Tampa man arrested for wearing clown mask, wig.

TAMPA, Fla. – A Tampa man faces charges after a deputy spotted him walking in a clown mask. According to jail records, the man was arrested Tuesday and charged with wearing a mask or hood on a public road over the age of 16 and resisting arrest without violence. The man, who turned 19 on Wednesday, has been released from Hillsborough County Jail on $750 bond.
The St. Petersburg Times reported that a deputy saw the man wearing a clown mask and bright wig as he walked down a street with two other people. The group fled when deputies tried to question them, but were later located.

Someone once said that if your dog is fat you're not getting enough exercise.   

NEW YORK (Reuters) –So it's no surprise that as human obesity rates soar, man's best friend is loyally packing on the pounds as well.
"Overweight people are more likely to have overweight dogs," said Victoria Stilwell, dog trainer and author of "Fat Dog Slim: How to Have a Healthy, Happy Pet."
Over 34 percent of people in the United States are considered obese, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Most estimates say up to 40 percent of household pets are overweight.
"An overweight dog shows real negligence by the owner. There's pressure on the bones and the heart and the organs. It's just not pleasant," she said.
"If a dog doesn't get enough exercise behavior problems such as anxiety, chewing, destruction, excessive barking, house soiling, can occur" said Stilwell, who hosts the Animal Planet television show "It's Me or the Dog."
In the show the British-born ex-actress comes to the rescue of pet owners driven to wits' end by dogs behaving badly.
"Really understanding your dog's experience of the world makes training easier," said Sitwell, who tries to see the world from a canine perspective.
"It's weird for them to be living in our domestic environment," Stilwell explained. "Why can't they toilet where they want? Why can't they jump up? Bark? Why can't they chew?"
Wayward pets are re-educated with positive reinforcement techniques. Neither hands nor voices are raised.
Stilwell says Sadie, her chocolate Lab, is living proof that a fat dog can get slim.
"When I rescued my dog two years ago she was extremely fat," she explained. "It took me a year of feeding her a very good quality diet and exercise to get 20 pounds (nine kilos) off her."
She suggests the exercise fit the breed.
"A Labrador Retriever is going to like retrieving. Dachshunds are tunnelers. And terriers want to negotiate to get to the toy rat. If your dog is a hunter you can hide toys in the garden," she said.
Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a veterinarian and animal behaviorist at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, in Massachusetts, calls food and exercise the yin and yang of pet care.
"It's a lifestyle problem that leads to a sort of mental funk," he said. "The dog, who is at home, sometimes alone with very little to do, becomes bored and depressed. Eating becomes the only pleasure in life."
Dodman, author of "The Well-Adjusted Dog," blames the owner. "He (the dog) hasn't got opposable thumbs, he can't go to the refrigerator and take out a pork pie in the middle of the night. He eats what you give him."
His motto is -- a tired dog is a good dog. "It's the owner's duty to provide a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio-type exercise," he said.
Dodman said felines also need 30 minutes of daily play.
But unlike their dog-owning counterparts, couch potato cat people can stay put.
"You don't have to rush around. Just shine a laser light or throw a ping pong ball. Cats will chase moving things."
On the subject of felines, Stilwell is stymied. "Cats are a little beyond me," she admitted. "Cats are a different bowl of fish."


Women only: airline to have female toilets. 

TOKYO (Reuters) – Women flying Japan's All Nippon Airways will have a toilet all to themselves from next month, with the airline designating one restroom on most international routes as female-only.
The airline said in a statement it was responding to "numerous requests for this service," adding that the toilet would be located in the rear of the plane and be available to women passengers from all classes.
An airline official told Kyodo news agency that ANA decided to designate women-only lavatories based on a 2007 online survey in which 90 percent of the women polled said they found the idea attractive.
The official also said women do not like using shared toilets as men sometimes leave the seat up. She said demand for women-only toilets was especially high among passengers taking long flights.
Men would be allowed to use the lavatory only in emergencies or when there were very few female passengers on the flight, the ANA statement said.
South Korea's Korean Air has been offering similar facilities and ANA rival Japan Airlines designates lavatories for priority use by women, the ANA official told Kyodo.
Toilet etiquette appears to be an important part of ANA's policy -- the airline had previously asked passengers to use the lavatories before they board flights so as to reduce the overall weight of the plane, which would ultimately be better for the environment as it would mean less fuel usage.



Pakistan kite ban grounds Lahorites festival plans.   

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – A ban on a decades-old and colourful tradition of kite-flying has riled many Pakistanis, but authorities say the sport has killed people and encourages "immoral" celebrations.
The annual kite-flying festival of Basant, which marks the start of spring in eastern Punjab, involves aerial duels in which participants try to bring down each other's kites using string coated in a sticky paste of ground-up glass or metal.
Women dress in their most brilliant colours for what's become a major festival drawing thousands of celebrants to Lahore as well as multinational companies that rent rooftops for clients and guests.
"It's our culture," said Shoaib Mehmood Naqeebi, a shopkeeper in Lahore. "Our forefathers were celebrating it. It's an event where we share happiness with family and friends. It's fun. It's harmless."
But Pakistan's Supreme Court banned kite-flying nationwide in 2005 in response to an outcry over injuries and deaths caused every year by the glass-coated string. The court added that the ban could be lifted for a limited period if a city requests it.
But last month, the Lahore High Court turned down a request for lifting the ban for the Basant festival.
Every year, Pakistani media report dozens of deaths and injuries caused by the high-flying duels, mainly of children and motorcyclists whose throats are sometimes cut by the string.
For many fans in Punjab, it's an unfair decision, one that costs the city and its merchants money.
"Look at what's happening in this country," said Syed Nazim Ali, a student of business administration at Punjab University. "Every day you hear news about blasts, suicide bombings and war. So what if I get a day or two for entertainment with my family?"
The government should concentrate on more serious crimes instead of bothering with banning kite-flying, he said.
Sajjad Bhutta, the top district official for Lahore, told Reuters that the government would defend the ban because the issue is not only public safety.
"Immoral acts like drinking and dance parties have become part of it," he said. "You cannot raid each house so an event that spreads immorality and causes death cannot be allowed in a Islamic society."
Islamist groups also oppose kite flying, branding it a Hindu festival that promotes gambling. In the 1990s, the Afghan Taliban infamously banned kite-flying, a restriction that figured prominently in the popular novel and movie, "The Kite Runner."
But the ban also affects kite merchants, the Punjab Kite-Flying Association says, causing unemployment and financial losses in the millions of rupees.
After the ban, Naqeebi said, he rented out his shop and started selling beads in the driveway of his home. "Nobody cares how difficult my life is now."
Another merchant, Shahid Hussain, said his earnings had been reduced by 75 percent from what he used to make selling kites and string.
Bhutta, the district administrator, dismissed claims of lost business.
"There is no big economic impact, as people were mostly selling kites as a side business," he said.
The controversy has become political. Punjab governor Salman Taseer in mid-February announced on local television that he would celebrate Basant in defiance of the ban.
Lahore police also detained the kite-flying association's secretary general Sheikh Salim on February 20 after he announced that Basant would take off on March 7.
The district government won't listen to his arguments, he said. "They don't care about us and people attached to this business," he added. "They have made up their minds."