Sunday, 7-9-06: In Albany, NY, a 4-year-old boy left home alone fell from an 11th-story window. He bounced off a metal awning into a concrete courtyard, and tried to stand up. He couldn't, because he had a fractured skull and a broken leg. The doctors were amazed that he was chatting with them. "It's an incredibly good sign that he was talking," said one of them. Tuesday, 7-11-06: The World Wife Carrying Championship was held in Sonkajarvi, Finland. An Estonian couple named Sandra Kullas and Margo Uusorg won for the fifth time. You go girls! In local news, organizers of an effort to make Portland Police spend less time going after pot users turned in an estimated 36,000 signatures last Friday afternoon, almost 10,000 more than required to make the November ballot. It would make adult marijuana-related offenses the "lowest law-enforcement priority in the City of Portland." The signatures were delivered at 4:20 PM because "420" is an internationally recognized term for marijauna use. Wednesday, 7-12-06: The Bush administration announced yesterday that, in a major reversal, all US military prisoners are entitled to humane treatment under the Geneva Conventions. They had no choice after the Supreme COurt's decision last month. The military has about 14,000 prisoners. Of course, that doesn't mean anything about the prisoners of the CIA. They can still be tortured. A super-mosquito's been found in Greece. It's faster, and larger, and can see in color. And it can smell blood from farther away. Scientists think it's been created by pollution, overpopulation and insect repellant. Similar to the way antibiotics create super-bacteria. The population of Tasmanian Devils has dropped 40% in the last ten years, due to a contagious cancer with no treatment or cure. The largest bloom of algae ever seen off Canaga's west coast appeared a few weeks ago. Fortunately, it's not the red toxic kind. Officials in SW China have announced the creation of dining halls for wild elephants, so they will hopefully stop eating the crops of villagers. The villagers say they're glad something is being done. In local news, a young woman named Mandie Humphreys was showing off for the driver of a Chevelle, speeding and "roasting her tires" in a parking lot. Her shoe came off and wedged under the brake and accelerator. She fishtailed out of the parking lot and across four lanes of traffic and through the plate glass window of a bakery, ending up among the display cases. The bakery was closed at the time, so no one was hurt. Mandie lost her driver's license for 90 days, and a restitution hearing will be held, as the bakery suffered thousands of dollars in damages and went out of business. Thursday, 7-13-06: In local news, a man named Loren Morse drove a car off a road and into a pond near Salem last night. He wasn't injured, but his car was sitting in four feet of water. 11 firefighters happened to be practicing rescue drills a mile away. They got there in a few minutes, and found Loren sitting in his car in shock, clutching the steering wheel, and making no attempt to get out of the car as it slowly filled with water. Firefighters broke windows and used a big basket to carry him to shore. Friday, 7-14-06: Gangs torched buses and attacked police stations and banks across Sao Paulo for the third day in a row. There have been nearly a hundred attacks since Tuesday night. Sao Paulo is Brazil's largest city. Some of you might remember the spasm of violence in Sao Paulo 2 months ago when nealy 200 policemen, prison guards, suspected criminals and jail inmates died in one week. Saturday, 7-15-06: 3 men who were convicted of digging a tunnel under the border with Canada were each sentenced yesterday to 9 years in prison. The tunnel was 360 feet long, and went from the living room of a house on the US side to a boarded up qounset hut on the Canadian side. It took a year to make, and cost $400,000. It's been filled in now. In local news, a woman named Lorna Dudash called 9-1-1 because a deputy had knocked at her door and then left, and she wanted the "cutie pie" deputy to return. "He's the cutest cop I've seen in a long time," she told the dispatcher, "I just want to know his name. If you would give the officer my phone number and ask him to come back... Would you mind?" The officer came back, and he arrested Lorna for misuing the 9-1-1 system. She could face a fine of thousands of dollars and up to a year in jail. Holy gesundheit!