Friday Around the Water Cooler 7/15/2011

There are big stories in the news this week such as the ongoing talks to raise the debt ceiling and the phone hacking scandal by the now defunct News of the World. Oh, and of course, the big news of the California lady that cut off her man's penis and put it down the garbage disposal.

There is, of course, those lesser read stories that you might of missed that I wouldn't want you to overlook.

One Toke Sign Over the Line

In Amsterdam, Netherlands the "No Toking" signs are being removed. 

In an effort to crack down on the drug problem (no pun intended) of young people using marijuana, the Netherlands had set up "no toking" zones. The top legal adviser of the Dutch government has ruled you can't set up specific zones as theoretically **wink wink**, weed is illegal in that country. 

Because they  have always turned the other cheek (while blowing out smoke) on small amounts of marijuana possession and the recreational use thereof, there seems to be some confusion.  Of course, they are confused.  As weed is sold openly in selected shops (would they be called drug stores??...no, coffee shops) Yep...confusing.

Anyway, it seems that the signs are constantly being stolen to be used as funky art. Now the city offers them for sale at $125 each. 

The national government is working on dealing with underaged use of marijuana while keeping  with the longstanding tolerance of cannabis use.  One of the possible remedies to handle keeping weed away from the Dutch youth is to make the coffee shops members-only and open only to Dutch residents.

 I can see that this will have some visitors very disappointed or perhaps a lot of people  will be moving to Amsterdam to become residents. 

NOTE:  I am just relaying the news here.  I am  NOT making a judgement on marijuana use or lack thereof. 


Does This Mean I Don't Have To Pay My Mortgage?


A Florida woman is having beacoup problems since she has been declared dead.  Wrenella Pierre has brought a lawsuit against Chase Bank USA who declared her dead last November.

According to the lawsuit, the bank notified the credit bureaus of Wrenella's demise. It seems that in 2007 Wrenella and her husband took out two mortgages with Chase. Last year when they received a letter of condolence and another letter saying that someone from the bank would be in touch with them concerning the mortgages, they responded to bank saying that there was a mistake.  Wrenella was NOT dead.  I guess, that as banks don't ever make mistakes they aren't buying her excuse that she is alive and won't extend her credit.

Seemingly, they can't get this worked out with either the bank or the credit bureaus, hence the lawsuit.  

I am not sure of how this could work for a person, being dead and all, but if that means that people no longer can send me bills....I wouldn't be so quick to have it cleared up.  Just a side note:  If I was dead anyway, I think I would do something about the name Wrenella.

A Magnetic Personality

An 11 year old in Brazil's northeastern city of Mossoro is drawing attention with his magnet-line qualities.

Paulo David Amorin was broadcast on The Globo TV network doing a demonstration how knives, forks, pans, even cameras are drawn to his body and remain "stuck" onto his stomach and back.

This kid better watch where he walks.   Walking through a construction sight could be disastrous.


And Big Pervy Freak Show....

This is the one that had both hubby and me shaking our heads this week....ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

A millionaire pilot from Washington stands accused of sexually assaulting and torturing young boys and videotaping his crimes.  Weldon Marc Gilbert, is acting as his own lawyer and has obtained the 100+ videos that were seized from his home. As the acting lawyer in his case, he is entitled to review the evidence.

Gilbert, initially plead guilty to a charge of producing child pornography and received a 25 year sentence.  He has since, rescinded his plea so this will be going to trial. 

Sheriff Paul Pastor of Pierce County, said that he had no choice in turning over the tapes to Gilbert but thinks it may be grounds for a mistrial. 

No matter how the court case turns out, Gilbert has 100+ tapes that he can watch while awaiting the legal proceedings.

Now isn't that an example of a legal loop hole and a perverted a-hole?

The Good for the Day...When this goes to court he is facing life in prison.

The Bad for the Day...Oh where do I start???

THE WEIRD FOR THE DAY...How I love life's little screw ups...

Mike Brewer and  Tom Shipley, a couple of folk singers from LA,  wrote a song called One Toke Over the Line in a coffee house one night. Shipley jokes that when they wrote it they were "one toke over the line".  The song's message is  that "one too many tokes" could kill you.  Later the Grateful Dead used it on one of their records, as well.  Who better than Jerry Garcia to sing about "sweet mary"?

Because of  that song Brewer and Shipley managed to get named "subversives" by Vice President Agnew.

HOWEVER, the people over at the Lawrence Welk show heard the song and clearly had no clue what  "TOKE" meant and thought it was a gospel song.  How could it not be with the words Jesus and Mary in it?  I guess they couldn't know that the word mary wasn't capitalized.

So here are the two videos.  The gospel version and the Brewer Shipley version.