No Fair!

What parent hasn't heard that from a child who thinks another youngster got more of something? Well, it turns out dogs can react the same way.

Ask them to do a trick, and they'll give it a try. For a reward, they'll happily keep at it.

But if one dog gets no reward, and then sees another get a sausage treat for doing the same trick, just try to get the first one to do it again. Indeed, he may even turn away and refuse to look at you.

Dogs, like people and monkeys, seem to have a sense of fairness.

"Animals react to inequity," said Friederike Range of the University of Vienna, who led a team of researchers testing animals at the school's Clever Dog Lab. "To avoid stress, we should try to avoid treating them differently."

Similar responses have been seen in monkeys.

Range said she wasn't surprised at the dogs' reaction, since wolves - the ancestors of modern dogs - are known to cooperate with one another and appear to be sensitive to each other.

In the reward experiments reported in today's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Range and colleagues experimented with dogs that understood the command "paw," to place their paw in the hand of a researcher. It's the same game as teaching a dog to "shake hands."


Those that refused at the start were removed. That left 29 dogs to be tested in varying pairs.

The dogs sat side by side with an experimenter in front of them. In front of the experimenter was a divided food bowl with pieces of sausage on one side and brown bread on the other. The dogs were asked to shake hands, and each could see what reward the other received.



When one dog got a reward and the other didn't, the unrewarded animal stopped playing. When both got a reward, all was well.

One thing that did surprise the researchers was that - unlike primates - the dogs didn't seem to care whether the reward was sausage or bread.

The Jewelry Maker

Over Thanksgiving weekend our family had its annual gathering at the Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley.


Stayed 2 1/2 days. Beautiful place. Beautiful weather. Played golf with my brother, sister in law and nephew. My nephew was very frustrated at times, (at one point shouting "I hate golf!") but had some nice shots, too. Found out afterwards that was the first time he'd ever played on a golf course. All of his previous experience was on the practice range. In view of that, he really did quite well, for the course on which we played was not easy.


My sister was there, too. Along with her job at Les Habitudes, she makes jewelry. In the past, she sold her stuff through some small boutiques in the Beverly Hills area, but recently began to sell her stuff online.

I found this a little comical, for my sister is not a techy person - she doesn't know how to use an Ipod and only got a computer a couple of years ago (she's 49). She had a lot of trouble with that first computer, a Dell, so she got herself a Mac. She loves it.

Anyway, she shows up at Thanksgiving with a digital camera (!) and news of her online jewelry sales. Just goes to show that you can teach an old dog new tricks....

She sells through a site called Etsy. Her vendor name is Rubyjewel. Below is the address and a slideshow of some of her things. Click on a photo to get a larger view.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6247312

Bikes!

A couple of your former classmates paid me an unexpected visit the other day. Upon entering my house, one of them said, "Wow, Mr T, you have a lot of bikes!" Then, in true Mill Valley one-upmanship fashion, she continued, "My Dad has more than you."

Riding bikes is something I do to stay fit, relax and clear my head. A bike ride is my version of a space walk. Its a great way to work things out in my mind.

I've got several bikes, each ridden with a different purpose. Here they are:


The workhorse (above): the bike I ride the most. Cannondale Synapse. Carbon fiber frame. Fast, agile, light (18 lbs) and comfortable.


Mountain Bike: Specialized Stumpjumper Hardtail. Aluminum. A descendant of the first mass-produced mountain bike. 23 lbs.


Fixed gear: Schwinn Madison. Off season/pre season training bike. The most difficult bike to ride, because you can't coast on it. Makes you a better bike handler. Steel frame, 22 lbs.


27 speed: Lemond Tete de Course. Titanium frame. Great bike, but a little too big for me. Just sold. 19 lbs.


Super bike project: Lemond Victoire. Carbon Fiber frame. Building from hand picked parts. When finished, this bike will weigh just over 16 lbs.

Halloween Photos

Strange photos of...what?

The Brown Lady



This portrait of "The Brown Lady" ghost is arguably the most famous and well-regarded ghost photograph ever taken. The ghost is thought to be that of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount of Raynham, residents of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England in the early 1700s. It was rumored that Dorothy, before her marriage to Charles, had been the mistress of Lord Wharton. Charles suspected Dorothy of infidelity. Although according to legal records she died and was buried in 1726, it was suspected that the funeral was a sham and that Charles had locked his wife away in a remote corner of the house until her death many years later.

Dorothy's ghost is said to haunt the oak staircase and other areas of Raynham Hall. In the early 1800s, King George IV, while staying at Raynham, saw the figure of a woman in a brown dress standing beside his bed. She was seen again standing in the hall in 1835 by Colonel Loftus, who was visiting for the Christmas holidays. He saw her again a week later and described her as wearing a brown satin dress, her skin glowing with a pale luminescence. It also seemed to him that her eyes had been gouged out. A few years later, Captain Frederick Marryat and two friends saw "the Brown Lady" gliding along an upstairs hallway, carrying a lantern. As she passed, Marryat said, she grinned at the men in a "diabolical manner." Marryat fired a pistol at the apparition, but the bullet simply passed through.

This famous photo was taken in September, 1936 by Captain Provand and Indre Shira, two photographers who were assigned to photograph Raynham Hall for Country Life magazine. This is what happened, according to Shira:

"Captain Provand took one photograph while I flashed the light. He was focusing for another exposure; I was standing by his side just behind the camera with the flashlight pistol in my hand, looking directly up the staircase. All at once I detected an ethereal veiled form coming slowly down the stairs. Rather excitedly, I called out sharply: 'Quick, quick, there's something.' I pressed the trigger of the flashlight pistol. After the flash and on closing the shutter, Captain Provand removed the focusing cloth from his head and turning to me said: 'What's all the excitement about?'"

Upon developing the film, the image of The Brown Lady ghost was seen for the first time. It was published in the December 16, 1936 issue of Country Life. The ghost has been seen occasionally since.

Ghost in the Burning Building


On November 19, 1995, Wem Town Hall in Shropshire, England burned to the ground. Many spectators gathered to watch the old building, built in 1905, as it was being consumed by the flames. Tony O'Rahilly, a local resident, was one of those onlookers and took photos of the spectacle with a 200mm telephoto lens from across the street. One of those photos shows what looks like a small, partially transparent girl standing in the doorway. Nether O'Rahilly nor any of the other onlookers or firefighters recalled seeing the girl there.

O'Rahilly submitted the photo to the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena which, in turn, presented it for analysis to Dr. Vernon Harrison, a photographic expert and former president of the Royal Photographic Society. Harrison carefully examined both the print and the original negative, and concluded that it was genuine. "The negative is a straightforward piece of black-and-white work and shows no sign of having been tampered with," Harrison said.

But who is the little girl? Wem, a quiet market town in northern Shropshire, had been ravaged by fire in the past. In 1677, historical records note, a fire destroyed many of the town's old timber houses. A young girl named Jane Churm, the legends say, accidentally set fire to a thatched roof with a candle. Many believed her ghost haunted the area and had been seen on a few other occasions.

Railroad Crossing Ghost


A strange legend surrounds a railroad crossing just south of San Antonio, Texas. The intersection of roadway and railroad track, so the story goes, was the site of a tragic accident in which several school-aged children were killed - but their ghosts linger at the spot and will push idled cars across the tracks, even though the path is uphill.

The story may be just the stuff of urban legend, but the accounts were intriguing enough that I wrote an article about the phenomenon, "The Haunted Railroad Crossing." The article included a photograph submitted by Andy and Debi Chesney. Their daughter and some of her friends had recently been to the crossing to test the legend, and she took some photographs. Inexplicably, a strange, transparent figure turned up in one of the photos. "They had no idea that it was in the picture until the next day when I printed out the picture and showed them," said the Chesneys. "It was really freaky. It appears to be a little girl carrying a teddy bear."

Other readers who have viewed the photo think it shows a little girl with a dog sitting at her feet. What do you think?

Tulip Staircase Ghost


Rev. Ralph Hardy, a retired clergyman from White Rock, British Columbia, took this now-famous photograph in 1966. He intended merely to photograph the elegant spiral staircase (known as the "Tulip Staircase") in the Queen's House section of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England. Upon development, however, the photo revealed a shrouded figure climbing the stairs, seeming to hold the railing with both hands. Experts, including some from Kodak, who examined the original negative concluded that it had not been tampered with. It's been said that unexplained figures have been seen on occasion in the vicinity of the staircase, and unexplained footsteps have also been heard.

Interesting side note: This photo isn't the only evidence of ghostly activity at the Queen's House. The 400-year-old building is credited with several other apparitions and phantom footsteps even today. Recently, a Gallery Assistant was discussing a tea break with two colleagues when he saw one of the doors to the Bridge Room close by itself. At first he thought it was one of the lecturers. "Then I saw a woman glide across the balcony, and pass through the wall on the west balcony," he said. "I couldn't believe what I saw. I went very cold and the hair on my arms and my neck stood on end. We all dashed through to the Queen's Presents Room and looked down towards the Queen's Bedroom. Something passed through the ante-room and out through the wall. Then my colleagues all froze too. The lady was dressed in a white-grey colour crinoline type dress."

Other ghostly goings-on include the unexplained choral chanting of children, the figure of a pale woman frantically mopping blood at the bottom of the Tulip Staircase (it's said that 300 years ago a maid was thrown from the highest banister, plunging 50 feet to her death), slamming doors, and even tourists being pinched by unseen fingers.

To the Kids that had Maggie

Have you guys realized that Maggie isn't letting us post on any of the blogs she made for us now the 5th graders get to use them. I think that we should be able to use the blogs too.

What do you guys think?

Humans vs. Zombies

Do you remember the Scorpion game we started at Alice Eastwood? Well, college students play a version of the game too. They call it HvZ (Humans vs. Zombies) or Zombie tag. The game lasts 24 hrs per day, 7 days per week. Sounds like a lot of fun. Check out this article:


By Matthew Daneman, USA TODAY
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Al Palmer has a slim build, an easy smile, and a near-insatiable hunger for human flesh.

Palmer, 27, of Litchfield, Maine, is an industrial-design student at Rochester Institute of Technology. He wears in his headband the IDs of 17 students who had been humans until he tagged them, turning them into zombies.

"I get the biggest kick out of walking up behind someone who's looking all around except behind them," he says as his group prepares to head out into the night. "It gets your heart pumping, that exhilaration."

Welcome to the world of Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ), a tag-like game that is the latest trend in campus entertainment. An HvZ game typically involves hundreds of students and runs 24 hours a day for days on end; dwindling numbers of humans try to fend off and outlast growing legions of zombies.

The rules are fundamentally simple: Zombie tags human, human becomes a zombie. Unlike movie zombies, with shambling walks and undead makeup, zombies in the game just wear headbands to distinguish them from armband-wearing humans. And they are free to sprint.

Humans ward off zombies with Nerf guns or by hitting them with a balled-up sock — a defensive move that stuns the zombie, usually for 15 minutes. The goal is to still be a live human at the end.

A group of students at Goucher College in Towson, Md., is credited with starting the game, which has spread across the USA. Addicted to the first-person shooter video game Splinter Cell, the students wanted to create a live version of it on campus; it turned into tag and then became zombie-fied, says Goucher graduate Brad Sappington, one of the creators.

"It just unfolded like that: 'We like zombies. Let's find a way to make real zombies at college.'"

The Internet has played a big role in the spread of the game. Goucher students created a website (hvzsource.com) that is a repository of information about and rules for the game. And YouTube videos of the game being played at Goucher have found fans at other schools.

Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., hosted its first student-organized HvZ game last fall after one student stumbled across online video footage of the game and brought the idea there, says Jason White, 23, a senior from Indianapolis who is organizing a tournament there this week.

RIT hosted its first HvZ game last fall after Zack Bessler, 21, a computer science major from Lyman, Maine, said he came across information about the game.

"It just sounded like ridiculous amounts of fun," Bessler says. "Does it get any better than zombie-themed tag?"

Daneman writes for the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle.

Have You Seen This? Lots of it was Made on a ...Mac

September 18, 2008 (Computerworld) Several digital images that Microsoft Corp. has posted on its Web site to trumpet its new "I'm a PC" advertising campaign were actually created on Macs, according to the files' originating-software stamp.

Four of the images that Microsoft made available on its PressPass site today display the designation "Adobe Photoshop C3 Macintosh" when their file properties are examined. The images appear to be frames from the television ads that Microsoft will launch later today.

One of the images is of a real Microsoft engineer, identified only as "Sean," who resembles John Hodgman, the actor who plays the PC character in Apple Inc.'s iconic ads. Reportedly, Microsoft will play off Apple's own campaign -- during which Hodgman introduces himself with the line, "Hello, I'm a PC" -- with its engineer saying "Hello, I'm a PC, and I've been made into a stereotype."

China Announces Successful Astronaut Launch - Before the Rocket Leaves the Ground

CHINA'S leading Xinhua news agency reported the successful flight of the Shenzhou VII - complete with detailed dialogue between the astronauts - hours before the nation's third-ever manned space mission had even lifted off.

On Thursday morning, Xinhua posted a story on its website saying the Shenzhou capsule had been successfully tracked flying over the Pacific Ocean even though the rocket and its three astronauts had not yet been launched.

The article, dated September 27, described the rocket in flight, complete with a sharply detailed dialogue between the three astronauts.

Excerpts are below:

"After this order, signal lights all were switched on, various data show up on rows of screens, hundreds of technicians staring at the screens, without missing any slightest changes ...

"One minute to go!' 'Changjiang No.1 found the target! ...

"The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time ...

"The air pressure in the cabin is normal!

"Ten minutes later, the ship disappears below the horizon. Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean."

An editor at Xinhau told AFP that the story had been posted due to a technical problem.

"We dealt with it after we had found it," the editor said.

The Shenzhou VII was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China shorlty after 9pm (AEST) Thursday.

The mission, expected to last three to four days, is devoted almost entirely to the execution of the spacewalk, and is expected to help China master the technology for docking two orbiters to create the country's first orbiting space station in the next few years.

- A "technical problem"? how bout an honesty problem?

How Not to Wash the Inside of a Car

If your parents ever ask you to wash their car, don't do it like this...

Global Cooling, or the Calm Before the Storm?

A sunspot is a dark spot on the sun caused by magnetic activity. They're way to technical to explain here, but it's important to note that sunspot activity has a great impact on Earth's weather - the more sunspots, the wilder (and usually warmer) our weather.


(above: the size of a typical sunspot compared to Earth)

In an active month, the sun produces around 100 sunspots. In August 2008, there were none, and in the 7 months before that, there were only an average of 3 sunspots per month. What does this mean for Earth's weather?

Some scientists believe that this marks a period called a Maunder Minimum, a period in which there is very little sun activity. The last Maunder Minimum occurred between 1645 and 1715. During that time the Earth experienced a "mini ice age" in which the Earth became much cooler than it is now. The Northern Hemisphere was particularly hard hit.

Another group of scientists believes that almost the exact opposite will happen. They believe that we are seeing a calm period that marks the beginning of a period of intense solar activity. They call it Cycle 24 and predict that it will be the most intense solar cycle on record. They predict that Cycle 24 will reach peak intensity in 2012 - the year the Mayan calendar ends.

The Cause of the Obesity Epidemic?

I'm sure you've heard that Americans are getting fatter every year (though not in Marin - a recent newspaper article said that Marin's population was the "thinnest" in California - must be because of the great PE teachers we have here).

Many theories have been offered as to the reasons; increasing portion sizes at restaurants, too much junk food, lack of exercise, too much TV, too much time playing video games or too much time working at the computer.

It's been established that junk food is a major cause of American obesity. The average American's diet is 30% junk food. Favorite junk foods are sugary snacks and sodas.

Now, it turns out that the computer part may be right, too, but in an unexpected way.


In a recent study, a group of students were asked to complete three tasks: 1) sit and relax, 2) read and summarize a text and 3) complete a series of tests on a computer. After spending 45 minutes on each task, the students were allowed to eat as much as they wanted at a buffet.



The results of the study showed that, compared to the number of calories they ate after just sitting and relaxing, the students ate 203 more calories after summarizing a text and 253 more calories after taking tests on the computer.



Did the students eat all these extra calories because computer work required that much more energy than relaxing?

No. The computer work required only burned 3 extra calories. It did, however, alter the body's chemistry, making the students feel hungry.

How much extra is 253 calories? An average human burns between 2000 and 2500 calories per day. 253 calories is an extra 10%.

Let Sleeping Dogs (and snakes) Lie

The Dangers of Plastic Shopping Bags

Cut and paste this link to see what happens to those plastic bags we get at the store after we throw them away or try to recycle them...

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016

The Up Series and Us

I write this post on the first day of the 2008-09 school year. I want to use this moment to remind you that this blog is for the members of the Park School class of '08. It is a place where you are welcome to post anything that strikes your fancy. I think that this may be especially important now that you are all in different school and aren't together anymore.

So far, I've written about 95% of the posts. I did that because I knew that most of you were doing summer type things and that posting to a blog was one of the farthest things from your minds. I posted then, to keep the blog moving forward.

Now, it's your turn. I'll be posting less frequently because I'll be busy with school, so it's your turn to take up the baton.

Here's what I'd really like to see:

The "Up Series" is famous set of documentaries which started in 1964 by following a group of seven year old kids.


Every seven years after that, the filmakers do an update.


Three of the girls, Jackie, Lynn and Sue, age 7.


the same girls, age 14


and again, age 21

The last one they did came out in 2006, when the "kids" turned 49. Cool, huh?

I thought that we could try something like that. Now, I don't mean to keep going until you're 49, but maybe we can keep this going until you get out of high school. All we have to do to make it work is to keep posting.

Spa Camp

Well, now we know how some of you spent this summer...

What follows is from the San Francisco Chronicle of Sunday August 24:

There's apparently no limit to how far a girl will go in pursuit of beauty, even if it means licking her own feet.

The cocoa-yogurt foot paste on Chloe Jacobs' toes wasn't meant to be ingested, but the all-natural pedicure treatment at Flying Beauticians spa in Mill Valley was, as owner Nona Daron had promised, made of foodstuffs found in an everyday kitchen and as safe to eat as to put on one's exterior.

It didn't hurt that Chloe, being all of 11, was inclined to be a little silly, especially after Daron had jokingly egged her on.


Chloe Jacobs, 11, licks off her edible foot paste.

Oh, the things that happen at summer camp - and what a camp Daron ran for tweens this summer in Marin: a "spa campaign," or beauty school that sought to teach girls about health and beauty from the inside out.

While other children were finishing sessions at tennis camp, science camp or Bible camp, a handful of girls in the affluent Marin County enclave - the daughters of financiers, engineers, consultants and the like - were learning about the benefits of footbaths with warm water, lavender and sea salt; honey, sea salt and ground ginger foot scrub; and foot massages with olive oil and avocado paste. Manicures followed on Tuesday, lessons on sunscreen on Wednesday, yoga and meditation on Thursday, and more massage treatments - for anyone the girls wanted to bring in and practice their new skills on - on Friday.

It was the second session of its kind Daron offered this summer - five days of training from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., for $375 per person (lunch not included).

In addition to the pampering, there were hourlong morning hikes and other activities designed to help girls of an impressionable age learn that presenting a confident, attractive self to the world does not revolve entirely around slathering oneself with the latest expensive creams, lipsticks or perfumes.


Kim Juarez (far right) leads campers on a daily hike.

"This camp is about simple things we can do to make ourselves feel good," Daron told six middle schoolers. "It's not about how you look on the outside, it's about the inside. If you're healthy and confident, your beauty will shine through."

Daron, whose mother was an aesthetician in Russia, owned her own spa in San Francisco for 15 years before setting up a second branch in Mill Valley three years ago. The summer camp, she said, is a way to give back to the community. The pricing offsets the closure of the spa to all other customers during the six-hour period.

To Daron's credit, she used only products found in a typical kitchen cupboard, rather than promoting brands sold in her store - with the exception of fingernail polish, "something I can't make myself." She also enlisted the help of Kim Juarez, owner of fitness center Team Lola, to lead girls on their morning hikes and talk about nutrition, and Michelle Lawton, of Stretch the Imagination, to teach yoga.


This was no group of newbies, but a sophisticated bunch of 10- to 13-year-olds. All had received manicures and pedicures before. When Daron brought up the subject of women subjecting themselves to severe discomfort for the sake of beauty, most had already heard about Chinese foot-binding practices. One even knew the various pressure points on the foot that promoted relief of spinal pain.

"How do you know that?" Daron asked.

"I've had reflexology," said May Congdon, 13, an eighth-grader at Marin Country Day School.

At times, the camp operated more like a daytime slumber party, with girls giggling at the prospect of mashing avocadoes and olive oil in a bowl with their feet to prepare a paste for massage.

"Please, don't tickle me!" squealed Chloe Jacobs, 11, a student at Mill Valley Middle School, as Darcy Groves, 11, rubbed a sea salt paste onto her feet.

"I'm exfoliating!" corrected Darcy, another Marin Country Day School student.

As a group, the girls acknowledged that they already are feeling the pressure to conform, both from cliques who ostracize them for no apparent reason and from the media's body image standards.

"I'm a twig," said Ryann Morris, 13, an eighth-grader at Marin Country Day School. "I've always been a twig. It's annoying. Nothing fits me."

But, they added, their mothers try to combat those negative messages with more positive ones, even if the old refrain "It's not what's on the outside, but what's on the inside" elicits groans.

That's not to say that the camp's messages didn't seep in, at least a little.

In June, Bailey and Jordan Chavez, students at Mill Valley Middle School, attended the first session, and they said they had learned much about nutrition and have changed their eating habits since.

"I eat a lot less junk food since then," Bailey, 11, said. "Our family has a sweet tooth. Of course, when you have a sweet tooth you love eating candy. It was hard for us, but we cut down on a lot of sweets, and on the amount we eat."

"I feel a lot better," Jordan, 13, said, "because I know I'm not having all those calories."

At 2 p.m. Monday, however, it was the second round of campers who were busy at work when spa regular Jayne Greenberg, an event planner in town, walked in to make an appointment for a brow waxing.

"Is this closed for a private party?" she inquired.

"No, it's spa camp," she was told.

"Spa camp? I've never heard of it before," she said. "Only in Mill Valley."

Man Uses Barbie Fishing Rod to Make Record Catch

Aug 22, 2:51 AM EDT

ELKIN, N.C. (AP) -- David Hayes' granddaughter had just asked him to hold her Barbie rod and reel while she went to the bathroom. He did. Seconds later, he landed a 21 pounds, 1 ounce channel catfish. It was the largest channel cat ever caught in North Carolina.

Alyssa's father bought her the pink Barbie fishing rod for Christmas. She had caught a few bluegill before her grandfather hauled in the catfish.

Hayes and his granddaughter have been fishing in the pond behind his house since she was big enough to hold a pole.

Hayes said his granddaughter worried he would break her rod. He landed the 21-pound fish on a 6-pound test line. It was 32 inches long, 2 inches longer than the rod.

The Dumbest Hoax Of All Time?

Early this month, two hunters from Georgia claimed to have found a dead Bigfoot. They even had photos to prove it.

This news caused a national sensation. Proof that a mythical creature exists! Closer examination (and not really all that close) showed otherwise.

First of all, both of the photos supposedly showing the bigfoot were out of focus. In this day and age of auto-focus digital cameras with instant photo previews and scores of photo enhancing software programs, how is this even possible? If you're really trying to prove something to someone, don't you take the best pictures you can?

One of the photos shows the body in a pool of water at the bottom of a freezer:


"It was in a block of ice", claimed the hunters, "the water is what is left of the ice."

While the other is supposed to be a picture of the creature's mouth:


In press conference broadcast nationwide, the hunters claimed that the body was at "an undisclosed location, awaiting examination by qualified experts."

The hunters did, however take a tissue sample, which they sent for a DNA test.

The test proved that Bigfoot was an oppossum. Oops.

A couple of days later, an expert was able to examine the body.

It turned out to be a rubber costume.

Did these guys really think they were going to fool people? They must have had a few too many beers.

One of the hunters was a policeman. After this was over, he got fired.

The Cocoanut Grove Revisited

The 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire (See "An Answer and a New Puzzle" 8/7) started when a waiter, searching for something on the floor in a dark corner of the room, lit a match. Some paper decorations then caught fire. The fire quickly spread throughout the club. Customers got trapped inside. 492 people died.

Three things caused the customers to get trapped:

1. The main entrance was a revolving door. Panicked customers trying to get out clogged the door, preventing it from opening.
2. A door leading to a side street was locked.
3. A window facing the main street was boarded up.

As a result of this tragedy, building codes throughout the USA were changed. The new rules were:

1. Revolving doors had to have a regular door next to them.
2. All regular doors had to be unlocked while the building was open to the public.
3. All regular doors had to open outward.

The next time you are in a public building, check to see if these rules are being followed.

Rare Dolphins Caught on Film

These were just discovered in 2005. This is the first known videotape of them...

A Previously Unknown Population of 125,000 Gorillas Discovered in the Congo

Western Lowland Gorillas are considered a critically endangered species, that is, a species on the verge of extinction. This was a completely unexpected discovery, but doesn't mean the gorillas are safe, especially now that the whole world knows they're there...

Caveat Emptor

Having the Olympics in China has lead to a lot of stories about the country which is very, very different from the USA. A lot of these stories have to do with the strange things you can buy (fried scorpions, anyone?) and the bargain prices one pays for them.

But, as anyone who's been to China can tell you, there is a catch. The catch is that what you think is a bargain may really be just a fake. If you find a high quality fake, you may still feel you got a good deal. If not, well....

The first time my family went to Hong Kong, my parents went on a shopping spree. My dad was especially interested in buying a gold watch band for his Rolex. Gold products, if you could find real ones, were much cheaper in Hong Kong than they were in the United States.

My dad, with my mom, my two brothers and my sister tagging along, visited many, many jewelry stores in search of the perfect watch band. After a couple of days, my dad found one in which the shopkeeper spoke the same dialect (there are hundreds of different versions of the Chinese language - dialects - spoken in China, though the official language is Mandarin) as he did. Through this common bond and persistent haggling (everything is negotiable in China) my dad was able to strike what seemed like an incredible bargain for an imitation Rolex watch band made of gold.


"This is gold, right?" my dad asked, just before leaving.

"Yes, yes, Hong Kong gold!" replied the shopkeeper. "If you don't like, you bring back!"

We left the store and walked back to our hotel. Once we got there, we found an old man outside selling jade jewelry that he'd spread out on a blanket.

Still excited from getting such a deal on the watch band, my dad started haggling for some jade rings. After several offers and counteroffers, my dad, satisfied that he'd worked the old man down to a rock bottom price, purchased a jade ring for each of us. We walked away happy.


A couple of days later, we left Hong Kong for Tokyo and after that, Honolulu. My dad, proud of his flashy watchband, wore the Rolex everywhere we went, including to the beach.

One day, while sitting on the beach, my dad decided to go for a swim. In order to do so, he had to take off his watch. When he did, he discovered that the moist tropical air had turned the inside of the watchband green.

It was made of brass.

When we got home, my dad decided to test the rings. After all if a shopkeeper could sell fake gold, what would a street vendor do? The test was to throw the rings in hot oil. If they were real jade, they would keep their color. If not, the oil would dissolve the green dye.

We tossed all of the rings into the oil at once.

They all turned white.

The moral of the story? Caveat Emptor - latin for "let the buyer beware"

Epilogue: The following year, we returned to Hong Kong. While there, we visited the store where my dad bought the watchband. The same guy was there and greeted us warmly. My dad started yelling at him (in his own dialect). The shopkeeper first hid in the back of the store, but once he realized my dad wasn't going to leave, came out, took the watchband and refunded my dad's money. A week later, we traveled to Singapore, where my dad found a 24 karat gold imitation Rolex watchband that he has to this day.

We never saw the old jade vendor again.

Who the Heck is That?

So I had some carpet cleaned a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't home, so I had them send me a bill. I got the bill yesterday.

It was addressed to "Alan R Thong"...

my one and only summer trip

Even though it was my only trip, it was a great trip. First I went to Denver CO for a worldwide ice skating completion. I did a solo, 3 team, and couples events; I won two 1st place medals, two 4th place medals, and one 3rd place medals. After that I went to Boston for 4 days and saw Harvard, which is a really nice school but really hard to get into. Then I went to Washington DC for 3 more days. I saw the monuments and went to another collage for my brother to see, Georgetown.

Luckiest Kid in the World? Baby Born on 8/8/08 at 8:08; 8 pounds, 8 ounces

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — Hailey Jo Hauer was born on the eighth day of the eighth month in 2008 at 8:08 a.m. So it wouldn't make sense for her to weigh anything other than 8 pounds, 8 ounces.

Lindsey Hauer thought staff at Lake Region Hospital in Minnesota were joking when they told her the time of her daughter's birth. Then she got a call from the birthing suite noting Hailey's weight.

Nurse Jenny Harstad joked that she tried to shrink the baby to 18 inches from her actual 19.5 inches.

Several hospital staff members pledged to buy lottery tickets.

An Answer and a New Puzzle

Awhile back I posed a question about a kid, a beard and an all night party (see Brain Teasers - The All Night Party). Don't know how many people read it, but here's the answer:

The boy lived in Barrow, Alaska, which is the northernmost town in the United States. In Barrow, after the sun sets in mid-November, it doesn't rise again for 65 days - plenty of time for the boy to grow a beard.

Here's a new one:



There was a nightclub in Boston called the Coconut Grove. In 1942, a fire broke out inside the club. 492 people died. Most of the victims died because a simple design flaw trapped them inside the building. What was the design flaw?

The Luckiest Day of the Century?

I've been getting a lot of chain emails from you guys. Each email promises that all kinds of good things will happen to me if I'd just forward the email to my friends. It's all just superstition, of course, but most of us forward the emails anyway, just in case. Besides, the emails promise dire consequences if we don't. Well, just so you know, I never forward these emails, and I'm still here...

Anyway, this got me to thinking about luck and superstition. You see, as a Chinese American kid, I learned that many Chinese are great believers in numbers, symbols and colors as bearers or indicators of luck or fortune.

For example, many Chinese businesses have red or gold colors as part of its decor. That's because red represents longevity and gold represents prosperity. Many Chinese business names contain the words "Golden", "Lucky" or "Dragon" in them for superstitious reasons.

Then, there are numbers. The number 4 is considered very bad luck. That's because the pronunciation of the number (roughly "say" in Cantonese) is the same as the word for death. A few years ago I was all set to buy a house until my parents talked me out of it, insisting that it was a bad luck house. The reason? Its address was 44 Morningside Dr.

The number 8, on the other hand, is considered very lucky. That's because its pronunciation is the same as that for the Chinese word for fortune or prosperity.

Chinese believe in this so strongly that, in China, the phone number 8888-8888 sold for $270,723. Each year, many weddings take place on August 8th.


This year, the Olympics are taking place in Beijing, China. They will officially begin this Friday on what Chinese believe to be the luckiest day of this century, 8/8/08, at 8 p.m.

Studies Find 4 out of 5 Sunscreens Inadequate, Can Harm Wildlife

Don't want to scare you guys, but sunscreen has been in the news lately, and it isn't all that good. Read the following article excerpts, then come back and cut and paste the links below to find out 1) which sunscreens actually work, and 2) which sunscreens do the least harm to wildlife. Then, try to use a sunscreen which appears both lists.

If you spend a lot of time in the sun, use of a good sunscreen is very important. Effective sunscreens protect your skins against both kinds of ultra violet rays, which reduces your risk of skin cancer and delays the development of wrinkles.

Also, please note that even if you don't go to the beach, the sunscreen you use will eventually find it's way to the ocean. That's because water treatment plants don't filter out the chemicals in sunscreen.

Sunscreens ranked by effectiveness (the lower the score, the better): www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/sunscreens2008/findyoursunscreen.php?nothanks=1

Sunscreens that don't harm coral reefs:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/13/BAL21103UD.DTL

Burning questions raised over sunsceens' effectiveness

When temperatures soar past the century mark around the Bay Area, people head for the beach with all of the usual gear in tow. Think towels, Frisbees, coolers, umbrellas. And sunscreen.

Oceans of it.

Americans will spend more than $1.1 billion on sun protection products this year, a market that's grown by an annual rate of 10 percent since 2004.

But is it worth it?

A recent study from the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C., found that 4 out of 5 sunscreens offer inadequate protection against harmful rays or could contain harmful chemicals.

While most of these products do help against sunburn, the question of skin cancer is more troubling. Our increasing efforts to slather on the sunscreen have had little effect on the prevalence of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

If anything, the rate of contracting skin cancer is holding steady. Among young white American women, in fact, it's actually trending up, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Many medical experts are starting to question the efficacy of sunscreen in fighting cancer, despite protests from an industry that stands by its products.

"There is no evidence that sunscreens work against melanoma," said Dr. Marianne Berwick, who specializes in melanoma and heads the Division of Epidemiology at University of New Mexico.

Sunscreen's a Bleach for Aquatic Life

Plopping down on the beach slathered from head to toe with sunscreen may help with the carcinoma, but the inevitable cooling dip in the ocean won't be good for the coral.

The creams that sunbathers use to ward off cancer-causing ultraviolet rays cause bleaching in coral reefs and seem to accumulate in fish and other aquatic life, according to recent studies.

The discovery creates a catch-22 for pale-skinned, sun-worshiping environmentalists who love to snorkel. But it is a particular problem for the environment because sunscreen is used almost everywhere on Earth, and it invariably ends up in the water.

"Almost 80 percent of our water in the U.S. shows trace amounts of chemicals from personal care products, which could be sunscreens, lotions, colognes or medications," said Sejal Choksi, the program director for Baykeeper, an environmental watchdog group.

A recent study authorized by the European Commission found that the chemical compounds that filter ultraviolet radiation in cream-based sunscreens caused bleaching in coral reefs.

The study, published in the U.S. journal Environmental Health Perspectives, showed that even small amounts of the chemicals made the algae on coral susceptible to viral infection. The killing, or bleaching, of the algae - which have a symbiotic relationship with the coral - is a death knell for the whole structure.

"Once the coral bleaches, it can't really survive," said Christian Daughton, chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's environmental chemistry branch at the National Exposure Research Laboratory in Las Vegas.

Dermatologist's sunscreen advice

Editor - As a dermatologist, I read the July 10 article "Burning questions raised over sunsceens' effectiveness" with great interest.

There is no question that the frequent use of effective sunscreens, in combination with sunprotective clothing and sunglasses, lessens the risk of skin cancer and premature photoaging.

Sunblocks that contain zinc oxide and titanium dioxide effectively block UVA and UVB by reflecting them. However the other category of sunscreens, chemical sunscreens, offer only UVB and at most partial UVA protection.

Chemical sunscreens chemically bind to the skin and may release free radicals. In addition, some chemical sunscreens break down upon exposure to sunlight.

There is a difference, and readers can find the sunscreens on the label listed under active ingredients.

DR. ANYA LANDECK

San Rafael

Don't Try This At Home...

NEW YORK (AP) — A 12-year-old girl just wanted to show her cousin the view from her family's Manhattan rooftop. Instead, she fell into a chimney and plummeted down the flue for 14 stories, emerging nearly unscathed to tell her story after landing in a pile of furnace soot.

Grace Bergere, a young rock drummer, was recovering at a hospital on Saturday with an injured hip. A 2-foot-deep pile of ash and dust probably saved her life by cushioning her fall when she crashed into a basement furnace, fire officials said.


"I broke my leg! I broke my leg!" she yelled out after rescuers spotted her soot-caked hand reaching out for help.

Fire Chief Austin Horan said the 12-year-old emerged "relatively unscathed" from the accident Thursday night at the Westbeth Artists Housing complex in the West Village neighborhood. The complex houses artists, including Grace's father, Steve Berger, a jazz guitarist.

"It's a miracle; it's an absolute miracle," he said.

Firefighters responding to a 911 call never expected to find the girl alive. While her father screamed her name, they opened a little metal door at the bottom of the chimney, ready for the worst.

When Grace's small hand poked out, "I just jumped back," Lt. Simon Ressner told reporters on Friday. "I wasn't expecting anybody alive at the bottom of the shaft, so I was shocked."

When they pulled her out, Grace was covered with black, only her eyes and mouth visible.

The rooftop adventure started at about 10:30 p.m., when Grace decided to show her cousin visiting from California the spectacular view from a rooftop deck overlooking the Hudson River.

To get to the highest point, she climbed up a 25-foot ladder alongside the big brick chimney. When she reached the top, there was a surprise: the gaping mouth of the chimney, which swallowed her and sent her plunging down the narrow flue into the basement.

"I think she probably went down head first and landed on her back," Ressner said.

Grace was recovering at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital Center on Saturday, talking to visitors and watching TV, but still in pain. She was in fair condition.

Lollipop and Maria Maria

Hello this is Hannah,
I have been to both maria maria and lollipop. Lollipop is awesome I reccomend the Cookies and cream icecream!!!!!!!! don't get the beans and rice thing the beans are super spicy!!!!!!!!

Sooo ya bye

marai maria and lollipop

Hey Everybody,

I have gone to lollipop everyday since it opened it is great i love the ice cream they make it there right in the place. Its so cool. They have the best assortment of candys. I think the laffy taffy is so cool they have like blueberry and watermelon flavers. I have never had a cup cake but i heard they are really good they also make those right in there. Also i have beeen to Maria Maria it was good but the only thing is my burotio had corn in it but it was still delious. they have a lot of stuff there i think next time i will get a quesedilla .

Well Thank you for reading my post!!!!

-Jackie O'Boyle

New Places to Eat in Mill Valley

Has anyone been to Lollipop or Maria, Maria? If so, can you give us a review?

I have a friend who works at Lollipop, which is in the spot where Lyla's Chocolates used to be. Lollipop sells candy, cupcakes, ice cream and take home to bake cookie and scone batter. My friend says it's good, not so much for the candy, which you can get in a lot of places, but for the other stuff, which is all made at the store. She likes, for example, the Coffee Oreo ice cream (she thinks the coffee flavor might be too strong for some people, though), which is made from a recipe created by the owner. In fact, while only 16 flavors of ice cream are on display, they have recipes for over 200 different flavors! My friend also really likes the cookies, cupcakes and scones and says that the workers will sometimes accidentally on purpose damage a cookie or something so that they can eat it...

Maria, Maria, is where the Cantina used to be. They still sell Mexican food, but it is notable because it is owned by local rock legend Carlos Santana. In fact, Maria, Maria is the name of one of his hit songs. Haven't heard anything about their food.

Santana isn't the only local rock star who's in the food and beverage business. Can you name another one? Hint: he has a daughter at MVMS.

Another Stereotype Bites the Dust

Mr T says: Statistics have shown that girls enter middle school with math skills equal to or better than those of boys, but by the time they leave, they've fallen behind. The common belief was that boys were just better at math than girls. This study proves that belief wrong. If any of you dreams of being a scientist or engineer or computer programmer as an adult you should know that math skills are crucial skills for success in these fields - don't let the stereotype that girls can't do math stop you. This study is more evidence that you can do anything you set your mind to do.

Numbers show girls as good at math as boys

Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

(07-24) 11:04 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Researchers say the long-running debate is settled: Girls are just as good as boys at math.

After checking the test scores of 7 million students in 10 states, university researchers found no difference between the sexes in performance on math tests given in grades 2 through 11.

The study seems to settle old theories about the existence of a math gene that gives boys an edge over girls in advanced coursework and ultimately in the workforce.

"Today, we do know that women can do math," said Marcia Linn, UC Berkeley education professor and co-author of the report, published in today's issue of the journal Science.

Decades ago, girls took fewer advanced math and science courses, and those who did posted lower scores. The old line of thinking seemed to say: Girls, who don't like math and aren't good at it, should shy away from those brainy courses.

That perspective was embraced by the popular doll Teen Talk Barbie, who briefly proclaimed in 1992: "Math class is tough."

Concerted efforts over the last 20 years to encourage girls to pursue math seem to have paid off, the researchers found. By 2000, high school girls were taking calculus at the same rate as their male peers, a trend that could be interpreted as showing they no longer felt shut out of the most demanding math courses.

"Equalization of math enrollment has led to equalization of performance," Linn said.

Previous studies have shown that girls are just as capable at math as boys, but the new research was the first to look at such a massive sample of students across the country, taking advantage of the standardized test scores now required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The study's five researchers, from UC Berkeley and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, compared the average performance of all students on the tests, the scores of the most gifted children and the ability of students to solve complex math problems.

"In all cases, girls measured up to boys," the authors said.

The National Science Foundation funded the research, which sought to dispel the stereotype that girls lack mathematical ability and to offer insight into the underrepresentation of women in the highest levels of math, science and engineering.

High school sophomore Frances Fu of Oakland said she can't imagine a world where girls couldn't or wouldn't measure up in math - her favorite subject.

"Girls in my class participate more, and with the boys it's the opposite," she said. "Definitely, it's OK to be smart in math."

She earned at A+ in geometry last year as a freshman at Skyline High School.

Fu participates in a Girls Incorporated of Alameda County program called Eureka, in which mentors support and encourage girls to take math and science courses. It is one of many programs in the state and the nation trying to get more girls into male-dominated fields.

While the social stigma still exists - that it's not feminine to like math or science - girls are becoming more confident about their abilities and skills, said James McErlain, a science, math and technology specialist with Girls Incorporated.

"You can be whoever you want to be as a girl and still enjoy math and sciences and be OK with that," he said.

Despite the similar test scores in math, the gender gap continues to persist when it comes to the workplace, the researchers noted in the Science article.

Perhaps many girls are still influenced by the stigmas and math phobias that persist among previous generations.

"Parents and teachers really need to rethink how they are presenting math to their children and their students," Linn said. "It is equal. But the perceptions may still impede career decisions."

For some reason I want to know what every ones fav song is. Mine is Say My Name by Destiny's Child. 

What is yours??

P.S. Say who it is by!

Bye,

Maddy D.

Endangered Condors Survive Big Sur Fire

(07-18) 04:00 PDT Big Sur -- As wildfire whipped toward a remote sanctuary of the endangered California condor last month, the rare birds got their biggest test in survival after years of pampering by biologists: They had to live completely on their own.

Forced away by flames, their scientist handlers could only hope the birds' animal instincts would kick in. To their delight, they did.

The birds found fresh air and food: a beached whale and decaying California sea lion at the edge of Big Sur's cliffs. After the blaze swept through the area, many even returned home.

"It's incredible. They did just what they're supposed to do," said Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, which runs the sanctuary. "I was honestly thinking we'd lose four to six birds. You can rebuild pens, but we only have a limited amount of time to restore a species."

The vulture was declared an endangered species in 1967, when its population - estimated to be 50 to 60 birds at the time - was in sharp decline because of poaching, habitat destruction and lead poisoning.


In the 1980s, the U.S. government approved an ambitious and costly conservation plan that brought the last of the nearly two dozen surviving California condors into captivity for a captive-breeding program.

After teaching the newborns with puppets and other tools how to survive in the wild, reintroduction into forests started in the 1990s. While there have been some setbacks (power lines have proved a difficult obstacle to navigate), there are now 332 condors, half of which are living supervised in the wild in Arizona, California and Baja California.

The Ventana Wildlife Society near Big Sur is the only nonprofit in California to prepare captive-bred condors for life in the wild, making it an integral part of conservation efforts to save the condor from extinction.

Flames from the 188-square-mile fire in the Los Padres National Forest last month destroyed the society's aviary and release pen and thousands of dollars worth of equipment. The fire also displaced the 43 free-flying birds the society monitors and forced a hasty Coast Guard rescue of seven year-old chicks and their adult mentor.

For 17 days, biologists were cut off from the sanctuary, monitoring the wild birds by electronic transmitters.

"We felt so helpless," Sorenson said.


Last week, Sorenson and Burnett returned to the burned-out sanctuary and hiked to the edge of the feeding site. At the top of a charred Ponderosa pine, the alpha male of the group surveyed his blackened canyon.

Burnett pumped his fist.

"They survived on their own without us," Sorenson said. "It shows us they can do it."

Boy, 11, Tracks Speeders With Toy Radar Gun

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Police can't be everywhere, so 11-year-old Landon Wilburn is on patrol in the Stone Lakes subdivision in Louisville. Landon told The Courier-Journal he and his friends used to shout at speeders to slow down -- then had a better idea.

Last month, Landon began pointing a Hot Wheels-brand radar gun at them and charting their speeds. The orange radar gun, which costs $30 to $40 at toy stores -- although Landon traded toys with a neighbor for his -- can clock the speed of almost anything from baseballs to cars.

While on "duty", Landon wears an orange safety vest, a bicycle helmet and carries, in addition to the radar gun, a battery-operated flashlight with a built-in siren.

George Ayers, 61, who lives on Stone Lakes Drive, said he could not believe his eyes when he first saw Landon with the radar gun. He initially didn't recognize the boy and, judging by drivers' reactions, he thought he might be a police officer.

"When I saw it happening, I got the biggest kick out of it," Ayers said. "People were locking up their brakes when they saw him."

Recently Discovered Animals(click on photos to enlarge and see captions)

"Ghost Slug" Eats Worms

July 16, 2008—A previously unknown species of meat-eating slug that sucks up earthworms like spaghetti has been discovered in Wales, scientists announced.
The so-called ghost slug—pictured above—first appeared in South Wales gardens in 2006, possibly after arriving as a stowaway in imported potted plants, said biologist Ben Rowson of National Museum Cardiff.
The nocturnal predator is armed with blade-like teeth (see inset) for slicing through animal flesh and can measure up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) long when stalking its prey, Rowson said.
"They engulf the worms piece by piece," the biologist noted. "One end of the worm will still be alive while the other is being gradually ratcheted into the slug by the teeth."
Rowson was part of the team that recently named the white carnivore Selenochlamys ysbryda—"ysbryd" being Welsh for "ghost." Its pale color and lack of eyes suggests the animal evolved underground, Rowson said.
The slug's origins remain a mystery, but the study team speculates that it may be native to deep caves found in Georgia, Armenia, or Turkey.
No one knows whether the spooky creature presents a serious threat to Britain's earthworms or other native animals.
—James Owen
Photograph by Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum Wales; courtesy Cardiff University

Mysterious Red Bug Plagues London Museum of Natural History

July 15, 2008—Even with 28 million insect specimens in their collection, experts at London's Natural History Museum haven't found a match for a mysterious bug—pictured above—found in their own backyard.
Since it was discovered last year by entomologist Max Barclay, the tiny, red-and-black, seed-eating ground bug has become the most common insect in the museum's wildlife garden.
It has also been spotted elsewhere in the city.
"Today we've had people ringing us up saying they've known about this thing in [central] London for six or seven years," Barclay said.
"It's only when it gets to somewhere like the Natural History Museum, where there are loads of specialists hanging around, that somebody will pick it up."
While the insect looks similar to a Central European species, Arocatus roeselii, it is a darker red and lives on plane trees—what Americans call sycamores—instead of alders.
It also resembles a mystery insect found in France that likely isn't native to Europe at all, Barclay said.
"It's also very similar to a common North American pest called the boxelder bug, but it isn't that," he added.
Barclay believes the ground bug either represents a variation of a known exotic species or it's a newly discovered species.
Museum scientists hope an analysis of the insect's DNA will finally solve the mystery.
—James Owen in London
Photograph courtesy the Natural History Muesum in London

Hey people!!! sup wanna know whats up with me ill tell u whats down first

- I'm at home!

- I miss my best buddies!!!

- I miss suzy!!!

Here are the ups:

-i went to dc and nyc

-im going 2 camp

bye bye for now!!!

cami

The All Night Party: A Puzzle for You

In a small town in the United States, a teen aged boy asked his parents if he could go to a friend's party. His parents say okay, provided that he returned home before sunrise. The boy left for the party that evening clean-shaven, but when he returned, just before sunrise, he had a full beard. What happened?

Beware of Teenagers Bearing Gifts - A Cautionary Tale

At the the end of the last basketball season, one of my high school players gave me some shorts as a gift. It was still winter when I got them, so I didn't wear them for a couple of months.

Later, on a warm spring day, I put them on and went shopping. My first stop was Target.

As I entered the store, the alarm sounded. I looked around and noticed a shopper going out of the store. I simply thought that a checker had forgotten to remove a sensor from some merchandise the shopper had purchased and continued into the store. A few minutes later, unable to find what I was looking for, I left. As I exited the store the alarm went off again. There was no one else going in or out, so it had to be me that set it off. A couple of people looked at me suspiciously. I raised my hands in mock surrender, spun around and walked on.

As I walked, I felt around in my pockets to see if there was anything in them that didn't belong there. Nothing.

I continued my shopping trip. I stopped at Borders, Best Buy and Orchard Supply Hardware. At each stop, I set off alarms. It was becoming embarrassing. I thought about going home, but I needed to find a gift for my brother. So, I continued my trip and went to Circuit City.

Circuit City had a greeter who was handing out their weekly ad to everyone entering the store. She'd started her greeting to me, "Hi, welcome to Circuit...", when the alarm went off. She smiled uncertainly at me.

"I've been doing that all day," I said. "I don't know why."

The greeter looked me up and down, then asked, "where did you get your pants?"

"They were a gift," I answered.

"I'll bet they came from Old Navy," said the greeter. "Old Navy sews tags into their pants that you have to cut out before your wear them. Go home and check it out."

I did, and there was.

So, if you ever get pants from Old Navy, save yourself some embarrassment and remove the tag. Here's what it looks like: