Watercooler Stories

$2,000 whiskey comes to Canada

TORONTO, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Scotland's Highland Park brewery has announced its $2,000-per-bottle 40-year-old Scotch whiskey is now available in Canada's Ontario province.

The distiller said the Highland Park 40 Year Old single malt whiskey, which retails for about $2,000 a bottle, will be available in other Canadian provinces this fall, CanadaNewswire reported.

"Highland Park matures remarkably well over an extended period," said Jason Craig, Global Controller of Highland Park. "We wanted to share this with whiskey enthusiasts; the fact that we are blessed with aged stocks put us in an enviable position of being able to launch a permanent addition to the range, rather than an inaccessible limited edition. We were keen to encourage appreciation of this exquisite whiskey, rather than emphasize collectability and rarity."

Marc Laverdiere, Canadian Brand Ambassador for Highland Park, said the distillers decided the whiskey would be at its best after 40 years.

"Over the past four decades, Highland Park's whiskey makers have decided time and again that this whiskey was very special," Laverdiere said. "They could have used it to create our other expressions, but they felt strongly that it was to be enjoyed much further down the road, when it would reach its ultimate potential."

Police: Boss makes man wear 'thief' sign

LONDON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- British police say a Witham, Essex, man accused of stealing from his company was marched down a busy street with the sign saying "thief" around his neck.

Mark Gilbert, 39, was arrested on suspicion of theft -- along with his boss, Simon Cremer, and three co-workers who were charged with false imprisonment, the Daily Mail reported.

Cremer, 41, and the co-workers allegedly marched Gilbert to the police station Friday while forcing him to wear a sign that labeled him a thief, the Mail reported, saying Cremer has accused Gilbert of stealing more than $1,600 in the six months Gilbert worked for Cremer as a carpet fitter.

Teachers' pets -- other teachers

NEW YORK, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Middle School 88 in Brooklyn, N.Y., turns out to be a great place to meet a potential mate, with officials confirming at least six marriages among the faculty.

The faculty has gotten together to forge at least six marriages, one engagement and any number of long-term relationships, the New York Daily News reported.

Two of the married couples are still on staff, while four current teachers met their mates -- spouses or significant others -- on campus. Besides that, several couples who met on the job at Middle School 88 have moved on, the report said.

Deanna Kaufman, who met her husband when she was teaching English at M.S. 88, told the News: "Nobody comes to work thinking, 'I'm going to meet somebody.' It sounds so cheesy, but you can't help it."

Principal Aileen Altman Mitchell noted that the school staff is generally young and driven, and that they work long hours, often on their own time, so it's only natural they should get together.

"You hire people with similar beliefs and values," she said. "They have a mutual interest, so it's a natural outgrowth."

Thousands attend kinky San Fran festival

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- The 25th Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco drew hundreds of thousands of leather, bondage and sexual fetish enthusiasts to the 13-block neighborhood.

The celebration Sunday included spanking booths, nude vendors and a man dressed only in an 11-foot Burmese python, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

"It brings kink out of the closet," said Al Waddell, 58, one of more then 250 vendors at the festival. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with kinky play as long as it's between consenting adults."

However, about 10 protesters gathered outside the event disagreed. They distributed brochures describing homosexuality as a "disorder" and encouraged passersby to vote in favor of Proposition 8, which would overturn a California Supreme Court ruling that a ban on same-sex marriage violated the state constitution.

"If you go in there, you see public nudity and street orgies," said Anthony Gonzales of San Jose, the president of the St. Joseph's Men's Society, a Roman Catholic fraternal group. "We want to know why this is allowed on the streets of San Francisco without any sanction at all ... it's anarchy."