Watercooler Stories

Woman, 94, quits driving with clean record

HEREFORD, England, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A 94-year-old Hereford, England, woman has quit driving with a flawless 82-year record.

Muriel Gladwin, who has been driving since the age of 12, said she has avoided accidents, speeding tickets and other citations over the course of more then 600,000 miles driven, the Telegraph reported Monday.

Gladwin said she decided to let other people sit behind the wheel from now on so she can protect her spotless record for the rest of her life.

"I've driven hundreds of thousands of miles and still have a completely clean record, so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead," Gladwin said.

"I'm a careful driver and I've never had an accident, a parking ticket or made an insurance claim. I think it's because I always keep my eyes wide open and stick to the rules of the road like glue. If the limit is 40 miles per hour I drive at 40 mph, and I always make sure I have my foot at the ready to brake."

NASA ordered to search for UFO data

KECKSBURG, Pa., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been ordered to turn over records related to an alleged Pennsylvania UFO sighting in 1965.

Leslie Kean, a freelance journalist with with financial backing from the SciFi Channel, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Dec. 9, 1965, incident in Kecksburg, Pa., the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

However, she filed a lawsuit in December 2003 when the space agency claimed not to have any documents related to the incident.

"In the beginning, they probably saw Leslie's request and thought, 'Oh, she's after UFOs,'" said her attorney, Lee Helfrich of Washington. "Maybe they just didn't treat it seriously at first."

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said in ordering NASA to perform a more thorough search of its records that its efforts comply with the information request thus far have been a "ball of yarn."

"I can sense the plaintiff's frustration because I'm frustrated," the judge said.

France confirms its hospitality is poor

PARIS, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A French hospitality trade watchdog said many of the country's hotels, cafes and restaurants offer poor hospitality and are run down.

The Committee for Modernization of the French Hotel Trade's report said 24 percent of hotel guests and 38 percent of restaurant customers complain about the surly way they're treated, a correspondent for Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

Among the complaints reported were rude, abrupt and impatient service staff and long waits, the newspaper said. The trade group said upkeep was also being neglected, particularly in some of the major cities that have 19th-century hotels.

"In a majority of hotels that are older than three years, the lack of maintenance of paint work, furniture and fittings is perfectly visible," the report said. "Marks made by shoes and suitcases on walls can stay for years with no sign of a sponge or paintbrush."

In the past 10 years, the report noted some 1,800 hotels in the country had been closed along with an undetermined number of cafes and restaurants.

Quest for no-parachute jumping evolves

NEW YORK, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Borrowing technology from flying squirrels, a California man was raising funds so he can leap from a helicopter without a parachute and survive the landing.

Jeb Corliss told The New York Times he hoped next spring to wear something called a wing suit, which creates aeronautical lift and slows descent, in his second attempt at jumping from and re-entering an aircraft in flight.

He said he wore a parachute in his first attempt, which saved his life as the plane banked and descended too quickly.

As for flight in general, the 31-year-old veteran parachutist told the Times his plan for that involved landing on a runway he designed that uses principles of Nordic ski jumping and which will cost about $2 million.

Corliss predicted he could land safely at about 120 mph and will attach his helmet to a rigid-framed exoskeleton with the wing suit that should protect him from whiplash in the event of a sudden stop, the newspaper said.