moonbuggy

(1.9meg avi)

see it here »

‘Works to reopen the main road between Langholm and Lockerbie have been delayed by badgers.

The B7068 was closed before Christmas after a landslide at Scroggs Bridge and lengthy diversions put in place.

A council spokesman confirmed that work had ground to halt after a badger sett was found under the route of the works. [..]

“I appreciate that work was delayed because of the discovery of a badgers’ sett and land ownership issues,” he said.

“But from an initial indication that the road would be closed for weeks it has now been months and currently there is no end date in sight. [..]”‘

‘A Minnesota woman who was forced to the ground and handcuffed after a DirecTV dispatcher told police that an installer was being held hostage is suing.

“These are regular people. She’s a schoolteacher. … You shouldn’t have SWAT teams coming after someone if they know there’s not a crisis,” Marc Kurzman, a lawyer for Julie and Steven Pyle of Savage, Minn., told the St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press. The Pyles are seeking more than $75,000 in damages in a federal civil rights lawsuit against DirecTV, Savage police and Scott County enforcement dispatchers. [..]

Julie Pyle felt bad the job was taking the installers so long, so she baked them cookies, the lawsuit said.’

It’s one of those claw games, but instead of trying to grab stuffed toys, you’re after live lobsters.

‘Keep your fucking opinions to yourself you arsehole Australians. Don’t write me any more letters like that. That goes for the whole fucking world!’

(30meg Windows media)

see it here »

‘A 5-year-old panda who last year became the first to be released into the wild after being bred in captivity has died, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said Thursday.

The body of Xiang Xiang was found Feb. 19 in the forests of Sichuan province in China’s southwest, Xinhua said. He survived less than a year in the wild after nearly three years of training in survival techniques and defense tactics.

Xiang Xiang, who may have fallen from a high place while fighting with wild pandas, died of serious internal injuries, the report said, citing the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in Sichuan.’

‘Just over one in 10 men do not volunteer to work with children because they are worried people will think they are a paedophile, a survey suggests.

Childrens’ charities NCH and Chance UK also say almost one in five men do not come forward because they would have to undertake a criminal records check. [..]

Work commitments were given as a reason by 59% of those who did not volunteer, and 68% said they did not have enough time.

In all, 13% of the men questioned said they would not choose to volunteer to work with children due to fear of being perceived as a paedophile.’

‘This weekend, learn how to hack your brain by making Mitch Altman’s Brain Machine! It flashes LEDs into your eyes and beeps sounds into your ears to make your brain waves sync up into beta, alpha, theta, and delta brainwaves!’

(1.0meg Flash video)

see it here »

‘They have been accused of sexually abusing staff during a drunken rampage through the first-class cabin of an international flight.

Now Sydney men Jeremy Snaith and William Sergeant are eating fermented camel meat inside the notorious al-Wathba prison outside Abu Dhabi. in the United Arab Emirates.

The food is the least of their worries as the wheels of justice grind slowly and Snaith and Sergeant contemplate up to 15 years in a desert prison where the temperatures soar above 50 degrees and punishment includes stonings, lashings, overcrowding and sleeping in lice-infested blankets on cement floors.’

‘As the out-of-control police cruiser hurtled toward them Wednesday night, Crystal Legrand grabbed her two youngest children and took cover behind a wall.

Legrand’s boyfriend snatched up her eldest, a 4-year-old boy named Daviay, trying to reach safety, too, but they couldn’t escape.

The patrol car struck them, killing Daviay Legrand and shattering the boyfriend’s legs. Furious residents later massed at the crash scene and threw bottles and rocks at police. [..]

Two officers – one a rookie, the other an eight-year veteran – had been responding to the same report of a man with a gun when their cruisers collided at a downtown intersection. One of the cruisers slid onto the sidewalk, just a half-block from Legrand’s home. [..]

Another witness, Crystal Spearman, said: “First you heard the sirens, then you heard the tires screech, then you heard the bang. The little boy was laying there, severed in half.”‘

‘The Loch Ness monster is back — and there’s video. A man has captured what Nessie watchers say is possible footage of the supposed mythical creature beneath Scotland’s most mysterious lake.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water,” said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video Saturday.

Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine viewed the video and hoped to properly analyze it in the coming months.’

I’ll post a copy of the video as soon as it surfaces, so to speak. :) Update: here it is..

see it here »

(1.5meg Windows media)

see it here »

‘Could it be that our soldiers died to enrich five or six International Oil Companies (Four of them American)? Or that possibly a million Iraqis suffered the same fate for the same reason? You might recall that President Bush claimed that one of the Benchmarks the Iraqi Government must meet is a deal to share the Oil revenues. What he didn’t say is with whom they, the Iraqis, will have to share. Seems like it’s not the Iraqis. [..]

Seems that those International Oil Companies (can you say EXXON, MOBILE, and BP for starters), stand to pluck the Iraqi people for about $21 Trillion. Folks that’s twenty one thousand BILLION. In perspective, that’s about double the United States current cash debt, and a little over 40% of the accrued National Debt of $50 Trillion. Figured another way, it’s about $70,000 for every American currently alive. And it will all go to about six Oil companies. Well not all, there’s the Congress to be bought off, actually it seems they already have, but they still need to get a little more of the harvest.’

‘Teenagers who identify as “evangelical” or “born again” are highly likely to sound like the girl at the bar; 80 percent think sex should be saved for marriage. But thinking is not the same as doing. Evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics. They tend to lose their virginity at a slightly younger age–16.3, compared with 16.7 for the other two faiths. And they are much more likely to have had three or more sexual partners by age 17: Regnerus reports that 13.7 percent of evangelicals have, compared with 8.9 percent for mainline Protestants.’

‘A police marksman is under investigation after accidentally shooting a colleague in an extraordinary blunder.

The victim, a civilian employee, was seriously injured in the accident at a lecture room at the HQ of Thames Valley Police near Oxford.

He was apparently being shown the workings of a police Glock pistol when it went off, blasting him in the torso.

The victim, aged in his 50s, was left writhing in agony with blood pouring from the wound.

He underwent emergency surgery and his condition was described as serious but stable. [..]

One police source at the HQ said: “There are a lot of red faces about this. Why the hell was an experienced firearms officer demonstrating with a loaded pistol in an enclosed environment?

“Someone’s head will have to roll.”‘

‘What the fuck? I can’t see the runway.’

(1.0meg Flash video)

see it here »

‘Turkey’s top general said Thursday his army — which has been massing troops on the border with Iraq — was prepared to attack separatist Kurdish guerrillas in a cross-border offensive.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said the military was ready and awaiting government orders for an incursion, putting pressure on the government to support an offensive that risks straining ties with the United States and Europe and raising tensions with Iraqi Kurds.

“As soldiers, we are ready,” Buyukanit said at an international security conference in Istanbul.

Although the United States has branded the guerrillas a terrorist organization, Washington fears that Turkish military action could destabilize northern Iraq — the most stable part of the war-torn country. Washington is also concerned that supporting Turkey in an incursion could alienate the pro-American Iraqi Kurds.’

‘he man infected with potentially fatal tuberculosis is receiving treatment at a Denver, Colorado, hospital as federal health officials continue to track down airline passengers who may have been exposed to the illness.

The man has been identified by multiple medical and law enforcement sources as Andrew Speaker, 31, a lawyer from Atlanta, Georgia.

Speaker’s father-in-law works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, an agency spokesman said Thursday.

The father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a microbiologist who has conducted research on tuberculosis for the National Center for Infectious Diseases, according to a CDC biography posted on the agency’s Web site.

CNN affiliate WSB-TV reported that Cooksey gave his son-in-law “fatherly advice” after he found out Speaker had contracted the infectious disease, but did not advise him in any official capacity.’

Followup to Man knew he had TB before flying to Europe.

‘A new house in northern China collapsed and killed at least 16 people during a banquet being held to celebrate its completion, state media reported today.

Yang Hongyi, a resident of Wulanji, a village in northern Inner Mongolia, held the banquet yesterday, inviting more than 50 people who had helped build the house.

More than 40 people were buried in the collapse and 30 suffered injuries, Xinhua news agency said.

The roof beams had been put up that afternoon, Xinhua said, citing rescuers.

The accident is under investigation.’

Just a little bit of over steer. :)

(2.1meg Windows media)

see it here »

‘A Wendy’s manager was shot several times in the arm early Tuesday trying to protect the restaurant’s chili sauce, authorities said.

A man in the drive-through argued with an employee because he wanted more of the condiment, police said. The worker told the customer that restaurant policy prohibited a customer from getting more than three packets.

The man insisted on 10, reports said. The employee complied, but police said the customer wanted more.

When the manager came out to speak to the man, the customer shot the manager, Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Mary Walters said. He was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.’

‘Georgie Anne Geyer writes today in the Dallas Morning News about President Bush’s strange behavior during a recent meeting with “[f]riends of his from Texas.”

But by all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness.

Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!” He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”‘

‘Hit show Doctor Who will be EXTERMINATED next year — after the fourth series.

Boss Russell T. Davies has decided to axe the BBC1 sci-fi drama and concentrate on other projects.

He and senior staff have hatched a plot to hand in a group resignation in summer 2008.

A source said: “The heavy workload — nine months of 16-hour days every year — has started to take its toll.

“It was decided the best thing for the show was go out at the top next year.”‘

Why can’t I get just one kiss?

see it here »

‘A faulty bank fax printed a message that was misinterpreted as a bomb threat Wednesday, leading authorities to evacuate more than a dozen neighboring businesses and a day care center.

The branch manager of the Bank of America called police about 10 a.m. after receiving a fax containing images of a lit match and a bomb with a fuse, bank spokesman Ernesto Anguilla said.

But text explaining the fax was an internal bank promotion failed to transmit. The missing text included the phrases “The countdown begins” and “Small business commitment week June 4-8,” according to a copy circulated by police.’

‘A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised “zombie” computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.

“He’s one of the top 10 spammers in the world,” said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company’s Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. “He’s a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day.”‘

‘The pest inspector Bill Lincoln smelt the rats before he saw them when he visited the Sushi World’s factory in Camperdown to quote on fixing the rodent problem last year.

“It was horrific … the stench of rat urine was bad,” he said of the premises the Herald revealed this week had been fined 11 times, and closed for a second time early this month, for breaching hygiene laws.

As Mr Lincoln walked through the premises in Larkin Street last year, he was stunned by what he found. “There were rats in the rice cases; there was shredded paper on the ground where they were making nests; there were droppings everywhere,” he said.

Mr Lincoln said he had seen many food businesses with rat infestations but none as bad as the Larkin Street factory.’

‘A glittering bathtub made of gold worth nearly $1 million has been stolen from a resort hotel, an official said Wednesday. A worker at Kominato Hotel Mikazuki in Kamogawa, south of Tokyo, notified police that the fancy tub was missing from the hotel’s guest bathroom on the 10th floor, according to a local police official who only gave his surname, Ogawa.

The round tub, worth $987,000, is made of 18-karat gold and weighs 176 pounds. [..]

Someone apparently cut the chain attached to the door of a small section of the bathroom where the bathtub was placed, but not riveted, and made off with the tub, Ogawa said.

“We have no witness information and there are no video cameras,” he said. “We have no idea who took it,” the official said.’