Watercooler Stories

Marine becomes recruitment poster hero

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- When he rescued a fellow Marine from a sewage canal in Iraq, Cpl. Michael Montemayor had no idea he would end up as a poster hero for Marine recruiting.

The 30-year-old San Jose, Calif., resident helped pull his colleague mired in the foul-smelling canal in March 2003 and thought nothing of it except doing his duty, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

But now Montemayor, who was promoted to sergeant before leaving the service, will be shown in recruitment billboard posters at several locations in the Bay Area. They will display his name and a synopsis of his Bronze Star citation.

The Marines are not discouraged by some critics who feel the service is using propaganda as a recruiting tool.

"We're going to try it here, because I don't think red states necessarily have a corner on heroism," said the commanding officer of the recruiting station in San Francisco.

"I didn't think I deserved it at all. It's what our job is over there," Montemayor said. "There's stuff like that going on over there every day."

Fill 'er up with recycled cooking oil

OBERLIN, Ohio, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- A former gas station in Oberlin, Ohio, could become the first in the Buckeye State to pump 100 percent recycled vegetable oil to power diesel vehicles.

Full Circle Fuel Center is the brainchild of Oberlin College graduate Sam Merrett and Biodiesel Cleveland owner Ray Holan. The pair met three years ago at Great Lakes Brewing Co., which runs its "Fatty Wagon" on biodiesel recycled by Holan's company.

"I've been energy conscious since high school," Merrett told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I wanted my environmental science degree to mean something."

Today, motorists who pay up to $2,000 to refit their vehicles can tap diesel-vegetable oil blends at Full Circle, which plans to offer 100 percent biodiesel next June.

That will be bolstered with cooking oil from every restaurant in Oberlin and Merrett's alma mater to produce 40 gallons of biodiesel a week.

In the winter months, though, the fuel will be capped at 20 percent vegetable oil since biodiesel loses viscosity in colder temperatures.

Source says Hilton admits making up attack

NEW YORK, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Socialite Paris Hilton has reportedly admitted making up the story about heiress Zeta Graff attacking her, the New York Post said Tuesday.

Graff filed a $10 million slander suit against the hotel heiress after media reports cropped up claiming she flew into a jealous rage and attacked Hilton at London club last year.

The Post quoted a source "close to the case" saying Hilton has admitted in a deposition that Graff never attacked her.

Furthermore, Hilton's former publicist Ron Shuter said in his deposition that the story he fed to gossip columns came from Hilton, herself.

Shuter had Hilton sign a waiver so she would be liable if he got sued and he also saved her e-mail messages and logged phone calls as well, the Post said.

"Hilton will learn a valuable lesson about what happens when you try to ruin another person's reputation," Graff said in a statement to the Post. "She made a number of false statements about me, and she repeatedly lied under oath during her recent deposition. I look forward to her explaining all of this to a jury."

Why Jan. 3 stinks

England, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The year is only a matter of days old but it is claimed we are already through the "toughest day of the year."

Returning to work after New Year excess, dented bank balances and ages to the summer are all to blame, it seems.

According to the recruitment consultancy Office Angels, three-quarters of people in a poll identified Jan. 3 as the killer date in their diaries, Sky News reported Tuesday.

The factors were identified as financial pressures, being physically drained, and bloated from too much food and drink.

Then there's the prospect of months in the gym getting back into shape and a long wait until the summer holidays.

According to the Daily Mail, Office Angels has devised a formula: Depleted wallet times three months of sun deprivation divided by excessive alcohol plus increased waistline equals toughest working day of 2006.

Managing director Paul Jacobs suggests people throw themselves into new projects and responsibilities at work to help forget their woes.