Toilet Training

Boy’s head gets stuck in toilet seat

Firefighters had to cut a toddler loo-se after his head got stuck in a toilet seat.

The 18-month-old got into difficulties after he decided to use the seat as a hat, but it slipped down over his ears.

Luckily, firefighters who were summoned by his worried mum in Loughton, Essex, weren’t driven round the u-bend by the young chap’s antics.

Firefighter Steve Seary, whose team used specialist cutting equipment to free the youngster, said: ‘He had been wearing the training toilet seat as a hat and his Mum turned her back and then he slipped it down over his ears and it was stuck, but it wasn’t tight or causing him any difficulties.  

‘The boy was really brave and sat still so we could work. He seemed just fine afterwards and we were happy to see him free of his toilet seat.’

Nearer To God??

Police nab man in church roof after burglaries

Atlanta police have arrested a man found in a crawl space on a church roof after a series of burglaries at the building. Pastor Robert Reed of Pleasant Word Christian Center says the arrest was made Sunday night. Reed said his church has been broken into 17 times and that the thieves ripped up the church’s alarm system, disabled motion detectors and broke out windows.

Reed said 10 air conditioning units were also stolen, which forced church leaders to cancel Sunday services. He said burglars have been stealing copper from the church.

Cleaning Up!!

Cat turns on vacuum cleaner, nearly dies from fright

A cat home alone in Germany apparently turned on the vacuum cleaner, frightened itself half to death and wound up being attended to by emergency services.

Police in the Bavarian city of Bayreuth said a neighbor heard the cat’s cries – not to mention a vacuum left running for hours – and feared there’d been a terrible accident.

The fire service sped to the scene Monday evening, but found only the cat and the machine.

A police statement Tuesday said the emergency call wasn’t entirely in vain, though, because "at least the cat could be calmed down."

Spiked!!

Bench spikes

Chinese park officials are fitting steel spikes on benches in a bid to stop people from hogging them.

If visitors to the Yantai Park in Shangdong province, eastern China, sit too long on the seat without paying at the nearby meter the spikes will shoot up through the bench.

Although they can’t cause any serious harm, they are long enough to stop people sitting comfortably.
Parks in China suffer from severe overcrowding at weekends when millions of people try to escape the country’s cities.

One official said: "We have to make sure the facilities are shared out evenly and this seems like a fair way to stop people grabbing a bench at dawn and staying there all day."

Taken For A Ride!

 78 year old, rides roller coaster 90 times in day

A 78-year-old man rode a Pittsburgh-area roller coaster 90 times in one day – bringing his lifetime total to 4,000 rides. Vic Kleman spent about five hours on the Jack Rabbit roller coaster at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin.

The wooden coaster is no spring chicken, either. It’s celebrating its 90th anniversary – the number that prompted Kleman’s marathon riding session on Sunday.

The Jack Rabbit has an 85-foot, double-dip drop. Kleman says he’s been going on it since 1959, and usually rides it about 20 times a visit.

Kleman, who lives in nearby Knoxville, Pa., is a member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts.

What’s In A Name?

Family ‘dropping uncomputable surname’

A Chinese family has reportedly started the process of changing their shared surname because it cannot be recognised by computers.

According to BBC News, the 200 members of the Shaan family from Shandong province spell their name with an unusual local variant.

A Shandong paper reports that the rare spelling of Shaan, which is a cross between the symbol for "three" and sign for "and", is not recognised by computers.

Coding systems are often used to convert pictorial Chinese characters for printing purposes, but some are so unusual that they are never assigned a code.
Members of the family have had to change the spelling of their name when they apply for a machine-issued residence permit or driving licence.

The family are now changing their name to a more-easily recognised form of the word.

Cuddle Up!!

Third of adults ‘still take teddy bear to bed’

More than a third of adults still hug a childhood soft toy while falling asleep, according to a new survey.

More than half of Britons still have a teddy bear from childhood and the average teddy bear is 27 years old, the poll found.

Travelodge, the hotel chain, surveyed 6,000 British adults and found that respondents said sleeping with a teddy a “comforting and calming” way to end the day.

The survey also found that 25 per cent of men said they even took their teddy away with them on business because it reminded them of home.

Travelodge said that in the past year staff have reunited more than 75,000 teddies and their owners.

Spokesman Shakila Ahmed said: “Interestingly the owners have not just been children, we have had a large number of frantic businessmen and women call us regarding their forgotten teddy bear.”

Corrine Sweet, a psychologist, said cuddling a teddy bear was an ‘important part of our national psyche’.

She said: “It evokes a sense of peace, security and comfort. It’s human nature to crave these feelings from childhood to adult life.

“It’s not surprising, then, that taking a teddy bear on a business trip is popular. As a bedtime bear evokes feelings of home, warmth, and can help you nod off – just like in babyhood.”

The study also found that the traditional teddy bear was the most popular cuddly toy among adults, with Winnie the Pooh second and Paddington Bear third.

You’re Nicked!

Cops Arrest Safety Fear Chase Ban Thieves

Police who were ordered not to chase after motorbike thieves because of health and safety fears for the raiders have made two arrests, the force has confirmed.

The trio were not wearing protective headgear when they sped off on high-powered bikes worth £20,000, following a raid at a showroom.

In line with national police policy, officers do not chase suspects on motorbikes if they are not wearing helmets because it is deemed too dangerous for the riders.

The thieves fled on a Yamaha R1, a Honda 1000 Fireblade and a Honda CBR 600, following the burglary at the Manchester Motorbike Store in Altrincham, Cheshire.

Two men aged 26 and 24 have since been arrested on suspicion of theft and bailed pending further inquiries, until September 10.

One of the bikes has also been recovered, Greater Manchester Police confirmed

Officers had reportedly seen the raiders but, when they contacted their inspector for guidance, he ordered them not to pursue.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have now defended their actions and said the officers were merely following national policy for all forces.

Superintendent Steve Nibloe, of GMP, said: "When police officers attended to this incident, suspects were seen driving off on motorbikes.

"The officers were asked not to pursue the suspects, as they were not wearing the correct safety equipment and were not wearing helmets, so it is clear to me the correct decision was taken.

"Detectives are pursuing a number of positive leads around this burglary as part of their thorough investigation, which is ongoing."

……….Welcome to Britain…..The “Land of Opportunity” for all thieves!!!!!

Lucky Lad??

Unlucky 13

A 13-year-old British boy was struck by lightning at 13:13 on Friday 13.

The teenager was at the Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival in Suffolk last Friday (13.08.10) and suffered a minor burn before being taken to the nearby James Paget Hospital.

He is expected to make a full recovery.
Jason Gillingham, county ambulance officer and on scene at the show, said: "This was a very minor burn to the boy’s shoulder, but he was conveyed to hospital and is recovering well."

Another teenager and a woman were also struck but didn’t need treatment.

Jamming!!

Bear freed after 10 days with head stuck in a jar

A bear cub which had its head trapped in a jar for 10 days – earning itself the name ‘Jarhead’ – has finally been freed by rescuers.

It’s thought the clumsy black bear had got his stuck in the jar while foraging for food in rubbish bins in Florida.

But despite several public sightings of the unusual hat-wearing bear wandering in Ocala National Forest, experts had struggled to locate it.

Eventually the six-month-old bear was finally found with its mother and two other cubs, and after its mother was shot with a tranquilliser dart the experts stepped in to help.

The were able to pull the jar off the head of the tired and hungry 25-pound cub… which is certainly not smarter than the average bear.