SEXY DOGS
Boutique wigmaker Ruth Regina of Miami is readying a line of hairpieces for “teacup” dogs and other over-pampered canines, at prices that range into the hundreds of dollars. Most promising include the “Yappy Hour” (a fluff of curls) and the “Peek a Bow Wow,” which according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in August “fall[s] down over part of a dog’s face, giving a glamorous look reminiscent of 1940s movie star Veronica Lake.” It’s for dogs that feel sexy, said Regina. “There [are] some dogs that have the come-hither look.”
GREAT ART!
Inmate Donny Johnson, serving three life terms in solitary confinement at the Pelican Bay State Prison in California, was the beneficiary of a showing of his acclaimed paintings at a gallery in the Mexican tourist village of San Miguel de Allende, according to a July New York Times report. Because of Johnson’s isolation, his only “brush” is made from strands of his own hair; his “canvases” consist of blank postcards; and his medium is colors from decomposed M&M candies. Nonetheless, at least six of the paintings, which the Times reporter called “powerful,” have sold for $500 each.
GOVERNMENT IN ACTION
Beijing News reported in July that the city intends to assign tracking numbers to every single cabbage, carrot and pea pod in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, to identify their origins to improve food safety. Five thousand tons of vegetables may be eaten during the Olympics, and Greenpeace has criticized Chinese farming for using banned pesticides and other soil pollutants.
LEAST COMPETENT COPS
Four New York City police were called to an apartment house in July in the Bronx concerning a landlord-tenant dispute, but were distracted by a teenager in the hallway smoking marijuana and started to chase him, when a pit bull attacked the officers. The toll, 26 bullets later: one dead dog, one bitten officer, three other officers wounded by each other’s gunshots.
ARE WE SAFE?
Undercover investigators for the Government Accountability Office reported in July that they were able to purchase, on the open market from Pentagon contractors, surplus body armor, mounts for shoulder-fired missiles, and missile radar test devices. And Indiana state homeland security officials told Vermillion County officials in July to stop using the special emergency-only highway message boards to advertise their charity fish fries and spaghetti dinners.
OBSESSIONS
Huang Chunyi, 94, of Taiwan, told a reporter from China Daily in May that the secret to his longevity is that he likes to look at photographs of pretty women every day, and he showed off his collection of 100,000 that he has amassed from newspapers and magazines over the last 20 years. His favorites are Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz and Chinese model Chiling Lin. “I hope these scrapbooks will become family heirlooms,” he said.
LIFE’S CHEAP IN FLORIDA
Eduardo Gonzalez, 18, was arrested and charged as the one who shot an Orlando, Fla., man to death in March for spilling beer on him in a bar. In August, the price of life went down even further when, according to police, Gonzalez put out hit contracts on five witnesses to the original shooting, which would have brought the total to six dead over one spilled beer, except the “hit man” was an undercover cop. MTW
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