BERLIN (Reuters) - A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometers away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site.
Dressed for the Australian summer in t-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany Saturday for a four-week holiday. Instead of arriving "down under," Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana. "I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States." Well, you CAN fly anywhere via anywhere, can't you Top Job? Now, why would you WANT to?
Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake. Bit slow on the uptake, aren't we?
The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany. "I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.
#8
Back in 92 I was supposed to fly from Birmingham, Alabama to Portland, Maine. The Travel Agent said I would have to change planes in Dallas and again in Salt Lake City. She didn't know there was a Portland, Maine even though I had written it down. I could have wound up on the wrong side of the US.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/31/2006 12:40 Comments ||
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#9
Lol Shipman,
Please tell the Rantburg ladies that I am a very spry 38 years young.
And I *am* smacking myself on the head for not recognizing what GIGO is... I just didn't recognize it in the present context. I guess Alaska Paul's sense of humor was a bit abstract for me this morning.
#14
I have CICO going on, on a regular basis--Cats In Cats Out--usually at the same time.
There is this an on-going joke in Austria that American tourists want to see kangaroos in the wild. Based in this dude geographical prowess, I have to surmise that they made it up to cover up their deficiencies. ;-)
#1
Of course even better than drunken venomous snake handling, I've been told is what happens on a gator farm. After several six packs, the help gets in a discussion of who can catch the biggest gator.
Posted by: bruce ||
12/31/2006 21:53 Comments ||
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Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh has announced a four percent reservation policy for the Muslim community in government jobs.
Announcing this, Singh said though the community comprised seven percent of the total population of the state, but it represented only 2.57 percent in the government's grade I and II jobs.
He, however, said the creamy layer in the community would also be identified for its benefits.
The chief minister told a news conference on Thursday night that the government was trying to give benefits to the state government employees as per central government benefits.
He said there were lots of anomalies in the pay structure now and these will be rectified accordingly.
Referring to proposed Tipaimukh Dam in Churachandrapur district, which has become a raging controversy across the state, he said the government was ready to review the proposal.
Posted by: john ||
12/31/2006 18:00 ||
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Scientists are conducting experiments to change the sexuality of gay sheep in a programme that critics fear could pave the way for breeding out homosexuality in humans.
The technique being developed by American researchers adjusts the hormonal balance in the brains of homosexual rams so that they are more inclined to mate with ewes. It raises the prospect that pregnant women could one day be offered a treatment to reduce or eliminate the chance that their offspring will be homosexual. Experts say that, in theory, the straightening procedure on humans could be as simple as a hormone supplement for mothers-to-be, worn on the skin like an anti-smoking nicotine patch.
The research, at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, has caused an outcry. Martina Navratilova, the lesbian tennis player who won Wimbledon nine times, and scientists and gay rights campaigners in Britain have called for the project to be abandoned. Navratilova defended the right of sheep to be gay. She said: How can it be that in the year 2006 a major university would host such homophobic and cruel experiments? She said gay men and lesbians would be deeply offended by the social implications of the tests. Typical. After years of saying "it's genetic, not a choice," when a way comes to change the genetics, they choose to prevent others from having a choice.
But the researchers argue that the work is valid, shedding light on the broad question of what determines sexual orientation. They insist the work is not aimed at curing homosexuality.
Approximately one ram in 10 prefers to mount other rams rather than mate with ewes, reducing its value to a farmer. Initially, the publicly funded project aimed to improve the productivity of herds. The scientists have been able to pinpoint the mechanisms influencing the desires of male-oriented rams by studying their brains. The animals skulls are cut open and electronic sensors are attached to their brains.
By varying the hormone levels, mainly by injecting hormones into the brain, they have had considerable success in altering the rams sexuality, with some previously gay animals becoming attracted to ewes.
Professor Charles Roselli, the Health and Science University biologist leading the research, defended the project. He said: In general, sexuality has been under-studied because of political concerns. People dont want science looking into what determines sexuality. Its a touchy issue. In fact, several studies have shown that people who believe homosexuality is biologically based are less homophobic than people who think that this orientation is acquired.
The research is being peer-reviewed by a panel of scientists in America, demonstrating that it is being taken seriously by the academic community. Potentially, the techniques could one day be adapted for human use, with doctors perhaps being able to offer parents pre-natal tests to determine the likely sexuality of offspring or a hormonal treatment to change the orientation of a child. Roselli has said he would be uncomfortable about parents choosing sexuality, but argues that it is up to policy makers to legislate on questions of ethics.
Michael Bailey, a neurology professor at Northwestern University near Chicago, said: Allowing parents to select their childrens sexual orientation would further a parents freedom to raise the sort of children they want to raise. Which the Gay Left violently opposes. Freedom? To raise a child how you want? Unacceptable!
Critics fear the findings could be abused. Udo Schuklenk, Professor of Bioethics at Glasgow Caledonian University, who has written to the researchers pressing them to stop, said: I dont believe the motives of the study are homophobic, but their work brings the terrible possibility of exploitation by homophobic societies. Imagine this technology in the hands of Iran, for example. Obligatory attack on America:
It is typical of the US to ignore the global context in which this is taking place.
And, of course, Godwin's Law:
Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, said: These experiments echo Nazi research in the early 1940s which aimed at eradicating homosexuality. They stink of eugenics. There is a danger that extreme homophobic regimes may try to use these experimental results to change the orientation of gay people. He said that the techniques being developed in sheep could in future allow parents to play God.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the pressure group, condemned the study as a needless slaughter of animals, an affront to human dignity and a colossal waste of precious research funds.
The tests on gay sheep are the latest in a long line of experiments seeking to alter the sexuality of humans and animals.
Günther Dorner, a scientist in the former East Berlin, carried out hormone-altering tests on rodents in the 1960s in the hope of finding a way to eradicate homosexuality.
In 2002, Simon LeVay, an American neurologist, claimed to have discovered that homosexual and heterosexual men had physically different brains. His tests on the corpses of gay men who had died of Aids were widely criticised.
#2
If the research were focused on "curing homophobia", the same people would be demanding massive levels of federal funding.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
12/31/2006 14:42 Comments ||
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#3
By varying the hormone levels, mainly by injecting hormones into the brain, they have had considerable success in altering the rams sexuality, with some previously gay animals becoming attracted to ewes.
A key question this raises is whether the effect is temporary or permanent. If temporary, this would be appropriate for animals which have a single annual mating season, but considerably less useful for humans without a great deal of further testing to determine whether there are any deletarious side effects. Of course, then the free will of the offspring comes into play, should he/she decide at some point to discontinue treatments. (Injecting into the brain is somewhat risky -- I think I'd prefer to err on the side of undamaged brain tissue under the circumstances... but I'm funny that way.)
With a rush of last-minute commercial jet sales, Boeing has broken its remarkable 2005 record order tally.
Korean Air on Friday firmed up a previously announced contract to bring the 2006 sales total to 1,014 net jet orders, compared with 1,002 net orders last year, said Boeing spokesman Randy Harrison. The Korean order for 10 777-300ERs, five 747-8 freighters, five 777 freighters and five 737s is worth $5.6 billion at list prices. The actual purchase price is estimated at about $3.2 billion, based on data from aircraft valuation firm Avitas.
In mid-December, European rival Airbus was trailing Boeing by more than 200 orders. Boeing's strong finish to the year virtually ensures it will outsell Airbus for the first time since 2000.
And 2007 will be even worse for Airbus.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/31/2006 00:43 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A tale of two cities for confused tourist
