‘A man was cited for drunken driving twice in the same day, by the same officer, and jailed after authorities said he showed up drunk for his arraignment.
Court records said Adam T. Lundgren, 42, was cited for misdemeanor drunken driving after being spotted driving erratically at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
He was later released to a sober friend, but jumped from the friend’s car and returned to downtown Missoula, where he continued drinking, court records said.
At about 10 p.m., Lundgren drove into a bridge railing and started to run away. Witnesses captured him and held him until police arrived.’
‘US President George W Bush put his wristwatch in his pocket while greeting a crowd during his visit to Albania, the White House said Tuesday in an effort to end a two-day long mystery over the disappearance of the timepiece.
Bush was mingling with a very enthusiastic crowd – to put it mildly – in the small Albanian town of Fushe Kruja on Sunday when the saga began. Cameras captured the watch on his arm, but moments later images showed the leader of the free world’s wrist was bare.
Since, various media in Albania and other countries have speculated that someone might have snatched the First Watch, or the president may have lost it. The White House, however, offered a rather boring conclusion to the tale.
“The president put it in his pocket and it returned safely home,” spokesman Tony Snow said.’
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‘Everybody is using it, but (almost) nobody really knows how it works. Google PageRank is probably one of the most important algorithms ever developed for the Web. With billions of existing pages and millions of pages generated every day, the search issue in the Web is more complex than you probably think it is. PageRank, only one of hundreds of factors used by Google to determine best search results, helps to keep our search clean and efficient. But how is it actually done? How does Google PageRank work, which factors do have an impact on it and which don’t? And what do we really know about PageRank?
In this article we put the facts straight.’
‘A new report puts Google in last place when it comes to privacy protection. Despite recent moves to anonymize server logs and other pro-privacy gestures, Privacy International called the company “an endemic threat to privacy.”
Only Google earned the dismal “black” color bar from the group, which has just issued a report on Internet privacy that took six months to assemble [..]. The current report is preliminary; final results will be released in September.
The report rated top Internet companies on privacy issues and distilled the various results into a single color bar. Microsoft was two ranks up from Google, earning a curry-colored “serious lapses” rating. Amazon scored one level higher with its yellow “notable lapses” rank, and eBay did even better, earning a coveted blue bar. No company earned a top mark, however.’
‘The Church of England today asked entertainment giant Sony to apologise and contribute a large donation for featuring a prominent British cathedral in a violent video game.
Church officials had earlier accused Sony of using the historic interior of Manchester Cathedral, where memorials for gun crime victims have been held, as the backdrop for parts of the new Playstation 3 game, Resistance: Fall of Man without permission.
David Marshall, the cathedral’s spokesman, said the church had received many emails supporting its stance and added that officials were set to meet tomorrow to discuss further action against Sony.’
‘China said Monday it was investigating the sale of fake blood protein, a potentially dangerous and widespread practice that underscores the country’s problems with product safety.
State media reported one death from use of the counterfeits, but authorities have not said whether anyone has fallen ill.
A shortage of albumin, a blood protein that chronically ill people often lack, triggered a countrywide investigation in March into whether fakes were being sold, China Central Television said.
The report centred on an inquiry in the northeastern province of Jilin, where 59 hospitals and pharmacies were sold more than 2,000 bottles of counterfeit blood protein. It did not say what the products were made of, but said they could “make a patient’s condition worsen and could cause death.”‘
‘An Australian man who didn’t notice he lost part of a finger in a bar fight has had the missing digit re-attached.
A Sydney police spokesman said the man left the pub after being involved in a fight and was walking down the street before realizing the top knuckle of his ring finger was missing.
Inspector Mark Kellert told The Sydney Morning Herald the 42-year-old man went to a nearby hospital while the missing finger was located in the pub’s bathroom. The body part taken to the hospital where doctors later re-attached it.
Kellert said no arrests had been made although “police are continuing their inquiries.”‘
‘More than a million animals, including elephants, buffaloes, ostriches, lions, giraffes and a rare type of stork, have been unexpectedly seen living and migrating across Southern Sudan, where no surveys of wildlife had been conducted for the past 25 years due to civil war in the region.
Decades of war wrought significant damage to the region, along with excessive hunting, desertification of the land and periodic droughts, so wildlife numbers were declining in the stricken country. Based on observations in other war-torn nations, conservationists thought the wildlife in Southern Sudan would be wiped out, but it wasn’t.
Officials told scientists they had seen herds of animals in the region.
“Although we were telling people that wildlife was still present in southern Sudan, nobody believed us,” said Maj. Gen. Alfred Akwoch, undersecretary of the Ministry of the Environment, Wildlife Conservation and Tourism for the government of Southern Sudan.’
‘Chicago Attorneys for a man who says he was beaten by a Chicago Fire Department paramedic two years ago released a videotape Monday that shows the man cowering as he takes blows to his face.
Other Fire Department personnel allegedly stood and watched throughout the beating, which happened in July 2005 outside Roseland Community Hospital.
The paramedic on the tape was reportedly upset that Robert Cole, 43 — who had called for an ambulance after feeling dizzy — changed his mind on the way to the hospital and decided he didn’t want medical attention.’
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‘A woman today recalled her “shock and embarrassment” at being flashed on a crowded train by a man she later identified as a senior judge.
As she glanced down at the bottom of her newspaper she noticed the “very kind looking” gentleman had exposed himself.
The woman spotted the man on four separate occasions on the rush-hour trip from Raynes Park, south-west London, to Waterloo, and later identified him by video as Lord Justice Richards, one of Britain’s most senior judges.’
‘With more than a billion people now sharing just 100 surnames, Chinese authorities are considering a landmark move to try to end the confusion, state media reported Tuesday.
Current Chinese law states that children are only allowed take the surname from either their mother or father, but the lack of variety means there are now 93 million people in China with the family name Wang. [..]
Under a new draft regulation released by the ministry of public security, parents will be able to combine their surnames for their children, a move that could open up 1.28 million new possibilities, the China Daily reported.’
‘New research shows that Australian children are becoming more anxious about themselves and the future of the planet.
The Australian Childhood Foundation survey of 600 children shows that more than half are scared there will not be enough water in the future.
The report also showed that more than a third of children were anxious about terrorism, were worried that one day they will have to fight in a war, and one in four believed the world will end before they reached adulthood.
The head of the foundation, Dr Joe Tucci, says this insecurity could have consequences for society.’
‘Threatened with a poisonous snake. That’s what police say happened during an argument in Sumter.
Now, the snake is missing and four people are under arrest. [..]
Police say the assault happened in the parking lot of Shuckers Grill and Bar in Sumter. They say the four men surrounded the victim and threatened him with the snake. Investigators say one of the men was bitten, but the victim went unharmed. The four men were later arrested.
Timothy Farmer, the man that was bitten, was treated at the hospital and released. He and two other men are being charged with second-degree lynching.’
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‘A would-be murderer who defecated on trains to “purge” himself of inner voices urging him to kill has been detained indefinitely in a secure mental hospital.
Over several months Bonney Eberendu, 36, ran up a £50,000 damages bill as teams of “specialist cleaners” were forced to withdraw rolling stock from service and spend hours cleaning up after him. [..]
Eberendu, of no fixed address, who has a previous conviction for blackmail involving threats to cut off his victim’s fingers, later told police he had spent years hearing “voices in his head”.
They caused him “such distress he wanted to murder a woman or a child by frenziedly stabbing them”.
[..] “But he didn’t carry out an act of murder because by defecating and smearing his excrement he purged himself of the urge to kill.”‘
‘The US military has embarked on a new and risky strategy in Iraq by arming Sunni insurgents in the hope that they will tackle al-Qaida operatives in Iraq.
The US high command this month gave permission to its officers on the ground to negotiate arms deals with tribal elders and other local leaders. Arms, ammunition, body armour and other equipment, as well as cash, pickup trucks and fuel, have already been handed over in return for promises to turn on al-Qaida and not attack US troops.
The US military in Baghdad is trying to portray the move as arming disenchanted Sunnis rising up in their neighbourhoods against their former allies, al-Qaida and its foreign fighters. But the reality on the ground is more complex, with little sign that the US will be able to control the weapons once they are handed over.’
‘Surgery was performed on Sunday to remove a coconut from the body of a man who was sodomised with the fruit during an attack by a gang of men.
Ste Madeleine police are now investigating the case, in which the 27-year-old victim was found at the side of a canefield road at Golconda Village, near San Fernando.
Police were told that the man was seen drinking alcohol in the hours before he was found, and a group of men who picked him up are being sought.’
‘Most people know that nerves work by passing electrical currents from cell to cell. But you might be surprised to learn that no one knows exactly how anesthetics stop nerves from carrying pain signals.
That’s why two scientists believe that we really don’t know how nerves work after all.
According to their controversial theory, electricity is just a side effect of how nerves really operate: by conducting high-density waves of pressure that resemble sound reverberating through a pipe. [..]
The theory has not been well received. [..]’
‘Middle School student Kyleray Katherman had a hunch something was amiss with the school’s drinking fountain water. And right he was.
For an English assignment, he tested the bacteria content at four water fountains and one toilet to challenge a ban on students from bringing bottled water to class. It seems some were using it to sneak in alcohol.
Guess which was cleaner? It wasn’t the water fountains.
He then asked students where they would prefer to get their water. That wasn’t the fountains, either.
Classmates, teachers, administrators and board members said they had no idea.’
‘Calgary police handed jaywalking tickets to homeless people evacuated from a shelter Thursday morning, upsetting residents and the centre’s executive director.
People inside the Drop-In Centre were told to leave after the discovery of an electrical problem. Executive director Dermot Baldwin estimates about 50 residents were given tickets after they exited the building.
“You’ve got hundreds of people who’ve been evacuated from the building and the police are giving out jaywalking tickets,” he said. “It’s not a helpful thing. It’s not a service to the people, that’s for sure.”
He said many of those ticketed, especially the mentally ill, won’t be able to afford to pay the $57 fine and will likely have to go to jail.’
‘Teachers who were suspicious that children on a school camp in Victoria might have alcohol in their bags found something much more sinister instead – two sawn-off shotguns and several rounds of ammunition.
Inspector Craig Gillard of Colac police said two boys, aged 14 and 15, were among a group of students from Colac College who had been on a school camp in the Gippsland region near the town of Bairnsdale.
He said teachers had become suspicious that some students might have alcohol hidden in their bags so decided to do a search.
“During that search, a teacher has located a 22 calibre (sawn-off) rifle and 10 rounds of ammunition in one bag, and a 12-gauge (sawn-off) shotgun and seven rounds of ammunition in another bag,” Insp Gillard said on Southern Cross radio.’
‘A Sun City West veterinarian was arrested on suspicion of punching a five-pound Chihuahua five times in the head, temporarily blinding one eye of the dog.
Dr. Joshua Winston faces charges of animal cruelty and theft, according to a prepared statement from Maricopa County Sheriff’s office.
Winston allegedly struck the Chihuahua’s head five times and dislodged the dog’s eye on June 4, according to the statement. The dog needed corrective surgery after the incident, according to the statement.’
‘A Berkeley watchdog organization that tracks military spending said it uncovered a strange U.S. military proposal to create a hormone bomb that could purportedly turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting.
Pentagon officials on Friday confirmed to CBS station KPIX-TV in San Francisco that military leaders had considered, and then subsequently rejected, building the so-called gay bomb. [..]
As part of a military effort to develop non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, “One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior.”
The documents show the Air Force lab asked for $7.5 million to develop such a chemical weapon.’
‘With Islamist violence brewing in various parts of the world, the set of rules that seek to guide and justify the killing that militants do is growing more complex.
This jihad etiquette is not written down, and for good reason. It varies as much in interpretation and practice as extremist groups vary in their goals. But the rules have some general themes that underlie actions ranging from the recent rash of suicide bombings in Algeria and Somalia, to the surge in beheadings and bombings by separatist Muslims in Thailand.’
‘A Belgian businessman rejected a Nigerian job applicant because the businessman said his own dog was racist and would bite non-whites, Belgian media reported Saturday. The 53-year-old man Nigerian told De Standaard newspaper he arrived at the Belgian’s wrought-iron business and was immediately confronted by the barking dog.
The Belgian turned the man away before he could even enter, and wrote on his labor office letter that he could not hire the man because of his color, adding there was a risk the dog would bite him.
The local labor office has concluded that the Belgian was racist and has removed him from its list of potential employers.
“My dog is racist. Not me,” the Belgian told De Standaard.’
The driver explains the injury. It’s unfortunate. Unfortunately funny.
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‘Officials began investigating after a train was stopped between stations in Berlin on May 31, as an electronic signal from its cabin alerted railway controllers that the train had no driver.
Drivers have to press a safety button – a ‘dead man’s switch’ – at regular intervals, otherwise a computer on the train stops it automatically, and alerts authorities that there is a problem.
The driver was found dead with his trousers open by the side of tracks several hundred metres away from the train, and police now say that it appears he fell out of the locomotive after he opened a door to relieve himself from the train.
The train was travelling at 70 mph at the time.’
‘My extensive experience in making Paneer compelled me to try something different, that is, making Paneer out of my own breastmilk. Basically this is human cheese. Why would I do that? Well, basically, there are about twenty bags (each 150ml) of frozen breastmilk in the fridge, and they have passed their three months drinkability period, which means I would not be able to donate the milk like I did before. But the milk is still less than six month old, which is the actual expiry date. So what do I do with it? I could make cream soup like I did several months ago. But I really wanted to try something different, and making Breast Milk Paneer sounds really exciting.’
