BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- This big one did not get away. Thai fishermen netted a 646-pound catfish believed to have been the world's largest freshwater fish ever caught in Thailand, a researcher said Thursday.

The nearly 9-foot-long Mekong giant catfish was landed May 1 by villagers in Chiang Khong, a remote district in northern Thailand, and weighed by Thai fisheries department officials, said Zeb Hogan, who leads an international project to locate and study the world's largest freshwater fish species.

He confirmed it was the heaviest fish on record since Thailand started keeping such statistics in 1981.

The fishermen had hoped to sell the fish to environmental groups, which planned to release it to spawn upriver, but it died before it could be handed over and then was chopped up and sold in pieces to villagers as food.

Hogan, whose work is funded by the World Wildlife Fund and the National Geographic Society, said he is planning to write a paper about the catch for a scientific journal.

Does a super size catfish mean super size hushpuppies?

Reel Big Fish

There's a sucker born every minute - P.T. Barnum.

A Lexington woman who says she was jilted by a WLTO-102.5 FM contest filed a lawsuit yesterday against Cumulus Media Inc., which owns Hot 102 and four other local stations.

The complaint, filed in Fayette Circuit Court, says the radio station and its Atlanta-based parent company breached a contract to pay $100,000 after a radio contest prize was revealed to be a caramel-filled candy bar, Nestle's 100 Grand, instead of cash.

On May 25, night host DJ Slick said he wanted to thank people who listened throughout the American Idol finale by sponsoring a contest to "win 100 grand." "No joke," the host's Web blog said of the contest.

Norreasha Gill won by listening to the radio show throughout the night and being the 10th caller just before the Idol winner was announced. As family members rushed to her house to celebrate, she screamed over the airwaves and began describing what she would do with $100,000, she said.

"I just freaked out," Gill, 28, said. "I couldn't move, I was so afraid that the phone would click off. I was shaking. They congratulated me and told me I could pick it up the next morning."

Radio contest winner suing radio station over candy prize

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's baseball players have been banned from putting frozen cabbage leaves under their caps to beat the summer heat.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) took action after Doosan Bears pitcher Park Myung-hwan's cap fell off during a game last weekend, revealing his secret cooling agent.

After an emergency meeting, KBO officials ruled that cabbage leaves are a distraction and cannot be considered part of the baseball uniform.

"Park has been using frozen cabbage to cool down since last summer, but we didn't know until now," KBO chief of referees Heo Koo-youn told Reuters Wednesday.

"We had to act because imagine if it happened in the World Series. If something drops out of the pitcher's cap, it could put the batter off. Does the umpire call strike or ball?"

Park, who twice dropped leaves on the mound during last Sunday's game with the Hanhwa Eagles, said he was disappointed with the ruling but would not appeal.

"I'm sensitive to the heat and my wife recommended I put frozen cabbage leaves under my cap to cool my head," he said.

"I will respect the KBO's decision. Even without the cabbage, my pitching won't be affected."

There's no room for cabbage in baseball...

Sounds like a kernel vulnerability / buffer overflow to exploit... :)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark Jun 20, 2005 — New research indicates that parts of the brain that govern fear and anxiety are switched off when a woman is having an orgasm.

In the first study to map brain function during orgasm, scientists from the Netherlands also found that as a woman climaxes, an area of the brain that governs emotional control is also heavily deactivated.
...
When women faked orgasm, the cortex, the part of the brain governing conscious action, lit up. It was not activated during genuine orgasm.

The most striking results, however, were seen in the parts of the brain that shut down, or deactivated.

Brain Areas Shut Off During Female Orgasm

The Del Rio community is about 42 miles east of Knoxville, on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Following the French Broad River, the winding road leading to Del Rio is surrounded by lush mountains, rocky cliffs and remnants of a bygone era — dilapidated buildings and trailers that once served as truck stops and restaurants.
...
Many are given their first fighting cock as soon as they're able to handle them, at ages 8 to 10, and see the bird as a symbol of their emerging manhood.

"I got my first chicken when I was 7 years old, and I'm 46 now," said Pat Martin, a Cocke County native. "They're more than pets and you really take it to heart when you lose one of them. Just about everyone in the county has done it sometime or another."
...
Many breeders say they take better care of their birds than they do themselves.

Metal spurs called gaffs or knives are placed on the birds' natural spurs. While many breeders oppose the use of knives, most insist that even without the metal gaffs, the losers would die of infection from their injuries.

A fight can last seconds or hours and is overseen by a referee who enforces a detailed rule book, called Wortham's Rules, which is revised annually.
...
Dedicated rooster breeders in the county pass on their top birds to their children and view the roosters as symbols of their family's heritage and pride.

Many are given their first fighting cock as soon as they're able to handle them, at ages 8 to 10, and see the bird as a symbol of their emerging manhood.

"I got my first chicken when I was 7 years old, and I'm 46 now," said Pat Martin, a Cocke County native. "They're more than pets and you really take it to heart when you lose one of them. Just about everyone in the county has done it sometime or another."

Students at Cocke County High School take great pride in their football team and mascot, the Fighting Cocks. For many students, the name symbolizes strength and courage, not cruelty. (The county is named after William Cocke, an early Tennessee statesman.)
...
"It's part of our life and part of our culture," said Jessica Turner of Newport, who will be a senior at the high school this year. "When a chicken wins, it's treated like a king."

Cockfighting enthusiasts view a rooster match as a test of gameness, or the willingness to keep fighting even when the birds are near death.

Many game fowl breeders and cockfighters in the area say roosters have a fundamental right to express their "gameness" in battle, and people have a basic right to allow the birds to test their strength in battle.
...
"It brings a lot of money into the county, especially for the hotels and restaurants. It's really going to hurt the county if it goes away."

Just amazing in all its backwoods white trash glory.. I am speechless for once.

Cockfights pit law against way of life

(CNN) -- A 14-year-old boy who allegedly stole a bulldozer and led Tucson, Arizona, police on a 15-mile chase was critically wounded Thursday night when officers fired on the tractor as it sped toward them, a police official said.

The unidentified teen was in critical condition after being airlifted to a hospital, according to Tucson Assistant Police Chief Kermit Miller.
...
He said the teen drove the construction vehicle up to 30 miles per hour at times with as many as 15 police cruisers chasing him.

After a 15-mile chase, the bulldozer turned around in an eastside Tucson residential area and began driving downhill toward the police cruisers, Miller said. That was when two officers fired shots, with at least one round hitting the teen, Miller said.

It's been a little while since I did any excavation work but in my experience, a normal Caterpillar bulldozer shouldn't even be able to approach 1/2 of that speed without a big hill to descend with a 100+ mph tailwind.

Police shoot teen to end bulldozer chase

Update:
DOH! This turns out to be just another urban legend / internet hoax... I was wondering why the URL for a BBC page was on someone else's domain.

http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/lionmidget.asp

I am starting to believe in karma here...

Spectators cheered as entire Cambodian Midget Fighting League squared off against African Lion

Tickets had been sold-out three weeks before the much anticipated fight, which took place in the city of Kâmpóng Chhnãng.

The fight was slated when an angry fan contested Yang Sihamoni, President of the CMFL, claiming that one lion could defeat his entire league of 42 fighters.

Sihamoni takes great pride in the league he helped create, as was conveyed in his recent advertising campaign for the CMFL that stated his midgets will "... take on anything; man, beast, or machine."

This campaign is believed to be what sparked the undisclosed fan to challenge the entire league to fight a lion; a challenge that Sihamoni readily accepted.
...
The fight was called in only 12 minutes, after which 28 fighters were declared dead, while the other 14 suffered severe injuries including broken bones and lost limbs, rendering them unable to fight back

Lion Mutilates 42 Midgets in Cambodian Ring-Fight

Ok, being proactive is normally a good thing but does the FAA have any jurisdiction here and was this really a necessary rulemaking at this point in time (& space)?

The United States government does not want billboards in space.

The Federal Aviation Administration proposed Thursday to amend its regulations to ensure that it can enforce a law that prohibits "obtrusive" advertising in zero gravity.

"Objects placed in orbit, if large enough, could be seen by people around the world for long periods of time," the FAA said in a regulatory filing.

Currently, the FAA lacks the authority to enforce the existing law.

FAA: Space billboards don't fly

OK, I must be ancient, I remember Gumby and Pokey clay character animations on weekend TV as a kid. Anyone remember Eddie Murphy's recreation of Gumby? I'm Gumby dammit!

"Gumby is an icon," said Diane Gibson-Gray, 49, executive director of the Arts and Cultural Foundation of Antioch, which is sponsoring the monthlong exhibit. "He's a cultural icon that many of us grew up with. And there's another wave coming. There's a whole new generation that's going to embrace and love Gumby as much as I did."

Gumby Making Comeback on 50th Anniversary

We are the space robots, we are here to protect you. We are here to protect you from the terrible secret of space

10:36 AM May. 13, 2005 PT
Microsoft is rolling out a test version of an all-in-one subscription service that aims to protect computer users from viruses and spyware and give them tools to make machines speedier.

Microsoft is distributing Windows OneCare to its 60,000 employees this week. It plans to run a larger, invitation-only test this summer, then launch a full-scale trial by year's end.

Among its features, Windows OneCare would offer two-way firewall protection and perform maintenance work like cleaning up disks, repairing files and defragmenting hard drives so that bits of data aren't inefficiently spread out.

Microsoft risks alienating security vendors in releasing its own, competing products, but if it doesn't do more to stem internet attacks, it also risks further alienating customers unhappy with the multitude of threats already facing its ubiquitous software.

Microsoft: You're Safe With Us