NationStates Jolt Archive


Most Condoms in India Used to Make Saris; German toads explode, baffling boffins

Patra Caesar
25-04-2005, 06:50
Is this why the Pope is against using condoms? :eek: :p

Source (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=757&e=10&u=/ap/20050423/ap_on_re_as//india_condoms)

Most Condoms in India Used to Make Saris
Sat Apr 23, 7:24 AM ET

NEW DELHI - Only a quarter of condoms made in India are used for sex, most of the others are used to make saris, toys and bathroom slippers, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The condoms are valuable to manufacturers because of the lubricant on them.

Sari weavers place the condoms on their thread spools and the lubricant on the prophylactics is rubbed off on the thread, making it move faster through their sewing machines, The Economic Times newspaper quoted an Indian industry official as saying.

Sari makers also turn the condom's inside out, place them on their fingers and use the high-quality lubricant to polish gold and silver threads used in the traditional Indian women's outfits.

India manufactures more than 1 billion condoms annually to check population growth and curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Source (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1517&e=6&u=/afp/germanytoadsoffbeat)

Exploding toads baffle German experts
Sat Apr 23,12:16 PM ET

BERLIN (AFP) - Hundreds of toads have met a bizarre and sinister end in Germany in recent days, it was reported: they exploded.

According to reports from animal welfare workers and veterinarians as many as a thousand of the amphibians have perished after their bodies swelled to bursting point and their entrails were propelled for up to a metre (three feet).

It is like "a science fiction film", according to Werner Smolnik of a nature protection society in the northern city of Hamburg, where the phenomenon of the exploding toad has been observed.

"You see the animals crawling on the ground, swelling and then exploding."

He said the bodies of the toads expanded to three and a half times their normal size.

"I have never seen such a thing," said veterinarian Otto Horst. So bad has the death toll been that the lake in the Altona district of Hamburg has been dubbed "the pond of death."

Access to it has been sealed off and every night a biologist visits it between 2:00 and 3:00 am, which appears to be peak time for batrachians to go bang.

Explanations include an unknown virus, a fungus that has infected the water, or crows, which in an echo of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds", attack the toads, literally scaring them to death.
Dimmimar
25-04-2005, 06:52
:p :p :p :p

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Potaria
25-04-2005, 06:52
One word: Fuckedup.
Harlesburg
25-04-2005, 06:53
Its because Indians marry there pets for good luck!?.........
Preebles
25-04-2005, 06:54
Patra Caesar: Full of useless, yet amusing facts.
Potaria
25-04-2005, 06:57
Patra Caesar: Full of useless, yet amusing facts.

Damn right. I think I'll tune into the Patra Caesar channel more often!
Patra Caesar
25-04-2005, 07:02
Aww shucks Preebles and Potaria! Now I'm all shy, blushing and embarassed! :D :fluffle:
Potaria
25-04-2005, 07:07
Aww shucks Preebles and Potaria! Now I'm all shy, blushing and embarassed! :D :fluffle:

Alright, now you're freaking me out!

:D
Preebles
25-04-2005, 07:11
Alright, now you're freaking me out!

:D
Relax and enjoy the lovin'! :D
Patra Caesar
25-04-2005, 07:13
In all seriousness I would like to have my own news show, either an hour or half an hour every week on Nine or the ABC where I and a crack team of journalists (or some bums on the street corner) can get to the bottom of hard hitting stories like spontainous toad explosions, interspecies adoption and how one would go about getting married to an urn. I would present it straightfaced, like a regular news program and have it ironic and self mocking. ;)
Potaria
25-04-2005, 07:16
Relax and enjoy the lovin'! :D

But I'm not into that sort of thing, dude...!

*shudder*

Not that there's anything wrong with other people doing it.
Potaria
25-04-2005, 07:16
In all seriousness I would like to have my own news show, either an hour or half an hour every week on Nine or the ABC where I and a crack team of journalists (or some bums on the street corner) can get to the bottom of hard hitting stories like spontainous toad explosions, interspecies adoption and how one would go about getting married to an urn. I would present it straightfaced, like a regular news program and have it ironic and self mocking. ;)

Like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart!

...Well, sort of.
Preebles
25-04-2005, 07:17
ABC is your best bet. That sounds like the kind of stuff that's taken seriously on Nine...
Potaria
25-04-2005, 07:18
ABC is your best bet. That sounds like the kind of stuff that's taken seriously on Nine...

Ah, is that your FOX channel?
Patra Caesar
25-04-2005, 07:20
Ah, is that your FOX channel?

Fox is Murdoch, Nine is Packer. That's about the only diffrence...
Patra Caesar
25-04-2005, 07:22
Like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart!

...Well, sort of.

Who?

Not quite like the Glasshouse, more like CNNN.
Patra Caesar
25-04-2005, 07:23
But I'm not into that sort of thing, dude...!

*shudder*

Not that there's anything wrong with other people doing it.

BTW, Preebles isn't a dude, Preebles is a dudette. ;)
Potaria
25-04-2005, 07:24
Who?

Not quite like the Glasshouse, more like CNNN.

Alright, now I'm confused.
Potaria
25-04-2005, 07:24
BTW, Preebles isn't a dude, Preebles is a dudette. ;)

I know. I call everyone a dude.
Preebles
25-04-2005, 07:27
Alright, now I'm confused.
The Glasshouse is a... satirical current-affairs panel gameshow. :p

CNNN is the Chaser Nonstop News Network, a spoof of news-entertainment and shitty commercial news channels. The Chaser team also puts out a magazine and has a website (www.chaser.com.au) .
Patra Caesar
25-04-2005, 07:28
Alright, now I'm confused.

Who is John Stewart?

The Glasshouse/Panel are shows where people get together around a table and make jokes about the news.

CNNN is a satire of CNN

My idea is more like CNNN, but rather than make up (Like when they got it on the front page of all the national newspapers that a backbencher would challenge Howard's leadership despite it being ficticious) the news use real stories like the ones I post.

I'd like the woman who plays Jana Wendt on "Fast Forward" to join me, "No happy stories about dogs who surf for us! We now leave you with pictures of people burning."
Potaria
25-04-2005, 07:28
The Glasshouse is a... satirical current-affairs panel gameshow. :p

CNNN is the Chaser Nonstop News Network, a spoof of news-entertainment and shitty commercial news channels. The Chaser team also puts out a magazine and has a website (www.chaser.com.au) .

*is no longer confused*

A great many thanks, damnit!

And get on MSN!!!
Potaria
25-04-2005, 07:29
Who is John Stewart?

http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/

That's the official website. Jon Stewart's a quirky comedian who hosts the show.
Patra Caesar
25-04-2005, 07:35
I have decided that it is my civic duty to forward this exploding toad story onto Premier Peter Beattie, who has just spent millions on trying to devolop a new cane toad stratergy.
German Nightmare
25-04-2005, 23:29
I've seen some footage of the exploding toads and it's really crazy!!!

Scientists from the eco-police tested them for pretty much everything but couldn't find a reason why the toads bloated and exploded... they just did!

(Don't you all feel like that ever once in a while?)