Spiderman Saves The Day Or Was That Mighty Mouse

Headline: Spider-Man comes to boy's rescue
Origin of Clip: news.com.au 24.3.9
Caption: Spiderman Saves The Day Or Was That Mighty Mouse

A FIREMAN turned superhero when he dressed up as comic-book character Spider-Man to coax a frightened eight-year-old from a balcony, police say.
Teachers at a special needs school in Bangkok alerted authorities yesterday when an autistic pupil, scared of going to lessons, sat out on the third-floor ledge and refused to come inside, a police sergeant said.

Despite teachers' efforts to beckon the boy inside, he refused to budge until his mother mentioned her son's love of superheroes, prompting fireman Sonchai Yoosabai to take a novel approach to the problem.

"My fireman rushed back to the fire station and took out his Spider-Man costume ... The boy immediately ran into his arms with a smile,'' Sergeant Virat Boonsadao said.

Headline: Parrot Awarded for Yelling About Choking Baby
Origin of Clip: FOXNews.com 24.3.9
Caption: Parrot is a Hero

DENVER — A parrot that alerted his owner about a baby who was choking was recognized as a hero by the Red Cross.

Willie the parrot was given the Animal Lifesaver Award during the "Breakfast of Champions" event attended by Gov. Bill Ritter and Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Willie received the award Friday for his actions in November, when he and owner Megan Howard were baby-sitting a toddler. Willie repeatedly yelled "Mama, baby" when Howard went to the bathroom and the toddler started to choke on her breakfast.

Headline: U.S. Jobs Threatened by Cheap Chinese Condoms
Origin of Clip: FOXNews.com 24.3.9
Caption: Baby Booming Condoms

With the American economy in turmoil, the government has decided to drop a long-standing contract with a U.S. company and give it to a foreign one, the Kansas City Star reported.

In a move that will cost around 300 American jobs, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has decided to purchase condoms from foreign companies — in countries like South Korea and China — because they cost less than American-made prophylactics, the Star reported.

The agency distributes billions of condoms to poor countries around the world, but has previously used only American-made condoms because of "Buy American" regulations, the Star reported. The stimulus bill that recently passed in Congress, however, does not include that provision for condoms...

Monday's Muses

Headline: Woman Missing 12 Years Found Alive in Swiss Woods
Clip from: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 19.1.9
Caption: Incredible

BERN, Switzerland — A German woman missing for 12 years has been found living in the woods on the outskirts of the Swiss capital with nothing more than an umbrella and tarpaulin for shelter, police said Monday.

The 52-year-old woman, whose name was undisclosed, appeared to be healthy after living in the simple shelter near the community of Bolligen for the past year.

Even the ranger who makes regular checks of the woods had failed to notice her before a hiker told police this month that he had seen a woman living there, said Juerg Mosimann, spokesman for the Bern police.

Bolligen's Mayor Rudolf Burger said he was told about the woman on Thursday and found her the next day in the makeshift tent she had constructed.

Headline: Men Rescued After Drifting for 25 Days in Icebox
Clip from: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 19.1.9
Caption: Whan the boat is not afloat

Two Burmese men who were lost at sea for 25 days after a fishing boat they were in sank off the southeast coast of Indonesia were found alive, floating in an oversized icebox.

The men, who said they were forced to join the boat’s crew, were found Saturday — 25 days after the vessel went down about 60 miles off Horn Island, the Courier-Mail reported.

They are idiots

Headline: Sneaking Teens Stranded for 3 Days: We Are Idiots
From: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 1.1.9
Caption: They are idiots

Two rescued Australian teenagers say they were idiots for getting lost for three days in rugged bushland after trying to sneak into a Victorian music festival without tickets.
Harry Wild and Ryan Hurley, both 19, had been trying to find a back way into the Falls Music Festival, near Lorne on the Great Ocean Road.
But their plans went awry when the pair lost cell phone reception and ended up getting lost....
"We know we are idiots, we think we are so silly. I just what to thank everyone who was involved in the process."

Headline: Woman Out for Walk Finds Mummified Head in Bag
From: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 1.1.9
Caption: No sense losing your head over it.

A human head was found in a bag by a British woman out for a morning walk Wednesday.

The gruesome discovery was made in the Newhaven area of Edinburgh.

Lothian and Borders Police have launched an investigation.

It is thought the head may be several years old and it is not known how long it had been there.

Police said the head "appeared to be mummified."

It was found on a public footpath at Hawthornvale. The woman who found it raised the alarm at 1030 a.m.

Headline: Nuts! Naked Intruder Foiled by Elderly Woman's Squeeze
From: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 31.12.8
Caption: Super Granny Squeezes Intruder's Balls

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office says an 88-year-old woman fended off a naked intruder by grabbing the man's crotch and squeezing.

Deputy Paul McRedmond says the man got into the house Tuesday through a sliding door. He backed the woman into her living room and pushed her face down onto a chair.

That's when the woman reached behind and squeezed. The man tore free and fled.

McRedmond says a county code enforcement officer who heard the police call on his radio spotted a car near the woman's house and passed on the license information to authorities.
Troutdale police arrested...

Headline: Lawsuit seeks to take 'God' out of inaugural
From: FOXNews.com
Date of clip: 31.12.8
Caption: So, No More Praying To God Before Going To War Then?

Some atheists want Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony to leave out references to God and religion. In a lawsuit, the plaintiffs demand the words "So help me God" not be added to the end of the oath of office. The plaintiffs say they are being forced to choose between not watching the inauguration or watching endorsements of "purely religious notions."

This is the headline of a story that is hard to take: EMTs on Tape: Disabled Man 'Not Worth Saving'

Headline: Now that's a credit crunch
From: news.com.au
Date of clip: 31.12.8
Caption: Smelling salts here please

A BRITISH man was left in major shock when his bank statement showed him to be £100 billion ($208 billion) overdrawn.
As if the credit crunch was not hitting Britons hard enough, Donald Moffat was temporarily in deep, deep, deep financial trouble - due to a "technical error''.

The 38-year-old, from Irvine on Scotland's east coast, said his wife noticed the somewhat "major discrepancy of two £50-billion debits'' after he logged on to his account online.

"When I saw it - I've been shaking, I've been feeling sick - everything,'' the stunned student and part-time care worker told the BBC.

Headline: Probe: Anti-Bias Worker Sent Racist, Sexist E-mails
From: CBSnews.com
Date of clip: 31.12.8
Caption: Anti-racist is a Racist

An Ohio state employee whose job is to prevent discrimination repeatedly sent racist and sexist e-mails from his government account, an investigation found, but kept his job.
The same man was reprimanded a year ago for sending an e-mail joking about giving jobs to women with large breasts.
Jokes about men kissing and a woman's genitalia, as well as a racial joke and a caricature of President-elect Barack Obama, were in the latest e-mails sent by the Transportation Department worker, according to an agency report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.