The cheese stands alone

Gourmets know the best cheese comes from France. Fromage. Just the word conjures up images of fancy French restaurants, delicious dishes with cheese melted over the top of them, saucy accents and beautiful women. At least it does to me.

One thing I’ve never associated with cheese though is makeup. Skin care creams. Beauty products. Beautiful women, yes; the way they got that way, never.

A Frenchwoman named Gilberte Van Erpe has done what seems like the impossible. She convinced an entire town that her cheese possessed magically qualities and would be used to create luxury shampoo and moisturizers.

She talked residents in the rural town of Cantauco in Chile into giving her almost $400 for each box of the “magic cheese” that were really only worth $4.00. One resident paid 25 million pesos ($40,779.30) for the kits believing there was going to be a high payoff in the end.

Van Erpe was arrested last year in France for a similar pyramid scheme and is now under investigation for the present scheme. French officials are in Chile interviewing victims at this time. In total Van Erpe has scammed over $38 million from trusting people. She faces 10 years in prison if convicted. I don’t think that’s nearly enough. I hope the French government can help those people get their money back. It’s a sad statement about our society in general to me; the good keep trying to trust and the bad keep taking advantage.

Caution: Thin ice

I’m moving slow this morning. I haven’t done much other than read my morning news. It was quite the night last night. I’ll write about that on my Happy At Home site though.

The story I wanted to talk about today involves ice. It’s been really warm here. As a matter of fact it’s already 62 degrees outside and it’s only 8:30 a.m. I almost forgot it was still wintertime in many places.

In Oak Harbor Ohio it’s definitely still winter. Lake Erie is frozen over in many places. People go out on that ice and fish. I personally think those people are a little crazy but whatever makes you happy.

Apparently there was a crack in the ice that fishermen had built a sort of bridge out of wooden pallets to cross. The ice shifted; the pallets fell into the water. There were a total of 135 people now trapped on the ice. Several people panicked trying to find a way back to shore, two of which fell into the freezing water. One of those men died from a heart attack after he had been pulled out of the water. 134 people were rescued.

I repeat, I think those people are a little crazy. But I guess the fishermen agree with me. One of them was quoted as saying “I thought we could get away with it for today. When you’re crazy for fishin’ I guess, and the fish are biting, I just couldn’t resist it.” Yep, crazy.

On another note the rare 1937 Bugatti that I told you about went to auction in Paris yesterday. It did indeed bring in a fortune like they thought it would. The Type 57S Atalante sold for $4.4 million. Now that’s a good day!

Calling all beach bums!

What could be better than living on a beautiful beach, snorkeling along the reef and exploring an island anytime you got the urge? How about getting paid for it.

Sounds like a dream job to me. But it’s not a dream. It’s exactly what the Australian government is offering. $105,000 plus a rent free beach home to live on this beautiful island for six months. All that’s required to get this job is the ability to swim, be able to speak and write English and not be shy.

The person who gets the job will be expected to talk to the media, keep a blog and provide video and photo updates. Australia is trying to bring more tourism to the country, specifically to Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.

I can imagine the scene all too easily which probably means I’d love this job. Just the wildlife alone would be worth it to me. Plus you get to live on an island! Now that feels too good to be true. I’m already very jealous of someone. I don’t know who will get the job, but whoever it is, I’m jealous!

If you’re interested in applying for this job you can click here, but I’m warning you A LOT of people are interested and therefore the site is so busy it’s very hard to get to it. I tried for over half an hour before it would finally go to the site.

If you do make it to the site there are links to all the relevant issues pertaining to this job. There is a full job description you can download and details on the responsibilities, criteria and benefits.

If I had nothing else to do I would definitely apply for this job. Six months would go by so fast. Especially on an island. I wonder if it’s a one time deal. Or if you can sign up for another six months after the first ones have past. I imagine that answer is in the FAQ section included on the site. I think I’ll go read them now and have a little daydream about living on the beach.

Note: Today's news revealed that because of the high volume of traffic to the application site it crashed. It took several hours to get the site back up and some portions are still unavailable.

Pop! Pop! Yay!

Well Christmas is over for another year. I’m sure a lot of you have wrapping paper, torn boxes and toys covering your floor. And I bet quite a few of you have some bubble wrap laying around too. You know those sheets of plastic with air filled bubbles that protect the contents of packages and drive you crazy with people popping them.

I’m one of the poppers. I just can’t help myself. And I have to pop every single bubble on the sheet. I’m not happy until I have. And each bubble must be popped individually. It’s an obsession.

A man in Brooklyn has turned this obsession into a money making deal. It’s actually a very cute idea. He’s made a bubble wrap calendar. You get to pop a bubble every day! I’m not sure if this would be a good gift for me though. I’d probably pop the whole year when I hung it up.

I wonder if he uses recycled materials to make these adorable calendars? If he does, I think I wouldn’t be able to resist buying one. You can currently buy one for $29.95 with free shipping in the United States. They are also available in different languages. And all major holidays are printed on them as well.

If I were still a kid (and I am) I would say they were really neato. Way cool. Totally awesome dude!

Click here if you’d like to purchase a Bubble Calendar