Weird News

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 6:29 pm

Maybe this is the reason a chicken thief made the Interpol list? Oh great, now we need to start looking for Nuggets of Mass Destruction!  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> TERRORISM Weapons of mass digestion IT USUALLY DOESN'T TASTE GOOD and may not always be healthy. But could cafeteria food be a terrorist target, too? The Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is studying whether chicken nuggets and other types of food commonly served in school lunchrooms might be used by terrorists as a kind of biological weapon -- and they're not talking about food fights. "The school lunch program is particularly vulnerable," FSIS administrator Carol Maczka told an audience at the Association of Food and Drug Officials' annual conference in June. The agency has already studied the potential susceptibility of popular cafeteria fare such as spaghetti sauce, egg substitutes, and milk. Maczka couldn't offer more specific details, noting that these studies are classified. Many security experts, however, stress that while it is important to be vigilant, there is no cause for immediate alarm. That's probably just as well, since biological weapons expert Milton Leitenberg, a senior research scholar at the University of Maryland, says that a complete checklist of foods that are vulnerable to tampering would encompass "every food" on Earth. "Someone could say that about spinach, dry cereal, or ice cream-- anything you want," he observes. That said, Leitenberg believes that chicken nuggets, at least, would rank low as a tempting target. Since they're solid, he explains, it would be hard to spread a poison or pathogen over a large quantity of them. When it comes to cafeteria food, it seems, there is safety in numbers. Catherine Auer SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS</td></tr></table>

Steve the Pocket · Postby **Steve the Pocket** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 8:50 pm

Heck, how do we know the terrorists haven't been tampering with cafeteria food already? Sure would explain the obesity rate... <!--emo&

--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... minati.png' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='dragon_illuminati.png' />

Bocaj Claw · Postby **Bocaj Claw** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 9:21 pm

Defeat America by turning everyone fat? <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /> I don't think outside help is needed on that...

Richard K Niner · Postby **Richard K Niner** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:12 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (Octan @ Sep 6 2005, 04:50 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> <!--emo&

--><img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... minati.png' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='dragon_illuminati.png' />  </td></tr></table>  Yay! People are using my emoticons!

Softpaw · Postby **Softpaw** » Tue Sep 06, 2005 11:22 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (rogue-kun @ Sep 5 2005, 05:34 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> How is a chuck of cast iron an instory device? Shough the cannon desgined to lauched should be consider as such....but the Ball !?!  </td></tr></table>  Cannonballs were often more than just a chunk of MEHTUL. A lot of times, they hollowed out the shell and filled it with gunpowder, then stuck a fuse in the hole and plugged it with clay or something. The fire from the cannon itself would usually light the fuse, and assuming the length was measured correctly, the cannonball itself would explode somewhere near impact. This technique was also used by the Japanese in WWII. They rapidly fired large-caliber shells into the air, which would explode at a certain altitude, right near where enemy planes were flying in. The shells were small enough that they were almost impossible for pilots to see, and the shrapnel from the exploding shell would cause large amounts of damage. These flak shells were very cheap to produce, and were quite effective against allied aircraft. Also, the first fireworks originated from detonating cannonballs. To celebrate a victory, soldiers would aim the cannon up in the air, shorten the fuse, and fire. The cannonball would go up in the air and explode, and the shrapnel would occasionally leave a glowing trail, hence the tradition of fireworks on July 4th in the US <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

Ankaris · Postby **Ankaris** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 2:26 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (FelixSoftpaw @ Sep 6 2005, 11:22 PM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> To celebrate a victory, soldiers would aim the cannon up in the air, shorten the fuse, and fire. The cannonball would go up in the air and explode, and the shrapnel would occasionally leave a glowing trail, hence the tradition of fireworks on July 4th in the US <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />  </td></tr></table>  Whee! Fireworks. I never got that though. Be it in movies or real-life, the way people fire into the air as a form of celebration / marking an event. What goes up must come down after all. No-one ever gotten hit? (Of course, to actually film the movie, they'd be firing blanks, and 21-gun salutes and such would also *I assume* use blanks. But when it's meant to be a spur of the moment thing? Full MEHTUL Jacket Rain = nasty)

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:41 pm

You know, I'd think Obi Wan might want that . . .  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Star Wars robe turns up in fancy dress shop Tue Sep 6,10:01 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - Workers sorting through party rental costumes at a London fancy dress shop have discovered the original Obi Wan Kenobi robe worn by the actor Sir Alec Guinness in the film "Star Wars", the shop said on Tuesday. The robe was stored for years in a warehouse by film costume company Angels and Bermans before ending up with a batch of old monks' outfits in the company's high street party rental shop, manager Emma Angel said. "It's quite a strange looking robe, so when the guys were sorting through the stuff one of them decided to put it on and play around," she told Reuters. Another employee recognised it as the famous robe, and the film's costume designer certified it was genuine. Angel said the robe was part of a lot that had been rented out for other films, and was worn by an extra in "The Mummy" before it ended up in the shop. It was then rented out as a monk outfit and worn to parties by customers -- or possibly by Star Wars fans dressing up as Obi Wan Kenobi without realising they were sporting the real thing. "Clearly they didn't know what they wearing," Angel said. The robe is now on display at an exhibit of British film costumes at Harrods department store in London. Angel said her firm has no plans to sell it. </td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Thu Sep 08, 2005 11:50 pm

Just in time for back to school: When you're cleaning that greasy mess out of your pocket, just remember BIC has made more than 100 billion pens!  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Inspired by wheelbarrow, BIC sells 100 billionth pen By Tim Hepher Thu Sep 8,12:30 PM ET PARIS (Reuters) - It started as an answer to leaky pens carried by American soldiers during World War Two, was perfected and made popular by an Italian-born baron and has written its way into history as the world's biggest-selling pen. More than half a century after honing a cheap version of the ballpoint pen, Bic, the French firm which built an empire out of making things to be thrown away, said Thursday it had sold its 100 billionth -- 100,000,000,000th --- disposable ballpoint. The group started small after the war and now has annual revenues of around 1.4 billion euros, including sales of razors and lighters. It reported the milestone along with first-half profits. "The pens have been sold on average 57 times a second since 1950," BIC said. Its founder Baron Marcel Bich originally planned to make fountain pen parts when he bought a factory with his partner Edouard Buffard outside Paris at the end of World War II. But a chance encounter with a wheelbarrow changed all that, recalls his son Bruno Bich, who now runs the company. "My father told me that one day he was pushing a wheelbarrow when it dawned on him that the ball was a multi-faceted wheel and this was the best way to convey ink," he told Reuters. "So he put all his investment into the ballpoint. He was the first to use very precise production techniques," he added. Ballpoint pens had been sold before the war for the then luxurious sum of $5 and were brought to Europe by American GI soldiers, Bich said. Only they leaked. Looking for a catchy name for his new product, the baron shortened his own to BIC and snapped up patents including Laszlo Biro's design for a non-disposable pen with a rotating ball. KEEP IT SIMPLE Marketing experts say BIC helped to pioneer what has since become a mainstay of modern mass-produced commerce -- well designed products, using good technology and made accessible to everyone at cheap prices and then sold across the world. "It was a triumph for the concept of keeping it simple. Bich was in many ways the inventor of 'low-cost', offering cheap and effective solutions to consumers rather than bowing to a market dictated by sophistication," said Stephane Dieutre, who teaches marketing and innovation at Sorbonne University, Paris. "It was also one of the first examples of globalization. You can find these pens everywhere because Bich had a modern concept of low-cost, global marketing. They invented or adopted many of the principles we talk about now, but at a very early stage." Known in some countries as the biro after the patent snapped up by BIC's founder, the 'Cristal' see-through ballpoint has a landmark design which the company has broadly stuck with over the years -- another reason for its success, says Bich. "The idea was that there should be nothing superfluous and you could see how it works and how much ink is left," he said. BIC's innovations have not always been successful, however. Its idea for disposable underwear ended up in a book called Brand Failures. And a foray into perfume flopped when consumers turned up their noses at BIC's disposable, unluxurious image. </td></tr></table>

Softpaw · Postby **Softpaw** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 3:30 am

Disposable underwear? Wouldn't that be a diaper? I can't believe there are that many BIC pens floating out there. Wild.

rogue-kun · Postby **rogue-kun** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 4:08 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (FelixSoftpaw @ Sep 9 2005, 03:30 AM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Disposable underwear? Wouldn't that be a diaper? I can't believe there are that many BIC pens floating out there. Wild.  </td></tr></table>  Many have have given ther lives in the name of school room ammo.. I mean the cap the "clerick" pushes agais on the ink catrage with the spring being push agianst it...make exclenty projectile [Launcher]

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:11 pm

RACERS, START YOUR BATHTUBS -- And, they're off! Team "Hurry Canes" led the group down Front Street at the start of the 2005 Annual Great Bathtub Race during Labor Day activities in Nome. Photo by Peggy Fagerstrom

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 2:01 am

This is why government moves so slowly: always a squirrel in the works!  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Sep 9, 2:19 AM EDT Curious Squirrel Knocks Out Power in Kansas TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A squirrel too curious for its own good caused an outage that left the Statehouse and other downtown Topeka buildings briefly without power Thursday, according to Westar Energy Inc. Company spokeswoman Gina Penzig said the squirrel got into a power substation and was touching different parts of a circuit, causing electricity to flow through its body and overload the circuit. The power went out about 8:30 a.m. and returned about a half-hour later. Besides the Statehouse, two state government office buildings were affected.</td></tr></table>

Rooster · Postby **Rooster** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:39 pm

But was the Squirrel OK?

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:51 pm

Alas, I believe Skippy must've been well done at the end of this electrical experience . . . <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' />

Phieta · Postby **Phieta** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:42 am

As for the "weapons of mass digestion," I remember seeing an article shortly after 9/11 where a kid brought a huge burrito to school in tinfoil, and some teacher thought it was a bomb... ...yeah. <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... lleyes.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rolleyes.gif' />

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