Millionaire's Fair, eating wasps, a new slant on Cell Block H, birthday criminal negliegence, and when gay penguins just can't see eye to eye any more

I've been so busy this week I've actually gone BLIND. Any coding errors are therefore not entirely my fault...

Tar Diary

World Beard and Moustache Championships

Berlin, Germany -- Saturday, October 1, 2005

The next World Beard and Moustache Championships will take place in Berlin, the capital of Germany, on October 1, 2005. Host for this event is the Berlin Beard Club, which is pulling out all of the stops to provide all contestants and spectators with an unforgettable experience and is hoping to set a new participant record. Meanwhile, the host club's star member Karl-Heinz Hille is looking to defend the overall world championship title he earned at the last championships, held in Carson City, Nevada in 2003. Hille was also the overall champion in Sweden in 1999.

World Wide Weird

A Mall Made for Millionaires

Moscow Times

Igor Tabakov / MT

Moscow may have more billionaires than any other city in the world, but what about those with a mere million to their name?

The Millionaire Fair is not a chance to buy one of those young millionaires -- and there were 88,000 declared millionaires in the country at last count. Instead, it offers a brief glimpse -- at 1,000 rubles per visit, or $250 for VIP tickets -- of a luxury lifestyle few will ever touch, including the opportunity to buy a helicopter, a Bentley, a whole island, hair-transplant surgery or a dress that literally smells of money.

The fair, which runs through Wednesday, was founded by Yves Gijrath, the general director of Gijrath Media Group, in Amsterdam three years ago and brought to Moscow together with Independent Media, which publishes The Moscow Times.

Housed in Crocus Expo, next to the Crocus City shopping center on the Moscow Ring Road, the Millionaire Fair has turned the exhibition center into a mall for the rich for a few days. Instead of piped music, Bryan Ferry sang live to visitors on the opening night, even if they seemed more interested in the buffet.

The attributes of luxury were everywhere: expensive cars, helicopters with prices starting at a quarter of a million dollars, furs, bodyguards, women with cheekbones you could cut diamonds on and dangerous black cats -- a young panther was an essential part of one stand selling suitcases.

When asked what the panther had to do with suitcases, its handler said after a brief pause, "Exclusive panther. Exclusive suitcase." She carried on scratching the panther, which promptly fell off its exclusive suitcase.

"I was impressed," said Rostislav Ordovsky-Tanayevsky Blanco, the millionaire businessman behind the Rostik's chain and other restaurants. "Ten years ago, this would never have happened. It's like a century has gone past."

Some 6,000 to 7,000 people were expected to visit the fair on Sunday alone, said co-organizer Derk Sauer, the CEO of Independent Media.

"It's spectacular. The exhibitors are really excited," Sauer said, adding that millions of exhibits had been sold by late Sunday. "Last night, an island was sold, and that is $10 million."


Igor Tabakov / MT

Moscow might be remembered for Forbes magazine's 2004 report that named it the world's billionaire capital, with 33 billionaires. New York, in comparison, boasted 31.

Just having money was not enough for some people on opening night.

"It is mainly New Russians here. It is not Muscovites," said one man, who said he was a real estate millionaire but refused to give his name as he stood watching with a cynical eye on the opening night. "Mainly, it's people who want to eat for free.

"It is only the nouveaux riches, and they don't understand the price of money," he said. "They see, come and buy. A real person with capital will find what he wants at a cheaper price. That's the position of a millionaire."

Others found the whole affair distasteful.

"It is an illusion, like everything in this country," said Eldar, a banker who would not give his last name and conceded that he was not a millionaire.

"I find the selling of Lamborghinis strange, considering the state of the roads in the country," he said. "It is stupid. Where can you go in a Lamborghini? Try going to the Tula region.

"The only thing they really want here is a picture of themselves with Putin so they can hang it up," he said, before adding, "and that is very expensive."


Igor Tabakov / MT
Visitors relaxing on sofas with "Where there is enjoyment -- there am I" cushions in the Crocus Expo center.

Indian millionaire Jimmy Kotwani, the owner of Imperial Tailoring, apparently did not feel the same way as he admired a new Mercedes on display. "There are lots of things I'm interested in," he said. "I am fond of diamonds."

"Sit here for five minutes, and you can see how people are greedy for money," said manager Irina Nemets, before stopping to tell a passerby to stop touching the dress made of 500 ruble notes. "They're drawn to it," she said.

"There were rich people here," Nemets said about the opening night. "They also wanted to touch, like children." (:/)

The following brand of story is, as you know, tar's favourite kind.

Puppy Swallows 13-Inch Knife, Survives

AP/Spotter René Millman

Jane Scarola's veterinarian thought the X-ray was a joke. He's seen strange items get into the stomachs of dogs before, things like kebab skewers and small utensils. But a 13-inch serrated knife that somehow was swallowed by a 6-month-old puppy?



That was a new one.

"I was just flabbergasted," the vet, Jon-Paul Carew of Imperial Point Animal Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Elsie, a Saint Bernard puppy, apparently had the blade between her esophagus and stomach for about four days before it was removed earlier this week in a 2-hour operation.
Advertisement

The puppy has an 8-inch scar, but is fine and back with her family. And the knife is back in Scarola's kitchen, albeit this time wrapped in a towel and placed in a cabinet atop the refrigerator.

"I'm going to frame it and give it to Dr. Carew," Scarola said. "He should hang it. Everybody should know what puppies are capable of putting down their throats."

Scarola used the knife to carve a turkey, and placed the blade on the counter - far from the edge.

She thinks one of her six other dogs - four Saint Bernards, a German shepherd and a Labrador - somehow got the knife, which eventually made its way to Elsie.

"She wants to eat everything and anything," Scarola said. (:/)

Wasp catcher eats his prey

Ananova

A Chinese man wasp catcher has become famous for eating the insects he has caught.

Zhong Zhisheng from Shaoguan City, has removed over 100 wasps' nests in the last year, reports Xinhua qouting Shenzen Daily.

The 30-year-old removes wasp nests within five minutes, using only a plastic bag, a bamboo stick and smoke to choke the insects out..

Mr Zhong said: "To me, removing a wasps' nest is like picking a pumpkin and catching wasps is like catching flies."

Mr Zhong, who learned to deal with wasps from his grandpa when he was just 11, does not charge money for removing wasp nests but asks only to be allowed to take the insects home.

He says he enjoys eating fried wasps and drinking alcohol containing wasps and pupae. (:/)

New Car Smell: Don't Inhale

13WHAM.com

One of the best things about having a new car could be bad for you. New research finds that much loved "new car" smell is produced by harmful chemicals.



Cheryl Gardner has just purchased a new Nissan Pathfinder. She said the smell that tells her she's driving a new car just doesn't last long enough.

"I love it. It actually stays in the vehicle for a couple of months," she said.

According to a recent study, that pleasurable scent has been linked to harmful chemicals--volatile organic compound or VOC--which releases chemicals from glues, paints, and vinyl.

The smell inside the cabin of the car can trigger headaches, sore throats, and drowsiness. Japanese manufacturers have been the first to respond by reducing the chemical levels within government guidelines.

Japan's top five car makers have already rolled out cars with lower the VOC levels. Scott Pundt of Dorschel Automotive thinks that's great as long as they don't completely get rid of the scent that represents pride and satisfaction for so many consumers as they drive off the lot. (:/)

Piranha Bites Manila Airport Inspector

AP

A routine check of a shipment at Manila airport turned bloody when a piranha sprung up and bit one of the inspectors.

"I was checking one of the boxes when suddenly, something leaped out of it and bit me," fisheries quarantine inspector Mario Trio told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a report published Tuesday.

The bite left a V-shaped wound on the inspector's finger, and the 34 piranhas in the consignment he was checking — falsely declared as "ornamental fish" from Peru — were confiscated over the weekend, but died two days later, the newspaper reported.

The Filipino consignee faces charges of illegally importing live piranhas, punishable by up to eight years in prison and a fine, quarantine chief Felipe Santamaria said. (:/)

New T-Shirts Urge People Not To Report Crimes

NBC4 TV News

Police rely heavily on the public's help to solve crimes, but a new T-shirt popular in Pennsylvania urges people to "stop snitching."



"I only have two left right now," said Alberto Gonzalez, the manager of the New Style store in Lancaster. "It's a funny shirt because it says what people really want to say."

Gonzalez said "stop snitching" doesn't necessarily mean not reporting crimes to police.

"It could mean anything," he said. "It could mean a brother talking to a sister -- to stop telling on her. A sister telling a brother to stop telling on him."

But some disagree, and think the message is very clear.

"I think it's pretty obvious what that is -- don't snitch. Don't talk to the police, don't talk to anybody in authority," said Capt. John Flemming, of the Lancaster Bureau of Police.

And police don't want that message to get around. (:/)

Beauty contest behind bars

Ananova

Female prisoners at Colombia's biggest prison have been competing in a beauty pageant.



Female prisoners at Colombia's Buen Pastor Prison compete in the Miss Congeniality beauty pageant /Splash

Inmates of Buen Pastor Prison are rivals for the title of Miss Congeniality 2005.

The contestants include armed robber Heidi Leon and drug trafficker Yury Uribe.

They list hobbies such as 'listening to the radio'.

Yury, who was arrested trying to enter the US with half a kilo of heroin in her stomach, was the eventual winner.

"I can't emphasize enough how important it is that we have the community's support and their assistance, not just solving crimes that have already happened, but really being more proactive so crimes don't occur," Flemming said.

"Law enforcement shouldn't rely on the informants so much anyway. They should be able to make their cases without that anyway," said Terrance McNeil, who works at the Sneaker Villa store.

McNeil said his store ordered the shirts about two or three weeks ago, but they don't have them anymore. The mayor of Philadelphia asked the chain's owner not to sell the shirts, so they were pulled from all stores.

"I feel that is wrong because we should be able to sell what we want to sell, and then wear whatever we want to wear," McNeil said.

"Everybody has the freedom of expression," Gonzalez said.

Police don't disagree, and they don't mind the shirts being sold, as long as they're only a fashion statement and not a state of mind. (:/)

How to overcome that sinking feeling in quicksand

Reuters

Quicksand is not the bottomless pit portrayed in Hollywood films that sucks in unsuspecting victims and swallows them whole.

It is true the more people struggle, the deeper they will sink into the soupy mixture but its buoyancy makes it impossible to be completely submerged, scientists said on Wednesday.

"Everybody thinks, thanks to Hollywood, that you can drown in quicksand. Basically if you do a simple buoyancy calculation, the Archimedes force, it is immediately evident that you can't drown completely," said Daniel Bonn, of the Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Quicksand consists of salt, water, sand and clay. It is the water content that makes quicksand, which is found near estuaries, beaches and rivers, so dangerous.

"If you tread on quicksand, or liquefy it by moving, it goes from something that is almost completely solid to something that is almost completely liquid," Bonn told Reuters.

He and his colleagues showed that Hollywood had got it wrong by measuring the viscosity, the resistance to flow, of quicksand and its sinking ability.

They also calculated the amount of force necessary to get a trapped foot out -- and found it was the equivalent needed to lift a medium-sized car. Their findings are reported in the science journal Nature.

If someone falls into quicksand they begin to sink and the sand packs densely around the feet, forming a type of trap. In films people sinking in quicksand usually grab on to an overhanging tree branch or are pulled out just as they are about to disappear under the mucky surface.

But Bonn and his team said in real life the victim would sink halfway into the quicksand but would not disappear.

The scientists advised people trapped in quicksand not to panic and to wiggle.

"All you have to do to get your foot out is to introduce water into the sand and if you can do that along your leg by wiggling your leg around, that is the best way to get out," Bonn said. (:/)

Star Trek

Hi-tech beermat tells barman it's time for a refill

AFP

German inventors have devised an interactive beermat that can be used for pub games and tell the barman when it's time for a refill.



The device, created by computer scientists Andreas Butz of the University of Munich and Michael Schmitz of Saarland University, comprises a small, flat baseplate with a traditional cardboard beermat on top.

The plate conceals a pressure sensor and accelaration sensor that react to the weight of the glass and to the position and movement of the beermat on the baseplate.

The sensors relay this data by radio link to the bar, where the signal is interpreted by a computer.

The inventors believe the gadget could be used as a voting device -- for instance to judge the performance of a karaoke singer or to give an opinion on referee decisions on big-screen matches in sports bars.

A "Yes" vote, for instance, could be registered by raising the glass, causing the sensors to move.

A "No" would be registered by raising the glass and then turning the cardboard mat over and replacing it on the baseplate, thus causing a telltale double movement of the sensors.

When the glass is empty, the drinker can use the cardboard beermat to order another beer. The customer conveys the urgency of the request by "flapping" on the sensor with the mat, and by using a stack of mats can express the number of drinks ordered.

The inventors showed off their brainchild at Ubicomp 2005, an conference on "ubiquitous computing" held in Tokyo from September 11-14. The device is also reported in Saturday's issue of New Scientist, the British news weekly. (:/)

Corporate Bollocks

|--------------------------------------------------|
| |
| ACTIVITIES SEWER SYSTEM |
| |
| Between Thursday 29 September and Monday 3 |
| October 2005, activities will take place on the |
| sewerage of the building at Stroombaan 10-12 in |
| Amstelveen. |
| |
| The activities may cause some inconvenience. |
| |
| If you have any questions, please contact the |
| Service Desk Amsterdam, telephone (020-6) 28 80 |
| 60. |
|--------------------------------------------------|

(:/)

Huge thanks to Ted Rees for that.

Criminal Negligence

Criminal Profile: Tillotson

The Bowdoin Orient

"Are you looking in my brain?" the suspect, a 6'4" man with brown hair and blue eyes, asks. It is almost 10:30 p.m. on November 24, 2004.



The room is completely dark. A police officer is examining a man suspected of driving under the influence. The cop shines a flashlight in the suspect's eyes, checking the reactivity of his pupils. The results indicate that the suspect is on some kind of drug; he later admits to having taken large doses of cough syrup.

Lights back on, the officer administers a simple walk-and-turn (WAT) test. The suspect fails to follow almost all the directions, muttering about ninjas all the while.

Suddenly the suspect stands on one foot and lifts his arms in the air. He remains in this position for many seconds, trying to imitate a stance in the film Karate Kid.

After failing the WAT miserably, the suspect asks the cop a question: "Do I qualify as a ninja?"

The suspect is Erik D. Tillotson. He is not a ninja; he is a criminal.

Tillotson was born in Concord, New Hampshire in 1971. He was first arrested when he was 23 years old on charges of "acquiring drugs by deception" and was fined $200 for the violation of the law. Maine State Bureau of Identification records show no other arrests until ten years later.

According to Lieutenant Kevin Schofield of the Brunswick Police Department, Tillotson has become quite familiar to police in the last ten months.

"...the first time we came in contact with him was when a female victim, a Bowdon College student, reported some issues that were sexual in nature and required some police follow-up. As a result of that investigation he was charged with 'violation of privacy,' which is a class D misdemeanor. The case is still pending and has not yet been adjudicated."

After Tillotson's "violation of privacy' on November 07, 2004, he was arrested for "stalking," "terrorizing," and "criminal trespass" a week later. Four days after that, on November 18, Tillotson was arrested and charged with "criminal trespass" again. The same day he was also charged with "violating the conditions of [his] release."

On November 24, 2004, when Erik Tillotson was brought into the Brunswick Police station, arrested for suspicion of driving high on cough syrup and for violating his bail conditions, the evaluating officer, Paul Hansen II, asked if Erik was sick or injured.

According to Hansen, Tillotson "just stared at me blankly before stating, 'I'm psychotic.'" That night he failed almost every drug influence evaluation test administered to him.

Earlier this year, Tillotson was charged with a violation of Brunswick municipal fire code.

Numerous trespass warnings have been issued against him recently. According to Schofield, "There are sixteen different places in the community where we were asked...to give him a trespass warning. ... It seems that the way he engages other [people]...causes alarm."

In a dark room, Hansen shines a flashlight in Tillotson's eyes, checking his pupils.

"The star is fading away," Tillotson says. "I'm fading away." (:/)

Born the same year as me. Yes.

Defense Wants Client's Nickname Barred

AP

A defense attorney has asked a judge to bar any references to his client's nickname "Scuz" in his upcoming murder trial, saying the moniker could negatively influence jurors.

Demetrius "Scuz" Fiorentino, 31, of Coatesville, is charged with the April 2004 robbery and shooting death of Joel "Wellz" Taylor, 19, of Queens, N.Y., during a botched drug deal in a Coatesville crack house in Coatesville.

Defense attorney Laurence Harmelin cited the dictionary definition of scuzzball as "an unpleasant, dirty or dangerous person; creep" and scuzzy as "dirty, shabby or foul in condition or nature."

Harmelin told Common Pleas Judge Phyllis Streitel on Friday that connotations of Fiorentino's nickname would prejudice jurors against the defendant.

Assistant District Attorney Lorraine Finnegan said it would be nearly impossible for witnesses to identify the defendant without using his nickname.

"All of these witnesses are going to have to call him by the name they know," she said. "We're not calling him a scuzzball or scuzzy … it's 'Scuz' because that is his nickname."

Harmelin also asked to have the trial moved out of Chester County, citing publicity surrounding the case. Finnegan wants the trial to stay in the county.

It was unclear when the judge would issue decisions on the requests. Jury selection in Fiorentino's capital murder trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 19. (:/)

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The Where Is Mommy? Map, and much, much more...
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And finally

Sex and animals usually find their way into news stories in one, generally unsavoury way. But tar readers will know that we were one of the first to the German Gay Penguin story, and this week there's a similar, sadder story from across the pond. But first, could Panda Porn ever, ever be acceptable? You be the judge...

China kicks off high-tech project to spy on pandas' sex lives

AFP

Chinese and American scientists will use high technology in an attempt to unveil the darkest secrets of the giant panda's sex life, state media said.



Giant pandas are unusually discreet animals, forcing researchers to resort to Global Positioning System (GPS) sensors to find out what's really happening behind the bamboo leaves, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"Giant pandas are inaccessible for long periods of time and traditional observation cannot unravel the ecological mystery of the animals," Wei Fuwen, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua.

"Tracking them with advanced technologies and observing their sex activities might help us find ways to avoid their extinction," Wei said.

The Chinese academy has linked up with the Zoological Society of San Diego for the three-year, 660,000-dollar "Peeping Tom" project at the Foping Natural Reserve in northwest China's Shaanxi province.

Sadly, the curious scientists may find out that not much is going on even when the pandas believe they are alone and unobserved.

A lack of interest in sex is one of the main reasons why the furry animal is endangered, and measures ranging from specially designed Viagra to panda porn movies have done little to change that. (:/)

The Gay Penguins Return (sadly not the German ones though)

New Love Breaks Up a 6-Year
Relationship at the Zoo

NY Times

And Silo and Roy looked so happy together.

The two male chinstrap penguins had found each other in the big city. They had remained faithful. They had even raised a child. But then, not too long ago, they lost their home. Silo's eye began to wander, and last spring he forsook his partner of six years at the Central Park Zoo and took up with a female from California named Scrappy. Of late, Roy has been seen alone, in a corner, staring at a wall.

This tale of betrayal, sexual identity and penguin lust set in Manhattan has reverberated around the world. It has "rocked the gay scene," as the popular blogger Andrew Sullivan, who is gay, wrote in The Sunday Times of London this week.


Silo, right, a male chinstrap penguin, nuzzling with Scrappy, a female. Silo has ended a long-term relationship with Roy
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Silo, right, a male chinstrap penguin, nuzzling with Scrappy, a female. Silo has ended a long-term relationship with Roy, a male, not pictured.

No one was more disappointed than Rob Gramzay, the senior penguin keeper at the zoo, who said simply in an interview yesterday, "They seemed to be a good pair together."

The end actually came 16 months ago. It happened shortly after Silo and Roy gained fame from an article in The New York Times detailing their relationship. Some saw the tale of two male birds raising a child as a parable for our time.

Yet things began to fall apart in May 2004 after the two were kicked out of their nest by two aggressive penguins. They drifted apart, Mr. Gramzay said, and early in the mating season this year Silo found Scrappy, an import from SeaWorld who had been lounging around the aquarium since 2002.

Still, Mr. Gramzay said that humans should not divine too much from the split. "People read so much into the gay thing, and the gay thing is necessarily a human constraint that's put on top of them."

That has not stopped many from doing just that.

At the Web site for Focus on the Family, an influential organization run by radio host James C. Dobson, who has called homosexuality a disorder and advocates converting gays, a commentator, Warren Throckmorten, wrote: "For those who have pointed to Roy and Silo as models for us all, these developments must be disappointing. Some gay activists might actually be angry."

Well, maybe not angry. As Roberta Sklar, a spokeswoman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, put it: "There's almost an obsession with questions such as, 'Is sexual orientation a birthright or a choice?' And looking at the behavior of two penguins in captivity is not a way to answer that question."

She said the furor over the penguins "is a little ridiculous. Or maybe a lot ridiculous." (:/)

Ahhh. Makes Autumn feel warm, doesn't it? Until next time...

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