Around the Water Cooler 9/23/2011

One of the big stories that have people talking this week is the big changes over at

It seems people are NOT happy about it either.  A lot of unfriendliness is coming out as a result of the new homepage and how the status updates feed into the site.  Oddly enough the most talked about subject on TWITTER today was FACEBOOK.   Talk about social media overload.

As for other stories in the news;

I AM SHOWING AND I AM TELLING

I guess when you live in the "Show Me State" (whoever thought of that as a state motto might want to rethink it about now) you start at an early age with the "show" part. A kindergartner in Sweet Springs, MO surprised his teacher and the police officers when he pulled his mother's crack pipe and and several baggies of "rocks"  from his backpack.

What was not a surprise was the arrest of his mother on a charge of possession of a controlled substance and a count of first degree child endangerment.  Bond has been set at $7,500.00 for 32 year old

Michelle Marie Cheatham.

The drugs were tested and found to be methamphetamine and worth about $3700.00.

According to Police Chief Richard Downing told KCTV5 that this was a "first" in his law enforcement career and that when he called the prosecutor about it, the prosecutor exclaimed, "you're kidding me aren't you?"

Sadly, no!

Seems like this "show and tell" was really a show stopper.

A TRAINED CAT

Down by the station early in the morning...and later in the evening, the commuters in Melbourne, Australia will see Graeme, the cat sitting on the train platform to see his owner coming and going to work. The cat's owner, Nicole Weinrich, says her cat always sits behind the yellow line while waiting for the train doors to open as he is extremely safety conscious.

When not greeting or saying goodbye to his owner, the social cat is mingling with the other commuters or sunning himself.  He has become quite the local celebrity as he works the crowd to get pets and pats from the commuters. The Herald Sun recently interviewed some of Graeme's fans.  He was described as gorgeous, friendly, amazing, regal and aloof, but in a good way,

On several occasions, Graeme boarded trains to take a ride down the line only to deboard  couple of stops later.  His owner worries about that but says he seems very aware of how the station works. 

http://video.heraldsun.com.au/2131780176/Feline-trainspotter


Graeme has a Facebook page.  Seems Graeme has a sense of humor as well.

BLACK CATS REALLY ARE UNLUCKY

At least for Kelly Schaffer of Cookeville, Tennessee.  After having a black cat cross the road in front of her car, Kelly made an X on her windshield.  Evidently this was to protect her from back luck.  But as luck would have it, she lost control of her car and ploughed into a yard. In fact, she continued through the yard and ran head on into another vehicle. Schaffer was transported to an area hospital and charged with not having a valid driver's license or insurance.

Don't X and drive. 

 IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE

University of Pennsylvania students were confused on the first day of scheduled class when their professor failed to show up.  In all fairness to the professor, he had an excellent excuse.

He had died five months earlier.

Dr. Henry Teune, was scheduled to teach a political science class at the Ivy League university on September

13th.  An hour after the scheduled class failed to start due to the teacher being MIA, the students received an email telling them of of  Dr.Teune's passing.  The administrator apologized for not having cancelled  the class.

The story was reported on Monday by a Penn student Blog in a post titled "The Worst Thing to Happen To A Class Ever".

Excerpt:

The post began: "How annoying is it when you drag yourself out of bed to class and the professor isn’t there? You’re all like, what the hell is this guy doing, worst class ever, etc… and then you find out, via an email sent while you’re waiting in class, that the professor isn’t there because he died. And the department forgot to tell you."

According to an obituary published in April in the Daily Pennsylvanian, Dr. Teun had been a faculty member since 1961.  He was chairman of the department from 1975-1979 and Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in the 1960s.

Gone and completely forgotten.

THE THREE YEAR OLD IS PACKING HEAT

A mother was arrested shortly after her three (that's right...3) year old interrupted her drug deal by firing a 12 gauge shotgun into the roof of her drug buddy's minivan.

Marietta, GA- Shania Sutherland allegedly brought her toddler and 5 year old to the Rite Aid parking lot where she had made a previous arrangement to sell drugs to Brandon Donahue.  She had her friend, Leah Porter,  drive her to her appointment in Leah's Chrysler Town and Country van.

After a passerby heard the shot and called the authorities, police located Sutherland hiding in the drug store and the children hiding in the Donahue's (the drug buyer) car. Porter was picked up a few blocks away.

According to WSB-TV an investigation has been launched to assessing Sutherland's fitness as a parent.

What no babysitters available for scheduled drug deals?  No worries, take the kid and give them a 12 gauge to amuse themselves with.  


The Good for the Day... a smart pet


The Bad for the Day...stupid parents

The Weird for the day....

The Weird for the Day...