Get To Work!!!

How To Stack 20 Bricks on Your Head | Viral | SPIKE.com

Ring My Bell

Salvation Army bell ringers were silenced this season inside a Maryland mall after complaints came in from neighboring merchants that the clanging was too loud.

Valley Mall in Hagerstown told the charity to replace the clappers inside their bells with paper clips for a quieter ring.

The Salvation Army's Maj. Robert Lyle said that the three volunteers inside the mall have complied with the request. The two stationed outside the shopping center still have the louder-sounding bells, he said.

The complaints about the noise came from kiosk- and cart-based businesses in hallways near the bell ringers, according to Valley Mall Marketing Director Brian Kaltenbaugh.

Salvation Army bells elsewhere around Washington County will ring at full volume, Lyle told the Hagerstown Herald-Mail. The charity is aiming to raise about $100,000 for the needy this year in spite of the nation's economic woes, according to the Herald-Mail.

Has Anyone Seen My Keys?

A 1-year-old boy from Perryville, Ky., was stabbed through the eye with a car key after he accidentally fell on it.

An X-ray showed the key went through his eyelid and penetrated his brain. “I’ll never forget that moment,” said Staci Holderman, Nicholas’ mother. “Nothing can prepare you for something like that.”

Doctors told Nicholas’ family the key could be removed without damaging his brain, and after it was surgically removed, there was no damage to his eyesight.

Look Out, Turkey!

Here I come...

Don't Make Me Turn This Bus Around!

A longtime school bus driver could be fired after several members of a cheerleading squad in Lynnfield, Mass., said he offered them $40 to lift up their shirts.

Driver Bill Diamond, 56, was suspended without pay after the allegations surfaced, MyFOXBoston.com reported. Diamond has been at the job for 23 years.

"This clearly goes well beyond any bounds of acceptable behavior," said town administrator William Gustus.

Police said Diamond approached the girls with his request after a cheerleading competition in Lowell. The high school students found another ride home and went to authorities, who in turn questioned the bus driver, according to MyFOXBoston.com.

Diamond has no record and was described by co-workers and his supervisor as a quiet man who keeps to himself. He faces termination for the alleged incident.

Are You Guys Hungry?

Australian teenagers involved in a fatal car crash sat down and ordered takeout food as rescuers fought to save an 82-year-old man and his 72-year-old partner, News.com.au reported.

The cars collided at a roundabout in Miami, a town on Australia's Gold Coast. The teenagers were riding in an unregistered Subaru WRX with an unlicensed driver.

Residents near the roundabout were outraged when they came to the aid of the elderly couple and saw the teenagers standing motionless on the sidewalk. They said none of the teens attempted to help.

"They just stood there, and then they sat down and then someone dropped Maccas off to them," a witness told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Using the Jaws of Life to cut the roof off the elderly couple’s van, the woman suffered from abdominal and leg injuries, while the man suffered from fatal chest injuries.

After the police interviewed the teenagers on the scene, the driver was charged with obstruction while the other teens were arrested but not charged.

Not From Cleveland...

Two 20-year-old pitchers, neither of whom had picked up a baseball until earlier this year, signed free-agent contracts Monday with the Pirates. They are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional baseball contracts outside their country.

Dinesh Singh and Rinku Patel came to the United States six months ago after being the top finishers in an Indian reality TV show called the “Million Dollar Arm” that drew about 30,000 contestants. The show sought to find athletes who could throw strikes at 85 miles per hour or faster.

While neither pitcher threw hard enough to earn the $1 million prize, Singh made $100,000 from the contest and Patel made $2,500, plus his trip to the United States.

The contest was sponsored by a California sports management company that believed it could locate major league-worthy arms in a country of more than 1 billion. After working extensively with Southern California pitching coach Tom House since May, the pitchers staged a tryout in Tempe, Ariz., on Nov. 6 that was attended by 30 major league scouts.

Neither pitcher has taken the mound in a game situation, no doubt a first for a Pirates prospect. They have pitched in scrimmages against junior college competition.

Both threw the javelin in India; they first came to the United States and began playing catch, the pitchers were mystified by the concept of gloves and had to taught not to try to catch the ball with their bare hands.

Patel and Singh are learning English, most of which they have picked up from watching ESPN’s Baseball Tonight and by taking online classes.

Pardon Me.

The new round of White House pardons are Bush's first since March and come less than two months before he will end his presidency. The crimes committed by those on the list include drug offenses, income tax evasion, bank embezzlement and violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

Including these actions, the president has granted a total of 171 and eight commutations. That's less than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their time in office. Both were two-term presidents.

On the latest pardon list were:

--Leslie Owen Collier of Charleston, Mo.
--Milton Kirk Cordes of Rapid City, S.D.
--Richard Micheal Culpepper of Mahomet, Ill.
--Brenda Jean Dolenz-Helmer of Fort Worth, Texas.
--Andrew Foster Harley of Falls Church, Va.
--Obie Gene Helton of Rossville, Ga.
--Carey C. Hice Sr. of Travelers Rest, S.C.
--Geneva Yvonne Hogg of Jacksonville, Fla.
--William Hoyle McCright Jr. of Midland, Texas.
--Paul Julian McCurdy of Sulphur, Okla.
--Robert Earl Mohon Jr. of Grant, Ala.
--Ronald Alan Mohrhoff of Los Angeles.
--Daniel Figh Pue III of Conroe, Texas
--Orion Lynn Vick of White Hall, Ark.

Bush also commuted the prison sentences of John Edward Forte of North Brunswick, N.J., and James Russell Harris of Detroit.Under the Constitution, the president's power to issue pardons is absolute and cannot be overruled.

What?

You didn't know that bears could play hockey?

Bears Playing Ice Hockey | Viral | SPIKE.com

Mr. And Mrs. Spencer Pratt

That’s right folks, according to a new report in Us magazine, one of reality television’s most infamous couples eloped in a secret ceremony in Cabo San Lucas Mexico on Nov. 20, Us said.

“The minute we said our vows, I couldn’t stop crying,” Montag, 22, told Us.

Pratt, 25, praised his new bride, telling her that “from the moment you came into my life, I knew my life would never be the same without you. You are the light in my life like the sun to the earth!”

The two have had a tumultuous relationship that has caused several feuds between their families and friends. Montag’s mother, sister and former best friend Lauren Conrad have all expressed concern over Heidi’s choice of Spencer as her beau.

The pair told Us that they were ready to wed in May of this year, after Montag rejected a 2007 proposal from Pratt.

Play Me A Mystery

Was it a theft? A prank? A roundabout effort to bring some holiday cheer to the police? Authorities in Harwich, Massachusetts, are probing the mysterious appearance of a piano, in good working condition, in the middle of the woods.

Discovered by a woman who was walking a trail, the Baldwin Acrosonic piano, model number 987, is intact -- and, apparently, in tune.

Sgt. Adam Hutton of the Harwich Police Department said information has been broadcast to all the other police departments in the Cape Cod area in hopes of drumming up a clue, however minor it may be.

Also of note: Near the mystery piano -- serial number 733746 -- was a bench, positioned as though someone was about to play. The piano was at the end of a dirt road, near a walking path to a footbridge in the middle of conservation land near the Cape.

It took a handful of police to move the piano into a vehicle to transport it to storage, so it would appear that putting it into the woods took more than one person...

Remember Me?

Happy Birthday - Zachary Taylor!

12th President of the United States (1849–50)- He was raised in Kentucky. Taylor joined the army in 1808, became a captain in 1810, and was promoted to major for his defense of Fort Harrison (1812) in the War of 1812. He became a colonel (1832) and served in the Black Hawk War and in the campaigns against the Seminole in Florida, winning the nickname of “Old Rough and Ready.”

What's On YOUR Mind?

Doctors in Arizona thought a Phoenix-area woman had a possible brain tumor, but it turned out there was something else penetrating her brain – a worm.

Rosemary Alvarez started experiencing numbness in her arm and blurred vision. She went to the emergency room twice and had a cat scan, but everything came up clear, MyFOXPhoenix.com reported.

It wasn’t until doctors took a closer look at an MRI that they discovered something very disturbing. “Once we saw the MRI we realized this is something not good,” neurosurgeon, Dr. Peter Nakaji told the news station. “It's something down in her brain stem which is as deep in the brain as you can be.”

Alvarez was wheeled into surgery where Nakaji and his colleagues were expecting to remove a tumor, but they uncovered a worm instead.

On a video of the surgery, Nakaji can be heard chuckling after he made the discovery. “I'm sure this is a very strange response for the people in the operating room,” he told MyFOXPhoenix.com. “But because I was so pleased to know that it wasn't going to be something terrible.”

Doctors removed the worm and don't believe Alvarez will have any lingering health problems. No one knows exactly where she picked up the worm –- doctors said worms can come from eating undercooked pork or spread by people who don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom, according to the report.

Don't Mind Me....Just Pardon Your Turkey

Sarah Palin Hates Turkeys | Viral | SPIKE.com

The Butt Bandit

Authorities said they've arrested a suspect in the rash of so-called "Butt Bandit" vandalism cases.

County Attorney Eric Scott said a 35-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday morning. Formal charges have not yet been filed. Some vandal had been skipping from one building to another at night, pressing his naked buttocks, groin or both on windows.

Store owners, church workers and school janitors have had to wash lotion and petroleum jelly off the windows he selects.

Local residents found some humor in the strange brand of graffiti and had dubbed the vandal the "Butt Bandit."

Valentine Police Chief Ben McBride called it "the weirdest case I've ever seen."

Just What The Dr. Ordered

Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.

The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours on Dr Pepper's Web site. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

Sad Times We Live In

A Florida teenager committed suicide before a live webcam audience after posting messages online about his plan to kill himself, an official told FOXNews.com on Friday.

Abraham Biggs Jr., 19, of Pembroke Pines, Fla., died Wednesday, said Wendy Crane, an investigator with the Broward County medical examiner's office.

"He was blogging between 3 and 4 a.m. on the 19th, Wednesday, at which time he inserted a link in the blog to a live webcam and posted a suicide note, and then was seen lying down on the bed," Crane told FOXNews.com.

Bloggers then spent the next 12 hours trying to figure out whether to call authorities, Crane said. Biggs was dead when Pembroke Pines police officers arrived at about 3:30 p.m. "Finally, somebody notified a monitor, who got his information from the sign-up, and then they contacted the local authorities."

Crane told FOXNews.com that Biggs' death was ruled a suicide from combined drug toxicity. His system contained the depressant benzodiazepine as well as opiates.

Experiment, Man....Like, For Peace

A "lost" Beatles track recorded in 1967 and performed just once in public could finally be released, according to Paul McCartney.

"Carnival of Light" -- a 14-minute experimental track recorded at the height of the Beatles' musical experimentations with psychedelia and inspired by avant-garde composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen -- has long been considered too adventurous for mainstream audiences.

McCartney confirmed he still owned the master tapes, adding that he suspected "the time has come for it to get its moment," The Observer reported. "I like it because it's the Beatles free, going off piste," McCartney said.

The improvised work features distorted electric guitars, discordant sound effects, a church organ and gargling interspersed with McCartney and John Lennon shouting random phrases like "Barcelona" and "Are you all right?"

McCartney would need the consent of Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, to release the track.

The Sexiest Man Alive: Jugh Hackman

He's a triple threat: a star who can sing, dance and wield a weapon.

At 6 ft. 2 in., all scruff and biceps, Hugh Jackman looms large in the epic Australia, which he says kept him "dirty 95 percent of the time" and left people stammering, "Oh ... my ... God," according to costar Nicole Kidman, who adds, "Women's jaws drop when Hugh walks into a room."

Jackman's wife of 12 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, calls his perfect form "the Body of Doom – but I like what's inside": a romantic who sings ballads at home and makes pancakes for Oscar, 8, and Ava, 3. A hard body with a soft center.

2008's Sexiest Man Alive sat down with PEOPLE's Elizabeth Leonard and Julie Jordan to reveal most of his secrets:

http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20237714_20241213,00.html?cnn=yes

Givin' Her A Hoagie

A man faces a domestic battery charge after allegedly hitting his girlfriend with a sandwich as she was driving on Interstate 95 on Friday. Police said the 19-year-old man became angry and hit the woman in the arm and face with a sandwich, knocking her glasses off.

The victim nearly lost control of the car because she couldn't see the road and the man then allegedly ripped off the rear-view mirror and used it to shatter the windshield.

The man was freed on $7,500 bail.

Police haven't said what type of sandwich was involved.

Good Dog!

Weirdest Dog Ever | Viral | SPIKE.com

A League Of Her Own

Eri Yoshida, a 16-year-old high school girl, will be taking her knuckle ball to the pros.

Yoshida was drafted this week to be Japan's first female professional baseball player, taking the field with the Kobe 9 Cruise in an independent league that starts its inaugural season in April.

The 5-foot-tall, 114 pound Yoshida has broken a barrier in baseball-crazy Japan, where women are normally relegated to amateur, company-sponsored teams or to the sport of softball.

"I'm really happy I stuck with baseball," Yoshida said in a news conference Monday after she was chosen with 32 others in the new league's draft. "I want to pitch against men."

The news of Yoshida's signing — she was chosen in the seventh round — was met with some skepticism that the league might be trying to grab headlines by naming a woman. In that, they certainly succeeded — Yoshida's photo was all over the morning news Tuesday, and she was featured in a profile in the prestigious Asahi, a major national newspaper.

My Two Cents

A 74-year-old blind Attleboro woman was shocked when she got a letter from the city saying a lien would be placed on her home unless she pays an overdue water bill.

The amount? 1 cent.

Eileen Wilbur tells The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro the letter sent her blood pressure soaring, and pointed out that the stamp to send the letter cost 42 cents.

City Collector Debora Marcoccio says the letter was among 2,000 sent out. She says a computer automatically prints letters for accounts with an overdue balance, and they were not reviewed by staff before being mailed.

The letter warned of a lien and a $48 penalty if the bill is not paid by Dec. 10. Marcoccio insists the bill be paid.

The Golden (Pole) Years

A Canadian exotic dancer has filed an age discrimination suit against a Toronto-area strip club, saying she was fired because she is 44 years old.

Kimberlee Ouwroulis, who began stripping when she was 40, says the manager at New Locomotion strip club sat her down on June 6 and said, "Your time is up here," the Post reported.

When she asked if it was because of her age, he allegedly told her another older woman had been fired the same day, and the club was going for a younger look. Ouwroulis says she would like to continue stripping until she is 47 or 48.

Ouwroulis told the Post that while the job is about looks, it is also about personality and attitude, all of which made her a great dancer. She has filed an age discrimination complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.

She is currently working at another strip club as a dancer.

Cheater?

Federal regulators have charged Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Cuban on Monday in federal court in Dallas. The agency says that in June 2004, Cuban was invited to get in on the coming stock offering by Mamma.com Inc. after he agreed to keep the information private.

The SEC says Cuban knew the shares would be sold below the current market price, and a few hours after receiving the information, told his broker to sell all shares in the search engine company.

Black Tie Optional

MugShot Prayer?

Police in said they arrested a Connecticut man after he tried to steal communion wafers during a church service. The Martin County Sheriff's Office said 33-year-old John Samuel Ricci, of Canton, was cornered by fellow churchgoers when he grabbed a handful of wafers from the priest during communion services Saturday.

The Stuart News reported that Ricci was being held down by six or seven offended parishioners when deputies arrived at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Jensen Beach. Police say two parishioners, ages 82 and 61, received minor injuries in the scuffle.

Ricci was charged with two counts of simple battery, theft and disruption of a religious assembly. He was being held Tuesday on $2,000 bond at the Martin County Jail.

The White Cockatoo

An Australian nude resort wants to bring back swingers and sex parties in a bid to boost sagging tourism figures.

The White Cockatoo resort in Mossman, north Queensland, is promoting an adults-only "anything goes" month of hedonism for March next year.

Owner of the White Cockatoo, Tony Fox, this week said it was time to lift a self-imposed swinger ban. "Tough economic times call for stiff measures," Fox said. "We've taken the bull by the horns and it's going nuts; we're close to fully booked.

Three years ago the controversial resort, once billed as the nation's top group-sex hotspot for swingers, hit the headlines when it closed its doors to partner-swapping.

The ban followed a series of out-of-control sex parties and orgies where, in one case, police were called to evict six swingers after a free-for-all sex romp in a chalet.

Wait For It.....

Reporter Shocked by Grapes | Viral | SPIKE.com

Maddening TV

Fox has canceled late-night sketch comedy veteran "MadTV," one of its longest-running shows.

The Saturday-night mainstay's current 14th season will be its last on the network, Fox sources said. However, the show's co-creator, David Salzman, said he plans to shop "MadTV" to cable networks and other outlets.

Fox told Salzman the show had become too expensive considering its time period and ratings. Unlike dramas and comedies that suffer the broadcast ax, however, Salzman believes his show's budget can be scaled back to suit a cable network.

In one respect, the timing of the cancellation is fortuitous -- the show's licensing deal with Comedy Central, which airs the show's first 11 seasons in repeats, is set to expire at year's end. Salzman can offer buyers the exclusive rights to air the show's library of content if they pick up the show, or sell the show and its library separately.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

A 3-year-old girl on vacation in Oregon with her family tumbled through a fence at the top of a cliff and nearly fell off the edge.

Alaina Pitton and her sisters were posing for a photo in Portland, with the Pacific Ocean and 150-foot cliff in the background, when she suddenly lost her footing.

The little girl took a step back and fell through the fence, disappearing amid the tall grasses. An adult cousin rushed to grab the child, who came to rest right at the edge of the precipice.

The family's video camera captured the entire frightening ordeal. The toddler was scared, but not hurt.

When NOT In Rome...

Visitors will once more be able to visit the Colosseum and the Forum of Rome as they were in A.D. 320, this time on a computer screen in 3D.

The rendering of the ancient city in Google Earth lets viewers stand in the center of the Colosseum, trace the footsteps of the gladiators in the Ludus Magnus and fly under the Arch of Constantine.

The computer model, a collection of more than 6,700 buildings, depicts Rome in the year A.D. 320. Then, under the emperor Constantine I, the city boasted more than a million inhabitants, making it the largest metropolis in the world. It was not until Victorian London that another city surpassed it.

The computer graphics are based on a physical model -- the Plastico di Roma Antica, which was created by archaeologists and model-makers between 1933 and 1974 and is housed in the Museum of Roman Civilization in Rome. There are only 300 original ruins still standing today.

Try To Keep Up

Extreme Badminton | Viral | SPIKE.com

Drinking On The Job Is Encouraged

A Houston mother sued a strip club and an exotic dancer in the DUI death of her son, alleging the dancer was forced to get drunk for her job.

Mattie Jean Johnson filed her wrongful death lawsuit against Rick's Cabaret and dancer Micaela Liem after her 43-year-old son Clinton Washington was struck and killed last Dec. 31 while trying to help a motorist in an auto accident, the Houston Chronicle reports.

Liem faces criminal charges of intoxicated manslaughter in the case, the paper said.

Johnson told the Chronicle that the dancers were allowed to leave the club drunk without supervision. The dancer had a blood alcohol limit of .215, according to Johnson's lawsuit.

"The more drinks the customers bought for the dancers, the more Rick's would profit," the lawsuit says, according to the Chronicle. "The dancers', including Liem's, decision to consume alcohol while on the job was not voluntary. Rather, it was mandatory in order to continue successful employment at Rick's."

Lindsay....Being 'Colorful'

Lindsay Lohan used a derogatory term for African Americans most commonly used by racist character Archie Bunker in the 1970s sitcom "All In the Family."

"It's an amazing feeling. It's our first, you know, colored president," the 22-year-old actress said in response to a question from Maria Menounos on "Access Hollywood" about her reaction to Obama's win in the 2008 presidential race.

The oft-troubled starlet muttered the offensive term in the midst of an interview about her role on "Ugly Betty," gay marriage, and cancer research.

The television interview comes on the heels of a sit-down with "Harper's Bazaar" magazine where Lohan denied being a lesbian, but admitted to being in love with her female partner of several months, Samantha Ronson.

Buddha Without The Belly

The teenage boy revered as a reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the jungle as he blessed his devotees Wednesday with a light tap on the head, which they consider the touch of the divine.

His face was still, his long hair spilled over his white robe, and he never said a word.

The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed beneath a tree.

Bamjan re-emerged this week to meet his followers, who have come by the thousands to see him in the jungles of Ratanpur, about 100 miles south of Katmandu.

Bamjan received the pilgrims from atop a podium covered in yellow cloth and placed before a massive tree. He looked healthy and strong and showed no signs of starvation or dehydration.

Some Buddhist priests have been reluctant to accept Bamjan as a true reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal roughly 2,500 years ago and became revered as the Buddha, or Enlightened One.

"I have no doubt in my mind he is a God," said Meg Bahadur Lama, a local farmer. "He has been meditating without food and water and no human can achieve such a feat. I used to hear about such miracles in the past but now I got to see one."

The Apple Doesn't Fall Too Far From The Tree

Indiana state police said that after a mother was arrested for drunken driving, the three relatives who came to pick up her 1-year-old son also had all been drinking.

A state trooper stopped a minivan for speeding early Saturday on U.S. 30 in Schererville in northwestern Indiana. He arrested the 24-year-old woman on a drunken driving charge.

The boy's father arrived later to pick him up, but officers determined he was intoxicated and also arrested him on a drunken driving charge.

Police said the boy's grandparents then arrived. Both of them also had been drinking, state police said, but the grandmother who was driving was not over the legal limit, so officers escorted them home with the child.

Bit By The Litter Bug

Police said a man likely wishes he never threw trash on a highway. That's because littering wasn't the only charge filed against him. The man, 42, faces drug charges after deputies seized six pounds of methamphetamine from his vehicle.

He was arrested Friday on Interstate 85. Deputies also learned he was wanted in Louisiana for failure to appear.

The meth was valued at approximately $350,000 on the streets.

The man was charged with trafficking methamphetamine, littering and other traffic violations.

Simply Amazing

Well played, my boy. Well played.

Pitcher Chug | Viral | SPIKE.com

Happy Birthday, Leo

You've come a long way....

Hard To Swallow

A python in Australia has been filmed trying and failing to swallow whole what looks like a wallaby — a small or medium-sized kangaroo.

The snake seems to realize it is biting off more than it can chew and is forced to back away and regurgitate the upper half of the animal's body.

The camera operator then jolts and swears as the python pulls away briefly from the animal to inspect the crowd that has gathered.

Andrew Krockenberger, associate professor at James Cook University, said he ran out to watch the attack with some students after being alerted by a co-worker.

Prof Krockenberger said the python made several attempts to consume the wallaby before the incident was caught on camera. "It was a very small python and it gave up after a while. It had a good try but it was a little over ambitious," he said.

Steven Seagal Runs Like a Girl

Steven Seagal Runs Like a Girl | Viral | SPIKE.com

The Top Ten

The top ten most irritating phrases:

10 - It's not rocket science

9 - 24/7

8 - Shouldn't of

7 - It's a nightmare

6 - Absolutely

5 - With all due respect

4 - At this moment in time

3 - I personally

2 - Fairly unique

1 - At the end of the day

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/debates/3394545/Oxford-compiles-list-of-top-ten-irritating-phrases.html

Crazy Like A.....Yeah...Well...

Authorities in Arizona say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal's jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital. The Yavapai County sheriff's office said the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Monday when the fox attacked and bit her foot.

She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg but it bit her arm.

The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran a mile to her car with the fox still biting her arm, then pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital.

The sheriff's office says the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman are both receiving rabies vaccinations.

The Toy Hall Of Fame

The lowly stick, a universal plaything powered by a child's imagination, landed in the National Toy Hall of Fame on Thursday along with the Baby Doll and the skateboard.

The three were chosen to join the Strong National Museum of Play's lineup of 38 classics ranging from the bicycle, the kite and Mr. Potato Head to Crayola crayons, marbles and the Atari 2600 video game system.

Curators said the stick was a special addition in the spirit of a 2005 inductee, the cardboard box. They praised its all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities, noting its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed in myriad ways by a child's creativity.

"It's very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price, there aren't any rules or instructions for its use," said Christopher Bensch, the museum's curator of collections. "It can be a Wild West horse, a medieval knight's sword, a boat on a stream or a slingshot with a rubber band. ... No snowman is complete without a couple of stick arms, and every campfire needs a stick for toasting marshmallows.

Longevity is a key criterion for getting into the hall, which the museum acquired in 2002 from A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Ore. Each toy must not only be widely recognized and foster learning, creativity or discovery through play, but also endure in popularity over generations.

Do You Take Wrigley's?

A 28-year-old man who attempted to pay for his bar tab with gum wrappers was arrested after a scuffle with a police officer on Tuesday night, authorities said. A bartender told police the man was playing pool with an open bottle of beer and spilled some of it on the table. She said he first tried to pay his $32 tab with a credit card, which was declined.

When police arrived and ordered the man to pay his tab, they reported that he began counting out gum wrappers as if they were cash.

The man was detained on a complaint of disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer.

52 Years Later...

Ken Mink, a 73-year-old full-time student, scored two points Monday night in Roane State Community College's 93-42 victory over King College's junior varsity. Mink entered the game with about 16 minutes left in the second half and attempted one shot in about three minutes. Seven minutes later, he went back in the game, was fouled and made two free throws.

"I found myself on the free-throw line 52 years after my last college game," Mink said. "I said, 'Just relax and shoot it like you know how to all day long.' I just floated the shots in there. I'm in the books now. I can relax a little bit."

Mink, of Knoxville, last played college basketball 52 years ago at Lees College in Jackson, Ky. After someone soaped the basketball coach's office, he lost his spot on the team and was expelled. Mink still says he didn't do it.

The Ultimate Ultimatum

Fort Worth police are looking for a suspect after a holdup man ran up against an uncooperative convenience store clerk in an overnight robbery try. Police spokesman Lt. Paul Henderson said the man walked into a 7-Eleven in west Fort Worth about 3:20 a.m. Monday and demanded the cash from the clerk's register.

According to Henderson, the clerk answered, "No. Either shoot me or leave my store."

Henderson said the man cursed at the 30-year-old clerk and left on foot. Detectives are checking the store's security cameras for images of the suspect.

Smells Like...

Smells Like Pre-Teen Spirit | Viral | SPIKE.com

Put The Lotion In The BASKETT

Eagles wide receiver Hank Baskett proposed to Playboy Playmate girlfriend Kendra Wilkinson atop the Space Needle in Seattle where the Eagles played last weekend, according to E! Online. The Web site says family members of Baskett and Wilkinson were both present for the proposal and that she said yes.

Salmon (Rushdie)

Wildlife officials in northern California last week came across one of the biggest Chinook salmon ever found in the state — a monster more than 4 feet long and weighing 85 pounds.

The big fish had recently spawned and died, Killam said, and probably weighed about 90 pounds when it began its 100-mile swim upstream from the Pacific to the spot where it died on Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River near the town of Anderson.

The California sport-fishing record for a Chinook salmon is 88 pounds. In Alaska, where they're called king salmon, they get even bigger — the record sport catch is 97 pounds, while the largest commercial catch was a truly phenomenal 126 pounds.

Spider Man

A blowtorch is not a good substitute for a broom.

Coweta County authorities say Galen Winchell set fire to his west Georgia home Wednesday as he cleaned cobwebs from exterior eaves with a blowtorch. Winchell noticed the blaze when he saw smoke pouring from the attic.

Local fire investigator James Gantt says the fire was confined to one part of the house, but the entire home had smoke and water damage.

My Man.....Your Man.....

OUR MAN!

The Only Vote That Ever Mattered...

Showing Up At The Polls...With Your Pole

A nudist community on Florida's west coast wants to establish the first clothing-optional polling site. The Caliente Resorts, located in Pasco County north of Tampa, has approached election officials about the idea.

Nothing in state law would prohibit it, but the supervisor of elections says he is opposed to creating any new precincts before redistricting in 2010.

Handi-Cappin' Bitches

Boston Police investigating an armed robbery lifted a man out of a wheelchair and found he was sitting on three guns, including two with high capacity magazines and one with a laser sight. Police said they were led to an apartment building in the city's South Boston neighborhood by two men who said they were robbed of their cell phones Friday.

The men said they were threatened by a teenager with a gun and saw another man in a window of the building holding a gun.

Police searched several individuals, including a 22-year-old man, who was sitting in a wheelchair. Police said when they lifted him out of the wheelchair they found the guns.

The man was set to be arraigned Monday on charges of illegal possession of guns and ammunition.

The Ocean Breeze

Iraq has decided to sell Saddam Hussein's luxury yacht after winning a legal dispute over its ownership.

The former dictator's 269-foot super-yacht is fitted with swimming pools, salons, a secret passage and a rocket launching system.

French authorities seized the boat on Jan. 31 after it docked in Nice on the Mediterranean coast. The yacht remained there while courts settled a row over the ship's ownership.

A yacht brokerage firm had tried to sell the boat for a reported $35 million. But Iraq said the yacht still belonged the country.

Just Workin' The Voters

A masked gunman waving an American flag and a handgun on a Highway 101 overpass surrendered to police Monday after forcing a traffic shutdown for hours.

The unidentified man gave himself up midmorning and was taken into custody by police.

The man, wearing a ski mask and brown fatigues, had the flag in one hand and the gun in the other when officers arrived on the La Cumbre Avenue overpass just after 7:10 a.m., said police Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte.

No shots were fired. A police special weapons and tactics team and a crisis negotiation team used a bullhorn to communicate with the man. Nearly three hours into the siege he put the handgun on the ground and he later walked backward to police officers.

Old Hallow's Eve

Workin' It...