Watercooler Stories

Woman, 75, fights off Florida alligator

PUNTA GORDA, Fla., May 12 (UPI) -- Being bitten on the leg by an alligator wasn't about to stop a feisty 75-year-old South Florida woman from finishing watering her garden.

Connie Gittles was watering potted plants in the backyard of her mobile home in Punta Gorda Tuesday night when she felt a sharp stab in her leg, the Chandler (Fla.) Sun Herald reported Thursday.

When she turned, she saw the 5-foot gator looking at her.

"I realized I had a hose in my hand," She said. "I gave him one good whack on the nose," which she said sent the reptile scampering away.

Gittles said she wasn't about to quit watering until the job was done because, with southwest Florida watering restrictions, she wouldn't be able to complete the job for days.

Afterwards, she limped inside to tell her husband.

"I told my husband, 'I have to go to the doctor because I just got bit by an alligator,'" Gittles said.

Her puncture wounds were cleaned, and she was given antibiotics and a tetanus shot, the report said.

Norway's richest man no longer Norwegian

OSLO, Norway, May 12 (UPI) -- Norway's richest man has become a citizen of Cyprus, allowing him to avoid income tax for himself and inheritance tax for his daughters.

John Frederiksen made billions of kronor in shipping and aquaculture.

Herbjorn Hansson, like Frederiksen a shipping tycoon, told Aftenposten that his friend was "hunted" out of his native country by new tax regulations.

"If we want people and capital out of Norway, this is the way to do it," Hansson said. "The 90-day rule was made to threaten Fredriksen back to Norway."

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was unmoved, saying that Frederiksen's new citizenship recognizes his real situation.

"There are many who want to become Norwegian citizens," the prime minister said. "If John Fredriksen doesn't, it is not a problem. It doesn't bother me. He hasn't lived in Norway for several decades. He hasn't paid tax to Norway in several decades either."

Google takes up cage-free eggs

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 12 (UPI) -- California-based Google, one of the hottest companies around, has embraced a hot trend in animal rights -- cage-free eggs.

The company will require that all of its cafes and cafeterias serve only the pricier cage-free eggs, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Google uses about 300,000 eggs a year along with 7,000 pounds of liquid egg products.

Animal-rights activists charge that caged chickens -- sometimes called battery-raised, because the cages are piled high -- have miserable lives during their productive egg-laying months, confined six to a cage with only 67 square inches of floor space per chicken. Egg farmers say caged chickens are just as happy as -- and healthier than -- those raised outdoors or in open barns.

Google is jumping on a bandwagon that already includes America On Line and Bon Appetit Management, a catering company serving a number of Silicon Valley companies. Several universities have also pledged to serve cage-free eggs.

"There's a ripple effect that I think will happen," said John Dickman, Google's food service manager. "Other companies also will want to ensure humane treatment of animals."

Rocky statue to get a home at last

PHILADELPHIA, May 12 (UPI) -- A statue of Sylvester Stallone that was a prop in the third "Rocky" movie is finally getting a home near the Philadelphia Art Museum.

The Fairmount Park Commission and the museum have approved a site at the bottom of the steps where Rocky Balboa worked out, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Stallone donated the statue to the city in 1982 but said it has to be placed at the top of the steps. Museum officials balked, but compromised, agreeing that the statue would remain on the steps for a few months. Since then, it has moved to sports venues and then storage.

The sixth "Rocky" movie is due out this year. Stallone wrote and directed "Rocky Balboa," starring as a 50-plus Rocky making another comeback.

Stallone this time was happy to be near the museum, even at the foot of the steps, and Joan Schlotterbeck, the public property commissioner, called the plan "a compromise that works."

Parks Commissioner E. Harris Baum was less pleased, asking, "If a film about Donald Duck in Philadelphia comes out, do we put a Donald Duck statue in our park system?