KEY POINTS:
A concerned grandmother writes about bullying during a motorway snarl-up on Friday: "Perhaps the adult male driver of a truck carrying a racing car should know that he is not as clever or unique as he obviously thought he was. Having taken the trouble to wind down his window he then pointed his finger and yelled "Ginger" (pronounced with a hard G), at my 14-year-old granddaughter. He was just one of many in the last few weeks who has felt that he had been given licence to denigrate, humiliate and embarrass this 14-year-old, sweet, gentle redhead. She has been shouted at from passing cars, had phone cameras thrust in her face while being shoved and taunted. Your remark, Mr Driver was mild compared to what she has had to endure, but it was another arrow to her heart. Redheads have always been subjected to the occasional tease, but this has become an onslaught of late. I would be interested to know of any others who have been similarly persecuted."
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An 18-year-old was stopped by police in London last week. As they were questioning him, the mobile phone he was carrying rang. The officer who answered the call heard a disgruntled voice saying: "I am the bloke whose phone you just robbed." The teenager was arrested on suspicion of robbery. His friend who was with him was also arrested on suspicion of theft because he was riding a girl's bike "with no apparent explanation".
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Trouble getting to sleep? The folks at Sleep Machines.com have all sorts of sleep-inducing new age CDs, including the sounds of rain, wind and a crackling fire. But they also have a 60-minute recording of a tumble dryer, a dishwasher and a vacuum cleaner. Here's their pitch: "There is something about that pulsing, back and forth, rhythmic hum of a vacuum cleaner doing its job that can create a great nap-to sound. When played softly, this CD comforts napping children as if a real vacuum cleaner was being used in another room."
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Texas death row prisoner Patrick Knight acknowledges there's nothing funny about his likely execution this month for shooting his neighbours, Walter and Mary Werner, 16 years ago, but he is looking for a great joke to use as his final statement. Knight is accepting jokes mailed to him or e-mailed to a friend who then mails him the jokes. The one he finds the funniest will be his final statement if his execution goes ahead as planned on June 26. "I'm not trying to disrespect the victims or anything like that," he told the Associated Press. "I'm about to die. I'm not going to sit here and whine and cry and moan and everything like that when I'm facing the punishment I've been given." He's received about 250 wisecracks, and says: "Lawyer jokes are real popular."
