Snake Bites Man's Penis

Mr. Lin, 50, of Nantou County, Taiwan was bitten by a snake - on the penis - while using the toilet at home.

“I felt an excruciating pain in my lower body, like someone had stabbed me with a knife, shortly after sitting on the toilet bowl … I stood up immediately and saw blood oozing from my crotch,” the 50-year-old man, surnamed Lin (林), told reporters.

When he looked down into the toilet he found a large snake staring back at him from inside the toilet bowl. Apparently, the snake thought it had found a tasty morsel dangling, when Mr. Lin sat on the toilet seat, and decided to take a bite.

“I thought it might have been a poisonous snake. To prevent it from hurting anyone else I tried to flush the toilet several times but the snake would not go down the drain,” Lin said.

Failing to flush the snake down the toilet, Mr Lin shut the lid and went to the Puli Christian Hospital for treatment. When he arrived at the hospital, the doctors tried to determine what kind of snake had taken a bite of the man's penis, so that the correct antivenin could be administered. Mr. Lin was unable to identify the type of snake.

The hospital then asked Mr. Lin's neighbors to catch the snake. It turns out that the snake was a black and yellow, 170 cm (67 inches) long, Taiwan Beauty Rat Snake [Orthriophis taeniura friesi]. Fortunately, it was not poisonous or Mr. Lin would have been very lucky to be alive according to the doctors.

"As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the doctor, who declined to be named, said. "A snake's mouth isn't always clean."

After being identified, the snake was released back into the wild.

Taiwan beauties are large non-venomous snakes that can reach up to 2m (6.5 ft) in length. The snake is a protected species, and are sometimes kept as pets by people.

Mr. Lin now has a phobia of toilets and will only use a newly purchased plastic toilet bowl.

No one is sure exactly how the snake found its way into the toilet, but the neighbors speculate that it might have entered the plumbing system through the septic tank, which has a cracked lid, and then swum up the toilet for air.

Mr. Lin seemed quite philosophical about the entire episode and offered this incite:

“It was the snake’s signal for help when it bit me. If it hadn’t, maybe it would have been stuck in the septic tank and either suffocated or starved to death. It looked like an accident but it was actually fate,” Lin said.

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Brett Elder's Death Ruled Accidental

Brett Elder was a 15-year-old boy who was tasered by the Bay City police and died. The  unarmed 5'6", 140 lb teen died 3/22/09 - two days before his 16th birthday. His "death by taser" was widely criticized as unnecessary police action. His family has hired an attorney and plan to sue the police department. See more details here and here.

The autopsy was performed by the Oakland County Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Kanu Virani. The results of the autopsy have finally been released. The report indicated that the cause of Brett Elder's death was two-fold:

1. The first part is identified as Alcohol-induced Excited Delirium Syndrome


2. The second part states The application of an electromuscular disruptive device was a contributory factor.

Alcohol-induced Excited Delirium Syndrome has been ruled the cause of death in other cases involving a Taser. The "electromuscular disruptive device" is of course the Taser. Dr. Kanu Virani's report concludes that the death of Brett Elder was accidental.

The Bay County Prosecutor's office has not yet decided if criminal charges will be brought against any of the three police officers involved in the incident.

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Primoff Apologizes for Leaving Kids

Madlyn Primoff, 45, was given a break by City Court Judge Eric Press who adjourned her case and agreed to dismiss it and seal it Nov. 9 if Primoff behaves. She was arrested on one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor. Primoff was accused of abandoning her 10-year-old daughter in White Plains, NY after she drove off and left the child on the curb, three miles from home. See details here.

"Clearly, I made a mistake," Primoff said outside court, her husband Richard standing beside her. "But I truly love our children and I know that I am a good parent."

Prosecutor Audrey Stone said Primoff was "engaged in family therapy" and was not considered a danger to the children. Defense attorney Vincent Briccetti said later that Primoff intended merely to drive around the block and pick the girls up, but they were gone when she returned.

Her actions prompted a national debate on how to handle unruly children as seen in the clip below.

[wpvideo z9S4mBj1]

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The Pee Converter

Converting urine into drinkable water is not a new idea. In fact NASA has developed a device that recycles pee into water fit to drink. The catch is the device has a price tag of $250,000.....not something the average consumer is going to put on their shopping list.

Designer Leonardo Manavella has come up with a solution that is sure to please all the pee-conservationists out there. His design for a pee-to-water converter is simplistic yet innovative. The user pees into the container. The urine passes through an activated carbon purifier which eliminates the color and flavor of urine. The user then squeezes the container forcing clean drinkable water out of the other end. The concept is described below.

For further details check out this source and if you happen to try it out, please let me know.

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Charla Nash's Family Sues

Three months after Travis the Chimp attacked Charla Nash and left her with $700,000 in medical bills (and counting), the family has decided to sue Sandra Herold, Travis' owner. They are asking for $50 million. Catch the full story Charla Nash and Travis the Chimp here and here.


Charla was badly mauled by the chimp and lost both hands, her nose, her lips, her eyelids and the bone structure in her face. She may have suffered some brain damage. She is blind and faces years of medical procedures. She remains in "critical but stable" condition and has made "significant neurological and psychological improvement," her doctors said.

"She is now awake and is able to communicate with her family and caregivers," physicians at the Cleveland clinic said in a statement.

"However, full cognitive recovery could take up to a year. As we have begun to communicate with her, it is clear that her injury has left her completely blind in both eyes, with no chance for improvement."

The doctors have said that they will focus first on her facial trauma but to think about a facial transplant "is premature at this time."

The attorneys for both sides came together Wednesday (5/6/09) in Stamford Superior Court before Judge Edward R. Karazin Jr. and reached a preliminary agreement that up to $10 million of Sandra Herold's assets will be frozen, stipulating that Herold may not dispose of or cause a dissipation in value of six parcels of property and three businesses she owns in Stamford. The value of the holdings are worth an estimated $4 million.

The agreement also calls for Herold to turn over to Matthew Newman (Charla Nash's lawyer) by June 1 documents he has requested that may further identify her assets, followed by Herold being deposed by June 15 to fully determine the location and value of her assets.

Judge Edward R. Karazin asked Herold's attorney, Robert Golger, to confirm he concurred with what was being stipulated. Karazin then said he found probable cause that an amount equal to or greater than $10 million would be awarded if the case went in the Nash family's favor. Newman afterward  told reporters it would probably be a minimum of three years before the case came to trial.

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