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Dancing for a cure doesn't cut it in Canada

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 10, 2007

The Exotic Dancers for Cancer, a group of exotic dancers in Canada, holds an annual event in which it raises money in memory of a colleague who died of breast cancer, then donates the proceeds to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada. Last year, they gave $6,000. This year, the Breast Cancer Society has said no thanks. "I really feel that it's a strong indication of the degree of the stigma that exotic dancers experience," said former dancer Trina Ricketts, who said she was told the society declined because its major donors didn't want to be associated with the dancers. The dancers plan to go on with their event and will look for another cancer charity to donate to.

Another cabbie saves the day

Another hack with a heart of gold: Just days after a New York cabbie tracked down the owner of 31 diamond rings left in his car comes the story of a driver in Lynnwood, Wash., who found a wallet stuffed with almost $6,000 in the back of his cab. Vinod Mago raced to the airport and returned it to the grateful passenger. "If money doesn't belong to me, I don't keep it," Mago said. "I know God is watching everybody, every second." Mago got a $100 reward, and took his family out to dinner.

A beer truck is perfect for escape

It sounds like the premise of a Super Bowl commercial, but it really happened: Richard Sparks was doing time in the Great Falls, Mont., jail when authorities say he decided to impersonate an inmate who was scheduled to be released. They let him walk right out the door. First thing he sees: a beer truck at a convenience store. So he hopped in and drove off. Apparently, he drove the truck to another convenience store, where clerks knew something was up and called the cops. Sparks was arrested and taken back to jail.

He hit the head. With a hammer.

A French appeals court ruled Friday that Pierre Pinoncelli, 78, does not have to pay $260,000 for damages he caused to a famed porcelain urinal. Pinoncelli admits to taking a hammer to Fountain, a $3.6-million piece of art by Marcel Duchamp seen above, in January 2006. He says he did it with Duchamp's blessing. Duchamp died in 1968, but Pinoncelli says he emphasized a role for the spectator in the creative process. The court upheld a three-month suspended sentence and $18,600 fine for repairs. This wasn't Pinoncelli's first encounter with the work. In 1993, he used it - in the traditional manner - at another exhibition.

[Last modified February 10, 2007, 01:41:28]