Don't Panic! Lighten Up!S


Smiley

Florida: Man In Cape Charged With Attempted Robbery


The Associated Press
Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:51 UTC
Suspect also accused of using screwdriver as weapon.

Authorities said a man wearing a sleeping bag as a cape and carrying a screwdriver as a weapon tried to rob someone in the parking lot of a Gainesville business.

Police said Marcus Lee Mattox, 46, approached the intended victim early Sunday morning and asked for money. When the man refused, police said Mattox threw off the cape and pulled the screwdriver from his waistband. The other man quickly ran into a store and called 911.
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Document

Austrian Woman Jailed Over 24,000-Euro Parking Fine

Sarah Marsh
Reuters
Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:39 UTC
An Austrian woman has begun a 500-day jail sentence for ignoring parking tickets and failing to pay a cumulative fine of around 24,000 euros (21,440 pound), police said on Tuesday.

They said the 38-year-old civil servant from the southern city of Graz was jailed after ignoring 700 attempts by local authorities to notify her of the fines over a 2-year period.
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Mr. Potato

Man Calls 911 In Dispute Over Bar Tab

John Poltilove
The Tampa Tribune
Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:42 UTC
Rhett Hopkins refused to pay his $4 bar tab at O'Malley's bar in Sarasota because, he said, he was an undercover officer with the Tampa Police Department and worked on homeland security.

Only Hopkins isn't an undercover officer with the agency, Tampa police say.

The manager told Sarasota police that Hopkins, 25, couldn't provide law enforcement identification to the bar Sunday morning but that Hopkins insisted he was in law enforcement.

Hopkins called 911 from his cell phone and asked the operator to connect him to his boss, Rick Diaz at the Tampa Police Department, an arrest report states.
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Smiley

Philadelphia Groundhog Sees Shadow, More Winter


United Press International
Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:58 UTC
The legendary, weather-forecasting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil says the United States is in for six more weeks of winter.

Making his annual Groundhog's Day appearance Monday in Punxsutawney, Pa., Phil gazed out at a cheering crowd and "saw his shadow," the event's announcer said, signaling more winter to come, CNN reported.
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Smiley

Indiana, US: Road Sign Warns of Dinosaurs Ahead


The Indy Channel
Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:46 UTC
Signs
© WRTVThis sign greeted motorists Monday morning on Keystone Avenue in Carmel.
Indiana road sign urges dinosaur awareness.

Someone apparently hacked into an electronic road sign in Hamilton County Monday morning, prompting stares and giggles from motorists because of the message the sign displayed.

The sign, which read "Raptors Ahead Caution," amused motorists in a construction zone on Keystone Avenue, just north of 116th Street.

Comment: See another incident regarding odd road signs:

Texas Road Signs Warn Of Zombie Attack

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Toys

Yarn bombers cozy up to the urban landscape

Adriana Barton
Globe and Mail
Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:54 UTC
Stealthy knitters are leaving their mark on the Great Wall of China, the Golden Gate Bridge and a street near you

Vancouver - Beware the friend who suddenly takes up crochet. She (or he) may be a yarn bomber.

Working under code names such as Incogknito and the Microfiber Militia, a global network of "craftivists" is stitching makeshift sweaters, oversized tea cozies and giant pompoms around public property. Street poles, trees, bike racks, bridges - nothing is safe in target cities such as London, Paris, Chicago and Stockholm.

The craftivists' manifesto, according to Vancouver knitters Mandy Moore and Leanne Prain, is "world yarn domination."

Paris was hit in 2007 when hundreds of knitted socks were slid onto street posts in the Marais district.
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Camcorder

Handcuffed escapees collared by lamp post


UK Independent
Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:29 UTC

You might have thought that having evaded the courthouse guards and made it out of the building, the hard part would be over. However, two New Zealand prisoners - who made an escape attempt while handcuffed to each other - had not reckoned on a lone lamp post.
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Smiley

German Mayor Wants to DNA-tag Dogs to Identity Poop


United Press International
Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:49 UTC
A German mayor hopes to test the DNA of every dog in his small town so poop in public places can be traced back to its origin.

Volkach Mayor Peter Kornell told The Daily Telegraph the program is voluntary because DNA data collection cannot be enforced. But he hopes the owners of the 420 dogs registered in Volkach will step up and allow hair or saliva samples to be taken, the British newspaper reported Saturday.
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Mr. Potato

Thousands Attend Global Warming Protest


SOTT.net
Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:25 UTC
Angry crowds growing by the minute. Demanding an end to the maddness.

Snowman protest
© coku.com
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Black Cat

UK: Cat Home After Two-Year 'Holiday'


BBC News
Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:43 UTC
Reunited
© BBC NewsOzzie was reunited with his owners through his microchip identification.
A cat has been reunited with its owners in East Dunbartonshire after being found on a Scottish island - two years after it vanished.

Karen Ratcliffe bought Bengal tabby, Ozzie, and his sister, Ellie, for her children.

They put up laminated posters after Ozzie went missing from the family home in Bearsden in 2007.
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