Fun_People Archive
10 Feb
WhiteBoard News Excerpts 2/10/95

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 95 20:00:22 PST
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: WhiteBoard News Excerpts 2/10/95

From: WhiteBoard News for February 10, 1995

This item comes by way of S. Spencer Sun:

Stockholm, Sweden:

It was the minks, they think.

Defense Ministry analysts say many of the signals
detected by the Swedish Navy's high-tech buoys -- and
thought to be foreign submarines -- were just the
sounds of swimming minks.

The report, coming after the military conceded that an
animal set off a weeks-long sub hunt in the Baltic Sea
last spring, was published in the Dagens Nyheter
newspaper recently.

It said most of the suspicious sounds heard in the
islands around Stockholm since the end of the Cold War
were minks and other mammals.  But the military insists
the minks do not account for all the noises.

For nearly 15 years, the military has tracked evidence
of intrusions, saying Soviet or other submarines were
in Swedish waters.

The effort started when a Soviet submarine ran aground
outside a naval base in 1981.  The Navy, which noticed
the sub only after it was stranded, was determined not
to be embarrassed again.

In another incident, the Navy detonated depth charges
against a suspected intruder that turned out to be a
rock.
==========

New York, New York:

A 5-liter bottle of vintage French Bordeaux was sold at
auction Sunday for $31,050, a price industry experts
estimated was among the highest paid for a single
bottle of wine in America.

The Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945 was purchased by an
anonymous U.S. bidder, according to Sotheby's Auction
House.

Serena Sutcliffe, head of the auction house's
international wine department, said the wine's rarity
and quality made it highly appealing.

It was bottled at the end of World War II and its label
in French reads "The Year of Victory."  The vintage was
"one of the greatest years of the century," Sutcliffe
said.
==========

New York, New York:

OK, New Car Driver: You've pulled out your detachable
radio, packed up any valuables and installed The Club.
Now is it safe to leave your car on the street?

Not quite, police say -- the most attractive item to
thieves is still there on the steering wheel, ripe for
the plucking: your airbag.

"It's the fastest growing schemes in stolen parts,"
said Jack Dever, who oversees fraud control programs
for USAA auto insurance.  "You can get a brand-new
Mercedes or other high-priced car, they'll forget
everything else and go to the air bags."

It takes three minutes.  You unfasten four bolts,
there's a clip connector that you unplug, you walk away
from the vehicle and you now have a part that retails
for $1,000, said an insurance industry spokeswoman.

© 1995 Peter Langston