Outrageous! 1-year-old summoned to court:


HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) - A Harrisonburg court has dismissed a case against a baby boy summoned to appear in court for an unpaid bill.

Richard White says he was shocked when he got a subpoena in the mail requiring his 1-year-old son, Jacy, to appear in Rockingham County General District Court next Tuesday over a $391 chiropractor bill.

Neither of Jacy's parents was named in the lawsuit, which has been dismissed at the request of the plaintiff.

Shortly after his son's birth in April 2007, White says he took Jacy to the chiropractor. He suspects that when the family moved, the office updated records for everyone but Jacy.

White says his insurance didn't cover the $391 and only recently billed him _ about the same time the residents of his former home forwarded the subpoena.

Posted by mikki at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Pagan Prattle Online: Bargain of the Day: Good stuff, for a change.:


Englandshire: Dr. Who fans could find themselves a bargain as the memorabilia collection of Simon White goes on sale after he swapped science fiction for fantasy.

The collection, which Mr White estimates is worth nearly £7,000, was built up over a number of years but is to be cast aside because of his religious beliefs.

Dr Who and his materialistic obsession with it represents the greatest lie that Satan ever told according to Mr White...

He said: God delivered me from the evil that is Dr Who.
Don't offer too much now. We wouldn't want to reward him for his sinfulness now, would we?

Posted by mikki at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh man. This is utterly hilarious. I will license him my trademark of the term "Idiot Lawyer" for free :-).

Lawyer claims he owns "cyberlawyer" -- actual cyberlawyers laugh and laugh:


Rebecca sez, "One lawyer is threatening another over the use of the term "cyberlaw," which he says he's trademarked. As the post (by EFF's Corynne McSherry) says, that's like a soda company trying to trademark the word soda."

Eric Menhart may call himself a cyberlawyer, but we think he has a lot of learn about cyberlaw -- and common sense. Menhart is the author of a blog about cyberlaw issues called, logically if not innovatively, "Cyberlawg." (As he says in the top right corner, "Cyberlawg = Cyberlaw + blog.") And he is "principal attorney" in a firm called "CyberLaw P.C." OK, OK, we get it, he practices technology law. Based on this, he's applied for a trademark on the use of the term "cyberlaw" in connection with the practice of, um, cyberlaw. That's like a soda company claiming a trademark in the use of the word soda in connection with the sale of soda. Or an apple farmer claiming a trademark in the use of the term apple in connection with the sale of apples. Or ... well, you get the picture.

Link
(Thanks, Rebecca!)

Posted by mikki at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These types of threats to national security must be stopped this instant!

'No Pants Ride' Gets Mixed Review from Metro Riders:


WASHINGTON--Metrorail riders had an eye-opening experience watching up to 200 people remove their pants Saturday afternoon before heading into railcars.

No one was arrested in the activity because participants didn't break the law as long as they kept their "undies" on.

But many Metro riders asked the big question. Why did the group drop trow on the Metro?

"No real purpose, just to get people to laugh a little bit," said Elizabeth, one of the organizers of the No Pants Event. She didn't care to share her last name in between giggles Saturday.

The group organized on the social website Facebook and met at the Dupont Circle Metro Station fully clothed.

Stunts like this have taken place on the New York City Subway before, but never on Metro.

Metro riders had various opinions about the activity Saturday.

Some said the unusually warm January temperatures that the Washington area has experienced lately in the past week it a good time to do it.

"I think its fine as long as they're not showing any flesh and they're being decent," said one rider.

However, other Metro riders described the group's action as "indecent exposure" and questioned if it were some type of rebellion.

Posted by mikki at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man, 75, Hurt While Riding Pet Buffalo:


MESA, Ariz. (AP) - Fire officials say a Cave Creek man who was trying to ride his pet buffalo was mauled by the animal after it bucked him off. The man, 75, was flown to a Scottsdale hospital after the incident at his home about 20 miles north of downtown Phoenix on Monday.

John Kraetz, a district chief for the Rural/Metro fire department, said the unidentified man suffered non-life threatening injuries.

The man owned two of the animals. Kraetz said he's never been on a similar call.

"People do have buffalo on their property, but it's pretty darn uncommon," he said.

Posted by mikki at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bozeman Montana Local News:


A bit of hotel room fun brought a group of six college-aged students more attention than they bargained for Friday evening, the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office reported Saturday.

Around 6 p.m., the group activated a personal locator beacon at their hotel on North Seventh Avenue, possibly attempting to locate each other with the device, Undersheriff Jim Oberhofer said.

“They thought it interacted with their avalanche beacons. It did not,” he said. “They didn't realize it communicated with a satellite.”

The beacon sends a signal to a government-controlled satellite that then pages local law enforcement and search and rescue teams.

But Oberhofer said the first set of coordinates received from the beacon were incorrect. As a result, a search and rescue team was dispatched to Castle Mountain to search for the beacon. A later message from the satellite, combined with tracking work done by local ham radio operators, located the beacon at the hotel, Oberhofer said.

The entire ordeal took about five hours, Oberhofer said. During that time, 22 volunteers, six deputies and an ambulance crew either responded to the beacon or were held on standby.

He said the Sheriff's Office did not issue any citations and chalked the incident up to a simple misunderstanding.

Oberhofer said this was the first locator beacon activated in Gallatin County since the satellite-based system began operating in 2003.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the beacons led to the rescue of 59 people in 2007.

Posted by mikki at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Getting On His Wick: Monk Gets Candle Stuck In Penis | Anorak News:


“HE did a very stupid and shameful thing,” says a Romanian “monastry source” to the Daily Sport. The man with the tonsure is speaking of trainee monk Dumitru Ilie who is said to have got “hammered” and spent the night a woman he met at a party. A woman who may or may not have been a nun.

In the morning Dumitru awoke full of regret and with candle wedged up his penis. Says the doctor who treated him: “I have no idea how he managed to do that but it looked extremely painful.” Albeit unlit…

Posted by mikki at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spicy Chili Smell Leads to Evacuation:


LONDON (AP) - Super spicy chili sauce being cooked at a London Thai restaurant sparked road closures and evacuations after passers-by complained that the smell was burning their throats, police said Wednesday.

London Fire Brigade's chemical response team was called after reports that a strong smell was wafting from the restaurant in the heart of London's Soho district Monday afternoon, a Metropolitan police spokesman said, speaking anonymously in line with force policy.

Authorities sealed off several premises and closed roads. The Times of London described shoppers coughing and spluttering as firefighters wearing special breathing masks sought the source of the smell.

The paper said firefighters smashed down the door of the Thai Cottage restaurant and seized extra-hot bird's eye chilies which had been left dry-frying. It said they were being prepared as part of a batch of Nam Prik Pao, a spicy Thai dip.

"The smoke didn't go up into the sky because of the rain and the heavy air," The Times quoted Thai Cottage owner Sue Wasboonma as saying. "It's the hottest thing we make."

The police spokesman said no arrests were made in the case.

"As far as I'm aware it's not a criminal offense to cook very strong chili," he said.

Posted by mikki at 03:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah, the truth has finally come out. I'm so glad that we now have the REAL information.

This must be why President Shrub is so adamant about amnesty for illegal aliens. Rumor has it that if Congress doesn't go along, he will enlist our Moon Alien friends to help with the war in Iraq.

Aliens forced Americans out from the Moon - Pravda.Ru:


One of Russia's central television channels, RTR, has recently aired a documentary about US astronauts who allegedly came across extraterrestrial civilizations. The film showed Russian ufologist Vladimir Azhazha and astronomer Yevgeny Arsyukhin telling that expeditions to the Moon launched within 1969-1972 allegedly came across UFOs.

The researchers state that flying objects of extraterrestrial origin were persistently spying on American Apollos. They said the expeditions to the Moon looked very much like a race and presented a film demonstrating a luminous object closely following an American spaceship. Records of communication between astronauts and the Mission Control Center were also included into the film but they were absolutely inaudible as they had been purposefully jammed by Americans. They expected that the expeditions would find something astonishing on the Moon and with the view of keeping their communication with the surface secret they encoded their messages to the MCC. When the records of communication were later deciphered it turned out that the US missions came across lunar bases, remains of space vehicles and deserted towns on the Moon.



Get the whole torrid story by clicking on the title above.

Posted by mikki at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coming from NH, I used to think that the state had some semblance of sanity. There is no state sales tax, no state income tax, and a populace very demanding of individual rights and freedoms. Anyone showing obviously stupid behavior "had to be an import from Massachusetts." I suppose that now I have to think again...

wjz.com - N.H. Pumpkin Tosser Knocked Out By Launcher:


(AP) GREENFIELD, N.H. The first weekend of pumpkin flinging season ended abruptly Sunday in Greenfield when one of the operators of a catapault-like device was knocked out in a freak accident.

Chuck Willard of Hancock was hit in the chin by the boom on the Yankee Seige, a remake of a medieval weapon called a trebuchet. It can toss pumpkins 300 yards and it knocked Willard for a loop.

An employee at the attraction said Willard was out for about two minutes.

He was treated and released and said to be anxious to start tossing pumpkins again.

The Yankee Siege, on Route 31, will be launching pumpkins, weather permitting, every weekend through the end of next month.

Posted by mikki at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man Held Over Embassy Hand Grenades |Sky News|World News:


A man caught with a backpack containing explosives, nails and Islamic literature has been arrested after trying to enter the US Embassy in Austria, police say.

The man tried to enter the American embassy
Officials in Vienna say he dropped the bag and tried to flee on foot when he triggered metal detectors at the entrance.

The suspect - described as a 42-year-old Bosnian who now lives in the province of Lower Austria, which encircles the capital - was arrested nearby and taken into custody around noon local time.

No-one was injured but police sealed off the area as a precaution, patrolled with bomb-sniffing dogs and shut down or rerouted nearby bus and tramway lines.

A police spokeswoman said: "There were a lot of nails in that bag. Had it exploded, it would have had an enormous shrapnel effect."

Posted by mikki at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Palladium-Item - www.pal-item.com - Richmond, Indiana:


HILLIARD, Ohio — A high school student who tricked football fans from a crosstown rival school into holding up squares of construction paper at a stadium that together spelled out, "We Suck,'' was suspended for the prank, students said.

Kyle Garchar, a senior at Hilliard Davidson High School in suburban Columbus, said he spent about 20 hours over three days plotting the trick, which was captured on video and posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube.

Garchar said he was inspired by a similar prank pulled by Yale students in 2004, when Harvard fans were duped into holding up cards with the same message.

At the end of the video, Garchar wryly thanks the 800 parents, staff and alumni from Hillard Darby High School who raised the cards at the start of the third quarter during last Friday's game played at Crew Stadium, home of Columbus' Major League Soccer team.

"It couldn't have been done without you,'' reads the closing frame of the video, which had been viewed more than 4,400 times by Thursday.

Garchar, 17, first went to Crew Stadium to take a picture of the seats. Then he created a grid to plan how the message would be spelled out once fans in three sections held up either a black or white piece of construction paper.

Directions left on stadium seats instructed fans to check that the number listed on their papers matched their seat numbers. Darby supporters were told the message would read "Go Darby.''

"It was tedious,'' Garchar said. "I didn't really think it was going to work.''

But it did, and everyone at Hilliard Davidson has been talking about the trick, said Jordan Moore, a junior.

"That was the ultimate in-your-face,'' he said. "I think it was ingenious.''

Davidson Principal John Bandow had told students he expected them to show sportsmanship at Friday's football game, which Darby won 21-10 in the first meeting between the two schools.

Bandow called Garchar to his office Monday morning, and gave him three days of in-school suspension and also banned him from participating in school activities for a semester, students said. Two other students who helped organize the trick received the same punishment.

Hilliard schools spokeswoman Michelle Wray couldn't confirm the students' punishment today because the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act forbids the release of student disciplinary information.

But Jen Trimmer, 17, one of the students involved in the prank, said the suspensions for the three students began Wednesday and were to end Friday.

"We weren't expecting it to be such a severe punishment,'' she said today. "We just thought it was all in good fun.''

Stephen Bell, a Darby freshman, was at the stadium but missed the big moment.

"It was sneaky, knifing and down right clever,'' he said Wednesday. "But we'll get them back.''

Posted by mikki at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just Add Water: Boy Fries Himself with Hot Hot Xbox 360 - Kotaku:


Dumb, dumb, dumb. Apparently, a 14 year-old North Carolina boy was almost killed trying to keep his Xbox 360 from overheating. According to local news, the boy's mother found her son unconscious after he attempted to submerge the console in a pan of water. "When I left to go next door he was playing a game but when I got back he was laying on his back on the floor and unconscious," she said. The console, wrapped in plastic and tape, was still plugged in. The kid has read online that he could keep his 360 from over heating by cooling its power supply. By the time the ambulance showed up, the boy had regained consciousness. Thankfully, when the ambulance arrived, the boy had regained his senses. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and suffered small burns on his hand and foot. Kids remember: No matter what the internet says, electricity and water are NOT friends. They're not even on speaking terms.

Posted by mikki at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

EFF privacy attorney gets pranked by interns and LOLCats:


Cory Doctorow:

When Electronic Frontier Foundation privacy lawyer Kevin Bankston announced that he was locking his office door to "prevent pranks" by this summer's crop of interns, the interns took it as a personal challenge. They figured out how to get into his office (they had the universal key!), took some pix, and then made a snappy little LOLCats animation commemorating the event. The LOLCats are especially ironic, given that Kevin's cat recently ran away from home, prompting a discussion of whether it's morally consistent for a privacy specialist to insert an RFID tag into his pets.

Link

(Thanks, Amy!)

See also:

EFF privacy attorney is a magnet for privacy invading street-searches

Schroedinger's LOLCat

Pedantic overanalysis of LOLcats not pedantic enough, says blowhard

Posted by mikki at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wisconsin man's mangled prose takes bad writing prize; says college prepared him:


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A Wisconsin man whose blend of awkward syntax, imminent disaster and bathroom humour offends both good taste and the English language won an annual contest Monday that salutes bad writing.

Jim Gleeson, 47, of Madison, Wis., beat out thousands of other prose manglers in San Jose State University's 2007 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest with this convoluted opening sentence to a nonexistent novel:

"Gerald began - but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten per cent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them 'permanently' meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash - to pee," Gleeson wrote.

Scott Rice, an English professor at San Jose State, called Gleeson's entry a "syntactic atrocity" that displays "a peculiar set of standards or values." Rice has organized the contest since founding it in 1982.

Gleeson, who works at a Madison hospital setting up computer networks, said he submitted about 20 entries, and gave a little insight into what it takes to win the bad writing title and its US$250 prize.

"It's like you take two thoughts that are not anything like each other and you cram them together by any means necessary," Gleeson said. He claimed he took time off from his current project, a self-help book for slackers entitled "Self-Improvement Through Total Inactivity," to pen his winning entry.

Gleeson credited his time in college with preparing him well. "There's a certain degree to which academia prepares you to write badly," Gleeson said wryly.

The contest takes its name from Victorian novelist Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" famously begins "It was a dark and stormy night."

Entrants are asked to submit bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Citations are handed out for several categories, including "dishonourable mention" awards for "purple prose" and "vile puns."

Posted by mikki at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ABC News' Washington Bureau Briefly Evacuated - News Story - WRC | Washington:


WASHINGTON -- D.C. authorities said a building housing the Washington bureau of ABC News was briefly evacuated Thursday afternoon because of a suspicious envelope.

D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Alan Etter said a small envelope was found with a white powdery substance. The substance turned out to be aspirin.

About 60 to 80 people were evacuated from the downtown Washington building. They were allowed back in just before 1:45 p.m.

Etter said the building was evacuated as a precaution, and no one reported any medical symptoms.

Posted by mikki at 09:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lunch Bag Leads to Office Evacuation:


PITTSBURGH (AP) - It took a bomb-sniffing dog to figure out that a brown paper bag left in the bathroom of a government office building was just lunch.

The suspicious bag _ containing a salad from a bagel shop _ prompted security guards at the downtown building to evacuate the office of Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and close a main courthouse entrance. The lockdown Tuesday lasted about an hour.

The bag was found in a women's bathroom on a shelf under a sink. A sheriff's deputy arrived with a bomb-sniffing dog and quickly discovered there was nothing explosive about the salad.

"It was just strictly a precaution," County Manager Jim Flynn said. "I don't think it was a real threat."

Posted by mikki at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Suit: Porn star took old friend's name - Yahoo! News:


HOUSTON - A Houston woman is suing a former high school classmate who took her name and starred in pornographic movies.

Kristen Syvette Wimberly, 25, is asking that Lara Madden and film distributor Vivid Entertainment Group stop using or publicizing her name, which Madden took as a stage name.

The two met in ninth grade at Kingwood High School. According to the lawsuit, they "were friends but eventually that friendship ended due to conflict."

Madden, 25, began her adult-film career in 2004 and has appeared in about a dozen adult films using the name Syvette Wimberly.

As a result, the lawsuit claims, Madden and the distributor have inflicted "humiliation, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, mental anguish and anxiety."

Caj Boatright, attorney for Kristen Syvette Wimberly, said her client started being contacted by friends and acquaintances asking about her career in pornography.

"The purpose of the lawsuit is to get her to stop using this name," Boatright said. "We're not out looking for millions of dollars."

Kent Schaffer, Madden's attorney, said his client chose the name simply because she liked the sound of it.

"There is no bad blood between them," Schaffer said. "Lara never meant to harm this other girl."

Madden no longer performs in pornographic films, Schaffer said. Vivid Entertainment had no comment because it hadn't been served with the lawsuit, a spokesman said.

The lawsuit, filed June 26 in Harris County District Court, seeks unspecified damages, but Schaffer said Madden will agree to stop using the name if that's all the plaintiff wants.

"They'll never get a penny from her," he said. "She doesn't have any money, for one thing, but even if she did this suit will never hold up in court. I'm not aware of any court that has upheld such a lawsuit. If I use your name to defraud somebody, that's different."

Posted by mikki at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Daily Tribune News - Cartersville, Georgia:


Two Waffle House workers were forced to deal with an angry drunk man when he went in to eat a steak Sunday about 4 a.m.

According to the BCSO incident report, Matthew Todd Corley, 26, of Sunnyside entered the Waffle House at 10 Carson Loop, Cartersville, and demanded a steak.

The victims told deputies that Corley threatened to kill them if they did not cook him a steak. The female victim said he told her he would have the UFOs come for her.

According to the male victim, Corley beat on the tables with his hands before grabbing the telephone and calculator, also using them to beat on the tables. He also tried to jump over the counter during the nearly 30-minute ordeal.

Both victims provided written statements and, although they wanted him to go to jail, told deputies they did not want to press charges for the threats, which could have lead to charges of terroristic threats.

Corley said he had been drinking all day and was in a bad mood but did nothing wrong.

Corley was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

Posted by mikki at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Judge Goes Easy on Lawyer Who Made 'French Fries' Comment About Her:


U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurel Myerson Isicoff opted for leniency in the case of a prominent Chicago lawyer who told her she was "a few french fries short of a Happy Meal." She decided not to bar McDermott Will & Emery partner William P. Smith from practicing in South Florida bankruptcy court. Instead, Isicoff ordered him Wednesday to take an online course in professionalism administered by the Florida Bar, even though he's not a Bar member in Florida and was practicing as a visiting lawyer.

Posted by mikki at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Spinal Tap resurface for Live Earth | The Register:


Cult rockers Spinal Tap have agreed to reform for Al Gore's Live Earth concert in July, the Telegraph reports.
The band has been keeping a low profile since releasing its 1992 record Break Like the Wind, but is still fondly remembered for its legendary 1984 contribution to the rockumentary genre This is Spinal Tap.

Agreeably, the band has filmed a 15 minute "consciousness raising" film as part of its Live Earth contribution, which shows them "driving around in their 4x4s and leaving all the lights on in their mansions".
The short, directed by This is Spinal Tap creator Rob Reiner, will also let fans see what the boys have been up to over the last 15 years.
According to the Telegraph, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) has been "raising miniature horses to race but cannot find jockeys small enough to ride them", David St Hubbins (Michael McKean) "is a hip-hop producer who also owns a colonic clinic", and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) "is in rehab for internet addiction".
As well as the film, the band has recorded a new song, Warmer than Hell, to support the Live Earth cause. Whether the cover will feature "a greased naked woman on all fours with a dog collar around her neck, and a leash, and a man's arm extended out up to here, holding onto the leash, and pushing a black glove in her face to sniff it" is unconfirmed.

Posted by mikki at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The State | 03/31/2007 | Police blotters:


Taylor Street, 500 block: A woman called police at 9 a.m. Wednesday and said she had been assaulted by a naked man wrapped in a blanket who called himself Satan. The woman said the man was dropped off by a van at her home. He approached her wearing only a blanket and demanded his clothes. She told him he didn’t have any clothes at her house and went inside. He followed her inside, then locked himself in her bedroom with her and continued to demand his clothes. He threw her on the bed, and she began to scream until her roommates came in and pulled the man off her and threw him outside. When police arrived, the man was on the porch still wrapped in the blanket. He admitted he had been smoking crack cocaine, but Satan was the only name he would give them. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment.

Posted by mikki at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ABC News: Chocolate Jesus Show Canceled:


NEW YORK Mar 30, 2007 (AP)— A planned Holy Week exhibition of a nude, anatomically correct chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ was canceled Friday amid a choir of complaining Catholics that included Cardinal Edward Egan.

The "My Sweet Lord" display was shut down by the hotel that houses the Lab Gallery in midtown Manhattan, said Matt Semler, the gallery's creative director. Semler said he submitted his resignation after officials at the Roger Smith Hotel shut down the show.

The six-foot sculpture was the victim of "a strong-arming from people who haven't seen the show, seen what we're doing," Semler said. "They jumped to conclusions completely contrary to our intentions."

But word of the confectionary Christ infuriated Catholics, including Egan, who described it as "a sickening display." Bill Donohue, head of the watchdog Catholic League, said it was "one of the worst assaults on Christian sensibilities ever."

The hotel and the gallery were overrun Thursday with angry phone calls and e-mails about the exhibit. Semler said the calls included death threats over the work of artist Cosimo Cavallaro, who was described as disappointed by the decision to cancel the display.

"In this situation, the hotel couldn't continue to be supportive because of a fear for their own safety," Semler said.

The sculpture was to debut Monday evening, the day after Palm Sunday and just four days before Roman Catholics mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. The final day of the exhibit was planned for Easter Sunday.

The artwork was created from more than 200 pounds of milk chocolate, and features Christ with his arms outstretched as if on an invisible cross. Unlike the typical religious portrayal of Christ, the Cavallaro creation does not include a loincloth.

Cavallaro is best known for his quirky work with food as art: Past efforts include repainting a Manhattan hotel room in melted mozzarella, spraying five tons of pepper jack cheese on a Wyoming home, and festooning a four-poster bed with 312 pounds of processed ham.

Posted by mikki at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sununu Named N.H. Town's Hog Wrangler:


HAMPTON FALLS, N.H. (AP) - Former White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu has a new title _ hog wrangler.

Sununu and his wife, Nancy, recently were named to the honorary post of Hampton Falls' hog reeve, complete with a swearing-in ceremony and a badge. The post, which dates back to the 1700s, means the couple are responsible for rounding up any loose pigs in town.

The title is usually given to an unsuspecting newcomer each year. The Sununus recently moved from Salem to Hampton Falls to be closer to relatives.

"Somebody had warned us," Sununu said. "We had some friends who had come to town earlier."

He was New Hampshire governor for three terms in the 1980s and chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1991, and now he's taking his new job in stride.


"It's one of the great honors," Sununu said. "We got a badge and everything. If you need any hogs rounded up, call me."

Posted by mikki at 01:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mouse makes off with captor's dentures - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com:


WATERVILLE, Maine - Never underestimate a mouse’s determination.

There’s a mouse in Bill Exner’s house that he says he has captured three times. Each time, the mouse escaped, and the last time the rodent made off with his lower dentures.

Exner, 68, said he and his wife Shirley scoured his bedroom after the dentures disappeared from his night stand.

“We moved the bed, moved the dressers and the night stand and tore the closet apart,” he said. “I said, ‘I knew that little stinker stole my teeth’ — I just knew it.”

They found a small opening in a wall where they suspected the mouse was coming and going, and their daughter’s fiance, Eric Holt, stepped in to help.

“He brought a crowbar and hammer and he sawed off a section of wood and pulled up the molding and everything,” Exner said. “It was quite a job.”

They retrieved the dentures, and Holt suggested his future father-in-law boil them in peroxide and whatever else he could find for to disinfect it.

The mouse apparently isn’t done. It frequently comes out and stares at Exner, his wife said.

“He’s taunting him — I swear he’s taunting him,” Shirley Exner said.

Posted by mikki at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - German police rescue 91-year-old man glued to roof:


BERLIN (Reuters) - A 91-year-old German sparked a rescue operation when he slipped mending his roof and got stuck fast in tar "like a beetle on its back", police said on Tuesday.

Passers-by were so shocked to see the elderly handyman working on the roof they first thought he was planning to commit suicide, according to police in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

"In fact he was just re-coating the roofing with bitumen. But then he slipped," said a spokesman for police.

"When we got there, he was like a beetle on its back, with his arms and legs sprawled out and completely glued to the roof," he added. "Due to his age, he couldn't free himself from his unfortunate situation."

Local firemen carefully detached the man using ropes and ladders. He was unharmed, but had sticky clothes, police said.

Posted by mikki at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

German settles divorce with chainsaw | NEWS.com.au:


A 43-YEAR-OLD German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck.

Police in the eastern town of Sonneberg said the trained mason measured the single-storey summer house - which was some eight metres long and six metres wide - before chainsawing through the wooden roof and walls.

“The man said he was just taking his due,” a police spokesman said.

“But I don't think his wife was too pleased.”

After finishing the job, the man picked up his half with the forklift truck and drove to his brother's house where he has since been staying.

Posted by mikki at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FOXNews.com - Wassup! Princes Pull Phone Prank on Queen Elizabeth II - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News:


LONDON  —  Princely pranksters William and Harry have been accused of recording a bogus message on Queen Elizabeth II's answering machine.
The pair were asked for help by their regal gran when she was baffled by the technology.
But she was reported to be mortified when she heard the end result.
"Hey wassup!" their message said. "This is Liz. Sorry I'm away from the throne."
Click here for FOXNews.com's Europe center.
"For a hotline to Philip, press one. For Charles, press two," the recording continued. "And for the corgis, press three."
According to The Daily Star, the Queen saw the funny side later when she thought about which VIPs might have heard the message.
But her private secretary was not so amused.
The paper says he almost fell off his chair the first time one of his calls was put through to the voicemail.
The Queen, who is 80, has been taught by Prince William and Prince Harry how to send text messages on her mobile phone.

Posted by mikki at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is choice! Nascar DOES suck. Psycho Sensei hath decreed it thus!

Sign on I-4 gives NASCAR fans the cold shoulder - Orlando Sentinel : Volusia County News Sign on I-4 gives NASCAR fans the cold shoulder - Orlando Sentinel : Volusia County News:


The electronic sign on the side of Interstate 4 is supposed to warn motorists of an upcoming exit.

This weekend, someone reprogrammed it with a slightly different message: "NASCAR sucks. Go home."

Florida Department of Transportation officials said a prankster with the right kind of keyboard and a password changed the sign this weekend as hundreds of thousands of race fans poured into the area.

The sign -- a 7-by-10-foot movable message board -- was posted near the Saxon Boulevard exit by the eastbound lanes, DOT spokesman Steve Homan said. An employee noticed the unauthorized message late Saturday night. By Sunday morning, the sign was switched off.

Posted by mikki at 02:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

National Gorilla Suit Day:


Cory Doctorow:

Today is National Gorilla Suit Day, inaugurated by Mad Magazine's Don Martin. "Every National Gorilla Suit Day, people of all shapes and colors around the world get their gorilla suits out of the closet, put them on and go door-to-door."

Link

(Thanks, David)

Posted by mikki at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pa. Man's Letter Brings Secret Service - Newsday.com:


BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- An elderly man who wrote in a letter to the editor about Saddam Hussein's execution that "they hanged the wrong man" got a visit from Secret Service agents concerned he was threatening President Bush.

The letter by Dan Tilli, 81, was published in Monday's edition of The Express-Times of Easton, Pa. It ended with the line, "I still believe they hanged the wrong man."

Tilli said the statement was not a threat. "I didn't say who -- I could've meant (Osama) bin Laden," he said Friday.

Two Secret Service agents questioned Tilli at his Bethlehem apartment Thursday, briefly searching the place and taking pictures of him, he said.

The Secret Service confirmed the encounter. Bob Slama, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Philadelphia office, said it was the agency's duty to investigate.

The agents almost immediately decided Tilli was not a threat, Slama said

"We have no further interest in Dan," he said.

Tilli said the agents appeared more relaxed when he dug out a scrapbook containing more than 200 letters that he has written over the years, almost all on political topics.

"He said, 'Keep writing, but just don't make no threats,'" Tilli said of one of the agents.

It wasn't Tilli's first run-in with the federal government over his letter writing. Two FBI agents from Allentown showed up at his home last year about a letter he wrote advocating a civil war to unseat Bush, he said.

Posted by mikki at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Press Republican - Plattsburgh, NY:


HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A giant bird's nest littered with dozens of cigarette butts is leading investigators to believe that a feathery firebug may have torched a Huntington office building.
Fire Capt. David Bias said a pigeon or another kind of bird may have carried a smoldering cigarette into the Ratcliff Place on Jan. 10. Either that, or the mere volume of decomposing material in the nearly 5-foot-wide nest found in a ceiling may have combusted.
It's just a theory at this point, Bias said, one that he's "taking a good bit of ribbing over."
"People are telling me we should have a pigeon lineup," he said Wednesday.
Actually, fire investigators haven't ruled out anything yet, Bias said. That won't happen until they receive lab results back on evidence sent to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Posted by mikki at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Idiot Of The Year Awards - Offbeat:


Idiot Of The Year Awards
And The Winner Is

Envelope Please...
2006 Idiot of the Year: Laura Mallory, of Loganville, Georgia. This vigilant mother of four has demanded local schools remove Harry Potter from their libraries because, in her analysis, the books are an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate children in Wicca religion. Congratulations Laura, and good luck on your quest to eradicate the dark forces which pollute children's literature.

Silver Medal: Nevada state senator Bob Beers who's pushing the legislature to consider letting teachers carry guns in classrooms "to stem a rise in school violence." Ready, aim, learn!

Bronze Medal: The 22-year-old British war vet who attempted to launch a Black Cat Thunderbolt rocket out of his rear end, on Guy Fawkes Day.

Honorable Mention: The hard-working cops of Muzaffarpur, India who attempted to arrest a 3-month-old baby for robbing a bus only days after his birth.

So that's it for 2006. Thanks to everyone for your help and participation. Let's hope 2007 is a idiotic as this past year!

Posted by mikki at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Border Agents Find Alligator in Suitcase:


YUMA, Ariz. (AP) - Agents with the U.S. Border Patrol in Yuma found an alligator stashed in the suitcase of a California man who was on his way to Phoenix. The agents found the 4-foot, 4-year-old cayman alligator during a routine checkpoint search on Interstate 8 on Thursday night, agency spokesman Lloyd Easterling said.

Easterling said a drug-sniffing dog became alert near the man's car. Inside, agents found 13 grams of marijuana. Then agents asked the man, whose name was not released, if he had anything else inside the car they should know about.

"The guy says, 'There's an alligator in there,'" Easterling said. "He says, 'He's in the suitcase there.' And when (the agent) opened the suitcase, sure enough, there was a cayman in there."


Rebecca Wright, law enforcement program manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Yuma, took the feisty reptile back to her office to await shipment to a Phoenix animal refuge.

Posted by mikki at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cheney to go hunting on Election Day:


Vice President Dick Cheney will spend Election Day hunting in South Dakota, his press secretary said Sunday.

Posted by mikki at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

6abc.com: Teens Forgot About Caller ID:


WELLSBORO, Pa. (AP) - October 3, 2006 - A couple of Pennsylvania teens apparently don't know about caller I-D.

The two 17-year-olds have been convicted on charges of making almost 500 obscene calls to 9-1-1. They faced a number of charges, including harassment and obstructing emergency services. Prosecutors in Tioga County say the teens made nearly 200 dirty calls in one day alone. Officials say the flood of obscene calls added a lot of strain to the already stressful job of the emergency dispatchers. Authorities aren't releasing the names of the teens, who've been sent to a local juvenile court center.

Posted by mikki at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Flustered Bush Misses Air Force One Flight | The Onion - America's Finest News Source:


Flustered Bush Misses Air Force One Flight

October 3, 2006

CAMP SPRINGS, MD—Despite sprinting through the Andrews Air Force Base south terminal, President Bush narrowly missed his Air Force One flight to Boise earlier today after arriving just moments after the plane's doors had closed.

The 12-person crew was not able to accommodate the president due to strict federal guidelines requiring all passengers to arrive at their departure gate 15 minutes prior to takeoff—guidelines flight offic

Posted by mikki at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

IOL: Muggers pick wrong victim:


Germany - Three teenage thugs ended up in hospital after trying to steal a junior kick-boxing and karate champ's mobile phone.

The trio, all aged 17, cornered Pauli Borchardt, also 17, as he made his way home from a friend's house in Hamburg, Germany.

After refusing to hand over his mobile phone, which he was using at the time to call his brother, the trio tried to take it by force.

But the amateur kick-boxing and karate champ floored all three of them before making it to his home on the same street.

One of the thugs was kept in hospital after a passer-by spotted them on the ground and called an ambulance. The other two were released after being treated for cuts and bruises.

Police, who initially went to arrest Borchardt after the trio told them a gang of lads led by the 17-year-old had attacked them with baseball bats, were soon put straight and are now investigating the three on suspicion of attempted robbery. - Ananova.com

Posted by mikki at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SubGenii challenge Hollywood cranks:

United States: The Church of the SubGenius has issued a press release declaring they are the loopiest of all the cults:

Tom Cruise is pitching for Scientology; Madonna sings the praises of Kabbalah. Strange religious groups (or cults) are in vogue in today's Hollywood. But when it comes to bizarre rituals and crackpot beliefs, even Scientology can't hold a candle to the Church of the SubGenius, a new religious movement set to take Hollywood by storm.

The Church of the SubGenius is a popular organization often seen as a parody of religious cults, including Scientology, the Raelians, the Unification Church, and racist hate groups such as Christian Identity. The organization is widely seen as a satire that mocks organized religion, or as the church describes itself, a cynisacreligion. It was founded in 1953 by a mysterious figure named J.R. Bob Dobbs, whose smiling, pipe-smoking image has been seen worldwide in chip art, graffiti, tattoos, and rock albums from performers ranging from Devo and George Clinton to Sublime.

A number of celebrities are SubGenius ministers, including former Talking Heads singer David Byrne, Penn Jillette, Robert Anton Wilson, and Pee-Wee Herman. A number of comic book artists praise the group's teachings, including legendary "underground" artists Robert Crumb and Paul Mavrides, along with Bob Burden (whose works were recently adapted into the motion picture Mystery Men). Mavrides was art director of the 1999 documentary Grass, whichy featured Woody Harrelson and many other celebrities.

In an interview with CNN, Church business manager Reverend Ivan Stang said, We're probably the only cult that admits we're ripping them off every day, and teaching them to enjoy it.

Posted by mikki at 09:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NBC5.com - Travel Getaways - Sex Toy In Luggage Gets Man In Trouble:


CHICAGO -- Mardin Azad Amin found himself in a tight squeeze last week when security at O'Hare Airport discovered a suspicious-looking object in his luggage.
So Amin, 29, handled the delicate situation this way: He told security the object was a bomb, Cook County prosecutors said.
The security guard then asked Amin to repeat what he'd said to a supervisor. This time, Amin was chuckling as he spoke, prosecutors said.
In fact, Amin was trying to disguise the fact that the black object -- resembling a grenade -- was a component for a penis pump.
All the same, Amin was charged with felony disorderly conduct and faces up to three years in prison if convicted, said Andrew Conklin, a spokesman with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.
Amin is due in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing, Conklin said.
Amin eventually told investigators he'd lied about the object's true use because his mother was standing nearby when the object was discovered and he didn't want her to know about it, Cook County assistant state's attorney Lorraine Scaduto said during a bond hearing last week.
The incident occurred Aug. 16 as Amin was set to catch a flight to Turkey, Scaduto said.
Amin has no known criminal history, Scaduto said.

Posted by mikki at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz: Police nab smurfs for trampoline theft:


Two blue smurfs were left with red faces on Saturday night after they were arrested by police for stealing a trampoline.

Senior Sergeant Brian Benn told NZPA two drunk 19 year olds, "dressed as smurfs", were seen carrying the trampoline along Richardson Street, Dunedin about 1am.

Smurfs are fictional small creatures who featured in the 1980s television series The Smurfs.

"When they saw the police had noticed them they dropped the trampoline and took off."

Mr Benn said police had to track them over several back yards.

"Two were located, but a third man got away," he said.

The men will appear in Dunedin District Court tomorrow.

Posted by mikki at 01:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh the abject HORROR! How utterly utterly awful. Even worse than vegemite!

Australians Upset Over Loud Manilow Music:


SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - It could be magic for some, but the use of loud Barry Manilow music to drive away late-night revelers from a suburban Sydney park is getting on the nerves of nearby residents.


In a move reminiscent of U.S. efforts to drive former Panama strongman Manuel Noriega from the Vatican Embassy where he took refuge in 1989, the local council in Rockdale, in Sydney's southern suburbs, started a six-month trial of high-volume hits by Manilow and Doris Day to chase away car enthusiasts who were gathering on weekend nights at Cook Park Reserve.

Posted by mikki at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boing Boing: Nigerian Letter scammer convinced to carve replica Commodore 64:


Nigerian Letter scammer convinced to carve replica Commodore 64
The 419Eater website chronicles the incredible story of a guy who baits "Nigerian Letter" scammers by telling them he has no time to help them free their dead relatives' seized assets because he is so busy sending out $150,000 scholarships for talented carvings to display in his galleries. He actually convinces a 419 scammer to produce a detailed replica of a Commodore 64 computer with the lure of a big cash payout -- then blows him off with a twist ending worthy of The Big Con. Link (via Waxy)

Posted by mikki at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I want THESE for Solstice!!!!

Geek Toys : IR Control Daleks:

Price: $54.99

Posted by mikki at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New York Daily News - Home - Offensive, moronic, stupid:


State Controller Alan Hevesi issued groveling apologies yesterday - saying it was "remarkably stupid" for him to inexplicably declare Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) "will put a bullet between the President's eyes."
The Democrat made the stunning gaffe at the Queens College commencement as he praised Schumer's work in Washington and the senator's willingness to take on the White House.

Dressed in a ceremonial gown, Hevesi called Schumer "the man who, uh, uh, how do I phrase this diplomatically, will put a bullet between the President's eyes if he could get away with it."

Later at a hastily called news conference, Hevesi ate a huge helping of crow.

"What I intended to say was that Chuck Schumer is incredibly smart, courageous, willing even to stand up to the President of the United States," Hevesi said.

"What came out of my mouth was that Chuck Schumer is smart and brave and capable of putting a bullet between the President's eyes."

Hevesi called his comment "incredibly moronic," "totally offensive" and "remarkably stupid" - assessments his GOP foes echoed.

He apologized publicly to President Bush and also phoned Schumer with a private mea culpa.

So far, the Queens pol said, he hasn't gotten a call from the Secret Service. There was no immediate reaction from the White House.

Posted by mikki at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! - May 30, 2006:


MAY 30--Zoinks! A Minnesota drug dealer was busted last week on felony drug charges after his 6 year-old son turned up at school with a Scooby-Doo backpack filled with his daddy's marijuana stash. According to the below criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court, when a teacher asked Corey Randle's son to check his bag for a folder, the boy pulled out a sandwich bag containing 25 baggies of pot. School officials quickly seized the weed and called St. Paul police, but not before Randle--pictured at right in a Ramsey County Sheriff's Office mug shot--realized his boy had the drugs. The 29-year-old father, who beat a hasty path to the school and left with his son, was tracked to his home where he told cops he used his drug dealing money "to pay for cigarettes." According to a prosecutor with the county attorney's office, an additional misdemeanor child endangerment charge has also been filed against Randle.

Posted by mikki at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Arrrrrgh Mateys. Do not dress like a pirate or a ninja or our lovely ATF, yes, those fine folk who brought us so many fireworks shows in the past, are now hot on the trail of these sinister humanoids cleverly blending in with the rest of society on college campuses. Luckily, the ATF is there, saving the day before we average citizens have to contend with evil parrot toting pirates who talk funny, or those equally evil, black uniformed purveyors of doom, destruction, and chop saki laughs on Saturday mornings, the ninjas.

Thanks for keeping us safe, ATF. Gee, I wonder what would happen if they went to a renn faire.....

redandblack.com - ATF rids Univ. of ninja threat:


ATF agents are always on alert for anything suspicious - including ninjas.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents, on campus Tuesday for Project Safe Neighborhoods training, detained a "suspicious individual" near the Georgia Center, University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said.

Jeremiah Ransom, a sophomore from Macon, was leaving a Wesley Foundation pirate vs. ninja event when he was detained.

After being held in investigative detention, he was found to have violated no criminal laws and was not arrested.

"It was surreal," Ransom said. "I was jogging from Wesley to Snelling when I heard someone yell 'freeze.'"

Ransom said he thought a friend was playing a joke before he realized officers had guns drawn and pointed at him.

ATF agents had noticed Ransom’s suspicious behavior and clothing and gave chase, apprehending him, Williamson said.

"Agents noticed someone wearing a bandanna across the face and acting in a somewhat suspicious manner, peeping around the corner," said ATF special agent in charge Vanessa McLemore.

Posted by mikki at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In yet another reason to ban Wal-Marts from your home, this sword wielding dumbass would likely not have been shopping at Bloomingdale's :-).

nbc4.com - News - Police: Woman Pulls Sword In Spat Over Parking Spot:


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An argument over a parking place outside a Florida Wal-Mart store erupted in a sword attack and landed a 46-year-old woman in jail, according to police.

Sharlott Till is accused of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly threatening women in another car with a 27-inch sword hidden inside her walking cane.

Police said Till and her husband were waiting to pull into a parking space at a Wal-Mart Sunday afternoon, when another car drove around them. According to the arrest report, Till approached a woman and her daughter in the other car and they exchanged profane words.

Witnesses told police that Till produced the sword and began swinging it around. She later told police she is trained in the use of a sword and was only attempting to scare the other driver. (note: "Hey, I watched Highlander as well, and you know... perhaps that gives me license to brandish a Katana when looking for a parking space in DC)

Till's husband told police he didn't see the sword even though he was standing just feet away from the confrontation. (note: Likely he was afraid of what she'd do to HIM if he "told on her."

No one was hurt in the incident. (note: except common sensibilities)

Posted by mikki at 12:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are some real life hilarious whines by ridiculously stupid people who shouldn't be allowed out of their home towns.

This Is Travel | Some of the more amazing moans:


No one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled...

My fiance and I booked a twin-bedded room and we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the rooms that we booked...

The brochure stated: 'No hairdressers at the accommodation'. We're trainee hairdressers, will we be OK staying here..?

It took us nine hours to fly to Jamaica from England - it only took the Americans three hours...

It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel...

I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends' three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller...

I was bitten by a mosquito - no one said they could bite...

We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white...

We had to queue outside with no air conditioning...

...And finally, from a holidaymaker in Spain:

There were too many Spanish people. The receptionist spoke Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners.

Posted by mikki at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This so reminds me of the time when I was a TV news/weather person, and a group of crazies stole our station's sign, weighing likely 150 lbs. Notes began to appear, one asking that the "weather girl" do the weather in a bikini. When that was ignored, the next demand was to mention the temperature in a town that we rarely reported on. (I forget which town it was... it MAY have been Plastow, but not certain...remember, this was 20+ years ago) When I complied with the "terrorist demands" (heh heh) the sign appeared the next day in our lobby.

I do wonder if it was the same people. In both cases, highly amusing :-).

WCBS NEWSRADIO 880:


PLAISTOW, N.H. (CBS)  --  A 4-foot tall Pillsbury Doughboy, which watched over a New Hampshire supermarket for 20 years, has been kidnapped. His captors have been chronicling his plight in a series of ransom notes and photos.

The Doughboy stood atop the dairy aisle at the Market Basket in Plaistow, N.H., for decades, reports WBZ-TV.

Employees considered him their store mascot. But, the store in Stateline Plaza is now closing, and the Doughboy's captor claims to be a loyal customer trying to stop the shutdown.

How somebody snatched the 4-foot tall Styrofoam statue is still a mystery. He disappeared on April 15. Immediately, the pictures started coming in the mail, complete with notes detailing Doughboy's daily doings.

In the first note, the captors wrote, "If you close the store, the Pillsbury Dough Boy will be baked." The accompanying picture showed the mascot wearing a blindfold.

Since then the photos have arrived every couple of days. Later images showed him at a Dairy Queen, at a local fire station, a hamburger stand and a local strip club.

Posted by mikki at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, we are taught to report the unusual, the suspicious and the dangerous to keep our country safe. So what does Paramount do? They add LAME to the mix and claim they didn't know people would actually take perceived threats seriously. DUH. Perhaps Tom used his ultrasound on them as well.

Mission Illogical: Movie Promotion Puts Lives 'at Risk' -- 05/05/2006:


Mission Illogical: Movie Promotion Puts Lives 'at Risk'
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
May 05, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - The management of The Los Angeles Times said a musical promotion for Paramount Pictures' upcoming movie, "Mission: Impossible III" was designed to turn the "everyday news rack experience" into an "extraordinary mission." But the stunt created a real mission for federal law enforcement officers who had to evacuate patients and staff at an area veterans' medical facility last week.

The plan was to conceal digital audio players in 4,500 randomly selected newspaper boxes around Los Angeles and Ventura County. When newspaper buyers opened the racks, the six inch long, two-and-a-half inch wide red plastic boxes -- connected to activator switches on the news rack doors -- would play the easily-recognizable "Mission: Impossible" theme song.

A photo of the movie's star, Tom Cruise, adorned a promotional poster on the front of the racks, although there was no warning that the doors had been rigged to play music.

Despite the simplicity of the plan, the digital audio players and the red, white and black wires leading to their activator switches did not stay concealed. One newspaper buyer saw the device and switch, thought it was a bomb and called authorities. After an inspection of the newspaper rack could not determine whether the device was explosive, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department bomb squad blew up the newspaper rack.

Posted by mikki at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | South of Scotland | Noisy neighbour's trombone taken:


Noisy neighbour's trombone taken

A trombone and other instruments were seized by police
A trombone was seized by police in Dumfries after complaints about noise coming from a flat in the town.
Other items taken included a drum kit, electric guitars, a television, radio, stereo systems and amplifiers.

A 55-year-old man, of Barnraws, in Shakespeare Street, was fined £200 under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 at Dumfries Sheriff Court.

The court ordered the forfeit of the sound-making items which police said could "inflict misery" on neighbours.

Posted by mikki at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Faux clerks greet Best Buy shoppers | News.blog | CNET News.com:


Recent visitors to a Manhattan Best Buy may have noticed an inordinate number of store clerks milling about. But lest they think the consumer electronics chain has a new policy of dispatching multiple clerks to each buyer, it turns out those assisting customers were actually faux employees taking part in a stunt by comedy group Improv Everywhere.

The N.Y.-based group, which "causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places," according to its Web site, enacts assorted creative stunts, with the audience made up of unsuspecting passersby. For past pranks, participants have pulled off synchronized swimming in a park fountain, riding the N.Y subway without pants and simultaneously triggering a symphony of ring tones in a book store.

Posted by mikki at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hero Cat meows loudly outside house; aba...:


Cat meows loudly outside house; abandoned baby is saved. Cat heralded as hero. Oblivious, cat resumes regular schedule of meowing loudly outside peoples' homes in the middle of the night for no damn reason

Posted by mikki at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DEA agent who shot self in foot sues over Internet video | News.blog | CNET News.com:


DEA agent who shot self in foot sues over Internet video
April 14, 2006 12:02 PM PDT
Only highly trained federal agents know how to handle firearms safely, right? And the rest of us should be gently disarmed?

In a remarkable video that's made the rounds on the Internet, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Lee Paige solemnly informed his audience at the Orlando Youth Minority Golf Association that he was the only one in the room knowledgeable enough to handle a firearm safely.

A moment later, he shot himself in the foot.

Limping and hobbling around the room, and presumably leaving a bloody trail along the way, Paige tried to put the best face on this publicly embarrassing incident. He even attempted to continue with the prepared spiel, pointing to what looks like an AR-15 style rifle and assuring everyone it was honestly, truly unloaded -- until the snickers from the crowd got a little too intense and he fled the room as quickly as his new wound would allow.

(One wonders if the crowd shouldn't have fled instead when Paige went for the battle rifle, given his demonstrated inability to safely handle a Glock handgun a moment earlier. "It's an empty weapon, guys," he shouted, trying to make himself heard over the hoots and jeers.)

Posted by mikki at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do not dress like a Ninja and roam around college campuses.

redandblack.com - ATF rids Univ. of ninja threat:


ATF agents are always on alert for anything suspicious — including ninjas.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents, on campus Tuesday for Project Safe Neighborhoods training, detained a “suspicious individual” near the Georgia Center, University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said.

Jeremiah Ransom, a sophomore from Macon, was leaving a Wesley Foundation pirate vs. ninja event when he was detained.

After being held in investigative detention, he was found to have violated no criminal laws and was not arrested.

“It was surreal,” Ransom said. “I was jogging from Wesley to Snelling when I heard someone yell ‘freeze.’”

Ransom said he thought a friend was playing a joke before he realized officers had guns drawn and pointed at him.

Posted by mikki at 07:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)