Weird News Thread ....

[Jolie Rouge]

Woman Might Be Girl Who Vanished in 1986


THORNTOWN, Ind. (AP) - A woman has contacted the family of a 6-year-old girl who vanished in 1986, saying that she may be the girl, authorities said.

Shannon Marie Sherrill was 6 when she disappeared Oct. 5, 1986, as she played outside her mother's mobile home in Thorntown, about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis. She would now be 22 years old.

Hundreds of officers and volunteers searched for the girl, but no trace of her was found.

On Sunday, state police released a statement saying new information had surfaced in the nearly 17-year-old case and that their investigation was at a ``critical juncture.''


State police have been in contact with the woman, police 1st Sgt. David Bursten said Monday. He declined to answer reporters' questions about the case, including whether DNA tests were planned, saying only that it is ``an active, ongoing investigation.''


Bursten also read a statement from two of Shannon's aunts, Jody Ames and Beverly McKinney, who held hands and fought back tears. Their statement said the family was ``hoping beyond hope'' that the caller was Shannon, but cautioned against media speculation that could hamper their ability to maintain contact with the woman.


Sherrill's parents, Dorothy Sherrill and William Michael Sherrill, were divorced at the time of their daughter's disappearance but were not involved in any custody dispute.


The father said he had never stopped hoping that his daughter might be found.


``I'm just ecstatic over the whole thing. I'm at a loss for words, you know,'' William Sherrill said. ``It's been a long time. It's OK for everyone to be excited.''


He said Monday that police had asked him not to discuss the case.



07/29/03 10:24

[Jolie Rouge]

Loosen Your Necktie.

Now.

This Is Why...


Tight ties are bad for your eyes. Reuters reports that a too-tight necktie raises the blood pressure in the eyes, which is a leading risk factor for glaucoma, an eye disease that can lead to damage to the optic nerve and loss of vision.

In a study of 20 healthy men and 20 men who had the eye disease glaucoma, researchers from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary showed that 70 percent of the healthy men and 60 percent of the men with glaucoma had an increased eye pressure after wearing a tight necktie. "A tight necktie increases IOP (intraocular pressure) in both normal subjects and glaucoma patients and could affect the diagnosis and management of glaucoma," lead researcher Dr. Robert Ritch told Reuters. Also, wearing a tight tie during an eye examination can actually lead to a false diagnosis of glaucoma.

How can a too-tight necktie up the risk for blindness?

Researchers think the tight tie constricts the jugular vein, which in turn increases blood pressure and IOP. About 3 million Americans have glaucoma. The study findings were published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

[Jolie Rouge]

Night-light may lead to nearsightedness

Keeping the lights on at bedtime might help baby to sleep but might lead to nearsightedness

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9905/12/ch.../hs~index.html


In a study, the odds for nearsightedness increased 30 percent for children who slept with a night-light on

(CNN) -- Young children who sleep with a light on may have a substantially higher risk of developing nearsightedness as they get older, says a new study in the journal Nature.

The collaborative study of 479 children by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found 55 percent of children who slept with a room light on before age 2 had myopia, or nearsightedness, between ages 2 and 16.

Of the children who slept with a night-light before age 2, 34 percent were myopic, while just 10 percent of children who slept in darkness were nearsighted.

The survey was a clinical extension of results from basic laboratory research in chicks demonstrating that the relative proportions of light and dark during the 24-hour day greatly affected eye growth and refractive development.

Even low levels of light can penetrate the eyelids during sleep, keeping the eyes working when they should be at rest. Taking precautions during infancy, when eyes are developing at a rapid pace, may ward off vision trouble later in life.

"The study does not establish that nighttime lighting during early childhood is a direct cause of myopia, and there are undoubtedly other risk factors," the study's senior author, Dr. Richard Stone, said in a statement. "Still, it would seem advisable for infants and young children to sleep at night without artificial lighting in the bedroom until further research can evaluate all the implications of our results."

Besides its immediate implications, the study offers a novel explanation for the increasing prevalence of myopia over the past two centuries, as populations shifted from agricultural to urban environments. The current findings suggest that the greater ambient nighttime light levels associated with industrialization may be a factor in the high incidence of myopia in developed nations.

In the United States, at least 25 percent of the population is nearsighted.


Severe nearsightedness can increase the risk of glaucoma, retinal detachment and macular degeneration in old age.

Several eye specialists dismissed the study as premature and incomplete. They said controlled experiments would be more reliable than a retrospective questionnaire, and the study should have accounted for heredity and for outside light sources such as streetlights.

Parenting Correspondent Pat Etheridge contributed to this report.



SURVEY : Exposure to light before age 2
Percent nearsighted between age 2 and 16

Slept in darkness 10 percent
Night-light in bedroom 34 percent
Room light in bedroom 55 percent

[Jolie Rouge]

Bush Twins: Curious Way to Meet Guys

Spot a cute guy across the room and what do most young ladies do?

Either they get up the gumption to introduce themselves or have a girlfriend do it for them. First twins Barbara and Jenna Bush, who are now 21, have their own special way to meet the boys: their Secret Service detail.

New York Post "Page Six" columnist Richard Johnson reports that the twins were spotted the other night mingling "with the wild men of Lollapalooza" at The Deck at Pier 59, a New York City club. When the twins wanted to meet Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell, the Post says they just asked their Secret Service protectors to introduce them. Alas, Cornell was with his girlfriend, Vicky Karayiannis. Still, everyone had fun. Turns out it was Cornell's birthday. So the twins joined several Lollapalooza rockers, including Jane's Addiction, Incubus, and Jurassic 5 eating a birthday cake in the shape of an acoustic guitar.

Jenna, who will soon begin her senior year at the University of Texas, is spending the rest of the summer in New York City in an unpaid internship with the public relations firm of Harrison and Shriftman, reports the Denver Post. She's working on several beauty accounts, including Charles Worthington and H20.

[Jolie Rouge]

Dognapper Demands $10,000 or 'Skipper' Dies



COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A dognapper in Denmark said he will kill a 13-year old beagle and send his owners a video tape of the dastardly act if his ransom demand for $10,000 is not met, police said Tuesday.

"Skipper," who is so infirm his owners had recently begun taking him out for his perambulations in a child's stroller, was reported missing last Wednesday.

"Since then the couple has spoken to the blackmailer four or five times, but we have advised them not to answer the phone anymore," said a police officer in the small town of Bogense on the island of Fuen in central Denmark.

The small brown and black dog's abductor has not given a final deadline for payment of the ransom. Police have advised his owners not to raise the money.



07/29/03 10:53

[Jolie Rouge]

Michigan Paroles 13 Prisoners Too Early


LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The state mistakenly paroled 13 prisoners too early, and they since have been returned to state prisons, the Department of Corrections said Tuesday.

The errors were found in an audit of 470 prisoners granted parole under a new law that eliminated long mandatory minimum sentences for first-time drug offenders, Corrections Director Patricia L. Caruso said.

The audit was ordered after prosecutors charged Daniel Franklin with first-degree murder in the deaths of his ex-wife and her two young daughters just days after he was paroled. The state has said a coding error allowed Franklin to be released earlier than his 2006 parole date.

Eight of the prisoners released early were not eligible for parole because they were on parole or probation at the time of their offense, Caruso said. The corrections department incorrectly calculated the parole eligibility date of the five other prisoners, she said.


Caruso said that although the audit is finished, the department is continuing an internal review of the circumstances around the errors in each case, she said.


On the Net:

www.michigan.gov/corrections



07/29/03 14:33

[Widgetsx3]

Toddler Crashes Dad's Car Twice in Four Days


Jul 29, 10:54 am ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A motor-mad three-year-old German boy crashed his father's car twice in four days, police in the western town of Borken said on Monday.
Using a ladder, the boy stole the keys to his father's Honda Accord, started the car and plowed it into a nearby Toyota, causing some 5,000 euros ($5,750) of damage but escaping unharmed.

When a television crew came to their home in the town of Bocholt near the Dutch border to reconstruct the incident four days later, the young lad took matters into his own hands.

Sitting behind the wheel with the car key given to him during filming, his urge to drive overtook him again.

"The father was with the television crew," said Borken police spokesman Frank Rentmeister. "The car was in gear and the boy just started up and drove into the car ahead."

The boy was not hurt, but chalked up further damages totaling around 1,000 euros. Police are now investigating the father for criminal negligence.

[Widgetsx3]

Thief Goes Bananas with Stolen Fruit


Jul 29, 10:51 am ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A raging German fruit thief battered a shop worker with bananas when he was caught swiping a bunch, police in Duesseldorf said Tuesday.
Attempting to flee, the man first kicked and punched the 38-year-old assistant but then switched to using the fruit.

"The bananas were handy so he decided to use them," said Duesseldorf police spokesman Norbert Peters.

"By the time the police arrived, the attendant's face and upper body were completely smeared with bananas," police said in a statement. He was not seriously injured.

Police arrested a 24-year-old man.

[Widgetsx3]

SIDON, Lebanon (Reuters) - The wife of a wealthy Lebanese businessman has owned up to being the winner of the biggest jackpot in the history of Lebanon's national lottery, after four days of rampant media speculation.
Ghada Basma, who lives in a luxury villa by the southern port city of Sidon, said late Monday she had won the five billion Lebanese pound ($3.3 million) prize, after keeping the news secret even from her three children since last week's draw.

Basma, in her 40s, is married to Mohammed Wehbe, one of Sidon's most prominent and wealthiest businessmen. The couple decided not to go public until they confirmed with the lottery board that theirs was the winning ticket.

"We were shocked, even though we are financially comfortable," Basma told reporters who gathered outside her home. "Our priorities before the fortune were to educate the children and do good, and they still are."

The news caused dismay in the country's poorer south among ordinary Lebanese, many of whom felt luck should have smiled on someone more needy.

[Widgetsx3]

Is Leader Afraid of Hairy, Eight-Legged Things?


Jul 29, 10:49 am ET

ROME (Reuters) - Put international diplomacy and high politics aside. The real question Italians want answered is whether their prime minister is afraid of spiders.
He may be a self-confident billionaire capable of putting a brave face on any situation, but if a new law is anything to go by, Silvio Berlusconi is terrified of arachnids.

The Senate Monday rushed through a decree banning scorpions, tarantulas and various other venomous eight-legged creatures from being brought onto Italian soil.

The law might not have attracted much attention had it not been expressly drawn up by Berlusconi and rammed through parliament in lightning speed, at a time when the prime minister was already swamped by an international diplomatic row.

While Berlusconi was trying to smooth fevered European brows after his comparison of a German politician to a Nazi concentration camp guard, his aides were plotting against "spiders that are dangerous to man."

The bill was presented to parliament in the form of a decree -- a method usually reserved for matters of the greatest urgency.

A spokeswoman in Berlusconi's office was unable to confirm Tuesday whether the prime minister suffers from arachnophobia, saying only that he is an animal lover who also wants to protect Italians from potential danger.

But Italian newspapers were full of speculation about how Berlusconi may have been stung into action on the issue.

A carton of 300 lethal scorpions was flown into Milan earlier this year destined for an Italian collector of rare species and for a small pharmaceutical laboratory.

The laboratory, according to La Stampa newspaper, sits just down the road from Arcore, Berlusconi's private residence on the outskirts of Milan, and there were fears some might escape and crawl into the villa's gardens.

"He was going on and on about how dangerous the little things were," Antonio Catricala, a senior official in Berlusconi's office, told the newspaper. "He insisted that a law be passed banning the importing of scorpions."

[Jolie Rouge]

Many Breast Implants Leak After 10 Years

At Least 15% of Silicone Implants Rupture Within 10 Years

By Cherie Berkley, MS
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD
on Tuesday, July 29, 2003

July 29, 2003 -- A new study adds to the sullied reputation of silicone breast implants. It shows that many rupture within 10 years of having them implanted. The older the breast implant the greater the chance of it breaking, say researchers.


There have been previous studies about breast implants ruptures but this study's researchers say theirs is the first one that has directly examined the timing and frequency of ruptures. It appears in the July issue of the Archives of Surgery.


Researchers based their findings from MRI scans on women with silicone breast implants. They used MRI because mammograms are not sensitive enough to detect a rupture. Unlike saline ruptures, which are more obvious because of the deflated device, silicone breast implant ruptures may go unnoticed by both the woman and her doctor.


The study began with MRIs on 271 women who had had 317 silicone breast implants for at least three years. Two years later they had another MRI. By then, 33 of the implants ruptured and another 23 "possibly ruptured" during those first two years of the study.


Older Breast Implants Riskier


Overall, researchers estimate that five of every 100 silicone breast implants will "definitely" rupture each year. Also, age of the implant significantly increased the risk of it breaking, with older implants having a higher rate of rupture.


The study showed modern silicone implants are more durable, with 98% estimated to last after five years, but only 83%-85% intact 10 years after surgery. For older types of implants the rupture rates were higher with only approximately 50%-60% of the implants still intact at 15 years. The earlier type implants had higher rupture rates presumably due to the longer time implanted, which was found to be the single most important factor in determining rupture risk.

Researchers say the study reveals there may be a false sense of security in routinely or simply exchanging silicone breast implants every 10 years or more, as some plastic surgeons suggest. By that point, researchers say at least 15% of modern implants have already ruptured.

Debate still rages, however, over whether leaked silicone is definitively linked with autoimmune diseases. Silicone breast devices have been banned for implant in the U.S. since 1992.




SOURCE: Archives of Surgery, July 2003.


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