Sky-writer proposal

A lucky woman named Sally would have had the surprise of her life when she looked skyward this morning.
The words "Marry me Sally" were written above Sydney’s inner west around 10am, much to the delight of thousands of people and hopefully Sally.
The original – and expensive – proposal had a slight glitch when the sky-writer missed the "e" on the end of "me".
But a quick turnaround saw the missing letter added on at the end, completing the big question.
Sally’s partner picked the perfect day to pop the question – the first day of clear sky in several weeks.
.

Woman’s $1,600 water bill is correct

A Minneapolis woman has received a $1,600 water bill, a bill the city believes is accurate even though it's 20 times the woman's usual bill. Erica Kocur said her bill is generally $70 to $80 per month. She said her "heart just dropped" when she got her latest bill. The city said she must have a running toilet or dripping faucet.
But they billed her for using almost 200,000 gallons of water. That's three times the volume of her entire home. A shower would have to run nonstop for almost two months to use that much water.
The city's director of treasury is LeeAnn Stagg. She said the city believes the bill is accurate, but the city will check Kocur's meter one more time.
.

Weightlifting ant is photo winner

An amazing image of an ant lifting 100 times its body weight has won first prize in a science photography contest.
The image shows an Asian weaver ant hanging upside down on a glass-like surface and holding a 500mg (0.02oz) weight in its jaws.
It was taken by zoology specialist Dr Thomas Endlein of Cambridge University as he researched insects' sticky feet.
Dr Endlein won £700 in photographic vouchers from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
The research shows how ants change the size and shape of the pads on their feet to enable them to carry heavier loads.
He hopes it could help scientists develop better glues.
"The pads on ants' feet are self-cleaning and can stick to almost any type of surface," he said.
"No man-made glue or adhesive system can match this. Understanding how animals can control their adhesive systems should help us come up with clever adhesives in the future."
.

The 30 most important cats of 2009

.

On 81st birthday, man gives company to employees

Bob Moore, standing in his retail store, had his 81st birthday this week and celebrated by transferring his business to his workers. His successful whole-grain production business mills grains, operates a retail store and restaurant, and ships products internationally.
He's turned down almost daily offers to buy the multi-million dollar company saying, "These people are far too good at their jobs for me to just sell it."

.

Tiny Courts Abuses - Law and Power

Some of the courtrooms are not even courtrooms: tiny offices or basement rooms without a judge’s bench or jury box. Sometimes the public is not admitted, witnesses are not sworn to tell the truth, and there is no word-for-word record of the proceedings.
Nearly three-quarters of the judges are not lawyers, and many — truck drivers, sewer workers or laborers — have scant grasp of the most basic legal principles. Some never got through high school, and at least one went no further than grade school.
But serious things happen in these little rooms all over New York State. People have been sent to jail without a guilty plea or a trial, or tossed from their homes without a proper proceeding. In violation of the law, defendants have been refused lawyers, or sentenced to weeks in jail because they cannot pay a fine. Frightened women have been denied protection from abuse.

.

Help Me

When a mixed breed pit bull terrier walked into a busy supermarket, animal welfare officers, called in by staff, were shocked to find it had a stillborn puppy trapped inside.
The staff at Scotts Supermarket, in Naxxar called the Animal Welfare Department on Saturday afternoon to report that a stray dog had walked into the supermarket, welfare officer Godric Marston said.
The dog, named Mel after the girl who called for help, lay down on a carpet in the supermarket and remained still.
"On arriving at the supermarket, I realized there was something unusual about the dog. On closer look, I could see a part of the puppy. It was dead but still inside her. It was clear this dog needed to be operated upon immediately or she would die," Mr. Marston said.
He rushed the dog to Happy Paws, a veterinary clinic, where it was immediately operated on. Recovering after undergoing operation.
.

American - 1 - Greedy Bank - 0

Is this the tipping point? Americans have been taken advantage like no one on earth by greedy Banksters and corporations. Like many of them, a man named Terry Hoskins has had troubles with his bank. But his solution to foreclosure might be somewhat unique.
Hoskins said he's been in a struggle with RiverHills Bank over his Clermont County home for nearly a decade, a struggle that was coming to an end as the bank began foreclosure proceedings on his $350,000 home.
"When I see I owe $160,000 on a home valued at $350,000, and someone decides they want to take it – no, I wasn't going to stand for that, so I took it down," Hoskins said.
Hoskins said the Internal Revenue Service placed liens on his carpet store and commercial property on state Route 125 after his brother, a one-time business partner, sued him.
The bank claimed his home as collateral, Hoskins said, and went after both his residential and commercial properties.
"The average homeowner that can't afford an attorney or can fight as long as we have, they don't stand a chance," he said.
Hoskins said he'd gotten a $170,000 offer from someone to pay off the house, but the bank refused, saying they could get more from selling it in foreclosure.
"I'll tear it down before I let you take it," Hoskins told them.
And that's exactly what Hoskins did.
.

.

Italian landslide caught on video

About 200 residents have been evacuated from their homes after a landslide split a hillside apart in the southern Italian town of Maierato.
The landslide, which caused power failure, could have been caused by heavy rains in the region, initial reports say.
Footage shows residents being urged to leave their houses and "run away" from the huge flow of mud falling from the hillside.
.

.

Quads start work together

Patients of a South Korean hospital could be forgiven for doing a double - or even quadruple - take on these new nurses.
Identical quads Hwang Suel and her three sisters Seol, Sol and Mil have all just started work at the same hospital where they were born 21 years ago.
All four started their training at Gacheon University Gil Hospital in Incheon on the same day.
"I feel like I'm a real nurse since I am wearing this yellow-green gown, and I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of people," said the second-oldest, Seol.
The Hwang sisters created headline news when they were born in Korea 21 years ago, the country's second ever set of identical quadruplets.
Hospital chairman Lee Gil-ya said: "I would like to praise the mother for raising all four girls - such a rare thing in the world - with such good care.
"I look forward to seeing those four women becoming great nurses like Florence Nightingale."
.