[Matt]

do you just search CNN.com for Cats?

[ShanaD]

no

[Matt]

Not So Cuddly: Panda Attacks Zookeeper

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070806_ap_panda_attack.html

BEIJING (AP) -- A zookeeper needed more than 100 stitches after a 2-year-old panda viciously bit and scratched him during feeding time at a zoo in northwestern China, a zoo official and a newspaper said Monday.

The zookeeper, surnamed Zhang, was hospitalized after the attack Saturday in Lanzhou, Gansu province, but his life was not in danger, said a woman surnamed Zhou, who is director of the zoo's office. The Lanzhou Morning Post said the man needed more than 100 stitches.

Zhang was feeding the panda from outside the enclosure, sticking his arms through the wire, when the panda, Lan Zai, grabbed his arms and began biting them and then scratched his legs, Zhou said in a telephone interview.

Lan Zai was transferred to the zoo on July 28 from Chengdu in southwestern China and had apparently not adjusted well to Lanzhou's drier climate. The panda had refused to eat for several days, Zhou said.

The panda also had not grown comfortable with Zhang during its weeklong stay at the zoo.

Last October, a panda cub bit off part of the thumb of an American visitor who was feeding the animal at a reserve in southwestern China. A month earlier, a drunken Chinese tourist bit a panda at the Beijing Zoo after the animal attacked him when he jumped into the enclosure and tried to hug it.

[the_phreac]

Perhaps not weird but...



Oral surgeon gets last laugh over boar-tusk prank

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... oo27m.html


By Christina Siderius

Seattle Times staff reporter

Oral surgeon Robert Woo may have pulled off the ultimate practical joke.

He stuck fake boar tusks in a patient's mouth while she was sedated, took pictures, and later, after she sued, he convinced the state Supreme Court he deserves $750,000 for being abandoned by his insurance company.

The court, ruling 5-4, said Thursday that Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. had a "duty to defend" the Auburn oral surgeon when he was sued. Inserting the boar tusks "conceivably fell within the [insurance] policy's broad definition of the practice of dentistry," wrote Justice Mary E. Fairhurst, in the majority opinion.

The ruling restored a jury verdict that had been overturned on appeal.

Justice James Johnson vigorously disagreed. In one of two dissents, he wrote, "Any reasonable person would not define his actions as a dental procedure. ... "

Rather, Johnson wrote, Woo "humiliated" his patient and the court's "decision rewards Dr. Woo's obnoxious behavior and allows him to profit handsomely. ... "

The saga of Woo, the boar tusks and the insurance company that hoped not to pay for a policyholder's attempt at comedy goes back to a pot-bellied pig named Walter.

Walter was the pet of Woo's surgical assistant and a frequent office topic. The assistant, who worked for Woo for about five years, adored Walter. But ever the jokester, Woo couldn't resist barbs about barbecuing Walter.

The assistant had asked Woo to replace two of her teeth with implants. Along with ordering the necessary partial bridges, Woo ordered a set in the shape of boar tusks.

During the procedure, Woo and his staff removed the assistant's oxygen mask, inserted the tusks and took photos, some with her eyes pried open. Woo then completed the planned dental work.

After she saw the photos, the assistant never returned to the office. Woo didn't know it at the time, but the woman had been sexually assaulted as a teen. The boar's-teeth incident triggered memories and spurred a case of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a psychologist's report in the court file.

The Seattle Times generally does not name victims of sexual assault.

The woman filed the lawsuit in 1999, with claims including battery, invasion of privacy, infliction of emotional distress and medical negligence.

Fireman's had declined to defend Woo because his actions did not fall under "dental services," documents said.

Woo settled with the assistant for $250,000, then took Fireman's to court, claiming the company should have defended him.

In 2003, a King County Superior Court jury said Fireman's had breached its duty and it awarded Woo $750,000 in damages. He was also awarded attorney fees and reimbursement for the $250,000 he paid to settle the original lawsuit with his employee. The state Court of Appeals overturned that ruling, but left the $250,000 settlement intact.

After Thursday's ruling, Woo will wind up getting the more than $1 million initially awarded.

Woo's lawyer, Dick Kilpatrick, said his client was pleased, "but more for the principle that insurers shouldn't abandon their policy holders."

In a prepared statement, Fireman's said, "We are disappointed with the decision."

Johnson, in his dissent, said Fireman's won't be the only one to pay. "Ultimately, patients in Washington will pay for Woo's malfeasance through their doctors' higher costs and insurance premiums," Johnson wrote.

[ShanaD]

Think twice before letting your kids play on the playground.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/200 ... mbust.ktxa

[ShanaD]

This is why I HATE the ferris wheel:

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/08/1 ... eaths.html

5 family members killed in South Korean ferris wheel accident

Five family members were killed after the ferris wheel car they were riding in overturned at a South Korean amusement park, police said Monday.


South Korean firefighters rescue a student from a car of a ferris wheel at the World Carnival Busan south of Seoul on Monday, when an accident killed at least five members of the same family.
(Jo Jung-ho/Associated Press)
The five fell 20 metres from the 66-metre-high, 42-car ferris wheel at the World Carnival mobile amusement park in the southern city of Busan.

A 68-year-old woman, a seven-year-old boy and two others died at the scene, and a 28-year-old woman died later in hospital. Two other family members riding in the car when it overturned clung to handholds and survived without injury.

Jeon Un-sung, 70, who was rescued from the car, told Yonhap news agency that "the slowly moving gondola suddenly stopped and turned upside down, and family members fell in a flash" when the window behind the seats fell out of the car.

Police were still investigating late Monday.

[ShanaD]

What the hell?
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/200 ... mbust.ktxa

[tjconheady]

why did you post the link again?

[ShanaD]

Oh I am stupid, I ment to post this one.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbea ... prank.wthr
What the hell?

[tjconheady]

still not correct link!

[ShanaD]

now try it

[tjconheady]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2007/08/14/swan.in.toilet.paper.prank.wthr

[the_phreac]

If this story does not make you feel good about social responsibility, community, and plain old humanity...then you're evil, evil I say.

It really shouldn't be weird news except that in most cases, people will stand around doing nothing. So it may be weird in the sense it is uncommon.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... RER7E2.DTL

3 men's bravery honored
Police commission will celebrate actions that saved young teen's life
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle

Wednesday, August 8, 2007


It was an unusually sunny afternoon May 19 as Kermit Kubitz strolled into Creighton's American Bakery in San Francisco's Miraloma Park neighborhood for a cup of coffee.

The 60-year-old lawyer was enjoying a leisurely Saturday in this quiet neighborhood near Twin Peaks and Mount Davidson. Nearby, Dr. Sang-ick Chang, the head of a San Mateo hospital, and Swedish immigrant Jonas Svallin were also basking in the unseasonably warm weather.

The three men had never met, but they were about to be drawn into a harrowing drama in which a 14-year-old girl and Kubitz would nearly die.

An hour later, Chang had saved the girl's life. Svallin had chased down her attacker. Kubitz was on an ambulance stretcher, and a recently paroled man was headed back to jail.

At a public ceremony tonight, the San Francisco Police Commission will honor the three men for their bravery.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kubitz has lived on the south side of Mount Davidson for more than two decades, a place he describes as "a very quiet neighborhood where people can go out in their bathrobes or house coats to put out the trash." And like many people in the neighborhood, Kubitz depends on the small neighborhood center on Portola Drive for his basics.
After watching the Preakness Stakes horse race, the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. attorney drove into the small shopping center's lot.

As Kubitz was leaving with coffee from the Creighton American Bakery, a man rushed inside.

"That's strange," Kubitz thought as he turned back toward the counter to watch the man.

The man was Chris Scott Thomas. The day before, Thomas had been released from San Quentin State Prison.

The 26-year-old has a long criminal history. He has been convicted for numerous property crimes, and in January, was arrested after he violated his parole. He spent the next four months at San Quentin.

Prison officials believe he was dropped off at a bus station around 9 a.m. on May 18 in downtown San Rafael, about 20 miles north of Creighton's. It is not clear where he went or what he did over the next 30 hours. But witnesses said he arrived at the bakery around 3:30 p.m. on May 19, asked for a glass of water, then left.

Several minutes later, he brushed past Kubitz and darted back into the bakery.

When Kubitz turned to watch Thomas, he noticed the 7-inch hunting knife in the convict's hand. He said he watched as Thomas began to punch and stab a girl in the cafe. The girl, now 15, did not want her name used in this story.

"I couldn't believe it and yelled 'Hey, hey!' " recalled Kubitz. "He had her cornered, so I ran over and started pulling on his left arm."

Kubitz assumed it was a domestic violence situation - what else, he wondered, would explain such an unprovoked attack?

"I had only two thoughts: one, I have to get him out of the door, and two, oh my God, this guy could kill me too," he said.

Overcoming his fear, the lawyer tried to pull the attacker away from the teenager.

Witnesses say he then turned on Kubitz, stabbing him numerous times - first in his chest, above his heart. As the two men struggled, they moved toward the door of the business.

Finally, the attacker rammed the blade into Kubitz's right side, and left it there, sticking out midway up his ribcage.

"I ended up on my back, with the knife in my ribs, and I didn't like that look so I grabbed it out of my ribs and threw it out on the sidewalk," Kubitz said.

Thirty-six-year-old Svallin was standing outside the Starbucks next to the bakery when he noticed the commotion.

By the time he ran over, Kubitz was on the ground near the doorway and had pulled the knife from his ribs. Svallin kicked the weapon out of the reach of the attacker, who fled.

Svallin said he chased Thomas down Woodside Avenue toward Laguna Honda Hospital for about a half-mile, keeping a safe distance between himself and the parolee. He told police he watched Thomas jump over a fence at the adjacent Youth Guidance Center and ran over to the hospital's parking lot, where he found two sheriff's deputies. He pointed out the blood-spattered suspect crawling out from some bushes.

Thomas was arrested and now faces multiple felony charges, including two counts of attempted murder.

But the nightmare wasn't over back at the bakery.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Across the street, Chang headed back to his car parked near the bakery cafe. With arms full of groceries, the 48-year-old father of two was thinking about the menu for a dinner party planned that night at his St. Francis Wood house: marinated and grilled flank steak, artichokes, risotto and salad.
He was also a bit preoccupied with work. He was set to take the helm that Monday as interim CEO of the public San Mateo Medical Center, a 509-bed hospital on the Peninsula.

As Chang approached his parking spot, he noticed some sort of scuffle in the door of the bakery.

"I put down my groceries and took my glasses off, and walked toward the two of them," Chang recalled. "Suddenly I saw a very large hunting knife. ... I immediately backed way off."

After the attacker fled, Kubitz, whose lung had been punctured by the second stab, stood up and asked for help, yelling to the small crowd that had gathered outside the bakery.

As Kubitz walked back into the bakery clutching his side, Chang went to work.

"I thought, 'Well, I guess dinner is over,' " he said.

The girl was lying still on the floor. She had been stabbed in the throat, wrist, legs and stomach, including a wound to a carotid artery on her neck that could easily have been fatal.

Chang could "see she was gravely, critically injured, with only moments to live," he said later. The doctor knew that he needed to stop as much bleeding as possible.

Meanwhile, Kubitz was beginning to wheeze and realized that his lung had been punctured. He lay on the floor, propped his legs up and asked the bakery employees for napkins to plug the gash in his side.

He and the girl gave witnesses their names and phone numbers, and both of their families headed to the bakery.

Then he, the girl and Chang waited for an ambulance for what seemed like hours.

At San Francisco General Hospital, Kubitz spent four days with a chest tube that allowed him to breathe from his collapsed lung. He was released from the hospital within the week but had to take about a month off work.

The girl's injuries were more severe, and she is still recovering after several surgeries.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ingleside Police Capt. Paul Chignell, who will present the three men with a commendation at the Police Commission meeting, said the circumstances that day continue to amaze him.
"In the course of a career, (police officers) maybe come across one or two cases like this one that are just horrific," he said. "But the thing that confronts you, even though the girl was dying there on the floor, is that so much good came out of this. I believe her parents would say the same. These three guys put their lives on the line and saved her life. ... That's not hyperbole. They really did."

Chang insists that Kubitz and Svallin are the real heroes, and he also praised the emergency officials, including the fire captain, on scene that afternoon and the police who are investigating the crime.

Kubitz says he has no regrets, other than wishing he could have reacted faster. He considers the entire situation lucky - it was lucky that he was able to intervene, lucky that Chang and Svallin were there, lucky that the paramedics and emergency workers arrived quickly.

For her part, the teenage girl calls the group her "Three Musketeers" - they all needed each other to save her.

The ceremony will be held at the Police Commission meeting this evening, which begins at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall, Room 400.

[Matt]

British dwarf's penis gets stuck to hoover

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070820/od_afp/entertainmentbritain;_ylt=AhXyEUaIiMk6Oq2Q3qjMRris0NUE

EDINBURGH (AFP) - A dwarf performer at the Edinburgh fringe festival had to be rushed to hospital after his penis got stuck to a vacuum cleaner during an act that went horribly awry.

Daniel Blackner, or "Captain Dan the Demon Dwarf", was due to perform at the Circus of Horrors at the festival known for its oddball, offbeat performances.

The main part of his act saw him appear on stage with a vacuum cleaner attached to his member through a special attachment.



The attachment broke before the performance and Blackner tried to fix it using extra-strong glue, but unfortunately only let it dry for 20 seconds instead of the 20 minutes required.

He then joined it directly to his organ. The end result? A solid attachment, laughter, mortification and ... hospitalisation.

"It was the most embarrassing moment of my life when I got wheeled into a packed AE with a vacuum attached to me," Blackner said.

"I just wished the ground could swallow me up. Luckily, they saw me quickly so the embarrassment was short-lived."

[tjconheady]

there's a penis-vacuum story every month...