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An Ontario strip club that was the impetus for a law against so-called dwarf-tossing is at it again. The law never passed, so Leopard's Lounge & Broil, in Windsor is holding another dwarf-tossing contest Saturday. "Uncle Leos has invited back our little friend for the party of the year," says the club's Facebook page. "All skill levels of dwarf tossers are welcome to attend this event (from rookies to veterans to dwarf-tossing pros)." Dwarf-tossing involves bar patrons throwing a little person volunteer, usually dressed in padded clothing, onto a mattress. Participants compete to see who can throw him or her...

Since my New Year’s prediction that Obama would select Hillary Clinton for his running mate in 2012 (and Joe Biden would become Secretary of State), I’ve been swamped by requests for my GOP prediction. Here goes. You can forget the caucuses and early primaries. Mitt Romney will be the nominee. Republicans may be stupid but the GOP isn’t about to commit suicide. The other candidates are all weighed down by enough baggage to keep a 747 on the tarmac indefinitely. For his running mate, Romney will choose Marco Rubio, the junior senator from Florida. Why do I say this? First,...

With the Iowa caucuses just days away, the Republican crack-up threatens the future of the Grand Old Party more profoundly than at any time since the GOP's eclipse in 1932. That's bad for America. The crack-up isn't just Romney-the-smooth versus Gingrich-the-bomb-thrower. Not just House Speaker John Boehner, who keeps making agreements he can't keep, versus House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who keeps making trouble he can't control. And not just the GOP establishment versus the Tea Partiers.The underlying conflict lies deep in the nature and structure of the Republican Party. And its roots are very old. As political analyst Michael...

Starbucks has settled a suit for $75,000 with a woman who claimed she was fired because she is a dwarf. According to Reuters, Elsa Sallard, a barista at a store in El Paso, TX, requested a stool or small stepladder to do her job. Starbucks denied the request and fired her that same day in 2009. The company said she could have been a danger to employees and customers. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the lawsuit in May, said after three days of training, the store should have made a reasonable accommodation for the woman. Robert Canino,...

A dwarf who appeared in the Harry Potter and Star Wars films has dodged a short spell behind bars for indecently exposing himself to a teenager on a train. (edit) The celebrity was shown mercy by Recorder Richard Bond despite having previous convictions for sexual offences, including an incident in which he clambered into the bed of a stage manager and his girlfriend. The 40-year-old's previous convictions also included a series of "random" and explicit phone calls made to women from a hotel room as long ago as 1995. (edit)It is understood that Read has recently been hiring himself out...

The federal government is suing Starbucks for firing a dwarf. According to Reuters, the barista, at a store in El Paso, TX, requested a stool or small stepladder to do her job. Starbucks denied the request and fired her that same day. The company said she could have been a danger to employees and customers. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said after three days of training, the store should have made a reasonable accommodation for the woman.

A vocal dwarf activist for issues ranging from gay and disabled rights to transportation was struck and killed by a taxi as he left a meeting on the Lower East Side, authorities said yesterday. Harry Wieder, 57, walked with crutches from a meeting of Community Board 3 Tuesday evening at PS 20, then crossed Essex Street in the middle of the block and was hit by a yellow cab, fellow board members said.

LONDON — The world's shortest man, He Pingping, who stood just over two feet five inches tall (75 centimetres), has died, Britain's Guinness World Records said Monday. He was 21. He -- a native of China who had a form of primordial dwarfism and measured 74.61 centimetres -- was in Rome taking part in a television show when he suffered chest problems. He was taken to hospital, where he died over the weekend. Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief of London-based Guinness World Records, recalled measuring He in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia in 2008.

Performers take part in a show called Kingdom Of The Dwarves at Kunming World Butterflies Garden, Yunnan province, China

Friday is a travel day for me, so be aware that comment moderation will be slow and sporadic. I just have time to get in word about the upcoming launch of the WISE mission, slated for December 7. NASA is planning a media briefing next Tuesday (November 17) to discuss the mission, which is designed to scan the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, spotting perhaps hundreds of thousands of asteroids and studying a wide range of stars and galaxies.The technology is fascinating in and of itself. WISE will image the entire sky in the infrared, using detectors kept below 15...

A conference like the recent on in Aosta offers plenty of opportunity to listen in on fascinating conversations, one of which had to do with what would happen if we found a brown dwarf closer to the Earth than the Centauri stars. The general consensus was that such a find would be a powerful stimulus to the public imagination and would probably result in renewed interest in getting to and exploring such a place. A boon, in short, for all our interstellar efforts, an awakening to a new set of possibilities.But if there were a brown dwarf that close,...

Indian comedy star Ajay Kumar is world's smallest actor Indian comedy star Ajay Kumar has been officially recognised as the world's smallest actor. Last Updated: 4:20PM BST 22 Apr 2009 Kumar, who is just 2 feet 6 inches tall has made it into the Guinness Book of World Records after starring in 50 films over 13 years. "There's no point complaining about being a dwarf," said Ajay, "I am small in size but I have got the talent and can work like a normal man." Better known by his stage name Unda Pakru, the tiny star has become a household...

A DWARF lost in a mountain range survived overnight thanks to her chihuahua dog. Beverley Burkitt, 45, had to sleep in deep forest after losing her way on a morning walk. The 3ft 8in mum snuggled up to 7in-tall pet Pebbles — who kept her warm and saved her from hypothermia. She was found the next morning after a huge search involving Snowdonia ground teams and helicopters.

Bangkok: A hippopotamus swallowed a circus dwarf in a "freak accident" in northern Thailand according to a columnist in the Pattaya Mail. The Grapevine column reported" A circus dwarf nicknamed Od,died recently when he bounced sideways from a trampoline and was swallowed by a yawning hippopotamus waiting to appear in the next act" "Vets said Hilda the Hippo had a gag reflex which caused her to swallow. More than 1000 spectators continued to applaud wildly until they realized there had been a tragic mistake"

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, July 26 (UPI) -- A traveler tried to check in a dwarf in a suitcase at the airport in Stockholm as a joke for a television show, officials said. The airport called police Wednesday but it turned out to be a prank for a television show called "Balls of Steel," Sweden's TT news agency reported.. "It was a stupid prank that scared the airport staff but no law has been broken," said police spokeswoman Yvonne Lindholm. The "Balls of Steel" program became notorious last year when a reporter sprayed water into the face of Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik...

Image credit: compiled from NASA public images At times, people still express bemusement, or confusion, that Pluto was reclassified as a "dwarf planet", after having been considered a full-fledged planet for the better part of a century. One thing I always point out to them is that we're discovering more and more roughly Pluto-sized bodies. If we call them all planets, the list of planets would rapidly grow unmanageable! (Do you want to memorize the names of 20 planets? How about 80?) Today the list just got bumped up by one. Meet Makemake, the first body in our solar...

Myth of Dwarf Dinos in Dracula Country Confirmed Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News June 13, 2008 -- In 1900, the sister of an eccentric Austro-Hungarian aristocrat named Baron von Nopsca found a tiny bone on the baron's family estate in Transylvania, a historical region in present-day Romania. The baron, who was a dinosaur buff, identified the bone as belonging to a dwarf dino that likely once lived on an island in the region. The motorcycle-riding baron's outrageous theories were ridiculed and largely dismissed, but now new evidence suggests his proposed island of dwarf dinosaurs did indeed exist in the land of...

NEW YORK (CBS) ― A dwarf charged with prostituting an underage runaway will appear in Kings County Supreme Court on Monday. Jacqueline Green, a.k.a. 'Shorty,'due to her 3 foot 9 inch height, is charged with promoting prostitution and child endangerment for allegedly pimping a 15-year-old that ran away from a troubled home. According to published reports, Green is accused of using her Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment as a sex pad for clients who paid $250 per half-hour for intercourse, and $100 per half-hour of oral sex. Clients were found using Craigslist. Green, 26, pleaded not guilty to all charges. The teenage girl...

BOSTON - Former Clinton Cabinet member Robert Reich on Friday endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Two other Democratic elder statesmen, former Sens. Sam Nunn of Georgia and David Boren of Oklahoma, also said they were supporting the Illinois senator. Reich, who served as Labor secretary under Bill Clinton, said in a blog post that "although Hillary Clinton has offered solid and sensible policy proposals, Obama's strike me as even more so." Reich also said Obama's plans for reforming Social Security and health care have a better chance of succeeding, and...

World's smallest girl proud of her tiny size By Kate Day Last Updated: 2:44am BST 07/04/2008 At just 1ft 11 in tall, she is dwarfed by her neighbour's baby, but Jyoti Amge is 15 years old. How About That? Because news doesn't have to be serious The teenager, who is the world's smallest girl according to the Indian Book of Records, has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia. Now fully grown, she weighs just 11 lb. Jyoti Amge with a neighbour's 13-month old baby and with her school friends Far from being unhappy about her tiny size, Jyoti says that...