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Letter to the editor

The Skinny

By JIM WEBSTER
Published June 16, 2007

HIGHER EDUCATION
He's studying, hoping the ladies dig a diploma

Give Shivcharan Jatav credit for trying. The 73-year-old farmer in Kohari, India, has taken the exam to get his high school degree every year since 1969. And this year made 38 consecutive attempts without passing. He passed Sanskrit, but only scored 103 out of a possible 600 points. He says he did particularly bad on the math part, but given he only got 17 percent of the potential score, it might seem he was equally bad at a lot of stuff. He dreams big, though: "It's my fate that deprived me of education and a married life," he said. "Once I pass I want to get married to a girl who's under 30." Good luck next year.

POSTAGE DOO
Post office won't mail a stink bomb

The package sitting on the counter at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum didn't have any postage, nor an address. But it did have a foul odor. And you know what foul odors in unmarked boxes in Washington, D.C., lead to: evacuation. So police were alerted, and the bomb squad determined it wasn't dangerous. When they opened it, they found another evacuation: a dirty diaper. There were also two cans of spinach. "No wonder it smelled, " said Deborah Yackley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service. "I don't know why it was being mailed."

WORD FOR WORD
Seattle may force the pop to stop

The following is a memo to city employees in Seattle:

At our Civic Center buildings we continue to see a high number of instances of employees burning microwave popcorn and triggering the building smoke alarms. This is a serious issue which requires Fire Department emergency response, building evacuation, and resetting of building systems. Each evacuation causes disruption to City services for at least 30-40 minutes and has considerable actual costs to the City.

In May, we had the most recent building evacuation at the Justice Center due to burnt microwave popcorn. This is the eighth time in less than three years that we had to evacuate 400+ persons from Justice Center due to burnt popcorn. We have also had multiple evacuations of 300+ persons at City Hall and Seattle Municipal Tower due to burnt popcorn.

If this problem continues, it will result in a ban of all microwave popcorn in downtown City buildings.

We would like your help in eliminating these alarms due to burnt microwave popcorn, so we don't have to ban it. Please read and follow package instructions. Stay by the microwave and listen to the pop, to know when to stop.

Thank you for your cooperation.

SHOULD'VE KNOWN
Psychics at a loss to explain vandalism

Some fortune tellers in Salem, Mass., are upset because they are finding dead raccoons on their doorsteps, reports WCVB-TV in Boston. The fortune tellers have no idea who is doing it, which might seem to call into question their credentials.

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

[Last modified June 15, 2007, 22:58:11]