moonbuggy

‘A missing staple in the court file of two of the state’s most notorious killers has given them a fresh appeal – and the possibility of being set free.

In an astonishing blunder, sloppy record keeping in the Court of Criminal Appeal registry has led to two murderers of Sydney clerk Janine Balding being given special leave to take their case to the High Court.

Amazingly, the appeal has been granted because a staple was found to be missing in their court file.

Janine’s mother, Bev Balding, yesterday expressed dismay and outrage at the legal loophole, which effectively quashes the pair’s unsuccessful 1992 appeal.’

‘A Chewbacca impersonator sexually assaulted a Marilyn Monroe impersonator in front of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood in June. The wookie then evaded arrest, police said.

According to an officer with the LAPD, Chewbacca allegedly took the platinum-coiffed actress’s hand and placed it on his private parts as the characters performed for tips from tourists. [..]

Earlier in the year, police arrested an actor in a Chewbacca costume after a tour guide told him to stop harassing a pair of Japanese tourists. Police are unsure if the same wookie is involved in today’s assault.’

Followup to Superman witnesses Wookie attack

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‘A man was charged with elderly abuse after his mother was found covered in red ants and lying in her feces in a trailer with no electricity, authorities said Friday.

Lillian V. Smith, 83, died at a hospital Thursday, two days after she was discovered in the abandoned trailer with no running water or bathroom, authorities said. Newspapers had been stuffed in her anus to stop feces from spilling onto the bed, according to a police report obtained by The Miami Herald.

Doctors said she also had a fractured right leg that had not been treated, the arrest report said.’

‘Lara Madden is a 25-year-old porn movie actress who uses the stage name Syvette Wimberly when starring in films like “Anal Camera 19.” While Madden’s professional alias is catchy and distinctive, the name is identical to that of a former Texas high school pal of the X-rated performer. As a result, Kristen Syvette Wimberly, 25, has filed a lawsuit against Madden and the porn distributor Vivid Entertainment for the misappropriation of her name. In a June 26 complaint filed in Harris County District Court, Wimberly notes that she and Madden became friends after meeting at the beginning of ninth grade in Kingwood, Texas. That friendship, however, “ended due to conflict,” according to the lawsuit, a copy of which you’ll find below. The complaint adds that Madden (who is pictured at right) married while in high school and did not graduate with Wimberly, who lost contact with her former friend. Until recently, that is, when Wimberly discovered that, “there was a woman appearing in multiple explicit pornographic videos” using her name. Wimberly soon learned, the lawsuit reports, that the porn actress who boosted her name “was her former high school friend Lara Madden.” The porn star, Wimberly alleges, deliberately chose to use her name, despite realizing that it would cause “extreme embarrassment and unsubstantiated association with the pornography industry and other consequences.” [..]’

‘Two teenagers were accused of gang raping a woman and forcing her 12-year-old son to join in the attack, then beating him and pouring cleaning solution into his eyes.

Authorities allege Avion Lawson, 14, and Nathan Walker, 16, were among a group of about 10 masked suspects who forced their way into the woman’s apartment in a crime-ridden housing project the night of June 18. [..]

“Any rape case is horrible but this takes it to another level, something you can’t think of even in your worst dreams,” police spokesman Ted White said.

According to the police report, a man knocked on the woman’s door at about 9 p.m. and told her he had a flat tire. The mother and son, whom police have not identified, went outside and were ambushed by a group of gun-wielding suspects.’

‘The infection incident occurred on 9 February 2006. Several A&M researchers, including Principal Investigator Thomas Ficht, were in a BSL-3 lab training in the use of the Madison Aerosol Chamber. Supervising was David McMurray, an A&M professor and self-described inventor of the chamber, who has characterized it as “foolproof”.

Following a “hot” run that blew aerosolized brucella into the chamber to expose mice, researchers began clean up procedures. Using what Texas A&M now admits were inappropriate protocols, a researcher “cleaned the unit by climbing partially into the chamber to disinfect it.” A&M officials later concluded that the brucella bacteria likely entered her body via her eyes as a result of this improper procedure. (This is the third instance of lab-acquired infections related to the Madison chamber that the Sunshine Project has uncovered. The others were in Seattle and New York City.)

By April 2006, the researcher had “been home sick for several weeks.” Nobody apparently suspected brucellosis, despite the occupational exposure and, presumably, familiarity with its symptoms. [..]’

I suppose if your employees drive huge bulldozer type machines around all day, you don’t wanna piss them off. :)

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‘A man said he failed the Massachusetts bar exam because he refused to answer a question about gay marriage, and claims in a federal lawsuit the test violated his rights and targeted his religious beliefs.

The suit also challenges the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, which was legalized in Massachusetts in 2003.

Stephen Dunne, who is representing himself in the case and seeks $9.75 million, said the bar exam was not the place for a “morally repugnant and patently offensive” question addressing the rights of two married lesbians, their children and their property. He said he refused to answer the question because he believed it legitimized same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting, which is contrary to his moral beliefs.’

‘The Queensland Water Commission has not ruled out using massive ocean-going bags to transport fresh water to drought-ravaged South-East Queensland.

A Brisbane physicist has come up with a plan to use a strong ocean current to float submerged 60 megalitre-capacity sacks of water from the Tully River, south of Cairns, to the Gold Coast.

The 1600 kilometre journey would take about three days and the plastic membranes would be emptied into the Southern Regional Water Pipeline for pumping around the region.

Proponent Ian Edmonds said his proposal would be much cheaper and more energy-efficient than desalination plants or a controversial plan to build a pipeline to transport water over the same distance.’

‘A dentist who punctured a patient’s nose with a needle has been struck off by the General Dental Council in order to protect the public.

Her legal team had launched an attempt to get a ban on her working lifted.

However, the GDC committee ruled that she represented a “real risk to patients” and that the only appropriate sanction was to strike her off. [..]

Chairman Robin Heron said the panel took the view that her work had “fallen substantially below the standards expected of a registered medical practitioner”.

He said there were significant shortcomings in her work and concerns about her “poor dexterity and operating technique”.’

‘Nearly half of the US public wants President George W. Bush to face impeachment, and even more favor that fate for Vice President Dick Cheney, according to a poll out Friday.

The survey by the American Research Group found that 45 percent support the US House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Bush, with 46 percent opposed, and a 54-40 split in favor when it comes to Cheney.

The study by the private New Hampshire-based ARG canvassed 1,100 Americans by telephone July 3-5 and had an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points. The findings are available on ARG’s Internet site.

The White House declined to comment on the poll, the latest bad news for a president who has seen his public opinion standings dragged to record lows by the unpopular war in Iraq.’

‘A man who told two women they were extremely beautiful was arrested on charges of harassment last week, Denver police said.

Police said 32-year-old Jeff John Hergert approached the women and “expressed interest in them.” He told each woman in two separate incidents that they were extremely beautiful and that they should consider modeling.

Hergert was arrested and is being held on two counts of harassment. He is being held on a $10,000 bond.’

‘The following letters are taken from an actual incident between a London hotel and one of its guests. The Hotel ended up submitting the letters to the London Sunday Times!’

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‘An engineering student at UNC Charlotte was caught with a device made to block police photo radar. He used a switchable electric window glazing that turned his car license plates to gray at a touch of a button.

The student’s job caused him to work late at a local restaurant. Having to sit at a near by traffic light for what he considered to long made him come up with the idea to make a device to allow him to go through the red light with out the photo radar getting a shot of his plates.

He said he ordered the glass cut to the shape of his plates and wired a switch to his dash so he could darken his plates before going through the red light. After weeks of getting photos of the same car with no visible plates local police waited for him at his usual red light. With in 2 hours they caught him coming home from work.’

My dead body is worth $4340. Hooray, I’m rich.

‘At the beginning of this year, the new guy at work needed a place to live. I ended up letting him sublet one of the rooms in my house. After only a couple of days it became obvious that he is totally insane. The crazy constantly flows from his mouth and is just way too good to not share with the world. Names have been changed to protect the innocent, but other than that – all of the conversations are damn near verbatim.’

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‘As stabbing victim LaShanda Calloway lay dying on the floor of a convenience store, five shoppers, including one who stopped to take a picture of her with a cell phone, stepped over the woman, police said.

The June 23 situation, captured on the store’s surveillance video, got scant news coverage until a columnist for The Wichita Eagle disclosed the existence of the video and its contents Tuesday.

Police have refused to release the video, saying it is part of their investigation.’

Court documents can be amusing. :)

The trick, it seems, is not to use a home made mortar tube.

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‘[..] Anyway, one year there were these two guys who were taking Chemistry and who did pretty well on all of the quizzes and the midterms and labs, etc., such that going into the final they had a solid A.

These two friends were so confident going into the final that the weekend before finals week (even though the Chem final was on Monday), they decided to go up to UVirginia and party with some friends up there. So they did this and had a great time. However, with their hangovers and everything, they overslept all day Sunday and didn’t make it back to Duke until early monday morning. Rather than taking the final then, what they did was to find Professor Bonk after the final and explain to him why they missed the final. [..]’

‘Start by addressing the envelope below then write a letter to a friend or relative.
We will print, envelope, stamp, and send your letter via regular U.S. postal mail 100% free of charge. You pay nothing!’

If only I knew someone in the US to send a letter to.

‘They’re flush with pride in a southwestern Chinese city where a recently-opened porcelain palace features an Egyptian facade, soothing music and more than 1,000 toilets spread out over 32,290 square feet.

Officials in Chongqing are preparing to submit an application to Guinness World Records to have the free four-story public bathroom listed as the world’s largest, the state-run China Central Television reported Friday.

“We are spreading toilet culture. People can listen to gentle music and watch TV,” said Lu Xiaoqing, an official with the Yangrenjie, or “Foreigners Street,” tourist area where the bathroom is located. “After they use the bathroom they will be very, very happy.”‘

‘A 5-year-old boy grabbed a rabid fox by the neck and pinned it to the ground during a family cookout, protecting six other children until his stepfather could kill the animal.

“I wanted to protect my little brother,” said Rayshun McDowell, who battled the fox in the front yard of his home Sunday in Kingstown, a town about 50 miles west of Charlotte.

The fox bit Rayshun in the leg, but the 61-pound-boy held the animal down for more than a minute. Animal control officials said Tuesday that test results confirmed the fox had rabies, which is fatal unless treated before symptoms appear. Rayshun is undergoing treatment.

“I looked out the window and Rayshun had the fox by the neck and was pushing it into the ground,” said his mother, Shinda Linder. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”‘

This guy climbs into a large balloon. Why? Who knows.

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‘The City of Keizer is taking heat for installing a group of cement posts designed to protect pedestrians from cars, but which some say is a phallic symbol.

A total of 52 of the posts were installed at a busy intersection in Keizer and they are getting a lot of second glances.

A number of residents have complained to the city that the posts resemble male genitalia.

“I can’t disagree with that,” said City Manager Chris Eppley. “They certainly did not turn out the way we anticipated.”‘

They just look like normal concrete bollards to me. I suggest that the whole City of Keizer is cock-crazy and they see what they want to see.