Scrotal Zone

Farmer fires home-made cannon to defend land

2010-06-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese farmer has declared war on property developers who want his land, building a cannon out of a wheelbarrow and pipes and firing rockets at would-be eviction teams, state media said on Tuesday.
Yang Youde, who lives on the outskirts of bustling Wuhan city, in central Hubei province, says he has fended off two eviction attempts with his improvised weapon, which uses ammunition made from locally sold fireworks.
"I shot only over their heads to frighten them," the China Daily quoted him saying of his attacks on demolition workers sent to move him off his land. "I didn't want to cause any injuries."
The rockets can travel over 100 meters, and exploded with a deafening bang, the official paper added. It did not say if anyone had been injured.
His approach is more aggressive than most, but Yang's problem is a common one.
Anger over property confiscation is one of the leading causes of unrest in China, with many people forced to give up homes and land to make way for anything from roads to luxury villas.
Yang says the local government has offered him 130,000 yuan ($19,030) for his fields, on which they want to erect "department buildings." He is asking for five times that amount.
Construction ditches have already been dug across the land of less obstinate neighbors.
A first eviction team attacked him in February after his rockets ran out, but local police came to his rescue. In May he held off 100 people by firing from a makeshift watchtower.
The government is planning to reform property confiscation rules, but rights groups say the changes do not go far enough to address the potentially destabilizing issue.
(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Scientists use Calvin Klein cologne to lure jaguars

2010-06-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters Life!) – Biologists tracking jaguars in the Guatemalan jungle might smell nice but it's all in the name of science, with researchers finding the Calvin Klein cologne Obsession for Men attracts big cats.
Biologists Rony Garcia and Jose Moreira from the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Jaguar Conservation Program say they use hidden cameras as a primary source for observing and tracking jaguars in Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve.
But they also rely on Obsession for Men, a cologne known for its complex scent, to help lure then research and hopefully ultimately preserve jaguars in the Central American country.
"The method we are using to study the jaguars here in Guatemala is a non-invasive method which is based on photographing the individuals by using camera traps," Moreira told Reuters Television.
"It has been very useful using Obsession (for Men) to get the jaguars in front of these camera traps ... and that allows us to estimate with greater confidence the genders and the numbers that live in each studied site."
The discovery that Obsession for Men acted as a magnet for jaguars was the result of an experiment by the WCS's Bronx Zoo in New York.
The WCS was looking for ways to get cheetahs in front of camera traps, and, after several years of testing with different fragrances, found spraying the musky Obsession For Men near the heat-and-motion-sensitive cameras drew the cats for longer than other scents.
They also tried out about 23 other fragrances but Obsession for Men kept the cats' attention for longest with Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps coming second.
The practice made its way down to Guatemala, where Garcia and Moreira said they have been recording similar success in the wild since 2007, allowing them to track jaguars and even record their mating rituals.
Garcia said the results will be invaluable to conservation efforts.
"These camera traps help us to identify how many jaguars are living in this area ... (and) helps us to have control over the population and lets us say to the government, to the public, that Laguna del Tigre still deserves conservation," he said.
The WCS said it tentatively plans to expand the use of the cologne in programs in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador in coming years.
(Writing by Reuters Television, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

U.S. woman striving to be world's heaviest

2010-06-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

OLD BRIDGE, New Jersey (Reuters) – A New Jersey woman is waging a campaign to become the world's heaviest living woman, admitting that she is as hungry for attention as she is for calorie-rich food.
Donna Simpson, 42, weighs more than 600 pounds (272 kg) and aims to reach 1,000 pounds (455 kg).
The mother of two children, ages 3 and 14, models on a website called supersizedbombshells.com, where admirers and the curious can pay to watch videos of her eating greasy foods or walking to the car.
She has appeared in television interviews and said she welcomes media coverage.
A Guinness World Records spokeswoman said Simpson has submitted a claim for the title of world's heaviest woman to give birth, a claim that is being reviewed.
Among the heaviest women ever recorded was one who reportedly weighed 1,800 pounds (816 kg) and another who reportedly weighed 1,200 pounds (545 kg) at the time of their deaths.
Simpson said she has received a book offer and wants her own reality show, partly to give plus-size women more confidence. She wears size XXXXXL clothing, which she buys mostly online, and calls herself a member of the "fat acceptance community."
"The bigger your butt is, the bigger belly you have, the sexier you are," Simpson said, lounging on the couch of her suburban home 40 miles (64 km) south of New York.
Simpson has found a man who says he appreciates her size, and they plan to marry in Hawaii this year. She said airlines are being accommodating of her needs.
Her fiancee, 49-year-old Philippe Gouamba and the father of her 3-year-old daughter, said he not only finds Simpson attractive but is also one of Simpson's biggest supporters in her quest to expand her girth.
"You look at her curves and see her full belly and generous hips," Gouamba said. "It's very sexy."
Simpson said she gets e-mails from women who think they will never fall in love or have children because of their weight.
"I just say that's not true," Simpson said. "I would love to be a voice, so that people can see a woman of size having a regular family."
She said she also receives mail from people who say she is putting herself and her children at risk.
Simpson spends as much as $750 a week on groceries, suffers from Type 2 diabetes and struggles with basic tasks such as cooking and taking a shower.
But she dismisses critics who warn that her weight can lead to heart problems, aggravate her diabetes and cause pressure on her joints.
"I'm very healthy. I go to the doctor every three months," she said.
Simpson has battled weight issues all her life and was mercilessly teased. But after a friend died following complications from gastric bypass surgery, she decided to quit the dieting and the weight pills and eat what she wanted.
"I've always been comfortable with myself," she said. "It was just everybody else that wasn't comfortable with me."
(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Xavier Briand)

Man arrested in Ga. in car he'd reported stolen

2010-06-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

ROME, Ga. – Police arrested a 24-year-old man they said was found driving his car after he'd reported it stolen. Officers at the Floyd County Jail said Wednesday that Ryan Lance Roland, who was arrested Saturday, was still in jail after being granted bond of $2,700 on charges of false report of a crime and driving under the influence.
Police said Roland, who was staying at a motel, had told officers someone had entered his room when he was out and his car had been stolen.
Officers watched for the 2001 Acura Integra on the road and spotted it — with Roland behind the wheel.
Roland was jailed after an alcohol test. Police said he told them a friend had borrowed the car but failed to return it when promised.
___
Information from: Rome News-Tribune, http://www.romenews-tribune.com

Man bites man in fight over dogs.

2010-05-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

Image by piks4kicks via Flickr

NEW CITY, N.Y. – It wasn't quite man-bites-dog, but there were men and there were dogs and there was biting. A sheriff's office said Monday that one man bit another during a fight over a couple of dogs at a park in suburban New York City. Rockland County sheriff's Capt. William Barbera said two dog owners got into it Sunday night. One didn't like the way their pets were playing at a dog park in New City, about 30 miles north of New York.
Barbera said that a third man tried to break up the fight and that one of the combatants bit him on the wrist. He said that no one has been arrested but that the case is still being investigated.

Man allegedly sets blaze because of late dinner (AP)

2010-05-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

Man allegedly sets blaze because of late dinner
(AP)
Kanawha County authorities said a marital spat over a late dinner has landed a man in jail on an arson charge. Lt. Sean Crosier of the Sheriff's Department said 60-year-old Guy Edward Jones came home Sunday and got angry because his wife, Beverly Jones, didn't have dinner on the table.
Crosier said the couple fought and Beverly Jones ran to a neighbor's house. Crosier said she turned and saw flames coming out of the basement and her husband exiting through the basement door.
Guy Jones was in the South Central Regional Jail on Monday afternoon in lieu of $50,000 bond. It could not be determined whether he had a lawyer.

I can only assume that the man went down in to the basement to grab more beer and was attacked by fiery demons from hell. They fought, and in the end he killed the demon. Unfortunately, the demon, in it's death throws caught the curtains on fire and the whole place went up in a blaze of glory. It's a pity he never got to have that beer.

Bank Robber gives teller apologetic hold up note, than waits for the police to arrive.

2010-01-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland police said a man handed an apologetic robbery note to an employee at a FedEx Kinko's store, then waited for police to arrive. Employee Paul Rhoney said the note said: "This is a robbery, I'll wait outside for police, sorry."

Police Detective Mary Wheat said responding officers found the 46-year-old man outside the store Tuesday morning and took him into custody.

Wheat said no robbery charges will be pursued because the man did not have a weapon and didn't carry out a robbery. Police believe he simply wanted to go to jail.

The man was taken to the Multnomah County Jail for investigation of initiating a false report.

Car gets repossessed with toddler still inside.

2010-01-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Police in California say a car dealer who repossessed a San Jose woman's Honda Accord left with something a bit more valuable: her 2-year-old son.

The child, Cyrus Lopez, was sleeping in the back of the car on Tuesday night when it was taken away because the boy's mother, Isabel Leuvano, was behind on her payments.

Leuvano says she was waiting for her daughter outside the running car when someone jumped in and drove off.

Police say the driver was 47-year-old Alberto Luna, the owner of Alberto's Auto Sales.

Officers located the toddler a half-hour later — about the same time Luna told authorities that he discovered the boy.

Sgt. Ronnie Lopez says kidnapping charges don't appear to be warranted. But he says Luna should have checked the car thoroughly.

Russian drivers get free porn

2010-01-15T12:51:00.001-08:00

By NATALIYA VASILYEVA, Associated Press Writer Nataliya Vasilyeva, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jan 15, 11:55 am ET

MOSCOW – Drivers in downtown Moscow squinted in disbelief as an electronic highway billboard blazed a two-minute pornographic video instead of its regular advertising clips.
Late-night traffic on one of the Russian capital's busiest roads slowed Thursday as a couple's explicit escapades appeared on the 9-by-6-meter (yard) display.
Some people took pictures of the sight with their mobile phones and posted them on the Internet.
Passer-by Alyona Prokulatova told The Associated Press that she was "so shocked that I couldn't even shoot video or take a picture of it."
The screen's owner, 3 Stars, told the AP that a hacker attack was likely to blame. Police were investigating the incident.

Man passes out at gas station. Meth lab in the back seat.

2010-01-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

Police say a driver passed out in his car at a Tennessee gas station while a batch of methamphetamine was cooking in the back seat.
An employee at the gas station in Murfreesboro, about 30 miles southeast of Nashville, called police because the car was sitting at the pump for about an hour on New Year's Day.
Police say a chemical process to make the drug was in progress. Some meth-making ingredients can be explosive.
Murfreesboro Assistant Fire Chief Allen Swader told The Daily News Journal that gas pumps were shut off as a precaution.
Thirty-one-year-old Nathan E. Beasley is being held on a $15,000 bond on charges of driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license, reckless endangerment and manufacturing meth. No attorney was listed in police records.

Hypnotist accidentally hypnotizes himself.

2010-01-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

A newly trained hypnotist accidentally put himself into a trance for five hours while practising in front of a mirror.

Helmut Kichmeier, 27, was found by wife, Joanna, staring into thin air in their north London home, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Kichmeier, whose stage name is Hannibal Helmurto, had learned to put himself into a trance to help him swallow swords on stage.

He had been taught the skill by hypnotherapist Dr Ray Roberts to assist in a new act for the Circus of Horrors show.

But as he practiced the skill in front of the mirror at 10am he set himself into a deep sleep until 3pm, when he was found by his wife.

It was only after she phoned Dr Roberts and put the receiver to Mr Kichmeier's head that he was able to be talked out of the trance.

Mrs Kichmeier said her husband had looked just like a zombie when she came into the room to find him.

She said: "I tried to ask him what was wrong but he didn't answer and it was then I looked at the sofa behind him and saw a book named Hypnosis Medicine of the Mind.

"It was opened on page 45 and a chapter named hypnotic anaesthesia and I realised there was something wrong.

"It was only then I noticed a letter next to the book a letter from his mentor, Dr Roberts, and I knew what I had to do."

Pimpin' it Aussie style. Pimp pays prostitute in chicken nuggets.

2010-01-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

From the Australian:Pimp pays prostitute in chicken nuggets.

Wow, they are really harsh in the outback. This guy and his girlfriend have a brilliant idea to 'pimp out' a 16 year old girl so they can pay the rent on their apartment. They get rich, she gets chicken nuggets. This is so wrong..it's almost right.

Ronald Vikash Gander, 27, and his 16-year-old girlfriend devised a plan to prostitute a teenage girl so they could afford the weekly $1050 rent on a serviced inner-Brisbane apartment, the Brisbane
District Court was told today.

The court was told the girl made $4500 for having sex with five middle-aged men in June last year.
Gander and his girlfriend used the money for living expenses and paid the girl nothing except for the occasional box of chicken nuggets.

Wow. Just wow. I think pimps in America could learn a few things from these 2 master criminals. It's best to start them young. They'll work for peanuts, or in this case crappy fast food.

Boy draws Jesus on the cross. Gets booted from school and told to see a shrink.

2010-01-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

A Taunton father is outraged after his 8-year-old son was sent home from school and required to undergo a psychological evaluation after drawing a stick-figure picture of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The father said he got a call earlier this month from Maxham Elementary School informing him that his son, a second-grade student, had created a violent drawing. The image in question depicted a crucified Jesus with Xs covering his eyes to signify that he had died on the cross. The boy wrote his name above the cross.

“As far as I’m concerned, they’re violating his religion,” the incredulous father said.

He requested that his name and his son’s name be withheld from publication to protect the boy.

The student drew the picture shortly after taking a family trip to see the Christmas display at the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, a Christian retreat site in Attleboro. He made the drawing in class after his teacher asked the children to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas, the father said.

“I think what happened is that because he put Xs in the eyes of Jesus, the teacher was alarmed and they told the parents they thought it was violent,” said Toni Saunders, an educational consultant with the Associated Advocacy Center.

Saunders is working with the boy’s parents after a mutual acquaintance referred them to her.

“When I got that call, I was so appalled that I had to do something,” Saunders said.

“They weren’t looking at the fact that this is an 8-year-old child with special needs,” she added. “They made him leave school, and they recommended that a psychiatrist do an evaluation.”

The school, in fact, required the evaluation before the boy could return, the father said.

Maxham School principal Rebecca Couet referred all questions on the matter to the superintendent’s office.

Superintendent Julie Hackett said district policy prevents her from discussing a “confidential matter regarding a student.”

“Generally speaking, we have safety protocols in place,” Hackett said. “If a situation warrants it, we ask for outside safety evaluations if we have particular concerns about a child’s safety. We followed all the protocols in our system.”

Hackett refused to specifically discuss the student’s drawing or the school’s reaction to it.

The father was flabbergasted when he learned his son had to undergo an evaluation.

“When she told me he needed to be psychologically evaluated, I thought she was playing,” he said.

The man said his son, who gets specialized reading and speech instruction at school, has never shown any tendency toward violence.

“He’s never been suspended,” he said. “He’s 8 years old. They overreacted.”

The boy made the drawing and was sent home from school on Dec. 2. He went for the psychological evaluation — at his parents’ expense — the next day and was cleared to return to school the following Monday after the psychological evaluation found nothing to indicate that he posed a threat to himself or others.

The boy, however, was traumatized by the incident, which made going back to school very difficult, the father said. School administrators have approved the father’s request to have the boy transferred to another elementary school in the district.

This is not the first time in recent years that a Taunton student has been sent home over a drawing. In June 2008, a fifth-grade student was suspended from Mulcahey Middle School for a day after creating a stick figure drawing that appeared to depict him shooting his teacher and a classmate.

The Mulcahey teacher also contacted the police to take out charges in the 2008 incident.

Italian man hypnotizes grocery clerk and steals her money.

2010-01-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

All this time I thought you had to go out and buy a gun, get a ski mask, plan for days. Oh no, all you need is an epic beard and some cheap sunglasses(ZZ Top would be proud)and Viola! you to can rob an Italian grocery store using hypnosis.

This may turn out to be a well planned inside job, but more than likely this bearded Bogart is just a really smooth talker.

Man with knife in chest orders coffee. Talks about the weather.

2009-12-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

A man who walked into a Michigan diner with a 5-inch knife stuck in his chest ordered a coffee and complained only about the cold weather.

The 52-year-old man, who has not been identified, called a 911 operator in Warren on Sunday night to ask that an ambulance be sent to Bray's, an eatery in neighboring Hazel Park.

He said he had been stabbed during an attempted robbery half a mile away, then walked to the restaurant and called 911 from a pay phone.

On a recording of the call, the man gives a vague description of his attacker before saying, "I'm gonna sit down at Bray's 'cause they got a chair and it's cold out here."

Restaurant employee George Mirdita tells The Detroit News the man calmly ordered coffee.

Police said Tuesday that the man is recovering.

SFGate

Amish man arrested for DUI. The horse was not charged.

2009-12-22T11:59:00.000-08:00

Police in central Pennsylvania arrested an Amish man on drunk driving charges over the weekend after he was found asleep in his moving buggy. Police said a 22-year-old man was slumped over and asleep in a slow-moving buggy on Sunday night.

An off-duty officer from nearby reported seeing the horse pulling the buggy at a walking pace as it straddled the center line.
Police said a breathalyzer test snowed the man's blood-alcohol content was 0.18, more than twice the 0.08 legal limit for drivers.

SFGate

Man cleared of murder charges after police decide the murderer was a moose.

2009-12-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

A man in Sweden has been cleared of all charges in the murder of his wife after the police decided that she was most likely killed by a moose. The man was held in jail for 10 days before being released after hairs and saliva from a European Elk were found on the victims body. Now that is one pissed off moose.

AOL News

Thief threatens to blow up restauarant with sausage.

2009-12-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

Upset over a recent break-up with his girlfriend, a man in China attempted to turn a piece of meat into a deadly device. The “Huashang Morning Post” is reporting that a man was arrested after he threatened to blow up a restaurant with sausages. The 23-year-old was dining at an establishment in Benxi when he grabbed the restaurant owner’s daughter, put a knife to her neck, and demanded money. Employees and other diners wrestled him to the ground, but when the police arrived he revealed what appeared to be a belt of explosives. Fortunately, police were treated to a good laugh when they quickly realized that the man had a collection of sausages around his waist.

Poster depicting Joseph and Mary naked in bed makes some Christians angry.

2009-12-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

This one should be pretty self explanatory. The below poster was prominently featured at a church in
Auckland, New Zealand. The picture caused quite a controversy among local Christians. I have tried very hard to find this poster offensive, but I simply can't stop laughing long enough to do so.

Daily Mail

Scientists claim your pet is more dangerous to the environment than Exxon!

2009-12-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

In this ridiculous article from the AFP in Paris Scientists are claiming that cats and dogs have a high carbon footprint, the type of food they eat can make it worse, the carbon footprint of your cat par year is equal to driving a Volvo for the same period of time.Not to mentio the fact that if you take your animals out for a walk your are destroying the biodiversity of your neighborhood because your animal might kill another animal or poop in a stream.

Yahoo News

Welcome to the Scrotal Zone.

2009-12-22T08:50:00.000-08:00

The Scrotal Zone takes it name from the Simon Pegg movie 'Run, Fat Boy, Run.' in which Pegg explains that after jogging he had a rash and some itching in his "Scrotal Zone". The purpose of this website to gather things that I find amusing, or ridiculously funny and post them for your enjoyment. there are of course plenty such sites out there and I will link to them in my list of sites I like. I will try as much as possible from posting content already found on sites such as FAIL blog and i can haz cheezburger? But there is no guarantee that I will get to something before it has been posted to another site.