Oddities and Humor

Woman’s 10 litre-a-day Coca-Cola habit likely contributed to death, say doctors
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND—Experts say a New Zealand woman's 10-litre-a-day Coca-Cola habit probably contributed to her death, a conclusion that led the soft-drink giant to note that even water can be deadly in excessive amounts.

Natasha Harris, a 30-year-old, stay-at-home mother of eight from Invercargill, died of a heart attack in February 2010. Fairfax Media reported that a pathologist, Dr. Dan Mornin, testified at an inquest Thursday that she probably suffered from hypokalemia, or low potassium, which he thinks was caused by her excessive consumption of Coke and overall poor nutrition.

Symptoms of hypokalemia can include abnormal heart rhythms, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Mornin said that toxic levels of caffeine, a stimulant found in Coke, also may have contributed to her death, according to Fairfax.

Harris' partner, Chris Hodgkinson, testified that Harris drank between 8 and 10 litres (2.1 and 2.6 gallons) of regular Coke every day.
“The first thing she would do in the morning was to have a drink of Coke beside her bed and the last thing she would do at night was have a drink of Coke,” Hodgkinson said in a deposition. “She was addicted to Coke.”

Hodgkinson also said Harris ate little and smoked about 30 cigarettes a day. In the months before her death, he said, Harris experienced blood pressure problems and lacked energy.

A clear case of suicide if ever there was one.

Yeah, and that's just the cigs, never mind the pop!

For those of us without Swiss bank accounts, $10,000 is a lot of money. For Rejaniel Santos and Sandra Domingues, a homeless couple that spend nights under an overpass in Sao Paulo, Brazil, $10,000 is a life-altering amount of money.

Yet when the duo stumbled across a duffel bag containing 20,000 Brazilian Reais ($9,831) at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, Folha de S.Paulo reports they decided to do the right thing and turn it over to police.

Santos found the bag near a bus station when he and his wife went to investigate why a nearby shop's fire alarm had gone off. Though they could desperately use the funds, they never considered taking the money. "I learned from my mother to never take anything that belongs to others," he told TV Globo.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/10/homeless-couple-turn-over-10000-cash_n_1659988.html?utm_hp_ref=impact&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Woman kills 14,000 slugs in two months

GAVLE, Sweden, July 10 (UPI) -- A Swedish woman said she has killed more than 14,000 garden-ruining slugs on her property since May.

Hilkka Risberg, 65, of Gavle, said the Spanish slugs, commonly known as "killer slugs" in Sweden, first appeared in her garden about three years ago and she has noticed their numbers steadily increasing, The Local.se reported Tuesday.

"It all started three years ago -- and they ate everything. I began by taking them out of the garden but they just kept coming back, so I started to kill them," Risberg said.

Risberg, who said she kills the creatures with a forked stick, said she decided to keep a journal this year to tally the number of slugs she has killed on her property.

"Since May 10 this year when I started the journal, I have killed 14,518. Not all from my garden, but also from a 500 meter (1,640-foot) stretch that the garden backs onto," she said.

The woman said some people have criticized her for killing the slugs, which are not native to the country and first appeared in Sweden in 1975.

"Some people have told me it's cruel, but I bet those people kill mosquitoes and flies. I respect their opinion, but these slugs don't belong in Sweden, they have no natural predators. It has to be a person. And if I don't do it, who will?" she said.

From my local newspaper ...

8 kids by age 30? Definitely suicide.

I killed a snail last month. It did not take any special skill. In fact, it was an accident. For some reason unknown, the poor creature disintegrated when I picked it off of the side of the pool.

Mr.Irish caught a stingray once on a fishing trip. I asked him what he did with it and he told me he cut the line and let the poor fella go. I asked him what about the hook and if the fish would have it stuck in his mouth forever. He told me no, that the hook would eventually work its way out and the fish would be fine.

I think he made that last part up.

The hook just might work well for the stingray if the stingray was into the punk or emo aesthetic.

I think Hilkka needs more hobbies.

She counted 14,518 slugs.

How did she have time to weed between the rose bushes?

Joe(the pie pan and beer method is better)Nation

Paul Sikkel of Arkansas State University names a newly-discovered parasite after Bob Marley. The blood-sucking parasite was found in the Virgin Islands.

Wonder if Bob though of those parasites as bad boys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlpdJGHsKJ0

I saw that story earlier. Reminds me of the John Wayne movie about Vietnam. One soldier was to have something there named after him. He finally settled on "Provo Privy."

Yeah, how can she be so sure that she didn't mis-count?

Alaska town heads for the border

By QMI Agency

Bethel, Alaska, has been fiending for fast food for some time now so imagine the residents' elation when they found out that Taco Bell was soon going to open a restaurant in their city.

Bethel boasts a population of 6,200 and is about 65 km inland from the Bering Sea in far western Alaska. The closest fast food other than a Subway sandwich shop is in Anchorage, 643 km. and a $500 round-trip plane ticket away.

Fox News says the town's joy was short-lived when it found out that the flyers announcing the chain's arrival were a hoax -- the result, police say, of a feud between two residents.

Taco Bell executives learned of the mix-up and arranged an enormous feast for Sunday, foxnews.com says.

They flew enough ingredients in from Anchorage to make 10,000 tacos and fed Bethel for free.

The list included 950 pounds of seasoned beef, 300 pounds of lettuce, 150 pounds of cheddar cheese, 500 pounds of reduced fat sour cream and 300 pounds of tomatoes.

"If we can feed people in Afghanistan and Iraq, we can feed people in Bethel," company CEO Greg Creed said.

Police Sgt. Chris Salyers said the hoax appeared to be the result of one resident retaliating against another.

Flyers went up in June, announcing the opening and including a phone number to call to inquire about a job at the new restaurant. The number belonged to the targeted person.

She probably used my method when I'm balancing the checkbook--which is to 'round up'. As you can imagine, Mr.Irish is a big fan of my doing that every month.

?

Term used for addict desperately needing another hit.

Thanks wabbit, that's one thing learned today, can turn off brain now. Mmmmm.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2012/07/11/pkg-mn-lawn-accidentally-killed.kare

What's accidentally about not reading the directions and warnings on something you are about to spray on 40,000 square feet of lawn, dumbass?

Joe(put this under Odd and not Humor)Nation