Simply Dumb

A gang member from Northlake told FBI agents last year about a terrorist plot to blow up the Chicago headquarters of a corporation — but it turned out he made up the whole story, according to an indictment handed up by a federal grand jury this week.
The SunTimes reports that Gilbert Romero, 30, is charged with two counts of making false statements and one count of reporting a hoax terrorism threat.
The threat came to light while Romero was an inmate at Cook County Jail, where he was sent after being picked up for burglary while on parole, authorities said.

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Police on Lisbon, Portugal Friday captured two crocodiles being kept as housepets in a house, officials said.

Myway reports that the crocodiles, 18 years old, were living in a closed backyard in conditions similar to those of their natural habitat, the Nature and Environment protection branch of the Portimao police, who found the animals, said.
The German owner was charged with illegal possession of exotic animals. Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, crocodiles are protected species.

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A male high school student can wear a skirt to school after the American Civil Liberties Union reached an agreement with school officials.
ABC News reports that the ACLU announced the deal Tuesday. It will allow a Hasbrouck Heights School senior to wear a skirt to protest the school’s no-shorts policy.
The district’s dress code bans shorts between Oct. 1 and April 15, but allows skirts, a policy 17-year-old Michael Coviello believes is discriminatory.
“I’m happy to be able to wear skirts again to bring attention to the fact that the ban on shorts doesn’t make sense,” Coviello said in a statement.
The Hasbrouck …read more

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I’m not sure whether you’d consider this man lucky or extremely unlucky….
A middle-aged Tokyo man found to be living with 10 younger women said he attracted them by reciting an incantation that came to him in a dream.

HTTabloid reports that the 57-year-old man’s unusual living arrangements came to light when another woman complained to police that he had threatened her after she refused to join his harem, Kyodo news agency said on Wednesday.
“I had a dream that told me I would become attractive to women if I recited a particular incantation,” it quoted the man as saying.
A rapid series of …read more

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A Northwest Airlines flight attendant faces charges after security officers found a real – but inactive – hand grenade in her carry-on luggage at Mitchell International Airport, officials said Wednesday.
The Sun Herald reports that the flight attendant, a 39-year-old woman from Cordova, Tenn., was scheduled to work on a Milwaukee-to-Detroit flight Tuesday morning when federal Transportation Security Administration officers detected an inert grenade in her baggage, said Kim Brooks, a spokeswoman for the Milwaukee County sheriff’s office. They called sheriff’s deputies, who arrested her about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, Brooks said.
She told deputies that she bought the grenade at an Army …read more

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People will sell anything on eBay! A Whale Watering Can used to water the whale stuck in the River Thames this week is currently for sale on eBay with the current bid (at the time of writing) being over 6000 UK pounds!!!! Auction here.

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Only in America
A woman has received a 30-day jail sentence for leaving her three young children home alone for several hours while she and her boyfriend attended a videotaping of “The Jerry Springer Show.”
According to CBS, Shannon Cook, 25, pleaded guilty earlier this week to misdemeanor child endangerment. She also was placed on probation for a year.
“It was an appropriate sentence, given what she did,” said DuPage County Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Ruggiero.
The two girls and one boy, all under the age of 4, have been placed in foster homes by the Illinois Department of Children and Family …read more

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A Japanese man who scattered more hundreds of nails over a driving school course was arrested on Friday, police said.
Mainichi News reports that Shinichi Kato failed his test to get a license to drive large vehicles three times in 2005 at the Chiba driving license center. Police believe that he scattered nails on the course to vent his anger.
About 730 nails were found on the course from mid-December to January. Police believe Kato was responsible for all of the attacks. (Mainichi)

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Voting in the Canadian Elections? watch out then because if you deface a ballot paper its against the law…but of course if its a secret ballot how are they going to catch you?
CTV reports that according to section 167(2)(a) of the Canada Elections Act, “no person shall wilfully alter, deface or destroy a ballot.” Conviction could bring a $500 fine or three months in jail — even though the chances of getting caught are effectively nil.
Apparently though, some people did try to get caught in 2000, but eating the ballot paper in full view of electoral officials.
Of course, here in …read more

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Two English paramedics have been suspended over claims they failed to attend a 999 call (the English equivalent of 911) on time after arguing it was not their turn.
Serious About News reports that it is alleged the pair, who work at the Kempston station, argued with the controller who had sent them to attend a category A incident.
All calls made to Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance and Paramedic Service are graded A, B or C, with A being the most serious call-out.
But instead of immediately leaving the station to attend the incident, it is claimed the pair argued that it was …read more

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