‘A McDonald’s restaurant in Brevard County was evacuated Monday night after several workers were overcome by toxic fumes.
Firefighters and HAZ-MAT crews were called to the restaurant on US-1 in Port St. John after the workers started having trouble breathing. Firefighters quickly found the source of the fumes.
“We poured kitty litter back behind the fry mat and, apparently, you’re not supposed to do that because it makes toxic fumes when it gets heated up. It gets toxic and a lot of people were going home sick,” said Matt Hoff, an employee.
The workers were using the kitty litter to clean up grease.’
‘The ageing former leader of the CIA’s “Secret Army” in Laos was in an American prison last night, accused of mounting a coup against his and Washington’s old Communist enemy. General Vang Pao, 77, and nine other people were arrested in dawn raids by more than 200 federal agents in dawn raids across California.
The detentions were the culmination of ‘Operation Tarnished Eagle’, a six-month investigation into an attempt to bring down Laos’ Communist government.
According to prosecutors Vang Pao and his co-conspirators planned to spend almost USD 10 million (pounds 5 million) on weaponry including assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, Stinger surface-to-air missiles, mines and C-4 explosives.
They were recruiting a mercenary force to attack government buildings in the Lao capital Vientiane and “reduce them to rubble,” they said.’
‘The Michigan State Police Paw Paw Post and Van Buren County Central Dispatch began receiving strange reports of a man in a wheel chair being pushed by a semi truck on Wednesday afternoon.
The wheel chair of a 21-year-old man became lodged in the grill of a semi truck as the vehicle pulled out of a gas station. The semi then began driving down Red Arrow Highway, with its new and unusual hood ornament still attached.
Police initially thought the report might have been a prank until they started receiving more reports of the situation.
Troopers responded to the Ralph Moyle Trucking Company, located on Red Arrow Highway, where it was reported the semi truck had pulled in — wheel chair and occupant still attached.
Troopers and officers discovered the man in the wheel chair, unharmed.’
‘Succumb to white mixture, the answer is refreshment!’
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‘Research reported this week by three different groups shows that normal skin cells can be reprogrammed to an embryonic state in mice. The race is now on to apply the surprisingly straightforward procedure to human cells.
If researchers succeed, it will make it relatively easy to produce cells that seem indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells, and that are genetically matched to individual patients. There are limits to how useful and safe these would be for therapeutic use in the near term, but they should quickly prove a boon in the lab.
“It would change the way we see things quite dramatically,” says Alan Trounson of Monash University in Victoria, Australia. Trounson wasn’t involved in the new work but says he plans to start using the technique “tomorrow”. “I can think of a dozen experiments right now — and they’re all good ones,” he says.’
‘A judge has granted a new trial to Julie Amero, a former substitute teacher in Norwich, Connecticut who was convicted in January on four felony counts of risking injury to minors after she was unable to prevent pornographic pop-ups from showing up on a computer in a classroom in 2004. [..]
Despite testimony that the monitor did not face the children, that Amero asked for help from other teachers and a vice principal, and that the schools IT administrator allowed the school’s filtering software to expire, Amero was found guilty.
Security experts around the internet have rallied to Amero’s defense, arguing that it is clear that the computer Amero was using was infested with pop-up software, but the school’s IT administrator told the jury he’d never heard of such software.’
Followup to Protect the Children From Porn.
‘A woman who dumped her fiance’s work van into a harbour in an act of revenge has been told she could go to prison. [..]
Thomason, a kitchen assistant, had asked her fiance to come home to help look after their two children, but he insisted on staying out drinking with his friends, the court was told.
She then drove his work van to Whitehaven Harbour where she parked it on a slipway, let the handbrake off and watched it roll into the sea. [..]
Police were forced to partially drain the harbour to recover the Ford Transit.
Just 24 hours before the argument, the couple, who had been together for seven years, booked a £2,000 honeymoon.
Mr Wilson has since called off the wedding and moved out of the home he shared with Thomason and their children, the hearing heard.’
‘About 26,000 people are killed every year by the 100 million land mines believed to be scattered around the world. [..]
Removing mines and making them safe is relatively easy. Detecting them is difficult and risky. Conventional methods, using electronic mine detectors, heavy machines, sniffer dogs, or gentle probes into the ground using a sharp object, are time-consuming, costly — and dangerous. Sometimes, those searching for mines become victims themselves.
Now, a Danish company called Aresa Biodetection believes it has found a cheaper and safer method to find land mines by using a plant that changes color when it detects explosives in the soil. It has conducted tests using a genetically modified thale cress plant. The thale cress family includes the cress plant used often in salads and also the weeds that grow in sidewalk cracks.’
(5.7meg Flash video)
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‘A German thief got nabbed after he tore off his finger during a bungled break-in – then went back to retrieve it.
After setting off the alarm at Berlin’s Technical Museum late on Tuesday, the 35-year-old man escaped from two security guards, clambered up a three-metre fence, but got snagged by a ring on the middle finger of his right hand.
The man managed to free himself, but only after tearing off the finger.
The security guards arrested him when he went back to recover the severed digit and ask for medical aid.
“His comment afterwards was ‘Breaking and entering doesn’t pay,'” said a spokeswoman for local police.
Doctors were unable to reattach the man’s finger.’
‘Authorities are on the lookout for a man who showed up at a San Jose pizza parlor wielding a 2-foot machete because his delivery pizza didn’t show up soon enough, police said today.
The manager of Pizza My Dear on South Bascom Avenue suffered cuts during the attack Friday and had to get several stitches, police Sgt. Nick Muyo said today. [..]
“The suspect meets him and is cussing a blue streak, yelling at the guy, saying he doesn’t want the pizza because he was late,” Muyo said.
The deliveryman called his manager, who instructed him to return to the parlor with the pizza.
But the suspect wasn’t done yet.’
‘A British father thwarted from flying the Jolly Roger for his son’s pirate-themed birthday party said he would like to make local officials walk the plank.
Richard and Sharon Smith, who usually fly the British Union Jack or the English St. George’s Cross from their 18-foot flagpole in Stone, Staffordshire, thought that the skull and crossbones would be a festive touch for the party Saturday. But a neighbor complained to the local council.
Officials told the Smiths that they would have to apply for a permit, paying a $150 fee for an assessment of the flag’s impact, The Daily Mail reported.
Richard Smith told the newspaper that his son, Morgan, who is turning 6, doesn’t see the point of the party without the flag. He said they plan now to delay the party to see if they can get permission.’
‘Alone in the woods with his left leg pinned beneath a fallen tree for 11 hours, a 66-year-old man used pocket knives to cut off his limb below the knee to free himself, a neighbor and authorities said.
Al Hill had been cutting trees last Friday when one fell on him. After freeing himself, he cried out for help, and a neighbor passing through this sparsely populated area heard him.
Eric Bookey then hiked nearly two miles to get a cellular signal and placed an emergency call to the town’s all-volunteer fire department about 7:30 p.m., Fire Chief Luana Dowling told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Hill was eventually airlifted by helicopter to a hospital where he underwent amputation surgery, Dowling said. “He’s a pretty remarkable person,” Dowling said.’
‘It was once a gently flowing river, where fishermen cast their nets, sea birds came to feed and natural beauty left visitors spellbound.
Villagers collected water for their simple homes and rice paddies thrived on its irrigation channels.
Today, the Citarum is a river in crisis, choked by the domestic waste of nine million people and thick with the cast-off from hundreds of factories.
So dense is the carpet of refuse that the tiny wooden fishing craft which float through it are the only clue to the presence of water.’
‘A confused 80-year-old man drove his car into a hospital reception where he told shocked staff “I’ve come to visit my wife.”
Staff dived for cover as the elderly man drove his Suzuki Ignis into the day surgery unit of Eastbourne District General Hospital on May 25th.
The wheels on his blue hatchback continued spinning on the carpet, filling the day surgery unit with smoke, until a member of staff switched off the ignition. [..]
Sussex Police said no charges would be laid but the man has surrendered his licence and won’t be driving again.’
‘It’s an energy drink for men. MENERGY!’
(3.9meg Windows media)
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‘A video clip promoting the 2012 London Olympic Games logo was removed from the organisers’ website overnight after reports it had triggered epileptic fits.
The video clip showed a diver plunging into a pool as part of a campaign to promote the jagged Olympic logo, a graffiti-like blow-up of the number 2012 in a range of colours including hot pink and electric blue.
A London 2012 spokeswoman said the concerns surrounded a four-second piece of animation shown at the logo’s launch yesterday and recorded by broadcasters.
“This concerns a short piece of animation which we used as part of the logo launch event and not the actual logo,” she said.
“It was a diver diving into a pool which had multi-colour ripple effects.”
Critics of the emblem have described it as “hideous”, while organisers called it powerful and modern.’
Followup to London unveils logo of 2012 Games.
There’s something in my front pocket for you.
(2.2meg Windows media)
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‘A children’s book about life in Cuba has parents and school board members demanding its removal from district libraries even though it only features wholesome topics.
To many in this heavily Cuban-American community, “Vamos a Cuba” (“A Visit to Cuba”) is extremely offensive because it lacks any criticism of the country’s dictator
Fidel Castro or his communist government.
That’s why the Miami-Dade County School District will ask a federal appeals court Wednesday for permission to remove all 49 copies of the book from its libraries.’
‘Nigeria has filed charges against the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, accusing it of carrying out improper trials for an anti-meningitis drug.
The government is seeking $7bn (£3.5bn) in damages for the families of children who allegedly died or suffered side-effects after being given Trovan.
Kano state government has filed separate charges against Pfizer.
The firm denies any wrongdoing, saying the trials were conducted according to Nigerian and international law.’
‘Pope Benedict XVI is to become the first pontiff to harness solar power to provide energy for the Vatican, engineers say.
The deteriorating cement roof tiles of the Paul VI auditorium will be replaced next year with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity.
The cells will generate enough power to light, heat or cool the hall, the Vatican engineers say.
Last year the Pope urged Christians not to squander the world’s resources.’
‘A group of art students created this optical illusion and then displayed it on a common sidewalk.’
(1.5meg Windows media)
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‘A former Home Depot employee said the company fired he and three other workers because they helped police catch several suspected shoplifters in May.
Midwest City police said the men helped officers catch suspected shoplifters as they tried to run from a store with lawn equipment.
An internal memo from Home Depot outlines that associates cannot accuse, detain, chase or call the police on any customer for shoplifting. However, one of the fired employees said the company is selective in enforcing that policy.
“The loss-prevention guy at our Shields (Boulevard) store turned around and told me all we need to do is tell the shoplifter to have a good day as they leave the store. I said that just doesn’t make sense.”‘
‘A New York man has sued the makers of a health drink, saying it has given him a permanent erection for the last two years.
Christopher Woods said he drank the vitamin-enriched Boost Plus, made by the Swiss-based Novartis pharmaceutical company, on June 5, 2004.
He woke up the next morning “with an erection that would not subside” and sought treatment of the condition, called severe priapism, court papers say.
Mr Woods, 29, had a penile implant to move blood from one area to another, acccording to the Associated Press.’
‘It was a sight that would make any flagrant parking meter flouter smile. Police were pulling over parking meter attendants to warn them that their $9,600 miniature Mitsubishi and Subaru were not street legal and did not have proper tags.
The state Division of Motor Vehicles told the Huntington Municipal Parking Board last week that the two golf-cart-like trucks it bought were manufactured for off-road use only. They also don’t qualify as low-speed vehicles and can’t be registered, according to Glenn Pauley, DMV director of vehicle services.
The trucks sit at the city garage while the Huntington Municipal Parking Board decides what to do with them.’
‘You better watch out, my uncle has a dead baby at home.’
(3.5meg Flash video)
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‘American cell phones can already check e-mail, surf the Internet and store music, but they could have a new set of features in coming years: the Department of Homeland Security wants them to sense biological, chemical and radioactive material.
Putting hazardous material sensors in commercial cell phones has been discussed in scientific circles for years, according to researchers in the field. More recently, the idea gained support among government agencies, and DHS said publicly in May that it wants businesses to start coming up with proposals. [..]
S&T spokesman Christopher Kelly said the theoretical system’s strength would lie in the sheer number of sensors. The cell phone sensors might be less sophisticated than highly advanced ones some developers are fitting into hand-held models, but they would make up for it in what Kelly called “ubiquitous detection.”’
‘If President Bush and Vice President Cheney can blurt out vulgar language, then the government cannot punish broadcast television stations for broadcasting the same words in similarly fleeting contexts.
That, in essence, was the decision on Monday, when a federal appeals panel struck down the government policy that allows stations and networks to be fined if they broadcast shows containing obscene language.
Reversing decades of a more lenient policy, the commission had found that the mere utterance of certain words implied that sexual or excretory acts were carried out and therefore violated the indecency rules.
But the judges said vulgar words are just as often used out of frustration or excitement, and not to convey any broader obscene meaning. “In recent times even the top leaders of our government have used variants of these expletives in a manner that no reasonable person would believe referenced sexual or excretory organs or activities.”‘
‘A British resort town is deploying extra police during full moons, convinced of a link between the lunar cycle and violence. The vibrant seaside city of Brighton on England’s southern coast is adopting the new approach after reviewing crime statistics for the past year, Sussex police said Tuesday.
“Research carried out by us has shown a correlation between violent incidents and full moons,” the force said in a statement. “More officers will be out on the city’s streets during full moons over the summer months.”
Police inspector Andy Parr conducted an analysis of crime statistics that suggested more violent incidents happen during full moons.
In a paper published earlier this year, Michal Zimecki of the Polish Academy of Sciences claimed to have identified a link between lunar cycles and criminality.’
