Watercooler Stories

Dissatisfied client sues dating service

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., June 6 (UPI) -- A Chicago-area woman says a dating service failed her by neglecting to match her up with a nice Jewish man.

Galina Safir is suing Soulmates, seeking the return of her $4,500 fee, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The dating service says it gave Safir referrals to 10 men who matched the profile she said she was seeking. Soulmates says Safir did not specify that she was only interested in Jewish men of European descent until a month after she paid her fee.

The lawsuit claims Soulmates violated Illinois law by failing to provide a full refund, a claim the director, Tracy Choubmesser, calls "ridiculous."

Is 6/6/6 a day of ill omen for California?

SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 6 (UPI) -- California and a number of other states hold primaries on Tuesday, which also happens to be 6/06/06, a day of fear for the superstitious.

But the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News finds few candidates afflicted with hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, or fear of 666 for short. The number is supposedly the "number of the beast" from the Bible's Book of Revelations, although most religious scholars tend to regard it as just another number.

The newspaper suggests that the demonic nature of the day may have leaked into the Democratic primary, in which State Treasurer Phil Angelides and State Controller Steve Westly have been conducting an exceptionally nasty battle for the right to run against the unpopular Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The candidates themselves say they aren't worrying.

"It's just another day, a day in which we hope to celebrate a great victory," Nick Papas, a spokesman for Angelides, told the paper.

"If it's Steve Westly, I'd say it's meaningless," Westly press secretary Nick Velasquez said. "If it's Phil Angelides, I'd say it's a bad omen.''

Boy didn't believe it in Ripley book

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 6 (UPI) -- A sixth-grade Michigan youth didn't believe it when he read it takes light from the sun four minutes to reach Earth in Ripley's "Planet Eccentric!"

So David Beerens of suburban Grand Rapids, Mich., pointed out the error to his teacher and wrote a letter to Ripley Entertainment, the Grand Rapids Press reported.

"You should be proud of the fact that you were able to spot this, as it is something that slipped by all of our editors, Ripley Entertainment Executive Vice President Norm Deska wrote in response. "Also, out of the hundreds of thousands of books we sold, you are the only one that saw the mistake, and more impressively, took the time to let us know."

So how long does it take light from the sun to reach the Earth?

Believe it or not, it's 8.32 minutes.

Poll confirms U.S. driving skills falling

ATLANTA, June 6 (UPI) -- A poll of U.S. drivers shows that some 18 million licensed drivers would fail a state driver's test if they had to retake one.

The second GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test polled 5,288 people who answered a 20-question test similar to those used by states, and the findings indicate drivers still do not have adequate knowledge of basic rules of the road, Car & Driver reported.

About 1-in-11 of the respondents failed the test, the magazine said

The study "unearthed a growing trend" where drivers treat driving as a time to catch up on activities they didn't get to, including chatting on a cell phone, sending text messages, e-mailing friends, selecting songs on iPods, applying makeup, changing clothes and reading.

The study also found nearly one-quarter of U.S. drivers believe there are circumstances in which it's acceptable to not wear a seatbelt, the report said.

Across the country, states require at least a 70 percent score on the written test, and for the second year in a row, Oregon drivers ranked highest on the test, with an average score of 91 percent. Rhode Island ranked lowest, with an average score of 75 percent.