Category: What-everrr!


It’s a time of tight budgets everywhere due to a bad economy, so it comes as no surprise that the Fourth of July festivities are not going to be quite as … festive … as they have been in previously better times.

Here’s a story about it from USA Today:

>>City Budgets Snuffing July 4th Fireworks by Stacey Jones

Cities across the USA are dousing the fuse on Fourth of July fireworks displays this year because of continued budget woes.

Glendale, Ariz., Jersey City and Springfield, Mo., are among the latest cities that have canceled their traditional Independence Day celebrations, joining other cities including San Francisco suburb Redwood City and Ridgefield Park, N.J.

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I’m not all that big of a sports fan, although I will watch parts of games or read about events when they interest me, and that usually means during a championship. One of my friends at work has referred to me as a “fair-weather fan” because I tend not to watch teams or players when they aren’t doing so well. I just wish I had the time!

One of my problems with sports is that I have had my heart broken too many times by certain teams (who shall remain nameless) over the years. One squad in particular would get to the playoffs, go up three wins to one defeat in a best-of-seven series, then lose the last three games in a row to be eliminated. AUGH! I had to give up following sports as closely as I had before because I just couldn’t take the gaff!

But I’m fascinated by the investment we place in something over which we have absolutely no control! We hang on every play and, as President John F. Kennedy once said, “We are inclined that if we watch a football game or baseball game, we have taken part in it.” Is that ever true! I spent one Redskins game at a friend’s home surrounded by fellow fans, and we never heard a single word the announcer on the television ever said because we were cheering, yelling and talking so loud!

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My favorite parts of any newspaper or newscast are the “filler” or “odd” stories that either make a column fit right or add spice to a broadcast. Here’s a good example of that.

A naked woman led police on a crazy chase in the Salt Lake City area. Honestly, I couldn’t make this up if I tried.  Here’s the article:

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A couple preparing for marriage recently came across an interesting discovery–that they had appeared in the same picture taken in Disneyworld years ago! Here’s the story from wesh.com:

>>BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. —

Alex and Donna Voutsinas are like many couples; they met at work, fell in love and got engaged.

Days before their wedding, the couple was looking at old family photos when Donna came across a picture of herself as a child on vacation at Disney and showed it to her fiancé.

But Alex was more interested in the man walking in the background behind Donna’s smiling family and the character Mr. Smee from Disney’s “Peter Pan.”

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Sleep–we all need it, but we don’t always get it. Lately, I’ve had several stressful things to deal with, so I’ve trouble getting enough rest, so I found this article helpful. It’s from the The Independent in the UK:

>>Don’t sleep longer – sleep smarter

Worried that you don’t get the fabled eight hours? That’s your first mistake, says Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan, who thinks it’s quality, rather than quantity, that counts. She shares her tips for a better night’s rest with Rob Sharp.

“Sleeping is no mean art,” said Friedrich Nietzsche. “For its sake one must stay awake all day.” Indeed, maximising slumber duration can be a complex process. Today’s anxiety-ridden, deadline-heavy world can steal away our eight hours of heavenly rest and replace it with a night frustratedly gnawing our pillows.

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In an accompanying piece about the “East Coast Rapist” I posted entries about this weekend, the Washington Post published some interesting answers about DNA and the case in response to readers’ questions:

>>DNA questions, answers about the ‘East Coast Rapist’

Readers of the story and interactive about the so-called ‘East Coast Rapist’ submitted a number of questions about the DNA methods used in the investigation.

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In yesterday’s entry, I printed the first half of an article from the Washington Post regarding a serial rapist in the Washington, DC, area. Here’s the conclusion:

>>Three months later, the rapist attacked two Prince George’s teenagers at gunpoint as they walked home from the Marlow Heights shopping center near the Beltway. He forced the two into the woods in what would be the first time he raped two people in a single incident. The wooded ravine is similar to the scene of the recent Prince William attack.

Days after Christmas 2001, a 29-year-old mother of four from Fairfax was running late for her 7 p.m. work shift. She pulled on a turtleneck, a T-shirt, a sweat shirt and a coat and waited at a bus stop in the Alexandria section of the county.

She saw a man smoking a cigarette and thought he was being polite by standing back at the edge of the woods. He came closer and asked whether she knew when the next bus would arrive.

But the man didn’t want an answer. “I have a weapon — follow me,” he said. She caught a glimpse of a knife handle in his coat pocket.

As he led her down the street, the bus went by, too late to help. He demanded money. When she insisted that she had none, he didn’t believe her.

“You work all the time,” he said. He was right. She had two jobs, one at Ames and the other in a fast-food restaurant. She thought he could not have known that unless he had been watching her.

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I know that it has been a while since this story appeared in the Washington Post, but I work with some ladies who remain concerned about this rapist. It is interesting that in this age of DNA evidence and CSi-like precision, someone can still get away with rape. I want to get the entire article in, so I’m running it in two parts. The concluding part will run tomorrow.

>>After 13 years, police still hunting for the East Coast Rapist

By Josh White and Maria Glod

He lurks at gas stations and pay phones and bus stops, blending in so well that people don’t notice him at first. He has a smooth, deep voice. He is black, he smokes and he is right-handed. He is in his early to mid-30s, is fit, stands about 6 feet tall, likes wearing camouflage clothes and black hats, and once had a badly chipped tooth.

The man studies women carefully. He watches them leave for work and walk home from the mall, and he notices whether they lock their windows and doors. He knows when they are most vulnerable and when they are home alone with their children. He stalks them in neighborhoods he knows well.

Then he rapes them and vanishes.

He is the East Coast Rapist. And police know so much about this man. They even have his DNA. But when it comes right down to it, he is a frustrating mystery. No one has been able to find him.

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When I got home from work last night, I went through my mail, as I usually do. I came across one piece of mail that was about the size of Readers’ Digest and was even wrapped in plastic like that publication has been. But in big letters across the top were the words, “Do Not Discard! Your Order Is Enclosed!”

Okay, that got my attention. I opened it up to find that it contained checks from my local bank that I had ordered. The part that really amazed me was that the box to hold those checks was included, but it was flat as a board and I had to assemble it! My bank, which has multiple millions of dollars in assets, couldn’t afford to send me a pre-made box? I’m not worth that much time or money? (Do they know how terrible I am at assembling things?)

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Personally, I had enough of the white stuff just a couple of months ago when we were literally buried with it during Snowpocalypse. But some folks can never get enough … if you are in San Francisco. Here’s a story from sfgate.com:

>>A rare late-spring storm, coming at the end of what has been a chilly May, will lead to a most unusual promotion this weekend at one Sierra resort – skiing on Memorial Day.

By then the weather should be sunny and warmer, but for the rest of this week, damp skies will be the rule in the mountains and the Bay Area flatlands, forecasters said Tuesday.

A weather system moved onshore about midday Tuesday, bringing widespread rain to the Bay Area and snow to about the 6,900-foot level around Lake Tahoe. At least one resort is taking advantage of the weird weather to invite skiers to enjoy one last fandango on the slopes.

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