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Germans peel off for lensman Tunick From correspondents in Berlin, Germany August 07, 2006 02:42am Article from: Agence France-Presse US photographer Spencer Tunick, famous for snapping his subjects in their birthday suits, struck again in Duesseldorf in western Germany, where more than 800 people bared all for his art. For five hours 840 people, some of whom had come from as far away as Brazil, posed nude in a variety of attitudes - in a pyramid, arms in the air, bending down or crowding round a tree. Or, in the case of the 50 most comely, in front of a...

Murray, OCC build 'Caddyshack' motorcycle Thu Aug 3, 6:19 PM ET NEW YORK - Try to imagine the motorcycle that Bill Murray's classic "Caddyshack" character Carl Spackler would ride. Would it incorporate his love of greenskeeping, his hatred of gophers or his experiences as a "looper" for the Dalai Lama? Those were the sort of questions Murray and the guys of Orange County Choppers had to ask themselves in fashioning a bike in the spirit of the beloved Spackler. Their efforts can be seen on Monday's episode of "American Chopper" on the Discovery Channel (10 p.m. EDT), with a second...

Transsexual hen's crow wreaks havoc in the henhouse Fri Aug 4, 6:12 AM ET STOCKHOLM (AFP) - A hen in southern Sweden that has grown a rooster comb, tail and wattle and begun to crow is wreaking havoc in its henhouse, where the rooster, Henry VIII, is hopping mad. "Henry VIII is bloody angry. The other hens are mostly just surprised but they seem to increasingly accept him or her," the owner of the henhouse, Christel Hammar-Malmgren, told the online edition of regional daily Blekinge Laens Tidning Friday. Hammar-Malmgren woke up one morning in July to the sound of two...

Woman gets stuck on toilet, suffers burns Thu Aug 3, 4:06 PM ET COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - A woman who became stuck to a toilet seat in a shopping mall restroom was treated at a local hospital after paramedics used fingernail polish remover to free her, officials said. The 53-year-old Council Bluffs woman suffered burns to her skin in the incident, which happened Wednesday, officials with the Fire Department said. Investigators said they believe someone placed a cement compound on the toilet seat in the restroom at the Mall of the Bluffs. Investigators say they are treating the case as...

Man accused of shoving phone down throat 2 hours, 56 minutes ago INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - The assault trial of a man accused of shoving a cell phone down a woman's throat has begun. Prosecutors say 24-year-old Marlon Brando Gill was angry and jealous when he forced the phone into Melinda Abell's throat in December. But defense attorneys insist the 25-year-old victim swallowed the phone intentionally to prevent Gill from finding out who she'd been calling. Gill is charged with felony first-degree assault. A doctor at a Kansas City hospital's emergency room used a tool called a "pincher" to remove the...

Restroom art gallery opens in Ohio village By JAMES HANNAH, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 1 minute ago YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio - Call it Chagall in the stall, Picasso in the powder room. Anyone who uses the public restrooms inside a replica of the 1880 train station in this southwest Ohio village will be treated to a display of original paintings on the walls. Dubbed the ChamberPot Gallery, the exhibition that opened in mid-June is the brainchild of two local artists hoping to draw attention to this artist-oriented community and to lure into the village out-of-town hikers, bikers and joggers...

Dog-cooking, tree-taking school-burner may lose job Fri Jul 21, 8:37 AM ET BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese headmaster, who tried to buy off colleagues by cooking dog meat for them after secretly selling off trees around the school, ended up setting fire to classrooms when the meal burst into flames, a Chinese newspaper said Friday. Ten classrooms containing televisions, computers, printers and textbooks burned down, leaving nearly 100 children unable to go to school, the Beijing Youth Daily said. The headmaster, in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, sold off a 1,000-tree arboretum surrounding the school on the sly, the newspaper...

Man tries to smuggle bird eggs in undies Mon Jul 17, 5:24 PM ET SYDNEY, Australia - A man caught with six eggs from endangered species in his underwear as he was preparing to fly to Bangkok was fined 25,000 Australian dollars ($20,000) Monday by a judge who rejected his claim that he only wanted to surprise his girlfriend. Wayne Frederick Floyd pleaded guilty in February to exporting regulated native specimens without a permit or exemption, an offense that carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. Although Judge Martin Sides called it a commercial venture, he said he didn't mandate jail...

Bollywood's Krazy Kat gets her claws out 1 hour, 19 minutes ago NEW DELHI - It's turning into a real Bollywood Kat fight. Bollywood's latest music video star, Nandini Jumani, has filed a case with the police, accusing her rival, Rakhi Sawant, of harassing her, the Times of India reported Thursday. Jumani, popularly known as Krazy Kat, said she had received a number of threatening calls lately. "I think Rakhi is behind the calls. I suspect her since I recently talked about her in an interview," she told the newspaper. In that interview, Jumani said Sawant was all fake and...

Bear voluntarily returns to enclosure 2 hours, 40 minutes ago GOLDEN, British Columbia - Boo the runaway grizzly bear has returned on his own to his enclosure at a resort, apparently because of the ease of getting food and the end to the mating season, officials said. After nearly three weeks on the lam after busting out of confinement, the 4-year-old bear ambled back into the 22-acre artificial enclosure Saturday, said Michael Dalzell, sales and marketing director at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort outside this town on the western slope of the Canadian Rockies. "We believe he came back because he...

Texas school district bans grillz 2 hours, 56 minutes ago ARLINGTON, Texas - The school district here has expanded its dress codes to include mouths — and earlobes. Students may no longer wear mouth jewelry known as "grillz" — shiny teeth caps — or the earlobe-stretching practice known as "gauging." "The district is having to respond to fads because they've become distracters or a safety hazard for those around them," said Malcolm Turner, the district's executive director of student services. The nearby Irving, Grand Prairie and DeSoto districts also ban grillz, and some also address gauging — the process of...

'Wigged out' students caught cheating Mon Jul 10, 5:41 PM ET HANOI, Vietnam - More than 20 desperate students in Vietnam paid up to 50 million dong ($3,125) to don elaborately wired wigs and shirts that allowed them to cheat on their college entrance exams, police said Monday. During a weekend raid, Hanoi police confiscated 50 mobile phones, 60 earphones, 150 SIM cards, eight shirts and five wigs, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Ring leader Nguyen Hong Hai, 39, told police that more than 20 students paid 20...

La. garden yields yard-long ... cuculoupe? Sun Jul 9, 5:50 AM ET HOUMA, La. - They're a yard long and a good few inches across. The skin is waxy, sort of like a cucumber, but yellow and ridged like a canteloupe. A half dozen of them grew between the cucumbers and cantaloupes in a Houma home garden. "We call it a cuculoupe," Karen Dusenbery said. As good a name as any. "Science is strange sometimes," LSU AgCenter agent Barton Joffrion said after examining the whatsits. "You see crosses like that. What happens is they planted them close in proximity, and...

Apple pips its rivals with the iPod that talks RICHARD GRAY SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT (rgray@scotlandonsunday.com) FROM Walkman to Talkman. Not content with changing the world's music-listening habits, Apple has come up with another innovation: the talking iPod. A new generation of machines will use sophisticated software to convert the names of bands, albums and individual tracks into recognisable speech. The new iPod will tell you what it is about to play, removing the need for users to look at the screen while selecting music, and making the device safer and easier to use while driving, cycling or in badly-lit locations. Crucially,...

Estonians reign at wife-carrying championships SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) - Finishing upside down clinging to a man's back may not be the most graceful way of winning gold, but it sure helped Sandra Kullas and Margo Uusorg to the world wife-carrying crown on Saturday. The Estonians were among 40 pairs from eight countries who competed in the annual event in Sonkajarvi, in central Finland. They raced along a 250-meter track, complete with pools and hurdles, with the men running or walking and carrying the women on their backs. The championship, being held for the 11th time, evokes the legend of robber...

Buy Alec Baldwin’s Hairy iPod READ MORE: alec baldwin, ebay, ipod, music Celebrity memorabilia collectors are no doubt filled with joy at the latest gem to hit eBay: what would appear to be an iPod once belonging to actor Alec Baldwin. Or an iPod belonging to someone else named Alec Baldwin, or perhaps the iPod of a weirdly misguided fan of Alec Baldwin. No explanation on how the seller came to aquire the item, but some info on Baldwin’s tastes: This is Alec Baldwin’s 4th Generation 20 GB Apple iPod (Black & White). The iPod is engraved on the back...

Motorcycle Crashes, Catches On Fire Tue Jun 27, 9:22 AM ET A fiery motorcycle accident may have been caused by high speeds, officials told KPRC Local 2. Investigators said the accident happened at about 11 p.m. Monday when the driver lost control on the Eastex Freeway near Will Clayton Parkway. Officials said the motorcycle hit a curb and caught on fire after it crashed. The driver was transported to the hospital with serious injuries.

Child-welfare worker clocked at 142 mph on motorcycle The Associated Press ORANGEBURG, N.Y. - A child-welfare worker was clocked at 142 miles an hour on his motorcycle while leading police on a two-state chase, authorities said Thursday. Sean Virgo's wild ride allegedly started in Orangeburg, where he was pursued by New York state police. When he arrived in neighboring New Jersey, Palisades Interstate Parkway police picked up the chase, They arrested Virgo as he tried to make a U-turn on a grassy median. Virgo, 34, of Ossining, an emergency children's services investigator for the New York City Administration for Children's...

Man charged with having crack in sundae Fri Jun 16, 9:13 PM ET RICHMOND, Texas - This banana split was topped with something more potent than just a cherry. A motorist was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance after he was caught with two rocks of crack cocaine he had stashed in his ice cream dessert. Oscar Martinez, 41, of Richmond, had been pulled over by police officer David Bentley late Sunday after he failed to stop at a pedestrian crossing on the campus of Wharton County Junior College. Bentley discovered that Martinez had a suspended driver's...

Corgi loves motorcycle rides Going places: Abbie, an 11-year-old corgi owned by Roy Clark of Jackson relaxes in her specially built dog seat on the back of Clark's motorcycle Friday during the Wheels of Thunder/Hogs 'n' Dogs celebration in downtown Jackson. Abbie started riding about three years ago, and now Clark can't even go out on errands without her, he said.