Strange News for the Day: Woman tapes puppy to refrigerator!

FROM THE SMOKING GUN THIS MORNING...

Meet Abby Toll. The University of Colorado student, 20, is facing a felony animal abuse rap after she allegedly taped her boyfriend's puppy to the side of a refrigerator in a bid to teach the rambunctious animal a "lesson."

According to police, Toll used clear packing tape early this morning to adhere the eight-month-old dog (a Shiba Inu named Rex) to the appliance in the kitchen of her boyfriend's apartment.

Toll allegedly was angry at Bryan Beck, 21, for failing to get rid of the puppy, which, Toll told cops, bit her a few days ago. According to the below Boulder Police Department reports, when cops responded at 5 AM to a "report of a male and female yelling" at Beck's apartment, they discovered that "Rex's body was completely encased in packing tape."

When Officer Kara Jurczenia asked what was on the side of the fridge, Toll replied, "The dog." Toll added, "I know this looks really bad, but the dog bites. He is aggressive." Jurczenia asked how long the puppy had been taped upside down to the side of the refrigerator. "Not long," Toll replied. "Like 20-30 minutes. It was just until he calmed down."

The reports note that when Beck saw his dog stuck to the refrigerator, he told Toll, "Take him down," adding, "You are so sick!" Toll replied, "No, you are sick for not caring enough about me to get rid of the dog." The animal, whose paws had been bound with elastic hair ties, was clearly in pain and "yelped and screamed loudly" as cops worked to free him. "Rex just lay motionless, but breathing, on his kennel after he was removed from the tape." The puppy was handed over to the Boulder Valley Humane Society.

Toll, seen in the above mug shot, was turned over to county jailers. Beck, who was arrested in connection with his scuffle with Toll, was not charged with animal abuse. Though he did reportedly tell police, "We were going to get rid of him anyway. We usually don't do this."

Image via thesmokinggin.com

 

Pavement Masterpieces: artist Julien Beeves uses 3-D effect

For some more great examples of pavement art go to J. Beever

Pirates aren't going to stop seizing ships until the world wakes up and does something about it!

  It only took Somali pirates 24 hours after an American vessel and crew escaped from one of their attacks, before they started seizing other ships. Four, including one in an unusual night attack, ships were seized and their crews held hostage.     

   The pirates have declared they will get revenge for the killing of three of their thieves who were holding an American ship captain (Richard Phillips) in a lifeboat.

    President Obama told the press that the acts of piracy should be punished. Whether he will send troops to the pirate's den on the coast is another matter. As far as I'm concerned, the only way to stop these thieves is to take out their base of operation on land.

    For nearly two decades, Somali's have been seizing ships and making easy money. I blame the world's various maritime companies who would rather pay a ransom than to actually do anything about these pirates. The companies simply don't want to pay higher premiums, so they enable the pirates.

   This is a worldwide problem. It just doesn't make sense that a little rogue nation can hold the entire world hostage with impunity, and get away with it.

The following article from The Los Angels Times discusses four recent hijackings.

Image via cache.gawker.com

Meandering With Millie: While walking we encountered a skunk today!

   Millie my pug and I were taking our daily walk when we came upon a skunk standing unsteadily on the side of a gravel country road.

   We both instantly knew that skunks shouldn't be out during the day. This one looked like it was drunk on blackberry wine and was swaying slightly from side-to-side.

   Not good. His beady black eyes seemed to be fixed on some point beyond us as he didn't react to how close we were. Time was frozen. I was worried that the skunk would lunge at Millie and bite her if I moved too fast.

   It came to me that Millie had her rabies shot eight days ago, so she was at least protected in the worse case scenario. I, however, haven't had mine. I can't remember the last time I had a rabies vaccination.

    I remember when I was in third grade a dog bit me in the front of my school and I had to get the whole stick-the-needle-in the-stomach treatment! But that was no vaccination. That was the treatment. Do they still do that?

   So far no one made a move. Millie finally decided she wanted to take a closer sniff of this strange black-and-white animal, and I picked her up in the same instant, holding my breath and expecting to be attacked.

  It didn't happen. The skunk continued to wobble, looking blankly ahead. We set off down the road. I put Millie down and we continued on our regular route. On the way back I kept my eyes peeled for the skunk. But it was gone. Probably back into the blackberry bushes and high grass.

   I was secretly thrilled we didn't have to contend with Billy Bob Skunk. You see, Millie and I got to talking while we were walking, and decided it could have been a "geeter-head" (same-same as a meth-head) skunk who might have went by the name of Billy Bob. Why not?

   We started coming up with wild headlines:

'Geeter Skunk sends man and pug packing!'

'Man and pug accidentally stumble upon stoned Skunk's outdoor meth lab!'

'PETA says man and pug threatened skunk stoned on medical-meth'

  Before we knew it we were back home. Just another day in our adventuresome lives. Peace.

Skunk image via  www.caltechgirlsworld.mu.nu/.../tedkennedy.jpg

  

State scammed by people who are supposed to be serving the elderly and disabled

Fraud infects state in-home care program

By Evan Halper/LA Times 
April 13, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento -- Loose oversight and bureaucratic inertia have allowed fraud to fester in a rapidly expanding multibillion-dollar state program that provides personal caregivers to the impoverished elderly and disabled. Hundreds of reports of scams and swindles are going without investigation.
Prosecutors and program administrators across the state say they are alarmed by the ease with which people are taking advantage of the program, In Home Supportive Services.

Read the whole article here.

Today's As It Stands in The Times-Standard: Reality vs Fiction

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 04/12/2009 01:26:06 AM PDT

Remember the 1995 hit movie “Outbreak?”

Parts of it were filmed here in Humboldt County, and Ferndale was supposed to be the fictional town of Cedar Creek. In the movie, a deadly virus (Motaba) passed from a Capuchin monkey to a human who went on to infect others and scores of unsuspecting people died as a result.

Pretty scary stuff. Now let's consider a small news item recently sent out by the Associated Press. At the Oregon National Primate Center, nine Japanese Macaque monkeys got out of their cage when a keeper accidentally left it unlocked. Five of the monkeys were quickly caught, but the other four remain on the loose. According to Jim Newman, an Oregon Health & Science University spokesman, officials watched three of the escapees from a distance, and tried to catch them in cages baited with apples.

It's that last monkey that concerns me. The missing monkey is thought to be somewhere on the Beaverton Primate campus. One more little thing about this primate, it's infected with a virus that could hurt people! Read the rest of the column here.

Polish politician upset because zoo bought a gay elephant!

OH REALLY? A GAY ELELPHANT. NOW I HAVE HEARD EVERYTHING!

WARSAW (Reuters) – A Polish politician has criticized his local zoo for acquiring a "gay" elephant named Ninio who prefers male companions and will probably not procreate, local media reported Friday.

"We didn't pay 37 million zlotys ($11 million) for the largest elephant house in Europe to have a gay elephant live there," Michal Grzes, a conservative councilor in the city of Poznan in western Poland, was quoted as saying.

"We were supposed to have a herd, but as Ninio prefers male friends over females how will he produce offspring?" said Grzes, who is from the right-wing opposition Law and Justice party.

The head of the Poznan zoo said 10-year-old Ninio may be too young to decide whether he prefers males or females as elephants only reach sexual maturity at 14.

(Reporting by Chris Borowski; editing by Andrew Roche)

Every time you go on the Internet another robot goes to heaven!

From "Every Time You Use the Internet, a Robot Goes to Heaven" - verseguru

These fanciful robots from the fifties are what I grew up with. I had a couple of these whirling, twirling, wind-em up mechanical wonders. Of course, I never saved them. Like most people, I regret not having them now. They'd be antiques and worth something! Oh well...I had some good times with them, and I guess the memory makes up for the material loss. Note that they are all made of metal, not plastic like now. My favorite was Robby The Robot.

"The Robot Hut" is where all good robots end up in afterlife...

John Rigg from The Robot Hut built a whole barn for his immense collection of toy and movie prop robots. Most of the movie prop robots he builds himself including Robby, B-9, Star Wars droids and Huey, Dewey & Louie from the movie "Silent Running" to name a few. He also built a replica of the Time Machine from the classic movie.

(images credit: darkroastedblend.com

Mexican drug cartel violence featured on YouTube & video games

FROM USA TODAY THERE'S AN ARTICLE ABOUT MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS USING YOUTUBE TO BRAG ABOUT THEIR ACTIVITIES.

TO THE RIGHT IS THE COVER FOR ONE OF THE RECENT VIDEO GAMES GLORIFYING THE CARTELS. IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THIS IS A TRUE REFLECTION OF MEXICAN SOCIETY TODAY.

THE POWER OF THE CARTELS IS ALMOST UNIMAGINABLE, AS THEY HAVE PENATRATED NEARLY EVERY STATE IN THE USA, WITH THEIR DRUG ACTIVITIES.

IT"S JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY ACTUALLY TAKE CHARGE OF MEXICO. OUR BORDERS ARE VIOLATED DAILY. SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO TO STOP THE VIOLENCE FROM THESE GANGS SPILLING OVER INTO OUR COUNTRY? SO FAR, PITIFULLY LITTLE.

THESE MURDEROUS PUNKS THINK THEY CAN DO WHATEVER THEY WANT. UNTIL WE ACTUALLY GO AFTER THEM BIG TIME, IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE HERE. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IS RAPIDLY BECOMING AN EXTENSION OF MEXICO, AND IT'S GANGSTERS.

YouTube riddled with drug cartel videos, messages

By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

The violence among Mexican drug cartels is not filling just the streets of Mexican border towns: It's also spilling into gruesome online videos and chat rooms.

The videos on YouTube and Mexican-based sites are polished — professional singers croon about cartel leaders while images of murdered victims fade one into the next.

In the comment area, those loyal to the opposing cartels trade insults and threats.

Such videos are used to intimidate enemies and recruit members by touting "virtues" of cartel leaders, says Scott Stewart, vice president of tactical intelligence for Stratfor, a Texas-based global-intelligence company.

Read the rest of the story here. Image via tinypics.com

 

Vietnamese Art: Works by Southeast Asian artists reflects their culture

Buoi Som Dung Street by Pham Binh Chuong

To see more examples of art by other highly-skilled Vietnamese artists click here.

Believe it or not: Scientist says sending pollution into outer space could control global warning, and it's a future option!

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS THIS MORNING WE HAVE A REALLY STRANGE SOLUTION TO GLOBAL WARMING...

"Tinkering with Earth's climate to chill runaway global warming — a radical idea once dismissed out of hand — is being discussed by the White House as a potential emergency option, the president's new science adviser said Wednesday.
That's because global warming is happening so rapidly, John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month.
The concept of using technology to purposely cool the climate is called geoengineering. One option raised by Holdren and proposed by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun's rays."

Read the whole story here. Image of John Holdren/science advisor via J. Scott Applewhite, AP Photo