Saturday, September 27, 2008
Teller's Sarcasm Thwarts Bank Robber
CENTEREACH, N.Y. -- Police said a bank teller in suburban New York had a simple question for a would-be robber: Are you serious? Police said that was enough to spook the female suspect, who fled the Roslyn Savings Bank in Centereach late Thursday afternoon without a dime. Police said she walked into the bank located inside a supermarket on Route 25 about 4:49 p.m. and handed the teller a note demanding cash and threatening to open fire with a gun if the teller didn't comply.That's when the teller apparently expressed her crime-fighting skepticism. Police said the woman left without ever showing a gun. They said she is also a suspect in the robbery of the Bank of Smithtown, also in Centereach, on September 23
Friday, September 26, 2008
11 Children, Including Family of 9, Abandoned
AP
Aug. 22, 2008: A sign designating the Alegent Health Emmanuel Medical Center as a safe haven is seen in Omaha, Neb.
Aug. 22, 2008: A sign designating the Alegent Health Emmanuel Medical Center as a safe haven is seen in Omaha, Neb.
OMAHA, Neb. — Eleven children ranging in age from 1 to 17 were left at hospitals Wednesday under Nebraska's unique safe haven law, which allows caregivers to abandon youngsters as old as 19 without fear of prosecution.
Nine of the children came from one family. The six boys and three girls were left by their father, who was not identified, at Creighton University Medical Center's emergency room. Unrelated boys ages 11 and 15 also were surrendered Wednesday at Immanuel Medical Center.
The law, which went into effect in July, initially was intended to protect infants. In a compromise with senators worried about arbitrary age limits, the measure was expanded to include the word "child," which wasn't defined. Some have interpreted this to mean anyone under the age of 19.
At least 14 children have been abandoned under the state's safe haven law since it took effect.
Todd Landry, director of Health and Human Services' division of Children and Family Services, said that in nearly every case, the parents who left their children felt overwhelmed and had decided they didn't want to be parents anymore. None of the kids dropped off so far has been in danger, Landry said.
The children surrendered Wednesday are OK, said Kathie Osterman, spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. She didn't know why they had been abandoned. Further details weren't immediately available.
Nebraska was the last state in the nation to adopt a safe-haven law. Under previous law, a parent who abandoned a baby could have been charged with child neglect or abandonment, both misdemeanors, or child abuse, a felony.
State Sen. Arnie Stuthman said he introduced the bill intending to protect infants. In a compromise with senators worried about arbitrary age limits, the measure was expanded.
Abandoning teenagers was not the original intent of the law, Stuthman said Thursday.
"People are leaving them off just because they can't control them," he said. "They're probably in no real danger, so it's an easy way out for the caretaker.
Baby born from 21-year-old sperm
Baby born from 21-year-old sperm
Father froze his sperm before chemo left him sterile; interval a near-record
 | Video |
 |
The male side of infertility
Sept. 17: TODAY’s Natalie Morales catches up with two couples struggling with male infertility; TODAY’s Matt Lauer talks to Ken and Michelle Decker about their struggles to get pregnant. Today show |
 | Interactive |
 |
Learn more about the techniques used to help infertile couples conceive a child. |
By Michael Inbar
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 9:14 a.m. MT, Wed., Sept. 17, 2008
Madison Decker has just celebrated her 1-month birthday, but the roots of her birth go back some 21 years: Her father, Ken, had his sperm frozen before undergoing chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease in the 1980s.
It was a decision that paid big dividends when he met the love of his life.
Ken and Michelle Decker, with infant Madison in tow, appeared on TODAY Wednesday to tell Matt Lauer their amazing story of welcoming into the world a daughter who was created, in part, in another time. The 21 years between Ken’s freezing his sperm and Madison’s being born is one of the longest periods of time for conception on medical record.
Ken, a cameraman for TODAY, told Lauer the prescient decision to freeze his sperm at age 24 — before his 1986 chemo left him sterile — was a case of “Mother knows best.”
“It was a mom decision,” he said with a laugh. “I was playing, scuba diving, chasing a career, and Mom was like, ‘You have to bank your sperm.’ I said, OK. I did what Mom said to do.”
Wrote off fatherhood
Still, the decision didn’t seem to carry much weight in Decker’s life, even after he met Michelle (who also works for TODAY) and married her in 2004. While sperm freezes well, and many of the sperm can survive indefinite storage, the technology hadn’t yet been developed to create a viable pregnancy.
“The sperm was not viable — I wrote off fatherhood,” Decker told Lauer. “I never thought I would be a father.”
But Michelle’s love for Ken towered over any obstacles to their becoming parents, she told Lauer. They talked about their chances for a family before their marriage, she said.
“I never thought it was a possibility that we’d be able to have a biological child,” Michelle recounted. “He told me he was sterile, and I said, ‘You know what? We’ll conquer it. We’ll either adopt or we’ll figure something out — maybe a miracle will happen.’ ”
That miracle came through the invention of Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection — ISCI for short — which allows doctors to choose one good sperm to implant into one good egg, rather than using up an entire banked sperm reserve to bombard an egg.
The technique has dramatically raised the success rate for pregnancies. Ken Decker told Lauer, “Until this recent ISCI technology, for the last 20 years there was nothing that was going to help us.”
Fourth time’s the charm
Still, bringing Madison into the world was an arduous, often disappointing journey for the couple. Michelle called it a “three-year-plus process” that included three failed attempts to create a viable pregnancy.
But a fourth attempt, performed by renowned New York-based fertility specialist Dr. Zev Rosenwaks, created a successful in vitro fertilization for the couple. Thus, three years, some 200 needle injections, four in vitro cycles with ISCI and $90,000 later, Ken and Michelle Decker were able to present their newborn to a smiling Lauer.
Lauer, a father of three children himself, cooed over tiny Madison and presented Ken and Michelle with a gift of a TODAY show onesie. Looking on as Michelle draped the gift over her
 |
TODAY Michelle Decker proudly shows off 1-month-old Madison, born from her husband’s 21-year-old sperm. |
The Deckers’ odds of realizing their dreams of having a child were about even. Rosenwaks said that through ISCI, pregnancy rates were 56 percent, and half ultimately had live births.
As for becoming a record holder for having a baby some 21 years after his sperm was first frozen, Ken Decker laughed and said, “It’s really exciting. I hope no one beats us out.”
TODAY highlighted the male side of infertility Wednesday. While women are usually the focal point when it comes to the ability to conceive, studies show a roughly 50-50 split between men and women when there are problems. All told, 5 to 7 percent of males are diagnosed as infertile.
“It’s remarkable how often we see women who have gone through significant evaluation, even sometimes treatment, without figuring out where things stand for the man,” urologist and reproductive specialist Peter Schlegel told TODAY. “Obviously, it takes two.”
Man Accuses Maryland Doctor of Stapling Buttocks Shut
Arguments began Monday in a federal lawsuit alleging that a Maryland doctor stapled a man's rectum shut during an operation, rendering him unable to move his bowels for 17 days, the Baltimore Examiner reported.
Ronald Watkins, 64, of West Virginia, has accused Dr. Manuel Casiano, a doctor in Frederick County, Maryland for botching a September 2004 surgery that left him with permanent bowel problems, according to the report.
But an attorney representing Casiano told jurors the doctor did not staple Watkins' buttocks shut.
Attorney Conrad Varner said Watkins’ bowels became “swollen shut” because of medical problems — not because of stapling and that his two-pack-a-day smoking habit added to his bowel problems, the Examiner reported.
Watkins' attorney, Julia Lodowski argued that the medical error was in fact caused by Casiano and has led Watkins to experience continual “rectal discharge," which requires him to wipe himself between 12 and 15 times a day.
Lodowski said Watkins also needed four “unnecessary surgeries” because of the alleged mistake.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Menezes officers 'had no photo'
Menezes officers 'had no photo'
 Mr de Menezes was killed the day after the 21 July 2005 failed bombings |
Some of the police staking out the home of Jean Charles de Menezes did not have a picture of the real suspect they were looking for, an inquest has heard.
Several surveillance officers watching Mr de Menezes' London flat saw only a poor image of would-be bomber Hussain Osman at a briefing, jurors were told.
Michael Mansfield QC said better images existed but had not been used.
Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot dead in July 2005 by police in London who mistook him for Osman.
Mr Mansfield, who represents the de Menezes family, told the hearing how surveillance officers were shown a passport-style picture of Osman recovered from a gym card found in his unexploded rucksack after the 21 July attempted suicide bombings.
Three other torn-up images of Osman and his wife were also found, he said.
Strategy
Mr de Menezes was killed when he boarded a train at Stockwell Tube station in south London after firearms officers mistook him for Osman the day after Osman and three other men had failed in their bombing attempts.
Mr Mansfield went on to question deputy assistant commissioner John McDowall, who was responsible for developing the strategy to capture the men behind the attempted 21 July attacks.
 | THE MENEZES KILLING   |
"Were you aware that, in fact, some of them were out and about on patrol as it were, as surveillance, without a photograph at all. Do you know that?"
Mr McDowall replied: "No, I was not aware of that."
Mr Mansfield continued: "I mean, that does not help does it, when you know about the difficulties of positive identification, if you do not even have a copy of the photograph with you and you have only seen it back at a briefing?
"That is not exactly best practice, is it?"
Mr McDowall replied: "No, sir, no."
'Omissions'
Mr Mansfield went on to accuse Mr McDowell of a series of failings, including taking strategic decisions "in a vacuum" without considering what could be achieved by firearms and surveillance colleagues.
He also said officers watching the Scotia Road flats had not been told clearly what do do if anyone emerged.
|  I think, there probably are things that I could have done but for whatever reason at that time I did not think of it  John McDowall Met Police deputy assistant commissioner |
Mr Mansfield asked: "Has that ever occurred to you that, in fact, there are omissions by you that really, had you followed up - and a large number of things - the whole scenario might have been different?"
Mr McDowall responded: "I do not accept that. I think that, with benefit of hindsight, one does look back at what one has or has not done and, clearly, I think, there probably are things that I could have done but for whatever reason at that time I did not think of it."
But he said there were "certain aspects" that could have been done differently when preparing the manhunt strategy.
'Split-second decision'
Mr McDowall went on to tell the courtroom at the Oval cricket ground that while he hoped it would not happen again, it was "entirely feasible" a similar tragedy could occur "just with the way circumstances unravel themselves".
On Monday - the first day of the 12-week inquest into Mr de Menezes' death - jurors were told firearms officers made a split-second decision to kill him.
The two firearms officers - identified only as Charlie Two and Charlie 12 - will give evidence in public for the first time later in the inquest.
The jury will consider whether or not Mr de Menezes was unlawfully killed.
There have been five inquiries relating to the death and its aftermath, including a criminal trial.
In 2007, an Old Bailey jury found the Metropolitan Police guilty of breaching health and safety laws, after hearing about the events leading up to Mr de Menezes being shot.Prosecutors Drop Charge Related to "Passing Gas" in DUI Case
| ||
| ||
| | ||
|
Passing Gas on Police Officer
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Md. Delegate Who Called for DUI Plates Charged
| |
| SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) -- A Maryland state delegate who called for "DUI" license plates that would be issued to people convicted more than once of drunken driving has been charged with driving under the influence himself. A Montgomery County police report says an officer cited Herman Taylor Jr. after finding him sleeping with his SUV idling at a 7-Eleven on New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring on May 1. The report says the officer saw Taylor pull into the parking lot, then rest his head on the back of his seat. The officer had to shake Taylor to wake him up and the report says the officer smelled alcohol. A trial for Taylor, a Montgomery County Democrat, is scheduled for Oct. 24 |
Two-Headed Tortoise Born In China
Two-Headed Tortoise Born In China
A double-headed tortoise weighing only 17g (6 ounces) was recently found in Wuwei, Anhui Province, China.
Chinese scientists were shocked to discover a rare Mediterranean spur-thighed, two-headed tortoise among a shipment of baby tortoises ordered from a local farm where a worker was said to have bought it from a fisherman some two months ago.
They are currently studying this creature that is in good health and is being cared for by the scientists conducting the research.
Initially worried that the tiny mutant reptile would not survive, their fears have been allayed by the fact that in comparison to its siblings, which are all developing at a steady and very normal rate of growth at their home at the Water World Aquatic Farm in the town of Anhui in eastern China, this little baby is thriving and eating twice as much!
“We got it two weeks ago and it’s growing fast, probably because it can eat twice as fast as the others. It’s very rare to see a turtle with two heads, and we plan to keep it and raise it carefully for future research,” said Jimmy Hu, a Water World spokesman.
Is that old axiom about two heads being better than one really true?
Only time and possibly turtles will tell.
Bus Crashes Into 5-Ton Escaped Elephant on Mexican Highway
Bus Crashes Into 5-Ton Escaped Elephant on Mexican Highway
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Reuters
Sept. 23: An elephant that was hit by a bus lies at freeway piramides north of Mexico City.
MEXICO CITY — A five-ton elephant escaped from a circus and wandered onto a busy highway, where it was hit by a bus and died on Tuesday.
State officials say bus driver Tomas Lopez, 49, also was killed and at least four passengers were hospitalized after the pre-dawn collision in Ecatepec, just north of Mexico City.
Mexico State police spokesman Juan Sanchez said the elephant escaped from its cage at the Circo Union, but he declined to give any other details. He said officials were investigating.
The state-funded Notimex news agency reported that the elephant named Indra escaped as its keeper arrived to feed it, knocking down a metal door that led to the street and wandering through two neighborhoods before trying to cross the highway.
Small circuses have used the name "Circo Union" in Mexico and it was not immediately clear which was involved.
Last month, a 500-pound lion escaped from a private zoo owned by a local lawmaker in southern Mexico. The animal killed two dogs and a pig and attacked a woman and child on a donkey before it was sedated and caught.
PETA Urges Ben & Jerry's To Use Human Milk
VERMONT -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk they use in their ice cream products with human breast milk, according to a statement recently released by a PETA spokeswoman.
"PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says.
PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health.
"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."
In a statement Ben and Jerry's said, "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child."
Read PETA's letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
September 23, 2008
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Cofounders
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.
Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,
On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's.
Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits.
Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease-America's number one cause of death.
Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.
And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.
The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President
"PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a Swiss restaurant owner will begin purchasing breast milk from nursing mothers and substituting breast milk for 75 percent of the cow's milk in the food he serves," the statement says.
PETA officials say a move to human breast milk would lessen the suffering of dairy cows and their babies on factory farms and benefit human health.
"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."
In a statement Ben and Jerry's said, "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child."
Read PETA's letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
September 23, 2008
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Cofounders
Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.
Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,
On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's.
Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers-and cows-would reap the benefits.
Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease-America's number one cause of death.
Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.
And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to 17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.
The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President
Dara and Sara - Iran's Islamic alternative to Ken and Barbie
Dara and Sara - Iran's Islamic alternative to Ken and Barbie
Meet Dara and Sara, Iran's answer to Ken and Barbie.
The Muslim dolls have been developed by a government agency to promote traditional values, with their modest clothing and pro-family backgrounds.
They are widely seen as an effort to counter the American dolls and accessories that have flooded the Iranian market
Toy seller Masoumeh Rahimi welcomed the dolls, saying Barbie was "foreign to Iran's culture" because some of the buxom, blonde dolls have revealing clothing.
She said young girls who play with Barbie, a doll she sees as wanton, could grow into women who reject Iranian values.
"I think every Barbie doll is more harmful than an American missile," Ms Rahimi said.
Dara and Sara were born as characters in school books and their lives have also grown in stories that are being sold on cassette along with the dolls.
They have been developed and are being marketed by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, a government agency affiliated with the Ministry of Education.
An Iranian woman looks at the Sara (L) and Dara dolls
Toy sellers are welcoming the new characters
The siblings help each other solve problems and turn to their loving parents for guidance.
The children are supposed to be eight years old, young enough under Islamic law for Sara to appear in public without a headscarf.
But each of the four models of Sara comes with a white scarf to cover her brown or black hair.
Another toy seller, Mehdi Hedayat, said: "Dara and Sara are strategic products to preserve our national identity.
"And of course, it is an answer to Barbie and Ken, which have dominated Iran's toy market."
Some 100,000 dolls have been manufactured - in China - and each will sell for 125,000 rials ($15) compared with 332,000 rials for a genuine Barbie and 25,000 rials for a copy.
Meet Dara and Sara, Iran's answer to Ken and Barbie.
The Muslim dolls have been developed by a government agency to promote traditional values, with their modest clothing and pro-family backgrounds.
They are widely seen as an effort to counter the American dolls and accessories that have flooded the Iranian market
Toy seller Masoumeh Rahimi welcomed the dolls, saying Barbie was "foreign to Iran's culture" because some of the buxom, blonde dolls have revealing clothing.
She said young girls who play with Barbie, a doll she sees as wanton, could grow into women who reject Iranian values.
"I think every Barbie doll is more harmful than an American missile," Ms Rahimi said.
Dara and Sara were born as characters in school books and their lives have also grown in stories that are being sold on cassette along with the dolls.
They have been developed and are being marketed by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, a government agency affiliated with the Ministry of Education.
An Iranian woman looks at the Sara (L) and Dara dolls
Toy sellers are welcoming the new characters
The siblings help each other solve problems and turn to their loving parents for guidance.
The children are supposed to be eight years old, young enough under Islamic law for Sara to appear in public without a headscarf.
But each of the four models of Sara comes with a white scarf to cover her brown or black hair.
Another toy seller, Mehdi Hedayat, said: "Dara and Sara are strategic products to preserve our national identity.
"And of course, it is an answer to Barbie and Ken, which have dominated Iran's toy market."
Some 100,000 dolls have been manufactured - in China - and each will sell for 125,000 rials ($15) compared with 332,000 rials for a genuine Barbie and 25,000 rials for a copy.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Dig pinpoints Stonehenge origins
Dig pinpoints Stonehenge origins
| By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News |
Advertisement
The excavation is documented in a BBC Timewatch special
Archaeologists have pinpointed the construction of Stonehenge to 2300BC - a key step to discovering how and why the mysterious edifice was built.
The radiocarbon date is said to be the most accurate yet and means the ring's original bluestones were put up 300 years later than previously thought.
The dating is the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by Profs Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright.
The duo found evidence suggesting Stonehenge was a centre of healing.
Others have argued that the monument was a shrine to worship ancestors, or a calendar to mark the solstices.
A documentary following the progress of the recent dig has been recorded by the BBC Timewatch series. It will be broadcast on Saturday 27 September.
Date demand
For centuries, archaeologists have marvelled at the construction of Stonehenge, which lies on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
Mineral analysis indicates that the original circle of bluestones was transported to the plain from a site 240km (150 miles) away, in the Preseli hills, South Wales.
This extraordinary feat suggests the stones were thought to harbour great powers.
 The dig was the first inside the ring since 1946 |
Professors Darvill and Wainwright believe that Stonehenge was a centre of healing - a "Neolithic Lourdes", to which the sick and injured travelled from far and wide, to be healed by the powers of the bluestones.
They note that "an abnormal number" of the corpses found in tombs nearby Stonehenge display signs of serious physical injury and disease.
And analysis of teeth recovered from graves show that "around half" of the corpses were from people who were "not native to the Stonehenge area".
"Stonehenge would attract not only people who were unwell, but people who were capable of [healing] them," said Professor Darvill, of Bournemouth University.
"Therefore, in a sense, Stonehenge becomes 'the A & E' of southern England."
Modern techniques
But without a reliable carbon date for the construction of Stonehenge, it has been difficult to establish this, or any other, theory.
Until now, the consensus view for the date of the first stone circle was anywhere between 2600BC and 2400BC.
To cement the date once and for all, Professors Darvill and Wainwright were granted permission by English Heritage to excavate a patch of earth just 2.5m x 3.5m, in between the two circles of giant sarsen stones.
 The key was to get organic matter from the bluestone sockets |
The dig unearthed about 100 pieces of organic material from the original bluestone sockets, now buried under the monument. Of these, 14 were selected to be sent for modern carbon dating, at Oxford University.
The result - 2300BC - is the most reliable date yet for the erection of the first bluestones.
Strictly speaking, the result was rounded down to "between 2400BC and 2200BC" - but 2300BC is taken as the average.
An even more precise date will be produced in the coming months.
"It's an incredible feeling, a dream come true," said Professor Wainwright, formerly chief archaeologist at English Heritage.
"We told the world we were going to date Stonehenge. That was a risk, but I was always confident," said Professor Darvill.
Advertisement
The archaeologists reveal the first accurate carbon date for Stonehenge
Intriguingly, the date range ties in closely with the date for the burial of the so-called "Amesbury Archer", whose tomb was discovered three miles from Stonehenge.
Some archaeologists believe the Archer is the key to understanding why Stonehenge was built.
Analyses of his corpse and artefacts from his grave indicate he was a wealthy and powerful man, with knowledge of metal working, who had travelled to Salisbury from Alpine Europe, for reasons unknown.
Post mortem examinations show that he suffered from both a serious knee injury and a potentially fatal dental problem, leading Darvill and Wainwright to conclude that the Archer came to Stonehenge to be healed.
But without an accurate date for Stonehenge, it was not even clear whether the temple existed while the Archer was alive.
His remains have been dated between 2500BC and 2300BC - within the same period that the first stone circle was erected.
"It's quite extraordinary that the date of the Amesbury Archer is identical with our new date for the bluestones of Stonehenge," said Professor Darvill.
"These two things happening within living memory of each other for sure is something very, very important."
Earliest occupation
Professor Wainwright added: "Was the Amesbury Archer, as some have suggested, the person responsible for the building of Stonehenge? I think the answer to that is almost certainly 'no'.
"But did he travel there to be healed? Did he limp, or was he carried, all the way from Switzerland to Wiltshire, because he had heard of the miraculous healing properties of Stonehenge? 'Yes, absolutely'.
"Tim and I are quite convinced that people went to Stonehenge to get well. But Stonehenge probably had more than one purpose, so I have no problem with other people's interpretations."
 All theories about Stonehenge must follow an accurate dating |
Among other key finds, the team uncovered organic material that indicates people inhabited the Stonehenge site as long ago as 7200BC - more than 3,500 years earlier than anything previously known.
They also found that bluestone chippings outnumbered sarsen stone chippings by three to one - which Wainwright takes to be a sign of their value.
"It could be that people were flaking off pieces of bluestone, in order to create little bits to take away... as lucky amulets," he said.
The duo are preparing to publish an academic report of their excavation, and will announce their findings to their peers next month, in a lecture at London's Society of Antiquaries.
Ongoing debate
Experts on Stonehenge said the new date was a major milestone in understanding Britain's most famous monument.
Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology, said: "This is a great result - a very important one.
"The date of Stonehenge had been blowing in the wind. But this anchors it. It helps us to be secure about the chronology of events.
 Profs Darvill and Wainwright believe their ideas hold true |
"The theory that it was a centre of healing is certainly a plausible one, but I don't think we can rule out the other main competing theory - that the temple was a meeting point between the land of the living and the dead.
"I am not yet persuaded that the Amesbury Archer came to Stonehenge to be healed. I favour the interpretation that he was one of the earliest metal workers, who travelled to the area to make a living from his skills.
"In any case, it is still not clear if his burial predated Stonehenge."
Dave Batchelor, Stonehenge curator at English Heritage, said: "We are pleased that the professors' precision in targeting that small area of turf and their rigorous standards in archaeological excavations have produced such a rich collection of physical evidence.
"We are looking forward to seeing the results of the full analysis, but from what we understand so far, we believe they have added valuable information to the chronology of Stonehenge."
Watch videos:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7625625.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7625630.stm
Wife: Diabetic man mistaken for drunken driver and beaten
Wife: Diabetic man mistaken for drunken driver and beaten
Family's attorney say man has been in a coma since June 15
A diabetic Detroit man was mistaken for a drunken driver by Allen Park and Dearborn police, and brutally beaten to the point that he had to have part of his brain surgically removed, the man’s wife and their attorney allege.
Ernest Griglen, 59, has been comatose and on a ventilator since the June 15 incident, said attorney Arnold Reed of Farmington Hills.
Reed filed a lawsuit in federal court today against the Allen Park and Dearborn police departments and five officers on behalf of Griglen and his wife, Pamela Griglen. They’re seeking $20 million in damages.
According to the complaint, Griglen was driving south on the Southfield Freeway when he suffered a hypoglycemic episode. The complaint says Griglen exited his vehicle in an effort to summon the Allen Park officer. Then he was pulled over by an Allen Park Police officer. Dearborn officers also arrived on the scene to assist, according to the court document.
The complaint alleges that police came in contact with Griglen’s insulin pump in Griglen’s stomach and diabetes equipment in his vehicle, but still threw him headfirst into the ground.
“A reasonably competent police officer properly trained in the use of force would not have beat, assaulted and battered” Griglen, the complaint says.
But police reports from Allen Park and Dearborn released Monday to the Free Press under a Freedom of Information Act request tell a different tale. In her account, Allen Park Officer Tracie Brown said she had to wrestle Griglen to the ground after a five-mile car chase and he became combative.
Brown wrote in her report that she noticed Griglen stopped his car at a green light in the middle of Southfield Road just south of Pinecrest. When she approached him, he yelled something about getting into a verbal argument with his wife. But when she told him to pull over to the side of the road so he wouldn’t cause an accident, he drove off, she wrote.
Brown said she called for back-up and turned on her lights and sirens when Griglen continued northbound on Southfield Road. When he finally pulled over just south of the Ford Road exit, Griglen put his hands on the hood and wouldn’t answer Brown when she asked him why he wouldn’t stop, she wrote. And when she told him to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed and arrested for fleeing and eluding, he locked his arms then started to run when Dearborn Police back-up arrived, she said.
Officer Brown reported that she grabbed the back of Griglen’s shirt to stop him. Brown and two Dearborn officers then wrestled him to the ground, she reported.
In a report filed by Dearborn Police officers, they claimed they had to spray Griglen with pepper spray to force him to comply.
Once Griglen was handcuffed and picked off the ground, Officer Brown reported that she noticed the insulin pump going into the side of Griglen’s body, a bloody nose and a bump on his forehead where he hit the cement after being wrestled to the ground.
Griglen started to complain about police stopping him, speaking in slurred words, the reports states. That prompted a Breathalyzer field test that found no alcohol. Griglen told the police he wanted medical attention because he wasn’t feeling well, Officer Brown reported.
Police took Griglen to the hospital. Though the report does not state which hospital, Allen Park Police confirm it was Oakwood Dearborn.
At a news conference today, Pamela Griglen said she and her husband had gone to see “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” on June 15. They had popcorn, candy and soda as they watched the flick and then he dropped her off at Fairlane Mall in Dearborn. She said she didn’t know where Ernest Griglen was driving to next, but soon she found herself at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, where he was taken with head injuries.
“He said they beat him,” Pamela Griglen said, referring to Allen Park and Dearborn police officers. “He complained about his head.”
Since having brain surgery, Ernest Griglen has remained unconscious.
Allen Park Police Chief Dean Tamsen said today that city legal counsel advised him not to comment on the allegations.
“It’s a sad event for everybody involved,” Tamsen said this afternoon before the press conference.
Dearborn city spokeswoman Mary Laundroche, director of the Department of Public Information, declined to comment on officers’ actions.
“On the behalf of the city, we want to express concern for Mr. Griglen and his loved ones as they deal with his serious medical condition,” Laundroche said before the press conference. She also said the city had not received a copy of the lawsuit by this afternoon.
“It would be irresponsible to respond to a press conference held for dramatic purposes,” she added.
Ernest Griglen, 59, has been comatose and on a ventilator since the June 15 incident, said attorney Arnold Reed of Farmington Hills.
Reed filed a lawsuit in federal court today against the Allen Park and Dearborn police departments and five officers on behalf of Griglen and his wife, Pamela Griglen. They’re seeking $20 million in damages.
According to the complaint, Griglen was driving south on the Southfield Freeway when he suffered a hypoglycemic episode. The complaint says Griglen exited his vehicle in an effort to summon the Allen Park officer. Then he was pulled over by an Allen Park Police officer. Dearborn officers also arrived on the scene to assist, according to the court document.
The complaint alleges that police came in contact with Griglen’s insulin pump in Griglen’s stomach and diabetes equipment in his vehicle, but still threw him headfirst into the ground.
“A reasonably competent police officer properly trained in the use of force would not have beat, assaulted and battered” Griglen, the complaint says.
But police reports from Allen Park and Dearborn released Monday to the Free Press under a Freedom of Information Act request tell a different tale. In her account, Allen Park Officer Tracie Brown said she had to wrestle Griglen to the ground after a five-mile car chase and he became combative.
Brown wrote in her report that she noticed Griglen stopped his car at a green light in the middle of Southfield Road just south of Pinecrest. When she approached him, he yelled something about getting into a verbal argument with his wife. But when she told him to pull over to the side of the road so he wouldn’t cause an accident, he drove off, she wrote.
Brown said she called for back-up and turned on her lights and sirens when Griglen continued northbound on Southfield Road. When he finally pulled over just south of the Ford Road exit, Griglen put his hands on the hood and wouldn’t answer Brown when she asked him why he wouldn’t stop, she wrote. And when she told him to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed and arrested for fleeing and eluding, he locked his arms then started to run when Dearborn Police back-up arrived, she said.
Officer Brown reported that she grabbed the back of Griglen’s shirt to stop him. Brown and two Dearborn officers then wrestled him to the ground, she reported.
In a report filed by Dearborn Police officers, they claimed they had to spray Griglen with pepper spray to force him to comply.
Once Griglen was handcuffed and picked off the ground, Officer Brown reported that she noticed the insulin pump going into the side of Griglen’s body, a bloody nose and a bump on his forehead where he hit the cement after being wrestled to the ground.
Griglen started to complain about police stopping him, speaking in slurred words, the reports states. That prompted a Breathalyzer field test that found no alcohol. Griglen told the police he wanted medical attention because he wasn’t feeling well, Officer Brown reported.
Police took Griglen to the hospital. Though the report does not state which hospital, Allen Park Police confirm it was Oakwood Dearborn.
At a news conference today, Pamela Griglen said she and her husband had gone to see “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” on June 15. They had popcorn, candy and soda as they watched the flick and then he dropped her off at Fairlane Mall in Dearborn. She said she didn’t know where Ernest Griglen was driving to next, but soon she found herself at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, where he was taken with head injuries.
“He said they beat him,” Pamela Griglen said, referring to Allen Park and Dearborn police officers. “He complained about his head.”
Since having brain surgery, Ernest Griglen has remained unconscious.
Allen Park Police Chief Dean Tamsen said today that city legal counsel advised him not to comment on the allegations.
“It’s a sad event for everybody involved,” Tamsen said this afternoon before the press conference.
Dearborn city spokeswoman Mary Laundroche, director of the Department of Public Information, declined to comment on officers’ actions.
“On the behalf of the city, we want to express concern for Mr. Griglen and his loved ones as they deal with his serious medical condition,” Laundroche said before the press conference. She also said the city had not received a copy of the lawsuit by this afternoon.
“It would be irresponsible to respond to a press conference held for dramatic purposes,” she added.
Solar Powered Bra: Turning Lingerie Green
Solar Powered Bra: Turning Lingerie Green
The cold hand of technology has now invaded the world of lingerie. Underwear will not only provide women with the necessary support of unmentionable body parts, but it will also make them (the women not the body parts) “green” and environmentally friendly!
Triumph International Japan Limited has introduced its latest brainchild, a solar bra with a built-in solar panel that captures and redistributes the sun’s power and can actually generate enough electric energy to power a cell phone or an iPod!
The solar panel on this environmentally friendly green colored “Solar Power Bra” is worn around the stomach.
“The panel requires light to generate electricity and the concept bra will not be in stores anytime soon, as people usually can not go outside without wearing clothes over it. But it does send the message of how lingerie could possibly save the planet.”
No matter how heroic its proportions may be, the Solar Power Bra cannot be washed or worn on a rainy day as it could become damaged.
Its eco-friendly promise reflects an emerging trend in Japan, and Triumph does not stop there when it comes to underwear innovation.
Other green-themed undergarments include a bra that turns into a reusable shopping bag and one that features metal chopsticks to promote the use of reusable chopsticks.
One can only speculate as to what is next.
Could it be “green” panties (matching of course) or stockings or maybe even green condoms?
One can only wonder, why not?
Monday, September 22, 2008
Collision, smashed car, deployed air bag fail to keep Belton woman from bar
ANDERSON COUNTY — A Belton woman, who admitted to drinking, faces an October hearing in Anderson Municipal Court after she struck a vehicle, sped through a construction zone and stopped when she reached an Anderson bar, authorities said.
Loretta Tollison, 52, of Stevenson Drive was ordered to pay a fine of $262.50 or spend 20 days in jail after pleading guilty Friday to public intoxication.
Judge Ken Mattison allowed Tollison to sign a $1,152.50 bond and told her to return to court Oct. 17 to hear charges of leaving the scene of an accident and a temporary work-zone violation.
Officer Jada Burgin testified that Tollison was found about 9:30 p.m. Thursday at the Passing Time Bar on Williamston Road. Tollison’s Chrysler LeBaron was found in the bar’s parking lot with extensive front-end damage and its air bag deployed, according to the incident report.
During Friday's appearance, Tollison tried to explain.
“I told police that I did not understand that they were working at night,” she said. “There were no lights.”
According to the incident report, the Chrysler hit another car that was stopped for highway construction on U.S. 29 North. The impact spun the other car 180 degrees and pushed if off the highway and into a convenience store's parking lot, the report states.
“The driver of the Chrysler continued through the construction site, disregarding the construction workers directing traffic,” the report states.
Loretta Tollison, 52, of Stevenson Drive was ordered to pay a fine of $262.50 or spend 20 days in jail after pleading guilty Friday to public intoxication.
Judge Ken Mattison allowed Tollison to sign a $1,152.50 bond and told her to return to court Oct. 17 to hear charges of leaving the scene of an accident and a temporary work-zone violation.
Officer Jada Burgin testified that Tollison was found about 9:30 p.m. Thursday at the Passing Time Bar on Williamston Road. Tollison’s Chrysler LeBaron was found in the bar’s parking lot with extensive front-end damage and its air bag deployed, according to the incident report.
During Friday's appearance, Tollison tried to explain.
“I told police that I did not understand that they were working at night,” she said. “There were no lights.”
According to the incident report, the Chrysler hit another car that was stopped for highway construction on U.S. 29 North. The impact spun the other car 180 degrees and pushed if off the highway and into a convenience store's parking lot, the report states.
“The driver of the Chrysler continued through the construction site, disregarding the construction workers directing traffic,” the report states.
Man Actually Struck by Lightning for Swearing to God
Man Actually Struck by Lightning for Swearing to God
You better think twice the next time you swear to God about something, because you never know when he might make a miracle out of you.
On Aug 26, in Fujian Province, China, an upset Wong decided to visit his friend Xu’s house to collect an unpaid debt.
3 years ago Xu borrowed 500 yuen (about $70) from Wong for his wedding and never paid the money back.
Wong showed up at Xu’s house with a bat in hand demanding that Xu pay back the money he had borrowed. Xu then pulled out a metal rod he had laying around to use in defense if Wong decided to attack him.
Xu denied that he had borrowed any money from Wong and asked him to prove that there was a debt to be owed.
Wong finally “told him that if he dared to swear to God that he didn’t owe me the money, then I would waive his debt.”
Xu, obviously seeing a way out of paying the debt, then pointed the pole straight up in the air and shouted “if I ever borrowed money from Wong, let me be struck by lighting.”
Less than a minute after shouting those words, lightning struck the outstretched pole and passed through into Xu’s body.
Xu was taken to the hospital but survived the incident.
No mention as to whether this proves Xu did indeed borrow the money or if he has any plans to now pay Wong the money he owes.
Magician Blaine to hang upside down for 60 hrs
By Christian Wiessner
NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's a bird! It's a bat! It's ... David Blaine? The 35-year-old magician and showman strung himself upside down above Central Park's Wollman ice skating rink on Monday and plans to stay there for 60 hours.
Wearing a safety harness attached to a crossbar, Blaine dangled by his feet from a large steel scaffold structure.
The spectacle is due to conclude on a prime-time television special Wednesday night when Blaine takes what he calls the "Dive of Death" and falls 44 feet to the ground.
"I think we can really, when put in any situation, I think we can really adapt to it," Blaine told Reuters. He answered questions after being lowered close to the ground for a brief equipment check.
New York has been the scene for many Blaine stunts.
In November 2000, he spent 61 hours inside a block of ice that was situated in Times Square. Two years ago, he lived for a week underwater in an acrylic sphere in front of Lincoln Center, and in 2002, he stood atop a 90-foot (27 meter) pillar erected behind the New York Public Library for 35 hours.
Blaine also lived for 44 days inside a transparent box suspended over the Thames River in London in fall 2003.
"I like to do these things because it gives me a different perspective, for a short duration. But that perspective is important to the rest of my normal existence," he said.
He will face a multitude of risks during this stunt. Doctors say the increase in blood pressure raises the risk of stroke or blindness, and gravity could restrict the blood flow to his lower extremities. Doctors will be monitoring him throughout the feat.
Blaine and his handlers were mum on details of Wednesday night's finale, giving no indication what would break his fall.
"It's a crazy ending, for sure, especially after 60 hours without sleep, plus the last 24, so it'll be 84 hours without sleep," he said.
Blaine will be without food, but will pull himself upright to drink liquids and restore circulation.
He will have control of the cables suspending him and will have front-to-back and side-to-side maneuverability. He said he will periodically lower himself closer to ground to interact with fans during the stunt.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Chicken-footed duck scared of water
Chicken-footed duck scared of water
Ananova - Chicken-footed duck scared of water: "A Chinese farmer is baffled after he bought a duck that has feet like a chicken and is scared of water.
Curious villagers in Huangjin village, Xicheng town, are flocking to the home of Fu Haiwen to see the duck.
Fu said he bought the duck in June but did not notice its unusual feet for ten days, reports Laibin News.
It was only after he noticed it acting differently to the rest of the ducks that he examined it closely and was surprised to see it did not have webbed feet.
'It never went with the other ducks to swim in the river,' he explained."
Man Successfully Used a $200 bill
$200 Bill
ON THE WEB
87 Million Year-Old Praying Mantis Found
87 Million Year-Old Praying Mantis Found
It is a rare find indeed and its true significance is still to be deciphered.
Discovered in January of this year by Kazuhisa Sasaki, director of the Kuji Amber Museum, the fossil mantis measures 0.5 inch (1.4 centimeters) from its antennae to the tip of its abdomen.
It was found buried more than six feet below the surface of an amber mine in a part of Japan that is famous for producing large amounts of amber, the northeastern Iwate Prefecture.
“I found it in a deposit that had lots of other insects—ancient flies, bees, and cockroaches—but this was the only praying mantis” said Sasaki.
According to Kyoichiro Ueda, executive curator of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History, it is the oldest mantis fossil ever found in Japan and only one of seven in the entire world from the Cretaceous Period.
Even more unique is the fact that this mantis is different from the other six, in that it has two spines protruding from its femur and it has mysterious, tiny hairs on its forelegs.
No mantis from this particular time period has ever been found with spines, although modern mantises have five or six on their forelegs, which help them catch prey.
“The years of the late Cretaceous period were a kind of transition phase between the ancient and modern worlds, and this fossil displays many intermediate elements between the two eras” said Ueda.
Time alone will reveal the significance of this important find.
Illinois police arrest woman accused of bartending in the buff
DELHI, Ill. - Here's a tip: Bartending nude can get you arrested.
Sheriff's deputies doing a routine check this week at a southern Illinois bar say they discovered a not-so-routine sight.
Authorities allege that 33-year-old Janet Brannon was naked while serving bar patrons at the Cabin Tavern in Delhi.
Brannon was arrested and charged with misdemeanour public indecency. She was freed on $8,000 bond.
She was the only bar employee working at the time, so the tavern was closed Thursday
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
