‘It all started when a 45-year-old man chased desperately after a Route 33 SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia shortly before 5 p.m., hoping to catch his ride.
Watching the running man intently from inside the bus, police say, was a man in his late 50s or early 60s. The younger man must have thought he was in luck – the Route 33 bus stopped, allowing him to hop on board. Police say he paid his fare and was immediately confronted by the man who’d been watching him.
The older man “began grabbing or shaking him, and asked him, ‘Where’s my money?’ Then he shot him twice in the head,” said Lt. Rich Brown of Central Detectives.’
‘The multitude of charges filed recently against a Nelsonville teen has astonished prosecutors, some of whom have practiced law since before he was born.
Andrew Riley, 13, is charged with 128 felonies, in Athens County Juvenile Court. They include burglary, theft, vandalism and witness intimidation. The delinquency charges stem from a crime spree that has lasted more than a year, authorities said.
“In my 30 years of doing this, I’ve never had a juvenile that young with so many charges,” Athens County Prosecutor C. David Warren said last night.’
Not the first time this has happened.
(1.3meg Flash video)
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‘Though the Yellowstone system is active and expected to eventually blow its top, scientists don’t think it will erupt any time soon.
What’s in Store
Yet significant activity continues beneath the surface. And the activity has been increasing lately, scientists have discovered. In addition, the nearby Teton Range, in a total surprise, is getting shorter.
The findings, reported this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research—Solid Earth, suggest that a slow and gradual movement of a volcano over time can shape a landscape more than a violent eruption.’
‘A man told police not to blame him for crashing his truck into a light post it was that unicorn behind the wheel. Prosecutor Ingrid Rosenquist said Phillip C. Holliday Jr. initially denied driving the truck involved in the March 7 crash in Billings. He told officers at the scene that a unicorn was driving, she said.
Holliday, 42, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges of criminal endangerment and drunken driving.’
‘The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush’s promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The 2006 hurricane season turned out to be mild, and the new pumps were never pressed into action. But the Corps and the politically connected manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty pumps working properly.
The pumps are now being pulled out and overhauled because of excessive vibration, Corps officials said. Other problems have included overheated engines, broken hoses and blown gaskets, according to the documents obtained by the AP.’
‘Tracy Morgan of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock is interviewed on morning television by Robert Holguin of KVIA. The live interview goes wildly out of control when the whacked out comedian takes off his shirt.’
(7.8meg Flash video)
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exM UNWPN Wyo y FGk up EJeYeK‘Sometimes the phone rings… and it’s a wrong number.
Very rarely… that call is in a language you can’t understand.
But if it was… you’d never pretend to speak their langauge…
Would you?’
(4.6meg Windows media)
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DlELTW aGg u iM A‘Killer frogs have taken over Golden Gate Park’s otherwise peaceful Lily Pond in San Francisco, causing a big problem.
According to CBS 5 contributor and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Mattier, the city is preparing to do something to stop the African clawed frogs. While they are just 5 inches in length, the frogs are eating everything in sight — including turtles, fish and other frogs.
“They’ve eaten everything they can get their mouths around, and now they’re eating each other,” Eric Mills of the animal rights group Action for Animals, told Matier for his column.
No one knows for sure when this frog species got into the pond or who put them there, but now city officials fear the killer frogs will spread throughout the Bay Area.’
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‘A 3-foot black snake sent reporters scurrying in the press box as the the New York Mets defeated the Cleveland Indians 6-5 in a spring training game on Tuesday.
As the snake slithered across notebooks and laptop computers in the bottom of the fourth inning, fans stood up and laughed as they gazed into the press area.’
‘Maya leaders are to perform a special cleaning ceremony at ancient ruins to clear bad energy after a visit by President Bush.
Mr Bush is due at the Mayan ruins of Iximche in Guatemala as part of his tour of the Latin American region, reports the BBC.
But after he leaves, Maya protesters said they would hold a ceremony to restore peace and harmony to the area.
Morales Toj said: “We will burn incense, place flowers and water in the area where Mr Bush has walked to clean out the bad energy.”
Indigenous leader Rodolfo Pocop complained: “No, Mr Bush, you cannot trample and degrade the memory of our ancestors. This is not your ranch in Texas.”‘
‘A Philadelphia police officer forced two women to put on a sex show in a jail cell, ordering them to expose their breasts, kiss and touch each other until they broke down in tears, an internal investigation has found.
Internal Affairs also found that police engaged in a coverup and says the women – who were not charged with any crime – should never have been locked up at all.
The report identifies Police Officer Norberto Cappas as the officer who told the women to perform “indecent sexual acts” as a price of release.
It also faults four other officers involved in the detention and jailing of the women, singling out one for being “evasive” and suffering from a suspicious “memory loss.”‘
‘In this How-To we’ll show you how to wire up your own A/V switcher which you can expand and use any way you’d like, for composite, S-Sideo, component, even VGA signals. Sure, you can buy a newer, really expensive TV’s with multiple inputs (even component), but for those of us whose credit cards aren’t quite up to that challenge, more inputs for less cash would be rather desirable. Let’s get started!
For this project’s example we’ll be building a 3 input, single output composite video, left / right audio switcher. This will allow us to, say, switch between SNES, NES, and the God of War II adapter (aka PS2) using the single input on the back of the TV. Quality. We’ll also explain how to wire up a VGA or S-Video port as well.’
nan UiKxkhS‘”I found this man, and other than his hands and feet, he looked and seemed in good health. As best as I could gather these growths began when he was 14 years old, and began in the area of his wrists. The skin on his wrists and the back of his hands resembles that of a hedgehog – hundreds of spike like growths. The problem is much more severe on his palms and fingers where the growths resemble very much that of nails infected with a fungus. The growths have that same texture, smell and feel. I cut a number of the largest growths off, most of witch did not bleed. Some of the smaller growths did bleed a small amount and he seemed much more sensitive to the cutting of the smaller growths. I soaked his hands first in 3 WEA (phenyl mercuric nitrate) and then began. The 3 WEA did help to soften the growths but they still took time to cut through, or sand down, but it worked just as it does with these types of nails on normal hands or feet. I was able to pull many of the smaller growths off applying steady pressure and slowly pulling. But after 1.5 hrs there was not a noticeable change as there are hundreds and hundreds of growths. There was also quite a bit of dissolved material in the bucket of 3 WEA after we finished. [..]’
The snowmobile is powerful enough to cross a small river.
There are somethings you can’t drive through tho. :)
(1.7meg Windows media)
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‘Sometime Sunday evening, someone broke into five recreational vehicles and two buildings behind the Troutdale Outlet Mall owned by the City of Troutdale’s parks and recreation department.
Tools, generators, sanders, welders and six Motorola two-way radios worth about $6,000 were taken, said Sgt. Steve Bevens of the Troutdale Police Department. The crooks left behind plenty of evidence: blood, footprints and fingerprints.
Not too smart, right? It gets better.
At around 9:30 p.m., police officers listening to the city’s radio network were astonished to hear two men laughing and joking about the “trailer” they had just broken into. Hee-hee, they said, let’s meet at the Plaid Pantry and get some beer.’
oyntelM FDjkHcRmWq e y‘Me: “Hi, I’m calling on behalf of Smithtown Lincoln Mercury may I…”
IQ=10: “Is this a recording?!”
Me: “No, I am not a recording, Sir. May I please speak to…”
IQ=2: “I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!!”
IQ=2 *Click*’
Also: Retarded Customer Questions, Part II
‘Simply pop two AAA batteries into the concealed pack, push a button and voila! Amazing animated glowing old skool gaming on your chest. The two automated computer players are very talented and never seem to miss a shot… but you might want to watch for several hours just to be sure.’
‘The uncoupling of American evangelism from the administration of George Bush gathered pace yesterday when one of the largest national umbrella groups of socially conservative Christians issued a statement critical of US policy towards detainees and repudiating torture as a tactic in the war on terror.
The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), which represents about 45,000 churches across America, endorsed a declaration against torture drafted by 17 evangelical scholars. The authors, who call themselves Evangelicals for Human Rights and campaign for “zero tolerance” on torture, say that the US administration has crossed “boundaries of what is legally and morally permissible” in the treatment of detainees.
“Tragically, documented cases of torture and inhumane and cruel behaviour have occurred at various sites in the war on terror, and current law opens procedural loopholes for more to continue,” the NAE said last night.’
‘British medics warned that a lack of donated dead bodies was damaging the quality of training for new doctors and surgeons, and possibly putting patients at risk.
The Royal College of Surgeons said there was a serious national shortage of cadavers which are needed to teach anatomy to medical students.
“Visual demonstration is not enough,” said Dick Rainsbury, RCS education director, adding that he had doubts about whether those who learnt by observation could perform operations with “any degree of competence or confidence”.
“There has been a noticeable and serious decline in the general level of applied anatomical knowledge displayed by junior doctors,” he said. [..]
The RCS said it estimated 1000 bodies a year were needed for medical teaching and that there was currently a 30 per cent shortfall, with particular problems in London.’
‘A woman is recovering in hospital after her toddler son started her car and pinned her to a brick wall in Melbourne’s outer south-east.
A police spokeswoman said the car was parked in the driveway of the Rowville home, near the entrance to the garage, when the 18-month-old boy started its engine and it moved forward, sandwiching the toddler’s mother between the car and the wall.
The woman, in her early 30s, received pelvic injuries and a possible broken hip in the accident, which occurred at about 5.30 last night. [..]
The accident comes after a television advertisement featuring a toddler driving a car was pulled from the air following complaints it could encourage copycats.’
ki tV hF Q xyP jwru o N fr‘When I was about 11, my little brother (8 at the time) sleepwalked into my bedroom in the middle of the night. He started banging on my dresser with his hand and saying “MOM SAID TO PUT IT RIGHT HERE! MOM SAID TO PUT IT RIIIIGHT HEEERE!!”.
He then turned around and walked slightly out of the room. The next thing out of his mouth was:
“FUCKING MIDGETS!”
Then he got in the shower fully pajama’ed, turned it on, showered briefly, got out, and went back to bed. All without waking. [..]
In basic training, one guy was heard almost screaming, “WE MUST TURN THIS BED INTO A FORT” [..]
A mate also said this in his sleep to his lady friend.
“Just because I’ve got a shitty finger, doesn’t make me a bad man.”‘
P a AOe O EtQa‘A Department of Justice report made public Friday highlights numerous problems with FBI’s use of national security letters (NSL), a controversial legal device whose use was greatly expanded by the 2001 Patriot Act. NSLs allow the FBI to demand customer records from credit bureaus, banks, phone companies, ISPs, and other organizations without judicial review.
The report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), led by Glenn Fine, found that due to inadequate tracking and reporting systems, the FBI had significantly understated its use of NSLs in previous reports to Congress. After auditing a small fraction of the NSLs issued, Fine’s staff found 22 irregularities, some of them quite serious. That suggests that hundreds of NSLs have been issued in violation of the law. Perhaps worst of all, the report finds that the FBI sent over 700 “exigent letters” to three unidentified telephone companies requesting them to expedite the process by voluntarily handing over customer data without waiting for a formal subpoena or NSL.’
‘Close to three-quarters of American youth are ineligible to serve in the Army and patriotism among the country’s recruitable population has been sliding since 2002. [..]
According to Wallace, only 27 percent of youth between the ages of 17 and 24 are eligible for recruiting.
The remaining 73 percent, he said, “are morally, intellectually or physically” unfit for service. “It’s the lowest it’s been in more than 10 years.”
College, he said, is now the preferred post-high school activity and youths surveyed said they perceived the Army as “ordinary.” [..]
Referring to the Army’s four-month-old “Army strong” recruiting ad campaign, Wallace said the study showed that 80 percent of youths don’t watch commercials [..]’
‘A new survey revealing more than a thousand supermassive black holes in one region of the sky calls into question a popular model of how the gravity monsters behave. [..]
Typically, a black hole is surrounded by a doughnut-shaped region, or torus, of gas. The view of the black hole’s immediate surroundings is blocked by this torus by different amounts, depending on the orientation whether we’re looking through it edge-on or looking down on the setup from above, the thinking goes. [..]
“Instead of finding a whole range, we found nearly all of the black holes are either naked or covered by a dense veil of gas,” said Ryan Hickox of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “Very few are in between, which makes us question how well we know the environment around these black holes.”‘
‘Weight loss surgery could lead to a condition which can result in memory loss, according to US research.
The syndrome – Wernicke encephalopathy – affects the nervous system and brain, and can lead to confusion and the inability to co-ordinate movement.
The study, published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, says the syndrome is caused by a lack of vitamin B1, or thiamine.
Frequent vomiting after surgery can lead to the syndrome, the study found.’
‘A small community on Cape York Peninsula says it has only a few days of fresh food left because supply trucks cannot get through on the main road which is deteriorating due to the wet season.
The shortage of milk, bread, fresh fruit and vegetables could cause major health problems at Coen, said resident Karen Rosin, who runs the town’s general store with her husband Adrian.
“We do have a lot of diabetics in the community and the tinned foods really aren’t suitable because there is a lot of salt in them,” Mrs Rosin said.’
