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Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:02 PM
Headless Naked Corpse Found by Castle Frankenstein

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=NW_4-L2&oldflok=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030618%2F082189569.htm&sc=reodd

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police were investigating the discovery of a headless body near castle Frankenstein in Germany, a ruin many see as the inspiration for the novel about the mad scientist who made a monster from body parts.

Police said on Tuesday the naked male corpse was found by a couple in a car park in the southwestern town of Darmstadt some two miles from the castle, but added it had probably been moved.

The medieval castle was the birthplace in 1673 of Johann Konrad Dippel von Frankenstein, a controversial alchemist famous for his avid interest in the creation of artificial life. He was also rumored to have experimented with human body parts.

Many say he inspired the character of Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, itself later the source of countless spin-offs and horror films. Dippel died mysteriously in 1734.


Local police dismissed suggestions of any link between the castle, a popular tourist attraction among gothic thrill-seekers, and the decapitated man as "absurd."



06/18/03 08:21

jaybird
06-18-2003, 01:08 PM
I was just about to post that one!

jaybird
06-18-2003, 01:11 PM
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Prisoners Marry, May Honeymoon in 2036

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Two Texas prisoners who have never met were married by proxy on Tuesday in a San Antonio courtroom and can now look forward to their honeymoon -- in 2036 at the earliest.

State District Judge Johnny Gabriel married Diane Zamora, 25, and Steven Mora, 27, using her mother and Mora's friend as stand-ins, Bexar County Clerk Gerry Rickhoff said. The husband and wife have not met, but began writing letters to each other after Mora saw Zamora on television, his family said. They are in prisons 130 miles apart.
Zamora is a former U.S. Naval Academy midshipman who, along with then-boyfriend David Graham, an Air Force Academy cadet, was sentenced to life in prison in a 1996 trial for the murder of a 16-year-old girl who was her romantic rival. She must serve at least 40 years in prison and will not be eligible for parole until 2036, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said.

Mora is scheduled to get out of prison next March after serving a four-year sentence for threatening retaliation against someone who helped put him in prison on an earlier charge.

Rickhoff gave the pair a marriage license after the Texas Attorney General's office ruled there was no reason not to.

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:12 PM
Pizza company hires homeless to hold ads
Tuesday, June 17, 2003

www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/06/17/offbeat.pizza.ap/index.html

PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- Instead of going Dumpster-diving for maybe a half-eaten sandwich and some cold fries, Peter Schoeff, a 20-year-old homeless man, was served a slice of hot pizza dripping with cheese.

All he had to do was hold a sign for about 40 minutes that read: "Pizza Schmizza paid me to hold this sign instead of asking for money."

In a tactic that calls to the mind the hiring of unemployed men during the Depression to wear sandwich-board advertisements, a Portland pizza chain has hired homeless people off the street to promote the product. They are paid in pizza, soda and a few dollars.

"I think it's a fair trade," Schoeff said. "We're career panhandlers, that's the only other way we can get money."

The signs were meant to be humorous, said Andre Jehan, founder of Pizza Schmizza, a 26-restaurant business in Oregon and Washington.

"People don't have to feel guilty, while still appreciating the person is homeless. It's a gesture of kindness more than anything," he said.

From the sandwich board to cigarette girls to aerial banners, companies are forever searching for creative means to reach customers.

The search has become more frenetic lately as advertisers try to break through what is known in the industry as "ad clutter" -- the way people are bombarded by commercial messages from all sides.

I thought, 'What skills could they have?' Holding a sign was an obvious one. -- Andre Jehan, Pizza Schmizza founder


An ad agency in London, Cunning Stunts Communications Ltd., has recruited students to wear temporary tattoos on their foreheads while hanging out at bars or trendy stores. Sony Ericcson, the cell phone company, has hired models to lounge at tourist attractions and play with a mobile phone to make the gadget look attractive. Beach N' Billboards Inc. of New Jersey used a steamroller-like machine to imprint ads for Snapple iced tea on the beach.

Schmizza has also tried handing out fake parking tickets with pizza coupons, and putting up fake election placards reading "Elect Schmizza for Dinner."

Gary Ruskin, director of Portland-based Commercial Alert, an advertising watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader, said homeless people acting as billboards should be paid minimum wage, or else they are being exploited. And he complained that the practice adds to ad clutter.

"People don't want to get hammered with an ad every time they turn their head," he said. "Most advertising is either somewhat of a lie or deceptive, and it's an assault on our attention."

Jehan said the idea sprang from the guilt he felt passing homeless people begging for money.

"I got tired of not being able to make eye contact with these people. I thought, 'What skills could they have?' Holding a sign was an obvious one," he said.

Nate Sandall, an analyst at Standard Insurance, grinned as he passed Schoeff and his sign. "It's unusual, it's creative. At least they aren't asking me for change," he said. "Now, if every business did this, it would get old in a hurry."



---------------



"I think it's a fair trade," Schoeff said. "We're career panhandlers, that's the only other way we can get money."

????? the picture - if you hit the link -- is of a young late teens, early twenties - white mohawked male... PLEEEZZEE "career panhandlers" :rolleyes: is that PC for "Lazy Bum" ?

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:15 PM
Police seek men accused of killing, grilling dog
Tuesday, June 17, 2003

www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/06/17/crime.dog.reut/index.html

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) -- Police in northeast Arkansas were searching Tuesday for two men who allegedly killed a 20-pound chow dog, then grilled it.

The remains of the animal, named Pooh, were discovered on a backyard grill in Jonesboro, a city of about 60,000 people 135 miles northeast of Little Rock.

"We did recover some paws, but the rest of the body hasn't been found," Jonesboro police Captain Scott Roper said.

Pooh's owner, Jared Kemp, 20, identified two suspects to police, but Roper said there was no known motive for the incident.

"We don't believe at this time that they ate it," he said of the dog.


:eek:

That is SICK !

odyssey
06-18-2003, 01:15 PM
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/US/West/06/17/offbeat.pizza.ap/story.pizza.ap.jpg
:mad: :mad:

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:20 PM
Court Strikes Down 'Stealing Love' Law
By ROBERT SANDLER

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030618%2F133598696.htm&sc=1110

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Supreme Court struck down the state's ``alienation of affection'' law, saying that ``stealing'' the love of a married person is an antiquated legal doctrine.

The court, in a 5-2 decision Tuesday, agreed with a woman accused of marital infidelity that alienation of affection is an antiquated cause that has no place in a modern legal system. The justices struck down the law and overturned a lower court's $75,000 judgment against her.

The woman, Sivi Noellsch, was sued by Katherine Helsel for allegedly having an affair with Helsel's husband, David, who eventually filed for divorce. Helsel cited alienation of affection as the reason for her lawsuit.

In 2001, a Buchanan County jury found in favor of Helsel and awarded her damages, the $75,000 from Noellsch. Noellsch and David Helsel have since married.


``The cause of action is gone, the claim is gone, my client can go on with her life,'' said Noellsch's attorney, Dennis Owens.


In its opinion, the court wrote that alienation of affection has its roots in English common law and was adopted by many states in the 19th century. Today, it is cause for legal action in only eight states: Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.


In a similar North Carolina lawsuit, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that compensatory damages of $910,000 were excessive against a doctor who had an affair with a coach's wife. The court, however, upheld punitive damages of $500,000.


The North Carolina House approved a measure doing away with alienation of affection, but the bill is bogged down in the Senate, where it is unlikely to pass.


Alienation of Affection is grounded in the outdated idea that married people have property interests in each other and its present-day interpretation does nothing to preserve marriages, Judge Richard Teitelman wrote for the majority.


The lawsuits are usually filed after the marriage is broken, so revenge - not reconciliation - is often the primary motive, Teitelman wrote.


``Most lawyers would have predicted this,'' Ken Jones, editor of Missouri Lawyers Weekly, said of the decision. ``It really brings Missouri into the 21st century.''


On the Net:
Missouri Supreme Court: http://www.osca.state.mo.us/sup/index.nsf


I disagree with this.

If someone has an affair with a married person, they are interfering with the contract between the married couple. The mistress/scoundrel contributes to the dissolving of said contract if there is a divorce and should be held accountable.

JMHO


06/18/03 13:35

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:23 PM
gimme a break - career panhandlers,


exactly.

Why don't ya get a job delivering the pizzas ?

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:24 PM
Man Scared to Death by Horror Movie?

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030618%2F082389631.htm&sc=reodd


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A man was found dead in his seat at a cinema in the Indian capital after the late-night screening of a horror film which the director has warned could pose a health risk to those of a nervous disposition.

A police official told Reuters that the theater's cleaning staff found the man -- aged around 50 -- slumped in his seat early on Tuesday morning after the end of the showing of an Indian horror movie, "Bhoot," or "Ghost."

Police said they had found no identification papers on the man or external injuries on his body.

"Nobody has come forward to claim his body. Maybe he got frightened, I don't know," said the police official.


"Bhoot" is a spooky thriller about a possessed housewife and is set in a high-rise Bombay apartment. It is running to packed houses in many parts of the country.


Before the movie starts, a message from the director appears on the screen warning people with heart problems or pregnant women that they view the film at their own risk.



06/18/03 08:23



:eek:

newwiccan
06-18-2003, 01:36 PM
Originally posted by jaybird
Zamora is a former U.S. Naval Academy midshipman who, along with then-boyfriend David Graham, an Air Force Academy cadet, was sentenced to life in prison in a 1996 trial for the murder of a 16-year-old girl who was her romantic rival. She must serve at least 40 years in prison and will not be eligible for parole until 2036, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Fitzgerald said.




I hope she NEVER gets out of prison. Forty years isn't enough.

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:38 PM
Hackers Replace Political Party Web Site with Porn

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030618%2F081089257.htm&sc=reodd


SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hackers transformed the Internet home page of Singapore's main opposition Democratic Party into a pornographic Web site, featuring raunchy photos of naked women and advertisements for "mature sex."

The party was forced to change its singaporedemocrats.org Web site to singaporedemocrat.org, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, Chee Soon Juan, said.

The party's homepage was replaced by a site advertising "Mature Sex: Experience is Everything" and offering erotic paraphernalia from video clips to live sex shows.

Staff in charge of the site traced the hackers to an Internet Protocol address in Poland but were unable to do anything about it, the local Straits Times newspaper reported.


Opposition parties in the island republic are small and splintered, holding only two seats in parliament. The People's Action Party has ruled since Singapore's independence in 1965.



06/18/03 08:10

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !

{{Hi Wiccy !}}

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:47 PM
Would-Be Rescuer Feared Killed by Whale Tail Blow

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030616%2F082523458.htm&sc=reodd

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand man trying to free a 50 foot humpback whale ensnared in lobster pot ropes is missing and presumed dead after being hit by the whale's tail, police said Monday.

The 38-year-old, who has not yet been named, had gone to the aid of a whale in waters near the popular whale-watching town of Kaikoura, 90 miles south of Wellington.

"He was trying to cut the rope free from the whale's tail and the whale lifted its tail and struck him," Kaikoura police Sergeant Tony Yardley told Reuters.

A four-hour search by boats and a helicopter found no sign of the man and he was presumed dead, Yardley added.


Several species of whale are attracted to the deep, food-rich waters off the coast of Kaikoura, which in turn attract large numbers of tourists to the region.



06/16/03 08:24

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:55 PM
Witch to Loch Ness Monster: 'Don't Be Shy'

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030613%2F122153342.htm&sc=reodd

LONDON (Reuters) - Sorcerer Kevin Carlyon performed an incantation on the shores of Loch Ness on Friday, trying to lure Britain's favorite monster into the open.

Carlyon, High Priest of British White Witches, said he had cast a spell two years ago to scare off the monster so it would not be caught by a visiting Swedish scientist Jan Sundberg.

But Sundberg is no longer a threat, he said, and now the time has come to reverse the hex on "Nessie."

"I feel this one went quite well," he told Reuters afterwards. "There have been very few sightings over the last couple of years and the aim is to slightly reverse the spell so Nessie starts to pop up again."


Reports of a "horrible great beastie" have been emerging from the 200-meter deep Scottish loch for many centuries, often describing a black creature with a fat body and serpentine neck.


But it was not until a road was built along the shoreline in the 1930s that Nessie-watching really took off. These days, there are numerous web-cams beaming 24-hour footage of the dark waters around the world via the Internet.


"I personally believe what is up here is more a spirit or a ghost than anything," said Carlyon, who discovered his own paranormal powers aged five when he correctly predicted a school mate would fall out of a tree and break his arm.


During Friday's ceremony, Carlyon said he cast a talisman into the loch -- a flat stone inscribed with ancient Nordic runes and witchcraft symbols -- while chanting the incantation: "Let Nessie be free, may her spirit be free, so may it be."



06/13/03 12:20

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:57 PM
Naked Man Scares Shark to Death?

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030613%2F111151387.htm&sc=reodd

LONDON (Reuters) - A British comedian could face criminal charges over the death of a "sensitive" shark after he jumped into a tank at an aquarium in the nude, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported Friday.

The 12-year old smooth hound shark, which measured three feet, died suddenly two days after Guy Venables jumped into its tank as a publicity stunt at the Brighton Sea Life Center, southern England.

"This variety of shark is susceptible to stress. We are very concerned he died as a result of seeing Mr Venables jumping into the tank," Sea Life Center's Lisa Handscomb told the newspaper.

"The shark is being examined by our biological services team and if it is found that he died from stress, we will prosecute Mr Venables for criminal damage."



06/13/03 11:11

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 01:59 PM
Dude! Look What I Caught in My, Uh, Uh, Net...

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030613%2F111051364.htm&sc=reodd

PARIS (Reuters) - A French fisherman netted a surprise catch this week -- 66 pounds of cannabis. The man was fishing on the river Yvette, on the southern edge of Paris, when he spotted something strange in the water, French media reported Friday.

Taking a closer look, he discovered 28 bags, each containing a little over a kilogram of cannabis resin and immediately alerted the police.
"Perhaps it was the usual hiding place for a drug trafficker," a local policeman was quoted as saying in the Liberation daily.


"With the heat, the (water) level had fallen. There was only about 50 cm of water," he said. "It's very rare that people bring in this sort of commodity in such quantities."



06/13/03 11:10



{{gives a whole new meaning to the term
"Fish Fry"....}}

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 02:01 PM
False Rape Accuser Gets Three Years in Jail

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030613%2F110351185.htm&sc=reodd

LONDON (Reuters) - A mother of four who falsely accused disgraced former Conservative Party cabinet minister Neil Hamilton and his wife of raping her was sentenced Friday to three years in prison.

Nadine Milroy-Sloan, found guilty last month of perverting the course of justice, burst into tears as Judge Simon Smith pronounced sentence. The 29-year-old sparked a media frenzy in August 2001 when she accused the Hamiltons of raping her at a flat in Essex, east of London, a year earlier.

The Hamiltons vehemently -- and in Christine's case tearfully -- rejected the allegations and even had a cast-iron alibi for the night in question.


It later emerged in court that Milroy-Sloan had approached publicist Max Clifford before she made the allegations to see how much money she could make out of them.


Furthermore, the court had heard, she had never met the Hamiltons, had a lengthy criminal record and was known as a fantasist.


"It's becoming too easy for people to sell fake allegations about well-known people to the press, and the courts have to deal with it firmly," Judge Smith said as he passed sentence. "It was a cynical attempt to get money and fame by dragging the Hamiltons into this...when, as the jury found, you knew perfectly well they were not there," he added.


Christine Hamilton welcomed the sentence. "It sends out a very strong signal. Other women must not be allowed to try to cash in," she told Sky News. "Genuine rape victims are harmed by it. It is always a relief to us when justice is done, because it is not always done."


Neil Hamilton resigned as trade minister in 1994 after the "cash for questions" affair in which a newspaper accused him of accepting money from Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed in return for asking questions in parliament. He lost his seat in the 1997 election when former BBC reporter Martin Bell ran against him on an anti-sleaze ticket.


Christine Hamilton, 53, has reinvented herself as a television personality.



06/13/03 11:02

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 02:14 PM
Police Rescue Pre-School
..... from Rubber Spider

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030609%2F093830931.htm&sc=reodd



BERLIN (Reuters) - Trembling teachers at a German pre-school called in police to confront a giant spider crawling in a sandbox but it turned out to be a rubber toy, police in the western town of Heilbronn said Sunday.

"They were all highly agitated and trembling with fear," a police spokesman said. Two officers closed off the sandbox and surrounded the "spider" before discovering it was just an imitation toy.



06/09/03 09:37

jaybird
06-18-2003, 06:50 PM
Deadly crash during sex nets man 10 years
Associated Press
Jun. 17, 2003 02:50 PM


MONMOUTH, Ill. - A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a crash that killed his girlfriend while they were having sex behind the wheel.

Sonny Morris El, 32, was convicted last month of aggravated driving under the influence of drugs but acquitted of reckless homicide in the January 2002 crash that killed Kristina Valerio, 25, who was on Morris El's lap as he drove.

Tests showed that Morris El had marijuana in his system when his car crossed the center line of U.S. 34 near Monmouth while the couple had sex. The vehicle collided with a tractor trailer.

The crash left Sonny Morris El, 32, with the mental capacity of an 11-year-old, according to his attorney. Before his sentencing Monday, Morris El called his actions "foolish" and said the accident "opened my eyes not to take life for granted."

State's Attorney Chip Algren asked for the maximum 12-year prison term, arguing that Morris El lived a life of "total irresponsibility" before the collision.

Public Defender Scott Shipplett sought probation, saying that Morris El did not intend to harm Valerio.

jaybird
06-18-2003, 06:51 PM
Miami DJs dupe Fidel Castro with call
Associated Press
Jun. 18, 2003 04:20 PM


MIAMI - Two radio show hosts who duped Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez into believing he was speaking by phone with Cuban President Fidel Castro now claim to have similarly tricked Castro.

A recording provided by the Cuban-American radio announcers has a man they say is Castro responding for about four minutes Tuesday to snippets of a tape recording of Chavez, a Castro friend.

He catches on to the prank after he is called an assassin and the conversation disintegrates into him denouncing the caller with a stream of obscenities.

The call was played on Miami's WXDJ-FM on Tuesday; disc jockeys Joe Ferrero and Enrique Santos tricked Chavez in January.

"This was a big, big fish that we were trying to get," Ferrero said. "Castro really has his people well-trained to avoid these kind of situations, but we were able to persuade all these people."

In Havana, Cuban officials who did not want to be identified said Wednesday they did not know about the prank and could not comment.

Venezuelan Embassy spokesman Andres Izarra said he hadn't heard the recording and couldn't confirm whether the DJs actually got through to Castro.

Regardless, "it's another prank by these people who are very irresponsible and unethical," he said. "We totally reject these types of jokes."

jaybird
06-18-2003, 06:52 PM
Many types of feces featured in exhibit
Canadian Press
Jun. 18, 2003 01:10 PM


OTTAWA - The final frontier in contemporary art, so it would appear, has been behind us all along.

From a wooden Brian Mulroney statue holding a turd in his outstretched hand, through performance video of actors frozen over public toilets, genuine soiled trousers, freeze-dried dung and cow pie clocks from Utah, an exhibition of all things excremental tackles art's "last remaining taboo," according to curator Stefan St-Laurent.

Scatalogue: 30 Years of Crap in Contemporary Art, opens Thursday at Ottawa's SAW Gallery and St-Laurent hopes the five-week show shakes Canada's art community to its very bowels.

"It's certainly a unique show in Canada," said the Moncton-born performance artist, who came up with the idea along with his twin brother Jason to celebrate the gallery's 30th anniversary.

The only other art exhibition focusing on the fecal that St-Laurent knows of was staged in San Francisco in the late 1980s.

"We started talking about how conservative even artist-run centers were becoming today," the 29-year-old said Wednesday at the basement gallery in an old downtown Ottawa jailhouse.

"In most cases, if you go to an artist-run centre, go to a public museum or go to a commercial gallery, you can come into contact with the same artists. We came up with this idea because we were thinking: what's the last remaining taboo in contemporary art?"

Even before it opened, the show attracted controversy.

The gallery receives 75 percent of its funding from the Ottawa city, Ontario and federal governments and Canadian Alliance MP Chuck Strahl called it a waste of taxpayers' money. He later, however, responded to St-Laurent's invitation to the opening with a kindly note saying he was just having some sport.

Nonetheless, said the curator, "it's always nerve-wracking to have a wide national debate on the validity of art and state funding."

And while he clearly courts controversy, St-Laurent said it has more to do with feces than finances.

"I think it's about certain people who live in this western society who can't really deal with their own excrement."

The exhibits range from the overtly political to the simply gross.

The Mulroney piece, carved by aboriginal artist Ron Noganosh of Ottawa in 1990, is entitled The Same Old **** and needs little explanation.

More challenging is the pop art of Gilbert and George of London, whose 1983 poster features giant, bright yellow poops floating above the two gay artists - whose open mouths are also bright yellow.

More obscure yet is David Diviney's Moon Floss, a two-legged chair wearing a pair of white men's briefs that are filled to overflowing with brown material. The Lethbridge, Alta., artist's work is supposed to say something about alcohol abuse.

Then there are the actual khaki pants worn by Calgary's Mikiki and Don Simmons, a pair of performance artists who thought they'd make a statement by visiting the staid Glenbow Museum after eating a mess of laxatives. Things quickly got out of control and the ensuing debacle, St-Laurent recounts with post-modern irony, was deeply humiliating for the artists.

In fact, there's a comical quality to the exhibition, with art imitating life imitating art imitating life.

One of the stated themes of the show is to expose the "commodification of contemporary art."

Yet among the three rooms in the gallery is the Scatalogue Boutique, where patrons can buy T-shirts, cow pie clocks ($30), monogrammed toilet paper ($10 a roll), and postcards - including one called Alberta Flame, showing a Mountie on horseback beside a giant dungpile in the Centennial Flame with the Parliament buildings and Peace Tower in the background.

"We were curious to see if we could build this exhibition that would draw in a larger public through this controversy, have them come in and discover this work for themselves and, finally, see how this really controversial exhibition is really about the human condition," said St-Laurent.

"I think that will knock people over."

jaybird
06-18-2003, 06:54 PM
City casts fish nets to catch used condoms
Associated Press
Jun. 17, 2003 08:40 AM


MILWAUKEE - It's not the sort of catch a fisherman likes to boast about - hundreds of used condoms floating in the harbor.

Officials at the Jones Island Wastewater Treatment Plant say an angler made the rather disgusting discovery.

Some suspect a new $8.5 million filtration system isn't up to the task. But officials say there's no proof of just where the condoms came from.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District says it will install additional filters. Workers will also be used to scoop condoms out of the wastewater stream with fish nets.

jaybird
06-18-2003, 06:55 PM
Danes find lollipops too offensive, phallic
Associated Press
Jun. 17, 2003 08:35 AM


COPENHAGEN, Denmark - "Tasteless." That's how one Danish amusement park official describes a lollipop shaped like a male organ.

The Bakken amusement park north of Copenhagen has banned the sale of the sweets, which went for about $3.

Danes are known for their liberal attitude about sex and Denmark was the first country in the world to legalize pornography. But the male pops went too far and sparked public outrage.

The chairman of the Danish Family Planning Association warns they're not suitable for children.

jaybird
06-18-2003, 06:57 PM
Marines, Navy recruit Joey, 7, by mistake
Associated Press
Jun. 12, 2003 07:31 AM


NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - First the Marines came calling. Now the Navy wants Joey Crossman.

But is Joey ready? After all, he's only 7.

The name of the elementary school student mistakenly landed on military recruitment lists, most likely through a magazine subscription, and the military has been wooing him ever since.

In April, the Marines sent Joey a recruitment letter. Then came the Navy's invitation last week.

"We're just waiting for the Army and the Air Force," said Joey's mother, Kathy Crossman. "He's probably the most wanted 7-year-old in the country."

The Navy challenged Joey to "accelerate" his life.

"For every time someone said you couldn't do it. Or you don't have what it takes ... Prove them wrong," the letter said.

"I can assure you the United States Navy is not in the business of recruiting 7-year-olds," said Lt. Bill Davis, a spokesman for Navy Recruiting Command in Millington, Tenn. "Our minimal age is 17 with parental consent.

"But if he's got interest in the Navy and he wants to find out more, we'll help him. It has to start somewhere," Davis added.

If the Navy wants Joey, it may have to make some changes to accommodate his standard of living.

Joey toured the USS Yorktown during a family trip to South Carolina in April and wasn't impressed with the hard, impersonal bunks.

"The bathrooms they had weren't working," Joey said. "I just don't want to live on a ship."

miccit
06-18-2003, 07:06 PM
Originally posted by Jolie Rouge
exactly.

Why don't ya get a job delivering the pizzas ?

That guy looks like the typical panhandler you see around downtown Seattle. I have never seen so many panhandlers in my entire life, and a lot of them are young. Young enough that they should definitely be able to find a job.:mad:

jaybird
06-18-2003, 07:18 PM
Clay Aiken: I'm no catch, and cats are evil
Associated Press
Jun. 17, 2003 12:50 PM


NEW YORK - He might be on the verge of being a pop star, but Clay Aiken says he's no catch. Aiken tells "Rolling Stone" that he bites his toenails, has never been in love and hasn't broken anyone's heart.

Aiken also reveals his biological father was a violent alcoholic - and he thinks cats are Satan.

:D

jaybird
06-18-2003, 07:20 PM
Metallica wants military to stop using its songs to terrify Iraqis

Associated Press
Jun. 13, 2003 07:31 AM

Metallica's Lars Ulrich isn't happy that the U.S. military has reportedly used the group's music to terrify captured Iraqis.

Speaking in Europe, the drummer said he feels horrible about it.

According to VH1, he says if the Army just has to play loud music during interrogations, it should find something really grating like songs by the group Venom or by Norwegian death metal bands.

Ulrich is quoted as saying there's nothing he can do about Metallica's music being used.

"What am I supposed to do about it "get George Bush on the phone and tell him to get his generals to play some Venom?" he asked.

jaybird
06-18-2003, 07:21 PM
Zellweger eating 20 donuts a day
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Jun. 11, 2003 06:49 PM


Eat as much as you can every day and avoid exercise? Sounds like a dream job to us.

Renee Zellweger says she's eating 20 donuts a day in a bid to pile on almost 30 pounds for the sequel to "Bridget Jones's Diary," reports Ananova.com.

The svelte actress has six weeks to go from a size 6 to a size 14 before playing the neurotic character in "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason." She also shuns any form of exercise during her 4,700 calorie-a-day diet.

Zellweger, who will earn $22.5 million for the film, added: "One doughnut doesn't do a thing - you've got to eat 20 a day for five weeks to get results."

She put on 20 pounds in three months for the original movie. It took months of running and yoga to lose the weight.

Her diet also includes a Big Mac with large fries, scones with gravy and a high-fat milkshake for breakfast. Lunch is pizza, peanut butter and chips, followed by doughnuts, and dinner is a giant plate of spaghetti and meat sauce with potatoes and butter.

Jolie Rouge
06-18-2003, 08:35 PM
Clay Aiken says he's no catch. Aiken tells "Rolling Stone" that he bites his toenails

:eek:



Many types of feces featured in exhibit
Canadian Press
Jun. 18, 2003 01:10 PM

..... "We were curious to see if we could build this exhibition that would draw in a larger public through this controversy, have them come in and discover this work for themselves and, finally, see how this really controversial exhibition is really about the human condition," said St-Laurent.

"I think that will knock people over."



Might just be the stench !

Widgetsx3
06-19-2003, 09:21 PM
NEW DELHI, India (AP) - A 9-year-old girl was married to a stray dog in a ceremony attended by more than 100 guests in a village in India's eastern state of Bengal as part of a ritual intended to ward off a bad omen, newspapers reported Thursday.

The girl, Karnamoni Handsa, had to be married quickly to break an evil spell, according to the beliefs of her Santhal tribe in the remote village of Khanyan, the Hindustan Times said.

Karnamoni's tooth had grown on her upper gum, which Santhals consider a bad omen.

The girl's father, Baburam Handsa, a poor sharecropper, could not afford the expenses of marrying his daughter to a boy, so he saved money by making a street dog the groom on June 11, the paper reported.

Other news media also reported on the ritual, which does not interfere with the girl's life. She suffers no stigma and is free to marry later. She doesn't even need to divorce the dog.

:eek:

Jolie Rouge
06-19-2003, 09:32 PM
Ya' "scooped" me Widget ! I was just going to post that one !

On to my second choice ....


Sex Shop Chain Wins Fight Over Job Ads

LONDON (Reuters) - Sex shop chain Ann Summers, which brought sex toys and saucy lingerie to the masses, won a legal battle on Wednesday when a judge ruled that government job centers must post its help-wanted ads. They had refused to publicize the company's vacancies because of a government policy barring businesses associated with the sex industry from advertising with state employment centers.

"I think this is a fantastic victory both for Ann Summers and for common sense," the chain's chief executive Jacqueline Gold said afterwards.

A High Court judge ruled that the ban was unlawful, saying that the employment exchanges of Jobcenter Plus had lost sight of their primary purpose of helping people find work. "It (Jobcenter Plus) paid insufficient regard to its legal obligation to assist employers to find vacancies," Justice Newman ruled.

Ann Summers has become well known in Britain with 82 stores around the country selling raunchy clothes and sex toys with provocative names like "Rampant Rabbit," "Nipple Ripples" and "Jiggle Balls."

In defending its ban, Jobcenter Plus said that advertising Ann Summers vacancies could cause embarrassment to job seekers. But the chain countered that many other clothing and department stores in Britain also sold lingerie, vibrators and novelty sex items and were not considered to be part of the sex industry.



06/19/03 09:54

Widgetsx3
06-19-2003, 09:34 PM
lol...Jolie...you scoop me all the time.... :)

Widgetsx3
06-19-2003, 09:40 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bawling babies have ruined films for countless moviegoers but now one New York cinema is filling an entire theater with them in an effort to win the business of stir crazy parents who haven't gone out in years.

About 100 urban mothers, and a few stay-at-home dads, checked their designer strollers at the door earlier this week to enjoy a rare baby-friendly flick.

Scores of infants cooed and screeched as the lights dimmed, and one hallway in the Loews Cineplex quickly morphed into a diaper-changing room. But the parents, some of whom had not been to a movie theater in months, gazed intently at the screen, oblivious to the din around them.

"Here, if he makes noise, he's just one of many," stay-at-home dad Michael Zorek said of his son, Jeremy. "As a parent, this is something you never get to do."

"It's even more for us than it is for the babies," said Myong Caiafa, mother of a 6-month-old boy.

Moms and dads aren't the only ones who benefit from the introduction of weekly play dates at the movies. Loews has begun courting New York's stroller set to boost ticket sales on weekdays, when theaters are empty.

"Three months out of the womb, we're already creating a new generation of moviegoers," said John McCauley, vice president of marketing for Loews.

Parents pay full-price for their tickets, but babies are free. The theater, on 34th Street in Manhattan, shows popular first-run movies geared toward parents' tastes.

The "Reel Moms" program will be rolled out into 15 other U.S. markets by this fall, with help from child-rearing Web site urbanbaby.com.

****Not really weird...but kinda....

Jolie Rouge
06-19-2003, 09:42 PM
good marketing !

Jolie Rouge
06-19-2003, 09:54 PM
Hard Porn Interrupts TV Documentary


BERLIN (Reuters) - German viewers of a TV documentary on the human body got more detail than they bargained for when the program was interrupted by scenes of hardcore sex, a cable channel said on Thursday.

Scores of outraged science fans called XXP TV to complain after an episode from the BBC's "Superhuman" series examining respiratory disorders was replaced by images of group sex from the Spice Platinum channel involving one man and several women.

Monika Weitkamp of the Berlin-based documentary channel said the cable carriers had mixed up the feeds. The voiceover for the documentary, dubbed into German, continued during the pornographic interlude.

"A lot of people watching it with their kids called up in a rage to complain. They'd probably never seen anything like it in their lives," she said.



06/19/03 09:51

Widgetsx3
06-19-2003, 10:05 PM
NAPLES, June 18, 2003 - A six-year-old girl was heartbroken when her small lemonade stand was put out of business because she didn't have a temporary business permit. A neighbor called the police and her stand was shut down.

"Gotta get ready for the sale," said Abagail.

Even though she's only 6 years old, Abagail prepares for another day at work. "We like making money at our lemonade stand. We want it to stay cold so they can have cold lemonade on hot days," she said.

A young entrepreneur who does the cleaning even the advertising. And it is paying off. "We are making lots of tips in our tip jar," said Abagail.

But a few days ago, Abagail and her friends were put out of business by a neighbor. "We didn't have a permit so she called the cops," said Abagail.

The police arrived and shut her down.

"We had to take down our lemonade stand," said Abagail. Abagail did not have a temporary business permit, which is technically a city violation.

"So we had to do something else to play," said Abagail.

"I was kind of shocked because I didn't know we needed a permit for 6 year old girls to sell lemonade," said K.C. Shaw, Abagail's mom.

According to the city, they have to act on a formal complaint.

"Normally we don't get involved in it but once we do get a formal request we must take action," said Al Hogrefe of the city of Naples.

So Abagail's mom went to the city code enforcement office with wallet in hand, prepared to buy a permit.

"$35 every single time for a single use," said Shaw.

Not wanting to be sour, the city played Mr. Niceguy.

"No we did not charge her, no," said Hogrefe.

They did finally get the permit.

"Basically a blank check to have as many lemonade stands as we can stand," said Shaw.

So Abagail is back in business and learned laws can be tough, even for a six year old's lemonade stand.

Shaw said the police officers who shut down the stand felt terrible, but they had to do their job. One of the officers even bought a glass of lemonade from Abagail.

Nice Neighbors.... :rolleyes:

Jolie Rouge
06-19-2003, 10:22 PM
Saudi Police Lift Veil on Woman Driver

RIYADH (Reuters) - A woman who tried to get around a ban on female drivers in Saudi Arabia by dressing up as a man was caught out when she was ordered to undergo medical checks, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Police became suspicious when they stopped the woman's car at a patrol point in the northern town of Hail. "She was sent to hospital where medical examinations proved without a doubt that she was a woman with all the natural female body parts," the daily al-Riyadh said.

It was not clear what punishment the woman would now face. Women in the strict Islamic state, where they must wear a veil in public, usually have a male driver.

06/19/03 09:52


Dayum ! I won't complain the next time they ask me to stand next tomy car at a traffic stop....

Jolie Rouge
06-19-2003, 10:23 PM
Temple Candid Camera to Spy on Dumping of Pets


BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's most revered Buddhist temple is installing closed circuit television cameras in a bid to stop the dumping of pets, a local newspaper reported on Thursday.

Officials at the 219-year-old Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok have set up the cameras hoping to catch a growing number of people dumping unwanted cats and dogs which are leaving droppings in areas where thousands of worshippers kneel and pray.

"Offenders captured on camera will be banned from our compound," temple worker Thirarat Chandra-songkham told the Nation newspaper.

Buddhists revere all life and shady temples throughout tropical Thailand are traditional sanctuaries for stray cats and dogs.



06/19/03 09:48

justinenycole26
06-19-2003, 10:32 PM
[i]

If someone has an affair with a married person, they are interfering with the contract between the married couple. The mistress/scoundrel contributes to the dissolving of said contract if there is a divorce and should be held accountable.

JMHO


06/18/03 13:35 [/B]

Just another reason to sue someone is our sue happy society. You die from smoking, your family sues the tobacco companies, your kid get fat, you sue McDonalds, your hubby can't keep it in his pants, you sue the woman. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Jolie Rouge
06-19-2003, 10:35 PM
Florida Boy Killed by Gator During Swim
By MIKE SCHNEIDER


TAVARES, Fla. (AP) - A 12-year-old boy swimming in the Dead River was dragged under and killed by an alligator minutes after two friends spotted the reptiles in the water and screamed at him to get out.

The alligator - estimated at eight to 11 feet - surfaced at least once with the boy, Bryan Jeffery Griffin, in its jaws, but quickly disappeared Wednesday under the dark water, witnesses said.

On Thursday, sheriff's deputies trapped and killed seven eight- to 11-foot alligators in their search for the one that killed the boy.

``They feel fairly confident that one of the gators is the one responsible,'' sheriff's spokesman Lt. Nick Pallitto said.


Trappers planned to search for more alligators in the half-mile-long river Thursday night and kill any larger than eight feet, to be on the safe side.


A friend of Bryan's, Justin VanGorder, 14, said the gators were around all day as the boys swam near a marina about 30 miles northwest of Orlando.


``Every time we saw them, we would get out of the water,'' but Bryan stayed in, Justin told the Orlando Sentinel. ``We screamed at him to get out, but he wouldn't.''


The alligators will be examined in the laboratory for human tissue, bite patterns and fibers stuck in teeth to determine which one killed the boy.


Authorities said complaints about alligators have increased lately because so many are turning up around rain-bloated retention ponds, ditches and canals. It is also the end of their mating season.


Florida has had 12 other fatal alligator attacks since the state began keeping track in 1948. The most recent came in September 2001, when an 81-year-old man bled to death after his leg was bitten off below the knee.



06/19/03 18:05



:eek: :eek:



A friend of Bryan's, Justin VanGorder, 14, said the gators were around all day as the boys swam near a marina about 30 miles northwest of Orlando.

``Every time we saw them, we would get out of the water,'' but Bryan stayed in, Justin told the Orlando Sentinel. ``We screamed at him to get out, but he wouldn't.''



``Every time we saw them, we would get out of the water,''


THEY GOT BACK IN THE WATER KNOWING THERE WERE 'GATORS -- BIG 'GATORS ?????


This is a tragic story, but they sound like "Darwin" canidates ...

janelle
06-20-2003, 12:28 AM
Well I believe the one about the roasting dog. Our neighbor is the fire captain and they go to many fires that burn out of control and they find the people eating dog meat. I guess they got use to it in their home land and they still do it here. :mad: I just hate to see people lose their pets to this.

Jolie Rouge
06-20-2003, 08:45 AM
Posted by justinenycole26 : BigBig grump :

your hubby can't keep it in his pants, you sue the woman


Clearly you have never found yourself in the situation. I have.
To have an affair takes TWO PEOPLE. Is it fair for one to take all the responsiablity ? If you know a person is married that should make them "Off Limits". If someone participates in the breaking of a contract, they should not be held accountable ?

newwiccan
06-20-2003, 09:11 AM
'Prince of Pot' Says, Like, Come to Toronto Dude



TORONTO (Reuters) - The self-proclaimed "Prince of Pot" said on Thursday that Canada's biggest city could stage a tourism renaissance in the wake of the SARS outbreak if it opened its doors to a risk-free summer for marijuana smokers.

Marc Emery, who runs a lucrative mail-order seed distribution company in British Columbia and owns Internet-based Pot-TV, said Toronto, which has seen tourism plunge because of an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome that has killed 35 people, could benefit from a more relaxed attitude toward marijuana use, especially now that the federal government plans to ease its marijuana laws.

"Marijuana -- that means fun times, parties, a cool city and an enlightened state of mind," Emery told a crowd gathered in front of Toronto's police headquarters.

Cradling a marijuana plant in the crook of his arm, and a pipe in one hand, Emery said: "Believe me, marijuana people don't create problems like alcohol people. You want those kinds of tourists who are laughing, having a good time, and eating a whole lot in Toronto restaurants."


Last month, the Canadian government introduced legislation to end criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana.


Under the bill, people caught with 15 grams (half an ounce, or enough for about 15 to 30 joints) or less of cannabis would only be fined, and criminal penalties would be reduced on those growing up to 25 marijuana plants.


Statistics released on Thursday showed the number of visitors to Ontario in April fell 24 percent from a year earlier. The travel slump coincided with a World Health Organization warning against travel to Toronto for one week in April because of SARS.



06/20/03 08:08

Jolie Rouge
06-20-2003, 09:13 AM
ROAD TRIP !

Victorious
06-20-2003, 01:23 PM
Originally posted by Jolie Rouge
Florida Boy Killed by Gator During Swim
By MIKE SCHNEIDER


TAVARES, Fla. (AP) - A 12-year-old boy swimming in the Dead River was dragged under and killed by an alligator minutes after two friends spotted the reptiles in the water and screamed at him to get out.

The alligator - estimated at eight to 11 feet - surfaced at least once with the boy, Bryan Jeffery Griffin, in its jaws, but quickly disappeared Wednesday under the dark water, witnesses said.

On Thursday, sheriff's deputies trapped and killed seven eight- to 11-foot alligators in their search for the one that killed the boy.

``They feel fairly confident that one of the gators is the one responsible,'' sheriff's spokesman Lt. Nick Pallitto said.


Trappers planned to search for more alligators in the half-mile-long river Thursday night and kill any larger than eight feet, to be on the safe side.


A friend of Bryan's, Justin VanGorder, 14, said the gators were around all day as the boys swam near a marina about 30 miles northwest of Orlando.


``Every time we saw them, we would get out of the water,'' but Bryan stayed in, Justin told the Orlando Sentinel. ``We screamed at him to get out, but he wouldn't.''


The alligators will be examined in the laboratory for human tissue, bite patterns and fibers stuck in teeth to determine which one killed the boy.


Authorities said complaints about alligators have increased lately because so many are turning up around rain-bloated retention ponds, ditches and canals. It is also the end of their mating season.


Florida has had 12 other fatal alligator attacks since the state began keeping track in 1948. The most recent came in September 2001, when an 81-year-old man bled to death after his leg was bitten off below the knee.



06/19/03 18:05



:eek: :eek:





``Every time we saw them, we would get out of the water,''


THEY GOT BACK IN THE WATER KNOWING THERE WERE 'GATORS -- BIG 'GATORS ?????


This is a tragic story, but they sound like "Darwin" canidates ...


This was one of my students and a friend of my sons........ :(

Jolie Rouge
06-20-2003, 01:37 PM
I am so sorry.


BUT why would they get back in the water if they KNEW there were 'gators ?? We have them here in LA -- they are fast and they are predators; why take that risk ?

Victorious
06-20-2003, 02:03 PM
Jolie, He was a 12 yr old boy...sometimes they do stupid stuff to try to prove themselves... It's very sad! My son, myself and everyone in our small county just can't believe it.

Picture of Bryan (http://www.dbadesigns.com/graphics.html):(

Jolie Rouge
06-20-2003, 02:09 PM
Jolie, He was a 12 yr old boy...sometimes they do stupid stuff to try to prove themselves... It's very sad!

I agree with you 100% I just know those things scare the fire outa me and I can not imagine why they would get back in the water ... Did they think they were "playing" Crocodile Hunter ? It is just so tragic.

Victorious
06-20-2003, 02:18 PM
I know the boys had seen the gators all day long.. I don't think he though that it would come up to him.... Another thing people do not know is that Bryan was in ESE classes. He was a little bit slower than the average 5th grader...


I personally would never swim in a lake in FL. for this reason.

Widgetsx3
06-20-2003, 08:56 PM
LONDON (Reuters) - One called her boss a "b!t@ch from hell" while another admitted "lying through his teeth" at interview.
Both the British job candidates were -- not surprisingly -- turned down after prospective employers discovered their candid comments on a public Web site.

The London recruitment firm which revealed the cases warned on Friday that employers were increasingly scouring the Internet to check what candidates are really like behind the rosy image they seek to project in CVs and interviews.

"One media sales executive aged 24 had a job offer withdrawn after a quick check on www.friendsreunited.co.uk revealed that the applicant only planned to stay in London for a few months before embarking on a world tour," London's Media Contacts said.

As well as missing out on the jobs they were aiming for, the frankness of some also cost them their current employment.

"Another candidate, an account manager, 26, for a well-known PR agency was forced to resign when she described her boss as a "***** from Hell" and her employer as "a bunch of cowboys," Media Contacts said.

In a third case, a senior sales executive seeking a move also ended up getting fired after boasting to the Friends Reunited site, set up to keep old school pals in touch, that he lied at interview and his CV was "a masterpiece of fiction."

"People should think carefully what they say about employers -- past and present -- and what they say about themselves in any public domain," Media Contacts' recruitment consultant Gordon Cherrington said. "Having fun...is a good thing, though negativity in any form, rarely reflects well on the writer."

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Widgetsx3
06-20-2003, 08:57 PM
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police seized more than 25 tonnes of hashish on Thursday in a refrigerated truck carrying frozen squid in the southern port of Algeciras, the second-biggest haul of its kind, officials said.
The drug had been sent from Morocco stashed inside the truck, the Civil Guard said in a statement.

The driver was arrested and held for questioning. In a separate incident, customs officers in the British colony of Gibraltar seized over half a ton of cocaine with a street value of 90 million pounds ($150 million). Three people, including a British woman, were being questioned.

Widgetsx3
06-20-2003, 09:00 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Despite the bone through his nose, his shaved head and pierced face, the 25-year-old pacing a seedy stretch of New York sidewalk admitted he was terrified of what he was about to do.

But after a few minutes, a couple cigarettes and several deep breaths, he sat in the basement of a storefront tattoo parlor, closed his eyes and let a friend split his tongue down the middle with a scalpel.

The latest trend among teens and 20-somethings who indulge in so-called extreme body modification, forking one's tongue like a serpent's "is an art form," said T.J. McGillis, who offers the service for a $250 charge.

"Everybody wants to get it done. It could be the next mainstream thing aside from piercing," he said.

That may be an exaggeration. The number of people with split tongues is estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 people by the editor of a Web-based magazine devoted to body modification, but the trend is attracting enough attention that a few U.S. state legislatures have moved to ban the procedure.


Ian, the young man with the bone through his nose who did not want to reveal his last name, opted for tongue splitting after earlier adventures left him with huge rings in his ears, silver barbells piercing his face, myriad tattoos and who-knows-what-else under his baggy shirt and pants.

"I like the way it looks," he said, listing his reasons. "Two, I think it will be more fun during oral sex and the girls will get a kick out of it. Three, everyone and their mother has their tongue pierced and four, I'm an idiot."

FRESHLY CUT MEAT

The process is nothing short of gory. In Ian's case, his tongue was clamped in place, numbed and slit 2 inches up the middle, looking uncomfortably like a piece of raw liver freshly cut by a butcher.

Other methods entail tying increasingly tighter pieces of thread through a pierced hole or cutting with a laser.

Blood gushed out of Ian's mouth and over the silver barbell in his lip for a few minutes, then abated with several doses of mouthwash.

"Go home and pull it apart," McGillis ordered him, suggesting a regimen of separating the two halves each morning and night to prevent reattachment.

After splitting his tongue, Emrys Yetz, 20, said it wasn't long before he could move each half independently and do party tricks like picking up pens and pencils.

"It's done to better yourself," he said, opening his mouth to wiggle each half like a snail waving its antennae.

Yetz argues tongue splitting is no different than a far more socially acceptable face lift or breast enhancement. The only downside, he said, is eating ice cream, since it's harder to make a scoop of your tongue when it's split in two.

NOT ALL FUN AND GAMES...

Not surprisingly, doctors say there are more downsides to tongue-splitting than dripping ice cream.

"There's the potential for life-threatening hemorrhage and the potential for life-threatening infection," said Dr. Lee Pollan, an oral surgeon based in Rochester, New York.

If that's not enough, he added, tongue-splitting can damage speech and taste and cause permanent numbness.

And reattaching a split tongue can be a complex process of reconstructive surgery and skin grafts, he added.

Dire warnings notwithstanding, tongue splitting is kids being kids, said psychology professor Stephen Franzoi at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who specializes in issues of physical attractiveness and body esteem.

It's a form of self-expression, alienation, rejecting mainstream culture and asserting independence, he said.

Comparing tongue splitters to young people wearing long hair and ragged jeans in the 1960s, he said: "This is the same psychological process, albeit more extreme.

"We encourage kids to be independent and express themselves and find their own personal identity," he said. "Every generation has a different way to find themselves in our culture. Some of them are more extreme than others."

After splitting his tongue, Ian made plans to pierce each tip, even as one waiting friend dampened his hope that the girls would love it.

"I think it's gross. It creeps me out," said hairdresser Jill Johnson. "I've dated guys with tattoos all over. I've seen it all, but that's too much for me. Imagine when you're 60 years old and you have your tongue like that."

But for believers in modification, a split tongue is merely a start. Split penises, sliced lengthwise in half, are not unheard of among aficionados.

janelle
06-20-2003, 11:48 PM
I like the way it looks," he said, listing his reasons. "Two, I think it will be more fun during oral sex and the girls will get a kick out of it. Three, everyone and their mother has their tongue pierced and four, I'm an idiot."

I can't imagine being able to do it with a split tongue. Too funny to imagine him trying. :D :D :D
================================================== ====================
But for believers in modification, a split tongue is merely a start. Split penises, sliced lengthwise in half, are not unheard of among aficionados.
================================================== ====================
Are these people Michael Jackson wanna bes? Having a crucified nose and now a crucified penis. Maybe Jackson has one of those as well with the way he talks. Oh my.:eek: :eek: :eek:

Widgetsx3
06-22-2003, 05:23 PM
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) - A man riding a three-wheeled motorcycle was struck by a deer when the animal jumped over the vehicle.

Robert Shane Tomason, 34, of Burlington, was treated at a local hospital for injuries he received in Thursday's collision. He has been released.

Tomason was knocked off the bike by the collision. A passenger traveling with Tomason in the trike managed to stop the motorcycle.

Jolie Rouge
06-22-2003, 08:33 PM
Gatecrasher Arrested at Prince William Party

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030622%2F040452425.htm&sc=reodd

LONDON (Reuters) - Police have arrested a man who gatecrashed Prince William's 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle on Saturday night.

They said a "thorough review" into how the man got past security at the midsummer fancy dress party was under way. "We consider any breach of security to be a serious matter," a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said on Sunday. She added that the man had not been armed and that nobody was injured during the incident.


The News of the World newspaper reported on Sunday that the man stumbled onto the stage and grabbed the microphone as Prince William was making a speech.


Security guards dragged the man away as be began shouting, the paper added.


Police say they arrested the man at around 11:20 p.m. (2220 GMT). He is being held at a Thames Valley police station, to the west of London.


Prince William had invited more than 300 family and friends to the "Out of Africa" party, including his father Prince Charles and grandmother Queen Elizabeth.



06/22/03 04:04

Jolie Rouge
06-22-2003, 08:35 PM
F ! The Nation's Worst Readers Are In...

...Washington, D.C.

Public school children in the nation's capital read so poorly that a nationwide test has shown they are only slightly better readers than non-English-speaking children in the territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, reports The Washington Times of "The Nation's Report Card: Reading 2000," a study issued on Thursday by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Students across the country were tested in fourth, eighth, and twelfth grades. The report showed that fully 69 percent of D.C. public school fourth graders and more than half of its eighth graders had a "below basic" reading ability, which means they could not demonstrate an understanding of what they read.

Only 10 percent of the students were graded "at or above proficient" reading ability. Other areas of the country that ranked at the bottom of this list were Mississippi and California. The highest-ranking states that got an A+ in reading were Montana, Nebraska, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Maine, Minnesota, and Virginia tied for fifth place.

Nationwide, the reading achievement of fourth graders improved significantly since 1998 with the percentage of students reaching the "basic" level jumping from 60 percent to 64 percent; however, the average performance of eighth graders remained flat, while achievement among high school seniors declined at all levels. The takeaway? The little kids are smarter than the big kids.

Jolie Rouge
06-22-2003, 08:37 PM
Potter Author Saved World from Moaning Toilet Seat

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030620%2F082181632.htm&sc=reodd

LONDON (Reuters) - First came the books, then the films and then the merchandise from T-shirts to toys cashing in on all aspects of the planet's favorite boy wizard.

But the world, waiting with bated breath for the publication on Saturday of the fifth volume in the global publishing phenomenon that is Harry Potter, has been saved by author J.K. Rowling from some of the worst merchandising excesses.

"I can only say you should have seen some of the stuff that was stopped. Moaning Myrtle lavatory seat alarms and worse," Rowling said in a BBC television interview broadcast on Thursday.

Moaning Myrtle is a gloomy character who haunts the girl's bathroom in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets -- the second book and film in the series -- having been killed there by a giant snake known as a Basilisk.


Rowling, who has been transformed from struggling single parent to multi-millionaire whose fortune is said to be larger than Britain's Queen Elizabeth, hinted that her boy wizard had begun to develop normal teenage behavior in the fifth book.


"Harry goes through hell every time he returns to school, so I think a bit of snogging (kissing) would alleviate matters," she said, adding: "He is a lot, lot, lot, lot angrier in this book. He really is quite angry a lot of the time."



06/20/03 08:21

Jolie Rouge
06-22-2003, 08:38 PM
Police Find Head of Frankenstein Castle Body

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030620%2F081681527.htm&sc=reodd

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police have found the missing head of a naked male corpse found near castle Frankenstein and arrested the man's partner and two of her children on suspicion of being involved in his death.

A police spokesman said on Friday the headless cadaver was identified from its fingerprints as a 59-year-old Turk with a criminal record. He said the man was shot last weekend, then stripped, beheaded and dumped not far from the castle.

The son of his 53-year-old lover, also Turkish, led police to the head, buried some 70 km (45 miles) from where the body was found in the southwestern town of Darmstadt. The 30-year-old and his sister, 33, are also in police custody.

The corpse was discovered on Tuesday by a couple in a car park near the ruined castle, the birthplace of the notorious German alchemist Johann Konrad Dippel von Frankenstein who many say inspired Mary Shelley's 1818 novel "Frankenstein."


Dippel, who lived from 1673 to 1734, was famous for his interest in creating artificial life and rumored to have experimented with human body parts -- themes later explored by mad scientist Victor Frankenstein in Shelley's gothic romance.


Earlier this week, police dismissed suggestions of a link between the decapitated man and the medieval castle, a popular tourist attraction among gothic thrill-seekers, as absurd.



06/20/03 08:16


{{{See page one of this thread for the original story ...}}}

Jolie Rouge
06-22-2003, 08:44 PM
Teen Sues Over 'Lesbian Barbie' Shirt Ban

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030620%2F081281419.htm&sc=reodd

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York teen-ager alleged on Thursday that teachers violated her civil rights when they suspended her from school for wearing a "Barbie is a Lesbian" T-shirt.

Lawyers who filed a lawsuit on her behalf in Manhattan federal court said 14-year-old Natalie Young is openly lesbian and that a teacher laughed at her, calling the garment and its reference to the popular Barbie doll "inappropriate."

Young alleged that the principal held her for three hours in an office at the school in the borough of Queens on April 10, 2002 and refused to allow her to return to class while she wore the T-shirt.

A spokesman for the city education department, a defendant in the lawsuit, declined immediate comment.


Young was suspended for the day and the principal threatened to send her home again if she wore the T-shirt to school in future, the lawsuit alleged.


"Schools cannot legally engage in this type of selective, content-based suppression of speech," lawyer Dan Perez said. "If she had worn a 'Barbie Supports the Troops in the War in Iraq' T-shirt, she would have been called a patriot."


Perez said that on another school day before the T-shirt incident, teachers made Young remove rainbow colored beads from her hair, although she was not suspended then.


The lawsuit, which names the education department, school principal and several teachers as defendants, seeks a declaration from the court that Young's constitutional right to free speech was violated. It asks the department to issue guidelines on students' dress and on dealing with students' expression of their sexual orientation.


The lawsuit, which was filed in the name of the student's mother, Kathleen Hodges, because Young is a minor, also seeks unspecified monetary damages.


"That is not the most important issue here but if a jury decides to contribute to Natalie's college fund, all the better," Perez said.



06/20/03 08:12


:rolleyes:

Jolie Rouge
06-22-2003, 08:45 PM
Murdered Monk Was 'Mafia' Millionaire?

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030620%2F081181405.htm&sc=reodd

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai Buddhist monk shot dead this week had amassed a $5 million fortune in 12 bank accounts from years of extortion and was on a government blacklist of influential "mafia" figures, police said on Friday.

Investigators said the monk, Phra Kru Nanthapiwat, murdered execution-style by an unidentified assailant on Tuesday, had been earning as much as one million baht ($24,030) a week by embezzling temple funds and running illegal motorcycle taxi gangs.

The monk, who had been at the temple on the outskirts of Bangkok for 36 years, also promoted himself as a spiritual medium who could dispel bad luck in exchange for money, police said.

"It was quite unexpected," one of the investigators in the case, Police Colonel Kamrob Panyakaew, told Reuters, referring to the findings of an investigation.


"At first we were not aware of the full extent of his involvement in the motorcycle gangs and exactly where his money came from, but we knew he was taking from the temple."


Thai Buddhist monks live on food donations from the local community and are supposed to only use money for the upkeep of temples.


Kamrob said the monk was on a Thai government blacklist of "dark influences," targets of a crackdown on the mafia launched at the beginning of May.


The government drew up a similar blacklist for drug traffickers and dealers when it launched a 90-day anti-drugs crackdown in February that claimed the lives of about 1,600 people.


Statements by members of the local community to police said the monk had frequently violated monastery rules, including luring female followers to his living quarters.



06/20/03 08:11

Jolie Rouge
06-22-2003, 08:52 PM
Murdered Monk Was 'Mafia' Millionaire?

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030620%2F081181405.htm&sc=reodd

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai Buddhist monk shot dead this week had amassed a $5 million fortune in 12 bank accounts from years of extortion and was on a government blacklist of influential "mafia" figures, police said on Friday.

Investigators said the monk, Phra Kru Nanthapiwat, murdered execution-style by an unidentified assailant on Tuesday, had been earning as much as one million baht ($24,030) a week by embezzling temple funds and running illegal motorcycle taxi gangs.

The monk, who had been at the temple on the outskirts of Bangkok for 36 years, also promoted himself as a spiritual medium who could dispel bad luck in exchange for money, police said.

"It was quite unexpected," one of the investigators in the case, Police Colonel Kamrob Panyakaew, told Reuters, referring to the findings of an investigation.


"At first we were not aware of the full extent of his involvement in the motorcycle gangs and exactly where his money came from, but we knew he was taking from the temple."


Thai Buddhist monks live on food donations from the local community and are supposed to only use money for the upkeep of temples.


Kamrob said the monk was on a Thai government blacklist of "dark influences," targets of a crackdown on the mafia launched at the beginning of May.


The government drew up a similar blacklist for drug traffickers and dealers when it launched a 90-day anti-drugs crackdown in February that claimed the lives of about 1,600 people.


Statements by members of the local community to police said the monk had frequently violated monastery rules, including luring female followers to his living quarters.



06/20/03 08:11

Jolie Rouge
06-22-2003, 08:54 PM
Texas 'Sleeping Lawyer' Inmate Gets Life Sentence

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030620%2F080781279.htm&sc=reodd

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas man whose death sentence was overturned because his lawyer slept through parts of his trial agreed to a plea bargain on Thursday that will keep him off death row, but behind bars for life.

Calvin Burdine, whose case raised questions about the quality of justice in Texas, the nation's most active death penalty state, pleaded guilty to capital murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and felony possession of a weapon and will serve life sentences for each.

He was set for a new trial in August after the U.S. Supreme Court last year upheld a lower court ruling that he had had inadequate legal representation.

Burdine, 50, originally was sentenced to die for stabbing his gay lover to death even though witnesses said his attorney, the late Joe Cannon, fell sleep at least 10 times during the 1984 trial.


Despite numerous legal questions raised by Cannon's behavior, Texas prosecutors argued that it had not affected the trial's outcome and therefore Burdine should be put to death.


Death penalty opponents said the case showed the unfairness and harshness of the justice system in Texas, which leads the nation with 305 executions since 1982. The next closest state is Virginia with 88 executions.


Lawyers for Burdine said they negotiated a plea bargain with prosecutors because a new trial would put him at risk of being sentenced to death again.


"Today, the so-called 'sleeping lawyer' case was finally put to rest. For so long, justice has been asleep in this matter -- today, justice woke up," attorney Danalynn Recer said in a statement.



06/20/03 08:07

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 11:21 AM
Call it the ultimate act of spontaneous generosity. When Nancy Moss of Crosby, Texas hit the $1 million jackpot a few days ago while playing the Wheel of Fortune slot machine at the President Casino in Biloxi, Miss., she immediately gave $25,000 of her first $50,000 payment to the on-duty cocktail waitress, Natalie Johnson, reports The Associated Press.


Why ?

Moss said the waitress made it a point of talking to her while she was playing. In fact, while the two were chit-chatting as Moss played the slots during a middle-of-the-night pit stop she made while driving to Georgia to visit her father, she told Johnson that if she won, she would give her half. And then she hit the $1,009,960.55 jackpot. It doesn't end there. The waitress kept $19,000 and shared $6,000 of the tip with her co-workers.


Joe Giardina, a spokesman for President Casino, told Gambling Magazine that such gifts following jackpot wins are actually rare. At one Biloxi casino a few years ago, a man hit a $3.2 million jackpot "and didn't give anybody anything."

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 11:24 AM
Woman delivers conjoined twin girls -- and a boy
Monday, June 23, 2003 Posted: 7:24 AM EDT


www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/06/22/argentina.conjoined.twins.ap/index.html Doctors hold the conjoined twin girls and their brother in Argentina.


BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- An Argentine woman gave birth to twin girls who were born fused at the head and sharing a heart and other vital organs, officials said. The woman also delivered a healthy baby boy.

The birth occurred Saturday in the provincial city of San Juan, some 1,000 kilometers (640 miles) west of Buenos Aires, Doctor Gonzalo Medina told the Todo Noticias cable news channel.

Medina said the girls were born joined from the chest to mid-abdomen and shared other lower parts of the body.

He said the twins, born as part of triplets with the boy, were in stable condition.

Initial assessments indicated the conjoined twins "were incompatible with operations that could separate them," Median said. But he added that his staff was consulting with surgical teams in other countries.

The mother, who was not identified, was in stable condition, Median said.

Conjoined twins occur when a single fertilized egg splits to form twins, but the separation is incomplete. They occur about once in every 200,000 live births and are three times more likely to be girls than boys.


:(

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 11:27 AM
Looking For a Job? Then Don't Say THIS :

Jobs are hard enough to find. You don't need to sabotage yourself. That's exactly what unwitting job candidates and some employees are doing when they post information about themselves on various Web sites that contradicts what they're saying in job interviews. The London recruitment company Media Contacts revealed some of these cases late last week with this warning to job candidates: Employers are scouring the Web looking for the real you. Be careful what you say!

None of these people got the job after they posted these comments on the Web using their real names:

--Admitted "lying through his teeth" during an interview.

--Admitted he only planned to stay on the job a few months before embarking on a world tour.


In these cases, the current employer found negative comments posted on the Web and fired the employees who wrote them:

--Called her boss a "b1tch from 'ell."

--Described her employer as "a bunch of cowboys."

--Admitted he lied during the interview and his resume was "a masterpiece of fiction."


"People should think carefully what they say about employers--past and present--and what they say about themselves in any public domain," Media Contacts' recruitment consultant Gordon Cherrington told Reuters. "Having fun...is a good thing, though negativity in any form, rarely reflects well on the writer."

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 11:36 AM
Man Gets Telephone Line After 27 Years

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1120&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030623%2F084795183.htm&sc=1120

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - After being kept on hold for 27 years, Mohammad Ismail has finally got his dream - a telephone connection to his home in the Bangladeshi capital, a newspaper reported Monday.

Now 60 and retired, Ismail applied and paid the connection fee for a telephone line in May 1976, Manabzamin reported.

But the state-run monopoly Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board lost his application and over the years his repeated requests for a line to be connected fell on deaf ears.

The telephone company suddenly ``found'' his application after Bengali-tabloid Manabzamin reported his plight last week. The company promptly connected his line on Saturday and even threw in a free telephone set.


``I am so happy. But I am a bit sad, also. When I applied, I was a young man of 33 and had dreams about owning my own telephone. Now all those dreams are gone. My children will use the phone now,'' Ismail told the newspaper.


A phone company official told the Manabzamin they had not previously been able to give Ismail a telephone connection because of ``technical reasons.''


Less than 10 percent of Bangladesh's 130 million people have telephones, mostly due to insufficient phone lines, costly fees and often cumbersome connection procedures.



06/23/03 08:47

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 11:37 AM
[Sci Fi Channel Wants U.S. to Probe UFOs
By DAVID BAUDER


NEW YORK (AP) - In an unusual step for a television network, the Sci Fi Channel is campaigning to persuade the government to be more forthcoming and aggressive in investigating UFO sightings.

Sci Fi has hired a Washington lobbyist, received support from former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, sponsored a symposium on interstellar travel and is considering a court effort to declassify documents related to a 1965 incident in Pennsylvania.

The network will premiere a documentary, ``Out of the Blue,'' Tuesday at 9 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific time zones) that methodically lays out an argument that there's something out there.

Most TV networks are reluctant to spend money for anything other than self-interest. The few public interest efforts are hardly controversial: Lifetime promoting breast cancer research, for example, or MTV's Rock the Vote campaign to encourage young people to register.


But by fighting for UFO probes, Sci Fi is wading into an area that invites not only dissent, but also ridicule.


``It's very, very tough for people to take this subject seriously,'' said Ed Rothschild, a lobbyist for the Washington firm PodestaMattoon. ``We thought the only way it was going to be seriously addressed is to have serious people talk about it, scientists.''


Rothschild won't even identify the members of Congress he's talked to about leaning on the government for more openness about UFOs. He's afraid they'll never help if their names come out and they're laughed at.


Even believers are reluctant to talk about the issue.


After hearing that former President Carter once saw a UFO, ``Out of the Blue'' filmmaker James Fox repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, asked Carter's representatives for an interview. Undaunted, Fox essentially ambushed Carter with a camera one day at a book-signing. Carter confirmed the incident but his brevity and forced smile indicated he wasn't happy to be answering.


Given the ``giggle factor'' that surrounds UFOs, Sci Fi is taking a chance with its reputation, Fox said.


``I don't think there's a risk because the questions need to be asked,'' said Thomas Vitale, Sci Fi's senior vice president of programming. ``Even somebody who is the biggest skeptic in the world ... still wants the questions answered. And who better to do it?''


The mission isn't entirely altruistic, of course. The Sci Fi Channel, which is seen in about three-quarters of the nation's TV households, polled viewers on the topic. Evidence of keen interest is also seen in the ratings.


Last November's documentary on the celebrated, suspected 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, N.M., was the highest-rated special in the network's 11-year history. It was seen by nearly 2.4 million people, or about 2 1/2 times Sci Fi's usual prime-time audience.


``Our main goal is not to find a UFO,'' Vitale said. ``The goal is finding the truth. We're expanding and exploring the blurry line between what is science fiction and what is science fact.''


Vitale wouldn't say how much Sci Fi is spending on this. The network sponsored an archaeological excavation at Roswell, will debut a public service announcement Tuesday and has two new UFO specials in the works.


It is backing an effort to get U.S. Air Force records released on a 1965 incident in Kecksburg, Pa., where some witnesses believe a UFO crashed. This may end up in court, Rothschild said.


Fox, a San Francisco-based journalist, never thought much about UFOs until a visit nine years ago to Nevada, when he and his friends watched a saucer-shaped object hover silently in the sky then dart away.


``When I got home, I was met with laughter,'' he said. ``No one believed me, even my family. I thought, if my own family doesn't believe me, who does?''


Intrigued, he began looking into other UFO incidents. He sold a 1998 documentary to the Discovery Channel and shopped ``Out of the Blue'' to the same network, but said he was told Discovery no longer buys pro-UFO films. (A Discovery spokeswoman denied this.)


So he went to Sci Fi. Fox considers 95 percent of reported UFO incidents bunk, either hoaxes or easily explained conventional phenomena. And don't count him among people who believe aliens already live among us.


But that still leaves a significant number of mysterious cases. ``Out of the Blue'' outlines several, concentrating on the most reputable of witnesses - former astronauts, military and government officials, topped off by an ex-president.


Fox's storytelling is sober, not sensational. Summing up incidents at the end of the film, Fox gives the official government explanations of what happened, and they're often more ridiculous than the sightings themselves.


``You get to a point where you can no longer dismiss each and every episode,'' he said.


Fox and Rothschild can think of several reasons why the government doesn't want to talk about UFOs:


The military doesn't want to spend time or money on something that isn't perceived as a threat.


Officials may also like the secrecy; it keeps other governments guessing about what kind of new weapon technologies might be in the works.


It could also be embarrassing, since it can expose what they don't know and the limitations of human technology.


And who wants to set off a ``War of the Worlds''-type incident?


Fox envisions the public announcement that could come with such an event: ``We don't know where they come from, we don't know what they're doing. We can't stop them if they become hostile and they can fly rings around all of our aircraft.


``Thank you, and good night.''


On the Net:


http://www.scifi.com


http://www.freedomofinfo.org


EDITOR'S NOTE - David Bauder can be reached at dbauder``at``ap.org



06/22/03 12:39

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 11:41 AM
Hospital Covers Image of Virgin Mary

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030623%2F094196691.htm&sc=reodd

BOSTON (Reuters) - Faced with a rush of pilgrims, a Massachusetts hospital on Thursday said it would cover a shimmering image of the Virgin Mary in the window of an office building for most of the day to avoid further disruption.

On Wednesday evening hospital staffers lowered a weighted tarp from the roof over the window where believers say the mother of Jesus Christ gazes down on them. The image was first seen last week.

"We asked people to visit the window only between 5:30 and 8:30 in the evening so that the crowds won't interfere with hospital activities. But that wasn't working and so we made the decision to uncover the window only during those hours," said Susan Schepici, a spokeswoman at Milton Hospital.

Still people are flocking to the community hospital at all hours, Schepici said, counting about 30 people staring at the covered window this morning.


"It doesn't seem to matter if it is covered or not. We have had a steady stream of between 50 and 100 people during the last few days and the crowd grows to about 200 at night. People bring flashlights to see the image," she said.


The Boston Globe reported on Tuesday that hospital officials say the image is made by a chemical deposit inside the window, but Schepici said the hospital has "no official position with respect to the issue of an apparition."


Last weekend after the image was first discovered, roughly 25,000 visited the hospital, 10 miles south of Boston and hospital staffers expected another flood of visitors this weekend.



06/23/03 09:37


{{ I have a picture of this from my local paper -- I have to say, I don't see a "Madonna". In fact - it looks more like a Reaper image than anything. If anyone can locate & post this; I would like some other opinions.}}

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 11:45 AM
Pamela Anderson's Anime Alter Ego: 'Stripperella'
By Steve Gorman

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030623%2F123602355.htm&sc=reodd

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former "Baywatch" beauty Pamela Anderson is making her animation debut as a superhero who dances in a strip club, but she demanded and received a no-nudity clause for her cartoon alter ego.

As a result, the upcoming cable series "Stripperella" features lots of cartoon cleavage and sexual innuendo -- she is after all "Secret Agent 69" -- but Anderson insists the show could be rated PG.

"It's harmless. It's only a cartoon," the actress told Reuters in a recent interview to promote the series, created by Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, the man who beefed up the Hulk and had Spider-Man climbing walls.

"We came up with a concept, and we just kind of made it really, really silly, and we both can't believe it's going to be on the air."


The series is due to premiere June 26 on TNN, the Viacom Inc.-owned cable channel planning -- despite a legal challenge -- to relaunch itself this month as Spike TV, with a new slate of programming tailored to men.


The show's concept is pretty simple. It centers on buxom exotic dancer Erotica Jones, an Anderson-esque character voiced by the actress who leads a double life as the masked superhero Stripperella. She's a stripper by night, a crime fighter by later at night and the cartoon character even has the same tatoos as the real-life Anderson.


BUXOM CRIME FIGHTER


Using her sex appeal to cloud the minds of male crooks, she comes equipped with special gadgets, such as her lipstick laser and wall-climbing stiletto heels. Her breasts are natural lie detectors and her legs are powerful weapons she wraps around the heads of her foes in a move she calls the "scissor-ella."

:eek:

"I'm very proud of Stripperella," Anderson says. "She's my alter ego -- strong, smart and sexy and, let's face it, a bit of a slut."


In the premiere episode, Stripperella battles the evil plastic surgeon Dr. Cesarian, who is deliberately ruining the figures of supermodels and has "booby-trapped" his latest victim with an exploding breast implant.


Still, Anderson said the series is far from pornographic and at her insistence contains no nudity -- employing cartoon pixilation and other devices to keep the body parts blurred and the animation tasteful.


For example, "I do a dance in a martini glass, and the bubbles are strategically placed," she said.


A number of celebrities lend their voices to some of the recurring characters, including Mark Hamill of "Star Wars" fame and Anderson's boyfriend Kid Rock, who also wrote and performs the theme song.


Canadian-born Anderson, 35, sprang to world fame as lifeguard CJ Parker on the TV series "Baywatch" and went on to produce and star in the syndicated TV series "V.I.P.," playing a beautiful celebrity bodyguard.


LICENSING IMAGE


This week, she signed a partnership agreement with United Licensing Group to develop brand merchandise such as lingerie, jewelry, swimsuits and jeans that will carry a Pamela Anderson designer label, according to her manager, Hedda Moye.


Moye said the licensing deal and a new Web site are part of Anderson's plan to develop business ventures that allow her to cash in on her celebrity while spending more time at home with her two young sons, Brandon, 7, and Dylan, 5.


Anderson said her kids have seen early clips from her cartoon series but take it all in stride, with Brandon comparing her unfavorably to "Rugrats" character Angelica Pickles. "He said, 'Angelica is a very good actor, a very good character, and she's much more famous than you, Mom,"' Anderson recalled with a laugh.


TNN officials said on Thursday they will proceed with plans to roll out new programming this month despite a court injunction, sparked by a lawsuit from filmmaker Spike Lee, barring the network name change to Spike TV.



06/23/03 12:36



{{ I wonder if we can find Fugie a "Stripperella" action figure ?}}

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 12:01 PM
Kenyan Masai Warriors Kill Marauding Lions


NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan Masai warriors have speared to death nine lions in Nairobi's national park since May in revenge for killing their livestock, government officials said on Friday.

The nomadic Masai tribesmen, who live and graze their livestock near the boundaries of the park killed the lions after losing six cows, seven goats, seven sheep and a donkey.

"Security is on the ground investigating. The Kenya Wildlife Service has stepped up patrols in the area," Newton Kulundu, environment and natural resources minister, told Reuters.

Wildlife conservationists accuse the Masai of cutting up the lions and pocketing their manes, tails, claws and teeth for trophies or for sale.


Kulundu said Masai and wild animals have come into increasing contact in the past few years as the tribe has grown and moved to areas populated by wild animals.


The minister said during the rainy season, wild herbivores move out of the parks in search of fresh pastures, leading the carnivores behind.


"At this time of the year there is normally an overgrowth of grass because of the rains. Herbivores don't eat the lush grass and move away to drier areas and the lions follow them," he said.



06/23/03 09:29




nomadic Masai tribesmen, who live and graze their livestock near the boundaries of the park killed the lions after losing six cows, seven goats, seven sheep and a donkey.

Wildlife conservationists accuse the Masai of cutting up the lions and pocketing their manes, tails, claws and teeth for trophies or for sale.

Do you blame them ? The lions ate their livestock -- a large amount of $$'s worth at that. So the Masai eat the lions and sale the reast to purchase replacement stock. {{hums "The Circle of Life...}}

janelle
06-23-2003, 12:01 PM
I didn't know anything about it but for me it would just be interesting unless it did something like talk or have blood coming from it. I have an image on my closet door that looks like ET. The grain of the wood came out that way. It's just interesting unless it started pointing it's finger. Yikes.

If some people take solice from these things I guess it doesn't hurt but no one should make a profit from it.

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 12:03 PM
'Forgetful' U.S. Hiker Caught in Child Custody Ruse


KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Reuters) - An elderly man found hiking in rugged parkland who claimed he had been robbed and didn't know his name has been identified, and park rangers said he acknowledged he was actually hiding from child welfare authorities.

Jack Bowles, 76, was identified on Friday after a chest X-ray revealed the serial number on his pacemaker, a week after he was discovered by other hikers struggling up a muddy embankment clutching a sleeping bag and a pillow in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in Tennessee.

Nancy Gray, a spokeswoman for the park, said he had not been charged with any crime, but a charge of providing authorities with false information could apply.

Gray said Bowles' wife, Mary, admitted she dropped him off at the park's Chimney Tops trail for a week-long stay to avoid child welfare authorities in their home state of West Virginia, where they were caring for a relative's two young children.


"The couple thought if (welfare authorities) believed he no longer lived in the home, that Mrs. Bowles could continue to have custody of the two children," Gray said after talking to the couple. It was unclear why the couple felt he should hide from welfare authorities.


Bowles told park rangers that he suffered from amnesia after being kidnapped by two men, robbed and left in the park, Gray said, adding he was fortunate to have been found because he lacked food and proper clothing.

"The plan that she would come back in a week, honk the horn, and they would be reunited, is just not quite understandable," Gray said.



06/23/03 09:29

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 12:05 PM
NY Bar Owners Unplug Lottery to Protest Smoking Ban

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - Still steamed over a looming smoking ban, some New York bar and restaurant owners hit the state where it hurts -- in the pocketbook.

They unplugged the lottery machines in their establishments.

This week's coordinated cutting off of Quick Draw Lottery machines is costing the state $1 million in lost revenues, according to Scott Wexler, head of the Empire State Restaurant and Tavern Association which represents more than 3,000 bars and eateries across the state.

Wexler predicted that about 10 percent of bar and restaurant owners will ultimately be forced to close because of lost business due to the anti-smoking law, which is considered one of the most restrictive in the nation.


State lottery officials, however, countered that only $49,233 has been lost in the boycott, according to spokeswoman Carolyn Hapeman.


Lottery machines were also turned off in protest by many restaurant and bar owners in May when the statewide law was passed. Game sales dropped by 18 percent.


The Quick Draw lottery game is a popular bar and restaurant game in which numbers are played and picked every 10 minutes.


The game brings in $475 million a year in revenues for the state Lottery Division, said Hapeman, adding this week's protest was losing momentum and that less than 100 machines were now off-line.


In a last-ditch lobbying effort, restaurant and tavern owners are trying to convince state lawmakers to allow smoking in their establishments if separate rooms are provided.


New York City banned smoking in all restaurants and bars on March 30.



06/23/03 09:29

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 12:09 PM
I didn't know anything about it but for me it would just be interesting unless it did something like talk or have blood coming from it. I have an image on my closet door that looks like ET. The grain of the wood came out that way. It's just interesting unless it started pointing it's finger. Yikes.

If some people take solice from these things I guess it doesn't hurt but no one should make a profit from it.



Janelle -- we are talking about the "Madonna" image, right ?

I agree with you -- I am a devoted Catholic, and I don't think I would be crowding over there eigther. At least the hospital isn't trying to sell tickets are some such nonsense; I think they have the right idea : make it available but in such a way as it doesn't disrupt regular business & traffic.

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 12:13 PM
California Woman Helps Bring Funerals to the Home
By Michael Kahn

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030623%2F092896313.htm&sc=reodd

SEBASTOPOL, Calif. (Reuters) - Want to know how to keep a corpse fresh during a do-it-yourself funeral? Wondering how to build a coffin for a dearly departed loved one?

Jerri Lyons has answers to these and other questions for people looking to conduct home funerals. She dispenses to-die-for advice ranging from the legalities of getting a body home from the morgue to the basics of bathing a corpse.

In running seminars on how people can care for their own dead, Lyons, 55, and her nonprofit group Final Passages have become leaders in a small but burgeoning movement that seeks to provide a more compassionate and cheaper alternative to mainstream funeral practices.

"We prepare for other rites of passage like weddings and births," Lyons told a group of about a dozen people who gathered in her northern California home recently to learn more about home funerals. "Not a lot of people prepare for death."


On a recent sunny morning Lyons started the meeting of mostly women attendees by asking why they wanted to spend the day talking about death and dying. The courses cost $35 to $375 depending on length.


A self-described psychic said she talks with angels and simply wanted more information while another woman asked whether it is legal to build a funeral pyre on private property as she prepared for the eventual death of an older lover.


"I want to be buried in the land I've been taking care of," said another participant named Pam. "There is more spirituality when I do it myself."


Others said they wanted to make sure they don't burden surviving loved ones. A lawyer serving a rural community wanted to pick up information for an increasing number of clients who inquire about home funerals and burials.


A middle-aged woman named Cheryl said funeral homes are a big rip-off and that she wants to make sure people remember her life rather than her death. "I want to plan the way I go out," she said. "I just want my life to be celebrated."


ICE OFTEN CRUCIAL


The day-long seminar covers everything from wading through the complexities of taking a body from the morgue or hospital to properly placing ice on a corpse to keep it fresh.


For less than 24 hours, ice may not be needed but families usually need to cool a body if it is exposed longer, Lyons told the group. Ice is also crucial for longer vigils to ensure liquids do not come out through the mouth, although she adds it is always possible to improvise.


"I've had a number of people use frozen vegetables," Lyons said and warned the group about other pitfalls. For example, she said one family put too much padding in a coffin and were unable to close it when they loaded the body inside.


There are also slide shows and videos showing families painting caskets, preparing bodies for memorials and eventually loading them into a car for the final trip to the crematorium.


Lyons turned to her current career after the 1994 death of a close friend whose will instructed that her body not be taken to a mortuary and instead be cared for at home.


This first experience with a home funeral showed Lyons that carrying out intimate acts such as bathing and dressing her deceased friend actually made it easier to deal with the loss.


"It helped us with our mourning and grieving," Lyons said. "It made it more meaningful because we were the ones touching her body instead of turning her over to some strangers she didn't know."


DO-IT-YOURSELF FOR LESS


With a mortuary funeral costing an estimated $5,000 compared to a do-it-yourself home version that can run as low as a few hundred dollars, Lyons' supporters say it is easy to see why more people are looking at home funerals.


Joshua Slocum, a director of Funeral Consumers Alliance, said he has no figures for how many Americans conduct home funerals each year but predicts the numbers are growing.


"We are getting more calls all the time," said Slocum, who noted it is legal to bring a body home in 45 out of 50 U.S. states. "Some people are growing disenchanted with the cost of funerals and the anonymity and sterility of releasing a loved one to a sterile, commercial environment."


The home funeral movement, however, is not likely to drive a stake into the well-established death-care industry, according to analyst William Burns of Johnson Rice in New Orleans, who follows publicly traded funeral home companies.


Instead, the biggest problem facing the nation's 23,000 funeral homes is what he called a soft mortality rate due in part to a weak flu season the past few years.



06/23/03 09:28


:eek:

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 08:56 PM
After reading the next article, the one preceding doesn't sound as bad ..... :eek:


Ohio Funeral Home to Close Amid Probe

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030623%2F224422117.htm&sc=1110

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - The operator of a funeral home where eight decomposing bodies were found agreed to temporarily shut down the business, the mayor's office said Monday.

Sherrill-Harden Funeral Home will close Wednesday. Mayor Jack Ford asked owner Henry Harden to stop operating while investigators look into what happened, said Megan Vahey, the mayor's spokeswoman.

The eight embalmed bodies apparently had been left in the funeral home's garage and back room over the past few months, and some had been mauled by rodents, officials said.

DNA tests were planned to determine the identities of the bodies.


The funeral home was searched Friday after authorities received at least two anonymous tips, including one from someone who identified himself or herself as a funeral home employee, according to Ford.


Harden had not returned any of several messages seeking comment Monday.


No charges have been filed.



06/23/03 22:44

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 08:59 PM
63% of Americans Can't Do It.

Can You?


Nearly two-thirds of all Americans cannot name just one Supreme Court justice, according to a survey of 1,000 adults conducted by www.FindLaw.com.

Before you scroll and find out the names of all nine justices, try to name one of them. Less than 1 percent of Americans can name all nine.

Of the 35 percent who were able to name one of these powerful judges
-- after all, they did determine the outcome of the 2000 election -- these are the justices they most frequently identified in descending order:

Sandra Day O'Connor: 25 percent

Clarence Thomas: 21 percent

William Rehnquist: 10 percent

Antonin Scalia: 9 percent

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: 9 percent

David Souter: 4 percent

Anthony Kennedy: 4 percent

Stephen Breyer: 2 percent

John Paul Stevens: 1 percent


"The results of the survey are disappointing, but not surprising," Stephen Presser, a professor at the Northwestern University School of Law, told FindLaw.com. "I suspect that the American public generally believes that it doesn't really matter much who serves on the Supreme Court, because they believe the Court is objectively applying the Constitution and laws when it makes a decision. The truth of the matter is, it makes an enormous amount of difference who serves on the Court. Our political parties are very much divided over whether judges should passively follow the law or legislate from the bench, with President Bush committed to appointing judges who will promise not to legislate from the bench, and Senate Democrats committed to opposing his nominees. This is an issue that ought to be of great concern to the public, but really hasn't attracted much attention."




The Supreme Court has ruled that telemarketers can be prosecuted for fraud when they do THIS. Click to find out what it is.

www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/05/scotus.telemarketers/index.html

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 09:00 PM
Man Charged With Tossing Baby Out Window


PEEKSKILL, N.Y. (AP) - A man was arrested Monday and charged with tossing his baby daughter out a seventh-floor apartment window, police said.

The 10-month-old girl survived the 80-foot fall, crashing through several tree branches before landing on the ground. She suffered only cuts and bruises.

Police said Willie Williams barged into his ex-girlfriend's apartment late Saturday in a bid to persuade her to get back together with him.

Police said they argued and Williams dangled the baby out a window. The mother called 911 and Williams dropped the girl, police said.

``Oh, my God!'' police quoted the mother as telling the 911 operator. ``He killed my baby.''


Williams then left the apartment, grabbed the baby and drove her to a nearby hospital.


Williams was charged with attempted murder, assault and unlawful imprisonment. He was in jail awaiting arraignment late Monday. It was unclear whether he had retained a lawyer.



06/23/03 21:47

Jolie Rouge
06-23-2003, 09:09 PM
The duck that should have ducked


VIRGINIA, Minnesota (AP) -- This is hardly a lame duck.

A mallard swimming on Silver Lake isn't letting a dart in its head stop it from eating, swimming, socializing or paddling away from rescue attempts.

Authorities don't know who shot the duck with a metal blowgun dart, but the bird hasn't been able to remove the shaft from its left cheek behind its bill.

Department of Natural Resources personnel tried without success Monday to capture the mallard, an agency spokeswoman said. The wound caused by the dart isn't infected, and the duck is swimming and eating, she said.

The Mesabi Humane Society has received several calls about the duck, said Mary Peliska, executive director, and animal control officers also have been checking on the duck.

"You just want to pull it out," she said of the dart. "You have to catch the duck first. They go fast."

Widgetsx3
06-23-2003, 09:34 PM
Toe Wrestlers Gather for World Championship


Jun 23, 9:28 am ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Competitors from around the globe will be on their toes when the 10th annual World Toe Wrestling Championship gets underway in Britain Saturday.
More than 100 contestants from America, Australia and Canada will lock toes in a English pub -- Ye Olde Royal Oak Inn, Wetton, in the English Midlands.

Competitors have to force over an opponent's foot on a "toe-dium" in the best of three "toe-downs." If a competitor is in too much pain he can give in by calling out the words "Toe Much."

According to the championship's Web site -- www.worldtoewrestling.org -- no steroids or other artificial stimulants are permitted, apart from tobacco and alcohol.

The current Men's World Champion is Alan "Nasty" Nash the Dominator, while Women's Champion World Karen "Kamikaze" Davies is seeking to win a fifth successive title.

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 01:38 PM
'Survivor's' Heidi Tells Nauseating Tale

Heidi Strobel almost died.

The beautiful and sexy "Survivor: The Amazon" alum who will make an even bigger name for herself posing nude for Playboy magazine, says she barely escaped the jungle with her life. The tale that Strobel reveals in a series of interviews with Ozarks Newsstand and The New York Post's Page Six gossip column will turn your stomach.

When Strobel straggled out of the Amazon, the marathon runner weighed a meager 86 pounds. Her stomach and intestines were infected with parasites. A tarantula bite on her left knee created an open wound that oozed pus. "I had holes in my knee, and there was stuff oozing out of it," the 24-year-old told Page Six columnist Richard Johnson. "I couldn't walk. It was very, very gross." When Strobel returned to her teaching job, the students weren't teasing her about taking off her shirt in an attempt to get food. "They saw me passing out at school and throwing up blood. They knew I was very sick." While her hair didn't fall out, she said it did snap off--something she blames on poor nutrition. "It doesn't take long for the body to begin to deteriorate, and then you have no strength left," she told Ozarks Newsstand. What was the best part of coming home and getting well? Eating Hip Pocket pizza. "Hip Pocket is my favorite pizza in all the world, and it was so good to have one again," she told Ozarks Newsstand. "You've been so hungry so long, that you can't get over that feeling for a long time."

"I told my students don't do what I do, but believe what I do. Mentally, always try to be a better person than the day before," she told Ozarks Newsstand. "Every day we would start class by saying what are we going to do today, and they'd know the answer, we're going to be a better person than yesterday. The kids start believing that, and that's what I want them to believe. I want them to be people that believe in themselves and won't give up. People who say I'm not a role model don't really know me."

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 01:45 PM
A Favorite Best-Selling Novelist Dies

Leon Uris, the man who wrote "Exodus," "Battle Cry," "Trinity," "QBVII," and 10 other novels died on Saturday of heart and kidney failure in his home on New York's Shelter Island. He was 78.

Known for his assiduous and extensive research, Uris drew on his own experiences and natural sense of adventure to produce his lengthy and richly detailed stories of war, salvation, and heroism. "Exodus" told of the Arab-Israeli wars, while "Trinity" explored the conflict in Northern Ireland. Published in 1958 and 1976 respectively, the books' messages seem as relevant today as they did all those decades ago. The Associated Press describes Uris as "energetic and unafraid" and "as much an adventurer as a writer, traveling tirelessly and sometimes risking his life."

Born in 1924 in Baltimore, Md., Uris was the son of a Russian immigrant who grew up in Norfolk, Va. "I used to think of myself as a very sad little Jewish boy, isolated in a Southern town, undersized, asthmatic," Uris once told AP. "When I read all my correspondence again, I realized I was a hustler. I was tough. I used everything to my advantage. I could be very ruthless. I hurt a lot of people on the way up." His final book, "O'Hara's Choice," will be published in October. It tells the history of the Marine Corps and its struggle to expand after the Civil War.

:(

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 01:46 PM
Find out the embarrassing reason the Department of Education pulled back its summer reading list for kids.

www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/06/05/reading.list.ap/index.html

Thursday, June 5, 2003 Posted: 9:57 AM EDT (1357 GMT)




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RELATED
• Education Department

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Education Department pulled its summer reading list from its Web site after learning the list misspelled and misidentified book titles and authors. Librarians also said the list was outdated.

The list included children's classics such as Beverly Cleary's "Ramona the Brave," Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and George Orwell's "Animal Farm." But librarians say it recommends few titles from the last decade.

"I don't know if someone pulled out a really old bibliography from a file cabinet somewhere," Nancy Margolin, a media specialist at McDougle Elementary School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said Wednesday. "These don't seem like the kinds of lists that would be provided by librarians."

Margolin added that because of the dated nature of many books, the suggested titles "are not as reflective of a diverse population."

Department spokesman Dan Langan said "proofreading and clerical errors" led to the misprints.

"The minute this was called to our attention, we immediately took action," he said.

The department is working to put a corrected list back on the Web site, but Langan said he did not know when that would happen or whether the content would be updated.

The department compiled the list from elementary and middle school specialists from Atlanta, Georgia, public schools. More than 40,000 students in the Atlanta school district are participating in the department's "No Child Left Behind" reading program this summer.

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 01:52 PM
Martha Stewart's Unusual Sunday Visit

Never let it be said that Martha Stewart forgets her friends in bad times. The queen of crafts, who will face trial on January 12 on insider stock trading charges, paid a Sunday evening visit to the elderly parents of ImClone founder Sam Waksal, reports The New York Post. Sam has been sentenced to seven years, three months in the slammer for his role in the ImClone stock trading scandal. It's her friendship with the Waksals that has led her to the "brink of disaster," notes The Post.

Driving a Toyota Land Cruiser, she arrived at the East Hampton home of Sabina and Jack Waksal on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. wearing a black sweater, slacks, and flip-flops. (Sabina is 83 and Jack is 80.) Martha tried hard to avoid the cameras, even going so far as to pull down the visor while a friend tried to drape a jacket over her head. Meanwhile, it seems that Sam, who plead guilty to eight federal counts including securities fraud and obstruction, will be able to delay his prison start date by three weeks so he can complete some dental work for an inflamed and decayed molar. That means he will surrender to authorities on July 23. Martha faces five charges stemming from her sale of 4,000 ImClone shares.

According to a Gallup poll taken on June 9-10, only 34 percent of the American public has any sympathy at all for Martha Stewart. Most Americans also think she's guilty. But they still want to buy her stuff. Of the 43 percent of Americans who report having bought Martha Stewart products, fully 78 percent tell Gallup they are no less likely now to buy her products.


Martha's lawyers hint at her defense.

Do you think this will work?

http://money.cnn.com/2003/06/10/news/companies/martha_defense/index.htm

Stewart's attorneys post statement on Web site that may preview defense strategy.
June 10, 2003: 1:11 PM EDT



NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Martha Stewart's attorneys have presented a series of arguments on behalf of their client on her Web site, statements that may give a partial preview of her defense of federal charges filed against her last week.



CNNfn's Mary Snow takes a look at the arguments presented by Martha Stewart's lawyers on her Web site.


Play video
(Real or Windows Media)



On the Web site Marthatalks.com, the two attorneys, Robert Morvillo and John Tigue, say they are correcting "frequent errors" in media reports about Stewart in the wake of her indictment. The posting from the lawyers is dated Tuesday.

The indictment alleges obstruction of justice by Stewart in the probe of her sale of nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems (IMCLE: Research, Estimates) stock in December of 2001, just before news was released that the Food and Drug Administration had rejected an application involving the biotech company's proposed cancer-fighting drug Erbitux. ImClone's CEO Sam Waksal, a friend of Stewart, has pled guilty to insider trading charges himself, and is due to be sentenced in his case Tuesday.

Stewart appeared in court last Wednesday. She was fingerprinted and photographed by law enforcement officers Monday. The photographs of the well-known domestic style trendsetter will not be released to the public.

Stewart's lawyers argue that their client's indictment does not allege she was provided inside information by Waksal about ImClone's application for its cancer drug Erbitux -- or about anything else. It also argues that the indictment does not allege that Martha Stewart knew the reason why Waksal placed an order to sell ImClone shares, only that he was trying to sell. It also points out that Stewart is not facing criminal charges of insider trading.

"Even though insider trading was the subject of the criminal investigation that she supposedly obstructed, the insider trading charge is included only in the civil complaint," said the lawyer's statement.

The attorneys also point out that she is not charged with perjury in the case.

"Martha did not produce an inaccurate telephone log to government investigators," said the lawyer's statement. "The government acknowledges that she 'temporarily' made changes to the log and then 'directed her assistant to return the message to its original wording.'"

Finally the lawyers point out that Stewart and members of the Waksal family were not the only ones to sell ImClone shares in advance of the official announcement about FDA action on Erbitux.

"On that day, (Dec. 27, 2001) more than 7.7 million shares were traded and the price fell from $63.49 at the opening of trading to $58.30 at the close of trading," said the lawyers.

Stewart started the Web site last week the day after the indictment, using it to proclaim her innocence and thank her supporters.

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 01:54 PM
What do Martha Stewart, Ken Lay and Saddam Hussein all have in common?

They're all in the cards.


Corporate crooks in the cards : Web site launches deck of cards featuring notorious executives, officials.

June 19, 2003: 11:08 AM EDT

http://money.cnn.com/2003/06/18/news/funny/deck/index.htm


NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A small outfit in Atlanta, capitalizing on the Pentagon's now famous deck of cards featuring the most wanted outlaw Iraqis, is selling a deck of cards featuring some of the most notorious of America's latest crop of corporate villains.

"Sales are well beyond our expectations," said Douglas Quinby, one of the founders of www.thestackeddeck.com

The deck, which sells for $12.95, features a variety of executives and officials who have been in the news recently, including Enron ex-CEO Ken Lay (Ace of Spades), Martha Stewart (Queen of Hearts), and ex-SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt (Joker).

Some of the biggest customers have been employees at the scandalized companies, Quinby said. The deck was officially launched early this month.

Quinby said that given the cards' early success, the outfit may update the deck or develop new products with similar themes.

"Unfortunately, there's lots of fodder for future decks," he said.

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 02:08 PM
Lottery Draws Same Number Twice in 1 Day

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1120&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030624%2F083333740.htm&sc=1120

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Pennsylvania lottery hit the same number twice in its ``Big 4'' drawings, making 3-1-9-9 a very lucky number indeed for anyone who picked it for both the midday and evening drawings.

Those four numbers were randomly generated by a computer for the Monday midday drawing and then also selected in the traditional random pingpong ball drawing in the evening.

Bill Powell, a lottery representative, said it was the first time the same four numbers have appeared during the same day in Pennsylvania, but it has occurred elsewhere.

Powell noted that the drawing of a particular set of numbers in the midday drawing has no effect on the possibility of those numbers being picked later. The odds of any four numbers being picked in the Big 4 drawing is 1 in 10,000.


``It's completely random,'' he said. ``The balls do not have a memory.'' The Pennsylvania Big 4 game paid 225 winners a total of $49,600 for the afternoon drawing and 1,887 winners a total of $759,200 in the evening.



06/24/03 08:32

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 02:10 PM
Sweden Bans Import of Alcohol Ice Pops
By TOMMY GRANDELL


STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Vodka-flavored ice pops won't be available on store shelves in Sweden after regulators said Tuesday they were worried that young kids might eat them.

The pops - made by Hilvaranbeek, Netherlands-based Evolution Enterprise - are water-based and come in three flavors: tequila, vodka and a cocktail blend.

But the company said it doesn't target the treats, called Freaky Ice, toward anyone who isn't of legal drinking age.

``We don't want to go to supermarkets, we don't want to sell them in gas stations,'' a company spokeswoman who refused to give her name said.


Instead, the company markets them to clubs and bars and discos in 30 countries, including Spain, Malta, France and Britain.


According to Laekemedelsverket, the Swedish medical products agency, a request to import and sell the ice pops, which have nearly 2 fluid ounces of alcohol in each serving, was denied.


``There is a risk that minors will be tempted to buy the ice cream, which is considered improper out of a public health perspective,'' agency spokeswoman Conny Eklund said.


In neighboring Denmark, the ice pops also have caused a stir.


Last month, a Danish importer said he would launch Freaky Ice in discos and bars, but consumer organizations and the government's Health Board criticized the product claiming it was marketing a product containing alcohol as something harmless.


There are no immediate plans in Denmark to ban such products.


Swedish law prohibits the sale of any alcoholic products to anyone younger than 18, and doesn't permit restaurants or shops to sell special items, like alcohol-flavored ice cream or candy, on a limited scale.



06/24/03 10:04



{{Boy, would sure make it easier to get them to take an afternoon nap,, tho' }} ;)

Widgetsx3
06-24-2003, 08:37 PM
TAMPA, Fla., June 23 (Reuters) - Eight people were slightly
injured on Monday when passengers, apparently alarmed by seeing
flames coming from an engine, inflated emergency slides and
evacuated a plane at the Tampa airport, airline and fire rescue
officials said. The plane, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 bound
for Atlanta with 167 passengers on board, was pushing back from
the gate at Tampa International Airport when it experienced what
is known as a "hot start," said Delta spokeswoman Peggy Estes.
Hot start is when fuel condensation forms overnight on an engine
and a flame is briefly emitted when it is fired up for the first
flight of the day, she said. "Initial reports indicated that
some passengers may have seen flames from (an) engine and some
elected to open the emergency exits, automatically deploying
chutes," Estes said in e-mailed comments. Some of the passengers
evacuated through chutes, while the rest followed flight
attendants' instructions and got out through the normal exits,
she said. Tampa Fire Rescue spokesman Capt. Bill Wade said eight
people were taken to a hospital, mostly with soreness, bumps and
bruises from landing hard after sliding down the chutes, but
there were no life-threatening injuries.

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 09:10 PM
Couple Exchanges Wedding Vows Under Water


BOMBAY (Reuters) - An Indian couple married under water in a swimming pool on Monday in a Hindu ceremony lasting 36 minutes and 33 seconds, hoping to set a world endurance record.

Chandan Thakoor, 33, and his wife Dipti, 31, who got engaged in mid-air a fortnight ago, exchanged their vows wearing scuba gear over their traditional wedding clothes 12 feet under water in a Bombay suburban pool.

"The wedding was like our dream coming true," Chandan, now dressed in a gray suit and a red tie, told a post-ceremony news conference.

The happy couple said they had felt no fear despite staying submerged for more than half an hour, but the water pressure had left them feeling a little giddy and breathless.


"It was an emotional moment for us," bride Dipti said. "There was excitement and a great feeling that we had set out to accomplish a feat and we had succeeded."


Diving instructor Ravi Kulkarni, 35, who had trained the couple for more than a month before the big day, gave a commentary on the ceremony for nearly 500 invitees, and for dozens of press photographers and television cameramen.


The bride's father was among relatives who entered the water with the officiating Hindu priest to assist the couple, their clothes weighted down to hold their shape.


The pool was decorated to resemble a temple with orchids and marigolds and intricately carved pillars straight from a Bollywood film set.



06/24/03 07:42

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 09:12 PM
The Right Combination Is Key to CIA Job Offer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Know your way around a lock? The CIA wants you.

"The Central Intelligence Agency is seeking locksmiths to work with the best minds in the country while performing a mission critical to our nation," the CIA said in a recent job posting on its Web site www.cia.gov.

Locksmiths, who in spy agency lingo are called technical operations officers, are needed for such tasks as to "familiarize non-technical people with technical capabilities; do hands-on work; and travel worldwide."

The skill to fabricate lock parts was an asset for prospective CIA locksmiths.


"Knowledge of electronic and manual safe lock servicing, electricity, and alarms is ideal. Knowing how to operate machinery to fabricate lock parts and tools will be beneficial," the CIA job posting said.


Applicants must be willing to travel domestically and overseas.


"There is a wide range of requirements that the agency would have for which individuals with locksmith capabilities could be utilized, but what they do and how they do it is not something we're going to be able to discuss publicly," CIA spokesman Tom Crispell said.



06/24/03 07:41

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 09:15 PM
. "Initial reports indicated that some passengers may have seen flames from (an) engine and some elected to open the emergency exits, automatically deploying chutes,"


hhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm .... seems logical

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 09:16 PM
Woman Tries to Slap Holidaying Ex-Dictator Pinochet



SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - A protester posing as an admirer tried to slap former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in the face as he was holidaying in northern Chile on Monday, a witness said.

Pinochet, 87, has been vacationing for the past 12 days in Iquique, where a woman approached his entourage on a street on Monday. When she got close enough, she raised her hand to slap him but Pinochet was held back by bodyguards, Aldo Solimano, a witness, told Reuters.

As police dragged her away, she screamed "murderer" and other insults at him, accusing him of ordering the death of her brother in 1973.

Some 3,000 people, mostly leftists, were killed or "disappeared" by the military under Pinochet, who is accused of widespread human rights violations during his 1973-1990 rule.


Chilean courts found Pinochet unfit to stand trial due to poor health last year on charges of human rights violations.


He was limping but relaxed in recent television shots from Iquique, showing him shopping and visiting military friends.



06/24/03 07:41

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 09:19 PM
Washington as Whiskey-Maker: Digging His Distillery
By Deborah Zabarenko

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030624%2F074132301.htm&sc=reodd

MOUNT VERNON, Va. (Reuters) - George Washington made whiskey here.

As America's first president and one of its canniest early entrepreneurs, Washington liked a sip of cinnamon whiskey -- and he distilled his own. More than that, he started a thriving business selling a raw, clear liquor made from rye and corn.

"Two hundred gallons of Whiskey will be ready this day for your call, and the sooner it is taken the better, as the demand for this article (in these parts) is brisk," Washington wrote in a letter to his nephew in October 1799.

At its peak, the distillery produced 11,000 gallons (50,010 liters) of liquor, which fetched the then-astronomical sum of $7,500. After Washington's death late in 1799, the distillery passed to his nephew Lawrence Lewis, who appeared to have less success with it. By 1815, the building was gone.


Folks around Washington's estate at Mount Vernon always knew there was a distillery on the property when he was alive, and archaeologists uncovered its location in 1932. Now scholars are digging at the site of the liquor-making operation, hoping to learn enough to rebuild it and start making whiskey again.


About three miles from Washington's elegant, idiosyncratic mansion at Mount Vernon, workers in shorts, T-shirts and thin coatings of mud have been scraping the dirt around the distillery's old foundation stones.


CONNOISSEURS OF DIRT


"We are connoisseurs of dirt," said Laura Seifert, one of the project's crew chiefs, on a recent sweltering day. Around her, a dozen or so diggers use sharpened trowels to pare away the layers of earth, one bucket at a time, until they get down to the layers that would have been in place around 1799.


Of particular interest are patches where the dirt appears burned or scorched, which could mean they were just beneath a spot where one of five stills sat in Washington's day.


The dirt that is scraped away is sifted for any significant objects -- an amber-colored bottle from the 1930s was a prized find -- before being carted to a mound at the side of the site, waiting to be redeposited during reconstruction.


That could be fairly soon, according to Mount Vernon's chief archaeologist, Esther White. Investigation of the site began in 1999 and is expected to conclude this November, with findings expected to be presented to architects so they can work out how to rebuild the place.


Dennis Pogue, Mount Vernon's associate director for preservation, said reconstruction might be completed by 2006. "If you build a stone building and you get five copper pot stills, where are you going to put them?" White asked rhetorically. "Those are the kinds of details that...the restoration staff need in order to be able to put the building back, and that our interpreters will need to be able to go into the building in costume and start distilling."


The spirits they expect to distil, if the required permits are approved, would not be for sale but serve as part of a living history exhibition. More on the distillery dig is online at www.archeology.org/interactive/mtvernon/index.html.


WHISKEY AND RUM


Still, there is prime liquor aging in barrels even now at Mount Vernon. The Distilled Spirits Council, a U.S. liquor industry group that has donated $1.2 million to the distillery project, arranged to have barrels of whiskey and rum aged on the premises and bottled.


Not for sale to the public, a batch of these liquors brought a total of $107,000 at auction last year, with this amount added to the Mount Vernon distillery effort. The industry group got involved in part to celebrate George Washington the entrepreneur, according to its president Peter Cressy.


"In the history books, he too often pales beside the lasting legacy of (Thomas) Jefferson, when in terms of all the interesting entrepreneurial things, Jefferson was almost a dilettante compared to Washington," Cressy said. The location of the modern liquor barrels is secret, but some of these liquors were offered to visitors recently to be savored on the mansion's piazza overlooking the Potomac River as a ferocious thunderstorm moved into the area.


After aging in charred barrels, these rums and whiskeys took on a mellow golden color and a smooth taste despite their high alcoholic content, up to 128 proof in one case. They were a far cry from the unrefined spirits Washington and his guests and customers might have enjoyed, White said. "Washington was making what today would be called rye whiskey," White said. "It was about 60 percent rye, 35 percent corn and about five percent malted barley." Though it was probably distilled several times, White said modern distillers would consider it "white lightning, mad dog, moonshine" -- clear, young and sharp-tasting.


"We do think that he drank his own," she said in an interview. "They flavored quite a bit of the whiskey and we know that when Washington died in 1799 there was cinnamon whiskey stored in the cellar of Mount Vernon."



06/24/03 07:40

Jolie Rouge
06-24-2003, 09:21 PM
Great White Shark Gatecrashes Tuna Dinner Party



SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Great White Shark has gatecrashed a tuna research project in Australia, mysteriously appearing inside a fishing pen containing around 100 tuna.

The 13-foot shark, weighing about 1,500 pounds, is thought to have either bitten its way into the tuna pond or leapt a 7.5 foot electrified fence while chasing a seal last Thursday.

Scientists at the pen off the coast of the South Australian tuna fishing town of Port Lincoln said Tuesday the shark had swum contently around the pen, but they were not sure how the tuna felt about their uninvited guest.

A head count of the tuna showed two had disappeared.


"When the shark swims to the surface the tuna swim to the bottom of the net and vice versa," said a spokesman for the South Australian Research Development Institute.


The scientists, who are studying tuna feeding, said they eventually coaxed the Great White from the cage by using a net to funnel it out through underwater gates.



06/24/03 07:39

janelle
06-24-2003, 11:27 PM
I don't have a newspaper to relate this story but everyone in Hutchinson, KS knows it happened.

They had a large field of prairie dogs where they wanted to build a shopping center. A hew and cry went up from the enviormentalists about preserving the prairie dogs and the shopping center would kill them off. So the town gathered the money together to relocate the prairie dogs to other quarters so they wouldn't be harmed and live to see another day. It was so touted within the enviormental circles that it even got a big spread in National Geographic. Yeah, how wonderful, what a lovely ending.

The only thing was (and National Geographic never published) is the badgers in the prairie dogs' new home ate all the prairie dogs. Thanks for the vittles guys. Sad but true. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 11:34 AM
poor babies.

Reminds me of the time the PETA-types went to a Mink ranch and released 25,000 caged minks into "the wild" ... All they did was bust open the cages and toss the animals into the snow. Most of the minks didn't even get off the property, they got into fights with each other or froze to death, some few were even runover by their "liberaters" as the fools drove away. Some were found in the woods nearby, starving or torn up by other predators; some found along the highways.

Sad, very sad ...

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 11:35 AM
Shipwrecked Dad, Daughter Swim 5 Hours

He is 42. She is 11.

He thought poisonous gases were spreading across Florida and taking his daughter out to sea was the only way to save her. She did as she was told.

But when the 8-foot boat in which Benjamin Dilalla and his daughter, Celeste, were sailing capsized in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, they had to swim for their lives. For five hours.

The two set sail on Sunday evening and spent the night in the boat. But when they woke up on Monday morning, the little boat was taking on water. When it capsized, they hung onto the hull and when they spotted land in the distance, they started swimming, reports The Associated Press. It took them five hours to reach the shore. It was there they were found, collapsed on Floridana Beach in Brevard County. They were rushed to the hospital and other than suffering from hypothermia, the two are in remarkably good condition.

"I did not expect to take another breath," said the survivor of a shipwreck earlier this month off the Oregon coast. Find out his dramatic story.

Now the father is undergoing a psychological evaluation. "He has some mental health or behavioral issues and apparently had stopped taking his medication," Brevard County Sheriff's Agent Gary Harrell told the Orlando Sentinel. The girl is now in the custody of Florida's Department of Children and Families.

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 11:38 AM
Ireland's foray into reality TV put 10 folks on a ship.

All was well with "Cabin Fever" until the ship sank.

Thursday, June 19, 2003 Posted: 11:58 AM EDT



LONDON, England (Hollywood Reporter) -- Ireland's state broadcaster said Wednesday it is reviewing the future of its proposed international reality format "Cabin Fever" after the ship on which the show was filming sank with the cast and crew on board. And though the cast of 10 shipmates was uninjured, they are understood to have since consulted with lawyers.

RTE's elimination-style reality show was two weeks into a planned broadcast run of eight weeks when the accident occurred Friday.

The shipmates were forced to wade, walk and swim to the shore of a nearby island after the 90-foot, two-masted schooner hit rocks and went down off the northwest coast of Donegal, Ireland. Members of the crew remained with the ship but had to be winched to safety by helicopter.

"The future of the program is being reviewed by RTE in consultation with the show's 10 contestants," reps for the broadcaster said, but they conceded that early plans to relaunch the show using another ship are unlikely. "This was a freak accident. We will review the options and make an announcement when we know what is going to happen."

RTE had hoped to use the domestic success of the show to launch the format internationally. Broadcasters that took the format would have been able to use the specially constructed ship, which was fitted with cameras, lights and broadcasting equipment.

All that now remains of the multimillion-dollar boat, however, is a shattered underwater wreck and floating debris. The accident is the subject of an inquiry by Irish marine investigators.

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 11:53 AM
Do This Before Bedtime. You Won't Sleep

If you're having trouble falling asleep at night, your passion for your computer could be to blame. :eek:

According to researchers from the Akita University School of Medicine in Akita, Japan doing work on a computer or playing video games right before bedtime can keep you awake--for hours. The bright light of the computer screen is to blame for this. That light can actually alter your biological clock and suppress the natural production of melatonin that governs your normal sleep-wake cycle. Sleep problems ensue when melatonin declines and exposure to light can cause it to dip.

The study:

The Japanese researchers tested the effect of late-night computer use on melatonin production, as well as other bodily functions that are known to change when we sleep, such as temperature and heart rate. For this experiment, seven male computer users with an average age of 25 awakened between 8 and 9 a.m. and went to bed--without using the computer--between midnight and 1 a.m. for one week. At the end of that week, they used the computer--either playing a video game or solving math problems--with a bright or dark display monitor on alternating nights between 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. And then they went to bed.

The results:

The brightness of the computer screen and the type of task performed significantly affected the melatonin production. The brighter the screen and the more exciting the task, the lower the melatonin. Body temperature, which normally drops at night, also rose. The takeaway: Use the computer earlier in the evening, and it will be easier to fall asleep. The study findings were published in Journal of Applied Physiology.

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 12:02 PM
Eminem Dangles Doll in Jackson Imitation


LONDON (AP) - The real Slim Shady stood up and made fun of Michael Jackson by dangling a baby doll over a hotel balcony. Rapper Eminem also wore a surgical mask over his face Tuesday in an obvious swipe at Jackson, who dangled his baby, Prince Michael II, over a balcony railing in Berlin in November.

Eminem, who was staying at the Art House Hotel in Glasgow, went further than Jackson by tossing the doll into the air and catching it. ``Empersonator,'' said a headline in the Daily Mirror tabloid, which published three photos. The New York Post's front page blared: ``Oh baby! Eminem does his best Jacko.''


Scotland's Daily Record tabloid said the incident occurred as fans and photographers gathered outside the hotel before Eminem's concert in the city Tuesday. Eminem, whose nickname is Slim Shady, is on a British tour but has kept a low-profile between shows. The Daily Record said he took over 50 rooms at the hotel for his entourage.



06/25/03 11:14

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 12:04 PM
Nude Dancers Ad Was Misleading?


LONDON (Reuters) - The leaflet promoting a concert in Leeds promised naked dancers -- but failed to deliver. In the event, the dancers were clothed, there was no nudity, and one unhappy customer decided to protest.

Wednesday, Britain's advertising watchdog backed the complaint.

The leaflet was promoting a performance at the Phoenix Dance Theater in Leeds, northern England, and showed two naked dancers leaping through the air, with two more such images on the inside pages.

But the complainant said this was misleading because the show did not include any nudity.


The Advertising Standards Authority agreed, saying: "readers were likely to expect that the performances contained naked dancers." It said in future advertisers using nude images should make it clear if performers were to be fully clothed.



06/25/03 08:12



:rolleyes: {{Talk about dumb lawsuits ...}}

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 12:04 PM
100 posts !!

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 12:05 PM
Mischievous Peter Rabbit Goes to Court

BEIJING (Reuters) - First he ate some lettuce and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes. And then he went to court.

Peter Rabbit, the mischievous little bunny who stole into the garden of the ruthless Mr McGregor and barely escaped alive, is at the center of a copyright infringement case in China, newspapers and officials said on Wednesday.

British publisher Frederick Warne, part of Penguin Group Inc, said the China Social Sciences Publishing House illegally used drawings of Peter in a Chinese version of the book, the official Guangming Daily newspaper reported on its Web site at www.gmw.com.cn.

But the defendant's lawyer said the copyright had long expired and its use of the illustrations was legal.


"According to Chinese laws, a copyright expires 50 years after the writer's death," said lawyer Dun Mingyue, hired by the Chinese publisher. A Beijing court would hear the case, but no date was given, he added.


Beatrix Potter, who created the watercolor and pen rabbit with the blue waistcoat a century ago, died in 1943.


All copies of the disputed volume were removed from bookstore shelves due to the disagreement, an official at the China Social Sciences Publishing House said.


Publishers and movie-makers have long been lured by China's potentially huge market, whose appetite for Western culture has surged with 20 years of market-driven reforms.


But foreign distributors have been hampered by rampant piracy and copyright infringement.



06/25/03 08:10

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 12:08 PM
Man Loses License for Driving Lawnmower Drunk


BERLIN (Reuters) - A German gardener has been fined and stripped of his license for driving his lawnmower while drunk, a court said Tuesday.

The court fined the 45-year-old man 400 euros ($460) and banned him from driving all vehicles, including his mower, for three months after police did a check on him as he was parking the vehicle, which has a maximum speed of four miles per hour.

Defense lawyer Stefan Deppe told Reuters his client would appeal. "The mower does not pose the remotest danger to the public and common sense should have been applied," he said.

Police breath-tested the gardener after detecting the smell of alcohol as he finished mowing a lawn for a client. "He said he'd had a bottle of wine," Deppe said.



06/25/03 08:14


{{ I beg to disagree with the Defense -- I know of two peole that lost limbs to "Drunken Mower" incidents -- and one who totalled her car after a man driving his mower while drunk ran into her, forcing her off the road into a ditch !}}

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 12:11 PM
Senate Mulls New Rule: Don't Take the Furniture

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Rules Committee moved closer on Tuesday to issuing this warning to lawmakers: Do not remove from the U.S. Capitol furniture, paintings and other historic items.

"We are not supposed to steal from the Capitol," Sen. Don Nickles, an Oklahoma Republican, said wryly after the panel sent the proposed rule to the full Senate for consideration.

"We're not supposed to, but it has been a regular practice over about 150 years," replied Chairman Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican.

Senate aides explained that lawmakers often manage to take home a piece of furniture for a discounted price after it has been declared surplus. Other times, items just seem to disappear.


Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, proposed the new rule that specifically tells lawmakers and others they may not remove any art and other listed historical items.


Lott applauded the measure and predicted the full Senate would approve it, saying: "There has been no real restraint. We want to make this what we think it is -- a living, working museum of American history," said Lott, adding he is considering proposing annual inventories.


"Most of the stuff is not worth having. The stuff in our offices is early junk, it's not antiques," Lott said. Much of "the good stuff," he said, is already gone.



06/25/03 08:05

janelle
06-25-2003, 05:06 PM
Originally posted by Jolie Rouge
Do This Before Bedtime. You Won't Sleep

If you're having trouble falling asleep at night, your passion for your computer could be to blame. :eek:

According to researchers from the Akita University School of Medicine in Akita, Japan doing work on a computer or playing video games right before bedtime can keep you awake--for hours. The bright light of the computer screen is to blame for this. That light can actually alter your biological clock and suppress the natural production of melatonin that governs your normal sleep-wake cycle. Sleep problems ensue when melatonin declines and exposure to light can cause it to dip.

The study:

The Japanese researchers tested the effect of late-night computer use on melatonin production, as well as other bodily functions that are known to change when we sleep, such as temperature and heart rate. For this experiment, seven male computer users with an average age of 25 awakened between 8 and 9 a.m. and went to bed--without using the computer--between midnight and 1 a.m. for one week. At the end of that week, they used the computer--either playing a video game or solving math problems--with a bright or dark display monitor on alternating nights between 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. And then they went to bed.

The results:

The brightness of the computer screen and the type of task performed significantly affected the melatonin production. The brighter the screen and the more exciting the task, the lower the melatonin. Body temperature, which normally drops at night, also rose. The takeaway: Use the computer earlier in the evening, and it will be easier to fall asleep. The study findings were published in Journal of Applied Physiology.


SSSHHHHHHHH, my hubby says I'm going down that road. He's usually right about things though. LOL

newwiccan
06-25-2003, 05:30 PM
Originally posted by Jolie Rouge
Man Loses License for Driving Lawnmower Drunk


BERLIN (Reuters) - A German gardener has been fined and stripped of his license for driving his lawnmower while drunk, a court said Tuesday.

The court fined the 45-year-old man 400 euros ($460) and banned him from driving all vehicles, including his mower, for three months after police did a check on him as he was parking the vehicle, which has a maximum speed of four miles per hour.

Defense lawyer Stefan Deppe told Reuters his client would appeal. "The mower does not pose the remotest danger to the public and common sense should have been applied," he said.

Police breath-tested the gardener after detecting the smell of alcohol as he finished mowing a lawn for a client. "He said he'd had a bottle of wine," Deppe said.



06/25/03 08:14


{{ I beg to disagree with the Defense -- I know of two peole that lost limbs to "Drunken Mower" incidents -- and one who totalled her car after a man driving his mower while drunk ran into her, forcing her off the road into a ditch !}}

This is the same country that allows drinking (2 beer limit I think) on lunch breaks and has beer vending machines in HOSPITALS and sells it at MCDONALDS. I'm surprised it hasn't happened more. :rolleyes:

Widgetsx3
06-25-2003, 06:13 PM
BEIJING (Reuters) - First he ate some lettuce and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes. And then he went to court.
Peter Rabbit, the mischievous little bunny who stole into the garden of the ruthless Mr McGregor and barely escaped alive, is at the center of a copyright infringement case in China, newspapers and officials said on Wednesday.

British publisher Frederick Warne, part of Penguin Group Inc, said the China Social Sciences Publishing House illegally used drawings of Peter in a Chinese version of the book, the official Guangming Daily newspaper reported on its Web site at www.gmw.com.cn.

But the defendant's lawyer said the copyright had long expired and its use of the illustrations was legal.

"According to Chinese laws, a copyright expires 50 years after the writer's death," said lawyer Dun Mingyue, hired by the Chinese publisher. A Beijing court would hear the case, but no date was given, he added.

Beatrix Potter, who created the watercolor and pen rabbit with the blue waistcoat a century ago, died in 1943.

All copies of the disputed volume were removed from bookstore shelves due to the disagreement, an official at the China Social Sciences Publishing House said.

Publishers and movie-makers have long been lured by China's potentially huge market, whose appetite for Western culture has surged with 20 years of market-driven reforms.

But foreign distributors have been hampered by rampant piracy and copyright infringement.

Widgetsx3
06-25-2003, 06:13 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former nun's prayers were answered last weekend when she won $1.5 million on an Atlantic City slot machine.
Catherine Foy, 56, who was once with the Sister Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, had spent only nine quarters, or $2.25, when the winning bells began ringing at Caesars Atlantic City.

"I always knew the Lord was going to help me pay my bills. I just didn't know that it would be so soon," Foy said in a statement issued by the makers of the slot machine, International Game Technology.

Philadelphia resident Foy has already received the first of 20 annual payments of $78,000, the company said.

The former lady of the cloth, now a social work supervisor for the city of Philadelphia, plans to pay off her bills, make a donation to the nuns and share the money with her family in the United States and in Cuba.

Widgetsx3
06-25-2003, 06:27 PM
BALA CYNWYD, Penn. (AP) - Gail Herrine approaches a large rectangular cage in her backyard, asks her "girls" if they'd like to come out and hoists the coop several inches off the ground.

Out stroll Dottie and Tina, two of Herrine's nine pet chickens. Herrine scoops up Tina, a Partridge Cochin born last year, gently strokes her black and red feathers and lets her loose to join her sister at the edge of the yard.

Dottie and Tina share space with seven chicks on Herrine's one-acre property in suburban Bala Cynwyd, just outside Philadelphia. Elsewhere, too, from Missouri to California, chickens are being moved from barnyards to backyards and raised as pets by animal lovers and organic gardeners alike.

"It's quite aesthetically pleasing to watch the chicken wander around the yard," said Herrine, 41. "My husband was not particularly interested in having chickens - he's away all day - but when he comes home and they're wandering around, there's something really cool about it, having fowl in the yard."


Julia Orth's family has raised 38 chickens in the last decade. They bought their first fowl - an adorable batch of day-old chicks - 10 years ago from a feed store near their Cedar Hill, Missouri, home. Orth, then 11, and her brother fed the "little fluffballs" each morning and cleaned their reddish-brown coop each afternoon. The chicks, virtually indistinguishable at birth, gradually developed individual personalities - and amusing habits as well.

They'd indulge in dust baths. They'd preen themselves and each other. They'd peck at Orth's braces. They'd even fall asleep as she sang to them.

"The best part was having a large group of animals and knowing them as individuals and being able to watch them interact one-on-one," said Orth, now 21.

Deborah Collier, also of Bala Cynwyd, says her eight chickens faithfully follow her around the yard.

"I know that people have this idea of chickens that they peck or they'll claw when you try to pick them up," Collier, 50, said. "But in reality, if they're raised with you, they're domesticated animals and they're really very sweet. They give back."

Widgetsx3
06-25-2003, 06:29 PM
RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) - A husband thinks he should be prosecuted for his wife's failure to stop driving while she breastfed their baby on the Ohio Turnpike.

Catherine Nicole Donkers, 29, of suburban Pittsburgh, is to go on trial Aug. 6 on misdemeanor charges of child endangering, failure to comply with the order of a police officer and several other driving infractions.

Her husband, Brad L. Barnhill, said he wants to be tried instead, citing religious beliefs.

"I'm responsible for what she does, and no one can punish her except me," said Barnhill, 46, a minister in the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty, an organization founded by Christopher Hansen of Henderson, Nev., in the late 1990s.

"That's a fantasy," prosecutor Victor V. Vigluicci said Tuesday. "I've never heard such a thing."

The couple has not yet hired an attorney, according to court records.

A truck driver called 911 on May 8 to report that he had seen a woman driving her car with a baby in her lap.

Asked why his wife did not stop to nurse the child, Barnhill said she didn't want to turn "a five-hour trip to Michigan into a seven-hour trip."

A conviction for misdemeanor child endangering carries maximum penalties of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

:eek:

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 08:35 PM
Man Charged With Murder After Nephew Dies

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030624%2F163649583.htm&sc=1110

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - A man was charged with murder for allegedly killing his nephew while demonstrating a bulletproof vest they believed could also stop knives.

Amando Aranda, 32, was jailed without bail in the death of Gabriel Aranda, 26. The two men shared a pint of whiskey, drank beer and smoked marijuana before staging the demonstration Friday for a teenager, authorities said.

Aranda took a long kitchen knife and stabbed his nephew in the chest, penetrating his heart, police said. `The suspect and victim were trying to demonstrate their belief that this type of protective vest could withstand a knife attack,'' police spokesman Steve Davis said.

``Obviously, that was incorrect.''



06/24/03 16:36

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 09:08 PM
Deflation in Action? Greenspan Bio in 98-Cent Bin

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Deflation has been on the mind of the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman recently, and an acclaimed biography of Fed chief Alan Greenspan is a good example. The 2001 paperback edition of the book "Maestro: Greenspan's Fed and the American Boom" by Bob Woodward, in "like new" condition, was offered on Monday for just 99 cents by an Amazon.com used book affiliate.

But by Tuesday, the low price for the New York Times bestseller had slipped another 1 percent, to 98 cents. That is just the kind of crippling downward spiral in prices the Fed has started to worry about.

The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee was meeting in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday amid concerns that U.S. interest rates may need to drop further to help stop prices from falling across the board, a phenomenon known as deflation.


Meanwhile, in the new book market, the soft-cover edition of "Maestro" from Touchstone Books lists for $14.00. The price on Amazon.com is $11.20, and others have new paperback editions as low as $4.44.


But for the ultra-frugal, a new large-print edition of the book, which the San Francisco Chronicle termed "a gripping ride through ... the curious mind of Greenspan," has deflated to just 75 cents. Shipping and handling not included.



06/25/03 08:02

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 09:16 PM
Pfizer, Tea Company Fight Over 'Joyagra'

;)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Joytime Herbs uses whimsical names such as Joyslim, Joyawake and Joysleep, meant to mirror the effects of its teas.

But Pfizer isn't a bit happy with the Minneapolis company and its owner, Philip Jegede, for the name of a tea he introduced five months ago.

The pharmaceutical company filed a lawsuit June 18 in federal court in Minneapolis claiming Joyagra tea - which Jegede says ``helps with sexual energy for men and women'' - infringes and dilutes its trademark on Viagra, the popular anti-impotency drug.

``There is a possibility of causing confusion in the minds of men who use Viagra because the Joyagra tea bags are being marketed and sold as the No. 1 performance enhancement tea,'' said Pfizer spokesman Daniel Watts.


Pfizer is asking the court to prohibit Jegede from marketing the tea under the Joyagra name and is seeking damages.


Joyagra tea, already one of the company's best sellers, is sold for $11.99 for 25 bags and marketed to individuals and health food stores across the country, Jegede said. Joytime has a Web site called Joyagra.com that promotes and sells the tea, and contains testimonials.


Unlike Viagra, the tea isn't a drug. Jegede said the herbal tea is made from only natural ingredients.


Jegede said he will not stop selling Joyagra, and said Pfizer is a bully trying to put a small operator - his work force has ranged from two to seven workers - out of business.


He likened his situation to a trademark suit that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In that case, Victoria's Secret sued a Kentucky sex toy shop called Victor's Little Secret. The high court ruled in March that the similar name wasn't sufficient to hurt the image of Victoria's Secret.



06/25/03 18:12

Widgetsx3
06-25-2003, 09:19 PM
It was a nice gift -- but not "$450,000" nice. Contrary to earlier reports, Eminem did not play Sugar Daddy at a concert in suburban London Monday, when he randomly handed over a chain and pendant he was wearing -- originally estimated to be worth $450,000 -- to one of his fans, PEOPLE has learned.
True, the rapper did hand over a trinket to a young woman after announcing onstage that "I'm going to give this to the sexiest woman I see."

But a spokesperson for Eminem's label tells PEOPLE the pendant and chain is "actually worth about 300 pounds," or $460.

"He was making a joke," the rep adds.

As for the recipient -- a stunned girl standing in the front row -- her name still isn't known, but it's expected that she will be tracked down by British newshounds.

According to the BBC, one observer in the hall, Toby Friedner, said of the necklace, "It looked like a huge diamond-encrusted crucifix. ... The girl he gave it to was blond, pretty, wearing glasses and 18 to 20."

He added, "She was obviously shocked."

As for the rest of the concert, held in the Milton Keynes Bowl, the Financial Times' music critic Richard Milne said it began "promisingly," with a video montage of U.S. politicians, TV pundits and other "do-gooders" condemning Eminem's lyrics, but for the most part the music during the performance was so loud as to render the main attraction -- Eminem himself -- inaudible.

The review also said Eminem made his entrance on a Ferris wheel, as opposed to his usual props of a mask and chainsaw.

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 09:20 PM
Boom or Bust: Stocks & Playboy Models

In a "they-got-paid-for-this?" kind of study, researchers from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., have determined there is a definite link between the health of the U.S. economy and stock market and the type of woman pictured in Playboy centerfolds.

Call it the boom or bust theory.

After studying the faces and figures of the Playmates of the Year from 1960 to 2000, the hardworking researchers came to this conclusion: In boom economic times, men prefer softer, more vulnerable women. When the economy goes bust, those same men prefer stronger looking gals. (We know what you're thinking. You're wondering how you can do research like this and get paid for it. We're sorry. We have no clue.)


"In short, we want someone to have fun with when times are good, and we want someone to take care of us--and themselves--when times are bad," lead researcher Terry F. Pettijohn II told Reuters. He says his study is the first one to consider how social and economic conditions may have influenced the changes in body preferences. This was done through the annual "hard times measure" that tracked changes in U.S. statistics on unemployment, marriage, homicide, and other factors over the four decades studied. Then Professor Pettijohn--and a very lucky undergraduate assistant--precisely measured the key face and body dimensions of the Playboy models.

After all this work, the two concluded that when times were tough, the Playmates tended to be older, heavier, and taller with larger waists and bigger waist-to-hip ratios. They also had smaller eyes. When the economy was flush, the models were younger, shorter, and thinner and had smaller waists and bigger eyes.

The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society in Atlanta.

We have no doubt it was very well attended.

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 09:24 PM
Not to be outdone, researchers from Canada and Austria viewed 50 years of Playboy centerfolds and came to a totally different, but equally bizarre, conclusion.

Research says the Marilyn look is becoming a thing of the past.

www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/12/20/offbeat.study.playboy/index.html

LONDON, England -- A study of almost 50 years of Playboy centrefolds has revealed that the characteristic differences between men and women are becoming less pronounced.

Researchers at universities in Canada and Austria compared height, weight, bust, waist and hip measurements of 577 models from issues of the adult magazine dating from 1953 to 2001 and found they had become less shapely and more androgynous.

The findings, published in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), conclude that the trends were at odds with claims that centrefolds' body shapes were still more "hourglass" than "stick insects."

In the 1950s, for example, Marilyn Monroe epitomised the ideal woman with a voluptuous hourglass figure of 37-23-36. Yet by the 1960s, models like Twiggy had already slimmed down to 32-22-32. In the 1970s, the ideal body was typified by Jerry Hall, and in the 1980s by Cindy Crawford. Yet by the 1990s the controversial emaciated look of "heroin chic" made Kate Moss (33-23-35) famous.

A BMJ spokesman said: "All measures except weight showed significant temporal change. Over time, bust size and hip size decreased, while waist size increased. Measures of body shape followed the same trends: body mass index and bust:hip ratio decreased, while waist:hip ratio, waist:bust ratio, and androgyny index increased."

Martin Voracek, a research resident at the University of Vienna Medical School, in Austria, was part of the team that measured every curve and contour of hundreds of Playboy models. He told The Associated Press: "It's difficult to disentangle cause from effect. All I can say is that attractiveness is not that simple and is not constant over time. If Playboy didn't reflect ideals of attractiveness, they wouldn't still be around, so it must be that many men find this shape attractive."

In 2000, a British Medical Association report found that in 1950 the average woman weighed about eight-and-a-half stone and had a 24-inch waist. Now, she is more than 10 stone, with a 32-inch waist.

Adrian Furnham, a professor of psychology at London University who has conducted research on judgments of female attractiveness, told AP: "Some years ago Playboy was the touchstone, but there are now dozens of these things around. "You'd need a whole range of magazines from different countries which showed a consistent pattern. Then, I think, you could start worrying about an explanation, but until then it's just a bit of fun."

Playboy spokesman Bill Farley said: "As time has gone on and women have become more athletic, more in the business world and more inclined to put themselves through fitness regimes, their bodies have changed, and we reflect that as well. But I would think that no one with eyes to see would consider playmates to be androgynous."

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 09:28 PM
Trashy art exhibit lands in garbage
[size=1]Tuesday, June 24, 2003 Posted: 9:20 AM EDT[size]


BOULDER, Colorado (AP) -- It's art to some, yes, but apparently not to the custodian who threw away the newest exhibit at the Boulder Public Library.

After being pulled out of the garbage, "My Favorite Place to Walk in Boulder: Or Found Trash Objects" officially opened Friday at the downtown library. The display features common trash found by University of Colorado art students in otherwise scenic spots citywide.

"This is a slightly different kind of art," said Karen Ripley, director of cultural programs. "It's not meant to be beautiful."

One of the comments our maintenance guy made was that it smells," said Ripley, who saved the artwork. She said the odor could have been coming from a soggy brown leather clog found in a drinking fountain.

When the janitor dumped the display, there were no signs or barriers to indicate it was anything but what it looked like: a pile of rubbish, Ripley said.

Intended as a social commentary on ecology, the exhibit includes a green Frisbee, a plastic cookie cutter, a cigarette package and a drink coaster.

Jolie Rouge
06-25-2003, 09:38 PM
101 great-grandkids and counting
Monday, June 23, 2003 Posted: 2:35 PM EDT

Surrounded by pictures of her 12 children, 59 grandchildren, and 99 great-grandchildren, DuRussel holds her 100th great-grandchild.

www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/06/23/offbeat.101ggrandkids.ap/index.html

REESE, Michigan (AP) -- Family events are a full time job for Angeline DuRussel.

With 101 great-grandchildren and a 102nd on the way, the Bay City-area woman doesn't have time to do much else.

DuRussel, who turned 97 on Saturday, became a great-grandmother for the 101st time after the birth of her latest great-grandchild Sunday. Deborah Shamel, of Vassar, gave birth Sunday morning, according to Becky DuRussel, one of DuRussel's grandchildren.

Now that the latest baby has been born, the family is awaiting the next birth. Baby No. 102 is on the way, with a due date in September.

DuRussel's large number of descendants has not kept her from learning the names of all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Nor has it slowed her involvement in the family's graduation parties, weddings and reunions, said daughter-in-law Florine DuRussel, 70.

"If someone has a wedding, she is there," said Florine DuRussel. "If there is a baby shower, she is there."

janelle
06-25-2003, 10:43 PM
Originally posted by Jolie Rouge
101 great-grandkids and counting
Monday, June 23, 2003 Posted: 2:35 PM EDT

Surrounded by pictures of her 12 children, 59 grandchildren, and 99 great-grandchildren, DuRussel holds her 100th great-grandchild.

www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/06/23/offbeat.101ggrandkids.ap/index.html

REESE, Michigan (AP) -- Family events are a full time job for Angeline DuRussel.

With 101 great-grandchildren and a 102nd on the way, the Bay City-area woman doesn't have time to do much else.

DuRussel, who turned 97 on Saturday, became a great-grandmother for the 101st time after the birth of her latest great-grandchild Sunday. Deborah Shamel, of Vassar, gave birth Sunday morning, according to Becky DuRussel, one of DuRussel's grandchildren.

Now that the latest baby has been born, the family is awaiting the next birth. Baby No. 102 is on the way, with a due date in September.

DuRussel's large number of descendants has not kept her from learning the names of all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Nor has it slowed her involvement in the family's graduation parties, weddings and reunions, said daughter-in-law Florine DuRussel, 70.

"If someone has a wedding, she is there," said Florine DuRussel. "If there is a baby shower, she is there."

It doesn't say how many kids she had. Maybe 10 and they all had 10, etc, etc, etc. :confused:

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 11:55 AM
Oh No! Look Who's Naked In the Airport

It's YOU!

Or, it could be you soon.

The Transportation Security Administration is testing a new type of X-ray scanner that virtually strips away your clothing so the security screeners can determine at a glance if you're carrying a concealed weapon, reports The Associated Press. There's just one glitch. The view the screener gets is rather revealing, shall we say.

The problem is that this machine works too well. To demonstrate that, the very brave Susan Hallowell, director of the TSA security laboratory, threw her modesty out the window and stepped into the special X-ray booth so the world could see the results. "It does basically make you look fat and naked, but you see all this stuff," Hallowell admitted to AP. The "stuff" is the fake bomb and gun she was carrying under her clothing. The TSA wants to modify the machines so there is an electronic fig leaf that would make sensitive body parts fuzzy or even distort the image of the body so it's not quite so graphic. Randal Null, the agency's chief technology officer, told AP another option would be to restrict the screener to a booth so no passing peepers can see the image.

Pilot programs will be launched at several airports this year. The machine has already been tested with volunteers at Orlando International Airport, but the results were mixed. Some were uncomfortable with the technology, but other travelers said it was far nicer than having a screener pat them down. At least one person thinks we, the public, won't like this one bit. "The public is willing to accept a certain amount of scrutiny at the airport, but there are clearly limits to the degree of invasion that is acceptable," David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, told AP. "It's hard to understand why something this invasive is necessary."

Naked travelers? See how much of this woman's body is revealed--as well as the gun and bomb she is hiding under her skirt and blazer--when viewed by this new "backscatter" X-ray machine.

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/bigpic.jsp?photoid=20030625BBP108.jpg&this=0&searchpage=photosearch.jsp&cap=Susan+Hallowell&w=ap+or+reuters&max=8&first=&fs=&floc=wn-ns

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 12:29 PM
Biblical Weather: Some Kind of Warning?

We don't mean to cause a panic, but have you looked outside?

The weather is positively Old Testament in its wrath!

High Winds

Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee are being battered by wind gusts up to 65 mph, as well as large hail, lightning strikes, and heavy downpours of an inch or more. In a way, it's good news. The severe weather was also accompanied by a cold front that is making its way east.

Heat

The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory up and down East Coast. It's so blasted hot--the heat index in Washington, D.C. is 110 degrees on Thursday--that even actor Jack Nicholson soaked through his dress shirt while filming a new romantic comedy on the streets of New York City. Quick! Wardrobe! And it's so hot in Toronto, Ontario that the power grid is being seriously challenged.

Tornadoes

The National Weather Service reports 40 to 60 tornadoes--the kind that actually touched the ground--were spotted on Tuesday night in eastern South Dakota. The number of funnel clouds that stayed aloft were so numerous they couldn't be estimated by the NWS. Typically, only 25 to 30 twisters occur during an entire tornado season in South Dakota.

Torrential Rains and Floods

As much as three inches of rain per hour fell over parts of Iowa on Wednesday, causing local street flooding. In Bradenton, Florida, 35 to 40 homes were flooded on Monday after a levee broke along the Myakka River. Last week, 10 to 20 inches of rain fell in parts of the Tampa Bay region, causing rivers to surge above flood stage. Many roads were under water.

Earthquakes

Alaska was rocked by two earthquakes this week. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit 65 miles southeast of Buldir Island at 4:13 a.m. Monday, while a magnitude 5.1 earthquake shook the ocean floor of the western Aleutian Islands at 2:29 a.m.

Grasshoppers

It's not locusts, but it might as well be. Parts of western Montana are being overrun with an infestation of grasshoppers. The Lake County extension agent issued a warning of "significant concentrations" of the grasshoppers as they emerge from their egg-laying grounds. It's been so dry there is nothing to control them. "Landowners will need to defend their crops, hay land, pasture and probably ornamental foliage," the agent warned.

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 09:26 PM
Junk Food Banned from Vending Machines

NEW YORK (Reuters) - School officials are taking the candy away from New York's kids. Starting in September, candy, soda and sweet snacks will be banned from vending machines in New York City's education system, the largest in the United States, officials announced at a City Council hearing on Tuesday.

In addition, sugar, fat and salt will be trimmed from the 800,000 lunches served daily in schools, the officials said.

The new standards were issued in response to an obesity epidemic in city schools, but districts across the United States have been reviewing meals and reducing junk food, even though the machines are an important source of revenue for cash-strapped schools.


A New York education department spokeswoman said the amount of money raised varied from school to school and there was no recorded average. The extra cash is used to pay for academic scholarships, sports team uniforms and class trips, items that would normally cost tens of thousands of dollars.


"We firmly believe that good nutrition plays an essential role in health and development and helps young people to do well in school," city school food service head Martin Oestreicher told the council.


A U.S. Centers for Disease Control study showed that 20 percent of third graders and 21 percent of sixth graders in New York are obese. In poor neighborhoods, 15 percent of the total population has diabetes, which can be caused by poor diet.


Under the new guidelines, school cafeteria food such as beef ravioli, potato salad, macaroni and cheese and ice cream would go, but they are still being taste-tested without salt, fat or sugar. Candy, soda, cakes, doughnuts, cookies, salty chips and fruit drinks with less than 100 percent fruit will no longer be served in vending machines.


Instead, low-salt, low-fat versions of cheese pizza, chicken fingers, Jamaican beef patties and chicken teriyaki will be available on menus. Vending machines will contain pretzels, energy bars, water, 100 percent fruit juices and low-fat, low-salt chips.



06/26/03 08:11

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 09:27 PM
Man Killed by Wife Over Paint Argument, Police Say

BERLIN (Reuters) - The color of your home's walls can be a matter of life and death, as a German man found out when he was fatally stabbed by his wife after they had an argument about what color to paint them, police said Wednesday.

The dispute flared as the 53-year-old man and his Polish wife of 30 years were redecorating their house. Angered and frustrated by the escalating feud, the man got a kitchen knife and suggested to his wife she use it on him, police said.

The 50-year-old woman then grabbed the knife and plunged it into his heart. Rescue services were unable to save the man. Both had been drinking alcohol, according to police.

"It's a tragic story," said Christiane Leven, a spokeswoman for police in the western city of Hamburg.


Police arrested the woman, who now faces prosecution.

Police could not say what colors the couple were arguing over.



06/26/03 08:25

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 09:29 PM
Eat This. Cut Your Risk of Death 25%

They call it "Diet Med."

As in Diet Mediterranean. Eat a diet like the Greeks that is rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, fish, and (yes!) wine, and you will enjoy a 25 percent reduced risk of dying from heart disease and cancer, The Washington Post reports of a study conducted by researchers at Harvard University in Boston, Mass., and the University of Athens Medical School in Athens, Greece.

There's only one gotcha to this: You do need to be physically active to reap the most benefits, which means an hour of vigorous exercise daily.

The big takeaway:

Diet Med is preventive medicine. This is the first large-scale trial of the big fat Greek diet with more than 22,000 healthy men and women ages 20 to 86. "In the past, when we talked about the Mediterranean diet, we usually talked about cardiovascular benefits," Frank Hu, associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, told The Post. "This is talking about primary prevention. The better the Mediterranean diet, the lower the cardiovascular disease and cancer mortality. That is very intriguing."

Even more intriguing is this is a diet you can live with.

What is important is the overall diet--not just a single food type. Complex carbohydrates are okay. So is healthy fat, such as olive oil, avocados, nuts, and fish. Wine in moderation is even on the list. In fact, the individual foods in Diet Med aren't all that impressive in their disease-fighting capabilities. But something happens when they are eaten together. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, called it the synergy effect. He told The Post, "That's interesting because any one piece of the Mediterranean diet on its own was not so impressive. It's the whole package--the fruit and vegetables, the nuts...all those things that seem to contribute." The study findings were published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 09:30 PM
Chicken Up for Adoption After Stunt

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A chicken that was strapped to 100 helium balloons and sent skyward last weekend in a stunt is resting these days at the city's animal shelter as people vie to adopt it.

The chicken, nicknamed Amelia, was rescued Saturday after getting tangled in power lines. A police marksman shot the balloons with a pellet gun to bring Amelia down to safety.

Authorities said they have yet to identify the prankster, who was apparently imitating an ad that recently aired on a local TV station. The ad has since been pulled.

``This is a great chicken, a friendly chicken, a chicken that is ready for a relationship,'' said Kat Brown, deputy director of the shelter.



06/26/03 14:51

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 09:31 PM
Cellphone Gives Adulterers Away

HELSINKI (Reuters) - An adulterous Finn pressed all the wrong buttons as he made love in a car -- unknowingly prompting his mobile phone to call home just in time for his wife to hear his mistress moan "I love you."

The wife, doubly enraged after recognizing her own friend's voice, has been convicted of assault after going to her rival's flat and striking her in the face and later attacking her husband at home with an axe, though he fended off the blow.

A court official told Reuters Thursday she received a 14-month suspended sentence for the attacks which did not result in serious injury.

The woman told the court this week in Lahti, 60 miles north of Helsinki, that she was temporarily in shock and had only tried to scare her husband.


They have since divorced, a regional paper reported.



06/26/03 11:47

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 09:35 PM
Arrest in Case of Shoplifting Girl

SUGAR LAND, Texas (Reuters) - A woman who allegedly used a girl to shoplift, but abandoned her when the 7-year-old was caught June 9 in a highly publicized incident has been arrested and jailed in Texas on $500,000 bail, police said on Wednesday.

Miroslava Espinoza, 21, has been charged with abandoning a child and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, said Sugar Land police Capt. David Marcaurele.

Espinoza was nabbed on Tuesday when she tried to enroll in a local medical technicians school and was recognized by an employee who called police, Marcaurele told reporters.

She has confessed she and other adults sent Elvia Reyes into stores to steal for them, he said.


"She did admit that they were using this child to commit shoplifting and that when they thought they were going to be caught they panicked and left," he said.


Reyes was caught walking out of a grocery store with $95 worth of stolen items in a heist allegedly organized by Espinoza, Marcaurele said. Reyes told police she pulled about 20 such robberies before her capture.


Reyes has been living off and on with friends and family for years because her mother, an illegal immigrant to the United States, has been jailed and deported to her native Mexico several times, said Estella Olguin of Children's Protective Services, a local agency that cares for abandoned children.


The girl is now being cared for by a foster family, she said.



06/26/03 08:24


{{{ I used to work retail -- this is a ploy that is used quite often. Sad but too true. Juvies get a slap on the wrist, and when the parents come to pick them up, they never "knew anything about anything" :mad: }}}

Jolie Rouge
06-26-2003, 09:37 PM
Smuggler's Treasures Sold

TAMPA, Fla. (Reuters) - Auctioneers sold a drug dealer's glittering stash of gold coins and other artifacts from Spanish shipwrecks on Wednesday, raising $761,500 for federal law enforcement, said auctioneer EG&G Technical Services.

The jewelry and U.S. and Spanish coins were among over $1 million in assets seized from Thomas Ruck after his arrest in 2001.

Ruck, now serving 12-1/2 years in prison for smuggling cocaine into Florida for Colombia's Cali drug cartel, bought the bounty with his illegal profits.

The auction in Tampa drew 282 bidders, most of them collectors or dealers.


A gold ingot weighing 1,875 grams drew the highest single price of $18,000. It and other jewelry and Spanish coins were recovered from a fleet of Spanish ships that sank off Florida in 1715.


A slightly smaller gold ingot and a gold candlestick holder each sold for $16,000. The highest bid for a coin was $13,250 for a 1703 escudo.


A silver ingot, which brought $8,300, had been recovered by treasure hunter Mel Fisher from the Spanish ship Atocha, which sank off Key West in 1622.


Also sold at the auction were 280 U.S. $20 gold coins owned by Ruck.


Four previous auctions of his U.S. coin collection raised an additional $572,000.


"We're very pleased," said Britney Sheehan of EG&G Technical Services, which runs the auctions for the U.S. Treasury Department.


Money raised by the auctions is used by the federal government to pay for law enforcement operations.



06/26/03 08:07

Jolie Rouge
06-27-2003, 11:04 AM
Maternity Retailer Sued for Firing Pregnant Woman

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030627%2F071971578.htm&sc=reodd

BOSTON (Reuters) - An American woman is suing a maternity clothing store, saying she was fired from her job as district manager for being pregnant.

Mothers Work Inc. on Thursday denied the allegations leveled by Cynthia Papageorge, who said she loved her job at the retailer until she got pregnant in 1999 and a vice president belittled her.

"When he saw me he had almost a look of horror," Papageorge told The Boston Globe. "I had gained 38 pounds and was wearing white leather Keds because my feet were swollen. I thought I looked presentable. He said I wasn't able to handle my position, 'in my state."'


Papageorge said the vice president tried to have her fired shortly thereafter, ordering her boss to get rid of her while she was on maternity leave. When the boss, Jan Dowe, refused to fire her, the vice president fired Papageorge's boss. Papageorge eventually was fired, and she also accused the Philadelphia-based company of firing at least two other pregnant women.


Mothers Work, a chain of more than 800 stores that was founded by pregnant women, issued a statement on Thursday in which it rejected Papageorge's accusations. "We are uniquely sensitive to the needs of expectant mothers and are especially upset by any allegations that run contrary to such needs," it said. "Upon review of the facts, we believe the suit is without merit and will be appropriately and successfully defended."



06/27/03 07:19

Jolie Rouge
06-27-2003, 11:10 AM
Did You See It? Demi Skewers Letterman

So Demi Moore, who has been making the rounds promoting her new movie "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," was a guest on David Letterman's "The Late Show" earlier this week. And Letterman made her squirm, reports Knight Ridder Newspapers and IMDB.com, by asking her about her boy toy Ashton Kutcher. Demi is 40. Ashton is 25. Let the jokes and snide remarks begin. Which is exactly what Letterman did.

"The Late Show" host said to her, "He's like 18 or something. He's the luckiest man alive." It was obvious that Demi was uncomfortable. So her knight in shining armor came to the rescue by way of a text message. Ashton messaged her while she was right up there on stage.

And then Demi said to Letterman, "He has a message for you, too: 'Tell him I wanted to say, "Dude, where's your girlfriend?" I mean, how do you keep it all so secret? You have the same girlfriend. How do you do it?'"

[Ouch...

It was Letterman's turn to squirm. The aforementioned girlfriend is Regina Lasko. Letterman then said, "Nobody cares. Why would Ashton Kutcher care? I feel like I've been Punk'd."

Jolie Rouge
06-27-2003, 11:12 AM
Look What They Just Found On Mars

A team of U.S. and Russian scientists has found frozen water on the Martian north pole--lots of it. There's more ice on the northern end of the Red Planet than there is on the southern end, all of which has raised astronomers' hopes of finding life there. If they do, it would most likely be traces of past microscopic life.

Lying just beneath the planet's surface, the newly-found ice was first detected as hydrogen. Since hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water, that led the team to realize they had detected ice, Bill Boynton, an astronomer with the University of Arizona who is part of the international team, told Reuters. "There's just so much of it (hydrogen), it can't be present in any other form," Boynton explained, noting that small amounts of water are normally present in rocks and soil on Earth, but on Mars' north pole, "we're seeing amounts that are on the order of 80 to 90 percent ice by volume." What's more, the ice is uniformly distributed throughout the soil. He told Reuters, "What we think is you could go almost anywhere in these high northern latitudes and dig down several inches to a foot or so and find ice there for you."

For life to be present, there has to be water. So the mantra for finding extraterrestrial life is: Follow the water. Reuters notes that if Mars was warm and wet at some point in time--and many astronomers think this was the case--the current wide distribution of ice would indicate a large region where water might have been capable of supporting life. The findings were published in the journal Science using data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, which are orbiting Mars.

Is there Martian life here?

See an image of the frozen layers of Mars' high northern latitudes.
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/bigpic.jsp?photoid=20030626NY123.jpg&this=0&searchpage=photosearch.jsp&cap=mars&w=ALL&max=8&first=&fs=&floc=wn-ns

janelle
06-27-2003, 12:29 PM
And then Demi said to Letterman, "He has a message for you, too: 'Tell him I wanted to say, "Dude, where's your girlfriend?" I mean, how do you keep it all so secret? You have the same girlfriend. How do you do it?'"

================================================== ===================

That is suppose to be an insult? To have the same girlfriend for a long time and to keep her out of the limelight of TV?

Wow how terrible. It's laughabe our celebs think that way. Have multiple partners and flaunt it with your children.

I thought Demi's new stud looked lots younger than her. 25 huh? And he does look 18.

Jolie Rouge
06-27-2003, 12:39 PM
That is suppose to be an insult? To have the same girlfriend for a long time and to keep her out of the limelight of TV?

Wow how terrible. It's laughabe our celebs think that way. Have multiple partners and flaunt it with your children.



I thought it was kinda lame, too that's why I emphazised the "OUCH"
I guess the kid is too young to come up with a good come-back and Letterman was too polite to point it out ....

Jolie Rouge
06-27-2003, 12:42 PM
Guess What Chelsea Turned Down ?

Don't look for Chelsea Clinton in Hollywood. Her dad may love to schmooze with the stars, but Chelsea must not have those aspirations. She had an opportunity for a cameo role in "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, Demi Moore, and Bernie Mac--and she turned it down, reports Zap2It.com. Flat out said no. Well, to be totally accurate, her attorney said no for her. Singer and actress Eve got the part instead.

"We talked to Chelsea Clinton's lawyer about taking Eve's spot on the couch before the Olsen twins," producer Nancy Juvonen explained to Zap2It. "He didn't see the benefits in that for her. So we got Eve." Lots of famous folks have cameos in this flick, including Bruce Willis, Pink, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, and even former TV Angel Jaclyn Smith.

That's not the only thing Chelsea has turned down recently.

She also spurned the affections of what most of the world viewed as her one-and-only true love, Ian Klaus. As the New York Daily News reports: "The former first daughter was said to have cooled down things with her Oxford University boyfriend." It must have been the stress of final exams, which they both finished last week. The two lovebirds who enjoy canoodling in public have patched things up and have been celebrating ever since.

Jolie Rouge
06-27-2003, 12:46 PM
Jennifer Lopez's Very Odd Obsession

J.Lo is obsessed with toilets.

That's the official word from the sleuths at Los Angeles Magazine who scoured numerous newspapers nationwide to arrive at this weird conclusion.

In the Los Angeles Magazine article, which was cleverly titled "J. Loo," the conclusion is this: "The headline-hogging actress and singer is both infatuated with and flummoxed by matters of the bathroom." And that statement is supported by the following:

--When J.Lo attended a Red Sox-Angels game in L.A. in May she demanded and received a special stadium bathroom that was "roped off for her privacy."

--Ben Affleck reportedly designed a special toilet seat just for his betrothed that was "inlaid with ruby, sapphire, pearls, and a diamond at a cost of more than $100,000." {{ For a potty ? }} :rolleyes:

--While attending the British premiere of "Maid In Manhattan," Lopez demanded that the loo be shut down to the public and given solely to her for her personal use.

--When J.Lo visited a bathroom in a Beverly Hills Starbucks, she pronounced the toilet paper to be too coarse.

Widgetsx3
06-27-2003, 09:45 PM
MESA, Ariz. (AP) - City officials in Mesa have mistakenly installed two bus shelters where no buses run.

The installation cost $32,000 at a time when the city is cutting its public transit budget to save money.

Both are on Broadway Road and were installed as part of a $7.7 million improvement project finished about a year ago.

Although there is bus service on part of the road, buses turn before reaching the shelters.

"It slipped through all of us and didn't get caught until after the fact," said Jeff Kramer, Mesa's deputy engineer for design.

Kramer told the East Valley Tribune that the shelter locations weren't reviewed in advance by the transportation department because they were a small part of a complex road project.

And although the shelters have signs posted saying no buses pass by, people still wait.

"We see people there daily waiting for a bus until they notice the sign is there and they realize it's not a working bus stop," said Rene Scharber.

Widgetsx3
06-27-2003, 10:03 PM
BOSTON (Reuters) - An American woman is suing a maternity clothing store, saying she was fired from her job as district manager for being pregnant.
Mothers Work Inc. on Thursday denied the allegations leveled by Cynthia Papageorge, who said she loved her job at the retailer until she got pregnant in 1999 and a vice president belittled her.

"When he saw me he had almost a look of horror," Papageorge told The Boston Globe.

"I had gained 38 pounds and was wearing white leather Keds because my feet were swollen. I thought I looked presentable. He said I wasn't able to handle my position, 'in my state."'

Papageorge said the vice president tried to have her fired shortly thereafter, ordering her boss to get rid of her while she was on maternity leave.

When the boss, Jan Dowe, refused to fire her, the vice president fired Papageorge's boss. Papageorge eventually was fired, and she also accused the Philadelphia-based company of firing at least two other pregnant women.

Mothers Work, a chain of more than 800 stores that was founded by pregnant women, issued a statement on Thursday in which it rejected Papageorge's accusations.

"We are uniquely sensitive to the needs of expectant mothers and are especially upset by any allegations that run contrary to such needs," it said.

"Upon review of the facts, we believe the suit is without merit and will be appropriately and successfully defended."

Widgetsx3
06-27-2003, 10:06 PM
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian investigators closed the books on Thursday on the case of an infant girl whose mummified remains were kept in a storage locker for more than 15 years, and admitted they may never know why she died or why her mother kept the child's birth and death a secret.

Police were able to identify the girl's father, now living in Manchester, England, but said he was unaware he had a child until contacted by investigators probing the infant's death.

The mystery began June 16, 2001, when the infant's remains were found in the storage locker of a luxury lakeside Toronto condominium owned by Joanne Patterson, a 45-year-old businesswoman who had died of cancer earlier that month.

DNA testing confirmed Patterson was the mother, but it took an exhaustive investigation -- including a historical analysis of the style of diaper worn by the infant -- before investigators realized the child had been dead since 1985.

The dead infant's body was clothed in a diaper and shirt and had been carefully wrapped in blankets, a double garbage bag and tape, indicating Patterson wanted to preserve it, investigators said.

"We can only speculate but we thought perhaps that she just couldn't let go... while else would you keep the body of a baby in among the Christmas decorations in your locker," said Det. Mike Stoker, of the Ontario Ministry of Public Safety.

An autopsy was unable to "provide a conclusive cause of death due to the state of mummification," but Ontario deputy coroner Jim Cairns said he thinks the child likely died of natural causes less than 24 hours after birth.

"If was a birth at home, she would have lacked proper medical care, but I don't have any hard facts," Cairns said.

Cairns said Patterson had no history of mental illness and was well known as a businesswoman, but apparently kept her private life very secret.

"You'd ask people if they knew anything (about a child) and they'd look at you as if you were crazy and say: 'What are you talking about?'," Cairns said.

Patterson never sought medical treatment during or after the pregnancy, he said.

Stoker said the father was "extremely cooperative" and provided investigators with a DNA sample, but said he knew nothing of Patterson having had the child. The father's name was not released.

Cairns said while teenagers will occasionally try to hide pregnancies by giving birth at home alone, it was very unusual for a woman of Patterson's age. She would have been about 30 when the child was born.

Jolie Rouge
06-28-2003, 08:14 PM
:(
Texas Police Probe Dennehy Disappearance
Teammates Questioned in Player's Disappearance

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=NW_2-T&oldflok=FF-APO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0001/20030627/222402468.htm

WACO, Texas (AP) - Some of Patrick Dennehy's teammates might be suspects in the disappearance of the Baylor basketball player, police said Friday.

Dennehy, a 6-foot-10, 230-pound center, has not been seen or heard from in more than two weeks.

While police have not found a body, department spokesman Steven Anderson said they ``have received information from several sources that would lead investigators to believe that foul play was involved.''

In a written statement, Anderson said police were looking into whether Dennehy might have been killed in the Waco area. A sport utility vehicle belonging to the 21-year-old Dennehy was found this week in Virginia Beach, Va.


``From that lead and others, potential suspects in the disappearance of Dennehy potentially include fellow Baylor basketball players,'' Anderson said. ``Information about possible crime scenes are currently being investigated.''


The statement did not elaborate on the possible connection of Baylor players to Dennehy's disappearance.


Baylor athletic director Tom Stanton issued a statement Friday night saying the university had just learned about the new developments in the police investigation.


``The nature of the developments is certainly disturbing,'' Stanton said. ``It's impossible to respond at this moment until we learn more about the investigation.


``Our thoughts and prayers right now remain with Patrick's family and everyone in the Baylor University family. ... All we know now is there are more questions than answers. It's important at this moment that we not speculate.''


Police records supervisor Tommy Tull said Friday night that he couldn't release any additional information and that Anderson was out of the office. Anderson plans a 4 p.m. CDT news briefing Monday on the case.


Police records supervisor Tommy Tull said Friday night that he couldn't release any additional information and that Anderson was out of the office. Anderson plans a news briefing Monday on the case.


Virginia Beach police spokesman Jimmy Barnes said at least one Waco detective flew in Thursday to examine an SUV found without license plates in a strip mall. The mall's owner had it towed as an abandoned vehicle.


The towing company reported the vehicle's identification number to Virginia Beach police, Barnes said. Police then checked the number on a national law enforcement database and found it was wanted by Waco police in connection with a missing person.


Baylor coach Dave Bliss could not be reached for comment Friday night. Earlier this week, Bliss said the team remained hopeful that Dennehy would eventually turn up unharmed.


``Obviously, we've got tremendous concerns,'' Bliss said. ``We are prayerful, we're concerned, we're anxious, we're apprehensive. We just pray for this to be resolved, and we look forward to him returning to our team.''


Dennehy, who played high school basketball in Santa Clara, Calif., sat out last season after transferring from New Mexico and was expected to vie for playing time this fall. He has two years of eligibility remaining.


Dennehy had an impressive but controversial two-year stint at New Mexico under former Lobos coach Fran Fraschilla.


Midway through his freshman season at New Mexico, Dennehy said he might transfer at year's end because of a lack of playing time. Dennehy eventually saw more action and became the third-leading freshman rebounder in school history.


As a sophomore in the 2001-2002 season, Dennehy averaged 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds, but his season was clouded by a number of problems. During a game against Air Force in February 2002, Dennehy argued on court with teammates, shoved a one of them, kicked over a chair and stalked off to the locker room. He didn't return to the game.


Fraschilla declined to discipline Dennehy, and the team physician said the player was being treated for ``a confidential medical condition.''


Fraschilla resigned under pressure in March 2002, and Ritchie McKay was hired later that month. Less than two weeks later, Dennehy had another flare-up during practice. McKay dismissed him from the team.


A month later, Dennehy announced he had accepted a scholarship to play for former New Mexico coach Bliss.



06/27/03 22:24

Jolie Rouge
06-28-2003, 08:31 PM
Top 10 Hottest Cities For Car Thieves

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the cities with the most stolen cars are:

1. Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona

2. Fresno, California

3. Modesto, California

4. Stockton-Lodi, California

5. Las Vegas, Nevada

6. Miami, Florida

7. Sacramento, California

8. Oakland, California

9. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington

10. Tacoma, Washington


The top 10 car models stolen:

1. Toyota Camry

2. Honda Accord

3. Honda Civic

4. Ford Mustang

5. Toyota Corolla

6. Toyota pickup

7. Saturn SL

8. Acura Integra

9. Toyota van

10. Chevrolet Camaro

The vehicles stolen most frequently were made between 1985 and 1997 and don't have car alarms.

Auto theft is the No. 1 property crime in America, costing more than $8 billion a year. What's more, the FBI reports that auto theft is on the increase. No where is that more true than in California where vehicle theft has surged from 210,000 cars stolen in 2001 to more than 227,000 in 2002. California Highway Patrol Sgt. Mike Maskarich describes most car thefts as transportation thefts. "They are stealing older cars and using them to joyride, to commit other crimes, and to get from Point A to Point B," he told Oakland's Tri-Valley Herald newspaper, noting that many car thefts are crimes of opportunity. "People pull into a convenience store, leave their keys in the car, come back, and it's gone," Maskarich added.


Tips to protect your vehicle:

--When you park the car, shut the windows and lock the doors.

--Park in well-lit areas at night.

--Don't leave electronics lying on the front seat.

--Use a car alarm, wheel or brake lock, or other theft warning or deterrent device.

Jolie Rouge
06-28-2003, 08:33 PM
Lake County man Michael McCormick learned the hard way that it is illegal to save a woman and four children from a threatening alligator by lassoing it, cowboy-style.

McCormick said that he was driving when he saw the critter crossing
the road toward a woman who was holding two infants and had two children at her side.

Just the week before, a gator attacked and killed a 12-year-old boy and McCormick had this boy in his thoughts when he saw the woman and children threatened with the same fate. He pulled over, made a loop out of some rope and tossed it over the gator. He then dragged the gator to the edge of a chain-link fence surrounding a retention pond. He told a friend to call the police while he kept the creature
corralled. When the police arrived, he released the gator and it crawled back under the fence and into the pond.

Much to his surprise McCormick was issued a $180 citation by a state game official for possession of a gator. He argued that he would not have called police if he thought what he was doing was against the law. While the citation was later thrown out, he is certain of one thing: If he was put in the same situation again, he would do the exact same thing.

Jolie Rouge
06-28-2003, 08:34 PM
Bizarre Records

In August 1999, Lori Lynn Lomeli set a record by spinning 82 Hula Hoops at the same time for three full revolutions.

Steve Fletcher holds the record for the largest gum wrapper collection. His collection has 5300 gum wrappers from all across the world.

The largest number of children born to one woman, who was a Russian peasant, is 69.

The longest kiss on record lasted 30 hours and 45 minutes. Dror Orpaz and Carmit Tsubara recorded it on April 5, 1999 at a kissing contest held in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The smallest man ever was Gul Mohammed (1957-1997) of India, who measured 1 feet, 10½ inches.

The tallest woman that ever lived was Zeng Jinlian who was 8 feet 2 inches tall of China. She died at the age of 17.

The world record for donut eating is held by John Haight, who ate 29 donuts (52 ounces) in a little over six minutes.

The world record for finishing the Rubik's cube is 16.5 seconds.

The world record for time without sleep is 264 hours (11 days) by Randy Gardner in 1965.

Jolie Rouge
06-29-2003, 09:39 PM
Why Some Baby Names Are So Popular

Jacob and Michael.

Emily and Madison.

Why are these names so popular?

One simple reason: Chance.

The fickle finger of fate.

How names become popular can be attributed to something called the power law. The vast majority of names are hardly used at all. Just a handful are very common. Nature News Service reports that this is the conclusion of an international team of researchers who tried to figure out why some baby names are so incredibly popular and others are barely used. One of the team members, Alexander Bentley of University College London, made this conclusion: Names become popular by dumb luck.

When parents choose a name for their new baby, they copy an existing name. When Bentley and his colleague, Matthew Hahn of Duke University in Durham, N.C., modeled an allotment of baby names used in the 20th century, they found that a small number are very common. The computer simulation assumed that most parents choose existing names for their babies, with only a few creating original names. The overall distribution looked like a product of random copying with the results closely matching the actual distribution of names, reports Nature News.

Baby names aren't the only social phenomena that arise by chance and follow power laws. How we choose stocks to buy and sell is a prime example. Good rumor, bad rumor. It doesn't much matter. It's a herding behavior that results. Fashion also follows power laws. It's the only way to explain leisure suits. So what name will top the list next year? In 10 years? In 50 years? Bentley says the arbitrary nature of the naming process means it's impossible to predict which new names will become common and which will be forgotten.


Fun facts:

--The likelihood that a baby will be given an original name invented by the parents is greater for girls than boys.

--Celebrities do not influence names as much as you might think. Jacob and Emily top the list--not Brad or Britney.

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:18 PM
Call It a 'Monster': Big Find In Arizona

The giant saguaro cactus that's just been found deep in Arizona is so massive it stands 30 feet tall and measures 108 inches around. Its arms span about 18 feet. This monster may be the largest cactus ever found, and that's exactly why the man who first spotted it wants to name it "Monster."

The discovery was made by a man named Charley Blank, who found it near the San Pedro River outside of San Manuel, Ariz., reports The Associated Press. There's another giant saguaro cactus in Arizona, called the "Grand One," that was found earlier this year about 40 miles northeast of Phoenix. That one, which will be added to the American Forests' National Register of Big Trees next year, stands just under 50 feet tall, measures 94 inches at its base, and has 15 arms. This year is shaping up to be a big year for saguaro cacti.

Charley has submitted "Monster" to the Register of Big Trees for consideration. He told AP that once the cactus is officially measured, he hopes it ranks high enough to share the championship title with the "Grand One."



Have a garden problem in *your* backyard?

Check out this cool tool to diagnose and solve it.

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/living/lawn_garden.jsp?floc=wn-ns

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:22 PM
:( :( :(

Three dead, three wounded in sword attack
Monday, June 30, 2003 Posted: 11:41 AM EDT

www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/06/30/supermarket.killings.ap/index.html

IRVINE, California (AP) -- Police shot and killed a sword-wielding man described by relatives as schizophrenic after he slashed and killed two former co-workers and wounded three other people at a supermarket where he used to bag groceries.

About 40 to 50 shoppers ran from the store shortly after 9:30 a.m. Sunday as police went in to subdue Joseph Hunter Parker, who was armed with a samurai-style sword and wearing a beret and trenchcoat, said police Cmdr. Jeff Noble.

The 30-year-old man confronted an officer before fellow officers shot him, said Lt. Jeff Love. Parker was taken to the hospital and did not survive. One of the wounded was an Albertsons employee and two others were customers, police said. Police did not release the names of the dead or wounded.

Parker had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, his mother, Susan Davis, said in an interview Sunday from rural Ford, Virginia. He also was a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician.

"He was not in a good state at all," Davis said, adding she had not spoken to Parker in about a year. "He said voices were telling him to do bad things."

Davis said Parker, who moved to California about five years ago, collected swords and was a fan of the "Highlander" film and television series in which the hero is a swordsman. "I'm just sorry about what happened," Davis said.

Parker's former co-workers said he quit his job bagging groceries about two weeks ago after working at Albertsons for about two years.
"I never felt threatened, but he was just a really odd man," said coworker Mark Ming, 26. "He would have full conversations with himself. He obviously had problems, but he was respectful toward customers."

Parker's sister, Heather Parker, 28, of Anaheim, said she hasn't spoken to her brother in several months. "He was alone and he was very mistreated his whole life," she said in a telephone interview. "He was being treated for schizophrenia. He's never been in trouble. He didn't drink, didn't use drugs. He was kind."

Love called the attacks an aberration in the quiet city 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles, which he said averages less than one murder a year. About 143,000 people live here.

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:24 PM
FBI Joins Search for Missing Athlete
By ANGELA K. BROWN

WACO, Texas (AP) - The FBI said Sunday it had joined the search for a missing Baylor basketball player, even as fears grew among the athlete's friends that he may not be alive.

Patrick James Dennehy, 21, hasn't been heard from in more than two weeks, and police suspect he was killed in the Waco area. His sport utility vehicle, its license plates missing, was found abandoned in a mall parking lot in Virginia last week.

A former roommate and longtime friend in Albuquerque, N.M., Senque Carey, said Dennehy had never been the sort to disappear for days on end without calling someone, or the sort to put himself in danger.

``I just remember Pat as being always to himself. He wasn't like a person who would cause trouble for no reason,'' said Carey, who played basketball with Dennehy on the University of New Mexico team before Dennehy transferred to Baylor his junior year.

John Cunningham, a speech communications professor at the Waco university, said Dennehy was working on an independent study project for his class this summer.

He said Dennehy was a ``solid B student'' who dreamed of playing for the NBA and then working in public relations for his favorite team, the Sacramento Kings.

``It's been unbelievably hard,'' Cunningham said Sunday. ``Right now, the hardest part is not knowing. We're trying to stay positive, but it's been hard as more time passes.''

Waco police say Dennehy's teammates and others have been questioned about the disappearance of the 6-foot-10, 230-pound center and junior speech communications major from Santa Clara, Calif. Police declined to comment Sunday, saying a news conference was planned for Monday afternoon.

Rene Salinas, an spokesman in the FBI's San Antonio office, said Sunday that the FBI was helping Waco police in the investigation. He declined further comment.

Dennehy often sat in the front row so he could concentrate and didn't talk much before or after class to his teammates, who sat in the back, Cunningham said. But the professor said he was surprised about reports that basketball players may be suspects.

``I've taught those guys, and there's no way in my mind that any of them are capable of doing anything like that,'' Cunningham said.

Dennehy's stepfather, Brian Brabazon, told the Waco Tribune-Herald someone had recently stolen money from his stepson and that Dennehy had told Baylor coaches he was scared.

Waco police apparently are investigating reports that Dennehy was threatened by a teammate and that he had recently argued with at least two players, the newspaper reported.

Men's basketball coach Dave Bliss did not immediately return telephone calls Sunday to The Associated Press. In a news conference Saturday, Bliss said the campus was ``in tremendous disbelief'' and that players have cooperated with police.

Kevin Henry, a former Baylor basketball player and now a grad student who supervised athletes last year, said Dennehy's teammates were upset over the disappearance.

``This is a guy you practice with, lift weights with, eat meals with ... so it's got to be tough on them. That's your brother,'' said Henry, a former University of New Mexico player who showed Dennehy around that campus during a recruiting trip in 2000.

Dennehy's girlfriend in Albuquerque, 20-year-old Jessica De La Rosa, said Sunday she last spoke with him the night of June 11.

``It was a typical conversation,'' she said. ``He was just fine. He told me he just needed to go and would call me the next day.''

De La Rosa and Dennehy communicated frequently by phone after he transferred to Baylor. Asked if Dennehy was concerned about his safety, or had problems with teammates or others, De La Rosa said: ``I can't say anything about any problems because that's part of the investigation right now.''

Dennehy played two years at the University of New Mexico under coach Fran Fraschilla before transferring to Baylor. His sophomore season there was clouded by problems, including an argument during a game in 2002 when Dennehy shoved a teammate, kicked over a chair and stormed into the locker room. He didn't return to the game.

Fraschilla declined to discipline Dennehy, and the team doctor said Dennehy was being treated for ``a confidential medical condition.''

Dennehy sat out last season after transferring to Baylor and was expected to compete for playing time this fall.

Associated Press Writers Pete Herrera and Leslie Hoffman contributed to this report.



06/30/03 07:58

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:26 PM
Texas Woman Gets 50 Years in Windshield Murder
By Jon Herskovitz

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/crime/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20030628/095414157.htm

FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas woman who struck a man with her car, drove home and left him to bleed to death while wedged in the windshield was sentenced on Friday to 50 years in prison for murder, as prosecutors said she showed unbelievable indifference to her victim.

A jury sentenced Chante Mallard, a 27-year-old nurse's aide who said her judgement was clouded by drugs, alcohol and fear during the incident, to 50 years for murder and another 10 years for tampering with evidence. The sentences will be served concurrently, with Mallard eligible for parole in 25 years.

Mallard cried as the sentence was read.

The seven men and five women of the jury, who convicted Mallard of murder on Thursday in less than an hour, returned with the sentence after almost three hours of deliberations.

Tarrant County Prosecutor Christy Jack had urged them to give Mallard a life sentence, as prosecutors presented evidence showing that 37-year-old Greg Biggs would have survived his injuries, which included a nearly amputated leg, if he had received prompt medical care.

Instead he bled to death in Mallard's darkened garage over the next few hours while she plotted with friends over how to dispose of the body.

"What comes naturally to her is to allow a man to suffer a cruel, cruel death," Jack said in closing arguments. "She could have saved him. Doesn't that speak volumes about her character?"

Mallard struck Biggs on an October 2001 night after she smoked marijuana, took the drug ecstasy and had 69-cent drinks at a night club. She then drove nearly two miles (3.2 km) home with the homeless man stuck in the windshield, his body lodged in the car and his legs sprawled on the hood.

Biggs' mangled body was dumped in a park in Fort Worth about two days later and was found naked from the waist down as he lay in a heap near a children's swing set.

A week after the murder, Mallard returned to the same night club with friends, where she picked up a man and took him to a friend's apartment for a night of sex.


RESTITUTION IS REQUIRED

Her crime remained undetected for about four months until police received a tip from a person who knew a friend of Mallard's. One of Mallard's friends testified the former nurse's aide was "pissed" when she got caught, and police found her dented and bloodied Chevy compact still in her garage.

After the trial, the lead prosecutor Richard Alpert said Texas prosecutors were satisfied with the sentence. "The crime itself was so bizarre," Alpert said. "That level of indifference is unique."

Defense attorney Jeff Kearney, meanwhile, pleaded with the jury for leniency for Mallard, saying that she deserved a second chance. After the trial, he said the defense team knew Mallard was facing a long stint in prison.

"This case would have been much more defensible if they didn't have the evidence of her conduct immediately following the incident," Kearney said, adding an appeal was expected.

After tearful testimony from Mallard during the punishment phase of her trial on Thursday -- in which she apologized for the crime and blamed it on illegal drugs -- defense lawyers called a toxicologist who testified Mallard's drug use may have impaired her ability to make decisions in an emergency. Mallard said under cross-examination she was afraid of getting arrested after hitting Biggs.

Brandon Biggs, the son of the slain man said that his family and Mallard's were deeply scarred by the crime. "To Chante, I personally would like to say that I would accept your apology. In return, I hope, you will accept my forgiveness," Biggs said, adding: "While forgiveness is given, restitution is still required."



06/28/03 09:53

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:28 PM
Offer to Kill Woman During Sex Ends in Arrest


http://channels.netscape.com/ns/crime/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20030630/085882359.htm

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texas man got 10 years' probation for offering to strangle a suicidal Wisconsin woman whom he met over the Internet, lawyers said on Friday.

Frank Manuel, 55, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, and was ordered by State District Judge Carol Davies on Thursday to submit to a psychiatric evaluation and stay away from the Internet.

Houston police arrested Manuel in January, after a woman he met in a suicide chat group reported his offer to strangle her during sex, then bury her in a grave in a state forest with a rose on her chest.

The woman, with investigators watching, traveled to Houston on Manuel's instructions. He was captured at a Houston bus station, awaiting her arrival with a strangling device and yellow roses in his car.

Attorney Chris Tritico said Manuel took the plea deal to avoid subjecting his wife and child to a trial's publicity.



06/30/03 08:58

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:30 PM
Who Has Most Vivid, Memorable Dreams?

Creative and imaginative people, who enjoy fantasizing and daydreaming when they are awake, are more likely to have vivid dreams at night and remember them when they awaken, according to new research from the University of Iowa. "There is a fundamental continuity between how people experience the world during the day and at night," lead researcher David Watson said in a news release announcing the study. "People who are prone to daydreaming and fantasy have less of a barrier between states of sleep and wakefulness and seem to more easily pass between them."

This was the largest and most comprehensive analysis of individual differences in dream recall with 193 college students participating. For 14 weeks, they each recorded the time they woke up, what time they had gone to bed, whether they had consumed alcohol or caffeine within four hours of bedtime, and whether they remembered any dreams upon waking.

Watson made some interesting conclusions about dreams based on the study:

--Dream recall varies widely. A few people remember a dream every night, while others never remember any dreams. But on average, we remember dreams three or four times a week.

--Dream recall is not affected by sleep quality or length of sleep.

--Those who have an inconsistent bedtime seem to remember more dreams than those who go to bed at roughly the same time every night.

--Night owls tend to remember more dreams than larks.
The study findings were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:32 PM
More Than Anything, This Makes Kids Fat

Sweetened sodas, teas, lemonade, and other fruit juices are making our children fat.

That's the word from a team of nutritionists at Cornell University that point the finger at sugary drinks as the primary culprit in the battle of the bulge for the pre-teen crowd. Reuters reports that while the soft drink industry has long maintained it's lack of exercise that's to blame and not their product, the Cornell researchers beg to differ.

What the researchers found in their study of 30 kids ages 6 to 12 is that those who drank more than 12 ounces of sweetened drinks daily gained significantly more weight over a two-month period than children who drank less than 6 ounces. (For this study, sweetened drinks were defined as soda, fruit punch, bottled tea, or drinks made from fruit-flavored powders, such as grape and lemonade.) The kids who drank the most soda gained an average of 2.5 pounds, compared with the 0.7 to 1-pound gain for the kids who didn't drink the sweet stuff.

On the days the children consumed sweetened drinks, they took in about 244 more calories. What's more, they did not eat less food to make up the difference. "These findings suggest that sweetened drinks may be a significant factor in the increase in obesity among children in the United States," David Levitsky, a professor of nutritional sciences and of psychology who oversaw the study, told Reuters.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has an idea that might help curb soft drink consumption: Tax it.

:rolleyes:

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:34 PM
Man Lies Dead in Bed for Nearly Three Years

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man lay dead in his bed for almost three years before being found, police said Friday. A post mortem revealed the man, in his 50s, had suffered serious head injuries, suggesting murder.

"We're assuming he was murdered in September 2000," said Christiane Leven, police spokeswoman in the northern city of Hamburg. Police have arrested a 30-year-old careworker who used to look after the wheelchair-bound man.

Police discovered the remains of the corpse Thursday after breaking into the man's apartment when neighbors complained of a strange smell.


Germany often reports cases of people lying dead in their homes for months or years before discovery, a phenomenon sociologists attribute to mounting social isolation and the disintegration of the family.
The efficient banking system also means people's bills and pensions can continue to be paid long after they die.



:eek:

06/30/03 08:53

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:38 PM
Ladies: Guys Like THIS Hairstyle Best

It took a bunch of serious researchers from Florida State University to figure this out, so listen up. When it comes to women's hair, men like this the best: long, thick, and brown.

Why?

It's biological. Men are programmed to find a fertile mate, and lead researcher Dr. Kelley Kline thinks long, thick hair is a signal that a woman is strong, young, and healthy. This is the first research to look solely at hair length--and no other facial features--to measure female sex appeal.

The study:

Fifty men and 76 women whose average age was 27 rated the attractiveness of women depicted in six different photographs. Three of the photos were of the same young, Caucasian woman who had the same facial expression, but her hair was altered by computer to short, medium, and long lengths. Short was really short--cut close to the head and above the ears. Medium length was just a bit below the ears. Long was at least eight inches below the shoulders.

The results:

Both men and women found the long hair to be "overwhelmingly" more attractive than the short or medium-length hair. When women were asked to rate the length of men's hair, the vast majority preferred short or very short haircuts. Kline says men with long hair may be perceived by women as being less virile.


There was one other interesting finding:

Men preferred brunettes over blondes. "At least in our study, gentlemen do not prefer blondes. They prefer brunettes," Kline told Reuters. "Its kind of an interesting finding, considering that in our society we concentrate on the blonde. It's so pervasive." The study findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society in Atlanta, Ga.

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 12:55 PM
Chicago Investigates Porch That Collapsed

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1110&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030630%2F145393221.htm&sc=1110

CHICAGO (AP) - City officials were investigating Monday whether proper permits had been issued for a porch that collapsed, killing 12 people and injuring at least 57 others.

Police spokesman David Bayless said the investigation continued but criminal charges were unlikely. ``At this time, we haven't seen any evidence of criminal activity that will lead us to seek charges,'' he said.

The collapse, which happened about 12:30 a.m. Sunday in the city's affluent Lincoln Park neighborhood, occurred at a three-story building that was converted in 1998 from five apartment units to three. City Building Commissioner Norma Reyes said permits were issued for the conversion work, but no construction permit was found for the porch.

``We're not sure if they had the proper permit to put up the porch,'' said Breelyn Pete, spokeswoman for the city's Buildings Department. The collapse has prompted questions about the safety of porches and whether weight limits should be imposed on them.


As many as 50 people, most of them in their early 20s, had crammed onto the apartment's third-floor porch for a party when the floor dropped from under them, sending people and debris crashing to the ground. Seven men and five women, many of them on the porches directly below, were sandwiched between the falling floors and killed.

On Monday morning, 12 small, white wooden crosses were placed on the ground behind the apartment building, each bearing the name of one of the dead. Several bouquets of pink roses and white and lavender daisies were on the sidewalk in front of the building. A red plastic cup sat on the ground nearby, a reminder of the party.

A structural engineer conducted a preliminary examination and determined that the porch was sound, Reyes said Sunday. Reyes said it was unclear if the porch, which was torn down Sunday afternoon, exceeded the scope of the work that was allowed under the permits for the rehab work at the building. The building's owner, who Reyes said was in Canada, and its management company did not immediately return telephone calls by The Associated Press.

Eleven people were pronounced dead at the scene, and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that a 12th person was dead on arrival at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Physicians said one victim brought to Illinois Masonic was without a pulse on arrival, but was resuscitated. She remained in critical condition.


Northwest of Chicago, eight people went to the hospital after a deck on an apartment in Rockford collapsed Sunday night. Eleven people were on the deck when a crack was heard as the deck collapsed and people fell to the ground.



06/30/03 14:53

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 02:13 PM
June 30, 2003

Blind Gator Mystery

(Ocean Springs, Mississippi-AP) -- Scientists say they are baffled as to why so many adult alligators along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coasts are losing their sight. There is a growing population of blind gators in both salt and freshwater locations in both states. More than 52 blind alligators have been documented in those areas in the past year.

River guide Lynn McCoy has seen his share of gators while serving as an on-call trapper for the state of Mississippi. McCoy says recently he has encountered two blind gators, including one that was six-foot-six-inches long and wallowing in the tide off the beach in Ocean Springs. That alligator and a seven-foot one McCoy saw on another call have been euthanized. They are being held for further study and tissue sampling.

Timothy Gross, an eco-toxicologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Gainesville, Florida, says scientists have no clue as to what is causing the alligators to go blind. Gross says the answer may lie in a combination of drought, parasitic infestation and disease.

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06-30-2003, 07:58 PM
VIENNA (Reuters) - A woman lay awake during surgery for 45 minutes, unable to move or call for help, after staff forgot to hook up the machine pumping out anaesthetic, the Austrian daily Kurier reported Monday.
The woman was temporarily paralyzed because she had been given a muscle relaxant, and her ordeal ended only after a replacement doctor who came into the operating room saw tears in her eyes and noticed the machine was not connected properly.

The woman, who was undergoing abdominal surgery, is suing for 70,000 euro ($79,970) in damages, the hospital in the Austrian province of Carinthia confirmed.

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06-30-2003, 08:05 PM
SYDNEY (Reuters) - A fridge full of rotting seafood forced the evacuation Monday of an Australian shopping mall.
Police in the eastern city of Brisbane said the large fridge was found dumped in the shopping center's carpark with "biological hazard" written on it.

Mindful of potential chemical or biological incidents after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, health department workers in full bio-chem protection suits wrapped the fridge in plastic and hauled it carefully away to be examined.

It was found to be full of rotting seafood, department officials told local media.

"Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't a biological hazard," a police spokeswoman said.

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06-30-2003, 08:06 PM
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man lay dead in his bed for almost three years before being found, police said Friday.
A post mortem revealed the man, in his 50s, had suffered serious head injuries, suggesting murder.

"We're assuming he was murdered in September 2000," said Christiane Leven, police spokeswoman in the northern city of Hamburg. Police have arrested a 30-year-old careworker who used to look after the wheelchair-bound man.

Police discovered the remains of the corpse Thursday after breaking into the man's apartment when neighbors complained of a strange smell.

Germany often reports cases of people lying dead in their homes for months or years before discovery, a phenomenon sociologists attribute to mounting social isolation and the disintegration of the family.

The efficient banking system also means people's bills and pensions can continue to be paid long after they die.

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06-30-2003, 08:07 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - This burglar could have used some lessons from Santa Claus.
A man became wedged in the chimney of an Italian family restaurant in Queens, New York, for almost three hours during an early Friday break-in, police and the owners said.

Police were called to Luigi's Italian Cuisine at 2:15 a.m. to rescue the man. Officers and firefighters broke through part of the chimney using jackhammers and drills, eventually dislodging him three hours later.

Co-owner Josephine Napolitano said she and her husband had been up late Thursday night watching a videotaped show of funny things caught on camera -- including one about a burglar who had to be greased with butter to be freed from a chimney.

"Not five minutes later, the police called us and said we're inside the restaurant, we've broken the locks, we have someone in your chimney," Napolitano said.

"At first I was thinking, this is a joke, but no it wasn't," said Napolitano, whose family has run the restaurant in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens for 45 years.

A police spokeswoman said the suspect was being treated for injuries in the hospital. He was charged with burglary.

What the burglar did not know is that Luigi's does not keep any cash on the premises after closing and the chimney shaft leads straight into the basement.

Napolitano said the restaurant would open for dinner Friday.

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06-30-2003, 08:37 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Here come the fleas. A Brooklyn bridal shop temporarily closed on Friday after employees reported fleas were biting women trying on dresses for their wedding day.
David's Bridal first discovered the problem in early May and sent an exterminator in the next day, a spokesman for the national chain of 186 stores said.

"It came up again a few days ago and late last night we shut it down and sent people to assess the problem," spokesman Gary Schwartz said. "We will not open or give garments to customers until we are satisfied everything is OK."

Schwartz said the source of the fleas was unclear. He described the factories that make bridal garments as "almost surgically pristine" and said each dress was inspected and steamed before going onto store floors.

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06-30-2003, 08:42 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The nation's only unionized strippers are now running the show.

Dancers at the Lusty Lady in San Francisco have made history again, this time turning the peep show into the first employee-owned and -operated strip club in the country.

The new proprietors, who number about 60 dancers and support staff, took over the club as a cooperative this month after the Lusty Lady's former owners decided to close up shop.

"It is our bodies out there and we should be able to keep the profits," said one new owner on Friday who called herself Sybil, 26, and who has danced at the club for seven years. "It is an exciting time to be here. This made me stick around."

The decision to buy the club came after a high-profile and successful contract fight earlier this year to win better wages at the club located in the touristy North Beach neighborhood filled with bars, restaurants and, of course, plenty of other adult clubs and stores.

Soon after that victory, however, the club's owners in February notified the dancers -- who include graduate students, a former lawyer and artists -- they would soon have to look for a new place to take off their clothes.


But instead of looking for other jobs the women, who are members of Local 790 of the Service Employees International Union, negotiated a deal to buy the business. They plan to use the club's revenues to pay off the previous owners over the next few years.

Each dancer who elects to pay $300 to join the cooperative also becomes eligible for a profit-sharing bonus at the end of the year -- giving them even more incentive to convince clients to pour quarters into the booths. Unlike other strip clubs, strippers at the Lusty Lady depend on hourly wages that range from $15 to $27 an hour rather than tips.

"People are more enthusiastic and not just standing around," Sybil said next to a new sign on the sidewalk that proudly proclaims the Lusty Lady a "worker-owned" business.

Stepping inside the club featuring well-worn carpeting, dim lighting and machines that dispense coins needed to raise the curtains on the viewing booths to, it may seem strange why the women are so attached to their jobs and workplace.

Yet the dancers say the chance to be their own bosses, the camaraderie and the flexible hours make the Lusty Lady an attractive way to pursue outside interests and get by in one of America's most expensive cities.

"Getting to dance around with my friends and chat up the guys is a hoot," said another dancer named Ruby, 22. "We have a really close-knit group."

It has also been hard work too, say the dancers who have elected a board to make the final decisions. Negotiating contracts, dealing with employee problems and trying to turn a profit in a tough economy are new concerns in addition to keeping the clients happy.

And while they recognize the Lusty Lady is anything but an average business proposition, the women say they are simply chasing the American dream just like everybody else.

"It doesn't seem weird to me at all," said a dancer called Tiamata. "Everybody wants a little bit more of the pie in any industry."

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 09:05 PM
'Bigfoot' sighting in China

Monday, June 30, 2003 Posted: 1:24 PM EDT

www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/30/china.bigfoot/index.html

BEIJING, China -- Chinese authorities are investigating several apparent sightings of a legendary 'ape-like' beast at a nature reserve in the central Hubei province.

The mythical creature, suspected by locals to be a 'Bigfoot', was apparently seen by six people, including a journalist in the Shennongjia Nature reserve on Sunday afternoon, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Local legend has it that the reserve is home to the half-man, half-ape creature but several high-profile searches in the past three decades have failed to find any evidence of its existence.

Speculation the 'Bigfoot' could be a descendant of apes mounted after China's state media reported several years ago that scientist had found fossilized teeth of giant primates in the area.

The latest sighting described the creature as a grayish ape-like animal, the Xinhua report said, about 1.65-meters tall with shoulder length black hair.

A vehicle carrying the journalist and five others was making a turn when the occupants saw the creature moving fast across the road, the Xinhua report said. By the time the vehicle had stopped, the animal had disappeared. The passengers found several 30 centimeter-long (12 inches) footprints and newly broken branches in the jungle near the road, the report said.

They also claimed to have discovered a three-meter-long (9.9 feet) patch of "foul smelling urine-like liquid" on the road where the creature was seen.

While some scientists theorize the creature could be the missing link between primates and humans, other hypotheses say it may be a bear, monkey or an elaborate hoax.

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 09:33 PM
Dogs Try Yoga for Stress Relief
By Caroline Humer

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030630%2F084982074.htm&sc=reodd

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City dog owners who worry that their furry friends need some stress management have a new option: yoga for dogs.

"Ruff Yoga" -- a so-called doga class aimed at relaxing the canine denizens of this often un-Zen city -- is being offered once a month in a downtown city park.

Half an hour on the yoga mat makes Isaac, her cocker spaniel, a calmer dog, said doga devotee Sarah Klein. "Usually when he's in the park, he can't focus," said Klein, who was among nine New Yorkers and their dogs who attended a class on Thursday night.

First there was a short inspirational reading about dogs and a moment of "OM-ing." Then the women, following a yoga instructor, took their dogs through traditional poses, starting, without a trace of irony, by forming the furry bodies into the inverted V of the "downward dog" pose.

Then they bent over the dogs and curled their best friends into "child's pose," renamed "puppy's pose."

As a crowd of onlookers grew, the women stretched their dogs -- all of them on the small side -- to the left and the right and lifted them in their arms like furry weights. From time to time, they paused to pull the wandering dogs back to their mats and shush their barks.

"Give him a little love," yoga instructor Suzi Teitelman, 31, told her students. "Come forward, give him a kiss," Teitelman instructed as she leaned over her own spaniel, 2-year-old Coaly.

The class, sponsored by national fitness chain Crunch, grew out of Coaly climbing on her owner's yoga mat at home, Teitelman said. "Yoga came from the animals. It's natural instinct," she said.

Three women left the lesson with their dogs after several minutes, but those who stayed said it was worth it. "I feel more relaxed and I think she does too," 24-year-old Tracy Alfajora said of Tallula, an 8-month-old, 3-pound Yorkshire terrier who had just finished her first class.

Yoga for dogs, sometimes called doga, has taken hold with pet lovers beyond New York. Due on bookshelves in September is "Doga: Yoga for Dogs" from Chronicle Books. The book, based on the fact that some of yoga's best known positions are based on the movements of dogs, has tips on practicing yoga with your dog.

And yoga guru Bruce Van Horn is studying the physiological effect of yoga on dogs at a New Jersey animal shelter. Using stress reduction techniques like breathing exercises, he aims to calm the dogs and help them be adopted.

Van Horn, whose book "Yoga for Pets and the People who Love Them" also is due in the fall, says he has noticed results with his own dog. "It's a healing thing," he said.



06/30/03 08:48

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 09:38 PM
No One Asks for Encore from 520 Guitar Players

PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - They might have played out of tune, but at least they're the world's largest guitar band. More than 520 serious and would-be guitar players gathered in Portland Sunday to set a record for Guinness World Records and raise funds for a nonprofit organization for the homeless.

The massed guitarists strummed "This Land is Your Land" in the key of G for an hour, led by a band of amplified musicians from a local music store. Participants wore lyrics and chord guides on the backs of their shirts to aid the players behind them.

"I thought I might cry because an hour is a long time but I think also there is something in the song," said organizer Monica Beemer.


To meet Guinness requirements, guitarists registered before two witnesses and wore numbers during play. Beemer, who worked with Guinness officials, said the record was easily set.

"We really can't fail today because there is no record," she said. "Next year we'll try to break this record."



06/30/03 08:48

Jolie Rouge
06-30-2003, 09:55 PM
Do-Not-Call List Registers 10 Million
By DAVID HO


WASHINGTON (AP) - People registered more than 10 million phone numbers with the national do-not-call list in its first four days, finally giving vent to their frustration with telemarketers.

The free service intended to block most telemarketing calls was launched Friday. At the height of the registration surge that evening, 158 phone numbers were signed up every second, the Federal Trade Commission said Monday.

``This is really a phenomenal response,'' said Eileen Harrington, the FTC's director of marketing practices. ``There is an enormous enthusiasm and pent-up demand for this service.''

About 85 percent of the numbers were registered online at www.donotcall.gov, the FTC said. On the Web site, consumers provide the home or cell phone numbers they want protected and an e-mail address to receive a confirmation message.


People have entered another 3 million numbers online, but still need to complete registration by clicking on a link in the e-mail message, the FTC said.

Some consumers have had problems with the link in the confirmation message because their Internet provider or older Web browser software prevents it from working, the FTC said. The commission said that if the link doesn't work, people should copy and paste it directly into their Web browser's address box to confirm registration.


Confirmations sent to users of Yahoo e-mail were initially diverted to their junk mail folders by a filtering system that mistook the large volume of do-not-call messages for spam, the company said, noting that the problem was corrected within hours of the list's launch.


People also registered by calling toll-free at 1-888-382-1222, a number available in states west of the Mississippi River. To ensure the system can handle the volume of calls, the phone number will not operate nationwide until July 7. Consumers calling the toll-free number must call from the phone they want registered.


Including unconfirmed registrations, 7 million numbers were added Friday, 4.6 million on Saturday and 2 million on Sunday.


The FTC expects people will register up to 60 million phone numbers in the first year.


People who sign up this summer should see a decrease in telemarketing calls after the FTC begins enforcing the list on Oct. 1. The service will block about 80 percent of the calls, the FTC said.


The telemarketing industry estimates the do-not-call list could cut its business in half, costing them up to $50 billion in sales each year, said Louis Mastria, a spokesman for the Direct Marketing Association.


``You're talking about a big hit to the economy and a big hit to our industry,'' Mastria said. ``There may be some job losses.''


Many people had trouble registering for the list online because the huge response at times overwhelmed the system, causing it to respond sluggishly or tell visitors to try again later. The FTC scrambled to add more computer equipment to handle the load.


``Those problems have been resolved,'' Harrington said.


More than a dozen states with do-not-call lists plan to add their lists to the national registry this summer, the FTC said. Consumers on those lists need not register again.


Beginning in September, telemarketers will have to check the list every three months to see who doesn't want to be called. Those who call listed people could be fined up to $11,000 for each violation. Consumers would file complaints to an automated phone or online system.


Exemptions from the list include calls from charities and pollsters and calls on behalf of politicians. A company also may call someone on the no-call list if that person has bought, leased or rented from the company within the past 18 months or has inquired about or applied for something during the past three months.


On the Net:

National Do Not Call Registry: www.donotcall.gov or http://donotcall.gov



06/30/03 21:04

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 11:29 AM
Bag of Chips Contains More Than Munchies

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1120&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030701%2F105828978.htm&sc=1120

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A woman bought a bag of potato chips at a convenience store but discovered more than munchies in the bag.

Lois Campbell, 42, of Des Moines, opened the small sack of Uncle Ray's garlic-flavored chips Saturday and found another bag inside.

``We were eating a few of the chips, and I was about to give some to a 3-year-old child,'' Campbell said. ``I thought it was a little bag of seasoning inside. When I saw what it was, I called the police.''

A police report said the contents of the heat-sealed bag smelled like marijuana.


The leafy substance - and the chips - were seized as evidence.


The Git-N-Go store where Campbell bought the snacks has taken the rest of the Uncle Ray's chips off its shelves, said Mandi Lockridge.


The chips were packaged in Detroit, Lockridge said.


``To find out what was in there, they will have trace it back to Detroit,'' she said.



07/01/03 10:57

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 11:30 AM
Weather Report Proves Too Hot for Censors

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030701%2F075023394.htm&sc=reodd

By Jonathan Ansfield


BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese television censors have axed a controversial new weather program after the scantily clad hostess's flirty performances aroused nationwide debate over the limits of tasteful entertainment.

"Star weather" featured former beauty pageant winner Wu Rong in the role of a bombshell meteorologist, flaunting her curvy figure while cooing fashion and beauty tips loosely based on the next day's forecast.

Hunan Entertainment Channel launched the nightly five-minute program on May 26 in the southern province, known as a hotbed of cutthroat competition and adventurous programming in China's increasingly commercial but still tightly regulated market.

The report, as thin on meteorology as Wu's skimpy outfits, titillated many viewers bored with robotic weathermen. But its racy format drew a backlash from more traditional audiences and national media attention.


Hunan television officials suspended it two weeks ago.


"There was pressure from above," Liu Bin, the channel's editorial director, told Reuters. "It was planned to be a life, trends and services program. But it resulted in various interpretations among the audience."


Liu said the channel had failed originally to present a demo tape of "Star Weather" to the provincial regulatory body. But it could bring the show back if censors approved revisions.


"It has to identify with the mainstream of society," he said. "Our responsible department has to be satisfied too. It is mass media."


Chinese cultural authorities maintain strict regulations against nudity and innuendo, although advertisers, entertainment venues, magazines and Web sites test the boundaries.


But television broadcasters and movie houses face tougher scrutiny.


Viewers and critics have panned "Pink Ladies," a new sitcom on Beijing Television marketed as China's "Sex in the City," partly for its prudish plotlines.


Earlier this year, film Czars approved the release of a historical drama banned eight years ago when it was first made, only to block distribution again due to love scenes deemed excessively graphic.


"Rice," a portrayal of family ruined by lust and greed in pre-Revolutionary China, was based on the novel by "scar literature" master Su Tong and produced by state giant China Film Group. Video copies were sold underground at some stores.


Episodes of "Star Weather" opened with shots of Wu's writhing silhouette as she sashayed behind a gauze curtain.


Her catty demeanor and unorthodox delivery -- sprawled across a love seat, heels kicked up, with music resembling moaning in the background -- prompted the magazine China Newsweek to ponder "Is it service or entertainment?."


But many people thought the fuss overblown. A commentator on the Web site sina.com.cn defended Wu. "Male chauvinists have impaired women for more than 1,000 years. They cannot even let one girl's career off the hook."



07/01/03 07:48

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 11:31 AM
Giant Hangar Being Cultivated for Jungle
By Dave Graham


BERLIN (Reuters) - A German hangar, designed to house the world's largest airship, could end up housing the world's largest indoor tropical rainforest instead.

Malaysian entrepreneur Colin Au unveiled plans on Monday to turn the hangar near Berlin into a multi-million euro tropical theme park in a joint venture with the Malaysian lottery and energy firm Tanjong.

"We want to create an affordable tropical retreat near Berlin where people can relax and walk around in a T-shirt and shorts in the middle of winter," Au said.

The project would cost some 120 million euros ($137 million) and create up to 2,500 jobs in Brandbenburg state in Germany's formerly communist east.


The 360-yard long, 210-yard wide and 107-yard high hangar, built by airship company Cargolifter, was hailed as an engineering feat when completed in 2000.


Cargolifter's insolvency last year prompted Au's vision of a paradise with 100 different types of orchid, a lagoon, beaches, a rainforest, a flower world and village, and two hotels on the 66 hectare site.


Au would not disclose details of his bid, which is subject to approval, but insolvency administrators indicated the hangar would be sold for some 20 million euros.


Au believed the park could make a profit within five years yet, should local authorities reject the plan in December, Au and Tanjong retain the right to pull out of the deal.


But, already looking forward to future success, Au announced another objective being lined up for the project.


"The biggest tropical tree is 87 meters tall," he said. "We're going plant a tree in the hangar so that in 50 years the biggest tropical tree in the world will be here in Berlin."



07/01/03 07:44

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 11:37 AM
Police Shut Down Scantily Clad Performance Artist

BOSTON (Reuters) - Women's fashions may be getting flimsier every day but bystanders saw more than they bargained for when a scantily clad performance artist tried to squeeze into clothes in a storefront window.

Apparently outraged by a touch too much flesh, residents called police to stop artist Elaine Belsito, who was wearing only a sports bra and panties, from dressing in the window of a gallery in Somerville, Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reported on Monday.

Belsito was staging a performance art piece called "If Only You Lost Five Pounds You'd Be Perfect," and was ordered out of the window by police. No charges were filed, the paper said.

While onlookers were dismayed, the gallery's owner vowed to get permits so that the show could go on.



07/01/03 07:45

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 11:38 AM
Can't Have a Job if You're Dead, Man Told

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Finding a job in Brazil may be tough, especially when your records say that you are dead, as 25-year-old unemployed driver Marcio Freitas da Silva discovered.

The problem is that when another man of the same name and age died three years ago, coroners wrote the names of the living da Silva's parents in the death certificate, "murdering" him for official records.

"It's a humiliating situation when others make mistakes and I have to prove that I'm alive," da Silva told Globo television Monday, complaining that he had been told during his ordeal that a dead man "cannot drive vehicles on federal highways."

The civil registry office has already revitalized da Silva, but the new documents, issued late last year, have not reached most government offices. Globo showed an election official eagerly explaining to da Silva that, alive or not, he could not vote while his record said he was dead.



07/01/03 07:46

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 11:40 AM
:( That's Katharine, Not Katherine

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood bid farewell to Katharine Hepburn Monday by placing a showy wreath of flowers on its most famous boulevard -- but spelled her name wrong on the bouquet.

It was perhaps a fitting end to the turbulent relationship between Hollywood and one of its greatest stars, a woman who carved her own path, shunned the trappings of stardom and kept her 27-year love affair with Spencer Tracy secret because it wasn't anyone's business.

Flowers were placed on the star honoring Hepburn along the Walk of Fame near Tinseltown's famed intersection of Hollywood and Vine by a delivery man from a local florist. In attendance were crews from three local television stations, two homeless men and a slow trickle of curious tourists. A purple sash across the floral spray identified her as "Katherine" Hepburn.


"That's sad," Cathy Read, a visiting northern California social worker, said as she stared at the misspelling.



07/01/03 07:59

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 09:04 PM
Pieces of Alcatraz Prison Are for Sale
By LISA LEFF

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1120&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030701%2F133433927.htm&sc=1120


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - People fascinated with the history of ``The Rock,'' aka Alcatraz Island, can now own a piece of it. The National Park Service, which manages Alcatraz as one of San Francisco's most popular tourist attractions, has started selling boxed chunks of concrete from the federal prison that once housed Al Capone, George ``Machine Gun'' Kelly and Robert ``Birdman'' Stroud.

Retailing for $4.95, the souvenirs were made possible because the park service is renovating the decaying cell house and a separate guards quarters, both considered national historic building. The $7.7 million effort to stabilize the former prison structure is the largest capital project on the island since the U.S. Bureau of Prisons closed the penitentiary in 1963.

Richard Weideman, a spokesman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, said park staff came up with the idea for the mementos as an environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to ferrying tons of construction rubble off Alcatraz.

``We look at this as an educational opportunity and a fund-raising opportunity,'' said Weideman, adding that the keepsakes were modeled after similar endeavors involving fragments of the Berlin Wall and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The proposal to peddle the chips off the old cell block, however, initially met with criticism from what Weideman calls `traditionalists'' within the park service and other federal agencies who objected to merchandising the landmark structures.

`Some people look at this as, `How can you sell pieces of a historic building? It would be like selling pieces of Independence Hall,''' he said. ``We don't think it detracts from the historic significance of the buildings because this stuff wouldn't even be retained on the island. It would be dumped in a landfill.''

Since the ``Save the Rock'' campaign began a week and a half ago, the cleaned and packaged slices of correctional history have been selling at a rate of 20 to 30 a day, according to Weideman. Park staff, who have about 500 ready to go, expect the rocks to bring in $20,000 to $40,000 a year.

The campaign also features commemorative T-shirts, posters and a CD-ROM describing ongoing efforts to preserve the building that became famous as ``The Rock,'' which was built from 1909 to 1911 by military prisoners who were incarcerated on Alcatraz before it became a civilian facility in 1933.

The move underscores the public's enduring interest in the famed maximum security prison, interest that has lasted longer than the 29 years Alcatraz actually housed what the Bureau of Prison calls the ``most incorrigible inmates.''

As for the ``traditionalists,'' Weideman predicts they will be won over. He recalled how the park caught flak several years ago when it launched an advertising campaign and began offering tourists the option of self-guided taped tours instead of listening to a live ranger. ``We are a pretty radical national park,'' he said. ``We are reflective of California in that we like to try new and untested activities.''

On the Net:
Golden Gate National Parks Association
www.parksconservancy.org/savetherock

Alcatraz Island
www.nps.gov/alcatraz

07/01/03 13:34

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 09:20 PM
Radical Change On the McDonald's Menu

"Hold the fries. Give me the fruit instead."

Kids may soon be saying that at McDonald's if the Happy Meal fruit test is a success. Starting soon, the nation's largest fast food restaurant will give customers an option to substitute fruit for french fries in Happy Meals, as well as get 100 percent juice instead of soft drinks, reports USA Today. Eventually, McDonald's is likely to offer fresh veggies, too.

What's happening here?

Has the world shifted on its axis? No. McDonald's is just wary of those well-publicized lawsuits blaming it in part for the nation's obesity problem.

Here's the company line:

"If healthy lifestyles are becoming more important to our customers, we want to play a leadership role," CEO Jim Cantalupo told USA Today.

Here's the reality:
McD's is feeling the pressure. It has created a new position: corporate vice president of healthy lifestyles. It has retooled its Web site with an interactive section called "Bag A McMeal" that lets you find out the exact amount of calories, fat, and sodium in every meal option.

The new VP of healthy lifestyles, Ken Barun, told USA Today, "We see in our research that this is becoming more important to consumers. Moms want to provide healthy options for their kids."

And McDonald's wants the lawsuits to go away.

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 09:24 PM
Fighting fat is the new corporate mantra.

Find out what other leading food company is changing the recipes with your good health in mind.

Oreo maker fights fat

Kraft Foods says it will alter portion sizes for some products and halt in-school marketing.
July 1, 2003: 3:58 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Kraft Foods said Tuesday it was moving to fight obesity by limiting the size of single-serving packages, halting in-school marketing and adding details about nutrition on its products.

The nation's biggest processed food producer, maker of Nabisco cookies, Oscar Mayer meats and Kraft cheeses, said the steps will also include measures "to improve existing products and provide alternative choices."

"Just as obesity has many causes, it can be solved only if all sectors of society do their part to help," co-CEO Betsy Holden said in a statement. "Kraft is committed to product choices and marketing practices that will help encourage healthy lifestyles and make it easier to eat and live better."

Some Wall Street analysts said Kraft (KFT: Research, Estimates) was taking a "proactive" step in the face of lawsuits targeting the company's products. Last month a lawsuit seeking to ban Oreo cookies in California was withdrawn after provoking criticism from some legal experts for clogging the nation's courts.

Kraft said the company has paid attention to such matters. "If these measures also discourage unfair litigation, that's just fine with us," Kraft Foods North America spokesman Michael Mudd said.

Mudd said the company was setting a size limit on packages meant to be consumed by one person, such as candy bars, beverages and vendor packs of Oreo cookies. "Some of the guidelines for setting the limit will be total calories," he said. "For products that are above these levels, we will reduce the portion size. [For] products that are at the level set, or below it, we will increase the portion size."

Kraft got spun off from Philip Morris Cos., now Altria Group (MO: Research, Estimates), in 2001. Altria owns tobacco marketer Philip Morris, the world's biggest cigarette maker, and a stake in brewer SABMiller PLC. Altria, which has been hit with a slew of suits related to smoking and marketing cigarettes to youth, still owns 84 percent of Kraft.

"Kraft is learning from its parent company about litigation matters and it’s trying to be proactive," said Amy Greene, an analyst with Avondale Partners. "Kraft is also an industry behemoth and it knows that it’s better to set the course than to be forced to follow it."

But Kraft's announcement drew praise from the American Dietetic Association. "I think Kraft’s move should be applauded, especially in today’s climate (with) much concern over childhood obesity," said Julie Walsh, a registered dietician and spokeswoman for the association. Added Walsh, "Many of Kraft’s products are convenient foods for busy parents. Parents want to feel good about what they're giving their kids to eat. But Americans also like fat and sugary foods. So Kraft has a challenge ahead of itself by trying to get consumers to buy its healthier food that might not necessarily taste the same."

The company said it expects to complete the latest development of food standards for the company by the end of 2003, and will begin implementing them in 2004.

Details about the pricing were not immediately available.

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 09:28 PM
No. 1 Quality We Want In Our Soul Mate

More than anything else, we are attracted to individuals who look like we do, as well as share the same wealth, social status, and outlook towards family and fidelity, CNN and the Associated Press report of new research from Cornell University in New York. In other words, opposites do not attract.

Conventional wisdom has long held that beautiful women seek socially dominant men, while rich and confident guys look for the most gorgeous ladies. Turns out, that's not right. At least, if you want to make it last a lifetime. Instead, we should be seeking an ideal match--someone who is equal to us. And when we do that, marriage has the greatest chance of long-term success. The Cornell researchers say that when there are too many differences between couples, it causes instability. It's actually harmful to the marriage if we hook up with someone who is far better looking or has a much higher social status. Why? Years into the relationship, the person of higher status might be tempted to "trade up" to a better partner. There's much less chance of that happening between equals.

The Cornell study was based on questionnaires completed by 978 students ages 18 to 24 who were asked to rank the importance they placed on 10 attributes in a long-term partner. Then they had to rank themselves based on those attributes, which were:

--Wealth and status

--Family commitment

--Physical appearance

--Sexual fidelity

Those who rated themselves highly as individuals were also more selective than those who did not think so well of themselves.

The takeaway:

Marriages between similar matches are more common and have a far greater chance of success than marriages between opposites. Stop your search right now for the highest-quality partner. Instead look in the mirror and go find someone who looks and acts like you do. The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists Monday.

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 09:32 PM
Before you say 'I do'

Five questions to ask your one true love.

You know your betrothed better than anyone. But you might do well to know each other even better.
June 4, 2003: 11:10 AM EDT
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money.com Senior Staff Writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – You know your fiancé(e)'s heart and soul and you know you want to be married to this person for life.

But there's a good chance you don't know enough about his or her money habits, financial history or goals ... even if you've lived together. And as any divorced romantic will tell you, marriage has a financial component that you ignore at your peril.

LifeInnovations in Minneapolis, which trains marriage counselors, offers a questionnaire for pre-marital couples to measure how in sync partners are with each other in several areas. Most couples score lowest in the financial category, said David Olson, the program's president.

No two people will ever be completely in sync money-wise. But putting your financial cards on the table from the get-go will go a long way toward building trust and establishing a money partnership that can enhance rather than undermine your marriage.

So why not ask each other these five questions:

Assets: How much bacon do we have for breakfast? You should know what the other makes, what assets you each have and what your top financial goals are. You can't work toward goals together if you don't know what they are or what resources you have.

Don't forget to include pension plan contributions, stock options and insurance policies, said financial planner Michelle Hoesly, a member of the Million Dollar Roundtable, an international association of financial professionals.

Likewise, know how much each of you has in savings and investments.

Lastly, ask each other what you most want (or expect) to do financially -- for example, buying a house, sending your kids to college or retiring early.


Debts: Shall we clear the table before eating? It's hard to have a relaxing meal when you're surrounded by dirty dishes. Likewise, it's hard to work effectively toward joint goals when one or both of you is saddled with debt.

So be frank about what you owe. You might even review each other's credit reports as well.

If your fiancé(e) has debt, it may be his or her legal responsibility to repay, but it can affect you in several ways. That's why you both need to agree on how and when to pay off that debt.

Otherwise, you might grow resentful. That's because money to pay off debt is money that will not go towards a down payment, a college fund or anything else you want. And it may force you to scrimp on other things as well.

If casual spending is the culprit, your fiancé(e) may be inclined to rack up debt again -- only next time he or she may use your joint accounts. (And those are debts for which you are legally responsible.)


Money habits: Why do you fold napkins that way? The answer may be "because that's the way my parents taught me." The same might apply to your partner's money style and values. That's why it can be useful to learn about in-laws' money habits, Hoesly said.

And find out whether there are any expectations that you will help your in-laws financially, since that's something about which you both need to agree and for which you need to plan.


Marrying money: Do we want to share a dish? Deciding how you're going to manage money together will be a work in progress for at least the first few years of your marriage. But you need to think about how much each of you will pay toward joint expenses and whether you want to pool some, all or none of your money in joint accounts. (For help with this question, click here.)


Estate planning: Who should get the leftovers? If one or both of you has children, in addition to discussing how their expenses will be paid if the kids are young, you might also discuss your beneficiary designations on your estate, retirement and insurance plans.

There are sometimes good reasons not to name a spouse as beneficiary on a policy or account -- for instance, a spouse may have plenty of money and more would simply increase his tax burden, or you want to insure some money is earmarked for your kids from a previous marriage. But discussing those reasons is important. Otherwise your spouse's feelings may be hurt.


Outside parties can help
If you're having trouble getting through these questions -- or getting through to your fiancé(e) -- you might benefit from a few sessions with a financial planner.

An objective, third party often can get across to both partners what they need to hear in an unemotional way and help them come to agreement on key issues.

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 09:34 PM
Man Entraps Neighbor's Dog with Taped Barks

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German used recorded barking to provoke a neighbor's dog to respond so he could report the animal for disturbing the peace, police said on Monday.

"The man evidently didn't like the dog and wanted to make it bark more so he could report it," a police spokesman in the northern town of Harrislee said.

After the man complained to police about the German shepherd, the neighbor discovered a speaker hidden in his garden hedge attached to a cable leading to the man's house.

He alerted police, who found the system was rigged up to play dog barks and sounds of tongue clicks meant to attract canines. "The whole story is so ludicrous, we really can't imagine what he thought he would achieve," the spokesman said. "There's no way the man would have had his dog taken away just because it barked sometimes."


07/01/03 07:55

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 09:35 PM
N.J. Man in Wheelchair Struck by Train

BELMAR, N.J. (AP) - A man who had been rolling back and forth across the railroad tracks in his motorized wheelchair was struck and critically injured by a commuter train, authorities said.

Warning lights were flashing and the gates were down Monday when the New Jersey Transit train struck Shelton Spizz, 59, transit agency spokesman Ken Miller said.

``Moments before, the engineer had observed this person in the wheelchair crossing back and forth across the tracks,'' Miller said. ``He sounded his horn and placed the train into an emergency braking procedure, but was unable to stop in time.''

Spizz was knocked out of his wheelchair and trapped under the train.


Miller said it was not known whether it was a suicide attempt. He said investigators have been unable to interview Spizz because of his injuries.


The man's son, Jason Spizz, said his father, an Air Force veteran, had been paralyzed last year in a boogie boarding accident.



07/01/03 15:54

Widgetsx3
07-01-2003, 09:48 PM
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Swedish scientists have produced healthy offspring from mice with transplanted wombs - an experiment that raises hopes of successful uterus transplants for women.

Experts say the results, presented Tuesday at a European fertility conference, are encouraging but major obstacles must be overcome before women can benefit.

Last year, Saudi scientists reported the first human womb transplant, which produced two menstrual periods before it failed and had to be removed.

Experiments led by Dr. Mats Brannstrom of Sahlgrenska University in Gothenburg, Sweden, involved genetically identical mice so there would be no problem of immune system rejection. Scientists sought to determine whether the wombs could be connected properly and function soundly.


Although thousands of women with other organ transplants have given birth to healthy babies after being on immune suppressing drugs throughout their pregnancies, there may be a special difficulty with womb transplants, said Dr. Hans Evers, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Academic University in Maastricht in the Netherlands.

"It's quite different to suppress the immune system not to reject a kidney than not to reject a uterus and have it perform its function," said Evers, who was not connected with the experiments.

"There are a lot of immune mechanisms in the uterus which prevent you from rejecting the fetus, so there's a double immune problem here," he said. "There's not only rejection of the donor tissue, but also not interfering with the regular immune systems within the uterus that allow a pregnancy to go to term."

Brannstrom said his group is now studying combinations of immune suppressant drugs. He said he was optimistic and expects to start transplants in humans in about three years.

In one experiment, the scientists inserted a transplanted womb next to the native uterus inside the mice, while in another they replaced the natural womb with a donated one.

The pregnancy rate was the same in both experiments, said Brannstrom.

"These offspring from the transplanted uteruses were mated and they were all fertile and the growth of the second generation was also normal," he said at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

"If you use this in a clinical situation, you have to have immunosuppression, but it would be just for a restricted time. You would carry the uterus just as long as you needed for one or two babies," he said.

Mothers or sisters would be the most likely donors because close relatives are more likely to provide a better match than strangers, he said.

Brannstrom estimated that in about 3 percent of infertile women, the problem can be traced to the uterus.

Women who were born without a uterus would likely be the first to benefit from the transplants, he said. Other transplant candidates include women who had to have a hysterectomy after postpartum bleeding or due to a severe infection.

Jolie Rouge
07-01-2003, 10:03 PM
Celebrity body parts: Million-dollar thighs and smiles
By Larry Getlen • Bankrate.com

We would guess not. On the other hand, it probably never occurred to you to buy an insurance policy for them either.

Unless, of course, you're a celebrity.

The tradition of celebrities insuring talents and body parts is a long and storied one, ironically re-introduced to public consciousness lately by a fiction -- the insuring of Jennifer Lopez's body (or booty) for $1 billion. While the story was widely reported, Lopez's representatives insist it never happened, and there's no evidence that it did.

Although juicy tales of Lopez's body being priced in parts like a fine Holstein (legs -- $400 million, breasts -- $200 million, or so went the rumors) proved false, many other celebrities have provided us with a menu of limbs and other, um, attributes, neatly broken down by price per part.

Alan J. Levin, a partner at Edwards & Angell, LLP, in Coral Gables, Fla., traces the origins of celebrity insurance to the 1920s, when silent movie star Ben Turpin, famed for his crossed eyes, took out a $20,000 policy against them uncrossing.

Crooner Jimmy Durante followed suit years later, taking out a $50,000 policy on his moneymaker -- his infamous schnozzola.

Female stars, perhaps more conscious of their attributes, raised the stakes. Marlene Dietrich insured her voice for a cool $1 million, and Betty Grable insured her dynamite legs for the same amount -- thus coining the phrase "million-dollar legs." (By comparison, dancer Fred Astaire had his legs insured for a paltry $75,000 per.)

Other stars of the day took out unusual insurance, including Bette Davis' $28,000 policy against weight gain.

But while superstars added a new element to the insurance business, some celebrities of a lesser caliber kept it equally interesting. Harvey Lowe, winner of the first World Yo-Yo Contest in 1934, had his hands insured by the Cheerie Yo-Yo Company for $150,000.

And while Britain's skiffle craze was on its way to influencing The Beatles (who themselves were insured for $1,000,000 on their first American tour), a washboard player named Chas McDevitt protected his own career by insuring his fingers for £5,000. Unfortunately, he didn't think to insure the popularity of skiffle, an early form of rock 'n' roll that eventually melted away.

Celebrity insurance stayed strong in the '60s as Angie Dickinson insured her Sinatra-loved legs for a cool mil, and a topless dancer in Las Vegas named Carol Doda, in what would become another bizarre insurance practice, insured her breasts at Lloyd's of London (the standard bearer for this sort of thing) for $1.5 million.

The insuring of breasts and other sexual attributes has become standard among the A-list and B-list alike. Dolly Parton insured her infamous, theme-park-inspiring 42-inch breasts for $600,000, since who knows where her career would be without them.

In Brazil, a 20-year-old Playboy model named Susana Alves, famous in that country for portraying an S&M queen on television, got what is perhaps one of the best insurance deals ever. A company there insured her buttocks, knees and ankles for $2 million in exchange for placing her image on its billboards. In Brazil, in fact, policies on celebrity rear ends are so commonplace that insurers coined a name for them -- bumbum policies.

Equal rights advocates will be happy to note that sexual insurance is not merely the province of women. A British male stripper named Frankie Jakeman insured his penis for $1.6 million -- no doubt inspiring shrieks of laughter from Jakeman's ex-girlfriends nationwide.

And sometimes, gender is irrelevant. One of the oddest examples of celebrity insurance came when a 24-year-old Thai transvestite performer named Poh was told her breast implants could explode at high altitude if she flew to an appearance in Edinburgh. The implants were therefore insured for $500,000.

While the body parts themselves produce healthy profits for insurers, voices also generate business. Bruce Springsteen has a legendary policy on his for somewhere in the $6 million range, and Rod Stewart has insured his scrubbed-with-steel-wool pipes as well.

Other body parts also rate protection. Liberace, French pianist Richard Clayderman and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards -- an unlikely trio -- all insured their hands.

Surprisingly, one category where you would expect lots of insured parts -- the world of sports -- yields none. While one would expect that superstars like Kobe Bryant, Randy Johnson or Roger Clemens would have more insured arms that the United States military, it turns out that the sports world finds little time to quibble with details.

Sports teams take an all-or-nothing approach. Why just insure a part when you can insure the whole package? These teams, rather than insuring their main attractions' body parts, just take out special disability insurance on the athlete himself -- like the St. Louis Cardinals did with a $12 million disability policy on now retired Mark McGwire.

Even in this area, though, teams take wildly divergent approaches to insurance. Over the past few years, The San Francisco Giants insured only one player -- Barry Bonds. That policy wasn't renewed in 2001, however, because at that time Bonds was in the last year of his contract, and the deductible was more than the premium. Other teams, such as the Seattle Mariners, insure no one as their draw is more dependent on fan loyalty at this point than on any one superstar.

And sometimes, players take on the insurance burden themselves. Outfielder Juan Gonzalez, for example, while a free agent, purchased a $50 million personal disability policy that was transferable to whichever team signed him in order to reassure teams concerned about his history of back trouble (he eventually re-signed with his old team, the Texas Rangers).

And in football, where there are no guaranteed contracts, the insurance risk falls solely on the player, leading superstars such as Rams quarterback Kurt Warner to purchase policies for themselves as soon as they take on major roles. Warner bought his when he took over the starting quarterback position.

Of course, some athletes are so successful -- and so rich -- that they are beyond insurance. Golfer Tiger Woods, for example, makes so much money that to insure himself against injury would cost him $10 million to $20 million a year, more than he made in 2002 from golf. Most of his money, more than $69 million a year, comes from endorsements.

But luckily, non-sports celebrities do not have these restrictions, and keep themselves "covered" from head to toe.

Actress Kerry Wallace needed to shave off her hair for one of the Star Trek films, and purchased a policy insuring that it would grow back.

And, perhaps since much of this insurance has been handled over the years at England's Lloyd's of London, that country seems to have (or at least publicizes) more than its share of odd policies. British food critic Egon Ronay insured his taste buds for $400,000; comic actor Ken Dodd insured his teeth for £4 million; and a cricket player named Merv Hughes took out a £200,000 policy on his moustache.

But the most common celebrity insurance seems to be for legs and faces -- the latter sparked, according to Levin, by the 1982 attack on actress Theresa Saldana in which her face was slashed. The insuring of the face by supermodels now seems standard practice. Christy Turlington has hers insured for $1 million, while Claudia Schiffer's is protected for $5 million.

Betty Grable inspired a legion of celebrities to protect their golden gams. Entertainment Tonight's Mary Hart has her legs insured for $1 million dollars, as does actress Angie Everhart. Jamie Lee Curtis insured hers for $1 million while doing advertisements for a stocking company, and porn star Porshce Lynn has had her legs insured for the same amount.

In this area too, both genders are represented, as Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley insured his legs for an astounding £25 million.

Even the non-famous can enjoy this type of protection. When Miami resident Domitila Hunnicutt won a Most Valuable Legs contest sponsored by Jergens, the company insured her legs for $2 million for one year, thereby bestowing her title with literal truth.

While there are sound business reasons for much of this, rest assured that the insuring of attributes does have its limits. A British performer known as Mr. Methane sought coverage against the loss of his "talent," which consisted of performing standards such as "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "How Much is That Doggy in the Window?" using his naturally-produced gases.

He was refused.




-- Updated: June 27, 2003

Widgetsx3
07-01-2003, 10:06 PM
Hey Jolie...I think you and I are the only "weird news" freaks out there.....lol

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 12:57 PM
Incredible Find Deep In Australian Cave

More than 200 Aboriginal cave drawings -- some of which are about 4,000 years old -- have been found deep inside a cave in the Wollemi National Park northwest of Sydney, Australia, reports Reuters. The drawings depict wildlife, including birds, lizards, and marsupials, as well as stencils of human hands and arms and of boomerangs and other tools. The most unusual drawing is of a wombat, something rarely seen in Aboriginal rock art.

The rock drawings are in 12 distinct layers.

The oldest date from 2000 B.C. while the newest were painted in the 1800s. To give a perspective on the age of the oldest drawings, they were created at the same time as the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge. "We know so much about the history of other cultures across the world, but we know very little about our own," Australian Museum spokeswoman Samantha Mattila told Reuters. "This is at the backdoor of Sydney, and it's untouched. It's pristine."


Click to see these incredible photos of the Aboriginal cave drawings.
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/photosearch.jsp?cap=Aboriginal+rock+art&x=0&y=0&floc=wn-nn

[
Get a glimpse of the Aboriginal culture through these photos and essay.

www.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/05/04/aboriginal.culture/index.html
The exact location of the cave will be kept secret so it will be protected. Reuters notes that it was found in 1995 by bushwalkers, but since the cave is in such a remote, densely wooded area, a team from the museum could only reach it for the first time two months ago.

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 12:59 PM
Really Bizarre Job Interview Questions

Question No. 1: What's the height of the Empire State Building as measured by a stack of quarters?

Got the answer?

Question No. 2: Now, what is the dollar value of those quarters?

Question No. 3: If you are on a boat and you throw your suitcase overboard, will the water level rise or fall?

Question No. 4: How many piano tuners are there in the world?

Question No. 5: Why are beer cans tapered at the top and bottom?

Question No. 6: Why do mirrors reverse right and left instead of up and down?



Don't be shocked if you're asked any of these questions--or something equally as bizarre--in your next job interview, reports Wired News.

Taking a cue from Microsoft, more companies are asking their job candidates the oddest questions--questions that have nothing to do with their ability to do the work but everything to do with their ability to think fast, analyze information, and solve problems creatively.

And it's catching job seekers off guard, notes Wired News. They go into an interview expecting to be asked about their previous job experience or educational background, and instead they are asked to do some brain teaser that feels like a jump back to ninth-grade math. Employers are using the technique to narrow the field. It wasn't too long ago that they took just about anyone who had pulse--and gave that person a huge signing bonus. Now there are multiple candidates for every position, and riddles and puzzles are one way to narrow the field.

"In this economy, companies can afford to be choosy," William Poundstone explained to Wired News. "The brain-teaser interview is a trend that has reached a broad cross-section of the Fortune 500." Poundstone knows of what he speaks. He wrote the book "How Would You Move Mount Fuji?" to explain how Microsoft uses puzzles and riddles to find and then hire the most creative thinkers.

But do these questions and answers really tell much about the candidate? Poundstone seems to think they do. "By asking candidates to solve a puzzle, interviewers hope to gain some insight into how well the candidates think on their feet," he told Wired News. Employers use this logic: Microsoft does it. Microsoft is successful. Microsoft's success is due to its employees and their ability to solve problems. So the technique must work.

Interviewers who use the puzzle questions say they do so not to see if the candidate gets the right answer, but rather to follow his or her thought process and to see if they have the determination to stick with it and come up with an answer.

Others don't agree the riddles work--but not for the reason you might think. A study about the job interview process conducted by researchers from Harvard University showed that most employers make up their mind about a candidate within two seconds--yes! two SECONDS--of meeting the person. So a riddle or puzzle won't mean much if your fate is already decided.

Still, even Poundstone, who thinks the puzzles are a great way to identify problem-solvers, cautions employers. "You have to be careful not to let it turn into a hazing stunt. In businesses where there's a fraternity culture, it sometimes becomes a matter of putting everyone through the same gauntlet of puzzles and high pressure," he told Wired News. "You don't want potential employees going away feeling harassed."

SaraSmiles
07-02-2003, 01:00 PM
I read this this morning. Isnt that just too cool? :)

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 01:01 PM
Hey Jolie...I think you and I are the only "weird news" freaks out there.....lol

Nah -- we are just the only ones who will admit it !

184 Posts and 880 Views; we must be doing something right !

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 01:06 PM
Giant sea creature baffles Chilean scientists
Wednesday, July 2, 2003 Posted: 1:32 PM EDT

www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/07/02/chile.science.reut/index.html

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) -- Chilean scientists were baffled on Tuesday by a huge, gelatinous sea creature found washed up on the southern Pacific coast and were seeking international help identifying the mystery specimen.

The dead creature was mistaken for a beached whale when first reported about a week ago, but experts who went to see it said the 40-foot-long (12-meter) mass of decomposing lumpy grey flesh apparently was an invertebrate.

"We'd never before seen such a strange specimen, We don't know if it might be a giant squid that is missing some of its parts or maybe it's a new species," said Elsa Cabrera, director of the Center for Cetacean Conservation in Santiago.

Photographs showed a round leathery substance like a mammoth jelly fish, about as long as a school bus.

Giant squid live at a depth of 9,500 feet (3,000 meters) and only rise to the surface when they die. Specimens have been known to be as long as 60 feet (18 meters).

There was speculation that the mass might be a whale skin, but Cabrera said it was too big and did not have the right texture or smell.

Cabrera said she was contacting Chilean and international organizations in the hope that they could help shed some light on the find.

The Chilean Navy first spotted the mystery specimen along with another large mass, but the other dead animal turned out to be a dead humpback whale.

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 01:07 PM
'Idol' Star Has Run-In With Texas Police

"American Idol" stars Justin Guarini and Kelly Clarkson were enjoying Saturday afternoon on a Fort Worth, Texas lake in a personal watercraft when trouble broke out. Justin, who was at the controls, nearly ran over a 5-year-old girl at Joe Pool Lake in Loyd Park. That brought out the police, who then cited the "American Idol" runner-up for unsafe boat operation, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. And that is punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 and a maximum 180 days in jail.

The lake patrol supervisor on duty, Sgt. Chris Chopin, told the paper that Guarini and Clarkson "didn't understand what the laws were." Clint Heizer, the father of the little girl, told the Star-Telegram that Justin and Kelly, whom he didn't recognize at first, were with about five other friends and had been taking turns riding the watercraft for most of the day. It wasn't until Justin almost hit his daughter, Allison, that Heizer realized who he was. "I was in Justin's face talking to him about what he had just done, and that's when I realized who he was," Heizer told the paper, claiming that Justin rolled off the watercraft before it even stopped and then ran away laughing.

"If they were just apologetic, everything would have been all right," Heizer said. Instead, he claimed the two were rude and confrontational not only to him, but also to the police and Coast Guard when they arrived on the scene. Sgt. Chopin disagreed with that description of their behavior, saying the two were more "inquisitive" than confrontational. Still, the police kicked them off the lake and out of the park.

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 01:09 PM
School Bans Potter's Magic

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian Christian school has banned the new best-selling adventure of teenage wizard Harry Potter, saying the book promotes evil witchcraft and magic.

Bert Langerak, principal of the Maranatha Christian School in the southern city of Melbourne, said Wednesday none of the five books in author J. K. Rowling's blockbuster Harry Potter series was welcome on the school's library shelves.

"We would deal with, say, Macbeth and Hamlet, because evil there is being portrayed as evil and not as being good, whereas Harry Potter is on a quest to become the best possible wizard and that's being applauded by the author," Langerak told Reuters.

"And us poor muggles are being put in a bad light," he added, using the name by which the book refers to non-magical people.

The latest book in the series -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- became an instant best seller around the world when it was launched last month.

Langerak said the school was leaving it up to parents to decide if they wanted to expose their children to Harry Potter and his unchristian magic turbo-charged brooms. "If they want their kids to read Harry Potter, so be it. But I think that parents also have to be given the opportunity to say, 'No, I don't want my child to read Harry Potter'."



07/02/03 08:13

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 01:18 PM
Expedition sets out to trap Norwegian 'sea monster'
Selma witnesses say the serpent has black eyes and a head like a horse

www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/08/07/norway.monster/index.html

SELJORD, Norway -- Last year scientists recorded what the Oceanographic Institute of Bergen called "an unknown sound of a mammal." This year they're back, trying to catch a mythical monster they have named "Selma."

For the third time the expedition team GUST 2000 is searching for the creature in the Seljordsvatnet, near Seljord, a town whose coat of arms features a sea serpent.

They have returned with sonar and a specially designed serpent-trap. The trap is a labyrinth net, designed to catch a sea serpent baby.
In addition to the team with a trap and sonar, a second team is being placed up in the mountains in case Selma decides to make a sudden appearance on the surface.

In addition, a third team is diving, shooting underwater pictures and searching the bottom.

GUST 2000 members are also interviewing locals to get a picture of what Selma might look like should she appear. The common view seems to be that she has big black eyes, a head like a horse without ears, is black all over, and has a considerably thicker middle region that includes flippers. Locals suggest her length is between 3 and 12 meters (10 and 40 feet).

The serpent has been part of local folklore since the first "documented" sighting in 1750. There are some villagers who don't believe in Selma, but plenty of locals do think there is something in the lake.

Whether Selma is a monster eel, a sea serpent or just a flow of dark water, Jan Sundberg and his team believe that Selma exists in some form, and that she might be living with others of her kind.

"We're trying to catch a little baby, because we think there is a whole family here. It's a long shot, but we're trying," Sundberg said.

If they do manage to catch her, then a team of two biologists will come and take samples and her DNA.

Somehow one thinks that life will never be the same for this little Norwegian village if Selma turns out to be a reality. And if they can't find her, true believers will be no doubt be unfazed.

"Of course there's something in the lake," says one local resident. "It's something, but I don't know what. I've seen it myself."

Reuters contributed to this report.

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 01:22 PM
Argument Erupts Over Sex Tourism During Olympics

ATHENS (Reuters) - A row over sex tourism has erupted in Athens, with the powerful Church accusing the city council of planning to license extra brothels to meet increased demand during next year's Olympics.

Athens hit back at the Greek Orthodox Church Tuesday and said it was merely planning to tighten up the laws regulating prostitution ahead of the games, when hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to flock to the city.

"The city council is not increasing the number of brothels," the council said in a statement.

Previous Olympic hosts such as Atlanta in 1996 saw a boom in the sex industry during the games with strip clubs and red light districts packed with visitors.


Prostitution and brothels are legal in Greece and prostitutes undergo regular health checks and pay social security. There are dozens of licensed brothels in the capital.



07/02/03 08:12

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 01:25 PM
Baby Girl Born With 4 Legs and 3 Hands

A baby girl has been born in Zambia with four legs, three hands, three kidneys, and an abnormal liver, reports Reuters. University Teaching Hospital pediatric consultant surgeon Lupando Munkonge said the as-yet unnamed baby is in stable condition and her mother is in good health.

The prognosis for babies who are born with such deformities--especially in impoverished countries like Zambia--is not good. But doctors are hopeful the little girl will survive. Munkonge said surgeons will first remove the extra legs and hands. Later, when the baby has recovered from that operation, doctors will remove her extra kidney.

He told reporters that the deformities were the result of incomplete growth of another fetus and a multiplication of cells that would normally have resulted in conjoined twins.

:(

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 02:35 PM
German Teen Shoots Teacher, Kills Self
By JUERGEN VOELKERLING


COBURG, Germany (AP) - A 16-year-old student walked into his classroom, shot his teacher in the leg and then killed himself Wednesday, police said. Two students were slightly injured in the panicked rush to flee the school in the German town of Coburg, state police Wilfried Doerfler said. One student jumped from a first-floor window but landed unhurt, he said.

The student fired two shots as he entered the classroom at about 9 a.m., police spokesman Rainer Prediger told n-tv television. Once in the class, he fired a shot that injured the teacher, who then rushed the other students out into the hall and shut the door. The teen then turned the revolver on himself, Prediger said.

``We know nothing yet about the motives,'' local police spokeswoman Ingrid Beyer said. ``The teacher is getting medical attention.''

Authorities could not immediately provide details on the teacher or the student except to say he was in the eighth grade.

According to the school's Web site, there were 34 students in his class and 757 at the school. Classmates were being treated by psychologists at the school, and the rest of the building had been cleared, police said.

Coburg is about 145 miles north of Munich near the former East German border.

In April 2002, 17 people in the eastern city of Erfurt were killed in Germany's deadliest school shooting. Robert Steinhaeuser, a 19-year-old who had been expelled, shot and killed 13 teachers, a police officer and two students before fatally shooting himself in the head.

Last October, a teen entered a school near the southwestern city of Stuttgart and took four students hostage at gunpoint, but the kidnapping ended after several hours without incident.



07/02/03 07:31

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 08:49 PM
FIFA President: Keep Your Shirts On
By CLARE NULLIS


GENEVA (AP) - Keep that shirt on, Brandi Chastain. FIFA has ordered soccer players to keep their shirts on during matches and banned all celebratory post-goal stripping, president Sepp Blatter told the Swiss newspaper Blick on Wednesday.

He also said the sport's governing body is considering whether to impose a heat limit on games following the death of Cameroon's Marc-Vivien Foe, who collapsed and died during the semifinals of the Confederations Cup in France on June 26.

Temperatures were in the 90s during the match. The cause of Foe's death has not been determined.

Blatter will attend Foe's funeral tomorrow in Lyon and his memorial service on July 12 in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde.


Blatter told Blick that the decision to ban players from taking off their shirts was made by FIFA's executive committee last weekend in Paris because too much flesh was shown at the Confederations Cup.


``There were several awkward situations at the Confederations Cup,'' he said. ``One player needed five minutes to put his jersey back on because his vest was sewn into it.''


In 1999, Chastain famously pulled off her shirt after scoring the winning goal for the United States in the Women's World Cup final against China.


Players who ignore the new regulation risk receiving a yellow card.


FIFA first introduced the ban in 1996 but then relaxed it. Details of the new regulation will be distributed shortly to national soccer associations before the upcoming season.



07/02/03 14:59

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 08:52 PM
Chilean 'Blob' May Be Giant Octopus, Whale Blubber
By Louise Egan

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-reodd&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030702%2F171487854.htm&sc=reodd

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Scientists said on Wednesday a huge mass of slimy flesh that washed up on a Chilean beach last week may be a rare type of giant octopus or just discarded whale blubber.

European zoologists contacted by the Chileans to help identify the 40-foot-long (12-meter) piece of gelatinous tissue said it closely resembled descriptions of a bizarre specimen found in Florida in 1896 that was named "octopus giganteus" and has confounded experts ever since.

Other informal sightings of similar deep-sea creatures by fishermen and divers from the Bahamas to Tasmania are the stuff of folklore on the "Bermuda Blob" as well as academic study.

"We've been in touch with zoologists from different countries. We've had responses from France and Italy from people who say, based on the preliminary data we sent them, it could be a gigantic octopus," said Elsa Cabrera, director of the Center for Cetacean Conservation in Santiago.


The center plans to send tissue samples abroad to be examined.
"I don't dare say what it is. I'm hoping the experts can tell us," she added.


James Mead, a zoologist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, thinks it is whale blubber. "I don't have enough data to say, yes it's an octopus or its a whale but I would hazard a bet that when it gets firmly identified, it'll be a whale," he told Reuters by telephone. He said a whale could have died of old age, decayed and a big piece of it could have drifted to shore.


Photographs of the carcass showed a pinkish-gray blob on the beach resembling a squashed elephant.

The largest of the over 100 officially recognized species of octopus can measure up to 20 feet.

Cabrera went to see the carcass last weekend after the Navy alerted her center to what it thought were two beached whales. One carcass was a humpback and the other a complete surprise. "We'd never seen such a strange specimen," Cabrera said.


Its characteristics match those given by 19th Century scientists that examined the creature found in 1896, who described pulling at the 60-foot (18-meter) animal with a team of horses and hacking at it with an axe without making a dent.

07/02/03 17:13

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 09:14 PM
Sex While Speeding Down the Highway?

No Problem!

BERLIN (Reuters) - Having sex while driving down a highway at 60 miles per hour is not an offence in Germany. But if you hit something, make sure you don't run off.

A Cologne court fined a man who admitted he was having sex with a blonde hitchhiker sitting astride him when he drove his car into a road sign. But only because he fled the scene of the accident with his naked accomplice.

"The man was convicted of hit-and-run and sentenced to a fine of 600 euros," court spokesman Juergen Mannebeck said on Tuesday. "It's hard to believe but in fact no law was broken with the intercourse on the motorway. It's a situation lawmakers never thought about."

The 23-year-old man, who was tracked down through the car's registration, was also ordered to pay 400 euros to repair the sign. He did not know the name of the woman who left her clothes behind in the car.



07/02/03 08:20

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 09:15 PM
Home Storage for Sperm Samples?

MADRID (Reuters) - Men having fertility treatment may soon be able to have their sperm dried and store it at home if a new method being developed in Saudi Arabia is successful.

Air-drying sperm does not damage DNA and the sperm can later fertilize an egg with a technique used for male infertility, Dr Daniel Imoedemhe of the Erfan and Bagedo Hospitals in Jeddah told a fertility meeting in Madrid Tuesday.

At present, sperm samples have to be preserved in large and expensive liquid nitrogen tanks or special chemicals in fertility clinics and laboratories.

"These methods are time-consuming and cumbersome compared to our simple technique of air-drying," Imoedemhe said. "The process can be further simplified by allowing patients to take responsibility for storing their air-dried sperm at home."


Air-dried sperm can be stored at normal room temperature or in the refrigerator, but must be re-hydrated in the laboratory before being used.


More research and tests are needed, but once the technique is perfected Imoedemhe believes air-dried sperm could be transported without special equipment. Men could store their sperm in their own home and make decisions about its disposal or use.


Air-dried sperm would be able to fertilize an egg using a technique called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in which a single sperm is injected into the egg.



07/02/03 08:15

Widgetsx3
07-02-2003, 09:21 PM
BERLIN (Reuters) - Having sex while driving down a highway at 60 miles per hour is not an offence in Germany. But if you hit something, make sure you don't run off.
A Cologne court fined a man who admitted he was having sex with a blonde hitchhiker sitting astride him when he drove his car into a road sign. But only because he fled the scene of the accident with his naked accomplice.

"The man was convicted of hit-and-run and sentenced to a fine of 600 euros," court spokesman Juergen Mannebeck said on Tuesday. "It's hard to believe but in fact no law was broken with the intercourse on the motorway. It's a situation lawmakers never thought about."

The 23-year-old man, who was tracked down through the car's registration, was also ordered to pay 400 euros to repair the sign. He did not know the name of the woman who left her clothes behind in the car.

Widgetsx3
07-02-2003, 09:22 PM
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is lighting up its camels in an effort to prevent fatal collisions between the traditional ships of the desert and motorized ones, an official said Wednesday.

Police are sticking phosphorescent safety strips on the camels of the Negev desert to make them more visible to drivers, after a growing number of nighttime crashes in which people and camels have died.

The Bedouin people of Israel's southern Negev use camels as well as pickup trucks, and some desert road crossings already have warning signs and guard rails.

"The camel safety problem is a serious one here," said Yossi Golan, a police commander in the eastern Negev. Camel-related traffic accidents have killed 10 people and seriously injured more than 50 in the past two years, he said.

Golan estimated that there are 5,000 camels in the Negev. To protect them and their riders, he called a desert-style council to find a solution.

"We brought together Bedouin elders, the Transport Ministry, the Nature Reserves Authority, and camel herd owners - and the phosphorescent strip idea was born," he said.

He said the first 40 Negev camels were fitted with the strips Tuesday; as many as 1,000 more could follow in the coming months.

Widgetsx3
07-02-2003, 09:23 PM
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - An exasperated resident turned the tables on a company that hounded him with telemarketing calls, calling it more than 100 times in two days.

Marc Plaisted said he started calling Minnesota Auto Glass after the St. Peter-based company's telemarketers called him up to three times a day - even after he asked them not to.

Plaisted had figured the calls would stop when he signed on to Minnesota's "do-not-call" list months ago.

"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 said. "That was where they flipped the switch with me and I said, 'Enough is enough. I'm going after you guys now."

Plaisted started calling the Minnesota Auto Glass's Duluth office last Thursday, and placed more than 100 calls, he said.

"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 said.

A Minnesota Auto Glass manager in Duluth said Plaisted's number had been removed from its list and that proof of the removal would be put in writing.

Widgetsx3
07-02-2003, 09:25 PM
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."

Widgetsx3
07-02-2003, 09:25 PM
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
07-02-2003, 10:01 PM
Parents Sue School Over Hidden Cameras
Tue Jul 1, 9:30 PM ET

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030702/ap_on_re_us/locker_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.



:eek:

Jolie Rouge
07-02-2003, 10:06 PM
Creation of Human 'She-Males' Sparks Outrage

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-romta&idq=/ff/story/0002%2F20030702%2F130580291.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


:eek: WHY ?? :eek:

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 12:47 PM
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
07-03-2003, 12:51 PM
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/package.jsp?name=pf/pm/donotcall&floc=wn-nn

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 12:53 PM
U.S. arrests former Nazi camp guard
Found hiding in secret compartment
Wednesday, July 2, 2003 Posted: 6:08 PM EDT

www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/07/02/nazi.guard.found.reut/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
07-03-2003, 12:55 PM
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
07-03-2003, 12:56 PM
French Fry Is Sold for $200 on eBay

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1120&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20030703%2F075216289.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
07-03-2003, 08:17 PM
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
07-03-2003, 08:19 PM
'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

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 08:21 PM
Lifeguards: Vending Machines Kill, Sharks Don't

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Great White sharks may have been sighted off a popular Los Angeles beach in the last few days, to the delight of breathless TV newscasters looking for news on slow summer days.

But officials are reassuring residents that there's nothing to worry about: the sharks aren't that big, they are always off the coast and they only eat fish -- not people. And besides, even vending machines are more dangerous.

"There are sharks in the ocean off our coast," Capt. Garth Manning of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Lifeguard Division said. "There have always been sharks off our coast. And we have never had a shark attack in Los Angeles County."

Manning was responding to reports on local television that Great Whites had been spotted by swimmers about 150 yards off popular Will Rogers State Beach.

He said that experts had been unable to confirm the sighting, but that it was not surprising. "If they are Great White sharks they are only about 5 feet in length and they feed on small fish, they do not feed on people," Canning said. "But it's difficult to tell if they are because it's difficult to tell a juvenile Great White from a juvenile Mako."

Canning said that despite common fears over shark attacks, more people are killed in the United States each year by vending machines. He said that last year dogs killed more people than Great White sharks had killed in the last 100 years.

07/03/03 14:09

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 08:23 PM
Solar system similar to ours discovered

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-CNN-Spac&idq=/ff/story/5001%2F20030703%2F2158000002.htm&sc=Spac

Astronomers searching for signs of a solar system like our own said Thursday they had found a planet very similar to Jupiter orbiting a star resembling the sun 90 light-years away.

"This is the closest we have yet got to a real solar system-like planet and advances our search for systems that are even more like our own," said UK team leader Hugh Jones of Liverpool John Moores University.

The planet was discovered by British, American and Australian astronomers using the 3.9-meter Anglo-Australian Telescope in New South Wales.

With a mass twice that of gas giant Jupiter, the planet circles star HD70642 in the constellation Puppis once every six years.

In relation to its own distance from its star, if it were in our own solar system it would be about halfway between Mars and Jupiter.

"The long-term goal of this program is the detection of true analogs to the solar system," the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council said in a statement. "This discovery of a Jupiter-like gas giant planet around a nearby star is a step towards this goal."


07/03/2003 10:09

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 08:26 PM
'Brady Bunch' Films Hawaii Documentary

HONOLULU (AP) - Thirty years after their family vacation was almost ruined by the curse of an ancient tiki doll, the Bradys are back in Hawaii.

``Is this like an acid flashback or what?'' joked Barry Williams, who played oldest son Greg on ``The Brady Bunch.''

Several original cast members from the '70s sitcom have been in the islands this week filming a 90-minute documentary for the Travel Channel. Robert Reed, who played father Mike Brady, died in 1992.

``The Bradys are the foremost family in television history,'' said executive producer and creator James Romanovich. ``I thought with the 30-year anniversary of their filming in Hawaii, it would be great to bring them back and have them be themselves in a 'Real World'-style show.''

Cast members have visited most of the locations the TV family toured 30 years ago. Even famed island crooner Don Ho makes a surprise appearance, just as he did in the 1973 episode, and sings a song with Carol Brady herself, Florence Henderson.

``It's like a wonderful children's book that you loved as a child that you want to share with your children,'' Henderson told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for Thursday's editions. ``When another generation comes along and finds the show, their parents know it already, so it gives the family something to relate to.''

Other cast members taking part are Christopher Knight (Peter), Mike Lookinland (Bobby) and Susan Olsen (Cindy). Producers said Ann B. Davis, who played wisecracking housekeeper Alice, is retired and doesn't like to travel.


The documentary is scheduled to air early next year.



07/03/03 20:35

Widgetsx3
07-03-2003, 08:33 PM
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man woke up to find himself stark naked in the middle of a street after sleepwalking from home, police said Thursday. The 37-year-old man called police in the southern town of Buchen at around 6 a.m. after discovering he had left his house keys at home.
"The man waited naked for police at the phone booth, who gave him a raincoat to wear," said a police spokesman.

Widgetsx3
07-03-2003, 08:34 PM
HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Finnish man killed his wife on Saturday and cut the corpse in half so it would fit into a single plastic bag. He turned up for work on Monday but left early to confess to police.
Police spokesman Jorma Jantunen told Reuters the man, in his mid-30s, arrived at the police station and said his wife's body was in the trunk of their car at home.

Jantunen said there was no clear motive for the crime, which the man committed after the couple had been drinking at home in Vaasa, 400 km (250 miles) northwest of the capital n2Helsinki.

Widgetsx3
07-03-2003, 08:35 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma man arrested on suspicion of beating his wife faced year in prison and a fine. But when he spit in an arresting officer's face, he got a life sentence instead, officials said on Wednesday.
John Carl Marquez, 36, was convicted of "placing bodily fluid upon a government employee," a felony that can carry a life sentence because of the possibility of transmitting a potentially deadly disease.

State judge April Sellers White sentenced Marquez this week even though Marquez and the officer tested negative for any communicable disease.

Marquez also was convicted of assaulting a police officer, and a jury recommended the maximum sentence because he had previous convictions.

Marquez, arrested several months ago, could have received one year in prison and a $3,000 fine for wife beating, according to the Creek County court clerk's office.

His lawyers said they plan to appeal.

Widgetsx3
07-03-2003, 08:36 PM
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Not satisfied with being dubbed the "land of smiles," Thailand's culture ministry is launching a campaign to encourage Thais to smile even more, the Bangkok Post reported on Thursday.
"Smiling is a good habit as well as a good welcome gesture to tourists," a ministry spokeswoman told the daily.

"People who smile three times a day should make it six. This doesn't mean smiling has disappeared, but it would be better if people smiled more."

Thailand has in recent months suffered a massive drop in tourist arrivals due to the impact of the deadly SARS virus and fears surrounding the threat of Bali-style terror attacks at tourist hotspots.

Widgetsx3
07-03-2003, 08:36 PM
OSLO (Reuters) - European church leaders boiled holy water for a riverside ceremony in Norway this week because local officials feared it might otherwise kill fish when poured into the river.
"The danger was probably small but we had to be cautious about pouring water brought from around Europe into a salmon river," Johan Aurstad, senior advisor at the Norwegian Animal Health Authority, told Reuters Thursday.

A gathering of 126 bishops and other Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders in the Norwegian city of Trondheim boiled flasks of holy water for 10 minutes to kill any bacteria before pouring it into the Nidaros River Wednesday.

The delegates, at the Conference of European Churches, each brought about 0.1 liters of water from countries ranging from Greece to Estonia for the ceremony to symbolize unity.

"The water was of a type used for baptisms so you have to assume it was drinking water quality. But we had to be cautious," Aurstad said.

Widgetsx3
07-03-2003, 08:37 PM
PARIS (Reuters) - Paris is launching a champagne and flowers charm offensive to woo U.S. tourists after France's opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq triggered a large drop in the number of transatlantic visitors.
Around 100 hotels, restaurants, shops and other businesses will be laying on the bubbly, blooms and other treats for American visitors in a promotional campaign timed to coincide with the U.S. Independence Day celebrations on July 4.

"This campaign is aimed at Americans who would like to visit France, but are worried about what kind of welcome they might receive," the tourist office said in a statement.

Last year, Paris hosted 1.7 million tourists from the United States, more than from any other country, but in the first four months of this year numbers have slumped by almost a quarter.

Across the Atlantic, France last month launched a new promotional video, in which film director Woody Allen urged fellow Americans to visit France and eat French fries.

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 08:38 PM
... could have received one year in prison and a $3,000 fine for wife beating

- or -

"placing bodily fluid upon a government employee," a felony that can carry a life sentence because of the possibility of transmitting a potentially deadly disease


Am I the only one who sees something WRONG with this ?

Widgetsx3
07-03-2003, 08:38 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - It may be illegal, immoral and certainly ill-advised, but selling every usable part of your body could fetch upward of $45 million, according to a survey in the August issue of Wired magazine.

Even an overweight, out-of-shape body could bring millions when broken down to its valuable fluids, tissues and germ-fighting antibodies.

There is, of course, a major catch: Many of the valuable human body parts are those a person could not live without.

But it does lay to rest the old concept that the human body, when broken down to its basic elements, is only worth pocket change.

Wired Editor-In-Chief Chris Anderson said the price tag gives an idea of the progress of medicine and biology, and shows how much more sophisticated we have become at understanding the complexity of the human body.

"We tried to find some number through which you can quantify the magnitude of the change in technology that we are all experiencing," Anderson said.

The prices, Wired warned, are based on maximum dollar values for some of the most marketable substances, and makes the unlikely assumption that every trace of those substances could be extracted from living tissue for sale.

To avoid issues such as illegal black market trade in organs, the survey was based on projected prices in the United States and did not take into account potential differences in poverty stricken Third World countries.

Due to advances in science and biotechnology, vital organs are no longer the most valuable body parts, the survey demonstrated. That distinction now belongs to bone marrow at $23 million, based on 1,000 grams at $23,000 per gram.

DNA, found in every cell, could fetch $9.7 million at $1.3 million per gram, while extracting antibodies could bring $7.3 million. The accompanying article did point out that the cost of living in a sterile plastic bubble could eat up a lot of the profit from immune system sales.

By comparison, a lung was priced at $116,400, a kidney at $91,400 and a heart was worth a mere $57,000, based on research of cost estimates from hospitals and insurance companies.

On the reproductive front, the survey found a fertile woman could sell 32 egg cells over eight years for a grand total of $224,000. To approach that amount, a man would have to make 12 sperm donations a month for 20 years.

Widgetsx3
07-03-2003, 08:38 PM
BOSTON (Reuters) - A New Hampshire man has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend after flying into a violent rage when she beat him in an arm-wrestling match and called him a "wimp."
The Union-Leader newspaper reported on Wednesday that Raymond White and Lisa Smith had been drinking early on Tuesday when she remarked that he didn't have any muscles and challenged him to an arm-wrestling match.

Smith mocked White after winning the contest, and he responded by grabbing her by the hair, dragging her down a set of stairs and punching her several times in the head, the paper said, citing court documents.

White was charged with simple assault, a misdemeanor. He pleaded innocent in Manchester District Court, and a trial was set for September.

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 08:39 PM
Everyone's Worst Nightmare

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man woke up to find himself stark naked in the middle of a street after sleepwalking from home, police said Thursday. The 37-year-old man called police in the southern town of Buchen at around 6 a.m. after discovering he had left his house keys at home.

"The man waited naked for police at the phone booth, who gave him a raincoat to wear," said a police spokesman.



07/03/03 07:54

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 09:55 PM
'Luftwaffe' Scrubbed Off German President's Planes
By Erik Kirschbaum


BERLIN (Reuters) - The name "Luftwaffe" is being replaced on two official German government planes more than half a century after the Nazi air force terrorized Europe's skies.

President Johannes Rau's office said on Tuesday the head of state wanted to replace the German word for air force to avoid stirring up painful memories for people in many of the countries he and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder use the planes to visit.

"Obviously when the president flew to countries where there are certain historic resentments against the Luftwaffe, he didn't exactly get off to a good start when the plane landed with that word dominating the plane," said one government official who asked not to be identified.

Rau has decided to have "Bundesrepublik Deutschland" (Federal Republic of Germany) painted on the planes instead, modeling them after U.S. presidential aircraft.


Rau has traveled to 66 countries during his four years as president and officials said the Luftwaffe logo particularly raised eyebrows in Eastern Europe.


The German air force will continue to operate the planes and the word "Luftwaffe" will be painted in small print elsewhere on the aircraft, the president's spokesman said.



07/02/03 08:14

Jolie Rouge
07-03-2003, 09:56 PM
Lawyer and Son Charged for Mailing Snake

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A lawyer and his son have been charged with making threats for allegedly mailing a live, poisonous snake to another man.

The federal indictment released Thursday charges Bob Sam Castleman and his son, Robert Jerrod Castleman, with mailing a threatening communication and mailing non-mailable matter with intent to injure or kill.

The package was opened by Kathy Staton, whose husband, Albert Coy Staton, was the target, the indictment said. ``It was on my lap when I opened it and the snake popped up and its head (was) within two inches of my face,'' she said.

The 3-foot snake did not bite anyone, and sheriff's deputies killed it.

The indictment did not explain what led to the alleged snake incident Sept. 29, and U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins declined to elaborate.

There was no answer Thursday at phone numbers listed for the Castlemans in their hometown of Pocahontas.

Kathy Staton said the younger Castleman had made previous threats.



07/03/03 21:09

Jolie Rouge
07-05-2003, 10:23 PM
Estonians Win Wife-Carrying Championships
By MANS HULDEN


TAMPERE, Finland (AP) - Leaping over timber and wading through waist-high water, an Estonian couple won the wife-carrying world championships Saturday, for the third straight year.

Egle Soll carried Margo Uusorg over the 760-foot course in just over a minute, beating 22 couples from six countries, including Britain, the United States, Ireland and Finland.

Margo Uusorg's younger brother, Madis, and his partner Ivi Loomets finished second in the competition before 8,000 spectators in the town of Sonkajarvi, Finland, some 350 miles north of the capital, Helsinki.

The contestants don't have be husband and wife - any man and woman can compete.

The Estonians introduced the efficient style of carrying their partners upside down over their backs in 1998 and have won every contest since.

According to local legend, the contest dates back to the 1800s when a local bully challenged other men in the village to prove their worth by carrying their wives - ``a proper wife, a stolen wife, or someone else's wife'' - through an obstacle course.

The contest was revived in this new form in 1992 and has been running continuously since.

Top contestants train assiduously and optimal combinations of strong man-lightweight woman are sought. The women have to weigh at least 108 pounds or wear backpacks that bring them up to that weight.

Estonian dominance has been such, that organizers set up a separate ``classic'' category with stricter rules, requiring that the woman be carried piggyback and that she be marreid to her carrier.

The classic category also was won by an Estonian couple, Jaanus and Anneli Undrest, with a time of 1 minute, 12.27 seconds.

The popularity of wife-carrying has surprised the organizers. ``At first we developed this just as a show number for the local fair and thought we'd only use it for a couple of years. But it was so popular that we've kept it going,'' said municipal director Simo Mkinen.



07/05/03 23:03

Jolie Rouge
07-05-2003, 10:24 PM
Finns Form Union for Turnstile Jumpers


HELSINKI, Finland (AP) - Finns intent on not paying for public transportation have formed their own union - fitting in a country dubbed ``the promised land of associations,'' where 80 percent of the work force are members of some sort of trade union.

The Helsinki-based group, pummit.org (freeloader in English), is offering people who don't want to pay for public transportation the opportunity to have their fines paid by joining the group.

Membership is 15 euros (US$17) a month, but if a member is stopped for riding the city's public buses, trams, streetcars, subway and ferries without paying - usually a 50 euro fine (US$57) - the union picks up the tab.

A two-week pass for using the Helsinki public transportation typically sells for between 19-34 euros (US$22-US$39).

``With the help of the freeloader's fund, we can share the risk associated with stealing rides,'' the organization advertises, adding that all public transportation should be free to begin with.

The group has been active for a year, but local transportation officials condemned it Friday.

``Even if doesn't directly instigate breaking the law, the marketing of the freeloader's fund is probably illegal,'' Yrjo Judstrom and Matti Hiili, directors of the city's transportation department, said. ``There absolutely is no such thing as a free ride.''

A similar group in neighboring Sweden provides the same type of insurance, including a Web site that features tips on turnstile-hopping and dodging ticket controls.


On the Net:

Finland: www.pummit.org

Sweden: www.planka.nu



07/04/03 08:09

Jolie Rouge
07-05-2003, 10:25 PM
Expert Warns Number of Stinky Feet Rising


SINGAPORE (AP) - The number of Singaporeans with foul-smelling, fungus-covered feet is rising and health authorities want to tackle the problem, a leading doctor in the famously tidy city-state said Thursday.

The number of athlete's foot fungal infections seen at the National Skin Center has nearly tripled to more than 1,000 last year from 350 in 1995, said Dr. Seow Chew Swee, the center's senior consultant dermatologist.

``We get very offensive ones. Some people are very apologetic and don't want to take off their shoes in front of us,'' Seow said.

The increase has prompted the National Skin Center to hold a seminar on athlete's foot and other related skin problems as part of a public education campaign.

Seow attributed the growing problem to changing lifestyles on this wealthy, tropical island. More people are walking barefoot around swimming pools where the fungus can spread, he said.

Behavior modification campaigns are common in tightly controlled Singapore, which has in the past held drives to make people more polite, reduce spitting in public and clean up public toilets.



07/03/03 07:53

Jolie Rouge
07-05-2003, 10:28 PM
Pakistan President Reveals Moonlit Beach Patrols


PARIS (Reuters) - Determined to rid Pakistan of an image for lawlessness, President Pervez Musharraf told would-be investors on Thursday he was making an anonymous contribution of his own to upholding public order.

"I roam about the beaches of Karachi at night, incognito I mean, just to see," he told a conference of French business executives in Paris.
"There is no law and order problem in Pakistan. That is in the past now," he added, noting that its crime rates bore comparison with those of U.S. cities such as Los Angeles.

The restive port city of Karachi is home to Pakistan's stock exchange.
Hundreds of people have been killed in religious, ethnic and political violence in Karachi in recent years. Beside Muslim sectarian violence, Karachi has seen attacks on both Christian and Western targets in the past year.

The attacks have been blamed on Islamic militants angry at Pakistan's support for the U.S.-led war on terror.


07/04/03 07:24

Jolie Rouge
07-05-2003, 10:29 PM
Spanish Sex Study Dents Image of Latin Lover


MADRID (Reuters) - A survey of Spaniards' sexual habits has dented the image of the spontaneous Latin lover by showing that 77 percent of Spanish people plan in advance when they will have sex.

The survey by the Spanish Federation of Sexology Societies (FESS), based on telephone interviews with more than 1,200 people, showed that 18- to 24-year-olds were most likely to plan the day and place where they would have sex, Spanish newspapers reported on Friday.

"The Iberian macho is a myth now, but we have gained in tenderness and communication, which is the key to a satisfactory sexual relationship," sexologist Carlos San Martin was quoted as saying by El Mundo.

High house prices in Spain mean many young people live with their parents, and sexologists said they may prefer to wait for their parents to be away from home before having sex.

The average couple made love two or three times a week, with Saturday night the preferred time, the survey found. Eighty-six percent of those questioned were satisfied with their sex lives.


07/05/03 08:24

Jolie Rouge
07-05-2003, 10:31 PM
A June Associated Press dispatch from Macha, Bolivia, reported on the most prominent of the annual Tinku festivals that neighboring tribes on the country's high plains engage in. On a midnight in May, as thousands gathered to drink and dance, the men eventually began to fistfight in a bloody ritual that tribal leaders say is healthy and spiritual, even though some men are beaten badly, and occasionally someone dies (which, legend says, is good for crop fertilization). Villagers say the one-night fighting answers feuds and insults built up over the year and fosters brotherhood. The Bolivian government has tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the violence in recent years.
[South Florida Sun-Sentinel-AP, 6-8-03]

Jolie Rouge
07-05-2003, 10:37 PM
Familiar Injuries, Big Bucks:

If you reach for a door while a person on the other side pushes the door toward you, you might get your fingers jammed. It happened to Cedrick Makara, 56, in a restroom stall at his New York City office building, and in May, a court awarded him $3 million for ruptured tendons in his thumb that caused him to miss work for six months.
[New York Daily News, 5-21-03]

And in Camden, N.J., in February, schoolteacher Eileen Blau filed a lawsuit for "severe and multiple injuries" caused when 11-year-old, 90-pound student Daniel Allen accidentally ran into her while engaged in hallway horseplay.
[Camden Courier-Post, 3-29-03]

Michael Machetti, 31, filed a lawsuit in Riverside County, Calif., in April against Bullseye Tattoo and its owner, charging that the tattoo removal he had done on his neck had infected him with the flesh-eating disease necrotizing fasciitis. Machetti said he went for the removal because co-workers had complained about the familiar two-word obscene phrase (the second word: "you") on his neck, and he wanted it replaced with the apparently more acceptable "666."
[San Bernardino County Sun, 5-1-03]

Kenneth J. Lewis II, serving 12 years in prison for burglary, filed a $140,000 lawsuit against property owner Nina Baugh, who had chased after Lewis and shot him in the arm (Bentonville, Ark., April).
[Benton County Daily Record, 4-19-03]

Willie Brown, 44, serving four years in prison for a convenience store robbery, filed a lawsuit against the clerk who had shot him (with Brown maintaining, "(T)here was no need for the use of deadly force," even though Brown had claimed to have a gun)
(Muncie, Ind., April).
[Muncie Star Press, 4-17-03]

And in a court filing in May opposing early release for farmer Tony Martin, who had been convicted of killing a burglar, Britain's Home Office argued against parole, maintaining that the government must protect burglars from violent homeowners.
[The Independent (London), 5-5-03]

Sally Carden Davies, 48, was awarded the equivalent of US$310,000 by a court in Sydney, Australia, in March for falling off an odd-looking chair in a cafe, and suffering various injuries, including the loss of her sexual urge, which she said caused a romantic relationship to falter. Davies said her injuries have also affected her practice as a horse dentist.
[Sydney Morning Herald, 3-13-03]

Justin Scheidt filed a lawsuit in May against the Showgirl III strip club in Fort Wayne, Ind., for "serious and permanent injuries" to his groin area received after he consented to take the stage with several dancers during their show. Scheidt, as a climax to his bachelor party that night, complied with the women's requests and lay on his back with his legs around the dancers' pole, after which they began climbing the pole and sliding down squarely on his groin. Scheidt went ahead with his wedding but said he was unable to consummate the marriage because of his injuries.
[Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 5-16-03]

Jolie Rouge
07-05-2003, 10:38 PM
Our Civilization in Decline

Chicago police arrested six people in June and charged them with running an insurance scam, which was allegedly led by a 39-year-old man known as Bonecrusher; police said homeless men consented to have Bonecrusher administer compound fractures of the arm or leg, and they would then be taken to staged accident scenes and instructed how to make quick settlements with insurance companies of up to $100,000 (but getting to keep only about $1,500 of it).

And Sheffield Hallam University (Sheffield, England) announced in May that it would inaugurate a Master's degree program in creating video games; a spokesman for a Sony UK company said, "We hope more universities will start offering (curricula) like this."
[Chicago Sun-Times, 6-7-03] [The Sun, 5-23-03]

lucybp
07-05-2003, 10:43 PM
POSTED: 2:23 p.m. EDT July 3, 2003
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa -- An Iowa bowling alley has put on bounty on mosquitoes.

The Totem Bowl, in Marshalltown, isn't offering cash, but it is offering a free game of bowling for every 10 dead mosquitoes brought in. There's a limit of two free games.

Manager Sue Taylor says it started off as a joke, but then the bowling alley decided to help eliminate the mosquito population.

In the past two weeks, about 25 "hunters" have turned in dead 'skeeters for a free game.

Widgetsx3
07-06-2003, 02:17 AM
LONDON (AP) - When Glen and Melissa Brown's home got too crowded, their son flew the coop - er, to the coop.

They fitted their pigeon loft as a bedroom for their son, complete with bed, TV, video and DVD player.

On Friday, the couple refused a request by local officials to pull down the loft, a wooden structure which was built without permission and which social workers say is unsafe for a child.

Officials were alarmed to discover that 12-year-old Glen Jr. has been living in the loft for the past two years. Glen's stepbrother Xyron, also 12, had been living in a smaller shed adjoining the loft behind the Browns' public housing in Blyth, northeast England, but has now been persuaded by social workers to move back into the house.


Blyth Valley Housing, which operates public housing in the town, is adamant that the unauthorized 27-foot (9-meter) by 7-foot (2-meter) pigeon loft has to come down, but the Browns - who also have two daughters Carlene, 9, and Zoi, 2 - say they need it because their house is overcrowded.

Brown said Friday that council officials are the only ones to complain.

"The neighbors think it's great and nobody has ever complained about it," he said. "The neighbors are disgusted (with the council) because the kids weren't doing any harm."

But Ian Conway, chief housing officer for Blyth Valley Housing, said the loft must go.

"We are quite happy to offer them suitable accommodation within the immediate vicinity but they are quite happy living where they are and don't want to move and the kids are happy living in the sheds."

HI Jolie..... :)

the fugative
07-06-2003, 01:00 PM
KALISPELL, Mont. -- 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.''

:p


Everyone loves Junk Food ;)

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 08:50 PM
LONDON (AP) - When Glen and Melissa Brown's home got too crowded, their son flew the coop - er, to the coop.

Officials were alarmed to discover that 12-year-old [Glen Jr. has been living in the loft for the past two years. Glen's stepbrother Xyron, also 12, ... but the Browns - who also have two daughters Carlene, 9, and Zoi, 2


The names alone should have caused them to be reported to Child Services :rolleyes:


Hi Widget !

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 08:53 PM
Bald Eagle Killed at National Zoo
By CANDACE SMITH


WASHINGTON (AP) - Officials at the National Zoo suspect that a large cat got into a bald eagle's enclosure and killed the bird, perhaps already weakened by fierce storms and unable to fly. It is the latest in a series of animal deaths at the zoo.

The male eagle died Friday morning, the same day that the zoo celebrated a new exhibit designed especially for bald eagles hurt in the wild. The dead eagle was housed separately from the zoo's two new eagles that were donated by American Eagle Foundation based at singer Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.

The 21-year-old eagle, found by a zookeeper early Thursday, had severe puncture wounds to his abdomen and back, spokeswoman Julie Mason said. Zookeepers suspect a large cat crept into the cage and attacked the eagle, who could have been injured during Wednesday night's fierce rain storms.

``It very likely is a bobcat, but we haven't for a 100 percent identified it as a bobcat, but I think we're leaning toward that,'' said Bill Xanten, zoo general curator.

Xanten believes the eagle could not fly and the cat took advantage of the situation. ``Under ordinary circumstances, I find it really hard to believe that a cat would take on a full grown bald eagle,'' added Xanten.

The eagles are about 29 inches to 42 inches long, can weigh up to 15 pounds, and have a wing span of up to 8 feet, making them one of the largest birds in North America.

Park police took casts of paw prints in the bird's exhibit, which is about 24 feet high, 40 feet long and 15 feet deep. Experts were looking at the casts and planned to study the bite patterns on the bird, Xanten said. They also set up cameras and traps using fish as bait inside the bird cage, hoping to catch the predator.

Small feral cats, attracted by the eagle's fish meal, had been in the exhibit before, but there were no problems, Xanten said. The zoo is in Rock Creek Park and bobcats can be found in Maryland and Virginia, Xanten added.

The death comes shortly before the start of an independent review, conducted at the request of Congress, into recent animal deaths at the zoo.

A bald eagle died last year after becoming infected with the West Nile virus. Two red pandas that ate rat poison died in January and two zebras starved to death in January 2000. There has been at least a dozen other deaths including a lion, orangutan and elephant.

Al Cecere, president of the foundation that previously cared for the zoo's newest bald eagles, said Sunday he was not worried about the birds' safety. ``Whenever you have an organization that cares for literally hundreds of animals you're going to have some deaths on occasion,'' Cecere said. ``It's just sad that that happened, especially on the Fourth of July.''



On the Net:

National Zoo: http://natzoo.si.edu



07/06/03 16:17

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 08:56 PM
Was This a Celestial Sign From God?

A team of Swedish geologists has found what it believes is the crater made by a meteor that streaked across the sky and crashed into the Earth in 312 AD. If they're right--and carbon dating has already backed them up on it--this is a meteor whose presence may have changed the history of the world, asserts the BBC News Online.

The scene: Central Italy in the year 312 AD.
[The main character: Constantine, who was preparing to invade Italy in a battle with Maximinus Daia for control of Rome.
The plot: A celestial vision that changed history.

Before the battle, Constantine looked heavenward and saw a blazing light streaking through the sky. He interpreted the shocking sight to mean only one thing: It was a message from the Christian God, a kind of celestial vision. Constantine immediately converted to Christianity. He ordered his soldiers to paint the "Chi-Ro" symbol of Christ on their shields. The battle for Rome was very lopsided. Maximinus' troops defending the city were four times as strong in number as Constantine's troops. But Constantine was the victor, and he became the Roman emperor. He ordered that persecution of Christians cease and gave Christianity official status--a big boost for a fledgling religion.

Fast forward to 2003: The Swedish geologists, led by Jens Ormo, located the crater that they say was formed by the impact of a meteor as it slammed into the Earth. Radiocarbon dating places it around the year 312 AD. Ormo speculates that Constantine's celestial vision was actually that meteor. Such meteors occur only once every few thousand years, but Constantine had no way of knowing this. Ormo told the BBC News that the meteor would have smashed into the Earth with the force of a small nuclear bomb and would have been accompanied by a mushroom cloud and shockwaves.

And here is where the BBC News ponders this fascinating question: What if the meteor hadn't streaked through the sky above Italy on that day just before that decisive battle?

--Constantine might have lost the battle without the divine inspiration he used to his advantage to become the victor.

--If Constantine did not become emperor, Christianity would not have received state patronage.

--The establishment of the papacy in Rome may never ever happened.

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 08:59 PM
In a Gallup poll, believers say that they try to link their faith to everyday life, but admit there is a gap between what they believe and how they act.

Faith: What's Your Spiritual Index?

We Americans are very spiritual. Fully 72 percent say their lives have meaning and purpose because of faith, according to a new Gallup Poll of 1,509 adults that was conducted with the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Research on Religion & Urban Civil Society. But as believers try to link their faith to everyday life, many admit there is a gap between what they believe and how they act.

Here are the results of the first annual Gallup poll to examine "The Spiritual State of the Union." The index has two components: Inner commitment gauges people's connection with God, a higher power, or divine will, while outer commitment looks at how they live out their inner commitment through service to others, their community, and society in general.

The nation's spiritual index: 74.7 percent (out of a possible 100 percent)
Average score for respondents' inner commitment: 79.8 percent
Average score for respondents' outer commitment: 69.5 percent

I agree completely that:
The overall health of the nation depends a great deal on the spiritual health of the nation: 77 percent

Life has meaning and purpose because of faith: 72 percent

Faith is involved in every aspect of life: 60 percent

What is our faith?

Christian: 80 percent

Non-Christian: 6 percent

No religious tradition: 13 percent


Of those who identified themselves as Christians, 76 percent agreed completely with the idea that all people, regardless of race, creed or wealth, are loved by God and therefore they should love all. However, only 44 percent said the notion that "God calls me to be involved in the lives of the poor and suffering" applies completely to them. "I think what that's telling us is that it's easy to believe something. It's harder to put it into play," The Rev. Scott Jones, a Tempe, Ariz., pastor who worked on the Gallup research, told Religion News Service.

Other findings regarding Christians who said they "agree completely" with these statements:

Believe that God is actively involved in their life: 74 percent

Find hope from their faith in Jesus Christ during a crisis: 67 percent

No task is too menial if God calls them to do it: 58 percent

More than a third of Americans say they are spiritual, rather than religious. "Being labeled religious is not as popular as it was, I guess, in earlier years," said George Gallup when he presented the findings. They defined spirituality in several ways, including belief in God or a higher power or just seeking to be a good person and reach their fullest human potential.

"You really cannot understand America if you do not understand her spiritual underpinnings," Gallup said. "This survey makes that point, loudly and clearly."

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/package.jsp?name=news/spiritualindex/spiritualindex&floc=wn-nn

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 09:08 PM
Stinky! Top 10 Sweatiest U.S. Cities

When it comes to sweat--that glistening, dripping, wipe it from your brow kind--some cities are stinkier...er, sweatier than others. And now we know which U.S. cities sweat the most.


The top 10 sweatiest cities are:

1. Phoenix, Arizona
2. Houston, Texas
3. Miami, Florida
4. San Antonio, Texas
5. Fort Myers, Florida
6. West Palm Beach, Florida
7. Tampa, Florida
8. Waco, Texas
9. Austin, Texas
10. New Orleans, Louisiana


You're probably wondering who would ever measure such a thing. You know it's not the Chamber of Commerce. It was Old Spice. Researchers at Procter & Gamble, which make Old Spice deodorant and cologne, were given the not-so-enviable task of measuring the typical perspiration level of the typical resident on a typical summer day in dozens of major U.S. cities. (And you think your job stinks!) Fortunately, the researchers were able to do this work in the cool, air-conditioned comfort of their offices with nothing but the heat of their calculators to steam up their glasses. To come up with the sweat index, they determined the city ranking based on the average U.S. male/female height and weight, the average high temperature, and the relative humidity level in each of the surveyed cities during June, July, and August. The sweat level was analyzed based on the assumption that the typical individual was walking for one hour each day. And when all the numbers were crunched and calculated, Phoenix was anointed the No. 1 perspiration producer in the United States of America. Now that you know, plan your vacation accordingly.


The five least sweatiest cities are:

San Diego, California
Portland, Maine
Spokane, Washington
Seattle, Washington
San Francisco, California

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 09:10 PM
Hackers Break Into Thousands of Web Sites
By TED BRIDIS


WASHINGTON (AP) - A battle among hackers erupted on the Internet Sunday as some factions disrupted a loosely coordinated ``contest'' among other groups trying to vandalize thousands of Web sites around the world.

Unknown attackers for hours knocked offline an independent security Web site, zone-h.org, that was verifying reports of online vandalism and being used by hackers to tally points for the competition. U.S. government and private technology experts warned last week that such vandalism was likely.

Three such vigilante-style attacks forced the hacker organizer, who identified himself only as ``Eleonora67,'' to extend the contest until 6 p.m. EDT Sunday. But with continued attacks disrupting the ability of vandals to claim credit for their break-ins, some experts said it could be later this week before damage from this weekend's hacking would be known.

By late Sunday afternoon, hackers claimed responsibility for vandalizing hundreds of mostly obscure Web sites, such as ones for Security Title Co. and the Heart of Montana Realty Services, both of Bozeman, Mont.


``We're just a teeny little company,'' said Barb Asper, whose husband, Don, is one of the owners for Montana Realty. In a telephone interview, Don Asper called the attack ``bothersome,'' before he and his wife contacted the firm's Web site provider to have the vandalized page replaced.


There were no reports of vandalism involving flagship Internet sites most consumers would recognize, a testament to improved online security over the past decade inside large corporations, government agencies and organizations.


``We at least knew it was coming,'' said Peter Allor of Internet Security Systems Inc., which distributed a warning Wednesday about the contest using an alert system for technology companies. ``We took some efforts to harden our sites.''


Some of the relatively unknown Web sites vandalized Sunday, such as one for a church in California, were converted into informal reporting mechanisms for identifying other hacked sites.


Many security experts said the nickname of the hacker claiming responsibility for the contest, ``Eleonora67,'' was unfamiliar.



07/06/03 18:28

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 09:11 PM
Love a Thick, Juicy Steak? Scary News

A sizzling steak or hamburger on the grill may be what's for dinner this weekend, but eating too much of these fatty staples could lead to type 2 diabetes, according to new research from the University of Minnesota. Doctors have long suspected a link between diabetes and saturated fat or animal fat, but no actual biological evidence has ever been produced--until now. This study, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, concludes that as the level of fatty acids increase, the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes also increases. In other words, eat too many steaks and burgers and you're more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.


The study:

To come up with the biological smoking gun, lead researcher Lu Wang measured the levels of fatty acids in the blood of 2,909 adults ages 45 to 64 and followed the participants for nine years. Fatty acids accumulate over time. The more saturated fat you eat, the higher the level of fatty acids.

The results:

11.5 percent, or 252, of the men and women developed type 2 diabetes. Fatty acids were significantly associated with the risk for diabetes even after adjusting for other known risk factors, such as age, gender, body mass index, alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, physical activity, education, family history, and more.


What can you do now to lower your risk of getting diabetes later?
Lose weight, exercise, and eat a diet that is rich in fish and vegetables and low in animal fat. A recent study from Harvard University even suggests one or two glasses of wine or beer daily can help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, especially in pre-menopausal women. You can still eat the steak. Just make it an occasional treat instead of a regular meal. The study findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 09:59 PM
ORAL SEX NOT CONSIDERED SEX BY YOUTH

Oral sex is a growing phenomenon among high school students.

A long-running concern for parents and young adults alike is the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. With more and more teenagers engaging in the act, the risk of receiving an STD has grown.

One of the causes for this epidemic is the way that young Americans view the term 'sex'. The majority of teenagers draw a line between oral sex and the act of intercourse when it comes to defining what 'sex' really is. For high schoolers all over the country, oral sex has become seen as a risk-free activity. :eek:

While sex education continues to spread across the country to millions of young Americans each year, so do sexually transmitted diseases.

In their minds, the act does not have the same consequences as intercourse: no pregnancy, no disease, no commitment and no loss of virginity, The Montreal Gazette reports. "It's the new petting," says one social worker and youth counselor Doreen Lothian. According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than half of U.S. teens believe oral sex does not matter as much as sexual intercourse. "Kids aren't using condoms for oral sex," says Stephanie Mitelman, a sexuality educator. "Approximately two-thirds of sexually transmitted
infections will affect adolescents and youth from 15 to 25.

In regards to the 'sex' definition, would you agree with the majority of high schoolers in saying that oral sex is no considered 'sex,' while intercourse is?

Or are they both considered the same?

If participating in oral sex, does one lose their virginity?

Ladytiger
07-06-2003, 10:01 PM
Swan Slaughter Given Go-Ahead
Birds' Appetites Threaten U.S. Waters, Wildlife Agency Says
By Anita Huslin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 3, 2003; Page B01


U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said yesterday that they plan to allow states to slaughter more than 80 percent of mute swans in U.S. waters to curb the birds' consumption of underwater grass beds that sustain fish and bird populations.

In the Chesapeake Bay region, where the mute population has grown to nearly 5,000 -- the heaviest concentration on the East Coast -- officials said they hope to begin shooting the birds once the federal permits are issued, possibly as soon as August.

"We are extremely anxious to have the permit," said Mike Slattery, deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "We have been directed by our governor to move as quickly as possible" to begin killing the birds, Slattery said

Virtually all of the birds in the Chesapeake region can be traced to a small flock of mute swans that were imported from England in the late 1950s by an Eastern Shore land owner who wanted them to grace his ponds, according to state officials. Since then, the population in Maryland alone has doubled nearly 10 times.

Maryland and nine other states received federal permits to begin killing the swans but were blocked from doing so in May by the group Friends of Animals, which contended that the Fish and Wildlife Service had not provided adequate environmental justification for approving the animals' destruction.

Yesterday the service released an assessment that depicted the swans, long admired for their snowy white plumage and graceful long necks, as decidedly inelegant interlopers gobbling their way through acres of aquatic meadows, destroying nursery and habitat areas for fish and crabs and elbowing out native migratory birds.

"These birds stay in one area most of the year, and they're very voracious eaters," said Paul Schmidt, assistant director for the service's migratory birds and state programs. "Tens of thousands of wetland acres have been impacted by these birds at any one time."

Federal officials estimated the U.S. mute swan population of 21,400 birds eats 30 to 40 million pounds of underwater grasses each year. In the Chesapeake Bay region, scientists said, the swans devour more than one-quarter of the 40 million-pound annual crop of aquatic grasses.

"Because so many other species rely on that underwater grass for survival, it's clearly causing problems," Schmidt said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service's announcement yesterday puts the states back on a campaign they had launched several years ago to reduce the great white birds to the role that they were once imported for: well-mannered, unobtrusive ornaments on the landscape. (While generally silent, the birds are not "mute." Unlike other swans, which can be quite vocal, they are known for making grunts, snorts and quiet whistles.)

Defenders of the birds reacted with disgust to yesterday's announcement.

"It's a terrible combination of selfishness and stupidity that's driving this effort," said Kathryn Burton, president and founder of Save Our Swans USA, which also sued to block the killing of the birds, which she contends are not the destroyers they are portrayed to be.

"What are they going to do, shoot the adults in front of the little ones?" she said. "It's insane."

What is a mute swan??

Jolie Rouge
07-06-2003, 10:08 PM
What is a mute swan??

It is a breed - like a Trumpeter Swan or Canadian Goose.

Ladytiger
07-06-2003, 10:13 PM
Thanks Jolie-I kept picturing these "slient" swans. Bwahahaha.

Jolie Rouge
07-07-2003, 10:34 AM
Teens arrested with guns, swords, ammo
18-year-old's dad: 'He's never fired a gun'
Monday, July 7, 2003 Posted: 12:45 PM EDT

OAKLYN, New Jersey (CNN) -- Three New Jersey teenagers have been charged in an alleged plot to execute three people and then go on a shooting spree, armed with rifles, handguns, swords and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, authorities said.

Matthew Lovett, 18, and two other youths, ages 14 and 15, have been charged with conspiracy to commit homicide. They were arrested early Sunday after a report of an alleged hijacking attempt in Oaklyn, a Philadelphia suburb, according to Oaklyn Police Chief Chris Ferrari.
The driver of the vehicle managed to drive off and alert police, who then drove back and found the youths, police said.

Lovett's father on Monday told CNN that his son was a "homebody" who has never fired a gun. Ron Lovett said the firearms his son was arrested with all came from his collection. "He never once let on like he was interested in firing a gun," Lovett said.

Ferrari said the teens had strapped rifles and shotguns to their backs and tucked handguns in their waistbands. They were carrying 3-foot swords and knives, along with satchels of ammunition, he said.

"Thankfully, we were able to thwart it before anyone got hurt," Ferrari said.

Authorities say three teenagers were heavily armed.

Matthew Lovett also has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and carjacking, according to Camden County prosecutor Vincent Sarubbi. The two juveniles also have been charged with carjacking and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Sarubbi said.

"They had developed this plan where they were gong to execute three individuals in Oaklyn that they had identified and then continue on through the evening until they ran out of ammunition in a series of random killings throughout the town," Sarubbi said. "This could have been a potentially horrendous situation where many lives could have been jeopardized."

Sarubbi said an initial check shows the firearms were legally obtained and were properly registered. Ron Lovett told CNN his son was voted "most bashful" by his high school classmates and recently graduated "with four As on his report card." "He's never fired a gun, and I don't think he would know what ammunition to put in what chamber ...," Lovett said. "I've never trained him. I never had time to take him out to shoot, and he was just never interested in guns, and I was glad that he wasn't."

Lovett said he kept handguns in a locked box and rifles in a closet. Most of the ammunition was more than 20 years old, he said, left over from days when he used to practice target shooting. He said the large quantity of ammunition police reported finding most likely came from 500-round packs of .22-caliber target bullets. "A couple of those, and you're up to 1,000 rounds," he said.

Matthew Lovett was being held Sunday night at the Camden County Correctional Facility, and the minors were being held at a juvenile detention center.

The teens went to two area high schools, Collingswood and Haddon Heights, Ferrari said. Lovett was a recent graduate of one of the schools, he said.


Teen Suspect in Murder Plot Often Teased
By GEOFF MULVIHILL


OAKLYN, N.J. (AP) - Matthew Lovett was known as an angry young man: He dressed all in black, drew violent pictures and walked around town with a baseball bat. Acquaintances said he kept a list of people who had teased him as far back as grade school.

Early Sunday, Lovett, 18, was arrested with two other teenagers on charges they plotted to kill three teens and open fire randomly on other people with a cache of guns and ammunition they were carrying. Lovett was being held on $1 million bail Monday.

Authorities would not discuss a possible motive, but people who knew the teens believe Lovett was fed up with the teasing that he and his younger brother had endured. James Lovett was constantly tormented for a speech impediment caused by a cleft palate, according to schoolmates.

``They'd all make fun of the way he talked,'' said Joe Oldham, a 14-year-old who had a class with the younger boy.


But he said he never saw Matthew Lovett teased to his face because he was intimidating - and he was sometimes armed with a bat. Oaklyn teenagers also say he practiced martial arts and had compiled a list of his enemies since elementary school.


Authorities would not confirm the existence of a list, but Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said three people believed to be intended victims were notified Sunday of the plot. He declined to identify them, but Oaklyn Police Chief Chris Ferrari indicated they were students.


People who know the teen say Matthew Lovett not only liked the science fiction movie ``The Matrix,'' but also dressed the part, often wearing all-black clothing and slicking back his hair.


He sometimes referred to himself as The Mystic, The One or Neo in homage to Keanu Reeves' character in the ``Matrix'' films - high-tech thrillers where the real world is merely a facade for a darker, grimmer world where a computer hacker leads humanity in a revolt against the machines that have taken over the world.


Lovett was also such an avid player of role-playing video games that he and his friends called themselves the Warriors of Freedom after one of them.


``He wouldn't even talk,'' said Chris Brown, who graduated last month from Collingswood High School, as did the older Lovett. ``He was just by himself.''


The three teens were arrested after attempting a carjacking in this Philadelphia suburb, authorities said. They had several guns belonging to Matthew's father, including rifles, a shotgun, several handguns, swords and 2,000 rounds of ammunition.


The father, Ron Lovett, issued a statement through a family member Monday, apologizing for his son's behavior.


``I'd like to apologize to the town and the people of Oaklyn for what my son has done,'' Lovett said. ``I'd like to ask everyone to say a prayer for Matthew. I hope he can receive the counseling he needs.''


Ron Lovett, a single parent since his wife died nearly 10 years ago, had sympathy from his neighbors.


``It takes years and years of talking with your children to tell them you ignore people'' who make fun of them, said Laura Doria, who with her husband owns a deli near the Lovett apartment.


The teen's uncle, Tom Crymes, said Matthew Lovett could not have carried out the alleged plan.


``He absolutely could not have followed through with that,'' Crymes said. ``If he was determined to do that, then he would have shot at the officer'' who arrested him.


All three were charged with offenses including conspiracy to commit murder.


Craig Mitnick, an attorney for Matthew Lovett, told CNN on Monday that his client said he ``never, ever was going hurt anyone.'' Mitnick said the rounds of ammunition that police found were more than 20 years old and might not have detonated.


Mitnick also told CNN that the teen is ``a 12-year-old in an 18-year-old's body'' and has a ``very fragile psyche.''


Authorities have not identified the two boys, ages 14 and 15. They were ordered held Monday at a youth detention center. Sarubbi said he would seek to have both tried as adults.


John Underwood, a lawyer for the 15-year-old, would not comment, and the other teen did not a have a lawyer at a hearing in juvenile court Monday.



07/07/03 23:00

Jolie Rouge
07-07-2003, 10:38 AM
Sex, mob hits: Sims tests virtual morals
Saturday, July 5, 2003 Posted: 9:17 AM EDT (1317 GMT)


NEW YORK (AP) -- Jeremy Chase admits to shaking down his enemies. His Web site advertises extortion, hits and prostitution for a hefty fee.

Chase is a mob leader -- but only in the virtual world. He is one of hundreds of players who found the path of lawlessness and deviance too irresistible when "The Sims Online" challenged them to "Be Somebody ... else."

The popular commercial game, where thousands of people interact electronically, is turning into a petri dish of anti-social behavior. And that's raising questions about whether limits on conduct should be set in such emerging virtual worlds, even if they are huge adult playpens.

"Games give people the opportunity to either do something they've never had the ability to do before or allow them to do the stuff they are too afraid to do in real life," said Chase, an unemployed, self-described computer geek who lives in Sacramento, California. "This is as close to the real-life mafia that I'm going to be able to get."

All online games see their share of ne'er-do-wells, or "griefers." In other games where violence is the norm and killing routine, thugs delight in slaughtering the less powerful and stealing their loot.

But there are no guns in "Sims," made by Maxis, and it's impossible to do serious harm to another player. That means griefers -- admittedly a small percentage of the game's 100,000 subscribers -- have to be devilishly creative in their social deviance.

Chase and others insist they're just role-playing like everyone else in the game. But harassment can be a big deal in "Sims," which resembles a neighborhood of virtual dollhouses where you build a home and invite others to come over and play.

The game's raison d'etre is socializing; barely a half year old, it's the biggest game yet whose rewards come from making friends and being popular.

One mob tactic is gathering the foot-soldiers to stigmatize someone else with several so-called "red links" -- a sort of demerit that shows others how many enemies a player has.

For gamers who have spent hours building a reputation, red links can be devastating. The platform may be virtual, but the attack isn't.

Simulated or real?
"It's only a game but the people operating those little animated cartoons are real," said Holly Shevenock, a postal worker from Harrisburg, Pennsylania.

Shevenock quit playing "Sims" because she was spending too much time in it -- up to five hours a day. "If you're not careful, you begin to play this game with your real emotions."

She and others said they knew several people who stopped playing or reduced their time online because of groups that seemed intent on harassment.

Psychologists who study online behavior say in-game spats and the visceral responses to them aren't surprising. With simulations becoming more lifelike, the line between real and fake is blurred.

"The more real you try to make these online worlds, the more the problems are real-world problems," said John Suler, a Rider University professor who specializes in the psychology of cyberspace. "It's not always easy to contain this stuff in the fantasy world."

The game's Terms of Service agreement tells players they cannot "harass, threaten, embarrass, or do anything else to another Member or guest that is unwarranted." They're also told, "The laws that apply in the off-line world must be obeyed online as well."

Maxis gives warnings, terminates threads in message boards, suspends players and in extreme cases, bans accounts. Chase himself endured a three-day suspension for what he said was foul language.

"We have a very big hammer to wield when we have to," said Kyle Brink, a Maxis associate producer.

But Maxis can't cover everything.

Real-world liability
Some players have reported online spats leaking out of the game players have hacked into others' accounts, posed as acquaintances and spread rumors about real people through instant messaging. Some have even reported identity theft.

That puts far more pressure on game makers to begin cracking down in earnest on gamers, experts say. It could lead to more real-world, legal liability for both players and the companies that make the games.

"We're going to be forced to create a whole new area of social convention -- and probably law -- that reflects that kind of behavior," said psychologist David Greenfield, founder of the Center for Internet Studies and author of the book "Virtual Addiction."

"You can't produce something that's this potent or powerful psychologically and not have some accountability for it," he said.

Piers Mathieson and his wife, Jennifer, are two more hardcore "Sims" players. They log several hours most days.

After the Las Vegas couple distributed photos of themselves to friends, one griefer hacked into Piers' America Online account and stole his in-game character's possessions. Someone else posed as Piers and told other players that Jennifer had died of cancer.

The Mathiesons may have been easy targets. Their character, Mia Wallace, was the most popular in Alphaville, as one of the game's servers, or cities, is known.

"You start having to question who your real friends are, who you can trust, who you can't trust," Jennifer Mathieson said. "It also paints a huge bulls-eye in your forehead."

The two are also founders of the Sim Shadow Government, a group boasting 1,000 members dedicated to cracking down on griefers where Maxis couldn't.

Though the Mathiesons say they dispense justice, their online tactics can be just as rough. The couple say they have ransacked apartments, sent out their "troops" to urinate on others' lawns and once drove another player from the game.

Brink insists the griefers are a far less serious problem in "Sims" than in other games because it has a different demographic, a lot of women, people from all age groups, and "players who are looking to build not destroy," he said. "This is a mature, social crowd as a whole."

There are also many ways to block out people who bother you. Even the players agree, after all, that there's no law against being annoying.

"It reminds me of sales calls during dinner time," said Laura Robinson, a student who lives in Philadelphia. "They always seem to message at the wrong time, which in my case is always."

Jolie Rouge
07-07-2003, 10:41 AM
Sunset reveals inscription on Biblical tomb
Points to John the Baptist's father
Monday, July 7, 2003 Posted: 12:12 PM EDT

Anthropologist Joe Zias studies a cast of a Greek inscription found on an ancient burial monument near the Mount of Olives in Jersalem.


JERUSALEM (AP) -- The discovery was a stroke of luck: the light of the setting sun hit an ancient tomb at just the right angle and revealed hints of a worn inscription, unnoticed for centuries, commemorating the father of John the Baptist.

"This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, father of John," the inscription of 47 Greek letters reads.

The inscription probably does not mean that the father of the biblical figure is actually buried in the 60-foot-high (18-meter-high) funerary monument at the foot of the Mount of Olives, say the text's discoverers.

But it does give new insight into the local lore surrounding the early figures of the Christian Church.

Scholars say the words were probably written several hundred years after Zachariah's death -- and after the tomb's construction -- by Byzantine Christians.

The Byzantines scoured the Holy Land in the 4th and 5th centuries and, drawing on local tradition, marked sites they felt were linked to the characters they knew from the Bible.

Leading the charge was Helena, the newly converted mother of Emperor Constantine, who selected the site now marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, said to be the site where Jesus was crucified and buried.

But even such second-hand references are important, scholars say, because they confirm the traditions among early Christians and because there are so few artifacts directly relating to biblical narrative.

"We actually have contact with ancient history through Byzantine Christians," said Jim Strange, a New Testament scholar at the University of South Florida.

The text was discovered by physical anthropologist Joe Zias and inscriptions expert Emile Puech. Zias, an Israeli originally from Ypsilanti, Michigan, and the French-born Puech are publishing their findings on the Zachariah inscription in the upcoming July issue of the Revue Biblique, a French quarterly.

The grave of Absalom?

The inscription is carved into the facade of what is known as Absalom's Tomb, one of three large funerary monuments in the Kidron Valley, between Jerusalem's Old City and the Mount of Olives. The monuments were apparently built for Jerusalem's aristocracy around the time of Jesus.

It's unlikely Absalom, son of King David, lies buried in the tomb, which was built hundreds of years after his death.

Medieval Jewish tradition, however, held that the monument was his tomb, and -- based on that tradition -- Jews, Christians and Muslims stoned the monument for centuries to curse Absalom for his deeds: murdering his half brother Amnon for raping their sister Tamar, and later inciting a rebellion against his father.

The once smooth facade became badly pockmarked, and the Zachariah inscription carved above the entrance arch, about 30 feet (9 meters) from the ground, began to fade.

Zias, a member of the Science and Archaeology Group, a team of scholars affiliated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, discovered the first letters by chance, on a photograph shown to him by an art history student asking for advice on a paper about Absalom's Tomb.

The photographer told Zias he shot the picture years ago, toward dusk in summer, with just the right shadows, and that at any other time, the letters might have remained unnoticeable.

Zias put up scaffolding to get a closer look and Puech, using a low-tech method involving paper mache, lifted off a cast.

Puech made out the inscription -- two lines, each about four feet (1.2 meters) long, with letters up to four inches (10 centimeters) tall. The letters correspond to the Byzantine period, he wrote.

Puech and Zias said they've spotted several more lines of writing and will lift more casts off the facade this week.

They've already made out one name, "Simon," perhaps a reference to "Simon the Elder," the pious man who cradled the infant Jesus and recognized him as the Messiah.

It's possible the additional lines include the phrase, "He who held in his arms God's Messiah," wrote Puech, a scholar at Jerusalem's Ecole Biblique research institute.

Zias and Puech hope they'll also find the name of James, brother of Jesus, citing one 4th century Christian tradition that Zachariah, Simon and James were buried together in the Kidron Valley.

Clues in the Gospel

There's no biblical clue to the nature of Zachariah's death or the location of his tomb. The Gospel of Luke describes him as an elderly man from the priestly caste of Abijah who, while burning incense in the Temple one day, was told by an angel that his wife Elizabeth, also advanced in years, would bear a son, who was later to become John the Baptist.

Jewish historian Josephus writes that a priest named Zachariah was slain by Zealots in the Temple and thrown into the Kidron Valley below -- which would explain the "martyr" reference in the Greek text.

The inscription suggests that local Christians believed Zachariah was buried at the site of the tomb. But because hundreds of years had passed from his death to the inscription, and with no other corroboration, Zias and other scholars say they'll never know for sure.

The inscription, at best, sheds light on ancient Christian beliefs.

"You may be able to confirm the existence of a tradition there," said Stephen Pfann, a Bible scholar and head of the University of the Holy Land. "It's a very important witness to the history of Byzantine Christianity."

Jolie Rouge
07-07-2003, 10:44 AM
Catch of the day?
Fangtooth, snotthead, goblin shrimp
By Richard Stenger CNN
Monday, July 7, 2003 Posted: 1:07 PM EDT




The deep-sea expedition may have discovered more than 100 new species.

(CNN) -- Many of the known denizens of the deep look as bizarre as their names: Snotthead. Fangtooth. Gulper eel. So what about the creepy creatures that lurk in unchartered depths? A team of international scientists was determined to find out.

This month, they are examining their catch from a deep-sea expedition in the Southern Hemisphere, more than 1,500 species photographed or collected from unexplored waters along the sea floor between New Zealand and Australia.

The haul includes a sea spider with organs in its legs, a shark with sandpaper-like skin and a squid with a big eye to find prey and a little one to avoid becoming it.

"If you lived in pitch black, hunted by feeling vibrations or looking for the tiniest glimpses of light, withstood massive pressures and had to wait for months at a time to feed, you'd end up looking like Gollum as well," said Mark Norman, a biologist who rode on the research vessel Tangaroa, which completed a month-long voyage in June.

Norman's reference is to a gruesome character in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," but some specimens photographed, netted or dredged by the Tangaroa crew down to depths of 1.2 miles (two kilometers) were too weird for science fiction or fantasy.

Snout as metal detector

The flabby coffinfish walks on the sea floor on short leg-like fins and can swallow large volumes of water to expand into a ball, making it less appealing to predators.

The Pacific spookfish uses its snout like a metal detector, scanning for the electrical impulses of prey hidden in the mud. Goblin shrimp have twisted faces and heavy-plated armor.

"If you lived in pitch black, hunted by feeling vibrations or looking for the tiniest glimpses of light, withstood massive pressures and had to wait for months at a time to feed, you'd end up looking like Gollum as well.
-- Marine biologist Mark Norman


And rather than live in shells, which are scarce on the ocean floor, one variety of hermit crab dwells inside the tough, leathery bodies of zonathid, a relative of coral with stinging tentacles.

Many in the Tangaroa catch are relatives of known species, but a preliminary tally suggests there are more than 100 new species of fish and invertebrates, according Norman, senior curator of the Museum Victory in Australia.

The expedition, dubbed NORFANZ because it sailed near Norfolk Island and was a joint project of Australian and New Zealand, hopes to shed light on the depths of the Tasman Sea, one of the least understood, watery recesses of the planet.

"Life is precious and especially adapted for every nook and cranny of this Earth," said Norman. "The deep-sea deserves as much protection and consideration as the richest of tropical rainforests."