Caffeine

State police in Arizona aren't chuckling at a driver who triggered Phoenix-area freeway speed cameras more than 80 times in a year while wearing monkey or giraffe masks.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety says the driver is 47-year-old flight attendant named Dave VonTesmar.

But VonTesmar says authorities can't prove he's the one behind the wheel of his car, and he's vowing to fight every ticket.

By the time police realized the masked man's ploy, more than 50 tickets had been voided because the deadline for prosecution had passed. VonTesmar was served with a summons on 37 tickets last month.




Nearly 4,000 spectators turned out to watch San Diego's pets hit the beach for 'the world's largest dog surfing event'.

The dogs were taking part in the 4th annual Surf Dog Surf-a-Thon in order to raise money for a local animal shelter. The surfers rode waves at North Beach, also known as Dog Beach, in California.

'What could be more fun than playing with your dog in the water?'

Dozer, a 75-pound, 3-year-old bulldog, took first place in the second heat of the extra-large category. He has been surfing for only a year.


A secondary school is forcing all girls to wear trousers because their skirts were getting too short and revealing.

The decision to change the uniform policy was made after complaints about the rising hemlines of pupils.

Fashion-conscious teenagers from Bingley Grammar School in West Yorkshire were even rolling up the skirts to expose more leg and catch the attention of boys.

'There were some complaints from the community and parents were asking for this to be changed because they felt their daughters were increasingly vulnerable.

'A lot of parents brought it to our attention and I think it takes away that peer pressure.'

Got to love the way the world works ...sometimes.

Another Friday and its a soggy wet one here in Ottawa. This isn't and won't be the first or last of many wet weekends but of course that doesn't stop people from bitchin' and complaining about it. I don't care what it's doing, the week is over.

Being Friday, I get to play around and find odd ball, funny or plainly way out there stuff online. This week is no exception. First though let me ask you a question, how many of you have been on a plane and second question how many of you actually bother to watch the flight attendants do their safety routine?

I'll admit, I rarely ever watch the routine. Seeing a bored looking attendant going through the motions of pointing at doors and clicking a seat belt together doesn't interest me. That being said, New Zealand's national airline has adopted an interesting way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.

Body paint! My eyes are opening now.

The "Bare Essentials of Safety," screening in the cabins of planes flying Air New Zealand's main domestic routes, has gone viral online. It had 1.2 million YouTube views by Friday, four days after it was launched.



In the video, three cabin staff and a pilot, all in full body paint applied to look like their uniforms, talk viewers through the aircraft's safety procedures.

A demonstration seat belt, life jacket and arm rests are strategically positioned during the 3 1/2-minute video to protect the cabin crew's ... discretion. Passengers are shown ogling, mostly in appreciation.

The body paint idea is also being used in a series of television advertisements in New Zealand for the airline, which include the promise: "At Air New Zealand, our fares have nothing to hide."

Each crew member spent about three hours having the body paint applied. These aren't models or actors but real employees.

Check out the videos for yourself AirNZnothing2hide and what would video be without bloopers?

It's been awhile since I posted any off-beat news stories, thankfully people are still crazy.

This woman is either incredibly lucky or has someone watching over her in a big way.

An Israeli woman laid herself on the tracks just before a train roared through a crossing in an apparent suicide attempt. But seconds after the train passed, she got up and walked away almost unhurt.

The incredible scene was captured on the closed circuit security TV system at the Kfar Vitkin level crossing in Israel's north.

The video shows the woman calmly approaching the tracks and lying down between them. The train passes over her at high speed, and then she gets up, picks up her shoes and walks to her car.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Tuesday that two days after the bizarre event, police have not yet found the woman.

Rosenfeld speculated that she was attempting suicide or is mentally unbalanced.


And they say nobody in New York City cares ...
Police say a man's decomposing body inside a minivan covered in parking tickets went undiscovered for weeks in New York.

They said it's because the vehicle's windows were apparently tinted, and ticketing officers don't normally search cars.

The medical examiner's office said Friday that George Morales, 59, died naturally from heart disease. The body was found in the backseat Wednesday when a city marshal tried to tow the vehicle.

"The window was cracked open. I don't understand how no one noticed him. They just gave him tickets," his daughter told the Daily News. It wasn't clear exactly how many tickets were on the minivan's windshield when the body was discovered. Witnesses had reported a foul odour near the vehicle.



Why bother letting this dude out?
A New Hampshire man has been arrested for the 153rd time, this time after he was accused of punching someone in the face over the weekend.

Forty-nine-year-old Portsmouth resident Paul Baldwin told a judge Monday he plans to plead guilty to the assault, along with trespassing and alcohol charges.

He says he's had a long battle with alcohol and was trying to correct the problem during his most recent one-year jail term, which ended last week.

The Foster's Daily Democrat newspaper says Baldwin's record dates to 1984 and includes 152 other arrests, eight trespass orders, 75 citations, four Social Security aliases and 17 name aliases.

Prosecutor Rena DiLando says she didn't have time to read Baldwin's full criminal record because it's so long.



A rifle-toting convenience store owner said he decided to show mercy on a would-be robber after seeing the man collapse into tears and claim he was only committing the crime to support his starving family.

The Long Island store owner provided the bat-wielding man with $40 and a loaf of bread and made him promise never to rob again.

Sounds like a decent type of person this store owner. This was first published Wednesday June 3rd, followed up on Thursday June 4th with ...

A New York convenience store owner who made headlines after showing mercy on a would-be robber has been accused of selling drug paraphernalia.

Shirley Express owner Mohammad Sohail's store on Long Island was one of seven businesses cited Tuesday. He's accused of violating state business laws.

Prosecutors say undercover officers bought bongs and pipe screens at the store three times in recent weeks. Sohail says he did not know the items were not permitted to be sold.

It's not a criminal charge and is punishable by a fine of up to $30,000.

The merchant got attention this week when it was revealed that he gave an intended robber $40 and a loaf of bread if the man agreed never to steal again.

Just flipping amazing.

For today - that's enough of the news you probably missed and should have read.