A simple case of miraculous conception

By Maggie Koerth-Baker at 1:45 PM February 1, 2010

Never bring your uterus to a knife fight. I think that's how the old adage goes, or perhaps, how it should go.

NCBI ROFL reports on the strange story of a woman with no vagina, who nevertheless managed to end up "with child", apparently thanks to giving a blow job, followed by receiving a stab wound. Trust me, you'll want to read the full summary. The case report is real and comes from a 1988 issue of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Britain's first Asian judge Sir Mota Singh says Sikhs should not be banned from wearing kirpans to school or work

• Adam Gabbatt
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 8 February 2010 09.50 GMT
• Article history

The comments by Sir Mota Singh (c) follow several cases of Sikhs being banned from wearing the daggers and other religious artefacts in schools. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Rex Features

Britain's first Asian judge has called for Sikhs to be allowed to wear their ceremonial daggers to school.

The comments by Sir Mota Singh QC, come after a number of cases of Sikhs being banned from wearing the daggers – known as kirpans – and other religious artefacts in schools or workplaces.

"Not allowing someone who is baptised to wear a kirpan is not right," Singh told the BBC Asian Network.

"I see no objection to a young Sikh girl or boy, who's been baptised, being allowed to wear their kirpan if that's what they want to do."

In October last year a Sikh police officer won a discrimination case against Greater Manchester police after being told to remove his turban for riot training.

In the same month a 14-year-old Sikh boy was banned from wearing his Kirpan – which under Sikhism is one of five "articles of faith" which must be carried at all times – to his school in Barnet, London.

In 2006, schoolgirl Sarika Watkins-Singh won a high court judgment allowing her to wear the kara, a slim steel bracelet which she argued was central to her faith, to her school in south Wales. She had previously been excluded for breaking a "no jewellery" rule after refusing to remove the bangle.

"The girl not allowed to wear the kara is a petty thing for the administrators to have done and it doesn't do them any good," Singh said. "It is the right of every young girl and boy to be educated at the school of their choice. For him or her to be refused admission on that sort of ground, as far as I'm concerned, is quite wrong."

Singh, who was awarded a knighthood in the 2010 New Year honours list, said he wore a kirpan.

"I've always worn it for the last 35 to 40 years, even when I was sitting in court or visiting public buildings, including Buckingham Palace.".

In addition to the kara and kirpan, the other articles of faith are kesh (uncut hair), kanga (a wooden comb used for keeping hair in place under the turban) and kachera (specially designed cotton underwear).

The kirpan, which can range in length but is commonly 7.5cm (3in) long, is carried in a sheath and strapped to the body, usually under clothing.

Adam Fresco and Fiona Hamilton

Police are planning to use an anti-terror law deemed unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights across the country during the London Olympics, The Times has learnt.

Senior officers are considering using Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 at every Underground and railway station nationwide.

Privacy campaigners criticised the proposal yesterday. The powers would enable police to stop and search members of the public without any suspicion that they were involved in terrorism.

The Times understands that this would be the first time that the powers would have been used across such a wide area. Police said that Section 44, which must be granted by the Home Secretary for a designated area, would be used only in the event of an escalated terror threat. Officers are being trained to use behavioural profiling to spot suspicious characters during stop- and-search operations.

Privacy experts said that the plan could heighten tensions between the public and police. Simon Davies, the director of Privacy International, said: “The history of stop and search in this country is abhorrent. I wouldn’t trust the police to make the right judgment.

“It is well known that stop-and- search powers have created extraordinary tensions among a range of ethnic groups,” he said. “There’s no doubt that extension of the use of those powers would exacerbate those tensions.”

Last month the use of the terror law was criticised by the European Court of Human Rights. It found that Section 44 violated individual freedoms guaranteeing the right to private life.

The court said that the power to search an individual’s clothing and belongings in public involved an element of humiliation that was a clear interference with the right to privacy. Judges also attacked the arbitrary nature of the power as well as the way in which its use was authorised.

Despite this, Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, said that police would continue to use Section 44. The Home Office is appealing against the European Court ruling.

The Metropolitan Police agreed last year to limit its use of the powers after critics claimed that it was discriminating against minority groups. However, Assistant Chief Constable Steve Thomas, of the British Transport Police, told The Times that the powers would be considered for 2012.

Mr Thomas, the Olympic National Transport Security Co-ordinator for the Home Office, said: “If there is a severe level of threat we will be looking to use Section 44 at every Underground and railway station. We are planning on the assumption that there will be a severe threat to the UK during the Games, on the basis that we can then scale down rather than quickly scale up.” He said that if Section 44 was put in place across the country it would not mean that every station would be flooded with officers, but individual stations would be targeted as part of an operation.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, the campaigning organisation that brought the European Court case, said that while there was an obvious need for heightened precautions during the 2012 Games, Britain’s antiterrorism laws need to be “tightened up”. She said: “It would be incredibly dangerous to build Olympic security on such a legally flawed foundation.”

By Mico Tatalovic | 08 February 2010

People make paper planes for fun but no-one would really think of flying in one of them. But what about using paper as a material for creating homes?

Guy Lönngren, a professor from the Institute for Product design at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) claims to have found a type of paper strong enough for building houses.

Back in 2007, Lönngren and his students were playing around with cardboard, trying to make furniture models for one of the student projects at NTNU. During the project, they stumbled upon an unusually sturdy cardboard panel, made only of paper and air but arranged in a specific, ridged, 3D construction. They soon realised this material was strong enough to build houses.

Lönngren has since teamed up with several private companies and filed a patent for the new cardboard design. He then designed and built a cardboard house -- dubbed the Paper House -- and equipped it with cardboard furniture to showcase at Technoport fair in Trondheim where it proved a big hit with visitors and the Norwegian media.

Small amounts of plastics can be impregnated to waterproof the cardboard, and the air inside the structure makes for good insulation. Thickness and strength of the walls could also be adapted to needs of each individual project.

Lönngren is pitching his design as a sustainable development project -- cardboard is made of wood, which is plentiful in Nordic countries and is fully recyclable. Houses made of cardboard wouldn’t be as durable as those made of, say bricks and cement, but Lönngren sees this as a positive thing.

They could be used for student accommodation and recycled after a few years when the student finishes with their studies. Instead of living in a ghastly, concrete block built half a century ago, the student of the future could order a cheap, custom-designed cardboard house and then assemble it in a few hours at the campus. But he doesn’t say just how long a Paper House would stand the weathering effects of Nordic winters.

Australian architects Stutchbury and Pape had a similar idea when they designed an ecological house made mostly of cardboard back in 2004. Their idea never took off, but Lönngren is optimistic about his Paper House.

So it seems we can build eco-friendly cardboard houses, but the question is will anyone want to live in pre-fabricated houses made of cardboard?

BookBook is a one-of-a-kind, hardback leather case designed exclusively for MacBook and MacBook Pro. Available in Classic Black or Vibrant Red, BookBook brings three levels of security to your prized Mac. First, the hardback cover and spine provide solid protection from the rigors of the road. Second, the vintage book design disguises MacBook for superior security. And third, the stylish case protects you from being like everyone else because BookBook is totally original, just like you.

By Jaya Narain

Last updated at 10:50 PM on 26th January 2010

Tragic: Megan Williams was dancing to Lady Gaga songs when she put the cord around her neck

A schoolgirl accidentally hanged herself with a dressing gown cord in a tragic accident as she danced round her bedroom listening to her favourite music.

Megan Williams, 10, was dancing to Lady Gaga songs when she put the cord around her neck.

The cord, which was tied to a bunk bed, tightened as she danced around and strangled her to death.

The alarm was raised when her 15-year old brother ran downstairs to their mother Lisa saying: 'Megan's hanged herself.'

A coroner said the accident graphically illustrated the dangers of children playing around with cords.

Mrs Williams tried to revive her daughter using tips she had seen on television but the schoolgirl died later in hospital.

She fought back tears as she relieved last May's tragedy at the inquest in Manchester.

Megan - described as a 'little Princess' - and her two sisters had just returned from school and went upstairs to play in her bedroom.

Mrs Williams said the children tied the dressing gown to the bunk bed and would often swing from it.

She said: 'The kids also used to tie the cord to the bunk bed to swing from one bed to another. I did actually cut it down once but they just put it up again. One time I put the cord in the bin. Then they must of taken it out and put it up again.

'That day I know she was dancing as she often does, I could hear her on the floor boards, I could hear her favourite chart music.'

Her brother discovered her lifeless body hanging from the dressing gown cord and immediately told his mother.

Mrs Williams said: 'I remember thinking he was joking and waiting for him to change then I realised something wasn't right. He then repeated: "Megan's hung herself" then I really knew something was up.'

She found her daughter's body resting on the edge of the bottom bunk still in her school uniform with the navy blue dressing gown cord round her neck.

She said: 'Her lips were blue. I shouted something like:  "Oh My God. No!" I saw the cord around her neck, I lifted it off her and saw a red mark on her neck.'

Megan was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but her life support machine was switched off 24 hours later.

The inquest heard one of her daughters later admitted that she had tied the dressing gown cord to the top bunk, with a loop in the bottom of it so she could put her leg into the loop and pull herself up.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Nigel Meadows said: 'There is nothing to suggest that Megan had deliberately tried to harm herself. This is an illustration of the significant dangers and risks of playing around with ligatures.

'The ligature had been placed there either by her or one of her siblings, she had put her head through the loop and was just leaning forward.

'It was unknown to her that that it was going to cause significant problems for her and was going to result in her going unconscious. She wouldn't have appreciated the risk, she probably was just messing about, there was nothing she could do at that point.'

Mr Meadows told Mrs Williams she should be commended for trying her best to save her daughter's life.

He said: 'You should be commended for the responsible thing you did in giving her mouth to mouth because many parents in those circumstances go into blind panic.

'But you really did all the sensible things and in fact you gave Megan the best chance of being resuscitated.'

In a statement Mrs Williams said: 'Our whole family are devastated by such a tragic event.  Not a day will go by without us thinking about the joy Megan brought into our lives. She was a chatterbox and really mischievous.'

San Francisco’s Answer to Westboro Baptist Church

by Ed Hunsinger on January 29, 2010

photo by EDW Lynch

Westboro Baptist Church showed up to protest in front of Twitter’s San Francisco office on Thursday, but found themselves severely outnumbered by a crowd of absurdist pranksters, including guest blogger EDW Lynch above.

photo by Rubin Starset

WBC’s hate-promoting signs were answered by multiple signs of randomness, nonsensical yelling, and even a unicorn. A portable stereo blared Lady GaGa, while press and people passing by ignored the WBC signs and took pictures and videos of the more entertaining signs. I was also there and turned on the video camera while holding my sign.

Westboro had scheduled an appearance in front of the Golden Gate Theatre later that evening to protest Fiddler on the Roof. Fellow guest blogger, Burstein!, reports:

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective, Fred Phelps and his followers cancelled their appearance before Fiddler on the Roof. Apparently, they were all hated out from their big day and just had no more hate to spare. Nevertheless, even in their absence a small crowd gathered and gave rise to an elegantly dadaist protest in which accordions, random signs of love and hate, and rick rolls abounded. While many of those attending Fiddler were bemused and confused, the staff and crew apparently loved this counter-protest and the director, stage manager, and choreographer all came out to thank these ridiculous protesters.

photo by sandwichgirl

Here’s more coverage of the protest:

photos by LiveSoMa

photos by Sam

photos by Chad Armstrong

See also: God Hates Twitter, Westboro Baptist Church Plans Protest At Twitter Headquarters

UPDATE: Here’s an absurd sign generator to help you prank the Westboro Baptist Church when they come to your town.