damned customers.

Monkey Visits German Pizzeria, Vandalizes Toilet

BERLIN (Reuters) - An escaped circus monkey dropped into a pizzeria in a small German town and vandalized the ladies toilet even though the owner had tried to pacify the animal with salad and rolls.

Franco Praino was standing in front of the counter of his pizzeria in the northern town of Lehre when "Lala," a one and a half foot tall Rhesus monkey, entered through the front door on Wednesday.

Praino and a cook used lettuce to lure Lala into the women's toilet, where they fed the monkey rolls to keep it calm. But Lala broke a vase on the window, then tossed all the paper towels into the sink and turned on the tap, flooding both toilets, the kitchen, and part of dining room.

Lala had escaped from its cage five days earlier at circus near Braunschweig, 6 miles away. Praino was due to accept a $5,700 reward for the animal's return.

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

It's IMDB for Government!

GIA: Government Information Awareness

Mission: To empower citizens by providing a single, comprehensive, easy-to-use repository of information on individuals, organizations, and corporations related to the government of the United States of America. To allow citizens to submit intelligence about government-related issues, while maintaining their anonymity. To allow members of the government a chance to participate in the process.

Context: In the United States, there is a widening gap between a citizen's ability to monitor his or her government and the government's ability to monitor a citizen. Average citizens have limited access to important government records, while available information is often illegible. Meanwhile, the government's eagerness and means to oversee a citizen's personal activity is rapidly increasing.

As the government broadens internal surveillance, and collaborates with private institutions to access data on the public, it is crucial that we maintain a symmetry of accountability. If we believe the United States should be a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" it is of central importance to provide citizens with the power to oversee their government. At least as much effort should be spent building tools to facilitate citizens supervising their government as tools to help the government monitor individuals.

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