Saturday, March 30, 2013

Yesterday, the Milwaukee County district attorney charged Cory J. Feerick, a 33-year-old from Brookfield, Wisconsin, with five misdemeanor counts of stealing US$35,000 worth of flush valves from fast food restaurants and university toilets and urinals. If convicted, Feerick could spend to 9 to 45 months in jail, and pay between US$10,000 and US$50,000 in fines.

Initially arrested in late January following a local news television story on the thefts, he stands accused of stealing parts worth between US$300 and US$600 each from locations that included Milwaukee Area Technical College, Waukesha County Technical College, ITT Technical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Marquette University, the Pick ‘n Save on Capitol Drive in Brookfield, and the Arby’s also located on Capitol Drive in Brookfield.

Feerick was dubbed the “Backpack Bathroom Bandit” by the media because video showed him committing the thefts while wearing a backpack. The thefts reportedly took place in September and October of last year, with several area police departments involved in investigating them.

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Bars and nightclubs in London, Manchester, and Newcastle, UK, now carry vending machines selling sex toys for about £5. These fuchsia-pink Tabooboo machines are usually located near toilets to render deliberating customers a modicum of privacy. However, some hairdressing salons are giving the machines “center stage”. Products available from these unconventional vending machines include mini vibrators, “silicone ticklers”, “lust fingers”, and bottles of “love liquid” (an edible lubricant).

The Alphabet Bar in London’s West End, host to the first sex toy vending machine in the U.K., claims many people visit especially for the machine, and describes it as a “great success”. Alan Lucas, the managing director of the company behind this enterprise, Tabooboo, suggests that the success of the machines is due to younger people having a more liberal view of sex toys. He stated, “The most popular product is a vibrating rod ring which is something [the man] wears [on his penis]”.

The machines are expected to begin appearing in the U.S. and Italy.