TWW'S CRAZY NEWS STORIES

[rainstorm]

For sale: Dallas tree with Virgin Mary image

Crowds have become burden for family seeking return to 'normal life'

By ALAN MELSON / The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS, Texas - After providing shade for decades, a tree in the front yard of an Oak Cliff home began attracting people last fall for an entirely different reason.

The majestic 50-foot tree in the 2900 block of South Edgefield Avenue boasts what many say is a likeness of the Virgin Mary, a 4-foot-tall image that has drawn thousands of people from around the world seeking spiritual enrichment and healing.

Now, homeowner Gilbert Peña hopes his tree can continue to help others – but at a new location. This week, Mr. Peña elected to list the tree on online auction site eBay because the crowds have become a burden. He said the decision was tough, but in the best interests of his family and neighborhood.

“We had offers before, but turned them away,” Mr. Peña said. “Now we feel like we're always under a spotlight. We want to go back to our normal life.”

The Peñas enlisted the help of iSold It, a local franchise of a chain that helps people sell items online. Store owner David Goldstein said the Peñas didn’t know what type of tree they have and he was challenged in figuring out how to market it, but he was happy to help them.

“They feel like something special has happened to them, but at the same time they are trying to reclaim their privacy,” Mr. Goldstein said. “Their front yard has had so many visitors that it's literally been worn away and is just mud.”

In early November, Mr. Peña said, his young daughters began telling tales of the tree “crying.” Two weeks later, his brother-in-law noticed the image in the tree’s bark while sitting in the front yard – and Mr. Peña’s wife summoned the neighbors.

"Once they saw it, they began crying and worshiping, and said it was the Virgin Mary,” Mr. Peña said.

Calling it a “miracle,” he began to tell family and friends, and media accounts led to streams of visitors. Mr. Peña said people told him they journeyed from all over the United States and parts of Canada and Mexico, and from as far away as Korea and Vietnam.

“Since the first appearance to now (we’ve had) about 4,000 people,” he said. “People have been calling me saying it showed up on TV in Spain."

Mr. Peña said initially the attention was a blessing, but then the crowds grew, arriving at all hours and taking “souvenirs” of limbs and bark, while leaving a mounting shrine of candles, flowers and other religious mementos.

“We were doing something for the community – for people to look at something that hadn't been heard of here in Oak Cliff,” he said. “But it put us in a dark place. We couldn’t go outside like we used to. People were always here, wanting to take pictures of us.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, no one had put down the requested initial bid of $5,000. Mr. Peña said he will use the proceeds to repair the yard and to donate to the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity and their church.

Mr. Goldstein said the winning bidder must pay for all removal costs, including the stump. A local tree-moving company told him the tree still could be relocated despite its size.

“It's not cheap, but it can be done,” he said.

Mr. Peña said he has a smaller tree in his yard that bears a similar likeness, which he plans to keep “for the community.” But he hopes the main tree’s removal will help restore his yard and his life.

“I'm just going to bring it back to the way it was before,” he said. “I will probably plant another tree there.”


DEBORAH TURNER / Al Día
Visitors began leaving mementos at the tree in November.

very inspirational

[TexasStooge]

Is Texas ready for Governor Kinky?

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) - The line of well-dressed young executives stretches down a hallway, past a table of Kinky Friedman talking action figures and straight up to the candidate for Texas governor in the black cowboy hat.

"I'll sign anything," country singer and mystery novelist Kinky Friedman assures the crowd arriving for a downtown luncheon speech as they snap up Kinky T-shirts, bumper stickers and posters sold to finance his independent -- and decidedly nontraditional -- bid for governor.

With a blizzard of one-liners, a campaign slogan of "Why the Hell Not?" and an eclectic blend of policy ideas from all sides of the ideological divide, the former frontman for the band Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys says he wants to "change the world one governor at a time."

Friedman hopes to tap voter frustration with Republican Gov. Rick Perry, Texas Democrats and politics in general to become the latest celebrity governor, following wrestler Jesse Ventura in Minnesota and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger in California.

"People are drooling for the truth, they are begging for a little honesty from officials and they aren't getting any," the black-clad, cigar-chomping Friedman told Reuters. "This is the moment in history if Texas can grab it."

Friedman's independent crusade kicks off on Wednesday, the day after the Texas primary, when volunteers can begin to gather the signatures needed to get him on the ballot in November.

He has 64 days to get 45,540 signatures of registered voters who did not vote in the primary, a stringent requirement that prompts an urgent plea from Friedman.

'SAVE YOURSELF FOR KINKY'

"Don't vote in the primary. Save yourself for Kinky," he tells his audiences, typically split between supporters and the simply curious.

His candidacy already has enlivened a governor's race involving Perry, who took over when George W. Bush moved to the White House, two Democrats and Republican state Comptroller Carole Strayhorn, who also is running as an independent.

Saying "there's plenty of room in the hot tub," Friedman welcomed Strayhorn, mother of White House press secretary Scott McClellan, into the race. But there has not been an independent on the Texas ballot for governor in modern times, and the last one elected governor was Sam Houston in 1859 -- a fact Friedman calls "shameful."

"Independence is the Texas way. It ain't the easy way, but it's the cowboy way," Friedman said. "The parties are doing a disservice to Texas. They are monopolising democracy."

Friedman, whose support was at 10 percent in recent polls, hopes to raise $6 million by November, enough to air television ads down the stretch but not enough to make a big splash in Texas, where candidates spent $100 million in the last governor's race.

His prospects are routinely dismissed by pundits and Texas politicians, but "the people are taking me very seriously. They're taking me more seriously than I take myself," Friedman said.

'COMPASSIONATE REDNECK'

"I'm a compassionate redneck, I'm an unabashed dreamer, but I'm not a politician," said the author of more than 20 books, including a string of mystery novels featuring a detective named Kinky Friedman.

He is best known for his days leading the Texas Jewboys, an Austin band known for politically incorrect blasts such as "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore" and "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven & Your Buns in the Bed."

"I wrote the songs to express truth as I see it, and that has not changed. From the music to the books, I've been a truth teller," he said. "Being a humorist helps, because you can sail as close to the truth as you can get without sinking the ship."

He announced his campaign last year with a quip -- "I need the closet space" -- and he fires off a steady stream of one-liners and slogans like "How Hard Can it Be?"

"He Ain't Kinky, He's My Governor," reads a Friedman bumper sticker, while his 13-inch-high (33-cm-high) talking action figure, a popular seller at $29.95 each, spouts lines like "I'm gonna de-wussify Texas if I have to do it one wuss at a time."

Kathryn Lott, who bought three bumper stickers, a poster and a button before listening to Friedman in Houston, said she plans to vote for him.

"We need some freethinkers in government. Why not take a chance with someone new?" said Lott, a marketing director for the Houston Grand Opera.

Mary Lane, a Houston realtor, said Friedman has "a definite shot. People are tired of politicians and politics."

He promises to bring musician pals like Willie Nelson into his administration, and says he will rename major highways after Texas musical icons like Nelson, Bob Wills and Buddy Holly.

"Musicians can run this state better than politicians. We won't get a lot done in the mornings, but we'll work late and be honest," he said.

Friedman, whose parents were educators, is serious about the state's education system, promising to turn school choices back to teachers and create a "Texas heroes" program to lure retired experts into schools.

He would boost pay for teachers, police and firefighters, he says, and fund it with legalised casino gambling and a 1 percent tax surcharge on Texas oil and gas companies.

He supports gay marriage, saying "they have every right to be as miserable as the rest of us," and prayer in the schools. He is against the death penalty -- a view he likens to "looking into your political grave" in Texas.

"I just want Texas to be number one in something other than executions, toll roads and property taxes," Friedman says. But if he loses he promises to ditch Texas and head to Hawaii.

"If I lose this race I will retire in a petulant snit," he said. "I'm not going to go out gracefully, I promise you."

[TexasStooge]

Chile gift to Bono strikes off note with Bolivians

LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivians have found a new reason to grumble about arch rival Chile -- the small five-stringed Andean guitar Chilean President Ricardo Lagos gave to U2 frontman Bono when the Irish rock band played in Santiago last week.

According to Bolivians, the charango is a uniquely Bolivian instrument and Lagos' gesture has prompted a chorus of nationalistic complaint from government ministers, musicians and newspaper commentators.

"The charango is Bolivian," read an editorial headline in Sunday's La Razon, while the vice minister for culture called on President Evo Morales to present Chile's president-elect, Michelle Bachelet, with a charango when he attends her inauguration on Saturday.

Lagos defended his choice of gift, saying the charango comes from the Andean plateau that extends into Chile.

Resentment towards Chile has been strong in Bolivia since it lost its access to the Pacific in a 19th-century war and the two countries have had no diplomatic ties since 1978.

However, both neighbours have expressed hope of improving relations in recent months.

[TexasStooge]

Singapore plans audacious new twisting bridge

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore on Monday unveiled an audacious plan to build a helix-shaped bridge that will link a massive new tourist development, including a giant Ferris wheel and casino complex on reclaimed land.

The bridge, which will cost around S$68 million (39 million pounds), is believed to be the world's first to resemble the structure of DNA, the genetic material.

Singapore aims to double visitor arrivals to 17 million and triple tourism receipts to S$30 billion by 2015 with new projects such as two planned casino-resorts and a 170-metre high (558 feet) Ferris wheel.

The nearby resort island of Sentosa is also being developed.

Tourism is one of the biggest service industries in the city-state of 4.4 million people, generating more than 5 percent of gross domestic product.

The government said construction of the bridge, consisting of a six-lane motorway and six-metre wide pedestrian walkway, will begin at the end of the year and is targeted for completion in 2009.

[TexasStooge]

Court says California oral sex law violates rights

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Reuters) - A 22-year-old Californian man who received oral sex from a sixteen-year-old girl should not be forced to register for life as a sex offender, the California Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

The state's top court found that California denied Vincent Hofsheier equal protection under the law because those having intercourse in such circumstances would not be forced to register as lifetime sex offenders.

Hofsheier appealed after being ordered to register his name on the list, which is shared with the public and carries significant stigma.

"Requiring mandatory lifetime registration of all persons who, like defendant here, were convicted of voluntary oral copulation with a minor of the age of 16 or 17, but not of someone convicted of voluntary sexual intercourse with a minor of the same age, violates the equal protection clauses of the federal and state Constitutions," the court ruled.

"We perceive no reason why the legislature would conclude that persons who are convicted of voluntary oral copulation with adolescents 16 to 17 years old...constitute a class of 'particularly incorrigible offenders'... who require lifetime surveillance as sex offenders."

U.S. law on oral sex has evolved over the years, and it was not until 1975 that oral sex between consenting adults was decriminalized in California. Today, in 38 of the 50 U.S. states consensual sex with a 16- or 17-year old is legal.

In the case, Hofsheier pleaded guilty and received probation after meeting the teenager in an Internet chat room and sharing rum and orange juice with her at a beach.

The California Supreme Court's decision returns the case to a lower court to decide whether he should still be subject to registration under that court's discretionary authority.

[TexasStooge]

Farmer feeds friend's corpse to pigs

BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) - A German farmer confessed to feeding the corpse of an elderly family friend to his pigs and then stealing from his bank account, police said on Monday.

Police ruled out murder and the 29-year-old farmer has been charged with improper burial and fraud.

The elderly friend died in the farmer's yard in February 2005 and the farmer, through his mother, had power-of-attorney giving him access to the dead man's bank account and pension.

The farmer initially put the corpse in a deep freezer, police in the German town of Frizlar-Haddamar said, and told curious locals the old man was in a nursing home.

"From lectures about various religions the 29-year-old knew that Buddhists either burn the dead or allow wild animals to eat them. That was how he decided to feed the corpse to his pigs," the police statement said.

He let the corpse thaw, dismembered it and fed it to his pigs. He put the parts the pigs did not eat into a sack and buried it.

The farmer told police "it was a great act of stupidity" and said "the only explanation was his difficult financial situation at the time".
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[TexasStooge]

Complexity causes 50% of product returns

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Half of all malfunctioning products returned to stores by consumers are in full working order, but customers can't figure out how to operate the devices, a scientist said on Monday.

Product complaints and returns are often caused by poor design, but companies frequently dismiss them as "nuisance calls", Elke den Ouden found in her thesis at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands.

A wave of versatile electronics gadgets has flooded the market in recent years, ranging from MP3 players and home cinema sets to media centres and wireless audio systems, but consumers still find it hard to install and use them, she found.

The average consumer in the United States will struggle for 20 minutes to get a device working, before giving up, the study found.

Product developers, brought in to witness the struggles of average consumers, were astounded by the havoc they created.

She also gave new products to a group of managers from consumer electronics company Philips, asking them to use them over the weekend. The managers returned frustrated because they could not get the devices to work properly.

Most of the flaws found their origin in the first phase of the design process: product definition, Den Ouden found.

[TexasStooge]

Ga. Hockey Fans Scoop Up Bobblehead Dolls

DULUTH, Ga. (AP) - Like the woman who inspired their creation, Runaway Bride bobblehead dolls disappeared quickly during a sports promotion in her hometown.

The dolls, given to the first 1,000 people through the doors at the Gwinnett Gladiators ice hockey game Sunday, were gone in about 10 minutes.

People lined up more than three hours before the gates opened.

The minor league ECHL team named the trinket the "Runaway Bride Any Similarity to Actual Persons is Unintended and Purely Coincidental" Bobblehead Doll.

The bobblehead features a generic woman's face, with a veil over her head, a sweat shirt that says "I (heart) Duluth," a pair of running shoes labeled "Adios" instead of Adidas and a picture of the state of Georgia on the back.

Duluth resident Jennifer Wilbanks' disappearance last April, just days before her scheduled 600-guest wedding, prompted a national search. She turned up in Albuquerque, N.M., claiming to have been abducted and raped. Relief quickly turned to confusion and anger among some when Wilbanks recanted her story, saying she fled because of "certain fears" controlling her life.

Wilbanks was ordered to perform community service for lying to police.
___

On the Net: http://www.gwinnettgladiators.com/Gwinnett/

[TexasStooge]

Putting the "con" in condiments

HONG KONG, China (Reuters) - More than 100 South American thieves have descended on Hong Kong to target the city's annual jewelry show, the South China Morning Post Tuesday quoted a police source as saying.

Their tactics range from simply stealing bags while their owners are not looking to distracting them by spraying tomato ketchup on their clothes, the newspaper said.

Crime syndicates from Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela were active both inside and outside the convention center where the show started Monday, working in teams of three or four and wearing business suits, the police source was quoted as saying.

They were believed to be targeting show exhibitors toting valuables to and from the venue, it said.

"Their common tactics are simple. They steal unattended briefcases and bags while victims are having breakfast or having a drink in a coffee shop or restaurant," the newspaper quoted the source as saying.

"They also distract victims by spraying tomato sauce on their clothing or dropping bundles of banknotes on the ground before grabbing valuables and fleeing."

Saturday, a 55-year-old man lost a bag containing $40,000 in a shop in central Hong Kong while trying to pick up three $100 bills left by a gang of four South American men, it said.

The newspaper said several South American men had been arrested in recent days for stealing bags. Police believed they were jewel thieves, and may have been robbing people to pay for their expenses during the show.

[TexasStooge]

Complexity causes half of product returns?

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Half of all malfunctioning products that are returned stores by consumers work just fine, if only the customer knew how to operate the device, a scientist said on Monday.

Such product complaints and returns are often caused by poor design, but companies often dismiss them as "nuisance calls," Elke den Ouden found in her thesis at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the south of Netherlands

A wave of versatile electronics gadgets has flooded the market in recent years, ranging from MP3 players and home cinema sets to media centers and wireless audio systems, but consumers still find it hard to install and use them, she said.

The average consumer in the United States will struggle for 20 minutes to get a device working, before giving up, the study found.

Product developers, brought in to witness the struggles of average consumers, were astounded by the havoc they created.

She also gave new products to a group of managers from consumer electronics company Philips, asking them to use them over the weekend. The managers returned frustrated because they could not get the devices to work properly.

Most of the flaws found their origin in the first phase of the design process: product definition, Den Ouden found.

[TexasStooge]

Dictionary aims to rescue the zoozoo, other words

LONDON, England (Reuters) - Ian Brookes is trying to rescue the zoozoo from extinction.

Brookes is not an environmentalist partial to the wood pigeon, but instead editor of the Chambers Dictionary, and is seeking to keep words from disappearing in the publisher's next edition which is slated for release in August.

"We've resisted the temptation for tossing words out," he said Monday at the London Book Fair.

Also on the save list are jobernowl (blockhead), logodaedalus (someone skilled in the manipulative use of words), incompossible (incapable of co-existing) and supernaculum (to the last drop), the kinds of words typically omitted by one-volume dictionaries once they fall out of usage.

The Chambers Dictionary, published in Scotland, is favored by puzzlers, writers and language-lovers for its pithy approach, such as defining "eclair" as a cake long in shape but short in duration.

Brookes also sees a market for its antiquarian approach in a culture taken with yesteryear, evidenced by widespread enthusiasm for old buildings and genealogy.

"We've decided to provide a kind of museum of language," Brookes said.

[TexasStooge]

A plant that glows when thirsty

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Some people like to talk to their plants. Now, students at Singapore Polytechnic say they have created a plant that can communicate with people -- by glowing when it needs water.

The students said Tuesday that they have genetically modified a plant using a green fluorescent marker gene from jellyfish, so that it "lights up" when it is stressed as a result of dehydration.

The light is hard to detect with the naked eye but can be seen using an optical sensor developed in collaboration with students at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

The development of such plants could help farmers to develop more efficient irrigation of crops.

[TexasStooge]

British Bars Selling Sex Toys in Machines

LONDON, England (AP) - Bars and nightclubs in London and other British cities have begun using vending machines that sell sex toys such as mini vibrators.

The pink Tabooboo machines had previously been used in public toilets in Britain, under the assumption that such settings gave buyers some privacy.

But Geoff Todd, manager of the Alphabet Bar in London's West End area, said the Tabooboo machine it installed in the middle of the bar is used daily.

"Some people use it just because it's in the bar. Some make a special journey, maybe because they are to embarrassed to go into a sex shop," Todd was quoted as saying by Monday's The Guardian newspaper. "Some buy the toys because they are a novelty, some do it for a laugh, some buy them as presents. It's been a great success."

In addition to bars and nightclubs in London, Manchester and Newcastle, the vending machines also have begun to show up in hairdressing salons, health clubs and retail stores, Tabooboo managing director Alan Lucas said.

He said the company also has exported about 20 of the machines to Italy and about 10 to the United States.

"The younger generation isn't phased by sex toys. They don't believe they equal pornography. Vending machines allow them to buy such products anonymously without going to a seedy sex shops to do so," Lucas said.

The 11 different sex toys carried by the Tabooboo vending machines sell for an average 5 pounds (euro7.30, US$8.80) each, Lucas said.

[TexasStooge]

Growing Aussies Need Sturdier Toilets

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Sturdier toilets may be on their way in Australia to cope with the country's increasingly obese population.

Standards Australia, a nongovernment group that establishes safety and design standards, is considering recommending strengthening loos for larger users, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Obesity levels have been rising for years in Australia.

Standards Australia spokeswoman Kate Evans said the current industry standard for toilet seats is just 100 pounds and that the group is looking to increase it to 330 pounds.

Experts will examine the seats "from the perspective that people are getting bigger," Evans said.

Steve Cummings, a committee member for Standards Australia and head of research and development at toilet maker Caroma Dorf, told Sydney tabloid The Daily Telegraph that toilet seats need to be strengthened for larger Australians.

"If you are going to sit on it, you want it to hold you," he said.

[TexasStooge]

Make more money, Berlusconi tells poor Italians

MILAN, Italy (Reuters) - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's recommendation for Italians trying to escape poverty: do it my way and earn more cash.

Asked in a television interview late on Monday what the government could do to help a worker earning only 1,500 euros ($1,793) a month, Italy's richest man said: "The answer of Berlusconi the businessman is, try to earn more."

He then launched into an account of how he scraped together his first earnings that laid the foundation for his media empire, by helping out at a local market and by collecting paper in the street, scrunching it up into balls and reselling it to people who used it to light their stoves.

"When someone gave me a camera, I used it to take pictures at funerals, weddings and I took portraits," he added in an interview with northern Italian Telelombardia.

Berlusconi's popularity has suffered as his country is struggling to pull out of an economic slump and opinion polls show his centre-right bloc trailing the centre-left coalition led by Romano Prodi ahead of a national election in April.

[TexasStooge]

Have a great cruise! See you if you return...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twenty-four people disappeared from cruise ships between 2003 and 2005 and 178 passengers reported being sexually assaulted, a congressional panel heard Tuesday.

Among those who disappeared were an elderly Vietnamese-American couple who fled their native land as "boat people" in 1975.

Hue Pham, 71 and his wife, Hue Tran, 67, fled Vietnam 30 years ago with five other family members, spending two weeks floating in the Pacific with little food or water, their son, Son Michael Pham told a House of Representatives subcommittee.

They eventually reached the United States and built a successful life. Last May, they disappeared during a Caribbean cruise. Pham said the crew waited over four hours after being alerted to the disappearances before notifying the U.S. Coast Guard and it took several more hours to mount a search, which found no trace of the couple.

"Two American citizens with no personal or financial problems, no serious health problems, living the happiest time of their lives, both vanished without a trace or witness," Pham told the subcommittee on national security, emerging threats and international relations.

Of the disappearances, 12 were deemed suicides, one an accidental fall overboard and the others were deemed "missing for unknown reasons," said Lawrence Kaye, a lawyer representing major cruise lines.

Almost half of the 178 reported sexual assaults were allegedly committed by other passengers, according to figures released by the International Council of Cruise Lines.

With over 31 million people taking cruises in the three years under review, only four robberies were reported, the council said. However Ohio Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich said he suspected the figures understated the true situation and that not all crimes were being reported.

Several other witnesses told the subcommittee of tragedies on cruises. Lynsey O'Brien, a 15 year-old girl, was served at least 10 alcoholic drinks at a cruise ship bar and fell overboard while leaning over a balcony to vomit.

Janet Kelly, a 49-year-old married woman, said she was drugged by a bartender and raped.

[TexasStooge]

Bombs, guns knives, kites...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Flying a kite in Pakistan is a dangerous pastime.

Already it's banned for all but 15 days of the year but a provincial minister warned kite-flyers this week that any who cause injury or death with string made from metal or coated with glass could be tried under anti-terrorism laws.

The Punjabi chief minister's unprecedented threat came just ahead of the start of an annual kite-flying festival in the provincial capital, Lahore, Sunday.

Kite-flying in Pakistan and neighboring India often involves aerial duels in which participants try to bring down each other's kites using string coated in a sticky paste of ground-up glass or metal.

Every year, Pakistani media report dozens of deaths and injuries caused by kite flying, mainly of children and motorcyclists whose throats are sometimes cut by metal or glass-coated string.

"It is a matter of concern that a healthy sport is being turned into a game of death," the official APP news agency quoted Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi as saying Tuesday.

Elahi said a crackdown had been launched against the sale of sharp kite string and threatened a permanent ban on kite-flying if deaths continued.

"Action under the Anti-Terrorism Act would be taken in case of deaths due to ... dangerous kite-flying string," he was quoted as saying.

Pakistan's Supreme Court banned kite-flying nationwide last year in response to an outcry over injuries and deaths. The ban was lifted for a 15-day period to allow the holding of this month's traditional kite-flying festival of Basant.

Some Islamist groups have staged protests in the past week after newspapers reported several deaths caused by kite-flying, denouncing the activity as un-Islamic.

[TexasStooge]

It's hard out there for an artillerywoman

SEOUL, North Korea (Reuters) - For all those tired of silly love songs, how about the new North Korean hit tune, "A girl innovator dashing like a steed."

Many people in the communist state are singing songs glorifying the women revolutionaries helping to build the nation, official media reported Wednesday.

As well as the girl innovator song, popular airs include "Song of coast artillerywomen," "Girl silk-weavers of Nyongbyon" and "I am a front-line soldier's wife," the KCNA news agency reported on International Women's Day.

Songs promoting family values include "Love your wives" and "My mom who worries herself about her child."

"A lot of songs have been composed in the country in reflection of the pride and happy life of the women who are playing a great role in all fields of social life," KCNA said.

It was unclear whether the tunes have a beat that people can dance to.

[TexasStooge]

Delegate rains on weather report ads

BEIJING, China (Reuters) - Advertisements targeting China's hugely popular state television weather reports are angering viewers, an adviser to China's parliament was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

The national weather report that follows China Central Television's evening news, carried by nearly all regional channels around China, has the highest ratings of any show in the country and should be informative, Liang Rongxin said, criticizing some of the weathermen for trying to be entertainers.

"The weather report never used to have ads, but in the past two years there have been a lot and audiences are disgusted," said Liang, a member of parliament's consultative body, according to the Beijing News.

Ads for products ranging from instant noodles to lubricating oil run for around a minute between the end of the news and the weather report, during which spots for local companies often fill most of the space for regional forecasts.

The prime-time ads are among the most lucrative for China Central Television, which dominates the country's airwaves.

Earlier in the session of parliament, which opened Sunday, another delegate sounded off against the proliferation of domestic ads featuring young children, which he said was a form of "child labor" that could rob them of their innocence.

[TexasStooge]

Something they don't teach at driving school

LONDON, England (Reuters) - North Wales police couldn't believe their eyes when a camera at a notorious accident spot caught a driver using both hands to put on her make-up.

Donna Maddock, 22, was filmed as she drove along the A499, one of Britain's most dangerous roads. She held a mirror in her left hand and an eye pencil in her right, leaving the steering wheel to itself.

Wednesday, she was fined 200 pounds ($350) with 55 pounds costs and had six penalty points added to her driving license after admitting careless driving at Pwllheli magistrates court.

"A car is a dangerous lump of metal in the wrong hands. You need to be in control at all times, and Miss Maddock's actions beggars belief," said Inspector Essi Ahari in a statement.

A police spokeswoman said the camera had been set up because of the large numbers of collisions and deaths on that stretch of road.

"It is to catch speeding drivers. But when officers saw the film of her applying her makeup it was also obvious that she was committing a careless act," she said.