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The infamous airport men’s room where Sen. Larry Craig was arrested is getting new stall dividers that drop nearly to the floor to make it a less inviting spot for sexual liaisons.

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The Minneapolis airport has more than 80 restrooms, but only two are being targeted for the new dividers, including the one now known for Craig’s arrest.

“These two have been the most problematic in terms of complaints from people and indications on Web sites that sexual activities are occurring in them,” said airport spokesman Patrick Hogan. He said the dividers would be installed within the next two months.

Both restrooms, in the busy Northstar Crossing shopping area, had a reputation on some Web sites as good places for bathroom liaisons. Hogan said airport officials had been checking the Web sites and found the activity had dropped off since Craig’s arrest.

One person arrested over the summer told police he had four sexual encounters in three hours, and it was only on his fifth approach that someone objected, Hogan said.

The new stall dividers will fall to just 2 to 3 inches above the floor, instead of leaving as much as a foot of open space as they do now. The airport expects to spend $25,000; installing them in every restroom there would cost about $1 million, Hogan said.

“It is unfortunate to look at having to spend $1 million on something that wouldn’t be necessary if people simply behaved themselves,” he said.

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De aanbieders van openbaar vervoer verwachten dat het aantal reizigers met 7 procent zal afnemen door de introductie van de OV-chipkaart. Ze willen dat verlies compenseren door de prijs per afgelegde kilometer met 7 procent te verhogen.

Wat de f….

Ik dacht dat het beleid was om het OV te stimuleren? Dan voeren we dat ding toch gewoon niet in?

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Photo taken today, on 2nd Ave. in NYC. Now if we could only get Nokia to design stuff more like Apple does and get Apple to be as open minded as Nokia…

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DirecTV is defending automated sales calls to Do Not Call List subscribers as “informational,” and “not telemarketing.” The satellite TV provider recently called customers to say: “Because you are on our Do Not Call List, we can’t call you with all of our super-awesome special promotions.”

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Orcas sprint along a channel which has opened in the ice. They are headed deep into McMurdo Sound, where they hope to find food. They must hurry, however, for wind conditions can cause the channel to freeze again, cutting off the whales’ access to air.

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American diplomats have been ordered to compile a dossier detailing Iran’s violations of international law that some fear could be used to justify military strikes against the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

Members of the US secretariat in the United Nations were asked earlier this month to begin “searching for things that Iran has done wrong”, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

Some US diplomats believe the exercise — reminiscent of attempts by vice-president Dick Cheney and the former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to build the case against Saddam Hussein before the Iraq war — will boost calls for military action by neo-conservatives inside and outside the administration.

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Countrywide Financial Corp. Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo cashed in $138 million in stock options over the last year, switching his trading plans as the mortgage company went into a tailspin, it was reported Saturday.

Between November 2006 and August, Mozilo changed the plans outlining how many of his shares would be sold monthly, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mozilo unloaded 4.9 million Countrywide shares, most of which he bought through exercising options.

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The changes allowed him to sell hundreds of thousands of additional shares before Countrywide stock plunged.

Sandy Samuels, Countrywide’s chief legal officer, said Mozilo’s stock sales were all “in accordance with company policy.”

Since company policy is to screw the clients, that’s not surprising.

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Och zoete ironie. Terwijl de regenten in Den Haag deze week in achterkamertjes het tweede EU-referendum hebben afgeschoten, staat volgende week in het teken van ‘de week van de democratie’. U bent namelijk helemaal geen taxschuivende sukkelaar die elke 4 jaar mag kiezen door welke partij hij of zij zich een oor laat aannaaien. Neen, u bent de BAAS in dit land! En om die wassen neus kracht bij te zetten, heeft de overheid een campagne in elkaar gesleuteld om u dit ook daadwerkelijk te doen laten geloven. Uiteraard is de publieke omroep samen met de Azijnbode uitgekozen als premium mediapartners. Maar blijkbaar fungeren ook de linkse salonblogs Sargasso en Geencommentaar tegenwoordig als spreekbuis van de overheid. Volgens eigen zeggen overigens “geheel belangeloos”, maar wel goedgekeurd door Balkenende 4. Met dat soort vrienden heb je geen vijanden meer nodig. Uw ideeën voor verbetering van de democratie kunt u nog tot morgenavond bij de buren kwijt. Maakt u zich overigens niet al teveel illusies; slechts 4 voorstellen halen de eindronde, opdat populistische praatjes er gemakkelijk kunnen worden uitgefilterd. Zoiets heet democratie…