Amazon zooms on strong holiday sales season
The rebounding economy was good news for Amazon.com. The company that offers for sale everything from apparel to Zen Buddhist books proclaimed 2003 its best year to date. Its soaring profits had a lot to do with a successful holiday season. The company saw $73 million in earnings for the fourth quarter, as opposed to last year’s $3 million at the same time. Amazon.com wrapped up 2003 with $5.3 billion in sales, profiting $35 million. Analysts say the hike in numbers was a byproduct of discounted prices and free shipping offers, which many thought would never pay off.

Site clears up those odd Super Bowl legends
As the Super Bowl approaches, you may be wondering if it is, indeed, the biggest week for avocado sales of the year. Luckily for you, Snopes.com has conveniently created a web site that explains some of those mysterious urban legends that surround the game. Although many might think the avocado business profits immensely from the day when chips and dip are a party staple, it is not so. Many Americans value guacamole as a tempting treat, but mass consumption of the dip on the biggest game day of the year does not account for more than 5 percent of net sales. Another myth says Super Bowl Sunday is the best day to visit Disneyland due to the small crowd, also false. Although many will be couch potatoes for the day, Disneyland won’t be any more deserted than it would normally be in January.

Beware napping next to exploding cell phones
Cell phones have been known to cause hazardous driving, but a new incident highlights a potentially greater fear of using mobile communications. A Malaysian man was burned on his butt by the explosion of his cell phone, which lay next to him as he slept. Mohamed Radzuan Yasin said he had placed the phone beside him on his bed as he took a nap. While the phone was charging, it suddenly exploded, waking Yasin from his sleep. He told a Bernama news agency that the explosion scalded his buttocks, and his mattress and wall were also burned. Bernama reported that Yasin received treatment for his wounds at a hospital and filed a police report. Yasin said he wasn’t sure what had happened when he awoke, but when he saw his cell phone in pieces, he knew it must have been the result of the explosion. 

Nurse not hookered by online job offer
An Amsterdam nurse was excited last week when her online resume netted a job offer – until she realized that the job was as a prostitute. The Groningen woman complained to the Centre for Work and Income in her hometown when she received notice through her personalized CWI web site that she had been offered a job to provide services other than nursing. The offer came from the web site werk.nl, which allows job hunters to post their profiles for potential employers. The woman said she has no intention of following up the job invite. CWI members can be contacted via their personal web site without using CWI as a middleman, according to news agency nu.nl. Prostitution has been legal in the Netherlands since late 2000, leaving the CWI no choice but to include job openings in the sex industry. CWI has since taken precautions to make sure these types of indecent proposals don’t happen again.