‘An ex-con and former mental patient who won a landmark state Supreme Court decision in 2004 that allowed hundreds of mental patients to stop taking forced medication appeared in an Alameda courtroom Friday on charges that he killed his roommate in September.
Kanuri Qawi, 46, was charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of his roommate, John Laird Milton Sr., 59, whose body was found Sept. 13 in their home on Moonlight Terrace at Dignity Commons, a housing facility for veterans at Alameda Point, the site of the former Alameda Naval Air Station. [..]
The court said Qawi had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and had been medicated against his will between 1995 and 2004.’
It starts off a bit slow.. 🙂
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‘A push is under way for Tasmania to become the first state or territory to ban homework in public schools.
Tasmanian State School Parents and Friends president Jenny Branch has begun a campaign to stop teachers setting homework in primary and high schools.
“I really want someone to show me homework is beneficial,” she said. “If it is not, I don’t think we should be having it.
“I don’t want to see kids coming home and doing useless homework. I want them outside playing.
“There are quite a few reports out there saying it might not be beneficial – so why are we doing it?”‘
‘Within the last five years, pets have finally overtaken farm animals in the pharmaceutical marketplace, claiming 54 percent of spending for animal drugs, according to the trade group Animal Health Institute.
Keeping more than 130 million dogs and cats alone, Americans bought $2.9 billion worth of pet drugs in 2005. Though equal to only 1 percent of human drug sales, the market has grown by roughly half since the year 2000.
“As more and more drugs are being developed for people, more and more drugs are being developed for veterinary medicine. It’s really a parallel track,” says Dr. Gerald Post, founder of the nonprofit Animal Cancer Foundation.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved more than 40 new pet drugs over the past five years.’
‘A countryside home in Germany is half of what it used to be – really.
The 43-year-old homeowner, who is currently going through an unpleasant divorce, apparently decided to split the couple’s possessions right down the middle. So he cut their summer house in half with a chainsaw.
After finishing the job, he loaded his half onto a forklift and drove it to his brother’s house, which is where he is now staying.’
‘A Los Angeles hospital confirmed on Friday that two U.S. women who became ill during a trip to their native Russia, prompting investigations by both countries, were suffering from thallium poisoning.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said Marina Kovalevsky and her daughter, Yana, were receiving “appropriate treatment” for thallium poisoning. They have been listed in fair but stable condition. [..]
There has been no official explanation of how or why the two women, who according to family members do not work for either government and have no known political or business ties to Russia, were poisoned.’
‘Fran Bernstein wants what is best for her severely autistic, 48-year-old son.
So do those operating the Chicago group home where Bradley Bernstein lives.
But they disagree on what is the best way to respond when the stockily built Bradley begins a violent outburst.
His mother has long relied upon a small jolt from a cattle prod to calm her son down.
But disability advocacy groups, as well as the company running Bradley’s group home, Trinity Services, are shunning the shock punishments, which state legislators outlawed last year. [..]
“Most of the time, if he starts acting up and beating his head, we just show it to him and that’s sufficient,” Fran Bernstein said. “We had a judge sign an order saying it was OK to do with proper care, to let him live a decent life. The whole point of doing this was to protect him.”‘
‘Inmates in South Carolina could soon find that a kidney is worth 180 days.
Lawmakers are considering legislation that would let prisoners donate organs or bone marrow in exchange for time off their sentences.
A state Senate panel on Thursday endorsed creating an organ-and-tissue donation program for inmates. But legislators postponed debate on a measure to reduce the sentences of participating prisoners, citing concern that federal law may not allow it.’
‘A 24-year-old man called police to tell them he was trying to break into a church, but he wasn’t having much luck.
Police said the would-be thief’s call prompted them to show up at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, where they found him waiting. The man told them he had hoped to get married in the church and was trying to use a metal shovel to break through the doors. He told them, if anything, he figured they could help.
Officers search the man and found marijuana. He then invited them to his home, where he told them they would find more drugs.
They did: He showed them his stash of marijuana and stolen prescription drugs.’
‘An 18-year-old man has been detained for repeatedly defecating in front of a cash machine in a bank vestibule in the southern German town of Eggmuehl.
A police spokesman said the man, who left his deposit at the bank eight times, was caught only after the bank installed video monitors to film him in action.’
‘Ok I have this fantasy. I need someone who is adventurous and open. First I want you to come over to my place and make me a clown. I want you to paint my face up and dress me as a clown. Then I want you to wear a top hat and make me perform a circus routine. After the circus performance, make me your clown women and do what ever you want to me. I may fight back a little but I want to be forced upon by a strapping big top showman.’
‘In the odd animals hall of fame, this little piggy takes the cake.
Pigs are a sign of fertility in China, and in the Year of the Pig, this piglet got more than his fair share, being born with two mouths, two noses and three eyes.
Liu Shuping, a farmer specialising in raising pigs, presented the new-born piglet in Xi an, in north-west China’s Shannxi province yesterday.
But it’s not unique. Only last month there were reports of a pig being born in Quanzhou in East China’s Fujian province with two mouths and four eyes.’
‘Invocon, Inc., one of dozens of companies expected to showcase their wares at the forum, says it’ll be there to display its “non-lethal, stand-off weapon for military and law enforcement personnel that could ultimately work through walls and other non-metallic structures.” [..]
Wow! Through the walls? That even beats the Active Denial System — the pain ray that Noah wrote about the other day. Invocon even touts its device as a “Star Trek hand-held Phaser Weapon set on ‘Stun’.”
However, rather than causing intense pain, like the Active Denial System, Invocon is advertising a weapon that boasts the ability to go through walls and incapacitate everyone in a room by making them lose their balance. “Second order effects would be extreme motion sickness,” the company notes.’
‘This shotgun is so big it takes two men to carry it. I guess its called a punt gun and I cant think of a practical use for it, except to destroy a lot of stuff at once.’
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‘An Iraqi national was detained and questioned at a passenger-screening area at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday morning after a suspicious item was found in the man’s rectum during a body cavity search.
The item, which is still being examined, poses no apparent threat, an FBI official said. [..]
Ethel McGuire, assistant special agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, said this afternoon that al-Maliki had “a magnet, wires and I don’t know what the other item was. It’s being evaluated as we speak.” After al-Maliki was searched, the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad was called to the airport to examine the suspicious item.’
‘This photos are from cemetery in Yekaterinburg city. This Russian city was known in 90s as “crime capital of Russia”, many Russian mafia leaders lived there, and many of them participated in gang wars, as a result many of them now rest in peace on this cemetery. They always liked tombs like those, the production of such tomb also costs thousands of dollars.’
‘A web-based “expert system” that helped users prepare bankruptcy filings for a fee made too many decisions to be considered a clerical tool, an appeals court said last week, ruling that the software was effectively practicing law without a license. [..]
When a bankruptcy trustee noticed errors in the forms, Reynoso blamed his computerized counsel, and Ihejirika joined the party in federal court. A bankruptcy judge ruled that Ihejirika had committed fraudulent, unfair, or deceptive conduct through his computer program, and had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.’
‘Saleh Talib Saleh used to dream that he would grow horns on his head. He dismissed them as mere fancy at first, but then, at the ripe old age of 78, a horn did indeed begin to grow on the left side of his head, astonishing his fellow villagers. Saleh, a resident of A’dban district of the Shabwa governorate, claims that the horn started growing over 25 years ago. He has no explanation as to how the horn developed or why. However, a large medical team at the Aden Specialized Hospital believe that the horn was caused by multiplying layers of hardened, dried skin on Saleh’s head.
Eventually these layers piled up enough to become a horn. Saleh, 102, spoke to the Yemen Observer about the astonishing experience of growing horns on his head, beginning at the age of 77. The first, he said, began growing some 25 years ago, and kept growing until it reached a length of half a meter. But that horn broke off one day last year. Eight days later, another horn started growing in the same spot as the first one. This horn is currently still growing on the left side of his head.’
‘Fitworld owner Patrick de Man allowed the media in for the first session of “Naked Sunday” after receiving inquiries from as far away as Russia and Australia.
The response from nudists was more lukewarm.
A smattering of men trickled in and out throughout the day at the gym in the small town of Heteren, 60 miles east of Amsterdam. They found the exercise room packed with photographers, TV crews and reporters who jostled for interviews and pictures while the nudists hit the machines and free weights.
“We already had naked swimming … but a gym, that’s unique,” said one white-haired bespectacled man, who gave only his first name, Henk.
“It’s spectacular!” he said, as he pedaled away.’
‘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.’
‘More than 1 million rounds of ammunition, a cache of weapons and a tunnel were found inside a man’s home after an explosive fire that forced a neighborhood evacuation, authorities said Friday.
Three 25-gallon containers filled with an unknown fluid were found in the tunnel, which began in the garage and stretched about 10 feet into the backyard. The fluid was being analyzed by hazardous material experts, said Norco Fire Department Battalion Chief Ron Knueven.
Firefighters responded to a blaze Thursday afternoon at the Norco home, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles, and found what was believed to be the largest amount of ammunition ever discovered in the county, authorities said.
The fire caused some of the ammunition to explode, forcing evacuation of the neighborhood and keeping firefighters at a distance. [..]’
‘Two middle school boys facing sex abuse charges in connection with “spanking” incidents at Patton Middle School in McMinnville are back home with their parents after appearing in court on Tuesday.
The two boys, ages 12 and 13, face the equivalent of felony sex abuse charges. In court, Yamhill County authorities said their investigation showed the boys slapped female classmates on their buttocks numerous times over the past several weeks, and poked their breasts.
According to authorities, the boys were sometimes acting out a character known as ‘Party Boy’ from a movie based on a popular MTV television series.
Two of the victims testified in court they did not feel threatened and did not want the boys punished.’
Some TV presenter asks a bit of a strange question of a guest on the show.
I’m sure I’ve asked questions like that before. Maybe that’s why I’m not on TV. 🙂
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‘Two packages containing human body parts — including a liver and a partial head — that were intended for a lab were delivered to a home instead, and officials say more than two dozen similar packages could be dispersed across the United States.
The body parts, sent from China, were mistakenly dropped off at Franck and Ludivine Larmande’s home by a DHL driver who thought the bubble-wrapped items were pieces to a table.
“My husband started to unwrap one and said, ‘This is strange, it looks like a liver,'” Ludivine Larmande told The Grand Rapids Press. “He started the second one, but stopped as soon as we saw the ear.”
“Something wasn’t right. It was scary, and I’m glad I didn’t open them.”‘
‘The chicken toss has been declared off limits at Kansas State. For years, Kansas State students have smuggled live chickens into basketball games against Kansas, then thrown them onto the court and behind the opposing bench before tip-off – mocking their rival’s Jayhawk mascot.
But an animal rights group objected to the mistreatment of chickens, and the school issued an open letter to fans this week calling for an end to the practice. [..]
Kansas State had said it would not comment on the complaint, but the athletic department issued a statement Tuesday saying it considers live, non-service animals “contraband.” Any fans caught with animals or caught throwing any object onto a playing surface will be ejected from the game and could face prosecution.’
‘Scientists are to sail to the mid-Atlantic to examine a massive “open wound” on the Earth’s surface.
Dr Chris MacLeod, from Cardiff University, said the Earth’s crust appeared to be completely missing in an area thousands of kilometres across.
The hole in the crust is midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. [..]
Dr MacLeod said the hole in the Earth’s crust was not unique, but was recognised as one of the most significant.
He said it was an “open wound on the surface of the Earth”, where the oceanic crust, usually 6-7km thick (3.7-4.3 miles), was simply not there.’
‘A deviant Melbourne airline baggage courier who stole pubic and head hair from underwear and brushes in women’s luggage was jailed today for at least two years.
Rodney Lyle Petersen, 30, of Wallan, pleaded guilty to 50 counts of theft of women’s hair.
The Victorian County Court was told Petersen would pull over in his courier van and rummage through lost or delayed luggage he was returning to Qantas passengers.
He collected the pubic and head hair from brushes and underwear in the baggage and put it in plastic slips then recorded the owners’ personal details in an exercise book.’
‘No action will be taken against a vet who punched his horse in front of a crowd during a temper tantrum after losing a race to a group of teenagers.
A Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons panel has cleared Lodewijk De Smet of Ammanford of “disgraceful conduct”.
De Smet, who practises in Llanelli, had denied the incident as he rode for the Banwen Miners’ Hunt at a show in Brecon in August 2005.
But the panel decided he had struck the horse in a “momentary loss of reason”.’
