The softer landing

A Norwegian driver who tried to avoid crashing into a moose hit a bear instead, a wildlife official said.

The accident took place on Wednesday night on a rural road 225km (140 miles) north of Oslo, in Hedmark county.

While the driver escaped uninjured, a search party was tracking the bear after finding traces of blood, local wildlife official Svein Erik Bjorke told the Reuters news agency.

Norway is home to around 100,000 moose and 150 brown bears.

The driver spotted the moose around midnight near Hanestad village and tried to steer around the animal, when a bear suddenly ran in front of his car.

"The driver had lost a bit of speed as he tried to avoid the moose before hitting the bear," Mr Bjorke told Reuters. "We are currently tracking the bear and we have found traces of blood indicating internal injuries."

The driver's car sustained some damage in the accident.

The moose managed to flee the scene unharmed.

The English Assassin

La Barbe

A group of French feminists has found a new way to fight inequality - with sarcastic humour and fake beards.

As dusk falls, I sit at a pavement cafe in an upmarket neighbourhood in Paris with a dozen members of the direct action feminist group, La Barbe.
The name comes from the group's pantomime style of protest. Its members infiltrate high-level, male-dominated meetings. In due course they get to their feet and silently don false beards before one of them reads out an ironic statement congratulating the men on their supremacy.
The emphasis on facial hair ridicules antiquated male attitudes.

On this particular evening, the group had invited me to witness a protest at the headquarters of the French Freemasons, the Grand Orient de France, which was founded in 1733.
I wondered why they had picked on the masons. For many years, the Grand Orient would not allow its lodges to initiate women, but this changed in 2010.
"You see, there was a huge conflict," says Colette. "It wasn't easy at all. That proposition was adopted at something like 51% of the lodge, but it was tough and many of them are still fiercely opposed to women."




 "For three centuries, just like the Catholic Church, the Grand Orient kept women to one side. What heresy is it that has allowed women to join since 2010? At first outraged, La Barbe is pleased to learn that the council of the order has appealed against this iniquitous decision!... The women's apron is but for domestic work. To men the task of working for the glory of the Great Architect of the universe!"

Love hurts

Dozens of novice monks have been taken to hospital after an attack by a swarm of bees in northern Thailand.

The monks were cleaning the Chedi Luang temple in Chiang Mai province on Saturday when the attack took place.

The Bangkok Post said more than 70 monks were admitted to hospital, quoting one doctor as saying he had seen 19 in serious condition.

Bee stings typically cause skin rashes and nausea but multiple attacks are more serious and occasionally deadly.

Temple abbot Phra Ratcha Jetiyajarn told the Post that 76 monks had been taken to three regional hospitals.

The paper quoted Naren Chotirosnimitr, the director of the Maharaj Nakorn hospital in Chiang Mai, as saying 53 had been treated there, with six arriving in a coma suffering with low blood pressure. Most of the monks were later discharged.

The abbot said the bees were from hives kept at the temple. They had been no problem previously and it was unclear why they had attacked, he said.

Art imitates myth

Brazil actor playing Judas dies from accidental hanging

A Brazilian actor has died after accidentally hanging himself while playing Judas in an Easter Passion play.

Tiago Klimeck, 27, was enacting the suicide of Judas during the performance on Good Friday in the city of Itarare.

The actor was hanging for four minutes before fellow performers realised something was wrong.

Klimeck was taken to hospital suffering from cerebral hypoxia but died on Sunday.
The Passion play was being performed in Itarare, 345km (214 miles) west of Sao Paulo.
Klimeck was re-enacting the scene in which Judas commits suicide in repentance for his betrayal of Jesus Christ.

Police are investigating the apparatus that was meant to support Klimeck. It appears the knot may have been wrongly tied.
When the actors realised something was wrong, Klimeck was taken down and found to be unconscious.

The Santa Casa de Itapeva hospital has confirmed the death and a post-mortem examination will take place on Monday.

OMGASM

Operation Mindfuck - Golden Apple Seed Mission

Operation Mindfuck is an age old Discordian mission to spread Chaos and Discord in the name of our Goddess Eris, in an attempt to bring some light to our monotonous ordered world and revoke the curse of Greyface.

Zombies need nurses

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15268321

Emergency crews called to an accident on a film set in Toronto were confronted with alarming blood and gore - but it wasn't as bad as it looked.

Actors dressed as zombies for the latest Resident Evil film were injured when a high platform moved suddenly.

"It did kind of catch us off-guard when we walked in," said police Sergeant Andrew Gibson.

Twelve actors were taken to hospital with injuries ranging from bruising to a broken leg.

"I could see the look on the first paramedic, saying 'Oh my God'," Toronto emergency medical services Commander David Ralph told Associated Press news agency.

The accident happened when the zombie actors were moving between two platforms at the Cinespace Film Studios in Toronto and a gap opened up, police said.
Seven of the injured zombies were walking again on the set later in the day.