Odd News

After the mysterious meteorite crashed near the Peruvian town of Carancas, a populated highland wilderness near Lake Titicaca on the border with Bolivia, almost 600 people have presented symptoms like nausea, headaches and sore throats. Soon mass hysteria was created around the meteorite after people reported that the meteorite emanated noxious gases. "Those who say they are affected are the product of a collective psychosis," Jorge Lopez Tejada, health department chief in Puno, the nearest city, told the Los Angeles Times. According to geologist there is no prove that the meteorite could cause the noxious fumes, and even the fact that it may not be a meteorite is still to discuss. According to witnesses, the ground was rapidly filled with ground water after impact and started to boil. Peter Schultz, a scientist from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. said that the crater looks like it was made in a water saturated soil. The meteor fragments that were found are described as being "fine grained, light grey, fragile rock material, with disseminated iron particles of one millimeter diameter." The exaggerate hysteria made amid the meteorite might seem to be a scenario from the famous novel in 1969 "Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton, where the main idea was that a mysterious rock falling to Earth from outerspace made anyone who went near it ill. "The Peruvian event seems to be a rare case where we may be witnessing collective anxiety that is approaching near hysteria," said Benny Peiser, a social anthropologist at John Moores University in England.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070927/sc_space/meteoritecrashbreedsmasshysteria;_ylt=Ap9M3DIkAReQYt.mE4JjEm2s0NUE

by Delia Cruceru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Cred ca indifferent de locul de provenienta, ai o denumire pentru atunci cand cineva te suna si o jumatate de sacunda mai tarziu inchide, ne oferindu-ti posibilitatea de a raspunde. In Romania ii spunem beep, la fel ca in unele parti din Africa, dar acolo de mai foloseste si flash. In Sudan se numeste simplu apel pierdut, in vreme ce in Etiopia i-se spune miskin sau pitiful. Cel mai multi mi place frantuzescul bipage. Este practicat peste tot in lume si piata de celulare in continua crestere se confrunta cu fenomenul care se extinde rapid si din care operatorii telefoanelor mobile nu au reusit sa gaseasca solutii pentru a face bani. Oricum, proprietarii retelelor de telefonie mobile au introdus programe ca Orange Senegal, care conform lui Kofiloto, analist principal la Informa, permit clientilor sa trimita un mesaj prestabilit precum Rappelle moi (suna-ma inapoi) cand creditul lor e mai mic de $0.10 (5 pence). Cu Safaricom Kenya, programul Flashback 130' (limitat la 5 apeluri pe zi si cu sloganul ‘Incetati beepuitul! Cereti frumos'. DR Congo's 'Rappelez moi SVP' service costa $0.01 mesajulIn revista online Journal of Computer Mediated Communication va fi publicat un studio pe acest fenomen scris de Jonathan Donner, un cercetator al Microsoft cu sediul in India, care a descoperit pentru peima data apelurile pierdute in Rwanda. SI arata printre altele ca 20 si pana la 30 de procente din apelurile facute cu jumatate de secunda. International Telecommunication Union al Natiunilor Unite arata ca de la 25.2 milioane de detinatori de celulare in 2005, cifrele indica o crestere de pana la 192.5 milioane in 2006. Apelurile pierdute deranjeaza si din motive tehnice, deoarece spune Faisal Ijaz Khan, seful de marketing de la biroul pentru Sudan al operatorului telefonic sl Kuwaitului, Zain, spune sunt 355 milioane de apeluri pierdute de-a lungul retelei in fiecare zi in Africa si asta ar putea conduce la o impotmolire a retelei. Motivele pentru a da beepuri sunt numeroase, in general pentru ca utilizatorii nu mai au credit, sau pentru vor ca persoana iubita sa stie ca se gandeste la ea sau pentru ca este un cod pre-stabilit. Cercetatorii camerunezi Victor W.A. Mbarika si Irene Mbarika au inventat numele de booty call pentru beepul urmat de mesajul suna-ma acum. Vor gasi oare proprietarii de telefonie mobile o metoda de a taxa apelurile pierdute? Stati conectati si veti afla.

related story: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070927/tod-uk-africa-beeping-cb1d00a_1.html

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Well I guess that no matter where you are from, you have a name for when someone calls and hung up a half-second later without giving you the opportunity to answer. In Romania we call it beep, like in other parts of Africa, but there it is used also flash. In Sudan it's simply a missed call, while in Ethiopia it is miskin or pitiful call. The one that I like it is the French bipage. It's widely practiced and the booming mobile market faces with this phenomenon that it's growing fast from which mobile operators had not yet find a solution to get money. However, cell phones networks owners introduced programs like Orange Senegal who according to Kofiloto, Informa principal analyst, allows customers to send a 'Rappelle moi' ('Call me back') when their phone credit is below $0.10 (5 pence). With Safaricom Kenya, it is a ‘Flashback 130' (limited to five a day - and with the slogan 'Stop Flashing! Ask Nicely'). Vodacom DR Congo's 'Rappelez moi SVP' service costs $0.01 a message. In the online Journal of Computer Mediated Communication will be published a study of this phenomenon written by Jonathan Donner, an India-based researcher for Microsoft who first discovered the flashing calls in Rwanda. And it shows among others that 20 to 30 percents of the calls made in Africa are half a second flashes. U.N. International Telecommunication Union showed that from 25.2 millions mobile users the figures showed an increase to 192.5 million mobile phone users in 2006. The missed calls also bother due to technical reasons, because according to Faisal Ijaz Khan, chief marketing officer for the Sudanese arm of Kuwaiti mobile phone operator Zain (formerly MTC) there are 355 million calls across the whole network every day in Africa and that might lead to the a network swamp. The reasons for giving a beep are numerous, generally it's because the user ran out of credit, or because you want to let the person next to you know that you were thinking of her/him or because it's a pre-established code. Cameroonian researchers Victor W.A. Mbarika and Irene Mbarika invented the name the booty call to express the beep followed by the message call me now. Will the mobile phone owners find a way of charging the missed calls? Stay connected and find out.

related story: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070927/tod-uk-africa-beeping-cb1d00a_1.html

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Most absurd and contradictory, Gabriele Pauli, Bavaria's most glamorous politician, stated for the Reuters that marriage should be like a driving license. It should last no more than seven years and after that period if they want they can extend it or let it be automatically dissolved. She explained everything saying that the traditional view only inspires the couple the sense of security and that it is why such a law should be promulgated. Moreover, Peter Ramsauer, head of the CSU in Germany's parliament and former state premier Edmund Stoiber, accused her of smallness in thinking and she's arguing their Christian believes, according to European lawmaker Ingo Freidrich. She used this to accuse Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) - sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), for promoting traditional family values and utopist ideals about marriage. They are wrong because the holy institution of marriage cannot be regarded nor as a driving license, nor like a must. People should marry only if they are sure they can love and cherish the person next to her/him, no matter of the flaws. So they can wait to see what happens after; there are nu assurances that it will work. For Pauli it is obvious that marriage is not that good, twice divorced and at the age of 50 years old it's not easy anymore. Despite her age she has a lot of energy and stirs rumors by posing for a magazine, wearing long black latex gloves, shaking up her male-dominated and mainly Catholic party. For the leadership of CSU she has no real chances, mainly in front oh the Bavarian state economy minister Erwin Huber and German Consumer Minister Horst Seehofer. What will happen next? Stay connected.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070920/od_nm/germany_politics_marriage1_dc;_ylt=An0IK11WwfQX4Us1pt3eqmys0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

People like to compete, but what they like more, is winning and receiving prizes. Some awards are really prestigious and thousand of people are waiting with their breath held to know the results, another is famous, but not popular. There is no one who had never heard about Nobel Prize or Oscars, but who has ever heard about the Stockholm Prize in Criminology? This award maybe sounds absurd, but has more meaning than the famous Darwin Prize. The holders of Darwin Prize are usually lifeless and they deserve the prize because they were so stupid they are dead now, but Stockholm Prize in Criminology is the exact opposite. The awarded scientists or professors dedicated their research to prevent people to accidentally (or by purpose) harm each other. The 2008 Stockholm Prize in Criminology was awarded on 19 September to two scientists. The first one is British professor Jonathan Shepherd. A face surgeon from Cardiff sacrifices himself and spent uncountable amount of hours in different bars, just to finish his research into bar fights and how to prevent injuries from broken glass. His delightful time in pubs across the country led to the award and may be good advice for all bar fighters and fast-drinkers, who often loses control but don't want to explain their wives how the wounds on their cheeks face were made. Professor Shepherd share the prize with US professor David Olds from University of Colorado, who's work was less more dangerous. Instead of sitting in a pub professor Olds developed methods how to prevent child abuse. The effort of both scientists fetch them $ 150.000 which they will share. This was the third time the prize was administrated. Stockholm Prize in Criminology was announced by Swedish Minister of Justice in 2005 and since the eleven-headed jury of criminologists decides whose research is the best. Every year are awarded two scientists.

related story: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070919/tod-sweden-crime-prize-research-britain-f62056d_1.html

by Nina Gotzmannova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Did God failed in answering your pray lately? Don't worry if He refuses to do the exact things that you want or give you the sum of money you need, because now you can sue Him. At least that is what Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers proved us after he actually did it last week. The reason was according to him the desire to make a point that anyone can file a lawsuit against anybody. The allegations he brought were that the Almighty made terrorist threats against the senator and his constituents, inoculated fear and caused worldwide death, destruction and terrorization of billions of the Earth's inhabitants. Senator Omaha supports his colleague and accuses God for the floods and hurricanes that killed a huge number of people. The entire comedy was started by another absurd lawsuit. Tory Bowen, sued Lancaster District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront prohibited words such as "rape" and "victim" from a sexual assault trial where she was the accuser. She says that her free speech rights have been broken, but we may deduct that the real reason is judge's decision to declare a mistrial in the sexual assault trial because it was impossible to find sufficient evidence. Chamber calls the allegations as being inappropriate due to the fact that the Nebraska Supreme Court has already took a decision regarding the case and federal courts follow the decisions of state supreme courts on state matters. He said that his case has more solid grounds and proves that lately it has become too easy to sue someone. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf states that they are investigating if Bowen's case has legal basis and if not she and her attorneys will be sanctioned. So if you feel like you have nothing else better to do, just go and file a lawsuit, but first check out to see if you have or not legal grounds. Stay connected…

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070918/ap_on_fe_st/odd_suing_god;_ylt=Ao90NK0HW4PqeuTsc08v_3Cs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

It's the most famous baseball ball in the world. First 42-year old San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds hit it and broke all-time Major League home run record, then it was sold for unbelievable price $752,467 and now can people vote and decide what to do with it. The new owner, fashion designer Marc Ecko, has created a website www.vote756.com, where people can submit their votes. Options to choose from are three, send the ball to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N. Y., mark it with a star or send it up straight to space. Any of these conceits has its own meanings. The Hall of Fame is no strange place for Barry Bonds or any of his possessions. His father was the former Major League All-Star Bobby Bonds, his godfather was Hall of Famer Willie Mays and his distant cousin is another Hall of Famer, Reggie Jackson. The ball will perfectly suit there, because Bonds got over the record of Hank Aaron's 755 homeruns. The second idea about marking the ball is less than positive. In 2003 Bonds was mixed up with BALCO affair, although he passed all steroid tests and the usage of performance-enhancing drugs has never been confirmed. According to Ecko's website "the idea that some of the best athletes in the country are forced to decide between being competitive and staying natural is troubling". Third idea is similar to second. Blasting the ball into space will dispose it. "Out of sight, out of mind", wrote Ecko. The voting will end September 25 on 11.59 PM. Ecko will reveal the result, number of votes and the final destiny of the ball afterwards. Unfortunately, the website doesn't contain the running results, so the final decision will be surprise for everyone.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070917/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbn_bonds756_ball;_ylt=AvvjPdJQw8LaR2V_oyEzoBqs0NUE

by Nina Gotzmannova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

Prime ministerial house has a cat again. The last famous cat was Humphrey, named after Sir Humphrey Appleby in the "Yes Minister" political comedy show. He died in March 2006, but everyone remembers how he came as a stray cat during the late premiership of Margaret Thatcher in 1989. During the John Major years he lived as a passive Conservative, but six months after Tony Blair came to power, he was no longer in the picture. Most of the people think Cherie, Blair’s wife, is responsible for everything. Now, watch out everyone, there’s a new cat in town and she’s a beauty. Her name is Sybil after Basil's wife in the classic 1970s sitcom "Fawlty Towers”. Despite the fact that she is sharing a thespian name with her predecessor, she is different by the fact that she comes with a family and not with the house. So the lucky owners are the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his wife Sarah and their two sons. Much of the details still remain a secret, but the truth is that she’s not the first cat at Downing Street, that spot is already taken by none other than Wilberforce who came with Edward Heath and died in 1988. Who knew that behind every British prime minister there’s cat standing and yawning? Hei kitty, kitty what secrets do you hide under your fur? Don’t go away…she’s about to tell.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070911/od_nm/britain_cat_odd_dc;_ylt=ApJSk3InS7qXgooXV3.mTx6s0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

A British couple spent more than £100,000 living in motels for 22 years although they had a flat in Sheffield. David Davidson, 79, and his wife, Jean, 70 first tried out a Travelodge hotel in 1985 when they visited a sick aunt and they stayed at Barton-under-Needwood, Staffordshire. They also stayed in one on the A1 at Newark, Nottinghamshire while they were visiting another relative, soon afterwards they moved in. The couple became permanently guest at Gonerby Moor Travelodge in July 1997, but they do return to their flat once a fortnight for mail. David Davidson, former Royal Navy sailor said: "We get great rates because we book well in advance and we even have our own personal housekeeper. All our bed linen is laundered, too. It doesn't get much better than that, does it?" They book with 12 months in advance and by doing so they get the cheapest rates, paying an average of £90 a week, that includes bills for heating, electricity and laundry. Officials of Travelodge will honor their most loyal guest by naming their room The Davidsons' Suite and mounting a plaque in the reception area to mark their 10th anniversary. "We know Travelodge has really loyal customers throughout the UK but the Davidsons are unique - they've literally made a Travelodge into their home," said Paul Anstey, Travelodge's director of operations for the north.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070911/od_afp/lifestylebritainhoteloffbeat;_ylt=AoOgBtzKxtacoy6WoOflsBCs0NUE

by Delia Cruceru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.