American Mustache Institute Seeks Tax Breaks

It’s time that mustached Americans got in on the stimulus money.

At least that’s the proposal being pushed by tax policy professor John Yeutter and the St. Louis-based American Mustache Institute. The tongue-in-cheek group dubs itself “the world’s only facial hair advocacy and research organization.”

On the eve of the deadline to file income tax returns, the professor and the AMI are pushing for a $250 annual tax incentive for people with mustaches. The funds would be used for mustache grooming supplies.

The AMI said the current system “provides a disincentive for the clean-shaven to enjoy the mustached American lifestyle.”

The AMI said the stimulus money could be used not only for trimming instruments but for wax, combs and mirrors.

Bringing Vampires Back Home – To Britain

A British university is to hold a conference on Vampires in an effort to counterbalance the “Americanisation” of the fictional genre.

Delegates to the University of Hertfordshire’s “Open Graves, Open Minds: Vampires and the Undead in Modern Culture” conference to be held on April 16-17 will have their food served to them out of coffins as part of a mission to encourage students of all ages to study literature.

English lecturer Sam George, who has just launched a Master of Arts degree in vampire fiction at Hertfordshire, said the most famous vampire narrative of all, Dracula, was written by Irishman Bram Stoker and set in London and Whitby in Yorkshire, but that now with the “Twilight” saga and “True Blood,” modern vampires have become Americanised.

“It’s amazing how many British actors have played Dracula on screen,” George said in a statement on the university’s website. “I aim to put the British vampire back on the map.”

George said she is particularly interested in the new teen vampire narratives which act as a useful metaphor for wider teen anxieties about their bodies and the first stirrings of desire.

Jordanian Paper’s April Fool’s UFOs Spark Panic

A Jordanian newspaper’s April Fool’s Day report chronicling a late-night visit by 10-foot-tall aliens in flying saucers sparked public panic and almost led to the town’s emergency evacuation, officials said.

The Al Ghad newspaper published a front-page article April 1 about the fake UFO landing near the desert town of Jafr, some 185 miles (300 kilometers) from the capital, Amman. The report said the UFOs lit up the whole town, interrupted communications and sent fearful residents streaming into the streets.

Jafr’s mayor, Mohammed Mleihan, got caught up in the paper’s prank and said he sent security authorities in search of the aliens.

“Students didn’t go to school, their parents were frightened and I almost evacuated the town’s 13,000 residents,” Mleihan told The Associated Press. “People were scared that aliens would attack them.”

A Jordanian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss security issues, said an emergency plan was almost enacted in Jafr.

Some 2010 April Fool’s Day Highlights

William Shakespeare was French, Google has changed its name to “Topeka” and Barack Obama ordered a takeaway from Indonesia — at least that’s what the world media wants us to believe.

Newspapers and broadcasters teased audiences with a string of mostly good-humoured April Fool’s Day stunts on Thursday, with the only angry response coming when a hoax radio interview suggested that Bulgaria should unilaterally adopt the euro.

In a play on old Anglo-French rivalries, the BBC spun a yarn about how Shakespeare, England’s most famous bard, could in fact be French through his mother Mary Arden, saying her name was in fact Mary Ardennes.

It even recruited former French culture minister Jack Lang to play along with the “discovery”. “Of course, we have Racine and Moliere but we will make some room for him in our national pantheon of literature,” he said.

The Guardian said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had challenged opposition leader David Cameron to an election fistfight and printed a fake poster showing a scowling Brown next to the phrase: “Step outside, posh boy”.

Truck Spills 100,000 Dollars Onto Street

People fell onto a bag of cash like a pack of hungry piranhas after more than 100,000 dollars tumbled out the back of an armored truck onto an Ohio street, local media reported.

The bag split open after it fell off the back of the vehicle Wednesday and the driver drove away without noticing.

But a whole bunch of people spotted the cash blowing down the street in Whitehall, a Columbus suburb, and a mad dash for cash ensued.

“People were jumping out of their vehicles,” one witness told NBC4 news.

“Like when you throw some fish in and you’ve got a school of piranhas and they haven’t eaten for a long time. It was funny.”

Another witness described a surreal atmosphere with people laughing, smiling and taking as much as they could carry.

Workers at a nearby flower shop helped police gather up the money in boxes. Several people ended up bringing some of the cash into the police station.

Library Receives Book Overdue By 45 Years

It’s common to return a library book late — but not by half a century.

Staff at a British library say they were surprised and puzzled when they received a book that was 45 years overdue through their mailbox.

Alison Lawrie, the principal assistant at Dinnington Library, near northern England’s Sheffield, says the Penguin first edition copy of “Quartermass and the Pit” by Nigel Kneale was due back on Oct. 15, 1965.

She says the borrower remains a mystery because the library records don’t go back that far, and the sender didn’t attach a letter or note with the book.

Lawrie said Friday the sender need not worry about a hefty fine.

She says: “If the person who returned the book wants to come forward, we’d love to know the story behind it.”

New Zealand Woman Sells Souls To Highest Bidder

The rare spirits that went under the gavel at a recent online auction in New Zealand weren’t aged brandies or hard-to-find liqueurs.

Instead, two glass vials purportedly containing the ghosts of two dead people sold for $2,830 New Zealand dollars ($1,983) at an auction that ended Monday night.

The “ghosts” were put up for bidding by Avie Woodbury from the southern city of Christchurch. She said they were captured in her house and stored in glass vials with stoppers and dipped in holy water, which she says “dulls the spirits’ energy.”

She said they were the spirits of an old man who lived in the house during the 1920s, and a powerful, disruptive little girl who turned up after a session with a spirit-calling Ouija board. Since an exorcism at the property last July led to their capture, there has been no further spooky activity in the house, she said.

Mint Fires Boss Over Coin Typo

Chile’s mint has sacked its managing director after he sent into circulation thousands of coins bearing an incorrect spelling of the country’s name.

The 50-peso coins, worth around 10 U.S. cents each, were issued in 2008 with Chile spelled “Chiie” — an error that was only noticed late last year.

“Director Gregorio Iniguez has been fired over a series of issues, including the misspelled coins, which have brought the institution into disrepute,” a mint official told Reuters on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Some of the coins are still in circulation. They still carry their value. Some collectors are buying them up because they feel they are rare,” the official said.

Korean Beauty Promises No More Sexy Photos

South Korea’s pin-up pool player Cha Yu-ram has insisted she has no plans to switch to a career in modelling despite publishing a book of racy photos this year.

The cue-wielding beauty has won international titles this year, proving there is substance behind the style, and has vowed to deliver at next year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou.

“I had a photo shoot for a sexy photo album this summer but promise my fans I won’t go into the entertainment business,” Cha told South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo.

“I want to be recognised for my pool skills, not for my looks. I think my (time) is about to begin. Look out for me (in Guangzhou).”

Cha shot to fame by winning a major women’s nine-ball competition in South Korea in 2003, although she suffered a loss of form at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.

While references to former Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova — who brought glamour to her sport but failed to win a singles title — are unwelcome, Cha’s early years were spent whacking balls over a net on her father’s orders.

“I ended up quitting tennis after three years,” said Cha, whose tennis ‘career’ ended when she was 11. “When I really got into (pool) I was playing it 10 hours a day minimum.”

‘Cavemen’ Go On Display At Warsaw Zoo

Visitors to Warsaw’s zoo are being greeted by two “Homo sapiens” peering out from a cage — humans in animal skins trying to spark interest in man’s caveman ancestors.

Organizer Maria Mastalerz says the weeklong “performance” aims to attract interest in a play, “Caveman,” showing in the Polish capital. But she says it also carries a message that humans today are not all that different from their prehistoric ancestors.

Dressed in furs and animal skins, the young woman and man smoked a fish over a fire, poking it with a stick, or stared from behind bars at startled zoo visitors.