Interesting/Weird Stories in the News

gaijinmark wrote: Well, that lets me off the hook. :mrgreen: [/list:u]

:lol:

I felt the same way.....

No kids here... ;)

bmwracer wrote:
What's so special about 2012?

The elections? :hehe:

dochira wrote:
London Olympics?

That's a possibility. :naughty:

Anime Dad wrote:
:lol:

Giving birth as an Olympic sport? :hehe:

Hence the training. Hahaha. No, I want to be financially and emotionally prepared for it. Now's not the right time.

Japanese Minister to resign after 'drunken' conference


Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has announced he will resign, following criticism of his behaviour at a weekend G7 news conference in Rome.

Mr Nakagawa, who denied being drunk at the news conference, said he intended to resign after the Government's budget is passed by the Lower House of Parliament.

Mr Nakagawa slurred his words and appeared to nod off at one stage at the G7 press conference.

The Finance Minister, whose love of a stiff drink is no secret in Japan, could barely stay awake as he tried to field reporters' questions.

At one stage he could not make out a journalist asking a question from just a few feet away.

Mr Nakagawa has blamed cold and flu medicine for his condition but has apologised.

"I had a toast and drank a little," the minister told a media conference.

"I think the meaning of being drunk and have a little toast is very different."

- Reuters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/17/2493825.htm

xploring wrote:
Mr Nakagawa has blamed cold and flu medicine for his condition but has apologised.

Yeah, "medicine" :shakehead: [/list:u]

'French Spider-Man' scales Hong Kong skyscraper

Tue Feb 17, 9:34 am ET

HONG KONG (AFP) – "French Spider-Man" Alain Robert scaled one of Hong Kong's tallest skyscrapers on Tuesday, in what he said was an effort to highlight global warming.

Robert, famous for climbing the world's tallest buildings without safety equipment, was arrested by police after a 40-minute ascent of the 62-storey Cheung Kong Centre, according to an AFP photographer.

The Frenchman unfurled a bright yellow banner as he climbed, advertising a website, onehundredmonths.org, which is counting down "the number of months left to save the planet from global warming."

At a media briefing before his second Hong Kong ascent in 10 months -- and his second scaling of Cheung Kong since June 2005 -- Robert said he believed global warming was the most important global issue.

Previously, he has used his climbing to highlight issues such as the homeless and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Robert's publisher Pete Spurrier said the climber was released without charge shortly after his arrest by security guards and police at the top of the Cheung Kong building.

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This guy is amazing.... Which I guess is why they call him Spider-Man. :beaten:

Arkansas Lawmakers Reject Concealed Guns in Church[/list:u]LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A state Senate panel has rejected a bill that would allow concealed handguns in Arkansas churches, a proposal that divided religious leaders.

The measure would have removed churches and other houses of worship from the list of places where concealed handguns are banned in Arkansas. Only churches and bars are on that list.
"And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" :shoot: [/list:u]

^ Yeah, people really need to be packing heat while worshiping God... Makes perfect sense to me. :crazy: :nut:

gaijinmark wrote:Arkansas Lawmakers Reject Concealed Guns in Church[/list:u]LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A state Senate panel has rejected a bill that would allow concealed handguns in Arkansas churches, a proposal that divided religious leaders.

The measure would have removed churches and other houses of worship from the list of places where concealed handguns are banned in Arkansas. Only churches and bars are on that list.
"And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" :shoot: [/list:u]

:shakehead:so I gather it's ok to have guns in parks, restaurants, schools, hospitals, train stations, banks, ... Jaysus I bet smoking is prohibited everywhere in Arkansas, cause smoking kills. LOL, that's just grand!

EstherM wrote: :shakehead: so I gather it's ok to have guns in parks, restaurants, schools, hospitals, train stations, banks, ... Jaysus I bet smoking is prohibited everywhere in Arkansas, cause smoking kills. LOL, that's just grand!

That's about right. :sweat:

gaijinmark wrote:Arkansas Lawmakers Reject Concealed Guns in Church[/list:u]LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A state Senate panel has rejected a bill that would allow concealed handguns in Arkansas churches, a proposal that divided religious leaders.

The measure would have removed churches and other houses of worship from the list of places where concealed handguns are banned in Arkansas. Only churches and bars are on that list.
"And thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" :shoot: [/list:u]

Words fail me :shakehead:

Ugh, I'm so sick of Nadya Suleman. She's a selfish, terrible person who's motive for having children is to fill that "empty void" within herself. If one child couldn't do it, 14 definitely won't. :shakehead:

I feel so sorry for her children. Especially for the one with autism. How will she give him the time and attention that he needs with so many kids?

Wynter wrote:Ugh, I'm so sick of Nadya Suleman.

+1. :bleh:

bmwracer wrote:
+1. :bleh:

Octo-mom? More like Octo-If her or her parents appear on tv one more time for an 'exclusive' interview I swear I'm going to sick Angelina on you- Mom....

I agree. Let's go back to the weirdness

Too much PlayStation can cause painful lumps?

LONDON (Reuters) - Gamers beware: Keeping too tight a grip on the console and furiously pushing the buttons can cause a newly identified skin disorder marked by painful lumps on the palms, Swiss scientists said Tuesday.

Called "PlayStation palmar hidradentitis" by the scientists, the skin disorder can cause painful lesions on the palms similar to patches found on the soles of children's feet after taking part in heavy physical activity, they said.

"The tight and continuous grasping of the hand-grips together with repeated pushing of the buttons produce minor but continuous trauma to the (palm) surfaces," Vincent Piguet and colleagues at University Hospitals and Medical School of Geneva reported in the British Journal of Dermatology.

A spokesman for Sony Corp, which makes the PlayStation, noted the study involved one person and said the company had sold hundreds of millions of the consoles since the product was introduced in 1995.

"As with any leisure pursuit there are possible consequences of not following common sense, health advice and guidelines, as can be found within our instruction manuals," Sony spokesman David Wilson said.

"We would not wish to belittle this research and we will study the findings with interest, but this is the first time we have ever heard of a complaint of this nature."

Excessive gaming is already seen as a public health issue, sparking addictive behavior that can lead to a range of psychological problems, the researchers said.

Other researchers have identified acute tendonitis from playing too much of Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii, and now a disorder related to the PlayStation can be added to the list, the team said.

Their study described the case of a 12-year-old girl who attended the Geneva hospital with intensely painful lesions on her hands, which she had developed four weeks earlier. She had no other lesions anywhere else on her body.

After questioning, the doctors discovered that several days prior to the appearance of the lesions the girl had started to play a game on her PlayStation for several hours each day.

The researchers suspected that grasping the console's hand-grips together with repeated pushing of the buttons produced minor but prolonged injury to the palm of the girl's hands, which can be made worse by sweating during a tense game.

The doctors recommended the girl stop playing and she recovered fully after 10 days, the researchers said.

"If you're worried about soreness on your hands when playing a games console, it might be sensible to give your hands a break from time to time, and don't play excessively if your hands are prone to sweating," Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists said in a statement.

and a flat a$$ too. :hehe:

EstherM wrote:

:shakehead:so I gather it's ok to have guns in parks, restaurants, schools, hospitals, train stations, banks, ... Jaysus I bet smoking is prohibited everywhere in Arkansas, cause smoking kills. LOL, that's just grand!

I doubt it. The South is not big on banning smoking.... :shakehead:

Personally I would never consider attending if I wasnt allowed to bring my .357 stainless steel Smith and Wesson.
Nothing like cold steel to bring one closer to God, ne? :shakehead:

god prefers a 10mm Colt. :mrgreen:

EstherM wrote:

:shakehead:so I gather it's ok to have guns in parks, restaurants, schools, hospitals, train stations, banks, ... Jaysus I bet smoking is prohibited everywhere in Arkansas, cause smoking kills. LOL, that's just grand!

Not in any national parks.
and in CA, no in places that serve alcohol, within 1000' of a school, i believe hospitals and train stations are no-nos.

krim wrote:god prefers a 10mm Colt. :mrgreen:

Im not gonna argue with a Mod who is packing... :sweat:

***runs off terrified***

911 McNuggets Call: Latreasa L. Goodman Calls 911 3 Times Over McNuggets "Emergency"

Police were not buying Latreasa L. Goodman's definition of emergency after she called 911 three times to report that her local McDonald's was out of chicken nuggets. Goodman had paid for her 10-piece McNuggets but was then informed by the employees that the restaurant had run out. Goodman claims she was refused a refund and felt it rose to the level of a 911 emergency. Police have charged Goodman with misusing 911.

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What a freaking idiot. :shakehead:

bmwracer wrote:911 McNuggets Call: Latreasa L. Goodman Calls 911 3 Times Over McNuggets "Emergency"

Police were not buying Latreasa L. Goodman's definition of emergency after she called 911 three times to report that her local McDonald's was out of chicken nuggets. Goodman had paid for her 10-piece McNuggets but was then informed by the employees that the restaurant had run out. Goodman claims she was refused a refund and felt it rose to the level of a 911 emergency. Police have charged Goodman with misusing 911.

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What a freaking idiot. :shakehead:

YET another idiot :shakehead:

New generation of robot unveiled:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpO57NltoAI
Warning: Nihongo content. ;)

Fascinating how far they've gotten with the technology.