‘”Beware of Israeli melons infected with AIDS arriving in Saudi Arabia!” is the latest rumor being spread throughout Saudi Arabia like a wildfire.
An SMS message being sent around the country this week said, “The Saudi Interior Ministry warns its citizens of a truck loaded with AIDS infected melons that Israel brought into the country via a ‘ground corridor.'” [..]
The rumor, despite being denied several times, has gained so much steam in the Arab world that it made it to the front page of one of the most important Arabi language newspapers.
Many received an SMS supposedly from the Saudi Interior Ministry saying, “Please forward quickly.”‘
‘A St. Louis legislator wants to require that baking soda be sold behind the pharmacy counter, as part of an effort aimed at a base ingredient in crack cocaine.
The proposal by Democratic Representative Talibdin El-Amin is modeled after a state law that requires some cold medicines to be placed behind the pharmacy counter because they contain ingredients used to make meth.
The anti-meth law requires customers to show a photo I-D and sign a book specifying their name, address and how much they purchased.
El-Amin’s bill would implement similar requirements for the purchase of sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as baking soda. The measure was filed last month and has yet to receive a hearing.’
‘Grapefruit juice has been shown to affect the metabolism of several drugs. Included in the list of potential target drugs are diazepam, cisapride, cyclosporine, felodipine and other dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers, midazolam, nisoldipine, triazolam, saquinavir, lovastatin, and atorvastatin. The mechanism of this interaction appears to primarily result from inhibition of enzymes in the intestinal wall.
Several constituents of grapefruit juice have been implicated including the flavonoids naringin and naringenin, along with the furanocoumarins, bergapten and 6,7-dihydroxybergamottin. Unfortunately, the content of these varies between different grapefruit juices and varieties of fruit, making it impossible to determine if one is safer than another.’
Hooray for breast feeding 7 year olds. Or not. [shrug] 🙂
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‘A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday amid a choir of complaining Catholics that included Cardinal Edward Egan.
The “My Sweet Lord” display was shut down by the hotel that houses the Lab Gallery in midtown Manhattan, said Matt Semler, the gallery’s creative director. Semler said he submitted his resignation after officials at the Roger Smith Hotel shut down the show.
The six-foot sculpture was the victim of “a strong-arming from people who haven’t seen the show, seen what we’re doing,” Semler said. “They jumped to conclusions completely contrary to our intentions.”
But word of the confectionary Christ infuriated Catholics, including Egan, who described it as “a sickening display.” Bill Donohue, head of the watchdog Catholic League, said it was “one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever.”‘
‘Reports of candy-flavored methamphetamine are emerging around the nation, stirring concern among police and abuse prevention experts that drug dealers are marketing the drug to younger people.
The flavored crystals are available in California, Nevada, Washington, Idaho, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri and Minnesota, according to intelligence gathered by Drug Enforcement Administration agents from informants, users, local police and drug counselors, DEA spokesman Steve Robertson says. [..]
Among the new flavors are strawberry, known as “Strawberry Quick,” chocolate, cola and other sodas, Robertson said. One agent reported a red methamphetamine that had been marketed as a powdered form of an energy drink, he said.’
‘A student has been suspended from school in America for coming to class dressed as a pirate.
But the disciplinary action has provoked controversy – because the student says that the ban violates his rights, as the pirate costume is part of his religion.
Bryan Killian says that he follows the Pastafarian religion, and that as a crucial part of his faith, he must wear ‘full pirate regalia’ as prescribed in the holy texts of Pastafarianism.
The school, however, say that his pirate garb was disruptive.
Pastafarians follow the Flying Spaghetti Monster (pictured), and believe that the world was created by the touch of his noodly appendage. Furthermore, they acknowledge pirates as being ‘absolute divine beings’, and stress that the worldwide decline in the number of pirates has directly led to global warming.’
It’s a bit cruel I think, but they’re cute. [shrug]
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‘Beryl Dsouza was late and in no mood for delays when she stopped at a Target store after work two weeks ago for milk, bread and bacon.
So Dsouza was taken aback when the cashier — who had on the traditional headscarf, or hijab, worn by many Muslim women — refused to swipe the bacon through the checkout scanner.
“She made me scan the bacon. Then she opened the bag and made me put it in the bag,” said Dsouza, 53, of Minneapolis. “It made me wonder why this person took a job as a cashier.”‘
‘Pet owners were worried Saturday that the pet food in their cupboards could be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled.
Menu Foods — a major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands — recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.
An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said in announcing the North American recall.’
‘Australian researchers have combined art and science to make dresses from fermented fabric, using bacteria to ‘grow’ slimy dresses from wine and beer. [..]
To ferment fabrics, Cass and his colleagues deliberately let vats of wine go off to produce cellulose.
And to get the shape of a dress, they lifted the layers of slimy cellulose off and laid them over a deflatable doll. [..]
The dresses are made from pieces of cellulose joined together. But Cass hopes one day the team can make the bacteria ferment seamless garments.’
‘Observe, if you will, the milk jug in question. Good to know our favourite eBay seller isn’t lactose intolerant — and really, milk and pizza go well together. Besides, why not have more bacteria protection on the *other* side of the G4?
I was completely overwhelmed by the situation. How on God’s green earth could anyone think that I’d do the Mypos Dance of Joy over the arrival of a computer, packed with someone’s garbage?’
‘We’ve been dealing with the pocket-emptying effects of rising gas prices, new electric rates, and an increase in cab fare, but how would you feel about breaking the bank all for…a pizza? Now you can find out thanks to Manhattan restauranteur Nino Selimaj, who has apparently brought from the heavens a real “pie in the sky” with his new $1,000 pizza.
Yep, that’ll be $1,000 please. [..]
“Let them say I’m crazy,” Selimaj says. “But I believe in this product, and it’s gonna sell!”‘
Not the first time this has happened.
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‘Killer frogs have taken over Golden Gate Park’s otherwise peaceful Lily Pond in San Francisco, causing a big problem.
According to CBS 5 contributor and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Mattier, the city is preparing to do something to stop the African clawed frogs. While they are just 5 inches in length, the frogs are eating everything in sight — including turtles, fish and other frogs.
“They’ve eaten everything they can get their mouths around, and now they’re eating each other,” Eric Mills of the animal rights group Action for Animals, told Matier for his column.
No one knows for sure when this frog species got into the pond or who put them there, but now city officials fear the killer frogs will spread throughout the Bay Area.’
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‘A small community on Cape York Peninsula says it has only a few days of fresh food left because supply trucks cannot get through on the main road which is deteriorating due to the wet season.
The shortage of milk, bread, fresh fruit and vegetables could cause major health problems at Coen, said resident Karen Rosin, who runs the town’s general store with her husband Adrian.
“We do have a lot of diabetics in the community and the tinned foods really aren’t suitable because there is a lot of salt in them,” Mrs Rosin said.’
‘”I am not the Cookie Monster,” said Tory Caruth, laughing.
But cookies are why he spent time in the Will County Jail after the Girl Scouts sued him in small claims court.
Girl Scouts of Trailways claimed Caruth never paid for 118 boxes of cookies his daughter ordered five years ago.
The 40-year-old Joliet trucker is listed on permission forms as his daughter’s guardian responsible for payments. The 118 boxes were valued at $354 when the order was placed in January 2002. Caruth claims that money was turned in to the organization.
While his name is on the documents, Caruth said he never signed the forms, which state “failure to turn over or any misuse of these funds on my part will result in legal action taken against me by Girl Scouts.”
“I never ordered, never signed for and never received any cookies,” he said.’
‘Authorities in the United States have given preliminary approval to a plan to grow rice genetically modified to produce human proteins.
Rice plants including human genes involved in producing breast milk would be grown in the state of Kansas.
The company behind the proposal, Ventria Bioscience, says the plants could be developed into medicines for diarrhoea and dehydration in infants.
Critics say parts of the rice plants could enter the food chain.’
‘”Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent,” the report says, in marked contrast to a 2001 report by the same international group that said the effects of global warming were coming. But that report only mentioned scattered regional effects.
“Things are happening and happening faster than we expected,” said Patricia Romero Lankao of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., one of the many co-authors of the new report. [..]
The hardest-hit continents are likely to be Africa and Asia, with major harm also coming to small islands and some aspects of ecosystems near the poles. North America, Europe and Australia are predicted to suffer the fewest of the harmful effects.’
Polar bears are pretty smart.
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‘The Government’s financial support for tertiary students was among the most generous in the world and students should be more frugal, Education Minister Julie Bishop said today.
Her comments follow a study that found university students were regularly going without food because they could not afford to eat.
The Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee’s 2006 survey found one in eight students (12.5 per cent) regularly went without food or other necessities because they could not afford them.
It also revealed university students were worse off financially last year than they were in 2000, with 70.6 per cent of full-time undergraduates working about 14.8 hours a week to make ends meet.’
‘First you get yourself a quality motor and some burgers. Then you throw the burgers at some muppets head from the roof of the car.’
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‘Since October 2006, 35 per cent or more of the United States’ population of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) – billions of individual bees – simply flew from their hive homes and disappeared.
[..] Across the 24 U.S. states affected by the mysterious phenomenon, losses have ranged up to 90 per cent. “I’ve had a couple of yards where I’ve had 200 hives and they’re down to 10 hives that are alive,” says David Bradshaw of Visalia, about 180 kilometres southeast of Los Banos along California’s Route 99.
What’s causing the carnage, however, is a total mystery; all that scientists have come up with so far is a new name for the phenomenon – Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) – and a list of symptoms.’
‘That morning latte or espresso may not be the pick-me-up people think it is, a study has revealed.
University of Bristol researchers say the caffeine eases withdrawal symptoms which build up overnight, but does not make people more alert than normal.
The work, presented to the British Nutrition Foundation conference, showed only people who have avoided coffee for a while will get a buzz from caffeine.
But the British Coffee Association said regular drinkers did feel more alert.’
‘A 68-year-old grandmother convicted of growing cannabis at her Northumberland home has been given a 250 hour community service order.
Patricia Tabram, from Humshaugh, had denied charges of possessing and cultivating the drug when she appeared at Carlisle Crown Court.
She was arrested in 2005 when plants and growing equipment were seized. [..]
After the hearing she said: “I’m going to go on medicating.
“The police can come to my house every week. I’ll give them a cup of tea.
“I’ll give them a decent biscuit, which of course will be medicated and I’ll give them some cannabis so they charge me again and again and again.”‘
‘When dozens of chickens went missing from a remote West Bengal village, everyone blamed the neighborhood dogs.
But Ajit Ghosh, the owner of the missing chickens, eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow — a sacred animal for the Hindu family — gobbling up several of them at night. [..]
“Instead of the dogs, we watched in horror as the calf, whom we had fondly named Lal, sneak to the coop and grab the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat,” Gour Ghosh, his brother, said. [..]
“The local vets said the cow was probably suffering from a disease but others said Lal was a tiger in his previous birth,” Ajit added.’
‘A few days ago there was a story making the rounds on the news wires about Krispy Kreme introducing a new donut that would be made of whole wheat and low on calories.
NBC affiliate WAGT in Augusta picked up on this hard-hitting story, however it looks like they don’t exactly have an eagle-eyed production staff in the newsroom when you look at the on-screen graphic they used in their report.’
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‘Pupils up to the age of 11 are being bottle-fed and mothered in school as part of a radical new move to address poor discipline.
A state primary school has become the first in the country to take part in the approach, which was developed in the US to give problem children the love and attention they may have missed out on at a younger age.
Instead of being given a sharp telling off or a few minutes on the naughty chair, they have one on one sessions with a trained school therapist.
The children – aged between six and 11 – are bottle-fed like young babies, nursed and encouraged to play games promoting patience and teamwork.’
