[SIR****TMG]

Good Grief..............

[~Candy~]

REAL NICE: To help raise money to pay the medical bills for Hungarian
Olympic legend Ferenc Puskas, now 78 and suffering from an Alzheimer's-
like disease, Real Madrid played the Puskas All-Stars in a benefit
soccer match in Budapest. The match grossed 421 million forints
(US$2.21 million). But that was before Real Madrid collected their 320
million forint appearance fee, plus 25.5 million forints for hotels and
other expenses. The expense of putting on the game pushed the total
expenses to 424 million forints, leaving the fund-raiser with a 3
million forint (US$17,000) deficit. (Reuters) ...Funny, the organizers
said the same thing Puskas did: "What fund-raiser?"

[DiSaidSo]

How would you like to meet these guys?

Mon Aug 29,12:01 PM ET



WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Three men trying to steal fuel from a New Zealand farm Monday ended up setting fire to their own car.

Police said the trio had siphoned diesel into a petrol-driven vehicle. When their car would not start, they examined the fuel pipe using a cigarette lighter.

One click, a boom and the car burst into flames.

"It wasn't a major whodunnit," senior sergeant Ross Gilbert told Reuters, from the small North Island town of Waipukurau, about 140 miles northeast of Wellington.

"Fortunately for them, there is no criminal charge for stupidity."

The men, aged 18 to 19, escaped injury but were charged with theft.

[coderitr]

Ostrich Gets Loose on Golden Gate Bridge

SAN FRANCISCO - Commuters are used to traffic backups during the rush-hour commute on the Golden Gate Bridge. But even this had to throw some of them for a loop: An ostrich got loose from a minivan Monday and started roaming around near the toll plaza on the bridge.

Ron Love, the owner of Love Farms, was transporting two of the odd-looking birds in the back of his van. Love was stopped in traffic when he suddenly accelerated, jolting one of the ostriches, who smashed through the back window of the van and got loose on the bridge.

The ostrich began running around on the bridge, stopping traffic for about eight minutes before police were able to move it out of traffic.

"It was quite an adventure," Love said. "Strange things always seem to happen with ostriches. I guess this proves it."

The ostrich had road rash from the fall but was not seriously hurt and was resting comfortably back home, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Wayne Ziese said.

[DiSaidSo]

Briton Finds Venomous Centipede in House

2 hours, 9 minutes ago



LONDON - Aaron Balick expected to find a tiny mouse rustling behind the TV in his apartment. Instead, he found a venomous giant centipede that somehow hitched a ride from South America to Britain.

"Thinking it was a mouse, I went to investigate the sound. The sound was coming from under some papers which I lifted, expecting to see the mouse scamper away," the 32-year-old psychotherapist said Wednesday. "Instead, when I lifted the papers, I saw this prehistoric looking animal skitter away behind a stack of books."

He trapped the 9-inch-long creature between a stack of books and put it in a plastic container.

The next day he took it to Britain's Natural History Museum, which identified the insect as a Scolopendra gigantea — the world's biggest species of centipede.

Stuart Hine, an entomologist at the museum, said it was likely the centipede hitched a ride aboard a freighter, likely with a shipment of fruit.

"Dealing with over 4,000 public and commercial inquiries every year, we have come to expect the unexpected. However, when Aaron produced this beast from his bag I was staggered," Hine said. "Not even I expected to be presented with this."

The Scolopendra gigantea has front claws that are adapted to deliver venom when it stings, which can lead to a blistering rash, nausea and fever. The sting is rarely life-threatening, but painful.



An image released by Britain's Natural History Museum in London, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005, showing Natural History Museum expert Stuart Hine with a giant centipede 'Scolopendra gigantea', which was found in a north London home. Aaron Balick, 32, a psychologist from Islington, north London, trapped the venomous centipede in a plastic box after he found it behind his TV and took it to the Natural History Museum. There, experts identified it as 'Scolopendra gigantea' - the world's largest species of centipede. The creature measured nine inches long by just under an inch wide (not including its legs). (AP Photo / Natural History Museum, PA)

[eggplant43]

Man taking driver's license test crashes car into building


By YVETTE CRAIG
Staff Writer

Published: Wednesday, 09/14/05

Driving-test examiner Laurie Holden said she was deciding whether to give a new driver a passing grade yesterday when the road test ended with him crashing his car through the Rutherford County Driver License Station in Murfreesboro.

The car rammed into the waiting room filled with seated customers — injuring two, the state Department of Safety reported.

They were taken to Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro. Their names and the extent of their injuries were not immediately known.

"I remember telling him to stop as we pulled up to the building," said Holden, who has worked as an examiner for seven years. "The next thing I knew it was raining bricks all around us."

Investigators believe the driver hit the accelerator instead of the brake.

The driver's license station at 1035 Samsonite Blvd. was boarded up and temporarily closed yesterday. Public safety and code enforcement officials weren't sure whether it would reopen today.

Phyllis Reuhland, the Murfreesboro branch supervisor, said she nearly jumped out of her skin when the crash occurred.

"I was in the back working when I heard something that sounded like a gun shot," Reuhland said. "When I went to see what happened I saw the front end of the car inside the building."

Things could have been a lot worse. The station allows only 25 motor-vehicle customers inside at a time. An additional 40 people stood in line outside the building waiting to come in, said Rochelle Bryant, district supervisor for the state's driver's license issuance.

"We were lucky we didn't have 50 people standing and sitting inside because we probably would have had a lot more people hurt," Bryant said.

The driver, Osman Salah, 25, of Nashville, failed the test and will be eligible to take it again in seven to 30 days. He could not be reached for comment yesterday. •

Published: Wednesday, 09/14/05

[DiSaidSo]

2 Hikers Attacked by Yellowstone Grizzly

1 hour, 12 minutes ago


BOZEMAN, Mont. - A grizzly bear attacked two hikers in Yellowstone National Park, but the men escaped serious injury, the National Park Service said Thursday.

Pat McDonald, 52, of Bismarck, N.D., and Gerald Holzer, 51, of Northfield, Minn., were hiking on a trail near Shoshone Lake in the park's southern section Wednesday when they noticed fresh bear scat, officials said in a written statement.

They decided to continue, but were charged by a grizzly bear "at full stride" about a quarter-mile further along the trail, the release said.

Holzer, who was in front, sidestepped the bear. McDonald stepped behind some trees and dropped to the ground, officials said. The bear ran past him, but returned and swatted at him, then turned to Holzer, who had dropped to the ground and was lying on his stomach.

The bear jumped on Holzer's back, swatted at him, then retreated briefly. During that time, McDonald retrieved the bear spray strapped to his waist and doused the bear in the face when it returned and starting biting his leg. The bear then ran off, officials said.

The two men hiked 4 miles to the trailhead and drove to the clinic at Old Faithful for treatment.

McDonald suffered a puncture wound to his leg. Holzer was not injured, and officials said his backpack protected him during the attack.

[angelize56]

I wasn't sure where to post this...odd how this young woman was crushed...upbeat her baby is alive though Mom died....truly sad!

Doctors Deliver Baby After Mother Crushed

Friday, September 16, 2005 4:45 p.m. ET

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- A pregnant woman crushed by her own car gave birth before dying. Her baby was in critical condition Friday.

Adriana Cruz, 32, was getting into her car in a parking lot Thursday when she released her parking brake and the car rolled forward, pinning her against a wall, said police Lt. Maverick Grier.

Rescue crews freed Cruz and rushed her to Highland Hospital for emergency surgery. Before she died two hours later, doctors were able to deliver her baby by emergency Caesarean section.

The baby, born about a month prematurely, was listed in critical but stable condition and will be transferred to Children's Hospital Oakland.

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/s...toryId=1089921

[DiSaidSo]

OK, this? Is weird!!!

Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction

Fri Sep 16,10:30 AM ET



SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.

When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.

"It sounded almost like a firecracker," Clewer told Australian radio Friday.

"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt."

Employees, unsure of the cause of the mysterious burning smell, telephoned firefighters who evacuated the building.

"There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise -- a bit like a whip -- both inside and outside the building," said fire official Henry Barton.

Firefighters cut electricity to the building thinking the burns might have been caused by a power surge.

Clewer, who after leaving the building discovered he had scorched a piece of plastic on the floor of his car, returned to seek help from the firefighters.

"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.

"I've been firefighting for over 35 years and I've never come across anything like this," he said.

Firefighters took possession of Clewer's jacket and stored it in the courtyard of the fire station, where it continued to give off a strong electrical current.

David Gosden, a senior lecturer in electrical engineering at Sydney University, told Reuters that for a static electricity charge to ignite a carpet, conditions had to be perfect.

"Static electricity is a similar mechanism to lightning, where you have clouds rubbing together and then a spark generated by very dry air above them," said Gosden.

[Omega_Shadow]

I don't understand how that fire department approved the purchase of a Electrostatic meter (being the high price tag and that it is not needed to fight fires) but other then that, this story is completely unbelievable. Yes, it is possible to build up a static charge with your cloths, however it will dissipate every time you touched something. If he was truly burning the carpet as he walked, as this article claims, he would have had to generate up-wards of 5,000 volts EVERY STEP, as with every step he would discharge the built up energy into the carpet.

And one more thing, 40,000 volts would kill a man. The moment he touched something the amperage created moving the energy from his body to the object would stop his heart. Think about the shock you get after rubbing your slippers on the carpet and touching a door nob and multiply that by 500

This is evidence of a reporter getting bored and making something up, or just not checking facts and going on someones word.


<UPDATE: Expect the MythBusters to work on this story in the near future>

[coderitr]

Jeep, Doing 80MPH, Drives Under Plane To Fix Landing Gear

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- It was a literal fix on the fly at the New Smyrna Beach Airport. Three men in a jeep drove within feet of a small plane to fix its landing gear while it was still in the air.

The jeep had to go just about as fast as it could go down the runway, and the small Cessna had to slow to almost stalling speed for it to work.

"It's not something, from a safety standpoint, we would promote under normal circumstances," said New Smyrna Beach spokesperson Shannon Lewis.

An instructor and student were approaching the airport, ready to land, when they noticed their landing gear wouldn't lock in place. They radioed in their predicament and then circled for about an hour before crews on the ground could come up with a plan to get them down safely.

"We went through the normal procedures, emergency procedures, did a little bit extra by driving out," said Tony Perna, Epic Aviation.

With emergency vehicles in place, the Cessna flew in low and slow with a jeep right beside it. After several passes at about 80 miles per hour, the three-man crew in the jeep was able to see the problem and figure out how to fix it.

On a final pass, the men used a five-foot long pole to push the landing gear into place and lock it. With that done, the plane was able to land safely.

The instructor was flying the plane during the low passes. Epic Aviation would not let Channel 9 speak with him.

The airport will now investigate to see if the impromptu in-flight inspection broke any major rules.

"Investigating the incident and determining if any action needs to be taken," said Lewis.

When the airport is done with their investigation, they will forward their report to the Federal Aviation Authority.

Copyright 2005 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[eggplant43]

That would be something to see.

[DiSaidSo]

Originally Posted by Omega_Shadow

I don't understand how that fire department approved the purchase of a Electrostatic meter (being the high price tag and that it is not needed to fight fires) but other then that, this story is completely unbelievable. Yes, it is possible to build up a static charge with your cloths, however it will dissipate every time you touched something. If he was truly burning the carpet as he walked, as this article claims, he would have had to generate up-wards of 5,000 volts EVERY STEP, as with every step he would discharge the built up energy into the carpet.

And one more thing, 40,000 volts would kill a man. The moment he touched something the amperage created moving the energy from his body to the object would stop his heart. Think about the shock you get after rubbing your slippers on the carpet and touching a door nob and multiply that by 500

This is evidence of a reporter getting bored and making something up, or just not checking facts and going on someones word.


<UPDATE: Expect the MythBusters to work on this story in the near future>

I knew someone would be along to debunk that story! It DOES sound pretty ludicrous. And.... like no one's ever worn a nylon jacket over a wool shirt before???

[little den]

Originally Posted by DiSaidSo

How would you like to meet these guys?

Mon Aug 29,12:01 PM ET



WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Three men trying to steal fuel from a New Zealand farm Monday ended up setting fire to their own car.

Police said the trio had siphoned diesel into a petrol-driven vehicle. When their car would not start, they examined the fuel pipe using a cigarette lighter.

One click, a boom and the car burst into flames.

"It wasn't a major whodunnit," senior sergeant Ross Gilbert told Reuters, from the small North Island town of Waipukurau, about 140 miles northeast of Wellington.

"Fortunately for them, there is no criminal charge for stupidity."

The men, aged 18 to 19, escaped injury but were charged with theft.

We are not all like that!!!!

[DiSaidSo]

Danish Air Force Compensates Santa

2 hours, 3 minutes ago

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - The Danish Air Force said Thursday it paid 31,175 kroner ($5,032) in compensation to a part-time Santa Claus whose reindeer died of heart failure when two fighter jets roared over his farm.

The animal, named Rudolf, [NOOOOOOO!!! Not Rudolf!!!] was grazing peacefully at the central Denmark farm of Olavi Nikkanoff, when the screaming F-16 jets passed overhead at low altitude in February.

The reindeer collapsed and died, leaving Nikkanoff with the prospect of only one animal pulling his sleigh next Christmas.

He complained to the air force, which agreed to compensate him for the cost of the reindeer and veterinary expenses.

"We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously," said air force spokesman, Capt. Morten Jensen.

The air force checked flight data and veterinary reports and concluded the planes likely caused the animal's death.

"We're more than happy to pay if it means that children around the world will get their presents," Jensen said.

Nikkanoff said he was satisfied with the compensation and would use it to buy a new reindeer before Christmas.