‘It’s a crisp January afternoon, and Fergus Drennan is picking mushrooms in a field near the Kentish seaside town of Whitstable. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots some black and white feathers poking up from a tuft of grass.
“A bird!” he shouts. “It’s not even been dead that long; you can tell from the rigor mortis. It’s so cute, isn’t it? Come on… come back to life… No. It’s definitely dead. The only question is… why?”
Fergus looks up. Above him run several power cables. The bird must have been electrocuted. This is excellent news: since our feathered friend didn’t have a nasty disease, Fergus says it’s safe to eat.’
‘Prince Charles suggested Tuesday on a visit to the United Arab Emirates that banning McDonald’s fast food was crucial for improving people’s diets, a British news agency reported.
Charles made the comments while visiting the Imperial College London Diabetes Center in Abu Dhabi for the launch of a public health campaign, The Press Association reported.
“Have you got anywhere with McDonald’s? Have you tried getting it banned? That’s the key,” Charles was quoted as asking one of the center’s nutritionists.’
‘A hamster was miraculously brought back to life after being cooked by accident.
The pet, called Christmas, must have had a gnawing feeling something was wrong when his cage was left on top of an oven and the hob was turned on by mistake.
The cage burst into flames and Christmas became a furry fireball.
When firefighters arrived to put out the blaze, the rodent was lying on his back with his charred legs in the air and tongue hanging out.
Officer Mark Spinks, 36, admitted: ‘We all looked at each other and said, “That hamster is a goner”.’
But when colleagues gave Christmas a blast of oxygen, a few nips of Ribena and rubbed his belly, they were amazed to see him splutter back to life.’
‘Taking certain vitamin supplements may adversely affect people’s lifespan, researchers have suggested.
Millions worldwide use antioxidant supplements such as vitamins A and E, and beta-carotene.
Looking at dozens of previous studies, Copenhagen University researchers suggested these appeared to raise, not lower, the risk of early death.
A supplements industry expert said the Journal of the American Medical Association study was fatally flawed.
But nutritionists said it reinforced the need to eat a balanced diet, rather than relying on supplements.’
‘A 74-year-old Italian grandmother who bought a sack of potatoes at the her local market found a live grenade among the spuds.
“I found a bomb in the potatoes,” Olga Mauriello said in a telephone interview with Reuters.
“I went to the market to buy some potatoes and that’s where the bomb was. But this bomb was covered in dirt, and I put it in water and got all dirt off. And then I realized ‘It’s a bomb’!”‘
‘Exterminators began sweeping a Kansas City neighborhood infested with rats after one of the rodents crawled into a baby’s crib and severely disfigured the girl’s face.
Authorities said the girl’s parents put her in a crib next to their bed early Sunday and awoke a few hours later, when a heart and breathing monitor alarm went off. The 4-week-old baby, which had been born prematurely, was lying in a pool of blood with her nose and part of her upper lip chewed off.’
‘Japan’s whaling fleet has cut short its hunt in the Antarctic after a fire two weeks ago crippled the main boat.
The controversial annual hunt, which Japan says was carried out for research purposes, was meant to continue until the end of March.
But Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research said the Nisshin Maru boat could not be fully repaired at sea.’
‘Why pay $20,000 for a commercial link to run your television station when a $10 kitchen wok from the Warehouse is just as effective?
This is exactly how North Otago’s newest television station 45 South is transmitting its signal from its studio to the top of Cape Wanbrow, in a bid to keep costs down.
45 South volunteer Ken Jones designed the wok transmitter in his spare time last year when he wanted to provide wireless broadband to his Ardgowan home.’
‘Chain restaurants in the United States are promoting dangerous “X-treme Eating”, a US watchdog has said.
They are serving up “ever-more harmful new creations,” says the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
It says that some individual dishes can exceed 2,000 calories, more than the recommended daily intake for women. [..]
“Rather than compete to make their products healthier, restaurant chains are competing with each other to make their appetizers, main courses, and desserts bigger, badder, and cheesier than ever before,” a CPSI statement said.’
‘Authorities are considering taking an 8-year-old boy who weighs 218 pounds into protective custody unless his mother improves his diet, officials said Monday.
Social service officials will meet with family members Tuesday to discuss the health of Connor McCreaddie, who weighs more than three times the average for his age. [..]
An unidentified health official was quoted as telling The Sunday Times that taking custody of Connor would be a last resort, but said the family had repeatedly failed to attend appointments with nurses, nutritionists and social workers.’
‘Up to 20 teenage girls from an exclusive Sydney Catholic school are under investigation for skinny dipping in a river during a Duke of Edinburgh camp.
A 14-year-old was suspended from Loreto Kirribilli yesterday and more are expected to follow as the school looks for truth among the rumours, innuendo and gossip of girls behaving badly. [..]
But it is understood that on top of the late night dip in the Colo River, a number of girls are alleged to have urinated and defecated in a cooking pot – used for preparing meals – as a practical joke.’
‘Chimpanzees living in the West African savannah have been observed fashioning deadly spears from sticks and using the hand-crafted tools to hunt small mammals — the first routine production of deadly weapons ever observed in animals other than humans.
The multi-step spear-making practice, documented by researchers in Senegal who spent years gaining the chimpanzees’ trust, adds credence to the idea that human forebears fashioned similar tools millions of years ago.
The landmark observation also supports the long-debated proposition that females — the main makers and users of spears among the Senegalese chimps — tend to be the innovators and creative problem solvers in primate culture.’
‘Campaigners against genetically modified crops in Britain last are calling for trials of GM potatoes this spring to be halted after releasing more evidence of links with cancers in laboratory rats.
UK Greenpeace activists said the findings, obtained from Russian trials after an eight-year court battle with the biotech industry, vindicated research by Dr Arpad Pusztai, whose work was criticised by the Royal Society and the Netherlands State Institute for Quality Control.
The disclosure last night of the Russian study on the GM Watch website led to calls for David Miliband, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to withdraw permission for new trials on GM potatoes to go ahead at secret sites in the UK this spring. [..]’
‘An 18-year-old Lyle High School student is facing two felony charges for allegedly lacing brownies with laxatives and distributing them at school, making staff and students sick. [..]
The principal said that on Feb. 6, the defendant had brought a pan of 16 brownies to school and gave them to staff and students. He said Orth admitted on Feb. 7 that he and two other 18-year-old males baked the brownies at one of their homes. The principal claimed the defendant had admitted to purchasing the laxatives and other ingredients.
The complaint stated that the other two males said they were “just watching” while the defendant made them.’
‘ELEANOR HALL: Now to South Australia, and a warning about this story: don’t try this at home.
It’s about a shark fisherman who uses his hands to catch a 1.3 metre shark.
Phillip Kerkhof from Louth Bay on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula is the talk of the town, after wrestling the bronze whaler shark up onto a jetty, as Tim Jeanes reports.
TIM JEANES: It’s well-known people’s judgement can be somewhat clouded when under the influence of alcohol. [..]’
(533kB mp3)
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‘Drivers on their way to breakfast in northern Virginia on Saturday found it all over the road after nearly 165,000 eggs spilled out of an overturned tractor-trailer on the Capital Beltway.
“It looked like a large omelet,” said Michael Karbonski, of the Virginia Department of Transportation. [..]
The truck driver fled the scene before police arrived and had not been located by Saturday afternoon, said state police spokesman Sgt. Terry Licklider. [..]’
‘Your body is your canvas. Tattoos and piercings can be the brushstrokes used on that canvas.
But when you’re a teenager, do you really think about how you will breast-feed your baby if you have nipple rings?
The subject might be of limited interest, but there is enough speculation about it that the June/July edition of AWHONN Lifelines – the official magazine of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses – explores the issue.
And it finds, surprisingly, that “women with healed nipple piercings can breast-feed and should be encouraged to do so.”’
‘Soap can be made from just about any kind of fat. Even though fat from bacon, called lard, isn’t the finest of fats to use for making soap, it somehow seemed to be the most exciting. Why? Because bacon is amazing. It has an almost mystical power to it and is a food that can be craved to almost no end. I figured what better way use the extra grease I had from cooking bacon then to turn it into soap!’
‘A woman eating from a bowl and talking on a cell phone walked past a railroad crossing gate and into the path of a freight train, police said Monday. She later died.
Investigators suspect the incident Sunday was an accident but have subpoenaed the 26-year-old woman’s cell phone records to find out whom she was talking to.
“She wasn’t paying attention,” Lt. Mark Duke said.’
‘An Alsatian police dog named Edge cornered two suspects on a cliff side after a grocery store robbery in Napier, police said Thursday.
One of the suspects leapt down the slope and landed almost directly into the hands of police officers waiting at the bottom. The other suspect, who was armed with a knife, took on Edge and bit the dog in the struggle.
“He bit the dog first,” Detective Sergeant John McGregor told The Associated Press.
Edge was unfazed, sinking his teeth into his attacker.
“The dog did win the fight, the offender ended up with one or two lacerations,” McGregor said. “I think he knew he was going to get bitten — so he bit the dog first.”’
‘Our past contributions to the field of gelatin-related studies include our quest for the Ultimate Jell-O shot, setting a Jell-O shot on fire, and mixing homemade ballistics gel. If anything involves Jell-O and science, we’re there. So it was with great interest that we read Graeme Cole’s groundbreaking research into the feasibility of securing Jell-O to a vertical surface by means of manually impacted cylindrical metal fasteners – otherwise known as “nailing Jell-O to a wall.”’
‘Farms in rural areas are overrun by millions of mice. Video shows a ‘river’ of mice running out from the barn along with footage of the attack on some livestock.’
(10.6meg Windows media)
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‘The avian flu which killed 2,600 turkeys at a Suffolk farm has been confirmed as the H5N1 virus.
The strain can be fatal if it is passed on to humans but experts said the outbreak was being contained and posed little danger to people.
A spokesman for Bernard Matthews, which runs the farm in Holton, said none of the affected birds had entered the food chain and there was no risk to health.’
This woman really likes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She also eats a lot of pizza.
‘Some people keep pets. I have a little sister.’
(8.0meg Flash video)
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‘A brewery here has succeeded in producing a low-malt beer with milk, after the drink was suggested as a product that would help use up surplus milk.
The drink, called “Bilk” will go on sale on Feb. 1. It reportedly has a fruity flavor that its brewers hope will be popular among women.
The idea for the drink was conceived after dairy firms threw out a huge amount of surplus milk in March last year. The son of the manager of a liquor store in Nakashibetsu, whose main industry is dairy farming, suggested the idea of producing the milk beer to local brewery Abashiri Beer.’
‘The family of 50s songwriter, Julius Dixson, has filed suit against a Manhattan Hospital charging the elderly man died of neglect after routine surgery.
Julius Dixson, Jr., 53, says there is no way his father should have starved to death in a hospital. “I’m outraged. I’m hurt by it,” he said. [..]
The son said his father’s health deteriorated, and he didn’t go on a feeding tube until January 29, 2004 — the day before he died. The younger Dixson said his father, nine days after the surgery, told him, “If I die in here, you go after them.”‘
