TWW'S CRAZY NEWS STORIES

[TexasStooge]

Cosmonaut Aims to Hit Golf Ball in Space

By MIKE SCHNEIDER, Associated Press Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - There won't be a fairway or a green in sight, and it's a far cry from Augusta National, but the international space station could be turned into a driving range this summer.

Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, who took over command of the space station last week, hopes to hit a gold-plated golf ball during an August spacewalk.

Because of zero gravity, Vinogradov's drive will make golf's long-distance hitters like John Daly look positively feeble. The ball, equipped with a tracking device, is expected to remain in orbit for several years.

The low drive from the space station — which travels at 17,000 mph, 250 miles above Earth — is a publicity stunt for Element 21 Golf Co., a Canadian-based golf club manufacturer.

NASA officials met on Tuesday to review the safety of the stunt, which already has been approved by the Russian space agency. NASA is expected to make a decision at a later date.

"Being a golfer, I'm interested in it, too," Kirk Shireman, NASA's space station deputy program manager, said recently. "But we're absolutely going to make sure it's a safe thing to do before we execute it."

NASA officials want to make sure a bad slice or hook won't send the golf ball careening into the spacecraft, or that a bad backswing or follow-through won't cause Vinogradov to strike the station with his six-iron.

Vinogradov has practiced driving the ball in his baggy spacesuit in a training pool and in an airplane that simulates weightlessness.

Element 21 Golf paid the Russian space agency an undisclosed amount to allow the stunt. Golf balls, the six-iron and a special platform were delivered to the space station in October.

The company says it wants to publicize its new line of golf clubs and commemorate the 35th anniversary of the time astronaut Alan Shepard hit golf balls on the moon during the Apollo 14 mission.

Certain adjustments for zero gravity were made. The company designed a special platform in which Vinogradov can hook his feet and a tee that spirals around the ball to hold it in place. Because of Vinogradov's bulky spacesuit, his swing will be one-handed.

"Golf is not a Russian game at all," said Nataliya Hearn, the company's president and chief executive. "It probably would have been easier for Pavel to hit with a hockey stick."

Russia's cash-strapped space agency has allowed three space tourists aboard the space station for $20 million each and once charged PepsiCo $5 million to have cosmonauts float a replica of a soda can outside the Mir space station. The Russians also allowed Pizza Hut to paint its logo on a rocket and have a pizza delivered to the space station.

___________________________________________________________

ALSO ONLINE:

NASA

Element 21 Golf Co.

[TexasStooge]

Teletubbie: I've Got A Gun

BOSTON, Mass. (TheSanDiegoChannel.com) - A Teletubbie with a terrible message has a mother in Massachusetts shocked and angry.

The Tinky Winky doll was a gift for a 2-year-old's birthday.

It says he has a gun and then laughs.

The manufacturers of Teletubbies recalled the dolls six years ago because other dolls were saying bad messages.

They say this doll was either resold or somehow slipped through the cracks of the recall.

The company is sending a new Tinky Winky to the little boy.

[rainstorm]

Cop sees psychic in PM death threat?

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian police officer has been suspended while authorities investigate a newspaper report that he asked a psychic for help with enquiries into a death threat made to Prime Minister John Howard.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Monday it was investigating the matter, but declined to give details.

"The AFP investigates all allegations of the unlawful release of information seriously," the AFP said, adding that it does not condone the use of psychics in security matters.

The Sun-Herald newspaper reported on Sunday that the officer consulted a clairvoyant in the rural town of Cooma in New South Wales state for leads on an apparent threat to assassinate Howard.

"The government must now investigate how this B-grade movie script could have played out in real life," main opposition Labor's security spokesman, Arch Bevis, said in a statement.

The AFP said the suspended officer had not been part of Howard's personal police security team.

very odd indeed

[TexasStooge]

Man: Jaywalking leads to police harassment

By REBECCA LOPEZ / WFAA ABC 8

DALLAS, Texas - A Dallas man said he was punched, kicked, maced, arrested and spent 11 days in jail for jaywalking. He also said the violent run-in with the officers wasn't his last.

The first incident took place in October, and then a few months later Todd Lyon said it happened again.

Lyon said he and his 14-year-old son got off the train at the West End and crossed the tracks along with several other people.

"We went with the flow...," he said. "So, if we jaywalked so did everyone else. Out of all the people that crossed they seemed to single us out."

Even though they made it across safely, a DART officer ordered them to come back across, which put them in possible danger, Lyon said. According to DART's own report, a southbound train was in motion at the time.

When Lyon and his son declined, they said two officers attacked them. Lyon said he believes it was his long hair that made him a target.

"They grabbed my hand...then my hair and then made derogotory remarks about my hair," he said.

A witness said what he saw next stunned him.

"I saw another officer come in from the right hand side and throw a closed fisted punch at him," Steven Betzen said.

According to a police report, officers ordered Lyon to place his hands behind his back, but when he refused they sprayed him with mace. Lyon said he was thrown to the ground "knees and elbows first."

"I am kicked on the side [and] kneed in the back," he said. "I am maced, handcuffed and laying face down on the pavement."

Officers then kicked Lyon's son, Betzen said.

"At no time did they resist arrest," he said. "In fact, there was no threat at all to the police officers."

Lyon spent 11 days in jail and was ordered by DART police to stay out of the West End station, which didn't mean he was banned from the West End.

On St. Patrick's Day, Lyon said he returned to the West End to celebrate but was taunted by officers. Lyon said they chased him and once again roughed him up.

"I am doing every thing I can to comply and they mace me in the face, and here we go again," he said.

DART police said he was trespassing. They also released what they said was a complete report on the incidents. However, in the first report it didn't even mention Lyon's son. They also left out the fact that DART police left the teenager alone at the West End after taking his father to jail.

DART police also sent a statement saying DART's internal affairs unit believes the officers followed all policies and procedures.

[TexasStooge]

Court: Ads Violate Filmmakers' Integrity

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - A Swedish appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a TV station violated the artistic integrity of two filmmakers by interrupting their movies with commercial breaks.

Swedish director and screenwriter Vilgot Sjoman, who died Sunday, had sued TV4 along with director Claes Eriksson after it interrupted their movies in 2002 with several commercial breaks.

The two movies, Sjoman's "Alfred" and Eriksson's "The Shark Who Knew Too Much" were made before Swedish broadcasting laws allowed commercial stations to interrupt movies with advertisements, and the Svea Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling saying the station violated the directors' integrity and copyright, since they had not given permission for the breaks.

Eriksson, who has produced several popular comedies in Sweden, said the ruling was a personal victory for him and Sjoman, whose provocative and sexually explicit films stirred controversy in the 1960s. Sjoman died at the age of 81 Sunday at a Stockholm hospital of complications from a brain hemorrhage.

"He would have been incredibly happy," Eriksson told public broadcaster SVT after the ruling was announced. "This has taken four years of our time, and it is good that it was not been in vain."

The ruling means Eriksson can seek damages from TV4, but is likely to have little effect on Swedish broadcasters. Since 2002, TV4 and many other stations have started signing agreements with directors that allow for commercial breaks during their movies.

TV4 said it may appeal the decision to the Swedish Supreme Court.

[TexasStooge]

Elephant Eats Scores of Cookies, Gets Sick

By DILIP GANGULY, Associated Press Writer

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka's most celebrated elephant, "Raja," has fallen ill after eating scores of cookies, chocolates and other rich food offered to him as part of Buddhist new year celebrations.

Thousands of worshippers have visited Raja at Colombo's 150-year-old Gangaramaya Temple in recent days ahead of the new year celebrations starting Thursday.

Many have offered Raja, named for the word meaning king in both Sinhalese and Tamil, homemade cookies deep fried in coconut oil, chocolates, rice cooked in thick milk and fermented slices of sweet pineapple, monks who care for him said Tuesday.

At dawn Tuesday, monks found Raja writhing in pain with tears in his eyes.

Monks, a veterinarian and the chief of zoology at Colombo University attended to Raja, 45, who retched and thrashed about in discomfort in his sandy enclosure.

"He likes eating and yesterday many people came and offered him all sorts of things," said Kirinde Assaji, the 37-year-old monk who led efforts to help Raja.

Elephant's mostly eat vegetation, and their digestive system can not easily cope with rich or processed foods, veterinarians said.

"We presume he has got a severe infection through bad food and is unable to purge normally," said Tissa Ratnasuriya of Colombo University's Zoology Department. "The cookies ... literally are soaked in oil and those were given to Raja. He is under severe pain."

For centuries, aristocratic families in Sri Lanka kept elephants captured from the wild. The presence of an elephant, preferably a bull elephant like Raja, is common at big Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka, where Buddhism is the majority religion.

A century ago, 10,000 to 15,000 elephants roamed wild in Sri Lanka, but today only about 3,000 remain, largely because of poaching and loss of habitat.

The monks on Tuesday hung a handwritten notice by Raja's enclosure that read: "Do not feed the elephant."

[TexasStooge]

Owner to Get Back Motorcycle Taken

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Authorities recovered a motorcycle that was stolen in 1971 and plan to return it to its original owner this week.

The 1970 Yamaha was about to be shipped overseas to a Finnish man who bought it for $1,725 on eBay in September, authorities said Monday. During the shipping process, the vehicle identification number turned up in the database of the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Long Beach police still had the theft report and tracked down the original owner, Phillip McKeen, who lives in New England. Police officials plan to return the 360cc bike to McKeen on Wednesday.

"Incredible," said McKeen, an American Airlines pilot. "It's as if a friend you hadn't seen for 30 years walked back into your life but hadn't aged a day."

The 35-year-old bike has just 9,380 miles on the odometer.

Neither the Finnish buyer nor the seller, a Visalia resident, were suspected of wrongdoing, authorities said.

A similar case unfolded in January when a Corvette that had been stolen in 1969 was recovered as it was about to be shipped to Sweden through the Port of Los Angeles, said Mike Fleming of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

[TexasStooge]

Eight brides for eight sailors

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI, Fla. (Reuters) - Eight U.S. sailors at a Florida naval station fraudulently married Polish and Romanian women in order to collect extra housing allowances, according to federal charges filed on Tuesday.

The women did not live with their Navy husbands, but used the sham marriages to apply for U.S. citizenship, U.S. Attorney Paul Perez said in a news release.

The sailors, seven of whom are still in the Navy, were all stationed at the Mayport naval station in northeast Florida.

They were charged with conspiracy, marriage fraud and making false claims to the government to collect $35,000 worth of extra housing allowances.

The tax-free allowances for off-base housing are based partly on marital status and number of dependents.

"They only married them so they could collect that money," said Steve Cole, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The women were also charged with marriage fraud and authorities were investigating whether they violated immigration laws, he said.

A federal probe began in September when a sailor told the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that another sailor offered him the extra housing allowance in exchange for marrying a Polish woman. He said the sailor who acted as matchmaker collected $6,000 from the bride.

The sailors were assigned to the USS John F. Kennedy, an aircraft carrier, and the USS Simpson, a frigate. Five assigned to the Kennedy were in custody on Tuesday and arrest warrants were issued for the others. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison on each count.

[TexasStooge]

Woman loses "Lotto Rapist" compensation appeal

LONDON, England (Reuters) - The elderly victim of a convicted rapist lost a legal bid Wednesday to make the attacker pay compensation after he won millions on Britain's national lottery while in prison.

But her legal representatives said they would appeal to the House of Lords -- the country's highest court.

Iorworth Hoare, dubbed the "Lotto rapist" by the media, had no money when he went to jail for life in 1989.

He spent 16 years in jail and while on weekend leave from prison in 2004 prior to his release he bought a lottery ticket which netted him 7 million pounds ($12.29 million).

His 77-year-old victim had argued Hoare should be made to pay for his "violent and disgusting sexual assault" that left her mentally scarred.

But the appeal was rejected.

At a previous High Court case, a judge ruled Hoare did not have to pay compensation because the woman had made her appeal outside the normal six-year time limit to sue for damages. The judges Wednesday said they were bound to that decision.

Mrs A -- who cannot be named for legal reasons -- says she still suffers from the mental torture she endured from serial rapist Hoare's brutal assault on her.

Her lawyer Alan Newman said she was 59 when Hoare attacked her as she walked in a Leeds park in broad daylight in February 1988.

He said Hoare was guilty of a series of sexual assaults on women, including at least two rapes, and was jailed for life at Leeds Crown Court in 1989 for the attempted rape of Mrs A.

She did not sue him for damages at the time because he had no money and any judgment would have been worthless. She received 5,000 pounds from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.

[TexasStooge]

Here come the rat-tailed maggot?

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Rat-tailed maggots, every bit as ugly as they sound, have been popping out of basins, toilets and taps across Cape Town, sparking a citywide panic that health officials tried Wednesday to calm.

Ivan Toms, director of health for the South African tourist mecca, said the risk the water supply was infested was slim.

"The water is chlorinated and filtered and comes from dams in the mountains where it is extremely unlikely that this maggot would be found," he said in a statement.

The body of the aquatic brownish larva can grow up to 2.5 cm (an inch) long, with a rat-like tail that can be twice that length and in fact serves as a breathing tube.

It later metamorphosises into the brightly colored drone fly, which looks like a honey bee and feeds on pollen.

The maggots are usually found in stagnant water and the drone fly -- possibly on the increase in the city -- may have laid its eggs inside hand-basin pipes, Toms said.

If swallowed, the cylindrical, crush-resistant grub-like body was unlikely to cause major health problems, he said.

"Since the rat tailed maggot is quite large and clearly visible to the naked eye, it is highly unlikely that it would be ingested in the first place," he added.

[TexasStooge]

Time for the annual Easter crime wave

By James Kilner

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) - It's murder in Norway at Easter.

Rushing off to their mountain cabins for one last ski before the snow melts, Norwegians are also stocking up on thrillers for a national tradition known as "Easter Crime."

Sales of crime books jump around 500 percent in the week leading up to Easter, estimates bookshop chain Tanum, while television and radio programmers schedule back-to-back thrillers over the Easter break, which in Norway lasts 5-1/2 days.

"People sit inside their cabins, watch crime on television and then read crime books at night," said book reviewer Ane Farsethaas, who prefers 19th century British detective Sherlock Holmes to the modern thrillers most of her compatriots devour.

"It's a very Norwegian thing to do," she said.

Nobody knows when the Norwegian tradition of crime telling at Easter began, but their warrior ancestors -- the Vikings -- were renowned for raiding trips to the British Isles.

On their return the Vikings would settle down with flasks of mead, an alcoholic drink made from honey, and recount tales of murder and pillage to their women and children.

This April, Tanum's top 10 bestsellers are all crime novels, headed by Swede Stieg Larsson's new book "Men Who Hate Women."

"I think it's something to do with being in your cabin," Lars Slethov a 28-year-old student, said. "You come back from a day's skiing and relax in your cabin by watching crime on television and then reading it later."

Log cabins dot Norway's rugged countryside -- covered by forests, mountains and deep fjords -- and are used by Norwegians to escape from the towns at weekends and holidays.

The United Nations has rated Norway the best place to live in the world for the last five years. Oil revenues ensure its people are among the richest in the world and they enjoy one of the lowest crime rates.

Hanne Roer, 30, was heading off to a library to pick up a handful of crime novels before leaving Oslo for Easter.

"I really don't ever normally read crime novels," she said. "It's just at Easter, it's a sort of tradition."

[TexasStooge]

Coffee shop job: good pay, bad commute

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada is willing to pay top dollar so that its soldiers in Afghanistan are served the kind of coffee and treats they crave.

So well, in fact, that Brigitte Smiley, spokeswoman for the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency, said at least 100 Canadians have applied for 15 jobs at the soon-to-open Tim Hortons Inc. coffee shop at Canada's military base at Kandahar.

Tim Hortons is an extremely popular coffee and baked goods chain in Canada.

While Canadian fast food jobs often pay the minimum wage of about C$8 ($7) an hour, the successful Kandahar candidates will earn double that, plus a tax-free allowance of C$1,800 a month. Food and accommodation are free.

The military is looking for applicants who have already worked at a Tim Hortons -- Canada's largest coffee shop chain -- although Smiley said few would have military experience.

The military support agency is setting up the Tim Hortons in response to demand from Canada's 2,200 troops in Afghanistan, who are homesick for their Tims coffee and doughnut fix.

About 5,000 soldiers from other countries are also based in Kandahar and the agency expects about 2,500 people to visit Tim Hortons, Kandahar, each day.

[TexasStooge]

Scandal reveals underworld of gossip

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A full-scale tabloid war has erupted in New York over the integrity of the people who produce what you might not believe anyway -- gossip.

The New York Post's Page Six is the widely acknowledged king of gossip with its daily dose of inside dish on the rich and famous.

But the column itself generated more gossip than any who-was-seen-where-with-which-starlet item when accusations surfaced last week that a contributor may have offered to keep a billionaire off the page in exchange for money -- lots of money.

In the resulting scandal, the rival New York Daily News and the venerable New York Times have dedicated vast space revealing how the gossip industry in some corners of the business really works.

Gossip writers sometimes enter quasi-business relations with people they write about. Others accept gifts such as trips with first-class accommodations. Some protect sources who dish dirt on rival stars, and sourcing is often spotty.

"I am shocked, shocked that a gossip columnist might get a free hotel room," Lou Colasuonno, a former editor-in-chief for the Post and the Daily News, said facetiously, mimicking the famous line about gambling from the movie Casablanca.

"Gossip columnists are catered to by a lot of interests, by the rich and famous, and they don't pay for a lot of meals. The journalistic rules are suspended for the gossip column, but not to the extreme of extortion," Colasuonno said, adding that he presumed innocence for the writer caught up in the scandal.

The story erupted after Post contributor Jared Paul Stern was caught on videotape offering various "levels of protection" for Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle. When Burkle asked "How much do you want?" Stern asked for $100,000 up front and $10,000 a month.

Stern said he was innocent and expected to be exonerated and reinstated by the Post, which suspended him pending an investigation. He said the video -- taken by Burkle's security team and seen by and reported on by the Post's rivals -- was selectively edited and that the money referred to legitimate business negotiations.

RULES OF THE GAME

As for the mock furor over the gossip industry, Stern said, "All of that stuff has been blown out of proportion."

"If you're writing a gossip column, it's just different and shouldn't be held to the same standards as reporting on the war in Iraq," Stern said.

At the rival Daily News, gossip columnist Lloyd Grove said he was unaware of any co-workers accepting junkets.

"It's my practice to pay as I go. If I go out to the Oscars, I have an expense account for legitimate business expenses," Grove said.

"We're in the business of serving readers, not to do favors for publicists or companies. I consider fairness, accuracy and no-favoritism paramount, and I work for a newspaper that considers it paramount," he said.

Journalism ethics expert Kelly McBride disagrees with Stern's approach -- to a point.

"If you are going to do a gossip column, you should do it with the same ethical standards as in the rest of the paper. But the minute that comes out of my mouth, it sounds preposterous," said McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute.

"My answer is that we probably shouldn't do one," she said.

In any case, Stern said he did not expect much to change.

"I'm sure for a little while everybody's going to watch their step and then it will be back to business as usual," Stern said. "And that's not really that bad."

[TexasStooge]

You can come back when you just have a cat...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African judge on Wednesday barred a dissatisfied customer from entering any Absa bank branch after his pet snakes bit one person when he released them inside the headquarters of the country's largest bank.

Absa had requested the restraining order against Jan Abel Manamela, who released five poisonous Puff adder snakes at the bank's Johannesburg headquarters in 2004, the South African Press Association (SAPA) said.

Manamela was sentenced to three years in prison following the incident but was released on parole in February.

Manamela had accused Absa of defrauding him after it sold his pickup truck following what it said was his failure to pay off a loan.

He later threatened to blow up the bank, demanded payment of 10 million rand ($1.6 million) and eventually released what he described as his "pet" snakes in the bank, SAPA said.

Judge Eben Jordaan's order forbade Manamela from contacting, threatening or molesting Absa employees, customers and attorneys and bars him from entering any bank office or branch, SAPA said.

[TexasStooge]

Rescuers Renew Effort to Save Kitten

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - Rescuers used drills, miniature cameras, cat food and even a one-pound raw fish in a desperate effort Wednesday to entice an 11-month old cat named Molly from behind the basement wall of a Greenwich Village delicatessen where she has been trapped for 12 days.

The effort was renewed early in the day when workers heard the cat meowing again after several days of silence that gave rise to fears that she had died. "That was a motivator to try again," said Mike Pastore, field director of Animal Care & Control of New York City, a private agency that handles animal rescues on a city contract.

Pastore was leading the rescue team trying to locate the peripatetic pussycat with a tiny video camera attached to a plumber's snake. But the sound of the drill may have spooked Molly to retreat further into the maze under the front wall of the 19th century brick building, which extends back about 40 feet from the sidewalk.

Pastore said Molly, being a curious sort, apparently slipped into a narrow space between two buildings and fell or crawled through into a hole into the space inside the cellar wall.

The police and fire departments also have been on the scene but as of Wednesday were leaving the job to Pastore.

"This is the most difficult case of this kind I've ever been on," said Pastore, whose agency receives an average of 120 stray or surrendered dogs and cats per day for temporary care and adoption.

Others were pitching in to help. Neighbors left cans of cat food on the steps, and Renato Migliorini, proprietor of Piccolo Angolo, an Italian restaurant on the corner of Hudson Street, delivered a whole fresh fish called a branzino.

"I hope it will come out because I love cats and dogs," Migliorini said.

The fact that the building is landmarked by the city makes breaking into the walls a more delicate proposition, Pastore said. He said Molly may be blocked from reaching food left for her and it was unclear whether she has access to water dripping from a drain. "We are concerned about dehydration," he said.

Molly is the resident mouser at Myers of Keswick, a popular West Village delicatessen catering to a specialized clientele with clotted creme, Scotch eggs and other British food products not available in American stores.

Normally she sleeps in a basket inside the store, said Peter Myers, 61, who opened the store 20 years ago. Myers said he periodically pays a $300 fine for the health violation, "but if I didn't have the cat I would be paying a $300 fine for having mice in the store. I saw a mouse running across the kitchen floor this morning."

A few neighbors watched the activity but were outnumbered by the television crews and other news media on the scene.

At mid-day, three observers from the city's Landmarks Preservation Commisison showed up to make sure no serious structural damage occurs. The four-story building, dating from the mid-19th century, is in one of Gotham's historic districts.
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On the Net: Animal Care & Control of New York City

[TexasStooge]

West Coast Pigeon Finds Home in Wisconsin

ROBERTS, Wis. (AP) - A pigeon native to the West Coast has taken roost in western Wisconsin and caused somewhat of a stir among birdwatchers in the state.

The band-tailed pigeon may have flown more than 1,000 miles to Jay Agger's home in St. Croix County. Agger first noticed him late last year.

It's only the second recorded visit by a band-tailed pigeon to Wisconsin — only one person saw the first pigeon before it took off from Waushara County.

Now birders are driving to Agger's home to catch a glimpse of the band-tailed pigeon, North America's largest pigeon.

"It was exciting," said Daryl Tessen, a retired schoolteacher living in Appleton who made a trip to Agger's home. "This is a rare bird. Any time you see a rare bird in the state, it's thrilling and exciting."

Bob Domagalski, who keeps bird sighting records for Wisconsin, woke up at 1 a.m. one Sunday and headed for Agger's home with three other birders. They arrived at 7 a.m., and the pigeon showed up for breakfast outside Agger's window 15 minutes later.

"We were all really thrilled to be able to see it. Oftentimes you make a long trip like that and come away empty-handed," said Domagalski, of Menomonee Falls and a member of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology. "It's a bird that is not that difficult to see in California. In fact, all of the people in the car had seen it before in California, but it's very seldom seen east of the Sierra Nevadas."

No one knows how the bird got to Wisconsin. Noel Cutright, past president of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, said storms can push birds off course, and birds sometimes just lose their way.

Agger, who has been feeding birds in his backyard for 22 years, was surprised to see the bird. He didn't know what it was, so he took photos of it and asked the owner of a bird feed store what it was.

The owner, Ed Colosky, didn't know either. He e-mailed a friend, who figured out it was a band-tailed pigeon. Word of the wayward bird got out to Wisconsin birders last month.

"These people are traveling five hours, six hours (one way), leaving early in the morning just to come to my house," Agger said.
___

On the Net: Wisconsin Society for Ornithology
___

Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

[TexasStooge]

Utah School Books the Wrong Jon Stewart

OGDEN, Utah (AP) - An embarrassed charter school has discovered it booked the wrong Jon Stewart for its annual gala. The DaVinci Academy thought it had made a deal with comedian Jon Stewart, star of "The Daily Show" and host of this year's Academy Awards, to appear next week.

It sent out 500 invitations to businesses and planned for 900 people.

But last week, it learned that it had booked Jon A. Stewart, a former motivational speaker, businessman and part-time professional wrestler from Chicago.

School leaders said that earlier in the year they had sent out invitations to a number of celebrities, speakers and authors for the school's annual benefit dinner.

A Stewart had responded, and through months of discussion there was no indication that they had not booked the Stewart they wanted, officials said.

But last week the Standard-Examiner in Ogden called Jon Stewart's publicist in Beverly Hills, and found that the only place Stewart was scheduled to be the night of the gala was on "The Daily Show."

DaVinci leaders were informed of that fact Friday.

"It's been a whirlwind ... but the community has really rallied around with support," said Debbie Legge, president of the school's board of directors. "It's not about celebrities. It's about kids and helping them get a good education."

After the school canceled Jon A. Stewart this week, performing groups from Weber State University and the Terrace Playhouse offered to be replacement acts at the event, and DaVinci welcomed them with open arms.

The school is offering refunds to those who had purchased tickets expecting to see the comedian. Some already have received refunds.

Legge said she hopes people still will attend the event, but notices will be sent to patrons about the change.
___

Information from: Deseret Morning News

[TexasStooge]

Movie-Goers Getting Smells to Match Scenes

By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer

TOKYO, Japan - A theater audience in Japan will be sniffing their noses — literally — at a new Hollywood adventure film when it opens here later this month.

A new service from a major telecommunications company, NTT Communications Corp., will synchronize seven different smells to parts of "The New World," starring Colin Farrell.

A floral scent accompanies a love scene, while a mix of peppermint and rosemary is emitted during a tear-jerking scene. Joy is a citrus mix of orange and grapefruit, while anger is enhanced by a herb-like concoction with a hint of eucalyptus and tea tree.

The smells waft from special machines under the seats in the back rows of two movie theaters, which create different fragrances by controlling the mix of oils stored in the machines, company spokeswoman Akiko Suzaki said Wednesday.

In "The New World," which opened in the United States in December, Farrell plays American colonial leader John Smith, who is said to have been saved from execution by North American Indian princess Pocahontas.

Theaters will be able to download from the Internet different scent sequences for other films, Suzaki said.

The company began a similar service for homes in Japan last year. Owners of the $620 home version can download different programs to emit smells to accompany a horoscope reading or work as aromatherapy.

Owners must keep refilling the machine with fragrant liquids. NTT Communications would not disclose how many machines it has sold.

U.S. startups have developed similar technologies before, although at least one company had to shut down during the dot-com bust.

[TexasStooge]

McEnroe's "ghost" stalks museum

By Bill Barclay

LONDON, England (Reuters) - A ghostly John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova's pulsing heart are two of the more eye-catching sights at the new Wimbledon tennis museum which opened on Wednesday.

The All England Club, readying itself for the grasscourt grand slam which starts on June 26, unveiled the revamped facility which contains startling technological innovations belying Wimbledon's stuffy image.

Three times singles champion McEnroe famously ruffled the feathers of the Wimbledon establishment with his on-court tantrums in the late 1970s.

Now the 47-year-old American has a special place at the All England Club as a museum exhibit. McEnroe reminisces about his Wimbledon experiences in a recreated 1980s Gentlemen's Dressing Room as a life-size apparition using a projection technique called 'Pepper's Ghost'.

The McEnroe phantom competes for attention with a 200-degree 3-D cinema room that takes the viewer right inside the heart and mind of 2004 women's champion Sharapova.

Footage from the Russian's first round victory over Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives on Centre Court last year is interspersed with Hollywood-style production techniques that allow the viewer to witness the effect of the game on the player's heart, racket, the ball and even her shoes.

A pair of the pirate pants worn by Spanish world number two Rafael Nadal hang alongside the more conventional kits of Sharapova, three times men's champion Roger Federer and three times women's champion Venus Williams.

The shirt and shorts of new number one Andy Murray are also on display. Perhaps in a sign of changing times, fans of four-times Wimbledon semi-finalist Tim Henman, now ranked a lowly 63, will find only a racket from his 2002 campaign.

[TexasStooge]

It's official -- beans make you fart

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - It's a "factual reality" that beans make you break wind, says South Africa's advertising watchdog.

A TV advert for sweet onions showed a rugby player eating beans that made him smell "stinky". The advert claims that "with sweet onions there are no tears, no burn and definitely no stink".

The country's Dry Bean Producers Organisation complained about the advert on the basis that the "stinky" charge was untrue but the Advertising Standards Authority threw out the charge and said it was widely known that beans produce gas.

"It plays on an objectively determinable factual reality which cannot be denied..." the ASA said on its Web site.
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Wow! Beans make you fart! Tell me something I don't know.