JERUSALEM (AP) -- A woman was caught with three crocodiles strapped to her waist at the Gaza-Egypt border crossing after guards noticed that she looked "strangely fat," officials said.
The woman's odd shape raised suspicions at the Rafah terminal in southern Gaza, and a body search by a female border guard turned up the animals, each about 50 centimeters (20 inches) long, concealed underneath her loose robe, according to Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for the European observers who run the crossing.
"The woman looked strangely fat. Even though she was veiled and covered, even with so many clothes on there was something strange," Telleria said.
The incident, which took place on Thursday, sparked panic at the crossing.
"The policewoman screamed and ran out of the room, and then women began screaming and panicking when they heard," Telleria said. But when the hysteria died down, she said, "everybody was admiring a woman who is able to tie crocodiles to her body."
In her defense, the woman said she "was asked" to carry the crocodiles, said Wael Dahab, a spokesman for the Palestinian guards at the crossing.
The reptiles, which had their jaws tied shut with string, were returned to the Egyptian side of the border.
Dahab said the animals were likely meant for sale to Gaza's small zoo or to private owners. The crocodiles would fetch "good money," even in the impoverished territory, he said. In Gaza, the animals can fetch about $500 -- roughly two months' salary for a low-ranking police officer.
The woman was not the first to try to illegally smuggle exotic wildlife through the Rafah crossing, Dahab said: another woman tried to bring in a monkey tied to her chest, and other travelers tried to smuggle in exotic birds and a tiger cub. Border guards more frequently confiscate cigarettes, prescription drugs and car parts.
The crossing is the only way in and out of Gaza for residents of the crowded coastal strip.
Since Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, the crossing has subject to a complex system of control: Egypt and the Palestinians are responsible for the crossing, with European monitors stationed at the terminal and Israeli inspectors watching from a distance over closed-circuit TV.
Israel retains final say over whether the crossing can open, and has kept it closed over 80 percent of the time since an Israeli soldier was captured by Hamas-linked militants in Gaza nine months ago, charging that the crossing is being used to smuggle money and weapons to militants.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
• Scientist grows dress from cellulose woven by bacteria in vat of fermenting wine
Wet wine dress grows as 'cave woman' fashion
SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- It's guaranteed to make your head spin.
An Australian scientist has grown a dress from cellulose woven by bacteria in a vat of fermenting wine, saying it is art but could be the future of fashion.
The "cave woman" design dress must be kept wet because the cellulose fibers are not long enough to be flexible and, as it dries, they become brittle and break.
In order to shape the dress, slimy cellulose is scooped off the surface of the fermenting wine and layered around a blow-up doll. It then shrinks, taking the form of the body. The doll is deflated when the dress is in the right shape.
"This is art; it is not meant to be practical," inventor Gary Cass told Reuters on Wednesday.
"It is meant to be a provocative object, to spark debate about future fashion," said Cass, a scientific technician at the University of Western Australia in Perth.
Cass was inspired to create the dress when he was working in a vineyard many years ago, but it was not until he gained funding from an arts group that he was able to produce it.
Cass said fermenting wine produces a slimy, rubbery top layer caused by bacteria which, if left alone, keep spinning cellulose.
"We just took winemaking to the next step," he said.
"But the problem is that the fibers are not long enough to be flexible. The next step is to try and make the fibers longer or join them to get more flexibility."
Cass said that, once the fibers became more pliant, his creation would have a more practical application.
"If you wanted a shirt you could get a cast made of your body and layer the cellulose around it," he said.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Mercedes' fish-inspired car
Mercedes' fish-inspired car
(PopSci.comexternal link) -- When Mercedes-Benz began to contemplate its next generation of high-efficiency small cars, it sought aquatic inspiration.
But instead of considering obvious undersea hot rods like sharks, the Mercedes team turned to a fish that resembled a car: the tropical boxfish.
A native of the Indo-Pacific region, the Ostracion cubicus is surprisingly slick.
Wind-tunnel testing of a clay model revealed a drag coefficient (Cd) of just 0.06, startlingly close to the ideal 0.04 of a water droplet.
Like the droplet, the boxfish's face is small in proportion to its overall length, and its streamlined surfaces encourage air to move over it without creating the turbulence that robs aerodynamic efficiency.
Mercedes' Bionic concept vehicle mimics this functional form.
With a Cd of just 0.19, the four-seat Bionic is significantly more slippery than today's most aerodynamic production vehicle, Honda's two-seat Insight (Cd 0.25).
The design team eschewed expensive, complicated and heavy fuel-cell or hybrid powertrains, opting instead for a 1.9-liter four-cylinder direct-injection turbodiesel that pushes the fishmobile to 62 mph in 8.2 seconds with a combined city/highway fuel economy of 70 mpg.
At a constant 56 mph, the concept car will return an amazing 84 mpg.
Although the Bionic isn't coming to your local dealership, Mercedes does expect it to significantly influence the design language of its next generation of small cars.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Mom: Dog Bit Off Infant's Genitals
HOUSTON -- A mother claimed the family dachshund bit off her 5-week-old son's genitals while she was sleeping, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.
Houston police said the baby was rushed to Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital on Tuesday after he was injured at The Huntley apartment complex in the 500 block of El Dorado Boulevard.
"She said she woke up to hear the baby's cries and found the family pet standing over the boy," said Estella Olguin with Child Protective Services. "She said the dog had been the one to bite the child's genitals off."
Investigators said they are skeptical of the mother's claims.
"The injury that the child has is really not consistent with that of a dog bite or mauling," Olguin said. "We've never seen a case like this, when an animal is being blamed for mutilating a child's genitals."
The baby is in critical condition at the hospital, but Olguin said he is expected to survive. He will face many surgeries to treat internal injuries and help repair the wound.
The baby's mother has talked to police and CPS investigators. She has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
"We're looking into what could have caused these injuries and who could have caused these severe injuries to this baby," Olguin said.
CPS has taken emergency custody of the infant. A hearing is set for March 26 to determine long-term custody of the child.
"This is going to affect him forever, even if he survives," Olguin said.
Houston Animal Control has taken possession of the dog.
Copyright 2007 by Click2Houston.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Houston police said the baby was rushed to Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital on Tuesday after he was injured at The Huntley apartment complex in the 500 block of El Dorado Boulevard.
"She said she woke up to hear the baby's cries and found the family pet standing over the boy," said Estella Olguin with Child Protective Services. "She said the dog had been the one to bite the child's genitals off."
Investigators said they are skeptical of the mother's claims.
"The injury that the child has is really not consistent with that of a dog bite or mauling," Olguin said. "We've never seen a case like this, when an animal is being blamed for mutilating a child's genitals."
The baby is in critical condition at the hospital, but Olguin said he is expected to survive. He will face many surgeries to treat internal injuries and help repair the wound.
The baby's mother has talked to police and CPS investigators. She has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.
"We're looking into what could have caused these injuries and who could have caused these severe injuries to this baby," Olguin said.
CPS has taken emergency custody of the infant. A hearing is set for March 26 to determine long-term custody of the child.
"This is going to affect him forever, even if he survives," Olguin said.
Houston Animal Control has taken possession of the dog.
Copyright 2007 by Click2Houston.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Girl finds missing dog's head in box on doorstep
THAT'S TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) -- A 17-year-old girl who spent weeks looking for her missing dog unwrapped a box left on her doorstep and found the pet's severed head inside, authorities said.
Homicide investigators were looking into the case because of the "implied" terroristic threat, St. Paul Police Sgt. Jim Gray said. The Humane Society of the United States said Wednesday it was offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
"This was extraordinarily heinous," said Dale Bartlett, the Humane Society's deputy manager for animal cruelty issues. "I deal with hundreds and hundreds of cruelty cases each year. When I read about this case, it took my breath away. It's horrible."
After Crystal Brown's 4-year-old Australian shepherd mix, Chevy, wandered away last month, she put up "missing" posters in her neighborhood and went door to door looking for him. She called the St. Paul animal shelter and rode the bus there several times.
"I felt empty," Crystal told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. "I couldn't talk to anyone. He was my dog. It was just me and him. ... I told him everything and he never shared any of my secrets."
Two weeks ago, a gift-wrapped box was left at the house Crystal shares with her grandmother. The box had batteries on top, and a note that said "Congratulations Crystal. This side up. Batteries included."
Crystal opened the box and found her dog's head inside. The box also contained Valentine's Day candy.
Crystal screamed when she saw her dog's face.
"She was just hysterical," said Crystal's grandmother, Shirley Brown. "She was screaming. She said, 'Grandma, it's my dog's head!'
"I said, 'no it can't be!"'
Authorities say the case is an isolated incident and the suspect likely knew the family. A motive is unclear.
"This was so cruel," Crystal said. "This is one sick, twisted person."
She now has a new puppy, another Australian shepherd. She's named it Diesel. "Hopefully, he'll be my best friend," Crystal said.
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (AP) -- A 17-year-old girl who spent weeks looking for her missing dog unwrapped a box left on her doorstep and found the pet's severed head inside, authorities said.
Homicide investigators were looking into the case because of the "implied" terroristic threat, St. Paul Police Sgt. Jim Gray said. The Humane Society of the United States said Wednesday it was offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
"This was extraordinarily heinous," said Dale Bartlett, the Humane Society's deputy manager for animal cruelty issues. "I deal with hundreds and hundreds of cruelty cases each year. When I read about this case, it took my breath away. It's horrible."
After Crystal Brown's 4-year-old Australian shepherd mix, Chevy, wandered away last month, she put up "missing" posters in her neighborhood and went door to door looking for him. She called the St. Paul animal shelter and rode the bus there several times.
"I felt empty," Crystal told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. "I couldn't talk to anyone. He was my dog. It was just me and him. ... I told him everything and he never shared any of my secrets."
Two weeks ago, a gift-wrapped box was left at the house Crystal shares with her grandmother. The box had batteries on top, and a note that said "Congratulations Crystal. This side up. Batteries included."
Crystal opened the box and found her dog's head inside. The box also contained Valentine's Day candy.
Crystal screamed when she saw her dog's face.
"She was just hysterical," said Crystal's grandmother, Shirley Brown. "She was screaming. She said, 'Grandma, it's my dog's head!'
"I said, 'no it can't be!"'
Authorities say the case is an isolated incident and the suspect likely knew the family. A motive is unclear.
"This was so cruel," Crystal said. "This is one sick, twisted person."
She now has a new puppy, another Australian shepherd. She's named it Diesel. "Hopefully, he'll be my best friend," Crystal said.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Brothel offers afternoon senior discount
Brothel offers pensioner discounts
BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- A brothel in Germany hopes to capitalise on the growing number of pensioners by offering them a 50 percent discount for sex in the afternoon.
The "Pascha" in the western city of Cologne has introduced reduced rates for sex sessions for clients aged 66 and above -- provided they can prove they are old enough.
"All clients need to do is show us some proof of age," said a spokesman for the brothel's managing director Armin Lobscheid. "A 'normal session' costs 50 euros with us -- and we're now paying 50 percent of that for these older guests."
"We don't earn as much money, but we're establishing ourselves across a broader range of age groups," he added.
After testing the water with reductions for senior citizens once a week, the Pascha decided earlier this month to offer 50 percent off sex services between midday and 5 p.m every day.
"There's been plenty of demand and people have certainly been taking advantage of the offer," the spokesman said. "Older folks are more active than you think."
The brothel's Web site is keen to stress this point.
"Life begins at 66!" it says in an advert for its "senior citizens afternoon" next to a picture of a motorcycle rider.
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Thursday, March 8, 2007
John Popper loves guns!
SPOKANE, Wash. - Blues Traveler singer and harmonica player John Popper was arrested after the vehicle he was riding in was clocked going 111 mph, the Washington State Patrol said Wednesday.
Popper, 39, was arrested Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 90 near the Spokane/Lincoln county line, the Washington State Patrol said.
Inside the black Mercedes SUV, officers found a cache of weapons and a small amount of marijuana, the Patrol said. A police dog searched the vehicle, finding numerous hidden compartments containing four rifles, nine handguns and a switchblade knife. Authorities also found a Taser and night vision goggles. The vehicle was seized.
Popper, who lives in Snohomish, Wash., is the owner of the vehicle, which was being driven by Brian Gourgeois, 34, of Austin, Texas, said state patrol Trooper Jeff Sevigney. The vehicle also had flashing emergency headlights, a siren and a public address system, the Patrol said.
"Popper indicated to troopers that he had installed these items in his vehicle because (in the event of a natural disaster) he didn't want to be left behind," the Patrol said in a news release. He also told officers he collected weapons, the Patrol said.
The two men were booked administratively into the Adams County jail and released on their own recognizance. Authorities plan to charge them with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Gourgeois will also face a charge of reckless driving, the Patrol said.
Popper did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment Wednesday night.
Popper achieved fame as a harmonica player and frontman for Blues Traveler. The band won a Grammy award in 1996 for the song "Run-around," which Popper composed.
Popper recently formed a group called The John Popper Project with DJ Logic, which released an album in 2006 and is scheduled to go on the road later this month.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Meteorite crashes thru woman's window
BLOOMINGTON, Illinois (AP) -- When Dee Riddle heard the breaking glass, she thought her bathroom mirror must have shattered.
What she found was quite different: A grayish metallic object about the size of a deck of cards had crashed through a bedroom window and into a computer table.
Intrigued scientists from nearby Illinois State University said it was likely a meteorite.
"In my 36 years of investigating meteorite calls, this looks like the real thing," said Robert Nelson, a geology professor at ISU. The last confirmed meteorite to strike Bloomington was in the '30s, he said.
Nelson and other experts ruled out the possibility that it had been thrown by someone near the house, and they said it wasn't likely to have been space junk from a satellite or spacecraft.
The U.S. Geological Survey's meteorite center in Flagstaff, Arizona, will take part in trying to positively identify the object, Nelson said.
The object hit around 9:30 a.m. Monday, Riddle said.
"We were just lucky no one was sitting at the computer when it happened," she said
What she found was quite different: A grayish metallic object about the size of a deck of cards had crashed through a bedroom window and into a computer table.
Intrigued scientists from nearby Illinois State University said it was likely a meteorite.
"In my 36 years of investigating meteorite calls, this looks like the real thing," said Robert Nelson, a geology professor at ISU. The last confirmed meteorite to strike Bloomington was in the '30s, he said.
Nelson and other experts ruled out the possibility that it had been thrown by someone near the house, and they said it wasn't likely to have been space junk from a satellite or spacecraft.
The U.S. Geological Survey's meteorite center in Flagstaff, Arizona, will take part in trying to positively identify the object, Nelson said.
The object hit around 9:30 a.m. Monday, Riddle said.
"We were just lucky no one was sitting at the computer when it happened," she said
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Mom pleads guilty to using baby as a weapon
ERIE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to swinging her 4-week-old son like a bat to hit her boyfriend during a fight, fracturing the infant's skull in the process.
Chytoria Graham, 27, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
By pleading guilty, Graham acknowledged that on October 8 she grabbed her son Jarron by his feet and swung him, hitting her boyfriend and seriously injuring the child.
At Graham's preliminary hearing in December, paramedic Betty Schau, who treated the baby, recalled that Graham was crying and disheveled when medical crews arrived. She testified that Graham told her, "I swung him. I swung him like a bat."
The judge ordered a psychological examination for Graham before her sentencing, set for May 8. The charges carry a minimum of five years in prison because the child was under age 12. Two lesser charges were dropped.
Graham's previous attorney had said Graham did not use her child as a weapon, that the boy was hurt during a fight between the two adults and that Graham lied to authorities about how the injury occurred to protect her boyfriend.
Her current attorney, public defender Julia Dudics, however, said Tuesday that the choice to plead guilty was Graham's. Dudics declined further comment except to say that Graham had told her she was depressed.
Jarron, who made a full recovery, and Graham's four other children are currently in the custody of her parents.
Naomi Campbell to mop floors as punishment
Naomi Campbell's punishment: Mopping floors
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- British beauty Naomi Campbell will swap her catwalk outfits for a broom, gloves and safety vest when she begins mopping floors at New York's Sanitation Department on March 19, a court official confirmed Tuesday.
But Campbell, who was sentenced to community service as punishment for throwing her mobile phone at her housekeeper, will serve her five-day sentence indoors.
Singer Boy George attracted a media throng when he swept streets in a court-ordered punishment in August.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that Campbell had been assigned to mop floors with other community service workers at a Sanitation Department warehouse in Manhattan. A court official confirmed the story but declined further comment.
Campbell, 36, has been accused by at least three employees of hitting or otherwise assaulting them. She has blamed her temper on lingering resentment toward her father for abandoning her as a child.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- British beauty Naomi Campbell will swap her catwalk outfits for a broom, gloves and safety vest when she begins mopping floors at New York's Sanitation Department on March 19, a court official confirmed Tuesday.
But Campbell, who was sentenced to community service as punishment for throwing her mobile phone at her housekeeper, will serve her five-day sentence indoors.
Singer Boy George attracted a media throng when he swept streets in a court-ordered punishment in August.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that Campbell had been assigned to mop floors with other community service workers at a Sanitation Department warehouse in Manhattan. A court official confirmed the story but declined further comment.
Campbell, 36, has been accused by at least three employees of hitting or otherwise assaulting them. She has blamed her temper on lingering resentment toward her father for abandoning her as a child.
Man tries to revive father's two-year old dead corpse
Man wanted for trying to revive father's corpse
Mon Mar 5, 8:57 AM ET
Pakistani police are hunting a man who dug up his father's two-year old corpse and took it home in a hijacked ambulance to try to bring him back to life.
Abdul Rehman's family say he is mentally ill and has never been able to cope with his father's death, police said on Saturday.
"He dug up the corpse on Thursday night after he had hijacked an ambulance and its driver at gunpoint and took it to his home," Ghulam Murtaza, a duty officer at Ferozabad police station in the southern city of Karachi, told Reuters.
Police raided the house on Friday after a complaint from the trust that owned the ambulance and from Rehman's brother.
"He kept the corpse, which was nothing but a skeleton in his bedroom, for well over 12 hours. He escaped when we raided the house. We have buried it again," Murtaza said.
Rehman had also kidnapped a vagabond who slept in the graveyard and locked him up at home, police said.
"He told us he saw Rehman chanting magic spells and pouring rose water on the corpse to bring it back to life and was crying bitterly," Murtaza said.
Rehman faces a year in jail for defiling a corpse, police said.
Mon Mar 5, 8:57 AM ET
Pakistani police are hunting a man who dug up his father's two-year old corpse and took it home in a hijacked ambulance to try to bring him back to life.
Abdul Rehman's family say he is mentally ill and has never been able to cope with his father's death, police said on Saturday.
"He dug up the corpse on Thursday night after he had hijacked an ambulance and its driver at gunpoint and took it to his home," Ghulam Murtaza, a duty officer at Ferozabad police station in the southern city of Karachi, told Reuters.
Police raided the house on Friday after a complaint from the trust that owned the ambulance and from Rehman's brother.
"He kept the corpse, which was nothing but a skeleton in his bedroom, for well over 12 hours. He escaped when we raided the house. We have buried it again," Murtaza said.
Rehman had also kidnapped a vagabond who slept in the graveyard and locked him up at home, police said.
"He told us he saw Rehman chanting magic spells and pouring rose water on the corpse to bring it back to life and was crying bitterly," Murtaza said.
Rehman faces a year in jail for defiling a corpse, police said.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Critics denouncing and ending Pizza Hut reading program
uh...yeah. maybe they are right---look at me now!!
Critics denouncing and ending Pizza Hut reading program
NEW YORK (AP) -- You've read the book, now eat the pizza.
Since 1985, that's been the gist of Pizza Hut's Book It, an incentive program used by 50,000 schools nationwide to reward young readers with free pizzas. The program is now under attack by child-development experts who say it promotes bad eating habits and turns teachers into corporate promoters.
Book It, which reaches about 22 million children a year, "epitomizes everything that's wrong with corporate-sponsored programs in school," said Susan Linn, a Harvard psychologist and co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
"In the name of education, it promotes junk food consumption to a captive audience ... and undermines parents by positioning family visits to Pizza Hut as an integral component of raising literate children," Linn said.
This week, Linn's organization called on parents to end their schools' participation in the long-standing program.
Though some activists have previously questioned Book It, Linn said Friday that only after the recent upsurge of concern over child obesity and junk food did her group feel it could make headway with a formal protest campaign. She said many schools are trying to reduce students' access to soda, and contended that Book It should face similar scrutiny.
But the program -- which has given away more than 200 million pizzas -- has deep roots and many admirers at the highest levels of politics and education. It won a citation in 1988 from President Reagan, and its advisory board includes representatives of prominent education groups, including teachers unions and the American Library Association.
"We're really proud of the program," said Leslie Tubbs, its director for the past five years. "We get hundreds of e-mails from alumni who praise it and say it helped them get started with reading."
Dallas-based Pizza Hut says Book It is the nation's largest reading motivation program -- conducted annually in about 925,000 elementary school classrooms from October 1 through March 31. A two-month program is offered for preschoolers.
Participating teachers set a monthly reading goal for each student; those who meet the goal get a certificate they can redeem at Pizza Hut for a free Personal Pan Pizza. Families often accompany the winners, turning the event into a celebration that can boost business for the restaurant.
Teachers find the program an enjoyable way to build interest in reading, Tubbs said. "We're helping them to do their jobs," she said.
At Strafford Elementary School in Strafford, Missouri, the roughly 500 students collectively read 30,000 books a year with Book It's help, said principal Lucille Cogdill.
"I don't have any negative things at all to say about it," Cogdill said. "I know there's concern about obesity, but Book It is not causing it, and the schools aren't causing it."
Chris Carney, principal at Bennett Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also is a Book It fan, saying it encourages family togetherness and provides a tool for persuading children to try books instead of video games.
"I don't want to see kids gorging pizzas," he said. "But the positive effects outweigh other effects."
Among those campaigning against Book It is Alfie Kohn, an author whose 11 books on education and parenting include "Punished By Rewards, which questions the value of incentive programs.
"The more kids see books as a way to get pizza or some other prize, the less interest they'll have in reading itself," Kohn, a former teacher, said in a telephone interview. "They tend to choose easier books to get through faster."
Another critic of Book It and the broader phenomenon of corporate incursions into schools is Alex Molnar, director of the Commercialism in Education Research Unit at Arizona State University.
He described Book It as a "dreadful program" that puts pressure on parents to celebrate with their reward-winning children at Pizza Huts.
"This is corporate America using the schools as a crow bar to get inside the front doors of students' homes," he said. "It's very hard for children whose parents who don't want to engage in this to not feel ostracized."
Molnar acknowledged that Book It is well-regarded by many educators and politicians, but said it might be reevaluated in light of rising concerns about child obesity.
"To the extent that this program is correctly identified as part of the problem, then there's a chance of reducing its scope," he said.
Critics denouncing and ending Pizza Hut reading program
NEW YORK (AP) -- You've read the book, now eat the pizza.
Since 1985, that's been the gist of Pizza Hut's Book It, an incentive program used by 50,000 schools nationwide to reward young readers with free pizzas. The program is now under attack by child-development experts who say it promotes bad eating habits and turns teachers into corporate promoters.
Book It, which reaches about 22 million children a year, "epitomizes everything that's wrong with corporate-sponsored programs in school," said Susan Linn, a Harvard psychologist and co-founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
"In the name of education, it promotes junk food consumption to a captive audience ... and undermines parents by positioning family visits to Pizza Hut as an integral component of raising literate children," Linn said.
This week, Linn's organization called on parents to end their schools' participation in the long-standing program.
Though some activists have previously questioned Book It, Linn said Friday that only after the recent upsurge of concern over child obesity and junk food did her group feel it could make headway with a formal protest campaign. She said many schools are trying to reduce students' access to soda, and contended that Book It should face similar scrutiny.
But the program -- which has given away more than 200 million pizzas -- has deep roots and many admirers at the highest levels of politics and education. It won a citation in 1988 from President Reagan, and its advisory board includes representatives of prominent education groups, including teachers unions and the American Library Association.
"We're really proud of the program," said Leslie Tubbs, its director for the past five years. "We get hundreds of e-mails from alumni who praise it and say it helped them get started with reading."
Dallas-based Pizza Hut says Book It is the nation's largest reading motivation program -- conducted annually in about 925,000 elementary school classrooms from October 1 through March 31. A two-month program is offered for preschoolers.
Participating teachers set a monthly reading goal for each student; those who meet the goal get a certificate they can redeem at Pizza Hut for a free Personal Pan Pizza. Families often accompany the winners, turning the event into a celebration that can boost business for the restaurant.
Teachers find the program an enjoyable way to build interest in reading, Tubbs said. "We're helping them to do their jobs," she said.
At Strafford Elementary School in Strafford, Missouri, the roughly 500 students collectively read 30,000 books a year with Book It's help, said principal Lucille Cogdill.
"I don't have any negative things at all to say about it," Cogdill said. "I know there's concern about obesity, but Book It is not causing it, and the schools aren't causing it."
Chris Carney, principal at Bennett Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also is a Book It fan, saying it encourages family togetherness and provides a tool for persuading children to try books instead of video games.
"I don't want to see kids gorging pizzas," he said. "But the positive effects outweigh other effects."
Among those campaigning against Book It is Alfie Kohn, an author whose 11 books on education and parenting include "Punished By Rewards, which questions the value of incentive programs.
"The more kids see books as a way to get pizza or some other prize, the less interest they'll have in reading itself," Kohn, a former teacher, said in a telephone interview. "They tend to choose easier books to get through faster."
Another critic of Book It and the broader phenomenon of corporate incursions into schools is Alex Molnar, director of the Commercialism in Education Research Unit at Arizona State University.
He described Book It as a "dreadful program" that puts pressure on parents to celebrate with their reward-winning children at Pizza Huts.
"This is corporate America using the schools as a crow bar to get inside the front doors of students' homes," he said. "It's very hard for children whose parents who don't want to engage in this to not feel ostracized."
Molnar acknowledged that Book It is well-regarded by many educators and politicians, but said it might be reevaluated in light of rising concerns about child obesity.
"To the extent that this program is correctly identified as part of the problem, then there's a chance of reducing its scope," he said.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Prisoner caught with grenade up his ass
Prisoner caught with grenade where?
Fri Mar 2, 9:25 AM ET
An inmate at an El Salvador jail was caught with a hand grenade stuffed up his backside -- a novel attempt to disguise his apparent escape plans.
Guards at the San Francisco Gotera prison outside the capital San Salvador found the V40 grenade, about the size of a golf ball, lodged up the man's rectum during a security clampdown, a prison spokesman said on Thursday.
They also caught another 16 inmates who each swallowed a mobile phone.
"We'll have to expel the objects and if they won't come out we'll have to perform surgery in hospital," said Alberto Uribe, a spokesman for the El Salvador prison service.
Last year, prison guards found an M67 grenade in the vagina of a female visitor at the overcrowded La Esperanza-Mariona prison on the northern fringes of San Salvador.
Prisoners in the Central American country use weapons to try to escape or attack fellow inmates and prison guards, and use cellular phones to order free gang members to commit crimes or smuggle narcotics.
Fri Mar 2, 9:25 AM ET
An inmate at an El Salvador jail was caught with a hand grenade stuffed up his backside -- a novel attempt to disguise his apparent escape plans.
Guards at the San Francisco Gotera prison outside the capital San Salvador found the V40 grenade, about the size of a golf ball, lodged up the man's rectum during a security clampdown, a prison spokesman said on Thursday.
They also caught another 16 inmates who each swallowed a mobile phone.
"We'll have to expel the objects and if they won't come out we'll have to perform surgery in hospital," said Alberto Uribe, a spokesman for the El Salvador prison service.
Last year, prison guards found an M67 grenade in the vagina of a female visitor at the overcrowded La Esperanza-Mariona prison on the northern fringes of San Salvador.
Prisoners in the Central American country use weapons to try to escape or attack fellow inmates and prison guards, and use cellular phones to order free gang members to commit crimes or smuggle narcotics.
Man jailed for stealing women's hair
Man jailed for stealing women's hair
Fri Mar 2, 9:25 AM ET
An Australian man who worked as a baggage handler for the national airline Qantas was jailed for at least two years on Friday for stealing hair from women's luggage to satisfy a sexual fetish.
Rodney Lyle Petersen, 30, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to 50 counts of theft, Australian Associated Press reported.
The court was told that Petersen would rummage through lost or delayed luggage that he was returning to passengers. He collected the hair from brushes and clothing, then put it inside plastic slips and record the women's personal details.
Police said he had catalogued the hair in more than 80 bags.
Petersen's lawyer told the court that his client did not mean to frighten the women because they were not meant to find out.
The court was told that Petersen suffered from a range of sexual deviances.
He was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail, with a non-parole period of two years.
Fri Mar 2, 9:25 AM ET
An Australian man who worked as a baggage handler for the national airline Qantas was jailed for at least two years on Friday for stealing hair from women's luggage to satisfy a sexual fetish.
Rodney Lyle Petersen, 30, pleaded guilty in the Victorian County Court to 50 counts of theft, Australian Associated Press reported.
The court was told that Petersen would rummage through lost or delayed luggage that he was returning to passengers. He collected the hair from brushes and clothing, then put it inside plastic slips and record the women's personal details.
Police said he had catalogued the hair in more than 80 bags.
Petersen's lawyer told the court that his client did not mean to frighten the women because they were not meant to find out.
The court was told that Petersen suffered from a range of sexual deviances.
He was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail, with a non-parole period of two years.
Topless wife photo ends man's pole protest
GEEZ!!!! WHAT IS UP WITH GERMANY??!!!
Topless wife photo ends man's pole protest
Fri Mar 2, 9:24 AM ET
A German man who spent 10 days in a self-made box atop a 72-foot-tall pole to protest a looming jail term was lured off his perch by his wife -- who sent up a topless picture of herself in his lunch box.
Fred Gregor, 45, was bidding to have his 15-month conviction for fraud overturned by squatting in his tiny cubicle atop a converted television mast. He told Reuters in a telephone interview last week that he wanted a new trial.
His wife Susanne, 25, backed his protest until the former stripper and mother of their five children decided she had had enough.
Topless wife photo ends man's pole protest
Fri Mar 2, 9:24 AM ET
A German man who spent 10 days in a self-made box atop a 72-foot-tall pole to protest a looming jail term was lured off his perch by his wife -- who sent up a topless picture of herself in his lunch box.
Fred Gregor, 45, was bidding to have his 15-month conviction for fraud overturned by squatting in his tiny cubicle atop a converted television mast. He told Reuters in a telephone interview last week that he wanted a new trial.
His wife Susanne, 25, backed his protest until the former stripper and mother of their five children decided she had had enough.
Incestuous couple fights German laws
YUCK!!!
Incestuous Love
Patrick and Susan are fighting to change the law
Patrick is looking at me, clenching his fist, his body shaking, he’s saying nothing. Susan isn’t saying anything either and neither am I. Silence can be so agonizing and there’s so much tension in the air you could almost cut it with a knife. There we are just staring at each other.
It was a difficult interview for a story that couldn’t be more controversial.
Patrick and Susan are a couple and have four children. They are also brother and sister and that makes their relationship illegal under German law. Patrick and Susan didn’t even know of each other’s existence until Patrick was over 20 years old and Susan was in her teens. After their mother died, they lived together and eventually fell in love.
“We just want to lead a normal life,” Patrick tells me, when he finally does manage to speak during the interview. He and Susan appear to be afraid of the camera. I can’t blame them. We’ve come into their home, are shining powerful lights in their faces and asking them to put their whole lives out in the open for us. Lives that have been as tough as anyone could imagine.
“People harass us all the time and call us the incest couple. They have no idea who we really are or how it all happened,” Patrick says, and then he goes on to speak about the legal ordeal he’s been put through. He’s been to jail because of the relationship with his sister; and three of their four children have been taken away from them by German Youth Welfare Services. Now Patrick wants to take the struggle to get the relationship legalized to the highest German court.
Many other European countries lifted bans on incestuous love long ago, and there are interesting arguments on both sides of the equation. Those who feel the ban should be kept in place say incestuous relationships are far more likely to bring forth children with birth defects than relationships between people that are not siblings. But opponents of the ban say it is a violation of couple’s rights to sexual freedom.
Patrick and Susan don’t care about all the politics, they say.
“We really love each other a lot, and we never want to be without each other again. We’re living like a small happy family,” Patrick says. To them, in the end, that’s what it comes down to: He needs her, and she needs him…nothing more.
If Germany’s highest court decides not to take the case, Patrick will go to jail again.
Incestuous Love
Patrick and Susan are fighting to change the law
Patrick is looking at me, clenching his fist, his body shaking, he’s saying nothing. Susan isn’t saying anything either and neither am I. Silence can be so agonizing and there’s so much tension in the air you could almost cut it with a knife. There we are just staring at each other.
It was a difficult interview for a story that couldn’t be more controversial.
Patrick and Susan are a couple and have four children. They are also brother and sister and that makes their relationship illegal under German law. Patrick and Susan didn’t even know of each other’s existence until Patrick was over 20 years old and Susan was in her teens. After their mother died, they lived together and eventually fell in love.
“We just want to lead a normal life,” Patrick tells me, when he finally does manage to speak during the interview. He and Susan appear to be afraid of the camera. I can’t blame them. We’ve come into their home, are shining powerful lights in their faces and asking them to put their whole lives out in the open for us. Lives that have been as tough as anyone could imagine.
“People harass us all the time and call us the incest couple. They have no idea who we really are or how it all happened,” Patrick says, and then he goes on to speak about the legal ordeal he’s been put through. He’s been to jail because of the relationship with his sister; and three of their four children have been taken away from them by German Youth Welfare Services. Now Patrick wants to take the struggle to get the relationship legalized to the highest German court.
Many other European countries lifted bans on incestuous love long ago, and there are interesting arguments on both sides of the equation. Those who feel the ban should be kept in place say incestuous relationships are far more likely to bring forth children with birth defects than relationships between people that are not siblings. But opponents of the ban say it is a violation of couple’s rights to sexual freedom.
Patrick and Susan don’t care about all the politics, they say.
“We really love each other a lot, and we never want to be without each other again. We’re living like a small happy family,” Patrick says. To them, in the end, that’s what it comes down to: He needs her, and she needs him…nothing more.
If Germany’s highest court decides not to take the case, Patrick will go to jail again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
