`It all started when Karl Szmolinsky won a prize for breeding Germany’s largest rabbit, a friendly-looking 10.5 kilogram “German Gray Giant” called Robert, in February 2006.
Images of the chubby monster went around the world and reached the reclusive communist state of North Korea, a country of 23 million which according to the United Nations Food Programme suffers widespread food shortages and where many people “struggle to feed themselves on a diet critically deficient in protein, fats and micronutrients.”
`A mother found her 4-year-old daughter decapitated in her home, and the child’s father was arrested early Saturday in Washington, D.C.
Amber Violette, called 911 on Friday evening, saying she had found her daughter, Katlin, with her head severed from her body, Clayton Police Chief Glen Allen said.
“It’s the most horrific thing I’ve seen in 13 years of police work,” Clayton Sgt. S. P. Lapsley said.’
`An afternoon picnic on a southern Sydney beach turned violent yesterday when a dispute between two families resulted in a saucepan versus knife duel in the fading light.
The two extended families – more than 180 people – had been picnicking separately at Dolls Point when a child from one of the families was struck by a soccer ball being used in a match by the other family, police say.
The incident caused an argument between the two families and two men allegedly attacked each other, one with a saucepan, the other with a knife, police said.’
‘An Afghan army soldier is trying to demonstrate a very very old Russian RPG.’
see it here »
`Some persons believe a mud pack is the answer to the search for a beautiful complexion, others think massage will do the trick, but Mrs. D. M. Ackerman, of Hollywood, Calif., has decided that reduced air pressure is a good treatment. So she has devised a “glamour bonnet” like a diver’s helmet with which the atmospheric pressure around the beauty seeker’s head can be lowered.’
`Nine salvaged bikes were reassembled into a carousel formation. The bike is modular and can be dismantled and reassembled. It is normally left in public places where it can attract a variety of riders.’
`The birth of a rhino is to be captured on a BBC-run webcam in what zookeepers believe will be a world first.
Sita, a one-tonne black rhino, is due to give birth this month at Paignton Zoo, in Devon, where cameras are being trained on her paddock 24 hours a day.
The zoo said there was no existing footage of a black rhino being born in a zoo anywhere in the world.’
`Auckland University scientists have revealed that eruptions of supervolcanoes powerful enough to change the climate and cause mass-extinction can be worse than previously thought. [..]
Such large eruptions of greater than 100 cubic kilometres of magma are generally rare and random events worldwide.
But geologist Darren Gravley of Auckland University and his colleagues have shown that one of the largest supervolcano eruptions on record, at Taupo 250,000 years ago, was twice as big as previously thought.’
Maybe I’m a bit stupid, but I don’t see how much worse than mass-extinction it could get. [shrug] It’s not like we’re going to be thinking “Oh, I’m glad it wasn’t any worse” once we’re already dead. 🙂
`Darren Sawyer was given a choice at the beginning of school yesterday: Change out of his brown clothes or go home.
Brown clothing was recently banned at the Molloy Alternative High School, where Sawyer is a sophomore. The ban came about from the emergence of the Brown Mafia, a new teenage gang in Lowell whose members wear the color brown, school officials said.
When Sawyer refused to change into a school-issued T-shirt or call home to have other clothes brought to the school, he was sent home, said Molloy Principal Kathy Akashian.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Sawyer’s mother, Lisa Motard. “I’ve heard of banning red and black. Now brown? What other colors are they going to come up with?”‘
`Memory Infinite has a USB male connector at one end and a female connector at the other, providing an “add up” concept for USB finger discs. By connecting one Memory Infinite with another to add up the storage capacity, the user won’t waste the old storage capacity when getting a larger one. The user can choose to combine or separate Memory Infinite, making the usage of USB finger discs more convenient. And when Memory Infinite connects to a computer using its male end, other USB devices still can connect to its female end without having to occupy another USB port on the computer.’
`Thank you for your letter rejecting my application for employment with your firm.
I have received rejections from an unusually large number of well qualified organizations. With such a varied and promising spectrum of rejections from which to select, it is impossible for me to consider them all. After careful deliberation, then, and because a number of firms have found me more unsuitable, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your rejection.’
These people are selling a monowheel for ~$4000US.
Unfortunately, it looks remarkably like the monowheel Mr Garrison invented in South Park. I think South Park has ruined monowheels forever, because now they just look like buggery machines.
`The House lawmaker in charge of defense spending said Friday that he intends to force the closure of the Guantánamo Bay military prison and curb U.S. engagement in Iraq, and that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “absolutely” supports his efforts. [..]
He said the best way to control what course the war takes is for Congress to attach conditions to war-spending bills, because Bush is unlikely to veto a bill that provides money to keep fighting.
The Guant�namo military prison, where prisoners have been held without charges and abused, need to be closed to restore U.S. credibility, Murtha said.’
`Ball lightning could soon lose its status as a mystery, now that a team in Brazil has cooked up a simple recipe for making similar eerie orbs of light in the lab, even getting them to bounce around for several seconds. [..]
A more down-to-earth theory, proposed by John Abrahamson and James Dinniss at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, is that ball lightning forms when lightning strikes soil, turning any silica in the soil into pure silicon vapour. As the vapour cools, the silicon condenses into a floating aerosol bound into a ball by charges that gather on its surface, and it glows with the heat of silicon recombining with oxygen.’
There’s also a ball lightning video.
They didn’t even seem to be going particularly fast.
see it here »
`Doctors want state governments to stop contracting the operation of public hospitals to the Catholic Church unless it agrees to provide all services including IVF, abortions, sterilisations and rape counselling.
Australian Medical Association national president Mukesh Haikerwal yesterday said taxpayers had a right to expect public hospitals would provide a full range of medical services.
If church-linked organisations wanted to exclude some services in accordance with church teaching, they should not tender for contracts to operate public hospitals, Dr Haikerwal said.
But the church’s health arm rejected the criticism and accused Dr Haikerwal of being anti-Catholic.’
Fuck the Pope up the arse with a tractor, I say.
If you have some sort of obsession about the size of celebrity penises, then this is the site for you.
It’d be cool to have a house on top of a mountain.
Less cool if you’re too scared of heights to ever leave your house once you get there. 🙂
`The tragicomic tale of what happened to my first feature film has been told elsewhere. Suffice to say, I had turned my back on the film industry and made my next film (the one you can watch a bit further down on this page) in my backyard, with $300 cash and an old Super 8mm camera I bought on eBay.
No one was more surprised than me when Spiders on Drugs became a minor hit on the film festival circuit this summer, by which I mean it was seen by tens of people at festivals all over the planet.’
Follow up to: Effects Of Drugs And Alcohol On Spider Webs
‘This is hilarious. This amateur boxer cant figure out how to get in and out of the ring. Kinda funny how he finally enters but his exit is hilarious.’
(3.1meg Windows media)
see it here »
`China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women by 2020, making it difficult for them to find wives, according to a national report.
The gender imbalance could lead to social instability, the report by the State Population and Family Planning Commission warned.
It found that around 118 boys were born to every 100 girls in 2005.
A traditional preference for boys, in a country with a one-child policy, is the root of the problem, the report says.’
`A German pensioner who wired up a high-voltage cable to try to wipe out the moles digging up his garden killed himself instead.
Uwe Werner, police spokesman in Stralsund north of Berlin, said the 63-year-old retired construction foreman was found dead in the garden of his weekend house in Zingst next to a 380-volt cable and metal spikes rammed into the ground.
“The moles survived,” Mr Werner said, noting the voltage was enough to run a cement mixer or heavy-duty power saw. “It was in any event an unorthodox method to try to get rid of moles.”‘
What happens when you strip down to underpants and a t-shirt then run past lots of people shooting paintballs at you?
Pain, is the answer. 🙂
(3.2meg Windows media)
see it here »
`Within minutes of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s arrival on Capitol Hill yesterday, it became apparent that the Bush administration had, after four divisive years, finally succeeded in uniting Congress on the war in Iraq.
Unfortunately for Rice, the lawmakers were unified in opposition to President Bush’s new policy.
“I have to say, Madam Secretary,” a seething Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) told Rice, “that I think this speech given last night by this president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam.”
“Madam Secretary,” added Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, a moderate Democrat, “I have supported you and the administration on the war, and I cannot continue to support the administration’s position. . . . I have not been told the truth over and over again.”‘
`ACFI is a group of people working for the peoples right to it’s Internets. We have made progress in Ladonia and are now working on the Micronation of Sealand.
Recently it was made clear that this country is for sale. To make sure the owners will be kopimistic and that the country won’t be governed by people that do not care about it’s future, we have come up with a plan.
With the help of all the kopimists on Internets, we want to buy Sealand. Donate money and you will become a citizien.’
‘A 48-year-old man says Portland firefighters forced him to the floor and kicked him after he argued with them in the lobby of his apartment building early Thursday — an allegation backed up by surveillance tapes.
The tapes, recorded from cameras mounted in the lobby of the Fairfield Apartments, show that resident Terry DeGeorge didn’t appear to touch the firefighters before they forced him to the floor. While he was being held down by two firefighters and a paramedic, another firefighter kicked him three times, the video shows. A security guard restrained him with handcuffs.’
see it here »
This is quite an interesting old advertisement for a car dealer, somewhere around Baltimore by the sounds of things.
Don’t forget to bring your wife. 🙂
(2.1meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘A Harstselle man who allegedly stole $300 from his grandfather’s wallet has been charged with armed robbery, authorities said. [..]
Detective Kyle Wilson said Daniel Brown donned a ski mask and jacket, armed himself with a handle from a hydraulic floor jack and made the 10-foot hike to his grandfather’s home next door.
“There’s a woman that lives there with his grandpa,” Wilson said. “He said, ‘Sit down, Bernice.’ Then he goes to his grandpa’s room and he says, ‘This is a robbery, I need your money, and I mean it, Pa-Paw.'” [..]
Daniel Brown denied he was the man behind the mask. The cash reported stolen had not been recovered Wednesday.’
`A 280-pound man who tried to break into a craft and hobby store by crawling in through a cooling duct got stuck and died, authorities said.
The Missoula County coroner’s office identified the man as Kenneth Ellingson, 37, of Missoula, and said the cause of death was positional asphyxiation. [..]
Authorities said the 6-foot-tall, 280 pound man got stuck in an L-shaped portion of the duct probably around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.’
