Watercooler Stories

Brits bristle at Google's ogling

BROUGHTON, England, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Broughton, England, residents say they don't want detailed photos of their village on Google Street Finder, so they refuse to cooperate with photographers.

Street View, part of the Google Maps feature, allows Internet users close-up, 360-degree views of streets, houses and other buildings as well as yards, parks, schoolyards and pretty much any other public place that's outside.

Edward Butler-Ellis, 28, a Broughton resident, recalled fellow residents' reaction to the arrival of a Google photographer's vehicle.

"I don't think this guy anticipated how angry people would get," Butler-Ellis told the Los Angeles Times. "We didn't stand there with pitchforks or anything and block the road with bales of hay, but obviously people were agitated. . . . A car with a pole with a camera on top of it causes suspicions."

Other European locations also oppose having photos of their towns appear on the Internet.

Europe's generally strict laws on privacy have slowed Google's attempt to include photographs of European locations, the Times reported.

In Switzerland, people object to being caught on camera in compromising circumstances.

Some also fear that the Web photos might be used by strangers for burglary or blackmail, the newspaper said.

Google Inc. said it would work harder to scramble people's faces and automobile license plates in uploaded photos.

"The blurring technology is very effective and catches most faces and license plates in the millions of pictures we take," said Kay Oberbeck, chief spokeswoman for the Google's German, Swiss, and Austrian operations. "We give everybody the opportunity to inform us of any problematic image they might see, and usually it is taken down within hours,"

The company said it is working with a European data-protection task force to determine how long it will retain raw, unaltered data.

Google said it will also give residents better warning of when the cameras will roll into town, Oberbeck said.

British man digs up live grenade in yard

EXETER, England, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A British man digging in his back yard with a spade turned up a live World War II anti-tank grenade, police said.

Paul Davis, 32, thought the 8-inch-wide device was an old lawnmower part and took it in to his Exeter home, the Mail on Sunday reported.

A friend took a photo of him holding it.

Later, curious about the device, Davis checked the Internet, realized he had a grenade and called the police.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said police told a dozen residents to leave their houses before experts detonated the grenade.

Davis said the grenade wasn't buried that deep in the earth.

"I've asked around, and apparently the guy who used to live here years ago had an air raid shelter," Davies said.

"It must have been buried then. I'm glad I didn't hit it with my spade when I dug it up. It could have been kaboom."

Nearly 10,000 set cancan record

GLASGOW, Scotland, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Organizers of a mass cancan in Scotland said nearly 10,000 people participated in the dance to set a world record.

Officials with soft drink company IRN-BRU said the main event at Sunday's Can Clan festival in Glasgow, which also featured live music and free IRN-BRU for participants, was a five-minute cancan performed by nearly 10,000 people and confirmed as a record by a Guinness World Records adjudicator in attendance.

Robin Barr, who oversaw the Can Clan for IRN-BRU, praised the festival as a success and cheered participants for setting the world record.

"IRN-BRU Can Clan has captured the imagination of Scots from all over the country, even reaching other parts of the world such as Australia where people have signed up to be part of the Clan," he said. "I'm delighted that so many thousands have come together today for what can only be described as a phenomenal celebration and a record of which we can all be extremely proud."

Police: Men played porn DVD at Wal-Mart

FORT SMITH, Ark., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Police in Arkansas said they arrested two 20-year-old men accused of playing a pornographic movie on display televisions in a Wal-Mart store.

The Fort Smith Police Department said Cody Allen Sexton, 20, and store employee Kenny Dean Andrews, 20, allegedly took the promotional DVD from the player at the furniture aisle display at about 10:45 p.m. Sept. 3 and replaced it with a pornographic DVD, the Fort Smith Times Record reported Monday.

Police said the DVD player was connected to six TVs in the store.

"The pornographic DVD was visible to the general public as they were shopping," a police report of the incident stated.

"They thought they were just pulling a prank," Sgt. Levi Risley said, the newspaper reported.

Sexton and Andrews were arrested and charged with felony obscenity. They were taken to the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center.