The pupils will mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years and if they attend 200 masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass an exam prior to their confirmation, the paper said.

The pupils in the southern town of Gryfow Slaski told the daily they liked the idea and also the priest, Grzegorz Sowa, who invented it.

“This is comfortable. We don’t have to stand in a line to get the priest’s signature (confirming our presence at the mass) in our confirmation notebooks,” said one pupil, who gave her name as Karolina.

Poland is perhaps the most devoutly Roman Catholic country in Europe today and churches are regularly packed on Sundays.

(Reporting by Kuba Jaworowski, editing by Paul Casciato)

Authorities said Kuykendall bought the car after it sat for more than three years in an impound yard after being towed by Fulton County police in 2006.

Authorities said he was fixing a gas leak when he discovered the secret compartment.

Cherokee officials have called the U.S. Secret Service to help with the case.

___

Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com

“I’ve just been told something I didn’t know; that eating pork improves your sex life … I’d say it’s a lot nicer to eat a bit of grilled pork than take Viagra,” President Cristina Fernandez said to leaders of the pig farming industry.

She said she recently ate pork and “things went very well that weekend, so it could well be true.”

Argentines are the world’s biggest per capita consumers of beef, but the government has sought to promote pork as an alternative in recent years due to rising steak prices and as a way to diversify the meat industry.

“Trying it doesn’t cost anything, so let’s give it a go,” Fernandez said in the televised speech.

(Reporting by Karina Grazina; Writing by Helen Popper)

Bar owner Mike Morris says Mary Kay Letourneau (leh-TUR’-noh) has served her sentence and it’s OK for the couple to have some fun.

The 47-year-old Letourneau served seven years in prison after pleading guilty in 1997 to raping Vili Fualaau (VEE’-lee foo-ah-LA’-oo), now 26. They met when Fualaau was in second grade and began their affair when he was 12 and she was a 34-year-old married mother of four. They were married in 2005 and have two daughters together.

Morris says Saturday’s event at Fuel Sports Eats & Beats will be their third “Hot for Teacher” night. She greets people and he DJs.

A boss and his secretary who were having an affair saw their romantic tryst interrupted in a wince-inducing manner – after a car crash led her to accidentally bite his penis off.

According to reports in China Press and Sin Chew Daily, the 30-year-old woman was performing oral sex on her boss in a car in a Singapore park, when the car was struck by a reversing van.

The impact caused her to bite the man’s penis off.

ust in case this wasn’t already bad enough for those involved, the incident was observed by a private detective who had been sent by the woman’s husband to catch them out.

He described how, shortly after parking, the car started to ‘shake violently’ – but then was hit by the van. He said that the woman screamed loudly, with her mouth covered in blood.

Helpfully, the investigator called an ambulance to take the man to hospital. His lover followed him there, with part of his penis.

The investigator said he’s never seen an incident like it before.

Source: metro.co.uk

Pool Party in Vegas

(LiveScience Staff) One in five people admitted to peeing in a swimming pool, in a recent poll of Americans.

In fact, the survey conducted by the Water Quality and Health Council found that almost half (47 percent) of the subjects admitted to one or more behaviors that contribute to an unhealthy pool.

Here are some of the survey’s other findings:

• About one-third (35 percent) say they don’t shower before entering the pool.
• 63 percent were unaware of illnesses associated with swallowing, breathing or having contact with contaminated pool water.
• Less than one quarter consider the frequency of pool cleaning and chemical treatment (23 percent) and even less (16 percent) think about chlorine levels to maintain clean pool water.

“Swimming is a fun and healthy activity for old and young alike. Proper water chlorination helps protect swimmers from germs that can make swimmers sick,” said Michele Hlavsa, an epidemiologist in the Division of Parasitic Diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “But swimmers also have role to play in maintaining a clean and healthy pool. Unhygienic behavior brings germs into the pool and makes it harder for chlorine to do its job.”

The survey was conducted online between April 30 to May 3, 2009, among a national sample of 1,000 U.S. adults, using the field services of TNS Omnibus. Results were weighted to reflect the adult population based on U.S. Census figures, including age, gender, geographic region, household income and household size. The margin of error for the study was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The Water Quality & Health Council is a body of independent scientific experts, health professionals and consumer advocates who serve as advisors to the Chlorine Chemistry Division of the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade association.

The CDC urges pool users to follow these six tips for healthy swimming:

• Don’t swim when you have diarrhea.
• Don’t swallow pool water.
• Practice good hygiene. Shower with soap before swimming and wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers.
• Take your kids on bathroom breaks or check diapers often.
• Change diapers in a bathroom or a diaper-changing area and not at poolside.
• Wash your children thoroughly (especially the rear end) with soap and water before they go swimming.

Unclean water can lead to recreational water illnesses (RWI’s) —  diarrhea, respiratory illness, and ear and skin infections. Children, pregnant women and people with compromised immune systems can suffer from more severe illness if infected. According to the CDC, these illnesses are on the rise. Between 2005 and 2006, 78 outbreaks were reported in 31 states — the largest number of outbreaks ever in a two-year period.  Close to 4,500 people were affected.

To check that your public pool is properly chlorinated, the Water Quality and Health Council recommends the use of portable pool and spa testing strips, easily purchased at pool supply stores and discount retailers, in addition to trusting your basic senses.

“A smelly pool is a dirty pool,” said National Consumers League President Emeritus and Water Quality and Health Council Vice-Chair Linda Golodner. “Look for water that’s clean, clear and blue. Check for tiles that feel smooth and clean. Make sure there are no strong odors. Listen for pool cleaning equipment. Using your senses help you recognize the difference between a healthy pool and one that needs cleaning and treatment.”