SNIPPETS

APRIL 5,  2010

LOS ANGELES, April 4 (UPI) -- Hundreds of people in Los Angeles and others in cities worldwide got a chance to channel their inner child by indulging in public pillow fights this weekend.  Saturday's events in about 150 communities were part of International Pillow Fight Day, promoted by the public art group Newmindspace, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

And to think, Obama wants the United States unilaterally to cut its number of pillows in half.

APRIL 4,  2010

LONDON, April 2 (UPI) -- A British polling company said its latest survey indicates Britons tell an average of four lies a day, with the most common being a lack of phone signal.  OnePoll said its survey of 4,300 adults suggests Britons tell an average of nearly 1,500 lies per year, with the most popular lie being a claim of having no phone signal when failing to return a missed call, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Compared to the Obama administration, the British are at the pinnacle of integrity.

APRIL 3,  2010

From Fox:   President Obama can do one small thing Monday to help boost his image among a politically divided public:  Throw a strike.  The commander-in-chief will resume a century-old tradition Monday when he tosses out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day in Washington.

You can be sure it will be a low curve.

APRIL 2,  2010

SACRAMENTO, April 1 (UPI) -- People in the Sacramento area might be pardoned for asking if the folks who publish their schools' error-filled math books are smarter than a fifth-grader.  The Sacramento Bee reported Thursday the new Macmillan/McGraw-Hill math books distributed to second-graders at 79 city-area elementary schools in the Sacramento City and Folsom Cordova districts include the equation: five times three equals five.

Oh, come on.  That equation is correct.  It's used every day by the budget committees of the California legislature.  Let's stop nit-picking, shall we?

APRIL 1,  2010

From the Boston Herald:  A heroic off-duty special police officer who saved a psychiatrist from her rampaging, knife-wielding patient said he is “relieved” he will not face charges in the man’s death, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.  Paul M. Langone “acted in self-defense and the defense of Dr. Astrid Desrosiers” when he shot and killed Jay Carciero, 37, of Reading at a Massachusetts General Hospital bipolar clinic Oct. 27 as Carciero slashed and stabbed Desrosiers, Conley said.

Occasionally there's common sense.  Not too often, but occasionally.

MARCH 31,  2010

SALE, England, March 30 (UPI) -- A 66-year-old British woman was fined and ordered to wear an ankle monitor as punishment for selling a goldfish to a 14-year-old.  Joan Higgins, 66, owner of Majors Pet Shop in Sale, England, was fined $1,506, ordered to wear an ankle monitor and given a seven-week curfew as punishment for selling a goldfish to a 14-year-old boy sent into the store by police on a test buy, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.  A 2006 law prohibits the sale of live fish to children under the age of 16.

Does the term "priorities" come to mind?  I wonder what else was happening in merry old England while this major case was being pursued.