story of the day

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fretfire said:

How did they come across it then... ;D

As childish as it is, the sheer wording of that with regards to the story it's about is just fab! ;D

[Luco El Loco]

I think I know what you're driving at... that's pretty funny.

"And here we present exhibit A - the magazine" - person holds up mag with tongs.

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'Smokers spend nearly a month a year on fag breaks at work' - The Sun

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Flowers and tributes were left in an alleyway where the body of a mystery dead baby was found - before police realised it was only a chicken foetus. Well-wishers had laid more than a dozen bunches of flowers at the scene, along with cards and teddy bears. One of the cards read: "RIP Little Baby. Safe in the arms of Jesus. From someone who is a loving mother xxxx." Merseyside Police told the community on Monday to "stop grieving, it's only a chicken"

[Luco El Loco]

uk.news.yahoo.com/26102005/80/rome-bans-goldfish-bowls.html

I hope the 3 times a day only applies to larger breeds in the prime of health or Rome could end up overexercising its dogs.

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The apparent suicide of a woman found hanging from a tree went unreported for hours because passers-by thought the body was a Halloween decoration, authorities said.

The 42-year-old woman used rope to hang herself across the street from some homes on a moderately busy road late Tuesday or early Wednesday, state police said.

The body, suspended about 15 feet above the ground, could be easily seen from passing vehicles.

State police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Oldham and neighbors said people noticed the body at breakfast time Wednesday but dismissed it as a holiday prank. Authorities were called to the scene more than three hours later.

- Yahoo

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Alligators have clashed with nonnative pythons before in Everglades National Park. But when a 6-foot gator tangled with a 13-foot python recently, the result wasn't pretty.

The snake apparently tried to swallow the gator whole — and then exploded. Scientists stumbled upon the gory remains last week.

- Fox

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last one today, honest:

There is a small island that lives in complete terror of Wallace and Gromit. The islanders are so scared of Wallace and Gromit that posters for their new movie have had to be especially changed. Where is this bizarre little island? Some remote Indonesian outpost? Maybe one of the least populated Faroe Islands?

No. It's in Dorset.

Wallace And Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit has been causing a stir on the island of Portland in Dorset, because the word 'rabbit' is unlucky to the residents...

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A company which makes pornographic movies has been fined £4000 by the courts after supplying a video that was not explicit enough for the viewer. - The Daily Mirror

[Luco El Loco]

Europe launches Venus space probe Wednesday November 9, 06:39 AM

DARMSTADT, Germany (Reuters) - Europe's first space probe to Venus was launched on Wednesday, on a mission that aims to shed new light on Earth's closest planetary neighbour.

From its Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, the European Space Agency said the 1.3 tonne "Venus Express" probe had taken off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on board a Soyuz rocket at 3:33 a.m. British time on Wednesday, two weeks after its scheduled launch.

The Venus Express will travel through space for around 163 days and once captured by Venus's gravity, it will orbit the planet and analyse its atmosphere and clouds.

Among the riddles the mission hopes to solve is why a planet so similar to Earth in size, mass and composition has evolved so differently over the last 4,600 million years.

The planned launch on October 26 was delayed after technicians discovered a contamination on the covering of the probe's Russian-made Soyuz-Fregat launcher, but this proved harmless.

The Venus Express is essentially a slight variation on the ESA's "Mars Express" probe, which has been providing spectacular images of the red planet since the end of 2003.

(Yahoo)

[Luco El Loco]

Body image causes lack of desire

Thursday November 10, 06:25 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women who lose their sexual desire as they age may not be the victims of hormonal changes but may be reacting to their own body image, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.


The more a woman perceived herself as less attractive, the more likely she was to report a decline in sexual desire or activity over the past 10 years, the team at Penn State University found.


"Our results suggest that 'treatment,' via medication, of menopausal effects for this purpose seems unwarranted in light of the findings that menopausal status did not have a significant impact on the sexual responding of the women in this study," said Dr. Patricia Barthalow Koch, an associate professor of biobehavioral health and women's studies who led the study.

Koch's team studied 307 mostly white, heterosexual women aged 35 to 55.


About 21 percent said they were pre-menopausal, 63.5 percent said they were undergoing some menopausal changes and 15.5 percent were past menopause.


Nearly 21 percent of the women could not think of even one attractive feature and reported an overall sense of dissatisfaction with their bodies, Koch's team reported in The Journal of Sex Research. The women especially disliked their stomachs or abdomens, hips, thighs and legs.


Two-thirds of the women said they either desired sex less than 10 years before or that they had sex less often.


But the women reported that when they did have sex, there was a high level of enjoyment, with 72 percent saying they were physically and emotionally satisfied in their sexual relationships.


"There has been a dearth of research examining the relationship between body image and women's sexual response. These new results support a link between body image and sexual responding that needs further study," Koch said.

(Yahoo)

I love it that it's a Dr Koch behind the study. ;D

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A Bosnian referee may be banned for a year after he knocked out a player who disagreed with a decision. Dusko Pekija was officiating at a derby between Sarajevo and FC Zeljeznicar when Sarajevo players, unhappy at not being awarded a penalty kick, attacked him. Pekija hit Samir Saric, knocking out the player for several minutes.

- The Times

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The unprecedented number of troops who are returning from Iraq with missing limbs has given the US Paralympic Team an unexpected recruitment boost and the chance to become 'unbeatable' at the next Games in Beijing in 2008. More than 60 potential recruits have already been identified in sports as varied as powerlifting, archery and table tennis.

- The Times.

[Luco El Loco]

A 116-year-old Ecuadorean woman was declared the oldest person in the world on Friday, lifting the title from a U.S. woman previously thought to be the oldest person alive, Guinness World Records said.


Maria Esther Capovilla was confirmed as the oldest living person after her family sent details of her birth and marriage certificates to Guinness World Records.


"We only told her yesterday she was the new Guinness world record holder," Kate White, brand manager

(Advertisement)
at the records publisher told Reuters. "We hadn't heard of her before."

"She's in very good health, she's got good sight, is able to read the papers and watch television, and doesn't walk with a stick," White added.


Capovilla was born in Guayaqull in western Ecuador on September 14, 1889, and lives there today with her daughter-in-law and son.


She had five children, and has four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.


Her husband died in 1949.


White said Capovilla had been asked what she thought about the changes she had seen over her life.


"She said she disliked the fact that presently it's acceptable for women to pursue men. And she said that every day she thanks God that she's alive," White said.


As a girl at the turn of the century one of Capovilla's favourite pastimes was going to parties, where she never drank alcohol.


At the time it was the custom for women just to touch the rim of the glass with their lips without drinking, as a sign of accepting hospitality, her family told Guinness World Records.


Elizabeth Bolden, from Memphis, Tennessee, born August 15, 1890, had previously been regarded as the oldest living person.


Edith "Judy" Ingamell, 111 years old, from Enfield north of London, became the oldest woman in Britain after the death on Wednesday of the previous title holder Lucy d'Abreu, Guinness World Records said.


D'Abreu, who lived to 113, attributed her longevity to a daily dose of brandy and dry ginger ale.


Emiliano Mercado Del Toro, from Puerto Rico, born August 21, 1891, is the world's oldest living man, aged 114, says Guinness World Records.




Yahoo

[Luco El Loco]

Bono salutes Argentina's 'Mothers'

Singer Bono and the band U2 saluted the ageing Argentinian Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo at their final concert in Buenos Aires, honouring the human rights group.

Five of the famously handkerchiefed Mothers, whose sons and daughters went missing during a state crackdown on dissent during the 1976-83 junta era, were on hand for the last of two concerts U2 gave before more than 60,000 fans at a soccer stadium.

Bono sang Miss Sarajevo and walked out across a platform near where the Mothers were standing. He singled them out and urged the audience to work across the political spectrum for world peace.

"Let's work together, left and right, rich and poor, young and old," Bono said before performing his hit One.

The Mothers have been marching weekly for a quarter of a century, pressing for information about those killed or still missing from the seven-year "Dirty War" crackdown.

An official accounting lists at least 13,000 victims while human rights groups say the toll is at least twice that.

Yahoo