An Australian traffic warden fixed a parking ticket to a dog's lead after it was 'parked' illegally outside a shopping centre.
The dog was tied to a fence outside Darwin's Rapid Creek market when it was approached by two city council traffic wardens, the Northern Territory News reports.
One of the inspectors wrote out a ticket - and taped it to the dog's lead.
Witness Ray McEvoy said he couldn't believe his eyes.
"I watched an elderly lady and her very faithful blue heeler roll up at the market. The lady tied the dog to the fence and gave him a bowl full of water. And off she went into the markets," he said.
"Then two traffic inspectors came along. They had a bit of a talk and, to my amazement, wrote out a warning infringement notice for the dog and taped it to his lead rope."
Council spokesman Grant Fenton said a dog was considered to be "at large" if the owner was not there.
"You can't tie up a dog and leave it," he said.
Ananova
Saturday, September 05, 2009
China schoolgirl aspires to be 'corrupt official'
BEIJING (AFP) – A six-year-old girl has become a media darling in China on her first day of school by expressing her aspiration to become a "corrupt official" when she grows up, state media said Friday.
The young student stated her aspirations in a televised interview that was posted on a southern China website, leading bloggers to describe her comments as "a reflection of social reality," the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
"When I grow up I want to be an official," said the girl, whose face was blurred to protect her identity.
"What kind of official?" the interviewer asked.
"A corrupt official because corrupt officials have a lot of things," she replied.
Numerous other children appearing in the video were asked the same question, with many saying they wanted to become teachers, while others said they were not sure what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Many chatroom users praised the child for her "realistic" outlook on life, while others expressed cynicism over rampant corruption in China.
"Socialism has issued a new version of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'," said one posting.
"The ugliness of life has already tainted the children -- how are we ever going to educate the next generation?" another posting said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has repeatedly warned that corruption is one of the greatest threats to the legitimacy of Communist Party rule.
AFP
The young student stated her aspirations in a televised interview that was posted on a southern China website, leading bloggers to describe her comments as "a reflection of social reality," the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.
"When I grow up I want to be an official," said the girl, whose face was blurred to protect her identity.
"What kind of official?" the interviewer asked.
"A corrupt official because corrupt officials have a lot of things," she replied.
Numerous other children appearing in the video were asked the same question, with many saying they wanted to become teachers, while others said they were not sure what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Many chatroom users praised the child for her "realistic" outlook on life, while others expressed cynicism over rampant corruption in China.
"Socialism has issued a new version of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'," said one posting.
"The ugliness of life has already tainted the children -- how are we ever going to educate the next generation?" another posting said.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has repeatedly warned that corruption is one of the greatest threats to the legitimacy of Communist Party rule.
AFP
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Facebook firing after 'friend' boss ripped
Source: Toronto Star
Woman let go after rant: 'I guess you forgot about adding me on here?'
In tech terms, it's called a cascading failure.
A woman in Britain being called "Lindsay" made a big one this week, and it cost her her job.
First, she came home after a hard day and, rather than complaining to the cat, decided to do it on the web.
Lindsay opened up her Facebook account and posted a fairly vulgar description of her boss.
"OMG, I HATE MY JOB!" Lindsay wrote. "My boss is a total pervvy wanker always making me do s--- stuff." Mistake No. 2.
Mistake No. 3. was forgetting that her boss was one of her Facebook friends, and thus had access to all of her posted comments.
Mistake No. 4 was firing this broadside two weeks before the end of a six-month trial period.
Five hours after Lindsay posted her lament, her boss replied.
"I guess you forgot about adding me on here?" his post began.
Then he proceeded to rip her straight back.
"That `s--- stuff' is called your `job', you know, what I pay you to do? But the fact that you seem able to f--- up the simplest of tasks might contribute to how you feel about it."
Angry boss then points out that Lindsay is a couple of weeks shy of the end of her trial period and delivers the coup de grâce.
"Don't bother coming in tomorrow. I'll pop your P45 (pink slip) in the post, and you can come in whenever you like to pick up any stuff you've left here. And, yes, I'm serious."
The Schadenfreude moment appears to be genuine. A screen capture of the exchange – with names blacked out – has been circulating the web for several days.
"It is pretty hysterical," said labour lawyer Mary Beth Currie. "Well, not for her."
According to Currie, the sort of treatment Lindsay received at her boss's hands could also happen in Canada.
"Yes, a termination would be possible," Currie said. "People have to realize that they can't disparage their employer after working hours like this."
It is now normal practice in this country to include a paragraph addressing what can and can't be done on social networking sites into the section of employee agreements covering Internet policy.
"This is not unusual," said Peter Biro, a partner at WeirFoulds LLP. "You're going to see kajillions of cases like this out there."
This is the latest in a series of headline-grabbing stories of irked employees typing and living to regret it.
From a Swiss insurance worker chopped for Facebooking while home ill, to a Brit public relations drone axed for complaining about being "bored" in her work, people are learning the hard way that bad moods are temporary, but the Internet is forever.
Nor would it be the first time someone's been cut via a social networking site. B.C. aesthetician Crystal Bell made headlines in January after she was fired over Facebook, though not for anything she had written online.
In Lindsay's case, the lesson is clear. Choose your (Facebook) friends wisely.
Woman let go after rant: 'I guess you forgot about adding me on here?'
In tech terms, it's called a cascading failure.
A woman in Britain being called "Lindsay" made a big one this week, and it cost her her job.
First, she came home after a hard day and, rather than complaining to the cat, decided to do it on the web.
Lindsay opened up her Facebook account and posted a fairly vulgar description of her boss.
"OMG, I HATE MY JOB!" Lindsay wrote. "My boss is a total pervvy wanker always making me do s--- stuff." Mistake No. 2.
Mistake No. 3. was forgetting that her boss was one of her Facebook friends, and thus had access to all of her posted comments.
Mistake No. 4 was firing this broadside two weeks before the end of a six-month trial period.
Five hours after Lindsay posted her lament, her boss replied.
"I guess you forgot about adding me on here?" his post began.
Then he proceeded to rip her straight back.
"That `s--- stuff' is called your `job', you know, what I pay you to do? But the fact that you seem able to f--- up the simplest of tasks might contribute to how you feel about it."
Angry boss then points out that Lindsay is a couple of weeks shy of the end of her trial period and delivers the coup de grâce.
"Don't bother coming in tomorrow. I'll pop your P45 (pink slip) in the post, and you can come in whenever you like to pick up any stuff you've left here. And, yes, I'm serious."
The Schadenfreude moment appears to be genuine. A screen capture of the exchange – with names blacked out – has been circulating the web for several days.
"It is pretty hysterical," said labour lawyer Mary Beth Currie. "Well, not for her."
According to Currie, the sort of treatment Lindsay received at her boss's hands could also happen in Canada.
"Yes, a termination would be possible," Currie said. "People have to realize that they can't disparage their employer after working hours like this."
It is now normal practice in this country to include a paragraph addressing what can and can't be done on social networking sites into the section of employee agreements covering Internet policy.
"This is not unusual," said Peter Biro, a partner at WeirFoulds LLP. "You're going to see kajillions of cases like this out there."
This is the latest in a series of headline-grabbing stories of irked employees typing and living to regret it.
From a Swiss insurance worker chopped for Facebooking while home ill, to a Brit public relations drone axed for complaining about being "bored" in her work, people are learning the hard way that bad moods are temporary, but the Internet is forever.
Nor would it be the first time someone's been cut via a social networking site. B.C. aesthetician Crystal Bell made headlines in January after she was fired over Facebook, though not for anything she had written online.
In Lindsay's case, the lesson is clear. Choose your (Facebook) friends wisely.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Twin lambs born - one white, one black
ONE'S black, one's white and they have amazed their owners.Salt and Pepper are twins, born to a ewe, which is white and a ram, which is a sussex breed, sporting a black face, legs and bottom.
Jan Cowan, who has just begun building a flock on the family property in the Manning Valley on the NSW mid-north coast to make sheep cheese, said yesterday that the twins born a week-and-a-half ago were inseparable, The Daily Telegraph reports.
"We have them in a pen next to the house because of the foxes," Mrs Cowan said.
"They play together, they sleep together with one resting its head on the other.
"If one goes one way the other will follow. They take a teat each, side-by-side of each other when feeding."
Mrs Cowan said a local vet who helped deliver the twins had told her their being born with different colouring was a very rare event.
But the Cowans may not have a black sheep in the family for long.
Bob Murray, NSW branch president of the Black and Coloured Sheep Breeders Association of Australia, said nature could still intervene despite years of selective breeding to produce sheep with white wool.
"Put simply, the genes which ensure white wool are dominant over the genes which produce the darker wool," he said.
"But sometimes the dark gene sneaks in and takes over, and if you have a dark-woolled ram and a white-woolled ewe, there's a 50 per cent chance you'll get one of each.
"And in sussex sheep it's not uncommon to get lambs which are all dark when born.
"But when they are about six months old they will lose that darkness and look like other sussexes with the dark face, legs and backside and white body."
News.com.au
Puppy flushed down toilet
LONDON - A PUPPY in Britain had a lucky escape after a four-year-old boy accidentally flushed it down the toilet when he was trying to wash it, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Monday.
The week-old cocker spaniel's young owner, Daniel Blair, thought the puppy needed a wash after it got muddy playing in the garden, so he put it in the toilet and flushed it.
But his plan went disastrously wrong when the animal was swept away and became trapped in a waste pipe for nearly four hours.
Firefighters and animal welfare officers could not reach it, so Daniel's mother eventually called a plumber, who found the dog lying upside down in a pipe about 20 metres away from their house in Northolt, west London.
The dog - which has been named Dyno after the plumbing firm which rescued it - is now safe and well and back with the family.
Daniel has apologised, blaming his twin brother for getting the dog dirty and saying: 'I had to give him a wash. I'm so, so sorry. I won't do it again.' -- AFP
Source : The Straits Times
The week-old cocker spaniel's young owner, Daniel Blair, thought the puppy needed a wash after it got muddy playing in the garden, so he put it in the toilet and flushed it.
But his plan went disastrously wrong when the animal was swept away and became trapped in a waste pipe for nearly four hours.
Firefighters and animal welfare officers could not reach it, so Daniel's mother eventually called a plumber, who found the dog lying upside down in a pipe about 20 metres away from their house in Northolt, west London.
The dog - which has been named Dyno after the plumbing firm which rescued it - is now safe and well and back with the family.
Daniel has apologised, blaming his twin brother for getting the dog dirty and saying: 'I had to give him a wash. I'm so, so sorry. I won't do it again.' -- AFP
Source : The Straits Times
Teen Wakes Up to 3-Foot Snake Staring at Him in Bed
A New York city teen came face-to-fang with a 3-foot boa constrictor Sunday that slithered uninvited into the youngster's home — a jarring confrontation that had the whole family in a panic.
"The snake was just staring at me," said a shaken Kareem Lewis, 18.
The close encounter came around 10 a.m., when Lewis was waking up in the family's first-floor apartment on Sherman Avenue.
"I started to panic when he started to slither at me," said Lewis, whose mom was at church.
The teen called 911, and police held the snake inside a pillowcase until animal control arrived.
Lewis guessed that the snake slithered in through a window.
Fox News
"The snake was just staring at me," said a shaken Kareem Lewis, 18.
The close encounter came around 10 a.m., when Lewis was waking up in the family's first-floor apartment on Sherman Avenue.
"I started to panic when he started to slither at me," said Lewis, whose mom was at church.
The teen called 911, and police held the snake inside a pillowcase until animal control arrived.
Lewis guessed that the snake slithered in through a window.
Fox News
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Bride waited until after wedding to run
TRIESTE, Italy, May 27 (UPI) -- An Italian bride went through with her wedding ceremony but ran off with the wedding car driver before the reception, her new husband said.
The husband, a 34-year-old man identified only as Andrea, said his bride Sara, 30, told their 30 wedding guests in Trieste that she wanted to change clothes after the ceremony but never arrived at the restaurant where the reception was held, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday.
Andrea said Sara drove off with a friend of his who was tasked with chauffeur duty. The husband said he and wedding guests called the pair on their cell phones when they failed to arrive at the reception and Sara told him she was "sorry" and had "made a mistake." Andrea quoted Sara as telling him that her "heart belongs to someone else."
Sara and the driver left for Greece to carry out the married couple's planned honeymoon, Andrea said. He said he is considering legal action against his wife.
UPI
The husband, a 34-year-old man identified only as Andrea, said his bride Sara, 30, told their 30 wedding guests in Trieste that she wanted to change clothes after the ceremony but never arrived at the restaurant where the reception was held, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday.
Andrea said Sara drove off with a friend of his who was tasked with chauffeur duty. The husband said he and wedding guests called the pair on their cell phones when they failed to arrive at the reception and Sara told him she was "sorry" and had "made a mistake." Andrea quoted Sara as telling him that her "heart belongs to someone else."
Sara and the driver left for Greece to carry out the married couple's planned honeymoon, Andrea said. He said he is considering legal action against his wife.
UPI
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