SEPARATED TWINS ACCIDENTALLY MARRY EACH OTHER

From Cnn.com:

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British twins who had been separated at birth learned they were related only after they had become husband and wife, a senior British lawmaker said. The marriage has been annulled.

The couple's identities have been protected for legal reasons.

Their case was first highlighted by Lord Alton of Liverpool during a discussion on donor conception in the House of Lords in December, but only came to light Friday.

The peer told the House of Lords that a court annulled the union as soon as the twins' true relationship became known.

"They were never told that they were twins," he said during the Dec. 10 debate on a law covering human fertility and embryology. They had been adopted by separate families and "met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered into and all the issues of their separation."

No further details about the couple have emerged, and it is not known when the marriage took place or how long they were together before they discovered the truth.

Adoption groups said Friday the case proves the need for openness and transparency during the adoption process.

Mo O'Reilly, director of child placement for the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, said released a statement saying: "Thirty or 40 years ago it would have been more likely that twins be separated and brought up without knowledge of each other."

However, she said, greater emphasis in recent years on ensuring adopted siblings stay in touch meant this "traumatic" case will remain "incredibly rare."

Daisy O'Clee, a spokeswoman for the agency, said that of more current concern is the lack of legislation surrounding fertility treatment.

Under British law the parents of a donor-conceived child do not have to declare that fact on the child's birth certificate, O'Clee told CNN. This means a child conceived with a donor sperm or egg may never know their true origin.

Lawmakers will vote Tuesday on whether to pass a law covering human fertility and embryology that would relax the rules on who can have fertility treatment.

O'Clee warned that in its present form the proposal does little to address the rights of donor-conceived children.

"The rights of donor children are being ignored," she said.

10-YEAR OLD BOY GLUES HIMSELF TO BED TO AVOID GOING TO SCHOOL

From Foxnews.com:

A 10-year-old boy thought he had discovered a novel way of getting off school — glueing his hand to the bed.

Diego Palacios had so much fun over the Christmas holiday he was in no rush to get back to lessons.

He had to be freed by emergency services in Monterrey, northern Mexico, after his master plan went wrong.

His mother, Sandra, spent nearly two hours trying to free his right hand with water, oil and nail polish remover, but to no avail.

"I didn't want to go to school because vacation was so much fun," the youngster explained.

He told how he sneaked into the kitchen in the early hours and then covered his hand with industrial-strength adhesive.

His mother woke up to find him watching TV with his hand stuck to the bed.

"I don't know why he did it," she said. "He's a good boy but mischievous — like all kids."

His hand was freed by paramedics — just in time for school.

Kneeboarder Finds Lost Nose Ring Inside Fish Boyfriend Caught

From Foxnews.com:
IT is a tale some would say smells a bit fishy, but Kristy Brittain swears it is true.

Last Friday she was kneeboarding behind a boat off Slopen Main on the Tasman Peninsula, east of Hobart, when she was tossed from her board in rough conditions.

In the fall she lost a nose stud from a piercing she had done only a week before Christmas.

Brittain, 25, of Magra, never expected to see the tiny stud again.

Enter a hungry flathead.

You guessed it, the stud turned up in a fish caught by her fiance, Darren Triffett, when fishing with his friend Tim Hall three days later.

Triffett and Hall were in roughly the same area where the stud was lost on Monday. When filleting one flathead they found a tiny nail-like object inside.

"They thought it was a little tack or nail," Brittain said. "I was standing near them talking to them and realized it was the nose stud I had lost in the ocean."

"How could it have ended in the fish? I suppose it would have sparkled and they (flathead) eat pretty much anything.

"But you think how many fish are in the sea . . . and to catch this one."

It's no surprise Brittain regards the stud as lucky. And it won't be lost again.

"I have put it in a sachet so I don't lose it again," she said."I will go and buy a Tattslotto ticket and put this on it."

MC Hammer Hoping for Comeback as Internet Titan

From Foxnews.com:
SAN FRANCISCO — MC Hammer hasn't topped the music charts since the early 1990s, but the former rap star says he has another hit in him — only this time around he'll produce it as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

Hammer, whose real name is Stanley Burrell, is choreographing a new career as co-founder and chief strategy officer of Menlo Park-based DanceJam.com.

The Web site, scheduled to debut in mid-January, will try to upstage YouTube and become the Internet's hub for sharing and watching dance videos.

DanceJam then hopes to make money by grabbing a piece of the rapidly growing Internet advertising market, which is expected to rake in $27.5 billion in 2008, according to eMarketer.

If the business pans out, DanceJam could help Hammer compensate for losing his fortune when he went bankrupt in 1996 with nearly $14 million in debts.

The bankruptcy was a sobering comedown for Hammer, who parlayed the popularity of his once-ubiquitous song, "U Can't Touch This," to become a pop icon in the early 1990s.

Although Hammer isn't churning out best-selling records any longer, everyone still seems to know his name. Even children born after his downfall are familiar with his music because "U Can't Touch This" still gets played in TV shows and movies.

But Hammer's involvement in DanceJam has more to do with his technological savvy than his celebrity, said Ron Conway, a longtime Silicon Valley investor who is part of a small group that provided DanceJam with $1 million in startup funds.

"I expect him to integrate all his knowledge into this Web site," said Conway, who befriended Hammer at a baseball game seven years ago and has been tutoring him in the ways of technology ever since. "He is the lightning rod for this whole thing."

Hammer, 45, started poking around Silicon Valley while he was still selling millions of records. He often hung out at computer makers like Silicon Graphics Inc. and Apple Inc., hoping to learn more about how technology might help his music career.

"There is no high-tech lingo or business strategy that you can talk that is above my head," Hammer boasted during an interview. "I breathe this stuff."

Hammer's entrepreneurial roots date back to the 1980s when he began recording songs with financial help from a few Oakland Athletics, where he once worked as a ball boy. His nickname came from his resemblance to the former home run king, Hammerin' Hank Aaron.

Without the support of a major music label, Hammer built a loyal fan base by hitting the streets and selling his early recordings out of a car.

His success in grass roots marketing prompted Salesforce.com Inc. to call on Hammer for advice in its early days. The company wanted to raise awareness about its online software service without paying a lot for traditional advertising, said Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com's chief executive officer.

"We really learned a lot from Hammer. He is the most entrepreneurial individual I have ever met," said Benioff, whose San Francisco-based company is now worth $7 billion.

Hammer and his DanceJam partners — Geoffrey Arone, the chief executive, and Anthony Young, the chief technology officer — are wading into a market already saturated with dozens of Web sites that have built huge video libraries.

Arone became convinced the Web needed a site devoted exclusively to dance shortly after he left Web browsing startup Flock, which he had co-founded.

Hammer had been feeling the same way about dance for years so they quickly hit it off when they first met and hammered out the concept for DanceJam.

Drawing upon the popularity of reality shows like "Dancing With The Stars," DanceJam will stage head-to-head competitions where contestants submit videos that will be judged by viewers.

The site also will provide demonstrations and information about a wide variety of dances, ranging from the Boogaloo to the Krump.

Arone, Hammer and Young have spent several months videotaping people around the country dancing. They say they have stockpiled about 100 gigabytes of video to help launch DanceJam.

James McQuivey, a media analyst with Forrester Research, doubts that will be enough to lure people away from Google Inc.'s YouTube, which listed 1.7 million dance videos in its index as of late December.

"When people are looking for any video, whether it be about skateboarding, dancing or a science project, they don't stop to think about where's the best place to find it. They just start off by going to YouTube," McQuivey said.

The most watched video in YouTube's 2 1/2-year history happens to be about dancing. The 6-minute clip, a facetious tribute called "Evolution of Dance," includes about 25 seconds alluding to some of the moves that Hammer made famous back when he was still wearing colorful parachute pants as he sang "U Can't Touch This."

Hammer recognized YouTube's potential before most people he did. Besides putting some of his own clips on the site, Hammer visited YouTube's offices in February 2006 when there were still just a handful of people running the site above a pizza parlor. (A clip of that visit is at http://www.youtube.com/blog?month=2&year=2006.)

Until he saw what YouTube was doing, Hammer had doubts about the Web's entertainment value.

"When everybody started raving about the Internet, I always wondered, 'If it's so great, why can't you see my videos on the Internet?'" Hammer said. "It looks like technology has finally caught up with my vision."

Officer Accused of Paying Hooker with Wife's Clothes, Shoes

From myfoxaustin.com:

AUSTIN -- An Austin Police Officer is accused of hiring a prostitute and paying her with his wife's clothing and shoes, according to a search warrant.

The search warrant shows 45-year-old Scott Lando used his wife's new pair of boots, jeans and shirt to pay the prostitute for her services. The warrant also shows Lando also took the prostitute on shopping trips to Wal-Mart and Payless ShoeSource, and to dinner at Threadgill's on North Lamar on one occasion.

APD first heard about Lando's possible involvement with prostitution in June of 2006 during the arrest of a different prostitute, according to the warrant. While that prostitute was making her sworn statement to police about her own case, she mentioned to investigators that Officer Lando had been engaging in "tricks" with another hooker. Officers were able to find that prostitute in the Burnet County jail and questioned her about Officer Lando.

The warrant shows the prostitute confirmed from June to September of 2006, she had engaged in sexual acts with Lando for money or clothing. The prostitute also told police her first sexual encounter with Lando happened in an Austin Police patrol car in North Austin.

The prostitute told investigators on her last encounter with Lando in August of 2006, Lando took her to his home in Cedar Park, the warrant says. The prostitute told investigators Lando asked her to take a bath before having sex with her. Instead of money, Lando allowed the prostitute to take some clothes from his wife's closet after telling the woman that his wife would never miss them. The warrant shows that the prostitute took a new pair of black Harley Davidson leather boots still in their box, studded and jeweled jeans, and a pink and yellow top.

Investigators confirmed the prostitute's story after issuing the search warrant for Lando's Cedar Park home and tattoos. Investigators concluded that the prostitute's description of the home and tattoos were accurate, and could only be described by someone who had seen them. During a visit to the home last month, Lando's wife also confirmed she was missing a new pair of Harley Davidson boots and jeans, had assumed that a neighborhood kid had taken them.

Lando has not been charged with a crime, he is still under He has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation.

According to archived versions of former APD Cheif Stan Knee's newsletter 'The Shield,' Lando received the Distinguished Service Cross for Valor in 2004. Lando was honored after being shot at by a suspect. Lando fired a shot back at the suspect then continued the pursuit on foot.