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Trick or treating in FF County

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Apparently, somebody in Canadian academia wanted to find out where the best trick or treating in the states is. This is probably because the Great White North offers cut-rate brands that can’t compete the American institutions like, um, candy corn.

In any case, The Atlantic reports that for the second year in a row, Lower Fairfield County tops the list. The statistician, taking into account affluence, population density and walkability, among other factors, determined — kind of faux scientifically — that our kids score the best Halloween haul in the country.

I mean, they give out king-size Snickers in Greenwich, right?

View the results here.

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A Ryanair jet takes off from Belfast City Airport in 2008. (Associated Press)

European budget airline Ryanair made news again when pilots aborted a flight as tape around the edges of the cockpit windscreen came loose and began loudly flapping in the breeze.

The Huffington Post cites British publications The Telegraph and The Sun:

Anthony Neal, a passenger from Kent, told The Sun: “We were kept in the dark, and were terrified. I could see guys taping in the windscreen with what looked like duct tape or gaffer tape. We were in the sky, then the pilot said due to damage on the windscreen, we were going to have to turn back.”

Read the complete HuffPo report here: Huffington Post:
Ryanair Flight Aborted After Tape On Window Comes Loose

Earlier, the carrier had announced cost-saving measures including removing bathrooms in order to wedge in more seats.

According to Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary:

“We very rarely use all three toilets on board our aircraft anyway,” while he adds that the move “would fundamentally lower air fares by about 5% for all passengers.”

It should be noted that most Ryanair flights are short range, typically lasting no more than 4 hours and 25 minutes.

Read more about the measure in the Inquisitr:

The Inquisitr: Ryanair To Remove Bathrooms, Add More Seats

CNN reported about other methods the airline was trying to squeeze in more people to boost profits:

Looking more and more like cheap suburban public transport, Ryanair announced in July 2010 it was preparing for standing-room-only seats at the back of its 250-strong fleet.

A spokesman for Ryanair said that Boeing had been consulted over refitting the fleet with “vertical seats.” Passengers would be strapped in while standing up

The cable news channel details other money-saving schemes here:

CNN: Ryanair’s 5 ‘cheapest’ money-saving schemes

All in all, passengers seem to be responding to the publicity, CNN reports:

Despite wanting to strip their passengers of basic comforts like toilets and seat pockets, Ryanair is doing good business.

A MadTV parody video on YouTube makes fun of the cut-rate carrier:

Happy flying!

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Meet Lindy Hinkelman, the nation’s best fantasy baseball player … and a pig farmer from Greencreek, Idaho.

Yeah, you might want to read that last little bit again.

A pig farmer.

You would think that the National Fantasy Baseball Championship would be won by the next Billy Beane or Theo Epstein — or a professor of quantum computation at MIT, or something.

But, nope, the 59-year-old Hinkelman is the only two-time champion of the contest, winning this year’s title and the 2009 crown. Each title was worth more than $100,000.

He has earned more than $300,000 in fantasy baseball prize money in the last three years.

He gives his “theory” in this New York Times story:

“Raising pigs and this baseball thing really go together. There are certain things in farming: keeping track of productivity, indexes for your sows, the genetic lines there. To do well, you’ve got to be pretty proficient in numbers. Math has always been my strong suit. I can see things with the numbers. … That’s just my theory. I have no proof. … (And his competitors say:) ‘How’s this guy win? All he is is a pig farmer,’ “I don’t mind that at all.”

(Photo courtesy of stats.com)

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Trying to avoid a cold this season? Count gas pumps, mailbox handles, ATM buttons, and escalator rails as things that you probably don’t want to touch.

Microbiologist Dr. Charles Gerba at the University of Arizona just completed a study that pointed out some of the most germ-infested places in America. According to Dr. Gerba, nicknamed “Dr. Germ,” 71 percent of gas handles and 68 percent of mailbox handles fall into the category of “highly contaminated.” Forty-one percent of ATM machine buttons are in that same group. Parking meters, crosswalk buttons, and vending machines are among some of the other more disgusting items people might find themselves touching throughout the work day.

Short of turning into a Howard Hughes-like germaphobe, what can be done about the apparent filthiness of everything around us? The Kimberly-Clark Professional’s Healthy Work Place Project, Dr. Gerba’s partners in the study, suggest washing your hands throughout the day–basically every time you change locations–when arriving to work, leaving a desk, eating, and after touching almost anything.

First reported in USA Today, these experts also recommend being extra careful when dining out as well, recommending that diners wipe down their tables when sitting down.

Curious as to what other everyday objects to avoid? Take a look at the chart made from the results of this study:

Testing Reveals High Contamination Levels of Everyday Objects in Major U.S. Cities. (PRNewsFoto/Kimberly-Clark Professional)

Hat tip to LA Times

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ABOVE: A dramatic reenactment (well, not really) via Flickr/MelvinSchlubman

Vallejo, Calif. authorities had to cut the world’s biggest — and oldest — baby out of a child’s swing at a local park this weekend.

An unidentified 21-year-old man allegedly made a $100 bet with his friends that he could fit in a child’s swing at Blue Rock Springs Park, police said.

After lubing himself with liquid laundry detergent, he shimmied into the swing and its two leg holes at about 9 p.m. Friday, said Mark Libby, spokesman for the Vallejo Fire Department

He promptly became stuck, and further swelling and circulation issues made it impossible for him to get out on his own, said Vallejo police Sgt. Jeff Bassett.

And then his friends left him.

It wasn’t until a groundskeeper heard him screaming for help at about 6 a.m. the next morning — nine hours later — that authorities came to free him.

But to add insult to injury, Vallejo firefighters decided the best tactic to go about freeing him was to cut the chains and then transport him to the nearest hospital still in the swing.

So the 21-year-old man who spent the night rocking in a child’s swing arrived at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center, still wrapped in the diaper-like seat.

Firefighters used a cast cutter to finally get the makeshift diaper off of him.

The man sustained non-life threatening injuries to his body, but there’s no word yet on the condition of his ego.

— Vivian Ho, SF Chronicle