Martin World News

 

I'm hoping to put a decent Martin World News together here.  The American sources- with one exception, for the closer- were fruitless, so let's give it a whirl...

Moscow Times- That's the way you do it

I've got to say this is one of the more clever scams I have heard of.  In a Moscow suburb lies Patriot Park, a WWII memorial military museum.  Now, so I can avoid having to type out these tongue twisters... 

Vyacheslav Akhmedov, the former director of Patriot Park, and Vladimir Shesterov, a former senior Defense Ministry official, were arrested last year on fraud charges linked to the park’s operations. Former Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov was arrested weeks later on similar charges.

Now that we have the characters, the scam.  Popov wanted a palace for himself on the national dime.  So he selected one of the luxury villas at Patriot Park, "a fully furnished two-story home and garage, a guest house and a bath house", and had it built on a property off-park that he owned- and billed it as if it was being built for and at Patriot Park!  His two little buddies arranged it for him; for their troubles, their new homes for the next 5 and 6 years, respectively, will be prison.  Plus a free change in careers.  Popov is still awaiting his fate, though one would expect he will also be trading his "palace" in for whatever the modern Russian prison cell comes with.

BBC World- our week for odd sports

A few weeks back, I described the misadventures of my son and I that included watching a professional pillow-fighting match.  Then Saturday, I saw a clip of the German push-your-shopping-cart-into-the-cart-corral championships.  Today, I have discovered "Le Mow"...

A lawn mower race in Wisbourough Green, West Sussex, in which 3-driver teams run the circuit from 7PM to 7 AM, most laps made wins.  I wonder if Tim Taylor and Bob Vila know about this...

DW (Germany)- Barbie's sordid past

This falls under the category of "History you didn't know".  Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, was in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1956 when she met the popular Lillie doll.  She took the idea home, named it after her daughter Barbara, and the most successful child's toy of all time, more or less, was born.

But, Lillie wasn't a "child's toy".

Needing to fill some space in the first issue of Germany's Bild tabloid newspaper in 1952, comic artist Reinhard Beuthien came up with Lilli, a sensual character designed to attract male readers.

Lilli's titillating comic strip adventures were like scenes from an erotic film. In one scene she talks about a long-distance truck driver who "helped out" when her car broke down, leaving her dress covered in oily handprints.

Another time she teases a policeman on a beach where two-piece swimsuits are banned, asking him: "Which part should I take off?"

The "strip" became so popular that Lillie was turned into a plastic "party favor" for men's gatherings, etc.  In turn, the doll sold 150,000 in the next ten years.

Whether secretary or sex worker, one thing is certain: Lilli was not intended as a children's toy. With her scantily clad curves, high blonde ponytail and high heels, Lilli's aesthetic was more akin to that of a pinup girl.

Makes you wonder what Ken was doing before he met Barbie...

Mirror UK- blame it on the Old Spice ads...

A lesbian couple in Preston, UK, had a nasty breakup reminiscent of the ads where the guy whines about his girl using his body spray- only a lot nastier.  Partner #2 was upset over partner #1 using her hair conditioner.  In revenge, #2 dumped out half the conditioner and added Veet hair removal cream, actually bragging about it on social media.  #2 will be serving a year in jail, held off for 18 months because she is currently working in a COVID unit.  I'll bet that makes the COVID patients thrilled.  "OMG, was I given chemo by mistake??"  250 hours of that work will be unpaid, the next  £1,500 will go to #1 for compensation, and also #2 gets 20 hours of "Rehabilitation", which I assume is the UK version of 'anger management' or 'sensitivity training'.

Finally, from our local news about a week ago...

WANE-15- Out on a limb...

Meet Michael Baker, of Cromwell Indiana.  Michael had apparently a beef with a neighbor.  He tried to settle it by a)threatening him with an axe, b) stealing his truck, c) ramming it into another vehicle, then running off into the woods.

That's where the wheels on Michaels little crime spree came off.

Around 11 p.m., ISP troopers followed tracks into the woods and traced them to the stolen truck, but Baker was nowhere to be found. After about half an hour of troopers and a K9 searching for Baker, they heard yells for help deeper in the woods.

Investigators called out to Baker but didn’t hear back, and it wasn’t until just after 12:15 a.m. that Baker was found — 20 feet up in a tree, according to the release.

As described by ISP, Baker had tied his T-shirt around his neck, securing it to the tree so he wouldn’t fall. Officers talked him into coming down, but he got stuck in some branches about 10 feet from the ground.

At what point do you become so scared of being up the tree do you come up with the idea of attaching your neck to a limb in case you fall?  At any rate, he eventually did fall from the tree and was apprehended.