Icelandic 419

Published 11:09 pm Friday, August 7, 2009

And you thought the Nigerian princes were bad. A would-be traveler asks troubleshooter Christopher Elliott for help after Iceland’s airline charged her nearly $7,000 for tickets she never received.

The traveler got her money back, but only after agreeing to an “urgent business relationship” with a certain Prince Gunnar.

Birds begone: The state spends more than $65,000 a year to keep gulls away from ferry terminals by any means necessary — including lethal force.

In response, writer Richard Bach is said to be working on a new final chapter for “Jonathan Livingston Seagull,” in which the title character pauses from his quest for self-perfection to munch on a discarded french fry at the Edmonds ferry terminal, only to be shot to death by a wildlife agent.

Wear gloves: These days, dirty jobs aren’t just something you watch on the Discovery Channel. Folks are gladly working in places like slaughterhouses.

And some reprehensible jobs pay very well. Witness the bailed-out-by-taxpayers American International Group Inc., which will give $249 million in bonuses to its top-ranking employees.