Online bookie takes bets on gas prices
If high gas prices are hurting your wallet, the website www.youwager.com has a risky way to recoup your losses.
The online sports book is taking wagers on the likelihood that gasoline will go higher. A bet that gas will hit $4 a gallon by mid-June, based on the nationwide average price reported by the Lumberg Survey, will pay 3-to-1. A bet that gas reaches $5 a gallon by mid-June pays 8-to-1.
Here are a few other quirky bets offered by the website: Will General Motors file for bankruptcy by May 8, and will Wal-Mart get the go-ahead to open its own in-house bank by early August?
Bunny goes wild in mall altercation
Noerr Programs Corp., a Golden-based business that supplies malls around the country with Santa Clauses and Easter Bunnies for the holidays, specializes in “creating magic, inspiring smiles, capturing memories!” according to its website.
At a Fort Myers, Fla., mall on April 15, however, children witnessed an altercation between the Easter Bunny and a customer.
Noerr uses a cadre of 1,800 seasonal employees every year for Santa Claus or Easter Bunny sets. Arthur McClure was the Easter Bunny on the Noerr set at the Edison Mall in Fort Myers.
Erin Johansson and her family were waiting in line to have their picture taken with the man-rabbit when the exhibit closed 10 minutes early, according to a police report.
Patrons and children began to get upset.
After Johansson asked why they were closing early, Crystal Frechette, the set manager, and the patron began arguing. Frechette – who is also McClure’s wife – allegedly punched Johansson in the face. Then the Easter Bunny removed his costume head and punched Johansson in the back of the head, according to the report.
Another version of the story is that McClure was trying to separate the two women.
One “independent witness” took photographs of the incident.
In the end, mall security arrived with “an off-duty mall detail police officer” and McClure and Frechette were arrested. The couple were fired by Noerr Programs “for coming out of character and being involved in an incident that was embarrassing and unpleasant for the guests,” according to spokesman Charlie Russell.
Noerr, which works in nearly 200 malls around the country, has “an extensive interview and training process” and does background checks, Russell said.
Candidate files “earnings report”
Cary Kennedy, who is running for Colorado state treasurer, put some well-known business lingo to use in a press release last week, saying she had filed her “first quarterly earnings report,” showing $108,171.68 in earnings during the first three months of the year.
Most political candidates call that fundraising.
“I come from a financial background, so that’s how I think,” said Kennedy, who has 10 years of state finance experience.
She said no other candidate for treasurer in the state has raised more money in a single quarter.
Mike Coffman, who currently holds the post, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. The state Treasury Department is responsible for about $4.5 billion in taxpayer funds.
Kennedy previously worked in the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting under Gov. Roy Romer and as policy director for House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, assisting with the development of Referendum C. She also wrote Amendment 23, a statewide initiative to increase funding for Colorado’s public schools, which was passed by voters in November 2000.
“Brain Age” game targets baby boomers
Video-game makers usually find themselves targeting a young audience when they launch a new product. But with video games coming out that aim to help baby boomers with their aging brains, the marketing game plan may be changing.
Consider the introduction of “Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day” ($20, all ages), released Tuesday for use with the hand-held Nintendo DS device.
“Brain Age” is the first of a planned series of brain games from Nintendo. It includes word and number puzzles, connect- the-dots exercises and other challenges. Most of the activities are timed. When the player is finished, the game issues a “brain age” that is tracked on a graph to show progress over the weeks and months that the brain-exercise regimen is completed.
The goal is for the brain age to be at least equal to or below the player’s actual age.
The game taps into a growing body of medical research suggesting that brain teasers and problem-solving games can improve memory and brain function in older people, even those with dementia.
