WhiteBoard News for Friday, February 14, 2003

Atlanta, Georgia (AP):

Birds do it. Bees do it. And humans can learn how they do it during a Valentine's Day tour of Zoo Atlanta. 

The amorous antics of animals are proving so popular that organizers plan to add a second night besides Valentine's Day for their "Love In The Zoo" lecture and dance party. Several hundred guests are expected. 

"This is science, and it's actually fun," said Nicole Johnson, who works in marketing for the zoo. 

Lecturer James Ballance says the mating games can be hilarious. 

"Birds are like, totally crazy," Ballance says, waving his arms to imitate a strutting pheasant. "Some we call the backseat-of-the-car guys they don't stick around. They leave a lot of single mothers. Then we have the guys who will build the house before they even suggest anything." 

Outside the zoo's flamingo pond, Ballance points to the pairs who spend nearly all day within a foot or two of each other. 

"They pair up, but there's a lot of cheating out there," he says. "You've always got female flamingoes coming home with muddy footprints all over their backs." 

Other zoos around the country are finding similar talks are big draws. 

There's "The Mating Game" at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. In San Diego, a "Night Moves" program sells out seven nights straight in February. 

Aquariums are getting into the act as well. The New York Aquarium offers a February "Sex In The Sea" singles' mixer. 

"So many institutions have had success with this type thing, we figured, 'Why not? Fish do it, too, you know,"' said Fran Hackett, a spokeswoman for the aquarium. 
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concord, North Carolina (AP):

Love is in the air in Cabarrus County. It's also in the phone book many, many times. 

Cabarrus has the nation's highest concentration of people named Love eight times more per capita than the national average according to a Valentine's-week study by a San Diego marketing research firm. 

Union, Gaston and Mecklenburg counties aren't far behind Cabarrus, making North Carolina one of the nation's Love-liest states. 

Clementeene Love Glover of Gastonia said her maiden name is telling: "I'm just a friendly, happy-go-lucky person. I love my family and I love people." 

"It's a beautiful name, Love," she said. "It's a way of life." 

The demographers at Claritas Inc. tossed around several monikers Romeo, Casanova, Cupid in their search for Loves. 

They tried Lust, too. But even where Lust is popular (first place: Oneida County, N.Y.), Love prevailed. 

Although the Charlotte region has, comparatively, a whole lot of Love, the surname accounts for only a small part of the population. 

Researchers looked at U.S. counties with populations of more than 100,000 and ranked those with the highest concentrations of the Love surname. Just 0.03 percent of the national population is named Love, and Cabarrus County's Loves make up 0.24 percent of the county's population. 

But demographers say no name does much more not even Smith, the most popular, which in 1990 was held by only slightly more than 1 percent of U.S. residents. 
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London, England (Reuters):

Fed up with giving his wife the usual flowers and chocolates for Valentine's Day, one Brit is opting for a more unusual present -- a vasectomy that will be broadcast on live radio. 

Radio producer Roque Segade-Vietito will have the operation at a central London clinic during a broadcast at 8.00 a.m. on Friday, February 14. 

"Some women get flowers, but my wife is getting my vasectomy," the 31-year-old father of two said in a statement. 

"She's got to be one of the luckiest women in London: it's the most romantic thing I've ever done." 

The 10-minute procedure under local anaesthetic will be accompanied by a "snip-by-snip" commentary by Xfm radio DJ Christian O'Connell. 
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New York, New York (Ananova):

A deli worker in New York caught a butcher's knife after it was thrown at her by a robber.

Rosa Dela Cruz managed to grab the knife by its handles, stopping it just inches from her face.

It had been thrown by the raider who tried to leave the deli in Long Island with a bottle of beer he'd taken.

"I got angry. I said 'What are you doing with that knife? Give me that knife! Give me that knife!' He threw it at my face," she told The New York Post.

Dela Cruz, 42, then ordered the stunned robber to get out before calling for help. Police arrested the man outside the store.

He's been charged with robbery.

Detective Lieutenant Tom Fitzpatrick said: "We think she's a ninja. She was very calm and cool when we spoke to her. It's incredible she wasn't hurt."
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London, England (Reuters):

Mozart will be turning in his grave next week when a Viennese orchestra descends on London to make a meal out of playing the carrot. 

The First Vienna Vegetable Orchestra says it will cook up a storm with its carrot flutes, leek violins, celery bongos and aubergine cymbals. 

Supported by the occasional use of kitchen utensils such as spoons and food processors, the orchestra has been a hit in its hometown Vienna. 

The inspiration for veggie music came from listening to the sound of vegetables being chopped. 

Before each performance, the band tours local markets to find fresh vegetables of just the right calibre and quality. 

The gurkophone is one of their classics, made from a hollowed cucumber, a pepper and a carrot. 

Once the instruments are worn out, the musicians, and a conductor who doubles as cook, toss each one into a stewpot to make soup -- to be enjoyed by the audience after the concert. 

The orchestra is due to play at the Purcell Room at London's South Bank arts complex on Tuesday and Wednesday. A taste of their music is on website www.gemueseorchester.org. 
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Cleveland, Ohio (AP):

Connie Post has seen an awful lot of dresses, wedding cakes and bouquet tosses. 

No big surprise: Post, wed 10 times, is apparently Ohio's most-married woman. 

"I do believe in marriage and I think the way I've lived my life proves it," she said. 

A review of Ohio marriage licenses issued in 2000 found brides as old as 90 and as young as 15, couples with 12 prior marriages between them and couples with a 50-year difference in their ages. 

In 1970, the median age for first marriages in the United States was 20.8 years for women and 23.2 years for men. People marry later now: in 2000, it was 25.1 for women and 26.8 for men. 

Howard Boettcher of Cincinnati was 96 when he married 79-year-old Alma Eppler. Neither minds the jokes about robbing the cradle. 

They never seriously considered living together before they got married in 2000. 

"It's just a matter of being old-fashioned if you want to call it that," he said. 
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