Oddities and Humor

Indeed, and every word true!




It's karma!

By the way, did you have a Snickers bar as a snack?

Tobey Maguire sued over poker winningsReuters - 17 minutes agoReuters - A group of investors has sued "Spider-Man" star Tobey Maguire to recoup more than $300,000 they say a hedge fund manager embezzled from them and lost to the actor in high-stakes poker games.

NASA's Dawn satellite has reached the asteroid belt. First stop: Vesta.
www.csmonitor.com
Vesta and Ceres, the two largest objects in the asteroid belt, have mystified scientists for centuries. With NASA satellite Dawn on final approach to Vesta, the wait is almost over...

I just read that article an hour ago.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0623/NASA-s-Dawn-satellite-has-reached-the-asteroid-belt.-First-stop-Vesta?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+feeds%2Fscience+%28Christian+Science+Monitor+|+Science%29

http://videos.artinfo.com/video/The-World-Of-Huguette-Clark

Lazy Bastards Dept:

Americans are working less and relaxing more, according to the 2010 American Time Use Survey.

The survey, released by the Labor Department on Wednesday, found that the average American over the age of 15 only spent around 3 hours and 58 minutes working on weekdays in 2010.

That's 26 fewer minutes spent working than in 2007, according to the Wall Street Journal, who cites the recession, particularly higher unemployment and cuts in hours, as the reason for the slide. If only counting days people work, that number jumps to 7.5 hours.

So what are American doing with all their time? Taking it easy.

According to the survey of 13,200 people, Americans caught an average of 8 hours and 23 minutes of sleep on weeknights, and managed to squeeze in an impressive 9 hours and 20 minutes on weekends.

They're also spending about 2 hours and 31 minutes watching TV -- that's about 5 minutes more than before the recession in 2007. Computer use has also increased -- Americans spend about 13 minutes more on their computers, with 1 hour and 39 minutes a day, than in 2007.

But women on average, according to the survey, spent about 5 fewer hours on leisure per week than men and still work about 41 fewer minutes as well.

That depends upon a misogynist's definition of leisure ed.

How do you define "work". Is polishing the Queen's coach and training the horses for the drive up the course at Royal Ascot "work"? Is raising the hem line this season "work"?

Expending energy for money or some ethereal reward?

Woman Dies At Her Own Funeral
www.huffingtonpost.com
A woman has reportedly died from the shock of coming to life at her own funeral. Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, 49, was wrongly declared dead by doctors, but she actually died after hearing people pray for her soul in Kazan, Russia, according to the Daily Mail...

And how could you have missed this story from the same edition?

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Nguyen Duy Hai Of Vietnam Begs For Help Removing 176-lb. Tumor

The tumor on Nguyen Duy Hai's right leg is bigger than his leg itself, rendering him unable to walk, and now he is begging the world for help.

The 31-year-old Vietnamese man has reportedly suffered from this giant tumor since childhood. Even after doctors amputated his leg at the knee 14 years ago, the tumor has continued to grow, swelling to a weight of 176 pounds and leaving him housebound under the care of his 61-year-old mother, News.co.au notes.



"I can't do anything. I can only sit and lie down," he told the press.

Doctors have stated that the tumor -- which is the largest on record in Vietnam -- is non-cancerous and potentially caused by a genetic mutation.

Unable to afford further medical treatment, Hai is seeking financial assistance from anyone who can help and sharing his story with publications around the world.

EMORY, TX (KTRK) -- A Texas woman went on trial yesterday for stealing a pickle.



Police in the town of Emory say they caught 71-year-old Barbara Ann Alaman stealing a single pickle. She was charged with theft and demanded a trial.

"I think they should spend taxpayer money on criminals that are more threatening," said one resident.

"I just wonder how many times she did it and got away with it. I think it's kind of ridiculous to prosecute her for stealing a pickle," another resident said.

When the trial began yesterday, it quickly ended in a mistrial because the judge didn't think she'd get a fair trial in the small town where everyone knows who she is.

After the court proceedings, the woman told a news crew she doesn't even like pickles.

That's pretty humourous ed. But I'm not sure it's all that odd in these times we have been pitched into.

Imagine if Jean Valjean had stolen a pickle - Not a pretty thought.

She probably had a heart attack when she saw the way they had done her hair and makeup.

Or saw the funeral home bill.

A good oddity -

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/25/BAMN1K2H7U.DTL

Bar owner returns coins he received by mistake
Vivian Ho, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, June 25, 2011

Paul Marino thought he was opening boxes of poker chips for his North Beach bar when he tore open the battered, sticker-laden packages Friday morning.

He thought it odd when he saw green plastic cases from a company called United States Mint. He thought it even odder when he found 15,000 silver coins, about three times the circumference of a quarter and four times as thick, stacked in plastic-lidded tubes.

At first, he was confused. And then he saw the invoice from American Precious Metals Exchange, which informed him that he had in his possession more than $82,000 in commemorative silver coins.

"Oh, my god," he said, recalling his reaction.

Marino, 44, had picked up the three packages at the UPS customer center on San Bruno Avenue two days earlier, thinking he was getting 4,000 chips that he uses as free-drink vouchers during happy hour at his bar, Columbus Cafe on Green Street.

It wasn't even a possibility in his mind that he had received the wrong packages - he had shown the clerk his driver's license.

Luckily for the person who was supposed to receive the packages, it was Marino who picked them up. Friday afternoon, he returned the boxes to UPS.

"The bottom line is, I live by karma," Marino said. "That's the way I was raised, that's the way I run my business here. Things always come around, and I got to do the right thing."

"I remember these packages," clerk Dan Lau said. "I know what they are."

Elizabeth Rasberry, a UPS spokeswoman, said it is company policy that clerks compare labels to customers' IDs before releasing packages.

"That shouldn't happen," she said, when told a clerk had checked Marino's ID and still handed him the wrong packages. Had Marino not returned the packages, the rightful recipient would have had to file a claim for the $82,000 worth of coins, Rasberry said.

After waiting 45 minutes, Marino got his poker chips.

Friday afternoon, the lights were off but the music was on in the almost-empty Columbus Cafe. Located just off busy Columbus Avenue, the bar has no difficulty drawing business. But it needs new windows, Marino said. It still carries some old debts. It could use a few more flat screens - all things $82,000 could have easily taken care of.

'Trust me, I thought about it. For one minute," Marino chuckled. "But it's not my money. People today walk around with whatever they can get away with, but if everyone was honest, we'd be living in a better world."

Aw-w-w-w-w

Recently, the HEB store where we buy most of our food, including Punky's snacks, made a big shakeup in the pet food department. They eliminated the cheapest doggie snacks and introduced their own brand. At the same time they eliminated Alpo's Variety Snaps. We bought some of the HEB snacks with good grace, because it is convenient to get everything at one place. I tried substituting the Variety Snaps with Milk Bone and some other brand dog biscuits, but Punky ain't having any of it. She will ignore Milk Bone products until I put them in the garbage. So I found the Snaps at Petsmart and Punky is once again a fulfilled dog.

Report: TSA asks woman to take off adult diaper
A newspaper in Florida reports this weekend that a Florida family has filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security over how a 95-year-old woman was searched recently.

The News Herald reports that the woman, who had leukemia and was flying to be with her family, was asked to remove her adult diaper at Northwest Florida Regional Airport. The woman was told that the diaper was soiled and was interfering with the search.

The woman’s daughter, Jean Weber of Destin, filed the complaint. She said:

“It’s something I couldn’t imagine happening on American soil. Here is my mother, 95 years old, 105 pounds, barely able to stand, and then this.”

From the same report:

Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, said she could not comment on specific cases to protect the privacy of those involved. … Weber’s mother entered the airport’s security checkpoint in a wheelchair because she was not stable enough to walk through, Weber said. Wheelchairs trigger certain protocols, including pat-downs and possible swabbing for explosives, Koshetz said.

Apparently, these aiport security people sees someone like this as a security threat? I suppose common sense never enters into situations like this.