Joy-riders 'make off in milk float'

Joy-riders 'make off in milk float'

Two joy-riders reportedly found their escapade coming to an abrupt end when they sped off in a milk float.

The Mirror says the two could only glide off at 12mph after a milkman left the keys in his vehicle during a 2.30am milk round in Bridgend, south Wales.

He alerted police who spotted the float on CCTV two miles away.

The joyriders tried to run off when police caught up with them but were soon arrested.

Clueless cop clocks Clapton

A policeman reportedly didn't recognise Eric Clapton when he pulled him over for speeding.

The People, quoting a police magazine, says PC Jim Jackson pulled Clapton over for a caution when he was driving his Ferrari on the A3 in Surrey.

After taking his name, he said: "What do you do for a living to have such a nice car?"

"I'm in the music business," Clapton replied.

"You must be doing OK then," the police officer replied.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

small town moves into it's own time zone

A small Canadian town moved into its own time zone for a few days last week.

Clocks gained 10 minutes a day in Blind River, Ontario (search), reports The Sault Star of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

"It first happened to us Monday morning," said resident Perry Boyer. "My daughter walked to her bus stop at the usual time of 8:10 a.m. and when she got there she thought she had missed the bus."

It turned out the girl was just early, and when she got home after school, she noticed several clocks in the house were all 10 minutes ahead.

"So we moved the clock back 10 minutes," Boyer told the newspaper. "But on Tuesday morning the same thing happened."

Residents of the town of 4,000 on the northern shore of Lake Huron compared notes, and by Wednesday noticed that many electric clocks, stove clocks and clock radios were affected, but no VCRs, computers or TV clocks.

Ebay prankster 'gets reply from cannibal'

A man who put his body up for auction on eBay as a joke reportedly had a serious reply from someone claiming to be a cannibal.

Daniel O'Dee from Salford posted the joke advert after a drunken dare, says the Sun, and it was quickly removed by eBay staff.

But he was then shocked to get an email from someone calling himself 'Donnie, the Hanover cannibal' offering Ā£2,000 for a 'fresh corpse'.

The emailer even claimed there was a syndicate of eBay users who helped fund the cost of buying corpses.

Even after Mr O'Dee emailed back explaining that it was a joke, 'Donnie' replied saying he was disappointed.

"I'm disappointed that is was your own body you were selling as I want one as soon as possible," the message read.

"If you have any other access to a fresh corpse I would be interested. I guarantee that it will be more than a fair price."

When Mr O'Dee did not reply to that email, he then received a death threat.

He said: "I'm trying to put it out of my mind. It's safe to say I won't be visiting Germany."

Spencer Tunick breaks Montreal's mass nude photo record in Cleveland

CLEVELAND (AP) - They may have shivered but they weren't shy.

More than 2,700 people braved chilly temperatures and a 4 a.m. EDT start time to take part in a nude photo shoot Saturday at a Cleveland park behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum along Lake Erie. Spencer Tunick, a photographer known for taking pictures of dozens, hundreds or thousands of naked people in public places, snapped the photos for the shoot set up by Cleveland's Museum of Contemporary Art.

He posed 2,754 people to set a North American record for the largest group of naked people in a photograph. Montreal had the previous record with 2,500.

For one photo, Tunick posed the crowd lying on their sides facing the city. After completing the shot from atop a 12-metre scissor lift, Tunick said: "That's the best picture I've ever taken."

Many of those in attendance said they were there to participate in Tunick's artwork.

"This is the only way I'm ever going to get in a museum," said Scott Goodrick, 45, of Cleveland.

"I think his work is beautiful. It's an event I wanted to be a part of."

A photo print will be on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art from Aug. 6-8.

Firefighters return to find station on fire

Firefighters in Dallas returned from a call to the suburbs to find a fire raging in their own station started by potatoes they had left cooking.

IOL says the blaze at the station in the southern suburb of Lancaster caused around $125,000 (Ā£68,469) of damage.

It was only put out with the help of firefighters from other stations.

Firefighters now want to remind the public not to leave the cooking on when they go out.

Ebay prankster 'gets reply from cannibal'

A man who put his body up for auction on eBay as a joke reportedly had a serious reply from someone claiming to be a cannibal.

Daniel O'Dee from Salford posted the joke advert after a drunken dare, says the Sun, and it was quickly removed by eBay staff.

But he was then shocked to get an email from someone calling himself 'Donnie, the Hanover cannibal' offering Ā£2,000 for a 'fresh corpse'.

The emailer even claimed there was a syndicate of eBay users who helped fund the cost of buying corpses.

Even after Mr O'Dee emailed back explaining that it was a joke, 'Donnie' replied saying he was disappointed.

"I'm disappointed that is was your own body you were selling as I want one as soon as possible," the message read.

"If you have any other access to a fresh corpse I would be interested. I guarantee that it will be more than a fair price."

When Mr O'Dee did not reply to that email, he then received a death threat.

He said: "I'm trying to put it out of my mind. It's safe to say I won't be visiting Germany."

School gives transvestites own restroom

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Snubbed by both men and women, transvestite students at the Chiang Mai Technology School just wanted a restroom to call their own -- and were granted their wish.

Dubbed the Pink Lotus Bathroom, the facility is exclusively for the school's 15 transvestite students and features four stalls, but no urinals. On the door hangs a sign with intertwined male and female symbols.

"They would come in the morning and use the women's bathrooms, but the women were annoyed, didn't like it or played pranks on them," said Posaporn Promprakai, registrar of the school in Chiang Mai province, about 360 miles north of Bangkok.

The transvestites -- who must wear male attire at school but are allowed to sport girlie hairdos -- switched to the men's bathrooms, only to run into more trouble.

"The men teased them, chased them, and they came screaming and in tears again," Posaporn told The Associated Press.

So Posaporn designated a lavatory just for them, telling the vocational school's 1,500 students to just use their own restrooms.

The transvestite bathroom opened last fall, but this week attracted the notice of local media. Gays, cross-dressers and transsexuals are generally accepted in easygoing Thai society.

"We don't support their decision to be transvestites. We are just trying to solve the problems of one group that is unhappy at school," said Posaporn. "They don't get teased in the bathroom anymore. They're much happier."

British streaker at Super Bowl convicted

HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) -- A Texas jury on Monday found a British streaker guilty of criminal trespassing for racing onto the field during the Super Bowl in February with only a thong and a smile.

Mark Roberts, 39, could face up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine for the misdemeanor crime when the jury of six women considers his sentence on Tuesday.

Roberts danced an Irish jig at midfield at Reliant Stadium before New England Patriots linebacker Matt Chatham knocked him off his feet and police carried him away.

A veteran streaker who has strutted his stuff at hundreds of events around the world, Roberts said he was disappointed by the verdict.

"If making people laugh is a criminal offense, then they should send me to prison for life," he told reporters.

Roberts said he has been arrested many times but never convicted of a crime in connection with streaking.

Defense attorney Sharon Levine told the jury that Roberts did not trespass because there were no signs posted in the stadium telling people to stay off the field.

But prosecutor Kristin Guiney argued that Roberts' antics could not be tolerated in post-September 11 America.

"As light-hearted about this as I'd like to be, we don't live in a society anymore where we can excuse this kind of behavior," she told the jury.

Roberts has admitted to passing through the supposedly tight Super Bowl security wearing a phony referee's uniform, then ripping it off and stepping onto the field just before the start of the second half.

An online casino ad was painted on his skin.

Woman 'gives birth to frog'

A woman in Iran claims to have given birth to a frog.

BBC Online says Iranian daily Etemaad claims the creature grew from larva inside the woman's body.

While the 'frog' has yet to undergo genetic tests, the paper quotes medical experts who say it has human characteristics.

Clinical biology expert Dr Aminifard said: "The similarities are in appearance, the shape of the fingers and the size and shape of the tongue."

The paper claims the mother-of-two, from the south-eastern city of Iranshahr, unwittingly picked up the larva when she swam in a dirty pool.

But it is unclear how this could have happened.

Firefighters return to find station on fire

Firefighters in Dallas returned from a call to the suburbs to find a fire raging in their own station started by potatoes they had left cooking.

IOL says the blaze at the station in the southern suburb of Lancaster caused around $125,000 (Ā£68,469) of damage.

It was only put out with the help of firefighters from other stations.

Firefighters now want to remind the public not to leave the cooking on when they go out.

Man's cross over swearing

AN ANGRY pensioner spent three years going through library books - crossing out swear words.

American Raymond Barber, 79, scribbled out the expletives in hundreds of books at his local library in Glens Falls, US.


The Second World War vet was charged with criminal mischief for the stunt.

It is believed that in place of the curses, he wrote: "God is enough."

2yr hiccup ordeal over

A MAN who hiccupped non-stop for two years has finally stopped ā€“ after undergoing surgery.

Shane Shafer, 50, from Texas, began hiccupping after suffering from a stroke.

Since then, he has had 10 injections a day to bring him some relief and the only way to get a half an hour respite was to make himself sick.

But now boffins in New Orleans believe they have found a cure after neurosurgeons at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Centre implanted a device which controls the Vagus nerve which, if irritated, can cause hiccups.

The surgeons, Dr Bryan Payne and Dr Robert Tiel, believe that Shaneā€™s Vagus nerve may have been affected by the stroke.

The Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) uses electrical impulses delivered by a generator implanted in the chest to two tiny leads wrapping around the nerve in the neck.

The dose of stimulation, programmed by a doctor, is automatically delivered.

Dr Payne said: "Weā€™re excited about our short-term success and are hopeful that we will offer Mr Shafer long-term relief."

Hiccups are a natural action but serve no purpose and usually end naturally.

Prolonged attacks can cause significant illness and even death.

Would be burglar gets stuck in AC vent

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A would-be burglar wound up in a tight spot south of Lawrence, Kan., on Monday.

The discovery was made by a convenience store employee who heard a strange noise after arriving for work in the morning, KMBC-TV in Kansas City reported.

"I started hearing noises in the back," clerk Mary Hamlin told KMBC. "I honestly didn't have any idea what it was. I figured it was somebody around back of the building just messing around."



Hamlin called her boss, then police. Officers who arrived at the scene found a man stuck inside an air-conditioning vent. They called for assistance, and crews freed the man. The building at the intersection of highways 56 and 59 also houses a car dealership, which is where the intruder was apparently headed when he became stuck.

The man had apparently tried to get in through a window and a door before he decided to climb onto the roof, the TV station reported.

"(The shaft) goes up all the way through the attic. I can't see how he got in there at all. I mean, it's just amazing," said C.T. Hansen, who runs the dealership.

The man was treated for dehydration. He has not been charged with any crime.

Rev puts ban on coins

A VICAR stunned wedding guests when he said he would only accept notes in the collection.
The Rev Mark Sowerby put a sign next to the collection plate which read "Paper money only".

Bride Anne-Marie Ansell, 20, who wed squaddie Wayne, 21, said: "It was my big day and the vicar ruined it."

Rev Sowerby, of St Wilfred's, Harrogate, North Yorks, said: "I am sick of counting small change to the value of Ā£5 to Ā£15 a wedding.

"Such gifts are not only insulting to God but I have better things to do with my time."