Man got 1,197 piercings in one day

ARLINGTON, Texas - A Texas body modification enthusiast said he broke a Guinness World Record by receiving 1,197 piercings in a single day. Jeremy Stroud said Arlington body modification artist Tyson Turk spent about five hours May 2 inserting 800 needles into his back, 300 in his right arm, 50 in his leg and about 20 in his left arm, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported. Stroud said the needles were removed at the end of the day but they left scars all over his body. "They're so close together that they leave a line. It kind of looks like I had stitches from my wrist all the way up to my shoulder," he said. Stroud said two emergency medical technicians were on hand during the record attempt, as well as a witness and a photographer to support his bid to make it into the record book. He said the original plan was 2,000 piercings, but the pain from the needles eventually started to catch up to him. "I made it to 1,200 and my body was getting ready to shut down," he said. "I had no idea what I was getting into."

What Your Favorite Movies Were Almost Called

Pretty Woman - was almost called "3000" (the amount of money paid for a week's worth of the hooker's "company").

1. Back to the Future - was almost called "Spaceman from Pluto" because the studio believed that no movie with the word "future" in the title had ever succeeded at the box office.


2. Tootsie - was almost called "Would I Lie to You?" because of several scripted rewrites.


3. Boys Don't Cry - was almost called "Take It Like a Man", but thanks to a Cure song on the soundtrack "Boys Don't Cry" came out a winner.


4. Help! - was almost called "Eight Arms to Hold You" because Help was already registered so they added an exclamation point.


5. The Grapes of Wrath - was almost called "Route 66" due to the use of the historic highway during filming.


6. Annie Hall - was almost called "Anhedonia" which is the scientific term for the inability to experience pleasure. That's Woody Allen for you.


7. Blazing Saddles - was almost called "Tex X" as a play on civil rights leader Malcolm X.

Lost dog home after 8 years

AUSTIN, Texas - A Texas family said they have been reunited with their long-lost pet dog, but they do not know where the animal has been for the past eight years. Alison Murphy of Austin said she and her family offered a $500 reward for the return of their dog, Dancer, after the dog went missing eight years ago, but they received no word of the beloved pet until the Humane Society in New Braunfels, Texas, called last week, KVUE-TV, Austin, reported. The Humane Society told Murphy that a musician found the dog wandering the streets of New Braunfels, Texas, last week and brought it to the group's office, where workers used the dog's microchip to track down its owners. Murphy said the dog, which now answers to the name Fern, does not appear to have lived on the streets for very long. "Her teeth are in great shape," she said. "She just doesn't look like she's been on the streets for 11 years. Somebody's been taking care of her." "It's just wonderful to have her back," Murphy said. "She's older now and she's a little more mellow than she was, of course, as a younger dog but she still likes to go for walks first thing in the morn-ing. And she likes to cuddle at night. She's still the same old girl."

Judge quotes lewd poem in ruling

LUTON, England - A British divorce judge ruling in a custody case quoted a famous poem about parenting that included a four-letter profanity beginning with "f." Lord Justice Nicholas Wall said in granting custody to the mother of a 9-year-old boy -- a decision that overturned a lower court's ruling giving custody to the boy's grand-parents -- that both the mother and father had come "within a whisker" of losing their rights as parents, The Sun reported. Wall said the boy had been harmed by the parents' "ongoing mutual dislike and recriminations" toward one another after their relationship ended. The judge quoted Philip Larkin's 1971 poem, "This Be the Verse," saying: "They (expletive) you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had, and add some extra, just for you." Wall said the quoted lines "give a clear warning to parents."

Woman skydives to mark 70th birthday

I want to do something exciting like this but not wait until I am 70. This woman gets mad props. I cannot imagine my mom who is 1 year shy of her age doing this. LOL

OGDEN, Utah - A Utah woman who survived a bout of potent-ially deadly West Nile virus says she celebrated her 70th birthday by skydiving with family and friends. Fay Andrews, who suffered from West Nile two years ago, said she celebrated her Monday birthday early by jumping out of a Cessna 208 Saturday alongside her grandson, grandnephews, grandniece and a friend while a crowd of 30 friends and family members looked on from the Ogden-Hinckley Airport, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. "When I was a little girl, somewhere in the back of my mind I wanted to jump from an airplane," Andrews said. "The idea must have stuck there." "It was wonderful," she told the assembled crowd after the jump. "You should try it." Andrews said her bout with West Nile virus left her hospitalized for five days and she required a month of rehabilitation to relearn how to walk and use her left arm. "I was in so much misery that I wanted to die," she said. "Then a friend pushed me and I decided that I was going to start living. I did everything I could to get better, including positive affirmations. I told myself over and over, 'Yes I can,' 'I can get healthy,' and 'I am healthy.'"

Realtor offers free divorce with home

HUELVA, Spain - A Spanish real estate company is offering a free divorce lawyer as an incentive to couples who purchase three-bedroom homes in Huelva province. Officials with Geimsa realtors said the deal is aimed at couples who have been postponing divorce because they can't afford new homes, Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported. "A divorce is very expensive," said Vanesa Contioso of Geimsa. "So we are offering new clients the free use of our lawyers to handle the process." The deal applies to married couples who purchase three-bedroom homes for at least $89,000 in Huelva province.

April Fool's Day Hoaxes

In the Julian calendar, April 1st was designated as the New Year's Day and was so celebrated till 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII ordered the adoption of the new Gregorian Calendar, which specified January 1st as the New Year's Day. Many French resisted the New Year's Day change, and as a result they were dubbed fools and made the victim of pranks. They were sent on 'fool's errands,' delivered fake invitations for parties and tricked into believing things that weren't true.

Here are a few pranks courtesy of Wikipedia...

• In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out of the right side. Not only did customers order the new burgers, but some specifically requested the "old", right-handed burger.


• In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied tongue-in-cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Lincoln Mercury Memorial.


• The BBC television program Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing the Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. They had claimed that the despised pest, the spaghetti weevil, had been eradicated. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees.


• In 2008, the BBC reported on a newly discovered colony of flying penguins. An elaborate video segment was even produced, featuring Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) walking with the penguins in Antarctica, and following their flight to the Amazon rainforest.


• George Plimpton wrote a 1985 article in Sports Illustrated about a New York Mets prospect named Sidd Finch, who could throw a 168 mph (270 km/h) fastball with pinpoint accuracy. This kid, known as "Barefoot" Sidd[hartha] Finch, reportedly learned to pitch in a Buddhist monastery. The first letter of each word in the article subhead spelled out the fact of its being an April Fool joke.

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