All quiet on the water front

Lloyd Godson, marine scientist, 29, emerged from a steel box at the bottom of a lake near Albury NSW yesterday. He had been there for 12 days, using solar panels (not sure how underwater) and pedaling a stationary bicycle to generate his own electricity (for his laptop for watching videos and using a wireless internet connection to communicate with schoolchildren around the world) and growing algae to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. But at least he had food and drinking water delivered - so he didn't just have to rely on recycling his urine and waste. And thanks to his efforts, he has won nearly $42,000 in the Australian Geographic "Live Your Dream" competition. Good one!

Jeepers Peepers

Details are sketchy, and mildly confusing, but it's good to know that Mr Peepers (the duck) came out of it all okay, despite being thrown in front of the getaway car. It all started in Seattle when Kenneth Blaine Quinlan and his girlfriend went to a Lynnwood shopping center, taking her duck with them. She went to one store (with her duck), he went to another - and apparently shoplifted an iPod speaker system. A guard chased Quinlan to where his girlfriend was - with the car keys, although it appears she was not aware of the circumstances when she handed them over. When she exited the store, she found Quinlan driving off and as she tried to stop him from driving away - still not aware of what was happening - she was knocked by an open car door, she dropped the duck. A store employee saw what was happening, that Mr Peepers was in danger of being run over, and ran to save him - only to have the car run over her instead, inflicting serious injuries including broken bones in her foot and ankle. The girlfriend and the guard fared better, and were not seriously injured. Mr. Peepers was OK. Quinlan was charger with two counts of third-degree assault and one count each of vehicular assault and hit-and-run. (More details here.)

Cleaning it up a bit ...

It gives street cleaning a whole new meaning ... and it's pretty amazing that it has happened in two US cities within a couple of days. The event - soap foam filling streets in cities in both Idaho and Alaska. In Boise, sudsy citrus-scented foam erupted from manhole covers like geysers after a linen company accidentally released 167 gallons of "harmless but concentrated" detergent into sewer lines. Meanwhile, in Wasilla, Alaska, foam spewed from the city's sewer lagoon, due, it was suggested, to ice thawing and the possibility that the treatment plant may have gotten a "good jolt" of soap residue. (For further details - Yahoo US News)

Women like to watch

News out this morning suggests that women are more interested in admiring (the Daily Telegraph used the word "ogle") body parts than men. In a study where US scientists used eye-tracking technology to pinpoint what people looked at when shown sexy photos (although there was no definition of what constituted a "sexy photo" in the report I read) it seems men were more likely to linger on the face. There was also a hormonal link with women using hormonal contraceptives looking more at the genitals. It is unclear how the study results would extrapolate to the wild (also known as "the real world") but I know one person who will feel that their long standing views are vindicated by this piece of research! (Hi T!)

Sea creatures

A 13-year-old girl is recovering in hospital following an attack by a sea lion. She was on a surfboard, being towed behind a boat, when the sea lion struck. She sustained a broken jaw, lost teeth, and a wound under her chin when the sea lion leapt out of the water and "went for her throat". The boat's driver is reported as saying that he thought the Perth (WA, Australia) teenager would die in the attack - likening it to a white pointer jumping out of the water. Previously, sea lions had been better known for their playfulness rather than savagery. Until, that is, the US Navy recruited them - and dolphins - as part of a program to detect terrorists and mines (underwater). Both species can find mines and spot swimmers in murky waters. Working in unison, the dolphins can drop a flashing light near a mine or a swimmer. The sea lions carry in their mouths a cable and a handcuff-like device that clamps onto a terrorist's leg. Sailors can then use the cable to reel in the terrorist. About 75 dolphins and 25 sea lions are housed at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego Harbor as part of the anti-terrorist program.

Band-Aid fix

He was known as the Band-Aid Bandit - and he's now been found guilty of robbing Florida banks of half a million dollars in league with his brother-in-law. I will probably need to go and find out more about this, but the short piece I saw on this at the Yahoo site suggested he wore bandages during robberies to hide a distinctive mole. Apparently the disguise was not effective - or perhaps there was another reason for his identity being uncovered.

Hard Act

A recent item in the Scotsman website told of "film bluffs" rather than "film buffs". Apparently 1 in 10 Britains lie about movies they've seen to appear more intellectual. Films they might say they had seen included Schindler's List, The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. They also hide their fondness for Dirty Dancing or Ghost … so perhaps its really about their not wanting to admit they like Patrick Swayze films! I was rather taken with the "bluffs" play on words - so much so that I almost missed the funniest thing about this - but, thankfully, it was pointed out by two commenters. "10% eh? Slow day then." and "Lazy space filling nonsense. If I want to read rubbishy pointless muck, I'll subscribe to The Daily Record."

Hell on earth

Well for all who welcomed Pope John Paul II's advice that Hell did not as such exist - the less than encouraging news is that the new Pope, perhaps as a small gift to all at Faster, has now said that the fire, brimstone and sulphur version is in fact waiting, if not outright calling, for sinners. Hard to reconcile this image with the God portrayed in the New Testament; not such a stretch for the Old Testament version. But is that not what Easter and the giving of the life of His only begotten son was all about? The gift of life for those who followed?

Gold Coast holiday

This may look like just a picture of the beach but it's really to show that the Tsunami warning that we woke to yesterday morning was unfounded for this part of the world. Tragically, it has had a catastrophic impact on the Solomon Islands. It served though to show how unprepared Australia seems to be for a major disaster. It was difficult to get up-to-date news about what was happening, whether there was a tsunami at all, and whether we should evacuate. We are currently on holidays on the Gold Coast, in a 15th floor apartment on the beachfront, so the idea of looking up and seeing a wave surging in held little joy (although, if one could count on the structural integrity of the block, I do acknowledge that there may have been a photo opportunity there). If the tsunami had hit the Gold Coast - and further points north and south, I don't know how we as a country would have coped with such widespread destruction and loss of life. Thank goodness we didn't have to.

Poker Odds Calculator Pro 1.0

There are two things I don't understand about poker - (a) how to calculate the odds of your hand winning and (b) how betting works. Oh, and some of the rules - like how many cards to hand out for different types of poker games. But at least one of those is solved now there's a Palm program that calculates your winning % against every other Poker hand! (Who said my PalmGear newsletter was all about work?) Won't be long now before I fell confident enough to unwrap my Poker set (and instructions).

Huh?

"Dress better for your next court appearance"- military judge to David Hicks who was wearing standard issue (but crumpled) prison garb and flip flops. Suppose someone should have thought to remember to make sure Mr Hicks was in the expected "neat office attire or a culturally appropriate equivalent" - or perhaps they don't hand those or irons (for pressing clothes) out at Gitmo.

Dino puzzle

Hands up everyone who knows what a dinosaur looks like. 0ops. Not so fast. Yahoo recently carried the story of a group of scientists who are dismantling the skeleton of a 75-ft long sauropod dinosaur so they can reassemble it based on the latest paleontological research findings. So just how many ways will dinosaur bones fit together - and what if the shin bone doesn't connect to the knee bone? It's a good reminder of the fantastic work done by paleontologists to date - all this while putting together a 3D jigsaw without a picture! And the good news is that if they have any left over., they can always sell at auction. The skull of a large carnivorous dinosaur and the tusk of a woolly mammoth sold for over a quarter of a million dollars on the weekend.

A taste of ...

There's nothing like job security so news out today should come as welcome news for official food tasters. Scientists are developing a dipstick test to help consumers quickly tell if food could poison them. Chances are that they won't detect actual poisons but rather germs that can cause distress and death. This will probably be useful to people like me who distrust food left in the fridge for more than a day ... and don't even get me started on ''floor food". Mind you, I'm not sure even it could work with the special advertised at a city cafe today.

Smith COD

According to authorities, it seems that Anna Nicole Smith died of an accidental overdose - a combination of a sleeping medication and AT LEAST eight other prescription drugs. Not quite sure why someone would be on so many meds - unless her condition was complicated by a recent bacterial infection from injecting drugs into her buttocks. You have to (1) admire that she could inject herself in the buttocks (I know I couldn't) and (2) hope she wasn't breastfeeding her 5-month old daughter at the time!
Also on the subject of Smith - why is she referred to as "Playboy Playmate"? Is there any other kind? Or is it a trademark issue?

We went to the Hunter Valley on the weekend and were fortunate enough to chance upon the Kurri Kurri markets where a talent guest was in full swing. It was wonderful to see the local kids having a go - and even nicer because the Emcee was so encouraging. He had words of warmth and wisdom for all the acts. And the encouragement was well-founded. The kids were all, even the nervous ones, very confident - and lots of them were very talented. A couple of them were determined to be music teachers "when they grow up ".

Also in Kurri Kurri we cast our votes in the NSW State Election. Because we were away from our home electorate we had to "absent vote" and suspected that would entail the Returning Officer wading though reams of paper to be able to "mark us off". Not so. He picked up a Palm Tungsten E from the desk in front of him and searched thereon for our particulars and, once found, handed over our ballot papers. Very impressive. Amazing what you can find once you're out of the city.

How smart are you?

And are you game enough to pit your knowledge against a 5th Grader? That's one of the new television shows in the U.S. where an adult goes up against a 10-year old to see who's smarter. The results may be skewed though because it seems that the young contestants are given workbooks to help familiarize them with the material to be covered in the show. But there's also help to hand for the adults - they're apparently teamed up with children too.

Junk mail

Dutch consumers now have the option of signing up to receive advertising by mail or email. In exchange they can get a pack of envelopes with free stamps - and more advertising on the back of the envelope. Sound like Something to write home about?

Betting on a ...

Heather Mills is competing in the US version of Dancing with the Stars. Betting has already started with an online gaming site Bodog.com reported to be inviting "macabre bets" on whether Ms Mills' prosthetic leg will detach and go flying during her dancing. (Ms Mills lost her leg in a 1993 traffic accident when she was hit by a motorcycle.) Despite being a celebrity in her own right, in a recent interview on CBS' Eye To Eye she was billed as:

Heather Mills McCartney
PAUL McCARTNEY'S ESTRANGED WIFE

Shoes

On the way to work this morning I noticed, yet again, pairs of shoes hanging from overhead wires. This was shown in the film "Wag the Dog" as a way of showing support for a soldier caught behind enemy lines - but what does it mean in the real world? And where do the shoes come from? Do people carry a spare pair with them or do they get overtaken by the moment and rip them off their feet, hurl them up and then hobble home or get a friend to give them a piggyback? And why does it seem to be only sandshoes that end up on high?

Talent quest

Rather than doing something useful this evening I found myself trapped by the television - watching Australia's Got Talent. One of the acts was a young woman twirling hula hoops while wearing roller skates! But how do you discover that you have such a talent? And what talents could the rest of us be harbouring? Would balancing a broom on a finger do it? Or juggling a couple of cats?

Dental drama

A woman in Hong Kong was in hospital this week recovering after doctors removed the 15cm toothbrush she had swallowed. The incident occurred when the woman slipped on her bathroom floor while brushing her teeth. Unable to speak with the toothbrush lodged where it should not have been, she had the presence of mind to take another toothbrush from home to be able to show medical folk her problem. Doctors were able to remove the brush but didn't seem to report if the brush had been stuck crossways.

Science faction

There are certain things I had thought were true - like if you fall into quicksand, you'll be sucked in and drown; that there is a dark side to/of the moon; and if you swim too soon after eating you'll get cramp and drown. Well, I was wrong. Check out the Wired article by Aria Pearson where she debunks these and other commonly held beliefs.

Split down the middle

It's not always possible to take matters into your own hands but a German man saw the opportunity and took it. While waiting for a divorce settlement he decided to take his half ... by chainsawing the house in Sonneberg in two and taking his half with him on a forklift truck!

No laughing matter

If you're ever travelling through Cucuta, Columbia, picking up odd jobs, shy away from anything that involves multi-coloured baggy pants and big shoes - especially if it's attached to a circus. Three clowns have been killed there recently - the latest two on 21 February. One was performing at the time, the other standing near a ticket booth. The third clown, Pepe, was killed last year by an unknown assailant. No motive has been given for the murders - although it would probably be an interesting case to profile!

Balanced view

A recent study has shown that the average American knows more about basic science today than they did twenty years ago. The same study also shows that the hard sciences were not the only ones to gain more attention: there was also an "unsettling growth" in the belief in pseudoscience such as astrology and visits by extraterrestrial aliens. The MSNBC report has more detail.

Not the almighty dollar

"In God We Trust" is imprinted on US currency - well, usually it is. There was an error last month with some dollar coins - and they have been released into the wild without the inscription. The "godless" dollars are selling well on eBay - for around $40-$60 each. The oversight may or may not be the result of putting faith in a "new, complex, high-volume manufacturing system" that the mint will now adjust to eliminate any future defects. It could also be the result of the coins not going through the machines a second time for the inscription to be added. For more, here's a link to the story.

Blink and you've missed it

For all of us who have had the perfect group photo take forever to get, David Pogue (technology columnist for the NY Times) brings news of Canon's latest next-generation feature ... Blink Shot. It won't take the picture until everybody's eyes are open. Should be fun to try at the Opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

48 chickens later ...

An Indian farmer in a remote West Bengal village was concerned about the loss of chickens from his coup. So he staked it out only to find that the chickens were being snatched, and eaten, by his cow. Local television has since showed the cow grabbing and eating a chicken - although it's unclear why the chicken's owner would allow more chickens to be eaten. Vets suggested that the cow was suffering from a mineral deficiency and is now apparently back to eating grass. (Just as well the cow didn't live near an orphanage.)

Totally Wired

Los Angeles: An Iraqi national wearing wires and concealing a magnet inside his rectum triggered a security scare at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday but officials said he posed no apparent threat. (Daily Telegraph, 8 March 2007) More details than this I don't know ... and, not surprisingly, it may be wise to let it stay that way.

Horror writing

It sometimes takes a little bit to shock me - but nothing as much as this. Stephen King - remember him- yes, the horror writer - has recently appeared in Who magazine doing Pop Culture commentary. The piece I saw was on Anna Nicole Smith; and the time before he was writing about films. Wonder why he's doing it (extra cash?) and if he's still finding time to write fiction.

Military at work

The military have been busy lately - what with the "runaway" weapon - a beam that will simulate the sensation of burning (although I think there were some reports that burns were not just simulated) - and robotic insects that can hit the enemy with tiny explosives. But they're not resting on their laurels. Wired reported earlier this week that the Navy is working on a weapon that makes people so dizzy they fall over and throw up. You can't hide from it either ... the pukenator (just made that up - wonder if they're looking for a name for it?) can supposedly shoot through walls, too.

Ball play

Soccer in Italy may receive a much needed boost with the Clericus Cup currently underway at the Vatican. The players are priests and seminarians from around the world - but, it would seem, not from Brazil or England.

Speed cleaning

A new era has descended on our place with the introduction of speed cleaning. The beauty of the system is that housework is contained to 15 minutes a day. The flat is divided into zones and you do one a day - but only for 15 minutes. Of course there is more to it than that but that is the bit that keeps me happy. There is nothing worse than uncontained housework. I haven't read the speed cleaning book but I know lots of people who have it - and have given it as a present.

Life or death

If a person is on Death Row for more than 20 years does this mean they have served a life sentence? And should this cancel out their death sentence?

Protest rules

A recent protest in Sydney about the war in Iraq and the (then) impending visit of US VP Dick Cheney apparently saw some protesters dressed like police and directing traffic at the lines of real police. This action was criticised and behaviour not to be encouraged ... in fact it seemed like people were deriding the protesters for not playing by the rules. Who knew there were any - besides "all's fair in love and war".

Cool Aid

Maybe it's just me but there seems to be a little reality gap happening here. When I switched on the television this evening to catch The Simpsons, I saw an ad for global warming … more specifically, what you could do about global warming - Cool Aid. Now I'm thinking that's probably like Live Aid or Band Aid - but unfortunately the first thing I associated with it was cordial and JonesTown. Okay, just went to the net and had a look - it's ...

COOL AID: The National Carbon Test will air on Network Ten on Sunday, March 4 at 8.30pm and will consider the devastating effects that excess carbon has had ...If you're interested in more … see their site.

Take the cake

Just when you thought you'd seen everything, along comes the motion-sensitive talking urinal-deodoriser cake. They have been introduced into bars and restaurants throughout New Mexico and are aimed at keeping inebriated folk off the road. When a gentleman steps up to use the facility, a female voice says "Hey, big guy. Having a few drinks? Think you've had one too many? Then it's time to call a cab or call a sober friend for a ride home". There were no details in the report (MX News 16 Feb 07) I read to suggest how effective the tool is - or why they chose a female voice for the device, nor how long the battery lasts and whether it's replaceable.

In need of a little therapy

A US man who was fired for visiting an adult chat room during work hours is suing the company for $6.4 million claiming he is a sex and internet addict who deserves sympathy rather than the sack. Four months prior to his dismissal, Pacenza had been cautioned over his use of the net during company time and advised his actions were against company policy.
James Pacenza, 58, says he visits chat rooms as treatment for traumatic stress which dates back to the Vietnam War when he saw his best friend killed during a patrol. In his suit, Pacenza claims that the stress has caused him to become "a sex addict and, with the development of the internet, an internet addict".

Dead unlucky

One Victorian real estate agency, two tragic accidents on the same day. The receptionist was trapped between a car and a wall as she took out the rubbish early on Saturday afternoon. Her leg was severed. Then while repairing the damage (to the property) a glazier was killed when a nail from his nail gun richoted and hit him in the chest.

"Hello, my name is ..."

According to the NY Times, some people with thousands of dollars of credit card debt are pushing themselves into paying it off by describing their fiscal troubles online via blogs. I guess it's a bit like AA - except with a bigger audience.

The plot ...

I didn't note down the details at the time (yes, I know that's what digital cameras are for) but I read somewhere that there is a three-way tussle over Anna Nicole Smith's body. Her mother wants her buried in her home state of Texas while her companion Howard K. Stern wants her buried in the Bahamas, in the plot next to her son Daniel who died several months ago. Also putting dibs in is photographer Larry Birkhead who wanted to delay embalming of the body until DNA had been taken from Anna Nicole's body to help in his claim that he fathered Anna Nicole's baby daughter Dannielyn. Ms Smith's body has been embalmed pending a decision - although I think I read that the DNA sample was taken prior.

Taken for a ride

The motorcycle ridden by The Fonz character in the television series Happy Days was the same one Steve McQueen rode in the film The Great Escape.

Mother's "milk"

Standing in queue at the supermarket this afternoon, I saw the fridge for "Mother". They were putting up a similar fridge at Toowoomba Hospital while I was there earlier in the week. Mother is a new drink from the Coca-Cola company and as the bottle says "Mother is the low GI natural energy high that won't let you down." Ingredients include juice, acai extract (whatever that is) from the Amazon, guarana extract (also from the Amazon) and caffeine. It comes in a can (230ml) and a bottle (330ml). Which means you can't have one of each and be inside the 500ml max daily usage noted on the bottle. I'm just waiting to be energised and for my mental performance to be enhanced.

Up in arms

Undertakers in some parts of New South Wales (Australia) are up in arms over the possibility of legal action from family members and friends who insist on being pallbearers - and injure themselves in the process. The tradition of carrying the coffin at shoulder height is the issue - and that, once they arrive for the funeral, there is no time to teach them safe manual handling techniques. Funeral directors had wanted family pallbearers to sign waivers but these would not have been legally enforceable - so there is now a move to have the volunteers (family members or friends) carry the coffin no higher than the waist - or pay for professional pallbearers.

Stumped

A work colleague gave me the Mensa test questions that were published recently and I have been working my way through them but I have to admit that I am stumped. Insatiable is the word. Can you find an anagram. I haven't been able to yet and it is starting to drive me crazy. But don't tell me!

Headlines

I don't mind a good headline which is why it was refreshing to see the offerings on today's astronaut love triangle (attempted murder) story eg Lust in Space and The Wrong Stuff.

Explicit content

When downloading The Onion podcast this morning I was surprised to see an "explicit" tag. Taking my sensibilities in hand, I listened, waiting to see how offended I would be - how bad could it be in 48 seconds? The experience left me reeling. It seems they had earned the tag for the use of "a***hole". How amazing must content review/supervision be at iTunes?

Mystery solved

It's a shame they had to expose secret astronaut business - and that it would be as part of a love triangle of sorts. The story tells of the female astronaut who drove across the US to confront another female astronaut who she saw as a rival for her affections for a third, male, astronaut. For someone who says she only wanted to scare her she went to some trouble including dark wig, glasses, pepper spray, a steel mallet, BB gun, folding knife, rubber tubing and trash bags ... And the adult diapers she wore during the 1500km trip (as worn by astronauts for launches and landings) so she wouldn't have to stop to urinate along the way. After first being charged with attempted kidnapping, Lisa Nowak has now been charged with attempted murder. The reports don't indicate how her husband, teenage son and younger twin girls are reacting to the news of her fall to earth.

Just going potty ...

Here we go again - or actually here we don't go again. July 21 looks to be a big day with the launch of the last Harry Potter epic ... HP and the Deathly Hallows. Pre-orders have already pushed the as yet unpublished tome onto the best-seller list. But won't be among the different versions pushed onto the market? An e-book version. Bad luck for those of us who prefer to take our books in our pocket rather than in our backpacks! Of course, (and here's a huge dollop of wishful thinking) this may be because there's a deal in the offering - maybe the new Sony digital reader will secure HP as its first major launch. Yes, I know that wouldn't help me much (I'm starting weight lifting practice now) but at least it would give e-reading a much needed filip.

Inverse law

The bus I catch to work is pretty reliable. It turns up about the same time every day - except when I am running early because then it is sure to be late ... and I can deal with that. i just want to know how it knows when I am running late because on those days, it is always, without fail, 5 minutes early!

Pressing problem

You know you have a problem - or possibly a solution - when you take your iron to work rather than risk leaving it on at home.

Naked thoughts

A Dutch gym has announced that it will introduce "Naked Sunday" for people who want to strip off their clothes while they work out. The response has been huge - both for and against. A major concern seems to be hygiene. Expect a flurry of towels and disposable bicycle seats. And of course, all machines will be cleaned and disinfected afterwards - although it was unclear in the report if that would be after each session or at the end of the day. But will the initiative get enough coverage to be successful? A recent survey of Naturists there found that the most popular activities for members were things you do outdoors - begging the question as to whether the level of exposure affects one's preference for nudity.

Value added?

What is it with television stations where there is no hesitation to serve up hour after hour of unadulterated US programming but when it comes to a compile program of Ed Sullivan's greatest novelty act, they feel the need to use an Australian presenter to do links and make voiceover comments which detract from the performances and the performers. It makes me wonder about what people see as entertainment - and how much of that is determined by what is on offer.

Something (else) in the water?

If you've ever turned lovingly to your partner and discussed the virtues of a seahorse in relation to yourself ie monogamous (not necessarily that it's a species where the male becomes pregnant and carries the eggs), it's time to find a new metaphor (or would that be similie?). They have been found out!
SEX SHOCK: SEAHORSES EXPOSED screamed the headlines yesterday. The gist of the story - seahorses, long thought of as monogamous, are in fact shameless sex-obsessed bisexuals - and none more so than those in Australian waters. A study has found that, unlike human rules of attraction, seahorses with the biggest bellies attract most partners, and of the 3168 sexual couplings recorded during the study, 37per cent were same-sex liaisons.
So it seems that the seahorses' fabled monogamy was just that ... fabled!
But wait ... of the three species studied, 5 couples (of the 11) of the British spiny seahorse were faithful to one partner. (When did faithful and monogamy come to mean the same thing?)

Fish man

If all is going to plan, Martin Strel and his 45-person support team have begun his swim down (up?) the Amazon. He plans to have the 5,400km swim completed by 11 April - as long as he survives the piranha fish, crocodiles, cannibals, and Pororoca (4m tidal wave). Hopefully his support team, traveling in three boats, will be able to distract potentially lethal predators by pouring buckets of fresh animal blood into the water. I'm not sure if that would attract or distract interest in him but it may depend on whether they're with, behind or ahead of him. When it comes to the toothpick fish, though, he's on his own.

The candiru or canero (Vandellia cirrhosa) or toothpick fish is ... found in the Amazon River and has a reputation among the natives as the most feared fish in its waters, even over the piranha. The species has been known to grow to a size of 6 inches in length and is eel shaped and translucent, making it almost impossible to see in the water. The candiru is a parasite. It swims into the gill cavities of other fish, erects a spine to hold itself in place, and feeds on the blood in the gills, earning it a nickname as the "vampire fish of Brazil". (Wikipedia)

If it restricted its activities to fish that might be okay, but it is attracted to urine or blood and swimmers have found themselves the target of the toothpick fish. Once in (through whichever orifice or opening) it's almost impossible to remove the fish except through surgery - by which time the swimmer has usually succumbed to infection, shock and death. But Mr Strel should be okay, as he is quoted by the BBC: "I never urinate straight into the water, I always urinate straight into my wetsuit" - which must be a great relief to those near the Danube, Mississippi and Yangtze Rivers - all of which Mr Strel, a Slovenian, has already swum.
This is probably his most hazardous swim to date - as well as everything else - there's also the possibility of running into poisonous fresh-water stingrays and aggressive bull sharks, which travel far up the river from the Atlantic and frequently attack swimmers, not to mention tarantulas, malaria, dengue fever and rabies spread by bites from vampire bats. Let's hope that 45-person support crew includes a few medics because it seems they might need a little help too!

What is free?

This week has been exciting in the PC world with the long-awaited release of the new operating system, Vista. (I gave Moses a Defrag instead.) More to my liking is the release of a new version of OneNote - a totally excellent program for just about any organising need. Although my heart says to go out and purchase the new one immediately the rest of me said download the free trial version. Hence the title question. What is free? I think if you have to provide anything to effect the deal then it is not free. Even if that is information. (People don't sell information for nothing you know.) So by the time I was able to download the trial I had been asked, inexpertly in a North American eccentric form, to provide employment type information which is irrelevant to my private home use of a software program. Way to not make people enjoy the prospect of playing with you MS. That being said I can't wait to get home to try it out.

Keyed in

As I work on my first instance of thumb RSI (just joking but I can see how it could happen if you spend too long too often on the tiny keypad of a mobile phone) I can't help wondering what is the longest word that can be made with a single key using predictive text. For example the 3 key has the letters d e f. So you could do feeded which I didn't think was a word but who am I to argue with the phone? Nonmom on the 6 key. Hours of fun - erredickly (or especially) if you look at 2 key combinations. Hmmm. I don't understand why some people eschew predictive text.

Defrag

I spent some hours yesterday doing a defragment of Moses (the tablet PC). You would think I would schedule this very important maintenance task rather than thinking about it only after noticing Mo being a bit not itself. In the end I let it run overnight which seems to have worked. Now I can concentrate on a couple of little tasks I have been deferring.

Time's not up

In the news this week - Emma Tillman who took out the title of world's oldest living person last week - and held it for four days. The current oldest living person is believed to live in Japan. So what does it take to make it that far - there are lots of attributions - good, clean leaving, a scotch a day - you've heard it all before. But maybe luck has something to do with it - like for the 100 year-old woman in Sydney this week who spent 15 hours trapped under a grandfather clock. She had apparently got up in the middle of the night, tripped, grabbed the clock to steady herself - and pulled it down on top of her. Neighbours heard her cries for help and she was taken to hospital where she is in a serious but stable condition. It's likely that she will be kept in hospital for a couple of days but she is expected to make a full recovery. Obviously, when time came crashing down on her, her time wasn't up yet.

Treatment options

Last year I blogged about the 50,000 people who die of snake bite in India each year because of the lack of proper treatment. Seems a similar situation may now exist in Peru where rabid bats have killed 11 children since Christmas Day. The report, which quotes the regional health director, said many vicitims were poor people who slept out in the open although others slept under mosquito netting. Pity it wasn't bat netting - or that treatment isn't available.

Touching on typing

Most of us have an inner touch typist waiting to get out - trust me it's faster to get ideas out if you're not pecking at the keys searching for the next letter.  Help is at hand.  Actually help is knowing where to put your hands and a NSW woman has come up with a great idea which will have you putting your fingers on the right keys faster than you can type "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."  The system she's developed relies on practice ... and labels which are colour coded and numbered which are stuck on the keys.  Even better, they're resilient enough not to wear out quickly - and use an adhesive that is supposed to NOT leave a gooey sticky mess on the keys when you remove them.  The Keyboard Genius is being sold through OfficeWorks in Australia, and will be distributed overseas by Kalnin.

Safe saw

Some time ago I was intrigued by news of the suicide pill - and I wondered how it had been tested.  Now there's the safe saw.  It has an automatic cut-off which grabs on to and immobilises the blade if it comes into contact with human flesh. This feature was demonstrated with a hotdog. But how is a hotdog like a finger - besides the obvious: shape?  It's cold, cooked and not alive.  Yes, the test was impressive, with just a nick on the hotdog - but on the basis of that, would you be game enough to use your finger to put it to the test - or just take their word for it?  And if it worked as well as suggested, wouldn't you think, for demonstration purposes, they would be prepared to ... well, perhaps not. (Thanks Vinicio for the videos.)

Silence is ...

probably an odd choice for a mobile phone ringtone.  But you can have it if you wish.  A San Francisco conceptual artists Jonathon Keats inspired by John Cag'es '50's piece - four minutes of silence composed for piano - has developed "My Cage".  It's a stream of silence compressed to a standard ringtone format.  (Of course there could be a small problem of knowing if you'd activated it or whether it just wasn't working!)

Lighting the way

Some people scoff at technology and gadgets but they can be useful.  I know I use my Palm and phone as torches (when I'm not using my headlamp).  I hadn't thought of using the iPod - but that's what helped a newbie mushroom picker who became lost in the woods in Oregon last November.  He used the light from his iPod nano screen as a flashlight and a beacon that rescuers used to spot him (then ... it's just taken me this long to post this).

On tour

Chances are that if you escaped from jail and were on the lam, you'd try to remain inconspicuous.  You'd probably steal cars to get as far away as possible.  Chances are that you wouldn't steal a singer's tour bus but that's apparently what one recent escapee in the States has done.  The short-version Yahoo report didn't mention if Crystal Gayle was in the bus when it was stolen, or how soon afterwards they were able to apprehend the escapee. However, since then, I have read the longer report:  she wasn't on the bus, and she expressed concern for the escapee for was trying to reach his terminally ill mother.  As well as the bus, he is suspected of stealing a pick-up truck, then the cab of a tractor-trailer, when he allegedly hooked to a Wal-Mart trailer with $300,000 in merchandise. Even though he parked the truck within 50m of his mother's home, it is unclear if he saw her before his re-capture.

Stunning good looks

Taser, makers of the stun gun, have launched a "consumer friendly" model. It comes in a variety of colours, and fits in a handbag to appeal to the safety and fashion conscious. Yes, you're going to be worried about the colour of the weapon that incapacitates a target by shooting a dart that pierces the skin and delivers a paralysing jolt of electricity. More good news - the newer model is likely to be significantly cheaper than the current model. Of course, just because one is safety and fashion conscious doesn't guarantee a conscience. Human rights group Amnesty International has long campaigned against the use of Tasers, which they claim have been linked to more than 150 deaths in the US and Canada since 2001.

Snake tales

There were stories of two snakes in the "odd news" today - one from Malaysia about a rather large snake - 7m - that had eaten a number of dogs guarding an orchard. Villagers who found the huge python did not harm it. Instead, they tied it to a tree then handed to wildlife officials. The other was about an Israeli health retreat - which could have make use of a 7m python. A newly introduced treatment is snake massage where those willing to pay the price, can have six non-venomous but very active snakes "run" loose over their bodies. Sound like something you wouldn't enjoy? The spa operator believes that once people get over any initial misgivings, they find physical contact with the snakes to be soothing. Right.

If you go down to the woods today ...

you could find that there has been a massacre of sorts. Where: a patch of bush (forest?) south of Perth, WA, at a place called Gnomesville. Why is it called that? Because it's home to about a thousand of them. Or was before persons unknown took it upon themselves to lop off the heads or smash several dozen of the locals. Emergency workers in WA are offering a reward for information on the "Gnomesville Massacre". Six orange-colored gnomes depicting emergency workers were among those destroyed, Gnomesville is apparently a popular tourist attraction, easily reached by buses visiting nearby vineyards.

Surfeit of smells

Had a less than wonderful start to the day with the discovery that one of the mini watermelons we bought at the markets on Saturday had exuded a foul-smelling clear foamy liquid - and lots of it. It had pooled in the bottom of a bag and seeped through that and spread over the kitchen floor. So I cleaned it up, all the while lamenting our choice of generic paper towels and not the more expensive absorbent type. Putting the disinfectant and paper towels away, I whiffed another something awful. It turned out to be the cat litter tray and a very fresh deposit which, had it been a smidgen to the left, would have been out of the tray. So I cleaned that up but then I heard one of my least favourite sounds - a cat vomiting. There are few things I hate more than cleaning up after a cat especially if non-absorbent paper towel is in the mix. Luckily there were no other surprises around the house this morning.

It's a sale

We go out to a fruit and vegetable market early on a Saturday morning sometimes. You can hire a trolley - which we do - by leaving a $10 deposit, of which $7 is refunded when you return it. This morning my partner returned it with instructions to sell it to someone for $8 if she could. This had happened to me once before. By buying someone else's trolley you save a couple of dollars on the deal - and while we've never done it, we have sold ours and made a dollar. And every dollar helps. Alas the whole concept was lost on my partner who was indeed approached by a trolley buyer. How much they asked - and they received the cheery reply "$7". It was only after the transaction was concluded that the penny dropped that I hadn't been making a joke. Ah well. Maybe we'll start on our fortune next time. And to be fair, the first time it happened I had to have it explained to me.

Tall storey

It may seem like a tall story but a man in the US has survived a fall from a 17th floor window at a Minneapolis hotel. Yes, he had some broken bones and internal injuries but he is expected to recover. The man, Joshua Hanson, 29, had returned to the hotel after a night of drinking and crashed through the floor-to-ceiling window at the end of a corridor. The report suggests he was running at the time. A roof awning, one floor above the ground, broke his fall.

Word for today

A new word on the news has attracted my attention. Upskirting. This is the act of photographing up someone's skirt. There has been a bit of it about at the Australian Open with a couple (three?) charged. There was also someone caught in a youth hostel - with a camera poked under a bathroom door. In one case the camera was concealed in a shoe. So is this a new phenomonem? Or just getting more coverage? And is there a reason for Upskirter interest in the tennis?

Where ...

Listening to Dr Karl (Kruszelnkicki) via pod the other day and the question was asked:

If time travel is possible - where are all the time travellers?

Reading choices

I have been pondering reading matter of late. I have just finished "Lullaby" by Chuck Palahniuk and even though the concept of the book was brilliant, the more I read, the more I questioned whether I would be able to recommend it to anyone. It may have had something to do with the necrophilia. Not that I'm a prude - or maybe I'll have to review that given my concerns about the 3rd World Products series. I'd stumbled across Book 1 through Fictionwise and about a third-way through I realised I was enjoying it enough to want to read more. So back to Fictionwise - and sure enough, there are eight more in the series - and all nine of them are in the one category - Erotica. Now you would have thought I'd have noticed a little thing like that while I was reading - and sure enough, a short while later, I chanced across the first almost gratuitous bonkfest in Book 1. Now I'm unsure whether I want to keep reading - because the further I read the more bonks there are - and, it seems, less story.

Truth in advertising

My young nephew is selling his car. Well he wants to and has a notice in its window to attract interest. Unfortunately he seems to have done too good a job. Each time he looks at the notice he thinks "I wouldn't mind owning that". One of the key features is the six-speaker sound system - which may or may not be a four-speaker system with another two wired in and knocking around in the back of the station wagon. Still he has had a bit of success with previous sales - and on complaints. I wonder if this could be the key to a career?

Water choices

We are currently in drought in varying degrees around Australia. Globally we are being warned of the dangers of a pandemic. It would be incredibly fraught if these challenges were to happen at the same time. If it takes 20 seconds to thoroughly wash your hands and if that represents x litres of water - where x is the actual amount (which I would include if I knew how to calculate x) - would we have enough water to survive the pandemic? Hmmm.

Another 15 minutes

American Idol is back with bumper ratings and more opportunities for people to be on television. But is it worth it? Especially if it takes the form of humiliation tv where Idol failed try-outs are featured complete with less than polite comments from the panel of judges. I'd like to say that no-one finds this behaviour funny but I don't believe that would be true. The Idol formula seems to call for at least one rude judge - and for them not to hold back. This is supposedly "entertainment" and for some it does seem to be. Even or perhaps especially, as Rosie "O'Donnell commented on the program The View earlier this week, when you are making fun of a person's physical appearance. But it behoves the question: if people know a joke will be made at their expense - and surely anyone who has seen the program knows that everyone is fair game - why would you do it? Why would you put yourself in that position? Does it all come back to the 15 minutes - or any minutes - of fame? Has this become the American Dream ... okay, to be fair - not just American?

15 minutes

Mobile Phones have been in the news of late but more for non-call related features. There was the story of a phone catching fire in a man's pocket causing him severe burns and $75,000 worth of property damage. (More recent reports say the phone may not have been the ignition agent although there have been no other options, not even spontaneous human combustion, offered). Another story related to mobile phone video capabilities. Images of Saddam Hussein's hanging were recorded via a mobile phone and posted on the internet. There are numerous stories of "happy slapping" - where an attack on a random victim is filmed by the assailants on their mobile phones and distributed, including posting to the net.
In another recent story it's not specified if the recording media was a mobile phone when three teenagers beat another girl while being videotaped, and then turned the camera on themselves to brag about the incident before posting the video online. Or if a US man used a mobile phone when he kidnapped, raped and tortured his wife, then hung her from a tree to film a two-hour bondage pornography video.
Have these incidents always happened? Or has the ability for people to broadcast to a wider audience quite easily and cheaply led to more people wanting and making/taking their "15 minutes" of fame? And then the public broadcasters give air time to the "newsworthy" ones?

Drinking contest

How many people does it take to stage a radio contest? Well if you don't count contestants - and if you take recent head lines as an indication - then 10 would seem a reasonable number. That's how many people were sacked this week after a woman died following a radio contest where people were asked to "Hold your Wee for a Wii". The contestants were required to drink as much water as they could, at a fairly rapid rate, without going to the toilet.
Unfortunately, too much water too quickly without elimination leads to water intoxication - where the body's balance of electrolytes is disrupted - causing brain swelling, seizures, coma or even death.
Jennifer Lea Strange is reported to have drunk around 2 gallons of water. (The reports I read do not indicate if this was enough for her to win the Nintendo game console). She reportedly did not look well, and called in sick to work after the contest. She was found dead at her home about five hours later.
Reports coming in now suggest that charges may be laid in relation to her death.

Television

I am watching the entire 7 seasons of Buffy and am enjoying it immensely. What an amazing mind Joss Wheldon must be - to conceive of Buffy and the other characters and their lives as teenagers and how they would grow and mature over the course of the show. I also love the way there are small references to future incidents which a first time viewer may not fully understand. Good stuff. At this stage - not taking into account that the first season was shorter than the others - I am half way through. So it must be time to start thinking about the next series to turn my attention to. By that I mean a series new to me, not a re-watch. And at this stage it may be Babylon 5. Let's see why some folk like it so. Oh, and that I found the first season for under $30 helped.

Happy whistler

It could be fair to say that happy people whistle. But how hard is it to smile and whistle at the same time? And have you ever whistled spontaneously while you were sad?

Real estate opportunity

Now is your chance to buy Bran Castle, formerly home to 15th Century prince Vlad Tepes also known as Vlad the Impaler - who inspired the Dracula character in Bram Stoker's novel. Word is that you can snare the castle for about $A99 million. Bargain.

Sky writing

Well you would probably think it would be fairly easy to find out how they form the letters in skywriting but for some reason this seems not to have made it on to the web. You can find out how high up the planes go and how big the letters are but nowhere can you find out if they do the letters flat, vertically or at an angle. Nor how they know how to form the letters. Do they work on a grid system or freehand? (Ta for having a look as well Deb.) But the news is that there is a new type of skywriting called sky typing where several planes fly parallel to each other and, controlled by a computer, they leave dot matrix style printing in their wake. I would like to see that.

What's in a name?

I started a new blog the other day and realised how many blogs there must be out there because it was fairly difficult to come up with a name I was happy with. Blogger kept offering options of course - and that was okay but not the same as just being able to have your first pic (sic heh heh). In the end I didn't mind but that was a chunk of time that I will never get back. Curious? Check out the link on the left. (I tried posting this from the mobile phone email account - a couple of times - but it didn't seem to work - but don't be surprised if it shows up again!)

The Dream

Back in September last year U.S. citizen (and mogul) Steve Wynn had just contracted to sell his Picasso "Le Reve " (The Dream) when he managed to put a hole in it with his elbow. The cost of the damage? He's saying the incident wiped $54 million off the painting's value. But will his insurer Lloyd's of London make a speedy settlement? Not so far. So Mr Wynn is suing them to move things along.
I suppose it makes sense that you would insure your artwork - and that you'd take out some sort of accidental insurance - but at what stage does personal responsibility get factored in? And is the insured value a set amount i.e. what Mr Wynn paid for it or is the value market price? Me thinks it would be unwise to dabble in these things without knowing.

Mole 1 - Man 0

A German man, a retired construction foreman, developed a high voltage device - a 380-volt cable and metal spikes rammed into the ground - to eradicate moles in his garden. Well that was the plan. Unfortunately all did not go as planned and he ended up electrocuting himself instead. The moles survived.

Recipe for ... ?

First take one TV cult show (Jackass). Add a drunk person; coffee table; hand; staple gun. You get the picture. Surprisingly, Jonathan Maybery, from Swansea, UK, says he was so busy laughing he didn't feel any pain while performing the stunt. I'm guessing that didn't last. And it will certainly give the paramedics who attended something to talk about: unable to separate Jonathan's hand, stapled, from the table, they took him and it to hospital.

Law and order

News in The Daily Telegraph (10 Jan 07) of a NSW Police office worker who pushed a woman in front of a train after she was criticised for coughing and spitting. The attack happened during the festive season and it has been suggested that the alleged attacker, Suzanne Kiloh, had consumed alcohol. Both women involved in the incident had been sitting at Circular Quay railway station when Kiloh began to "cough loudly and spit". Margaret Schestopalov, sitting nearby, allegedly said "Can you please stop spitting and cover your mouth" - which would seem a reasonable request for anybody, let alone someone had been hospitalised recently for respiratory illness. A couple of minutes later, Schestopalov stood to board an approaching train. It was then, according to court documents, that Kiloh stood up and walked with increasing speed [towards Ms Schestopalov] and with both her hands pushed [her] in the back causing her to propel forward and land face forward on railway tracks. Even though the train driver hit the emergency brakes, the front of the train travelled over Ms Schestopalov, who was severely injured in the incident. She is still in hospital more than a month after the incident. Facing court yesterday for the first time, Suzanne Kiloh's charges have been upgraded to include attempted murder.
The moral of the story: even though you may work with the law, it doesn't necessarily mean you're above it.

Milk with that?

Good news is that what scientists have long claimed - that tea is good for you - has been confirmed. But the European Heart Journal also had some bad news: while tea helps improve blood flow by increasing the ability of arteries to relax and expand, if you're partial to a wee drop of milk in your beverage, this counteracts the benefit!

Going Potty

The next and supposedly final instalment of the Harry Potter story has just become available for pre-order - and has topped the best seller list. Of course it matters not that the author is still writing the book nor that, once she finishes, it will still be at least another six months or so before it is edited and published. I will probably put an order in soon and hunker down for the wait ... Usually when I place a pre-order, it's for the very next week. (And who said I was an impulse buyer?)

Plane sailing

Thanks to "RainMan" (the movie) most of the world is aware that Qantas has an excellent safety record - notwithstanding that on a March 2006 flight from Singapore to Frankfurt, flew and successfully landed with a 3m hole in its fuselage. The hole was apparently the result of an exploding tyre on takeoff. The crew and passengers were unaware of the damage until the hole was noticed by ground staff and waiting passengers after it landed. No mention as made of anything that might have fallen out of the plane in transit (lost luggage anyone?) or where exactly on the plane the hole was (which is quite odd because it could also be about where the hole was not).
So if this happen with the "safest" airline, what can we expect from an airline in Mexico which doesn't have ticketing arrangements with Qantas and which we haven't previously heard about ... although this latter may not bea bad thing. You would think that if it had a dismal safety record, word would have reached us by now. Although it could be that news of incidents - similar the Qantas fuselage hole (a near miss?) - was not released.

Hey Scooby

What do Scooby-Doo, Muttley and Astro (the Jetson's dog not Boy) have in common? Besides the obvious ... that they're all cartoon dogs! They were all the work of animator Iwao Takamoto who recently died of heart failure, aged 81. As MSNBC reports: it was his creation of Scooby-Doo, the cowardly dog with an adventurous heart, that captivated audiences and endured for generations. Takamoto said he created Scooby-Doo after talking with a Great Dane breeder and named him after Frank Sinatra’s final phrase in “Strangers in the Night.” The breeder “showed me some pictures and talked about the important points of a Great Dane, like a straight back, straight legs, small chin and such." Of course, anyone familiar with Scooby knows he's nothing like this - because Takamoto decided to go completely counter to this and gave him a hump back, bowed legs, big chin - and the wrong color. Takamoto also worked on “Josie and the Pussy Cats,” “The Great Grape Ape Show,” “Harlem Globe Trotters” and “The Secret Squirrel Show.” Brings back some memories, doesn't it?

''Plutoed'

As you walk down the street carrying your murse, contemplating your next blog entry - because it's not a flog - does a feeling of truthiness come over you because you know you are about to be plutoed? And if so, do you thank all things good for the existence of the American Dialect Society and its continuing quest to find the word of the year. This year is is plutoed. As MSNBC reports: to "pluto" is "to demote or devalue someone or something," much like what happened to the former planet last year when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto didn't meet its definition of a planet. Other contenders this year were "climate canary" (an organism or species whose poor health or declining numbers hint at a larger environmental catastrophe on the horizon), as well as murse (man's purse), flog (a fake blog that promotes products) and macaca (an American citizen treated as an alien). "Truthiness" was top word last year. The word is credited to Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, who defined it as "truth that comes from the gut, not books." Last month, an online survey by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster also declared truthiness to be its word of theyear.The challenge ... today see if you can weave plutoed and truthiness into at least one conversation. (Thanks Vinnie, I managed one!)

Sky-writing

Apparently there is a guy who does most of the sky-writing along Australia's Eastern Seaboard. I know this because my boss met him over the holiday break. He was at the Camden airport and was in town to do skywriting for the start of the Sydney-Hobart Race and also to do a big question mark above the harbour on New Year's Eve. I have always been enthralled by skywriters and how they draw their symbols in the sky - how they know how to form the letters. So I asked the boss if he'd found out how it was done - and he said yes ... he had - but what he'd found out was how they made the smoke - not how they used it. But he thinks he will see him out at the airport again and, if he does, he will certainly ask more questions!

Life's little mysteries

From the U.S. comes a tale of two cities - New York where a strange odour hung in the air, and Austin where birds didn't. Both are mysteries and big ones considering quite a few city blocks were closed in Austin where the bird bodies littered the streets. At time of writing (which is to say I'm not going on to the web to check out what's been happening with these stories) no apparent cause had been discovered for either of these ... but it is curious, isn't it. Is there something in the air?

Peoples names

Going through my Contacts to tidy up in the move from Pocket PC to Palm, l realised that there are some people whose last name l never use and was surprised to find there was a surname! At first l thought l had inadvertently merged two names was my confusion.
(And on the subject of names, let's say a big hello to Pantaloma and Zerfina, two cats who shared the waiting room with us at the vet's the other evening.)

Heart attack

Well, he may have thought he was going for the heart, but it turns out it was really a part of a lung - which is certainly no consolation to the man, a fellow prison inmate, who was killed in the process. The attack happened last week in a French prison and apparently followed an unsuccessful request for isolation by the (now) self-confessed killer who is said to be schizophrenic. No reason has been given for the attack but according to a report in The Daily Telegraph, a saucepan with traces of fat and onions was being examined. So where did the onion come from?

Power

How does power work? As in electricity. I have often wondered if electrical power varies - especially between home and the office. I have noticed that both the laptop and the Palm charge faster in the office. And seem to hold their charge better. Of course this could be some kind of aberration but it doesn't feel like it. This may give the Palm the new lease of (battery) life I've been looking for - especially now that I am using it more.

Advertising vs packaging?

Which works better at getting the message across to teenagers ... pastel-coloured, fruit-flavoured cigarettes in packs which illuminate under fluorescent lights OR pictures of people whose mouths or limbs are affected by cigarette-related diseases and/or graphic representations of the chemicals inhaled while smoking cigarettes. Tough one isn't it? Which is probably why there are moves afoot to ban the funky packaging ... although I would also appreciate it if they would pull the graphic ads as well - or work out a way of them being visible only to current smokers. Wouldn't that be interesting - truly targetted marketing!

All coming out in the Wash?

Hmmm. Hate to sound cynical but did you hear about the death of the newly-elected mayor of a town in Louisiana who was found dead a couple of days before he was due to take office? The body of Gerald Washington was found on the weekend, shot once in the chest. But was it the suicide the coroner claims, or does it have more to do with that Wash (as Gerald was known) was the first black mayor-elect in the mainly white town? Wash's family has demanded a state police inquiry into his death.