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Daily Archives: February 11th, 2008
A Taser shotgun for long-range electrifying
CNET News.com: LINK
BUY ME THIS. I have crowds to subdue in my room.
Taser International will move into production on a projectile that can disable someone up to 98 feet away with a quick blast of electricity.
The company has successfully completed tests with the Office of Naval Research on the Extended Range Electro-Muscular Projectile (XREP). Unlike current Taser guns, this projectile is fired out of a shotgun. When it strikes a target, the projectile transmits a jolt of electricity, and a second round can then be fired.
In current Taser guns, the projectile has the same function, but it is connected to the gun and a power pack with a wire, limiting the range to 25 feet. XREPs are wireless.
The electrical jolt in wired Taser weapons is generally powerful enough to knock a person over and make him or her writhe in pain. Although the company did not state the size of the charge that XREPs release, testers said it was powerful enough for crowd control.
“The effect locked up muscles and totally overwhelmed the senses,” said Stephen Kunich, with Air Force Air Combat Command Security Forces and one of 35 volunteers who lined up for a five-second test. “I was completely incapacitated. Additionally, I was amazed at the instantaneous physical recovery,” he said.
Taser has been embroiled in controversy for the past few years. Many civil liberties organizations believe that the weapons have led to several deaths, despite being billed as nonlethal. The company denies these claims and asserts that the weapons lead to fewer fatalities, because they give police an alternative to using a gun in many circumstances.
A formal product launch of the XREPs will occur next year.
Speaking of Style, Check these out:
awesome.
Dolly Parton postpones tour, blames breasts
Reuters: LINK
Dolly: You try wagging these puppies around
Alex: Ok. Fine. Someone’s gotta do it.
LOS ANGELES - Dolly Parton’s breasts may be two of the wonders of the entertainment world, but the country music icon says they are a pain in her back.
Parton, 62, said on Monday she would postpone her upcoming North American tour after doctors told her to take it easy for six to eight weeks to rest her sore back.
“Hey, you try wagging these puppies around a while and see if you don’t have back problems,” the folksy singer-songwriter said in a statement.
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The tour was due to begin on Feb. 28 in Minneapolis, two days after the release of “Backwoods Barbie,” her first album of mainstream country music in 17 years. She hopes to hit the road in late April.
Parton, also famous for her big voice, big wigs and big smile, has long joked about her famous bust. When she received a songwriters award in New York last year, she noted that she’s been known for two things throughout her career.
“I’m talking about my music and my lyrics,” she said.
Parton, a member of both the country music and songwriters halls of fame, has been enjoying a renaissance since she released the first of a trio of bluegrass-tinged albums in 1999.
As with other veterans such as Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, Parton found that she was no longer welcome at country radio, and changed tack by delving into roots music. Her releases garnered widespread critical acclaim and a fond examination of her 40-year career.
Exorcism undergoes a revival across Europe
Washington Post: LINK
POCZERNIN, Poland - This wind-swept village is bracing for an invasion of demons, thanks to a priest who believes he can defeat Satan.
The Rev. Andrzej Trojanowski, a soft-spoken Pole, plans to build a “spiritual oasis” that will serve as Europe’s only center dedicated to performing exorcisms. With the blessing of the local Catholic archbishop and theological support from the Vatican, the center will aid a growing number of Poles possessed by evil forces or the devil himself, he said.
“This is my task, this is my purpose — I want to help these people,” said Trojanowski, who has worked as an exorcist for four years. “There is a group of people who cannot get relief through any other practices and who need peace.”
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Exorcism — the church rite of expelling evil spirits from tortured souls — is making a comeback in Catholic regions of Europe. Last July, more than 300 practitioners gathered in the Polish city of Czestochowa for the fourth International Congress of Exorcists.
About 70 priests serve as trained exorcists in Poland, about double the number of five years ago. An estimated 300 exorcists are active in Italy. Foremost among them: the Rev. Gabriele Amorth, 82, who performs exorcisms daily in Rome and is dean of Europe’s corps of demon-battling priests.
“People don’t pray anymore, they don’t go to church, they don’t go to confession. The devil has an easy time of it,” Amorth said in an interview…
Love triangle dad wants to put things right: LINK
A middle-aged dad at the center of a bizarre love triangle which landed him in court says he wants to rebuild his relationship with the son he tried to run over.
Tauranga man James Bowring was found guilty two weeks ago of recklessly operating a motor vehicle, assault with a blunt instrument, and driving while disqualified, after veering off a road, mounting a grass verge and forcing 18-year-old Jacob Bowring to take cover behind a lamppost.
The court heard Bowring senior had done a u-turn after he dropped off a 14-year-old girl and had driven back towards his son at 40-50 kmh.
He admitted mounting the curb and aiming the vehicle at Jacob, claiming he was “pretty upset” being calling a “pedophile” and being told he belonged in a “mental home”.
But last night, the 45-year-old beneficiary - who is bipolar - spoke for the first time about the events that led to his conviction and revealed he wanted to heal the wounds with Jacob.
The feud between father and son erupted when James started seeing Jacob’s girlfriend of two years, Krystal Clark, 18.
The odd couple, who live in Bowring senior’s house-bus on family land at Te Puna, were now expecting a baby and said they planned to marry.
But James was desperate for a reconciliation with his boy.
“I love him and miss him. I wish we could all just get on,” he told Sunday News.
“But up until now Jacob has said he will only visit me if Krystal is not here but that’s not okay with me.
“Krystal is the best thing that has ever happened to me. We’re in love, it’s as simple as that, and it’s awesome.”
James - who claimed to have fathered at least five children - was to return to the Tauranga District Court for sentencing on February 26. He said he lived in fear of going to jail.
He had been to prison for various offences and talked of a “life of misery” featuring sexual abuse as a child, broken relationships, work as a male prostitute and a six-month sexual relationship with a younger sibling.
“I can’t cope with the thought of going to prison again, I don’t like being around people. If I end up there I will probably kill myself,” James said.
“I need to be at home with my girl and our new baby.”
He said he took medication to regulate his depression and bipolar disorder.
James admitted he had “a few other kids around the country … but I never stayed with the mothers, I was only really a sperm donor. I was spreading the love around.”
He said marriage was now on the cards with Krystal, who was 14 weeks pregnant, and the pair wanted to have “as many kids as we can afford to care for.
“There is nothing wrong with us. We are both legal age, it is just one of those things these days. There is nothing untoward about it,” he added.
“When you fall in love with someone, all the rest of the hang-ups just seem to go away.”
The couple spent their days watching TV and DVDs on the house-bus, which had a long-drop toilet outside their bedroom window.
Krystal said her relationship with Bowring was “long-term” and her sex life could not be better.
“Younger men are immature and all about ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’, but with older lovers it is about sharing and they are happy to give and receive,” she told Sunday News.
“James and I are so stable in our relationship and even when we have rows, we just talk things through.”
She also hoped James and Jacob could build bridges.
“Jacob does have his good points. He can be caring and can use his head sometimes to be really helpful,” she said.
But for now, Jacob did not want to have anything to do with his dad or his former girlfriend.
“I don’t care. The worst thing about it all is that now he can’t fix my cars,” Jacob told Sunday News.
“I don’t want anything to do with him.”
Jacob, a tyre-fitter, said he was unable to talk in detail because of a deal he had with a women’s magazine.
“I’ve sold my story to get me into a flat, so that’s good. The whole thing is a mess. My dad has gone nuts.”
OK. Lifetime is known for all those “women-being-beaten” movies. so why not do a 180 and earn an oscar outta this premise. you don’t have to thank me. Just cast me as an extra. oh yeah, and i’ll take 50% of the profits.
Police: Women attacking, robbing men at Dallas bars
DALLAS - Police say they believe at least eight cases of men robbed, and in some case beaten and possibly drugged, may all be connected to women targeting men at ritzy hotel bars.
Dallas police said the women have chosen the Ghostbar at the W Hotel to target at least three males.
“They are more or less forcing themselves on the men, and they get real aggressive with the men,” said Detective Mark Jenkins.
Surveillance pictures taken of the women show them going in and out of the hotel. Police said they may be able to link at least eight cases going back to November. In some of those cases, they may have drugged their victims’ drinks.
“Shortly after meeting them,” Jenkins said. “Then, the rest of the night is a blur until they wake up the next morning and find their property missing.”
Police said all of the men were wearing expensive watches.
The latest victim said he was at a bar when three women asked him to dance, and asked continuous questions about his $2,000 Rolex.
“She said, ‘Oh, I need to check the time,’ and kept looking at my watch,” he said.
He then said the women coaxed him into their car, and once inside, robbed him of his watch.
“They started beating me,” he said. “I couldn’t find my watch until one of them said, ‘Take out the knife. Take out the knife.’ One started screaming, ‘Stab him. Stab him,’ and then I decided to get out of the car.”
One woman has already been arrested, and police said they are looking for at least two more. Police said they believe the women are part of a larger group that has robbed men in other states as well.
