Canadian town rethinks 'Land of Rape and Honey' slogan
TISDALE, Saskatchewan, April 22 (UPI) -- The Canadian town of Tisdale, Saskatchewan is asking residents to weigh in on changing the town's slogan from "The Land of Rape and
Honey." The phrase, which actually refers to rapeseed, a source of animal feed, vegetable oil and biodiesel fuels, is printed on the town's welcome sign and officials are surveying residents to determine whether the slogan should be changed. Officials said the word "rape" is associated by many with sexual assault more than the city's crop, which has actually decreased in recent years to less than 1 percent of crops grown in the area. The Economic Development Office's online survey for residents said honey production has also "decreased significantly." "Do you believe it is time for Tisdale to update our Town brand?" the survey asks.
Woman's brain tumour turns out to be embryonic twin
An Indiana woman underwent surgery to remove what she thought was a tumour but turned out to be her embryonic twin — in her brain.Yamini Karanam, 26, was having trouble comprehending the things she read or what people around her were saying, but doctors couldn't agree on what was wrong with her, NBC Los Angeles reports. The PhD student found a specialist at L.A.'s Skullbase Institute whose minimally invasive method of performing brain surgery uses a small incision to get inside the delicate organ and remove cancerous tissue. When Dr. Hrayr Shahinian went in, he found the tumour was actually a "teratoma" -- a relatively rare case of an embryonic twin, complete with bone, hair and teeth, according to the report. When Karanam awoke and heard the news, she joked the tumour was her "evil twin sister" who'd been "torturing" her for the past 26 years, she told NBC.Teratomas are usually benign -- as it turns out Karanam's was. She expected to make a full recovery.
Spanx Smuggler," 70, Arrested With Four Pounds of Cocaine In Her Girdles, Underwear
A 70-year-old woman had four pounds of cocaine stashed in her girdles and underwear, according to federal agents who found the stash during a pat down at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Olive Fowler, a Guyana resident, arrived at JFK last Sunday on a Caribbean Airlines flight from Georgetown, Guyana. Traveling on a non-immigrant visitor’s visa, Fowler was selected for an examination by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, according to a criminal complaint.
While agents examined her baggage, Fowler “was sweating profusely and avoiding eye contact with the officers,” an investigator reported. Suspicious agents then opted to peform a pat down search of Fowler.“CBP officers...felt a dense, hard material under the defendant’s clothes in the area of the defendant’s groin and buttocks,” the complaint notes. As it turned out, Fowler was wearing two pairs of compression shorts over her underwear, garments that held nearly two kilos of cocaine (which has a street value in excess of $73,000). The accused septuagenarian smuggler was then arrested on a felony narcotics charge. Locked up in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, Fowler is scheduled for an April 27 preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court. As seen above, CBP officials released evidence photos showing Fowler’s assorted undergarments, including a shot of one girdle that was cut open to reveal the cocaine hidden inside. While the brand of Fowler’s compression garments is unknown, that should not keep anyone from referring to her forthwith as the “Spanx Smuggler.”
Blocked sex club to open as 'church' instead
The owners of a proposed sex club in Nashville, Tenn., have apparently found a higher calling as newly-ordained ministers with plans to open under the guise of a church. After city officials prevented the swingers' club from opening, the owners applied to open a place of worship at the same building, with a very similar layout. That plan was approved, according to WKRN-TV. Floorplans for the once-proposed adults-only business, The Social Club, show the plans didn't change other than names given to rooms -- the "dungeon" was renamed a "choir room" and the "dance floor" became a "sanctuary," according to documents received by the city. City councillors rezoned the area, prohibiting the club from opening as it is located next to a Christian school.
A flyer from the so-called non-denominational United Fellowship Center says men will be charged an entry fee of $50 and women $20. The flyer says, "We are all children of the same universe" and: "Do only that which is right."Coun. Karen Bennett told the station the four owners of the building have applied to become ministers -- a title easily obtained online by just filing out a name and password. “Churches have a lot of rights, but it is also federally regulated," Bennett said, WKRN-TV reports. "They certainly have their right to become a church; they just need to make sure they follow guidelines. “There’s no word on when the so-called church will open.
