Society's ChildS


Alarm Clock

UK - Jilted husband built electric chair in garage in attempt to kill wife


Telegraph.co.uk
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:04 UTC
Image
© Cavendish PressThe home of Andrew Castle who built an electric chair in his garage with the intention of using it to kill his wife.
Andrew Castle, 61, was so furious at the crumbling of his 18 year marriage he planned to rig a metal armchair to the mains - and invited wife Margaret in ''for a chat.''

Castle asked unwitting Margaret to sit in the chair so he could knock her her out with a cosh and throw on the switch.

But Margaret, 61, got up out of the seat and the couple then got caught up in a violent struggle. Castle landed several blows on his wife's head with the rubber cosh but she escaped through a side door.

The fight then carried on outside their £110,000 seaside bungalow in Knott End-on-Sea in Poulton-Le-Fylde, Lancs, before a passer-by intervened and called police.

Margaret was taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary to be treated for minor head injuries. Her husband was found in the back garden with self inflicted knife wounds to his wrists after grabbing a blade from the kitchen in a bid to commit suicide.
Read More...
Bad Guys

UK - Phone hacking: families of war dead 'targeted' by News of the World

Mark Hughes, Duncan Gardham, John Bingham and Andy Bloxham
Telegraph.co.uk
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:45 UTC
The bereaved relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan may have had their phones hacked by a private investigator working for the News of the World.

Image
© Associated PressPaul Dadge helps injured tube passenger Davinia Turrell away from Edgware Road tube station.
The Daily Telegraph has learnt that the personal details of the families of servicemen who died on the front line have been found in the files of Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective working for the Sunday tabloid.

The disclosure that grieving relatives of war dead were targets for the newspaper prompted anger among military charities, who said it was a "disgusting and indefensible assault on privacy".
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Casey Anthony subpoenaed in nanny's defamation suit


News.blogs.cnn.com
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:15 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Casey Anthony was served papers in jail Tuesday night for her deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed by Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez, an assistant to Gonzalez's attorney John Morgan said Wednesday.
Read More...
Gear

Propaganda Alert: TSA warns of possible airline threat involving implanted bombs

Chris Parsons
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:00 UTC
Image
© Mark BosterA traveler is inspected at a TSA checkpoint at LAX this year.

The government has warned airlines that terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into people in an attempt to circumvent screening procedures, according to U.S. officials.

There is no indication of an immediate plot, but the new information could lead to additional screening procedures at the nation's airports. Existing scanners would not necessarily detect bombs implanted under a person's skin, experts said.

While the information suggests such a threat would come from overseas rather than domestic groups, federal officials are ordering precautions both in the U.S. and abroad, the official said.
Read More...
Binoculars

Canada: Mysterious white powder delivered to office of Toronto MPP, woman in custody

Tristan Hopper
News.nationalpost.com
Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:16 UTC
Image
© Dave Chan, Reuters, Postmedia NewsA 50-year-old woman is in custody accused of delivering an envelope filled with mysterious white powder to the Toronto offices shared by interim federal Liberal leader Bob Rae and Ontario provincial representative Glen Murray.
A 50-year-old woman is in custody after allegedly delivering an envelope filled with mysterious white powder to the Cabbagetown office shared by Ontario MPP Glen Murray and interim federal Liberal leader Bob Rae.

The powder, which arrived at the building at about 2 p.m., caused itching, sneezing and coughing amongst building employees. "It was a non-toxic but noxious substance, people in the office had respiratory symptoms and redness but it was nothing poisonous," said a spokesperson for Mr. Murray.

The building was briefly evacuated and the immediate area was blocked off by police. While emergency crews clad in HazMat suits removed the package, affected employees were treated onsite. Officials soon reported that the powder was "innocuous."

The woman, whose motivation is not known, was apprehended soon after.
Read More...
Bad Guys

La Toya Jackson Claims Bizarre Abuse by Ex-Husband

Samantha Lawton
Monsters and Critics
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:40 UTC
Image
© Russ Einhorn/Splash NewsLa Toya Jackson book signing for Starting Over, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, The Grove, Los Angeles, California.
La Toya Jackson claims her abusive ex-husband once offered her up to have sex with boxing champion Mike Tyson for $100,000.

Michael Jackson's sister made the bizarre allegation during an appearance on CBS's The Talk where she was promoting her new autobiography Starting Over.

It tells of the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her ex-husband and manager Jack Gordon, who she says also 'hated and despised' her legendary entertainer brother.
Read More...
2 + 2 = 4

Millerites' 1844 'rapture' event called the Great Disappointment

Cliff Radel
Communitypress.cincinnati.com
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:56 UTC
Image
© UnknownThe Rev. William Miller began peddling his end-of-the-world prediction in the 1820s based on a series of elaborate charts such as this one called "Chronological Chart of the Visions of Daniel and John."
Thousands of Cincinnatians camped out in 1844 to witness what they believed was going to be the world's greatest - and final - fireworks display.

They weren't celebrating the Fourth of July. They were waiting for the end of the world.

These happy campers were the followers of a 19th-century version of the Rev. Harold Camping, the Rapture predictor.

The views of the Rapture reverend, broadcast over his multi-million-dollar radio, TV, satellite and website empire, would move those Cincinnatians to say: Been there. Done that.
Read More...
Hardhat

US - 'Mammoth peat' for sale ... get your 'black gold'!

John Stroud
Postindependent.com
Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:35 UTC
Image
© Kelly Cox/post IndependentEvan Gould with Gould Construction shows off handfuls of the rich peat moss that the company hauled in from the Ziegler Reservoir excavation site in Snowmass Village. The company started out with 6,000 cubic yards for sale to gardeners, and still has 4,500 cubic yards available at its location south of Glenwood Springs.
It probably won't grow prehistoric mastodons or mammoths, but peat moss from the Ziegler Reservoir excavation site just might help produce a whopper crop of garden vegetables.

Glenwood Springs-based Gould Construction is selling peat soil excavated from the construction site, which became one of the world's largest fossil finds last fall after the preserved bones of numerous prehistoric mammals were discovered.

Before the find, Gould, which was the initial contractor on the construction site, was in charge of excavating and disposing of the material, explained Evan Gould, trucking supervisor and safety director for the company.

Most of that "material" was rich, black high-elevation peat moss. The deeper layers of the reservoir site ended up holding a virtual motherlode of ice age fossils. Thousands have since been removed and preserved by scientists working with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Rather than simply get rid of the dirt that was part of Gould's initial work, the company decided to make the peat moss available for sale to local gardeners and landscapers.

"This stuff is great for flower beds, gardens, any place where you want to grow things," Evan Gould said. "If you like to buy locally, and buy all-organic stuff that you know exactly where it came from, this is the best."
Read More...
Question

US: Cockpit audio details chaos after hole rips in Phoenix plane

Tim Vetscher
ABC15.com
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 06:30 UTC

Phoenix, Arizona - The Federal Aviation Administration released dramatic audio recordings Tuesday between air traffic controllers and pilots aboard Southwest Airlines flight 812.

The two sides worked together on April 1 to get the plane on the ground after a six-foot hole ripped open in the fuselage .

The recordings indicate Southwest Flight 812 started out just like any other.

But a few minutes in to the Phoenix to Sacramento flight, the pilot declares an emergency.

"We lost the cabin," the pilot can be heard saying.

The roof of the Boeing 737 had ripped open, leaving a gaping hole.

"Apparently we've got a hole in the fuselage in the back of the airplane," the pilot says to air traffic controllers.

The plane quickly descended from 36,000 feet to just 10,000 feet as the pilot tries to figure out where to land.
Read More...
Hardhat

Oil and gas spills in North Sea every week, papers reveal

Rob Evans, Richard Cookson & Terry Macalister
The Guardian
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 06:24 UTC
Image
© AlamyMore than 100 potentially lethal oil and gas spills took place on rigs in the North Sea in 2009 and 2010.
Documents list companies that caused more than 100 potentially lethal - and largely unpublicised - leaks in 2009 and 2010

Serious spills of oil and gas from North Sea platforms are occurring at the rate of one a week, undermining oil companies' claims to be doing everything possible to improve the safety of rigs.

Shell has emerged as one of the top offenders despite promising to clean up its act five years ago after a large accident in which two oil workers died.

Documents obtained by the Guardian record leaks voluntarily declared by the oil companies to the safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive(HSE), in a database set up after the Piper Alpha disaster of 6 July 1988 which killed 167 workers. They reveal for the first time the names of companies that have caused more than 100 potentially lethal and largely unpublicised oil and gas spills in the North Sea in 2009 and 2010.
Read More...