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escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17895 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
 Posted: 13-12-2012 15:46 Post subject: |
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On a lighter note*, Brighton's xmas lights
A video apparently featuring Brighton's xmas lights, with special arrangements by a disgruntled employee! 
* see what I did there |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21362 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-12-2012 09:41 Post subject: |
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Back to the Prank phone call:
Jacintha Saldanha suicide note criticised hospital staff
Inquest hears that nurse who died after Duchess of Cambridge hoax call left three letters before apparently taking her own life
Sandra Laville and Caroline Davies
The Guardian, Thursday 13 December 2012 19.47 GMT
One of three apparent suicide notes left by the nurse at the centre of the royal hoax phone call criticised staff at the King Edward VII hospital where she worked, the Guardian has learned.
Jacintha Saldanha, 46, was found hanged in her apartment in the nurses' quarter of the hospital in Marylebone, central London, by a colleague and a security officer, an inquest into her death heard on Thursday. Three notes were found, two at the scene and one in the nurse's belongings.
She was found dead three days after two DJs rang the hospital from Australia posing as the Queen and Prince Charles in a prank call which Saldanha answered and put through to another nurse on the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness.
The dead woman's family has been given typed copies of the three handwritten notes by the police and has read the contents, the Guardian has been told.
One note deals with the hoax call by the DJs from 2Day FM, another details her requests for her funeral, and the third addresses her employers, the hospital, and contains criticism of staff there, the Guardian understands from two separate sources.
The Westminster coroner, Dr Fiona Wilcox, was told at the formal opening of the inquest that she had been found hanging in her apartment and there were also injuries to her wrists.
The hearing was told that paramedics who attended the scene in Weymouth Street made several attempts to revive her.
Scotland Yard is investigating a number of emails which the inquest heard were relevant to the nurse's death, as well as telephone calls made to and from her phone in the days before her death.
The Labour MP Keith Vaz, who is acting as a spokesman for Saldanha's husband and two children, published a letter from him to John Lofthouse, chief executive of the King Edward Vll hospital, calling for the "full facts" of what happened to be given to the family.
Earlier this week the nurse's family met Lofthouse and handed over a list of questions they want answered. Vaz said in his letter to Lofthouse: "I have dealt with similar cases in the past and I would agree with the prime minister that the family need to get the full facts, from the time she took the call from 2Day FM to the time she was found in her accommodation.
"The family gave you a list of questions that they wish the hospital to answer so that they can have the full facts of the case. I know they would appreciate answers to their questions in writing as soon as possible. They may also have additional questions."
Detective Chief Inspector James Harman said at the inquest that the Metropolitan police would be contacting officers in New South Wales as part of its inquiry. He said: "On Friday 7 December Jacintha Saldanha was found by colleagues and a member of security staff. At this time there are no suspicious circumstances apparent to me in relation to this death.
"A number of notes were recovered. Two notes were at the scene and a further note was found in the deceased's belongings. Three notes in total."
Saldanha, a mother of two, was identified by her husband, an accountant, the inquest heard.
Harman told the hearing: "There are a number of emails that are of relevance in helping us establish what may have led to this death and we are also looking at the deceased's telephone contacts. Detectives spoke to a number of witnesses, family, friends and colleagues in order to establish anything that led or may have contributed to this tragic death."
Saldanha was found three days after the DJs made the prank call. As the nurse on duty, she took the call and put it through to a colleague on the ward where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for morning sickness, who gave out information about her condition.
Harman told the coroner: "You will be aware of the wider circumstances of this case. And I expect in the very near future we shall be in contact with colleagues in New South Wales to establish the best means of putting the evidence before you."
The coroner's officer Lynda Martindill told the hearing that Saldanha, born in India, was a registered nurse and night nurse. Toxicology and histology test results were pending.
Adjourning the inquest until 26 March, Wilcox spoke directly to Saldanha's colleagues who attended the hearing. She said: "I wish to pass on my sympathy to you and her family and all those touched by this terribly tragic death"."
A spokeswoman for the hospital said no one in senior management knew what the contents of the notes left by Saldanha were. She said the hospital management "were very clear that there were no disciplinary issues in this matter".
Both the nurses involved had been offered "full support" and "it was made clear they were victims of a cruel journalistic trick", she said.
The hospital has offered bereavement counselling for the family in Bristol, which they have decided to take up, according to Vaz.
The family did not attend the hearing. Speaking outside the inquest Vaz said Saldanha's relatives were "grieving in their homes … They are comforting each other and the community is comforting them".
He said he had passed on the coroner's comments. The family were grateful to the coroner's office and Metropolitan police, he added.
A memorial service will be held in Bristol. A mass will be held in the chapel at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/13/jacintha-saldanha-suicide-notes |
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| cherrybomb Skating the thin crust
Great Old One Joined: 26 Aug 2009 Total posts: 1005 Location: Sitting on the roof at dusk Gender: Female |
| Posted: 14-12-2012 10:01 Post subject: |
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| escargot1 wrote: | On a lighter note*, Brighton's xmas lights
A video apparently featuring Brighton's xmas lights, with special arrangements by a disgruntled employee!
* see what I did there |
how festive! |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 15-12-2012 20:32 Post subject: |
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An interesting hoax. Definitely a Fortean touch, even the stamps are fake.
| Quote: | The University of Chicago Wants to Know Who Sent This Journal to Indiana Jones
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/12/indiana-jones-mystery-journal/
Earlier this week the University of Chicago received what might be an elaborate hoax, a miracle, or the best college admissions application of all time: Abner Ravenwood’s journal from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The journal came in a package addressed to Henry Walton Jones, Jr. but wasn’t sent through the U.S. mail — its stamps are fake. It’s a near-perfect replica of the journal Indiana Jones uses in Raiders, but it’s not the real deal – Lucasfilm also doesn’t know its origins — and the university has absolutely no idea how it found its way into Rosenwald Hall, which houses the school’s admissions department and where the staff initially thought it was just a piece of mail meant for a professor that got lost on the way.
“This package was a little perplexing because we couldn’t find the staff member or the professor [it was intended for] in the directory,” Garrett Brinker, director of undergraduate outreach for the university, said in an interview with Wired. “So that’s when the plot thickened.”
Since its discovery, Brinker said, the university has been doing everything it can to figure out where exactly the package came from. (See its contents above.) After determining that the replica they’d received was not a recently sold item on eBay, they decided to ask the internet. They put an “Indiana Jones Mystery Package” post on Tumblr, set up an e-mail tip-line for anyone who might know its origins and even asked Lucasfilm, which responded, “We were just as surprised to see this package as you were!” And then, Brinker said, followed up to ask the school to let Lucasfilm know if it determined its origin.
“We don’t know where the package came from but would love to know,” a Lucasfilm spokesperson told Wired in an e-mail.
Fans of Raiders will remember that Abner Ravenwood’s journal was what Indy used to find the Ark of the Covenant. Ravenwood was a professor at the University of Chicago and one of Indiana Jones’ mentors. The replica of his journal that was sent to his former university is meticulous in its details: photos of Harrison Ford as Indy, maps, currency, and even – as one eagle-eyed internet responder pointed out – handwritten text that can be found here. “The entire journal must’ve taken hours upon hours to create,” Brinker noted.
But yet, the new best prop person in the world has yet to come forward, or reveal their motives. Brinker said the school has received nearly 100 e-mails to its tip line and tons of responses on Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter, but no source has turned up. Some sleuths suggest that the package is an act of “art abandonment,” others say it’s part of some elaborate alternate-reality game. Someone even suggested that whoever bought the replica journal on eBay never got it because it came out of its original packaging and a mail-carrier, thinking the Egyptian postage was real, simply put the university’s ZIP code on the envelope and it made its way to Chicago. “Certainly less exciting than our other options, but would still be a hilarious end to our vexing problem,” the college of admissions wrote on its Tumblr. It’s also possible that Lucasfilm has something up its sleeve and there is a viral campaign going on that they’re not talking about.
However, Brinker has a better and more romantic idea.
“I would like to believe, in some sense, that it was a prospective student that dropped it in the mail and wanted us to go on this discovery, and wanted us to find clues of some sort that tied this book back to him or her,” Brinker said. “I think if it was from a prospective student, it would be seen in a positive light. It would show us this student might think a little bit differently.”
For our money this kid gets in, with a full ride.
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gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13560 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-12-2012 20:09 Post subject: |
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| If anyone gets sent the Ark of the Covenant, I'd recommend not opening it. |
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| Heckler20 The Sockpuppet of
Cthulhu's Prodigal Son Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Total posts: 4702 Location: In the Nostril of The Crawling Chaos Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 21-12-2012 14:11 Post subject: |
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| gncxx wrote: | | If anyone gets sent the Ark of the Covenant, I'd recommend not opening it. |
It's alright they've got top men studying it.......top...men. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 10-01-2013 12:36 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Aberdeen 'Helena Torry' mannequin election woman Renee Slater acquitted
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-20970395
Helena Torry, left, was the focus of the Renee Slater trial
An Aberdeen woman charged after a mannequin was entered as a candidate in last year's city council election has been acquitted.
Renee Slater was taken to court over the name Helena Torry being put forward to stand in the May election.
She was charged under the Representation of the People Act 1983 and went on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court this week.
A sheriff ruled there was no case to answer after two days of evidence.
Returning officer Crawford Langley had told the court he had taken nomination papers from the accused an hour before the close of nominations.
Ms Slater was charged with adding a candidate she knew was in fact a mannequin. |
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| escargot1 Joined: 24 Aug 2001 Total posts: 17895 Location: Farkham Hall Age: 4 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 09-02-2013 12:30 Post subject: |
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South Shields man charged over US death threats
| Quote: | A British man has been charged after a threat to kill 200 people in America was posted on Facebook.
Reece Elliott, 24, from South Tyneside, is accused of making threats to kill and making malicious communications.
The comment was reportedly posted anonymously on an online memorial for a Tennessee student who died in October and led to 3,000 pupils missing school. |
What a plonker. |
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| sherbetbizarre Great Old One Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Total posts: 1418 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-05-2013 11:20 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Man claims to be Pink Floyd singer to avoid medical bill, police say
St. Cloud police are investigating a Monticello man who claimed to be Pink Floyd band member David Gilmour while racking up a care bill as high as $100,000 at St. Cloud Hospital.
The man even signed an autograph for a hospital employee’s son before he was arrested by St. Cloud police. No charges have been filed against Phillip Michael Schaeffer, 53, who was booked April 24 at the Stearns County Jail for investigation of felony theft by swindle.
Schaeffer came to St. Cloud Hospital on April 20 for treatment and gave the name David Gilmour when he checked in, according to St. Cloud police. He claimed to not have any health insurance and was treated and released.
After he left, hospital employees had suspicions that he wasn’t really the Pink Floyd singer-guitarist. That suspicion led to the hospital flagging his patient chart in case he returned, hospital spokeswoman Jeanine Nistler said.
The next day, “there was some discussion among security staff leading people to believe that he really wasn’t David Gilmour,” Nistler said. “So our security supervisor pulled up the security camera shots of when this man entered the hospital and compared them to pictures on the Internet of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour and determined he was not David Gilmour.”
Schaeffer came back to the hospital April 24, told hospital staff he was David Gilmour and presented information that showed he had health insurance from Lloyd’s of London, according to police. He told hospital staff that Pink Floyd was on tour in Canada and that he stopped in St. Cloud during a break to get medical treatment.
He was seen by Dr. David Covington, an emergency room physician who works for Central Minnesota Emergency Physicians, Nistler said. Covington doubted that Schaeffer’s accent was one that he would expect from Gilmour, she said.
A security supervisor then went to the emergency room and saw a St. Cloud police officer who was there on an unrelated manner.
The security supervisor told the officer about the Gilmour impersonator and the officer confronted Schaeffer.
He then admitted he wasn’t Gilmour and was taken to jail. Schaeffer was released from jail Thursday while police gather evidence to present to the county attorney’s office for possible charges. |
http://www.sctimes.com/article/20130501/NEWS01/305010009/Man-claims-Pink-Floyd-singer-avoid-medical-bill-police-say |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-05-2013 21:51 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | 'Kumare': Fake Guru Exposes Real, Desperate Desire to Believe
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/kumare-fake-guru-exposes-real-desperate-desire/story?id=16980674#.UZFIaLV4JHe
Vikram Gandhi, a hip 33-year-old filmmaker from New Jersey, created a fake "yogalebrity" persona named Kumare but wound up with a real American following. (Kino Lorber/Kumare)
Kumare speaks with a thick Indian accent. His hair is long, his beard is full, his feet are bare. Wrapped in a saffron sarong, Kumare effortlessly becomes a spiritual beacon for a curious bunch of truth seekers in Phoenix.
But Kumare, whose real name is Vikram Gandhi, is actually a hip 33-year-old filmmaker from New Jersey, who created a fake "yogalebrity" persona but wound up with a real American following.
"Isn't the most traumatic part of the illusion of Kumare is that the guy who they all thought was from another country actually grew in Jersey?" he told ABC News in Los Angeles after the premiere of the resulting movie, "Kumare: The True Story of a False Prophet."
"It's not about making fun of people," Gandhi said. "It's about the general absurdity of what we all believe."
Gandhi was raised in a Hindu household, the child of Indian immigrants. He watched, slack-jawed, as his fellow Americans embraced the spirituality of his Indian ancestors in search of truth.
"I think in the very beginning it was absurd," Gandhi said. "I was like, 'Are you pretending to be Indian?'"
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About 15 million Americans practice yoga, which has grown into a $6 billion-a-year industry.
Gandhi started making the film about sadhus, or holy men, in India and the U.S. But soon he decided that a deeper truth could be found by becoming a religious leader himself. So he kicked off his shoes, grew out his beard and hair and started speaking in his Indian grandma's accent.
"When I was creating Kumare, who is this guy going to be, I was looking at the big ones, Jesus, Buddah, what did they say? What did they do? And the one thing I couldn't get down with that they could was saying that they had authority," Gandhi explained. "Kumare was about saying he didn't have authority."
Kumare's message was simple: The only guru you need is inside yourself -- that's the cornerstone of Kumare's invented "mirror philosophy."
"I wanted to sort of tell a cautionary tale about spiritual leaders," he said. "We trick ourselves to believe them so we can be happier too, so this was just sort of trying to unveil the trick."
Gandhi said he would tell every yoga class, and repeatedly tell his band of followers, that Kumare was not real, that he was no more a guru than the people in front of him.
"People often thought that was a riddle because the accent, because of the robe and because of what we are programmed to think as a holy man," he said. "It might be naïve, but I think everybody has a similar potential to be wise and good."
And then there came the day Gandhi had to unveil his true identity, for the sake of the movie and the philosophy behind it. How would his followers react? Watch ABC's Nick Watt's piece for "Nightline." |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13560 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 14-05-2013 18:04 Post subject: |
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| Did he get the idea from Mike Myers or Sacha Baron Cohen? |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21362 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 22-05-2013 07:36 Post subject: |
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Southend 'Mr Blobby' house painted in revenge wedding prank
A newly-wed couple got back from honeymoon to find their home painted in the style of Mr Blobby - as part of a revenge prank by the groom's brother.
Plasterer Russell O'Rourke, 32, spent two days on the makeover of his brother Steve's home in Hamstel Road, Southend.
It was in retaliation to a joke six years ago when Russell was on honeymoon and Steve, a builder, put up a brick wall across his driveway.
The design has prompted mixed reaction from neighbours.
Mr O'Rourke, 32, and his new wife Hayley, 31, arrived home at about 04:00 BST on Sunday to discover the house "glowing" pink, despite the early hour.
Mrs O'Rourke, a mother-of-two, said: "It was pure shock to start with.
"We had a feeling he (Russell) might have done something because of the stunt Steve pulled, but we weren't expecting anything on the outside of the house.
"We were quite horrified, but then we just laughed and had to see the funny side of it.
"Everyone seems to love it and is taking pictures, they think it's hilarious. The neighbours have said it brightens up the street and we should keep it."
Staff at the Bakers Box, a sandwich bar opposite the pink property, said the house has "brightened people's spirits" and "everybody is smiling and talking about it."
However, one person told the BBC it was a "disgusting eyesore".
Mr and Mrs O'Rourke said they did not intend to keep the colour scheme long-term but admitted removing it may take some time.
"Russell thinks it's very funny and has no intention of helping to paint it over, but because we've been away and my husband has got such a backlog of work, it may well be sometime before the Blobby house goes," said Mrs O'Rourke.
Mr Blobby, who was pink with yellow spots, was a popular character on the Saturday evening TV programme Noel's House Party, starring Noel Edmonds, which ran on BBC One throughout the 1990s.
He disappeared from the public eye after the show was dropped in 1999.
A theme park in Morecambe based on the fictional village featured in the programme, Crinkley Bottom, closed after just 13 weeks in 1994, losing Lancaster City Council £2m.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-22611581 |
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| JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5779 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21362 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 13-06-2013 09:21 Post subject: |
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Chinese farmer jailed for making a rubber alien
As proof of extraterrestrial life, one Chinese farmer's crudely built rubber alien, stashed in a chest freezer in his garage, was rather unconvincing.
By Malcolm Moore in Beijing
2:20PM BST 12 Jun 2013
But the farmer, named in the Chinese media only as Mr Li, perhaps underestimated the nannying tendencies of the Chinese state.
Shortly after he proudly posted photographs of his alien on the internet, he was arrested by the police for five days for "fabrications" that "disturbed the public order".
Mr Li was forced to admit that he had indeed sought to use his model, held together with chicken wire and glue, to mislead his fellow Chinese about the existence of celestial creatures.
Initially, the farmer had posted his close encounter on a Chinese website, together with a shaggy dog story about how he had captured the alien while setting traps for rabbits.
"I was setting an electric trap for rabbits by the Yellow river when I saw a bright light," he said. "Above my bike, a UFO was floating. One by one, five aliens came down, but one of them stumbled into one of my rabbit traps and was electrocuted. The others went back into their ship and flew away."
However after his post went viral, the Chinese authorities moved quickly to limit the effect it might have on the extremely gullible.
Not only was Mr Li's initial post deleted, but the police soon arrived to arrest him.
"After the police interrogated me, I confessed I was a fan of UFOs and the alien was a fake. I just wanted other people to believe that aliens existed," he told the Shandong Evening News.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10115832/Chinese-farmer-jailed-for-making-a-rubber-alien.html |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21362 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-06-2013 07:43 Post subject: |
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Mousehole man remembers famous Cambridge university prank of putting a car on a roof
Wednesday, June 19, 2013 The Cornishman
By Josh Barrie
A MAN living in Mousehole has talked about his part in a famous car stunt while studying at Cambridge University.
Peter Davey, now in his seventies, was an engineering student at Gonville and Caius College when he led a team of fellow undergraduates in hoisting an Austin Seven motor car onto the roof of Senate House in 1958.
Dubbed a mystery at the time, the prank was revealed in 1960 after Mr Davey published an article in his college paper, which was picked up by the BBC soon after.
Fifty-five years on, the feat has been re-enacted in the city it was conceived in, after continuing to fascinate people over the years.
"The funny thing is that it seems to go on and on – it's still talked about 55 years later," said Mr Davey.
"It makes me pleased and proud in a way, in that it could interest so many people."
Mr Davey questions where a prank is left behind and a feat of engineering begins, but said that at the time – while it was a highly detailed and planned event – it was as much about the entertainment as anything else.
"It was a good, fun event.
"It was very difficult and quite dangerous to do, but it was very enjoyable," he said.
The reproduction was staged in Cambridge earlier this month and although Mr Davey and fellow graduates decided not to be involved, the engineering expert did agree to an interview on the Jeremy Vine Show to discuss the showpiece.
Mr Davey said that while it was nice to see it take place, it wasn't entirely the same as his original scheme.
"In truth, the way they did it was quite different," he said.
Today, Mr Davey has lived in Mousehole for 15 years and is involved with a far different but still very creative project.
The village's harbour lights event also attracts widespread attention, and Mr Davey plays an important role in sorting out the technical side of the display.
Read more: http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Mousehole-man-remembers-famous-Cambridge/story-19317961-detail/story.html#ixzz2WdqnJyhx |
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