That dolphin wedding was my favourite weird news. Mostly for the "I am not a pervert' announcement. I wonder if she wore white?

Dammit, Sentinel, you made me spit out coffee out of my blow-hole! *ssssskkrriiiiiiiiiii*

quote:

Originally posted by Sentinel400:
That dolphin wedding was my favourite weird news. Mostly for the "I am not a pervert' announcement. I wonder if she wore white?

I wonder if HE wore a toxic dart launcher with matching cuff-links.

They never did find them or did they?

Unfaithful girlfriend grassed on by parrot

quote:

Originally posted by Crash:
I wonder if HE wore a toxic dart launcher with matching cuff-links.

They never did find them or did they?

No, but I did feel rather woozy for a while after I bit down on something sharp in that tuna sandwich I had last week.

An engagement ring?

It wasn't still on a finger was it?

Finger fraud sends couple to prison

9 years and 12 years for attempted fraud? They'd get about 6 months in the UK, probably suspended as it was a first offence.

Yeah, it seems a bit excessive to me.

In Thailand two Thai fishermen are sentenced to death for damaging the country's image (and raping and murdering an English woman).

Maybe the Thai prime minister should look to his own police force if he wants to protect his country's image. Disgusting bastards in my personal experience.

quote:

Originally posted by Kradlum:
9 years and 12 years for attempted fraud? They'd get about 6 months in the UK, probably suspended as it was a first offence.

Based on the results of their scam, that sentence seems about right. Layoffs and firings galore for the hapless employees who'd have got the blame for slack or malicious stunts on the production line, all the people vowing never to go to Wendy's ever ever again... havoc!

I don't know if this has been linked before, but you can now get rings made out of bone.

There was a couple on the news last night who were getting it done. They were quite geeky. The conversation went something like this:

Her: ...well, they're quite bio-degradable. If we split up I could just throw the ring into the garden and it would disappear pretty quickly.
Him (slightly hurt look): Are you sure? Skeletons take a long time to decompose.
Her: Really? When I buried my cat in the garden the bones disappeared quite quickly.

I think I'd be having second thoughts about marrying her. I mean, she didn't say the cat was dead to begin with. I imagine her burying her cat and then digging it up every week to check how far it has decomposed.

*resists urge to recite relevant Python sketch... Must... not... succumb... One day at a time, Rob, one day at a time*

Anyhoo -

Cloning fraud could keep patents

A patent application, filed by disgraced stem cell scientist Woo Suk Hwang and colleagues and based on work now admitted to be fabricated, may nevertheless be granted, a New Scientist investigation has found.

Furthermore, the filing of the application could present a substantial obstacle to anyone seeking future patents in the same field.

...

Hwang's patent submission (in pdf format) stakes a claim in over 120 countries for a legal monopoly on the broad concept of "an embryonic stem cell (ESC) line derived from a nucleus-transferred oocyte prepared by transferring a nucleus of a human somatic cell into an enucleated human oocyte". Or, in simple terms, an ESC line derived from a cloned human embryo – a technique which, if achieved, could prove crucial to future therapeutic cloning methods.

In support of the claim, the application details experimental methods and cites a sample ESC line deposited with the Korean Cell Line Research Foundation. The sample, number KCLRF-BP-00092, has since been discredited by the SNU Investigation Committee set up to investigate Hwang's work. The committee's report was published on 10 January.

The UK Patent Office has taken a leading role in trying to clarify what aspects of stem cell research can be patented in Europe. Lawrence Smith-Higgins at the UKPO says: "European patent examiners are not interested in whether something will work or not. The commercial world, which is where patents belong, will judge. As long as an invention is not clearly contrary to scientific laws – like time travel – research has no bearing on the grant of a patent."

Unproven ideas are often be easily patented because there is a good chance no one has previously filed the same claim. In 1973, for example, the British Railways Board was granted a patent on plans for a notional nuclear-powered "space vehicle" that was unashamedly a flying saucer.

George Schlich, a patent attorney and counsel for leading stem cell company Stem Cell Sciences agrees with Smith-Higgins: "Europe takes a matter-of-fact view. Does it really matter if the man made up his results? Let him try and sell it."

...

But even if the Hwang patent is now abandoned, or proved worthless in some countries, or found un-enforceable in court, there is still a sting in its tail. Once a patent application has been published anywhere in the world, it becomes a permanent prior disclosure.

"The Hwang publication could block subsequent patents on work that constitutes an obvious extension of what Hwang described, even if the Hwang work proves unworkable itself," says Wilson. "But whether it could block patents to the same work depends on whether what Hwang described works or not."

Allowing patents for discoveries as well as inventions. Such dumbness. (Not that that's strictly relevant in this case.)

Frenchman sued over eBay use (Wired)

quote:

His activity first came under scrutiny by French police when one of his vases for sale on eBay turned out to be stolen. After the defendant, whose name was not made public, proved he had not stolen the vase, French prosecutors claimed he was a professional art dealer and was running his business illegally.

quote:

Originally posted by Kradlum:
Maybe the Thai prime minister should look to his own police force if he wants to protect his country's image. Disgusting bastards in my personal experience.

Didn't have enough money for a bribe, did ya?

Fortunately it wasn't me. My thai friend is a retired policeman and current drug dealer, so he tips us off of any planned raids and smooths the path if any trouble occurs.

Unfortunately another guy I knew wasn't so lucky. He was at a beach party and then drove home on his rented motorbike. Except it turns out it wasn't his rented motorbike, it was someone else's rented motorbike that looked identical to his and the key fitted.

The next morning he was woken by the police who found the motorbike outside his hut. The alcoholic chief of police then proceeded to turn up at his hut at any time of the day or night and try to force himself on him.

On another occasion we were at a beach party for Thai New Year where the same chief of police turned up, smashed out of his head as usual and with his police issue revolver stuffed into the waistband of his jeans. A couple of young english guys we knew were wrestling in the surf and the chief of police proceeded to join in with the wrestling. We tried to warn them off, but since they were drunk they didn't get the picture that causing the drunk chief of police to lose face might not be so funny the next morning.

Snake befriends snack.

quote:

Originally posted by Kradlum:
Snake befriends snack.

Snack hamster has an excellent ring to it as an Unreal Tournament name!

A Danish firm is selling t-shirts with AK-47 logos and the initials of FARC and the PFLP on them. Now, they want to donate some of their profits to the groups.

BBC Coverage

See, this is one of those surreal things that I'm suprised hasn't been in a cyberpunk novel yet. What's next, the PLO selling Girl Scout Cookies?