Bits & Pieces

 

Bits and pieces from this reporter’s notebook.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet.....Scott Peterson’s mother-in-law took to the stand and screamed at her son-in-law during the penalty phase of his double-murder trial. As one wag described the situation, after that it was all uphill for the defense. For those who care about such things, not to worry that this one’s ending, the Robert Blake murder trial is now getting under way.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....Up in the wilds of Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, where mostly anything goes, and does, the Kootenai County Sheriff arrested two men for dumping in a forest. Dirt. Earth. From the excavation for a garage. "Perfectly good dirt," according to the perps. They’d dumped it under a large fir and even went to the trouble of raking it to make it look nice.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....On the other side of the county, a man and woman in Connecticut went to bail out a friend at the Milford police station. They wound up staying themselves. That’s because when they opened the door of their car, a crack pipe fell out. At least that’s what the cops say. Then they searched the car and found some cocaine.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....A Japanese firm has come up with a way to keep elderly folks from going senile, at least according to them. They’ve created an 18-inch robot called Snuggling Ifbot, which is dressed in an astronaut suit and features a glowing face. It also has the conversational ability of a five-year-old. So the senior might say "I'm bored today," and Snuggling Ifbot might respond, "Are you bored? What do you want to do?"

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....The federal government is going to pony up $10 million in matching funds to restore 21 historic missions here in The Golden State. The wood and adobe structures, more than two centuries old, are in desperate need of help. The funding is being challenged by anti-religion zealots who say taxpayer funds shouldn’t be used to repair these historic churches because it would violate the separation of church and state.

Da-deet-da-deet-deet....Finally, a survey of 500 people considered to be experts in the arts have chosen French surrealist Marcel Duchamp's 1917 piece "Fountain" as the most influential of modern art. The "Fountain" is simply and only an ordinary white porcelain urinal, and the experts decided it was more significant than, among other choices, Andy Warhol's screen prints of Marilyn Monroe and Picasso’s "Guernica."

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.

 

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