| hammermdx |
Error Puts Kennedy on No-Fly List
Thursday, August 19, 2004
WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee heard this morning from one of its own about some of the problems with airline "no fly" watch lists. Sen. Edward Kennedy (search), D-Mass., says he had a close encounter with the lists when trying to take the U.S. Airways (search) shuttle out of Washington to Boston. The ticket agent wouldn't let him on the plane. His name was on the list in error.
After a flurry of phone calls, Kennedy was able to fly home, but then the same thing happened coming back to Washington.
Kennedy says it took three calls to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge (search) to get his name stricken from the list. The process took several weeks, in all. |
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| mgmdx |
| Ouch! That probably hurt. :eek: |
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| zafer |
http://www.reuters.com/printerFrien...storyID=6090577
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African man who shot his pregnant fiancée dead before killing himself will be posthumously married to her at the weekend.
Police Captain Mohale Ramatseba said David Masenta shot 25-year-old Mgwanini Molomo after a quarrel before turning the gun on himself. But Johannesburg's Sowetan newspaper said family and friends wanted to remember them as a happy couple destined for a happy life together.
The groom's corpse would be dressed in a cream suit and his bride's in a gown for the ceremony, at which a priest in the rural village of Ceres in Limpopo will bless the union before the two are buried, the Sowetan said.
"In African culture, there is no death -- there is merely the separation of body and soul," said cultural expert Mathole Motshekga. "It is also important because the families are married together."
"This does not mean the relationship has irretrievably broken down." |
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| msu79gt82 |
Just when you think you've seen it all
An Australian airport was shut down for nearly an hour this morning after an adult sex toy was mistaken for a bomb, police told The Courier-Mail of Australia. Passengers and security officials at Brisbane's Mackay Airport were spooked by a suspicious package in a cafeteria trash bin. Things got even more interesting when that package seemed to come to life. "It was rather disconcerting when the rubbish bin started humming furiously," said cafeteria manager Lynne Bryant. "We called security and next minute everybody was being evacuated while they checked it out." A police investigation concluded that the suspicious package contained "an adult novelty device," according to AFP. At least three flights were impacted by the closure, officials said. "You can't afford to take chances," Bryant added. Posted at 6:30 a.m. ET
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/today/sky.htm |
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| zafer |
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ...reut/index.htmlquote:
Search and rescue operation leads to apartment
EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) -- TV hardly gets much better than this.
An Oregon man discovered earlier this month that his year-old Toshiba Corporation flat-screen TV was emitting an international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading a search and rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis, Oregon, 70 miles south of Portland.
The signal from Chris van Rossmann's TV was routed by satellite to the Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in Virginia.
On October 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel.
"They'd never seen signal come that strong from a home appliance," said van Rossmann. "They were quite surprised. I think we all were."
Authorities had expected to find a boat or small plane with a malfunctioning transponder, the usual culprit in such incidents, emitting the 121.5 MHz frequency of the distress signal used internationally.
Van Rossmann said he was told to keep his TV off to avoid paying a $10,000 fine for "willingly broadcasting a false distress signal."
Toshiba contacted Rossmann and offered to provide him with a replacement set for free, he said.
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| JerryinTO |
quote:
Originally posted by imn2mdx
This is true! My niece works for the forest service and received this one day in her updates:
California was having one of their many forest fires. After putting the fire out and going back and checking for hot spots, they came across a burnt body that had been in scuba gear. They pondered on how this came about. After many thoughts they realized that when using the bucket from the helicopter to pick up water from the ocean, they had picked up this scuba diver in the bucket. Of course not knowing he was picked up, he was tragically dumped on the fire with the water in the bucket. Awful and true. (can you imagine what he must have been thinking before he so tragically was going to his demise?):eek: :( :13:
I was a diver for 5 years before I had to give it up due to an inner ear infection. Nearly all divers when doing a lake dive would be at least 30 feet or more below the surface. The bucket that the helicopter was carrying would not come down that far.
The whole idea is just plain rediculous.
J |
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| Maik |
quote:
Originally posted by JerryinTO
I was a diver for 5 years before I had to give it up due to an inner ear infection. Nearly all divers when doing a lake dive would be at least 30 feet or more below the surface. The bucket that the helicopter was carrying would not come down that far.
The whole idea is just plain rediculous.
J
Maybe the diver was coming to the surface? Or just heading down?
I also agree its seems a bit far fetched. |
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| JerryinTO |
Even so, I think the helicopter would have know that bucket would have been at least 150 pounds or more heavier. That would have caused hin to look at the bucket.
The more I think about it, the more it becomes an urban legend.
J. |
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| pisay87 |
Re scuba diver
That story happened in a CSI episode! |
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| JerryinTO |
Writers have very vivid imaginations.
Remember War of the Worlds? Spielberg is doing a remake with Tom Cruise.
The point is just because it's been reported on the Internet does not make it true. |
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| Robyjo |
quote:
Originally posted by JerryinTO
Writers have very vivid imaginations.
:4:
look here |
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| hammermdx |
Woman: Killer Held Me Captive 10 Years
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,152473,00.html
OKLAHOMA CITY — A convicted murderer and a deputy warden's wife who disappeared nearly 11 years ago have been found living together and raising chickens in Texas. The woman said she was held captive the whole time, staying with the killer out of fear her family would be harmed if she fled.
Bobbi Parker (search), 42, has been reunited with her husband, who never remarried, and authorities were trying Tuesday to piece together details of the strange case.
A tip generated by the TV show "America's Most Wanted" (search) led law enforcement to a mobile home in Campti, Texas, where escaped convict Randolph Dial (search) was arrested Monday, said FBI agent Salvador Hernandez. Parker was found a short time later working at a nearby chicken farm; the two were living in the trailer under assumed names.
FBI agents present said the reunion between her and her husband, Randy, "went well." They have two daughters, who were 8 and 10 at the time of the disappearance. The family still lives in Oklahoma, where the escape occurred.
Tanya Joy Parker, the sister of Randy Parker, said the two children did not make the trip to Texas. "They are elated, but after 10 years you'd be a little stunned," she said.
Sheriff Newton Johnson had said that the woman wanted to stay on the chicken farm, but Hernandez said this was a misinterpretation. Hernandez said he believes the sheriff's comment arose from comments she made thanking people as she was leaving the farm outside Campti, a tiny town near the Louisiana border.
Hernandez said that while it is unusual for someone to be held against one's will for so long, it is not unprecedented.
"There have been cases of this kind and typically this will result when someone believes family members might be in danger," Hernandez said.
The FBI continued to question Bobbi Parker on Tuesday in Texas.
Dial, a sculptor and painter, was convicted of the 1981 murder of a karate instructor. He had obtained trusty status at the Oklahoma State Reformatory, and he ran an inmate pottery program with Bobbi Parker and had access to the couple's home during the day in staff housing on prison grounds.
Bobbi Parker's mother received a phone call from her the night of the 1994 disappearance traced to Hurst, Texas. "I can't talk now," she said, crying. "I'm OK. Tell the kids I'll see them soon."
A day later, she made a second call, this time from Fort Worth to a friend. It was the last message her family got from her. "Tell the kids I love them and I'll be home soon," she said.
In a jailhouse interview Tuesday in Campti, Dial said he always expected he would be caught: "I thought about how it would be many times. I hoped I'd be luckier, see them coming. But I didn't."
Dial declined to say whether he held Parker captive or threatened her family.
Charles Sasser, a former Tulsa homicide detective who wrote a book about Dial, said the escaped inmate called him in 2001. Sasser also said he spoke with Bobbi Parker, and heard nothing from either one to indicate Parker was held against her will.
"I don't believe it," he said. "I spoke to her and told her to call her children."
Sasser notified the FBI, but agents were unable to determine the Dial call came from. |
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| hammermdx |
NY Times:
Deliveryman Emerges Safely After 3 Days Stranded in Elevator
A restaurant deliveryman who immigrated from China and speaks virtually no English spent three days unnoticed in a stalled high-rise elevator in the Bronx as an intensive search swirled around him, the police said today. He emerged this morning thirsty but appearing otherwise all right after someone finally heard - or he finally figured how to trigger - the elevator car's alarm.
But there was no immediate answer to the question that officials, co-workers, reporters and the hundreds of people who live in the apartment complex were asking: So what took so long?
The deliveryman, Ming Kuang Chen, 35, was in stable condition today at Montefiore Medical Center, where he was being treated for dehydration. The police said they were awaiting a Mandarin-speaking translator so they could learn the details of his ordeal.
Mr. Chen was last seen at 8:30 p.m. Friday when, co-workers told the authorities, he left the Happy Dragon restaurant to deliver three dinners at Tracey Towers, two apartment buildings that rise 38 and 41 floors, respectively.
When Mr. Chen did not return to the restaurant, where he has worked since arriving in the United States about two years ago, co-workers began looking for him, but found only his bicycle, chained near the residential complex on West Mosholu Parkway in the Norwood section of the Bronx. After confirming that all three food orders had been delivered, they notified the authorities.
Deliverymen in New York City are often preyed upon by criminals, and there was concern that Mr. Chen had become a victim of foul play.
For three days, the police searched in and around the apartment complex, going door to door to the 871 apartments and taking bloodhounds and cadaver-detecting dogs into nearby Van Cortlandt Park and Woodlawn Cemetery. The waters of the Jerome Park Reservoir were also searched.
The police said Mr. Chen was finally discovered in Tracey Towers this morning, after an elevator alarm was sounded around 5 a.m. He was later able to speak with a building worker through an intercom in the elevator car, a Fire Department spokesman said, though because of Mr. Chen's limited English, the precise circumstances of his predicament were not immediately understood.
And it remains unclear whether Mr. Chen had ever tried to sound the alarm before today and it malfunctioned, or he had simply not tried until this morning.
One of the firefighters summoned to the building, Lt. Peter Chadwick, said his company had received a call at 4:56 a.m. from the Tracey Towers maintenance department, which reported someone stuck in an elevator. But the building worker could not understand what Mr. Chen was saying over the intercom.
"They said, 'We think the guy's drunk. We can't understand him,' " Mr. Chadwick said. "Little did they know he wasn't drunk, but probably feeling the effects of being in an elevator" for days, adding, "He was starting to feel dehydrated."
That no one noticed the elevator was not running was not as surprising as it might at first seem. A community newspaper, The Norwood News, said on its Web site that a long-standing complaint among residents of Tracey Towers is the poor condition of the elevators - five of seven tenants interviewed by the paper said they had been stuck in the elevators at least once.
The car in which Mr. Chen spent the weekend was stuck between the fourth and fifth floors of an express elevator that does not stop between the 2nd and 21st floors of the tower, a Fire Department spokesman, Charlie Markey, said. Firefighters, with the help of an elevator mechanic, were able to bring the car to the ground floor with an override key, the spokesman said.
Mr. Chen was then able to step out on his own, and quickly gulped down a bottle of water someone handed him, the spokesman said. In what his rescuers took be an effort to explain how long he had been trapped, Mr. Chen pointed to his watch and swirled his finger repeatedly around the dial.
Mr. Chen is reported to be from the coastal Fuzhou region of Fujian Province in southeastern China, where his wife and 12-year-old son live. His family told the police that he had entered the United States illegally and paid off a $60,000 fee to the people who smuggled him in, the police said.
He has worked six days a week at Happy Dragon, making about 40 deliveries a day on weekdays and as many as 60 on weekends. His last delivery on Friday was to an off-duty police officer who lives in Tracey Towers, the police said.
In a 2003 article on its Web site, The Norwood News described most of Tracey Towers' hallways as dark, with few if any light boxes functioning in the long corridors that lead to the elevators, which the residents described as shaky and notoriously unreliable.
"You have to pray every time you get in the elevator not to get caught," one resident told the newspaper.
Colin Moynihan contributed to this report. |
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| zafer |
Elsmere, Delaware resident Jim Cara, a 43-year-old who works for the American Motorcycle Association, has always loved to make people laugh. That was his motivation when he chose the vanity license tag "NOTAG" for his Suzuki motorcycle.
But the joke has backfired like a bad muffler. Thanks to a computer snafu, he was mailed the "NOTAG" plates along with 200 parking violations where police listed the license plate as "no tag."
"All the traffic tickets say, 'Notice of violation. License number: no tag,'" Cara explained to The Associated Press. What happened is that Wilmington's computers, which were linked to the state Division of Motor Vehicles, did what those computers are supposed to do: link traffic tickets to the appropriate license plate tag. "I messed up the system so bad," Cara marveled. "I wonder if they can put me in jail or something?"
Wilmington officials may not be laughing at Cara's vanity plate joke, but they are willing to correct the error of their computer's ways. They blamed it on an incorrect computer code used by one of the city's contractors whose job it is to process the city's parking violations.
Fortunately, Wilmington is the only jurisdiction with the no-tag computer glitch, according to Kelly Pitts, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.
So after all this, will Cara get rid of his "NOTAG" plates? No way, said Cara. "I think it's awesome." |
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| JerryinTO |
My plate is HITHERE which is on the ownership. But on the plate it is HI THERE. When my wife drives, a lot of guys wave to her, nobody waves to me.
Also, if you move the space over, it becomes HIT HERE
J |
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| hammermdx |
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/28/mi...e.ap/index.html
FREDERICA, Delaware (AP) -- The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.
The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.
The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.
State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.
"They thought it was a Halloween decoration," Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.
"It looked like something somebody would have rigged up," she said.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
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| JerryinTO |
quote:
Originally posted by hammermdx
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/10/28/mi...e.ap/index.html
FREDERICA, Delaware (AP) -- The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.
The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.
The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.
State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.
"They thought it was a Halloween decoration," Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.
"It looked like something somebody would have rigged up," she said.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
:needpics: |
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| hammermdx |
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/t...ogy/11emmy.html
By LAURA M. HOLSON
Published: November 11, 2005
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 11 - The newest award in broadcasting excellence gives new meaning to the line Gloria Swanson made famous in "Sunset Boulevard": "I am big. It's the pictures that got small."
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, best known for handing out the Daytime Emmy Awards, is expected to announce on Tuesday that it has created an award category to recognize original video content for computers, cellphones and other hand-held devices, like the video iPod and PlayStation Portable.
The category is to have its debut at the academy's next Sports Emmys presentation, and ultimately be added as a category for other Emmy presentations as well, including those for news and documentary, business and financial reporting and daytime television. The category will not be included in the prime-time Emmy Awards, which are overseen by a sister organization.
The academy already hands out a technical achievement award for new media. But this will be the first time the group has recognized original content for cellphones and other devices, which have gained some acceptance among media-hungry consumers.
Already several studios are experimenting with creating serials for mobile phones, many derived from programs already shown on television. The academy hopes the new category will draw attention to a rapidly growing business that is expected to expand even more as consumers, largely teenagers, adopt new technology quickly.
"Television is transforming into moving images anytime, anywhere," said Peter Price, president of the academy.
The academy awarded 136 Emmys last year, a number that does not include prime-time Emmys. The list already includes plenty of obscure awards, like best sports "studio host," "play-by-play," "studio analyst" and "sports event analyst." There's also a sports Emmy for "outstanding live event turnaround."
While the medium is new, it has attracted interesting players.
Apple recently announced that Pixar Animation Studios would create six short animated films that would have their debuts on Apple's new video iPod. The News Corporation created the serial "24: Conspiracy" for cellphones, based on a 20th Century Fox Television show. In February, MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, is to introduce "Samurai Love God," an animated series.
And Warner Brothers, a Time Warner unit, hopes to distribute an animated short series for cellphones based on the comic books created by Seth Cohen, the aspiring comic book writer played by the actor Adam Brody on the hit show "The O.C."
Despite the academy's interest, the market for such programming is still tiny. "It is not yet a mass market phenomenon," said Linda Barrabee, a senior analyst for wireless mobile communications at the Yankee Group, a research firm in Boston. Still, she added, "at some point we will have widespread adoption; this makes sense to me."
Ms. Barrabee has estimated there are 500,000 mobile video viewers in the United States, a fraction of the 193.6 million mobile phone subscribers. To watch video now, consumers must own a phone with video ability (they are widely available in Europe and Asia) and pay a service fee to receive broadcasts.
Mr. Price said the academy would announce the new category Tuesday when his group will announce it is accepting nominations for the 27th Annual Sports Emmy Awards, which will be given out on May 1, 2006. He said he planned to discuss the new category with sports programming executives at a meeting on Monday.
Entries cannot be from television shows that have already been shown. Potential submissions include video blogs, web programs, event coverage, mobile phone serials and other video-on-demand content. They cannot exceed 20 minutes.
The academy is following in the footsteps of film festival organizers in giving out new-media film awards. Most recently, the cellphone maker Motorola sponsored a mobile movie category at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Mr. Price said the academy came up with the idea for the new category when its awards committee met in early October. Committee members had noticed reports suggesting that consumers were getting more entertainment from cellphones and hand-held devices. "It became apparent this was going to bust open," Mr. Price said.
"Av said, 'I can see this happening in the news business,' " Mr. Price said, referring to Av Westin, a member of the awards committee.
Mr. Westin, a former executive producer of "ABC Evening News," said it would take some time for the committee to evaluate new entrants. "We are not going to reward 'Lost' or 'Desperate Housewives,' " said Mr. Westin, noting those programs are reruns from television. "What we are trying to do is get our arms around the next generation and take the leading role here." |
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| laborlitigator |
quote:
Originally posted by Pierre
She's got a big-screen TV and a pool table, guys!! Bids will be through the roof in no time.
And, oh, yeah, she's not bad on the eyes, either: http://www.ktvu.com/kicu/5230888/detail.html
She really isn't bad looking. . . :2: |
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| hammermdx |
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10561253/
Canadian court lifts ban on ‘swingers’ clubs
Group sex among consenting adults not a threat to society, it says
OTTAWA - Group sex among consenting adults is neither prostitution nor a threat to society, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Wednesday as it lifted a ban on so-called “swingers” clubs.
In a ruling that radically changes the way courts determine what poses a threat to the population, the top court threw out the conviction of a Montreal man who ran a club where members could have group sex in a private room behind locked doors.
“Consensual conduct behind code-locked doors can hardly be supposed to jeopardize a society as vigorous and tolerant as Canadian society,” said the opinion of the seven-to-two majority, written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.
The decision does not affect laws against prostitution because no money changed hands among the adults having sex.
‘Bawdy house’ proprietor's appeal
The court was reviewing an appeal by Jean-Paul Labaye, who ran the L’Orage (Thunderstorm) club. He had been convicted in 1999 of running a “bawdy house” — defined as a place where prostitution or acts of public indecency took place.
Labaye — who is still running L’Orage despite his earlier conviction — said he was relieved, and would now go ahead with a new venture with backing from a group of Florida investors.
“We hope clients will be more calm. This will probably lead the way to a good future,” he told reporters, saying he was looking at adding a Jacuzzi and a swimming pool.
Labaye said he had about 2,000 regular clients who paid around $20 ($17 U.S.) a year for a membership card.
Lawyers for Labaye and the owner of another swingers’ club in Montreal argued that consensual sex among groups of adults behind closed doors was neither indecent or a risk to society.
The Supreme Court judges agreed.
“Criminal indecency or obscenity must rest on actual harm or a significant risk of harm to individuals or society. The Crown failed to establish this essential element of the offense. (Its) case must therefore fail,” McLachlin wrote.
In indecency cases, Canadian courts have traditionally probed whether the acts in question “breached the rules of conduct necessary for the proper functioning of society”. The Supreme Court ruled that from now on, judges should pay more attention to whether society would be actively harmed.
Deviant, maybe, but not dangerous
This seemed to ensure there could be no repeat of Labaye’s original conviction for causing “social harm” by allowing degrading and dehumanizing group sex to take place.
The judges said that just because most Canadians might disapprove of swingers’ clubs, this did not necessarily mean the establishments were socially dangerous.
“The causal link between images of sexuality and anti-social behavior cannot be assumed. Attitudes in themselves are not crimes, however deviant they may be or disgusting they may appear,” the judges said, noting that no one had been pressured to have sex or had paid for sex in the cases the court considered.
“The autonomy and liberty of members of the public was not affected by unwanted confrontation with the sexual activity in question ... only those already disposed to this sort of sexual activity were allowed to participate and watch,” they said.
They also dismissed the idea — raised during Labaye’s original trial — that group sex was dangerous because it could result in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
“Sex that is not indecent can transmit disease while indecent sex might not,” they ruled.
Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. |
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| Pierre |
quote:
Originally posted by hammermdx
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10561253/
Canadian court lifts ban on ‘swingers’ clubs
Add this to beer and hockey on the list of reasons it's great to live here. Oh, yeah: don't forget free health care, which you might need in order to take care of those potential nasties you catch in the swingers' clubs.... |
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| hammermdx |
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...mostemailedlink
Daytona man set on fire after Taser hits lighter
Erin Ailworth Z& Ken Ma
Orlando Sentinel
Posted February 22 2006, 10:40 AM EST
DAYTONA BEACH -- Dennis Crouch had already slashed himself. And when he refused to drop his knife, Daytona Beach police Officer Betsy Cassidy decided she had no choice.
"Taser! Taser!" Cassidy shouted as she sent a two-pronged wire, packing 50,000 volts, at Crouch's chest. What happened next stunned everyone.
A Taser probe pierced the pocket of his khaki shirt -- and ignited the butane lighter inside. Cassidy's pocket exploded in flames.
"The subject," recounted Sgt. Al Tolley in a subsequent report, "immediately dropped the knife."
Officers grabbed Crouch, threw him to the ground and rolled him around until the flames went out, Tolley said. The 53-year-old Daytona Beach man was taken to Halifax Medical Center with minor burns and two self-inflicted stab wounds in his stomach and chest.
Speaking by cell phone from his hospital bed Tuesday, Crouch said he had been drinking at the time and didn't remember everything that happened the night before.
"Why did they get into my house?" he asked of police. "I didn't invite them into my house. They came into my bedroom and shot me with the Taser, and it [the lighter] exploded."
The bizarre burning ended an evening that records show began with Cassidy drinking at a friend's house Monday, then apparently becoming depressed about his medical and financial problems. Suddenly, he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed himself in the chest and stomach, police records show.
The friend got scared and called police about 9:20 p.m. Crouch fled for home on nearby North Grandview Avenue.
"He stuck the knife in his belly, ma'am, so I thought that was the time to call you," the friend told a 911 dispatcher during a 14-minute call. "And he was bleeding, so I said, 'Well, I can't put up with this.' "
When he got home, Crouch began arguing with his 54-year-old wife, Cecilia, about going to Las Vegas, according to police reports.
Police say Cecilia Crouch ran from her home in fear when her husband again went for a knife. Officers had to kick the door down to get into the apartment, according to reports. Crouch stood near a back bedroom with an 8-inch knife to his stomach.
After repeated requests for Crouch to drop the knife, Cassidy went for her Taser. That's when the lighter ignited.
Officials with Taser International -- which manufactures the nonlethal weapon that uses a shock to incapacitate dangerous people -- said they've never heard of anything quite like this before.
"I would call this beyond a rare fluke," spokesman Steve Tuttle said.
Tolley said the department is investigating the Monday incident, but so far nothing seems to be amiss with the Taser.
Crouch didn't seem too concerned about his run-in with police and clearly had other priorities Tuesday night.
"You're burning my minutes," he said about his cell phone. "It's not 9 o'clock yet."
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7925. Ken Ma can be reached at kma@orlandosentinel.com or 386-851-7914. |
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| hammermdx |
Former Laci Peterson Case Juror Now Pen Pals With Scott
Thursday, May 25, 2006
EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. — Convicted murderer Scott Peterson is turning on the charm again, this time for one of the jurors who sent him to death row.
Richelle Nice tells People magazine she's been corresponding with Peterson for about a year. She says in his letters, Peterson is polite, charming and showers her with compliments.
Several witnesses at Peterson's murder trial, including Peterson's former lover, described him as charming. Peterson was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci.
Nice says she first wrote to Peterson only as an exercise suggested by her therapist. She decided to mail it, and he replied.
Nice says Peterson seems more concerned about how the trial affected her than how it affected him. And he repeatedly denied killing his wife.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,197075,00.html |
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| hammermdx |
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/art...artner=homepage
CAIRNS, Australia (AP) -- Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the ''Crocodile Hunter,'' was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.
Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called ''Ocean's Deadliest'' when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous bard on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.
''He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart,'' said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat at the time.
Crew members aboard the boat, Croc One, called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton said.
Irwin was famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and his catchword ''Crikey!'' in his television program ''Crocodile Hunter.'' First broadcast in Australia in 1992, the program was picked up by the Discovery network, catapulting Irwin to international celebrity.
He rode his image into a feature film, 2002's ''The Crocodile Hunters: Collision Course'' and developed the wildlife park that his parents opened, Australia Zoo, into a major tourist attraction.
''The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet,'' Stainton told reporters in Cairns. ''He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. He would have said, 'Crocs Rule!'''
Prime Minister John Howard, who hand-picked Irwin to attend a gala barbecue to honor President Bush when he visited in 2003, said he was ''shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death.''
''It's a huge loss to Australia,'' Howard told reporters. ''He was a wonderful character. He was a passionate environmentalist. He brought joy and entertainment and excitement to millions of people.''
Irwin, who made a trademark of hovering dangerously close to untethered crocodiles and leaping on their backs, spoke in rapid-fire bursts with a thick Australian accent and was almost never seen without his uniform of khaki shorts and shirt and heavy boots.
His ebullience was infectious and Australian officials sought him out for photo opportunities and to promote Australia internationally.
Irwin's public image was dented, however, in 2004 when he caused an uproar by holding his infant son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen. Irwin claimed at the time there was no danger to the child, and authorities declined to charge Irwin with violating safety regulations.
Later that year, he was accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a documentary. Irwin denied any wrongdoing, and an Australian Environment Department investigation recommended no action be taken against him.
Stingrays have a serrated, toxin-loaded barb, or spine, on the top of their tail. The barb, which can be up to 10 inches long, flexes if a ray is frightened. Stings usually occur to people when they step on or swim too close to a ray and can be excruciatingly painful but are rarely fatal, said University of Queensland marine neuroscientist Shaun Collin.
Collin said he suspected Irwin died because the barb pierced under his ribcage and directly into his heart.
''It was extraordinarily bad luck. It's not easy to get spined by a stingray and to be killed by one is very rare,'' Collin said.
News of Irwin's death spread quickly, and tributes flowed from all quarters of society.
At Australia Zoo at Beerwah, south Queensland, floral tributes were dropped at the entrance, where a huge fake crocodile gapes. Drivers honked their horns as they passed.
''Steve, from all God's creatures, thank you. Rest in peace,'' was written on a card with a bouquet of native flowers.
''We're all very shocked. I don't know what the zoo will do without him. He's done so much for us, the environment and it's a big loss,'' said Paula Kelly, a local resident and volunteer at the zoo, after dropping off a wreath at the gate.
Stainton said Irwin's American-born wife Terri, from Eugene, Ore., had been informed of his death, and had told their daughter Bindi Sue, 8, and son Bob, who will turn 3 in December.
The couple met when she went on vacation in Australia in 1991 and visited Irwin's Australia Zoo; they were married six months later. Sometimes referred to as the ''Crocodile Huntress,'' she costarred on her husband's television show and in his 2002 movie. |
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| hammermdx |
There's always one. This has got to be one of the funniest things in a long time. I think this guy should have been promoted, not fired.. This is a true story from the Word Perfect Helpline, which was transcribed from a recording monitoring the customer care department. Needless to say the Help Desk employee was fired; however, he/she is currently suing the Word Perfect organization for "Termination without Cause".
Actual dialogue of a former WordPerfect Customer Support employee. (Now I know why they record these conversations!):
Operator: "Ridge Hall, computer assistance; may I help you?"
Caller: "Yes, well, I'm having trouble with WordPerfect."
Operator: "What sort of trouble??"
Caller: "Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away."
Operator: "Went away?"
Caller: "They disappeared."
Operator: "Hmm So what does your screen look like now?"
Caller: "Nothing."
Operator: "Nothing??"
Caller: "It's blank; it won't accept anything when I type."
Operator: "Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out??"
Caller: "How do I tell?"
Operator: "Can you see the C: prompt on the screen??"
Caller: "What's a sea-prompt?"
Operator: "Never mind, can you move your cursor around the screen?"
Caller: "There isn't any cursor: I told you, it won't accept anything I type."
Operator: "Does your monitor have a power indicator??"
Caller: "What's a monitor?"
Operator: "It's the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light that tells you when it's on??"
Caller: "I don't know."
Operator: "Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that??"
Caller: "Yes, I think so."
Operator: "Great. Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it's plugged into the wall.
Caller: "Yes, it is"
Operator: "When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one??"
Caller: "No."
Operator: "Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable."
Caller: "Okay, here it is."
Operator: "Follow it for me, and tell me if it's plugged securely into the back of your computer."
Caller: "I can't reach."
Operator: "Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is??"
Caller: "No."
Operator: "Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over??"
Caller: "Oh, it's not because I don't have the right angle - it's because it's dark."
Operator: "Dark??"
Caller: "Yes - the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window.
" Operator: "Well, turn on the office light then."
Caller: "I can't."
Operator: "No? Why not??"
Caller: "Because there's a power failure."
Operator: "A power......... A power failure? Aha, Okay, we've got it licked now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in??"
Caller: "Well, yes, I keep them in the closet."
Operator: "Good. Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it from."
Caller: "Really? Is it that bad?"
Operator: "Yes, I'm afraid it is."
Caller: "Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them??"
Operator: "Tell them you're too f*%ing stupid to own a computer!!!!!" |
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| hammermdx |
“It’s said that in the early years of this century, Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the great electrical engineer, was brought to General Electric’s facilities in Schenectady, New York.
GE had encountered a performance problem with one of its huge electrical generators and had been absolutely unable to correct it.
Steinmetz, a genius in his understanding of electromagnetic phenomena, was brought in as a consultant not a very common occurrence in those days, as it would be now.
Steinmetz also found the problem difficult to diagnose, but for some days he closeted himself with the generator, its engineering drawings, paper, and pencil. At the end of this period he emerged, confident that he knew how to correct the problem.
After he departed, GE’s engineers found a large “X” marked with chalk on the side of the generator casing. There was also a note instructing them to cut the casing open at that location and remove so many turns of wire from the stator. The generator would then function properly.
And indeed it did.
Steinmetz was asked what his fee would be. Having no idea in the world what was appropriate, he replied with the absolutely unheard-of answer that his fee was $1,000.
Stuimed, the GE bureaucracy then required
him to submit a formally itemized invoice.
They soon received it. It included two items:
1. Marking chalkX on side of generator: $1.
2. Knowing where to mark chalk X: $999.”
President Charles M. Vest
Commencement Address
June 1999 |
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| hammermdx |
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/w...&hp&oref=slogin
TOKYO, Oct. 19 — On a narrow Tokyo street, near a beef bowl restaurant and a pachinko parlor, Aya Tsukioka demonstrated new clothing designs that she hopes will ease Japan’s growing fears of crime.
Deftly, Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.
The wearer hides behind the sheet, printed with an actual-size photo of a vending machine. Ms. Tsukioka’s clothing is still in development, but she already has several versions, including one that unfolds from a kimono and a deluxe model with four sides for more complete camouflaging.
These elaborate defenses are coming at a time when crime rates are actually declining in Japan. But the Japanese, sensitive to the slightest signs of social fraying, say they feel growing anxiety about safety, fanned by sensationalist news media. Instead of pepper spray, though, they are devising a variety of novel solutions, some high-tech, others quirky, but all reflecting a peculiarly Japanese sensibility.
Take the “manhole bag,” a purse that can hide valuables by unfolding to look like a sewer cover. Lay it on the street with your wallet inside, and unwitting thieves are supposed to walk right by. There is also a line of knife-proof high school uniforms made with the same material as Kevlar, and a book with tips on how to dress even the nerdiest children like “pseudohoodlums” to fend off schoolyard bullies.
There are pastel-colored cellphones for children that parents can track, and a chip for backpacks that signals when children enter and leave school.
The devices’ creators admit that some of their ideas may seem far-fetched, especially to crime-hardened Americans. And even some Japanese find some of them a tad naïve, possibly reflecting the nation’s relative lack of experience with actual street crime. Despite media attention on a few sensational cases, the rate of violent crime remains just one-seventh of America’s.
But the devices’ creators also argue that Japan’s ideas about crime prevention are a product of deeper cultural differences. While Americans want to protect themselves from criminals, or even strike back, the creators say many Japanese favor camouflage and deception, reflecting a culture that abhors self-assertion, even in self-defense.
“It is just easier for Japanese to hide,” Ms. Tsukioka said. “Making a scene would be too embarrassing.” She said her vending machine disguise was inspired by a trick used by the ancient ninja, who cloaked themselves in black blankets at night.
To be sure, some of these ideas have yet to become commercially viable. However, the fact that they were greeted here with straight faces, or even appeared at all, underscores another, less appreciated facet of Japanese society: its fondness for oddball ideas and inventions.
Japan’s corporate labs have showered the world with technology, from transistor radios to hybrid cars. But the nation is also home to a prolific subculture of individual inventors, whose ideas range from practical to bizarre. Inventors say a tradition of tinkering and building has made Japan welcoming to experimental ideas, no matter how eccentric.
“Japanese society won’t just laugh, so inventors are not afraid to try new things,” said Takumi Hirai, chairman of Japan’s largest association of individual inventors, the 10,000-member Hatsumeigakkai.
In fact, Japan produces so many unusual inventions that it even has a word for them: chindogu, or “queer tools.” The term was popularized by Kenji Kawakami, whose hundreds of intentionally impractical and humorous inventions have won him international attention as Japan’s answer to Rube Goldberg. His creations, which he calls “unuseless,” include a roll of toilet paper attached to the head for easy reach in hay fever season, and tiny mops for a cat’s feet that polish the floor as the cat prowls.
Mr. Kawakami said that while some of Japan’s anticrime devices might not seem practical, they were valuable because they might lead to even better ideas.
“Even useless things can be useful,” he said. “The weird logic of these inventions helps us see the world in fresh ways.”
Even some of the less unusual anticrime devices here reflect a singular logic. A pair of women’s sunglasses has wraparound lenses so dark no one can see where the wearer is looking. These are intended to scare off sexual harassers on Tokyo’s crowded trains, where the groping of women is a constant problem.
The same is true of some of the solutions for schoolyard bullying, a big problem in Japan. Kaori Nakano, a fashion historian, wrote a book with a chapter on how to ward off bullies with the “pseudohoodlum” attire. Her advice includes substituting a white belt for the standard black one in Japanese school uniforms, preferably with metallic studs or tiny mirrors, and buying short socks with flashy patterns.
“Japan is so fashion conscious that just changing the way you dress can make you safer,” Ms. Nakano said. “Culture plays a big role in risk prevention.”
Ms. Tsukioka said she chose the vending-machine motif because the machines are so common on Japan’s streets. For children, she has a backpack that transforms into a Japanese-style fire hydrant, hiding the child. The “manhole bag” was also her idea.
Ms. Tsukioka said her disguises could be a bit impractical, “especially when your hands are shaking.” Still, she said she hoped the designs or some variation of them could be marketed widely. So far, she said, she has sold about 20 vending-machine skirts for about $800 each, printing and sewing each by hand.
She said she had never heard of a skirt’s actually preventing a crime. But on a recent afternoon in Tokyo, bystanders stared as she unfolded the sheet. But once she stood behind it next to a row of actual vending machines, the image proved persuasive enough camouflage that passers-by did not seem to notice her.
She said that while her ideas might be fanciful, Japan’s willingness to indulge the imagination was one of its cultural strengths.
“These ideas might strike foreigners as far-fetched,” she added, “but in Japan, they can become reality.” |
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