`A new report by scientists studying Louisiana’s sinking coast says the land here is not just sinking, it’s sliding ever so slowly into the Gulf of Mexico.
The new findings may add a kink to plans being drawn up to build bigger and better levees to protect this historic city and Cajun bayou culture. [..]
Researchers have known for years that the swampy land under south Louisiana is sinking (potholed streets and wobbly porches and floors are visible evidence of that) but a lateral movement of the land into the Gulf enters largely unstudied terrain.’
`The Defence Department is investigating why a rocket launcher was found by a man at a rubbish tip in central Queensland.
James Maloney said he bought the rocket launcher for $2 at the recycling centre for the tip at Yeppoon, near Rockhampton.
“I work in the local theatre restaurant and wanted to use it as a stage prop,” Mr Maloney said.
“But I read in the local paper about the army misplacing rocket launchers and they were worried about them getting in the hands of terrorists, so I thought it might be a good idea I gave it back to the authorities.’
`This site is a nonprofit resource for those women who have already decided that they would like to earn a living as a stripper. I’m not going to get into the pluses and minuses of the profession. There are a great deal of misconceptions out there about strippers and that is something you will have to deal with if you enter the profession. I will say this- I truly enjoy what I do and I have never felt exploited because I’m a stripper. In fact I have always felt it was far more personally empowering than any other profession. But it’s not for everyone. It requires a certain temperament. Don’t go and become a stripper because you feel you “have” to. If you hate what you do it WILL show and you will make very little money.’
They look like they make a comfortable chair.
see it here »
‘A tele-evangelist with a large following across the United States is being sued by relatives over her claim that prayer cured her brother’s throat cancer.
Darlene Bishop’s claims appear in her book, Your Life Follows Your Words, which fails to mention that her brother, the songwriter Darrell “Wayne” Perry, died of the disease 18 months ago.
Mr Perry’s four children have filed a lawsuit against their aunt for wrongful death, claiming that she persuaded him to stop chemotherapy and to depend instead upon God’s healing.
Mrs Bishop, who is co-pastor at a 4,000-congregation Ohio church, also claims that prayer cured her of breast cancer.’
`A military nurse who cared for Saddam Hussein in jail said the deposed dictator saved bread crusts to feed birds and seldom complained to his captors, except when he had legitimate gripes.
Master Sgt. Robert Ellis cared for the former Iraqi dictator from January 2004 until August 2005 at Camp Cropper, the compound near Baghdad where Saddam and other “high value detainees” were held. [..]
Saddam told Ellis that cigars and coffee kept his blood pressure down, and it seemed to work. Saddam would insist that Ellis smoke with him.
Ellis said Saddam did not complain much, and, when he did, his complaint was usually legitimate. “He had very good coping skills,” Ellis said.’
`Pledging revenge, hundreds of mourners flocked to Saddam Hussein’s tomb in northern Iraq yesterday, as America mourned the 3000th American soldier to die in the conflict.
Saddam’s hanging on Saturday, shown in a video that swept the internet, has polarised an Iraqi society already on the brink of civil war.
His fellow Sunni Arabs flocked to Awja, near Tikrit, to see his grave and vent their fury at Shiite officials who taunted him on the gallows.
In an outpouring of grief and anger mourners knelt and prayed by his tomb, over which the Iraqi flag had been draped.’
`Chloe, a 14-foot female Burmese python and the only serpent at the Tarpon Springs Aquarium, was considered the favorite among the animals.
But on Saturday, Chloe likely mistook the hand of 18-year-old Alison Cobianchi, an aquarium employee and St. Petersburg College freshman, for a rabbit and attacked, sinking her teeth into Cobianchi’s knuckles and wrapping around her arm and waist.
It took a police Taser to get Chloe to turn her victim loose and return to her cage.’
‘Guy came home to find his house broken into and naked guy sleeping on his couch.’
(5.3meg Windows media)
see it here »
`Schoolboy Jack Double was hit with a £50 litter fine – for feeding a seagull half a chip.
Two zealous officials handed Jack, 14, an on-the-spot ticket after seeing him toss the halfeaten morsel at the hungry bird.
They even followed him to his school to enforce the penalty.
Yet three weeks earlier litter chiefs from the same council proudly awarded him a certificate praising him for binning rubbish.’
`Scientists said yesterday that they have used genetic engineering techniques to produce the first cattle that may be biologically incapable of getting mad cow disease.
The animals, which lack a gene that is crucial to the disease’s progression, were not designed for use as food. They were created so that human pharmaceuticals can be made in their blood without the danger that those products might get contaminated with the infectious agent that causes mad cow.
[..] In one experiment, tissues from one of the animals’ brains were grown in a culture dish and exposed to two different strains of infectious, mad cow prions. As expected, the bad prions did not propagate, according to a report in yesterday’s online issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.’
`Scientists are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of “gay” sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans. [..]
It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the “straightening” procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.
The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned.
Navratilova defended the “right” of sheep to be gay. [..]’
Sounds like a giant chicken hatchery or something.
(4.7meg Flash video)
see it here »
`Federal officials in the US say it was probably just some weird weather phenomenon, but a group of United Airlines employees swear they saw a mysterious, saucer-shaped craft hovering over Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.
The workers, some of them pilots, said the object did not have lights and hovered over an airport terminal on November 7 before shooting up through the clouds, according to a report in today’s Chicago Tribune.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) acknowledged that a United supervisor had called the control tower at O’Hare, asking if anyone had seen a spinning disc-shaped object.
But the controllers did not see anything, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.’
‘Ali G interviews NBA stars and announcers ‘
(9.7meg Windows media)
see it here »
`A cell phone became a lifeline for a Detroit man who woke up inside a garbage truck that had begun compacting its load, Oak Park, Mich., police said.
The man, 41, was scavenging for cans and bottles in the city’s Dumpsters when he apparently fell asleep, Lt. Mike Pousak said. He was awakened after the Dumpster he was in was unloaded into a garbage truck at about 2 p.m. Thursday. The man, whose name was not released, used his cell phone to call 911.
Pousak said the man didn’t know where he was, but that he hadn’t been drinking, and he isn’t homeless. The man is, however, unemployed.’
.. and sticking his finger up his arse whilst he’s doing it, by the looks of things.
see it here »
`Over a thousand Turks spent the first day of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha in emergency wards on Sunday after stabbing themselves or suffering other injuries while sacrificing startled animals.
At least 1,413 people – referred to as “amateur butchers” by the Turkish media – were treated at hospitals across the country, most suffering cuts to their hands and legs, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Four people were severely injured, crushed under the weight of large animals that fell on top of them, the agency reported. Another person was hurt when a crane used to lift an animal tumbled onto him, the agency said.’
`A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in Sydney, Australia, landed 13,000km away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking website.
Dressed for the Australian summer in t-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany yesterday for a four-week holiday.
Instead of arriving “down under,” Mr Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.
“I did wonder but I didn’t want to say anything,” Gutt told the Bild newspaper. “I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the US.”‘
This is kinda cool, but a bit crazy. If the hills too step to pedal up, there’s always walking. This could be overkill. [shrug] :)
see it here »
`Drivers swerved cars and trucks into other lanes to avoid a 3-year-old boy, wearing only a diaper and T-shirt, who was playing along a busy highway after wandering away from home while his mother slept, police said.
Some motorists stopped along Interstate 465 on the city’s west side Saturday to take care of the boy until officers arrived, the Indiana State Police said.
“I looked up and I seen this little … boy running down the middle of the slow lane in the interstate. I just could not believe what I was seeing,” said Troy Crady, one of those who stopped to help. [..]
Senior State Trooper Cedric Merritt said that when Dyer was told of her son’s activities, she responded: “Oh, he got out again.”‘
Just lots of useful PHP scripts and examples.
`A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain.
In mammals, new nerve cells are constantly being produced in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is associated with learning, memory, anxiety and depression. Other recreational drugs, such as alcohol, nicotine and cocaine, have been shown to suppress this new growth. Xia Zhang of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and colleagues decided to see what effects a synthetic cannabinoid called HU210 had on rats’ brains.
They found that giving rats high doses of HU210 twice a day for 10 days increased the rate of nerve cell formation, or neurogenesis, in the hippocampus by about 40%.’
`Do the stars find themselves as fascinating as their fans do? Yes, says a forthcoming psychological study of Hollywood’s celebrity class. It is not just money or career that makes them seem different: it is their extreme levels of self love and their compulsive need for public attention. [..]
Two Los Angeles psychologists have produced the first scientific evidence that many celebrities sincerely believe that they are better than the rest of us. The psychologists’ forthcoming book suggests that many pop culture icons are heading for disaster.’
More than you might expect. :)
see it here »
This is a pretty funny clip of a jump on a mini bike that goes slightly wrong.
(3.7meg Flash video)
see it here »
`Armed with my new tips and tricks, I laced up my skates and headed out to face the jungle that is childhood. When the boys confronted me again, I dared them to mess with me. One ballsy kid lunged towards me with the intent of pushing me down. Quickly, I kicked that kid squarely between the legs with my skate. He crumpled to the ground as I hysterically screamed at his friends, “I’LL EAT YOUR EYES! I’LL EAT ALL OF YOUR EYES!” Terrified, those boys got up and ran like Hell. I’ve never felt so empowered in my entire life.’
`A new poll from The Associated Press and AOL News has discovered that Americans are torn in terms of their perception of President George W. Bush and his performance in 2006. When asked to name the past year’s biggest villain, Bush was far and away the #1 choice, commanding 25% of the vote, distantly trailed by Osama Bin Laden (8%), Saddam Hussein (6%), President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran (5%), North Korean leader Kim Jong II (2%) and Donald Rumsfeld (2%). Satan only took in 1% of the vote, as did Hugo Chavez, Tom Cruise, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Rosie O’Donnell, among others.
On the flipside, Bush also claimed the top spot when Americans were asked to name the year’s biggest hero, but with only a trifling 13% of the vote. [..]
There’s some video over at Crooks and Liars.
