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san fRancisco’s no. 1 PRobLem Having recently encouraged routine composting of dinner leftovers, the ecology-conscious city is now considering environmentally friendly public urinals. In the PPlanter, created by engineer Brent Bucknum, users flush the waste (using runoff from handwashing) into a bed of bamboo. Bucknum claims minimal maintenance and an odor-free experience, but due to San Francisco’s sour experience with lockable public toilets, which shielded sex acts and crime, only a user’s midsection area is blocked from public view. entRePReneuRiaL sPiRit • Branko Bogdanov, 58, his wife, Lela, 52, and daughter Julia, 34, were arrested in March and charged in a 10-year shoplifting enterprise run out of their upscale Northbrook, Ill., home, which they allegedly used as a base while prowling stores in states as far away as Florida, stealing high-end toys and jewelry, which they resold on eBay and to their fences. Police estimate the Bogdanovs swiped as much as $7 million worth, stashing many items in Lela’s customized flowing skirts with hidden pockets. • Latest female beauty Products: Cosmetic surgery is expensive, but Japanese girls and women obsessed with a more “Western” look have these low-priced alternatives, fashion blogger Liz Katz noted in January: (1) the $63 FaceSlimmer Exercise Mouthpiece (insert for three minutes a day, make vowel sounds and watch a “saggy” mouth turn taut); (2) the Beauty Lift High Nose nostril clip, which emits electronic vibrations to raise the proboscis’s profile; (3) the equally painful-looking Nose Straightener (insert for 20 minutes a day for added “perkiness”).
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Studios can digitally “remove” the condoms during post-production, but the cost is prohibitive (about $100,000 to re-digitize the estimated 90,000 frames in a typical “lowbudget” porno film). Falcon’s president said he’s exploring the use of clever lighting during filming to de-emphasize the condom. • Security and law enforcement agencies are looking beyond traditional biometric identification techniques, since fingerprints and iris scans are obtrusive, and facial recognition is of questionable accuracy. Philadelphia’s Monell Chemical Senses Center has shown that ear secretions may reveal personal identity, ethnicity, health status and sexual orientation. Meanwhile, researchers at the Polytechnic University of Madrid have found that recognizable patterns in body odor remain stable even through disease and dietary changes. Leading economic indicatoRs • Chinese farmers typically earn the equivalent of about $1,300 a year. But in Jianshe village in southwest Sichuan province, farmers have established a cooperative capitalist model, and in January officials delivered residents their annual dividend in cold cash — the equivalent of about $2.1 million to split among 438 households. Authorities unloaded banknotes in stacks that constituted a 7-foot-high wall of money, requiring villagers to pull 24-hour shifts to guard it. • With property values sky-high in posh London boroughs like Chelsea and Kensington, some superwealthy residents desiring to expand are building down, constructing elaborate, multistory basements. CNN reported in January that additions are underway for subterranean home theaters, gyms, golf simulators, bowling alleys and even swimming pools. X
science faiR • technological know-How at work: According to a January report on Salon.com, hard-core pornography fans are split over whether male actors should use condoms. California’s Falcon
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Read daiLy Read News of the Weird daily with Chuck Shepherd at www.weirduniverse.net. Send items to weirdnews@earthlink.net or PO Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679.
T he
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TAPROOM & PIZZERIA 56 TAPS • est. 1994 • 100 BEERS
DIRECTED BY: ANGIE FLYNN-MCIVER STARRING: WILLIE REPOLEY AND HANNAH SLOAT
March 19 - April 13 Tickets: $14-$30 Students: $10 Pay what you can
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Kids Eat FREE Pint Special Dr. Brown’s Team Trivia Live Jazz, Alien Music Club
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This smart, sexy comedy was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play.
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