Volume 13, Number 24, June 15, 2008

(As regular readers know, I sometimes include some personal comments before the actual column begins. I won’t be doing that anymore [for the most part] as many of those comments have a new outlet and will now show up in a new blog I recently started. Check it out at: HYPERLINK "http://jpdave.blogspot.com/" and feel free to join the crowds and leave a comment - already at least one has poured in! The first couple of entries were to just get my feet wet, but recent offering seems to be more enjoyable or thoughtful (or both) and come close what a blog should be. Please take a look and see what’s happening.)

Greetings, and thanks for joining me for another week. Starting us off are a few news stories you may have missed. First, from London’s Daily Mail - priorities! The British government compensates soldiers the equivalent of about $115,000 if they lose a leg in battle. Recently, though, the Defense Ministry paid out the equivalent of about $400,000 in disability to a civil servant who had injured his back while lifting a printer. (I see the US is quiet about how it handles returning wounded soldiers. I may have my staff look into the issue and report back to you. It won’t be pretty.)

Next, our educational system at work. As you may know, places like Texas and California determine much of the rest of the country’s textbooks. The Texas Board of Education announced last year that it had made its selections of approved math textbooks for the next school year, even though the group of chosen books contained a total of 109,263 errors. Books of the industry giant Houghton Mifflin accounted for about 86,000. All publishers have guaranteed to correct the errors by the time the books are shipped. Dallas Morning News.

Finally, I have to wonder how many such Bits like the one that follows are “out there.” From Ananova, an Italian lawbreaker begged to go back to jail after telling wardens life behind bars was better than living back at home with his wife. Prison bosses had freed Luigi Folliero, 45, to serve the second year of his two-year sentence for theft under house arrest. But after just two days at home he fled back to Ponte San Leonardo jail, near Naples, and pleaded to go back in his old cell because he could not stand being at home with his wife. He told wardens: "She never stops moaning and nagging."

Well, the following Bit is something I would expect to find in the good US of A (who said, “No one went broke underestimating the taste of the American people”?) Anyhow, US designers have started to market a range of high heeled shoes designed specifically for babies. The tiny stilettos, called Heelarious, are intended for babies up to six months and come in hot pink, black and leopard print. Creators Britta Bacon and Hayden Porter say the heels are only for show and will collapse if any pressure is put on them. Miss Bacon said she hit upon the idea for the shoes while walking to her daughter Kayla's fourth birthday party. She said: "It would have been hilarious if I could have brought Kayla to a party in high heels when she was a baby." The £18 shoes, which come in six different styles named after the inventors' children, are on sale at over 50 stores in America, Canada and Switzerland. Christopher Cloke, head of child protection awareness at the NSPCC, said: "This is part of a worrying trend of inappropriate clothing being marketed at young children." Last year the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said children were being psychologically damaged by inappropriate "sexy" clothing and toys (gee, you think?).

Now that it’s past, here’s a Bit that may smooth the path for the next one! Dutch statisticians have found once and for all that Friday 13th, a date regarded in many countries as ill-fated, is actually safer than an average Friday. A study published by the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) showed that fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays. "I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th," CVS statistician Alex Hoen told the Verzekerd insurance magazine. In the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800 traffic accidents each Friday, the CVS study said. But the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500. There were also fewer incidents of fire and theft. Hey, statistics don’t lie… do they?

According to Reuters, you can browse the latest porn magazines at Canadian shops, but tough new laws mean that cigarette packages are simply too suggestive. Shop owners in Ontario, Quebec and a few other provinces must now hide tobacco products from their customers under rules that will cover most of Canada by year-end as the country tries to stamp out smoking by young people. The provincial governments want to discourage the habit by "de-normalizing" the presence of cigarettes, which typically enjoyed prime placement behind the cash register. Retailers must store cigarettes in drawers or behind grey wall coverings that cost as much as C$1,000 ($980), leaving some fuming over the cost, inconvenience, and hypocrisy. "It's a pain in the ass, and a double-standard that the government supports liquor sales," said a Toronto shop owner who did not want to be named, but who noted children too young to buy pornography are still free to eye the plastic-covered magazines, which are only partly hidden by their shelving. "It's kind of like a nanny state." Advocates of the law say the seemingly draconian measure will eventually work, and is too important to get bogged down by morality. "Pornography, with all its faults and deficits, won't kill you," said Michael Perley, director of the Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco, an anti-smoking lobby group. "Tobacco industry products kill one in two of their long-term users."

Yahoo News offers the following Bit: a school bus driver and amateur artist from the Chicago suburb of Zion has legally changed his name to "In God We Trust." A Lake County circuit court judge permitted Steve Kreuscher's name change petition. The 57-year-old's first name was changed to "In God," while his last name was changed to "We Trust." He says the new name symbolizes the help God gave him during tough times and says he can't wait to begin signing his artwork with the new autograph.

It’s that time of the year again - high school senior Kelly Danielle Mayo didn't have to sit through the usual speeches or wait while classmates collected their diplomas because she was the only graduate at Broadway Christian School's commencement ceremony. Her pastor was the speaker at the ceremony, which included a presentation of colors and a procession. "I'm nervous to be the center of attention," she told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "It's exciting, but it makes me nervous." The Rev. Jerry Davis, the school's principal, said it didn't matter if there was one graduate or 100. School officials wanted to give Mayo a full ceremony. The school had just 18 students this year, and so far it appears there will be no graduating seniors next year. My question revolves around the Senior Prom….

Finally, some Bits are easily connected with some states (California and Florida in particular. The following is an example from Utah: a ban on bikinis at the city pool is expected to be revised, ending a short-lived prohibition on the popular two-piece pool attire. But that does not mean that lifting the G-rating is going to lead to poolside G-strings. "My recommendation is going to be no thongs or string bikinis," said City Councilwoman Nina Laycook, who called the original dress code an oversight. Laycook said the policy will probably be revised at the council's meeting June 24, bringing Kanab back in line with city pools even in the state's most conservative communities. "We were so engrossed with safety and health issues we overlooked the wording," Laycook said. "We are addressing that now by amending the policy." Bikinis that don't reveal too much will be allowed, as will Speedos for men when the new public pool — known as the Cowboy Water'n Hole — opens July 4 in the community. Laycook said she does not expect any problems making the change. But the publicity that the ban received may linger for the city like a bad sunburn. The restrictions were not popular, even in the community where the council passed a resolution in 2006 to favor the "natural family" consisting of a working husband, a stay-at-home wife and a "full quiver of children."

Later.