‘Authorities said the driver of a Toyota Echo was traveling along the 417 early Tuesday when he decided to stop and relieve himself.
However, in his hurry to urinate, he forgot to put the car in park, the report said.
Seconds later, the man watched as his car rolled down a hill and into a dark pond near Boggy Creek.
Orlando’s dive team put six people in the pond but were not able to find the car, the Local 6 report said.
The fire chief said he feels bad for the driver.’
This is some safety device that’s meant to let you escape from high rise buildings in an emergency.
Looks to me that you need to remember to tie one end to yourself, _and_ one end to a sturdy anchor.
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‘An 80-year-old man on the verge of completing a round-Japan cycling tour was struck and killed by a truck on Monday only a few hours ride from his home, police said.
Kamesaburo Harano, a resident of the central prefecture of Nagano, set off in April 2006 to circle his homeland, Kyodo news agency said, and had just arrived back in Nagano.
One Internet cycling page carries a photo of a fit, smiling Harano taken last October, standing by a bicycle laden with panniers on the picturesque southern island of Yakushima.
Police said he was struck and killed on Monday while cycling in a tunnel.’
‘Sushi made with deer meat, anyone? How about a slice of raw horse on that rice?
These are some of the most extreme alternatives being considered by Japanese chefs as shortages of tuna threaten to remove it from Japan’s sushi menus — something as unthinkable here as baseball without hot dogs or Texas without barbecue.
In this seafood-crazed country, tuna is king. From maguro to otoro, the Japanese seem to have almost as many words for tuna and its edible parts as the French have names for cheese. So when global fishing bodies recently began lowering the limits on catches in the world’s rapidly depleting tuna fisheries, Japan fell into a national panic.’
‘So much for US justice: juries get the verdict wrong in one out of six criminal cases and judges don’t do much better, a new study has found.
And when they make those mistakes, both judges and juries are far more likely to send an innocent person to jail than to let a guilty person go free, according to an upcoming study out of Northwestern University.
“Those are really shocking numbers,” said Jack Heinz, a law professor at Northwestern who reviewed the research of his colleague Bruce Spencer, a professor in the statistics department.
Recent high-profile exonerations of scores of death row inmates have undermined faith in the infallibility of the justice system, Heinz said.’
‘It’s not the first time the Polish weekly Wprost has gotten in trouble in Germany. This week, the cover depicts Chancellor Angela Merkel breast-feeding the Kaczynski twins. But it could have been worse, the editor-in-chief points out. At least they used a 21-year-old model.
“Europe’s Step-Mother:” Polish magazine Wprostdoes it again.
It’s not exactly how one expects to see German Chancellor Angela Merkel: The broad, friendly smile seems completely at odds with her open blouse, two bare breasts spilling out. On each breast, one of Poland’s governing Kaczynski twins is affixed — Prime Minister Jaroslaw is suckling on the left, President Lech has attached himself to the right. One of them is holding up the “victory” sign right in Merkel’s cleavage.’
‘Four Asians who murdered another Asian and then ate his body were caught when one of their victim’s finger was found in the stomach of one during treatment for acute food poisoning, the daily Al-Sharq newspaper said today.
The Qatari newspaper said the four men had to seek emergency hospital treatment after eating part of the corpse, various bits of which, including a finger, showed up on hospital X-rays.’
‘The explosion at Demag Riggers and Cranes in Williston on Tuesday that killed a worker was caused by powerful fireworks stored in a safe, Williston police said.
Anthony Boisvert, 20, was using a cutting torch Tuesday to open the industrial safe when it exploded. [..]
The safe had been in an abandoned shed in Winooski since at least the mid-1990s. The safe was locked, the owner of the safe didn’t know the combination and didn’t know what was in it, Dimmick said.’
‘The Spice Girls, who burst on to the music scene with “girl power” and attitude in the 1990s, have reunited for a world tour, their Web site said on Thursday.
Spice Girls
“Hey everybody!! We’re back!! Can you believe it!!” Ginger, Sporty, Posh, Scary and Baby Spice announced on their Web site.’
‘With his hand wedged between his boat and a log, and his future son-in-law off getting help, William Messenger decided he was out of time. He pulled out a pocket knife and sawed off two of his fingertips to free himself from the sinking vessel.
Minutes later, his son-in-law arrived with help, a pry bar and other tools to separate the boat from the log. Messenger was rushed from the Wynoochee River in southwestern Washington to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where a hospital spokeswoman said he was in satisfactory condition Monday. She did not know if surgeons had been able to reattach the fingertips.
Grays Harbor County Undersheriff Rick Scott said Messenger, a 51-year-old fisherman from Ocean Shores, might have made a different decision if he had known how quickly his future son-in-law, Jarrad Todd, would arrive.’
‘Germany has banned the makers of Tom Cruise’s new movie from filming at military sites in the country because the actor is a Scientologist.
The German defence ministry said Cruise has “publicly professed to being a member of the Scientology cult”.
Scientology masquerades as a religion to make money, Germany said, but leaders of the church reject this.
Cruise’s producing partner Paula Wagner said the star’s own convictions had no relation to the film’s content.’
‘A 65-year-old St. Louis man is missing after Amtrak personnel, mistaking his diabetic shock for drunk and disorderly behavior, kicked him off a train in the middle of a national forest, according to police in Williams, Ariz.
Police said Roosevelt Sims was headed to Los Angeles but was asked to leave the train shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday at a railroad crossing five miles outside Williams.
“He was let off in the middle of a national forest, which is about 800,000 acres of beautiful pine trees,” Lt. Mike Graham said.
Police said there is no train station or running water at the crossing, which is about two miles from the nearest road, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet.
Amtrak personnel told police dispatchers that Sims was drunk and unruly.
The Sims family said Sims is diabetic and was going into shock.’
Baltimore police are looking for a few good pairs of pants.
The police department has run out of two popular sizes of the custom-made navy blue uniform pants it provides to every officer, a department spokesman said Wednesday.
Officers who wear size 36 or 38 will have to wait for new pants until a special order comes through.
“We are officially out,” said Officer Troy Harris, a police spokesman. “We’re putting in an emergency order for those two sizes.” [..]
Cadets receive four pairs of pants when they leave the police academy. When officers need a new pair, they get them free but are required to turn in their old ones.’
Apparently it causes muscle spasming as well as hilarious vulgarity.
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‘Americans are less happy today than they were 30 years ago thanks to longer working hours and a deterioration in the quality of their relationships with friends and neighbors, according to an Italian study.
Researchers presenting their work at a conference on “policies for happiness” at Italy’s Siena University honed in on two major forces that boost happiness– higher income and better social relationships — and put a dollar value on them.
Based on that, they concluded a person with no friends or social relations with neighbors would have to earn $320,000 more each year than someone who did to enjoy the same level of happiness.’
Also with explosions.
This poor girl is scared out of her mind. 🙂
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‘Police arrested a man for marijuana possession, but not before officers had to save him from choking after he apparently tried to hide the drugs by swallowing them.
Officers pulled over a car Wednesday night and as one of the officers approached the driver’s side, “he noticed the driver was choking on a large Baggie” of marijuana, said police spokesman Gordon Bassham.
The officers performed the Heimlich maneuver on the driver without success. Bassham said the man was passing out when one of the officers reached down his throat and pulled the Baggie out.’
‘A spurned lover got revenge on her partner – by putting itching powder in his underpants.
Brenda Spilsbury, 57, found David Henderson, 59, having sex with work colleague Ann Graham.
Over a three year period, Spilsbury also sent the former head teacher hate mail and damaged 45-year-old mum-of-two Ann’s car, a court heard. [..]
Spilsbury added: “Ann was married, and left her husband. I saw the itching powder as a way to make David suffer.’
‘Thousands of pensioners will go blind every year after the Government’s rationing watchdog said a sight-saving drug available in Scotland should not be given to NHS patients in England and Wales.
Patients’ groups and doctors condemned “cruel” draft guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Nice rejected the use of Macugen for patients with the most common form of blindness, wet age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.
It said another drug, Lucentis, could be used but only if patients have gone almost blind in one eye and the disease is far progressed in the other.
It also restricted the use of Lucentis to a specific type of the condition which affects only around 20 per cent of sufferers.’
‘F-16s intercepted a small plane after officials misinterpreted a phrase uttered by the pilot as his aircraft flew over military airspace: “hostile takeover.”
The pilot was talking about business, the plane’s owner said. But a frantic air traffic controller couldn’t confirm that because the pilot had turned off his radio, said Maj. Roger Yates of the Clay County Sheriff’s Department.
Within minutes, federal aviation authorities scrambled the fighter jets to intercept the plane Monday evening just outside of Oklahoma City and escort it to the Clay County airport near Mosby.
Once it was on the ground, more than a dozen armed federal agents and tactical deputies surrounded the plane. Federal authorities, who interviewed the pilot for two hours, said Tuesday that there was no threat to anyone and no charges would be filed.’
‘A woman who had not cut her hair in 43 years had it destroyed in a freak gardening accident.
The 57-year-old got her 3ft locks entangled in a hedge trimmer which knocked her out.
Firefighters called to her rural home in Henfield, West Sussex, realised they would have to chop off her hair to free it from the machine.
The woman, who has not been named, pleaded with them for an hour not to snip the hair — which had been growing since she was at school.
A fire brigade spokesman yesterday said: “She was traumatised.”‘
‘The Army spends more feeding its dogs than its soldiers, it has been claimed.
Figures obtained by a Tory MP show that £1.51 a day goes on meals for troops, compared with £2.63 for military dogs.
Even prisoners – who cost £1.87 a day to feed – fare better than servicemen. Schoolchildren get £1.55 for lunch alone.
The MP, Mike Penning, is to raise the issue in the House of Commons today. The former Grenadier Guard said troops serving in war zones such as Iraq were being denied decent meals.
And he claimed that U.S. troops are given high-quality meat while British soldiers make do with cheap sausages and chips.’
‘Bob Teixeira decided it was time to take a stand against U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
So last fall the Charlotte musician and guitar instructor spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He bought soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, spending about 30 percent more than diesel would cost.
His reward, from a state that heavily promotes alternative fuels: a $1,000 fine last month for not paying motor fuel taxes. He has been told to expect another $1,000 fine from the federal government.
To legally use veggie oil, state officials told him, he would have to first post a $2,500 bond.
Teixeira is one of a growing number of fuel-it-yourselfers — backyard brewers who recycle restaurant grease or make moonshine for their car tanks. They do it to save money, reduce pollution or thumb their noses at oil sheiks.
They’re also caught in a web of little-known state laws that can stifle energy independence.’
‘Two American teenage girls were ordered off a city bus in Portland, Oregon, by the driver who called them “sickos” because they exchanged a kiss.
The girls, aged 14, said they were kicked off the TriMet bus on Monday after they exchanged a kiss as they travelled home from school.
After another passenger complained, the driver called them “sickos” and told them to “knock it off”, US media reported.
One of the girls told television station KTVZ that her friend was upset by the driver so she gave her a hug.
The driver then ordered them off the bus.’
It looks like one of the boats was trying to show off and go for a splash through the wake of another.
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‘A teenager with a brown belt in karate used a samurai sword to scare off a burglar who was after his PlayStation 3 video game console.
Last Friday afternoon, Damian Fernandez and his 15-year-old sister, Deanne Fernandez, were home alone at their northwest Miami-Dade County home while their parents were at work when they heard knocking on the front door. Moments later, two men were prying the front door unlocked, prompting Deanne to hide in her closet. [..]
“Once I saw him take off running back, I jumped off my (bunk) bed and I grabbed my sword … and I just waited for him,” he said.
Damian said he lunged at him with his samurai sword, striking him in the chest.
“He freaked out,” Damian said.
The burglar ran out of the house with Damian chasing him down the road. When police arrived, a K-9 officer located the burglar hiding behind a neighbor’s palm tree. The second burglar got away.’
‘A 16-year-old Sacramento boy spent nearly eight hours on a busy intersection Tuesday holding a sign that read, in part, “I’m stupid.”
On Sunday night, Dominiq Drye, 16, came home from hanging out with some friends. His mother, Christine Drye, said she knew immediately something was wrong. “His eyes were red and glossy,” said Drye. “I knew something wasn’t right.”
Dominiq eventually admitted he had smoked some marijuana. His mother said this wasn’t the first time. “I’ve tried taking things, I’ve tried other punishment. It’s not working,” she said.
So Drye decided to try something different, something extreme. [..]’
Make sure your bolts are all tightened up before you go drifting. You think it’d go without saying, but nah.. 🙂
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‘A surgeon amputated a 17-year-old boy’s arm on the Palmetto Expressway after a Saturday morning crash involving a cement truck, police said. Police flew the surgeon in by helicopter after the 8 a.m. wreck in the northbound lanes near South River Drive.
Police said the boy was a passenger in his father’s cement truck and the two were headed for work when his father lost control and the truck flipped on its right side.
Rescuers worked to free the boy without success after the crash, finally determining the only solution was field amputation. A surgeon from the Ryder Trauma Center was flown in and about 50 firefighters worked to get him access to the boy.’
