Odd News: February

[Bungleau]

Crematorium to heat water for town's swimmers LONDON (Reuters) – A local authority in England has given the go ahead for a swimming pool to use energy created by the next-door crematorium to heat its water. The plan, the first of its kind in Britain, will see waste heat from the incinerator chimney used to warm up the neighboring leisure center and its new pool. "The cremation process is a sensitive matter and we wanted to be sure our proposals had widespread support," said Councilor Carole Gandy, the leader of Redditch Borough Council in central England. Eighty to 90 percent of people who contacted the council had backed the scheme, she said. "Throughout we have been careful to explain how the technology would work, that it is tried and trusted, and that the practice is quite common in parts of Europe and especially in Sweden," she said. "We already support our residents to insulate their homes and be energy-efficient, so it seemed only right for us to explore this re-use of energy." However, local trade union officials are less than impressed with the plan, saying it was a reflection of the massive public spending cuts being implemented by the government. "These proposals ... are sick and an insult to local residents," said Roger McKenzie, regional secretary for Unison, Britain's biggest public sector labor union. (Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Steve Addison)

Nothing like adding a little element of chance to your daily natation, is there... was that warm spot someone peeing, or was it Uncle Joe? No one's talking....

[SpiritWarrior]

Not sure why some people think the idea is sick. Recycling otherwise excess energy is always good and always practical. It's not like they are dumping bodies in the pool, they're just using the wasted energy from the fire. If I shared heating with 4 residents in a block, what do I care what they are using it for once I get my heating?

[Bungleau]

I agree that it's practical... but it seems a bit ghoulish to me. I mean, I'm sure the crematorium doesn't have to run 24x7... so when the forecast is bitter cold, do you root for more people to fuel the fires?

[Bungleau]

Chicago man buries shovel thief's car in snow CHICAGO, I.L. (WIVB) - A Chicago resident is the talk of the town after he got revenge on the woman who stole his shovel. He found a way to get her back, and of course it was all caught on videotape. It all started when an unknown neighbor of David Wells walked up his stairs and took his shovel to dig her car out after last week's blizzard in Chicago. The only problem was, she never returned the shovel. And what made matters worse was Wells needed the shovel to finish the igloo he was making for his 2-year-old daughter. So Wells did what any disappointed dad would do. He got out his snowblower. "I got a little, I guess, passive-aggressive. And I got a new snow blower, so I was kind of excited to bury her car," said Wells. You may be wondering where all this video came from. Well, unfortunately for the woman who took the shovel, Wells owns Tunnel Vision Technology, which sells security camera systems, and he has cameras all around his house.

Heh... I can imagine the conversation...

Yeah, that's old man Wells' shovel. What's he gonna do about it?

[VulcanRider]

I wonder if she's brought the shovel back yet?

[Kezardin]

Originally Posted by VulcanRider I wonder if she's brought the shovel back yet?

She returned it eventually.

Here's the footage of the four part drama ( theft / plows ahoy !! / my car !? / *%^!@#!! )

[Hindsight]

Odd/interesting:

Boy Without a Cerebellum Baffles Doctors

Heather and David Britton want everyone to understand a few things about their giggling, bespectacled 3-year-old son, Chase. "He's happy. We call him the Little Gremlin. He loves to play tricks on people. He loves to sing. His goal in life is to make people smile," Heather Britton told AOL News. "He's got so much love around him. We're an extremely happy family. His story is not tragic." But to an outsider, the Brittons' story might seem heartbreaking. Another son, Trey, was born 11 weeks early and only expected to live moments. Instead, he died six weeks after his birth in 2008, on the same day he was scheduled to receive a liver transplant. Cleared to get pregnant again, the couple was thrilled when Chase was conceived, Britton said. They were eager to give older son Alex, 13, a sibling. Chase was also born prematurely, and he was legally blind. When he was 1 year old, doctors did an MRI, expecting to find he had a mild case of cerebral palsy. Instead, they discovered he was completely missing his cerebellum -- the part of the brain that controls motor skills, balance and emotions. "That's when the doctor called and didn't know what to say to us," Britton said in a telephone interview. "No one had ever seen it before. And then we'd go to the neurologists and they'd say, 'That's impossible.' 'He has the MRI of a vegetable,' one of the doctors said to us." Chase is not a vegetable, leaving doctors bewildered and experts rethinking what they thought they knew about the human brain. "There are some very bright, specialized people across the country and in Europe that have put their minds to this dilemma and are continuing to do so, and we haven't come up with an answer," Dr. Adre du Plessis, chief of Fetal and Transitional Medicine at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., told Fox News affiliate WGRZ. "So it is a mystery." Chase also is missing his pons, the part of the brain stem that controls basic functions, such as sleeping and breathing. There is only fluid where the cerebellum and pons should be, Britton said. Britton's pregnancy was complicated, so doctors closely monitored her. Deepening the mystery, she has detailed ultrasound pictures of Chase's brain during various stages of fetal development and the images clearly show he once had a cerebellum. "That is actually a fundamental part of the dilemma," du Plessis told WGRZ. "If there was a cerebellum, what happened to it?" Doctors found no signs of a brain bleed, hemorrhage or stroke, and no damage to any other part of his brain, Britton said. Technically, his diagnosis is cerebellar hypoplasia, which normally means a small cerebellum rather than a missing one. Chase's case, du Plessis said, challenges "fundamental principles." And its impact is certain to reach far beyond one little boy and his family. "It is cases like this that rally the support of the medical community, that harness the interest of other investigators, that stimulate people to try and find solutions," he told WGRZ, "and those repercussions will have an impact on a much broader population of kids." But what the Brittons know is this: Chase eventually managed to sit up on his own, something he shouldn't have been able to do without a cerebellum to provide balance. Next he learned to crawl, first dragging himself military-style, then pushing himself upright. Now, he's learning to walk. "He keeps going," his mom said. "He keeps picking up new things and progressing. We call it, 'Chase pace.'" In the fall, Chase started going to a specialized preschool near his New York home three days a week. "I'm in awe of him every day," Sharon Schultz, his teacher at CHC Learning Center in Williamsville, N.Y., told WGRZ. "Things that, based on that diagnosis, he should not be able to do, he is doing. I mean, walking up and down the hall, riding a bike, holding a pencil or a pen to work on projects, using scissors."

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/12/ch...c1_lnk3|200962

[Bungleau]

Man has 39 wives, nearly 100 children GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) – The more, the merrier is certainly true for Ziona Chana, a 66-year-old man in India's remote northeast who has 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren -- and wouldn't mind having more. They all live in a four storied building with 100 rooms in a mountainous village in Mizoram state, sharing borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, media reports said. "I once married 10 women in one year," he was quoted as saying. His wives share a dormitory near Ziona's private bedroom and locals said he likes to have seven or eight of them by his side at all times. The sons and their wives, and all their children, live in different rooms in the same building, but share a common kitchen. The wives take turns cooking, while his daughters clean the house and do washing. The men do outdoor jobs like farming and taking care of livestock. The family, all 167 of them, consumes around 91 kg (200 pounds) of rice and more than 59 kg (130 pounds) of potatoes a day. They are supported by their own resources and occasional donations from followers. "Even today, I am ready to expand my family and willing to go to any extent to marry," Ziona said. "I have so many people to care (for) and look after, and I consider myself a lucky man." Ziona met his oldest wife, who is three years older than he is, when he was 17. He heads a local Christian religious sect, called the "Chana," which allows polygamy. Formed in June 1942, the sect believes it will soon be ruling the world with Christ and has a membership of around 400 families. (Reporting by Biswajyoti Das, editing by Elaine Lies)

And I have enough trouble trying to keep *one* wife satisfied... let alone happy