BELGRADE, Serbia (Reuters) -- A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival.
The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it.
"There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic told Reuters.
Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones and beer cans.
Monday, August 6, 2007
( 11:45 PM )
Ever have those dreams where you run in slow motion, like I have? Well, you can now experience the same sensation on your iPhone!!
Monday, July 30, 2007
( 10:48 PM ) Bill Walsh, 1931-2007 He made growing up in the Bay Area in the '80s completely awesome.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
( 12:19 AM )
Well, here's to the end of what has been quite a strange week.
SANTA MONICA, California (AP) -- Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, who made headlines earlier this year when he claimed to be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby, said Friday he was stripped, robbed and left naked in his Rolls Royce by three women.
Frederic Von Anhalt called police around 10 a.m. Thursday to say he'd been driving near the Bel Air Country Club when he was flagged down by three women in a white Chrysler convertible with Florida plates, said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Kevin Maiberger.
Von Anhalt said he thought the three women wanted to pose for a photograph with him, but when he started talking to them, one of them pushed a gun into his neck.
"All of a sudden I felt a pressure on my neck. She said to me, 'It's the real thing, don't move," Von Anhalt told reporters outside a Santa Monica courtroom Friday.
His comments followed a hearing in which his wife was ordered to pay nearly $4,000 for failing to attend an earlier court session in an ongoing lawsuit against her daughter.
"And then they took everything off me. Took my watch off, my expensive watch. I'm completely in the nude," said Von Anhalt, who uses the royal title prince, which he says was given to him by a German princess who adopted him.
"He was found naked in the front seat," Officer Sandra Gonzalez said. He was not injured.
Von Anhalt said one woman took the keys from his Rolls Royce Phantom then handcuffed him to the steering wheel. The police say no handcuffs were found when they arrived.
In February, von Anhalt announced he believed he was the father of Anna Nicole Smith's daughter, Dannielynn. Von Anhalt said he carried on a decades-long affair with the former Playboy Playmate of the Year.
DNA tests later proved Smith's ex-boyfriend Larry Birkhead was the baby's father.
Von Anhalt was in court Friday for a hearing in the lawsuit he and Gabor filed against Gabor's daughter, Francesca Hilton.
Superior Court Judge Jacquelin Connor ordered Gabor, 90, to pay a penalty for missing an earlier court appearance in the lawsuit, even though her lawyers had provided the court with a doctor's note explaining Gabor's absence at the previous hearing.
Gabor and her ninth husband claim in the lawsuit that Hilton -- Gabor's daughter with the late hotel magnate Conrad Hilton -- stole $2 million by forging her mother's signature to take out a loan on Gabor's $14 million Bel-Air home.
The lawsuit, which alleges elder abuse, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleges that Hilton used money from that transaction to buy a Laurel Canyon property and invest in a phantom company in New York.
Connor set a September 14 trial date and ordered Gabor to pay $1,840 to Hilton's attorney, Ronald Richards, and $2,040 to the notary in the case.
Gabor did not appear in court -- Von Anhalt said she was too sick to do so. The purported prince expressed disappointment with the judge's decision.
"I always said America is the best country to live. But in Europe we respect older, sick people. We don't drag them to court," he said.
Hilton did not speak to reporters, but Richards called the judge's decision to penalize Gabor a victory. He said the lawsuit is groundless.
"My client has been the victim of scurrilous allegations," Richards said. "She will have her day in court."
Richards questioned the veracity of Von Anhalt's reported robbery.
"It's an uncorroborated alibi, about as fantastical as him being the father of Anna Nicole's child," Richards said.
Hilton, born in 1947, is the only child from Gabor's marriage to the hotel magnate. She is a great-aunt to Paris and Nicky Hilton.
Friday, July 27, 2007
( 09:17 AM )
So this blog has fallen by the wayside. I couldn't sleep the other night and thought about all of the reasons why I don't post any more, but I didn't even feel like writing about that. But a couple of things appeared on the internet lately which have been worth mentioning.
1. The trailer for Wes Anderson's new movie The Darjeeling Limited is online and it is SPECTACULAR.
2. The following is from the front page of the Austin American-Statesman Online today and the lower picture pretty much made my day.
Monday, June 4, 2007
( 09:10 PM )
After an extended jaunt through Salt Lake, Los Angeles, and San Diego, I'm back. But I'm still super busy. No time for love, Dr. Jones.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
( 12:17 AM )
Super busy because of school. Regular rambling to recommence soon.
Friday, April 13, 2007
( 12:17 PM )
Ironically Heartwarming Story of the Year:
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Florida (AP) -- A gunman robbing a convenience store allowed the clerk to call 911 and apologized after the woman said she might be having a heart attack. But he still took $30 and cigarettes, authorities said.
The masked man entered the Kangaroo Express store early Saturday in this Orlando suburb and pointed what appeared to be a semiautomatic handgun at 60-year-old clerk Mary Parker, according to surveillance audio/video released Thursday. He demanded access to the safe, but she said she didn't have the keys.
He told her to empty the cash register into a bag. He then pulled up a stool for her to sit down and told her he was doing this because no one would hire him and he had bills to pay. (Watch as a robber helps the woman )
She started hyperventilating and pleaded with the gunman for help.
"I have heart trouble. Help me," Parker said.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," the gunman replied.
"I have heart trouble," Parker told him.
"Ma'am, it's going to be all right," the gunman said.
"I'm probably going to have a heart attack," Parker said.
"Oh my, ma'am, please do not have a heart attack. Please do not have a heart attack. Please don't, ma'am," he said.
The gunman let Parker call 911, and when the store phone didn't work, he let her get her cell phone. She told the operator she was having a heart attack, but didn't mention the robber. She then sat back down on the stool.
A customer came in and, without seeing the gunman, tried to calm Parker. She handed him the phone, and he spoke to the 911 operator.
The gunman then reappeared and told the man to get into the beverage cooler.
He then grabbed his loot and apologized again.
"You have a good day. I'm sorry this had to happen. I'm sorry. God!" he moaned. He then went out the door.
Police said Parker is OK.
Friday, April 6, 2007
( 10:52 AM )
So here's a cool story - an iPod stopped a bullet intended for a soldier in Iraq. iPods are the new flasks! Or Bibles!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
( 04:24 PM )
Dammit, what an ignorant old fool. I mean, I was never really a fan of Newt's, but in recent years he had done some decent work. Then he busts out with this and, while what he said is nothing new, he really should take a look at the research that finds that students learn a 2nd language better through bilingual education rather than immersion. What the fuck do politicians know about education, anyway?
And how the hell is Spanish the language of living in the ghetto?? What about people who live in Spain? Or rich guys from Miami?? [Insert joke about properly using the word barrio instead]
But my favorite part of the article was: "...Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100."
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with "the language of living in a ghetto" and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.
"The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up" to vote, said Gingrich, who is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women.
"The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. ... We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.
"Citizenship requires passing a test on American history in English. If that's true, then we do not have to create ballots in any language except English," he said.
Peter Zamora, co-chair of the Washington-based Hispanic Education Coalition, which supports bilingual education, said, "The tone of his comments were very hateful. Spanish is spoken by many individuals who do not live in the ghetto."
He said research has shown "that bilingual education is the best method of teaching English to non-English speakers."
Spanish-speakers, Zamora said, know they need to learn English.
"There's no resistance to learning English, really, among immigrants, among native-born citizens," he said. "Everyone wants to learn English because it's what you need to thrive in this country."
In the past, Gingrich has supported making English the nation's official language. He's also said all American children should learn English and that other languages should be secondary in schools.
In 1995, for example, he said bilingualism poses "long-term dangers to the fabric of our nation" and that "allowing bilingualism to continue to grow is very dangerous."
Bilingual programs teach students reading, arithmetic and other basic skills in their native language so they do not fall behind while mastering English.
On voting, federal law requires districts with large populations of non-English speakers to print ballots in multiple languages.
