Home | Archives | Links | Join Email List | Spam Me

Curious Times No. 257
August 12, 2004

WORK IS FOR SUCKERS...I MEAN SLACKERS
A French economist faces a disciplinary hearing with her employer after publishing a book called “Bonjour Paresse” or “Hello Laziness,” a treatise about “the art of doing the least work possible for your employer.” Author Corinne Maier has been accused of attempting to “rot the system from within” with her advice for what she calls “neo-slaves” of middle management and the “damned of the service industry.” Her book includes great chapter titles such as “The Morons Who Are Sitting Next To You,” “Business Culture, My Arse,” and “Why You Can’t Lose By Resigning.” “Hello Lazinesss” promises to teach you how to take advantage of the system by doing as little work as possible and promises that your laziness will pay off because the most ineffective people are promoted to senior positions where they can do the least damage. (BBC)

NO REST FOR THE PIOUS
Did you hear the one about the Malawian priest and the Zambian nun having sex in a parked Toyota? This would make a great opening line for a joke, but for now it’s just more bad news out of Africa, where the two Catholics were arrested and charged with six months of hard labour after being caught having sex in an airport parking lot. Police had been tipped off to the action by a witness who called in to report a car with tinted windows “shaking in a funny manner.” The week was no better for Cambodian Buddhist monks, who were reprimanded by their head of state at a conference of 670 monks, nuns and religious officials. He appealed to the monks to stop misbehaving after a string of scandals including monks fighting with slingshots and petrol bombs, molesting boys, beating a man and stealing motorcycles. (Reuters / AP)

SO IF YOU EAT AT A McDONALD’S FIVE MILES FROM YOUR HOME YOU’LL BE EVEN
The Sun UK has created a handy chart for you to clip out and stick to your fridge which will remind you of how far you would have to walk in order to work off the excessive calories in your favourite junk food. Nutritionists calculated that you would need to walk almost 10 miles in order to work off the 1,411 calories in a Big Mac Meal, six miles to walk off a KFC meal and about 3.5 miles to walk off a plate of fish and chips. In comparison, eating a stick of celery only requires only a short 0.013 of a mile walk.

SHOW US YOUR SILICONE
After barring a woman from a Chinese beauty pageant because she had spent something like $13,000 on plastic surgery for her new face, organizers decided it was time to create a beauty pageant for the Michael Jackson generation. And so, this October, China will host the world’s first Miss Plastic Surgery event, a contest designed specifically for those who can get a note from their doctor proving that their beauty is only a sixteenth of an inch deep. The Chinese have also announced plans for a beauty pageant for the elderly, as 55-year-olds and up will compete for what must be the longest pageant title on earth, the “Zhen’ap Cup National Contest of the Beauty of the Gray-Head Group”. Meanwhile, back in the U.S.A., Juliette Rizzo, 36, of Rockville, Maryland, has been crowned Ms. Wheelchair America. (ncbuy.com)


GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MIND POWER NEWS AND RECEIVE 4 MIND POWER E-BOOKS AS MY GIFT TO YOU!

Mind Power News is a free weekly e-zine about using the power of your mind to create health, wealth, success & happiness. Each week you'll receive the latest news headlines, the most cutting-edge scientific research, life-changing lessons from the world's greatest Mind Power mentors and the very best mind power resources available today.

www.MindPowerNews.com


HIS OTHER T-SHIRT SAYS “I AM A STUPID IDIOT”
A drug dealer in the U.K. faces 30 months in jail after tips from the public caused a police raid of his home. Apparently this dimwit had been walking around town wearing a t-shirt which read “I am a dealer.” A subsequent search of his home found almost $10,000 worth of crack, cocaine and heroin hidden in his bedroom. (The Sun UK)

THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY BORED TOURISTS ON THIS PLANET
An international animal rights group is trying to ban a tourist attraction at Thailand’s Safari World which features orangutangs in kickboxing fights. The matches involve two orangutans in boxing gloves and shorts, bikini-clad chimpanzees who prance about with the number cards for each round, and theme music from the film “Rocky” to get everyone in the mood. The owners of Safari World say that the “fights” are choreographed and that no animals are ever harmed, but Cyril Rosen of the International Primate Protection League calls the event “outrageous” and claims that the animals are destined for a short, miserable existence and early death. “They are doing no good to the animals, no good to the species and are making a mockery of the animal,” says Rosen. “There’s no question of it being justifiable in any sort of way.” (Ananova)

PLEASE DON’T STAB ME IN THE FACE OR CROTCH
As the economy continues to suffer and the crime rate continues to rise in Japan, and enterprising company has developed stab-resistant coats and sweatshirts. The clothing looks ordinary, but is made from fiberglass and a material called “Specter” which is used in bullet-proof vests. But buying the illusion of the feeling of safety is not cheap. The tops cost around $500 for children and over $800 for adults. Japan has suffered a string of gruesome and violent crimes in recent months, and statistics show that 2003 was a record year for crime in that country, up a whopping 23.4 per cent from the previous year. (Asian Pacific Post)

BE CAREFUL OR YOU’LL SOON LEARN THE WORDS “INCARCERATION” AND “TORTURE”
A Japanese businessman flying to Dayton, Ohio last week managed to have the flight stopped in Chicago after a passenger noticed him write the words “suicide bomb” on a piece of paper. Authorities were alerted and the man was taken off the flight for questioning. He was released without charge after explaining that he was reading the newspaper in order to learn English, and he likes to write down words which he doesn’t understand so that he can look them up later. (local10.com)