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'Surge' makes the banned-words list

JEFF KAROUB
Associated Press
Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:40 UTC
Resist the urge to say you will "wordsmith" your list of New Year's resolutions rather than write one. And don't utter, "It is what it is" when you fail to meet your first goal.

Those are two of the 19 words or phrases that appear in Lake Superior State University's annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness. The school in Michigan's Upper Peninsula released its 33rd list Monday, selecting from about 2,000 nominations.

Among this year's picks are "surge," the term for the troop buildup in Iraq. "Give me the old days, when it referenced storms and electrical power," Michael Raczko of Swanton, Ohio, said in nominating the word.
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Magic Hat

Diners find rare pearl in plate of clams


Associated Press
Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:17 UTC
LAKE WORTH, Fla. - A Florida man was about halfway through a plate of steamed clams when he chomped down on something hard - a rare, iridescent purple pearl. George Brock and his wife, Leslie, had been spending a day at the beach Friday in South Florida and stopped at Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar for a bite. Their find could be worth thousands.
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Phoenix

Driver blames crash on pterodactyl

Rachel Schleif
Wenatchee World
Sat, 29 Dec 2007 08:21 UTC
A 29-year-old Wenatchee man told police a pterodactyl caused him to drive his car into a light pole about 11:30 p.m. Thursday.
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Smiley

"Holy smoke" in nunnery tops 2007 weird news

Erik Kirschbaum
Reuters
Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:50 UTC
From a Greek nunnery turned into a marijuana farm by two men posing as gardeners to a South African man with a gunshot wound told by a doctor to "walk the pain off," the world was full of weird news in 2007.

A Moscow woman set fire to her ex-husband's penis as he sat naked watching television and drinking vodka. The couple divorced three years ago but continued to share a small flat.

"I was burning like a torch," the wounded ex-husband told Tvoi Den newspaper. "I don't know what I did to deserve this."
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Crusader

Pope's exorcist squads will wage war on Satan

Nicke Pisa
Daily Mail
Sun, 30 Dec 2007 15:58 UTC
The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism.

©Daily Mail
Satanism on the rise: Pope Benedict has unveiled plans to set up specialist exorcism squads
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Bizarro Earth

India: Man 'marries' hill to end Maoist menace


IANS
Sun, 30 Dec 2007 10:06 UTC
A tribal man married a hill in a symbolic gesture to end Maoist insurgency in Jamshedpur district of Jharkhand. The man is already married with two children.

The 'marriage' was solemnised in Bomaru village of Ghatshila block in Jamshedpur on Thursday, 170 km from the state capital Ranchi. According to reports in the local media, Nandi Munda, 30, 'married' a hill named Lakhasaini to end the Maoist terror in the area.

Munda, dressed as a traditional bridegroom, went to marry the hill accompanied by hundreds of baratis (revellers). A tribal priest presided over the wedding rituals. The wedding was followed by a feast attended by hundreds of people. The menu included mutton and handia, a local rice brew that tribals love.
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Smiley

Bush's days are numbered in 'Office' calendar

Maria Puente
USA Today
Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:06 UTC
Polls may show George W. Bush as the most unpopular president in modern history, but a different kind of measurement shows he's the most popular president ever for selling calendars.

As the Bush presidency winds down, the Bush Out of Office Countdown 2008 desk calendar ($11.99) is winding up as the No. 2 humor calendar (behind The Far Side Scared Silly 2008 Wall Calendar) for the new year, according to Calendars.com, the largest purveyor of calendars online and at retail kiosks.

©Hillel Levin
As the Bush presidency winds down, the Bush Out of Office Countdown 2008 desk calendar is just winding up.
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Smiley

US town escapes 666 phone prefix


BBC
Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:02 UTC
A town in the US state of Louisiana is to be allowed to change its telephone prefix so that residents can avoid a number many associate with the Devil.

Christians in Reeves have been unhappy since the early 1960s about being given the prefix, 666 - traditionally known as the Biblical "number of the beast".

For the next three months, households will be able to change the first three digits of their phone numbers to 749.

Mayor Scott Walker said CenturyTel's decision was "divine intervention".

However, he admitted it helped that Louisiana's two senators had also lobbied for the change with the phone company and the state Public Service Commission.
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Smiley

Man rescued from Australian pub chimney after 10 hours: police


Agence France-Presse
Sat, 29 Dec 2007 13:49 UTC
Police said Friday they were waiting to question a man who had to be rescued by firefighters after he got stuck in the chimney of an Australian outback pub.
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Take 2

Hollywood squirrels get birth control


upi.com
Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:29 UTC
Forget killing pesky pests -- Hollywood's feeding birth control kibble to its pigeons.

The program is one of a number of experiments in giving contraceptives to nuisance animal populations including deer, squirrels and pigeons, which may carry disease, damage farmland or compete with native species for food, the Los Angeles Times said.

Some 300 Hollywood pigeons are eating OvoControl P in pill-shaped kibbles in a pilot program that hopes to half the city's pigeon population by 2012, the Times said.
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