‘The state troopers in Rhinebeck realized that they were dealing with a specialist. The burglar left no fingerprints or clues. There wasn’t much to do except alert the antiques publications, the auction houses, and the Times, which ran a brief article about the burglaries. [..]
Mason and Abruzzini had warned me that Nordahl always talked about changing his ways. “Blane couldn’t go straight if you snapped a chalk line for him,” Abruzzini said. Luanne, his ex-girlfriend, had also told me that he would never stop. “He’ll be seventy-eight with a goddam cane, walking down the street stealing silver,” she said.’
‘An Italian judge has ordered 26 Americans and five Italians to stand trial for the kidnapping of a terror suspect in Milan in 2003, in what will be the first criminal court case over the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme.
The decision, which indicts a number of senior intelligence officials from the US and Italy, concerns the abduction of a radical imam known as Abu Omar, who was flown to Egypt where he claims he was tortured under questioning on February 17 2003. Prosecutors say that five Italian intelligence officials worked with the CIA to abduct the Egyptian cleric.
All but one of the American suspects have been identified as CIA agents. [..]’
‘New Mexico has taken its fight against drunken driving to men’s restrooms around the state.
The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-DWI message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel.
The top of the devices feature the state DWI slogan — “You drink, you drive, you lose.” [..]
The cakes have enough battery power to last about three months.’
‘An Amsterdam judge has ruled that peep shows – where sex workers performing strip shows and explicit acts can be watched from booths – are a form of theatre and club owners are entitled to a hefty tax break.
“Admitting customers to peep shows is equivalent to admitting them to a theatre performance,” an Amsterdam Appeals Court judge wrote in a ruling late last month and publicized Tuesday. “The erotic character of the performance does not diminish that.”‘
‘Soap can be made from just about any kind of fat. Even though fat from bacon, called lard, isn’t the finest of fats to use for making soap, it somehow seemed to be the most exciting. Why? Because bacon is amazing. It has an almost mystical power to it and is a food that can be craved to almost no end. I figured what better way use the extra grease I had from cooking bacon then to turn it into soap!’
‘She bagged him after he was fatally speared by a stingray – but Steve Irwin has overshadowed outspoken feminist Germaine Greer from beyond the grave.
His portrait has replaced the study of the writer and academic on the walls of Australia’s National Portrait Gallery.
The photograph of Greer, who penned a scathing criticism of Irwin days after his death, was pulled from the gallery and a portrait of the wildlife warrior installed in her place last week.’
`A man who was fed up with paying massive bank charges decided to give one of the high street giants a taste of its own medicine.
When Royal Bank of Scotland refused to refund £3,400 charges that Declan Purcell believed he was owed, he sent in the bailiffs.
Stunned customers at his branch of RBS watched as debt collectors seized four computers, two fax machines and a till filled with cash.
The branch manager was told that the items would be sold unless RBS came up with the money owed to Mr Purcell. [..]
Mr Purcell said: “I think the bank was pretty shocked when the bailiffs went in. But my view is that this is exactly what they would have done to me.”‘
‘A guy has taught his six month old baby how to balance on one foot. To make it even cooler the little guy is able to balance while his dad holds him on one hand!’
(2.9meg Windows media)
see it here »
This is a blanket specially designed for people who don’t wanna bother getting dressed when friends come over. It actually looks like it works fairly well. :)
(2.4meg mpeg)
see it here »
`New research shows that the level of nicotine in major brands of American cigarettes has gone up by 11 per cent in the period 1998 to 2005. [..]
The scientists examined annual data submitted by tobacco manufacturers to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH). [..]
Upon analysing the data the scientists found that the manufacturers have increased the level of smoke nicotine yield in cigarettes by an average of 1.6 per cent for each year between 1998 and 2005. And they did this in two ways. First by directly altering the concentration of nicotine, and secondly by changing the design features to increase the delivery efficiency of nicotine.’
`North Dakota’s Legislature is encouraging disrespect for the law by making it illegal for a man and woman to live together without being married, a legislator says.
If North Dakota prosecutors began enforcing the anti-cohabitation law, which provides a 30-day jail term and a $1,000 fine, the state would need a “$10 billion prison,” Sen. Tracy Potter, D-Bismarck, said Wednesday.
“We’re saying that we have optional laws, laws that we don’t really mean,” Potter said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the repeal measure. “We shouldn’t have laws like that.”‘
`With studies showing that U.S. jails can’t enforce bans on sex between inmates, lawmakers and AIDS-prevention advocates say it’s time to start distributing condoms in Washington prisons.
Legislators are pushing a bill calling for a five-year plan to reduce the number of sexually transmitted infections among inmates.
Though the bill does not specify condom distribution, its prime sponsor, Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, said she hoped it would rekindle stalled discussions about providing inmates with protection. “We have to start somewhere,” she said.’
`An escaped chimpanzee at the Little Rock Zoo raided a kitchen cupboard and did a little cleaning with a toilet brush before sedatives knocked her out on top of a refrigerator. [..]
Keeper Ann Rademacher says Judy went into the bathroom, picked up a toilet brush and cleaned the toilet. Rademacher says the 37-year-old Judy was a house pet before the zoo acquired her in 1988, so she may have been familiar with housekeeping chores. Judy wrung out a sponge and scrubbed down the fridge.
It took a couple of tries, but the zoo sedated the chimp, who fell asleep on top of the refrigerator with half a loaf of cinnamon-raisin bread she had pulled out of the freezer.’
`Terrorists attacking British bases in Basra are using aerial footage displayed by the Google Earth internet tool to pinpoint their attacks, say Army intelligence sources.
Documents seized during raids on the homes of insurgents last week uncovered print-outs from photographs taken from Google.
The satellite photographs show in detail the buildings inside the bases and vulnerable areas such as tented accommodation, lavatory blocks and where lightly armoured Land Rovers are parked.
Written on the back of one set of photographs taken of the Shatt al Arab Hotel, headquarters for the 1,000 men of the Staffordshire Regiment battle group, officers found the camp’s precise longitude and latitude.’
This is a pretty cool video. These crows are smarter than some people I know. :)
see it here »
`There was a scientific method to Daniel Zeiszler’s madness when he tried to extract methamphetamine from his own urine, after smoking the illegal street drug last September in his South San Francisco hotel room.
But Zeiszler’s experiment went dangerously awry when he spilled some solvent on himself, then lit a cigarette while he contemplated his next move, starting a fire that burned his right hand and arm.’
Remixes of Imagine and Walk on the Wild Side by George Bush.
(6.7meg Flash video and 2.8meg mp3)
Update – now with video:
see it here »
`Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking miniature US flags into piles of dog poo in public parks.
Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth, said: “This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that time.”‘
All you need is a cat and some sticky tape.
(1.9meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Convinced he needed discipline, David’s father, Ken, felt the solution lay in a goal that he didn’t himself achieve, Eagle Scout, which requires 21 merit badges. David earned a merit badge in Atomic Energy in May 1991, five months shy of his 15th birthday. By now, though, he had grander ambitions.
He was determined to irradiate anything he could, and decided to build a neutron “gun.” To obtain radioactive materials, David used a number of cover stories and concocted a new identity.’
