Friday, August 30, 2013

Friday, Aug 30, 2013


1.    Many auto makers are offering a feature that alerts drivers when another vehicle is in their “blind spot.”  ***   Which, when you’re texting, is pretty much everywhere outside the car.

2.    A federal court has ordered California to reduce prison overcrowding.   The state plans on doing this by assigning some inmates to private prisons, putting some of them in county jails... *** ... and sending many of them back to Congress.

3.    The famous parking garage in Arlington, Virginia where journalist Bob Woodward frequently met with his informant, “Deep Throat,” regarding the Watergate affair is being demolished.  ***   You know, that’s a terrible loss—all those valuable parking spaces...

4.    Federal officials say that many schools have cut ties with the National School Lunch Program because the healthy menu, with things like fruits and vegetables, was being rejected by the students.   ***   In order to satisfy the kids’ preferences, those schools are also extending recess, eliminating homework, and canceling all Friday classes.

5.    A fire is threatening San Francisco’s water supply.  ***  Yes, the flames are getting very close to a Perrier bottling plant.

6.    For Halloween, General Mills will offer five “monster” cereals.  In addition to the existing Frankenberry, Boo Berry and Count Chocula, they are bringing back  Frute Brute and Yummy Mummy.   ***  Also, they announced a new Edward Snowden cereal;  when you pour milk in the bowl, it leaks.

7.    The New York Attorney General is suing Donald Trump’s investment school, “Trump University,” for $40 million.  The lawsuit says the organization practiced persistent fraud, illegal and deceptive conduct, and violation of consumer protection laws...  ***  ...but failed to teach those skills to the students.

8.    Protestors in the Philippines are demanding the end to a government slush fund used for legislators’ pet projects that are either useless or non-existent.  It is technically called the “Priority Development Assistance Fund.”   ***  Or, as we call it here in the United States: the Budget.

9.    A toddler at a bowling alley managed to crawl inside one of those games where you manipulate a claw to try to grab prizes.   ***  His parents were finally able to get him out, but it cost them nearly $20 in quarters. 

10.  The White House-themed movie “The Butler” topped the box office for the second weekend in a row.  It was followed by the Jennifer Anniston comedy, “We’re the Millers.”   ***  Sensing a big opportunity, producers have begun working on a new blockbuster: “The Miller’s Butler.”

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