WhiteBoard News for Monday, September 29, 2003

Dunblane, Scotland (Ananova):

A prize-winning 'stallion', tipped for a lucrative life on a stud farm, has been found to be missing some vital equipment.

Clydesdale colt, Black Prince, has been stripped of several awards he won in Scotland after it was found he'd been castrated as a foal.

Among his honours were a blue ribbon at this year's Doune and Dunblane Show and a prize at the National Stallion Show.

That made him eligible for a place in The Stud Book, the Clydesdale horsebreeders' main reference.

His virility came into question only when his owner, Kevin Cargill, decided to sell him to a breeder and a vet's inspection was requested.

A vet informed the surprised parties the two-year-old had been castrated as a foal, says The Times.

Robert Hamilton, president of the Clydesdale Horse Society, said the organisation had no choice but to remove the awards.

"Put simply, the necessary ammunition wasn't there - and no balls means no awards," he said.

Mr Hamilton said prize judges, who were representatives of various fairs endorsed by his society, had made a mistake that, although obvious, was easy enough to make.

"When horses are on display they often retract their testicles. You cannot see them, and judges are not at liberty to start groping horses' balls."
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Berlin, Germany (Reuters):

Race medics at the Berlin marathon saved the life of a collapsed heroin addict when they mistook him for a competitor. 

The head of the marathon's medical team said on Monday some of his doctors found and resuscitated a 40-year-old man wearing a numbered race bib who had collapsed on a public transport rail platform at the 37-km mark of the 42-km (26 mile) marathon. 

"It turned out he was a heroin addict," said race doctor Willi Heepe, whose team of 100 doctors oversaw Sunday's race. 

"He smelled of alcohol, but he was wearing running shoes. We thought he was a runner. The Berlin marathon probably saved his life." 

Berlin's public transport system lets marathoners ride for free on race day to encourage the some 35,000 runners to avoid driving. 
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London, England (Reuters):

London commuters, long used to train operators blaming delays on everything from leaves on the line to "slippery" rain, thought they had heard it all -- until a vasectomy stopped services. 

Thousands of commuters were held up when a trainee driver on the London Underground fell out of his cab after fainting over fellow workers' descriptions of the vasectomy operation a colleague had undergone, newspapers reported on Tuesday. 

The trainee, who was taken to hospital with head and chest injuries, had unsuccessfully asked his fellow workers to stop talking about the vasectomy, the Daily Express said. 

"The details were just too graphic and evidently too much for the young trainee to take," the newspaper quoted a London Underground source as saying. The incident occurred last Thursday. 
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Sao Paulo, Brazil (Estado de Sao Paulo):

A Brazilian prisoner who tried to escape while dressed as a woman was caught because he couldn't walk in high heels.

Guards said the man looked like a beautiful woman but waddled like a duck, reports Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.

Moacir Pacagnan was caught trying to escape from Taquaritinga prison in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo.

The 28-year-old was recognised by a guard even though he was wearing a wig, fake breasts, high heels and full make up.

A prison spokesperson said: "He was very well disguised. He even looked like a beautiful woman but our guard recognised him because he couldn't manage the fake breasts and the high heels.

"He was walking like a duck! He had no confidence."

Police are investigating how the wig, high heeled shoes, make up and breasts came to be in the prison.
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Chow
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