Watercooler Stories

Elementary school accidentally shows porn

ROOKLYN, N.Y., June 15 (UPI) -- A hardcore pornographic movie was accidentally screened at PS 17 in Brooklyn, N.Y., school officials said.

Students from five classes at the school had assembled to watch "Camp Rock," a Disney Channel movie starring the Jonas Brothers, but after a teacher powered up the DVD player and walked away to get the Disney movie, a skin flick began to play, the New York Post reported.

The students, some as young as 5-years-old, were exposed to 45-seconds of sex acts in the incident late last month, the newspaper said.

"My son told his friend he saw a naked lady at school," said Rona Easton, whose 6-year-old son, Cass, viewed the snippet with his kindergarten class. "I thought he was just being silly. It's appalling."

Principal Robert Marchi sent home a letter to parents the day of the incident.

"A very explicit pornographic video came on the screen," Marchi wrote. "This was extremely upsetting to the students and staff members in attendance. ... I am deeply sorry that this episode took place at PS 17. I know that we will make every effort to find out who was responsible for this despicable act."

Semi-nude bike riders protest oil

NEW YORK, June 15 (UPI) -- Nearly naked cyclists in Toronto, Washington, New York and other cities said their annual World Naked Bike Ride was a protest against oil dependency.

"Nudity is always a good way to get someone's attention," Chris Bracken, 24, a rider in Washington told Sunday's Washington Post.

The event, dating back to 2001, is called a "naked bike ride" but laws against indecency forced riders to cover themselves creatively with latex paint or ride scantily clad, The Toronto Sun reported of Saturday's ride, which took place in 25 countries and 70 cities.

"We want to get people out of their cars and onto bikes," Paul Nocera, 48, an organizer of the ride in New York, told the New York Daily News.

The ride -- also held in Los Angeles, London, Montreal and Albany and Portland, Ore. -- appeared variously to puzzle, irritate and delight bystanders.

"I'm waiting for naked men. I'm single," Melissa Paxton, 26, told the New York Daily News.

Coupon brings in a bit too much business

SAN FRANCISCO, June 15 (UPI) -- A cooperative supermarket in San Francisco has discovered that a coupon program offering steep discounts is working a bit too well.

The Rainbow Grocery's coupons, printed in local phone books, offer 20 percent off on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. On those days, shoppers have to wait for a parking space and then face long lines at checkouts.

Karla Camer, who has become more cost-conscious since losing her job, said her father gives her his coupons for many months, allowing her two discount shopping trips.

"I never miss a month. Twenty percent is a lot of money when you are spending a couple hundred dollars," she said.

Larry Gilmore, a network administrator at the store, said the coupons' popularity was sudden.

"It has caused growing pains from all angles, from simply getting the stock on the shelves to ordering and being able to predict how much staff we need to schedule and how many people we have to hire," he said.

Rainbow's employees make decisions jointly, and they are trying to decide whether to add more days when the coupons can be used or to cut back on their value.

Queen Elizabeth has palace veggie patch

LONDON, June 15 (UPI) -- Queen Elizabeth has put in a vegetable patch on the Buckingham Palace grounds, much as U.S. first lady Michelle Obama did at the White House.

Like the White House vegetables, the ones in the queen's garden will be grown organically, with liquid seaweed used in place of chemical fertilizers and garlic keeping aphids down, a royal spokeswoman told The Times of London. The patch is in a part of the 40-acre palace grounds previously used to grow summer flowers.

The 30-foot by 12-foot garden harks back to the days of World War II when the future queen and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, were photographed picking beans at Windsor Castle.

Vegetable varieties in the garden include Royal Red and Blue Queen beans and three varieties of royal lettuce -- Golden Queen, Queen of Hearts and White Queen.