Suicide Mistaken for Halloween Decoration

FREDERICA, Del.
The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said. The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.
State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later. "They thought it was a Halloween decoration," Fay Glanden, wife of Mayor William Glanden, told The (Wilmington) News Journal.

"It looked like something somebody would have rigged up," she said.

Remote Control Device 'Controls' Humans

27 9:08 PM US/Eastern Email this story

By YURI KAGEYAMAAP Business Writer
ATSUGI, Japan

We wield remote controls to turn things on and off, make them advance, make them halt. Ground-bound pilots use remotes to fly drone airplanes, soldiers to maneuver battlefield robots.
But manipulating humans?

Prepare to be remotely controlled. I was. Just imagine being rendered the rough equivalent of a radio-controlled toy car.
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Japans top telephone company, says it is developing the technology to perhaps make video games more realistic. But more sinister applications also come to mind. I can envision it being added to militaries' arsenals of so-called "non-lethal" weapons.

A special headset was placed on my cranium by my hosts during a recent demonstration at an NTT research center. It sent a very low voltage electric current from the back of my ears through my head _ either from left to right or right to left, depending on which way the joystick on a remote-control was moved. I found the experience unnerving and exhausting: I sought to step straight ahead but kept careening from side to side. Those alternating currents literally threw me off.

The technology is called galvanic vestibular stimulation _ essentially, electricity messes with the delicate nerves inside the ear that help maintain balance.

I felt a mysterious, irresistible urge to start walking to the right whenever the researcher turned the switch to the right. I was convinced _ mistakenly _ that this was the only way to maintain my balance. The phenomenon is painless but dramatic. Your feet start to move before you know it. I could even remote-control myself by taking the switch into my own hands.

There's no proven-beyond-a-doubt explanation yet as to why people start veering when electricity hits their ear. But NTT researchers say they were able to make a person walk along a route in the shape of a giant pretzel using this technique. It's a mesmerizing sensation similar to being drunk or melting into sleep under the influence of anesthesia. But it's more definitive, as though an invisible hand were reaching inside your brain.
NTT says the feature may be used in video games and amusement park rides, although there are no plans so far for a commercial product. Some people really enjoy the experience, researchers said while acknowledging that others feel uncomfortable.

I watched a simple racing-car game demonstration on a large screen while wearing a device programmed to synchronize the curves with galvanic vestibular stimulation. It accentuated the swaying as an imaginary racing car zipped through a virtual course, making me wobbly. Another program had the electric current timed to music. My head was pulsating against my will, getting jerked around on my neck. I became so dizzy I could barely stand. I had to turn it off.

NTT researchers suggested this may be a reflection of my lack of musical abilities. People in tune with freely expressing themselves love the sensation, they said. "We call this a virtual dance experience although some people have mentioned it's more like a virtual drug experience," said Taro Maeda, senior research scientist at NTT. "I'm really hopeful Apple Computer will be interested in this technology to offer it in their iPod."

Goldfish bowls banned in crackdown on animal cruelty

RHIANNON EDWARD

THE city of Rome has banned goldfish bowls, which animal rights activists say are cruel, after reports that they can cause fish to go blind.

The same new by-law stops fish or other animals being given away as fairground prizes, while the city council has also made regular dog-walks mandatory.

"It's good to do whatever we can for our animals who in exchange for a little love fill our existence with their attention," Monica Cirinna, the councillor behind the by-law, said.
The Rome move on animal welfare comes after a national law was passed to allow jail sentences for people who abandon cats or dogs.

Animal rights groups estimate that about 150,000 pet dogs and 200,000 cats are abandoned in Italy every year.

The northern city of Turin passed a law in April to fine pet owners up to €500 (£340) if they do not walk their dogs at least three times a day. The Rome by-law requires owners to regularly exercise their dogs and bans them from docking their pets' tails for aesthetic reasons.

It also provides legal recognition for cat lovers who provide food for the colonies of strays that inhabit the Italian capital.

Just when you thought YOU were crazy

Police say Leon Perry Hollimon Jr., 37, stole the ambulance from Davidson County Ambulance Service, 937 N. Main St. in Lexington, sometime before 7 a.m. Sunday.

The vehicle was spotted in Danville early Sunday afternoon, but due to
a no-chase policy observed by Danville police, Hollimon was not pursued. Authorities picked up on the vehicle again when Rockingham County sheriff's deputies saw Hollimon driving the ambulance in Ruffin. According to RCSO Public Information Officer Dean Venable, police attempted to stop the vehicle several times using spike strips as the deputies pursued the ambulance down Mayfield and Goose Pond roads. Those attempts were unsuccessful until the pursuit crossed into Caswell County. Two N.C. Highway Patrol cruisers were damaged in the pursuit, but no one was harmed.

After forcing the vehicle to the side of the road, deputies pulled Hollimon out of the cab when he refused to come out voluntarily.

"He told us he was trying to get out of the state because the judge told him to," Venable said, though he was unable to comment on the significance of this statement. Officers noticed that Hollimon had made an attempt to disguise himself, wearing a stethoscope around his neck, a pager on his waist, and carrying two latex gloves in his back pocket. According to Venable, the disguise was less than convincing.

"I don't think anyone would have mistaken him for a doctor," Venable said.

Hollimon's appearance, however, was less strange than the presence of another passenger in rear of the ambulance: a dead deer, fully stretched out, strapped to a gurney inside, with an IV just above one hoof. The 'Doctor' said he was treating 'him' (the Deer) for a heart attack.

Officers were unsure of how Hollimon came into possession of the deer, but according to Venable "it was apparent that he had picked it up off the side of the road." Venable added that the deer had obviously been dead for several days.

Let's go clubbin', eh?

'I'm in the nude for dancing'
Oct 14 2005
By Robert Dex, South London Press

HUNDREDS of clubbers are descending on the country's only nude disco every Saturday night.
The craze for letting it all hang out on the dancefloor is pulling in punters to South Central in Kennington Lane.

Clubbers have to wear shoes to protect their feet in case of smashed glass but the only pants to be seen in the whole place belong to the bar staff.

Even the DJ is naked behind his decks, though fully-clothed bouncers are stationed outside to stop clothed clubbers stumbling in unawares.

Jamie Rocket, 29, who helps organise the Starkers! night, said naked clubbing was an exhilarating experience.

He said: "When people are naked they can feel inhibited or exposed but when everyone is the same that disappears.

"Some people like the way it feels, some people like being looked at and some people like the view.

"A lot of it grew out of that clubbing generation in the 1990s which had the philosophy of being free and at one with the crowd.

"All kinds of people come along, men, women, singles, couples, gay, straight. It's open to everyone."

And for any male clubbers worried about the temperature taking its toll on their manhood, the venue boasts "excellent heating".

While Hollywood awaits a due date for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' baby, one thing is already a known fact — when the baby does arrive, Scientology will play a major role.
Tom and Katie are likely to follow the church's "silent birth" guidelines during delivery, which means no music and no talking during the birth, which also means no screaming during the pains of labor.

The doctrine also states that newborns cannot be poked or prodded for medical tests or even spoken to for the first seven days of their lives, believing that babies go through so much pain during the birth, they shouldn't have to experience any further discomfort or sensory experience that could return later in life to haunt them.


Yeah, 'cause 98% of Americans are 'haunted'. I don't remember the first 4 years of my life, I really think I'd be down right lonely the first 7 days of my life. Wouldn't I be 'haunted' by everyone suddenly cooing and talking to me on day 8? Now THAT would scare the poop right into my diaper!! I might even be HAUNTED by it for the rest of my life!!!

Police: Burglar Caught Hanging Naked In Store

DARLINGTON, S.C.

-- South Carolina police said they caught a would-be burglar in the buff. Darlington police said the man was hanging naked from the ceiling in a cash advance business. Investigators said when they arrived at the Check 'n Go they noticed tiles, insulation, wires and metal braces hanging from the ceiling and on the floor.

Officers said 22-year-old Michael Gilbert then dropped from the ceiling and tried to open the front door and leave. Investigators think Gilbert took off his clothes so he could fit through an air vent on the roof. He has been charged with burglary.

Police said Gilbert was wasting his time -- the cash advance business doesn't keep money on the premises.