Caffeine

Claim to Fame
A Utah woman listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for her long fingernails has lost them in a car crash.

Lee Redmond of Salt Lake City sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries in the accident.

Redmond's nails, which hadn't been cut since 1979, were broken in the crash. According to the Guinness Web site, her nails measured a total of almost three metres long in 2008, with the longest nail on her right thumb at 60 centimetres.

I don't know if she was a passenger or attempting to drive. With nails like those - perhaps this is the best thing that could have happened.



Speaking of Museums
The municipal pornography archive in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden has disappeared and officials fear it may be gone for good. Nobody has yet declared the photos, drawings and erotic texts with a connection to the city, located about 140 kilometres north of Amsterdam, as stolen.

Erik Krikke of the city's historical centre says the items may have been taken home "accidentally" by an employee or visitor. He says anyone who realizes they have the material can bring it back, as he puts it, "no questions asked." Krikke said the bulk of the archive was assembled by a "fanatic" curator at the historical centre, mostly during the 1960s and '70s. He says items such as pictures by local photographers and artists would be difficult or impossible to replace.

The collection included a copy of the rare February 1998 edition of Dutch Playboy, Krikke added. It featured women from each of 11 Dutch cities along the route of the country's most beloved ice skating race, the Elfstedentocht. One of them was from Leeuwarden.

Asked whether he thought it was unusual for the town to have a pornography collection, Krikke said "yes" - and that made the loss even greater.

"Actually, we don't have one anymore," he said.



Golden Years huh
A retired bank teller who became known as the "Granny Robber" for a string of bank robberies in southwest Ohio has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Sixty-eight-year-old Barbara Joly of Middletown was sentenced Wednesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court. She pleaded guilty in December and could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison.

Joly also has pleaded guilty to three counts of bank robbery in neighbouring Warren County.

She faces a sentence of up to 15 years in prison on those counts when she goes before a judge Feb. 20.
Joly's lawyer has said the robberies were an attempt to continue supporting a grown son who had fallen on hard times.

Absolutely amazing.

Also on the oddball front - the state of Arkansas has decided to allow concealed handguns in churches. Why you ask? According to Representative Beverly Pyle "It is time we changed our concealed-handgun law to allow law-abiding citizens of the state of Arkansas the right to defend themselves and others should a situation happen in one of our churches"

Okay then, put your faith in guns not God.

In Florida, Police arrested a man they say let his eight-year-old son drive a van. Police in Bradenton arrested 34-year-old Mark Belanger just before midnight Sunday on charges of child abuse and permitting an unlicensed driver to drive. A police report says the boy hit two trees and nearly hit two people in a parking lot.

Belanger told police he'd taken Xanax, used to treat anxiety and panic attacks, and was feeling woozy and didn't want to drive. He said he thought letting his son drive would be a bonding moment.

The boy told police his father took "liquid medicine" to feel better, pointing to an empty whiskey bottle in the vehicle. Belanger remained in jail Wednesday on a $10,120 bond.

I could go on, but it's time to end this for now. The world might be getting older but some of us on it aren't getting any wiser.