Wednesday, July 16, 2008

In the News

Can You Tell Time?
A traffic warden was caught ticketing innocent motorists - because he couldn't tell the time.
He used a calculator to work out the expiry time of Dave Alsop's ticket, without realising the device worked in decimals and not minutes and hours.
Mr Alsop, 29, parked near Torquay harbour, Devon, at 2.49pm and paid £1.20 for 75 minutes, covering him until 4.04pm.
But when he returned at 3.41pm, he discovered a £50 fine on his car. He found the warden and showed him the parking ticket, which clearly had time left on it.
Dave Alsop was given a parking ticket because the traffic warden was using a calculator which worked in decimals - not minutes and hours
PICTURE
.
I Have Been Betrayed
Daughter who devoted her life to parents sees £2.3m inheritance left... to the RSPCA
For 30 years, Christine Gill devoted her life to caring for her parents and helping them run the family farm.
She became a university lecturer so she could help out during the busy summer months, spent nearly all her spare time at the farm and even lived in a caravan nearby so she could be with her mother, who could never be left alone.
Dr Gill willingly made the sacrifices on the ‘clear and unequivocal’ understanding that she would eventually inherit the 287-acre farm.
PICTURE

.
Rescue effort saves doll, not baby
Frantic police smashed a window to rescue a seemingly unconscious baby from a locked vehicle in Queensland last week only to find it was an extremely lifelike doll.
Selling for up to $1000, the painstakingly hand-painted dolls were so lifelike with eyelashes, fingernails, milk spots and wispy hair that they were constantly fooling people, Ms Cernik said.
"They're even weighted to feel like a baby's weight and they flop like a baby," she said.
The dolls can even come with umbilical cords, cord clamps and their own birth certificates.
"They are so realistic, people do become attached to them," Ms Cernik said.
PICTURE
.
Lawn decoration returned, with photos
A Portland, Ore., woman who had given up hope of ever seeing her missing ceramic dog again said the item has returned -- with photos of its travels.
Edwina Cramer-Norris said she had assumed the dog was gone for good when it disappeared last month, but then she began receiving postcards addressed "To Master" from "Lucky Dog,"
Cramer-Norris said she saw a blue van leave her driveway Sunday and when she went outside to investigate, she found her missing lawn decoration sitting in a makeshift dog house alongside a photo album documenting its adventures. She said the pictures depict the dog with a family at locations including DisneyWorld, Graceland, the Mississippi River and New Orleans.
She said a note accompanying the pictures explained that the dog had needed a vacation from Oregon because the weather was too rainy.
"It's a strange thing," she said. "We're happy to have him back and it gives us something to share with others. (It's) some kind of a strange story."
Cramer-Norris said the missing dog returned with two new additions to the family -- a pair of ceramic puppies.
.
Verizon bill addressed to family dog
A Sacramento couple said they were shocked and confused when their dog received a $142.34 bill from Verizon Online.
Steve Fanelli and Shawn Donovan said their Lhasa Apso, named Andy Fanelli, received a notice in the mail from AFNI collections informing the canine he owes $142.34 for Verizon service.
"The point is that Andy has never had a Verizon account. We were just curious why this showed up," Steve Fanelli said.
Verizon said the bill was meant for a man named Andy Fanelli who lives on the other side of the country.
"Just because there's an Andy Fanelli back east doesn't mean you send a letter to an Andy Fanelli in California," Donovan said. "There has to be something else to connect it."
AFNI said the confusion may have resulted from the fact that the canine Andy Fanelli has his own American Express (NYSE:AXP) card, which Donovan obtained when it was offered for "family members."
"It's an active card. From time to time I take my girlfriend's to lunch on Andy," Donovan said.
Verizon Online said it canceled the debt.

No comments: