Looking for a KFC in...Fallujah?...

David MacDougall reports that he "finally made it to Kentucky Fried Chicken in downtown Fallujah. The quest for KFC is over!

...it turns out this is not one of Colonel Sanders’ officially sanctioned franchises. In fact, appart from the large “KFC” sign in the window you’d be hard pressed to distinguish this from many other chicken restaurants in Fallujah. The big difference though, is on the inside. Iraqis like baked chicken, and it turns out deep fried chicken is something of a novelty, and so they’ve been flocking to the restaurant over the past eight months since it opened..."

The reporter treated the marines of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines to a meal.

Here is the entire story.

Here is the sideshow of pics.

The 'Butt Bandit' has been caught...

Residents and shop owners in Valentine, Nebraska can now rest easy at night knowing the 'Butt Bandit' has been busted. FoxNews reports that "Authorities said they've arrested a suspect in the rash of so-called "Butt Bandit" vandalism cases.
County Attorney Eric Scott said a 35-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday morning. Formal charges have not yet been filed. Some vandal had been skipping from one building to another at night, pressing his naked buttocks, groin or both on windows.
Store owners, church workers and school janitors have had to wash lotion and petroleum jelly off the windows he selects.
Local residents found some humor in the strange brand of graffiti and had dubbed the vandal the "Butt Bandit."
Valentine Police Chief Ben McBride called it "the weirdest case I've ever seen.""

So you've heard of a worm in an apple....

So you've heard of a worm in an apple... Have you're heard of a worm in a person's head? FOXNews reports that "Doctors in Arizona thought a Phoenix-area woman had a possible brain tumor, but it turned out there was something else penetrating her brain – a worm.
Rosemary Alvarez started experiencing numbness in her arm and blurred vision. She went to the emergency room twice and had a cat scan, but everything came up clear, MyFOXPhoenix.com reported.
It wasn’t until doctors took a closer look at an MRI that they discovered something very disturbing.
“Once we saw the MRI we realized this is something not good,” neurosurgeon, Dr. Peter Nakaji told the news station. “It's something down in her brain stem which is as deep in the brain as you can be.”
Alvarez was wheeled into surgery where Nakaji and his colleagues were expecting to remove a tumor, but they uncovered a worm instead.
On a video of the surgery, Nakaji can be heard chuckling after he made the discovery.
“I'm sure this is a very strange response for the people in the operating room,” he told MyFOXPhoenix.com. “But because I was so pleased to know that it wasn't going to be something terrible.”
Doctors removed the worm and don't believe Alvarez will have any lingering health problems. No one knows exactly where she picked up the worm –- doctors said worms can come from eating undercooked pork or spread by people who don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom, according to the report.
“It only takes one person who is spreading it constantly to get a lot of people exposed and some of those people are going to go on to develop this problem,” Nakaji said.
Alvarez, who is now healthy and has resumed normal activities such a playing ball with family in her backyard, said she hopes people learn this lesson from her story.
“Wash your hands, wash your hands,” she added."

Thankfully she had no tumor. Here's the news story.

Just interesting....

'Termites don't taste too bad'

MSNBC reports that "Lost in the rocky, remote Australian Outback, a former pest exterminator faced dehydration and death. Desperate for food, he turned to what he knew best — bugs, he said Wednesday.
Theo Rosmulder, 52, managed to survive for four days by feasting on termites and other insects before local Aborigines happened upon him Tuesday and brought him back to civilization.
A weary-looking Rosmulder told reporters that he found some relief from hunger at a giant termite mound. "I just hit the top of the termite nest off and got stuck into them," Rosmulder said.

"Termites don't taste too bad," he said at a news conference in the southwestern Australian mining town of Laverton.
Rosmulder was suffering from dehydration but otherwise in "surprisingly good condition," Western Australia state police Sgt. Graham Clifford said. He said the insects and termites provided Rosmulder a bit of moisture and some protein."

Here is the rest of the story.

So you want to sleep while you work...

Fox News reports that "It may not sound like much of a job — three consecutive months in bed — but NASA says the participants in its bed rest study are providing valuable information for the space program.
The test subjects are paid $10 per hour, or about $17,000 over the course of the study, which is carried out at the University of Texas...They spend three months lying down, and the preparation and rehabilitation take up another month.
MyFOXHouston.com reports that NASA's Flight Analog Research Unit is looking for ways to minimize the debilitating impact of zero gravity in space, which can cause reduction in muscle mass and bone density. One way to recreate those conditions on the ground is for test participants to lie down with head slightly tilted back for 90 days.
"It's very relaxing at times. This is probably the most I've sat still in 10 years," participant Heather Archuletta told MyFOXHouston.com.
They can shower, surf the Internet and watch DVDs, all while remaining in bed. Afterward, the rehabilitation phase is key to the study, because NASA tests ways of bringing their bodies back to normal.
"I just wanted to help out the space program keep astronauts more healthy so we can make it to Mars," said Archuletta, who updates an online blog from her test bed."

Anyone interested?...

Here is the entire story.

Here are photos of the study participants "in action."

The Hulk Meets Guillermo

Guillermo from the Jimmy Kimmel Show is featured in a preview of The Incredible Hulk. Enjoy!

Thank you

Tim Russert, thank you for being one of those rare exceptions in the news media who did a good job in hiding your personal political leanings. You came across as fair and balanced. I loved watching sneaky politicians getting into your sights. Your broad smiles could reach through the tv and make others smile. You will be missed. Hopefully other reporters will truly learn from your example. I am sure you are in the middle of your best ever interview...a truly divine interview. God Bless you and your family.

Port-A-Potty Rescue

Fox News reports that in Lebanon, PA, "Rescue crews had to cut apart a portable toilet to rescue a man who got stuck naked inside the potty.
Authorities say 31-year-old Shannon Hunter, of Lebanon, used his cell phone to call 911 on Sunday from inside a portable toilet.
Police say Hunter had been drinking and had taken off his clothes. Somehow, he immersed himself in the holding tank.
Deputy fire commissioner Chris Miller told WPMT-TV, "I've been on the job in one form or fashion for 21 years, and this is the first port-a-potty rescue I've ever had."
Police charged Hunter with public drunkenness and creating a health code violation, but they have no idea why he was in the toilet with his clothes off. They say he didn't suffer any serious injuries."

10 Cent Beer Night

For years as a long time Texas Ranger baseball fan, I had heard about the game that ended the promotion 10 Cent Beer Night. The late great radio announcer Mark Holtz referred to it. I had always craved to learn what happened. Well, ESPN has a story saying happened that fateful night of June 4, 1974. The featured picture is of "the Rangers thought it necessary to brandish bats in defense of Jeff Burroughs." Here is an excerpt from the story. It is one wild one.

"...Accounts vary as to the volume proffered -- 8 ounces? 10? 12? -- but the price was certain enough: 10 cents per cup. Fans -- and we shall use this term for lack of a better one -- could buy up to six cups at a time, with no system in place to prevent a designated mule from purchasing a full complement, handing them off to underage clients, and returning for more.
Even though the Indians offered copious amounts of beer at cut-rate prices, a great many attendees opted to play with a handicap, arriving at their seats drunk, stoned or both. The June 4 promotion turned out to be quite popular, drawing 25,134 people, more than double the average crowd that season...

Through deliberate coordination or spontaneous groupthink, hundreds of fans showed up with pockets full of firecrackers. Anonymous explosions peppered the stands from the first pitch, lending the game a war-zone ambiance that would seem increasingly appropriate. Though it is not clear whether this impromptu celebration cost anyone a finger or hand, an uneasy je ne sais quoi settled into the stadium along with clouds of exploded gunpowder and marijuana smoke.
The Rangers took the lead in the top of the second inning on a home run by designated hitter Tom Grieve. Just a few pitches later, a heavyset woman sitting near first base jumped the wall, ran to the Indians' on-deck circle, and bared her enormous, unhindered breasts to appreciative applause from the beer-goggled teenagers who made up the stadium's primary demographic that night. She then attempted -- unsuccessfully -- to kiss umpire crew chief Nestor Chylak, who was not in a kissing mood.
This woman was just the scout for a larger exhibitionist force. When Grieve hit his second home run in the fourth inning, he had not yet rounded third base when a man -- entirely naked -- ran onto the field and slid into second, probably getting dirt in places unsuitable for speculation. In the fifth inning, two men in the outfield got into the act, jumping the wall and mooning the Rangers' outfielders. The players watched, hands on hips, shaking their heads as park security chased one hooligan after another across the diamond.
Each Texas player received a lusty chorus of boos as he stepped to the plate, and Fort Worth Star-Telegram beat writer Mike Shropshire noticed that the war drums beating from the nosebleed seats kept a quicker-than-usual tempo. Interest in the game itself peaked in the fourth inning, when Indians batter Leron Lee swatted a line drive back to Rangers pitcher Fergie Jenkins. Jenkins could not get out of the way and caught the ball with his stomach. As he writhed in pain, the fans began to clap. A chant began:
"Hit him again, harder!"
Later that inning, Lee was called safe in a close play at third. Rangers manager Billy Martin, no stranger to disruption and very much in his element that evening, came out to argue. A large number of the plastic cups sold to that point, many still full of beer, were thrown back onto the field by fans who found Martin's very presence offensive. As he returned to the dugout, the Rangers manager blew kisses into the stands.

As the night wore on, the crowds grew bolder, and packs of fans frequently scurried across the outfield. One man tossed a tennis ball into center field, then scrambled after it. After throwing the ball back into the seats, he led park security on a little jog, pausing at one point to hug another fan, perhaps a long-lost relative, who had jumped out to greet him. Ushers dragged away one of the two, while the other leaped into the stands and was borne away by dozens of gleeful, anonymous hands. The rain of beer became a hail of rocks, batteries, golf balls and anything not bolted down...

Early on, the demand for beer surpassed the Indians' capacity to ferry it to concession stands, and a luminary, perhaps the same person who suggested the promotion in the first place, decided to allow fans to line up behind the outfield fences and have their cups filled directly from Stroh's company trucks. The promotion achieved critical mass at that moment, as weaving, hooting queues of people refilled via industrial spigot.
The public address announcer reminded spectators not to litter onto the field, and refuse rained down harder. The grounds crew had not sat down since the second inning, and outfield fans used them as moving targets. Another woman jumped out of the stands waving, and though she did not disrobe, the crowd urged her to consider it. When ushers arrived to end the discussion, she attacked them. The surprised ushers forced her to the ground, prompting a storm of boos and shouts of "police brutality!"
One enterprising fan threw lit firecrackers into the Rangers' bullpen like grenades...

Mike Hargrove came on to play first base for the Rangers. The baseline fans greeted him with a half-full jug of Thunderbird wine that missed his head by inches.
As the ushers flagged, streakers stripped leisurely on the field of play, abandoning their clothes in a pile in left-center. A contingent of fans along the third-base side began removing the padding on the left-field wall. Either through numbers or sheer force of will, they nearly succeeded in taking a large chunk into the stands. The grounds crew abandoned its trash-collection duties and mustered to save the padding, an effort that occupied them the rest of the night.
In the seventh inning, radio announcers Joe Tait and Herb Score watched as the baseball fans in the crowd gathered their families and left the stadium like refugees. In the eighth, they noticed...members of the Indians front office leaving the ballpark, doing their best to look casual...

In the ninth, the Indians mounted a rally, scoring two runs to tie the game at 5. The winning run stood on second base when a young man jumped from the outfield seats and (perhaps searching for a memento to mark the occasion) flipped the cap off Rangers outfielder Jeff Burroughs' head. The outfielder turned to confront the fan and tripped over his own feet in the process. For the first time that evening, the chaos enveloped a player.
The slope of the diamond made it impossible for Martin to see below the level of an outfielder's knees from his station in the dugout. The legendary manager, in a moment that does not get large enough print on his long and colorful résumé, did not hesitate after Burroughs fell from view.
"Let's go get 'em, boys," he said, arming himself with a fungo bat and sprinting toward right-center field. The Rangers, understandably inspired, followed him.
Martin and his team stormed the diamond, infielders filling out their ranks. When they reached the outfield, the Rangers found Burroughs flustered but unharmed. More worrisome was the effect of their charge on the assembly: The jovial, frolicking nudists had disappeared. The mob that replaced them kept its clothes on and brandished an arsenal that made Martin's Louisville Slugger look like a child's toy. The Rangers manager spotted people wielding chains, knives and clubs fashioned from pieces of stadium seats. The 25 Texas players quickly found themselves surrounded by 200 angry drunks, and more were tumbling over the wall onto the field. The Texas Rangers had been ambushed.
Then the riot began. Indians manager Ken Aspromonte, his own defining moment upon him, realized that the Texas franchise might be on the verge of decimation. He too ordered his players onto the field. The bat racks in the home dugout emptied as the Indians mounted their own rescue..."

Here is the rest of the story plus a brief description of the play-by-play call from the Indians radio voices.

Are you being tracked?...

Fox News reports that "Researchers secretly tracked the locations of 100,000 people outside the United States through their cell-phone use and concluded that most people rarely stray more than a few miles from home.
The first-of-its-kind study by Northeastern University raises privacy and ethical questions for its monitoring methods, which would be illegal in the United States.
It also yielded somewhat surprising results that reveal how little people move around in their daily lives.
Nearly three-quarters of those studied mainly stayed within a 20-mile-wide circle for half a year.
The scientists would not say where the study was done, only describing the location as an industrialized nation.

Researchers used cell-phone towers to track individuals' locations whenever they made or received phone calls and text messages over six months.
In a second set of records, researchers took another 206 cell phones that had tracking devices in them and got records for their locations every two hours over a week's time period..."

Here is the rest of the story.

Ouch! He put what on his what?...

The Daily Telegraph reports that "A man was operated on in Hornsby Hospital early today to remove 16 stainless steel washers from his penis.Berowra Fire Rescue officers were called to alleviate the man from his awkward predicament at 3am. It was not clear how the situation arose. The man may well have thought long and hard about placing himself in the difficult situation. Fire Rescue Officers spent more than an hour unsuccessfully attempting to remove the washers, before the man was taken into an operating theatre about 4.30am. Surgeons took about 90 minutes to remove the washers using fire brigade equipment. A hospital spokesman said equipment normally used to remove rings from fingers was ineffective because of the thicker nature of the washers. The man was in a satisfactory condition. It is believed the only lasting damage may be to his pride."

Some Late Night Fun

Here's a clip from ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Show. It is his look at unnecessary censorship. Enjoy!

Random thoughts on "Lost"

Hmm... Could our Island be a link back to the lost land of Atlantis?... Remember the large sculpture of a foot? These amazing feats from unknown powers or technology...

Tribute to Harvey Korman

I only got to see Harvey Korman in Carol Burnett Show reruns. Thank you Harvey for bringing joy into so many lives.

Anyone Else Notice This?...

Has anyone else noticed the recent rash of major earthquakes striking aroung the world lately? I am not trying to be a harbinger of worse events to come shortly... Here are details on the latest major earthquake to strike. This was a 6.8 earthquake that struck off the coast of Taiwan on Sunday June 1st.

More Election 2008 Fun...

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel brings us a couple of clips from Election '08. The video ends with a real dig...

Lost Parrot Finds Its Way Home

ABC News reports that a lost parrot in Japan was reunited "with its owners after squawking its address."

"Open Water" Revisted...

"Open Water (Widescreen Edition)" revisted?... If you saw the movie, then you have a good idea how frightened and fortunate the following couple was:
The Times reports "Two scuba divers were plucked from the open ocean almost 24 hours after they went missing on a pleasure dive on Austrailia’s Great Barrier Reef.
The divers, 38-year-old Briton Richard Neely and American Allison Dalton, 40, were found shortly before 9am 7.8 nautical miles from where they had lost contact with their diving boat on Friday afternoon.
They were winched to safety after an 18 hour air rescue effort involving up to 12 aircraft and flown to a Queensland hospital where they are said to be in good spirits despite suffering from mild hypothermia.
Last night, police and emergency services used helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft equipped with search lights and infrared sensing equipment to search for the divers but were forced to call off the search.
At first light this morning the search continued with seven helicopters and three fixed wing aircraft. A rescue helicopter spotted the pair near the Whitsunday Islands off the Queensland's coast.
Police said the experienced divers surfaced yesterday afternoon around 200 metres from the dive boat but were unable to raise the crew.
They decided against fighting the strong current to conserve their energy, tying themselves to each other with a weight belt.
"They conserved energy throughout the evening and stayed as a pair awaiting rescue," Acting Superintendent Shane Chelepy of the Water Police said at a press conference in Brisbane today.
"From the debrief we have, these people said they did spot one of the search aircraft last night but were unable to attract its attention," Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said.
Following the search, attention has now turned to the dive boat operator, The Pacific Star, whose skipper was believed to have waited three hours until 5.30pm to alert emergency services to the missing divers.
"That issue will be investigated thoroughly, not only by Queensland Police but also by Workplace Health and Safety in a joint investigation," Mr Stewart said
"Obviously there were other divers with that vessel at the time so we will have to look into what happened with their recovery - whether they were back on the boat and what actions the captain took to commence the search.”
Attempts to contact the operator of The Pacific Star were unsuccessful today.
A similar incident occurred in 1998 when an American couple was left on the Great Barrier Reef by a dive operator at St Crispin Reef near Port Douglas.
The skipper of the dive boat was charged and later found not guilty of the manslaughter of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan after it was concluded by the coroner they had drowned or been killed by sharks."
I never thought this could happen again...

10 Baseball Bats Get You A...

Fox News reports that "During three years in the low minors, John Odom never really made a name for himself until he got traded for a bunch of bats.
"I don't really care," he said Friday. "It'll make a better story if I make it to the big leagues."
For now, Odom is headed to the Laredo Broncos of the United League. They got him Tuesday from the Calgary Vipers of the Golden Baseball League for a most unlikely price: 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, double-dipped black, 34-inch, C243 style.
"They just wanted some bats, good bats — maple bats," Broncos general manager Jose Melendez said.
According to the Prairie Sticks Web site, their maple bats retail for $69 each, discounted to $65.50 for purchases of six to 11 bats.
The Canadian team signed Odom about a month ago, but couldn't get the 26-year-old righty into the country. It seems Odom had a "minor" but unspecified criminal record that wasn't revealed to immigration officials before they scanned his passport, Vipers president Peter Young said.
Odom said the charge stemmed from a fight when he was 17. Although he thought it had been expunged from his record, it popped up during immigration...
The bat trade wasn't the first time Calgary came up with some creative dealmaking. The Vipers once tried to acquire a pitcher for 1,500 blue seats when they were renovating their stadium, Young said."

Here is the rest of this story.

Croc Defeats Shark

"THERE'S no need to be scared of sharks when you're in the Northern Territory - the crocs usually get to them first.
Paul van Bruggen snapped [this below] amazing [picture] of a 2.5m saltie dining out on a shark on the banks of the Daly River...

"We went past one section of the river and we heard some splashing,'' he said. "We looked across and saw a shark's tail coming up out of the water and then a crocodile's head came up and grabbed it.''
Mr van Bruggen said the crocodile knew exactly what it was doing, dragging the shark on to unfamiliar dry land before finishing off its prey. "How smart is the crocodile? It if was you or me it would be dragging you in to drown you, but it takes the shark up on dry land,'' he said. The fisherman, who was on the Daly River last Friday for the Barra Classic, said the crocodile definitely wanted shark for dinner. "We were about 15 metres away and it didn't bat an eyelid,'' he said."

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

TV Meltdown

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel shows a clip of a local weatherman who has a meltdown on tv. According to Kimmel, "this forecast calls for a 100% chance of anger!"

What's In Your Backyard?...

Fox News reports that "It's just a drop in the global oil bucket, but an eastern Indiana man is operating an oil well in his backyard in an effort to capitalize on soaring crude prices.
Greg Losh's rig produces three barrels of crude oil a day, though he told FOX News that he hasn't started selling it yet. For now, he and his partners are keeping it in storage containers.
He declined to say how much oil they've collected in the two weeks they've been pumping.
But as oil is going for about $127 a barrel on the international market, three daily would yield just under $400 a day for Losh on the global spot market — or 1/100,000 of the daily production increase the Saudis agreed to earlier this month.

Still, in spite of those returns and the $100,000 it costs to drill a well, it's worth it to Losh considering the current price of oil...

He expects to drill four more wells soon on his property in the town of Selma about 55 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

"It's a money maker. It is paying off," Losh told FOX.
The oil is stored in a tank and transported to Ohio for sale, he said. His oil well also produces natural gas to heat his home and several others."

It's Getting Rough In Mexico

Fox News reports that "Drug cartels are sending a brutal message to police and soldiers in cities across Mexico: Join us or die.
The threat appears in recruiting banners hung across roadsides and in publicly posted death lists. Cops get warnings over their two-way radios. At least four high-ranking police officials were gunned down this month, including Mexico's acting federal police chief.
Mexico has battled for years to clean up its security forces and win them the public's respect. But Mexicans generally assume police and even soldiers are corrupt until proven otherwise, and the honest ones lack resources, training and the assurance that their colleagues are watching their backs. Here, the taboo on cop-killing familiar to Americans seems hardly to apply.

Police who take on the cartels feel isolated and vulnerable when they become targets, as did 22 commanders in the border city of Ciudad Juarez when drug traffickers named them on a handwritten death list left at a monument to fallen police this year. It was addressed to "those who still don't believe" in the power of the cartels.

Of the 22, seven have been killed and three wounded in assassination attempts. Of the others, all but one have quit, and city officials said he didn't want to be interviewed.
"These are attacks directed at the top commanders of the city police, and it is not just happening in Ciudad Juarez," Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said at the funeral of the latest victim, police director Juan Antonio Roman Garcia. "It is happening in Nuevo Laredo, in Tijuana, in this entire region," he said. "They are attacking top commanders to destabilize the police force."
The killings are in response to a crackdown launched by President Felipe Calderon, who has sent thousands of soldiers and federal police across the nation to confront the cartels. Drug lords have hit back by sending killers to attack police with hand grenades and assault rifles.
Police are increasingly giving up. Last week, U.S. officials revealed that three Mexican police commanders have crossed into the United States to request asylum, saying they are unprotected and fear for their lives.
"It's almost like a military fight," said Jayson Ahern, the deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "I don't think that generally the American public has any sense of the level of violence that occurs on the border."
On May 8, Edgar Millan Gomez, who had taken over as acting federal police chief, just 10 weeks previously, was shot by a lone gunman outside his Mexico City apartment. Police blamed the Sinaloa cartel and said a police officer was among the suspects arrested.
The U.S. Embassy in the capital flew its flag at half-staff. "Mexico has lost another hero," Ambassador Tony Garza said in a statement. "Mexico has lost too many heroes in the fight against criminals and drug cartels."
Mexican government institutions didn't lower their flags, but held elaborate funerals.
In Ciudad Juarez, police have been given assault rifles -- they used to just carry pistols -- but also are instructed not to patrol streets alone. More than 100 of the city's 1,700-member force have resigned or retired since January.
Soldiers are also in the cartels' sights. The Zetas, an infamous group of soldiers who became drug hit men, strung banners above highways with slogans such as "The Zetas want you -- we offer good salaries to soldiers," and taunts about low army pay.
The conflict has become a battle for loyalty on several levels.
"Juarez Needs You! Join up and become part of the city police," say enormous city billboards. The jobs offer salaries about three times higher than those offered by the foreign-owned "maquiladora" factories that are the city's biggest industrial employer.
But police and soldiers keep deserting to the cartels, giving traffickers inside knowledge about tactics and surveillance.
And because of their history of corruption and abuse, police and soldiers run into suspicion as they patrol the border slums where traffickers throw children's parties, hand out cell phones and employ taxi drivers and youths as lookouts..."

Here is the entire story.

Campaign 2008 Fun

57?...

How Do You Tell Your Boss That You're Not Happy?

Fox News reports that "A 19-year-old flight attendant has been accused of setting a fire aboard a commercial airplane that was forced to make an emergency landing in Fargo, N.D.
Eder Rojas was charged Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis. The case will be prosecuted in Fargo.
Officials say the Compass Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Saskatchewan landed safely in Fargo on May 7, after smoke begin to fill the back of the plane.
Court documents say Rojas, of Woodbury, Minn., told authorities he was upset at the airline for making him work that route."

So you can do this to show the boss your displeasure...and end up in jail.

A Blowtorch Game?

Fox News reports that "A 14-year-old boy [in Manitowoc, Wisconsin] suffered burns to more than a quarter of his body after playing what authorities describe as a blowtorch game.
Manitowoc Fire Captain Mark Rusboldt says the boy and another teen were using spray cans as blowtorches. The 14-year-old was burned on his back, head, face, arms and hands. The other teen was not injured.
The burned boy was hospitalized Saturday at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee."

Vatican Says E.T. Could Exist

The BBC reports that "The Pope's chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out.
Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.
Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the world.
The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.
The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article 'Aliens Are My Brother'.

Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.
Asked about the Catholic Church's condemnation four centuries ago of the Italian astronomer and physicist, Galileo, Father Funes diplomatically says mistakes were made, but it is time to turn the page and look towards the future.
Science and religion need each other, and many astronomers believe in God, he assures readers.
To strengthen its scientific credentials, the Vatican is organising a conference next year to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the author of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin."

"Great tits cope well with warming"

The BBC reports that "At least one of Britain's birds appears to be coping well as climate change alters the availability of a key food.
Researchers found that great tits are laying eggs earlier in the spring than they used to, keeping step with the earlier emergence of caterpillars.
Writing in the journal Science, they point out that the same birds in the Netherlands have not managed to adjust.
Understanding why some species in some places are affected more than others by climatic shifts is vital, they say.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) commented that other species are likely to fare much worse than great tits as temperatures rise.

The research uses a long record of great tits in a breeding site at Wytham Woods near Oxford, where observations began in 1947..."

Now...What were you thinking when you read the title for this story?

If you're interested, then here is the rest of this story.

Sci-Fi Films That Get The Science Right

ABC News reports that [ABC News has] "picked out five more sci-fi films that go against the grain, and contain some accurate, plausible science...

2001 - A Space Odyssey (Two-Disc Special Edition) ...All scenes in outer space are silent – sound does not travel in a vacuum The stars do not move past the ship – for there to be a visible motion of the star field, the ship would have to be travelling at close to the speed of light The crew eat paste-like food and only drink liquids through straws...

Alien (The Director's Cut) ...This sci-fi horror has a number of realistic touches, such as the use of suspended animation to keep the spaceship's crew alive during decades-long interstellar travel

Read here for more about this two and other films.

Quick Thinking Lady Saves Herself

Fox News reports that "A fast-thinking woman used her cell phone to call police after she was abducted from a Target parking lot in Colorado Springs, it was reported.
According to MyFoxColorado.com the woman was hit on the head with a brick, bound with tape and thrown into the back seat of her car.
Colorado Springs Sergeant Mark Comte said the woman was able to make the call when her kidnapper left her alone in the car.
She didn't know where she was but was able to describe her car and surroundings, it was reported.
Police were able to locate her by honing in on the cellular tower transmitting her calls.
Shortly after police arrested Timothy Clapp and freed the woman, whose name was not released. She was transported to Memorial Hospital."

What the?! Guy Steals Vacuum

ABC News reports that "Surveillance footage shows man using his truck to steal a car wash vacuum." So why would someone do this? For the coins?

Cool Exhibit At The Met..

ABC News reports that "Statues of Superman, center, Batman, left, and Wonder Woman adorn the main entrance of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" exhibition in New York City. Made possible by Giorgio Armani, the exhibition features about 60 ensembles and runs through Sept. 1." Hope this cool exhibit comes down to Texas...

Here is the link to the Met's exhibit page.

Woman Pregnant With 18th Child

Fox News reports that "It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman — she's pregnant with her 18th child.
Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.
"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.
The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children — whose names start with the letter J — are home-schooled.
Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.
The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores — or "jurisdictions" — are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said..

Duggar said she's six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it.
"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."
The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2."

Here is the Duggar family web site.

Here are some photos of the family.

News You Probably Won't Be Hearing...

You probably will not be hearing this on the nightly news. NOAA reports that "The average temperature in April 2008 was 51.0 F. This was -1.0 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 29th coolest April in 114 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade."

Goldfish Plays Sports

ABC News explains how you can train your goldfish to play sports.

Guy Gives Himself A Tracheotomy

FoxNews reports that "An Omaha [Neb] man struggling to breath used a steak knife to perform an at-home tracheotomy.
Steve Wilder says he thought he was going to die when he awoke one night last week and couldn't breath.
Wilder says he didn't call 911 because he didn't think help would arrive in time. So, the 55-year-old says, he got a steak knife from the kitchen and made a small hole in his throat, allowing air to gush in.
Wilder suffered from throat cancer and related breathing problems several years ago. About that time, he had an episode where he couldn't breath because his air passages swelled shut. He says that's what happened this time around.
Doctors don't expect Wilder to suffer any adverse affects from the tracheotomy once it's healed."

One more...

'Nuff Said

Dog Nurses Motherless Kittens

Kittens from three litters are being nursed by a dog at a shelter in Iowa after the kittens lost their mothers.

The Secrets Of 'Indiana Jones'

ABC News asks "How realistic are Indy's archaeological adventures?"

Words Matter...

FoxNews reports that "An Arlington [TX] woman who caused her lover's shooting death by falsely crying rape was found guilty Friday of involuntary manslaughter.
Tracy Denise Roberson, 37, cried slightly when the verdict was announced after jurors had deliberated for more than a day. The punishment phase was set for Monday, and she faces two to 20 years in prison.
In late 2006, Darrell Roberson came home from a late-night card game to find his scantily clad wife with another man in a pickup truck in the driveway. Tracy Roberson was with her lover but cried rape, and her husband fired four shots into the truck as Devin LaSalle was driving off, killing him.
Darrell Roberson initially was arrested, but the murder charge later was dropped and a grand jury indicted Tracy Roberson instead.
During her three-day trial, defense attorneys called no witnesses but blamed LaSalle's death on Darrell Roberson's jealousy and rage.
But prosecutors placed all the blame on Tracy Roberson, showing evidence of the affair with LaSalle, 32, and a text message in which she invited him to her house that evening."

NASCAR Of The Sky

ABC News bring us a preview of the Red Bull air race as it comes to San Diego.

BBC's OddBox

President Bush conducting an orchestra, exploding cola fountains and the penguin with a wetsuit.

Mother And Daughter Die When Doctors Refuse Help

"AN "untouchable" woman who gave birth outside an Indian hospital because doctors would not treat her has died, a day after her baby, officials say.The newborn boy of Maya Devi, 28, died yesterday due to lack of medical help minutes after being born outside the maternity wing of Kanpur Medical College in northern Uttar Pradesh state. Devi was only put in intensive care after giving birth but she died of a heart attack early this morning. Several doctors, including the hospital's chief medical superintendent, had refused to touch her or provide medical care as she delivered her baby, the Press Trust of India reported. Devi was a Dalit, or "untouchable", a group at the bottom of the caste social ladder who have long been ostracised and forced into menial professions despite laws banning discrimination. Many high-class Hindus fear coming into contact with them. Dr Kiran Pandey, head of gynaecology at the hospital, said she was an hour's drive away in the state capital Lucknow at the time and rushed back. "We provided her the best medicines and treatment but she succumbed to two cardiac arrests," Dr Pandey said. College principal Anand Swaroop has ordered an inquiry, as has a district magistrate. The state's chief minister, Mayawati, who won elections last year, has ordered the doctors to be suspended and demanded an investigation."

Read here more about "untouchables."

A Gator In Her Kitchen

FoxNews reports that "A Florida woman found an 8-foot long alligator prowling in her kitchen late Monday night, authorities said.
Sandra Frosti, 69, said the alligator must have pushed through the screen door on the back porch and then walked through an open sliding glass door at her home in Oldsmar, just north of Tampa.
The alligator apparently then strolled through the living room, down a hall and into the kitchen.
A trapper removed the alligator, which was cut by a plate that was knocked to the ground during the chaos.
But no one inside the house was injured."

Here's the rest of the story.

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The Heroes...The Zeroes

We all have our heroes. Here are a couple of zeroes:

Dateline - New York - The New York Post reports "A man heckling First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna outside the 92nd Street Y was arrested after he punched a wheelchair-bound girl whose parents has told him to shut up, authorities said yesterday. German Talis, 22, was shouting obscenities at the Bushes, who were leaving the building Tuesday, when he crossed paths with Wendy and John Lovetro and their daughter Maureen, 18, who has cerebral palsy.
They had been in the audience to hear the Bushes talk about their children's book, "Read All About It!."
"He began yelling about Iraq and Iran at Jenna Bush. She was waving at the crowd. I told the guy, 'What are you doing? Shut up. This is about a child and books,' " said John Lovetro. "He was unperturbed. I said, 'Get out of here! You're being a moron!' "
The next thing he knew, Talis was allegedly punching Maureen - a fan of the first lady since meeting her in 2004.
"I heard my daughter hysterical yelling, 'He's hitting me!' " said Wendy Lovetro.
"He punched her on the shoulder blades, but that wasn't enough," she said.
"My husband pushed the wheelchair away from him and he reached beyond my husband and began pounding my daughter in the thigh."
The two men fought as the president's family drove off. Cops broke them up and busted Talis on charges of assault and resisting arrest."

Here's the other zero:

"Man Steals Wallet of ROTC Student Having Seizure Outside Bus Station"