XIAM007 - Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World: 10/12/11

Wednesday, 12 October 2011

Top 10 excuses police hear from drivers using cellphones -

Police in British Columbia issued more than 3,500 tickets to drivers for using electronic devices while driving during a September crackdown, according to the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC).

“The excuses I’ve heard are incredible,” Chief Jamie Graham of Victoria Police said in a statement. “One distracted driver even tried to tell me that he wasn’t on the phone — he was just listening.”

ICBC put together a list of the top 10 excuses police heard from drivers who were caught allegedly using hand-held devices behind the wheel:

1. This is a bogus law. (B.C. has a quick response for that one: about one in four of all fatal crash deaths in the province are related to distracted driving.)

2. It was my boss on the phone — I had to answer it.

3. I wasn’t using it — I just like to hold it.

4. Sorry officer, I didn’t see you trying to pull me over because I was on my phone.

5. But it was an emergency call to my wedding planner!

6. My Bluetooth died.

7. Driver: I’m using my speakerphone. Police officer: No, you’re holding your phone in one hand and steering with the other.

8. I’m not driving; I was stopped at a red light.

9. I wasn’t talking, I was checking my messages.

10. I was just checking the time.

Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1068198--top-10-excuses-police-hear-from-drivers-using-cellphones?bn=1

You Know That Your City Has Become A Hellhole When…. -

All across America there are cities and towns that were once prosperous and beautiful that are being transformed into absolute hellholes. The scars left by the long-term economic decline of the United States are getting deeper and more gruesome. The tax base in many areas of the nation has been absolutely devastated as millions of jobs have left this country. Hundreds of cities are drowning in debt and are desperately trying to survive. Last year, city government revenues in the United States fell by another 2.3 percent. That was the fifth year in a row that we have seen a decline. Meanwhile, costs associated with health care, pensions and virtually everything else continue to explode. So what are cities doing to make ends meet? Well, one big trend that we are now witnessing is that many U.S. cities have been getting rid of huge numbers of employees. If you can believe it, 72 percent of all U.S. cities are laying workers off this year. Social services and essential infrastructure programs are also being savagely cut back in many areas of the country. The cold, hard truth is that most of our cities are flat broke and things are going to get even worse in the years ahead.

So how do you know if your own city has become a hellhole?

Well, a few potential "red flags" are posted below....

You know that your city has become a hellhole when most of the street lightsget repossessed because of unpaid electric bills.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when it announces that it will no longer prosecute domestic violence cases in order to save money.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when it simply stops sending out pension checks to retired workers.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when it rips up asphalt roads and replaces them with gravel because gravel is cheaper to maintain.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when it eliminates the entire public bus system.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when nearly half of all the people living there can't read.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when one out of every ten homes sells for under $10,000.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when you can literally buy a house for one dollar.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when you have hundreds of people living in the tunnels underneath your streets.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when three of your past five mayors have been sent to prison for corruption.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when nearly half of the public schools in the city get shut down because of a lack of money.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when you have dozens of young people rampaging in the streets that are thirsty for revenge and that are armed with bats, pipes and guns.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when it is considered to be one of the 10 most dangerous cities in the world.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when thieves defecate in the back seat after they have broken into your car and taken your things.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when prostitution and drug dealing are two of the only viable businesses that remain in the city.

You know that your city has become a hellhole when the police chief announces that the police department will no longer respond to calls about burglary and identity theft due to very deep budget cuts.

Many of the examples above may seem humorous at first glance, but the truth is that they reveal just how deeply tragic our economic decline really is.

This is one of the reasons why I write about our trade deficit over and over and over. Every single month, tens of billions of dollars more wealth goes out of the United States than enters it. Every single month, we are getting poorer as a nation. Every single month, we lose more jobs and businesses.

Any politician that tells you that he or she can solve our economic problems without fundamentally addressing our horrific trade imbalance is lying to you. That means that there are a whole lot of liars in both political parties.

If the number of good jobs continues to decline, the plight of the average American family is going to continue to get worse. Home sales will continue to hover around record lows. The American people will continue to become increasingly frustrated with the economy.

The signs of decline are all around us.

Quit listening to the politicians and just open up your eyes and look.

Vancouver restaurant bans Men from Peeing standing up -

Vancouver restaurant bans Men from Peeing standing up -
Photo by Chad Skelton

A Vancouver restaurant has come up with an interesting solution to the men-can’t-aim problem: Ban men from peeing standing up.

Recently, my wife and I had brunch at the Edible Canada bistro on Granville Island. When I went to use the facilities, I was surprised to see just one unisex bathroom with about six private stalls and a communal sink area.

Even more surprising, though, was the sign above the toilet, showing a stick man tinkling into a toilet with a line through it. Yes, Edible Canada has banned men from peeing standing up.

Back in my high-school days, I had a job at a fast-food restaurant, where one of my duties was cleaning the washrooms. I was often shocked at how much dirtier the men’s washrooms were than the women’s. And as a frequent user of men’s washrooms, I can attest that men are absolutely disgusting. Not only can’t some men aim, some don’t seem to bother to raise the seat before they go.

In Edible Canada’s case, where men and women have to share toilets, I can see why they’d be interested in reducing behaviours that might make things messy.

But, still, isn’t banning stand-up peeing a little extreme? Not to mention, as far as I can tell, completely unenforceable?

Being able to pee standing up is one of the perks of being a guy, perhaps even a rite of passage.

It wasn’t long after the Older Boy learned how to sit on the potty that he wanted to “pee standing up, like Daddy”.

Read more -
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/10/12/vancouver-restaurant-bans-men-from-peeing-standing-up/

Detroit Police Impound Suspected Mobile Strip Club - the "Booty Lounge" bus -

Detroit police have impounded a party bus they say operated illegally as a strip club for reveling football fans at a popular tailgating spot.
The Detroit News and WDIV-TV report that the "Booty Lounge" bus was parked Monday near Ford Field, where the Lions played the Chicago Bears. Police say it was cited for not having a state safety inspection and because the driver didn't have a commercial license.
The bus was parked earlier Monday outside a bar in the Eastern Market area. Bus operator Joe Parsons agreed to move it at the request of police and said he planned to park out of town.
Parsons has said Detroit has no ordinance against "mobile entertainment clubs."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/12/detroit-police-impound-suspected-mobile-strip-club/?test=latestnews

Study Finds Vitamin E May Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer -

Vitamin E may have cardiovascular and brain-boosting benefits, but a new study found that men who took 400 international units of the supplement every day have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer.
“The results show that men who took vitamin E alone are actually at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer by about 17 percent, compared with a placebo,” said Dr. Eric Klein, who treats prostate patients at the Cleveland Clinic and co-chaired the study.
Researchers studied the effects of vitamin E on more than 35,000 men over the course of seven years because they originally thought vitamin E – and selenium – would decrease the risk of developing prostate cancer.
The study’s results were not what the researchers expected.
Researchers said they need to determine exactly why vitamin E can increase the chances of developing prostate cancer.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/10/11/study-finds-vitamin-e-may-increase-risk-prostate-cancer/?test=latestnews

VeriSign Demands Website Takedown Powers, No Court Order Necessary -

VeriSign, which manages the database of all .com internet addresses, wants powers to shut down "non-legitimate" domain names when asked to by law enforcement.
The company said today it wants to be able to enforce the "denial, cancellation or transfer of any registration" in any of a laundry list of scenarios where a domain is deemed to be "abusive".
VeriSign should be able to shut down a .com or .net domain, and therefore its associated website and email, "to comply with any applicable court orders, laws, government rules or requirements, requests of law enforcement or other governmental or quasi-governmental agency, or any dispute resolution process", according to a document it filed today with domain name industry overseer ICANN.
The company has already helped law enforcement agencies in the US, such as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, seize domains that were allegedly being used to sell counterfeit goods or facilitate online piracy, when the agency first obtained a court order.
That seizure process has come under fire because, in at least one fringe case, a seized .com domain's website had already been ruled legal by a court in its native Spain.
Senior ICE agents are on record saying that they believe all .com addresses fall under US jurisdiction.
But the new powers would be international and, according to VeriSign's filing, could enable it to shut down a domain also when it receives "requests from law enforcement", without a court order.

Read more -
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/11/verisign_asks_for_web_takedown_powers/

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy planning to make it a Federal Crime to mislabel products as containing Maple Syrup -

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy says he's planning to introduce legislation to make it a federal crime for people to mislabel products as containing maple syrup.
Leahy said Tuesday the legislation is needed to protect Vermont's maple crop from fraud.
The move came in the aftermath of a recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigation that found a man who had been selling fake Vermont "maple" syrup, when the product contained no syrup.
Leahy's proposal would create a new federal felony offense and increase the sentences that prosecutors can seek for people who defraud consumers and farmers by intentionally mislabeling maple products.

Read more -
http://news.yahoo.com/vt-sen-leahy-seek-maple-protection-law-181422461.html