A handler keeps control of a rearing horse during an Arabian horse show near the delta town of Belbies, about 50 km (26 miles) northeast of Cairo. Desert-bred by Bedouin chieftains for hundreds of years, Arabian horses were so highly prized and valued that they were allowed to sleep in the tents of their owners. This dedication to such a beautiful breed of horse is evident in today's Arabians which have remained virtually unchanged from those of long ago. -ReutersThe nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosey"
is a rhyme about the plague.
Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosey"). The sores would smell very badly so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("a pocket full of posies"). Furthermore, people who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("ashes, ashes, we all
fall down").
WEIRD NEWS
Pegged at birth
The Lane brothers of New York, Mr. Winner Lane, 44, and Mr. Loser Lane, 41 (their actual birth names), were profiled in a July news magazine report, made more interesting by the fact that Loser is successful (a police detective in the South Bronx) and Winner is not (a history of petty crimes).
A sister said she believes her parents selected "Winner" because their late father was a big baseball fan and "Loser" just to complete the pairing.
Sounds like a joke
An unidentified young man walked away, apparently unhurt, after leaping from between cars of a 60 mph West Japan Railway "express" train onto the platform as it roared through a "local" station (Kobe, Japan, July).
Two teenage boys were hospitalised with gunshot wounds after they and other boys encircled an older man on the street and began firing at him; the man was not hit (Michigan City, Ind., March).
Canadian-born Robert Moisescu, sentenced to seven years in prison for robbing a Plattsburgh, N.Y., bank, told the judge in a letter that his time should be reduced to four years because his loot was worth only 62 per cent in Canadian dollars (May).
Science fair
South African researchers working in New Zealand said they are developing cockroach-shaped robots to do housework and yardwork (February).
Seattle computer programmer Boris Tsikanovsky told the San Jose Mercury News in April that he has developed software that will stop his cat, Squirrel, from bringing animal prey into the house when he's not at home. Squirrel can enter though a special door via a magnet on her collar and had been hiding dead mice and birds in the furniture.
Consequently, Tsikanovsky developed imaging software, with a camera by the door, that permits Squirrel to enter only if her pixeled profile shows nothing in her mouth.
Leading economic indicators
For a state visit to the drought-stricken southern African country of Malawi in July, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi arrived with an entourage in two Boeing 707s, two transport aircraft and his own personal jet; two security buses loaded with machine guns, assault rifles and rocket launchers; his own mobile hospital; 600 support personnel; and 70 armoured vehicles for the drive across the country (with one of the vehicles stocked with $6 million American, much of which he tossed freely to villagers who had lined his route).
In May, the British real estate agents Acorns in Lewisham announced the offering of a small, split-level apartment in south London for about US$200,000, even though it was recently converted from an Edwardian-style public bathroom and measures about 13 feet by 13 feet.
Said an agent, "It is very convenient (and) has its own front door (and) you have no one above or below you, which is unusual for a flat."
Least competent criminals
Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Norman Micallef, 35, created a scene (and police attention) when his van collided with a moose near Sudbury, Ontario, in June; unfortunately for him, an officer who stopped to help noticed a certain scent ($325,000 (U.S.) worth of marijuana plants in the van).
Burial blues
Arcadia, Florida, officials, citing zoning rules, voted to make Beverly Georges dig up her late husband, Rick, from the back yard, where he had chosen to be buried so as to be united with his beloved pit bull, Bocephus (July).
The family of Jim Crovetti honoured his wishes and buried him at the Loving Rest Pet Cemetery, beside his Rottweiler, Lady (Indianola, Iowa, July).
ALSO, IN THE
LAST MONTH ...
Tough-love mother Karen Paape distributed mug-shot posters of her two teenage sons, asking that anyone who sees them smoking should call the police (West Bend, Wisconsin).
A man convicted of sexually assaulting and killing his 16-year-old nephew was sentenced to be thrown off a cliff in a sack, with the provision that if he survives, he will be hanged (Mashhad, Iran).
-- COPYRIGHT 2002 CHUCK SHEPHERD/
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