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The Skinny

Interetsing tidbits to chew on.

By TIMES WIRES
Published October 18, 2006

In China, you can putter through college

If you want to succeed in business in China, you better be able to hit the fairway. So Xiamen University has a new requirement for law and business students: golf lessons. "The aim is to help the students find good jobs," said Chen Xiao, a sports professor. "Many Chinese business deals are clinched on golf courses." There is a debate in China as to whether golf is even appropriate in China, where most people live in poverty.

A smallmouth stirs up some big doubt

Washington state officials thought there was something fishy about Austin Kenyon's claim that his smallmouth bass belonged in the record books. It weighed in at 9.32 pounds on a state-certified scale, but questions started almost immediately. They decided Kenyon, 22, probably stuffed lead weights in it. They couldn't prove it, because Kenyon had already taken the fish to be mounted.

This week on 'Prison Break' ...

You hear about people breaking out of jail all the time. You never hear about people breaking in. But a Norwegian man, identified only as being in his 20s, broke through the temporary confines of the district lockup in the Arctic town of Bodoe. "We were a bit perturbed to find this person on our turf," warden Geir Broen said. Apparently, the man had been hitting the aquavit and couldn't find his way home. The sentence for breaking into a jail in Norway is a free ride home from cops.

His wife says he's out of his gourd

Ric Griffith of Kenova, W.Va., has a thing for pumpkin displays. His wife thinks he's obsessive-compulsive. So far, there are 2,400 in his yard, and he's expecting 600 more for his annual display. This year, he'll include a wall of carved squash with a light display synched to the 1812 Overture. "There will be a scarecrow as the conductor and a cannon pumpkin at the end that has a little pumpkin that will sparkle as its fuse," Griffith said, lending credence to his wife's assessment. Above, Griffith's son-in-law, Jorge Romero, works on last year's display.

SayWA, indeed

The reviews were nearly unanimous. "Profoundly dumb." "Stupid." "Ughh." "Cheesy." "Embarrassed." "Stinkeroo." "Idiotic." And those were just the printable reactions to the state of Washington's business promotional slogan. So, after only six months, it's so long to "SayWA." It took a team of professional people who think of catchy slogans for a living 18 months to come up with that, and it was derided by newspapers and readers around the state. So the state will go on touting itself next year as a place of "endless discoveries for the independent spirit," but as of right now, there's no slogan.

Compiled from Times wires and other sources by Times staff writer Jim Webster.

[Last modified October 18, 2006, 05:56:24]