The B Word

Today we are bringing you the Back-page news with a lot of  "B" words involved. 

Seems there is a bird that has a bit of an ego

Banish Your Bra


A French sports doctor who spent 16 years studying the busts of about 300 women sent a scare through a country known for its love of lingerie this week when he suggested bras were useless. (Useless??? ...that's harsh)

Jean-Denis Rouillon was thrust into the limelight after he told a student radio station that his work suggested wearing a bra weakened the natural muscles that hold up breasts and women should consider going bra-less.

National radio picked up the story and Rouillon, based at the University of Franche-Comte in the eastern town of Besançon, was soon being hounded by newspapers and TV.

France Info radio interviewed a 28-year-old volunteer in the study, Capucine, who said

abandoning her bra had liberated her in more ways than one, improving her breathing and posture.

"You breathe better, you stand up straighter, you have less back pain," she told the national news station.

Even the highbrow daily Le Monde weighed in, offering an historical insight into the origins of the bra dating back to the 14th century.

Rouillon told Reuters that his unpublished work is still in the early stages and he is hesitant about giving one-size-fits-all advice to women, despite the media circus.

His preliminary results on 330 women aged 18 to 35 suggested that wearing a bra from an early age does nothing to help a wearer's breasts and going without could improve firmness.

"The suspension system of the breasts degenerates," Rouillon said, explaining that bras also unnaturally hamper circulation.

"But a middle-aged women, overweight, with 2.4 children? I'm not at all sure she'd benefit from abandoning bras," he added.

So let's see if we have this straight...this Doctor talked 330 young woman up to the age of 35 into letting him study their boobs sans their bras.  He wants middle-aged women to keep their bras on.  This has got to be the coolest study ever ...for him.  

Back Yard Chicken Boarding

What to do with your backyard chickens when you go away is a problem no-more....well at least in Eugene, OR.  Bill Bezuk, owner of Eugene Backyard Farmer is offering a chicken sitting service in the form of a luxury chicken hotel. 

Bezuk has named his business The Nest and now there are two "suites" available next to his urban farming store.  

The basic service includes fresh water, food and a place to sleep. This costs $2.00 per chicken per night. For just one dollar more you can get deluxe accommodations, though which include organic food, fresh vegetable scraps and a turndown service. (I am not clear about what constitutes "turndown" service but the article talked about the hens getting meal worms.)

Since the hotel opened in February, and has been consistently booked. Bezuk is going to add two more suites that will accommodate six to eight chickens.

Bezuk believes that his is the first chicken-boarding business in the U.S. but this isn't new in the U.K.  They already have a handful of chicken hotels.  One such facility, the Fowlty Towers in Cowden, a village in south east England,  offers emery board pedicures.

To all you Backyard Chicken Farmers,  $3.00 is such a bargain for the deluxe room.  Be kind to your barnyard friends.

Body Baggage

The Newburgh man who reportedly removed his dead wife’s body out of an Evansville hotel on a luggage cart Wednesday spent hours being interviewed by police but was

released that day without being arrested.

As of Thursday morning, there was not enough evidence to still hold Kenneth Frank, 57, in police custody, according to Evansville Police Department Sgt. Jason Cullum. However, investigators are awaiting results of an autopsy on the body of Robin M. Frank, 47, which is scheduled for Thursday, before closing the investigation. Cullum said authorities found no visible signs of foul play on Robin Frank’s body.

Cullum would not discuss specifics of what Kenneth Frank told detectives during their lengthy interview.

According to an Evansville Police Department incident report, a Hampton Inn employee noticed Kenneth Frank taking his wife’s body to the parking lot just after 12:30 p.m. The employee told police that Frank said his wife was OK.

The first responding officers stopped Kenneth Frank in the parking lot and detained him for questioning. According to police, Robin Frank’s body was already in a car registered to Kenneth Frank, according to the police. Robin Frank was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Franks were both registered guests of the hotel, according to police, and Cullum confirmed that only one hotel room was searched as part of the investigation.

Asked if simply transporting a dead body was a crime, Cullum said an arrest could be made for suspicion of abusing a corpse, but that investigators don’t believe such an act was committed in this case.

“Just moving it is not necessarily a crime,” he said. “If he had done stuff to it — like trying to hide it or dispose of it — that would’ve probably come into play.”

Citing his previous comment about not disclosing what was said during Kenneth Frank’s interview with police, Cullum did not say if Kenneth Frank told authorities what he had planned to do if he hadn’t been stopped by police.

The hotel is located at 8000 Eagle Crest Blvd., which is on the city’s East Side.

 OK...my cynicism is showing again...Frank is rolling his dead wife on a luggage cart past the desk clerk and says she is OK.  Then...he loads her into the car but the police can't arrest him unless he has done "something else to her".  What more can be done...she's dead.  So I guess, if you want to move your dead spouse somewhere, just be sure not to do something other that move him/her.

Baseball Bat is Two B  Words

There is a new record holder in Missouri.  A Kansas City woman, Annie Oliver, age 80 is now the oldest woman in the state to be charged with murder.  

Annie is a diminutive woman of  5"1' and is on oxygen said her husband was helping her and started "talking smart" with her.  She beat him over the head with a baseball bat. 

The neighbors were shocked as the Olivers had lived in the neighborhood since 1973 and they didn't notice any problems.

Warning, warning!!!  GUYS, don't tick off your old lady if there is a bat nearby.