IT MUST BE TRUE…

I read it in the tabloids

A suspected drug dealer has won a waiting game with the police after managing not to defecate for 47 days. Lamarr Chambers was arrested in Harlow, Essex, on 17 January on suspicion of possessing drugs with intent to supply; he was thought to have swallowed a batch of drugs as he fled. Chambers was duly placed on “poo watch” in custody. But after he refused to use the toilet for nearly seven weeks, concerns for the prisoner’s welfare were such that the charges were dropped and he was taken to hospital, to allow nature to take its course. He was, though, later rearrested on new drugs charges. A robot wolf designed to keep wild boars away from crops in Japan has proved such a success that it is going into mass production next month. The “Super Monster Wolf” is a 65cm-long, 50cm-tall robot covered in realistic fur, with huge white fangs and flashing red eyes. When it detects an approaching animal, its eyes light up and it starts to howl – in a range of tones, so that wild animals don’t get used to it.

A study in the journal The Leadership Quarterly has found that allowing staff to stab voodoo dolls of their bosses could help improve workplace conditions. A study of 229 workers found that engaging in “symbolic retaliation” lowered feelings of injustice by one third. It doesn’t have to be a voodoo doll per se, said Dr Lindie Liang of Wilfrid Laurier University. “Anything that serves as a symbolic act of retaliation, like throwing darts at a picture of your boss, might work.”