Category: Beliefs


Working for a newspaper as I do means these are uncertain times for me and my co-workers. One never knows when further cutbacks will be coming, and that makes those of us working for the print media waiting for the next changes to take place.

One of the biggest newspaper/communication companies in the country has announced layoffs. You can check the story from the Fairfield Sun Times below:

>>Gannett Announces Newspaper Layoffs

Bob Dickey, President of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing Division, announced today in a confidential company memo that the divison was cutting its’ workforce by 2%.

The Sun Times has obtained a copy of the memo, which was posted on an unofficial employee blog.

The move is expected to affect 700 workers at the company’s newspaper operations across the nation.

This is the largest layoff by the media giant since 2009, when 1400 jobs were cut.   This will make the 4th round of cuts since 2008.

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It’s tough for people who don’t have any income these days. It makes people desperate, especially when they need medical attention.

Here’s one such story from the UK Guardian website:

>>US man stages $1 robbery to get state healthcare

Unemployed and without health insurance, man in North Carolina has himself arrested in order to receive treatment

It was not perhaps the most obvious way of getting a bad back, arthritis and a dodgy foot seen to. But if you’re unemployed in North Carolina with no health insurance, there is no obvious way.

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Every once in a while, there’s justice in this world although it would have been better if it had happened sooner in this case.

Here’s just such a story from the AP via the Dallas/Fort Worth area:

>>Man dies while raping elderly South Texas woman

REFUGIO, Texas (AP) — Investigators said a man has died while in the act of raping an elderly South Texas woman.

The Refugio County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as 53-year-old Isabel Chavelo Gutierrez. Sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Wright said the incident happened June 2 after he rode two miles by bicycle from his home to that of his 77-year-old victim in the tiny coastal community of Tivoli. View full article »

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What’s that? A woman’s lawn was stolen?

Yes, that’s what happened, and here’s the story from edmontonjournal.com:

>>Did you hear the one about the stolen front lawn?

EDMONTON — Denise Thompson had a beautiful front lawn, thick and green. It was where her four children and two dogs played, and where she drank coffee on sunny mornings.

Then someone stole it. They didn’t even leave a note.

“Now my place looks like I’m a farmer who just plowed and is ready to put their seeds down,” she said Monday.

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It wasn’t long ago that I posted a story about a lady who was holding up a pregnant woman. Well, here’s another intriguing story about a woman, this time one who died before her trial.

The story comes from foxnews.com:

>>‘Black Widow’ Grandmother Dies Before Facing Charges Related To String Of Dead Husbands

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –  An elderly grandmother who left a trail of five dead husbands in five states over decades has died in Louisiana after an illness, her son-in-law said Monday.

Terry Sanders said Betty Neumar died in a hospital in Louisiana. Stanly County, N.C., Sheriff Rick Burris said authorities are looking into her death.

“We’re going to make sure we examine the death certificate,” Burris said.

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I know the economy is still bad, but this is too much!

Check out the school that is replacing lawn mowers with sheep! It’s an AP story via Yahoo:

>>Pa. school district turns lawn care over to sheep

CARLISLE, Pa. – A central Pennsylvania school has a woolly plan to keep its grass neatly trimmed.

The Carlisle Area School District says it can save up to $15,000 a year by turning over some landscaping chores to sheep.

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A few days ago, I posted a story in which cursing would be fined in Australia. Now we find out that swearing might get you thrown off an airplane.

Here’s the story from the Detroit News website:

>>Man tossed off flight after cursing in Detroit may sue

A Brooklyn, N.Y., man who said he was thrown off a flight at Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday for cursing is considering suing the airline, calling the experience “humiliating.”

Robert Sayegh had a layover Sunday afternoon after attending a cousin’s wedding in Kansas City on Saturday. The 37-year-old TV producer and children’s book author said he and other passengers on Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 5136 to Newark, N.J., had been waiting at the gate for 45 minutes when he was overheard by a flight attendant telling a passenger next to him, “What’s taking so (expletive) long to close the overhead compartments?”

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Most people associate Mannheim Steamroller and Chip Davis with the holiday/Christmas season. But I like their other music as well. Check out a few of their videos below:

This is called ‘The Children’s Waltz:”

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The economy continues to spiral downward, and people are getting more and more desperate. Here’s a good case of that where a Philadelphia area woman dressed as a clown robbed a bank.

>>With her polka-dot clown suit, rainbow wig, red nose and candy-cane socks, Carolyn Williams looked quite a picture when she strode into a KNBT Bank last August.

But it was no laughing matter when she told tellers at the bank in Bethlehem Township, Pennsylvania, that she had a bomb before making off with more than $7,000.

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The Associated Press seems to have a flood of weird crime stories these days.

Check out the true crime story below:

>>Man with dead weasel accused of assault

HOQUIAM, Wash. – Police say a man was carrying a dead weasel when he burst into an apartment and assaulted a man in Washington state.

The victim asked, “Why are you carrying a weasel?” Police said the attacker answered, “It’s not a weasel, it’s a marten,” then punched him in the nose and fled.

The attacker was apparently looking for his girlfriend and had gone to her former boyfriend’s apartment Monday where the victim was a guest.

KXRO reports he left the carcass behind.

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