‘In a unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Alabama statute banning the commercial distribution of sex toys, saying that there is no fundamental right to privacy raised by the plaintiff’s case against the law.
According to the statute, it is “unlawful for any person to knowingly distribute any obscene material or any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.”’
‘A Russian court has thrown out a case against a village headmaster from the Ural mountains region who allegedly used pirated Windows software. [..]
But Mr Ponosov said he did not know that the software was pirated and his campaign attracted high-profile support, including from Russian officials and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. [..]
The case was closed “due to the minimal damage inflicted” on Microsoft, Elvira Mosheva, a judge at the court in the Perm region of the Urals.
Asked about the case at a press conference earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “Catching someone just because he bought a computer and threatening him with prison – that’s crap.”‘
‘These guys pour gasoline down the barrel of a pneumatic potato gun and shoot it at small fire pit. The resulting explosion is pretty insane.’
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‘A Chinese man has been sentenced to death for conning people out of 3 billion yuan ($387 million) in a giant scam to breed ants, local media said on Thursday.
Wang Zhendong, from the northeastern province of Liaoning, fabricated a business purported to be making wine, tea and medical elixirs using mature ants, the Beijing News said. [..]
More than 10,000 people, lured by the promise of returns of up to 60 percent, signed 100,000 contracts with Wang’s bogus company before the case came under investigation in June 2005. [..]
In his defense, Wang said he did not know the first thing about raising ants and was “quite unclear” about the costs, the Beijing News said.’
‘It sounds as if someone just dropped a tricycle into a meat grinder. I’m sitting inside a narrow conference room at a research facility in Bristol, Connecticut, chatting with Joseph Longo, the founder and CEO of Startech Environmental Corporation. As we munch on takeout Subway sandwiches, a plate-glass window is the only thing separating us from the adjacent lab, which contains a glowing caldera of “plasma” three times as hot as the surface of the sun. Every few minutes there’s a horrific clanking noise—grinding followed by a thunderous voomp, like the sound a gas barbecue makes when it first ignites.
“Is it supposed to do that?” I ask Longo nervously. “Yup,” he says. “That’s normal.”’
Why the fuck are they driving around throwing grenades at sheep? Right in front of the farmer too. Idiots.
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‘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. [..]’
‘Two women are accused of soaking a homeless, drug-addicted prostitute with gasoline and burning her to death after she reported that one of them had robbed her.
Leslie “Jill” May, 49, was abducted from the street and killed at Candlestick Park the day she told the police that Mia Sagote, 30, robbed and beat her over a debt May’s boyfriend owed, authorities said.
Sagote and Leslie Siliga, 29, have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and kidnapping.’
‘An Italian teacher has been suspended after this cell phone video surfaced of her allowing her male students to fondle her during class.’
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‘Still, only aficionados have paid much attention – which is where Gramercy Tavern comes in. A few months ago, the three-star Manhattan restaurant (the “most popular” in New York, according to the Zagat Survey) gave beer-by-the-year its big-league, fine-dining debut with a select 25-bottle list of vintage suds from Europe, Japan and North America. The response, says assistant beverage director Kevin Garry, has been “amazing” – and it could mean more mainstream acceptance to come. “Based on how our guests have reacted, I can totally see vintage beer catching on at other places,” says Garry, who pairs his bottles with cheeses and desserts. “I’d love to see it become the next cool thing in the fine-dining world.”’
‘In an apparent acknowledgment of the plummeting standard of public scientific education in the West, the UN’s nuclear tentacle today unveiled a new danger sign for radiation which must approach the nadir of literalism. [..]
Spokeswoman Caroline MacKenzie summed up the new stance against Darwinian natural selection, and in favour of Homer Simpson: “We can’t teach the world about radiation, but we can warn people about dangerous sources for the price of sticker.”
So, as well as the traditional exclamation mark trefoil, a skull and crossbones is there to belt and braces the fact that radiation isn’t nice. Any dunderheads then unsure of what to do in such circumstances are further helped out by the addition of the image of a running stick man.’
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‘we didn’t start the website
no we didn’t code it but we’re gonna load it
we didn’t start the website
no we didn’t make it but we’re here to break it’
‘ELEANOR HALL: Now to South Australia, and a warning about this story: don’t try this at home.
It’s about a shark fisherman who uses his hands to catch a 1.3 metre shark.
Phillip Kerkhof from Louth Bay on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula is the talk of the town, after wrestling the bronze whaler shark up onto a jetty, as Tim Jeanes reports.
TIM JEANES: It’s well-known people’s judgement can be somewhat clouded when under the influence of alcohol. [..]’
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‘A 5-year-old girl fended for herself for days while she was left home alone with the body of her mother, who was found dead on her couch after apparently succumbing to bacterial meningitis, authorities said.
The body of Tina Tietz, 39, was discovered Sunday afternoon after a concerned longtime friend called 911.
Police had to force their way into her rural home in Muskegon County’s Fruitland Township, about 45 miles northwest of Grand Rapids. There they also found the woman’s daughter, Marissa, who had rummaged the house for food for an unknown number of days, and the family dog, which had been tied up inside.
Police found the cupboards open, rice and cereal spilled all over and the bathroom sink overflowing.’
‘Grocery store shopping cart handles have more germs than public restrooms, making them one of the worst public places for germs, according to researchers.
It’s a problem that at least one state, Arkansas, is trying to address, by passing a law forcing stores to clean up their carts.
How germy could shopping carts really be? Very, according to researchers at the University of Arizona who tested all kinds of public surfaces. They found that shopping carts were loaded with more saliva, bacteria and even fecal matter than escalators, public telephones, and even public bathrooms.
The only surfaces that had more germs were playground equipment and bus rails.’
‘The British start-up Quietrevolution developed a vertical axis wind turbine which is not only more aesthetic but is also better at gathering wind near and around buildings, which frequently vary in direction. The Helical wind turbine is also quieter because the blade tip speed is lower. [..]
According to quietrevolution the QR5 will generate around 10,000 kWh per year in a site with an average wind of 5.9m/s. This is equivalent to about five low-energy houses’ electricity demand, or the electrical needs of a twenty man office. Unlike other turbines which are usually noisy the unique shape of the quietrevolution turbine allows it to operate in near silent which is ideal for operating close to residential areas. [..]’
‘Drivers on their way to breakfast in northern Virginia on Saturday found it all over the road after nearly 165,000 eggs spilled out of an overturned tractor-trailer on the Capital Beltway.
“It looked like a large omelet,” said Michael Karbonski, of the Virginia Department of Transportation. [..]
The truck driver fled the scene before police arrived and had not been located by Saturday afternoon, said state police spokesman Sgt. Terry Licklider. [..]’
‘For nearly two billion people, the Bible is a holy book containing the revealed word of God. It is the source of their religious beliefs. Yet few of those who believe in the Bible have actually read it.
This must seem strange to those who have never read the Bible. But anyone who has struggled through its repetitious and tiresome trivia, seemingly endless genealogies, pointless stories and laws, knows that the Bible is not an easy book to read. So it is not surprising that those that begin reading at Genesis seldom make it through Leviticus. And the few Bible-believers that survive to the bitter end of Revelation must continually face a disturbing dilemma: their faith tells them they should read the Bible, but by reading the Bible they endanger their faith.
When I was a Christian, I never read the Bible. Not all the way through, anyway. The problem was that I believed the Bible to be the inspired and inerrant word of God, yet the more I read it, the less credible that belief became. I finally decided that to protect my faith in the Bible, I’d better quit trying to read it.’
This guy is very brave and very stupid.
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‘Tennessee’s procedure manual for executing prisoners is a jumble of conflicting instructions that mixes new lethal injection instructions with those for the old electric chair, an Associated Press review found. [..]
The manual’s minute-by-minute guidelines for lethal injections includes the instruction: “The Executioner will engage the automatic rheostat.” A rheostat controls the voltage flowing to an electric chair.
The guidelines also tell the facility manager to disconnect the electrical cables in the rear of the chair before a doctor checks whether the lethal injection was successful.’
‘Your body is your canvas. Tattoos and piercings can be the brushstrokes used on that canvas.
But when you’re a teenager, do you really think about how you will breast-feed your baby if you have nipple rings?
The subject might be of limited interest, but there is enough speculation about it that the June/July edition of AWHONN Lifelines – the official magazine of the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses – explores the issue.
And it finds, surprisingly, that “women with healed nipple piercings can breast-feed and should be encouraged to do so.”’
‘This guy left a room full of friends during the SuperBowl to get a breath of fresh air. His wife followed him onto the patio and quietly taped him on the patio. Not sure that air he was breathing was really that fresh.’
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‘The Miracle Channel, a religious television station that has come under fire for its on-air fundraising campaigns, could lose its broadcast licence in the future if it doesn’t follow new rules on how donations are solicited. [..]
The cable channel, which raises more than $5-million a year, was ordered to revise its internal fundraising policy last year after controversial on-air statements led to complaints. Hosts during a 2004 fundraising campaign urged viewers to cash in their retirement savings and charge up credit cards to make donations. In some cases, viewers were told they would be rewarded by God with cash or higher real estate values.’
‘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.’
‘A New Zealand lawyer who took to wearing an Alice in Wonderland costume in court to highlight an alleged cover-up by the army has been found guilty of contempt.
But the conviction had nothing to do with Rob Moodie’s decision to use fashion as a form of protest.
Instead, he was convicted for publicly releasing a court-suppressed report about the fatal 1994 collapse of an army-built bridge on a property owned by his elderly clients.’
