Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon's topics - tribe.net

They had sex WHERE?

chumtastic — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:15:59 GMT

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian couple who were caught having sex in a church confessional box while morning Mass was being said have repented and made peace with the local bishop.

The couple, in their early 30s, were detained by police earlier this month after they had made love in the confessional box in the cathedral in northern Cesena. They were cautioned for obscene acts in public and disturbing a religious function.

Their lawyer said they had been drinking all night and realized they had gone too far.

The lawyer told the area's local newspaper on Wednesday the couple met with the local bishop on Tuesday night, asked for his forgiveness and that he had given it.

Last week the bishop celebrated a "Mass of reparation" in the cathedral where the confessional box incident took place to make up for the sacrilege.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 16 replies

so i am thinking of leaving tribe...

chumtastic — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:59:44 GMT

i am sure this is no surprise as i unsubbed mr. flicky yesterday. most of you already know how to get a hold me outside this forum. what do you think i should do with this tribe?

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 16 replies

Nail-in-skull survivor: 'It never really hurt'

chumtastic — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:18:41 GMT

SHAWNEE, Kan. - George Chandler says he didn't know a 2 1/2-inch nail was driven into his skull until his buddy spotted it stuck through his cap. Chandler said he felt only a sting. "It never did really what you call hurt," the Shawnee man said Wednesday on NBC's "Today."

Chandler said his friend Phil Kern was using a nail gun to mount lattice on Chandler's deck when a hose on the powerful tool became caught.

Chandler said he stood up just as Kern tried to free the gun and it discharged. At first, they couldn't locate the nail. But then Kern saw it, he ordered Chandler to sit down while he called 911.

An emergency room doctor tried unsuccessfully to remove the nail with a pair of pliers.

"He looked at me and said, 'I need a claw hammer,'" Chandler recalled. "I thought, 'Ah, he's just teasing.'"

So the doctor borrowed a claw hammer from a worker to finish the job and sent Chandler home with a few stitches.

"He got a screwdriver at the same time, and he took the screwdriver and pried the nail up a little bit and got the claw hammer," Chandler said.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 2 replies

i heart cats in sinks!

chumtastic — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:15:37 GMT

http://catsinsinks.com/

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 8 replies

Visitors flocking to see 'unicorn' deer

chumtastic — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:15:10 GMT

ROME - The shy, young deer nicknamed "Unicorn" because of the rare, single horn in the center of his head is drawing hundreds of curious visitors, park officials said Thursday.

People are flocking to the nature preserve in Tuscany where the deer lives, hoping to see him and take his picture.

"We have received so many calls from people and many are coming to see it," said Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, near Florence. "Sometimes he comes close to the fence, even if he is very shy."

In just the past few days, some 200 visitors have made the pilgrimage to the Prato preserve to see "Unicorn," Tozzi said.

The shy but budding media star wanders freely around the 2.5-acre park, he said.

"He is tranquil and leads his normal life," he said. "He doesn't feel like a star."

The year-old Roe Deer was born in captivity with an apparent genetic flaw, Tozzi said. His twin, in contrast, has two horns.

Single-horned deer are rare but not unheard of but experts say the central positioning of Unicorn's horn is unusual. Tozzi speculated that similar anomalies might have inspired the myth of the unicorn.

The unicorn, a horse-like creature with magical healing powers, has appeared in legends and stories throughout history, from ancient and medieval texts to the adventures of Harry Potter.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Spell-check run amok changes names in Pa. yearbook

chumtastic — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:22:54 GMT

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. - A computer spell-checker run amok christened several Pennsylvania high school students with new — and in some cases unflattering — last names.

Middletown Area High School's yearbook listed Max Zupanovic as "Max Supernova," Kathy Carbaugh as "Kathy Airbag" and Alessandra Ippolito as "Alexandria Impolite," just to name a few.

"It was kind of funny, but kind of rude at the same time," Ippolito said.

The mistakes were found on four of the yearbook's 176 pages, co-editor Amanda Gummo said.

Ed Patrick of Taylor Publishing, which printed the book, said his company is responsible for the errors and will provide free stickers printed with the correct names.

"It happens all the time, every year," Patrick said. "Look at any yearbook in the country."

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 1 reply

Japanese man finds woman living in his closet

chumtastic — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:23:52 GMT

TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man puzzled by food mysteriously disappearing from his refrigerator got a shock when he found out a woman had been living in his home for months without permission, police said Friday.

The 57-year-old man living alone -- or so he thought -- in the western city of Fukuoka installed a security camera and called the police when he saw images of someone walking around his home while he was out.

"We searched the house in the man's presence. We found the woman in the closet," said a local police spokesman.

The woman, named as 58-year-old Tatsuko Horikawa, was found in a flat storage space only just big enough for a person to squeeze into lying down.

She had sneaked a mattress and several plastic bottles into the cubby hole, police said, adding that the women had been arrested.

"She told police that she had nowhere to live," the spokesman said. "She seems to have lived there for about a year, but not all the time."

It is unclear how she managed to enter the home undetected. Police suspect she might have been closet-hopping, moving from house to house.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 3 replies

Man fined for throwing hedgehog at teen

chumtastic — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:30:16 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A New Zealand man who assaulted a teen by hitting him with a spine-covered hedgehog has been fined by a court and ordered to pay most of his fine to his victim.

Whakatane District Court was told Thursday that William Singalargh picked up the hedgehog, a small prickly-backed animal similar to the porcupine, and threw it several yards at a 15-year-old boy in the North Island east coast town of Whakatane on Feb. 9.

Police said the teen was hit in the leg, causing a large, red welt and several puncture marks. The injury did not require medical treatment.

Singalargh was convicted of common assault and offensive behavior following a defended hearing. He had pleaded innocent to the charges.

He was fined a total of $545, of which $389 were paid to his victim.

A more serious charge of assault with a weapon — the hedgehog — was dropped. The maximum penalty for that charge is five years in prison.

It was not known whether the hedgehog was dead or alive at the time of the attack, but Senior Sgt. Bruce Jenkins said earlier that it was dead when collected as evidence.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 1 reply

Fox News worker sues over bedbugs in office

chumtastic — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:29:35 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Fox News employee who says she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after being bitten by bedbugs at work filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the owner of the Manhattan office tower where she worked.

Jane Clark, 37, a 12-year veteran of Fox News, a unit of News Corp, said she complained to human resources after being bitten three times between October 2007 and April 2008. She said she was ridiculed and the office was not treated for months.

Beacon Capital Partners, which owns the tower in midtown Manhattan, said in a statement that it had not been made aware of the problem and that it was the responsibility of tenants to manage infestations.

"As a prudent step, we are bringing in outside, independent experts to review the situation," the statement said.

The suit did not say how much Clark was seeking in damages.

Clark, who says she's been diagnosed with PTSD and can no longer work, has filed a separate workers compensation claim with News Corp, and the company is paying her medical bills and lost wages. A News Corp spokeswoman declined to comment because News Corp was not named in the lawsuit.

"They made a lot of mistakes," Clark said through tears at a news conference at the office of her lawyer, Alan Schnurman, who said he has brought numerous bedbug cases.

"I didn't want my baby to get bitten. I was terrified of bringing it home," Clark said.

She said she believed a colleague who used her workstation on weekends, and who no longer works for Fox News, brought the infestation to the office. Clark's home was never infested.

Clark says she suffers nightmares and keeps a flashlight at her bedside so she can check for bugs during the night.

"It's their obligation to the working public to provide a safe environment," Schnurman said.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Police hunt for robbers wearing thongs as masks

chumtastic — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:22:20 GMT

ARVADA, Colo. - Police in a Colorado town are searching for two robbers whose masks showed plenty of fashion sense but little modesty: women's thong underwear.

A surveillance video released this week by police in Arvada, Colo., shows two unarmed men inside the convenience store. They stole an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes in the robbery May 16.

One man wore a green thong and the other wore blue. Each thong barely covered the man's nose, mouth and chin and left the rest of his face exposed. One also wore a pink backpack in which he stuffed the stolen items.

The suspects also wore T-shirts and pants and were described as in their 20s. One had a left arm tattoo.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

hi!

chumtastic — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:11:02 GMT

i have been all over lately...

how are you all?

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 15 replies

New playlist

lindabelly — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:49:39 GMT

Now that gas is more expensive than beer, I thought we should celebrate by making a playlist out of it

Here is my contribution:
Gasoline by Audioslave

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 14 replies

Terry Tate

oneflirter — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:48:47 GMT

Any Terry Tate fans here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ9sZzpFNuo&feature=related

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 5 replies

Prom invite is written on lacrosse players' bare bottoms

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:08:02 GMT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Thirteen members of a high school lacrosse team have been disciplined for baring their bottoms on which was written a prom invitation from one player to a girl.

Carolyn Campbell, a senior at Huron High School, accepted the invitation to go to the prom with fellow senior Kristoff Wennersten.

The varsity lacrosse players displayed the question, "Will You Go To The Prom With Me? Yes or No?" on their bottoms, which they bared during a junior varsity game last Thursday.

Officials suspended the 13 players for an undetermined number of games and ordered them to perform 20 hours of community service. They also were suspended from school for one day.

"Inappropriate is inappropriate," school athletic director Dottie Davis told The Ann Arbor News. "It disrespects women, and that's the clear message we need to have the students understand — what may be fun to them isn't necessarily fun to everyone else."

Campbell accepted the invitation by patting the back of the player who displayed the word "Yes."

"People get pretty creative with prom. Anyone who's done anything has been pretty outlandish," she said. "This is pretty epic, I would say. I didn't think it would become this big of a deal."

Wennersten said he understood the decision to discipline him and his teammates, adding, "I enjoyed every bit of it."

___

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 4 replies

Man alleges he was hit by ice scraper in attack

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:09:28 GMT

There are probably not a lot of places in the world where a man out for a bicycle ride before work in late April would get attacked by a man armed with an ice scraper.

Madison is one such place.

An east side man was riding his bicycle in the Droster and Starker Avenue neighborhood areas at about 2 p.m. Friday when three young men in a small SUV began yelling at him. One of the men then jumped out of the SUV and, as the biker rode by, swatted him in the back of the head with a 32-inch ice scraper, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.

The victim said he "saw stars" when he was hit and asked in not-very-polite language what the assailant's problem was. "I just got out of jail. I'm trying to have fun and whoop some ass," the assailant, Kevin J. Diaz, 19, said, according to the complaint.

Along with Diaz were Jerad Lutz, 18, and Travis Simniok, 19, who eventually also got out of the car. The victim decided to return home but Lutz and Diaz started chasing him, he told police. The pair eventually gave up, yelling a death threat at him, then returning to the vehicle.

The victim said he thought the men were heading for Buckeye Road, but when he got back home he heard a loud squealing of tires and saw the vehicle was approaching with Diaz holding a car door open.

All three got out, and this time Simniok was carrying a wood bat while Diaz still had the ice scraper. Lutz, meanwhile, had his hand under his shirt near his waistband as if he had a gun, the complaint says, and threatened the victim, saying, "I'll (expletive) cap your ass."

The three left after the victim said he was calling the police, but not until they warned him they knew where he lived and would come back. The victim told police he did not know the trio.

But because the victim had a good description of the vehicle and the license plate number, police were able to locate the vehicle at Simniok's home on Ellen Avenue and arrested the three.

Diaz faces charges of disorderly conduct while armed, battery and two counts of bail jumping. Cash bail of $1,200 was set when he appeared in court. Simniok was released on a signature bond and faces one charge of disorderly conduct while armed. Lutz has not yet made a court appearance but is charged with disorderly conduct and bail jumping.

Diaz, who previously lived in Pardeeville, and Lutz both have previous convictions for disorderly conduct in both Dane and Columbia counties. Diaz also has pending cases in both counties, while Lutz is in the deferred prosecution program in Dane County on a disorderly conduct charge and could be brought back to court for sentencing on that count.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 3 replies

Newspaper carrier finds woman pinned by husband's dead body

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:07:25 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Newspaper carrier Bruce Pitts knew the elderly couple only by the prayers the wife made for him while he was working at night and in bad weather, but he felt something was wrong when the papers piled up outside their home.

"It was never like them to leave a newspaper in their tube," Pitt said Tuesday. "That wonderful, small voice inside me said, `This isn't right.'"

After his route early Sunday, Pitts went home, napped briefly and, with his wife, returned to Blanche and Fred Roberts' home, just outside Marion, Ill.

They repeatedly rang the doorbells but got no answer. Pitts then eased open an unlocked side door and saw the couple about two feet inside, 84-year-old Blanche Roberts helpless looking right back at Pitts.

Her right leg was pinned beneath the body of her 77-year-old husband Fred, who apparently had died last Wednesday evening of a heart attack after mowing the lawn.

"The good Lord was with her. She was not scared, wasn't panicking," Pitts said during a telephone interview. "She was conscious, talking. Just peaceful. It was remarkable."

Her only request was for water. She knew her name and her relatives, but described her husband as "sleeping," said Pitts, who delivers the Southern Illinoisan, published in nearby Carbondale, Ill.

Pitts described Blanche Roberts as frail and petite. Fred Roberts was a "good-sized man," according to Williamson County, Ill., coroner Mike Burke, though he declined to be specific.

The coronoer said Fred Roberts likely died of a heart attack, based on accounts from the Roberts' visitors that day.

"They said he was really beet-red in the face, that he didn't look good," Burke said.

Blanche Roberts was taken to a hospital in nearby Herrin. The hospital on Tuesday wouldn't confirm whether she still was being treated there; Pitts said the couple's relatives told his wife Monday that she was doing fine.

Pitts has delivered on that route for three years but said he never met the Robertses before Sunday. But he thinks fondly of Blanche Roberts, who often tipped him in letters and was known to Pitts and his wife as "The Prayer Lady."

In her missives, "Blanche would say, `I've been praying for you at night whenever the weather's bad, realizing you're out in it delivering our papers,'" Pitts said. "We'd always say a little prayer back."

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 3 replies

300-pound inmate complains Ark. jail doesn't feed him well

chumtastic — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:15:52 GMT

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - An inmate awaiting trial on a murder charge is suing the county, complaining he has lost more than 100 pounds because of the jailhouse menu.

Broderick Lloyd Laswell says he isn't happy that he's down to 308 pounds after eight months in the Benton County jail. He has filed a federal lawsuit complaining the jail doesn't provide inmates with enough food.

According to the suit, Laswell weighed 413 pounds when he was jailed in September. Police say he and a co-defendant fatally beat and stabbed a man, then set his home on fire.

"On several occasions I have started to do some exercising and my vision went blurry and I felt like I was going to pass out," Laswell wrote in his complaint. "About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again."

But Laswell then goes on to complain that he undertakes little vigorous activity.

"If we are in a small pod all day (and) do next to nothing for physical exercise, we should not lose weight," the suit says. "The only reason we lost weight in here is because we are literally being starved to death."

The suit also asks that the county be ordered to serve hot meals. The jail has served only cold food for years.

The meals, provided through Aramark Correctional Institution Services, average 3,000 calories a day, jail Capt. Hunter Petray told The Morning News of northwest Arkansas for a story Saturday.

A typical Western diet consists of 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day.

Laswell's suit was filed without a lawyer in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 14 replies

When Young Teachers Go Wild on the Web

chumtastic — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:20:17 GMT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/27/AR2008042702213.html?nav=rss_email/components

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 3 replies

Scratching cat in lap blamed for causing accident

chumtastic — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:16:37 GMT

MODESTO, Calif. - Modesto police are blaming a scratching cat for an accident that toppled a power pole and shut down a street for nearly an hour. A police sergeant said Friday that a woman was driving with a cat in her lap. The animal scratched her, and she drove into the pole.

The woman suffered minor injuries and was taken to a hospital. The cat was taken to a vet to treat an injured eye.

On Wednesday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee approved a bill by Assemblyman Bill Maze that would make it illegal to drive with a pet in your arms or in your lap.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 5 replies

Deputies: Seffner Man Tried To Leave Baby At Strip Club

chumtastic — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:18:30 GMT

TAMPA - Minouche Eliasin said that when the man with the 6-month-old baby in the car asked whether he could use her cell phone, she knew something was not right.

It wasn't just that Eliasin works at Showgirls Men's Club in Plant City, where babies are not allowed.

"It was the way he was acting," said Eliasin, 23, who works the door at the club. "He had his keys in his hand, and he seemed like he was intoxicated."

It was just before 8 p.m. Sunday. The man, she said, wanted to use the pay phone outside the club to call someone about dropping off the baby. But the pay phone wasn't working, so he came into the club and asked to use her cell phone.

Eliasin said her suspicion increased when she looked outside and noticed the baby was in the car, a blue Toyota, with the windows up.

"I asked, 'Where's the mom?' " Eliasin recalled during a telephone interview. The man, she said, was evasive.

As he went outside to use the cell phone, she said, she watched him to make sure he did not take off with it.

He came back inside the club, but the baby was still in the car.

She told him to get the baby out of the car.

It was sweaty and had a wet diaper, she said.

He asked her not to call the cops. She told him to go out to the car, get a change of clothes, a diaper and a bottle. When he returned, he once again asked her not to call authorities.

After about 10 minutes with the man, Eliasin said, she figured there was something very wrong and had her manager call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. In the meantime, she said, she knew she had to keep him there.

She asked again about the mother.

The man ignored her, she said, so she took off the baby's clothes.

She asked him again, and he ignored her again, she said.

A friend of hers gave the baby the bottle.

"He was freaking out," she said. "I said, 'tell me what is going on.'"

Finally the man broke down, repeatedly telling her his plan.

He wanted to leave the baby at the strip club, Eliasin said.

"He just kept saying, 'I need someone to watch the baby for a week or two,'" Eliasin said. "'I'll come back. You guys are so nice. Thanks, I appreciate it.' "

The man said he had taken the boy from his grandparents' house and people were looking for the child. He then asked whether he and the baby could stay with Eliasin "for a day or two."

About 10 minutes after her manager called, deputies showed up and arrested the man, 44-year-old Robert Hancock of 6427 Black Dairy Road in Seffner.

He was charged with neglect of a child, a felony, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.

Hancock smelled of alcohol, his eyes were glassy and he was unsteady on his feet, deputies say. When deputies went out to his car, they found drug paraphernalia in the center console, according to a report. He was hit with an additional charge of possessing drug paraphernalia.

"The defendant showed a wanton disregard for the safety and welfare of this child by driving with the child while under the influence of alcohol and attempting to give his child to a complete stranger," states the report.

Hancock is being held at the Orient Road Jail. Bail was set at $3,000.

"I never saw a baby in here before," Eliasin said. "I am pregnant myself, and I knew something was wrong."

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 4 replies

Manners are getting worse?

chumtastic — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:17:18 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britons are ruder than they were a decade ago, according to a survey on Monday that showed almost three-quarters of people think manners should be taught at school.

A third believe bad manners are the catalyst for much of the anti-social behavior in Britain, the ITV poll found.

Experts interviewed by the network blamed a lack of respect for authority.

More than 90 percent of respondents believe parents are failing to ensure their children learn proper manners and that bad behavior of celebrities and footballers are setting a poor example for impressionable youngsters.

Spitting and swearing were the most offensive behaviors, it found, while queue-jumping and not saying "please" or "thank you" were other main gripes.

Almost 75 percent of the 3,000 people surveyed believed manners should be taught at school.

"I suppose it's part of the breakdown in society -- the fact that we stopped having respect for figures in authority partly because those in authority didn't command it," etiquette coach Diana Mather told the "Tonight Show with Trevor McDonald," which commissioned the survey.

The head of the Campaign for Courtesy, broadcaster Esther Rantzen, said a lack of discipline was also to blame.

"I think my generation has a lot answer for because I think the youth culture in the 60s and early 70s threw out every rule book and thought it was really clever to use four letter words," she told the program, which airs later on Monday.

"But I think things should go back, not to the old deference, not to groveling, not to any of that but just to feeling respect, because I think that would make everyone's life more pleasant."

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Wow!

kikopyeandi — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:10:59 GMT

I can't even imagine:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/ap_on_re_eu/austria_captive_daughter

Police: Dad confesses to holding daughter captive 24 years

By VERONIKA OLEKSYN and WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writers Mon Apr 28, 12:46 PM ET

AMSTETTEN, Austria - A man has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years in a windowless cell with a soundproofed door and fathering seven children with her including three who "never saw sunlight," police said Monday.

Josef Fritzl, now 73, also told investigators that he tossed the body of one of the children in an incinerator when the infant died shortly after birth, said Franz Polzer, head of the Lower Austrian Bureau of Criminal Affairs.

"We are being confronted with an unfathomable crime," Interior Minister Guenther Platter said.

The daughter, who is now 42, had been missing since 1984 and was found by police in the town of Amstetten on Saturday evening after police received a tip. She and the children have been placed under psychiatric care in an undisclosed location.

Authorities on Monday released several photos showing parts of the cramped basement cell, with a small bathroom and a narrow passageway leading to a tiny bedroom. Investigators said an electronic keyless-entry system apparently kept the daughter from escaping from the cell, which was made of solid reinforced concrete.

After initially withholding Friztl's full name, police released it along with a photograph at a news conference Monday. Fritzl's identity was widely reported by media in Austria and elsewhere in Europe. He briefly appeared in court Monday in the city of St. Poelten, where he was to be held in pre-trial detention.

"He admitted that he locked his daughter, who was 18 at the time, in the cellar, that he repeatedly had sex with her, and that he is the father of her seven children," Polzer told The Associated Press.

Three of the surviving children lived with the grandparents and were registered with authorities. The other three — aged 19, 18 and 5 — were confined during their entire lives to the darkness of their cell, Polzer said.

Hans-Heinz Lenze, a senior local official, said the suspect's wife apparently had "no idea" of what went on and was devastated.

"You have to imagine that this woman's world fell apart," he said.

Austrians — still scandalized by a 2006 case involving a young woman who was kidnapped and imprisoned in a basement cell outside Vienna for more than eight years — expressed disbelief at the latest case.

"The entire nation must ask itself just what is fundamentally going wrong," the newspaper Der Standard said Monday in a commentary.

Guenter Pramreiter, who owns a bakery just down the street, told The Associated Press that the suspect and his wife would regularly buy bread and rolls, though never in large quantities.

"They appeared normal, just like any other family," Pramreiter said. "I'm totally shocked, this was next door. It's terrible."

The case unfolded after a gravely ill teenager was found unconscious on April 19 in the building where her grandparents live, and taken to a hospital in the town of Amstetten, about 75 miles west of Vienna. Authorities publicly appealed for the child's mother to come forward to help diagnose the young woman's condition.

After receiving a tip, police picked up the 42-year-old woman — whom authorities identified as Elisabeth F. — and her father on Saturday close to the hospital.

Police said she appeared "greatly disturbed" during questioning. She agreed to talk only after authorities assured her she would no longer have to have contact with her father and that her children would be cared for.

On Sunday evening, police said investigators had found the area where Elisabeth and three of the children were held captive. Investigators said the rooms were at most 5 feet 6 inches feet high. The area had a TV and small hot plates for cooking.

In a chronology of events outlined in a police statement, authorities said Elisabeth told them her father began sexually abusing her when she was 11. She told police that some years later in 1984, he sedated her, handcuffed her and locked her in the cellar.

Police said a letter written by Elisabeth had apparently surfaced a month after her disappearance, asking her parents not to search for her.

The Austria Press Agency reported that the surviving children are three boys and three girls. DNA tests were expected to determine whether Fritzl is the father.

Sunday's developments recalled another case that shocked Austrians in the summer of 2006, when a young woman escaped after being largely confined to a tiny underground dungeon in a quiet Vienna suburb for more than eight years.

Natascha Kampusch was 10 years old when she was kidnapped in Vienna on her way to school in March 1998. Her abductor, Wolfgang Priklopil, threw himself in front of a train just hours after her dramatic escape.

Kampusch, now 20, issued a statement Monday saying she wanted to contact Elisabeth to offer emotional and financial help.

___

Associated Press Writer William J. Kole reported from Vienna.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Madam: Sex too hard to sell these days

chumtastic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:54:41 GMT

HAMBURG, Germany - The oldest bordello in Hamburg's red-light district is shutting down for lack of business, according to newspaper reports published Friday.

The family-run Hotel Luxor, established in 1948, is being sold to an investor and will close down for good next month, madam Waltraud Mehrer said, according to the Hamburg Morgenpost and Bild newspapers.

She blamed the decline in business on easily available Internet porn, the rise of call-girl services, and "noisy discos and dance clubs" on the same street as her business, the newspapers reported.

"You can't make any big money selling sex in St. Pauli any more," she was quoted as saying, referring to the area that includes the red-light district. "The only thing still in operation are the table dance clubs."

The club's heyday was in the 1970s, when it was open 7 days a week, with 12 prostitutes on hand.

"Our customers were well off, they didn't scrimp," she said. "That's also changed today."

Hotel Luxor today employs four prostitutes, and is only open Tuesday through Friday nights.

"Two thousand euros (US$3,080) per night — it was like that once," one of the women, who gave her name only as "Nicole," told the Morgenpost. "Now I can only dream of that. I've been here a year and only earn around euro200 (US$308) per shift."

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 5 replies

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Andy's Home!!!!!!

chumtastic — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:21:45 GMT

the two weeks of moping are over!

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 13 replies

Indonesian masseuses told to padlock pants

chumtastic — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:26:43 GMT

JAKARTA (Reuters) - A bid by a local government in Indonesia's East Java province to curb prostitution by asking masseuses to wear a padlock on their pants was an insult, a newspaper quoted the minister for women's empowerment as saying.

The recently implemented policy in the tourist area of Batu was misguided, State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meuthia Hatta told the Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"It is not the right way to prevent promiscuity. It insults women as if they are the ones in the wrong," Hatta said.

The paper showed a photograph of a masseuse with a padlock on the waist band of her trousers and said the local administration's move was aimed at curbing prostitution and maintaining Batu's image as a popular tourist destination.

The best way to curb prostitution in massage parlours was to improve security systems including installing CCTV, Hatta said.

Batu, 75 km (46 miles) south of Indonesia's second-biggest city, Surabaya, is a popular tourist destination for its cool climate, hot springs and mountain scenery.

Indonesia has a flourishing sex industry and massage parlours are frequently a front for prostitution. But there has been a vigorous debate over morality in recent years, exposing deep divisions in the Southeast Asian Muslim-majority nation.

Last month, Indonesia passed a bill to restrict access to pornographic and violent sites on the Internet, while parliament has yet to pass a controversial pornography bill that aims to shield the young from pornographic material and lewd acts.

Earlier draft versions contained provisions that could jail people for kissing in public and criminalise many forms of art or traditional culture that hinge on sensuality, sparking criticism it could curb freedoms and hurt Indonesia's tolerant traditions.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 1 reply

Ice-cream stick ship sails for England

chumtastic — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:22:51 GMT

DEN OEVER, The Netherlands (Reuters) - A Viking ship made from ice-cream sticks set sail for England from the Netherlands on Tuesday.

The 15-metre (50-foot) long ship, named after the Norse god Thor, is made from 15 million recycled ice-cream sticks glued together by U.S.-born stuntman Robert McDonald, his son and more than 5,000 children.

"If you can dream it you can do it ... I want to teach children that anything is possible," McDonald said.

Badly injured as a child in a gas explosion that killed the rest of his family, he has loaded his ship with cuddly toys and plans to reach London and visit children in hospitals.

He and his crew hope to cross the Atlantic later on the ancient Viking route to North America via Iceland and Greenland.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 1 reply

Italy porn star uses her bottom to attract votes

chumtastic — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:25:56 GMT

ROME (Reuters) - She had no desire to be just another smiling face in Italian politics. So when porn star Milly D'Abbraccio designed her campaign posters, it was obvious she was going to show off her bottom.

Targeting her male fan base, the veteran of Italy's adult entertainment industry has plastered images of her derriere all around the Eternal City in a bid to win a seat in Rome's city hall.

If elected, D'Abbraccio wants to create a red light area with strip clubs, erotic discos and sex shops called "Love City" just kilometres away from the Vatican.

"It would be something cute, clean -- nothing to do with prostitution," said the actress whose films include "The Kiss of the Cobra" and "Paolina Borghese, Imperial Nymphomaniac".

D'Abbraccio, in her 40s, isn't the first adult entertainer to dip her painted toenails into Italian politics. Ilona Staller, known as "Cicciolina", sat in parliament in the 1980s and was famous for her impromptu stripteases.

"It was simpler then," D'Abbraccio said. Public nudity isn't the guaranteed attention-grabber it once was, she noted.

D'Abbraccio hopes to capitalise on increasing disenchantment with Italian politics. The recession-prone nation votes on Sunday and Monday in elections to pick a prime minister as well as lawmakers, mayors and city councillors.

"People don't want to see these politicians' faces anymore," she told Reuters in an interview from her Rome apartment.

She said she was tapping into her popularity among pornography fans as "an act of generosity" to help Italy's socialists, who are fielding her in the municipal race.

"I am the derriere of the Socialist party," she concluded.

Silvio Berlusconi, who leads in opinion polls to become prime minister for a third time, drew scorn recently for saying his party boasted the prettiest women in politics. Critics called him a chauvinist.

D'Abbraccio also objected, but for another reason.

"I think he is wrong, because he lost the prettiest one (me)," said D'Abbraccio, whose campaign and adult professional website is www.millydabbraccio.com.

If D'Abbraccio wins, she says she will represent Romans from the district that is home to Cinecitta studios, Italy's version of Hollywood where classics like "La Dolce Vita" were filmed.

"I will reign over Cinecitta, if I get the votes," she said, reclining on a gold-rimmed, chaise lounge in her living room.

As for experience, D'Abbraccio acknowledges she is a political novice but she did play a powerful lawmaker in an adult film called "L'Onorevole".

"I played the part of the speaker of the lower house of parliament, who got very hot and then let herself go," she said.

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Candy wrappers help police nab suspects

chumtastic — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:24:48 GMT

CINCINNATI - Police in Cincinnati say a trail of candy and wrappers led them to suspects in a break-in at a downtown candy store.

Four people have been charged with breaking and entering. One of the four also has been charged with child endangering.

Police say 19-year-old Christine Ruther had her 7-week-old daughter with her when she and three others broke into Peter Minges (MIHNG'-guhs) & Son candy store Thursday. They are accused of taking about $400 in candy.

The group was arrested a few blocks away.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Panel may rule if sex practices protected

chumtastic — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:24:06 GMT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A Canadian man who claims he was discriminated against as a pagan who practices a form of sadomasochism will get to take his complaint to a human rights tribunal.

An appeals court rejected a bid by Vancouver police on Tuesday to block a hearing on whether Peter Hayes' rights were violated when an officer refused to grant him the permit he needed to get a chauffeur's job.

Hayes complained to British Columbia's Human Rights Tribunal that he was discriminated against because he is a pagan who practices a "BDSM lifestyle" and deserves protection under the human rights code, based on sexual orientation.

BDSM refers to bondage, discipline and submission and sadism and masochism, according to the court documents.

Police went to the courts, arguing the tribunal and a lower court judge erred in agreeing to hear Hayes' complaint because the laws designed to protect the sexual orientation of gays and lesbians did not extend to protecting types of sexual practices.

A B.C. Court of Appeal panel ruled unanimously that the police motion was premature since the tribunal's hearing was to decide what, if any, sexual practices deserved legal protection, and even the tribunal's chairwoman was unsure if the human rights code did that.

"How can the tribunal determine if BDSM falls within the meaning of 'sexual orientation' if it does not have a full understanding of what BDSM means?" Justice Anne Rowles wrote for the three-judge panel.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Man with suicide victim's heart takes own life

kimblueyes — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:38:19 GMT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23984857/?GT1=43001

Wow. Weird.

My guess is maybe he was unhappy in his marriage, since he was 30 years older than his wife. (Just one theory.)

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 2 replies

Woman bites dog who attacked her dog

chumtastic — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:45:03 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS - Amy Rice feared for her dog's life when a pit bull jumped over a fence into her yard and attacked her pooch. So she took matters into her own mouth.

Rice says she bit the pit bull on the nose Friday after trying to pull the dog's jaws off her Labrador retriever, Ella. The dog had jumped a fence to get into Rice's northeast Minneapolis yard, and Rice says she feared the pit bull would kill Ella.

"I didn't plan it, that's what happened. I broke the skin and had pit bull blood in my mouth," said Rice, 38. "I knew what happened, and I knew that it wasn't good."

The pit bull was quarantined Wednesday by Minneapolis Animal Control officers while rabies tests are being completed. Rice's doctor will determine whether she needs shots for rabies.

"I was sure that my dog was dying in my arms; it was horrible," Rice said.

Ella is recovering with staples and stitches to her head and a crushed ear canal, but she is afraid to go for walks, Rice said.

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5th-grader finds mistake at Smithsonian

chumtastic — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:44:01 GMT

ALLEGAN, Mich. - Is fifth-grader Kenton Stufflebeam smarter than the Smithsonian? On a winter break trip with his family to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the 11-year-old southwestern Michigan boy noticed that a notation, in bold lettering, mistakenly identified the Precambrian as an era.

Since it opened in 1981, millions of people have paraded past the museum's Tower of Time, a display involving prehistoric time. Kenton was the first to point out the error.

Kenton, who lives in Allegan but attends Alamo Elementary School near Kalamazoo, said his fifth-grade teacher, John Chapman, had nearly made the same mistake about the Precambrian in a classroom earth-science lesson before catching himself.

"I knew Mr. Chapman wouldn't tell all these students" bad information, the boy told the Kalamazoo Gazette for a story published Wednesday.

So Kevin Stufflebeam took his son to the museum's information desk to report Kenton's concern on a comment form.

Last week, the boy received a letter from the museum acknowledging that his observation was "spot on."

"The Precambrian is a dimensionless unit of time, which embraces all the time between the origin of Earth and the beginning of the Cambrian Period of geologic time," the letter says.

The solution to the problem would not involve advanced science but rather simply painting over the word "era," the note says.

While no previous visitors to the museum had brought up the error, it has long rankled the paleobiology department's staff, who noticed it even before the Tower of Time was erected 27 years ago, said Lorraine Ramsdell, educational technician for the museum.

"The question is, why was it put up with that on it in the first place?" Ramsdell said.

Excited as he was to receive the correspondence from museum officials, he couldn't help but point out that it was addressed to Kenton Slufflebeam.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 7 replies

Andy left for the UK today....

chumtastic — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:06:53 GMT

and will be gone for 15 days.

:(

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 26 replies

Nine-year-olds plotted to tie up, hurt teacher

chumtastic — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:45:53 GMT

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Nine-year-olds at a school in the U.S. state of Georgia brought a broken steak knife, handcuffs and electrical tape to school in a plot to injure their teacher, authorities said on Tuesday.

Teachers at Center Elementary School in Waycross, Georgia, uncovered the plot on Friday when a pupil reported that a child in the third grade had brought a weapon into the school.

"The plan was to handcuff the teacher, put tape over her mouth and hit her over the head with the paperweight and possibly cut her," said Lt. Duane Caswell of Waycross police, adding that some students said the knife was simply there to cut the tape.

"It was a rather elaborate scheme for children of that age," he said.

The students spent a week planning the attack and planned to carry it out on the day they were caught, Caswell said.

Nine pupils in the grade, most of whom were 9 years old, have been disciplined and some were given long-term suspensions, said Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the Ware County school district in the southeastern part of the state.

Caswell said police were also planning to charge three of the children in the juvenile court system with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and possession of a weapon on a school property.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 5 replies

Katrina victims may have to repay money

kikopyeandi — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:31:39 GMT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080329/ap_on_re_us/katrina_collections

Katrina victims may have to repay money

By JOHN MORENO GONZALES, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS - Imagine that your home was reduced to mold-covered wood framing by Hurricane Katrina. Desperate for money to rebuild, you engage in a frustrating bureaucratic process, and after months of living in a government provided-trailer that gives off formaldehyde fumes you finally win a federal grant.
ADVERTISEMENT

Then a collector announces that you have to pay back thousands of dollars.

Thousands of Katrina victims may be in the same boat.

A private contractor under investigation for the compensation it received to run the Road Home grant program for Katrina victims says that in the rush to deliver aid to homeowners in need some people got too much. Now it wants to hire a separate company to collect millions in grant overpayments.

The contractor, ICF International of Fairfax, Va., revealed the extent of the overpayments when it issued a March 11 request for bids from companies willing to handle "approximately 1,000 to 5,000 cases that will necessitate collection effort."

The bid invitation said: "The average amount to be collected is estimated to be approximately $35,000, but in some cases may be as high as $100,000 to $150,000."

The biggest grant amount allowed by the Road Home program is $150,000, so ICF believes it paid some recipients the maximum when they should not have received a penny. If ICF's highest estimate of 5,000 collection cases — overpaid by an average of $35,000 — proves to be true, that means applicants will have to pay back a total of $175 million.

One-third of qualified applicants for Road Home help had yet to receive any rebuilding check as of this past week. The program, which has come to symbolize the lurching Katrina recovery effort, has $11 billion in federal funds.

ICF spokeswoman Gentry Brann said in an e-mail Friday that the overpayment recovery effort was made inevitable when insurance and other aid to Katrina victims was eventually measured against what an applicant received from the Road Home program.

Brann said there was a sense of urgency in paying Road Home applicants, and ICF knew applicants might eventually have to return some money.

"The choice was either to process grants immediately or wait until the March 2008 deadline (for submitting Road Home applications) before disbursing any funds," Brann said in her e-mail.

Brann pointed out that 5,000 collections cases would represent a 4-percent error rate for the Road Home that is "quite good for large federal programs."

Frank Silvestri, co-chair of the Citizen's Road Home Action Team, a group that formed out of frustrations with ICF, sees it far differently.

"They want people to pay for their incompetence and their mistakes. What they need to be is aggressive about finding the underpayments," he said. "People relied, to their detriment, on their (ICFs) expertise and rebuilt their houses and now they want to squeeze this money back out of them."

The prospect of Road Home grant collections comes less than two weeks after the Louisiana inspector general and the legislative auditor said they were investigating why former Gov. Kathleen Blanco paid ICF an extra $156 million in her waning days in office to administer the program. With the increase, ICF stands to earn $912 million to run Road Home, a contract that also sweetened its initial public stock offering, helping it buy out four other companies and enter government contracting in sectors including national defense and the environment.

Paul Rainwater, executive director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the state body that asked for the Blanco-ICF investigations, acknowledged the collections could be painful for applicants, many of whom have used up their nest eggs to rebuild.

"The state must walk a fine line of treating homeowners who have been overpaid with fairness and compassion and ensuring that all federal funds are used for their intended purpose," said Rainwater, an appointee of new Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Upon receiving money from Road Home, grantees sign forms that say they must refund any overpayments.

Melanie Ehrlich, co-chair of Citizen's Road Home Action Team, which has documented Road Home cases that appear littered with mistakes, said she had no confidence that ICF had correctly calculated overpayments. She charged that the company was more likely using collections as retribution against people who had appealed their award amounts in effort to get the aid they deserved.

"I think they are looking for ways to decrease awards and that's part of dissuading people," she said.

Brann said applicants are told an appeal could boost or diminish their award. She called Ehrlich's charge "a totally unfounded assertion."

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 3 replies

Librarian Solves Thefts

kikopyeandi — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:01:20 GMT

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/364889.html

WWU librarian solves thefts
Books from across nation found in Montana home

A Western Washington University librarian’s keen eye and determination led to the arrest of a man suspected of stealing from libraries nationwide, then selling the items on the Internet.

James L. Brubaker, 73, of Great Falls, Mont., was taken into custody Thursday and charged in federal court with interstate transportation of stolen property. Brubaker made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Great Falls, and has a detention hearing Tuesday.

Authorities said they seized approximately 1,000 books during a Dec. 12 search of Brubaker’s home. Those items included four books belonging to WWU, authorities said.

The majority of the books were marked as belonging to some 100 libraries across the country, although authorities did not say whether they had confirmed that all the books were stolen. Brubaker was charged only in the WWU case.

His federal public defender, Evangelo Arvanetes, said Thursday it was too early to comment on the case.

The investigation began in February 2006, when Robert Lopresti, a librarian for the Wilson Library at WWU, noticed large sections missing from a collection of governmental reference books dating back more than 100 years, court records showed.

The investigation determined at least 648 pages of maps and colored plates were missing. The replacement cost was estimated at $21,600.

Lopresti began searching for the documents on the Internet.

“We had no idea it would work, or not, because we had no idea that he would sell them on eBay or not,” Lopresti said in a telephone interview.

Lopresti said he found two federal maps, one of South America and one of New York, listed on eBay that appeared to match ones stolen from his library. He said they had age stains and tears that matched the library’s books.

Working with authorities, Lopresti said he arranged to have two friends on the East Coast purchase the maps, which were forwarded to police. The Washington State Patrol Crime Lab later determined the maps were taken from the library’s books, authorities said. Brubaker’s house was searched after authorities said they identified him as the seller of the items and found a parking ticket he had received while at WWU around the time the books and maps vanished.

During the search, authorities said they found hundreds of maps and lithographs in envelopes ready for sale on the Internet. The FBI said in a statement that Brubaker’s eBay account had more than 550 items listed for sale. Of those, more than 300 were original maps and lithographs. Of the books recovered, about 250 were published before 1900, with some dating back to the mid-1700s.

Lopresti said he was surprised that more libraries had not reported items missing.

He said Western’s library has improved security since the theft.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 2 replies

Sleep.....

Pierced Goddess — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:54:42 GMT

I need a poppy field. Poppies. poppies, poppies.............

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 3 replies

Honey, will you marry... Oh. Never mind...

chumtastic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:55:36 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - It is the one moment every man wants to get right -- and which London floor-fitter Lefkos Hajji could hardly have got more wrong.

The luckless 28 year-old's dreams of giving his sweetheart, Leanne, 26, the ultimate proposal have literally vanished into thin air.

Hajji, of Hackney, east London, had concealed a $12,000 engagement ring inside a helium balloon. The idea was that she would pop the balloon as he popped the question.

But as he left the shop, a gust of wind pulled the balloon from his hand and he watched the ring -- and quite possibly the affections of his girlfriend -- sailing away over the rooftops.

"I couldn't believe it," he told The Sun newspaper.

"I just watched as it went further and further into the air.

"I felt like such a plonker. It cost a fortune and I knew my girlfriend would kill me."

Hajji spent two hours in his car trying to chase and find the balloon, without success.

"I thought I would give Leanne a pin so I could literally pop the question," he said.

"But I had to tell her the story -- she went absolutely mad. Now she is refusing to speak to me until I get her a new ring."

He is hoping the ring will still turn up.

"It would be amazing if someone found it," he added.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 7 replies

When things go adrift....

kikopyeandi — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 21:32:17 GMT

News from my hometown.....

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/255/story/354323.html

MARITIME
Bellingham man’s bag makes 1,000-mile journey
When fishing boat went down, captain made it back; his luggage just took a little longer

JACKSON HOLTZ
FOR THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Jeanne Beaver feared the worst when she and her husband found a rusted, waterlogged ditty bag washed ashore near their remote island home in northern British Columbia.

Beaver wondered that December day if the owner had drowned and the bag had been carried by currents from a faraway shipwreck.

“Boats go down and lose their people,” Beaver, 63, said. “We thought, ‘Oh, my goodness.’”

The bag held shaving gear, a toothbrush, medicine and other toiletries belonging to Norman “Skip” Anderson, now a Bellingham resident. He was captain of the 50-foot fishing boat Esperanza, which sank in August during a fishing trip near the San Juan Islands.

Anderson and his crew got off the boat, which had hit a rock near Haro Strait, and made their way to safety. The vessel was found in pieces on the bottom.

But the bag floated nearly 1,000 miles.

Of course, Beaver had no idea at the time. The bag held a few clues — Anderson’s name was on prescription pill bottles. But the only address she could find was that of a Bellingham dentist printed on a promotional floss package.

So she wrote a letter to Dr. Chuck Farrell.

“We have a rather unusual request,” her letter began. “I wonder if you could contact Mr. Anderson.”

Hundreds of miles from any post office, Beaver packaged some of the contents of the bag and the letter, dated Dec. 5, to a fisherman and asked him to mail it when he made landfall.

The letter arrived at the dentist’s office in early January.

Farrell, 74, was dumbfounded.

“God bless her for taking the trouble to send that,” he said.

Farrell called Anderson and told him to come into the office straightaway. When he got there, Farrell told him he’d better sit down.

“They all came out, one of the patients, two of the assistants and the dentist,” Anderson said. “They’re all staring at me.”

The Beavers live on a floating cabin in Borrowman Bay on the northwestern tip of Aristazabal Island, an otherwise uninhabited outpost near Southeast Alaska, the letter said.

Rick Beaver, 58, was beachcombing when he found the toiletry bag. Most of the items were ruined by salt water, but the prepaid coffee cards might have some value, Jeanne Beaver wrote.

“We sincerely hope it was not a tragic circumstance that led to the loss of these items,” she wrote.

Most likely, the canvas bag drifted west out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and into the Pacific, said Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer who studies items that drift in ocean currents.

Summer winds probably blew the bag south before fall winds pushed it north and currents carried it along the west coast of Vancouver Island, he said. From there it washed up near the Beavers’ home.

“That’s quite a drift,” Ebbesmeyer said. “Usually stuff that falls off vessels is not traceable.”

With no electricity, television, phone lines or Internet access, beachcombing is important to the Beavers.

They’ve furnished much of their 432-square-foot cabin with found items: dishes, bowls and glass fishing floats from Japan.

They’ve responded to messages in bottles from Oregon, Mexico and from someone about to sail into the Panama Canal.

“We’ve never ever heard from anyone back,” Beaver said.

That was until Anderson sent a thank-you note.

Farrell sent one, too, along with a box of chocolates and one of those promotional packages of dental floss.

This story was written by the Everett Herald and is reprinted with permission.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

How to Avoid Wearing out Flip Flops

chumtastic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:59:21 GMT

http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Wearing-out-Flip-Flops

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

How to Make a Duct Tape Top Hat

chumtastic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:58:21 GMT

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Duct-Tape-Top-Hat

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Burned alive for "not washing feet"

chumtastic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:57:42 GMT

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese bride burned her new husband to death after he got into bed after a drunken argument without washing his feet, state media reported on Wednesday.

"Wang and his wife, Luo, were married on February 2. The couple, however, frequently fought over trivial things while still on their honeymoon," the official Xinhua news agency quoted a local newspaper as saying.

The couple, from the central province of Hubei, had another fight on the night of March 4, "and in frustration they together drank a bottle of liquor to ease their anger."

"At about 10 p.m., Luo watched her husband get into bed without cleaning or washing his feet. In a fit of anger and intoxication, she set fire to the sheet he was sleeping in," the report said.

"When he awoke, the two began fighting before a very drunk Wang collapsed. As fire engulfed the bedroom. Luo escaped to the living room, leaving her other half to burn," it added.

The woman has been arrested, Xinhua said.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

State passes droopy pants law

chumtastic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:56:11 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - The Florida Senate wants public school students to pull up their pants. Lawmakers passed a bill Thursday that could mean suspensions for students with droopy britches.

It won't become law unless the House of Representatives passes a companion measure.

Florida could join several southern U.S. towns and cities that have passed "saggy pants" laws aimed at outlawing what some teenagers consider a fashion statement -- wearing pants half way down their buttocks, exposing flesh or underwear.

Supporters say schools sometimes don't properly police dress codes and parents are often "under aware" of what their kids are wearing to school.

Critics say the measure is unnecessary, arguing that appearance and dress codes should be the responsibility of school districts and parents.

Despite being the butt of jokes, the bill's sponsor, Orlando Sen. Gary Siplin, a Democrat, has said the fashion statement has a back-story -- it was made popular by rap artists after first appearing among prison inmates as a signal they were looking for sex.

"All we're trying to do now is trying to inform folks that we have a fad now that does not have a very good origination," Siplin said. "We're trying to make an example in school," he added, saying it would help students get jobs and a degree.

The Florida city of Riviera Beach passed its own saggy pants law Tuesday, with a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail for repeat offenders

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Illinois-shaped corn flake for sale

chumtastic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:53:56 GMT

CHICAGO - Sounds a little flaky, but someone has offered more than $50 on eBay for a piece of breakfast cereal that is touted as a lookalike to the state of Illinois.

Two sisters listed "The Great Illinois Corn Flake" on the online auction site, promising it has undergone no alterations.

Emily McIntire, a 15-year-old sophomore in high school from Chesapeake, Va., said she was grabbing fistfuls of cereal on her way to class when she found the flake.

"It was almost to my mouth, it didn't look like Illinois at first because it was held the wrong way," said McIntire, but then she noticed the resemblance and said, "Oh my goodness, it's Illinois."

Her 23-year-old sister, Melissa, said their parents suggested selling it for fun. They're offering free shipping to Illinois.

"At the moment it's residing in a fine jewelry box with a lot of cotton wrapped around it to keep it safe," said Melissa McIntire.

The McIntire sisters say they've decided to use the proceeds from the eBay sale to buy more boxes of Frosted Flakes.

"We've got to replace the one we've already sold," Melissa McIntire said. "We like cereal."

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

Millions of bees loose on Calif. highway

chumtastic — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:53:18 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Millions of swarming honey bees are on the loose after a truck carrying crates of the insects flipped over on a California highway.

The California Highway Patrol says 8-to-12 million bees escaped Sunday from the crates in which they were stored and swarmed over an area of Highway 99 and stung officers, firefighters and tow truck drivers trying to clear the accident.

CHP Officer Michael Bradley says a tractor trailer flipped over while entering the highway on its way to Yakima, Wash. The flatbed was carrying bee crates each filled with up to 30,000 bees.

Bradley says several beekeepers driving by the accident stopped to assist in the bee wrangling.

The bees had been used in the San Joaquin Valley to pollinate crops.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 0 replies

hi!

chumtastic — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:29:44 GMT

sorry it's been a million years since i have been here... my friend's wedding is over and andy's b-day was last night. i can finally start relaxing.

what's been going on?

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 16 replies

Best movie you've seen lately?

lindabelly — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:59:31 GMT

I really liked "Into the Wild". I may not have agreed with why the character did what he did, but I liked the way the story unfolded.

What have you enjoyed lately?

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 15 replies

:(

cherokeed — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:13:40 GMT

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1974055/posts

not sure where the discussion is on this.

and chum if you want to delete it that is fine if you dont want this crap here... but it is bothering me something awful and i wanted to know where people were talking about it.

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 14 replies

Keep tortoises in the fridge for winter

chumtastic — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:04:22 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - Warm winters may be rousing hibernating pet tortoises early and endangering their lives but there is a solution, experts say -- keep them through the winter in the fridge.

Tortoise experts say unseasonably warm weather has woken many of the reptiles early, leaving their owners needing to keep them warm through any new cold snaps that could kill them.

"The fridge is an ideal method and a proven way of being safe in a changing climate," said Joy Bloor, owner of one of country's largest sanctuaries, the Tortoise Garden in Cornwall, where dozens of tortoises have woken early this year.

"It is becoming a more popular method definitely."

Tortoises hibernate through the winter but need to keep their body temperature between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius. If it rises above that, they wake up, begin digesting food and will die if the temperature falls again.

Experts recommend using a new fridge with a reliable thermostat -- and without a freezer compartment as fridges containing integral freezers can malfunction, freezing the whole unit and any tortoises within.

"If you open the door every day they should get enough air," she said. "But you shouldn't go away on holiday and leave them."

Bloor says using a fridge is not an option for her -- she has some 400 animals, several more than 100 years old, and no refrigerator large enough.

In any case, once the tortoises have woken, they cannot simply be put a fridge -- once the hibernation has been broken, the fall in temperature would kill them.

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"And wait'll you see all the closet space!"

chumtastic — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:34:34 GMT

LONDON (Reuters) - An estate agent who took a prospective buyer to view a house in central England found the owner hanging dead in a closet, the agency said Thursday.

It was the first viewing of the 350,000-pound ($700,000) house which had been on the market for a week. The owner was hanging from a belt inside a walk-in closet in the main bedroom.

"It was quite a shock," said a spokesman for estate agents Hartleys. "Our agent quickly ushered everyone out, locked the property and called the authorities."

The owner, a single man in his 40s, is thought to have committed suicide. He inherited the house from his mother who died recently, the estate agents said.

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so, what's new?

chumtastic — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:24:42 GMT

how are things?

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 15 replies

the big 30

temptress_deborah — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:15:59 GMT

so our lovely chummy turns 30 on sunday - what are your plans sweetheart? wish I could be there to celebrate with you! xoxooxoxo

posted in Chummy's Weird World of Sass and Chiffon - 24 replies

Beer gets seatbelt. Child doesn't

chumtastic — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:02:59 GMT

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - Police have arrested a motorist they say had a 24-pack of beer strapped in with a seat belt but had a 16-month-old girl unrestrained in the back seat with the toddler's mother.

Tina D. Williams was pulled over in St. Augustine on Sunday for allegedly running a red light.

A 24-pack of Busch beer was strapped in with the passenger-side seat belt, according to an arrest report. The girl was in the back seat with 20-year-old Amber Tedrick, who is the toddler's mother.

Williams, 46, said she didn't know why the child wasn't restrained.

Williams refused to take a breath test and a deputy found two metal pipes commonly used to smoke drugs in her purse, authorities said.

Williams was charged with driving under the influence, child abuse, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving without a license, a jail official said. She remained in the St. Johns County jail Tuesday after bail was set at $31,000.

The jail did not have the name of her attorney. It was not clear if Tedrick would face any charges, but the child was released to her care, according to The Florida Times-Union.

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Court: Mom can't sue over circumcision

chumtastic — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:22:24 GMT

ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled that a mother who didn't like the way her baby's circumcision looked cannot sue a Fridley hospital for medical malpractice.

Dawn Nelson sued Unity Hospital and Dr. Steven Berestka, claiming the doctor removed "the most erogenous tissue" after the boy was born on Jan. 21, 2000 — without consulting either parent. Nelson and the boy's father, David Nelson, were unhappy with the result.

But the Appeals Court noted in its Tuesday decision that the mother indicated on a prenatal form that the baby should be circumcised.

Attorney Zenas Baer, who is representing the mother and son, said he was disappointed with the court ruling.

He said federal regulations say there has to be a signed informed consent form before any surgery — and he argued that a checked-off box on a form regarding circumcision is beside the point, saying "isn't the mom allowed to change her mind?"

Baer said his client plans to appeal.

Dawn Nelson initially sued the doctor, alleging assault and battery and negligence. That claim was settled separately. The claims against Unity Hospital and its parent company, Allina Health System, went forward.

Nelson claimed the hospital had a duty to verify that the doctor obtained informed consent and she claimed the hospital had been deceptive or misleading in its informed consent policy.

A Hennepin County judge disagreed and dismissed the case. The appellate court affirmed the lower court decision.

As for the child, another surgeon "performed a revision for cosmetic purposes" shortly after the initial circumcision, the ruling said.

Mark Whitmore, an Allina attorney, said the company was pleased with the ruling.

According to Baer's Web site, he "contributes substantial amounts of time to ending the barbaric practice of routine infant male circumcision worldwide, insuring genital integrity for all citizens of the world."

___

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Rescuers free boy stuck in washer

chumtastic — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:05:09 GMT

DOVER, Ohio - Talk about an oversized load: A 4-year-old boy got stuck when he climbed into his family's top-loading washing machine, and firefighters had to use a metal cutter to slice into the appliance to get him out.

Donovan Hasseman, who wasn't hurt, was wedged up against the agitator with a knee folded against his chest, while the machine was empty and not running Sunday night, Dover Fire Capt. Mike Mossor said.

Firefighters responding to a 911 call from the boy's mother tried to help him wriggle out, but he couldn't move, Mossor said. The owner of an appliance store was then called in for advice on how to take the washer apart.

The fire department wound up using its hydraulic "jaws-of-life" tool normally used to remove crash victims from wrecked vehicles to cut through the machine's walls and plastic tub.

The child cried and screamed at times while stuck but was calm once he was freed, Mossor said.

A hospital looked him over then released him, and he was given a stuffed bear which the family has named Agitator.

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Man convicted of sending penis photo by phone

chumtastic — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:03:35 GMT

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 21-year-old German man has been convicted of sending a photograph of his penis to an unknown woman via mobile phone, authorities said on Wednesday.

"We all had a bit of a laugh when we saw the thing," said Christian Kropp, presiding judge at the court in the eastern town of Sondershausen.

The woman reported the sender to police after receiving the photo attachment of the man's genitals, the court said. Officers found evidence he may have sent similar images to other women.

The man did not explain his motive but expressed remorse for the photo, Kropp said. He was fined 150 euros ($220) for distributing pornographic material.

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Teacher To Student: "You Were Good"

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:11:19 GMT

Cops: Mississippi woman had sex with boy, 15, in her white Jaguar

JANUARY 30--A Mississippi teacher admitted to cops that she had sex with a 15-year-old male student to whom she sent explicit text messages and trysted with in her Jaguar, which bore the license plate "GRRRRR." Those are just some of the sleazy details in a Biloxi Police Department report detailing Rebecca Dawn Bogard's alleged sexual assault of the boy, who the 27-year-old educator taught at the Biloxi Alternative School (which is described in the January 18 report, which you'll find below, as a school for troubled teens). According to the document, Bogard referred to the teenager as "her little 'sex fiend'" in one text message. Investigators were contacted by the boy's mother after she discovered raunchy messages on the boy's phone, including one from a "Dawn" who wrote, "I love you, yeah it was the best, which night was the best 4 you, I'm sensitive but not sore, you were good..." Bogard, pictured in the mug shot at right, is facing felony sexual battery charges. She has been suspended with pay and is free on $50,000 bail. (2 pages)

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0130082biloxi1.html?link=rssfeed

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For the mature woman who has everything: a boy toy

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:12:17 GMT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wanted: rich older women interested in hot younger guys. Applicants must be over 35, earn at least $500,000 a year or have a minimum of $4 million in liquid assets, entrusted assets or divorce settlement.

That's the basis of a speed-dating event organized by a New York entrepreneur bringing together 20 "sugar mamas" and 20 "boy toys" vetted by an elite New York matchmaker.

"Symbiosis has allowed ugly rich men to attract young, gorgeous, money-hungry women for centuries; it's now the women's turn," proclaims pocketchangenyc.com, the Web site that Jeremy Abelson is using to promote the event.

Set to take place at Manhattan's 230 Fifth club on February 7, it has attracted more than just wealthy divorcees. Nancy Richards, 50, is the owner of a marketing firm and a theater producer in New York and London.

"Is it truly what I am looking for? No. Is it an option? Why not? In New York City anything goes," Richards said with a laugh.

Speed-dating pairs up prospective couples for face-to-face meetings that last just a few minutes. The partners rotate over the course of the evening, allowing participants to make the acquaintance of many potential partners.

"I find younger guys will usually be totally into you while older guys will be looking over your shoulder at a younger woman," said Gail Garrison, 44, a fashion designer and former model.

"Younger men expect an older woman to be more accomplished. They are looking for you because you are intelligent. They are not looking for a mother," she said.

Abelson, 27, calls it "Natural Selection Speed Date II: Sugar Mamas & Boy Toys." He came up with the idea after drawing criticism from feminists for organizing an event last year that paired wealthy older men with young women.

More than 5,000 men applied for a place in this year's event. Twenty finalists were selected.

"I think for men it is an incredible fantasy (to be with an older woman)," Abelson said. "Older women are more experienced and they know what they want."

The prospective boy toys -- who had to be under 35 -- were screened by Janice Spindel, billed as New York's most exclusive matchmaker.

"I really think a lot of people will connect," Spindel said. "Age is just a number, and some people are unlisted."

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Coke bottle coffins, Made In Ghana

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:15:45 GMT

ACCRA (AFP) - Michael Essien and Sulley Muntari aren't the only speciality products to be branded Made In Ghana, hosts of the 2008 African Nations Cup.

Take the coast road from downtown Accra, past the plush four star hotel where first round casualties Morocco set up home, and you come to the bustling suburb of Teshie.

Here, beside the 'Opel doctor' car repair shop, is a business that it's fair to say is unique in this world.

Climb up the rickety wooden stairs of Paa Joe Works and you enter a surreal world of bespoke coffins - but not just any old coffins.

Jostling for space in this most unusual of all showrooms are elaborately decorated burial caskets in the shape of an aeroplane, lion, cucumber, tomato, lobster, shoe, snake, a World War Two gun, a white Mercedes Benz, or Coke bottle.

"We have customers from all round the world. The idea is that you order a coffin to reflect what the person has done in their life," explains manager Emmanuel Doku.

"So the lobster could be for a fisherman, the cucumber for a grocer, the aeroplane for someone who has worked in the airline industry, or perhaps who used to fly a lot for his job."

"We had an order a while ago for a football for a 19-year-old local player," added the retired 66-year-old military officer and father of ten.

"We get orders from all over the world," added Doku, who used to play in midfield for Ghana's army team.

"These coffins are only made in Ghana. The tradition started back in the 1950s, now there are five workshops in Accra."

As Doku spoke, below him in the workshop an employee was chiselling away at a whale.

Asked about the most unusual design Doku's company has been commissioned to produce Doku, without a second's hesitation, said: "That's easy, it was back in 1992. A German doctor called us and ordered the womb of a woman."

To confirm the unusual request he then opened a drawer of his desk and pulled out a small cardboard box containing a plastic model of the said body part sent by the good doctor as a guide.

Explaining how it all began Doku, who believes Ghana will win the Nations Cup title, said: "It was all started by a man called Ataa Owuo. When his grandmother died he realised that the old lady had never travelled before.

"So he made an aeroplane coffin to take her to heaven."

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How to Make a Salvador Dali Clock

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:18:10 GMT

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Salvador-Dali-Clock

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Rescue group: Please adopt donkeys

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:14:55 GMT

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Instead of finding homes for abandoned dogs or cats, one animal rescue group is asking Minnesotans to adopt donkeys. Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue has more than 1,000 donkeys, including abused and neglected domestic donkeys and wild burros.

Most of the organization's adopted donkeys are kept at sanctuaries in western states such as California. But Peaceful Valley would like to find Midwest landowners willing to serve as satellite adoption centers, meaning they would agree to foster six donkeys at a time and find adoptive homes for them, said Vice President Rachael Komulainen, a Bemidji native.

Peaceful Valley also hopes to eventually get landowners to donate land for a Midwest sanctuary, Komulainen said.

The landowners provide fencing, shelter and care for the animals and are reimbursed for hay, vaccinations and other costs.

Komulainen said some people question whether donkeys really need to be rescued.

"Our society — we have really looked down upon the donkey, and it's really a shame," Komulainen said, adding that donkeys have little monetary value and are often neglected.

Donkeys are gentle, intelligent, social animals and don't deserve their reputation for stubbornness, she said.

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Man struggles to return from the dead

chumtastic — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:13:25 GMT

WARSAW (Reuters) - Red tape is preventing a Polish man from returning from the dead.

Piotr Kucy, 38 and from the city of Polkowice in southwest Poland, was wrongly identified by authorities last August as a drowned man, only to show up a few days after his own funeral.

Despite pointing out the fact that he was alive to government officials, Kucy still remains dead in official records, stopping him from working and paying social insurance.

But on the bright side, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday, he no longer needs to pay taxes.

"We are nearly through January, and my documents still say I'm dead," Kucy told Gazeta Wyborcza, adding: "It's a bit of a joke." But a registry office official was adamant about the situation. "This citizen does not exist," she told the paper.

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What are you doing here? - man asks wife at brothel

chumtastic — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:32:01 GMT

WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees. Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.

"I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper Wednesday.

The couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing, the newspaper reported.

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The Crappiest Neighbor Ever

chumtastic — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Cops: Wisconsin man let loose on baby clothes, bedding, shoes

JANUARY 18--A Wisconsin man who allegedly defecated on the clothing and shoes of neighbors was charged yesterday with the repulsive, month-long soiling spree. Ronnie Ballard, 19, is facing misdemeanor charges for ruining the items, which were in the laundry room and hallways of a Madison apartment building that is next door to Ballard's residence. According to a criminal complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court, Ballard defecated on two occasions in a washing machine, ruining a comforter, baby clothing, and other garments. Ballard, pictured in the mug shot at right, is also charged with defecating in the tennis shoes and boots of building residents, who had left the footwear outside their apartment doors. The complaint, a copy of which you'll find below, quotes one resident's reaction when she discovered the ruined sneakers: "He shit in someone's Reebok." The document adds that Felicia Walton, owner of the sneakers, "had not given anyone permission to defecate in her shoes and she was disturbed." As first reported by the Wisconsin State Journal, Ballard was apprehended after a neighbor confronted him in the laundry room and followed him home. At the time of his arrest, Ballard was out on bail on a lewd and lascivious behavior charge from Lincoln County (he is currently being held on $1400 bail at the Dane County lockup). As the Journal's Ed Treleven reported, during a court appearance yesterday, Court Commissioner Todd Meurer "ordered Ballard to only defecate in toilets." (4 pages)

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0118081def1.html

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