Weird But True

[E40FDNYL35]

May 5, 2009 --If you own a 1990s-era green Ford Escort, beware. An arsonist in Medford, Ore. reportedly burned three of these cars in the past few weeks. Medford police Sgt. Mike Budreau described the occurrences as "pretty bizarre." A 1995 green Ford Escort was destroyed by fire Sunday morning after someone broke a window and poured flammable liquid into it. A similar fire was set in a 1993 green Ford Escort parked in a driveway on March. 27, the AP reports. Investigators said that on April. 8, a 1992 green Ford Escort was damaged by a plastic container filled with flammable liquid placed next to a tire that burned without setting the car on fire.
“I think this person really doesn't like Ford Escorts," Budreau said.

[MalahatTwo7]

Ziplines over Duncan?

Climb a post, strap yourself in and fly to your meeting

By Kevin Rothbauer, Canwest News ServiceMay 6, 2009 9:02 AM

Ziplines over Duncan?

It's a possibility that raises more than a few eyebrows, even getting some laughs, but the creation of the high-speed, gravity-propelled aerial transportation system to the city's downtown core was passed at a council meeting last week.

Granted, the decision was made at the annual Junior Council meeting, so it is non-binding, but it gave Duncan's real city councillors something to think about.

"I'm thrilled about the zipline," regular council member Sharon Jackson told the seven Cowichan Secondary School students following the meeting -- although she expressed hope that a future junior council would address disabled access to the zipline system.

The ziplines were proposed by Coun. Claire Gaulin-Brown, who staunchly defended the concept.

"It would cut down on congestion in the downtown core with cars," she noted.

The system, she explained, would consist of several high posts located throughout downtown Duncan. Users would climb to the top of the posts, then strap themselves into a harness and slide toward their destinations. Users would require a license to use the ziplines, which could be obtained following a short course. Attendants would be on hand to check certification.

"I believe we would be the first city to do this," she said. "It's a novel idea and it would attract tourists."

The ziplines wouldn't be dangerous to use,

"They wouldn't be super far," said Gaulin-Brown. "You wouldn't be like crazy going fast."

Fellow junior councillor Jessica Laforge suggested the city could profit from the venture by selling fashionable harnesses. Coun. Jacob Woike pondered that climbing the tower would take more time than simply walking to a destination.

"You'd get more enjoyment than walking," Gaulin-Brown countered.

The zipline proposal passed by a 4-2 vote, with only councillors Paul Parmar and Sydney Hykaway in opposition.

Closest to the heart of Mayor Pedro Banman, however, was the expansion of the skate park and addition of a permanent roof. A skateboarder himself, Banman strongly endorsed Parmar's motion, which passed by a 4-2 vote.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist


U.F.I.: Duncan has a population of about 5000, and services a regional population of about 78000 in and around the Cowichan Valley Regional District, of which Malahat is a very small part.

[MalahatTwo7]

Delaware family sets trap to nab teen joyriders

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

(05-06) 18:01 PDT New Castle, Del. (AP)

Two teens are in custody after a family set a trap to catch whoever was repeatedly taking their SUV in the middle of the night, driving it around and filling the tank up before returning it. The teens were arrested Sunday and charged with felony theft.

Several months ago, city police said the Acura MDX owner repeatedly smelled gas and tobacco in his car. He often noticed the gas gauge fluctuating dramatically.

So he put a motion sensor and alarm in the car. When the vehicle was driven away, the alarm went off and he called police.

Police said the teens found a spare set of keys inside the unlocked SUV several months ago and returned with the keys to take the car out for joyrides.

Information from: The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal, www.delawareonline.com

[E40FDNYL35]

May 9, 2009 -- Why worry about leaving fingerprints behind when you can just leave your entire wallet? A Kansas City bank robber did just that after walking out of a bank branch with $10,000. Cops were waiting for Albert Vincent Perkins when he got home.

[firecat1]

More baby names

Quebec couple thwarted in giving baby middle name 'Avalanche'

What are people thinking?

Swedish couple fight to name son 'Q'

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - A couple in Sweden has appealed to the country's supreme court in their fight to name their baby boy "Q", legal papers showed Friday.

Judges ruled in the couple's first appeal in January that Q was not an "appropriate" name for a child, arguing that Swedish law forbade names consisting of just one letter.

In their written appeal to Sweden's Supreme Court, the parents Rickard Rehnberg and Thitathorn Sukjit called on judges to reverse the previous ruling.

"There is now a child who answers to the name of Q. A BABY is already answering to this name? What does Sweden gain by forcing him to take on a new name?" they said.

In an earlier judgement in September 2008, Rehnberg and Sukjit told the court they had named the boy Q after the eccentric inventor from the James Bond films, a claim they have not since repeated.

The Swedish Supreme Court was expected to give its verdict within the coming months.

[MalahatTwo7]

Hahahahaaa

[E40FDNYL35]

May 17, 2009 -- Pigs don't fly in Texas -- but hunters can.
The state legislature's lower house has passed a bill to let airborne marksmen shoot wild oinkers. Rep. Sid Miller said more than 2 million feral pigs run hog wild in parts of the Lone Star state, causing $400 million in damage annually.

[E40FDNYL35]

Monkey see, monkey do, monkey steal!

May 23, 2009 -- A bandit dressed in a gorilla suit has been entering gas-station convenience stores in Fond du Lac, Wis., and stealing Styrofoam-display bananas. Cops believe it might be teens making an Internet prank video.

[MalahatTwo7]

I wonder how many will try anyway, "just in case"?

Thou shalt not poke the Pope. Neither shalt thou write on his wall

By Philip Pullella, Reuters May 24, 2009

Reuters You won't get an e-mail saying Pope Benedict added you as a friend and you can't "poke" him or write on his wall, but the Vatican is still keen to use the networking site Facebook to woo young people back to church.

A new Vatican website, www.pope2you.net, has gone live, offering an application called "The pope meets you on Facebook," and another allowing the faithful to see the Pope's speeches and messages on their iPhones or iPods.

The Vatican's World Communications Day today is devoted to communicating the gospel with new technologies.

"We recognize that a church that does not communicate ceases to be a church," said Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Social Communications department.

"Many young people today are not turning to traditional media like newspapers and magazines any more for information and entertainment. They are looking to a different media culture, and this is our effort to ensure that the Church is present in that communications culture."

Users of the new site can select from more than a dozen "virtual postcards" with pictures of the Pope and messages from him on faith, love and life specifically aimed at young people, and send them to other users.

The Catholic Church, which has seen vocations to religious life decline and church attendance fall, has already turned to the Internet. Last January the Pope became one of the oldest people to have his own YouTube channel, www. youtube.com/vaticanit.

The pope, known to write most of his speeches by hand while his aides manage his forays into cyberspace, has even admitted that the Vatican does not use the Internet enough.

The Vatican got egg on its face in January when the Pope admitted that, if the Church had surfed the web more, it might have known that a traditionalist bishop whose excommunication was lifted had for years been a Holocaust denier.

The new applications are available in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Dutch.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

[MalahatTwo7]

Passer-by Gives Suicide Jumper a Push

Updated 1:00 AM EDT, Sun, May 24, 2009

Chen Fuchao falls after a passer-by pushed him off the ledge in Guangzhou, China.

Chen Fuchao, a man heavily in debt, had been contemplating suicide on a bridge in southern China for hours when a passer-by came up, shook his hand — and pushed him off the ledge.

Chen fell 26 feet onto a partially inflated emergency air cushion laid out by authorities and survived, suffering spine and elbow injuries, the official Xinhua News Agency said Saturday.

The passer-by, 66-year-old Lai Jiansheng, had been fed up with what he called Chen's "selfish activity," Xinhua said. Traffic around the Haizhu bridge in the city of Guangzhou had been backed up for five hours and police had cordoned off the area.

"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest," Lai was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities' attention to their appeals."

Xinhua said Lai was "taken away by police" but did not elaborate.

A police officer who answered the telephone Saturday at a station close to the bridge confirmed the incident and said it was under investigation. He refused to give any other details and hung up.

According to Xinhua, Chen wanted to kill himself because he had accrued 2 million yuan ($290,000) in debt from a failed construction project.

On Thursday, he made his way to the Haizhu bridge, where 11 other people have tried to take their lives since April.

Lai volunteered to talk Chen down but was turned away by police, Xinhua said. Lai then broke through the cordon, climbed to where Chen sat, greeted him with a handshake, then pushed.

Photos in the Beijing Morning Post showed Lai, shoeless and in a T-shirt, saluting after Chen fell.

The paper said Lai was released on bail Friday but did not give any details. It said he had been on medication for "a mental illness" for decades and had been on his way to a hospital for his pills.

Chen was recovering in the hospital, Xinhua said.

[E40FDNYL35]

May 26, 2009 -- French officials have announced a Tour de France for prisoners. It will feature 196 inmates -- followed closely by 124 guards -- pedaling 1,400 miles. The race will start in Lille on June 4 and end in Paris.

[MalahatTwo7]

May 26, 2009 -- French officials have announced a Tour de France for prisoners. It will feature 196 inmates -- followed closely by 124 guards -- pedaling 1,400 miles. The race will start in Lille on June 4 and end in Paris.

OK, I was going to make something funny of this, until I checked the proposed routing in googlemaps. Turns out that except for the actual start and finish points there is not really much of anywhere that "silly stuff" might happen, as there are almost no access roads off the main highway. I would imagine that additional security will be applied at both Lille and Paris, when they are in the actual city limits. Other than maybe ditching the bike and trying to run for it through the woods and fields, there ain't no where to go.

[firecat1]

German states ban Red Bull after discovery of cocaine in the drink
Provided by: The Canadian Press
Written by: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May. 25, 2009

BERLIN - Six German states have told retailers to stop selling Red Bull Cola energy drinks after a test found a trace amount of cocaine.

The bans started Friday after a sample test conducted by authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia state found 0.4 micrograms per litre in the drink.

Five other states also banned it from shops amid concerns over possible narcotics law violations.

Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment said Monday that the cocaine level was too low to pose a health risk. It planned to produce a more detailed report Wednesday.

Red Bull said its cola is "harmless and marketable in both the U.S. and Europe." It said similar coca leaf extracts are used worldwide as flavouring, and a test it commissioned itself found no cocaine traces.

Coca-cola made all their sodas completely cocaine-free by 1929 so why is there even a trace showing back up in any product now?

[RspctFrmCalgary]

OK, I was going to make something funny of this, until I checked the proposed routing in googlemaps. Turns out that except for the actual start and finish points there is not really much of anywhere that "silly stuff" might happen, as there are almost no access roads off the main highway. I would imagine that additional security will be applied at both Lille and Paris, when they are in the actual city limits. Other than maybe ditching the bike and trying to run for it through the woods and fields, there ain't no where to go.

Why should they get the privilege though?

[E40FDNYL35]

May 27, 2009 -- He must have thought a nylon stocking over his head wasn't manly enough. Police in Nebraska are hunting for a man who stole cigarettes from a convenience store while wearing a Bud Light carton on his head. The man made off with $50 worth of smokes, but dropped the box in the parking lot. Officers dusted it for prints, but no match was found.