‘As the out-of-control police cruiser hurtled toward them Wednesday night, Crystal Legrand grabbed her two youngest children and took cover behind a wall.
Legrand’s boyfriend snatched up her eldest, a 4-year-old boy named Daviay, trying to reach safety, too, but they couldn’t escape.
The patrol car struck them, killing Daviay Legrand and shattering the boyfriend’s legs. Furious residents later massed at the crash scene and threw bottles and rocks at police. [..]
Two officers – one a rookie, the other an eight-year veteran – had been responding to the same report of a man with a gun when their cruisers collided at a downtown intersection. One of the cruisers slid onto the sidewalk, just a half-block from Legrand’s home. [..]
Another witness, Crystal Spearman, said: “First you heard the sirens, then you heard the tires screech, then you heard the bang. The little boy was laying there, severed in half.”‘
‘The Loch Ness monster is back — and there’s video. A man has captured what Nessie watchers say is possible footage of the supposed mythical creature beneath Scotland’s most mysterious lake.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45 feet long, moving fairly fast in the water,” said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video Saturday.
Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine viewed the video and hoped to properly analyze it in the coming months.’
I’ll post a copy of the video as soon as it surfaces, so to speak. :) Update: here it is..
see it here »
‘Could it be that our soldiers died to enrich five or six International Oil Companies (Four of them American)? Or that possibly a million Iraqis suffered the same fate for the same reason? You might recall that President Bush claimed that one of the Benchmarks the Iraqi Government must meet is a deal to share the Oil revenues. What he didn’t say is with whom they, the Iraqis, will have to share. Seems like it’s not the Iraqis. [..]
Seems that those International Oil Companies (can you say EXXON, MOBILE, and BP for starters), stand to pluck the Iraqi people for about $21 Trillion. Folks that’s twenty one thousand BILLION. In perspective, that’s about double the United States current cash debt, and a little over 40% of the accrued National Debt of $50 Trillion. Figured another way, it’s about $70,000 for every American currently alive. And it will all go to about six Oil companies. Well not all, there’s the Congress to be bought off, actually it seems they already have, but they still need to get a little more of the harvest.’
‘Teenagers who identify as “evangelical” or “born again” are highly likely to sound like the girl at the bar; 80 percent think sex should be saved for marriage. But thinking is not the same as doing. Evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics. They tend to lose their virginity at a slightly younger age–16.3, compared with 16.7 for the other two faiths. And they are much more likely to have had three or more sexual partners by age 17: Regnerus reports that 13.7 percent of evangelicals have, compared with 8.9 percent for mainline Protestants.’
‘A police marksman is under investigation after accidentally shooting a colleague in an extraordinary blunder.
The victim, a civilian employee, was seriously injured in the accident at a lecture room at the HQ of Thames Valley Police near Oxford.
He was apparently being shown the workings of a police Glock pistol when it went off, blasting him in the torso.
The victim, aged in his 50s, was left writhing in agony with blood pouring from the wound.
He underwent emergency surgery and his condition was described as serious but stable. [..]
One police source at the HQ said: “There are a lot of red faces about this. Why the hell was an experienced firearms officer demonstrating with a loaded pistol in an enclosed environment?
“Someone’s head will have to roll.”‘
‘What the fuck? I can’t see the runway.’
(1.0meg Flash video)
see it here »
‘Turkey’s top general said Thursday his army — which has been massing troops on the border with Iraq — was prepared to attack separatist Kurdish guerrillas in a cross-border offensive.
Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said the military was ready and awaiting government orders for an incursion, putting pressure on the government to support an offensive that risks straining ties with the United States and Europe and raising tensions with Iraqi Kurds.
“As soldiers, we are ready,” Buyukanit said at an international security conference in Istanbul.
Although the United States has branded the guerrillas a terrorist organization, Washington fears that Turkish military action could destabilize northern Iraq — the most stable part of the war-torn country. Washington is also concerned that supporting Turkey in an incursion could alienate the pro-American Iraqi Kurds.’
‘he man infected with potentially fatal tuberculosis is receiving treatment at a Denver, Colorado, hospital as federal health officials continue to track down airline passengers who may have been exposed to the illness.
The man has been identified by multiple medical and law enforcement sources as Andrew Speaker, 31, a lawyer from Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker’s father-in-law works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, an agency spokesman said Thursday.
The father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a microbiologist who has conducted research on tuberculosis for the National Center for Infectious Diseases, according to a CDC biography posted on the agency’s Web site.
CNN affiliate WSB-TV reported that Cooksey gave his son-in-law “fatherly advice” after he found out Speaker had contracted the infectious disease, but did not advise him in any official capacity.’
Followup to Man knew he had TB before flying to Europe.
‘A new house in northern China collapsed and killed at least 16 people during a banquet being held to celebrate its completion, state media reported today.
Yang Hongyi, a resident of Wulanji, a village in northern Inner Mongolia, held the banquet yesterday, inviting more than 50 people who had helped build the house.
More than 40 people were buried in the collapse and 30 suffered injuries, Xinhua news agency said.
The roof beams had been put up that afternoon, Xinhua said, citing rescuers.
The accident is under investigation.’
Just a little bit of over steer. :)
(2.1meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘A Wendy’s manager was shot several times in the arm early Tuesday trying to protect the restaurant’s chili sauce, authorities said.
A man in the drive-through argued with an employee because he wanted more of the condiment, police said. The worker told the customer that restaurant policy prohibited a customer from getting more than three packets.
The man insisted on 10, reports said. The employee complied, but police said the customer wanted more.
When the manager came out to speak to the man, the customer shot the manager, Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Mary Walters said. He was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.’
‘Georgie Anne Geyer writes today in the Dallas Morning News about President Bush’s strange behavior during a recent meeting with “[f]riends of his from Texas.”
But by all reports, President Bush is more convinced than ever of his righteousness.
Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!” He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”‘
‘Hit show Doctor Who will be EXTERMINATED next year — after the fourth series.
Boss Russell T. Davies has decided to axe the BBC1 sci-fi drama and concentrate on other projects.
He and senior staff have hatched a plot to hand in a group resignation in summer 2008.
A source said: “The heavy workload — nine months of 16-hour days every year — has started to take its toll.
“It was decided the best thing for the show was go out at the top next year.”‘
Why can’t I get just one kiss?
see it here »
‘A faulty bank fax printed a message that was misinterpreted as a bomb threat Wednesday, leading authorities to evacuate more than a dozen neighboring businesses and a day care center.
The branch manager of the Bank of America called police about 10 a.m. after receiving a fax containing images of a lit match and a bomb with a fuse, bank spokesman Ernesto Anguilla said.
But text explaining the fax was an internal bank promotion failed to transmit. The missing text included the phrases “The countdown begins” and “Small business commitment week June 4-8,” according to a copy circulated by police.’
‘A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.
Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised “zombie” computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.
“He’s one of the top 10 spammers in the world,” said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company’s Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. “He’s a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day.”‘
‘The pest inspector Bill Lincoln smelt the rats before he saw them when he visited the Sushi World’s factory in Camperdown to quote on fixing the rodent problem last year.
“It was horrific … the stench of rat urine was bad,” he said of the premises the Herald revealed this week had been fined 11 times, and closed for a second time early this month, for breaching hygiene laws.
As Mr Lincoln walked through the premises in Larkin Street last year, he was stunned by what he found. “There were rats in the rice cases; there was shredded paper on the ground where they were making nests; there were droppings everywhere,” he said.
Mr Lincoln said he had seen many food businesses with rat infestations but none as bad as the Larkin Street factory.’
‘A glittering bathtub made of gold worth nearly $1 million has been stolen from a resort hotel, an official said Wednesday. A worker at Kominato Hotel Mikazuki in Kamogawa, south of Tokyo, notified police that the fancy tub was missing from the hotel’s guest bathroom on the 10th floor, according to a local police official who only gave his surname, Ogawa.
The round tub, worth $987,000, is made of 18-karat gold and weighs 176 pounds. [..]
Someone apparently cut the chain attached to the door of a small section of the bathroom where the bathtub was placed, but not riveted, and made off with the tub, Ogawa said.
“We have no witness information and there are no video cameras,” he said. “We have no idea who took it,” the official said.’
Some guys from the Footy Show take a ride on the Vomitron and it lives up to its name. :)
(6.5meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘The Bush administration. You know ’em, you… well, love isn’t exactly the right emotion.
Showing that there is no place safe from idiocy, here’s an absolutely astronomically stupid comment from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. A statement so stupid, it makes the invasion of Iraq and the management of Katrina look like genius.
Michael Griffin NASA Administrator has told America’s National Public Radio that while he has no doubt a trend of global warming exists “I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with.”‘
‘Manitoba First Nations are seeking compensation from Manitoba Telecom Services for every cellphone signal that passes through First Nations land, saying the airspace should be considered a resource like land and water.
At a recent economic development summit, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs resolved to negotiate revenue sharing with MTS for transmissions signals that cross the land, water and air space of their reserves and traditional territories.
“[The request is] based on the understanding that we do have some fundamental rights as indigenous people to land, water and airspace,” said Chief Ovide Mercredi of the Grand Rapids First Nation.
“When it comes to using airspace, it’s like using our water and simply because there’s no precedent doesn’t mean that it’s not the right thing to do,” he said.’
‘A new study into the mental skills required to read a map has handed blokes new ammunition and dealt heterosexual women a final indignity.
The research, from the University of Warwick in the UK, suggests that not only are straight women worse at map reading than straight males, they are also outperformed by bisexual men, gay men, gay women and bisexual women – in that order.
The study looked at what’s called mental rotation. This is our ability to mentally visualise an object from different perspectives.
Applied to real life, the most practical example of mental rotation is map reading, says Dr Michael Tlauka, an expert in gender differences and spatial ability from Flinders University. ‘
‘Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks, which let users trade movies, music and software online, are increasingly being used to trick PCs into attacking other machines, experts say.
Computer scientists have previously shown how P2P networks can be subverted so that several connected PCs gang up to attack a single machine, flooding it with enough traffic to make it crash. This can work even if the target is not part of the P2P network itself.
Now, security experts are warning that P2P networks are increasingly being used to do just this. “Until January of this year we had never seen a peer-to-peer network subverted and used for an attack,” says Darren Rennick of internet security company Prolexic in an advisory released recently. “We now see them constantly being subverted.”‘
‘A British artist ate a corgi dog, famous for being Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite breed, in protest after a group including her husband Prince Philip allegedly killed a fox earlier this year.
And Yoko Ono, the widow of ex-Beatle John Lennon, also had a taste of the “really, really disgusting” meat, which came from a corgi that died naturally at a breeding farm.
Mark McGowan, who has previously eaten a swan as part of a performance art show, tucked into the dog live on a London radio station. [..]
McGowan said the dog tasted “really, really disgusting,” and added that Ono “looked a bit strange” as she also tasted the dog.’
Followup to Artist with taste for publicity to eat corgi in protest over royal hunting.
Update: Now with video.
(3.5meg Windows media)
see it here »
‘Doom9, the forum that made headlines last year by extracting and publishing a “processing key” used to lock HD-DVD discs, has published a new key. [..]
The last processing key leak created an Internet firestorm when the AACS licensing authority sent hundreds of legal threats to sites that published the key. The strategy backfired: within days, more than a million pages had published the key, ensuring that more people knew how to break HD-DVD players than owned the devices.
AACS has the capacity to “revoke” a processing key. When they do this, all HD-DVD players are unable to play new discs unless they get an update (woe betide you if your DVD player is on your boat, in your cottage, or at your grandparents’ place where there is no Internet access). The big question is whether the AACS can revoke keys faster than hackers can extract them.
It’s a race. AACS is losing.’
‘Claims of terrorism represented less than 0.01 percent of charges filed in recent years in immigration courts by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to a report issued Sunday by an independent research group.
This comes despite the fact the Bush administration has repeatedly asserted that fighting terrorism is the central mission of DHS.
The Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse said it analyzed millions of previously undisclosed records obtained from the immigration courts under the Freedom of Information Act.
Of the 814,073 people charged by DHS in immigration courts during the past three years, 12 faced charges of terrorism, TRAC said.
Those 12 cases represent 0.0015 percent of the total number of cases filed.’
‘A man infected with the extensively drug-resistant form of TB known as XDR TB knew he was not supposed to travel overseas but did so anyway, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Julie Gerberding told CNN’s “American Morning” on Wednesday.
The man, who is quarantined at an Atlanta, Georgia, hospital, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that Fulton County health officials had said they “preferred” he not travel, but knew about his plans for an overseas wedding and honeymoon. [..]
“The patient really was told that he shouldn’t fly,” she added.
“The patient himself was not highly infectious” but there still was a small risk he could transmit the disease to someone else, Gerberding told CNN.
It is the first time in 40 years the federal government has issued a quarantine order for an individual. Gerberding acknowledged that “we kind of had to make up a plan as we went along.”‘
