Off the wall news.

[Old-Navy]

In a remote region of China, relatives shower graves with objects that supposedly make the deceased's afterlife more pleasant, and some families of dead bachelors even buy corpses of unmarried females and bury them with their sons in posthumous "weddings."
Ironically, according to a September New York Times dispatch from Chenjiayuan, since men outnumber women in the region (in part due to abortions of girl fetuses), families of these dead women are able to command high "dowries." [New York Times, 10-5-06]

[Old-Navy]

Dutch transportation planner Hans Monderman has been pushing his innovative plans for improving traffic, and several towns in the Netherlands and Germany have already signed on, according to an August report by the German news organization Deutsche Welle.

His proposals include eliminating traffic signs and street markings, which he believes will force drivers to be careful as they hunt for their destinations, and building children's playgrounds in median strips of roads, figuring that drivers would surely slow down. [DW- World.de (Bonn, Germany), 8-27-06]

[Old-Navy]

Man dies after explosion at party
October 23, 2006

NEW MILFORD, Conn. --Police were trying to determine who tossed a beer keg into an open fire at an outdoor party early Sunday, causing an explosion that sent shards of shrapnel slicing through a crowd of partygoers, killing one.

The explosion, which could be heard miles away, killed Sean M. Caselli, 22, of New Milford. Police say seven other people were taken to New Milford and Danbury hospitals.

Caselli, who lived with his family about a mile away from where the party was being held, died after being struck by a piece of flying metal in the neck, police said.

Sgt. Lee Grabner said investigators focused on taking measurements and gathering evidence. Interviews with witnesses to determine who threw the keg in the fire, and whether criminal charges would be filed, "is something we're going to start working on," Grabner said.

Witnesses told police they saw someone put what appeared to be a quarter-keg of beer into one of the burning barrels just after 3 a.m.

Seven people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, including burns and shrapnel wounds, police said.

Over 50 people attended the party, which was an annual event, neighbors said.

"This is a certain tragedy," said Police Chief Colin McCormack. "However, nothing I have been apprised of to this point in this investigation, which I caution is at the very early states, indicates a deliberate act on anyone's part.

Robert Greco, who lives in the area, went to the scene after hearing the explosion.

"It was an unbelievable explosion," Greco told the News-Times of Danbury. "It rattled the street."

[tater]

coup in the UK:
Sheep sex immigrant caged

By ALASTAIR TAYLOR
November 03, 2006

COMMENT ON THIS STORY


AN asylum seeker had sex with a ewe as its "male partner" looked on, a court heard.

Factory worker Hidyat Amin — who came to Britain from Iraq — romped with the sheep in a farm shed.

The 30-year-old Kurd was trapped by DNA evidence after his underpants and socks were found at the scene.

Shocked farmer Frank Davidson said: "The ewe was not very well and not very happy." He told cops he feared "something funny" was going on involving his sheep and Shetland ponies.

A man had been seen acting suspiciously under a full moon and was spotted several times previously lurking in the farmyard.

On one occasion he casually smoked a cigarette before driving off, Hull Crown Court heard.

The sheep and a ram had been isolated as part of treatment for foot rot, at Mr Davidson's farm in Preston, East Yorks.

He said he had found pants and socks nearby on THREE occasions as well as bread crumbs — apparently used to entice the animals.

Amin was found guilty by a jury of having sex with an animal. Prosecutor Caroline Wigin said DNA swabs suggested a billion to one chance it was not him.


link

[Hoopty]

coup in the UK:

He was gone from the board for a while... hmmmmmmmmmmm

[dallanta]

Oh GOD,  ACC just walked in!

[Old-Navy]

The chosen professional interest of biologist David Scholnick of Pacific University (Forest Grove, Ore.) is in how shrimp act when they get an infection, which he gauged by building a tiny treadmill in order to run crustaceans through their paces to measure blood lactate levels.

"As far as I know," Scholnick told LiveScience.com in October, "this is the first time that shrimp have been exercised on a treadmill."

To increase the shrimps' stress, Scholnick designed tiny backpacks out of duct tape but still found that healthy shrimp could go for about an hour without fatigue. [MSNBC-LiveScience.com, 10-18-06]

[Old-Navy]

Family Values: Republican U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania was trailing in his race for re-election, owing in large part to the lawsuit filed two years ago by his 29-year-old mistress, alleging that the supposedly happily married Sherwood beat and strangled her. (Sherwood settled the lawsuit and acknowledged the affair but denied any abuse.)

And Ohio Democrats had to scramble in September to find a replacement to run for a U.S. House seat after their original nominee, Stephanie Studebaker, was jailed along with her husband after the couple brawled at their home in Dayton. [ABC News-AP, 10-4-06] [WCPO-TV (Cincinnati), 8-15-06]

[bradley563]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Delaware judge on Friday ordered a man who twice exposed himself to a 10-year-old girl at his workplace to wear a T-shirt with the words: "I am a registered sex offender" in bold letters, a prosecutor said.

Russell Teeter, 69, who pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent exposure, also was sentenced to 60 days in jail by Superior Court Judge Jan Jurden in Wilmington.

Deputy Attorney General Donald Roberts said he requested the unusual T-shirt punishment because he was concerned about Teeter exposing himself to children at the gardening business he runs with his wife.

"This is a unique way to let his customers know that he is a sex offender," Roberts told Reuters.



Roberts said Teeter had at least 10 prior convictions dating back to 1976 for exposing himself to children and had been diagnosed as a compulsive exhibitionist.

Teeter, who has 30 days to appeal the sentence, will have to wear the T-shirt at work for 22 months after he gets out of jail.

Teeter's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.

[tater]

SYDNEY, Australia - More than 200 Australian motorists have avoided parking and speeding fines by blaming either a dead man or an interstate resident for their errors in what police said Saturday may be a widespread fraud.

Under New South Wales state law, if a car owner signs a sworn statement that they were not driving the vehicle when an offense was committed, they can avoid paying speed camera fines, which arrive by mail, and parking tickets left under windshield wipers.

A recent government audit of the excuses given in those sworn statements revealed that 238 motorists had blamed one of two people — a dead man who had, when alive, lived in Sydney and a person living in neighboring South Australia state — Police Superintendent Daryl Donnolly said in a statement.

Some 80,000 Australian dollars ($61,000) of fines have been avoided this way in the past three years, Donnolly said.

He did not identify the scapegoats or explain why police had not uncovered the scam by pursuing the pair for the money owed.

Donnolly said 49 of those car owners have since been charged with swearing false statements and face up to five years' imprisonment. The others will be questioned as part of a police crackdown, he said.

"These offenses amount to fraud and, if proven, those involved could face stiff penalties," Donnolly told reporters.

[Old-Navy]

LAKE WALES, Fla.  —  A man trying to save a dog being pulled into a stump grinder was caught in the machine and killed, authorities said.

Robert J. Wagner, 25, and his friend, John Santilli, of Port St. Lucie, were using the grinder while at a hunting camp in the River Ranch area about 9:40 a.m. Sunday, said Polk County sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Wood. Santilli's dog got entangled when the animal's leash got caught in the machine, Wood said.

Wagner tried to rescue the 6-month-old Weimaraner, but was pulled into the machine's blades. He died of lacerations and major head and body trauma, Wood said.

Deputies had to use four-wheel drive vehicles to get to the scene. Wagner and the dog were dead by the time authorities arrived.

[bradley563]

EL CERRITO, Calif. -- A man was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon after police found him outdoors -- naked -- and he told them he had a tool in his rectum, authorities said.

The man was lying on a tree stump, masturbating beside a nature path, near a Bay Area Rapid Transit station Thursday, police said.

John Sheehan, 33, of Pittsburg, was initially arrested on suspicion of indecent exposure. But when asked whether he was carrying anything police should know about, Sheehan mentioned the tool, said El Cerrito Detective Cpl. Don Horgan.

"You can't get much more concealed than that," Horgan said.

Officers drew their weapons and firefighters were called to the scene. Sheehan removed a 6-inch metal awl wrapped in black electrical tape without incident.

Sheehan, who was paroled from state prison last week, was then booked into jail on suspicion of parole violations, indecent exposure and one felony count of possessing a concealed weapon.

"When you're talking about an awl or an ice pick and you're dealing with somebody who's fresh out of prison, it's a weapon. That's a stabbing instrument," Horgan said.

It was not immediately clear what Sheehan was on parole for. A person answering the phone at the jail Friday night did not know whether Sheehan had a lawyer.

[dallanta]

 A man is accused of having sex with the carcass of a deer that he found lying beside the road – but his lawyer denies that he committed bestiality, on the grounds that a dead deer isn't an animal any more.

20-year-old Bryan James Hathaway of Superior, Wisconsin allegedly had sex with the deer corpse after he found it on the roadside on October 11 this year. Authorities say he told police that he noticed the deer lying in a ditch, and then moved the corpse into the woods.

He is charged with 'sexual gratification with an animal' – but in a magnificent piece of legal footwork, his attorney argues that he can't be guilty of that crime, because a carcass isn't an animal, the Duluth News Tribune reports.

Public defender Fredric Anderson filed a motion last week which claimed: 'The statute does not prohibit one from having sex with a carcass.'

He said that if you try to include corpses in the category of 'animals', then 'you really go down a slippery slope with absurd results.' The only clear place to draw a line in the definition of what is an animal, and what isn't, was at the point of death, he argued.

He gave the example of a roast turkey – with which it would be illegal to have sex under the braoder interpretation of the law – claiming that it was unreasonable to suggest it should still be classified as an animal for the purposes of law.

In response, prosecutor James Broughner argued that a deer carcass is still an animal – pointing out that in his statement to police, Hathaway called the corpse a 'dead deer,' demonstrating that he still thought of it as an animal.

Judge Michael Lucci noted when hearing the arguments that: 'I'm a little surprised this issue hasn't been tackled before in another case.'

If Hathaway is convicted, he could serve up to two years in prison, because of a previous conviction in 2005 for shooting dead a horse called Bambrick. So that he could have sex with it.

[Old-Navy]

Researchers at the University of Bradford in the UK said in October that bandages soaked in maggot secretions were successful in accelerating tissue repair.

[Old-Navy]

In September, researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, seeking to create a robot to traverse the colon but without tearing the colon's delicate walls, successfully tested one such tiny robot that can propel itself smoothly by gliding along mucus. [New Scientist, 10-9-06]