Fun_People Archive
11 Apr
WhiteBoardness - 4/11/97

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 97 23:07:39 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: WhiteBoardness - 4/11/97

Excerpted-from: WhiteBoard News for Friday, April 11, 1997

Mexico City, Mexico:

Prostitutes in a sleazy red-light zone in Mexico City have abandoned
mini-skirts, see-through blouses and "dental floss" bikinis -- not because
of a cold spell but in a bid to win over angry locals.

Since April 1, the dress code has been "normal skirt to the knee, no splits,
seemly trousers and normal blouse," Ana Maria Casmiro, leader of some 700
sex workers in Mexico City's market district La Merced, told state news
agency Notimex.

"Strictly forbidden are the baby doll, dental floss bikinis, transparent
blouses, all lycra clothing and underwear worn on the outside," she said
Wednesday.

By cleaning up their image, she said, the women aimed to persuade
scandalized local residents to let them continue working in the area. She
said Mexico City local authorities had approved the plan.

Prostitution is illegal in Mexico but police and authorities are often paid
off to turn a blind eye. In Mexico City there are several "tolerance zones"
where brothels and street walkers openly ply their trade.
==========

San Francisco, California:

Strippers of the world unite!

Nude dancers at the Lusty Lady are strutting over a labor contract in which
the only strippers' union in the country won raises, sick days and
arbitration rights.

"It's a fantastic victory," union spokeswoman Stephanie Batey said. "I hear
they're getting swamped with applications from women who feel that a union
club is the best place to work - which it is, of course."

The first-time contract, released Thursday, requires an average $25 per hour
pay by the end of the year, and gives dancers one sick day a year.

An especially touchy issue was rectified when managers agreed to remove
one-way mirrors that let customers take photographs and videos that
sometimes end up on the Internet.

"I'm thrilled," said Jane, a dancer. "I think it's a pretty amazing victory,
considering what we were up against and how little our protections were
before the contract."
==========

London, England:

Scientists using a giant magnetic field have made a frog float in mid-air
and might even be able to do the same thing with a human, New Scientist
magazine reported Friday.

The team from Britain's University of Nottingham and the University of
Nijmegen in the Netherlands has also succeeded in levitating plants,
grasshoppers and fish.

"If you have a magnet that is big enough, you could levitate a human," said
Pater Main, one of the researchers.

He said the frog did not seem to suffer any ill effects. "It went back to
its fellow frogs looking perfectly happy."

The levitation trick works because giant magnetic fields slightly distort
the orbits of electrons in the frog's atoms. The resulting electric current
generates a magnetic field in the opposite direction to that of the magnet.
==========

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

A woman in labor, waiting at home for her husband to take her to the
hospital, delivered the baby herself after her contractions progressed
quickly and she realized it was a breech delivery.

The details of Wednesday's birth of a healthy boy were a little sketchy for
Kim Rowe, whose pregnancy had been uneventful for the rest of its 80 months.

When her contractions took on 20-minute intervals, she called her husband,
Steve. As he drove to their house in Wexford from his office eight miles
away, the contractions speeded up, way up in just a few minutes.

Ms. Rowe, 35, was in her bathroom. She said she reached down and felt a tiny
leg. She knew it was too late to do anything but push.

"I couldn't get to the phone. I couldn't call 911. We live on a private
road, so I wasn't sure an ambulance could even find me," she said.

"Instinct sort of took over," Ms. Rowe said. "I'm still in shock and sort
of in awe of the whole thing. It's pretty wild."

Although she wasn't watching the clock, she estimates the birth came within
20 minutes of her call to her husband.

Mother and son, Matthew Thomas, were taken to Allegheny General Hospital
and were doing well.

© 1997 Peter Langston