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Mike Pingree

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Mike Hanlon 

May 19, 2002

WOULDN'T HONEST WORK BE EASIER? Three Minnesota men would tour model homes for sale in upscale neighborhoods during the day and the return in the dead of night with their truck and steal furniture, washing machines, stereos, hot tubs, you name it.
They were caught after burglarizing 22 homes in three counties, and it took police six hours to remove the goods from the home the men shared. 
The cops needed six 30-foot trucks to do the job, and the stolen loot filled four evidence garages.

 WHAT IS THIS, 'WILD KINGDOM?' The Pittsburgh Zoo will soon be releasing barn owls in the city to feast on the urban population of mice and rats. 
The birds can hunt in absolute darkness and fly silently. Very bad news for rodents who might have thought they'd be safe in the city. 

FROM THE ANNALS OF 'IDIOCY IN EDUCATION': Seven boys were hauled before the principal of Dry Creek Elementary School in Centennial, Colo., for engaging in a playground game of army-and-aliens in which they would pretend to shoot each other with their fingers and then fall down dead.
The game was deemed "violent and aggressive behavior," and the boys were given detention. 

LOVELY SPECIMEN, SIR HORACE ... KA-BOOOOOM! After hundreds of years under water on ancient shipwrecks, some cannonballs apparently have gone through a change that causes them to heat up when exposed to oxygen after they are retrieved from the ocean floor. 
This phenomenon came to light when British archaeologists began to notice that their desks were catching fire when 17th century cannonballs were placed atop them. 

Mike Pingree writes another Looking Glass column in the Boston Sunday Herald. You can read it by clicking here:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists.html

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