Weird News Thread ....

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KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) - A grizzly bear forced two campers to retreat into a lake before snatching their Doritos and smashing them into little pieces.

"He just left this little sawdust pile of broken chips," camper Daynna Dowell said.

Dowell was swimming in the Hungry Horse Reservoir on Saturday when she spotted the bear sniffing their dog.

"He walked up and smelled the dog. I thought he was going to bite his head off," Dowell said.


The dog barked and chased the bear back into the woods. But the bear followed the dog back to the beach.

Dowell's boyfriend, Jared Ondaro, who had been chopping wood, joined Dowell in the lake with an ax.

Dowell said she took photographs of the bear to provide evidence for investigators in case the animal devoured them.

She also called her sister on a cell phone, telling her what was happening and saying she'd call right back ... maybe.

After crushing the chips, the bear wandered back into the woods.

"(The bear) never acted mean," Dowell said. "We stood around in the water for 15 or 20 minutes."

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TOKYO (AP) - If it costs a lot to live in Japan, try dying: Cemetery plots on sale in Tokyo are priced at up to $86,800 each.

The city government began taking applications Wednesday for the 50 newly opened spots at Aoyama Cemetery - the first such sale in 43 years.

Tokyo is notorious as the world's most costly city, and through-the-roof real estate prices also register at cemeteries. Smaller plots at Aoyama start at $30,000, with a 40-square-foot lot going for $86,000.

"This is a rather reasonable price," city government official Chieko Sugisaki said. "This is a very famous cemetery so we expect a large number of people to apply."

Aoyama Cemetery, famed for its flowering cherry trees and proximity to glitzy neighborhoods, opened in 1874. More than 110,000 ashes have been interred there, including remains of famed politicians, writers, artists and actors.

The current sale is the first to the public since 1960. The government decided to resume sales because demand for spots in downtown Tokyo has spiked over the years, Sugisaki said.

Applicants must have lived continuously in Tokyo for more than three years and must have the ashes of the dead at hand to bury. City hall is accepting applications by mail through July 14.

[Jolie Rouge]

Parents Sue School Over Hidden Cameras
Tue Jul 1, 9:30 PM ET

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...room_cameras_2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Tennessee middle school allowed security cameras to film children undressing in locker rooms and then stored the images on a computer accessible through the Internet, according to a lawsuit filed by a group of angry parents. The lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Nashville seeks $4.2 million in damages.

The parents contend the school system violated students' rights by putting hidden cameras in boys and girls locker rooms at Livingston Middle School. The cameras reportedly captured students, ages 10-14, in various stages of undress.

"The parents have been devastated by the conduct of the school officials, by the videotaping and by the breach of trust," said attorney Mark Chalos, who represents the parents of 16 girls and one boy.

Chuck Cagle, lawyer for Overton County Schools, said he wouldn't comment because he hadn't read the lawsuit.


EduTech Inc., the company that installed the surveillance cameras in several Overton County schools also was named in the lawsuit. Officials with the company had no comment.

Parents learned of the cameras when a student reported a suspicious device in the school at Livingston, about 80 miles east of Nashville.

The lawsuit contends that images captured by the cameras were stored on a hard drive in the office of the assistant principal could be accessed from remote computers by the Internet. It claims the computer's password security had not been changed from the factory default setting.

The images were reportedly accessed 98 times between July 2002 and January 2003 — sometimes late at night and early in the morning — and through Internet providers in Tennessee and South Carolina.

William Needham, director of Overton County Schools, said the assistant principal has been transferred to another school in the system.

Chalos said he doesn't know if the cameras are still operating.

[Jolie Rouge]

Creation of Human 'She-Males' Sparks Outrage

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...1.htm&sc=romta

MADRID (Reuters) - Scientists in the United States have created hybrid human "she-males," mixing male and female cells in the same embryo, outraging fertility experts and anti-abortionists.

Dr. Norbert Gleicher of the Foundation for Reproductive Medicine in Chicago and a colleague injected male cells into female embryos in research which they believe could lead to better treatments or cures for single gene disorders.

But their work provoked revulsion when they presented it to the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE).

"There are very good reasons why this type of research is generally rejected by the international research community," Dr. Francoise Shenfield of ESHRE said on Wednesday. "I cannot conceive of any situation in which this particular technique would be acceptable, and if it cannot be applied there is not much use in experimenting with it," she added.


Gleicher and his colleague used male cells because they were easier to track as they studied the development of the embryos up to six days.

Their work also sparked outrage from abortion opponents who described it as run-away science. "This is gross manipulation of human life," said Nuala Scarisbrick of British anti-abortion charity Life.
"The creation of a 'she-male' is disgusting, but not surprising."

Gleicher's study was not the only research presented during the four-day conference which enraged pro-life groups.

An Israeli scientist who said eggs retrieved from aborted fetuses could relieve the worldwide shortage of human eggs for fertility treatments also stoked fears that science was advancing before legal and ethical consequences could be considered.


07/02/03 13:04


WHY ??

[Jolie Rouge]

Oops. First Lady Lets Slip Family Secret

First lady Laura Bush was participating in a live Internet chat earlier this week to promote the joys of reading to kids when she revealed a family secret. Don't tell, okay? Promise? She's planning a surprise birthday party for the president this weekend.

It all started when William, an 8-year-old from Dayton, Ohio, reminded Mrs. Bush that her husband would be visiting his hometown on the Fourth of July. William assumed Mrs. Bush would accompany him. So he invited the first family to join his family for a cookout on his patio. "My Dad said that is a good plan," William wrote. "My Dad will give you his e-mail address. Can you come?" Um. No. Sorry. She explained that she was remaining in Washington to prepare the surprise birthday party she's throwing for the president. "I've invited friends for his party and to watch the fireworks from the Truman Balcony," she wrote. "It is a surprise, shhhhhhhhh." So let's all keep this a secret, okay? The president turns 57 on July 6.


The first lady participated in the Internet chat as part of the "Ask the White House" sessions that began this spring. She handled what could have been a touchy issue of protocol quite well. A questioner from Britain named Stuart said he was looking forward to the Bushes' visit to the United Kingdom in October. Hmmm...how did he know about that? The trip has not been announced yet by either the White House or Prime Minister Tony Blair's office. "President Bush and I are both looking forward to our visit to the United Kingdom this fall," she said graciously. No doubt there was some immediate scrambling in the West Wing and at 10 Downing Street.

[Jolie Rouge]

Man Gets Ultimate Telemarketer Revenge

It's one thing to sign up for the national "Do Not Call" list as a way to proactively beat the telemarketers. It's quite another to act out just about everyone's fantasy: Get real revenge on a telemarketer. That's exactly what our hero, Marc Plaisted of Duluth, Minn., did.

Even though he was listed on the Minnesota state "Do Not Call" list and even though he asked Minnesota Auto Glass to stop calling him, the company's telemarketers continued to do so--up to three times a day. Plaisted became so exasperated by the never-ending calls asking him if he had a crack in his car windshield that he took matters into his own hands. He called Minnesota Auto Glass--more than 100 times in two days. "I just called them every five minutes and let them know that, no, I don't have a crack in my windshield, because this seems to be something they are very concerned about," Plaisted told The Associated Press.

"I'm following the law and asking them to be taken off the list, and they ignore me and then, on top of it, start swearing at me," he explained to AP. "That was where they flipped the switch with me, and I said, 'Enough is enough. I'm going after you guys now.'" It worked. A manager with Minnesota Auto Glass confirmed that Plaisted's number has been removed from their list.


Take control!

Register your phone number on the national "Do Not Call" list. Click here to do it now. It's easy and fast.

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/pf/p...all&floc=wn-nn

[Jolie Rouge]

U.S. arrests former Nazi camp guard
Found hiding in secret compartment
Wednesday, July 2, 2003 Posted: 6:08 PM EDT

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/07/02/na...eut/index.html


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. officials have arrested a 77-year-old, Romanian-born man who served as a guard at a Nazi camp during World War Two and were seeking to deport him, federal officials said Wednesday.

Johann Leprich was arrested late Tuesday night at his home in Clinton Township, Michigan after agents found him hiding in a secret compartment beneath the stairs.

Leprich, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1958, had his citizenship revoked in 1987 after a federal judge found that Leprich had served as an armed SS Deaths Head guard at Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Nazi-occupied Austria from 1943 to at least April 1944.

After Leprich's citizenship was revoked, his attorney told federal authorities he had left the United States. A decade later Leprich was reported to be seen in Canada and federal agents launched a search based on indications that Leprich was either living in or visiting Michigan.

"We intend to remove Leprich from the U.S. with all deliberate speed," said Eli Rosenbaum, director of the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigation.

According to a filing with the U.S. Immigration Court in Detroit, the government said Leprich should be deported based on his service as an armed SS guard at Mauthausen.

The Justice Department said that 71 Nazis have been stripped of their U.S. citizenship and 57 have been deported since the Office of Special Investigation began operations in 1979.

[Jolie Rouge]

No. 1 Sports Injury For Grown-Ups

Beware of your bike. And while you're at it, be cautious around your golf club, bowling ball, and tennis racket. When it comes to sports injuries that are severe enough to require medical attention, adults 25 and older get hurt the most when they are biking, golfing, bowling, and playing racket sports. Fully 75 percent of all sports injuries are caused by falling, being struck by an object or person, and overexertion.

Teens and young adults ages 15 to 24 are injured most frequently playing basketball. And for children ages 5 to 14, biking is the top cause of injury. That's the word from a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which analyzed data from hospital emergency rooms, paramedics, team doctors, and physicians' offices from 1997 to 1999, reports the Scripps Howard News Service. The study was published in the journal Injury Prevention.

Among the interesting findings for all you jocks and weekend warriors:

-- About 7 million Americans receive medical attention annually for sports-related injuries.

--The most frequent diagnosis is sand strains (31.5 percent), followed by fractures (22 percent).

--Those aged 5 to 24 years old had the highest number of injuries that required medical advice or treatment. People in this age group accounted for two-thirds of all sports injuries.

--Of students who suffered sports injuries, 20 percent missed at least one day of school.

--Of the adults who were down for the count, more than 25 percent missed one or more workdays due to the injury.

--Almost 33 percent of all sports injuries occurred in a sports facility, 19.7 percent happened in schools, and 16.5 percent occurred at home.

--Men are injured twice as much as women.

[Jolie Rouge]

French Fry Is Sold for $200 on eBay

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...89.htm&sc=1120

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) - A man has sold what he billed as the world's largest french fry for more than $200 on the Internet auction-house eBay.

Simon Holland found the 6 3/4-inch fry during a meal at a Wisconsin Rapids Culver's on June 24. Instead of eating the spud, he immediately froze it and put it up for auction on eBay.

The winning bid - $202.50 from a bidder known only as ``Culver's Fan'' - was announced Wednesday afternoon. Restaurant owners Greg Giese and Brad Prohl celebrated by giving patrons complimentary pieces of custard cake.

``I could probably write the book, 'How to Sell a French Fry on eBay,''' Holland said, laughing.


The fry's claim as the world's largest has not gone undisputed.


Two restaurant employees at Chips of Wisconsin Rapids found one fry last week that was about 8 inches. On June 29, a second french fry from Wisconsin Rapids that's allegedly longer than 7 inches also went on sale on eBay.



07/03/03 07:51

[Jolie Rouge]

Mars Rover Launch Delayed Again

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA again pushed back the launch of the latest Mars rover, this time until Sunday, so replacement cork insulation has more time to adhere to the aluminum rocket body.

The launch of the rover Opportunity, which had been set for Saturday, is now planned for 10:43 p.m. EDT Sunday.

The space agency has delayed the launch several times in the past two weeks because of problems with the cork insulation and weather.

NASA set July 15 as a deadline to launch Opportunity, but it is studying whether it could extend that by two days before Mars and Earth move too far apart for the spacecraft to reach the red planet, deputy mission manager Mark Adler said Thursday. If it misses the launch opportunity, it will have to wait until at least November 2004.


Adler said Thursday he expects the rover will be launched this month.


About 10 percent of a 2-foot-wide band of cork insulation, about 40 feet up on the rocket, was replaced after it was found to be peeling Sunday. The cork protects the aluminum skin of the Delta II Heavy rocket from the fiery blasts of the boosters during liftoff.


``They found they needed some ... extra time to dry and have a good bond between the cork and the vehicle,'' said George Diller, a NASA spokesman at the Kennedy Space Center.


Workers will test the replacement cork on Saturday.


Opportunity and its sister rover, Spirit, launched earlier this month, will act as robotic geologists during their three months of exploration on the Martian surface.


The rovers are expected to arrive on Mars in January and will send back images of sediment and mineral deposits that could help scientists determine whether there was ever enough water on the planet to sustain life.


Mars Mission: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer



07/03/03 15:14

[Jolie Rouge]

'Blob' Samples to Be Sent to Foreign Labs

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Chileans who found a huge blob of flesh washed up on a remote Pacific beach said on Thursday they would send samples of the specimen to foreign scientists to sort out if it is a rare giant octopus or part of a whale carcass.

Scientists have been boggled by the 40-foot-long mass of gray, gelatinous flesh that was first spotted over a week ago near Puerto Montt, about 600 miles south of the capital, Santiago.

The specimen, which remains on the beach, looks like a huge lumpy piece of slippery rubber in the shape of a squashed elephant.

Whale conservationists went to see it last Sunday, thinking it was a beached whale, but quickly concluded it was an invertebrate, appealing to international experts for help.

Since then, theories have emerged of a rare giant octopus that is feared by fishermen in some parts as the "Bermuda Blob," while skeptics say it may be a piece of whale blubber.

Italian and French zoologists have said the Chilean find matches the description of a bizarre specimen found in Florida in 1896 that one scientist at the time named as "octopus giganteus." Others have disputed his conclusions.

"We are working on sending the samples to laboratories that have different opinions on it," said Elsa Cabrera, director of the Center for Cetacean Conservation.

Cabrera and her team have been flooded with calls from around the world by people eager to know more about the "blob" or offering help. She plans to send tissue samples next week to laboratories in the United States, France and Italy. "We're very pleased with the find because it has generated a huge amount of interest internationally," she said.

DNA sequencing is the best bet for identifying the specimen, but underfunded researchers in Chile said the samples taken so far were insufficient and new ones were needed. "This is a very important find for science. We need to get down there as fast as possible so we don't lose the specimen," said Sergio Letelier, a researcher at the Museum of Natural History in Santiago.
"But we don't even have money for the bus, let alone a plane fare. It's pathetic," he added.



07/03/03 14:59