Whoops…..Our Plane Is Missing!!

£13,000 police drone lost after crashing into River Mersey

An aerial drone hailed by police as the latest tool in the fight against crime was declared lost after crashing into the River Mersey.

The craft, which was launched in Merseyside four years ago in a hail of publicity, now apparently lies at the bottom of the river.
Because of force budget cuts, senior officers have also decided to consign any plan to replace it to the depths of the ocean.
Police lost control of the £13,000 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) while operating it from the Riversdale Police Social Club, in Aigburth, on a "routine training exercise".
Bosses spoke to the red-faced officers after the incident.
The drone went AWOL on a Wednesday afternoon at the club, which is used for police functions and celebrations.
The Mersey is a mere 500 yards from the force's playing field, close to Liverpool Cricket Club.
The drone was high above the Aigburth club when police said it suddenly lost battery power.
The UAV tried to perform a safety landing in adverse weather conditions, but the craft - which was a long distance from those operating it at the time - crashed into the Mersey.
A search was carried out, but the drone was given up lost.
The force was compensated by insurers for its £13,000 value but senior officers decided against replacing it due to the financial climate.
A police spokesman said: "Initially the force identified the potential benefits of a UAV within operational policing.
"But during its use officers recognised certain technical and operational issues, including staff training costs and the inability to use it in all weather conditions.
"The use of the UAV by officers requires a considerable amount of training, skill and practice.
"Officers cannot operate the UAV without first completing an intensive training course."
Merseyside was the first force in the UK to use a drone to carry CCTV cameras to monitor trouble hotspots and film crowds.
Weighing the same as a bag of sugar, the "spy in the sky" could land almost anywhere, allowing police to scan the most remote of locations.
Officers said it would help the force's antisocial behaviour team and it was hoped it would prove effective monitoring large-scale events, traffic congestion and even help in firearm operations.
But it had a somewhat chequered history during its four years in use. In February last year, the drone celebrated its first arrest, helping to locate a suspected car thief who escaped from a car following a police chase in Litherland.
Its thermal technology was integral in finding the man hiding by a canal in thick fog. But later that month, police fell foul of the law by using their aerial device without an appropriate licence.
The drone was subsequently taken out of service temporarily while the correct licence was obtained.
The Civil Aviation Authority, which launched an investigation, took no further action and an appropriate certificate was subsequently granted.
A Merseyside police spokesman added: "Full aerial cover and support is provided by the North West Air Operations Group. "We remain committed to providing the best policing service possible to the people of Merseyside and will always use all the resources available to us in order to tackle crime."

Donkey Love??

Zimbabwean man claims prostitute turned to donkey

A Zimbabwean man has told a court that he hired a prostitute who during the night transformed into a donkey, and that he is now "seriously in love" with the animal, according to state media.

"I think I am also a donkey. I do not know what happened when I left the bar, but I am seriously in love with (the) donkey," Sunday Moyo told the court, according to The Herald newspaper.
Moyo, 28, was arrested in the town of Zvishavane, about 185 miles south of the capital Harare on Sunday.
He said he had paid $25 for a prostitute, and was surprised Sunday morning when he heard people accusing him of having sex with a donkey.
Moyo has been charged with bestiality and remanded in custody. The court has ordered him to undergo a mental examination, The Herald said.

Lifeguard’s Are Awesome!!

Poole lifeguards in Hitler YouTube video

The RNLI has apologised for what it described as an "offensive" video made by members of its Dorset lifeguard team and posted on the internet.
The video, entitled "Lifeguards Awesome", features Poole lifeguards in uniform on Sandbanks beach.
It includes simulated sex scenes and an impersonation of Adolf Hitler.
The RNLI said it was "extremely dismayed" by the content of the film and had asked for it to be removed from YouTube.
One scene during the nine-minute long video sees a lifeguard offering sex education "advice" which includes references to violence towards women.
'Shameful behaviour'
Spencer Gammond, head of external communications for the RNLI, said: "The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is extremely dismayed by the offensive content of this video and apologises unreservedly to anyone who has seen it.
"Immediately after this was drawn to our attention we contacted YouTube, and the unknown person who uploaded the video, to demand its removal.
"We are carrying out a thorough investigation and will take disciplinary action against those who have used RNLI resources inappropriately and shown such disregard for the public, our supporters and our charity's good name."
He added that the "shameful behaviour by a very small minority" was not representative of the RNLI's 900 lifeguards.
RNLI GET A LIFE

Taco-Bell…Ding Dong!!

Police link Taco Bell fire to irate customer
A Taco Bell customer angry over too little meat on his extra large chalupas may have tried to set an Albany, Georgia restaurant on fire, police said on Friday.
A police officer spotted a small fire burning in the drivethru of the Taco Bell early on October 23, Albany police said.
The officer discovered a melted plastic container with liquid still burning inside, police said.
Earlier that morning, a male customer called the restaurant, complaining that his chalupas did not have enough meat on them, according to police.
When a restaurant employee told him that the store was about to close and that he would have to return the next day, he allegedly replied, "That's alright, I'll just come up there and redecorate the place."
The fire in the drivethru caused only minor damage to the building and there has not yet been an arrest in the case, Albany police said.

It’s Only A Game?

Man stabbed over alleged Monopoly cheating
There is no card in Monopoly that advises a player to stab another.
There is, however, one that orders you to go to jail.
And that's where a New Mexico woman found herself after a game of Monopoly with her boyfriend and 10-year-old son turned bloody.
Convinced he was cheating, Laura Chavez, 60, of Santa Fe, N.M., grabbed a kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed Clyde "Butch" Smith.
According to the arrest warrant obtained by the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper, "[The boy] stated his grandma, Laura, and [her boyfriend] were both drinking a beer from the same can while playing the game (of Monopoly.) [The boy] further advised that during the time they were playing the game, his grandma and [her boyfriend] started to argue because she thought [the boyfriend] was cheating at Monopoly."
The paper reported that after police responded to a call at the home in southwest Santa Fe Wednesday, they found 48-year-old Smith "bleeding heavily from his head and right wrist area."


Chavez - who police say admitted stabbing the man - was arrested and charged with aggravated battery on a household member with a deadly weapon, battery upon a peace officer, assault upon a peace officer and resisting or evading a police officer.
Smith, meanwhile, remained hospitalized late Wednesday but was in stable condition.

Not A Thong To Wear!

Police searching for pink bikini burglar

Police in the US state of Indiana have reached out to the public for help in tracking down a bikini-clad male burglar.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police have released surveillance footage of a man breaking into a daycare centre on October 20 and trying on a range of swimsuits, eventually settling for a pink-coloured number in which to explore the building.
The offender, who changed into his regular clothes before leaving the business, is described as white or Hispanic and sports a long, black ponytail.
Authorities released the video as part of an appeal for information, but censored some of the footage to "obscure unidentified parts sticking out of the bikini".
Police report that the man fled the premises after triggering a motion-sensitive alarm.
Employees at the centre are said to be unsure as to whether anything was taken.

Never Too Old!!

92-year-old refused service at off-licence

A 92-year-old woman was refused service at an off-licence because she was unable to prove she was over 18.
Diane Taylor, who is a great-grandmother, was unable to provide photo identification at a One Stop Shop in Essex while trying to purchase some alcohol for her son.
"It seemed so stupid, I thought the cashier was complimenting me," Taylor told The Mirror. "But then I realised that she was being serious so I pulled out my bus pass, my blood donor's card but it was no good, she said she wanted proof of age.
"I was so taken aback I didn't know what to do."
Taylor said she refused to believe she looked under the age of 25 and has since received an apology from a spokesperson for One Stop Shop.

Duck Or Grouse!!

Vandals target giant inflatable duck

Queensland water police have recovered a five-metre inflatable yellow duck found floating down the Brisbane River.
Police tried to tow it back to West End for this afternoon's cancer research fundraiser, The Great Brisbane Duck Race.
Vandals had cut free and slashed the duck before letting it loose.
Organiser Simone Plunkett says she is not sure if the duck is in any condition to be used as a finishing post.
"We think someone has had a little bit of fun with him overnight... and the water police found him heading out to sea earlier this morning," she said.
Later, Ms Plunkett said the big inflatable duck did not make it.
"We thought we'd actually been pretty lucky because the duck has been out on the river for six weeks and we were surprised it hadn't got a hole in it or deflated or someone might have shot a pellet it at," she said.
"But it helped serve its purpose so the race will still go on."

U.F.O.??

Man reports the Moon to police

A Hertfordshire man called 999 after spotting a mysterious object hovering above his house - only to find out it was the moon.
The man made the call, not thought to be a prank, in a state of panic saying the object's "lights were blazing".
However, just moments later the caller phoned back the operator to say he had mistaken the UFO for the moon.
The call was released by Hertfordshire Police to remind callers not to block the emergency lines over the busy Hallowe'en weekend.
The man is heard telling police he can see a mysterious flying object coming towards his house with lights blazing.
He said he was in the Canterbury and Stevenage area. The call handler asked him if he could hear engine noises but he said he couldn't.
The call handler spends several minutes writing up his description of the sighting and then says she will contact the local police team to see if they know anything about it.
Jason Baxter, assistant manager at the force communications room, said: "I would like to encourage people before they phone 999 to ask themselves is this really a police matter?"

Planking Is Dead!!

Move over planking, there’s a new boss hog in town: “Tebowing”

Planking is dead. Owling has jumped the shark. Tebow did it. When the almighty Timmy Tebow rallied the Broncos from a 15-0 deficit to defeat the hapless Miami Dolphins 18-15 in overtime, something magical happened. While everybody else on the Broncos’ sideline was whooping it up as they moved in to swamp their kicker Matt Prater with football love, Tim Tebow was busy kneeling down for an impromptu one-on-one with the J-man. A photograph was snapped and an era was born.
Now that our nation has finally gotten over ripping off Australia’s prized ‘planking’ craze, we need something new to Tumblr about at work. And just in time, a nation turns its lonely eyes to a kneeling Tebow, who thankfully will probably never understand the sarcastic undertones that come with people mocking your champion pose in odd situations and then sending them to a Tumblr that aggregates all of the photos. And that’s why we love you, Timmy. Tebow on.

They Are At It Again!!

Don’t mention Nazis or Jews

A playwright has cancelled a play set during the Second World War after claiming he was asked to remove references to Nazis, Jews and the invasion of Poland over fears of “offending” the audience.

Rod Tinson, whose Hallowe’en play was due to be staged at Pendennis Castle in Falmouth, Cornwall, has accused English Heritage of trying to create a “Disneyfied” version of history by insisting on changes to his script.
The play featured scenes from different periods in the Tudor castle’s history, including its role during the Second World War as a key coastal defence against German invasion of Britain.
Mr Tinson said English Heritage asked him to tone down parts of the script, including a young Jewish character expressing fears about his family in occupied Poland, over concerns that visitors would be “offended” by the material.
The playwright cancelled the play after refusing to make the requested changes. He said he could not understand why his script would be deemed offensive. “They said it was inappropriate for an English Heritage audience. What version of history are they trying to illustrate at this place?” Mr Tinson added.
“It was intended for adults, many of whom remember the war or know people who were involved in it. I cannot understand it. I refused to change it because it would have changed the whole storyline.
“The reason the buildings are there was to fight off any attempts by the Germans to invade.”
The play was due to be performed as part of the castle’s adults-only ''ghost tours’’ programme, which runs for four nights over the weekend.
Mr Tinson’s script made frequent reference to the venue’s historic Second World War gun batteries.
Charlie Fear, the events manager at Pendennis Castle, said the programme would go ahead with a script from a different writer.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ve had to pull Mr Tinson’s play and we will reimburse him for his time and effort,” she said. “This was our first time working with Mr Tinson and we were unable to agree on the right approach for our event.” An email to Mr Tinson said to be from Ms Fear, read: “I need to be very clear here, and in order to make this work, we have to remove any references to sex (including buggary (sic)) and any swear words, including 'bloody’ I’m afraid. I would also like the references to Poland, Jews and Nazis removed too please.
“Our English Heritage visitors would be offended by the content as it still stands and it is essential that I ensure that this does not happen.
“I understand that you want to bring your characters to life, but we have to tone down the language. I hope you understand this and the responsibility I have to ensure that I meet our visitors’ expectations.”
Pendennis Castle was built between 1540 and 1545 to protect the Fal estuary from attack by France and Spain. It is the Cornish end of a chain of coastal artillery fortresses built by Henry VIII.
It was improved during the reign of Elizabeth I and again before the Civil War, when it was subjected to a five-month siege by Parliamentarian forces.

It’s a Frenchman’s Problem!!

French study reveals hard facts about penis size

Boffins in France have published details about the size of the average French penis -- so garlic munching men don't worry about the size of le tackle.
Researchers at Paris-based National Academy of Surgery hope the study will curb a recent rise in penis enlargement surgery.
And so to the numbers... the academics say the "normal" penis is between 9 and 9.5cm when flaccid and between 12.8 and 14.5cm when erect.
Girth of the typical French member is between 8.5 and 9cm circumference when as soft as a floppy beret and then 10 to 10.5cm when doing a baguette impression.
A statement from the National Academy of Surgery said: "The feeling of having an insufficiently-large penis can be a source of anxiety and psychological suffering for a man.
"There has been an increase in demand for penis-enlargement operations in recent years, due to what some people call 'locker-room syndrome'.
"But these lengthening procedures may have only limited results and could have a risk of certain complications, in particular regarding erections."

The “Free” French??

France Blocked Police Misconduct Videos

French authorities have ordered the country’s Internet service providers to ban a site developed to allow people publish videos of suspected police misconduct.
Famous copwatch Nord Paris I-D-F started experiencing good traffic after the civilians began posting video footage of policemen beating people up, or otherwise behaving not professional.
Alliance Police Nationale, the country’s police union, has welcomed the court decision that banned the access to this website, saying that demonstrating video footage of the country’s policemen being violent would only encourage people to be violent to the cops in respond. In fact, if a person knows he or she is going to get a good kicking while being arrested, they are more likely to make an attempt to either run away or fight back. At the same time, fighting back doesn’t look like something that French policemen like a lot, because it usually makes it harder to hit a victim.
According to the media reports, the judges have considered the website a threat to the integrity of the police forces. That’s why they have taken such decision. A reasonable question remains the following: is being staffed by psychopathic bullies looking forward to beating up suspects not a threat to the police?
Industry experts agreed that this particular court order was an obvious will by the county’s authorities to control and censor the civilians’ new Internet public area. Strangely enough, for a country that inspired the United States, France doesn’t have any kind of equivalent to the American First Amendment that prevents the authorities from making any legislation that would abridge the freedom of speech or of the media. On the other hand, France did have legislation that allowed to cut the heads off whoever they liked, so maybe cutting off sites is the next step to it.

Censorship?

UK Will Delegate Online Censorship to Students

The worldwide-known insecurity outfit McAfee revealed that the move of the United Kingdom to filter the web would be dependent on a team of college students having a day or something about that training.
The insecurity outfit is engaged in creating blacklists of Internet material, categorizing online services into porno, gambling or thirty other definitions. This is done to allow Internet service providers block websites with inappropriate content. The lists created by McAfee are then used by broadband providers BT and Sky for their parental controls. All this represents a part of a new government-sponsored code of conduct. However, the critics point at the fact that the way things are, there would be no chance to view the list of websites that have already been blocked and appeals are at the discretion of McAfee. This means that once a website is incorrectly categorized, it will be extremely hard to undo that.
Some industry observers call our days a Golden Age of the censorship in the United Kingdom. Despite the fact that both television and radio were treated by a perfectly normal committee consisting of retired colonels, nuns and religious loonies, it’s another thing with the worldwide web. As for McAfee, the outfit believes that traditional way of addressing Internet services is too expensive. In addition, the entire process is mostly automated, and the system of the company is classifying the website by found keywords. Of course, not all critics could appreciate such system – for example, PC Pro claimed that humans actually need to take a look and see whether a pornography website is really hardcore or it’s more of an erotic location, because it makes difference, you know.
Meanwhile, the team that was made responsible for covering the company’s customers all over the world turned out to be made up of only 5-10 people. Moreover, it was a very popular job for… university students! The applicants get the training which involves going through several online services and the different ratings in order to get just a basic idea of what they have to do.
In respond, a McAfee representative admitted this tiny team has been asked to judge the websites that are considered the most subjective. Indeed, many would agree that it is quite tricky to draw the line between erotic and hardcore pornography, for example.

Bum’s Rush!

Man arrested for 'mooning' Queen

An Australian man has been charged by police after he 'mooned' the Queen during her royal visit to Brisbane.
Liam Warriner, 22, revealed his backside to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, as they made their way from the airport into the city.
He is alleged to have bared his bum and wedged an Australian flag between his buttocks while running for 50 yards beside the motorcade.
Warriner, a local construction worker, claims that both the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh waved at him during his run.
On being released on bail, Warriner said that he had been dared to moon the Queen by his colleagues.
He told the Herald Sun: "I mooned the Queen. Everybody's seen someone's butt, come on.
"You see it on TV all the time, you see it in movies, it's accepted in PG-rated programming these days, but yet it's an offence to the Queen."

Buzz Off!!

25m bees escape from lorry

A US highway had to be closed after a lorry carrying about 25 million bees overturned.
The bees, which were being transported to California to pollinate an almond crop, escaped, reports the BBC.
Interstate 15 in Utah was closed down for several hours while local beekeepers worked overnight to recapture the bees.
Driver Louis Holst and his wife Tammie had to be dragged out of the overturned trailer by rescuers, but were swarmed by the escaped bees on the highway.
Mr Holst said he was stung about a dozen times and suffered a gash on his forehead. His wife also was both stung and bruised.
"We just started swinging our clothes," said Mr Holst. "They stung her all up and down her neck."
Two police officers were also stung.
The trip was among the last of 160 truckloads of bees being sent south from Adee Honey Farms in South Dakota.
"The driver lost control, hit the concrete barrier and rolled over," said Corporal Todd Johnson of the Utah Highway Patrol. "Of course, we then had bees everywhere."
Richard Adee, owner of Adee Honey Farms, said the truckload, worth approximately £72,500 was "pretty much a complete loss".

Hot Stuff!!

Police nab man who burned over 100 cars
A man who set fire to more than 100 cars in Berlin, a wave of attacks blamed by some on political extremists, was motivated by envy and frustration, police who arrested him said Sunday.
The 27-year-old told police that being jobless and in debt led him to set 67 luxury cars alight in one three-month run.
Those attacks, aimed mostly at luxury cars such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes, set alight 35 more cars parked nearby. The near-nightly attacks, often started by slow-burning barbecue fire lighters, had baffled police and left them looking inept in the midst of a mayoral election.
"This is a sensational triumph," said Berlin state crime office (LKA) director Christian Steiof. A second police official told a media conference that the man confessed to setting 67 cars on fire since June in Germany's poorest big city.
"He wasn't motivated by politics but rather social envy," said Oliver Stepien, a senior police official. "He said in essence: 'I've got debts, my life stinks and others with fancy cars are better off and they deserve this'."
Luxury cars have been set on fire in small numbers in Berlin for many years, especially in districts that once had low rents because of their then-unattractive proximity to the Berlin Wall.


Car arson suddenly soared this year, with up to a dozen vehicles set on fire on some nights. Berlin police turned to federal authorities for help, using high-tech equipment and helicopters with thermal image cameras.
Up to 500 police were deployed on the streets at night to look for suspects and a special 150-person task force was set up. More than 470 cars have been set on fire this year and police are searching for other suspects. They believe perhaps a third have been politically motivated.
"It might have been the case in 2009 that some people in Berlin had some understanding for the fire attacks as some sort of protest," Berlin's Interior Minister Ehrhart Koerting told Reuters recently. "But I don't think anyone has that anymore."

Whoops!!

6,810 bottles of wine topple off a shelf and crash to the floor: Video

A tear must have rolled down the face of every wine and champagne lover in the state of Wisconsin when almost 7,000 bottles of alcohol fell off a shelf at the Superior Discount Liquor store in the city of Sheboygan.

You rarely, if ever, get to see a wave of wine cascading towards a terrified group of workers but this was the sight at a wine store in Wisconsin after thousands of bottles crashed to the floor.
The scary incident happened in January but footage of the event has only just been released.
Two workers can be seen narrowly escaping a drenching from the sea of red wine and champagne. Salesman Nick Haen, who is one of the suppliers of the store, was finishing his weekly restock of the shelves when the bottles came crashing down.
'I heard a little shift and all of the sudden I looked up and just saw bottles start coming, and so I turned around and booked it as fast as I could.'
'It was a little bit of a rush, a little bit of a, "Holy man, did that just happen?" It was unbelievable.'
Jodi Berglund, general manager of the Superior Liquor chain, was also uninjured. 'I was coming in from the front of the store. I had put the hand truck down and I just turned to walk away and caught it out of the corner of my eye,' she said.
'It collapsed within seconds. It happened so quickly. It was just an amazing sight afterwards.'
Manager Lori Gregorie was unwilling to disclose the value of the alcohol that was lost but admitted she feared the worst.
'I figured we would be working for days cleaning up glass,' she added. 'There was wine running out the front door, wine running out the back door.'
The store did not suffer any monetary loss as insurance covered the cost. And no customers were physically hurt - although a lot of them might be suffering emotionally.

Braindead??

Daredevil lovers share picnic on the edge of 800ft cliff

Living life on the edge, this young couple are perilously perched above a 240m (800ft) drop.

The pair had carefully crawled right to the end of Australian landmark Hanging Rock, where the sandstone is only a few centimetres wide.
Photographer Michael Matthews was amazed to see the duo so far out on the narrow rock formation, overlooking the Grose River Gorge in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. He said: ‘They even had a hug and a kiss out there but were being extremely careful.’
Matthews, 54, had driven from his home in Sydney, having seen an image of the Hanging Rock on a postage stamp. ‘I decided that I had to see it for myself,’ he said.
Matthews reached a viewpoint known as Baltzers Lookout but still couldn’t see the landmark – which shares its name with another Australian feature made famous by the book Picnic At Hanging Rock: ‘I felt quite vulnerable up there. There were no fences and a wind was blowing. I felt it would be easy to get blown off the cliff if you got too close to the edge.’
Of the couple, he said: ‘I had a sickly feeling in my stomach and a real fear of seeing them fall. They would never have survived the drop.’

Shit!!

Hanford worker taken for ride in portable toilet

A Hanford worker was taken for a ride in a portable toilet when it was picked up by a fork lift driver who didn't realize it was occupied.
The Tri-City Herald reports the passenger was not injured in a 15-foot move earlier this month across a gravel road. The driver heard the man yelling inside and let him out.
Washington Closure Hanford spokesman Todd Nelson says it's a reminder for workers to follow procedures and double-check.
The fork lift operator had looked at the door and thought the occupancy indicator showed that no one was inside.

Never Forget!!

Mo. man tracks down classic car stolen in 1995
A Missouri man and his beloved classic car have been reunited 16 years after the vehicle was stolen.
Edward Neeley, of Jefferson City, Mo., picked up his red 1969 Chevy Camaro in Salt Lake City on Tuesday after tracking it down in Utah last month.
Neeley contacted Utah authorities after he saw the Camaro listed for sale online, the Deseret News of Salt Lake City reported (http://bit.ly/raLn1d ).
The seller, Brent Dockery of Syracuse, bought the car four years ago on eBay and also is a victim, investigators said. He was unaware its vehicle identification number had been switched.
Davis County detectives obtained a search warrant and found the authentic VIN in the door panel, which confirmed Neeley's suspicions.
After an investigation, the Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division returned the car to Neeley, who was determined to be the rightful owner.
"Oh, oh, I got my baby back," Neeley said when he laid eyes on the car again this week. "Never in a million years did I think it would come, even after I found it on the Internet."
Charlie Roberts, spokesman for the Utah motor vehicle division, said it's unknown how many owners the car has had and how many miles it has racked up since it was stolen in 1995. Neeley was 18 years old at the time.
Dockery said he bought the car for nearly $16,000 and added another $10,000 in upgrades, and he wants to take out the upgrades he installed. Utah officials said any further issues between Neeley and Dockery would have to be resolved in civil court.
Neeley had the car shipped back home this week.
"She's back," he said. "She already loves me, I can tell, so we're back together, baby. I'll get (her) back in shape."

Hard Barbie?

Tattooed Barbie prompts parent complaints

Parents have complained over a tattooed Barbie doll.
The Tokidoki Barbie features permanently marked skin, a pink bob, and crossed bones stitched on an off-the-shoulder sweater.
"If I give it to [my daughter] she will think [tattoos are] okay. She may want to go get some," parent Bill Smith told ABC News:
"It's teaching kids to want tattoos before they are old enough to dress like that," fellow Virginia resident Kevin Buckner added.
However, a comment on parent blog Babble read: "I much prefer tattoos to unrealistic proportions and the message that the most important thing is to be pretty and get a boy.
"Good for you Mattel for making a doll a little more like the rest of us. I consider it a tiny step in the right direction,"
Insisting that the doll is not marketed to all audiences, toymaker Mattel said in a statement: "The Tokidoki Barbie is a perfect example of a limited-edition doll sold through select retail locations."

Common Sense At last!

European Parliament Discussed Copyright Legislation

Christian Engstrom, a recently elected official in the European Parliament from the Pirate Party, published resume on the existing copyright legislation, outlining both problems and solutions for a better understanding of the issue.
In the article he said that it is actually impossible to ban non-profit file-sharing without violating fundamental human rights. In fact, as long as means for private communication exist, they’ll be exploited to share copyrighted content. This means that if the government wants to try and limit file-sharing, it will have to cancel the right to private communication. During the last ten years, the copyright law was moving in this very direction, being pressured by international corporation lobbyists seeing their monopolies under threat. Christian Engstrom believes that the governments need to reverse this trend in order to protect human rights. The EP member made a comparison between how the problem really is and how the industry wants everyone to believe it is.
By investigating the economic statistics, one can make a conclusion that household spending on culture and entertainment is increasing, and if people start spending less money on legitimate content, they will spend more on other things, such as tickets to live concerts, and this is good news for the performers, because they usually receive only 5% of the revenues from their sold record, but ten times more of the revenues from a live performance. In this case, the record companies will lose, but only because they don’t add any value anymore.
This idea means that even if it becomes harder to earn money in one part of the cultural sector, it will still become easier in another one. At the same time, as long as the total household spending on entertainment is on the same level, you can’t say that the performers as a group have anything to lose from this scheme.
Finally, Christian Engstrom compared the reaction of the entertainment industry to unauthorized file-sharing with how book publishers reacted to public libraries when they were introduced many years ago. They used the same argument, saying that if people were able to get access to content for free, the writers wouldn’t be able to make a living, but today everyone realizes this argument was wrong.

A Slip-Up?

Man orders size 14.5 slipper and gets size 1,450

Tom Boddingham, 27, has a size 13 right foot while his left is slightly bigger measuring a size 14 and a half.
When he ordered his custom slipper, the manufacturers in China misread "size 14.5" and instead built a size 1,450 measuring 7ft long.
Mr Boddingham, who has always worn custom made shoes, said he now plans to sell the giant slipper on eBay.
He said: "It was sent directly from Hong Kong and measures 210 x 130 x 65cms - the same length as a grizzly bear or a family car.
"I reckon I must be the owner of the biggest slipper in the world.
"I'm going to sell it online and if I can make a few quid out of it then all the better."
A company spokesman for Monster Slippers apologised to Tom, from Ilford, in east London, and said the mistake occurred because of a translation error.
The spokesman said: "We have apologised to Mr Boddingham and are making him a replacement slipper of the right dimensions."
A spokesman for the factory said they thought the slipper was for a shop window display.

That’s Handy!!

Giant green hand reaches out of manhole to remind drivers of danger

Residents in the Chinese city of Tianjin have become so fed up with the local government doing nothing about an uncapped manhole on one of the local roads they have placed a giant green hand in the hole to alert approaching drivers.

The hand is in fact a discarded green sofa found by one of the locals and placed in the manhole to warn motorists approaching the hole in the road.
'I was baffled, thinking that the Incredible Hulk was underneath,' said local Li Dong.
The number of accidents has increased since the manhole lid disappeared over a month ago. Despite numerous letters of complaints to government officials, including media exposure about the hole, no action has been taken.
No one knows where the cover for the manhole ended up, but it could be a case of road thieves, similar to an incident in China earlier this year.
In August, a motorcyclist was hospitalised after suffering a fractured skull and broken jaw when his bike went front-first down into a lid-less manhole.
The accident was a result of the high number of manhole lids being stolen to be sold to make scrap metal.

Enterprising?

Boy makes £60 a day selling junk food, suspended by school

A Manchester school has suspended a 12-year-old boy for making £60 ($94) a day from selling chocolate, crisps and soft drinks to fellow pupils.
Tommie Rose was initially warned and sent home for a day over his behaviour, but has continued to persist with his money-making scheme.
He told Manchester Evening News: "I got the idea from watching Dragons' Den and feeling I could do something like that.
"The school just sells water and dinners. I have been bringing in 80 chocolate bars, Lucozade [drinks] and Doritos [packs] each day and have been selling out."
Tommie revealed that he buys in bulk from discount stores before making a profit by selling them at higher prices at the school.
The principal of Oasis Academy in Salford defended the suspension, saying: "The private selling of goods is not permitted, and any persistent breach of the code of conduct is dealt with firmly but supportively through parental engagement."
Tommie's father Gary, 30, countered: "The way they have dealt with it is far too harsh.
"I think he's just showing a bit of business sense, and he shouldn't be missing out on his education because of it."

Long Distance?

U.S. woman nets $200K phone bill
Celina Aarons is used to receiving a monthly phone bill of about $175.
Imagine her surprise when her latest bill was 43 pages long and said she owed $201,005.44.
Aarons, who lives in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Fla., area, has two brothers who are mute and deaf and who use their phones to text each other.
She told WSVN-TV in Miami that while Shamir, one of her brothers, was vacationing in Canada for two weeks, he forgot to turn his data roaming off, texted over 2,000 times and used the phone to download videos.
Since he is on Aarons' phone plan, the bill became her responsibility.
"Well, it's never going to get paid (because) I can't pay that," the told WSVN. "That's like paying (for) a nice house right now based on what houses are going for."
The station contacted her phone company, T-mobile, which lowered Aaron's phone bill from $201,000 to $2,500 and gave her six months to pay.

Porn Begone?

A number of the largest British Internet service providers, including BT, TalkTalk, Virgin and Sky now offer their customers the “opt-in” solution for those who want to receive access to adult content on the Internet. This appeared to be a part of a government-sponsored program intended to protect kids from Internet porn.
The introduced measures are revealed by David Cameron on the 10th meeting with the Mothers’ Union, a Christian charity. Reg Bailey, the outfit’s chief executive, as well as the Department of Education, have received a direct order from the UK’s government to make a review on the commercialization and sexualization of British kids. Earlier this year Bailey published a report titled “Letting Children be Children”, where he suggested a few solutions to protect kids from dangerous material they can find on the Internet.
In addition, the Prime Minister announces the planned changes like restrictions on aggressive advertising campaigns and specific types of pictures posted on billboards. There is even a website called Parentport, which was specifically created for parents concerned about TV programs, advertisements, goods or services that may appear inappropriate for their kids. This website is currently under direct supervision of numerous outfits, including BBC Trust, Advertising Standards Authority, British Board of Film Classification, Press Complaints Commission, Ofcom, and many others.
The report made by Bailey was published four months ago and gained David Cameron’s support. The latter said he very much agreed with the central approach Bailey had set out. Cameron confirmed that the country shouldn’t try and wrap kids up in cotton wool or just lose heart and accept the world as it is. The community should rather look to stop an unthinking drift towards ever-greater commercialization and sexualization of British kids. The creation of this website was Bailey’s first idea to help parents with controlling media and material their children can reach on the Internet.
In addition, it was suggested that the government and business enterprisers should join hands and stop the commercialization of improper “adult” clothing for the UK kids. Finally, if retailers don’t make any progress over the problem, they must be forced to change their activity in 18 months.

Watch Out….Pussy’s Armed!!

Kitty brought the heat: Cat shoots owner in NY

So the story goes like this: A man rushed himself to the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center on Saturday, saying that he had been shot in the knee by his cat. The man said he was getting medication out of his gun safe at about 7:30 p.m. when the cat jumped on the safe, knocking a .32 caliber handgun to the floor, where it discharged on impact, the bullet hitting him behind the left knee.
A likely story. I think that Sir Pounce was mad that dinner was a little late.
My favorite two sentences from the account of this story:

Investigators checked out the man’s home and found no signs of a struggle.
No charges have been filed.

Just A Quick Nap Then!

Elephant causes safari park traffic

It was the right time for Five the elephant to take a nap but perhaps not quite the best place, as the huge animal caused a traffic jam after snoozing in the middle of the road at a West Midlands safari park.

The 20-year-old African elephant laid across one of the roads at the safari park, much to the amazement of park visitors who were forced to sit in their cars until Five was ready to move.
The out-of-season warm October temperatures are believed to be the main cause of Five's relaxation stunt. However it was not too long until the elephant, weighing in at 11,000Ibs, went on his way to find somewhere less gravelly to rest.
Safari head keeper Andy Plumb snapped Five in his moment of bliss, telling the Daily Mail: 'When I arrived there was a queue of traffic forming and it just got bigger - he's a bit of a character so I'm not surprised he decided to crash out on a road.
'When he eventually woke up I don't think he knew what all the fuss was about. There was a big cheer and he just wandered off looking for somewhere else to sleep.
'We all had a good laugh about it for the rest of the day.'
Elephants have a reputation for causing traffic jams. The US football team were delayed for training during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, after one elephant decided to snack on tree leaves.
The team suffered a second incident when another elephant strolled along the road, leaving the team's bus slowly following behind. The players therefore missed the first moments of the World Cup's opening game.
It was reported that the sign outside the team's hotel read: 'Elephants that come close to our fence keep a distance of 30 meters and please be quiet'