Picture by David Lim, Auckland, New Zealand, 2009.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Force is strong for Jedi police! UK, England
Eight police officers serving with Scotland's largest force listed their official religion as Jedi in voluntary diversity forms, it has emerged.Strathclyde Police said the officers and two of its civilian staff claimed to follow the faith, which features in the Star Wars movies.
The details were obtained in a Freedom of Information request by Jane's Police Review.
Strathclyde was the only force in the UK to admit it had Jedi officers.
In the Star Wars films, Jedi Knights such as Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda use the Force to battle the evil Darth Vader, who has strayed to the dark side.
Jane's Police Review editor Chris Herbert, who requested the information, said: "The Force appears to be strong in Strathclyde Police with their Jedi police officers and staff.
"Far from living a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, some members of the noble Jedi order have now chosen Glasgow and its surrounding streets as their home."
Provided voluntarily
A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police confirmed: "At the time of the request, 10 (eight police officers and two police staff) had recorded their religion as Jedi."
She added that the force monitored "six strands of diversity" - age, disability, gender, race religion and belief, and sexual orientation.
The force said the information was provided voluntarily and securely stored.
About 390,000 people listed their religion as Jedi in the 2001 Census for England and Wales. In Scotland the figure was a reported 14,000.
The Office for National Statistics did not recognise it as a separate category, and incorporated followers of Jedi with the atheists.
Last year, brothers Barney and Daniel Jones founded the UK Church of the Jedi - which offered sermons on the Force, light sabre training, and meditation techniques.
Strathclyde Police employs 8,200 police officers and 2,800 civilian staff.
Pygmy Rattlesnake Bites Man At Wal-Mart , Pembroke Pines, Florida, USA
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -- A man is recovering after he was bitten by a snake inside a garden center at a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
"An individual was at one of the local garden centers and was buying plants and in doing so, picked up a plant and got bitten by this pygmy rattlesnake," paramedic Capt. Ernie Jillson said.
The 42-year-old man was taken to the hospital on Sunday for treatment, where he r More..eceived antivenin for the pygmy rattler bite, according to authorities. His name has not been released.
Jillson said the snake bit the man on the right hand. He said the team was contacted about the bite and responded.
Pygmy rattlers are one of six venomous snakes in Florida.
Officials said bites from pygmy rattlers are painful but rarely fatal.
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Extremely Dangerous Weapon: Knife that freezes organs
Britain on alert for deadly new knife with exploding tip that freezes victims' organs Senior police officers have been warned to look out for a new knife which can inject a ball of compressed gas into its victim that instantly freezes internal organs. The 'wasp knife', which can deliver a ball of compressed gas capable of killing its victim at the press of a button, may be heading for Britain, the Metropolitan Police fear.
A needle in the tip of the blade shoots out the frozen ball of gas which instantly balloons to the size of a basketball, freezing organs.
The Metropolitan Police have told colleagues in the West Midlands to be on the lookout for the blade, which is designed to kill sharks and bears.
Police are concerned that the £200 weapon could fall into the wrong hands.
The American-made weapon is sold to hunters and divers and injects the frozen gas when the small handle-mounted trigger is pressed.
The manufacturer describes it as perfect for downed pilots, soldiers and security guards and boasts that it will "drop many of the world's largest land predators".
It can snap-freeze all tissue and organs in the area surrounding the blast.
A source close to West Midlands Police said: "The Met is obviously concerned about this and that is why they have circulated the information.
"This knife will almost certainly kill and the Met must have intelligence that they are in circulation.
"I think it is only a matter of time before one of these is used because the internet makes it much easier to find and buy weapons like this."
Labour MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham, Khalid Mahmood, said: "Weapons like this are absolutely disgraceful and there is no reason at all why people should be walking around the streets with them.
"There should be high-profile operations and high-profile arrests against anybody caught with them. The way to tackle the wider issue of knife crime is with effective community policing, which the West Midlands force does very well.
"The Met could pick up on the lessons from West Midlands Police in its excellent community work in places like Handsworth, Aston and Lozells."
The Wasp injection website states: "The effects of the compressed gas not only cause overinflation during ascent when used underwater, but also freezes all tissues and organs surrounding the point of injection on land or at sea."
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