| Jeff Randall's A-Z guide to 2008
The difference is, the data aren't likely to turn up at a police station. N is for November 4, when America elects a new president. Hillary Clinton is 4-6 favourite. I'll be taking the 5-4 odds against any other candidate winning. O is for "Oh why, oh why did I do it?" A question being asked by those who were suckered into signing up as members of Gordon Brown's business panel. P is for Pants Index. Devised by this column, it's a mysteriously accurate forecaster of Marks & Spencer's share price. Quoted recently by Sir Stuart Rose in a presentation, it will be recalculated after M&S's Christmas trading statement. Q is for Quick Fix, which is precisely what Alistair Darling will be unable to offer us in his March budget. With Government borrowing running at £40bn a year, the new Chancellor has no wriggle room.
Scooter rider, 87, dies of injuries
AN elderly man has died from injuries he suffered when he was struck at a pedestrian crossing in Brisbanes bayside last Wednesday. The man, 87, died at the Princess Alexandra Hospital yesterday, a police statement said. The retiree had been riding a motorised scooter and attempting to cross Wynyard St in Cleveland about 9am when he was hit by a utility vehicle driven by a 24-year-old Indooroopilly man. The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating the fatality but the driver of the vehicle has not been charged. Share this article What is this? .
Outdoors Notebook: Tag program for striped bass off to good start
So three of the tagged fish were caught on conventional "J" hooks, and the other three were caught on circle hooks. Only one of the J-hook-caught fish was deep-hooked. "We were able to remove the hook with no problems, and the fish appeared to be in great shape," Graves said. "All the other fish were hooked in the corner of the mouth." Graves, who has used similar tags in his white marlin research, said the remaining four tags likely will be in fish by the start of today's Super Bowl. The tags record information on fish movement and depth in the water. In 30 days, the tags pop off the device implanted into the fish, rising to the surface and transmitting information to a satellite. Sometimes the tags are found and turned in by anglers, resulting in more data.
HiWheel bicyclist puzzles police, but no tickets
Martin Krieg makes people smile when they see him riding his HiWheel bicycle, but police are often confounded. The bike Krieg rides is an antique with a 52-inch diameter front wheel. Krieg, who lives in south Palo Alto, has been stopped three times recently by police officers who wonder if his bike is legal. But he hasn't been ticketed yet. "I've been stopped three times in the last few months on my HiWheel for theoretically not being able to brake properly (I cannot reach the ground with my feet), for not stopping long enough and for not having proper lighting," he told friends in an e-mail. But, as he explains, the HiWheel is legal because it falls outside the California vehicle code definition of a bicycle that is chain, gear or belt driven.
Reign of Terror - The South Hill Rapist
The story: After 25-years in prison, convicted "South Hill" rapist, Frederick "Kevin" Coe, is scheduled to be released this September.Play slideshow: Launch In 1980, the city of Spokane lost its innocence. A rapist, preying mostly on woman living on the city's South Hill, had police frustrated as the mounting toll of victims began to attract media attention. The perpetrator was recast as the South Hill rapist and panic began to descend on the city. Finally in the spring of 1981 a break in the case led to the arrest of Frederick "Kevin" Coe whose father happened to be the managing editor of the Spokane Daily Chronicle newspaper. After two trials and having served 25-years in prison, Coe is scheduled to be released this September. Now state prosecutors are looking at filing a civil case that could keep Coe behind bars for the rest of his life.
As violence eases, Sarkozy vows justice for wounded police
I notice in this discussion that accusations of racism are thrown about a little too easily. It has the effect of attempting to shut down conversation, and avoiding discussion of the central problems: Moslem immigrants refusing to assimilate; Moslem immigrants actively loathing their non-Moslem hosts and countrymen; Moslem immigrants seeking the destruction of Western political and social systems and replacing them with Islamic ones. The rioting and otherwise violent "youths" are very clear about their views. The citizenry of Western Europe (certainly, for example, based on comments in this discussion) have been let down by politicians and unaccountable EU bureaucrats. Considering the far below replacement level birthrate of Western Europe and the willful blindness of her elites, I fear that things are going to get much, much worse.
CB Top 5: Worst Oscar Winners
Rich Knight: Ridley Scott is the most overrated director in Hollywood. And I think the fact that he lost best director to Steven Soderbergh that year, who was on fa fa fa fire for both Erin Brockovich and Traffic is a testament to how much this proves my theory that he sucks. Gladiator is the kind of pump your fist and yell film that Braveheart popularized and made violence a household name in the Oscars yearly selection. That said, while Braveheart had its moments of brilliance as Mel Gibson waxed philosophical about freedom in an almost poetic manner, Ridley Scotts tribute to togas and sandals winds up feeling like one long, stiff monologue with sporadic intervals of way too fast combat that gets lost in terrible cinematography. If not for a brilliant Joaquin Phoenix, who was rightly nominated, but wrongly snubbed, this film would be as bad and as hokey as Oliver Stones (another hackney director) Alexander.
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