From the “truth is stranger than fiction file”:
A 40-year-old Egyptian who checked into a hospital with a complaint that something was moving in his brains actually had seven leeches crawling inside his ears.
The patient was given a local anaesthetic and the leeches, each one measuring 2cm-long, were pulled out.
Read the full story in the Gulf News.
I haven’t forgotten you or this blog, I’ve just been really busy at work. Sadly I don’t get paid to blog 🙁
Pervez Musharraf has declared a state of emergency in Pakistan — is anybody surprised?
The official reason is that he feels the judiciary is interfering with government and Islamic militancy is a threat. However, as AFP notes:
Paramilitary troops and police surrounded the Supreme Court in Islamabad, which had been due in coming days to give a verdict on the legality of military ruler Musharraf’s victory in an October 6 presidential election.
The supreme court ordered the suspension of emergency rule, private television reported, but the government rejected the move.
As his election was, in my eyes, illegal, I am not at all taken aback by his naked bid to cling to power. He will hang on to this for as long as the army — of which he is the head — backs him.
The next Microsoft. Robert Cringely looks at “where Google is screwing up, why, and what they should do about it”.
‘Cool City’ to save 60% of its energy. A Japanese team wants to build an environmentally sound city in the UAE.
VerseDay: The macabre and fantastic in verse. I’ve never linked to poetry before, so get it while it’s going.
How to argue productively. It’s possible, apparently.
Make your own lifesize Jabba the Hutt. Oh come on, who hasn’t wanted this?
And the Super Mario theme, remixed for your hardcore pleasure:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3PeTItQi-8[/youtube]
I hope I’m this active when I turn 70, though preferably outside a prison cell.
From 2000 to 2006, the number of older inmates soared by 160 percent, to 46,637, from 17,942, according to Japan’s National Police Agency. Shoplifting accounted for 54 percent of the total in 2006 and petty theft for 23 percent.
As a result, penitentiaries are struggling to adapt environments designed with the young in mind to a lawbreaking population that is fragile physically and often mentally.
The “hard labour” programmes involve knitting and making envelopes, while the inmates can have a lie down if they feel ill.
A recent Justice Ministry report said that older people were increasingly turning to crime out of poverty and isolation, suggesting a breakdown in traditional family and community ties. With nowhere else to go, more of the older inmates serve out their full sentences, instead of being released on parole like younger prisoners. What is more, recidivism is higher among the older inmates.
Turning to crime out of poverty is not unheard of. During the Great Famine in Ireland, many committed petty crimes in order to be jailed — because there they would be fed regularly (Cork Gaol is my reference here).
Prison life in Japan isn’t so bad, as it’s fairly non-violent. However, criminals are cut loose from their families and so don’t receive visitors. This explains the recidivism rate — it’s a place for human contact as well as a place to stay.
First OS X Trojan spotted — no need to panic just yet.
Greens means compromise. Harry’s in fine form: “As the saying goes, you say tomato, I say total and abject capitulation.”
How to educate yourself online. Sure, we’ve all been wandering the net for years, but now and then it’s good to get a refresher.
Tesco employee suspended over Facebook. He tracked a customer down and sent her naughty pictures.
And you thought you had a bad day… You didn’t get arrested after crashing your car, getting shot and stripping off.
A friend of a friend bombed Bali. That’s one way for a politician’s speech to make the papers.