SNIPPETS

FEBRUARY 9,  2010

From the New York Post:   Columbia University's public safety department is warning students about coyotes on the campus, MyFox NY reported Monday.  There were reports of coyotes on the Morningside Campus in Manhattan's Morningside Heights section.  Three coyotes were seen in front of Lewisohn Hall on Sunday morning.

Wrong.  They're not coyotes.  They're conservatives in disguise.  In the Ivy League, conservatives just appear to be coyotes.

FEBRUARY 8,  2010

PORT BLAIR, India (Reuters) - One of the world's oldest dialects, which traces its origins to tens of thousands of years ago, has become extinct after the last person to speak it died on a remote Indian island.  Boa Sr, the 85-year-old last speaker of "Bo," was the oldest member of the Great Andamanese tribe, R.C. Kar, deputy director of Tribal Health in Andaman, told Reuters on Friday.

Minor story.  English became extinct in our high schools decades ago. 

FEBRUARY 7,  2010

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Massachusetts police said a shoplifting suspect could not fit into the back of a police cruiser due to 75 bottles of lotion shoved down his pants.  Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet, said Eastfield Mall security guards quickly chased down and detained Chamil Guadarrama after he was spotted allegedly taking items Wednesday from Bath & Body Works, The (Springfield) Republican reported Friday.

But the lotion didn't go off.  The system worked!

FEBRUARY 6,  2010

LONDON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A British official is praising a pair of prototype shatterproof pint glasses being tested for their durability to reduce injuries from bar violence.  Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the glasses, created by company Design Bridge, are aimed at curbing the estimated 87,000 broken-glass attacks in Britain each year, The Independent reported Friday.

It's come to that in Britain.  But who are we to criticize?

FEBRUARY 5,  2010

From The New York Times:  JAKARTA, Indonesia —A recently-erected statue of President Obama as a 10-year-old boy will be removed from a public park here, city officials said Friday, bowing to vociferous criticism on Facebook one month before Mr. Obama visits Indonesia...the statue of Mr. Obama — who successfully exploited the potential of social networking sites during the 2008 presidential campaign — soon became the target of intense ire by critics who said Mr. Obama who had done nothing for Indonesia, and said the public park should be reserved to honor an Indonesian.

It's no different in Indonesia:  What have you done for me lately?

FEBRUARY 4,  2010

Actual headline in The Politico:   U.S. pondered military use in Georgia

I guess General Sherman wasn't available.  The headline, of course, refers to the nation of Georgia, near Russia.  But headline writers must be careful about first impressions.

FEBRUARY 3,  2010

PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona school principal who penned a sarcastic letter that chided parents for children who were either "too lazy or too stupid" to complete their assignments in class was suspended after the missive was mistakenly sent home.  "The math we do is really easy," said the letter from Litchfield Elementary School principal Ron Sterr. "If your child is either too lazy or too stupid to finish it in class, I'm sending it home so that you can work with them and judge for yourself whether it is laziness or idiocy that inhibits your child's progress." 

Okay, okay, he probably shouldn't have written it.  On the other hand, there should be at least some faint praise for his obvious integrity.