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French bureaucrats gathering information for the national census may need to go back to history class after they sent a letter to Napoleon.Official census body Insee addressed a letter to the late French emperor – and were told to forward their request to Saint Peter.Insee is now facing questions about the accuracy of their work as Napoleon has been dead for nearly 200 years. (edit)

Canadians are being given a hard time when they try to buy from dealerships south of the border By Megan Griffith-Greene, CBC News Posted: Nov 22, 2013 5:00 AM ETCanadians planning a trip south of the border next week to take advantage of Black Friday deals may run into roadblocks if a car is on their shopping list. A CBC Marketplace investigation reveals automakers are preventing Canadians from taking advantage of cheaper car prices south of the border.Marketplace found price differences of thousands of dollars in the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) for the same model car on different sides of the...

So much for Women’s Lib. An eighth-grader took cues from a 1950s etiquette book touting white gloves and girdles in a quirky bid to be popular at school a couple years ago — and now, she’s laughing all the way to the bank. Teenager Maya Van Wagenen cleverly chronicled how she used tips from the decades-old “Betty Cornell’s Teen-age Popularity Guide’’ to gain an edge as a student new to Brownsville, Texas. She followed some of Cornell’s sage advice, which included the gloves, white pearls and girdles, as well as how to properly squeeze pimples, shave one’s legs for summer...

Orig. Title: The Arab Schindler: Family of first ever Arab honoured for saving a Jew from Nazis rejects prize… because they hate Israel The family of the first ever Arab honoured for saving a Jew from the Nazi Holocaust and helping others with medical treatment have rejected the accolade because of their hatred for Israel.Egyptian doctor Mohamed Helmy was honored posthumously last month by Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem for hiding a Jew in Berlin during wartime.  The 'Righteous Among the Nations' award is the highest Israel can bestow upon non-Jews in recognition for helping people to survive the genocide -...

Tesco Sorry Over 'Gay Best Friend' Doll  The retailer's website said the inflatable doll would "tell you if your bum looks big" and was a suitable gift for young children.     Tesco has withdrawn an inflatable figure labelled "gay best friend" and apologised for selling it. It comes a day after the retailer was forced to remove a Halloween costume called "Psycho Ward" from its shelves after it sparked widespread criticism. On its website Tesco said "The Inflatable g*y Best Friend" was suitable for children aged three to four and was an "amusing gift". "If SEX in the City and Will...

Health enrollment campaign will spread the word to every neighborhood in King County Wednesday, September 18, 2013 An ambitious effort hits high gear this week, aiming to enroll 180,000 King County residents in a new health insurance program.On Friday, September 20, more than 100 volunteers and staff members from Public Health – Seattle & King County will spread out across the county to share information about low-cost health insurance options made possible by the Affordable Care Act and available through Washington Healthplanfinder.This on-the-ground outreach launches a six-month enrollment campaign, a central part of King County Executive Dow Constantine's initiative for...

A 35-year-old homeless black man is being held on $500,000 bail after he pointed a gun at a white man's face and demanded he apologize for all the things white people did to black people, according to charges filed with King County Superior Court. Chikwanha Eastling Nyashanu has been charged with assault and malicious harassment for the Aug. 11 incident near the basketball courts at Green Lake Community Center. According to probable cause documents, Nyashanu walked up to the victim around 9:15 p.m., pointed a gun at his face and demanded the apology. The victim later told officers he...

  A Seattle restaurant was burned by an arsonist – and that suspect was a hooded man who left graffiti believed to reference to the Trayvon Martin case. The fire was started about 2:15 a.m. at the corner of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street in Seattle's Central District. The first arriving engine company found flames coming from the back of the Med Mix restaurant near a storage area, and light smoke was found inside the restaurant. On the building the arsonist used red spray paint to write, "4 Pratt and Trayv." The owner believes that message refers to Trayvon Martin,...

SEATTLE — Officers believe a man may have swallowed another man’s ear following a fight late Thursday night. Seattle police received calls of an assault around 10 p.m. in the 100 block of 10th Avenue East. Once they arrived, a bleeding, 23-year-old victim told police a man walked into his yard and began to urinate. The victim told the 21-year-old suspect and his girlfriend to get out of the yard and the suspect — allegedly upset he was told to leave — assaulted his own girlfriend. The victim grew alarmed at the fight and stepped in and tried to stop...

SEATTLE - An internal memo at Seattle City Hall is causing quite a stir. It suggests government workers no longer use the terms "citizen," or "brown bag."  According to the Office for Civil Rights, the terms are potentially offensive and other words should be used. "Luckily, we've got options," Elliott Bronstein of the Office for Civil Rights wrote in the memo. "For 'citizens,' how about 'residents?'" Bronstein wrote. The Office of Civil Rights says Seattle serves all residents, whether they're United States citizens or not. And while city leaders publicize "brown bag" lunch meetings as a way to designate...

Fees have not risen for more than a decade and there is a shortfall of £19 million each year for police forces to process certificates. Chief Constable Andy Marsh, the association’s spokesman on firearms licensing, also called on the Treasury to plug the financial hole. Sporting gun users immediately said they feared the move was a backdoor attempt to cut the number of gun owners in the country. A five-year firearms or shotgun certificate currently costs £50, yet police forces estimate they cost around £200 each to process the paperwork and ensure the guns are being stored safely.

Soldier Missing from Vietnam War Accounted For             The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that a soldier, missing from the Vietnam War, has been accounted for and will be buried with full military honors along with two of his crew members.            Army Spc. 5 John L. Burgess, of Sutton Bay, Mich., was the crew chief of a UH-1H Iroquois helicopter that crashed in Binh Phuoc Province, South Vietnam.  Also, killed in the crash were 1st Lt. Leslie F. Douglas Jr., of Verona, Miss.; lst Lt. Richard Dyer, of Central Falls, R.I.; and Sgt. 1st Class...

Plucking disgusting? Coat made from human chest hair  Fur sale ... £2,499 coat made from chest hair  A JACKET made entirely from human CHEST HAIR has gone on sale. The furry fashion statement, which costs £2,499, uses a million hairs plucked from mens' pecs.     Cravendale milk producers Arla foods are hoping it will turn people on to their new drink Wing Co, which they call "the manly chocolate milk for men with added man". Man fuel ... Arla Food's solution to shaven-chests But we hope it doesn't have a dampening effect on appetites. It does go perfectly...

Citi Bike’s solar-powered docking stations don’t always get enough electricity on cloudy days — a glitch that makes returning the bikes infuriating, riders say. Bike share users — who for weeks have had trouble locking bikes into docks — say the malfunction occurs most on overcast days, when stations are not fully charged. “It’s a joke — they’re solar-powered so they’re basically dead half the time….It’s worse when it’s cloudy or when the dock is under a tall building,” (edit) Lengthy waits to receive bike keys and poor customer service are also part of the problem, riders say. A spokesman...

Dad of five faces jail for ‘bashing burglar’ at business EXCLUSIVE  By CRAIG WOODHOUSE   A DAD of five is facing jail — for confronting two men who were allegedly raiding his business.Andrew Woodhouse is accused of GBH with intent.But wife Lisa told The Sun he was trying to defend himself after one alleged raider “came at him” with a plank as he chased them off. Mr Woodhouse grabbed the wood and allegedly used it on Kevin Green, 52, injuring both his legs and an arm.The offence carries a maximum LIFE sentence.Mr Woodhouse, 43, was woken at night by a burglar...

The NYPost is now a "link only" site at Free Republic; please click on the article link above. Yes, the video is embedded there as well ;-)

SILVERDALE, Wash. -- A Bainbridge Island man is in jail for allegedly shoplifting a mannequin from an "adult entertainment" store and then coming back later the same night to steal sex toys and lingerie. Lovers, formerly known as Lovers Package, claims to enhance people-to-people relationships, but one shoplifter wasn't interested in real people. Instead, he wanted one of the store's sexy mannequins.  "He basically just ran into one of the doors, tried to grab an entire mannequin and run off with it. Well, as he grabbed it the bottom half of the mannequin fell off. So he got the...

(edit) Some experts predict that views on gender will evolve in much the same way they have for sexual orientation, since homosexuality was removed as a mental illness nearly four decades ago. Today, the gender spectrum includes those who are transgender, who see themselves as the opposite gender, and those who are gender variant, or gender nonconforming, whose gender is more "fluid." For kids, it means they identify part of themselves as boy and part as girl. (edit) In Colorado, for instance, the parents of a 6-year-old transgender girl are suing their school district for trying to make her use a...

Tatt's not fair! Man with inking on face says it's sad nobody will give him a job       Ink about it ... Yusuf wishes he'd never had his tattoos done But the 40-year-old from Batley, West Yorks, says the feedback is always the same — employers are turned off by his body art. As well as the Buddhist symbol on his face, Yusuf has two Thai boxing designs and a yin yang symbol on the back of his head. But he believes potential bosses should be more open-minded about his inkings. Yusuf said: “It is really getting...

Full title: Breathtaking video shows installation of final section of the World Trade Center spire as it's fastened to America's tallest building A camera attached to the bottom of One World Trade Center's highest component has provided dizzying footage from the top of New York City's tallest building.The final section of the spire, adorned with an American flag, was lifted by crane to the top of the skyscraper on Friday.A GoPro camera mounted near its base documented the careful rise of the iron piece, as dozens of construction workers watched in awe.    (edit)