In November 2008 the European Union postponed its plans to introduce a major advancement in airport security at security checkpoints. Because of complaints from the German Interior Ministry, the full-body airport scanning device will undergo more laboratory testing in Germany to see if the imaging can be made more selective. Although the device can reveal such things as concealed explosives and ceramic knives, the passengers being scanned are revealed without their clothes on. In spite of that problem, these high-tech machines are already being used in the Netherlands – where they are obviously not bothered by the naked truth.
When a skier and a snowboarder – both French – ventured outside marked runs near the resort of Savognin, they got lost in the Swiss mountains. The good news is they were able to alert the authorities by mobile phone. The bad news is the phone ran out of battery power. That is when the 2 men thought they had run out of luck. Nevertheless, they were found shortly after midnight by a rescue helicopter. The crew spotted the faint light from the men’s MP3 player. That the 2 men suffered only mild hypothermia obviously lit up the lives of everyone concerned.
Then in suburban Philadelphia someone was spray painting graffiti on dozens of places. Some of the tags on the graffiti used the words “Devient Art”, with the word deviant being spelled incorrectly with two E’s. This was enough information to lead the Internet-savvy police directly to the suspect. It seems that the artist had a MySpace screen with the same name – and with the same “devient” spelling.
Finally there’s George, a 20-pound lobster that was rescued by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals from City Crab and Seafood, a Park Avenue Restaurant in New York City. Scientists estimate that lobsters can live to be more than 100 years old; but based on George’s weight, he was closer to 140 years old. Although the giant crustacean had been caught off Newfoundland, PETA released him in a rocky cove in Kennebunkport, Maine – less than a mile from the summer home of former President George H. Bush. Because Maine fishermen are prohibited from keeping lobsters that exceed the legal size limit – that have an upper shell that is more than 5 inches – George should be safe. Of course, at $27 a pound he might have been safe at the New York City seafood restaurant.
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