The same customers are also encouraged to take photos with the warrior-like waitresses, who dress in black or red to look like ninjas in keeping with the theme of a dark but lively restaurant that opened last month in Taiwan’s capital.

“The ninja is mysterious,” said Ou Chia-wei, owner of the restaurant simply named Ninja, explaining why he chose that theme for the Japanese-style restaurant. “On that premise, we can do magic tricks and light up the food.”

Waitresses working the barely lit dining room floor burn specialty menus, which vanish without a trace of ash, and send flames snaking across tables as customers watch.

A moat and screen of cascading water just past the front entrance make customers wait a few minutes until the drawbridge goes up, leading to a dark stairwell toward the dining hall.

There are professional magic shows, as well as cabarets, for those who walk in at the right times.

Ninjas were mercenaries who resorted to unusual warfare strategies such as espionage, sabotage and assassination from as far back as 700 years ago in feudal Japan. They remain a common, enduring theme in Japanese folklore.

Ou, who also owns a hospital-theme restaurant in Taipei, and his wife put the three-storey Ninja eatery together on their own without hiring a designer, said his landlady Ting Tsui-lan. The overall investment was T$15 million ($470,000).

“The owner had already liked ninjas and figured that would be a pretty obvious, visual theme for the restaurant,” said restaurant sales manager Hsiao Dai.

Ninja competes with restaurants that specialize in airliner, dinosaur and toilet decor in a city teeming with theme diners.

Owned and staffed by Taiwanese, it serves Japanese food priced for office workers who frequent it at its location in a congested part of town.

Japanese cuisine and culture are popular in Taiwan, where Ninja has seen steady full-house crowds of 150 since opening in late January.

Customers are intrigued by the theme, with a 26-year-old woman saying she might rather work than eat there.

“We make friends with the customers,” said waitress Tu-tu Lin, laying her sword aside to explain to the woman the tricks of her trade.

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“My crew saw… a shape moving on the water and we immediately decided to get closer to check if it was a dog or maybe a seal relaxing on the ice,” Jan Joachim, senior officer aboard the Baltica, told Reuters Television.

“As we got closer to the ice floe we saw that it was a dog struggling not to fall into the water.”

Ship engineer Adam Buczynski managed to scoop the dog off the floe onto an inflatable dinghy and wrapped him in a blanket.

“He didn’t even squeal. There was just fear in his big eyes,” said Buczynski.

The dog was first seen on the ice floe some 100 km (70 miles) inland to the south on the Vistula river but firemen were unable to rescue him. When the Baltica crew found him, he had already drifted some 24 km (18 miles) out to sea.

“We were in the right place at the right time,” said Joachim, noting that they rescued him shortly before night fall.

The crew are now trying to locate the dog’s owner.

Poland is in the grip of bitterly cold weather, with night temperatures in some areas falling as low as -34 Celsius (-31 Fahrenheit).

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2010 Microsoft Words limited edition?

MORROW, Ga. – A man dressed as an elf is jailed after police in Georgia say he told a mall Santa that he was carrying dynamite.

Police say Southlake Mall in suburban Atlanta was evacuated but no explosives were found.

Morrow police arrested 45-year-old William C. Caldwell III, who was being held without bond Thursday in the Clayton County jail. He was not part of the mall’s Christmas staff.

Police say Caldwell got in line Wednesday evening to have his picture taken with Santa Claus.

Police say when Caldwell reached the front of the line, he told Santa he had dynamite in his bag. Santa called mall security and Caldwell was arrested.

Caldwell faces several charges, including having hoax devices and making terroristic threats.

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The woman freed the frog, and the frog said, “Thank you, but I failed to mention that there was a condition to your wishes. Whatever you wish for, your husband will get times ten!”

The woman said, “That’s okay.” For her first wish, she wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world. The frog warned her, “You do realize that this wish will also make your husband the most handsome man in the world, an Adonis to whom women will flock.”The woman replied, “That’s okay, because I will be the most beautiful Woman and he will have eyes only for me.”

So, KAZAM-she’s the most beautiful Woman in the world!

For her second wish, she wanted to be the richest woman in the world. The frog said, “That will make your husband the richest man in the world. And he will be ten times richer than you.” The woman said, “That’s okay, because what’s mine is his and what’s his is mine.”

So, KAZAM-she’s the richest woman in the world!

The frog then inquired about her third wish, and she answered, “I’d like a mild heart attack.”

Moral of the story: Women are clever. Don’t mess with them.

Attention female readers : This is the end of the joke for you. Stop here and continue feeling good.

Male readers, continue reading….

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The man had a heart attack ten times milder than his wife

Moral of the story: Women think they’re so smart. Let them continue to think that way and just enjoy the show.

PS: If you are a woman and are still reading this; it only goes to show that women never listen!

It is a really tough question.

South Wales Police had issued media with the photo of Matthew Maynard, wanted by officers investigating a house burglary, as part of a crackdown on crime in Swansea.

When it appeared in the South Wales Evening Post, the 23-year-old sent the newspaper a replacement photo of himself standing in front of a police van. They obligingly printed it on the front page.

The police thanked him for helping them in their appeal, saying: “Everyone in Swansea will know what he looks like now.”

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The suspect, a Russian asylum seeker, faces possible charges and was handed over to judicial authorities.

The move comes after a Malaysian Islamic court sentenced a 32-year Muslim woman to be caned after she was caught drinking beer in a hotel and at a time when an opposition Islamic party has moved against beer sales.

The concert, part of celebrations of Guinness 250th birthday, asks on its website (www.arthursday.com.my) “Are you a non-Muslim aged 18 years and above?” and if the response is no, access is not allowed.

Muslims account for 55 percent of the 27 million people in this Southeast Asian country and are barred from consuming alcohol although the rules are regularly flouted, especially in big cities like the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia’s Guinness Anchor which sells Guinness and other brands here had sales of 1.2 billion Malaysian ringgit (210 million pounds) in 2008.

Even without alcohol, foreign bands are subject to scrutiny. Earlier this week, the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) said it wanted Danish band Michael Learns to Rock banned from performing as it would cause immorality.

Since 2007, PAS, the country’s second largest political group measured by party membership, has campaigned against performances by the likes of Beyonce, Rihanna, Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne.

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Villagers in West Bengal state pooled their money together this week to marry Ram and Sita, two frogs named after India’s most revered mythological couple from the epic Ramayana.

Following an ancient Hindu belief, the frogs’ heads were smeared with vermilion paint and the pair were held up in the air in a ritual in front of a traditional clay candle.

“We feted about 3,000 villagers and solemnised the marriage with every single ritual,” Shobin Ray, head of a local council in Madhya Baragari village, about 750 km (470 miles) north of state capital Kolkata, told Reuters by phone.

The women at the wedding fasted beforehand and then invited the river to join the ceremony and give its blessing, as is customary in Bengali tradition, he said.

India this year suffered its worst start to the vital monsoon rains in eight decades, causing drought in some states.

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Another funny compilation of animal clip. Enjoy!

Watch Video Here

HANOI (Reuters) – Many sick passengers who flew to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam took fever reducers to cheat temperature scanners at the airport, leading to the discovery of several infected cases later, state media reported at the weekend.

Nguyen Van Chau, head of Ho Chi Minh City’s Health Department, was quoted in state-run Tien Phong (Vanguard) daily as saying “a series of passengers” took fever reducers three hours before arrival.

“That’s why when they passed through the airport, the body temperature scanners skipped them,” Chau said.

Vietnam has confirmed 26 people infected with H1N1 flu, 23 of whom came by air after traveling in the United States or Australia. Three others fell sick after coming in contact with the infected travelers.

The country requires inbound passengers found with fever to be isolated for seven days.

Clinical investigations of the infected cases revealed they had taken fever reducers, Chau said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an influenza pandemic on Thursday and advised governments to prepare for a long-term battle against the virus.

The H1N1 strain has spread widely, with 28,774 infections confirmed in 74 countries to date, including 144 deaths, according to the WHO’s latest tally. Vietnam has so far had no deaths from the flu.

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The man, 35, an insurance company worker surnamed Wu passed out at home after drinking too much Saturday at a high-end restaurant in Taipei among more than 100 wedding guests, the Liberty Times reported.

It was not known if he had health complications.

“Everyone was having a great time,” said restaurant party organizer Linda Chien. “We don’t know what happened after that.”

Wu was hospitalized after his face turned black, the paper said. A hospital spokeswoman said he died despite treatment.

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I wonder what if his wife comes home and tries to park… lol