On the moose ...

If you’re going walking in the woods near Loftahammer, Sweden, be on the lookout for moose – especially those who have been eating fermented fallen apples. While moose normally run away from humans, if they’ve been supping on the apples they can become aggressive – and, it seems, aggressive enough to kill. A man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife last September was cleared after police decided she was probably killed by a moose - a decision they made after finding moose hair and saliva on his wife’s clothes. Thank goodness for forensics but it's tragic about the apple-affected moose.

Sky high

A 56-cm (22") high figurine of King Kong, as used in the original movie about the giant ape, recently sold at auction at Christie's in London for $217,450. The figurine was used in the final scene of the movie where the ape attempts to fend off fighter planes as it stands atop the Empire State Building. How could you let something like that go?

Drawing a conclusion

This is from Sydney's The Daily Telegraph yesterday and highlights the power of drawing .... this "crude" sketch has led to an arrest in a murder case. Details can be found here.

Set phaser to "stun"

New technology news tells of scientists showing off a device that would be more at home on Star Trek - a "phaser". Alas at this point, we're still in trouble if the aliens come - unless they're tiny worms called nematodes - because that's currently the only thing the phaser seems to work on. What are the chances?

Eating it up

It makes you wonder about how different the world would be if everyone had access to the same information. In the news this morning, there's a report from Moscow of three homeless men who killed another man, ate parts of his body and sold some of the meat to a kebab stand. The three men were reportedly acting out of "personal hostility toward the victim". Now, if they'd read the newspapers last week, they may have claimed a different motivation - after a man charged with cannibalism received a reduced sentence, if any (I really do need a mobile internet connection that works well - or to note these things down when I read them) because he said he was "starving". I'm not sure if he murdered his victim ... oh wait, here it is ... in Russia, a judge reduced the sentence of a man who had killed his mother (after she had refused to give him money for drink) and then eaten part of her a couple of days later because he was hungry and had to eat. Mmmm ... or rather, hmmmm, what will they think of next in way of defences?

2000 and counting

Life seems to get busier at times but we still find time for the important things - which is why I've just hit the 2000 post mark here. More to come.

Why don't they just say so?

A recent JB HiFi Catalogue featured a range of DVDs which boasted covers with lenticular printing. I suspected that meant those where the images changes and looks like 3-D and that seems to be what it is, but why didn't they just say so?

A matter of record

French President Nicholas Sarkozy appears to have been caught out in a fib. A photo was posted or Facebook which shows him chipping away at the Berlin Wall on the night it came down. Only problem is, is that from official council records it appears he was in Paris that day and would probably not have reached Berlin until two days later. It's amazing because, if it is true that he wasn't there on the day, why would he want to claim he was? Surely being there at all is enough of a slice of history.

Sign of the times?

The new Limited Collector's Edition DVD of Twilight is "brimming" with special features - one of which is a digital copy so, as was noted in the review in today's The Daily Telegraph "(Twihards) can carry the movie everywhere on an iPod or iPhone". What will they think of next? And are there any types of copy protection on the digital copy so Twihards (I don't like the use of this word because I know some and they are very nice people - but it is an amazing neologism (new-word-combination if that in itself was a word ... which I am sure it is but can't find on the dictionary this morning ... of course it helps if you spell it correctly ... not as neogolism - you have to love spell check) and is kind of fun to say - especially if you say it over and over again quickly.

Tourist tax

What will they think of next? First it's parking fees at Sydney's popular beaches and now there's talk of a tourist tax on visitors to the Blue Mountains - plus more parking meters as well! What happened to the land of the free - oops wrong country.

One for the dogs

Pals who have cattle dogs are quite fond of them - and quite rightly it seems. Teka the cattle dog was given an RSPCA Achievement Award earlier this week for saving his owner, Jim Touzeau, who had suffered a heart attack. The dog did so by jumping up and down on his chest. So how did he know how to do it? ER and hispital reality shows? Or some innate instinct? Like the cat who came to the assistance of someone we know - she was upset and having difficulty catching her breath. The cat came to her, put its paws on her shoulders and stayed with her, breathing on her face as if to model how it was done, until she started breathing properly again.
The "humanness" of animals has been in the news this week with the story of a group of chimpanzees who grieved as a group over the passing of Dorothy, one of their number, at a Rescue Centre in Cameroon, west Africa.

Out of control

It must be very hard for a judge and jury to work out what is truth and what is not ... although in this instance you would hope some medical evidence would be able to help. On 21 October 2007, Adnan Safwan was allegedly in charge of a boat which crashed into a bridge pylon causing the death of his passenger. He was charged with "dangerous navigation" but is pleading "not guilty" by virtue of the fact that his passenger had knocked him out with an anchor before the vessel hit the pylon. This would suggest that he wasn't in control of the vessel and therefore could not be held responsible for piloting it (or not piloting it). The question that comes to mind though, is why would a passenger on a boat hit the person driving it with an anchor? Hopefully these, and other questions, will be answered at the trial and justice will be done.

Not quite sure

The headlines in the Sydney papers today are about whether one of murdered heart surgeon Victor Chang's killers should be released "early" from prison after serving his minimum sentence of 18 years. At this point, it would be good if we knew more about sentencing and minimum requirements worked. One of the more amazing things about the debate though is whether people commit more of a crime if they murder someone who could have done great good if they had not been killed. A comment on the reaction line of a radio station this morning suggested that people who kill drug dealers should get a shorter sentence. They stopped short of suggesting such killers be given a reward (or would that be a bounty in this situation?).
It is an emotionally charged issue, one to which there are no easy answers. But it has raised an issue about process. Apparently, Victor Chang's family were not invited to the initial hearing about his killer's release. Maybe that needs to be done as a matter of course from now on - regardless of how long ago the crime was committed.
It would be interesting to see if this raises new call for the re-introduction of capital punishment: dead men (and women) don't get early release ... or do they?

Sailing away

Jessica Watson set sail from Sydney yesterday in her attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world. There has been much speculation about whether, at 16, she is too young to attempt this solo feat. But, some of that concern was questioned this morning on a Sydney radio station, when they said that if she gets in trouble, she can always find a container ship - a reference to her collision with a container ship on her first test outing from Brisbane to Sydney? But it's good to know that she's finally on herf way - and that her mother made a quick sneak visit on board before Jessica set off to leave some secret treats and Christmas presents for her courageous daughter.

Seems about right

While looking for news of the balloon boy this morning, I looked at the Reuters Odd News and there was a headline: Burning bunnies helps keep people warm and cozy. Intrigued, I clicked on the link only to get the message "Sorry, there's a problem with this page". They may have got that right - but until the content can be accessed, we may never know.

Common endeavours

More questions ... again from radio listening. Hilary Clinton has been in talks with the Russians about missile defence and she was quoted (and no, I didn't realise I needed to copy down the quote until after it was over and gone forever in the ether - until the next bulletin at least) as saying it was a "common" interest. Hmmm - this could suggest that they are worried about a common enemy - or does it just seem that way.

What's in a word

Listening to the radio this morning, there was some discussion about whether criminals or their families should be allowed to make money from writing books about their wrongdoings. The word "profiting" was used, but also "profiteering" and I was sent to the dictionary to determine the distinction. I admit, I am still a little confused. Profiteering relates to making an unreasonable or excessive profit. Profiting relates to deriving a benefit from. Both seem to work in this context.

Giving it back

News reports this morning suggest that Ben Lexen, credited with the design of the winged keel, that helped Australia win The America's Cup (way back when) was in fact only a small contributor to the project. A Dutch naval architect claims that he was the driving force behind the keel and was paid $25,000 by boat owner, Alan Bond, to keep the level of his involvement secret. According to The America's Cup rules, the competing boats have to be largely (wholly?) designed by the countries racing them. The question now is ... will Dr van Oossanen (the architect in question) feel compelled to give the money back? And another question is ... why come forward with the news now - when Ben Lexcen can't have a right of reply - and Mr Bond's memory has reportedly him in the past.

Apology

David Letterman's reaction to a blackmail threat last week was quite unexpected. He went public first - admitting on-air that he had slept with some of his female employees. Such was the surprise at this that it didn't even occur that despite having been in a long-term relationship and recently marrying his beau-ette - during his admission he didn't offer any apology - to her or generally. Not that there was any requirement for him to do, of course, but someone must have thought better of it because he has now made an on-air apology to his wife.

Best foot forward

This may be the start of an urban myth but while watching a report this morning on yesterday's Rugby League Grand Final there was the suggestion that Parramatta, the losing side, should have known what was in store when one of its players showed up wearing two left boots.