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A farmer in the United States has cut two of the characters from Family Guy, the cult animated comedy, into a maze on his property. Stewie and Brian form the centrepiece of this year's seven acre "Corn Maize" at Connors Farm in Danvers, Massachusetts. Bob Connors, the owner of the farm, has even approached Seth MacFarlane in the hope of persuading the Family Guy creator to pay a visit. “We’ve been trying to get in touch with him. I’d love to have him do the voices here on our busy weekend," he told the Boston Globe. The makers of Family Guy, a sharp comedy about an average American family with a talking dog, posed no objections to the use of its characters in the maze. The programme is shown on the Fox Network in the US, and BBC3 in Britain. “They waived the rights and all that," Mr Connors added. “We have to run everything by them, but they’ve been great." While corn, tomatoes and other crops are still grown on the farm, it boosts its income with an annual maze and other activities to attract families, including hayrides and fruit picking. This year's effort, which is only open until the end of the month, features the Griffin family's highly intelligent but misanthropic baby, Stewie, pointing up in anger at his friend Brian, the erudite family pet. Source
This Isn't The Food Pyramid: Feds Say Food Stamps Were Exchanged For Viagra, Porn. Viagra and pornography are not staples on the government's food stamp list. But authorities said a Detroit store supplied them during a series of illegal deals. Federal prosecutors filed fraud charges this week against three people who worked at Jefferson's Liquor Palace. The alleged scheme worked this way: Food stamp recipients would get cash from the store in exchange for swiping larger amounts off their electronic cards. The store would then be reimbursed by the U.S. Agriculture Department. But in some transactions, confidential informants got more than cash. The government said the store provided Viagra, painkillers, liquor, and porn videos in exchange for swiping about $2,000 off food stamp cards. The government said overall fraud at the store topped $130,000 over 2 1/2 years. The store is closed. Source
A zoo in Gaza has got around animal import restrictions by dyeing stripes on donkeys to make 'zebras'. The owner of the Marah Land zoo in Gaza City said he had used masking tape and black hair dye, applied with a paint-brush, to disguise the white females. Mohammed Bargouthi said it would have cost him more than £25,000 to bring in a real zebra via smuggling tunnels. "The first time we used paint but it didn't look good," said Mr Bargouthi. "The children don't know, so they call them zebras and they are happy to see something new." All the real animals at the zoo, including monkeys and a tigress, had been smuggled under the border at great expense, he said. Two genuine zebras died of starvation earlier this year during the Israeli military offensive, he added. The animal restrictions are part of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, imposed in an attempt to reduce rocket attacks and weaken the leadership of Hamas. Source
CAIRO — Conservative Egyptian lawmakers have called for a ban on imports of a Chinese-made kit meant to help women fake their virginity and one scholar has even called for the "exile" of anyone who imports or uses it. The Artificial Virginity Hymen kit, distributed by the Chinese company Gigimo, costs about $30. It is intended to help newly married women fool their husbands into believing they are virgins — culturally important in a conservative Middle East where sex before marriage is considered by many to be illicit. The product leaks a blood-like substance when inserted and broken. Gigimo advertises shipping to every Arab country. But the company did not answer e-mails and phone calls seeking comment on whether it had orders from Egypt or other parts of the Middle East. The drama started when a reporter from Radio Netherlands broadcast an Arabic translation of the Chinese advertisement of the product. That set off fears of conservative parliament members that Egyptian women might start ordering the kits. Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood who is on the parliamentary committee on religious affairs, said the kit will make it easier for Egyptian women to give in to temptation. He demanded the government take responsibility for fighting the product to uphold Egyptian and Arab values. "It will be a mark of shame on the ruling party if it allowed this product to enter the market," he said in a notice posted on the Brotherhood's parliament Web site on Sept. 15. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest political opposition group, holds 88 of Egypt's 454 parliament seats. Prominent Egyptian religious scholar Abdel Moati Bayoumi said anyone who imports the artificial hymen should be punished. "This product encourages illicit sexual relations. Islamic culture forbids these relations except within the confines of marriage," Bayoumi said. "I think this should absolutely not be allowed to be exported because it brings more harm than benefits. Whoever does it (imports it) should be punished." In a country and a region where pre-marital sex is so taboo it can even lead to a woman's murder, the debate over the virginity-faking kit has revived Egypt's constant struggle to reconcile modern mores with more traditional beliefs — namely, that a woman is not a virgin unless she bleeds after the first time. "Bleeding is not the only signal that yes, she's a virgin," said Heba Kotb, an observant Muslim woman who hosts a sex talk show on TV in which she fields calls from all over the Middle East. Kotb noted that a medical procedure that reattaches a broken hymen by stitching is illegal in Egypt and can cost hundreds of dollars — prohibitively expensive for the poor. But many women still secretly seek it out in fear of punishment for pre-marital sex. Such punishment could include slayings at the hands of relatives, a practice more commonly referred to as honor killings and common in the more conservative tribal areas of the Middle East. The product is also causing a buzz on Egyptian blogs and news sites. "If this thing enters Egypt, the country is going to go to waste. God protect us," commented a reader on the Web site of Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabie. Marwa Rakha, an author and blogger who writes about dating issues, sees the product as a tool of empowerment for women in a macho Arab culture that restricts women's sexual urges but turns a blind eye to men gallivanting. "It sticks it in the face of every male hypocrite," she said. Source
NORTHERN Territory police were forced to arrest a grumpy crocodile and throw it in jail after it was discovered loitering in a town. Gunbalanya police were called out recently after the 2m female saltie turned up at Arrkuluk Camp the Northern Territory News reports. Police said they found it loitering near a fence, trying to look innocent. Brevet Sergeant Adam Russell said intrigued residents had gathered around to watch the arrest - but any dreams he had of nabbing the gnasher in style were promptly voted down. "I wanted to jump on it Steve Irwin style," he said. "But (the rangers) wouldn't let me." Instead she was bound and bundled into the back of an ute, and taken to the police cells. She was held in custody for three days until folks from a Top End croc farm came to pick her up. "We cut the ropes on her legs just so she could move around (in the cell) ... we couldn't have her tied up for all that time," he said. "We just hosed her down every couple of hours." He said the saltie was a fairly good prisoner, although she got grumpy with her curious audience. "She got a bit cranky when she was in the cells - started hissing when people came near." Source
A Swedish drinker is a picture of misery - after waking up to find a tattoo of a penis on his leg. Joel Stefansson, 27, from Umea in northern Sweden, had agreed to let a tattoo artist ink in any design he liked after an all night vodka session. "I thought I'd have something discreet and dignified but I got a six inch penis on my leg right next to my own one," said Joel. Now Joel is desperate to have the design removed, or at least reduced. "It's a bit larger than mine so the truth is going to be a bit of a let down to any women who get to see it," he confessed. Source Have any interesting articles you'd like to share? Article Request Thread.
Police raided the set of a film starring veteran Star Wars actor David Prowse after reports it was being used to shoot a porn movie. The Staffordshire bungalow location was instead found to house actors filming dialogue for The Kindness of Strangers. David Prowse, 74, who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films, is starring in the action thriller, reports Metro. Neighbors had jumped to the wrong conclusion after seeing a camera and lighting equipment being taken into the bungalow in Newhall. One film crew member, who did not want to be named, said: "It was hilarious to see a bunch of policemen enter the bungalow expecting to see a porn film carrying on. "When the officers saw two dressed actors talking, they looked quite disappointed. The curtain twitchers certainly have a vivid imagination." Source
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — No one expects a zombie apocalypse. But the University of Florida is making sure officials are ready for a night of the living dead, just in case. The school has a plan for responding to the undead on its Web site among outlines for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics. The exercise lays out how university officials would respond to attacks by "flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals." It notes that a zombie outbreak might include "documentation of lots of strange moaning." A University of Florida spokesman says the exercise was written by an employee to "add a little bit of levity" to disaster preparation discussions. Source Have any interesting articles you'd like to share? Article Request Thread.
CLACTON, England, Oct. 1 -- A British girl who put her grandmother up for auction on eBay said the 61-year-old fetched bids of $3,200 before the Web site pulled the listing. Zoe Pemberton, 10, of Clacton, England, said she listed her grandmother, Marion Goodall, for auction on the site because she was "annoying," the Daily Mail reported. Pemberton described Goodall in the listing as "rare and annoying and moaning a lot" as well as "very cuddly and loves word searches." The girl said her grandmother quickly became involved in writing her own listing. "She was moaning at me when I wrote down that her favorite food was curry -- she said could I change it to Chinese," she said. "Apart from that she didn't seem to mind." Jenny Thomas, an eBay spokeswoman, said the auction violated eBay policy. "While no doubt Mrs. Goodall would have fetched a princely sum, eBay does not allow the listing of any human being on the site," she said. "Mind you we were impressed to see a total of 27 bids for the lady in question!" Source
A community of dwarves has set up its own village to escape discrimination from normal sized people. Everyone in the mountain commune in Kunming, southern China, must be under 4ft 3 ins tall and they run their own police force and fire brigade from their 120 residents. Now the group has turned itself into a tourist attraction by building mushroom houses and living and dressing like fairy tale characters. "As small people we are used to being pushed around and exploited by big people. But here there aren't any big people and everything we do is for us," said spokesman Fu Tien. The idea of housing dwarves in special compounds would be anathema in the West, and the village has sparked fierce debates among expats living in China. "When I first heard this I pictured myself obscure freak shows from a hundred years back," wrote one commenter on the GoKunming website. "Pay the entrance fee and you can watch these people perform." But others said that it was the dwarves' best chance of employment given the surplus of labor in China. "We might feel aghast at treating humans this way but this is the best way the Chinese government can deal with the situation right now," wrote Tonyaod. "Go back a hundred years or so in our culture and we will see that we did the same thing à la the freakshows and the circus." Source
