News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

We've gone too far

In November, the school district in Spurger, Texas, ended its decades-old, Homecoming Week reverse-roles day in which girls dress as boys and vice versa after one parent complained that the tradition promoted a homosexual lifestyle. In its place, the school urged kids to dress in military camouflage.

Modern-day Daniel

In November, a 46-year-old man, climbed into an enclosed area at the Taipei (Taiwan) Zoo, apparently to attempt to convert a pride of lions to Christianity by informing them that Jesus is their savior. According to witnesses, the lion king sauntered over and briefly sank his teeth into the man's leg, but then, according to one account, "got bored" and returned to his previous state of lounging, as zoo personnel hustled the intruder away.

Random facts

Life by the numbers

$561 -- That's how much a private room in a nursing home in Alaska costs a day, on average. It's the highest rate in the nation, according to the MetLife Mature Market Institute.

68 cents -- how much it costs to produce and mail each Social Security check, which is why the federal government figures it could save $100 million a year if more Americans signed up for direct deposit.

80 -- percent of boomers who plan to work during their retirement years

44 -- percent of adults who eat in a restaurant on a given day

66 -- percent of American adults who are seriously overweight or obese

60 -- percent of adults who think drugs bought on the Internet are not as safe as those bought from a drugstore

77.2 -- the average life expectancy of an American child born today.

Source: AARP Bulletin

New York minute

Step it up, or else

Many New Yorkers simply can't walk fast enough to safely navigate the city's broad intersections. A study by Transportation Alternatives, a New York citizens' group, found that most of the crosswalks require pedestrians to walk at a clip of at least 4 feet a second to cross before the light changes -- a hair-raising if not impossible challenge for all but the most fleet-footed.

Source: AARP Bulletin

Heartland fashion

Trickle turns gusher

The trickle-down effect for fashion used to take months and maybe years. Designer runway clothes were modified for the masses long after fashionistas had forgotten who created them.

But now, thanks to technology and global production, the Heartland gets affordable renditions of hot fashion almost before the models get their stilettos off the runway. In The Wall Street Journal's " Top 10 Trends in 10 Industries," "Fast Fashion" ranks high in the fashion segment.

As soon as digital runway images hit the Internet, copy houses start producing knock-off versions, which make it to stores in weeks. But because the less-expensive clothes are on store racks so fast, they go out of fashion with equal speed. Designers have to move even faster to produce the next big thing for their customers who want to be a step ahead.

If the pace picks up, the trendy bargains could be dead on arrival.

Here's a dime

Good luck finding a phone

Pay telephones are disappearing off the streets as Americans opt for private cell phones. There are currently 1.5 million pay phones in the country, down from 2.6 million in 1998.

Source: The Week

-- From staff and wire reports