moonbuggy

This is what happens when your friends decide to throw a hammer to you.

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‘Kate Penland said she was glad to board the plane in Houston after an 11-hour delay to visit her father in Oklahoma. But she said a rude and aggressive flight attendant caused her to get to Oklahoma a day late. [..]

“As we started taxiing, he started saying ‘Bye, bye plane,’ said Penland. “At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, ‘It’s not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up.’

In disbelief, Penland asked the woman if she was kidding. It was then, Penland said, the flight attendant went too far.

“She then said, ‘You know, it’s called baby Benadryl. And I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight.”

‘Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.

The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country’s problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

Countless small, often illegally run operations exist across China and make money cutting corners by using inexpensive ingredients or unsavory substitutes. They are almost impossible to regulate.’

‘The first signs of trouble, according to the cable, emerged when the kitchen staff tried to cook the inaugural meal in the new guard base on May 15. Some appliances did not work. Workers began to get electric shocks. Then a burning smell enveloped the kitchen as the wiring began to melt.

All the food from the old guard camp — a collection of tents — had been carted to the new facility, in the expectation that the 1,200 guards would begin moving in the next day. But according to the cable, the electrical meltdown was just the first problem in a series of construction mistakes that soon left the base uninhabitable, including wiring problems, fuel leaks and noxious fumes in the sleeping trailers.’

‘Teacher Dave Barclay flew thousands of miles across the Atlantic to Wales to attend his friend’s wedding, only to discover he was a year early.

Barclay, 34, was told about the wedding earlier in the year and assumed it was to take place in 2007.

It was only when he had flown into Cardiff from Toronto, Canada, and rang the bridegroom seeking details of the venue that he discovered the wedding was in 2008.

“I am a year early — yeah, my mates are loving it, aren’t they,” he told BBC Radio Wales.’

‘A man making a trip from Puerto Rico to South Florida to raise money for his religious education remains hospitalized Monday after he was struck down by a bolt of lightning which flew from clear blue sky on Sunday. He was selling religious materials when he was hit.

Hailu Kidane Marian was working with members of his religious group, selling religious materials door-to-door in a Northwest Miami-Dade neighborhood, when the bolt from the blue struck him down.

“I heard a boom, and I looked and the guy jumped back, and he just laid there, stiff,” said witness Maria Martinez. [..]

“He’s unconscious, he’s in a coma,” said Francisco Perez, leader of the Puerto Rico-based group. “It’s difficult what happened, you know, but what can we do? Things happen in life, but we still believe in God.”‘

It’s hard to talk and walk at the same time. 🙂

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‘Three people were injured and 12 cars damaged this morning when a 1,500-pound wrecking ball snapped loose from a crane’s cable on the campus of Allegheny College and rolled through downtown Meadville, Crawford County.

The wrecking ball, about 3 feet in diameter, was suspended from a crane that was demolishing part of the college’s Pelletier Library.

Meadville Police Officer Brian Joseph said the crane operator tried unsuccessfully to stop the wrecking ball by placing bricks in front of it.

But the wrecking ball gained momentum as it rolled downhill from the college, traveling several blocks while bouncing like a pinball from curb to curb, causing damage each time. [..]’

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‘Ireland’s top bookmaker, Paddy Power PLC, paid out more than $13,500 on Friday to people who bet that Al Gore would be arrested. Trouble was, the company neglected to specify which one.

The former U.S. vice president and global-warming activist was rated as a 14-to-1 outsider in a list of American celebrities likely to be arrested next. On Wednesday _ the day after the betting went live on Paddy Power’s Web site _ Gore’s 24-year-old son, Al Gore III, was arrested and charged with illegally possessing marijuana and prescription drugs.

Paddy Power said it was paying out winnings to about 50 people, because it had failed to identify which Gore it meant. “We got a good stoning,” the Dublin-based company said in a statement.’

‘Unable to scrounge together the $165 he needed to repay a loan to buy sheep, Nazir Ahmad made good on his debt by selling his 16-year-old daughter to marry the lender’s son.

“He gave me nine sheep,” Ahmad said, describing his family’s woes since taking the loan. “Because of nine sheep, I gave away my daughter.”

Seated beside him in the cramped compound, his daughter Malia’s eyes filled with tears. She used a black scarf to wipe them away.

Despite advances in women’s rights and at least one tribe’s move to outlaw the practice, girls are traded like currency in Afghanistan and forced marriages are common. Antiquated tribal laws authorize the practice known as “bad” in the Afghan language Dari — and girls are used to settle disputes ranging from debts to murder.’

Or, atleast, trying to cross the yangtze in an overloaded truck. 🙂

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‘Federal inspectors were able to slip a fake bomb through a checkpoint at Albany International Airport during a test of the facility’s Transportation Security Administration screeners, according to individuals familiar with the incident.

The unannounced inspection by TSA officials took place early last week. The airport’s security measures failed in five of seven tests, most of the problems occurring at the passenger checkpoint, the sources said.

In one test, TSA inspectors hid the components of a fake bomb in carry-on luggage that also contained a bottle of water. Passengers are prohibited from carrying containers holding more than three ounces of liquids, gels or aerosols through airport checkpoints.’

‘An Australian Catholic school is at the centre of an unholy row over claims it refused entry to a five-year-old boy with the surname Hell.

Alex Hell said St Peter the Apostle School, Melbourne, had welcomed his son Max when enrolled under his mother’s maiden name, Wembridge.

But they baulked when the family had a change of heart over the surname.

School officials now say Max has a place, but Mr Hell claims they changed their minds because of media attention.

He said he would not now be taking up the school’s offer.’

‘People living in communities surrounding a large shallow lake have been overrun by field mice after floodwaters drove the rodents out of islands on the lake, state media reported Monday.

The mouse invasion began on June 23 when the Yangtze River flooded, raising the water level in central China’s Dongting Lake and submerging mouse holes on lake islands, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Now, an estimated 2 billion mice are ravaging crops in 22 counties around the lake, and authorities were rushing to construct walls and ditches to keep the rodents out. Residents have killed more than 2.3 million field mice — or 90 tons of the rodents, Xinhua said.’

‘A bidet company’s advertising plans in Times Square are too cheeky for the pastor of a nearby church.

Rev. Neil Rhodes, pastor of the interdenominational Times Square Church, is asking a state court to block a billboard company from posting huge ads that feature naked buttocks with smiley faces on them. The display is to go up on two sides of the Broadway building that houses Rhodes’ church, its Bible school and day-care center.

“You walk into a church building, you have naked bodies before your eyes, how are you going to close your eyes and seek God?” Rhodes told the New York Post in an article published Sunday.’

‘Optus will release new broadband/phone bundles this week, but will make a dramatic shift in the way it counts broadband usage.

According to Optus sources, the new “Optus Fusion Plans” will now count uploaded data as well as downloaded data, which can significantly reduce value for money. Optus’ existing broadband plans (with free uploads) will still be available for those that want them. [..]

Most ISPs do not count upload data, as it typically doesn’t cost them anything. This is because ISPs purchase bandwidth pipes that are capable of the same speed in both directions. Traditionally, download usage always exceeds upload usage, making upload usage irrelevant to the buying equation.’

‘Lara Madden is a 25-year-old porn movie actress who uses the stage name Syvette Wimberly when starring in films like “Anal Camera 19.” While Madden’s professional alias is catchy and distinctive, the name is identical to that of a former Texas high school pal of the X-rated performer. As a result, Kristen Syvette Wimberly, 25, has filed a lawsuit against Madden and the porn distributor Vivid Entertainment for the misappropriation of her name. In a June 26 complaint filed in Harris County District Court, Wimberly notes that she and Madden became friends after meeting at the beginning of ninth grade in Kingwood, Texas. That friendship, however, “ended due to conflict,” according to the lawsuit, a copy of which you’ll find below. The complaint adds that Madden (who is pictured at right) married while in high school and did not graduate with Wimberly, who lost contact with her former friend. Until recently, that is, when Wimberly discovered that, “there was a woman appearing in multiple explicit pornographic videos” using her name. Wimberly soon learned, the lawsuit reports, that the porn actress who boosted her name “was her former high school friend Lara Madden.” The porn star, Wimberly alleges, deliberately chose to use her name, despite realizing that it would cause “extreme embarrassment and unsubstantiated association with the pornography industry and other consequences.” [..]’

‘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.’

‘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!’

‘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.’

‘[..] 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. [..]’

‘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.’

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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‘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.”‘

‘A hero cabbie who took on the Glasgow Airport terror suspects told yesterday how he booted one of them in the privates.

Alex McIlveen, 45, kicked the man, whose body was in flames, so hard that he tore a tendon in his foot.

But he said last night: “He didn’t even flinch. I couldn’t believe he didn’t go down.’

They’re on a wharf hitting golf balls into a lake. What could go wrong? 🙂

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‘To judge by their lyrics, gangsta rappers are adept at seeing off rivals with a bullet and their women with a slap.

But America’s rappers are now trapped in a corner they don’t seem able to shoot their way out of, with either weapons or words.

Confronted with haemorrhaging sales, the most assertive popular music movement since the Sex Pistols has lost its swagger and is suffering a crisis of confidence.’

‘A bouncer at a popular New York City restaurant ejected a lesbian customer from the bathroom after last month’s gay pride march because she looked too masculine, the woman charged Monday.

Khadijah Farmer, 27, said the incident happened June 24 at Caliente Cab Company on Seventh Avenue South, where she had gone with her girlfriend and another friend to have dinner after the march.

Farmer said she was using the women’s bathroom when a male bouncer burst in and banged on the stall door, saying a customer had complained that there was a man in the women’s room.

“I said, ‘I am a woman and I am where I am supposed to be,”‘ Farmer said. “I offered to show him some identification. I was told that’s neither here nor there.”‘