Lightning strikes only once _ but kills 52 cows

Lightning strikes only once _ but kills 52 cows

AP Photo

/L/LT_ODD_URUGUAY_ZAPPED_COWS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=ENTERTAINMENT&headline=Lightning strikes only once _ but kills 52 cows " height="215" width="180">

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) -- Lightning struck only once - but 52 cows are dead at an Uruguayan ranch. The newspaper El Pais reports that the cows had pressed against a wire fence during a storm when the lightning bolt struck in the northern state of San Jose.

A photograph released by the San Jose Police Department shows the black and brown cows lying dead in a long row.

The newspaper said Friday that veterinarians at the scene confirmed the cause of the deaths, which happened Wednesday. The veterinarians told the newspaper that cows often crowd around fences to seek protection during storms.

Meteorologist Fernando Torena told the newspaper he wasn't surprised that a single lightning bolt killed so many cows. But he called it "very bad luck."

eBay buyer faces libel action after leaving negative feedback

The negative feedback at the centre of the dispute

Kaya Burgess

A man is facing legal action for libel after leaving negative feedback for an item he bought on auction website eBay.

When Chris Read received the £155 mobile phone he had purchased from Joel Jones on eBay, he found it was the wrong model and was not in good condition, as advertised.

The 42-year-old mechanic from Kent returned the phone, and, on October 3, used the feedback facility on the website, designed to warn other buyers of potentially untrustworthy sellers. He wrote: "Item was scratched, chipped and not the model advertised on Mr Jones's eBay account."

Mr Read subsequently received an e-mail from Mr Jones, a 26-year-old businessman from Suffollk who deals in second-hand electrical goods, saying that his comments were damaging his business, and threatening him with legal action unless he deleted them from the site.

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Mr Read said: "I was told the phone was in good condition, but there were scratches all over it, a big chip out of the side and it was a different phone. I paid for a Samsung F700 and got a Samsung F700V."

Although he received a refund for the erroneous product, Mr Read decided to stand his ground, and told Mr Jones he would go to court if necessary, which would be a legal first for such a libel case.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Read was sent a pre-court letter from Mr Jones, which asked him to agree that his comments were unfair. The letter told him that he had seven days to respond, or he would face court action, "substantial" legal fees and costs of £175.

Mr Jones, who sells under the username 'onsalexuk,' defended his action, and said: "I am being punished on eBay because of this as sellers who have negative feedback appear lower down the screen in searches than other people. I'm losing money by the day and my business could go under because of it. I've been left with no option but to take legal action."

He called Mr Read's comments "unfair, unreasonable and damaging", because he had received a "no-quibble" refund for the phone.

Mr Read, however, said: "I can't believe someone can be so petty. I only wanted to buy a phone. All I had done was left an honest opinion and everything I said was true.

"I thought that was why the feedback service was there. It's not like I wrote anything malicious or nasty."

An eBay spokeswoman said that the dispute had not been brought to them, and added that: ""We are very disappointed that this seller has chosen to sue rather than to attempt to resolve the buyer's problem amicably." She explained that one negative comment was unlikely to affect Mr Jones's status on the site, which still rates him with a 98.7% positive feedback tally overall.

However, as the law of libel - that of publishing a false or defamatory statement which damages someone's reputation - applies online as well as in print, Mr Read could have a case to answer if the court decides his comments qualify as libellous.

He said: "I'm prepared to fight my corner."

Chris Matyszczyk a Technology writer from CNET said: "Surely Jones is seeking sympathy rather than justice. Because even if he somehow persuaded a court that he was right (which would seem a little unlikely), he will always be known as the scratchy phone seller who sues his customers."

Earlier this year, eBay banned sellers from leaving feedback for their buyers, which means that Mr Jones was unable to retort to Mr Read's criticism. A Facebook group called "eBay Sellers Want Feedback Rights" is calling for this decision to be reversed, and eBay has admitted it needs to review its dispute-handling procedures.

A new system will be launched later this month to allow sellers legitimately to ask buyers to revoke negative feedback if a dispute has been resolved.

Latter day Rapunzel: Florida woman grows her hair almost 9 feet long

MIAMI - Asha Mandela has hair that could rival that of the title character in the German fairy tale Rapunzel.

The South Florida woman who started growing her hair 20 years ago now has locks a lot longer than she is tall.

Mandela has submitted her hair, which measures 8 feet 9 inches long, to the Guinness Book of World Records for the Longest Dreadlocks, the first entry in a new category.

It takes one bottle of shampoo and one bottle of conditioner every time she washes her hair, which sometimes takes days to fully dry.

The 46-year-old Mandela says she used to wash it three times a week, but is now down to once a week.

She calls the process "very tiring" and says sometimes she just doesn't have the energy.

University of Western Ontario cameras capture 'fireball'

University of Western Ontario cameras capture 'fireball'
Meteor may have crashed near Guelph, Ontario
Published on Oct 25, 2008 -

By: University of Western Ontario

Click the image to vie the Collingwood movie

Oct. 24, 2008 - For the second time this year, The University of Western Ontario Meteor Group has captured incredibly rare video footage of a meteor falling to Earth. The team of astronomers suspects the fireball dropped meteorites in a region north of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, that may total as much as a few hundred grams in mass.

The Physics and Astronomy Department at Western has a network of all-sky cameras in southern Ontario that scan the sky monitoring for meteors.

On Wednesday, October 15 at 5:28 a.m., all seven cameras of Western's Southern Ontario Meteor Network recorded a bright, slow fireball in the predawn sky.

Associate Professor Peter Brown and Phil McCausland, a postdoctoral researcher in Planetary Science, are hoping to enlist the help of local residents in recovering one or more possible meteorites that may have crashed.

"This event was a relatively slow fireball that made it far into the Earth's atmosphere. Most meteoroids burn up by the time they hit an altitude of 60 or 70 kilometres from the ground," explains McCausland, who is heading to the region next week to investigate. "This one was tracked by our all-sky camera network to have penetrated to an altitude of about 37 kilometres and it slowed down considerably, so there is a possibility that at least one and possibly several small meteorites made it to the ground."

By knowing the trajectory from the camera observations, the researchers can also track backwards to get the orbit of the object before it hit the Earth.

"The meteorite was on a typical Earth-crossing asteroid-type orbit, so we also expect that it is a stony-type meteorite," says McCausland.

In March, the network of all-sky cameras captured video of a meteor falling to Earth that may have crashed in the Parry Sound area.

Police: Resident cuffed, caught spraying graffiti

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Jay AnthonyPortsmouth police photo

By Elizabeth Dinan

edinan@seacoastonline.com

October 23, 2008 1:19 PM

PORTSMOUTH — Jay Anthony was spray-painting graffiti on a downtown wall Tuesday afternoon when Officer Chris Kiberd pulled up in a cruiser behind him, leading to Anthony’s arrest, say police.

Anthony, 29, of 769 State St., is charged with a class A misdemeanor count of criminal mischief-vandalism, based on a witness call to police.

Lt. Dante Puopolo said police dispatchers were called Oct. 21 at 4:03 p.m. by someone reporting a man in black clothing and a black hat, spraying paint on a brick wall near the Vaughn Mall. When Officer Kiberd drove into the area, he saw Anthony painting a multi-colored symbol on the wall and seized a can of paint, said Puopolo.

The “nondescript” symbol was still wet and sticky to the touch, said the police lieutenant, adding Anthony told police it was the first time he sprayed graffiti.

Local police have repeatedly reminded the community that graffiti is not viewed by the department as street art, but as acts of vandalism. Typically people who are convicted of the crimes in the District Court are fined and ordered to perform community servic

Fishermen catch a DOG a mile out in North Sea

Last updated at 3:44 PM on 24th October 2008

Two fishermen were left reeling in surprise when they caught a DOG a mile out at sea.

At first when they spotted the animal swimming against the tide they thought it was an otter, but when they realised that it was a dog the two lifted him on board.

Freddie, a 14-year-old cairn terrier, was later reunited with his owner - who revealed that he dislikes water so much that he hates taking a bath and avoids walking through puddles.

Bedraggled: Freddie shivers in the arms of trawlerman Jimmy Thompson after being fished from the North Sea

He had become disorientated in the fog while on a walk with owner Jean Brigstock and had slipped into the water as the 73-year-old searched frantically for him.

And instead of swimming back to shore at Amble, Northumberland, he had mistakenly struck out for the deeps of the North Sea.

Mrs Brigstock said: 'It was a beautiful day, and I was taking him on his usual walk, but all of a sudden, a heavy sea fret set in quickly, and I couldn't see Freddie anymore.

'I looked for him for hours, and others helped. There was no sign of him, but I was convinced he would eventually turn up.'

Saved: Owner Jean Brigstock cradles Freddie on Amble beach in Northumberland after his narrow escape

She added: 'I was desperate. He's my companion and he's so important to me.

'I knew he hated water so I thought he'd head for the dunes rather than the sea. It really didn't enter my head that he would swim.

'He rarely goes through a puddle and has an aversion to baths.'

But Freddie was found three quarters of a mile out to sea after a long doggy paddle and was rescued by trawlermen Jimmy and Alan Thompson from Red Row, Northumberland.

A lifeboat was launched to collect the dog because their trawler was not yet due to return to shore.

By chance, Mrs Brigstock's daughter Wendy, who had taken over the search for Freddie, came across the wife of one of the fishermen, who told her they had found a dog.

Mrs Brigstock adopted Freddie as her own three years ago after his previous owner, a friend, went into a nursing home and was no longer able to look after him.

She said: 'He looked like a drowned rat when they found him.

'I'm so grateful to the two fishermen, the Coastguard and the inshore lifeboat men who took so much trouble to find him and take him to safety.'

Sea-dog Freddie, 14, is no worse for wear after his ordeal. He was taken to the vets but found to be unscathed.

Mrs Brigstock said: 'Freddie is back to his normal self. I'm not surprised he survived - he's a bit of a character really.

'The night he was rescued, he was a little bit under the weather. He was quite quiet and feeling sorry for himself. But the next morning he was ready for his breakfast.'

Drummer snared after alleged church break-in

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) -- Bridgeport police said they snared a 47-year-old man who broke into a local church to play the drums. Police said Michael Smith, of Weston, was driving by the Holy Ghost Deliverance Church on Monday afternoon when he spotted a drum set through its window.

He was charged with criminal trespass and breach of peace after allegedly breaking into the church, where officers found him in a spirited solo after the church's alarm system went off.

Smith is scheduled for arraignment Nov. 5 in Bridgeport Superior Court. A telephone listing was not available for him.