Watercooler Stories

Noodle ad not racist, watchdog says

LONDON, July 27 (UPI) -- A British TV commercial showing Welsh miners digging for noodles from a "noodle mine" is not derogatory, an advertising watchdog has ruled.

The commercial, for Unilever's Pot Noodles brand, had sparked 81 complaints to Britain's Advertising Standards Authority, claiming the spot was derogatory to people from Wales.

The standards authority rejected the complaints, saying the commercial was clearly tongue-in-cheek, Britain's Telegraph newspaper reported.

The commercial opens with a voiceover saying: "This is Crumlin, jewel of the Welsh Empire, for beneath these hallowed hills lies fuel, not coal or oil, but pure Pot Noodle." The ad shows miners walking across fields and then down a mine ready to extract Pot Noodles, the Brand Public trade magazine said.

The voiceover continues: "It's hard work working down in the noodle mine. This is where men are men. So let us give thanks to Welsh men like Emelyn Iffans, Idrys Howells and Clewin Craddock. For they keep going to keep you going."

Mother Advertising, the London agency that created the commercial, told the standards authority the ad used humor and exaggeration to celebrate the fact that Pot Noodle has been produced in the Welsh town of Crumlin since 1977.

It added that many employees are ex-miners or come from mining families.

2 brothers emerge unharmed from woods

ASTORIA, Ore., July 27 (UPI) -- Two young brothers who went for an unauthorized 24-hour hike in the Oregon woods showed up unhurt with a bouquet of wildflowers for their mother.

Five year-old Atticus Martin and his brother, Ethan, 4, were accompanied by their black Labrador Rocco. The brothers said that they spent the night sleeping peacefully on the ground while Rocco kept watch. About 90 volunteers, Coast Guard helicopters and dog teams scoured the woods for them near Astoria.

Angela and Chris Martin and their three sons, including Ethan's twin, Seth, had been spending a short vacation in a cabin in Olney.

"We were walking and sitting and walking and sitting and walking and walking and walking," Atticus said at a news conference in an Astoria hospital.

Searchers spotted the boys around noon Tuesday several miles from the family's cabin.

The boys were exhausted and hungry but unharmed. Ethan slept through the news conference.

The parents suffered more.

"I'm not supposed to go to sleep apparently because every time I go to sleep, they get away, so I am not going to sleep for the next 25 years," Chris Martin said.

Yacht race didn't draw as many tourists

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich., July 27 (UPI) -- The 98th annual sailing race brought boats from Chicago to Michigan's Mackinac Island last weekend, but not as many tourists.

"You expect the crowds to go over and watch them come in," Tom Pfeiffelmann, of the Star Line Ferry, told the Traverse City (Mich.) Record Eagle. "This year, it just hasn't produced the crowds."

Pfeiffelmann said the resort island was packed as usual over the Fourth of July weekend but crowds have been sparse since the holiday. The number of vehicles using the Mackinac Bridge is down 2 percent from this time last July.

Mackinac Island is Michigan's No. 1 tourist destination.

Some business owners that depend on tourism blame high gasoline prices and Michigan's slow economy for the drop off in summer traffic.

Author: Modern work place is full of lies

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash., July 27 (UPI) -- Author Bob Rosner, of Bainbridge Island, Wash., said that employees in the modern workplace need to be on the lookout for lies disguised as truisms.

Rosner, co-author of "The Boss's Survival Guide," said Wednesday in his "Working Wounded Blog" on ABCNews.go.com that institutionalized workplace lying makes it difficult to find the truth in the words of bosses and coworkers.

To separate fact from fiction, Rosner recommended that workers be on the lookout for phrases ranging from "technology will bring us closer together" to "gen-Xers are slackers" as signs that "you're being lied to, manipulated or at the very least asked to believe something that defies reason."

The author also warned employees to be wary of statements including "numbers never lie," "the customer is always right," "quality over quantity," "the early bird always catches the worm," "there is honor among thieves," "don't swap horses while crossing a stream," "nothing is impossible," and "patience is a virtue."