Posing Naked for Penthouse, Primary School Teacher Suspended

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3 ways to combat rising fuel prices

harga LPG naik lagi yg segera akan disusul oleh BBM, karena harga dipasar internasional sudah keburu naik,, kita perlu mengambil langkah2 drastis untuk mengatasi masalah ini, inlah Kiat untuk mengatasi kenaikan harga BBM, yang disarankan Tim Ward seorang comedian dari negeri uncle sam.

I have heard the rumblings of many of you reader about the recent spike in gasoline prices. In fact it's all I seem to hear about lately. But at least it keeps you from rumbling about the infrequency of my columns and articles. Nonetheless, I have decided to try to help you get through this crisis by generously providing: 3 Ways to Combat Rising Gas Prices!

1. Don't Drive Your Car

This is, of course, the most obvious solution. If you never take the old Plymouth out the driveway, then it won't matter that at current gas prices it takes $125 to fill up the 30 gallon gas tank, or that you only get about 2.51 miles to the gallon. If you never drive, you could care less.

Of course, I know what you're going to say. "But Tim, I have places I need to go-like work. And the kids have school and soccer practice. And then there's grocery shopping and yoga lesssons and dinner at the Richardsons and blah blah blah and...." Ok, I get the point. Not everyone can sit around the house writing not-so-funny articles and searching the Internet for Drew Barrymore photos like me. I fully understand that some of you have a life. But just because you don't drive your own car doesn't mean you can't get around. The answer?

2. Carpool

It's seems so simple now doesn't it. Instead of using your gas-Use Someone Elses! Have someone else pay $5.50 a gallon for gas to take your kids to school. Make someone else dip into their retirement fund just so they can cover the gas bill needed to get you to the office and back everyday. Make someone else get a second job so that they can have a full tank of gas in their SUV when your daughter needs to cruise the mall. It's so simple.

Of course, the concept behind carpooling is that everyone takes turns driving. So in a normal carpool situation you would eventually be required to use your car and spend your money driving others around. But this is not a Normal Carpool Situation, this is a Tim Ward Carpool Situation (TWCPS). In a TWCPS you avoid using your own car by making it so that the other carpool participants would rather walk barefoot on 120 degree asphalt than ride with you. You achieve this by:

(a) never washing or cleaning your car. Leave it looking and smelling like the county landfill.

(b) Have the worst behaved child in your family sitting in the front seat at all times. Feed the child lots of candy so he/she is always superhyper.

(c) Refuse to discuss anything in your car except your spouses bad bathing habits, bodily fluids, hang nails, chest hair, etc.

(d) Only play reggae music on the radio. Loud!

You shouldn't have to worry about anyone wanting to ride with you ever again.

3. Ride the Bus/Subway

Many cities have a mass transit system that is an alternative to driving your own vehicle. If you live in a city that doesn't have one don't worry-you can always move. Of course, riding public transportation does have a few drawbacks, but these can be easily overcome if you follow these simple guidelines:

1. No matter what happens never, ever make eye contact with anyone. Making eye contact is an invitation for someone to mug you.

2. No matter what happens never, ever give up your seat to anyone. This is seen as weakness, and will be taken as an invitation to mug you.

3. No matter how tempted you are never, ever strike up a conversation with the person sitting next or across from you. This is very annoying and can be taken as an invitation for someone to mug you. Or worse, for someone to talk back.

4. Always make sure you are alert to get on and off at the right stop. Getting off at the wrong stop can lead to immediate mugging.

5. Never, ever take children with you on public transportation. Fellow passengers hate children. Children make you definite mug victim material.

Well, there you have it. 3 ways to deal with rising gas prices. Hopefully, you will be able to use these methods to keep from spending twice your car's Blue Book value just going to Walmart. Hopefully, next time your friends are grumbling and ranting about the mounting gas prices you will be able to just sit back and smile, content because the issue no longer concerns you. Hopefully, I've once more helped my loyal readers in a time of crisis. And all I ask in return as a simple thank you next time you see me. Just make sure we're not on the bus. I'd hate to have to mug you...

Article source: ArticleFever.com by tim ward.
Disclaimer: This article is for entertainment purposes only, not intended to criticized the goverment, members of Parliament or the petro company for increasing the price of gasoline or LPG.

Turkish woman in penis-chopping case

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Turkish woman accused of cutting off her lover's penis must wait 18 months for a verdict and sentencing while a court determines whether his re-attached penis still functions, a court source said Thursday.

The criminal court in the Black Sea town of Trabzon will wait for a medical report assessing whether the 28-year-old victim has regained full use of his organ or if he is permanently disabled, an official involved in the trial said.

"To determine which crime was committed, we first need the report," the source said. "We'll continue holding hearings in the trial from time to time until we receive the report."

The 39-year-old defendant faces between one and three years in prison if her former lover recovers, Haber Turk newspaper said. She will be jailed for at least 8 years if he does not.

The woman told the court he had broken his promise to marry her and forced her into prostitution and beat her.

Surgeons worked for 11 hours to re-attach the penis in an operation which they described as successful, and said full sexual function should return within six months, Hurriyet said.

The defendant, who has not been jailed during the trial, told the court she cut off her former lover's penis and threw it onto the roof of a neighboring building while he was drunk, the newspaper quoted her as saying.

Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom

Rupanya koneksi internet yg lemot bukan problem di Indonesia saja, ternyata negara lain juga mengalami. Untuk membuktikannyapun perlu dibandingkan dengan cara yg udah jadul seperti pengiriman berita dengan merpati pos. Ternyata pengiriman data dengan merpati pos terbukti lebih cepat, hehehe lol.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom , the country's leading internet service provider.

Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg.

Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line.

SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

The company has 11 call-centers around the country and regularly sends data to its other branches.

Telkom could not immediately be reached for comment.

Internet speed is expected to improve once a new 17,000 km underwater fiber optic cable linking southern and East Africa to other networks becomes operational before South Africa hosts the soccer World Cup next year.

Local service providers are currently negotiating deals for more bandwidth.

Thai Scorpion pet

 as for me, I think cat is still the most lovable cuddly pet

UTTARADIT, Thailand (Reuters) - A Thai man is keeping more than 4,600 scorpions as pets to atone for the years he spent cooking the arachnids to sell as snacks.

Scorpions, insects and worms are commonly eaten in Thailand, especially in the northern regions.

But after years of serving up scorpions, Suang Puangsri, a practicing Buddhist, felt it was time to befriend them instead.

"Although I was happy to have money, I felt suffering deep inside as they were being harmed by me," he told Reuters. "I felt scared that I was committing a sin."

The 38-year-old has given up the bottom floor of his two-storey home to the scorpions, who scuttle about a 6 meter by 5 meter (19 ft by 16 ft) enclosure decorated with branches and stone so that very little light and heat come in.

Suang buys up to one kg of live cicadas and other inspects daily to feed his pets, who have stung him so many times that he says he is immune to their venom.

He also spends at least an hour every day meditating inside the enclosure, often placing scorpions in his mouth.

Suang's pets have attracted a few tourists to his sleepy town of Fark Ta in the northern province of Uttaradit, and he now makes a living by selling figurines and stone carvings of ants, frogs, turtles and Buddhas.

Although the $570 he earns a month is a far cry from the $860 he made selling cooked scorpions, he and his family are content.

"I feel good about what is he doing. I didn't like it when he made the scorpions suffer. I'm not scared of those scorpions, but I don't dare touch them," said Suang's wife, Lampoon Pimtoom.

Suang is so determined to atone for his past sins that he even buys scorpions from other people who want to sell them to restaurants. When the arachnids become too many, he and his son release a few hundred back into the forest.

Suang's fixation with scorpions is unusual, but not totally unheard of in Thailand.

Earlier this year a Thai woman went into the record books for spending 33 days and nights with 5,000 live scorpions. She also held a 7-inch live scorpion in her mouth for 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

Dutch girl blocked from sailing solo

UTRECHT, Netherlands (Reuters) - A 13-year-old Dutch girl's plans to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world were temporarily blocked on Friday when a court placed her under state supervision for two months.

Laura Dekker, who was born on her parents' boat in New Zealand and spent her first four years at sea, had intended to begin a two-year voyage on September 1 on her 8.3 meter (27 ft) yacht Guppy.

"I'm not scared because I know that I can do it and my boat is good," she said in an interview with state broadcaster NOS, when asked about the court ruling.

"...It's basically stayed about the same, only it will take a little longer," she added.

In a case that captured the attention of the sea-faring Dutch, child welfare authorities said it would be irresponsible to let her depart. A court in Utrecht agreed the trip posed risks to Dekker's psychological development.

The court stopped short of removing custody from her parents, who support her planned trip, and she will stay with her father, who will share custody with the state.

The court ordered a psychologist and child protection authorities to examine how she would cope alone on the boat.

The ruling came a day after British 17-year-old Mike Perham became the youngest person to sail around the globe single-handed after nine months at sea.

Dekker's lawyer, Peter de Lange, said he was confident her trip would go ahead.

"She is happy with the ruling, and now we can prepare this (journey) in a mature and responsible way," De Lange said. Her father, an experienced sailor, was in court for the verdict, but did not speak to reporters.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told a weekly news conference the risks and Dekker's schooling must be taken into account. "I can very well imagine that from various perspectives there are great concerns," he said.

CHALLENGES AT SEA

Dekker said in the interview she would tell investigating authorities how she grew up to give them an idea of her abilities. She stressed the longest time she would be alone at sea would be three weeks since she would often call into port.

She shrugged off concerns about her schooling because she plans to study via distance learning.

Caroline Vink, a senior adviser at the Youth Institute in the Netherlands which advises the Dutch government, said the biggest question was whether a 13-year-old could understand the consequences of her decision.

"Two years out of school will have an impact on her normal development," she said. "It is wonderful to have dreams, but they have to be realistic."

Presiding Judge M. Oostendorp said a hearing would be held on October 26 to examine the findings of the inquiry into the teenager's ability to cope with the challenges of a trip.

A court spokeswoman said if the psychological assessment showed Dekker unable to cope, she could be placed under permanent supervision of welfare authorities.

Kondom laris manis

KOMPAS.com - Banyaknya peserta Sail Bunaken yang kebanyakan adalah awak kapal yang baru turun berlayar diduga membuat penjualan kondom di Bitung laku keras.

Penjualan alat kontrasepsi pada salah satu pasar di Bitung laku keras dalam dua hari belakangan, kata Lastri, salah satu penjaga apotek di kawasan pusat kota Bitung, Sabtu.

Dia mengatakan penjualan kondom sejak dua hari belakangan meningkat drastis dari pada hari-hari sebelumnya. "Biasanya kondom dalam sehari hanya terjual tujuh sampai sepuluh. Namun, sejak dua hari belakangan ini meningkat mencapai 30 kondom," kata Lastri kepada wartawan, di Bitung.

Ia menambahkan, para pembeli tidak hanya orang lokal Bitung (Indonesia), tetapi ada juga warga asing yang datang untuk membeli kondom. "Peserta Sail Bunaken kebanyakan awak kapal yang baru saja turun dari kapal setelah berlayar berbulan-bulan sehingga membutuhkan hiburan," tambahnya.

Kadis Kesehatan Bitung, dr Ellen Wuisan yang dihubungi terpisah menyatakan bersama dengan tim terpadu yang melibatkan Dinkes dan Disparbud sudah melakukan pemantauan di lapangan.

Khusus untuk lokasi tempat penginapan didapati mereka menyediakan kondom bagi tamu yang datang. Itu sudah tersedia di kamar-kamar hotel. "Menurut pengakuan pengelola hotel mereka juga menyediakan kondom tapi tidak gratis. Setiap kamar disediakan. Perhitungannya kalau tamu akan check out dari kamar," kata Wuisan.

Sementara itu di kota Manado sendiri seluruh penghuni hotel berbintang dan hotel melati sudah penuh. Hal itu diakui oleh Sekretaris PHRI (Persatuan Hotel dan Restoran Indonesia) Paultje Kaunang. "Hotel di Manado sudah penuh hingga akhir pelaksanaan Sail Bunaken," kata Kaunang.

Indonesia pecahkan rekor dunia

Menjelang peringatan hari ulang tahun kemerdekaan Indonesia yg ke 64, Indonesia berhasil mencatat 2 rekor dunia baru yang patut di banggakan, semoga ini akan mengharumkan nama Indonesia di mata internasional. Setelah bulan2 terakhir ini hanya diwarnai dengan berita aksi terorisme di marriot dan ritz carlton.

Kita harapkan juga semoga taman nasional Komodo island world heritage juga mendapat ranking dlm new7wonders of the world, yang voting-nya masih terus berjalan sampai saat ini.
Dirgahayu Indonesia Raya.

Indonesia Pecahkan Rekor Penyelaman Massal
Liputan6.com, Malalayang: Indonesia akhirnya berhasil memecahkan rekor dunia penyelaman massal terbanyak dalam acara International Sail Bunaken di Pantai Malalayang, Manado, Sulawesi Utara, Ahad (16/8) waktu setempat. Tercatat, sekitar 2.818 penyelam dari berbagai wilayah ikut serta dalam kegiatan tersebut.

Acara Sail Bunaken 2009 selengkapnya baca disini
Berdasarkan laporan reporter Liputan 6 SCTV, Nova Rini, hingga kini seluruh penyelam telah bersiaga di dasar laut dengan kedalaman 15 meter. Suasana air laut agak terlihat keruh lantaran para peserta baru saja turun ke dasar laut, sehingga pasir mulai naik dan mengganggu pandangan [baca: Jelang Pemecahan Rekor Penyelaman Massal].

Rencananya, selain dalam rangka memecahkan rekor dunia dengan jumlah penyelaman massal terbanyak, para penyelam juga akan menggelar upara bendera memeperingati Hari Ulang Tahun ke-64 Republik Indonesia. Rangkaian upacara bendera juga sama dengan upacara bendera yang biasa dilakukan di daratan. Misalnya, kehadiran komandan upacara, pengibaran bendera Merah putih, mengeheningkan cipta, serta menyanyikan lagu kebangsaan Indonesia Raya.

Sebelumnya, rekor penyelaman massal terbanyak dipegang oleh Inggris dengan jumlah penyelam sekitar 900-an orang. Jumlah penyelam kali ini pun telah melampaui jumlah peserta yang didaftarkan untuk pemecah rekor dunia, yakni 1.500 orang.


Bocah 12 Tahun Masuk Buku Rekor Guinness

Liputan6.com, Gianyar: Menjelang Hari Ulang Tahun ke-64 Republik Indonesia, prestasi membanggakan ditorehkan anak negeri. Seorang anak laki-laki umur 12 tahun di Bali masuk dalam Buku Rekor Dunia Guinness sebagai anak yang mampu mengingat deretan angka terbanyak dalam waktu 60 detik.

Upaya pencatatan rekor dunia ini dilakukan di Gianyar. Usaha pencatatan dilakukan langsung oleh seorang perwakilan Guinness World Records yang berpusat di London, Inggris. Pada pencatatan rekor dunia ini, Bocah ajaib bernama Dominic Brian diminta mengingat seratus deretan angka acak dan berbeda dalam waktu 60 detik. Setelah itu, Brian diminta menyebutkan lagi angka yang diingatnya tanpa melihat catatan untuk dicocokkan oleh tim dari Guinness.

Dari seratus buah angka yang harus dihapal dalam 60 detik, Brian mengingat 76 angka. Meski tak dapat mengingat ke-100 angka secara tepat, prestasi Brian tetap dicatat dalam Buku Rekor Dunia Guinness. Menurut Guinness, pencatatan rekor dunia ini akan mengharumkan nama Indonesia di mata dunia.

AWAS HATI2 penis bisa PATAH

Ini bukan sensasi aja. Ternyata tercatat 1.331 kasus adanya penis patah yg menimpa kebanyakan anak remaja laki2 dibanding pria dewasa, hehehe mungkin karena masih belum banyak pengalaman dan keburu nafsu ya maka terjadi kasus fatal ini, ataupun ini terjadi karena lagi mencoba suatu posisi sexual relationship yg luar biasa yg heboh. Suatu gaya yg tidak lazim dlm posisi yg tidak alami yg akhirnya menyebabkan patahnya sang penis tersayang.

KOMPAS.com — Sebenarnya menyebut patah (fracture) untuk penis agak kurang tepat karena penis tidak memiliki jaringan tulang. Namun, suara mirip patahan, rasa sakit yang hebat, serta luka memar dan bengkak yang ditimbulkan mirip dengan kejadian patah pada tulang.

Pada dasarnya, penis fraktur terjadi karena ada trauma pada bagian corpus cavernousum, lapisan silinder yang terdapat di penis. Corpus cavernousum mengandung jaringan ereksi yang mirip spons yang tugasnya menampung darah selama ereksi.

Meski sangat jarang, di seluruh dunia sejak tahun 1935-2001, tercatat ada 1.331 kasus penis patah yang dilaporkan. Biasanya, kejadian ini menimpa remaja laki-laki karena biasanya ereksi pada usia mereka masih keras dan kaku.

Menurut Drogo Montague, MD, ahli urologi dari Cleveland Clinic, AS, saat penis fraktur terjadi, penis akan terlihat hitam dan biru yang disertai dengan rasa sakit.

Penis patah, menurut Montague, paling sering terjadi karena seorang pria terlalu heboh atau bersemangat memainkan juniornya saat melakukan penetrasi. "Wanita yang bergerak terlalu bersemangat saat berada di posisi woman on top juga bisa menyebabkan penis patah," katanya seperti dikutip situs kesehatan WebMD.

Senada dengan Montague, Dr Darius Paduch, ahli urulogi dari New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, menjelaskan, penis patah sering kali terjadi saat aktivitas seksual dilakukan.

"Kebanyakan kasus yang dilaporkan terjadi saat posisi woman on top. Ada juga kejadian hubungan seks dilakukan saat wanita duduk di meja dengan posisi pria menghadap langsung. Tapi penis salah dimasukkan dan mengenai meja," kata Paduch.

Selain aktivitas seksual yang terlalu heboh, berguling di tempat tidur dengan posisi penis sedang ereksi saat seorang pria tidur juga diduga bisa menyebabkan penis fraktur. Kejadian penis patah juga pernah dilaporkan akibat seorang pria terburu-buru berpakaian saat penisnya masih dalam kondisi tegang.

Menurut Paduch, penis patah tidak bisa diobati hanya dengan mengompres dengan es. Penderita harus segera berobat ke dokter karena operasi adalah terapi pengobatan yang paling tepat untuk kondisi ini. Sebuah penelitian menyebutkan, dari sembilan pria yang melakukan operasi, mayoritas mendapat kesembuhan dan bisa ereksi dengan normal pascaoperasi.

Handphone bikin MANDUL ?

Bagi para talkmania, facebooker atau pecandu internet melalui handphone [ponsel] ataupun penggemar musik dg hape yg menggunakan hape secara intensif tiap harinya, mungkin lebih dari 4 jam perhari atau mungkin justru lebih itu, sebaiknya mulai sekarang mulai merubah gaya hidup anda.
Soalnya ini ada laporan medis yg menyatakan penggunaan ponsel yg berlebihan bisa MEMBUNUH SPERMA PRIA.
menurut hasil riset pemakaian hape berpotensi Buruk bagi kesehatan.
Berikut laporan selengkapnya

VIVAnews - Sebuah penelitian menunjukkan hubungan antara kualitas sperma yang lemah dengan frekuensi pria menggunakan ponsel.

Bagi pria yang memakai telepon lebih dari 4 jam sehari jumlah produksi spermanya bisa menurun dan memiliki kualitas sperma yang paling lemah, menurut hasil laporan penelitian yang diumumkan pada acara tahunan American Society for Reproductive Medicine, New Orleans, AS.

Para ahli percaya kerusakan pada sperma akibat ponsel diakibatkan oleh radiasi electromagnetik yang dipancarkan dari handset atau panas yang dihasilkan.

Temuan ini menyarankan bagi para pria yang sulit memiliki anak untuk mengurangi frekuensi pemakaian ponsel. Dan, para ahli menyimpulkan kebiasaan buruk inilah yang menjadi salah satu 'biang keladi' penurunan kesuburan para pria di Inggris.

Produksi sperma pada kebanyakan pria Inggris turun hingga 29 persen selama 10 tahun terakhir. Penurunan kualitas sperma juga dapat disebabkan obesitas, merokok, stres, dan polusi.

Professor Ashok Agarwal, direktur dari Reproductive Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, AS, yang mengepalai penelitian ini mengatakan, "Hampir satu milyar orang yang menggunakan ponsel di dunia, dan angka itu selalu meningkat sekitar 20 -30 persen setiap tahunnya. Lima tahun ke depan, jumlah ini akan berlipat ganda. Sayangnya, pengguna ponsel tidak menyadari konsekuensinya."

Penelitian yang dilakukan pada 361 pria dibagi menjadi 4 grup. Yaitu, 40 orang tidak pernah menggunakan ponsel, 107 pria menggunakan ponsel kurang dari 2 jam sehari, 100 pria menggunakan sekitar 2 jam sehari, dan 114 pria memakai ponsel selama lebih dari 4 jam sehari.

Penelitian ini meneliti empat potensi sperma, jumlah, kualitas, morbilitas dan morfologi atau bentuk.

Hasilnya, makin lama menggunakan ponsel, makin berkurang dari 4 potensi tersebut.

Prof Agarwal berkata, "Kebanyakan kerusakan sperma akibat ponsel disebabkan radiasi electromagnetik radiation dan panas dari ponsel."

"Yang perlu disadari, ponsel juga meningkatkan temperatur di sekitar genital pria, terutama bila mereka menyimpan ponsel di saku celana atau diikatkan di ikat pinggang. Kondisi ini juga bisa menurunkan kualitas dan produksi sperma," katanya menambahkan.

superboy peminum bensin

oh my gosh, how can it be possible? a 14 years old boy drinks gasoline for 5 years following his robotic idol "bumble bee and optimus prime" from the TV series The Transformers to get energy to become a mighty warrior ?

Beijing (ANTARA/Xinhuanet-OANA) - Seorang bocah laki-laki yang berusia 14 tahun meminum bensin selama lima tahun untuk mendapatkan "energi", seperti yang dikerjakan idolanya "Bumble Bee" atau "Optimus Prime" di dalam film "Transformer", demikian laporan West China Metropolis Daily, yang berusat di Sichuan, Sabtu.

Setelah anak laki-laki itu, yang tinggal di Kota Yibin, Provinsi Sichuan di China barat-daya, menyaksikan serial animasi TV tersebut, ia mulai meminum bensin agar bisa jadi "petempur yang gagah berani" seperti "Optimus Prime", kata ayahnya kepada surat kabar itu.

"Ia mulai minum bensin lima tahun lalu, ketika kami mendapati ia berbau bahan bakar korek api," katanya.

Ibu bocah laki-laki tersebut memiliki kios makanan, dan menjual barang-barang seperti korek api.

Pada 2004, ia seringkali mendapati beberapa korek api hilang dua atau tiga hari setelah ia membelinya. Belakangan ia mengetahui bahwa putranya mulai mencuri semua barang itu.

Kedua orang tua tersebut berbicara dengan putra mereka dan meminta dia agar tak melakukannya lagi.

"Tetapi setelah itu, kami mendapati bahwa bensin motor kami selalu hilang, dan suatu hari ketika kami mendapati anak laki-laki kami tersebut telah minum setengah botol bensin yang dicuri dari sepeda motor, tentu saja kami sangat terkejut hingga tak dapat berbuat apa-apa," kata sang ayah.

Mereka mengurung seperti motor tersebut setelah itu, tapi anak laki-laki tersebut mulai mencuri bensin dari tetangga dan meminumnya lagi dan lagi, dua atau tiga botol dalam satu waktu.

"Sejak putra kami mencuri bensin, IQ-nya telah merosot tajam dan sekarang ia tak dapat menyelesaikan hitungan tambah-dan-kurang yang sederhana," kata sang ayah.
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aneh tapi nyata,,, untunglah tak menimbulkan korban jiwa cuman kemunduran inteligensia anak tsb saja,, namun mengapa sampai perlu waktu 5 tahun untuk menyadari kelakuan anak aneh tsb yg hobby meminun bensin ?

Masih segar dlm ingatan kita dengan kasus penyiaran WWC smackdown disebuah saluran TV lokal yg membawa dampak tragedi beberapa kematian, korban anak2 kecil yg mencoba menirukan action dan gaya para pegulat smackdown di TV tsb.
Karena kurangnya pengawasan orang tua maupun lingkungan akhirnya membawa korban jiwa, sungguh besar dampak pengaruh dari siaran TV bagi anak2 yg masih kaya akan fantasy dan mau mengikuti idola mereka.

Kiss warning due to H1N1 - dilarang berciuman

Berciuman adalah merupakan hal yg wajar dari segi tingkah laku sosial manusia, baik di timur ataupun di barat.
Namun dengan adanya kemungkinan penularan virus flu burung [sars] atau flu babi [H1N1] rupanya perlu untuk merubah tingkah laku sosial ini, jangan sembarangan berciuman baik family kiss [seperti cium kening atau cium pipi] ataupun lover kiss [cium bibir, ataupun french kiss / cium lidah] apalagi cium massal didepan umum.

Makanya suatu departemen kesehatan di Jerman perlu untuk mengeluarkan peringatan untuk tidak berpelukan, berciuman dalam suatu festival musik heavy metal akbar di Jerman untuk mengurangi resiko tertular.

Tapi apakah ini akan effektif ?? karena virus itu kan terbang bersama angin [airborne virus]... kalau emang takut dan kuatir akan penyebaran H1N1 ini mengapa tidak tinggal di rumah saja ?

Belum lagi ada banyak juga resiko infeksi karena ciuman massal


Kiss warning issued for rock festival due to flu
BERLIN (Reuters) - Fans attending one of the world's biggest heavy metal festivals in Germany were asked on Thursday to avoid "hugging, kissing on the cheek, and shaking hands" lest they spread the H1N1 influenza. On its website, the health ministry of Germany's northern Schleswig-Holstein region optimistically advised revelers to restrain from any such sociable behavior so as to minimize the infection risk at the Wacken Open Air festival, which runs until August 1.

It also recommended fans did not share bottles of beer.

"We know that kissing and what have you can't be ruled out," said ministry spokesman Oliver Breuer. "They're just tips."

Stalwart rockers Motorhead, Anthrax and Napalm Death are among the bands due to perform at the three-day festival, which organizers expect to attract about 75,000 fans.

More than 430 people worldwide have died from the flu and more than 94,000 people have been, or are, infected.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Matthew Jones)

music by Slank, the devil in you

phone lost at sea returned- hape hilang bisa kembali lagi

Sering kali kita mendengar kabar hape teman kita hilang, tertinggal atau raib diambil pencuri, atau mungkin anda juga pernah mengalami hal yg sama.
Karena kesibukan, atau lain hal, mungkin lupa meletakkan akhirnya hape kesayangan raib digondol si tangan panjang. Ada yg mengenaskan seorang teman kehilangan hapenya setelah menerima seorang tamu dirumahnya, karena lengah hapenya pun raib dibawa kabur, ataupun kisah yang semacam sering terjadi di lingkungan kita.

Namun tidak demikian yg dialami seorang di Taipei, Taiwan yg kehilangan hapenya karena tercebur ke laut sewaktu dia bermain di laut snorkeling. Setelah berkelana di laut selama 4 hari dan menempuh jarak 37 km, hape tsb kembali ke tuannya dengan kondisi tak kurang suatu apapun juga. Walau tuannya sudah ikhlas kehilangan tapi akhirnya hape itu sendiri yg kembali ke pemiliknya.



Phone lost 4 days at sea found, recharged, returned


TAIPEI (Reuters) - A mobile phone lost at sea for four days washed up in perfect condition in Taiwan after drifting 37 km (23 miles) and was discovered by a park lifeguard who tracked down the shocked owner to return it, the finder said on Friday.

Yu Hsin-leh of Taipei lost the phone on July 24 while snorkeling near the Taiwan port city of Keelung, Taiwan's United Daily News reported.

On Monday, it turned up in Longdong Bay Park on the island's northeasternmost cape after floating past numerous towns and rocky outcroppings.

A small water-resistant case had protected the phone at sea, said park lifeguard Lin Huan-chuan, who found it.

Lin said he recharged the battery and called Yu's wife by finding her in the phone's list of saved numbers.

"All the phone's functions were normal," Lin said. "The owner was extremely surprised as he figured he had lost it for good."

Reporting by Ralph Jennings

Oral sex and french kissing causes infection

oral sex and french kissing increase infection
- Oral sex and open-mouthed "French" kissing increase the risk of acquiring oral infections of human papillomavirus, or HPV, a study shows.

"Performing oral sex is not without risks," Dr. Maura L. Gillison told Reuters Health.

It is associated with gonorrheal pharyngitis - a sexually transmitted infection of the tonsils and back of the throat that immediately causes symptoms, she noted, and now is associated with mouth HPV infections that are silent "yet may lead to oral cancer 10 to 20 years later."

Gillison from The Ohio State University, Columbus, and colleagues explored whether sexual behaviors were associated with the odds of oral HPV infection in 332 adults and in 210 college-aged men. They found that 4.8 percent of the adults and 2.9 percent of college-aged men had oral HPV infection.

Among adults, the odds of oral HPV infection were significantly elevated among current tobacco smokers and among individuals who reported having either more than 10 oral or more than 25 vaginal sex partners during their lifetime.

Similar risk factors applied to the college-aged men. For them, having at least six recent oral sex or open-mouthed kissing partners were independently associated with increased odds of developing oral HPV infection.

For the 28 percent of college-aged men who reported never having performed oral sex, having at least 10 lifetime or at least five recent open-mouthed kissing partners was associated with a significantly higher risk of developing oral HPV infection.

"Our data suggest that oral HPV infections that could predispose to cancer may be transmitted by very common behaviors such as open-mouth or 'French' kissing," Gillison concluded.

Given that the HPV vaccine does not have any therapeutic value against pre-existing HPV infections, "this may be relevant to the timing of administration of vaccination," Gillison said.

Although the CDC recommends that the vaccine be administered between the ages of 9 and 12 ideally, in practice, she noted, it is often administered to girls between the age of 14 and 16. Oral exposure to HPV may have occurred prior to that age.
SOURCE: The Journal of Infectious Diseases

obama wannabe in russia

Euphoria kemenangan Barrack Obama sebagai presiden Amrik pertama dari kalangan keturunan kulit hitam, rupanya tak hanya terjadi di Indonesia saja ataupun negera lainnya. ini juga memberi ilham bagi banyak warga / imigran kulit hitam untuk berani tampil di dunia politik.
Seorang imigran dari Guinea Bissau, Zhoakim Krima yg sehari2nya jualan semangka di kota Sredny akhtub, Volgograd, Rusia berusaha mengikuti pemilihan walikota di kota tsb. Tentunya sejarah warga minoritas kulit hitam di Rusia jelas sangat berbeda dengan di Amerika Serikat. Yang banyak menikmati keberhasilan di segala bidang kehidupan.



Fruit seller tries to ride Obama's coattails


MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has inspired an African immigrant to proclaim himself the "Obama of Volgograd" and run for mayor in the southern Russian region.

Campaign posters for Zhoakim Krima, a 37-year-old water melon salesman from West Africa's Guinea-Bissau, have appeared along the main roads in the Volgograd town of Sredny Akhtub, daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported Wednesday.

But his campaign slogan, playing on the rampant stereotypes in provincial Russia, seems unlikely to win Obama's support -- Krima has pledged to "work day and night like a slave" for the good of the town, the newspaper reported.

The prevalence of hate crimes and the general distrust of migrants force most blacks to lead low-profile lives in Russia, where the African-born population is tiny.

iron man from Japan

Japan's "iron man" quits -- at 81

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese marathon runner Keizo Yamada has hung up his sneakers at the grand old age of 81 -- although he could be tempted back to run the odd half marathon.

Yamada, who represented Japan at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and won the Boston Marathon the following year, said the time was right for him to "scale back" on his running.

"I'm not getting any younger so I won't run any more 42-kilometre races," he told Sunday's Sports Hochi newspaper, adding that he still jogs 20km daily.

"I will carry on running for fun to stay in shape."

Dubbed "Iron Man," Yamada ran three marathons this year, including his 19th appearance in Boston, and completed the Tokyo Marathon in a time of five hours, 34 minutes and 50 seconds.

He was one of the pioneers of Japanese marathon running, along with Shigeki Tanaka and Hideo Hamamura, who also won in Boston in 1951 and 1955 respectively.

Kokichi Tsuburaya put the sport on map in the Japan by taking bronze in the men's marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Japan's women have had more success than their male counterparts in recent years, Naoko Takahashi capturing gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Mizuki Noguchi winning the 2004 title in Athens.

underwear thief

Police catch underwear thief

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police uncovered over 1,000 pairs of underpants and more than 100 pairs of swimming trunks after catching a thief nabbing another three pairs for his collection.

The 46-year-old man was caught Sunday pinching three pairs of pants from a sports hall in the western town of Gelnhausen. Police then came across the enormous collection of underwear while searching his flat.

"They were all evidently in use, but had been washed and neatly stacked away," a police spokesman said Monday.

Police are now investigating where all the underwear came from. The suspect claims to have acquired then from car-boot sales and over the Internet.

french nudist exhibition

Cannes bans nudists after yacht club complains


PARIS (Reuters) - Authorities in Cannes have banned naturists from a public beach after the southern French town's yacht club complained the naked bathers had begun to get out of hand.

Naturists have been tolerated for years on Palm Beach, which lies directly in front of the exclusive club.

But the yacht club said they had recently begun exposing themselves more visibly to club members, particularly in front of the restaurant's windows.

"We organize sailing for children, we have a restaurant, but when the naturists get up from bathing they walk around naked," a spokeswoman for the club said.

"Until now they were tolerated, they were quite discreet, but the problem that triggered the decision was that recently their behavior became more questionable."

The town hall issued the order Monday banning naturism on Palm Beach.

"Naturists have been coming to the beach for years and this had provoked complaints, notably from the yacht club," a Cannes town hall spokeswoman said.

First time offenders will now face a fine of 11 euros ($15), with more serious cases possibly earning a prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros.

dubai's camel milk enter world market

World's first camel-milk chocolates going global
By Tamara Walid

DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai's Al Nassma, the world's first brand of chocolate made with camels' milk, plans to expand into new Arab markets, Europe, Japan and the United States, its general manager said Tuesday.

Martin Van Almsick said the United Arab Emirates company planned to enter Saudi Arabia first, followed by Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United States within the next few months.

The company plans to enter the Saudi market in a month through a partnership with a Jeddah-based distributor, said Van Almsick, adding the company plans to deliver the first ton of chocolates to Saudi Arabia soon.

Al Nassma is also in talks with British department store Harrods and San Francisco's Chocolate Covered to sell its products.

Al Nassma was formally established in October last year and aims to produce 100 tons of premium camels' milk chocolate a year.

In partnership with Austrian chocolate maker Manner, Al Nassma manufactures the end product at its Dubai facility.

With 3,000 camels on its Dubai farm, the company sells chocolates through its farm-attached store as well as in luxury hotels and private airlines. It plans to launch an online shopping facility within a month, Van Almsick said. The farm is controlled by the Dubai government.

The company is set to open its second store in the UAE in one of Dubai's large malls and is in talks with mall operator Majid Al Futtaim and others, he said.

"We aim to be the Godiva of the Middle East," Van Almsick said in an interview. "It's a luxury product, so we will never be in supermarkets. The plan is to be in one mall in each UAE city."

Al Nassma is also looking at the possibility of setting up a store in Japan, where demand for the product is high, he said.

All chocolates are produced without preservatives or chemical additives with a range of locally popular spices, nuts and honey, the company says.

Camel milk contains five times more vitamin C than cow milk, less fat, less lactose and more insulin, making it a good option for diabetics and the lactose intolerant, Van Almsick said.

antara orang dan kentut / ngeblog sambil ngentut

PERKORO KENTUT --- boleh dibaca sambil kentut,,,

1. Wong sing GAK JUJUR. Wong sing nek kentut nyalahn0 wong liyo..

2. Wong GOBLOK, wong sing nahan g ngentut nganti jam-jaman

3. Wong sing JEMBAR WAWASAN-e, wong sing ngerti kapan kudu ngentut..

4. Wong sing SENGSORO, wong sing pengen bgt ngentut tp yo g iso ngentut

5. Wong sing "MISTERIUS", wong sing nek ngentut, wong liyo g ono sing ngerti

6. Wong sing GUGUPAN, wong sing ujug-ujug nyetop entute nek pas ngentut

7. Wong sing PERCOYO awak'e dhewe (PeDe) Wong sing ngiro nek entute dhewe ambune wangi

8. Wong sing KEJEM (=sadis), Wong sing nek ngentut nang amben trus sprei-ne d kibasno neng ambene k0nc0ne

9. Wong sing ISINAN (=pemalu), Wong sing nek ngentut g muni tp terus rum0ngs0 isin

10. Wong sing LICI'AN (=licik), Wong sing nyelamurn0 entute karo ngguyu cekaka'an

11. Wong sing N'DABLEK, Wong sing nek mari ngentut ngunjal ambegan kanggo ganti entute sing metu

12. Wong sing MEDHIT (=pelit), Wong sing nek ngentut d incrit sitik-sitik

13. Wong sing SOMBONG, Wong sing seneng ngambu entute dhewe

14. Wong sing NGELAMUN, Wong sing seneng ngambu entute w0ng liyo

15. Wong sing GAK SENENG SRAWUNG (=introvert), Wong sing nek ngentut mesti ndelik..

16. Wong sing KREATIF, Wong sing seneng ngentut neng jeru banyu ben muni 'blukuthuk-blukuthuk'

17. Wong sing KUAT, Wong sing nek ngentut karo ngeden

18. Wong sing BODHO, Wong sing mesti ngaku nek mari ngentut

19. Wong sing PINTER, Wong sing niteni ambune entute tonggone

20. Wong sing SIAL, Wong sing nek ngentut katutan ampas-e

21. Wong sing PENYAKITEN, Wong sing nek ngentut ambune pitung rupo

22. Wong sing NYUSUH (nyimpen brg2 g brguna), Wong sing nyimpen entute neng jero botol

23. Wong sing GRAGAS, Wong sing mekso tonggone ngentut maneh, soale gratis

24. Wong sing PERCOYO RAMALAN, Wong sing nek bar ngentut mesti mbuka primbon

25. Wong sing BERJIWA WIRASWASTA, Wong sing mbuka usaha tambal ban nganggo kompresor kentut

26. Wong sing ATHEIS, Wong sing bar ngentut tetep ora percoyo nek kentut iku ono, soale ora ono rupane

27. Wong sing KCANDUAN INTERNET, Wong sing nek ngentut ndek warnet buru-buru nggoleki tombol "back"

28. Wong sing KURANG GAWEAN, Wong sing nulis daptar perkoro kentut

29. Wong sing PENGANGGURAN, Wong sing moco postingan perkoro kentut iki sampe entek..

30. Wong sing "Cinta alam" wong sing kentute di enggo bahan bakar pengganti LPG.
Ben hemat energi

31. Wong sing SHOCK, kaget karo unine entute dewe pdhl wes d empet...

32.wong sing ROMANTIS,wong sing kentut nek pas pacaran

33. Wong sing NGGILANI, wong sing ngentut trz d genggem d uculn0 neng irunge koncone

34.wong sing ORA GAUL,Wong sing durung moco blog perkoro kentut iki

35.wong sing NGAYELKE,wong sing wis ngerti postingan perkoro kentut iki,tapi ra gelem comment.

36. Wong sing mBENCE'NO, wong sing ngentut nyambi komen neng kene..

37. WONG CILIK, wong sing senengane nunggu pejabat ngentut



jangan lupa kentut,,, karena kentut itu sehat ,,, pernah dengar gak orang yg gak bisa kentut ,,, akhirnya menghabiskan duit juta2an periksa spesialis sampai luar negeri segala supaya bisa kentut ??? oleh karena itu kentut-lah karena kentut itu menyehat dan melegakan tapi ati2 jangan kentut di depan calon mertua atau waktu anda melamarkan pekerjaan pada seorang pejabat. 

kentut ini di impor dari http://my.opera.com/aladya/blog/show.dml/3709802 diblog seorang ahli kentut dari Indonesia.

Facebook haram ??????

Kontroversi Seputar Fatwa Haram “Facebook”

Boomingnya layanan situs jejaring sosial, seperti facebook, friendster maupun chatting untuk menjalin hubungan pertemanan diam-diam diawasi oleh ulama.


Pondok Pesantren se Jawa-Madura yang tergabung dalam Forum Komunikasi Pondok Pesantren Putri (FMP3) mengharamkan pemanfaatan situs jejaring sosial secara berlebihan, seperti mencari jodoh maupun pacaran.


Pernyataan ini sesuai dengan hasil pembahasan dalam Forum Bahtsul Masail di Pondok Pesantren Putri Hidayatul Mubtdien Lirboyo, Kelurahan Lirboyo, Kecamatan Mojoroto, Kota Kediri .

Tentunya wacana ini agak mengagetkan para Facebooker di tanah air .

Menurut hemat saya, kalau hanya mencari jodoh dan pacaran kenapa harus diharamkan selama itu masih dalam batasan2 yang Normal dan dengan Niat yang baik.

Mungkin beberapa fakta2 dibawah ini yang menyebabkan mengapa Facebook diharamkan:

1. Facebook bisa membuat kita mengabaikan anak.


2. Facebook membuat kita tidak ingin meninggalkan komputer kita.


3. Facebook membuat kita tidak memperhatikan keadaan sekeliling kita.


4. Keranjingan Facebook bisa membuat tubuh kita kurus, karena lupa makan.


5. Keranjingan Facebook juga bisa membuat kita menjadi gemuk, karena gak enak buka facebook tanpa ngemil.


6. Keranjingan Facebook tidak mengenal usia, sampe balitapun ikutan jadi Facebooker.


7. Apapun yang kita lakukan, membuka Facebook tidak ketinggalan (kewajiban yang lain jalan, Facebook juga jalan).


originally posted by ErwanSpidey
http://my.opera.com/KOPI%20MANISE/blog/2009/05/29/fatwa-haram-facebook?cid=7808400#comment7808400

ada cerita ada seorang cewek dan cowok saling kenalan krn sama2 hobby chatting di facebook setelah kenalan dg saling kirim email akhirnya mereka ngedate di cybercafe di suatu wifi room disebuah hotel dan mereka selalu bersama2 setiap hari di dumay dan dunia real, suatu hari karena saking asyiknya di chatting room si cewek download suatu aplikasi dari hardware sang cowok yang dengan senang hati memberikan melalui upload dan download ini, namun rupanya melalui proses transfer bluetooth ini si cewek dapat aplikasi baru yg mungkin mengandung virus malware trojan horse sebab mereka tidak mengaktifkan firewall-nya karena setelah 9 bulan kemudian muncul POP up yg berbunyi "You got male"

pantas kalau gitu sih Facebook emang haram. ha ha haha.

escaped prisoner caught after 27 years rambling

(AP) A man who escaped from a Virginia prison nearly 27 years ago was arrested Wednesday in northern Georgia, where he lived with his wife in a trailer park tucked in the woods of an Appalachian mountain valley.

Richard Paul Boucher told investigators his wife, Debbie, helped him and another inmate escape in 1982, and they abandoned their car in North Carolina and walked, sleeping in the woods, until they arrived in Murray County, Ga., said Capt. Rick Swiney of the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office.

The Bouchers stayed there and raised a daughter, now 25, who knew them only as Eric and Debbie Coleman, Swiney said.

Boucher, 56, was taken into custody on a fugitive warrant in Murray County, along the Tennessee line, said Gregory Jones, agent in charge of the FBI in Atlanta.

Jones said Boucher escaped from a prison in Chesapeake, Va., where he was serving a 10-year sentence for robbery.

He also was charged in Murray County with possession of a firearm by a felon because a rifle was found at his trailer home, where he lived with his 53-year-old wife. She was charged by local authorities with hindering apprehension of a criminal, Swiney said.

Authorities were questioning Boucher Wednesday afternoon, seeking a fuller account of his life on the run, Swiney said. He was held at the Whitfield County jail pending extradition proceedings.

"He kept to himself, pretty much," Swiney said. "He took odd, cash-paying jobs. He maybe would do some maintenance work around the trailer park, for cash."

Swiney said Boucher and his wife lived amid a small group of mobile homes on an isolated road near Eton, about five miles north of the Murray County seat of Chatsworth. The area is in a broad valley between mountain ridges of the Chattahoochee National Forest.

"He told our investigators that his wife picked him up after he escaped. They drove to North Carolina but didn't have any money, so they sold the car and started walking, staying in the woods, until they got to Chatsworth," Swiney said.

Whitfield County investigators recently received a tip that he was a wanted man, Swiney said. They determined that Eric Coleman was a false name and turned their information over to the FBI's Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force.

After the FBI traced his identity, surveillance was set up Wednesday morning, and after about an hour the Bouchers came outside the trailer and were arrested, Swiney said.

junk foods crackdown

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Junk food ads account for two-thirds of televised advertisements for food that are shown when children are likely to be watching, researchers into obesity said Friday, based on a study of 11 countries.

Germany and the United States led the way at 90 percent, with Britain and Australia the lowest at about 50 percent, the researchers said, urging governments to limit such marketing in order to combat obesity.

"Internationally, children are exposed to high volumes of unhealthy food and beverage advertising on television," Bridget Kelly, a nutrition researcher at the Cancer Council NSW in Australia, and colleagues told the European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam.

"Limiting this food marketing is an important preventative strategy for childhood obesity."

About 177 million children and teenagers under 18 years old worldwide are clinically overweight or obese. The figures include 22 million overweight children under five years old, according to the International Obesity Task Force.

Obesity raises the risk of conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and the growing epidemic is piling pressure on many cash-strapped national health systems.

Unhealthy lifestyles including high-calorie diets, poor exercise and hours spent in front of the television or computer have contributed to the surge in childhood obesity.

"There is a lot of attention on unhealthy food marketing as an influence on childhood obesity and a lot of governments are reluctant to regulate," Kelly said in an interview. "So most countries in the study don't have regulations on food advertising."

The researchers, who looked at children in Australia, Asia, Eastern and Western Europe and North and South America, found that junk food ads mainly featuring fast food, confectionery and high-fat dairy foods increased during times young people were most likely to be watching.

"Children see around 4,000 to 6,000 food advertisements on television a year and between 2,000 and 4,000 are for unhealthy foods," Kelly said. "So even if you are in countries that are advertising less to children, that is still a lot."

While establishing a direct link between advertising and obesity is difficult, it is clear marketing plays a big role in the kinds of food children prefer, the researchers said.

(Writing by Michael Kahn; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

toilet snake attack

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his penis as sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday.

"As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake."

The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said.

"As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the director, who declined to be named, said. "A snake's mouth isn't always clean."

Local television images showed the black and yellow reptile, reportedly a species of rat snake, being uncoiled and plucked slowly from the toilet bowl.

Snakes regularly enter rural homes in Taiwan and other sub-tropical regions of Asia.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Nick Macfie and Miral Fahmy)

hitler beheaded in wax museum

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court fined an unemployed man 900 euros ($1,227) Tuesday for knocking the head off a waxwork figure of Adolf Hitler in a Berlin museum.

Minutes after the Madame Tussauds museum opened in the German capital in July, the 42-year-old pushed past security staff ripped off its head. The man, an ex-policeman, said he found it inappropriate to display an exhibit showing the Nazi leader only some 500 meters from Berlin's Holocaust memorial.

The waxwork of a glum-looking Hitler in a mock bunker stirred debate in Germany even before it went on display. Critics argued it was tasteless to display a replica of the man who unleashed World War Two and ordered the extermination of Europe's Jews.

Madame Tussauds said the museum avoided politics, arguing Hitler stood for a significant part of German history and his waxwork therefore had a legitimate part in the exhibition.

The restored figure was returned to the museum in September and is now displayed behind a glass wall.

About 25 workers spent about four months on the original waxwork, using more than 2,000 pictures and pieces of archive material and also guided by a model of the "Fuehrer" in the London branch of Madame Tussauds.

The wax figure has been cited as the latest in a gradual breaking down of taboos about Hitler in Germany more than 60 years after the end of the war and the Holocaust in which some six million Jews were killed.

The 2004 film "Downfall" provoked controversy as it portrayed the leader in a human light during the last days of his life. In 2007, a satire about Hitler by Swiss-born Jewish director Dani Levy was released in Germany.

It is illegal in Germany to show Nazi symbols and art glorifying Hitler.

(Reporting by Kerstin Rebien; Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Nude hiking in the Alps

APPENZELL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Hikers will no longer be able to stroll naked through the idylic Alpine countryside of Appenzell Innerrhoden after the conservative Swiss canton banned nude walking there.

Appenzell Innerrhoden has become hugely popular for naked ramblers due to its tranquil, picture-perfect meadows and valleys. But the hordes offended Appenzellers' sensitivities and they voted Sunday to order them to cover up.

"It's ridiculous that Appenzell is getting an international reputation for such a despicable habit," said Peter Schmid, who turned up bearing the canton's traditional long sword to vote against nude hiking at the annual open-air Landsgemeinde.

The Landsgemeide is a popular assembly that takes place in Appenzell town on the last Sunday of April. Participants vote by raising hands to decide on local issues, a privilege reserved to men only until women were admitted in 1990.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 voters, many wearing traditional robes, turned up at this year's Landsgemeinde.

The canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden started earlier this year to take steps to rein in what the local justice and police department called "immoral habits."

In February, the cantonal council began levying naked hikers on-the-spot fines. But this seemed to backfire, raising Appenzell's international profile as a haven for naked hikers.

DANGEROUS HABIT

Naked hiking has become popular in countries like France and Germany, with supporters praising the liberating feeling of being able to roam freed from clothes in nature.

"There are naked hikers in France and Germany too," Edith Zweifel of the Swiss tourism board told Reuters. "But Switzerland is a lot more conservative and very traditional."

Detractors say the practice, against which the Appenzell canton will now impose a 200 Swiss franc fine, presents risks.

Swiss trekking clothing and equipment manufacturer Mammut deems the practice unsafe and irresponsible.

Mammut spokeswoman Katharina Habermann said exposing certain delicate areas of the body to the sun's UV-rays was dangerous.

Supporters say the rewards for those who dare to bare are worth the effort.

"Those who have already experienced walking nude through the damp mist, lying in the sun, swimming in the water and feeling the wind on your naked skin, know how liberating it is to move around with no clothes on," Alice Haller, president of the Swiss Naturists Organization, wrote in a public letter.

Free Money in Taichung, Taiwan

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan police have arrested a 55-year-old man for lobbing bank notes worth about T$1 million ($29,600) from vehicles, causing disorder in the streets, an officer said on Monday.

The man tossed the bills from a taxi in a crowded part of Taichung city on Sunday as people stopped to pick up the cash, Changhua police official Lin Shih-ming said.

"He might have had a nervous condition, as his state of mind wasn't normal," Lin said.

He is believed to have thrown heaps more money on an earlier road trip starting in the capital Taipei.

The man also burned about T$400,000 and had two more sacks of cash, apparently the proceeds of a property sale, Lin said.

Some of the passers-by who picked up the bills turned the money over to police, while others pocketed it, he said.

The taxi driver turned the man in to police in Changhua county, just south of Taichung

The suspect would be charged with public endangerment and destruction of currency, Lin said.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

burger king vs mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A Burger King advertisement for new Tex-Mex style hamburgers, which features a squat Mexican draped in his country's flag and an American cowboy, has offended Mexican officials who want the spot pulled.

Mexico's ambassador to Spain said posters for the new "Texican whopper," a cheeseburger with chile and spicy mayonnaise, inappropriately display the Mexican flag, which is draped over the diminutive wrestler like a poncho.

"This advertisement denigrates the image of our country and uses improperly Mexico's national flag," Jorge Zermeno wrote in a letter to Burger King in Spain, the Reforma newspaper reported on Monday.

The ambassador contacted the local offices of Burger King after he saw the posters in Spain, Reforma said. The burger is only available in Europe, according to the paper.

Mexico has strict laws prohibiting the defamation of the flag, Zermeno said. He asked Burger King to cancel the ad campaign that "offends Mexicans and Mexico."

The Miami-based fast-food chain Burger King was not immediately available to comment.

Last year, Sweden's Absolut vodka angered many U.S. citizens with a publicity campaign in Mexico that idealized an early 19th century map showing chunks of the United States as part of Mexico. The campaign was later dropped.


Burger King to scrap ad after complaint
Wed, Apr 15 13:53 PM EDT


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Fast food giant Burger King apologized Tuesday for an advertisement featuring a squat Mexican draped in his country's flag next to a tall American cowboy and said it would change the campaign.

Mexico's ambassador to Spain said posters released in Europe for Burger King's new Tex-Mex style "Texican whopper," a cheeseburger with chile and spicy mayonnaise, inappropriately displayed the Mexican flag, whose image is protected under national law.

The ambassador wrote a letter complaining to Burger King and requested the ad campaign be discontinued.

Burger King said the ads were meant to show a mixture of influences from the southwestern United States and Mexico, not to poke fun at Mexican culture, but said it would replace them "as soon as commercially possible."

"Burger King Corporation has made the decision to revise the Texican Whopper advertising creative out of respect for the Mexican culture and its people," it said in a statement.

"The existing campaign falls fully within the legal parameters of the United Kingdom and Spain where the commercials are being aired and were not intended to offend anyone," the company added.

A TV version of the ad shows the strapping cowboy and the pint-sized Mexican wrestler -- nicknamed "Just a Little Bit" -- living together as roommates. At one point, the American lifts up the Mexican to help him put a trophy on a high shelf.

Mexico was involved in another controversial ad campaign last year when Absolut vodka posted billboard ads in Mexico with an early 19th century map showing chunks of the United States as part of Mexico.

The campaign angered many U.S. citizens and was later dropped.

(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Eric Walsh)

top TEN US school according to Playboy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Playboy magazine on Friday named the University of Miami as the top party school in the United States based on five criteria that included a nod to brainpower.

The adult magazine, which has only occasionally published the party college list in the past but will now turn it into an annual feature, ranked the schools on campus life, sports, sex and academics, or "brains," as Playboy put it.

As a last criteria, Playboy included "bikini" which combined weather, guy-to-girl ratio and cheerleaders.

But absent from the credentials were college bars and parties that exist on the fringe of campus life.

"In order to make the list, you had to be a school where fun happens, so we threw that out and went to other criteria," said Playboy Assistant Editor Rocky Rakovic.

Rakovic also said it was hard to quantify just exactly what made a good bar scene from campus to campus, because each location had its specific attributes.

"You can't say keg party at Arizona State is much better than bar crawl at (University of) Wisconsin," he explained.

On the subject of brainpower, Rakovic said that criteria was important because, after all, "you are in college for a reason, to get an education."

Judging the intelligence of U.S. university students turned into a rather scientific equation, too, using things like grade point averages, freshman retention and Princeton academic reviews, then giving them a numerical weight and averaging results.

The one surprise, Rakovic said, could be the No. 6 school University of Wisconsin because the "bikini" ranking favored schools with warm weather climates.

Playboy began ranking party colleges 20 years ago. The full list is in the magazine's May issue and on the Internet at www.playboy.com/partyschools09.

The top 10 party schools are below in order of rank:

1) University of Miami

2) University of Texas (Austin)

3) San Diego State University

4) University of Florida

5) University of Arizona

6) University of Wisconsin (Madison)

7) University of Georgia

8) Louisiana State University

9) University of Iowa

10) West Virginia University

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Sex sells at half price as Bangkok hit by turmoil

The go-go bars are empty and sex is on sale at half price as Bangkok's infamous red light districts suffer from a blockade of the capital's airports.

"It's high season, but now it's like low season," said Nan, a scantily-clad hostess at one deserted nightspot in the Thai capital's notorious Patpong area.

An old man played guitar and sang along to a karaoke machine inside. Outside, beneath the pink neon, about 10 women in almost identical low-cut dresses tried to drum up trade.

Although anti-government protesters have ended an eight-day siege of Bangkok's airports, the effect of Thailand's ongoing political chaos on the tourism industry is devastating.

Sex tourism is no exception. Patpong depends on foreigners to keep afloat, but as the 350,000 air travellers stranded by the airport closures rush to leave Thailand, replacements are not coming in.

"Now Thailand has a problem -- no customers," said Lam, a man who works for Nan's bar, luring tourists in off the streets by posing as a friendly Thai offering unsolicited advice on good places to go.

Lam is hopeful the trade will return to Patpong, a lurid strip of live shows and sleazy nightlife.

"It is because of the airport, but now the airport is all clear," he said.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is not so optimistic.

The group expects incoming travellers in 2009 to be half the 14.8 million the kingdom saw last year, with word of the protests causing tourists considering a trip to Thailand to book elsewhere.

At the normally standing-room-only "ping-pong" shows, five or six women swarm each new arrival. Some are following the example of Thailand's resorts and luxury hotels by offering discounted rates.

Prostitutes offer two hours of sexual services for 800 baht (about 22 US dollars) instead of the normal 1,500 to 2,000 baht that would cost.

The airport closures also hurt Bangkok's other entertainment options, such as the famous "ladyboy" cabaret shows.

"The shutdown of the airports seriously affected our business," said Nipon Boonmasuwaran, sales and marketing manager of the Calypso show in Bangkok, where flamboyantly-dressed transvestites lip-sync and dance to famous tunes.

"Our guests have dropped 90 percent -- we have less than 50 guests in our 350-seat theatre," Nipon said.

The Calypso also cancelled its second daily showing during the November 25-December 3 chaos, when images of frustrated tourists trying to flee Thailand from a military airbase beamed around the world.

"We handed out thousands of free tickets for the stranded hotel guests in order to entertain them and hope that they would buy drinks -- otherwise we will have no business," he said.

"Since re-opening of the airports business is trickling in but very slow," adding that guests normally came from Europe -- especially the Netherlands and Belgium -- and Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan and Singapore.

The blockade may have brought in some extra trade.

American tourists Lisa Richardson, 30, and Michael Latham, 29, said they would never have come to Patpong had they not been stranded in Bangkok.

"Being stuck for an extra week convinced us to spend time and money on things we wouldn't have normally -- ping-pong shows for example," said Latham.

But he said that he felt for Thais whose livelihood was being hit, adding: "they're hurt so much worse than we are and it just hurts to see," Latham said.

Thailand was until 2005 the world's leading destination for sex tourists, when its crown was taken by Brazil, according to Interpol.

Although prostitution is officially illegal in Thailand, estimates for the number of sex workers range from 80 000 to two million women and men.

At her Patpong bar, Nan says she hopes the tourists return soon, as she sends the money she earns back to her family near the Cambodian border.

"Maybe in 15 days, a month it comes back," she said.

 article link by oddnews courtesy of watoday.com.au

Stay married and save the planet

Tue, Feb 24 CANBERRA (Reuters) - Staying married is better for the planet because divorce leads the newly single to live more wasteful lifestyles, an Australian lawmaker said Tuesday.

Senator Steve Fielding told a Senate hearing in the Australian capital Canberra that divorce only made climate change worse.

When couples separated, they needed more rooms, more electricity and more water. This increased their carbon footprint, Australian Associated Press (AAP) quoted Fielding as telling the hearing on environmental issues.

"We understand that there is a social problem (with divorce), but now we're seeing there is also environmental impact as well on the footprint," AAP quoted him as saying.

Such a "resource-inefficient lifestyle" meant it would be better for the planet if couples stayed married, he said.

During the hearing, the senator read out quotes from a U.S. report that advocated his stance.

Fielding, who leads the independent Family First party, grew up in a family of 16 children and has been married for 22 years, his website says.

(Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by David Fogarty and Paul Tait)

Jobless ex-con asks for more prison time

Tue, Feb 24 TAIPEI (Reuters) - A jobless Taiwan man released from prison two years ago asked police to send him back so he could eat, police and local media said Tuesday, a grim sign of hard economic times on the island.

When police found the 45-year-old convicted arsonist lying on a street in a popular Taipei shopping district, he requested a return to life behind bars, nostalgic for the 10 years he had already served, the China Post newspaper reported.

Wang had also contacted police separately with his request, a spokesman said. Officers who found him bought him a boxed lunch but declined to send him back to prison, the police spokesman said.

"We advised him to keep looking for work," he said. "I don't know why he can't find a job. Maybe employers think he's not suitable or that he's too old."

Taiwan is in recession, with a slump in exports leading a record economic contraction in the fourth quarter of last year. Economists see more weakness through most of 2009, given falling demand for Taiwan's electronics goods in overseas markets.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings in Taipei; Editing by Nick Macfie)

MP3 player with military files retrieved

Jan 28, 2009 WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand man bought a second-hand MP3 player that contained U.S. military files on personnel who served in Afghanistan and Iraq handed it over to U.S. officials on Wednesday, New Zealand media reported.

Chris Ogle, 29, bought the $10 MP3 at a thrift shop in Oklahoma but when he plugged it in discovered it contained 60 U.S. military files, said New Zealand television program One News which broke the story.

The files contained the names and personal details of American soldiers, including ones who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as information about equipment deployed to bases and a mission briefing, said One News.

Some files contained active mobile telephone numbers and social security numbers of military personnel.

U.S. embassy officials in New Zealand spoke to Ogle on Tuesday night and swapped his old MP3 player for a new one on Wednesday, New Zealand Press Association said.

Ogle said the officials asked him what computers the player's files had been loaded onto and whether he had made copies and then photographed some of the files, but would not say how sensitive the information was.

"They asked where I'd bought it from, the timeframe that I bought it in," Ogle said.

(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Sewage yields more gold than top mines

Jan 30, 2009 6:56PM UTC

TOKYO (Reuters) - Resource-poor Japan just discovered a new source of mineral wealth -- sewage.

A sewage treatment facility in central Japan has recorded a higher gold yield from sludge than can be found at some of the world's best mines. An official in Nagano prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, said the high percentage of gold found at the Suwa facility was probably due to the large number of precision equipment manufacturers in the vicinity that use the yellow metal. The facility recently recorded finding 1,890 grammes of gold per tonne of ash from incinerated sludge.

That is a far higher gold content than Japan's Hishikari Mine, one of the world's top gold mines, owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd, which contains 20-40 grammes of the precious metal per tonne of ore.

The prefecture is so far due to receive 5 million yen ($55,810) for the gold, minus expenses.

It expects to earn about 15 million yen for the fiscal year to the end of March from the gold it has retrieved from the ashes of incinerated sludge.

"How much we actually receive will depend on gold prices at the time," the official said.

Some gold industry officials expect prices this year to top the all-time high above $1,030 per ounce set in 2008, on buying by investors worried about the deepening economic downturn. (Reporting by Miho Yoshikawa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Naked couple surprises diners in stroll

Jan 28, 2009 7:33PM UTC

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A couple treated open air diners to a 15-minute naked parade in Singapore, triggering both embarrassment and applause for a scene almost unheard of in the conservative city-state.

Pub manager Terence Chia told the Straits Times newspaper he saw the couple taking off their clothes Saturday night at a staircase in a block of flats in Holland Village, known for its popular nightspots.

"Then, clothes in hand, they coolly walked in their flip-flops toward the market," he said, adding when the couple did a U-turn a sea of spectators was ready and poised with cameras.

"There were more than 200 people and everyone was taking pictures," the newspaper Wednesday quoted Chia as saying. "Even women were busy clicking and people were cheering, whistling and applauding like crazy."

Police said the couple, a Caucasian man and an ethnic Chinese woman in their 20s, had been arrested and released on bail. If convicted under Singapore law, they could face a fine of maximum fine of S$2000 ($1,330), up to 3 months in jail, or both.

Protests are rare in Singapore and only made legal last year in a designated area called "Speakers' Corner," modeled on London's Hyde Park.

"They looked really comfortable walking down the street, which led to many curious stares," wrote blogger Leonard Tan. "Singapore is getting more and more exciting."

Shoe monument for man who threw footwear at Bush

Jan 30, 2009 5:44PM UTC

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - An Iraqi town has unveiled a giant monument of a shoe in honor of the journalist who threw his footwear at former U.S. President George W. Bush.

The two-meter (six-foot) high statue, unveiled on Thursday in former dictator Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit, depicts a bronze-colored shoe, filled with a plastic shrub. "Muntazer: fasting until the sword breaks its fast with blood; silent until our mouths speak the truth," reads an inscription, in honor of journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who hurled his shoes at Bush and called him a "dog" at a news conference during the former president's final visit to Iraq.

Zaidi has been held in jail in Baghdad since the incident, facing charges of assaulting a visiting head of state.

Fatin Abdul Qader, head of an orphanage and children's organization in the town, said the one-and-a-half-tonne monument by artist Laith al-Amiri was titled "statue of glory and generosity."

"This statue is the least expression of our appreciation for Muntazer al-Zaidi, because Iraqi hearts were comforted by his throw," she said.

(Reporting by Sabah al-Bazee; writing by Peter Graff)

Indian artist has brush with his fakes

Jan 20, 2009 9:7PM UTC

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Acclaimed Indian artist SH Raza inaugurated a show of his paintings in New Delhi at the weekend -- only to find most of the exhibits were fakes, the Mail Today paper said.

Paris-based Raza had contributed some drawings to the show at a well-known gallery that had put together more than 30 of his early paintings, the artist wrote in the newspaper.

"When I reached the gallery and started looking at the canvases on the walls, I was stunned," Raza wrote. "As I moved from one canvas to the other, I realized that the works were just not mine, they were all fakes."

Raza, regarded as one of India's foremost artists, is best known for his abstracts and brilliant colors.

His works have commanded high prices internationally, with a painting going for about 1.3 million pounds ($1.9 million) at a Christie's auction in London last year.

"I was stupefied and stunned ... I will turn 86 next month. At this stage of my life, this was the last thing I wanted to do -- grace an exhibition of my own fake paintings," Raza wrote.

The gallery, which closed the show shortly afterwards, said it had been duped.

Indian art has boomed in the past five years, driven by fast-paced economic growth that encouraged the newly-rich to chase after symbols of affluence.

(Writing by Rina Chandran; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Alex Richardson)

Thief and policeman

Thief caught out giving policeman's address

Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009 10:0PM UTC

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German teen-ager caught shoplifting tried to dupe police by lying about where he lived -- but ended up in even more trouble when the address he gave turned out to be the home of an investigating officer.

The 18-year-old from Achim, a town of 30,000 in northern Germany, admitted he had lied when the officer explained that the address belonged to him, said police in nearby Verden.

"It was complete coincidence," said a police spokesman. "The thief gave that address because he'd once lived in the house. The policeman was the guy who moved in afterwards." what a coincidence

(Reporting by Dave Graham; editing by Elizabeth Piper)

Two Burmese survive month at sea in an ice box

Jan 20, 2009 9:1PM UTC

By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Two Myanmar fishermen have survived for almost a month in shark-infested waters by floating in a large ice box after their boat sank, rescue officials said.

The men, both aged in their 20s, were on a 12-meter Thai fishing boat with 18 others when it sank in heavy seas off Australia's north coast on December 23, said Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman Tracy Jiggins.

"They had no safety equipment, no beacons, no means of communication and they'd been drifting for 25 days," Jiggins told Reuters Tuesday, describing the ice box as "desk sized."

"For them to have even been spotted in a huge body of water is amazing," she said.

The men were spotted by an Australian coastal patrol aircraft Saturday. The pair were winched onto a rescue helicopter and taken to hospital Thursday Island, off Australia's far north.

Hospital officials said the pair were hungry and dehydrated after drifting 25 days at sea during the monsoon season and recent cyclonic storms in the region, but they were recovering well and had already been released.

The pair would now be questioned by immigration officials and police, who had not yet determined how the pair survived and what they did for food and water.

Jiggins said the others on board the boat would certainly have perished and no search for other survivors was planned.

"The information they provided to us was that they witnessed other crew members in the water, none of whom had any flotation device, so we've done an assessment and we don't believe anybody would be able to survive 25 days actually in the water," she said.

It was also unclear where the Thai-based fishing boat, crewed by Thais and a handful of people from Myanmar, sank and how far the pair had drifted before they were picked up 60 nautical miles northwest of Horn Island.

"It would be difficult to determine where that search should be. That's a huge amount of water they could have covered, and we have notified search and rescue officials in Indonesia," Jiggins said.

Australia has one of the longest coastlines in the world and the country's search-and-rescue patrol zone covers a tenth of the world's surface, or 53 million square kilometres (20 million square miles) of the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans.

The Torres Strait, between Australia and Papua New Guinea, is infested by sharks and the area is regularly fished by both licensed and illegal fishing vessels, many from Asia.

(Editing by Mark Bendeich)

Students hitch ride on Branson's jet to see Obama

Jan 20, 2009 8:54PM UTC

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Two Dutch college students hitched a last-minute ride to Washington on the private jet of British entrepreneur Richard Branson in the hope of joining the crowds hailing Barack Obama, a Dutch news agency reported.

Branson was a guest speaker at an Amsterdam congress on Tuesday, and participants were able to ask questions by sending text messages from their mobile phones, which were shown on a large screen.

"Will you take along two poor students to Obama?" the students' text message read, to which Branson immediately said yes, ANP agency reported.

It was not immediately clear if they would make the actual inauguration of the president-elect Tuesday, but a spokeswoman for the congress said: "As we speak, they are sitting in the private jet of Richard Branson."

(Reporting by Niclas Mika)

Japan learns English from Obama speech textbook

Jan 20, 2009 8:59PM UTC

By Yoko Kubota

TOKYO (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama's speeches are proving a best-seller in Japan -- as an aid to learning English.

An English-language textbook, "The Speeches of Barack Obama," has sold more than 400,000 copies in two months, a big hit in a country where few hit novels sell more than a million copies a year.

Japanese have a fervor for learning English and many bookstores have a corner dedicated to dozens of journals in the language, many of them now featuring the new U.S. leader's face.

"Speeches by presidents and presidential candidates are excellent as listening tools to learn English, because their contents are good and their words are easy to catch," said Yuzo Yamamoto of Asahi Press, which produced the best-selling text book.

"Obama's is especially so. His speeches are so moving, and he also uses words such as 'yes, we can,' 'change' and 'hope' that even Japanese people can memorize," he said.

Speeches by President George W. Bush and former nominee John Kerry's four years ago did not have the same appeal, however, and nor do those made by Japanese politicians, Yamamoto said.

"In Japan, we don't have politicians who have such a positive influence. That's why we have to turn to a foreign president for someone in whom to place our hopes."

The 95-page paperback features Obama's speeches in English from the 2004 Democratic National Convention and during the Democratic Party primaries, in which he defeated Hillary Clinton. They are accompanied by Japanese translations.

The 1,050 yen ($12) book, which includes a CD of the speeches, tops the bestseller list on bookseller Amazon's Japanese Website, http://www.amazon.co.jp/

"Readers have sent in postcards saying that when they heard the speeches, they were so moved and cried even though they don't understand English very well," Yamamoto said.

He said lawmakers from Japan's main opposition Democratic Party had bought the book to study Obama's speeches.

Following Obama's inauguration on Tuesday, Asahi Press plans to issue a sequel that includes his inaugural address, as well as President John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural speech. It will also feature a reading of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address of 1863.

(Editing by Michael Watson)

Amsterdam's brothels and cannabis cafes 'clean-up'

Amsterdam's brothels and cannabis cafes furious over mayor's 'clean-up'


Amsterdam has long been famed for its relaxed approach to prostitution and soft drugs, making the Dutch city one of the most popular destinations for tens of thousands of Britons on stag and hen parties.


But all that may be about to change. As part of a major 'clean-up' of the city centre, the local authorities yesterday unveiled plans to close half of the brothels and the little coffee shops where cannabis can be bought and smoked, prompting warnings that they will cost the city dear as visitors head elsewhere.


where else can they smoke cannabis or do drugs ? in Indonesia or Malaysia you can get years of sentence for that and life sentence for drug trafficking.





here is a brief overview of Amsterdam famous red light district,


The majority of people have heard about Amsterdam’s Red Light District well before their visit. Leaving nothing to the imagination, most stereotypes about this area are true: there are plenty of sex shops, peep shows, brothels, an elaborate condom shop, a sex museum and of course prostitutes in red-lit windows. In addition to the fact that there is much more to the city than this district, there are a few more truths to be known about this (in)famous part of Amsterdam. .


Let's be honest

Prostitution has enjoyed a long tradition of tolerance in Amsterdam and, as with soft drugs, the Netherlands’ approach is to legalise the trade and impose regulations. Basically, they know people are going to do it anyway, so they may as well keep it safe for those involved. In addition to preventing forced prostitution, this open and honest approach means sex-workers here have their own union, plenty of police protection, an information centre (for visitors as well), frequent monitoring and testing and professional standards.

Visiting the Red Light District

The best time to see the fluorescent red glow of the Red Light District is once the sun goes down. The area is bustling with visitors and groups of tourists. It is best to travel in a pair or in a group, as the area also attracts some seedier characters. Grab a map and venture out or if you’re keen to learn more take one of the many specialised tours.



Not everything goes

There are certain rules in place to ensure the safety of prostitutes and visitors to the Red Light District. It is forbidden to take photos of the women, and this is strictly enforced. Although there is 24-hour video surveillance in most parts of the district, be aware of pickpocketers. They tend to target crowds of distracted tourists, so keep an eye on your belongings and leave your valuables in a safe at the hotel. Many families and people who need to get up for work the next morning live in this area. Respect their neighbourhood, and do not yell or cause disturbances.



There is more to the Wallen
The Wallen, also known as the Rossebuurt to Amsterdammers and the Red Light District to visitors is actually the oldest part of Amsterdam. The neighbourhood is chock-full of interesting shops, pubs, fantastic restaurants, leaning gabled houses and the city’s most charming canals. Don’t miss the vibrant Nieuwmarkt square, the gothic Oude kerk or a walk along the centre of Amsterdam’s Chinatown, the Zeedijk (also home to an impressive Buddhist temple).

taken from http://www.yuwie.com/blog/entry.asp?id=831991&eid=536334&t=The%20Red%20Ligh%20District%20in%20Amsterdam.

Spider-Man celebrates Obama as "nerd-in-chief"

Spider-Man celebrates Obama as "nerd-in-chief"

Friday, Jan 09, 2009 9:59PM UTC

By Claudia Parsons and Karina Huber

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barack Obama will be "nerd-in-chief" when he takes office as U.S. president this month, according to Marvel Comics, which is putting him on the cover of its next "Spider-Man" comic.

The special edition of the weekly Spider-Man comic features a six-page story about the superhero saving the day when an imposter tries to take Obama's place as president. It is due to hit newsstands next Wednesday.

Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada said the idea for the "Spidey meets the President!" edition came from a statement from Obama's campaign listing 10 little known facts about the Democrat who will be America's first black president.

"Right at the top of that list was he collected Spider-Man comics," Quesada told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

"I was inundated with tons of fan mail saying 'Have you read this?'" Quesada said. "I was just floored, absolutely floored, to find out that the future commander-in-chief was actually going to be the future nerd-in-chief."

Excitement about Obama's election has already fueled a boom in memorabilia, from posters to front pages of November 5 newspapers announcing his victory. The Spider-Man edition, likely to become an instant collectors' item, features Obama on the cover, smiling and giving a thumbs-up.

Spidey hangs upside down behind him whispering in his ear: "Hey, if you get to be on my cover, can I be on the dollar bill?"

The story is set on January 20 in Washington, where Spidey's alter ego, Peter Parker, is on assignment as a photographer covering Inauguration Day.

When an imposter turns up, Spider-Man leaps into action, greeting Obama with the words: "Hiya, prez-elect! Loved ya in the debates."

Quesada declined to specify how many copies of the Obama issue would be printed but said it was probably slightly higher than usual. "Spider-Man tends to sell out anyway on a regular basis," he said.

Quesada said that since the stories are set in the real world, there is a long history of presidents appearing in Spider-Man comics, from Franklin D. Roosevelt through to George W. Bush, who has appeared on several occasions.

But Obama has the honor sooner than most because he made a point of saying he was a fan, Quesada said. "We thought 'He gave us a shout out, let's give him a shout back.'"

Obama told Entertainment Weekly magazine in August that his favorite superheroes were Spider-Man and Batman because "they have some inner turmoil."

Quesada has his own theory.

"I think one of the reasons why Obama would be a huge Spider-Man fan is probably because of the mantra by which he lives, ... that with great power there must also come great responsibility," he said.

"As president of the United States, I think that's a credo that he should live by."

(Writing by Claudia Parsons, editing by Michelle Nichols and Cynthia Osterman)