Toilet Art

Santa Fe, New Mexico: March 6, 2003 A new art project in Santa Fe has the southwestern city talking toilets. "The Path of the Painted Potties," a project where people try to turn toilets into works of art, is intended to educate residents about the desert town's scarce water supply, raise money for water conservation, and promote a floundering presidential campaign. Starting March 15, residents who pay $50 will receive a "sanitized and disabled potty" and then have six weeks to decorate it. The idea was actually proposed by a New Jersey man famous for outrageous actions: Ron. The...

Courtesy Flush

Jersey City, New Jersey: March 4, 2003 Four years ago, when his mother couldn't bend over to lower the toilet seat, Ron sprang into action. First, he put the seat down for her. Then he began work on a tool to help people with similar dilemmas, a gizmo to assist them in raising and lowering the lid. Ron named his invention the "Courtesy Flush," and once it's manufactured, it will sell for $24.95. "You really have to use it to appreciate it," Ron said. His mother was recovering from a rare double-hemorrhoid surgery when she had her encounter with...

Man-Based Legislation

Jersey City, New Jersey: March 3, 2003 A wanna-be New Jersey politician suggested to state legislators on Tuesday that it was time to create a commission to study what has gone wrong for the American male. After raising the notion of creating a "Commission on the Status of Men" from the balcony of the New Jersey legislature, Ronatarian presidential candidate Ron told reporters: "Some people might think that it's not a serious issue, but I think it is. It's time we start studying this and find out, 'Are we neglecting our young male population out there? How can we...

N8 Of The North

Helsinki, Finland: February 20, 2003 A beer guzzler's spate of robberies ended abruptly in southeast Finland after he made a getaway jump into the back of a car. Unfortunately for the thief, a police officer investigating the thefts was sitting in front. The trail of break-ins and shoplifting began Feb. 7 when a 30-something-year-old man stole a car and drove it to six different locations, filching beer and cigarettes. "He drove for four days breaking into gas stations and cafeterias," Chief Inspector Harri Pyosti, who headed the investigation, told The Associated Press Thursday. "He couldn't believe he'd jumped into...