Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com: "SEOUL (Reuters) - Forget desktop photographs of your children.
Doting South Korean parents can preserve their child's umbilical cord in acrylic resin to make a personal seal or even have it gold plated.
In this Confucian society where family values are highly prized, suppliers also offer services for parents to have traditional Korean calligraphy brushes made from their child's hair.
Shim Jae-cheol of U&I Impression said the firm had gold-plated about 80 to 100 umbilical cords a month since starting business in August, with prices ranging from 80,000 won to 100,000 won ($76 to $96). It also offers mail order.
South Korean law allows parents to keep the umbilical cord of their children, although sales to a third party would be illegal.
Another supplier, Agamo, which makes calligraphy brushes made from human hair and preserves umbilical cords in personal seals, hopes to branch out to Japan.
'The company got the idea from mothers just storing umbilical cords and navels in an album or what-not,' said Suk Tae-jin of Agamo.
Keeping children's umbilical cords and making calligraphy brushes from their hair have long been a long tradition in Korea."
Dec 2, 2004
Blind car thief strikes again
IOL: Blind car thief strikes again
Bucharest - Romanian police have arrested a blind man for stealing a car and crashing into a tree for the second time in one month.
Alin Prica, 24, managed to drive the stolen car 40km before crashing into a tree, according to reports.
Prica allegedly stole the car with another blind pal and a sighted friend in the passenger seat telling him which direction to drive.
A police spokesperson said: "He drove the car after instructions from his friend who could see.
"But again the journey ended with a crash. We were astonished for the second time in a month by this same man."
Earlier this month, Prica, from Izvoare, in south-west Romania, stole a car and managed to drive it for almost two kilometres by himself before smashing into a tree and knocking himself out.
"I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do anything I wanted - despite my handicap. I only crashed because I was not sure of the way home," he said at the time.
Police said they would not press charges against the two teenagers who helped but have taken Prica in for questioning.
Bucharest - Romanian police have arrested a blind man for stealing a car and crashing into a tree for the second time in one month.
Alin Prica, 24, managed to drive the stolen car 40km before crashing into a tree, according to reports.
Prica allegedly stole the car with another blind pal and a sighted friend in the passenger seat telling him which direction to drive.
A police spokesperson said: "He drove the car after instructions from his friend who could see.
"But again the journey ended with a crash. We were astonished for the second time in a month by this same man."
Earlier this month, Prica, from Izvoare, in south-west Romania, stole a car and managed to drive it for almost two kilometres by himself before smashing into a tree and knocking himself out.
"I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do anything I wanted - despite my handicap. I only crashed because I was not sure of the way home," he said at the time.
Police said they would not press charges against the two teenagers who helped but have taken Prica in for questioning.
Nov 30, 2004
And they said nothing good came of nuclear weapons testing !
My Way News: "LOS ANGELES (AP) - Godzilla received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, 50 years after he stomped onto movie screens and hours before the premiere of his latest film, 'Godzilla: Final Wars.'
Producer Shogo Tomiyama appeared at a ceremony outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where the 2,271st star is located.
'I'm here representing Godzilla. Unfortunately, he cannot speak English,' he said. 'We're very excited he is being honored in America.'
On screen, the fire-breathing sea creature was spawned by nuclear weapons testing. He made his appearance in Japanese theaters in November 1954 - while the United States was conducting nuclear tests in the South Pacific.
A version starring Raymond Burr made it to theaters in the United States two years later."
Producer Shogo Tomiyama appeared at a ceremony outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where the 2,271st star is located.
'I'm here representing Godzilla. Unfortunately, he cannot speak English,' he said. 'We're very excited he is being honored in America.'
On screen, the fire-breathing sea creature was spawned by nuclear weapons testing. He made his appearance in Japanese theaters in November 1954 - while the United States was conducting nuclear tests in the South Pacific.
A version starring Raymond Burr made it to theaters in the United States two years later."
JAPAN:Schools to tighten up against players who have had their eyebrows shaved
Mainichi Interactive - Top News: "High school baseball players told to stop shaving eyebrows
The Japan High School Baseball Federation has taken the unusual step of telling schools to tighten up against players who have had their eyebrows shaved or those wearing shabby clothes.The latest trend among schoolboys to shave their eyebrows has already created a stir among education officials who are outraged over the fashion.
Officials of the high school baseball federation on Friday decided to warn member schools to take action against student players with shaved eyebrows or those wearing clothes considered too rough.
'This is probably the first time for us to give instructions over the appearance of student players,' one of the officials said.
Some high schools have already banned their students from shaving their eyebrows.
The federation's warning says that student players must realize that they represent their schools as baseball club members. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Nov. 28, 2004)"
The Japan High School Baseball Federation has taken the unusual step of telling schools to tighten up against players who have had their eyebrows shaved or those wearing shabby clothes.The latest trend among schoolboys to shave their eyebrows has already created a stir among education officials who are outraged over the fashion.
Officials of the high school baseball federation on Friday decided to warn member schools to take action against student players with shaved eyebrows or those wearing clothes considered too rough.
'This is probably the first time for us to give instructions over the appearance of student players,' one of the officials said.
Some high schools have already banned their students from shaving their eyebrows.
The federation's warning says that student players must realize that they represent their schools as baseball club members. (Mainichi Shimbun, Japan, Nov. 28, 2004)"
Nov 27, 2004
Are you Kidding?
Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com
BERLIN (Reuters) - Thieves have stolen scantily clad garden gnomes from a gnome peepshow in an eastern German amusement park, park manager Frank Ullrich said on Thursday.
"The gnomes display naked body parts -- the same ones you'd expect to see in a human peep show," Ullrich said of his missing stars.
The adults-only attraction at Dwarf-Park Trusetal, where visitors peep through keyholes to see the saucy German miniatures in compromising poses, was smashed open early on Thursday morning.
Ullrich said he feared the gnomes would not be traced.
"I doubt they're standing in someone's garden, they'll have to have been hidden inside."
BERLIN (Reuters) - Thieves have stolen scantily clad garden gnomes from a gnome peepshow in an eastern German amusement park, park manager Frank Ullrich said on Thursday.
"The gnomes display naked body parts -- the same ones you'd expect to see in a human peep show," Ullrich said of his missing stars.
The adults-only attraction at Dwarf-Park Trusetal, where visitors peep through keyholes to see the saucy German miniatures in compromising poses, was smashed open early on Thursday morning.
Ullrich said he feared the gnomes would not be traced.
"I doubt they're standing in someone's garden, they'll have to have been hidden inside."
Adults keep out
FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Fla. Libraries Ban Adults From Kids' Section
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orange County Library System (search) is barring "unaccompanied" adults from lingering in the children's areas of its 14 branches, a policy that is among the first of its kind in the nation.
As of Nov. 1, adults without children may select items in the children's section, but they cannot read books or loiter in the department, said Marilyn Hoffman, community-relations coordinator.
Adults may visit the teen-oriented "Club Central" section of the downtown library with their kids, but they may enter only with a librarian if they are alone.
Officials with the Association for Library Service to Children (search) said many libraries limit adults' use of computers or bathrooms in their children's departments, but Orange County's policy could be the first in the nation to restrict adults' presence the areas.
"It's not a common trend, but I think it's going to become more common," said Cynthia Richey, the association's immediate past president. "It's, in part, a pre-emptive move."
Hoffman said a specific incident did not lead the county's library board of directors to enact the rules. But Orlando police arrested a man in August after a 15-year-old girl said he tried to molest her at the downtown library. Earlier, the February rape of a girl in a Philadelphia library bathroom underscored the issue of library safety.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orange County Library System (search) is barring "unaccompanied" adults from lingering in the children's areas of its 14 branches, a policy that is among the first of its kind in the nation.
As of Nov. 1, adults without children may select items in the children's section, but they cannot read books or loiter in the department, said Marilyn Hoffman, community-relations coordinator.
Adults may visit the teen-oriented "Club Central" section of the downtown library with their kids, but they may enter only with a librarian if they are alone.
Officials with the Association for Library Service to Children (search) said many libraries limit adults' use of computers or bathrooms in their children's departments, but Orange County's policy could be the first in the nation to restrict adults' presence the areas.
"It's not a common trend, but I think it's going to become more common," said Cynthia Richey, the association's immediate past president. "It's, in part, a pre-emptive move."
Hoffman said a specific incident did not lead the county's library board of directors to enact the rules. But Orlando police arrested a man in August after a 15-year-old girl said he tried to molest her at the downtown library. Earlier, the February rape of a girl in a Philadelphia library bathroom underscored the issue of library safety.
Nov 17, 2004
Lionel Richie's wife jailed for bathroom beauty 'clinic'
Link
Musical legend Lionel Richie's estranged wife has been arrested for allegedly allowing her boyfriend to turn her bathroom into an illegal cosmetic surgery clinic, officials said.
Diane Richie was charged with aiding and abetting Daniel Tomas Fuente Serrano by allowing him to inject patients with anti-wrinkle drugs, which were not approved by US drug regulators, in her Beverly Hills bathroom.
She spent a night in jail but was released on 25,000 dollar bail at a court hearing late Tuesday.
Serrano, who is not licensed to practice medicine in California, is accused of charging thousands of dollars to inject patients, including Grammy-award winner Lionel Richie, with anti-ageing drugs, court documents showed.
Diane Richie, who filed for divorce from her famous husband last year, was arrested Monday and she and Serrano appeared in court in Los Angeles Tuesday.
While Diane Richie was bailed, Serrano was held pending the outcome of a bail hearing set for Thursday, Assistant US Attorney Joseph Johns said.
Authorities allege that Serrano, who went by the name of Dr. Daniel, was licensed to practise medicine in Argentina but not in California, although he is registered here as a nurse.
He is accused of injecting both male and female patients with either a Dutch drug or a cheaper Brazilian version aimed at reversing the ageing process without Federal Drug Administration approval.
The drug was allegedly either Artecoll, a collagen solution distributed by a Dutch company, or Metacrill, a similar but cheaper substance made by a Brazilian company, court papers said.
Serrano also allegedly charged thousands of dollars to inject the anti-wrinkle drug Botox, using Diane Richie's bathroom and other private homes as well as the office of a local aesthetician, the documents said.
Some of Serrano's patients developed complications from the injections, prosecutors allege.
One woman complained that she developed a lump on her lip that makes it difficult for her to drink and pronounce words, while another had what court papers describe as "holes in her face" following Serrano's treatment.
Singer Lionel Richie told investigators that he paid 600 or 700 dollars for the injections from his wife's lover, but said he was unaware that Serrano was not a licensed physician, court papers stated.
An attorney for Richie could not be reached for immediate comment. Serrano's attorney, John Yzurdiaga, declined to comment.
Diane and Lionel Richie married in December 1996 and have two children.
Musical legend Lionel Richie's estranged wife has been arrested for allegedly allowing her boyfriend to turn her bathroom into an illegal cosmetic surgery clinic, officials said.
Diane Richie was charged with aiding and abetting Daniel Tomas Fuente Serrano by allowing him to inject patients with anti-wrinkle drugs, which were not approved by US drug regulators, in her Beverly Hills bathroom.
She spent a night in jail but was released on 25,000 dollar bail at a court hearing late Tuesday.
Serrano, who is not licensed to practice medicine in California, is accused of charging thousands of dollars to inject patients, including Grammy-award winner Lionel Richie, with anti-ageing drugs, court documents showed.
Diane Richie, who filed for divorce from her famous husband last year, was arrested Monday and she and Serrano appeared in court in Los Angeles Tuesday.
While Diane Richie was bailed, Serrano was held pending the outcome of a bail hearing set for Thursday, Assistant US Attorney Joseph Johns said.
Authorities allege that Serrano, who went by the name of Dr. Daniel, was licensed to practise medicine in Argentina but not in California, although he is registered here as a nurse.
He is accused of injecting both male and female patients with either a Dutch drug or a cheaper Brazilian version aimed at reversing the ageing process without Federal Drug Administration approval.
The drug was allegedly either Artecoll, a collagen solution distributed by a Dutch company, or Metacrill, a similar but cheaper substance made by a Brazilian company, court papers said.
Serrano also allegedly charged thousands of dollars to inject the anti-wrinkle drug Botox, using Diane Richie's bathroom and other private homes as well as the office of a local aesthetician, the documents said.
Some of Serrano's patients developed complications from the injections, prosecutors allege.
One woman complained that she developed a lump on her lip that makes it difficult for her to drink and pronounce words, while another had what court papers describe as "holes in her face" following Serrano's treatment.
Singer Lionel Richie told investigators that he paid 600 or 700 dollars for the injections from his wife's lover, but said he was unaware that Serrano was not a licensed physician, court papers stated.
An attorney for Richie could not be reached for immediate comment. Serrano's attorney, John Yzurdiaga, declined to comment.
Diane and Lionel Richie married in December 1996 and have two children.
BERKELEY / Carts stay cool as city takes heat on storage policy / When the homeless lose or abandon stuff, it gets frozen
Link
Berkeley tolerates its homeless people, and takes good care of their stuff when they abandon it in shopping carts.
Not only does the city pack carts and other belongings into a huge container in case folks want it back -- it also deep-freezes them for as long as 90 days.
About a year ago, Berkeley bought a 40-foot-long, 8-foot-wide refrigerated container for $8,200 after public works officials complained about vermin infesting carts stored at the city's outdoor corporation yard.
The city signed a five-year, $61,500 lease with Caltrans for land under the University Avenue overpass at Interstate 80 to put the container on, and ran power to the unit.
Deputy City Attorney Matthew Orebic said the city is heeding state law that requires storage of lost goods. He said it is not clear, however, that that law applies to unattended shopping carts because they may not be lost.
"We just do that to be safe and fair, to make sure that there's no argument that we've violated any laws and to be fair to the person,'' Orebic said. "What if you've got your medication in there?''
San Francisco and UC Berkeley also store homeless people's belongings as a result of lawsuits filed by homeless advocates, but they don't freeze them.
Critics say Berkeley's freezer program is an example of good intentions run amok. The city, which faces a $7.5 million deficit, should treat abandoned shopping carts as stolen property instead of worrying so much about the contents, they say.
"The amount of money wasted in this city is so outrageous it's ridiculous, '' said Jim Hultman, who learned of the cart freezing while fighting a $50,000- a-year program near his house that gave homeless people rented storage space.
But Orebic said it would be impractical, for legal and logistical reasons, for police to make a practice of seizing shopping carts from homeless people or charging them with misdemeanor theft charges.
Robert Long, coordinator of the Multi-Agency (homeless) Service Center in downtown Berkeley, said he was "conflicted'' about the storage program, but he knows that one person's trash is another person's treasure.
"I doubt that many of those carts will be claimed,'' Long said.
Marci Jordan, executive director of the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, said she would like the money spent on other projects. "I don't see it as an effective strategy,'' she said.
Deputy Public Works Director Patrick Keilch said very few items from the hundreds of carts picked up annually are retrieved. He estimated the annual cost of refrigerating the stuff at 0 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit at about $3,000.
"Being Berkeley, we're pretty tolerant and we bend over backward. What's the phrase? 'Walk a mile in my shoes,' " said Keilch, who estimated the city spends about $100,000 annually for two people to clean stuff that homeless people leave in public areas.
Keilch opened the container for a Chronicle reporter and photographer last week to view the contents, which included a box of vinyl records, a broken music keyboard, several backpacks and a TV set, in addition to shopping carts.
A homeless man who lost his cart holding blankets and new shoes a month ago, when he left it to go to Oakland to face charges of public intoxication, said Monday that he did not know about the storage program.
But George Williams, 60, said it would have been a lot of trouble to find the right city officials and get to West Berkeley to retrieve his stuff.
"I never followed up,'' said Williams, who was pushing a different cart full of blankets, some food and a bottle of vodka.
Hultman and other critics of city spending practices are also outraged that the city throws out shopping carts, with stores passing the cost of lost carts -- typically $100 apiece -- on to customers.
"The residents end up paying more for their groceries,'' said Marie Bowman, who fought against $8 million in proposed city taxes that voters rejected this month.
By contrast, San Francisco takes everything out of carts, separates perishable goods and charges businesses if identifiable carts are not picked up within a few days.
Hultman provided a copy of an e-mail he received dated Jan. 12 from Public Works Director René Cardinaux stating that "at one time, stores were called to pick up their carts and a service used to pick them up, (but) this no longer happens.''
Cardinaux was not in the office Monday, but Keilch acknowledged that many carts have been trashed in the past. He said the city is now planning to hold meetings with local retailers to find out what they want done.
"Sometimes, market officials have said they don't want the carts back, and so typically the city has been throwing them out,'' Keilch said. Also, many carts are damaged or have identifying information removed, he said.
In Berkeley, cart contents are often put in garbage bags, but carts themselves are also sometimes wheeled into the freezer car. Keilch said sifting through cart contents to separate material of value from junk can be risky because of hazards such as hypodermic needles.
Cardinaux told the City Council in October that an added benefit of buying a freezer car is that it could serve as a temporary morgue in cases of a major disaster. But the main reason, he said, was that the city attorney advised that a storage program was needed.
Berkeley Bowl general manager Dan Kataoka said he did not know of the storage program but his store actively tries to retrieve wayward carts. The store loses about 300 carts a year, although many are stolen for sale to other stores outside Berkeley, he said.
Roy Pervall, 57, who has been homeless for five years, said Monday that while the city usually doesn't actively sweep up carts, he is careful to avoid losing his stuff.
"I never leave mine (cart),'' he said. "I never go anywhere without it.''
E-mail Patrick Hoge at phoge@sfchronicle.com.
Berkeley tolerates its homeless people, and takes good care of their stuff when they abandon it in shopping carts.
Not only does the city pack carts and other belongings into a huge container in case folks want it back -- it also deep-freezes them for as long as 90 days.
About a year ago, Berkeley bought a 40-foot-long, 8-foot-wide refrigerated container for $8,200 after public works officials complained about vermin infesting carts stored at the city's outdoor corporation yard.
The city signed a five-year, $61,500 lease with Caltrans for land under the University Avenue overpass at Interstate 80 to put the container on, and ran power to the unit.
Deputy City Attorney Matthew Orebic said the city is heeding state law that requires storage of lost goods. He said it is not clear, however, that that law applies to unattended shopping carts because they may not be lost.
"We just do that to be safe and fair, to make sure that there's no argument that we've violated any laws and to be fair to the person,'' Orebic said. "What if you've got your medication in there?''
San Francisco and UC Berkeley also store homeless people's belongings as a result of lawsuits filed by homeless advocates, but they don't freeze them.
Critics say Berkeley's freezer program is an example of good intentions run amok. The city, which faces a $7.5 million deficit, should treat abandoned shopping carts as stolen property instead of worrying so much about the contents, they say.
"The amount of money wasted in this city is so outrageous it's ridiculous, '' said Jim Hultman, who learned of the cart freezing while fighting a $50,000- a-year program near his house that gave homeless people rented storage space.
But Orebic said it would be impractical, for legal and logistical reasons, for police to make a practice of seizing shopping carts from homeless people or charging them with misdemeanor theft charges.
Robert Long, coordinator of the Multi-Agency (homeless) Service Center in downtown Berkeley, said he was "conflicted'' about the storage program, but he knows that one person's trash is another person's treasure.
"I doubt that many of those carts will be claimed,'' Long said.
Marci Jordan, executive director of the Berkeley Food and Housing Project, said she would like the money spent on other projects. "I don't see it as an effective strategy,'' she said.
Deputy Public Works Director Patrick Keilch said very few items from the hundreds of carts picked up annually are retrieved. He estimated the annual cost of refrigerating the stuff at 0 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit at about $3,000.
"Being Berkeley, we're pretty tolerant and we bend over backward. What's the phrase? 'Walk a mile in my shoes,' " said Keilch, who estimated the city spends about $100,000 annually for two people to clean stuff that homeless people leave in public areas.
Keilch opened the container for a Chronicle reporter and photographer last week to view the contents, which included a box of vinyl records, a broken music keyboard, several backpacks and a TV set, in addition to shopping carts.
A homeless man who lost his cart holding blankets and new shoes a month ago, when he left it to go to Oakland to face charges of public intoxication, said Monday that he did not know about the storage program.
But George Williams, 60, said it would have been a lot of trouble to find the right city officials and get to West Berkeley to retrieve his stuff.
"I never followed up,'' said Williams, who was pushing a different cart full of blankets, some food and a bottle of vodka.
Hultman and other critics of city spending practices are also outraged that the city throws out shopping carts, with stores passing the cost of lost carts -- typically $100 apiece -- on to customers.
"The residents end up paying more for their groceries,'' said Marie Bowman, who fought against $8 million in proposed city taxes that voters rejected this month.
By contrast, San Francisco takes everything out of carts, separates perishable goods and charges businesses if identifiable carts are not picked up within a few days.
Hultman provided a copy of an e-mail he received dated Jan. 12 from Public Works Director René Cardinaux stating that "at one time, stores were called to pick up their carts and a service used to pick them up, (but) this no longer happens.''
Cardinaux was not in the office Monday, but Keilch acknowledged that many carts have been trashed in the past. He said the city is now planning to hold meetings with local retailers to find out what they want done.
"Sometimes, market officials have said they don't want the carts back, and so typically the city has been throwing them out,'' Keilch said. Also, many carts are damaged or have identifying information removed, he said.
In Berkeley, cart contents are often put in garbage bags, but carts themselves are also sometimes wheeled into the freezer car. Keilch said sifting through cart contents to separate material of value from junk can be risky because of hazards such as hypodermic needles.
Cardinaux told the City Council in October that an added benefit of buying a freezer car is that it could serve as a temporary morgue in cases of a major disaster. But the main reason, he said, was that the city attorney advised that a storage program was needed.
Berkeley Bowl general manager Dan Kataoka said he did not know of the storage program but his store actively tries to retrieve wayward carts. The store loses about 300 carts a year, although many are stolen for sale to other stores outside Berkeley, he said.
Roy Pervall, 57, who has been homeless for five years, said Monday that while the city usually doesn't actively sweep up carts, he is careful to avoid losing his stuff.
"I never leave mine (cart),'' he said. "I never go anywhere without it.''
E-mail Patrick Hoge at phoge@sfchronicle.com.
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