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The question is, was he cheating on his shop vac at home?

Police arrest Mich. man for car wash vacuum sex

Sat Oct 18, 7:56 PM EDT
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THOMAS TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Police say a Michigan man has been arrested after “receiving sexual favors from a vacuum” at a car wash.

The Saginaw News reports the 29-year-old Swan Creek Township man was arrested Thursday in Saginaw County’s Thomas Township, about 90 miles northwest of Detroit.

Police Sgt. Gary Breidinger says a resident called to report suspicious activity at the car wash about 6:45 a.m. An officer approached on foot and caught the man in the act.

The suspect, whose name wasn’t immediately released, is being held in the Saginaw County Jail.

Well, it is safer and less expensive that soliciting a prostitute, but I’d be terrified to apply something with that much suction to my genitals.

On the plus side, though, it would give me a cheap hysterectomy and possibly a role in a Chuck Palahniuk story.

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Sheriff of Cook County–Nothing like the Sheriff of Nottingham

Chicago’s Cook County Sheriff won’t evict in foreclosures

By DON BABWIN
Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) — The sheriff here said Wednesday that he’s ordering his deputies to stop evicting people from foreclosed properties because many people his office has helped throw out on the street are renters who did nothing wrong.

“We will no longer be a party to something that’s so unjust,” a visibly angry Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said at a news conference.

“We have to be sure that when we are doing this – and we are destroying some people’s lives – we better be darned sure we’re talking about the right people,” Dart said.

Dart said he believes he’s the first sheriff in a major metropolitan area to stop participating in foreclosure evictions, and the publisher of a national foreclosure database said he’s probably right.

“I haven’t heard of any other sheriff unilaterally deciding to stop foreclosures,” said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of the Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, Inc. He said the sheriff in Philadelphia helped push a moratorium on foreclosure sales, but that involved owner-occupied homes and not renters.

Dart said that from now on, banks will have to present his office with a court affidavit that proves the home’s occupant is either the owner or has been properly notified of the foreclosure proceedings.

Illinois law requires that renters be notified that their residence is in foreclosure and they will be evicted in 120 days, but Dart indicated that the law has been routinely ignored.

He talked about tenants who dutifully pay their rent, then leave one morning for work only to have authorities evict them and put their belongings on the curb while they are gone.

By the time they get home, “The meager possessions they have are gone,” he said. “This is happening too often.”

In many cases, he said, tenants aren’t even aware that their homes have fallen into foreclosure.

This week, an attorney asked that Dart be held in contempt when his deputies did not evict tenants after determining they were not the owners and did not know about their landlord’s financial problems.

A judge denied the attorney’s request, Dart’s office said, and Dart said that after talking to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, he is confident he is on solid legal ground.

“My job as sheriff is to follow court orders, absolutely,” he said. “But I’m also in charge of making sure justice is being done here and it is clear that justice is not being done here.”

The state’s attorney’s office said it would not comment on conversations with Dart because his office is a client.

Foreclosures have skyrocketed around the country in recent months and Dart said the number of foreclosure evictions in Cook County could more than double from the 2006 tally of 1,771. This year the county is on pace to see 4,500 such evictions, he said.

Dart warned that because the eviction process on foreclosures can take more than a year, the number is sure to climb even higher.

“From all the numbers we have seen, we know (they) are going to be exploding,” he said.

Sharga said there are more than 1 million U.S. homes in foreclosure – with about a third of that number occupied by someone other than the owner.

“That number will continue to get bigger,” he said.

Dart said he believes banks are not doing basic research to determine that the people being evicted are, in fact, the homeowners.

He said that in a third of the 400 to 500 foreclosure evictions his deputies had been carrying out every month, the residents are not those whose names are on the eviction papers.

Nor, he said, are banks notifying tenants that the homes they’re renting are in foreclosure. He added that when banks do learn the correct names of those living on foreclosed-upon property, their names often are simply added to eviction papers.

“They just go out and get an order the next day and throw these people’s names on there,” Dart said. “Whether they (tenants) have been notified, God only knows.”

Evictions for nonpayment of rent will continue, Dart said, explaining that those cases already have gone to court, his office is confident the people being evicted are who the landlord says they are, and there is no question the tenants are aware of what is going on.

Dart said it’s only fair for banks to give occupants of a foreclosed property adequate notice before forcing them out.

“You are talking about a lot of people in rental situations living paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “To think they are sitting on a pool of money for an up-front deposit, security deposit, is foolishness.”

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A public official? And he’s doing something that could jeopardize his job, career, family, and life to help innocent tenants rather than gouging them for all he can get? I think I may die of shock.

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Now we’re getting somewhere

Even before I was a mom, SIDS research was very important to me. Below is an article about the use of a fan in the baby’s bedroom to help prevent SIDS. More research is needed to prove that it makes a difference 100% of the time, but it’s still a good start.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20081006/MED.Preventing.SIDS/

Fan use linked to lower risk of sudden baby death

Tue Oct 7, 9:19 AM EDT

Using a fan to circulate air seemed to lower the risk of sudden infant death syndrome in a study of nearly 500 babies, researchers reported Monday. Placing babies on their backs to sleep is the best advice for preventing SIDS, a still mysterious cause of death.

Experts also recommend a firm mattress, removing toys and pillows from cribs, and keeping infants from getting too warm.

Such practices helped slash U.S. SIDS deaths by more than half over a decade to about 2,100 in 2003. But SIDS remains the leading cause of death in infants ages 1 month to 1 year.

“The baby’s sleeping environment really matters,” said study senior author Dr. De-Kun Li of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. “This seems to suggest that by improving room ventilation we can further reduce risk.”

SIDS is the sudden death of an otherwise healthy infant that can’t be attributed to any other cause. These babies may have brain abnormalities that prevent them from gasping and waking when they don’t get enough oxygen.

The new study, published in October’s Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, offers another way to make sure babies get enough air.

More research is needed, said Dr. Fern Hauck of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, but she said that because fan use is in line with theories, it may be worth considering.

“This is the first study that we know of that has looked at this issue,” said Hauck, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics SIDS task force.

Researchers interviewed mothers of 185 infants who died from SIDS and mothers of 312 infants of similar race and age. Moms answered dozens of questions about their baby’s sleeping environment.

Researchers took into account other risk factors and found that fan use was associated with a 72 percent lower risk of SIDS. Only 3 percent of the babies who died had a fan on in the room during their last sleep, the mothers reported. That compared to 12 percent of the babies who lived.

Using a fan reduced risk most for babies in poor sleeping environments.

The study involved infants in 11 California counties. It was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

___

On the Net:

Archives: http://www.archpediatrics.com

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

God willing, one day we’ll know what causes SIDS, and then we’ll be more capable of preventing it. Until then, anything that is proven to reduce the risk of SIDS is helpful.

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Behold, the ACTION Scrubber!

I love Scrubbing Bubbles. I use it to clean everything from my bathroom to my kitchen floor. It even does a dandy job on my stovetop and counters! Naturally, when BzzAgent offered me the opportunity to try out a new product by Scrubbing Bubbles and share my opinions on it, I (quite literally!) jumped at the chance.

The new product is Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber. The set I received to test consisted of the foam base, four pads presaturated and dehydrated with the scrubbing bubbles solution, and a clear plastic box to house the pads and give the scrubber base a place to rest. The concept behind this new product is that by using the system, those of us (un)fortunate enough to get stuck with bathroom cleaning duties will have fewer steps to a cleaner bathroom.

Unfortunately, it’s not quite that easy. First, one must make sure that the surface is already moistened, which is easy to do in the shower area, but not so easy around the toilet, unless one has a leaky toilet or condensation issues. (With my trusty can of scrubbing bubbles, I’ve never had to pre-moisten a surface to get it clean). Second, one must adhere the pad to the base, then moisten the handy scrubbing bubbles pretreated pad…but not too much! Third, one must start scrubbing away, which is arguably the most fun part of the entire process, as the pad glides swiftly over the surfaces, pounding through dirt, soap scum, and other yuckies like a Vin Diesel antihero. Fourth, one must rinse off the surfaces, or the cleaner will cause them to become obnoxiously sticky. Finally, one has the option of wiping the surfaces dry or letting them air dry.

Does it save steps? Maybe it does for some other bathroom trench wenches, but it doesn’t for me. All I’ve ever really had to do to get my bathroom clean is spray my trusty scrubbing bubbles, let them sit for a bit, then wipe them off with a wet towel, then let things air-dry. Again, though, I was impressed with the way the scrubber slid through grime, which could save one the time and trouble associate with actually scrubbing the surface with something other than the Action Scrubber.

In addition, the fine folks at Scrubbing Bubbles recommend that one use gloves when using this product, and with good reason–the stuff on the pad dried out my skin pretty quickly; it was like I stuck my hands in a bucket of alum (the same stuff used in styptic pencils, pickling, and random recipes). Since I’m allergic to latex and non-latex gloves cost money I don’t have, gloving up is a no-go for me. As it was, I had to lotion my hands repeatedly just to get to the normal level of dry my skin currently enjoys.

Overall, though, this is a good product for anyone who wants an easy way to scrub off bathroom crud. I don’t feel as though it saves me any steps, though, and I hate how it makes my hands feel, so I’ll most likely stick with my trusty can of scrubbing bubbles and designated scrubbing towels.

The Action Scrubber is good idea, but it’s not for everyone. Since I love Scubbing Bubbles pretty much unconditionally, I give it a 4/5. Not bad, but there’s room for improvement, and it’s definitely worth a test drive.