Watercooler Stories

Minn. airport signage costs soar to $2.2M

MINNEAPOLIS, July 6 (UPI) -- The price tag for new signs directing motorists to terminals at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has soared to $2.2 million, officials say.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission says the signs are necessary because up to 20,000 people per year end up at the wrong terminals at the airport, which has a main terminal for commercial flights, the Charles Lindbergh Terminal, and another for international and charter flights, the Hubert H. Humphrey Terminal.

Initial estimates pegged the cost of replacing the current signs at $1 million, but that rose to $2.2 million when studies showed some of the existing supports wouldn't be able to hold the newer, bigger signs, the Star Tribune reported.

"We drive by them every day; we just don't realize how much they cost," MAC spokesman Patrick Hogan told the Minneapolis newspaper.

One StarTribune.com reader quipped, "Give me a bucket of white paint and a brush! I'll make the new signs and I'll only charge $500k!"

Implanted tooth helps man see again

BRIGHTON, England, July 6 (UPI) -- A British man says he was able to see his wife for the first time thanks to a procedure in which one of his teeth was implanted in his eye.

Martin Jones, 42, told The Sunday Telegraph because of a scrap yard accident 12 years ago, he was blind when he met his wife Gill four years ago. But with one of his front teeth now serving as a lens holder in his right eye, Jones is finally able to look upon his 50-year-old wife.

"The doctors took the bandages off and it was like looking through water and then I saw this figure and it was her," Jones said. "She's wonderful and lovely. It was unbelievable to see her for the first time."

Jones lost his left eye and suffered burns to 37 percent of his body when a tub of hot aluminum exploded in his face a dozen years ago, the Telegraph said.

Surgeon Christopher Lui was able to restore Jones's sight after helping the tooth grow tissue and blood vessels by inserting it in the man's cheek. The tooth was then inserted into Jones's eye along with a fitted lens.

Costa Rica leads 'Happy Planet Index'

LONDON, July 6 (UPI) -- Costa Rica tops the "Happy Planet Index," a ranking of ecological efficiency among the world's nations, survey officials say.

Costa Ricans reported the highest life satisfaction and have an average life expectancy second only to Canada, said a release from the New Economics Foundation, a British think tank that promotes ecology and sustainable economics.

Nine of the 10 highest-scoring nations were in Latin America, with the United States reportedly "greener and happier" 20 years ago than it is today.

Of the 143 nations surveyed for the Happy Planet Index, the United States ranked 114.

While ecological progress is being made, residents in most countries are far from achieving healthy lives within Earth's finite resources, said Nic Marks, a foundation spokesman.

"Following the siren's song of economic growth has delivered only marginal benefits to the world's poorest while undermining the basis of their livelihoods," Marks said. "What's more, it hasn't notably improved the well-being of those who were already rich, or even provided economic stability."

Ball club takes flak for 'ball-less' promo

FISHKILL, N.Y., July 6 (UPI) -- A minor-league baseball team affiliated with Florida's Tampa Bay Rays has caught government flak for a promotion called "Ball-less Baseball" honoring women.

The Hudson Valley (N.Y.) Renegades promotion, set for Tuesday, is to have women only in Dutchess Stadium until the fifth inning as a "celebration of femininity and independence," the New York-Penn League team said.

Men would remain outside, entertained with a parking-lot tailgating party, with the game televised on big-screen televisions, the team's promo said.

Dutchess County Senior Assistant County Attorney Keith Byron wrote to the team, saying the event's name was in "poor taste." He also said female-only access might violate state human rights law and the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

"Dutchess County cannot in good conscience remain silent while its citizens are subject to invidious gender discrimination," he wrote.

The county owns the 4,500-seat stadium in Fishkill, N.Y.

The New York Lottery also pulled out as an event sponsor. Spokeswoman Jennifer Givens told the Kingston (N.Y.) Daily Freeman it did not want to sponsor an event that was "exclusionary in nature."

Team owner Jeff Goldklang told the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times the team was only "trying to have a little fun, create a unique kind of Ladies Night and poke a little fun at the political correctness that's taken over."

He said men will be allowed in if they want and boys will be let in with their mothers.

He also defended the promotion's "ball-less" title, which critics see as a reference to women not having testicles, telling the Freeman the name was a baseball reference and any sexual connotation was "fortunately or unfortunately coincidental."