A GIANT owl that devours foxes and small deer is terrorising shoppers and drinkers in a town centre. It launches itself off high roofs and swoops on passers-by with talons outstretched carrying them away to their doom. Late-night shoppers and revellers even take taxis to avoid falling prey to the eagle owl, which has a 5ft wingspan. It set up home on the roof of Middlesbrough train station in September but turned nasty over Christmas.
Craig Smith told how the bird swooped on him from behind as he ran through the station car park to catch a train from the Teesside town. He recalled: I heard a loud woo-woo noise ... "Zoiks, Scooby, that's no train!"
... and looked over my shoulder to see this creature with silver wings, claws stretched out. I ran as fast as I could on to the platform and it flew away." Aieee! Run! Flee for your wretched lives!
Another victim dad-of-four Mark Fryett, 40, had to fight the bird off. He said: I was leaving work when I heard a hoot and a whoosh and saw this big white face coming at me. I put my arm up and hit its wing and it fell on the floor, but got up again and flew off. I was really shaken up. It was like something out of Harry Potter I thought it was going to pick me up! . . ." But who is it? Whooo? Whooooo?
Rachael Stewart, of the Kirkleatham Owl Centre in Redcar, North Yorks, said: We think it must have escaped from a travelling show. The Who Tour '07?
Volunteers have tried to catch it a couple of times. Its not dangerous to people ... Yeah, right! Easy for you to say!
... but it will have to hunt to survive. But, . . . once it's tasted human flesh, . . . . I mean . . . .
It could easily kill a cat or small dog. I'm not sure I believe her. Remember what the Log Lady says: "The owls are not what they seem."
Posted by: Mike ||
01/15/2007 06:48 ||
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It set up home on the roof of Middlesbrough train station in September but turned nasty over Christmas.
I know how it feels , crowded malls , obnoxious shopppers , the smell of piss everywhere , and all in Middlesboro , the poor sod is doomed , but i empathize with his plight !
A Kuwaiti court on Sunday sentenced a member of the ruling Al-Sabah family to death for drugs trafficking, a first in the oil-rich Gulf state. The court, whose rulings can be challenged, also fined the royal, whose name was given as Sheikh Talal, about 35,000 dollars. Another three people were sentenced to life in jail, including a Bidoon, a Bangladeshi and an Indian. Two others, a Lebanese and an Iraqi were sentenced to seven years in jail each.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
What do you call one Kuwati prince hanging from a rope...a good start...
#2
Yawn.....My prediction is the only thing that will "hang" will be the business end of Talal's hookah when he's not using it over dinner tonight in his private tent at the Mais Al Ghanem. The $ 35,000 fine was probably all the cash he had on him at the time.
#3
$35,000 is the fuel bill for his smallest jet to go to Dubai and back for a weekend of gambling and whoremongering. This dude isn't going to swing unless it's with a bunch of high priced call girls.
#7
MacNails, I was thinking it would become the new home of the English. Unless, of course, the Scots plan to turn around and apply for EU membership as a sovereign nation, which would defeat the purpose.
SMOKING bans could spark an increase in drink-driving and underage drinking as traditional pub clientele turn to backyard establishments, a hotelier has warned. Tasmania, the first state to place a blanket ban on smoking in bars 12 months ago, has experienced a rise in illegal pubs, a situation hoteliers say is likely to spread.
Sly-grogging in sheds, garages and backyards had been reported in about 30 towns across Tasmania, with up to two or three unlicensed premises per town, Australian Hotels Association, Tasmanian manager Daniel Hanna said today. Most reports were from regional or country areas, although some "shed drinking'' was occurring in the suburbs, usually in areas with a large proportion of traditional clientele, such as smokers not interested in gaming facilities.
"We've been snowed under with reports,'' Mr Hanna said. "Some of these premises are operating everyday with a large number of people drinking for a large number of hours.
"There is no responsible serving of alcohol, no supervision of minors, these places are not licensed and they are not regulated.
"The situation is setting the scene for irresponsible drinking, drink-driving and the sale of alcohol to minors.'' He said smoke-free legislation introduced into Tasmania in January 2006 was one explanation for the spate of backyard establishments.
With the rest of Australia having brought in, or in the process of bringing in, their own smoke-free laws, the number of illegal, unlicensed drinking houses was expected to spread, he said.
AHA national executive director Bill Healey urged state police and liquor licensing authorities to take a proactive approach to the problem. The phenomenon of backyard pubs would be discussed at a meeting of AHA executives next month, Mr Healey said. "It's an illegal activity no different from drug-pushing. We want it nipped in the bud as quickly as possible,'' he said.
Tasmania Police today said they had received no formal complaints about illegal pubs and had about two reports of illegal liquor sales in the last two years. "Police view these sorts of allegations seriously and appropriate action will be taken if people are found to be breaching liquor licensing laws,'' Assistant Commissioner Scott Tilyard said.
#2
How about just leaving people alone? If you want a smoke free environment, then go to the smoke free bar or restraunt. Of course none of these nanny states are turning down tobacco taxes...
#3
You live on a very large farm.
Among other produce,
you raise chickens and sell the eggs
You have done so for years.
The eggs are addictive - not good tasting or anything, just addictive.
The eggs sell like crazy.
You make a fortune.
Years go by and you discover
people who eat your eggs get ill
and then they die.
Lots of them.
You do some research and discover
the eggs you are selling are killing them.
Slowly.
Expensively.
So you raise the price;
Maybe that will dissuade them.
But the eggs are still addictive and kill people
and besides, you're making a fortune.
So you colour them black and label them "poison eggs"
and raise the price again.
But the eggs are still addictive and kill people
and, besides, you're making a fortune.
So you sue the chickens
to make them pay for the people who are dying.
After all, it's clearly the fault of the chickens.
Besides, you're making a fortune
Otherwise, you'd stop selling the eggs.
In my youth we called such situations "parties". Back when we hadn't much money to spend we had BYOB parties, where we provided the house and the food, and our guests brought things to drink. We even had the extravagance of an outdoor smoking porch, which doubled as a place to sit in nice weather.
... The directive for avoiding misuse of loudspeaker was issued after a meeting chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday. The president had directed the authorities concerned to take strict measures against people misusing loudspeakers, publishing hate literature and fanning sectarianism.
Talking to Daily Times, Ghazi Abdur Rashid, vice principal of Jamia Fareedia, said that he and most ulema of Islamabad had refused to receive this letter and to act on the direction of the government about the use of loudspeakers.
Rashid said the government never took any action against those who had been misusing speakers installed in their vehicles. The police and other law-enforcement agencies never apprehend those people who have car stereos and listen to music at full volume, he complained. He said that people also played loud music at wedding ceremonies till late at night, which was also against this act, but the police never apprehended such people.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/15/2007 00:00 ||
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This post needs the Jake and Elwood Bluesmobile picture.
It is hard enough to regulate something when you know what it is, what it does, how it works and who is actually making it.
Not if you're a DemocRat. Or a far-left "liberal." ( But I repeat myself.)
Nabil Al-Hadithy had none of those advantages when he began to consider what if anything Berkeley, Calif., wanted to do about regulating nanotechnology.
That issue became a concern for Mr. Al-Hadithy, the citys hazardous waste manager, when a federal research laboratory affiliated with the University of California filed an environmental impact statement three years ago for its latest building project a molecular foundry to make nanoparticles.
We sent them a bunch of questions, starting with: What the heck is a nanoparticle? Mr. Al-Hadithy said.
Don't watch pants commercials, do ya', Al-baby?
It turns out to be a deceptively complicated question, but that did not stop Mr. Al-Hadithy from coming up with his own answer. Of course it didn't.
When the city council adopted his regulation last month, Berkeley became the first government body in the United States and possibly anywhere, according to some analysts to explicitly regulate businesses that make or use nanoparticles.
Unlike most definitions of nanoparticles, Berkeleys has no lower size limit and so presumably covers individual atoms a fraction of a nanometer in diameter if they have been ionized that is, given positive or negative charges.
I wanna watch the Berzerkers tell atoms what they can and can't do.
It would be a stretch to call the new ordinance a home run for critics of nanotechnology. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California are exempt, Of course they are
although the lab said it planned to voluntarily supply any relevant data it gathers as a byproduct of its research. And how much data do you think they'll think is relevant? Can we get a show of hands here?
Mr. Al-Hadithy said he had no reason so far to believe that any business in Berkeley actually made or used nanoparticles. None has stepped forward, anyway. Berzerkley's motto: Regulate early and often!
Rest at the link - if you care.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/15/2007 18:50 ||
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Unlike most definitions of nanoparticles, Berkeleys has no lower size limit and so presumably covers individual atoms a fraction of a nanometer in diameter if they have been ionized that is, given positive or negative charges.
Congratulations, Berkeley! You've declared chemistry and physics against the law!
I hope there's no one in Berkeley making sea salt.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/15/2007 19:23 Comments ||
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could there possibly be a more insufferable arrogant asshole than a Berkeley regulatory bureaucrat (outside the EU, of course)
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/15/2007 20:19 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
