80-Year-Old Snatches Gun, Robber Runs

POSTED: 4:19 pm CDT April 15, 2009
UPDATED: 5:26 pm CDT April 15, 2009

                 Click Link below for picture and video

http://www.ketv.com/newsarchive/19190529/detail.html

Mother stuns medics by delivering miracle twins while having heart attack doctors said would kill her

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:29 AM on 16th April 2009

A mother has miraculously given birth to healthy twins - minutes after being struck down by a devastating heart attack.

Nina Whear, 38, battled back from death to deliver the babies after her soldier husband Andy, 39, said a heartbreaking last goodbye to her.

She was given a 7 per cent chance of pulling through as a hospital chaplain was sent in to comfort her in her last moments.

Mother Nina Whear with twins Alfie and Evie, who she gave birth to minutes after a heart attack, their father Andy, and ambulance technicians, Vicky Goddard (right) and Kirsty Bolton (left)

But Nina amazed army sergeant Andy, doctors and nurses by beating the odds - and became the proud mum of twins Evie and Alfie, who weighed 3lb 11oz and 4lb 10oz respectively.

The first-time mother said: 'It was the most frightening night of my entire life, it really was.

'It is unbelievable.

"I am just so grateful and now every morning I think about how I might not have seen that day.'

She added: 'I am so grateful to the staff at the hospital and the ambulance team and all those who helped me.

'And now I have got two beautiful babies too.' 

Nina gave birth by Caesarean section on January 6 after paramedics dashed to her home to find her 'blue from head-to-toe and covered in sweat'. 

As Nina, who was 38-weeks pregnant, went into labour she suffered an aortic dissection, which means the wall of her aorta had torn open.

That forced blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and prised them apart, threatening to kill her.

Nina Whear was dashed to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital after paramedics found her blue and covered in sweat

Paramedics arrived just in time to give her oxygen - and saved her life on the spot.

Critically ill Nina was then whisked to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital before being transferred to a specialist heart unit at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, where she had emergency open heart surgery.

Fearing the worst, doctors advised Andy, who had sped more than 100 miles north from his army base at Aldershot, Hants, to say goodbye to his wife.

But amazingly Nina, a former Prince's Trust team leader from Lamas, near Norwich survived.

'I had quite a difficult pregnancy and I was only getting about 40 minutes sleep a night because every time I lay down I couldn't breathe,' she said.

'But that night it didn't ease at all, and it got worse and worse. My mum was staying as Andy was doing his last shift in Aldershot before his paternity leave.'

'So I had to go into her room and signal for her to call an ambulance because I didn't have the oxygen to talk."

Nina, who works for Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, added: 'I don't have an awful lot of memory of that part of the night, but I know they carried me downstairs, put me in an ambulance and it was really icy, and took me to the hospital.

'I remember them bringing Andy through and we were left alone to say our goodbyes.
"I was very calm because I thought if I was going to die I wanted to do it calmly.

'When I woke up after the operation I still couldn't talk, but I tried to signal to the nurse to say that I couldn't believe I was alive, although I don~t think she understood what I meant.

'I was so shocked that I didn't even think about the fact I had just had twins, I was just amazed to be alive.'

Andy, who arrived at the hospital in shorts and flip flops, admitted he was in bits during the ordeal.

The soldier said he feared he would lose his wife and babies in one day.

Andy said: 'I couldn't stop blubbing.

'All I could think was what if I don't come back with any of them? All the different scenarios were going through my head, like whether the twins would be okay but Nina wouldn't, or whether Nina would be okay but the twins wouldn't.

'It was horrible.'

Nina still has to visit hospital regularly as she had three blood clots in her body as well as fluid on her lungs.

The mum-of-two now wryly describes herself as 'Frankenstein's bride' because of all her surgery scars.

As a result of her drastic surgery Nina will not be able to pick up the twins until they are 20 weeks old and is no longer able to enjoy her extreme sports hobbies of bungee jumping and white water rafting.

Vicky Goddard, one of the ambulance crew who helped to save her life, said: 'As soon as we arrived we knew it was absolutely critical we got her to hospital as soon as possible - the only diagnosis we needed at that point was looking at her.

'She was so covered in sweat that we thought she had rubbed something like Vicks on her chest and she was blue from head-to-toe. For an adult to have a blue chest is very serious.' 

She added: 'We gave her oxygen immediately and we were only at the house for 13 minutes before she was put in the ambulance.

'Timing was absolutely everything. If we hadn't got her to hospital she may not be here now.'

Lightning Strikes Twice: Man Who Won $900,000 In 2005 Wins An Additional $90,800

April 15, 2009

Steve Granger of Henderson, North Carolina, had a feeling. “If I have a feeling for a number, I’ll play it,” he said.

He did more than just play it. He played it 20 times. Mr. Granger bought 20 Virginia Lottery Pick 4 tickets, all with the number combination of 5-1-1-7, for the April 12 night drawing. They all won!

He wagered “exact order” on 16 tickets, so each of them won $5,000. He wagered “50/50” on the other four tickets, each of which won $2,700. His winnings totaled $90,800.

Remarkably, this isn’t the first time Mr. Granger has had several winning tickets in the same drawing. On September 28, 2005, he won $900,000 with nine top-prize winners in the Virginia Lottery’s Cash 5 drawing.

“I’ve always been lucky,” he said. He bought all of the tickets at Bracey Mini Mart, located on Highway 903 in Bracey, Virginia.

Pick 4 drawings are held daily at 1:59 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. The chances of matching all four numbers in exact order are 1 in 10,000.

Nearly 95 cents of each dollar spent on the Virginia Lottery by players goes back to the Commonwealth in the form of contributions to education, prizes and retailer commissions. Since 1999, all Virginia Lottery profits have been designated solely to K-12 public school education in the Commonwealth. In that time, the Lottery has turned over more than $4 billion for Virginia’s public schools. The latest annual profits of $455 million currently represent about 6 percent of state funding for public education in Virginia. In 20 years, the Lottery has sold more than $20 billion in tickets, awarded more than $1 billion in retailer commissions and paid more than $10.9 billion in prizes to players.

Picture available click link below:

http://www.valottery.com/news/press_article.asp?artid=2423

http://video.ap.org/?f=PAREA&pid=qLzNfar35w3JwAQ3xjYEQIvzvAsskdSO

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=129087&catid=40

Video link of dirtiest McDonald's and Domino's Pizza Staff putting cheese in nose and sneezing in food

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1169881/Takeaway-terrors-Filthiest-McDonalds-world-Dominos-staff-sneeze-food.html

13-year-old boy accused of robbing bank

The illusion project highlights artwork that is 'unique?--amazing for its skills, level of creativity and vision. From Lego art, living grass graffiti to foot painting--will cover art, design, photography and videos

http://www.mixx.com/videos/4712915/scene_360_illusion_the_most_amazing_art_design_technology_and_video_in_the_world

CHRIS PEPPER

April 11, 2009 11:30pm

Adelaide Now

Sunday Mail

IS this the filthiest fast-food joint in Australia? Countless discarded brown paper bags and burger wrappers lay strewn across the floor, piled up in trampled heaps around the tables and chairs.

Abandoned soft drinks, squashed chips and other rubbish cover the table tops as diners sit eating amidst the detritus.

Welcome to McDonald's on Hindley St. These pictures were taken in the dining area at 3am last Sunday by Adelaide law student Jeremy Brown while on a night out with friends.

After entering the premises for a snack, the 22-year-old Hawthorndene resident said he was so disgusted by what he saw that he decided to film it on his mobile phone.

http://www.mixx.com/videos/4695508/mcnasty_video_of_world_s_filthiest_mcdonald_s_franchise

"I went in there and we were all aghast how grotty it was, and I thought I'd capture it on film because people wouldn't believe how messy it was," he said.

The video has since been posted on the internet site YouTube, attracting a worldwide audience.

Mr Brown said McDonald's employees had told him that the filthy area was a regular occurrence.

But he was reluctant to blame staff, who he said appeared to be working "flat out".

"I think it was short-staffed, there were big queues to get food," he said.

"I spoke to someone at the counter, and she said it was often like that."

The appalling state of the restaurant, which is in the heart of Adelaide's entertainment strip, has shocked MPs and union officials.

Peter Malinauskas, secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, said it was the sort of dining and working environment "one might expect to see in a Third World city, not McDonald's on Hindley St".

"It's appalling that customers would leave their rubbish like this in the first place," he said.

Independent MP Bob Such, who has long campaigned for improved hygiene standards in restaurants and food outlets, said he expected better of McDonald's.

"It's not very nice is it? It's a safety hazard as well as a food hazard. People could easily trip over that stuff," he said. "One would have thought a big franchise like that would insist on high standards."

Tony Tropeano, of the Hindley St Late Night Traders Group, called for more council inspections.

"It's a complete disgrace, particularly when dealing with food," he said.

"The authorities should get down off their high horse and see this at street level."

Adelaide City Council, which is responsible for inspecting city restaurants, said although it had previously received complaints about the restaurant, it had found "no issues" in past inspections.

Council spokeswoman Natalie Di Fava refused to give details about those complaints.

McDonald's SA market manager Josie Mangini said the store's management had been "counselled" over the mess.

"The state of the dining room was completely unacceptable," she said.

"McDonald's prides itself on high standards of cleanliness.

"We have spoken to the crew and the managers, and they have been counselled to maintain the utmost standards. It was completely disappointing."

Ms Mangini said two cleaning procedures were not followed, involving a clean "travel path" through the restaurant and when crew clean all of the tables. "A lot of things weren't going right that night," she said.

When the Sunday Mail visited the restaurant in the early hours of Friday morning, staff members were clearing tables every 10 minutes.

One teenage diner, who asked not be named, said the restaurant appeared cleaner than normal.

"It's just the numbers of people who come in and out of here that make such a mess," she said.

The store manager, who would only give her name as Sandra, confirmed a complaint had been made last Saturday night but said she was unable to comment further.

According to the Food Act 2001, inadequately cleaned food premises can be fined up to $2500 on the spot.

http://Photos/ss/1756;_ylt=AumyCnqkR.TCRtTjSIQTypIeO7gF#photoViewer=/090413/480/382ec4d4f4fe48bea98231b385b65a6f

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/gallery/1778;_ylt=AnlxB2HOEpnT8C7_cBuDFshpaP0E

That collective groan being heard around the country can only mean one thing — it' s tax time! The painful tradition of modern income tax collection in the United States is 96 years old this month, though the federal government had dabbled in it on and off since the Civil War as a way of balancing the books when money was tight. From the early days when the tax wasn't even collected to the incredible 94 percent rate paid during one period, here are six things you probably didn't know about the system's history.

1. Working out the kinks

The first personal income taxes in the United States were levied in 1861 by an act of Congress, mostly to foot the bill for the newly erupted and very costly Civil War. There were so many questions and problems with the new system, however, that nothing was collected until the following year.

2. No money necessary, thanks

Income tax, along with many other taxes imposed during the Civil War, was repealed after 1865 because the government simply had no need for the extra revenue. The majority of federal income came from taxes on tobacco and alcohol, which were hot commodities at war's end.

3. Maybe they had it right ...

Another newly enacted income tax was actually declared unconstitutional in 1895. The law stated that any tax must be levied in proportion to each state's population; this flat tax wasn't, and was quickly shooed aside by the Supreme Court.

4. Look out Al Capone

When the modern incarnation of U.S. income tax was introduced in 1913, the word " lawful" was included in the text, referring to the kind of revenue that could be taxed. With the loose definitions of that term under question, the government deleted the word in a 1916 amendment. As a result, many bootleggers and criminals who had previously evaded the law were jailed on tax evasion.

5. Supporting the war effort

Think you give a lot to Uncle Sam today? Just be thankful you weren' t paying income tax in 1945, when the country' s top earners doled 94 percent of their salaries over to the government, mostly to recoup costs incurred from the war effort. Taxation rates for the highest income brackets hovered between 82 and 92 percent until 1963.

6. SOS, IRS!

In 1940, the instruction booklet that went along with the United States' standard 1040 income tax form was two pages long. For the 2008 tax year, it is 95 pages long. No wonder more Americans than ever are enlisting someone to help prepare their taxes, even to file their returns online.

• History's Most Overlooked Mysteries
• Cheating on Spouse or Taxes Morally Acceptable for Many
• History News, Images and Information