‘The Queensland Water Commission has not ruled out using massive ocean-going bags to transport fresh water to drought-ravaged South-East Queensland.
A Brisbane physicist has come up with a plan to use a strong ocean current to float submerged 60 megalitre-capacity sacks of water from the Tully River, south of Cairns, to the Gold Coast.
The 1600 kilometre journey would take about three days and the plastic membranes would be emptied into the Southern Regional Water Pipeline for pumping around the region.
Proponent Ian Edmonds said his proposal would be much cheaper and more energy-efficient than desalination plants or a controversial plan to build a pipeline to transport water over the same distance.’
‘A dentist who punctured a patient’s nose with a needle has been struck off by the General Dental Council in order to protect the public.
Her legal team had launched an attempt to get a ban on her working lifted.
However, the GDC committee ruled that she represented a “real risk to patients” and that the only appropriate sanction was to strike her off. [..]
Chairman Robin Heron said the panel took the view that her work had “fallen substantially below the standards expected of a registered medical practitioner”.
He said there were significant shortcomings in her work and concerns about her “poor dexterity and operating technique”.’
‘Nearly half of the US public wants President George W. Bush to face impeachment, and even more favor that fate for Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a poll out Friday.
The survey by the American Research Group found that 45 percent support the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Bush, with 46 percent opposed, and a 54-40 split in favor when it comes to Cheney.
The study by the private New Hampshire-based ARG canvassed 1,100 Americans by telephone July 3-5 and had an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points. The findings are available on ARG’s Internet site.
The White House declined to comment on the poll, the latest bad news for a president who has seen his public opinion standings dragged to record lows by the unpopular war in Iraq.’
‘A man who told two women they were extremely beautiful was arrested on charges of harassment last week, Denver police said.
Police said 32-year-old Jeff John Hergert approached the women and “expressed interest in them.” He told each woman in two separate incidents that they were extremely beautiful and that they should consider modeling.
Hergert was arrested and is being held on two counts of harassment. He is being held on a $10,000 bond.’
‘The following letters are taken from an actual incident between a London hotel and one of its guests. The Hotel ended up submitting the letters to the London Sunday Times!’
‘An engineering student at UNC Charlotte was caught with a device made to block police photo radar. He used a switchable electric window glazing that turned his car license plates to gray at a touch of a button.
The student’s job caused him to work late at a local restaurant. Having to sit at a near by traffic light for what he considered to long made him come up with the idea to make a device to allow him to go through the red light with out the photo radar getting a shot of his plates.
He said he ordered the glass cut to the shape of his plates and wired a switch to his dash so he could darken his plates before going through the red light. After weeks of getting photos of the same car with no visible plates local police waited for him at his usual red light. With in 2 hours they caught him coming home from work.’
My dead body is worth $4340. Hooray, I’m rich.
‘At the beginning of this year, the new guy at work needed a place to live. I ended up letting him sublet one of the rooms in my house. After only a couple of days it became obvious that he is totally insane. The crazy constantly flows from his mouth and is just way too good to not share with the world. Names have been changed to protect the innocent, but other than that – all of the conversations are damn near verbatim.’
(818kB Shockwave)
see it here »
‘As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.
The June 23 situation, captured on the store’s surveillance video, got scant news coverage until a columnist for The Wichita Eagle disclosed the existence of the video and its contents Tuesday.
Police have refused to release the video, saying it is part of their investigation.’
Court documents can be amusing. 🙂
The trick, it seems, is not to use a home made mortar tube.
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‘[..] Anyway, one year there were these two guys who were taking Chemistry and who did pretty well on all of the quizzes and the midterms and labs, etc., such that going into the final they had a solid A.
These two friends were so confident going into the final that the weekend before finals week (even though the Chem final was on Monday), they decided to go up to UVirginia and party with some friends up there. So they did this and had a great time. However, with their hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and didn’t make it back to Duke until early monday morning. Rather than taking the final then, what they did was to find Professor Bonk after the final and explain to him why they missed the final. [..]’
‘Start by addressing the envelope below then write a letter to a friend or relative.
We will print, envelope, stamp, and send your letter via regular U.S. postal mail 100% free of charge. You pay nothing!’
If only I knew someone in the US to send a letter to.
‘They’re flush with pride in a southwestern Chinese city where a recently-opened porcelain palace features an Egyptian facade, soothing music and more than 1,000 toilets spread out over 32,290 square feet.
Officials in Chongqing are preparing to submit an application to Guinness World Records to have the free four-story public bathroom listed as the world’s largest, the state-run China Central Television reported Friday.
“We are spreading toilet culture. People can listen to gentle music and watch TV,” said Lu Xiaoqing, an official with the Yangrenjie, or “Foreigners Street,” tourist area where the bathroom is located. “After they use the bathroom they will be very, very happy.”‘
‘A 5-year-old boy grabbed a rabid fox by the neck and pinned it to the ground during a family cookout, protecting six other children until his stepfather could kill the animal.
“I wanted to protect my little brother,” said Rayshun McDowell, who battled the fox in the front yard of his home Sunday in Kingstown, a town about 50 miles west of Charlotte.
The fox bit Rayshun in the leg, but the 61-pound-boy held the animal down for more than a minute. Animal control officials said Tuesday that test results confirmed the fox had rabies, which is fatal unless treated before symptoms appear. Rayshun is undergoing treatment.
“I looked out the window and Rayshun had the fox by the neck and was pushing it into the ground,” said his mother, Shinda Linder. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”‘
This guy climbs into a large balloon. Why? Who knows.
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‘The City of Keizer is taking heat for installing a group of cement posts designed to protect pedestrians from cars, but which some say is a phallic symbol.
A total of 52 of the posts were installed at a busy intersection in Keizer and they are getting a lot of second glances.
A number of residents have complained to the city that the posts resemble male genitalia.
“I can’t disagree with that,” said City Manager Chris Eppley. “They certainly did not turn out the way we anticipated.”‘
They just look like normal concrete bollards to me. I suggest that the whole City of Keizer is cock-crazy and they see what they want to see.
‘Six more youths have lost their penises as a result of bungled circumcisions in the Eastern Cape.
Provincial health department spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said 18 would-be initiates were admitted to hospital in Port St Johns last week and four had to have their septic penises amputated. [..]
Kupelo said the death toll in the current winter circumcision season in the province now stood at seven.
Five of the deaths were the direct results of circumcisions; one youth was murdered at a school and another died in a fire at a school in the East London area.’
‘Police detained a man in eastern Belgium after a dinner guest found the bodies of the host’s wife and stepson in a freezer, authorities said Thursday.
The female guest opened the freezer while helping to clear up after a dinner with a group of friends Tuesday at the man’s home in the city of Verviers, 78 miles east of Brussels, said Christine Wilwerth of the city prosecutor’s office.
“It was a lady who at the end of the meal at a friend’s house, and after washing the dishes … decided to take the leftovers of the meal down to the basement to store in the deep freeze,” Wilwerth said. “Once she opened the deep freeze, she discovered the bodies.”‘
‘After 14 failed attempts at joining the United Nations using media campaigns and presidential appeals, Taiwan is turning to a local goth-style rock band backed by Ozzy Osbourne in its quest for membership to the world body.
The band, named ChthoniC, will travel to at least 80 cities in four countries by the end of the year, supported in part by the Taiwan government, which is providing pro-U.N. literature and a slogan-painted truck.
The band will visit Canada, Germany, Britain and the United States.’
This guy made a video of himself building drawers for his wife as a birthday present. Apparently the video was to prove that he was actually capable of making the drawers himself.
Point proven? 🙂
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see it here »
‘An Australian manufacturer has called for applications for what it claims could be the world’s best job – condom tester.
Durex marketing manager Sam White said any Australian over the age of 18 could apply for one of 200 positions as a condom tester.
The position is not paid, but successful applicants will receive a free $60 selection of Durex products and will be required to provide the company with honest feedback about the products’ performance. [..]
“With this job on your CV, it really will be a chance to brag to your mates about the special skills you possess, not to mention that your new role will work wonders with the opposite sex,” he said.’
‘Authorities tracked down a 4-year-old girl who called 911 nearly 300 times last month by offering to deliver McDonald’s to her suburban Chicago apartment.
Unbeknownst to her mother, the girl used a deactivated cell phone to call dispatchers 287 times in June–sometimes as often as 20 times a shift.
Dispatchers heard the child’s voice but could only track the phone’s signal to the apartment complex.
So authorities used a ruse to pinpoint her.
“We asked (the caller) what she wanted. She said she wanted McDonald’s,” said Steve Cordes, executive director of QuadCom’s emergency center, which covers Carpentersville.
“We talked with her and we convinced her if she told us where she lives, we would bring her McDonald’s,” he said. “She finally gave us her address. So we sent the police over–with no McDonald’s.”‘
‘A Canadian mother has frozen her eggs for use by her seven-year-old daughter, who is likely to become infertile.
Should the girl opt to use the eggs and gain regulatory approval, she would effectively have a baby that was her half-brother or sister.
Critics said the work, presented at a fertility conference in Lyon, was deeply concerning.
But the doctors from the McGill Reproductive Center, Montreal, called the donation an act of motherly love.’
‘A botched brazilian waxing turned into a horror story for a young Melbourne woman who almost died after the beauty treatment went wrong.
The 20-year-old suffered a life-threatening infection after some minor bleeding while being groomed by a trainee waxer.
Within a fortnight the diabetes sufferer, who has a lowered immune system, was suffering excruciating pain, a fever and a rash extending to her chest, arms and neck.
Other areas of her body became so badly infected, doctors thought she had a flesh-eating disease until they were finally able to examine her under a general anaesthetic.’
‘Microsoft said on Thursday it expects to spend more than $US1 billion to repair widespread hardware problems in its Xbox 360 video game console after a large number of them broke down.
Microsoft said it would extend the warranty on the Xbox 360 to three years after too many of the consoles succumbed to “general hardware failure,” but the company provided few other details about the extent of the problems.
“We don’t think we’ve been getting the job done,” said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, which also makes the Zune digital music player. “In the past few months, we have been having to make Xbox 360 console repairs at a rate too high for our liking.”‘
