Watercooler Stories

Homeless-themed duvet raises hackles

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Homeless advocates in Stockholm, Sweden, say the sale of a luxury duvet cover that resembles cardboard boxes is insulting.

The covers went on sale for $104 each last month at the high-end NK department store, drawing ire from a Stockholm homeless charity, the Aftonbladet newspaper reported.

Advocate Yvonne Borg said she couldn't see how sleeping under what appears to be cardboard would be "particularly pleasant" and said she saw the marketing as exploiting homeless people.

The bedding was designed by Dutch company Snurk, which says it donates a small portion of profits to homeless groups, the newspaper said.

Department store spokesman Jorgen Eriksson told the paper exploitation "is not the purpose" of the marketing.

"One buys it to show awareness," he said.

The duvet covers have been selling quickly and the department store said it was nearly out of stock, the report said.

Republicans report less but better sex

DALLAS, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A survey found Republicans in the United States are more likely to report sexual satisfaction but have sex less often.

The Singles in America survey was funded by dating Web site Match.com and carried out by scientists from The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University and the Institute for Evolutionary Biology at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Conservative Republicans reported finding satisfaction in almost every sexual encounter. They also reported having less sex than any other political group.

Liberal Democrats said they want partners they consider to be equal with a sense of humor and independence and similar lifestyle to their own. Republicans said they want partners from the same background and political persuasion.

Sixty-two percent of men and 80 percent of women said they consider monogamous relationships with fidelity a "must have." But 87 percent of men and 91 percent of women said politicians who stray have "no acceptable excuses."

Doberman gets international support

ROYAL OAK, Mich., Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A Doberman facing a possible death sentence in Michigan has been getting international support, with dog lovers signing an online petition.

Royal Oak officials have also been getting scores of phone calls and hundreds of e-mails, the Detroit Free Press reported. But officials in Royal Oak say they are not as hard-hearted as the villains depicted on saveheidi.com.

City Attorney David Gillam said the Doberman bit a man so hard in mid-October the man's nose was broken.

Heidi's owner has been given three alternatives, Gillam said. She can move elsewhere, have the dog put down or keep it on a leash and muzzled when it is out in public.

"Somehow it has been portrayed that we want to destroy this dog, have it drawn and quartered, for a dog that just gave a man a head butt. That could not be further from the truth," Gillam said.

The owner's version is that the man bent down over Heidi just as the dog lifted its head up.

Another TV Super Bowl for epic Pats fan

WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass., Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Longtime New England Patriots fan Charles Underwood says he has attended all but one home game in 46 years, including the one played the day his son was born.

Underwood, 72, of West Bridgewater, Mass., told the Boston Herald his wife soldiered on in the stands at Boston College in 1967 while he watched the Boston Patriots on the field.

"She was telling me the pain's getting sharper and sharper, but she stayed till the end of the game like a real trouper," Underwood reminisced. "Then I drove like crazy all the way to Taunton, where she was going to have the delivery."

The couple's first son was born just 15 minutes later and was soon part of the Underwood family ticket plan, which continues to this day.

Underwood told the Herald he will watch Sunday's Super Bowl on television, but he hopes to take his seat at a future title game featuring the beloved Pats.

"I think that all of the people who have been there 25 years or more should have an opportunity at Super Bowl tickets," he proposed. "They should probably have a priority for being dedicated to them for so long."