Friday 16 May 2008 Minute Waltz A (theoretical) timetable of events around the world, gleaned from a variety of news sources.
MP>Tuesday Feb 12, 2008 Local Napoleonic scholar stands by poisoning theory
A new study by Italian scientists that concludes Napoleon did not die of arsenic poisoning was made ...and immediately rejected by local Napoleonic scholar and bodybuilding-empire builder Ben Weider. is a longtime proponent of the theory Napoleon was poisoned by his guards at the behest of the French monarchy to ensure he wouldn't return. Researchers inserted capsules holding locks of Napoleon's hair into a small nuclear reactor. The hair was from his childhood, from his time in exile on the island of Elba, and from the day he died. They also used hair samples from his first wife, Josephine, and his son Napoleon II, and modern samples for comparison.
"The research showed the arsenic present in people's hair two centuries ago was 100 times more concentrated than the average level contained in the hair of today," the institute said.
Tuesday May 9, 2006 The myths that won't die ...
UFOs do not exist, an official report has concluded. But what about angels, Nessie and the Abominable Snowman? Lucy Mangan on the top 10 modern fairytales [thanks to RonWR]
On Wednesday, May 4, 2006, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 AM in the morning, the time and date will be
01:02:03 04/05/06 This will never happen again in your lifetime.thanks to Ron wjr
Wednesday Apr 12, 2006 ts Slow-walking woman, 82, fined $114
LOS ANGELES—An 82-year-old woman received a $114 (U.S.) ticket for taking too long to cross a street.
Monday Mar 13, 2006 ts PM's former chef cooks up lawsuit over his dismissal
OTTAWA—Stephen Harper is being sued by his former chef, who also claims the Prime Minister never paid him for babysitting duties, washing the family car and burying one of Harper's pet cats.
Saturday Mar 11, 2006 ts House (of God) party
"We are the black. We are the white. We are the real Toronto," the poster says. "We do not carry guns, knifes or bats on our backs. We are the positive ones that make Toronto."
Saturday Mar 11, 2006 ts Cyber bookie joins billionaires' club
What are the odds? If anyone would know, it would surely be Calvin Ayre, the lad from Lloydminster, Sask., who is Canada's newest billionaire. Tim Harper reports. Gambling
Wednesday Mar 8, 2006 ts Canada's 'super-rich have big hearts'
While Canada's uber-rich have a predictable penchant for luxury cars and holidays, a new study says they also have a heart. Sharda Prashad reports.
Friday Mar 3, 2006 He's your $9-million man
A judge has granted Leonard Cohen a multimillion-dollar judgment against the singer-songwriter's ex-manager. But can he collect?
Tuesday Feb 21, 2006 nyt Which Cut Is Older? (It's a Trick Question) By MARIAN BURROS More and more markets are selling meat in airtight packages treated with a touch of carbon monoxide to help it stay cherry red for weeks.
Monday Jan 2, 2006 ts Teen returns home after perilous journey
MIAMI—A 16-year-old who took off to Iraq alone to experience the lives of its people firsthand, arrived back in Florida yesterday, ending a three-week Middle East odyssey much to the relief of his parents.
Sunday Jan 1, 2006 nyt Wanting Facts Firsthand, Teenager Makes Secret Trip to Iraq By ABBY GOODNOUGH A Florida teenager secretly made his way to Iraq this month for firsthand impressions of the war, and was returning home to family members.
2005
Saturday Oct 29, 2005 ts Wanna hear something really scary?
It's not just the ghastly masks, ghost stories and bad candy that make Halloween scary. It's the impending onslaught of chilly weather — and Christmas music. Perhaps it's ever since Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas, a movie that ingeniously combined the two holidays, that Nov. 1 became the day shopping mall managers dusted off their best-of-the-holidays Muzak collections, to be played on loudspeakers non-stop for two months straight.
Friday Oct 28, 2005 ts Record $54 million ticket sold in Western Canada
A ticket sold somewhere in Western Canada won a record $54,294,712 jackpot in the Lotto 6/49 draw last night, officials said. The prize, originally estimated at $40 million, jumped with unexpected booming sales. John Goddard reports.
Loto-Québec was due on Wednesday evening to draw the number for the biggest lottery pay off in Canadian history, $40 million. Total ticket sales for the country amount to $80 million.
Wednesday Oct 26, 2005 ts Canada buying into 6/49 fantasy
It is Canada's biggest lottery prize ever, and it seems just about everyone across the country wants a piece of the action. Tonight's Lotto 6/49 estimated jackpot of $40 million has triggered lottery fever even though the odds of winning are just under one in 14 million, writes Debra Black.
Teacher accused of sexist, racist remarks
From praising Osama bin Laden and calling the Holocaust an "exaggeration" to telling students he'd like to have sex with their mothers, a former Windsor-area high school teacher is accused of having broken just about every taboo of civil conduct ? in class or out. Louise Brown reports.
Tuesday Oct 25, 2005 ts $40 million lottery prize biggest ever in Canada
The biggest lottery jackpot in Canadian history goes up for grabs Wednesday, with a guaranteed minimum prize of $40 million.
Here's how to boost your Lotto 6/49 odds . . .
Psst. Looking for a hot tip on how to increase your odds of winning big in Wednesday's record $40-million Lotto 6/49 draw? Pick six numbers no one else wants. It won't actually increase your already microscopic chances of hitting the winning combination, but statisticians say it will up the odds that if you do happen to guess correctly, you'll get to keep all $40 million to yourself. Read on. There's more.
Tom Alderman
His colourful reports offer thought-provoking takes on offbeat topics.
Saturday Oct 22, 2005 globe "The woman asked why there are so few women creative directors. I said because you can't commit yourself to the job. And everyone who doesn't commit themselves fully to the job is crap at it . . ," Mr. French said yesterday in an interview.
"You can't be a great creative director and have a baby and keep spending time off every time your kids are ill. You can't do the job. Somebody has to do it and the guy has to do it the same way that I've had to spend months and months flying around the world and not seeing my kid. You think that's not a sacrifice? Of course it's a sacrifice. I hate it. But that's the job and that's what I do in order to keep my family fed."
Mr. French, 61, known for his ever-present cigar and brutal honesty in skewering bad ads, built his reputation by streamlining ads. One of his best known shows a picture of a bottle of Chivas Regal with its label removed. The print ad doesn't contain the product name or logo, only the cheeky line: "If you don't recognize it, you're probably not ready for it."
WPP spokesman Kevin McCormack said that Mr. French has tendered his resignation, but declined to say whether the global marketing company had requested it.
Friday Oct 14, 2005 nyt Britain's Secret Service Indeed! Spy on It on Its Web Site LONDON, Oct. 13 - If there is an institution that the fictional James Bond made famous with all his derring-do it was, to quote from the thriller and movie of the same name, Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Sent: Aug 28, 2005 12:03 PM Subject: who is this?
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
29 have been accused of spousal abuse 7 have been arrested for fraud 19 have been accused of writing bad checks 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses 3 have done time for assault 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges 8 have been arrested for shoplifting 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year Can you guess which organization this is? Give up yet? It's the 535 members of the United States Congress. The same group of Idiots that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.
Monday Oct 10, 2005 ts Female teacher jailed for having sex with boy, 14
KITCHENER, ONT.—A woman was sentenced yesterday to 15 months in jail for having sex with a 14-year-old boy who was her former student. [what fun for the boy... what harm?]
`Molecule dance' wins Nobel for trio
The list is long, and impressive. Some call it revolutionary:
ts I believe a man can fly
I believe a man can fly.I'm generally somewhat skeptical. If you told me you'd seen a man fly, without the aid of strings or mechanical devices, I wouldn't believe you. I might, if I were feeling charitable, concede that you honestly believe you'd seen a man fly, but I would assume you'd been duped. That wires were involved. Or the man was not actually flying, but plunging, from a higher location to a lower on
Tuesday Sep 6, 2005 Learning from Leonard Cohen's mistakes
At age 70, expatriate Canadian writer and performer Leonard Cohen is suing to recover $5 million (U.S.) that he expected would bankroll his retirement and, ultimately, go to his two children.
<:P>Tuesday Sep 6, 2005 Ontario town cracks down on garage sales LEAMINGTON - Mismatched cups and saucers, 25-cent scratched vinyl records and other people's bowling trophies may soon be harder to find in one southwestern Ontario town.
Tuesday Sep 6, 2005 ts Board rehires teacher who sent sexy letters to student
BARRIE ? Simcoe County District School Board has rehired the central Ontario elementary school teacher cleared of charges stemming from sexually-charged letters she sent a pupil in 1998. But Laura Sclater may undergo retraining before returning to a classroom, board chairman Debra Edwards said yesterday.
Wednesday Aug 17, 2005 ts A look ahead to Wakestock 2006 Rain or shine, organizer Steve Jarrett pushed ahead with his plan to bring Wakestock to the Toronto Islands with the same energy and enthusiasm that has allowed the extreme sport celebration to go from a small circle of hardcore fans to one that`s earned a piece of the international stage.
Wednesday Aug 17, 2005 ts Owning restaurant can be bittersweet One in five restaurants fails in the first year. Of those that survive, one in five makes it to the fifth year. And those statistics are based on people who have plenty of capital and or experience, my husband and I were told. So the odds were 25 to one that we would make a success of the 100-seat restaurant we planned in the pretty harbour town of Meaford on Georgian Bay.
Tuesday Aug 16, 2005 ans Lawrence, T. E. (Thomas Edward Lawrence), 1888–1935, British adventurer, soldier, and scholar, known as Lawrence of Arabia. While a student at Oxford he went on a walking tour of Syria and in 1911 joined a British Museum archaeological expedition in Mesopotamia. He remained in the Middle East until 1914, learning colloquial Arabic and making exploratory trips and archaeological surveys. After the outbreak of World War I, Lawrence was attached to the intelligence section of the British army in Egypt.
Friday Jul 8, 2005 cc
"House" 297,000,000 million times
"Real estate" 107,000,000 million times
"Sex" 73,700,000 million times
"Stocks" 30,700,000 million times
"Porn" 11,900,000 million times
"Internet bubble" 3,240,000 million times
"Real estate bubble" 1,030,000 million times
"Couldawouldashoulda" 219 times
Wednesday Mar 30, 2005 ts Now, a world-class inferiority complex
It hurts, but we already know Canadians don`t think much of our poor city. A recent cross-country trip by the Toronto Star showed people think Toronto is "arrogant, pushy, self-centred, egotistical, rude" and, well, you probably can guess the rest.
fraash test |
The Color Test Try this! It's tougher than you first expect! I promise you you'll take it more than once!
RonMeisels@phases-cycles.com
Friday Mar 4, 2005 ts What makes millionaires tick?
What does it take to be a millionaire? And how do millionaires spend their money? also
Monday Jan 31, 2005 > A police dog taking a quick sniff outside a car and deciding it smells marijuana doesn't constitute an illegal search, a Vancouver judge has
ruled.
Christopher Gregory Davis, 45, claimed it wasn't fair that Vancouver
police dog Buzz sniffed out the almost four kilograms of marijuana in his minivan
in July, 2002. Mr. Davis argued police violated his right to be free from
unreasonable search and seizure. "I doubt anyone would argue against the
premise that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy respecting the
interior of his vehicle.," said Provincial Court Judge Jane Auxier. She
rejected an application to have the search thrown out. Davis was found
guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking and got a nine-month
conditional sentence. CanWest News service
Tuesday Jan 25, 2005 ts Racy T.O. tycoon makes $50M splash ..The 36-year-old Toronto resident has brought plans for Donald Trump's landmark skyscraper to the corner of Bay and Adelaide, and is now the proud new owner of the Jordan Formula One team.
Wednesday Jan 12, 2005 ts The real joke is Canada, say Mercer foes
Rosalie Howlett calls herself "a Yankanuck," meaning she holds dual citizenship. With family and friends in both California and Ontario, she sees the best and worst of both countries. And of the many readers who deluged me with emails about my Sunday column on Rick Mercer`s Talking to Americans, she came up with the most startling fantasy.
Friday Dec 10, 2004 globe A low blow from the laptop
Doctors warn young men that prolonged use of portable computers on one's thighs could lead to infertility see wn Sex Help
Friday Dec 3, 2004 ts Auschwitz unfamiliar to many Britons: Poll
LONDON—Nearly half of Britons in a poll said they had never heard of Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in southern Poland that became a symbol of the Holocaust and the attempted extermination of the Jews.
Friday Dec 3, 2004 ts Jonathan Trudel, 13, waits yesterday for his poutine at Montreal’s Green Spot, which serves the dish at least 50 times daily. Ban poutine in schools? Mais quel fromage!
Montreal—Premier Jean Charest promised to re-engineer Quebec society when he took office. But his government`s latest idea may be too much for Quebecers to digest. It wants to ban the province's schools from serving poutine, that gooey concoction of french fries, gravy and cheese curds that really does prove Quebec is a distinct society. The move is a response to rising levels of juvenile obesity and early onset of diabetes, not to mention recent reports that many Quebec children are suffering from malnutrition because of too much sugar and starch.
Friday Dec 3, 2004 ts The Air-India trial was one of the most complex in Canadian history. In April, it moved to a secret Vancouver warehouse where remains of Flight 182, including the right front door, are housed. Air-India trial is ending More than 19 months
Judge will decide on the fate of two accused men
It's expected to take him months to reach a verdict ...two bombings on June 23, 1985 What cost? aprox $130,000,000 $7 to $8 million for the court house!
Saturday Dec 4, 2004 globe Haywired William cell
Man shoots cellphones into Swedish prison with bow and arrow
Sunday Nov 28, 2004 United Church Ministers' Organizing Committee: 10 Top Reasons to Join CAW [for God's stake]
Tuesday Oct 26, 2004 ts AMSTERDAM—Mobile phone users worldwide will spend the equivalent of $1.2 billion (Canadian) a year on pornography sent to their cellphones by 2008, which may boost the wireless services sector much as it fuelled growth in the fixed-line Internet, a market research firm said.
Sunday Nov 21, 2004 cbc BIDDING WAR FOR 'VIRGIN MARY SANDWICH'
A decade-old grilled cheese sandwich bearing what could be the image of
the Virgin Mary is garnering intense interest on an internet auction
site.
Thursday Jan 22, 2004 cbc BRITISH SPERM, EGG DONORS TO LOSE ANONYMITY
Starting next year, British sperm and egg donors will lose their right
to anonymity and their offspring will be given more information about
their genetic parents once they turn 18.
Sunday Jun 8, 2003 bbc PETER DASILVA/NEW YORK TIMES Jane Juska, who wrote a book about late-life sex after placing an ad the New York Review of Books personals section, stands outside her home in Berkeley, Calif. " hspace=8 align=right>Odyssey of lust starts at 67
Retired teacher's ad leads to love affairs, and book
Her writing style helps make tale irresistible The remarkable thing about Jane Juska's A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance isn't that it was written by a woman who sought great sex — or at least lots of sex — late in her 60s.
It's that anyone, of any age or either sex, would have had the guts to write it at all.
BBC
Britain's Secret Service Indeed! Spy on It on Its Web Site 
Lawrence, T. E. (Thomas Edward Lawrence), 1888–1935, British adventurer, soldier, and scholar, known as Lawrence of Arabia. While a student at Oxford he went on a walking tour of Syria and in 1911 joined a British Museum archaeological expedition in Mesopotamia. He remained in the Middle East until 1914, learning colloquial Arabic and making exploratory trips and archaeological surveys. After the outbreak of World War I, Lawrence was attached to the intelligence section of the British army in Egypt.
BRITISH SPERM, EGG DONORS TO LOSE ANONYMITY
