Here are a few random stories I saw in the newspapers:
How do you spell "celebration"? Actually it was a very simple word but was mispelled in a big way. The day after the St. Louis Cardinals captured its World Series Championship in October last year, a young man went to a local tattoo parlor with a special request to have "St. Louis Cardinals, World Series Championship, 2006" in red ink, etch across his back. The tattoo "artist" completed the request but not exactly what the customer asked for. The finished etching proclaims St. Louis Cardinals as "Worlb" Championship, 2000! The New York Yankees won the series in 2000. A lawsuit is pending in St. Louis County Circuit Court. The young man stated that for now he plans to attend Cardinals games with his shirt on and he definitely will offer his help to anything who wishes to know about how to select a qualified tattoo parlor/artist because he does not want to turn his back on the "worlb".
Someone told me one time that because of the heavy work load, the company would not allow any employee to take a day off unless the reason is to attend his/her own funeral. A 36-year woman in St. Charles, Missouri learned that she was dead when her loan application was rejected, reason "Applicant deceased". For the last three months, the woman called the credit bureau, even enlisted federal and state agencies to correct the "deadly" mistake. None was able to help her because they did not know what to do. For now, the woman is living between two worlds or having one foot in the grave. Seriously, I sure hope the situation will be resolved.
I think my brother VL would find the next story interesting. It was about a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change conference took place earlier this month in Bangkok, Thailand, concluded that rice production was a main cause of rising methane emissions in the 20th century. The report explained that the bacteria that thrive in flooded paddies that produce methane, by decomposing manure used as fertilizer and other organic matter in the oxygen-free environment. The gas is emitted through the plants or directly into the atmosphere. (I have no idea what I just typed. My brother "Qaptain Qwerty" wrote that in these days of instant web search via Google and other readily available source of information, someone who just happened to know how to look things up quickly could be mistakenly regarded as a smart person. However, one has to be smart to know where to look up information quickly, agree?) The government have encouraged rice farmers to drain their fields periodically to help reduce methane emissions. The farmers simply ignored the calls citing the high cost of draining the fields. Do I have to feel guilty the next time I place a large order of steamed rice?
Let's hope that the smart scientists will find the ways to save the "worlb" and keeping the earth alive and healthy for a few more million years.
