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In a novel move to curb drunk driving, New Mexico is using talking urinals to remind drinkers to not get behind the wheel when drunk.
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The state transportation department said on Thursday it has put some 500 talking deodorizers in bar and restaurant restrooms in the state in recent days to remind drivers not to drink and drive.
"Hey big guy, having a few drinks? Then listen up!" a voice chirps in. "Think you had one too many? Then it's time to call a cab or call a sober friend for a ride home."
Transportation department spokesman SU Mahesh said the motion-activated devices were part of an attempt to "think outside the box" to tackle drunk driving in the state.
"We have a big problem here in New Mexico. ... Hopefully this will be a humorous and also serious way to catch men before they go to their cars and say to them 'it's not worth it to drink and drive,'" Mahesh told Reuters.
Mahesh said the devices, which are manufactured by New York-based Healthquest Technologies Inc., have been used elsewhere in the United States, but never as part of a statewide campaign.
If the project is successful he hopes bars and restaurants will continue to purchase the battery-operated gadgets, which cost $21 (11 pounds) each and last three months.
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ASUNCION (Reuters) - A bereaved widow's story about her husband being devoured by a boa constrictor made headlines in Paraguay on Thursday, but it turned out to be a tall tale by a woman who felt abandoned.
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Maria Estela Lima, a housewife in the small town of Puerto Piasco, 370 miles (600 km) north of Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, on Wednesday told a local radio station how a giant boa had eaten her husband.
She said a 10-yard-long (10-meter-long) snake had grabbed her husband from a boat on the Paraguay river, and wrapped him up before swallowing him.
She said two local men killed the boa to remove her husband's remains, and she asked the community for help to maintain her three small children.
The story spread quickly and was on the front covers of Paraguay's newspapers, but Pedro Palacio, a state prosecutor who looked into the case told reporters the husband had been found in perfect health working on a ranch.
Palacio said Lima made up the story to get attention and because she felt abandoned.
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Britons are just the funniest people...or at least that's what top businessmen said in a survey about European humour released on Thursday.
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Some 34 percent of respondents to the latest UPS Europe Business Monitor said the British have the sharpest wit, while only three percent backed German claims for the accolade.
Even in Germany, only one in ten executives said their countrymen cracked them up -- compared with 47 percent who sided with Britain, the survey showed.
The poll of 1,450 executives in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Britain showed that most nationalities liked their local humour best. German, French and Dutch bosses were the exceptions.
Some 66 percent of Spanish backed their own wit, followed by 59 percent of British, and 58 percent of Italians.
Second-placed overall in the laughter probe was Italy with 18 percent of votes, followed by Spain with 15 percent.
Only one in four French respondents considered their home country to be the funniest, while 34 percent of them favoured Britain and 16 percent Belgium. None voted for Germany.
Germany also struggled to pick up points away from home -- apart from three percent of British votes, and one percent apiece from the Netherlands and Italy, the country drew a blank.
Executives also voted on humour levels in Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Austria, with the latter pair barely raising a smirk outside of Germany. Boosted by 16 percent of British votes, Ireland fared best with four percent of the total cast.
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Pickles the cat is in a predicament a long way from her Arkansas home. The calico feline from Bismarck, Ark., stowed away in a moving van unloading furniture at a neighboring home. The truck's driver, who is highly allergic to cats, discovered her the next day in Fort Walton Beach. He packaged her inside a moving box with holes and contacted the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society. He also tracked down her owners.
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Now Pickles is waiting to return to Arkansas.
"(The dad) said he tried to book a charter flight, but that was $3,000," said Dee Thompson-Poirrier, of the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society.
But Ryan Clayton, Pickles' owner, said he would do what he has to so she gets home.
"One way or another, she's going to come back to Arkansas before too long," Clayton told the Northwest Florida Daily News.
The shelter is sending a gift home with Pickles, an airbrushed T-shirt with the words "My cat went to Fort Walton Beach and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."
10
What seems to be a high school prank gone terribly wrong is getting no laughs from authorities. Collin Wayne Orth, a LyleHigh School student, allegedly laced brownies with laxatives and served them to several students and school staff on Feb. 6.
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Later that day, seven employees and five students suffered symptoms of discomfort, diarrhea, stomach cramps and bloody stools.
The 18-year-old is now facing two felony charges.
Orth has been charged with felony adulteration resulting in bodily harm, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, and felony adulteration not resulting in bodily harm, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Orth admits to buying the laxatives and making the brownies, according to the criminal complaint.
He must appear in Mower County Court on March 19.
11
A cash-strapped Hungarian village is offering the chance of immortality to anyone willing to pay to have a street named after them, and it's hoping world famous celebrities apply.
The northeastern village of Ivad is charging around 100,000 forints (260 pounds) per metre to name its eight streets and guarantees on its http://ivad.hu/index2.html Web site that the name will not be altered for 300 years.
"If, for example Barbra Streisand, whom I like a lot, has no street named after her, she may decide to have one in our village," said Gabor Ivady, mayor of Ivad where most of the 400-strong population are related.
People keen to visit the street named after them, however, will be disappointed as Hungarian law dictates roads cannot be named after the living.
Instead they will have to rely on a contract guaranteeing the name change will take posthumously.
12
An airline pilot from Maplewood won a $25,000 lottery jackpot — two days in a row. Raymond Snouffer Jr. matched the winning numbers 11-14-23-26-31 to win Saturday's Northstar Cash drawing with odds of about 170,000 to 1, Minnesota Lottery officials said.
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On Sunday, Snouffer stuck with 11 and switched to 3-7-19-28 — and won again.
Lottery officials said such a sequence was so farfetched that the odds against it were "virtually incalculable."
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是說烏小龜你如果有來看到我貼的這篇啊
我要跟你說,你一樣要負責後面六篇啦!
我只貼五篇不代表作業就只有五篇啦!
老頭怎麼可能那麼好心只叫我們寫五篇?
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