A west Florida community is spending $3,800 in tax dollars to entice naked Germans to spend their summer vacations there.
The advertising grant was awarded Tuesday by the Pasco County commission to Pandabare, a local nudist organization representing 16 resorts, campgrounds and clubs located in the largely rural county north of Tampa.
The ads, to be placed in European publications, will promote the county's longstanding reputation as the nudist capital of America.
"The idea is to create a Euro-bird season in July and August which are our worst two months of the year," said Eric Keaton, public communications manager for the Pasco County tourist development agency. Keaton said nudism contributes to the county's economy, but he had no figures to quantify its impact.
The first target market for the ad campaign will be Germany which, according to Pandabare's application, is "a large and lucrative market whose millions of nudists are among the world's most prolific travelers." The group also anticipates a campaign aimed at British nudists.
Keaton said the advertisements, set to launch in 2012, remain in the conceptual stage.
"They are very clean, and somewhat funny," he said.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Canadian charity throws doomed bunnies a lifeline
A Canadian charity, appropriately named EARS, is offering to help a Rocky Mountain town deal with its bunny problem, promising to neuter and spay the unwanted rabbits rather than let the city carry out its trap-and-cull proposal. The estimated 2,000 rabbits of Canmore, Alberta, are the black, white and brown descendents of pets released into the wild. "They are not a native wildlife species," the city said sternly in a news release on Wednesday.
Under the new proposal, which has yet to be finalized, Earthanimal Humane Education and Rescue Society (EARS) would trap and spay or neuter the feral rabbits, and then provide a sanctuary for them to live out their lives.
"EARS has brought us a sound proposal and we are looking forward to working with them," Canmore Mayor Ron Casey said in a statement. "We want to make sure that any transfer of rabbits is done responsibly. We can't have our problem become someone else's."
Canmore had wanted to trap and kill the feral rabbits, prompting protests from animal rights groups
Under the new proposal, which has yet to be finalized, Earthanimal Humane Education and Rescue Society (EARS) would trap and spay or neuter the feral rabbits, and then provide a sanctuary for them to live out their lives.
"EARS has brought us a sound proposal and we are looking forward to working with them," Canmore Mayor Ron Casey said in a statement. "We want to make sure that any transfer of rabbits is done responsibly. We can't have our problem become someone else's."
Canmore had wanted to trap and kill the feral rabbits, prompting protests from animal rights groups
Hungary tech firm immortalizes Steve Jobs in bronze
A Hungarian software company unveiled what it said was the world's first bronze statue of Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs Wednesday, calling him one of the greatest personalities of the modern age. Jobs died on October 5 of pancreatic cancer at the age of 56.
The bronze work by sculptor Erno Toth stands in the Budapest campus of architectural software maker Graphisoft.
"He was one of the greatest (personalities) in our era, that's what we wanted to express with this sculpture here," Graphisoft Chairman Gabor Bojar told Reuters.
Bojar said Jobs gave cash and computers to Graphisoft, helping it to become a global leader in architecture software from humble roots as a tiny firm in the 1980s in then-communist Hungary.
"In some ways, Apple was a religion," Bojar said at the unveiling ceremony, comparing the experts from Cupertino-based Apple who helped educate Graphisoft's engineers to evangelists.
Steve Jobs represented a technological revolution which can be compared only to the discovery of writing, Bojar said.
"We have felt his spirit every day and now it is embodied," he said. "We hope that we can deserve with our entrepreneurial culture in Hungary what this sculpture expresses as a message."
The bronze work by sculptor Erno Toth stands in the Budapest campus of architectural software maker Graphisoft.
"He was one of the greatest (personalities) in our era, that's what we wanted to express with this sculpture here," Graphisoft Chairman Gabor Bojar told Reuters.
Bojar said Jobs gave cash and computers to Graphisoft, helping it to become a global leader in architecture software from humble roots as a tiny firm in the 1980s in then-communist Hungary.
"In some ways, Apple was a religion," Bojar said at the unveiling ceremony, comparing the experts from Cupertino-based Apple who helped educate Graphisoft's engineers to evangelists.
Steve Jobs represented a technological revolution which can be compared only to the discovery of writing, Bojar said.
"We have felt his spirit every day and now it is embodied," he said. "We hope that we can deserve with our entrepreneurial culture in Hungary what this sculpture expresses as a message."
Mystery buyer acquires vatican.xxx web address
The Vatican said on Wednesday an unknown buyer had snapped up the internet address vatican.xxx, a domain combining its name with an extension reserved for pornographic content. "This domain is not available because it has been acquired by someone else, but not the Vatican," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Vatican radio.
It was not clear from his statement if the Vatican had tried to acquire the domain in order to prevent future misuse and had been beaten to the punch by the unknown buyer.
Lombardi denied Italian media reports that the Vatican had, like many other organizations including companies, universities and museums, registered the xxx domain to prevent its misuse.
The xxx domains are being launched this month for pornographic content and many organizations have preemptively acquired them so others cannot.
It was not clear from his statement if the Vatican had tried to acquire the domain in order to prevent future misuse and had been beaten to the punch by the unknown buyer.
Lombardi denied Italian media reports that the Vatican had, like many other organizations including companies, universities and museums, registered the xxx domain to prevent its misuse.
The xxx domains are being launched this month for pornographic content and many organizations have preemptively acquired them so others cannot.
Waiting for Congress, Obama takes dog Bo shopping
With his wife and daughters already in Hawaii for the holidays, President Barack Obama took his dog Bo shopping on Wednesday as he waited for congressional leaders to mop up a payroll tax mess that has kept him in Washington. Obama travelled with Bo, and an entourage of aides, Secret Service agents, doctors and reporters, to a Northern Virginia strip mall to buy treats for the three-year-old Portuguese Water Dog featured on the White House holiday cards this year.
Bo accompanied him to PetSmart, where the dog made friends with a brown poodle named Cinnamon.
"Okay, Bo, don't get too personal here," Obama told the dog. He deposited Bo in the car before stopping by Best Buy for Apple gift cards and Nintendo Wii video games for his daughters, including "The Sims 3: Pets" and "Just Dance 3."
"The girls beat me every time on these dance games," he told reporters, joking that he would never let his picture get taken while dancing.
His total came to just under $200, and he told the cashier: "Let's see if my credit card still works," which it did.
The next stop was at Del Ray Pizzeria in Alexandria, Va., where the president bought three pizza pies. He shook hands with supporters to shouts of "I love you, President Obama," although a 50-year-old man said he disagreed with the Obama administration's decision to delay approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport oilsands crude from the western Canadian province of Alberta to Texas.
Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama left for Hawaii on Friday and the president has delayed his trip to join them as a result of a political impasse over extending payroll tax cuts that are set to expire December 31.
He called Republican House Speaker John Boehner earlier on Wednesday to urge him to accept a two-month extension as a step towards a full-year deal, to be negotiated in early 2012.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked about the shopping excursion, said the president had been very busy ahead of the trip. "Sometimes it's nice to get out of the house," he said.
Bo accompanied him to PetSmart, where the dog made friends with a brown poodle named Cinnamon.
"Okay, Bo, don't get too personal here," Obama told the dog. He deposited Bo in the car before stopping by Best Buy for Apple gift cards and Nintendo Wii video games for his daughters, including "The Sims 3: Pets" and "Just Dance 3."
"The girls beat me every time on these dance games," he told reporters, joking that he would never let his picture get taken while dancing.
His total came to just under $200, and he told the cashier: "Let's see if my credit card still works," which it did.
The next stop was at Del Ray Pizzeria in Alexandria, Va., where the president bought three pizza pies. He shook hands with supporters to shouts of "I love you, President Obama," although a 50-year-old man said he disagreed with the Obama administration's decision to delay approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport oilsands crude from the western Canadian province of Alberta to Texas.
Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama left for Hawaii on Friday and the president has delayed his trip to join them as a result of a political impasse over extending payroll tax cuts that are set to expire December 31.
He called Republican House Speaker John Boehner earlier on Wednesday to urge him to accept a two-month extension as a step towards a full-year deal, to be negotiated in early 2012.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked about the shopping excursion, said the president had been very busy ahead of the trip. "Sometimes it's nice to get out of the house," he said.
Boston student re-united with $170,000 violin
Christmas came early for a Boston music student who was reunited with the $170,000 violin she forgot in the overhead compartment of a regional commuter bus she rode last week, police said.
Muchen Hsieh, a student at the New England Conservatory in Boston, had traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, arriving at roughly 11 p.m. on Tuesday.
Christine O'Brien, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia police, who helped Hsieh track down the missing instrument, said then came a moment of sheer panic for the student.
O'Brien said Hsieh realized she had forgotten the instrument after she was picked up from the bus station. She blamed her absent-mindedness on travel fatigue.
Hsieh called the bus company, Megabus, roughly 30 minutes after she arrived but the bus had already left the Philadelphia station, O'Brien said. Hsieh also notified police, making a plea for the instrument's recovery, O'Brien said.
The 176-year-old instrument, on loan to Hsieh from a Taiwanese cultural foundation, was found by bus cleaners in the same compartment in which Hsieh left it. They put it in storage, and police returned it to Hsieh on Friday.
Hsieh joins the ranks of esteemed musicians who have mislaid or forgotten their valuable and sometimes priceless instruments. World renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma once left his in a cab.
One German string player required medical attention from the stress caused when he left his violin, worth roughly $1.4 million, on a commuter train in 2010.
It is not unusual for students at Hsieh's school to have such valuable instruments, Ellen Pfeifer, spokeswoman for the New England Conservatory, told the Boston Globe.
"Most of our string players, whether violinists, cellists, or violists, have pretty expensive, old, rare, instruments," Pfeifer said. "They frequently get them on loan from wealthy foundations."
The violin, which is in pristine condition, was made in 1835 by Vincenzo Jorio in Naples.
"This is certainly one of the most expensive items I have ever heard of and we were so relieved to get it back to the owner," said Megabus spokesman Bryony Chamberlain, adding that people often forget stowed-away items after long trips.
Hsieh had traveled from Boston to New York City and then to Philadelphia, Chamberlain said, a trip that could have taken more than six and a half hours.
"Each division has incidents of lost items that rare -- but this is probably one of the most unique," police spokeswoman O'Brien said, adding that Hsieh put on a mini-concert for the officers who organized the recovery.
"She is very talented," O'Brien said.
Muchen Hsieh, a student at the New England Conservatory in Boston, had traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, arriving at roughly 11 p.m. on Tuesday.
Christine O'Brien, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia police, who helped Hsieh track down the missing instrument, said then came a moment of sheer panic for the student.
O'Brien said Hsieh realized she had forgotten the instrument after she was picked up from the bus station. She blamed her absent-mindedness on travel fatigue.
Hsieh called the bus company, Megabus, roughly 30 minutes after she arrived but the bus had already left the Philadelphia station, O'Brien said. Hsieh also notified police, making a plea for the instrument's recovery, O'Brien said.
The 176-year-old instrument, on loan to Hsieh from a Taiwanese cultural foundation, was found by bus cleaners in the same compartment in which Hsieh left it. They put it in storage, and police returned it to Hsieh on Friday.
Hsieh joins the ranks of esteemed musicians who have mislaid or forgotten their valuable and sometimes priceless instruments. World renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma once left his in a cab.
One German string player required medical attention from the stress caused when he left his violin, worth roughly $1.4 million, on a commuter train in 2010.
It is not unusual for students at Hsieh's school to have such valuable instruments, Ellen Pfeifer, spokeswoman for the New England Conservatory, told the Boston Globe.
"Most of our string players, whether violinists, cellists, or violists, have pretty expensive, old, rare, instruments," Pfeifer said. "They frequently get them on loan from wealthy foundations."
The violin, which is in pristine condition, was made in 1835 by Vincenzo Jorio in Naples.
"This is certainly one of the most expensive items I have ever heard of and we were so relieved to get it back to the owner," said Megabus spokesman Bryony Chamberlain, adding that people often forget stowed-away items after long trips.
Hsieh had traveled from Boston to New York City and then to Philadelphia, Chamberlain said, a trip that could have taken more than six and a half hours.
"Each division has incidents of lost items that rare -- but this is probably one of the most unique," police spokeswoman O'Brien said, adding that Hsieh put on a mini-concert for the officers who organized the recovery.
"She is very talented," O'Brien said.
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