ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Brazilians are broadcasting funerals over the Internet

SAO PAULO

A funeral home in Brazil is broadcasting its services live over the Internet, giving some of the millions of Brazilians living abroad the chance to say a final goodbye to their loved ones.

The Gonzaga funeral home says it has started streaming video of burials, Masses and funeral processions in real time to those who can’t make it to the ceremonies. It even provides an online chat room.

Funeral-home director Eres Gonzaga told The Associated Press on Monday it charges about $60 an hour, depending on the service.

The funeral home is in Governador Valadares, known as a hotbed for migration to the United States and Europe.

Some 1.5 million Brazilians live in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands more in Europe.

Underwear invention protects customers’ privacy at airport

DENVER

It’s a special kind of underwear — with a strategically placed fig-leaf design — and a Colorado man says it’ll get you through the airport screeners with your dignity intact.

Jeff Buske says his invention uses a powdered metal that protects people’s privacy when undergoing medical or security screenings.

Buske of Las Vegas, Nev.-Rocky Flats Gear says the underwear’s inserts are thin and conform to the body’s contours, making it difficult to hide anything beneath them. The mix of tungsten and other metals do not set off metal detectors.

The men’s design has the fig leaf. The one for women comes in the shape of clasped hands.

It’s unclear whether it would lead to an automatic, more-intrusive pat down by federal Transportation Security Administration officials.

FAA won’t punish NJ pilot who dropped toilet paper

WESTWOOD, N.J.

The Federal Aviation Administration won’t take any action against a New Jersey pilot who tossed rolls of toilet paper from a small plane onto an athletic field as a test run for a streamer drop at an upcoming high school football game.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters told The Record of Woodland Park on Friday that the agency investigated but found no grounds for further action against pilot Warren Saunders of Westwood.

Saunders still faces a state criminal charge.

Police said Saunders circled the Westwood Middle School athletic fields in his Cessna 172 on the evening of Oct. 13 and dropped two rolls of toilet paper. People at a nearby soccer practice called police.

Saunders’ lawyer, Scott Berkoben, was unavailable to comment Friday.

Associated Press