.Thursday, November 12, 2009
Medals Of Dishonor
FBI: Prodigiously decorated California man never served in militaryNOVEMBER 11--Just in time for Veteran's Day, a California bank employee is facing federal charges for allegedly masquerading as a decorated Marine and wearing a host of bogus medals, including the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and Navy Cross. Steven Burton, 39, is scheduled to surrender tomorrow in U.S. District Court in Riverside, California (Burton, who has never served in the armed forces, was named last week in misdemeanor criminal information charging him with the unauthorized wearing of military medals). According to a search warrant affidavit, Burton's charade was discovered after an actual Navy commander, Colleen Salonga, ran into Burton at their high school reunion. Online records indicate that Salonga and Burton graduated in 1988 from Alhambra High School in Martinez, California (and that their class's 20th reunion was last October). Suspicious that Burton was playing dress up, Salonga asked to take a photo with him. That image was later provided to FBI agents. A subsequent investigation turned up another photo of Burton in uniform as well as blog postings in which he recounted his "combat experience" and tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the real world, Burton is employed at Rabobank in Palm Springs, California.
.
Girl Sneezes Approximately 12,000 Times a Day
It’s that time of year when everyone seems to be coughing and sneezing, but for a 12-year-old girl from Virginia, she can’t sit for more than a few seconds without someone saying "bless you."It’s so bad, on a regular day Lauren Johnson can sneeze more than 12,000 times a day.
"I can't stop sneezing. It goes off about eight to nine times a minute," Lauren said.
The condition, described as "machine gun sneezing," started about two weeks ago when the sixth-grader caught a cold and ever since then she’s been miserable.
"I know this is terrible for her," Lauren’s mom, Lynn Johnson said.
Lauren hasn’t been able to go to school and has visited six different doctors since the non-stop sneezing began. Although there’s no clear diagnosis, one neurologist told the family Lauren’s condition could be "irretraceable psychogenic disorder," which could be triggered by stress, according to the report.
"There's less than 40 cases ever documented ever in the entire world," Johnson said. "Nobody really knows how to treat it, what's going to work, and even in the cases where it might have worked or turned the sneezing off for awhile, a lot of times it comes back again and then you're right back to where you started," she added.
However, there are a few hours when Lauren does not sneeze."It turns off when she sleeps," her mom said. "Only in a deep REM sleep it turns off."
However, there are a few hours when Lauren does not sneeze."It turns off when she sleeps," her mom said. "Only in a deep REM sleep it turns off."
.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Funny Animals
Stunt Hamster Hammy
.
.
Hamster runs Dog Agility Coarse!
The obstacle course consists of 5 hurdles, a see-saw, an up-down weave, a hoop and a collapsed tunnel. Watch as this hamster go through the whole course.
Hamster runs Dog Agility Coarse!
The obstacle course consists of 5 hurdles, a see-saw, an up-down weave, a hoop and a collapsed tunnel. Watch as this hamster go through the whole course.
.
34 years ago yesterday...The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Edmund Fitzgerald, a 729 foot ore carrier, which apparently broke apart and sunk last night on Lake Superior. The ship and its 29-man crew vanished in a storm with 80 mile-an-hour winds and wave heights up to 25 feet. All that has been found is an oil slick and some debris.
.
.
.
Lyrics:
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called "Gitche Gumee"
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
that big ship and true was a bone to be chewed
when the Gales of November came early
The ship was the pride of the American side
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and good captain well seasoned,
concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
when they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang,
could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
and a wave broke over the railing
And ev'ry man knew, as the captain did too
'twas the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
when the Gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
in the face of a hurricane west wind
When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin'
"Fellas, it's too rough t'feed ya"
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
"Fellas, it's bin good t'know ya!"
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
and the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when 'is lights went outta sight
came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
if they'd put fifteen more miles behind 'er
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
they may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
of the wives and the sons and the daughters
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams;
the islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
takes in what Lake Erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
with the Gales of November remembered
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call "Gitche Gumee"
"Superior," they said, "never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early"
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called "Gitche Gumee"
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
that big ship and true was a bone to be chewed
when the Gales of November came early
The ship was the pride of the American side
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and good captain well seasoned,
concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
when they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang,
could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
and a wave broke over the railing
And ev'ry man knew, as the captain did too
'twas the witch of November come stealin'
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
when the Gales of November came slashin'
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
in the face of a hurricane west wind
When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin'
"Fellas, it's too rough t'feed ya"
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
"Fellas, it's bin good t'know ya!"
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
and the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when 'is lights went outta sight
came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
if they'd put fifteen more miles behind 'er
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
they may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
of the wives and the sons and the daughters
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams;
the islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below Lake Ontario
takes in what Lake Erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
with the Gales of November remembered
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call "Gitche Gumee"
"Superior," they said, "never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early"
.
Student suspended for shaved head
The mother of a 15-year-old girl suspended from school for shaving her head to raise money for cancer charities says her leukemia-stricken husband is proud of her actions.Emily Pridham was sent home from Mount Alvernia College yesterday and will not be allowed back until her hair grows back after she shaved it off as part of a cancer research fundraiser on Saturday.
The Catholic girls' school has cited its dress code policy for the temporary ban.
She told ABC radio her daughter had made the decision to part with her locks as a way to cope with her father's battle with leukemia.
"I understand that school rules have to be abided by. However, I've gone through the school rules and the uniform policy and nowhere does it say that a girl cannot shave her head," Ms Pridham said.
"At no stage did [the school] contact me or tell me. At no stage did I think I needed their permission for Emily to do this.
A Facebook group supporting Emily's decision to shave her head has appeared, with members calling the school's decision a 'joke' and an 'absolute disgrace'.
Emily's mother said her daughter had struggled with her father's diagnosis and saw the fundraiser as a way to deal with it.
"Ten months ago he was given six months to live and we had to explain all of this to Emily," she said.
"I didn't want her to do it. She had beautiful, long blonde hair halfway down her back and I told her she might regret it because she can't just stick it back on ... but she's just been so determined to do it."
The school has defended its actions to enforce uniform guidelines and has said other, "ongoing issues" were behind the suspension.
But Ms Pridham said the only trouble her daughter had been involved in included a warning over nail polish after the school formal two weeks ago and her use of a rude word in the presence of a teacher.
She said her husband, who has undergone a bone marrow transplant, was supportive of Emily's decision to go bald.
"He is very proud of her as everybody that knows her is," Ms Pridham said.
"He is very angry and worried about the rest of her academic year."
Ms Pridham said she had been in contact with the school about the suspension order.
.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Woman diagnosed with fear of vegetables
Vicki Larrieux, a 22-year-old student from Portsmouth, claims she is unable to keep to a healthy diet because she is frightened of vegetables.She suffers from a fear known as lachanophobia, which leaves her sweating and stricken with panic attacks at the merest sight of a sprout or a pea.
Miss Larrieux survives on a diet of meat, potatoes, cereals and an occasional apple but refuses even a single slice of carrot on her dinner plate.
"I have always had an irrational fear of vegetables even as a child I used to properly freak out if some carrots or a few peas were on my plate," she said.
"But as it continued into adult life I started to think it might not just be a dislike for vegetables but an actual phobia.
"Every time I would see vegetables not just on my plate, but anywhere I would get feelings of panic, start sweating and my heart rate would shoot up.
"People might think it is a bit of a laughable affliction but I have a genuine fear of greens it's not just that I dislike the taste of sprouts or broccoli, but the actual sight of them fills me with dread and I could never touch them."
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
