WhiteBoard News for Friday, April 18, 2003

San Francisco, California (Ananova):

A community sex education center is to broadcast a charity masturbate-a-thon live on the internet.

It's being organised by Carol Queen of The Center for Sex & Culture in San Francisco.

The Center is a non-profit, sex education organisation which provides events, classes and a library.

Participants in the May 2 event will collect money for charity and then masturbate privately.

The masturbate-a-thon will feature separate women's and men's areas, as well as a mixed-gender area.

Those taking part must be 18 and over, and prizes will be awarded for most money raised, among other achievements.

During the webcast, there will be clearly-marked separate public and private areas.

Part of the room will be seen on camera, while part will be shielded, so people who don't want to appear live on the webcam will be able to participate too.
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Lahaina, Hawaii (Honolulu Advertiser):

A well-known whale researcher was speared by a marlin yesterday while filming an attack by false killer whales about 3 miles off the West Maui coast.

Mark Ferrari, 52, underwent surgery at Maui Memorial Medical Center for a puncture wound that went through his right shoulder, said his wife and research partner Debbie Ferrari.

The couple, who live in Louisiana and visit Maui three months of the year, head the Center for Whale Studies and have been researching Maui's humpback whales since 1975.

Mark Ferrari entered the ocean around 9 a.m. yesterday off Puamana to videotape a pod of false killer whales attacking a 10- to 15-foot marlin, said his wife, who watched from aboard the vessel Hokulani.

"One (whale) would take a bite, then leave. When one of the (whales) attacked, the marlin turned" and went after Ferrari, she said. "The marlin was being attacked and it was going at whoever was there. Mark just happened to be in the wrong place."

Capt. Jim Peckarsky reversed the 26-foot catamaran and helped Ferrari onto the deck. "He stayed conscious, but was in incredible pain and lost a lot of blood," Debbie Ferrari said.

Despite his injury, Ferrari managed to videotape the entire incident.

False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) are actually dolphins. Sightings are somewhat unusual in Hawai'i because they prefer the deep ocean.

The Pacific Whale Foundation's Ocean Explorer whale-watch cruise saw a commotion in the ocean just minutes before the Ferraris arrived in their boat. Capt. Brendan Keaney said there were 50 to 100 false killer whales in the pod, excited and breaching. "They were definitely feeding or chasing or herding something," he said.
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London, England (AP):

A man who'd had too much to drink on a night out stumbled home and fell asleep _ in a house where he had last lived seven years ago, police said Wednesday. 

Police were called when teenager Giles Mottram came home early Sunday morning to find Mark Norley asleep in his bed in Axbridge, southwest England. 

Norley, a 34-year-old research scientist, was taken by police to his mother's home nearby "to sleep it off," a spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said. 

He wasn't charged. 

"The police said they had simply never heard of anything even remotely similar," said homeowner Harry Mottram. 

"It was like a kind of latter-day Goldilocks and The Three Bears, except the sleeping drunk had dark hair and we are not a family of woodland bears." 
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Essen, Germany (Bild):

A German pensioner on his way to collect an award for 25 years of accident free motoring was pulled up by police for driving without a licence.

Wilibald Schmidt had to admit he did not have a driving licence when he was stopped at a routine roadside check.

The 77-year-old had been forced to hand over his licence for driving offences 25 years earlier but had carried on driving illegally without it, reports German daily Bild.

Because he had not had a single accident the local motoring club in Essen, Germany, where he was a member, had invited him to receive an award for his "careful driving and good example to other motorists".
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Cheyenne, Wyoming (AP):

The suspect in a bank robbery made it easy and very convenient for the authorities to arrest him. 

The man allegedly robbed a bank located in the same downtown building as the local FBI office. The bank is also across the street from the city police department. 

"If you rob the bank in the same building as the FBI, it won't take long," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Green said. 

Jonathan Waldon was charged in federal court with attempted bank robbery, which carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 

Police say a man entered the American National Bank on Tuesday morning, said he had a bomb and demanded $50,000. The man was arrested inside the bank. 

No bomb or other weapons were found, Green said. 

On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate William C. Beaman ordered Waldon to undergo a mental evaluation, which was requested by Waldon's public defender. 
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Little Rock, Arkansas (AP):

A 40-foot-long replica of the human colon is winding its way through Little Rock to educate people on the dangers of colon cancer. 

The "Colossal Colon" is designed for children and adults to crawl through, and allows visitors to see different stages of the disease, from polyps to full-blown cancer. 

Part of the National Cancer Education Tour, the exhibit was created in honor of Amanda Sherwood Roberts, who died from the disease last year. 

Organizers hope that the exhibit will get people thinking about a part of the body that is usually not discussed. 

"We're trying to educate as many people as we can so nobody has to go through what we had to go through," said Amanda's father, Bernie Sherwood. 
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