Ingrid Paulicivic filed a lawsuit in September against Laguna Beach, Calif., gynecologist Red Alinsod over leg burns she bafflingly acquired during her 2009 hysterectomy -- a procedure that was topped off by the doctor's nearly gratuitous name-"branding" of her uterus with his electrocautery tool. Dr. Alinsod explained that he carved "Ingrid" in inch-high letters on the organ only after he had removed it and that such labeling helps in the event a woman requests the return of the uterus as a souvenir. He called the branding just a "friendly gesture" and said he did not know how the burns on Paulicivic's leg occurred.

-- BBC News reported in August that government officials in southern Sudan had unveiled a $10 billion plan that would rebuild the area's major cities (heavily damaged during the ongoing civil war) "in the shapes of animals and fruit." New blueprints for one state capital, Juba, show its boundaries in the shape of a rhinoceros, and for another capital, Wau, a giraffe, and for the town of Yambio, the outline of a pineapple. (Such municipal planning might appear quixotic, especially in view of Sudan's wartime chaos, but investors can hardly ignore a country that sits on rich oil deposits.)

-- Spousal violence continues to plague India, especially in lower-income areas of Uttar Pradesh state, but four years ago, Ms. Sampat Pal Devi, then 36, formed a vigilante group of females to fight back and has made notable progress, according to a July report on Slate.com. Members of Pal's group ("gulabis" -- literally, "gangs for justice") travel in numbers, wearing "hot pink" saris and carrying bamboo sticks, and try to reason with abusive husbands to improve their behavior. Originally, Pal imagined a temporary team, in place until women acquired greater electoral power, but the experience in Uttar Pradesh has been disheartening in that, often, the women elected as officials have been just as corruptible and male-centered as the men they replaced.

-- U.S. and NATO forces in southern Afghanistan have reported feelings of revulsion at the number and ostentatiousness of local Pashtun men who publicly flaunt the 9- to 15-year-old boys that they've acquired as lovers. The boys dress (and use makeup) like girls, dance, hold the men's hands, and show off in front of others of their age. According to an August San Francisco Chronicle dispatch from Kandahar, locals explain the practice as partly regional tradition and partly a response to Islamic and tribal customs that make young females off-limits to men until marriage (Local saying: "Women are for children; boys are for pleasure"). (The more fundamentalist Pashtun also point out that boys are "cleaner," in that they never menstruate.)

-- A 1997 election law in Brazil makes it illegal to "degrade or ridicule" political candidates or their parties, making that country's election season not nearly as lively as the U.S.'s. However, in August, one week after a protest in Rio de Janeiro by Brazilian comedians, the vice president of the Supreme Court acquiesced and suspended the law as unconstitutional.

-- Marketing Professionals Not Ready for Prime Time: Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, feeling under-respected academically, commissioned an in-state firm to create a direct-mail campaign highlighting the many benefits of a Drake education. The pitch to potential students, which was rolled out in September in brochures and on Drake's website, is called the "Drake Advantage" and is graphically represented (curiously, for an academic institution) as "D+."

-- Creative Sentencing: (1) Convicted Pennsylvania embezzler Lanette Sansoni pleaded guilty in August and agreed to reimburse the victim the remaining $200,000 of the $475,000 she had stolen. Judge Joseph Smyth then sentenced Sansoni to house arrest -- for 21 years. She can remain out of jail as long as she works and contributes at least $750 a month for restitution. (2) Samuel McMaster Jr. pleaded guilty to securities fraud in August in Albuquerque but struck a deal with prosecutors to enable restitution to his two dozen victims. McMaster fancies himself an expert at poker, and the judge agreed to withhold sentencing for six months to let McMaster prove he could earn at least $7,500 a month for his victims at Las Vegas poker tables.

-- In September, the Treviso, Italy, adult doll maker Diego Bortolin (who specializes in lifelike, precisely detailed, fully flexible, anatomically correct models of humans) told reporters that he had completed a special order for a 50-year-old businessman whom he would not name but who paid Bortolin the equivalent of $18,000 (compared to his normal price of about $5,000) to go beyond his generic "young woman" -- to create a replica of the very girlfriend who had just recently dumped him. The extra expenses were "because we had to replicate everything, right down to the shape of her nails and teeth" -- plus, the man wanted his substitute girlfriend to have bigger breasts.

-- Sixteen condom dispensers were installed at the San Francisco County jail in San Bruno, Calif., in September, paid for by community grants, to assist in the county's safe-sex program. (Of course, jailhouse sex remains illegal.)

The Overprivileged, in Training: The first day of school, according to Mia Lin, 16, of Framingham, Mass., "is like a movie premiere." That's when she and some of her well-off friends get the opportunity to give fellow students the benefit of their informed summer fashion decisions as they jockey for position in the school's social order. Lin told the Boston Globe that her "style" is "urban" and shoe-oriented. "I have about 90 pairs. I wear whole outfits just to accent my shoes," including black, red and gold Supra Chad Muska Skytops, which give her, she said, "a swagger boost." "Every year is an opportunity to redefine your style."

Jonne Wegley joined the Army in 2009, but during basic training was distracted by troubles at home (a brother severely injured; his girlfriend aborting their child and two-timing him) and wanted out. Like others facing Army assignments (some chronicled in News of the Weird), his escape of choice was to ask a pal to shoot him in the leg, rendering him unfit for duty (but, he hoped, not too badly hurt). The reluctant pal fired one shot, which resulted in the "mangl(ing)" of Wegley's leg and which has so far required 25 surgeries. (Sources cited by the Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus, Ga., near Wegley's post at Fort Benning, said there are easier legal ways to leave the Army.)

DNA Showcases: (1) Michael Edwards Jr., 28, was arrested in July after an incident at a Giant food store in Gaithersburg, Md., in which he followed a customer to her car and sprayed her from a bottle whose liquid was part semen. (2) Michael Lallana, 31, was arrested in Santa Ana, Calif., in August and charged on two separate instances of "discharging" his semen into a female co-worker's water bottle. (3) William Black, 28, was arrested at a Sarasota, Fla., Wal-Mart in September after he grabbed a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue off the magazine rack, retreated to another aisle, and masturbated, leaving semen on the floor. (Black said he had been overcome looking at all the "hot girls" among Wal-Mart shoppers.)

At a special Friday evening session of the New Mexico House of Representatives in February (2004) (on health insurance taxation), Democratic leaders needed Rep. Bengie Regensberg to cast an emergency vote and sent state police to retrieve him at the Santa Fe motel where he was headquartered during the session. Troopers managed to bring him to the capitol, but reported having had to subdue and handcuff the naked, combative and "likely intoxicated" Regensberg.

Civilization in Decline: "Tom Tom," a 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier, was laid to rest at the Oakland Cemetery in Monticello, Ark., in March, even though he was in good health. His owner, Donald Ellis, had just passed away but had left explicit instructions that he wanted Tom Tom buried along with him, and not later on, because he felt that no one could love Tom Tom as much as he did. Ellis' reluctant family finally took Tom Tom to a veterinarian, who tried to change their minds but ultimately acquiesced and euthanized the dog out of fear that they would put him down anyway, less humanely.

-- Unlikely Successes: (1) In July, the world's largest four-day rodeo, the Pendleton Round-Up, released a signature-brand men's cologne, Let'er Buck, to mark the company's 100th anniversary. A spokesman claimed that the $69-a-bottle product has the fragrance of "sensuous musk and warm sandalwood." (2) Thai Airways announced in June that it would begin selling seven curry sauces directly from its airline food menu in take-out shops in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai.

-- Shaking Up the Condom Market: (1) The Swiss government announced in March that it would help bring to market "extra"-small condoms for boys as young as 12. (The decrease in circumference from a "standard" condom would be about 5/16th of an inch.) (2) The Washington Post reported in May that high school and college-age adults had complained that condoms given away by the District of Columbia's HIV-prevention program were of too-low quality and that the city should spring for deluxe Trojan Magnums (in gold-colored packaging, giving them, said a city official, "a little bit of the bling quality").

-- In July, the prominent BrewDog brewery in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, began producing the world's strongest (and most expensive) beer, called The End of History, which is 55 percent alcohol and sells for 500 pounds ($780) a bottle. As if to enrage both anti-alcohol and animal-welfare activists, BrewDog released the first 12 bottles taxidermally inserted inside the carcasses of roadkill (seven ermines, four squirrels and a rabbit). Said company founder James Watt, BrewDog aims to "elevate the status of beer in our culture."

-- At least two employees at the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, Calif., were accused in May of carrying on a makeshift "beauty salon" inside the facility's Neonatal Intensive Care unit. Allegedly, eyebrow waxes and manicures were given near sensitive equipment used to combat infant infections and respiratory disorders. An investigation is continuing, but a hospital official said the notion of a "salon" was overblown and that perhaps a few nail treatments were involved. (Simultaneously, the facility is being investigated for taking kickbacks from nursing homes for placing discharged Medicare or Medicaid patients into those homes.)

-- On an August ABC-TV "Nightline," professor Matt Frerking of Oregon Health and Science University allowed cameras to record his narcolepsy-like "cataplexy," which causes temporary muscle paralysis each time he contemplates romantic love (hugging or holding hands with his wife, viewing wedding pictures, witnessing affectionate couples). He noted that he can often fend off an impending attack by concentrating on his own lab work in neuroscience.

-- Breakthroughs: (1) When Ron Sveden's left lung collapsed in May, doctors initially diagnosed a tumor, but on closer inspection learned that Sveden, of Brewster, Mass., had ingested a plant seed that had somehow migrated to his lung and sprouted open. He is recovering. (2) A Pomeranian puppy recently found wandering in San Bernardino, Calif., was diagnosed with reproductive-organ complications that destined him to be put down, but a woman volunteered $1,165 for "transgender" surgery. "Red" is now happy and ready for adoption (and of course neutered).

-- To most, the toilet is a functional appliance, but to thoughtful people, it can be an instrument upon which creativity blossoms. Thus, the price tags were high this summer when commodes belonging to two literary giants of the 20th century went on sale. In August, a gaudily designed toilet from John Lennon's 1969-71 residence in Berkshire, England, fetched 9,500 pounds (about $14,740) at a Liverpool auction, and a North Carolina collectibles dealer opened bids on the toilet that long served reclusive author J.D. Salinger at his home in Cornish, N.H. The dealer's initial price was $1 million because, "Who knows how many of Salinger's stories were thought up and written while (he) sat on this throne!"

-- Blairsville, Ga., advertising agency owner Mike Patterson introduced the "first ever patriotic home-based business opportunity" recently, and, though it resembles a traditional "pyramid" scheme, Patterson termed it "network marketing" and an important way to fight government "tyranny." For joining up at $12, $24 or $50 a year and enlisting others, Patterson promises recruiters "up to $50,000" (actually, up to $283,000 by securing $50 memberships). On spelling- and grammar-challenged Web pages, Patterson laid out salesmanship "levels" and "matrix" patterns that promise a member 60 cents per $24 recruit -- leaving $12 for patriotic programs and $11.40 for Patterson. (For some reason, after rounding up 29,523 members -- Level 9 -- the recruiter payout drops to 15 cents each.)

-- In September, the Romanian Senate rejected a proposal by two legislators to regulate, and tax, fortune-tellers and "witches," even though the government is otherwise desperately seeking new sources of revenue. A prominent witch had complained about potential record-keeping burdens on the "profession," but one of the bill's sponsors told the Associated Press he thinks opposition came from lawmakers who were frightened of having spells and curses placed on them.

Mississippi attorney general Jim Hood continues in the thrall of what forensic experts everywhere discredit as pseudo-science (everywhere except Mississippi, that is). Hence, death-row inmate Eddie Lee Howard's date with destiny approaches. Although only scant physical evidence was presented at his murder trial, the jury famously heard from local dentist Michael West, who, using fancy equipment, somehow identified scratches on the victim's body as "bite marks" unique to Howard's teeth. (In 2008, News of the Weird mentioned the DNA-inspired release of two accused Mississippi rapists who had served 12 years in prison -- having also been positively identified by West on the basis of bite marks. Between then and now, West's theories have been nationally, resoundingly rebuked, but the attorney general has chosen to defend Howard's original, West-based conviction rather than look anew at the case, and Howard remains marked for execution.)

Disrespecting Electricity: (1) New Hampshire teenager Kyle Dubois was critically injured in March when, during an electrical trades class, he and fellow students attached clamps to his nipples and plugged in an electrical cord. Dubois suffered permanent brain damage, and in August his parents sued the school district and the teacher. (2) As an alternative to the surgical scalpel, zapping a penis with electricity can produce a cleaner cut and with much less blood, according to a team of doctors from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in Taiwan. Best of all, their July report noted, since the experiments were too risky for ordinary test volunteers, they performed all procedures on themselves.

In 2001, a woman filed a federal lawsuit in Minnesota (Engleson vs. Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce), seeking to recover for injuries she suffered when she tripped over an orange traffic cone. The lawsuit was dismissed in November 2002 by Judge Donovan Frank, who said that since the very purpose of the bright orange traffic cone is to warn of imminent risk, citizens should not need to be warned that they are approaching bright orange traffic cones.

More than a half-million children in the U.S. take antipsychotic medicines and (reported The New York Times in September) "(e)ven the most reluctant (doctors) encounter a marketing juggernaut that has made antipsychotics the nation's top-selling class of drugs by revenue, $14.6 billion last year, with prominent promotions aimed at treating children." In one psychiatrist's waiting room, observed the Times reporter, "(C)hildren played with Legos stamped with the word Risperdal" (an antipsychotic made by Johnson & Johnson). (The company, which recently lost its patent on the drug, said it has stopped handing out the toys -- which it insisted were not toys at all but advertising reminders for doctors.)

-- Three self-described bisexual men filed a federal lawsuit in April against the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance for disqualifying them from the Gay Softball World Series in Seattle in 2008 because they were not sufficiently gay. Teams were limited to two heterosexuals, and when the men's team won second place, questions were raised about the three until organizers took them aside and asked "intrusive" questions about their sexual attractions and desires. Ultimately, they were disqualified as being too straight. (The alliance acknowledged that it has no standards for judging gayness level, but explained, as a private organization, that it is not subject to federal law.)

-- Justine Winter, 17, who was badly injured in a car crash in Flathead County, Mont., in March 2009, filed a lawsuit in July 2010 against the pregnant driver whom she had hit and killed (along with the woman's 13-year-old son). However, the local prosecutor has already charged Winter with two counts of homicide, based on text messages she had sent her estranged boyfriend minutes before the crash. "If I won (you)," she texted, "I would have you ... and I wouldn't crash my car." Also, "That's why I'm going to wreck my car. Because all I can do is f--- up. Because I am a terrible person, and I know it." Also, "Good bye ... my last words." That was then; nowadays, Winter says the woman she hit was driving negligently and that construction companies failed to maintain the roadway properly.

-- Craig Smallwood of Hawaii filed a federal lawsuit earlier this year against the makers of the online virtual-world game "Lineage II" for failing to warn him that he would become so addicted to playing it that he would be "unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends." (He claims to have spent 20,000 hours over five years playing.) In August, Judge Alan Kay declined to dismiss the lawsuit and set it for trial.

-- Between suicide, murder, assault, drunken driving and drug use, the soldiers of the 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division, at Fort Bliss, Texas, have been statistically in greater peril while stateside than while deployed in Iraq. "Being back (home) is what we don't do well," Lt. Col. David Wilson told The New York Times in July. During the last year in Iraq, the brigade lost only one soldier to combat, but in the previous year stateside, seven were killed and four people died in crimes committed by brigade personnel.

-- Challenging Times for Labor Unions: (1) At a rally in Washington, D.C., in July denouncing employers who hire nonunion carpenters, many of the chanting protesters were nonunion day workers hired by the carpenters' union to make the demonstration look bigger, according to a Wall Street Journal report. (2) In August, Jim Callaghan, a long-time writer on the headquarters staff of the United Federation of Teachers, was fired after trying to organize his colleagues into their own union local. Callaghan said that UFT staff deserve the same protections as the teachers they represent. (A UFT spokesman said most UFT employees are already unionized.)

-- The Republican candidate for governor of Colorado, Dan Maes, explained in August that he began the campaign supporting "green" programs, such as Denver's innovative "bike-sharing" project, but that he has rethought his position. Now, he told reporters, environmental programs are, in reality, plots. "(I)f you do your homework and research, you realize that (encouraging people to park their cars and ride bikes in the city) is part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty."

-- The New South Wales (Australia) anti-corruption commission, at a hearing in August, got engineer Don Gamage to admit that he "exaggerated" his credentials to get a series of government contracts. Nonetheless, Gamage was defiant: "If I didn't exaggerate," he explained, "the people of NSW ... would have missed (out on) the service and the benefit that I delivered."

-- Bruce Tuck, who confessed in December to a series of rapes in Martin, Tenn., and was sentenced to 60 years in prison (and who faces still more charges), tried to withdraw his confession in June, complaining that he was not of sound mind at the time because, though weighing 275 pounds, he was being held in jail on a "lettuce-only" diet. Thus, he said, he was unusually vulnerable when a detective offered him a bag of chips to admit to the charges.

After an historic site along the lower Jordan River was closed for a day in July for public health reasons, an environmental group, EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth (Middle East), called for a permanent suspension until the governments of Israel and Jordan (on either side of the river) assure that it is safe from agricultural discharge and untreated sewage. Facing sites on the river both claim to be where John the Baptist baptized Jesus, and pilgrims flock to the sites to be baptized, as well.

Lame: (1) Gerald Maxwell, 39, a convicted burglar who was caught in August breaking into the same Sarasota, Fla., home he had broken into last year, quickly tried to explain his innocence to officers. "I was going back in there to leave a thank-you note, because I'm the guy who burglarized this place last year (and) I just got out of jail." (2) Terrance Mitchell was arrested in Waterloo, Iowa, in July, identified from video as the man who tried to shoplift surveillance equipment from a store. Mitchell was thus apparently unaware that stores that sell surveillance equipment might operate surveillance cameras.

Michael Peterson was convicted in 2003 of murdering his wife, Kathleen, and sentenced to life in prison in North Carolina, but T. Lawrence Pollard, who was one of Peterson's lawyers, has relentlessly offered the alternative theory (though not during Peterson's trial) that Mrs. Peterson was instead killed by a rogue owl one night in her home. Earlier this year, Raleigh's News & Observer wrote a series on deficiencies in the state's original investigation (though not about owls), and Pollard filed affidavits in August -- one by an owl expert that Mrs. Peterson's injuries were consistent with an attack by "a large bird of prey" and the other by scientists who offered to DNA-test what investigators say might be a faint microscopic "feather" from the crime scene.

The lawyer for a former Fort Lauderdale, Fla., phone-sex worker announced to reporters in November (1999) that he had won a workers' compensation settlement for his client based on her claim of carpal tunnel syndrome due to being encouraged to masturbate on the job as much as seven times a day. Steven Slootsky said his client (who declined to be publicly identified) accepted the settlement to avoid the embarrassment of testifying, even though the money is not enough to reimburse her for the surgery she required on both hands.