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Friday 17 June 2011

Udder Genius: Daisy The Cow's Great Escape




Who says cows are stupid? Here's a report about a cow that must surely avoid the slaughterhouse now that she's obviously a smart one!

A farmer whose herd of cattle kept escaping each night had a shock when he installed CCTV - only to discover it was an inside job.

By day, Tom Grant drives a tractor. By night, he solves mysteries - mysteries like cows on the move!

He was locking his cattle inside each night but finding them outside each morning.

Tom said: "I was a wee bit suspicious because I thought there was a bit of rustling in the area and that maybe there were boys about during the night trying to steal one of them."

If cattle rustlers were targeting his farm on the Irish border, Tom was determined to catch them.

His brother Vincent mounted surveillance and discovered it was an inside job.

Daisy - that's Daisy the cow - had her captors licked.

She was using her tongue to open the two bars on the gate and lead the herd to freedom.

They were witnessing "udder" genius.

Vincent Grant: "I was amazed. I never saw anything like it before and thought here is a cow with unusual intelligence. It is something to capture on camera."

Daisy has not only mastered the skill of picking locks, she has become an internet sensation.

Pictures of the great escape on the hills of South Armagh are trending on Twitter.

Her owner - a fan of George Orwell's Animal Farm - says it puts paid to the theory that cows are dumb animals. He thinks it is time for more research on the bovine brain.

The jail-breaking heifer is the pride of her herd - a new outlaw in Ulster's so-called 'Bandit Country'.

Few would question her intelligence or skill.

She's just too modest to moo about it.

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Blundering Barclays bank staff go home... and FORGET to lock up or set the alarms



They say that a fool and his money are soon parted! Can you believe that a bank as big as Barclays could do something as stupid as leave their doors open and go home?

"Bank customers had to stand guard after a branch of Barclays was left unlocked for almost four hours. Even the cashiers' service area and the route to the vault were left open to passers-by in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on Saturday afternoon. The blunder was only noticed when a customer went into the branch to withdraw cash and found no staff present. Customer Lesley Phillips and two other customers investigated further and discovered the entire bank in The Broadway had been left unlocked."

Do they really deserve our money? Does this kind of ineptitude really warrant a bank like this one that makes 3.5 billion every quarter to be called a "major high street bank"?

Monday 6 June 2011

Stars who hated each other on set



We are used to seeing politicians in the chamber of the House of Commons behaving like spoilt schoolboys, footballers putting in transfer requests in order to get attention and a payrise, or Big Bother contestants acting like they were 5 years old, but we rarely see the feuds between A List actors which can often spill over onto the set with disastrous consequences. On the whole though, lavish trailers and massive paychecks help smooth over any niggles, but sometimes the angst gets too much for these pampered princes and princesses. They may be actors, but even the most experienced stars can’t hide their genuine dislike of fellow performers.

Here are a few curtesy of Yahoo Movies blog:

Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett
The legendary Harrison Ford didn’t take too kindly to whippersnapper Josh Hartnett on the set of ‘Hollywood Homicide’. Ford reportedly referred to Harnett as a "punk", with the young actor retaliating by calling the veteran “an old fart”. As a result the pair barely made eye contact during filming and continuously picked on each other at press junkets. The film flopped.

Megan Fox and Michael Bay
Megan Fox shot herself in the foot when she slammed ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ director Michael Bay for focusing on special effects and not acting (probably for the best as it starred Shia LaBeouf and, well, Megan Fox). Bay responded with; “That’s Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she’s 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that”. He then didn’t cast her in the next ‘Transformers’ film. Whoops.

Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey
The two came to despise each other after a massive row on the set of ‘Red Dawn’. When Grey was informed that Swayze would play her on-screen romance in the iconic ‘Dirty Dancing’, she was so upset that she almost pulled out. Eventually though they had a deep heart-to-heart and made friends. Years later Grey broke down into tears on ‘Dancing With The Stars’ as she remembered her time with the late actor.

Bill Murray and Lucy Liu
Comedy actor Bill Murray couldn’t even raise a smile whilst filming ‘Charlie’s Angels’, as he took a serious dislike to Lucy Liu. It was rumored that Murray thought Liu had an out-of-control ego and he refused to make any appearances in support of the movie when it came out in 2000. He also turned down reprising the role in the sequel, ‘Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle’. In retrospect a good call.

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
The granddaddy of Hollywood feuds - Bette Davis and Joan Crawford absolutely loathed one another. While filming ‘What Happened to Baby Jane?’, Davis actually kicked Crawford in the scene when she pushed her down the stairs. In return, when Bette had to drag Joan off her bed, Joan put on a weighted diver's belt underneath her costume, making her heavier to drag. Naturally, the duo also pitched in with some a-grade bitching. Discussing Davis' hair, Crawford said: “I don't understand these Poodle cuts on elderly women”. Davis retorted by saying Crawford was “single handedly responsible for the syphilis outbreak in America.” Meow.

Sir Anthony Hopkins and Shirley MacLaine
Anthony Hopkins thought the boisterous Shirley MacLaine was overbearing and was constantly annoyed with her while filming ‘A Change of Seasons’ in 1980. When asked what she was like, he fumed “she was the most obnoxious actress I have ever worked with." Don’t sugarcoat it Ant!

Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes
Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes didn’t exactly see eye to eye by the time ‘Romeo & Juliet’ finished filming. Danes grew tired of DiCaprio's onset pranks, branding him "immature", whilst he found her uptight and prudish. Not exactly star-crossed lovers.

Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren was cool and seductive while Marlon Brando was edgy and angry. Inevitably, when the two came together during the shooting of ‘A Countess from Hong Kong’ in 1966, the fur began to fly. A feud broke out after he asked her, right in the middle of shooting a love scene: "did you know you have hairs up your nostrils?" Smooth.

Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore
This feud during filming of ‘Red Planet’ began when Kilmer got annoyed over a fancy exercise machine Sizemore demanded the production ship from England to the set in Australia. Eventually the two hated each other so much Kilmer would reportedly not come out of his trailer if Tom was on the set. Many of their scenes together were even filmed over shoulders of photo doubles, if we are to believe some reports. Also, Kilmer reportedly refused to say Sizemore's character's name, substituting it for things like "Hey, you!".