Coolest cinema in the world

The 9th of April 2004

A cinema that has opened in Kautokeino, northern Norway, extends the meaning of cool. It is made of snow, and you can drive in on your snowmobile.
"We always wanted to create a different film experience," said Anne Lajla Utsi, organiser of this year's Kautokeino Sami film festival.
The 10 days of cinema focuses on talent indigenous to Finnmark, the home of the nomadic Sami people.
"We've built a snow amphitheatre, with reindeer skins to sit on, and the actual screen is also made from snow," she said. The festival opened this week with a screening of Taxi to Batsfjord. The Sami, who once herded reindeer on skis, now use snowmobiles.
Audiences rave about the experience of watching a movie under the Arctic sky as the northern lights work their magic over the tundra.
Ice cream, understandably, is not on sale, but hot drinks are available during the intermission from a lavvo, similar to a North American tepee, next door.
The Guardian
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/08/1081326866773.html

SMH 9-4-4

Thief who steals, cleans your car

The 8th of April 2004

An obsessive car thief who carefully cleaned the vehicles he took before returning them to their owners has been jailed by a British court, a report said today.
Colin Sadd - described by one judge as "the man you would most want to steal your car" - received a six-year sentence at a court in Sheffield, northern England, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The 41-year-old contract cleaner, who has 155 previous convictions for mainly car-related crimes, admitted five counts of stealing cars and asked for 31 others to be taken into consideration.
The court was told that Sadd would dress smartly and pose as a customer at vehicle showrooms before snatching keys and driving away in a car.
After driving them for several hours, he would wash and polish the car, as well as thoroughly cleaning the exterior, before returning them undamaged to their owners, the paper said.
Judge Alan Goldsack said he had no alternative but to send Sadd to prison, where he has served previous terms.
He added that the thief needed psychiatric treatment.
Sadd's wife, Mary, said after the case that she planned to file for divorce.
"He looked after the cars he stole better than after me," she said.
AFP
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/08/1081326834171.html

SMH 9-4-4

Monkeying around at work

The 8th of April 2004

A manager in New Zealand's tax office often wears a fairy costume, complete with wings and a tiara, and makes her staff put pictures of monkeys on their desks, a newspaper has reported.
"It's just the way that she expresses her dress sense," an Inland Revenue Department spokeswoman told Wellington's Dominion Post, confirming that a team leader "chooses to wear fairy wings some days".
The department said the pictures of monkeys on the desks of about 12 call centre workers was part of the "innovative ways" used by managers "as a technique for creating discussion and generating feedback".
"Staff were encouraged to use this to symbolise a particular area of concern for them as an individual. The monkey symbolised the concern, not the person," the spokeswoman said.
Opposition Member of Parliament Rodney Hide, who has frequently criticised tax office methods, told the paper: "I really do not think this is the way to achieve the professional IRD that we all aspire to."
DPA
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/07/1081326798704.html

SMH 8-4-4

Naked sushi lunches axed

The 7th of April 2004

A Japanese restaurant which served sushi on the body of two near naked women has been banned from offering such meals, after causing a storm of controversy in the south-west Chinese city of Kunming.
The Hefengcun Huaishi restaurant launched a promotional "feast on a beauty's body," for local journalists last Friday, hiring two attractive fair-skinned college girls to lie on tables, with sushi and other food placed on their bare bodies covered with thin gauze.
The reports caused a firestorm in the local and national press with many readers slamming the novel dining trend as offensive and insulting to women.
Health authorities in Kunming have ordered an end to such feasts, after carrying out a sanitation investigation at the restaurant, the Xinhua news agency said.
Officials found the two women did not have health certificates, which are required for workers in the restaurant industry, Xinhua said.
It quoted Qian Ning, a sociologist at Yunnan University in Kunming, saying that the feasts, once a fashion in the Japanese royal court, reflected women's former low social status.
"The reappearance of such a culture is totally a historical retrogress," Qian said.
She added that any introduction of exotic culture should not strain the tolerance level of Chinese culture.
Li Ailing, manager of the Japanese-owned restaurant, had told AFP the restaurant received hundreds of phone calls, with many protesting the restaurant's bare cheek, but also many people wanting to make reservations for the meals.
"We didn't think the reaction would be so explosive, so controversial," Li said. "The purpose of this promotion is not commercial, but to spread Japanese culture."
She blamed the reaction on Kunming people's conservative attitudes.
Known as "Nyotai Mori" in Japan, the feasts date back to ancient times and are often offered in special hotspring resorts today, but are generally left off menus. They are offered to aficionados on request.
Restaurants as far afield as Seattle and Manchester have also offered sushi in the raw and drawn similar protests from women's activists.
Li said the Kunming restaurant was planning to charge 1,000 yuan ($160) per person.
The restaurant had also protected the girl's modesty by covering their breasts and genitals with seashells, and laying gauze over the rest of the exposed flesh, and getting waitresses to serve customers rather than allowing them to touch the girls, Li added.
AFP
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/06/1081222473967.html

SMH 7-4-4

NZ's answer to Pamplona: the running of the sheep

The 4th of April 2004

A small New Zealand town reached for some of the glamour and danger of the Spanish bull-run city of Pamplona yesterday - by running 2,000 woolly sheep through the middle of town.
No one was chased, trampled or gored by the animals in the inaugural "Running of the Sheep". And instead of seeking cover, most spectators helped stop the shaggy mob from scurrying everywhere but the right direction.
As organiser John Grainger predicted, the result was pure chaos as sheep, people and dogs struggled along the planned route through North Island's Te Kuiti, a rural farming town 570 km north of the capital, Wellington.
Headed initially by All Black rugby greats Colin Meads and Sir Brian Lochore, the sheep were supposed to do a quick circuit through the town centre.
But the 2,000 ewes lacked the instinct of Spanish bulls, as they split into puzzled groups and flocked in all directions.
Spectators whistled, shouted and waved their arms to direct the flock.
"The sheep I think panicked ... and we couldn't keep in front of them," Meads chuckled.
The crowd, most of the town's 4,374 population, was delighted.
The event "was extremely ambitious, sheep being sheep, and people being people," one unnamed woman told New Zealand's TV3 News.
"I think it's got international potential," she laughed.
AP
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/03/1080941726671.html

SMH 4-4-4

Bananas bend interrogation rules

The 3rd of April 2004

Phnom Penh: Police in Cambodia have been accused of extracting confessions from two teenagers by force-feeding them bananas until they felt sick. The newspaper Koh Santopheap said the pair were subjected to the unorthodox interrogation after being arrested last Sunday on suspicion of stealing five bags of soap powder from a car parked in the capital, Phnom Penh.
A policeman, Yim Simony, denied wrongdoing.
"They were hungry and annoyed and they refused to answer our questions," he said. "But after they ate the bananas, they answered the questions."
Reuters
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/02/1080544691664.html

SMH 3-4-4

L-plates for yum cha carts

The 1st of April 2004

Yum cha restaurants in Chinatown will now have to train workers who push food carts to pass a "driving licence" under new regulations from Sydney City Council.
The move comes after a spate of accidents in which novice or careless trolley-pushers have crashed carts, injuring or making a mess of patrons and co-workers.
In one case last year, an elderly customer at a large yum cha restaurant was covered in plates of sticky black bean sauce after a trolley waitress lost her load while she was text messaging on her mobile phone.
In another incident in 2002, a yum cha trolley waiter lost control of a cart laden with steamed dumpling as she was trundling down a steep ramp between levels of a Chinatown restaurant. The dumpling cart ended up ploughing head on into an unattended trolley at the bottom.
"We've had quite a few complaints about some of these yum cha waiting staff," said Mr Frank Boles, head of the council's environmental health and safety division.
"It's either young, inexperienced students who take these jobs or someone just off the boat. In either case, they need to be properly trained."
Under plans to be announced later today, waiters and waitresses at the 24 restaurants within the council's recently enlarged boundaries offering a yum cha service will be required to attend an approved two-day course.
The workers will be instructed in trolley pushing techniques and learn about the occupational health and safety aspects of the work.
After completing the course, they will be required to carry a small "L" plate on their carts for six months before being granted full licences. Learners can only push a cart while accompanied by fully licensed waiting staff.
As a one off, the council will issue full licences to staff nominated by restaurant management who have a minimum of three years experience.
Mr Wan Xiao, manager of the Hungry Dragon restaurant in Chinatown, which runs a seven-day-a- week yum cha service, said although the new regulations would mean increased labour and training costs, he was confident the new measures would result in a lowering of his insurance premiums.
"Our public liability premiums have been going through the roof in recent years," he said. " I welcome this move because it will restore confidence in our service and allay the concerns of our customers."
The new measures will come into effect on April 1 next year.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/31/1080544541410.html

SMH 1-4-4

Woman grows extra breasts

The 1st of April 2004
A woman in cental China who paid for breast enlargement surgery ended up with an unwanted bonus - two extra breasts.
The 24-year-old woman found the extra breasts growing on her stomach one year after she underwent surgery at a clinic in Hunan province.
The extra breasts grew and grew until the woman was forced to undergo a second operation to get rid of them, according to the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily yesterday.
The initial operation was carried out at a small beauty salon which was unauthorised to carry out breast enlargement surgery, the newspaper said.
Cosmetic surgery has boomed in popularity in China in recent years but there is little official regulation of the industry.
DPA
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/31/1080544562264.html

SMH 1-4-4

Snoozy thief caught napping

The 27th of March 2004
An Oklahoma couple were surprised when they woke up and found a drunk burglary suspect asleep in bed with them, police said today.
The couple from the south Oklahoma city of Ardmore called police, ran out of their house and watched officers arrest the man who was still sleeping in their bed despite the sirens and commotion, police said.
Dan Johnson, 24, was charged with burglary.
Officer Chad Antony said in his arrest report that it took quite an effort to rouse the suspect from a deep slumber.
"After about two to three minutes, Johnson stood up. I saw that he was very intoxicated," he wrote.
The report said Johnson was found with a cell phone belonging to one of the victims in his pocket and $US4 ($A5.40) in cash, also apparently stolen.
Johnson is suspected of kicking down a door at the residence and also trying to gain entry by using garden trimmers to pry open a door, the report said.
Police said the couple told officers a man they did not know had fallen asleep in bed with them.
Reuters
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/26/1079939857510.html

SMH 27-3-4

Unknown poet - until now

The 24th of March 2004
US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld's jousts with the Pentagon press corps are legendary, but hardly music to anyone's ears - until now.
Last year, newspaper columnist Hart Seely parsed Mr Rumsfeld's exchanges with reporters in Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld.
One of those pieces, The Unknown, is Mr Rumsfeld's oft-repeated musing on the vagaries of intelligence.
To San Francisco composer Bryant Kong, the poem was a lyric awaiting his piano and the voice of Elender Wall.
Her arching soprano lifts to new heights Mr Rumsfeld's words from an otherwise-prosaic Pentagon briefing on February 12, 2002.
Why give Mr Rumsfeld's part to a soprano?
"Certainly, if I knew a tenor or a baritone, then we would have written them for him," Kong said.
"Any singer can, as it were, play the Donald Rumsfeld character in a musical."
Herewith, the lyrics of The Unknown.
The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

AFP
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/22/1079939578413.html

SMH 24-3-4

Meep! Meep! Coyote is foiled yet again

The 24th of March 2004
Watching Tony Abbott going after Mark Latham is a lot like watching Wily E. Coyote going after the Roadrunner.
Time after time, he comes up with some outlandish new trap, but time after time, the Roadrunner blithely ignores the bait. Inevitably, Coyote blows himself up.
Take yesterday, for example. Latham's trap was the Government's Acme-patented tough-on-drugs strategy, with its concentration on punishment rather than harm minimisation or rehabilitation.
Let's not go into the rights and wrongs of the policy; suffice to say Latham and Labor have paid cautious lip service to the idea that there might be something in harm minimisation.
Latham himself has suggested - no more - there might be something to be learnt from limited heroin trials, that it might be sensible to encourage addicts to do their drugs in a controlled environment.
Here, however, is how Abbott presented Latham's and Labor's position: "He has never seen a drug experiment that he has not supported. He wants to read books to kids when they are five and he wants to give them access to drug injecting rooms when they are 15."
All smirk and swagger, Abbott was clearly waiting for Latham to take the bait, and blow up.
Latham, however, sat there utterly impassively. Barely even looked up from his notes. Made no attempt to take a point of order, to seek that such a slur be withdrawn.
So the Speaker, Neil Andrew, took matters into his own hands.
"Order! The minister will resume his seat. I have required the minister to resume his seat because I do not believe the accusation he made should be allowed to stand."
The only person who looked angrier than Abbott at this intervention by the parliamentary umpire was John Howard.
He glared at the Speaker.
"What accusation?" Howard snapped, without bothering to follow the normal forms for engaging such matters, such as rising from one's seat and taking a point of order.
Andrew appeared to look for a cue from Latham, but he just continued to sit there, saying nothing. "The minister made an accusation about the Leader of the Opposition that, if I had been the Leader of the Opposition, I would have found offensive."
"But has he?" asked Howard, indicating Latham, who maintained a studied indifference.
The Speaker, to his great credit - bearing in mind he is also a Liberal MP - slapped his leader down.
"I remind the Prime Minister that the question of whether or not a statement is offensive is a question over which the chair has adjudication," he said, and ruled against Abbott and Howard.
Damn! The Acme trap failed again. Envision close-up of Wily E. Coyote with blackened face.
And just a tiny smile on the face of the Roadrunner.
Meep! Meep!
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/23/1079939647270.html

SMH 24-3-4

Merde, that's not Osama

The 18th of March 2004
A Frenchman has been convicted for trying to run over a pedestrian he mistook for Osama bin Laden - which could have earned him a $7 million bounty.
The 35-year-old, identified as a struggling artist named Pierre, was sentenced by a court in this southern France city to a three-month suspended prison term and ordered to pay
500 euro ($A830) to the victim, who was unharmed.
The man's lawyer, David Mendel, said his client was traumatised by last week's terror attacks in Madrid and was temporarily the "victim of a hallucination," while driving through Montpellier's historic centre.
The victim, a man in his 30s, was able to run from the oncoming car, which crashed along the side of a street.
"It wasn't bin Laden," Mendel said. "If it was, we would have won $US5 million."
The Madrid train bombings, which killed 201 people, increasingly appear to have been orchestrated by Islamic extremists with links to bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
AP
This story was found at: www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/18/1079199338938.html

SMH 19-3-4

Man drops 11,000 euros in toilet

The 18th of March 2004

A German train passenger on his way to buy a car in the Netherlands, unwittingly dumped €11,000 ($18,225) down the train toilet, Dutch police said.
"While using the loo, his €11,000 fell out of his clothes and disappeared down the toilet landing on the railway track," police spokesman Peter van Raaij said.
The man, 38, alerted railway police and the next train stopped so that the ticket collector could retrieve the cash.
He found only €4000.
"Several passengers helped the conductor when the train stopped, but they 'forgot' to return the money, and some had probably blown away," Mr Van Raaij said.
Reuters
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/17/1079199288468.html

SMH 18-3-4

Crash charge woman's sex defence

 

The 4^th of March 2004

 

A woman charged with causing a fatal US car crash in 1999 says that she couldn't have been behind the wheel because she was performing a sex act on the driver at the time.

Heather Specyalski, 33, was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the Connecticut crash that killed businessman Neil Esposito. Prosecutors allege that she was driving Esposito's Mercedes-Benz convertible when it veered off the road and hit several trees.

But Specyalski claims that Esposito was driving, and she was performing oral sex on him at the time, said her lawyer, Jeremiah Donovan. He noted that Esposito's pants were down when he was thrown from the car.

Assistant prosecutor Maureen Platt said the defence was flawed.

"His pants could have been down because he was mooning a car he was drag racing," Platt said. "His pants could have been down because he was urinating out of a window. His pants could have been down because he wasn't feeling well."

Superior Court Judge Robert Holzberg ruled yesterday that Specyalski can proceed with the defence, despite the prosecutor's objections.

"A defendant has a right to offer a defence no matter how outlandish, silly or unbelievable one might think it will be," Holzberg said.

"No one ever told me in law school that we'd be having these kinds of conversations in open court."

Holzberg denied Donovan's motion to use gender as grounds to eliminate jurors. Donovan had argued that women would be biased and more likely to convict.

AP

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/04/1078295476327.html

 

SMH 4-3-4

 

Homeless couple in graphic protest

 

The 3^rd of March 2004

 

A homeless couple protesting against a lack of housing in Stockholm placed a bed in the middle of a downtown square and had sex in front of numerous spectators, police said.

The demonstration took place on Monday, and was the culmination of a week-long campaign by a group of Swedish homeless people demanding adequate shelter from the winter chill.

"They had a sign saying 'Even homeless people want to have sex', and then they did," police spokeswoman Carolin Karlsson said. "They even had a dog at the foot of the bed."

For 90 minutes the couple had sex under the covers, before police, summoned by multiple calls from offended onlookers, broke up the party.

Many families with young children were especially offended, while a number of spectators took the opportunity to take pictures of the lovemaking with their mobile phone cameras, according to Swedish media at the scene.

Media also reported that the couple's fornication continued even after they had been taken into police custody in the back of a police van.

Police did not, according to Ms Karlsson, arrest the couple, but simply drove them to a social centre for urgent cases where they could spend the night - away from public scrutiny.

"They did commit a crime, causing a public disturbance, but we didn't see any reason to arrest them," she said.

AFP

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/02/1078191329689.html

 

SMH 3-3-4

 

Beggar 'to sue' well-wisher

 

The 19^th of February 2004

 

A beggar in China is threatening to sue a well-wisher who threw money, hitting him in the face.

The beggar was sitting near the entrance of Guangzhou airport in Guangdong province when the donor threw coins at him, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily said.

The angry beggar chased after the man and grappled with him before police separated them. The beggar says he will now sue the man for insulting his dignity, the newspaper said.

DPA

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/19/1077072752463.html

 

SMH 21-2-4

 

Spontaneous combustion

 

The 13^th of February 2004

 

A Sicilian town is struggling to work out why dozens of household items from fridge-freezers to furniture keep mysteriously bursting into flame, terrifying locals and sparking theories of demonic intervention.

Since mid-January dozens of electrical goods and pieces of furniture have spontaneously gone up in flames, causing huge damage in Canneto di Caronia, a small town perched on the Mediterranean island's rocky coast.

"I've seen unplugged electrical cables burst into flames with my own eyes, but I just can't explain it," said a local policeman who did not want to be named.

"I've never seen anything like it."

Some fires have spread to engulf homes and police temporarily evacuated about 40 residents.

"There has been a sense of panic and people have been evacuated from their homes," said Salvatore Mezzopane, who works at the town hall.

"We're trying to find the cause of the fires but there are no answers yet."

Reuters

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/12/1076548169009.html

 

SMH 13-2-4

 

Woman marries dead boyfriend

 

The 11^th of February 2004

 

A 35-year-old Frenchwoman became both bride and widow when she married her dead boyfriend, in an exchange of vows that required authorisation from the French president.

The ceremony was performed at Nice City Hall on the French Riviera.

The deceased groom, a former policeman identified as Eric, was not present at the ceremony. He was killed by a drunk driver in September 2002.

Demichel told LCI television she was fully aware that "it could seem shocking to marry someone who is dead", but said that her fiance's absence from her life had not dimmed her feelings for him.

According to French law, a marriage between a living person and a dead person can take place as long as preliminary civic formalities have been completed that show the couple had planned to marry. Before the ceremony can take place, it must be approved by the French president.

AP

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/11/1076388397691.html

 

SMH 12-2-4

 

Topless barber 'over the top'

 

The 4^th of February 2004

 

It's a case of nothing off the top - a topless barber's shop in Scotland has been condemned as a "laddish" outrage.

The proposed hairdresser, in which all the female staff will be over 18 and topless, is due to open shortly in Paisley, Scotland, and the local authority says there is nothing it can do to stop it.

It will take the place of another controversial shop called Bongheads in the centre of Paisley, which sells cannabis seeds, drugs paraphernalia and sex toys.

Hugh Henry, the Scottish deputy justice minister, expressed outrage at the venture. He said: "I'm glad to see the back of Bongheads, but I'm outraged to see a sleazy attempt to exploit the drugs culture replaced by an attempt to exploit women."

Sandra White, a Scottish National Party MSP and a member of a cross-party group on violence against women, said she was disgusted by this "laddish culture" and would picket the shop.

But a spokesman for the company behind the idea, the Urban Group, insisted it was "just harmless fun".

She said: "It's appalling, it's degrading to women and it is part of this laddish culture treating women as playthings."

He This objectifying of women is one reason why violence against women is going up. We will picket the shop every day to shame men who go there."

Cllr John McDowell said the authority did not have the power to licence a topless barber's shop and therefore could not stop it.

He added: "I would not welcome such an improbable business proposal. I don't believe it would have any benefit to the trading or image of Paisley."

added that the shop should appeal "to at least 50 per cent of the local population".

Kenny Campbell, 23, a local postman, supported that view. "Going to the barber's can be a bit dull, but topless women would certainly liven things up. People would be queuing at the door. I think I could be getting a trim every couple of days."

The Daily Telegraph, London

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/04/1075853909944.html

 

SMH 5-2-4

 

Man marries dog for luck, then dies

 

5^th of February 2004

 

A 75-year-old man in Nepal married a dog in a local custom to ensure good luck only to die three days later, a newspaper reported.

With his son and other relatives by his side, Phulram Chaudhary tied the knot with a dog in Durgauli village in the south-western Kailali district on Saturday.

He was following a custom of his Tharu community, which holds that an old man who regrows teeth must take a dog as a bride.

"He believed that this would help him avoid great misfortune later in life," the state-run daily Gorkhapatra said. "However, he died a few days afterward."

AFP

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/04/1075853936802.html

 

SMH 5-2-4

 

Dragon in jar puts experts in a pickle

 

The 29^th of January 2004

 

A pickled "dragon" that looks as if it might once have flown around Harry Potter's Hogwarts has been found in a garage in Oxfordshire, England.

The baby dragon, in a sealed jar, was discovered with a metal tin containing paperwork in old-fashioned German of the 1890s.

Allistair Mitchell, who was asked to investigate the dragon by a friend, David Hart, who discovered it in his garage, speculates that German scientists may have attempted to use the dragon to hoax their English counterparts at the end of the 19th century, when rivalry between the countries was intense.

"At the time, scientists were the equivalent of today's pop stars. It would have been a great propaganda coup for the Germans if it had come off," Mr Mitchell said.

"I've shown the photos to someone from Oxford University and he thought it was amazing. Obviously he could not say if it was real and wanted to do a biopsy."

The documents suggest that the Natural History Museum turned the dragon away, possibly because they suspected it was a trick, and sent it to be destroyed. But it appears a porter intercepted the jar and took it home. The papers suggest the porter may have been Frederick Hart - David Hart's grandfather.

Mr Mitchell said: "The dragon is flawless, from the tiny teeth to the umbilical cord. It could be made from indiarubber, because Germany was the world's leading manufacturer of it at the time, or it could be made of wax. It has to be fake. No one has ever proved scientifically that dragons exist. But everyone who sees it immediately asks, 'Is it real?"'

Some scientists believe that dragons, though the product of imagination, were inspired by the extraordinary creatures that once roamed the Earth.

As J.K.Rowling's alter ego Hermione Granger once suggested, legends have a basis in fact.

The Telegraph, London

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/28/1075088090949.html

 

SMH 29-1-4

 

Ice block crashes through roof

 

23^rd of January 2004

 

A block of ice weighing up to five kilograms has crashed through the roof of an Auckland house.

Both police and aviation officials are investigating.

The missile - travelling at an estimated 450 kph hour, according to a university physics lecturer - crashed through the concrete tile roof and landed on 80-year-old Jan Robertson's kitchen bench on Wednesday afternoon.

"There was this terrific bang like goodness knows what," she told the New Zealand Herald.

"I could have been in there cutting up vegetables."

Climate scientist Jim Salinger told the paper it was very unlikely to be a natural hailstone.

"It sounds like an aircraft got some icing on it from the moisture in the air. It de-iced as it descended and the block dropped off."

DPA

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/22/1074732534083.html

 

SMH 23-1-4

 

Cow that laid the jewels

 

20^th of January 2004

 

It's not quite the goose that laid the golden egg, but an Indian diamond merchant's prize cow is producing bejewelled dung.

Dilubhai Rajput had stashed a bag of more than 1700 small diamonds, worth almost $900, in a pile of hay at his home in Gujarat state, famous both for its dairy and diamond-cutting industries.

But he hadn't reckoned on the risk of a hungry cow, the Economic Times newspaper reported yesterday.

Now he is feeding the animal a diet of grass, grain, fruit and laxatives and has so far recovered 300 diamonds in three days.

"I am sure within a week I will retrieve all my diamonds," the paper quoted Mr Rajput as saying.

It was unclear why he chose to hide the stones in the hay.

Reuters

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/19/1074360703793.html

 

SMH 21-1-4

 

Girl pimped to pay mobile bill

 

The 9^th of January 2004

 

Five school girls forced another female student to work as a prostitute so they could pay for a mobile phone bill, police said.

The five grammar school girls between 14-16 years old were arrested after allegedly beating the 16-year-old fellow student while keeping her at an apartment for three days.

They arranged sexual liaisons with three men through a personals service and the men paid the 16-year-old victim to have sex with them. The girls had said they needed pocket money and also needed to pay off a mobile telephone bill costing more than $US450 ($587).

Police said the victim tried to escape her horrific ordeal by jumping out a window to commit suicide. She survived the attempt, but suffered serious injuries and required six months of therapy.

The perpetrators were to be taken to a reformatory.

DPA

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/09/1073437454992.html

 

SMH 10-1-4

 

Making pit bulls cuddly

 

The 7^th of January 2004

 

New Yorkers are renaming the pit bull terrier in an attempt to improve the dog's frightening image.

The city's animal welfare agency has decided to change all its official documents to rename the pit bull the New Yorkie.

It is hoped that the image change will encourage more people to adopt the thousands of pit bulls taken in by the animal shelter each year.

Ninety per cent of the 6000 pit bulls taken to the New York City Animal Care and Control centre each year are destroyed.

The name change was the idea of Ed Boks, the new director of the centre.

He said he came up with the idea because New Yorkers, like pit bulls, were often thought of as hard or mean, but are actually "some of the most generous and open-hearted people I've ever met".

While pit bulls have suffered bad publicity following maulings and attacks, the breed is actually well behaved.

Animal experts say pit bulls outperform the cuddly golden retriever on behavioural tests.

PA

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/07/1073268049505.html

 

SMH 7-1-4

 

Goodness, gracious - balls of fire over Spain

 

The 6^th of January 2004

 

Hundreds of Spaniards have reported seeing balls of fire or incandescent objects fall from the sky, emergency centres said.

Some of the objects are believed to have sparked fires. The phenomenon was reported on a stretch reaching from Galicia in the north-west to the Balearic Islands in the east.

No injuries were reported.

In northern Leon province, residents reported seeing a ball of fire light up the sky and explode in a mountainous area, igniting a fire and shaking house windows.

A similar explosion was heard near Palencia in the north.

Firefighters extinguished a blaze behind a roadside discotheque in the Castellon area.

Rescuers searched for the wreckage of airplanes or unusual rocks in several places, but found no clues.

The National Meteorological Institute said that its radars and satellite images showed nothing abnormal.

Aviation authorities said they had no knowledge of any plane crash.

Astronomers at the University of Santiago de Compostela said they suspected a meteorite.

Astronomer Jose Angel Docobo said he suspected a meteorite weighing from 50 to 100 tonnes, which would have disintegrated on entering the atmosphere.

He said the flying objects could also be parts of a rocket or satellite, but deemed that less likely.

DPA

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/01/05/1073267971546.html

 

SMH 6-1-4

 

Catalogue of a disaster

 

1^st of January 2004

 

A man who says he sells books and magazines on the street was rescued after being trapped for two days under a mountain of reading material in his New York apartment.

Patrice Moore, 43, had apparently been standing up when the books, catalogues, mail and newspapers swamped him.

Firefighters and neighbours rescued Moore two days later and he was hospitalised in stable condition with leg injuries.

"I didn't think I was gonna get out," Moore told the New York Post, adding that he called for help repeatedly.

His landlord discovered him after coming to the apartment to give Moore a small loan and heard a strange voice inside. The landlord pried the door open with a crowbar, found Moore trapped and alerted the fire department.

The apartment was stuffed from wall to wall and floor to ceiling with stacks of paper.

Emergency workers and neighbours dug through the debris to reach Moore, filling 50 garbage bags with paper. He was freed about half an hour later, said Fire Department spokesman Paul Iannizzotto.

Moore, a former mailroom clerk now receiving public assistance, said he collected books and magazines for more than 10 years and earned money by selling them on the street.

The incident recalled the legendary case of the Collyer brothers, who in 1947 were discovered dead in their house in Harlem after one of them became trapped under a pile of papers and the other died of starvation.

AP

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/31/1072546587329.html

 

SMH 1-1-4

 

Court okays nude Barbie photos

 

Tuesday the 30^th of December  2003

 

A United States federal appeals court has upheld a Utah artist's right to take photos of nude Barbie dolls being menaced by kitchen appliances.

Noting the image of the Barbie doll is "ripe for social comment", a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected toymaker Mattel's appeal against a lower court ruling which found in favour of the photograher.

The San Francisco-based appeals court ruled that naked photos of Barbie made by artist Thomas Forsythe were meant to be a parody and could not affect demand for Mattel products.

Holding that social criticism was protected by the First Amendment, the court affirmed a 2001 federal court ruling for Forsythe, who had produced photos of nude Barbies in danger of being attacked by vintage household appliances.

Mattel had argued the photos infringed on their copyrights and trademarks.

Forsythe had used Barbie dolls in absurd and often sexualised positions for his Food Chain Barbie photos.

The artist had argued that the photo series, which also included a photo of Barbie dolls wrapped in tortillas and covered in salsa in a casserole dish in a lit oven, was meant to critique the "objectification of women" and "beauty myth" associated with the popular doll.

"Barbie is the most enduring of those products that feed on the insecurities of our beauty and perfection-obsessed consumer culture," Forsythe has said in defending his work.

Neither the artist nor a spokesman for Mattel were immediately available for comment on the decision.

Mattel sued the artist in 1999, alleging he had infringed on its copyrights, trademark and trade dress. The court in August 2001 held that Forsythe's use of Barbie was protected by fair use doctrine.

In his opinion, 9th Circuit Court Judge Harry Pregerson held there was abundant evidence to support that advertising for Barbie uses associations of beauty, wealth and glamour.

"Forsythe turns this image on its head, so to speak, by displaying carefully positioned, nude and sometimes frazzled-looking Barbies in often ridiculous and apparently dangerous situations", presenting a different set of associations for the dolls, whose smiles show they are "disturbingly oblivious" to their predicaments, Mr Pregerson wrote.

-- Reuters

 

This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1018037.htm

 

ABC 30-12-3

 

Diamond giveaway rubbished

 

26^th of December  2003

 

Thousands of Dutch residents were rummaging through their rubbish in a diamond rush after a jeweller's anniversary dispatch was largely ignored as junk mail.

Johan de Boer of the eastern Dutch town of Apeldoorn sent 4000 clients a mailing to mark the 10th anniversary of his shop. Two hundred of the envelopes contained a small diamond, while the others held zirconia stones - a cheap diamond-lookalike used in costume jewellery. "Are you the lucky one?" the letters asked.

Mr de Boer had expected a flood of responses, but only a few people turned up. After calling a number of clients, he discovered most had discarded the mailing without opening it.

"I was very naive. People nowadays do not trust mailings like these anymore," he told the newspaper De Telegraaf.

Reuters

 

SMH 26-12-3

 

You'll blush when you flush in this loo with a view

 

26^th of December 2003

 

'Is this the toilet? I've been hearing about it," the young man with the half-smoked cigarette said, bounding down the street. But when he got to the actual bathroom - encased in a one-way mirror so that the people inside can see out, but the people outside cannot see in - he had a crippling attack of nerves.

"Not me!" he announced, as if an invisible force was preparing to lasso him and drag him through the bathroom door. A deep red blush began to crawl across his face. "I'm not embarrassed," he said. "It's just not my sort of thing." And then he scurried away.

It has been in place for only a few weeks, but Don't Miss a Sec, a contemporary art installation that is, in essence, a mirrored outhouse on a construction site near the Thames, has been raising heated, even violent emotions. While it may provide a fine opportunity to indulge in voyeurism and exhibitionism at the same time - like going to the bathroom in the bushes, if the bushes were in the middle of the street - in reality, the experience is proving prohibitively unnerving to some.

"I'd worry that there's an act of subterfuge," says Martin Dukes, who found he, too, was too scared to go into the bathroom. "You flush the loo and suddenly the mirror is reversed and everyone can see in."

Matthew Southwell, another passer-by, found the toilet "disturbing". Trying to explain the public's squeamishness, he suggested that it had to do with what he called "British reticence about toilet behaviour", a trait that is neatly undercut, he added, by the country's robust attitude toward the humorous implications of the bathroom.

"Well, it's a weird split personality thing," he says. "You don't want anyone to know you are going to the toilet, but you crack jokes about it all the time."

As conceived by the artist, Monica Bonvicini, the piece was not meant to be a Rorschach test for people's attitudes toward toilets, but a comment on the contemporary art scene as well as a way "to subvert the hierarchical nature of modernist architecture," says Matt Watkins, the creative director of Broadway Projects, the sponsor of Don't Miss a Sec.

The title refers to the chattering and gossiping that goes on at art openings. Bonvicini imagined what it would be like to be able to use the bathroom during an opening and not have to miss out on anything.

To further her vision, she constructed a rectangular box whose walls are the sort of thick mirrored glass used on limousines or in police interview rooms.

Inside, it has a simple prison-issue toilet and sink that, when used, inspire a strangely peaceful notion that you are separate from the world, but part of it, too. With your pants off. "When you use it, it seems like you're sitting in the open air," says Vicky Thornton, the project architect for the huge construction site at the Chelsea College of Art, where the bathroom has been placed.

She found the experience unexpectedly liberating. "I didn't feel like I was exhibiting myself, but I felt like that's what it would be like if you didn't have to wear any clothes."

In the realm of the weird, however, the toilet is at the normal end of the spectrum in the city where the Turner Prize was lately awarded to Grayson Perry, a transvestite sculptor whose vases depict bestiality and child abuse.

Sarah Lyall, The New York Times

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/25/1072308628621.html

 

SMH 26-12-3

 

 

Odd stories of 2003

 

20^th of December 2003

 

Every year, thousands of news stories get overlooked, lost beneath the welter of major international events.

They are, for the most part, simple matters with a human dimension, not involving world leaders, war or other political upheaval, stories which illustrate the extraordinary in the everyday, the amusing, absurd, outlandish and the downright bizarre occurrences which can befall any of us.

Here, then, is a selection of some of those offbeat stories which offer an insight into human nature but which may have been overshadowed by more weightier news items in 2003:

Beja, Portugal: A school janitor set a teenager's leg on fire in an attempt to help the youth recover from an injury he suffered in a fall. The 14-year-old said the janitor applied alcohol to his injured leg and then set it on fire with a lighter. "He told me 'This is what we used to do in the war'. I told him I wasn't in a war," said Antonio Pereira, who was treated for first and second degree burns.

Volgodonsk, Russia: Alexander Nakonechny triumphed at a vodka drinking marathon after downing three half-litre mugs in quick succession but was unable to collect his prize of 10 bottles of the stuff when he dropped dead on the spot.

The contest also left four other men fighting for their lives at the local hospital but a woman who took part managed to stagger out of the clinic a few hours after being rushed there and having her stomach pumped.

Istanbul: A woman locked her rich industrialist husband naked in the bathroom for three years claiming he was mentally disturbed.

His crime? Taking three showers a day. Orhan Babutcu, 41, was found naked with a bowl on the floor for his food. "Her goal was to make me sick so that I die and she inherits my fortune," he said, adding that his wife had been living it up with other men while he was locked in the bathroom.

Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysian man who sought treatment for swelling in his eye had a shock when doctors found a six centimetre length of chopstick embedded just beneath his brain.

The chopstick, which ran from under his right eye through his nose and to the back of his left eye, was believed to have been lodged there five years ago during an attack by unknown assailants.

Rome: A Roman Catholic charity in Italy has set up a helpline for a neglected group of sufferers:- the clients of prostitutes.

The aptly-named Don Giovanni Sandona, head of the charity Caritas, cited the torment endured by thousands of people who pay for sex and said: "It's no longer possible to face up to the problem of prostitution without analysing and helping the clients of prostitutes."

Lanciani, Italy: An Italian couple were given suspended jail sentences for indecent exposure after being caught making love in their parked car.

Nothing unusual in that, except that rather against the odds the game couple were aged 86 and 74 and they were denounced by a group of prudish teenaged schoolgirls.

Lagos: A doctor was shot dead by a patient who was testing the potency of an anti-bullet charm the doctor had prepared for him.

Ashi Terfa died when patient Umaa Akor fired a gun at his head after he had tied the charm around his neck. The man was charged with culpable homicide and released on bail as police said the motive to kill could not be established as the doctor had asked him to shoot him to test the charm.

Santiago: After living together for 57 years, Isolina Ojeda, 107, and her 86-year-old lover Oscar Martinez finally decided to make it official by getting married.

After the ceremony, the blushing bride, slightly hard of hearing, said: "We had to get married, as God intended. It's a sin to live the way we were living."

Mosgiel, New Zealand: Organisers of a Christmas fete banned children from sitting on Santa's knee because they feared being held responsible if anything untoward happened.

Instead, the children had to sit next to him, on specially decorated "elf chairs", as they discussed their Christmas wish list.

Graham Glass, who dressed up as Santa for the event, was clearly insulted. "It's bloody ridiculous - I can't believe we have become so politically correct," he said.

Eskisehir, Turkey: A disgruntled father has complained to the European Court of Human Rights after a doctor allegedly botched his 11-year-old son's circumcision.

Seyfettin Aydinoglu said the four doctors who carried out the operation, which is required by Islam, were drunk at the time and chopped off part of his penis instead of removing only the foreskin. The hospital denied the accusation, saying the boy's penis was deformed years ago when he fell into a well.

Zurich: A Swiss-based underwear maker has developed a high-tech bra which it claims will help women quit smoking thanks to perfumed capsules which give cigarettes an unpleasant taste and soothe withdrawal symptoms.

Triumph International said the capsules contain lavender scent, which has sedative properties, as well as normally sweet-smelling jasmine that alters the taste of cigarettes. The company said the bra was also treated with liquid titanium to break down cigarette smoke.

Helsinki: A Finnish judge who often rules in drink-driving cases landed on the other side of the bench when she was charged with being drunk in charge of a court.

The judge, a woman in her late 50s, was trying a criminal case when lawyers said they believed she was inebriated and an alcohol test showed her blood-alcohol level was more than three times over Finland's legal limit for driving.

AFP

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/19/1071337166872.html

 

SMH 20-12-3

 

Trying to save money man brings the house down

 

19^th of December 2003

 

English Kenneth Wharton intended to save money by improving his living room himself.

But when he removed what he thought was a partition, his neighbour's upstairs bedroom came crashing down on him, the Daily Mirror reported.

Wharton, 61, caused damage of more than $A40,000.

A Manchester Court ordered him to pay $A11,830 in compensation and imposed a year's community rehabilitation order, after founding him guilty of causing criminal damage.

Wharton thought he was removing a thin partition with his claw hammer, but attacked a supporting wall instead as he was trying to extend the ground-floor living room in his rented flat without the owner's permission.

He fled as a double bed and large wardrobe came through the ceiling from the room above.

Steve Hodson, of the housing trust that owns the flat said: "Mr Wharton was lucky to get out alive."

DPA

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/18/1071337093698.html

 

SMH 19-12-3

 

 

Ghost train takes solo trip to the suburbs

 

The 18^th of December 18 2003

 

Superstitious Indonesians have blamed ghosts or black magic for the mysterious journey of an empty commuter train, which travelled 45 kilometres from Bogor to Jakarta before grinding to a halt.

The electric train, parked in a Bogor rail siding, mysteriously came to life last week and began travelling out of the Java hills into Jakarta's suburbs at about 65 kilometres per hour.

A railway employee climbed aboard one of the carriages and tried to stop the train but was unable to enter the driver's compartment.

The train eventually stopped on a hill in the city centre without causing any loss of life or injury.

Railway officials blamed its unscheduled journey on technical problems.

But a number of Jakarta commuters told Detik.com news that they believed ghosts piloted the train on its journey.

One man said he was afraid to talk about the trip and said just thinking about it made his hair stand on end.

In a country where many people believe in ghosts and black magic, an employee at Manggarai railway station said he was trying not to dwell on what caused the mysterious event.

"I don't want to say anything supernatural about this case, because it's a matter of the above God," he said.

 

AAP

 

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/17/1071337036241.html

 

SMH 17-12-3

 


'Crying' dog saves master