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behold the geep.
more on this here (
http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_813000/813466.stm).
GIANT 'VAMPIRE' RATS
TERRORIZE LOWER E. SIDE
By ROOSEVELT JOSEPH
A scurrying army of cat-sized rats has invaded a housing project on the Lower East Side, creating what terrified tenants call a "highly dangerous" health hazard.
The insidious infestation began months ago, when construction workers started tearing up and replacing sewage pipes directly outside the Baruch Houses at East Houston Street and the FDR Drive.
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PIED PIPER NEEDED:
The Baruch Houses at East Houston Street became infested with rats, several months ago when workers began replacing nearby sewage pipes.
- NYP: G.N. Miller
"These rats are so big, the cats are afraid of them," said resident Morris Spitzer. "This is a dangerous situation."
Spitzer said there are plenty of rats running around the buildings in broad daylight, but the problem is even worse at night.
"They are like vampires - they come out in droves at night," said Spitzer, a 40-year-old warehouse supervisor.
Angela Laine, a 26-year-old day-care teacher who grew up in the neighborhood, said the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development is not doing enough to fight the rodents.
"They need to take care of the problem now before somebody get bit and dies from rabies," said Laine. "These people pay their rent every month. They should not have to live like this."
Laine said they have complained numerous times to Housing, but with no success.
Spitzer agreed, complaining that "talking to Housing is like talking to a tree."
Baseball-size rat holes are everywhere on the grounds of the project.
The tracks made by the rodents are clearly visible on the grass, including a well-beaten path between the piles of garbage and the base of one building.
A Post reporter even saw three of the rodents in broad daylight during a visit to the houses.
Residents say they are forced to stay indoors during the hot summer nights because the place is swarming with bloated rats the size of footballs.
"We have more rats here than tenants," griped Myrna Rodriguez, 31. "The people are afraid of the rats. Nobody lets their kids play outside at night anymore."
Jose Alvarez, a 43-year-old maintenance worker, said he gets the creeps every time he has to leave or enter the building at night.
"You come up through here at night and you could easily see 20 or 30 rats playing tag at the front of the building," Alvarez said. "It's very scary. They are taking over the damn neighborhood."
A Health Department spokeswoman said it would look into the complaints, but no Housing spokesman could be reached.
what is this world coming to?
Monkeys, Humans Fight Over Drinking Water
March 21, 2000
Tervil Otieno Okoko
PANA Correspondent
NAIROBI, Kenya (PANA) - A drama ensued at a small trading centre on Kenya's northern frontier Monday when thirsty monkeys and starving villagers clashed over drinking water, leaving eight apes killed and 10 people wounded in a two-hour duel, the Daily Nation reported Tuesday.
The trading centre, located 600 km north of Nairobi in the dry neighbourhood of the Somali desert, is home to nomadic tribes that have been scavenging for food and water since drought struck there six months ago. Most of them have been surviving on relief food.
The duel started after three water tankers bringing in water from neighbouring Elwak town to the drought-stricken area arrived at the trading centre. The monkeys, who noticed the precious liquid being consumed by the humans, attacked the villagers who had gathered around the tankers to draw the water.
The clawing and biting creatures forced the villagers to flee for help as the monkey took to quenching their thirst.
A local councillor, Ibrahim Mohammed Alike, who witnessed the encounter, said the villagers later regrouped and armed themselves with axes and machetes and counter- attacked. But the monkeys fought back fiercely, he added.
People injured in the fight were treated at the local Takaba dispensary.
Locals said an acute shortage of water in the district has forced wild animals to roam out of their usual habitat to look for the commodity in villages.
It was not unusual to see animals such as gazelles, hares and monkeys wandering the villages in search of water, they said.
Villagers said they have compounded fears that more dangerous animals like elephants, lions and leopards could soon attack them while on similar errands.
Mass. man gets cash for his soul on eBay
by Tim McLaughlin
Saturday, March 18, 2000
Kembrew McLeod sold his soul on the Internet and got $1,325 for a 4-ounce piece.
McLeod, a 29-year-old communications instructor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, didn't sell his soul to the devil, but close enough. A New York real estate agent got McLeod's soul after a 10-day bidding war on the Internet auction site run by eBay Inc. this week.
``The reason I've been selling my soul is to make money,'' McLeod explained. ``In America, you can metaphorically and literally sell your soul and be rewarded for it. That's what makes this country great. It's free enterprise.''
McLeod's soul comes in a 4-ounce jar simply labeled ``Kembrew's soul.'' The 37-year-old buyer, who requested to be identified only as J.H., also gets a deed to the soul. J.H. said he bought McLeod's soul in part because it makes him feel like the devil.
But he also appreciates the soul's pop art design.
``He assured me there would be a good percentage of his soul in that 4-ounce jar,'' J.H. said.
But maybe not.
McLeod has been selling his soul for the past 12 years.
He first sold his soul in high school to raise money for the senior prom - 100 ``copies'' at $4.95 for each individually packaged piece in silk-screened cereal boxes of his own design.
He changed the packaging in 1992, so it wouldn't go out of fashion.
``Car makers and clothing makers come out with new designs all the time,'' McLeod said. ``I thought my soul could use a new package, too.''
The recent auction on eBay generated 30 bids.
now who you gonna vote for?
AL GORE TEACHES THE ART OF CHICKEN MIND CONTROL
School, of course, is for learning things. Like how to hypnotize a chicken.
The usual subject of language arts in Sharon McCreary's fourth, fifth and sixth grade class at Sands Montessori School took a back seat briefly Thursday to a somewhat reluctant lecture from the vice president of the United States on how to make a chicken sleepy, veeerry sleepy.
Al Gore stopped in Ms. McCreary's classroom as part of a quick tour of the school's crumbling physical structure.
After looking at the peeling paint on the windows, Mr. Gore chatted with students.
Just as Mr. Gore was about to leave, 11-year-old Hessam Akhlaghpour of Clifton piped up to tell the vice president he had heard him talking on CBS' 60 Minutes about how people in his native Tennessee would hypnotize chickens for amusement.
“Tell us how to do it,” Hessam said. Mr. Gore laughed and started backing toward the door.
“No, really, tell us how to do it,” Hessam insisted, like a mini-Mike Wallace.
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Rebecca Ransohoff, 9, watches Vice President Al Gore explain how to hypnotize chickens.
So the vice president, after warning the kids “not to try this at home,” told them: Hold a chicken's head on the ground. Take a finger or a stick and draw circles around the chicken's head.
“He'll try to follow the stick and, in no time, he'll go "cluck, cluck' and he's out,” Mr. Gore said.
Hessam said he was satisfied with the explanation.
“I was just curious,” he said.
and to end this on a lighter note, a story (
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/03/06/timfgneur01004.html?999) on the vegetarian antichrist.
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[This message has been edited by lightbulba (edited July 06, 2000).]