Watercooler Stories

Tahoe National Forest may lock toilets

SACRAMENTO, April 27 (UPI) -- The Tahoe National Forest near Sacramento is running short on money for upkeep of its portable toilets and officials may have to lock the bathroom door.

Each of the forest's non-flushing toilets sits on a 1,000-gallon concrete tank that usually has to be emptied once a season, the Sacramento Bee reported.

A group of dirt-bikers has volunteered to pay for pumping out one of the toilets so it can stay open, but at least 10 outhouses face padlocking.

"The rest of Sacramento better know they should go to the bathroom before they come up here to recreate," Joseph Cochran, president of the Nevada County Woods Riders, told the Bee.

Cochran's club is also footing the roughly $1,000 bill to have a private company to pump out an outdoor toilet serving the Burlington Ridge Recreation Area.

The forest needs at least $12,000 a year to keep the toilets pumped out, said Bonnie Petitt, a recreation officer for the Tahoe forest.

In the past the forest has received money from off-road vehicle fees, but this year they have received nothing.

Petitt told the newspaper that if they must padlock the restrooms then they will start with the least used.

Doctor airs sex talk in Egypt

CAIRO, April 27 (UPI) -- An Egyptian sexologist is making waves by talking openly about sex on a television show broadcast in the Middle East.

Dr. Heba Kotb, a 39-year-old mother of three, says her show covers topics including masturbation, sex over the Internet, sex and Ramadan and the wedding night, CNN reported Thursday.

The show, "The Big Talk," is broadcast weekly over a satellite channel from Cairo.

Kotb was able to get the show on the air by agreeing to talk only about sex between husband and wife. Her main advice for married couples is to "have more sex."

"You have nowhere else to get your sexuality but from your spouse," she said. "It's the only source available, so it's very important."

Intelligence report too secret to release

WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- A government report on the growing use of contractors by U.S. intelligence agencies is too secret to be released.

Ronald Sanders, chief human capital officer for the director of intelligence, told The New York Times that information in the report could be used to deduce how many people are on the payroll. But he did say that about 25 percent of the "Intelligence Community's" work is now done by contractors.

"I can't give you anything that would allow you to impute the size of the (independent contractor) civilian work force," Sanders said.

The CIA, FBI, National Security Agency and other three-letter agencies involved in intelligence gathering have increased their use of contractors since 2001 because of the combination of budget cuts in the 1990s and increased demand for information following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The House and Senate Intelligence committees are concerned that contracting out work could be more expensive. They also fear that spies could be lured away from civil service positions to work for their agencies as contractors.

Swedish politicos pan Hawn ad

SOLLEFTEA, Sweden, April 27 (UPI) -- Some Swedish politicians say they think it's a bad idea to promote shopping as a way to get over being bummed out.

A delegation from Solleftea in northern Sweden last month complained to the Swedish Consumer Agency about an advertisement for the Kapp-Ahl clothing chain, in which actress Goldie Hawn encourages a young girl depressed about breaking up with her boyfriend to "indulge in some comfort shopping," The Local reported.

"We think that because there are so many people with shopping problems it's not a good idea to encourage people to practice comfort shopping," said Micael Melander, a Social Democrat who was a member of the delegation, along with Tonny Molander of the Greens and Left Party representative Niklas Lind.

Asked whether, in effect, the group was opposed to advertising in general since the point of marketing is to attract shoppers, Melander said: "Yes, maybe so. I'll have to think about that. It was so obvious with this particular ad."

Lind said there should be ethical limits to advertising.

"We think that they are exploiting young people by showing that all problems should be solved by shopping," Lind said.