Watercooler Stories

The electronic goodbye a mixed blessing

BOSTON, April 23 (UPI) -- In the modern age of e-mail and instant messaging, many U.S. citizens have become increasingly comfortable with ending relationships electronically.

All kinds of relationships, many of them romantic, are abruptly ended via a relatively impersonal text-message, e-mail or instant message, the Boston Globe reported Sunday.

Larry, 36, an Air Force sergeant from New Hampshire who asked that his last name not be used, told the newspaper his girlfriend broke up with him six times by e-mail.

"E-mail is horrible," he said. "You just get to the point where you hate it. You can't have dialogue. You don't have that person in front of you. You just have that black-and-white text. It's a very cold way of communicating."

Many cell phone and Internet users reported preferring the electronic goodbye because it allows them to forego the difficult face-to-face confrontation. However, most who prefer the method admitted they did not think it was the best way to go.

Critics of the electronic breakup told the newspaper the method could mean trouble, as text-messages and e-mails can be sent in a time of high-running emotions.

Cops are hired to monitor trash collection

LONDON, April 23 (UPI) -- A local council in London is paying plainclothes officers £30,000 pounds ($60,000) a year to track down homeowners who take out their trash at the wrong time.

The "envirocrime" officers were hired by the Ealing Council to find offenders who leave trash in inappropriate places or who take it out too early, The Daily Mail reported.

But taxpayers are angry, and the Ealing Council did not reveal how much of the £142,000 pounds ($285,000) being spent on the officers made up their salaries.

Also, citizens say city government is being too heavy-handed in its approach to trash collection rules.

"We are living in a world where everything we do is watched and regulated," said Christine Melsom, founder of a group that campaigns for council-tax reform. "George Orwell has arrived. If you go to work early it is difficult to get it right with the rubbish."

Canadian group celebrates marijuana's day

TORONTO, April 23 (UPI) -- A group of demonstrators in Toronto rallied for the legalization of marijuana during the unofficial "4-20" holiday, as police looked on.

While marijuana remains illegal throughout Canada, Matt Mernagh had gotten all necessary permission before Friday's demonstration on the calendar date that equates to the fabled "420" marijuana slogan, the Toronto Star said.

"I said the Toronto Hash Mob will be at Yonge and Dundas celebrating 420," Mernagh said.

Mernagh, 33, said he uses marijuana to help ease pain from his osteoarthritis, but he is urging legalization of the weed.

"I'm fighting for the full legalization of cannabis because I believe that a lot of my friends that aren't disabled should have the same right to use cannabis as I do," he said.

New test can learn your alcohol history

LONDON, April 23 (UPI) -- A new test being offered by a British company can determine an individual's history with alcohol during the past months -- or even years.

London's Trimega Laboratories said it can determine how much alcohol an individual has consumed during the past months or years by simply analyzing the chemicals on one's hair, The Daily Mail reported Saturday.

"Current blood or urine tests only allow you to see if alcohol has been drunk in the past few days," company official Avi Lazarow said. "We can take hair from the head or body and work out a pattern of drinking for many months."

The test looks at fatty acid derivatives that are absorbed into the hair as the alcohol in one's body is broken down.

The examination costs nearly $692 per case.

In 2005, 8 percent of British women and 19 percent of British men were deemed "heavy drinkers."

The findings were based on the assumption that three pints of beer, six shots of liquor or six small glasses of wine daily constitute alcohol abuse.