Rewind

Dec 11 - 17 | Dec 18 - 24 | Jan 01 - 07 | Jan 08 - 14 | Jan 15 - 21 | Jan 22 - 28 | Jan 29 - Feb 03 |
Feb 04 - 11 | Feb 12 - 18 | Feb 19 - 25 |
Feb 26 - Mar 04 |

Feb 26- Mar 4
Nur-Mashurie Mohtar's Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

Reuters reported that Tawny Peaks, a retired topless dancer at one of the Florida nightclubs has removed her 69-HH silicone implants in 1999 and is auctioning one of them on eBay.

On Wednesday she said she decided to auction one of the breast implants after stumbling upon a television discussion about eBay.

She added that she would autograph the implant for the successful bidder.

Who does she think she is? Pamela Anderson? [top]

Take 2

Formula 1 (F1) champion driver, Michael Schumacher, is one of the world’s greatest paid sportsman. He earns about US$80 million(S$ 130 million) annually. Unfortunately, he isn’t very generous with his children’s allowance money.

Every week, he gives his 2 children, aged 8 and 6, 2 Euros(S$4.31) each.

In an interview with a German magazine, Stern Magazine, he mentioned that they have to learn the value of money the hard way.

So much for having a wealthy dad. I guess, a driver, will always drive a hard bargain, huh? [top]

Take 3

A 36-year-old Iranian woman, identified only as Mina, wants a divorce from her husband. She woman claimed that her husband hasn’t had a shower for more than a year, reported Reuters.

The couple married 8 years ago and at that time, her husband was an extremely clean freak who showered 3 times daily and washed his hands regularly, according to her. She added that neither their children nor her husband’s colleagues can stand his odour.

Dude, what were you thinking? When it comes to your marriage we smell trouble. [top]

Take 4

The sexy and well-known hip-hop celebrity, Lil’ Kim lied to the court about a gun fight, which occurred in 2001, at a hip-hop and r&b radio station Hot 97 .

She told the court that her manager, Damion Butler was not present at the shooting, when actually he was involved with the gun shootings.

According to Associated Press Lil’ Kim has been charged for perjury and conspiracy and if found guilty, she could be jailed up to 30 years.

Well, a lil’ lie can hurt after all. [top]

Take 5

Tom Cruise attended the Vanity Fair’s post-Oscars party for a short while, to see his ex-girlfriend. He kept away from the media and parked his motorcycle behind the Morton’s restaurant. He was seen talking to former squeeze, Penelope Cruz .

Penelope is currently dating Matthew McConaughey.

Tom, you should just cruise on…can’t you see Penelope already has? [top]

Feb 19 - 25
Pang Yee Huat's Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed embarrassment after police officers were caught on television camera running away from a man seen to be holding a weapon.

According to Reuters, the officers fled when the man walked towards them with what seemed like a baseball bat after smashing the windows of his own car that he crashed right into a shopping mall. The PM has instructed the nation’s security chief to step up training for their law enforcers.

Sounds like Japan is in need of a new reality show, Japanese Police Force: Hai… ya!. [top]

Take 2

The University of Michigan is offering US$100(S$162) as a reward to students who clean up their dorm rooms and leave their doors open so visitors can view them during campus visits, said a report by the Associated Press.

To earn the money, they are also expected not to be lounging in bed and to be properly dressed, with no contraband items displayed. However, not all who applied were accepted into the reward programme.

How attractive that would be to potential undergraduates, however, is debatable. [top]

Take 3

A South African couple’s wedding was delayed when they had to answer the call of duty while on the way to church, reported by the Agence France-Presse. The couple, both in the police force, witnessed 3 armed guys with threatening a motorist and decided to give chase in their wedding gown and suit.

The robbers were finally nabbed and the ceremony officially started 45 minutes later.

You can almost imagine a movie coming out of this, can’t you? [top]

Take 4

The Nicolaysen family from Norway discovered to their surprised that their swimming pool of 20 years was uprooted from the ground and stolen from their mountain cabin. Following a report from the Associated Press, the police claimed that this is the first time it has happened and that the swimming pool, measuring 5m in diameter, was probably stolen for “private use”.

Now that’s a claim that insurance agents can’t have seen too often. [top]

Take 5

A report from Reuters talked about South Korea’s homeless receiving confiscated fake designer clothing from custom officials. Given away with the permission of the brands that had their copyrights infringed, the customs people removed the brand tags before distributing the garments.

But if they’ve been telling us that buying pirated items is tantamount to stealing, then wouldn’t giving away fake designer wear be passing on stolen products to someone else? [top]

Feb 12 - 18
Melissa Sim's Take

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Take 1

The lunar New Year of the Rooster made its presence known in a Berlin neighbourhood. According to Reuters, a German couple left a loudspeaker rigged to a timer with the sounds of a cock crowing, before going on a holiday. When police entered the residence they found the speakers pointing to a neighbour's house.

The setup rang at 2am, setting off a series of cockerels crowing until 4am. The authorities seized the equipment, and the holidaymakers, who are vacationing, have been charged with disturbing the peace as well as bodily harm.     

Sounds like a morning call isn't welcome in this neighbourhood. [top]

Take 2

This Valentines' Day, a different kind of dating is taking place at an Australian shopping mall. A Sydney supermarket started a "cereal dating" for shoppers to meet their match during a night of grocery shopping.

Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre invites singles to place cereal boxes on their carts as a signal to would-be partners. As a guide for "cereal virgins", Agence France-Presse (AFP) says colourful Fruit Loops represents "quirky, outrageous" types while All Bran says you're "dependable, regular [and] conservative". And for those who want to chat up all characters, a Variety Pack will open more doors and hearts.

I see a new diet trend in the making, the "I eat, therefore I am" plan. [top]

Take 3

A Grafton, Wisconsin, library makes reading a fun activity for kids and canines too. Inspired by a similar program in Utah, the Ozaukee Humane Society gets young children to read to dogs weekly at the public library.

As Associated Press (AP) reports, the national effort in 42 states and 2 Canadian districts, the Read to Rover programme, is a hit with both readers and listeners. Tigger, an 8-year-old golden retriever, has been a participant since its introduction in Wisconsin. His owner Carolyn Mueller says, "The kids invariably turn the book toward him so he can see the pages."  

I've heard you can teach old dogs new tricks, but certainly reading is way out of their league. Well, here's an incentive for these dogs to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, the kids can read it out to them. [top]

Take 4

Associated Press (AP) tells the story of an unlikely arrest in Euless, Texas. Joseph Fahnbulleh,22, robbed a store of US$200 (S$320) but left his wallet at the cashier counter. He went to the police station a few days later to claim it, after the police alerted him that it had been found.     

Detective Marco Valladares said, "We called him to say it had been turned in to our lost and found. We don't really have one."

I can't decide if Joe's actions are funnier or the cop's ploy. [top]

Take 5

There's a different threat to office buildings, in the form of drunk birds. Canadian Press said that dozens of them died when they flew into the glass panel of an office building.

The abundance of holly berries drew cedar waxwings by the hundreds into the enclosed yard of the 3-storey office. Intoxicated on the fermented berries some birds were falling off branches.           

Looks like holly berries should be taken off the in-flight menu. [top]   

Feb 04 – 11
Perrine Ho’s Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

This Lunar New Year, don?t be surprised that the pink streaks on your cousin?s dog aren?t clothes. Because it seems like Singaporeans are catching on a trend of giving their pets makeovers or coat dyes, according to a report by ChannelNewsAsia (CNA).

As if a full grooming session wasn?t enough, Max a Maltese, had bright yellow orange highlights on his tail, back and head!

I can?t imagine what?s next. Nail art for dogs? [top]

In Colorado, a 65-year-old confessed to cheating on a Literature test nearly half a century after the fact.

In her letter she wrote, "I know it makes no difference now (after 47 years), except maybe this will keep some student from cheating and help them to be honest -- conscience never lets you forget -- there is forgiveness with God, and I have that, but I felt I still needed to confess to the school."

The Associated Press (AP) reported that the Eagle Valley High School principal got a handwritten letter from a grandmother of 5 who admitted she and a friend stole answers to a Shakespeare test in 1957.

Guess she didn?t know that the Bard stole historical plots and characters from other plays as well. [top]

Take 3

In London, anti-tobacco groups failed to nail the all-time favourite fictional spy James Bond for glamourising smoking.

That?s because the British Board of Film Classification?s (BBFC) has gathered input of more than 11,000 members of the public who have ruled that the suave super spy was unlikely to influence youngsters to smoke.

A BBFC spokeswoman was quoted by the Agence French Presse (AFP) as saying, ?We showed the groups clips including Die Another Day where James Bond is smoking a cigar? They were quite happy with it and thought a junior audience were unlikely to take it up."

Trust Bond to get away with everything. [top]

Take 4

In Sydney, a group of Aborigines found Cornelia Rau, 39, wandering about after escaping from a mental ward. She was then detained in a women?s prison for 10 months as she misled authorities into thinking she was a German illegal immigrant.

"The woman maintained in interviews with immigration that she was a German citizen who was in Australia temporarily," Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said.

According to the Agence French Presse (AFP), Rau is an Australian citizen who migrated from Germany with her family. She reverted to German, her mother tongue, because of her schizophrenic condition.

I guess she has a lot to learn from media whore Bai Ling, who apparently told reporters she had managed to act her way out of a mental institute when she was 17. [top]

Take 5

According to the Associated Press (AP), Cub Scout Ryan Cenk, 10, sold 10 tons of Trail's End popcorn products, racking up an incredible $25,006 in sales.

The boy had called up ATM Corp. and sold $13,500 worth of popcorn when its vice president decided that the popcorn tins would make ideal gifts for employees.

As a reward, Trail's End is flying Ryan to Walt Disney World. He also has been invited to speak at Trail?s End?s annual sales meeting.

Maybe Donald Trump?s reality show The Apprentice should do its casting call among much younger people. [top]

Jan 29 – Feb 03
Tang Pin-Ji’s Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

French website URL www.milka.fr has become the hottest property between a 58-year-old French stylist and Kraft Foods from the US, according to a report by the Agence French Presse (AFP).

Milka Budimir, who has 2 clothing stores in southern regions of France, has been asked to surrender her site for Kraft Foods to promote its Milka Swiss chocolate.

However, Budimir has retaliated by demanding that Kraft Foods pay up S$117,500 to compensate for damages, and another S$13,000 worth of legal costs in disallowing her usage of the site.

I say, both parties come to a truce and take recent trends in fusion food to another level. By mixing fashion with food manufacturing, they might just produce the best designer chocolate in the world. Cheese flavoured chocolates, anyone? [top]

Over in Hobart, Australia, a woman found out via the most painful way, about her unexpected company in bed.

The Launceston Examiner reported that the woman had her arm bitten thrice by a highly venomous Tiger snake while she was asleep. The snake was believed to have been hiding underneath her pillow for 2 hours before it attacked.

Tiger snakes can be as long as 1.8 metres and they produce huge quantities of poisonous venom. Luckily though, the woman’s condition was declared danger-free after being warded in intensive care.

Perhaps the Tiger snake was just something an evil tooth fairy had left behind. [top]

Take 3

In a bid to reduce losses, all of Sanyo Electric’s 35,000 domestic staff have been asked to purchase its products, said the Sankei Shimbun Newspaper and Kyodo News.

Each executive and employee is expected to spend S$19,000 and S$1,900 respectively on the products, which range from insurance to televisions. Purchases from relatives and friends could count towards an individual’s buying amount.

Sanyo’s aim is to achieve S$155 million in group sales after losing S$843 million during the Niigata earthquake last year.

Looks like talks about corporate benefits are out of the question for now. [top]

Take 4

Fans of singer LeAnn Rimes will have something to look forward to the next time they visit a Disney theme park.

To celebrate Disneyland’s 50 th anniversary, Disney has engaged Rimes to lend her vocals to “Remember When” – a song produced and written by Richard Marx. It will be featured in all Disney theme parks and commercials, and on a record to be released in May, said the Hollywood Reporter.

Coincidentally, Rimes’ only consolation for losing on Star Search back when she was 8 happened to be a Disneyland trip.

Well, she never would have thought she’d be a bigger part of Disney within the next 20 years, did she. [top]

Take 5

Norwegian footballer Bård Erik Olsen has decided to shelf retirement plans after a lower division club offered him all the pizza he could stomach.

Aftenposten quoted Kjetil Jensen, the club spokesman of 5th division Tronvik, as saying that they have been trying to lure 32-year-old Bård Erik using that tactic, to join them for some time now.

I hope the club doesn’t run into another set of problems should their new striker become tubbier. [top]

Jan 22-28
Zareen A Angullia's Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

The severity of damages inflicted on a pillar by a passenger bus is causing concern in Singapore. According to the Land Transport Authority, pillars supporting viaducts and the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) tracks are supposed to be among the most resilient structures.

The sturdiness of these supports was even proven 10 years ago, when a military truck crashed into an MRT column in Commonwealth leaving the pillar without a scratch.

Despite this, a private passenger bus carrying 33 passengers crashed into the pillar at Upper Changi Road East and damaged the column between Bedok MRT and Tanah Merah MRT stations badly, according to The Straits Times.

Talk about making a dent in the competition. [top]

Online Seattle-based retail giant Amazon.com is trying to expand into the Internet search engine market by adding something that other search engines don't have- a local business directory with a photographic tour of 10 major US cities, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The free service, expected to be accessible on Thursday from Amazon search subsidiary A9.com , offers 20 million street-level photographs that will be displayed next to the local search results.

Will this latest development help Amazon to climb anywhere near market leaders Google and Yahoo in the market positioning? And what's next? Videos of the residents perhaps? [top]

Take 3

Reuters reported that Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir walked out of his terrorism trial in Indonesia. Bashir did it to show his disapproval after the judge allowed prosecutors to read out the statement from a witness, stating that he is the leader of the Al-Qaeda connected extremist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

Bashir and his lawyer sat in a nearby room and only returned to the courtroom when the trial was over.

Bashir, 66, was charged and accused for heading the JI, and responsible for a series of bombings, including the Bali blasts in 2002 that took 202 lives.

I guess that's the last protest we'll ever see from him. [top]

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman had a less than warm welcome home. Upon her arrival on Sunday, her security officers discovered an electronic listening device near a security vehicle that was keeping tabs on her Darling Point mansion, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Police officers were called to Kidman's house when the bug was found. It was proven that the bug was only set to interrupt, not record, Kidman's conversations with her bodyguards.

On Wednesday, Kidman issued a restraining order against 2 photographers who had been staking out her house since her Sunday arrival.

It is unclear if the 2 incidents are related but Kidman is certainly not safe in her own home.

Her Darling Point mansion isn't such a darling after all, huh? [top]

Asia is definitely catching up with the West in the subtle race of technology and medical advancements especially where stem cell research is concerned. According to the Financial Times, Professor Jianhong Zhu and his research team at the neurosurgery department at Fudan University's Hua-shan Hospital, came up with a stem cell formula that facilitates recovery of any brain-related injury and also enhances recuperation.

This was proven when Professor Zhu treated a patient who had a chopstick wedged inside his skull as a result of a fight.

Now i f only some kind of formula could be found for economic recovery...[top]

Jan 15-21
Nadiah Yusoff’s Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

Cooking, doing the laundry, taking care of the kids are among the common household tasks housewives have been doing. Now, they’re adding another job description to their list: rock stars.

According to Associated Press (AP) , housewives all over America are forming rock bands. There are Housewives on Prozac in New York, Frump in Dallas and Placenta in Oakland to name a few.

Concerts for mom bands are also held. This also gives a platform for mothers to bond with their children.

"It's kind of been this whirlwind ride of mother rockers spreading the good word that life isn't over after 40, that music and creativity are still alive," Rose, the founder of Housewives on Prozac was quoted saying.

Will they tell their groupies to go home and do homework? [top]

Take 2

In Bangkok, Thailand, elephants are being potty trained, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). These elephants have already been trained to paint dance and play musical instruments

Using gigantic replicas of human toilet bowls, the mahouts, or elephant handlers, are potty training 7 elephants in hopes of getting rid of the animals’ dung in the camp, a turnoff at the popular tourist spot.

The elephants, said to be saved from the streets, sit on the toilets just like humans and can flush the huge toilets by a slight pull of a rope using their trunks. Of course, the specially designed toilets are also fixed with an accordingly large plumbing.

Hmm, do they use Jumbo rolls of toilet paper? [top]

Take 3

In London, British police have found a creative and cheap way to thwart clubbing cocaine users, reports Reuters.

Strange as it may sound, police are using WD-40. The spray lubricant is to deter the public from sniffing cocaine on toilet seats in bars.

Police recommends this approach to pub and club owners, urging them to spray the lubricant, which has no colour, on any flat surfaces in the restrooms that can be used to take coke. It appears that mixing the drug with lubricant will cake up the cocaine, making it useless for the user.

Let’s just hope drug users don’t get addicted to the lubricant, or worse, use it for something else… [top]

Take 4

Boy, does Mother Goose have a new tale to tell. In Rock Hill, South Carolina, a Mother Goose costume along with $300 worth of gift certificates has been stolen. The thief broke the back window of the minivan of Jane Hayes’s, the costume owner, according to Associated Press(AP).

Jane uses the outfit to teach in schools, and she also wears it for community events.

Police said that they are grateful for Jane’s work in the community and want to get the costume back as soon as possible.

What a sad world we live in where even Mother Goose doesn’t get to live happily ever after. [top]

Take 5

Designer brand Prada takes fashion a step further by designing clothes suited for hitmen. According to Fashion Wire Daily, Prada’s new winter collection seems fit for a “tricky assassination”.

Pictures from B movies showing moustached professional killers, dark and handsome law officers, cars crashing, groupie blonde girls attached permanently to the gangster’s arms and peculiarly enough, the late, Cyril Cusack, a multitalented actor from Ireland.

But instead of showing big burly hoodlums, Prada had drop dead gorgeous men modelling.

With hitmen looking like that, the clothes are bound to make a killing. [top]

Jan 08 - 14
Nur Fazlyana's Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

According to the BBC, North Korea's propaganda drive to improve their grooming standards is in overdrive. Pyongyang television has started a campaign in last autumn to emphasise on the importance of health and hygiene of its people through its regular 'Common Sense' programme.

This intensive campaign urges men to keep short hair because they believe that long hair has damaging effects on "human intelligence development" since long hair is noted to use up "a great deal of nutrition" at the expense of energy supply to the brain.

In the North Korean TV series, they mentioned that tidy attire is vital in "repelling the enemies' manoeuvres to infiltrate corrupt capitalist ideas and lifestyle". And hair is definitely an integral aspect of one's appearance.

So that's why Singaporean men serving their National Service have to get crew cuts... [top]

Take 2

The trial of the 4 US soldiers accused of being involved in the Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal was heard on Monday.

Though soldiers testified that the officers joked and laughed even as the detainees cried and pleaded them to stop the beatings and several photographs were circulated showing the alleged leader of the scandal, Specialist Charles Graner and other officers smirking next to the Iraqis in degrading poses, they insisted that they were just "following orders and being praised for it," reported the wire agencies.

Other than tethering the detainees with a leash, they were also piled up naked in a messy human pyramid. Their defending lawyer, Guy Womack stated simply "cheerleaders all over America form pyramids".

Except those are mostly girls and, most importantly, not naked. [top]

Take 3

A grandmother, Terry Horder, was admitted in the hospital when she mistook superglue for her bottle of eye drops. The 78-year-old had mistakenly reached out for the glue in the fridge, reported Ananova.

In an attempt to get rid of the glue that had stuck her lashes together and even those that had oozed under her lids, nurses ingeniously soaked her eyes in used vegetable oil. Luckily for her, the mass of glue against her eyeball couldn't dry due to the water on her eye. After her lashes were unpleasantly forced apart, she mentioned that she "was as good as new".

Must have been an unquestionably eye-opening experience for her. [top]

Take 4

A study from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk found that people tend to be thinner if they had more sleep.

A physician at Northwestern University, Fred Turek, said that society has focussed too much "on diet and exercise that we've failed to recognise the value of good sleep".

Indeed we tend to emphasise the opposite since long work hours are common and crucial, reported Reuters.

It is found from the study that body mass index increased as one's total sleeping time decreased. This may be a result of the increase of a food-craving hormone when one's deprived of sufficient sleep.

This sure gives you an even better reason to snooze longer every time your alarm rings. [top]

Take 5

According to Reuters, California-based LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. has announced the introduction of its new FLY "pentop computer". The product is a computerised talking pen that helps in language translations, mathematics and spelling.

It will give audio feedback to the users when it's used to write on their special FLYpaper. It is reported to be able to allow users to "draw a calculator, touch the handwritten digits and functions to perform an operation, and then hear the answers announced".

It aims to offer a variety of communicating, learning and playing applications, with young children being enlisted in the product development.

What happened to the days when pens were seen and not heard? [top]

Jan 01 - 07
Alicia Chua's Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

A couple of Russian and American astronauts aboard the International Space Station had to survive on a 5-week diet laden with candy, as their predecessors had eaten the pair's food rations without recording how much was consumed. According to Reuters , the astronauts realised they did not have enough food and that most of the remaining eatables were desserts and candy. They had to work out an appropriate diet that stretched their supplies while waiting for new shipments. What they lacked in proper calories from healthy food was replaced with sweets. "Both of us ended up losing a few pounds," said Leroy Chiao, the American astronaut.

I guess this throws the Zone Diet out the spaceship window. [top]

Take 2

Throughout time, people have come up with a colourful array of excuses for not appearing at court hearings. A report by Reuters documents the latest excuse by Abu Hamza al-Masri, a Muslim radical, who claimed that his overly long toe nails were preventing him from walking. He's held in a prison in London and was scheduled to come before the British court. "Hamza has physical difficulties. He is unable to walk. He has been perambulating barefoot around the prison," said Peter Hynes, his defense lawyer. "He is complaining that his toe nails are too long,?? the prosecutor added.

I know nail clippers are banned from airplanes but I guess the same goes for jail. [top]

Take 3

The people of Odessa, a Southern Ukrainian city, ushered in the New Year not by partying and getting sloshed, but by devouring an enormous cake. The gargantuan dessert weighed a hefty 400 kg, BBC reported, but the party goers took only 15 minutes to consume the entire thing. 50 cooks and "100 kg of flour, 100 kg of sugar and hundreds of eggs? were used to make the cake.

Who says you can't have your cake and eat it? [top]

Take 4

A woman in Utah is fighting her local City Council to grant a permit for her to operate a colon-cleansing business from her home, the Associated Press said. Her proposed business consists of getting rid of stuck waste in the large intestine by water that is injected in the large intestine. She has spent nearly US$40,000 (S$65, 815) on this business. The City Council is hesitant as they are unfamiliar with colon hydrotherapy and they do not want medical businesses sprouting up in homes.

Maybe they're telling her, "waste" not, want not. [top]

Take 5

According to the Associated Press , a man's ear was bitten off during a fight he was having with his co-worker. Apparently the squabble was over money and small change. Thankfully, doctors managed to re-attach the ear.

Women yank at hair when they fight, according to stereotypes, guess real men just ape Mike Tyson. [top]

Dec 18 - 24
Shawn's Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

According to a report released by the American Heart Association, blood pressure readings done from home might be more accurate than those conducted at the doctor’s office.

“We’ve found that blood pressure measurements taken by doctors in their offices may actually be unreliable in many patients,” admitted Thomas G. Pickering in the article. He is the director of the Behavioral Cardiovascular Health and Hypertension Program at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.

Sure makes your heart skip a beat eh? [top]

Take 2

A retirement home would be the last place one would expect to find a group of hardcore heroin and cocaine addicts, but in the city of Rotterdam, this would be an exception. According to The Scotsman , the retirement home called Seniorenpand is the “world’s first retirement home for drug addicts”.

"That was the heroin I snorted last night," Henny, 51, a resident of Seniorenpand, was quoted saying. "It was pretty good stuff."

Golden years or not, it would seem that these senior citizens are still high on life. [top]

Take 3

A 19-year-old man from Seabeck, Washington, is able to manipulate the controls to a computer game merely by thinking them. Tristan Lundemo, who suffers from severe epilepsy, agreed to partake in a project studying how electronic devices could be manipulated through peoples’ thoughts as “there wasn't much else to do (at the hospital )”.

Through 72 electrodes resting on the surface of his brain, Lundemo is able to play a computer game, in which he manipulates a red cursor in an attempt to make contact with targets that briefly appear and disappear around different parts of the screen.

"I just think up, up, up or over left, left, left and it moves," said Lundemo in the article from the Seattle Intelligencer-Post .

Could Tristan be an incarnation of Neo from The Matrix? [top]

Take 4

The Associated Press reports that an attorney in Los Angeles was convicted of federal fraud and conspiracy charges for using credit card scams to fund his law school education.

Christian Ehlers, 29, a 2001 graduate of Loyola Law School and 2 friends managed to obtain hundreds of credit cards using false names and Social Security numbers, which they then ran through stolen point-of-sale machines.

I guess Ehler can always say he was a criminal lawyer.

Take 5

Martha Stewart, who is serving a 5-month jail term for lying about stock sales, has called for a reform of sentencing guidelines for non-violent first-time offenders. She has apparently spent her time at jail on home-making duties like “washing, scrubbing, sweeping, vacuuming, raking leaves, and much more”, according to a Christmas letter posted on her website.

The Associated Press reported that Martha Stewart is also appealing her case and hopes to overturn her conviction.

I wonder if this mess is too big for even her to clean up.[top]

Dec 11 - 17
Joy's Take

[1][2][3][4][5]

Take 1

Eminent American journalist and award-winning novelist Tom Wolfe has earned yet another laurel: the worst sex descriptions in fictional prose.

Reuters reported that it was awarded for his latest work, I am Charlotte Simmons. The prize is meant to point out the unnecessary and abundant use of tacky sex in contemporary fiction.

One passage in his book read, ?But the hand that was what she tried to concentrate on, the hand, since it has the entire terrain of her torso to explore and not just the otorhinolaryngological caverns - oh God, it was not just at the border where the flesh of the breast joins the pectoral sheath of the chest - no, the hand was cupping her entire right - Now!?

Wolfe declined to accept the award. He would have received a bottle of champagne and a trophy had he turned up.

I guess the possibility of this suggesting his life imitating his art was too painful to acknowledge. [top]

Take 2

On Dec 18, 19 young women will compete in a historic pageant in China, marking the first contest there for women who have gone under the knife, Associated Press has said.

Contestants have to prove that they have been operated on by showing the relevant medical documents. The women range in age from 18 to a venerable 62 years. [top]

In tune with the theme of plastic surgery, prizes like ?biggest change? will be awarded.

The contest drew an international response, indicating strong overseas interest in the competition. Only Chinese women, including one transsexual, were eventually allowed to join.

Pity, because Michael Jackson might have swept the prizes. [top]

Take 3

Imagine a repair store employee?s surprise when a python appeared amid the foam packaging of a DVD player sent there for repair.

According to Reuters, Paco the Python had unwittingly hidden there when its owner decided to send a faulty player from Missouri to New Jersey for repair.

The 3-foot ball python, was eventually placed in local pet store, awaiting his return home.

It?s like Anaconda meets Homeward Bound ? The Incredible Journey. [top]

Take 4

Associated Press has reported that a tumour weighing 66 pounds (24.6 kg) was removed from the body of a woman who lives in Ohio.

The tumour was identified as an ovarian tumour. A 1-hour operation, which included having to delicately sever each blood vessel that connected it from below as it was raised from out of her abdomen, was needed to remove it. The mass of flesh had to be carried by 4 people.

It was like a long pregnancy,? said Grace.

Must have been some baby she thought she was carrying, because last time we checked even quintuplets didn?t weigh 66 pounds in the womb. [top]

Take 5

It sure is a sad day when parents have to resort to going on strike to make their children help out around the house.

And that is exactly what happened to one Florida couple, according to Agence France-Presse. The offending youngsters, Ben, 17, and Kit, 12, have so neglected household duties that parents Harlan and Cat Bernard have spent 1 week camped in their garden, forcing Ben and Kit to fend for themselves.

So far the strategy seems to have worked, according to Cat, who said her daughter is beginning with the upkeep of her own room.

Maybe she should recommend this to Singaporean parents with lazy children and no maids. [top]