KAMPALA, June 26 (Xinhuanet) -- A committee from the Ugandan parliament has said that in the last 12 months alone, it is estimated that over 8,000 children have been abducted owing to the spread of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel activity.

The Parliament Select Committee on Humanitarian and Security Affairs said that "it is estimated that between 20,000 and 25,000 children have been abducted in the course of the LRA conflict. These have since been indoctrinated, turned into fighters, sex slaves, load carriers and are forced onto the front-line to fight and conduct all forms of atrocious acts against the local communities."

99 YEARS AGO TODAY

Jun 28 1905 Dr. Beaurieux picks up the freshly-severed head of Henri Languille just after it drops into the guillotine basket and shouts the man's name three times.

Landru just before he was executed Although the guillotine is generally held to be humane, there is some question about how quickly one dies after being decapitated. Two doctors in the 1960s wrote that “death is not instantaneous. Every vital element survives decapitation...it is a savage vivisection followed by premature burial." Drs. Piedlievre and Fournier go on to discuss how the brain is capable of breaking down complex sugars in the neurons into oxygen for as long as six minutes after decapitation. Eyewitness accounts also call into question the swiftness of the onset of death after beheading. "Did it, those who saw the grimacing heads in the basket wondered, kill instantaneously?" writes Colin Wilson. "In the 1790's this question was much debated, as when Charlotte Corday's head was held up and slapped by the assistant executioner, men swore that it not only blushed but 'showed most unequivocal signs of indignation.'" Dr. Beaurieux wrote: "The head fell on the severed surface of the neck ... I was not obliged even to touch it in order to set it upright. Chance served me well for the observation, which I wished to make. "Here, then, is what I was able to note immediately after the decapitation: the eyelids and lips of the guillotined man worked in irregularly rhythmic contractions for about five or six seconds. This phenomenon has been remarked by all those finding themselves in the same conditions as myself for observing what happens after the severing of the neck... "I waited for several seconds. The spasmodic movements ceased. The face relaxed, the lids half closed on the eyeballs, leaving only the white of the conjunctiva visible. ... It was then that I called in a strong, sharp voice: "Languille!" I saw the eyelids slowly lift up, without any spasmodic contractions -- I insist advisedly on this peculiarity -- but with an even movement, quite distinct and normal, such as happens in everyday life, with people awakened or torn from their thoughts. "Next Languille's eyes very definitely fixed themselves on mine and the pupils focused themselves. I was not, then, dealing with the sort of vague dull look without any expression, that can be observed any day in dying people to whom one speaks: I was dealing with undeniably living eyes which were looking at me. "After several seconds, the eyelids closed again, slowly and evenly, and the head took on the same appearance as it had had before I called out. "It was at that point that I called out again and, once more, without any spasm, slowly, the eyelids lifted and undeniably living eyes fixed themselves on mine with perhaps even more penetration than the first time. There was a further closing of the eyelids, but now less complete. I attempted the effect of a third call; there was one further movement -- and the eyes took on the glazed look which they have in the dead." http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/landru/guillotine_7.html?sect=6

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From SarrChasm

Out of control fruit cup food fight gets 7th graders arrested

By The Associated Press
(6/11/04 - WATERBURY, CT) — Seven seventh-graders were arrested after a spat in a middle school cafeteria left two teachers and a detective with injuries Wednesday.

The incident began at West Side Middle School after a girl dumped a fruit cup over a boy's head, police said. The two started fighting, then other students joined in, some jumping on tables and throwing food, police said.

"What was described as a riot situation developed in the cafeteria," Sgt. Christopher Corbett said.

A detective and two teachers suffered minor injuries breaking up the melee.

Three girls and fours boys ranging in age from 12 to 14 were arrested on charges including breach of peace, assault and inciting a riot.

komo news | A One In A Million Photo

Wow. It's not every day you click the shutter the exact moment as a lightning bolt hits a tree.

From

630 YEARS AGO TODAY

Jun 24 1374

In a sudden outbreak of Dancing Mania (aka "St. John's Dance"), people in the streets of Aix-la-Chapelle, Prussia experience terrible hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion. Many of the sufferers are afflicted with frothing at the mouth, diabolical screaming, and sexual frenzy. The phenomenon lasts well into the month of July. Nowadays, ergot madness is suspected as being the ultimate cause of the disorder.

Ergot is a fungal disease of rye that produces hallucinations and bizarre alterations of behavior, eventually leading to insanity or death by loss of limbs or epileptic seizures. This small brown fungus produces an array of dangerous chemicals, including LSD.

The manic dancing spreads throughout France and the Low Countries. Crowds gathered, and religious ceremonies are performed in attempts to exorcise the demons. People offered prayer to St. Vitus and he soon became the patron saint of the dancers. The dancing manifested into an anti clerical protest in Liege when ravers began cursing the priests of that city. A few monasteries and towns were even overthrown. In the most severe cases, mad ravers would dance through the loss of a limb, pausing only for a moment to pick up the pitiful piece before resuming the dance until they collapsed to their deaths. For the fewer and more unfortunate they would survive to experience psychotic delusions, nervous spasms, convulsions, schizophrenia, and acute paranoia for the rest of their glorious lives.

-fUSION 

** Fido Found to Be Wiz with Words

Dogs may be capable of acquiring a far larger vocabulary than typical owners teach them during obedience training.

Scientists experimenting  with a 10-year-old border collie in Germany have discovered that the dog knows more than 200 words for different objects and can learn a new word after being shown an unfamiliar item just once. The dog's ability shows that advanced word recognition skills are present in animals other than humans, and probably evolved independently of language and speech.

http://cl.extm.us/?fe9e13757567047d77-fe3016707367017b711475

Canadian Marijuana Party in Unique Finance Scheme 6/18/04

The Marijuana Party of Canada (http://www.marijuanaparty.ca), which at last count was running candidates in at least 70 ridings (legislative districts) for the rapidly approaching June 28 national elections, has found a novel fundraising strategy: Selling pot seeds.

"We're going to do it to fund the campaign and the movement in general," party leader Marc-Boris St-Maurice told Canada Press Tuesday. And not just as a campaign fundraiser, he added. "We're going to be doing this for the remainder of our existence until pot is legal."

The party obtains its seeds from Canadian suppliers like Willy Jack, as well as foreign concerns, such as the Amsterdam-based Sensi Seeds. Varieties range from non-viable "decorative" seeds to "thoroughbred, Cannabis Cup-winning" strains, and are priced accordingly, said St.-Maurice. Some of the most famous varieties will sell for as much as US $300 for a pack of ten, he added.

"It's a very political action."

While marijuana possession and trafficking is against Canadian law, seed sales are not prosecuted. British Columbia Marijuana Party (http://www.bcmarijuanaparty.ca) leader Marc Emery has made a fortune and funded his political activities with profits from marijuana seed sales.

"It appears not to be illegal in that people who are doing it are not being charged for doing it," said Neil Boyd, a professor of criminology at Simon Fraser University. Seeds contain so little THC that the courts could favorably receive an argument that the seeds are not a drug, he told Canada Press.

Protect Marriage Sunday July 11. Call your Senator Day July 12.