SNIPPETS

APRIL 15,  2010

MAPLE SHADE, Pa., April 14 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania school said a canceled Women's History Month fashion show was misunderstood by parents who thought their sons were to dress as women.

Misunderstood?  This is from the assignment:  "If your child is a young man, he does not have to wear a dress or skirt, as there are many time periods where women wore jeans, pants and trousers.."  When I went to school, we were taught to write clearly.  Same lesson applies to teachers.

APRIL 14,  2010

This is the end of music as we know it:   (Reuters) - Two Chinese singers have become the first people in the country to fall foul of new rules banning lip-synching nearly two years after widespread criticism of miming at the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony...The two have been fined 50,000 yuan ($7,329) each, Xinhua added.

The Chinese sleep better at night knowing they're protected from lip synching.

APRIL 13,  2010

MANCHESTER, England, April 12 (UPI) -- Two adult British skateboarders stopped by police for practicing their hobby illegally said officials sent warning letters addressed to their parents.  Tony Da Silva, 29, a semi-professional skateboarder in Manchester, England, said he was spoken to in February by a police community support officer who took down his name, address and birth date, but the follow-up letter sent by the local council was addressed to his parents and referred to "young people," the Manchester Evening News reported Monday.

Given the maturity level we see in many "young adults" today, maybe the police were right.

APRIL 12,  2010

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Take note: Selling goats and collecting workers comp don't mix. An upstate New York woman faces up to five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 after admitting she sold goats while collecting more than $60,000 in workers compensation.  Susan Tansosch pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to making false statements to the U.S. Department of Labor.

It's the old goat trick.  Amazing that people are still trying it.

APRIL 11,  2010

Another update to the Snippet we've been following:   LONDON, April 9 (UPI) -- British police said a sunglasses-clad body two women attempted to smuggle onto a plane in a wheelchair had died of natural causes 12 hours earlier.  Police said Gitta Jarant, 66, and daughter Anke Anusic, 41, German nationals living in Britain, attempted to smuggle dead relative Kurt Willi Jarant, 91, onto a plane to Germany from Liverpool John Lennon Airport last week but were detained when officials discovered the body had no pulse, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday. 

The women claimed they thought the chap was alive at the airport.  Look, maybe he was just a quiet guy.  Some people are deadly dull.  Whoops.  Shouldn't have said that.

APRIL 10,  2010

Update to a previous Snippet:  (Reuters) - A German woman arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle a corpse onto a plane says her husband was still alive when they reached Liverpool airport.  Gitta Jarant told Bild newspaper on Friday she hopes to get the remains of her husband Willi from Britain as soon as possible to have him cremated -- and then return to Berlin.  Jarant and her daughter were arrested at Liverpool's John Lennon airport on Saturday suspected of failing to give notice of Willi's death. She told the paper the 91-year-old former pilot had died at the airport just before the flight.  "I'm not a smuggler," Jarant, 66, told Bild. "My Willi only died at the airport. He suddenly looked so lifeless, like a wax figure. His fingernails turned blue all of a sudden. At home he was still warm -- I swear!"

Hmm.  His fingernails turned blue "all of a sudden," and she was at the airport, and she didn't scream for help?  And she remembered that he was still warm at home?  Why am I not buying this?