‘A motorist who has admitted being drunk and driving the wrong way down a Melbourne freeway says his actions were not dangerous. [..]
A car was first spotted going the wrong way about 2am (AEST) today on the West Gate Freeway near the West Gate Bridge, at Newport, in Melbourne’s south-west.
Mr Cartwright apologised to motorists on the freeway that night and admitted he was drunk.
“As I said, I was drunk … but I don’t think I actually put anyone in real danger. Even though I was driving on the wrong side of the road, I never came close to hitting anyone,” he told reporters.’
‘Doctors are being advised to prescribe oily fish or omega-3 fatty acid supplements to heart attack patients.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) believes this is an effective way to cut the risk of further heart attacks.
It is the first time NICE has recommended lifestyle change – alongside drugs – in guidance on preventing repeat attacks. [..]
Research has found that one specific omega-3 supplement – Omacor – cut the risk of a patient dying suddenly by up to 45%.
Omacor is currently the only omega-3 supplement with a licence for post-heart attack treatment.’
‘In front of hundreds of people this third degree black belt attempts to break a wooden bat. He continues to fail and the bat finally rolls off the box. He stands up and people start clapping but Im pretty sure that doesnt count.’
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‘What a day for Apple investors. The stock started off strong today on a lot of pre-market buying, despite news that Amazon will finally start competing on sales of DRM-free music.
Then, whoops, at 11:49 AM EST Engadget posted saying that the iPhone and Leopard operating system launches would be seriously delayed. They based the story on an internal Apple email that was forwarded to them. [..]
Apple’s stock promptly tanked on massive selling, going from $107.89 to $103.42 in six minutes (11:56 – 12:02). This wiped just over $4 billion off of Apple’s market capitalization. A lot of people lost a lot of money very quickly.
Well, it turns out that the email was a hoax. [..]’
‘A drug which reduces the desire for marijuana and blocks its effect on the brain has been successfully tested in rats. Scientists say the findings may translate into better therapies for cannabis addiction in humans. [..]
Over a period of three weeks the rats learned to enjoy the effects of synthetic THC and frequently self-administered the drug. By comparison, rats that received saline solution did not press the lever often.
Goldberg’s team then injected the rats with a compound derived from the seeds of the Delphinium brownii plant, which is in the buttercup family. The compound, known as methyllycaconitine (MLA), had a dramatic effect on the animals’ behaviour.
On the day that they received MLA they pushed the lever for synthetic THC 70% less than before. The drug did not seem to otherwise change the rats’ movement and coordination, and had no other apparent side effects.’
‘A woman who tried to steal a fetus by knocking her pregnant neighbor unconscious with a baseball bat and cutting open her stomach was sentenced Tuesday to 22 to 50 years in prison.
Peggy Jo Conner, who could have been sentenced to up to 80 years in prison, apologized for attacking Valerie Oskin on Oct. 13, 2005.
“I’m sorry for what happened to Valerie and for what part I had in it,” Conner said. “I’m not that kind of person. I was on drugs then.”
But Armstrong County District Attorney Scott Andreassi said blood tests at the time showed no intoxicants in Conner’s system. She is now being treated for bipolar disorder and manic depression.’
Followup to Fetus-Theft Suspect to Claim Insanity.
‘Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who recently proposed an educational policy that urged “every financial barrier” be removed for American kids who want to go to college, has been going to college himself — as a high paid speaker, his financial records show.
The candidate charged a whopping $55,000 to speak at to a crowd of 1,787 the taxpayer-funded University of California at Davis on Jan. 9, 2006 last year, Joe Martin, the public relations officer for the campus’ Mondavi Center confirmed Monday. [..]
The earnings — though made before Edwards was a declared Democratic presidential candidate — could hand ammunition to his competition for the Democratic presidential nomination. The candidate — who was then the head of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina — chose to speak on “Poverty, the great moral issue facing America,” as his $55,000 topic at UC Davis.’
The rocket comes quite close to hitting the petrol station directly.
Do they put a lot of effort into targeting specific buildings, or do they just launch ’em in roughly the right direction and hope for the best?
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‘A misplaced candle is believed to have started a fire that caused about $100,000 damage to a bondage and discipline parlour in inner Melbourne.
Metropolitan Fire Brigade crews were called to The Correction Centre in St David Street, Fitzroy, just after 10.15pm and contained the fire to a room on the second floor of the two-storey building.
An MFB spokesman said 18 firefighters “were tied up for some time but disciplined and controlled firefighting contained the blaze to one room on the second floor”.’
‘First, find a large patch of Clover, which isn’t hard to do if you have a lawn or live near a park.
Do not get on your hands and knees with magnifying glass in hand, individually examining each clover. From standing height, look over the entire patch, brushing the clover with your foot to ensure none remain unexposed. If you enjoy math problems, eye-spys, the game “SET”, or any pattern game in general, you’ll be in your element. Amongst all the sets of 3 leaflets, any mutation will stick out like a sore thumb.’
‘A couple of weekends ago, Diana Getson took her nine-year-old son to a Child Find event in Charlottetown. Treat bags were on sale for $1.
In the bag she bought for her son was a bright yellow bracelet with the Child Find logo and an invitation to win great prizes by visiting a website called getrealfruitminis.com.
But the prize turned out to be a surprise when Getson’s son typed in the address. The site offered “hard-core nudity and dirty porn pictures,” Getson said. [..]
Coincidentally, Child Find PEI has an information session coming up soon to warn parents to keep watch over what their children find on the internet.’
‘Paula Abdul broke her nose over the weekend after she fell while trying to avoid stepping on her Chihuahua, her publicist said Monday.
Abdul was recovering from the mishap and will appear on “American Idol” Tuesday and its season finale Wednesday, publicist David Brokaw said.
“She’s a little sore, but is doing fine,” he said.
Abdul told the syndicated entertainment TV show “Extra” she tore cartilage in her nose and fractured her toe.’
It wobbles like a maniac.
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‘The award-winning furniture retailer has taken Liberal backbencher Don Randall to task over his claims Mr Howard shouldn’t have to buy the chain’s “dodgy” chairs instead of spending $200,000 on plush seating.
Hitting back at the slur, IKEA says its products are good enough for Sweden’s King and Queen and many diplomatic missions around the world. [..]
Mr Nordin said if the issue was about Mr Howard having to assemble the chairs – one of the ways the company keeps its prices down – there was help at hand.
“We would be very happy to talk to the prime minister,” he said.
“We can even offer him an assembly service if he doesn’t feel confident enough to put together the furniture himself.”‘
‘A guest speaker at an assembly at Boulder High School in Colorado has told students as young as 14 to go have sex and use drugs, prompting school officials to say they will investigate.
The instructions came from Joel Becker, an associate clinical professor of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles.
“I am going to encourage you to have sex and encourage you to use drugs appropriately,” Becker said during his appearance at the school as part of a recent panel sponsored by the University of Colorado’s Conference on World Affairs.
“Why I am going to take that position is because you are going to do it anyway,” he continued. [..]’
‘Female hammerhead sharks can reproduce without having sex, scientists confirm.
The evidence comes from a shark at Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska which gave birth to a pup in 2001 despite having had no contact with a male.
Genetic tests by a team from Belfast, Nebraska and Florida prove conclusively the young animal possessed no paternal DNA, Biology Letters journal reports.
The type of reproduction exhibited had been seen before in bony fish but never in cartilaginous fish such as sharks.
Parthenogenesis, as this type of reproduction is known, occurs when an egg cell is triggered to develop as an embryo without the addition of any genetic material from a male sperm cell.’
‘Scientists working with the Defense Department have found evidence that a low-level exposure to sarin nerve gas — the kind experienced by more than 100,000 American troops in the Persian Gulf war of 1991 — could have caused lasting brain deficits in former service members.
Though the results are preliminary, the study is notable for being financed by the federal government and for being the first to make use of a detailed analysis of sarin exposure performed by the Pentagon, based on wind patterns and plume size.
The report, to be published in the June issue of the journal NeuroToxicology, found apparent changes in the brain’s connective tissue — its so-called white matter — in soldiers exposed to the gas. The extent of the brain changes — less white matter and slightly larger brain cavities — corresponded to the extent of exposure, the study found.’
‘British Airways has banned cabin crew from microwaving their own food after a curry exploded at 35,000 ft (10,668 metres), causing around $US40,000 ($48,790) of damage to an aircraft.
A fire extinguisher was used to tackle the blaze on April 30 on a Heathrow to Miami flight, when the high-powered microwave ignited a ready meal that a stewardess had bought from a supermarket.
“The fire lasted only a couple of seconds,” said a BA spokesman.
“As a precaution a specialist extinguisher was used in the microwave. However, at no time was there any danger to passengers or the aircraft.”‘
‘These days, data get stored on disks, computer chips, hard drives and good old-fashioned paper.
Scientists in Japan see something far smaller but more durable – bacteria.
The four characters – T, C, A and G – that represent the genetic coding in DNA work much like digital data.
Character combinations can stand for specific letters and symbols – so codes in genomes can be translated, or read, to produce music, text, video and other content.
While ink may fade and computers may crash, bacterial information lasts as long as a species stays alive – possibly a mind-boggling million years – according to Professor Masaru Tomita, who heads the team of researchers at Keio University.’
‘An artist has offered to donate his own head to an Oxford museum – if a collection of shrunken heads has to be returned to South America.
Ted Dewan has written to Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum to offer his own head for shrinking.
Museums have been facing an ethical debate about whether they should keep human remains on display or repatriate them for burial.
But the museum has now turned down Mr Dewan’s offer of a replacement head.’
‘Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full military withdrawal, US officials say. [..]
The official said US commanders were bracing for a nationwide, Iranian-orchestrated summer offensive, linking al-Qaida and Sunni insurgents to Tehran’s Shia militia allies, that Iran hoped would trigger a political mutiny in Washington and a US retreat. “We expect that al-Qaida and Iran will both attempt to increase the propaganda and increase the violence prior to Petraeus’s report in September [when the US commander General David Petraeus will report to Congress on President George Bush’s controversial, six-month security “surge” of 30,000 troop reinforcements],” the official said.’
‘Bay Area women now have a new option when it comes to their love lives, NBC11’s Marianne Favro reported.
Women are driving miles to Dr. Justin Salerno’s office in Vacaville to receive a shot of collagen that patients say helps them reach climax faster.
“It’s a form of human collagen we inject into the vaginal tissues where the G-spot is,” Salerno said.
Salerno is one of the only doctors in the nation offering the procedure, known as the G-Shot.
According to thegshot.com, the G-SHOT is a simple, nonsurgical, physician-administered treatment that can temporarily augment the Grafenburg spot in sexually active women with normal sexual function.’
Tonight we dine in Cleveland.
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‘Tony Blair has reiterated his backing for nuclear power as the government prepares to unveil its energy strategy.
Plans to build more nuclear power stations are expected to be among the proposals in the Energy White Paper.
An expansion of energy efficiency and renewable sources such as tide and wind power will also be detailed.
The PM says nuclear power can “underpin the security of our energy supply” but opponents say it is dangerous and will reduce investment in renewable sources.’
‘Russian prosecutors say they will refuse to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, charged by Britain in the poisoning death of Alexander Litvinenko, to London because of a constitutional ban.
Earlier Tuesday British officials said they wanted to bring Lugovoi before a British court and charge him with the “extraordinarily grave crime” of murdering Litvinenko in London last November.
“I have today concluded that the evidence sent to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Mr. Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning,” Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald said in London.
Litvinenko, who was a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin and had been granted political asylum in the UK, died in a London hospital last November, several weeks after he was poisoned with polonium-210.’
Followup to Radioactive killer was discovered by doctors only hours before death.
‘A California lawmaker, who favors a penalty for people caught driving while using their cell phone, reportedly caused a car accident this weekend – while she was on her cell phone. [..]
Officials say the vehicle in front of Migden was slowing down for a red light, when the senator slammed into the back of the car – which then ran into another van. [..]
Last year, Migden voted in favor of a new law that will impose a minimum fine of $20 for drivers caught using a cell phone on the road, without the aid of a hands-free device.
Migden will not be fined, however, because the new law doesn’t take effect until July 2008.’
‘A naked American tourist raised eyebrows when he went for a walk through a German city and told police he thought this was acceptable behaviour in Germany.
“We have been having unusually hot weather here lately but, all the same, we can’t have this,” a spokesman for police in the southern city of Nuremberg said today.
“The man said he thought walking around naked was tolerated in Germany.”
Many Germans enjoy nude sunbathing which is allowed in public parks. The 41-year-old was carrying his clothes in a bag when police stopped him yesterday evening after complaints from pedestrians.’
‘A Chinese grandmother has a five inch horn growing out of her forehead.
The horn curves downward and looks like the stalk of a pumpkin, reports the Yangcheng Evening Post.
Granny Zhao, 95, of Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province, says it first appeared three years ago.
“At first, it was only a mole, but it gradually grew and became like a horn,” she said.
Zhao says the horn causes her little trouble except to affect her vision slightly: “It causes me no discomfort, but blocks part of my view.”
But her family are hoping that medical experts can explain the phenomenon.’
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