Weird News

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:21 pm

Nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan . . .  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> School resorts to cannon, propane to battle crows January 23, 2006 TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- School workers have tried everything from Alice Cooper music to orange objects painted with the faces of predators to scare off the crows. Now they're using a cannon at Woodrow Wilson Middle School. Vigo County School Corp. crews began using a liquid propane cannon that produces a thunderlike sound every 20 minutes on Friday morning. "So far, so good," said Kim Salmon, the school's secretary-treasurer. The cannon will be used on school days from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. to create a boom reaching 130 decibels. Comparatively, smoke alarms produce noises between about 80 to 90 decibels. Despite the school district's efforts to frighten the birds from the area, Principal Sharon Pitts said they have become unbearable since Christmas break ended. "It almost looks like a paintball gun has been used on the front sidewalk," she said of the birds' droppings. Maintenance crews have had to power-wash the sidewalk several times. AP</td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 6:48 pm

Reality is so much better than fiction . . .  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> January 23, 2006 Echoes of Cold War: Russia Accuses Britain of Spying By STEVEN LEE MYERS MOSCOW, Jan. 23 - An espionage scandal redolent of the cold war unfolded here today after Russia accused four British diplomats of spying and linked some of their activities to financing of prominent private organizations, including the Eurasia Foundation and the Moscow Helsinki Group. A grainy, black-and-white video - broadcast on state television on Sunday night and shown repeatedly again today - purported to show a British diplomat picking up a rock that was said to conceal a communications device used to download and transmit classified information through hand-held computers. The rock, the size of a watermelon and able to transmit and receive data at distances of more than 60 feet, was seized near Moscow, prompting a search across the city for similar devices, Sergei N. Ignatchenko, the chief spokesman for Russia's intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, told Russian reporters, according to the Interfax news agency. A second device was found, but "the British intelligence service managed to retrieve one of the gadgets," he said. A Russian citizen has been arrested for complicity, but another spokesman, Nikolai N. Zakharov, declined to say when he had been taken into custody and whether he had been formally charged. Mr. Zakharov would say only that the spy ring had been discovered and broken up at the beginning of winter. The fate of the British diplomats - identified as middle-ranking secretaries in the embassy - remained unclear. Mr. Ignatchenko said their potential expulsion would be determined "at the political level." The scandal, one of the most serious in years, threatened to raise diplomatic tensions, even as Russia assumed the presidency of the G-8 group of industrialized nations, which includes Britain. Mr. Ignatchenko accused Britain of violating an agreement in 1994 to end espionage in Russia. "In fact," he said, "we have been deceived." Prime Minister Tony Blair, answering questions at a news conference in London, declined to comment. "I'm afraid you are going to get the old stock-in-trade: 'We never comment on security matters' - except when we want to, obviously," Mr. Blair replied. "I think the less said about that, the better," he added. The nature of the espionage was shrouded in secrecy, but the link to private organizations came amid a politically charged campaign against charities and advocacy groups here, many of them financed by the United States and European countries to promote such things as democracy and independent media. Earlier this month President Vladimir V. Putin signed into law new legal restrictions on such groups that critics have said could be used to exert new pressure on those critical of Russian policies. But the relation between the espionage charges and the organizations appeared tangential. Mr. Zakharov said in a telephone interview that one of the diplomats, identified as Marc Doe, a political secretary, approved grants distributed by the British government to Russian and international organizations, even as he was involved in covert activities. "He gave money to them," Mr. Zakharov said, referring to the organizations. "That is all documented." A spokesman for the British Embassy in Moscow declined to comment on the affair but cited a statement by the Foreign Office that said, "We are surprised and concerned by this allegation." "We reject any allegations of any improper conduct in our dealings with Russian" private organizations, the statement went on. "All of our assistance is given openly and aims to support the development of a healthy civil society in Russia." One of the groups supported by Britain and cited by officials was the Eurasia Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Washington that provides an array of grants across the former Soviet Union. Irina V. Akishina, director of the Moscow office, said in a telephone interview that the organization had received a grant worth about $105,000 in 2004 to promote independent newspapers in provincial Russian cities. She expressed bewilderment at the accusations, saying the television report, which appeared on the state's Rossiya channel with the cooperation of the Federal Security Service, was the first she heard of any questions surrounding her organization. She said the accusations reflected the government's growing hostility toward private organizations that operate independently of the Kremlin. "We certainly do feel there is some danger," she said, referring to the new law on organizations like hers. "We do not understand at all why we were mentioned in this program. We are not involved in any illegal activities." The Moscow Helsinki Group, also linked to the case, is one of the country's most prominent human-rights organizations and is often critical of the Kremlin. Russia's intelligence chiefs have publicly warned about the threat of espionage from the West. The warnings have underscored a growing wariness in Russian intelligence and diplomatic circles about what is widely seen as foreign interference in domestic affairs, especially following American and European support for democratic movements in Ukraine, Georgia and other former Soviet republics. "Reconnaissance is not only waning," Nikolai P. Patrushev, the director of the Federal Security Service, said in an interview in the official state newspaper, Rossiskaya Gazeta, in November. "It is strengthening." Last year counterintelligence agents had exposed 20 agents working for foreign governments and 65 foreigners working for secret services, he said in the interview. Earlier last year Mr. Patrushev singled out several non-governmental organizations, including the Peace Corps and the British charity Merlin, as fronts for foreign espionage. "Under the cover of implementing humanitarian and educational programs in Russia regions, they lobby for the interests of certain countries and gather classified information on a wide range of issues," he said of representatives of the private organizations. Mr. Patrushev's remarks, sharply criticized at the time by the American and British governments, nevertheless became a basis of the new law putting such organizations under greater scrutiny. The latest scandal involved espionage of a more traditional sort, though with a high-tech twist. The fake rock was used as a dead drop, an agreed place for exchanging classified information or otherwise communicating with agents. Where exactly it was remained unclear, though the television report showed it on a sidewalk near what was identified as a park on the edge of Moscow. The hidden communication device allowed a Russian agent to transmit information in bursts lasting no more than a second or two, the officials said. The British operatives could then download the information with their own hand-held computers, the officials said, declining to discuss the nature of the information that the Russian provided to the British agents, or its significance. Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London for this article. </td></tr></table>

DesertFoxCat · Postby **DesertFoxCat** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 1:57 am

Just one of those things that makes me glad train travel isn't too popular in the US.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: (China View)</td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Adult diaper sales soar before long trips home www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-24 08:04:25 BEIJING, Jan. 24 -- Sales of adult diapers are booming as residents prepare themselves for lengthy journeys home on crowded trains for Lunar New Year. Many supermarkets in Foshan, a city in South China's Guangdong Province, have reported an increase in sales of about 50 per cent. The products, designed for incontinence, have been repositioned at prominent places on shop shelves since the start of the peak travel season for Spring Festival began on January 14, Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News reported. The number of train seats for people returning home for family reunions are limited because of the huge demand in the period. It means large numbers of passengers have to buy standing-only tickets and have to jam into all corners of carriages, even in toilets. This often makes it almost impossible for passengers to pass through and reach the toilets and they are forced to go without relieving themselves for the whole journey. "In this period, a common train has to transit 2,000 passengers, with only around 1,000 seating tickets," Zhang Dazhi, an officer of Guangzhou Railway Group, said. It is not just crowded conditions on the carriages themselves that people have to contend with. Before they can get home, some have to stand in queues for hours to buy train tickets and also wait with thousands of other people at packed railway stations for their trains. Once on the tightly-packed carriages, some passengers have to stand for long hours, with the journey time from Guangzhou to Beijing, for example, being about 24 hours. During the peak travel period last year, some passengers even became deranged on their journeys because of the conditions and jumped out of the carriages. "The deep-seated concept of a reunion with families for the Spring Festival prompts people to repeat the journeys, even though they know clearly how difficult the journeys are," Pan Hong, a psychologist in Guangzhou, told China Daily.</td></tr></table>

GhostWay · Postby **GhostWay** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:31 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Whatever you do, don't call for the nurse.. TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese nurse who tried to relieve her work stress by tearing off patients' nails was sentenced Monday to three years and eight months in prison. The 32-year-old Japanese woman, who worked at a hospital in the ancient capital of Kyoto, tore off the fingernails and toenails of six female patients in September and October 2004. The patients were all immobile after strokes or other illnesses. The Kyoto District Court said the woman had committed the cruel acts to relieve stress she was under from extra work forced on her by her supervisors.</td></tr></table>  And thus, my irrational fear of nurses is validated.

Llewthepoet · Postby **Llewthepoet** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 6:35 pm

That's worse than scratching their fingernails on a chalkboard! Yikes!

Tavis · Postby **Tavis** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:59 pm

Err.. *ahem* I had my haircut this Thursday. It was shortly after an incident involving an electrostatic generator. What? It's weird, right? No? Aww, come on, I can't make myself that newsworthy. <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /> Okay... *sigh* The guy that waved the wand over my head got it too close and I got zapped. <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... /blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /> Now there's a few brain cells I'd like back. Okaythxbye! <img src='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum ... s/flee.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='flee.gif' />

Muninn · Postby **Muninn** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:34 pm

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Diligent denizen of Define Cynical in electric dilemma. 17 February 2006 - <a href='http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum/' target='_blank'>http://definecynical.mancubus.net/forum/</a> By Jack Ravendawn PASADENA, TX (Define Cynical News Network) Respected resident and long time moderator of Define Cynical, Tavis, was caught in an electrifying mishap yesterday in which an electrostatic generator came too close to the vicinity of his noggin'. First reports came from Mr. Tavis himself who recounted the newsworthy event as a mere incident involving an electrostatic generator during a routine haircut this Thursday. However differing accounts jammed the Define Cynical News Network lines as the day wore on suggesting the incident was far more than a simple and mild accident. Numerous callers who proclaimed themselves as key eye witnesses who were in the barber when the aforementioned incident took place revealed unmentioned truths. Several important factors seemed to be prominent in these accounts suggesting Mr. Tavis had not only hidden the full scope of the incident but also wished to stifle the debate over whether it was a routine haircut. Many accounts said that not only had the electrostatic generator wielder waved the device far too close to the head but had also caused irrepairbale damage to Mr. Tavis' brain. Several callers who wished to remain anonymous also claimed that the visit to the barber was brought on by a bad case of "hat-hair" suffered from a combination of sleeping in an awkward position and wearing a cumbersome beret. One caller said that Mr. Tavis had "arrived to dye his hair purple". This final claim couldn't be verified at publication time. After initial hesitation and avoidance Mr. Tavis was quoted as saying "the guy that waved the wand over my head got it too close and I got zapped" but that he was not considering legal action. He also acknowledged that he had lost a few brain cells as a result of the incident but nothing to worry about. His reply to whether he went to dye his hair was "no comment". Mr. Tavis seemed in a hurry to leave exclaiming "okaythxbye!" before disappearing. Few commentators have suggested that this will impair Mr. Tavis' ability to moderate the Define Cynical forums in the wake of the much publicized hacking and that the friendly leopard will pounce with renewed vigour into his duties.</td></tr></table>

Richard K Niner · Postby **Richard K Niner** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:35 pm

"Mr. Tavis"? You mean you don't know his last name?

Muninn · Postby **Muninn** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:40 pm

Err...is it Cananbramalamar?

GhostWay · Postby **GhostWay** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 6:00 pm

I have to say, this idea stinks.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Those goats are back, honey -- get the tiger poop Fri Feb 17, 2006 10:42 AM ET CANBERRA (Reuters) - A tiger's roar might be scary, but Australian researchers have found that the predator's poo is just as potent. Researchers at the University of Queensland said Friday they had successfully tested a tiger poo repellant, warding off wild goats for at least three days. "Goats wouldn't have seen a tiger from an evolutionary point of view for at least 15 generations but they recognize the smell of the predator," repellent creator Peter Murray said in a statement. "If we can show this lasts weeks ... we've just tapped into probably a billion-dollar market. It's enormous," he said. Murray said the repellant, made of fatty acids and sulphurous compounds extracted from tiger excrement, also worked on feral pigs, kangaroos and rabbits and might deter deer, horses and cattle too. In an average year pest animals cause about A$420 million (US$311 million) worth of agricultural damage in Australia the government has said. Others put the cost in the billions, mostly from European imports such as rabbits, foxes and crop-choking weeds.</td></tr></table>

Zaaphod · Postby **Zaaphod** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:54 am

Hmm, well, that's one way to keep animals from eating your crops. I'd hate to have the job of gathering that stuff, though. Bleah!

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 2:14 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Feb 18, 12:30 AM EST Bird's Head Reportedly Found in Bean Can CHICAGO (AP) -- A northern Illinois resident reported finding a bird's head in a can of pinto beans, prompting a Chicago-based food company to announce a voluntary recall on Friday. La Preferida Inc. said in a statement that it was recalling a limited number of its cans as a precaution. The company says the beans were canned by New Meridian Inc. in Eaton, Ind. "There are still many unanswered questions, but we have decided to err on the side of safety," said David Brand, La Preferida's director of quality assurance. The company is investigating to determine how the bird head got into the 15-ounce can, he said. The Illinois Department of Public Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are also investigating. Luz Marrufo, a 28-year-old nurse's assistant, told the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb that she found the bird's head Thursday while preparing breakfast for her three sons. She said she purchased the can at a grocery store in Aurora. "I don't think we'll be eating beans for a long time, unless I make them," Marrufo told the newspaper. She gave the can to the county's health department. No injuries or illnesses resulted, the company said. The cans affected by the recall bear the lot number 5348 MF on the lid. The batch was canned Dec. 14 and is marked by a best-buy date of Dec. 14, 2007, the company said. A phone message left with New Meridian Friday evening was not immediately returned.</td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:27 am

<table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Small plane crashes onto expressway By Tonya Maxwell and Josh Noel Tribune staff reporters Published February 19, 2006, 2:43 PM CST A flight instructor and his student crash-landed on Elgin O'Hare Expressway Sunday afternoon when their plane lost engine power shortly after takeoff from the Schaumburg Airport, state police said. The Piper plane flipped over as it landed on the expressway, near Irving Park Road, said Master Sgt. Ted Vernon of the Illinois State Police. The instructor, about age 62, was taken to St. Alexis Medical Center with head wounds. His student, about 18 years old, walked away uninjured, Vernon said. Vernon did not know the severity of the instructor's injuries. Shortly after taking off from Schaumburg Airport, the plane began having engine trouble, Vernon said, and the men tried to fly back to the airport. But the engines lost power, he said, forcing them to land in eastbound lanes of the Elgin O'Hare Expressway about 12:40 p.m. No motorists were hit, but it appeared the plane clipped a pole or tree and flipped over, he said. Westbound lanes of the expressway remained open, but police closed down eastbound lanes from Lake Street to Irving Park Road. Local authorities have alerted the Federal Aviation Administration. Messages left with the FAA were not immediately returned Sunday, but a recorded message said the agency was investigating the accident. </td></tr></table>

VisibilityMissing · Postby **VisibilityMissing** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 7:55 pm

This is a really bad idea.  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Passenger Who Joked About Bomb Sentenced By Associated Press Published February 21, 2006, 10:34 AM CST LONDON -- A businessman who joked he had a bomb aboard a plane, sparking a security alert that cost the airline 25,000 pounds ($45,000), was jailed for two months on Tuesday. Armed police, a negotiation team and other emergency services were called after Peter Aldred told a stewardess on a low-cost easyJet flight waiting to take off from Scotland's Inverness Airport on Dec. 12 that he had a bomb in his carrier bag. All 124 passengers on the flight bound for London's Luton Airport were evacuated. A search of Aldred's bag found two plush toys and some candy. The flight finally left for Luton three hours late. During an earlier hearing at Inverness Sheriff Court Aldred, 41, of Hitchin, north of London, admitted that he had caused fear and alarm and a breach of the peace by stating that he had a bomb. Judge Alastair MacFadyen told Aldred that a jail term was the only response to his "irresponsible and reckless conduct." During questioning by police, Aldred said the incident was "a very stupid situation which got blown out of proportion and I am really sorry for the disruption caused." Prosecutors said the incident had cost easyJet 25,000 pounds ($45,000) because some passengers missed connecting flights and the airline had to pay to accommodate them in London overnight. </td></tr></table>

Llewthepoet · Postby **Llewthepoet** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:57 pm

Only In Florida...  <table border='0' align='center' width='95%' ><tr><td class='quotetop'>Quote: </td></tr><tr><td class='quotebody'> Palm Beach County, Fla., created the controversial "butterfly ballot" in the 2000 presidential election that reportedly confused more than a thousand Gore-Lieberman voters such that they wound up marking their ballots for a minor-party candidate. In February 2006, local education officials told the Palm Beach Post that too many of the county's high school students apparently knew answers on the statewide comprehensive test but were incorrectly marking the answer sheets. The multiple choice questions require only one circle to be darkened on the sheet, but other questions require darkening digits of an actual numerical answer, apparently bewildering students into darkening too many or too few circles. [Palm Beach Post, 2-6-06]</td></tr></table>

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