Lucky-Trucker blew up 'like a balloon'

A New Zealand trucker is lucky to be alive after blowing up like a human balloon because he fell butt-first onto a brass fitting for his truck's compressed air reservoir.

Steven McCormack was recovering in Whakatane Hospital Wednesday after the freak accident Saturday. He was standing on the plate between the cab of his truck and its semi-trailer when his foot slipped and he fell, breaking the hose off a brass nipple connected to the compressed air reservoir that powers the truck's brakes, NZPA reported.

The nipple pierced the flesh of his left buttock. "I felt the air rush into my body and I felt like it was going to explode from my foot," he told NZPA. "I had no choice but just to lay there, blowing up like a balloon."

Why-Nude photo shoot ends in arrest

A photo shoot in Bridgeport, Conn., ended with a mug shot. A Peekskill, N.Y., man was arrested Saturday after witnesses said he was running naked on the roof of a parking garage, the Connecticut Post reports. Officers learned it was all for a photo shoot, but they still charged Charles Kearse with second-degree breach of peace.

"Apparently, you have to expect to see a lot of strange things when you live downtown, but after this I don't know what could possibly shock me," a resident of the City Trust building, who asked not to be identified, told the paper.

The photographer, Israel Guibbory, told the Post it was his idea to shoot on the roof, but he had no idea Kearse was going to get naked. "It was really bad judgment on my part, " Guibbory told the Post. "I could have put an end to it, but I didn't because he was the client."

Wow-Chinese internet star can slice through vegetables with a deck of cards (video)

Baj Dengchun's unusual skill of using a deck of cards to slice up anything from cucumbers to eggs has seen him become an internet star in China.

What-French women accuse minister of sex harassment

 

 PARIS - Two French women are filing legal complaints against a junior government minister they accuse of sexual harassment, apparently encouraged to speak up after the recent arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sex crime charges. Gilbert Collard, lawyer for the women, said he had submitted the complaints against Georges Tron, the civil service minister, to a public prosecutor this week and he confirmed to Reuters the accusation was sexual harassment. Tron’s lawyer, Olivier Schnerb, dismissed the complaints and said he had been instructed to respond by filing a defamation complaint in return. Tron, who was quoted by Le Parisien daily as saying the accusations were “incredible”, told Reuters he had informed Prime Minister Francois Fillon about the matter and said the plaintiffs were women who had been dismissed from their town hall posts in Draveil, just south of Paris, where Tron is mayor.

Stupid-Passenger allegedly exposes himself on united flight

Air travel pushes passengers to their limits. Between overly chatty seatmates, unruly children kicking seatbacks for hours on end, or travelers who try to open emergency exits — while cruising at 35,000 feet — flying is no picnic.A passenger on a United Airlines flight from Spokane, Wash., to Denver last Thursday, however, took things to a new level.Kyle Pearce, 25, was arrested at Denver International, the Smoking Gun reports, and charged with "obscene and indecent exposure of his person."If that sounds vaguely disturbing, it is. Pearce allegedly was masturbating on a plane.The incident, according to The Smoking Gun, was witnessed by at least two passengers.

 

Unlucky-Canadian Loses beard competition by a whisker

CALGARY -- He only lost by a hair. Coming in third place, Calgarian Evan Gillespie, 23, was within a whisker of winning the freestyle competition of the World Beard and Moustache Championship held May 15 in Trodheim, Norway. And he has the stylish 'stache and trophy to prove it. "I have always kind of been a fan of the World Beard and Moustache Championships and I have recently been old enough to grow a moustache so I decided to do it," he said. "One year ago I made a commitment and haven't shaved in a year." He was the only Canadian to place in the contest. In the freestyle event, judges were looking for fullness and style. "In practise, it's something zany, something kooky," he said.

Why-Austrian town revokes Hitler's honourary title

VIENNA - An Austrian town revoked the honourary citizenship of Adolf Hitler on Tuesday in an effort to sever any links with the Nazi dictator’s legacy ahead of a 900-year civic anniversary and following a media uproar. The town council in the western town of Amstetten, 150 km from Vienna, approved by a large majority a motion that the title be declared null and void, the Austrian Press Agency (APA) quoted Mayor Herbert Katzengruber as saying.

LOL-Obama makes a royal toast mistake (video)