Global Bizarre
By the Times Staff
Published March 6, 2008
SNOOZING FOR EUROS
When it's time for work, he can sleep in
Yde Van Deutekom, 22, a Dutch student from Zoetermeer, has developed an enviable business plan. "Everyone is asking what I want to do with me life, but what I really want to do is sleep," he tells Dutch media. So he turned that into a business. He trains Web cams on himself, then snoozes. Or plays video games. Or talks on the phone. Or counts his money. Because so far, he has stayed in bed 21 days and raked in almost $7,000. "I stay in bed all day. That's all I want to do. And I want to stay in bed until I'm very rich." It's not in English, but if you want to see what it's all about, check out www.slapendrijk.nl. But it will only encourage him.
BOOZE IN THE NEWS
Making scotch helps environment
Turns out that scotch is good for the environment. Scottish scientists discovered that a byproduct of the distilling process can be used to attract industrial pollutants in groundwater and break them down, according to reports in the Scotsman. Then it can just be left in the ground. Glenfiddich, one of the best-known scotch manufacturers, is just giving the stuff away, because to them, it's junk. They aren't naming the byproduct, though, because of patent issues, and the likelihood that boatloads of money could eventually be made.
In Utah, it's easier to just drink tea
In Utah bars, the law used to be that a cocktail could have up to an ounce of booze in it, and if you wanted more, you could order a 1 oz. shot on the side. The government decided that was really, really confusing, so here's what they did: Now, bars can put up to 1.5 oz. of booze in drinks, but drinkers can no longer order a sidecar of the booze that is in the drink, but can order a shot of some other kind of booze if they want. Meaning that waiters will have to keep track of who's drinking what and what's in the drinks they have. Whew, that simplifies things. Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman backed the change because he didn't want Utah to appear so strange to the rest of the world.
SHE LOVES HIM NOT
Rose bill may break Iranian husband
A court in Iran has ordered a man to pay his wife's mahr, or dowry, after 10 years of marriage. And it is punitive. "After marriage, I realized that Shahin was very cheap. He even refused to pay for my coffee if we went to a cafe," wife Hengameh told the newspaper Etemad (only first names are available in the case0. So the court ruled that Shahin must give Hengameh 124,000 roses. Unless he gets a bulk discount -- and it will pay to not wait until February -- he can count on that running him about $250,000. Shahin says he can only afford five roses a day. So this could take a while.
Compiled from Times wire services and other sources by staff writer Jim Webster, who can be reached at jwebster@sptimes.com.