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Duck hunters accidentally directed to sex line
Duck hunters in the US phoning to enquire about permits are reaching a sex line, due to a printing error which directs them to 1-800-TRAMP24, rather than 1-800-STAMP24. Hapless callers are greeted by a throaty female voice inviting them to 'talk only to the girls that turn you on,' for $1.99 a minute.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has printed around 3.5 million of the cards, but says the $300,000 reprint cost is too high to justify.
"With all of the needs for conservation", a spokesman said, "it doesn't make sense to divert money away from an important cause." The agency has received no complaints. Duck hunters in the US phoning to enquire about permits are reaching a sex line, due to a printing error which directs them to 1-800-T... more -
Should Mural Art be Saved or Trashed?
Sao Paulo artists Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo obliged London's Tate Gallery by painting their distinctive yellow graffiti on outside walls of the museum. Just a month later, their hometown began rolling gray paint across one of the brothers' murals as part of clean-up efforts.
Officials did an abrupt about-face after the Pandolfos and other artists complained both to the city and in the news media. Now Sao Paulo is creating a registry of street art to be preserved, exempt from Mayor Gilberto Kassab's drive to eliminate ``visual pollution.'' The episode is sparking a public discussion of what constitutes art.
``Outside of Brazil, graffiti art has been much more accepted,'' said Gustavo Pandolfo, speaking by telephone from Barcelona, Spain. ``Galleries and museums invite us to do shows. And in Sao Paulo, where we do this mural for free as a present to the people of the city, it's viewed as trash.''
Under the Clean City law, enacted in 2006, billboards were removed, signs with large corporate logos were scaled back, and graffiti is being expunged.
The Pandolfos' 680-meter (2,230-foot) mural on retaining walls along the 23 de Maio expressway, south of downtown, was half-covered by gray paint on July 3. The destruction occurred even though the art had been officially sanctioned.
Some of the city's 800 inspectors ``understood the Clean City law to mean paint over anything that's irregular,'' Monteiro said. ``Because the law didn't give objective criteria, it was left up to subjective opinion.''
Sao Paulo is developing those criteria, giving priority to cataloguing works of graffiti that were painted with permission from the property owner, Monteiro said. The Clean City law prohibits graffiti that functions as advertising. The city expects the catalog to be ready by November.
Before the crackdown, South America's biggest city had been seen as a place where graffiti artists could go to work without interference from passersby or police, Gustavo Pandolfo said.
``Graffiti would stay up for 10 years, and no one would erase it,'' he said. ``People liked seeing the graffiti.''
Hundreds of the brothers' works have disappeared during the clean-up campaign, he said. That would be a costly loss if measured by the price of their gallery works.
The Tate exhibition is helping change Sao Paulo's perception of its graffiti art, Monteiro said.
``We want to make this part of the city's look,'' she said. ``It's a trademark of the city.'' Sao Paulo artists Otavio and Gustavo Pandolfo obliged London's Tate Gallery by painting their distinctive yellow graffiti on outs... more -
Sheriff Drives to Calif. only to get Wrong Man...
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two weeks ago, the Butler County sheriff and a deputy hopped into their cruiser and drove to California and back - more than 4,100 miles - to bring a man to Kentucky for failing to appear in court on the minor felony charge of fleeing from police and drunken driving, a misdemeanor.
On the way there, they stopped to sightsee at country music star Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, Calif. On the way back, they bought T-shirts at a souvenir shop.
Only when they got back to western Kentucky and turned their prisoner over to the jail did anyone confirm what their prisoner, 27-year-old Joe Oros III, had been saying all along: They had the wrong man.
Embarrassed by the mistake, the county swiftly put Oros on a plane back to California. But the cross-country jaunt may cost the county a little more than the expense of a plane ticket.
As he was being freed, Oros ran into a Kentucky lawyer who agreed to sue Butler County and the state of California, if necessary, to try to get extra compensation for the 2,000 miles that Oros rode in shackles.
Butler County Sheriff Joe Gaddie said he did nothing wrong - ‘‘I had a valid warrant and I served it.’’ And Oros himself may have contributed to his involuntary road trip by signing a waiver of extradition.
But sheriffs and prosecutors in other Kentucky counties question whether it was worth the time and money to retrieve a suspect from such a distant state for such minor offenses.
Ed Ross, controller for the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet, which reimburses sheriffs for out-of-state travel, said driving to California for such an offense is probably ‘‘excessive’’ and that he plans to review Gaddie’s application for reimbursement.
Gaddie said he thought the trip cost about $1,300, but under state mileage rules, the state could be billed for more than $5,400.
The comedy of errors began in February 2004, when a man who had apparently stolen Oros’ identity was charged with driving under the influence and evading police, then failed to show up in court.
Four years later, the California Department of Corrections, about to parole the real Joe Oros, who had been serving time for domestic violence, spotted a warrant for him in an FBI computer system. They notified Butler County authorities that they could come get Oros if they wanted.
County Attorney Richard Deye said he told Gaddie ‘‘don’t bring him back on my account,’’ but that he would help prosecute Oros if Gaddie did.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Coleman said he also told Gaddie he’d prosecute Oros - and throw in an additional felony charge of bail jumping.
Meanwhile, at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, Oros said he was dumbfounded by the news that he was wanted in Kentucky.
‘‘That is totally impossible because I’ve never been to Kentucky, nor have I ever been out of California!’’ he wrote in a July 31 appeal form. Oros asked prison officials to verify his claim by checking his picture and fingerprints against the wanted man’s. Although the appeal was granted, California officials apparently never ran the check.
Oros also signed a waiver allowing him to be taken to Kentucky without an extradition hearing, at which the state would have been required to prove his identity.
Oros repeatedly insisted they had the wrong man, but Gaddie said that every convict has a story, and that he didn’t believe Oros’.
After a night in the Butler County Jail, Oros repeated his story, and this time, somebody listened. Jailer Terry Fugate pulled the mug shot of the wanted suspect, and it obviously wasn’t Oros.
Oros said he was ‘‘traumatized’’ by the road trip, but on the other hand, he got to take his first plane ride, and got to see Kentucky.
‘‘It’s so green, and the people are so nice,’’ he said. ‘‘I just might move there.’’ LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two weeks ago, the Butler County sheriff and a deputy hopped into their cruiser and drove to California and back - m... more -
Broccoli not curative for diabetes, BBC gets it wrong
A recent story put out by the British Broadcasting Corporation proclaimed that eating broccoli could reverse the damage to heart blood vessels caused by diabetes.
The BBC based its announcement on research showing that sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli, helps the production of enzymes that protect blood vessels and reduce the number of molecules that can cause cell damage.
It turns out that the BBC was doing a bit of hasty generalizing: Although sulforaphane is found in broccoli, researchers have come nowhere near to saying that eating the vegetable will reproduce the effects they saw in the lab.
Read the whole story here. A recent story put out by the British Broadcasting Corporation proclaimed that eating broccoli could reverse the damage to heart blood... more -
'Wrong' woman given abortion
"The wrong woman was given a chemical abortion tablet after a nurse mixed up two patients with the same first name, a misconduct hearing has heard. Ann Downer gave the drug to the woman who had only gone into her clinic for an initial consultation. She had not decided to have a termination when the nurse gave her the drug.
When staff realised what had happened the distraught woman was called back to the clinic in pain and doctors subsequently advised her to undergo a surgical abortion. Miss Downer, 44, should have administered the drug to a second patient who was in the later stages of a chemical termination, the Nursing and Midwifery Council was told.
The first woman attended the Calthorpe Clinic in Edgbaston, Birmingham - which offers abortion, sterilisation and vasectomy - in October, 2006.
Another patient with the same name was due to have the drugs for the second stage of her medical abortion, only undertaken on women who have been pregnant for less than nine weeks.
The clinic's usual practice was to only call out first names of patients to protect their confidentiality while in the waiting room.
Once the patient was in a private room, other details, like their full name, date of birth and address, were checked to make sure they were the person the nurse was expecting."
By Michael Seamark "The wrong woman was given a chemical abortion tablet after a nurse mixed up two patients with the same first name, a misconduct ... more -
12 worst photoshop mistakes ever
Photoshop drive you nuts? Here are some funny mistakes that might make you feel just a little better :)
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democrats make a big mistake
The House overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's veto Wednesday of a $290 billion farm bill, but what should have been a stinging defeat for the president became an embarrassment for Democrats.
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Only hours before the House's 316-108 vote, Bush had vetoed the five-year measure, saying it was too expensive and gave too much money to wealthy farmers when farm incomes are high. The Senate then was expected to follow suit quickly.
Action stalled, however, after the discovery that Congress had omitted a 34-page section of the bill when lawmakers sent the massive measure to the White House. That means Bush vetoed a different bill from the one Congress passed, leaving leaders scrambling to figure out whether it could become law.
Democrats hoped to pass the entire bill, again, on Thursday under expedited rules usually reserved for unopposed legislation. The correct version would then be sent to Bush for another expected veto.
Lawmakers also probably will have to pass an extension of current farm law, which expires Friday.
"We will have to repass the whole thing, as will the Senate," said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. "We can't let the farm bill just die."
The White House, almost gleefully, seized on the fumble and said the mix-up could give Congress time to fix the "bloated" bill. The House overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's veto Wednesday of a $290 billion farm bill, but what should have been a stingi... more -
13-year-old pwns NASA
A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's math, calculating that the odds of an asteroid hitting earth are not 1 in 45,000, but actually 1 in 450. Way to go NASA. A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's math, calculating that the odds of an asteroid hitting earth are not 1 in 45,000,... more
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Out of Batteries? Here Are Some Missiles.
"The U.S. Defense Department accidentally shipped non-nuclear ballistic missile components to Taiwan, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Four nose-cone fuses for intercontinental ballistic missiles were shipped instead of helicopter batteries that Taiwan had requested..."
And apparently they had been in a warehouse since 2006 and Taiwan decided NOW was a good time to tell them. "The U.S. Defense Department accidentally shipped non-nuclear ballistic missile components to Taiwan, the Pentagon said Tuesday. ... more -
The 5 Biggest Dating Mistakes Men Make
Fellas, now we've got no excuses for dating errors. Hehe. Any thoughts? Ladies, what do you think? Anyone want to share their mistakes?
Here are a couple mistakes from the link:
1. Showing off/trying to impress
2. Not listening
3. Lack of chivalry
For the rest, checkout the link! Fellas, now we've got no excuses for dating errors. Hehe. Any thoughts? Ladies, what do you think? Anyone want to share their... more -
Stand Up for Kids! Comedy Troupe or Activist Group?
Someone told me to go to Stand Up for Kids dot com.
I thought it was going to be a website for Stand Up Comedians that do their acts for Kids.
Unfortunately, it was a website for a non-profit group that is a nationally acclaimed organization committed to the rescue of homeless and street kids! (website description).
You can imagine my disappointment. Someone told me to go to Stand Up for Kids dot com. ... more -
It's a bird, it's a plane... WITH A NUKE
A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an Air Force investigation and the firing of one commander, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prom... more
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Mistakes
