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

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 02:37 PM

As we go strolling through the park,
Goosing statues in the dark,
If Sherman's horse can take it,
Why can't you?

So says Justice en Lieu!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 01:11 PM

Whatever happened to 'turn the other cheek?'

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 01:10 PM

Well, it certainly looks that way, but I am sure there is another side to the story.


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 12:54 PM

It's a bum rap.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 11:58 AM

So is Officer Craig Murrah still getting behind in his patrol work? Inquiring minds with little else to amuse them would like to know.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 05:55 PM

My tax dollars at work (seems to me that a slap on the bum is no big deal considering the trouble these two could have gotten into):

link

Officer accused of slapping woman's behind

FORT WORTH -- A Fort Worth police officer was arrested Wednesday on allegations that he slapped the rear of a woman he caught engaging in sexual conduct in a car in Oakhurst Park in June. Officer Craig Murrah, who has been with the department since 2001, was arrested on a warrant for "official oppression," a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in a county jail and a fine of up to $4,000. Murrah is on restricted duty pending a review of the case by the Tarrant County district attorney's office.

According to a news release by the Fort Worth Police Department, the incident occurred about 1 a.m. June 22 after Murrah found a couple engaging in sexual conduct inside a vehicle at the park at 2300 Daisy Lane in north Fort Worth.

The officer directed the couple out of the car. The 18-year-old woman, nude from the waist down, got out and was placed in the back of his patrol car, the release said. Sometime during the investigation, Murrah allegedly slapped the woman on the rear, the release said.

The woman said the officer then let the couple go with only a warning. The woman told her boyfriend what the officer had done upon getting in the car, prompting him to call 911.

A subsequent internal investigation determined there was sufficient evidence to support the woman's claims, and an arrest warrant for the officer was issued.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 01:20 PM

They would also be prohibited from... show(ing) a bra strap.

This is GREAT news! It means young women who choose to wear tank tops and spaghetti straps are going to be required to go braless!

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:00 PM

ATLANTA - Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta's indecency laws.

The amendment, sponsored by city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country.

"Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it's the in thing," Martin said Wednesday. "I don't want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future."

The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants. They would also be prohibited from wearing jogging bras in public or show a bra strap, said Debbie Seagraves, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

The proposed ordinance states that "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments" would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public and the exposure or fondling of genitals.

The penalty would be a fine in an amount to be determined, Martin said.

But Seagraves said any legislation that creates a dress code would not survive a court challenge. She said the law could not be enforced in a nondiscriminatory way because it targets something that came out of the black youth culture.

"This is a racial profiling bill that promotes and establishes a framework for an additional type of racial profiling," Seagraves said.

---

I am glad to see that the elected representatives in Atlanta are keeping their eye on the important things in public life.


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 11:27 AM

Tribes win key ruling; others will have to pay

It will be left to the state and counties to correct culverts that block fish, but the full effect of the decision isn't yet known.

August 23, 2007
The Herald

SEATTLE — Indians will have a much greater role in deciding how and where the state and other governments build culverts that impede salmon migration, following a federal court ruling Wednesday siding with the Tulalips and many other Washington tribes. In their federal lawsuit, the tribes said that state and local government has an obligation under the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliot to protect salmon habitat by not hindering fish passage with narrow or blocking culverts. The written decision by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez "declares that the right of taking fish secured to the tribes in the Stevens Treaties imposes a duty upon the state to refrain from building or operating culverts .... that hinder fish passage." Martinez also found that the state "currently owns and operates culverts that violate this duty."

The full effect of the decision is not known. The ruling was good news for the Tulalip Tribes, which is in the forefront of asserting their treaty rights. "This is a clear step for the tribes to enter into discussions with the state in terms of the impact to our tribal culture," Tulalip fisheries commissioner Terry Williams said.

The tribes alleged in their lawsuit that fish don't have access to 249 miles of streams that they should have, preventing the production of potentially 200,000 fish for tribal harvest. "This is very significant," Williams said. "Obviously we have to wait to see the detail of the judge's comments, but clearly what is being said is when the fish are impaired by habitat problems, that affects the reserved rights of the tribes."

The 152-year-old Point Elliot Treaty, also known as the Stevens Treaties, gave the tribes the right to take fish "at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations." That's key to this lawsuit, as it was to the landmark tribal fisheries decision of federal Judge George Boldt in 1974. "For (fish) to exist, they have to have habitat," Williams said. " The treaty right is hollow without the habitat to sustain our culture. This is a treaty obligation. That's what this comes from."

Janelle Guthrie, spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office, said the lawsuit is not over. "The court said the Stevens Treaties say the state has to make sure our culverts allow fish to pass. While we currently have some culverts that don't allow fish to pass, the state has plans in place to improve or replace these culverts," Guthrie said. "The next step in the process is for the court to determine its remedy. The court has set a status conference for next Wednesday."

Whatever the remedy, it will have an effect on Snohomish County government. "How this ruling is going to affect our current business, I'm not sure," said Steve Thomson, Snohomish County public works director. "I'm sure it will have some impact. I just can't say right now." The county works with state fisheries officials on new road projects near streams, and occasionally gets grants to restore older culverts that block salmon.

The state didn't dispute that some culverts block returning salmon. According to documents, the state found 18 percent of the culverts on land managed by the Department of Natural Resources were identified as barriers to fish in a 2000 inventory. The state's attorneys argued that since 1991 the state Department of Transportation's culvert projects have also opened access to more than 410 miles of salmon habitat, Guthrie said. They also argued that there is no evidence the state is diminishing the number of fish for the tribal harvest.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:43 AM

Wow. Every year older I get, the stage grows a foot wider. Amazing.



A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:02 AM

This has been making the rounds of college campuses for the fall semester getting ready to start:

---

Mindset List 2011

BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST® FOR THE CLASS OF 2011

Most of the students entering College this fall, members of the Class of 2011, were born in 1989. For them, Alvin Ailey, Andrei Sakharov, Huey Newton, Emperor Hirohito, Ted Bundy, Abbie Hoffman, and Don the Beachcomber have always been dead.


1.   What Berlin wall?
2.   Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.
3.   Rush Limbaugh and the "Dittoheads" have always been lambasting liberals.
4.   They never "rolled down" a car window.
5.   Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.
6.   They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group.
7.   They have grown up with bottled water.
8.   General Motors has always been working on an electric car.
9.   Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
10. Pete Rose has never played baseball.
11. Rap music has always been mainstream.
12. Religious leaders have always been telling politicians what to do, or else!
13. "Off the hook" has never had anything to do with a telephone.
14. Music has always been "unplugged."
15. Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
16. Women have always been police chiefs in major cities.
17. They were born the year Harvard Law Review Editor Barack Obama announced he might run for office some day.
18. The NBA season has always gone on and on and on and on.
19. Classmates could include Michelle Wie, Jordin Sparks, and Bart Simpson.
20. Half of them may have been members of the Baby-sitters Club.
21. Eastern Airlines has never "earned their wings" in their lifetime.
22. No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of "liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."
23. Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
24. Being "lame" has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.
25. Wolf Blitzer has always been serving up the news on CNN.
26. Katie Couric has always had screen cred.
27. Al Gore has always been running for president or thinking about it.
28. They never found a prize in a Coca-Cola "MagiCan."
29. They were too young to understand Judas Priest's subliminal messages.
30. When all else fails, the Prozac defense has always been a possibility.
31. Multigrain chips have always provided healthful junk food.
32. They grew up in Wayne's World.
33. U2 has always been more than a spy plane.
34. They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as "The Joker."
35. Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.
36. American rock groups have always appeared in Moscow.
37. Commercial product placements have been the norm in films and on TV.
38. On Parents' Day on campus, their folks could be mixing it up with Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz with daughter Zöe, or Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford with son Cody.
39. Fox has always been a major network.
40. They drove their parents crazy with the Beavis and Butt-Head laugh.
41. The "Blue Man Group" has always been everywhere.
42. Women's studies majors have always been offered on campus.
43. Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.
44. Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.
45. They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.
46. Most phone calls have never been private.
47. High definition television has always been available.
48. Microbreweries have always been ubiquitous.
49. Virtual reality has always been available when the real thing failed.
50. Smoking has never been allowed in public spaces in France.
51. China has always been more interested in making money than in reeducation.
52. Time has always worked with Warner.
53. Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.
54. The purchase of ivory has always been banned.
55. MTV has never featured music videos.
56. The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters.
57. Jerry Springer has always been lowering the level of discourse on TV.
58. They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.
59. They're always texting 1 n other.
60. They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom.
61. They never saw Johnny Carson live on television.
62. They have no idea who Rusty Jones was or why he said "goodbye to rusty cars."
63. Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities.
64. Chavez has nothing to do with iceberg lettuce and everything to do with oil.
65. Illinois has been trying to ban smoking since the year they were born.
66. The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.
67. Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been debilitating and controversial.
68. Burma has always been Myanmar.
69. Dilbert has always been ridiculing cubicle culture.
70. Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 08:28 PM

"Where's the Beef?"

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: TheSnail
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 07:35 PM

Manchester Evening News

Boy in court for throwing sausage
Mike Keegan and Stan Miller
22/ 8/2007

A BOY of 12 has been hauled before a court and charged with assault - with a sausage.

He was accused of throwing the cocktail sausage at an elderly neighbour. It allegedly hit him on the shoulder.

When the boy appeared at a youth court in Manchester, the judge said he couldn't believe the case had been brought before him and questioned the decision to take legal action. The boy's lawyer said the decision to prosecute `beggars belief'.

The boy entered a not guilty plea. It is understood the case has already cost several thousand pounds.

District Judge Tim Devas adjourned the case and urged the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider. He compared the incident to a story from boys' adventure book Just William. William was a mischievous schoolboy who often found himself in trouble for minor instances of misbehaviour.

The judge said: "I was brought up in the era of Just William. You may not remember it but this incident sounds similar.

"Clearly there are certain things that should be done with a 12-year-old and you shouldn't be bringing them into the court system unless it's absolutely necessary. If he has done what was suggested it is very bad behaviour. But is it in the public interest to prosecute a 12-year-old boy who threw a sausage?"

The alleged incident is said to have taken place on August 11 in Wythenshawe when the victim was walking home after visiting a pub.

He claims that after a disagreement the boy threw the sausage, which hit him on the shoulder.

The boy cannot be named for legal reasons. His mother, who was by his side in court, said he was unable to sleep on the night before the case and `worried sick that he would be sent to prison'.

She said she was furious at seeing her son `dragged into court for something like this'.

The mother added: "It's beyond belief. An absolute joke, and I'm disgusted by it. The lad has been in bits panicking about it."

Defence lawyer Oliver Gardner also criticised the move. He said: "It's crazy - they are criminalising children.

"Where is the discretion or logic on the police's behalf when they charge a 12-year-old with assault with a cocktail sausage?

"It beggars belief that they have put this boy through the trauma of the criminal justice system, locking him up at the police station and then hauling him before the court.

"Where is the sense of such an exercise?"

Prosecutor Dianne Oliver said she would take the case to her superiors who would review the charge.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 07:06 PM

Actually, I think China Barbie is prettier. Here's a fan song written for her by some drooler:

Chinese Barbie Girl Song Lyric
(Sing to the tune of Barbie Girl by Aqua)

Hiya liang nui!
Hi liang jai!
Want to ride in my Honda?
Sure liang jai!
Jump in!

* I'm a Chinese girl, in a Chinese world
Eating wonton, it's perfection
I have light brown hair, Sanrio everywhere
Frustration, in my generation.

Come on bb, let's go drink tea.

I'm a Chinese girl, in a Chinese world
Playing mahjong, nothing is wrong
I have tons of flares, tight shirts everywhere
Looking cocky, just can't stop me.

I'm Chinese, Asian girl, in a white-people world
Egg foo young, just for fun, I do laundry.

You're so tall, Chinese doll, eat some jook and chow mein,
No FOBS here, egg rolls there, fortune cookie.

Eat cha siu, eat bok choi, you can say I love Sam's club.

Repeat *

Come on bb, let's go drink tea.
Ai ai ai yah.
Come on bb, let's go drink tea.
Ooh ooh

Make me cook, make me clean, do whatever is mean
I can do some kung-fu, I have loads of bamboo.

Come jump in, let's play pool, cruise around just again,
Look and stare, dye your hair, rent some movies.

Gung jai mein, I'm jook seng, I go to the library
Bot paw girls are so jean, you can say I grow string beans.

Repeat*

Oh, that guy, kui tai mut gwai?
Well liang nui, I'll use my martial arts.
Oh I love you liang jai!

Credits: Author unknown.

(I can't even imagine the tune....)

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 11:49 AM

Mattel sues to keep Barbie off porn site

From the Associated Press
August 22, 2007

Toy maker Mattel Inc. went to court Tuesday to declare that the name of its clean-cut Barbie dolls doesn't belong on a model's pornographic website.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Mattel said the website for an adult entertainer named China Barbie has tried to benefit from El Segundo-based Mattel's success with the doll.

China Barbie's site says she is a "cordial young lady" who worked at some of the world's leading investment banking firms and ad agencies before getting into porn.

The site is registered to Global China Networks and operated by Terri Gibson of Hollywood, Fla., the suit said. It said Global China Networks used a domain name containing the word "barbie" in a "bad faith attempt to profit from Mattel's Barbie trademarks."

******

Seems a bit odd to me that, through the years, a number of adult models and performers have used "Barbie" as part of their stage names, but Mattel is choosing to sue this "Barbie" now. Surely they were all trying to "benefit from... Mattel's success with the doll". Must have more to do with the domain name than the stage name.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 11:11 PM

Bird Grilled, but Lives to Tell Tale
August 21, 2007 (AP)

BENTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A wild bird is little worse for wear after being hit by a car while crossing a road, then spending two days trapped behind the car's grille. Connie Ankli said she unknowingly drove around with the bird, believed to be a quail, inside her vehicle's front end. "Oh, I love grilled poultry. But I usually buy it at the store," she said.

The bird was recovering from its experience at the home of Frank Filmore, a technician at Kepner's Precision Auto Krafters in Berrien County's Benton Township, about 175 miles west of Detroit.

Ankli said she was taking her daughter to her piano lesson Aug. 13 when she saw an animal on a road in Royalton Township. "I didn't want to hit it, so I straddled it," she told The Herald-Palladium of St. Joseph. "When I was just about on top of it, it moved. I heard a thump, saw feathers out the back window, but no bird."

Two nights later, she said she noticed movement in the front of the vehicle. "I bent down and looked," she said, and saw a bird "peering out from behind the grille."

Auto shop manager Tim Markham said the bird had broken through the honeycomb-style, plastic grille, which then bent back and trapped the bird. Markham said the bird would be released or turned over to a nature center.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 03:53 PM

Today I found a bunch of photos they posted after the article about Fred Weisz. Here they are.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 20 Aug 07 - 10:32 AM

Bears eat man at beer festival

BELGRADE, Serbia (Reuters) -- A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival.

The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it.

"There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic told Reuters.

Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones and beer cans.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Aug 07 - 04:37 PM

From the Herald (Everett, WA), Aug. 19, 2007

link

The fiddler on the sidewalk

EVERETT - Sometimes it's a melancholy tune that drifts on the breeze outside the Snohomish County courthouse. But wait a while and hear it shift to a hopeful reel, something almost foot-stomping. Trace it back to its source and you'll find Fred Weisz.

His eyes are focused in concentration. He wrings music from four passive strings. The violin sings. The melodies are simple. His violin case stands open. "Tips appreciated." Two women huddle and search their purses. They muster $10.

"Oh wow ... thank you so much!" Weisz said, surprised by their generosity. After they leave, he says, "That's great. That'll buy, well, almost ... I'm trying to make enough today to buy my vitamins. That really helps." Few would suspect that Fred Weisz is an urban folk legend. And playing tunes on a downtown Everett sidewalk is a long way from playing on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Forced to play

Weisz had little choice but to play the violin. "My parents were from Vienna and loved music and the violin," Weisz said. "My father forced me into playing the violin." Weisz was born in 1944 in Port of Spain, Trinidad, a safe harbor after his Jewish parents fled Vienna in 1938. Adolf Hitler had joined Germany and Austria and the family was no longer safe. "It was either join the German Army or be killed," said Weisz, who practices "middle-of-the-road Judaism." "We were running from Hitler and that (Trinidad) was one of the only places you could go."

In 1947, the family moved to New York City on a medical visa for Weisz's mother. "My mother's eyesight was failing and she needed some operations," he said. Soon, the family settled in the nice Jewish community of Passaic, N.J., Weisz said, about 12 miles from the Lincoln Tunnel to Manhattan. In this town, Weisz was forever changed.

"I started playing music when I was 11," he said. "I started by taking classical violin lessons." But one day, he put Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys on a record player in the hallway of his parent's home. He heard Chubby Wise and Monroe, the father of bluegrass, playing "Can't Ya Hear Me Calling." They didn't play violin. They played fiddle.

"When I first heard bluegrass, it was like magic," Weisz said. "It knocked me out. I hunted out bluegrass records and bluegrass shows, and they were sparse," he added. "I was thirsty for bluegrass music."

Jug band craze

The once-forced marriage between Fred and the violin blossomed into a love that has lasted more than four decades. In his teens, Weisz learned to play guitar and banjo, and vowed to be the best bass player in the metropolitan area of New York and New Jersey. "I think I did it," he said. "I got a lot of work - two, three, four bands - and did a lot of playing." In Passaic, Weisz went to school with David Grisman, who went on to become a famous mandolin player. The two eagerly hopped on the urban folk music craze of the early 1960s. They and the rest of the world also fell under the sway of Beatlemania. Even so, Weisz and other musicians donned matching vests and played in jug bands alongside ragtime piano, the twang of a bluegrass fiddle and washtub basses. Between the Beatles and bluegrass, "everything was so magical in those days," Weisz said.

Flyin' Fred

Weisz turned 63 on Friday. He lives a few blocks from the county courthouse in a modest studio apartment. The place is decorated with photos from his heyday. There's a framed copy of the Even Dozen Jug Band album, and black and white photos of him playing with his earliest bands. When the mood strikes him on a sunny day, he ventures out to claim a piece of sidewalk in the shade outside the county's justice hub. When he's not smiling or giving a friendly hello, his attention is riveted on the melody, the four strings, the fingerboard.

In his suspenders, T-shirt and sneakers, few would recognize him from his close-up on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1970. "That was the highlight of my musical career," Weisz said wistfully. Back then, he was "Flyin' Fred," a fiddler with Goose Creek Symphony and at the peak of his game.

"He's my favorite fiddle player of all time," said Charlie Gearhart, the man behind Goose Creek Symphony. "He's Mr. Soul, Mr. Wonderful." Gearhart invited Weisz to Phoenix to try out as a banjo player. Things went OK, but during a break he took out his fiddle and started playing. "He blew everybody away," Gearhart said by phone from Nashville. "That's when all the magic came together. Right there. When Fred came to the band, that's when we knew what the band was and where we were going."

The band had a cutting-edge sound that mixed bluegrass, country and rock. Weisz toured with the band in three-week stints. That proved hard, he said. "You drive to the show, play the show, get back in the bus and travel 500 miles in the middle of the night," Weisz said. "You wake up and the bus is still moving. It was hard for me.

"Just playing a good show made it worth it. We had a good time." Fiddlers who play with Goose Creek these days still have to learn Weisz' licks, Gearhart said.

A 'really big shew'

Weisz and Goose Creek toured eight months with Miss Bobbie Gentry in 1970. After backing her up at a show at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, the band got big news. The phone rang: Gentry and Goose Creek were booked on The Ed Sullivan Show. "She picked up a half dozen Goose people, myself included, and we did The Ed Sullivan Show, " Weisz said.

Weisz played the classic fiddle song "Fire on the Mountain." America saw Weisz in bib overalls with thick black rimmed glasses, he said. "There was at least a minute of me, close up," Weisz said. "Ed complimented me and Charlie. We were walking upstairs and he was coming down and he said to us 'You boys are mighty fine.' All I could think of was it's the very stage the Beatles played on. It was a tremendous high."

It's been years since he saw the performance. "I'm trying to locate it now, but no luck yet," he said. Weisz and Goose Creek also opened for guitarist Jimi Hendrix at the Atlanta Pop Festival, and saw him perform from just a few feet away. "When he walked past, I said, 'Hey man, you're beautiful.' He had his turquoise blue Corvette outside, and he was great. Me and David said we'd go deaf to hear Jimi Hendrix play."

A slower pace

For decades, Weisz made his living playing music, but he has struggled with mental health problems every step of the way. A nervous breakdown temporarily pulled him out of music in the 1970s, but he rejoined Goose Creek for his third and final album with them in 1975. Since then, he said he's played with other bands, on other albums.

Weisz said he came to accept that he has bipolar manic depression. "Sometimes I think I'm just normal, but I have this illness and have had it since I was 18," he said. "It's come and gone. For being in and out of hospitals, I still managed to make my mark."

He doesn't complain. He says everyone has problems. "This stretch has been particularly rewarding," he said. "I've been out six or seven years now. I feel good." In 1993, Weisz began collecting disability checks from Social Security. Things are at a slower pace he can manage. Throughout, the music has sustained him, he said.

"It's wonderful that I can play at all, and people still like my playing." Despite the drift of time, his skilled vibrato persists. His fingers still know the technical positions of dozens of tunes, but sometimes fall prey to a tremor in his hands. "Some days it's worse than others," he said. "The more I play, the better it gets."

A bad reaction to medication about six or seven years ago robbed him of some of his sense of time and rhythm, Weisz said. "I don't like to dwell on that. My tempo has slowed down quite a bit. I'd love to play bluegrass," he added, "but my tremor stops me from playing traditional bluegrass music. It calls for up-tempo playing. I just can't do it."

At the courthouse, his audience is mostly friendly, sometimes generous. "I come up here to play, make a few dollars and meet some nice people," he said. "I pretty much volunteer music. That's why I'm grateful for a few bucks. A few bucks is a few bucks." Four years ago, he raked in enough to buy himself a new guitar. But things slacked off.

"The other day I was out here in the afternoon and something clicked and I made $31," Weisz said. "So I said I'm coming back tomorrow. I did and only made like $10." In addition to his spot outside the courthouse, Weisz plays regularly with two bands that perform at Temple Beth Or and senior centers.

"I find a lot of beauty in music. It's carried me. I pretty much have it made. Like my friend David told me: We all get older, you just play the best you can and that's it."

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 01:23 PM

Feds pay $80,000 to pair arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts
The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The federal government has agreed to pay $80,000 to a Texas couple arrested and charged with trespassing in 2004 after they refused to cover up homemade T-shirts with anti-Bush slogans.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, announced the settlement on Thursday.

The Ranks were handcuffed, removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol and held in police custody for between one and two hours.

"This settlement is a real victory not only for our clients but for the First Amendment," said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia. "As a result of the Ranks' courageous stand, public officials will think twice before they eject peaceful protesters from public events for exercising their right to dissent."

An order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

"We are pleased that this matter has been concluded," said White House spokesman Blair Jones. "The parties understand that this settlement is a compromise of disputed claims to avoid the expenses and risks of litigation and is not an admission of fault, liability, or wrongful conduct."

The recent revelation of the existence of a presidential advance manual made it clear that the government tries to exclude dissenters from the president's presidential appearances, the ACLU said in a prepared statement. "As a last resort," the manual says, "security should remove the demonstrators from the event."

The front of the Ranks' T-shirts bore the international symbol for "no" superimposed over the word "Bush." The back of Nicole Rank's T-shirt said "Love America, Hate Bush." On the back of Jeffery Rank's T-shirt was the message "Regime Change Starts at Home."

Jeffery Rank, who was a Republican who disagreed with Bush, said he found it ironic that the government manual encourages event organizers to use young Republicans as "rally squads to oppose messages like ours at presidential appearances." Rank has since changed his party affiliation, the ACLU notes in its release.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 07 - 12:01 AM

This one doesn't merit its own thread, no point in attacking the child, even if she had the bad luck/taste to be born into the Bush family. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as they say:

Jenna gonna wed ex-Rove intern
link

WASHINGTON - Wild Jenna Bush is getting married - to a former Karl Rove intern!

The 25-year-old First Daughter was engaged Wednesday to Henry Hager, 29, a former White House and Commerce Department aide and son of Virginia's Republican Party chairman.

Hager, who also worked for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, popped the question in Maine, where Jenna is staying at the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport. Twin sister Barbara, who is still single, also was seen at the compound recently.

A White House statement yesterday said, "No wedding date has been set."

It could be a lengthy engagement, since Hager returns to the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business this fall.

"He's a great guy," said a Bush insider who first met Hager when he was an intern working for Rove. "He had a lot of friends at the White House, the campaign and over at Commerce."

see the rest at the link.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Becca72
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 06:42 PM

And here I thought his career ended because he can't act his way out of a paper bag...


Seagal says FBI probe ruined career Fri Aug 17, 3:11 PM ET


Steven Seagal, whose action movies once were major box-office attractions, believes false allegations by FBI agents ruined his career, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

The comments in the Times are the first Seagal has made publicly about an investigation begun some five years ago by the FBI into accusations he intimidated a reporter and had ties to organized crime.

The Times said Seagal is demanding an apology from the FBI. A spokesman for the actor was not immediately available on Friday.

"False FBI accusations fueled thousands of articles saying that I terrorize journalists and associate with the Mafia," Seagal told the newspaper. "These kinds of inflammatory allegations scare studio heads and independent producers -- and kill careers."

Seagal, 56, was once a major star of action movies such as 1992's "Under Siege," which earned $156 million at worldwide box offices, but now he makes straight-to-DVD releases such as "Flight of Fury and "Attack Force."

The FBI investigation stemmed from Seagal's ties to former private detective Anthony Pellicano, who once was employed by many Hollywood stars, directors and producers, but is now in federal prison awaiting trial on wire-tapping and other charges.

The Pellicano investigation dates to 2002 when a free-lance reporter for the Los Angeles Times found a dead fish, a red rose and a note saying "Stop!" on her car. At the time, the reporter was researching Seagal and a former business partner.

Seagal told the Times that he and Pellicano had not been on speaking terms since the 1990s and the Times' story said his lawyers told FBI agents that by 2002, Seagal and Pellicano had become rivals in a bitter legal dispute.

The actor said in October 2004, an FBI official told him that federal agents knew he had nothing to do with the Pellicano investigation. Still, Seagal claims they have not publicly exonerated him.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment "because of the ongoing nature of the investigation" and referred calls to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney was not immediately available to comment.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 05:30 PM

Mother cuts off 61-year-old son's allowance

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- A Sicilian mother took away her 61-year-old son's house keys, cut off his allowance and hauled him to the police station because he stayed out late.

Tired of her son's misbehavior, the pensioner in the central Sicilian city of Caltagirone turned to the police to "convince this blockhead" to behave properly, La Sicilia, one of Sicily's leading newspapers, reported on Thursday. The son responded by saying his mother did not give him a big enough weekly allowance and did not know how to cook.

"My son does not respect me, he doesn't tell me where he's going in the evenings and returns home late," the woman was quoted as saying. "He is never happy with the food I make and always complains. This can't go on."

Police helped the squabbling duo make up and the two returned home together, with the son's house keys and daily allowance restored. Most Italian men still live at home late into their 30s, enjoying their "mamma's" cooking, washing and ironing. E-mail to a friend

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 09:01 PM

a few years ago.. here in Vancouver someone was cleaning the ovens in a pizza shop (with gasoline), the fumes ignited and the explosion blew out the windows and blew the employee into the street. (minor injuries)
the place was called aptly enough Dynamite Pizza..

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: TheSnail
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 07:39 AM

Stilly River Sage

I grew up in Washington near Silvana, which is near the town of Arlington. But now I work in Arlington, Texas. At least, now, as an adult, I'm not confused about which Arlington George Washington was from. :)

Couldn't resist bringing this in from another thread.

Arlington is in East Sussex, England, a few miles from Wilmington about twelve miles east of Lewes.

I think William Penn lived around here for a while.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Aug 07 - 01:17 AM

I did a doubletake on your remarks, Q--I grew up in Washington near Silvana, which is near the town of Arlington. But now I work in Arlington, Texas. At least, now, as an adult, I'm not confused about which Arlington George Washington was from. :)

The state (Texas) has been running big convoys of equipment to do Interstate highway road work now, lots of flashing lights and traffic routed off onto fewer lanes or the shoulder, and various police vehicles embedded with the convoy that includes large vehicles to act as buffers and lots of flashing lights. It doesn't seem to have helped this poor guy much:


Road worker injured by car
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A road construction worker in McKinney was severely hurt early this morning when he was struck by a vehicle on the city's north side, police said. The incident was reported at about 1:15 a.m. on southbound U.S. 75 near its intersection with Bloomdale Road on the north side of McKinney, a police dispatcher said.

KRLD radio reported that a woman lost control of her vehicle and hit the worker, who landed in hot asphalt.

The station reported that the woman tried to flee, but the man's fellow workers stopped her and turned her over to police, who found a beer can in her vehicle.

The woman failed a field sobriety test and was taken to jail, KRLD reported.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 08:54 PM

Re the Arlington story- One wing of an apartment complex not far from my neighbourhood burned, and about 80 people are homeless in a city with almost no vacancies. At first, a barbecue unit was thought to be to blame, but investigators found that spontaneous combustion of peat moss had been the cause. Several fires each summer are caused by improperly stored peat moss.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 02:07 PM

Okay, after the first reference to "biker" I skimmed it and thought bicycle. Makes slightly more sense. But not stopping? I'd still check the lab work.

On another note: Women hunting men poaching bears.


Two Silvana men arrested in bear-hunting case
August 14, 2007
link

VERLOT - She sniffed them out. The sickly sweet smell of rancid oil deep in the woods was the first clue. The discovery of corn, oats and barley in bear scat was confirmation. There were hunters illegally using bait to lure black bears.

Deep in the woods as the sun set Friday night, state Fish & Wildlife officers Julie Cook and Jennifer Maurstad tracked down their quarry. One man was up a tree on a hunting stand, another about 50 yards away. The pair, both from Silvana and in their 40s, were arrested for allegedly bear-bait hunting.

"This is a very effective manner of hunting bears, but it is illegal," Cook said. In bait hunting, animals are lured to an area with aromatic food, then ambushed by nearby hunters. Bear bait typically is sweet and high in fat. Doughnuts are often used.

Unfortunately for the hunters, bear-bait hunting is illegal in all but 10 states, Cook said. "Bear baiting is egregiously unsporting and inhumane and violators should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," said Andrew Page, spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States.

The society tries to get states to ban bear-baiting or at least phase out the practice. It's been outlawed in Washington since 1996. But bear baiting allows hunters to avoid killing sows with cubs, according to enthusiast Web sites.

Still, bait hunting can acclimate bears to human food, Cook said. Once a bear becomes used to the taste, it continues to seek it out, often putting people at risk. Typically, the bear then needs to be killed. "If they start showing up at campgrounds and are aggressive," they need to be put down, Cook said.

Since Aug. 1, state game officers have been looking for bait hunters east of Granite Falls on the Mountain Loop Highway. "It's bear season, and we've had complaints about bait hunters in the past," Cook said. About a week ago, she saw evidence not far from Coal Lake Road: rancid, used fryer oil smeared near the base of trees, then licked clean by the bears. There also were empty beer cans, which were not bear bait.

Every morning and evening Cook patrolled the area looking for signs of hunters. On Friday, a pickup truck was parked at a trailhead. Along with Maurstad, the officers set out for their catch.

Tracking armed hunters deep in the woods is terrifying, Cook said. "We're out in the middle of nowhere with no backup," she said. The armed officers quietly approached and then started making lots of noise, so the hunters didn't mistake them for an animal. "Police!" the officers shouted. The men were taken into custody without incident.

Officers seized their expensive hunting bows, an oil can filled with oats and rancid grease, and their Dodge Ram 1500 pickup. They also found a wheelbarrow smeared with blood, and in the truck's bed, the windpipe from a slain animal. There was a sticker on the back of the truck cab advertising PETA: "People Eating Tasty Animals." The men told officers they hadn't taken a bear, but evidence suggests otherwise, Cook said. The men claimed they had hauled an animal for another hunter.

Cook said the men knew what they were doing was wrong, but they had the opportunity and were going to take it. They wanted a prize animal, she said. "It's very selective," Cook said. State Fish & Wildlife agents continue to investigate. More people may be involved, Cook said.

Bear-bait hunting is a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison and thousands of dollars in fines, said Fish & Wildlife Sgt. Randy Lambert. People also are banned from hunting in most Western states for two years. For every bear a hunter kills illegally, they are assessed a mandatory $2,000 fine.

Cook, who has been a wildlife agent for 16 years, said it's a once-in-a-blue-moon experience to catch poachers still in their stands, up in a tree. Typically, tracking people illegally hunting can take weeks and months. "It was really satisfying and exciting to catch them in only a week," she said. As for anyone considering using bait to catch a prize bear, Cook has a warning. "You never know when the game warden is watching."

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 01:47 PM

Didn't have to be coasting -- he was on a motorcycle where acceleration is controlled by the hand.


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 01:42 PM

exactly!

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: EBarnacle
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 01:22 PM

I wonder what a tox screen would have shown.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 12:52 PM

"There's more to this story than made it into the papers, methinks."

Could be. I have to think I would have stopped to see what had happened if I suffered excruciating pain like that. Especially if the pain was from running into something. I have tried to picture the scene, it conjures an odd image.

That is all there was in the article, though. It was a short article so I just copied the whole thing rather than adding a link. It came from CNN.com.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 12:44 PM

He must have coasted that distance. And he didn't stop with such excruciating pain? There's more to this story than made it into the papers, methinks.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 11:19 AM

"I'm a three-legged man, with a two-legged woman,
Being chased accross the country, by a one-legged fool..."

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 10:53 AM

Japanese biker fails to notice missing leg

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A Japanese biker failed to notice his leg had been severed below the knee when he hit a safety barrier, and rode on for 2 km (1.2 miles), leaving a friend to pick up the missing limb.

The 54-year-old office worker was out on his motorcycle with a group of friends in the city of Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo, on Monday, when he was unable to negotiate a curve in the road and bumped into the central barrier, the Mainichi Shimbun said.

He felt excruciating pain, but did not notice that his right leg was missing until he stopped at the next junction, the paper quoted local police as saying.

The man and his leg were taken to hospital, but the limb had been crushed in the collision, the paper said.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: bobad
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 10:07 AM

"And I don't have a drinking problem, 'cept when I can't get a
drink"

Tom Waits - Bad Liver And A Broken Heart

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: frogprince
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 09:57 AM

Ya know...I'm not a prohibitionist; I have a drink now and again. But: if anyone cancels plans to spend vacation (or "holiday") time in some beautiful, exotic place, because the supply of alcohol there might be limited, I think it says something about his priorities, if not about his denial of an alcohol problem.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 04:19 AM

BAD NEWS IN BALI!!!

Booze shortage dampens spirits in Bali

Import problems has hotels, bars on Indonesian resort island worrying

Reuters
Updated: 1:11 p.m. CT Aug 13, 2007
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Hotels and bars on Indonesia's resort island of Bali have been hit by an alcohol shortage due to an import problem, officials said Monday.

The tourism industry is worried that the shortages could impact the number of foreign visitors, said Djinaldi Gosana, executive director of the Bali Hotel Association.

Tourism in the predominantly Hindu island of Bali in mostly Muslim Indonesia is starting to recover after suicide bombers attacked the island in October 2005, killing 20 people. The attacks came after more than 200 died in nightclub bombings by Islamic militants in 2002.
A trade ministry official said the state-owned firm responsible for importing alcohol for hotels and restaurants had not applied for quotas, which must be renewed every six months. The official, who declined to be identified, did not elaborate.

Bali's Denpasar Post newspaper reported that the shortages followed the discovery of an alcohol smuggling ring using falsified duty stamps.

"Our members are complaining of a shortage of wines and spirits over the past two months. Apparently there's a reorganization at the customs department after the discovery of a smuggling ring," Gosana said, adding he was not clear if other parts of Indonesia were also affected.

He said some outlets on the resort island had been forced to close because of the shortage.

"It's an even bigger blow for hotels that offer all-inclusive packages. Their reputation is suffering," he said.

According to government data, tourist arrivals in Bali rose 34 percent to 781,059 in the first half of 2007 from a year ago.
The island will host a number of major international meetings this year, including a key U.N. conference on climate change in December.

Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited

Let's all drink one for them ... (?)

John

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 07 - 12:35 AM

More (not "the rest") of the story:

'Spontaneous' fire prompts AISD to close 20 playgrounds

ARLINGTON -- Arlington school district officials on Monday closed playgrounds at 20 elementary campuses after an unusual spontaneous combustion fire on a playground at Anderson Elementary School last week, officials said. Fire officials say the sudden blaze originated in the soft wood fiber surface underneath the play structures.

School Superintendent Mac Bernd said the district will replace all wood-chip playgrounds in the district with pea gravel within two weeks. Bernd, who called a news conference on Monday to announce the closings, said that no children were at the playground when the fire broke out, and that warning signals would have included heat, discoloration of the surface and finally smoke before flames would have broken out.

Bernd said the Anderson playground equipment, which was constructed of metal and plastic components, melted and has to be replaced.

The equipment sustained about $35,000 in damage. The district will pay another $200,000 to replace the wood fiber with pea gravel, Bernd said.

Fire department and school district officials reviewed surveillance video of the fire and determined that it was not caused by vandalism or arson, but spontaneous combustion, Bernd said. Officials likened the fire to the combustion that can occur with organic material in a compost pile if it is not turned regularly. The material on the ground at the school became saturated with rainwater over the summer, then began to decompose under the elevated summer heat. As the temperature climbed on Thursday afternoon it ignited the dry chips on the surface.

"It was a very unusual occurrence," Bernd said.

Arlington Deputy Fire Marshal Keith Ebel called it a "perfect storm" of circumstances. "Everything had to be just right for this to occur," he said.

- - - - -

This isn't surprising at all. I have to clean the wet grass out from under my mower before I put it away because I can smell it composting in the garage otherwise (and it rusts out the mower). With this odd weather year, a compost fire burning down the garage would round out the weird season!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 11:11 PM

It was a female.


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 10:39 PM

Cougar breaks into jewelry store.

This story, "Officers nab cougar in Plaza shop, was printed in the Santa Fe New Mexican, August 12, 2007.
http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/66564.html
Cougar
I have shortened the article.

This happened in downtown Santa Fe, not in the outskirts. About one AM, police got word of a big cat roaming downtown. Officers located the cougar inside a jewelry store on the Plaza after finding a large hole in the glass door of the store. An officer confronted the cat in a dark hallway and fired a slug from a 12-gauge shotgun. The police retreated and called the State Dept. of Game and Fish. The Game and Fish Officer, John Zamora, drove two hours from Tierra Amarilla. He found the cat in the last stall of a restroom. No blood, so the shotgun had missed.
He loaded his dartgun, crawled into the restroom to about eight feet of the cougar. Zamora said he had to lay flat on his stomach so he could shoot under the stall door. He hit him in the shoulder area.
The cat reacted wildly to the dart, tranquilizer darts explode on impact to drive the drugs into the animal. Zamora and a policeman raced to get out and closed the door.
After 15 minutes, the 100 pound cat was tranquilized and placed in a large dog kennel.
Zamora took the cat back to a wilderness area near Chama, some 2 hours north and west of Santa Fe, where it was tagged and released into the wild.

Why a jewelry store? A cafe two doors down.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: frogprince
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 10:09 PM

Was that his left brain, or his right brain? Which side did Rove sit on, and which side was Cheney on?

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 09:43 PM

And the Ontario paper today had the headline: Bush loses "Brain"

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 09:08 PM

I originally pulled out this thread to post the following story. No point in adding it to the double-nose one, it would get lost in there.

This from my local paper today:

Playground fire prompts Arlington schools to action

ARLINGTON -- School Superintendent Mac Bernd has called a 3 p.m. news conference today to brief the public on what the district is calling the "critical issue" of spontaneous combustion of engineered wood fiber on playgrounds. [I'll say!]

On Thursday, playground equipment was melted by the heat of a small fire on the playground at Anderson Elementary School in east Arlington. Though the fire was quickly extinguished, school and fire officials are addressing the unusual circumstances that caused the play surface to spontaneously combust.

Check back for more details.

---

You bet! We don't want to see another headline "Child dies of smoke inhalation while on the playground."

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Aug 07 - 09:05 PM

I'm not finding anything at that link. It apparently changes daily, isn't durable. I looked him up. Here is a link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6940289.stm. Very interesting. Double the nose prints on the glass door at his house!

Double-nosed dog not to be sniffed at

Explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell has had close encounters with vampire bats and angry bees, but his latest brush has been with a rather odd dog. He spotted a rare breed of Double-Nosed Andean tiger hound, which has two noses, on a recent trip to Bolivia. The chairman of the Scientific Exploration Society said the dog, named Xingu, was "not terribly handsome".

He said: "This breed could be used for sniffing out mines or narcotics because they have an enhanced sense of smell."

Colonel Blashford-Snell first encountered a Double-Nosed Andean tiger hound called Bella in 2005 when he was carrying out reconnaissance for this year's expedition in the area near Ojaki. He told Radio 4's Today programme: "While we were there, sitting by the fire one night, I saw an extraordinary-looking dog that appeared to have two noses. "I was sober at the time, and then I remembered the story that the legendary explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett came back with in 1913 of seeing such strange dogs in the Amazon jungle. "Nobody believed him, they laughed him out of court."

The dog seen two years ago was Bella, and on a second trip to the area, which began in May and has just ended, the explorer discovered her son Xingu in the village of Ojaki. He had just produced a litter of puppies with a bitch that had a single nose. Two of their offspring had double noses, and two had the normal quantity, but the double-nosed pups died after three days.

A veterinary expert with the group examined Xingu to see if he had a cleft palate, but this was not the case. "There is a chance that these dogs came from a breed with double noses that's known in Spain as Pachon Navarro, which were hunting dogs at the time of the Conquistadors," said Colonel Blashford-Snell. "I think it's highly likely some of these were taken to South America and they continued to breed. They're good hunting dogs." He added that Xingu was "quite an aggressive little chap" who stood about 16 inches in height and loved salt biscuits but "wasn't a terribly handsome dog".

Xingu's best friend is apparently a wild pig called Gregory, and the two animals "rule the roost" in their village. "Other dogs snarl at Xingu, because they can sense he's different. He's the smallest dog there but he sees the other dogs off," Colonel Blashford-Snell said. "He's very intelligent and with a wonderful sense of smell, as you might think. "The Bolivian Army came and took DNA samples because they're interested in the breed. He's not the only dog like this, there are others in the area."

The Scientific Exploration Society was in Bolivia to investigate a shallow crater about five miles in width. According to Colonel Blashford-Snell, he has now found evidence that this was caused by a giant meteorite, which struck the Bolivian Amazon Basin up to 30,000 years ago.

He says he has found evidence of human habitation within 50 miles of the blast zone, and believes these people were wiped out as a result of the meteor's impact.

The explorers also carried with them a church organ from Dorset as a gift to local Bolivians in order to secure their help with finding the meteorite.

- - - -

That was quite a remarkable trip! First the dog, then the crater, then the organ transplant!

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: TheSnail
Date: 11 Aug 07 - 06:50 AM

"Explorer John Blashford-Snell has just returned from an expedition into the Bolivian jungle in search of a 5-mile wide meteorite crater and an extraordinary looking dog."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/

I say. I say. My dogs got two noses.
How does it smell?
Bloody marvellous.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Amos
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 07:28 PM

In other news news, a courageous group of enterprising idealists is starting a RealNews network which promises intelligence and timely reports on the world unsuppressed by large commercial interests.

I like their style.


A

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 02:15 PM

Yeah--walk around long enough and you'll trip over what you were looking for. My 15-year-old employs that method.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 11:38 AM

Sounds like they used the same search method my boys do.

Subject: RE: BS: News of Note (was 'I Read it . . .')
From: jeffp
Date: 09 Aug 07 - 11:35 AM

That's the one. Thanks Stilly!