[Wales] Teen Rescues 6 from Fire

re-posted from BBC Wales

Teenager helps save six from fire, 05/04/09

A teenage boy has been praised for helping to save six children aged from five to 15 from their burning house.

Leighton Griffiths, 15, from Cwmbran, heard the youngsters screaming for help after the fire broke out in the Greenmeadow area early on Saturday.

The mother of five of the children rescued from the fire said her young neighbour had saved their lives.

South Wales Fire Service praised the "swift actions of the public", firefighters and fire control staff.

Fire crews were called to The Twinings at 0220 BST on Saturday, with the fire at an end-of-terrace house.

Leighton said he used a hosepipe to try to douse the flames while his stepfather Alan Probert and a neighbour put a ladder up to a window and got out three of the youngsters.

Meanwhile, unbeknown to Mr Probert, Leighton said he had gone into the property and rescued the three other children trapped in the burning house.

He collapsed and had to be taken to hospital afterwards with minor burns and a suspected broken rib.

Leighton said: "No matter how scared you might be, you've got to be brave enough to go in and get them. They could have died and I could not have lived my life knowing I could have done something.

"I class everyone who gave a hand at the time a hero because we all played a part in it."

The fire is believed to have started in the electrical fuse box at the house.

They are the third family to have survived a blaze in the property in recent years.

Tracy Evans and her husband had been on their first evening out in 18 months when the fire started.

Mrs Evans said: "He's absolutely fantastic. He saved my children's lives. If it wasn't for him, my kids wouldn't be here now, and there's nothing I can ever do (for) that boy or repay him for what he's done."

The children have also made a thank you card for Leighton who celebrates his 16th birthday on Tuesday.

South Wales Fire Service said the blaze was being treated as accidental. Further investigations are being carried out with the police.

Richie Prendergast, the officer in charge of the incident, said due to the swift actions of the public, the fire crews at the scene and fire control staff, a great tragedy had been avoided.

[TX] Detainees on Hunger Strike at Port Isabel

suggested by Toussaint, re-posted from Texas Observer

Hunger Strike at Port Isabel, 04/28/09

To listen to interview:
http://www.texasobserver.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/ramaedit.mp3

Anywhere from 50 to 100 detainees at the sprawling Port Isabel Processing Center near Brownsville stopped eating last Wednesday in an effort to draw attention to extended detention that they say violates their right to due process.

One of the detainees on hunger strike - Rama Carty - spoke to the Observer by phone on Friday about how he has been detained by ICE for more than 13 months.

“It’s unconstitutional. It’s unjust,” Carty said. “We’re held well past any reasonable time under the law, or just any reasonable time, period.”

Carty fell under the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2008 after he served two years in prison for what he says is a wrongful drug conviction. He spent time in detention centers in Maine and New Hampshire before being sent to Texas in December. In March, he came across an article in USA Today about a new Amnesty International report on how thousands of immigrants are detained for months or years without any meaningful judicial review of whether they should be released.

“If immigration removal is not reasonably foreseeable at all, then detention, in essence, shouldn’t exist,” Carty said, citing a Supreme Court precedent for cases like his.

Carty turns 39 next week and has lived in the United States since he was a year old. His parents are Haitian, but he was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo while they were working there. Neither country will accept him, so he languishes in detention in the country he calls home.

“I am a U.S. citizen from a cultural standpoint,” Carty told the Observer.

He wants a chance to argue he is a citizen from a legal standpoint as well. He said ICE mishandled his mother’s application for naturalization, and he should be given an opportunity to be considered a citizen. But, like many in the 1,200-bed facility, he said he lacks access to legal assistance.

“We are told we have lawyers available thru pro-bono associations but that’s not the truth,” Carty said of the overwhelmed legal aid offices that mostly focus on political asylum cases. “The amount of effective assistance of counsel is grossly insufficient,” he said.

Carty says he thinks the hunger strike will continue to grow. The strikers’ demands include a meeting with Dora Schriro, the newly appointed special advisor on detention and removal for the Department of Homeland Security.

For more info, see: http://www.businessofdetention.com/

[resource] Barnivore Vegan Alcohol Directory

suggested by Lewis, re-posted from Barnivore.com

Is Your Booze Vegan?

It might seem weird at first, but your favourite drink might have more than just alcohol in it.

Brewmasters, winemakers, and distillers may include animal ingredients in their products directly, or they might use them in the processing and filtration.

These ingredients don't usually show up on the label, so the only way to find out is to ask.

The Barnivore Vegan Alcohol Directory is here to help.

Our 680 entries have been checked and double checked by the Barnivore community and are gathered here for you to enjoy, and maybe submit a check of your own.

VISIT: http://www.barnivore.com/

[Cornwall] Youtube Helps Man Deliver Baby

suggested by Lewis, re-posted from BBC News

Youtube Helps Man Deliver Baby, 05/01/09

An engineer in Cornwall delivered his baby son after watching a instructional video on YouTube.

Marc Stephens watched the videos as a precaution when his wife Jo started to feel some discomfort.

Four hours later, his wife went into labour and started giving birth before an ambulance could arrive at their home in Redruth.

"I Googled how to deliver a baby, watched a few videos and basically swotted up," Mr Stephens told the BBC.

Jo Stephens said they had planned a home birth, but not quite in this manner.

"I woke up and realised I was having contractions every five minutes," Mrs Stephens said.

"I woke Marc up and we phoned the midwife, but they were all so busy they couldn't come round to our house and told us to call an ambulance. But before it arrived, it all started."

A few hours earlier, Mr Stephens has been reading up on home births and how to cope with anything unexpected.

"The videos gave me peace of mind. I think I would have coped, but watching videos made things much easier."

Mr Stephens said his wife was on all fours when he saw the head starting to come out.

"This is our fourth child now and while for our first I spent most of the time at my wife's head, now I'm not afraid to go down to the business end.

"I was still on the phone to the midwife and told her that 'this is it'," he said.

Mr Stephens said he felt no panic, putting his ability to stay calm down to his Royal Navy training.

After delivering the 5lbs 5oz boy, Gabriel, the Stephens went to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske, where both mother and baby got a clean bill of health.

[NYC] Over 120 Unregistered Billboards Taken/Painted By Artists

suggested by Lewis, re-posted from Consumerist.com

Art Vigilantes Paint Over 120 Illegal Billboards in NYC
by Chris Walters, 05/01/09

Last Saturday, ads-in-public-spaces activist Jordan Seiler spearheaded NYSAT, or New York Street Advertising Takeover, where teams of artists, videographers and activists replaced 120 unregistered billboard advertisements throughout the city with original art installations. There's a lot of coverage of the event available online, as well as pics and videos of the various installations. Here are a few good places to check out the results of the event. Some of the art is quite nice.

VIEW PHOTOS HERE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37774782@N05/

[SF] Pranksters Install Swings on BART

suggested by Eli, re-posted from Laughing Squid

Pranksters Install Swings on BART Public Transit System in San Francisco
by Burnstein, 04/28/09

Some brilliant pranksters installed beautiful swings on BART last night. What apparently happened, according to witnesses, was a team of six or so people hopped on to a north-bound train from 24th Street station in San Francisco around 8:30 p.m. last night, installed three matching red swings, and then exited at 16th Street leaving their swings behind for public consumption.

I personally love this prank because of the joy that it inspires in the innocent by-standers. Look at the photos. Even the dudes that are not swinging are smiling (except for one woman - that is just how some people roll, I guess). I declare this to be an epic victory for joy and whimsy over the mundane!

VIEW PHOTOS HERE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreypenven/sets/72157617328268331/