Watercooler Stories

Cash daughter miffed at Boehner for joke

NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The daughter of the late country singer Johnny Cash Tuesday took offense at one of U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner's stump speech lines.

The Ohio Republican invites his audience to hark back to the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was president, Bob Hope was still cracking jokes and Johnny Cash was still singing.

Now, Boehner says, we have Barack Obama in the White House and "no Hope and no Cash."

Though the line usually gets a laugh from Boehner's listeners, singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash doesn't think it's very funny.

"John Boehner: Stop using my dad's name as a punch line you (expletive deleted)," she said on her Twitter account.

NYC eliminates Christmas cards

NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- New York City Hall said officials are aiming to save money on paper costs by eliminating paper holiday cards and making double-sided copies.

A memo authored by Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith was distributed to city agency heads last week outlining a plan to save $1 million per year by making double-sided copies and $50,000 a year by eliminating paper holiday greetings, the New York Daily News reported.

"If agencies wish to send holiday or other types of greetings, they must utilize electronic greeting cards," Goldsmith said. "The savings will add up, and they will help us cultivate the culture of frugality necessary to weather tough times."

The deputy mayor said the cost-cutting measures are part of the "Quick Cost Savings program," which also calls for the elimination of bottled-water purchases and turning off computers that aren't in use.

"It will target needless and often hidden costs that, over the course of time, have become an accepted part of business," the memo said.

Court: Drunk driver may have been asleep

KARLSKRONA, Sweden, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A Swedish man was cleared of drunken driving charges in a court ruling saying he may have been sleepwalking when he got behind the wheel.

The 51-year-old man was cleared by the Blekinge District Court despite having a blood alcohol content higher than the legal limit when his car became stuck in a ditch in May, The Local reported.

"He fell asleep around 9 p.m. After that, he doesn't remember anything except that his next memory is that he woke up in the ditch outside his car together with a male named Magnus," the court's ruling reads. "He had on his nightshirt, sweatpants and slippers."

The court heard the man may have suffered from somnambulism, or sleepwalking, at the time of the incident.

"Somnambulism is a well known medical phenomenon where a person can carry out complex behaviors like walking, eating and making food, driving a car and having sex without actually being awake or aware of what's happening," the man's doctor wrote in documents submitted to the court.

City orders weeping statue's removal

WINDSOR, Ontario, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- A Canadian city is ordering a woman to remove a Virgin Mary statue -- purported to weep at night -- because it is drawing too many visitors.

Officials in Windsor, Ontario, said there have been numerous complaints from neighbors about large groups of people coming to their area and parking on their street to get a glimpse of the 5-foot statue, which owner Fadia Ibrahim said smiles during the day and weeps healing oil at night, the Windsor Star reported.

The Star said more than 100 people stopped to visit the statue Monday night.

Windsor's building department cited building-code violations in issuing Ibrahim an order to remove the statue by Nov. 19.

Ibrahim said she is considering moving the statue to a church.