!Bite Size!

Queenstown, New Zealand: A contractor made quite a big mistake by incorrectly stacking the NZ$10 slot of an ATM with NZ$20 and vice versa. Dozens of customers used this Kiwibank ATM with one person making 40 transactions. The bank does not intend tracking down customers who were given double the money but reimbursed all those who lost money. (>)


Bangkok, Thailand: Thai police officers who break police rules will not only be forced to pay a fine and penalties like the other members of the public but will have to wear bright pink armbands featuring the young girl icon Hello Kitty as a mark of shame. Thai police colonel Pongpat Chayaphan stated that ‘simple warnings no longer work’ so it was decided to make the offenders ‘feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor’. (<)


Pennsylvania, US: On the 2nd October 2007 Russell Byars became a world record holder in stone skipping with a mind boggling 51 skips. This throw tamed the old record of 40 skips held by Kurt Steiner. Mr. Byars is a 43 year old engineer and, needless to say, a professional stone skipper. He is nicknamed The Giant because of his size (188cm, 114kg) and proves that size might play a part in increasing the number of skips.


Moscow, Russia: Andrey Scherbakov, a 15 year old boy, accomplished an unprecedented feat in the history of aviation. After running away from an alcoholic father, he found himself near Perm city airport where he bypassed security and got into a wheel well of a Boeing 737 bound for Moscow – 1300km away. In these planes the wheels do not entirely retract but remain exposed, leaving quite a lot of available space. Upon arriving in Moscow airport, workers found the boy on the tarmac. Unbelievably, he was alive after enduring 2hrs traveling at 900km/h at an altitude of 10000m and a temperature of -50°C! He is reported to be in a critical condition but survived due to his body being frozen. His hands may have to be amputated as a result of frostbite.


Nevada, USA: American couple Michael and Iana Straw pleaded guilty to child neglect brought about by their obsession with the game Dungeons & Dragons. Both young adults (aged 25 and 23) were unemployed and spent their recent $50,000 inheritance on the computer game and a large plasma TV screen. They were so addicted that they failed to feed or clean their young children (11 month old girl & 23 month old boy). Police were called in after neighbours’ complaints that one child was constantly crying and after investigation, the children were found on the brink of death. Both children are in foster care while the parents risk 12 years of jail, obviously without a computer. (<)

Who are the sexiest, rudest and funniest Europeans? Researchers from Reader’s Digest were dispatched to 19 different countries to interview 4000 people about other nations. Italians were decided to be by far the most popular and the sexiest, followed by the Spanish and the French. Belgians were voted the least sexy and least popular. The United Kingdom was said to be the country with the best sense of humor, and are also those who contributed most to the world with many people citing football, medicine and industry. The Irish however, were said to have contributed to only one thing – Guinness! The Swiss seem to be the most serious with a very distinct 19th place in humour, yet the Swiss were said to be very polite, as are the Norwegians. Germans are at the base of the scale and are least polite. Lastly are the Dutch who were voted to be the most unbiased. Paris is Europe’s favourite city while Italy is the favourite country.(<)


Aleisk, Russia: Nadia Barabanova broke a world record the second she was born on the 17th September 2007 by a Caesarean section in Aleisk, Siberia. At birth she weighed a massive 17 pounds 1 ounce (7.75kg). The previous record was set in 2005 by a 17 pound Brazilian baby. The 43 year old mother, Tatyana, had already given birth to 8 girls and 3 boys and all weighed more than 11lb. The story behind these ‘heavy weight’ babies, is that the family had no money for “special foods” and so “ate everything she could” while pregnant. (>)