Happy Birthday!: Chris Plant was celebrating his 31st birthday with a party of 10 at Texas De Brazil when former LSU basketball star and four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal walked in the restaurant with a friend, NOLA.com reports. Plant and his group greeted the gregarious 7-foot-2-inch retired NBA star and engaged in some friendly banter. A few moments later, the manager informed Plant that O’Neal was picking up the entire Plant birthday party tab. After dinner, O’Neal posed with each member of Plant’s party for individual photos. Read the full story.
Major ick: State health inspectors have closed a long-time Shreveport fish market for what it termed multiple critical violations, the Shreveport Times reports. Critical violations found at the Dupont Fish Market on North Market Street include the presence of flies and other insects as well as rodents and other live animals, plus rusted utensils and unclean food contact surfaces. A sign posted on the market’s door by the Louisiana Department of Health reads: “This establishment is declared to be an imminent health hazard by the state health officer.” Read the full story.
Smarter, not harder: A New Zealand firm called Perpetual Guardian that allows its employees work four days a week (no, not everyone took three-day weekends) while being paid for five says the experiment was so successful that it hoped to make the change permanent. As The New York Times reports, workers at the company said the change from 40 hours to 32 each week motivated them to find ways of increasing their productivity while in the office. Meetings were reduced from two hours to 30 minutes, and employees created signals for their colleagues that they needed time to work without distraction. Read the full story.
