I haven't slept for ten days, because that would be too long.
~Mitch Hedberg~
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Jennifer Brown, aged 62, a grandmother was thrilled to win second prize in a baking contest until she found that her cake was the only entry. She was awarded second place for her Victoria Sponge in the competition, reports the Mirror. She was intrigued to find out which cake had beaten her to the top spot and it was then that she discovered the truth.
Organisers had spotted her sponge had rack marks from where it had been in the oven and decided it wasn't up to the standards demanded for first place. But grandmother-of-four Jennifer said she was not browned off and chuckled, 'I must admit I have never heard of coming second in a one horse race before. When a friend of mine told me I had come second I was quite pleased, both for getting a prize and also because I just assumed they must have had more entries. The cake hadn't been judged good enough to win the contest, but it was soon polished off and there were certainly no complaints.'
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Smoker Tried To Open Plane Door The woman was arrested when the plane landed in Australia A French woman has admitted attempting to open an aeroplane door mid-flight so that she could smoke a cigarette.
Sandrine Helene Sellies, 34, who has a fear of flying, had drunk alcohol and taken sleeping tablets ahead of the flight from Hong Kong to Brisbane. She was seen on the Cathay Pacific plane walking towards a door with an unlit cigarette and a lighter. She then began tampering with the emergency exit until she was stopped by a flight attendant.
Defence lawyer Helen Shilton said her client had no memory of what had happened on the flight on Saturday, and that she had a history of sleepwalking. She pleaded guilty to endangering the safety of an aircraft at Brisbane Magistrates Court and was given a 12-month A$1,000 (£429) good behaviour bond - she will forfeit the money if she commits another offence. The French tourist was at the start of a three-week holiday in Australia with her husband.
As reported by the BBC````
Strange But True Stories From Motorists Insurance Claims I was taking a friend home and keeping two yards from each lamp post which were in a straight line. Unfortunately, there was a bend in the road bringing the right-hand lamp post in line with the other and of course I landed in a ditch.
A pedestrian hit me and went under my car.
To avoid a collision I ran into the other car.
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Four Casualties Instead of OneAn old lady dialled 999 after falling over in her house at Iffley, Oxfordshire. She didn't wake the other members of the family. As the ambulance men were carrying her out of the front door on a stretcher, her son roused from his slumbers by the noise staggered onto the landing, panicked at the sight of strange men in his home, and tripped all the way downstairs, knocking himself out.
His wife came rushing out of the bedroom to see what was wrong. Observing her husband lying on the hall floor, she promptly fainted and fell downstairs herself. The paramedics now had three casualties to take to A&E instead of one.
The tally rapidly became four when the family dog rampaged furiously into the hall, and inflicted an indignant bite on the bottom of one of the ambulance men. A spokesman for the Oxford Ambulance Service said, 'It was quite a night, actually.'
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Man Left Wife at Petrol Station:A Macedonian drove six hours across Italy and into Germany before noticing he had left his wife at a petrol station.
Ljubomir Ivanov , 35, only realized he had forgotten wife Iskra, 37, when he got a call on his mobile from police to say she was still waiting for him at the petrol station near Pesaro, in central Italy.
He said, 'I filled up the tank with petrol, paid and then just drove off. I was very tired and not thinking straight.
'She usually sits in the back seat so I didn't really see she wasn't there, until I got a call when I was already in Germany.'
Mr Ivanov immediately drove back to Pesaro to pick up his wife so they could resume their holiday.
'I had a lot of apologizing to do, 'he said.
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Who is the Eccentric One? Is it the violinist or the passers by? Picture, if you will, the scene: Washington DC Metro Station one cold January morning a short while ago. This man is busking - playing his violin; he plays for about 45 minutes and completes six pieces by Bach.
Now, - does anyone take any notice? During that time approximately 2,000 people pass through the station, most of them on their way to work.
After 3 minutes a middle aged man notices there was a musician playing. He slows his pace and stops for a few seconds and then hurries to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later: The violinist receives his first dollar. A woman throws the money in the till and, without stopping, continues to walk.
6 minutes after that: A young man leans against the wall to listen to him, then looks at his watch and starts to walk again.
10 minutes later: A 3 year old boy stops but his mother tugs him along hurriedly, as the youngster stops to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushes hard and the child continues to walk, turning his head all the time. This action is repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forces them to move on.
45 minutes later: The musician plays on. Only 6 people have stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 have given him money but continued to walk at their normal pace.
He collected $32.00
1 hour later: He finishes playing and silence takes over. No one notices. No one applauds, nor is there any recognition.
Now - who was the violinist?
No one knew this, but the violinist was *Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a Stradivarius violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.00
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments .................How many other things are we missing?
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Round Like a ShotRound like a shot... Going to bed the other night, I noticed people in my shed stealing things. I phoned the police but was told there was no one in the area to help. The policeman said they would send someone over as soon as possible. I hung up.
A minute later I rang again. 'Hello', I said, 'I called you a minute ago because there were people in my shed. You don't have to hurry now, because I've shot them.' Within five minutes there were half a dozen police cars in the area, plus helicopters and an armed response unit. They caught the burglars red-handed.
One of the officers said: 'I thought you said you'd shot them.' To which I replied: 'I thought you said there was no one available.'
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Good morning everyboomie.
It's the 31st of Jan. and we are 1/12th of the way into the new year already.
So, no worries. I still have plenty of shopping days before Christmas gets here.
I may start shopping now anyway to beat the rush.
We got up to the 40s today but we're looking to be up to 71 degrees by Monday and Tuesday.
Good! I'm needing to wash my truck something fierce.
I feel a trip to the sod farm coming up.
I hope you all have a super happy last day of January.
joe
acebook
witter
oh, but I remember the B&W TV days...life was much simpler then
My driver's license expires this year also, so I have to get that taken care of sometime in the upcoming months.
