'Dumbest criminal' nabbed in cop convention holdup
HARRISBURG, Pa. – A retired police chief said he was robbed by "probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania," at a police officers' convention on Friday morning. John Comparetto said as he came out of a stall in the men's room, a man pointed a gun in his face and demanded money. There were 300 narcotics officers from Pennsylvania and Ohio at the gathering.Comparetto gave up his money and cell phone. But when the man fled, Comparetto and some colleagues chased him. They arrested a 19-year-old man as he was trying to leave in a taxi.The suspect is also awaiting trial on four previous robbery charges.
The suspect was arraigned and taken to Dauphin County Prison. When a reporter asked the suspect for comment as he was led out of court, he said, "I'm smooth."
Source:
Balls and Bottoms give way to Wangs in name game
Reporting by Catherine Bosley; Editing by Paul Casciato
LONDON (Reuters) – The number of people in Britain with surnames like Cockshott, Balls, Death and Shufflebottom -- likely the source of schoolroom laughter -- has declined by up to 75 percent in the last century.
A study found the number of people with the name Cock shrank to 785 last year from 3,211 in 1881, those called Balls fell to 1,299 from 2,904 and the number of Deaths were reduced to 605 from 1,133.
People named Smellie decreased by 70 percent, Dafts by 51 percent, Gotobeds by 42 percent, Shufflebottoms by 40 percent, and Cockshotts by 34 percent, said Richard Webber, visiting professor of geography at King's College, London.
"If you find the (absolute) number goes down, it's either because they changed their names or they emigrated," Webber, author of the study, told Reuters on Wednesday.
He said that in many cases, people probably changed their surnames as they came to be regarded as in bad taste. "It's because the meaning of words can change. Take the name Daft -- that as a term for a stupid is a relatively recent innovation."
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Daft meant "mild" or "meek" in Old English, whereas it means "foolish" today.
"That's why there are names which people think aren't really very pleasant names and you wonder why they persisted as long as they did."
Webber, whose work can be seen on the website mapyourname.com, got his data for 2008 from credit card firm Experian and mapping service Geowise. He then compared it with the census of 1881.
Webber also discovered that the most popular names in Britain have not changed over the past 127 years. Last year, Smith, Jones, Williams, Brown, Taylor and Davies held the top five spots, in exactly the same order as they did a century ago.
Webber also found that between 1996 and 2008, the names Zhang, Wang, and Yang and experienced the fastest growth. Zhang rose by 4719 percent, while Wang grew by 2225 percent.
Source:
Cheese beats Baboon Metaphysics in odd book prize
Reporting by Catherine Bosley; Editing by Mark Trevelyan
LONDON (Reuters) - The prize for oddest book title of 2008 was awarded to "The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais," thanks to a late surge in popularity, The Bookseller magazine said Friday.
Philip M. Parker's "Fromage Frais," which literally means "fresh cheese" in French, beat out titles such as "Baboon Metaphysiscs," "Curbside Consultation of the Colon," and "Strip and Knit with Style" in the annual competition run by the British magazine.
According to online bookstore Amazon.com, Parker's book costs a stunning $795. The website gives no indication as to what it is about, but it takes up to two months to deliver.
"I'm thrilled that the public steered clear of smut... and turned the supermarket chiller into the Petri dish of literary innovation," said Horace Bent, custodian of the prize.
Parker's book claimed first place with 32 percent of the 5,034 votes cast on theBookseller.com, beating out early favorite "Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring."
"Baboon Metaphysics" placed second with 22 percent of the vote, while "Colon" trailed close behind with 18 percent.
The prize was dreamed up at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1978 as a way of avoiding boredom. Past winners have included titles such as "Bombproof Your Horse" (2004), "Butterworths Corporate Manslaughter Service" (2001), and "Reusing Old Graves" (1995).
Source:
Related post: Oddly enough for news 25/03...
No comments:
Post a Comment