`See, this is why mobs aren’t really a good idea. They’re just too quick to judge. For example, yesterday afternoon in East Flatbush a livery driver seemingly lost control of his vehicle and swerved into an 8-year-old riding a bike. When the hack finally stopped crashed his cab into a wall a “group of dozens of bystanders confronted and attacked him.”
And then it gets crazier.
The cabby, as he was being beaten, finally managed to explain his side of the story to his assailants. It wasn’t that he was a bad driver, he explained, no, it turns out he lost control of his car after “his passenger had struck him in the head with a metal bar” in an attempt to rob him. Upon hearing this news the crowd left the driver and “turned to his passenger, beat him, and tightened a belt around his neck.”‘
`The Ophcrack LiveCD is a bootable Linux CD-ROM containing ophcrack 2.2 and a set of tables (SSTIC04-10k). It allows for testing the strength of passwords on a Windows machine without having to install anything on it. Just put it into the CD-ROM drive, reboot and it will try to find a Windows partition, extract its SAM and start auditing the passwords.’
`The U.S. Army will investigate charges that American soldiers were involved in the killings of four Iraqi relatives, including a woman who had been raped, military officials said Friday. It’s the sixth current inquiry into the alleged slayings of Iraqi civilians by American troops.
Some of the five soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.’
`Prime Minister John Howard has described reality TV show Big Brother as “stupid” and called on Channel 10 to cull the controversial program. [..]
“I think it is just a question of good taste,” Mr Howard told Macquarie Radio today.
“The business community is always saying to me `let us self-regulate’.
“Well, here’s a great opportunity for Channel 10 to do a bit of self-regulation and get this stupid program off the air.”‘
A Jamaican demonstrating how Bob Marley used to sit on a rock and smoke spliffs.
(7.0meg Flash video)
see it here »
`US actor David Hasselhoff has been treated in hospital after being hurt in a chandelier accident.
Hasselhoff, 53, hit his head on a chandelier in the men’s room after using the gym at the Sanderson Hotel in London’s West End on Thursday.
His right arm was cut by shards of glass, severing a tendon.’
`A young Johns Hopkins University graduate smashed through a double-pane window early yesterday and plunged to his death from a millionaire family’s posh midtown apartment after night of partying, police and relatives said.
Just before hurtling out the eighth-floor window, Seth Pitman, 23, told friends he “wanted to enter the afterlife” and knew he could “fly,” police sources and pals said.
“He was talking to himself, he was praying, he was uncontrollable, I didn’t recognize him,” his girlfriend Elektra Carras said. [..]
Falling six stories, he slammed against an air conditioning unit before landing on a second-floor scaffolding, where he was found dead about 1 a.m.’
`Dier, 67, said depression, loneliness, denial and a recent bout of flu and bronchitis kept him from maintaining control of the fast-breeding population.
“I did not set out to do this,” he told The Press Democrat. “I do acknowledge irresponsibility and there’s a case for laziness, denial, incompetence and just plain foolishness.”
But “it was not all my fault,” he added. “It was this force of nature that overwhelmed me.”‘
followup to Animal control workers discover house stuffed with rats.
`On April 8, 2005, Buckalew went to a cemetery on the Washington highway in Morrisville and broke into an above-ground tomb, opened the lid of a casket and cut off the head of a corpse. He wrapped the head in plastic bags and took it home. He also stole eyeglasses and a bow tie from the corpse.
Buckalew told witnesses he intended to leave the severed head out and would then bleach it, according to the affidavit of Senior Patrolman Ryan Bjerke of the Morristown Police Department. He told witnesses he intended to turn the skull into a bong, which is a type of pipe used to smoke marijuana or other drugs.’
`A man who committed suicide at a party also killed a 16-year-old girl when the bullet traveled through his head and struck her in the chest, authorities said.
Jacob R. Lee, 19, and Lorena Mocko, 16, were found shot to death at around 1 a.m. Saturday, Lincoln County authorities said.’
`The children’s doctor was sitting naked on an eastern suburbs letterbox masturbating, when the two women spotted him. [..]
Sanjay Warrier, 28, had been on a drunken night out with a group of doctors and returned to an address he had lived at two years before.
He said he remembers nothing of the incident. [..]
Magistrate Maloney dismissed the case.
“It’s an aberration, this offence, plain and simple. Nothing more, nothing less. He never intended to do what he did do.”
“Good luck” he said to Dr Warrier.’
`”COVER YOUR MOUTH AND NOSE KIDS…..DONT BREATH THAT STUFF IN!!!”
After the server dropped the food off she walked back over to the screaming man so see if everything was alright. He was fuming:
“I THOUGHT THIS WAS THE NON SMOKING SECTION!!!”
The server explained that it wasnt smoke, but just butter burning in a hot skillet with mushrooms in it.
“OH SO YOU MEAN THAT MY CHILDREN ARE BREATHING IN AIRBORN MUSHROOM SPORES!?!?! AND NOW THEY WILL HAVE MUSHROOM GROING IN THEIR LUNGS??!?!?!!” ‘
followup to The Customer is always an Ass.
`I called Microsoft support to see if there is a hidden option to say, “yep, I’ve got updates turned to manual… it’s okay.” The rep said, “No and why wouldn’t you want to get the latest updates to Windows.”
I responded with the issues relating to WGA. He spent some time telling me that WGA was a good thing, etc. I reiterated that I have accepted all the updates except WGA and just want to review the updates before they’re installed on my machine.
He told me that “in the fall, having the latest WGA will become mandatory and if its not installed, Windows will give a 30 day warning and when the 30 days is up and WGA isn’t installed, Windows will stop working, so you might as well install WGA now.”‘
`Texas officials are seeking a woman’s ex-boyfriend, after the mail brought her a severed finger and the message, “This is my last chance to touch you.”
Corpus Christi police say they’re not sure which finger it was or how it was cut off. But they say it “wasn’t mangled” and was apparently washed before it was mailed Friday.
The woman had filed for an emergency protective order from the man last week.’
`Perhaps you’ve heard stories of people auctioning off strange items on eBay, like the homely kid who put his virginity up for bid or the bald guys who offer their own heads as advertising space. But those are nothing compared to some of the items that have made their way onto eBay’s digital auction block.
Here are ten of the weirdest things ever to appear on eBay. To qualify for this list, the item or items must have received at least one bid, proving the point that no matter what you have to sell, somewhere there is a buyer for it.’
`[..] whilst WordPress in its default, out-of-the-box form can provide a good platform for your website, with a little tinkering you can increase the functionality of your site massively. And what’s the easiest way of tinkering? Plugins! Special files that you simply slot-in to your WordPress installation to get new features.’
‘Like an SOS flare, Lewis grabs her emergency phone list and starts calling.
“They’re coming,” she warns Eric Ogle a salesman at Vegas, a block down Magazine Street. Ogle, who was terrorized by the brazen crew two months earlier, alerts neighboring Winky’s where manager Kendra Bonga braces for the onslaught.
Soon every shop owner in the 2000 block of Magazine Street has been alerted.
Sarah Celino at Trashy Diva eyes the door, ready to flip the lock at the first sight of the ringleader’s pink jumpsuit and fluorescent red wig. [..]
“They’re fearless,” said Ogle. “Once they see something they like they won’t stop until they have it. They don’t care, they’ll go to jail. It’s really gotten bad. You know it’s ridiculous when everyone on the block knows who they are.”‘
`Online sex toy retailer LoveHoney.co.uk is advertising what could be the most unusual job ever. The company is searching for a sexually active couple who will be prepared to test a new pill designed to change the taste of semen.
The pill, which is taken as a twice-a-day for 30 days, claims to mask the traditionally salty taste of male ejaculate with a refreshing apple-like flavour. Successful applicants will take the pill for 30 days and will use an online blog to provide a blow-by-blow account of how the taste of their partner’s sexual fluid changes.
“A payment is offered,” says LoveHoney test organiser Ali Carnegie, “But this is really a job that people should do for love rather than money.”‘
‘Maury Povich helps a guest overcome her greatest fear by confronting her with pickles.’
(8.7meg Flash video)
see it here »
`Wives and family members of soldiers fighting in Iraq have received telephone calls, believed to include death threats, from insurgents, according to military documents seen by The Sunday Telegraph.
The “nuisance” calls have been made with increasing frequency over the past few weeks after insurgents managed to obtain home numbers from soldiers’ mobile telephones. [..]
It is understood that the threats range from claims that a husband or son is dead or will be killed fighting in Iraq, to verbal abuse. Many of those who have received calls say that they were made by people with a poor command of English or with a Middle Eastern accent.’
`Police said the robbers had pretended to be carabinieri, Italian police, to gain access to the laboratory, then asked two medics to accompany them to the room where the cocaine was stored, wrapped in individual parcels.
There, they tied up the medics with plastic tape, snatched the cocaine parcels and left the laboratory, police said. [..]’
‘I still dont get how these guys get away with these types of pranks in Japan. These guys screw with people while they are in a sauna after a day on the slopes skiing.’
Looks like it’s by the same people who made Public Toilet Prank.
(9meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘A British Telcom customer goes absolutely insane on a telemarkter. Wow I know getting calls in the middle of dinner is annoying but I dont think I’ve ever gotten this mad.’
(860kB Windows media)
see it here »
`Thirty-seven-year-old Ruth Matthews told paramedics that another vehicle cut her off in traffic, and she took evasive action to avoid a crash. Her Isuzu Amigo rolled over and she was thrown through the sunroof and onto the roadway. Investigators say she was not wearing her seatbelt.
Paramedics initially tried to fly Matthews to Tampa General Hospital, but her weight, estimated at 600 pounds, made it impossible. Emergency crews were able to transport her to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where she is listed in stable condition.’
`If like everyone else you’ve been wondering what happened to Suri Cruise and why we’ve never seen a picture of her, here is part of the answer: No one wanted to pay for her. [..]
The Cruise auction is said to have produced not more than a $3 million bid. At that point, the offer was rescinded. The mission was termed “impossible.” No further word was heard from the Cruise camp. [..]
And now that Suri is almost 3 months old, has her price gone up or down? The answer, says one of the mag’s experts, is down.’
`Since the military provides just 6 to 12 computers for every 1,000 or so troops, time limits of 10 to 15 minutes per day are often enforced at Morale Welfare Recreation Cafés (the complicated name for military internet cafés). Anyone who sorts through spam, reads forwarded articles and jokes, then tries to respond to “real” email knows 15 minutes isn’t enough. Josh Hines, a soldier from Conway who recently returned from Iraq , confirmed that the Army lacks internet services and lamented the scarcity of entertainment options.
It should come as no surprise, then, that some enterprising military personnel have engineered an alternative. Hajjinets, the common term for troop-owned ISPs, have sprung to life on almost every base around Iraq. A typical Hajjinet is built and maintained by one or two soldiers and can provide nearly 24-hour internet access (until the region is stabilized and electrical lines can be installed, generators must occasionally be powered down for maintenance). Most Hajjinets are small, serving between 20 and 30 troops, but ISPs serving as many as 300 are known to exist.’
`A man made a mockery of the justice system when he tried to get removed from a jury pool in a death penalty case by claiming he is a heroin addict and a killer, a judge said.
Benjamin Ratliffe, 21, of Columbus, was charged with contempt of court and obstruction of justice and ordered to spend a night jail.
Ratliffe filled out a questionnaire form for potential jurors and professed to having a “bad jonesin’ for heroin.” When asked if he had ever fired a weapon, he wrote, “Yes. I killed someone with it, of course. Right.”‘
`People with long-term, low-level exposure to pesticides have a 70 percent higher incidence of Parkinson’s disease than people who have not been exposed much to bug sprays, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.
Such workers include mostly farmers, ranchers and fishermen, the researchers report in the July issue of Annals of Neurology.
Their study supports previous research that suggests pesticides can be linked with Parkinson’s, which is caused by the destruction of key brain cells, the team at the Harvard School of Public Health said.
“The findings support the hypothesis that exposure to pesticides is a risk factor for Parkinson’s disease,” they wrote.’
`The ultimate death toll among humans from mad-cow disease could be massively under-estimated, according to an innovative study conducted among a cannibal tribe in Papua New Guinea. [..]
British doctors have hit on the idea of seeing whether people there fell sick long after the practice died out, the aim being to determine how long it takes for this BSE-like disease to incubate.
Their suspicions were confirmed, for they identified 11 people who were diagnosed with kuru between July 1996 to June 2004. [..]
As vCJD only surfaced as a disease little more than a decade ago, this relatively tiny toll has eased initial worries that tens of thousands of people could die, given that millions of people ate BSE-infected beef.’
`Hekili_Manu: Ok. So I called my bank’s fraud dept about that hotels.com letter I got since I apparently used them twice with two different cards. I forgot completely that when I signed up you can assign your own security question online. [..]’
