‘Since October 2006, 35 per cent or more of the United States’ population of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) – billions of individual bees – simply flew from their hive homes and disappeared.
[..] Across the 24 U.S. states affected by the mysterious phenomenon, losses have ranged up to 90 per cent. “I’ve had a couple of yards where I’ve had 200 hives and they’re down to 10 hives that are alive,” says David Bradshaw of Visalia, about 180 kilometres southeast of Los Banos along California’s Route 99.
What’s causing the carnage, however, is a total mystery; all that scientists have come up with so far is a new name for the phenomenon – Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) – and a list of symptoms.’
‘It might have been one of the easiest drug busts in the history of the South Carolina Highway Patrol: A car with 43 pounds of marijuana crashed into a trooper’s cruiser, authorities said.
The easy bust happened after two patrolmen parked their cars in each lane of northbound Interstate 95 near Santee early Sunday morning following a series of wrecks that had tied up traffic, Highway Patrol Capt. Chris Williamson said.
A Chevrolet Malibu going about 70 mph hit one of the cruisers, causing minor injuries to the trooper behind the wheel, Williamson said.”
Camels can run pretty fast. :)
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‘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.’
‘Ok I have this fantasy. I need someone who is adventurous and open. First I want you to come over to my place and make me a clown. I want you to paint my face up and dress me as a clown. Then I want you to wear a top hat and make me perform a circus routine. After the circus performance, make me your clown women and do what ever you want to me. I may fight back a little but I want to be forced upon by a strapping big top showman.’
‘A 12-year-old boy has been charged with sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman in a car park in north Queensland.
Police said the woman had parked her car in a multi-level car park in Townsville yesterday about 10.30am (AEST) and was walking to the lift when she was approached by the boy.
The boy allegedly grabbed her around the throat and dragged her towards the stairwell, where he sexually assaulted her.
He also allegedly stole money from the woman’s handbag.’
Apparently he didn’t shoot because it was too small a bear. Clever fuckers tho.
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‘This year’s Super Bowl telecast generated about 150 complaints to the Federal Communications Commission, with the bulk of the beefs centering on Prince’s halftime performance and a Snickers commercial. As seen in the letters on the following pages, many correspondents were upset because they believed that the rock star was manipulating his guitar as if it were a penis. As one viewer noted in an e-mail, the “pro-homosexual theme” of this year’s event, telecast on CBS, was “disgraceful.” The writer added that “just because 6% of the population is gay,” porn did not need to be included in the broadcast. Another purportedly offended viewer was concerned that the halftime show would have an unfortunate lasting effect on his son, who “hoped to be a quarterback and now he will turn out gay…Thanks CBS for turning my son GAY.” [..]’
‘Joshua Key, 28, was a poor, uneducated Oklahoma country boy who saw the U.S. army and its promised benefits — from free health care to career training — as the ticket to a better life. In 2002, not yet 24 but already married and the father of two , Key enlisted. He says his recruiting officer promised he’d never be deployed abroad, but a year later he was in Iraq. Only 24 hours after arriving, as Key recounts in The Deserter’s Tale (Anansi), he experienced his first doubts about what he and his fellow soldiers were doing there [..]’
‘Attempts to duplicate a stunt from Jackass landed one man in hospital with burnt genitals and left another facing criminal charges.
The men were trying to do a stunt from one of the hit show’s movies, in which a character lights his genitals on fire.
Jared W. Anderson, 20, suffered serious burns to his hands and genitals, according to the criminal complaint.
Randell D. Peterson, 43, who sprayed lighter fluid on Anderson and lit him on fire, was charged with felony battery and first-degree reckless endangerment in Eau Claire County Court.’
‘That morning latte or espresso may not be the pick-me-up people think it is, a study has revealed.
University of Bristol researchers say the caffeine eases withdrawal symptoms which build up overnight, but does not make people more alert than normal.
The work, presented to the British Nutrition Foundation conference, showed only people who have avoided coffee for a while will get a buzz from caffeine.
But the British Coffee Association said regular drinkers did feel more alert.’
‘In the odd animals hall of fame, this little piggy takes the cake.
Pigs are a sign of fertility in China, and in the Year of the Pig, this piglet got more than his fair share, being born with two mouths, two noses and three eyes.
Liu Shuping, a farmer specialising in raising pigs, presented the new-born piglet in Xi an, in north-west China’s Shannxi province yesterday.
But it’s not unique. Only last month there were reports of a pig being born in Quanzhou in East China’s Fujian province with two mouths and four eyes.’
‘A public high school has suspended three 16-year-old girls who disobeyed officials by saying the word “vagina” during a reading from “The Vagina Monologues.”
Their defiant stand is being applauded by the author of the well-known feminist play, who said Tuesday that the school should be celebrating, rather than punishing, the three juniors.
“Don’t we want our children to resist authority when it’s not appropriate and wise?” said author Eve Ensler.
The three honor students, Megan Reback, Elan Stahl and Hannah Levinson, included the word because “we knew it was the right thing to do. Since we’re comfortable saying it, we should make other people comfortable saying it,” Levinson said.’
‘More than half of American women are not getting enough sleep — with stay-at-home mothers suffering the most — which stops them eating healthily, spending time with friends, or having sex.
Nearly 70 percent of women say they frequently have a problem sleeping, with most of them stressed or anxious, and 60 percent only get a good night’s sleep a few nights a week, according to a poll by the National Sleep Foundation. [..]
“Women’s lack of sleep affects virtually every aspect of their time-pressed lives, leaving them late for work, stressed out, too tired for sex and little time for their friends.”‘
‘”I’ve got her, and you’re not going to get her.”
Beth Johnson heard those words from her ex-husband Monday, shortly before he crashed his rented single-engine plane into his former mother-in-law’s southern Indiana home, killing himself and the couple’s 8-year-old daughter.
The mother-in-law, Vivian Pace, described the cell phone call Tuesday as investigators tried to determine why student pilot Eric Johnson strapped his daughter into the plane’s passenger seat and apparently crashed the plane deliberately into the one-story house. [..]
“That was the only way he could hurt Beth,” she said. “That was the only way he could get to her.”
In the cell phone call, Pace said, her daughter could hear the child in the background saying, ‘Mommy, come get me, come get me.””
‘A 68-year-old grandmother convicted of growing cannabis at her Northumberland home has been given a 250 hour community service order.
Patricia Tabram, from Humshaugh, had denied charges of possessing and cultivating the drug when she appeared at Carlisle Crown Court.
She was arrested in 2005 when plants and growing equipment were seized. [..]
After the hearing she said: “I’m going to go on medicating.
“The police can come to my house every week. I’ll give them a cup of tea.
“I’ll give them a decent biscuit, which of course will be medicated and I’ll give them some cannabis so they charge me again and again and again.”‘
‘Invocon, Inc., one of dozens of companies expected to showcase their wares at the forum, says it’ll be there to display its “non-lethal, stand-off weapon for military and law enforcement personnel that could ultimately work through walls and other non-metallic structures.” [..]
Wow! Through the walls? That even beats the Active Denial System — the pain ray that Noah wrote about the other day. Invocon even touts its device as a “Star Trek hand-held Phaser Weapon set on ‘Stun’.”
However, rather than causing intense pain, like the Active Denial System, Invocon is advertising a weapon that boasts the ability to go through walls and incapacitate everyone in a room by making them lose their balance. “Second order effects would be extreme motion sickness,” the company notes.’
‘A woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to swinging her 4-week-old son like a bat to hit her boyfriend during a fight, fracturing the infant’s skull in the process.
Chytoria Graham, 27, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
By pleading guilty, Graham acknowledged that on October 8 she grabbed her son Jarron by his feet and swung him, hitting her boyfriend and seriously injuring the child.
At Graham’s preliminary hearing in December, paramedic Betty Schau, who treated the baby, recalled that Graham was crying and disheveled when medical crews arrived. She testified that Graham told her, “I swung him. I swung him like a bat.”‘
‘This shotgun is so big it takes two men to carry it. I guess its called a punt gun and I cant think of a practical use for it, except to destroy a lot of stuff at once.’
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‘Authorities on Tuesday were looking for a man who robbed a bank in Anchorage while swinging a flaming torch fashioned from a burning T-shirt and a yard-long metal pole. On Monday, the masked robber threatened to set fire to people, including the teller, and burn down the bank building in Fairview if his demands weren’t met.
The man stormed the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union branch at about 3:45 p.m., said FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez. He yelled at customers to get down on the floor.
He fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money, authorities said. All customers managed to flee the bank, authorities said.
Police later recovered the still smoldering shirt outside the bank.’
‘A quarter of a century on, the Commodore gaming PC is ready for relaunch this month. Wipe those nostalgic tears away.
Many of us remember with (possibly misplaced) fondness, the Commodore 64 gaming PC released in 1982. As a follow up to the VIC-20 the C64, which was, pretty much, all keyboard went on to sell 22 million units. [..]
“25 years ago, Commodore launched the best selling personal computer of the late 20th Century, the C64, and defined the early computer games experience for millions of people worldwide,” said Bala Keilman, CEO for Commodore Gaming. “We are privileged and excited to bring the Commodore brand back to the gaming community and mark a new chapter in its history with this exceptional machine. We’re sure that it will deliver what gamers need and want.”‘
‘A majority of people believe that Israel and Iran have a mainly negative influence in the world, a poll for the BBC World Service suggests.
It shows that the two countries are closely followed by the United States and North Korea.
The poll asked 28,000 people in 27 countries to rate a dozen countries plus the EU in terms of whether they have a positive or negative influence.
Canada, Japan and the EU are viewed most positively in the survey.’
‘An Iraqi national was detained and questioned at a passenger-screening area at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday morning after a suspicious item was found in the man’s rectum during a body cavity search.
The item, which is still being examined, poses no apparent threat, an FBI official said. [..]
Ethel McGuire, assistant special agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, said this afternoon that al-Maliki had “a magnet, wires and I don’t know what the other item was. It’s being evaluated as we speak.” After al-Maliki was searched, the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad was called to the airport to examine the suspicious item.’
This makes me laugh. :) Hooray for parrots.
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‘Police say a man repeatedly stabbed his teenage wife, then gave the knife to his toddler son and told him: “Now you stab Mommy.”
Fermin Rodriguez, 21, attacked his 17-year-old wife Sunday night, after accusing her of cheating on him, police said. He slashed and stabbed her multiple times, then handed the knife to his 2-year-old son and told him to stab her, police said.
Police would not say whether the boy did as his father said.’
’10> As he was led to die in an arcane alien ritual, Tank McPhoton tried one last time to apologize. How was he to know that what he took to be an extended hand of friendship which he gripped firmly and shook vigorously was actually the Supreme Ruler’s private parts? [..]
7> I lived on the land, she lived in the water. It gave shore leave a whole new meaning. Or the same old meaning, except with bigger crabs. [..]
6> As one, the Spacemarines stood up, raised their spacerifles in salute, then marched out the spacedoors to the spacedock, where their spaceship was waiting to boldly take them where they’d all been before: Space!
5> You could tell it was a real UFO because there weren’t any wires holding it up and it smelled like outer space. [..]’
‘When dozens of chickens went missing from a remote West Bengal village, everyone blamed the neighborhood dogs.
But Ajit Ghosh, the owner of the missing chickens, eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow — a sacred animal for the Hindu family — gobbling up several of them at night. [..]
“Instead of the dogs, we watched in horror as the calf, whom we had fondly named Lal, sneak to the coop and grab the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat,” Gour Ghosh, his brother, said. [..]
“The local vets said the cow was probably suffering from a disease but others said Lal was a tiger in his previous birth,” Ajit added.’
