Weird News

Muninn · Postby **Muninn** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:56 pm

I didn't exist at the time of the event Rooster.

DesertFoxCat · Postby **DesertFoxCat** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 1:06 am

That would've been a tad realistic for a decoration <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' />

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Sun Oct 30, 2005 2:00 am

Creative chicken thieves:  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> 'Experts' pluck Turkish chicken farmers October 27 2005 at 12:52PM Istanbul - Thieves are posing as veterinary experts investigating bird flu to con farmers into handing over their chickens, a Turkish agricultural official said Thursday. People claiming to be agriculture department agents have turned up in villages in the north-eastern province of Igdir to collect chickens for "tests for the presence of avian flu," local agriculture official Aysel Agayar told Anatolia news agency. "There is no avian flu in Igdir. Neither the department of agriculture, nor the governor's office nor the local council are collecting chickens. Our citizens should not give their poultry to anyone," Agayar said. In early October a case of deadly bird flu was detected at a turkey farm in the northwestern province of Balikesir, 1 700km from Igdir. Turkish authorities stressed that the H5N1 strain of bird flu that has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003 has not move beyond the quarantine zone set up around the farm. Restrictions are due to be lifted this weekend after more than 9 000 birds were culled and the farm was disinfected. No other cases of bird flu have come to light so far in the country. - Sapa-AFP </td></tr></table>

Richard K Niner · Postby **Richard K Niner** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:53 pm

<a href='http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/31/lottery_winner/' target='_blank'>Congratulations! You're a winner!</a>  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Woman wins $1m with stolen credit card Oregon lottery ticket perp busted By Lester Haines Published Monday 31st October 2005 10:48 GMT Get breaking Reg news straight to your desktop - click here to find out how Police have busted an Oregon woman who bought a State Lottery ticket with a credit card belonging to her deceased mother-in-law and promptly won $1m, AP reports. Christina Goodenow of White City bought the winning ticket on 9 October and three days later presented herself at Oregon Lottery HQ in Salem to collect the $33,500 first installment of the prize, which is paid over 20 years. The cops raided Goodenow's house last Thursday, turning up some methamphetamine but little sign of the cash. Goodenow faces "numerous theft-related charges", as well as forgery and possession of methamphetamine raps. If convicted of any of these, she will not see the balance of her good fortune. Police Lt. Tim George told AP: "Our investigation is still trying to determine what happened to the $33,500," while Lottery spokesman Chuck Baumann admitted: "I'll be fascinated to see how this shakes out. In my 12 years with the Oregon Lottery, this is the first time I've encountered something like this."</td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:43 pm

Chimpanzees are a lot like the average manager.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Altruism lacking in chimpanzees, study shows (2005-10-26) LONDON (Reuters) - Chimpanzees share many traits with humans but altruism, it seems, is not one of them, scientists said on Wednesday. Although chimps live in social groups and co-operate and hunt together, when it comes to helping non-related group members, they don't put up with any monkey business. When given the opportunity to help themselves and other chimps they often choose the selfish option. "This is the first experiment to show that chimps don't share the same concern for the welfare of others as do humans, who routinely donate blood ... volunteer for military duty and perform other acts that benefit perfect strangers," said Joan Silk, an anthropologist at UCLA in the United States. To test how altruistic chimps are, Silk and researchers from Emory University, the University of Texas and the University of Louisiana studied the behavior of two separate groups of chimps in captivity. They devised an experiment in which chimps on one side of a window could pull a handle to provide a tray of food for themselves or to also give the same reward to a monkey in another room on the opposite side of the window. Both groups of unrelated chimpanzees behaved in a similar way. They decided to reward themselves but not others, according to the research reported in the science journal Nature. The scientists said it is possible that the chimps did not understand they could deliver food to the other room. "Yet, potential recipients sometimes displayed begging gestures, suggesting that at least they had some understanding of the other's role in delivering reward to them," Silk said in a statement. "Nevertheless, chimpanzees were clearly motivated to obtain rewards for themselves, but not to provide rewards for other group members." Copyright 2005, REUTERS </td></tr></table>  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Rat vs Researchers:  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Rat outsmarts scientists for four months (2005-10-20) LONDON (Reuters) - A cunning rat released on a deserted island off New Zealand outsmarted scientists and evaded traps, baits and sniffer dogs before being captured four months later on a neighboring island, researchers said Wednesday. Scientists from the University of Auckland in New Zealand released the Norway rat on the 9.5-hectare (23.5-acre) island of Motuhoropapa to find out why rats are so difficult to eradicate. They got more than they bargained for. "Our findings confirm that eliminating a single invading rat is disproportionately difficult," James Russell and his colleagues said in a report in the science journal Nature. Despite all their efforts, including fitting the rat with a radio collar, they couldn't catch the crafty creature. After 10 weeks on the island the rodent decided it had had enough. It swam 400 meters, the longest distance recorded for a rat across open sea, to another rat-free island where it was eventually captured in a trap baited with penguin meat several weeks later. The Norway rat, which is also called the brown or sewer rat, is a husky rodent that weighs about 11 ounces (312 gram) and has a long tail. Invading rats on remote islands off the coast of New Zealand have been a recurring problem. Norway rats have invaded the uninhabited Noises Islands at least six times between 1981 and 2002. "Our results may help in the design of conservation strategies to keep islands free of invasive rodents," Russell and team added. Copyright 2005, REUTERS </td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 1:38 pm

ARRRR!  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Cruise Ship Escapes Pirate Hijack Attempt By RODRIQUE NGOWI Associated Press Writer November 6, 2005, 4:22 AM CST NAIROBI, Kenya -- Pirates armed with grenade launchers and machine guns tried to hijack a luxury cruise liner off the east African coast Saturday, but the ship outran them, officials said. Two boats full of pirates approached the Seabourn Spirit about 100 miles off the Somali coast and opened fire while the heavily armed bandits tried to get onboard, said Bruce Good, spokesman for the Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. The ship escaped by shifting to high speed and changing course. "These are very well-organized pirates," said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program. "Somalia's coastline is the most dangerous place in the region in terms of maritime security." The attackers never got close enough to board the Spirit, but one member of the 161-person crew was injured by shrapnel, cruise line president Deborah Natansohn said. The vessel's 151 passengers, mostly Americans with some Australians and Europeans, were gathered in a lounge for their safety, Good said. None were injured. "Our suspicion at this time is that the motive was theft," Good said, adding that the crew had been trained for "various scenarios, including people trying to get on the ship that you don't want on the ship." The British news agency Press Association said passengers awoke to the sound of gunfire as two 25-foot inflatable boats approached the liner. Edith Laird of Seattle, who was traveling with her daughter and a friend, told the British Broadcasting Corp. in an e-mail that her daughter saw the pirates out the window. "There were at least three rocket-propelled grenades that hit the ship, one in a state room," Laird wrote. "We had no idea that this ship could move as fast as it did and (the captain) did his best to run down the pirates." The Spirit was bound for Mombasa, Kenya, at the end of a 16-day voyage from Alexandria, Egypt. It was expected to reach the Seychelles on Monday, and then continue on its previous schedule to Singapore, company officials said. The 440-foot-long, 10,000-ton cruise ship, which is registered in the Bahamas, sustained minor damage, Good said. The liner, which had its maiden voyage in 1989, can accommodate 208 guests. "They took some fire, but it's safe to sail," he said. There has been a steep rise in piracy this year along Somalia's nearly 2,000-mile coastline, with 15 violent incidents reported between March and August, compared with just two for all of 2004, according to the International Maritime Bureau, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce that tracks trends in piracy. In June, a U.N.-chartered ship carrying 935 tons of rice for Somali victims of the Asian tsunami was hijacked by pirates, who held crew members hostage for three months before releasing them. Somalia has had no effective central government since opposition leaders ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The leaders then turned on each other, transforming this nation of 7 million into a patchwork of battling fiefdoms ruled by heavily armed militias. * __ Associated Press reporter Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.</td></tr></table>

norsenerd · Postby **norsenerd** » Sun Nov 06, 2005 7:20 pm

Mst peopel dont; relize that piracy on the high seas is a very real porblem at the present. People think priates are cool adn don;t seak to qualify that any further. Piracy is nto and never was anything that was cool. Pirates are people who chose do disobay the rule of law for their own personal benifit, and often harm people and property int he process. The culture of pirates that existed at the end of the 18th adn the begiing of the 19th century is interesting and there is nothing wrogn with celebrating that culture as long as it;s only th culture that is beign celbrated adn not the piracy or the concept of piracy. I'm not sure how meny peopel die each year because of modern piracy but there are people who do die as a direct result. This story ocurs far to often and there isnt; always as happy an endign as there is here. Pirates are not something of the past and too few people relize that.

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 12:08 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Nov 4, 11:13 PM EST Science Project Causes Bomb Scare in Pa. PERRYOPOLIS, Pa. (AP) -- A bomb squad blew up a MEHTUL pipe that had a battery, wires, rope and an electrical switch, only to realize it was an eighth-grade science project. "An electromagnetic fishing pole," Allegheny County Bomb Squad Sgt. Robert Clark said, holding the contraption with the battery blown off. A clerk found the device - made from three feet of half-inch MEHTUL pipe - near the greeting cards display at a drugstore Thursday. Police Chief Roger Beadling said he got within six feet and decided not to take any chances. "It definitely appeared to be some kind of explosive device," he said. The bomb squad used a robot to examine the device, then destroyed it. A 10th-grader at Frazier High School said the science project is something eighth-graders do every year. "You have to make it so it can pick up MEHTUL paper clips, but you can't use magnets," Tiffany Burton said. "I hated that project." Jim Shahan, owner of a pizza shop a few doors away, said had he seen the device, he might have saved everyone a few anxious hours. "I just helped make one for my daughter," he said. </td></tr></table>

Zaaphod · Postby **Zaaphod** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 1:38 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (VisibilityMissing @ Nov 6 2005, 06:38 AM)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> ARRRR!  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Cruise Ship Escapes Pirate Hijack Attempt </td></tr></table>   </td></tr></table>  Apparently we have to start arming cruise ships. Damned pirates.

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 2:02 am

I think that would count as cruel and unusual punishment:  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Nov 5, 11:19 AM EST Mayor: Sever Thumbs of Graffiti Artists RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has suggested that those who deface freeways with graffiti should have their thumbs cut off on television. Goodman, appearing Wednesday on the "Nevada Newsmakers" television show, said, "In the old days in France, they had beheading of people who commit heinous crimes. "You know, we have a beautiful highway landscaping redevelopment in our downtown. We have desert tortoises and beautiful paintings of flora and fauna. These punks come along and deface it. "I'm saying maybe you put them on TV and cut off a thumb," the mayor added. "That may be the right thing to do." Goodman also suggested that whippings or canings should be brought back for children who get into trouble. "I also believe in a little bit of corporal punishment going back to the days of yore, where examples have to be shown," Goodman said. "I'm dead serious," said Goodman, adding, "Some of these (children) don't learn. You have got to teach them a lesson, and this is coming from a criminal defense lawyer." "They would get a trial first," he added. Another panelist on the show, Howard Rosenberg, a state university system regent, responded by saying that cutting off the thumbs of taggers won't solve the problem and Goodman should "use his head for something other than a hat rack." --- Information from: Las Vegas Sun, <a href='http://www.lasvegassun.com' target='_blank'>http://www.lasvegassun.com</a> </td></tr></table>  Woohoo! 700th reply on this thread!

Tom Flapwell · Postby **Tom Flapwell** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:29 pm

This guy is the mayor of Las Friggin Vegas! Vegas allows things that aren't legal in the vast majority of the U.S. What business does he have proposing punishments that would have been outrageous even a century ago?

DesertFoxCat · Postby **DesertFoxCat** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:57 pm

... I think it's called having his own opinion. And he probably doesn't like the trashy image graffiti gives off.

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 7:34 pm

Sonic weapons ward off pirates . . . good to know. Notice a business corresondent wrote this for AP.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Nov 7, 7:21 PM EST Ship Blasted Pirates With Sonic Weapon By JOHN PAIN AP Business Writer MIAMI (AP) -- The crew of a luxury cruise ship used a sonic weapon that blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam while being attacked by a gang of pirates off Africa this weekend, the cruise line said Monday. The Seabourn Spirit had a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, installed as a part of its defense systems, said Bruce Good, a spokesman for Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line. The Spirit was about 100 miles off Somalia when pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns as they tried to get onboard. The subsidiary of Carnival Corp. was investigating whether the weapon was successful in warding off the pirates, he said. The ship's captain also changed its course, shifted into high speed and headed out into the open sea to elude the pirates, who were in two small boats, he said. He had no further details. Device maker American Technology Corp. said earsplitting "bangs" were directed by trained security personnel toward the pirates. That, combined with ship maneuvers, caused the attackers to leave the area, the company said. The LRAD is a so-called "non-lethal weapon" developed for the U.S. military after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen as a way to keep operators of small boats from approaching U.S. warships. The military version is a 45-pound, dish-shaped device that can direct a high-pitched, piercing tone with a tight beam. Neither the LRAD's operators or others in the immediate area are affected. American Technology, based in San Diego, compares its shrill tone to that of smoke detectors, only much louder. It can be as loud as about 150 decibels, while smoke alarms are about 80 to 90 decibels. The devices have been deployed on commercial and naval vessels worldwide since summer 2003, the company said.</td></tr></table>

Zaaphod · Postby **Zaaphod** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:56 am

Hmm, interesting. And apparently effective.

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 3:16 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> String of light-pole thefts around the city leaves officials in the dark By Sumathi Reddy and Richard Irwin Sun reporters Originally published November 9, 2005 It is no simple matter -- not like swiping MEHTUL trash cans or lawn furniture -- to cut down and haul away a 30-foot-high aluminum light pole. It is conspicuous and dangerous. But about 130 of them have disappeared from Baltimore thoroughfares without a trace in recent weeks. Advertisement "I've been here 23 years, and I've seen just about everything," said Mike Decker, owner of Decker's Salvage Co. in Baltimore. "People will steal anything here." Decker and other local scrap-MEHTUL recyclers say they haven't come across any of the poles reported stolen over the past six weeks, and speculated that they are being cut up and sold outside the city because of a law here requiring scrap-MEHTUL dealers to record personal information -- such as driver's license and tag numbers -- of people bringing in MEHTUL goods. The thefts have been costly to the city. Each pole costs $750, according to David Brown, a spokesman for the city Department of Transportation. Factor in installation costs and it's up to $1,200 each -- multiplied by 130 poles. "We need it to stop this because it's costing the city a fortune," Brown said yesterday. There have been no arrests, other than a man charged with theft Saturday in East Baltimore after a 30-foot lamppost was spotted sticking out of the window of the station wagon he was driving. But the pole he is charged with taking had been knocked down earlier by a vehicle, and he has not been linked to the pole-napping elsewhere in the city. Brown said the thieves seemed to have a sophisticated operation -- being skilled enough to avoid electrical shock when cutting through MEHTUL and wiring, and careful not to remove consecutive poles along a roadway. "Whoever is taking them down from long stretches of roadway is taking every other pole, so it's not as noticeable," Brown said. "They sort of are very meticulous in the way that they are doing it." City officials have received reports that the thieves are using traffic cones while they are at work, giving passing motorists the impression that legitimate crews are removing the poles. Poles have been reported stolen from locations across the city, including the 4800 to 5500 blocks of W. Northern Parkway, the 2000 block of Kelly Ave., the 2400 to 2500 blocks of Cross Country Blvd., the 2700 block of Baker St., a section of North Dukeland Street, Auchentoroly Terrace between Liberty Heights Avenue and Reisterstown Road, Perring Parkway between Belvedere Avenue and McClean Boulevard, and an area north of Woodbourne Avenue. Local MEHTUL dealers say that scrap aluminum brings 30 to 35 cents a pound. The poles weigh at least 250 pounds and carry 120 volts of electricity, said Rob Gould, a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. spokesman. "It's the same amount of current in the average home," he said. Lynn Smith, manager at Modern Junk & Salvage Co., said it doesn't surprise her that people are taking the poles. "They steal everything here in Baltimore," she said. "Nothing's too kooky to me anymore." But to pole manufacturers, the thought of someone going through the trouble of uprooting a street light seems incredible. "You gotta have some serious equipment to take poles out like that," said Steve Friello, an engineer at Flagpoles Inc./P&K, a New York-based pole manufacturer. Friello said he's heard of people stealing poles already down, for instance on construction sites. But installed poles? "That's crazy," said Friello. "It's a huge hassle to take a 30-foot pole down. You're dealing with wiring, live wiring. You gotta unbolt it. You need the equipment to do that. But I guess desperate people do desperate things." Decker agrees. He has seen people try to sell him things such as copper lines from buildings, lines that had electricity running through them. "If someone's a true thief, it doesn't matter to them, even if it's life threatening," Decker said. sumathi.reddy@baltsun.com richard.irwin@baltsun.com </td></tr></table>

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