Gaby's Gobbledygook: September 2009

Strange...

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I kept on waiting for something to happen. Oh well.

Learn to Ride a Bike

Battle of the Blades - Fantasy Draft

Yup. It's that time of the year again. Hockey season is about to start, but who really cares about hockey when the Battle of the Blades is happening on CBC starting in October. They've paired up former hockey players with figure skaters and they're going to compete against each other for something, not sure what, but who really cares, when we can compete against each other to see who will Battle of the Blades!

Here are the pairings:

Glenn Anderson & Isabelle Brasseur
Ken Daneyko & Jodeyne Higgins
Tie Domi & Christine Hough-Sweeney
Ron Duguay & Barbara Underhill
Claude Lemieux & Shae-Lynn Bourne
Bob Probert & Kristina Lenko
Stephane Richer & Marie-France Dubreuil
Craig Simpson & Jamie Sale

We need to come up with a format for the draft though. Any suggestions?

Where Were You...

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Criminal With a Brain

Taken from here.

Clay County Restaurants Fall Victim to Scammers.

By Lise Fisher, Staff writer

By pretending to be the boss, someone has been stealing hundreds of dollars from area Clay County restaurants and getting employees to help, according to Clay County authorities.

A person, posing over the phone as a manager or supervisor, convinced employees at several restaurants in the county to send cash, the Clay County Sheriff's Office reported. Only later did employees realize they had been duped.

Duval County has had similar cases, and officers with both counties have been sharing information in an attempt to catch the thief, Clay County authorities reported.

In some cases, employees had been alerted about the scam and refused to turn over any money, according to deputies.

The Sheriff's Office provided reports this week on five businesses where the caller either got money or tried to convince an employee to hand over cash.

The businesses have all been restaurants like McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and Subway. In some cases, the male caller claimed to be the owner or a district manager. He instructed the employee to take out some money from the business and have it delivered to him.

All the cases were reported this month, starting on April 3. The most recent incident in Clay County took place on Monday.

Employees who did deliver cash brought it to locations the caller directed them to in Jacksonville, often on Dunn Avenue. One employee put the cash, as instructed, into a specific mailbox.

Criminally Stupid (Part 4)

Taken from here.

A bank robbery suspect was arrested after he led police on a chase and mistakenly pulled into the Southfield police station parking lot.

Police say the 24-year-old Detroit man robbed a bank at 11 Mile and Southfield in Lathrup Village early Friday afternoon. When officers tried to pull him over, the suspect led them on a chase near I-696 and the Southfield freeway.

The chase came to a quick end when the suspect made a wrong turn into the parking lot of the Southfield Civic Center where the Southfield police department is located.

Police say the man even used a Sharpie marker to draw a mustache and beard on his face to help disguise himself from investigators.

Criminally Stupid (Part 3)

Taken from here.

GREAT FALLS - An employee at the Wal-Mart in Great Falls faces felony theft charges for allegedly taking electronics from the store and posting the items for sale on an employee bulletin board.

Remo Spencer was arrested Saturday at Wal-Mart.

Spencer had posted an ad on an employee bulletin board indicating that he had several iPods and computers for sale.

A manager became suspicious and reviewed surveillance footage, discovering the thefts, police said.

Police said Remo returned eight laptop computers and seven iPods valued at nearly $7,000.

Criminally Stupid (Part 2)

Taken from here.

FERNDALE, Mich. (AP) - Police in Michigan say a first date went from bad to worse when a Detroit man skipped out on the restaurant bill, then stole his date's car.

Police say 23-year-old Terrance Dejuan McCoy had dinner with a woman April 24 at Buffalo Wild Wings in the Detroit suburb of Ferndale. The woman says the two met a week earlier at a Detroit casino and she knew McCoy only as "Chris."

The woman told police that McCoy said he left his wallet in her car and asked for keys. He then sped away in the 2000 Chevrolet Impala.

The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak reports that police identified McCoy by a photo he'd sent to the woman's cell phone, and his phone number.

McCoy is charged with unlawfully taking the car, a five-year felony. He waived a preliminary exam and was bound over for trial Thursday.

Criminally Stupid (Part 1)

Taken from here.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Police said they arrested a suspected robber on Sunday after he returned to his victim's home to ask her out on a date.

According to investigators, Stephfon Bennett was one of three men who robbed a couple on the city's north side late Sunday night, 10TV News reported.

Less than two hours after the robbery, police said that Bennett, 20, returned to the home and asked Diana Martinez out on a date.

"We are not exactly sure what he was thinking at the time," said Columbus police Sgt. Sean Laird. "She recognized him right away when he returned and was able to have her cousin call 911."

Martinez told 10TV News that Bennett asked her if she had a boyfriend and wanted to go out on a date.

"It's never happened, in my eight years and some months I've never had anything like this before," Laird said.

Officers arrived and arrested Bennett in front of the house, police said.

He faces aggravated robbery charges.

The other two men suspected of breaking into the home remained at-large.

Brilliant Lady

Blind Man Can See After Tooth Implanted Into His Eye

No word on what body part they're going to use to replace the tooth...

Read the article here or below:

When Martin Jones met his wife four years ago, he never imagined that one day he would get to see what she looked like.

The 42-year-old builder was left blind after an accident at work more than a decade ago.

But a remarkable operation - which implants part of his tooth in his eye - has now pierced his world of darkness.

The procedure, performed fewer than 50 times before in Britain, uses the segment of tooth as a holder for a new lens grafted from his skin.

'The doctors took the bandages off and it was like looking through water and then I saw this figure and it was her,' he said today.

'She's wonderful and lovely. It was unbelievable to see her for the first time.'

He added: 'When I found out there was a chance I would get my sight back, the first person I wanted to see was her.'

Mr. Jones, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, married his wife Gill, 50, four years ago.

By that time he had already spent eight years without his sight after a tub of white hot aluminum exploded in his face at work in a scrapyard.

He suffered 37 per cent burns and had to wear a special body stocking for 23 hours a day. He also had his left eye removed.

But surgeons were able to save the right eye, even though he was unable to see through it.

At first specialists in Nottingham tried to save his sight using stem cells from a donor but the attempt failed.

It was only when a revolutionary new operation was pioneered at the Sussex Eye Clinic in Brighton that he was given a chance to have his sight back.

Surgeon Christopher Liu used a living tooth to carry a new lens because Mr Jones' eye could reject a plastic implant

During the procedure, a minute section of a patient's tooth is removed, reshaped and chiseled through to grip the man-made lens which is then placed in its core.

It is implanted under an eyelid where it becomes covered in tissue.

The process requires a living tooth as an implant because doctors suggest there are chances the eye would reject a plastic equivalent.

So a canine - which is the best option due to its shape and size - was taken out of Mr Jones' mouth.

A patch of skin is then taken from the inside of the cheek and placed in the eye for two months, where it gradually acquires its own blood supply.

The tooth segment is finally transplanted into the eye socket. The flap of grafted skin is then partially lifted from the eye and placed over its new sturdy base.

Finally, surgeons cut a hole in the grafted cornea to let light through.

'I feel fantastic getting my sight back,' he said. 'I can't really describe it - it's beyond words. I was blind for 12 years and when my sight came back everything had changed.

'The first car I saw when my sight was restored was a Smart car and I couldn't stop laughing - I'd never seen one before and I thought it had been chopped in half.

'Getting my sight back has changed my life. It is such a precious gift and you don't really appreciate it until it is taken away.

'I have been so fortunate that my sight has been returned . I find it such a simple pleasure being able to see what is going on in the world.'

The eight-hour operation, pioneered by surgeon Christopher Liu, is designed to help patients who have corneal blindness but who are not suitable for traditional corneal transplants.

'When I first heard about the technique I couldn't believe it. I don't think many people can,' said Mr. Jones.

'My friends just don't believe me . They think I'm pulling their leg or have just made it up.

'But when I take my glasses off they say 'oh my God' because my eye looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. They're just amazed at it.'

Mr Liu is a corneal specialist and Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon based at Sussex Eye Hospital, Brighton. He is also President of the British Society for Refractive Surgery.