Knight Pierce Hirst has written for television, newspapers and greeting cards. Now she writes a 400-word blog three times a week. KNIGHT WATCH, a second look at what makes life interesting, takes only seconds to read at http://knightwatch.typepad.com
On June 16, 2009 during a television interview, President Obama told a pesky fly to go away. When the fly didn’t go, Obama swatted it with his hand and commented, “That was pretty impressive, wasn’t it? I got the sucker”. PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – wasn’t impressed and sent the President a “Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher”, a device for catching house flies alive to release outside. PETA supports “compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals”. Of course, PETA also wants to protect fish from being eaten by having people call fish “sea kittens”.
In June 2009 the Mexican navy seized more than a ton of cocaine that was hidden inside approximately 20 frozen sharks. The sharks were cargo on a container ship in port in the southern Mexican state of Yucatan. Although those in charge of the shipment said the substance was a preserving agent, tests confirmed it was cocaine. As Mexico increases its efforts to stop drug trafficking to the U.S., drug traffickers have gotten more creative. They’ve hidden cocaine inside furniture, religious statues and sealed beer cans. Seek and you shall find – especially with the help of x-ray machines and sniffer dogs.
In 2009 the town council race in Cave Creek, Arizona ended in a two-way tie. In this bedroom community outside Scottsdale with a population of less than 5,000 the winner was determined according to Arizona law. In Arizona local elections can be decided by chance: rolling dice, flipping a coin or cutting cards. After lawyers drew up two pages of rules for cutting cards – including the candidate cutting the highest card being the winner – the king of hearts beat the six of hearts. The election for Cave Creek’s new town council member was in the cards.
In 2009 hospitals and clinics in Prague, Czechoslovakia are trying to get more nurses by offering a unique bonus to nurses who sign a long-term contract – free face lifts and breast implants. One nurse justified the unusual signing bonus by saying patients recover faster if nurses are attractive. According to Dr. Esther Sternberg, author of “Healing Spaces”, there is substantial evidence that more attractive hospital rooms result in shorter hospital stays, less medical complications and fewer rehospitalizations. Dr. Sternberg also says that patients recover faster if nurses love their work. Maybe nurses in Prague wanting free cosmetic surgery love their work more.
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