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Bits and Pieces, Fourth Edition - 03/31/03
TIME: 8:57 p.m.

DATE: Monday, Mar. 31, 2003



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TODAY'S HEADLINES, HILARIOUS JUNK, AND SIDE STORIES

Today is the Fourth Edition of Bits and Pieces, 03/31/03.
Here�s today activities: give homage to Andrew and Sammy and etc.

Today�s Bits and Pieces around the world brings you the from the craziest to the luckiest and to be bizarre. First, What a lucky guy Peter Arnett is. First he messed up big time but in the end he still has a job. In another lucky story, a guy gives birth to a 50 pound tumor that can be smuggled in a hollow log that the Finns build.

In other stories, if a person can get a face, why not their best friend? Speaking of a man�s best friend, in Columbus, A robber learn the heard way what not to do. And speaking of underwear, a panty raid happen.

While a surfer traveled almost 18 miles overnight with iceburg hitting him, a teacher sues a student in a collision. At Iraq, a reporter went undercover, a penny went undercover for 4 months logging in a girl�s throat. Resturants revamp a Fries with a new name, an ATM machine tries to revamp itself as a slot machine with the customer hitting the right numbers. I wonder if there wasn�t a camera on the ATM, if the honest customers would return the money. As a little girl, I told my dad I always wanted a small town and maybe I might get one as a Amboy is for sale. I call it FunkyMunky, CA.

A burglar finds that his belly of jelly doesn�t fit, a boy finds out that his music doesn�t fit in a city. A South American woman finds that she can�t escape time, but she could have use a watch made out of fertilizer. And there is no crap about it, Michael Jackson got himself an award but it is so foolish of him to pick it up. No matter how old you get, wanting a date for your birthday is def a birthday wish for one woman. While Air traffic controllers complain about being sick, the trial of a cougher gets delayed by too much coughing.

Those are the stories of Bits and Pieces. Read the whole stories down below���

01. Today Peter Arnett lost not one job but three jobs. NBC, MSNBC and National Geographic fired him for what he said on Iraq tv but guess what folks, he got a new job: less then 24 hours. Now that is amazing. Award-winning news correspondent Peter Arnett, sacked by the American TV network NBC after suggesting on Iraqi television that the US war plan had failed, has joined the Daily Mirror -- the British newspaper most opposed to the conflict.

02. Doctors Remove 50-Pound Tumor

CAIRO -Doctors said on Sunday they had removed a tumor weighing about 50 pounds from a patient's stomach in the northern Egyptian town of Damietta.

Mamdouh Eissa, a 51-year-old government employee, had suffered from a large swelling in his stomach for several years, and went to Damietta's tumor institute because of sharp pains.

"He looked something like a full-term pregnant woman carrying twins," Osama al-Malt, the institute's director who led the team of surgeons that performed the operation, told Reuters.

He said the tumor, 14 to 16 inches long and 10 inches wide, was the largest he had seen in a male patient. He said it was not yet clear whether the tumor had been malignant.

03. Finns Use Hollowed Logs for Smuggling from Russia

HELSINKI - Hollowed out logs are the latest gimmick used by Finns smuggling cigarettes and alcohol from Russia.

Finnish customs said on Friday it had broken an organized crime ring that used trucks carrying hollowed out logs to smuggle millions of cigarettes and alcohol from Russia.

04. Top Pooch in Facelift Scandal?

LONDON - The canine winner of the world's biggest dog show may be stripped of its title after being accused of having a secret facelift, the Times newspaper reported on Monday.

Danny, the Pekingese who beat 20,000 contestants to be crowned Supreme Champion at the renowned Crufts show earlier this month, faces an investigation into the allegations, the paper said.

Nips and tucks are banned under the show's strict rules and winners found to have gone under the knife can be stripped of their title, the event's organizers, the Kennel Club, told the paper.

05. Exploding Dye Pack Is A Pain In The Groin

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A bank robbery suspect learned a painful lesson: Never shove stolen money containing an explosive dye pack down your pants.

Shortly after the National City Bank downtown was robbed Thursday, police spotted John Gladney, 40, about a block away, walking strangely, in obvious pain.

Officers stopped Gladney and discovered he had been injured when the dye pack exploded near his groin, said Sgt. Brent Mull, police spokesman.

Gladney was charged with aggravated robbery.

06. Panty raid at Victoria's Secret

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Call it a $5,000 panty raid. That's the estimated value of 300 sets of skivvies taken from a Victoria's Secret store. "It's very unusual. It's shoplifting to the max," said Marcia Harnden, a police spokeswoman in this suburb east of Seattle.

An employee noticed the panties in a variety of colors, styles and sizes were missing shortly before 5 p.m. Sunday, Harnden said. Each cost $15 to $28.

A store manager would not discuss the theft. Phone messages were left at corporate headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. Police may check flea markets and online auction sites such as eBay, Harnden said, "but if I were the consumer, I'd be very leery about buying undergarments from a disreputable source."

07. Waves Carry Surfer 18 Miles Overnight

Jens Eventyr went to Westhaven State Park near Westport last week to do a bit of surfing. He did much more, getting caught in 12-foot swells in the Pacific Ocean that pushed him away from shore and had him clinging to his board through a stormy night at sea.

He finally got back to land the next afternoon, 18 miles north of where his impromptu adventure had begun.

08. Teacher sues student over hall collision

VOORHEES

An elementary school teacher has sued a student who ran into her in a school hallway.

In the suit filed in February in Superior Court in Camden, Eileen Blau says the injuries cost her money for medical care and curtailed normal activities.

The lawsuit claims Daniel Allen, who was then 11 and weighed about 90 pounds, "negligently and carelessly" collided with her at an "excessive rate of speed."

The second-grade teacher at E.T. Hamilton School said she suffered "severe and multiple injuries, some of which are permanent in nature."

A Camden County Sheriff's deputy served the summons to the Allens at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. Stacy Allen, Daniel's mom, said the deputy apologized, with a chagrined look, when told the summons was being delivered to a 13-year-old.

Stacy Allen said she was a lot more than chagrined.

"I think it's terrible that a teacher can sue a student," Allen said. "Maybe he should not have been running in the hall, but I think it was an accident. When you send a kid off to school, you expect him to be supervised and taken care of. You never expect a teacher to sue a child for running into her."

Steven Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, an advocacy and labor bargaining unit for 162,044 educators statewide, said a case like this is a first.

"I've never heard of a situation like this before," Baker said. "I assume it is quite uncommon."

Stacy Allen said the school principal, Kristine diCoio, told her the incident, which happened on April 11, 2001, was an accident. Allen said Blau filed a claim with the family's homeowners insurance for her injuries in the fall of 2001. She said her insurance company said the claim was not settled.

09. Fake "war correspondent" has cover blown

Listeners to Swaziland's state-run radio station thought it had its own correspondent in Baghdad covering the war -- until legislators spotted him in parliament at the weekend.

"Why are they lying to the nation that the man is in Iraq when he is here in Swaziland, broadcasting out of a broom closet?" MP Jojo Dlamini demanded of Information Minister Mntomzima Dlamini in the House of Assembly on Monday. The minister said he would investigate the matter.

Announcer Phesheya Dube gave "live reports" purportedly from Baghdad last week. Programme host Moses Matsebula frequently expressed concerns about Dube's wellbeing and once advised him to "find a cave somewhere to be safe from missiles". The station declined to comment and referred questions to the ministry.

10. Penny Stuck For 4 months in a Young Girls Throat

(Fallon, NV-It took eight trips to the doctor, but a couple have finally learned the source of their infant daughter's health problems over the last four months: a penny lodged in her throat.

On previous visits, doctors diagnosed 15-month-old Erin Spaletta's breathing problems and persistent coughing as a respiratory infection and prescribed antibiotics.

But last week, physician's assistant Cameron Byers of Banner Churchill County Hospital suggested a chest X-ray and the culprit clearly showed.

"I thought it was a quarter," said her mother, Lynn Spaletta. Erin was taken to Washoe Medical Center's emergency room in Reno, where a doctor used an instrument to remove the penny. She's had no health problems since.

11. Restaurant Refuses To Sell "French" Fries (Beaufort, N.C.) � You can get fries with your burger at a restaurant here, but just don't ask for french fries.

Neal Rowland, the owner of Cubbie's, now only sells his fried potato strips as "freedom fries" - a decision that comes as Americans watch French officials back away from support for possible war in Iraq.

"Because of Cubbie's support for our troops, we no longer serve french fries. We now serve freedom fries," says a sign in the restaurant's window.

12.ATM Spits Out Extra Cash

(Fargo) � A haywire ATM machine spit out extra cash but three honest bank customers ignored temptation and returned the free money.

"All I wanted was $20 to go to the movie," said Mary Davidson. "Then $20 bills just started shooting out of the machine."

In total the machine spit out $125 to Davidson. Barb Hofland's first attempt to withdraw $100 from the money machine failed. On her second try, she pulled out her $100 - and another $100.

13. Small Town 4 Sale

(Amboy, C.A.) � The highest bidder of this small town in California will get a package that includes the 150-acre town, post office, motel, cafe, gas station and much more.

The owners of this tiny desert town hope to get some clicks on Route 66 when they put it up for auction on the Web this week. Timothy White and Walt Wilson intend this week to list the postage-stamp town on auction site eBay Inc., said Rob McManus, estates director for San Marino-based Dilbeck Realtors.

Amboy, population seven, has remained unsold since it was put up for sale for $1.9 million in October, McManus said Monday. White and Wilson bought the town for an undisclosed amount several years ago. The highest bidder will get a package that includes the 150-acre town, post office, motel, cafe, gas station, church, gift shop, two landing strips, four antique vehicles and about 540 acres of surrounding land divided in five noncontiguous parcels, McManus said. Amboy was founded in 1858 as a mining town. It is about a 3�-hour drive from Los Angeles.

14. SANTA BABY ..

A suspected burglar, who spent seven hours wedged in the chimney of a pub, was arrested by British police after he was rescued, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday. The man was stuck down the chimney of the Twin Farms pub in the northern city of Newcastle on Friday, and was only rescued after a deliveryman heard his cries for help. Firemen used a rope to haul him to safety. "It was a bit like a cheese grater because sharp bits were sticking into him," the Telegraph quoted fireman Dave Curran as saying. "He was shouting and swearing as he was being brought up as his skin was scraping off his knuckles and other parts of his body, but he didn't suffer serious injuries." When questioned by police, the man said he had been trying to rescue a cat.

15.

Boy In Trouble For Playing His Accordion

(Chagrin Falls, Ohio) � After two run-ins with police for playing his accordion on the village's streets, Jacob Kouwe has been cleared to polka.

The Village Council ruled Monday night that street performances by a 16-year-old Chardon High School sophomore do not disturb the peace.

Kouwe began playing polkas and hymns in December in the quiet downtown of the suburban Cleveland village. On Feb. 8, a Starbucks coffee shop employee complained to police that Kouwe was "soliciting." Kouwe said that he does not ask for money, but some people drop cash in his accordion case. He moved away from Starbucks. Then a resident complained that Kouwe's music was "tacky."

Police looked into the possibility that Kouwe was disturbing the peace. Chagrin Falls has a 1935 ordinance that prohibits the loud playing of a musical instrument or "other sound-making device." Law Director Joseph Diemert said the ordinance does not pertain to street performers, but to major events."I admit street performances are not the polished, perfected, album-quality fare served up by formal concert venues," Kouwe told council members. "However, my street performances are from the heart."

16. S Africa woman nabbed for stealing baby 27 years ago

A 70-year-old woman was arrested in South Africa on Friday for stealing a two-week-old baby 27 years ago, police spokeswoman Annaline Prinsloo said.

The victim, now a grown man in his late 20s, discovered at the age of 13 that he had been stolen as a baby but only recently reported the matter to police.

The woman was arrested in the township of Kathlehong, east of Johannesburg, on Friday morning.

She told police an unknown woman shoved the baby in her arms while she was walking down a street in a Johannesburg suburb in 1975.

Ms Prinsloo said police were trying to establish if the mother of the child had laid a complaint at the time.

17. German artist makes clocks from cow dung

A German artist who turns dried cow manure into wall clocks and small sculptures wants to expand his repertory to include cow dung wrist watches.

"Artists are always looking for new materials and I was struck by the similarities in the consistency of the manure to my paints," 43-year-old Bernd Eilts said.

"I used sheep droppings at first but they were too small so I switched to cow dung."

Mr Eilts said the idea came to him as he walked through a mound-filled field 10 years ago.

He lets the cowpats dry out over a few weeks before sculpting, painting or lacquering them.

He said animals fed on fresh grass produced the best pats, but other foods made for interesting varieties.

"Cows fed on carrots and turnips produce a reddish dung, which looks quite different from the normal material."

His trademark clocks cost 150 euros ($US140), and he said wrist watches and even alarm clocks may soon appear.

Mr Eilts made his first splash in the Dutch town of Groningen in 2000 with an exhibit entitled "Bullshit".

18. Michael Jackson hailed as 'most foolish American'

"King of Pop" Michael Jackson was selected as the "most foolish American" in a poll out on Friday, ahead of April Fool's Day. Eighty per cent of those polled said Jackson, who has been in the media spotlight again since a British television documentary shed new light on his personal life, was the biggest fool in the country, public relations consultant Jeff Barge said, who has the survey taken every year.

Jackson, 44, drew foolish reviews for, among other things, dangling his baby son out a window in Germany to show him to fans last year. Boxer Mike Tyson came in a foolish second.

19. Young at heart seeks date for her 105th birthday party

Agnes Warner turned 105 last week and all she wanted for her birthday was a date. So the recreation director at her retirement home in the north-eastern US state of New Jersey convinced the local newspaper, The Home News Tribune, to run a story about Ms Warner, to alert great-grandfathers that she wanted a beau for the evening.

"She said she didn't want to get married but she wouldn't mind a boyfriend," Edie Barr, the recreation director of the Chelsea at East Brunswick, told The New York Times.

Four bachelors came to court Ms Warner, who was widowed in 1969. She danced with each of them but let the retirement home's staff and her fellow residents help choose her date.

The winning suitor was Carl Mendola, 20 years her junior, who danced with her to Edelweiss.

"She's a wonderful woman, a very nice woman - we speak well together, as if we'd known each other a long time." Mr Mendola said.

20. Air traffic controllers complain about motion sickness

Air traffic controllers at Sweden's biggest airport in Stockholm say they are falling ill because their tower sways in the wind

21. Quiz coughing trial delayed -- by coughing LONDON - The trial of an army major accused of cheating in the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" TV quiz with the help of a coughing accomplice has been adjourned -- because of an outbreak of coughing among the jury. A court official said the trial of Major Charles Ingram, who is charged with swindling his way to the million pound top prize, was delayed because several members of the jury were experiencing cough and throat problems which made it hard for them to concentrate.

"It was adjourned for that reason...but should restart in the morning," the official told Reuters, adding that the judge would begin his summing up of the case then. Ingram is charged alongside his wife, Diana, and college lecturer Tecwen Whittock with conspiracy and procuring a valuable security -- the million pound cheque -- by deception.

All three deny the charges. But Ingram denies meeting Whittock and the lecturer said any coughs he might have made were pure coincidence.

Take a Step Backwards - Go ON Forward

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Backup Five Steps

I will be here tomorrow - Wednesday, Feb. 09, 2005

Gosh I think I am able to breath - Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2004

That is my relative, ziggy - Monday, Nov. 01, 2004

no bright eyes but always bushy tail - Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004

litte update from me.... - Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004

Other Diaryrings are below!!!
Diaryrings part 3: Recent
Diaryrings: ME
Diaryrings: Interests