Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's Friday and that means "Snippets and Soundbites"! If today's edition leaves you wanting more, check out page 38 in the July (and every month) issue of ec. You won't be sorry.

Smile! It won’t kill you.
Or at least that’s what the Paris tourism board is telling its residents. An ever-popular destination for most travelers, the French capital also has a reputation . . . for unfriendliness. Tourism numbers have fallen this year—17 percent since January compared with the same period in 2008, according to a Reuters article. But never fear! The French have a plan: they’ve asked the city’s residents to smile more. To promote their cause, the tourism board even set up stands manned by “smile ambassadors” at some of the city’s most popular spots and last Sunday, hundreds of roller-skaters formed a huge smile at the city center.

What’s his credit limit?!
A North Texas man had a surprise when he looked at his credit card statement recently—a charge for $23,148,855,308,184,500.00. And according to our sources, that’s 23 quadrillion, 148 trillion, 855 billion, 308 million, 184 thousand, and 500 dollars—a figure that’s more than 2,000 times the national debt. A bank glitch resulted in the massive charge showing up on Jon Seale’s online credit card statement. The charge was for a meal he’d had at a restaurant. According to Visa, a technical glitch resulted in the gigantic charge, which only affected some customers with prepaid Visa cards. A New Hampshire man found a similar charge on his card after buying a pack of cigarettes at a gas station. Visa was kind enough to say that all affected customer will also have the $20 overdraft fee for spending above the limit removed. We certainly hope so!

Love me, love my pet.
Sure, pets are part of the family, but these days more and more furry family friends are part of the actual wedding. USA Today recently reported that more and more couples are including their pets, mostly dogs, as part of the wedding party and including them in the portraits, programs, and receiving lines. Dog-lovers are even decking out man’s best friend in all kinds of satin and finery for the special event. If you’d like to read all the personal tales of dogs in weddings, check it out here. And be on the look-out for our favorite quote in the article: “If a dog isn’t used to wearing a top hat, there may be issues.” Dun, dun, dun!

Just for a laugh.
Have you seen that video of the roller-skating babies that has taken over the Internet? Yeah, we laughed, too. Check out the back story.