‘Three people who kept an epileptic man prisoner in a garden shed in Gloucestershire for six weeks have been jailed at Bristol Crown Court.
Kevin Davies, 29, was found dead by paramedics at a house in Badgers Way, Bream on 26 September 2006. [..]
In her diary Baggus wrote about the punishments they inflicted on Kevin Davies and noted his cries for help.
They also made a hostage-style video of him in which they forced him to say he was being “fed perfectly”.
In fact he was being fed only scraps.’
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‘Science can finally prove what Buddhists have sworn by for centuries – meditation really does sharpen and clear the brain.
Tests by Adelaide researchers have revealed that as people go further into a deep meditative state, their brain rhythms shift into a pattern of focus.
This supports long-standing beliefs that the practice can improve concentration levels and alertness in daily activities.
Alpha brainwaves, which are associated with focus and attention, initially increased and delta brainwaves, linked to drowsiness, decreased.
As participants went further into mediation the alpha brainwaves, too, started to decrease, as the brain no longer needed to make an effort to be alert.’
‘Life in an FBI muzzle is no fun. Two Connecticut librarians on Sunday described what it was like to be slapped with an FBI national security letter and accompanying gag order. It sounded like a spy movie or, gulp, something that happens under a repressive foreign government. Peter Chase and Barbara Bailey, librarians in Plainville, Connecticut, received an NSL to turn over computer records in their library on July 13, 2005. Unlike a suspected thousands of other people around the country, Chase, Bailey and two of their colleagues stood up to the Man and refused to comply, convinced that the feds had no right to intrude on anyone’s privacy without a court order (NSLs don’t require a judge’s approval). That’s when things turned ugly.’
‘hi…i want to know is it normal for teenage guys to bend over and try and suck themselves off, cos i trying it out last night and could just about put the tip in…i came in my mouth and am quite worried now cos i considered it quite a turn ON! i’m not gay but just love the fantasy of having my own cock in my mouth..!
what you reckon?
p.s. i have a sore back.’
This is a vaguely amusing little ad.
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see it here »
‘Ireland’s top bookmaker, Paddy Power PLC, paid out more than $13,500 on Friday to people who bet that Al Gore would be arrested. Trouble was, the company neglected to specify which one.
The former U.S. vice president and global-warming activist was rated as a 14-to-1 outsider in a list of American celebrities likely to be arrested next. On Wednesday _ the day after the betting went live on Paddy Power’s Web site _ Gore’s 24-year-old son, Al Gore III, was arrested and charged with illegally possessing marijuana and prescription drugs.
Paddy Power said it was paying out winnings to about 50 people, because it had failed to identify which Gore it meant. “We got a good stoning,” the Dublin-based company said in a statement.’
‘Unable to scrounge together the $165 he needed to repay a loan to buy sheep, Nazir Ahmad made good on his debt by selling his 16-year-old daughter to marry the lender’s son.
“He gave me nine sheep,” Ahmad said, describing his family’s woes since taking the loan. “Because of nine sheep, I gave away my daughter.”
Seated beside him in the cramped compound, his daughter Malia’s eyes filled with tears. She used a black scarf to wipe them away.
Despite advances in women’s rights and at least one tribe’s move to outlaw the practice, girls are traded like currency in Afghanistan and forced marriages are common. Antiquated tribal laws authorize the practice known as “bad” in the Afghan language Dari — and girls are used to settle disputes ranging from debts to murder.’
‘More than 300 high definition CCTV cameras have been placed in potential terrorist targets in the lead-up to Sydney’s APEC Summit, acting Premier John Watkins says.
The new cameras bring to 6400 the total number of cameras watching people using buses, trains and ferries.
The cameras, 200 of which use cutting-edge facial recognition technology, have been installed across the city in buses, ferry and train stations.
“The technology which includes live streaming to large LCD displays will also prove a strong deterrent to common criminals and thugs,” Mr Watkins told reporters today.’
Or, atleast, trying to cross the yangtze in an overloaded truck. :)
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‘A factory that makes uranium fuel for nuclear reactors had a spill so bad that it kept the plant closed for seven months last year and became one of only three incidents in all of 2006 serious enough for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to include in an annual report to Congress. After an investigation, the commission changed the terms of the factory’s license and said that the public had 20 days to request a hearing on the changes.
But no member of the public ever did. In fact, no member of the public could find out about the changes. The document describing them, including the notice of hearing rights for anyone who felt adversely affected, was stamped “official use only,” meaning that it was not publicly accessible. [..]
[..] The letter from the congressmen says the agency’s report suggests “that it was merely a matter of luck that a criticality accident did not occur.”’
‘Yesterday, just after BMEfest and just before ModProm, we did the rather stress-inducing experiment of doing the first three “eyeball tattooing” experiments on sighted eyes. The procedures were done by Howie (LunaCobra.net), with photos by Lane Jensen (of Tattoo and Piercing Magazine). The first procedure was done on Pauly Unstoppable using a traditional hand-poked technique. The eye distorted significantly but it was difficult to get ink to hold. Probably about forty strikes in all were done but so far it seems like limited ink held.’
‘Federal inspectors were able to slip a fake bomb through a checkpoint at Albany International Airport during a test of the facility’s Transportation Security Administration screeners, according to individuals familiar with the incident.
The unannounced inspection by TSA officials took place early last week. The airport’s security measures failed in five of seven tests, most of the problems occurring at the passenger checkpoint, the sources said.
In one test, TSA inspectors hid the components of a fake bomb in carry-on luggage that also contained a bottle of water. Passengers are prohibited from carrying containers holding more than three ounces of liquids, gels or aerosols through airport checkpoints.’
This video shows a few different easter eggs hidden in Google.
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see it here »
‘An Australian Catholic school is at the centre of an unholy row over claims it refused entry to a five-year-old boy with the surname Hell.
Alex Hell said St Peter the Apostle School, Melbourne, had welcomed his son Max when enrolled under his mother’s maiden name, Wembridge.
But they baulked when the family had a change of heart over the surname.
School officials now say Max has a place, but Mr Hell claims they changed their minds because of media attention.
He said he would not now be taking up the school’s offer.’
‘People living in communities surrounding a large shallow lake have been overrun by field mice after floodwaters drove the rodents out of islands on the lake, state media reported Monday.
The mouse invasion began on June 23 when the Yangtze River flooded, raising the water level in central China’s Dongting Lake and submerging mouse holes on lake islands, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Now, an estimated 2 billion mice are ravaging crops in 22 counties around the lake, and authorities were rushing to construct walls and ditches to keep the rodents out. Residents have killed more than 2.3 million field mice — or 90 tons of the rodents, Xinhua said.’
‘I have always loved to cook. I remember being in the kitchen with my grandmother when I was young and begging to do anything I could to help make dinner. I purchased an Italian restaurant in Three Rivers, Michigan in 1999 in hopes of getting the opportunity to bring in some my own recipes. However, the restaurant was so popular before I purchased it, that I was afraid of making any great changes to the menu. We basically continued using the previous owners recipes. So I will express my cooking creativity here on the internet, where there is no danger of going out of business.
I have also always loved beer. [..]’
‘Investigators say James Coldwell, 49, robbed the Citizens Bank at 1550 Elm St. while clad in clothing adorned with tree branches held on by duct tape.
Coldwell was charged with one count of robbery after answering questions at the police station, Capt. Dick Tracy said.
Video surveillance of the Saturday morning robbery showed a thin white man leaving the bank in a shroud of tree branches, all duct-taped to his shirt and head. His short, dark hair and mustache were clearly visible between the leaves.
Bank
Tracy said police were tipped off by several anonymous callers after the footage appeared on a nightly news broadcasts.’
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‘The delivery man told officers he was taking pizza and sodas to an apartment in the area about 8:30 p.m. when two men approached him and demanded the food and beverages. As one of the men grabbed them, the delivery man felt a shock and pain in his back that officers later determined was from a Taser, according to a police statement recounting the episode.
The delivery man was not seriously injured, according to the statement.’
‘A Sydney woman charged with murdering her father and sister and seriously injuring her mother was apparently denied psychiatric treatment because of her parents’ alleged Scientology beliefs, a court has been told.
The 25-year-old woman, who cannot be named, appeared briefly in Bankstown Local Court today charged over the stabbing attacks at her family home in Revesby in Sydney’s south-west last Thursday.
She made no application for bail because she was unfit to be interviewed, her legal aid lawyer Wade Bloomfield told the court.
In a report tendered to the court, Dr Mark Cross, consultant psychiatrist and clinical director of Liverpool and Fairfield Mental Health Services said the woman was diagnosed with a psychotic illness at Bankstown Hospital in late 2006.
But her parents had refused her appropriate follow-up treatment.’
‘A San Francisco company said Friday it plans to build the world’s largest solar power farm near Fresno, California.
The 80-megawatt farm is to occupy as much as 640 acres (260 hectares) and upon completion in 2011 will be 17 times the size of the largest U.S. solar farm, said Cleantech America LLC, a privately held 2-year-old company.
The farm will also be about seven times the size of the world’s biggest plant and double the largest planned farm, both in Germany.
Bill Barnes, CEO of Cleantech, said the scale of the Kings River Conservation District Community Choice Solar Farm will change renewable energy and make California the global leader for huge solar projects and replace Germany as the solar energy hub of the world.’
‘The first publicly available pictures have emerged of China’s new Jin-class nuclear-powered submarine, which is capable of firing intercontinental ballistic missiles against the US.
Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons analyst for the Federation of American Scientists, spotted the new submarine while reviewing photos of north-eastern China that had been snapped by a commercial satellite for Google Earth.
The photos taken late last year show the submarine alongside a pier at the Xiaopingdao Submarine Base south of the city of Dalian.’
‘A bidet company’s advertising plans in Times Square are too cheeky for the pastor of a nearby church.
Rev. Neil Rhodes, pastor of the interdenominational Times Square Church, is asking a state court to block a billboard company from posting huge ads that feature naked buttocks with smiley faces on them. The display is to go up on two sides of the Broadway building that houses Rhodes’ church, its Bible school and day-care center.
“You walk into a church building, you have naked bodies before your eyes, how are you going to close your eyes and seek God?” Rhodes told the New York Post in an article published Sunday.’
Tommy Chong and Steven Colbert talk a bit about Paris Hilton.
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see it here »
‘They might seem like modern-day Robin Hoods, but they’re really just cyber-robbers.
Some fraudsters have become generous — with other people’s money, donating to charities with stolen credit cards to verify the numbers are valid before selling them, the security firm Symantec Corp. said Friday on its blog.
Unverified cards fetch up to $6 while verified cards can bring up to $18, said Javier Santoyo, a manager at Symantec. “Even the bad guys want to verify the other bad guys.”
The verification method has become popular because the monitoring software at credit-card companies may not question donations to charities, according the Symantec blog. Santoyo said the schemers usually donate less than $10.’
‘Continued leaps in agricultural technology ensured more production per acre. The result was likewise predictable: the same old food surpluses and low prices. My late parents, who owned the farm I now live on in central California, used to sigh that the planet was reaching 6 billion mouths and so things someday “would have to turn around for farmers.”
Now they apparently have. Food prices are climbing at rates approaching 10 percent per year. But why the sudden change?
There have been a number of relatively recent radical changes in the United States and the world that, taken together, provide the answer [..]’
‘Optus will release new broadband/phone bundles this week, but will make a dramatic shift in the way it counts broadband usage.
According to Optus sources, the new “Optus Fusion Plans” will now count uploaded data as well as downloaded data, which can significantly reduce value for money. Optus’ existing broadband plans (with free uploads) will still be available for those that want them. [..]
Most ISPs do not count upload data, as it typically doesn’t cost them anything. This is because ISPs purchase bandwidth pipes that are capable of the same speed in both directions. Traditionally, download usage always exceeds upload usage, making upload usage irrelevant to the buying equation.’
‘Although crime did fall dramatically in New York during Giuliani’s tenure, a broad range of scientific research has emerged in recent years to show that the mayor deserves only a fraction of the credit that he claims. The most compelling information has come from an economist in Fairfax who has argued in a series of little-noticed papers that the “New York miracle” was caused by local and federal efforts decades earlier to reduce lead poisoning.
The theory offered by the economist, Rick Nevin, is that lead poisoning accounts for much of the variation in violent crime in the United States. It offers a unifying new neurochemical theory for fluctuations in the crime rate, and it is based on studies linking children’s exposure to lead with violent behavior later in their lives.
What makes Nevin’s work persuasive is that he has shown an identical, decades-long association between lead poisoning and crime rates in nine countries.
“It is stunning how strong the association is,” Nevin said in an interview. “Sixty-five to ninety percent or more of the substantial variation in violent crime in all these countries was explained by lead.”‘
