Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Tooth fairy grows more generous LONDON, June 26 (UPI) -- A study by Children's Mutual suggests British tooth fairy payouts have increased by 500 percent over the past 25 years. Advertisement The company said the average tooth fairy payment was about 34 cents 25 years ago, but has jumped in the past generation to an average of $2.10, The Scotsman reported Tuesday. The study found the current average could earn a child who loses 20 teeth between the ages of 6 and 11 -- roughly one in 12 children -- more than $80. The 500 percent inflation rate contrasts with the 150 percent rise in the cost of living over the same time period and resembles the 600 percent rise in house prices. "The generosity of the tooth fairy has accelerated rapidly and shows no signs of abating," said David White, chief executive of The Children's Mutual. "Teaching the value of money is often difficult, but the tooth fairy is on hand to help. Paying children for lost teeth could help bring playing shop and money games to life." Advertisement Anti-speeding ad wags fingers CANBERRA, Australia, June 26 (UPI) -- An Australian anti-speeding TV ad features young women making hand gestures at a speeder that imply the target has a small penis. The campaign features young women, an elderly woman and other young men not in the driver's seat wiggling their little fingers in a gesture that implies the speeder is poorly endowed before the appearance of the campaign's slogan: "Speeding, no one thinks big of you," The Times of London reported Tuesday. The provocative advertisement is the work of the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority. "To me the gesture says, 'Speeding -- no one thinks big of you,'" said John Whelan, the authority's spokesman. "It will cause people who are speeding to think twice about the image they are creating." The TV spot represents a departure from campaigns that featured gruesome images of auto crashes that resulted in wrecked cars and mangled bodies. Whelan said those types of TV spots are no longer effective because young drivers have been desensitized by images in video games and horror films. FEMA accidentally activates alert CHICAGO, June 26 (UPI) -- The U.S. emergency agency accidentally activated the Emergency Alert System in Illinois, knocking a number of radio and television stations off the air. Advertisement The 2-minute outage occurred about 7:45 a.m. CDT Tuesday when the wrong button was pushed for what was supposed to be an internal test of newly installed equipment in Springfield by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, WBBM-AM, Chicago, reported. Instead, the test went live. The system allows emergency officials to broadcast to all stations at the same time. It cuts over to WGN-AM, Chicago, resulting in two minutes of silence. WGN morning host Spike O'Dell was as confused as anyone. "I have no idea how many other radio stations are listening to us right now. We are trying to figure out what's going on," he told listeners. The Chicago Fire Department said it is investigating the incident. Dating site weeds out 'undesirables' PHOENIX, June 26 (UPI) -- An Arizona woman who runs an online dating service won't post would-be members' photographs that aren't attractive. Allena Brown said her decision to have a panel screen photos first for the Arizona-only site was helped along by one man who submitted a shot of himself in flannel underwear and holding an ax, the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday. The Beautiful People Arizona site has about 300 vetted members who pay $9.99 a month and isn't the first dating site to screen for good looks, the newspaper said. Advertisement The international us.beautifulpeople.net dating site also looks for the hottest people but Brown said her site isn't entirely all about looks alone. "It's not just for the super-hot," she said. "It's for people who put their best foot forward with their photos and are looking for that kind of person." She said her members also report any fibbing after dates, such as someone using a 10-year-old picture, or even a picture of someone else, the newspaper said.
