[Luna]

There's these friends who show me these...uncommon articles... I'll be posting a few in this thread. Today, I have, Santa news :o!!!

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Danish Santa Paid for Reindeer's Death
-
Thursday, September 29, 2005


(09-29) 13:39 PDT COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) --


The Danish Air Force said Thursday it paid about $5,000 in compensation to a part-time Santa Claus whose reindeer died of heart failure when two fighter jets roared over his farm.


The animal, named Rudolf, was grazing at the farm of Olavi Nikkanoff in central Denmark when the screaming F-16 jets passed overhead at low altitude in February.


The reindeer collapsed and died, leaving Nikkanoff with the prospect of only one animal pulling his sleigh next Christmas.


He complained to the air force, which agreed to compensate him for the cost of the reindeer and veterinary expenses.


"We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously," air force spokesman Capt. Morten Jensen said. The air force checked flight data and veterinary reports and concluded the planes had caused the animal's death.


Nikkanoff said he would use the money to buy a new reindeer before Christmas.


URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file.../i050446D60.DTL

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You don't see this kind of news everyday now, do you? XD

[Echo_djinn]

Sheba, on Oct 2 2005, 09:38 PM, said:

There's these friends who show me these...uncommon articles... I'll be posting a few in this thread. Today, I have, Santa news :P!!!

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"We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously," air force spokesman Capt. Morten Jensen said. The air force checked flight data and veterinary reports and concluded the planes had caused the animal's death.
Nikkanoff said he would use the money to buy a new reindeer before Christmas.
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file.../i050446D60.DTL

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You don't see this kind of news everyday now, do you? XD

First off XDDD.

Now that I am done with that the sentence where the Capt. got the letter from Santa stating his reindeer's death was to funny to picture in my mind. Don't get me wrong, I'm not laughing at the death of the reindeer but picturing Santa b1tching to some guy about his dead reindeer just cracks me up. To make things worse he just says he'll go and pick up another one like it wasn't a big lose.

Anyways, I wonder how serious this would be if a person was the one to die becuase of a jet flying above. I wonder if you could sue someone for that?

[Andross]

Congress Abandons WikiConstitution
September 28, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC—Congress scrapped the open-source, open-edit, online version of the Constitution Monday, only two months after it went live. "The idea seemed to dovetail perfectly with our tradition of democratic participation," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said. "But when so-called 'contributors' began loading it down with profanity, pornography, ASCII art, and mandatory-assault-rifle-ownership amendments, we thought it might be best to cancel the project." Congress intends to restore the Constitution to its pre-Wiki format as soon as an unadulterated copy of the document can be found.

[el_Sethro]

that's awesome :lol:

it's nice that Santa and the air force could reach an agreement peacebly. I probably ouldnt be laughing if it were my reindeer, but it is really funny... :D

[pHantOm]

I need to find that article I had on Canada...man was it funny.

and sheba XD

[My Best Wishes]

Owner of Perfect House Lives in Car
September 18, 2002 - Baltimore, USA
In fear of possibly disturbing the perfection that is his house, Donald Manison has been forced to live in his 1998 Dodge Caravan. “I became obsessive, everything in the house was so photo-perfect that I was eventually scared of walking on the carpet in fear that I might disturb the direction of the carpet threads.” Magazines wanting a glimpse and photos of the perfect house were limited to viewing through opened ground floor windows. When asked how long he will continue his present lifestyle he replied, “If living in my mini-van is payment for a perfect house, I’m willing to pay.”
-----------------------------
Whack job! Reminds me of that guy in Willy Wonka that wanted the house made of chocolate but wouldn't eat it.

[Luna]

Here's Shebah's next article :D!

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A Man In Desperate Need Of Fabric Softener

(09-16) 17:04 PDT SYDNEY, Australia (AP)

Fire officials evacuated a building in southern Australia after a man triggered a massive shock of static electricity that caused burn marks in the carpet, a media report said Friday.

Fire officials in southern Victoria state said the man, Frank Clewer, had built up at least 30,000 volts of static electricity in his jacket simply by walking around the western city of Warrnambool, according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

He received his first shock when he walked into a local business Thursday afternoon. "It sounded almost like a firecracker or something like that," Clewer told the ABC. "Within say around five minutes the carpet started to erupt."

Burns about 0.79 inches in diameter were left on the carpet where he had been standing, the report said. ABC did not mention if Clewer was injured.

The Country Fire Authority evacuated the building, fearing the incident might trigger electrical problems in the building, but let Clewer go, the report said.

But when he got in his car, Clewer's problems continued.

"I actually scorched a piece of plastic I had on the floor of the car," he said.

Fire officials took Clewer's jacket and said it continued to give off voltage, the report said.

Calls to the Country Fire Authority rang unanswered Friday evening.

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I have to try that some time <3

[Golden Djinn13]

I never would have thought that possible...that gives me an idea. :lol:

[MysticWarrior]

In all my days I never expected a real live superhero.

If only he used his electrically charged powers for good, and not for fabric softeners.

[Someone Else]

^ Roffle, MW. XDD

Man, that's some sweet stuff. Keep lookin' for them, Sheep-baa.

[Echo_djinn]

@MW: LOL

What kind of jacket was he wearing? A pure wool jacket? Man, if only I had a jacket like that.

Nice pick up Sheba.

[Luna]

This looks... unbelievable but, it's funn <_<;

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Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina

by Mark Townsend Houston
Sunday September 25, 2005
The Observer


It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing.

Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked for government and industry, said he had received intelligence from sources close to the US government's marine fisheries service confirming dolphins had escaped.

'My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuits who have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfers are mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with special harnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire,' he said. 'The darts are designed to put the target to sleep so they can be interrogated later, but what happens if the victim is not found for hours?'

Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through a neck harness. 'The question is, were these dolphins made secure before Katrina struck?' said Sheridan.

The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed from a commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during Katrina. Eight were found with the navy's help, but the dolphins were not returned until US navy scientists had examined them.

Sheridan is convinced the scientists were keen to ensure the dolphins were not the navy's, understood to be kept in training ponds in a sound in Louisiana, close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose waters devastated New Orleans.

The navy launched the classified Cetacean Intelligence Mission in San Diego in 1989, where dolphins, fitted with harnesses and small electrodes planted under their skin, were taught to patrol and protect Trident submarines in harbour and stationary warships at sea.

Criticism from animal rights groups ensured the use of dolphins became more secretive. But the project gained impetus after the Yemen terror attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Dolphins have also been used to detect mines near an Iraqi port.

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Dun dun duuuun.

[MysticWarrior]

Where do you get this stuff?

[Luna]

o.o *quotes herself*
"There's these friends who show me these...uncommon articles..."

My friends n.n

[Neon]

lol, next they will be training sharks to fire lasers ;P.

[Sea of Time]

I heard about those dolphins, that's great. If anyone wants some crazy funny news, just watch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. That is the greatest show ever.

[Luna]

Quote

lol, next they will be training sharks to fire lasers ;P.

I know you're joking but, I just want to point out that they're using dolphins cause dolphins are smart :D

I think smartness goes like so:
Mice > Dolphins > Humans.

At least that's what I heard o.o;

[Sea of Time]

Dolphins are smart, but how are they using their own brains as power when the humans are controlling?

[Luna]

o.o Theeeey...learn who to target? And how? And firing?

[Sea of Time]

I don't know, I just don't want to be caught in the Gulf of Mexico anytime soon. :lol: The dolphins might shoot me down.

[Luna]

This one is kind of... wtf.. yet not so surprising. :B

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Dutch Reporter to Use Heroin, Pot on TV

- By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
(09-21) 10:27 PDT AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) --

A field reporter for a new Dutch television talk show plans to use heroin and other illegal drugs on the air during the weekly program on issues that concern young people, producers said Wednesday.

The announcement of "Shoot Up and Swallow," scheduled to premiere as a late-night show Oct. 10, sparked an outcry. Even in the liberal Netherlands, where marijuana is sold and used openly, the proposed drug use by reporter Filemon Wesselink is illegal.

"This is dangerous and it sets a bad example," said Pieter Heerma, spokesman for the governing center-right Christian Democrat party. "We're going to ask the justice minister for his view on what the law says about this, and his view on the dangers and risks involved."

Justice Ministry spokesman Ivo Hommes said it was not immediately clear whether Wesselink could be prosecuted. Possession of any amount of heroin is illegal, but in practice police usually do not arrest anyone with less than a half gram of the highly addictive narcotic.

"The actual taking of drugs is a health problem, not a criminal act, though it's obviously hard to take drugs without possessing them first," Hommes said. "In any case, it's not something we endorse, and doing it on television is undesirable."

The show's in-studio host, Sophie Hilbrand, will interview guests about drug use and abuse, while Wesselink appears in segments taped in the field as he experiments with drugs and liquor. Another reporter, Ties Van Westing, will do segments about engaging in sex acts, but not on camera.

For one episode, Wesselink, 26, plans to smoke heroin, said Ingrid Timmer, spokeswoman for the show's producer, BNN. For others, he plans to go on a drinking binge in a series of pubs and to take the hallucinogenic drug LSD — on his couch under the supervision of his mother.

"It's not our intention to create an outcry. We just want to talk about subjects that are part of young people's lives," Timmer said.

The Netherlands is known for its lenient marijuana policy, under which the sale and use of the drug in small quantities are not prosecuted even though technically illegal. Other drugs, including heroin, LSD, cocaine and
Ecstasy, are outlawed, and dealers are prosecuted. The legal age for consumption of alcohol and tobacco is 16.

According to the Trimbos Institute, a Dutch group that monitors international drug use, the Dutch are about average among industrial nations.

It says 6 percent of Dutch have used marijuana recently, compared with 8 percent in the United States, 8 percent in Britain and 9 percent in France. For cocaine, it was 1.1 percent in Holland — and rising quickly — compared to 1.3 percent in the United States, 1.5. percent in Britain and 0.3 percent in France. Comparable data for heroin were not available.

BNN has drawn viewer complaints for previous shows, including one that included a segment on how to have sex in a nightclub.

Url: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file.../i102731D56.DTL

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Am I the only one who thinks these are... made up? XD (They're real though...I think <<)

[Andross]

Smoking China chimp kicks habit
A female chimpanzee in a Chinese zoo has managed to kick the habit after smoking for 16 years, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ai Ai, 27, first took up smoking after her mate died in 1989.

After a second spouse died in 1997 and her daughter was moved to another zoo, the broken-hearted chimp's health reportedly started deteriorating.

Zoo keepers say they are giving her mouth-watering food and playing pop music to improve her mood.

"In the first few days, she squealed for cigarettes every now and then," Xinhua reported one zookeeper at the safari park in the Shaanxi province, north-west China, as saying.

"But as her life became more colourful, she gradually forgot about them altogether."

Her new, busy lifestyle includes walking after breakfast, exercising in the evening and being served "fried dishes and dumplings at every meal" on top of bananas, rice and milk, he said.

Now and then, she can also borrow her human friend's walkman to listen to music.

It is not clear how Ai Ai developed her addiction, and whether she was first given cigarettes from the same guardians who have helped her quit.

--- http://news.bbc.co.u...fic/4305600.stm

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Ruling may flatten union rats

A recent labor judge's ruling may have let some air out of the seemingly ubiquitous giant inflatable rat.

The rat spat was addressed in a June decision by a National Labor Relations Board administrative judge, who ruled that use of the inflatable rodent by unions constitutes illegal picketing. If the ruling stands, it could affect the way the rats -- some of which are as tall as 30 feet -- are used in union disputes.

For now, the Laborers Eastern Region Organizing Fund, which was accused by two companies of using the rat to picket illegally, is appealing the ruling to the full labor board, a process that could take anywhere from months to years, said Lowell Peterson, the union's attorney and a partner at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C. If either party is unsatisfied with that ruling, it can be appealed to a federal appeals court and to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The union argued its activities were protected by the First Amendment, in the same way that passing out handbills is considered free speech.

However, Judge Steven Davis disagreed: "The respondent's display of the rat near the entrance to the work sites was the functional equivalent of picketing -- it sent a signal to those who approached the entrance that a labor dispute was occurring and that action on their part was desired."

Davis ruled that use of the rat was illegal picketing because it was intended to force one company to bargain with the union and to stop another company from doing business with the first company. The unions argued that members were just handing out information, not picketing.

Use of the rat in New York goes back to the 1990s. Although the ruling means the rat can still be used during legal picketing, unions want to be able to drag out the big rodent when calling attention to businesses accused of unsafe working conditions or unfair wages.

Local 78 of the Asbestos, Lead, and Hazardous Waste Laborers union has a fleet of six inflatable rats in three sizes -- 15, 20 and 30 feet -- and may have been introduced the practice to New York, said union spokesman Richard Weiss.

"We use the rat to call public attention to an issue that otherwise would be very difficult to get our message out," Weiss said. "Even in New York City, a 30-foot inflatable rat does stop people and call their attention to something going on there."

--- http://www.southflorida.com/news/ny-bzrat1...fla-news-fringe

[Sea of Time]

How do monkeys even get in the habit of smoking anyway.

*sees this guy at the zoo*

"Here little monkey, try this."

"Ooh ooh, aah aah, oooooooooooooooooooohhhhh"

"Good, huh?"

Yeah, that's probably how it worked out.

[Nickelback]

Those are just messed up....I still don't get why a news reporter would do drugs on tv. And Drinking and Smoking at only 16! They need to rethink their laws.

[Luna]

Well, even if they re-thought their laws, everyone would keep on doing it at 16 anyway XD

Here, the age for everything is 18 and my classmates started drinking and smoking since they were 11.

[Someone Else]

I heard of the chimp smoking. Funny, yet evil.

Next thing you know, a chimp will break out of the zoo and...

*WD's Fantasy*

*little kid is walking down the street, passes by a chimp dressed in gangster clothes*

Little Kid: WTF?

Chimp: *holds up a sign that says: Hey buddy, want some cocaine?*

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Man, that would be one cool chimp...

[Zxor]

LOL, cool chimp, but poor kid.
*wants to go in WDs imagination*

[Sea of Time]

Awesome chimp, he'd be my dealer.

Anyways, to start smoking and drinking at 16 isn't so bad, there's a lot of people I know that started when they were 12.

EDIT: I found this while looking about.

God told me to invade Iraq: Dubya

LONDON: An appalled, only marginally amused Britain and much of Europe has reacted with shock to an extraordinary revelation by the BBC, which claims President Bush confessed to senior Palestinian leaders that God told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.

Late on Friday, the BBC stuck to its original claims, made on video and tape by Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath in the course of a TV series to be broadcast next week, even as the White House dismissed the allegations as "absurd".

Meanwhile, Bush, famously a born-again Christian and infamously pilloried in Europe for likening the ‘war on terror’ to a latter-day crusade against radical Islamists, was parodied on frontpages. The president was variously portrayed with a golden halo, speaking out of a crystal ball, or intoning, messiah-like from on high that he was God’s messenger.

The BBC TV series, ‘Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs’, contains Shaath’s recollections of meeting Bush during the Israeli-Palestinian summit at the Sharm-al Sheikh summit of June 2003, four months after the Iraqi invasion.

Shaath, the Palestinians'senior negotiator, recalls, "President Bush said to all of us, 'I am driven with a mission from God’. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan'. And I did.
________________________________________________________________

Yeah, right Dubya.