[QUOTE=xilman;468086]The following doesn't reduce the illiteracy exhibited in your quote, but I observe that forty cubic metres of water has a mass of forty tonnes. Paper has a density close to that of water and perhaps where the confusion arose. If an editor changed the original to convert cubic metres (relatively unfamiliar, I believe, to an American readership) into tons and failed to remove the word "cubic".[/QUOTE]
While the wiki cited above does show some fairly limited examples, there is no value specified for a cubic ton of paper. While an argument can be made that there was a conversion error, there is a much simpler answer. This piece is satire by Andy Borowitz. He meant to say that as part of the general hyperbole being employed. :smile:
EDIT: Note that this vast quantity is said to be generated on a daily basis. Furthermore, there is a similar view at around 1:10.
[YOUTUBE]FRP0MBNoieY[/YOUTUBE]

[QUOTE]Police in Colorado need help finding a woman people are calling the “[U]mad pooper[/U] of Pine Creek.” [/QUOTE][URL]https://www.click2houston.com/news/serial-pooper-sought-by-police-homeowner-says-she-defecated-in-front-of-children[/URL]
[QUOTE]She was caught defecating on a sidewalk in front of children, [URL="http://www.kktv.com/content/news/Mad-Pooper-wanted-by-Springs-Police-444969443.html"]KKTV reported[/URL]. :poop:
Cathy Budde and her family have had enough. "It's not like it's private, people can see you,” Budde said. “I mean, we are seeing her.”

It happened in broad daylight. Budde’s kids saw it happen first.
"They came screaming, like, you're not going to believe this. They are like, crying,” Budde said. “I'm like, ‘What?' They are like, 'There's a lady taking a poop!' And so I come outside, and I'm like, 'Oh dear goodness!' I was like, 'Are you serious, are you really taking a poop right here in front of my kids?' She's like, 'Yeah, sorry!'"
[/QUOTE]Poop icon mine.

[url]http://nbcnewyork.com/investigations/North-Korea-Parking-Tickets-United-Nations-New-York-Diplomat-Vehicle-Investigation-446105633.html[/url]

[QUOTE=ixfd64;468291][url]http://nbcnewyork.com/investigations/North-Korea-Parking-Tickets-United-Nations-New-York-Diplomat-Vehicle-Investigation-446105633.html[/url][/QUOTE]Irony of irony, all is irony.

US diplomats have run up thousands of pounds worth of unpaid congestion charges in London. It's been a long running bone of contention between the two countries.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;468091]Hmm (looks up pix ..[/QUOTE]
Many pix you see are edited, to make him look younger and "cool", like making his chin smaller, his forehead larger (to appear clever), adding more hair, etc. But I know the guy as he used to appear daily, and I also still have his image in front of my eyes, as he appeared during the Romanian Agitation (some call it revolution) in 89 when he was part of the circus (some say court action) that ended with him and his wife being murdered.

Related to that part of doctoring photos, there is a nice story, which was also subject of a movie, when French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing came to Bucharest, ceausescu met him at the airport, and they had a photo together, which was intended to appear in the party's newspaper (which had the larger national distribution, it was reaching all the corners of the country). When the communist party officials/censors saw the photo, they were horrified to find out that not only did their revered leader appear short compared to towering d’Estaing, but the French guy was also wearing a hat, when ceausescu, had taken his off, looked like he was begging. They woke up all the newspaper redaction in the night to doctor the image which was for the morning edition, adding a few extra centimetres to ceausescu (he was like many dictators, touchy about his height) and putting a hat on his head. Actually, it is a custom to take your hat off in front of your guest, as a sign of respect, but this custom seems not to be shared by French people too, and you know, it is also that proudness of "We do not take out our hats in front of the imperialists"... :razz:

Everybody worked like hell to re-print all the newspaper edition, then in the morning it was distributed. Well... nobody actually spotted that ceausescu was holding his own hat in his own hand, and the photo appeared in the newspaper with the beloved leader having two hats, one on his head and one on his hand. :rofl:

Another time, he was speaking at some international conference, but the hall was almost empty, so the directive come to fill the hall, and they took another photo from the same event where somebody else was speaking (I think it was Carter?), and the hall was full, deleted the empty hall in the original photo, but kept ceausescu at the stand, deleted the speaker in the second photo, but kept the stall full of people, and combined the two photos to show ceausescu speaking to a theater full off people. Unfortunately, in the second photo where somebody else was speaking and the hall was full, ceausescu was also part of the audience, and the final photo in the newspaper was showing two of ceausescu, one on the stage and one in the stall... :missingteeth:

When the mistake was spotted, in both cases, militia (police) were sent across the country charged with confiscating and securing every copy of the paper and its front-page images of the dictator with two hats, respective with two clones.

[QUOTE=xilman;468302]Irony of irony, all is irony.

US diplomats have run up thousands of pounds worth of unpaid congestion charges in London. It's been a long running bone of contention between the two countries.[/QUOTE]
Meanwhile, back in NYC, it seems that Egypt has been the worst of the bad actors WRT unpaid parking tickets. I found a story about this problem in [b]The Guardian[/b] from just about a year ago: [url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/sep/23/fine-diplomats-not-paying-parking-tickets]A fine mess: how diplomats get away without paying parking tickets[/url]. The incident with the Russian driving drunk was distressing. There is no legal recourse; about the only thing the host country can do to diplomats behaing badly, is declare them [i]persona non grata[/i] and boot them out of the country.

[url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/10/irs-awards-equifax-7-25m-taxpayer-identity-contract-weeks-after-hack/]IRS awards Equifax no-bid, $7.25 million contract after hack[/url]

[url]http://abc11.com/runaway-garbage-truck-hits-store-named-a-beautiful-mess/2562022[/url]

[QUOTE=ixfd64;470356][URL]http://abc11.com/runaway-garbage-truck-hits-store-named-a-beautiful-mess/2562022[/URL][/QUOTE]
Trucker goes to loo. Takes the piss on setting brakes.

[url]http://kcrg.com/content/news/DOT-reminds-drivers-deer-cant-read-signs-453300073.html[/url]

Another fatberg story
 

Apologies if this is getting tedious and/or stomach turning but it caught my eye because of the sheer scale of the issue, 130 tonnes is roughly 140 cubic metres or, for our readers in The Colonies, a lump which is 6 feet wide by 6 feet high by 130 feet long.

[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41860764"]'Victory declared' over 130 tonne Whitechapel fatberg[/URL]

I have yet to see any country other than the UK publicizing these public health issues. Either others are too squeamish or my knowledge is lamentably deficient. Each or both explanations are eminently plausible IMO.

Added in edit: the actual fatberg was approximately 250m long. That's approximately 275 yards.