-breasted nude women.
Instead of the word ‘Euro’ being printed in the corner these notes have ‘Eros’ – the Greek god of love.
But despite these differences – and the fact that the only large euro notes currently in circulation are 100s, 200s and 500s – police say they are being passed off as the real thing.’
`An Israeli court sentenced a man to two years in prison on Sunday for operating a fake clinic that offered penis enhancements and so-called medical treatments to make people taller, which failed to work.
Simon Sofer told dozens of clients he was a doctor and said he could add up to 3.9 inches to their height or 2.4 inches to their genitals, the Tel Aviv court said.
His clinic, in operation since 1999, was not medically supervised, a government prosecutor had told the court.’
`A macabre scandal in which corpses were plundered for body parts could be even bigger than previously disclosed, with one company alone saying it has distributed thousands of pieces of human tissue that authorities fear could be tainted with disease.
In addition, three other companies have reported quarantining or destroying more than $5 million in tissue from Biomedical Tissue Services — the now-defunct New Jersey supply house at the center of the scandal.
While the exact number of pieces distributed and used in operations has not been revealed, hospitals in recent weeks have spoken of contacting hundreds of patients who may have received tainted tissue.’
`With power cleaner than coal and cheaper than natural gas, the nuclear industry, 20 years past its last meltdown, thinks it is ready for its second act: its first new reactor orders since the 1970’s.
But there is a catch. The public’s acceptance of new reactors depends in part on the performance of the old ones, and lately several of those have been discovered to be leaking radioactive water into the ground.
Near Braceville, Ill., the Braidwood Generating Station, owned by the Exelon Corporation, has leaked tritium into underground water that has shown up in the well of a family nearby. The company, which has bought out one property owner and is negotiating with others, has offered to help pay for a municipal water system for houses near the plant that have private wells.’
A bit of tritium never hurt anyone, I say. 🙂
`Iraq is in the middle of civil war, the country’s former interim prime minister Iyad Allawi has told the BBC. [..]
The UK and US have repeatedly denied Iraq is facing a civil war, but Mr Allawi suggested there was no other way to describe the sectarian violence. [..]
“If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is.”‘
`Strange though it seems, a typical microwave oven consumes more electricity powering its digital clock than it does heating food. For while heating food requires more than 100 times as much power as running the clock, most microwave ovens stand idle—in “standby” mode—more than 99% of the time. And they are not alone: many other devices, such as televisions, DVD players, stereos and computers also spend much of their lives in standby mode, collectively consuming a huge amount of energy. Moves are being made around the world to reduce this unnecessary power consumption, called “standby power”.
[..] In 1998 they released an initial study which estimated that standby power accounted for approximately 5% of total residential electricity consumption in America, “adding up to more than $3 billion in annual energy costs”. According to America’s Department of Energy, national residential electricity consumption in 2004 was 1.29 billion megawatt hours (MWh)—5% of which is 64m MWh. The wasted energy, in other words, is equivalent to the output of 18 typical power stations.’
‘A 75-year-old grandfather has become the newest star of Russia’s growing porn industry, after wandering on to a film set by mistake, thinking it was a muscle man show.
David Bozdoganov has since starred in the films The Old Neighbour and Handyman at Work.
Director Alexander Plahov said: “We were auditioning for a new film and had a number of couples on stage simulating sex when I saw an old guy standing at the back.
“I wandered over to ask him to leave when I saw this massive package straining against his trousers. [..]”‘
Also, lemons.
‘It’s not just that America is being ruled by small and venal men, or that its reputation has been demolished, its army overstretched, its finances a mess. All of that, after all, was true toward the end of Vietnam as well. Now, though, there are all kinds of other lurking catastrophes, a whole armory of swords of Damocles dangling over a bloated, dispirited and anxious country. Peak oil — the point at which oil production maxes out — seems to be approaching, with disastrous consequences for America’s economy and infrastructure. Global warming is accelerating and could bring us many more storms even worse than Katrina, among other meteorological nightmares. The spread of Avian Flu has Michael Leavitt, secretary of health and human services, warning Americans to stockpile canned tuna and powdered milk. It looks like Iran is going to get a nuclear weapon, and the United States can’t do anything to stop it. Meanwhile, America’s growing religious fanaticism has brought about a generalized retreat from rationality, so that the country is becoming unwilling and perhaps unable to formulate policies based on fact rather than faith.’
`Scientists have developed artificial, super-strength muscles powered by alcohol and hydrogen, which could eventually be used to make much better prosthetic limbs. The artificial muscles are 100 times more powerful than the body’s own, and researchers believe they could be modified one day to use in ‘exoskeletons’, to give superhuman strength to certain professions such as firefighters, soldiers and astronauts.’
`So were the seeds he used to keep in a case in the store, with exotic names like Afghan Dream and Chemo Grizzly. So was the booming business he ran, complete with glossy seed catalogues describing the subtle and sublime nuances of his varieties. (“Nebula: Fruity flavor and scent. Transcendental buzz. Harvest outdoor.”) So, for that matter, are the other marijuana businesses that have sprouted up in the block around his Vancouver bookstore. The street is nicknamed “Vansterdam,” with pot-hazy cafes, headshops filled with pipes and bongs, and neon signs advertising illegal seed sales.
Until recently, nobody much cared, it seemed. The police hadn’t bothered to come around for eight years. Before that, they busted Emery for seed sales and raided him four times. But he just got fined — once with “a nice speech from the judge saying what a nice person I was and how marijuana probably shouldn’t be illegal,” Emery says — and the police stopped trying. [..]
Then came the DEA.’
`This is not a game.
You can’t win and you can’t lose.
This is a simulation.
It has no ending. It has already begun.
The rules are deadly simple. You can shoot. Or not.’
`Silvestre, who posed as a general surgeon, performed operations on the women who went to see him for breast augmentations, but were grossly disfigured and instead had to see licensed doctors to try and repair the damage.
Champion bodybuilder and former Mr. Mexico Alexander Baez also went to Silvestre’s Ocean Health Center in Miami Beach to have his pectoral muscles enhanced. But he woke up to find he had been given female breast implants.
Baez’s attorney said veterinary anesthesia was used on his client, who woke up three times during the procedure.’
`The Wapato Facility, in the city’s northern outskirts, took $59 million and two years to construct. But in the nearly two years since its completion — as Portland has struggled with a crime surge — not a single inmate has set foot in the building.
Multnomah County, in charge of Portland jails, can’t afford to open it.
“We held a ceremony, cut the ribbon — then locked the doors,” says Sheriff Bernie Giusto, who attended the dedication in the summer of 2004. “We have a brand-new jail sitting here empty, and I don’t have a good answer when the public asks me, ‘Why was it built if there was no plan to operate it?’
“Even I get tired of telling people how dumb we are.”‘
