what the ?

Riding out Ike with a lion

2008-09-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

"BOLIVAR PENINSULA, Texas - Many years from now, a small group of Hurricane Ike survivors will probably still be telling the story of how, on the night the storm flattened their island, they took sanctuary in a church — with a lion.

The full-grown lion was from a local zoo, and the owner was trying to drive to safety with the animal when he saw cars and trucks stranded in the rising floodwaters. He knew he and the lion were in trouble.

He headed for the church and was met by a group of residents who helped the lion wade inside, where they locked it in a sanctuary as the storm raged. The water crept up to their waists, and two-by-fours came floating through broken windows. But the lion was as calm as a kitten.

When daylight came, everyone was still alive.

"They worked pretty well together, actually," said the lion's owner, Michael Ray Kujawa. "When you have to swim, the lion doesn't care about eating nobody."

Amid the destruction in places like Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston, where row upon row of houses were scoured from the landscape, seemingly impossible tales of survival have begun emerge. Whether through faith or fate, luck or resourcefulness, dozens of people who stayed behind made it out alive, and have harrowing stories to prove it.

As of Tuesday, the official death toll from Ike stood at 48. Only 17 were in Texas — and many of those were people killed by fires or generator fumes after the storm had passed. However, authorities held out the possibility that some victims were washed out to sea.

Among those who made it out alive was Kathi Norton, who put on a life jacket as the storm closed in on High Island, on the Bolivar Peninsula. She and her husband, Paul, knew the dangers of staying, and put their important documents, credit cards, money and cell phones into a plastic bag, and held on tight.

All too quickly, the floodwaters rose and the house started to break apart. Through the gaps, they saw refrigerators, lawn mowers and hot tubs floating past. The deck broke away next. Then the roof started to buckle.

"The whole floor was just opened out," he said. Norton grabbed his wife and headed for an outdoor staircase, escaping in time only because a flagpole kept the house from crashing down for a few precious seconds. "I look up, the house is coming on us," he said.

For hours, they sloshed around in 4-foot waves before finding themselves perched in a tree. They finally made their way onto someone's motor home, which then started to sink. They were able to cling to rafters of a nearby structure and hang on until daybreak.

"We had to grab that staircase and float wherever it took us," the 68-year-old retiree said.

Willis Turner decided to ride it out on his wooden boat next to his house on Crystal Beach, also on Bolivar Peninsula, but it nearly capsized and he was saved by a rope his wife tossed to him. The two held on inside a home that she said "vibrated like a guitar string."

"It was like an atomic bomb going off. Right after the eye passed, whole houses came by us at 30 miles an hour — WHOLE HOUSES! — just floating right past," Turner said. "It was unreal. Unreal."

Turner and his wife awoke the next day to an island they no longer recognized. The first four rows of houses on the beach were washed into the sea. There were no more restaurants, no more gas stations, no more grocery stores. The neighborhood was gone.

In Galveston, Charlene Warner, 52, weathered the storm with her landlord and a neighbor in the apartment above her own.

"It felt like an earthquake — the rumbling and the rocking of the building," she said, smoking outside a shelter in San Antonio. "Everyone was praying."

"It was so terrible. All I could say was, 'Lord, please don't kill me. Forgive me for what I done,'" Warner said, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

After the storm, she and neighbors waited for rescue, but no one came. The water receded, leaving a layer of muck filled with snakes. But with no water, no electricity and a shrinking supply of food, Warner decided to go for help, sliding her way across the goo a block and a half to the fire station.

Firefighters took her and neighbors to a spot where they could get on an evacuation bus. She arrived at a shelter in San Antonio with her purse stuffed full of personal documents and cigarettes, and one spare outfit that she washed and drip-dried on a railing Tuesday.

"I lost everything. What you see with me is all I have," she said. "I never seen anything like that in my life. I'll never ride out another storm."

Cheryl Stanley said she and her husband, Tom, wanted to evacuate their Galveston apartment before the hurricane hit but couldn't. Their son, Casey, has cerebral palsy, and the three live on the third floor. When they tried to leave, the elevators were turned off, and they couldn't carry Casey down the stairs.

"It was horrible," Cheryl said. "The building was shaking all night."

A few hours into the storm, Casey said he didn't feel safe in the bedroom, so they moved him to the living room. About three hours later, the ceiling in his bedroom collapsed.

"Thank God, we got Casey out of there," his mother said.

After the storm passed, paramedics carried Casey downstairs. And neighbors carried the wheelchair.

At the Baptist church on Bolivar Island where the lion spent the night, Richard Jones, a shrimper, said he wasn't afraid of the beast.

"That little old fella is just as tame as a kitten," Jones said.

After the storm passed, the lion's caretakers fed it pork roast to keep it happy.

National Guardsmen dropping off food and water lined up Tuesday in the choir loft to get a glimspe of the lion, and the soldiers jumped back when the lion looked up from it perch on the altar and snarled.

Jones said he hadn't stepped foot in a church in the 40 years he has lived on this spit of land. And he wasn't ready to call his survival divine intervention.

"I drink beer and chase women, gamble, cuss," Jones said. "You can't call that religion. I'm either too good, the devil won't have me, or I'm so bad the Good Lord won't take me. That's a good toss-up."

___

Associated Press writers Michelle Roberts in San Antonio, Tony Gutierrez on the Bolivar Peninsula, Peter Prengaman in Galveston, and Kelley Shannon in San Antonio contributed to this report."

News on the Blue Marble

Dude you should have washed the dishes

2008-09-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

"FORT WORTH, Texas - Police say a 20-year-old woman faces an aggravated assault charge after she bit her boyfriend, broke a picture frame across his face and swung at him with a sword during an argument about him not doing the dishes."

AP: 46 million Americans affected by drugs in the drinking water

2008-09-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

"Testing prompted by an Associated Press story that revealed trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in drinking water supplies has shown that more Americans are affected by the problem than previously thought — at least 46 million.

That's up from 41 million people reported by the AP in March as part of an investigation into the presence of pharmaceuticals in the nation's waterways.

The AP stories prompted federal and local legislative hearings, brought about calls for mandatory testing and disclosure, and led officials in at least 27 additional metropolitan areas to analyze their drinking water. Positive tests were reported in 17 cases, including Reno, Nev., Savannah, Ga., Colorado Springs, Colo., and Huntsville, Ala. Results are pending in three others.

The test results, added to data from communities and water utilities that bowed to pressure to disclose earlier test results, produce the new total of Americans known to be exposed to drug-contaminated drinking water supplies.

The overwhelming majority of U.S. cities have not tested drinking water while eight cities — including Boston, Phoenix and Seattle — were relieved that tests showed no detections.

"We didn't think we'd find anything because our water comes from a pristine source, but after the AP stories we wanted to make sure and reassure our customers," said Andy Ryan, spokesman for Seattle Public Utilities.

The substances detected in the latest tests mirrored those cited in the earlier AP report.

Chicago, for example, found a cholesterol medication and a nicotine derivative. Many cities found the anti-convulsant carbamazepine. Officials in one of those communities, Colorado Springs, say they detected five pharmaceuticals in all, including a tranquilizer and a hormone.

"This is obviously an emerging issue and after the AP stories came out we felt it was the responsible thing for us to do, as a utility, to find out where we stand. We believe that at these levels, based on current science, that the water is completely safe for our customers," said Colorado Springs spokesman Steve Berry. "We don't want to create unnecessary alarm, but at the same time we have a responsibility as a municipal utility to communicate with our customers and let them know."

Fargo's water director, Bruce Grubb, said the concentrations of three drugs detected there were so incredibly minute — parts per trillion — that he sent them to the local health officer to figure out how to interpret the information for the community.

"We plan to put this into some kind of context other than just scientific nomenclature, so folks can get some level of understanding about what it means," said Grubb.

The drug residues detected in water supplies are generally flushed into sewers and waterways through human excretion. Many of the pharmaceuticals are known to slip through sewage and drinking water treatment plants.

While the comprehensive risks are still unclear, researchers are finding evidence that even extremely diluted concentrations of pharmaceutical residues harm fish, frogs and other aquatic species in the wild and impair the workings of human cells in the laboratory.

And while the new survey expands the known extent of the problem, the overwhelming majority of U.S. communities have yet to test, including the single largest water provider in the country, New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, which delivers water to 9 million people.

In April, New York City council members insisted during an emergency hearing that their drinking water be tested. But DEP officials subsequently declared that "the testing of finished tap water is not warranted at this time."

___

The AP National Investigative Team can be reached at investigate (at) ap.org"

News on the Blue Marble

Michael Jackson's underwear goes up for sale

2008-09-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

CNN video reports that Michael Jackson's underwear is going up for sale.

What the hell?

Naked man arrested for concealed weapon

2006-11-05T21:48:00.000-08:00

"EL CERRITO, Calif. - A man was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon after police found him outdoors — naked — and he told them he had a tool in his rectum, authorities said

The man was lying on a tree stump, masturbating beside a nature path, near a Bay Area Rapid Transit station Thursday, police said.

John Sheehan, 33, of Pittsburg, was initially arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure. But when asked whether he was carrying anything police should know about, Sheehan mentioned the tool, said El Cerrito Detective Cpl. Don Horgan.

"You can't get much more concealed than that," Horgan said.

Officers drew their weapons and firefighters were called to the scene. Sheehan removed a 6-inch metal awl wrapped in black electrical tape without incident.

Sheehan, who was paroled from state prison last week, was then booked into jail on suspicion of parole violations, indecent exposure and one felony count of possessing a concealed weapon.

"When you're talking about an awl or an ice pick and you're dealing with somebody who's fresh out of prison, it's a weapon. That's a stabbing instrument," Horgan said.

It was not immediately clear what Sheehan was on parole for. A person answering the phone at the jail Friday night did not know whether Sheehan had a lawyer."

Yahoo!/AFP: Tom Cruise's Baby Poop

2006-09-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

"NEW YORK (AFP) - Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have yet to show their baby daughter off in public, but eager fans were given an unusual preview with the chance to see a bronze cast depicting her first solid stool.

The scatological sculpture -- more doodoo than Dada -- is purportedly cast from 19-week old Suri's first bowel movement and will be shown at the Capla Kesting gallery in Brooklyn, New York, before being auctioned off for charity.

The artist behind the work, Daniel Edwards, previously courted controversy with a life-size nude sculpture of pop star Britney Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug. That work was shown at the same gallery in April.

"A bronzed cast of baby's first poop can be a meaningful memento for the family," gallery director David Kesting said, adding that he hoped the work would attract bids of up to 25 or 30,000 dollars.

The sculpture, which sits on a wooden mounting with a glass casing, is to be sold on eBay next month with proceeds from the sale going to infant health charity March Of Dimes.

As of Wednesday it had attracted a top bid of 41 dollars.

"Mission: Impossible" star Cruise and Holmes announced Suri's birth in April. The entertainment press, which dubbed the pair "TomKat," has shown a seemingly insatiable appetite for news of the pair and their "TomKitten."

A spokeman for the couple was not immediately available Wednesday to comment on the sculpture."

What the ?

ABCnews: woman with heroin soaked underwear faces death penalty

2006-08-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

"Aug 18, 2006 — BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese woman has appeared in court accused of transporting panties and long johns soaked in heroin, state media said Friday.

Wang Zhiqin, 42, from Wuhan, capital of China's central province of Hubei, was charged with transporting 1.44 kg (3.2lb) of heroin soaked into 15 items of underwear, the China Daily said.

"Drug tests apparently detected heroin on them and Wang was arrested after a tip-off," the China Daily said.

Wang pleaded innocent during her trial at a Shanghai court Thursday, saying the tainted underwear had been planted in her luggage, a pink trunk, after two men in Kunming, capital of the southwestern Yunnan province, offered her a job and a plane ticket to Shanghai.

Wang's lawyer queried the investigating police's methods, who derived the quantity of heroin by weighing the drug-soaked underwear, the paper said.

"There is no evidence of the exact purity and quantity of the heroin, and there is no evidence proving Wang was aware of what she was carrying," the paper quoted the lawyer as saying.

If convicted, Wang could face the death penalty, the paper said.

The trial continues."

SJMercuryNews: Crane falls on car, woman, child uninjured

2006-07-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

"Crane falls, damages car at on-ramp
By Sandra Gonzales
Mercury News
A mother and her young son escaped serious injury Wednesday after a construction crane snapped and fell on their sedan as they drove on the Alma Street on-ramp to Highway 87 in San Jose.

Their identities and ages were not released.

The green sedan was heading north to Highway 87 about 2 p.m. when a 100-foot section of a crane off the freeway snapped and smashed into the back seat of the car, California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Perea said. No one was sitting in the back seat. The woman complained of minor pain and was taken to a hospital. Her son did not suffer any injuries, but was taken to the hospital for observation.

Perea said he did not know the name of the company working on the expansion of the freeway, or whether anyone was operating the crane at the time. Cal-OSHA is investigating the incident."

CNNMoney: Toyota's totally bizarre recall

2006-07-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

"By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com staff writer
July 12 2006: 2:01 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- This fall, Toyota will voluntarily recall nearly 160,000 Toyota Tundra pickups so that they can be made less safe for children riding in the front seat.

No, that's not a mistake - at least not on our part.

The recall, announced Monday, is meant to make Tundras comply with a set of safety regulations. The rules say that vehicles built after 2002 must have a child-seat anchor system known as LATCH in the front seat if they also have a front-seat airbag shut-off switch.

The Tundras in question were built with an airbag shut-off switch but not the LATCH system.

The solution? Spend lots of money and inconvenience customers...to remove the airbag shut-off switch.

The move not only doesn't enhance the safety of these vehicles, it actually makes the vehicles unsafe for small children riding in the front seat.

Those shut-off switches exist because airbags can injure and even kill small children even in otherwise minor crashes.

Meanwhile, even without a LATCH system (which stands for lower anchorages and tethers for children), parents can still install safety seats using seatbelts.

Toyota originally discovered the compliance issue and, in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in July 2005, the company asked regulators to let them to ignore it as "inconsequential to safety."

NHTSA denied that petition. So Toyota asked NHTSA to reconsider, arguing that the solution would be worse than the problem.

"[We] believe that the agency should understand that the likely remedy is to remove the airbag cut-off switches," Toyota lawyers wrote to NHTSA in October of 2005.

Toyota has no other choice, Chris Tinto, Toyota's vice president for regulatory affairs, told CNNMoney.com. Placing the LATCH system in the trucks' front seats would have been far too expensive.

"We still think it's better with the cut-off switches in," said Tinto said. But rules are rules, so it's out with the switches.

What's more, to comply with the rule, Toyota is currently building new Tundra trucks without the switches, Tinto said.

Of course, regardless of LATCH systems or airbag cut-off switches, children are always safest in a back seat if at all possible. The Tundra trucks being recalled do have back seats, albeit small ones. But people sometimes put small children in the front seats of cars and trucks for various reasons. For example, according to NHTSA, the Tundra's back seats are too small to fit rear-facing seats, the kind that infants ride in.

In its final decision. published on June 28, 2006, NHTSA pointed out that the method a manufacturer might choose to remedy a compliance issue is not a determining factor when deciding that it must be fixed, so Toyota's warning made no difference.

Any issue NHTSA might have with Toyota's solution to the problem will have to wait for another round of memos.

"We are closely reviewing Toyota's remedy," said Rae Tyson, a spokesman for NHTSA. "

What the ?

Reuters: Operation removes lightbulb from anus

2006-06-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

"MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Fateh Mohammad, a prison inmate in Pakistan, says he woke up last weekend with a glass lightbulb in his anus.

Wednesday night, doctors brought Mohammad's misery to an end after a one-and-a-half hour operation to remove the object.

"Thanks Allah, now I feel comfort. Today, I had my breakfast. I was just drinking water, nothing else," Mohammad, a grey-beared man in his mid-40s, told Reuters from a hospital bed in the southern central city of Multan.

"We had to take it out intact," said Dr. Farrukh Aftab at Nishtar Hospital. "Had it been broken inside, it would be a very very complicated situation."

Mohammad, who is serving a four-year sentence for making liquor, prohibited for Muslims, said he was shocked when he was first told the cause of his discomfort. He swears he didn't know the bulb was there.

"When I woke up I felt a pain in my lower abdomen, but later in hospital, they told me this," Mohammad said.

"I don't know who did this to me. Police or other prisoners."

The doctor treating Mohammad said he'd never encountered anything like it before, and doubted the felon's story that someone had drugged him and inserted the bulb while he was comatose."

what the ?

CNN: Police find skeleton in 80 yr old woman's home

2006-06-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

"CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- Officers who went to a home to serve a search warrant found a skeleton in the bed where an 80-year-old woman said her mother was sleeping.

Police believe the remains belong to woman's 98-year-old mother, who hadn't been seen in at least three years.

Officers went to the home Wednesday to serve a search warrant for building, housing and health code violations, but the woman said they couldn't come inside because her mother was sleeping. After persuading her to let them in the house, the officials pulled back the blanket on the bed and found the skeleton.

The daughter, whose name was withheld until her family was notified, was taken to St. Vincent Charity Hospital.

Cuyahoga County Coroner Elizabeth K. Balraj said Thursday she would need more information to identify the body, which showed no signs of injury.

Police Lt. Thomas Stacho said no charges were expected."

CNN: Nun charged with stealing $300,000

2006-06-30T00:38:00.000-07:00

"OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- A 71-year-old nun who co-wrote a popular marriage-preparation program was arrested on charges of improperly spending more than $300,000 on casinos, gifts and air travel.

Sister Barbara Markey, who was fired in January as director of the Omaha Archdiocese's family life office, turned herself in Wednesday and was released on her own recognizance.

According to the arrest warrant, an audit found that Markey spent $307,545 for her own use or without documentation. Some of the money was spent on cash advances, casinos, gifts and airfare, the audit said.

Defense attorney John Stevens Berry Sr. said the case stems from a disagreement about ownership and funding priorities related to the FOCCUS marriage preparation program, which Markey helped develop. The program is widely used in the Roman Catholic Church.

Markey was charged with theft by deception, a felony punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine."

Yahoo!News/EOnline

2006-06-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

"Apparently, Britney Spears is out to prove she's not a girl and very much a woman.
Just days after baring her soul on Dateline, the pregnant pop tart is taking a page out of Demi Moore's playbook and baring, well, everything else, for the cover of the August issue of Harper's Bazaar.

The magazine confirmed Wednesday that Spears posed in the nude for the cover and an accompanying feature story and photo spread at a shoot on Thursday.

Unfortunately for Harper's, said photos leaked onto the Internet shortly after the conclusion of the shoot and were available on various Websites as of Wednesday afternoon.

In the images, a newly dark-haired Spears strikes various poses in all her six-months-pregnant glory, sometimes clothed, sometimes not.

A naked Sean Preston makes a cameo in one of the photos, clutched in his mother's arms. A naked Kevin Federline, thankfully, did not make the cut.

After the leak, Harper's released the cover shot for publicity purposes, but informed the non-Internet-using segment of its readership that it would have to wait until the issue hit stands on July 25 to view the rest of the spread.

Spears', shall we say, artsy cover girl stint comes after the singer was reportedly shocked by the negative reaction to her recent tearful Dateline confessional.

In a poll conducted by Us Weekly, 87 percent of respondents said they had less respect for Spears after her sitdown with Matt Lauer. Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that the NBC crew filming the interview was so startled by Spears' disheveled appearance when they arrived that they thought they had the wrong day.

As a result of the backlash, Spears apparently decided to prove that with the help of a little airbrushing, she can be the same Britney we once knew and loved. Except, you know, pregnant.

Meanwhile, according to a report in In Touch Weekly, Spears is considering returning to her roots--and not just the brunette ones. The magazine claims that the Louisiana native is considering moving back home to the town of Kentwood, where she was born.

"She wants to come home," Kentwood Mayor Harold Smith told the magazine. "She's building more rooms for her growing family. She wants a nursery and some kids' rooms."

The magazine claims that Federline is supportive of his wife's wishes, though there's no telling how the move could affect his quest to save the penny.

The couple is expecting their second child together, and Federline's fourth overall, in October. "

Reuters: the rum has a special taste

2006-05-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

"BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungarian builders who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum while renovating a house got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine website reported.
According to online magazine www.zsaru.hu, workers in Szeged in the south of Hungary tried to move the barrel after they had drained it, only to find it was surprisingly heavy and were shocked when the body of a naked man fell out.

The website said that the body of the man had been shipped back from Jamaica 20 years ago by his wife in the barrel of rum in order to avoid the cost and paperwork of an official return.

According to the website, workers said the rum in the 300-liter barrel had a "special taste" so they even decanted a few bottles of the liquor to take home.

The wife has since died and the man was buried in a proper grave. "

Ewww.

CNN/Reuters: Man gets punished for dominatrix high jinks

2006-05-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

"NEW YORK (Reuters) -- An executive at a heart disease charitable foundation who embezzled close to a quarter of a million dollars over two years to pay a dominatrix to beat him was sentenced Tuesday to two to six years in prison.

Abraham Alexander, an accounts payable executive at the Manhattan Cardiovascular Research Foundation, admitted to stealing $237,162 and spending most of it on services provided by a Columbus, Ohio-based dominatrix called Lady Sage.

Manhattan prosecutors said Alexander, a Singapore-born citizen of India, had forged or altered checks payable to himself, to two credit card companies and to an online-based dominatrix company called Through the Looking Glass.

Alexander, 45, bought airline tickets for trips between New York and Ohio, paid for car rentals in Ohio and charged purchases at stores called Wicked Naughty Accessories and Leather Creations and at Victoria's Secret, prosecutors said.

In jail since his arrest in November, Alexander pleaded guilty to grand larceny in Manhattan Supreme Court in March.

His wife, who is raising their two daughters in their Long Island home, filed for divorce after Alexander was arrested.

Judge Renee White told Alexander that if he came up with more than half of the $237,162 he stole, she would shorten his prison term to one to three years. He had faced up to 15 years in prison had he been convicted at trial.

Lady Sage's Web site features dozens of photographs of the stern, unsmiling dominatrix carrying a whip. She is seen in some pictures wearing a feathered boa over leather or with a metal-studded thong bikini in high-heeled boots.

She lists her services at $250 for the first hour and $200 for each additional hour. An eight-hour session costs $1,500 and 12 hours runs clients $2,000. Lady Sage also commands $1,000 a day in travel expenses if she has to beat a customer on his own turf."

He got a well earned lashing.

ABCnews/Reuters: German woman accused of killing her babies goes on trial

2006-04-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

"FRANKFURT AN DER ODER, Germany (Reuters) - A German mother accused of killing nine newborn babies over the course of a decade and burying them in flower pots went on trial on Thursday in a case that has shocked the nation.

Lawyers for the 40-year old woman, identified as Sabine H. from the eastern city of Frankfurt an der Oder, said at the start of the trial that their client would not take the stand to defend herself.

The unemployed dental assistant is charged with eight counts of manslaughter as the statute of limitations on the first of the nine deaths has expired. She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Police in the eastern state of Brandenburg discovered the bones of nine newborns buried in flower pots, buckets and a fish tank after a neighbor of the woman's parents stumbled upon the remains of some of the babies while clearing out their garage last July.

The woman has told investigators that she was alone when she gave birth to the babies and in most of the cases under the influence of large amounts of alcohol.

She admits to having left the first two to die, but denies intentionally killing them and says she cannot remember the circumstances of the last seven deaths because she was in a drunken stupor.

"I did not kill them deliberately. I just left them alone and didn't take care of them," she said of the first two babies in a pre-trial deposition that was read out in court by chief judge Matthias Fuchs.

WORST CHILD KILLINGS

The deaths of the babies, which occurred between 1988 and 1998, has been described as postwar Germany's worst series of child killings and sparked shock that the crime went undetected for so long.

The woman has said that her former husband, who fathered the seven girls and two boys that died, spent long periods away from home because of their marital problems and was not aware of her pregnancies.

The couple had three children that are now grown before the deaths took place and the woman has one two-year old child by another man.
A day after her arrest last year, Sabine H. spoke of a "vicious circle" that began with her fourth pregnancy in 1988.

Her husband had been against having more children, she said, and she had kept the pregnancy secret from him, eventually giving birth over the toilet where the baby allegedly drowned.

The woman said she then began drinking heavily to banish the vision of her "blue faced" baby from her mind. She did not consider getting abortions over the years because of fears that a doctor would discover her prior births.

In preliminary proceedings, she described putting the dead babies in plastic bags and then burying them in flower pots, some of which she kept on her balcony to be near her children.

Prosecutors had initially wanted Sabine H. to face murder charges but the court ordered the charges reduced to manslaughter because the crimes occurred against a backdrop of alcohol abuse and family problems."

CNN: That headache is caused by the nails in your head

2006-04-21T22:58:00.000-07:00

"PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) -- An Oregon man who went to a hospital complaining of a headache was found to have 12 nails embedded in his skull from a suicide attempt with a nail gun, doctors say.

Surgeons removed the nails with needle-nosed pliers and a drill, and the man survived with no serious lasting effects, according to a report on the medical oddity in the current issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery.

The unidentified 33-year-old man was suicidal and high on methamphetamine last year when he fired the nails -- up to 2 inches in length -- into his head one by one.

The nails were not visible when doctors first examined the man in the emergency room of an unidentified Oregon hospital a day later. Doctors were surprised when X-rays revealed six nails clustered between his right eye and ear, two below his right ear and four on the left side of his head.

The study did not say how long the nails were, and a hospital spokeswoman refused to release that information. A photo published in the study suggests the nails range from 1 1/2 to 2 inches long.

No one before is known to have survived after intentionally firing so many foreign objects into the head, according to the report, written by Dr. G. Alexander West, the neurosurgeon who oversaw the treatment of the patient.

The man at first told doctors he had had a nail gun accident, but later admitted it was a suicide attempt.

The nails came close to major blood vessels and the brain stem but did not pierce them. The patient was in remarkably good condition when he was transferred to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where the nails were removed.

The patient was later transferred to psychiatric care and stayed under court order for nearly a month before leaving against doctors' orders.
"

NYtimes: the castrati and opera

2006-04-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

"LONDON, April 13 — More than most art forms, opera demands a suspension of disbelief. For a long time this included accepting that a man could sing with the voice of a woman. It was not a natural gift, but the results often drove audiences wild: castrati, as they were known, were among the rulers of the 18th-century opera stage.

True, most of the Italian boys who were castrated to preserve their unbroken voices never achieved fame . Yet enough did to encourage some impoverished parents to allow one or two of their sons to undergo this pre-pubescent mutilation. In the 1730's, it has been estimated, as many as 4,000 boys were so altered each year.

Intense musical training followed, so that, by their midteens, the youths were ready to sing in church choirs. Then, with opera all the rage from Naples to Venice, the best voices were selected by theater managers for the stage. A few became stars across Europe. Those seeking the highest fees headed for London, where Handel was presiding over a boom in Italian opera.

"Handel and the Castrati," a revealing small show at the Handel House Museum here through Oct. 1, tells their stories. On display are a few objects, including an 18th-century iron "castratori" instrument, as well as paintings, engravings, music scores and recorded excerpts from Handel operas and oratorios, with castrato roles now sung by counter-tenors and mezzo-sopranos.

The museum is housed in what was Handel's Mayfair home from 1723 until his death in 1759, so it is likely that some castrati also sang here. And to hear how they might have sounded, there is a rare castrato recording from 1902. In a soprano voice a tad thicker than that of a woman, Alessandro Moreschi can be heard singing Gounod's arrangement of Bach's "Ave Maria."

By all accounts, what distinguished the castrato's voice was that it combined a woman's range with a man's lung capacity and muscular strength. In fact, many castrati were unusually tall. And, having undergone musical training at a time that their rib cages were expanding, they were particularly adept at coloratura and other ornamentation typical of Baroque opera.

They became necessary, however, only after the Vatican banned women from church choirs in the mid-16th century. Thus, if Monteverdi wrote four castrato roles for "Orfeo" in 1607, it was also because no women could sing them. A Vatican decree prohibiting castration was evidently ignored: Moreschi, nicknamed the Angel of Rome, joined the Sistine Chapel Choir in 1883.

Still, by the 18th century, women were also singing onstage, with Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni among the stars of Handel operas after that German-born composer moved to London in 1711. Yet such was the aura surrounding Italian castrati that Handel created several operas around their crowd appeal, starting with his London debut opera, "Rinaldo," and the alto Nicola Grimaldi.

The castrato most associated with Handel, however, was Francesco Bernardi, better known as Senesino, who was born in Siena in 1686 and was already a legend by the time he reached London and sang Handel's "Radamisto" in 1720. He also sang in the premieres of "Giulio Cesare," "Orlando" and "Rodelinda." By the time he returned to Italy for good in 1736, he was immensely wealthy.

If Senesino was often moody, Handel had more trouble with Giovanni Carestini, who had a two-octave mezzo-soprano range and was described by one contemporary as "tall, beautiful and majestic." Legend has it that Carestini rejected the score of "Alcina" as insufficiently brilliant. This show records Handel's furious response: "You dog! You think you know better than I do what is best for you to sing? If you don't sing, I won't pay you."

But Handel needed Carestini because he alone could rival Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli, who was arguably the most popular castrato ever and who, to Handel's intense displeasure, refused to sing for him. Worse, Farinelli performed for Handel's competition at the Opera of the Nobility.

Evidently, star castrati could afford to be capricious. One, Luigi Marchesi, refused to appear in any opera unless he made his first entry on horseback, singing his favorite aria. Two of Handel's castrati, Gioacchino Conti, known as Gizziello, and Gaetano Majorano, known as Caffarelli, reportedly carried their rivalry back to Naples with them.

What mattered was that they could fill a theater. And in this, their mysterious sex appeal, to both men and women, was a factor. No greater expert than Casanova wrote of one castrato: "To resist the temptation, or not to feel it, one would have had to be cold and earthbound as a German." Further, many castrati were said to be virile sexual partners for women, not least Caffarelli, who was famously chased by his mistress's husband.

Indeed, some English satirists took delight in suggesting that the expensive presents given to castrati stars were tributes to their talent in bed, not onstage. Or as one 1735 ditty put it: "Think'st thou for empty Sounds they thus present;/ Thus they give out, but other Things are meant."

Another 1735 pamphlet, inspired by Hogarth's "Rake's Progress," even suggested some envy:

Who would not be unmann'd to gain
What they with so much Ease obtain?
For tho' they lose the Pow'r of Harm,
The Women know they yet can charm.

The castrati era lasted through Mozart into the 19th century. Meyerbeer's opera "Il Crociato in Egitto," performed at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice in 1824, is said to be the last work written for a castrato, while in 1844 Paolo Pergetti became the last castrato to appear on a London stage. In 1870, Italy finally banned castration, and in 1903 the Vatican excluded castrati from church choirs.

By then, of course, sopranos and tenors were the opera superstars. Yet, in a sense, they benefited from the castrati legacy: the tradition of adulating opera singers was not only well entrenched, but the difficult and temperamental personalities of divas — and divos — were also somehow expected. Still, even the most adoring fan today is likely to emulate a woman's heartfelt cry in 1735: "One God, one Farinelli."

strange and barbaric don't you think?

Yahoo!News/AP: Homeland Security Official Arrested

2006-04-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

"By MICHELLE SPITZER, Associated Press Writer
4 minutes ago

MIAMI - The deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday for using the Internet to seduce what he thought was a teenage girl, authorities said.

Brian J. Doyle, 55, was arrested at his residence in Maryland on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor. The charges were issued out of Polk County, Fla.

Doyle, of Silver Spring, Md., had a sexually explicit conversation with what he believed was a 14-year-old girl whose profile he saw on the Internet on March 14, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

The girl was an undercover Polk County Sheriff's Computer Crimes detective, the sheriff's office said.

Doyle sent the girl pornographic movie clips and had sexually explicit conversations via the Internet, the statement said.

During other online conversations, Doyle revealed his name, that he worked for the Homeland Security Department and offered his office and government issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff's office said.

Doyle also sent photos of himself to the girl, but authorities said they were not sexually explicit.

On several occasions, Doyle instructed her to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said.

Doyle later had a telephone conversation with an undercover deputy posing as the teenager and encouraged her to purchase a web camera to send graphic images of herself to him, the sheriff's office said.

He was booked into Maryland's Montgomery County jail where he was waiting to be extradited to Florida, the sheriff's office said.

There was no immediate response to messages left on Doyle's government-issued cell phone and his e-mail, and he could not be reached by phone at the jail for comment.

Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke in Washington said he could not comment on the details of the investigation. "We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation," Knocke said.

Doyle, who is the fourth-ranking official in the department's public affairs office, was expected to be placed on administrative leave Wednesday morning."

CNN: Jerry Garcia's toilet stolen

2006-04-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

"SONOMA, California (AP) -- The long, strange trip continues for Jerry Garcia's toilet.

Police say the Grateful Dead leader's commode was stolen recently from a driveway along with three other toilets and a bidet.

Garcia's salmon-colored toilet was the subject of a legal battle before it was finally moved to Sonoma, to await shipment to a Canadian casino.

It's unclear if the toilet was swiped by a wayward Deadhead or a thief remodeling a bathroom. Police said they have no suspects or leads.

Henry Koltys bought Garcia's Marin County home for $1.39 million in 1997 and removed the toilet and other items he planned to sell to raise money for a charity. Garcia died in 1995 at age 53.

After Koltys sold the house to a friend of the band, he sued the new owner to retrieve items he was storing at the house. The dispute was resolved last year, and Koltys moved the items to his home in Sonoma, about 40 miles north of San Francisco.

Last month, Koltys sold Garcia's toilet for $2,550 to online casino Goldenpalace.com, which planned to use it as part of a traveling marketing exhibit. The casino is offering a $250 reward for its return.

Koltys said Friday the toilet once stood in Garcia's master bathroom. "It would have been his personal head," he said.

The casino also paid $25,000 for William Shatner's kidney stone and $28,000 for a grilled-cheese sandwich that purportedly had the image of the Virgin Mary on it.

Jonathon Lipsin, who worked for Garcia as a gardener and now owns a Northern California record store, said the toilet might appeal to dedicated Deadheads.

"It's a little gross," Lipsin said. "But I could see it at a rock 'n' roll museum, too."

I never was a Grateful Dead fan.

MSNBC: Three men charged in sm dungeon castration

2006-03-31T19:07:00.000-08:00

"CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Three men accused of running a sadomasochistic "dungeon" in rural Haywood County were in custody Friday, charged with performing illegal castrations.

Investigators from the office of Sheriff Tom Alexander said the men admitted performing at least eight surgeries on six consenting clients over the past year, including castrations and testicle replacements.

None of the men — identified as Richard Sciara, 61, Danny Reeves, 49, and Michael Mendez, 60 — is licensed to practice medicine, officials said.

It's extremely bizarre," District Attorney Michael Bonfoey said in a telephone interview Friday. "It's incredible the amount of ways that people can find to run afoul of the law, that's for sure."

The men were each being held on $150,000 bond at the Haywood County Jail in Waynesville, Bonfoey said. If they remain in jail over the weekend, he said, they will make a first court appearance Monday.

According to Alexander's office, detectives who searched the home Wednesday found medical supplies that included scalpels, sutures, bandages, local anesthetic and artificial replacement testicles known as "neuticles."

Also seized were videotaping equipment, videotapes, compact discs and DVDs that the sheriff's office said had recordings of the surgeries.

Two plastic containers holding what appeared to be frozen testes were sent to a forensics lab for testing.

The suspects were arrested Thursday without incident. Each man faces 18 charges — five counts of felonious castration without malice, five counts of felonious conspiracy to commit castration without malice and eight counts of misdemeanor performing medical acts without a license.

"This right here beats anything I have ever seen," Alexander told the Asheville Citizen-Times, which reported that victims may have come from as far away as South America.

Photographs and videos made at the "dungeon" south of Hazelwood were apparently featured on a locally produced sadomasochistic Web site, officials said. Alexander's office first investigated the house in 2004, but concluded there was nothing illegal going on because all the participants were over 18 and apparently willing.

Bonfoey said he urged the sheriff to take another look at the home after a recent conversation with a citizen who made "strange statements" about the place. The renewed scrutiny helped lead to the new charges, Bonfoey said.

Bonfoey said the law distinguishes between malicious and non-malicious castration, but that the consent of the castrated makes no difference.

"Assuming that the victims consented to this — and we don't know that for sure yet — that doesn't make it a defense," he said. "We can't have people who are not medical doctors lopping off limbs and other body parts."

Investigators said other surgeries performed at the home included urethra rerouting and penis removal.

Each of the felony charges carries a maximum sentence of three years, three months, Bonfoey said."

CNN: Police: Mom let man abuse son for cash

2006-03-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

"NEW PORT RICHEY, Florida (AP) -- A woman confronted a neighbor accused of sexually assaulting her 7-year-old son and threatened to call police, but then accepted $600 in hush money and let the man molest the boy again, authorities said.

The 30-year-old woman was charged Tuesday with capital sexual battery and child abuse. The neighbor, Nicholas Quiles, 48, has been charged with capital sexual battery. Both are being held without bail.

The alleged sexual assaults happened the first two weeks of February, Lt. Jeffrey Harrington said.

The boy told his 11-year-old sister that Quiles did "bad things to him," the girl told detectives. An anonymous tip led investigators to the neighbor and mother.

The boy, his sister and their toddler brother were removed from their home, Harrington said. There is no evidence so far that the other children were sexually abused, he said.

"There are definitely oddities to this case," Harrington said. "I hope we never have to investigate anything like this again."

I hope they never have to investigate anything like that again either.

MSNBC: Shooter was called a 'teddy bear'

2006-03-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

"
Updated: 4:40 p.m. ET March 27, 2006
SEATTLE - As Aaron Kyle Huff stalked through a house party with bandoliers of ammunition, firing his handgun and pistol-grip shotgun, he had a message for the young people he targeted: “There’s plenty for everyone.”

Several witnesses described the gunman making statements to that effect during the massacre Saturday morning, Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer said Monday. Huff killed six people and wounded two before taking his own life when confronted by an officer who arrived within 45 seconds of the first shots being fired.

Kimerer told a news conference that Huff, 28, was “clearly intent on doing homicidal mayhem,” but after searching his apartment and interviewing his twin brother, police still had no idea why.

“We may be asking these questions over the next year or two,” Kimerer said at a news conference. “Hopefully we will find some answers.”

Huff met many of the victims at an electronic-music dance rave called Better Off Undead on Friday night, and they invited him to an after-party at a home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood Saturday morning, Kimerer said. He left the party at about 7 a.m. and returned in a few minutes with a 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun and a handgun.

Loaded with ammunition
At the news conference, detectives displayed a Bushmaster assault rifle, baseball bat and machete seized from the shooter’s black pickup truck. They said they seized other weapons from the apartment, but did not describe them.

Huff had more than 300 rounds of ammunition, Kimerer said.

Investigators also took a computer from the apartment, but had yet to analyze its contents, he said.

Interviews with witnesses revealed little else: They described Huff as edgy, but not unfriendly, and said there were no arguments or altercations that might have set him off.

“There was no note, no evidence that gave us insight into what possessed him to take so many innocent lives,” Kimerer said.

Huff lived with his twin, who police determined knew nothing of his brother’s intentions, and delivered pizzas during the five years he lived in Seattle. They were “twin teddy bears,” their apartment manager said.

“It’s a total shock,” Regina Gray, manager of Town & Country Apartments, said Sunday. “He and his twin brother are the kindest, sweetest, gentlest people.”

A nursing supervisor at Harborview Medical Center, who declined to give her name, said Monday that the two survivors had been upgraded to satisfactory condition after having been listed as critical and serious over the weekend.

Authorities have not released the victims’ identities, but relatives and friends of three — Jason Travers, 32, Jeremy Martin, 26, and Christopher Williamson, 21 — confirmed that they were among the dead.

Some of the partygoers were intoxicated, but there were no signs of significant drug use at the house, Kimerer said. Toxicology reports on the shooter won't be available for several days, he said.

Still, the attack was “clearly a premeditated and well-planned assault on innocent people,” Kimerer said.

“This would have been so far out of character,” Jim Pickett, the assistant manager of the Town & Country Apartments, said Sunday.

Shooter, twin described as 'very respectful'
The Huff brothers were “very polite. Very respectful. ‘Yes sir. Yes ma’am. Can I help ya?’ How am I doing today? ... You don’t find two boys as respectful as these two always were.”

The brothers moved into the third-floor apartment 4 years ago after leaving their family home in Whitefish, Mont., apartment managers said.

Pickett said he never saw either of the brothers with weapons, but he said he did see police carry three rifles out of the apartment after a search Saturday.

When he saw Huff’s brother as police were conducting the search, “He gave a look to me like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’” Pickett said.

Lt. Dave Leib of the Flathead County sheriff's office in Montana said he informed Huff’s mother Sunday that her son was dead.

Charged with felony criminal mischief
Leib said Huff had been charged with felony criminal mischief in 2000 after shooting a statue of a moose with a shotgun at an art exhibit in Whitefish.

In Seattle, Huff delivered pizzas and did odd jobs, Gray said. She said he also would go home to Montana from time to time to do some work for his mother.

Pickett described the brothers as private and good tenants. One of the brothers played drums, but was very careful not to disturb neighbors.

“He was really getting pretty good. He would practice at a respectful hour between 4 and 6 and would stop at 6,” Pickett said.

Several ravers gathered at a makeshift memorial near the crime scene Sunday, including Travis Webb, an area promoter of raves — parties that attract young people to dance to thumping, bass-laden electronic music.

Webb said he and other ravers fear officials will use the shooting as an excuse to shut down the parties.

Pickett described the brothers as private and good tenants. One of the brothers played drums, but was very careful not to disturb neighbors.

“He was really getting pretty good. He would practice at a respectful hour between 4 and 6 and would stop at 6,” Pickett said.

Several ravers gathered at a makeshift memorial near the crime scene Sunday, including Travis Webb, an area promoter of raves — parties that attract young people to dance to thumping, bass-laden electronic music.

Webb said he and other ravers fear officials will use the shooting as an excuse to shut down the parties.
..."

You think you know people.

BBC: Drunk driver age 14 in court fracas

2006-03-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

"Drink-driver, 14, in court fracas
A 14-year-old drink-driver punched a prosecutor and threw a jug of water at magistrates as she was jailed.

Leanne Black, of Thatcham, Berkshire, flew into a rage at Newbury Youth Court after being told she faced four months behind bars for driving offences.

Before the attack, the court took the unusual step of saying she could be named in the public interest.

She is thought to have become the UK's youngest drink-driver at age 12, when she was disqualified for two years.

Three cans of lager

The court heard that on the night of 13 February, Black drank three cans of lager and then stole her father's car keys before driving off in his car to her sister Lilly's house.

Her parents alerted police, who arrested her near her sister's home.

Black later admitted taking a vehicle without consent, driving without a licence, drink-driving and driving while disqualified.

She was also just three months into a court supervision order for other anti-social behaviour offences when the driving offences took place.

Sentencing her at youth court on Monday, Magistrate Margaret Bates banned Leanne from driving for a further three years - even though she is still under the legal driving age of 17.

She was also given an eight-month detention and training order.

Courtroom rage

But when she was told that half of that would be spent in secure accommodation, Black flew into a rage.

Screaming obscenities, she kicked over a chair and punched prosecutor Lesley Gilmore in the back.

She also hurled a jug of water at the three magistrates before being bundled from the courtroom by security guards.

Earlier, with her father, mother and sister by her side, Black told magistrates that she had mended her ways.

"I'm sorry for my behaviour and what I've done," she said. "I know what I have done to my Dad and stuff."

And she's only 14.

Reuters: Undercover officers go into bars to arrest drunks

2006-03-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

"SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.

Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.

The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.

"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."

She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state."

Is there a violation of the right to privacy here?

CNN: Neighbor kills teenager who walked on his lawn

2006-03-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

"BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) -- A man who neighbors say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn was charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.

Charles Martin called 911 on Sunday afternoon, saying calmly: "I just killed a kid."

Police, who released the call's contents, said Martin also told the dispatcher: "I've been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up." (Watch for the 911 call from the accused shooter -- 1:46)

Larry Mugrage, whose family lived next door, was shot in the chest with a shotgun. The high school freshman was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Martin, 66, allegedly told police he had several times had problems with neighbors walking on his lawn. He remained jailed without bond Monday. His jailers said no attorney was listed for him.

Neighbors said Martin lived alone quietly, often sitting in front of his one-story home with its neat lawn, well-trimmed shrubbery and flag pole with U.S. and Navy flags flying.

Joanne Ritchie, 46, said Mugrage was known as "a good kid." She said she always also considered Martin to be friendly.

Union Township is near Batavia, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati, Ohio."

MSNBC.com:Airline screeners fail government bomb tests

2006-03-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

"By Lisa Myers, Rich Gardella & the NBC Investigative Unit
NBC News Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET March 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - Imagine an explosion strong enough to blow a car's trunk apart, caused by a bomb inside a passenger plane. Government sources tell NBC News that federal investigators recently were able to carry materials needed to make a similar homemade bomb through security screening at 21 airports.

In all 21 airports tested, no machine, no swab, no screener anywhere stopped the bomb materials from getting through. Even when investigators deliberately triggered extra screening of bags, no one discovered the materials.

NBC News briefed former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, chairman of the 9/11 commission, on the results.

"I'm appalled," he said. "I'm dismayed and, yes, to a degree, it does surprise me. Because I thought the Department of Homeland Security was making some progress on this, and evidently they're not."

Investigators for the Government Accountability Office conducted the tests between October and January, at the request of Congress. The goal was to determine how vulnerable U.S. airlines are to a suicide bomber using cheap, readily available materials.

Investigators found recipes for homemade bombs from easily available public sources and bought the necessary chemicals and other materials over the counter. For security reasons, NBC News will not reveal any of the ingredients or the airports tested. The report itself is classified. But Lee Hamilton, the vice chairman of the 9/11 commission, says the fact that so many airports failed this test is a hugely important story that the American traveler is entitled to know.

NBC News asked a bomb technician to gather the same materials and
assemble an explosive device to determine its power. The materials for the bomb that exploded a car's trunk fit in the palm of one hand. NBC News showed the results to Leo West, a former FBI bomb expert.

"Potentially, an explosion of that type could lead to the destruction of the aircraft," said West.

The Transportation Security Administration would not comment on the tests, but issued a statement to NBC News, saying "detecting explosive materials and IEDs at the checkpoint is TSA's top priority." The agency also said screeners are now receiving added training to help identify these materials.

That’s not soon enough for Tom Kean.

"They need to do it yesterday," Kean said, "because we haven’t got
time."

Given hardened cockpit doors and other improvements, experts say explosives now are the gravest threat posed by terrorists in the sky.
"

Great. Just great.

ABCnews: Man accused of illegally harvesting corpses

2006-03-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

"March 9, 2006 — In the early morning of Nov. 21, 2005, New York City police officers exhumed a body from the Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens. What they found in the casket was horrifying — the bones in the lower half of the body were gone — replaced with plastic PVC pipe.

Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Josh Hanshaft took the body to the medical examiner's office to confirm the results.

"The first thing they did was take an X-ray of the whole body and you know, I'm … not being facetious, it looked like the underneath of a person's sink," Hanshaft said. "You had the elbow pipes, you had the leg pipes, you had screws that screwed the feet into the piping."

In what police say is one of the strangest cases they've ever seen, a New Jersey-based company called Biomedical Tissue Services is accused of illegally harvesting body parts from funeral homes across the city and selling them for big profits.

Physical and Spiritual Theft, Say Relatives

Authorities began their investigation when the new owner of the Daniel George funeral home in Brooklyn called the police to complain about the previous owner in an unrelated matter . In a visit to the funeral home, police found an upstairs room outfitted like a surgical suite.

Police say they also found cut-up cadavers, bones harvested, human hearts excised from chests — all taken without permission of the deceased's families.

The police and district attorney say they had stumbled onto a renegade tissue procurement operation, catering to one of the most important and fastest-growing businesses in modern medicine — supplying new tissue for transplants — such as skin for burn victims, new heart valves for patients with faulty ones, and ligaments and tendons for sports injuries.

To procure tissue legally, permission is needed from the donor (for example, in a living will) or the donor's next of kin before a company can harvest body parts. Under those circumstances, replacing bone with PVC pipe would be fine.

But investigators believed they had found the first signs of a criminal enterprise that they say will ultimately be tied to dozens of funeral homes.

Authorities needed to determine how the ring was acquiring bodies. After contacting funeral homes and subpoenaing records, the district attorney's office finally hit pay dirt. They found a signature on a next-of-kin consent form had clearly been forged, say prosecutors.

"It was almost the perfect crime. Who was going to complain? Families didn't know it was happening. The people or the deceased who it was happening to, obviously could not speak," said First Deputy District Attorney Michael Vecchione.

Investigators had to ask families of the deceased if they had donated the bodies of their loved ones. "Some of them were just devastated," said an investigator. "Some of them were even taking the position of, 'Where was the other half of my mother or father? How can I get it back?'"

Members of the alleged operation even took tissue from Alistair Cooke, the host of "Masterpiece Theater," say authorities.

His daughter, Susan, said it wasn't just a material theft, but a spiritual one. "To the families of people whose loved ones have been stolen, it is a desecration not only to the body of their loved ones but to their grief," she said.

Body Parts Are Big Business

It was a crime of appalling dimensions, with 1,077 bodies harvested, say prosecutors.

"Of all of the cases I've been involved with, child abuse and — and then bias attacks and the like, I mean this, this stands right at the top of the line for the debasement of humanity," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.

Investigators say Michael Mastromarino, a former dentist who lives in a multimillion-dollar home, is the man behind the operation.

Prosecutors say Mastromarino formed a tissue procurement company called Biomedical Tissue Services and started visiting scores of funeral directors all over the Northeast looking for bodies.

And some funeral directors signed up. Mastromarino was offering up to $1,000 a body — and in turn selling them for $7,000. While it is technically illegal to sell a human body, fees to prepare, transport and process them are allowed.

Biomedical was considered one of the hottest procurement companies in the country, raking in close to $5 million. Tissue from Biotech was being snapped up by some of the biggest names in the tissue regeneration business.

Processing tissue for transplant is a billion-dollar business, said Annie Cheney, the author of the book, "Body Brokers." A single donation can be sold for as much as $100,000.

When the first warning came that something could be wrong, it would come too late for the hundreds of people who had already been harvested.

A doctor hired to check records for tissue processing company Life Cell had a small question about one of Mastromarino's forms. Every phone number he called on the forms was incorrect.

"I went through about 10 charts," said Dr. Michael Bauer. "That's when I was certain of only one thing. Those charts for those donors could not be trusted. And LifeCell needed to immediately quarantine whatever they had and issue a recall."

How Many Patients Affected?

The investigation eventually led police to Rochester, N.Y., where Mastromarino had had another office. Inside the office, they found a freezer with tissue in it, surgical tools and drawers and drawers of files.

Police say Mastromarino wasn't just forging the consent forms of next of kin. He was forging the vital medical records tissue banks rely on — changing the age, the cause of death and more.

Prosecutors say when the cause of death, such as cancer, would have ruled out tissue donation, often it was changed.

"They were all changed to cardiac attack. Bladder cancer was coronary arrest. So they all changed to be mostly heart attacks," said Hanshaft.

The tissue companies all say they have proprietary washes that are supposed to kill any disease. And there was another built-in failsafe: Each tissue was supposed to come with a blood sample that would be tested for infectious disease.

But the FDA has now announced that at least in some cases, Biomedical sent blood that didn't come from the donor. The FDA had already announced a massive recall of tissue, and thousands of people all across the country have received letters warning that they should get tested for potentially fatal diseases, including HIV and hepatitis.

The FDA says it is aware that there have been media reports of potential disease transmission in recipients of tissue recovered by Biomedical Tissue Services and is investigating.

There is no way to tell how many transplant patients could be affected. A single body can supply tissue to 50 or more patients. In this case, that's more than 50,000 possibly tainted tissue grafts, and no one knows exactly how many have already been implanted in healthy patients.

On Feb. 23, the Brooklyn district attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others in the operation. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching. Each of them has pleaded not guilty.

Days before the indictment, "Primetime" sat down for an exclusive interview Mastromarino, who denied he had done anything illegal. He says he believed consents had been obtained by the funeral directors.

"Who better than the funeral director to talk to the family, because they're already talking to the family about the arrangements?" Mastromarino said.

Assistant District Attorney Josh Hanshaft said he has no doubt Mastromarino knew the consent forms weren't legitimate. "You can look at the documents, and his name's on every, single document, in hundreds of places," Hanshaft said.

In the end, a jury will decide Mastromarino's fate. But what about the big tissue companies that accepted those documents and phony medical records for several years?

"It seems to me that if you continuously receive from a fellow like Mastromarino, bones and tissue with either the same or very similar causes of death…time and time and time again, that that has to raise some sort of red flag," said First Deputy District Attorney Michael Vecchione.

And Hanshaft said those companies complied by the regulations that are required of them. "We can say you know, 'Well, shouldn't they have looked into it a little further? Shouldn't they have done more here and more there?'" he said. "And it's everybody's opinion. It's individual."

Anderson Cooper: son still waits for father's kidney

2006-03-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

"Imagine counting on your dad to come through for you. Sure, he hasn't been there for you most of your life, having been in prison for seven years on a bank robbery conviction. But now, he's promised to donate a kidney, raising your hope just a little.

That's how relatives of 16-year-old Destin Perkins describe the teenager's emotional predicament.

Last year, Destin's mother gave him one of her kidneys, but his body rejected it. His father, Byron Perkins, offered his, but is now on the run with his fugitive girlfriend, Lee Ann Howard.

So all Destin can do is wait.

If his father is captured or gives himself up and still agrees to donate his donate his kidney, Destin says he'll take it gladly.

If not, his doctors at Kosair Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, say they won't even consider a transplant for months. They would first look to other relatives. Mainly, they say, Destin needs a good dose of emotional strength to rebound.

"Right now, the family's gone through a lot of psychological strain," says Dr. Larry Shoemaker. "We"re trying to get Destin back to a regular dialysis program."

The fugitive father and his girlfriend are now on the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted List. There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to their capture.
Posted By Susan Candiotti, CNN Correspondent: 9:48 AM "

Reuters: Farmer feeds corpse of family friend to his pigs

2006-03-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

"BERLIN (Reuters) - A German farmer confessed to feeding the corpse of an elderly family friend to his pigs and then stealing from his bank account, police said Monday.

Police ruled out murder and the 29-year-old farmer has been charged with improper burial and fraud.

The elderly friend died in the farmer's yard in February 2005 and the farmer, through his mother, had power-of-attorney giving him access to the dead man's bank account and pension.

The farmer initially put the corpse in a deep freezer, police in the German town of Frizlar-Haddamar said, and told curious locals the old man was in a nursing home.

"From lectures about various religions the 29-year-old knew that Buddhists either burn the dead or allow wild animals to eat them. That was how he decided to feed the corpse to his pigs," the police statement said.

He let the corpse thaw, dismembered it and fed it to his pigs. He put the parts the pigs did not eat into a sack and buried it.

The farmer told police "it was a great act of stupidity" and said "the only explanation was his difficult financial situation at the time." "

BBC: man must marry his goat

2006-02-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

"A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal.
The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper. "

CNN: 'Something out of a cheap horror movie'

2006-02-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

"NEW YORK (AP) -- The owner of a biomedical supply house and three others were charged with selling body parts for use in transplants in a scheme a district attorney called "something out of a cheap horror movie."

Prosecutors said Thursday the defendants made millions of dollars obtaining bodies from funeral parlors in three states.

They allegedly forged death certificates and organ donor consent forms to make it look as if the bones, skin, tendons, heart valves and other tissue were legally removed.

The indictment was the first set of charges to come out of a widening scandal involving scores of funeral homes and hundreds of bodies, including that of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke, who died in 2004.

The investigation has raised fears that some of the body parts could spread disease to transplant recipients.

"I think we can agree that the conduct uncovered in this case is among the most ghastly imaginable," said Rose Gill Hearn, commissioner of the city Department of Investigation.

"It was shockingly callous in its disregard for the sanctity of human remains."

Michael Mastromarino, owner of Biomedical Tissue Services of Fort Lee, New Jersey, was charged along with Brooklyn funeral home owner Joseph Nicelli.

Mastromarino was an oral surgeon who went into the tissue business after losing his dentist license, prosecutors said. Nicelli was a partner in the business, they said. The other defendants were Lee Crucetta and Christopher Aldorasi.

Not guilty pleas
All four pleaded not guilty to charges of enterprise corruption, body stealing and opening graves, unlawful dissection, forgery and other counts.

Prosecutors said the defendants took organs from people who had not given consent or were too old or too sick to donate. The defendants forged consent forms and altered the death certificates to indicate the victims had been younger and healthier, authorities said.

X-rays and photos of recently exhumed cadavers show that where leg bones should have been, someone had inserted white plastic pipes -- the kind used for home plumbing projects, available at any hardware store. The pipes were crudely reconnected to hip and ankle bones with screws before the legs were sewn back up. (Watch how X-rays provided clues -- 1:18)

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes called it "something out of a cheap horror movie."

Prosecutors said the body parts were sold to tissue suppliers and ultimately used in disk replacements, knee operations, dental implants and a variety of other surgical procedures performed by unsuspecting doctors across the United States and in Canada.

Bodies from three states
The bodies came from funeral homes in New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey that contracted with the Brooklyn funeral parlor for embalming. Prosecutors said more arrests were possible.

Nicelli was paid up to $1,000 per body to deliver corpses to a secret operating room at his funeral parlor, where Mastromarino would remove body parts, authorities said. Crucetta, a nurse, and Aldorasi allegedly helped Mastromarino.

Mastromarino made up to $7,000 a body by selling the tissue, authorities said, and the corpses were then returned to unsuspecting funeral directors for burial.

The scheme began to unravel in late 2004, when a detective responded to a report from the new owner of Nicelli's funeral home that he allegedly cheated customers out of funeral deposits. The detective grew suspicious when she saw the hidden operating room, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

Mastromarino "vehemently denies doing anything illegal or wrong," defense attorney Mario Gallucci said. Mastromarino contends he "was not responsible for interacting with the families of the deceased nor in obtaining the documentation needed to harvest the tissue."

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration closed Biomedical Tissue Services, saying it had evidence the company failed to screen for contaminated tissue. The agency warned that patients who received the company's products could have been exposed to diseases, although the FDA insisted the risk was minimal."

Ugh.

CNN: Man kills roomate because there was no toilet paper

2006-02-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

"MOSS BLUFF, Florida (AP) -- A man was arrested and accused of fatally beating his roommate with hammers because there was no toilet paper in their home, police said.

Franklin Paul Crow, 56, was charged Monday with homicide in the death of Kenneth Matthews, 58, according to a spokesman with the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Capt. Thomas Bibb said Crow initially denied his involvement, but later confessed during questioning
Crow told investigators that the men were fighting about the toilet paper over the weekend when Matthews pulled out a rifle.

Crow said he then began beating Matthews with the sledgehammer and claw hammer, according to an affidavit.

Matthews was beaten so badly he had to be identified through his fingerprints, detectives said.

Crow was being held at the Marion County jail without bond. It was not immediately known whether he had an attorney."

ABCnews:red light district open house

2006-02-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

"AMSTERDAM, Netherlands Feb 17, 2006 (AP)— There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but occasionally there's a cheap feast for the eyes.

Several topless bars, peep shows and sex show clubs in Amsterdam's famed "Red Light" prostitution district have declared an open house on Feb. 18, hoping to shore up their reputation with local politicians who are calling for a crackdown.

"You can come in, have a free drink, look around," said Bob de Maan, spokesman for the "Banana Bar," which is known for its live sex shows.

"People think that this is something dirty, but now it's an open house. They can see for themselves."

Prostitution in Amsterdam boomed during the city's 17th century Golden Age, when prostitutes catered to sailors on shore leave.

With its lingerie-clad women and red neon lights, the area in the city center became a major tourist draw in the 20th century. The Dutch government legalized prostitution in 2000 with an eye to making it easier to tax and regulate.

But problems have continued as the area acts as a magnet for pimps, drug addicts, petty criminals and human traffickers. A recent study found that despite health rules, about 7 percent of Dutch prostitutes have HIV, the virus that causes AIDs.

The open house came in response to proposals by the head of Amsterdam's largest political party meant to discourage women from marketing themselves in windows.

Several of the best-known institutions are opening their doors, in an idea supported by the Prostitution Information Center, the Sex Museum, and the Salvation Army which helps the district's many downtrodden.

On the Net:

http://www.pic-amsterdam.com/"

ABCnews: live artillery shell as lawn ornament

2006-02-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

"WOODBURN, Ore. Feb 17, 2006 (AP)— For at least two decades, the Korean War-era shell sat in the front yard. It wasn't so dangerous a lawn ornament as it might have been it had no fuse.

The fuse detonates the larger explosive charge on impact. The shells are difficult to explode without one.

Still, it was full of TNT. A state police expert said it could have gone off in extreme circumstances.

"If the place had caught fire, then the shell could have detonated," said Sgt. Steve Sigurdson of the state police arson and explosives unit.

The experts said the shell was 3 feet long and weighed 150 pounds. They said it was of a type that was shot from 8-inch-diameter howitzers during the Korean War. It was also used in Vietnam.

Police didn't disclose the name of the Woodburn family who lived with the shell. A nephew with explosives training who was leaving for Iraq visited the family, examined the lawn ornament and called authorities, Sigurdson said.

"They had been using this thing as a lawn ornament," he said. "It had been there on the property when they moved in 20 years ago."

The Oregon National Guard's 142nd Fighter Wing has an Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit at the Portland Air Base. Those bomb experts picked up the shell and will dispose of it, Sigurdson said."

CNN: Jury rejects killer shrimp lawsuit

2006-02-09T12:27:00.000-08:00

"MINEOLA, New York (AP) -- A jury took two hours Thursday to reject a widow's claim that her husband's death resulted from an injury he suffered while ducking a piece of flying shrimp at a Benihana steakhouse.

The family of Jerry Colaitis, 47, had sought $10 million from the Japanese steakhouse chain, accusing it of direct responsibility for his death in 2001.

Benihana chefs are famous for their fast and furious knives and food-tossing stunts.

The lawsuit claimed the Long Island man wrenched his neck after a chef tossed a piece of shrimp at a family birthday party.

In the months after the party, Colaitis was treated by several doctors for various ailments and underwent surgery to relieve numbness in his arm.

Five months after that, he checked into a hospital with a high fever and died. His family said the fever was a complication of the surgery.

"This man was a rock," Colaitis family attorney Andre Ferenzo told the jury.

"Benihana and only Benihana set in motion the forces ... that led to his death."

The family claimed the unidentified chef tossed shrimp at the partygoers three times -- the last time at Colaitis -- and refused to stop even after their pleas.

Benihana attorney Charles Connick disputed the notion that a chef who relies on tips from customers would ignore such a request.

"I scratch my head and I wonder, is it conceivable to you?" Connick asked the jury."

Can ducking a shrimp being tossed at you cause you to die?
Obviously, no.

What a waste of time- jurors' time, judge's time, taxpayer's time

ABCnews:6,500 acre wildfire started by a 'controlled burn'

2006-02-07T22:32:00.000-08:00

The controlled burn that got out of control.

"By GILLIAN FLACCUS

ORANGE, Calif. Feb 7, 2006 (AP)— A 6,500-acre fire that triggered evacuations of more than 2,000 Southern California homes apparently was ignited by remnants of a controlled forest burn that escaped, a U.S. Forest Service official said Tuesday.

Despite gusty Santa Ana winds, no homes had been lost in the blaze in northeastern Orange County. Evacuation orders were lifted Tuesday afternoon, and Chief Rich Hawkins of the Cleveland National Forest apologized to those displaced from neighborhoods in the cities of Orange and Anaheim about 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

"I am very regretful of the situation I find myself in tonight," Hawkins told reporters. "The fact that nobody's home has burned down and no one's been killed, that's a godsend."

The wildfire was 10 percent contained, but the dry winds were forecast to continue through Wednesday.

Hawkins said fire crews ignited a prescribed burn last Thursday in a 10-acre forest area near Sierra Peak, and at the time no Santa Ana winds were predicted for at least five days.

But roots and other material can continue to burn underground if not fully mopped up.

"Normally fire will burn for two weeks after you think they're out. … But that's no excuse, we had several days to mop that up with our fire engines," he said.

Hawkins noted that the apparent cause would not be considered final for two weeks because several people in a pickup truck had been seen in the area where the wildfire roared to life early Monday.

Some residents had managed to return to evacuated areas before the evacuation order was lifted, or had never left so they could protect their homes in case the fire approached.

"Anybody that has a (wood) shake roof stayed. Anybody that's been through this before stayed," said 56-year-old Charles Morse, a longtime resident of Maybury Park in Orange, whose home has the wooden shingles.

Another Maybury Park resident, Kathy Choi, 76, said she couldn't leave home because her poor eyesight prevented her from driving. She said she spent the night listening to TV reports and slept in her recliner to be better prepared in case she needed to flee.

"I believe in the sixth sense and my sixth sense was pretty calm," she said. "My neighbors all keep tabs on me." "

BBC: Cartoon row intensifies

2006-02-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

"Newspapers across Europe have reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to show support for a Danish paper whose cartoons have sparked Muslim outrage.
Seven publications in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain all carried some of the drawings.

Their release in Denmark has led to protests in Arab nations, diplomatic sanctions and death threats.

Islamic tradition bans depictions of the Prophet, but media watchdogs defend press freedom to publish the images.

Reporters Without Borders said the reaction in the Arab world "betrays a lack of understanding" of press freedom as "an essential accomplishment of democracy."

'Spiting Muslims'

France Soir and Germany's Die Welt are among the leading papers to reprint the cartoons, which first appeared in Denmark last September.

The caricatures include drawings of Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers.

In Berlin, Die Welt argued there was a right to blaspheme in the West, and asked whether Islam was capable of coping with satire.

"The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical," it wrote in an editorial.

La Stampa in Italy, El Periodico in Spain and Dutch paper Volkskrank also carried some of the drawings, while France Soir reprinted the full set.

It did so to show "religious dogma" had no place in a secular society, the paper said.

European Muslims spoke out against the pictures.

The president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), Dalil Boubakeur, described France Soir's move as an act of "real provocation towards the millions of Muslims living in France".

In Germany, the vice-chairman of the central council of Muslims said Muslims would be deeply offended.

"It was done not to defend freedom of the press, but to spite the Muslims," Mohammad Aman Hobohm said.

Sanctions

Correspondents say the European papers' actions have widened a dispute which has grown very serious for Denmark.

The publication last September in Jyllands-Posten has provoked diplomatic sanctions and threats from Islamic militants across the Muslim world.

Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller has postponed a trip to Africa because of the dispute.

Thousands of Palestinians protested against Denmark this week, and Arab ministers called on it to punish Jyllands-Posten.

Syria and Saudi Arabia have recalled their ambassadors to Denmark, while Libya said it was closing its embassy in Copenhagen and Iraq summoned the Danish envoy to condemn the cartoons.

The Danish-Swedish dairy giant Arla Foods says its sales in the Middle East have plummeted to zero as a result of the row, which sparked a boycott of Danish products across the region.

The offices of Jyllands-Posten, had to be evacuated on Tuesday because of a bomb threat.

The paper had apologised a day earlier for causing offence to Muslims, although it maintained it was legal under Danish law to print them.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen welcomed the paper's apology, but defended the freedom of the press. "

One wonders if caricatures were made of Christ or the Pope would they be tolerated in the West?

Probably not. It is a major faux paux to criticize a people's religion. You are sure to incite emotions and hatred.

To quote the people who asked Forrest Gump:

"Is you stupid or something?"
"Stupid is as stupid does maam".

Free speech or not, it was stupid to do it.

Yahoo!News/AP: Ann Coulter jokes about poisoning Justice Stevens

2006-01-27T13:02:00.000-08:00

"LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, speaking at a traditionally black college, joked that Justice John Paul Stevens should be poisoned.

Coulter had told the Philander Smith College audience Thursday that more conservative justices were needed on the Supreme Court to change the current law on abortion. Stevens is one of the court's most liberal members.

"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee," Coulter said. "That's just a joke, for you in the media."

Coulter has made a career of writing and lecturing on her strongly conservative views.

At one point during her address, which was part of a lecture series, some audience members booed when she cut off two questioners. "I'm not going to be lectured to," Coulter told one man in a raised voice.

She drew more boos when she said the crack cocaine problem "has pretty much gone away."

It aint funny, Ann

ABCNews: To get ahead you have to be tall, blond and beautiful

2006-01-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

"Jan. 27, 2006 -- Do blonde women have more fun? Do taller men really get the better jobs? According to one of the authors of "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything," the answer is yes.

Men who are tall seem to make more money, and blonde women seem to get more attention, Stephen Dubner said. Fair or not, the data do not lie.

"A great study showed that for men, in America at least, we plainly like them tall," he said. "Look at our presidents and our CEOs, they're much taller than average."

Dubner said that the 2004 University of Pennsylvania study broke down the figures inch by inch. For every inch above the average a man was as a teenager — not necessarily as a grown man — he was paid 3 percent more.

Dubner also said that a blond on an online dating site had about the same appeal as a person with a college degree, even if the blond dropped out of high school.

In 1994, "20/20" conducted its own experiment. Producers set up two charity booths, one manned by a blonde woman. The other was manned by a brunette. The blonde collected 50 percent more money than the other woman.

According to a study that same year called "Beauty and the Labor Market," less attractive people were also penalized in earnings. Men of below average or average looks made 9 percent less than the median wage. Men considered handsome made 5 percent more than the median wage. Less attractive women made 8 percent less than the median, and more attractive women made more than 4 percent above the median. The study said that those in the top third of attractiveness were paid 5 percent more than the median.

Additionally, researchers found that beautiful people committed fewer crimes. Being an unattractive female increases the propensity for robbery by 1.5 percent, for assault by 2.2 percent, and selling drugs by 3 percent. Being a very attractive female reduces the propensity to commit nondrug crimes by 2.5 percent, to commit assault by 2 percent, and to damage property by 1.1 percent.

Dubner's research found that if the NFL had used cheerleaders rather than football players to raise money for Katrina relief in a telethon, more money would have been donated.

But there is hope for those who may not be tall or blond. Dubner said it was all in the attitude — take a page from the notoriously short, yet powerful, Napoleon.

"It's all about confidence, self-esteem, and the opportunities that come with having those things. The truth is, even if you're not blond or a cheerleader or athlete … you should act like it." "

AP: Malaysia puts together scientific team to track Bigfoot

2006-01-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

"KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A southern Malaysian state will appoint a team of scientists and experts to hunt for a "Bigfoot" beast after the reported sighting of three giant human-like creatures, officials said Thursday.

Johor Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman said the state will form an official Bigfoot-tracking team in a serious bid to find evidence of such a beast following the reported sightings late last year in the Endau Rompin National Park forest.

"The mystery of Bigfoot's existence has attracted a lot of interest," he was quoted as saying by the Bernama national news agency. "We hope the expedition will be able to prove its existence."

Ghani's aide confirmed the report Thursday, saying state administrators decided to set up the team after a council meeting late Wednesday.

"Bigfoot" is a popular name given in the United States to giant hairy creatures walking on two legs. Sightings of such beasts have been reported in many parts of the world but their existence has never been proven.

Malaysian media have been gripped by Bigfoot fever since November 2005, when fish farm workers reported seeing three giant human-like hairy beasts at the edge of the Endau Rompin reserve. They also claimed to have seen a gigantic footprint which they photographed.

The photo was later printed by local newspapers.

Park officials have combed the site where the men claimed they saw the creatures, but found no physical evidence of their existence. However, they recorded more reports of sightings from Aborigine villagers who live on the park's fringes.

Tourism authorities are planning to capitalize on the sightings to attract visitors to Johor and the park. Wildlife officials said they may set up camera traps in the jungle to capture images of the creature."

ABCNews:Michael Jackson dresses like a woman in Bahrain

2006-01-25T17:38:00.000-08:00

"MANAMA, Bahrain Jan 25, 2006 — Pop star Michael Jackson was spotted shopping in a Bahrain mall on Wednesday, hiding his face behind a veil and donning a black robe traditionally worn by women in the Gulf.

He was with three children, apparently his own, who also had their faces covered by dark scarves. An unidentified woman accompanied them.

The pop star, who seems to be settling in the Persian Gulf, was seen leaving Marina Mall in the Bahrain capital, holding a child by the hand. On the way out a back door, he shook hands with security guards.

The woman also dressed in the black robe called an abaya, jeans and a scarf that partially covered her face had the two other children. All three children were wrapped in black scarves and wore yellow shirts and sweatpants or khakis without robes.

Since his June acquittal on child molestation charges in California, Jackson has made several trips to Bahrain as a guest of Sheik Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the son of Bahrain's king. He reportedly was negotiating a position as a consultant with a Bahrain-based company that plans to set up theme parks and music academies in the Middle East.

On the mall outing, Jackson wore an abaya, pants, a white shirt and men's shoes. His head and face were wrapped in a black veil and he also wore black gloves.

The veil, abaya and gloves were of a style typically worn by conservative Bahraini women.

The woman asked photographers to respect their privacy and told them they were scaring the children before they left in a white car with darkened windows.

AAJ Holdings Ltd., owned by Ahmed Abu Bakr Janahi, said it wants to hire the 47-year-old Jackson to give advice on setting up entertainment businesses. He reportedly is building a home in Bahrain, an island nation in the Persian Gulf linked to Saudi Arabia by a bridge.

In November, Jackson stirred controversy in the United Arab Emirates by entering the ladies room in a shopping mall. His publicist said Jackson, who arrived in Dubai as the guest of a champion rally driver, did not understand the Arabic sign on the door and left the bathroom when he realized his mistake.

But local newspapers reported that the performer was applying makeup in the woman's toilets in a Dubai mall. Jackson's host, Mohammed bin Sulayem, dismissed the story as rumor."

Not much of a jump for Michael Jackson

NY Times: The Dead Body Guy

2006-01-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

"By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
Published: January 17, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 15 - Chuck Lamb might be the world's chattiest dead guy.

His favorite topic is how he is fast becoming the most famous dead body alive. "Isn't it incredible?" said Mr. Lamb, 47, who speaks at a volume that most people reserve for rock concerts. "I had no idea it would blow up like this."

Mr. Lamb became Dead Body Guy on Dec. 5, when he put up his Web site, deadbodyguy.com. The site features photos of Mr. Lamb playing dead in various scenes around his house. Crushed by his garage door. Electrocuted in the bathtub. One series shows Mr. Lamb lying face-down in a bowl of chicken soup, above a caption that reads "Dying from bird flu."

His wife Tonya, took the photos. She also prepared jars of fake blood, which she keeps in the pantry for future use.

By staging his own death, Mr. Lamb hopes to attain a modest form of immortality. He says he always wanted to become a famous actor. Instead, at age 47 he finds himself with six children, working as a computer programmer for Nationwide Insurance. Mr. Lamb has deep creases under his eyes, skin as pale as copy paper, precious little hair and no acting experience. Any notions he once held of becoming the next Sean Connery died long ago.

But Mr. Lamb's dream of fame lingered. "Just once," he said, "I want to have my name in the credits of a movie or a TV show."

His dream was stalled until last month, when he realized that anybody could play dead. By posing as a corpse on the Internet, he thought, perhaps he could win a role as a lifeless extra on "CSI: Miami." He took two days to build the Web site, then waited for someone to notice.

It was a short wait. Deadbodyguy.com received 300,000 hits in its first three weeks. There were 530 hits from Uruguay, 6 from Iran. In two hours, the site received 2,000 hits from Spain. "I'm huge in Spain," he said.

CNN labeled deadbodyguy.com one of its Web sites of the week. USA Today ran a small story. That was all the prodding needed by representatives of the infotainment
industry, who spend their days trawling for weird news. They deluged Mr. Lamb with interview requests. Dead Body Guy soon appeared on more than 100 local TV stations, in places like Nacogdoches, Tex., and Honolulu.

He has also been mentioned on over 300 radio shows.

"That some regular guy in Columbus would play dead just to get famous is fascinating to me," said Van Patrick, a radio host for KCMO-AM in Kansas City who featured Mr. Lamb earlier this month. "I'm both repulsed and attracted to it," Mr. Patrick said.

All this attention places Mr. Lamb in the outermost orbit of fame: the Internet hotlink star. Every week, it seems, e-mail accounts across the country fill with messages titled, "Check this out," and text that begins, "I usually never pass on Web sites like this, but ... " Once it was dancing hamsters. This week it is Dead Body Guy's turn.

Even with over a quarter-million hits, Mr. Lamb has not received any movie offers. But he has been invited to the Los Angeles Film Festival in June, where he will be presented with the Special Achievement Award for Self-Promotion. He also will play dead on the red carpet as film actors step over his body. "Do you know how many thousands of actors in L.A. would kill for the publicity he's getting right now?" said Al Bowman, a festival organizer.

Not to mention start-up movie festivals. "He gets to say he's an award-winning act," Mr. Bowman said. "And we can promote ourselves by presenting Dead Body Guy, as seen on CNN."

And Dead Body Guy has coattails. Mr. Lamb paid Anne Howard, a publicist based in Montreal, $35 to write his first press release. Now she is trying to represent him as he sends demo tapes to Jay Leno and "Saturday Night Live." "If this works out, I just hope he remembers me," Ms. Howard said.

Part of Dead Body Guy's appeal is that he is a regular guy with a modest dream. But playing dead is turning Mr. Lamb's life upside down. His boss grew angry at the number of news media calls he was taking at work. Now, whenever he does an interview, Mr. Lamb must sneak out of his cubicle, run to another floor, find an empty conference room and lock himself inside.

One night he became so engrossed returning e-mail messages to the Web site that he forgot his wife's request to take a basket of laundry to the basement. "That's when I said, 'Whoa, I need to get a grip,' " Mr. Lamb said.

Officially, Mr. Lamb is sticking to Dead Body Guy's original goal. "Just one movie credit and I'm done," he said.

Meanwhile, he is waiting to hear back from a producer at the Conan O'Brien show. He has booking a flight to New York to meet with an agent. "I want to leave a little legacy," Mr. Lamb said. "I'd like to have a bridge named after me." "

This guy gets more press than I do. More power to him.

Reuters: Pricey Indonesian coffee via civet

2005-12-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Would you pay $175 for a pound of coffee beans which had passed through the backside of a furry mammal in Indonesia?

Apparently, some coffee lovers wanting to treat themselves to something special are lapping it up.

Kopi Luwak beans from Indonesia are rare and expensive, thanks to a unique taste and aroma enhanced by the digestive system of palm civets, nocturnal tree-climbing creatures about the size of a large house cat.

"People like coffee. And when they want to treat themselves, they order the Kopi Luwak," said Isaac Jones, director of sales for Tastes of The World, an online supplier of gourmet coffee, tea and cocoa.

Despite being carnivorous, civets eat ripe coffee cherries for treats. The coffee beans, which are found inside of the cherries, remain intact after passing through the animal.

Civet droppings are found on the forest floor near coffee plantations. Once carefully cleaned and roasted, the beans are sold to specialty buyers.

Jones said sales for Kopi Luwak rose three-fold just before the Christmas holiday compared with the first half of the year. The company started selling the rare coffee in February 2005.

He expects to sell around 200 pounds of the coffee this year, with orders coming from North America and Europe. So far, most of the orders have been from California.

Indonesia produces only about 500 kilograms, or roughly 1,100 pounds, of the coffee each year, making it extremely expensive and difficult to find.

"It's the most expensive coffee that we know about in the world," said Jones.

By comparison Jamaica's Blue Mountain coffee, considered to be an expensive type, sells for $35 to $40 per pound, while a pound of Colombia's Supremo arabicas can be bought for about $14."

Not only is it gross but its probably a health violation.

ABCnews: Authorities hunt for 'Bigfoot' in Malaysia

2005-12-30T08:55:00.000-08:00

"ABCNews/AP
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Dec 30, 2005 — Authorities began searching the jungles of southern Malaysia on Friday for the mythical "Bigfoot" following a reported sighting of three giant human-like beasts, officials said.

Wildlife authorities may set up cameras in the 309 sq.mile Endau Rompin National Park in Johor state to see if the creatures do exist, they said.

Park director Hashim Yusof ventured into the jungle Friday to survey the site where three fish farm workers reportedly saw the beasts two adults and a young one last month, Hashim's secretary told The Associated Press. She did not want her name used and declined to give details.

The fish farm workers were in the jungle to clear an area for a fish pond. They alerted their employer who photographed what appeared to be footprints measuring up to 17 inches, said Lim Teong Kheng, the chairman of the Malaysian Nature Society in Johor.

He said brown hair reeking of body odor was also reportedly retrieved nearby, and a broken tree branch at the site appeared to indicate the creatures were some 10 feet tall.

The New Straits Times newspaper on Thursday reprinted one of the photographs taken by the fish farmer, showing what appears to be a triangular depression in the undergrowth.

Lim welcomed the investigation by the national park saying "Bigfoot" sightings have been reported for decades in the area but never taken seriously for lack of evidence.

"Nobody dared say anything in case people say they are out of their minds," Lim told the AP. "But sightings have been enumerated by many others before this at the Endau Rompin area."

"Bigfoot" is a popular name given in the United States to giant hairy creatures walking on two legs. Sightings of such beasts are reported in many parts of the world but never confirmed."

Somebody tell Sasquatch he has cousins in Malaysia.

ABCNews: Austrians pull art showing the Queen, and World leaders in a lewd act

2005-12-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

"By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria Dec 28, 2005 — Her Majesty would not have been amused. Neither would President Bush or his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, over a Vienna-wide art project depicting them naked and engaged in a sexual act with British Queen Elizabeth II.

The work of "euroPART," an independent artists' group, the scenes being displayed on electronic billboards across the Austrian capital were also embarrassing for the government just days before the country assumes the European Union's rotating presidency Sunday.

Austrian media reported that the offending images were yanked Wednesday just a day after they started flashing at motorists on personal orders of Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel. A woman answering the telephone at the chancellor's public information department who refused to identify herself said she could not confirm the report.

Leading opposition party figures suggested Schuessel was at least indirectly responsible, saying the group had received about $1.2 million in government subsidies.

Schuessel spokeswoman Heidi Glueck was quoted by the Austria Press Agency as saying the chancellor had been "unaware" of the subject matter being displayed."

Yeah right.

BBC: Does my bum look big in this?

2005-12-28T09:33:00.000-08:00

"Researchers at a Scottish university are aiming to answer the question - does my bum look big in this?

Heriot-Watt University's School of Textiles and Design has launched what is believed to be the world's first study on how clothing affects the bum.

Four female models with various sized bottoms will wear different types of clothing as part of the research.

The study will examine how designs, colours, patterns and fabric types affect perception.

The university believes the research could have major implications for retailers.
Female volunteers wearing hundreds of different types of clothing will have their rears photographed for the research.

Participants will then be asked to look at the pictures to assess how big or small each model's backside appears.

Dr Lisa Macintyre, who is leading the research, said four models had been chosen to provide as representative as possible a sample of female rears.

One has a "standard" womanly backside while another has a much fuller "pre-Raphaelite" bum.

The academic said the third model was slim with a small bum while another had a curvier behind like singer Jennifer Lopez.

Dr Macintyre, 33, from Edinburgh, said: "There's much discussion in the media of clothing styles that flatter the body and it's generally accepted that enhancing body perception can improve confidence and self-esteem.

"But the factors behind this have never been fully investigated in a proper scientific manner.

"Designers and consumers don't currently have access to established information that could enable them to make or choose garments that enhance body size and shape.

"This study will provide for the first time detailed and usable information that would enable designers to make the clothes that help women make the most of their natural assets."

The results from the first phase of the study, which will look at how different styles of trouser affect the appearance of bottom size, are to be published in May.

Dr Macintyre, whose PhD was in dressings for burn scars, plans to apply for a government research grant to expand the study. "

There's only one way to see if your bum is really big, and we can't say it in public, thank you. Well we could, but we won't.

Reuters: Mobile phones to announce 'You've been indicted'

2005-12-26T09:18:00.000-08:00

"SEOUL (Reuters) - South Koreans may look at their mobile phones with some trepidation in the new year because prosecutors will start telling people they have been indicted via text messages, an official said Monday.

In a country where about 75 percent of the population carries mobile phones, prosecutors felt it was time to move away from sending legal notices on paper and send them electronically instead, said Lee Young-pyo, an administrative official.

"Most people in South Korea have mobile phones and since the notices don't reach them immediately by regular mail, this is a more definite way for the individuals to know they have received a legal notice," Lee said.

The indictments by text messages are not intended to take people by surprise. "People will receive a text message of a legal notice only after they apply for the service," he said.

Prosecutors expect to save about 160 million won ($158,000) a year by shifting to the service and reducing the number of legal notices it sends through the mail.

Other notices that will be sent by text messages include information on fines and penalties.

The service starts Tuesday but will be fully implemented in 2006."

Now this is not a bad idea.

CNN: Dogs maul woman to death

2005-11-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

"THORNDALE, Texas (AP) -- A pack of six dogs mauled a 76-year-old woman to death as she worked in her yard, authorities said.

Lillian Loraine Stiles was riding on a lawn mower in her front yard Saturday when she was confronted by the dogs, described as pit bull-rottweiler mixed breeds, said Milam County Sheriff Charlie West.

Investigators think Stiles was attacked when she got off the mower and headed into her house.

Stiles had severe bites over her entire body, and a man who tried to help her was bitten on one leg, authorities said.

The dogs were found at the home of Stiles' neighbor, Jose Hernandez.

The sheriff's department will send the findings of its investigation to the Milam County District Attorney's Office, which will decide if any criminal charges will be filed against Hernandez.

Thorndale is located about 70 miles (115 kilometers) west of College Station."

Damn.

CNN:20 yr old kills his family on thanksgiving

2005-11-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

"MYAKKA CITY, Florida (AP) -- A 20-year-old man was arrested Sunday in the slayings of his parents, younger brother and elderly grandmother, whose bodies were found bludgeoned to death in the family home, authorities said.

Richard Edgar Henderson Jr. told detectives late Sunday that he had beaten his family to death with a pipe on Thanksgiving evening, Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

He was being charged with four counts of murder and was jailed Sunday night without bond, authorities said. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.

The bodies of his parents, Richard Henderson Sr., 48, and Jeaneane Henderson, 42, grandmother June Henderson, 82, and 11-year-old brother Jake were discovered in the home earlier Sunday, the sheriff's office said.

The medical examiner was examining the bodies and had not released an official cause of death.

Henderson was arrested shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday walking along a highway in Palmetto, the sheriff's office said in a news release. He had been seen at the family home earlier that morning and later abandoned a van in nearby Wauchula, officials said.

Myakka City is about 45 miles southeast of Tampa."

Awful. Just awful.

BBC: Does spontaneous human combustion exist?

2005-11-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

Giving new meaning to the term "hottie"

"A character in Charles Dickens' Bleak House burns to death without any apparent reason. Human spontaneous combustion is a belief which has been around for centuries but does it really exist?

Viewers following Andrew Davies's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House on BBC One have just seen the dreadful moment when alcoholic Krook - played sinisterly by Johnny Vegas - finds his gin warming his stomach more than usual, and suddenly bursts into flames.

As his charred remains are found, Dickens lets the awful scene unfold: "Here is a small burnt patch of flooring; here is the tinder from a little bundle of burnt paper, but not so light as usual, seeming to be steeped in something; and here is - is it the cinder of a small charred and broken log of wood sprinkled with white ashes, or is it coal? Oh, horror, he IS here!"

Dickens is unequivocal in ascribing the death to spontaneous human combustion (SHC), the alleged burning of a person's body with no identifiable source of ignition. "It is the same death eternally - inborn, inbred, engendered in the corrupted humours of the vicious body itself, and that only - Spontaneous Combustion, and none other of all the deaths that can be died," he writes.

When the story was first published, Dickens was accused of legitimising superstitious nonsense and there was a minor uproar. But the author responded by saying he had researched the subject and knew of about 30 cases. "I have no need to observe that I do not wilfully or negligently mislead my readers and that before I wrote that description I took pains to investigate the subject," he wrote in the preface to the second edition.

It is thought part of his source was a collection of cases published in 1763, 90 years before Bleak House, by Frenchman Jonas Dupont

So is spontaneous human combustion something of fact or fiction?

Modern cases have usually come about when police and fire investigators have found burned corpses but no burned furniture. Bafflement at how a body can be reduced almost to ashes, which requires temperatures of about 3,000 degrees, without any of the rest of the room being affected has driven some of the theories.

One of the most notable cases was Mary Reeser who was found in her home in 1951, reduced to a pile of ashes save her shrunken skull and her left foot which was entirely intact. Damage to the flat in Florida was small, only soot on the ceiling and walls.

The police report claimed the 67-year-old widow's dressing gown had caught fire, perhaps due to a cigarette, although no flame source or accelerant was found.

Wick effect

In 1982, SHC was offered as a cause of death at the inquest into the death of Jean Saffin, 62. Relatives said they saw her burst into flames in her north London home but coroner Dr John Burton said there was "no such thing" as SHC and recorded an open verdict.

The human body is mostly water and its only properties which burn readily are fat tissue and methane gas, so the possibilities of SHC appear remote. But supporters of the theory have offered alcoholism, divine intervention, obesity and static electricity as explanations.

In 1998 the BBC programme QED investigated and used a dead pig to try and present a scientific explanation called the "wick effect".

The clothes are the wick and the fat surrounding a person is the fuel source which burns slowly, like a candle, for five to 10 hours.

This theory can account for the state of the remains but it does not explain the absence of any initial flame or accelerant, both of which were required for the experiment on the pig. To compound the mystery, many of the victims in the alleged cases did not try and escape and remained seated throughout.

But Home Office pathologist Professor Michael Green thought the SHC theory had been debunked.

"The way the body burns - the so-called wick effect - seems to me and to my colleagues to be the most scientifically credible hypothesis," he said.

Your comments:

Cell division would never create enough heat to act as a source of ignition. There would be nothing to ignite in the places cell division occurs in the body, even if there were enough heat. Even in energy producing reactions in the body during metabolism, for example, the use of enzymes break down processes into small steps to ensure energy is released progressively. Sorry to a throw a spanner into the works on your theory!
Richard Rue, Dublin

Surely the area around the burning corpse would be affected far more obviously if the temperature of the corpse reached 3000 degrees Celsius over such a long period of time. How does the "wick effect" account for this?
James Clark, Johannesburg, South Africa

To say the body is mostly water is misleading. 18.5 percent of human body weight is comprised of carbon, which is the backbone of organic molecules. 65 percent is Oxygen. That is quite a flammable combination given the right circumstances. It is what those circumstances are that is a mystery. Could it be a simple malfunction of the spleen, which controls homeostasis (the body's ability to regulate temperature)?
Ella Potter, Oxford, England

I remember once being told by a Chief Fireman that he was absolutely convinced that SHC was fact as he had seen evidence of it. However, the debate does detract in my view from Dickens's masterful description of Krook's death. What a pity that the television adaptation could not match the powerful dark description of the novel. The Master at his peak as far as I'm concerned.
Ray Waldie, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

It has not or rarely been possible to observe SHC in action but experiments have shown that water on it's own can be made to product a violent reaction, after all it's two components are hydrogen (explosive) and oxygen, the food for combustion. The difference between life and death in our own cells is the action inside the cell, the firing off of microscopic chemical and electrical reaction producing relatively masses of heat. It would only take a malfunction of this process where instead of controlled firing off there would be mass reactions throughout each of a mass of cells producing a noisy, bluish flame of immense heat. Enough heat to consume bones to white powder never mind the water in our body which by the way would only act as further fuel for the reaction. The extremities do not burn because by the time the incineration has reached them they have been starved of oxygen enough to make the reaction incomplete.
J L Bird, Rotherham

The wicking effect would be simple to test using a pig carcass, yet it does not seem to have been done. I suggest this is because it is utter nonsense. You cannot get enough heat from the fat in a human body to reduce it to ash. Nor does a normal fire behave in the way observed, with heat being felt by the subject but not objects a few feet away. The TV documentary claimed it worked, but they burned practically the whole room.
James Tyrell, Brighton

I think the wick effect is the most parsimonious explanation for this phenomenon. I believe the victims of SCH didn't try to escape because they were already dead before they set on fire, and the 'initial flame' is provided by a cigarette. I'm sure a review on the documented cases will reveal that many of the victims of SCH are both elderly, or in ill health, and smokers.
Paul Barrett, Leeds

When this topic pops up in the public domain, I often wonder if cell division in the human body might be responsible as a source of ignition. My theory runs like this if heat is created when cells divide, is it not possible that a freak occurrence of cells dividing simultaneously might create enough to burn ? Probably complete hokum but food for thought.
Rob Hegarty, Derby

I presume that residents of Wick will only sleep under fire blankets
Bruce Child, Stockport UK

I saw the QED documentary in 1998 and thought it made a very good case for the wick effect, and am utterly convinced that this explains all cases of SHC where a body (or lack of body) is discovered. It seems absurd to suggest that this phenomenon occurs without initial flame (cigarettes seem the most likely) and an accelerant could easily be provided by flammable clothing or spilled alcohol. People don't try and escape as they are already dead when they catch alight, because presumably they are already dead!
George Mark, Cardiff"

ABCNews: AZ couple held teen captive as sex slave

2005-11-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

"By JACQUES BILLEAUD Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

PHOENIX Nov 9, 2005 — A couple held a runaway teen captive in a hollow bed frame for weeks and forced her to have sex for money with people they found on the Internet, police said.

The 15-year-old girl managed to call family members for help while 18-year-old Matthew Gray and 19-year-old Janelle Butler were sleeping Monday night, authorities said. The two were arrested Tuesday.

The girl ran away from her El Mirage home in September and met the couple through a friend about three hours after she disappeared, police Sgt. Andy Hill said. They took her to a park, bound her and had her gang raped for hours, police said.

At a west Phoenix apartment, they imprisoned her in a dog kennel for about a week and threatened her with a gun, Hill said. They sold her for sex dozens of times on the Internet, he said, and forced her to hide in a hollowed-out bed frame covered with plywood.

"She was tortured. She had a gun pointed to her head. She was told that if she tried to escape or said anything she would be killed, her family would be killed," he said.

On Monday evening while Gray and Butler were sleeping, the girl called her family and told them she was being held. She knew the general area but couldn't say exactly what address or apartment she was in, Hill said.

Investigators said they had received tips about a runaway in the complex during the past several weeks, but could not find the girl. A neighbor, Lorraine Montoya, said the couple approached her and asked if she would hide the runaway weeks ago. She refused.

"When they told me she was a runaway, I called the cops right away," said Montoya.

Police repeatedly questioned Gray and Butler, until Butler broke down and told investigators she was in the bed frame, police said. The girl underwent a medical exam and was later released to her parents.

Gray was booked on hundreds of counts, including sexual assault, kidnapping and child prostitution. Butler was booked on kidnapping, child prostitution and other charges. Both were being held without bond."

ABCNews: Cheerleader denies having sex in bathroom

2005-11-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

"By PAUL NOWELL Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Nov 9, 2005 — An ex-Carolina Panthers cheerleader charged with giving police a false name during her arrest at a bar has denied accounts that she was having sex with another cheerleader in a restroom stall.

Renee Thomas, 20, also accused of hitting a bar patron, is charged with giving a false name and causing harm to another, a third-degree felony punishable by probation or a jail term of up to five years. The second cheerleader, Angela Keathley, 26, is charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

The two members of the Panthers TopCats were arrested early Sunday at a bar in Tampa, Fla., hours before Carolina played Tampa Bay. Some witnesses told police the two angered patrons waiting in a restroom line by having sex in a stall.

Another witness discounted the sex story, telling The Tampa Tribune that Thomas was drunk.

In a written statement, Thomas' attorney said his client wanted to apologize "to everyone affected by the incident."

"This was an unfortunate incident which has generated numerous rumors and inaccurate facts," attorney Peter Anderson wrote. "Miss Thomas denies all allegations of any sexual conduct." "

ABCNews: Doubts about toilet seat case

2005-11-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

"DENVER Nov 8, 2005 — A man who sued Home Depot last month claiming a prank left him glued to a toilet seat made a similar allegation about another restroom more than a year ago, an official told a newspaper."

Hmmm.

CNN/AP: glued to the toilet

2005-11-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

"DENVER, Colorado(AP)--Home Depot was sued by a shopper from a Kentucky store who claims he got stuck to a restroom toilet seat because a prankster had smeared it with glue.

Bob Dougherty, 57, accused employees of ignoring his cries for help for about 15 minutes because they thought he was kidding."

ABCNews: The deer are attacking people

2005-11-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

"Nov. 1, 2005 — A rash of attacks by male deer has prompted California wildlife officials to warn people to try and keep their distance from the wild animals.

The attacks, two against people and three against neighborhood pets, are most likely fluke incidents, officials say. However, the gorings could also be a sign that as residential areas expand, wild deer are becoming more accustomed to people and less fearful of them.

"What happens is these animals get more comfortable around people and people start to think of them like Bambi and often don't realize they can be dangerous," said Steve Martarano of the California Department of Fish and Game.

The male deer that attacked Ron Dudek, 73, on Sept. 25 as he was picking tomatoes in his garden was likely caught by surprise, says Martarano. The 6-foot-tall buck charged out of a patch of shrubbery and gored Dudek in the face before running off. Dudek was rushed to the hospital where he received 220 stitches for the wounds. Three weeks later he died from a pulmonary blood clot resulting from the encounter.

In another attack further north in the state, a couple in Covelo were attacked while watering a friend's vegetable garden. Martarano says the woman was gored in the arm after the animal had pinned the man to the ground with its antlers. When the woman tried to scare off the animal with a piece of plywood, she was gored in the arm. The man was shaken, but not hurt.
And in Orinda, male deer have attacked neighborhood dogs, killing one and seriously wounding another.

"We've never had any problems with our many local deer before," said Dee Pearce, whose 10-year-old dog Kermit, an afghan-golden mix, was killed by a buck that gored the dog in the head. "This seems to be an odd year around here."

Pearce says her dog did not bark before or during the encounter with the deer. And three hours after the deer gored her dog, it gored another dog, an elderly black Labrador retriever that lives across the street from Pearce. That dog survived. Later, the buck faced off with a third dog in the neighborhood, a Jack Russell terrier.

"I saw the buck put its head down like he was about to attack him," said Louis Pimentel, owner of the terrier, Willie. "So I put my camera down and took my dog inside."

Crowded and Dangerous?

Wildlife biologists say all of the attacks are unusual, but could also be a sign that deer populations are getting crowded and too accustomed to human neighbors and their pets.

"I've never heard of a deer seeking out and attacking dogs," said Todd Smith, editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life. "Most deer are deathly afraid of dogs and they're afraid of people."

Smith points out that male deer act unusually aggressive this time of year since the animals are entering what is known as the rut. This is when bucks are completely focused on breeding and wander for weeks looking for females, often not eating.

"They're fighting for dominance among the females, they're not eating a lot. They become increasingly aggressive," he said.

It could be that the rut season, combined with increasingly cramped territory could be behind the unusual attacks. Pearce says she has noticed more deer this year in her neighborhood, which she describes as a "woodsy suburb."

"This year the deer are thriving," she said. "We have at least four bucks in our immediate area as well as many doe and yearlings. There is lots of competition in a small area."

Deer herds throughout the United States have increased exponentially in recent decades, although around 1900, deer had been nearly wiped out. Restrictions on hunting and programs for trapping and relocating deer helped the population rebound beginning in the 1920s. Meanwhile, people have been building homes in areas that may have once been deer habitat.

"We have more white-tailed deer now than we have ever had in the history of the country," said Smith. "So it's not surprising we're having more encounters. When deer and people meet, stuff's going to happen." "

ABCNews: Husband sets wife on fire

2005-11-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

ABC News- Prince George District Court Judge Richard A. Palumbo dismissed an order of protection against Yvette Cade's Husband Roger Hargrave, despite Cade's request to extend the order of protection.

The judge denied the request, and Hargrave later went to her office doused her with gasoline and set her on fire.

Cade had told the judge that she wanted a divorce. The Judge said she had to go to divorce court and hire a lawyer for that.

The judge, through his lawyer said that he did not intend to dismiss the protection order stating that it was a clerical error.

CNN: Body hanging in tree thought to be a Halloween decoration

2005-10-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

"FREDERICA, Delaware(AP)--The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passer-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.

The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.

State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.

'They thought it was a Halloween decoration,' Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told 'The (Wilmington)News Journal.

'It looked like something somebody would have rigged up,'she said."

ABCNews/AP: Corpse strapped to motorcyclist's back

2005-10-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

"MEXICO CITY Oct 21, 2005- Police discovered on Friday that a passenger on a motorcycle involved in an accident in the rough Mexican border city of Tijuana was in fact a corpse which the driver had been carrying through the city strapped to his back.

The motorcycle driver lost control and skidded in the downtown area and when a policeman approached to investigate the mishap, the driver fled.

The police officer checked the passenger, who had been seated behind the driver and found it was the corpse of a man who had died some time before."

ABCNews/AP: Man puts lewd photos on cars

2005-10-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

"WEST BEND, Wis. Oct 21,2005-A 40 year old man faces charges accusing him of placing photographs of his genitalia on the cars of women who parked at shopping centers.

The criminal complaint filed Thursday against Jeffrey J. Hein of Hartford said he told investigators he placed the photos on their cars because he thought they 'would find it funny.'

Hein was charged Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court with eight counts of lewd and lascivious behavior and five counts of disorderly conduct, all misdemeanors.

The complaint alleges Hein placed the photographs on cars seven different times, with the first occuring on Aug. 25 at a Shopko store in West Bend and the most recent Tuesday at Hobby Lobby in West Bend.
...
The criminal complaint said Hein told investigators he was inspired by a pornographic Web site to photograph his private parts and then sell the pictures to the Web site.

But, when he was unable to do that, he 'came up with the idea to play a joke on strangers' by putting the photographs in envelopes and attaching them to cars belonging to women, whom he picked at random whenever he went shopping, the complaint said.
...
Investigators said Hein told them some of the women laughed when they looked at the photos.

If convicted on all counts filed Thursday, Hein could be imprisoned up to five years and nine months and fined up to $85,000...."

CNN: Police: Woman prepared for child

2005-10-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

"Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (AP)- A woman accused of cutting her pregnant neighbor's abdomen with a knife in an attempt to steal her baby had a bassinet and a baby swing waiting at her home, police say.

Peggy Jo Conner, 38, was arraigned Thursday on charges of attempted homicide and aggravated assault and jailed without bail.

'Clearly, she was expecting a child coming in shortly,' prosecutor Scott Andreassi said. 'There's nothing to indicate she was pregnant.'

The attack Wednesday on Valerie Oskin was stopped before her baby was taken because a teenager on an all-terrain vehicle came across the women, police said.

Oskin, 30, underwent an emergency Caesarean section at a hospital. State police said Friday that Oskin was improving and doctors were expected to remove her breathing tube.

'She's coming around,' said Lt. Thomas Dubovi.

Oskin was believed to have been eight months pregnant, authorities said.

Thomas Wilks, who says he is Conner's husband but is separated from her, called the allegations against her 'impossible'and said she truly was pregnant.

'I got a sonogram saying she is pregnant,' Wilks told reporters. 'I felt the baby kick in her stomach.' He added that Conner is the mother of three children, ages 16, 14 and 11.

Conner and Oskin had a 'close friendship,' Wilks said. 'It was getting closer as the days went by. They were pregnant together. They were helping each other out.'..."

CNN/AP: Python v Alligator in the swamps

2005-10-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

"MIAMI, Florida (AP)--The alligator has some foreign competition at the top of the Everglades food chain, and the results of the struggle are horror-movie messy.

A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said.

The incident has heightened biologists' fears that the nonnative snakes could threaten a host of other animal species in the Everglades.

'It means nothing in the Everglades is safe from pythons, a top-down predator,' said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor.

Over the years, many pythons have been abandoned in the Everglades by pet owners.

The gory evidence of the latest gator-python encounter-the fourth documented in the past three years--was discovered and photographed last week by a helicopter pilot and wildlife researcher.

The snake was found with the gator's hindquarters protruding from its midsection. Mazzotti said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach as the snake tried to digest it.

In previous incidents, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

'There had been some hope that alligators can control Burmese pythons,' Mazzotti said. 'This indicates to me it's going to be an even draw. Sometimes the alligators are going to win and sometimes the python will win.' "

BBC: foetuses found at Bogota Airport

2005-09-29T21:55:00.000-07:00

"Colombian police have found the bodies of three human foetuses hidden in statues destined for the United States.

The discovery was made by officers searching for contraband at Bogota Airport on Tuesday.

The corpses were wrapped in plastic and concealed inside statues of Christian icons, which were smashed open.

Colombian police chief Gen Jord Alirio Varon said the four to five month old foetuses could have been intended for use in Satanic rituals.

Gen Varon said the foetuses were found alongside crucifixes and medals."

Two different scenarios on oil prices in relation to Hurricane Rita

2005-09-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday September 21, Reuters reported that Rita would send retail gas over $3 a gallon, but the spike at the pump will not be as sharp as after Hurricane Katrina, "oil analysts said on Wednesday". Reuters

On September 22, CNN/Money is painting a more dire picture of the effect Rita will have on oil. " 'We could be looking at gasoline lines and $4 gas, maybe even $5 gas, if this thing does the worst it could do' said energy analyst Peter Beutel of Cameron Hanvoer.'" CNN/Money

Looks fishy to me.

Reuters: Man's clothes sets fires

2005-09-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

"SYDNEY (Reuters)-An Australian man built up a 40,000 volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.

When he walked into a building in the country town of Warnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.

'It sounded almost like a firecracker,' Clewer told Australian radio Friday.

'Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt.'

Empoyees, unsure of the cause of the mysterious burning smell, telephoned firefighters who evacuated the building.

'There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise- a bit like a whip- both inside and outside the building.' said fire official Henry Barton.

Firefighters cut electricity to the building thinking the burns might have been caused by a power surge.

Clewer, who after leaving the building discovered he had scorched a piece of plastic on the floor of his car, returned to seek help from the firefighters.

'We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited,' Barton said."

LAtimes/Yahoo!news: Newport's war with the sea lions

2005-09-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

"By Roy Rivenburg Times Staff Writer- Think of them as amphibious sumo wrestlers. A pack of rowdy sea lions has invaded Newport Harbor sinking a boat, thrashing docks and- with their cacophony of barking-turning residents into sleepless zombies."

ABCNews: Principal chases streaker in gorilla mask

2005-09-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

"Union Springs, N.Y. Sep 15, 2005-A 17 year old student was arrested for streaking through his high school in a gorilla mask after being chased down the street by the school principal.

Union Springs High School Principal Kimberle Ward who said she runs three to five miles daily didn't catch the fleeing student, but she was able to help police arrest the teen after watching a hallway surveillance camera video and interviewing several students."

NYTimes review: First Kill all the lawyers...

2005-09-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

"By Alessandra Stanley- The fallen woman used to be a classic American tale. Now it's the fallen lawyer.

In the old days, trollops had to jump off the Waterloo Bridge-or at least endure snubs from haughty salesgirls on Rodeo Drive. Now, we prefer to see a shyster squirm. But first we hanker for a lubricious peek at the modern equivalent of black garter belts: billable hours and personal injury scams. Tort reform is the new tart reform."

Great more lawyer bashing. But who is the second person you call after your Mom and Dad if you're in trouble? That's right. Your lawyer.

But we don't need another Hollywood stereotype of what the legal profession is about.

CNNMoney: Experts say gas will hit $4 per gallon soon

2005-08-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

"New York (CNNMoney)-Consumers can expect retail gas prices to rise to $4 a gallon soon but whether they will stay there depends on the long-term damage to oil facilities from Hurricane Katrina, oil and gas analysts said Wednesday."

BBC: Greece outraged over drunken British tourists

2005-08-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

"The Greek tourism minister is to hold emergency talks on the holiday island of Zakynthos on Monday amid outrage at the behaviour of British tourists.

Photographs in the Greek and UK press have shown young drunken Britons having sex in
bars and other public places.

The island's MP, Dimitrios Varvarigos, has called for tourists committing acts of gross indecency to be put on trial and jailed for up to three years.

Those who have gone home should be sent back to Greece for trial, he says.

Bad reputation

The photos splashed across papers last week were taken in the resort of Laganas on
the island's south coast, which used to be better known as a nocturnal breeding ground for loggerhead turtles.

But, over the past two years, it has become a favoured destination for British teenagers in search of sun, sand and cheap alcohol.

The town has seen behaviour including drunken orgies, vomiting in the streets and frequent fights. Police have closed down several of the most notorious nightclubs.

...
The town's deputy mayor, Stavros Papadatos, blamed holiday reps and the Greek proprietors of hundreds of bars and clubs in Laganas for encouraging drunkenness.

'Every night each one of them must make around 1,000 euros (700 pounds) organising pub crawls. It's on those crawls that young British girls and boys appear to lose their minds,' he said according to a report in the Guardian."

ABCnews: Postal worker charged for putting urine in co-workers' coffee

2005-08-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

"Akron, Ohio Aug 25, 2005- A postal worker has been charged with putting urine in the coffee of co-workers who set up a video camera in their break room after they became suspicious, authorities said.

Thomas Shaheen, 49, of surburban Sprinfield Township, who works as a vehicle mechanic for the U.S. Postal Service was charged Aug.5 with two misdemeanor counts of adulteration of food or placing harmful objects in food.

He was ordered to appear in Akron Municipal Court on Monday.

Prosecutors said workers believed Shaheen poured urine into a coffee pot in a break room on July 5 and again July 6. Suspecting a problem, workers started their own investigation.

'Employees did put a video camera in, and that's how they were able to put a stop to what he was doing,' Akron Prosecutor Douglas Powley said.

Powley said Shaheen was unhappy at work but the prosecutor declined to get into any further details.

None of Shaheen's co-workers was physically harmed.

Shaheen could not be reached for comment. Repeated calls to his home went unanswered Thurdsay. A message was left for his attorney, Paul F. Adamson.

Shaheen has been a postal employee for 11 years, said David Van Allen, a postal service spokesman."

CNN:Pat Robertson calls on the US to assassinate Chavez

2005-08-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

"CNN-Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him 'a terrific danger' bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas."

Mr. Robertson forgets that passage in Scripture which says "Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you."

Communism will fall of its own weight. It already did in Russia. Extremism in Islam will also fall of its own hatred.

ABC News: Crowds and controversy follow human corpse exhibit

2005-08-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

"Aug. 18 2005-The exhibition at Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry is designed to offer a graphic, incredibly detailed look at the inner workings of our bodies. But attempts are under way to shut it down, because it features actual human corpses.

'Bodies the Exhibition' is one of several educational touring displays that aim to teach the public about health and the body by showing actual human body parts preserved through a recently developed process known as plastinization.

The exhibit opened today, despite a move from the Florida State Anatomical Board which voted 4-2 to stop the show out of concerns that the people never gave permission for their remains to be displayed. According to the Anatomical Board, such authorization is required by Florida law. The Tampa exhibit uses unclaimed and unidentified cadavers from China.

'I just personally don't think that's an appropriate use of dead human bodies,' said one board member, Phillip Waggoner.

'Their decision is an opinion. There is no law that we understand that governs what it is that we're doing,' said Dr. Roy Glover spokesman for Premiere Exhibitions, which organized the show."

Dr. Glover, how about we put your remains on exhibit after you die?

It shows incredibly bad taste and disrespect for the dead.
But then again, that's only one person's opinion.

Yahoo!News/AP: Giant Caiman in L.A. lake

2005-08-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

"Los Angeles-Park visitors have gone from feeding ducks and fish to nourishing a scaly green creature more likely found in Amazonian swamps than in a Los Angeles lake-a giant crocodile-like caiman.

Since a gardener spotted it last Friday, people have tried to glimpse the 200 pound reptile wading and sunbathing at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park.

Like many Angelenos, the animal is an immigrant who is quickly adopting (sic) to its new home. It has already acquired, for example, a nickname matching its Latin American roots and its penchant for tortillas tossed by visitors: Carlito.

'They'll swallow anything, and if they can't swallow it, they'll tear pieces until they can eat it,' said Jarron Lucas of the Southwestern Herpetologist Society.

Lucas' group, at the request of park rangers, is attempting to capture the animal with nets and a raw chicken, then give it a home at the Los Angeles Zoo. That could take a month, officials say.

Cousins to the crocodile, caimans are mostly found in Central and South America. Experts believe this one, estimated to be as long as 8 feet, was released by its owner.

'They pick up this little reptile that looks really cute when its little. But when it gets big and starts looking and acting scary, they don't want it any more,' Lucas said"

Reuters: UK police look for the diaper man

2005-08-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

"LONDON (Reuters)-UK police said Monday they were searching for a man wearing just a diaper, who approaches women late at night and asks: 'Are there any baby changing facilities around here?'

Cleveland police in northeast England said the latest incident occurred around 11p.m. Sunday when he surprised a women (sic) walking her dog in a play area in Eaglescliffe, near Middlesbrough.

Police said no one had been assaulted by the man but described his behavior as bizarre and a cause for concern.

'There have been several reports of him having been seen in Eaglescliffe dressed only in a nappy and we are keen to trace him and speak to him,' police said."

SI: Man sentenced to death for killing his wife because he wanted to watch sports

2005-08-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

"PANAMA CITY, Florida- A man who got angry with his wife because she wanted to cuddle after sex when what he really wanted to do was watch sports on television was sentenced to death for killing her with a claw hammer.

Christopher Offord, 30, was sentenced Wednesday by Circuit Judge Dedee Costello, who said the brutality of the crime outweighed any mental problems Offord may have had.

'The defendant struck his wife approximately 70 individual blows after spending a happy interlude with her,' the judge said. 'Her desire to cuddle after sex does not justify the extremely violent, brutal response of the defendant.'

Offord pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the 2004 slaying of Dana Noser, 40, at his apartment.

He confessed to a bartender at a sports bar before his arrest. He told investigators that his wife had been nagging him to come back to bed.

Offord did not speak in court but said in a jailhouse interview in June: 'I figured I killed her so I deserve to die.' "

Reuters: US Civil liberties board struggles

2005-08-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

"WASHINGTON (REUTERS)- A civil liberties board ordered by the US Congress last year has never met to discuss its job of protecting rights in the fight against terrorism, and critics say it is a toothless, underfunded shell with inadequate support from President Bush.

Lawmakers including some Republicans, civil rights advocates, a member of the Sept. 11 Commission and a member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board have expressed concerns.

Lanny Davis, the only prominent liberal among the five people Bush nominated after a six month delay, said he had not received a call from anyone related to the board since it was formally announced in June. Davis said he could not comment on specifics because the members had not yet met.

All four other panel members declined to comment.

The inactivity comes at a time when Congress is nearing reauthorization of several provisions of the Patriot Act, a controversial law that gave the government new powers to go after suspected terrorists.

Asked why it was taking so long to set the board up, Connecticut Republican Rep. Christopher Shays charged, 'It's not a priority for the administration.'

The intelligence reform law of December 2004 called for the oversight board in response to a recommendation from the Sept. 11 Commission which feared increased governmental powers needed to fight terrorism could erode civil liberties.

Top White House officials have said the board would address those concerns, and get the resources needed to do the job.

But almost eight months after its inception, the critics say the panel still only exists on paper, and lacks the money, power and presidential backing to ensure the entire government respects Americans' rights..."

Washington Post: the GOP embraces its spending side

2005-08-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

From Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post Staff Writer-

"GOP leaders this week sent House Republicans home for the summer with some political tips, helpfully laid out in 12 'Ideas for August Recess Events'. Drop by a military reserve center to highlight increased benefits, the talking points suggest. Visit a bridge or highway that will receive additional funding, or talk up the new prescription drug benefit for seniors.

Having skirted budget restraints and approved nearly $300 billion in new spending and tax breaks before leaving town, Republican lawmakers are now determined to claim full credit for the congressional spending. Far from shying away from their accomplishments, lawmakers are embracing the pork, including graffiti eradication in the Bronx, $277 million in road projects for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill) and a $200,000 deer avoidance system in New York.

When the year started, President Bush made spending restraint a mantra, laying out an austere budget that would freeze non-security discretionary spending for five years and setting firm cost limits on transportation and energy bills. But now, as Congress fills in the details of the budget plan, there is little interest in making deep cuts and enormous pressure to spend.

Lawmakers have seen little to fear from a political backlash, some acknowledge, and Bush has yet to wield his veto pen. In fact, the White House has proved itself largely unable to overcome the institutional forces that have long driven lawmakers to ply their parochial interests with cash.

When lawmakers return in the fall, they are almost certain to vote for more tax cuts. They also will vote on a huge new defense spending bill. But proposals for cutting entitlement programs including Medicaid have yet to pick up much support.

'If you look at fiscal conservatism these days, it's in a sorry state,' said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz), one of only eight House members to vote against the $286.5 billion transportation bill that was passed the day before the recess. 'Republicans don't even pretend anymore.'..."

Well, it doesn't even sound like feeding at the public trough. It sounds a lot like looting and plundering...

SI: ump bans spanish on little league field

2005-07-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

"Methuen, Mass(AP)-Coaches on a Little League team filed a protest with the league after an umpire ordered the players to stop speaking Spanish during a state tournament game this week.

Coaches said the order demoralized the Methuen players and cost the team the game.

'This never should have happened,' coach Chris Mosher told the Eagle Tribune newspaper. 'These are 14-year-old kids who should not have to deal with any of this, especially in Little League baseball.'

National Little League spokesman Lance Van Auken said there's no rule against players speaking Spanish or any other language on the field. But he said it's too late to reverse the decision or the outcome of the game.

'It appears the umpire was concerned that the coach or manager may have been using a language other than English...to communicate potentially "illegal" instructions to his players, ' Van Auken said in an e-mail to the Associated Press Friday. 'The umpire simply overstepped his authority, and there was no malicious intent.'

Mosher said the incident happened Tuesday night during a Junior Little League game against Seekonk in Lakeville.

Methuen was winning 3-1 when assistant coach Domingo Infante instructed the pitcher in Spanish to try to pick off a runner at second base. Afther the unsuccessful attempt, the umpire called time-out and spoke with a Little League official who was at the game. The unidentified umpire then decreed that only English could be spoken."

You want to explain that to the 37 million Hispanics in the US some of whom have enlisted in the Armed Forces and are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan?

The ump should learn how to speak Spanish, just as we, as Americans, need to learn to speak Spanish, Arabic, Pashto, Urdu, Mandarin, Cantonese, and every other language out there because we are at a serious disadvantage not knowing them.

CNNMoney: Hotels change sheets less often

2005-07-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

New York- "In a continuing effort to save money, hotel chains are changing sheets for their customers less frequently, sometimes only weekly, according to a published report Tuesday"

Great. Just great.

CNN: Woman charged with felony child abuse for making children ride in the trunk

2005-07-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

McLean, Virginia (AP)-"A mother has been charged with felony child abuse and child cruelty after she allegedly forced two of her children to take turns riding in the trunk of a car on an eight hour drive from Alabama to Virginia.

Cheryl Ann Schoonmaker, 38, forced the two girls, ages 8 and 10 to take turns in the trunk July 1 because there wasn't enough room in the car, according to Curtis Schoonmaker, her ex-husband.

The woman was driving five children, including an infant, to her ex-husband's home outside Washington, D.C. None of the children was injured during the trip. The girls told their father what happened the next day and he called the police.

'They asked to be let out...It was a hot day,' Curtis Schoonmaker said.

...
Cheryl Schoonmaker is scheduled for arraignment July 22. The charges each carry a maximum of five years in prison."

ABCnews: Strippers arrested for spanking

2005-07-09T21:28:00.000-07:00

Jacksonville, Arkansas- "Three strippers and two nightclub managers have been arrested for allegedly spanking a Bald Knob trucker at his 31st birthday bash and severely bruising his backside.

After his friends paid $25, Keith Lowery was handcuffed and spanked with a 3-foot-long paddle and a belt while one of the strippers restrained his head with her legs, investigators with the Pulaski Count Sheriff's Office said.

Kelly Eslick, 21, a stripper at Sensations nightclub in Jacksonville, northeast of Little Rock, admitted to police that she used a paddle drilled with holes for less air resistance while the two other dancers, Lisa Nolen, 23, and Charlene Smith, 23, used the belt.

The three women were charged with misdemeanor battery, and they and two other club employees James Daugherty, 31, and Dena Mitchell, 30 were charged with participating in an obscene performance at a live public show, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Daugherty had planned to have patrons sign a waiver releasing the club from liability, but investigators said the club has agreed to discontinue all spankings...."

Yahoo! News/AFP: Australian men told to do more housework

2005-06-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Sydney- "Australian men need to do more housework if they want to avoid nagging and if the country is to beat problems presented by a shrinking and ageing workforce, the government's Sex Discrimination Commissioner said."

Yahoo!News/AFP:whale burgers on the menu

2005-06-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

Tokyo-"A Japanese fast food chain said it would sell 200 whale burgers a day to meet strong demand from its customers amid global criticism over the country's bid to expand whaling"

CNN: Car lands on sleeping man in his bedroom

2005-06-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Pine Bluff, Arkansas- "An airborne car crashed through the wall of a man's bedroom landing on him as he slept. 'It hit the outside bedroom wall, continued through the bedroom, over the bed and partially exited through the side wall' said Lt. Bob Rawlinson. 'The guy was pinned under the car and rolled up in the mattress.'"

REUTERS: uh, can I get fries with that?

2005-06-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

Dortmund, Germany- Dortmund is rushing to install a series of drive in wooden "sex garages" in time for next year's World Cup and an expected boom in the local sex trade a city official said.

The city is anxious to keep prostitutes and their clients off the streets by providing them with discreet places to do business.

Experts estimate as many as 40,000 prostitutes may travel to Germany to offer their services to fans during the tournament.

Dortmund plans to arrange the Dutch designed huts, which were introduced in Cologne, another World Cup venue, complete with condom machines and snack bar.

"Men have to get used to them of course, but a high percentage accept them because they can protect their anonymity." the official said. "That said there will always be those who want to go behind a bush, under a bridge or into the woods."

CNN: body parts fall from the sky

2005-06-08T11:03:00.000-07:00

Floral Park, New York- Pam Hearne heard a loud crash and was stunned to see a foot clad in an Adidas sneaker and a sock in her yard. The leg, with hip and spine still attached, dented the shingled roof of her garage before bouncing onto her lawn.

Police suspect the remains are from a stowaway who may have been crushed as the South African Airways jet lowered its landing gear on its approach to Kennedy.

ABC News: 41 yr old mother charged with accessory to raping her daughter

2005-06-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

Suffolk County, NY- A 41 year old mother was charged with being an accessory to raping her 13 year old daughter and the girl's 14 year old friend in a hotel because she believed it was time that the teenager had sex.

" 'She was amused by it, she thought it was just something that should happen, the sooner it happened the better,'said Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro."

ABC news: Ex DA was murder mastermind

2005-06-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

Ladysmith Wisconsin- It turns out that ex DA Robert Rogers, a pot smoking swaggering outlaw prosecutor, was the mastermind of a 1979 murder. He enlisted the aid of his brothers to murder one Roger Pfeil who had threatened to kill Rogers. Rogers instead used his brother's aid and preemptively struck Pfeil first.

Rogers' brother is doing time for the crime. Rogers committed suicide in Marin in 1984 at age 38, after killing a man who was romantically involved with his estranged wife.

Washington Post-Mark Felt as 'Deep Throat'

2005-06-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post makes a big to do over the revelation that Mark Felt is 'Deep Throat'. To those who remember those days, it was a big deal then, and a lot of people still want to weigh in on one side or the other. But really, its in the past.

CNN: Federal investigators unearth the body of Emmett Till

2005-06-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

Alsip, Illinois- Federal investigators unearthed the body of Emmett Till at a suburban Chicago cemetery hoping to find clues into his 1955 slaying in Mississippi that became a key event in the civil rights movement.

Its long over due. Better late than never you might say. But why dig up more pain and suffering from the past?

Washington Post: FBI investigates theft of laptop

2005-06-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

The FBI is investigating the theft of a laptop computer containing travel account information for as many as 80,000 Justice Department employees. The WP said it was unclear how much personal data are at risk of falling into the wrong hands.

Yahoo! News/Reuters: India officials investigate caste based discrimination

2005-05-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

Patna, India- India officials are investigating reports that villagers stopped a school lunch program when two Yadavs of a cow herding caste forced a government school to stop serving federally mandated lunches after they found out Dalit women had been hired to make the rice puddings, local newspapers said.

Although caste discrimination is outlawed, some Indians regard Dalits which comprise more than 16 percent of the country's one billion plus people- as less than human, and abuse and even murder are still common.

In Bihar state, hundreds of people have died in caste wars in recent decades.

Netscape News/Reuters: Tanzanian police arrest skinners

2005-05-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

Dar Es Salaam- Tanzanian police arrested two men accused of killing a 9 year old boy and selling his skin for 20,000 shillings ($18) to make sorcerers' get rich quick charms, a senior official said.

During interrogation one of the men confessed that they were both skinners and that they skinned a boy in Mbozi six months ago. They threw his body into the Jianga river.

Suleiman Kova, police commander for the southern Mbeya region told Reuters that these cases are few, but are very shocking. Kova said the pair are expected to be charged once they have completed investigations into the identity of the victim. The police are still making inquiries.

Human skins are used by witch doctors to make charms or potions designed to make their users rich especially in southern Tanzania, renowned as a center of traditional sorcery.

CNNMoney: Microsoft to provide PC security service for a fee

2005-05-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

Redmond- Microsoft plans to launch a computer subscription service that would include anti-virus and security updates for personal computers for a subscription fee! This is for a product that is supposed to be secure and is used by a vast majority of the public!

Microsoft should not charge the public for this service.

CNN: student suspended after receiving call from his mom who is serving in Iraq

2005-05-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

Colombus, Georgia- A high school student was suspended for 10 days for refusing to end a cell phone call from his mom who is serving in Iraq.

"The 10 day suspension was issued because Kevin Francois was 'defiant and disorderly' and was imposed in lieu of an arrest, Spencer High School assistant principal Alfred Parham said."

His mother, Sgt. 1st class Monique Bates left for a one year tour of duty with the 203rd Forward Support Battalion.

Cell phones may not be used during school hours. When a teacher told him to hang up, he refused. He said he told the teacher, "This is my mom in Iraq. I'm not about to hang up on my mom".

Parham said the teen's suspension was based on his reaction to the teacher's request. He said the teen used profanity when taken to the office.

10 days suspension, because you used profanity when they told you to get off the cell phone as you were talking to your mom who is serving in Iraq.

What the ?

Yahoo!News/AP: crows may be behind exploding toads

2005-04-28T16:48:00.000-07:00

Berlin- A Berlin verterinarian who collected and tested specimens at the Hamburg pond theorized that crows may be behind the exploading toads. Frank Mutschmann said the crows peck a hole where its liver is and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense mechanism. But because the liver is missing, and there is a hole in the toads body, the blood vessels and lungs burst and the other organs ooze out he said.

SFGate.com/AP: Man who put his mom in the freezer had a strange history

2005-04-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

Campbell, WI- Philip Schuth was teased mercilessly by other teenagers because his mother still walked him to school. As an adult he lived with his mother, cutting the grass in his backyard with a scythe and he once bought $150 worth of spam in a single grocery store outing.

But the weirdest thing of all was keeping his mother's remains in a basement freezer for years while collecting her social security checks.

BBC: exploding toads a mystery

2005-04-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hamburg- "Toads in an area of northern Germany are being killed off by a mysterious disease-they are exploding.

Thousands of the amphibians have died in recent days in a pond in Hamburg's Altona district with their bodies swelling to bursting point. The toads' entrails are propelled for up to a metre (3.2ft), in scenes that have been likened to science fiction.

Scientists are baffled.

Possible explanations include an unknown virus or a fungus in the pond.

'You see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling and then exploding.' German conservationist Werner Smolnik told AFP news agency. The bodies of the toads expanded to three and a half times their normal size, he said.

'I have never seen such a thing,' AFP quotes veterinarian Otto Horst as saying."

Al Jazeera.net: Last deadly flu virus found at Beirut airport

2005-04-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

Beirut- "The last missing samples of a deadly flu virus mistakenly sent abroad by a US institute were found Wednesday at Beirut airport, a security source said."