People on Jeopardy! worry me
Mood:  d'oh
Topic: Off the Wall
I'm worried.... This guy on Jeopardy! just answered a question about felines (also known as CATS) with the answer "What is a rat?" It was not a question about what cats hunt. I wonder if he wonders why he got the answer wrong.... Good god, I know a 5-year-old who'd be screaming that the guy's an idiot if she was watching this. If a 5-year-old knows a feline is a cat, how come a full-grown adult (and a full-grown adult on a trivia show no less) doesn't have a clue? I'm frightened...

Don't believe me? Try to find today's episode online and watch it...

Social Services can't help with this lady... Maybe a rest home is in order?
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: Shakira ft. Wyclef - Hips Dont Lie
Topic: Off the Wall
This is a fabulous argument to support rest homes as an option for the elderly in their twilight years....

A 92-year-old lady in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany, called what is essentially child services to come deal with her 68-year-old daughter's promiscuity. (Just to let you know, Mom was upset because her daughter had *gasp* a boyfriend! God forbid a lady over 60 have a decent romantic life...) When the officials came to the scene and discovered that the "child" in question was 68, they told dear old mom that they couldn't do anything, as her daughter was 50 (yeah, 50) years over their legal interference limit. Nice try, Granny, but I think your kid's gonna keep dating for a while yet! Maybe the mom should try seeing someone too- like a nice psychotherapist!

Read more at:
Mum worried about love life of daughter, 68

People do the funniest things...
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: Live365.com- RED BLOOD Gothic Radio: Communion by Aesma Daeva
Topic: Off the Wall
Okay... People do do the funniest things! Last night at Ralph's Grocery Store, I saw a guy walk in wearing a Stater Bros. Grocery Store uniform... How screwed is that? He won't even shop at his own store- and they have great bargains, too! It might have been because it was late- I got out of there around 10:30pm and Stater's closes at 9pm, but still... Company loyalty would be a plus, they are paying the man's wages, after all!
In other news... The Brits are pretty funny to me today. They fired a tea lady, then hired 200-pound-per day consultants to tell their staff how to make/carry tea. For us Americans that 200 pounds equals $337.43, a.k.a. more than your humble webbe-mistress makes in a week... Can I be consulted on how to make and carry tea? I'm rather good at it!

For more on this story, you can read the original here:
The Sun Online - News: Brew couldn't make it up
Or you can read the condensed here:
Consultants tell staff how to make tea

A stop-gap measure for anthrax-related terrorism?
Mood:  hug me
Now Playing: "Songs of Sanctuary" by Adiemus
Topic: NewsBites
Okay, get this... A 17-year-old has done something that millions in government spending couldn't: figure out a way to kill anthrax in the mail for private citizens. Marc Roberge, a high-school student, performed an award-winning experiment on an anthrax-similar (non-lethal) substitute called bacillus subtilis. The similarities between the two allowed him to perform the experiment with confidence in the results. Using a regular iron, set on high heat without steam, you can iron your mail as a stop-gap to kill the anthrax spores. Just apply a little pressure, go back and forth over the suspicious letter for a few moments, and bam! you're anthrax-free. Young Mr. Roberge does insist that his measure is simply for extreme cases where the proper authorities can't be contacted and reminds people to *ALWAYS* notify said proper authorities as the first measure of defense.

Read the articles at:
Anthrax remedy: clothes iron?. (2006). ABC News (from Associated Press). Retrieved Feb 24, 2006, from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1643020&page=1

Seventeen-year-old devises anthrax deactivator. (2006). MSNBC. Retrieved Feb 24, 2006, from http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11522143/

Student to publish anthrax science project. (2006). MSNBC (from Associated Press). Retrieved Feb 24, 2006, from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11473217/from/RSS/

Listen to the NPR Interview:
Roberge, M. (2006, Feb 23). Teen develops defense against anthrax. Day to Day, Retrieved Feb 24, 2006, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5230109&ft=1&f=17

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