UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Old e-mail addresses become liabilities

VICTORIA, British Columbia, March 18 (UPI) -- A growing number of people who chose unusual e-mail addresses years ago are discovering they can be liabilities, a Canadian professor says.

Kim Blank, a professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia has studied the phenomenon in which old addresses become like tattoos that expand with age, the Canwest News Service reported.

"I have had a few doozies in the past," Blank said. "One student e-mailed me to ask for a reference -- her e-mail address was 'allprofssuck...' The reference I wrote sucked, too."

Alison McLaughlin, a British Columbia yoga instructor, told the news service she was too embarrassed to tell a company where she was applying for a position what e-mail name she has been using for the past nine years after a night of partying with friends -- QuiteBusty.

"I told them I'd have to get back to them," she said.

However, Fran Stewart, a Toronto nurse said despite her unusual e-handle, she's keeping it.

"I've been working in the continence field for 35 years, so the name suits me well," she said. "When your e-mail address is BladderQueen, people never forget it."

Penis painting on roof goes unnoticed

PHOENIX, March 18 (UPI) -- A Phoenix homeowner said he didn't find out about a giant penis painted on the roof of his house until six months after it was drawn.

Ryan Walker said the image of the male organ was painted by members of his band during his bachelor party six months ago, but he and many of his neighbors did not find out about the phallic artwork until recently, the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday.

"I think it's hilarious," Walker said. "If you woke up and the news is at your house, and you had a giant penis on your roof what would you think?"

Neighbors said they were just as surprised as Walker to find out about the image.

"It was like a hit of coffee or something in the face," neighbor Darnell Whitfield said. "A penis on the roof. I was like,'Huh? Are you serious?'"

Walker said the story of the penis painting on his roof could be therapeutic for the United States.

"With the economy, with the Bear Stearns thing happening today why not a giant penis on the roof?" Walker asked.

Detectives seek UFO answers

CAPITOLA, Calif., March 18 (UPI) -- Private investigators are searching for the origins of a photograph that allegedly depicts a UFO flying over a Capitola, Calif., utility pole.

T.K. Davis, who served more than 30 years as a deputy sheriff, and Frankie Dixon, a former police officer, were hired by an anonymous member of the Open Minds Forum, an Internet UFO research group, to find the photographer who took the pictures and anyone else who may have spotted the mysterious object, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The pictures, which were posted by someone using the name Raji on Craigslist, depict an object that appears to be too small to be manned flying above a utility pole. Raji told the Open Minds Forum in an e-mail that the pictures were taken Capitola near the home of his fiancee's parents, but his e-mail account disappeared and the forum was unable to get contact them.

The detectives said they are working to identify the utility pole in the photograph to help them find the home of Raji's parents and others in the area who reported sightings of the object.

Davis said the case isn't about finding extraterrestrials.

"We were working for people who didn't want to be identified," Davis told the Times, "looking for people who didn't want to be found."

Rodents take bites out of cars

CHICAGO, March 18 (UPI) -- Some Chicago auto dealers say the harsh winter has brought about a plague of small animals damaging cars by crawling under the hood and chewing on wires.

The dealers said this season has brought on a higher-than-usual volume of complaints from motorists who found squirrels, rats, mice or other small animals causing distress under the hoods of their cars, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.

"Good God! It's been a whole rash of them,'' said Rafael Sanchez of Schaumburg Toyota in the city's suburbs. "These little varmints start chewing these wires, and it costs a pretty penny."

"They go in there because it's warm,'' said Randy Reynolds of Al Piemonte Ford in Melrose Park, Ill. "They start making nests. They chew the spark plug wiring, they chew injector wiring."

Reynolds said he usually encounters one or two cases of animal damage under the hood each winter, but this season has brought on "about 12."

University of Illinois, Chicago, squirrel scientist Joel Brown said the animals are probably drawn to the cars due to the difficulty finding food in the winter.

"I suspect if they were sampling wires, they were looking for food," he said.