From MCGEE@nic.CSU.net Tue Mar 8 08:02 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from nic.csu.net by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA14084; Tue, 8 Mar 94 08:02:18 PST Received: from nic.CSU.net by nic.CSU.net (PMDF #3155 ) id <01H9Q0FVM0A88WXOQ6@nic.CSU.net>; Tue, 8 Mar 1994 08:01:21 PST Date: 08 Mar 1994 08:01:20 -0800 (PST) From: RICH MCGEE Subject: NewsWierd To: dick@silicon.csci.csusb.edu Message-Id: <01H9Q0FVM0AA8WXOQ6@nic.CSU.net> X-Envelope-To: dick@silicon.csci.csusb.edu X-Vms-To: IN%"dick@silicon.csci.csusb.edu" Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Status: RO From: IN%"grether@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu" 7-MAR-1994 19:17:09.43 To: IN%"MCGEE@nic.CSU.net" CC: Subj: WhiteBoard News (3/7/94) Return-path: Received: from wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu by nic.CSU.net (PMDF #3155 ) id <01H9P9PH2PYO8WXMQC@nic.CSU.net>; Mon, 7 Mar 1994 19:16:56 PST Received: by wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu (5.65/1.37) id AA18617; Mon, 7 Mar 94 19:16:10 -0800 Date: 07 Mar 1994 19:16:10 -0800 From: grether@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu (Ed Grether) Subject: WhiteBoard News (3/7/94) To: MCGEE@nic.CSU.net (Rich McGee) Message-id: <9403080316.AA18617@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu> Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT WhiteBoard News for March 07, 1994 Darwin, Australia: Small fish have been found flapping around in parking lots and on roads south of Darwin after rainstorms in Australia's desert Outback. Beryl Morris, a zoologist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, theorizes that the heavy rains trigger dry fish eggs to suddenly hatch, and then high winds or updrafts carry the newborns considerable distances. "The first time it happened last week, they were everywhere," said innkeeper Adele Liebelt. "They're only little fish, so the birds took them away." Most of the young fish measured between one and two inches in length. ========== London, England: Wildlife experts studying the migrating habits of salmon equipped with an electronic tagging device were surprised when the 8-pounder scaled a river bank and raced across the north Wales countryside. It landed on a poacher's kitchen table, and was still there with three other salmon, when police arrived to arrest Paul Williams. Williams, 19, pleaded guilty to poaching offenses on Friday. He caught the salmon before the kickoff of the fishing season. The National Rivers Authority said it was the first time that a poacher had been caught because he took a fish fitted with an electronic chip used by trackers. ========== Fast News Forum: A British man suffering from AIDS was jailed 30 months for robbing victims at syringe-point in what he said was an attempt to raise money to find a cure for the disease. Brazilian police are hunting a thief who invited a busload of passengers to toast his birthday with drinks laced with drugs before robbing them as they slept. British police believe thieves may have started using tow trucks to steal cars after a rash of tow-truck thefts. One garage owner said: "What better cover could there be? No one questions a tow-away truck." Youths with earrings or even nose studs pass muster in South Haven, Michigan. But the school drew the line recently at pierced eyebrows. This could be the little engine that could. Tenor Luciano Pavarotti christened the first engine designed to haul trains in the English Channel tunnel between Folkestone, England and Calais, France. In all, there will be 38 engines, all named after opera singers. ========== London, England: These are weird times. In fact, the times are a full 3.5% weirder than they were just a year ago. That, at least, is the conclusion of the Fortean Times, a London-based magazine dedicated to the study of all things bizarre. The February/March issue of the small journal compares thousands of zany happenings in 1992 and 1993 and declares, somewhat arbitrarily, that the overall strangeness index has risen to 3,520 from 3,400. Among the curiosities of 1993: A trash bin belonging to the London borough of Lewisham was found beside the Sea of Galilee. Sixty lambs in Germany were attacked and killed by hundreds of crows. Swedish doctors cured a deaf man by removing a 47-year- old bus ticket from his ear. The Fortean Times Index (not to be confused with the Financial Times Index, which has been heading the other way) has 34 components. Leading the index upward was the Strange Behavior component, which includes people who throw birds into cars waiting at stoplights and the robber who taped two cucumbers together and pretended he had a sawed-off shotgun. The Hoaxes & Panics category got a boost from the Chinese city where people were convinced that a giant deranged robot from America was killing and sucking the blood of people who wore red. "People are more and more erratic," says Robert J.M. Rickard, the editor. "There are just such stupid extremes of behavior." There are early signs that 1994 may be even weirder than 1993. Sightings of the Virgin Mary and highway ghosts are on the rise so far. With signs this promising, Rickard thinks his FT Index could well outperform the other FT Index. For the Fortean Times, at least, that's a bullish sign. "I take comfort in the fact that the world is getting weirder," Rickard says. "It shows that man hasn't explained away everything yet." ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net -- Ed Grether grether@wsuaix.csc.wsu.edu -or- 96998239@wsuvm1.bitnet From joeha@microsoft.com Tue Mar 8 09:37 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA14223; Tue, 8 Mar 94 09:37:00 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA23876; Tue, 8 Mar 1994 09:09:33 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA21436; Tue, 8 Mar 94 09:37:06 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Tue, 08 Mar 94 09:37:06 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403081737.AA21436@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: A43C477A X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: A43C477A To: dick@blaze.csci.csusb.edu Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 09:32:59 PST Subject: RE: WhiteBoard/Fortean Times Status: RO You have been added to the WhiteBoard News List. You will be receiving the next regular broadcast. AND MAY ALL THE GODS OF DOS PROTECT YOUR SANITY NOW! BaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! :) Chow SuperChef The Man For All Seasonings joeha@microsoft.com ---------- From: Dr. Richard Botting To: Subject: WhiteBoard/Fortean Times Date: Tuesday, March 08, 1994 8:31AM Dr. Richard Botting Ed Grether wrote: To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net Please can I subscribe. dick@silicon.csci.csusb.edu=rbotting@wiley.csusb.edu. dick::="Dr. Richard John Botting". csci::="Computer Science Department". csusb::="California State University, San Bernardino". We have moved to the new Jack Brown Hall. Yipeeeeee! "In the Heartland of California" From joeha@microsoft.com Tue Mar 8 17:30 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA15432; Tue, 8 Mar 94 17:30:07 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA20137; Tue, 8 Mar 1994 17:02:44 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA11823; Tue, 8 Mar 94 17:28:26 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Tue, 08 Mar 94 17:28:26 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403090128.AA11823@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: A4360C7D X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: A4360C7D To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 17:19:13 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 08, 1994 Tampa, Florida: Silicone breast implants may be odd to the touch and they may pose a long-term health threat, but they saved the life of Dora Oberling, a 30-year-old exotic dancer. Witnesses said Oberling was shot by her 75-year-old boyfriend after an argument outside the Tampa club in which she worked. The bullet pierced her left breast, went through her implant, and stopped just short of her heart. "My doctors think the implant saved me," Oberling related from her hospital bed. "They said if I didn't have that I would be dead." The biggest shock? X-rays showed that Oberling's implant -- shot by what police said was a 9mm caliber handgun -- didn't rupture! ========== Washington, District of Columbia: A moving van spotted in the Washington area sports the following motto: "Manly men moving manly things in a manly way..." ========== Munich, Germany: The German Bundesbank used to burn as much as 1,000 tons of worn-out mark banknotes a year, but cooled its ovens because of environmental concerns. The central bank might turn its growing pile of shredded currency over to wine growers for use as fertilizer. ========== Washington, District of Columbia: Margaret Milner Richardson says she has discovered two instant conversation stoppers: Her birthplace (Waco, Texas) and her job (IRS commissioner). ========== Yorkshire, England: Most hearth fires are appealing because of their warmth and beauty. Michael Milner's is distinctive because of its age. As it crackles in the hearth of the Saltersgate Inn, in Britain's Yorkshire, it looks like any fire started yesterday. But this flame is said to be 198 years old. "I can't say I actually saw them start it," concedes Milner. But it was ablaze when he bought the inn last summer, and elderly natives of the surrounding moors swear they've never seen it out. Now, controversy is raging around the old flame. The problem is cost. With its original fuel -- peat from the moors -- protected by national wildlife laws, Milner must feed it expensive coal and wood. To keep it stoked day and night, he says, he spends around L150 ($224.44) a month. So he believes that the Yorkshire and Humberside Tourist Board -- whose brochures tout the fire -- should help keep it burning. "Can't do it," responds Julie Taylor, a Tourist Board press officer. If the agency fed his fire, she says, then the railway museum night demand help buying an old caboose. Soon, all of the agency's 450 attractions would want assistance. As for the fire's inclusion in tourist brochures, she hints that anyone not thankful for publicity could be deprived of it. That threat hasn't kept Milner from grousing to the media. Even this strategy nearly backfired, though, when a television reporter -- eager for a ratings splash -- threatened to douse the flame on-air. As sort of a scorched-earth policy, Milner himself talks of letting the flame die. But however much that might hurt other local businesses, he concedes it would devastate the inn. It sits eight miles from town, and "the fire is what brings people out," he says. Legend has it that the igniter of the flame stoked it night and day to keep anyone from snooping under the hearth, where he had buried a murder victim. "If the fire goes out, the legend goes, the victim's ghost will come out and destroy the whole inn," says Milner. Once a pub wall collapsed after the fire was allowed to decline to a single ember, he says. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Thu Mar 10 17:17 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA21831; Thu, 10 Mar 94 17:17:29 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA24640; Thu, 10 Mar 1994 16:50:00 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA18088; Thu, 10 Mar 94 17:14:53 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Thu, 10 Mar 94 17:14:52 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403110114.AA18088@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 7A53D264 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 7A53D264 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Thu, 10 Mar 94 17:01:07 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 10, 1994 Cincinnati, Ohio: A woman who faints when she hears sex-related words passed out four times in court on Tuesday while testifying that she had been sexually assaulted by a man who knew of her disability. The woman contends that the man, William Gray, 42, uttered the word "sex" then molested her after she fainted in the lobby of her apartment building last April. The 39-year-old woman, whose identity is being withheld by the courts, suffers from a psychological disorder called conversion hysteria, which causes her to faint as a defense against trauma, said Heather Russell, the prosecutor. Gray's lawyer, Paul Tellez, said the woman could not have known what happened while she was passed out. But the woman says she can still hear and feel during a fainting spell, though she cannot move. Gray pleaded innocent by reason of insanity to two counts of felonious sexual penetration. ========= Milford, New Hampshire: Don't like the electric company? Think you're getting ripped off by American Express? Try skulls and road kill to let them know how you really feel. That's the spirit behind Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Banknotes, a company that offers more than just idyllic sunsets or pastel sailboats as backgrounds on checks. Co-owner Paul Donovan, 28, describes the company's customers as "rock and rollers, anybody with an extreme sense of humor, people who like art." Backgrounds offered include Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream," scenes influenced by the Grateful Dead, and one illustration of three voracious birds ready to peck away at a body in the road. Donovan and Mike Zielie, 27, found the company in 1992. Zielie came up with the of unusual checks while managing a Domino's Pizza in Durham, New Hampshire. "I'd go through hundreds of checks a day, and there wasn't an original one in the bunch," Zielie said. "I figured, why don't I make a check with road kill on it?" Zielie and Donovan found that checks need only meet basic standards set by the Federal Reserve and the American Bankers Association, with no rules on the background. Customers can also request a personalized message above the signature line. One client reserved the space for a snarling "And not a penny more!" ========== Longview, Washington: Roger Gammel was out hunting a few days ago on Weyerhaeuser land near Pe Ell with a friend and dogs. Their quarry: a bobcat. They flushed one and it sought refuge in a hemlock tree. So Gammel, 62, climbed 40 feet up and fired his .22 caliber pistol to scare it down. The cat scrambled down, bit his left arm and bumped his right hand gripping the gun. The gun fired. The bullet went not into the cat but into Gammel's arm. The dogs killed the cat. Gammel climbed down and drove his pickup 40 miles southeast into Vader for a cup of coffee. By then the bleeding had stopped, but patrons at Brook's Nook asked what happened. "I just told them a bobcat shot me," Gammel said yesterday. "I just wonder when they're going to make the bobcats register their guns." ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Mon Mar 14 18:07 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA01133; Mon, 14 Mar 94 18:06:59 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA18761; Mon, 14 Mar 1994 17:39:20 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA19212; Mon, 14 Mar 94 18:02:07 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 14 Mar 94 18:02:07 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403150202.AA19212@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: ADAEE94C X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: ADAEE94C To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 17:55:42 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 14, 1994 ========== Fast News Forum: A highly dangerous prisoner on the lam in Britain asked a policeman for directions when his taxi driver lost his way. A man was sentenced in a Boston courtroom to a year and a half in prison plus three years' supervised release for giving a fake name on a passport application. His true identity remained a mystery. In another Boston courtroom, a bookkeeper who embezzled from a car dealership to repay what she stole from a construction company drew 27 months in prison. The casting director of the "Arsenio Hall Show" was fired after three actors filed a lawsuit claiming he fondled their buttocks during an audition for a skit called "Buttmaster." A fraternity at Keene State College in New Hampshire threw a party and served milk and cookies -- no alcohol. The college administration was so delighted it picked up the tab. A Bangladeshi cook won the international Indian Chef of the Year title in Edinburgh, Scotland, recently, then reported to authorities to be deported. An Elvis impersonator who ran for justice of the peace in Texas came in fourth which reportedly left him all shook up. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Tue Mar 15 17:18 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA04523; Tue, 15 Mar 94 17:17:58 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA25808; Tue, 15 Mar 1994 16:50:20 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA27397; Tue, 15 Mar 94 17:14:19 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Tue, 15 Mar 94 17:14:18 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403160114.AA27397@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 314DCEE9 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 314DCEE9 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Tue, 15 Mar 94 17:01:56 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 15, 1994 This item comes from Gary Stephens: Tokyo, Japan : "What is all this fuss? It is a beautiful name for a baby," Yasuhiro Tanoka told reporters gathered outside the Tokyo Family Court. "This country is ruled by fascists. I intend to appeal." Tanoka was speaking about the Akishima municipal government's objection to his choice of name for his son. "The name - Little Flower Plucked From Hairy Bottom - came to me in a dream, so I went to the town hall to enter it in the family register. At first the official wrote it down but, after consulting with a superior, he came back, crossed it out, and said that it was rude and if I didn't choose a name that conformed to social norms he'd call the police." Tanoka took his case to the Tokyo Family Court, who initially ruled in his favour. "They said I'd abused my naming rights but, since the name had been written in the register, it shouldn't have been crossed out again. When the municipal government still refused to register the name, I offered to change it to Akuma (Devil Child) instead, so as not to cause offense, but they threw me out of the building and appealed to the Family Court, who now say I have to call him something else. So that's what I'm going to call him - Something Else. That will teach them. I shall not be mocked." ========== Bruce Cronquist Everett, Washington: A special toilet seat, equipped with a snubber that lets the seat float silently into a closed position, has been developed for The Boeing Co.'s new 777 jetliner as a result of customer complaints. "It was a case of All Nippon Airways of Japan listening when its first-class passengers complain that they didn't like to hear toilet seats being dropped in nearby lavatories during flights," said Owen Sakima, manager of 777 payload systems engineering. ========= Vancouver, British Columbia: Alaskan fisherman David Kelly says he was able to survive two frigid nights after being shipwrecked on a beach because his 9-year-old German shepherd, Sabre, led him to some hot springs. Kelly, 31, of Wrangall and the dog were rescued Saturday after being found on an isolated inlet about 350 miles northwest of Vancouver. Kelly's ordeal began Thursday when his 31-foot boat broke down. He was unable to fix the motor and drifted into Bishops Bay in Douglas Channel. The hull was damaged, the boat took on water and Kelly jumped overboard wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt. Sabre followed. Once ashore, he stumbled into the woods through snow and ice until the dog led him to hot springs with water about 102 degrees Fahrenheit. ========== Spokane, Washington: When Kato's owner paused on the T.J. Meenach Bridge to watch a bald eagle, the 4-year-old retriever jumped off. It wasn't the best move. It was a 50-foot drop, and Kato's owner was still holding onto the leash. The woman tried to haul Kato back up. But his choke collar was strangling him, so she let it go and watched her pet drop into the Spokane River. Luckily, the dog landed in the water and made it to an island in the middle of the river. Kato wasn't hurt and was resting comfortably by the time rescue crews made an uneventful rescue. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Mar 16 18:47 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA08513; Wed, 16 Mar 94 18:47:07 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA22500; Wed, 16 Mar 1994 18:19:18 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA20970; Wed, 16 Mar 94 18:41:21 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 16 Mar 94 18:41:20 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403170241.AA20970@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 7A090870 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 7A090870 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 16 Mar 94 18:19:23 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 16, 1994 ========== San Diego, California: The 106th element in the periodic table has been named "seaborgium" in honor of Nobel laureate Glenn T. Seaborg, a University of California chemistry professor. Seaborg is the co-discoverer of plutonium and nine other transuranium elements, which come after uranium on the periodic table and are artificially created in particle accelerators. ========== Portland, Oregon: A Salem mortuary van containing two bodies destined for cremation here was stolen yesterday from a funeral parlor's parking lot. "I don't think they stole it for the bodies," said Cliff Neilsen of Portland Memorial Mortuary. The bodies, which were to be cremated today and whom Neilsen declined to identify, were in cardboard boxes. ========== Daytona Beach, Florida: This is a story about bikers, coleslaw wrestling and a man who wants to be the biker's lawyer, John Rue. Rue, who lives near Daytona Beach, had a brainstorm years ago: While the world was full of motorcycle riders, none of them seemed to realize they might deserve compensation for personal injuries suffered while riding. But how could Rue, Bush & Ziffra go after these underserved clients? "It's hard to get their names," Rue says. "Some of them are crazy." That's where the coleslaw wrestling came in. Bike Week, Rue's brainstorm personified, is held annually in Daytona Beach. Cruising among bikers from all over the U.S. -- as he has for the past several years -- was Rue, riding his own hog (a 91FXR Harley Sportster), passing out brochures stamped "All Injuries are Personal" and wearing a black T-shirt with his firm's name on the back. "I don't put on office clothes," he says. "The bikers that don't know me would probably think I was a cop." Rue also oversaw Bike Week events co-sponsored by his firm, including a coleslaw-wrestling context involving scantily clad women, a wet T-shirt contest and a Japanese "motorcycle drop" at a popular biker bar. At the drop, Japanese-made bikes that had been drained of oil were hoisted up by a crane and allowed to run until their engines seized up and exploded. Then the bikes were dropped to the ground. The annual get-together has been lucrative for Rue. In general, about 20% of his cases now involve bikers. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Thu Mar 17 17:16 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA11544; Thu, 17 Mar 94 17:16:22 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA25748; Thu, 17 Mar 1994 16:48:18 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA22261; Thu, 17 Mar 94 17:12:13 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Thu, 17 Mar 94 17:12:13 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403180112.AA22261@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: B5A6C8E7 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: B5A6C8E7 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Thu, 17 Mar 94 17:02:10 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 17, 1994 This item comes from Robert and Dondi Adams: Lakewood, Colorado: After a month-long investigation, police in Lakewood announced that the 100-plus bullet firings that had frightened neighbors into believing that gangs were engaged in drive-by shootings in the area were actually caused by the poor aim of employees at the nearby federal prison facility firing range. According to a prison spokesman, all employees, including clerical personnel, must be trained in firearms, and some apparently missed not only the targets but the large hill that separates the range from the complaining neighborhood. ========== Hollywood, California: "According to my mom, I'm such a big shot that she's threatening to have her uterus bronzed." Steven Spielberg, filmmaker, at a recent tribute to him. Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Fri Mar 18 17:14 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA14465; Fri, 18 Mar 94 17:14:47 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA39931; Fri, 18 Mar 1994 16:46:54 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA25790; Fri, 18 Mar 94 17:09:37 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Fri, 18 Mar 94 17:09:37 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403190109.AA25790@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 615B8EDF X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 615B8EDF To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Fri, 18 Mar 94 17:03:37 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 18, 1994 This item comes from Ron Neely: Birmingham, Michigan: Is there a cure for chocaholics? Now a new product called the Chocolate Patch, a novelty item is available to all "chocaholics." The Chocolate Patch, a takeoff on the popular nicotine patches for smokers, is cleverly packaged with "transdermal systems" (real chocolate and adhesive strips). The product also contains a few helpful tips about when to take extra "doses" to handle those common stressful situations such as job interviews, PMS, tax audits ... just to name a few. A "warning" label on this novelty product states that serious chocaholics should consume the chocolate and apply the adhesive strips to their mouths to prevent further chocolate abuse. Surrounded at home and a work by cranky smokers on the nicotine patch, Roberta Urbani, a self-described chocaholic, was inspired to create The Chocolate Patch. "A lot of people have quit smoking, including me," she says. "But I don't know of anyone who has quit eating chocolate. This is a way to get a laugh out of one of our innocent vices, and to help people as well." A portion of the profits will be donated to the Hunger Action Coalition. ========== This item comes from Mike Swift: Santiago, Chile: The Wall Street Journal reported that Jan Pablo Davila lost at least $207 million of Codelco, a state-owned Chilean company by typing the wrong financial transaction into his computer. He typed "buy" when he says he meant to type "sell". Now, all of Chile is obsessed with the mistake that cost 0.5% of Chile's GNP and the new word "davilar" is a verb that is "...loosely translated as 'to botch things up miserably.'" =========== Springfield, Oregon: When Springfield resident Vera Cox visited Oregon Sate Lottery headquarters several weeks ago to collect a prize for matching five of six numbers in a Megabucks drawing, she told lottery officials, "I'll be back!" Monday, Vera Cox, 60, did return to the lottery office with the only ticket that matched all six numbers in the Saturday Megabucks drawing. Because Vera Cox choose to take the full amount, she secured $2,375,000 of the jackpot amount of $4,000,000. ========== Cape Canaveral, Florida: Astronauts on one of the longest flights in space shuttle history conceded Thursday it was time to return to Earth -- even if it meant landing 57 minutes shy of an endurance record. "Our commander just discovered we're out of tortillas, so it must be time to come home," astronaut Pierre Thuot reported. Columbia was due to touch down on the Kennedy Space Center runway 13 days, 23 hours and 16 minutes after blasting off March 4 just a few miles away. That's 57 minutes shy of the longest shuttle flight to date, also by Columbia, last fall. An extra orbit -- which takes about 90 minutes -- would give this mission the endurance record. But that hope faded as meteorologists forecast good weather for Friday's landing at Kennedy. ========== Florence, Italy: "Then she smiled," Bernice Richmond wrote. "She did not have to smile. She did not have to lick her lips with that tongue, the kind that would not quit. What was she trying to do? Was this her way of being coy at 1 a.m., or was there a poppy seed caught in her teeth?" Sound bad? You bet. Richmond became the first woman winner of the annual International Imitation Hemingway Competition. Richmond, who owns a greeting-card company in Westfield, New Jersey, said she used "divergent thinking" to mimic America's paragon of masculinity and compose a pithy passage titled "Here's To You." The rules for the contest are simple: Send one really good page of really bad Hemingway. Be funny. Be Ernest. "God only knew," Richmond's entry continued. "if there was a God. And if there was a God and He knew, He was not talking. And even if He did know and was talking, no one would have been listening. Not here. Not now." "Short and sweet and wonderfully clever," said author Ray Bradbury, one of the panel of judges that included Hemingway's son, Jack Hemingway, and novelists John Grisham, Willie Morris and Barry Hannah. When she's not writing testosterone-pumped pastiche, Richmond writes novels and sketches "demented drawings." ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Mar 23 17:45 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA17647; Wed, 23 Mar 94 17:45:16 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA36500; Wed, 23 Mar 1994 17:17:10 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA09400; Wed, 23 Mar 94 17:40:26 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 23 Mar 94 17:40:26 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403240140.AA09400@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 53382E2A X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 53382E2A To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 17:32:10 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 23, 1994 This item comes from Jan-Paul Koren: Madrid, Spain: An advertisement campaign by the Italian carmaker Fiat that involved sending anonymous love letters to young women has caused an uproar in Spain. The firm sent out some 50,000 letters addressed personally to each recipient and written on pink paper. The writer smothers each woman with compliments and invites her to indulge in a "little adventure" after "we met again on the street yesterday and I noticed how you glanced interestingly in my direction." The puzzle of the writer's identity is solved within four to six days in another letter, where the author is revealed as the new Fiat "Cinquecento." The newspaper El Pais reported that several women had felt threatened by the letter and locked themselves in their apartments, believing they were being stalked by a psychopath. Others insisted on going out only in male company. The newspaper El Mundo said the ad campaign had even unleashed jealous scenes among married couples. The letters, which were not handwritten but typed, contained some information only readily available to the receivers' acquaintances. Fiat stopped the campaign and apologized after protests from Social Minister Cristina Alberdi and consumer protection groups. "We thought it was a fun campaign aimed at the independent, modern working woman," said a Fiat spokesman ruefully. ========== This item comes from Ed Grether: New York, New York: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani used some technical sleight of hand to win $41 million in budget cuts from the Board of Education. Here's what happened: The Board of Education, an independent agency only partially funded by city taxes, uses the same computer as city agencies. Using a simple software subroutine, the Board's funds were shifted into an account controlled by the mayor. The agency, however, wasn't notified of the funds transfer and only learned it had been done when the system rejected attempts to access the funds. The mayor was advised he couldn't legally do that, but funds were not restored until the agency agreed to cut its spending. ========= Edinburgh, Scotland: Did tipsy pharaohs argue over "tastes great, less filling" in ancient Egypt? British archaeologists and brewers said Tuesday they are about to find out -- by duplicating a 4,000-year-old beer recipe. Name: "Tutankhamun's tipple," after the boy-king whose stepmother, Queen Nefertiti, is believed to have ordered the building of the brewery at Armana, 200 miles south of Cairo. Cambridge University's Barry Kemp says he has uncovered "room after room of ovens forming a combined bakery/brewery of factory proportions." Brewers Scottish & Newcastle, who have sponsored digs at the ancient brewery, say they hope to have the brew done by next month. Excavations by Britain's Egypt Exploration Society show the brewing process has changed little. But today's drinkers will find Tut's tipple different. It includes palm dates and olives, says Scottish & Newcastle's Jim Merrington. As old as the Egyptian recipe is, it isn't the first: beer drinking predates even the cradle of civilization in Mesopotamia 5,500 years ago, evidence indicates. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Fri Mar 25 17:55 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA23594; Fri, 25 Mar 94 17:55:39 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA36040; Fri, 25 Mar 1994 17:27:36 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA04509; Fri, 25 Mar 94 17:51:27 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Fri, 25 Mar 94 17:51:27 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403260151.AA04509@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 91448DDB X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 91448DDB To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Fri, 25 Mar 94 17:39:43 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 25, 1994 This item comes from Peter Henriksen: El Paso, Texas: Sassy, the 2-ton elephant, queen of the Spalding Brothers Tent Circus, suffered a bout with gas that nearly killed her trainer, and blasted several holes in the striped tent where she was practicing her prancing. Now dubbed Sassy the Gassy Pachyderm, the 14-year-old beast snorted approximately 15 gallons of red-hot Tex-Mex chili cooking outside the tent for a Rotary fund raiser. Sassy developed a taste for chili as a mere 500-pound babe when she lived with a herd of cows near El Paso, Texas. The rancher held regular cook-outs, and let Sassy lick the Chili pot after the guests had gone. "The hotter the better," recalls rancher Antonio Guayabera. "She'd poke her little fuzzy trunk in there and slurp 'til it was clean as a whistle. "I'd notice the next day, though, the cows would stick to one end of the field and Sassy would be all by herself at the other. "I always thought someone was burning garbage, but I finally realized it was Sassy and cut off her bean supply. It was making the cows' milk sour." Antonio, who got the baby elephant as a gag gift from an oilman friend of his, sold Sassy to the circus and trainer Fritz Hildebrand made her queen of the center ring. "I discovered the first month I had Sassy that she loved chili, but it didn't love her," says Fritz. "We had to keep the roustabouts with their open cook- stoves away, because she would smell those beans simmering and start hooting and hollering to get it. "We only let her have her way once," Fritz says, shaking his head. "We had to walk her a mile away and leave her penned there a whole day." Human memories dim, but elephants never forget, and with chili pots bubbling it was just a matter of time before Sassy slipped her trunk through a hole in the tent and started gobbling. "I knew I had to get her out of there - and fast," says Fritz from his hospital bed. "But I wasn't fast enough. As I led her away, the gas attack started. I should have known better than to stand too close, but the first blast blew me right through the tent and into a trailer parked outside." Fritz suffered 15 broken bones, including one arm, one leg, his collarbone, several ribs and fingers. Subsequent blasts ripped through the big top before Sassy was banished to a distant field. "I know she feels bad," concludes the forgiving trainer. "Sassy's a chiliholic, and she just can't help herself." ========== London, England: A British mother of three was crowned the winner Thursday of the world's first 24-hour novel-writing contest for her on-the-spot manuscript about a gruesome murder in a suburban London church. Maggie Hamand, 40, competed against 29 other aspiring scribes who pitted word processors against writer's block in a contest held 10 days ago in a London literary club. "This is my 15 minutes of fame, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it," Hamand said. ========== "Al Gore is so boring his Secret Service code name is 'Al Gore.'" Vice President Al Gore at the Gridiron dinner. ========== Spokane, Washington: A man who ignited, then chewed a $100 bill after a cabby told him it looked suspicious has been arraigned on one counterfeiting charge and could face others after a federal grand jury looks at the case. Karl Valentin Beaty of Spokane had 95 bogus $100 bills on him when he was arrested January 18 after the altercation with a cabby. Police who arrested Beaty found 95 color photocopies of $100 notes on him. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Tue Mar 29 00:52 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA28984; Tue, 29 Mar 94 00:51:43 PST Received: from [131.107.1.13] by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA26222; Mon, 28 Mar 1994 16:56:08 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA18511; Mon, 28 Mar 94 17:17:59 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 28 Mar 94 17:17:59 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403290117.AA18511@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 667E514B X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 667E514B To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 28 Mar 94 17:10:08 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 28, 1994 These Fast News Forum items come from Bruce Cronquist: Fast News Forum: A Chipley, Florida, women was arrested on suspicion of stealing floral arrangements from graves and selling them at yard sales. An Argentine congressman wants the government to make October 3 national Lice Day to rally all citizens to combat the pests. Airline flights in Madang, Papua New Guinea, were rescheduled to avoid collisions with huge flocks of bats migrating at night. A British woman enraged at revelations of her husband's adultery poured melted wax on his genitals while he slept. Workers at an English zoo were banned from wearing strong perfume or aftershave to avoid arousing some of the animals. An artist and 200 volunteers created a two-mile-long sand sculpture of 21,000 34-C breasts on a California beach A pregnant women told a 911 operator in Morgantown, West Virginia, her water had broken. He thought she was having a plumbing problem and asked whether she knew where the shut-off valve was. ========== Charleston, West Virginia: A mugger forced a victim to write him a check and got caught the next day when he tried to cash it, police said. Richard Allen Gallogly, 22, was charged with aggravated robbery. James Hylton told police he was walking on the street Wednesday night when a man approached with a knife and demanded money. Hylton said he gave the man $12.50 in cash, but the man was not satisfied and had him write a $300 check. ========== Komaki, Japan: A Japanese shrine is angry at news reports describing its 1,200-year-old fertility rite, a street parade of dozens of huge phallic symbols, as a sex festival, a priest said Friday. "We are absolutely disgusted with some of the reports," said the priest at the Tagata Shinto Shrine in Komaki, near Nagoya in central Japan. "This rite has nothing to do with sex for pleasure. It is a solemn ceremony to pray for a good harvest and fertility." To make matters worse, he said, a similar fertility rite -- featuring a parade of vulval symbols -- takes place on a preceding Sunday each year at an animist shrine nearby. This had led to the mistaken belief that the two kinds of symbols are secretly united in a mysterious fornication rite. The priest said the 1,200-year-old festival, held every March 15, is featured in a Taiwanese video of the world's most exotic sex rituals. This year, 80,000 tourists jammed the narrow streets around the Tagata shrine to watch 40 men parade the huge wooden phalluses. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Mar 30 18:51 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA03376; Wed, 30 Mar 94 18:50:45 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA29467; Wed, 30 Mar 1994 18:22:23 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA28514; Wed, 30 Mar 94 18:49:17 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 30 Mar 94 18:49:16 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9403310249.AA28514@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 05E4D8C4 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 05E4D8C4 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 30 Mar 94 18:40:41 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 30, 1994 This item comes from Eric Pivnik: Napa, California: When Kenneth McDaniel let police peer into a neighbor's yard from his deck, he apparently forgot what he was growing in his own backyard. The memory lapse landed him in jail. Police came to McDaniel's house to look into the yard of a neighbor suspected of stealing a bicycle. Officers did not find the bike but arrested McDaniel on charges of cultivation and possession of marijuana. ========= West Lafayette, Indiana: Mr. Coffee, it's not. A tabletop-size contraption fitted with a fake television screen, electronic controls and mechanical switches, it can brew a cup of coffee -- complete with milk and sugar -- in less than five minutes. The java was reportedly on the weak side, but the coffeemaker won the National Rube Goldberg Machine Contest for a team from New York's Hofstra University last weekend. This year, the contest at Indiana's Purdue University required entrants to design a machine that could make a drinkable cup of coffee in the most inefficient, impractical way possible -- honoring Rube Goldberg, the cartoonist who drew machines with complex mechanisms to perform simple tasks. The winning contraption was based on the television show "Gilligan's Island," suggested by a team member's wife who remembered the Professor's inventions. It is really a rotating table that depicts four scenes through a mock television screen. To begin, a team member activates a remote control that brings up a curtain in front of the screen. A toy S.S. Minnow crashes on the island, hitting a switch that activates a motorized fishing reel that hauls in a box of coffee. The last scene depicts the Professor with a bicycle- powered conveyor belt that dumps coffee and sugar into a filter, which is then filled with boiling water. Finally, coffee is handed to the viewer through the television screen by a motorized arm. Said a team spokesman Nick Croce: "At one point we were going to have Mary Ann eaten by a giant clam ... but that got thrown out." ========== Hollywood, California: Joan River's new home-shopping show -- "Can We Shop" -- is off and running, and Inside Media, an industry newsletter, recaps a broadcast highlight: "There, on the screen, a man was extolling the virtues of a revolutionary new toilet-bowl cleaner. Not any toilet-bowl cleaner, but America's first chemical-free, bacterial-killing, mildew-destroying, dog- and child- safe, environmentally approved, amazingly effective, five-year-or-50,000-flushes toilet cleaner. "A toilet-bowl cleaner that was so astounding, in fact that, right there on TV, with no trick camera work whatsoever, a man was about to drink a glassful of toilet water spooned out of the toilet for him by Joan Rivers. He gulped it down." Sales of the product rocketed. According to the product's distributor, Impex Systems Group, the one- time gulping ploy sold 5,100 units of this $19.95 product, close to $102,000 worth. "It was one of the most successful items yet pitched," says Inside Media. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Thu Mar 31 18:25 PST 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA06013; Thu, 31 Mar 94 18:25:08 PST Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA37514; Thu, 31 Mar 1994 17:56:40 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA23292; Thu, 31 Mar 94 18:15:06 -0800 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Thu, 31 Mar 94 18:15:05 PST From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404010215.AA23292@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 67AC56CE X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 67AC56CE To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Thu, 31 Mar 94 18:01:51 PST Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for March 31, 1994 Hollywood, California: The Barry Levinson movie, "Jimmy Hollywood," is the story of a struggling actor who buys advertisements on bus benches with his picture and phone number. Turns out there's a real-life counterpart, Steven Paul Mozena. Mozena, 33, is looking for his big break. He's bought a series of ads on Los Angeles bus benches that bear his picture and the copy, "The Look! The Talent! The Ability! For your next production cast actor Steve Mozena." Mozena has bought 24 benches, strategically located in front of major movie studios, along with some "floaters." The cost for the bench ads works out to about $10,000 a year. "It's not an expensive investment," Mozena said. "This field takes a lot of dedication, a lot of drive and a lot of money. In order to rise above the crowd, you have to think of something different." ========== New York, New York: In the Christian world, Easter Sunday falls on April 3 this year. But if you happen to have a wall calendar from the Jesuit Seminary and Mission Bureau, it also falls on April 10. Confused? There's more. President's Day is down for the 14th of February, which led one of the 25,000 recipients to take a long weekend in Florida a week ahead of time. And then there was the matter of those two extra days the calendar included in February, the 29th and the 30th. So, too, the one extra day in April, the 31st. How could the Jesuits, the Roman Catholic order of priests known for their scholastic acumen, be so far off base? Some may have suspected the dual Easters to be a Jesuitical plot to boost church attendance. Actually, it was the work of a printer's devil who was given proofed copy. Father John Ryan, S.J., director of the Manhattan-based Mission Bureau, isn't saying who. In a letter correcting the errors, he poked fun at himself and asked for continued support for the work of the Mission Bureau. The order's 23,466 priests, scholars and brothers serve in 122 countries. One reply told Father Ryan not to feel bad because he still "got St. Patrick's Day correct." Another said the goofs showed "We're all human -- even occasionally the S.J.'s (Society of Jesus)." And, catching the irony of adding days to the year, a writer said, "Even Pope Gregory would have laughed." Pope Gregory XIII had reformed the calendar in 1582 by trimming 10 days to match the true length of the solar year. At least Father Ryan isn't alone. American Express Company's pocket diaries this year had four of nine Jewish holidays, including Passover and Hanukkah, off by a day. The company sent out an errata memo last month to card holders and employees who had purchased the date books. And then there was the correction in the Canadian Jesuit Mission newsletter, noted last year by the New Yorker magazine. It said, "Fr. J.P. Horrigan, S.J., the executive director of the Canadian Jesuit Missions, did not travel to India in March with the American singer Rosemary Clooney. He went with Gerry Cooney, of the Montreal Consulting Group, Universalia." ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Mon Apr 4 18:05 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA13971; Mon, 4 Apr 94 18:05:27 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA34310; Mon, 4 Apr 1994 16:36:53 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA26824; Mon, 4 Apr 94 17:58:26 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 04 Apr 94 17:58:25 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404050058.AA26824@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 5631457A X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 5631457A To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 4 Apr 94 17:49:10 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 04, 1994 This item comes from Phil Corless: Yellowstone National Park: The boat is called the Little Dipper, but you'd be a fool to dip even your little toe in the waters where this vessel ventures. The 4-by-8-foot boat is Yellowstone National Park's first thermal-pool watercraft. In trial runs last summer, park staff took the Little Dipper for a spin in geothermal pools whose surface water reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Shaped much like a common fishing boat but specially constructed to withstand extreme temperatures, the craft is used to reach vandalized pools for cleanup as well as for study of the park's famous geothermal features. The best thing about the boat is that it's constructed so that it's impossible to capsize anyone into the potentially lethal waters. ========== This item comes from Joern Wettern: Moscow, Russia: Last week's fatal Aeroflot crash over Siberia may have been caused by the pilot's son sitting at the controls and knocking off the autopilot, sending the plane into a dive, according to a preliminary analysis of the crash reported Saturday. Russian media, including the government newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta, said the black box flight recorders being examined by analysts in Paris indicated that a child was at the controls of the A-310 Airbus when it went out of control. "A-310 driven by a child?" said the Rossiiskaya Gazeta headline over a story blaming the crew for the tragedy by allowing the son of one of the pilots into the cockpit "to play with the autopilot." Other reports said the black box voice recorder confirmed the presence of non-crew in the cockpit, including children. Analysts also are studying a data recorder. The Moscow Times, citing unnamed aviation sources, reported that the 15-year-old son of the plane's captain was allowed to sit at the controls, inadvertently knocked off the autopilot and fell into the control column, sending the plane into a steep nosedive, while the crew members standing behind the boy were knocked off their feet and never managed to get control of the plane after that in the few minutes it took to fall out of the sky. Officials in Moscow said they were aware of the scenario emerging from the Paris analysis and reported in Moscow media but noted that the crash was still under investigation and that it was too early to draw conclusions. The plane, one of five Airbuses in the Aeroflot fleet and the Russian airline's newest plane, was flying at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) when it suddenly plunged to Earth over Siberia less than half way from Moscow to Hong Kong. Komsomolkaya Pravda, in its story laying blame on a father showing his son how to fly the jetliner, quoted a Russian member of the investigation team in France as ruling out terrorism. The plane carried 63 passengers and 12 crew members. There were two dozen foreigners on the flight. The Moscow Times said that since the flight was underbooked, Aeroflot allowed 30 of its personnel and their families to take a trip to Hong Kong, including eight Aeroflot pilots. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Tue Apr 5 19:00 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA17687; Tue, 5 Apr 94 19:00:22 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA17184; Tue, 5 Apr 1994 17:31:40 -0800 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA07777; Tue, 5 Apr 94 18:55:49 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Tue, 05 Apr 94 18:55:49 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404060155.AA07777@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 3162CB8C X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 3162CB8C To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Tue, 5 Apr 94 18:42:53 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 05, 1994 Colchester, England: A passenger survived a 3,000-foot fall with minor injuries after a faulty ejector seat catapulted him from a small jet while it was flying upside down at 240 MPH. Des Moloney, 28, got his damaged parachute partly open and made a rough landing on grass near a supermarket in Colchester, Essex, about 45 miles northeast of London. "It feels great to be alive," he said Monday before he walked out of Colchester General Hospital. He was treated for minor injuries and his neck was in a brace. "I knew I was in big trouble because I was not in the airplane, which was a bit of a shock," Moloney, who had never parachuted before, said of his fall. His brother Tom, 31, pilot and owner of the two-seat Provost jet trainer, said he was doing an upside-down victory roll Sunday afternoon when Des "went crashing through the canopy glass." Tom Moloney radioed an emergency call and flew over where his brother left the plane, but saw no parachute. "The return flight to the airfield was horrific -- the worst 15 minutes of my life. I thought Des was a goner." Tom said his brother was saved from being cut or blacking out because the visor on his helmet was down, he knew the right procedures, and he did not panic. ========== New York, New York: Calling all slobs. Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but it won't win you the "Messiest Office in America" contest. Publisher HarperBusiness is inviting slobs around the nation to write an essay describing why their office is the messiest. Photos are recommended but optional. The winner receives new office furniture and gets his or her desk, plus the desks or work stations of four colleagues, cleaned and reorganized by Jeffrey Mayer, author of "Winning the Fight Between You and Your Desk," which HarperBusiness publishes. ========== Spokane, Washington: A man who was hurt when the motorized wheelchair he was driving struck a car head-on could be charged with drunken driving. The 29-year-old Spokane man was driving his wheelchair south in a northbound lane Saturday night when he collided with a car and suffered a broken leg. ========== Charleston Kings, England: When night descends in a warm spring mist, Sandra and Tony Jeans sense love and danger in the air. They march with buckets and flashlights out to the busy A40 highway. Their mission: to rescue toads from the perils of desire. Each spring the Jeanses -- and hundreds of other volunteer patrollers across Britain -- carry amorous toads who are in the besotted throes of an annual mating migration across dangerous roads, so the toads are not flattened by passing vehicles. "OK, it's not the prettiest of things, and it's always been cast in the bad role in the fairy stories -- and, of course, there are particular toad species which if you touch the skin, you hallucinate," said Sandra Jeans, a business consultant. "But they have as much right to be here as we have." And as much right to fall in love, toad patrollers contend. The difficulty is that each year from March until May, thousands of mature common toads -- their Latin species name is Bufo bufo -- return at night to spawn at the ponds or watercourses where they were born. This means the toads must cross busy highways before they can roll with each other in the muck. After dusk, the toad mating march often ends in sudden death. "You get the whole road covered in them," said Les Stocker, founder of the St. Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital and one of Britain's original toad patrollers. "It becomes impossible to drive along and not squash a few." The toads seem to have little awareness that their desire to mate puts them in jeopardy. "The poor males come down first and tend to hang around in the middle of the road for the females, which is a disaster," said Sandra Jeans. A female then waddles along, loaded down with eggs. As many as half a dozen males promptly jump on top of her and "the poor female has to carry these males on her back," she said. Toad patrollers gather toads in buckets, halt traffic with flashlights and then ferry the creatures safely across. Wounded toads with broken or severed limbs are rushed by volunteers to wildlife rescue centers such as St. Tiggywinkles, a complex in Buckinghamshire equipped with a triage veterinary nurse, a sterile operating theater, incubators and post-operative recovery rooms. At St. Tiggywinkles, self-taught wildlife rescuer Stocker straps a tiny mask over the wounded toad's nose, puts it to sleep with gas and then attempts to repair its injuries, mainly with stitches. Once recovered, the toads are taken back to the ponds and re-introduced into what many hope will be a good, reproductive life. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Thu Apr 7 18:21 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA28457; Thu, 7 Apr 94 18:21:21 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA31077; Thu, 7 Apr 1994 17:52:42 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA21090; Thu, 7 Apr 94 18:17:01 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Thu, 07 Apr 94 18:17:00 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404080117.AA21090@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 4FC47A71 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 4FC47A71 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Thu, 7 Apr 94 18:09:47 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 07, 1994 The following two items come from Ed Grether: New York, New York: A planned 24-hour cable service called the Classic Sports Network will show great sports events from the past, going back to 1896. To quote Yogi Berra, it sounds to us like deja-vu all over again. The network will be funded by Liberty Media, AT&T, and Allen & Co. ========== New York, New York: Yes, TBWA Advertising is selling a $30 diskette that consists mainly of multimedia ads for Absolut Vodka and that includes paintings of Absolut Vodka bottles by Andy Warhol and other artists. The program should be of interest to multimedia lovers, art lovers, and vodka lovers. ========== Ypsilanti, Michigan: Geoffrey Rose had no declared opposition for re- election to the Ypsilanti City Council. He lost anyway, to an 18-year-old he thought was working for his campaign. Frank Houston, an Easter Michigan University freshman, collected 32 write-in votes in Monday's general election. Rose got 16. "I am dumbfounded, to put it mildly," Rose said. "This guy was on my campaign staff. I gave (Houston) a copy of my list of registered voters last week and he said, 'I am going to help you identify voters for your election.' "I'm guess I'm too trusting." Houston defended his winning tactics. "All I would tell was that I would get the people to vote," he said. He said he never told Rose which candidate he would promote. Houston said Rose, whose ward includes Eastern Michigan University, approached him several times seeking his volunteer help because Houston is a member of the student Senate. Houston said he eventually decided to run because he thought Rose was inadequately representing students. "I couldn't come out and tell him I was going to run against him. I thought he had figured it out," said Houston. He is considering majoring in political science. Rose gave a different scenario, saying Houston approached him, volunteering to help identify voters for his campaign. Houston and other newly elected council members will be sworn in Monday. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Mon Apr 11 18:36 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA02392; Mon, 11 Apr 94 18:36:50 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA16517; Mon, 11 Apr 1994 18:07:37 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA14177; Mon, 11 Apr 94 18:30:32 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 11 Apr 94 18:30:32 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404120130.AA14177@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: BA2BC700 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: BA2BC700 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 11 Apr 94 18:21:43 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 11, 1994 Vilnius, Lithuania: Lithuania's old money, replaced last year by a new currency, has been put back into circulation, this time as toilet paper. In 1992 the former Soviet republic introduced a temporary currency called the Talonas. They were also known as zoo tickets because they bore pictures of animals. Now, the government is emptying bank vaults of 30 tons of worthless Talonas notes and sending them to the Grigikes Paper Factory in Vilnius for conversion into toilet paper. ========== Everett, Washington: At the very least, police say, Robert Langstead makes an effort to comfort victims while allegedly pointing a gun in their faces. "Don't worry, I'm as nervous as you are," the 43-year- old, 17-time felon reportedly assures young women who mind the cash registers at beauty salons and doughnut shops. Langstead was arraigned on nine counts of first-degree robbery. Last month, he pleaded guilty to robbing a hair salon in North Seattle. ========== Los Angeles, California: A surgeon was charged with negligence and incompetence for allegedly putting a sandbag on the foot pedal of a cutting tool to keep the blade turning in a patient's spine while he left the operating room. Dr. Fereydoune Shirazi went out for 11 minutes to make a phone call and use the bathroom, the Medical Board of California said. Shirazi, 55, said that he forgot to turn off the tool during the 1990 operation but that the 30-year-old patient was in no danger because the device can cut away only degenerated spinal disc tissue, not healthy tissue. The doctor could lose his license if an administrative judge upholds the board's charges. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Apr 13 08:50 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA08127; Wed, 13 Apr 94 08:50:08 PDT Received: from netmail.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA18614; Wed, 13 Apr 1994 08:21:15 -0700 Received: by netmail.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA02403; Wed, 13 Apr 94 07:46:33 -0700 Received: by netmail using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 13 Apr 94 07:46:32 PDT Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA20304; Tue, 12 Apr 94 17:26:14 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Tue, 12 Apr 94 17:26:14 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404130026.AA20304@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: A9F9C99B X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: A9F9C99B To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Tue, 12 Apr 94 17:02:30 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 12, 1994 This item comes from Jeff Gross: Fort Wayne, Indiana: An exotic dancer's surgically enlarged breasts are business assets that can be depreciated, a U.S. Tax Court judge says. Cynthia Hess of Fort Wayne -- who performs as "Chesty Love" -- had implants that enlarged her bust to 56FF and claimed a $2,088 deduction for depreciation in 1988. The IRS rejected the deduction, saying expenses to enhance appearance, while useful for business, are so inherently personal they can't be deducted. But Special Trial Judge Joan Seitz Pate says in last month's ruling that the deduction was odd, but legal: Hess' weekly income soared from $750 to $3,000 after the implants -- showing their business value. The implants made Hess' breasts so large -- about 10 pounds each -- that she couldn't derive personal benefit from them. "They were so large that they ruined her personal appearance, her health and imposed severe stress on....relationships," Pate writes. The IRS was unavailable for comment. ========== This item comes from Bruce Cronquist: Seattle, Washington: Phil Rossignol's smoke alarm worked. The battery powered detector sent out a piercing alarm the other day, even though Phil had seen no smoke. He decided to check it out. "I took the cover off, and flames were coming out of it," said Phil. "I called the fire department and they came over. They thought it was ironic, too." The source of the fire was a tiny electronic component inside the detector. "We've got a Polaroid of it," said firefighter Tom O'Conner. "We weren't sure anybody was going to believe us when we got back." ========== Nicosia, Cyprus: When Turkish and Greek Cypriots took aim Sunday, it wasn't at each other. The best-flung darts went straight to the bull's-eye. Busloads of Cypriots, nominally enemies, gathered here from both sides of the Green Line for an unconventional bid for peace on the divided island. "We came here to play darts and to prove that we can be together," said Mustafa Bokaner, a used-car dealer from the Turkish Cypriot half of the divided capitol, Nicosia. The First All Cyprus Darts Tournament was the first major sporting event between the two Cypriot communities since the east Mediterranean island gained independence from Britain in 1960, organizer Tom Thoupos said. Forty Turkish Cypriot dart players and scores of friends and fans trooped through barbed-wire barricades at the U.N.-administered checkpoint to line up against 88 Greek Cypriot challengers at Nicosia's Hilton Hotel. The tournament was meant to show that ordinary people - - car mechanics and cooks, salesman and secretaries -- don't care much about the so-called "Cyprus Problem." Dartboard diplomacy grew out of a modest idea of Australian peacekeeper, Sgt. Doug Child, who invited several players for a couple of informal games in the U.N. buffer zone last year. He has since returned home. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Apr 13 17:48 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA10836; Wed, 13 Apr 94 17:48:28 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA22518; Wed, 13 Apr 1994 17:19:32 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA21166; Wed, 13 Apr 94 16:44:25 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 13 Apr 94 16:44:25 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404132344.AA21166@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: C6105D24 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: C6105D24 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 13 Apr 94 17:30:08 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 13, 1994 Manila, Philippines: Worried by complaints that Philippine police officers' arrogance discourages people from reporting crimes, the Manila force has begun a campaign to win public trust by awarding a weekly cash prize to the cop with the best smile. ========== Amherst, Massachusetts: Stephen Powelson, 76, of Paris, has spent 16 years memorizing Homer's "Iliad" in the ancient Greek. All 600 pages, 15,693 lines. So far, he's gotten 14,800 lines under his belt. On Monday, Powelson recited an hour's worth -- about 650 lines -- for a dozen classics professors and students at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Why? "Every person has a secret desire to achieve immortality. My way is to absorb into myself something that is immortal," he says. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Thu Apr 14 17:48 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA14918; Thu, 14 Apr 94 17:48:45 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA19526; Thu, 14 Apr 1994 17:19:41 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA25402; Thu, 14 Apr 94 16:43:27 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Thu, 14 Apr 94 16:43:27 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404142343.AA25402@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: A0CB3D5C X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: A0CB3D5C To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Thu, 14 Apr 94 17:35:01 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 14, 1994 Tokyo, Japan: Japan's Air Force had to spend $960,000 to inspect training jets after a mechanic fiddled with canopy switches and circuit breakers in an expensive prank. The Air Force conducted sophisticated tests last year to probe mysteriously malfunctioning gauges and instruments on four T-4 jet trainers at the Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. The advanced Kawasaki T-4 jets are used to give polish to trainees before they pilot an F-15, the main fighter in the Japanese Air Force. Air Force technicians could not find the problem despite inspections that lasted eight months and involved the use of magneto-spectrograms and additional insulation to the wiring. The planes were grounded during that time. Earlier this year, the mechanic, a 21-year-old ground- crew sergeant whose name was not released, was recorded by a video camera hidden in the hanger as he fiddled with the switches and breakers. During the investigation, the mechanic told superiors that he had been doing it all along. "It was fun to watch everybody thrown into confusion," he was quoted as saying. He was suspended from the service last month and left the Air Force. The Air Force may sue the mechanic for civil damages. ========== Spokane, Washington: It can take 13 months to get mail from the Kingdom of Swaziland, but at Larry and Bernadine Romero's house, it was worth the wait. Pictured in one corner of a postage stamp from the southern Africa country is King Mswati III, son of King Sobhusa and Queen Ntombi. In another corner is the Romero's son, Mitchell Romero. Move over, Elvis. When the Swazi government wanted to commemorate 25 years of Peace Corps volunteerism in that country, it chose Romero, 26, surrounded by his students. The stamp surprised his parents. "He hadn't breathed a word of it," said Larry. "He treats it like it was no big deal." Romero teaches architecture and building in the tiny nation tucked between South Africa and Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. The king, in one corner of the stamp, wears traditional garb. Romero wears a Spiderman tie. In Swaziland, Romero designed and built the pavilion where the 25-anniversary Peace Corps celebrations were held. He has also designed and built a farmers market and soon will attempt a two-story office building. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Mon Apr 18 18:14 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA24936; Mon, 18 Apr 94 18:14:34 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA20256; Mon, 18 Apr 1994 18:12:57 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA27387; Mon, 18 Apr 94 17:11:13 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 18 Apr 94 17:11:13 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404190011.AA27387@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 8642CAD7 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 8642CAD7 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 18 Apr 94 18:04:39 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 18, 1994 This item comes from Bruce Cronquist: Seattle, Washington: Seattle marketing consultant Jan Wilder reports on a recent drive-by. She and two associates were crossing the street in a crosswalk with the light. They couldn't help noticing a snazzy red Porche stopped in the middle of the crosswalk. Wilder says, "As we walked past the Porche, the passenger reached out and handed me a flower, wrapped with a ribbon. Then the car sped off. My first drive-by flowering. I love this town!" ========== This item comes from Tom Glaab: Richmond, Virginia: Virginia Is For Lovers, according to the state's tourism motto. And now it's for breast-feeders too. The Old Dominion has just become the third state in the country -- after Florida and North Carolina -- to guarantee women the right to breast-feed in public without fear of being charged with indecent exposure. Jean W. Cunningham (D-Richmond) proposed the legislation after hearing stories about mothers being harassed "and made to feel like criminals" when they tried to nurse in shopping malls and other public places. Several women were told they couldn't breast-feed at Wolf Trap last summer because they might attract bees, although the park later backed down after criticism. Despite proven health and nutritional benefits for mother and child, only about half of all new mothers try to breast- feed, and many quit after a short time. One reason given is the discomfort women feel from gawkers who deride them as exhibitionists -- no matter how discreet they try to be in public. While lobbying for the measure in Richmond this year, supporters may have inadvertently hit on a way to speed legislation through the thicket of committee hearings. They showed up whenever the breast-feeding bill was on a hearing agenda, many with nursing babies and fidgety tykes in tow. They were surprised to learn that their issue was always at the top of the list. "They took our bill first every time," Rebecca Wright, a pediatric nurse in Richmond, recalled Friday. "The legislators were anxious for us to be out of there." ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Tue Apr 19 18:19 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA27739; Tue, 19 Apr 94 18:19:20 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA17596; Tue, 19 Apr 1994 18:17:46 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA06631; Tue, 19 Apr 94 17:15:15 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Tue, 19 Apr 94 17:15:14 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404200015.AA06631@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 3384524E X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 3384524E To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Tue, 19 Apr 94 18:06:42 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 19, 1994 Amsterdam, Netherlands: A Dutch researcher, after five years of study, discovered the best way to swat a fly. The trick, it seems, is to wear red, a difficult color for the insects to detect (they see green and violet the best). And use a red fly swatter in the late afternoon when flies are drowsy, as they use 75 percent of their brainpower for sight. ========== Fast News Forum: Maricopa County, Arizona, authorities are alerting cotton farmers to expect a bumper crop of marijuana plants in their fields, thanks to a half ton of pot someone dumped into an irrigation canal. A Detroit, Michigan, desk clerk told police a hotel resident "produced a weapon," gave him a holdup note, scooped about $125 from the till and fled. The weapon he left behind was a submarine sandwich wrapped in a towel. An underdog candidate in Ukraine's parliamentary elections appealed to young voters by giving away an item in short supply even in post-Soviet times -- condoms. Indiana state police took an hour to find a train crew that had stopped its train to eat lunch near a crossing causing the traffic arms to descend and block a road. ========== San Francisco, California: At the recent UniForum computer trade show in San Francisco, the visiting techies rocked to the sounds of two bands: the Beach Boys and the Talking Propellerheads. While the Beach Boys might be a better-known band, the Talking Propellerheads were probably better at interfacing with the crowd. That's because they play songs like "UNIX on the Desktop," sung to the tune of "Message in a Bottle" by the Police: "Just an old OS, isolating me -- oh, and I must confess better than NT - - oh. More Windows hype than anyone can bear, buy my code before I fall into despair -- oh!" The Talking Propellerheads were born 13 years ago when six salesmen at Westboro, Massachusetts-based Data General showed up for the annual sales meeting with pencils, tables, charts -- and guitars, keyboards and drums. They performed "hitech" classic rock parodies, such as "Psycho Salesrep," to the tune "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads, and "Sales Man," a spoof of "Soul Man," last popularized by the Blues Brothers. Their fellow employees and management called for encores. The sextet, most of them former systems engineers, took its name from the slang for tech nerds -- "propellerheads." Last year in Boston, the Talking Propellerheads won the Lotus World "Battle of the Bands" fund-raiser by outperforming groups from Lotus Development, Digital Equipment and ComputerVision. In "Cobol Wizard," to the music of "Pinball Wizard" from the Who's rock opera, "Tommy," they proclaim, "Ever since I was a young boy, I used to write Cobol. From mainframes down to micros, I must have done them all. But I ain't seen nothing like him in any sales office stall. That deaf, dumb and blind kid sure writes a mean Cobol." ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Apr 20 17:19 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA00771; Wed, 20 Apr 94 17:19:10 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA27955; Wed, 20 Apr 1994 17:17:45 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA13515; Wed, 20 Apr 94 16:11:59 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 20 Apr 94 16:11:59 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404202311.AA13515@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 7FA7DD7C X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 7FA7DD7C To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 20 Apr 94 17:05:18 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 20, 1994 This item comes from Chuck Yerkes: Manchester, New Hampshire: A jury awarded $35,000 to a woman who was covered with chemicals and human waste when two men tipped over the portable toilet she was using. Kristen Flynn said some chemicals and waste went up her nose and caused an infection. Flynn, a Concord water inspector, also said the incident made her the brunt of jokes at work. The jury ruled Monday that Jeffrey Morse and Mark Hayward deliberately tipped the toilet at a 1990 trade show in Nashua. Morse and Hayward denied knowing that Flynn was inside. They said the toilet was uneven, and they were trying to level it. ========== This item comes from Bruce Cronquist: Seattle, Washington: Ballard Resident Karen West returned home last week and found one of those large-as-life "For Sale" signs planted in front of her house. Quite a shock. She had no intentions of selling. She dashed into the house to call the real-estate company. After enduring a few phone transfers, she finally reached the listing agent, who apologized for the mix-up (The house where the sign should have been was three blocks south). The incident is not without its irony. West is the Seattle Times' real-estate editor. ========== Los Angeles, California: "What looks really dysfunctional is a meshing of dysfunctions to make it functional." Dr. Joyce Brothers, in a level-headed analysis of the unlevel-headed rock group Smashing Pumpkins, in Rolling Stone magazine. ========== Hollywood, California: "You've probably heard -- I'm leaving my husband, Tom Arnold." Late-night talk show host Arsenio Hall announcing to his audience that he will be ending the "Arsenio Hall Show." ========== Mexico City, Mexico: Kidnapped financier Alfredo Harp Helu has called on his bank to quickly extend him a personal loan to pay off his abductors. Harp Helu, president of Banco Nacional de Mexico, said in letters published Thursday he feared a "final ultimatum" that would lead to his execution and exhorted the bank directors to immediately extend an unspecified amount of credit. ========== Palisade, Colorado: A man who bought his 10-year-old son a toy glider said he was stunned to learn it contained a plea for help from its maker, a Taiwan prison inmate. Ed Tucker's son, Eddie, found the note, riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors, with the glider's instructions. "Hey lucky friends. This toy make in prison Taiwan R.O.C. I'm maker...," the note read. It urged the finder to report the note to the White House and called for Taiwan to be investigated for alleged human rights abuses. The Taiwan government said Tuesday the glider's maker was Liu Xin Ping, 40, who was convicted of robbery, rape and theft and is serving a sentence of 12 years and nine months in a central Taiwan prison. News of the note was carried to Taiwan in an Associated Press story and made headlines on crime pages in Taiwanese papers. Lawmakers then pressed the government about the allegations that prisoners' rights were being violated. "It is absolutely legal to have prisoners work when they are serving their terms," Justice Minister Ma Ying-Jeou told the legislature. "Sometimes they even get higher pay than other factory workers, so we are not abusing them." ========== Cleveland, Ohio: Currently, pumps that are implanted to assist damaged hearts are designed to pulsate like heart muscles. But in the future, heart pumps may move blood in a continuous flow. Patients with a weak pulse, or no pulse at all, will be able to lead normal lives. Dr. Leonard Golding of the Cleveland Clinic, one of several institutions developing non-pulsing heart- assist pumps, says a pulse isn't necessary as long as blood flow, pressure, and volume are sufficient. If a pump doesn't have to produce a pulse, he says, its mechanics can be simpler. The clinic's non-pulsing pump, which is being tested in calves, has only one moving part: A rotor, containing magnets, spins around a sealed electric coil. The design avoids any danger of foreign lubricants leaking into the body. Only blood is needed to lubricate the rotor. Golding says the pump's simple design should make it more reliable and about half as expensive as pulsing pumps, which now cost about $50,000. And because the plum-sized pump is one-fourth as large as a conventional pump, it fits more easily inside the chest. Golding hopes to start using the non-pulsing pump in humans in about three years. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Thu Apr 21 18:23 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA05042; Thu, 21 Apr 94 18:22:52 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA25894; Thu, 21 Apr 1994 18:21:18 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA25611; Thu, 21 Apr 94 17:19:49 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Thu, 21 Apr 94 17:19:49 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404220019.AA25611@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: FF0583B8 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: FF0583B8 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Thu, 21 Apr 94 18:13:05 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 21, 1994 [Note from SuperChef: It with sadness that we must announce that starting with Monday's broadcast, WhiteBoard News will begin a new three-day per week schedule: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.] ========= This item comes from Jim Anderson: Iron Mountain, Michigan: A gang of turkeys went for state troopers after causing a fender bender, forcing police to use pepper spray to break them up. Two cars were forced from to stop Friday to avoid the flock that was blocking a road near Iron Mountain in the state's Upper Peninsula. A third car ran into the rear of one of the stopped cars, state police said. As Trooper Daryl Middleton spoke with a driver about the accident, five or six of the birds were "yelping, clucking and gobbling at him as they moved towards him in an intimidating manner," state police said in a news release. It got worse when Trooper Larry Gasperich started directing traffic around the cars. The birds converged on him, then became even more agitated when Gasperich swatted them with his hat. That was when he whipped out his Macelike pepper spray and let loose. "The suspects fled the scene on foot, running down the hill and into a wooded area south of the crime scene," police said. ========= Hollywood, California: Trekkie alert: Production has begun on "Star Trek: Generations," which teams veteran Trekkers William Shatner, James Doohan and Walter Koenig with stars of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," including Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. According to the entertainment-industry newspaper Variety, Malcom McDowell plays the villain -- a scientist who, McDowell says, "believes he's doing the right thing. He may be misguided, but he's not bad." McDowell also told Variety that, as his character, "I get to kill Kirk." ========== Washington, District of Columbia: "Hey, you know it's part of my job to make people feel better, and I've made millions of Americans fell better about how they look in running clothes." First Jogger, President Bill Clinton. =========== Los Angeles, California: Awash in old money, Fed banks seek new uses for shredded notes. Facing higher disposal costs as nearby dumps fill up, the Federal Reserve Bank of Los Angeles looks for firms with novel uses for the 185 tons of bills it shreds each year. Terra Roofing Products is testing the shredded bills, called residue, in roofing shingles made of recycled paper. Gridcore Systems is trying it in molded fiberboard panels made into stage sets, trade-show displays and such. Not all Fed banks fell pressure to cut landfill use, but residue volume is growing about 5% a year, says James Reese of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The Fed banks shred about seven billion bills a year, or 7,000 tons. Cemtech L.P. is close to signing a contract to use Richmond's residue in fuel pellets, which fire up boilers. ========== New York, New York: Burpee Seeds has put together a nine-seed package designed for a garden that will lure insect-eating bats. ========== New York, New York: You've surely heard of Albert Einstein, but what about Jerome Lemelson? Lemelson's inventions include the compact disk, the cordless telephone, and the VCR. Now he is donating several million dollars to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to establish the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize, the world's largest award for inventors. Starting in 1995, it will be given annually to an outstanding U.S. inventor. Lemelson hopes the prize will increase the prestige of his profession and inspire more schoolchildren to become inventors. =========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Fri Apr 22 17:41 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA07600; Fri, 22 Apr 94 17:41:11 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA21822; Fri, 22 Apr 1994 17:39:40 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA25588; Fri, 22 Apr 94 16:38:24 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Fri, 22 Apr 94 16:38:24 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404222338.AA25588@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 6BCB215D X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 6BCB215D To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 17:32:47 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 22, 1994 [Note from SuperChef: It with sadness that we must announce that starting with Monday's broadcast, WhiteBoard News will begin a new three-day per week schedule: Monday, Wednesday and Friday.] ========= New York, New York: "I'll take 'Things I Don't Really Want to Know' for $500, Alex." Talk show host David Letterman on President Clinton's admission that he usually wears briefs. ========== Portland, Oregon: An explosion? An earthquake? The end of the world? Portland-area emergency dispatchers didn't know what to think Wednesday morning when as many as 50 people from all corners of the region reported hearing explosions. Baffled dispatchers learned later that the unlikely culprit was the space shuttle Endeavour, which created a sonic boom as it crossed Oregon. The shuttle was on its way to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert after completing an 11-day mission. Even earthquake-monitoring seismometers detected the boom at 9:42 AM in Oregon. The Endeavour landed 12 minutes later. ========== Atlanta, Georgia: "To Gary Hill, who I promised to mention in my will, I want to say, 'Hi Gary.'" Lewis Grizzard, the late newspaper columnist and humorist, to an old college friend he promised to remember in his will." ========== New York, New York: Defense-industry humor paints this picture of the future: Having merged, Northrop and Grumman change their name to "Norman." Then they buy another big-name aerospace contractor to become "Norman Rockwell." ========== Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles is more than the City of Angels -- it's also the city of vampires. At least that's the claim of self-proclaimed vampirologist Stephen Kaplan, who says 10 percent of American vampires moved to L.A. in 1992, making it the U.S. vampire capital. "Vampires are beautiful, charming, charismatic, and sexually dominating, so they fit right in with the L.A. lifestyle," Kaplan says. "Also, people were less clothing there, so vampires can see more accessible areas." Kaplan, who founded the Vampire Research Center in Queens, New York, in 1972, believes 20 blood-craving vampires call L.A. home; 20 more live elsewhere in California. Thirty vampires make Florida the second most popular among the "undead," while New York ranks third, with 25 vampire citizens. There are more than 850 vampires worldwide, adds Kaplan, who came up with these figures after being contacted by alleged vampires and using a questionnaire to weed out "the mentally ill, hoaxers, blood cultists, and other would-be Draculas." "Real vampires have a physiological need to drink a few ounces of blood several times a week," Kaplan states. "They rarely kill, and most are nice. Unlike their fictional counterparts, real vampires can tolerate daylight if they wear a sunscreen, and they don't leave fang marks; rather, they bite very gently or use a cutting device." ========== Hempstead, New York: Ready for a seminar on the Sultan of Swing? To mark Babe Ruth's 100th birthday in 1995, Hofstra University in New York plans a "scholarly conference" on the baseball legend. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Tue Apr 26 09:56 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA16047; Tue, 26 Apr 94 09:56:24 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA27440; Tue, 26 Apr 1994 09:54:38 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA03840; Tue, 26 Apr 94 08:51:01 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Tue, 26 Apr 94 08:51:01 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404261551.AA03840@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 367E66EA X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 367E66EA To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Tue, 26 Apr 94 08:38:09 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 4622 Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 25, 1994 Dresden, Germany: A woman gave birth unexpectedly on the toilet and the infant went down the pipe, but was saved after the father and neighbors tore out the plumbing. The birth at about 5 AM last Wednesday occurred in Dippoldiswalde, a town near the Czech border in eastern Germany, and was announced in a police statement. The parents and child were not identified, and the gender of the baby was not announced. The woman's husband heard her screaming from the toilet in their second-floor apartment, the police report said, and with the help of people on the ground floor, the sewage pipe was broken open. "And then the miracle happened. The newborn ... was rescued alive," the report said. ========== Key West, Florida: Adrift at sea for 13 days, the three Cuban rafters prayed that someone would pluck them from the water and take them to Miami. Instead, the refugees wound up as the rescuers. Late Tuesday afternoon, the rafters spotted a fisherman in a battered dinghy. "We thought we were saved," said one of the Cubans yesterday. "When we got to this man's boat, his engine was broken, he had no radio and he had no food. We told him to get on our raft because it seemed to us that he'd be better off." Juan Torna Hernandez, 46, of Miami, was relieved to climb aboard the 12-foot rubber raft. "He told us he had been adrift for four days and that he had no way of calling anyone for help," said the rafting rescuer. Early Wednesday morning, the four men landed in the Florida Keys, said a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman. "We thought Torna Hernandez was a rafter," said the spokesman. "But then he whipped out his Florida driver's license and his Social Security card." ========== Dayville, Oregon: A Bend man was shocked to find someone had stolen his hot tub by cutting it from the deck of his mountain home. He got another shock when he saw the hot tub sitting in a driveway in nearby Dayville. Mike Fassette discovered a week ago someone had stolen electronic equipment and liquor from his remote cabin on Murderer's Creek. Then he noticed the burglar had used a chainsaw to carve a huge $9,000 hot tub out of the deck. When Fassette drove to Dayville to report the crime to police, he spotted the tub. Grant County sheriff's deputies searched the house where the "hot" tub was taken and found electronics and other items from other burglaries. A 20-year-old man was charged with burglary and possession of stolen property. ========== Aradan, Russia: Fishermen from the Russian village of Aradan have discovered a hole in the ice covering the Sayano- Shushenskoye Reservoir that they believe was caused by an object falling from space. Tass reported the shape of the three-foot-diameter hole indicated that the object fell at an angle and at a great velocity. Scientists will wait until the spring thaw to recover what they believe is a meteorite now resting beneath the ice. ========== Fast News Forum: A man dressed as a giant white mouse, chanting "rats have rights," was arrested for mischief in Toronto after disrupting an international conference on animal genetics. A mortuary worker in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, cut off a human head and took it as a gift to two girlfriends having a party. An Australian schoolboy who sued his former headmaster for defamation for telling his mother he was naughty lost his court case. A Michigan rape suspect with an aching tooth went to an emergency room. His alleged victim was there talking to police, who quickly made the arrest. Doctors at an English jail had to separate a woman from her inmate husband after they used superglue to stick their hands together during a visit. A box looked suspicious. The police dog went nuts. Philadelphia Airport officials called the bomb squad, closed a major road and shut down a train line. The contents? Cooked crawfish. ========== Winston, Oregon: A 27-year-old woman has been charged with delivering drugs to her baby daughter by feeding her breast milk containing methamphetamine. Shelly Monroe was arrested Wednesday after a Douglas County counselor observed her breast feeding her month-old child. The arrest came just days after Monroe, who is on probation for burglary and theft convictions, submitted a urinalysis that turned up positive for methamphetamine. Monroe has been charged with delivering a controlled substance to a minor and recklessly endangering a minor -- her baby. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Apr 27 21:47 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA25139; Wed, 27 Apr 94 21:47:15 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA23663; Wed, 27 Apr 1994 21:45:22 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA10954; Wed, 27 Apr 94 17:11:42 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 27 Apr 94 17:11:41 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404280011.AA10954@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 9E2287C3 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 9E2287C3 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 27 Apr 94 17:23:12 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 4601 Status: RO WhiteBoard News for April 27, 1994 Cape Canaveral, Florida: Sometime after Gene Roddenberry's death in 1991, the ashes of the Star Trek creator were hauled into space, his widow said Tuesday. Secretly carried aboard a shuttle mission, Roddenberry's ashes were launched into space and returned to Earth, Majel Barrett Roddenberry said at Cape Canaveral. NASA officials said they did not know on which mission the ashes flew, but said the event was a space program first. ========== This item comes from Bruce Cronquist: San Luis Obispo, California: The town is considering requiring porches. Although porches throughout the country have largely become extinct, they could make a comeback in this town. A City Council committee has perplexed residents here by recommending that all new houses built have a front porch. The rationale: "Such design features are effective ways to build neighborhoods and to improve the social ecology of the city," says the General Plan Land Use Element, Environmental Quality Task Force Draft. "If you drive around the suburbs, for instance," says architect critic Witold Rybczynski, "you'll see very often people sitting in their garages. It's very sad. It shows they want to sit out and look at the street, but that's the only place where they can do it." A local resident, Steve Parker, says "Here it's like the old times. Down (in Southern California) everyone's in their back yards...They're scared of everyone else." ========== This item also comes from Bruce Cronquist: Redmond, Washington: Redmond resident Anna Rising experienced future shock while refueling her car at a BP station in Everett. The credit card-activated pump flashed an electronic message. It read "If you would like a latte, push this button and someone will take your order." ========== This item comes from Jodi Shapiro: New York, New York: An international effort to crack a tough mathematical problem has succeeded, researchers said yesterday. The problem has stood out as a challenge to computer scientists for 17 years because it was linked to a popular coding system and was said to be proof of the system's security. The problem was to factor a 129-digit number, breaking it into its component parts the way a molecule is broken into atoms. This particular number was suggested 17 years ago by the inventors of a coding system that was said to be provably secure because to break it a person would have to factor a very large number. To show how hard it was, the inventors of the coding system published the 129 digit number, encoded a message with it, and challenged people to break the code and read the message. They predicted it would take 40 quadrillion years to factor it with the methods of the time and that no one would be able to break the code until well into the next century. The number was known as R.S.A. 129, after the coding system's inventors. They offered $100 to anyone who could factor the number. Dr. Arjen Lenstra, a computer scientist at Bellcore in Morristown, NJ, said it took 100 quadrillion calculations, contributed by more than 600 Internet volunteers, to factor the number. Derek Atkins, a graduate student at MIT, collected the calculations, checked them and passed them on to Dr. Lenstra. Lenstra used a Bellcore computer with 16,000 processors to churn out the factors of R.S.A. 129. The answer, the group said, is this: 114,381,625,757,888,867,669,235,779,976,146,612,010,218, 296,721,242,362,562,561,842,935,245,733,897,830,597,123, 563,958,705,058,989,075,147,599,290,026,879,543,541 = 3,490,529,510,847,650,949,147,849,619,903,898,133,417,76 4,638,493,387,843,990,820,577 X 32,769,132,993,266,709,549,961,988,190,834,461,413,177,6 42,967,992,942,539,798,288,533. The encoded message says: "The magic words are squeamish ossifrage." Mr. Atkins said that the group is donating the $100 reward to the Free Software Foundation, a group that distributes free computer programs. ========== New York, New York: Tax humor? A real-estate tax publication carries an article titled, "The Naked Truth about 'LUST' Reimbursements." It tells all about leaking underground storage tanks. ========== Hollywood, California: "Did you see that picture of President Clinton at the Charlotte Motor Speedway? That is the perfect place for him to be driving. You can only go left, you can go in circles and you end up where you started." Tonight Show host Jay Leno ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Fri Apr 29 17:32 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA01677; Fri, 29 Apr 94 17:32:05 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA16629; Fri, 29 Apr 1994 17:30:10 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA22799; Fri, 29 Apr 94 16:28:20 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Fri, 29 Apr 94 16:28:20 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9404292328.AA22799@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 59F878E5 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 59F878E5 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Fri, 29 Apr 94 17:21:25 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 5263 Status: R WhiteBoard News for April 29, 1994 This item comes from Tom Glaab: Washington, District of Columbia: As if CIA Director R. James Woolsey didn't have enough problems on his plate, what with Aldrich Ames, congressional battles over counterintelligence reforms and a pending sex discrimination suit by CIA lady spies. Now word filters out of Langley headquarters that a male CIA employee within the office that analyzes spy satellite photographs is undergoing a sex-change operation. The employee has already begun wearing women's clothing before surgery completes the changeover, and the activity has been disruptive for those in the imagery analysis office, CIA sources have told. ========== London, England: "You lived to tell the tale, did you?" Prince Charles to a well-wisher who told the prince she had met estranged wife, Princess Diana. ========== Washington, District of Columbia: Planted as decorative shrubbery around numerous government buildings in Washington, D.C. are American yew trees. The botanical name for the species is "Taxus taxus." ========== Paris, France: A new French cable channel, Contact Television, is aimed at personal needs 24 hours a day. CTV runs announcements for people offering to sell items or seeking anything from a job to a marriage partner. Ads, which can be taped in CTV's studio or by home video, may run between 30 and 80 seconds. Responses can arrive almost immediately through a CTV phone system as an answering machine. ========== Phoenix, Arizona: "Sole of the West," an exhibit at Arizona's Desert Caballeros Western Museum, celebrates cowboy boots. ========== Doswell, Virginia: Wayne and Garth getting their own amusement park? No way! Way! Wayne's World, an 8-acre park within a park, opens here Saturday at Paramount's Kings Dominion, 75 miles south of Washington, D.C. And a second Wayne's World opens in mid-June at Paramount's Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wayne's World transports visitors to Aurora, Illinois, Wayne's hometown, where they'll find: The Hurler: You didn't see this in the movie, but the 3,157-foot wooden roller coaster, which hits speeds of 50 MPH, is definitely worthy. "Emergency hurler cups" are on hand just in case." Stan Mikita's: Grab Wayne's favorite, a jelly doughnut (you get a straw to slurp out the jelly), at this replica of Wayne's most excellent doughnut shop from the movie. Wayne's basement: See where Wayne and Garth tape their show; have your picture taken on Wayne's couch. The new area also has Scream Weaver, a flying scooter ride, and the Rock Shop, for loading up on Wayne and Garth caps, T-shirts and other paraphernalia. You'll also see the Mirth Mobile -- Wayne's turquoise AMC Pacer from the movie -- and get a chance to chat with strolling Wayne and Garth lookalikes. ========== Los Angeles, California: An eye-popping $2.7 million pregnancy-bias award by a California jury, believed to be the largest of its kind, has been trimmed by $850,000 after a state court judge ruled it was based on insufficient evidence. Lana Ambruster, who was fired by a California insurer while pregnant, unfairly aroused jurors' sympathy "by constantly weeping and relating every problem she had in her life to her termination," writes Judge Leonard Sprinkles. ========== "When they settle in for popcorn, a soft drink and a candy bar, I'm sure they're aware they're not following the Pritikin regimen." William Kartozian, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, on the high saturated fat content of movie theater popcorn. ========== Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysia's King Azlan Shah stepped down to be succeeded by a fellow sultan under the system of rotating monarchs. Nine hereditary sultans take turns as king every five years. Tuanku Jaafar Tuanku Abdul Rahman will be the next supreme sovereign under the constitutional monarchy begun in 1957 upon Malaysia's independence from Britain. ========== Cannes, France: As nearly 850 companies and representatives from 100 countries gathered last week to buy and sell television programs at the Marche Internationale des Programmes de Television, one particular show stood out. It comes from FinnImage, representing independent producers from Finland, with its offering, "Underwater Puppet Theatre," and there's nothing else on the market like it. The series, a collection of folk tales from Sri Lanka and Thailand targeted at six-to-12-year-olds, promises to explore such varied topics as the "gastric acids of a crocodile," the "raw materials of the perfume industry" and the maxims of "Mother Crab," all to explain the culture, traditions and values of Southeast Asia. Because the folk tales take place underwater, the producer, naturally, plans to do most of the filming of the elaborately bejeweled puppets underwater. All they need is $600,000 to go to Sri Lanka to produce the shows. Project manager Marita Rainbird concedes that "Underwater Puppet Theatre" might have a difficult time finding a home on United States television but says, "it's a good thing for Americans to know about." ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Mon May 2 22:24 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA07711; Mon, 2 May 94 22:24:02 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA19200; Mon, 2 May 1994 22:22:09 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA02529; Mon, 2 May 94 21:14:28 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 02 May 94 21:14:28 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405030414.AA02529@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: CF266C8E X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: CF266C8E To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 2 May 94 22:09:43 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 4705 Status: R WhiteBoard News for May 02, 1994 London, England: A couple who fell in love after having sex change operations have appealed to Queen Elizabeth to support their campaign to marry under their new identities. Although they are legally allowed to marry, Janeen Newham and David Willis would have to assume their old genders for the wedding ceremony as British statute does not recognize sex-change surgery. According to reports, Newham, 47, would be addressed as the groom, not the bride, because she was born a man, and Willis would be asked whether he wanted to take his girlfriend as his lawfully wedded husband. ========== Manila, Philippines: A drunken man shot himself twice in an apparent suicide attempt but only grazed his head, and ended up in jail when police found he had used an unlicensed gun. It all started when Rogelio Aparicio, 46, became despondent after his wife left him. Aparicio shot himself first in the temple but merely grazed his head. He then aimed the revolver in his mouth but again missed, grazing his lip. A neighbor heard the shots and called the police. Bleeding from his wounds, Aparicio was treated at a hospital and later was arrested for possession of an illegal firearm. ========== "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger ... or puts you on a talk show." Actress and writer Carrie Fisher. ========== Kelso, Washington: Just when he thought he'd heard it all, they dusted off a new one for Cowlitz County District Judge Robert Altenhof. Rodney Williams brought his mother's ashes in a plastic box as his material witness. The 21-year-old Williams said he wanted to prove her illness and death were the reason he missed an earlier court date and didn't pay his fines for an assault charge. "They bring me engine parts, rugs that are urine- stained," Altenhof remarked after Williams' Wednesday appearance. "This is the first time they've brought in human remains." Williams of Kelso, said he didn't have his mother's original death certificate, so he presented the judge with what was left of her. He said he wanted to come clean and take care of his fines. Sighing, Altenhof accepted Williams' excuse. ========== Miami, Florida: Three Cuban refugees who escaped the island on sailboards glided for 12 hours as sharks circled them - - then, exhausted, they stretched out and took naps. Three hours later, at 3 AM Wednesday, they heard the rumble of a boat and sent up a flare. It was a group of American fisherman on their way back from a tournament in Cozumel. "I was thinking, 'Please, let a boat come by and pick us up. Enough with the heroism.'" said Alexander Morales, 21, a professional windsurfer. "And the boat did come." Hitching a ride with the fisherman, Morales, Carlos Gonzales, 26, and Roberto Ortiz, 22, arrived in Key West on Wednesday morning. The three men first concocted their plan two months ago. They rigged their sailboards for the trip across the Florida Straits with special seats, similar to swings, and sturdy sails. And they trained every day, at least four hours a day, often longer. But they lost a powerful ally the moment they left the coast of Santa Fe, their hometown, Tuesday. The wind died, leaving them idle and impatient for long stretches. The sharks edged in closer. At night, the predators never left them alone. "It's very risky, very tiring," said Morales, who competed for Cuba's windsurfing team. "You are nothing compared to the sea. So insignificant." Cuba's border guards never suspected a thing. Windsurfers sail along the Santa Fe coast all the time. Morales and his friends joined the pack early on, when they were kids. "We had done this all our lives," Morales said. ========== Fast News Forum: Police in southern Thailand reopened an alleged suicide case after the victim's relatives said his penis was missing and foul play was suspected. An electronic collar that discourages barking did the trick for a California dog that yapped so much a judge had threatened to have its vocal cords severed. Florida firefighters searching for a cat in a burning garage were expecting to hear a meow. They got something more like a roar. The cat was a 90-pound puma, which was rescued. A Malaysian Airlines flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur returned to Australia 90 minutes after takeoff because the heat generated by 190 goats in the aircraft triggered a fire alarm. An amateur historian in England spent 30 years tracing his family tree, only to be told he was studying the wrong one because he had been adopted. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed May 4 17:06 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA14669; Wed, 4 May 94 17:06:23 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA22048; Wed, 4 May 1994 17:04:21 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA11676; Wed, 4 May 94 16:01:08 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 04 May 94 16:01:07 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405042301.AA11676@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 9131C5A1 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 9131C5A1 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 4 May 94 16:46:48 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 5954 Status: RO WhiteBoard News for May 04, 1994 Puget Sound, Washington: You'd hardly think they need more, but the Navy's Fleet and Industrial Supply Center recently awarded a $71,460 contract for about 25,000 rolls of ... red tape. The contract is "a recurring one," FISC's Katie Palmer tells. The tape comes in three sizes, but the amount purchased is based on "actual fleet needs." Ah, but there's bureaucratic red tape involved as well -- the product is on the "required military purchase list," meaning it has to be bought from a small or disadvantaged business. The contractor is the Cincinnati Association for the Blind. ========== Jacksonville, Florida: It's alligator mating season, and one police officer found out how worked up a gator can get. The 9-foot male alligator tried to take a bite out of Officer M.R. Floyd, then ripped a chunk off his cruiser. The gator had wandered onto a highway Sunday and lunged at cars before Floyd showed up. A state trooper was called in. He snared the gator and captured a 2 1/2-foot baby alligator in a ditch. The young alligator was to be relocated to an isolated area, but so-called nuisance alligators 4 feet and longer are killed because they pose a threat to people and pets. ========== Santa Cruz, California: Koko, the Santa Cruz gorilla who knows sign language, can't seem to get in the mood for love. Problem 1: She's not the least bit attracted to either of two virile male gorillas. Problem 2: Developers say they may start a logging operation next to her wooded compound and, according to people who are paid to know these sort of things, noise makes gorillas more aggressive and, thus, less romantic. California's Department of Forestry has scheduled a June hearing to decide if the logging operation should proceed. Why all the fuss? Francine Patterson, the psychologist who taught Koko sign language, hopes to breed the gorilla to see if she will pass on her language skills to her offspring. ========== Spokane, Washington: Imagine a sidewalk sale where clothes are free. Sweats, ball caps, even a black lace bra. The clothing castoff is part of the ritual of Bloomsday, a 7 1/2-mile timed foot race through Spokane. As runners stripped down to shorts and T-shirts for the race Sunday, they tossed all sorts of apparel into trees or onto sidewalks. For Laurie Tollefson, Sunday's race was a gratis garment bonanza. She walked through downtown, stuffing trash bags full of clothes. Police say it's all free for the taking. "It's open to the scavengers to take what they wish," Sergeant Jim Nicks said. "We feel it's basically the same as throwing it in the garbage can." ========== Singapore: Singapore inaugurated a 99-acre zoo open from 6:30 PM to midnight to allow visitors to view the 1,000 nocturnal inhabitants when they are most active. The Night Safari Park, built for $38.7 million in a stand of jungle in the small city-state, has more than 90 species, ranging from large predators to timid forest dwellers, almost half of them on endangered lists. As most tropical animals are nocturnal, the after-dark park operates a 45-minute tram ride and uses a specifically designed low-intensity lighting system for observing behavior different from that in daytime zoos. ========== New York, New York: A detailed map of the damage wrought by Japanese bombers on Pearl Harbor -- prepared by the attack's top pilot and presented to Emperor Hirohito -- sold Tuesday for $321,500, about twice its estimated value. Forbes Incorporated bought the recently rediscovered map at a spirited auction at Sotheby's. It will display the document in its New York City museum. Sotheby's had predicted the creased watercolor-and-ink map would go for between $100,000 and $150,000. For the past 47 years, the paper was in the archives of Gordon W. Prange, who acquired it while chief of the historical section of General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Occupied Japan. ========== New York, New York: Oreo needs to know. Are you a twister, a dunker, a ski-jumper tosser, or an accelerated-gratification type who pops the whole sandwich cookies in his mouth and -- occasionally -- chews before swallowing? Nabisco marketing gurus have set up a national toll- free number to find out. The number, of course, is (800)EAT-OREO (328-6736). An electronic narrator asks callers to press 1 if they twist apart their Oreos before eating them, 2 if they dunk them in milk, 3 if they nibble, and 4 if they want 20 seconds to explain their own creative ways of doing it. Every hundredth caller gets a prize pack, including lots of cookies, but don't call back from the same number twice or they'll catch on to you. City-by-city results of the eight-week survey will be tabulated after it ends May 15. The company hopes it will help it find ways to sell more cookies. Ann Smith, spokeswoman for Nabisco, has listened to about an hour of the 20-second creative responses. "From what I understand, children like to mash," Smith says. "They crush their Oreos with their hands and eat all the pieces, or they put them in bowls and mash them and put milk on top, and eat it all with a spoon. Some make Oreo mudpies, with a little milk, a lot of mushed- up Oreos, a lot of fingers and a couple of Handi-wipes. But her favorite came from a grown-up -- he likes to roll a cookie on its edge down his forehead, ski-jump it off his nose and catch it in his mouth. If it drops to the floor he can't eat it. That's his rule, she said. Nabisco also has other facts that you may really need to know: Each Oreo takes 1 1/2 hours to make. 47 million pounds of filling is used each year. If all the Oreos sold since their invention in 1912 were stacked on top of each other, they would be as high as 9.8 million Sears Towers. =========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Fri May 6 18:37 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA21236; Fri, 6 May 94 18:37:30 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA16236; Fri, 6 May 1994 18:35:27 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA27484; Fri, 6 May 94 17:32:39 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Fri, 06 May 94 17:32:39 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405070032.AA27484@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 580D512E X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 580D512E To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Fri, 6 May 94 18:25:05 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 4540 Status: R WhiteBoard News for May 06, 1994 Fort Myers, Florida: Barbecue lovers, get ready to go to pig heaven. The Barbecue's Not Just for Breakfast Anymore motorcoach tour, May 18-29, includes cultural highlights of five states and, oh yeah, nearly a dozen barbecue meals. The tour -- offered by Royal Palm Tours of Fort Myers -- leaves from Fort Myers but the eating starts in Memphis. "Defining barbecue can start family-splitting controversies," says Royal Palm's Ron Drake. "Aside from the regional differences, there's the varying preparation techniques, preferred parts of the hog used, sliced, minced, chopped, pulled, with flavor imparted by oak, hickory, charcoal." The tour visits such barbecue joints as Corky's in Memphis, Mary's Old-Fashioned BBQ in Nashville, Porker's in Chattanooga, and Little Pigs BBQ in Asheville, North Carolina. Aside from eating, participants visit the Memphis in May festival, make a pilgrimage to Graceland, tour the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, go whitewater rafting and tour the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. ========== Hong Kong: A rare Chinese stamp, found last December in an English boy's album, sold for $7,700 at an auction in Hong Kong. The stamp, which dates to 1885 and has a small variation from other known examples of its series, was purchased at Sotheby's Holdings Incorporated's first ever stamp sale in the British colony. A Hong Kong collector bought the stamp, discovered when a 16-year-old took the album to a British Broadcasting Corporation television show that appraises heirlooms. ========== "I don't think anyone's ever going to accept me in a comedy -- ever, ever, ever. I'm a commodity. If you go into the store and grab a can of Stallone, you open it up and see Steve Martin -- you don't want that." Actor Sylvester Stallone. ========== New York, New York: If a jet engine can't stand up to a 2.5-pound duck, its manufacturer has a multi-million-dollar turkey. Airplanes sometimes hit birds, and one or two sucked through a jet engine could cause disaster if it couldn't keep working. This means the world's top jet engine makers must perform some gory testing to make sure the inevitable confrontations between bird and airplane will be fatal only to the bird. It may sound crude, but experts say there is just one perfect way to do this: Fire carefully weighed dead birds into running engines and the check for damage. The trials are called "bird ingestion." Pratt & Whitney tested its new PW4084 engines with both a big bird, an 8-pound turkey, and four 2.5-pound ducks. The bird carcasses are shot through an air cannon into the spinning engine blades. A slow-motion film of the larger bird shows the carcass flying toward the blades, which slice it into seven pieces as the engine consumes it. After the ducks are shot into the engine at about 170 miles per hour, tufts of feathers blow out the back. The company obtained birds that had died of natural causes at poultry farms, spokesman Mark Sullivan said. As long as the birds are humanely killed, the practice seems to raise concerns only among the most vocal of animal rights activists. "Anything that reduces the number of air accidents has got to be a good thing," said Derek Niemann, a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in England. Even as jet engine makers utilize different design philosophies, they seem to favor different types of birds. GE Aircraft Engines tried out its GE90 engine on a herring gull. Rolls-Royce in England sticks strictly with ducks. ========== Los Angeles, Washington: In a delicate and extremely rare surgery, a team of doctors at the University of Southern California's University Hospital reattached a woman's entire scalp after her ponytail got caught in a giant blender. Doctors say her prognosis is excellent. Patsy Bogle, 30, yesterday told one of her surgeons about the accident. It was the first time she could recount to anyone other than her husband what happened Tuesday morning. At her job in a Monrovia, California, packaging company, she was cleaning sticky silkscreen residue off the blades of a giant industrial blender when her long ponytail became snagged. She felt her head smash into the metal and in an instant, her scalp was gone -- torn off in a single piece. By all accounts, Bogle kept her wits throughout her ordeal. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed May 11 18:28 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA00096; Wed, 11 May 94 18:28:08 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA17142; Wed, 11 May 1994 18:25:25 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA23335; Wed, 11 May 94 16:05:47 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 11 May 94 16:05:47 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405112305.AA23335@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 42C55520 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 42C55520 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 11 May 94 17:01:19 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 4856 Status: RO WhiteBoard News for May 11, 1994 This item comes from James Whitted: Portland, Oregon: You might say Steven Wade Hamilton had a taste for jewelry, and change for a quarter. Multnomah County sheriff's deputies were called Friday to a suburban Fred Meyer store, where employees accused Hamilton of stealing a marquise bridal set diamond ring valued at $2,299. Sheriff's deputy Steve Phillips thought Hamilton had swallowed the ring and the suspect was taken to a hospital for X-rays. After reviewing the X-rays, the hospital staff confirmed that Hamilton had several foreign objects in his stomach, including what appeared to be the stolen ring. Hamilton, 32, was taken to the Multnomah County Detention Center, where he was held on robbery and criminal mischief charges. On Sunday, a jailer told Phillips that Hamilton had passed two dimes, a nickel and a $160 ring that still had the Fred Meyer price tag attached. No bridal ring showed up, however. Later Sunday, Hamilton was taken to the hospital complaining of intense abdominal pains. An X-ray showed that the ring was inside Hamilton's bowels. Authorities still were waiting Monday for the opportunity to seize the stolen ring. ========== This item comes from Doug Timpe: Cambridge, Massachusetts: They've put a fiberglass cow up there, and a working telephone booth. Even built a small house. So no one was shocked Monday when Massachusetts Institute of Technology students somehow managed to put what appeared to be a campus police car atop the 150- foot high dome on the university's main building. After all, MIT kids will be MIT kids. "They never cause anyone any trouble, but they are mischievous," said Ronald I. Mendes, a physical plant supervisor. The car appeared about 4 a.m. on the roof of the Richard C. Maclaurin Building. It was actually the shell of a car, attached to a wooden frame and painted to look like a cruiser, said MIT Police Chief Anne Glavin. There was a flashing red light on top and a parking ticket on the windshield. Inside was a stuffed upper torso of a body -- and a box of donuts. The culprits haven't been caught, but all fingers point to "The Hackers," an informal and mysterious campus group whose name pre-dates the emergence of computer hacking. University officials said the hackers probably snuck into the building, climbed onto the roof and assembled the car there. School workers disassembled it by 10:30 a.m. Practical jokes have a long tradition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the dome of the Maclaurin building has been the choice site over the last 15 years. The building, modeled after the Roman Pantheon, is the centerpiece of the campus, fronting the Charles River that separates Cambridge and Boston. In 1979, a life-sized fiberglass cow was placed on the dome. Three years later, a telephone booth -- complete with a working phone -- was installed. In 1986, hackers built a small house, complete with door and windows. Hackers are careful not to cause permanent damage, so no one seems to mind. "It's part of the fabric of the place," said MIT spokesman Bob DiIorio. "It's an accepted event. Nobody is in the hunt for the perpetrator." Almost nobody. Chief Glavin said campus police will try to find the pranksters, who could face $50 fines. But she wasn't hopeful that police will succeed. "We have a long history in this subject and we haven't been able to identify too many people," she said. ========== Atlanta, Georgia: Upward Nobility? Foreign student Anthony Ephirim-Donker, from Ghana, got his Ph.D. from Emory University Monday, and he already has a management job waiting for him: king of Gomoa- Mprumem, his mother's farming town of 3,000. Elected by the villagers, he will have divine perks, like never having his bare feet touch the ground and speaking to others in public only through an intermediary. ========== London, England: A British yachtsman knocked more than 100 days off a 1971 record for sailing solo around the world. Mike Golding, 33, took 167 days to make the journey along a westward route, which is more difficult because of winds and currents. The previous westward record was held by Chay Blyth, who finished the trip in 292 days. Golding arrived in Southampton on Saturday. At the end of his 27,000-mile voyage, within 12 miles of shore, his 67-foot yacht grounded on a gravel bank. His welcoming committee, which included his parents and Blyth, had to wait for the tide to rise. Sirens sounded as he finally reached to port. Gold left Southampton on November 21. In 1986, Dodge Morgan of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, went around the world along an eastward route in 150 days in a 60-foot cutter. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From the Seattle Times column of Jean Godden: Status: R Back from a vacation to Los Angeles, Chris Curtis has a story to tell. "We (my husband, daughter, and I) drove down to the L.A. farmers' market. It's in a neighborhood where you should take precautions. And what did we do? We locked our keys in the car." The Curtises were trying to think what to do when they were joined by three scary-looking dudes. One guy wordlessly pulled out a set of tools. Chris says, "They had the door open in seconds. Then they scurried off before we could offer to pay them. One of them said, "I do this for a living." ========== Huntington, West Virginia: A woman was sentenced to 100 days in jail because her 8-year-old daughter missed too much school. Eva Wilkenson, 43, was sentenced Wednesday by a Circuit Court judge for violating the state's compulsory school attendance law, said Bill Rogers, Cabell County's chief adult probation officer. Her daughter had 59 unexcused absences. ========== "They may have flirted and he may have invited her up to his room -- that's a real Billism ... But it's not like Bill to pull down his pants." Gennifer Flowers, who claims to have had an affair with President Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas, on the sexual harassment allegation against him. ========== Montello, Wisconsin: A Wisconsin fisherman's report of a hippopotamus in the Macan River near Montello was initially viewed by authorities as -- well, just a fish story. But wildlife investigators changed their minds when they caught up to Mark Schoebel hauling the carcass of his 1,700-pound hippo from the river. He says a camel at his game farm unlatched the hippo's cage. The huge animal wandered about 5 miles and was wallowing in the river when Schoebel found him. Schoebel shot the hippo because he couldn't get it out of the river and did not want to leave it where it could attack innocent people and livestock. Authorities said no charges will be filed. ========== Rantoul, Illinois: The Book of Daniel says nothing about manna from heaven. So imagine Zelma Neal's surprise when a new bible fell open to those verses, revealing six $100 bills. "I squealed. At first I thought it was play money. ... But then it dawned, that's real money!" said Neal, blessed -- so to speak -- during a Sunday school class. Neal left her bible at home, so she took a new one from the church library and removed the plastic seal. The Bible opened to Daniel 9, which is all about God's righteousness in the face of human wickedness. The money will go toward church renovations. ========== Portland, Oregon: He's a cross between Lenny and Leno. Cracking jokes and telling stories, Murray Sidlin, the Oregon Symphony's new resident conductor, took to the podium Thursday to lead the Oregon Symphony in a "Casual Classics" concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Like the late Leonard Bernstein, who took audiences on his knee to teach them about classical music, Sidlin has the soul of a teacher and the disposition of someone who just discovered that double espresso is better than single. The program was pure Russian, and musical passions ran high. During a discussion of Mikhail Glinka's Overture to "Russlan and Ludmilla," Sidlin named the evils of society: "Murder, rape, incest, telemarketing." Talking about the concert's main work, Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," he described the ancient troubadours as a cross between Pete Seeger and CNN: "Someone who sings the news." A story about the saxophone solo in the same piece got a laugh when Sidlin related how the ochestrator -- Maurice Ravel -- wrote the melody for the saxophone's comfortable middle range. "Ravel practiced safe..." Sidlin let the audience fill in the blank. And when it came time to play Tchaikovsky's popular "1812 Overture," he signed off this way: "We hope you enjoy this performance of the '1812 Overture.' If it's your first, what planet are you from?" ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Mon May 16 18:46 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA16539; Mon, 16 May 94 18:46:48 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA01598; Mon, 16 May 1994 18:43:34 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA19457; Mon, 16 May 94 17:41:29 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 16 May 94 17:41:29 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405170041.AA19457@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 6AF5BE73 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 6AF5BE73 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 16 May 94 18:34:10 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 5321 Status: R WhiteBoard News for May 16, 1994 This item comes from Kai Kaltenbach Washington, District of Columbia: Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has reluctantly turned over a $10 billion gold mine to American Barrick Resources Inc. for about $10,000. The Goldstrike mine in the hills of central Nevada is on about 1,800 acres of federal land, and an 1872 mining law allows the government to charge only $5 an acre, or less than $10,000, and requires no royalties on the minerals that are taken. The company has been seeking full ownership since early 1992 through a "patenting" process outlined in the 1872 law. The law was enacted to foster mining and development of America's natural resources. ========== Sarajevo: Springtime in Sarajevo, and love is in the air. Vesna Topalovic, the officiating registrar at the city's shell-damaged city hall, said that the onset of peace has been accompanied by a sudden increase in the number of couples wanting to marry. Sensing the change in the mood, Azra Todolak has reopened her wedding shop in Basarsca, the battered Turkish quarter, and reports brisk business, even though she charges up to $60 to hire one of the white, silky flouncy dresses in the window: this in a city where soldiers are paid about $1.20 a month. "Most people can't afford to keep the dresses, but some buy the veils or wedding crowns as a momento," she said. The increase in marriages, however, has been outstripped by the demand for divorces. Tens of thousands of women and children were allowed to escape Sarajevo. Some of the men they left behind found comfort in the arms of woman who stayed. They now want to marry them, but are having trouble finding their wives to get a divorce, despite appeals for information through organizations such as the International Red Cross. ========== From the Seattle Times column of Jean Godden: Status: R Seattle, Washington: The phone lines lighted up Tuesday at Live Wires, one of the city's oldest singing-stripper services. Owner Sharon Galloway took half a dozen "sorry, wrong number" calls before she began to questioning the callers. Turns out they were FBI agents, responding to a group page. Someone had punched in a wrong number. Before she was through, Galloway fielded 20 calls. FBI spokesman Dick Thurston confirms the mistake. He adds, "A couple of weeks ago, there was a wrong number: the trauma center at Harborview (Hospital)." ========== Fast News Forum: A Syracuse woman told New York Governor Mario Cuomo that to keep herself calm during speaking engagements, she imagined Cuomo naked. A bird dropped a snake over a California power station, short-circuiting a line and causing a two-hour blackout. A Creighton University (Nebraska) Law School senior, told she wouldn't graduate because of a failing grade on a final exam, sued her professor, claiming he flunked her because she is "politically incorrect." Biloxi, Mississippi, jurors acquitted a woman of drug charges, then passed the hat to collect $55 to pay her bus fare home to Texas. A man allegedly held up 18 New York businesses after casing the places while filling out job or rental applications. The spree ended after he accidentally signed his real name on one of the forms, police said. Harlan County, Nebraska, Assessor Floyd Schippert was unopposed in the Democratic primary, and just to be sure, he entered -- and won -- the Republican primary also. ========== Wichita, Kansas: James Kimball had no regrets when a judge last week sentenced him to 12 1/2 years in prison for a bank robbery. That's because the 71-year-old Kimball strolled out of the bank with $168,000 and into three months of the high life: He traveled first class, stayed at fine hotels, rode in limousines and wore a $7,000 watch and $2,400 boots. He even fell in love in Los Angeles -- and discovered he had cancer. "No matter what they do to me, no matter how long they keep me in jail or even if I die here, they can't take away those few months I had," he said from Sedgwick County Jail. On June 28, Kimball passed a note to a vice president at First National Bank of Hutchinson, saying he would blow up the building if she didn't fill a box with money. The heist came just days after Kimball was paroled on a five-year sentence for forgery and theft. Authorities describe him as a career petty criminal who's been in and out of jail from age 15. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Monti Belot sentenced Kimball to 150 months in prison and showed little sympathy for Kimball's hard luck story. After the bank holdup, Kimball began a cross-country shopping, gambling and entertainment spree. In Los Angeles, a doctor confirmed that he had about two years to live. That didn't slow him. On a Beverly Hills sidewalk, Penelope Summers fell in love with him, thinking he was a wealthy, retired rancher. They spent three months together. "I'd come Kansas if they'd release him to me," Summers said, even after she discovered Kimball had left with some of her jewelry. "To see that kind of man in jail, that's killing me, too. He's just too classy, too special of a man." Kimball was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed May 18 17:26 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA24658; Wed, 18 May 94 17:26:29 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA31723; Wed, 18 May 1994 17:23:56 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AB09990; Wed, 18 May 94 16:21:40 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 18 May 94 16:21:40 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405182321.AB09990@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: CE4F696E X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: CE4F696E To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 18 May 94 17:12:09 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 6037 Status: R WhiteBoard News for May 18, 1994 Sofia, Bulgaria: In an appeal for state funds, Bulgarian opera singers staged a musical protest, complete with chorus and orchestra, on the steps of Sofia's main cathedral. To signify the plight of Bulgaria's most famous art, a set was erected with two pillars labeled Culture Ministry and Finance Ministry and linked by a rusty chain. The outlook for business sponsorship was said to be poor. So are the performers, some of whom reportedly earn $27 a month, placing them below the poverty line. ========== Gresham, Oregon: Aaron Struckman's mother dropped him from a second- story window early Monday morning to save his life. The 3-year-old wasn't about to be separated from her again. "He's not going to let go of me," said Becky Struckman, as she marveled that she and Aaron walked away from a fire that gutted her brother's home. Aaron kept a tight grip on his mother during the entire interview. Mother and son, who were visiting from Spokane, were sleeping in the upstairs bedroom of the house when the fire broke out. With no one else awake, and flames blocking her way out, Struckman had only one choice. "I was hanging out the window with my 3-year-old, shouting, 'Fire, fire, fire,'" she said. "I must have shouted it 30 times. Struckman, 34, woke at least six families who live along the street. Jennifer Appel, 19, caught Aaron as Struckman dropped him from the window. Tom Addleman ran for his 20-foot ladder to help the mother down from the window. ========== New York, New York: Regal Empress Cruises is giving two Barbra Streisand tickets, a $250 value, to travelers who pay about $1,000 for a deluxe cabin on a six-night cruise from New York to Nassau/the Bahamas beginning May 22. Billy Joel/Elton John tickets are available for those paying $500 per person. ========== Washington, District of Columbia: Be careful about taking candy from the office of former Senator Tim Wirth of Colorado. A group of people whose relatives were killed on Pam Am flight 103 over Scotland went to Washington recently to meet with Wirth, who is now the State Department's counsel. The group was waiting in Wirth's office when one of the visitors, a middle-aged woman, reached into a bowl for a treat wrapped in brightly colored foil. "I feel like candy," she announced, unwrapped it and promptly let out a yelp. She had nearly eaten a condom. ========== Beijing, China: China's Disaster Reduction Press has printed a stern warning to men in search of a new look: Beards are harmful to health and make you go bald. "Growing a beard violates the requirements of hygiene," the official newspaper said Monday. "From a health perspective, beards are not desirable." The newspaper quoted scientists as saying facial hair attracts and traps more chemical pollution such as benzene and ammonia from the atmosphere, causing the unshaven to breathe dirtier air. For every one unit of pollution normally taken in, mustache wearers may breathe as much as 4.2 units, while those with beards breathe 1.9 units, the newspaper said. "Those with both mustaches and beards may breathe as much as 6.1 units," it said. "Bearded smokers fare even worse." For those still unwilling to shave, the newspaper provided an added inducement: Beards cause baldness. Quoting an unidentified French researcher, the Disaster Reduction Press said beard growth inhibits the body's ability to shed excess heat: "This makes the scalp too hot and affects the function of the brain. To compensate, the body drops hair from the head to create baldness. ========== Farmer's Branch, Texas: Customers waiting for car repairs at Swedish Auto Incorporated now have an alternative to reading old magazines. William Signs, owner of the garage, is offering a free marriage ceremony with any 30,000-mile inspection on Hondas, Volvos and BMWs. For the $290 price of the inspection, he will throw in the cost of being married by the local justice of the peace, a $25 value. The inspection comes with a warranty, but there is no guarantee on the marriage. Then again, the justice of the peace, Judge Bob Forman, suggests, "Maybe the car will break down and the marriage won't." He says he hasn't seen anything like this stunt since his days as a practicing attorney, when a client asked him to draw up wills for employees in lieu of cash bonuses at Christmas. Signs said he got the idea during a trip to Las Vegas, where he noticed a helicopter operator offering free marriage ceremonies with the purchase of a deluxe helicopter ride. He decided to borrow the concept and bring some joy to the unhappy business of auto repair. "Normally people don't get good news" at auto shops, he adds. The mechanic isn't concerned about his offer hastening the nuptials of mismatched partners or cheapening the institution of marriage. After all, 30,000-mile inspections aren't inexpensive. "They're going to have to spend almost $300." he says. If the promotion proves popular, Signs is prepared to expand it to providing one-size-fits-all tuxedos and wedding dresses of the type that grooms and brides easily slip into at high-volume Las Vegas wedding chapels. For customers whose marriages fall apart, Signs is considering another bargain -- an uncontested divorce after four 30,000-mile inspections, a $100 value. To advertise the promotion, Signs sent out a mailing to prospective customers and placed an ad on the side the shop van. But the ad began two months ago, and so far no one has taken Signs up on it. He has, however, heard lots of giggles and guffaws from people who call or stop to ask if the deal is real. Meanwhile, his own Volvo is approaching another 30,000- mile point, and he's worried that his girlfriend may notice and pressure him to cash in on his own offer. To avoid that, he says he's considering disabling his odometer. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Fri May 20 17:16 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA05205; Fri, 20 May 94 17:16:49 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA20356; Fri, 20 May 1994 17:14:09 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA24068; Fri, 20 May 94 16:11:35 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Fri, 20 May 94 16:11:34 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405202311.AA24068@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: A649F32F X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: A649F32F To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Fri, 20 May 94 17:04:42 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 5059 Status: R WhiteBoard News for May 20, 1994 Advertisement from the January/February 1994 edition of "Virtual Reality World" magazine: TSI presents: The Cybersex Machine" (TM) A Virtual World of Pleasure For the Open-minded Adult Without a Companion. $25,900 Includes: 486 PC -- Super VGA Monitor -- Joystick Controller -- PC Controlled Genital -- Easy to Use Menu System to select VR Companion -- Medical Certificate of Safety and Effectiveness. Fully Illustrated XXX Catalog & Demo Disk Only $30. Thinking Software, Incorporated PO Box 770807 Woodside, NY 11377 "Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They should also govern it." ========== Flint, Michigan: One study shows that up to 7 percent of male college students have difficulty urinating in public restrooms because of embarrassment. Some men are so concerned that they curtail travel, sports or attending public events. Joseph Himle, a social worker in the University of Michigan's psychiatry department, still hears from a man he coached on how to urinate in public. "He had it real bad," Himle said. "He'd pretty much discontinued all recreational travel. Now I get postcards from him from all over the world -- Hawaii, the Bahamas, Europe -- thanking me for helping him to urinate." Himle compared the problem to "people's fears of giving speeches and asking for dates," and has treated about 50 men between the ages of 25 and 35. ========== This item comes from Randy Webb: San Jose, California: Winners were named yesterday in the 1994 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, an annual tribute to lousy literature named for the British author who opened his 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" with the line, "It was a dark and stormy night." San Jose State University English Professor Scott Rice said hacks form every state of the union and six foreign countries contributed nearly 9000 entries. Grand prize winner is Larry Brill, an Austin, Texas, TV anchorman, who claimed he had an unfair advantage because he writes TV news. His entry: "As the fading light of a dying day filtered through the window blinds, Roger stood over his victim with a smoking .45, surprised at the serenity that filled him after pumping six slugs into the bloodless tyrant that had mocked him day after day, and then he shuffled out of the office with one last look back at the shattered computer terminal lying there like a silicon armadillo left to rot on the information highway." Brill's prize is a cheap computer. ========== Las Vegas, Nevada: Las Vegas land developer Al Ullom knows a good opportunity when it knocks. Prompted by the furor over Singapore's caning of Ohio teen Michael Fay, Ullom has imported 10,000 genuine, prison-quality canes from Singapore. "They're 4 feet by a half-inch," he says. "And solid. I told them to make them exactly like the ones they sell to the prison." Retail price: $19.95 each. ========== Dublin, Ireland: A 27-year-old artist from South Boston has won a seaside pub in County Cork after demonstrating his prowess at dart-throwing and drawing a pint of beer. John Joseph Mulligan, known as Jay, bested nine other Americans on Monday to win the Connie Doolan pub in Cobh, 140 miles southwest of Dublin. "A kid from South Boston is doing pretty well today ... To be a part of Ireland, where my relatives come from, is an impossible dream that's come true." the new owner said in a statement issued by Guiness Brewing, the contest sponsor. About 31,000 Americans submitted 50-word essays about the dark-colored stout to qualify for the competition, said company spokeswoman Judith Austin. Ten semi-finalists were flown to Ireland and took part in a series of contests Monday, including drawing a pint and dart throwing. "God knows a job is what I need, so winning suits me indeed. This pub would change my life, perhaps attracting a wife," Mulligan said in the oral competition. ========== Warrenton, Virginia: Getting to Virginia was easy for the 18 geese that Canadian artist and pilot William Lishman raised from birth. All they had to do was follow their mother, the airplane. Whether any of the geese would make it back to their Canadian summer home was what had Lishman fretting for days, until 10 of them suddenly appeared outside his door recently. "They look in great shape," Lishman said. "I took them all kinds of goodies to eat, but they'd rather root in the pond." Lishman hoped to "imprint" the birds at birth to believe that an ultralight aircraft was their parent, then follow the plane south for their winter migration. Geese, cranes and swans learn their migration routes from their parents. If the experiment worked with migratory geese, Lishman and scientist William Sladen of the Airlie Conference Center reasoned, the same technique could be used to restore such rare species as whooping cranes and trumpeter swans to territories they once occupied. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Mon May 23 19:44 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA13682; Mon, 23 May 94 19:44:18 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA28838; Mon, 23 May 1994 19:41:35 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA09876; Mon, 23 May 94 18:40:17 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 23 May 94 18:40:16 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405240140.AA09876@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 5C5F9328 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 5C5F9328 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 23 May 94 19:35:36 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 4531 Status: RO WhiteBoard News for May 23, 1994 This item comes from Denny Silverman: Littleville, Alabama: A man lying alongside railroad tracks was struck by a train that severed his left leg below the knee, a repeat of a 1986 accident that cost him his right leg. The train's engineer spotted Terry Mills, 32, along the tracks Monday with one leg draped over a rail and blew the horn, but couldn't stop in time, said a spokesman for the Norfolk Southern Corp. railroad company. Police said Mills, who is reported to be in stable condition, had been drinking heavily both times he was hit. ========== Hollywood, California: "Well, I love to swim in the nude, and one day I was in the pool in Palm Springs when two gatemen looked over the fence and said, 'Oops, hi, Eva!' Well, I got out of that pool, draped a towel around me, and I told them, 'No, dahling ... it's Zsa Zsa!'" Eva Gabor on discussing her hobbies and sense of humor. ========== Adamsburg, Pennsylvania: A cemetery has agreed to let a car lover share his eternal parking spot with his beloved 1984 white Corvette. The cremated remains of George Swanson will be buried Wednesday in the driver's seat of his Corvette. Swanson bought 12 burial plots at Brush Creek Cemetery to make sure he'd fit. "George wanted to go out in style, and indeed, now he will," Swanson's lawyer said Sunday. Swanson died March 31 at age 71. But the cemetery delayed his burial because it was worried about vandalism and didn't want to offend other clients. It relented only after weeks of negotiations. ========== Washington, District of Columbia: "President Clinton's defense attorney in the ongoing Bimbogate Follies is Robert Bennett, brother of William Bennett, who is a confidant of Rush Limbaugh, who is to Bill Clinton what a Singapore judge is to a graffiti artist." Syndicated columnist and humorist, Mark Russell. ========== Deerfield, Illinois: Police snarled rush-hour traffic for hours when they surrounded a Greyhound bus with sharpshooters, evacuated and frisked passengers, and fired tear gas to ferret out a murder suspect who was actually miles away. State and Chicago police blamed each other for Friday's bus fiasco that left thousands of motorists and 40 bus passengers fuming. Illinois State Police stopped the Chicago-to-Milwaukee bus Friday afternoon on one of the Chicago area's busiest tollways. Passengers were ordered off one by one with their arms over their heads, frisked and herded against a fence. When everyone -- except the suspect -- was believed to be out, troopers fired tear gas and stormed the bus with weapons drawn. The bus was empty. The 24-year-old suspect later was arrested 50 miles away in Milwaukee. ========== Fast News Forum: The Fall River, Massachusetts Council of Churches urged a Providence, Rhode Island, rock station to remove a billboard declaring its signal has "more power than God." Defenders of Wildlife offered to pay a $60 traffic ticket a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina woman received for stopping in the middle of a highway to help a turtle. A New Jersey man left his car window open while shopping. He returned to find about 20,000 bees in his car, setting up a hive. A crackdown on speeding in central England caught an unlikely offender: the officer in charge of the county police. Iowa officials dropped a proposal to rent out the governor's mansion for weddings at $1,000 a pop after opponents said the idea was tacky and feared rowdy guests might damage the furniture. Willie Turner wasn't running for the Dendron, Virginia, Town Council. He didn't even vote. But he won with five write-in votes. ========== San Francisco, California: A class-action suit was filed Friday against a subsidiary of Pfizer Incorporated alleging that silicone penile implants it markets for impotence are defective and dangerous. Attorney Dan Bolton said his firm filed suit against American Medical Systems Incorporated, the largest U.S. manufacturer of silicone penile implants. Implants marketed by American Medical Systems have yet to be approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration and have been the subject of thousands of complaints, the suit says. Alleged dangers include disfigurement, infection, extrusion of the implant, leakage, multiple failure of the device, immune problems, scarring, loss of sensation and pain. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed May 25 17:26 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA03564; Wed, 25 May 94 17:25:59 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA39959; Wed, 25 May 1994 17:23:04 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA21690; Wed, 25 May 94 16:20:10 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 25 May 94 16:20:10 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9405252320.AA21690@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 7DCDD1EF X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 7DCDD1EF To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 25 May 94 17:13:55 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 5129 Status: RO WhiteBoard News for May 25, 1994 This item comes from Chuck Yerkes: Beijing, China: The special economic zone of Zhuhai in southern China is setting up a "Women's Tourist Island" to attract female travelers, an official newspaper said. The island, just off Zhuhai near the Portuguese enclave of Macau, will be "a paradise especially for women," the Economic Evening News of Jiangxi province said in an edition seen in Beijing on Tuesday. "Women's Tourist Island will reflect all of the special characteristics of women," the newspaper said. "It will feature women's records, women's entertainment, women's mysteries and fairies coming to earth," the paper said, adding that it would also offer a holiday village and a duty-free store. "Tourism officials say the idea of a women's island can be implemented and will bring in visitors because data shows that women are far more likely to be tourists than men," the newspaper said. It added Zhuhai hoped to have the resort completed by 1995 when China will host a world women's conference. ========== Angels Camp, California: A 3-year-old boy with a knack for tickling and giggling had the winning entry in the county's annual frog- jumping championship. Cody Shilts of Roseville, California, won $750 and a trophy taller than he is at Sunday's Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee. The youngest winner of the 66th annual amphibian contest had little to say. "He just kept giggling," event spokeswoman Carol Cook said. The frog named Free Willy, for the movie whale, totaled 19 feet, 1/2 inch in three hops to win first place, 3/4 of an inch longer than the second-place finisher. And after all that, Willy is going to be freed. "We're taking him back to the pond," said Cody's father, Pete. ========== Fargo, North Dakota: A candidate for sheriff has challenged his opponents to a shootout, calling it a test of a law officer's ability to protect the public. "Clearly, being the best shot doesn't necessarily make you the best sheriff, but I think it proves a point," Ken Schwab said Tuesday. Schwab wants the four other candidates to meet him June 1 at a shooting range. Each will fire 24 rounds at targets to determine the best shot, Schwab said. The challenge could be a problem for one candidate -- a well-known local tax protester and convicted felon who's not allowed to possess a firearm. ========== [Note from SuperChef: This item contains more information concerning an item from Monday's Fast News Forum]: Patterson, New Jersey: When 60-year-old Al Asbaty returned to his car after shopping, he was startled to find that thousands of bees were building a hive inside his Oldsmobile. Due to the sunny and warm weather, he had left the windows rolled down, allowing a queen bee to fly in, followed by about 20,000 of her most faithful servants. Just as one of Asbaty's relatives was about to spray the inside of the car with a can of insecticide, police bee expert Tom Fuscalo arrived and managed to coax the insects into an artificial hive. ========== Santa Barbara, California: A man who had recently finished serving a drunken- driving jail sentence was charged with stealing a California Highway Patrol cruiser and leading officers on a high-speed chase. "Nobody got hurt, and that's an absolute miracle," a Patrol spokesman said. A state trooper was taking measurements in the middle of Highway 154 when Frederick Ochoa jumped into the cruiser, started the engine and headed north. Police said Ochoa drove at speeds exceeding 120 MPH during the 30-mile chase. He lost control on a curve and plowed through several road signs before stopping. ========== Martinez, California: Gus Kramer faces an unusual challenge in his race for county assessor: His opponents would rather see a dead man elected. Kramer's only rival in the Contra Costa County race, Dan Hallissy, died of a heart attack April 10 -- too late for anyone else to run. But Hallissy's name will remain on the ballot for the June 7 nonpartisan primary. And the incumbent assessor is working to get him elected. Voters should have "a chance to elect an honest, experienced person to this office," said assessor John Biasotti. A Hallissy victory would force a special election next March, open to any candidate. U.S. Representative Bill Baker, a Republican, also is backing the posthumous effort. His spokesman said voters should have a choice. Kramer, who briefly stopped campaigning to mark Hallissy's death, decried the effort as a "classical case of cronyism." He said his opponents "want the taxpayer to blow $800,000," about the cost of a special election. Kramer also bristled at the charge he's unfit for the job, citing his experience as city clerk for Martinez and as a real estate agent for the county's Public Works Department. The assessor's office is responsible for estimating property values in the 830,000-person county, 30 miles east of San Francisco. The job pays $84,000 a year. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Jun 1 17:42 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA23265; Wed, 1 Jun 94 17:42:09 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA42882; Wed, 1 Jun 1994 17:38:57 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA01039; Wed, 1 Jun 94 16:32:46 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 01 Jun 94 16:32:45 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9406012332.AA01039@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: AA2B8196 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: AA2B8196 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 1 Jun 94 17:25:07 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 4942 Status: R WhiteBoard News for June 01, 1994 Warrens, Wisconsin: They came, they saw, they lit up. And, unlike President Clinton, they did inhale. About 1,000 people, three times the population of this village -- gathered this weekend to celebrate the sixth annual Weedstock festival, a paean to pot. Banners proclaimed "Hemp, our premier natural resource," and "Thank you for smoking pot." "This is a great time," said Ben Masel, who organized this year's festival. "It brings people together, and it gives us the chance to educate them to the agricultural benefits of hemp." Monroe County sheriff's officials said they had made about 20 drug-related arrests and handed out 78 traffic citations. ========== Salt Lake City, Utah: Do burping bovines contribute to global warming? In a continuation of a 1991 study that earned widespread ridicule, Utah State University researchers hope to find the answer. Armed with a $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, Utah scientists plan to round up rangeland cattle and fit them with special breathing devices that measure the amount of methane cows release when they burp. The new grant lets researchers expand on a $300,000 study that began in 1991 at Washington State University and was lampooned by editorial cartoonists, talk-show hosts and other television shows. Friday, Utah range livestock nutritionist Ken Olson reiterated the significance of the research. "Methane produced by cattle appears to be a consequential factor in global warming," Olson said. "It's important to find out how much methane livestock actually produce." Methane contributes to the so-called greenhouse effect. ========== Chicago, Illinois: Police passing out composite drawings of a suspect in two rapes were stunned when a man matching the description walked by. Drake Sanders of Chicago looked like the composite drawing, was wearing clothing victims described and had an earring and scar that matched the description. Sanders was walking past the building where an attack took place Wednesday. The first attack was May 10. Sanders was arrested and held in jail. ========= Dix Hills, New York: A driver got a ticket because her passenger was a dummy. Amelian Wolff, 58, tried to sneak onto the new carpool lanes on the Long Island Expressway with a baby doll in a car seat next to her, police said. The Suffolk Highway Patrol put the brakes to that idea. Wolff was pulled over and given a ticket. She faces up to a $65 fine. The carpool lanes, which opened Wednesday on a 12-mile stretch, are reserved for vehicles with more than one occupant from 8 AM to 6 PM weekdays. Officer John Capute said he saw Wolff's car to by Thursday and noticed a baby seat in the front. But he said the seat looked odd, and the driver gave him a sheepish look. So he pulled her over, and found that the baby seat just held a doll, "all dressed, all dolled up, with a pacifier in its mouth," he said. "But it didn't look real at all." ========== Seattle, Washington: The new U.S. Weather Service radar on Camano Island and atmospheric profiler at Sand Point began to pick up a mysterious 20 mile per hour wind out of the south each night about a month ago, a wind that started about sunset and ended at dawn. Forecasters finally realized the new instrument is almost too accurate for its own good: It was detecting no wind, but the annual nighttime migration of thousands of birds towards the north, said a meteorologist. ========== Spokane, Washington: They say one person's trash is another's treasure, but garbage collector Joel Forrester didn't get to keep the money he found very long. Last week, when the Valley Garbage Service driver pulled the lever on the garbage truck's trash compactor, an envelope burst open and $100 bills floated out. He telephoned his supervisor, Jerry Camia, who asked how much money they were talking about. Forrester paused, counted a fistful of bills and said, "I've got $2,000 in my hands right now." Camia told Forrester not to go anywhere. "We had no idea where this money came from. It was just there," Dewey Strauss, president of the garbage service, said Friday. Word traveled fast. Secret Service agents arrived to make sure the bills were not counterfeit. Trash haulers picking through the garbage kept coming up with more and more money. Before they could finish counting, a customer called and said she had accidentally thrown out $40,000 with her morning's garbage. She said the money had been kept in envelopes in a wastebasket at a family home and had been inadvertently tossed by relatives cleaning the house, the unidentified woman said. "We recovered $39,980," Strauss said. "We were short 20 bucks." Forrester's honesty, however, didn't even earn him a reward. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Fri Jun 3 18:00 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA29673; Fri, 3 Jun 94 18:00:02 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA30355; Fri, 3 Jun 1994 17:56:53 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA24768; Fri, 3 Jun 94 16:52:32 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Fri, 03 Jun 94 16:52:32 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9406032352.AA24768@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 785FDC68 X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 785FDC68 To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Fri, 3 Jun 94 17:45:40 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 5054 Status: R WhiteBoard News for June 03, 1994 This item comes by way of Chuck Yerkes: Beijing, China: A planned Chinese resort called Longevity Town thinks its secret for long life: fresh air, a good diet and special sex, will be good for business too. Local lore in southwestern Sichuan province's Pengshan county has it that a Chinese Methuselah named Pengzu who lived 800 years ago "left behind many clues to longevity." The long-life secrets will be revealed to tourists once Longevity Town opens, Xinhua news agency said on Friday. Pengzu's clues to longevity include deep breathing exercises, special tonics and nourishing food, "and a system of sexual practices" whose characteristics were not disclosed. Hundreds of thousands of people flock to Pengshan to visit Pengzu's tomb on Fairy Maiden Mountain each year. It was the tourist interest that sparked the idea of a long-life spa. Longevity Town's 10 villages will cater to varying tastes, including Village of Longevity Folkways, Garden of Longevity and, for well-heeled oldsters from abroad, the Garden of Overseas Longevity Folkways. The number of centenarians in Pengshan is said to be 17 times the national average. Its oldest resident is 110- year-old Xie Hongxing, a blind storyteller. ========== Fort Worth, Texas: Lee Lively thought he was doing the right thing when he shot a drunken driving suspect who had beaten up a policeman and was running away. His faith was shaken when Jesus Puentes demanded $1.7 million for his wounds. But the jury said Puentes is the one who must pay -- $1.75 million in punitive damages and $1,000 for Cpl. Randy Whisenhunt's injuries. "We just wanted to make a statement. We're tired of the frivolous lawsuits that are plaguing our court system," juror Elsie Bowles said. February 17, 1990, Lively saw Puentes grabbing for Whisenhunt's gun. The officer managed to knock it away, but ended up with Puentes sitting on his chest, beating his face. Lively said he leaped out of his truck and beat Puentes to the gun. As Puentes began to run, Lively said he shouted twice for him to stop, then shot him twice in the legs. ========== Los Angeles, California: "Evolution isn't a terrible thing. All you have to do is look at a poodle. Poodles are descended from wolves. But they've progressed. They know the importance of a good haircut." Barbara Graham, author of the self-help book parody, "Women Who Run With the Poodles." ========== Washington, District of Columbia: The Paging Services Council in Washington has awarded a creative-use prize to a Texas martial-arts student who drops to the ground and executes 50 pushups whenever his instructor beeps him the command. ========== Flint, Michigan: A psoriasis patient undergoing tar, steroid and ultraviolet light treatments for the skin condition burst into flame when he lit up a cigarette, doctors say. The man was smoking in the hospital courtyard when flames appeared at the top of his chest and spread to form a small ring of fire encircling his neck, two doctors reported in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The patient quickly put the flames out and suffered no injuries, they said. Darrell Fader and Michael Metzman of the University of Michigan said the tar extract used in many medical centers for skin problems contains five percent to 15 percent alcohol, a potentially flammable concoction. ========== Moscow, Russia: First it was a flight in a MiG fighter jet. Then 30 seconds of weightlessness in a cosmonaut-training device. Soon thrill-seeking tourists may be able to ride in a Russian submarine, tank or missile ship. Pressed for money and burdened with surplus weaponry since the end of the Cold War, Russia is pioneering a new fad: military tourism. The only requirements are a taste for adventure and plenty of cash. The state-owned ITAR-Tass news agency says a Japanese travel agent, Sadaaki Matsui, will sell rides in a Russian navy Kilo-class, diesel-powered submarine beginning this fall. A six-hour trip under the Baltic Sea near the port of Kronstadt, near St. Petersburg, will cost $5,000, it said. The announcement was fuzzy about how exactly the tour operators are getting their hands on a 2,500-ton submarine that carries 21 torpedoes. In the future, Matsui's travel agency, Jes, plans to offer voyages on a Russian missile-carrying warship and a journey in a tank. He said he got the idea from a Russian company that offers flights on supersonic MiG fighter jets for $6,500 and up. Earlier this month, the Russian space agency allowed one of its three cosmonaut-training planes, a specially configured Ilyushin-76, to take some tourists and journalists for a ride. As the plane goes into a dive from 30,000 feet, passengers in its padded zero-gravity chamber suddenly rise from the aircraft's floor. The price for floating free for half a minute: $4,000. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Mon Jun 6 18:02 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA08068; Mon, 6 Jun 94 18:02:23 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA11847; Mon, 6 Jun 1994 17:59:05 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA21112; Mon, 6 Jun 94 16:57:57 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Mon, 06 Jun 94 16:57:56 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9406062357.AA21112@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 0305846E X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 0305846E To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Mon, 6 Jun 94 17:51:18 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 4809 Status: R WhiteBoard News for June 06, 1994 Taipei, Taiwan: Taiwan women legislators screamed, traded slaps and kicks and pulled each other's hair in a fight during a National Assembly Friday. Su Chih-yang of the Democratic Progressive Party walked up to the rostrum and slapped Kuo Suchun of the ruling Nationalist Party whom she accused of insinuating that she had sat immodestly. The slap triggered a brawl in the assembly. Nationalist Deputy Lin Chang-ju rushed to Kuo's rescue and jumped on Su. The two women grabbed each other's hair and repeatedly slapped each other in the face while Kuo stood by stunned and broke into tears. Two other woman deputies joined the fracas, trading kicks and wrestling. Su had earlier demanded an apology from two male Nationalist deputies for peeking at her underwear when she was staging a sit-down protest in front of the podium in the assembly Tuesday. Kuo later insinuated that Su had invited the attention of the men by wearing a short skirt. "As a woman, one should be cautious about what one wears and how one acts," Kuo told the assembly before she was slapped. The Nationalist leadership demanded that Su be barred from attending the remainder of the assembly's three- month session, which ends in July. A tearful Kuo told a news conference she would sue Su for publicly insulting her. The incident ended when one of the deputies who allegedly had looked at Su's panties apologized to the nation. ========== Moscow, Russia: In Russia, where pensions haven't kept pace with inflation and many elderly people struggle to pay for basics, two retirees collapsed when they saw a sign in a bread shop that mistakenly tripled the price of loaves of bread. The pensioners were revived by first aid. ========== Sydney, Australia: When you think of rock music, what name leaps immediately to mind? Why, Tiny Tim, right? You think we're joking here. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Born Herbert Khaury 61 years ago in New York City, Tiny Tim became a star (of sorts) in the late 1960s, appearing frequently on "The Tonight Show" and "Laugh-In" and scoring an unlikely Top 20 hit in 1968 with "Tiptoe through the Tulips." His quavering falsetto, stringy long hair and ukulele-strumming vaudeville-style act were, if nothing else, unmistakable. For the most part, his repertoire is composed of turn- of-the-century pop songs and other musical curios. But an Australian label called Festival Records has issued a new Tiny Tim album titled "Rock" that puts a different spin on his image. Backed by an Aussie hard rock band, Tiny does covers of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell," Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell," Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name," a 20-minute medley of rock 'n' roll oldies from the '50s, and a 23-minute version of "Eve of Destruction." The record is available on CD only and only as an import. Consult your local record store for information. ========== Augusta, Maine: Twelve-year-old Vicki Van Meter soared up and away Sunday in a bid to cross the Atlantic in Amelia Earhart's path. Though not old enough to drive a car, Vicki took off from Augusta State Airport, circled about 200 well- wishers below and dipped her wings before heading toward her first stop, Newfoundland, Canada. Her flight instructor is on board because she is too young to fly alone. "If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything," the sixth-grader from Meadville, Pennsylvania, said before saying good-bye to her parents and climbing into the cockpit of the single- engine plane, "Harmony." The aspiring astronaut is following the flight path similar to Earhart's when she became the first woman to fly solo about 2,200 miles across the Atlantic in 1932. Earhart took off from Waterville, about 20 miles from Augusta. After Canada, Vicki plans stops in Greenland and Iceland before reaching Scotland on Tuesday evening. Stops in England, France, Belgium and Germany are also planned. Vicki took off from Augusta airport last September for a trip that made her the youngest girl to make a transcontinental flight. The four-leg trip ended in San Diego. Vicki brought along on the Atlantic flight several donated good-luck tokens, including a key chain, necklace, cigar and photograph. Students from an elementary school in Somerville asked her to deliver a letter in Britain to millionaire businessman Richard Branson, who in 1987 made the first trans-Atlantic crossing in a hot-air balloon. Proclamations honoring the young flier were delivered from vice-president Al Gore and Maine's top politician's before a ceremony at the airport. Sunday was declared Vicki Van Meter Day in Maine's capitol. ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net From joeha@microsoft.com Wed Jun 22 17:34 PDT 1994 Return-Path: Received: from blaze.csci.csusb.edu by silicon.csci.csusb.edu (5.0/SMI-SVR4) id AA07320; Wed, 22 Jun 94 17:33:55 PDT Received: from netmail2.microsoft.com by blaze.csci.csusb.edu (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA15825; Wed, 22 Jun 1994 17:00:17 -0700 Received: by netmail2.microsoft.com (5.65/25-eef) id AA14834; Wed, 22 Jun 94 16:31:30 -0700 Received: by netmail2 using fxenixd 1.0 Wed, 22 Jun 94 16:31:30 PDT From: joeha@microsoft.com Message-Id: <9406222331.AA14834@netmail2.microsoft.com> X-Msmail-Message-Id: 6749C2BC X-Msmail-Conversation-Id: 6749C2BC To: joeha@microsoft.com Date: Wed, 22 Jun 94 17:24:10 PDT Subject: WhiteBoard News Content-Type: text Content-Length: 5108 Status: R WhiteBoard News for June 22, 1994 This item comes from Bruce Cronquist: Tehran, Iran: For the first time since the revolution in the seventies, the World Cup soccer match is being shown in Iran. The shots of the players are live. However, the shots of the fans in the stands are dubbed in...from the Winter Olympics. The Islamic religion, which frowns on the showing of too much skin, is concerned over what the fans might, or might not, be wearing. By dubbing in the Winter Olympics shots, every fan is wearing a coat and hat. Problem solved. ========== This issue of Fast News Forum is also brought to us by way of Bruce Cronquist: Fast News Forum: Every day, an average of four people call the Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, and ask to speak to Elvis Presley. Passengers in first class on an airliner get 50 cubic feet of fresh air per minute. Those in economy class get 7 cubic feet. Six percent of traveling dog owners take their animals with them on vacation versus one percent of cat owners. Gerbils, however, get brought along just one-tenth of one percent of the time. ========== This item comes from Randy Ivey who feels this should be entered into the WhiteBoard News Least Competent Person Contest: Fort Worth, Texas, Police arrested Philip G. Rojo, 24, in April after they had stopped his car at a roadblock because he was not wearing a seat belt. The police said they began backing away from the car when they spied three silver pipelike packages on the floor, telling Rojo they feared the packages were pipe bombs. Reportedly, Rojo tried to reassure the police and blurted out, "Man, that ain't no pipe bomb, that's cocaine." ========== Roseburg, Oregon: Leapin' lizards, Batman, this could be the work of the Joker! Call it a case of the practical joker or, like the Douglas County sheriff's office says, a "found property" incident. Victim David Gass calls it just plain puzzling. One morning last week, his wife got up to go to work as usual, at 2:45 AM. What she and David found in their front yard left them amazed, curious and even a little worried. The yard, pretty much empty when they went to bed, was littered with lawn ornaments they'd never seen before. The array included pink flamingos, a black-and-white spotted cow planter, three sunflower windmills, a birdbath, a bent-over woman, a wooden windmill, a real estate sign, three geese, three chicks and a woodpecker, according to a deputy sheriff's list. The vandals, if that's the right word, left the ornaments despite a shining front porch light, Gass said. He and his wife sleep in the back of the house, but his son, whose bedroom is in the front, never heard a thing. Deputies, who came and retrieved the ornaments, said some had been reported missing by their owners. "Maybe it's a practical joke on the people who owned them," said the mystified Gass. ========== Portland, Oregon: Tonya Harding knows high drama. So it's no surprise her next stop is Hollywood. The skater is taking the role of "a feisty waitress who makes off accidentally with the mob's money," says Sean Dash, making his directing debut with the low-budge action film "Breakaway." Harding picked this script "over many others because it looked fun ... and she didn't want to be involved with a drug-related (plot)," says her manager, Merrill Eichenberger, adding, "with her being so agile and all, she could be a pretty good action star." Is Dash, a screenwriter, nervous about directing Harding? "I don't think it'll be a problem. After all, she's been taking directions from coaches for years." Still, Dash is a little stunned that his "B" movie -- filming in July and due to be released directly to video by November -- nabbed "a woman who was at the center of the biggest story of the Winter Olympics." ========== San Diego, California: Fantasies about cuddly newborn babies rarely include their mind-numbing, nerve-rattling, non-stop crying. Rick and Mary Jurmain hope that unpleasant trait can convince teens to avoid pregnancy. The San Diego couple has created Baby Think It Over, a 10-pound, battery-powered, squishy-faced baby doll that looks -- and cries -- just like the real thing. The doll contains electronics that make it cry "at random, but realistic intervals, simulating a baby's sleeping and waking patterns to its demand for food," says Rich Jurmain, a laid-off aerospace engineer and father of two. The cries can only be stopped by "feeding" the baby -- turning a key attached by a tamper-proof hospital bracelet to the teen assigned as the baby's parent. The key has to be cut from the bracelet to give it to anyone else. An optional monitor inside the doll tracks how long it cries, records harsh handling and allows the sleep cycle to be adjusted to reflect a contented baby or a cranky baby. The anatomically correct doll also comes as a "drug- addicted" version, complete with "higher pitch, worbling cry." ========== Chow SuperChef WhiteBoard News Service Bureau Chef To subscribe please email: JoeHa (Joseph Harper) joeha@microsoft.com microsoft!joeha@uunet.uu.net