Scientists can't get sloth to move

"JENA, Germany - Scientists in the eastern German city of Jena said Wednesday they have finally given up after three years of failed attempts to entice a sloth into budging as part of an experiment in animal movement."

""Mats obviously wanted absolutely nothing to do with furthering science," said Axel Burchardt, a university spokesman."

Cheat on your spouse in Michigan and spend life in prison?

"The state's appeals court recently ruled that extramarital flings can be prosecuted as first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in jail."

Apparently, "Nobody really expects prosecutors to go after cheating spouses" and "One theory floating around the courthouse is that the judges were taking a jab at the state Supreme Court, which has decreed that judges must interpret statutory language adopted by the Legislature literally, whatever the consequences.", but still, it's pretty ridiculous. 

from yahoo news:

LONDON (Reuters) - British police said Friday they were hunting a man who stole a urinal from a pub toilet.

The suspect walked into the Royal Oak pub in Southampton, on the English south coast, ordered half a pint of beer and then made several visits to the men's toilet.

There he carefully removed a white urinal from the wall, stuffed it into a rucksack and was captured on closed circuit television walking out with the bulging sack on his back.

okay, This  seriously made me laugh. He stole a urinal from a pub, and was able to get it out of the building without anyone noticing. Sure, the theory is that he was a trained plumber/tradesman, but it's still pretty impressive, and funny.

from yahoo news:

STUART, Fla. - A man with mischief afoot entered a home and licked the toe of a sleeping woman over the weekend, police said. The man reportedly licked the woman's left big toe while she was sleeping early Sunday, the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers reported.

The woman was sleeping next to her husband, who chased the suspect from the house and down the street.

The suspect was wearing a black, hooded sweat shirt, white shorts and white shoes.

umm...what the hell? people are sick, man. I mean, not so much the toe licking part. Although its odd, you know, whatever, to each their own. but to break into someone's house, and lick her toe, while she was sleeping, and while her husband slept beside her? That's just...bizzare.

These are the two best news articles I've read all day. both found on yahoo news. the first:

Chef makes wedding gown with cream puffs

By MATT HAGENGRUBER, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 12, 7:02 PM ET

UZHHOROD, Ukraine - Valentyn Shtefano's pastries were known for attracting stares and giggles as well as lip-smacking murmurs. But even his fiancee was surprised when Shtefano told her he was making her wedding dress — out of flour, eggs, sugar and caramel.

The dress — made of 1,500 cream puffs and weighing 20 pounds — took the 28-year-old baker two months to make, and by the end of the wedding reception, bride Viktoriya said she didn't want to take it off."

read the rest of the article here.


and the second one I'll post the whole article:

Canada troops battle 10-ft Afghan marijuana plants

Thu Oct 12, 4:52 PM ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet (three metre) high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defence staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.

One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

article can be found here