Etc...

Everyone needs a hobby

Perhaps you recall an item in this space Aug. 13 about the retired Georgia clergyman who keeps getting phone calls intended for a rhythmn & blues singer. Now, from Roseburg, Ore., comes news of another retiree from the ministry and his experience with matters telephonic. Ed Charon has just regained his title as world champion phone-book ripper. Regained? Yes, he lost it two years ago to a fitness instructor. But in an exhibition at a shopping mall last weekend, he tore 39 copies of the 1,004-page Portland book in three minutes. That breaks down to 16 in the first 60 seconds, 12 more in the second, and 11 in the third. In fact, he was more than halfway through the 40th when time expired. Why Portland's? Because Charon, who has torn more than 9,000 phone books in his career, says the paper in them seems thinner and they come apart more easily than those of other cities.

When the Princeton Review (which is not affiliated with Princeton University) issues its annual list of top "party schools," college administrators probably hold their breath, hoping for a low ranking. The State University of New York at Albany ranks No. 1 in the current poll, in which more than 110,000 students around the US voted. Even so, a SUNY- Albany spokeswoman sounds dubious when she says of the poll, "If this were a term paper, it would get an 'F' in methodology." The top 10 "party schools," according to the latest Princeton Review ranking:

1. State University of New York at Albany
2. Washington and Lee
3. University of Wisconsin-Madison
4. West Virginia University
5. Ohio University
6. Florida State University
7. University of Texas-Austin
8. University of Georgia
9. University of Colorado
10. University of Mississippi
- Associated Press