BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 03:40 PM

Fire guts Texas governor's mansion

150-year-old Texas mansion was undergoing $10 million in renovations

The Associated Press
updated 12:17 p.m. CT, Sun., June. 8, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas - Arson is suspected in the fire that struck the historic Texas Governor's Mansion early Sunday, causing damage that state officials described as "bordering on catastrophic," the state fire marshal said.

/quote

A photo at the link shows quite a lot of damage. Fortunately, no one is in residence, and historical artifacts had been removed - both due to the in-process renovation. The extent of visible damage suggests that it will take some major investigation to determine whether the historic building can be salvaged.

John

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jun 08 - 12:10 PM

That sounds like the beginning of an interesting short story, doesn't it?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: bobad
Date: 01 Jun 08 - 10:40 AM

Homeless Japanese woman evicted from closet

   
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police, believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived, they found the door locked and all windows closed.

"We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

The closet is part of a Japanese-style room, one of several rooms in his one-story house where the man lived alone -- or so he had thought.

Police were investigating how she managed to go in and out of the house unnoticed, as well as details of her life inside the closet and whether she had taken anything else besides food.

She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and apparently even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman "neat and clean."

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 30 May 08 - 08:01 PM

Low Caste battles for the Right to be "Untouchables"

India's centuries-old controversy over caste and discrimination brought parts of Delhi to a halt yesterday as thousands of members of an ethnic group demanded that their official status be lowered in order to provide them with better access to jobs and education. Members of the Gujjar tribe blocked major roads and highways into Delhi in sit-down protests and set fire to tyres as they vowed to create gridlock across India's capital and the surrounding area.

Some train services were suspended and many IT and outsourcing companies with offices in Delhi's satellite cities sent staff home early. In some locations, police fired tear gas at the stone-throwing demonstrators. "This will go on until our demands are met," Surjit Singh, a Gujjar protester who was standing in front of hundreds of cars, told reporters.

According to Indian law, the Gujjars Ð many of whom live in the nearby desert state of Rajasthan Ð are classified as belonging to the country's second-lowest group, known as Other Backward Classes (OBC).

In the complex, divisive system this category is one step up from the lowest level known as Scheduled Tribes and Castes (STC) otherwise known as Dalits, or "Untouchables".

The Gujjars say they have been discriminated against in terms of jobs, health care and education Ð particularly in Rajasthan Ð but say that by being reclassified as STC they will be eligible for government positions and university places that are reserved for that group.

The Indian government reserves about half of all seats in state colleges and universities for lower castes and tribal groups Ð a massive affirmative-action plan it says is designed to counter centuries of discrimination. Many have criticised the quota system, however, saying that it accentuates caste differences at a time when India is seeking to modernise and develop economically and socially.

A government panel that was set up to look into the Gujjars' claims, recommended that a £40m aid package be set aside for their community but ruled out reclassifying the tribe. That plan has not satisfied the Gujjars.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 30 May 08 - 12:26 PM

Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad


Don't think, just believe. Would we lie to you?


Reminds me of the flap over the Proctor & Gamble logo a few years back. Remember that? The logo they had used for something like 100 years had to go because some folks decided it had satanic images in it (something like that anyway).

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 29 May 08 - 06:14 PM

That is the most ridiculous pea-brained thing I have heard in months.

A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 29 May 08 - 05:35 PM

Dunkin' Donuts pulls Rachael Ray ad

The coffee and donut chain says it yanked online spot to avoid 'misperception'; professor says links to extremism are narrow-minded and even racist.

BOSTON (AP) -- Dunkin' Donuts has pulled an online advertisement featuring Rachael Ray after complaints that a fringed black-and-white scarf that the celebrity chef wore in the ad offers symbolic support for Muslim extremism and terrorism.

The coffee and baked goods chain said the ad that began appearing online May 7 was pulled over the past weekend because "the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee."

In the spot, Ray holds an iced coffee while standing in front of trees with pink blossoms.

Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin complained that the scarf wrapped around her looked like a kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress. ''The kaffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,'' Malkin wrote in her syndicated column.

"Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not-so-ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons," she said.

A statement issued Wednesday by Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Brands Inc., however, said the scarf had a paisley design, and was selected by a stylist for the advertising shoot.

"Absolutely no symbolism was intended," the company said.

Dunkin' spokeswoman Michelle King said the ad appeared on the chain's Web site, as well as other commercial sites.

Amahl Bishara, an anthropology lecturer at the University of Chicago who specializes in media matters relating to the Middle East, said complaints about the scarf's use in the ad demonstrate misunderstandings of Arab culture and the multiple meanings that symbols can take on depending on someone's perspective.

"I think that a right-wing blogger making an association between a kaffiyeh and terrorism is just an example of how so much of the complexity of Arab culture has been reduced to a very narrow vision of the Arab world on the part of some people in the U.S.," Bishara said in a phone interview. "Kaffiyehs are worn every day on the street by Palestinians and other people in the Middle East - by people going to work, going to school, taking care of their families, and just trying to keep warm."

While some extremists and terrorists may wear kaffiyehs, "To reduce their meaning to support for terrorism has a tacit racist tone to it," Bishara said.

Malkin, in a posting following up on last week's column, said of Dunkin's decision to pull the ad, "It's refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists."

Ray, host of the Food Network television program "30 Minute Meals" as well as a syndicated daytime talk show, began appearing in ads for Dunkin' Donuts in March 2007. When Dunkin' announced the partnership, it said Ray would be featured in TV, print, radio and online spots in a campaign running through 2010.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 29 May 08 - 03:18 PM

Tucked underneath her arm, of course...


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 29 May 08 - 02:32 PM

I have been imagining the conversation the fella had with his wife. I think he has a bit of explaining to do.

I have also been imagining how she got the jewelry out of the house.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 29 May 08 - 01:56 PM

That's what he gets for leaving a naked 20-something alone in the bedroom, man. Hell, anybody coulda tole him that!


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 29 May 08 - 12:58 PM

May 27, 2008

Nude maid cleans Cheval house, including the jewelry

TAMPA — A 50-year-old Lutz man hired a nude maid to clean his 2,281-square foot home Friday.

The woman arrived at the Cheval home in a one-piece light colored dress. She took off the one-piece light colored dress. She cleaned the house per their $100-per-hour agreement. Four bedrooms, three baths.

She redressed and left.

Shortly after, the man's wife came home from vacation to discover $40,000 in jewelry missing from their bedroom.

The man told Hillsborough Sheriff's deputies he'd only left the maid alone in the bedroom a short while, spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Deputies are investigating. The nude maid, whom the man found on the Internet, is described as a white female, age 21 to 24.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 26 May 08 - 11:45 AM

Road workers in a small New Zealand town got their wish granted when a woman stripped saying she was fed up with their wolf-whistles.

The Israeli tourist was about to use an ATM in the main street of Kerikeri, in the far north of the country, when the men whistled, the New Zealand Press Association reported.

She calmly stripped off, used the cash machine, before getting dressed and walking away.

The woman told police she didn't take too kindly to the whistling from the men repairing the road.

"She said she had thought 'bugger them, I'll show them what I've got'," Police Sergeant Peter Masters told NZPA.

"She gave the explanation that she had been ... pestered by New Zealand men. She's not an unattractive looking lady," Masters said.

"She was taken back to the police station and spoken to and told that was inappropriate in New Zealand."

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 May 08 - 10:53 AM

Cat hired as station chief brings passengers back to debt-ridden Japanese train company
link

TOKYO - A money-losing Japanese train company has found the purr-fect mascot to draw crowds and bring back business - tabby Tama.

All the 9-year-old female cat has to do is sit by the entrance of western Japan's Kishi Station, wearing a black uniform cap and posing for photos for the tourists who are now flocking in from across the nation.

Her job makes cultural sense in Japan, where cats are considered good luck and are believed to bring in business.

Tama has done such a good job of raising revenue for the troubled Kishikawa train line that she was recently promoted to "super-station-master."

"She never complains, even though passengers touch her all over the place. She is an amazing cat. She has patience and charisma," said Wakayama Electric Railway Co. spokeswoman Yoshiko Yamaki. "She is the perfect station master."

People have been snatching up novelty goods - postcards, notebooks and erasers - bearing Tama's photos.

The cat had been about to lose her place to live, with the nearby store where she was raised being torn down. Now, the station is home.

The Kishikawa line had been losing $4.9 million a year as passenger numbers fell steadily to as low as about 5,000 a day, or some 1.9 million a year.

After Tama's appointment last year passenger numbers have risen by 10 percent to about 2.1 million a year.

In December Tama was rewarded with bonus pay - all in cat food.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 25 May 08 - 11:39 PM

Well...close:

A traffic advisory is in effect for a man who was killed after running into traffic on northbound Interstate 5 near Clairemont Drive in the Bay Park neighborhood of San Diego, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The man ran onto the freeway for unknown reasons and was hit by a Jeep towing a trailer at about 3 p.m., the CHP said.

---

What did the advisory say? "Be more careful running onto busy freeways, next life-time, and look both ways."???


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 May 08 - 12:48 PM

Next you'll post news of a hijacked milk truck.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 21 May 08 - 11:44 AM

MORRIS, Ill. (AP) — Traffic's backed up in northern Illinois after a trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos overturned, spilling boxes of cookies into the median and roadway.

Illinois State Police Sergeant Brian Mahoney says the truck's driver was traveling on I-80 near Morris around 4 a.m. Monday when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into the median, spilling some of the 28,000 pounds of treats.

The crash about 50 miles southwest of Chicago remains under investigation.

Mahoney says no charges have been filed but both lanes of traffic remain closed while authorities remove the cookies.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 May 08 - 11:25 AM

Notice how the victim is photographed but the criminal has some protective alteration of the photo of him. She is a tiny little thing, but has a great heart. I hope they do well for her at the new institution.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: bobad
Date: 21 May 08 - 09:58 AM

8-year-old girl asks for divorce in court
By: Hamed Thabet

SANA'A, April 9 - An eight-year-old girl decided last week to go the Sana'a West Court to prosecute her father, who forced her to marry a 30-year-old man.

Nojoud Muhammed Nasser arrived at court by herself on Wednesday, April 2, looking for a judge to handle her case against her father, Muhammed Nasser, who forced her two months ago to marry Faez Ali Thamer, a man 22 years her senior. The child also asked for a divorce, accusing her husband of sexual and domestic abuse.

According to Yemeni law, Nojoud cannot prosecute, as she is underage. However, court judge Muhammed Al-Qathi heard her complaint and subsequently ordered the arrests of both her father and husband.

"My father beat me and told me that I must marry this man, and if I did not, I would be raped and no law and no sheikh in this country would help me. I refused but I couldn't stop the marriage," Nojoud Nasser told the Yemen Times. "I asked and begged my mother, father, and aunt to help me to get divorced. They answered, 'We can do nothing. If you want you can go to court by yourself.' So this is what I have done," she said.

Nasser said that she was exposed to sexual abuse and domestic violence by her husband. "He used to do bad things to me, and I had no idea as to what a marriage is. I would run from one room to another in order to escape, but in the end he would catch me and beat me and then continued to do what he wanted. I cried so much but no one listened to me. One day I ran away from him and came to the court and talked to them."

"Whenever I wanted to play in the yard he beat me and asked me to go to the bedroom with him. This lasted for two months," added Nasser. "He was too tough with me, and whenever I asked him for mercy, he beat me and slapped me and then used me. I just want to have a respectful life and divorce him."

Nasser's uncle, who does not want to reveal his name, is following the case now as her guardian. According to her uncle, after Muhammed Nasser, the girl's father, lost his job as a garbage truck driver in Hajjah, he became a beggar, and soon after suffered from mental problems.

Thamer is in jail now. "Yes I was intimate with her, but I have done nothing wrong, as she is my wife and I have the right and no one can stop me," he said. "But if the judge or other people insist that I divorce her, I will do it, it's ok."

So far, no accusations have been made against her father, who was later released due to health problems, or Nasser's husband, who will remain in jail for further investigation.

"So far there is no case and no charges, as Nojoud arrived by herself to court asking just for a divorce," said Shatha Ali Nasser, a lawyer in the Supreme Court who is following Nojoud Nasser's story.

Shatha Ali Nasser confirmed that item number 15 in Yemeni civil law reads that "no girl or boy can get married before the age of 15." However, this item was amended in 1998 so parents could make a contract of marriage between their children even if they are under the age of 15. But the husband cannot be intimate with her until she is ready or mature," said Nasser."This law is highly dangerous because it brings an end to a young girl's happiness and future fruitful life. Nojoud did not get married, but she was raped by a 30-year old man."

Nasser confirmed that Nojoud Nasser's case is not the first of its kind in Yemen, but it is the first time that a girl went to court by herself to ask for a divorce.

"We are not planning to return Nojoud to her family. Who knows? Maybe after a few years the same thing will happen to her again," said Shatha Ali Nasser. "We are planning to put her in Dar Al-Rahama [an non-governmental organization that works with children], where she can have a better life and education. We do not want her family to pay her expenses, as they are poor."

http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1145&p=front&a=2

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 20 May 08 - 10:42 AM

I think right to left and top down.


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 May 08 - 08:29 PM

Should I read that left to right or right to left?

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 19 May 08 - 08:04 PM

Well, all I can say is 个婴儿:奶几个娃没啥好讲(图.



A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 May 08 - 07:43 PM

Police woman nurses orphaned babies in this front page photo they mentioned on NPR today. If you read Chinese, here is the front page.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 18 May 08 - 02:56 PM

Oh, bring something to eat, would you? There's a deer...



A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 May 08 - 12:13 PM

How unusual? Dinner delivered itself!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 17 May 08 - 11:00 PM

Friday May 16, 2008, 11:01 PM

Dorothy Scanlon's Friday morning wake-up call came with antlers and hoofs.

A young deer crashed through the Muskegon woman's room at the Christian Care Nursing Center around 6:45 a.m. The deer, which broke its two front legs and received several cuts, proceeded to crawl around the home's hall, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

"I heard the loud boom and I thought the furnace blew up, but then I saw the deer head and I was so startled I started screaming," Scanlon said. "Luckily I didn't get hit because I sleep rolled up in a ball."

Nancy Mckinney, inservice director at the home at 1275 Kenneth, was relieved no one was hurt during one of the "biggest things to happen here within the last year."

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 May 08 - 10:08 PM

80 and 90 year-old scoff laws. . .

Indiana nuns lacking ID denied at poll by fellow sister
AP

About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow sister because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.

Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow members of Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.

The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.

"One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,'" Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives.

The convent will make "a very concerted effort" to get proper identification for the nuns in time for the general election. "We're going to take from now until November to get them out and get this done.

"You can't do this like school kids on a bus," she said. "I wish we could."

Late Tuesday, Secretary of State Todd Rokita was unapologetic.

"Indiana's Voter ID Law applies to everyone. From all accounts that we've heard, the sisters were aware of the photo ID requirements and chose not to follow them," he said in a statement released by his office.

follow the link for the rest

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 May 08 - 06:11 AM

Criminals claim 'copyright' malware

Virus writers selling software with a detailed licensing agreement

By Jordan Robertson
The Associated Press
updated 5:58 p.m. CT, Wed., April. 30, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - Even criminal hackers want to protect their intellectual property, and they've come up with a method akin to copyrighting — with an appropriate dash of Internet thuggery thrown in.

Professional virus writers are now selling a suite of software on the Internet with an unusual attachment: a detailed licensing agreement that promises penalties for redistributing the malicious code without permission.

...

Symantec researchers noticed a Russian-language example floating around the Internet and wrote about it on the company's official blog this week.

The software is used to infect computers and control them remotely. The zombie machines can be used to pump out spam, launch more attacks or steal personal information ... .

Networks of zombie machines — known as "bot nets" — can be extremely lucrative, sometimes bringing millions of dollars in profit for their authors and their distributors. To maximize that profit, the software analyzed by Symantec's researchers contained the following rules:

The customer can't resell the product, examine its underlying coding, use it to control other bot nets or submit it to antivirus companies and agrees to pay the seller a fee for product updates.

The threat:

Violate the terms, and we'll report you ourselves to the antivirus companies by giving them information about how to dismantle your bot network or prevent it from growing bigger.

[Zulfikar Ramzan, senior principal security researcher with Symantec Corp] said: "What's funny is they put more effort into their EULA (end-user license agreement) than traditional software companies might."

The ultimate rub? Apparently the threat was not only hollow but unheeded. Symantec said the program that's accompanied by the novel rules is being traded freely online — and so far its authors haven't called Symantec to make good on their threat.

©2008 The Associated Press.

/quote

Don't think for a moment that it isn't big business.

John

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Leadfingers
Date: 02 May 08 - 08:19 PM

I heard on Mudcat that there is someone trying for Double zero posts !

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 02 May 08 - 01:51 PM

A neo-Nazi rally of about 700 people in Hamburg sparked a violent counterreaction from anti-Nazi left-wingers which ended up in riots worse than any previously seen in Hamburg. CArs were burned, stones were flung, arrests were made.

Spiegel has photos of the unrest, demonstrations and street violence.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 01 May 08 - 03:31 PM

HONOLULU (AP) — A group of Native Hawaiians on Wednesday locked the gates of Iolani Palace, the former home of Hawaiian royalty, and took over the grounds.

The group, Hawaiian Kingdom Government, said it would occupy the palace grounds indefinitely and start carrying out the business of what it considers the legitimate government of the Hawaiian Islands.

State deputy sheriffs were not allowing anyone else to enter the palace grounds as unarmed security guards from the group blocked all gates to the palace, a major tourist attraction in downtown Honolulu.

Workers inside the palace itself had locked the doors and were not letting the group inside.

The group said it learned from Police Chief Boisse Correa, who is a Native Hawaiian, that arrest warrants were being prepared with the expectation they would be served on the 60 or so protesters.

Protest leaders said they were prepared to be arrested and would go peacefully.

The group's leader, Mahealani Kahau, said the group did not recognize Hawaii as an American state.

The group is one of several Hawaiian sovereignty organizations in the islands, which became the 50th state in 1959.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 29 Apr 08 - 01:51 PM

"Three days after a high-speed train accident caused by sheep on the line, a German regional train has hit a herd of cattle. No passengers are dead, but eight cows have lost their lives. The accidents have raised concerns about safety on the German rail system.

A train rumbling between the villages of Arnstadt and Ilmenau in rural Thüringia, central Germany, plowed into a herd of cows at a rail crossing late on Tuesday morning, said a police spokesman in the nearby town of Gotha. "We don't know any other details, the accident just occurred at 11 a.m.," the spokesman said.

The accident comes three days after a higher-profile derailment caused by a herd of sheep near Fulda, in the state of Hesse. That train was travelling at 220 kilometers per hour when it struck the animals and hopped the rail in a tunnel between Fulda and Würzburg on Saturday evening. Nineteen people were injured, and twenty sheep killed. "

Spiegel


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Apr 08 - 01:07 AM

Police say Austrian man raped daughter, fathered 6 children
April 27, 2008 From Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria - A woman who went missing in 1984 was found by police over the weekend and told investigators that she had been held by her father in a cellar, where she was repeatedly raped and gave birth to at least six children, police said Sunday.

Authorities said that the father may have told acquaintances and relatives that his daughter had joined a cult and disappeared.

Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs, told reporters that the father, identified as Josef F., had been taken into custody. Police said Josef and his wife had been raising three of their daughter's children. The other three grew up in the cellar.

"We are being confronted with an unfathomable crime," Interior Minister Guenther Platter said.

The case unfolded after a gravely ill teenager was found unconscious on April 19 in the building where her grandparents live, and taken to a hospital in the town of Amstetten. Told that the sick 19-year-old's mother was missing, authorities publicly appealed for her to come forward.

Officers received a tip and picked up the mother near the hospital on Saturday, police said.

The mother, whom authorities identified as Elisabeth F., told officers that she had just been released after two decades of captivity at the hands of her father. She said that on Aug. 28, 1984 her father had sedated her, handcuffed her and locked her in a room in the cellar of the family's apartment building.

In an interview with AP Television News, Polzer said that Josef F. had given police a code to unlock a hidden door, revealing the area where Elisabeth and the children had been held.

It had several rooms, an uneven floor and a very narrow hallway, Polzer said, adding that the door was very small, and that one had to bend one's head to get through.

"Everything is very, very narrow and the victim herself ... told us that this was being continually enlarged over the years," Polzer said.

The area also contained sanitary facilities and small hot plates for cooking, Polzer said.

On its Web site, ORF reported that the rooms were at most 5.6 feet high and that the area had a TV.

The area also included a "padded cell," Hans-Heinz Lenze, a senior Amstetten district official, said in remarks broadcast late Sunday.

Elisabeth said her father had been sexually abusing her since she was 11. According to the police statement, Elisabeth said that she and her children got food and clothing only from her father and her mother, Rosemarie, had not been involved.

Police said Elisabeth F. appeared "greatly disturbed" during questioning and agreed to talk only after authorities assured her she would no longer have to have contact with her father and that her children would be cared for.

Police said Josef, 73, and Rosemarie had raised three of Elisabeth's children in their apartment in a two-story building in Amstetten, a small town about 80 miles west of Vienna.

Josef and Rosemarie registered the children with authorities, saying that they had found them outside their home in 1993, 1994 and 1997, at least one with a note from Elisabeth saying she could not care for the child.

The three other children apparently remained in the cellar with Elisabeth, police said.

"Elisabeth F. taught them how to speak," Polzer was quoted as saying by the Austria Press Agency.

Police said the sick 19-year-old, Kerstin, had been found unconscious on April 19 in the apartment building, with a handwritten note purportedly signed by Elisabeth, asking that she be given care.

After Kerstin was hospitalized, police said, Josef F. freed Elisabeth and the two remaining children from the cellar and told his wife that their daughter and the children had come back to them.

The Austria Press Agency reported that, in addition to Kerstin, three of the children are boys and two are girls, the youngest of whom is 5.

All are in psychiatric care, along with Elisabeth and Rosemarie, police said. DNA tests are expected to determine whether Josef F. is the father.

Police cited Elisabeth as saying that she gave birth to twins in 1996 but one died several days later because it was not properly cared for, according to police, who said they are investigating.

Josef, the alleged abuser, then apparently removed the corpse from the cellar and burned it, the police statement said. It was not immediately clear if the twin who allegedly died was included in the police total of six children.

Sunday's developments are reminiscent of the case of Natascha Kampusch, which shocked Austrians less than two years ago.

Kampusch was 10 years old when she was kidnapped in Vienna on her way to school in March 1998. She was held for the next 8 1/2 years by Wolfgang Priklopil, who largely confined her to a tiny underground dungeon in his home in a quiet Vienna suburb. Priklopil threw himself in front of a train just hours after Kampusch's dramatic escape on Aug. 23, 2006.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:29 PM

1,600 cases of beer stolen; thirsty thieves sought

April 24, 2008

TAMPA -- If someone shows up at a party with 1,600 cases of Icehouse longnecks, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office would like you to give them a call.

Deputies said an entire Great Dane semitrailer truck containing the beer was stolen sometime between 8 a.m. and midnight on April 21 from 6408 Causeway Blvd. The owner of the cab parks on the leased lot and reported the truck stolen.

Deputies said the trailer is white with red stripes along the top and bottom and is valued at $10,000. The cab is a white 1993 Freightliner model valued at $15,000. Deputies provided a picture (left) of a similar cab.

Authorities valued the hooch at $20,000.

Deputies ask anyone with information to call [phone] or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8744.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Apr 08 - 12:49 PM

Lake Stevens teen's pregnancy hoax fools teachers, friends
link

LAKE STEVENS -- In December, Danica Esau started to complain about sore breasts and feet. The Lake Stevens High School senior ate pickle, tofu and banana sandwiches for lunch in front of her grossed-out classmates. She just craved them, she explained.

Over the weeks, as her belly grew, she traded jeans for elastic maternity pants, evading classmates' questions as long as she could. Are you going to keep the baby? When are you due? What does your boyfriend think?

In February, she broke down and told everyone she was pregnant.

Then last month she told the truth: It was all a hoax.

"I just wanted to see what it would be like," said Esau, 18. "I'm very dramatic, so this was perfect. It was like a big Danica play for four months."

Every day, she wrapped T-shirts around her belly to create a baby bump believable enough to fool friends, co-workers at Target and strangers she passed on the street. She rarely went out without it.

People who knew her were shocked. A student leader, active in several school groups, Esau also is a very vocal, and controversial, supporter of safe sex.

Known as the "condom lady," she takes orders for prophylactics and delivers them in brown paper bags to boys and girls at school. She gets the condoms free from a sexual health organization she volunteers with.

"I'm a condom dealer," said Esau, pulling a condom out of her gray clutch purse. " 'Danica Esau,' at my school, is related to free condoms and free information about sex ed."

District policy on sexual education is abstinence based, spokeswoman Arlene Hulten said. Administrators did not know of the fake pregnancy, or that Esau was handing out condoms at school, something they now will tell her to stop. "Our procedure does not warrant providing condoms for students," Hulten said.

During her fake pregnancy, Esau was always acting.

A veteran of school plays, she consulted Web sites on how to fake pregnancies, learned to sit and walk like a pregnant woman and ate salt to make herself bloated.

She shopped with friends for maternity clothes when the baggier outfits wouldn't do any more. She ran to the bathroom when anyone walked by with strong perfume. When she missed school because of laryngitis, she said she "had appointments."

Some friends were really excited and offered to organize baby showers.

"One of the first things I said was, 'I'll totally baby-sit,'" said Tatiana Bogdanoff, a senior who believed the ruse. "It wasn't like everyone was talking about it, but it got around."

Others talked behind Esau's back or confronted her boyfriend.

Senior Kyle Alford agreed to play along because his girlfriend was so excited to try her experiment. So he'd rub her belly in class and said he kept the truth to himself.

He didn't think it was a big deal, until his family complained that people were questioning them about the pregnancy. That put an end to the ruse, which Esau originally hoped to carry to full term.

"I have a younger sister, and she was hearing crap about it," Alford said. "Lake Stevens isn't that big of a town. It spread quickly. My dad works in Lake Stevens and people would confront him about it. Since he's my dad, he went along with it, too.

"Eventually it got to the point where my parents weren't too happy about it," Alford said. "It brought unneeded drama to my family in general and unneeded attention."

Bibiana Esau said she couldn't walk outside without people questioning her about her daughter's pregnancy.

She struggled to keep her mouth shut when parents of girls who had grown up with her daughter offered sympathy.

She believed in her daughter's cause but feared retribution. Their home was egged last summer after Danica wrote a letter to a local newspaper about sex education.

"When this first came up, it took the wind out of my sails," said the divorced mother of two. "I thought, 'What are you trying to do to our family? Do you want the house to get burned down?' But I had to back her up."

Bibiana Esau was unmarried and 20 years old when she had Danica. Her pregnancy scandalized her neighborhood, and she remembers the pain well.

Danica Esau said she now understands her mother's distress. While she didn't find much overt discrimination, some people treated her differently and shot her dirty looks.

Since she's come clean about the pregnancy experiment, Esau said she's lost friends and had people accuse her of trying to get attention or of mocking pregnant teens.

"I don't want people to look at it as an attention-getter," she said. "There's so many other ways I could get attention than to be bad-mouthed for three months."

She insists she staged the pregnancy to help girls who are going through the real thing.

In 2006, 4.2 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 in the U.S. gave birth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pat Paluzzi, president and chief executive of the Healthy Teen Network in Washington, D.C., said this is the first time she's heard of a teen faking pregnancy.

Paluzzi liked the idea.

Though federal law prohibits schools from discriminating against pregnant students, some schools encourage pregnant girls to transfer to alternative schools or don't give them desks big enough for their growing bellies, she said. The Healthy Teen Network, a national teen pregnancy organization, has tried to study this discrimination but has struggled to get reliable data, she said.

"If she really thought she was seeing discrimination at her school and she really wanted to see and experience that firsthand by going undercover and deceiving people -- if that was her intent -- I don't suppose that's a horrible, horrible thing," Paluzzi said. "I think it's kind of interesting and I'd like to talk to her."

Students do sometimes get pregnant, and Esau's experiment has the potential to shed some light on the issues those teens face, said Micheal Furoy, who teaches TV and video production at Lake Stevens High School.

"I kind of saw it more as a story that would be a great story," he said. "People will try to be African-American or they'll try to be white if they're African-American and try to live in each others' shoes. I thought it was kind of interesting."

Esau plans to film a documentary about her experience for Viking TV, the school's internal station. Standing in her bedroom, Esau, a fan of MTV's "The Real World," filmed video diary entries about her pregnancy.

Before faking her pregnancy, Esau envisioned herself giving birth early and becoming a young, chic mom.

Not anymore.

Being a fake teen mom was difficult enough.

She's not ready for the real thing.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 10 Apr 08 - 09:48 AM

Decomposing body found in dead woman's closet

CHARLES TOWN, West Virginia (AP) -- The daughter of a woman made a gruesome discovery while going through her bedroom closet after she'd died -- the decomposing body of another woman wrapped in plastic, blankets and a sleeping bag.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department is trying to identify the corpse found April 3, a day after Beatrice Magaha suffered a stroke outside her home and hit her head. She died on the way to the hospital.

The next day, the daughter and her husband called police after being overwhelmed by the smell coming from the closet. Sgt. R.S. Sell said Wednesday he found the body of an elderly woman wrapped in layers on the closet floor.

The body appeared to have been there for a while. While an autopsy turned up no evidence of foul play, the death is being treated as suspicious.

DNA samples were taken from the body in an attempt to identify the remains. It could be several weeks before lab results are available, Sell said.

Sell said another woman had lived with Magaha but family members had not seen her for a year or two. The couple told Sell that whenever they visited Magaha, she would not allow them inside her home, about 15 miles south of Martinsburg.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 09 Apr 08 - 12:02 PM

'Darwin chip' brings evolution into the classroom
10:58 08 April 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Ewen Callaway


A new "Darwin chip" could make evolution as easy as pressing play.

Researchers have created an automated device that evolves a biological molecule on a chip filled with hundreds of miniature chambers.

The molecule, which stitches together strands of RNA, became 90 times more efficient after just 70 hours of evolution.

"It's survival of the fittest," says Brian Paegel, a biochemist at the Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla, California, who led the study with colleague Gerald Joyce.

The experiment could be used in the future to evolve molecules – or even cells – to sense environmental pollutants, Paegel says.

Dispelling doubts

And by demonstrating natural selection in real-time, the device could also help dispel doubts over evolution in the classroom and beyond, says Joyce. "There's a whole bunch of people who think evolution is only theory, including some former presidential candidates."

While Darwin used natural selection to explain differences between species, his principles also work at the level of molecules.

RNA is usually used to create proteins from genes. But some kinds of RNA can perform tasks similar to protein enzymes. Paegel's team used just such an RNA molecule, or ligase, in their work.

In the process, the ligase sews another strand of RNA to itself and is then duplicated by a pair of proteins.

Because of occasional errors in copying, the new ligase molecule might work differently from its predecessor – sometimes better, and sometimes worse. Paegel's team wanted to see if they could evolve a better ligase by natural selection.

Evolving ability
To do this, they took a form of ligase that is not very good at recognising RNA molecules, and dumped it in a pool of RNA. After letting it duplicate for a while, the researchers gradually reduced the number of RNA molecules in the pool, meaning that only the more efficient copies of the ligase could survive.

All the reactions occurred in a miniature chamber on the "evolution chip". After reaching a specified level of efficiency, a miniature pump automatically sucked up a small amount of the contents and plopped it into a new chamber. This started another round of selection.

After 70 hours and billions of duplications, Paegel's team stopped the reaction and analysed the last few batches. The ligase molecules they pulled out were able to find and stitch RNA molecules 90 times more efficiently than the ligase the team started with.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 09:08 PM

67 Bodies Secretly Exhumed From NM Grave
AP link. It's from the AP site itself so I don't know how durable it is, but there are a couple of photos.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Working in secret, federal archaeologists have dug up the remains of dozens of soldiers and children near a Civil War-era fort after an informant tipped them off about widespread grave-looting.

The exhumations, conducted from August to October, removed 67 skeletons from the parched desert soil around Fort Craig — 39 men, two women and 26 infants and children, according to two federal archaeologists who helped with the dig.

They also found scores of empty graves and determined 20 had been looted.

The government kept its exhumation of the unmarked cemetery near the historic New Mexico fort out of the public's eye for months to prevent more thefts.

The investigation began with a tip about an amateur historian who had displayed the mummified remains of a black soldier, draped in a Civil War-era uniform, in his house.

Investigators say the historian, Dee Brecheisen, may have been a prolific looter who spotted historical sites from his plane. Brecheisen died in 2004 and although it was not clear whether the looting continued after his death, authorities exhumed the unprotected site to prevent future thefts.

"As an archaeologist, you want to leave a site in place for preservation ... but we couldn't do that because it could be looted again," Jeffery Hanson, of the Bureau of Reclamation, told The Associated Press.

The remains are being studied by Bureau of Reclamation scientists, who are piecing together information on their identities. They will eventually be reburied at other national cemeteries.

Most of the men are believed to have been soldiers — Fort Craig protected settlers in the West from American Indian raids and played a role in the Civil War. Union troops stationed there fought the Confederacy as it moved into New Mexico from Texas in 1862.

The children buried there may have been local residents treated by doctors at the former frontier outpost, officials said.

Federal officials learned of the looting in November 2004, when Don Alberts, a retired historian for Kirtland Air Force Base, tipped them off about a macabre possession he'd seen at Brecheisen's home about 30 years earlier.

Alberts described seeing the mummified remains of a black soldier with patches of brown flesh clinging to facial bones and curly hair on top of its skull. Alberts said the body had come from Fort Craig.

"The first thing we did was laughed because who would believe such a story," Hanson said. "But then we quickly decided we better go down and check it out."

Weeks later, Hanson and fellow archaeologist Mark Hungerford surveyed the cemetery site and found numerous holes — evidence of unauthorized digging.

While records show the cemetery had been disinterred twice by the Army in the late 1800s, it wasn't known how many bodies remained. Hanson said ground-penetrating radar revealed the Army left behind about one-third of the bodies.

A lack of funding and various federal procedures delayed the excavation until last summer.

Brecheisen's son told authorities where the mummified remains from his father's home were, and a person who hasn't been publicly identified handed over a more-than-century-old skull packaged in a brown paper bag. Alberts said that skull, which still had hair attached, was the one he'd seen years earlier.

Authorities also found some Civil War and American Indian artifacts in Brecheisen's home, but the display rooms that showcased Brecheisen's collections had already been emptied out and auctioned off by his family after his death, Hanson said.

Investigators believe Brecheisen did most of his looting alone, but they also know he dug with close friends and family at the Fort Craig site. Some who accompanied him led authorities to the grave sites, Hanson said.

Brecheisen was a decorated Vietnam veteran and flew for the Air National Guard during a 26-year military career. His family described him as "one of the state's foremost preservationists of historical facts and sites" in his obituary.

Those close to Brecheisen said his looting may have been motivated by anger toward the Bureau of Land Management, but no further details were available. Alberts described him as a collector; it wasn't clear whether Brecheisen sold any of the items.

Investigators believe he also dug up grave sites in Fort Thorn and Fort Conrad in southern New Mexico as well as prehistoric American Indian burial sites in the Four Corners region.

Hungerford said they also believe he may have taken the Fort Craig burial plot map, which is missing from the National Archives.

The criminal case against Brecheisen was closed upon his death and there are no plans to investigate his family members, assistant U.S. Attorney Mary McCulloch said.

Alberts said he asked Brecheisen to come clean.

"I had urged him to simply return the remains, about 10, 15 years before he got ill. I offered to act as an honest broker to the deal and see that they were returned, but I didn't get a response," Alberts said. "I didn't want to get a friend in trouble."

He added: "But you look back and think you would have done everything differently if you would have known everything was going to disappear."

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 01:27 PM

I can't but wonder what she will be like as she grows older (assuming she survives). Will both mouths be able to eat, speak and breathe? Will all four eyes work? All controlled by a single brain or is there some split there as well? I wish her well.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 01:18 PM

Looks like she is a chimera, though there usually isn't an outward sign of the double faces. There was a story on NPR on one of the weekend programs about this condition a couple of weeks ago. It amounts to being your own twin, having absorbed a Siamese twin that might have formed.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 01:13 PM

Baby with 2 faces born in north India

By GURINDER OSAN
Associated Press Writer

SAINI SUNPURA, India (AP) -- A baby with two faces was born in a northern Indian village, where she is doing well and is being worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, her father said Tuesday.

The baby, Lali, apparently has an extremely rare condition known as craniofacial duplication, where a single head has two faces. Except for her ears, all of Lali's facial features are duplicated - she has two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes.

"My daughter is fine - like any other child," said Vinod Singh, 23, a poor farm worker.

Lali has caused a sensation in the dusty village of Saini Sunpura, 25 miles east of New Delhi. When she left the hospital, eight hours after a normal delivery on March 11, she was swarmed by villagers, said Sabir Ali, the director of Saifi Hospital.

"She drinks milk from her two mouths and opens and shuts all the four eyes at one time," Ali said.

Rural India is deeply superstitious and the little girl is being hailed as a return of the Hindu goddess of valor, Durga, a fiery deity traditionally depicted with three eyes and many arms.

Up to 100 people have been visiting Lali at her home every day to touch her feet out of respect, offer money and receive blessings, Singh told The Associated Press.

"Lali is God's gift to us," said Jaipal Singh, a member of the local village council. "She has brought fame to our village."

Village chief Daulat Ram said he planned to build a temple to Durga in the village.

"I am writing to the state government to provide money to build the temple and help the parents look after their daughter," Ram said.

Lali's condition is often linked to serious health complications, but the doctor said she was doing well.

"She is leading a normal life with no breathing difficulties," said Ali, adding that he saw no need for surgery.

Lali's parents were married in February 2007. Lali is their first child.

Singh said he took his daughter to a hospital in New Delhi where doctors suggested a CT scan to determine whether her internal organs were normal, but Singh said he felt it was unnecessary.

"I don't feel the need of that at this stage as my daughter is behaving like a normal child, posing no problems," he said.

Blue Clicky

Click on the picture in the story and it will enlarge.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Wesley S
Date: 03 Apr 08 - 04:47 PM

Is that a Fender Strat in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

Stratocaster shoplifted

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Apr 08 - 10:21 PM

Hey, BWL, long time no see. Have you been making pots all winter? Coming out for a breath of fresh air and planning your tornado season strategy?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Peace
Date: 01 Apr 08 - 08:57 PM

(That's wasn't meant to denigrate Colorado.)

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Peace
Date: 01 Apr 08 - 08:54 PM

Another 49 States and ya jus' might have somethin' there.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 01 Apr 08 - 08:49 PM

I have a piece of paper that's shaped like Colorado. Wonder what I can get for it?

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Apr 08 - 01:38 AM

Faith the two-legged dog.

Her name could also be Patience, considering all of the people she sees in a visit.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 12:13 AM

Naw, it's just a Smurf with a hard-on. :)

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 23 Mar 08 - 08:54 PM

A Cheeto Cheese Puff in the form of Jesus has been named "Cheesus".


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 Mar 08 - 06:43 AM

Horse tries to drop in on hospital patient

The Associated Press
updated 4:40 a.m. CT, Sun., March. 23, 2008

LIHUE, Hawaii - A man hoping to cheer up an ailing relative at Wilcox Memorial Hospital hadn't considered one of the visitation rules: No horses allowed.

The man thought the patient would enjoy seeing his stallion, said Lani Yukimura, a spokeswoman at the hospital. He and the horse entered the hospital earlier this month and rode an elevator up to the third floor, where they were met and stopped by security personnel.

Security managed to get the man and the horse out of the hospital, with "just a few scuff marks," she said.

The hospital has a pet visitation policy, but it's for dogs and cats, not horses.

"On Kauai, we have a very warm inviting atmosphere at Wilcox," Yukimura said. "We just hope people understand this is not a place for a horse."

The man's good intentions were further dashed when his relative was brought out to see the horse.






"That's not my horse," the patient said to hospital staff.

John
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 08 - 02:08 PM

I looked at that corn flake and the copy-cats. eBay is a great place for some lowest-common-denominator commerce. :)