Thieves Steal Two-Ton Moore Sculpture

LONDON - Thieves using a flatbed truck and a crane snatched a two-ton Henry Moore bronze of a reclining figure from the grounds of the late sculptor's foundation north of London, police said Saturday.

The sculpture, valued at more than $5.2 million, was stolen Thursday night from the artist's Hertfordshire county estate, authorities said in a statement.

"This is a very valuable statue and we are working closely with the Henry Moore Foundation to ensure its safe return," said Detective Sgt. Graeme Smith of the Area Crime Unit. "The foundation is offering a substantial reward for information leading to its recovery."

Authorities said they were investigating all potential motives for the crime, including the possibility that the thieves planned to melt the sculpture and sell it for scrap.

"It is a nationally renowned sculpture and very, very difficult to get rid of," said Chief Inspector Richard Harbon. "So, obviously, we are looking at all the possibilities, as I said, right from scrap metal right up to fine arts theft."

Police said three thieves brought in a crane to lift the sculpture onto the flatbed truck, then drove away at 10:16 p.m. Thursday. The theft was filmed by security video.

Moore created some of modern art's most recognizable sculptures, including large, abstract works cast in bronze or carved from stone, using fractured human forms as metaphors for landscapes.

The prolific British artist, who died in 1986 at age 88, established and endowed a foundation in 1977 that operates from Perry Green, his 70-acre country estate and studios 30 miles north of London.

The foundation is reassessing security after the theft, said Gareth Spence, its spokesman. The estate, which has gates and alarms, had never before had such an incident.

He said the statue — 11 3/4 feet long, 6 1/2 feet high and 6 1/2 feet wide — was famous throughout the world.

"I think it would be very hard for anyone to sell," Spence told Britain's Press Association. "The recipient — where would they display it? It is meant to be displayed outside."

Yahoo! News

Hermie the Metal-Mouthed Turtle Dies

WATERTOWN, N.Y. - Hermie the Turtle's little defective beak made meal time a struggle. Unable to close his mouth completely, the tiny 20-gram reptile underwent an experimental orthodontic procedure to try to keep him alive. But officials said Hermie died Thursday of kidney failure. An autopsy revealed the pre-existing condition, said Angela Baier, executive director of the New York State Zoo at Thompson Park.

After getting Hermie in May, zookeepers noticed the turtle was having difficulty eating. Medical exams then showed Hermie's lower jaw growing downward because the turtle was unable to process calcium.

"I've worked on animals before but nothing this small," said Peter M. Virga, a Watertown dentist who along with veterinarian Jeffrey G. Baier performed the unique procedure.

Turtles, who are toothless, use their beaks to break food down before grinding it with the plates in their mouths.

After Baier injected Hermie with two anesthetics Wednesday morning, Virga inserted four pins into the turtle's jaws.

During a meeting with reporters, the doctors placed the immobile turtle, believed to be between 2 and 3 years old, on a table. As Baier held Hermie's head, Virga placed two rubber orthodontic elastics — the same kind used by children with braces — on the pins across the turtle's mouth.

Zookeepers were planning to remove the rubber bands once a day to allow the turtle to eat.

Yahoo! News

Drunk Finn Sets Norwegian Fine Record

OSLO, Norway - A Finnish citizen arrested on a public bus while drunk and nearly naked has set an apparent record for unpaid fines in Norway, with an estimated 99 of them, police said Friday.

The man, whose name was not released, is known by police for his tendency to discard pieces of clothing as his level of intoxication increases, the Bergens Tidende newspaper reported.

"He has gotten up to 99 fines," police attorney Rudolf Christophersen told the newspaper. "In the (Bergen area's) Hordaland Police District alone he has $14,260 worth of fines. That must be a record."

The man, whom police said offered up five different identities, has repeatedly been expelled from Norway, but keeps returning.

In the latest incident, on Wednesday, police received a telephone call from the bus driver in Bergen, the main city on Norway's west coast, who said: "There is a naked, drunk, difficult Finn causing trouble on board."

Police found the man dressed only his underpants, and extremely drunk, and are seeking to have him jailed on charges that include indecent exposure, vagrancy, public drunkenness and failing to pay his outstanding fines.

Neither Christophersen nor Bergen police spokesman Trygve Hillestad could immediately be reached for comment.

Yahoo! News

Danger! Scrambled Eggs Ahead!

DUBLIN (Reuters) - A hazardous slick of broken eggs caused traffic chaos in rural Ireland Thursday after a truck carrying thousands of broody hens lost its load.

"Chickens have begun to lay eggs on the roads and the conditions are quite treacherous at the moment, very slippy," AA Roadwatch said on its traffic advice line, warning up to 7,000 chickens were on the loose.

Police said the vehicle carrying the birds may have hit a ditch, causing its boxes to "cascade off the lorry."

"The lorry has been moved off the road but the cargo is wandering around the roads out there," Sergeant Jim Greene from nearby town of Cavan told Reuters, adding there were no reports of any human casualties.

A team has been scrambled to help catch the birds, Greene said, but little could be done about their egg-laying: "We wouldn't expect anything less from a hen."

Yahoo! News

High-Tech Toilet Rinses and Warms Bottoms

SAN FRANCISCO - Scott Pinizzotto is used to the giggles whenever he brings up high-tech toilet seats that rinse and warm people's bottoms. Yet he continues to believe he's sitting on a potential gold mine.

"This is the next evolution of the toilet," Pinizzotto said of the Swash, an upscale seat made by his San Francisco startup, Brondell Inc. "We are trying to educate people that there is a more hygienic and comfortable way to go to the bathroom."

Introduced nearly a year ago, the Swash is designed to transform a run-of-the-mill toilet into a bidet — a device that cleanses with a spray of warm water, relieving people from the hassles of toilet paper. The Swash features heated seats, too, and its top-of-line model also comes with a warm-air dryer and a remote control.

Pampering the posterior isn't cheap. The Swash retails for $429 to $549, yet sales have risen by nearly 50 percent every three months, said Pinizzotto, the company's co-founder and chief executive.

Although bidets are common in Europe and parts of Asia, the high-tech toilets haven't made much of a splash in the United States.

Brondell — named after the 18th-century inventor of the flush-valve toilet — is trying to change that with the help of a $1.3 million investment led by Mark Cuban, who became a billionaire near the peak of the dot-com boom in 1999 when he sold Broadcast.com Inc. to Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news)

Cuban, best known as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, is an old friend of Brondell's other co-founder, David Samuel. Cuban dived in after he ran into Samuel in October and learned more about the Swash.

"I have always been interested in innovative and cutting edge-technologies coupled with a large market opportunity," Cuban said in a statement.

Like Cuban, Samuel already is flush with money. Before he turned 30, Samuel sold his Internet music service, Spinner.com, to America Online Inc. for $320 million in 1999.

Yahoo! News

Pregnant Skydiver Survives Face-First Fall

SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. - Shayna Richardson was making her first solo skydiving jump when she had trouble with her parachutes and, while falling at about 50 mph, hit face first in a parking lot.

Although badly hurt, she survived — and doctors treating her injuries discovered she was pregnant. Four surgeries and two months later, Richardson said she and the fetus are doing fine.

"Just this last week we went and saw the doctor and we've got arms, we've got legs. We've got a full face. The baby is moving around just fine. The heart rate looks good. So not only did God save me but he spared this baby," she said.

Richardson, 21, of Joplin, Mo., was skydiving in Siloam Springs on Oct. 9 when her main parachute failed.

"I heard a snap and I started spinning and I didn't know why. I didn't know what to do to fix it. I didn't know how to make it stop," Richardson told Fort Smith, Ark., television station KFSM.

She cut away her primary chute so her reserve could deploy, but it didn't open all the way. She spun out of control, heading straight for the asphalt below.

"At the end I said, 'I'm going to die. I'm going to hit the ground. I'm going to die,'" she said. "I don't remember it. I don't remember hitting the ground. I don't remember the impact or anything that came with it."

Rescuers got her to a hospital in Fayetteville, where Richardson underwent surgery. She broke her pelvis in two places, broke her leg, lost six teeth and now has 15 steel plates.

"I went into the first surgery where they cut me from ear to ear and they cut my face down and they took out all the fractured egg-shelled bones and put in steel plates," Richardson said.

During treatment, doctors found that Richardson was pregnant, which was a surprise to her. She said she would not have jumped had she known.

"To hit the ground belly first — that's dangerous. I mean at any stage of pregnancy that's dangerous. That's not something you want to do let alone at 50 miles per hour," Richardson said.

Her fall was videotaped and Richardson said she was able to watch it, without qualms.

"I wanted to watch it," said Richardson. "And the whole reason I'm comfortable with watching it because I know how it ends."

Richardson said her due date is June 25. She plans to make her next parachute jump in August.

Yahoo! News

Woman Allegedly Bites Off Officer's Finger

MILWAUKEE - A police officer had part of a finger bitten off by a woman after he responded to a call about a dispute over a cat, authorities say. Lt. Robert Menzel said the 40-year-old woman who called police Sunday afternoon had argued with a man about the animal and wanted him removed from her home.

The officer, a 10-year veteran, tried to restrain the woman, and she became belligerent and she bit off part of his right ring finger, Menzel said.

Surgeons at Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital were not able to reattach the finger, the lieutenant said

Yahoo! News

Students Get Pig's-Eye View of History

CINCINNATI - Move over, Miss Piggy. Step aside, Porky. It's time to share the swine spotlight with real pigs.

The contributions of an animal that has been reviled, mocked and dined upon for centuries are being recognized in a Xavier University class highlighting American pig history.

"As I was doing research, I found pigs popping up in rather significant settings," said assistant history professor Karim Tiro, who teaches the class.

Few realize that swine sailed to the New World with Columbus, sparked wars between colonists and American Indians and helped pioneer the assembly line, he said.

He covers those and other topics in "A History of the Pig in America with Especial Reference to the City of Cincinnati Otherwise Known as Porkopolis."

The last part of the quirky title refers to a city that has had a love-hate relationship with pigs since its heyday as the center of the U.S. pork-packing industry.

Easy access to river transportation and farmland helped turn Cincinnati into the pork processing capital of the world by the 1840s — and the target of international jokes about its "Porkopolis" image.

Appalled at the sight of pigs being herded or roaming wild through Cincinnati streets in the late 1820s, British author Frances Trollope wrote that she would have liked the city better if the people "had not dealt so very largely with hogs."

"Cincinnati's connection with pigs has always been seen both as a serious economic issue and a point of humor or ridicule," said Dan Hurley, assistant vice president for history for the Cincinnati Museum Center.

The Xavier students say they have learned how pigs and the development of the pork industry reflect broader trends in history. They also have learned to overlook the grins and giggles that often erupt at the mention of their class.

"But when I tell people what we have learned, they don't laugh as much, and they usually think it sounds interesting," said Tara Cleveland, 21.

Virginia DeJohn Anderson, a history professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, taught a class looking at the history of human and animal relationships from antiquity to the present. But she's not aware of any history classes highlighting one animal.

"I don't think many historians in the past have taken animals seriously as historical subjects. That prejudice may be shifting as we are coming to understand how animals have shaped not just the landscape, but also relations among people," Anderson said.

Yahoo! News

Man loses dead cert bet -- by staying alive

LONDON (Reuters) - A 91-year-old man who staked a 500-pound bet that he would be dead by the end of the first week in December lost his stake by staying alive, a bookmaker said on Saturday.

Arthur King-Robinson said he put the bet on at odds of 6/1 at the start of the year because his wife would have faced an inheritance tax bill of 3000 pounds had he died in the intervening period.

"I thought I'd heard most things that people want to bet on after 30 years in the business," said Graham Sharpe, spokesman for bookmaker William Hill. "But one asking literally to place a dead cert was unique. I'm glad Arthur has lost."

King-Robinson had feared that his wife Cynthia, 85, would have to sell the home they had lived in for 50 years in the southwest if she had been hit by the tax bill.

"I lost my 500 pounds -- but it gave me peace of mind," he said.

Yahoo! News

Ecuadorean woman, 116, is world's oldest person

LONDON (Reuters) - A 116-year-old Ecuadorean woman was declared the oldest person in the world on Friday, lifting the title from a U.S. woman previously thought to be the oldest person alive, Guinness World Records said.

Maria Esther Capovilla was confirmed as the oldest living person after her family sent details of her birth and marriage certificates to Guinness World Records.

"We only told her yesterday she was the new Guinness world record holder," Kate White, brand manager at the records publisher told Reuters. "We hadn't heard of her before."

"She's in very good health, she's got good sight, is able to read the papers and watch television, and doesn't walk with a stick," White added.

Capovilla was born in Guayaqull in western Ecuador on September 14, 1889, and lives there today with her daughter-in-law and son.

She had five children, and has four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Her husband died in 1949.

White said Capovilla had been asked what she thought about the changes she had seen over her life.

"She said she disliked the fact that presently it's acceptable for women to pursue men. And she said that every day she thanks God that she's alive," White said.

As a girl at the turn of the century one of Capovilla's favourite pastimes was going to parties, where she never drank alcohol.

At the time it was the custom for women just to touch the rim of the glass with their lips without drinking, as a sign of accepting hospitality, her family told Guinness World Records.

Elizabeth Bolden, from Memphis, Tennessee, born August 15, 1890, had previously been regarded as the oldest living person.

Edith "Judy" Ingamell, 111 years old, from Enfield north of London, became the oldest woman in Britain after the death on Wednesday of the previous title holder Lucy d'Abreu, Guinness World Records said.

D'Abreu, who lived to 113, attributed her longevity to a daily dose of brandy and dry ginger ale.

Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, from Puerto Rico, born August 21, 1891, is the world's oldest living man, aged 114, says Guinness World Records.

Yahoo! News

Cop Said to Taser Partner Over Soft Drink

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. - A police officer has been charged with using a Taser on his partner during an argument over whether they should stop for a soft drink.

Ronald Dupuis, 32, was charged Wednesday with assault and could face up to three months in jail if convicted. The six-year veteran was fired after the Nov. 3 incident.

Dupuis and partner Prema Graham began arguing after Dupuis demanded she stop their car at a store so he could buy a soft drink, according to a police report.

The two then struggled over the steering wheel, and Dupuis hit her leg with his department-issued Taser, the report said. She was not seriously hurt.

Hamtramck police union lawyer Eugene Bolanowski said he expected Dupuis to hire a private lawyer.

Hamtramck is a city of 23,000 surrounded by Detroit.

Yahoo! News

Nebraska Judge Says 128 mph Not 'Reckless'

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. - Speeding is not necessarily reckless, even at 128 mph, a judge ruled in the case of a motorcyclist who tried to flee from state troopers.

With some reluctance, County Judge John Steinheider ruled last week that Jacob H. Carman, 20, was not guilty of reckless driving on Sept. 5, when he was spotted by a trooper who then chased him at the top speed of his cruiser's odometer — 128 mph.

"As much as it pains me to do it, speed and speed alone is not sufficient to establish reckless driving," the judge told Carman on Friday. "If you had had a passenger, there would be no question of conviction. If there had been other cars on the roadway, if you would've went into the wrong lane or anything, I would have convicted you."

Otoe County prosecutor David Partsch acknowledged that Carman could have been charged with speeding but, "We felt that the manner in which he was operating the motorcycle was reckless."

Carman didn't get off entirely. He was fined $300 for expired tags and other violations.

Yahoo! News

Introduction

Welcome to my new blog that is dedicated to finding you news that may strike you as funny or a bit odd. This is my job and I hope you will enjoy it.

I shall uphold my promise and "try" to post every single day.

If there is no good news stories for the day, I shall pull a news story off of "The Onion" (which is a fictional website dedicated to making you laugh.) I will say when these news events are real and when they are not. I will also say what website they came from and the article website.

Please leave comments as you wish, and if you make constructive criticism on my website, I might actually take your advice.

Thank you.

-Devon

Pope Given Ferrari Steering Wheel

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Italian carmaker Ferrari gave
Pope Benedict the steering wheel to one of their Formula One racing cars on Monday, honoring the man in the driving seat of the Roman Catholic Church.

In a private audience in the
Vatican, Ferrari Chairman Luca di Montezemolo gave the Pope the souvenir inscribed with the words: "The steering wheel of the Formula 1 World Champion to His Holiness Benedict XVI, the driver of Christianity."

Montezemolo also handed over a cheque for 950,000 euros for charity, proceeds from the auction of a Ferrari car which fetched 150 percent of its normal list price.

In January, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher presented the late
Pope John Paul with a 1:5 scale model of the car which won both the championship and constructor titles in 2004.

After winning six constructors' championships in a row, Ferrari's fortunes waned in 2005 when it ended the season just third in both the constructors' and drivers' title races.

Yahoo! News