WhiteBoard News for Wednesday, March 19, 2003

New Brighton, England (Ananova):

Two people have turned up for the world's strangest job interview - hoping to spend a season as a knife-thrower's assistant.

Mother-of-four Kathy Buckley, from Liverpool, and 20-year-old shop assistant Michelle Ruddock, from the Wirral, attended an audition at the Cottle and Austen Circus in New Brighton, Merseyside.

The position, open to both men and women, was advertised at job centres in Wirral and Liverpool.

Kathy and Michelle had to stand at a narrow wooden board while ten 12-inch knives were thrown around them at speeds of up to 70mph.

Kathy, 36, said she was "up for a bit of madness and fun".

Michelle is keen to swap till work for the glamour of the bright lights.

"I think the circus is the most exciting place you can work," she said.

The current assistant, Russian-born Jana Rodionova, 22, is hopeful that she can be replaced so she can concentrate on her hula-hoop routine.

"It's very nerve-racking," she said. "I was originally a stand-in but I've been doing it for a year as no-one else wants the job."

Both interviewees barely flinched as the knives were thrown towards them and have been invited to attend a performance.
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Healdsburg, California (Ananova):

A student has beaten scores of Paper, Scissors, Stone enthusiasts to win the game's world championship and a $1,000 prize.

About 120 enthusiasts of the game, which has settled countless childhood disputes, vied for the accolade at a contest in Healdsburg, north of San Francisco.

"It's really about the mind games," said Doug Walker, co-president of the Toronto-based World Rock Scissors Paper Society, which sponsored the annual contest.

"There's a lot of trash talking and mental intimidation," he said.

"Whenever you see a tense muscle, they're going rock," said Jeff Johnson, a salesman from nearby Santa Rosa. "If they looked relaxed, it's going to be paper."

The $1,000 prize went to Ana Martinez, a 20-year-old student from Oakland whose rock smashed her opponent's scissors.
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Bucharest, Romania (Libertatea):

A bid by Romanian factory workers to save their jobs by donating sperm has been named one of the world's worst business ideas.

Nearly 100 men from the ARO Campulung car factory last year offered to donate sperm and pay the money to the company to save their jobs.

But each of the workers would have needed to donate sperm 400 times to raise the money the firm needed.

Their attempt failed and the factory still has to pay almost $20,300,000 in debts and sack 1,000 workers.

The Romanian workers' idea was placed in eighth position in the list of 101 bad business ideas, reports the Libertatea newspaper.
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Montpelier, Vermont (AP):

An annual rotten sneaker contest included a little international competition when an entry came in from the crew of the USS Montpelier submarine. 

The sneaker arrived double-bagged from an undisclosed location in the Persian Gulf where the submarine is currently deployed. But the shoe arrived with an unmistakable odor of fish. 

Contestants are required to be under the age of 15, but contest organizers still gave the military shoe an honorary title of "most rotten sneaker." 

"That's a weapon of mass destruction right there," said commentator Dave Moody, who moderated the 28th annual contest. 

The rotten sneaker contest began in 1975 as a way to help a local sporting goods store sell shoes. 

Ten-year-old Jeffry Soto walked away with the contest's top prize Tuesday a $500 savings bond. However, he's not taking full credit for the sneakers, which stumped a judge in the "heels" category because they didn't have any heels left. 

The fifth grader says his pit bull helped make his entry the winner. 

"I had a fight with my dog," said Soto, who lives in the Bronx, N.Y., and advanced from the local competition held there last November. "I was trying to get it away from him because he uses it as a chew toy." 
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Arbroath, Scotland (Daily Record):

A man who ended his marriage after just 10 days will become his ex-wife's stepfather when he marries her mother.

George Greenhowe, 22, will marry Pat Smith, 44, in Arbroath, and his ex-wife Allison has agreed to act as bridesmaid.

The wedding will take place in the town's Register Office - the same venue for the wedding of Allison, 19, and George last year.

Until recently, the three lived under the same roof in Wardykes, Arbroath, says the Daily Record.

Allison only moved back in with her father, Allan, because there was no room in the council house she shared with her mum, ex-husband and pets, including an alsatian, five pups, two cats, a hamster and a parrot.

Pat says Allison has forgiven her for taking her husband. "Allison told us she hopes we are happy and she even calls my future husband her stepdad."

But Patricia Williamson, Pat's elderly mother, has disowned her daughter. She said: "I have completely washed my hands of my daughter. It is news to me that they are getting married. I certainly won't be going to the service and I don't know anyone from the family who will be attending."
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Chow
SuperChef
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