Weird News

[Zaaphod]

What do they teach security personnel these days? Not gun safety...

Loaded Gun Found on Back of Bank Toilet

The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 2, 2006; 10:09 PM

BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- Imagine using the restroom at your local bank and finding a loaded handgun on the back of the toilet. A Guaranty Bank employee discovered the gun Tuesday and called police, said Brookfield police Capt. Phil Horter.

A short time later, an employee of the Dunbar Armored security firm called the bank, realizing he had left the weapon when he made a stop at the bank. The gun was later returned.

Horter said certain security personnel can be licensed to carry a handgun in Wisconsin.

Police say they don't expect to cite the Dunbar employee for his forgetfulness.

Sean Gibbons, director of communications at Hunt Valley, Md.-based Dunbar International Inc., said the company was aware of the matter and that it had been appropriately addressed, but he declined to be more specific.

[VisibilityMissing]

Bad Dog!

Aug 2, 10:07 PM EDT

Dog Destroys Elvis' Teddy Bear at Museum

LONDON (AP) -- A guard dog has ripped apart a collection of rare teddy bears, including one once owned by Elvis Presley, during a rampage at a children's museum.

"He just went berserk," said Daniel Medley, general manager of the Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, England, where hundreds of bears were chewed up Tuesday night by the 6-year-old Doberman pinscher named Barney.

Barney ripped the head off a brown stuffed bear once owned by the young Presley during the attack, leaving fluffy stuffing and bits of bears' limbs and heads on the museum floor. The bear, named Mabel, was made in 1909 by the German manufacturer Steiff.

The collection, valued at more than $900,000, included a red bear made by Farnell in 1910 and a Bobby Bruin made by Merrythought in 1936.

The bear with Elvis connections was owned by English aristocrat Benjamin Slade, who bought it at an Elvis memorabilia auction in Memphis, Tenn., and had loaned it to the museum.

"I've spoken to the bear's owner and he is not very pleased at all," Medley said.

A security guard at the museum, Greg West, said he spent several minutes chasing Barney before wrestling the dog to the ground.

[gen200]

Aug 2, 10:07 PM EDT

Dog Destroys Elvis' Teddy Bear at Museum

LONDON (AP) -- A guard dog has ripped apart a collection of rare teddy bears, including one once owned by Elvis Presley, during a rampage at a children's museum.

"He just went berserk," said Daniel Medley, general manager of the Wookey Hole Caves near Wells, England, where hundreds of bears were chewed up Tuesday night by the 6-year-old Doberman pinscher named Barney.

Barney ripped the head off a brown stuffed bear once owned by the young Presley during the attack, leaving fluffy stuffing and bits of bears' limbs and heads on the museum floor. The bear, named Mabel, was made in 1909 by the German manufacturer Steiff.

The collection, valued at more than $900,000, included a red bear made by Farnell in 1910 and a Bobby Bruin made by Merrythought in 1936.

The bear with Elvis connections was owned by English aristocrat Benjamin Slade, who bought it at an Elvis memorabilia auction in Memphis, Tenn., and had loaned it to the museum.

"I've spoken to the bear's owner and he is not very pleased at all," Medley said.

"not very pleased?"

so... he's pleased by some amount ?

A security guard at the museum, Greg West, said he spent several minutes chasing Barney before wrestling the dog to the ground.

I still feel that human lives are more important than stuffed bears.

it seems that people are more concerned about a stuffed bear owned by a long-dead rock star than human lives.

that's just sad!

I must draw up a satirical comic about this

[Zaaphod]

If a snake eats your golf ball, it's a one-stroke penalty.

Snake in the grass shock

By Chris Wickham

Golfers know that unless they hit straight down the middle of the fairway they can often find their ball in unexpected situations, but not many would expect to find it sitting next to a five foot snake.

But when a young golfer at Strawberry Hill Golf Club hit down the right of the ninth hole last Thursday afternoon and went to look for his ball with his playing partner that is exactly what met them, a large python.

Peter Buchan, the professional at the Wellesley Road club, said: "It was a very unusual experience. A couple of the boys hit the ball to the right side of the ninth fairway and they saw a python sliding out from behind a tree, they were a little concerned.
continued...

"They told the secretary Peter Astbury and he came to tell me. It started wandering around the fairway so I decided to pick it up and the secretary got a bucket to put it in.

"I have picked up one before at a zoo, but I have only been told since that they bite. It curled itself around my arm and I thought that if I had it's head it would be ok. Considering all the rain we had I guess it's good that I did pick it up."

Mr Astbury rang the RSPCA who came to collect the snake. An RSPCA spokesman said it would be passed on to specialists who would try and re-house it.

10:19am Friday 4th August 2006
from the Richmond & Twickenham Times, U.K.

[VisibilityMissing]

How not to celebrate your birthday . . .

Aug 4, 4:31 PM EDT

Man Impaled by Steel Stake on Birthday

NORTHAMPTON, Pa. (AP) -- Enjoying a relaxing 54th birthday in the yard, Mike Colwell went to move the sprinkler, backing up momentarily to avoid the spray, toward a horseshoe pit with a 1-inch-thick rusty steel stake.

"My two heels hit the back wall of the pit. The next thing I know, this thing just tore through me," Colwell said.

As he fell on the stake, it pierced into his buttocks, fractured his pelvis, and came within a millimeter of his iliac artery, which carries blood to the body's lower extremities.

"I just felt something tearing right through my leg for 5 or 6 inches. I don't know how else to describe it. I just knew I had to concentrate on staying awake and not pull myself off the stake," he said.

Colwell yelled, and his wife, Linda, and daughter, Ashley, a nurse, came running. "I saw that he was impaled on this stake and bleeding. I just got on the phone and called 911," Ashley said.

Police and paramedics sawed at the stake while Colwell's son, Chris, 26, gripped it so it wouldn't cause more damage. An ambulance rushed Colwell to a waiting helicopter, which flew him to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Three surgeries later, Colwell, a Verizon lineman, was still in the hospital Thursday, hoping to go home on the weekend, and grateful for his luck. "A millimeter away and it could have buried me," he said by phone. Back at the house, Chris Colwell removed the horseshoe stakes from the yard, saying it was a game his dad rarely played.

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The 9-1-1 date seeker gets probation . . .

Aug 4, 5:02 PM EDT

Woman Seeking 'Cute Cop' Gets Probation

HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) -- A woman who called 911 in hopes of getting another look at "the cutest cop I've seen in God knows how long" won't go to jail for misusing the emergency system, a judge decided.

Instead, Lorna Dudash was sentenced to serve two years of probation and 100 hours of community service, and pay $693 in fines and fees.

"People who are, oh, say, older than 7 know not to use 911 except when where is an emergency," Washington County Judge Marco Hernandez told Dudash, of Aloha.

Dudash's dream deputy came to her door June 15, along with another officer, to tell her to turn down her music. Afterward, Dudash called emergency dispatchers.

"I'm 45 years old and I'd just like to meet him again, but I don't know how to go about doing that without calling 911," she said.

The deputy went back, to arrest her.

Dudash was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty. She faced a possible yearlong sentence a fine of more than $6,000.

[VisibilityMissing]

No, no . . . it's cooties, not rabies!!

Rabies shots advised for girl campers
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 6, 2006

LEESBURG - Officials are recommending that nearly 1,000 Girl Scouts who may have been exposed to the rabies virus at a Northern Virginia camp consider getting protective vaccinations.

There is only a small chance that any of the girls were infected by bats that were found in some of the children's sleeping shelters at Camp Potomac Woods, Loudoun County officials said.

But authorities are erring on the side of caution because about 1 percent of bats do carry rabies, a disease that is incurable once symptoms appear. And it is possible some of the girls were unknowingly bitten while they slept.

"We think the risk is extremely small, but we can't say there is no risk," said David Goodfriend, director of the Loudoun Health Department. "Really, at the end of the day, it's the parents' decision of what level of risk they are willing to bear."

The incident began in mid-July when the mother of a girl who had attended the camp contacted the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital. The girl had told her mother that the shelter she slept in had bats living under the eaves.

Five bats subsequently caught at the camp's shelters tested negative for rabies. But officials soon learned that a few girls apparently touched a bat captured by a counselor, and some girls had not used protective netting around their beds while sleeping at night.

The Loudoun health department sent letters to the parents of about 950 girls who attended the camp through July 22. Most of those contacted have declined to get the vaccine.

At least 14 girls have begun receiving the monthlong series of shots, local officials said. They include the children authorities believe were most likely to have come in contact with a bat.

"Initially, I was skeptical . . . I couldn't believe it was enough of an issue to put a child through this," said Russell Greenberg of Takoma Park, Md., whose daughter, Natalie, was at the camp.

The family's pediatrician was surprised over the recommendation, but Greenberg ultimately decided the risk, though small, was real. Nine-year-old Natalie began receiving her shots last week, and has remained good humored enough to pretend to foam at the mouth for her parents' benefit.

[VisibilityMissing]

Doughnut truck thief versus the cops . . . who will win?

Cops quickly find stolen doughnut truck

RICHLAND, Wash. - A stolen truck full of doughnuts? Better believe Tri-Cities police were on that in a hurry. Moments after the theft of the Viera's Bakery van was reported early Friday in Kennewick, police issued an all-points bulletin.

A Benton County sheriff's deputy quickly spotted the truck. After a chase at 30 to 35 mph, Richland police got it to stop and arrested the driver, Steve Swoboda, 19, for investigation of auto theft and felony escape.

Still intact was the entire load of glazed, sugar and cream doughnuts, as well as apple fritters, bear claws.

"In 24 years in law enforcement I've never had a call like that," Richland police Capt. Randy Barnes said. "To steal a bakery truck, how clever is that?"

"It kind of sticks out, a doughnut truck," Kennewick police Sgt. Ken Lattin said.

The truck was taken while the delivery driver, Gilberto Gonzales, left the engine running during a stop at the Break Place Conoco. Gonzales asked the clerk if he recalled seeing a man who had been standing in front of the store.

"The clerk said, 'Yeah, that guy's been wanting a ride to Richland for a while,'" said Mario Viera, one of the operators of the bakery.

Viera said he was happy that none of the load was lost "but I'm going to make sure Gilberto doesn't leave the keys in the truck any more."

[Zaaphod]

Problems with penguins as pointed out to me by Dr_Dos in the chat...

Truck wreck spills penguins, octopus onto E. Texas highway

07:31 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Associated Press

MARSHALL, Texas - A truck transporting zoo animals from Indiana to Galveston overturned Tuesday, spilling about two dozen penguins, tropical fish and an octopus onto an East Texas highway, authorities said.

"We had a penguin wreck," Department of Public Safety trooper Richard Buchanan said. "They were thrown out into a ditch and in the roadway."

Two employees from the Indianapolis Zoo were transporting the animals to Moody Gardens in Galveston when the accident occurred on U.S. Highway 59 at about 4:30 a.m., Buchanan said.

The driver, Kelly Hodge, 34, swerved, overcorrected and then rolled the truck into a ditch, Buchanan said. She and her passenger, Tammy Root, both sustained minor scratches and bruises, but were not seriously injured.

The penguins were traveling in heavy tubs, which broke open when the truck crashed. Three penguins landed in the highway and were killed by oncoming traffic; one died in the crash. Another penguin suffered a broken wing.

The octopus and fish were being transported in water-filled plastic bags. The octopus survived, but some of the fish died when the bags burst, Buchanan said.

Troopers and workers from the nearly Caldwell Zoo in Tyler succeeded in corralling the penguins that landed in the ditch and rescuing the fish, Buchanan said.

Authorities contacted a local chemical company to secure a refrigerator trailer for the penguins, which were then taken to the Caldwell Zoo for examination, Buchanan said. The penguins were sent on to Galveston by mid-afternoon.

"They were doing remarkably well for what they had been through," he said.

[VisibilityMissing]

"Penguin wreck"



How do you mark a truck carrying penguins?

[Zaaphod]

Got sauce?

Group apologizes for taking three years worth of Taco Bell sauces

A group of 10 to 15 masked individuals entered Taco Bell, 3244 S. Western Ave., around 10:46 p.m. Tuesday to return a three-year stash of fire sauce packets, police say.

The group returned six 40-gallon trash bags filled with approximately, 25,000 sauce packets to the restaurant.

With the stash was a note stating that they had been accumulating the sauces over three years and kept them stored in the trunk of a vehicle, but felt guilty about keeping them and decided to return them to the restaurant.

Originally published August 9, 2006 in the Marion Chronicle-Tribune, Marion, Indiana

[VisibilityMissing]

Judge orders online sale of Unabomber goods

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski's journal, as well as axes, typewriters and books seized from his Montana cabin will be sold in an Internet auction to help pay restitution to his victims, a U.S. federal judge has ordered.

Judge Garland Burrell of the U.S. District Court in Sacramento issued the order on Thursday, directing the U.S. Marshals Service to arrange to sell the mail bomber's property through an online auction.

Proceeds from the sale would go towards a $15 million restitution order to pay victims and their families. The auctioneer would get no more than 10 percent of the proceeds to cover its costs.

The date and company that will handle the auction will be determined later.

Among the items on auction will be thousands of pages of writings by Kaczynski, a former math professor who withdrew from society and developed radical anti-technology beliefs. The San Francisco Chronicle said Kaczynski's journal was some 22,000 pages long and detailed his anti-social feelings.

Other personal items, which were seized in a 1996 raid of Kaczynski's cabin, on the block will be hand tools, shovels, saw blades, knives, bows and arrows, axes, clothing, typewriters and a briefcase containing his degrees from the University of Michigan.

Burrell also ordered some 200 books -- with titles ranging from "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" to "Axiomatization of the Theory of Relativity" -- to be sold.

The judge ruled that bomb-making materials found in Kaczynski's cabin not be part of the auction. Burrell also said weapons and bomb-making material would not be returned to Kaczynski as he had requested.

Kaczynski, 64, killed three people and injured more than 20 with homemade bombs sent through the mail from 1978 to 1995. He also threatened to blow up airplanes.

Federal agents seized Kaczynski's property in a raid of his cabin in 1996. His arrest followed a tip by his brother, who recognised Kaczynski's beliefs in his manifesto attacking modern life published by The New York Times and The Washington Post in 1995.

Kaczynski struck a plea bargain in 1998 that sent him to prison for life at the super-maximum-security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies."

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Squirrel attacks people in Fla. park

Thu Aug 10, 10:28 PM ET

WINTER PARK, Fla. - Several people attacked by a squirrel at Central Park said they had one word for the animal: nuts. On Wednesday some expressed frustration that the animal was not caught sooner, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Alisa Cox's son Carson, 3, was bitten by a squirrel several times and had a 2-inch wound on his leg after the incident, Cox said.

James Klute said his 3-year-old son was also bitten on the calf while they were kicking a soccer ball at the park. Jim Hindman, meanwhile, said a squirrel bit and scratched both arms while he was sitting on a park bench.

Longwood resident Dylan Osborne, 19, said that after the squirrel attacked the leg and shoe of a friend he trapped it under a bucket but released it two hours later when county animal-services workers didn't arrive.

An official with animal-services said he was not aware of that incident but would check the records.

City employees captured the animal with a litter grabber Tuesday. It died and is being tested for rabies. Officers had previously tried to subdue the animal with pepper spray.

[Zaaphod]

It's a good idea for parents to encourage their kids' interests. To a point.

Mom accused of helping son find robbery victim

Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. - A mother has been charged with helping her 13-year-old son search for someone to rob.

The boy told police his mother, Janine C. Lewis, drove him around Stoughton Tuesday night, helping him look for someone to rob, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in Dane County Circuit Court.

The boy told police he had talked to her about committing robberies, but she discouraged him. Still, he said she agreed to drive him around to look for a victim, the complaint said.

They found a man at a car wash. She asked him if he really wanted to go through with it. He said he did, and she told him to be careful, the complaint said.

The boy approached the man with a gun and demanded money, he told police.

But the would-be victim realized the boy's gun was actually a BB gun. He knocked it out of the boy's hand, chased him down and held him until police arrived.

A woman later identified as Lewis asked the boy as he was being arrested, "What were you doing?"

"I needed some money," the boy said, according to the complaint.

Officers tracked down Lewis at her home, where she gave officers a false name, according to the complaint. She also said she did not know her son was committing the robbery or that he had a gun, the complaint said. She also said she only happened by chance to be in the area when the robbery occurred, according to the complaint.

She later acknowledged she helped her son commit the robbery, saying she told him it was something they could do together, according to the complaint.

Lewis, 36, of Stoughton, faces one count of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a count of attempted armed robbery, both felonies. She also faces a misdemeanor count of resisting an officer.

She was released on a signature bond after a court appearance Friday and was ordered not to have any contact with her son.

The boy is being prosecuted in juvenile court. He is being held in the juvenile jail on the juvenile equivalent of an armed robbery charge.

Information from: Wisconsin State Journal

[Tom Flapwell]

Motivations: And the Warden Isn't a Hot Chick, Either
A Candor, N.Y., man who, police said, called 911 because he wanted to see a "hot chick" is cooling his heels in jail. Authorities said Tyler Engelhard told a dispatcher his parents "should be in jail" and that police would "find out why." A sheriff's patrol rushed to Engelhard's home, believing a crime might be imminent; when deputies arrived, the man claimed he had called because he "wanted to see a hot chick." The deputies weren't amused. Engelhard was charged with falsely reporting an incident.

Wasn't it just this month that a woman got in trouble for calling the police to meet a hot man? If this guy from the aptly named town of Candor was inspired by that incident, then he's dumb beyond belief.

Maybe Americans just need to move away from their kinky police fetish.

[Spray]

China hates Mickey Mouse?

China Bans 'Simpsons' From Prime-Time TV
By JOE McDONALD
AP

BEIJING (Aug. 14) - D'oh! China has banished Homer Simpson, Pokemon and Mickey Mouse from prime time. Beginning Sept. 1, regulators have barred foreign cartoons from TV from 5 to 8 p.m. in an effort to protect China's struggling animation studios, news reports said Sunday. The move allows the Monkey King and his Chinese pals to get the top TV viewing hours to themselves.

Foreign cartoons, especially from Japan, are hugely popular with China's 250 million children and the country's own animation studios have struggled to compete. Communist leaders are said to be frustrated that so many cartoons are foreign-made, especially after efforts to build up Chinese animation studios.

The ban hasn't been formally announced, but newspapers already were criticizing it Sunday as the wrong way to improve programming.

"This is a worrying, shortsighted policy and will not solve the fundamental problems in China's cartoon industry," the Southern Metropolis News said. "The viewing masses, whether adults or children, will have no choice but to passively support Chinese products."

Chinese animators produce hundreds of hours of programs a year but aren't known for flair or originality. They draw on traditional stories such as "Journey to the West," about the adventures of the Monkey King, and have yet to invent characters to match the appeal of Mickey Mouse or Japanese icons such as Pokemon.

The cartoon campaign comes amid efforts by President Hu Jintao's government to tighten control over other pop culture, ranging from movies to magazines and Web sites.

TV stations have been told to limit foreign programming, stop showing scary movies in prime time and have their hosts dress more conservatively and use fewer English words on the air.

Most cartoons on China Central Television, the national broadcaster, are Chinese-made. But more freewheeling local broadcasters show everything from "The Simpsons" to Japanese, South Korean and European cartoons dubbed into Chinese.

Film studios have been pushed to merge in order to create big, well-financed competitors. Officials have set up 15 animation centers to nurture the industry, invoking communist guerrilla vocabulary by dubbing them "production bases."

"The reason for the regulation is clear. It is to protect domestic cartoon production," the Southern Metropolis said.

The newspaper cited what it said was a recent study that found that 80 percent of Chinese children surveyed liked foreign cartoons and disliked domestic animation.

Chinese studios employ thousands of skilled animators, but many focus on doing work subcontracted by Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. and other Western or Japanese studios.

Broadcasters were told to limit use of foreign cartoons in 2000 at a time when Japanese animation dominated the market. In 2004, the government stepped up controls, saying Chinese cartoons had to account for at least 60 percent of the total shown in prime time.

In February, regulators banned programs that mix animation with live characters in an apparent effort to protect Chinese studios, which don't produce such programming. Regulators haven't released details, but the ban could affect popular children's TV shows such as "Blue's Clues" from the United States and Britain's "Teletubbies."

The government also protects Chinese film studios by limiting imports of foreign titles. But that strategy appears to have backfired by creating a market for pirated movies, which both foreign and Chinese studios say robs them of box office revenues.

On Sunday, Chinese moviemakers accused TV stations of becoming part of the nation's thriving movie piracy industry, airing up to 1,500 pirated Chinese movies a year.

Beijing also has thrown up barriers to other pop culture.

In April, the government disclosed it was no longer granting publishing licenses for foreign magazines in an effort to protect its domestic industry. That came after a joint venture that published a Chinese edition of "Rolling Stone" was forced to dissolve after a single issue.

2006-08-14 06:58:14

[VisibilityMissing]

China hates Mickey Mouse?

*Shudder* Don't say that name . . .