Tidbits & other weird things...

These were all taken from Tidbits, a free newspaper that publishes all kinds of fun and random facts. :) My comments, for those who are interested, are in italics...


Russia (1/20/05): A pregnant Russian woman went into labor in the middle of a parachute jump. Marija Usova gave birth to a baby girl minutes after landing from the jump in Moscow. She had ignored warnings when she decided to arrange the jump when she was eight months pregnant. Halfway through her jump she suddenly felt an enormous pain and realized she had gone into labor. She managed to control her descent, although she said she was close to passing out at times, and landed safely where she immediately began to give birth, local media reported. Doctors on hand rushed to her aid and helped deliver the baby. Usova said the last words she remembers hearing were, "It's a girl," before waking up in a hospital. She said "I wanted my baby to have the beautiful feeling of flying throug the air and free-falling before it was born and give it something really unusual. I was already in the air when I suddenly felt a massive pain. I realied that it had already started. I cried out: 'Oh God, help me!' and kept my legs tightly together but beyond that there wasn't much more I could do. I just kept thinking that my baby had to survive this. But every second of that descent seemed to take an eeternity." She said that she had decided to name her daughter Larisa. "It means Seagull in ancient Greek."

This one is just for Sarah cuz she's from the same area as the person in this bit.

Washington (1/7/05): An armed robber held up a gas station in Poulsbo, Washington and then went back to ask for directions. The 22-year-old man, from Vancouver, Washington got away with cash after holding up staff at knifepoint. The robber took off in a red Honda car and police from four towns gave chase, say reports. After a 100 mph chase through winding roads, the man lost his pursuers but had no idea where he was. He pulled into a gas station to ask directions to Seattle; unaware it was the same one he'd just robbed. Attendants alerted police who caught up with the man and arrested him soon afterwards.

How dense can you be? That's all I want to know. Granted, stopping at a gas station to ask directions is a good idea...one of the few males I've heard of actually doing that, even....lol, maybe that's why guys don't stop for directions. ;)

Somewhere in England (?/?/??): One of the local Members of Parliament (Gillian Shephard) paid a visit to the prison in Norwich, England to inspect the place and after her tour, the Governor showed her to her chauffeur-driven car\, whereupon it was discovered that the chauffeur had inadvertently left the keys in the car and he was unable to open the doors. There was much embarrassment until the Governor of Norwich jail came up with a splendid idea. "We have plenty inside here who are doing time for car burglary. Shall I get one?" Gillian nodded her assent. Enter Justin, doing a few years for suchcrimes, and he was invited to display his skills to the advantage of Mrs. Shephard in order to save her any further embarrassment. With that, Justin picked up a large stone and hurled it at the windshield, shattering it in a million pieces. Surrounding press and cameramen had to hide behind trees and other cover to conceal their laughter. Apparently, Justin, though a frequent offender, had a "simple anad dynamic approach" to theft. Not for him the sophisticated business of bits of wire or lock picks, etc.... By way of explanation he later said that all he was ever after was the property inside the vehicles.

heehee....

Germany (1/20/05): A German school has come under fire after it started charging pupils money to use the toilet. Students at a secondary school in Sprockhoevel can choose to use the old toilets for free or pay 10 cents to use a new luxury toilet with marble sinks. Marcel Hafke, a member of the Young Liberals in the province, has called for an end to the policy. He described the toilet toll as "heartless" and said: "Second-class peeing should not be allowed."

lol....I don't know why I found that one so amusing...I just did. Emphasis on Marcel Hafke's comment is mine.

Canada (1/7/05): A Canadian policeman had to look twice after booking identical twins for speeding on the same day--in the same car. Officer Chris Legere pulled over an 18-year-old woman, from Akwesasne, for driving 96 mph in the morning, reports Canadian Press. Hours later, the same car was stopped by Legere for travelling at 92 mph in the opposite direction. He thought at first he'd caught the same person twice but an identification ch3eck showed that it was her twin sister. "They don't only share the same birthday, but they share the same offences," said the officer. "They'll be splitting speeding fines, too."

Sometimes I wonder about people.

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the first minimum wage in the United States. The new law, considered controversial at the time, established a 25 cent-per-hour minimum wage and a maximum 44-hour workweek for minors.

So, that's who we have to thank for all that shtuff...the now $5 and some change federal minimum wage. It's interesting that minors at the maximum level worked more hours than most adults are allowed to put in. Legally, if a person is between the ages of 16 and 18 and is still in school, you cannot have them work more than 20 hours per week and they are not allowed to work beyond 10PM on school nights, 11PM on nights when school is not in session. At least in Washington, FYI.

Florida (1/24/1907): In Ormond Beach, Florida, Glenn Curtiss, an engineer who got his start building motors for bicycles, sets an unofficial land-speed record of 136.29 mph on a self-built V-8 motorcycle. An automobile would not surpass that speed until 1911.

My, how times have changed...

Germany (1/17/05): Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking miniature US flags into piles of dog poop in public parks. Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth, said, "This has been going on for about a year now, adn there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been found during that time." The series of incidents was originally thought to be some sort of protest against the US-led invasion of Iraq. And then when it continued it was thought to be a protest against President George W. Bush's campaign for re-election. But it is still going on and the police say they are completely baffled as to who is to blame. "We have sent out extra patrols to try to catch whoever is doing this in the act," said police spokesman Reiner Kuechler. "But frankly, we don't know what we would do if we caught them red-handed. Legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the federal constitution is vague on the issue.

lol, lol, lol.....I realize, as an American, I should be insulted at this particular deed of disrespect towards my country...but the fact that legal experts were looking into what could be done to punish the perpetrators was just too funny...And what did they expect? The people who wrote the constitution to write "Do not disrespect the nation's flag by sticking it in a pile of feces"? Good grief...

What do kittens, rabbits, wolves, hedgehogs, cheetahs, and pandas have in common? They're all born blind.

Just a random fact to throw in there.

I'm not sure who Joachim Heinrich was, but he must have been a golfer. It was he who defined a "golf cart" as "a method of transporting clubs that has one big advantage--it can't count."

heehee

A "clue" originally meant a ball of thread. This is why one is said to "unravel" the clues of a mystery.

I love learning about phrases and how they originated...even different meanings to commonly-used words fascinates me.

My comments, for those who are interested, are in italics...

Well, I'm off to waste more time dinking around doing other things! :)

Toodles!