FLASH LITES: RIP ‘N’ READ POP CULTURE RECAP
FLASH LITES: RIP ‘N’ READ POP CULTURE RECAP
LONDON (Wireless Flash) – A British sweets manufacturer is changing the name of one of its puddings because people are too embarrassed to ask for it by name. “Spotted Dick” pudding will be known as “Spotted Richard” from now on.
BEIJING – Chinese officials are cracking down on filthy school lunch rooms linked to several cases of food poisoning. The kitchens will now be subject to spot checks following a case in which two junior high teachers were caught placing rat poison in flour.
LOS ANGELES – It’s not quite such a “beautiful day in the neighborhood” since Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood host Fred Rogers has announced he will retire. The 73-year-old – who’s been on the show since 1968 – says he may do occasional Neighborhood specials in the future.
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Comedian Paula Poundstone’s lawyers are claiming their client is not a child molester. A judge has just set September 11 as a preliminary hearing date for child molestation charges. Her attorney says she is still in rehab and sees her children regularly.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Another dot-com failure? A Brazilian brothel plans to launch a web site aimed at making the house of il repute a major stop on the tourism trail. VilaMimoza.com claims to be Brazil’s oldest brothel, with more than 1500 prostitutes on the payroll.
SOUTH CHATHAM, Mass. – A 49-year-old Missouri man has been reunited with his high school class ring 30 years after losing it in the Atlantic Ocean. A retired engineer using a metal detector discovered the ring in the waters off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where the Missouri man lost it in 1970.
NEW DELHI, India – Doctors at a New Delhi hospital can breathe easy now that they’ve captured a monkey trapped inside the building’s air ducts. Surgeons say they could see a small face and pair of eyes peering through the ducts during operations for the past three days.
NASHVILLE – The spotlight hasn’t completely faded from Survivor castaway Gervase Peterson. On September 11, the game show contestant will participate in a celebrity golf tournament hosted by the country group Diamond Rio.
MOSCOW – Brigitte Bardot is chalking one up for the animals after successfully campaigning to keep a bullfight from taking place in Moscow. Following protests, city mayor Yury Luzhkov ordered the September 8 event to be canceled.
LITTLEPORT, Iowa – Suppose you exploded a town and nobody came? That’s the problem facing Littleport, Iowa. City officials plan to level 75 percent of the town and hope they can attract a movie studio willing to film the destruction for an action movie.