Bad Thai Cops to Endure Kitty Shame - Oddities - RedOrbit
BANGKOK, Thailand - Thai police officers who break rules will be forced to wear hot pink armbands featuring “Hello Kitty,” the Japanese icon of cute, as a mark of shame, a senior officer said Monday.

Police officers caught littering, parking in a prohibited area, or arriving late - among other misdemeanors - will be forced to stay in the division office and wear the armband all day, said Police Col. Pongpat Chayaphan. The officers won’t wear the armband in public.

The striking armband features Hello Kitty sitting atop two hearts.

“Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor,” said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok.

“(Hello) Kitty is a cute icon for young girls. It’s not something macho police officers want covering their biceps,” Pongpat said.

He said police caught breaking the law will be subject the same fines and penalties as any other members of the public.

“We want to make sure that we do not condone small offenses,” Pongpat said, adding that the CSD believed that getting tough on petty misdemeanors would lead to fewer cases of more serious offenses including abuse of power and mistreatment of the public by police officers.

Hello Kitty, invented by Sanrio Co. in 1974, has been popular for years with children and young women. The celebrity cat adorns everything from diamond-studded jewelry, Fender guitars and digital cameras to lunch boxes, T-shirts and stationery.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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I’m sure the Gay cops will wear the badge in ‘pride’.

Nude Customer a Hair-Raising Experience - Oddities - RedOrbit
SALEM, N.H. - The stylists wear scanty outfits, but a Salem man has found out that customers have to stay covered up. Kevin Bean, 48, was charged with indecent exposure and lewdness after allegedly stripping naked in the Lather & Lace hair salon in Salem this week.

Police say when Bean came out of a bathroom in his underwear, a female employee told him to get dressed and turned her back to him. When she looked back, she reported Bean was naked. Employees kicked him out, locked him outside and called police.

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Information from: Eagle Tribune, http://www.eagletribune.com

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

Illegal Campfire Sparked Tahoe Wildfire - Science - RedOrbit
By LAURA KURTZMAN

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Evacuated residents prepared to return to their burned-out streets as officials announced that an illegal campfire caused the inferno that destroyed more than 200 homes and charred 3,100 acres.

A U.S. Forest Service investigation found that the fire south of Lake Tahoe was built in a campfire-restricted area, but said there was no evidence it was deliberately set to spark the devastating wildfire that has displaced about 3,500 people.

Donna Deaton, an investigator for the U.S. Forest Service, said Friday the fire was built about a quarter-mile south of Seneca Pond, a popular recreation area south of Lake Tahoe. There were no suspects, she said.

Residents did not seem surprised by the news.

“Apparently kids hang out there,” said Donna Barker, a 21-year resident of Tahoe Keys who evacuated on Tuesday, although her home was spared. “I don’t think people think. It’s a sad reality.”

Because of tinder-dry conditions due to a lack of snow over the winter, the U.S. Forest Service had banned all campfires, charcoal grills, smoking and fireworks throughout the Tahoe basin.

The fire’s cause was announced after a second straight day of mild winds that allowed firefighters to surround the blaze. The fire was 80 percent contained by Friday evening, U.S. Forest Service incident commander Rich Hawkins said.

“Firefighters came in this morning and felt even more comfortable about the approaching containment of this fire,” he said. “I’m feeling pretty good about it.”

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Ex-Cop Sells Pot Tips on DVD - Oddities - RedOrbit
By PAUL J. WEBER

BIG SANDY, Texas - Barry Cooper sells a DVD on how to stash pot in your car without getting caught. This fall he will release a second one on how to keep police from raiding your home for marijuana.

Now for the kicker: Cooper is a former narcotics officer once considered among the top cops in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other state.

The formerly straight-laced lawman has become a shaggy-haired militant for the legalization of weed.

Six months ago he released “Never Get Busted Again,” in which the former star of West Texas’ Permian Basin Drug Task Force gives tips on hiding marijuana (dashboards are rife with nooks and crannies) and throwing off drug-sniffing dogs (coat your tires in fox urine).

“I’m not helping them to break the law. It’s clear the law is already being broken,” said Cooper, 38, who left law enforcement a decade ago. “I will do anything legal to frustrate law enforcement’s efforts to place American citizens in jail for nonviolent drug offenses.”

Law officers regard Cooper as a traitor. And some pro-pot activists say Cooper’s antics actually undermine their cause.

“This is like waving red meat” in front of police, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “They take great professional umbrage with this. They are not our opposition, and we don’t want to agitate them.”

Federal drug agents said his tips won’t keep them from finding your stash, and they advise drug users to save their $20 and use it to help post bail.

Richard Sanders, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Tyler, brushes off Cooper’s DVD as a sham. “He’s just out to make money,” Sanders said.

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Ronald McDonald Statue Turns Up Missing - Oddities - RedOrbit
BURLINGTON, Vt. - The theft of a 4-foot statue of Ronald McDonald was probably a prank, police said - but people at the home for sick children it was stolen from aren’t laughing.

Children and families frequently had photos taken next to the red-and-yellow plastic resin figurine before it turned up missing Tuesday, said Pamela Fenimore, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House. It was unbolted from the bench it sat upon outside the house.

“It’s despicable, it really is,” Fenimore said. “It goes beyond being funny. It really isn’t funny when you consider the kids and the families that get enjoyment out of it.”

The nine-bedroom house is one of 270 in 30 countries that provides a “home away from home” for sick children and their families traveling for treatment, according to the organization’s Web site.

April Storm, 42, is staying at the house with her granddaughter Casiya Liebfred, who has cystic fibrosis and cerebral palsy and recently had tonsil surgery. She said Casiya looks forward to taking pictures with the statue.

“When I told her she couldn’t, she actually cried,” Storm said.

Someone tried to cut the head off the statue last week, but it’s unclear if the same culprits are to blame for the theft.

Police Lt. William Ward said the statue probably didn’t go far in Burlington, a lively college town that’s seen its fair share of pranks.

Whoever is responsible could face felony grand larceny charges if caught, he said.

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How dare they destroy Ronald!!! May they burn in hell next to the Big Boy statue.

Military Plans for a ‘Gay Bomb?’
The Department of Defense is admitting an activist group’s claim that plans for an aphrodisiac-producing bomb were submitted by a laboratory. But, the Pentagon says it was just one idea and was never acted upon. (June 12)
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Someday, Sugar May Make Your Vehicle Go - Science - RedOrbit
Sugar can gum up your vehicle’s fuel system. But in a decade or so, sugar may be the fuel that powers your car or truck.

Researchers at Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Georgia are working on the science and technology to convert sugary carbohydrates, including starch, into low-cost hydrogen.

The hydrogen could be used in fuel cells to generate electricity to power everything from personal electronics to cars and trucks. The research was featured in the May 25 issue of Technology Review, a publication of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

If the researchers, who have applied for a Department of Energy grant, get enough support, sugar- powered vehicles could take to the road within 15 years, said Percival Zhang, an assistant professor of biological systems engineering at Virginia Tech.

“The idea of using sugar to run your computer or to eventually power your car is not unrealistic,” added Michael W.W. Adams, distinguished research professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Georgia.

“What we’ve done so far is to really prove the principle . . . that it works,” Adams said. “There is a lot of fundamental research yet to be done.”

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Parking Attendants Get Pulled Over - Oddities - RedOrbit
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - It was a sight that would make any flagrant parking meter flouter smile. Police were pulling over parking meter attendants to warn them that their $9,600 miniature Mitsubishi and Subaru were not street legal and did not have proper tags.

The state Division of Motor Vehicles told the Huntington Municipal Parking Board last week that the two golf-cart-like trucks it bought were manufactured for off-road use only. They also don’t qualify as low-speed vehicles and can’t be registered, according to Glenn Pauley, DMV director of vehicle services.

The trucks sit at the city garage while the Huntington Municipal Parking Board decides what to do with them.

The board thought the two gas-powered vehicles would be more cost-effective than the electric carts attendants used because they get about 50 miles per gallon and don’t have to be taken off the streets at least two hours a day to be recharged, said Johnette Nelson, the parking board executive director.

They also don’t require a new $1,200 battery every 18 months or so.

“Our profit margin increased about $5,000 during the month that we used the trucks,” she said. “That’s not including the additional revenue that the city received.”

The parking board keeps $3 from every $5 parking ticket; the city gets the remaining $2.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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Nothing like the left hand of the government not knowing what the right hand is doing. Yay for bloated government and stupid officals.