Man thrown through window of watering hole

By Bill Trotter
Friday, December 28, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

BAR HARBOR, Maine— A local man is facing a criminal charge after allegedly throwing another man through a window at a bar, according to police.

Marty Sherwood, 25, has been charged with aggravated assault, police Sgt. David Kerns said Thursday.

The incident occurred early Saturday at Little Anthony’s on Cottage Street. The victim, whose identity police did not disclose, was taken to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor and treated for a laceration to his face. He was released later that morning, Kerns said.

Police were called to the hospital after the incident as people connected with the fight created a scene by allegedly refusing to leave, threatening staff and damaging doors, according to dispatcher records.

Kerns said both the victim and Sherwood were intoxicated at the time of the altercation. Police were told it had been precipitated by the victim allegedly knocking a drink out of Sherwood’s hand, then escalated, he said.

The officer said he did not have an estimate of the damage from the fight or of the cost of the victim’s medical treatment. Police still were trying to determine what, if any, relationship existed between the two men, he said.

Sherwood is scheduled to appear in court in Ellsworth on Feb. 15, Kerns said.

Quoted from http://bangornews.com/news/t/hancock.aspx?articleid=158272&zoneid=178:

Bar Harbor: Man thrown through window of watering hole

 

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Indiana Man Buys Truck With $25,000 In Change

FRANKFORT, Ind. -- Frankfort resident Paul Brant considers himself a penny pincher. But it's his passion for saving quarters and gold dollar coins that's really paid off. The 70-year-old used more than $25,000 in change Friday to buy a new Dodge Ram half-ton pickup truck.

That purchase comes 13 years after he bought another truck using spare change. Brant stored his change in coffee cans, water jugs and piggy banks over the years. He said he got so much change by using vending machines at Chrysler in Kokomo, where he works. Brant was escorted Friday by sheriff's deputies as he brought the rolled coins to the dealership. He said he was raised to be thrifty. His father always paid in cash and saved up loose change to take vacations.

Quoted from http://www.wlky.com/news/14913765/detail.html:

12/22/07: Indiana Man Buys Truck With $25,000 In Change - Louisville News Story - WLKY Louisville

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Why four little letters mean so much

It's rude, it's obscene and it may even be like hitting someone in the face without damaging your knuckles – it's swearing.

According to psychologists, yelling 'f**k off' is a powerful form of assault, especially if the intended victim cannot avoid hearing you.

A US research team also suggested swearing evolved as a way to emotionally injure someone without getting into a fight.

'It's a substitute for physical violence,' said psychologist Dr Timothy Jay. 'From an evolutionary point of view, it's an advantage for us to be able to say “f**k you” from across the street.'

He believes swearing is also a form of social bonding. 'In the locker room, the guy who doesn't swear is a weirdo,' said Dr Jay.

He has heard 10,000 people swear in public, with the f-word and sh*t making up half of US curses.

Meanwhile, British linguist Tony McEnery admires the f-word's ability to be inserted into words such as 'absolutely', as in 'abso-f**king-lutely'.

To make a good swear word, say experts, it has to be frowned upon, be insulting and have a powerful sound. That's why the f-word works so well.

Despite efforts by moral crusaders to stamp out swearing, the scientists say it is hard-wired into people's brains.

Some hospital patients have been able to say only swear words after a stroke.

At one point, French poet Charles Baudelaire could say only 'Cré nom', meaning 'God damn'. His nurses sent him home and asked for an exorcism

Quoted from http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=80579&in_page_id=34&ito=newsnow:

Why four little letters mean so much | Metro.co.uk

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Monkeys and college students equal at mental math?

 

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Monkeys performed about as well as college students at mental addition, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a finding that suggests nonverbal math skills are not unique to humans.

The research from Duke University follows the finding by Japanese researchers earlier this month that young chimpanzees performed better than human adults at a memory game.

Prior studies have found non-human primates can match numbers of objects, compare numbers and choose the larger number of two sets of objects.

"This is the first study that looked at whether or not they could make explicit decisions that were based on mathematical types of calculations," said Jessica Cantlon, a cognitive neuroscience researcher at Duke, whose work appeared in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Biology (www.plosbiology.org).

"It shows when you take language away from a human, they end up looking just like monkeys in terms of their performance," Cantlon said in a telephone interview.

Her study pitted the monkey math team of Boxer and Feinstein -- two female macaque monkeys named for U.S. senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein of California -- with 14 Duke University students.

"We had them do math on the fly," Cantlon said.

The task was to mentally add two sets of dots that were briefly flashed on a computer screen. The teams were asked to pick the correct answer from two choices on a different screen.

The humans were not allowed to count or verbalize as they worked, and they were told to answer as quickly as possible. Both monkeys and humans typically answered within 1 second.

And both groups fared about the same.

Cantlon said the study was not designed to show up Duke University students. "I think of this more as using non-human primates as a tool for discovering where the sophisticated human mind comes from," she said.

The researchers said the findings shed light on the shared mathematical abilities in humans and non-human primates and shows the importance of language -- which allows for counting and more advanced calculations -- in the evolution of math in humans.

"I don't think language is the only thing that differentiates humans from non-human primates, but in terms of math tasks, it is probably the big one," she said.

As for the teams, both were paid. Boxer and Feinstein got their favorite reward: a sip of Kool-Aid soft drink. As for the students, they got $10 each -- enough for a beer or two.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)

Monkeys and college students equal at mental math? | Oddly Enough | Reuters

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Congress Likely to Pass Incandescent Bulb Ban

Congress is getting close to passing an energy bill that contains a little-known provision designed to phase out the 125-year-old incandescent light bulb in the next four to 12 years. Instead the future will be lit with next generation energy-efficient lighting.

read more | digg story

Hillary Clinton Farts

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12 Reasons Why You Should Have Sex Tonight

A hot, sweat-inducing sex session may be far more beneficial to your overall health than the time you spend on the treadmill.

read more | digg story

Doing his Civic duty in a snowstorm, City man fits Honda sedan with custom snowplow hardware

WATERVILLE -- You'd think that a man who has had three strokes, chronic pain in his hands and been advised to take it easy would sit back indoors and watch the snow pile up during a winter storm. Not Keith Inman.

Instead of relaxing in a recliner, when the snow begins to fall, Inman, 58, heads outdoors and fires up his 1998 Honda Civic. Then the work and fun begins. Mounted in the front of the small sedan is a homemade snowplow he uses to clear the large parking lot behind the apartment building where he and his wife, Irene, live on Summer Street. It is a labor of love and Yankee ingenuity.

Inman paid a man $30 for an old scrap snowblower body and attached a pair of $13 wheels he bought at Mardens. He then screwed aluminum to the inside of the contraption so snow would not stick to the 49- inch plow. Using a garden tractor frame, Inman then bolted the rig to the front of his car. Inman said it is easy to remove the plow and reinstall it when it snows. "Two bolts hold it on -- that's it," he said.

Staff photo by David Leaming YANKEE INGENUITY: Keith Inman on Sunday cleans snow from his homemade snow plow that he built and mounted on his Honda Civic. Inman was clearing snow behind his apartment on Summer Street in Waterville. Inman said he used a snowblower housing attached to a tractor frame and bolted to his car. The unit has wheels and can effectively push snow. "The only drawback is I can't hit a snowbank hard or the car airbags could go off," Inman said. It works OK."

The front-wheel-drive car pushes the snow well because the plow wheels take most of the weight, he explained.

"I push the snow to a bank, back up and the snow falls out," he said. It plows along like a grocery cart." Inman then backs up for a new row and continues until the lot is plowed free of snow to about two inches off the ground.

"This last storm I finished plowing with my car before the landlord arrived with his plow truck," Inman said. There is one potential problem with a plow mounted to a car: "I can't hit the snowbank hard because it could set off the car airbags."

Inman said he could let the landlord clean out the lot but the seasonal chore is something he looks forward to.

"I'm handicapped, so I have to have something to do," he said a day after a nor'easter dumped 10 inches of snow.

"I plow often, a little at a time," Inman said.

"He is supposed to take it easy but this gives him something to do," Irene Inman added.

Quoted from http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4574298.html:

Doing his Civic duty in a snowstorm<br>City man fits Honda<br>sedan with custom<br>snowplow hardware

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Music makes children brainier, more agile, expert stresses

Hamburg, Germany - Not only does it soothe the savage beast, but music also makes unruly children calmer while at the same time honing their facilities for cognitive skills and physical coordination, according to a leading expert. A mother's soft lullaby, granddad's whistling or granny's humming in the kitchen or the dulcet tones of father singing in the shower - all of these seemingly innocuous musical activities serve to help an infant not only in acquiring linguistic skills, but also in learning how human beings interact on a social level.

"Experiments have shown that unborn babies in the womb appear to relax in response to certain music and also that they seem to recognize this music after birth," says Professor Michael Schulte- Markwort, head of child psychology at Hamburg's University Hospital in Germany.

"From the outset, music helps the language centres in the brain to develop so that children who have been exposed to music at an early age tend to learn to speak earlier than those who are born into non- musical homes," he says.

"Music also helps in the development of motor skills while at the same time reducing tension," says Dr Schulte-Markwort.

"Learning the tunes and lyrics to songs also aids in developing memory skills for other tasks," he adds.

Rhythm and dancing also skills young muscles in coordination so that musical children are healthier and better coordinated than children whose parents never teach them to sing and dance and play a simple drum or other instrument.

"Children develop a feel for musical tones and associate certain tone patterns with certain rhythms," he points out.

"As soon as they learn to walk, they also begin to move rhythmically in time to musical stimuli and thus automatically begin to dance. Good and attentive parents naturally encourage their offspring to sing and dance rhythmically," he adds.

"That is why pre-schoolers should engage in games involving rhythmic movement and dancing, games that encourage children to clap in time with the beat or to beat out the rhythm on simple percussion instruments such as bells and chimes and little drums," says Schulte- Markwort.

Age five or six is ideal for teaching children to play a musical instrument because their minds are most receptive to learning the skills involved.

"If they have already been exposed to music and to rudimentary instruments, then at about age five or six they will think of learning to play an instrument as a kind of a game," he says.

"We are not talking about the violin or bassoon, which involve very fine motor skills, and we are also not talking about tedious piano lessons which bore young minds. But instead we are talking about simple flutes and other instruments which produce a melodic sound easily and enjoyably," he says.

"It is important to remember the fun factor. Singing, dancing and playing musical instruments must first and foremost be fun for children," he stresses.

Quoted from http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/159814.html:

Music makes children brainier, more agile, expert stresses : Health

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James Daley: Insurers are cannier than you think

The amazing story of John Darwin's "resurrection" and arrest on suspicion of fraud made for captivating reading this week. I should be clear from the outset that there is no evidence that Mr Darwin or his wife have committed any kind of fraud, but the whole episode left me wondering just how common deception really is in the insurance world.

According to a recent report by the Association of British Insurers, more than one in 10 general insurance claims have a fraudulent element to them. Most of these are car or homeowners inflating the value of the items that have been lost, stolen or damaged. For example, when their house is burgled, a sizeable proportion of people will happily throw in a few extra items on to the list of stolen goods, or will claim that their Casio watch was in fact a Rolex.

The report also reveals that certain demographic groups are more likely to make fraudulent claims than others. People who live in the north of England, for example, are 1.7 times more likely to commit insurance fraud than the average person. Men, as well as people with unsecured debts of over £1,000, are also more likely to exaggerate or falsify a claim.

But perhaps more surprisingly, the ABI discovered that people with high levels of savings are also more likely than the average person to make a fraudulent insurance claim, illustrating the fact that modern-day insurance fraud has become a very middle-class crime.

According to the Financial Ombudsman Service, one of the most common types of deception these days is a practice called "fronting", where families name one of the parents as a primary driver on their child's car, and put the teenager down as a secondary driver. This dramatically reduces what are usually punitively expensive premiums for younger drivers – but is totally fraudulent and illegal. According to Zurich insurance, more than one in 10 (predominantly middle-class) families are now guilty of fronting, many of whom are not even aware that they are in breach of the law.

As fraud levels have grown over the past few years, insurers' techniques to catch the perpetrators have become all the more ingenious. A number of insurance companies now regularly use lie-detector technology to analyse customers' voices when they call in to make a claim, referring them to a specialist investigator for an hour-long interrogation if they fall foul of the test.

One of the insurers most vocal about its use of such techniques has been Esure. The company claims that it has had great success with its lie-detector software (technology that was originally designed for Israeli border-control guards, no less).

Once it has singled out someone using its software, Esure gets one of its investigators to spend an hour getting the customer to tell the story again. Then the investigator goes back to somewhere in the middle of the timeline and asks the customer to talk about what happened just before. This jumping around almost always trips up fraudsters.

Disappointingly, very few perpetrators of insurance fraud are ever actually prosecuted. With the average fraudulent claim coming in at around £800, it's not worth the insurer's costs to take a civil case – after all, they've already saved themselves having to pay the claim.

The Crown Prosecution Service is also reluctant to take on such cases because of a lack of resources, even though the insurers have usually already done most of the work for them. This means that, perversely, there's no real incentive to not give relatively small-time insurance fraud a go. Fortunately for the insurance companies, the vast majority of people are too honest to try it on.

Quoted from http://money.independent.co.uk/personal_finance/invest_save/article3231443.ece:

James Daley: Insurers are cannier than you think - Independent Online Edition > Invest & Save

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Brain 'irrelevance filter' found

Scientists believe they have located a new brain area essential for good memory - the "irrelevance filter".

People who are good at remembering things, even with distractions, have more activity in the basal ganglia on brain scans, the Swedish team found.

The work in Nature Neuroscience could help explain why some people are better at remembering things than others.

Clinically, it could also aid the understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The ability to hold information in the mind so that it is immediately accessible is known as working memory.

We use working memory all of the time - for example, when doing a simple maths calculation in our head or recalling a telephone number.

There will be many brain regions that filter irrelevant information, so it is too early to tell if these findings will have a bearing on conditions such as ADHD John Duncan Medical Research Council scientist

Working memory is important because it gives a mental workspace in which we can hold information whilst mentally engaged in other relevant tasks, which is crucial for learning.

Its capacity is limited and seems to vary from person to person.

These variations are not just due to having a larger or smaller memory store, but also due to differences in how effectively irrelevant items are kept out of memory, the Karolinksa Institute researchers believe.

Distracters

Dr Torkel Klingberg and colleague Fiona McNab used a special brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to track what was happening in the brains of 25 healthy volunteers.

The volunteers were asked to perform a computer-based task that required them to respond to target visual images, with or without distractions.

A noise informed subjects when an upcoming visual display would contain irrelevant distracters along with the targets.

When this cue occurred, neural activity increased in the basal ganglia and the prefrontal cortex before the visual display appeared, suggesting the brain was preparing to "filter out" the upcoming distracters.

Also, greater activity in a specific part of the basal ganglia - the globus pallidus - correlated with less unnecessary storage in another part of the brain, the posterior parietal cortex, which is sensitive to the amount of information held in memory.

The team is currently investigating methods of improving attention and working memory in children with ADHD and monitoring any changes with fMRI.

Medical Research Council scientist John Duncan said: "This is very interesting work and gives a window on important parts of the brain.

"The basal ganglia are very strong candidates for involvement in brain disorders where people have difficulty with attentional control.

"But there will be many brain regions that filter irrelevant information, so it is too early to tell if these findings will have a bearing on conditions such as ADHD."

Quoted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7132829.stm:

BBC NEWS | Health | Brain 'irrelevance filter' found

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Man freed after 100 hours trapped in a lavatory

LONDON (Reuters) - A retired Scottish school teacher was recovering on Monday after spending nearly four days trapped inside a men's toilet with no food or mobile phone.

David Leggat was locked inside the bathroom at a lawn bowling club near the Scottish city of Aberdeen after the door jammed and the handle on the outside fell off.

The 55-year-old kept warm by dipping his feet in hot water but only managed to get about three hours' sleep a night in the freezing temperatures, the local Evening Express newspaper reported.

He was rescued when the cleaner at the club, which is little used in winter, turned up to collect her cleaning equipment.

Leggat said a survival course he had once done had helped him endure his captivity. The cleaning lady said he looked shaken and grey when he emerged. Leggat was stoical.

"At least there was a toilet to use," he said. "The only thing I regret is not getting trapped behind the bar."

(Reporting by Luke Baker; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)

 

Quoted from http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL1032522120071210?rpc=92:

Man freed after 100 hours trapped in a lavatory | Oddly Enough | Reuters

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China cremator dumps half-burnt bodies to save fuel

HONG KONG, Dec 7 (Reuters) - China's worst fuel crunch in years has led a crematorium to dump half-burnt corpses to try to save on diesel costs, a Hong Kong newspaper said on Friday.

Villagers in Hengyang county, in the southern province of Hunan, discovered the practice when an "unbearable stench" started coming from the site, and tried to block a road on Wednesday to stop funeral vehicles from delivering more bodies.

The village sent people to investigate the smell and the South China Morning Post said they saw "crematorium workers putting half-burnt human remains and organs in plastic bags and throwing them into a nearby ditch".

"As the price of diesel rose, we saw more and more bags thrown out from the crematorium," the paper quoted Xiao Gaoyi, a village representative and one of the witnesses, as saying.

China was hit by its worst fuel supply crisis in four years from October to November, as a widening gap between low, state-regulated domestic prices and market-driven international prices forced Chinese refiners to cut output.

Fuel in many parts of the country was rationed and there were long queues at petrol stations.

An increase of nearly 10 percent in the prices of domestic diesel and gasoline from Nov. 1, the first in almost a year and a half, failed to lift refining margins back into the black. (Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

 

Quoted from http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKHKG6025220071207?rpc=92:

RPT-China cremator dumps half-burnt bodies to save fuel | Markets | Reuters

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Kangaroo farts could ease global warming

AUSTRALIAN scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say.

Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas.

While the usual image of greenhouse gas pollution is a billowing smokestack pushing out carbon dioxide, livestock passing wind contribute a surprisingly high percentage of total emissions in some countries.

"Fourteen per cent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from enteric methane from cattle and sheep,'' said Athol Klieve, a senior research scientist with the Queensland Government.

"And if you look at another country such as New Zealand, which has got a much higher agricultural base, they're actually up around 50 per cent,'' he said.

Researchers say the bacteria also makes the digestive process much more efficient and could potentially save millions of dollars in feed costs for farmers.

"Not only would they not produce the methane, they would actually get something like 10 to 15 per cent more energy out of the feed they are eating,'' said Mr Klieve.

Even farmers who laugh at the idea of environmentally friendly kangaroo farts say that's nothing to joke about, particularly given the devastating drought Australia is suffering.

"In a tight year like a drought situation, 15 per cent would be a considerable sum,'' said farmer Michael Mitton.

But it will take researchers at least three years to isolate the bacteria, before they can even start to develop a way of transferring it to cattle and sheep.

Another group of scientists, meanwhile, has suggested Australians should farm fewer cattle and sheep and just eat more kangaroos.

The idea is controversial, but about 20 per cent of health-conscious Australians are believed to eat the national symbol already.

"It's low in fat, it's got high protein levels it's very clean in the sense that basically it's the ultimate free range animal,'' said Peter Ampt of the University of New South Wales's institute of environmental studies.

"It doesn't get drenched, it doesn't get vaccinated, it utilises food right across the landscape, it moves around to where the food is good, so yes, it's a good food.''

It might take a while for kangaroos to become popular barbecue fare, but with concern over global warming growing in the world's driest inhabited continent, Australians could soon be ready to try almost anything to cut emissions.

 

Quoted from http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22879895-13762,00.html:

Kangaroo farts could ease global warming | NEWS.com.au

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Officials to consider reforms in handling arrest warrants

Administration, DAs react to Tavares case

By Shelley Murphy Globe Staff / December 5, 2007

The state's top prosecutors and Governor Deval Patrick's administration will scrutinize the state's system of handling arrest warrants and consider statewide reforms after David T. Tavares Jr., a convicted killer, jumped bail in Massachusetts and allegedly killed a newlywed couple in Washington state last month.

 

Kurt N. Schwartz, the governor's public safety undersecretary for law enforcement and fire services, said there are no statewide standards dictating who should be returned to Massachusetts. He said the state cannot mandate the return of everyone who flees because there are so many of them. He said the administration and the district attorneys will look at who makes the decision on whether someone should be sought nationwide, and how it is made.

"The priority is public safety so we need to make sure that we have a system that ensures public safety," Schwartz said. "The priority isn't cost savings."

Michael O'Keefe, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, said prosecutors grapple with limited resources and difficult choices each time they have to decide whether to seek the return of someone who has failed to show up in court after being charged. As of last week, there were 213,424 outstanding warrants in Massachusetts for people who had skipped their criminal hearings, according to court officials.

O'Keefe said the decision on who should be returned to Massachusetts to face charges is based on the severity of the crime they committed, with those wanted for murder, rape, and other violent crimes being the highest priority. When a warrant is issued, the district attorney's office that brought the case generally pays the cost of bringing suspects back and decides whether to seek their return if they are captured out-of-state.

"The cost is staggering to even think about getting them all back, even if you were to find them, so there has to be prioritization," O'Keefe said.

In Tavares's case, prosecutors indicated they would have sought his return to Massachusetts to face assault and battery charges only if he had been caught in New England, despite information he had taken a flight to Seattle.

On Nov. 17, Tavares, 41, who had already served 16 years in prison in Massachusetts for stabbing his mother to death, killed his neighbors, Beverly and Brian Mauck, in Graham, Wash., after bursting into their home, police contend.

"I hope that when we look at this systemically we'll be able to find some ways to shore up and patch some of the cracks through which this person fell," said O'Keefe, who is also district attorney of the Cape and Islands.

Instead of issuing a nationwide warrant for Tavares, the office of Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. entered Tavares's name in a national database. Early has said he thought that if police somewhere stopped Tavares, they would search the database, discover he was wanted in Massachusetts, and call Early's office. If that had happened, Early says, he would have dispatched officers to pick up Tavares.

But Washington police did not apprehend Tavares until the Maucks had been killed.

They say Early's office should have issued a nationwide warrant for Tavares, because of his violent history. He was found guilty of manslaughter in the killing his mother at her home in Somerset, Mass., and he was wanted on charges of assault against correctional officers. He also allegedly wrote letters threatening to kill his father, former Governor Mitt Romney, and other public officials while in custody.

Tavares finished his sentence for the slaying of his mother, then was released on personal recognizance in July while awaiting trial on the assault charges. The arrest warrant was issued when he failed to appear in court July 23.

Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff's office in Washington, which arrested Tavares in the double murder last month, said it was a mistake that Early's office did not issue a nationwide warrant.

"If he's dangerous enough not to be walking the streets of Boston or Massachusetts, he's dangerous everywhere," Troyer said.

Washington authorities also say Massachusetts State Police asked them to help look for Tavares a month before the Maucks were slain, but told them not to arrest him because the warrant had been issued only for New England.

Early has said he was unaware that Massachusetts authorities had told Washington police not to arrest Tavares. Last week, he defended his handling of the case, saying he had followed standard practice. He said that Tavares had been a priority, but that his office's best information was that Tavares was headed for Rhode Island.

"You can't get a manhunt for everyone," Early said last week. "With the resources that you have you are making decisions to evaluate cases and how to best use your resources."

O'Keefe defended Early's handling of the case and said the district attorneys association had launched its review of the warrant system at Early's urging.

"I know everybody likes bright line rules and standards, but that's not how it works," said O'Keefe, adding that this is not a problem limited to Massachusetts.

"I'll tell you another hard reality," O'Keefe said. "As you get to May and June of any given year when your budget is running into its last gasps so to speak . . . that's when the decisions become even harder because it's a very costly business to fly out to California or down to Florida with two armed police officers and bring people back."

Quoted from http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/05/officials_consider_arrest_warrant_overhaul/?page=full:

Officials to consider reforms in handling arrest warrants - The Boston Globe

 

Technorati Tags: Justice

Ban on sex toys targeted

 

Rogers tries again to revoke ban

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

By BRIAN LYMAN

Capital Bureau

MONTGOMERY -- A Birmingham legislator has filed a bill that would revoke the state's 10-year ban on the sale of sex toys, a prohibition that has drawn national attention and led to lengthy court battles.

It's the second attempt by state Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, to strike the 1998 prohibition on the sale of such devices.

"A shower head could be considered a sex toy," he said. "It's just bringing the state into the 20th century."

Dan Ireland, executive director of the Alabama Citizens' Action Program, a Baptist group, said it would oppose any effort to overturn the law.

"Laws are made to protect the public," he said. "Sometimes you have to protect the public against themselves."

The 2008 regular session is scheduled to begin Feb. 5.

The law prohibits the sale and manufacture of items "designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs." It does not prohibit the possession of those items and provides an exception for devices sold for medical purposes.

The statute drew national attention and led to a nine-year court struggle over its enforcement. A series of lawsuits were filed against the state by civil libertarians, store owners and women who said the law violated privacy rights.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban in 2004, ruling there was no law guaranteeing sexual privacy for citizens and that states could pass laws regulating the sale of sex toys.

The justices added that legislators could repeal the law if they found the "prohibition on sex toys is misguided or ineffective or just plain silly."

A final attempt to overturn the law was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in October, seemingly removing the final roadblock against enforcement of the ban. However, a Circuit Court last month rejected an attempt by the city of Hoover to close a store selling sex toys, saying the law is too vague.

Attorney General Troy King's office has suggested that the vagueness in the bill should be addressed by the Legislature. A message left with spokesman Chris Bence Monday afternoon was not returned.

State Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, sponsor of the 1998 bill, did not return a message Monday seeking comment.

Ireland said the ban is a "good law" that has bolstered public safety.

"Sexual matters are not to become a nuisance to people and the community," he said. "We have enough problems with sexual-oriented crimes without enticing or promoting it."

Randy Brinson, chairman of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, did not have any comment. "It seems we have better things to deal with than that, but I need to study it more," he said.

Loretta Nall, the 2006 Libertarian gubernatorial nominee, recently began a "Sex Toys for Troy King" drive in protest of the law, which she called a waste of time and an invasion of privacy.

She called Rogers' bill "absolutely superb" and hoped her drive would help it pass.

"If anything, it will make the Legislature and Troy King aware that we want repeal," she said. "My gut feeling is we won't see a lot of people pushing to make it tougher."

Rogers first introduced a repeal measure in 2003, but the bill made so little progress that it won the House of Representatives' "Shroud Award," an annual prize given to the legislation considered the "deadest" of the session.

Despite that and the rulings in federal court, Rogers said Monday that he believes the ban is unconstitutional and embarrassing to the state. He is optimistic about getting the repeal passed.

"I intend to pass this bill this year," he said. "I want it to be one of the first bills on the calendar."

Ban on sex toys targeted- al.com

Technorati Tags: Lame,Laws,Weird

Texas police hop to it to catch kangaroo

 

LEWISVILLE, Texas - Lewisville police had to hop to it to catch a kangaroo that fled from a veterinarian's yard. Maynard the red kangaroo is now back at an animal hospital, after his frolicking chase videotaped by a patrol car's camera.

Police joined animal control officers Sunday after getting a call about a kangaroo dashing around a neighborhood. The animal was bouncing around as people scampered after the 3-foot-tall critter.

Maynard, who's being treated for a respiratory ailment, was finally cornered and caught.

Dr. Kyle Jones says he took Maynard home for the weekend so the animal could graze and run in the vet's back yard. A wooden gate blew open and Maynard got out.

The animal eventually will be placed with a zoo.

Texas police hop to it to catch kangaroo - Yahoo! News

Technorati Tags: Animals,Funny,Weird

'Beer fridges' present a gassy problem

Getting rid of vintage “beer fridges” – secondary fridges which many North American and Australian homes boast – could have a significant impact on household greenhouse gas emissions, suggests a new study.

Beer fridges are additional fridges that are generally used to keep beer and other drinks cold on top of a household’s primary fridge for food. One in three Canadian households has a second fridge, many of which are ageing, energy-guzzling models, according to Denise Young, a researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Young suggests that getting rid of older models, in Canada at least, would have an impact on energy usage. Her study analyses industry data and the results of a national survey to look at the environmental effects of having beer fridges in Canada.

"People need to understand the impact of their lifestyles," says Joanna Yarrow, director of Beyond Green, a sustainable development consultancy in the UK. "Clearly the environmental implications of having a frivolous luxury like a beer fridge are not hitting home. This research helps inform people – let's hope it has an effect".

 

High demands

The survey that Young analysed was commissioned by Natural Resources Canada and suggests that 30% of households have two or more refrigerators. About 20% of secondary fridges are older models that are kept after the household buys a newer model as their primary refrigerator.

Having a second fridge for cooling drinks means more demand for electricity, and this demand is even worse when the second fridge is an older model.

The Canadian Appliance Manufacturers Association estimates that typical 1985 refrigerator models use 1060 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year, while a 1975 model uses 1580 kWh per year. In contrast, more recent and energy-efficient models can use as little as 380 kWh per year.

The survey shows that in 2003 about 65% of beer fridges were more than 10 years old. About 30% were at least twice that age.

Using the survey's information on the distribution of beer fridges and the data on energy consumption, Young calculated that the 65% of beer fridges that are 10 years or older consume 1165.7 million kWh of energy each year – roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of 100,000 average US suburban homes.

By abandoning beer fridges altogether, Canada's 11.5 million households could save 3500 million kWh each year, says Young.

 

Class divide

Young also found that low-income families were less likely to retire their old refrigerators to the garage to store drinks after buying a new model. She says this is probably because these households find the cost of running an additional fridge (up to $150 per year) too high.

She concludes that middle- to high-income families should be targeted by campaigns to remove old secondary refrigerators. Existing schemes encourage people to buy new more energy-efficient fridges by offering financial bonuses for each purchase – sometimes with a cash-back offer for handing in older fridges.

Young warns, however, that "these financial incentives may also induce a household to purchase a new unit earlier than they would have otherwise done so", which can actually encourage people to keep a second fridge.

Instead, Young supports government-run "round-ups" offering to pick up and dispose of old refrigerators. A 2006 study commissioned by the Ontario Power Authority showed that such programmes have been successful in the past, especially when they are boosted by information on how much money and energy can be saved by getting rid of the beer fridge.

But environmental effect of beer fridges depends on the source of electricity. "In Canada, there are major regional differences," notes Young. "In places where hydroelectric power is used, the greenhouse gas emissions are negligible. In places where coal or natural gas are used, the impacts can be substantial."

She calculates that a 1975 fridge in British Columbia – where most electricity comes from hydropower – is responsible for a negligible increase in emissions. But the same fridge in Alberta, where electricity is primarily generated from natural gas and coal, would be responsible for 1.4 tons of greenhouse gases every year.

 

Quoted from http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn12975-beer-fridges-present-a-gassy-problem.html:

'Beer fridges' present a gassy problem - earth - 28 November 2007 - New Scientist Environment

Technorati Tags: Sad,Scary,Science,Weird

New traffic circle can cause confusion

By Karen Dandurant

kdandurant@seacoastonline.com

RYE — It seems that some area residents are having a bit of difficulty with the new roundabout at Foyes Corner.

It opened to traffic on Tuesday Nov. 20. By Wednesday, Police Chief Kevin Walsh was dealing with the first problem — people were entering and driving to the left, instead of the correct way, which is to the right.

Since that time former Executive Councilor Ruth Griffin said she has been fielding complaints about the newly reconfigured intersection.

Police and officials from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation advise residents to be cautious and to realize there is a learning curve involved, especially for those who have been driving the intersection for many years.

At least one resident, who did not want to be named, called the roundabout “disastrous” and said there was nothing wrong with the old intersection.

Griffin agrees.

“The incidents of accidents at Foyes Corner, compared to some other intersections, were minimal,” said Griffin. “There was no earthly need under the sun to spend limited highway money on that folly, plus the heritage that went with the Cavaretta house at the corner is gone.”

The big white farm house owned by the Cavaretta family had to be torn down to make way for the new intersection. Several efforts to have the house moved failed.

“People are calling to complain that it’s too small, that there’s too much access to drive over the middle of it, and that it’s in the wrong position,” said Griffin. “People are asking me for help and that’s what I’ll do.”

Griffin said she plans to call NHDOT Commissioner Charles O’Leary.

“I’ll tell him I’m giving his phone number to everyone, that I’m turning them over to him,” she said.

Walsh said people have to get used to it.

“I’m all for how the traffic pattern is designed to slow cars down. Drivers have to be aware of their surroundings. When it first opened I saw a person driving while talking on a cell phone and he went up and over the cement. Drivers need to put their phones down and drive.”

Walsh said he thinks it will take about one year to fully adjust, as each season changes.

“We will start to do some enforcement,” said Walsh. “Vehicles are driving too fast in getting in the circle. We’ll try to be visible and if people drive too fast, we will address that issue.”

DOT engineer Alex Vogt was the project manager. He said they started informing people before the roundabout opened.

“We put up message boards and new signs,” said Vogt. “We put fliers at the town hall and contacted local media.”

As for people driving over the top, Vogt said it is visibly different from the road surface.

“The center is concrete where the other is pavement,” he said. “If correctly entering, it directs you around the surface.”

The roundabout at Foyes Corner is the fourth built by DOT in the state. Vogt said it seems like the first week or so there are some complaints, but also praise.

“We’re willing to listen to any concerns people have and if there seem to be ongoing issues we can make some adjustments,” he said. “The purpose is to slow down traffic to 10-15 miles per hour.”

NHDOT spokesperson Bill Boynton said roundabouts have several positive attributes and are rapidly becoming part of state transportation mixes.

“There’s a low risk of injury-causing crashes,” he said. “It keeps traffic flowing, and saves fuel because you’re not sitting idling at a traffic signal.”

Quoted from http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071126/NEWS/71126033:

Seacoastonline.com: New traffic circle can cause confusion

 

Technorati Tags: Cars,Maine,Scary

IN MAINE SCHOOLS,Sugar intake not yet licked

 

By SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- Efforts by the state to rid schools of soda and candy have been successful, but there's evidence that students are finding other ways to get that sugary high.

They've switched to sports drinks and flavored water, some of which can be deceptively high in calories, said Janet Whatley Blum, a University of Southern Maine professor in the Department of Exercise, Health and Sport Sciences.

"It's great they got soda out of schools, but there's still sugar-sweetened beverages in schools," she said Tuesday following a speech at the Augusta Civic Center.

Blum kicked off Tuesday's daylong conference on obesity sponsored by the Maine-Harvard Prevention Research Center. She presented findings from a study conducted at 11 Maine high schools that looked to see what impact a 2005 state rule had on soda and candy in schools.

The rule extends the regulation of "foods of minimal nutritional value" from only the school day to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It applies to schools that participate in the federal meal programs.

And though the rule seeks to regulate candy and soda on school property, local school boards could, and did, carve out exceptions, Blum said.

Some opted to allow soda and candy machines in the teachers' lounge and to allow the sale of those items at events open to the public. Also, school boards can vote to exempt culinary arts programs.

By surveying school food service directors and visiting the schools, Blum found that, although schools pulled soda from their vending machines, other sugar-filled options remain.

In the 11 schools observed, sugar-sweetened beverages accounted for 32 percent of all beverages in vending programs, she said. And candy is still being sold in school stores even though it's not supposed to be, according to the state Department of Education.

For those who work in schools, the transition to healthier offerings wasn't easy.

"The kids whined," said Lori Muzzy, a food service director for the Rangeley Lakes Regional School. "Their parents whined."

Eventually, the whining stopped and Muzzy said she successfully works with vendors to substitute better choices.

In Augusta, Director of School Nutrition Programs Barbara Raymond-Nichols said she wants to be more aggressive in trying to change the way students eat.

"I'm not in favor of banning birthday cakes, but it's time we start getting kids more active and teach them how to select foods," she said.

Adults also need to lead by example, she said.

Which brings us to the teachers lounge, where Blum and her crew snapped pictures of soda machines and vending machines stuffed full of chips, candy bars and other goodies.

They also found baskets of candy on the desks of teachers, guidance counselors and principals.

And then there's the all-you-can-eat pizza, french fry and soda buffet across the street from one of the state's high schools -- Blum didn't say which.

She said it might be time to consider additional steps to fight obesity. And she said the message needs to extend beyond the schoolhouse door and into the home.

"In general, I see schools doing a very good job or moving in that direction, to have kids be in a healthy food environment," she said.

IN MAINE SCHOOLS
Sugar intake not yet licked

Technorati Tags: Health,Maine

Honey, I doomed the universe

ASTRONOMERS may have unwittingly hastened the end of the Universe by simply looking at it, according to a theory reported in the latest edition of New Scientist.

The novel idea is being aired by two US physicists, who attack the notion that the universe, believed to have been created in the "Big Bang'' some 13.7 billion years ago, will go on, well, forever.

In fact, the poor old cosmos is in a rather delicate state, they say.

Until recently, a common idea was that the energy unleashed in the Big Bang happened when a "false vacuum'' - a bubble of high energy with repulsive gravity - broke down into a safe, zero-energy "ordinary'' vacuum.

But recent evidence has emerged that places a cosmic question-mark over this cosy thought.

For one thing, cosmologists have discovered that the Universe is still expanding.

And, they believe, a strange, yet-to-be-detected form of energy called dark energy pervades the universe, which would explain why the sum of all the visible sources of energy fall way short of what should be out there.

Dark energy, goes the thinking, is a result of the Big Bang and is accelerating the universe's expansion.

If so, the universe is not in a nice, stable zero-vacuum state but simply another "false vacuum'' state that may abruptly decay again - and with cataclysmic consequences.

The energy shift from the decay would destroy everything in the universe, "wiping the slate clean", says Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

The good news is: the longer the universe survives, the better the chance that it will mature into a stable state. We are just beyond the crucial switching point, Mr Krauss believed.

The bad news is: the quantum effect, a truly weird aspect of physics that says whenever we observe or measure something, we reset its clock.

Mr Krauss and colleague James Dent pointed to measurements of light from supernovae in 1998 that provided the first evidence of dark energy.

These measurements might have reset the decay clock of the "false vacuum'' back to zero, back before the switching point and to a time when the risk of catastrophic decay was greater than now, said Mr Dent and Mr Krauss.

"Incredible as it seems, our detection of the dark energy may have reduced the life expectancy of the universe,'' said Mr Krauss.

"We may have snatched away the possibility of long-term survival for our universe and made it more likely it will decay.''

The report says the claim is contested by other astrophysicists and adds reassuringly: "The fact that we are still here means this can't have happened yet.''

Quoted from http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22801758-5005962,00.html:

AdelaideNow... Honey, I doomed the universe

Technorati Tags: Scary,Science,Universe

School officials unite in banning Wikipedia

By Lynn Olanoff

Express-Times (Easton, Pa)

EASTON, Pa. — Linda O'Connor regards Wikipedia the same way former first lady Nancy Reagan campaigned against drugs.

She urges people to "Just Say No."

The Great Meadows (N.J.) Middle School librarian hasn't been a fan of the online encyclopedia for years. This fall, she decided it was time to make others at her school aware of the Web site's pitfalls.

She put up a sign saying "Just Say 'No' to Wikipedia" over the computers in the school library.

Several other school officials feel similarly about the Web site. Wikipedia is blocked on all computers in the Warren Hills Regional School District.

Some teachers at Easton Area High School discourage its use, as do officials at Centenary College and Lehigh University.

"We don't see it as an authoritative source," said Nancy Madasci, Centenary's library director.

The problem with Wikipedia, the school officials said, is it can be modified by anyone. There have been many cases of incorrect information on the Web site, some of which has been biased.

Egregious errors

Warren Hills teachers and students have found at least two cases of incorrect information while using Wikipedia, said Dawn Moore, the high-school librarian. A teacher researching Martin Luther King Jr. found white supremacist information in his entry, she said. A student researching the Vietnam War found Wikipedia's casualty count far lower than the actual number of people killed in the conflict.

O'Connor said many of her students don't realize Wikipedia can contain inaccuracies.

"Kids just take it for gospel, they really do, and that's my concern about it," she said.

Wikipedia officials recognize the problems with using the Web site for research, said Sandra Ordonez, communications manager for Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit group behind Wikipedia. The company does not recommend using the Web site as a primary research source, she said.

"Not a primary source"

"The best way to use Wikipedia is to get a global picture of a topic," Ordonez said. "It's not a primary source, and in college, you probably should not be citing an encyclopedia."

Wikipedia can lead researchers to primary sources, as much of the Web site's content comes from such sources, she said.

Several school officials agreed Wikipedia is good to get overviews of topics.

Greg Reihman, the Lehigh faculty development director, encourages students to use the Web site "to get a quick snapshot or an initial sense of views as they are commonly understood," according to university spokeswoman Dina Silver Pokedoff.

Many students use Wikipedia because it's often one of the first Web sites to come up on search engines, according to Kris Dumschat, a high-school senior.

He said his English teacher last year warned students against using the Web site because of inaccuracies. Dumschat said he's sure some of his classmates got points off their research papers for using wrong information from Wikipedia.

"It never happened to me; I stay away from it," he said.

Madasci, the Centenary librarian, said the college also has students who favor the Web site. She said some incoming freshmen have to undergo "Wiki-shock" to learn not to use Wikipedia.

"We've seen freshmen come in and need to be trained to do appropriate research," she said. "Students will gravitate toward what's easy."

 

Quoted from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2004025648_wikipedia21.html:

Living | School officials unite in banning Wikipedia | Seattle Times Newspaper

Technorati Tags: Internet,Lame,Sad

CDC warns of mumps outbreak

 

By Meg Haskell
Tuesday, November 20, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

With confirmed and suspected cases of mumps on the rise in Maine - including a suspected case in an employee at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor - and a much more serious outbreak just across the border in Canada, Maine’s chief public health officer on Monday issued updated recommendations for vaccination against the potentially serious illness.

"Because this outbreak [in Maine] has spread, we are updating vaccination recommendations, especially among children, college and university students and hospital workers,’’ said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, head of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Because of the environments where they live and work, such individuals are most likely to contract and spread the virus, Mills said.

Since September, seven cases of mumps have been confirmed in southern and central Maine, four of them in November alone. The state is awaiting the results of lab tests on as many as two dozen more suspected cases, according to the Maine CDC. The age of the sickened individuals ranges from the late teens to the late 50s.

While the number of cases in Maine may seem insignificant, more than 900 individuals in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, mostly college students, have been sickened with mumps since last winter.

And on Monday, a housekeeper at EMMC was given a preliminary diagnosis of mumps, pending confirmation by laboratory testing. Donna Dunton, director of infection control at EMMC, confirmed Monday evening that the housekeeper has been asked to stay out of work until lab reports of her mumpslike symptoms are complete. The employee is not thought to have been in close enough contact with any patients to have spread the virus, Dunton stressed, and routine infection control measures such as hand washing are likely to have minimized the possibility of transmission.

Mumps is a viral infection of the salivary glands. Symptoms typically include fever, headache, muscle ache, and swelling and tenderness of the glands at the corner of the jaw. Symptoms may last seven to 10 days, and infected individuals are contagious for at least three days before becoming ill and as long as nine days after symptoms appear.

Infection occurs through direct contact with respiratory droplets from the nose or throat, through saliva, coughing, sneezing, sharing drinks, kissing or from contact with any surface that has been contaminated with the virus.

Rarely, mumps infection can lead to meningitis, inflammation of the testicles or ovaries, inflammation of the pancreas, and temporary or permanent hearing loss.

"Although mumps is a virus and is not treatable with antibiotics, the good news is that mumps can be prevented or its impact reduced with vaccine," Mills said.

The MMR vaccine — which protects against mumps, measles and rubella, or "German measles" — is the most common vaccine used to protect against mumps.

The Maine CDC’s updated guidelines are as follows:

ä For students in kindergarten through 12th grade, all vaccine records should be reviewed and updated. For any students who are not current with their MMR vaccines, a letter should be given to the parents notifying them of the mumps outbreak and informing them that if their child remains nonimmunized and the infection is detected in their school, their child will be excluded from school for at least 18 days.

ä For college and university students, all vaccine records should be reviewed and updated. All students should have documentation of two doses of MMR, rather than the previously required one dose. Most students will have had two doses as part of their routine childhood vaccinations, but older "nontraditional" students may be lacking the second dose.

ä Hospital health care workers with direct patient contact should have their vaccine records reviewed and updated. Adequate mumps vaccination for those born in 1957 or later now consists of two doses of MMR, rather than the previously required one dose. Adequate mumps vaccination for those born before 1957 now consists of one dose of MMR, rather than no doses, as previously required.

Besides the additional vaccinations, the Maine CDC also recommends that individuals who become infected should be isolated for nine days after the onset of illness. Those who are not immunized and who are exposed should be isolated for about 18 days after the last known exposure.

Mills acknowledged that compliance with these recommendations may be financially and logistically burdensome for some individuals, institutions and families. The average cost of a mumps vaccine is about $45, she said, but the state is trying to secure supplies of lower-cost vaccine. The Maine CDC can assist institutions with the process of reviewing records, setting up vaccine clinics and obtaining vaccine supplies, she said.

Mills added that the new recommendations are likely to be upgraded to requirements through departmental rule making in the near future.

"While there is no apparent direct connection between people in Maine with confirmed infection and the current outbreak in Canada, it is not surprising that a border state like Maine would see an outbreak," Mills said.

A student health official at the University of Maine was unavailable Monday to comment on how the new recommendations might affect the Orono campus.

At EMMC, Dunton said employee charts have been under review for several months in response to changes in vaccine recommendations from the Maine CDC issued earlier this year. Monday’s announcement, she said, is likely to "step up the pace" of that review, and many employees are likely to be asked to roll up their sleeves.

For information on mumps, visit the Maine CDC’s Web site: www.mainepublichealth.gov.

CDC warns of mumps outbreak

Technorati Tags: Health , Maine , Safety , Scary

England flops shafted by enormous todger

 

Croatian national anthem gaffe delights the crowd

By Lester Haines

Opera singing Brit Tony Henry has become a Croatian hero for mispronouncing a line in the country's national anthem before its team consigned a lamentable England to the dustbin of footballing history on Wednesday night.

The ditty is "written in the old Croat style", the Telegraph explains, and instead of singing Mila kuda si planina - "You know my dear how we love your mountains" - Henry thundered Mila kura si planina, or "My dear, my penis is a mountain".

This evidently delighted Croatian players Vedran Corluka and Luka Modric, who were seen "grinning at each other" at the gaffe, and fans claim the slip helped relax the team before its 3-2 drubbing of McClaren's lacklustre side.

Accordingly, Croatians are now calling for Henry to be awarded with a medal and appointed their team's official mascot for Euro 2008. Mate Prlic, of Croatian footie mag Torcida, suggested: "He obviously relaxed the players so why not invite him to Euro 2008 to keep the winning streak going?"

Henry's agent, Douglas Gillespie, said: "Tony had a great reception from the Croatian fans and already feels part of their campaign for Euro 2008."

England flops shafted by enormous todger | The Register

Technorati Tags: Funny , International

Drunk drivers slam into same business

HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Police said two men face drunken driving charges after losing control of their cars and simultaneously driving into the same business.

WDIV-TV said the 21-and 22-year-old drivers were heading north on Milford Road in western Oakland County's Highland Township, when both lost control of their vehicles and drove into the Carpet Classic Floor Studio.

Police say the drivers ran from their cars, but deputies tracked them down at their nearby homes.

Authorities are still investigating.

Quoted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071119/ap_on_fe_st/odd_slam_drunk;_ylt=Agd86SQ_x9BxEY7n8PEN9m0sQE4F:

Drunk drivers slam into same business - Yahoo! News

Technorati Tags: Justice,Weird

Egg in nog? No joke, says Smiling Hill

BILL NEMITZ November 18, 2007

When your family owns and operates a place called Smiling Hill Farm, you tend to go through life with a grin. But last week, the best Warren Knight could manage was a grimace.

It started with a spot inspection from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- it happens every year or two at the Westbrook dairy farm and has never been a big deal.

But this time was different. Looking over a fresh batch of the Smiling Hill egg nog, the inspector did a double take: The bottle cap -- the only place on the otherwise all-glass container with any printing -- was out of federal compliance.

How so?

"Eggs were not listed as an ingredient," Knight recalled.

Egg, you see, is an allergen. As such, the inspector told Knight, it must be explicitly listed as an ingredient somewhere on the one-and-three-eighths-inch-wide cap.

"But the cap says 'Egg Nog!' " protested Knight.

Didn't matter.

"But we're limited by cap space," Knight persisted. What's more, they can't start slapping warning labels onto their reusable bottles without gumming up the bottle washer.

Not the feds' problem.

Then things turned really sour. The FDA notified the Maine Department of Agriculture that all Smiling Hill egg nog on store shelves -- about 400 gallons at that point -- had to be recalled to protect people with egg allergies who don't know there's egg in egg nog.

Enter, not a moment too soon, Ashley Slattery, Maine's dairy inspector.

"We really didn't want to do a recall," Slattery said Friday. Still, she added, the FDA wanted something on that cap "so the people would know egg nog contains eggs."

Umm ... wouldn't people already know that by the name of the product?

"You'd think so," Slattery said.

So here's the deal. No recall, but Knight agreed to have his label redesigned to include the ingredients and, in the meantime, affix a warning label to every bottle of egg nog that leaves his farm.

Knight headed for Staples Thursday and bought a bunch of red, one-inch-round labels. Then he fired up his computer and printed "WARNING Contains EGGS" twice on each one.

Then he and the rest of the family spent the day cutting each label in half and affixing the semi-circular warnings to the cap on each bottle -- being careful not to encroach on the bar code.

"Someday we're going to look back at this and laugh," chortled one of the workers.

Replied Knight, "Yeah, but it won't be tomorrow."

It's not that Knight has anything against enforcing food safety regulations.

"The health and safety of our customers is foremost," he said. "Since without them, we cease to exist."

But Knight checked with the National Institutes of Health and found that .05 percent of the U.S. population is allergic to eggs. And he has a strong hunch that every last one of those poor folks already knows that egg nog contains eggs.

So go ahead and chuckle. But if you're within earshot of Smiling Hill Farm, please do it quietly.

"Sometime after applying sticker number 783," said Knight, "this theater of the absurd stopped being funny."

Quoted from http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=148740&ac=PHnws:

Egg in nog? No joke, says Smiling Hill

Technorati Tags: Business,Lame,Laws,Maine,Sad,Weird

Number 13 really IS found to be the Lottery's 'unluckiest' number

By DUNCAN ROBERTSON

The superstitious will need no convincing but there really is good reason to steer clear of the number 13.

It is the unluckiest ball in the National Lottery, research has revealed. Since the lottery was launched in 1994, 13 has come up only 146 times, eight fewer than any other ball.

It failed to appear in 49 consecutive draws between July and December 1997. The next unluckiest balls are 6, 9 and 11.

The Lotto's luckiest ball is 38, which has come up 217 times, followed by 25 and 31.

But anyone hoping to improve their negligible chance of winning by picking these numbers should be cautious. Camelot, which runs the lottery and carried out the research, stresses that past performances mean nothing and the odds against hitting the jackpot are always 13,983,816 to one.

The number 13 is considered unlucky in many cultures and has an ancient association with the devil, compounded by the fact that Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th person to sit at the table during the Last Supper.

The 13th card of the Major Arcana in a Tarot deck is Death.

Despite this, Camelot claims that the number 13 has marked some positive milestones in the lottery's history.

Around 13 new millionaires have been created every month in the 13 years since the first draw on November 19, 1994.

A 13-strong syndicate of Littlehampton taxi drivers has won two major prizes, a £546,480 share of a jackpot in February this year and £144,222 from matching five main numbers and the bonus ball back in 2002.

 

Quoted from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=494880&in_page_id=1965:

Number 13 really IS found to be the Lottery's 'unluckiest' number | the Daily Mail

Technorati Tags: Cool,Weird

Cows escape from truck in La. wreck

HREVEPORT, La. - Police warned drivers Thursday to watch out for cows that may have strayed from a tractor-trailer that flipped over on an interstate.

More than 100 head of cattle escaped. Shreveport police and Caddo Parish sheriff's deputies caught most of the cows after the wreck late Wednesday, but said a few might still be on the loose.

Some cows died, some fell off the I-220 bridge and at least one was hit by a car.

The wreck happened when a number of cows shifted their weight, police said. A stretch of the interstate was shut down after the wreck.

Quoted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071115/ap_on_fe_st/odd_loose_cows;_ylt=At_MRJuaPlCb.wONiC6ZyCjtiBIF:

Cows escape from truck in La. wreck - Yahoo! News

Technorati Tags: Animals,Weird

Pot-Bellied Pigs Run Wild on Iowa Street

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Who wants a pig in a blanket?

Two stray pot-bellied pigs stirred up a commotion Wednesday morning while on the run from two animal control officers, two police officers and even a couple of utility company workers who joined the 35-minute chase.

Learning from her first pig chase, animal control officer Leah Messmer knew to grab a blanket.

"They're tough," she said. "They have no necks, so you really can't get a collar on them."

After a few unsuccessful dives, the pigs were caught as workers at various businesses stuck their heads out in disbelief. Some had cameras.

"They dart in and out of cars, and somebody could get hit," Messmer said. "That's why you have to catch 'em. Poor little buggers."

The pigs will be sent to an animal shelter, Messmer said. She presumed they were pets from someone living in the area.

"They're like dogs," she said. "They tend to go back to familiar places."

Quoted from http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g_12AmhbZSFU4uGmcJqBdLvJdSswD8STTAHO0:

The Associated Press: Pot-Bellied Pigs Run Wild on Iowa Street

Technorati Tags: Animals,Funny,Weird

ADHD Drugs Have No Long Term Benefits

London (ECN) - Ritalin and other drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have no long term effectiveness, according to a new study which will be part of a BBC television special.

A long-term monitoring program involving 600 kids across the United States since the beginning of the 1990s will be shown in a TV program from BBC called 'Panorama' - with some of its results revealed.

Researchers found drugs such as Ritalin and Concerta do work well for short term, but no do offer improvement in a children's behaviour after three years.

The studies co-author from the University of Buffalo Professor William Pelhamsays, says he believes the beneficial impact of medication is exaggerated.

It had been thought that kids would have better outcomes if they were medicated for longer - however, it is not the case, there were no beneficial effects at all.

"I think that we exaggerated the beneficial impact of medication in the first study," Pelham told BBC. "We had thought that children medicated longer would have better outcomes. That didn't happen to be the case. In the short run (medication) will help the child behave better, in the long run it won't. And that information should be made very clear to parents."

The Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD study also found that these drugs may also stunt a child's growth, the BBC reported.

"The children (taking the medication) weren't growing as much as other kids both in terms of their height and in terms of their weight," the studies co-author from the University of Buffalo Professor WilliamPelham told BBC.

Pelham believes that behavioral therapy and Omega-3 should be the first steps in helping a child with ADHD.

 

Quoted from http://www.ecanadanow.com/news/health/adhd-drugs-have-no-long-term-benefits-20071112.html:

eCanadaNow.com - ADHD Drugs Have No Long Term Benefits

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Cat's daily routine baffles owner

A cat is baffling his owner by wandering off at night before expecting to be collected by car every morning at exactly the same time and place.

Sgt Podge, a Norwegian Forest Cat, disappears from his owner's home in Talbot Woods, Bournemouth, every night.

The next morning, the 12-year-old cat can always be found in exactly the same place, on a pavement about one and a half miles (2.4km) away.

His owner, Liz Bullard, takes her son to school before collecting Sgt Podge.

She said the routine began earlier this year, when Sgt Podge disappeared one day.

 

Ms Bullard rang the RSPCA and began telephoning her neighbours to see if anyone had seen him.

An elderly woman who lived about one and a half miles away called back to say she had found a cat matching Sgt Podge's description.

Ms Bullard collected him but within days he vanished again. She rang the elderly woman to find Sgt Podge was back outside her home.

 

She said a routine has now become established, where each morning she takes her son to school before driving to collect Sgt Podge from the pavement between 0800 and 0815 GMT.

It is thought Sgt Podge walks across Meyrick Park Golf Course every night to reach his destination.

Ms Bullard said: "If it's raining he may be in the bush but he comes running if I clap my hands."

All she has to do is open the car passenger door from the inside for Sgt Podge to jump in.

Wandering the streets

Ms Bullard also makes the trip at weekends and during school holidays - when her son is having a lie in.

She does not know why, after 12 years, Sgt Podge has begun the routine but explained that another woman who lived nearby used to feed him sardines, and that he may be on the look-out for more treats.

"As long as you know where they are you don't mind as a cat owner," Ms Bullard said.

"I know where to collect him - as long as he's not wandering the streets."

Back at home, Sgt Podge has breakfast before going to sleep by a warm radiator.

 

 

Quoted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7092301.stm:

BBC NEWS | England | Dorset | Cat's daily routine baffles owner

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Hilton tries to help drunken elephants - Yahoo! News

 

By WASBIR HUSSAIN, Associated Press Writer Tue Nov 13, 12:04 PM ET

GAUHATI, India - With Rwanda off her charity calendar, Paris Hilton has turned her attention to the plight of ... drunken elephants in India.

"The elephants get drunk all the time. It is becoming really dangerous. We need to stop making alcohol available to them," the 26-year-old socialite was quoted as saying by the World Entertainment News Network's Web site.

In the wake of her jail term for an alcohol-related reckless driving case, Hilton is seeking to remake her image from club-hopping party girl to world-traveling do-gooder. She announced plans to do charity work in Rwanda, but the trip was postponed until next year.

Then opportunity for Hilton's "global elephant campaign" knocked last month when six parched pachyderms broke into a farm in the state of Meghalaya and guzzled farmers' homemade rice beer. The elephants went on a rampage, then uprooted an electricity pole and were jolted to death.

"There would have been more casualties if the villagers hadn't chased them away. And four elephants died in a similar way three years ago. It is just so sad," Hilton was quoted as saying in last week in Tokyo, where she was judging a beauty contest.

Sangeeta Goswami, head of animal rights group People for Animals, told The Associated Press: "I am indeed happy Hilton has taken note of recent incidents of wild elephants in northeast India going berserk."

"As part of her global elephant campaign, Hilton should, in fact, think of visiting this region literally infested with elephants," Goswami said.

Hilton's publicist couldn't immediately be reached Tuesday to verify her comments. Another conservationist said elephant alcohol abuse was just a symptom of the real problem. (No, he wasn't talking about celebrities.)

"Elephants appear on human settlements ... because they have no habitat left due to wanton destruction of forests," said Soumyadeep Dutta, who heads Nature's Beckon, a leading regional conservation group. "A celebrity like Hilton must focus her attention on this fact."

Hilton tries to help drunken elephants - Yahoo! News

Technorati Tags: Animals , Celebrity , Funny , International , Weird