Yes, ICantSeeYou

Sometimes it rains cement

Russian air force planes dropped a 25-kg (55-lb) sack of cement on a suburban Moscow home last week while seeding clouds to prevent rain from spoiling a holiday, Russian media said on Tuesday.

"A pack of cement used in creating ... good weather in the capital region ... failed to pulverize completely at high altitude and fell on the roof of a house, making a hole about 80-100 cm (2.5-3 ft)," police in Naro-Fominsk told agency RIA-Novosti.

Ahead of major public holidays the Russian Air Force often dispatches up to 12 cargo planes carrying loads of silver iodide, liquid nitrogen and cement powder to seed clouds above Moscow and empty the skies of moisture.

A spokesman for the Russian Air Force refused to comment.

June 12 was Russia Day, a patriotic holiday celebrating the country's independence after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Weather specialists said the cement's failure to turn to powder was the first hiccup in 20 years.

The homeowner was not injured, but refused an offer of 50,000 roubles ($2,100) from the air force, saying she would sue for damages and compensation for moral suffering, Interfax said.

Snake bites and kills condom-wearing man. Is that a condom on your penis or are you just pleased to see me?

Is that a condom on your penis or are you just pleased to see me?

A 40-year-old man has been found dead with a cobra carcass in his hands and a condom on his penis.

The case in Bangkok has baffled Thai police. Mainly because it is so baffling.

The body of Wiroj Banlen was discovered on the side of a dirt road near the village of Lamsai in Ayutthaya province.

A police examination revealed he had several snake bites on his right leg and his cheeks.

The dead cobra found clenched in Banlen's hands had also been bitten several times.

Snake remnants were found in the dead man's teeth, suggesting he had bitten the animal.

The condom contained no semen, and the police believe he was either putting on or removing his trousers when the snake struck.

Surgeons left metal bar in my head (w/pic of dude who now looks like a Klingon)

Surgeons left metal bar in my head

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Headache: Donovan McGowan

Surgeons left a 10cm (4in) metal bar inside a teenager's head.

Donovan McGowan lived with the piece of metal inside him for three months after an operation.

The 18-year-old suffered from blinding headaches and also had an unsightly lump on the side of his head.

Eventually, he demanded a scan and it was then doctors found the bar

'They said, “This is quite embarrassing but there is something metallic like a tube still in your head.”

It's been more than embarrassing for me having to walk about with this lump,' said Mr McGowan, from Glasgow.

The rod was left behind during an operation at Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, in March after he was hit by a car.

A hospital spokesman apologised and said it was an 'unfortunate error'. The ex-football steward, who gave up his job because of the pain, may now seek compensation from the trust.

Brazil Inmate Had $170K, Guns, TV, Fridge In Cell

Officials in northeastern Brazil say they confiscated the equivalent of more than $170,000 and two pistols from an imprisoned drug trafficker whose jail cell was equipped with a plasma TV set, a refrigerator and gym equipment.

Jose Francisco Leite, head of the state of Bahia's Prison Affairs Department, said the "posh prison life" Genilson Lins da Silva led came to an abrupt end on Monday when police raided his cell as part of a statewide crackdown on drug trafficking.

Leite said Tuesday authorities have ordered an investigation to find out how Silva got the money and guns into his cell.

Minn. City Sets $50,000 Reward For Hooking, Netting Or Photographing Legendary Creature, Pepie (yes, Pepie)

Some in eastern Minnesota say there's a large, serpentlike creature living in the Mississippi River's Lake Pepin below Maiden Rock. If it exists, it could fatten your bank account.

The Lake City Tourism Bureau has helped set up a $50,000 reward for hooking, netting or capturing the creature on a camera.

Larry Nielson owns a paddle wheeler on the lake and claims to have seen the creature, which the locals have named "Pepie." Nielson and others would like to see the creature draw some tourists.

Boosters say the legend of Pepie comes in part from the native Dakota people that lived in the area. They refused to travel on Lake Pepin in bark canoes because of large creatures that would come to the surface and damage their boats.

Snail massacre causes traffic chaos - Countdown to earthquake starts now

Hundreds of migrating snails caused a six-car pile-up as they slithered across a busy dual carriageway.

Police closed the highway for several hours while crushed and surviving snails were scraped off the road near Stuttgart.

'The slime was making the road so slippery that people started skidding all over the place,' one motorist said. 'It was like a horror film.'

Weird Happenings Amid Minn. Tornado: Toilet Paper Unwinds In Bathroom, Rewinds Around Sink

As residents in Hugo begin to move on from last week's tornado, some say they noticed a few bizarre things amid all the damage. Jason Akins said the twister unwound a roll of toilet paper in his bathroom _ draped it across the countertop, then rewound it in the sink. The toilet paper didn't even rip.

"All I could say was, 'You have got to be kidding me,'" Akins recalled.

He also said that winds overturned sofas and ripped away his roof, but dishes of cat food and water were untouched. The cat food was actually still in the bowl.

While hurricanes, floods and blizzards create broad swaths of damage, tornados seem to have tiny fingers that can reach in to small areas and cause some weird mischief. Some say tornados have their own personalities.

Terry Clarkin said the Hugo tornado stuck four steak knives in the yard _ and they landed in a perfect square, with the blades in the dirt about three inches.

Across the street, a tree had been stripped of leaves, and instead was filled with pink wads of insulation _ looking much like a tree from a cartoon.

Some residents made interesting findings amid the wreckage.

Five-year-old Lauren Ford found a red Spider-Man T-shirt in her back yard. One neighbor found a fishing boat against the remains of a front porch. Others found canoes, checkbooks or toys.

Jeff Janus said the tornado protected him.

He was in his front yard when the storm hit, and he ran inside and grabbed his dog and cat.

"I saw people's houses flying by," he said. He didn't make it to the basement, but instead crouched down in the hallway, with one animal in each arm. He said the storm tore off the bedroom doors and placed them almost gently on top of him _ shielding him from falling debris.

When the storm passed, he said, he spit shreds of insulation from his mouth, but he felt the doors saved him.

"I find it hard to believe I am actually here," said Janus.

Homeless Japanese woman arrested after living undetected in man's closet for a year - She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman ``neat and clean.''

TOKYO - A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

``We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide,'' Itakura said. ``When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side.''

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman ``neat and clean.''

Man had sex with 1,000 cars

You might want to keep your automobile garaged if you live in Washington State where one man claims to have had sex with more than 1,000 cars.

 

Edward Smith, who suffers from mechaphilia - a sexual attraction to machines, will be professing his unusual love for cars on a Channel 5 documentary “My car is my lover” Wednesday, May 28. The show, which will air at 10 p.m., features Smith and shows him meeting other enthusiasts at a rally for mechaphiliacs in California.

Smith, 57, says he first had sex with a car at the age of 15. He claims he has never been attracted to women or men and cars are just his preference. He is now part of a global community of more than 500 “car lovers” brought together through the Internet.

Smith, who now lives with his current "girlfriend" – a white Volkswagen Beetle named Vanilla, said he has no desire to change his ways. “I'm not sick,” he said, “And I don't want to hurt anyone.”

Well, OK then …   I'm speechless.  

 

 

Here’s a strange art project called "the Great Swallow" involving a nest, a man, and a giant egg (yes, why do you think he’s nesting?)

High on the Rotterdam Weena Tower, Benjamin Verdonck is nesting. Literally. Here’s a strange art project called "the Great Swallow" involving a nest, a man, and a giant egg (yes, why do you think he’s nesting?).

A nest is hanging high from the Rotterdam Weena Tower. Feathers fly around it. There’s a man in the nest. He nested there only four days ago. He stretches his arms out wide open, as if he wants to fly. But it also seems like he is trying to stay upright (losing his feathers). Some people even think that the man wants to embrace them.

Here’s the YouTube video clip:

Only in the Netherlands! Link [mostly in Dutch, with some English translation] - via rebel:art

Sex: say no to knives

Sex: say no to knives

A sex game went wrong when a student tried to carve a heart into her boyfriend's chest - and almost killed him.

But Catherine McCoubrey has escaped a jail sentence for the bizarre attack during a bout of "rough sex".

Despite doctors' doubts, the victim not only recovered - but agreed to take her back.

Catherine McCoubrey, 25, and her 24-year-old partner had been drinking heavily.

He apparently asked her to carve the shape of a heart in him during what prosecutors called "rough sex" in February 2007 - but unfortunately, she pressed too deeply.

Defence lawyer John McAmmond the unnamed victim introduced his client to "body modification", and had carved himself with knives before.

McCoubrey, from Winnipeg in Canada, has now been given three years' probation after pleading guilty to assault.

They can legally resume their relationship after a contact order was waived.

Six years ago a man in Winnipeg who was asked by his lover to spank her with a leather belt and a wooden chair leg was convicted of assault causing bodily harm.

Green aliens - Take Us To Your Leader

Aliens from outer space have been visiting Britain for years and UFO sightings doubled after the film Close Encounters was released in 1977, according to secret files collating reports by members of the public.    

The alien craft come in all shapes, sizes and colors but their occupants are uniformly green, the Ministry of Defence files show.   

The archives (at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos) are the first batch of a four-year release programme of all the ministry's UFO files from 1978 to the present day.   

The ministry dismisses 90 percent of the reports as having mundane explanations and leave 10 percent with a question mark and the assurance they are no defence threat.   

A 1983 report from a 78-year-old out fishing at midnight tells of following aliens in green overalls on to a spaceship and then being told to go away because he was too old and decrepit for their purposes.   

Two years later, a typewritten letter to the ministry tells of an alien spaceship being shot down in the river Mersey in northern England by another spacecraft and of the author developing a warm friendship with an alien called Algar.   

Just as Algar was about to reveal himself to the government he was killed by other aliens, the author of the letter writes. He was still in telepathic contact with an alien called Malcben from the planet Platone in the Milky Way, the author added.

Written at the top of the letter is the terse comment "No reply."

The ministry has files on 11,000 sightings dating back to the 1950s. A few of the sightings made it into the national press and all were checked out in case they were Soviet aircraft probing Britain's defences during the Cold War.

"Clearly some reports remain unexplained but we have found no evidence that these phenomena represent a threat to national security and therefore cannot justify devoting Defence resources to their investigation," said an official letter in 1985.

WORKING PARTY

The term Unidentified Flying Object was coined in a U.S. Air Force report three years after the description 'flying saucer' was applied to a sighting in Washington State in June 1947.

In Britain, so worrying was the spate of reports that a secret Flying Saucer Working Party was formed to check them out. 

Like the U.S. Air Force, it concluded flying saucers did not exist. But its final report in 1951 was still classified "secret/discreet" and given very limited circulation.   

Not all sightings can be easily dismissed as the working of overwrought or intoxicated minds, or triggered by watching Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 

Royal Air Force personnel, civil aviation pilots and air traffic controllers have also reported sightings and radar tracks that remain unexplained despite high-level investigation.   

Among the most famous was the sighting on two occasions of unexplained bright lights landing near a U.S. airbase in Rendlesham Forest in southern England. Even the deputy commander of the base put his name to that 1980 report.

 

Man Jailed For Having A Dumb Daughter

CINCINNATI - A man ordered by a judge to make sure his daughter hit the books has found himself in jail because she failed to earn a high school equivalency diploma.

Brian Gegner, of Fairfield, was sentenced last week to 180 days in jail for contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor.

He was ordered months ago to make sure his 18-year-old daughter Brittany Gegner, who has a history of truancy, received her GED - something that hasn't happened yet.

Brittany Gegner, who said Monday that she plans to take a required GED test this month, said her father shouldn't be blamed for her failure because she has been living with her mother.

"It was my wrongdoing, not his," said Brittany Gegner, whose fiance and 18-month-old daughter also live at her mother's home in nearby Hamilton. "He shouldn't have to go to jail for something I did."

Her mother agrees.

"Brittany is almost 19 years old now and I think it's unfair to put her father in jail," said Shana Roach. "She's an adult now, and it's not right to rip an innocent man from his home."

Butler County Juvenile Court administrator Rob Clevenger Jr. said Monday that the court still has jurisdiction in the case because Brittany Gegner was a juvenile when the truancy problems began and when the charge against Brian Gegner was filed in 2007.

A hearing on a motion filed by Brian Gegner's attorney to reconsider the sentence is scheduled for Friday. Messages seeking comment were not returned Monday at the offices of defense attorney Tamara Sack and the Butler County prosecutor.

Brian Gegner's wife, Stephanie Gegner, said she and her husband are afraid he will lose his job if he remains in jail. She said they tried to keep his daughter in school.

"You'd take her to school and she'd go out the other door," Stephanie Gegner said.

Indian Artist paints with his tongue. Says "I don't know if it's art, but I lick it" (w/pic)

Struggling painters must suffer for their art, slumming it in filthy digs and eating whatever's in the fridge, even if it's not food.

But Ani K licks those lightweights – he paints with his tongue and regularly, if not surprisingly, deals with nausea, cramp and headaches.

 

I don't know if it's art, but I lick it: Ani K with one of his pieces

'First, I tried with my nose but not­iced others were already doing it. I thought of giving my tongue a try and succeeded,' the 30-year-old said.

'A few newspapers reported it. I got a good response. Then I made it a regular practice.' Ani devised his technique last year, after seeing another artist paint using his foot.

When he first started, he got severe head and body aches every time he tried to use his tongue. He was sick because of the pungent fumes but has grown immune to the effects, he claimed.

So far, the drawing teacher has finished 20 watercolours including – rather appropriately – a 2.4m (8ft) wide rendering of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, featuring Jesus and his disciples. It took him five months to finish.

He now plans to show 150 works in a gallery he is building in his home in Kerala, India. He hopes to be ready in six months because, now his body is used to the unorthodox method, he can complete one canvas in about four days.

Already, Ani has works featuring Mahatma Gandhi and Osama bin Laden. He added: 'I'm always looking for something different.'

The artist is not the only one who uses unusual body parts for art.

Di Peel swapped her brushes for breasts to create abstract works, while fellow Australian Tim Patch earned the nickname 'Pricasso' after pion­eering the use of his penis to paint. He can only paint for a short time, though.

And Stan Murmur paints with his bottom – but lost his job as an art teacher when he gave a TV interview demonstrating his technique.

Bright green puppy born in New Orleans - But don't worry, they are sure it has nothing to do with the chemical spills after Katrina. It also won't melt your skin when it licks you... really...trust us. (w/pic)

            

Animal shelter workers got quite a surprise last week in Louisiana.

One of their dogs gave birth to a bright green puppy.

"It's surprising, alarming to see," Louisiana SPCA CEO Anna Zorrilla said. "Sometimes, when a puppy is born, the amniotic fluid mixes with the placenta and dyes the coat of the puppy and it almost always happens to very light colored puppies."

Zorrilla said the puppy will not be green forever, and will likely turn white or a light tan color in the next few weeks.

She also said the health of the puppy won't be affected.

"There are not health concerns," Zorrilla said. "It's really just a discoloration in the birthing process."

Penis theft panic hits city..

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.    

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

   

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

   

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

   

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

   

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

   

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

   

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

   

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

   

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

Guy puts a 6-foot alligator in the back seat of his Buick Regal, then it gets weird (w/scary pic)

Alligator not the only unusual find linked to suspect

Brazoria inmate accused of trying to steal a TV also had a snake in his car, hair trimmer and video game device in pockets, authorities say

ANGLETON — When William Johnson made a couple of suspicious U-Turns at the intersection of Texas 35 and 288 early Sunday a state trooper pulled him over.

Then the trooper noticed a 6-foot alligator contentedly riding next to the back window of Johnson's car. Johnson said he found the gator on the side of a road.

But it was allegations that Johnson had been taking things out of a mobile home in the nearby town of Brazoria that sent him to jail on a burglary charge. Investigators found a hair trimmer and video game controller in his pockets.

Johnson, 30, and his fondness of reptiles, had already come to the attention of local police, Brazoria Police Chief Neal Longbotham said.

On Friday an officer responding to a call about a man bothering people in the parking lot of a local drive-through restaurant gave Johnson a citation for public intoxication.

Johnson said he was from Tennessee and was on his way to Corpus Christi. He said he'd stopped in Brazoria to work briefly for a tree trimming service.

Johnson advised the officer that there was a water moccasin snake in his car and that the snake had already bitten him on the hand.

An animal control officer found the snake and removed it, Longbotham said.

Johnson refused medical treatment for his hand.

Early Sunday a resident of a local mobile home park said Johnson knocked on his door and asked for help hauling a big television out of a mobile home, Longbotham said.

"The neighbor told him that's not your house," the chief said.

Then the neighbor noticed the alligator in the back seat of Johnson's car, Longbotham said.

Johnson left the television in the yard and drove away.

A few minutes later he was arrested by the trooper. He is now in the Brazoria County Jail, held on $25,000 bail on a burglary charge.

A game warden took the alligator away.

Johnson told investigators that he found the snake and the alligator on the sides of roads and picked them up because he has an interest in reptiles, Longbotham said.

"Just a typical day in Brazoria," the chief sighed.

San Rafael driver charged in 'Area 51 mission' gone amok

San Rafael driver charged in 'Area 51 mission' gone amok

A San Rafael man is facing felony drug and traffic charges after ramming other vehicles in what he called a secret government experiment for Area 51, authorities said.

Antonio Patrinostro, 43, was charged Tuesday with driving while intoxicated and causing injuries, reckless driving and hit-and-run with injuries, said Deputy District Attorney Linda Witong. A plea hearing is pending.

Patrinostro was arrested Sunday evening on southbound Highway 101 near the Lincoln Avenue offramp after his car bumped into three other vehicles in 55-mph traffic, said Officer Mary Ziegenbein of the California Highway Patrol.

Patrinostro "told the officer that the vehicle could fly if he went fast enough, and basically just started bouncing off of cars," Ziegenbein said.

"He was under the influence of cocaine, Valium and marijuana and stated that it was a top secret experiment with his doctor for Area 51 and the government," she added. "He also stated that he was working for a cure for AIDS by taking the drugs."

Area 51 is a secretive military base in southern Nevada thought by UFO buffs to be a hub of extraterrestrial activity.

Patrinostro was booked into the county jail, and bail was set at $50,000. He faces more than three years in prison if convicted.

Two motorists suffered minor injuries in the incident, Ziegenbein said.

Woman Puts Dead Husband's Cell Number On Headstone

Now You, Too, Can Call Out The Dead In N.J.

               

Woman Puts Dead Husband's Cell Number On Headstone

 It's something CBS 2 HD has never seen before, and you probably haven't either.

There's a headstone in a cemetery with more information on it than you'd think you'd need.

Tucked away in a cemetery in Paramus you will find the gravesite and headstone of 60-year-old, former Manhattan attorney John Jacobs, along with something else – his cell phone number.

"I wanted to have a way to remember him," said Marion Seltzer, John's wife of 21 years.

And after dialing the number, the phone service is still working.

"Hi, you've reached the voice mail of John Jacobs ... After you hear the beep leave a message and I'll return the call," is the message.

Of course that would be truly amazing ... since John's been gone since 2005.

"That's a little unusual," Seltzer said. "It is ... but so was my husband."

Seltzer says the phone on the stone was her idea, that it helps her stay close to John.

When asked if she still calls him, Seltzer said, "I call him now. I do call him. If I'm happy, if I'm sad...

"And I believe there are probably a lot of people who were very close to him who periodically call him."

Throughout his career as a criminal defense lawyer, the outgoing and larger-than-life Jacobs represented high-profile defendants such as mob boss "Fat Tony" Salerno.

Jacobs' cell phone constantly rings. It's inundated with calls, so Seltzer says why stop now?

"He would love this," she said. "He liked attention."

In the 2 ½ years since John died from pancreatic cancer Seltzer says she has no idea how many people have called him, or what they have said.

"I don't have his pin number ... I have no idea," she said. "I've never heard a message."

She says John was buried with his cell phone, the battery fully charged, of course, making Jacobs perhaps the only lawyer in the world who wanted to hear from his clients 24/7 … for all of eternity.

So once a month Seltzer pays the $60 cell phone bill and keeps her husband alive in her heart.

Masseuses told to padlock pants

A bid by a local government in Indonesia's East Java province to curb prostitution by asking masseuses to wear a padlock on their pants was an insult, a newspaper quoted the minister for women's empowerment as saying.

   

The recently implemented policy in the tourist area of Batu was misguided, State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meuthia Hatta told the Jakarta Post on Thursday.

   

"It is not the right way to prevent promiscuity. It insults women as if they are the ones in the wrong," Hatta said.

   

The paper showed a photograph of a masseuse with a padlock on the waist band of her trousers and said the local administration's move was aimed at curbing prostitution and maintaining Batu's image as a popular tourist destination.

   

The best way to curb prostitution in massage parlors was to improve security systems including installing CCTV, Hatta said.

   

Batu, 75 km (46 miles) south of Indonesia's second-biggest city, Surabaya, is a popular tourist destination for its cool climate, hot springs and mountain scenery.

   

Indonesia has a flourishing sex industry and massage parlors are frequently a front for prostitution. But there has been a vigorous debate over morality in recent years, exposing deep divisions in the Southeast Asian Muslim-majority nation.

   

Last month, Indonesia passed a bill to restrict access to pornographic and violent sites on the Internet, while parliament has yet to pass a controversial pornography bill that aims to shield the young from pornographic material and lewd acts.

   

Earlier draft versions contained provisions that could jail people for kissing in public and criminalize many forms of art or traditional culture that hinge on sensuality, sparking criticism it could curb freedoms and hurt Indonesia's tolerant traditions.