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Two-headed Dragon Turns One
Zak-n-Wheezie is a two-headed Bearded Dragon belonging to the Wittes family in Fowler, California. Apparently when the lizard(s?) were younger, the Wittes has to lay low to stop circus sideshow types from trying to get hold of the unusual duo.
Apparently the Wittes will not part with Zak-n-Wheezie for anything less than a million dollars, though there are people out there who would pay that much to eat the Wittes' pet.
"There are people who will pay large amounts to eat a two-headed critter. They think it will give them eternal life," says Frank Witte, shaking his head. Zak-n-Wheezie is a two-headed Bearded Dragon belonging to the Wittes family in Fowler, California. Apparently when the lizard(s?) wer... more -
Cameraheads - too much CCTV?
A group of artists and protestors are today meeting in Seattle dressed up as CCTV cameras to highlight the growing prevalence of surveilance cameras in the city. The group will be going around with giant cameras on their heads to remind people that video surveillance cameras are recording their every move at Cal Anderson Park and three other parks around town.
“The project not only raises the questions of who is watching who and who is watching the watchers, but also … why we are being watched at all,” says Paul Strong, the group organiser. “There is so much going on in the news about wiretapping and data mining, all these little things that happen locally go right by.”
Do we really have too much surveillance, or are the Cameraheads overreacting? A group of artists and protestors are today meeting in Seattle dressed up as CCTV cameras to highlight the growing prevalence of surve... more -
Playstation 2 incites African war- What's the cost of gaming?
"Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond?
According to a report by activist site Toward Freedom, for the past decade the search for a rare metal necessary in the manufacturing of Sony's Playstation 2 game console has fueled a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the center of the conflict is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan. After processing, coltan turns into a powder called tantalum, which is used extensively in a wealth of western electronic devices including cell phones, computers and, of course, game consoles.
Allegedly, the demand for coltan prompted Rwandan military groups and western mining companies to plunder hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the rare metal, often by forcing prisoners-of-war and even children to work in the country's coltan mines.
"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms," said Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King.
So where's the connection to Sony? According to Toward Freedom, during the 2000 launch of the PS2, the electronics giant was having trouble meeting consumer demand. To pump out more units, Sony required a significant increase in the production of electric capacitors, which are primarily made with tantalum. This helped drive the world price of the powder from $49/pound to a whopping $275/pound, resulting in the frenzied scouring of the Congolese hills known for being ripe with coltan.
Sony has since sworn off using tantalum acquired from the Congo, claiming that current builds of the PS2, PSP and PS3 consoles are sourced from a variety of mines in several different countries.
But according to researcher David Barouski, they're hardly off the hook.
"SONY's PlayStation 2 launch...was a big part of the huge increase in demand for coltan that began in early 1999," he explained. "SONY and other companies like it, have the benefit of plausible deniability, because the coltan ore trades hands so many times from when it is mined to when SONY gets a processed product, that a company often has no idea where the original coltan ore came from, and frankly don't care to know. But statistical analysis shows it to be nearly inconceivable that SONY made all its PlayStations without using Congolese coltan."
Currently, the Playstation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all-time, having sold through over 140 million units. "
"Has the video game industry dug up its very own blood diamond? ... more -
Is sex with a robot hooker cheating?
So asks the headline at website Asylum. So far the poll shows 77% of respondents consider a little robot-love to be guilt free, something I'd agree with – after all, an all-singing, all-dancing (and all-sucking) robot doll is just a better featured vibrator, right?
The Lady, whom I always consult in matters sexual and sartorial, agrees. "Do you think using a vibrator is having sex?" she asked me, "I do. It's having sex, but it's not getting laid."
But what about the partner left at home? Because these dolls are so human, waving goodbye to your man as he heads off to the cyber-brothel might not be so easy. The erotic part of sex, after all, occurs in the mind, and the only reason to use a full sized fake woman is to pretend you are with a real woman.
In the mind of the John, is there a difference between the two? Is it the high-tech equivalent of getting up on the job, closing your eyes and pretending you are actually having sex with a celebrity (or as I have done in the past, drawing the face of Queen Elizabeth on a paper bag)? And if it is done illicitly, without the knowledge of your other half, is that deception is worse than the sex itself?
We suppose that there are advantages. No viruses (unless the girl runs Windows), and no payoff money if you happen to be a high profile, blackmail-able celebrity (a Gadget Lab blogger, for instance). For me, it comes down to price. If it's cheaper than dinner and a movie, I'm in."
Interesting! I think it depends on how human like the robots are and to what extent they emotionally relate to the human. So asks the headline at website Asylum. So far the poll shows 77% of respondents consider a little robot-love to be guilt free, someth... more -
Cash crisis ends sex counselling for priests
"THE Catholic Church's national sexual abuse assessment and treatment facility this month consists of one volunteer in Kincumber on a mobile phone.
Encompass, which treated more than 1100 Catholic clergy for psychosexual and other mental health issues, closed on June 30 after the church hierarchy decided against spending $200,000 a year to keep it going.
In the meantime, a former board member, Timothy O'Hearn has been left to answer Encompass's phone, referring church employees with mental health issues to private treatment. "
uh, WHAT? Over 1000 clergy?
"One former staff member, who requested anonymity, said it was "a tragedy" for offenders and victims of sexual abuse. "If we can spend that much money to have the Pope come out, what is $200,000 a year?" the former staffer said. "The priests would be rejoicing that Encompass has closed, as they are in total denial."
Obviously the church is taking their sex scandals seriously...SIGH! "THE Catholic Church's national sexual abuse assessment and treatment facility this month consists of one volunteer in Kincumber on a ... more -
Human Growth Hormone Dopers under Placebo Effect?
"Many athletes credit drugs with improving their performance, but some of them may want to thank their brain instead. Mounting evidence suggests that the boost from human growth hormone (HGH), an increasingly popular doping drug, might be caused by the placebo effect.
In a new double-blind trial funded by the World Anti-Doping Agency, in which neither researchers nor participants knew who was receiving HGH and who was taking a placebo, the researchers asked participants to guess whether or not they were on the real drug. Then they examined the results of the group who guessed that they were getting HGH when, in fact, they had received a placebo. That group improved at four fitness tests measuring strength, endurance, power and sprint capacity. The study participants who guessed correctly that they were taking a placebo showed much less improvement, according to preliminary results presented at the Society for Endocrinology meeting in June. The researchers are currently analyzing the results of the other participants for future publication.
“This finding really shows the power of the mind,” said Ken Ho, an endocrinologist at the Garvan Institute in Sydney, Australia, who led the study. “Many athletes are reaping the benefits of the placebo effect, without knowing whether what they’re taking is beneficial or not.” "Many athletes credit drugs with improving their performance, but some of them may want to thank their brain instead. Mounting evidenc... more -
No funny names in New Zealand!
"A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it.
Just ask Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. He had her renamed.
Judge Rob Murfitt made the 9-year-old girl a ward of the court so that her name could be changed, he said in a ruling made public Thursday. The girl was involved in a custody battle, he said.
The new name was not made public to protect the girl's privacy.
"The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name," he wrote. "It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily."
The girl had been so embarrassed at the name that she had never told her closest friends what it was. She told people to call her "K" instead, the girl's lawyer, Colleen MacLeod, told the court.
In his ruling, Murfitt cited a list of the unfortunate names.
Registration officials blocked some names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, he said. But others were allowed, including Number 16 Bus Shelter "and tragically, Violence," he said.
New Zealand law does not allow names that would cause offense to a reasonable person, among other conditions, said Brian Clarke, the registrar general of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Clarke said officials usually talked to parents who proposed unusual names to convince them about the potential for embarrassment."
Wow! What do you think? "A family court judge in New Zealand has had enough with parents giving their children bizarre names here, and did something about it.... more -
Fish pedicures make a splash!
"Ready for the latest in spa pampering? Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away.
Fish pedicures are creating something of a splash in the D.C. area, where a northern Virginia spa has been offering them for the past four months. John Ho, who runs the Yvonne Hair and Nails salon with his wife, Yvonne Le, said 5,000 people have taken the plunge so far.
"This is a good treatment for everyone who likes to have nice feet," Ho said.
He said he wanted to come up with something unique while finding a replacement for pedicures that use razors to scrape off dead skin. The razors have fallen out of favor with state regulators because of concerns about whether they're sanitary.
Ho was skeptical at first about the fish, which are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish. They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian countries."
Would you do it? "Ready for the latest in spa pampering? Prepare to dunk your tootsies in a tank of water and let tiny carp nibble away. ... more -
Hardcore 11 yr old bites attacking Pitbull!
"An 11-year old boy is in Brazil's media spotlight after sinking his teeth into the neck of a dog that attacked him. Local newspapers reported on Thursday that Gabriel Almeida was playing in his uncle's backyard in the city of Belo Horizonte when a pit bull named Tita lunged at him and bit him in the left arm.
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Almeida grabbed the dog by the neck and bit back — biting so hard that he lost a canine tooth.
Almeida tells the O Globo newspaper: "It is better to lose a tooth than one's life."
Stonemasons working nearby chased the dog away before it could attack again.
The Folha de S. Paulo newspaper said the boy received four stitches at a local hospital while the dog was taken to a pound and may be killed."
HAHAHAHA he lost a canine tooth! What a crazy boy! "An 11-year old boy is in Brazil's media spotlight after sinking his teeth into the neck of a dog that attacked him. Local newspapers ... more -
Boy Bites Dog
A boy from Brazil who was attacked by a pitbull lost a tooth in defending himself by biting the dog back. The kid allegedly grabbed the dog's neck and bit hard till passers-by pulled the two apart. The boy had to have several stitched on his arm as well as the lost tooth - the condition of the dog is unknown. And the tooth the kid lost? One of his canines, of course... A boy from Brazil who was attacked by a pitbull lost a tooth in defending himself by biting the dog back. The kid allegedly grabbed t... more
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TV Team Tries to Check Suitcase with Dwarf Inside
Swedish airport staff were not amused when a team from a TV comedy show tried to check in a suitcase with a dwarf inside.
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Saddam Hussein's Rolls Royce on eBay
Reports are that Saddam Hussein's purple Rolls was, until a few hours ago, listed for sale on eBay for £185,000. The car was apparently bought from the Iraqi government by a Surrey-based car dealer which and has the paperwork to prove the moustachioed identity of its previous owner. The car would have been shipped over from Baghdad within 28 days, with a new stereo added, apparently to replace the one that was ripped out by American soldiers. Sadly the auction has now been pulled, though it's not known if an offline buyer turned up or the authorities stepped in ... Reports are that Saddam Hussein's purple Rolls was, until a few hours ago, listed for sale on eBay for £185,000. The car was apparent... more
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Let It USB: 15 Crimes Against the Flash Drive (humor)
Even though it is not as contreversal as genetic altering, publisher
R. J. Evans seems to think that product designers may be putting
design over function in apperance versus practicallity. Even though it is not as contreversal as genetic altering, publisher ... more -
Pregnant Man Debuts His Baby
The first transgender male to give birth, has revealed photos of his newborn daughter.
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10 bizarre-looking marine animals
Feast your eyes on this amazing story about deep sea oddities.
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Repent for preaching atheism, or we'll stone you!
"Thiruvananthapuram:[UH, WHERE?-Delia]
Religious groups in Kerala have warned the government they would start statewide protests if it doesn’t scrap references to atheism in a new social studies textbook for Class VII.
A chapter in the textbook for schools that follow the state government’s syllabus says atheism is a better principle to follow in life compared to religion. Leaders of the state’s three main religions allege the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government is propagating Marxism and twisting history through the textbook.
The Church and the Nair Service Society, a Hindu organisation, have threatened to launch a statewide agitation against the Left government if the controversial textbook was not withdrawn.
Representatives of 12 Muslim organisations, led by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), met Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and Education Minister M A Baby on Monday and demanded that the textbook be withdrawn.
Baby on Tuesday rejected the Opposition alliance United Democratic Front (UDF) allegation’s that the textbook was anti-religious. He agreed to have a debate in the Assembly but insisted that the textbook was prepared on the basis of guidelines prepared by the National Council for Education Research and Training.
The Minister insisted that the book promotes tolerance but religious groups disagree. Religious leaders take offence to a particular passage in the textbook in which a boy and his parents go for admission to a school and the headmaster questions them about their religion. The boy’s parents say he doesn’t have a religion because theirs was an inter-religious marriage.
The textbook says that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in his will that he didn’t want religious customs at his cremation. Religious groups allege the Left government is misinterpreting Nehru’s writing to promote atheism.
A report by UNI says two photojournalists and two constables were injured in Malappuram district when a protest march by the pro-IUML Muslim Students Federation turned violent on Tuesday.
The protesters allegedly threw stones at the police when they were stopped from marching to the office of the Deputy Director of Education in Malappuram to press for their demand that the textbook be withdrawn."
Hmmm.... "Thiruvananthapuram:[UH, WHERE?-Delia] ... more -
"Sinful" dancing insults Islam
"Indonesian songstress Inul Daratista will face more controversy when she performs at Stadium Bukit Jalil here on Sunday, just 10 days after the contentious cancellation of her concert in Johor Baru.
This is because members of Pas Youth are planning to disseminate 10,000 flyers which state that the concert is not in line with Islamic values and those watching it are committing a sin.
Federal Territory Pas Youth chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad said this yesterday at the City Hall headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut.
Earlier, he had presented a memorandum to Kuala Lumpur Mayor Abdul Hakim Borhan to cancel the concert this weekend.
Kamaruzaman and four other Pas Youth members presented the memorandum to the mayor's special officer, Shaari Ahmad Junid, who accepted it on behalf of the mayor.
On Pas Youth's reason for going all-out to protest Inul's concert, Kamaruzaman said:
"Have you seen her in action? Just go to the YouTube website and type her name and you will see that her shows are quite obscene. Even I can't bear watching her."
He said her concerts were known to make the crowd go "wild sexually" and that this could lead to social problems.
"Once they go wild, some will resort to sex by the roadside. So it's best that her concert does not go on," he said.
He added that City Hall must stop her concert as it did not adhere to rulings by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).
"In Indonesia, although Inul is now known as 'Hajjah' (having performed the Haj), she has also been labelled an obscene dancer by the Indonesian Ulama Council. So what more can I say?"
When asked to comment on the perception of Pas Youth as being "Taliban-like and orthodox" in opposing concerts such as Inul's, Gwen Stefani's and Beyonce's, he said the party had a valid reason for doing so.
"In Islam, you cannot just watch others committing sin.
"As long as you are able, you should let those committing sin know that what they are doing is wrong and if possible, stop them from doing so," said Kamaruzaman."
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'Pantyhose Bandit' causes sheer annoyance
"Dozens of pairs of pantyhose have been left near a Milford school bus stop - causing sheer annoyance in the neighborhood. The pantyhose - sometimes new, sometimes used - has been left on Camp Street for more than two years. They're almost always black and queen sized.
Resident Laurie Warich told the Milford Daily News she picked up 43 pairs in one day.
Police say they've done some investigating and talked to one suspect. But Chief Thomas O'Loughlin said the only crime is littering - and they don't have the resources to focus on the case.
That's left some neighbors discussing doing their own amateur sting with video cameras and walkie talkies to catch the culprit, whom they've dubbed the "Pantyhose Bandit."
Warich said the pantyhose dumping is "weird, it's odd, it's scary for the kids.""
Yeah, very weird! And for TWO YEARS? Someone has too much time on their hands... "Dozens of pairs of pantyhose have been left near a Milford school bus stop - causing sheer annoyance in the neighborhood. The pantyho... more -
Mysterious Noise haunts Couple
"Bob and Leona Ehrfurth say the noise that's been plaguing them for two years sounds something like a rumbling motor, with a subtle vibration that won't quit. Then it stops - especially when they try to show city officials or acoustic experts what they're hearing.
When they leave, the don't hear the noise, he said, so they know it's not some health problem the two share.
City officials hired a company for $1,000 worth of testing in the house this spring, but the tester came up with no noise and no significant vibration.
"Yeah, I've experienced it," Nicholson said. "It's like an engine thing, a low-frequency vibration. I think it would be an annoyance."
He had hoped the testing equipment could be used inside one of the factories in the area, but Municipal Judge Jerry Hanson wouldn't sign the inspection warrant because there was no reasonable suspicion of a violation."
Weird. "Bob and Leona Ehrfurth say the noise that's been plaguing them for two years sounds something like a rumbling motor, with a subtle vi... more -
1800-year-old Elvis Presley sculpture
It looks like Elvis might have been rocking Rome almost 2,000 years ago after a marble carving - the spitting-image of the king - was revealed.
The 1,800-year-old Roman bust is now due to go under the hammer as part of a £1 million auction at Bonhams in London.
Dating back to 400 BC it bares a striking resemblance with Elvis, down to the over-the-top quiff and distinctive jaw line.
Fans would be forgiven for thinking that their idol may well have lived a previous life in Rome.
A spokesman for Bonhams, said: "The likeness is so great that Graham Geddes, the collector himself calls the carving "Elvis."
"It is perhaps the strangest item in the sale, certainly to modern eyes."
The 'Elvis' bust is one of 150 lots, which once belonged to Australian collector Graham Geddes, which will be auctioned in October, other items include rare Greek and Roman vases and marble reliefs portraying battle scenes. It looks like Elvis might have been rocking Rome almost 2,000 years ago after a marble carving - the spitting-image of the king - was ... more
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