Round Up: November 13th

Sir Jimmy was just one of many sad passings the last few weeks.

Dear friends, apologies are in order. After months of absence from your lives, JC/DC return, only to go AWOL for a further 4 weeks. This was an unfortunate combination events, including but not limited to: a huge problem in our IT department (read: my computer tried to do the world a huge favour and refuse to let me post anything); a massive lack of man power brought about by an office epidemic (read: I caught an awful cold); the sheer increase in workload from other projects (read: my job that actually pays the bills suddenly required me to do some real work). Hopefully, that is all behind us now and normal service can resume.

The past few weeks have been quite bizarre in terms of top stories. From the complete fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya following his capture and almost immediate execution  murder  'death', to the far greater mourned passings of the great Sir Jimmy Saville, Moto GP rider Marco Simoncelli and Indy Car champion Dan Wheldon. Not to mention the Greece debt crisis, the potential Eurozone collapse and fears of a double dip recession. Well fear not fans, despite all this morbidity and pessimism, we are here to bring you another update of lesser known stories from around the globe, with a slightly more uplifting and comical edge.

This week we start things off with a brilliant clip from a Russian Ukranian news programme. Following a report with a series of clips featuring scantily clad women, the quick cut back takes the anchor by surprise, causing him to bolt back upright and to remove his hand from beneath the table sharpish. What was he doing under there? Watch video below and judge for yourself.

Initially, it looks fairly innocuous and most would probably say he was just caught off guard. All except for the moment at 22 seconds into the video where he tries to wipe his hand on his sleeve, as subtly as possible, something which he clearly fails at doing. Perhaps he was just picking gum off the table. 

Next we head to Egypt, where the Great Pyramid was closed for entirety of Friday as many spiritualist groups suggested they wanted to perform a variety of rituals in or around the Pyramid, believing the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of this millennium to hold some significance.

Do the Pyramids hold some magical
power that can be awakened on 11.11.11?

Initially, just a small Polish organisation planned a meditation inside the Pyramid, believing that such actions would produce some kind of planetary barrier, protecting the Earth from cosmic impacts or extraterrestrial events.

Soon however, rumours began to spread of many organisations wanting to worship in the Pyramid complex, people travelling from all over the world to be healed by the power that would be awakened inside the tomb on the special date and some even more bizarre theories involving Masonic rituals or an attempt by members of the Jewish faith to place a large Star of David on the structures apex.

Eventually, possibly due to the large amount of gossip swirling around the internet and an ensuing Facebook campaign threatening protests if these groups were allowed entrance to the Pyramid grounds, the authorities first beefed up security, then announced the closure of the largest of Giza's wonders - although the official word was the closure was due to essential maintenance following the large amount of visitors throughout the holiday season.

Despite this, many spiritualists, numerologists and members of religious sects common and rare made the pilgrimage to the area for this once in a century day. Many came in groups of, you guessed it, 11, all searching for various things, from spiritual renewal, to some more hoping for more sinister results. One group claimed they just wanted to 'hug the pyramid'.

Another video for you now and we are back in Blighty for the highly publicised story of health and safety officer Paul Cavanagh's misguided attempt to show colleagues at building maintenance firm, Morrison, a new safety technique - and promptly rode the ladder to the ground. 

It didn't start well for Mr Cavanagh, who climbed halfway up the ladder and then tethered himself to it, in an attempt to show off the new device, but was quickly reminded he forgot his all important hard hat. In keeping with the professionalism with which this safety briefing was performed, it was then thrown up to him.

Following this, he decided to show off the quality of the new gadget by swinging around the ladder as if he had fallen off it. Amazingly, the equipment worked - until the weight of Mr Cavanagh pulled ladder sideways, with the resulting fall leaving the safety officer in a pile, under the ladder, in the neighbouring residents garden.

Despite this all taking place in England, it should be noted that no one here at JC/DC can decipher what language the onlooking employees are speaking and so we have no clue what they are saying with regards to the events - apart from the exclamation at the very end of the recording, "That proves the system doesn't work then!"

Young Bronte with her overjoyed parents.

The final story we have for the week is the heartwarming story of Rotherham toddler, Bronte Cassell. Born premature she was initially unable to breathe on her own. To allow her to live without a respirator, tubes were inserted into her windpipe, but this had the side effect of rendering her unable to speak. Not that it stopped her from trying, but her parents said she was forced to just mouth words, point, or use simple sign language.

However, earlier in the week she underwent an operation to remove the tubes as her windpipe has now developed enough to allow her to breathe unaided. Which of course allowed her, at the age of two, to say her very first words - "I love you, Daddy."

The words brought the ecstatic parents to tears, tears of joy, which they say were a welcome change. Bronte still has a way to go to full recovery, but she is apparently loving the freedom so many of us take for granted - being able to speak.