Nagging wife, sausage help man win $4.2M lottery

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A “nagging” wife who pushed her husband to buy a lottery ticket helped scoop the $4.2 million ($7.7 million New Zealand dollar) first prize — with only minutes to spare. The man from New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland, bought his ticket just two minutes before ticket sales closed Saturday night.

“My wife had been nagging me all week to get a ticket, so I when saw the Lotto sign … I sprinted in to get the ticket before they closed,” said the man, who asked not to be identified — normal practice among lottery winners in New Zealand .

“I must have been their last customer of the night,” he said, adding that the young married couple had had a “rough” couple of years, reduced to one income after having children.

“I have never been so glad to listen to my wife’s nagging,” the man said Tuesday.

He discovered their newly won fortune Sunday thanks to his wife’s request for a barbecued sausage.

Out shopping for bargains, the man said he didn’t have enough money to buy his wife the sausage she’d asked him for. So he decided to check his Saturday lottery ticket in case he’d won a small prize.

“I could not believe it when they said I was actually the big winner,” he said.

When he showed the printout to his wife, she initially thought they had won $4,200 (NZ$7,700).

“When she realized how much it really was, she fell to the floor, and then said: ‘but all I wanted was a sausage.’”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081209/ap_on_fe_st/odd_nagged_husband

Frugal farmer leaves $2M to his tiny Pa. church

BLAIRSVILLE, Pa. – It’s like a gift from God. A tiny church in western Pennsylvania inherited more than $2 million from a farmer who lived in a mobile home. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Sunday that John Ferguson left his entire estate to Hopewell United Methodist Church near the town of Black Lick.

The 71-year-old farmer attended the church before dying in January 2007. The gift has been in probate since then.

The church has just 80 members. Hopewell pastor Jason McQueen says a panel of congregation members will choose projects to be funded annually from the income generated by Ferguson’s estate.

Deer gets revenge after hunter shoots him

SEDALIA, Mo. (AP) – A hunter bagged a big buck on the second day of firearms season, but the kill caused him a lot of pain. Randy Goodman, 49, said he thought two well-placed shots with his .270-caliber rifle had killed the buck on Nov. 19. Goodman said the deer looked dead to him, but seconds later the nine-point, 240-pound animal came to life.The buck rose up, knocked Goodman down and attacked him with his antlers in what the veteran hunter called “15 seconds of hell.” The deer ran a short distance and went down, and died after Goodman fired two more shots.

Soon Goodman started feeling dizzy and noticed his vest was soaked in blood.

So he reached his truck and drove to a hospital, where he received seven staples in his scalp and was treated for a slight concussion and bruises.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94Q4ENG5

Panda in China zoo bites student who wanted a hug

BEIJING (AP) – A college student in southern China was bitten by a panda after he broke into the bear’s enclosure hoping to get a hug, state media and a park employee said Saturday.

The student was visiting Qixing Park with classmates on Friday when he jumped the 6.5-foot (2-meter) -high fence around the panda’s habitat, said the park employee, who refused to give his name.

The park in Guilin, a popular tourist town in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, houses a small zoo and a panda exhibit. It was virtually deserted when the student scaled the fence surrounding the panda, named Yang Yang, the employee said.

He said the student was bitten in the arms and legs. Two foreign visitors who saw the attack ran to get help from workers at a nearby refreshment stand, who notified park officials, the employee said.

The student was pale as he was taken away by medics but appeared clear-headed, he said.

“Yang Yang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him. I didn’t expect he would attack,” the 20-year-old student, surnamed Liu, said in a local hospital, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Liu underwent surgery Friday evening and was out of danger, but will remain in the hospital for several days, Xinhua said.

Yang Yang, who was flown to Guilin last year from Sichuan province, was behaving normally on Saturday and did not seem to suffer any negative psychological effects, the park employee said.

He said it was not clear whether the facility would add more signs around the enclosure or put more fences up.

“We cannot make it like a prison. We already have signs up warning people not to climb in,” he said. “There are no fences along roads but people know not to cross if there are cars. This is basic knowledge.”

Pandas, which generally have a public image as cute, gentle creatures, are nonetheless wild animals that can be violent when provoked or startled.

Last year, a panda at the Beijing Zoo attacked a teenager, ripping chunks out of his legs, when he jumped a barrier while the bear was being fed.

The same panda was in the news in 2006 when he bit a drunk tourist who broke into his enclosure and tried to hug him while he was asleep.The tourist retaliated by biting the bear in the back.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081122/D94K27E00.html

Peru offers bald dog of Incas to Obamas

LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvians crazy about their national dog, a bald and often toothless breed popular among Incan kings, offered Monday to send a hypoallergenic puppy to the Obama family.

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has promised daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, a new pet for the White House. But Malia is allergic to most breeds, he said Friday as speculation swirled about the dog the family would choose.

Owners of the Peruvian Hairless Dog, a breed dating back 3,000 years and depicted in pre-Hispanic ceramics, say it is perfect for kids who are sensitive to dogs.

“They do not cause any type of allergy and are very friendly and sweet,” said Claudia Galvez, 38, director of the Friends of the Peruvian Hairless Dog Association.

“We want to give a male puppy to Obama’s daughters, so they get to experience all the joys of having a dog but without any allergies.”

According to Peruvian folklore, the dogs have above-average body temperature, which compensates for their lack of hair and helps alleviate symptoms of asthma or arthritis suffered by their owners.

Galvez delivered a letter detailing her offer to the U.S. embassy in Lima Monday and hopes Obama will accept it.

Galvez has a 4-month-old pedigree puppy to send to the Obama family. For now, she is calling it Ears because it has two large, perky ones.

“But if we send it to the United States, its official name will be Machu Picchu,” she said, referring to the ancient Incan citadel, Peru’s top tourist attraction.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081111/od_nm/us_obama_dog

Car impounded after dog drives away from car wash

PRYOR, Okla. – A dog waiting in a car while at a car wash slipped the vehicle into gear and drove in a loop before the car came to a stop. Pryor police officer Brent Crittenden said the dog’s owner was washing the vehicle when the 70-pound pit bull jumped on the dash and somehow shifted the car into reverse.

The car backed out of the car wash bay, continued onto a highway and then looped around before coming to a stop at an automated car wash lane.

Crittenden said the vehicle was impounded because its owner was unable to provide proof of insurance.

Because the dog was registered with the city, Crittenden said the owner was allowed to walk the pooch home.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/ap_on_fe_st/odd_driving_dog

Study: Bee Gees’ ‘Stayin’ Alive’ Has Perfect Beat for CPR

Sounds like the Bee Gees knew what they were talking about – and were years ahead of medical research.The band’s iconic 1977 disco anthem “Stayin’ Alive” provides an ideal beat to follow while performing chest compressions as part of CPR on a heart attack victim, U.S. doctors have found.

The American Heart Association calls for chest compressions to be administered at a rate of 100 per minute during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. Ironically, “Stayin’ Alive” chimes in with 103 beats per minute, Reuters reports.

In a small study headed by Dr. David Matlock of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, listening to “Stayin’ Alive” helped 15 doctors and medical students to perform chest compressions on dummies at the proper speed, according to the Reuters report.

“The theme ‘Stayin’ Alive’ is very appropriate for the situation,” Matlock told Reuters. “Everybody’s heard it at some point in their life. People know the song and can keep it in their head.”

The findings will be presented this month at a meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians in Chicago.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,439543,00.html

Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii the Latest in Bizarre Baby Name Bans

The Associated Press on July 24, 2008, and other news outlets, have reported that a judge in Australia overseeing a custody case ordered a name change for a 9-year-old girl whose custody was contested. The name given to her by her parents was Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii. The girl in that case, Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii, was so embarrassed by her given name that she refused to use it.

The AP story cited several other baby names in addition to Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii that have been rejected by Australian courts including Fish and Chips, Sex Fruit, and Yeah Detroit. Inexplicably, the names Number 16 Bus Shelter and Violence escaped scrutiny in this country where the law precludes names that would cause offense to the reasonable person.

Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii and the other banned Australian names are just a sampling of bizarre names parents have attempted to name, and in some cases succeeded in naming, babies in recent years.

A New Zealand court last year forbid a family from naming their baby 4Real. That name choice was said to be motivated by the parents’ amazement on seeing their baby’s ultrscan.

In 2006, Malaysia published a list of forbidden baby names in an effort to discourage parental choices such as Hitler, Smelly Dog, and 007. Among the names banned by Malaysian authorities: Khiow Khoo (Hunchback), Chow Tow (Smelly Head), Sor Chai (Insane), and Woti (sexual intercourse).

Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii, Violence, Smelly Dog… what are parents thinking when they choose these names?

No Tulula Does the Hula from Hawaii in These Countries

Many countries have naming laws that are designed to prevent lifelong embarrassment to the baby. Such countries often attempt to forestall the use of aliases by requiring that people use only their given names. In France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and Argentina, among other countries, parents of newborns are required to choose names from a government-approved list. In Denmark, the government list includes 7,000 names. Denmark parents wishing to name their baby any name not listed require church approval.

U.S. Names More Bizarre than Tulula Does the Hula from Hawaii?

Two children in the United States have been named ESPN after the sports network.

But some of the most bizarre names given to babies in the United States have been given to children of celebrities. Four decades ago, musician Frank Zappa drew attention when he named his first two babies Moon Unit and Dweezil. The hospital refused to put the name Dweezil on the Dweezil’s birth certificate, something the family did not discover until Dweezil was 5 years old. At that point, they petitioned a court to legally change the boy’s name from Ian to Dweezil. Since then other celebrities have chosen bizarre names for their babies including: Comedian Penn Jillette who named his daughter Moxie Crimefighter. Shannyn Sossamon chose to name a child Audio Science. Jermaine Jackson named a daughter Jermajesty.

The British musician David Bowie named his baby Zowie.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/902997/talula_does_the_hula_from_hawaii_the.html?cat=8

Man calls 911 after Subway left sauce off sandwich

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – Jacksonville police say Reginald Peterson needs to learn that 911 is not the appropriate place to complain that Subway left the sauce off a spicy Italian sandwich.Police said the 42-year-old man dialed 911 twice last week so he could have his sub made correctly. The second call was to complain that officers weren’t arriving fast enough.

Subway workers told police Peterson became belligerent and yelled when they were fixing his order. They locked him out of the store after he left to call police.

When officers arrived, they tried to calm Peterson and explain the proper use of 911. Those efforts failed, and he was arrested on a charge of making false 911 calls.

Peterson did not have a listed phone number.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D92BL5FO0

Praise Cheesus – The Jesus Cheeto!

Yes, we’ve found Mother Teresa in a cinnamon bun (until it was stolen) and of course the Virgin Mary everywhere (check out this gallery).

Now we have Jesus in a Cheeto, found by a Texas woman, and via the Dallas Morning News blog. According to the DMN, the pastor of the local Kirkwood United Methodist Church does not see anything theologically special about the Cheeto, but thinks some good could come from it. Pastor David Bennett says, “If people can find Jesus, somehow, in each of us like she’s found in this object, that would be a wonderful thing.”

http://blog.beliefnet.com/pontifications/2008/07/praise-cheesus.html