Watercooler Stories

Technician claims to have filmed Nessie

INVERNESS, Scotland, June 1 (UPI) -- The legendary Loch Ness monster has made another film appearance, this time supposedly caught by the camcorder of an Englishman visiting the Scottish lake.

The 2-minute video made by Gordon Holmes of Shipley in Yorkshire reportedly shows something moving across Loch Ness, its head protruding from the water. The Glasgow Evening Times reports that the creature or object creates a wake in the water.

The monster has been described as a beast resembling the long-necked swimming reptiles known as plesiosaurs, which have been extinct for millions of years. Scientists say there is no way Loch Ness could support a significant population of large marine animals and there is no way plesiosaurs could have survived there.

Holmes, a technician at Bradford University, said he was at Loch Ness recording underwater sounds with a hydrophone. He grabbed his camcorder when he saw something moving on the surface.

"About 200 yards away from me I could see something in the water," he said. "It was definitely a creature propelling itself through the water. It was fairly bubbling along the water. It was streaking along."

Two Calif. men charged with grand theft

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 1 (UPI) -- Two men from San Jose, Calif., have been charged with grand theft after allegedly making thousands of dollars as "faith/mystic" healers.

Police said brothers John Salazar, 23, who called himself "Master Alexander," and Carlos Salazar, 34, convinced their clients they were possessed and needed to be cleansed, The San Jose Mercury News reported.

The older brother was arrested in April but police are searching for "Master Alexander," the newspaper said.

The brothers allegedly would perform tricks like turning water into "blood" while wearing robes, combining elements from many religions, including Wicca, Catholicism and Santeria, San Jose Police Detective Manuel Jurado told the Mercury News.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office charged the Salazar brothers with five counts of grand theft and one count of attempted grand theft.

Woman says she was kicked out of gay bar

MONTREAL, June 1 (UPI) -- A Canadian woman has filed a human rights complaint against a gay bar in Montreal that refused to serve her and asked her to leave.

Audrey Vachon was at Le Stud with her father, psychologist Gilles Vachon. When he told a waiter who refused to serve his daughter that discrimination is illegal, the man shrugged, Canwest News Service reported.

The bar advertises itself as "one of the most hard, manly, and virile establishments in town."

When she left the bar, Audrey Vachon spent some time studying the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"I could barely believe it," she said. "If some establishments prefer to serve men, that's fine. But to prevent the presence of women, that bothers me."

She said she is especially bothered about being discriminated against by a group that has suffered past discrimination. She filed her complaint under Article 10, an anti-discrimination law that was amended in 1977 to cover sexual orientation.

The human rights commission will first decide if Vachon has an admissible complaint, and then try to work out a friendly solution before taking the case to court, a spokesman said.

More drugs in air at Rome University

ROME, June 1 (UPI) -- An Italian air pollution survey has found that the highest levels of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs in Rome's air are found at the university.

The air also tends to be more filled with drugs in winter, Ansa, the Italian news agency, reported. Concentrations are also higher in parks than elsewhere in the city.

Angelo Cecinato, a researcher with the National Research Council, said the results do not necessarily mean more drugs are being consumed at the university.

"Because of the small number of measurements taken we can't really say with any great certainty that the university district is the most polluted with cocaine," Cecinato said.