Brilliant !

French police arrested four men in southern France after a search of their vehicle revealed a statue of Father Christmas made of pure cocaine, seen here(AFP/Boris Horvat)

More Herd Thinning

local6.com - News - Fla. Woman Falls To Death Attempting Handstand On Hotel Balcony

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. -- A woman fell to her death while trying to do a handstand on the railing of a second-floor hotel balcony, sheriff's officials said.

Molly Jerman, 23, of Cape Coral died Sunday. While attempting a handstand, she toppled over and dropped to the hotel patio, according to the Lee County sheriff's department.

Just before she fell, she had called out to a friend, "Watch to see what I can still do," a police report said.

Foul play is not believed to be involved, officials said.

Bi-Polar Center

ESPN.com - Wife: Robbins has punctured lung, hole in heart

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- Former Oakland Raiders center Barret Robbins will be charged with trespassing and battery on a police officer after being shot and wounded during a struggle with a detective investigating a burglary at a South Beach office building.

Robbins, a former Pro Bowl center whose decline began with him going AWOL during the 2003 Super Bowl, remained in critical but stable condition Monday. Miami Beach Police consider him under arrest.

In a statement to ESPN, Marisa Robbins, Barret Robbins' wife, said: "Barret was shot in the chest. There was a hole in his heart that was surgically repaired. A bullet ripped through and punctured his lung. He remains in critical condition and in intensive care in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

"Because there is an open police investigation, I can't comment further other than to send thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. All other information will be released through Drew Pittman, Barret's friend and former agent," she said.

Robbins was shot several times in the torso during a "violent struggle" with a Miami Beach detective Saturday night, police spokesman Bobby Hernandez said.

"The officer was literally fighting for his life, trying to get Mr. Robbins from getting his gun. That's when the shots rang out," Hernandez said.

Robbins, 31, was confronted in a second-floor office in a building that also houses a nightclub, gym and jewelry store. He was considered a burglary suspect, though no charges had been filed, Hernandez said.

"We just have to figure out what he was doing there," Hernandez said.

Hernandez said that authorities had not been able to interview Robbins but that the former offensive lineman was expected to face a charge of battery on a police officer. Hernandez also said police were trying to determine whether Robbins would face trespassing or burglary charges.

Detective Mike Muley, who fired the shots, had minor head injuries from the scuffle and was treated at a hospital and released.

Robbins was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Hernandez did not immediately have Robbins' condition Sunday, and a hospital official did not immediately return a page.

“ Barret was shot in the chest. There was a hole in his heart that was surgically repaired. A bullet ripped through and punctured his lung. ”
— Wife Marisa Robbins

Pittman told the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday evening that Robbins was in critical but stable condition.

Former teammates expressed shock that Robbins and trouble have crossed paths again.

"I don't know what to say about it. I just can't believe it," former Raiders tackle Lincoln Kennedy, a starter with Robbins on Oakland's 2003 AFC champion team, told the Chronicle. "I talked to him maybe two weeks ago. But he changed his number since then."

"I knew he was having problems," Raiders guard Frank Middleton told the newspaper. "But for him to go down so far, so fast, that's really sad."

Others came to Robbins' defense. Running back Tyrone Wheatley wants to learn more details about what happened.


"You really never know what the exact particulars are," Wheatley said Monday, noting Robbins' other problems shouldn't be part of what took place Saturday. "This is an isolated incident. The previous things don't have anything to do with it. That's what turns my stomach. We don't know that the cop in Miami did the right procedures. You never know."

The often-troubled player was arrested on Christmas Eve in San Francisco for hitting a security guard at a nightclub. He is best remembered for disappearing the night before Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego. He spent Super Bowl Sunday in a hospital and later acknowledged that he had stopped taking his medicine for depression and bipolar disorder. The Raiders lost 48-21 to Tampa Bay.

"Like anyone with bipolar disorder, there are good days and there are bad days," Pittman told the Chronicle. "Unfortunately, there's no way of predicting what you'll get. That's the problem with this condition, especially for someone who will not stay on their medication.

"The only reason this is news is because this guy used to play in the NFL," Pittman said. "It's a tragic story, but how much more tragic is it than the poor guy who also has bipolar disorder and is living under a bridge and having the same types of problems?"

Robbins was released by Oakland in July, a week after he and two other players were fined three game checks for testing positive for the steroid THG. He has been linked to the BALCO steroid scandal.

Robbins played all nine of his pro seasons with Oakland, and he made the Pro Bowl after the 2002 season but did not play in the game. A year after missing the final 14 games of 2001 with an injured right knee, he was a pivotal part of an offensive line that helped the Raiders produce the league's top offense.

People close to Robbins had no explanation why he was in Miami on Saturday. Robbins is separated from his wife, has not remained in close contact with friends and family members, has been racked by pain from his chronically injured knee and is struggling to keep his weight from approaching 400 pounds, according to the Chronicle.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Barret and his family and we hope he makes a full and speedy recovery," the Raiders said in a release.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Sammy gets hit by Fastball

Long hair 'steals the brain's energy'

Long hair 'steals the brain's energy'
From correspondents in Seoul
January 10, 2005

STALINIST North Korea has stepped up its campaign against long hair and untidy attire which its media says represents a "corrupt capitalist" lifestyle, reports said.

North Korean state television, radio and newspapers have led the grooming drive, urging people to cut their hair short and to dress tidily, the BBC said in a dispatch citing broadcasts from Pyongyang.
Men were asked to have crew cuts with hair growing up to five centimetres in a twice-a-month visit to the barber, it said.

Not only health and hygiene but also intelligence was cited by the North Korean media as reasons for the crackdown on appearance.

Pyongyang television noted long hair "consumes a great deal of nutrition" and could thus rob the brain of energy, according to the BBC.

But another serious reason came from state radio which said tidy attire "is important in repelling the enemies' maneuvers to infiltrate corrupt capitalist ideas and lifestyle" in North Korea, it said.

The ruling communist party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, even warned inappropriate appearance under foreign influence could lead to national decay.

"People who wear other's style of dress and live in other's style will become fools and that nation will come to ruin," Rodong was cited as saying.

Some North Korean TV broadcasts adopted a hidden-camera style video of longhaired men on various locations throughout Pyongyang in an unprecedented break with their usual approach.

The program showed those who were not "in accordance with Socialist lifestyle" just run away or make excuses of being too busy to trim their hair.

Agence France-Presse

Deep-Fried Candy Bars: Scotland's Worst Food?

Deep-Fried Candy Bars: Scotland's Worst Food?



James Owen in London
for National Geographic News
December 28, 2004


The deep-fried Mars bar, served with a side order of fries, threatens to usurp the haggis as Scotland's best-known dish.
Worried public health experts, who investigated stories about the chocolate-covered caramel and nougat candy bars being deep-fried at Scottish fast food outlets, say the claims are not an urban myth.

The researchers discovered similarly bizarre examples of calorie-laden fast food cuisine, such as batter-fried ice cream, pizza, and pineapple rings.


Poor diet is a leading cause of poor health in Scotland, where rates of heart disease, cancer, and strokes are among the highest in the developed world, according to official figures. Above, a pub in Edinburgh, Scotland.



The study, reported this month in the British medical journal The Lancet, adds to concerns over poor diet and physical health problems in Scotland. Only last month First Minister Jack McConnell, the leader of Scotland's executive cabinet, described the country as "one of the unhealthiest nations in Europe."

Doctors David Morrison and Mark Petticrew, both based in Glasgow, Scotland, say they decided to check claims that Scots had developed a taste for deep-fried Mars bars after the phenomenon was mentioned by Jay Leno on his NBC Tonight Show in the United States.

"We hoped to be able to lay to rest an urban myth," said Morrison, a consultant in public health medicine with the National Health Service.

Morrison and Petticrew surveyed around 300 Scottish fast food restaurants that sell Britain's most popular meal: fish and chips (fries). They found 22 percent of these "chip shops" also served deep-fried Mars bars (a Milky Way in the U.S.). Each contains more than 420 calories.

Average sales were 23 bars per week, with some shops selling more than 200 each week. Three-fourths of customers were children.

The researchers found that Mars bars aren't Scotland's only deep-fried specialties, with chip shops also frying up ice-cream, pizza, pineapple rings, pickled eggs, Snicker bars, and bananas.

Deep-fried Haggis

Haggis, Scotland's national dish, a combination of seasoned meat and oatmeal boiled in a sheep's stomach, also appears on the fast food menu. But instead of being boiled and served with "neeps and tatties" (turnips and potatoes), in the traditional way, the haggis goes into the deep fat-fryer as well.

The deep-fried Mars bar is believed to have originated in the northeast Scottish village of Stonehaven, following a bet struck between a chip shop owner and a customer. The Carron Fish and Chip Bar today sells as many as 300 deep-fried Mars bars a week. They cost 70 pence each (U.S. $1.38), or £1.70 (U.S. $3.30) when served with fries.

"Encouragingly, we did also find some evidence of the penetration of the Mediterranean diet into Scotland, albeit in the form of deep-fried pizza," said Petticrew, director of the social and public health services unit of the UK Medical Research Council, a government health research body.

Morrison said this fried-food culture probably has its roots in the industrial revolution, when there was mass migration to cities from rural areas.

The shift "resulted in a loss of much of the indigenous food culture. Much of Scotland's indigenous food is very healthy—oats, root vegetables, venison, fish, and seafood," Morrison said. "Heavy industry and labor demands eating a lot of calories, and fatty food is a good and cheap source. Deep-frying also kills bacteria and viruses, making it a relatively safe food."

Morrison noted that in the 18th and 19th centuries Scotland's fortunes were built on importing sugar, among other commodities. "This is likely to have given us our predilection for sweet food," he said.

Scotland records among the highest rates of heart disease, cancer, and strokes in the developed world, according to official figures. Residents also have the lowest life expectancy.

A major report for Scotland's Chief Medical Officer, which looked at the relationship between diet and disease, stated that Scots have the highest premature death rates from coronary heart disease in the world.

Meanwhile, the Public Health Institute for Scotland found that in 1998, 62 percent of men and 54 percent of women were either overweight or obese.

Morrison said there's a duty for the National Health Service and other public bodies to inform and educate the population about what constitutes a healthier diet.

"Poor Diet"

Speaking last month, Scotland's First Minister, Jack McConnell, admitted that such efforts need to be stepped up.

"In comparison with the rest of the UK, with Europe, and with too many countries worldwide, our mortality and morbidity rates across far too many indicators are lamentable," he said. "Poor diet, excessive drinking, lack of exercise, and drug abuse all contribute to making us one of the unhealthiest nations in Europe."

McConnell claims some progress has already been made, noting that investment in public health since 1999 has cut death rates from heart disease by 14 percent.

However, a new report, published earlier this month by Scotland's National Health Service, suggests that levels of obesity in children is still rising. It states: "By the school year ending 2002, 30 percent of 13- to 15-year-olds were estimated to be overweight—this was double the expected number."

And it's these youngsters who appear most susceptible to the delights of the deep-fried Mars bar, according to Petticrew, the study co-author. He said 76 percent of Mars bars were sold to children, and 15 percent to teenagers. "Sixteen percent of shops said they were more likely to sell them during school term," he added.

Kevin McIndoe, a Glasgow newspaper journalist, said he has yet to come across the infamous dish in the city's chip shops. "If they do a deep-fried Mar bar, it's not something they put on the menu," he added.

However, McIndoe, 38, does admit to having a soft spot for the odd battered sausage and deep-fried black pudding.

Despite the Mars bar study, McIndoe said he feels the Scots' reputation as unhealthy eaters is overexaggerated. He added, "It's a bit like me saying everyone in London likes jellied eels."

The penalty does seam a little ruff

Nebraska StatePaper.com - Case of Doggone Sex Goes Before Nebraska Supreme Court: "The state Supreme Court will hear the appeal of a woman who thinks 90 days in jail is too harsh a penalty for having sex with a dog.
Ramon Anglemeyer was charged after her arrest in January of 2003 when Lincoln police seized videotapes at the home of John Ways Jr.
The tapes showed Anglemeyer having sex with a canine.
The high court will hear oral arguments in the case on January 5th.
Ways owned a strip club until he was sentenced to six years in a federal pen for possessing an explosive device.
On appeal, Anglemeyer says her conviction was based on her association with Ways, rather than evidence presented against her. She received the maximum sentence: 90 days and a $500 fine.
When sentencing Anglemeyer, Lancaster County Judge Gale Pokorny said she and Ways had made similar tapes involving animals and other woman. He concluded that Ways and Anglemeyer were part of a pornography business."

Wildlife artist gored to death by a buffalo

Times Online - Britain



By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi and Simon de Bruxelles



A WILDLIFE artist who dedicated his career to helping animals in Africa was gored to death by a bull buffalo in front of his wife and a friend.
Simon Combes, 64, was attacked by the one-tonne animal in dense bush as he returned from a clifftop which he had climbed to watch a sunset in the wildlife reserve in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, where he lived.



Last night Kat Combes told how her husband died in her arms in the pitch-dark bush four hours later, just as paramedics arrived.

“We had just started to come back down from a 1,000ft-high precipice called the Sleeping Warrior and were in a patch of quite thick bush,” she said.

“Suddenly the buffalo was right there, right next to us. He was a lone bull, huge, a massive, massive animal, and he came charging out.

“We had no time at all to react. I was walking in the middle, Simon was on my right and it just got to him first. Simon tried to turn and run but the buffalo was too close. It just started throwing him up in the air, over and over and over.”

She and the friend, Mary Wykstra, a cheetah expert, tried throwing sticks and stones at the animal but it continued the attack until it lost interest. Mrs Combes stayed at her husband’s side trying to comfort him and encourage him to stay alive as they waited for help.

She said: “He was so brave and strong. He tried so hard to stay alive. I tried so hard to keep him alive. I don’t remember what I was saying — I was just talking to him, trying my best to make sure that he made it as long as he could.

“He was still alive when the doctor got to him, but even if he could have kept going, there was that very difficult climb down the hill. It is hard enough if you are fit and healthy.”

Mr Combes was renowned for getting perilously close to the animals he loved to paint. One of his best-known works was the portrait of a buffalo, entitled Menace. He was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset, in June 1940 but moved to Kenya with his parents and brother at the age of 5. He began painting when he was a young officer in the Kenyan Army, where he served as a major in the guerri-lla conflict with Somalia.

He moved back to England in 1978 so that his children could have an English education and they lived in Bushley, Gloucestershire, for 17 years, but he returned to Kenya every winter to work as a safari guide.

In that time he produced many of his best-known paintings of big cats and other wild animals. He was entirely self-taught, apart from mentoring sessions in later life with the wildlife artist David Shepherd. He published two best-selling books, African Experience and Great Cats.

He claimed to have no fear of dangerous animals, despite having been chased by elephants, forced to climb a tree to escape a rhino and been bitten by a Bengal tiger. He said it was mankind he feared the most.

His daughter, Cindy, who lives in Cheltenham, said: “Dad grew up in Africa. He spent the majority of his youth in the bush. He was very experienced when it came to African living.”

His work achieved worldwide recognition and won many awards, including the Society of Animal Artists’ Award of Excellence. He used his position to further wildlife conservation. Last year he was appointed project director for Kenya by the Rhino Rescue Trust. He married Kat, an American, in August last year.

His family will travel to Kenya in the next few days to be with Mr Combes’s son, Guy, 33, who works there.

Cindy said: “Dad just loved wildlife and he loved painting. He was in his element in Kenya.”