ou see it in the movies all the time. Bad guy commits crime, jumps into his getaway car - and speeds away. Mr. FBI/CIA/Police-man tries to run after bad guy, fails miserably, flags down some unfortunate soul going for a Sunday drive with his police badge (“Police!!! I need this vehicle NAAAOOOWWW!!!”), and drives off with it – leaving the poor owner scratching his head on the sidewalk.
If a policeman can do anything with a car to stop the bad guy - I want to be one! Which other paid position legally allows you to pull off 'Grand Theft Auto'-style carjackings? Not many, if any.
I decided to go straight to the top with this one: I called the cops. Constable ‘Mandy’ from New South Wales Police (Australia) answered the phone, and after several assurances that nothing sinister has in fact happened to my car (“Why? Which officer pulled you out of your vehicle??”), she explained:
“It’s straight out of the movies. NSW Police have no jurisdiction over civilian vehicles and cannot commandeer them when they need to. Federal Police may have different orders, but definitely not NSW Police”. She went on to say that there may be different laws in the USA which state otherwise, hence the dramatisations in the movies. But she was not sure of that.
Would you lend this guy your car?
Now Mandy was taking a stab at it, but I found this was true indeed. In California (USA), there exists a law of ‘posse comitatus’ (Section 150 of the penal code). It stipulates that if a law enforcement officer approaches you for help in catching a suspect or escapee - or preventing a crime - you are required to help the officer out, or face a fine ranging from US$50 to US$1,000.
But does the law apply to your property as well?
There are no real reported cases of anyone refusing to surrender their vehicle to the police. Not surprisingly, ‘posse comitatus’ is mainly exercised in the movies rather than real life. To add further: If anyone did refuse to aid a police officer in a chase, chances are the cop will continue chasing the criminal rather than stand there and book you for not helping out!
Hopefully the situation never arises (or has it already?) and worst case scenario – you might have to fork out a fine. If your property (e.g. car) does in fact get damaged by the police, insurance would probably cover all resulting costs anyway...
So Nicholas Cage (FBI) can blow up a Ferrari F355 Spider.
intin and his fellow sidekick Snowy (a white wire fox terrier) were central characters encountering a variety of adventures from their worldly travels, in a classic comic series drawn and written by the French author Herge. Created in 1929, Tintin was based on Herge’s earlier character ‘Totor’, who was a boy scout.
The orange-haired adventurer was a Belgian reporter who undertook dangerous missions during his everyday life, and was successful in achieving a positive result everytime.
Tintin & Snowy
Tintin’s age was never fully revealed, but he was portrayed as an adolescent. The official site lists his age as somewhere between 16 and 18. His character was that of an ‘everyman’. He seemed to be swept away by incoming quests at every instance, while keeping that neutral mindset that was reminiscent of the ‘boy scout' values Herge wanted to incorporate centrally within the character. The stories were constructed as such, that the reader could assume Tintin’s position within the unfolding narrative. Having personally read the entire series numerous times, I can vouch for this!
Colonel Sponz
According to Herge, Tintin was partly based on his own brother – Paul Remi – a soldier. Paul’s likeness to the comic character prompted the nickname of “Major Tintin” by his colleagues. That led him to shaving off his hair and sporting a ‘crew-cut’ look. Herge reciprocated by using this new look to create the character of Colonel Sponz (pictured left), Tintin’s arch enemy (first encountered in “The Calculus Affair”). Although they have different physical attributes, Tintin and Sponz have similar hair spikes.
"Bashi Bazouk!"
Other central characters in the series were also born through Herge’s surroundings.
Snowy (‘Milou’ in the French version) was born from a contraction of Herge’s first girlfriend’s name – Marie-Louise (‘Malou’). Captain Haddock (pictured right) – Tintin’s hilariously volatile friend – was born from a remark Herge’s wife once made, that Haddock was a “sad English fish”.
Auguste Piccard
Professor Calculus
The character of Professor Calculus (pictured left) was inspired by the Swiss scientist Auguste Piccard (pictured right), as his name bears a mention alongside Calculus in one particular adventure – “The Castafiore Emerald”.
Thompson and Thomson
The bumbling twin detectives Thompson and Thomson (pictured right) were based on Herge’s father and uncle – both of whom were twins, and both of whom wore matching bowler hats!
"IRRMAA!"
Maria Callas
Bianca Castafiore (pictured left) was the annoyingly vocal opera singer in the series, emphatically despised by Captain Haddock. Opera was disliked by Herge as well (surprise surprise), and the character was modelled on the opera singer Maria Callas (pictured right), although Castafiore appears much earlier than Callas’ arrival on the mainstream opera scene.
The most famous interpretation was the character of Chang Chong-Chen (pictured below-right). Becoming the only character that Tintin sheds a tear for in the series, Chang was Tintin’s dearest friend. He appears in “The Blue Lotus” when he was a ten year old, and then again for “Tintin in Tibet” - when he was a teenager.
Chang Chong-Chen
Chang was based on Zhang Chongren – a real friend of Herge. Zhang was an artist that educated Herge on Chinese cultural values before he penned “The Blue Lotus”. Herge’s earlier work relied on stereotypes that were unflattering with representations of foreign societies, so this gesture made him appreciate and depict a truer image of Chinese culture. Zhang became good friends with Herge, and this was returned with the creation of the character Chang on his behalf. Herge lost contact with Zhang during the Japanese invasion of China.
Memories of Zhang were rekindled again as Tintin was re-united with Chang in the comic “Tintin in Tibet”. During this time, the real life ‘Chang’ (Zhang) had been reduced to a street sweeper by the cultural revolution in China, before becoming the head of the Fine Arts Academy in Shanghai during the 1970s. Herge was seemingly unaware of all this.
In 1981 the French media managed to find Zhang in China, and arranged an emotional reunion with Herge – with the added blessing of the French government. Zhang received French citizenship in 1985, before passing away in 1998.
his very question was pondered as I tried to stamp out the little pests from my kitchen the other day. The electrician had just been in, and he fixed the display unit on the oven (which shorted out thanks to those infernal creatures).
So do these disgusting, annoying, ugly (from any angle really) creatures have any reason to live?
Well it turns out the parasites do play an important role in our vast ecology. They are part of the global food web – 'the circle of life'. Here is why:
Cockroaches eat just about anything. Being omnivore scavengers, they decompose and recycle the organic litter left behind by larger animals. The other big bonus is that cockroaches do not care about what they eat. Possessing a wide variety of bacteria and protozoa in their digestive system, they can eat everything!
This is one of the main reasons as to why cockroaches have survived for such a long period of time – 300 million years to be exact. Cockroaches declined in number as the earth’s climate changed periodically, but they are currently thriving due to human impact. The little scavengers live for two things – heat, and a decent feed (both of which we have in abundance). Humans have re-created the Utopia for cockroaches. Our homes are kept warm all year round, and we leave food lying all over the place. To top things off, there are plenty of places to hide for the cockroach – under the stove, in the dishwasher, behind the toaster – the list is endless.
Funnily enough, most cockroaches aren’t pests. There are almost 3,500 species of cockroach in the world, and only 10 are on the World Health Organisation list of human pests. The majority of the cockroaches do not care about humans and their houses – choosing instead to recycle the waste products that are left outside. They also serve as food to small mammals, birds, amphibians and lizards.
Now to get one of those amphibians or lizards as a pet!
eath by lethal injection is often represented as the most humane form of capital punishment. If you have to do it – do it like this, so to speak. Other options (such as hanging, gas chamber, electric chair, firing squad or decapitation) all seem like an awful way to go. While this post does not condone or condemn capital punishment, it does provide a curious insight into why executioners (or ‘technicians’) would care about swabbing an arm before enforcing the deadly dosage.
So what are lethal injections? They are fatal measures of various drugs mixed together and forcibly inserted into a person to cause death. It is currently the most common form of execution in the United States (US): every execution there in 2005 used this technique
While guzzling down some M&M’s Minis the other day (really addictive chocolates), I started wondering how in blazes do they (chocolate factories) get that “m” on each individual piece?!? Such a tiny chocolate, almost 100 pieces per box – and there is the ‘m’ on each one without fail. How does this happen? A little research, and we’re away...
The concept of M&M’s was born during the Spanish Civil War. Forrest Mars Snr. (founder of Mars Inc.) came across soldiers in Spain eating pellets of chocolate coated with hard sugar - preventing the goodness inside from melting beforehand. Inspired by this, Mars created the recipe for M&M’s candies. First sold in 1941, the chocolate has fast become a household name ever since
It would sound weird if it was ever true – but check this: It is true. Men – or fathers in particular – are able to breastfeed. The functional anatomical requirements for breastfeeding do exist in both men and women.
There is a myth that larger breasts generate more milk – an anxiety often felt by mothers with minimal breasts. Contrarily, the amount of milk produced is determined by how much sucking the infant executes on the female breast. The same theory applies to the male species
A great method to showcase your claim to juvenile delinquency: Add some ‘Mentos’ (mint candies) to ‘Diet Coke’ (soft drink). Here is a quick illustration by some people more than willing to demonstrate (definitely no shortage there):
Steve Irwin was a great conservationist hailing from Australia. He tragically passed away - in his prime - from the world he strove to protect everyday. Despite his eccentric and larrikin behaviour, the simplicity and honesty he gushed out for everyone to see will forever be etched into our minds. Steve made nature ‘cool’. My heartfelt sorrow goes out to his grieving family, especially his wife and two children. Their loss is our loss. Steve brought out the inner smile in all of us. The following post is dedicated to you, mate. Lets hope heaven has a few more crocs for you to wrestle with…Crikey!
This has always been an intriguing phenomenon. Pigeons (or ‘Rock Pigeons’ to be exact) have a peculiar habit of bobbing their heads up and down when they walk. This leads to a common misconception – that the legs of a pigeon are somehow connected to their heads. When they walk, they move their heads up and down; when they stand still, there is no movement!
In order to shed more light on this conundrum, one must first understand the basics of ‘bird vision’. From Ornithology (the science of birds), it can be inferred that as the pigeon’s eyes are on the side of its head – allowing a greater range of vision to stay vigilant against predators from all directions – they also disable the pigeon from its sense of depth. Pigeons cannot establish distances easily. Luckily we humans have eyes on the front of our heads, giving us depth perception
‘Belly button fluff’ (BBF) or ‘belly button lint’ is often found inside the navel when we wake up, or when we retire in the evening. It is almost always blue in appearance, and has been a mystery to the human mind as to its origin and make-up.
Experiments have shown that BBF is mostly made up of fibres from clothing. There are some dead skin cells present as well, but the fluff is mostly made up of clothes materials. The research that led to these claims was conducted by an Australian, Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, who is a research fellow at Sydney University (Australia). He conducted a survey of nearly 4000 people worldwide – who all collected their own BBF – and came to many conclusions from them
This is true! If anything, they love to terrorise - and a lot of people are making money from these phobias/exterminations.
I also agree with Ash! The electrician that visited us (the one who fixed the display unit in the oven) told us that cockroaches come out to feed once a month. Now he said that if you see one cockroach at 2am (you know when u switch on the lights in the kitchen real fast, to catch them in the act) - that's fine.
But if you see about 20 feeding on your garbage and leftovers at 2am - it's time to move out! Cos there's plenty more of them hiding underneath as well...
I have been spraying cockroach repellant like crazy ever since he said that LOL.
I know the timing for her comments were innapropriate, and some of her views very radical - but she does raise some valid points about 'animal personal space'.
I saw her appearance on 'A Current Affair' last night(Aussie show on Channel 9) and she was very steadfast at the beginning. She did lose it a little towards the end, but I think she is one of those perrenial fence sitters. I do admire the fact that she refuses to be carried over to any side by emotion - but I'm a not a big fan of the brashness or timing of the collumn she wrote on the incident.
In hindsight, I must agree somewhat with her point. I do admire Steve the 'croc hunter' and his efforts for animal conservation. But what is true, is that he did meddle with animals in their own territory. If you put yourself in the animal's shoes, then I doubt very much if you would like some guy teasing you, hovering in your space, jumping on you or wrestling you every now and then without consent. It was a fine line that Steve was trodding on, and had he survived the fatal attack by the stingray - I would very much doubt that public opinion on the incident would be so one-sided. There would have been attacks made on his closeness to the animals surely.
But alas he did pass away, and what Stevo also provided was an insight and greater understanding into the endangered animals of this world. It was always going to be a give and take issue. Steve the 'family man'/'person' was an entirely different story - he was incomparable. The nicest man on TV.
I think that is why the public remains in an uproar over Greer's comments - they are associating the comments with Steve the 'person'.
Regardless, she should have known better than to publish them now.
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on Variety and Brain Teasers
Keep it up!!!
m*STAR