Repressed Lust Killer

John Reginald Halliday Christie was a typical 'repressed' lust killer who could achieve satisfaction only through rape, murder, and probably necrophilia. Over a period of 13 years Christie killed eight women, including his own wife, without causing the slightest suspicion. His respectable and quiet manner was in no way like it seemed. On December 14 1952 John Christie claims to have woken up to find his wife having a convulsive fit. He stated that her face was blue and that he tried to revive her. Christie went on to state that he couldn't bear to see his wife in so much pain, so he tied a stocking around her neck and strangled her 'to put her to sleep'. He went on to explain how he noticed a bottle of sleeping pills (Phenalbabitone) with a cup of water beside the bed. He told Police that there had been 25 tablets in the bottle and that only two remained, suggesting his wife had committed suicide. In his confession he stated that he left his wife in the bed for 3 days because he didn't know what to do with her. He then suddenly remembered there were some loose floorboards in the living room and put her there to 'rest'.


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Repressed Lust killer, Viewed at Sept 22, 2005

Zoo gets world's first elephant treadmill

ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - Anchorage zookeepers are installing a 16,000-pound (7.3-ton) treadmill to keep an isolated elephant from getting fat during the long, cold Alaskan winters.

The 20-foot(6-meter)-long treadmill was designed specifically for Maggie, a 23-year-old female African elephant that has become the subject of a national debate over the proper care for captive pachyderms.

"It looks just like a big people treadmill," said Patrick Lampi, assistant director of the Alaska Zoo.

Because this is the first treadmill ever built for an elephant, zoo officials and an Idaho company studied mining equipment and treadmills used for race horses and racing camels, Lampi said.

Zookeepers said Zimbabwe-born Maggie would start using the treadmill in about two months.

The zoo is remodeling her indoor and outdoor spaces, making both about twice as large as before and adding a sandy area. In addition, the floor has been heated and the zoo is evaluating ways to make it softer, Lampi said.

Critics from Anchorage and around the nation have urged the zoo to send Maggie to an elephant sanctuary in a warmer climate and away from the near-Arctic zoo.

Elephants, particularly females, are herd creatures and need company, critics have said. But Maggie's companion, an Asian elephant named Annabelle, died in 1997.

Maggie's weight-loss program started more than a year ago, Lampi said, "She was slightly heavy for an elephant."

With diet modifications and new exercise inducements, such as hiding food in baskets and other sites that require some work to reach, Maggie has slimmed down a bit and is now believed to weigh a little over 8,000 pounds (3.6 tonnes).

"We estimate that she lost maybe 1,000 pounds (454 kg)," Lampi said.

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Zoo gets world's first elephant treadmill, Viewed at 17th Sept. 2005

Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.

When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.

"It sounded almost like a firecracker," Clewer told Australian radio Friday.

"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt."

Employees, unsure of the cause of the mysterious burning smell, telephoned firefighters who evacuated the building.

"There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise -- a bit like a whip -- both inside and outside the building," said fire official Henry Barton.

Firefighters cut electricity to the building thinking the burns might have been caused by a power surge.

Clewer, who after leaving the building discovered he had scorched a piece of plastic on the floor of his car, returned to seek help from the firefighters.

"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.

"I've been firefighting for over 35 years and I've never come across anything like this," he said.

Firefighters took possession of Clewer's jacket and stored it in the courtyard of the fire station, where it continued to give off a strong electrical current.

David Gosden, a senior lecturer in electrical engineering at Sydney University, told Reuters that for a static electricity charge to ignite a carpet, conditions had to be perfect.

"Static electricity is a similar mechanism to lightning, where you have clouds rubbing together and then a spark generated by very dry air above them," said Gosden.

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Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction, Viewed at 17th Sept. 2005

Rape, Power and Misconceptions - by Claire Konkes

Rape, power and misconceptions
By CLAIRE KONKES
06sep05

THE rape of boys is not seen as a heinous crime because of society's attitudes to young men's sexuality, Hobart psychologists say.

And boys are as vulnerable to sexual abuse as girls but less likely to report the crime because of these attitudes.

With 25-year-old Hobart teacher Sarah Jane Vercoe pleading guilty to shocking sexual acts with five teenage boys, the uncommon scenario of boys falling sexual victims to women was revealed.

Vercoe pleaded guilty to having various sex acts with five teenage boys aged between 14 and 16 while she was a teacher at Rose Bay High School earlier this year.

The assumption that teenage boys wanted to have a sexual experience as early as possible made it difficult for society to understand the serious nature of such crimes, Hobart psychologist Peter Nelson said yesterday.

As well as peer pressure to assert themselves sexually, there was also the attitude of adults who should be trying to protect them that could lead to the sexual assault of boys being overlooked.

He said: "It can be seen as a coming-of-age experience rather than a situation that can be traumatic for boys."

Mr Nelson said it was wrong to assume women could not rape boys.

Rape is about power and taking away someone's control, he said.

"The teacher had power over the boys at the outset," he said. "You could never say they were on an equal footing with her."

Clinical psychologist Sabina Lane said female sexual predators were less common than men -- but not unusual.

Dr Lane said society did not generally consider males as victims in sexual assault but adolescent boys were particularly vulnerable.

"Their hormones are rife at this age, so to have someone pay them some attention is a nice thing. It can be very exciting," she said.

But a nice thing could quickly get out of control, with boys doing things they did not want to do, out of confusion or intimidation.

The age of consent protected them from becoming involved in something they did not have the maturity to deal with, she said.

If the boy believed it was his fault or that "real men" didn't say no to sex, then the abuse might continue for a lot longer because they kept quiet about it, she said.

"Males generally find it difficult to communicate, or communicate differently so it can be harder for boys to get help," she said.

Dr Lane said recovering from rape and sexual assault -- like grief -- depended on the individual but the response from family members played a huge part in the healing process.

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Rape, power and misconceptions, Viewed at 6th September 2005