`A youth minister was charged with assault for allegedly knocking a 16-year-old boy down and kicking him in the groin after taking a head shot from the teen in a dodgeball game.
David M. Boudreaux, 27, was charged Wednesday with one count of third-degree assault. According to court documents, the incident happened in February at Crescent Lake Christian Academy.
Authorities said the teen missed Boudreaux with one throw but then knocked the youth minister’s glasses off with the next.
The boy apologized, authorities said, but Boudreaux pushed him backward, and when the teen got up again, Boudreaux kicked him in the groin and left.’
`At least six men came to western North Carolina, some from as far away as South America, to have their genitals mutilated in what police described Friday as a sadomasochistic “dungeon.”
Three men have been charged with illegal castration in the case, Haywood County Sheriff Tom Alexander and District Attorney Michael Bonfoey said. The sheriff and prosecutor said the victims were willing participants in the procedures. [..]
Michael Mendez, 60, Richard Peter Sciara, 61, and Danny Carroll Reeves, 49, each are charged with castration without malice, maiming without malice and practicing medicine without a license.’
`A woman attending anger management classes became irate during a Wednesday morning class, threatened to kill a classmate, then went out to the lobby and broke a display case, Valparaiso police said. [..]
The specialist in the meeting room told police a 26-year-old man walked in and asked Prenderville if the seat next to her was taken. The specialist told police Prenderville immediately started yelling to the man, “I’m going to put a cap in you and send you to heaven.”
Prenderville is accused of repeating the threat several times — causing the man to become visibly shaken and start crying. She is also accused of threatening another client before storming out of the room.’
`A Sentinel High School teacher, charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly giving a student a hickey, has resigned.
Missoula County Public Schools said Dan Kucera, a business teacher, resigned several weeks ago.
Kucera was suspended in January. Police said Kucera put a 17-year-old male student in a head lock and sucked on his neck, causing it to bruise.’
`Of Pensacola’s many rules, those dealing with male-female relationships are the most talked about. There are restrictions on when and where men and women may speak to each other. Some elevators and stairwells may be used only by women; others may be used only by men. Socializing on particular benches is forbidden. If a man and a woman are walking to class, they may chat; if they stop en route, though, they may be in trouble. Generally men and women caught interacting in any “unchaperoned area” — which is most of the campus — could be subject to severe penalties.
Those rules extend beyond the campus. A man and a woman cannot go to an off-campus restaurant together without a chaperon (usually a faculty member). Even running into members of the opposite sex off campus can lead to punishment. One student told of how a group of men and a group of women from the college happened to meet at a McDonald’s last spring. Both groups were returning from the beach (they had gone to separate beaches; men and women are not allowed to be at the beach together). The administration found out, and all 15 students were expelled.
Even couples who are not talking or touching can be reprimanded. Sabrina Poirier, a student at Pensacola who withdrew in 1997, was disciplined for what is known on the campus as “optical intercourse” — staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex. This is also referred to as “making eye babies.” While the rule does not appear in written form, most students interviewed for this article were familiar with the concept.’
`Just when you think George W. Bush has plumbed the depths of goofiness, he bests himself. In a speech today (reported on CNN), Bush said that:
Saddam Hussein, not continued U.S. involvement in Iraq, is responsible for ongoing sectarian violence that is threatening the formation of a democratic government.
When in doubt, blame the guy in jail. So, at what point did George discover that Saddam’s previous grotesque behavior spawned sectarian strife? Is there any chance he heard about this before launching the invasion in 2003 or was he still reading from the script that promised Iraqis, regardless of their sectarian beliefs, would be dancing in the streets?
It would be nice to get an answer on this point. Why?’
`Two local teens face murder charges after they allegedly chased a man who mooned them and bludgeoned him to death.
Martin Malone, 47, of Clifton Heights, Pa., died Friday night in the attack in Upper Darby, Pa. [..]
Investigators said Malone was sifting through trash at a Dumpster when Christopher McEneaney, 16, and Andre Mark, 18, started calling Malone names.
People who knew Malone said he was looking for objects to resell.
Investigators said the pair threw rocks at Malone and he mooned the teens, and they became upset.’
`The most memorable moment of Terica Washington’s 30th birthday Monday was looking into the sky and seeing an airplane towing a black banner with words written in white: “6/6/06 You have been warned”.
She was alarmed enough to call the FBI.
“It made me feel really creepy, especially in this day and age,” said Washington, who works at Ocean Walk Resort. Noting that June 6 is a Tuesday, she drew the connection to Sept. 11, 2001, also a Tuesday.
“I thought it might be terrorists,” she said.’
`A drunk driver just 100 yards from Australia’s iconic giant monolith once known as Ayers Rock stopped police to ask the way to the 1,100-foot-high rock.
The headlights of the man’s car were actually shining on Uluru, which has a 5.8-mile circumference, Northern Territory police said.
The 44-year-old man, whose car was also towing an aluminum boat, has been charged with drunk driving and unlicensed driving.’
`A charity foundation’s former accountant, accused of embezzling heart disease research funds to pay a dominatrix to beat him, pleaded guilty Tuesday to grand larceny and admitted he stole more than $237,000.
Abraham Alexander, 45, of East Meadow, N.Y., admitted taking the money from the Cardiovascular Research Foundation by using company credit cards and writing checks to himself.
At least $11,000 went to pay Through the Looking Glass, an online company run by Columbus-based dominatrix, and other charges included flights between New York and Ohio and car rentals, according to District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s office.’
`Ryan Reynolds is a psittalinguist — a person who interprets budgie-speak.
Since 1999, he has invested thousands of hours slowing down and deconstructing recordings of his beloved budgie, Victor, who died five years ago at the young age of 3, as well as other talking budgies.
Victor had a vocabulary of 1,000 words, which he used in context, Reynolds says. [..]
So what are budgies saying?
“This is going to sound crazy, but they talk about spiritual things: God, the afterlife, a better world for them,” Reynolds says.’
`When asked, most individuals will describe themselves as better-than-average in areas such as leadership, social skills, written expression, or just about any flavor of savvy where the individual has an interest. This tendency of the average person to believe he or she is better-than-average is known as the “above-average effect,” and it flies in the face of logic… by definition, descriptive statistics says that it is impossible for a majority of people to be above average. Clearly a large number of the self-described “above average” individuals are actually below average in those areas, and they are simply unaware of their incompetence.’
‘The fine folks in New York have completely lost their minds and given Britney Spears her own Pro-Life monument at Capla Kesting Fine Art in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg gallery district. The life-sized statue celebrates the recent birth of Spears’ baby boy, Sean, and applauds her decision of placing family before career. Gallery co-director Lincoln Capla says, “A superstar at Britney’s young age having a child is rare in today’s celebrity culture. This dedication honors Britney for the rarity of her choice and bravery of her decision.”‘
This is fucken funny. My girlfriend wonders what it looks like from behind. I kinda wonder the same, but I think I’d rather keep wondering than actually know.
see it here »
These people are convinced they’ve seen a leprechaun up in a tree. It only comes out at night, and it mysteriously vanishes when you try and shine a light on it.
But it hasn’t stopped them from gathering in huge crowds every night and dressing up in camo gear in attempts to try and see the thing.
A magical leprechaun flute that has been passed down in one family for thousands of years is involved aswell.
(3.8meg Flash video)
Update: Someone over at ZGeek dug up the story that goes with this. It’s doesn’t explain much more than the video, but if you want you can read all about the Leprechaun Sighting.
see it here »
`Fifty minutes, 35USD, and four humans later, I’d filed my first bug report with Microsoft. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again. Since I started this process, I’ve received six e-mails from Microsoft: one describing my new Passport account, one asking me to activate my Passport account, two receipts for 35USD (I hope that doesn’t mean I paid twice), and two form mails from Kim, one saying she was taking charge of my case and one saying my case had been resolved by filing a bug report. I hope that means I get my money back.’
`The brother of Pittsburgh Steelers safety Tyrone Carter had his sentence for driving with a revoked license increased from six months to five years because he failed to report to jail on time.
Tank Carter was scheduled to report to a Broward County prison on Jan. 6, but decided against it when his brother told him the Steelers had a good chance of going to the Super Bowl. On Tuesday, Broward Circuit Judge Stanton S. Kaplan increased the sentence.
“Even knowing what I know now, I would do it again,” Carter said. “It was the greatest game in my life.”‘
`Phillip Williams doubted whether he was being sold actual crack cocaine, police say. So he approached two uniformed Tampa officers and allegedly asked them to test his crack pipe so he could be sure.
Turned out Williams, 47, was getting the real thing, and he was arrested shortly after approaching the officers Tuesday morning.’
`Budget constraints are forcing some FBI agents to operate without e-mail accounts, according to the agency’s top official in New York.
“As ridiculous as this might sound, we have real money issues right now, and the government is reluctant to give all agents and analysts dot-gov accounts,” Mark Mershon said when asked about the gap at a New York Daily News editorial board meeting.
“We just don’t have the money, and that is an endless stream of complaints that come from the field,” he said.’
How fucken much does it cost to run a mail server? Stupid.
`An employee at a Davie Burger King might have needed just a bit more customer service training before the company put him in a drive through window to serve customers. Police say the man burst into a rage, jumped out of the drive through window, and attacked two of his customers in their truck…over change.
Employee Michael Perez had been working at the Burger King for just four days, when he apparently had a whopper of a problem as he was serving the Gillis family at the store’s drive-through window. Perez and Kevin Gillis got into an argument over the coins used for Gillis’s change.
Police surveillance tape shows what happened next. [..]’
`Older women who say talk shows and soap operas are their favorite TV programs tend to score more poorly on tests of memory, attention and other cognitive skills, researchers reported Monday.
That doesn’t mean that daytime television is a brain drain, they say, since it’s not clear that there’s a direct relationship between the two.
But the findings do point to some association between TV choices and intellectual function, and that could prove useful in evaluating older people for cognitive decline, according lead investigator Dr. Joshua Fogel of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.’
`A bill that allows public high schools to offer classes on the Bible sped through the House Monday, passing overwhelmingly with no debate.
The legislation, which passed 151-7, would allow high schools to form elective courses on the history and literature of the Old Testament and New Testament eras. The classes would focus on the law, morals, values and culture of the eras. [..]
The proposal also requires that the courses should be taught “in an objective and nondevotional manner with no attempt made to indoctrinate students.”‘
`The state Government has asked the Lane Cove Tunnel’s operators to consider not opening it until after the March election, fearing a repeat of the Cross City Tunnel outrage when surrounding surface roads are narrowed.
The company now wants to open the new tunnel in December – five months ahead of schedule – but this raises the prospect of road closures during the state election campaign in February and March.
“When we told them we were targeting a December opening, that sent them into a real tizzy,” one source told the Herald. “After the Cross City Tunnel experience, they have gone weak at the knees. They didn’t say they wanted a delay, but they said it would be better if it opened on schedule.”‘
`A third student stepped forward yesterday claiming a Queens gym teacher threatened him with a knife in class.
The 17-year-old autistic boy told investigators that Mark Omeltchenko, 45, pointed a knife at his neck and put him in a headlock during the same workout session in which the teacher allegedly threatened two other students, law-enforcement sources said.
The new complaint says the boy – like the two girls, ages 14 and 15, in his Aviation HS class – didn’t want to participate in drills Thursday morning and that set off the teacher, according to a spokesman for District Attorney Richard Brown.’
‘A man who neighbors say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn is charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.
Charles Martin, 66, of Union Township, near this city about 20 miles east of Cincinnati, shot next-door neighbor Larry Mugrage in the chest with a shotgun around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police said. The youth was pronounced dead at a hospital. [..]
Martin called 911 on Sunday, saying in a calm voice: “I just killed a kid.”
He also tells the dispatcher: “It’s been going on for five years … I’ve been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up.”‘
Update: now with 911 call audio and video.
(1.5meg Flash video)
see it here »
`As a government scientist, James Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn’t want you to hear but he’s going to say them anyway.
Hansen is arguably the world’s leading researcher on global warming. He’s the head of NASA’s top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the science. [..]
Asked if he believes the administration is censoring what he can say to the public, Hansen says: “Or they’re censoring whether or not I can say it. I mean, I say what I believe if I’m allowed to say it.”‘
`Vampire watermelons are a folk legend from the Balkans, in southeastern Europe. The story is associated with the Roma people of the region, who originated much of vampire folklore among other unusual legends.
The belief in vampire watermelons is similar to the belief that any inanimate object left outside during the night of a full moon will become a vampire. According to tradition, virtually any kind of melon or pumpkin kept more than ten days or after Christmas will become a vampire, rolling around on the ground and growling to pester the living. People have little fear of the vampire melons because of the creatures’ lack of teeth. One of the main indications that a melon is about to undergo a vampiric transformation (or has just completed one) is said to be the appearance of a drop of blood on its skin.’
`One third of Australians are completely ignorant of the Islamic faith, with women and people without tertiary training the most likely to lack knowledge, a new study shows. [..]
The survey revealed only one in six Australians had a decent understanding of Islam, while one third claimed to be completely ignorant of it.
More than 55 per cent of respondents – mainly women, people with no tertiary training and those aged over 50 – reported having no contact with Muslims.
People who had no contact with Islam were twice as likely to be ignorant about the faith compared with those who were linked to it in some way, the study also showed.
It also found that whether people felt threatened by Islam depended on their knowledge of the religion.’
`The Wapato Facility, in the city’s northern outskirts, took $59 million and two years to construct. But in the nearly two years since its completion — as Portland has struggled with a crime surge — not a single inmate has set foot in the building.
Multnomah County, in charge of Portland jails, can’t afford to open it.
“We held a ceremony, cut the ribbon — then locked the doors,” says Sheriff Bernie Giusto, who attended the dedication in the summer of 2004. “We have a brand-new jail sitting here empty, and I don’t have a good answer when the public asks me, ‘Why was it built if there was no plan to operate it?’
“Even I get tired of telling people how dumb we are.”‘
`Last week, the press reported that Merrill Keiser, a Democratic candidate United States Senate from Ohio, believes that homosexuality should be punishable by death. Kaiser’s opposition for the Democratic nomination is US Rep. Sherrod Brown.
PageOneQ has obtained a portion of an audio interview in which Keiser says that singer/performer Elton John should be put to death and insinuates that the same should happen to Mary Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Richard B. Cheney.’
`Before cops threw the book at him, Jakub Fik threw something unusual at them — his penis.
Fik, 33, cut off his own penis during a Northwest Side rampage Wednesday morning. When confronted by police, Fik hurled several knives and his severed organ at the officers, police said. Officers stunned him with a Taser and took him into custody.
“We took him out without any serious injury, with the exception of his own,” said Chicago Police Sgt. Edward Dolan of the 16th District.’
