Out-of-the-ordinary news from the folks at "Studio B"...
Shoo, Fly!
There's something to be said for corporate bureaucracy. But the e-mails speak for themselves.
You see, when a fly was bothering accountants at the British firm KPMG (search), they e-mailed maintenance: "We have a fly in our department and it's been here since last week. Do you have anything that can get rid of him?" The e-mails came back, "Due to health regulations, aerosol fly killers are no longer permitted."
Then, maintenance actually offered to bring in a cleaning company to try and swat the fly. They e-mailed, "But, as I understand it, a fly's lifespan is less than a week. So a natural death may soon occur." It went on like that for hours, until eventually, just like common sense, the fly disappeared.
Generous Gift or Expensive Misunderstanding?
Was it a generous gift or a miscommunication? That's the question Wednesday over the 2005 Super Bowl ring worn by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (search). It's his third ring in the past four years, but still extremely valuable — encrusted with 124 diamonds. So it seemed a bit bizarre to reporters in the room as he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin (search) the other day. We're told Kraft showed the ring to Putin who tried it on, then put it in his pocket and left. A Russian official says Putin gave the ring to the Kremlin library, where foreign gifts are kept. A spokesman for Kraft says he's emailed the NFL owner, but that Kraft didn't indicate whether he intended to give up the ring.
Unusual Dating
Jeremy Butler's not your typical British bachelor. When he wanted to meet some nice women, he didn't have his friends set him up on a date, didn't place an ad in the paper and didn't even log on to Internet chat rooms. No, Jeremy did it his way, setting up a booth on a busy road in London and hanging a banner reading, "Girlfriend Wanted. Apply Here." He handed out flyers to women passing by, basically campaigning for the role of boyfriend. The funny thing is it actually worked. Jeremy says he got 93 phone numbers and that he's already been on one date. He says, "It beats going down to the pub."
Prank Gone Wrong
It seemed like a funny little thing to do — at the time. Arthur Richardson — pulling a prank on his buddy in North Platte, Nebraska — pretended to swallow the key to his truck. Problem is, poor Arthur actually did swallow that key. And once it went down, it didn't come back up. Arthur's friend sent him to the doctors' office for X-rays and then took those X-rays to the locksmith — who was able to carve an exact duplicate of the key in Arthur's stomach.
As for Arthur — who still has the original key inside him — he's now keeping his keychain in his pocket.