The Olympic Winter Games have ended, but many of us are still talking about it. Too bad a lot of attention is directed away from Canada's success on the speed skating track, the hockey/curling rink, and the free style skiing hills. The Salt Lake games may be one of the most memorable games in history, too bad it is for all the wrong reasons. From the skating judge scandal to the doping gold medalists to the anti-Russia conspiracy, this Olympic games had it all. Many odd things happened in Utah in these 16 days, but many more oddities occurred around the world in the recent past.
Every time the lottery numbers are drawn, the announcer ALWAYS (well, maybe not always) reminds those who actually watch it (does anyone watch those?) to guard their tickets. An Australian man found that he had a ticket that was worth hundreds of thousands of Australian dollars (there are still some currency that are lower than our loonie). The problem is that someone in his household had already thrown away the ticket. So the man went to the local garbage dump to search for it. When he could not find it, he went to the local government for help. Normally, one would expect that he would be shown the door. Not in this case, the local officials actually offered help to the man search for his lost ticket. On one hand, one has to wonder why a man would look for something that is probably gone for good. On the other, you have to appreciate that a local government going out of the way to help a citizen.
There are many criminals who are repeat offenders, but the following has to be one of the strangest reasons for committing a crime. A man was arrested in Pennsylvania for trying to rob a bank. If it was an ordinary robbery, it wouldn't have made this column, but the robber's motive was quite unusual. According to the local police, the robber was held in a cell for a previous crime. The robber also told the press that he committed the crime because he had no money to pay for his bail. Guess what he did that landed him in jail in the first place? Burglary and theft! I think the police will be watching him like a hawk this time because who knows if this man's robbery-to-pay-bail cycle will become an endless loop.
The Internet is a popular medium for trading, whether it is ideas, music, someone's junk that's someone else's treasure, or overpriced crap. You can buy practically anything from the Internet. All of us have heard of mail-order husbands/wives, but there are some people who are so desperate for married life that all courtship steps can be skipped. A British woman was so frustrated with the dating services that she initiated an Internet search for a husband. A court order banned mathNEWS from releasing her criteria. All she said was that anyone interested has to have a solid career and a good amount of savings (I guess that eliminates most of us). So far she has only received a handful of serious bids. I don't know how, but somehow she has to find a way to find out if a bidder has the vault he claims to have. Is it just an elaborate scheme to rob men without love or is it a search for true love? Most of us are lonely, but I don't think many of us are that desperate to look for a girl/boyfriend that way (yet).
When you go behind the wheel, the traffic cops may not be the only ones tracking your speed. A Connecticut car rental company (that shall remain nameless) had received a few complaints regarding a new feature that the company has installed in its cars. The company allegedly installed speed tracking devices that tracks how fast each rental car is going. When the car goes over a pre-set limit, the device warns the driver that the car is going too fast. The device also sends the location and the speed of the speeding car to the rental companies head office. Nice device, isn't it? I think the company's next project would be installing either devices that throws dangerous drivers out of the driver seats or those that alert police of illegal parking. Who needs Big Brother when the companies put tracking devices on their products? Naturally, one question arises — if the company is tracking each car's speed, does it have the authority to write tickets?
Jason "the Screamer" Lau
Am I the only one who cares about these things?