The Poles have taken their name literally when it comes to a Christmas tree.
This photo by the Associated Press shows a 236-foot tree of metal poles constructed in front of the Stalinist-era Palace of Culture in Warsaw last month. The tubular tree will be lit Tuesday.
A similar tree is to go up in Lisbon, Portugal.
Deadheads can buy 'a piece of Jerry'
SAN FRANCISCO - Fans of the Grateful Dead who were upset when the band initially pulled free downloads from a Web site only had to look a little further online to get a piece of lead singer Jerry Garcia's life.
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The singer and guitarist's dishwasher, toilets and other home appliances will be auctioned by a nonprofit group hoping to raise more than $100,000. The items will be available for bidding on the online auction site eBay Dec. 18 through Dec. 24.
The money raised will benefit the Sophia Foundation, a San Francisco Bay-area nonprofit that aids children and families during marital separations and divorces, said the group's chairman, Henry Koltys.
Koltys bought the Nicasio, Calif., home of Garcia, the lead singer and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, in 1997, two years after Garcia died of a heart attack.
"There's a lot of Deadheads out there with money, and they want a piece of Jerry somehow."
Associated Press
There is no free ride
TOKYO - A Japanese man who skipped out on his cab fares after crisscrossing the country in a taxi won't be going anywhere soon.
Koichi Machida, 37, was sentenced to a year and eight months in prison, a court official said.
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Machida had a tab of $4,391.67 for three separate rides totaling 1,240 miles, Aomori District Court spokesman Tsutomu Maekawa said.
Over the summer, Machida rode 620 miles from Inabe to Sendai, about 19 miles from Nagoya to Inabe, and about 601 miles from Toyohashi in central Japan to the northeastern city of Aomori, the spokesman said.
Associated Press
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