►WHIRLED GNUS◄: Jul 7, 2011

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Rescuers use duct tape to save ducklings trapped in storm drain

A few animal lovers rescued a few ducklings that were trapped in a storm drain on Tuesday night in Boise, Idaho.

A passerby noticed a mother duck acting strangely on the side of the road and stopped to see what was going on. She realized a few ducklings were trapped in the drain.

A bit later, some others had gathered to help remove the ducklings. They used a stick with duct tape on the end as well as a swimming pool skimmer to take three ducklings out.

All of the rescued ducklings were reunited with their mother who was by then swimming in a nearby canal.

Who you callin' an inmate?

The family of a coldblooded killer serving 25 years to life in state prison for shooting a man in the head complains he's being stigmatized -- by the use of the term "inmate."

The label "implies that our brother is locked up for the purpose of mating with other men," claims Marie Domond in a lawsuit against the state Correctional Services Department.

The Brooklyn federal court filing demands that officials immediately stop calling Gerard Domond "an inmate."

It apparently hurts his feelings. Sis seeks $50 million damages for "mental anguish."

In 1987, Gerard, then a 24-year-old with a lengthy rap sheet, killed a man in Brooklyn in a drug deal gone wrong.

Now 49, he is at the upstate Clinton Correctional Facility and eligible for parole in May 2013.

Acting as her own lawyer, Marie insists: "The suggestive nature of the word is disgraceful. This cruel psychological programming has weighed heavily on our emotional and psychological well-being."

"It's something that's bothered me for a long time," Marie told The Post. "I couldn't understand why no one recognized that somebody being labeled an inmate, why they wouldn't recognize that. To me it just sounded very wrong."

State correction officials declined to comment on the pending litigation. Or on the word.

Aussie shaves for the first time in 41 years

THEY'VE been married for 35 years, but until Friday night, Sue King had never seen her husband Rod's face.

That's because the 59-year-old Port Lincoln man hadn't shaved in 41 years.

After side-stepping his work's clean-shaven policy for a decade, Mr King finally had to toe the company line to keep his job and shaved off his 20cm-long beard.

Daughter Jessica, 26, cried as she watched pieces of his mottled beard fall to the ground. "It's not dad," she said, wiping her eyes.

His other daughter, Emily, 30, looked on "devastated", Mrs King, 58, bit her nails and shook her head and Mr King himself needed a bit of Dutch courage before the job was done.

And when the new, clean-shaven Mr King, 59, was unveiled, it was like watching an episode of Extreme Makeover - except not everybody was happy with the result.

"It's bloody awful," Mrs King said of her husband's new look.

"It just doesn't look like him. It's going to take some getting used to, he'd better hurry up and retire so he can grow it back again. I married him when he had a beard and that's how I like him."

Mr King was quite overwhelmed himself - instinctively going to stroke his beard but finding there was nothing to run his hands through.

"It feels strange at the moment," he said. "I shaved it for work purposes, the company has tightened up on it but that's fair enough," Mr King, who works as a stevedore and cleaner for grain-handling company Viterra said.

"It's an OH&S thing." Mr King couldn't quite explain why he'd kept his beard all these years.

"I've honestly never thought about shaving it since," he said.

"I don't even know how to shave - I'll probably cut my throat!"

Mr King used the opportunity to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service - auctioning off the right to snip of bits of his beard at the Ravendale Community Sports Centre. Before having it shaved in front of a crowd of more than 50 people, Mr King said he was completely daunted by the idea of getting rid of the facial hair that had been part of his life for so many years.

"I don't eat cream buns because it gets caught up in it and it's been caught in the drill here at home before. I got too close to the drill and it pulled a chunk of it out," he said.

Mrs King also has plenty of memories of his untamed beard.

"I've never seen his face clean shaven," Mrs King, 58, a nurse, said.

"People ask what it's like to kiss him. I joke I don't kiss him but actually it's very soft, it's not prickly at all."

Mr King said tomorrow he will be heading straight to get a new driver's licence because if the police pull him over they won't believe he's the man in the picture.

JOKE: SUBWAY PERVERT

The subway car was packed. It was rush hour, and many people were forced to stand. One particularly cramped woman turned to the man behind her and said, "Sir, if you don't stop poking me with your thing, I'm going to the cops!"

"I don't know what you're talking about miss, that's just my pay check in my pocket."

"Oh really," she snapped, "then you must have some job, because that's the fifth raise you've had in the last half hour."

GOT CAPTION? 7/8

got your ears on?

GOT CAPTION? 7/8 v.2.0

VIDEO: CAR SOUNDS..about 1min. each

After Four Years in an Airport German Man Decides it's Time to Go Home

A German Viktor Navorski who fled from his wife and family and then lived for four years at Palma de Mallorca Airport (PMI) in Spain because he had nowhere else to go has decided to fly home.

Architect Rene Becker, 57, vanished four years ago from his home in Mainz after accusing his wife Edith, 51, of cheating on him and having an affair.

After living at the airport for four years, he became the focus of a German newspaper article one week ago. He has received an unexpected visit this week when his daughter Patricia, 24, and wife flew to see him to persuade him to come home. They had not tried to contact him, believing that he had managed to acquire a luxury villa in Spain - not realising he had spent all his money years ago.

Pushing a grubby suitcase and with a huge beard, Becker burst into tears when he saw the pair in the airport lounge. He said: "I think I might have made a mistake. I think it's time for me to come home to Germany."

The article published last week revealed how Becker had been allowed to wash in the local police station, had eaten in the airport canteen for a special price of two Euros and earned cash by helping out around the airport.

VIDEO: ---------- DUH ----------car jump fail

Rally Car Crashes, Rolls Over and Over and Over

Tiny worms with teeth attack Australian couple

It is the first time humans have been infected by the parasite in Australia.

It is believed the couple became ill after eating a fish they caught on a camping holiday.

Alfred hospital infectious disease physician Andrew Fuller said that when the couple ate the fish, believed to be a black bream, they also ingested the gnathostomiasis larvae.

"The worms are 1-3mm long and have got these sharp little teeth and they can go anywhere they like in the body," Dr Fuller said.

The worm works its way around the human body until it dies or is killed by the immune system.

"They move under the skin and cause itchy lumps that can make you feel sick - and it can be very hard to diagnose."

The infected couple suffered muscle pain, fevers, vomiting and their skin began to look like orange peel.

They were given antibiotics and have recovered.

The worms can stay in a human for 15 years, leaving people chronically ill.

They can make their way into the brain, other organs and the spinal cord.

"They eat your tissues," Dr Fuller said.

He had treated 28 people with the condition, who all contracted it overseas.

Neither of the latest patients had been overseas.

Dr Fuller sent samples of their blood to Bangkok.

The fish was caught in the Calder River, north of Derby, and the incident was reported in The Australian Medical Journal.