Watercooler Stories

Connery, Sean Connery is Bond, James Bond

HATSFIELD, England, March 6 (UPI) -- What -- or who -- was British author Ian Fleming thinking of when he created James Bond may now be known thanks to high-tech gadgetry worthy of Q.

The likeness is more Sean Connery, the original suave spy, a study concluded.

To discover how author Ian Fleming viewed 007, Professors Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire in Hatsfield. England, and Rob Jenkins, University of Glasgow, used prototyping, which blends several pictures of a face to create an accurate image of a person, the Telegraph said Tuesday.

In 1961, Fleming named several actors that he thought had the right facial characteristics to play Bond, including Cary Grant, David Niven, James Mason, Rex Harrison, Patrick McGoohan, Richard Burton and Stewart Granger. Jenkins tracked down images of the matinee idols then used sophisticated software to blend them into a single composite.

"We have used face merging technology to create the image of Bond that Ian Fleming had in mind when he wrote his books," Wiseman said.

"The image shows a clean-cut, classic looking face which is far more Connery," he said, than Daniel Craig, the latest Bond in "Casino Royale."

Bogus professor resigns as Wiki editor

LEXINGTON, Ky., March 6 (UPI) -- A volunteer Wikipedia editor who claimed to be a professor with doctorates in religion has resigned, admitting to being a 24-year-old Kentucky college dropout.

Ryan Jordan was involved in writing or editing 16,000 entries in the on-line encyclopedia. Wikipedia told the Louisville, Ky., Courier-Journal that no problems have been found with his work.

Jordan was also profiled in "The New Yorker" last summer. The magazine ran a correction last week.

Taking a paying job with Wikia Inc. apparently led to Jordan's unveiling. He has given up that post as well as his volunteer work.

Immediately after the news broke, Jordan told The New Yorker that he needed to create an alternate persona to protect himself from people angry over his removal of Wikipedia entries.

His response to a Courier-Journal e-mail was short and to the point -- "Please leave me alone."

'Second Christ' smokes, likes Scotch

HOUSTON, March 6 (UPI) -- A 62-year-old ex-felon Puerto Rican man living outside Houston, who's twice married, smokes and likes Scotch, claims to be the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Jose de Jesus told ABC News that's the name he was born with and admits his early life was anything but puritanical. He claimed to have as many as 1 million followers in 30 countries and said it's no secret he grew up in poverty, had a heroin addiction and spent nine months in prison for eight felony charges along the way.

He has been divorced once, smokes cigarettes and likes Scotch, but says he never gets drunk, the same as the original Jesus.

"Jesus drank wine because he didn't have Dewar's," de Jesus told the network.

Part of his teaching is that the Roman Catholic Church is evil and that "Before the presence of God, there's no more sin." He maintains there is no devil and no need for prayer, because after Jesus of Nazareth died and was resurrected, one can literally do no wrong in God's eyes.

Greece sorry for Albanian 'guts' video

ATHENS, Greece, March 6 (UPI) -- Greece has apologized to Albania for an Internet video that purportedly shows Greek soldiers chanting violent anti-Albanian songs.

The video began circulating on the Web last week and Sunday, Albania's national broadcaster aired it, showing the soldiers, apparently singing while engaged in military exercises, the Kathimerini news service reported Tuesday.

One of the songs they sang contained the lyrics, "We will make shoelaces out of Albanians' guts," the report said.

Monday, Albania's Deputy Defense Minister Petrit Karabina called on Greece to "take all the necessary measures to eradicate these expressions of aggressive nationalism from the Greek armed forces."

In response, a spokesman for the Greek Defense Ministry, Stefanos Gikas, told reporters the matter would be investigated.

"Such acts -- if indeed they took place -- do not reflect the sentiments of the Greek people to a country that is a neighbor and a friend," Gikas said.