Weird News

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 11:09 pm

Where's that copy of "First Aid for Chickens?"  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Apr 16, 10:27 PM EDT Man Saves Chicken With Mouth-to-Beak COLLBRAN, Colo. (AP) -- First there was Mike the Headless Chicken, a rooster that survived for 18 months after having its head lopped off with an ax. Now, western Colorado has a new chicken survival story, this one involving a man who claims he saved his fowl by giving it mouth-to-beak resuscitation. Uegene Safken says one of the chickens in his young flock had gotten into a tub of water in the yard last week and appeared to have died. Safken said he first swung the chicken by the feet to revive it. When that failed, he continued swinging and blowing into its beak. "Then one eye opened. I thought it was an involuntary response," Safken said. The chicken's beak opened a little wider, and Safken started yelling at it: "You're too young to die! "Every time I'd yell at him, he'd chirp," Safken said. Mike the Headless Chicken survived a beheading in 1945 in Fruita, Colo. Afterward, Mike could go through the motions of pecking for food, and when he tried to crow, a gurgle came out. His owner put feed and water directly into Mike's gullet with an eyedropper. Scientists examined the chicken and theorized Mike had enough of a brain stem left to live headless. He was a popular attraction until he choked to death on a corn kernel. 2005 The Associated Press.</td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 11:25 pm

"Honey, we lost Nome!" I shouldn't find this funny, but it would be a shame to lose such a center of Western Civilization.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Alaska tsunami warning system test failed in Nome By Nugget Staff The first-ever statewide Tsunami warning system test was declared a success by the participating agencies, but in Nome, the warning message came 15 minutes late if at all. The test was conducted in all of Alaska Wednesday, March 30 at 9:45 a.m. Radio KNOM station manager Rick Schmidt reported that KNOM did not receive the emergency message at all. The message was supposed to come into the Emergency Alert System box. We were set up to accept all emergency codes, but the message just did not come through, said Schmidt. At KICY, the message arrived at the stations emergency alert system box at 9:57 a.m. Said KICY evening show host Josh Roger, We expected the test to override the broadcast, but it didnt. The technicians had to manually force the message to play on the radio. It aired at 10:03 a.m. Nomes emergency services administrator, Charlene Saclamana said that the police received a tsunami warning tone and message, which involved a roll call for certain communities within Alaska but not Nome. The NPD received this warning tone and message on their National Warning System & Alaska Warning System (NWSAS) phone, she explained. This phone is tested daily by the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. In times of emergency, the police dispatcher would notify Nomes emergency responders by paging them out. They then would set off the siren to further alert the emergency responders with a long wailing sound. A steady, long, single tone would be the signal to the public to turn on the radios and TV and listen to instructions. Live warning messages were supposed to flicker across TV screens. Only the audio portion of the message identified it as a test. Rick Schmidt said that he doesnt believe that its been one single glitch that was responsible for KNOM not getting the message. At this point we dont know why the message didnt come through, said Schmidt. But that was the purpose of the test, to see what does and what doesnt work. Public affairs officer Tracey Lake at the Anchorage office of the National Weather Service maintained that the test was a success. We were getting feedback from all across the state, he said. Lake conceded that there were problems. But we are working to correct them, he added. Lake reported that some radio stations didnt air or didnt receive the message and that some TV stations didnt receive the audio portion of the emergency message. The audio portion identified the crawler message of a tsunami alert on the TV screen as a test. GCIs system technician, Earl Merchant, said the Nome GCI office did not receive the signal at all. The way it works is that we receive a tone from radio station or NOAA which activates GCIs Emergency Alert System, but we didnt receive either. GCI is looking into it, said Merchant. Lake went on to explain that in an event of a tsunami danger, the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer initiates the message. Once data indicates that a tsunami is approaching Alaskas shores, the center notifies the Anchorage National Weather Service office. A tsunami warning message is created there, and then sent out on the NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System. From there, the message is relayed over commercial radio and television channels. Lake could not say if there will be another Tsunami warning system test in the future. As for the glitches, he was unable to explain why some parts of the state did not receive the signal. Were still evaluating the data and have no final answer yet as to what worked and what didnt, Lake said. The announced test was conducted by NOAAs National Weather Service and the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, local emergency management offices and the Alaska Broadcasters Association. Two days before the test, a massive earthquake off Sumatra killed more than 500 persons. The same area was hit by a major earthquake that triggered the largest recorded tsunami in history, killing tens of thousands of people in Asia and Africa. Wednesdays test was timed to coincide with Tsunami Awareness Week, declared by Gov. Frank Murkowski. Tsunami Awareness week commemorates the anniversary of the deadly Good Friday quake of March 27, 1964. </td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 11:38 pm

Mice can be put into suspended animation using hydrogen sulphide . . . anyone smell rotten eggs?  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Mice put in 'suspended animation' By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter Mice have been placed in a state of near suspended animation, raising the possibility that hibernation could one day be induced in humans. If so, it might be possible to put astronauts into hibernation-like states for long-haul space flights - as often depicted in science fiction films. A US team from Seattle reports its findings in Science magazine. In this case, suspended animation means the reversible cessation of all visible life processes in an organism. The researchers from the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle put the mice in a chamber filled with air laced with 80 parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) - the malodorous gas that give rotten eggs their stink. Hydrogen sulphide can be deadly in high concentrations. But it is also produced normally in humans and animals, and is believed to help regulate body temperature and metabolic activity. 'Widespread uses' In addition to its possible use in space travel, the ability to induce a hibernation-like state could have widespread uses in medicine. Lead investigator Dr Mark Roth said this might ultimately lead to new ways of treating cancer, and preventing injury and death from insufficient blood supply to organs and tissues. During hibernation, activity in the body's cells slows to a near standstill, dramatically cutting the animal's need for oxygen. If humans could be freed from their dependence on oxygen, it could buy time for critically ill patients on organ-transplant lists and in operating rooms, said Dr Roth. "Manipulating this molecular mechanism for clinical benefit potentially could revolutionise treatment for a host of human ills related to ischaemia [deficiency of the blood supply], or damage to living tissue from lack of oxygen," he explained. But he added that any procedure in a clinical setting would likely be administered via injection rather than by getting patients to inhale a gas. Astonishing drop In the latest study, Dr Roth and his colleagues found that the mice stopped moving and appeared to lose consciousness within minutes of breathing the air and H2S mixture. The animals' breathing rates dropped from the normal 120 breaths per minute to less than 10 breaths per minute. During exposure their metabolic rates dropped by an astonishing 90%, and their core body temperatures fell from 37C to as low as 11C. After six hours' exposure to the mixture, the mice were given fresh air. Their metabolic rate and core body temperature returned to normal, and tests showed they had suffered no ill effects. Co-author Eric Blackstone said the next step would be to carry out studies in larger animals. Mice do not normally hibernate, but they can reach a similar state called clinical torpor in conditions of food deprivation. "If you can manipulate the metabolism of animals in this way with implications for humans then I could see very widespread applications," commented John Speakman, professor of zoology at the University of Aberdeen. "There is military interest in short-duration hibernation for battlefield stabilisation of troops. If you have a soldier who is shot down, you want to be able to hibernate them on site until you can get a team in to rescue them." Space travel Scientists at the European Space Agency (Esa) are investigating the possibility of inducing hibernation-like states in astronauts sent on long trips to the outer planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. However, like other applications, this one may be some way off. "The atmospheric approach to inducing torpor is a nice one because it would diffuse very quickly in the body and saves you having to administer something internally," explained Mark Ayre, of Esa's Advanced Concepts Team at Nordwijk in the Netherlands. "We have been looking at suspended animation to cut consumables - food and water - on a journey that could take five years or longer. That is important because missions are driven by the mass of the spacecraft. "The other thing is trying to avoid psychological problems. You can have people awake, in which case you need to keep them entertained. That means more volume and potentially a very large mass. "Or you avoid all that by putting them to sleep." Inducing hibernation-like states could also have potential in cancer research by allowing patients to tolerate higher radiation doses without damaging healthy tissue. Cancer cells are not dependent on oxygen to grow, says Dr Roth, so they are more resistant to radiotherapy. "Right now in most forms of cancer treatment we're killing off the normal cells long before we're killing off the tumour cells. By inducing metabolic hibernation in healthy tissue, we'd at least level the playing field," he explained. Story from BBC NEWS: <a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/s ... 469793.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/s ... >Published: 2005/04/21 21:06:12 GMT BBC MMV</td></tr></table>

Tom Flapwell · Postby **Tom Flapwell** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 1:12 pm

Dang. The only good cases I know for human hibernation are on long flights and in prison. Any other time, you've got something better to do. I do not want to be an astronaut.

Joe3210 · Postby **Joe3210** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 4:15 pm

Prison is for punishment. Sleeping doesn't seem to do it, but anyway that's a pretty good thing to do.

Tom Flapwell · Postby **Tom Flapwell** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 4:50 pm

I was thinking of Minority Report. In that future, it appears that prison is designed primarily to keep dangerous people out of the way. There's even constant classical music to soothe the unconscious prisoners.

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:47 pm

What was he thinking?  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Apr 21, 11:04 PM EDT Man Freed From Prison Allegedly Steals Van HUNSTVILLE, Texas (AP) -- A man released from prison Thursday after serving a three-year sentence allegedly stole a van just hours later and was soon back in custody. Hector Zaragoza, 28, was arrested in Madisonville after leading police on a 25-mile pursuit in a service van authorities say he stole shortly after his release from the Huntsville Walls Unit. Zaragoza had been imprisoned for driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault. He was being held Thursday night in the Walker County Jail, facing charges of felony theft of a vehicle, evading arrest and operating a vehicle with a revoked license. Authorities said Zaragoza stole a van belonging to a Huntsville electric company that was repairing street lights. "My guys were up in a bucket truck, there were cones all around and there was a city truck there," McCaffety Electric Vice President Robert McCaffety said in Friday's editions of The Huntsville Item. "This guy jumps in the service van, hops the curb and hauls butt." Zaragoza had no further obligation to the prison system when he was released, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said. 2005 The Associated Press.</td></tr></table>

Zaaphod · Postby **Zaaphod** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 12:49 am

So much for that guy's rehabilitation.... He probably couldn't figure out how to face life on the outside, so he committed a crime to go back to what he's used to. Strange, but it has some twisted sense to it.

Tom Flapwell · Postby **Tom Flapwell** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 3:01 am

Zaaphod's probably right that the guy went just a tad further than Brooks in "The Shawshank Redemption," but my first thought was that he lives for this kind of thing. He'd never miss an opportunity to do it again.

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:23 pm

Another fast food lawsuit . . . slicing your finger into the lettuce is no reason to throw the lettuce away!  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Apr 25, 7:32 AM EDT Man Says He Found Skin on Sandwich DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- A man is suing a fast-food restaurant operator for more than $50,000, claiming he found a slice of skin on his chicken sandwich. David Scheiding filed the lawsuit in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on April 1 after rejecting a settlement offer from GZK Inc., his lawyer said. GZK owns the Arby's restaurant in Tipp City where he bought the sandwich. Scheiding said he realized something wasn't right when he bit into the sandwich on June 18 and found a piece of flesh about three-fourths of an inch long. "It looked like I was seeing fingerprints on it," he said. "I got sick and went to the bathroom." Miami County health investigators talked to the restaurant manager, who had a bandage on his right thumb and wore a latex glove, according to a health district report. The manager said he sliced skin from the thumb while shredding lettuce, and sanitized the area but didn't throw away the bin of lettuce, the report said. Scheiding's sandwich contained lettuce. "Why wasn't the food searched, and why wasn't it thrown away?" said Scheiding's lawyer, Hank Hyde. Christine Koeller, vice president of marketing and communications with GZK, said what happened was unintentional. "(The manager) did destroy product that was in and around the slicer immediately, and did everything that he thought was appropriate to do," Koeller said. --- Information from: Dayton Daily News, <a href='http://www.daytondailynews.com' target='_blank'>http://www.daytondailynews.com</a> 2005 The Associated Press</td></tr></table>

Bocaj Claw · Postby **Bocaj Claw** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:57 am

Thats just... ew. Reminds me of the story of the person who found a chicken head in their KFC.

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:31 am

Beauty (?) Competition in Iowa . . .  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Apr 25, 6:38 PM EDT Tiberius Crowned King of Wrinkles, Drool DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Tiberius will reign as king of the bulldogs at this year's Drake Relays after winning Drake University's "Most Beautiful Bulldog Contest." "He rides in a golf cart around the track as the announcer announces him as the 2005 most beautiful," said Dolph Pulliam, director of community outreach and development. "It is a coveted thing." The 2 1/2-year-old English bulldog from suburban Des Moines, owned by Karen and Phil Swift and their three children, was chosen from about 50 bulldogs from states throughout the Midwest who all were carefully primped by their owners. "So, what they look for is the ugliest bulldog you can find, that only a mother would love ... droopy eyes, protruding teeth, slobbering," Pulliam said. But looks aren't everything. Pulliam said the dog has to have a great personality, too. "We're talking congeniality," he said. Tiberius has loads of that, Karen Swift said. "He's very gentle. He loves to be played with and petted," she said. "He's a typical bulldog." Tiberius, tagged with the middle name of Star Trek's Capt. James T. Kirk, has entered the contest twice before and lost, but Swift said things were different this time. Was it grooming? "Nope. Just maturity, I guess," Swift said. Dogs get prizes for being the youngest, the oldest or traveling the farthest. Many try for best costume. It was a three-way tie this year, Pulliam said, between a sailor, a student and a cheerleader. "I don't think the president would let us have a swimsuit competition," he said, pausing. Then it's time for every dog's turn to strut his stuff. "Each of the bulldogs walk the fashion show ramp, while the last year's king sits on the throne and watches them all go by," he said. "Once in a while, one of the bulldogs walking by will either growl or snap at the king sitting on the throne." That's when the biscuits are brought out. "Some will have little temper tantrums. We sort of grab some treats and get them to separate," Pulliam said. --- On the Net: Drake University: <a href='http://www.drake.edu/' target='_blank'>http://www.drake.edu/</a> Drake Relays: <a href='http://www.drakerelays.org/' target='_blank'>http://www.drakerelays.org/</a> 2005 The Associated Press.</td></tr></table>

Tom Flapwell · Postby **Tom Flapwell** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:23 pm

A family friend is a major fan of bulldogs. They're hard to get purebred and they suffer breathing problems a lot (confound the humans who bred them with flat faces), but he won't give up and has a third one now. He won't settle for pugs because he thinks they're ugly compared to cute wittle bulldog pups. Search me.

GamemasterAnthony · Postby **GamemasterAnthony** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:03 pm

When life imitates Monty Python. Taken from "News of the Weird" from my hometown paper:  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> According to the February report in the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, Itzik Simkowitz is suing a pet shop owner in Beersheeba for selling him a sickly Galerita-type cockatoo for about $2000 that died shortly after Simkowitz got it home. As in the classic Monty Python sketch, the shop owner initially insisted that the parrot was merely lethargic and needed time to adjust to its new surroundings, but when the parrot (to use the Python dialogue) was shown to be "a late parrot", "an ex-parrot", "a stiff", and to have "joined the choir invisible", the shop owner still refused to return the money.</td></tr></table>

Tom Flapwell · Postby **Tom Flapwell** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 7:47 pm

Could that guy be outdoing MP?! In the versions I've seen of the parrot sketch, no lawsuit was needed.

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