Robot jockeys, camel conundrums, what not to flush down a toilet, what not to get up your nose, and someone, somewhere, is still missing a finger...

Robots will replace child camel jockeys in UAE

(AFP)

Dateline: Dubai - The United Arab Emirates is to mount robot jockeys on racing camels later this year after a ban on using children in the region's popular sport.



It will become the second Gulf Arab state, after Qatar, to use robots and ban child jockeys following criticism that infants, some as young as four, were being brought in from poor countries to race the camels.

The UAE's first robot jockey exercise has been successfully carried out in the capital, Abu Dhabi, according to media reports this week which also said that the first robots would be produced in August, ready for use in the next camel racing season.

Last month, the UAE declared the use of jockeys under the age of 16 and weighing less than 45 kilograms (100 pounds) illegal from April 16.

The UAE had in principle already banned the use of children under 15 since 1993 but abuses remain widespread and no one has ever been brought to justice.

The US State Department and human rights groups say children are exploited by traffickers who pay their impoverished parents a paltry sum or simply kidnap their victims.

The children, mostly from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, are then smuggled into the Gulf states.

They are often starved by employers to keep them light and increase their racing potential. Mounting camels three times their height, the children face the risk of being thrown off and trampled.

In December, Qatar banned the use of children in camel races and said it was preparing to use robot jockeys in 2005.

With the new law and introduction of robot jockeys, "the UAE will have adhered to the international regulations governing camel racing while at the same time preserving the traditional character of camel races as a popular local heritage," said Sheikh Sultan bin Hamdan al-Nahayan, a senior official.

"Unlike the human jockey, the robot is cheaper to maintain and would not have to undergo the same physical hardship that humans would," he said. (/)

Bloody red tape!

Camel costume prank sparks luggage handling probe at Australia's Qantas

(AFP)

Dateline: Sydney - Qantas launched an investigation of its luggage handling staff after a baggage handler was seen frolicking on the tarmac at Sydney airport in a camel costume taken from a passenger's bag.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said a baggage handler had been suspended and would be dismissed if an investigation confirmed he was the culprit.

"What has happened is completely unacceptable," Dixon said in a statement, adding that "we still have some issues that need to be addressed on the behavioural front".

Passenger David Cox told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper he was "gobsmacked" when he saw a Qantas staffer wearing his camel's head on the tarmac 20 minutes after he had checked it in as part of his luggage. (/)

One camel you wouldn't be mounting in hurry, n'est ce pas?

Bloodsucking leech spends month up Hong Kong hiker's nose

(AFP)

Dateline: Hong Kong - A Hong Kong woman hiker who washed her face in a freshwater stream unwittingly returned home with a leech embedded in her left nostril.



The woman did not realise anything was wrong until two weeks later when she felt there was something in her nose, the Hong Kong Medical Journal reported in its April edition.

A first attempt by the family doctor to remove it failed due to profuse nosebleed while a second attempt in hospital was also unsuccessful as the leech retracted into her nose, the journal said in its report on the rare complaint.

Doctors finally managed to remove it using a nasal spray to anaesthetise the five-centimetre-long (two-inch) bloodsucker a month after it had invaded her nostril.

"After two minutes, the leech slowly moved out of the antrum (sinus) and was retrieved with forceps," it said.

"This form of leech infestation has not been previously reported," it added.

The woman could have suffocated if the leech had attached itself to her larynx, the journal said. (/)

Ugh.

Inmate Flushing Causing Major Problems

(AP)

Dateline: Martinsburg - It's amazing what a bored inmate will do. "To get a whole jumpsuit down a toilet seems like a major undertaking," Curtis Keller said of the items from the Eastern Regional Jail that have been jamming a pumping station auger.

Keller, general manager of the Berkeley County Public Service Sewer District, said the county has spent approximately $11,000 to clear out the jams during the past six months and more than 200 hours of labor.

"We know that inmates are likely to flush inappropriate things in an attempt to flood cells, or in an attempt, just out of boredom, of something else to do," Steve Canterbury, executive director of the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, said Sunday. "I'm not sure why they flush what they flush. They've always flushed badly."

Items issued to inmates are routinely inventoried and when something is missing, inmates are charged for replacements and may get lockdown time, depending on how many times they have done it and how many items are missing, Canterbury said.

Towels, socks, underwear, laundry bags, even what appears to be medical waste, have gotten into the pumping station, with the articles wrapping themselves around the auger, a device designed to separate trash out of the sewage, Keller said.

The system also serves other customers. It's not likely hypodermic needles came from inmates because they don't have access to them, Canterbury said.

"Our employees have to go down there and clear it out," complained Berkeley County Commissioner Ronald L. Collins, a member of the board of directors of the sewer district. At one point, the auger had so much clothing and other material wrapped in it, workers had to use an acetylene torch to burn off the debris, Collins said.

Keller believes the problem started when sewer service was switched from the old jail to the new jail in 1999. The old jail had a shredder on its sewer connection called a "muffin monster," designed to tear up anything before it got into the sewer lines and pumping station.

"In the process of changing over, the shredder has been taken out," he said.

But Canterbury said when the new jail was built, his agency bought and installed the auger for the PSD at a cost of about $800,000.

"This is what they wanted, and this is what we got them," Canterbury said. (/)

Muffin. Monster.

Students Use 125 Steps to Change Batteries

(AP)

Dateline: West Lafayette - A team of Purdue University engineering students has won the annual Rube Goldberg Machine contest with an absurdly complex contraption for changing the batteries in a flashlight.

The winning device Saturday employed 125 steps to change the batteries and turn the flashlight on.



The competition pays homage to the cartoonist Rube Goldberg, whose drawings depicted whimsically complicated machines for performing utterly simple tasks.

The contest in previous years asked students to find complicated ways to complete such tasks as sharpening a pencil and making a cup of coffee.

This year's winning contraption by the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers included a simulated a rocket launch and a meteor impact on Earth.

It was Purdue's third straight national title in the event. (/)

For more on the Geeks From Hell, see:

Geeks


More Geeks

Eva heard the one about the IT manager looking for love?

(ZDNet UK)

When glamorous IT systems manager Eva was featured in London's free Metro newspaper's "Under Offer" section looking for a date, it seems that one important detail was omitted.

She turned out to be a he, prompting Metro to run a full-page explanation on Wednesday that bordered on an apology. Eva is a gay man who arrived in Britain ten years ago to study IT, according to the Metro, which received more than 50 applications from single men across the country. Some even wrote twice, said the paper.

At work Eva, whose real name was not given, dresses as a man. "I can't be Eva in my job, because clients know me as a man," Metro quoted Eva as saying.

In what some might called a particularly un-PC article, headlined "Ladyboy", Metro apologised for the embarrassment it may have caused readers, particularly 25-year-old army officer Gareth who Eva eventually picked, but who turned down the offer. Any IT types out there who think they may be interested are advised to email metrosexual@ukmetro.co.uk. (/)

Written by my old news ed., Matt Loney. Oddly enough.

Thailand to Host World Toilet Summit

(AP)

Dateline: Bangkok - Thailand plans to upgrade hygiene in its public toilets to meet international standards as it prepares to host the World Toilet Summit next year, a health official said Wednesday.

"Toilets are very important for the country's image in the eyes of visitors," said Somyos Chareonsak, a senior official of the Public Health Ministry.

The conference is to be held in May 2006.

The first summit, organized by the World Toilet Organization, was held in 2001 in Singapore. China, where toilet facilities are often in need of upgrades, hosted one last year.

Topics discussed at the meetings include toilet design and technology, toilet management and hygiene and energy-saving measures. (/)

911 Dispatcher Reprimanded Over Wisecrack

(AP)

Dateline: Watauga, Texas - A 911 dispatcher was reprimanded for responding to a mother's plea for help with an unruly child by saying: "OK. Do you want us to come over to shoot her?"

"I admit what I did. It was stupid, it was inexcusable and I'm sorry," said dispatcher Mike Forbess.

The woman, identified only as Lori in Wednesday's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, said she recently phoned authorities after coming home to find her daughters fighting. She told the dispatcher that her 12-year-old had kicked a hole in the door.

After Forbess' comment, the woman fell silent for about five seconds.

"Are you there?" Forbess asked.

"Excuse me?" the woman asked.

Forbess, a dispatcher for five years at the Watauga Department of Public Safety, told her he was joking and apologized. But the woman was offended, and Forbess immediately told his supervisor what happened.

"This type of response cannot be tolerated, and this letter shall serve as notice that any future unprofessional responses while answering the 911 line will be cause for termination," Police Chief David Van Laar wrote to Forbess. (/)

Lithuanian deep freeze record breakers get prize, gifts from government

(AFP)

Dateline: Vilnius - A Lithuanian brother and sister who spent almost three days frozen in a block of ice have been rewarded for their "brave" feat by the government, a television report said.



Circus veterans Arvydas and Diana Gaiciunai were awarded 5,000 litas (1,400 euros) each and given gifts by Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas on Wednesday, LNK television reported.

The Gaiciunais claimed an unofficial world record after spending 63 hours and 31 minutes in a 12-tonne ice cube set on a stage in the Lithuanian beach resort of Palanga at the beginning of April.

Brazauskas thanked the pair for their "brave work which required determination and encouraged them to glorify Lithuania's name with more original achievements in the future," the report said.

"We were pleased by the prime minister's congratulations. Such moments give us strength for new challenges, which could promote Lithuania's name," the siblings said in a statement. (/)

Indians charged for burying children alive

(Reuters)

Dateline: New Delhi - Indian police have charged 80 people for burying children alive in an ancient Hindu ceremony known as "the festival of pits".

The ceremony, in which children -- some less than a year old -- are buried alive briefly and then dug up, happened on Monday in southern Tamil Nadu state, The Asian Age reported on Thursday.

Authorities have been trying for years to stop it and people found guilty face up to three years in jail and or a fine of 5000 rupees (60.7 pounds).

Every two years, parents who have vowed to bury their first-born if they are blessed with a child, take part in the Kuzhimattru Thiru Vizha ceremony.

The children are drugged to make them unconscious and placed in shallow "graves" in temple courtyards. The pits are covered with leaves and dirt and the children are pulled out after Hindu priests chant a brief prayer -- lasting up to a minute. (/)

Phew! Ok, this week is a short week for TAR, because it feels like I've worked like a junior doctor. And drunk like one. I've gone for more pictures to make it a more Picture Post kind of TAR instead. You may, however wish I hadn't.

But, before we go, do you remember the Finger In The Chili Story? Mmm, tasty...

Woman Won't Sue Wendy's for Alleged Finger

(AP/pix AP/byline Ken Ritter)

Dateline: Las Vegas - A woman who claimed she scooped up a human finger in her chili at a Wendy's restaurant has decided not to sue the fast-food chain, her lawyer said Wednesday.


This March 23, 2005, black and white photo released by the Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health in San Jose, Calif., shows a portion of a human finger that Anna Ayala claims she found while eating a bowl of chili at a Wendy's Restaurant in San Jose

Anna Ayala is dropping her claim because the police investigations, DNA tests, a search of her home and intense publicity have "been very difficult for her emotionally," Attorney Jeffrey Janoff said.

San Jose, Calif., police, meanwhile, said they were investigating a possible connection to Sandy Allman, the owner of several exotic animals who lost her digit in a leopard attack Feb. 23 in Pahrump, 60 miles west of Las Vegas.

However, Allman's lawyer, Philip Sheldon, insisted his client had "absolutely no connection with Ms. Ayala." The 59-year-old woman last saw the tip of her middle finger packed with ice on a Las Vegas hospital emergency room table — and left after doctors told her it couldn't be reattached.

The hospital said the finger should have been taken to its pathology lab — but that officials could not account for it, a spokeswoman said. There's no record of Ayala working at the hospital or ever being treated there, the spokeswoman said.

San Jose police spokeswoman Gina Tepoorten said police were in contact with Allman — and have gotten tips from around the country about lost digits, including one woman who claimed she lost a finger while breaking up a dog fight "and apparently the hospital lost her finger."

Ayala was visiting relatives in San Jose on Wednesday and could not be reached for comment, said her son, Guadalupe Reyes, 18.

"The way I see it, it's like a big show," Reyes said. "Everyone's saying this and that. It's ridiculous. People are just trying to get the $50,000."

Efforts to contact Allman were unsuccessful.


Sandy Allman is shown in this photo, date and location unknown. Allman, of Pahrump, Nev., lost the tip of her finger in a February leopard attack. Allman said Wednesday, April 13, 2005, that the fingertip was not returned to her when she was treated at a Las Vegas hospital.

Ayala, 39, was at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose on March 22 when she claimed she scooped up the 1 1/2-inch-long fingertip. She later filed a claim with the franchise owner, Fresno-based JEM Management Corp., which her attorney had said was the first step before filing a lawsuit.

Court records show Ayala has a history of making claims against corporations, including a former employer, General Motors and a fast-food restaurant. She acknowledged getting a settlement several years ago after her daughter was sickened at a Las Vegas restaurant.

"Lies, lies, lies, that's all I am hearing," she said last week after her home was searched last week by police. "They should look at Wendy's. What are they hiding? Why are we being victimized again and again?"

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Wednesday documents relating to the warrant had been sealed.

Wendy's spokesman Denny Lynch declined to comment on Ayala's decision to drop the lawsuit, but said a reward hot line will stay open. "It's very important to us to find out what really happened at the restaurant," he said.

Wendy's maintains the finger did not enter the chili in its ingredients. All the employees at the San Jose store were found to have all their fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy's ingredients have reported any hand or finger injuries, the company said. Officials also still had not confirmed whether the finger was cooked, as initial news reports indicated.

The Santa Clara County Coroner's Office was using a partial fingerprint to try to find a match in an electronic database but came up empty. DNA testing is still being conducted on the finger. (/)

Using. A. Partial. Fingerprint. You know, I really have to try not to make TAR in worse taste that it naturally wants to be.

Until next time...

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