News of the Weird

[Gordo]

no more sandwich bags!!

No more sandwiches!

HAaaaaha!

[FrankZappa]

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.

The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican\'s number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.

Asked what he believed were today\'s "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L\'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.

"(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.

The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.

Girotti, in an interview headlined "New Forms of Social Sin," also listed "ecological" offences as modern evils.

In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.

Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green."

It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.

Girotti, who is number two in the Vatican "Apostolic Penitentiary," which deals with matter of conscience, also listed drug trafficking and social and economic injustices as modern sins.

But Girotti also bemoaned that fewer and fewer Catholics go to confession at all.

He pointed to a study by Milan\'s Catholic University that showed that up to 60 percent of Catholic faithful in Italy stopped going to confession.

In the sacrament of Penance, Catholics confess their sins to a priest who absolves them in God\'s name.

But the same study by the Catholic University showed that 30 percent of Italian Catholics believed that there was no need for a priest to be God\'s intermediary and 20 percent felt uncomfortable talking about their sins to another person.

source

[SlimPickens]

Woman forgotten 4 days in tiny cell http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/219366/

SPRINGDALE - Hour after hour, for four full days, Adriana Torres-Flores was locked away and forgotten in 8 1/2-by-9 1/2-foot cell in the Washington County Courthouse, with only a metal table, two benches and a light bulb that never went out. She had nothing to eat or drink. There was no toilet. Thursday passed. Then Friday, Saturday and Sunday - although Torres-Flores had no watch to tell the time. She slept on the floor with her head on a shoe....

...Torres-Flores, 38, of Springdale went to court Thursday for a hearing on a plea agreement related to her December arrest on a charge of selling pirated mu- sic CDs at Pleasant Flea Market in Springdale. But she pleaded innocent....

[FrankZappa]

well, there\'s a lawsuit.

[Dweasel Weasel]

Did someone say "lawsuit?"  Giddyup!

[FrankZappa]

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/03/12/woman.stuck.on.toilet.ap/
 
Woman stuck on toilet for two years, police say

WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- Deputies say a woman in western Kansas became stuck on her boyfriend\'s toilet after sitting on it for two years.

Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the 35-year-old Ness City woman\'s skin had grown around the seat. She initially refused emergency medical services but was finally convinced by responders and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

"We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital," Whipple said. "The hospital removed it."

Whipple said investigators planned to present their report Wednesday to the county attorney, who will determine whether any charges should be filed against the woman\'s 36-year-old boyfriend.

"She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body," Whipple said. "It is hard to imagine. ... I still have a hard time imagining it myself."

He told investigators he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

"And her reply would be, `Maybe tomorrow,"\' Whipple said. "According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom."

The boyfriend called police on February 27 to report that "there was something wrong with his girlfriend," Whipple said, adding that he never explained why it took him two years to call.

Police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to her mid-thigh. She was "somewhat disoriented," and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.

"She said that she didn\'t need any help, that she was OK and did not want to leave," he said.

She was taken to a hospital in Wichita, about 150 miles southeast of Ness City. Whipple said she has refused to cooperate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

Authorities said they did not know if she was mentally or physically disabled.

Police have declined to release the couple\'s names, but the house where authorities say the incident happened is listed in public records as the residence of Kory McFarren. No one answered his home phone number.

The case has been the buzz Ness City, said James Ellis, a neighbor.

"I don\'t think anybody can make any sense out of it," he said.

Ellis said he had known the woman since she was a child but that he had not seen her for at least six years.

He said she had a tough childhood after her mother died at a young age and apparently was usually kept inside the house as she grew up. At one time the woman worked for a long-term care facility, he said, but he did not know what kind of work she did there.

"It really doesn\'t surprise me," Ellis said of the bathroom incident. "What surprises me is somebody wasn\'t called in a bit earlier."

[davepeck]

Texas Woman Sues American Airlines After Flight Turns X-Rated
Tuesday , March 18, 2008

Harris County, Texas, native Centava Dozier, 21, filed a $200,000 lawsuit Monday against American Airlines, alleging that a passenger masturbated in the seat next to her and then ejaculated on her hair.

Dozier was on her way to visit family and friends in L.A., MyFOXHouston reports.

The suit claims Dozier was sitting in an empty row when the plane took off, and then fell asleep. When she woke up, she says she found a substance in her hair and a man masturbating in the seat next to her.

Dozier claims that when she asked the flight attendants for help, and requested the man be removed and taken back to his assigned seat, the staff did nothing, MyFOXHouston reports.

American Airlines officials maintain that appropriate action was taken and the man was arrested when the plane landed.

[lele]

ha...this is why you should never fall asleep on a plane :nope:

[jocelyn]

Student suspended for buying Skittles at school
 
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- Contraband candy has led to trouble for an eighth-grade honors student in Connecticut.

Michael Sheridan was stripped of his title as class vice president, barred from attending an honors student dinner and suspended for a day after buying a bag of Skittles from a classmate.

School spokeswoman Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo said the New Haven school system banned candy sales in 2003 as part of a districtwide school wellness policy.

Michael\'s suspension was reduced from three days to one, but he has not been reinstated as class vice president.

Superintendent Reginald Mayo said Wednesday the principal was just trying to keep students safe, but he would review the decision to suspend Michael.

Michael says he didn\'t realize his candy purchase was against the rules, but he did notice the student selling the Skittles February 26 was being secretive.

[skalnbyc]

Suspending an honor student for eating Skittles, yet another reason why we don\'t need any more rules.

[Todd]

Hahaha!! Back in middle school I used to buy gum by the case and sell it by the piece. I made quite a bit of $$. Each time I was caught, which I think was at least 10-15 times in two years, I was sent to the dean\'s office. Thankfully the dean was a family friend. I just hung out with him for the rest of the period and was sent on my merry way with a verbal "please don\'t do it again". HA!!

[skalnbyc]

Hahaha!! Back in middle school I used to buy gum by the case and sell it by the piece. I made quite a bit of $$. Each time I was caught, which I think was at least 10-15 times in two years, I was sent to the dean\'s office. Thankfully the dean was a family friend. I just hung out with him for the rest of the period and was sent on my merry way with a verbal "please don\'t do it again". HA!!

I can totally picture a young Todd explaining to the dean: "it\'s just gum, guuyyyyyy"

[FrankZappa]

Dr. Pepper to Give Away Free Product If Axl Rose Releases \'Chinese Democracy\'

Dr. Pepper is imploring Axl Rose to put out his album that\'s been an astounding 17 years in the making. The creators of the curiously candy-like beverage have promised that if Rose releases Guns N\' Roses\' \'Chinese Democracy\' at any point in 2008, everyone in America will receive a free can of Dr. Pepper.

But free soda aside, the best part about the proposal might just be the way the company is not only relating to, but sympathizing with, the 46-year-old singer. "It took a little patience to perfect Dr Pepper\'s special mix of 23 ingredients that our fans have come to know and love," said Jaxie Alt, director of marketing for Dr. Pepper -- not even blinking at her nod to the band\'s 1989 hit \'Patience.\' "So we completely understand and empathize with Axl\'s quest for perfection -- for something more than the average album." What\'s more? The "everyone" in their promise comes with a big, wickedly funny asterisk: According to the Dr., both Slash and Buckethead will be left off the gift list. Bet they didn\'t see that coming.

source

[ds673488]

i bet that album will suck

[derickw]

i bet that album will suck

ya but who cares Dr. Pepper is delicious with Bacardi