‘A grandad has just discovered he has been living with a broken neck for 59 YEARS.
John Richards, 74, did not know he had fractured vertebrae when he fell from a tree while stealing apples as a 16-year-old in 1948.
He was treated at the time for a broken wrist but doctors missed the other life-threatening break.
John, who felt no specific pain in his neck, got on with an active life working on a farm, and playing football and cricket.
He even BOXED for 15 years at a gym with no idea that one “wrong” blow could kill him.
The break was only spotted when John went for a routine check-up with his GP last month.’
‘A woman whose purse was stolen and the thief who took it inadvertently stood next to each other at a Prescott bookstore – she to complain about the unauthorized use of her credit card, he to get some cash.
The 59-year-old victim went to Hastings Books and Music on Tuesday to tell the store that someone had stolen her purse and used her credit card to buy $200 in DVDs.
Minutes later, while the woman was standing there, a man came up to the counter and tried to return eight DVDs in exchange for cash. The two didn’t recognized each other, and the woman even politely made room for the man when he walked up.
When the manager came to handle both transactions, she connected the dots.’
‘A couple guys paddle out on a lake and shoot at a flaming propane tank. They were expecting an explosion and they got much more.’
(3.6meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Police are trying to trace the owner of 65,400 euros (£44,000) mistakenly sent to a 16-year-old boy who bought a Playstation Two for £95 on eBay.
The cash arrived in a box at the house in Aylsham, Norfolk, with the games console, but minus two games.
Police are holding the money under the Proceeds of Crime Act while the matter is investigated.
An eBay spokesman said the parcel’s contents were “somewhat unusual” and it would help police with their inquiries. [..]
But, if the money remains unclaimed the family could potentially apply for it to be returned to them under the Police Property Act.’
‘The Kansas City Zoo plans to press charges against two teenage boys who allegedly climbed into the hippo exhibit and threw rocks at the two-ton mammals, zoo officials said.
A 14-year-old witness spotted the boys Monday as the hippos were becoming angry and charging. The boys, whose identities were not released, survived the encounter without injuries.
Randy Wisthoff, the zoo director, said the boys, both 14, are from St. Louis and were apparently trying to impress a girl.
The massive hippos, which spend much of their days submerged in water, are often considered one of the most dangerous animals in the world.’
‘A woman who hates spiders is crediting them with helping save her from a house fire. Danielle Vigue, 18, says she awoke early Tuesday to find spiders in her room, and started killing them. When more showed up, she says she went across the hall and got into bed with her 15-year-old sister, Lauren.
“At first there were five, they were all around the light fixture,” Danielle Vigue told The Saginaw News. “I hate spiders, they freak me out.” [..]
A few hours later, Vigue’s 48-year-old mother, Debra, and 8-year-old sister, Shelby, smelled smoke, and flames greeted the family when they opened the door to the room Danielle Vigue had earlier left.
“I will never kill another spider again,” she told WNEM-TV in Saginaw.’
‘A German man who startled his neighbors when he hurled his computer out of the window in the middle of the night, was let off for disturbing the peace by police who sympathized with his technical frustrations.
Police in the northern city of Hanover said they would not press charges after responding to calls made by residents in an apartment block who were woken by a loud crash in the early hours of Saturday. [..]
Asked what had driven him to the night-time outburst, the 51-year-old man said he had simply got annoyed with his computer.
“Who hasn’t felt like doing that?” said a police spokesman.’
Sounds like a lucky fellow.
(5.1meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘A sports car enthusiast who suffered a mini stroke while restoring a Lotus Esprit was amazed when online friends finished the work for him in secret.
Simon Pritchard, 36, from Abergavenny, had been in the process of rebuilding the 25-year-old car when he fell ill.
When members of the Lotus Esprit online forum website heard, they donated money and time to fix it. [..]
“I was so overwhelmed, I cried like a baby and then passed out. [..]’
The trick, it seems, is not to use a home made mortar tube.
(1.0meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘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.”‘
‘A 300-pound black bear raided a family’s campsite, and the father saved his sons from harm by throwing a log at the beast, killing it with a single blow.
Chris Everhart and his three sons were camping in the Chattahoochee National Forest in northern Georgia when the encounter happened Saturday. The bear took the family’s cooler and was heading back to the woods when the youngest son, 6-year-old Logan, hurled a shovel at it.
The bear then dropped the cooler and started coming at the boy, said his father. Fearing what might happen next, Everhart, an ex-Marine, grabbed the closest thing he could find — a log from their stash of firewood.
“(I) threw it at it and it happened to hit the bear in the head,” Everhart said. “I thought it just knocked it out but it actually ended up killing the bear.”‘
‘Two-year-old Freeman, a rare Catahoula leopard dog with boundless energy, might very well be the reason his owner Darcy Ingram is alive today. [..]
In December 2005, at just six months old, Freeman sniffed out what Ingram’s doctors assured her was not there: a cancerous tumour in her right breast.
“He kept hurting me and hurting me,” said Ingram, a picture of health today. “He wouldn’t leave that breast alone.” One day, Freeman’s powerful snout knocked Ingram’s breast: “It swelled up like a cantaloupe. That’s when all the fun started.”‘
‘It’s a small miracle that 3-year-old Christa Whitlow is even alive after a perilous 45 mph ride atop her father’s truck.
Christa climbed on top of the camper on her father’s pickup, then hung on for dear life when the truck started moving.
Carey Whitlow had no idea his daughter was on board. The sight of her wounds hurt him deeply. [..]
Christa apparently gripped onto the top of her dad’s camper for five whole miles. Police said they found her on Jim Hood Road, where she apparently let go of her grip. A passing driver said he saw her fall. But Daddy’s little girl got back up and chased after her dad.
“She said she got tired and stepped off and fell,” Carey said. “I didn’t know. That’s what hurt the most.”‘
(5.0meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘A flood-isolated Australian town was in danger of running out of beer this week until emergency volunteers came to their rescue.
Residents of Hinton, New South Wales, were stranded following the severe storms that hit the region on Sunday.
There was concern that their pub would run dry before a rugby league match which was due to be played between New South Wales and Queensland.
But the State Emergency Services boated in a huge beer delivery just in time.’
‘A 17-year-old Livermore boy was seriously injured Monday night in Mt. Diablo State Park when he tried to fake a fall for a camera and then actually fell 75 feet onto rocks, a park ranger said Tuesday.
The teenager was on Sentinel Rock, a vertical formation near Rock City popular for its views, when he moved outside the handrail, lost his footing and fell into a crevice and became wedged between rocks, San Ramon Valley Fire District Battalion Chief Mike Brown said.
Friends of the boy, who is hospitalized with multiple traumatic injuries, told rescuers he had been trying to stage a photo of a fake fall for a MySpace Web site when he slipped and fell for real, said Dan Stefanisko, supervising ranger at Mt. Diablo State Park.’
‘A Georgia judge ordered the release Monday of a man sentenced to 10 years in prison for consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17, a sentence that had been widely criticized as grossly disproportionate to the crime.
Several influential people, including former President Jimmy Carter, publicly supported Genarlow Wilson’s appeals, and state lawmakers voted to close the loophole that led to his 10-year term. [..]
Monday’s ruling doesn’t ensure Wilson’s freedom, though.
Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said Monday afternoon that he had filed notice of appeal, arguing that Georgia law does not give a judge authority to reduce or modify the sentence imposed by the trial court. He said he would seek an expedited ruling from the Georgia Supreme Court.’
Followup to Unfair: 10 years for consensual oral sex.
This is the audio recording of various 911 calls regarding the man whose wheel chair got stuck in the grill of a truck as the truck happily drove him around the highway.
Followup to Local man goes for the ride of his life.
(14.6meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘A terrified gamekeeper had a lucky escape after he managed to sprint to safety from a charging hippopotamus.
The dangerous beast chased the experienced ranger for more than 100 metres before it stopped for a rest at the Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda.
Hippos keep a strict watch over their territories and threaten anyone who invade them. Their teeth are as sharp as razor blades and they kill more people than any other African animal. Despite this, they are actually vegetarians and feed exclusively on grass.’
see it here »
‘The Michigan State Police Paw Paw Post and Van Buren County Central Dispatch began receiving strange reports of a man in a wheel chair being pushed by a semi truck on Wednesday afternoon.
The wheel chair of a 21-year-old man became lodged in the grill of a semi truck as the vehicle pulled out of a gas station. The semi then began driving down Red Arrow Highway, with its new and unusual hood ornament still attached.
Police initially thought the report might have been a prank until they started receiving more reports of the situation.
Troopers responded to the Ralph Moyle Trucking Company, located on Red Arrow Highway, where it was reported the semi truck had pulled in — wheel chair and occupant still attached.
Troopers and officers discovered the man in the wheel chair, unharmed.’
‘Three Australian businessmen charged with misbehaving on a flight to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are expected to be deported from the country within the next 24 hours.
For the past six weeks the trio had faced the possibility of 14 years’ jail or floggings under Shariah law.
David Evans has instead received a 12 month suspended sentence for using rude language and touching a stewardess on the arm.
Jeremy Snaith has received a six month suspended sentence for drinking alcohol without a permit and using offensive language.
A third Australian, William Sargent, has been acquitted because the prescription drug in his blood stream did not fall under UAE jurisdiction.
The businessmen’s lawyer, Ross Hill, says they are expected to be deported within the next 24 hours.’
Followup to Pair accused of air fracas face desert hell in jail.
‘A Russian governor has promised an SUV, a TV or a fridge to every woman in his region who gives birth on upcoming Constitution Day in an attempt to help beat a demographic crisis, his office said on Thursday.
The governor of the southern Ulyanovsk region even suggested giving people time off work nine months before the June 12 celebration to boost their chances, although he was not being entirely serious, his spokesperson said. [..]
Existing mothers who give birth to another child on June 12 will be rewarded with a Patriot sports utility vehicle from local UAZ factory she said.’
‘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. 🙂
(4.1meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘A homeless pensioner who has slept rough in one of London’s plushest beauty spots since 1986 was celebrating on Thursday after winning ownership of his plot of land, turning him into an instant millionaire.
Harry Hallowes, 71, secured ownership to a 800 square metre plot in Hampstead Heath, after a two-year legal battle with developers who tried to evict the pensioner from the grounds of a former nursing home.
A building developer had tried unsuccessfully to evict Hallowes from his makeshift shack since March 2005 as it sought to transform the building into luxury flats.
The feisty pensioner dug his heels in and consulted lawyers who provided evidence which showed that he had been living unchallenged on the plot for 21 years, and thus could claim the land as his own.’
You’d think if you wanted to take a stroll with your friends, you wouldn’t do it on a road being used for a rally.
But then, apparently, you’d be wrong. 🙂
(515kB Windows media)
see it here »
Lucky he didn’t get an arrow through his arm. Or his head. 🙂
(2.1meg Windows media)
see it here »
Some lions attack a young buffalo and then have to fight a crocodile for the kill.
It seems to be going well for the lions .. until the rest of the buffalo herd arrives.
(27.9meg Windows media)
see it here »
