Saturday, December 11, 2010

In the news

When a Taiwanese business man accidentally shredded what amounted to $6,000, he recruited a police forensic specialist —  the "jigsaw expert" — to piece the money back together. After a week, the bank declared two-thirds of the bills had been restored and replaced the cash. Lucky guy.

In Germany, where prostitution is legal and sex workers pay taxes, the town of Dortmund enacted a new "pleasure tax" requiring prostitutes to purchase a 6-euro ticket for each day they work or face a fine. Authorities estimate that 750,000 euros will be added each year to offset the town's deficit.

In an effort to slow traffic, several Czech Republic towns have placed life-sized cardboard cutouts of female police officers in mini-skirts along well-traveled routes. Officials report the scheme is working.

An ex-felon convicted of multiple embezzlement offenses in Indiana was hired by a company in Washington State that believed the man had reformed and could provide "extra" security services at its firm. They were wrong. He is now serving a new 6-year prison sentence for embezzlement.

Police officers in a UK town responded to a 999 call only to find the resident's cat had been sleeping on the telephone.

A woman in France had to be rescued by helicopter after wild pigs chased her up a tree.

That's about it. Slow news day, week, month.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Less than a week after I lost my job in 1993, the boss who orchestrated the layoffs was indicted by the FBI on embezzlement charges and sent home from his office in a cab (because he drove a company car). After serving time in a country-club “boot camp” white-collar-criminals’ jail, he got a job as a consultant, advising small firms how to protect themselves from jerks like himself.

Teresa Shouvlin said...

You'd think because it's so counter-intuitive that it'd be a brilliant idea.