Team benched for being good
A baseball team of 11- and 12-year-olds kicked out of a league in this Columbus suburb is fielding offers from all over to play.
The Columbus Stars were removed from their league last month because they were too good. In some of their last games, the Stars beat the Red Sox 18-0, World Harvest 13-0, Sugar Grove II 24-0 and Sugar Grove I 10-2.
Other teams began complaining — and canceling.
Michael Mirones, board chairman for the Canal Winchester Joint Recreation District, pulled the Stars from the league and returned their $150 entry fee. He suggested the Stars play in a travel league against better teams.
Now the Stars have received offers from teams all over central Ohio and in other states.
Clay Branch, a parent in a youth league in Atlanta, said he offered to arrange for the team to play in Georgia.
“I’d never heard of anything like that, and it blew my mind,” he said. “I wish we were closer.”

Chess players set world record
Thousands of chess players set a new world record on Saturday for simultaneous chess matches at a public park in central Mexico, a Guinness World Records representative announced.
The total of 12,388 competitors participated to beat the previous record for simultaneous chess matches set in Havana in 2002 with 11,320 competitors.
Guinness World Records representative Stuart Claxton announced the awards, noting that Mexico also has produced the world’s biggest batch of guacamole and the tallest cactus.
The record-setting crowd turned out on a cloudy, windy morning in Pachuca, 60 miles northeast of Mexico City, to earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Children made up about 80 percent of the players, said Rafael Hernandez, an organizer of the mass chess gathering.
A knowledge of the rules of chess was the only requirement to participate.

Pets gain right of inheritance
The Hawaian audience was eager for the governor to put pen to paper. Some drooled. Catching the spirit of excitement, a few even lost control and barked. Canines of all sizes and a spotted rabbit named Roxy were among those gathered Friday at the Capitol to watch Gov. Linda Lingle sign into law a measure that allows residents to leave a trust for the care of their dog, cat, or other domestic animal.
Lingle’s two cats, Nani Girl and Stripes, were not in attendance.
“As you know cats don’t do as well in public settings like this as dogs do,” Lingle said.
Friday also marked National “Take Your Pet to Work Day.” Several legislators and a number of other workers showed off their four-legged friends, who mostly behaved.
“These aren’t just pets. These are a part of the family. You miss them when you’re away. You worry about them. They really are important parts of your life,” Lingle said.
Animal law attorney Emily Gardner helped draft the original bill. Garner became attracted to the issue while visiting elderly long-term care patients at St. Francis Hospital with her dog, Toby, who works as a therapy dog.

Man swallows key, locksmith uses X-Ray
Nebraska resident, Arthur Richardson thought he’d pull a prank and pretend to swallow a friend’s truck key. Unfortunately, the prank backfired when Richardson plopped the key in his mouth and gravity took over.
Richardson went to a doctor who X-rayed his stomach and got a clear picture of the key. The doctor said the key posed no danger, but Richardson’s friend needed to use his truck.
So Richardson and his friend took the X-rays to a locksmith, who used the pictures to fashion a new key. And it worked in the truck.
John Somers, owner of Al’s Lock and Safe, said he’d never made a key before from the image of an X-ray.
“I have done all sorts of lock work, I’ve done all sorts of safe work,” Somers said. “This is truly a first in my career.”
Somers said he didn’t have any immediate plans to set price rates for X-ray keys, but it’s something he might consider.

Jordan axes Saddam’s new novel
Jordan has banned Saddam Hussein’s new novel on the grounds the tale of an Arab tribesman who defeats a foreign intruder could hurt relations between the two countries, censors and the publisher said on Sunday.
“Get out of here, curse you!,” believed to have been penned by the ousted Iraqi leader before the U.S.-led war, was set to be released in Jordan and other Arab countries on Thursday by a Jordanian company with the permission of Saddam’s family.
“Publishing this novel will harm the Iraqi-Jordanian relationship and we are keen to have the best relations with Iraq. Jordan will not approve its publication. If they want to publish it they have to do it abroad,” Ahmad al-Qudah, head of the government’s Press and Publication Department, told Reuters.
The publisher said he had printed 10,000 copies for distribution in Jordan and other Arab countries, including Iraq, after winning initial permission. He said censors changed their mind after a local newspaper reported the upcoming launch.

Wimbledon first, wedding second
Sports-mad businessman John Livock is such a passionate Wimbledon fan that he has organised his wedding so it does not clash with the men’s final which he has attended for 45 years in a row.
Even the racehorses he owns have a tennis theme with the two-year-old Championship Point providing Livock with a memorable win at Royal Ascot earlier this month.
The property investment manager also has a double cause for celebration this year -- his 56th birthday falls on the day of the men’s singles final.
“Every year the first thing I do when I reach for my new diary is to put in the dates for Wimbledon and Royal Ascot,” he said.
“There is no greater arena than the centre court at Wimbledon. I went to my first final when I was 10 years old. I must say I did love the Bjorn Borg era but Pete Sampras would definitely have to be up there as one of the greatest winners.”

 

Woman in car crash already dead
A young mother found at the scene of a car crash near Tokyo in which her husband and infant son were killed had already been dead for at least a day before the accident happened, police were quoted as saying on Sunday.
The bizarre discovery was made after emergency crews who rushed to the scene found the body of Rie Ishikawa, 28, already in a state of rigor mortis, Kyodo news agency reported.
The family car crashed early on Sunday on a highway in Sawara, Chiba Prefecture.
Ishikawa’s husband, Masayuki, 32, survived the initial crash after the car hit a concrete wall then rebounded and hit the lane divider in the centre of the highway, Kyodo said.

Tailpiece

Condoms

A young boy and his father were in a store when they walked past a rack of condoms. Being a curious young lad, the boy asked his father, “What are these things daddy?” His dad said, “Condoms son.” The boy asked, “Why do they come in packs of 1,3, and 12?” The dad replied, “The packs with one are for the high school boys, one for Saturday night, the ones with three are for the college boys, one for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the ones with twelve in them are for the married men, one for January, one for February, one for March....”