Thursday, November 18, 2010

VIDEO: Einstein..the World's Smallest Horse

JOKE: Becky and Jake

Becky was dying. Her husband, Jake, standing vigil at her side, held her fragile hand, the tears running down his face. Becky roused slightly. She looked up and said, "My darling Jake..." she started.

"Hush, Becky," he said. "Just rest, don't talk."

She insisted. "Jake," she said weakly, "I... I have something I must confess...."

"No need, Becky," replied Jake, "Everything is all right now. Just go to sleep."

"No, Jake, no. I want to pass in peace. Jake, I slept with your brother, and his best friend, and your best friend, your uncle, and even your father!"

"I know," Jake whispered. "Why do you think I poisoned you?"

hahahaha

Another Female Teacher Convicted of Sexual Assault on Students

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Former Clinton High School teacher Megan Baumann talks with her attorney, Mike Farley, on Monday in Anderson County Criminal Court.

CLINTON - She had sex with one of her male students, fondled a second student and twice sent nude photos of herself to students by cell phone.

Megan Baumann, 28, former social studies teacher at Clinton High School, admitted to those accusations in a plea deal Monday in Anderson County Criminal Court.

Her confessions netted Baumann three years in prison and three years on probation.

She also must register for life as a sex offender, surrender her teacher's license and undergo therapy.

Baumann, who fought back tears as she responded to Judge Don Elledge's questions, reports to prison Jan. 10. She has to serve 30 percent of her sentence before she's eligible for parole.

"It's not an agreement that she's happy with," said Baumann's attorney, Mike Farley. "She feels the punishment is very harsh."

"I believe this is a just sentence," Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark said. It sends a message, he said: "Adults having sexual contact with children will be aggressively prosecuted.''

Farley said Baumann's feelings about her sentence are based on "a number of similar-type cases."

"People have been charged with the same type of crimes and received probation, received diversion, received no jail time and weren't forced to be placed on the sexual offender's registry for life,'' he said.

Baumann's pleas involving three male students younger than 18 but older than 13:

n One count of statutory rape by an authority figure for a Jan. 29 episode.

n One count of sexual battery by an authority figure, involving touching a student's clothing covering "intimate parts" in December 2009.

n Two counts of displaying sexually explicit material to minors in December and January. One count involved the same student in the statutory rape case.

Clark declined to say where the sexual episodes occurred.

Baumann received three years in prison for the statutory rape conviction and two 11-month, 29-day jail sentences for sending the nude photos. Those sentences will be served at the same time.

A three-year probation term for sexual battery will follow Baumann's prison sentence.

Word of Baumann's sexual encounter with the student spread quickly through the 1,100-student school last winter. Less than a week later the educator, a Powell resident at the time, was suspended without pay.

Investigations by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Clinton police followed.

In mid-February, Anderson County Schools Director Larry Foster sent Baumann notice he wanted to fire her, calling her behavior "flagrant, egregious and reprehensible.''

Baumann originally planned to appeal Foster's dismissal bid, and a hearing was set. It was canceled after school officials learned the plea deal was in the works.

Baumann was a nontenured teacher who interned at Clinton High in 2007-08 while she was a University of Tennessee student. She started teaching at Clinton High in August 2008.

Farley said Baumann "went through a very difficult emotional time last year" in her personal life. Heretofore, he said, "She has lived an exemplary life."

A Koala Walks Into a Bar...

A koala has caused a stir at an Australian pub, wandering inside during a stormy evening and taking up a position above the bar before promptly falling asleep. The furry male marsupial stunned drinkers on Saturday night when he entered the Marlin Bar on Queensland's Magnetic Island, approached barman Kevin Martin and ended up climbing up a supporting wooden pole and settling on a beam.

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"I asked him for ID and he didn't have any so that's when he got a bit disgruntled and climbed up a pole," joked Martin on Wednesday. "And he just sort of lay over the piece of wood, one of the little rafters, and flopped his arms down and just fell asleep, enjoying the atmosphere."

Although the koala's visit was welcome, Martin said he called wildlife workers to remove the animal out of concern for its own welfare. The koala was later set free elsewhere on the island, which has a healthy population of the animals - unlike elsewhere in Queensland where they are threatened by development.

Martin said he does not know what prompted the koala to enter the bar, but speculated it could have been attempting to escape the rain. "He was sort of hanging outside the pub beforehand," he said. "He looked a little bit out of his element, I think he wasn't expecting to find himself in the pub. But he seemed pretty happy nonetheless."

Australian twin sisters drew guns on each other at shooting range and fired

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They were sharing the experience of a lifetime, a cultural exchange to one of the most picturesque Rocky Mountain towns. But when one Australian twin was due to return home from the Colorado town of Arapahoe, the sisters did not take a taxi to the airport. Instead, the 29-year-old Victorian twins drove to a shooting range, hired two pistols - and shot each other in the head. Just what motivated their desperate pact is unknown. And so horrific were their injuries, US police were yet to determine which sister died and which is critically injured. The sisters, whose names are withheld, had been in the US for less than three months.

According to their cultural exchange visas, which often indicate participation in an educational travel program, the first sister arrived on August 17 and the other on September 19. On Monday, one was to return to her Victoria home. Police said yesterday they took a taxi from La Quinta Inn and Suites, where they stayed, to the Family Shooting Centre in Cherry Creek State Park just 8km away. Gun range owner Doug Hamilton said the women had been to the shooting range before and knew how to use the pistols they had rented. After checking in and being issued pistols, the sisters spent 80 minutes at the range.

What happened next has baffled US investigators and torn a family apart. A surveillance video showed both women falling backwards to the ground almost simultaneously outside the shooting stall at about 2.50pm on Monday, but it did not show what happened inside the stall. No one entered or left the stall other than the two women. Police still don't know whether the shooting was an accident, a suicide or foul play. No suicide note was found. "Every time I get new information there's a new twist," sheriff's Captain Louie Perea said. "We're keeping an open mind." He said they weren't sure who fired the gun or guns, or whether the same bullet hit both sisters, who were in the same shooting lane.

But they ruled out a third person shooting them. The taxi driver who drove the sisters to the range told investigators he had not noticed anything unusual in their behavior. Neither did other people using the range at the time. "They were interacting with each other and nothing seemed unusual," Captain Perea said. "They were just a couple of gals having fun at the range." Their sisters' family had been notified but the coroner was still trying to identify which sister had died through fingerprint and dental records. "They look very similar," Captain Perea. Investigators had been unable to talk to the surviving twin, who is in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

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