Farmina
03-09-2005, 01:37
Woman torches house in bid to kill spiders
A German woman laid waste to her family home by setting fire to it as she tried to kill spiders in a garage with a can of hairspray and a cigarette lighter.
Police in the western town of Zuelpich said that when the aerosol failed to finish them off, the 34-year-old woman tried to burn them with the lighter.
However, this set the area she had just sprayed on fire and the blaze spread to a hedge.
"It was a series of unfortunate events which led to the damage," a police spokesman said on Thursday.
"She tried to put the fire out with a garden hose, but could not," he said.
"Instead her semi-detached house next to the hedge caught fire. It's now uninhabitable."
Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze and save the neighbouring house, which sustained broken windows and some charring.
The spokesman estimated the total cost of the damage at well over $A164,000. No one was hurt.
"The family have had to look for somewhere else to stay," he said.
"The spiders are gone though, that problem was solved."
- Reuters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1451463.htm
I'm glad she got rid of the spiders; but I am very worried about the future of humanity.
Giant centipede legs it to London
A giant centipede would send most people running screaming from the house but one Londoner has described how he trapped the long, venomous and creepy beast behind his television set.
Aaron Balick, 32, a psychotherapist from north London, caught the pink monster in a plastic box and took it to the Natural History Museum.
Experts identified it as Scolopendra gigantea, the world's largest species of centipede.
Captured in early July, the creature was 23 centimetres long - but it is still growing.
Recalling the find, Mr Balick said: "While working late one night I heard a rustling sound coming from behind my television."
At first, he thought a mouse was making the noise under a pile of papers.
"Instead, when I lifted the papers, I saw this prehistoric-looking animal skitter away behind a stack of books," Mr Balick said.
"I was shocked. I thought: 'There's no way this thing is in my house, this is not for real!'"
Mr Balick managed to trap the beast in a giant plastic container and got in touch with the Natural History Museum.
Entomologist Stuart Hine, manager of the museum's insect inquiry service, told Mr Balick it was fortunate he did not pick up the poisonous arthropod.
"I informed him that there was no way picking it up was ever an option," Mr Balick said.
"The museum can keep it."
The centipede, dubbed Deidre, has since been adopted by Mr Hine and is living at his home where it is being fed a diet of locusts.
Big as it is, the creepy-crawly could grow even larger.
Mr Hine has heard of one report of a 46-centimetre monster from Venezuela.
The critter probably hitched a ride to Britain from its native home in Central or South America in a consignment of electrical equipment or fruit.
Scolopendra gigantea has front claws that are specially adapted to deliver venom.
Being stung by one of the creatures, especially the female, can result in a blistering rash, nausea and fever.
No antidote to the venom exists but the sting is only very rarely life-threatening.
- Agence France-Presse (AFP)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1451070.htm
That's one huge centipede. I hate big bugs. I can now see why the woman burnt down her house. *Freaks out at thought of huge centipede.
Farm fuel heist goes up in flames
Three men trying to steal fuel from a New Zealand farm ended up setting fire to their own car.
Police say the trio had siphoned diesel into a petrol-driven vehicle.
When their car would not start, they examined the fuel pipe using a cigarette lighter.
One click, a boom and the car burst into flames.
"It wasn't a major whodunnit," senior sergeant Ross Gilbert, of the small North Island town of Waipukurau, said.
"Fortunately for them, there is no criminal charge for stupidity."
The men, aged 18 to 19, escaped injury but were charged with theft.
- Reuters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1448515.htm
Idiots! My confidence in humans has just dropped further.
Austrian thieves use train to open safe
Thieves in Austria nearly derailed a passenger train after pushing a 15 kilogram stolen safe on to the track in the hope a speeding locomotive would smash it open, Austrian police say.
A spokesman for the local police near Bregenz, west Austria, says the force of the collision had indeed opened the safe, "but nearly all the money was thrown out and the perpetrators had to flee".
"The locomotive was very badly damaged and there was nearly a derailment," Michael Haider said.
The safe, which contained about $6,000, had been stolen during a raid on a local business shortly before.
It was the first time a train had been used to open a safe in the history of the country, Rene Zumtobel, a spokesman for the national railway OBB, said.
- Agence France-Presse (AFP)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1450606.htm
More human stupidity. Using a train is ingenious at first thought, but risking lives over $6,000, reckless stupidity.
Lost dog catches first train home
When Archie the black labrador lost his owner on a lonely Scottish station, he jumped aboard the first train home.
Not only did the dog catch the right train, he got off at the right station, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reports.
Owner Mike Taitt lost sight of Archie at Inverurie Station near Aberdeen in eastern Scotland and was hoping someone would spot the dog's tag and return the much-loved mutt.
"He is a very intelligent dog," Mr Taitt said.
"When he could not find me, he simply took the right train home. He's been on that train before. I am convinced he knew it was the right one. But who knows?"
Closed-circuit television footage shows the dog waiting for his master at the station before watching the Aberdeen to Inverness train pull in.
Unable to find his owner, the black labrador decided to avoid a long walk home by nipping aboard the 20:38.
He got out at the right stop, Insch, 12 minutes along the line, to the bemusement of signalman Derek Hope.
"There was a train conductor standing with Archie on the platform saying he had got on at Inverurie but didn't have a ticket," Mr Hope said.
Two police forces, the national rail operating system and the local train service have all logged the incident.
- Agence France-Presse (AFP)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1447727.htm
Well considering all the confidence I have lost in humanity, its only right that I should gain some in another creature. I wouldn't be surprised if that dog is smarter than some people.
A German woman laid waste to her family home by setting fire to it as she tried to kill spiders in a garage with a can of hairspray and a cigarette lighter.
Police in the western town of Zuelpich said that when the aerosol failed to finish them off, the 34-year-old woman tried to burn them with the lighter.
However, this set the area she had just sprayed on fire and the blaze spread to a hedge.
"It was a series of unfortunate events which led to the damage," a police spokesman said on Thursday.
"She tried to put the fire out with a garden hose, but could not," he said.
"Instead her semi-detached house next to the hedge caught fire. It's now uninhabitable."
Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze and save the neighbouring house, which sustained broken windows and some charring.
The spokesman estimated the total cost of the damage at well over $A164,000. No one was hurt.
"The family have had to look for somewhere else to stay," he said.
"The spiders are gone though, that problem was solved."
- Reuters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1451463.htm
I'm glad she got rid of the spiders; but I am very worried about the future of humanity.
Giant centipede legs it to London
A giant centipede would send most people running screaming from the house but one Londoner has described how he trapped the long, venomous and creepy beast behind his television set.
Aaron Balick, 32, a psychotherapist from north London, caught the pink monster in a plastic box and took it to the Natural History Museum.
Experts identified it as Scolopendra gigantea, the world's largest species of centipede.
Captured in early July, the creature was 23 centimetres long - but it is still growing.
Recalling the find, Mr Balick said: "While working late one night I heard a rustling sound coming from behind my television."
At first, he thought a mouse was making the noise under a pile of papers.
"Instead, when I lifted the papers, I saw this prehistoric-looking animal skitter away behind a stack of books," Mr Balick said.
"I was shocked. I thought: 'There's no way this thing is in my house, this is not for real!'"
Mr Balick managed to trap the beast in a giant plastic container and got in touch with the Natural History Museum.
Entomologist Stuart Hine, manager of the museum's insect inquiry service, told Mr Balick it was fortunate he did not pick up the poisonous arthropod.
"I informed him that there was no way picking it up was ever an option," Mr Balick said.
"The museum can keep it."
The centipede, dubbed Deidre, has since been adopted by Mr Hine and is living at his home where it is being fed a diet of locusts.
Big as it is, the creepy-crawly could grow even larger.
Mr Hine has heard of one report of a 46-centimetre monster from Venezuela.
The critter probably hitched a ride to Britain from its native home in Central or South America in a consignment of electrical equipment or fruit.
Scolopendra gigantea has front claws that are specially adapted to deliver venom.
Being stung by one of the creatures, especially the female, can result in a blistering rash, nausea and fever.
No antidote to the venom exists but the sting is only very rarely life-threatening.
- Agence France-Presse (AFP)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1451070.htm
That's one huge centipede. I hate big bugs. I can now see why the woman burnt down her house. *Freaks out at thought of huge centipede.
Farm fuel heist goes up in flames
Three men trying to steal fuel from a New Zealand farm ended up setting fire to their own car.
Police say the trio had siphoned diesel into a petrol-driven vehicle.
When their car would not start, they examined the fuel pipe using a cigarette lighter.
One click, a boom and the car burst into flames.
"It wasn't a major whodunnit," senior sergeant Ross Gilbert, of the small North Island town of Waipukurau, said.
"Fortunately for them, there is no criminal charge for stupidity."
The men, aged 18 to 19, escaped injury but were charged with theft.
- Reuters
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1448515.htm
Idiots! My confidence in humans has just dropped further.
Austrian thieves use train to open safe
Thieves in Austria nearly derailed a passenger train after pushing a 15 kilogram stolen safe on to the track in the hope a speeding locomotive would smash it open, Austrian police say.
A spokesman for the local police near Bregenz, west Austria, says the force of the collision had indeed opened the safe, "but nearly all the money was thrown out and the perpetrators had to flee".
"The locomotive was very badly damaged and there was nearly a derailment," Michael Haider said.
The safe, which contained about $6,000, had been stolen during a raid on a local business shortly before.
It was the first time a train had been used to open a safe in the history of the country, Rene Zumtobel, a spokesman for the national railway OBB, said.
- Agence France-Presse (AFP)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1450606.htm
More human stupidity. Using a train is ingenious at first thought, but risking lives over $6,000, reckless stupidity.
Lost dog catches first train home
When Archie the black labrador lost his owner on a lonely Scottish station, he jumped aboard the first train home.
Not only did the dog catch the right train, he got off at the right station, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reports.
Owner Mike Taitt lost sight of Archie at Inverurie Station near Aberdeen in eastern Scotland and was hoping someone would spot the dog's tag and return the much-loved mutt.
"He is a very intelligent dog," Mr Taitt said.
"When he could not find me, he simply took the right train home. He's been on that train before. I am convinced he knew it was the right one. But who knows?"
Closed-circuit television footage shows the dog waiting for his master at the station before watching the Aberdeen to Inverness train pull in.
Unable to find his owner, the black labrador decided to avoid a long walk home by nipping aboard the 20:38.
He got out at the right stop, Insch, 12 minutes along the line, to the bemusement of signalman Derek Hope.
"There was a train conductor standing with Archie on the platform saying he had got on at Inverurie but didn't have a ticket," Mr Hope said.
Two police forces, the national rail operating system and the local train service have all logged the incident.
- Agence France-Presse (AFP)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1447727.htm
Well considering all the confidence I have lost in humanity, its only right that I should gain some in another creature. I wouldn't be surprised if that dog is smarter than some people.