Weird But True

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Yes, men will ask for directions -- it just takes time

Reuters November 19, 2009 1:05 AM

An elderly man who went out to fetch a morning newspaper ended up driving more than 600 kilometres after getting lost and taking a wrong turn onto a major Australian highway, police said yesterday.

Eric Steward, 81, eventually stopped and asked for directions after driving for nine hours, from the New South Wales country town of Yass to Geelong in the state of Victoria.

Steward, who did not know where he was, approached a policeman at a gas station and asked for help late yesterday.

"This little old man came up to me saying he was lost. He handed me his mobile and asked if I could speak to his wife," said Victorian Police Const. Clayton Smith.

Steward, who was reunited with his family yesterday, said he took the wrong turn and just kept on going. "I just went out on the road to have a drive, a nice peaceful drive," he told reporters, adding he did not need a satellite navigation device as he'd only been lost once.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

[MalahatTwo7]

Calgary couple get exemption from pointless homework
By DOUG MCINTYRE, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 19th November 2009, 2:43am

CALGARY -- Tom and Shelli Milley might be Calgary's coolest parents.

At least it's a safe bet their kids' peers think so after the couple hammered out a no-homework contract with their children's school board.

Make no mistake, as lawyers Tom and Shelli fully appreciate a good education -- what they can't abide are inordinate workloads.

"How fair is it to ask our kids to put in a full day's work at school and then come home at night and do another shift?" said Tom whose kids Spencer, 11, and Brittany, 10, attend St. Brigid elementary-junior high school.

The opt-out clause created by the Milleys has its roots in frustration with what Tom termed "busy work" -- assignments given for the sake of assigning them.

His eldest child Jay, now 18 and in university, once received poor grades on a French assignment that required using crayons to identify colours written in French -- because the boy, a quadriplegic, instead wrote the corresponding English terms, said his dad.

Shelli began researching the pros and cons of homework two years ago, with much literature finding no link between home assignments and grades.

She formed a committee at St. Brigid to examine the issue, though her husband said reaction at the school level was decidedly mixed.

"One size fits all, that's just not the way it works -- people learn differently," said Tom.

Such sentiments found a more sympathetic ear with the Calgary Catholic School District board, which recently formalized the deal with the Milleys -- dubbed a differentiated homework plan -- so their kids are graded solely on classroom work.

Even prior to the agreement, the CCSD last spring struck a committee to examine homework, said spokeswoman Tania Younker.

"There are other instances throughout our schools where individual plans are determined for students," she said, adding it's expected a new homework policy will be implemented next fall.

Tom emphasized the approach allows his children to concentrate on improving weaker areas of study.

"It's not that our kids don't do homework ... my son must have studied for an hour and a half last night with my wife because he has an upcoming science test," said Tom.

"Instead of doing busy work, we were able to concentrate and make sure he knows those materials."

[email protected]

[MalahatTwo7]

Dang! Sign this kid up

Miss. toddler, 2, helps mom give birth to brother

Thursday, November 19, 2009 (11-19) 18:05 PST Olive Branch, Miss. (AP)

A 2-year-old in north Mississippi has done something few toddlers can: He helped his mother give birth to his brother. Bobbye Favazza told The Commercial Appeal she went into labor this past Friday and gave birth on the family's living room couch in Olive Branch. She said her toddler, Jeremiha Taylor, got her a towel and caught the baby before firefighters arrived to cut the umbilical cord.

Favazza gave birth to a 7-pound, 4-ounce baby boy, Kamron Taylor.

She had been scheduled for a cesarian section on Dec. 6.

City emergency services supervisor, Greg Mynatt, said the 911 call about Favazza was probably the third this year about a woman in labor, but usually the mother makes it to the hospital before delivery.

Information from: The Commercial Appeal, www.commercialappeal.com

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One last note on the Warspite battleship saga

By Jim Hume, Special to Times Colonist November 22, 2009

Cleaning out a notebook, catching up on e-mail and ending, for now, the saga of the 1941 visit of the battleship HMS Warspite and stories on the panic on the West Coast after Pearl Harbour:

The Warspite tale was brought to light back in September when Jack Wellburn wrote about his childhood thrill of seeing the giant of the sea in Nanoose Bay. Almost overnight, it expanded into a memory-lane exercise for dozens of readers who had personal memories of Warspite.

There was even a note from retired engineer Geoff Fox of Central Saanich who once worked in the jet engine division of Rolls-Royce, the company that supplied Derwent V pumps to help re-float the Warspite in 1947 when it went aground on the coast of Cornwall while on her way to the wrecker's yard.

From reader and former Lt.-Gov. Iona Campagnolo, there was a note and photograph taken on her just-concluded tour of First World War and Second World War memorials, battlefields and Canadian war cemeteries in Belgium and France. Near Juno, she had visited a German long gun emplacement that had been "dispatched with one shell from the 15 guns of Warspite" on D-Day. (For her fans, she remains in good health, sends her best wishes and is enjoying life out of the fast lane.)

Not all the mail was friendly. One reader accused me of ignoring the injustice done to Canadians of Japanese descent in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbour, and of inaccuracy in describing the sinking of a U.S. freighter off Neah Bay. He claimed the freighter was Canadian and that it wasn't sunk, just badly damaged and towed to safety.

The freighter I referred to was the SS Coast Trader. It was torpedoed and sunk on June 7, 1942, 56 kilometres southwest of Cape Flattery, which is next door to Neah Bay on the map. It was American with a crew of 37 plus 19 "armed guard" -- the American term for gun crews on armed merchantmen. One crew member perished from exposure, the crew of HMCS Edmundston and the fishing boat Virginia 1 pulled the rest from the sea.

Two weeks later, on June 20, the Edmundston and another Canadian Corvette, HMCS Quesnel, were back off Cape Flattery to assist the Canadian SS Fort Camosun back to Neah Bay after it had been shelled and torpedoed by one of the Japanese submarines active in the area. Earlier in June, the Japanese had invaded and occupied the Aleutian Islands Attu and Kiska and the West Coast trembled from Mexico to Alaska. Earlier in the year, Canadian and American authorities had ordered the removal from coastal areas of all citizens of Japanese descent. The June submarine activity was used to justify that action -- and as an excuse for the inexcusable, arbitrary sale of personal property from homes to furniture to fish boats.

How scared were the authorities? Scared enough to flank Prince Rupert with heavy artillery and order construction of two railway gun trains to run alongside the Skeena River.

The trains were to be built in Winnipeg, would be manned by Winnipeg Grenadiers and bristled with Bren guns, 75 mm and Bofor guns. One reached operational status. Its job was to patrol the 95 miles between Rupert and Terrace to prevent any Japanese attempts to sail upriver to land troops.

Once the Japanese were driven from the Aleutians, the gun train rusted on a siding at Terrace until handed to Canadian National Railway for dismantling. Roger V. Lucy has a history in his modest book The Armoured Train in Canadian Service.

And finally, the aviation museum at Victoria International Airport offers the best picture of Pat Bay when it hosted crews from West Camp, the RCAF Training Unit for fighter and bomber squadrons; East Camp, RAF Training for air crew from England, Australia and New Zealand; and the Seaplane base, part coastal patrol, part Western Command against Japanese submarine threats.

Just across the road from the museum is Mary's -- the 1940s Mary's Coffee Bar, a favourite hangout for aircrew. It's full of wartime memorabilia. If you go, be hungry. The food is good and still served in young aircrew proportions.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

[MalahatTwo7]

Silly dog

Sled dog set to retire 'doesn’t know she’s blind'

By Jennifer Pawluk, Winnipeg Free Press November 25, 2009 3:02 AM

WINNIPEG — The end of the trail is near for Isobel the blind sled dog. The nine-year-old Siberian husky-malamute cross will retire in January, five years after she lost her sight.

In January 2005, veterinarians told Isobel’s owners Gerald and Jenofar Azure that a virus had destroyed her eyes. The dog, they said, would never work again.

But Isobel had other ideas.

“Isobel went absolutely wild. She wanted to run,” said Jenofar, who lives with her dogs in the northern Manitoba community of Churchill.

The blind dog learned to use sound and smell as beacons, her owner said.

“She absolutely loves it,” said Jenofar. “She runs better now than she did with her eyesight.”

Before her illness, Isobel ran in the middle of the pack or at point position, behind the lead dog Thunder. But now she and Thunder take turns running in the lead, Jenofar said.

“In the North, everyone is expected to carry their own weight,” said Gerald. “Isobel does that and more.”

The end of this season marks a sad one for the Azures, as Isobel is set to retire in January.

The pup will be adopted by a family in Alberta, where her ophthalmology specialist lives.

“Gerald and I derive a lot of strength from our sled dogs, but from Isobel in particular,” said Jenofar.

“She doesn’t know she’s blind anymore.”

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

PHOTOCREDIT:

Isobel the blind sled dog. The nine-year-old Siberian husky-malamute cross will retire in January, five years after she lost her sight.Photograph by: Handout, Winnipeg Free Press

[firecat1]

Isobel the blind sled dog. The nine-year-old Siberian husky-malamute cross will retire in January, five years after she lost her sight.Photograph by: Handout, Winnipeg Free Press

Now THAT is dogged determination! *ducks and runs for cover* Seriously, our pets show us continuously that they're not just "dumb animals" and I, for one, am grateful to have a wonderful animal companion. {and Nikita is awesome too }

[MalahatTwo7]

Young man flies into road rage after 69-year-old woman flips him the bird

Comox Valley Echo November 25, 2009 10:03 AM

COMOX — A 22-year-old man has been ordered into anger management counseling after a 69-year-old woman flipped him the bird.

According to court testimony, Paul Michael Pelletier and another man were seen getting out of a vehicle at Cliffe Avenue and 17th Street on July 21. They then proceeded to yell obscenities at the woman in the car behind them.

"She fingered me five times," Pelletier told the court. "You can't hit a woman so what's the next best thing? Hit her car, right?"

Pelletier kicked the side-view mirror off the driver's side of the car. He was charged and convicted of mischief under $5,000.

According to Crown prosecutor Richard Ellsay, the men had honked at the woman and she then fingered them twice.

"It's clearly what one might classify as a road rage incident," said Ellsay. "I don't think giving him the finger was the best course of action, but it certainly didn't justify his actions."

When asked by Judge Peter Doherty whether or not he noticed that the woman was nearly 70 years old when he attacked her car, Pelletier said "that's why I didn't hit her."

Pelletier and the other man left the scene. A witness, however, got the vehicle's licence plate number. Pelletier was pulled over by police later that day.

According to court testimony, Pelletier told police that he had wanted to teach the lady a lesson before she learned "the hard way."

In court, Pelletier said the woman had caught him on a bad day.

He said there are "psychos in this town" who would have done a lot worse.

"If somebody is going to finger you, what do they expect?" asked Pelletier.

Doherty, clearly unimpressed with Pelletier's angry outbursts in court, suspended sentence and placed him on 12 months probation. Conditions of his probation include that he not contact the complainant and complete a course in anger management.

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

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Pittsburgh OKs $50K 'Middle Finger' Settlement. Man Cited For Giving Cop Middle Finger

Posted: 1:01 pm PST November 25, 2009
Updated: 1:08 pm PST November 25, 2009

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh City Council has tentatively approved paying $50,000 to settle a free speech lawsuit filed by a man cited for giving a city police officer the middle finger.

Thirty-five-year-old David Hackbart, of Butler, made the gesture at a driver in April 2006, then did it again when someone yelled at him -- realizing only later the second person was a police officer.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued saying Hackbart's gesture was constitutionally protected speech. A federal judge postponed a September trial indefinitely at the request of attorneys on both sides.

Council gave initial approval to the settlement Tuesday, but must vote again next week to finally approve the payment.

No court documents settling the case have been filed.

Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[MalahatTwo7]

Do You Wish For A White Christmas?

Why Do We Dream Of A White Christmas? 'Christmas Carol,' Horse-Pulled Sleighs Likely Contributors

NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press Writer

Posted: 10:02 am PST November 25, 2009
Updated: 11:02 am PST November 25, 2009

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Bing Crosby didn't have to dream of a white Christmas -- he could bank on it.

The crooner was from Spokane, a city that is among the most likely to have a white Christmas each year. According to weather experts, Spokane has a white Christmas about 70 percent of the time.

In the United States, only a few high-latitude cities beat those odds: Duluth, Minn. (97 percent) Anchorage, Alaska, (90 percent), Marquette, Mich., (90 percent) and Concord, N.H. (87 percent).

Crosby's song tapped into a primal need for many living in the northern latitudes, where the notion of a white Christmas takes on mythic proportions. But why is snow important to a holiday celebrating the birth of a man in the arid climate of the Middle East?

"I think that it's simply because of the picture-perfect image of snow on Christmas that is constantly put into our heads through Christmas advertising and images of Santa Claus at the North Pole," said Karin Bumbaco, assistant state climatologist for Washington.

"I think Americans prefer a white Christmas just because it's drilled into our heads," said Bumbaco, whose cynical view is perhaps the result of working in Seattle, which has a white Christmas just 8 percent of the time.

The federal Western Regional Climate Center in Reno, Nev., gets flooded with calls this time of year, with people asking if their town will get a white Christmas, said Jim Ashby, a climatologist at the center. "They do care," Ashby said

Snow on Dec. 25 is so desirable that there are Web sites devoted to the odds of your city having snow that day. And in the United Kingdom, it is possible to bet on whether there will be a white Christmas in places like London or Glasgow.

The National Climatic Data Center studies the chances of a white Christmas in various U.S. cities. For the period 1988-2005, the agency found that the probability of having an inch of snow on the ground on Dec. 25 ranged from 100 percent in Fairbanks, Alaska, to 1 percent in Phoenix.

The snow-happy can head to the Rockies, the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada mountains in the West, the Upper Midwest, and northern New England, according to the National Weather Service. But they probably won't need to shovel in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Charlotte, where there's a 1 percent chance of snow on Christmas Day.

There are lots of theories about why a white Christmas is considered desirable.

One credits Charles Dickens, author of "A Christmas Carol," which was hugely influential in establishing various Christmas rituals. Dickens was born in 1812, and as a child experienced a run of very cold, snowy winters during Europe's "Little Ice Age." His romanticized memory of those winters went into the book.

In the past, snow meant horse-pulled sleighs, which made it easier for people to get together for the holiday. And nostalgic illustrations, like Norman Rockwell's snowy Christmas scenes, also played a role.

The term "white Christmas" was immortalized in the song of the same name written in 1940 by Irving Berlin for the movie "Holiday Inn." Crosby's version of the melancholy tune was a phenomenon, and is widely considered the best selling single of all time.

In the Christian world, most parts of Canada stand an excellent chance of experiencing a white Christmas. Northern Europe often gets snow, although the further west a country is in Europe, the lower the probability that it will have a white Christmas.

White Christmases are rare in the Southern hemisphere, where our winter is their summer.

Nolan Doesken, a state climatologist in Colorado, also takes a somewhat jaded view of the white Christmas fetish.

"We climatologists, along with the media looking for stories in what may otherwise be a slow news season, have worked together to continue to propagate this tradition," Doesken said. "It would be interesting to see if we quit writing about it, and quit singing about it, if anything would change."

On the Web:

National Climatic Weather Center: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/...christmas.html

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.

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Dog With Name Tag 'Works' Drive-Through Gas Station Owner Says He Initially Brought Dog For Shift Company

Posted: 12:14 pm PST November 25, 2009
Updated: 12:34 pm PST November 25, 2009

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Customers at one Gulf coast gas station might be surprised at who responds to the counter when they pull up to the drive-through window: The store owner's dog.

Dozens of times each day, Cody the chocolate Labradaor retriever will pop up on two paws behind the counter at a BP gas station and convenience store in Clearwater. He even has a BP logo shirt and a name tag. Customers grin and kids squeal with joy in response.

Store owner Karim Mansour said he started bringing Cody to work five months ago for company on the early morning shift. The dog quickly became a celebrity among store regulars.

Mansour said Cody helps customers by calming those who come in sad or angry.

Information from: St. Petersburg Times, http://tampabay.com

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

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Dealers lose their wheels Cops seizing 'dial-a-doper' vehicles

By SHAWN LOGAN, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 27th November 2009, 2:29am

New legislation aimed at hitting gangsters and drug dealers where it hurts most -- their wallets -- has had a major impact on crime, says Alberta's justice boss.

Justice Minister Alison Redford said $11.4 million in homes, cars and cash linked to crime has been seized under the Victims Restitution and Compensation Payment Act that came into force last fall.

She said vehicles are becoming the primary tool of "dial-a-dopers" who have taken illicit commerce mobile and the year-old law now allows police to take these vehicles, many loaded with concealed compartments for guns and drugs, off the road.

"The only thing that these mobile dealers require to run their drug business is a car and a cellphone," Redford said.

"And if we can seize the car of a drug dealer, that's one less drug dealer doing business."

In the last year, 61 vehicles have been seized under the legislation, including 43 from Edmonton.

In a recent set of stings targeting dial-a-dopers, Edmonton cops laid hundreds of charges and impounded 13 vehicles, actions, said police Chief Mike Boyd, that are putting a serious dent in illegal drug operations.

"With these powerful tools to get the job done, I think the evidence is pretty clear, it's working -- and we're just getting started," he said.

"This is going to help us disrupt and dismantle and stop these criminals from operating."

Redford said justice department lawyers have had a 97% success rate in receiving judicial consent for seizure and forfeiture proceedings.

She noted there is currently one case in Alberta under appeal but she noted similar legislation in Ontario was recently upheld after facing a constitutional challenge.

And with some $250,000 from forfeitures already given to victims of crimes and support groups, Redford warned criminals that any property used to commit a crime can be taken away.

"If you decide to use your home to produce drugs you run the risk of losing your home. If you choose to use your vehicle to sell drugs or to transport drugs, you very well might lose your vehicle," she said.

"This law was developed to disrupt the daily business of gangs and to try and prevent the victimization of our community, and it's working."

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IceBerg Ahead, Sir!

Giant iceberg spotted south of Australia

Agence France-Presse December 9, 2009 3:18 AM

SYDNEY - A monster iceberg nearly twice the size of Hong Kong island has been spotted drifting towards Australia in what scientists Wednesday called a once-in-a-century event.

Australian glaciologist Neal Young pinpointed the slab, which is some 19 kilometres long and about 1,700 kilometres south of the country, using satellite imagery.

He said he was not aware of such a large iceberg being found in the area since the days when 19th century clipper ships plied the trade route between Britain and Australia.

"I don't recall any mention of one for a long, long time," Young, of the Australian Antarctic Division and Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre, told AFP.

"I'm guessing you would probably have to go back to the times of the clipper ships."

Young said the iceberg measured about 140 square kilometres (54 square miles). Hong Kong island's surface area is about 80 square kilometres.

The glaciologist said the iceberg carved off the Antarctic about 10 years ago and had been slowly floating round the icy continent before taking the unusual route north.

He said the "very, very big" iceberg was originally about 400 square kilometres but then split into two smaller pieces.

"This one has survived in the open ocean for about a year," he said. "In that time it's slowly been coming up to the north and north east in the general direction of Western Australia."

The finding comes after two large icebergs were spotted further east, off Australia's Macquarie Island, followed by more than 100 smaller ice chunks heading towards New Zealand.

Young described the icebergs as uncommon, but said they could become more frequent if sea temperatures rise through global warming.

© Copyright (c) AFP

PHOTOCREDIT:

Photo taken on November 6, 2009 by the Australian Antarctic Division shows a giant iceberg, estimated to be about 50 metres high and 500 metres long as it drifts past the Australian sub-Antarctic territory of Macquarie Island. Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young said the iceberg is likely to be part of one of the big ones that calved from the Ross Ice Shelf nearly a decade ago.Photograph by: TESSA BICKFORD, AFP/Getty Images

{Too bad there is nothing to give reference of scale for size on this thing.}

[MalahatTwo7]

Oooopppppss

Pa. police arrest Amish man in buggy for DUI

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 (12-08) 18:18 PST Lancaster, Pa. (AP)

Police in central Pennsylvania arrested an Amish man on drunk driving charges over the weekend after he was found asleep in his moving buggy. Police said a 22-year-old man was slumped over and asleep in a slow-moving buggy on Sunday night.

An off-duty officer from nearby reported seeing the horse pulling the buggy at a walking pace as it straddled the center line.

Police said a breathalyzer test snowed the man's blood-alcohol content was 0.18, more than twice the 0.08 legal limit for drivers.

Information from: Intelligencer Journal, www.lancasteronline.com/pages/paper/sundaynews/

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Kick in the Teeth: Dentist Overwhelmed by Sex Calls Florida dentist fields 500 calls per day from raunchy 1-900 number

By BRIAN HAMACHER Updated 3:36 PM EST, Tue, Dec 1, 2009

NBC Miami.com Between the routine cleanings, root canals and other dentist procedures, Dr. Robert Thousand and his staff don't have a whole lot of time for phone sex.

But that's not stopping a raunchy 1-900 sex line from calling the St. Augustine dentist's phone a whopping 500 times a day.

"There it goes again," employee Joyce Outlaw, immersed in annoying ring tones, told WTLV. "So far, we've had 433 calls since 9:30 this morning."

The calls have been pouring in, on the office phones and the doctor's cell, in the past couple weeks, without stop. Thousand said the calls are hurting his practice, since real customers can't get through to the office. Not to mention the bill.

"I think you get charged every time your cell phone rings. I get four to five hundred of these a day so I've contacted AT&T," Thousand said. "Who knows what my phone bill will be, thousands, I'm sure."

The calls are a recording, with a simple choice of options from the menu.

"If you are gay, press 1. If you are a lesbian, press 2," a sultry voice reads. You can imagine where it goes from there.

"It's the same recording every time," said a frustrated Dr. Thousand. "It's a homemade recording that someone has downloaded on a computer and is dialing it through a computer on the automatic dial."

Since he's been using the same office and phone number for 10 years, Dr. Thousand said he can't just change his number.

In the meantime, police and AT&T are investigating the calls, trying to track down the source.

Thousand said the sex calls are doing nothing for his libido or his once-thriving business.

"It's pretty much cyberterrorism, you know, somebody terrorizes you, does this to your business," Thousand said. "It's shutting me down."

First Published: Dec 1, 2009 1:33 PM EST

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NC woman lay dead in bed for months despite visits
By KEVIN MAURER and ALYSIA PATTERSON, Associated Press Writers

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 (12-16) 10:53 PST Wilmington, N.C. (AP)

The body of an elderly woman remained in her bed for up to eight months even though caretakers paid daily visits to the house and kept it tidy, authorities said Wednesday.

Sheriff's deputies were investigating the suspicious death of Blanche Matilda Roth after the corpse was found in her suburban home in Wilmington, on the Atlantic coast, on Tuesday following a call to 911.

New Hanover County Deputy Charles Smith said Roth likely died in May, before her 88th birthday in September. Her body was found after the 911 caller, whose identity was being withheld by authorities, reported that an elderly woman in the home was unconscious and not breathing.

Smith said caretakers had been going in and out of the house on a quiet cul-de-sac on a daily basis. He would not specify if the caretakers were family members but said they were not nurses. At least four other people also lived in the house, a neighbor said. ?????

Failure to report a death is a felony in North Carolina.

Smith said the residence was very well kept. He said police hadn't received any calls requesting welfare checks on Roth.

Officials are awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

"They were quiet and stayed to themselves all the time," neighbor Ray Taylor, 72, said of the home's residents.

Martin Pedersen, another neighbor, said he had no idea Roth had died.

Pedersen, 55, said four other family members, a married couple and two sons, lived in the house and that a younger son went to school every day.

Pedersen said the family was nice and the news surprised him. He used to see the elderly woman walking to the mailbox with another family member holding her arm. "They'd be laughing and everything else."

He couldn't recall when he last saw her.