Ironworks Gaming Forum - Odd News

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Odd News - October 2008

Let's try to keep the clutter down a bit, shall we?

From Yahoo Odd News...

Quote:

<h2>Granny gives thieves a run for their money</h2>LONDON (AFP) - Youths who tried to snatch a grandmother's purse got the fright of their lives when she turned out to be a former cross-country champion and chased after them, according to report.

Janet Lane, 68, was waiting for a friend on a park bench in Torquay when one of three young thugs grabbed her bag containing her pension, the newspaper reports said on Wednesday.

"I think those boys saw a little old lady and thought I was easy pickings, but there was no way I was going to sit there and let them get away with it," she said.

"Without thinking I jumped up and ran after them as fast as I could. I was screaming at them too. I felt outraged."

She followed them to the grounds of a nearby hotel and caught one of them by the collar.

"He was so afraid he dropped my bag but then managed to wriggle free," said Lane, who was a junior athlete for her county in the 1950s.

The retired nurse, who keeps herself in shape by swimming and walking, reportedly added: "I was delighted to get it back. I haven't run like that since I was a girl. It must have been a bit of a sight."

Police said they were investigating the incident but recommended members of the public do not follow Lane's example.

I do love those stories where someone who ought to be easy pickings for thieves turns around and gives 'em what for! Betcha that'd be a fun conversation in jail...

"Whatcha in for?"

"Robbery"

"How'd you get caught?"

"The little old lady chased me down and beat me up"

"Really? C'mere, little guy...."

Re: Odd News - October 2008

I love hearing stories like that! It reminds me of the one (I think it got posted here) where the guy was breaking in on a lady, but it turned out she was a boxing pro and pounded him.

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Yup, great to hear. Mostly because no one was hurt.

Re: Odd News - October 2008

From Yahoo Odd News...

Quote:

<h2>Man shows his political preference with dog feces</h2>ST. CLOUD, Minn. – A man was ticketed for unlawful dumping after admitting to putting dog feces in his neighbor's truck for political reasons. Police Sgt. Jerry Edblad said a 19-year-old St. Cloud man told police he has found small baggies of dog feces in the back of his pickup truck for the past few weeks.

Donald Esmay told KNSI-AM the feces started appearing in his truck right after he put a 2-foot-by-4-foot McCain sign there.

He and his family watched the truck trying to catch the culprit, but didn't have any luck until Wednesday when his mother and brother saw someone from the neighborhood.

They confronted the 45-year-old man, who admitted to it and said it was childish.

When police later spoke with the neighbor, Edblad said he told officers he did it because he "hates McCain."

The unlawful dumping ticket comes with a $183 fine.

That's some expensive poop right there... and you'd think that with enough versions of "CSI" on the tube, he'd realize that someone could probably identify the dog from DNA analysis of the poop (or something like that ;) )

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Quote:

http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/10...BM_450x357.jpg
Man breaks cockroaches-in-mouth record
Friday, October 17, 2008

An American man has broken the world record for holding the most cockroaches in his mouth, after keeping 11 of them in his mouth.
Travis Fessler, 35, held them in his mouth for ten seconds to smash the previous record of nine Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches, according to US media.
He said of the attempt: 'One of them tried to crawl down my throat.

Not my favourite dinner, but, y'know, when I'm really hungry...

Re: Odd News - October 2008

..I suppose he could be out committing crimes...?

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Sorry. I don't believe I'll ever be that hungry, unless I'm on the point of death. And I'll kill the roaches first... don't want anything trying to crawl back out now, do we ;)

Re: Odd News - October 2008

In this world if we don't eat the roaches they're sure as hell gonna eat us!

Re: Odd News - October 2008

They can eat me all they want... posthumously.

..are they carnivorous?

Re: Odd News - October 2008

I do believe they're carnivorous... anything's fair game... especially game :D

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Britain's Bristol City Council warned residents in government housing in September to always leave their sheds unlocked. Otherwise, thieves would have to break the doors down to get inside, and taxpayers would be stuck with the repair bills. [Daily Telegraph (London), 9-30-08]

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Nice, so they couldn't just spring a one time expense for stronger doors?

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arvon (Post 1220112)

Sounds like thievery is getting better as a career choice.

Re: Odd News - October 2008

From Yahoo Odd News...

Quote:

<h2>Suspect in golf cart eludes Utah sheriff cruisers</h2>MORGAN, Utah – A Utah sheriff's office has found that it shouldn't underestimate the golf cart as a getaway car.

A suspect in a souped-up cart managed to elude officers who pursued him last month through an alfalfa field — but only for a while. He was arrested the next day at his grandmother's house.

Officers started pursuing the driver after he was spotted spinning out in a city park in Morgan. He took off into an alfalfa field and jumped irrigation ditches that the sheriff's cruisers couldn't cross.

Morgan County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Peay suspects the cart was fitted with a car engine instead of the original electric motor.
___
Information from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net

No fair, judge! He cheated!

Reminds me of a friend of mine's words from years ago, about the cops in Sterling Heights, the city in which I lived. He said they were crazy, and thought that wherever the person they were chasing could go, they could follow... no matter what.

Never had the opportunity to see if he was right or not... probably just as well.

And another...

Quote:

<h2>British spinster jailed after breaking neighbour's arm with spade</h2>LONDON (AFP) – A 72-year-old British spinster was sentenced Monday to 24 weeks in jail for breaking a neighbour's arm by hitting him with a spade in a row over a strip of land.

June Iddon, who suffers from a terminal case of cancer, yelled "I'm innocent!" as she was led away by two security guards in Preston Crown Court, northern England.

Last November, Iddon, a former civil servant, hit 62-year-old Jeffrey Grundy as he met with a builder to discuss where to place a fence between their two properties.

Iddon raised her spade over her head to strike Grundy, who managed to block the blow but broke his right arm.

"Notwithstanding your age and physical frailty a message needs to be sent to you that your behaviour cannot be acceptable," Judge Lesley Anderson said.

The judge noted that a previous civil case had found in favour of Grundy, subsequent to which he invited the builder to his property, and added that Iddon had ignored that ruling.

Memo to self... if ever you get involved in a game with this granny, lose. It's safer...

That'll make the reception difficult...

From Yahoo Odd News...

Quote:

<h2>Iowa couple ordered apart after woman bites fiance</h2>IOWA CITY, Iowa – A judge has ordered an suburban Chicago woman to stay away from her fiance — two weeks before their wedding.

Johnson County, Iowa, Judge Stephen Gerard ordered 23-year-old Rucha (ROO'-chuh) A. Patel on Monday not to have contact with the man after she was charged with domestic abuse causing injury.

Her fiance's name was not released.

Police says Patel drove over the man's foot and then bit his hand when he took away her keys to prevent her from driving Monday in Iowa City. It was not known why he tried to stop Patel.

Patel told the judge the marriage was scheduled in two weeks.

A call left for Rucha Patel was not returned.
___
Information from: Iowa City Press-Citizen, http://www.press-citizen.com/

Hmmm... yep, back in Iowa.

You know what Iowa stands for, don't you?

Idiot Out Wandering Around.

Doesn't sound like she's a native Iowegian, though...

Re: That'll make the reception difficult...

Quote:

Police Arrest Michigan Man For Car Wash Vacuum Sexy Time

On October 18th, Police apprehended an unnamed Michigan man in the act of coitus with his chosen mistress of the night, a car wash vacuum cleaner. Police were alerted to the unnatural activities by eye witnesses and approached on foot around 6:45 AM finding the man in the act, disturbing as that thought might be. When commenting on the situation, Sgt. Gary Breidinger said "I've seen some strange things, but this is the weirdest thing I've ever heard." We're wondering how many quarters that kind of thing costs. [AP]

http://jalopnik.com/5065856/police-a...um-sexy+time#c)

Cheap date?
ST

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Okay, this one caught my eye. From one of those bad-@$$ Canadians...

Quote:

<h2>'I GOT MY ARM. I CAN'T COMPLAIN'</h2>
Jim Gibson , Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, October 16, 2008

VICTORIA - Shawn Clement knows that his left arm looks as if he lost out to the shark in Jaws. Sometimes the 30-year-old tells gawking strangers that's exactly what happened to his arm, now a tributary of scars running from his wasted bicep to below his elbow.

What actually happened to the former Gold River, B.C., shake and shingle mill worker is as horrific as anything Hollywood conjures up. In February, a flying 1.2-metre saw blade severed his left arm about 16 centimetres below the elbow.

Clement had chalked up about 15 years in the forestry industry by the time of his accident. Over the past two years, he had worked on-and-off as a sawyer, turning blocks of wood into shakes and shingles. He had been filling in as a sawyer since early January, and was just a few days away from a new posting. He wasn't comfortable around the two blades the job involves.

"I was scared of it for a long time," he adds, concerned about what he saw as limited escape room.

"Nothing ever happens," he was assured, but his concerns became a brutal reality in the early afternoon of Feb. 21. Suddenly, one fast-spinning blade looked terribly wrong. He knew it was coming off.

"Son of a bitch! Fifteen years and this is how it's going to end," Clement thought as he fled. "I ran away. It caught up to me."

The blade pinned him to the mill floor, breaking his nose and several teeth.

"My buddies were on it fast - it seemed like an eternity - they all thought I was dead. They pulled the saw off of me.

"My face hurt. I went to grab my face. My hand was gone. I got up and grabbed the stub that was left and ran to the first aid room."

He was heavily sedated for the helicopter ride to Royal Jubilee Hospital.

His severed arm had been wrapped in moist sterile sponges, placed in a plastic bag and set in a bucket of iced, saline fluid.

A Victoria medical team reattached it during an 11-hour operation starting that evening. Almost 24 hours after his accident, Clement woke up to see his mother and ex-wife in the hospital room. He looked down at his heavily padded arm and thought, "Wow. It's cool. It's an arm."

"I looked at my mom and ex-wife and they were crying," Clement says.

"I got my arm. I can't complain," Clement says eight months later. At the time, they weren't even giving him 50/50 odds.

"When I woke up, Ken (surgical team leader Ken Smith) came in the room and said, "Chances are you might not keep the arm, but we're going to see what will happen.' "

For Smith, it was his first arm reattachment in 16 years of practice.

Smith likens what he does in the OR to renovating a house. Initially, the builder must decide if the renovation is both possible and worthwhile. The surgeon must decide if there is enough left to do the reattachment, and what, if any, function can be restored.

Some patients never regain any use. The attached part becomes a hassle so they later choose amputation, Smith says.

Clement had two pluses even before reaching the OR. The flying saw blade severed his arm cleanly below the elbow rather than splintering bone and mashing the flesh.

Secondly, the severed arm was well-prepared for transport.

Clement was wheeled into the OR about 7 p.m., giving Smith an easy six-hour leeway to restore circulation before the severed arm would be deemed dead.

Continuing with the builder analogy, Smith describes orthosurgeon Colin Landells as the framer. He stabilized the bone first with plates on Clement's arm and then moved to prepare the severed piece on which Smith had already tagged which nerves, veins and arteries were usable. Again with an operating microscope donated by the Firefighters Burn Fund, Smith tagged Clement's remaining arm.

Once Landells joined the bones over three hours, Smith began reattaching first the blood vessels (the plumbing) and then the nerves (the electrical).

Zooming in with the microscope, he first trimmed the ends before stitching them together, as he later did ligaments and muscles to allow some future function.

As Smith worked, Clement's arm began regain colour. The "plumbing" was working, but the next day the arm turned an ominous deep purple. Clement was back in the OR where two veins were transplanted from his right leg to the arm to improve blood flow back to his heart.

Smith now says Clement's arm is there to stay, stopping short of touting a full recovery.

"It's safe to say he'll never have normal function," says the surgeon, who envisions Clement's left arm only in an assistance role to his right arm.

Time, therapy and medical procedures have given the right-handed Clement partial use of his left arm.

"I can pick up a screwdriver, scratch my nose, but I can't wipe my ass or pick up a dime," he says.

Nor will he ever again play ball, curl or return to being a volunteer firefighter. In the months or years ahead, the father of three envisions retraining as a pilot or surveyor.

Clement still faces an unspecified number of medical procedures. There is a bone graft to come, as well as surgery for internal scar tissue before the year's end. He is in constant pain.

The consequences are not all physical. Any loud noise has Clement looking "behind me to make sure nothing's coming after me." There are nightmares in which he sees his arm come off.

He has returned to the mill to thank colleagues for their quick action, but he avoided his old work area.

"I couldn't. I wouldn't go back in there," he says.

jgibson@tc.canwest.com
© Victoria Times Colonist 2008

I'm... impressed. Really.

Re: Odd News - October 2008

The pants are now worth $54 million

Quote:

$54 million missing pants lawsuit back in court
Cleaners misplaced man's trousers; he initially sued for $67 million in '05

WASHINGTON - A customer who sued a D.C. dry cleaner for $54 million because of a missing pair of pants headed back to court.

The D.C. Court of Appeals scheduled to review the case on Wednesday. The lawsuit was first brought against Custom Cleaners more than three years ago by then-administrative law judge Roy Pearson.

Pearson sued the mom-and-pop business for $67 million in 2005 after the cleaners misplaced a pair of his trousers. He later lowered his demand to $54 million.

seriously, he just can't let it go can he?

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Quote:

'I GOT MY ARM. I CAN'T COMPLAIN'

SH!T, that happens every day up here!

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Justice is served...

From Sweden...

Quote:

<h2>Smuggling charges dropped when couple revealed party plans</h2>The busy social life of an elderly couple from Piteå in northern Sweden has helped free them of smuggling charges after being caught transporting thousands of litres of alcohol from Germany into Sweden.

The couple has detained back in August 2006 when customs officials in Malmö stopped their minivan on the way back from a trip to Germany, reports the Pitea-Tidning newspaper.

An inspection of the van uncovered 2,692 litres of beer, 27 litres of wine, and 4.2 litres of hard liquor. In a subsequent search of the couple’s home in Piteå, police discovered an additional stash of alcohol, as well as a journal which included people’s names, along with different sums and types of beer.

Altogether, the couple had brought around 24,000 cans of beer in Sweden, reports the Norrbotten-Kuriren newspaper.

The prosecutor filed smuggling charges, alleging the pair had engaged in a systematic operation to import and distribute alcohol, and argued that the couple should be sentenced to several months in prison.

During the trial, the pair openly admitted to having transporting the alcohol from Germany into Sweden, but denied they had committed any crime since the beer, wine, and liquor was meant for personal use.

Specifically, the booze was meant to supply partygoers at their son’s upcoming 40th birthday party, the wife’s 60th birthday party, their daughter’s wedding, a friend’s 70th birthday party, and for a New Year’s party.

Upon hearing the couple’s defence, the court threw out the smuggling charges and ordered that the couple’s alcohol supply, which had been confiscated at the start of the investigation, be returned.

David Landes (david.landes@thelocal.se/+46 8 656 6518)

Glad to hear that justice was properly served... although I wish I knew those people. That'd make for one heck of a set of parties!

Say.... anyone know where Johnny was back then? :cheers:

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Thats us scandinavians for ya :D throw a few parties and get charged with smuggling :P

Chicken, anyone?

I wanna party in Scandinavia... :cheers:

In the meantime, from Yahoo Odd News...

Quote:

<h2>Men nabbed after playing 'chicken' with police car</h2>BETHANY, Okla. – Three Oklahoma City men were arrested after playing "chicken" with a police car. Police said a 23-year-old man drove his car at the oncoming patrol car driven by Capt. J.D. Reid and didn't move until Reid swerved out of the way. Reid then chased the car until it crashed. The driver was found inside the car, another 22-year-old man was found lying outside the vehicle and a third man was found hiding behind a traffic sign.

Two of the men were hospitalized and the third was treated and taken to the Oklahoma County jail where he's being held without bond.

Police say the driver apparently decided on a whim to play chicken car and didn't realize the car was a police car.
___
Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com

Gotta love that third guy.... hiding behind a traffic sign? "Maybe if I suck in my gut, they won't see me..."

Bad pun alert...

And 'cause I have to have two...
From Yahoo Odd News...

Quote:

<h2>No rest for dead at foreclosed Mich. funeral home</h2>PONTIAC, Mich. – Even the dead can't escape foreclosure in suburban Detroit. Five bodies and the cremated remains of 22 people were evicted Friday from a funeral home in Pontiac.

The remains from the House of Burns Memorial Chapel were delivered to the Oakland County medical examiner's office for storage. A medical examiner's administrator, Robert Gerds, said some of the cremated remains date to the 1990s.

The county will send the bodies to another funeral home if a family member makes a claim.

A pastor who went to the building Friday to attend a funeral service says he disapproves of the timing and the way the eviction was carried out.

Detroit television stations also aired video of caskets being removed. Gerds says no bodies were inside.

Okay, the thing that caught my eye here... the House of Burns? What kind of comedian is running this joint?

Re: Odd News - October 2008

ha ha.

I'd add something to that, but nothing comes to mind.

Re: Bad pun alert...

A crematorium named House of Burns?? I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt & suggest that either that was the owner's name, or with Michigan's Scottish population, it was named for poet Robert Burns. Otherwise, that's just mean...

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Neighbors in the previously quiet New York City neighborhood of Nolita complain about the raucous, late-night trance music and crowds at the recently opened Delicatessen, according to an August New York Post story, but with little success. However, 10 of the apartments next door happen to look directly down upon the club's architectural signature, a see-through ceiling, and at least one resident has taken to relieving himself out his window, splattering the roof. (Another of the residents, though, said that when the man misfires, it ruins his air-conditioning unit.) [New York Post, 8-31-08]

Re: Odd News - October 2008

I think that one was posted awhile back already, still, it is amusing.

I think someone speculated reliever was actually aiming for the AC.

What's for dinner?

From Yahoo Odd News...

Quote:

<h2>Restaurant closed after dead deer found in kitchen</h2>HAMBURG, N.Y. – Health officials shut down a suburban Buffalo restaurant after an inspector found employees butchering a dead deer inside the business. Erie County Health Department officials said they got a tip Friday about a dead deer in the China King restaurant in the town of Hamburg, just south of Buffalo.

An inspector soon arrived and saw the deer being butchered in the kitchen.

State health laws prohibit butchering an animal inside a restaurant.

Officials don't know whether the deer had been killed by a hunter or a vehicle. They said there was no indication the deer meat was served to any customers.

The message on the restaurant's answering machine Monday says it was closed because of "family emergencies."

First, I thought it was one of those "I opened the door and there it was" things. Then I realized that with a name like "China King", it's probably a chinese restaurant (go figure!) or a buffet.

Hmmm... wonder what's *REALLY* on the menu? :hehe:

Re: Odd News - October 2008

..probably sending it overseas and making a fortune; cookie!

Nevermind... *HERE* is what's for dinner!

From Yahoo Odd News...

Quote:

<h2>Spicy pork sausage found in 'soiled diapers'</h2>McALLEN, Texas – Customs inspectors scored the makings of a barbecue when a 21-year-old South Texas woman declared several soiled baby diapers at a U.S.-Mexico border crossing.

Suspicious of the chunky diapers, inspectors with U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the international bridge in Hidalgo found several links of spicy pork sausage, or chorizo, inside. The diapers had been folded to look soiled, according to a customs agency statement.

The Mission resident, who was not identified after the Friday night incident, was fined $300 and her chorizo was seized.

Man... I'd hate to be the guy who had to make the determination if they were soiled or not... I mean, inspecting poop is bad enough, but how do you confirm it's chorizo?

Although I suspect someone declaring soiled diapers would be a little out of the ordinary...

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Yep very odd.
First, why would you carry dirty diapers across the border?
Second, chorizo is typically more of a red color, and it's solid.
In my experience, baby crap is the color of what they ate last, and most assuredly not solid.

And baby diapers are not known for their ability to conceal smells. the lack of stink may have given her away.

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Or maybe she tried to cross around lunch time and the diapers just smelled too good...

Re: Odd News - October 2008

Do you really need to "sneak" such a thing back?