‘One or two of us have regrettably lost phones in a place or two (I myself lost a Treo 650 and a Cingular 8125 within the first four months of last year) but our friends across the pond literally flush an astounding 850,000 phones down the crapper each year.
850,000. Down the toilet.
Research by SimplySwitch, a company specializing in price comparison and switching carriers, found 4.5 million handsets are lost or damaged in the UK each year. Second to the death by watery grave, 810,000 handsets end up amongst the peanuts and broken hearts at a local pub, 315,000 stay behind for an extra long cab ride, 225,000 keep riding public transportation after their owners leave and 116,000 ended up in some dirty laundry.’
‘A family living in a public toilet in Morocco have spent seven years requesting more hygienic accommodation.
Their pleas fell on deaf ears, and Aze Adine Ould Baja has had to endure the ignominy of having “Sidi toilets” as the official address on his identity papers.
Desperate to do something about their plight, Mr Baja and his wife Khadija Makbout recently went to a local newspaper with their story. [..]
But a few days later the local authorities moved in to block up the toilet’s entrance with cement and concrete.
Mr Baja, his wife and three children now find themselves barred from the only home they had.’
‘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 former Democratic Party activist who left dog feces on the doorstep of U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave’s Greeley office during last year’s 4th Congressional District campaign was found not guilty Wednesday of criminal use of a noxious substance.
A Weld County jury deliberated about two hours before acquitting Kathleen Ensz of the misdemeanor count. Her trial began Tuesday.
Ensz’s lawyers never denied that their client left a Musgrave campaign brochure full of feces at the front door of the congresswoman’s office. But they argued that Ensz was making a statement protected by free speech – the poop was a symbol of what she thought of Musgrave’s politics.’
‘A man was warned yesterday that he faced 10 months in jail if he again breached a barring order to stay away from his former partner.
Tina Doohan told a court how her ex had entered her home and defecated on her spaghetti bolognese dinner before rubbing it on her face. After this grotesque incident, the mother of one had her hand cut as she held up her plate.
Ms Doohan told the court her former partner Patrick McLaughlin had breached a barring order when he entered her home. McLaughlin claimed that she had soiled her own food and cut her own hand.’
‘An artificial lake in El Salvador brimming with sewage and industrial waste is mystifying scientists by attracting thousands of migratory and sea birds.
Built in 1974 to drive El Salvador’s biggest hydroelectric project, the 33,360-acre (13,500- hectare) Cerron Grande reservoir collects some 3,800 metric tons of excrement each year from the sewage pipes, as well as factory run-off and traces of heavy metals like chromium and lead, the government estimates.
So scientists are puzzling over the fact that some 150,000 seabirds from more than 130 species have chosen to make the reservoir their home. At least 90 of the species are migratory birds arriving from as far away as Alaska.’
‘Rescuers cut through a filtration tank of dense fish feces to reach four workers who fell into the sludgy dung Friday while cleaning the 18-foot tank at a western Massachusetts farm.
The workers became trapped for 45 minutes after a bracket holding a plastic filtration pad collapsed as workers stood on it to clean the fiberglass tank at the Australis Aquaculture fish farm, said Capt. David Dion of the Turners Falls Fire Department and the fish farm’s manager Josh Goldman.
One of the farmhands fell below what Dion described as a sand-and-feces mix, while the other three had their heads above the sludge, he said. [..]
“It was very slimy and it was heavy,” [Dion] said. “Never seen anything like it in my life.”‘
‘Untreated sewage from factory discharges and urban centres now accounts for 10 per cent of the Yellow River’s flow, a prominent Chinese group says.
The volume of waste water flowing into the river, China’s second longest, doubled from 2 billion tonnes to 4.3 billion between 1980 and 2005, Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Beijing-based NGO, told the China Daily.
“It now accounts for about one-tenth of its total volume,” Ma said.
The 5,464-km river supplies water to more than 150 million people and irrigates 15 per cent of the country’s farmland, but has lost a third of its fish species and is 70 per cent unfit for drinking or swimming, state media have reported.’
‘An upstate New York couple didn’t think a few bats in the attic were much of a problem when they were buying a house last summer.
Months later, they found out how wrong they were when they discovered more than a ton and a half of bat droppings up there.
Nick LaBoda and Jenna Caputo say a home inspector informed them about the bats. They called an exterminator, who told them to wait a while before removing the bats because the babies were too young to fly.
Then they forgot about the bats until they smelled a foul odor in January. When they checked the attic, they found dead bats and piles of guano.’
‘The locks on a block of public toilets are being changed following complaints it was being used as cheap lodgings.
With heating, a wash basin, a peg and a mirror, the eight cubicles in Stamford Hill, Hackney, east London, are cheap accommodation at just 20p a night.
Local businesses said there was competition for the cubicles and many wanted the more spacious disabled loo.’
‘A disgruntled wife has admitted feeding her estranged husband a curry containing dog excrement after their relationship broke down.
Jill Martin, 47, pleaded guilty at Paisley Sheriff Court to culpable and reckless conduct against husband Donald Martin. [..]
Depute Fiscal Margaret Dunnipace told the court that on 13 March, after placing the dinner in front of her husband Donald and watching him start to eat it, Martin had burst out laughing. [..]
The couple have now begun divorce proceedings.’
‘An early-morning German bank customer had a bit of a shock when he found a horse in line at the automatic teller machine in front of him.
It seems the horse’s owner, identified only as Wolfgang H., had a bit too much to drink the night before and decided to sleep it off inside the bank’s heated foyer, police said Tuesday. [..]
“It was late, it was already dark and cold,” he was quoted as saying.
Confronted with the lack of a hitching-post, he brought the 6-year-old horse, named Sammy, in along with him.’
‘Singer Sheryl Crow has said a ban on using too much toilet paper should be introduced to help the environment.
Crow has suggested using “only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required”.
The 45-year-old, who made the comments on her website, has just toured the US on a biodiesel-powered bus to raise awareness about climate change.’
‘Japan’s leading toilet maker Toto Ltd. is offering free repairs for 180,000 bidet toilets after wiring problems caused several to catch fire, the company said Monday.
The electric bidet accessory of Toto’s Z series caught fire in three separate incidents between March 2006 and March 2007, according to company spokeswoman Emi Tanaka.
“Fortunately, nobody was using the toilets when the fire broke out and there were no injuries,” Tanaka said. “The fire would have been just under your buttocks.”’
‘Auckland has come up with a novel plan for getting rid of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of human waste – use it to fill one of its many extinct volcanos, then turn it into a regional park.
Local authority-owned Watercare Services announced this week that it had signed a $25 million, 30-year deal with Puketutu Island’s owners to dump the 61 tonnes of biosolids – cleaned, treated and dried human waste – produced by its Mangere treatment plant each week.
The waste would be dumped on a side of the volcanic island that had been extensively quarried in the past 50 years. The island’s original volcanic cone formation could also be rebuilt using the biosolids, subject to public opinion, spokesman Clive Nelson said. [..]
Auckland University vulcanologist Ian Smith said Aucklanders need not be concerned that they would be showered in “biosolids” in the event of an eruption.’
‘A Chinese woman survived a plunge from a sixth-floor balcony thanks to a convenient pile of excrement which broke her fall, local media said.
The accident happened when the woman was hanging out laundry on Monday in Nanjing, capital of the eastern province of Jiangsu, the Kuaibao tabloid said on its Web site (www.kuaibao.net).
“Workers happened to be emptying the building’s septic tank, which had not been tended for a long time and had regularly blocked sewage pipes,” the newspaper said.
“She probably stretched out too far and fell … right on to a 20 cm-thick heap of excrement.”‘
‘A suspended Toronto elementary school principal has pleaded guilty to throwing feces (excrement) on a child.
Maria Pantalone, 49, was charged with two counts of assault – one against that child and one against another – but only admitted to one of the charges today.
“I couldn’t take it any more,” she testified, in describing the provocative circumstances leading up to the incident last June 30.
But she agreed it wasn’t in any way justified.’
‘An 18-year-old man has been detained for repeatedly defecating in front of a cash machine in a bank vestibule in the southern German town of Eggmuehl.
A police spokesman said the man, who left his deposit at the bank eight times, was caught only after the bank installed video monitors to film him in action.’
‘Sigourney Weaver, I’m coming after you bitch!’
(9.2meg Windows media)
see it here »
The wrong house to go to the toilet in.
(1.9meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘Contrary to popular belief, NASA Astronaut Lisa Nowak did actually make a couple of stops along the way on her journey from Houston, TX to Orlando, FL.
Up for bid is ONE of only a small handful of historic news media frenzy spawned memorabilia that we found “left behind” and that has come to be known as the Lisa Nowak NASA Astronaut DIAPER! It is clean and unused, and it can be YOURS if you are the lucky winning bidder.’
Followup to: Astronaut charged with attempted murder is released on bond
‘Up to 20 teenage girls from an exclusive Sydney Catholic school are under investigation for skinny dipping in a river during a Duke of Edinburgh camp.
A 14-year-old was suspended from Loreto Kirribilli yesterday and more are expected to follow as the school looks for truth among the rumours, innuendo and gossip of girls behaving badly. [..]
But it is understood that on top of the late night dip in the Colo River, a number of girls are alleged to have urinated and defecated in a cooking pot – used for preparing meals – as a practical joke.’
‘An 18-year-old Lyle High School student is facing two felony charges for allegedly lacing brownies with laxatives and distributing them at school, making staff and students sick. [..]
The principal said that on Feb. 6, the defendant had brought a pan of 16 brownies to school and gave them to staff and students. He said Orth admitted on Feb. 7 that he and two other 18-year-old males baked the brownies at one of their homes. The principal claimed the defendant had admitted to purchasing the laxatives and other ingredients.
The complaint stated that the other two males said they were “just watching” while the defendant made them.’
‘More than three-quarters of Australians say they would drink recycled sewage water, contradicting the NSW Government’s insistence that Sydneysiders find the idea distasteful.
The Herald/ACNielsen poll taken at the weekend shows that 78 per cent of Australians (80 per cent in NSW) would support the introduction of recycled water.
Support was consistently high across states, age groups and political parties; 19 per cent voiced opposition.’
‘It’s never too late for toilet training. Some Malaysian colleges may soon offer courses on how to keep public restrooms clean, the national news agency reported Thursday. [..]
Malaysia’s government recently said it wanted to start a “toilet revolution” in a country where public restrooms have long nauseated citizens and tourists with their lack of basic items such as toilet paper, soap and sometimes even toilet seats.
Lau said his ministry plans to soon introduce a system for the public to lodge complaints about filthy toilets via cell phone text messages.’
‘A teenager stopped by a police officer at the Grand Avenue Mall as a suspected truant became disruptive and threw his colostomy bag at the officer, department spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said this morning.
The officer was responding to a truancy complaint at the downtown mall Monday at 1:17 p.m. and stopped the youth, who refused to tell the officer his name or age, she said. The suspect then became disruptive and threw his colostomy bag containing bodily waste at the officer.’
`An Australian state plans to introduce recycled sewage to its drinking water as a record drought threatens water supplies around the nation, a state leader said Monday.
Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie said falling dam levels have left his government with no choice but to introduce recycled water next year in the state’s southeast — one of Australia’s fastest growing urban areas.
“We’re not getting rain; we’ve got no choice,” Beattie, who said his government had scrapped a referendum planned for March on the issue, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.’
