Brentwood International - news

Mexican "Stick" Up

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:50:23 -0600

A blonde, a black miniskirt, and crazy glue...
A driver in Mexico got himself into a sticky situation when he pulled over to help a woman whose pickup appeared to be broken down by the highway.Anadel Carrizales was driving Wednesday near the northern city of Monterrey when a blond woman in a black miniskirt motioned for him to pull over. Once he had stopped, the woman walked up and told him an accomplice was pointing a gun at him, said David Perales, a spokesman for state investigators. She then tied him up with packing tape, super-glued his hands to the steering wheel of his truck and demanded money.

Carrizales didn't have any cash, but the woman took his credit cards and fled. "He probably thought it was his lucky day when he saw the woman in the miniskirt, but was surprised when she tied him up," Perales said. With his motor still running and his hands still glued to the wheel, Carrizales managed to drive a few miles (kilometers) down the road until he found a police officer to help him.

Emergency officials freed his hands with a saline solution. "There are some contradictions in his story about how he ended up stopped alongside the road, but the robbery and being glued to the steering wheel are indisputable," Perales said.

Japanese man makes Mexico airport home

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:55:00 -0600

Hiroshi Nohara is on a layover at the Mexico City airport. It has lasted almost three months, and he has no plans to leave. For reasons he can't explain, the Japanese man has been in Terminal 1 of the Benito Juarez International Airport since Sept. 2, surviving off donations from fast-food restaurants and passengers and sleeping in a chair. At first, he frightened passengers, and airport authorities asked the Japanese Embassy to investigate why the foul-smelling man refused to leave. Now, he's somewhat of a celebrity, capturing Mexico's collective imagination with nearly daily television news reports on his life at the food court.

Tourists stop to pose with him for photographs or get an autograph. The embassy can't force him to leave, and since Nohara's visa is valid all Mexican officials can do it wait for it to expire in early March. During his stay, Nohara's wiry goatee has grown into a scraggly mass. His red-tinted hair is speckled with dust and dandruff, and his cream-colored jacket and fleece blanket are dingy with overuse. He smells like he hasn't had a shower in months.

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Man gets reimbursed for money eaten by mice

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:31:54 -0600

When a customer of First Missouri State Bank recovered a zip-top bag of cash he'd misplaced during the ice storm last winter and the flooding in March, he got an unpleasant surprise. The vinyl bag had been left in a wooden desk, unzipped, and he told Michelle Johns, manager of the Jackson branch, that it had been damaged by rodents. He brought in the bag in August to see if anything could be done. When she and employees Cristal McCoy, Wendy Aufdenberg and Jamie Koch dumped out the contents of the bag on the bank's long counter, most of the bills were mutilated beyond recognition and littered with bird feathers and rodent feces.Federal policy dictates that both serial numbers, in the top right corner and the bottom left, are needed to get credit for the entire amount of the bill, so the employees set about the task of piecing together the shredded cash.The four women pieced together as many serial numbers as they could and came up with $1,000 — the amount the customer believed he'd had in the bag. The federal mint requested all of the contents of the bag the money had been in, so everything — the torn money, feces and feathers — were shipped to the mint, where it can be examined, Johns said.

The mint will then issue the customer a check for the exact amount the torn money is worth. Occasionally a bank customer will come in with half a bill they found or accidentally ripped to see if it can be redeemed, Johns said, but she's never seen anything like the bag of mouse-eaten money.

Mother gets her 13-year-old to behave by giving her cigarettes!

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:02:54 -0500

Teenager Sam Holt's behaviour would leave most parents in despair - drinking, smoking, taking drugs and having sex.
But the 13-year-old's mother thinks it is 'sweet' rather than shocking. Tracy Holt even rewards her daughter with cigarettes on the rare occasions when she does behave. Miss Holt, 43, knows Sam drinks but is just relieved that it's not more than a couple of cans of lager a night.And she decided not to get angry about her daughter losing her virginity at 12, instead insisting that Sam uses contraception. Miss Holt, a jobless single mother with two other adult children, told Closer magazine: 'I don't see the point in punishing her.
'If I ground her, I'm just punishing myself because I have to put up with her in the house. Instead, I reward her good behaviour by giving her cigarettes. If she's bad, she goes without.

'She's a little comedian. I let her get away with a lot of cheek. It's sweet.' Giving out cigarettes as a reward 'works', she insisted.

Miss Holt said: 'There are a lot worse things she could be doing. 'We've all got to die sometime. I haven't got cancer from smoking so she'll probably be all right anyway.'

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Crossing the 112 mile-wide Taiwan Straits in a paper boat.

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:44:09 -0500

Zhu Yalin, a chemistry teacher in Meishan, Sichuan province, has arrived in Xiamen to build his boat.

"Not only is the whole boat made of paper, but the glue is an organic material - cooked flour soup," he told the Straits Guidance Daily.
Zhu says his boat will be nearly 6ft long, the bottom will be 2ins thick and it will be strong enough to carry two people. He plans a short test voyage in salt water before attempting his journey across the Taiwan Straits."According to my observations and experience, the conditions in the Taiwan straits are much better than the Mingjiang River. I am really looking forward to it," he said. Zhu will set sail in his paper boat on October 31, escorted by a lifeboat and a pilot boat.

Rockin' the boat

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:38:48 -0500

How a musician strummed through Sydney Harbour in his floating guitar!
Singer-songwriter Josh Pyke might have considered playing an upbeat version of Handel's Water Music as he sailed across Sydney Harbour - but he was too busy keeping his floating guitar under control. Tourists stared in amazement as Josh steered the large guitar, complete with outboard motor, around the harbour, creating one of the strangest sights since the arrival of the First Fleet from England back in 1788.Josh's voyage on board the SS Maton - named after Australian guitar manufacturer Maton, who designed the curious vessel - was caught on film for the video that will be coming out with his new single Make You Happy.

It is a giant-sized replica of the acoustic instrument Josh uses in the video. Dressed in ancient mariner's clothes, Josh, a maritime history fan, did not even get his feet wet as he cruised among the yachts and the ferries crossing the harbour.

Once filming has been finished Josh plans to auction the boat for charity.

Could you pass the new citizenship test?

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:09:00 -0500

Are new conceptual questions such as, "What does the Constitution do?" more difficult than old queries like "What is the Constitution?"

Is a question with a range of acceptable answers, such as the new "What is one reason colonists came to America?" preferable to the old "Why did the Pilgrims come to America?"Many preferred the new test, which the government says includes more meaningful questions, such as those that involve a concept of, or critical thinking about, civics or history.

The new civics list, a pool of 100 possible questions for a test of up to 10, omits the old "How many stars are there on our flag?" and "Name the amendments that guarantee or address voting rights." Taking their place are questions like: "There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them," and "What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?"

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Cat has earned Japanese city millions

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:41:38 -0500

As the economic might of Japan faces up to the global banking crisis, a single cat has boosted the finances of a small Japanese city by millions of dollars, according to a study.It is rather Tama's irresistible charm which has brought tourists flocking in their thousands to the western city of Kinokawa to see the feline worker patrolling in the uniform of her office - a Wakayama Electric Railway cap.With 55,000 more people having used the Kishigawa Line than would normally be expected, Tama's contribution to the local economy is calculated to have reached as much as Y1.1 billion ($A13.5 million) in 2007 alone, according to a study announced last week.
Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a professor at Kansai University's School of Accountancy, said picture books and other merchandise featuring the feline stationmaster also produced significant economic effects.

A television appearance and other publicity surrounding Tama - who receives cat food in lieu of a salary - was worth Y280 million ($A3.4 million), according to Miyamoto. Tama was born from a stray cat brought to the station by a cleaner and kept by Toshiko Koyama, a local who runs a grocery store next door. The station went unmanned in April 2006 as the line was losing money. But Tama turned this around.

She rose to national stardom in January 2007 as the railway company formally appointed her as "stationmaster".

City bylaws torpedo pirate ship tree house

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:55:52 -0500

he front yard of a house in a tony Vancouver, British Columbia neighborhood is a little less welcoming for pirates now.

Architect Andrew Dewberry and a crew of friends spent Saturday dismantling the pirate ship tree house he's had in his Vancouver yard for two years. He said he had no choice after a court ordered it to be removed for not complying with city bylaws.Dewberry had to explain the situation to his sons Jack, 9, and Sam, 7, before the tree house came down. He said, "They've had a lot of joy with the tree fort."

Jack, who stood with a friend and watched the dismantling, said, "We wanted to sleep in it over the summer one time, but we didn't get around to it and now we can't."

In July, the judge in the case admired the workmanship of the ship, complete with plastic cannons, in a perch 6{ feet up a large, leafy tree in front of the family's home. But the judge said its merits were irrelevant to whether the tree house violated city bylaws.

'YouTube' gunman

noreply@ (BRENTWOOD INTERNATIONAL BLOG) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:12:44 -0500

'YouTube' gunman kills ten students after being set free by police to go on school rampage.

* Shooter was questioned by police on Monday, but released
* School was on fire and gunman may have had explosives
* Gunman dies in hospital
A gunman killed ten students in an exam hall on Tuesday after posting a video on the internet in which he turned to the camera and declared: 'You will die next.'

Matti Saari, a 22-year-old pupil at the college, filmed himself making the threats on a firing range and uploaded footage on to the videosharing website YouTube. Police worried about the video questioned him on Monday but took no action because he had the appropriate gun licence. Just 24 hours later, Saari entered the hall in Finland with an automatic weapon and explosive devices which were used to start a fire.

He killed ten, burning some of the bodies beyond recognition. Two others were injured. He then turned the gun on himself.

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