The unimportant news thread

[knight66]

It is three and a half years since my Government Department changed its name, yet the old name is still on the outside of many of the buildings with public access. Then there are questions about whay the public is unaware of the changed set-up.

Mike

[Jay F]

Minnesota Bars Beat Smoking Ban
By GREGG AAMOT – 22 hours ago

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (AP) — All the world's a stage at some of Minnesota's bars. A new state ban on smoking in restaurants and other nightspots contains an exception for performers in theatrical productions. So some bars are getting around the ban by printing up playbills, encouraging customers to come in costume, and pronouncing them "actors."  The customers are playing right along, merrily puffing away — and sometimes speaking in funny accents and doing a little improvisation, too.

At The Rock, a hard-rock and heavy-metal bar in suburban St. Paul, the "actors" during "theater night" do little more than sit around, drink, smoke and listen to the earsplitting music.   The smoking ban, passed by the Legislature last year, allows actors to light up in character during theatrical performances as long as patrons are notified in advance. About 30 bars in Minnesota have been exploiting the loophole by staging the faux theater productions and pronouncing cigarettes props, according to an anti-smoking group.

Are we allowed to say "assholes"?

[knight66]

He only got seven months, so could be out in three and a half. Time enough for his Mum to knit him a balaclava. I suppose with this one there was no point even in having tats of 'left' and 'right' on the appropriate knuckles.

Mike

This guy had already had three custodial sentences THIS YEAR. He clearly needs some alternative encouragement to keep his mitts off other folk's stuff.

Mike

[mn dave]

Minnesota Bars Beat Smoking Ban
By GREGG AAMOT – 22 hours ago

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (AP) — All the world's a stage at some of Minnesota's bars. A new state ban on smoking in restaurants and other nightspots contains an exception for performers in theatrical productions. So some bars are getting around the ban by printing up playbills, encouraging customers to come in costume, and pronouncing them "actors."  The customers are playing right along, merrily puffing away — and sometimes speaking in funny accents and doing a little improvisation, too.

At The Rock, a hard-rock and heavy-metal bar in suburban St. Paul, the "actors" during "theater night" do little more than sit around, drink, smoke and listen to the earsplitting music.   The smoking ban, passed by the Legislature last year, allows actors to light up in character during theatrical performances as long as patrons are notified in advance. About 30 bars in Minnesota have been exploiting the loophole by staging the faux theater productions and pronouncing cigarettes props, according to an anti-smoking group.

Genius!

[karlhenning]

Are you an actor I've seen playing the circuit, Dave?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

http://news.cnet.com/bank-robber-hires-decoys-on-craigslist-fools-cops/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

October 3, 2008 8:13 AM PDT
Bank robber hires decoys on Craigslist, fools cops
Posted by Caroline McCarthy

In an elaborate robbery scheme that's one part The Thomas Crowne Affair and one part Pineapple Express, a crook robbed an armored truck outside a Bank of America branch in Monroe, Wash., by hiring decoys through Craigslist to deter authorities.

It gets better: He then escaped in a creek headed for the Skykomish River in an inner tube, and the cops are still looking for him. "A great amount of money" was taken, Monroe police said, but did not provide a dollar value.

It appears to have unfolded this way: around 11:00 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, the robber, wearing a yellow vest, safety goggles, a blue shirt, and a respirator mask went over to a guard who was overseeing the unloading of cash to the bank from the truck. He sprayed the guard with pepper spray, grabbed his bag of money, and fled the scene.

But here's the hilarious twist. The robber had previously put out a Craigslist ad for road maintenance workers, promising wages of $28.50 per hour. Recruits were asked to wait near the Bank of America right around the time of the robbery--wearing yellow vests, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and preferably a blue shirt. At least a dozen of them showed up after responding to the Craigslist ad.

"I came across the ad that was for a prevailing wage job for $28.50 an hour," one of the unwitting decoys, named Mike, said to the NBC station. As it turns out, they were simply placed there to confuse cops who were looking for a guy wearing a virtually identical outfit.

Authorities eventually found the getaway inner tube (a getaway inner tube!) and suspect that accomplices may have picked up the robber in a boat. According to the NBC affiliate, police hope to track him down by figuring out who posted the Craigslist ad in the first place.

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was not immediately available for comment.

[knight66]

Even on a fine thread, this is one of the best. I still don't get though how you escape in an inner tube? How big is it?

Mike

[karlhenning]

The key there, Mike, is a rapid stream . . . .

[mn dave]

Are you an actor I've seen playing the circuit, Dave?

Heck no. Maybe next lifetime.

[Bulldog]

Are we allowed to say "assholes"?

Are you referring to the owners of the bars, the folks smoking in them or the intrusive persons who got the ban passed into law?

[karlhenning]

Heck no. Maybe next lifetime.

Thought I saw you fiddling with props in a floor show of a Minnesota bar.

Must have been somebody else 

[M forever]

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark was not immediately available for comment.

And why should he? Is he responsible for the ad placed by the bank robber? Is he responsible for the idiots who respond to my ad on craigslist looking for a roommate who can't pay the amount of rent I am asking for for a very nice room in a very nice apartment?

[karlhenning]

And why should he? Is he responsible for the ad placed by the bank robber? Is he responsible for the idiots who respond to my ad on craigslist looking for a roommate who can't pay the amount of rent I am asking for for a very nice room in a very nice apartment?

Presumably, your business would be legit, M.

[Lethevich]

Jorge Ramos said he just wanted to push a fat woman in front of a train.

[M forever]

Presumably, your business would be legit, M.

But it's not craiglist's fault if people abuse it. I also get a lot of scam emails from people who want to secure the room and send me a cashiers check with more money on it so I am supposed to send the extra money to their travel agent and stupid stuff like that. It even says on craigslist that these kind of scam emails are flying around. I think it also says somewhere in the terms of use that you aren't allowed to use the ads for illegal purposes. So what should the founder have said? "The guy violated the terms of use." Or maybe he even didn't. Posting an ad asking people to come to a street corner in funny outfits is probably not illegal as such.

[karlhenning]

But it's not craiglist's fault if people abuse it.

Okay.  All the article said was, that he (the namesake Craig guy) wasn't available for comment.  Right?

[Lethevich]

Nebraska law allows abandonment of teens: 'Safe-havens' potentially permit parents to drop off kids as old as 19

Awesome

[Keemun]

Eight firemen armed with hi-tech rescue equipement in the form of a miniature camera coated in chocolate spent five hours searching in vain for a family's missing hamster.

Apparently there are no fires to be fought in Scotland, a country of limitless public resources. 

And in case you are interested, the hamster has been recovered.

[knight66]

That was not just any old hamster; it was a voter.

Mike

[Anne]

Click on url to see picture of horse.

http://www.neatorama.com/2008/10/20/horse-got-head-stuck-in-tree/


Horse Got Head Stuck in Tree



Gracie the horse got a nasty surprise when curiosity got the better of her and she decided to check out a gap in a tree trunk:

The horse, called Gracie, was unable to free itself and could have been in danger were it not for a passer-by who was able to come to the rescue after he heard the horse whinnying .

Jason Harschbarger, a neighbour in the town of Pullman, West Virginia, USA, arrived at the scene which resembled the image of Winnie the Pooh getting stuck in the honey tree.

Mr Harschbarger collected his tools and was able to carefully set the horse free by using a chainsaw to slowly cut the wood around its neck.

However, before he did so, he was able to take a few photographs.