Fishermen in northern Thailand have caught the biggest catfish on record -- a 646-pound (293-kg) giant the size of a grizzly bear -- and eaten it, the WWF and the National Geographic Society said on Wednesday. The giant catfish, believed to be the largest freshwater fish ever found, was caught along the Mekong River, home to more species of massive fish than any river on Earth.
"We've now confirmed that this catfish is the current record holder, an astonishing find," Dr Zeb Hogan, a WWF Conservation Science Fellow, said in the joint statement.
Local environmentalists and government officials tried to negotiate the release of the fish so it could continue its spawning migration in the far north of Thailand but the adult male died and was eaten in a remote village, it said.
The Mekong giant catfish is southeast Asia's largest and rarest fish and the focus of a National Geographic Society project headed by Hogan to study freshwater fish greater than 6.5 feet (2 metres) or 220 pounds (100 kg).

Legend Gianfranco Zola has decided to hang up his boots and quit the game.
The Chelsea legend announced the news at a press conference on Wednesday as he underlined his reasons behind retiring. After playing for Cagliari in Sardinia last season, the 38-year-old feels it is time to call an end to his playing days.
"I think this is the right thing to do," he explained. "Some time has passed since the end of the season but I needed to reflect. It hasn't been an easy decision but I felt the need to dedicate myself to those things that I have neglected in all these years."
Zola's retirement will be a huge blow to Cagliari as they prepare for the 2005/2006 season. The former Parma forward was a massive hit during his time in England was voted Chelsea's greatest-ever player by their supporters in a recent poll.

A man who shovelled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car
during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

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After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting
from Harare to Beltway had escaped. Not wanting to admit his
incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered
everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very
excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

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An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from
serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how
he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

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A mother took her daughter to the doctor and asked him to give her an
examination to determine the cause of her daughter's swollen abdomen.
It only took the doctor about 2 seconds to say, "Your daughter is
pregnant." The mother turned red with fury and she argued with the
doctor that her daughter was a good girl and would never compromise
her reputation by having sex with a boy. The doctor faced the window and silently watched the horizon. The mother became enraged and screamed, "Quit looking out the window! Aren't you paying attention to me?"
"Yes, of course I am paying attention ma'am. It's just that the last time this happened, a star appeared in the East, and three wise men came. And I was just checking ...

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When his 38-calibre revolver failed to fire at its intended victim
during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would be robber James
Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder: He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.

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The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat-cutting
machine and, after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his
insurance company. The company, suspecting negligence, sent out one
of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine out and lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

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A passenger in a taxi tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him
something. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a
bus, drove up over the curb, and stopped just inches from a large
plate glass window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, then the driver said, Please, don't ever do that again. You scared the daylights out of me." The passenger, who was also frightened, apologized and said he didn't realise that a tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much, to which the driver replied, "I'm sorry, it's really not your fault at all. Today is my first day driving a cab. I have been driving a hearse for the last 25 years.”

Fans of soccer club Reading can now take their allegiance to the grave as a local funeral director is offering coffins in the club's colours. Anyone not content with a scarf or replica kit can buy a 500 pounds blue and white striped coffin adorned with the club crest, an image of the Madejski Stadium and a football.
An official of the championship club said the 50 pounds commission on each coffin would go directly to their Kicks 4 Kids charity scheme.
Reading spokesman Boyd Butler said the club were happy to endorse the new product and an associated blue and white ashes urn, aware that many fans ask to be buried in their favourite team's colours.
"People like to liven up their funerals these days," he told Sky Sports News.
Barry Kirk, formerly the club's chaplain and now pastor at a local church, told the Reading Evening Post: "You love your club through life and death.
"Increasingly over the years more and more people have wanted their last wishes to be honoured by having a ceremony at the football club or have their ashes scattered around there.
"The club was very helpful in that respect and to have an official Reading coffin to be cremated in, well I can imagine a lot of fans will say `yes please'."

With battles between gangs such as Boca Juniors' 'La 12' and River Plate's 'Los Borrachos del Tablon' (The Drunks at the Bar) as common as Sunday-morning vomit on the streets of Britain, players and officials are expected (OK, asked) to behave in exemplary fashion.
But in Tuesday's Libertadores Cup quarter-final between Boca Juniors and Guadalajara, they didn't. Not by a long shot. Which is why Boca boss Jorge Benitez, who spat on an opposition player as the match degenerated into a mass brawl, has been forced to resign.
Trailing 4-0 from the away leg, Boca were eager to score fast but didn't. By the 79th goalless minute, they were in no mood to see Guadalajara forward Adolfo Bautista remind the home fans of the score by waving four fingers at them. So several players jumped him. That sparked (isn't it great the way some stories just tell themselves?) an almighty hoopla during which Boca's Martin Palermo - who famously missed three penalties in a single game for Argentina a few years back - head-butted an opponent in the neck. Of all places.
Fans obligingly joined in, heartily lashing all manner of missiles at the Mexicans. One enraged clown even scaled the five-metre fence to run onto the pitch, punch Bautista and then flee with the help of as-yet unidentified club officials. As police escorted Bautista away, a helpful ballboy rushed up to offer him yet another memento of his trip to Buenos Aires - a thunderous kick in the rear.
Somewhat inevitably, the ref abandoned the match. "The board of directors have decided to accept the resignation offered by Jorge Benitez," Boca president Mauricio Macri stammered today. "The game did not finish in the way we wanted and we apologise ... we may suffer footballing defeats, but it should never be in doubt that we are sportsmen, gentlemen and good hosts." Why, who could ever doubt it?

The Jaguar E-type was launched in 1961 at the Geneva Motor Show. The Coupe was unveiled by Sir William Lyons - Jaguar's founder and then Chairman of the Coventry-based luxury car manufacturer. Such was the response that Sir William immediately asked for a second car to be brought from Coventry to allow international motoring journalists to experience the E-Type's dramatic 150 mph performance. Norman Dewis, Jaguar's chief test driver at the time, got the message whilst he was testing the E-Type roadster near Coventry. To meet Sir William's deadline, he drove through the night from to join him in Geneva the next day. The E-type went on to have a 14-year production run at Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory. There were four main engine variants 3.8, 4.2, and the 5.3, and over 70,000 were made, with the final E-type produced in 1975.
Performance was only part of the package. The extraordinary elongated bonnet and the sinuous curves of the body shell have excited stylistic taste buds ever since the first model hit the drawing board. But the E-type (or XKE) was never just about styling. Technically speaking it was very advanced for its time and came with a double overhead cam engine, fully independent rear suspension and four wheel disc brakes. And it did all this at a price of around £2,000 for the Fixed Head Coupe, almost half that of its major rivals the Aston Martin and the Ferrari.
The majority of these innovations were developed through Jaguar’s racing heritage. The E-type has direct links back through the Jaguar racing pedigree to the XK120, the C and the glorious D-type that captured the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1955, 1956 and 1957. Little wonder then that the E-type became an almost instant classic. Simply, there is no other road car like it. (Click on any of the pictures for a bigger image)


links to E-type sites:
http://www.etypejag.com
http://www.web-cars.com/e-type
http://www.jaguar-e-type.net

proof that the Japanese are totally nuts, if you needed it ?

Let Sleeping Hippos Lie - This is not some unique relationship between man and beast but a performance artist reading a paper atop a mud sculpture of a hippopotamus at an arts festival in Venice, Italy.

It all started with a simple request (well it was a little weird) and ended up as an 11 page thread, verbal attacks, threats of physical violence all from "this transcontinental, international cyclotouriste" who is "fifty-three, easy to get along with" and lookning for "female, healthy, cyclist". Fantastic stuff

Man is tricked into thinking it's a zombie apocalypse. possibly the best hypnotist trick I've ever seen. We were talking about this at work last week and have found a link for it. Darren Brown I believe.

The government is planning to replace road tax and petrol duty with road charging. Here is an outline of the key points of Transport Secretary Alistair Darling's plan:

- Mr Darling is proposing each driver should be charged for every mile of his or her journey with the price depending on the level of congestion.
- Current charges of fuel tax and road tax would be scrapped.
- A Department for Transport (DfT) feasibility study concluded last year that a national scheme had the potential to cut congestion by about half as well as providing environmental benefits.
- The increasing prevalence of satellite navigation kits in cars will be utilised, Mr Darling says. Satellite tracking would be used to enforce the toll.
- Prices would start from as little as 2p a mile on quiet roads outside of rush hours.
- The maximum price would be £1.34 a mile on busy motorways like the M25 at peak times.
- Mr Darling says he is determined a decision on whether or not road pricing should be implemented will be decided "during the course of this parliament".
- The DfT wants to float the idea to gauge public reaction.
- A pilot scheme in a regional area could be set up "within five years", Mr Darling has told newspapers.
- If the scheme gains public approval, it could be rolled out within 10 years.

my thoughts ... This looks like a perk for the wealthy, forcing lower paid motorists to use less economic roads, thus allowing the better off to have the benefit of motorway usage. Until it can be demonstrated that public transport is reliable, efficient and convenient, this measure will just tax the poor off the roads. Why not think of some measures to get more freight taken by rail, thereby freeing up some room on our roads? First ID cards and now the government want to be able to track every journey we make! It would be far more expensive than the current fuel tax, which is a much better way to tax high energy use. With a fuel tax you can at least reduce its effect by driving more efficiently.

seem really pissed off today with lots or arguing and swearing going on ...

THE HORMONE WARNING: !!!!!

The Hormone Hostage knows that there are days in the month when all a man has to do is open his mouth and he takes his life in his own hands! This is a handy guide that should be as common as a driver's license in the wallet of every husband, boyfriend, or colleague at work!

DANGEROUS: What's for dinner?
SAFER: Can I help you with dinner?
SAFEST: Where would you like to go for dinner ULTRA SAFE: Have some chocolate

DANGEROUS: Are you wearing that?
SAFER: Wow, you look good in brown.
SAFEST: WOW! Look at you!
ULTRA SAFE: Have some chocolate

DANGEROUS: What are you so worked up about?
SAFER: Could we be overreacting?
SAFEST: Here's my paycheck.
ULTRA SAFE: Have some chocolate

DANGEROUS: Should you be eating that?
SAFER: You know, there are a lot of apples left.
SAFEST: Can I get you a glass of wine with that?
ULTRA SAFE: Have some chocolate

DANGEROUS: What did you do all day?
SAFER: I hope you didn't over-do it today.
SAFEST: I've always loved you in that robe!
ULTRA SAFE: Have some more chocolate.

13 Things PMS Stands For

1. Pass My Shotgun
2. Psychotic Mood Shift
3. Perpetual Munching Spree
4. Puffy Mid-Section
5. People Make me Sick
6. Provide Me with Sweets
7. Pardon My Sobbing
8. Pimples May Surface
9. Pass My Sweatpants
10. Pissy Mood Syndrome
11. Plainly; Men Suck
12. Pack My Stuff

And my favorite one...

13. Potential Murder Suspect

France's Catholic Church has won a court injunction to ban a clothing advertisement based on Leonardo da Vinci's Christ's Last Supper. The display was ruled "a gratuitous and aggressive act of intrusion on people's innermost beliefs", by a judge. The church objected to the female version of the fresco, which includes a female Christ, used by clothing designers Marithe et Francois Girbaud. The authorities in the Italian city of Milan banned the poster last month. The French judge in the case ordered that all posters on display should be taken down within three days. Click the picture for a bigger image



bbc report