In The News
Missed Shot
September 1st, 2010 | Published under In The News | No Comments
Man shot in head notices five years later
A man living in Germany was shot in the back of his head, but it took him five years to realise it, police say.
The 35-year-old man was hit by a .22-calibre bullet in the town of Herne as he was out in the street partying and drunk on New Year’s Eve five years ago, police said overnight.
They say the man recalled receiving a blow to the head, but told them he didn’t seek medical assistance at the time.
The bullet did not penetrate the skull, and police say the Polish man only went to see a doctor recently when he felt a lump on the back of his head.
An X-ray showed an object under his skin, and doctors operated and found the projectile.
Police say it may have been a stray bullet fired by a reveller in celebration.
Tycho Brahe-1
August 25th, 2010 | Published under In The News | No Comments
Copenhagen Suborbitals prepare to launch first private rocket, astronaut into space.
Want to go to space?
You could pay millions to get on board someone else’s spacecraft as a tourist, spend six years at uni garnering the relevant NASA qualifications, or hitch-hike aboard the next alien construction fleet that passes through.
Or you could just build your own.
A group of engineers in Denmark are preparing to do just that – launch a home-built rocket, along with a human passenger, more than 100km into the sky.
Dubbed HEAT1X, the rocket will be launched from a floating barge in the sea just outside the Danish border, 12 nautical miles from shore.
And it will be towed out there by a submarine built by one of the men behind the rocket project.
Eccentric engineering genius Peter Madsen lives onboard that homemade submarine, a project that gained him internet fame last year and a Discovery Channel documentary.
Looking to go one up in 2010, Madsen founded Copenhagen Suborbitals with Kristian von Bengston with the aim of building the world’s largest amateur space rocket.
Over the last year-and-a-half they have led a team of volunteers to create the HEAT1X rocket and the micro spacecraft it will launch, called Tycho Brahe-1.
Tycho Brahe-1 will carry one human passenger, in a half-seated position, into space and back down again.
The seat is designed to minimise the gravitational pull on the passenger’s spine.
Whoever is on board will also have to wear a pressure suit, like those worn by fighter pilots, to make sure they don’t pass out.
At the top of the module is a see-through polymer plexiglass dome, giving the astronaut a once-in-a-lifetime view of their journey.
It’s planned that the spacecraft will travel in an arc, jettisoning the rocket about halfway up and eventually peaking more than 100km above the Earth before coming down.
After it re-enters the atmosphere, parachutes will be deployed to slow it before it hits the water.
The project is being subsidised by sponsorships and donations from fans.
The team has almost raised its target of $71,250 for the HEAT1X launch scheduled this weekend.
From News.com.au.
Liquid Bullets
August 21st, 2010 | Published under In The News | No Comments
After being hit with water bottle, drunk Sheboygan man goes to emergency room thinking he was shot.
Police say a 46-year-old Sheboygan man who went to the hospital believing he had been shot in the head was actually struck with a water bottle during a drunken brawl with his sister.
Joseph M. Bonnett, of 1617-A N. 11th St., could face up to a year in jail on misdemeanour counts of battery and disorderly conduct. He was charged Monday.
According to a criminal complaint:
Police were called Thursday night after Bonnett went to Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center with what he said was a gunshot wound to the head. He told police his sister or her friend shot him with a small gun.
Bonnett said he heard a bang or pop, saw a flash, felt pain and fell backwards, after which he doesn’t remember anything for 15 minutes. The officer noted Bonnett’s injury was protruding from his head, not going into it. The officer noted Bonnett smelled strongly of intoxicants.
Officers went to Bonnett’s house and found his sister, who was intoxicated, along with at least three other people. Witnesses said Bonnett had approached his sister with a knife.
The sister, who had several scratches on her arm that she said may have been caused by the knife, said Bonnett’s injury was caused when she threw a full bottle of water and struck him in the forehead.
Confronted with the conflicting account of the sister and another witness, Bonnett insisted he had been shot, saying then that it was with a large handgun. He said his sister took the gunpowder out of the bullet so it wouldn’t have enough force to penetrate his skull.
From The NorthWestern.
Flying Rage
August 13th, 2010 | Published under In The News | 3 Comments
Raging flight attendant makes his own emergency exit
A flight attendant, furious with passengers who refused to follow his instructions, told them off over the loudspeaker before pulling the chute to make his own dramatic personal emergency exit, US police said.
The attendant, identified in the US media as Steven Slater, 39, was working on a JetBlue flight from Pittsburgh to New York that had just landed, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.
Mr Slater told passengers to remain seated upon landing. But when a passenger started collecting his belongings from the overhead bin, disregarding the instructions, Mr Slater tried to stop him but was hit in the head by the baggage and became irate.
When Mr Slater “asked for an apology”, the passenger “instead cursed at him”, The New York Times reported.
Mr Slater “got on the plane’s public address system and cursed out all aboard. Then he activated the inflatable evacuation slide at service exit R1, launched himself off the plane, an Embraer 190, ran to the employee parking lot and left the airport in a car he had parked there”.
The attendant snatched a beer from the galley before jumping on the slide, ABC News in the US reported.
His silver-screen worthy escape was short-lived.
Police arrested Mr Slater shortly after at his home nearby in Queens.
“There were no injuries and all customers deplaned the aircraft safely through the jetway,” the airline said in a statement.
“At this time, we are working with the FAA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to investigate the incident. At no time was the security or safety of our customers or crew members at risk.”
ABC said Mr Slater was charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
A Facebook fan page says an appeal fund will be set up to help pay for his court costs.
Many users have logged on to the page expressing their support for Mr Slater.
“I love your level of customer service! So refreshing! Sometimes a-holes need to be called a-holes,” one wrote.
From The Age.
Jedi Rights
April 25th, 2010 | Published under In The News | No Comments
Force wasn’t necessary, job centre tells Jedi.
A JEDI believer won an apology from a Jobcentre which threw him out for refusing to remove his hood.
Star Wars fan Chris Jarvis, 31, was told he would have to leave if he did not take it down.
Chris is a member of the International Church of Jediism – based on the sci-fi films – whose doctrine states that followers should be allowed to wear hoods.
But when he protested, security escorted him from his local branch in Southend, Essex.
He filled out a complaint form – and received a formal letter from the JobCentre Plus branch’s boss just three days later.
Wendy Flewers apologised, adding: “We are committed to provide a customer service which embraces diversity and res-pects customers’ religion.”
Chris said: “I was just standing up for my beliefs.
“Muslims can walk around in whatever religious gear they like, so why can’t I?”
Southend Jobcentre Plus refused to comment yesterday.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Customers may be asked by Jobcentre staff to remove their helmets and hoods for security reasons.”
Maybe now it’s time for actually finding a job Chris, instead of sitting at home and watching Star Wars.
From Herald Sun.
Naked Viewing
February 11th, 2010 | Published under In The News | No Comments
Macquarie banker busted looking at near-naked model Miranda Kerr.
- Channel 7 doing live cross to expert
- Colleague caught looking at saucy pictures
- Station quickly cuts back to studio
A Macquarie Bank adviser has been left red-faced after being caught live on television looking at a series of near-nude snaps of supermodel Miranda Kerr.
The footage of the adviser, who has been identified as David Kiely, a stockbroker with Macquarie Private Wealth, has swept the trading rooms of banks across Sydney after it was captured by Seven News.
In addition to becoming an overnight star, the stockbroker has landed himself in hot water with his employer, The Australian reports.
Mr. Kiely was still employed by the bank today, but a series of meetings with Macquarie’s human resources and senior bank executives are expected to take place this week.
The footage on YouTube has received more than 77,000 hits.
The gaffe occurred when Mr. Kiely opened a series of emails containing photographs of Kerr from a recent GQ shoot, while his colleague Martin Lakos was live on air with the Seven Network, discussing the Reserve Bank’s decision to keep interest rates on hold yesterday.
The mistake prompted Macquarie’s human resources unit to email the bank’s 11,500 staff across the world with a copy of its internet policy, which they should “familiarise themselves with”.
The bank said that it took “matters such as the unacceptable use of technology extremely seriously”.
“Macquarie has strict policies in place surrounding the use of technology and the issue arising from today’s live cross on 7 News is being dealt with internally,” a spokeswoman said.
Finally…
December 29th, 2009 | Published under In The News | No Comments
Chinese car park makes space for women only
A shopping centre in China has opened a car park that offers women drivers bigger-than-normal parking spaces to accommodate what it sees as their special needs.
Wang Zheng, an official at the Wanxiang Tiancheng shopping centre in Hebei province’s Shijiazhuang city, told AFP Monday the women-only parking lot aimed to address women’s “strong sense of colour and different sense of distance.”
The spaces are “one metre wider than normal parking spaces,” Wang said, adding that the mall had “installed signs and security monitoring equipment that corresponded more to women’s needs.”
Driving in China is notoriously dangerous, with nearly 73,500 people killed in road accidents last year, or just over 200 fatalities per day, according to police statistics.
From Ninemsn News.
Baguette Collider
November 9th, 2009 | Published under In The News | No Comments
Bird beats big bang with bit of baguette
November 8, 2009
The tunnel in the Large Hadron Collider. Photo: CERN
GENEVA : THE $6.5 billion machine designed to recreate the conditions present at the beginning of time had to be switched off after a bird dropped a “bit of baguette” into it, causing it to overheat.
As a result, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland had to postpone their plans last week to emulate the universe’s Big Bang.
The European particle physics laboratory near Geneva launched the LHC in September last year. Physicists hoped to prove the existence of the Higgs boson, or God particle, which gives matter in the universe its mass.
But the LHC, which when running will collide protons travelling at 99.9 per cent of the speed of light, has been out of action since a helium leak caused it to be shut down nine days after its start-up.
The bird dropped bread on a compensating capacitor – where the mains electricity supply enters the collider – cutting power to the LHC during a test run.
Source: SMH.
Is This The World’s Drunkest Man?
October 25th, 2009 | Published under Humour, In The News | No Comments
Drunkest man ever tries to buy booze
From: Adelaide Now
October 21, 2009 1:48PM
IT’S something many have done – headed to a bottle shop drunk to try to buy more alcohol.
But our efforts were never caught on CCTV and posted on the internet.
Unlike this poor bloke, whose Chaplinesque efforts at procuring some beer from a bottle shop were caught on film and promptly posted on the web with the tag: ‘Drunkest Guy Ever Goes for More Beer’ so millions of viewers could gawk and have a giggle.
Worst Shopping Run Ever – Watch more Funny Videos
M1 300 Club
October 19th, 2009 | Published under In The News | No Comments
Highway hoons on Queensland’s M1 race at triple the speed limit
By Robyn IronsideThe Courier-MailApril 24, 2009 03:12am
THRILLSEEKERS with heavily modified cars are using one of Queensland’s best-known roads as a racetrack to reach speeds of more than 300km/h.
The thrillseekers say they are chasing the “ultimate adrenalin rush” and that there is little police could do if they busted their high-speed dashes on the road between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
A police officer told The Courier-Mail that officers are aware of the “M1 300 Club” but, without a dedicated police helicopter, it was difficult to track the offenders.
The officer said offenders knew that police were probably unlikely to get involved in pursuits at such high speeds.
The club has simple rules – they race in the early hours of the morning on the straightest sections of the M1. Scouts peruse the highway to make sure it is clear of police and other traffic.
Club members said they were not “young long-haired hoons” but middle-aged professionals and businessmen with the money to afford expensive modifications to their cars.
These include lightweight wheels, heavy-sprung suspension, altered gears and engines with 800 horsepower – the types of modifications not found in cars bought from a showroom.
The members have to prove their cars are capable of reaching 300km/h before they are invited by email or SMS to the highly secretive and well-planned M1 races.
But one club member told The Courier-Mail that police would struggle to catch them and that they were not endangering other road users.
“What we do is a lot safer than the person who tailgates or talks on their phone during peak hour,” the member said.
“People seem to think we are out to harm others and are menaces on the road but we just want to have some fun, and the thrill of doing 300km/h is hard to beat.”
The revelations follow stories this week that the M1 was returning the highest-recorded speeds on Queensland roads – from 235-243km/h.
About 10 drivers usually attend 300 Club meets held between 3am and 4am on weekdays on “long straight sections of the M1 away from civilisation”.
“A few of them are bikes, which is a little annoying as a car owner because it’s much easier to get a bike to do 300km/h than a car,” the member said.
He admitted the risk of being caught was part of the thrill and said an increase in fixed speed cameras would not deter them. “Fixed speed cameras are a joke. Everyone knows where they are,” he said.
But police yesterday condemned the practice of trying to reach such speeds on public roads. Southeast Regional Traffic Co-ordinator Inspector Greg Baade said he had never heard of the M1 300 Club but warned that police would endeavour to find those involved and prosecute them.
But other police said such irresponsible acts highlighted the need for police helicopters to track and record offenders.
“Most criminals know that police won’t pursue vehicles travelling at high speeds because of the risk to other road users. If there were signs along the M1 warning of the use of aerial detection it would make a world of difference,” an officer said.
The Queensland Police Union has long campaigned for police helicopters but Commissioner Bob Atkinson has described them as a “low priority”.
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