News Cut Category Archive: Things that are puzzling

Balloon Boy

Posted at 10:07 AM on October 16, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (4 Comments)
Filed under: News, Things that are puzzling

Suddenly, live on national television yesterday, our collective, inner, 6-year-old boy was stirred to life. Who wouldn't want to be floating free, up in the air with the birds, on a Thursday afternoon? Who wouldn't want to do all of that with a name like Falcon?

Perhaps we're well past the point of expecting cable news to check the veracity of the scenario, that a thin-skinned, sealed, relatively small helium balloon listing and bobbing through the air with little evidence of a ~50-pound load on board could actually carry a small boy, but it was fun while it lasted.

Today, the evidence is stacking up against the boy's father, Richard Heene. Apparently he was there when the balloon launched yesterday.

And after watching the bizarre Today Show interview this morning — wherein Richard dismisses the notion that it was hoax as young Falcon vomits twice — it just doesn't pass the smell test.

Whatever happens, I'm sure we'll be able to watch it live on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News.

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Illegal, Immoral and Funny

Posted at 10:08 AM on October 2, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (10 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

Late Show host David Letterman confessed last night -- on national, network television -- to having sexual relations with female staffers. He also revealed he was the target of a $2 million extortion attempt.

And, at least for the audience in the studio for the first eight minutes of his monologue, it was funny. And, at least for television critics, it was "brilliant TV".

As Letterman tells it, the scheme involved the alleged blackmailer -- since identified as 51-year-old, Emmy-award winning producer Robert Halderman -- demanding that Letterman pay him, or Halderman would write a screenplay detailing all of "the creepy stuff" Letterman does behind-the-scenes at Late Night.

Of course, it's hard to gauge what type of laughter and applause occurred after Letterman said:

"The creepy stuff" was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. Now, my response to that is, 'Yes I have.' [Laughter & applause]

...but for most people who aren't David Letterman, having sex with female subordinates does not often lend itself to comedy.

Watch for yourself below, as long as CBS allows it.

Does Letterman play up his status as victim too much, forgetting about the women involved, let alone his family? Or was the scheme so hare-brained -- the alleged blackmailer is a producer for the true-crime show "48 hours" -- that you can't help but laugh?

For what it's worth, adultery is still illegal in New York.

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Logic missing from Twin Cities airport signs

Posted at 4:53 PM on July 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (39 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

The Metropolitan Airports Commission's decision to spend more than $2 million to upgrade airport signs providing directions to either the Humphrey or Lindbergh Terminal is low-hanging fruit for many people. "A waste of money" or "people should be responsible for figuring it out" are the most common complaints.

It actually makes a lot of sense because a real close look at the current signage reveals it doesn't make much sense. (Push the play button below)

When I talked about this with Mary Lucia on The Current on Wednesday afternoon, Sara Bible of St. Louis Park was courageous enough to share her story:

I have to admit that when I first started taking the light rail to the airport, I once panicked when we arrived at the Humphrey terminal and so I got off and then had to run to get back on when I realized I really wanted the Lindbergh Terminal. Also, this past Memorial Day I had a friend arrive from Houston. He called to say he'd arrived but we couldn't find him at the gate. He had flown in on US Airways and had no idea that there were two airports in Minnesota nor which one he was at. He checked his boarding pass and it wasn't indicated. Even I don't know which airlines are located at each terminal. And you can't designate one the international terminal because flights fly internationally from both terminals. It is quite confusing and I've lived here for almost 4 decades.

Why do we have it "in" for airport travelers? And how many of the signage critics have never benefited from a highway sign telling us that the exit ahead is the one we want?

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Fun with numbers: the Seven Deadly Sins

Posted at 11:34 AM on April 29, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (2 Comments)
Filed under: Surveys and trivia, Things that are puzzling

OK, I'll start this off with the disclaimer:..

This is a precision party trick -- rigorous mapping of ridiculous data.

...but it's interesting, nonetheless. A couple of geographers from Kansas State University wrangled up a host of national statistical databases, massaged the numbers and used them to quantify lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride on a county-by-county basis across the U.S.

The story in the Las Vegas Sun tilts heavily toward Nevada, but the graphs are there for each state.

Sure, the sins tend to be value judgments — i.e., "Greed was calculated by comparing average incomes with the total number of inhabitants living beneath the poverty line" — though it's not meant to be a serious scientific study.

Although I would like to know why the folks in Pine and Kanabec Counties are so envious.

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Shoes on a wire, theories in the air

Posted at 11:47 AM on April 22, 2009 by Julia Schrenkler (11 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

Gerri MacLeod documented some local shoe tossing in Minneapolis and shared it MPR's Flickr photo pool. Not all footwear looks this artful:

image courtesy Gerri MacLeod

MacLeod notes, "Now in college, there was a tree that you threw your shoes up on after losing your virginity (or something like that). Is it the same thing even for tossing them on electrical wires?"

According to the urban legend & folklore resource, Snopes.com, there are many theories on the secret language of sneakers. News Cut familiars might note the suggestion they "increase visibility for low-flying aircraft" as one proposal ideally suited to irritate your usual host.

What are your own theories? Do you notice shoes-on-a-wire in your neighborhood? Are shoe trees really a tourist attraction?

I'll hang up and listen.

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An escape to fashion

Posted at 2:12 PM on March 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Things that are puzzling

There was an interesting segment on APM's Marketplace the other night on how the recession is affecting the way we dress. You'd think that we'd be slobbing it up a bit, but actually -- the story goes -- we're dressing up for the down economy.

"It's time to really make an effort, you can just sink down into, you know, the depths and think about this gloom and doom. And fashion is something that, you know, traditionally is an escape for people, and I think no more so than right now, people will look to it as an escape," said Kate Betts, a fashion editor.

She also said she was shocked -- shocked -- when she was in Milan the other day and heard there were stores that went an entire day without anyone showing up. "And remember Italians are big consumers of fashion and luxury," she said.

Did she say Milan? Milan, where it's fashion week this week?

This is what they're turning out for people to wear in Milan these days:

Of course, it was another cruddy day in the economy. Unemployment numbers for February showed nearly 700,000 lost their jobs, and your retirement plan tanked again.

The good news. Things haven't gotten bad enough to make you want to "escape" to that. Have they?

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Inauguration Diaries: Fashion

Posted at 12:26 PM on January 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (15 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

"This choice sends a great message to the fashion community.
She could have gone with someone more obvious, like Ralph Lauren,
but this sends a message to the American designers who are
struggling. ... It also says that just because she's in the White
House, she'll support the under-the-radar designers she wore on the
way to the White House."
-- Nicole Phelps, Style.com

She's wearing that dress today for all of us. We're all
wearing that dress with her. The dress is elegant, appropriate and
has the individual style stamp of Michelle Obama and is timely for
a woman in her 40s - and she wears embellishment during the day.
Hallelujah! -- editorial stylist Mary Alice Stephenson

I don't really have anything to say, other than to suggest these two didn't take the words right out of these people's mouths.

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No pants on light rail

Posted at 12:00 PM on January 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

Light rail, rumor has it, is a hot topic in these parts.

But for the most part, I guess, we were left out in the cold on Saturday, which was the annual International Don't Wear Your Pants Day on light rail and other transit systems.

Phoenix appeared to be the hot spot for the celebration.

A sociologist in Arizona says light rail has brought the area "a public space where diverse groups can come together."

"Things like these get people excited, and that's the promise of the public realm," she said. "You're in a space where you don't know what will happen. I think people will start to say, 'Phoenix is cool.'"

I'm pretty sure she's serious.

There was a rumor that a similar celebration of diversity in the public space occurred on the Hiawatha Light Rail Line, although I've yet to find any proof of it.

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When your work matters

Posted at 8:38 AM on January 5, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (4 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

When was the last time you had to issue a press release when you took a sick day?

I thought so. You're probably not Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Jobs issued a press release this morning to dispel rumors that his health was floating somewhere between 'gravely ill' and 'perilously close' to death after the company announced he wouldn't appear at the Apple-themed consumer products trade show known as Macworld.

"As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause -- a hormone imbalance that has been "robbing" me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis."

No CEO's health is more tied to his or her company's stock price than Jobs, who suffered from pancreatic cancer in 2003.

After this report was published on the technology blog Gizmodo Apple shares dove nearly 4 percent, erasing about $3 billion of the company's book value.

Jobs, for his part, doesn't seem to be enjoying the extra attention...

"So now I've said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this."

And for the record, this bit of "good news" has Apple stock up almost 4 percent in early trading.

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Angels

Posted at 1:57 PM on December 23, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

Is that an angel there on that monitor?

In Charlotte, the mother of a severely handicapped girl says her daughter recovered after she was taken off life support, and she saw what she says is an angel on the TV monitor.

All of the morning TV shows discussed the story this morning, then brought in experts, who are predisposed to believing in angels, to make the final determination. The bottom line? If you think it was an angel, it was an angel.

Meanwhile, a colleague took this picture of the steam from the District Energy plant over St. Paul yesterday.

I got nothin'.

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Smells like team spirit

Posted at 10:47 AM on December 5, 2008 by Than Tibbetts (9 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

All Things Considered reported yesterday on a Pennsylvania company that is making perfumes and colognes intended to evoke your alma mater.

For example, women who attended Penn State, can splash a blend vanilla, lilac, rose and white patchouli, while men can splash on a cologne with a sense blue cypress and cracked pepper.

I'm a University of Minnesota alum, and I'm thinking my collegiate experience might be summed up in smell as the following:

L'gopher — eau de pizza, newsprint and soy ink, (Bus) Number Sixteen, with a hint of road salt-spiced snow. A riveting concoction designed to delight the senses and capture the myth of a generation.

What's your formula?

Link: Masik Collegiate Fragrances

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News Cut: Evening Brief

Posted at 6:30 PM on November 18, 2008 by Steve Mullis (0 Comments)
Filed under: News, Tech, Things that are puzzling

Another evening round-up of news and bits that might have fallen through the cracks or that you might have missed during your busy 9-to-5 day:

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The end of summer

Posted at 7:46 AM on August 20, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

Yes, you've found it. The only blog in America that doesn't care if Barack Obama uses carrier pigeons or text messaging to announce his vice presidential running mate. As we in the media gear up to cover both political conventions, I worry we'll also lose perspective about where these political factoids fit into the big scheme of things. Yes, the next leader of the free world is an important decision, but the process has been going on for more than two years, and there's the old adage "people don't care until after Labor Day."

Why don't they? Because they're leading real lives.

The rest of us? We're wondering what the heck happened to summer? I just saw May; it was around here somewhere a few minutes ago, and then I open up the newspaper this morning and find this: "With summer ebbing, pools about to close."

In our little neighborhood, we're required to pay for the use of a neighborhood pool, whether we use it or not. We haven't been in years, not since I started calculating how much each trip to the pool cost me. But I had big plans for this year; I was going to stop by the pool every morning before work and get in shape. It didn't happen... again.

Hope springs eternal, but eventually it falls apart. I was going to finish the rebuilding of the backyard deck this year -- the project I started four years ago. The lumber is still in the garage, but I didn't hammer a single nail over the summer. Again.

This was the year I was going to relax and pay more attention to the garden. I only planted peas and broccoli -- cool weather crops that wouldn't take up all my summer -- but I never got around to checking how it turned out. Last week, my wife cut a small piece of the mega-broccoli (long since passed) and put it on my dinner plate. It didn't taste very good.

I was going to build a rain garden and expand the perennial garden, which last year was a sea of bees and butterflies. This year? Not so much. Maybe next year.

Number of new bikes in the garage: 2. Number of summertime evening bike rides: 0.

So many plans, so few summer accomplishments.

And now the pools are closing, the State Fair is opening, and summer is ending.

How is it that summer can pass so quickly, but a presidential campaign plays out in torturous half speed?

I plan to think about that over the winter.

What was the highlight of your summer?

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The only thing we have to fear...

Posted at 11:14 AM on July 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

When nobody was looking, a new front opened on the war on terror -- Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees have banned sunblock, the New York Post reported.

Four weeks ago, Stadium officials decided that sunscreen of all sizes and varieties would not be permitted, a security supervisor told The Post before last night's game.

"There have been a lot of complaints," he said. "We tell them to apply once and then throw it out."

For fans who bring babies or young children to cheer on the home team, the guard had suggested they "beg" to take the sunblock in.

Seeing the giant bag full of confiscated sunscreen Saturday, one steaming Yankee fan asked whether he could take one of the tubes and apply it before heading into the park.

"Absolutely not," the guard told him. "What if you get a rash? You might sue the Yankees

But a few days ago, after the howling protests, the Yankees relented ... to a point. Team spokesman Jason Zillo said the Yankees will still not allow sunscreen in aerosol cans in the stadium.

(h/t: Michael Wells)

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Where's Katie

Posted at 11:48 AM on July 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

Open your wallets and purses and look at your money. Is there any writing on any of it?

MPR's Tom Weber stumbled across this while working at his father's store in Illinois over the weekend.

This dollar was slipped under Katie's pillow by the Tooth Fairy in 2005. Then, she went and spent it. It went around and around and ended up in somebody's wallet in 2008, a good souvenir gone bad.

It would be fascinating to track a dollar bill as it makes its way around the universe. One Web site has tried to do it. You enter a serial number in at Where's George and you can see the list of places it's been. The problem is, how many people out there are going to register their dollar bills? (Answer: Other than Tom Weber? None.)

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Mailbag: Forgotten Wisconsin

Posted at 11:43 AM on June 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling, Weather

A News Cut reader, specially imported from the state of Wisconsin, picks up on my riff last week about why Twin Citians are so quick to ignore Wisconsin. It's 18 miles away as the crow flies but we'll pay attention a story 200 miles away before we'll pay attention to what's going on "over there" on a daily basis.

"Look, Bob, there was bad weather in Wisconsin! Before this weekend, even." she writes.

She's right, sending along the link to the New Richmond News, which details stories of damage on the old sod at the same time a tornado was ripping up Hugo.

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The brains behind the award

Posted at 4:39 PM on April 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

How does a meatpacking plant where 18 workers have gotten a mysterious neurological illness, possibly because of the work they did, win a health and safety award from the American Meat Institute?

It's an apparent head-scratcher to a lot of people, Dan McCoslin, AMI's director of worker safety and human resources, acknowledged to me this afternoon. But there actually is a decent explanation for the award to Quality Pork Products in Austin.

"Performance is 60-percent of the total awards points," he said, "measured between the total number of incidents reported to OSHA (treatment beyond first aid) and... the rate of the number of days away from work. On the program side, it's how the facility measures up... on training, employee involvement, adherence to standards; that sort of thing." (Listen to full description)

So how did the Austin plant win?

"Their overall performance is, in fact, excellent. They're consistently below the industry average in both total cases and the days away," McCoslin said. "Their overall safety program is excellent. (Listen)

Quality Pork has between 1,200 and 1,400 employees, according to McCoslin, and from a numbers point of view, 18 "incidents", though serious, is less than 1 percent of the total workforce. "Although this is vexing and everyone is still trying to get to the bottom of it, it doesn't mean they don't have a good safety program."

McCoslin says the plant "deserves something of a pat on the back for the way they handled this incident. As soon as the nurses there realized that there was something different and unique going on with these particular symptoms, they notified management, management notified the Minnesota Department of Health, the Mayo Clinic... was brought in as well, Minnesota Department of Health brought in the CDC in Atlanta. All of this started when QPP stepped forward and did the right thing and said, 'Hey, we've got something going on here and we don't know whether it's a big problem or a little problem but we do know that it's more than we can deal with.'" (Listen)

Point taken. The reason we know about it is a reflection on the plant's safety program.

Nothing is proven yet, that the the practices at the Austin plant is what is responsible for the mysterious illness, but McCoslin says the industry is watching, even though most plants don't "harvest" pig brains the way the workers at QPP did.

"I had never heard... and I've been in the industry for 40 years ... of harvesting brain tissue with compressed air," according to McCoslin. " That's not the way it's normally done. Normally, at the end of the line the reminder of the skull is split in half and brains are simply scooped out and placed in containers, chilled, packed, and sold. And the other part of that is, as you may imagine, there's not a tremendous market for pork brains these days." (Listen)

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Plant with sick workers wins health award

Posted at 2:31 PM on April 16, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

Around the same time this month that an Austin meatpacking plant was denying workers compensation claims to more than a dozen workers who got sick, it was picking up an award from an industry group for its health and safety program.

The American Meat Institute has awarded The Quality Pork Processors plant in Austin its Award of Honor. It apparently is the highest honor in the business and recognizes worker safety.

It's the same plant being sued by a worker because of a mysterious neurological illness that she and 12 co-workers developed, and the company has refused their claim for workers compensation.

Health investigators, MPR's Sea Stachura reported earlier this month, have been trying to determine whether the brain tissue, sprayed into the air as droplets, made the workers sick.

Coincidentally, the award was announced on the day the lawsuit was made public.

So, what do you have to do to win the award? Let's go to the guidelines:

The primary program goals are to motivate participants to improve their safety performance through the establishment of sound safety and health programs at the plant level and to recognize those plants that have achieved a high level of safety performance as part of the continuing effort to reduce occupational injury and illness.

and...

The program can boost employee morale, reduce expenses associated with injuries and illness in the workplace and enhance the meat and poultry industry's overall image regarding employee safety and health.

"Explain this to me," I asked David Ray, the vice president for public affairs for the American Meat Institute.

"Well, the award is not a measurement of the response to a single situation, rather it's the measurement of the total health and safety program of the plant," he said.

"But if it has a good health and safety program of the plant, would 13 people have gotten sick because of what they do for a living and then be denied workers compensation?" I asked.

That's when I find out that the person I needed to talk to is on a plane this afternoon.

I wonder how things are at the plants that didn't win the award.

Update 5:06 p.m. - Even more workers have gotten sick.

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