The snow season this year has been a whopper, to say the least. Especially on the East coast. Many cities have run through their budget for snow removal already, and winter is far from over. What’s a city to do? Bergen County, NJ decided to use pickle juice. It costs about 1/4th of what rock salt costs. Many other cities are already using a brine solution, which is basically the same thing without involvement of pickles.
No word on whether the smell has increased business to local delis (subliminal advertising, perhaps?), or where they can find so much juice.
I’ll bet deli owners will start putting their pickle juice out on the sidewalks after hearing about this.
10 points for creative thinking, Bergen County!
NJ region uses pickle juice to salt roads
food, government Comments Off
Jan 312011
No dancing at Jefferson Memorial, judge orders
government Comments Off
Jan 302010
Sorry peeps, you may not have a dance party at the Jefferson Memorial — not unless you want to get in trouble. A woman who was arrested for doing just that took her case all the way to federal court… and lost.
Mary Oberwetter and 17 others were dancing to music playing IN THEIR HEADPHONES on the eve of Jefferson’s birthday in April 2008. They were arrested when they were asked to stop dancing and refused. She sued the park service over this in federal court, claiming it violated her freedom of expression.
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled against her, saying the inside of the memorial is not a public dance forum, even if the dance party is silent.
Mimes everywhere, take heed if you were planning birthday dance celebrations at presidential monuments. No word on whether mime tug-of-war or getting-out-of-a-box are still allowed, or other dances such as lap dances, happy dances or the potty dance.
As for the no dancing rule, where’s Kevin Bacon and the rest of the Footloose crew when we need him?
Jan 302010
A protest by approximately 500 firefighters and emergency workers in Spain turned into an all-out brawl with anti-riot police.
Violence erupted when the cops in La Coruna told protesters to stop throwing fireworks and nails outside a local government building. The demonstrators were protesting against privatization of emergency services and wanted to talk with local government representatives. Anti-riot police charged them with batons and fired runner balls at them.
Emergency service workers retaliated by throwing stones and traffic signs. Peep the video:
$12,000 fine for lip syncing
government, people Comments Off
Jan 252010
Two Chinese pop stars face a $12,000 fine for allegedly lip syncing a performance. A firm that managed their show said the star, Yin Youcan and Fang Ziyuan, are dancers so they should be exempt.
Miming was banned in China after a girl was revealed to have lip-synched at the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. The actual singer had crooked teeth and so wasn’t pretty enough to appear. (She was seven — and we thought the United States put too much pressure on girls to conform to standards of beauty. Sheesh!)
In December 2008, China banned lip-synching from the nation’s biggest TV show, which celebrates Chinese New Year.
Well ok, not “here” as in this website, but from NASA.
the shuttlewow guy
“That’s right folks, you can own your very own space shuttle for not $45 million, not $34 million, but for the low low price of $28.8 million dollars! But wait, there’s more! We’ll deliver it to you!”
Ok, NASA’s press release about it was really boring. We like what the Houston media has to say: get the Shamwow guy to do it, like this:
Hi, it’s Vince with Shamwow NASA! You’ll be saying wow every time you use this towel shuttle!
It’s like a chamois space shuttle! It’s like a towel space shuttle! It’s like a sponge space shuttle….This is for the house space, the car space, the boat space, the RV space!
See what I’m telling ya? Shamwow! The shuttle! You’ll be saying wow every time!
Michael Jackson auctions off his socks
government, Uncategorized Comments Off
Feb 192009
like a rhinestone tubesock
Thieves scam Utah out of $2M! Doh!
crime, government Comments Off
Feb 162009
Online thieves scammed the state out of more than $2 million until a bank questioned the “unusually high” level of activity.
ars technica reports this as a take on one of those Nigerian schemes, although really, it’s more a scam of dishonesty and people not paying attention to invoices. Probably one of the oldest tricks in the books.
Scammers found a way to set themselves up as various types of contractors and bill the state for work never done.
Hmm, in retrospect, kinda sounds like a lot of the miscellaneous charges we receive from cable and phone companies all the time. Hmmmmmmmmmm….
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