Watercooler Stories

Politicians, car salesmen get no respect

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- People in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada don't have much respect for politicians and care salesman, a survey indicated.

In all three countries, the professions of politician and car salesman command respect from 31 percent or fewer residents, the poll by Angus Reid Strategies of San Francisco found.

The profession that commands the most respect in all three countries is nursing, at more than 90 percent. Farmers also merit a high level of respect -- at 95 percent in Canada and the United States and 81 percent in the Britain.

Architects, judges and dentists score high in all three countries as well. Americans and Britons hold veterinarians in high esteem with 92 percent of Americans and 87 percent of Britons ranking them high.

Only 47 percent of Canadians respect bankers and just 21 percent of Britons respecting them.

The survey of 1,003 Canadians, 1,582 Americans and 1,113 Britons was conducted online Aug. 13-26.

Clogged toilets delay flight 10 hours

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Biman Bangladesh Airlines said a flight from the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, to London was delayed for 10 hours due to clogged toilets.

Airline officials said workers spent two hours Sunday clearing the plane's five toilets, which were clogged with paper cups and other garbage flushed by passengers, and the flight was delayed by a further eight hours to comply with a night flight ban at London's Heathrow Airport, the BBC reported.

"Passengers threw bottles, cups, tissue papers and female sanitary napkins into all five toilets of the Biman aircraft," said Wing Commander Asaduzzaman, director of engineering for the carrier. "This solid material blocked the toilets and there was a jumble in the pneumatic toilet suction system. It was a passenger-created problem. There was no mechanical fault."

Aquarium sells sea lion art

NEWPORT, Ore., Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Officials with the Oregon Coast Aquarium said they have found a potent fundraiser in paintings created by a pair of sea lions.

Jen DeGroot, a marine mammalogist at the Newport facility, said she taught sea lion Lea to paint and make flipper prints two years ago as a means of keeping the mammal occupied, and she soon found fellow aquarium workers and animal lovers were willing to pay for the flipper art, The (Portland) Oregonian reported.

"We thought, 'This is a popular thing. We can make money for the animals,'" DeGroot said.

Paintings and prints by Lea and fellow sea lion Max are sailing off the shelves at the aquarium's gift shop, manager Candy Torney said.

"People are really impressed and after seeing this, they want to go back out and see the sea lions. It touches people who might not normally be animal appreciators," she said.

Lea and Max are also featured artists in Tifane Grayce's book, "Fur in My Paint."

'Star Trek' inspires fragrance line

TORONTO, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- An online company's line of "Star Trek" inspired fragrances was met with mixed reactions at the Fan Expo Canada convention in Toronto.

Genki Wear, an online fan merchandise company, is selling three new fragrances in the wake of this year's successful "Star Trek" film: Pon Farr, named for the mating ritual of the Vulcan species; Tiberius, named after Captain James Tiberius Kirk; and Red Shirt, a reference to the expendable extras commonly killed on away missions.

The fragrances drew the attention of several Star Trek fans attending the last day of the convention Sunday, the Toronto Star reported.

Sally Grande, 58, said she plans to wear Pon Farr every day and the Vulcan-inspired scent even found the interest of franchise star Leonard Nimoy.

However, some fans described the new products as an over-the-top marketing gimmick.

"How the hell does Star Trek smell anyway? To me it smells like a VHS tape," Maya Ter Stege, 21, said.