Greetings, and thanks for joining me for another week. Starting us off are a few news stories you may have missed. First, biologists at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are hoping to get a closer look at a mountain lion with a strange deformity that was recently killed by a local hunter. Wildlife experts said the mountain lion, with an extra set of fully-formed teeth and whiskers growing from its forehead, was found in the small town of Weston. “Idaho Fish and Game cannot definitively explain why this abnormality developed on this mountain lion,” officials said. “It is possible that the teeth could be the remnants of a conjoined twin that died in the womb and was absorbed into the other fetus. It is also possible that the deformity was a teratoma tumor.” The hunter legally tracked and killed the mountain lion after it attacked a dog, officials said. Biologists have requested permission to further examine the mountain lion, but the hunter has not responded. Idaho law does not require the hunter, who has not been identified, give up the dead animal. [UPI]
Next, sales manager Mike Bell showed up for work as usual one day at a Dallas-area car dealership, but his boss sensed something was wrong, reports. “My boss, the second he came up to me, said, ‘Mike, you look like [expletive], you need to go to the doctor and figure out what’s going on.'” Bell, who’d lately been dismissing symptoms such as shortness of breath and even an instance of coughing up blood, wisely took the advice. That same day, he had emergency heart surgery. “He would have died within a few hours,” his cardiac surgeon tells the TV station. It turns out that Bell had a tooth infection that was spreading bacteria into his bloodstream; the infection triggered coughing that led to a tear in Bell’s aorta and a subsequent buildup of fluid in his lungs. Bell adds that the concern of his boss, Gus Rodriguez, didn’t end with the suggestion to see a doctor. “He took care of me and made sure I could still pay the bills,” says Bell. “He didn’t let me come back until I gained some weight.” [Newser]
Finally, police in Liyang, China arrested a man whom they accused of effectively stealing women’s underwear with a device likened to a fishing rod, enabling him to reach into windows and extract the booty.The suspect, 32, admitted to a three-year spree, and in his van police found 285 bras and 185 panties. [The Guardian (London)
Trivia Question: Ian Fleming wrote his James Bond novels at a desk in his home in Jamaica. Later that same desk was used by a famous rock star to write one of his most well-known songs. Who was that musician, and what was the song? Answer below.
The more things change…. Esteban Rocha, 51, was arrested in Placerville, California, and charged with exposing himself to a woman — about 25 minutes after Rocha had left the Placerville Police Department, where he had dutifully gone to register his location so that police could keep track of him. [Sacramento Bee]
A man accidentally set himself and his Detroit apartment on fire while trying to kill bedbugs, according to reports. The unidentified 30-year-old tenant sprayed rubbing alcohol on his couch and body in an attempt to eliminate the pests, reports the Detroit Free Press. He sat down and lit a cigarette, which he used to try to burn one of the critters. But the alcohol-soaked chair caught fire. The seat, his arm and the rest of his eighth-floor apartment at the St. Antoine Gardens complex in Midtown went up in flames. The man escaped the devastating blaze but suffered severe burns. Johanahn Larsosa, another resident at the complex, saw the man in the lobby and prayed with him at his request before emergency crews arrived. “He was melting,” Larsosa told the Detroit Free Press. “I was scared. He was screaming.” The blaze spread to four other homes and was extinguished. Two dozen more apartments received severe water damage. Detroit is the most bed bug-infested city in the U.S., according to a report by pest control company Terminix, followed by Philadelphia, Cleveland and Los Angeles. [Huffington Post]
Finally… one of New Jersey’s top pork roll makers was sued by the wife of an employee who she says was fired for passing too much gas in the office. Louann Clem said in the lawsuit filed that her husband suffered serious consequences from gastric bypass surgery. Those included extreme gas and uncontrollable diarrhea. The lawsuit alleges that Case Pork Roll Co. President Thomas Dolan complained about the side effects and told Rich Clem to work from home because the office smelled. His wife also worked there. But owner Tom Grieb said neither of them was fired. He says business wasn’t good and they didn’t want to take a pay cut and walked out. He says they were never discriminated against. [www.sacbee.com]
Answer to Trivia question: Sting used the desk to write “Every Breath You Take.”
Blog Entry #3: The first Bit this week got me thinking. Too often, posts come along that amaze and often stretch credibility and because of that it, they often show up here. I will post it in good faith and then find out later that it was a hoax. When that happens, I usually pull the post and apologize admitting I got got. What gets my knickers in a twist is when people who have an unnatural hatred of Obama post outright lies. Their hatred is so deep there is no other side. I gave up posting the reality of whatever the issue. I happen to believe in the overall veracity of Snopes, but of course, the posters attack Snopes. I am a believer in Truth (which leads to the philosophical question of what truth is), and am prepared to change my mind when presented with new facts and evidence. I have often said I do not care for Obama and the direction the country is taking, but I don’t feel the need to post insults and untruths on a virtually daily basis. I suspect no matter whom our next President is, the country has become so divided that the daily hate posts will continue especially if a Democrat wins. In the world of sports, much as the rivalry of some sports teams dominates, in time of tragedy, somehow that all disappears and there appears a unity and support (at least for a while). Wouldn’t it be nice if that could happen to the country….
Later.