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It was previously occupied by a bunch of slacker junkies and has definitely seen better days. The plan is to fix it up and sell it, or fix it up and rent it.
Work has already started and we think we have found the last of the hypodermics.
In other property news, we moved last weekend from my house to her house and the next step is to sell my house. Or rent it. Making up our minds is 90 per cent of the battle.
[from Ananova]
The DVLA have stepped in to ban a list of naughty number-plates before the new 57 registrations arrive.
They were forced to act to stop cheeky drivers using the number combination to "spell out" offensive or controversial words.
Officials feared the figures 5 and 7 - on new plates from September - may be used to represent letters S and T or S and Y, reports The Sun.
That could have seen cars on the streets with registrations TE57 CLE (Testicle), EC57 ASY (Ecstasy), BA57 ARD (Bastard), MY57 ASH (My Stash), H057 AGE (hostage) and HE57 ABS (stabs).
Also banned is EA57 GAL (Easy Gal).
A DVLA spokesman said the plates were blocked "to avoid causing "general offence or embarrassment".
But a spokesman for the Association of British Drivers said: "The DVLA should be setting their priorities on more worthwhile issues - like reviewing safety."
[found on stuff.co.nz]
When Oscar the Cat visits residents of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, the staff jump into action – Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die.
In his two years living in Steere's end-stage dementia unit, Oscar has been at the bedside of more than 25 residents shortly before they died, according to Dr David Dosa of Brown University in Providence.
He wrote about Oscar in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"It's not that the cat is consistently there first," Dr Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University, who sees patients in the unit. "But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours."
Raised at the nursing home since he was a kitten, Oscar often checks in on residents, but when he curls up for a visit, physicians and nursing home staff know it's time to call the family.
"I don't think this is a psychic cat," said TeNo "I think there's probably a biochemical explanation," she said in a telephone interview.
While pets are often used to bring comfort to the elderly in nursing home settings, Oscar's talent is special, though not unexpected.
"That is such a cat thing to do," said Thomas Graves, a feline expert and chief of small animal medicine at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine.
Graves said there is no evidence to suggest cats can sense death, but he doesn't discount it for a minute.
"Those things are hard to study. I think probably dogs and cats can sense things we can't," he said.
On a particular day detailed by Dr Dosa, Oscar settled on to the bed of a patient in room 313.
His presence sent staff off to make calls and set up vigil.
When a grandson asked why the cat was there, his mother explained: "He is here to help Grandma get to heaven," according to Dosa's account.
She died a half an hour later.
A blind 74-year-old water-skiier took to Lake Windermere in a protest against a new 10mph speed limit.
Gerald Price, from Stockport, skied at 28mph to test the new bylaw on England's largest lake.
The ban at Windermere was imposed in March 2005 to reinstate the natural tranquillity of the lake.
But Mr Price believes the Lake District National Park Authority limit breaches human rights laws.
Enforcement officers turned up to gather evidence and interview the driver of the boat, Kevan Furber, 51, from Manchester.
Mr Furber had to make two journeys in excess of the speed limit, as enforcement officers only gave him a warning for the first time.
Mr Price, who set a world speed record for blind water-skiing at Windermere in October 2004, said: "We have been robbed of this enjoyment in the Lake District along with thousands of families.
"It's unjust, unfair and unreasonable. You tell me any other sport where somebody with my disability, my age, my problems, could go out to take part in something that's as exciting and enjoyable as what I've just done. I really really enjoyed that ski."
Poor Milly, she had her 20,000 mile wash at midday and four hours later was rear-ended in Milton Keynes. Amusingly, for me at least, it was one of my staff that did it, driving a huge planet-busting Jeep. Her car was, of course, unscathed.
Time for a new rear for the old girl.
[found on stuff.co.nz]
Police in southwestern France are searching for a big cat, possibly a young tiger, that has been spotted prowling in a village near the city of Bordeaux, the village's mayor has said.
Officials from the National Hunting Office have also laid traps for the animal after a woman and her daughter saw it repeatedly in their garden.
"At first they didn't believe it, but the third time the animal was 10 metres away from them," Pierre Soubabere, mayor of Saint-Louis-de-Montferrand, said.
Another resident has seen the cat roaming the countryside, and its tracks suggest it is a young tiger, though it could be a jaguar or a leopard.
Soubabere said no such animal had been reported missing in the area, not even by circuses that spend part of the year in a neighbouring town.
[from Ananova]
A mum was trapped for an hour with her hand stuck inside her pet boxer's mouth.
Pregnant Vicky Morl speared her hand when she tried to pluck out a fishing hook which was stuck in the animal's jaw, reports the Daily Mirror.
It was a case of becoming too attached to her agitated pet - for whenever he moved, poor Vicky had to move with him.
She was finally released by a fire crew and paramedics and taken to hospital. Her left hand was so badly injured she needed a skin graft.
Husband James said: "Both Vicky and the dog were very upset. But the emergency services managed to calm them down and set them free."
Vicky, in her late 20s, became trapped after her pet rummaged round the garden of her home in Maidenhead, Berkshire.
Somehow, he ended up with a lethally sharp fishing hook in his mouth. Vicky tried to wiggle it free. But as she did so, the hook penetrated her hand and she was caught up as well.
Luckily she was able to hit a phone pad with her free hand to let James know of her predicament.
He dialled 999 and emergency services went to the scene. It took more than hour to untangle the pair.
An ambulance spokesman said: "Every time someone got near the dog it moved. And every time the dog moved, Vicky had to move with it. It was a difficult job - and it was certainly very different."
As seen at Fairchild Tropical Gardens. And a test for my new camera, the Canon SD800 IS, which is a straight upgrade from my existing two-year old Canon, bringing improved ISO and image stabilisation to the party.
[from El Reg]
The lord mayor of Darwin remains defiant after being found guilty of stealing council funds to buy "a fridge, underwear and a Darth Vader voice distorter", The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Peter Adamson, 47, was convicted on four charges, including "stealing and making a false statement in declaration". The court heard he'd gone on a "spending spree" with council cash "less than 24 hours before the end of the 2005/06 financial year", in the process buying "a $910 fridge and $1,800 worth of gift vouchers".
The gift vouchers were in turn used to buy "women's underwear, the Star Wars character voice distorter, and a punching bag" - all later recovered from his home or office. The fridge eventually turned up in an East Timorese thrift store*, despite Adamson's signed declaration he'd given it to a needy family. The gift vouchers, he also declared, were handed out to "various organisations for the purpose of fundraising".
It's the fridge scandal which has particularly incensed the locals. Adamson, who's been on leave since December, further fuelled the controversy when he and his missus "attended a New Year's Eve party dressed as the offending white good and a police officer".
In the end, and despite his lawyer's assertion that Adamson was "the victim of internal council backstabbing, likening him to a sacrificial lamb and his work environment to 'a pool of sharks with blood in the water'", magistrate Vince Luppino decided the defendant had "lied on a number of occasions" and duly rejected his defence.
Luppino said in his judgement: "I find that the defendant had the intention to deceive. The defendant did not intend to donate the fridge or the vouchers and instead he has used both as if they were his own property."
Emerging from court, Adamson maintained his innocence and refused to resign, declaring to reporters: "I know, myself, that I at no stage stole or have been dishonest."
He confirmed he was considering an appeal, describing it as "a very serious option". He continued: "I need to consider all those things, but the reality is at the moment I have done everything up until now in the best interests of the city.
"I was voted in by the people of Darwin and I have tried to show that leadership. Obviously, I have been very disappointed with the behaviour of many of my colleagues, anyway... I've had my day in court and we'll go from there."
[from a tripped out Ananova]
British forces have been accused of releasing a plague of ferocious, man-eating badgers in the Iraqi city of Basra.
Word spread among locals that UK troops had introduced strange man-eating, bear-like beasts into the area to sow panic.
But several of the creatures, caught and killed by local farmers, have been identified by experts as honey badgers.
The rumours spread because the animals had appeared near the British base at Basra airport.
UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer said: "We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area."
Mushtaq Abdul-Mahdi, director of Basra's veterinary hospital, confirmed the animals were honey badgers.
"They are known locally as Al-Girta. Talk that this animal was brought by the British forces is incorrect and unscientific," he said.
It's believed the badgers have been driven towards the city by flooding in marshland north of Basra but the assurances have done little to convince some members of the public.
One housewife, Suad Hassan, 30, claimed she had been attacked by one of the badgers as she slept.
"My husband hurried to shoot it but it was as swift as a deer," she said. "It is the size of a dog but his head is like a monkey."
This weekend we attended the Cornbury Music Festival. It is a music festival, but for toffs, and is a great idea. The hoi poloi, the great unwashed, the men and women on the clapham omnibus, CHT's. None of them were there, just respectable types eating organic beanburgers.
I tried to big it up with Verity in advance:
"We are going to a music festival"
"Music testicle"
"No, a music festival"
"Testicle"
"F-f-f-festival"
"F-f-f-testicle"
"Ah, whatever"
It was a good day out, with a bit of the Proclaimers, a bit of the Waterboys and a bit of David Gray.
Apparently I need to see the Lion King too, although I quite like the cartoon and would hate to be disappointed.
[from stuff.co.nz]
A German motorist surprised by euro notes swirling in the air around her car hit the brakes and collected a "substantial amount of money" before turning it over to police, authorities in Worms said.
A police spokesman in the small western town said the 24-year-old woman saw the money flying through the air in her rear view mirror late on Wednesday. She pulled over and tried to collect all the notes, unsuccessfully.
When police went with her to the scene they could not find any more cash.
A spokesman at Worms city hall said police were withholding details on the exact sum and location of the find in the hope of learning more about the money's origin.
[Ananova reports...]
Breast enlargements are now the most common graduation gift for girls who pass their secondary school exams in Italy.
Katie Price /PA
Boob jobs have knocked cars and summer holidays back into second and third places respectively.
Angelica Pesce, 18, from Rome, said she and many of her pals would be going under the knife in a few weeks having just finished school.
She said: "It's a much more useful present than something like a car, which will break down after a few years, or a holiday, which is over within a week. My new breasts will last a lifetime."
[El Reg reports...]A grandmother whose Victoria Sponge was honoured with runner-up spot in a village fete cake-baking contest was rather disappointed to discover she'd actually been the only competitor, the BBC reports.
Jenny Brown, 62, recounted: "My friend came over to me at the fete and said I had come second. I asked her how many more entries there had been, but she just started laughing and said I was the only one."
In fact, Brown's concoction fell foul of Wimblington Sports Committee's judges who marked her effort down "because it had indentations from the oven rack". The committee's Julie Dent explained: "The judges had an expectation and I suppose they didn't feel as though it qualified for first place."
Brown sportingly described herself as "not annoyed" at the snub, and added that despite its deficiencies, the Victoria Sponge was "soon polished off with no complaints".
In case you're thinking the judges may in this case have been just a little harsh, Dent bore witness to the ruthless judging standards of competitive cake-making. "About 11 years ago I entered a show with some fruit scones. I was the only entrant but I came third," she lamented.
Of the Wimblington cake challenge, Dent assured: "This was the first year, but the cake competition will become an annual event."
