Weird But True

[doughesson]

Unknown if this kid was dog dared at any level but.....
http://commercialappeal.com/news/200...ifeless-beale/
Scroll down to the 125 years ago entry of 1884 and enjoy.

Now I KNOW that we've all done this at one time or another. Come'on dont lie, fess up!

Boy Tongue Tied to Pole

Painful lesson could have been learned by watching movie
Updated 12:29 PM EST, Thu, Jan 15, 2009

In the story of another Indiana boy in the 40s, 9-year-old Ralph "Ralphie" Parker is enthralled by his friend Flick's misfortune.

Remember what happened to Flick?
• John T Thursday, Jan 15 at 8:05 AM He must have been Triple Dog Dared!

[/B] EHEHEHHEEHEEHEEE.

[MalahatTwo7]

Who knew? I had not heard about her passing.

Gene Roddenberry, wife to spend eternity in space

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 (01-27) 04:43 PST LOS ANGELES, (AP)

The creator of "Star Trek" and his wife will spend eternity together in space. Celestis Inc., a company that specializes in "memorial spaceflights," said Monday that it will ship the remains of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry into space next year.

The couple's cremated remains will be sealed into specially made capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space travel. A rocket-launched spacecraft will carry the capsules, along with digitized tributes from fans. The Roddenberrys' remains — and the spacecraft — will travel ever deeper into space and will not return to earth, company spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said.

After Gene Roddenberry died in 1991, his wife commissioned Celestis to launch a part of his remains into space in 1997. She died Dec. 18, 2008.

[MalahatTwo7]

Obama Wants to Take Away Your Space Weapons Reckless pacifism could leave us vulnerable to alien invasion
By SARA K. SMITH

Updated 2:46 PM EST, Tue, Jan 27, 2009

The only thing Americans love more than wars is space wars.
Obama's New Team

Meet the newest members of President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet
That is why literally millions of people will diligently sew their own Jabba the Hutt costumes and wait in mile-long lines with countless other desperate dorks in order to attend the premieres of such cinematic masterworks as Star Wars, Starship Troopers, and Battlefield Earth. There is nothing we enjoy quite so much as seeing a brave human warrior narrowly escape dismemberment by a space monster before he is rescued by a hovercraft with blinky lights.

Barack Obama is determined to snuff out our venerable American obsession with intergalactic violence by proposing a ban on space weapons.

Moments after Obama's inauguration last week, the White House website was updated to include policy statements on a range of issues, including a pledge to restore U.S. leadership on space issues and seek a worldwide ban on weapons that interfere with military and commercial satellites.

It also promised to look at threats to U.S. satellites, contingency plans to keep information flowing from them, and what steps are needed to protect spacecraft against attack. Well that is just no fun at all. If our "spacecraft" never gets "attacked," how will we ever be able to commence a generations-long struggle between Earthlings and the devious legions of insectoid plotters who want to use us as slaves in their uranium mines?

In the past, Obama has also proposed "code of conduct for responsible space-faring nations," which sounds dangerously like socialism.

For a long time now, certain Obama detractors have suggested he was an illegal alien with anti-American proclivities who would use the levers of the presidency to ascend to global domination. If only we'd known how ambitious he truly was! This space alien doesn't just want to run the world -- he wants to run the universe.

Sara K. Smith writes for Wonkette.

Copyright NBC Local Media

First Published: Jan 27, 2009 1:59 PM EST
Comments (1)
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Anonymous 12 minutes ago Why is this article even posted? Whether you agree with Obama or not you have to admit, this is drivel. Hire a real journalist or two and stop posting "news" stories from Jr. High kids who want to be steven colbert and think they're funny.

[MalahatTwo7]

Woman in 'erotic dream state' not assaulted: judge

By Betty Ann Adam, Canwest News Service January 28, 2009

SASKATOON -- A woman who was in an "erotic dream state" when she removed some of her clothing and wrapped her naked torso around a man sitting beside her on the couch may have given the impression she was directing a "prolonged and provocative act" toward the man, a Saskatoon court has found.

Justice Ron Mills found Paul Kut, 60, not guilty of sexual assault at Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday.

Calling the facts "obviously, highly unusual," Mills found the complainant, whose name is protected by a publication ban, also acknowledged it's possible she had removed her pants and underpants without help from the accused, while sleeping and dreaming about her estranged husband.

The woman testified at a trial in December she awoke to find the older man touching her in a sexual manner. She told him to stop and he immediately did.

At issue was whether this was a rare kind of sexual assault -- the accidental kind -- Mills said.

Mills found that, while the woman did not consent and the act of sexual assault was proven, the accused lacked the necessary intention to commit the crime because he had a mistaken but honest belief she was consenting.

The woman and her four children were staying overnight at the apartment of an elderly couple on July 30, 2007.

Also present was Kut, with whom the woman was acquainted. Kut is 35 years older than the complainant and she had no interest in him, Mills found.

The woman, who had recently left her abusive husband, was suffering from a migraine. She had not consumed any alcohol.

Kut was sitting at one end of the long sofa and the woman went to sleep, fully clothed, at the other end, Mills found.

When she awoke in the early morning to find Kut touching her, she was also partially nude.

The woman testified she had experienced an erotic dream involving her estranged husband and that she likely removed the clothing herself and wrapped her legs around the accused.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

[cubbie]

94 year old woman charge with assualt

Thursday, January 29, 2009

A 94-year-old resident of an Atlanta nursing home is fighting claims she assaulted a fellow resident with a telephone.

Her attorney, Robert Kaiden, confirmed Thursday that Atlanta police arrested Theodora Garreau Sunday at Westminster Commons, a nursing home at 560 St. Charles Ave., off Monroe Drive.

Police said Garreau threw a telephone at another elderly woman, Kaiden said. The reason for the alleged incident was not known, and Kaiden denied it even happened.

Officers initially cited Garreau with disorderly conduct but later upgraded the charge to simple battery, her attorney said.

Kaiden insisted Garreau, who weighs about 80 pounds and has arthritis, did not hurt the other woman. He plans to fight the charges and is considering a civil suit against the nursing home.

“They violated her patients’ bill of rights,” Kaiden said. “You’d think they would have some sort of standard operating procedure to handle this in a different way.”

The Atlanta Police Department’s public affairs division did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday night.

A woman who answered the phone at Westminster Commons said no one was available for comment.

Garreau is no longer staying at the nursing home, Kaiden said.

[MalahatTwo7]

Police Solve "Ghostly" Missing Truck Mystery

By JONATHAN LLOYD

Updated 10:37 AM EST, Thu, Feb 12, 2009

Dude, where's my truck?

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- Police used surveillance video to solve the case of a missing truck.

Watch VideoSurveillance video captures an unmanned truck playing hide-and-seek with its driver.

Car Hides from Driver

The mystery began when Michael Otero exited a Laguna Beach convenience store to find an empty parking spot where he had parked his pickup truck.

"It's almost like a ghost," Otero told the Orange County Register newspaper.

Investigators expected to find video of the thief on the store's surveillance video. Instead, the video shows Otero's truck as it slowly rolls from the parking spot in reverse and into a nearby parking structure.

The truck was hidden from Otero's view when he left the store. It came to a stop in a vacant parking spot after scraping a wall and concrete barrier.

"I'm just cracking up," he told the Register. "I just thank God it didn't hurt anyone."

The newspaper reported that the truck sustained minor damage. Otero told the newspaper that the parking brake was engaged and the manual shift was in gear.

The newspaper reported that Otero plans to have a mechanic examine the vehicle.

Otero told the newspaper that the parking brake was engaged and the manual shift was in gear.

Or was it?????

[MalahatTwo7]

Let me guess: She was ejected from the SUV because

she could not buckle her seatbelt due to the nail length

Woman's record-length fingernails broken in crash

Thursday, February 12, 2009 (02-12) 18:14 PST Salt Lake City (AP)

A Utah woman listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for her long fingernails has lost them in a car crash. Lee Redmond of Salt Lake City sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries in the accident Tuesday.

Redmond's nails, which hadn't been cut since 1979, were broken in the crash. According to the Guinness Web site, her nails measured a total of more than 28 feet long in 2008, with the longest nail on her right thumb at 2 feet, 11 inches.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Don Hutson says Redmond was ejected from an SUV in the crash and taken to the hospital in serious condition.

Redmond has been featured on TV in episodes of "Guinness Book of World Records" and "Ripley's Believe It or Not."

On the Net:

http://tinyurl.com/2khrlh

Information from: Deseret News, www.deseretnews.com

[MalahatTwo7]

When I read this, I got a picture of a big purse siener being dragged by the space shuttle, trying to "police up" all the little bits and pieces.

Space crash called "catastrophic," lots of debris
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer

Friday, February 13, 2009 (02-13) 11:41 PST MOSCOW, Russia (AP)

The crash of two satellites has generated an estimated tens of thousands of pieces of space junk that could circle Earth and threaten other satellites for the next 10,000 years, space experts said Friday.

One expert called the collision "a catastrophic event" that he hoped would force President Barack Obama's administration to address the long-ignored issue of debris in space.

Russian Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov said Tuesday's smashup of a derelict Russian military satellite and a working U.S. Iridium commercial satellite occurred in the busiest part of near-Earth space — some 500 miles (800 kilometers) above Earth.

"800 kilometers is a very popular orbit which is used by Earth-tracking and communications satellites," Solovyov told reporters Friday. "The clouds of debris pose a serious danger to them."

Solovyov said debris from the collision could stay in orbit for up to 10,000 years and even tiny fragments threaten spacecraft because both travel at such a high orbiting speed.

James Oberg, an experienced aerospace engineer who worked on NASA's space shuttle program and is now a space consultant, described the crash over northern Siberia as "catastrophic event." NASA said it was the first-ever high-speed impact between two intact spacecraft — with the Iridium craft weighing 1,235 pounds (560 kilograms) and the Russian craft nearly a ton.

"At physical contact at orbital speeds, a hypersonic shock wave bursts outwards through the structures," Oberg said in e-mailed comments. "It literally shreds the material into confetti and detonates any fuels."

Most fragments are concentrated near the collision course, but Maj.-Gen. Alexander Yakushin, chief of staff of the Russian military's Space Forces, said some debris was thrown into other orbits, ranging from 300 to 800 miles (500-1,300 kilometers) above Earth.

David Wright at the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security said the collision had possibly generated tens of thousands of particles larger than 1 centimeter (half an inch), any of which could significantly damage or even destroy a satellite.

Wright, in a posting on the group's Web site, said the two large debris clouds from Tuesday's crash will spread over time, forming a shell around Earth. He likened the debris to "a shotgun blast that threatens other satellites in the region."

Meanwhile, there's no global air traffic control system that tracks the position of all satellites.

The U.S. military tracks some 17,000 pieces of space debris larger than 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters), along with some 900 active satellites. But its main job is protecting the international space station and other manned spacecraft, and it lacks the resources to warn all satellite operators of every possible close call.

"With the amount of spacecraft and debris in orbit, the probability of collisions is going up more rapidly," said John Higginbotham, chief executive of Integral Systems Inc., a Lanham, Maryland-based company that runs ground support systems for satellites.

Oberg said the limited accuracy of tracking data and computer calculations makes it impossible to predict collisions, only their probability. He said most satellites also have little fuel to escape what most likely would be a false alarm.

"The collision offers a literally heaven-sent opportunity for the Obama administration to take forceful, visible and long-overdue measures to address a long-ignored issue of 'space debris,'" Oberg said.

In January 2007, China destroyed one of its own defunct satellites with a ballistic missile at an altitude close to that of Tuesday's collision, creating thousands of pieces of debris which threatened other spacecraft.

Both NASA and Russia's Roscosmos agencies said there was little risk to the international space station, which orbits 230 miles (370 kilometers) above Earth, far below the collision point. An unmanned Russian cargo ship docked smoothly Friday at the station, delivering water, food, fuel, oxygen and other supplies as well as a new Russian space suit for space walks.

American astronauts Michael Fincke and Sandra Magnus are aboard the station along with Russian Yuri Lonchakov. The crew size will be doubled to six members later this year.

AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson in New York and AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

[firecat1]

Sad and very bizarre

Ohio woman pleads guilty to exercising 73-year-old husband to death

Sat Feb 14, 2:44 PM
By The Associated Press

CHARDON, Ohio - A woman has pleaded guilty to reckless homicide for exercising her 73-year-old husband to death in a swimming pool, repeatedly refusing to let him leave the water.

Surveillance video showed Christine Newton-John, 41, pulling James Mason around the pool by his arms and legs, said Middlefield police Chief Joseph Stehlik.

The chief said he counted 43 times in which Newton-John prevented her husband from leaving the water, and Mason rested his head on the side of the pool several times while gasping for breath.

"The video is bone-chilling," Stehlik said. "The whole case is very sinister."

Mason had a heart attack June 2 after the extended swim session. An officer who had investigated previous complaints that Mason was being abused pursued the case because he suspected there was more to the death, Stehlik said.

Newton-John pleaded guilty Thursday and faces up to five years in prison. No sentencing date was set.

Police did not immediately respond to a call Saturday seeking comment on a motive.

The video would have had a profound effect on a jury, Geauga County prosecutor David Joyce said. But that wouldn't have been enough for a conviction if Newton-John had been charged with murder.
"You can see the man struggling for his life on the tape, but there is no audio, so we couldn't hear what he was saying," he said.

Geauga County Chief Public Defender Robert Umholtz, who represented Newton-John, declined to comment.

Mason was a longtime friend of his wife's family. He knew her as John Vallandingham before she had gender reassignment surgery in 1993 and changed her name in honour of the singer and star of the hit movie version of the musical "Grease."

The couple were wed in 2006 in Kentucky, where people can change their gender on their birth certificate. "

[firecat1]

This is the scariest thing I've ever seen! It's a coconut crab "or sometimes known as robber crabs because some coconut crabs are rumored to steal shiny items such as pots and silverware from houses and tents". Remind me not to go near any coconut trees!

[firecat1]

Here comes the bride............

Boy marries dog to ward off tiger attacks

Wed Feb 18, 12:55 PM

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - An infant boy was married off to his neighbors' dog in eastern India by villagers, who said it will stop the groom from being killed by wild animals, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday.


Around 150 tribespeople performed the ritual recently in a hamlet in the state of Orissa's Jajpur district after the boy, who is under two years old, grew a tooth on his upper gum.

The Munda tribe see such a growth in young children as a bad omen and believe it makes them prone to attacks by tigers and other animals. The tribal god will bless the child and ward off evil spirits after the marriage.


"We performed the marriage because it will overcome any curse that might fall on the child as well on us," the boy's father, Sanarumala Munda, was quoted as saying by a local newspaper.


The groom, Sagula, was carried by his family in a procession to the village temple, where a priest solemnized the marriage between Sagula and his bride, Jyoti, by chanting Sanskrit hymns, a witness said.


The dog belongs to the groom's neighbors and was set free to roam around the area after the ceremony. No dowry was exchanged, the witness said, and the boy will still be able to marry a human bride in the future without filing for divorce.


Indian law does not recognize weddings between people and animals, but the ritual survives in rural and tribal areas of the country.

[MalahatTwo7]

Drunk woman leads police on ambling pursuit

Published: February 20, 2009 11:00 AM Updated: February 20, 2009 12:01 PM

An extremely drunk 25-year-old Langford woman led police on slow-speed chase along Veterans Memorial Parkway last night.

West Shore RCMP found the woman weaving all over the road at about 11:45 p.m. as she drove slowly north on VMP near the RCMP detachment. Refusing to pull over, she nudged the median a few times and managed to navigate a U-turn at Peatt Road.

Officers deployed a spike belt near Hoffman but she drove on undeterred. Police cruisers blocked her path on Goldstream Avenue, ending the chase. Cpl. Doug Brayley said the woman seemed disoriented and was trying to reach for the ignition. She had to be helped out of the vehicle.

With little surprise, she was arrested for impaired driving. Const. Denise Rallison said the woman blew three times the legal limit, or a blood-alcohol level of about 0.24. The legal limit is 0.08.

Police haven’t released her name and she wasn't known to police. She was the sole occupant of the car and no one was hurt during the pursuit. The vehicle sustained some tire damage.

[MalahatTwo7]

Barbie's middle-aged

It's 50 years since the eternal teenage doll made her debut

By Misty Harris, Canwest News ServiceMarch 2, 2009

At 50, Barbie is ready for menopause and, after five decades teetering on more than a billion pairs of heels, a much-deserved foot massage.

Since her debut in 1959, Mattel's leading lady has held 110 jobs, been dressed by 70 couturiers, served in the army, fronted a rock band and successfully navigated a 43-year romance with a sexually ambiguous mate. And while the world's oldest teenager is no spring chicken, one look at her unblemished appearance proves the blond baby boomer is no more affected by age than the majority of breasts in Los Angeles.

So for the woman who has it all -- save, of course, reproductive parts -- the best birthday gift she can be given is a healthy dose of reality, which is why we asked experts across North America to share their vision of what Barbie's life would look like were she a flesh-and-blood female turning 50 in 2009.

"In many ways, Canada Barbie wanted it all. And she had it all," says Reginald Bibby, a University of Lethbridge sociologist. "Now, at 50, life is quite different. Not everything has turned out as planned."

Based on demographic profiling of Canadians born between 1946 and 1964, Bibby concludes Barbie, who turns 50 on March 9, would be finding her work-life balance increasingly difficult to achieve at this stage in the game. He remarks that her failed relationship with Ken, from whom she split in 2004, is in line with boomers' claim to the highest divorce rate in Canadian history.

"The time and energy she found herself giving her career made things tough on the home front," explains Bibby, author of The Boomer Factor.

If Barbie were asked about her love life, education and personal finances, she wouldn't be as positive as you'd presume.

"From time to time, she has reflected with her grandmother and mother about what they wanted out of life and how things turned out," says Bibby. "What's surprising and intriguing to her is that they are more inclined than she is to say that they feel pretty fulfilled with life as a whole."

Luckily, Barbie expert M.G. Lord believes the plastic princess's recent romantic travails indicate her dreaded mid-life crisis is already past.

"At 45, Barbie dumped Ken and took up with what looked like the pool boy -- and, one might add, this new consort looked under the age of consent," says Lord, author of Forever Barbie. "By 50, however, Barbie -- like (mature) women in general -- has learned to live with being 'of a certain age.' She has reconciled with Ken and, despite her signature age-inappropriate clothing, is comporting herself with dignity."

Physically, a Canadian aging researcher says Barbie's transition into the twilight years looks fairly bright -- not least because of her back-saving breast reduction in 1997.

"She would probably be relatively healthy and expected to live well into her 80s," says Barbara Mitchell, a sociologist in Simon Fraser University's department of gerontology.

"But like many women this age, she faces a higher risk of developing health problems such as cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis, and would benefit from a good diet, exercising and stress-reduction."

As a result of menopause, she says Barbie might also be experiencing weight gain, sleeplessness, mood swings, the sprouting of the occasional facial whisker and diminished sex drive, though Mitchell remarks that the latter could be offset by other factors.

"For most women, turning 50 brings a whole new sense of freedom," she says. "They've developed a kind of wisdom and experience in life that leaves them with the opportunity to explore their sexuality in new ways."

And she'd likely look good.

"Barbie being so tied to her physical appearance, I imagine she'd be investing in a few nips and tucks," says Mitchell, laughing.

Given flagging consumer interest in the doll, Barbie would have fewer friends as a 50-year-old than in her heyday. According to estimates from investment banking firm Needham & Co., domestic sales of Barbie-related products have fallen by an average of 12 per cent annually over the last half decade.

"To be realistic, and quite frank about it, sales have been challenged in recent years due to various market conditions and trends," says Reidin Goode, a Mattel Canada executive who hopes the repositioning of the brand as a "lifestyle fashion statement" -- think adult-oriented partnerships with MAC cosmetics and jewelry designer Tarina Tarantino -- will help Barbie win back the women who grew up with her.

When collector Margaret Matsui is asked for her vision of Barbie at 50, she struggles to think outside the toy box. After nearly five decades of doll play -- save a handful of years when she "traded Barbies for boys" -- the 49-year-old Mississauga woman simply can't wrap her head around the idea of Barbie as a peer with whom she'd have coffee or go shopping.

"I don't think Barbie could ever be real," says Matsui, who owns more than 1,000 of the dolls. "But at the same time, she can be anything to anyone -- anything you want her to be. From a female perspective, I really like that."

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

[MalahatTwo7]

3/3/09: Math fans to celebrate Square Root Day

Monday, March 2, 2009 (03-02) 16:32 PST Redwood City, Calif. (AP)

Dust off the slide rules and recharge the calculators. Square Root Day is upon us.

The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).

"These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they're gone," said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event.

The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event.

Gordon's daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol.

The last such day was five years ago, Feb. 2, 2004, which coincided with Groundhog Day. The next is seven years away, on April 4, 2016.

Now you know.

[MalahatTwo7]

Man o Man. One thing you DO NOT do is yip back at the Customs Guys NOT MATTER how rude they are. DUMB DUMB DUMB! Just nod yer head and say "Yes Sir" (or Ma'm) and get on with it. It doesn't matter what county the Customs guys are from or language they speak, they all go to the same training school and they all react the same way.

'Say please' nets pepper spray

Canwest News Service March 5, 2009 1:03 AM

A Canadian who demanded courtesy from a U.S. border security guard says he was pepper-sprayed and held in custody for three hours for asking the disrespectful officer to "say please" when ordering him to turn his car off during a search.

"I refused to turn off the car until he said please. He didn't. And he has the gun, I guess, so he sprayed me," said Desiderio Fortunato, a Coquitlam resident who frequently crosses the border to visit his second home in the state of Washington. "Is that illegal in the United States, asking an officer to be polite?"

The incident occurred on Monday at the Aldergrove border crossing. Fortunato, a dance studio director, was travelling to his home in Blaine, Wash., to retrieve a wallet his wife had left during their most recent visit.

Fortunato said after he was sprayed he was forcefully arrested by several officers. He was held for three hours before he was released without being allowed entry into the United States.

Fortunato says he was dismissed with a warning to be more co-operative in the future.

A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers are trained on how to handle confrontation, and refusal to comply with a direct order is justification to use capsicum spray, also known as pepper spray, or other "soft techniques" such as physical holds.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist