At least 18 mushroom-lovers have been killed in accidents while hunting for their favorite fungi in the mountains and forests of northern Italy.

People are so secretive about the locations of their favorite fungi, that they dress in gray or brown and start before daylight using headlamps to spot their prey, so competing fungaioli won’t see them.

Many fungaiolo travel alone, without any way to call for help causing even a minor accident to become life threatening. Add thunderstorms and heat into the mix and you get not only a bumper crop of the tasty fungi, but the wet, slippery conditions that have led to so many of this year’s fatal falls.

According to Alpine rescuers some people are so consumed by their obsession with mushrooms that they take unnecessary risks. One 58 year old man died because he left the path he and his friends were following and took off up a steep incline after spotting a particularly nice porcini mushroom. He slipped and fell almost a hundred meters

In Italy People are Dying to Get Their Hands on Good Mushrooms is a post from: Madness Beckons

From an article on MSNBC

“The arrests have prevented the gathering of bombs and the execution of one or many terrorist attacks,” RCMP Chief Supt. Serge Therriault said.

Therriault said details on the targets would be released in court.

Police allege the suspects conspired with three other individuals to “knowingly facilitate terrorist activities” in Canada and abroad. Police say the plot ranged from Canada to Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan, but did not elaborate.

But before his arrest, Sher, a doctor in St. Thomas, Ontario, auditioned for Canadian Idol.

He told the judges he’s from Pakistan and likes hockey, music and acting. —I guess he forgot to mention his love of blowing up infidels.

Terrorists Can’t Sing is a post from: Madness Beckons

Is it just me or does this thing look like a missile launcher?

They have this beastie over at Pioneer Loan and Jewelry (a local pawn shop).

The guy that pawned it put a lot of effort into the brackets connecting these two telescopes just so he could use them simultaneously.

He said the bottom telescope is for viewing the stars and the top telescope has a camera adapter to capture nebulae.

Ya know….. I’m reasonably certain that the guy built it to look at the stars, but I bet if some voyeur found this under the tree at Christmas it would make his whole year.

(I wonder what would the neighbors say if I put this contraption on my roof and started tracking airplanes?)

Telescope or Missile Launcher? is a post from: Madness Beckons