Asterix comics study: cartoons that were deemed 'too violent'

Asterix is not the first cartoon to be criticised for the level of violence its characters inflict on one another. Here are some more examples of animated brutality that some felt went too far.

Tom and Jerry

The beloved cat-and-mouse duo would never have been made in today's society because of health and safety rules, the director of Bob the Builder claimed last year.

Fears that children will try to imitate the behaviour they see on screen have led to guidelines demanding that modern cartoons must be more "realistic" than in previous generations.

Sarah Ball said: "In the society we live in now there are so many health and safety or 'standard practice’ rules that you have to adhere to because broadcasters are so concerned about imitable behaviour."

Pokemon

For a show whose most recognisable character is an innocent-looking, red-cheeked rodent, the Japanese animated series about a world of collectors seeking out magical species is surprisingly violent.

Rather than looking after their endearing and seemingly harmless pets, or putting them in a zoo, the aim of the programme's "trainers" is rather less wholesome – to teach their charges to fight before pitching them against one another in battle.

The authors of a 2009 study into children's programmes including Pokemon and even Scooby-Doo said violent cartoons and video games could influence children's "aggressive thoughts, feelings and behaviours".

Punch and Judy

A puppeteer in Portsmouth was ordered to lower the level of violence in the traditional children's show last year amid concerns from organisers that some scenes could be deemed offensive by parents.

Daniel Liversidge was ordered to remove any instances of Punch hitting Judy, and swapped his whacking stick for a fluffy mop so that he could tickle her instead.

The puppeteer was also told Punch could no longer put Judy through a mangler or throw a baby out of the bath. He said: "You always get people asking for the traditional stick to come back but you have to move with the times ... at the end of the day I am a children's entertainer and my job is to keep children happy."

Itchy and Scratchy from The Simpsons

OK, it's a cartoon-within-a-cartoon, but Marge Simpson's shock at seeing the gory violence in Bart and Lisa's favourite TV show leads her on a one-woman crusade against the network, in an episode called Itchy & Scratchy & Marge.

Condemning the "needless brutality" with which the cat and mouse – a parody of Tom and Jerry – attack one another, she spearheads a campaign that forces the show's makers to dramatically tone down the cartoon. After several turgid episodes in which Itchy and Scratchy trade presents and hugs instead of missiles and bullets, the show's ratings plunge as children lose interest.

Fortunately for the network, Marge destroys her credibility by refusing to lead a similar censorship drive against Michaelangelo's David, upon which Itchy and Scratchy immediately returns to its original form.

Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck exhibition

In an exhibition parodying the concern some parents express about violence in cartoons, artist James Cauty and his 15-year-old son Harry drew a series of "Splatter" images showing Looney Tunes characters being brutally shot, decapitated and eaten alive.

The 2008 exhibit, displayed at the London Aquarium Gallery, included a picture of Daffy Duck's head exploding as he is shot at point blank range by Bugs Bunny, and blood dripping down Sylvester the cat's face as he takes a bite out of Tweety Pie, having finally caught his budgerigar rival.

Mr Cauty said: "Its very difficult to shock kids these days – you have cartoon characters being shot in the head and walking off cliffs, so we have decided to replace them with something more realistic."

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Astonishing image captures night sky in dazzling formation

Exclusive: Lit up in the night sky, this spectacular picture shows a galaxy of stars in a dazzling formation more akin to a large-scale spinning wheel.

The astonishing image, taken in the heart of the Australian outback, was used simply by taking advantage of the earth's rotation.

Andrew Brooks, an amateur photographer, took the image using his camera, a tripod, his neighbour's lounge room light and a little patience while letting gravity do the rest.

The image, taken in the remote town of Denial Bay, a fishing village on the edge of the Great Australian Bight, was taken using a special “time lapse” process.

It takes advantage of the earth’s natural rotation, which explains the circular appearance.

Each picture takes about 36 minutes to complete – the camera shutter is locked open for 18 minutes before it spends a similar amount of time processing what it has taken – which then produces what appears to be a moving image.

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Trouble, the dog that inherited $12m, dies

One of the world's richest dogs, which inherited $12 million (£7.3m) from eccentric US hotelier Leona Helmsley, has died.

Helmsley, who owned the Helmsley hotel chain, left $12 million in her will to care for her beloved Maltese named Trouble when she died in 2007. A judge reduced the amount to $2 million.

Though Trouble's death is only now being reported, the dog actually died on Dec 13 at the age of 12, said Eileen Sullivan, spokesman for the Helmsley Charitable Trust.

"She was cremated and her remains are being privately retained. The funds held in trust for her care have reverted to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust for charitable purposes," Ms Sullivan said in a statement.

Harry Helmsley was Leona's late husband.

Ms Sullivan refused to give any other details about Trouble. The New York Daily News newspaper said the dog had been cared for by the manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel in Sarasota, Florida.



Leona Helmsley died in 2007 



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Top bizarre health remedies

Below is a list of the top bizarre health remedies that have been suggested over the years.

-  A peacock feather tied to the leg cures lethal snake venom.

-  Cow urine can cure liver complaints, cancers, heart ailments, AIDS and 

   constipation. It is currently being developed into a healthy soft drink

-  Cow dung keep homes antiseptic and cool when used as flooring

   cement.

-  Crushed human skull powder can treat epilepsy

-  Indian otter testicles is a cure for ‘sexual weakness'  

-  Green apples cure claustrophobia

-  Beer bath to help slow down aging

-  Bats blood for help eye infections

-  Spider's webs as a cure for malaria

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Thai airline hires 'ladyboys' as flight attendants

A new Thai airline has hired four transsexuals, including a former beauty queen, as flight attendants.

A new Thai charter airline due to start operations on Asian routes in April is hiring transsexuals as flight attendants.

More than 100 transvestites and transsexuals people applied for the first round of jobs. Four were chosen, along with 19 female and seven male flight attendants.

Among the successful applicants was Dissanai Chitpraphachin, 23, who was crowned as Thailand's most beautiful transvestite in 2007.

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Ghoulish mummies in the Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Sicily

The Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo were constructed after the death of Silvestro of Gubbio, a famous 16th century monk. Four long limestone corridors underneath the Capuchin Church hold about 8,000 mummies, lying in repose or hung from hooks by their necks and feet and wearing their best clothes.

The catacombs, frequented by tourists, contain the remains of clerics, nobility, and families of local citizens dating from about the mid-16th century, well preserved due to an ancient and highly effective embalming process.

Originally intended for friars of the Capuchin monastery, the catacombs evolved, with the aid of donations, into a place where family members would visit, spend time with and even change the clothes of the deceased. The halls are divided into categories: Men, Women, Virgins, Children, Priests, Monks, and Professionals. It has been rumoured that the body of Velasquez, the Spanish painter, is somewhere in the catacombs. Dozens of long-dead infants, still in their baby clothes, line one hall.

The last burial was Rosalia Lombardo, a two-year-old girl who appears to be in perfect physical condition, despite being buried more than 90 years ago. The perfect appearance of Rosalia, who is enclosed in a double layer of glass, has led to her being nicknamed the "Sleeping Beauty of Palermo".

Many of the mummies have been posed, their heads bent in prayer.

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Canary Island spa recreates life in the womb

A spa in Gran Canaria has installed a treatment room designed to simulate life as an unborn child. ‘The Womb Room’– part of the Corallium Spa at Gran Canaria’s Lopesan Costa Meloneras resort – includes a range of features designed to “re-create the journey of life starting with where it all began: the womb”.

The entrance to the room, or the “the neck of the uterus”, is a passageway fashioned out of pink carpet, while the treatment room itself, containing pink carpets splashed with red fabric, revolves slowly “to simulate a giant umbilical cord”. The low-lit room is filled with “blood-coloured” water beds “designed to indicate the amniotic sac”.

Music, described by the hotel as "breathy", is also piped into the room to re-create the noises heard inside the womb. “According to recent research around 60 per cent of adults suffer from sleep problems and one third from insomnia,” said a spokeswoman. “The Womb Room could be the answer to those restless night.”
 

The Womb Room is open to all guests who book a treatment at the hotel's spa. Prices for treatments start at 35 euros.

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No Pardon For The Billy The Kid

A decision that only took 130 years to make! New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has decided not to pardon the infamous Wild West outlaw, Billy the Kid, who killed nine people between the years of 1878 and 1881.

Reports say that 130 years ago, territorial governor Lew Wallace promised Billy a pardon in exchange for a testimony about the killings he witnessed.

Wallace did not meet the end of his bargain and Billy was shot dead in 1881 by Sherriff Patrick Garrett after killing two deputies and escaping jail. He had been sentenced to hang.

Governor Richardson has said in the past that he was interested in the story and tried to pardon Billy to fulfill the promise of clemency. However, he decided against it due to insufficient details.

He continued: "I felt I could not rewrite history. I have decided not to pardon Billy the Kid because of a lack of conclusiveness, and also the historical ambiguity as to why Governor Wallace reneged on his pardon."

What do you think? Should Billy the Kid have been pardoned?

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Communist Monopoly 'Queue' to encourage competitive bread buying

It's not quite the perfect fit - the ultimate capitalist board game and left-wing politics - but the creators of the new communist version of Monopoly, Queue, think it could be a big hit.

Officials at the Research Institute in Poland have come up with the concept, which will see players tasked with buying a list of essential items like bread and toilet paper. Rather than try to force other players into bankruptcy, though, Queue will encourage them to line up in an orderly fashion to get into state-owned shops.

Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as building a property empire, does it? Still, the game's creator Karol Madaj believes it will be a valuable educational tool - and fun too... probably.

'The game not only makes players understand shopping in Poland under communism. It also teaches them what queueing is like - something people seem to have forgotten,' he said.

Instead of Chance and Community Chest, players will draw wild cards that can be positive - getting them sent to the front of the queue because of a Communist Party connection - or negative, such as seeing a shop closed down for 'decadence'.

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Dive-bombing seagulls close shopping centre after 'attacking customers'

Dive-bombing seagulls have caused half of a shopping centre car park to close because of fears of injuries to customers.

Forget the dead birds falling out of the sky in the US, it's live ones dive-bombing humans that you want to worry about.

Two levels of the Regent Arcade in Cheltenham were shut when the birds, some of which were said to be 60cm (22in) tall, became aggressive.

Shopping centre manager John Forward said the gulls were becoming more and more aggressive, and he claimed it was only a matter of time before they hurt a child.

'If we don't do something about it we are going to have a seagull attacking a child. I'm telling you, it's only a matter of time before this happens. We can't just stick our heads in the sand. If the council wants to treat this seriously and deal with the situation then money has to be invested.'

Hawks could now be used to drive the seagulls away.

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Mystery skull from 1974 found in police evidence room

Bradenton PD detectives recently found the partial remains of a human skull in the corner of the homicide evidence room. The box, placed there 36 years ago, had the word “Skull” in caps underlined twice, reports The Bradenton Herald.

 

An FBI invoice read, “examination of portion of human skull discovered in four inches of water near Bradenton on Sept. 28, 1974.”

Detectives are now trying figure out whose skull they found by using old newspaper clippings to search for any missing person, since the police department does not keep records dating back to the 1970s, according to the Herald.

Investigators at the police department originally sent the skull off for forensic testing to the FBI after the skull was found and it was mailed back Oct. 21, 1974, according to the evidence receipt. Curt Mayfield, who oversees the evidence room and has worked at the department for about 15 years, said stories told throughout the department over the years describe the skull belonging to an elderly man who wandered away from a nursing home.

Investigators now plan to send the lower half of the skull with no teeth to a Florida Department of Enforcement lab for carbon dating, reports the Herald.

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