Monday, August 31, 2009

What People Do to Their Pets?

Enterprise Dog Costume
Click to Enlarge
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Under Surveillance

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Duck Fashion Parade

From the world famous duck fashion parade at the Dubbo Show 26th April 2008
Jemimah

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Sarah
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Dog babysitting a chicken

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Friday, August 28, 2009

Waste Cooking Oil Candles

Filt "Waste Oil" Candles combine useful recycling with nice packaging to make a product that looks good, smells good, burns well, and is made almost entirely with recycled waste literally within reach of the creators.
Filt’s unique concept is that the materials and design, minus the wicks, come from within walking distance of their studio. Filt’s creators are also involved with Gaimgraphics, which accounts for the nice graphic design, with their office sitting atop Chubby, their stylish and spacious cafe in Setagaya Ward in Tokyo. Chubby’s size makes it ideal for events and rotating art showcases, but it’s also the source of Filt’s main ingredient: Used cooking oil, which they filter, color, and scent with vanilla.
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The switch from right to left driving

Plan to swap sides prompts threats of mass demonstrations
Rebellion is stirring in the normally laid-back Pacific island nation of Samoa, with threats to torch buses and stage mass demonstrations – all over an official plan to oblige citizens to drive on the left.
Thanks to a brief period of German rule in the early 20th century, Samoans have always driven on the right. The government plans to change that on 7 September, making this the first country to swap sides since Ghana in 1974. The rationale is that the switch will encourage Samoans' relatives in Australia and New Zealand to send home their used right-hand-drive cars. At present, most vehicles on the streets of the archipelago are gas-guzzling American left-hand drives.
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Happy Birthday Greeting

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Cat wants attention

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

'Laverne & Shirley' Then/Now

Schlemiel, Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated! 'Laverne & Shirley' was a comedy about two mismatched roommates (a female "Odd Couple" basically) that ran on ABC from 1976-1983. It starred (left to right) Phil Foster (Fran DeFazio), Penny Marshall (Laverne DeFazio), Michael McKean (Lenny Kosnowski), Cindy Williams (Shirley Feeney), David Lander (Andrew "Squiggy" Squigman ), Eddie Mekka (Carmine "The Big Ragu" Ragusa), and Betty Garret (Edna Babish).

Then: Penny Marshall
Penny Marshall got her big break in 1970, landing the role of Secretary Myrna Turner on "The Odd Couple." She also had a recurring role on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" around the same time. Penny had been working on several miscellaneous writing projects with Cindy Williams when the two were cast as guest stars on "Happy Days" (Penny's brother Garry Marshall created the hit series). The audience fell in love with the duo, and from there a spin-off was born.
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Now: Penny Marshall
Penny, 65, became interested in directing while still on the show and directed two episodes. After the series, she became one of the biggest directors in Hollywood, helming several blockbusters, including "Big," "Awakenings" and "A League of Their Own." She currently has several films in the works.
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Then: Cindy Williams
Cindy Williams starred in several films, including "American Graffiti" where she played Ron Howard’s high-school sweetheart, before being cast as the fun-loving Shirley Feeney. She left the show in 1982 after becoming pregnant with husband Bill Hudson's child. (Bill had previously been married to Goldie Hawn and is Kate Hudson's father).
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Now: Cindy Williams
After leaving the show, Cindy, now 61, guest starred on several TV shows and made a few movies. She also helped produce the "Father of the Bride" films with husband Bill (the two divorced in 2000). She currently lives in LA with her family and is slated to appear in the film "Timberwolf," currently in pre-production.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009

World’s Biggest Pair Of Jeans


Peruvian seamstresses hoping to snag a Guinness World Record for sewing the largest pair of blue jeans.
Workers laid the pair on the ground and put big balloons inside the legs to show off the size of the jeans, which are 141 feet (43 m) tall and 98 feet (30 m) wide.
They are hoping to break the current record. The current record is held by the city of Medellin in Columbia. That pair was 114 feet tall and 82 feet wide.
They have pockets, red buttons and a brown belt.
After the event, the pants will be cut to make backpacks for area school children.
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One Trillion Dollars Visualized from www.mint.com

It’s official, trillion is the new billion. No longer is government spending talked about in terms of a mere ten digits. With the recent flurry of government spending, we are going to need another three zeros to make sense of it all. One trillion dollars is a number that few people can comprehend, let alone your standard nine digit calculator. So what does one trillion dollars look like?
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A trillion dollars as the new billion?! That’s just crazy. I can never comprehend a trillion dollars, let alone know what to do with it if I ever have one. Hmmnn…
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Stimulus Checks Mistakenly Sent to 1,700 Inmates

The inspector general's office for the Social Security Administration is looking into the problem as part of its broader audit on stimulus spending. The Social Security Administration acknowledged the $425,000 glitch following a report that nearly two-dozen inmates in Massachusetts had wrongly received the $250 stimulus checks.
A total of 3,900 inmates not receiving benefits were sent a stimulus check and that of those, 2,200 were due the payment because they were out of prison late last year. The other 1,700 were mistakenly sent the checks.
The number was "relatively small" given the fact that 52 million total payments were made, and that most of the mistaken payments have been returned by the correctional institutions. He did not provide specifics for how much of the $425,000 had been returned.
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009

I 'Yabba Dabba Do'

Richard and Jill Noble (Barney and Betty Rubble)
Andrea and Simon Bean (Wilma and Fred Flinstone).
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It started with a tipsy joke, but ended with a full-blown Bedrock wedding as the perfect way to lay the foundations of a new life together.
For their special day, two Norfolk couples decided to turn to the Stone Age for inspiration and recreated the children's cartoon show The Flintstones by dressing up its main characters.
Andrea and Simon Bean, aka Fred and Wilma Flinstone, and Richard and Jill Noble, aka Barney and Betty Rubble, celebrated their double wedding at Weston Park Golf Club on Saturday by taking a quick trip to the next door dinosaur park for some spectacular wedding photographs sure to raise eyebrows on any mantelpiece.
With 165 guests dressed as cavemen and women, two best men dressed as dinosaurs, and a spectacular tiered wedding rock cake, both Wilma and Betty entered the ceremony to the traditional organ sound of Wagner's Bridal March.
However, this was quickly replaced by an organ version of The Flintstones theme tune.Mrs Bean, nee Thurston, who lives in Grange Close, Hoveton, said: "It was a fantastic day and all the guests made such an effort."We had so much fun and the registrars were absolutely brilliant.
 
The guests at the wedding.

"We've all been married before so we didn't want the traditional white wedding." The couples are close, as the new Mrs Noble, of Starston in South Norfolk, is Mr Bean's sister, and the idea was borne out of a fun stay at Alton Towers theme park, when they joked about Mr Noble laughing like Barney Rubble and ended up calling each other by the names of the four main characters.
Mrs Bean, 36, said: "We have been criticized by some people as not taking the wedding seriously, but we did take our vows very seriously."
Some people out there don't agree with it, but a lot of people enjoyed it and agreed with what we decided we wanted to do."The couple's outfits were made by Future Couture and the ladies' hair done by Chinelo's Hair Studio, both in Magdalen Street.
Instead of wedding presents, the couples asked guests to donate money to the Children's Liver Disease Foundation and raised more than £1,200 on the day.
Mrs Bean, who works for her new husband's stainless steel products company Greasebusters, said: "My son wouldn't be here today if somebody hadn't donated their liver to him, so I'm always urging people to sign up for organ donation too."
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There I Fixed It

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A case of mistaken amenity

A British tourist has spent a night trapped in a French town hall after mistakenly thinking she could book a room at the "hotel de ville". The hapless female visitor arrived in the Alsace town of Dannemarie on Friday and tried to find a bed for the night. Spotting the impressive-looking "hotel de ville", the tourist popped in to use the toilet before trying to check in. But as she was in the convenience, officials finished a meeting, left the town hall and locked its door. The solitary traveler, said to be in her 30s, ended up with the inconvenience of spending the night on chairs in the building's lobby.
The woman tried calling for help and switching the town hall lights on and off to attract attention, Dannemarie's mayor, Paul Mumbach said. But her plight went unnoticed until Saturday morning when a passer-by noticed a message she posted on the inside of one of the building's glass doors. "The note said 'Je suis fermer ici. Est ce possible moi la porte ouvrir?' (I am to close here. Is it possible me the door to open?)" said Mr Mumbach. "The woman did not speak very much French, but she did make it clear that the next night she would find a proper hotel to sleep in," he said. Dannemarie is a small town of some 2,500 people near the Swiss and German borders, but the nearest open hotel is in the neighboring town, said the mayor.
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Stairway to Heaven on a Harp

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

'Pay €10 and then you will get your lost purse back.'

A young girl who lost her purse on a Ryanair flight, was shocked when she was forced to pay €10 for its return.
Emma Lally, nine, misplaced her purse while buying presents on a flight home to Dublin from Spain.
Although her father Sean Lally was able to track down the purse after a series of phone calls to Dublin Airport, Emma was left in tears after being told she must pay €10 (£8.50) to reclaim it.
Ryanair uses lost property provider Greencap, which charges a €10 administrative fee.
Dublin Airport Authority charges €6 to reclaim lost items.
Mr Lally was grateful that Ryanair staff had handed in his daughter's purse but is still fuming over the charge, particularly when it involved a child.
'I was a bit annoyed that I had to pay back money for something that was ours,' Mr Lally told the Belfast Telegraph.
'I was delighted to get it back, but she's only a child.'
Emma had written her personal details inside the purse, which contained €42 in cash which she had saved from her holiday spending money.
Mr Lally said: 'Her name and address were written inside the purse in a child's handwriting. It was very obvious that it was a child's purse. She's a good kid and she went away and had a little think about it, and came to me and said she wanted to give me the money. 'Emma was delighted to get it back but she couldn't believe that she had to pay the money. I don't see why it can't be given back without a charge.'
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Ground Squirrels tease a Cape Cobra

Fast moving ground squirrels use their fluffy tails as a sun screen in the desert heat and, when a Cape Cobra makes an unwelcome appearance, their tails double up as a weapon to torment the snake into submission.
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B.O. Offends

Thorpe Park is banning visitors from putting their hands in the air while riding its roller coasters following complaints about body odor.
The new rule will apply at the theme park in Chertsey, Surrey, from Wednesday and signs will tell visitors to keep their arms down and 'Say no to BO'.
With temperatures expected to reach 84F (29C), managers expect an excess of perspiration as visitors queue to go on rides.
Wardens on the rides will also remind people to consider their fellow passengers and anyone ignoring the warnings will be escorted off. Those who continue to do so will be asked to leave the park.
Mike Vallis, a director at Thorpe Park, said: "We've found that when the temperature tops 77F (25C) the level of unpleasant smells can become unacceptable and we do receive complaints.
"Our rides are really scary and people tend to sweat more than normal due to the fear and anticipation they experience while queuing up so it can get really pongy. Therefore, we felt a ban in temperatures of 25C plus would be the best way to ensure our guests have the most enjoyable experience and aren't exposed to any unsavory armpits."
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Feed the Seagulls and get fined £2,500!

New signs put up in the popular seaside resort warn people that they could be slapped with a £2,500 fine if they feed the gulls.
City leaders say the move has been introduced to combat the nuisance caused by the big birds which hungrily scavenge for leftover food given any opportunity.
Jimmy Robinson, chair of the town appearance committee of Aldeburgh Town Council, and the former mayor, said: "People complain very bitterly about the seagulls and the more people feed them, the more they come."
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Bed Sheet Cat

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A day and life on a farm

Footage has emerged of a hen adopting a bunch of ducklings and a dog caring for a piglet
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Monday, August 17, 2009

Funny Animals





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Girl's miracle escape

An 11-year-old girl had an incredible escape after she leapt out of a moving car seconds before it plunged over a 250ft cliff.
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Paige Dean, 11, had been listening to music in her grandfather's parked car when she accidentally knocked off the hand brake, reports the Daily Mail.
She tried to steer the vehicle and put the brake on but as it picked up speed over 200 yards and she threw herself out as it careered towards the precipice at a campsite at Benllech in Anglesey.
Paige, of Kinmel Bay, near Rhyl, said: "I was listening to music on my mobile phone when I dropped it. As I reached over to get it I accidentally knocked the hand brake off.
"I was rolling towards the edge of the cliff and I was petrified. I thought: "I've got to get out". I was shouting: "Help me granddad"."
Paige managed to manoeuver the car around one tent but ploughed into two other empty ones before hitting some gorse bushes.
She said: "In the end I decided to jump out and let the car go. I'm so glad I did. I saw the car fall off the cliff. I definitely would have died."
Witnesses estimate the car was doing around 30mph when it plunged 250ft into the sea. Grandfather Billy Dean, 63, had parked the Citroen C4 on a grassy slope.
He was horrified when he saw the vehicle go over the edge because he thought Paige was still inside, and that her younger brother Cameron, seven, was in the car with her.
Billy Dean said: "It was a nightmare. The car will have to be hauled out of the sea and I don't know what the insurers will say. But all I'm bothered about is that Paige is all right."
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DIY Confetti

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10 reasons to still live in Florida during hurricane season

We're weary of hurricane news and the season is a long way from over.
Got us thinking, why are we still living here???
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Because....
1. We now own a generator, hurricane shutters, mountains of batteries, crates of SpaghettiO's and an ocean of bottled water. And we’re not leaving until we use everything.
2. We’re trying to win back all the money we’ve lost at Hard Rock.
3. We’re underwater on our house, even without a storm surge.
4. We love the look of "tarpaulin blue" that bloomed on rooftops after Frances and Jeanne in 2004.
5. We get to experience another no-Super Bowl Miami Dolphins season.
6. We want to bond with neighbors we haven’t talked to since Wilma in 2005.
7. Iowa doesn’t have an ocean.
8. California has earthquakes.
9. We know we’ll never die of boredom.
10. The cabin in North Carolina isn’t finished.
Please tell us, why are you still here?
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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Toothbrush sets off heart monitor

A hospital resuscitation team was given a shock after responding to a heart attack call only to find an electric toothbrush had set off the alarm. Leonard Stannett, 76, from Somerton, a patient in the cardiac ward at Yeovil District Hospital, Somerset, was hooked up to a heart monitor at the time. Mr Stannett said he heard a knock at his door and opened it to find the crash team ready for action. The team checked he was fine and he thanked them for their professionalism. Mr Stannett had been taken into hospital on 21 July after suffering from chest pains for two days. He was seen by the accident and emergency team, given a bed on the cardiac ward and fitted with a heart monitor.
"I was brushing my teeth when there was a banging on my door and there were all these nurses with jump leads ready," said Mr Stannett. "I stood there with foam around my mouth and said 'god, they think I'm having a heart attack or a fit'. "As soon as I said 'I'm brushing my teeth' you could see the change in the people's expressions, just sheer relief followed by raucous laughter. I want to thank the staff at Yeovil for their absolute professionalism and their dedication," he added. The nurses told Mr Stannett the toothbrush had sent a signal from his heart monitor to the coronary care unit monitor which had gone "off the screen".
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Pigeons Have Talent


Three pigeons help each other cool off on a hot day - by pressing down the tap on a water fountain.
Passers-by watched in amazement as they took turns to sit on the lever while the other two supped in Brisbane, Australia.
An onlooker said: "They were clearly birds of a feather."

Friday, August 14, 2009

Spidercat

Cat that climbs up the wall to get her sting that is tossed up there.
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Bear On A Mission!

A mission to find food as he searches through the neighborhood's rubbish before taking a dip in one family's swimming pool!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Duck gets shoe support from cobbler

LUCKY by name, lucky by nature for this young duckling.
When the month-old bird fractured her leg, owner Allison Morgan was told by vets her only option was to have Lucky put to sleep.
But Mrs Morgan, 44, refused to give up on the muscovy duck and set about finding a way to get Lucky back on her feet - with the help of a specially made shoe.
Although the break in Lucky’s leg healed, her foot was pointing in the wrong direction, making it very difficult for her to walk.
So Mrs Morgan, an orthopaedic nurse from Lliswerry, enlisted local cobbler Kelvin Reddicliffe at the Newport branch of Timpsons Ltd to fit Lucky with a "roman sandal" to keep her on the straight and narrow.
The sandal, which has been made in three sizes to support Lucky as she grows, protects her foot and takes the pressure off her webbed feet as she walks around the garden with fellow feathered friends Daisy and Kizzy.
Mrs Morgan took measurements of the duck's foot for the cobbler, who made the sandals out of rubber resin.
Mr Reddicliffe said he was only too happy to help despite never making shoes for an animal in 39 years as a cobbler.
He said: "I have total admiration for Mrs Morgan for not listening to the vet and sticking by what she believed in."
Mrs Morgan, who has also been giving Lucky regular "physio" sessions, said: "When she’s out and about in the garden she’s not walking like a normal duck, but with the shoe that Kelvin has made she able to move much better."
The only time Lucky has to go barefoot is when she goes for a swim because the light rubber sandal causes her leg to float.
A new vet has now been found who is willing to operate on Lucky’s leg, with pins set to be inserted into her thigh as soon as she is feeling well enough.
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Desperate Dog Owners Take Over Billboard

Rare Lowchen has been missing for four months
Janis and Bob McCormick are not giving up a four month effort to find their beloved dog named Zak.
Zak hasn't been seen since April 15. That's when the McCormick's say someone took the small white dog out of the front yard of their Saratoga home.
They've offered rewards, posted fliers, hired pet detectives and a psychic, but still no sign of Zak.
Now they have taken over a large billboard on Alum Rock Avenue begging for the dogs return and offering a $3,000 reward. The billboard will be up until the end of the week.
They are also plastering Zak's picture on the back of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority buses. The fliers will there for a month at a cost of $300 per bus.
Zak is an 11-year-old rare Lowchen and has a brother back home in Saratoga.
The McCormicks say the only requirement to get the reward is to have the dog scanned at a shelter or vet's office to verify it really is Zak.
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In the News....

Teacher Gets a $22G Fine for Personal Call in Class
The attorney for a New Jersey teacher says she won't appeal a $22,000 fine for making a four-minute personal call during class.
The attorney says Asbury Park High School teacher Desley Getty admits she made a mistake.
The 120-day salary forfeiture is based on calendar days and will be deducted from a base salary of about $70,000. That's less than a previous estimate of nearly $50,000.
Court records show the veteran performing arts teacher was covering for another teacher in 2008 when she made the cell-phone call to suspended superintendent Antonio Lewis.
A student recorded two other students dancing while the teacher was on the phone and posted it on YouTube.
The district bans teachers from making personal calls while performing assigned duties.
Asbury Park High School is a four-year public high school headquartered in Asbury Park, N.J.
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Best Buys 52-inch TV for $9.99 Was Too Good to Be True
Few if any of the deals retailers have offered online during the recession have been as good as Best Buy Inc.'s sale price of $9.99 on a 52-inch TV Wednesday. But it quickly turned out the offer was too good to be true.
The electronics retailer said it will not honor the $9.99 price posted Wednesday morning on its Web site for a 52-inch Samsung flat-screen TV. By early afternoon, the TV was listed at $1,799.99, almost half off the original $3,399.99 price.
Bloggers and Twitterers lit up the Internet with posts about the offer, some insisting Best Buy must honor it, others making jokes.
Best Buy, based in Richfield, Minn., said it has corrected an online pricing error and will not honor the incorrect price. Orders made Wednesday morning at the incorrect price will be canceled and customers will receive refunds, the company said.
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Chevy Volt to Get 230 MPG Rating


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General Motors said Tuesday its Chevrolet Volt electric car could get 230 mpg in city driving, making it the first American vehicle to achieve triple-digit fuel economy if that figure is confirmed by federal regulators.
But when the four-door family sedan hits showrooms late next year, its efficiency will come with a steep sticker price: $40,000.
Still, the Volt's fuel efficiency in the city would be four times more than the popular Toyota Prius hybrid, the most efficient car now sold in the U.S.
Most automakers are working on similar designs, but GM would offer the first mainstream plug-in with the Volt, which seats four and was introduced at the 2007 Detroit auto show.
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India's floating mart a big hit

In the sylvan backwaters of India's southern state of Kerala, a floating supermarket is making waves.
Touted as the first of its kind in India, the Floating Triveni calls at various ports, stacked with some 2,000 items of groceries and provisions.
Among its cargo are rice, grains and cereals, and stationery and toiletries.
More than a million people are in the path of the floating mart which is a big hit with the customers.
As the nearly flat boat buzzes along the extensive network of Kerala's waterways, villagers jostle among themselves to be the first on board.
It can accommodate 20 customers plus eight crew members at any given time.
The vessel sets off every morning at 8am and replenishments are done during the night halt.
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Typhoon blows bath tub on to power cables

Electricity had to be cut off after 75mph winds from Typhoon Morakot blew a bath tub onto 40ft high power cables in China.
The bath tub ended up resting on high voltage cables over a road in Longgang town, Wenzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, reports People's Daily.
It is believed the bath tub was being thrown out by a nearby hotel and had been left on a balcony where the wind picked it up.
Emergency workers equipped with a cherry picker managed to untangle the bath tub from the powerlines and lower it safely to the ground after electricity workers temporarily turned off the grid.
"It was amazing it managed to land on the cables without snapping them," said one worker.
More than a million people were evacuated from their homes as Typhoon Morakot swept through China claiming at least six lives.
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Cross-eyed


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Another Frozen Dinner

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