Early release from jail in the US used to be obtained either by impressing a parole officer with good behaviour or digging a hole, following the example of Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz.
Now there may be a third option: donating a body part.
A state senate panel in South Carolina has created an organ-and-tissue donation programme for inmates and called in lawyers to discuss a more radical proposal that would reduce the sentence of prisoners that are willing to give up their kidneys to transplant patients.
It has been suggested that a kidney donation could wipe up to six months off a jail sentence. Similar incentives could be given in return for bone marrow or parts of the pancreas, lung, liver or intestine. The US faces a chronic organ shortage, with 95,300 patients waiting for organ transplants and 6,700 dying each year as a result of not receiving them in time.
Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Industry magazine The Bookseller has opened voting for the oddest book title of the year, some of which suggest that nothing is stranger than non-fiction.
Readers of the magazine's website www.thebookseller.com are being invited to vote on a shortlist of six non-fiction books in its annual Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year.
The nominations are made by publishers, booksellers and librarians from around the world.
The nominees are:
Readers of the magazine's website www.thebookseller.com are being invited to vote on a shortlist of six non-fiction books in its annual Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year.
The nominations are made by publishers, booksellers and librarians from around the world.
The nominees are:
We found this little piece of writing on The Register and thought we would share it with all the faithful Sitizens1 pouring through our doors. We are pretty sure a FOX special "When bureaucratic net-nerds attack" is soon to be featured as the death nell for the charismatic Wikicult™ leader Jimmy "Jimbo™" Wales.
KOLKATA, India - When dozens of chickens went missing from a remote West Bengal village, everyone blamed the neighborhood dogs.
But Ajit Ghosh, the owner of the missing chickens, eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow -- a sacred animal for the Hindu family -- gobbling up several of them at night.
But Ajit Ghosh, the owner of the missing chickens, eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow -- a sacred animal for the Hindu family -- gobbling up several of them at night.
UNITED KINGDOM. It is 30 years since the "Enfield poltergeist" hit the headlines, but it is still an event that haunts those who experienced it. As well as the Hodgson family, who were at the centre of this paranormal outbreak in their north London home, witnesses included police officers, journalists and a photographer, a physicist, and two of the Society for Psychical Research's leading investigators.
BERLIN - A 43-year-old German decided to settle his imminent divorce by chainsawing a family home in two and making off with his half in a forklift truck.
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thai veterinarians announced Thursday that an artificially inseminated elephant has given birth to a bouncing baby boy - a first in Asia that could be a crucial step in conserving the endangered species.
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| ©AP |
| A one-day-old baby elephant stands next to its mother at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang province, northern Thailand |
A cloak worn by Sir Alec Guinness in Star Wars, which went missing for 30 years, has been sold for £54,000 ($104, 254) at an auction of cinema and TV outfits.
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| ©LFilms |
Workers were racing to beat a thaw in the weather and clear a blockage at an earthen dam that threatens to break and flood about 25 homes and businesses, officials said.
Workers were trying to clear a drainage pipe blocked by beavers at the 7.5-million gallon reservoir near the mountain town of Oakland before a thaw that was expected to begin Thursday and continue through the weekend.
"If it warms up to 50 and rains - and we already have several feet of snow - there could be a pretty rapid runoff. And if you have that type of runoff there, it could weaken the dam," said Asa McCain, mayor of the town of 1,900.
Workers were trying to clear a drainage pipe blocked by beavers at the 7.5-million gallon reservoir near the mountain town of Oakland before a thaw that was expected to begin Thursday and continue through the weekend.
"If it warms up to 50 and rains - and we already have several feet of snow - there could be a pretty rapid runoff. And if you have that type of runoff there, it could weaken the dam," said Asa McCain, mayor of the town of 1,900.
Was she casting spells or teaching spelling?
In an unfolding trial, lawyers are debating a former teacher's claims in a $2 million federal lawsuit that she was improperly fired from Hampton Bays elementary school because administrators and others thought she was a witch.
Lauren Berrios, 37, who denies ever practicing witchcraft, sued in 2001 after she was fired following her second year as a reading specialist teacher. She has since moved to the Atlanta area, where she is working as a teacher. The trial in the lawsuit began Wednesday in New York.
While the school district was not under obligation to explain why Berrios was not granted tenure, its lawyer claimed Wednesday that Berrios didn't get along with co-workers, had a condescending attitude and was eventually reported to Child Protective Services after telling tales about imaginary injuries to her own son.
In an unfolding trial, lawyers are debating a former teacher's claims in a $2 million federal lawsuit that she was improperly fired from Hampton Bays elementary school because administrators and others thought she was a witch.
Lauren Berrios, 37, who denies ever practicing witchcraft, sued in 2001 after she was fired following her second year as a reading specialist teacher. She has since moved to the Atlanta area, where she is working as a teacher. The trial in the lawsuit began Wednesday in New York.
While the school district was not under obligation to explain why Berrios was not granted tenure, its lawyer claimed Wednesday that Berrios didn't get along with co-workers, had a condescending attitude and was eventually reported to Child Protective Services after telling tales about imaginary injuries to her own son.
Comment: So, clearly the question at this point is, 'does it fit well, atreides?'