‘An Israeli man wrestled a leopard to the ground after it entered his bedroom in a desert college and tried to make a meal of his pet cat.
“He jumped on the leopard and pinned him to the floor, then his wife called us so we could take it away,” Amram Zabari, a local park ranger who rushed to the scene, said today.
Arthur De Mosh, a 45-year-old tour guide at the college near Kibbutz Sde Boker in southern Israel, was awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of the leopard trying to eat his cat.
He freed the pet, which survived the ordeal, from the leopard’s clutches.’
Apparently the leopard got hurt in the tussle and required a CAT scan. No shit. 🙂
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‘Dallas police are searching for six masked gunmen who ransacked a home on Leon Street early Monday morning. Officials said the thieves busted into the home at about 5:30 a.m., tied up several of the residents and then began collecting the family’s belongings.
The thieves stole jewelry, three plasma televisions, a video game system and even two puppies.’
‘Water-pipe smoking may pose the same health risks as cigarettes, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, adding that more scientific research was needed into the link between hookah use and a number of fatal illnesses.
“Using a water pipe to smoke tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking,” the U.N. health agency said in a seven-page document on the practice. “Contrary to ancient lore and popular belief, the smoke that emerges from a water pipe contains numerous toxicants known to cause lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases.”‘
‘A thief found out the hard way that robbing a woman isn’t the best way to capture her heart.
Two men robbed a U-Haul store around 3 p.m. Sunday, taking an unspecified amount of cash, according the store’s owner. But instead of fleeing, one man lingered and tried to strike up a conversation with the woman he had just robbed.
“He stuck around and was trying to get the female employee’s number,” U-Haul general manager Patrick Sobocinski said. “She said he was just saying, ‘Hey baby, you’re pretty fine.'” [..]
“She said he was saying, ‘Can I get your number and go out sometime,'” Sobocinski said.
No surprise ending here – the woman turned him down, and he fled.’
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‘Ground-breaking Australian research has discovered a respiratory virus in children which may also have links to cancer.
After a five-year study, associate professors Theo Sloots and Michael Nissen of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, have found the WU polyomavirus in 44 patients, including 38 from Brisbane and six from the US. [..]
“We know that up to 50 per cent of children who come into hospital with severe respiratory tract disease do not go home with the cause,” Prof Nissen said.
“So now we have another virus which is associated with severe respiratory viral tract disease.
“It is of great interest though that also this virus falls into a family of viruses that have been linked with cancers, so it’s an exciting field of new research into causes of cancer.”‘
Apparently she got tangled in some cord that holds the boats in place before the start of the race.
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‘”Psychopath! psychopath!”
I’m alone in my living room and I’m yelling at my TV. “Forget rehabilitation — that guy is a psychopath.”
Ever since I visited Dr. Robert Hare in Vancouver, I can see them, the psychopaths. It’s pretty easy, once you know how to look. I’m watching a documentary about an American prison trying to rehabilitate teen murderers. They’re using an emotionally intense kind of group therapy, and I can see, as plain as day, that one of the inmates is a psychopath. He tries, but he can’t muster a convincing breakdown, can’t fake any feeling for his dead victims. He’s learned the words, as Bob Hare would put it, but not the music.
The incredible thing, the reason I’m yelling, is that no one in this documentary — the therapists, the warden, the omniscient narrator — seems to know the word “psychopath.” It is never uttered, yet it changes everything. A psychopath can never be made to feel the horror of murder. Weeks of intense therapy, which are producing real breakthroughs in the other youths, will probably make a psychopath more likely to reoffend. Psychopaths are not like the rest of us, and everyone who studies them agrees they should not be treated as if they were. ‘
‘When Dana Acker went to check on her 15-year-old son in the bath, she never imagined she would never see him alive again. Joshua Dean Knight died after inhaling from an aerosol can used to clean electronics. [..]
More and more kids around the country are engaging in a dangerous practice they call “computer dusting.” The product, made by a variety of manufacturers, produces a burst of air which is meant to blow dust off keyboards, cameras or other hardware.
Acker says more and more kids are dying each year because they don’t realize the burst of air contains a chemical, Freon, which is used in refrigerators and air conditioners. She says officers who responded to her son’s death told her it’s a growing problem.’
‘After the disaster and subsequent decontamination efforts, the Soviet government established boundaries for the newly created Chernobyl Exclusion Zone encompassing portions of Ukraine and Belarus. The Zone is located within 30 km of the station and access is strictly controlled by the Ukrainian and Belarusian governments and militaries. What follows are my impressions of the Ukrainian sector of the Zone as it existed in June 2006, 20 years after the disaster.’
‘Chen Yan waves at a crowd of onlookers bemused at seeing China’s late helmsman, Mao Zedong, brought back to life by a middle-aged woman.
Chen, 51, from Mianyang, in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan, has been dressing up as Mao since she was discovered on a local TV show in 2005 impersonating another actor who had played Mao in movies.
“I was impersonating (the actor) when the beautician saw some similarities between me and Mao,” Chen said, as make-up artists fussed over her in a Mianyang hair salon.
The beautician saw a dollar to be made in Chen’s prominent cheekbones and imperious demeanor, and invited her for a make-over, she said.’
‘Police in Ontario are looking for a man who allegedly approached women and asked them to kick him in the groin.
Three women reported similar incidents to police over the past two months, and two of the women reported the suspect was on a bicycle. None of the women reported injuries.
Police Sgt. Cate Welsh said Monday the man’s request is not a crime, but they are concerned nonetheless.’
‘Scientists have bred cows that produce skimmed milk and hope to establish herds of the cattle to meet the demands of health-conscious consumers.
The milk is also high in omega3 oils, claimed to improve brain power, and contains polyunsaturated fat. The saturated fats found in normal milk are linked to increased risk of heart disease. The cows, which have a particular genetic mutation, were bred from a single female discovered by researchers when they screened milk from millions of cattle in New Zealand.
Butter from these cows has the extra advantage of being spreadable straight from the fridge, like margarine.’
‘An obsessive nicknamed The Dettol Man died after continually cleaning himself and his home with the disinfectant, an inquest heard.
Recluse Jacques Niemand may have been overcome by fumes from the dozens of bottles of the cleaning fluid he kept in his flat.
The 42-year-old had so much of the chemical in his system his body was starved of oxygen, the inquest was told.
More than 100 bottles of Dettol were found crammed in a suitcase at Mr Niemand’s home. Several buckets containing the fluid were also found.
His sister, Ruth Bain, said the man had suffered from an obsessive cleaning disorder for years and she would not go into his home because it was ‘stifling’.’
‘A senior Polish official has ordered psychologists to investigate whether the popular BBC TV show Teletubbies promotes a homosexual lifestyle.
The spokesperson for children’s rights in Poland, Ewa Sowinska, singled out Tinky Winky, the purple character with a triangular aerial on his head.
“I noticed he was carrying a woman’s handbag,” she told a magazine. “At first, I didn’t realise he was a boy.”
EU officials have criticised Polish government policy towards homosexuals.’
I thought the fact that Tinky Winky loves the cock has been common knowledge for years. Apparently not in Poland. 🙂
‘A bleary-eyed researcher who normally sleeps like a log went to bed yesterday claiming a world record after staying awake for more than 11 days and nights.
But when Tony Wright, 43, finally regains wakefulness today after catching up on his sleep, he could be in for a cruel awakening. The human guinea pig will discover that he may have given up ten hours too early to claim the crown.
The record that he broke – of 11 days, or 264 hours – was set by Randy Gardner, an American, in 1964 and is recognised in psychiatric textbooks.
But that is 12 hours shorter than the record which used to be included in The Guinness Book of Recordsbefore being removed from the book in 1989. It was deleted on the grounds that it could encourage records harmful to health and was unverifiable because of the claims of insomnia sufferers.’
‘Wrongly jailed after a woman cried rape, Warren Blackwell applied for compensation for his three wasted years in prison.
Torn from his family and sent to languish in jail as a convicted sex attacker, the innocent father-of-two imagined he was due a hefty sum for the miscarriage of justice.
Instead, he was flabbergasted to learn the Home Office now intends to charge him nearly ÂŁ7,000 for “board and lodging”.
The money is for the cost of food and accommodation while he was behind bars, and will be deducted from whatever compensation he receives for wrongly imprisonment.’
‘You’re paying for that.’
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‘An elephant in eastern India has sparked complaints from motorists who accuse it of blocking traffic and refusing to allow vehicles to pass unless drivers give it food, a newspaper has reported.
The Hindustan Times said Monday the elephant was scouting for food on a highway in the eastern state of Orissa, forcing motorists to roll down their windows and get out of the car.
“The tusker then inserts its trunk inside the vehicle and sniffs for food,” local resident Prabodh Mohanty, who has come across the elephant twice, was quoted as saying.
“If you are carrying vegetables and banana inside your vehicle, then it will gulp them and allow you to go.”
If a commuter does not wind down his window or resists opening the vehicle door, the elephant stands in front of the car until the driver allows him to carry out his routine inspection.’
‘The Iraqi-born artist was speaking to a NEWSWEEK reporter 19 days into a grueling monthlong project that sounds, at first blush, suspiciously gimmicky: until June 4, Bilal is living his entire life inside one room at Chicago’s Flatfile Gallery, which anyone with a Web connection can log on to watch. Oh, and to shoot him. With “Domestic Tension” Bilal has turned his makeshift living quarters into a 24-hour-a-day war zone. Viewers can peep in on him anonymously at any time, and even chat with him online. On the installation’s Web site, his audience can fight for control of the camera and pan it around the room. Since the camera is affixed to a rifle-sized paintball gun — and the Web site has a button that allows viewers to fire the gun — they also have the opportunity to shoot at him, or anything else in his room. Which they have done an astonishing 40,000 times in the project’s first two and a half weeks.’
‘Australians are slogging their guts out working overtime and most employees don’t get much thanks, with the bulk of overtime done being unpaid. [..]
A survey of 2931 NEWS.com.au readers revealed 91 per cent of those employed worked overtime in the week before the survey was conducted, with an average 9 and a half hours spent working extra.
While most people said they are required by their employer to put in additional hours beyond their standard working week, a whopping 74 per cent of those employed did not get paid.’
Can you spot the soldier? 🙂
‘Not fake – He’s dead. It happened Wednesday 1 April 1981, in Hawaii.
This is the news report of the incident:
Australian stuntman Jim Bailey, known as ”The Human Torpedo,” fell 500 feet to his death from an airplane while making a film for television Wednesday, authorities said.
Initially, authorities said Baily was performing for ABC-TV’s ”That’s Incredible,” but the show’s producer denied having any connection with the accident.
Witnesses, including members of the Maui Fire Department and the rescue unit, said Bailey, a resident of Brisbane, Australia, was suspended underneath a single-engine Ballanca by a strap and belt when the belt broke. He hung onto the strap for a few seconds before falling.’
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‘In the early 1960s, America’s top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.
Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities.
The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba’s then new leader, communist Fidel Castro.
America’s top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: “We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba,” and, “casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.” ‘
‘They live hundreds of feet below the sea. A formidable predator that can rip its prey to pieces.
The giant Humboldt squid have returned to the waters of Southern California, and they’re bigger and more plentiful than ever.
Fishermen are thankful, but biologists are worried.
“I have nearly a thousand dives with these animals and I have been either tested or full out attacked about 80 percent of the time,” Scott Cassell said. [..]
“I have felt my life was in danger several times with the squid, but knowing that the cable and the armor I was pretty much impervious to the damage,” Cassell said.
But Cassell, like other marine experts, says something is not right.’
‘Apparently Sony thinks this one little “Special Screw” is so special, that it’s worth over 61 euro (appx. $82 US Dollars.)’
‘While these maintenance workers in Croatia fix a freeway sign, a coach bus comes speeding towards the crew and crashes straight into a crane which one man was standing in.’
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