Strange Stuff

David Blaine, the magician and "endurance artist" is training to break the human breath-holding record April 30 on Oprah . He's already done it 16 minutes, 9 seconds in a test run, John Tierney reports in his New York Times science blog. New techniques have made it possible for the untrained to hold their breath longer than thought possible in the past. More »

A 69-year-old Florida woman called 911 after finding an 8-foot gator in her kitchen. The beast apparently crawled in through a porch screen door and an open sliding door, making its way through the living room and down a hall, reports the St. Petersburg Times . Authorities called a trapper, and the gator was caught without incident—except for being hurt slightly by a falling plate. More »

A cop and several firemen struggled to rescue an Oregon pet shop owner after she stuck her hand in a python's cage, the Eugene Register-Guard reports. Teresa Rossiter was showing off 12-foot Darla to customers when the snake bit her, wrapped around her, and knocked her down. A policeman came to cut off the $850 python's head, but Rossiter begged him to find another way. More »

Britain’s mediums are consulting their crystal balls about a new EU law that might expose them to lawsuits, the Independent reports. A group of them marched up Downing Street today to deliver a 5,000-signature petition to No. 10, hoping to convince the government not to adopt the European measure. “What we have here is a fundamental attack on our right to practice our religion,” said one spiritualist. More »

You might look for a $99 espresso shot in a crowded Italian café before the second floor of a London department store. Yet it's the latter where you'll find the cup brewed from two of the world’s rarest coffee beans, one of which is sniffed out and, er, digested by an Indonesian civet, the Guardian reports. But is the java foodie paradise or marketing racket? More »

Roger Bergendorff, hospitalized in February for exposure to the toxin ricin, was charged today in Las Vegas in what authorities say was an "exotic idea" to strike at foes—and not a terror plot, the AP reports. Bergendorff, 57, faces charges including possession of a biological toxin, traces of which were found in his hotel room Feb. 26—while he was in a coma. More »

Two Ohio teens have been arrested after police acquired a video in which they forced a toddler to smoke pot, NBC reports. The video, in which the smoking babysitters pass the pipe to the 18-month-old, was recovered after it was left inside a camcorder sold to a pawnshop. The teens face charges of child endangerment and distributing narcotics to a minor. More »

Divorce has a new weapon: YouTube. The former-actress wife of a millionaire theater impresario took to the Internet last week in a teary six-minute video in which she claims her older hubby is evicting her from their Park Avenue pad after years of refusing her sex despite owning porn, condoms, and Viagra, the AP reports. May not play in divorce court, but it's scored 287,776 hits. More »

The New York Yankees' final season at Yankee Stadium will see another first tomorrow night, the Daily News reports, with a US astronaut throwing out the first pitch—via video link from the International Space Station. Garrett Reisman, a 40-year-old New Jersey native and lifelong fan of the Bronx Bombers, will do the honors against the hated Boston Red Sox. More »

The economy might be slowing, but one man's poop-scooping business is, well, piling up. A sixth sense for sniffing out the goods is earning Ron Johnson's Poo-B-Gone $75,000 yearly, the Chicago Tribune reports. Pet owners who are too busy or grossed-out to handle their dogs' waste pay up to $25 a week to avoid doing the dirty deed. More »

A Utah sales rep is suing his company after his boss waterboarded him as a “team-building exercise” outside a Provo office park, the Washington Post reports. Sure, the man volunteered, but he says he had no idea what he getting himself into. “I’m not getting any air,” Chad Hudgens says. “The sensation that’s going through my head is ‘I’m going to drown.’” More »

A New York cop nabbed for robbing a bank this week may have committed two other heists last year, the NYPD said today. Christian Torres, a transit officer described by NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly as “a model cadet,” will be charged in New York after proceedings wrap up in Pennsylvania—where he allegedly stole $113,000 at a bank Thursday. More »

A German staging of Verdi’s “A Masked Ball” leaves Uncle Sam wearing little but a mask, Der Spiegel reports. In a rebuke of US capitalism, the production parades naked retirees on a set of the World Trade Center's ruins, and offers a female singer with a Hitler mustache saluting the audience, the Daily Telegraph reports. "One has to introduce new elements" into Verdi's all-too-well-known opera, director Johann Kresnik says. More »

Police Tased Rays pitcher Al Reyes twice today in a Tampa, Fla. bar before arresting him for unlawful violence, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Cops say Reyes was celebrating his birthday when he picked a fight, took a punch, and "began to spit blood on the people in the area." Reyes expressed regret before tonight's game, saying, “I tried to have a good time on my birthday." More »

The man who famously shot his hunting partner may have another leisure-sport scandal on his hands—this time involving the image of a naked woman. Bloggers are obsessively analyzing a close-up photo released by the White House of Dick Cheney fly fishing, because of racy image that appears to be reflected in his sunglasses, McClatchy reports. More »

When Eli Estrada found $140,000 in unmarked bills sitting in the middle of the road, he thought he was rich. “That’s just your first reaction,” Estrada tells the Los Angeles Times , “but it’s not yours, and you feel nervous… like you did something wrong.” So the 40-year-old landscaper, deep in debt and supporting his mother, took the money directly to police. More »

An telecom exec came up short in a motivational speech to employees when he called the battle of Waterloo a victory for Napoleon. Now clips of the animated Italian manager urging his staff to "go ahead and score like Napoleon at Waterloo" have become a YouTube hit, the ANSA news agency reports. More »

Britney Spears, who once ditched a custody hearing to await a furniture delivery, may be going into the ottoman and end table business herself. In an attempt to salvage his daughter's bleeding fortune, Jamie Spears has spent two months on a deal whereby the struggling pop star would endorse a line of Danish imports, reports New York Post's Page Six. More »

A Georgia man who took his own life last week had lived 12 years after receiving a transplanted heart from a South Carolina man who also committed suicide, police said. And in a twist worthy of Edgar Allan Poe, the donor's widow had met and married the recipient, the Hilton Head Island Packet reports. More »

A CEO's foul-mouthed deposition could cost him and his lawyer $29,323 for making a "spectacular failure" of legal proceedings, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. "I've never seen anything like this" in 30 years, said a judge of Aaron Wider dropping 73 F-bombs in 12 hours. Wider and his counsel, who split ways on court order, are appealing. More »