 sj |
||
|
||
BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
|
|
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 13 May 09 - 05:37 PM LH just snagged 600. And in his usual elevated state of enlightened non-involvement with terrestrial affairs, didn''t even mention it. What divine humility!! A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 15 May 09 - 03:59 PM Trailer full of bees breaks down in Salt Lake City By Steve Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune Updated: 05/15/2009 10:46:00 AM MDT A trucker, en route from California to South Dakota, had trouble getting a lift when his vehicle broke down in Salt Lake City on Thursday night. Blame it on the bees. "Tow truck companies weren't all that interested in picking up a trailer full of 300 active beehives," said Salt Lake City Fire Department spokesman Mark Bednarik. The man was hauling bees and hives for the Sturgis Honey Company along Interstate 80. He had reached about 2500 West at 5:30 p.m. Thursday when the trailer's axle overheated and caught fire. Crews quickly doused the burned axle, Bednarik said. Since it was hard to find a tow, a firefighter, who also does snow plow work, helped the man get his trailer into a salt fill where he keeps his plow equipment, Bednarik said. The man was still at the Salt Lake City garage getting his trailer fixed Friday morning and expected to be back on the road by the afternoon. Bednarik praised the fire employees for "going well above and beyond what's expected." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 21 May 09 - 09:42 PM Nebraska boy, 6, takes wheel after dad passes out Thursday, May 21, 2009 (05-21) 18:18 PDT North Platte, Neb. (AP) -- link Police say a 6-year-old boy grabbed the wheel of their pickup after his dad passed out from low blood sugar and kept them from crashing until a North Platte police officer could bring the truck to a halt. Tustin Mains was in the back seat with his 3-year-old brother when he noticed that his dad, Phillip Mains, slumped down on Sunday evening while they were driving home from a restaurant. "I remember getting up to about the mall — that was about 6:45," Phillip Mains told The North Platte Telegraph. "The next thing I remember was waking up to the officer and paramedics, and it was 8:15." Tustin hopped up from the back seat to his father's lap so he could steer and see out the windshield. His dad's foot had slipped off the accelerator, but even at idle the Chevrolet Avalanche was going an estimated 10-15 mph. Other drivers noticed the boy driving the truck. Some maneuvered their vehicles in front or behind the pickup and turned on their emergency blinkers. Tustin remained at the wheel for several blocks, even turning around when he got into a neighborhood he didn't recognize. He was then spotted by North Platte officer Roger Freeze. Freeze maneuvered his car near enough that he could stop, get out and run up to the pickup. The driver's side window was down, so Freeze reached in, grabbed the gearshift and rammed it into park. North Platte Police Chief Martin Gutschenritter praised his officer and young Tustin. "I will be issuing him a departmental citation for his quick, professional action on this case. That is also a very special young man. He was able to take quick action when his dad was incapacitated, and we are very proud of him, too," Gutschenritter said. Tustin's dad was grateful to Freeze as well. "To chase down a moving vehicle and get it stopped the way he did took a lot of nerve, and if it weren't for him, things could have turned out much worse." For a kindergartner, Tustin did a pretty good job of driving. The pickup sustained only a minor scrape when it brushed a piece of a bridge as Tustin turned to head back into town. When he saw his dad "fall asleep," Tustin said, he got scared, then got another fright when officer Freeze appeared at the driver's window. But when Freeze brought the pickup to an abrupt halt? "I was just happy," Tustin said. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 21 May 09 - 10:10 PM What a great story! A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 23 May 09 - 04:01 PM Just before CSUF graduation, a family reunites Dad, 26-year-old adopted daughter get reacquainted in Fresno. Published online on Friday, May. 22, 2009 link By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee The phone rang. Elizabeth Cox could tell from the caller ID that it was James Cliffe III -- a man she had never spoken to, but who shared the same name as her biological father. A father she had never met. Was this he? With much hesitation, she answered. Adopted at birth, Cox had only a handful of records with her parents' names and birth dates. For years, she debated whether she should try to find them. But what would she say? "Hi, I'm your daughter" -- it seemed too strange. Instead, Cox endured the teasing and nagging that adopted children can go through -- "at least my parents wanted me," some of her peers told her. That didn't stop the Clovis West High School graduate from living her life -- college, music, sports, art, traveling the world. She took it all in. At 17, she moved out on her own. Independent and stubborn? She freely admits it. But about a month ago -- as she was finishing up her classes and preparing to graduate from California State University, Fresno, so she could pursue a writing career -- Cox, 26, decided it was time. She was grateful for her adopted parents, Tim and Jodi Cox, but couldn't go through her whole life without knowing her flesh and blood. She scoured the Internet and chased down a cell phone number for the Rev. James Cliffe III living in the Los Angeles area. There is no way my father is a reverend, she thought. But she called anyway. She got his voicemail. "Hello, my name is Elizabeth Cox," she said. "Could you please call me back?" About an hour and a half later, Cliffe called. Cox asked him if he knew a woman named Caroline Purra -- without mentioning that that was her mother's name. For 15 seconds -- silence. Then Cliffe's voice came through on the other end: "I've been looking for you for 26 years," he said. For the next two hours, the father and daughter who had never met -- but had always wondered about each other -- talked about their lives, their pasts and their dreams. They raced to send photos of each other over Facebook. Cliffe, 63, told Cox about the family she had never known -- including her older half-sister and older half-brother. He told her about his failed relationship with her mother. He told her that he had always loved her. For the next month, neither had the chance to visit the other in person -- until Friday. Cox invited Cliffe to attend her graduation ceremony this weekend. He said he would be there. As Cliffe drove from Los Angeles on Friday morning, Cox sat at a coffee shop fidgeting nervously. Her father -- her real father -- would be here soon. "This is crazy. All those nights staying up wondering and questioning and thinking ... " she said, looking off into the distance and suddenly at a loss for words. They agreed to meet at a restaurant near Fresno State. Cox went without any friends or family -- she wanted this to be her own thing. Turning a corner, she came face to face with a slightly chubby, well-dressed man. "There you are!" she said. The father and daughter hugged. They took a look at each other. Then they hugged again. "You're just like your sister," Cliffe said. At the lunch table, the two swapped stories. The menus were left alone. When a waitress asked a third time if they were ready to order, Cox apologized. "I'm sorry, I'm meeting my dad for the first time," she said, laughing. Cliffe, it turns out, was not always a minister. He said he grew up in Illinois and moved to the Los Angeles area to sell insurance. He opened restaurants and bars and hired Purra at one of them. They fell in love, but split up after about a year. The last time Cliffe saw Purra, she was eight months pregnant with his daughter. Neither he nor Cox had been able to find Purra. Cliffe's life spiraled downward as he struggled with alcohol and drug addictions. He became homeless. Then, one night in October 1994, Cliffe said, he had a "spiritual experience" in which he felt compelled to get his life in order. For the past 15 years, he said, he has been clean and sober. Cliffe also went on to become a minister and start a $750,000-a-year program that provides housing and rehabilitation for parolees. His preaching became popular and he got his own television show, he said. But throughout the years, Cliffe wondered about his daughter. Every once in a while, he would see someone who looked like she could be her, but never was. He checked hospital records, but found only dead ends. When Cox called him last month, Cliffe said he kneeled down and thanked God. Cliffe and Cox, it turns out, share more in common than their green eyes. They both are Dodgers fans, like sports, play pool and enjoy public speaking. And they aren't afraid to pursue life head-on. "You'll find that as you get out into the world, you'll possess another quality of mine," Cliffe told his daughter. "Mind over matter: If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." By the end of lunch, Cliffe and Cox seemed to have known each other for years. They teased each other. No question was too personal. And when Cox warned her father that she tended to hold on to new friends and that he was "stuck with her now," Cliffe replied, "I don't feel stuck." "It's not over," he said. "It's just the beginning." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 23 May 09 - 04:24 PM Dang, Sniff, also.... A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 May 09 - 11:30 AM Man Uses YouTube to help deliver baby A British man put YouTube video tutorials to the test by using one to assist him in the birth of his baby. Marc Stephens, a naval engineer from Cornwall, England decided to do a little research when his wife Jo started to feel a little discomfort. "I Googled how to deliver a baby, watched a few videos and basically swotted up, I can tell you one of them was called 'How to Deliver a Baby in a Taxicab.'" Mr Stephens said to the BBC. Stephens phoned the midwife when his wife awoke having very regular contractions, but when no midwives available to come to the house, they were told to order an ambulance. When the ambulance didn't arrive in time, the YouTube tutorials kicked into gear. "The videos gave me peace of mind. I think I would have coped, but watching videos made things much easier," he added. "My youngest daughter woke up and was standing right behind me watching the whole thing!" he told the Telegraph. To which Jo added: "I wasn't panicking at all. I have to say, out of all my four labors, that was the one I enjoyed the most." If you're keen to learn yourself, you can find the 'taxi cab' video, actually created by ExpertVillage right here. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 02 Jun 09 - 12:48 PM "Alberta Passes Law Allowing Parents to Pull Kids Out of Class," a story carried June 2 by The Canadian Press and the CBC.ca broadcasters. "Written notice required when sex, sexual orientation, religion covered." Many Alberta teachers are worried that the bill is a minefield, possibly opening them to suit by parents if Johnny complains to his parents about material inadvertently mentioned by the teacher and possibly covered by the broad strokes painted in the bill. The government said the legislation is meant "to allow parents to be more involved in their children's schooling. Frank Bruseker, president of the Alberta Teachers Association, "said he's advised the group's lawyers to prepare to defend any teachers who are brought before the human rights tribunal." He said, "We'll need to review curricula right across all subjects and all grades to see if there might be a minefield, if you will, that a teacher might step in and suddenly find themselves in deep trouble." Teachers worry that inclusion of evolution in biology courses violates the 'religion' coverage notification. A group of gays in Edmonton demonstrated against the bill. Legislators in Alberta thus are following those of some states in meddling in teaching curricula. Article of May 27 discussing Bill 44: Bill 44 |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jun 09 - 01:20 PM The end of the human race won't be because of a huge meteor strike on the plant or a viral miasma taking out billions, it will be the increasing stupidity of the population as expectations are lower, the lowest common denominator becomes the favored teaching method, and zealots are allow to impose their wildly improbably world view on everyone else. Depressing, isn't it? SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: heric Date: 02 Jun 09 - 01:53 PM I wish I hadn't sent my virgin child to school last week to look at big screen images of genitalia in highly advanced stages of various STD's. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:15 AM oops - "planet" not "plant." heric, that sounds drastic. The sledgehammer approach to sex ed? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 03 Jun 09 - 11:30 AM Still: If you haven't seen Idiocracy you might enjoy it, despite raunchy parts--it is based on your very premise about the decline of human ability. A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 03 Jun 09 - 02:40 PM Has it declined? Or was giving the vote to the boobocracy behind the apparent decline? Yes, a friend had some old "American Mercury" magazines and I have been reading H. L. Mencken. An adv. in today's (June 3, 2009) online Santa Fe New Mexican- "Receive trusted, up-to-the-minute neighborhood information directly from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and Health Dept." I guess that this is one way to cut expenses in a recession. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 03 Jun 09 - 03:13 PM The thesis of Idiocracy is that over the next century it will decline because of the higher breeding rate of the less educated. Probably not a true thesis in itself, but a funny premise for the movie. A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: heric Date: 03 Jun 09 - 04:26 PM Yes, drastic. I wouldn't have expected it from that school, but I perhaps can't keep up with the modern world. Teaching abstinence by an entirely new and probably effective approach. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: heric Date: 04 Jun 09 - 11:06 PM All four prosecuting attorneys (two of the U.S. Attorney's office in Anchorage and two of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington) are under investigation for criminal contempt by a special prosecutor appointed by the judge in the failed trial of former Sen. Ted Stevens. Their bosses, Public Integrity Chief William Welch and his principal deputy, Brenda Morris, are also under investigation. Well, today the U.S. Justice Department admitted to undisclosed prosecutorial errors in two more criminal cases targeting political corruption in Alaska and asked for two convicted state lawmakers to be released from jail. "Errors." Can you believe this crap? The government is here to help us, and knows what to do about preventing fraud, torturing no one but terrorists, saving the oceans, preventing and curing economic meltdown, guiding World Peace, etc. etc. It's all under control. We have "Public Integrity." http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090604-718015.html |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 Jun 09 - 11:23 PM The Alaska case is interesting because it was the Bush administration shooting itself in the foot and taking out their own (old) man. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 07 Jun 09 - 01:25 PM link Parents rammed cars into burning day care HERMOSILLO, Mexico (CNN) -- Parents of the children trapped in a burning Mexican day care center rammed their vehicles into the building to try to free the trapped children, witnesses told CNN. At least 41 children died when flames engulfed the building on Friday, Mexico's Public Health Ministry said Sunday. Dozens more are in hospitals in Mexico and the United States. Neighbors described parents arriving at the day care center completely desperate, seeing it engulfed in flames and knowing there was no way to get the children out, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reported from the scene. They say they could hear the cries of the children and the screams of their parents. The building had two doors, but one was padlocked shut, officials said. Windows were too high for the children to reach. "When we went out and ran towards the nursery, teachers already had many children outside, those who could walk properly," said one man at the scene, who did not give his name. "A pickup truck broke down the walls. The dad of one of the kids broke down one of the walls with his car driving in reverse, and that helped us a bit," he said. One mother waited hours for information about her son, she said. "They didn't tell us anything, nothing until like 6 p.m.," she said, when she was finally told her son was at Chavez Hospital. "We went there and we saw that he was badly burned, 75 percent of his body was burned." The woman said they operated on the boy, but he died. The cause of Friday's blaze remains unknown, but investigators concluded that the fire did not start inside the ABC Day Care, said Eduardo Bours, the governor of Sonora state. As of Saturday night, at least 23 children remained hospitalized, 15 of them in critical condition, Sonora spokesman Daniel Duran told CNN. Another 10 children had been transported to other hospitals: eight to Guadalajara, one to Ciudad Obregon, and two to Sacramento, California. A team of 29 medical experts in Hermosillo was deciding whether any more victims would be moved to the Shriners Hospital in Sacramento, or elsewhere. In addition, six adults were injured, Duran said. "Without a doubt this is the worst disaster we've had," Bours told CNN. President Felipe Calderon traveled to Hermosillo on Saturday. The president arrived with Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez Mont and Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova to get firsthand updates from doctors and investigators, the state news agency Notimex reported. Calderon ordered the nation's attorney general to investigate the blaze. Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation and not burns, Bours said. But the fire was serious enough for the roof to collapse, he added. At the time of the blaze, 142 children were inside the ABC Day Care. The day care is for children ages 2 to 4, but Bours confirmed that children even younger were among the victims. All the children at the center had been accounted for by Saturday evening, Bours said. A severely burned 3-year-old girl arrived Saturday at the Sacramento hospital -- where pediatric burn treatment is a specialty -- and was in critical condition, according to Dr. Tina Palmieri, assistant chief of the burn unit. The child was burned over 80 percent of her body, the doctor told reporters. She said the hospital normally can save just over half of the children with burns that severe. In Hermosillo, a large crowd gathered outside of the emergency entrance of the city's general hospital and many people consoled each other, video from the scene showed. "They told me that this happened in a matter of five minutes," Hermosillo Mayor Ernesto Gandara told reporters after surveying the scene. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 08 Jun 09 - 02:20 PM Pedro Bites, Manager Gives Him the Finger...Was it an accident, greed or revenge for being locked up? A chimpanzee called Pedro made a name for himself on Monday by biting off the forefinger of Berlin Zoo's director. A chimpanzee called Pedro bit off the forefinger of Berlin Zoo director Bernhard Blaszkiewitz on Monday as he was trying to feed him through the bars of his cage. Bernhard Blaszkiewitz, the director of Berlin Zoo. A spokeswoman for the zoo said Blaszkiewitz, 55, had been leading a group round the zoo and wanted to hand Pedro a snack through the bars when the chimp grabbed his arm and bit off almost all of his forefinger. "It was just hanging by a shred of skin," local daily "B.Z." quoted an eyewitness as saying. Blaszkiewitz was rushed to hospital where doctors tried to sew his finger back on. Zookeepers said their boss hadn't stuck to the safety rules that he kept on reminding them about -- maintaining distance to the animals. Chimpanzees are known to be potentially dangerous. Blaszkiewitz kept calm despite his wound. "He wasn't any more upset than if someone had trodden on his foot," the spokeswoman said. The zoo couldn't immediately be reached on Monday evening to ascertain whether the operation was successful and whether Pedro has had his banana rations cut. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: heric Date: 09 Jun 09 - 02:24 PM On May 21, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California dismissed a complaint filed by a woman who said she had purchased "Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries" because she believed it contained real fruit. The plaintiff, Janine Sugawara, alleged that she had only recently learned to her dismay that said "berries" were in fact simply brightly-colored cereal balls, and that although the product did contain some strawberry fruit concentrate, it was not otherwise redeemed by fruit. She sued, on behalf of herself and all similarly situated consumers, some of whom may believe that there are fields somewhere in our land thronged by crunchberry bushes. http://www.loweringthebar.net/?loc=interstitialskip |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 09 Jun 09 - 02:51 PM Are Women BornLike This??? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: curmudgeon Date: 09 Jun 09 - 03:14 PM It won't play. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 09 Jun 09 - 03:49 PM Google the title. It's worth the trouble. (Although it plays fine for me and several others I sent it to). If only every rescue were this easy. A Florida woman called 911 saying she was stuck inside her car with the windows up in a Walgreen's parking lot. Her engine wouldn't start, and it was getting hot. The 911 operator's advice? Unlock the door, and pull the handle. Presto. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: curmudgeon Date: 09 Jun 09 - 05:16 PM It played this time; budding auctioneer? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 10 Jun 09 - 11:19 AM JERUSALEM — An Israeli woman mistakenly threw out a mattress she said had almost $1 million inside, setting off a frantic search through tons of garbage at a number of landfill sites on Wednesday. The woman told The Associated Press that she bought her elderly mother a new mattress as a surprise present on Monday _ and threw out the old one. The next day, she said, she remembered that she had hidden her life savings inside the old mattress. "I woke up in the morning screaming, when it hit me what happened," said the Tel Aviv woman, who asked not to be identified. She went to look for the mattress, but it had already been hauled away by garbage collectors, she said. Searches at three different landfill sites turned up nothing. She said the money was in U.S. dollars and Israeli shekels. She refused to say how she acquired such a large sum. "It was all my money in the world," she said. There was no way to verify her claims, and she refused to disclose key details. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said he was not familiar with the case and no report had been filed. The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot published a picture of the woman searching through garbage at a dump in southern Israel. The picture shows the woman, dressed in a white top and black pants with her back to the camera, picking through a huge pile of trash that fills the frame about 10 feet in all directions. Yitzhak Borba, the dump manager, told Army Radio that his staff was helping the woman, saying she appeared "totally desperate." He said the mattress was hard to find among the 2,500 tons of garbage that arrives at the site every day. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 12 Jun 09 - 03:57 PM Bush celebrates 85th by skydiving over Maine By DAVID SHARP – 46 minutes ago KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) — Former President George H.W. Bush marked his 85th birthday on Friday the same way he did his 75th and 80th birthdays: He leaped from a plane and zoomed downward at more than 100 mph in freefall before parachuting safely to a spot near his oceanfront home. Bush made the tandem jump from 10,500 feet with Sgt. 1st Class Mike Elliott of the Army's Golden Knights, who guided them to a gentle landing on the lawn of St. Ann's Church. "Well, we made it. It was a great day in the air," Bush said after he was removed from his harness. He said he enjoyed it so much that he planned to do it again when he turns 90. When he was president, Bush was an avid jogger, speed golfer, fisherman and tennis player. He said he has slowed down since then, but he doesn't intend to stop moving. He told reporters that he jumped Friday for two reasons: to experience the exhilaration of free-falling and to show that seniors can remain active and do fun things. "Just because you're an old guy, you don't have to sit around drooling in the corner," he said. "Get out and do something. Get out and enjoy life." I'd like to emulate the guy, in this respect, twenty years from now. A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 22 Jun 09 - 11:12 AM Wayward Cows Decide To Abandon Massachusetts Farm And Walk At Least 5 Miles To New Hampshire (AP) Two wayward cows decided to abandon their Massachusetts farm and walk at least five miles into New Hampshire, generating 911 calls from drivers. Nashua Deputy Fire Chief Michael O'Brien said he and his partner spent 45 minutes with ropes in hand trying to chase down the cows Tuesday, WMUR reported. One of the adolescent heifers was finally captured, found up to her neck in mud. The farmer's daughter and son-in-law in Dunstable, Mass., are still searching for the second cow. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 22 Jun 09 - 11:15 AM Jeffersonville attorney Larry Wilder found asleep in trash can City attorney was walked home, but no arrest made By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com Jeffersonville attorney Larry Wilder was found asleep by police in his neighbor's overturned city garbage can Wednesday morning, after neighbors called police when they woke to find their trash strewn on the ground and a man inside the receptacle. Jeffersonville Police Chief Tim Deeringer said Wilder was cooperative when police arrived at the home on Elk Pointe Boulevard and was able to walk back to his home — next door. Wilder's son and daughter, both adults, were home and able to take care of him from there, Deeringer said. No arrest was made as a result of the incident. "There was no crime committed," Deeringer said. Although police records describe Wilder as "10-47" — police code for intoxicated — upon officers' arrival, no breath alcohol or sobriety test was administered. It's an officer's discretion on what actions to take in such situations, the chief said. Typically, if someone is that close to their home, they would just be escorted to their residence. Police records show that officers arrived on the scene just before 7 a.m. Wednesday. A neighbor, Roberta Embry, said her husband found Wilder inside the can when walking out of the house that morning. "He (Wilder) took all the trash out and laid it (the trash can) on its side," she said. Embry said she did not notice any drinking at Wilder's residence the night before, but said her husband had. Her husband declined to comment on the situation when called by a reporter. Wilder represents the Jeffersonville City Council and has acted as the city's attorney on several high profile cases, including the legal wrangling regarding the city's annexation. He recently presented arguments before the Indiana Court of Appeals in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against Jeffersonville over a ban on sex offenders in city parks. In 2008, he was the highest paid of Jeffersonville's six city attorneys, receiving $107,000 in tax dollars. That's four times more than the next highest-paid city attorney. He's also attorney for the Greater Clark County Schools system, as well as operating his own private practice, located on Court Avenue in Jeffersonville. Jeffersonville City Councilman Ron Grooms said the incident was "an embarrassment." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 25 Jun 09 - 12:23 PM Miracle adoption Full story here. The Harveys regard the entire saga of the white tigers and their canine foster mom as little less than a miracle. Last year, as gas prices soared and the economy soured, they watched attendance at the zoo dwindle alarmingly, along with their income. They decided to give themselves until Aug. 1, 2008, for things to turn around. If they didn't, they saw no alternative to closing the park. That's when a white Bengal tiger they had gave birth to the triplets. Within 15 hours, she abandoned the helpless cubs. The "tiger teens" adopted by a golden retriever are still young enough to play with a ball — but they're getting too big to play with their surrogate mom. Isabella was just a year old and was in the process of weaning her first litter of two pups. The Harveys decided to see if Izzy, as they call the dog, could be a surrogate mother for the tigers. The cubs took to her and thrived on Izzy's milk. The story of the dog who adopted three tigers quickly spread. On Aug. 1, the deadline for either saving or closing the zoo, the Harveys, Isabella and the cubs found themselves on the TODAY show. Hearts melted at the cute cubs and the gentle canine. People flocked to Caney to see them. The zoo was saved. ... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Jun 09 - 01:26 PM Nice story, but it does indeed sound like it's time to separate the dogs and cats. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: heric Date: 02 Jul 09 - 12:42 PM You can upload photos to the Canada Postal Service and make custom stamps how cool is that? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 02 Jul 09 - 01:41 PM I think you can do that here in the U.S. also. It's a special software program and you print them from home. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: heric Date: 02 Jul 09 - 03:32 PM oh you're right same online deal. drats novelty is wearing off. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 06 Jul 09 - 08:02 PM 700yo child's skull washes up in Sydney Police are looking for the owner of a 700-year-old human skull found washed up on Sydney's Northern Beaches. The child's skull was found on September 12 last year at the Basin, north of Mona Vale Beach. Investigators enlisted the help of anthropologists at New Zealand's University of Waikato, who used radiocarbon dating to conclude the skull was about 700 years old. The experts concluded the skull belonged to a child between four and six years old, who was not Indigenous. Northern Beaches detectives say the skull probably belongs to a private collector, a museum or a research facility. ---------------- Story as reported in Sept Unlocking secrets of the skull found on Mona Vale beach THERE is no name. The age is unclear. Police are not even sure what gender the child was nor how long he or she has been dead. These are just some of the mysteries forensic experts hope to answer as they conduct various tests on a skull that was found after being washed up on Mona Vale beach. As Glebe Coroner's Court began its investigations yesterday, a spokeswoman said: "The person could have been a missing person who has been in the water for a while. We don't even know if it's Australian. Police Media Release Archive Police seek owner of human skull - Northern Beaches |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 06 Jul 09 - 08:10 PM ALso in ABC News for AUstralia: "Police are looking for 30 crocodiles believed to have been stolen from a crocodile farm near Darwin. Some of the saltwater crocodiles, which were taken from the Jenamba Crocodile Farm at Fogg Dam, are up to one metre long. Farm manager Manual Cabrall says an audit yesterday revealed about 30 of the animals, which are used for skin and meat, to be missing. He thinks they may have been taken to southern states, where he says live crocodiles can fetch up to $1000 each on the black market." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 06 Jul 09 - 10:17 PM Well, if those Aussie folks would just send Chongo an airline ticket and a case of hootch, he'd solve both those mysteries for 'em. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 13 Jul 09 - 12:38 PM The biggest solar energy project in the world is about to get off the drawing board. And leading German firm, Siemens, is just one of around a dozen organizations getting behind Desertec. SPIEGEL asked Siemens CEO Peter Löscher about his company's role in the project. Top companies lined up on Monday to get behind the world's most ambitious solar energy project. They signed a memorandum of understanding in Munich to set up the Desertec Industrial Initiative which involves what is being called a "solar technology belt" across the Middle East and North Africa, with a huge undersea "super grid" then delivering the power back to Europe. The CEO of Siemens AG, Peter Löscher, believes Europe is on the brink of anew era in energy production. The aim of the €400 billion ($560 billion) project is to provide carbon-free energy that could supply up to 20 percent of European energy needs by 2050. At first the Desertec project, which arose out of a feasibility study commissioned by the German Ministry of the Environment, looked as though it might not get much further than the drawing board because of its hefty price tag. But a consortium of some of Europe's heaviest financial hitters has come together to raise the required funds. Among others both governmental and non-governmental, this includes Deutsche Bank, energy giants RWE and E.ON, major insurer Munich Re and electro-engineering leader Siemens. ... |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 15 Jul 09 - 08:40 PM Man fixing airbed blows up apartment A German man has blown up his apartment while trying to fix his leaky air mattress, his city's fire brigade said. The man, 45, from Duesseldorf in Germany's west, used tyre-repair solvent to plug a hole in his airbed and left it overnight. It blew up when he went to inflate it the next day. "A spark from the electric air pump ignited it," a fire brigade spokesman said. The blast pushed his living-room wall into the building's stairwell and caused extensive damage to walls, windows and furniture. Fire fighters evacuated the 12-apartment building and a neighbouring housing block while they checked for structural damage. The man suffered burns on his arms, while a three-year-old girl suffered first-degree burns. -Reuters |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Jul 09 - 11:57 PM The news has been so bizarre of late this thread has hardly been necessary. Maybe things will relax so we can get back to enjoying obscure little items. (Probably not--I just heard that Michael Jackson's death is being ruled a homicide. . . ) SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 16 Jul 09 - 09:44 AM MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars. Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN'-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number -- a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars). Muszynski says he spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers and the $15 overdraft fee. The bank corrected the error the next day. Bank of America tells WMUR-TV only the card issuer, Visa, could answer questions. Visa, in turn, referred questions to the bank. ------ |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 Jul 09 - 10:27 AM I heard an interview with him yesterday. His son suggested if they'd had that kind of money they could have bought season tickets to attend the Yankees games. His father responded that with that kind of money they could have purchase the Yankees team. . . can't find it in a scan of a few NPR programs. But it's out there. SRS |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 20 Jul 09 - 01:48 PM Man Stole More Than 1,000 Used Men's Underpants |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 28 Jul 09 - 12:47 PM (Der Spiegel): Man Falls off Balcony in Cherry Stone Spitting Competition The determination to spit a cherry stone further than his friends almost killed a German man at the weekend when he fell off his balcony in the process, police said. A German man eager to win an informal cherry stone spitting contest made the mistake of taking an excessively long run-up and inadvertently hurled himself off his balcony, police said. "He appears to have developed too much momentum," police in the western town of Rodgau said in a statement. "He lost his balance on the balcony railing and plunged down." The man injured his hip and was taken to hospital where he is recovering from his exertions. It's unclear if he won the competition. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Jul 09 - 12:32 AM Now that is the pits. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Jul 09 - 04:17 AM Orphaned gnomes sent to foster homes About 1,500 garden gnomes have been saved from the scrapheap. The collection of small cement people was left behind after the death of an elderly Cootamundra woman, with the new owners of her property not keen on keeping them hanging around. But a solicitor acting for the deceased estate in southern NSW contacted the Australian Gnome Convention seeking advice on how to dispose of the garden ornaments. The convention, established by the Lower Blue Mountains Rotary Club, is held annually in Glenbrook, west of Sydney, and has become the spiritual home for Australia's gnomes. Convention organiser and "gnome master" David Cook said he did not hesitate in organising a rescue party. "We didn't want to see them put in a skip and taken to the tip and all smashed up," Mr Cook said. The four-member rescue team joined with Cootamundra locals, working for almost four hours to load "every square inch" of two vehicles and a trailer. The gnomes will be fostered out to various locations across the Blue Mountains but will be reunited next Australia Day for the sixth annual Australian Gnome Convention. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Jul 09 - 02:42 PM Jailhouse Rock?: Charles Manson Reaches out to Phil Spector I suppose this IS music news, but it is the most bizarre thing around. Jailhouse Rock?: Charles Manson Reaches Out to Phil Spector When Rock Daily reported last month that famed producer and convicted murderer Phil Spector was being moved to Corcoran, California's California Substance Abuse and Treatment Facility, we noted that neighboring Corcoran State Prison is the home of musician and infamous Helter Skelter cult leader Charlie Manson. Apparently the proximity generated a creative spark: According to the New York Post's Page Six, Manson reached out to the "Wall of Sound" producer seeking a behind-bars musical meet-up. Earlier this year, Spector was found guilty of second-degree murder in a retrial of the death of actress Lana Clarkson and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. Manson was convicted of murder and conspiracy in 1971. "A guard brought Philip a note from Manson, who said he wanted him to come over to his [lockup]. He said he considers Philip the greatest producer who ever lived," Spector's wife Rachelle — a colorful personality who often bickered with the judge during Phil's murder trials — told Page Six. "It was creepy. Philip didn't respond." Added Spector's publicist Hal Lifson, "I think Manson wants to glean some musical advice from Phil, who was a '60s music god with his 'Wall of Sound.' But Phil's like, 'I used to pick up the phone and it was John Lennon or Celine Dion or Tina Turner, and now Charles Manson is trying to get a hold of me!' " In related news, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Manson family murders, the History Channel will air a two-hour special titled Manson on September 7th, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The broadcast will feature the first interview in 20 years with Linda Kasabian, a member of the Manson Family who served as the driver during the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969. Kasabian later served as a witness for the prosecution. |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 30 Jul 09 - 04:25 PM IT is bizarre that Charles Manson, having been behind bars for FORTY years, is a household name. A |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 31 Jul 09 - 11:45 AM Joe Windscheffel, a linebacker/safety for NCAA Division II power Pittsburg State, was working on a farm near Lawrence for the summer. To paint a fence along a pasture line, he had to move four zebras. The three females complied, but the male got overaggressive (typical), charged him and bit his arm. The zebra dragged the 6-foot-2, 225-pound man until two fellow farmhands came to his aid. He's left with a compound fracture "You only see zebras on television getting eaten by lions, but they are stronger than they look," Windscheffel told the Pittsburg Morning Sun. "It was just a freak deal." |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Jul 09 - 12:38 PM He seems to be a zebra of a different stripe, doesn't he? |
|
Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .') From: Amos Date: 31 Jul 09 - 02:41 PM Perhaps the zebra was protesting being mistaken for a horse of a different color. A |
