Odd News... March 09

[Bungleau]

3/3/09: Math fans to celebrate Square Root Day

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Dust off the slide rules and recharge the calculators. Square Root Day is upon us.

The math-buffs' holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).

"These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they're gone," said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event.

The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event.

Gordon's daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol.

The last such day was five years ago, Feb. 2, 2004, which coincided with Groundhog Day. The next is seven years away, on April 4, 2016.
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Not really odd, but just pretty cool... have a very happy Square Root Day, all you geeks out there!

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Oh boy, it's the square root of the Trinity!

..maybe I can have a day of prayer?!

[Bungleau]

The Trinity is now 9? Wow... who knew?

Anyway, it was just pointed out to me that the proper beverage of choice to celebrate this day *has* to be root beer...

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Ok, the square root "IS" trinity!
..and keep the beer out of it..

[Bungleau]

It's only root beer... you can get that at work

Someone else pointed something else out to me... that we're 6 years and 11 days to pi day

....... 3.14.15 9:26:53.589

[Bungleau]

Iowa department for elderly may have DOA acronym

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Lawmakers in Iowa on Wednesday raised some eyebrows when they voted to rename a department that deals with seniors, allowing it to carry the acronym DOA.

DOA is a term that stands for dead-on-arrival.

"You can't have an acronym like this when you're referring to elderly people," Rep. Dave Heaton, 68, said after both houses of the legislature voted to change the name of the Department of Elder Affairs to the Department on Ageing (DOA).

Heaton said he was offended and suggested the department should consider referring to itself as DA instead.

The change was spurred by the legislature's desire to make the department's name conform with those of federal agencies that deal with the elderly, said Rep. Janet Peterson, who is 38.

She noted that the department's previous name was a problem as well because some older Iowans did not want to be known as "elders."

"Maybe we just won't have an acronym for them," she said.

Iowa's governor must approve the name change for it to become law.

(Reporting by Kay Henderson; Editing by Paul Simao)
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Brought to you by the same people who can't figure out that they shouldn't name their kids Alice Sally Simpson, Richard Head, and so on...

[Bungleau]

Police say shoplifter spent 12 hours in store

LONGVIEW, Wash. – Police said a shoplifter spent 12 hours inside a Winco Foods store on Monday, hiding items before she tried to check out. She did pay for $80 worth of groceries, but was stopped by store employees after leaving the store. The Longview Daily News reported that an employee told police he saw the woman take a pair of scissors from a shelf and use it to cut packaging off merchandise.

The newspaper said employees searched her bags and found more than 100 small items worth more than $300 that she didn't pay for: greeting cards, children's toys, sunglasses and batteries.

The woman, 57, woman was booked into jail for investigation of theft. Employees said they were suspicious because she entered the store before 5 a.m. and stayed until 5 p.m.
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Information from: The Daily News, http://www.tdn.com
======================

Ya think she would have at least changed an outfit or something...

[VulcanRider]

"What are you doing here?": man asks wife at brothel.
WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees.

Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.

"I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper on Wednesday.

The couple, married for 14 years, are now divorcing, the newspaper reported.

[Stratos]

^ I bet they have alot to talk about when they come home.

ETA: I divorce, I see.

[VulcanRider]

Criminal justice student recognizes bank robbery suspect in surveillance video: It's his dad!

An Oklahoma criminal justice student got a real-life ethics lesson when he realized he knew a local bank robbery suspect caught on surveillance tape by police. It was his dad.

"I sat there for about an hour, thinking about what I should do," said Michael Siany, 21, a junior majoring in criminal justice at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla. "A lot of things went through my mind, but I knew the right thing to do."

Cops knew his father, 51-year-old David Louis Siany, well.

He was arrested in 2000 for planning to rob a Texas bank and served more than two years for unarmed robberies at three banks in Oklahoma and Minnesota. The elder Siany was arrested early last month for two separate robberies in Oklahoma in January. Police said he made away with $5,188.

His son said he knew about his estranged father's criminal record and didn't struggle too much with his decision after seeing his mother raise him and his brother alone.

"My father used to love spending time at the racetrack, and he got into debt," Siany said.

"He just got into more and more debt. He needed money quickly, and (robbing banks) was the quickest way to get out of debt."

"I'm sure he's a good person somewhere down in there, but for some reason he does these bad things," he said.

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I don't think Family Visitation Day is gonna go well...