Cabin Crews Wage ‘Snack Strike’ Protest
Passengers on Alitalia’s European flights were left hungry on Friday as cabin crew refused to serve meals and drinks in a “snack strike” to protest new working conditions at the Italian carrier. The novel industrial action is a pale shadow of the all-out strikes which brought the airline to a standstill on occasion last year, but it has infuriated the management which is trying to drag the state-controlled company into profit.
Passengers on national and European flights were to be deprived of most in-flight services between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. (1000-1400), a union representative said. Long-haul flights were unaffected.
“This is an unusual way to get the attention of Alitalia which won’t mean big problems for passengers,” he said.
Alitalia has threatened employees with legal action if they participate in the action, saying the protest is illegal as it comes during the peak Christmas period during which strikes are outlawed.
But unions were unrepentant and said they could stage more serious strikes if their grievances are not addressed.
The company hoped it had put an end to a lengthy and damaging period of industrial unrest last October when it finally agreed with unions a sweeping restructuring plan aimed at pulling Alitalia back from the brink of bankruptcy.
That plan will shed 3,700 jobs, around a sixth of the payroll, split the firm into a flying and a services division and inject up to 1.2 billion euros in a capital increase, reducing the state’s holding to 49 percent from today’s 62 percent.

 

Dane sentenced to prison for ... going to prison
A 49-year-old Dane was sentenced to two months’ behind bars for taking a friend’s place in prison for a day, judicial sources said.
Per Thorbjoern Lonka appeared at a Copenhagen prison on August 28 and falsely presented himself as his friend who was supposed to be jailed. Guards never asked Lonka to show his identity papers, and he was imprisoned.
But on the second day of his detention, he told guards that he was not the “real” prisoner.
“I wanted to stage a gimmick to prove that you can with impunity stay out of prison as long as you’re rich and can pay someone else to serve your sentence for you,” he told the court in Gentofte, near the Danish capital.
Lonka was not paid by his friend, his lawyer Merete Stagetorn stressed, adding that she had appealed the conviction.
The practice of convicts paying others to serve their sentences for them is surprisingly widespread in Denmark. Last year, Justice Minister Lene Espersen took measures to prevent the practice.
In January 2004, Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet revealed that around 100 convicts every year pay other people up to 1,000 kroner (135 euros) a day to serve their time.
The practice is common for sentences of up to several months for crimes such as drunk driving, theft, assault and robbery, when those convicted remain free until they are summoned to appear at a detention centre.  

And the Fattest City Is...
Houston tops a US magazine’s annual fattest cities list for the fourth time in five years, with four other Texas cities waddling into the top 25.
Fast food restaurants — Houston has twice the national per capita average — are partly to blame for the dishonour, Men’s Fitness editor-in-chief Neal Boulton said.
“Americans ... work long hours, don’t take vacations, and when you’re faced with the worst nutritional choices, you indulge in those,” he said.
High humidity, poor air quality and some of the nation’s longest commute times also helped Texas’ most populous city unseat Detroit, the 2004 heavyweight champion, the magazine said.
Houston Mayor Bill White, who has worked with a major grocer to promote healthy food and the city’s public schools superintendent to improve lunch menus, called the survey “mostly voodoo and fraud.”
“On the other hand, it calls attention to real issues the mayor is trying to address,” his spokesman, Frank Michel, said.
The magazine said it looked at factors such as the number and types of restaurants, park space, air quality, weather and the number of health clubs.

North Korea campaigns against long hair, untidy attire
Stalinist North Korea (news - web sites) has stepped up its campaign against long hair and untidy attire which its media says represents a “corrupt capitalist” lifestyle.
North Korean state television, radio and newspapers have led the grooming drive, urging people to cut their hair short and to dress tidily, the BBC said in a dispatch citing broadcasts from Pyongyang.
Men were asked to have crew cuts with hair growing up to five centimeters (two inches) in a twice-a-month visit to the barber, it said Sunday.
Not only health and hygiene but also intelligence was cited by the North Korean media as reasons for the crackdown on appearance.
Pyongyang television noted long hair “consumes a great deal of nutrition” and could thus rob the brain of energy, according to the BBC.
But another serious reason came from state radio which said tidy attire “is important in repelling the enemies’ maneuvers to infiltrate corrupt capitalist ideas and lifestyle” in North Korea, it said.
The ruling communist party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, even warned inappropriate appearance under foreign influence could lead to national decay.
“People who wear other’s style of dress and live in other’s style will become fools and that nation will come to ruin,” Rodong was cited as saying.
Some North Korean TV broadcasts adopted a hidden-camera style video of longhaired men on various locations throughout Pyongyang in an unprecedented break with their usual approach.
The program showed those who were not “in accordance with Socialist lifestyle” just run away or make excuses of being too busy to trim their hair.
 

City to Pay Lap Dance Parlor Owner $19,500
An exotic dancer will get nearly $20,000 from city officials who moved to shut down her lap dance parlor in this historically easygoing Florida town known for its drag clubs and clothing-optional bars.
Key West has agreed to pay Christy Sweet $19,500 to cover legal fees and lost revenue for her business, Personal Dances, her attorney Richard Wilson said on Thursday.
The city had granted Sweet an adult entertainment license in 2002 but revoked it in January 2004, according to federal court documents.
Then four months later, city officials voted to drastically restrict adult businesses in the town of about 26,000, home to adult-themed festivities such as the annual Halloween-pegged Fantasy Fest.
Sweet filed a lawsuit in federal court. A judge sided with her and signed the settlement last month.
Key West city attorney Bob Tischenkel said the city agreed to settle because “she was going to win.”
 

Tailpiece

Making Love To...
How can you tell if you’re making love to a teacher,a nurse or an airline stewardess?
A teacher says we got to do this over and over again till we get it right.
A nurse says hold still this won’t hurt a bit.
And an airline stewardness says put this over your mouth and nose and breathe normally.
Off to Vegas
A man came home from work one day to find his wife on the front porch with her bags packed.
‘Just where the heck do you think you’re going!’, said the man.
‘I’m going to Las Vegas’, said the wife, ‘I just found out I can get $400 a night for what I give you for free!
‘The man said, ‘Wait a minute!’, and then ran inside the house only to come back a few minutes later with his suitcases in hand.
‘Where the heck are you going?’, said the wife.
The man said, ‘I want to see how you’re gonna live on $800 a year!’