A World Gone Wrong - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

**drgibson** · 03-23-2006, 12:04 PM

A compiled list of stories and Headlines that made me wonder.

1.
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Researchers have come up with a novel way to keep long-distance lovers in touch -- high-tech wine glasses that glow warmly however far apart the pining couple are.
When either person picks up a glass, red light-emitting diodes glow on their partner's glass. When one puts a glass to their lips, the other glass glows brightly.
Distance is not a problem as liquid sensors and wireless links have been built in to the glasses.
Jackie Lee and Hyemin Chung, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's media lab in Boston, said communal drinking is a vital part of social interaction that lovebirds miss out on when separated.
Lee, whose findings were reported in New Scientist magazine on Wednesday, said the wireless glasses really do "help people feel as if they were sharing a drinking experience together."
The loving cups are to be unveiled next month at a conference in Montreal on computer-human interaction.

2.
California court: Peeing in public illegal

It 'interferes with comfortable enjoyment of life and property'

3.
School gets punk'd by band sticker
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) -- Authorities shut down four buildings at Ohio University after a police officer noticed a sticker that said "this bike is a pipe bomb."
It turned out the message was the name of a punk rock band, a university spokesman said.
Police noticed the sticker on a bicycle early Thursday.
Officers then blocked streets around a university-owned restaurant where it was found, spokesman Jack Jeffery said.
A bomb squad came from Columbus, about 65 miles away.
The bomb squad pried apart the bike with a hydraulic device normally used to rescue accident victims trapped in cars, acting Athens Fire Chief Ken Gilbraith said.
Once they had it open, they saw there was no bomb.
The buildings were reopened after about two hours.
Dean of Students Terry Hogan asked that fans of the Pensacola, Florida, band be more careful when showing support in the future.

4.
St. Paul City Office Boots Easter Bunny
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Easter Bunny has been sent packing at St. Paul City Hall.
A toy rabbit, pastel-colored eggs and a sign with the words "Happy Easter" were removed from the lobby of the City Council offices, because of concerns they might offend non-Christians.
A council secretary had put up the decorations. They were not bought with city money.
St. Paul's human rights director, Tyrone Terrill, asked that the decorations be removed, saying they could be offensive to non-Christians.
But City Council member Dave Thune says removing the decorations went too far, and he wonders why they can't celebrate spring with "bunnies and fake grass."

5.
Finding drunks in a bar -- what are the chances?
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.
Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.
The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.
"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.
"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."
She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.

6.
Break the law and live by a beach
BASTOY PRISON, Norway (Reuters) - The Web site reads like an advertisement for a holiday home.
"Is Bastoy the place for you?" it asks next to photographs of a sunset sparkling off the tranquil waters of the Oslo fjord and horses pulling sleighs over packed snow.
This wooded island could be -- if you are a rapist, a murderer, a drug trafficker or have accepted a large bribe.
"We try to take a cross-section of the country's prison population, not just the nice criminals," said Oyvind Alnaes, governor of the minimum security prison on Bastoy Island about 75 km (46 miles) south of the Norwegian capital.