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In the event of a crash beer could spill..............................
Police said they were "shocked and appalled" when they pulled over the
car south of Alice Springs in Australia's Northern Territory.
They said the 30-can pack of beer was strapped down between two
adults in the back, with the five-year-old child unrestrained on the
floor.
The driver was handed a fine of A$750 (US$709; £362).
The fine was for failing to ensure a child was wearing a seatbelt as well as driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle.
'Blank' look
The car was pulled over on the Ross Highway last Friday.
Constable Wayne Burnett said: "I haven't ever seen something like this before.
"This is the first time that the beer has taken priority over a
child... The child was sitting in the lump in the centre,
unrestrained."
When Constable Burnett handed over the fine he said the driver "just looked at me blankly".
"He didn't get it," Constable Burnett said.
"I asked him about the fact the child was unrestrained and the beer was, and he said he didn't know anything about it."
incident was a "timely reminder" to ensure "all passengers are secured".
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Pope ponders possibility of planets...........
The Pope's chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out.
Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes,
said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space.
Father Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory near Rome, is
a respected scientist who collaborates with universities around the
world.
The search for forms of extraterrestrial life, he says, does not contradict belief in God.
The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article 'Aliens Are My Brother'.
'Free from sin'
Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist
intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could
even be free from original sin, he speculates.
Asked about the Catholic Church's condemnation four centuries ago of
the Italian astronomer and physicist, Galileo, Father Funes
diplomatically says mistakes were made, but it is time to turn the page
and look towards the future.
Science and religion need each other, and many astronomers believe in God, he assures readers.
To strengthen its scientific credentials, the Vatican is organising a
conference next year to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the
author of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin.
Fat, drunken TV addicts. No, not the Americans, I mean us!
England is an irritating and insular country full
of overweight, binge-drinking, reality TV addicts, a new guide warns
tourists.
But in the new Rough Guide to England, the English are also hailed
as a nation of animal-loving, tea-drinking charity donors who love
nothing better than forming an orderly queue.
Gone, it seems, is the image of a genteel country awash with
Englishmen politely tipping their bowler hats, groping through the
London fog and being kinder to pets than kids.
The writers confess to bafflement over the quirky English,
concluding that of the 200 countries the guide reviews there is none
"so fascinating, beautiful and culturally diverse yet as insular,
self-important and irritating as England."
They said the English are proud of their multi-culturalism and are united by one thing -- their sense of humour.
But there are constant contradictions. In a country priding itself
on patriotism, they have a Scottish Prime Minister, an Italian football
coach and a Greek married to the Queen.
They are gently mocked as voracious consumers of celebrity chit-chat
and "as a glance at the tabloid newspapers will confirm, England is a
nation of overweight, binge-drinking reality TV addicts."
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I do not believe any of that. Anyway, I need a fag and a pint of large, "I'm a nonentity get me out of here" is on tv next.
No tax cut...............................
A man has sawn his car in half with an angle-grinder in protest at it being clamped outside his home.
Ian Taylor, from Tredworth, Glos, said the untaxed Ford Fiesta was
parked on his drive with only part of a rear wheel poking out on to the
pavement.
Alas, poor Yorrick. He got me stoned........................
Authorities in Texas have filed corpse-abuse charges
against two men who allegedly removed a skull from a grave and used it as a
bong.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office confirmed on Thursday that
misdemeanor abuse of corpse charges have been filed in the case.
One of the men allegedly told police they dug up a grave in an abandoned
cemetery in the woods, removed a head from a body and smoked marijuana using the
skull as a bong.
Police found the cemetery and a grave that had been disturbed but are still
investigating the rest of the story, officials said.
Homer..... sexual???????
The Simpsons has been dropped from
morning TV in Venezuela after being deemed unsuitable for children -
and has been replaced by Baywatch.
The popular US cartoon about the yellow dysfunctional family was branded "inappropriate" and pulled by the country's television authorities.
Caracas TV station Televen has started showing episodes of the beachside show in the same mid-morning slot.
It became famous for its bikini-clad stars, including Pamela Anderson.
Yellow skin and three fingers on each hand has never really appealed to me, I guess people are just different in Venezuela............ ...<< MORE >>
Do you know where your kids are?
Brent Leisgang, 30, of Cedar Grove, Ind., was arrested Wednesday and has been charged with child endangering, possession of criminal tools, possession of drugs, criminal trespass and two counts each of theft and criminal damaging.
Leisgang is accused of trying to steal catalytic converters from a car lot in Harrison last week. The converters are popular targets of thieves because they can be sold to scrap dealers. He is being held on $80,000 bond.
His son was found at the scene and police believe Leisgang brought him along to help in the theft.
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Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com
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I am just going outside (the village). I may be some time.........
In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne
told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons
not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in
Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish."
It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."
The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an
administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in January that
the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would
not be justified.
Lalanne, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday and is
standing for election to a seventh term in this month's local
elections, said he was sorry that there had not been a positive outcome
to the dilemma.
"It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me," he said.
...<< MORE >>People of Vermont are ready to impeach....................
The voting population in two Vermont towns have approved a measure that would instruct police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for "crimes against the Constitution," according to a local source.
The nonbinding (read "pointless"), symbolic measure, passed in Brattleboro and Marlboro instructs town police to "extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them."
Vermont is known for its liberal politics.
State lawmakers have passed nonbinding resolutions to end the war in Iraq and impeach Bush and Cheney, and several towns have also passed resolutions of impeachment. None of them have caught on in Washington.
Bush has never visited the state as president, but maybe now is not the best time to change that.
Roughly 12,000 people live in Brattleboro, located on the Connecticut River in the state's southeastern corner. Nearby Marlboro has a population of roughly 1,000 (also people).
Ghost vandalism? Spooky.......................
Romanian cops have closed a vandalism investigation that left local houses in ruins by concluding ghosts were to blame.
Families living in Lilieci reported windows broken, bicycles flying
through the air, objects moving on tables and candles blown out when
there is no wind.
When they complained they were being hounded by evil spirits to police they were laughed at.
But after officers saw the evidence with their own eyes they filed a report saying that ghosts were to blame.
Mircea Hadimbu, 68, who says his house has now been completely wrecked,
said: "The windows started to break one by one. I saw two bicycles
moving through the air on their own."
His sister Melentina
Bocancea, 78, who lives nearby, added: "There were cups flying around
the house and candles I lit were blown out as soon as I put a match to
them even though there was not a breath of wind in the house."
A police spokesman said: "There were bottles and things flying around.
I did not know what to dodge first. We can find nothing to suggest it
was anything other than what the people claim."
A priest has been called in to perform exorcisms of houses in the town in the hope that the attacks will finally stop.
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