Dispatched this week to 88 countries AND the Bedford, Massachussets, offices of Thinking Machines Corporation, it's... THIS is TRUE for 5 November 1995 Copyright 1995 by Randy Cassingham ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: Brazilian lingerie manufacturer DuLoren has decided not to use a photograph of U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton in their advertisements. The photographer had been in just the right position to see up Ms Clinton's skirt -- her underwear is clearly visible in the resulting photo. "We want [the ad] to say that daring women don't mind letting their panties be seen," said a spokesman for the agency which created the ad. But DuLoren pulled the ad, noting "The only person that didn't ask that the ad not run was [President] Clinton himself." DuLoren is the same company who hired Hollywood hooker Devine Brown for an ad after she was caught by police in Hugh Grant's car. (Reuter, AP) ...Well sure Bill wanted to see: it's been a long time. THE NUMBER'S UP: A math professor at the University of California, Irvine, has figured out how to beat lotto. Mark Finkelstein's method involves waiting for the jackpot to pass $18 million, and then betting on the least-popular numbers -- betting on more popular numbers increases the chance that you'll have to share the jackpot, thus reducing earnings. He estimates his method will, over time, earn a 14% return on the money invested. The catch? It takes 2.3 million years of play to ensure the strategy is profitable. "Actually, I guess you'd be better off with your money in a CD," Finkelstein said. (LA Times) ...2.3 million years? Isn't that about the same time it takes anyway? MIRACLE CHILD: Severino Antinori, Italy's leading fertility specialist, has confirmed that he has agreed to provide assistance to a Catholic parish priest from Tuscany who is infertile, but wants to have a child. Antinori says the 37-year-old priest, "a handsome young man," told him that "the Old and New Testaments urge all men to go forth and multiply. They do not specify how." (Reuter) ...But the church has been specific about the hows for centuries. SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME: Five years ago, LaVerne Pavlinac told Oregon police she and her boyfriend had murdered a woman, even though, she testified at her trial, they really didn't -- she just wanted her boyfriend "off her back". They were both sentenced to life. Now, the real killer may have been found, and Pavlinac hopes she'll get her freedom. Is she bitter? No, she says, but "I'm kind of upset with the way my case wasn't investigated. They just took my word for it and didn't try to find out anything else." (AP) ...Funny how they do that. EUROPEAN DISUNION: Manuel Wackenheim, 28, a Frenchman, has asked the European Court of Human Rights to overturn a French court decision that has banned his line of work: he is a dwarf who has made his living by being "tossed" by patrons in bars and nightclubs. "Banning him from his work is a restriction of liberty," his lawyer asserts, noting that his 97-pound, 3-foot 10-inch client has never been injured. Wackenheim rejects arguments that dwarf-tossing is a degrading spectacle. "This spectacle is my life; I want to be allowed to do what I want." (Reuter) ...With a precedent like this, a lot of professions will have to go. TRICK OR TREAT: A police officer in Paulsboro, N.J., wearing a clown suit over his bulletproof vest, got a lot of treats on Halloween night -- a dozen people with outstanding arrest warrants. He went door to door, asking each time for a fugitive known to live there. "You don't get a `He's not home' on Halloween," explained chief of police Kenneth Ridinger. The idea started two years ago, when an officer dressed as Batman arrested four people. Police may take a break next year. "If we do it every year, everybody will start shutting their doors and the poor kids can't get their candy," the chief said. (AP) ...Now THERE is a good idea. ALL SYSTEMS GO: Stephen Bennett of northern England hopes he will be the first amateur rocket builder to get a rocket into space, which by convention starts 75 km above the Earth's surface. He plans a test November 5; "if it flies and comes back to Earth in one piece, I've been successful and I will know I can get my next rocket into space" within a few months, he says. The rocket is fueled by cane sugar. (Reuter) ...That's nothing: I've seen children on cane sugar reach orbit. TIED UP AT THE OFFICE: San Jose, Calif., suffered a massive case of traffic gridlock Friday when a woman in a bikini was seen whipping a man wearing only a leather G-string at a busy downtown intersection. Officers arrived to find "everything was covered," a police spokesman said. "They weren't breaking any laws, so what could we do?" The couple were participating in a radio station contest to perform the "most outrageous prank". They won. (UPI) ...Big deal: we see stuff like that in Hollywood every day. BETTER RUN, MUM: "British Army, Short of Troops, Targets Mothers" -- Reuter headline