In news that proves film acting isn’t all roses, police in Colorado reportedly mistook actors making a crime movie for the real thing, and arrested them. Alerted by an SOS call from park rangers, sheriff’s deputies handcuffed crew members and pointed a rifle at actor Chris Borden, reported the Rocky Mountain News. Borden, 25, one of the stars of low budget thriller Different Kinds, said: “It took a little while for me to realise I could’ve died for my art. They told me I looked like I didn't care if I got shot because I had a criminal demeanour.” Folklaw sympathises with the deputies. Sometimes, some films just shouldn’t get made.

Happiest Day

Anyone in an inordinately good mood last Friday? Seems June 23 has been discovered to be the happiest day of the year. University of Cardiff researcher Cliff Arnall said he came up with that date after interviewing 3,000 people and analysing factors like outdoor activities, temperature and holidays.

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Arnall put the huge amounts of happiness down to meeting with family and friends and establishing close emotional ties. This was supposedly across national and cultural borders. He reckoned he has already figured out what is the saddest day of the year, too - it was January 23. Proves only one thing as far as Folklaw’s concerned: no one got interviewed in the southern hemisphere.

Rude New Yorkers a dying breed

A survey of 36 cities in 35 countries by Reader's Digest magazine has shown that New Yorkers are the politest of all. In experiments conducted by undercover reporters, more than 2000 people were tested for civility. The magazine looked for whether locals kept the door open in front of its reporters when they entered a building, whether the salespeople in a store said thank you to them on purchase, and whether the reporters were helped to collect flying papers when they intentionally dropped a folder full of papers at a crowded place.

In New York, 90 percent held the door open, 19 out of 20 store clerks said “thank you,” and 63 per cent of men and 47 per cent of women helped with the flying papers. In short, four out of five New Yorkers passed the courtesy test.

New Yorkers, according to the Digest, have better manners than people in London, Toronto and Moscow. The survey also found the rudest continent was Asia. As an Asiaphile however, Folklaw wants to be devil’s advocate. How would New Yorkers go on a test for how often they blow their nose in winter, an act which many Asians find unspeakable?

Saddam hunger-strikes — for one meal

On trial for crimes against humanity for his role in the 1982 killing of 148 Shi’ites in Dujail, the former Iraqi leader refused lunch one day last week, in protest at the killing of one of his lawyers by gunmen. However by the evening the strike appeared to be over.

Former Saddam aides being held in the same prison had also refused to eat three meals but ended their fast with the ex-president. “They all took their dinner meal,” the spokesman told Reuters. Doesn’t take long to make your point when you’re president, even an ex one.

Bostonians say no to fluff

State legislators in Boston have been arguing about fluff — Marshmallow Fluff to be exact. It’s a locally-made sugary spread, best known in the form of Fluffernutters, which are peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff sandwiches. Euuuuk.

State senator Jarrett Barrios started the debate when he learned that his son's grammar school cafeteria offered Fluffernutters daily. He proposed a law that would allow schools to serve them only once a week.

Fluff aficionados defended the spread, which locals also put on ice cream and into hot chocolate, and is made by local company, Durkee-Mower Inc. of Lynn, Massachusetts. A two-tablespoon serving of fluff, which is made from corn syrup, sugar and egg whites, has about 60 calories.

Meanwhile, State Rep. Kathi Anne Reinstein introduced a bill that would make the Fluffernutter the state sandwich. Barrios signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill, saying that he liked Fluff himself but just did not want kids eating it every day for lunch. Quite.

Been working like a dog...

When did this happen? One survey shows nearly one in five U.S. companies now allow pets at work. Millions of Americans believe pets on the job lower absenteeism and encourage workers to get along, according to a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.

Interest in pets at work is growing, say organisers of “Take Your Dog to Work Day,” which went ahead last week. Several thousand companies participated, up from a few hundred when the event began eight years ago. Dozens of dogs come to work with their owners at North Carolina crystal company, Replacements. Company president Scott Fleming told Reuters: “They have not broken a single piece, which is more than I can say for the rest of us.”

More than 400 companies — among them Google Inc. — have apparently listed themselves as dog-friendly.“ Companies hire in-house masseuses and in-house chefs. Why not take this step and allow people to bring a companion that's really important to them in their lives?” said Fleming.

A survey by online site Simply Hired and Dogster found a third of dog-owners would take a 5 percent pay cut to take their pets to work, two-thirds would work longer hours and half would switch jobs. Beautiful, isn’t it?