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The Pit
"Sailing on high tides."
Here is to another week of craziness out there in the wide world: elementary school kid road-tripping, man sneaking into prison, and life-saving SMS message. Yes, you have guessed it again: time for another News FACTorial!
- God saves the Queen, so the Queen must save little kids, right!? A Nottinghamshire schoolboy went on an excursion of over 150 miles to see Queen Elizabeth II, since he thought the queen could protect him. The 11-year-old Ruben Hayden was bullied at school. He then took a bus to the train station, where he hopped onto a train to London. Afterwards, he navigated the capital based solely on his Monopoly knowledge. He eventually reached Buckingham Palace, where he was put under police protection.
- A man agreed to serve another man's 20-month prison term! Thirty-two-year-old Pierre Carlton does not look like 31-year-old Dexter Mathis, who was convicted of a bank robbery. Carlton, who had a drug addiction and convinced he could kick away the habit in prison, spent 15 months in prison. Being a "model inmate," he was to be released early. Forty-seven days before "his" term, he supposedly had to report at a halfway house in Atlanta. He failed to show up. One week later, the police caught the real Mathis, and discovered this scam.
- Save your last word of farewell to your families and friends now! Former attorney Todd Krim is offering a service at http://www.finalthoughts.com/ that let you save messages and documents that you want to pass on to others. All you have to do is to choose a close friend or relative to be your "guardian," who will notify the company when it's "the time." The company will then forward your farewell email to your customized list of friends and relatives. Currently there are over 12,000 subscribers from over 80 countries.
- Purchase revenge online! Ever felt upset about your ex seeing other people, or being dumped on Valentine's Day? RevengeUnlimited.com sells rotten roses, fake traffic tickets, dead fish, "sanitary" baskets with deodorants and toothbrush, among other options for pulling practical jokes. Over the past week, the company owner had to spend more than 18 hours a day to package dozens of dead roses. Dead roses sales reached 230 dozen on Valentine's Day last year, and they estimate a sales of over 300 dozen this year.
- A British girl saved herself by sending an SMS message from the seas of Indonesia! A rented boat with no GPS or radio equipment broke off the coast of Bali. The 19-year-old Rebecca Fyfe was the only person among 18 on-board who had a mobile phone. She sent an international search-and-rescue message to her boyfriend Nick Hodgson in London: "Call Falmouth Coastguard, we need help - SOS". He notified the Thames coastguard, who contacted their colleagues in Falmouth. Teams from Indonesia, England and Australia arrived and assisted the rescue.
- An Austrian tourist was found with parakeet eggs in his underwear! The Brazilian police charged and arrested Johann Zillinger, who attempted delivering 21 parrots, 4 parakeets and 2 snakes in 2 suitcases. He also put some hatching parakeet eggs in a sock, and put them in his underwear. According to the police, Zillinger was trying to sell the animals in Europe. Environmentalists claim that animal trafficking is widespread in Brazil.
Last week I mentioned Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are divorcing. Now guess who are breaking up? Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan. The New Zealand born actor chose a herd of cattles over the movie star. Russell Crowe revealed a split with Meg Ryan to spend more time in his cattle farm in Australia. There are certain things in a man's life which nothing can replace. Guess it's the cows for Mr. Crowe…
This marks the last column for C Term, as Tech News is taking a month-long break. I'll see you guys on March 27. Carry on sending questions, comments, suggestions, kudos, and criticisms this way: technews@wpi.edu. Have a great spring break, fellas, until our paths cross again in this wild world.
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