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From the USA Today:

LAWMAKER: TAX TOILET PAPER

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Legislature is flush with good ideas.
Sen. Al Lawson's latest involves a way to pay for wastewater treatment and help small towns and counties upgrade their sewer systems.

The Democrat from Tallahassee is proposing a 2-cent-per-roll tax on toilet paper.

"We've got 17 million people in this state and all of them can contribute to protecting our underground water supply," he said.

In a Republican-dominated Legislature that doesn't like new taxes, the idea could end up in the tank pretty quickly.

Senate President Tom Lee said he didn't think it would get too far, but didn't rule it out. "We'll be getting to the bottom of it real soon," he said.

Lawson's been enduring plenty of jokes — bathroom humor, you might say — but he says it's a serious issue.

Even if the proposal passes the Legislature, it would need approval from Gov. Jeb Bush. The president's brother said if toilet paper is taxed, people might use less of it.

"That's not necessarily a good thing," he said.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

For the trees it is...

Übereil

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" /> I hesitated to post that in this topic, because it could nearly be a case for the "funniest pictures" thread... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> But since this is the place for "Crazy short things you read in a newspaper", I put it there. Enjoy! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />


<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Seriouslly... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ROFL.gif" alt="" />

Übereil

www.milka.fr

Look at this site while you can.

The today's newspaper has an article in which the owner of this site Mrs. Milka Budimir, has been sentenced to give this site to Kraft Foods, because they wanted it for their "Milka" chocolate.

The cour deciding over that neglegted that the company was too slow in buying this domain. Thus they were using lawers to get it, that's my personal impression I get from the article.

In this case the company with the trade mark in their back has won over a single individual, or to put it more cynical : Industry over People.

This is one of the things I fear with the current policy towards trademarks and patents.

Alrik.

Sertanlly look that way. The little man (or women) stand no chance against a major company. The company is simplly too big, has too much money to spend on lawyers and the like.

Übereil

Economy politics have great lacunas. They allow companies to get so much power over the individuals! Sometimes, if people come to rebel and unit themselves agaisnt that, like in that lady's case, it can make a difference. But most often, that necessitates so much means and implication to give results that people simply get so tired, disgusted and discouraged that they stop fighting and give up. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sad.gif" alt="" />

That reminded me of something beautiful South Ameriican author Paulo Cohelo wrote when the US went at war in Iraq after the whole world mobilised against that decision. The end of the text expresses an admirable attitude that could fit in this situation as well. For those able to understand French, here is the link: Merci Président Bush

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

=New Asian quake threat warning=

A build-up of stress on faults in Sumatra following the Indonesian earthquake is likely to trigger another large quake and perhaps a tsunami.
That is the claim made in Nature by a team from the University of Ulster.

The slip that caused last year's devastating quake placed increased stress on the Sumatran fault and on the adjacent undersea Sunda Trench.

A new rupture could trigger a magnitude 7-7.5 quake on land and a magnitude 8-8.5 quake beneath the sea, they say.

The 2004 earthquake occurred when the deep, flat Indian plate slipped under the Burma plate.

Major earthquakes tend to cluster in areas called subduction zones where two or more plates of the Earth's crust grind and overlap.

When a quake takes place, the displacement causes the surrounding crust to become distorted. This places stress on other fault lines and structures in the region.

Researchers from the University of Ulster at Coleraine used information about displacement following December's magnitude 9.0 quake to calculate the stresses it placed on other structures in the region.

They concentrated on the Sumatran fault, a so-called "strike-slip" fault which cuts through the island of Sumatra, and the Sunda trench, a continuation of the underwater subduction zone that ruptured to cause the tsunami last year.

"We found that both of them had been significantly loaded, in stress terms, by the 26 December quake," said lead author John McCloskey.

*Stress zone*

Their results show a stress increase of up to five bars in the 50km stretch of the Sunda trench located next to the rupture zone. They show a positive stress change of up to nine bars for about 300km on the Sumatra fault near the city of Banda Aceh.

Based on these findings, the scientists predict a possible magnitude 7-7.5 earthquake on the Sumatran fault and a magnitude 8-8.5 quake at the Sunda trench.

"The huge changes in stress mean that I am comfortable talking about a significant increase in the risk of another quake. But that is as far as I am prepared to go," Professor McCloskey told the BBC News website.

The researchers stopped short of predicting when another large quake will strike the region. But similar events elsewhere in the world have occurred within a few years of each other, or even a few months.

*Another tsunami?*

In Japan, at least five major quakes in the Nankaido segment of the Nankai subduction zone have been accompanied by similar events on the linked Toanakai/Tokai segment within five years - and three of the subsequent quakes ruptured in the same years as their precursors.

The magnitude 7.4 Izmit earthquake in Turkey in 1999 triggered the magnitude 7.1 Duzce earthquake three months later.

Some researchers believe large earthquakes occur at the Sunda trench on a cycle of 200 years, which is determined by stress loading at the subduction zone. The last big event occurred 150 years ago, but Professor McCloskey said the recent quake could have accelerated this cycle.

"The amount of extra stress could be equivalent to 50 or 60 years of loading. But I personally am not convinced by this theory," he said.

A large earthquake at the undersea Sunda trench had the potential to cause another tsunami, the University of Ulster researcher added.

But Professor Nick Ambraseys of Imperial College warned against making predictions that could cause panic, when there was no way to tell when another earthquake would occur.

"False alarms and inaccurate timing could create more problems than already exist," he said.

"There is nothing in their article that enables, with any degree of certainty, the prediction of the immediacy of the next earthquake."

The authors of the report say this makes a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean all the more urgent.

MAN, that text is hard to read...

A white-talled deer struggles yesterday to get back out of an office window at G.A Braun (?) inc, a manufacturer of industrial laundry equipment for hospitals, hotels, cruise ships, commersial laundries and correctional facilities, in Syrauesu (???), N.Y. The deer had crashed through the glass window into the office. He was able to jump back out on his own after a few more tries.

That's what is sais, I think (see questionmarks).

Übereil

Syracuse, Ube Syracuse <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Hitting on the novel idea that he could end his wife's incessant nagging by giving her a good scare, Hungarian Jake Fen built an elaborate harness to make it look as if he had hanged himself. When his wife came home and saw him she fainted. Hearing a disturbance a neighbor came over and, finding what she thought were two corpses, seized the opportunity to loot the place. As she was leaving the room, her arms laden, the outraged and suspended Mr. Fen kicked her stoutly in the backside. This so surprised the lady that she dropped dead of a heart attack. Happily, Mr. Fen was acquitted of manslaughter and he and his wife were reconciled.

What a mess, LadySarah... Nice one <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />.

Übereil

http://www.popeshatchip.com/

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

These Insurance Claims are all completely genuine and are actual excerpts from real claim forms. The people who wrote them are obviously completely illiterate !!
" I started to slow down, but the traffic was more stationary than I thought"
" I had one eye on a parked car, another on approaching trucks and another on the woman behind "
" The car in front knocked over a pedestrian, but he got up, so I ran him over again "
" I collided with a stationary truck going the other way "
"Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have "
" The guy was all over the road, I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him "
" The pedestrian had absolutely no idea which way to run, so I ran him over "
" I saw a sad faced, old gentleman as he bounced off the roof of my car "
"A car drove away at speed catching our client who went up in the air and his head went through the windscreen and then rolled off at the traffic lights a good few feet away. The car then sped off and miraculously our client remained conscious and managed to cross the road."
"I am responsible for the accident as I was miles away at the time."
"I pulled into a lay-by with smoke coming from under the bonnet. I realised the car was on fire so took my dog and smothered it with a blanket."

Dänemarks Heritage : The Virgin Islands

It's a story (in German language) I didn't know anything about.

It's a story about a joung woman from Denmark who tries to find her Grandfather who was almost erased out of family memory - to find out that he was a son of a female slave of people from Denmark on the Virgin Islands ! Probable he was even a slave himself.

The article shows that she is able to trace back her ancestors 7 generations. She has visited the Virgin Islands and found a house where the mother of her Grandfather had worked, and probvably the ruins of the house where she had lived. She has even found her heritage : Her ancestor is a woman who was named Violet and who was "caught" in Africa and "sold" to the Virgin Islands, then still property of the state of Denmark. The islands were sold to the USA 1917.

The full backtracing of these generation lines is heavily supported by the bureaucratism of the people who "owned" the slaves and by the state Denmark itself : There had to be detailed records for taxes and for the slaves, who "owned" them, when they died etc. . This was done to prevent tax fraud and cheating.

The picture in the article shows the young woman with a picture of her Grandfather.

The Puss of the Baskervilles?

LONDON (Reuters) - A London man trying to coax his cat back into the house before he went to bed got more than he bargained for.



Instead of a tame pussy, the cat-like creature that emerged from the bushes in response to his calls was nearer the size of a Labrador dog.


Neither was the snarling beast in the mood for a quiet bowl of milk. It flew at the man, giving him the fright of his life, and several nasty scratches.


The man alerted police after scrambling back into his house.


Officers who visited the scene soon afterwards believe they saw the culprit.


"One police officer believes they saw a large black cat-like animal approximately the same size as a Labrador dog," a police spokesman said.


London Zoo was contacted for advice later on Tuesday morning and schools were alerted.


So far, no further sightings have been reported.

Must be so frustrating... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

That story looks like the lottery ticket and the cell phone story posted earlier in this thread. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" /> Such things seem to happen very often on contests, finally. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" />

But it's worth a good (bad) smile for us, readers...
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />

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True Stella Awards #59: 16 March 2005
www.StellaAwards.com
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THE LONG, SAD TALE OF A GIFT PLATE OF COOKIES by Randy Cassingham

Out of school for the summer last year, Taylor Ostergaard and Lindsey Jo Zellitti, 17 and 18 at the time, were looking for a project. One evening they decided to make some home-baked cookies to bring cheer to their neighbors. They had to skip a dance to do it, but Taylor asked her father for permission for the cookie project. He gave his permission with two conditions: the chores had to be done, and he had to get some of the cookies!

By the time the cookies were all made the sun was just dipping below the horizon, so Taylor and Lindsey rushed out to deliver them, only stopping at the houses of their Durango, Colo., neighbors where lights were on inside.

Part of the idea was to do anonymous good deeds, so they put a message on each plate. Written on a big red heart, it read: "Have a great night. Love, The T and L Club."

One of the nine neighbors they delivered to was the Young's. Wanita "Renea" Young, 49, was home, and a light was on in her kitchen. The teens put a plate of cookies on her porch, knocked at the door, and scampered off -- they were doing anonymous good deeds, after all, so it wouldn't work if they were seen!

Renea says she was startled to hear someone at the door at night and called out, "Who's there?" Of course, the two gals were already gone. With no reply forthcoming, Renea says she was so terrified that she called 911. The sheriff responded and found no signs of trouble, no vandalism, no trespass -- just a plate of cookies. The next day she was still suffering from such severe anxiety she thought she was having a heart attack. She checked into the emergency room, but she was not having any heart problems.

When Taylor and Lindsey found out a neighbor had been frightened by their good deed, they were horrified. Quite understandably, they chose not to go knocking at Renea's door, so each sent her a letter of apology. Taylor's said in part she "didn't realize this would case trouble for you. ... I just wanted you to know that someone cared about you and your family."

The Ostergaard and Zellitti families offered to pay Renea's medical bills -- about $900 worth -- if she would sign a release saying she wouldn't sue. An over-reaction? Not in this day in age. Renea refused to sign the release. She said that she was not satisfied with the written apologies, in large part because they weren't delivered in person, so she filed suit in La Plata County Small Claims Court. The suit demanded $3,000 to cover her medical expenses, a motion-sensor light for her porch, lost wages, and punitive damages.

Taylor and Lindsey quickly learned an important life lesson: good deeds often don't go unpunished.

The teens brought letters from other neighbors saying they liked the cookies, they found the gift a lovely surprise -- and noted that they weren't terrified by the girls' gift. Taylor's parents also wrote to the court. "We feel that knocking on a door and leaving cookies is a gesture of kindness," they said, "and would not create an anxiety attack in the general public."

Judge Doug Walker heard the case. Since the families had offered to pay Renea's medical bills, he awarded her the $900, but no more -- no motion-sensor light, no punitive damages, no lost wages, no pain and suffering.

Taylor "cried and cried" when she and Lindsey lost in court, her mother Jill says. "She felt she was being punished for doing something nice." The teens declined to make a statement to reporters.

But Renea was happy to talk. Despite her victory in court, she was far from conciliatory. She said the girls showed "very poor judgment" and shouldn't have been "running around" at night since "something bad could have happened to them." (You mean, some evil Cookie Monster could sue them or something?) As for her lawsuit, she said she hopes "the girls learned a lesson." She also appeared on CNN, claiming the girls pounded on the door so hard they damaged it.

But even with final judgment of the local court, the story was far from over. The story came out in the state's largest newspaper, and people from all over Colorado were outraged that someone would be so mean as to sue two teens trying to do something nice for their neighbors. They had even apologized, in writing, and offered to pay her medical bills! Scores of people offered to donate to a fund to pay the legal judgment; several offered to pay it all. The girls said if they ended up with more money than the court awarded, they'd donate it to the "Never Forgotten" scholarship fund for students from Columbine High, the Denver-area school that was the scene of the 1999 mass-murder shooting spree by two students. If donors preferred, they'd use the money for their own college educations. So much money rolled in they added other charities, including two children's hospitals.

But that's not the end either. Within days the story spread throughout the country. Taylor and Lindsey were invited to appear on various TV shows, from "Good Morning America" to "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". They turned down most of the requests. "We were afraid Mr. Leno might make jokes at our neighbor's expense," said Lindsey's mother, Martha. But they did appear on GMA since they "thought it might be their one shot to tell the country they're still not afraid to do good deeds." She stressed the two families were not upset with the Youngs or the judge.

Taylor's mother agreed with the low public profile. "The girls don't need to go on these shows to defend themselves," Jill Ostergaard says. "Their best defense is the way they live their lives every day."

Sadly, Richard Ostergaard felt it necessary to go back to court the day after the judgment: he got a restraining order against Renea's husband, Herb Young. Herb, he said, was making harassing phone calls to them. Herb says his phone has been ringing a lot too, and that he and his wife have been getting insults and threats from "crackpots". They claim they have been told they "are what's wrong with society" and that they "should be found dead in a ditch."

"I don't believe the girls meant for this to happen," Herb says. "But they could have prevented it from happening if they had just shut their mouths when they came out of court." Yet remember, the girls refused to make any statement to reporters after they lost their case, and only relented and appeared on some talk shows after Renea started talking to the media. The initial newspaper report was built from court records -- and Renea's statements to the press. Yet they complained "their side" was ignored in the press.

"All this over cookies," Renea says, completely missing the point. She says she's "devastated" by the reaction to her suit, and is so stressed she can't return to her part-time job at Wal-Mart.

Let's hope she doesn't sue over her continuing stress. A check of court records by the Denver Post found that the cookie case wasn't the first time the Youngs had been in court. They had sued, or been sued, at least nine times, with at least two of the cases involving restraining orders, the Post says. They were sued by a bank, a creditor, a construction company, an employee, and more -- and most of the time they lost.

"Our home is like a funeral parlor," Renea comlpains. "They've robbed us of our laughter. My spirit, my soul, is damaged." She says she and Herb may have to move out of town.

But hey: she won.


SOURCES:
1) "Cookie Klatch Lands Girls in Court", Denver Post, 4 February 2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect4.pl?59a

2) "Outraged Readers Say Cookie Ruling Was Half-Baked", Denver Post, 6 February 2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect4.pl?59b

3) "Dad of Teen in Cookie Suit Gets Order Against Neighbor", Denver
Post, 7 February 2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect4.pl?59c

4) "Everyone Chipping in to Help Cookie Duo", Denver Post, 9 February 2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect4.pl?59d

5) "Cookie Plaintiffs Lament Bitter Aftertaste, Want to Tell 'Their Side'", Denver Post, 11 February 2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect4.pl?59e

6) "Couple Take Lumps since Cookie Suit", Denver Post, 17 February 2005
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect4.pl?59f