Monday, January 26, 2009

WEB BOHEMIAN (Monday, January 26, 2009)
(1)- BYE BYE VICKS VapoORUB -- The popular cold remedy Vicks VapoRub may cause airway inflammation that can restrict breathing in infants and toddlers, a new study says. Doctors at Wake Forest University started their study after treating an 18-month-old girl who had developed severe respiratory distress after the salve had been put directly under her nose to relieve cold symptoms.

(2)- UNUSUAL DEBT COLLECTOR -- In these difficult times for creditors, a Lithuanian debt collector is offering an unconventional service to retrieve arrears: witchcraft. The Vilnius-based firm has hired Vilija Lobaciuviene, the Baltic nation’s most famous self-styled witch, to hunt down companies and individuals who are failing to pay their debts amid the credit crunch.

(3)- MAFIA GODFATHER CAUGHT -- An on-the-the-run mafia Godfather who escaped police by fleeing along a sewer has been arrested at a private clinic where he was being treated. Giuseppe Setola, 38, who claims to be blind, suffered cuts and bruises after running for more than a mile through the sewer with his two bodyguards, who fired several shots at chasing police.

(4)- IT’S OKAY -- Peru's top court has ruled that workers cannot be fired for being drunk on the job, a decision that was criticized by the government on Wednesday for setting a dangerous precedent. The Constitutional Tribunal ordered that Pablo Cayo be given his job back as a janitor for the municipality of Chorrillos, which fired him for being intoxicated at work.

(5)- ENVIRONMENTAL ODDITIES -- It’s no secret that people in the UK are forever complaining about the weather, but it seems recently they were well within their rights. For the first time, a rare phenomenon usually only seen in extremely cold countries was spotted on the River Otten in Devon. A massive spinning ice circle caught the town's attention.

(6)- OOOOOPS!!- Administrators at an Indiana hospital said one of the three numbers listed for the hospital in the latest AT&T phone book connects callers to a phone sex line.Monroe Hospital Business Development and Marketing Vice President Matt French in Bloomington said the 32-bed hospital has received about a dozen calls since the phone book was released last week from residents concerned about the misprinted number.

(7)-PECULIAR LAWS -- Minnesota law requires all bathtubs have feet. It is also illegal to sleep naked, tease a skunk or cross state lines with a duck on your head. They may sound absurd, but these are actual laws on the books in Minnesota. Well, mostly. Some antiquated laws claimed to have been found by people simply don’t exist, she said. Others are legitimate, including these from the Winona city code: Any cottonwood tree which “sheds its seeds profusely” is a public nuisance; It is illegal to trap, kill or molest squirrels in any way.

(8)- THOSE INTERNET PILLS -- Three people are in hospital after taking a potentially fatal Chinese erection pill. News reports said the patients, two men and a woman, were all admitted to Royal Darwin Hospital after taking Nangen Zengzhangsu, a Chinese medication which claimed to enhance sexual function. Authorities have re-issued a warning that these pills could cause a diabetic coma, permanent brain injury or death.

(9)- NOT A NICE LADY -- A Luzerne County Pennsylvania woman is facing an assault charge after allegedly impaling her boyfriend with a meat thermometer. Ashley Sherlinski, 24, threw the thermometer at Eric Dixon, 33, when he opened the door at their apartment after she had been banging on it, police said. The thermometer stuck about a half-inch into his upper stomach area.

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