Weird News Thread ....

[Jolie Rouge]

Nutritionists Give Thumbs Up to Big Mac?

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...20040213TOK116

PARIS (Reuters) - Want to stay fit and healthy? Two top French nutritionists are telling people to go for a Big Mac and keep their fingers off the traditional French quiche.

In an unexpected message to a country priding itself on the superiority of its food, a new food guide praises the McDonald's burger for having a higher and healthier protein-to-fat ratio than France's Quiche Lorraine.

"Strangely enough, the products which are the most demonized are not necessarily the worst," Jean-Michel Cohen and Patrick Serog write in their book "Savoir Manger," in which they analyze 5,000 dishes available in shops and restaurants.

The verdict published this month comes as McDonald's launches a new campaign to add healthier food choices to its menus. It has also said it is eliminating Supersize fries and soft drinks.



03/19/04 12:46

[the fugative]

Chuck Shepherd: News of The Weird
Chuck Shepherd

March 11, 2004

Albuquerque emergency room physician Sam Slishman is working to launch his Endorphin Power Co., which is a homeless shelter providing drug rehabilitation based on vigorous exercise at on-premises workout stations. Slishman also wants his center to help pay for itself by selling the electric power that could be harnessed by his down-and-out population's daily workouts (pedaling, lifting, working the treadmills). Endorphin Power, Slishman says, will be the city's inspirational flagship for "social rehabilitation and renewable energy."

Dental follies

• Dentist Leon Gombis (Oak Lawn, Ill.) had battery charges filed against him after he, wielding pliers, ripped a cap out of the mouth of a 58-year-old patient, believing (mistakenly) that she was behind on her payments (January).

• At press time, U.S. Air Force Capt. Jacqueline Chester was scheduled for court martial in Dover, Del., for having tested positive for cocaine; in her defense, her now ex-husband said that during their marriage, he had occasionally rubbed cocaine on his genitals for pleasure-enhancement and that the otherwise-drug-free Jacqueline might have absorbed it during sex.

• From a Jan. 1 police report in the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun: A motorist who was clocked at 15 miles per hour over the speed limit in Waldo, Fla., claimed that since state troopers' policy is to give a 5 mph leeway before ticketing, and since Waldo police often claim to give a 10 mph leeway, he thought the two leeway speeds could be combined to allow him to drive 15 mph over the limit.

• Lame excuses: According to a police report in January on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Web site, a driver in the Newfoundland district of Bonavista-Clarenville denied that he had an illegal radar detector, claiming that the black box on his dashboard was a "moose detector" that indeed had so far kept him safe from moose.

• Author Irwin Schiff, at war with the IRS for years over his aggressive claims that paying federal income tax is voluntary, may finally have turned defensive. In a back-tax-collection case in Las Vegas in January, Schiff told the court in a filing that he suffers from delusions, including a fantasy that he is the only person qualified to interpret federal income tax law. Schiff's psychiatrist said Schiff has been paranoid for years, stemming from his having lost heavily in a tax shelter that turned out to be a type of investment scam called a Ponzi scheme.

• In Tarpon Springs, Fla., William Ray Hunter, 41, was arrested and charged with defrauding a series of at least 19 northerners who had paid him a total of $33,000 in advance to rent his mobile home for the winter starting Jan. 1. Hunter apparently had made no effort to move out by the time the tenants started arriving. Said Sheriff's Sgt. Bob Hart, "I don't think he thought too much about what would happen when everybody showed up. Most people have a plan. [Hunter] had the first part, but he didn't have the second part."

Update on racist dogs

• The owner of the German shepherd crossbreed who made the news last year for having trained "Adolf" to raise his right paw on hearing the command "Sieg Heil," was found guilty in Berlin of displaying Nazi symbols, and he told the court that Adolf had since injured his paw and could no longer salute (February). And Dolpho, a police dog in McKees Rock, Pa., who had been sent for re-education in 2002 after having attacked a black child and was making progress in his rehab effort, backslid, attacking a black teenager (February) for no apparent reason.

• A 46-year-old motorcyclist, speeding, yelling obscenities and shaking his fist alongside an 18-wheeler that had made a left turn of questionable etiquette in Corpus Christi, Texas, lost control of the cycle, fell off and was fatally dragged underneath the truck (October).

More things to worry about

• The owners of FM 106.7 in York, Pa., having ended the station's country-music format but not yet having introduced a new one, played "Pop Goes the Weasel" 24 hours a day during the interim (February). A recently active methamphetamine lab (fuel, tubing, foil, coffee filters and a liquid compound) was discovered in a search of cells in the Pikeville, Tenn., county jail (December). A man in Pacifica, Calif., filed a $15,000 claim against his school district, saying officials have not stopped students from taunting his 12-year-old son, who is an internationally acclaimed ballroom dancer (September).

[Jolie Rouge]

PARAMOUNT OPTIONS BOOK OF JOB

Bible Pic to Star Adam Sandler

www.borowitzreport.com

In the wake of Mel Gibson’s smash hit “The Passion of the Christ,” Paramount Pictures today announced that it had optioned the exclusive motion picture rights to The Book of Job as a vehicle for comedy superstar Adam Sandler.

Paramount grabbed The Book of Job after passing on The Book of Revelations, which one studio spokesman said “was way too expensive, special effects-wise.”

In announcing the “Job” pic, Paramount exec Colin Mish said that the storyline was perfect for a summer blockbuster and was “not a downer at all.”

“It’s about a nice guy who has all this bogus stuff happen to him,” he said. “As I read it I was like, whoever wrote this must have been thinking of Adam Sandler.”

To acquire the “Job” rights, Paramount reportedly ponied up $8 million to its author, God, who is represented by The William Morris Agency.

William Morris beat out several other top Hollywood talent agencies two weeks ago in the competition to represent God, whose literary properties have never been in greater demand. “Signing God as a client was huge,” said one Morris rep. “It really made up for losing Chloe Sevigny.”

While in the past God has had a reputation in Hollywood for being difficult, Mr. Mish of Paramount had only positive things to say about working with Him thus far. “I’d heard He was vengeful, but I haven’t seen a vengeful side of Him,” Mr. Mish said. “He did turn my assistant into a pillar of salt, but she was late with that cappuccino.”

[Jolie Rouge]

Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird
WEEK OF MARCH 14, 2004

LEAD STORY

New York City high school chemistry teacher Elihu McMahon, 69, reports daily to a do-nothing job, at $77,000 a year, as the result of being ordered out of the classroom based on various complaints and administrative findings. In fact, according to a February New York Post story, he has spent about three-fourths of his time in the last 15 years in such jobs (since New York teachers have generous job protections), costing the schools an estimated $600,000 in salary. Among the complaints against him: racist remarks to students (McMahon is black), insubordination, incompetent teaching, improper grading and sexual harassment (although McMahon blames the problems on bad administrators). [New York Post, 2-4-04]


Finer Points of the Law

An 18-year-old man was transferred to Youth Court, with its more lenient procedures, after he was arrested and charged with stabbing a man to death at a New Year's Eve party in Edmonton, Alberta. He will not be tried as an adult because the victim was stabbed just before midnight, and the alleged killer did not actually turn 18 until Jan. 1. [Edmonton Journal, 1-10-04]

In December, Australia's TV Channel 7 reported that many schools across the country, at the behest of the Australasian Performing Rights Association, were discouraging parents from making keepsake movies of their kids' appearances in Christmas musicals, because recording the holiday songs might violate copyright law. [Seven Network Ltd. (Australia), 12-22-03]


Magnificent Obsessions

The New York Times reported in February on a Washington, D.C., man whose love of music led him, in the 1960s, to meticulously hand-make and hand-paint facsimile record album covers of his fantasized music, complete with imagined lyric sheets and liner notes (with some "albums" even shrink-wrapped), and, even more incredibly, to hand-make cardboard facsimiles of actual grooved discs to put inside them. "Mingering Mike," whom a reporter and two hobbyists tracked down (but who declined to be identified in print), also made real music, on tapes, using his and friends' voices to simulate instruments. His 38 imagined "albums" were discovered at a flea market after Mike defaulted on storage-locker fees, and the hobbyists who found them said they were so exactingly done that a major museum would soon feature them. [New York Times, 2-2-04]

Tom Musser, 81, and brother Jack, 84, are ex-cowboys who for the last 12 years have made and sold their own one-of-a-kind, crooked furniture through independent dealers from their home base in Delta, Colo. Their awkward-looking pieces are best sellers (1,600 sales so far) even though each one is almost unavoidably primitive, owing to the fact that the proud Mussers aren't (in the words of a satisfied customer) "burdened with any knowledge of woodworking." Said Tom, "We just do what the sticks (the wood) want." [Denver Post, 1-4-04]


Latest Important Animal Research

Case Western Reserve University researchers revealed in a December journal article that cockroaches do not age gracefully, that after about 60 weeks of adulthood, they get stiff joints (which inhibits climbing) and hardened foot pads (which prevents sticking to vertical surfaces). One of the researchers, noticing that aged roaches seem to have lost their ability to escape from predators, hypothesized that the loss was brain-based; he tested the hypothesis by removing the roach's head (and, thus, brain), and sure enough, the roach once again was able to flee like a youngster. [Case Western Reserve University News, reporting on a Journal of Experimental Biology article, 1-15-04]


A team of researchers that included Ben Wilson of the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) reported in November that herring communicate with each other via a high-pitched, "raspberry"-like sound emitted from their anuses. (Since the sounds were frequent, whether the herring had eaten or not, the researchers concluded that the noise was not produced by digestive gases.) [New Scientist, 11-5-03]


Least Competent Criminals

A 16-year-old boy was arrested in January in Dania Beach, Fla., after a 7-Eleven clerk subdued him mid-robbery. The boy had pointed a .22-caliber rifle at the clerk but then suddenly remembered that he hadn't loaded it. He had shells in his pocket, but they were .40-caliber, too large for the rifle (but that didn't stop the boy from trying to cram them in). The clerk took advantage of the boy's confusion and disarmed him. [Associated Press, 1-22-04]



Recurring Themes

News of the Weird has remarked several times on the late composer John Cage's "4'33," a 273-second "musical" number containing nothing but utter silence. In February 2004, according to a New York Times report, cuts from "White Album" by the band Sonic Youth were being listed for downloading on Apple's iTunes online store, and included was "Silence," a 63-second cut consisting of no sound at all, for which fans were nonetheless expected to pay the regular iTunes price of 99 cents. (In a subsequent clarification, a Sonic Youth spokesman said "Silence" would only be sold to purchasers who bought all of the album's cuts.) [New York Times, 2-9-04, 2-16-04]



Undignified Deaths

A 41-year-old model airplane hobbyist was killed when his radio-controlled helicopter went haywire and crashed into his neck (Houston, November). [KTRK-TV (Houston)-AP, 11-3-03]

A 27-year-old woman was killed when, during calm weather on a suburban street, a 40-foot magnolia tree fell on top of her while she was jogging (Titusville, Fla., December). [Fort Myers News-Press-AP, 12-9-03]

A 38-year-old man was killed when his pickup truck hit a ditch at 60 mph, with the cause of death later determined to be that the truck's radio had been jarred loose during the crash sequence and hit him on the head (Timberlake, N.C., January). [Courier-Times (Roxboro, N.C.), 1-7-04]


Also, in the Last Month

National Hockey League goalie Byron Dafoe (Atlanta Thrashers) went on the injured list after he slipped on the icy sidewalk outside his team's hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, and hurt his back. [Associated Press, 2-24-04]

And insurance companies in Thailand complained that politicians were using their generous health-care policies to stay overnight in hospitals while traveling on business, thus pocketing their per diem money. [Reuters, 2-20-04]

And several dozen (maybe many more) automobile keyless-entry systems failed in the Las Vegas area on Feb. 20, allowing conspiracists to remind everyone that the city is only 150 miles from "Area 51," supposedly the government's extraterrestrial research center. [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2-21-04]

(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or WeirdNews@earthlink.net or go to www.NewsoftheWeird.com.)

[Jolie Rouge]

New DVD Burners Double Capacity
By PETER SVENSSON

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...0040319NYET252

NEW YORK (AP) - If you just bought a DVD-burning drive for your computer and think that for once you're current with the latest and greatest, it's disappointment time. Manufacturers are soon launching drives that can store double the amount of data on a disc.

Sony Electronics says it will be shipping drives in about two months that accept blank DVDs with two data layers. Philips Electronics will start selling a similar drive in Europe in April, but is not saying when it will be available in the United States.

The write-once discs can store up to 8.5 gigabytes of data, or about 4 hours of DVD-quality movies, twice the capacity of regular blank DVDs. This means capacities for computer-burned DVDs are catching up with prerecorded movie DVDs, many of which are already dual-layer.

The new technology is sure to appeal to those who back up or copy movie DVDs, since they often have to reduce image quality or remove special features to fit a copied movie onto a single-layer disc. With a dual-layer drive, an exact copy on a single disc should be possible. (The software used to copy encrypted movie DVDs is illegal in the United States, according to recent court rulings.)

The two layers of the new discs are accessed from the same side - there is no need to flip the disc over to record to the second layer. Instead, a laser beam shines through the first layer to record on the second.

Sony will sell an internal drive for $230 and an external one for $330. They will be marketed only for Windows PCs, but the external one should work on Macintosh computers with the proper third-party software. Philips will sell two internal drives with somewhat different features, both for PCs. U.S. prices have not been set.

The drives will be able to burn regular write-once and rewritable DVDs and CDs as well. The Sony and Philips drives will use somewhat different discs. Sony calls its variant DVD-R DL. The Philips equivalent is DVD+R DL. Both disc types should be readable in standard DVD drives and players.

Sony estimates the blank discs will cost $5 to $6. Philips does not have an estimate yet. The dual-layer discs will be slower to burn than single-layer discs - the drives will be rated as burning at 2.4 times faster than playback speed, versus eight times for single-layer discs.

A full 8.5 gigabytes will take about 45 minutes to burn.


On the Net:


http://www.press.ce.philips.com/press/documents596.html


http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/4532



03/22/04 14:20

[Jolie Rouge]

66% of Americans Are Upset By WHAT?

Fully two-thirds of Americans are unhappy with the country's moral and ethical climate, Religion News Service reports of a new Gallup Poll conducted every year to determine the mood of the nation. In a word, our mood is disheartened, although young people tend to be less so than their parents and grandparents. Why have our Puritanical beliefs suddenly reared up? You can thank all the corporate and pop culture scandals, especially Martha Stewart, Enron, Janet Jackson, and gay marriage.

But there's hope! The oldsters may be alarmed about the nation's moral decline, but those 18 to 29 seem more optimistic with fully 53 percent saying to the grown-ups: Chill. It's okay. Among those who are 30 to 49, 38 percent are satisfied, while only 29 percent of those 65 and older are satisfied with the country's morality.

Gallup contributing editor Heather Mason said the generational divide is a pattern that has existed for several years. "Adults under the age of 30 grew up in the era of the Internet, music videos, and cable television shows that continued to push the moral envelope and may not remember a time when profanity and sexual content were more taboo," she said in Gallup's Briefing report.

[Jolie Rouge]

Surprising List Recognizes 'Total Women'

Sandra Day O'Connor must be cool under pressure. The nation's first female Supreme Court justice, as well as a best-selling author, accomplished horsewoman, and hole-in-one golfer, has made a unique top 10 list. Arrid (as in the deodorant) has named 10 women--some dead, some alive--to its top 10 list of "Arrid Total Women."

Chosen with the help of the Women's Museum in Dallas, the 5 Total Women of Today are in alphabetical order:

Southwest Airlines President Colleen Barrett
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C.
Fire chief Joanne Hayes-White
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Golf pro Suzy Whaley

And the 5 Total Women of Yesterday are:

Peace activist and social reformer Jane Addams
American Red Cross founder Clara Barton
Girl Scount Founder Juliette Gordon Low
Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Abolitionist Harriet Tubman

"Their strength of character inspires all women to continue to strive for greater independence and success in traditional and non-traditional roles," said the news release announcing the list. "This past year, their words and actions have led to barrier-breaking achievements which will help to improve the lives of women through equality and the elimination of social barriers."

And that's not all!

You can even get your very own set of "Arrid Total Women of Today" trading cards, each of which depicts a large photo of one of the Total Women. The Associated Press notes that the card also features a large logo that includes the brand name "Arrid Total," which was described on a fact sheet sent to reporters as an "all-in-one anti-perspirant and deodorant." It's available in "powder" or "passion flowers" scents. In case you wondered.

[Jolie Rouge]

N.Y. Man Indicted in Millionaire's Death
By FRANK ELTMAN

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/enh...pg&floc=NW_1-T

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) - An electrician who married the multimillionaire widow of a slain investment banker two years ago has been indicted in the man's death, a prosecutor said Monday.

Daniel Pelosi became the focus of tabloid headlines - and a grand jury probe - after he married widow Generosa Ammon in January 2002. The couple later split and she has since died.

``An indictment has been filed by a special grand jury,'' Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota told The Associated Press.

Spota said Pelosi's attorneys were instructed to have their client appear Tuesday morning at the district attorney's office. The precise charges against him would be unsealed until arraignment later in the day, Spota said.

``We'll be there and we're planning to plead an emphatic not guilty,'' said Gerald Shargell, one of Pelosi's defense lawyers.

Generosa Ammon and her millionaire husband, Theodore Ammon, were just days away from finalizing a nasty divorce when he was killed in October 2001 in his sprawling Long Island mansion.

An autopsy showed Ammon, a former general partner at the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., was smashed in the head with a blunt object. His estate was worth a reported $100 million.

Shortly after she married Pelosi, Generosa Ammon was diagnosed with cancer. When she died in August 2003 at age 46, she had already split with Pelosi after just over a year of marriage.

Both Pelosi, who has a record of drunken driving arrests and other skirmishes with law enforcement, and his lawyers have repeatedly proclaimed his innocence.

Pelosi received a reported $2 million post-nuptial payment, but nothing in her will. Pelosi's attorneys are challenging the validity of the will in court, and Ammon's sister is fighting for custody of her two children.

In court papers released last August, state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle said that a suspect in the killing owned a laptop computer that was used to access a security system in Ammon's mansion on the weekend of the death.


While Doyle did not name Pelosi, he wrote, ``the individual who is a target of this investigation married the widow of the murder victim.''


03/22/04 15:22



Wife of slain investment banker leaves hefty estate to nanny, charity
Updated Aug. 28, 2003, 10:10 a.m. ET

http://www.courttv.com/people/2003/0...estate_ap.html

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — The late widow of a slain investment banker designated her children's nanny to be their guardian, giving her $1 million and the right to live in the family's East Hampton mansion.

Most of Generosa Ammon's estate -- reportedly worth at least $100 million -- will be divided between her teen-age children and the Ammon Foundation, which was formed after the October 2001 beating death of Theodore Ammon, said her attorney, Michael Dowd. She left nothing in her will to Daniel Pelosi, the Long Island electrician suspected in the investment banker's death.

Generosa Ammon, who had cancer, died Friday at a hospital at age 46. Her will was filed Wednesday in Suffolk County Surrogate Court. At the time of her death, she was separated from Pelosi, whom she married three months after Ammon's death.

A legal source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Pelosi was given $2 million several months ago as part of a postnuptial agreement.

Theodore Ammon, a former general partner at the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., was found beaten to death in his multimillion-dollar home on Oct. 22, 2001. He ran the private equity firm Chancery Lane Capital and served as chairman of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Although no one has been charged, a judge overseeing a grand jury investigation released a document earlier this month that identified Pelosi as a suspect.

Ammon's 37-page will, dated July 2, and a four-page codicil signed July 22, omit Pelosi from receiving any of the estate.

The Ammons' two adopted children, Alexa Svetlana and Gregory Ruslan, are to be cared for by Kathryn Ann Mayne, their British nanny, according to the codicil. Mayne also was given $1 million and the right to live in the Ammons' mansion for the rest of her life.

Pelosi's lawyer, Gerald Shargel, who has repeatedly said his client did not kill Ammon, said "the fact that Danny Pelosi was not mentioned in the will did not escape our notice. The will and its codicil raises more questions than it answers."

He said he has legal experts on wills examining the document, declining further comment.

Pelosi served four months in jail earlier this year on an unrelated drunken-driving conviction and was arrested on the day he was released from jail on charges of stealing more than $40,000 in electricity from the Long Island Power Authority. He is currently free on bail.

Dowd noted that Generosa Ammon's will called for no funeral or memorial and that her ashes be given to Mayne. On Monday, however, Pelosi retrieved the ashes from a Manhattan funeral home and posed for a picture with them while having "drink" in a hotel bar. Published reports have indicated he plans to hold a memorial. Dowd said he will not mount a court fight over the ashes.

"Unfortunately, Danny Pelosi has created a circus," Dowd said. "That (legal action) is not something I wish to pursue because it only serves his interests."

Stephen Gassman, an attorney for Theodore Ammon's sister, Sandi Williams of Huntsville, Ala., said Wednesday his client intends to challenge the designation of Mayne as the children's guardian.
"She is the closest blood relative," Gassman said.

[Jolie Rouge]

Defendant Punches His Lawyer During Trial

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...1859865208.htm

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A man on trial for raping and murdering a 6-year-old girl punched his defense lawyer in the face during court Monday. The judge immediately sent jurors home for the day after Malik El-Shabazz hit attorney Fred Goodman.

It was unclear what effect the attack would have on the trial.

Cathie Abookire, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said prosecutors believe El-Shabazz was trying to get a mistrial declared. The prosecution planned to argue Tuesday that the trial should continue as planned.

El-Shabazz, 20, was returned to jail following the attack. Officials said his lawyer, Fred Goodman, was not seriously hurt. Goodman and his co-counsel, Andrea Konow, did not immediately return phone messages Monday.

During the trial, jurors have been shown a police videotape in which El-Shabazz detailed how he smothered the girl, then carried her body more than a mile to a vacant lot.

Monday's incident was El-Shabazz's second outburst in the trial. During opening arguments, he began yelling when Goodman told jurors that his client had, in fact, committed the assault.

``There is no question who did this,'' Goodman said. ``The only thing that is at issue is the difference between first-degree murder and second-degree murder.'' If convicted of first-degree murder, El-Shabazz would face the death penalty or life in prison.

03/22/04 18:58

[Jolie Rouge]

Top 10 Cities With Best Quality of Life

The best place to live in the world is Zurich, Switzerland, according to a quality-of-life survey conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Zurich was crowned No. 1 for the second year running based on 39 criteria that included a variety of political, social, and economic factors such as the quality of health, education, and transportation services. Of the world's top 30 cities, 17 are in Europe. All 215 cities worldwide were judged against New York City as the baseline, which came in at No. 44. The only U.S. city to make the top 20 was San Francisco at No. 18. Other high-scoring U.S. cities were Honolulu, Seattle, Portland, and Boston.


Top 10 Cities With the Best Quality of Life

1. Zurich, Switzerland
2. Vancouver, Canada
3. Vienna, Austria
4. Geneva, Switzerland
5. Sydney, Australia
6. Auckland, New Zealand
7. Copenhagen, Denmark
8. Frankfurt, Germany
9. Bern, Switzerland
10. Munich, Germany

Cities With the Worst Quality of Life
(in descending order):

Pointe Noire, Congo
Baghdad, Iraq
Bangui, Central African Republic
Brazzaville, Congo

Top 10 Safest Cities
(based on crime levels, law enforcement, and internal stability)

1. Luxembourg
2. Bern, Switzerland
3. Geneva, Switzerland
4. Helsinki, Finland
5. Singapore
6. Zurich, Switzerland
7. Nagoya, Japan
8. Omuta, Japan
9. Osaka, Japan
10. Tokyo, Japan

--Canadian cities are the safest in North America, due largely to strict law enforcement and low crime rates.

--The safest U.S. cities are Honolulu, Hawaii; Houston, Texas; and San Francisco, California.

The Least Safe Cities:

--Bangui in the Central African Republic scored the lowest for personal safety of all cities worldwide.

--Other low-scoring cities are Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, Pointe Noire and Brazzaville in Congo, and Luanda in Angola. All have experienced prolonged periods of civil unrest, as well as high crime rates and poor law enforcement.

--Milan, Athens, and Rome are the least safe cities in Western Europe due largely to high crime levels.

--Washington, D.C. ranks lowest for personal safety in the United States.

[Jolie Rouge]

Thailand Record-Setting 'Snake Man' Dies

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...42.htm&sc=1104

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A man who set a world record by spending 7 days locked up with poisonous snakes has died after a bite from a deadly mamba, a hospital reported on Monday.

Boonreung Bauchan, known as the ``Snake Man,'' died on Friday, a day after he was bitten, said Dr. Wipha Praituen of Praibung hospital in the northeastern province of Si Sa Ket.

Wipha said Boonreung's relatives told her that Boonreung was showing villagers a new cobra when he was bitten. He took herbal medicine and a shot of whiskey, and continued with the show until he collapsed, the doctor said. Wipah said Boonreung was bitten on the right elbow, and ``the poison had spread throughout his body when he arrived at the hospital.''


Boonreung, 34, won a mention in the Guinness book after spending seven days in an enclosure with snakes in 1998 to set a new world record.


Boonreung's family said he was the sole bread winner, supporting them with income from the snake shows, according to The Nation newspaper.'' It quoted his father, Pon, as saying that boxes of Boonreung's pet snakes were still at the house.


``They look fiercer now. So no one dares get closer to the boxes,'' he was quoted as saying. Pon said he would give the snakes to a zoo after his son's cremation on Wednesday.

03/22/04 10:46