-- Among the oppressive patriarchal customs that remain in force in Saudi Arabia is a requirement that females obtain their father's (or guardian's) permission before marrying -- even women who are profoundly independent, such as the 42-year-old surgeon (licensed to practice in the UK and Canada as well as Saudi Arabia) who was the subject of an Associated Press report in November. One activist, estimating that nearly 800,000 Saudi women are in the same position, complained that a Saudi woman "can't even buy a phone without the guardian's permission." The surgeon took her father to court recently, but the judge had not rendered a decision by press time.

-- Alabama is the only remaining state to ban the sale of sex toys, but nevertheless the Huntsville shop Pleasures recently expanded by moving to a former bank building in order to use three drive-thru windows to sell dildos. (Since state law prohibits the sale unless used for "bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purposes," customers must provide a brief written description of their medical or other "legitimate" condition in order to make the purchase.)

-- Wei Xinpeng, 55, a boatman in a village near industrial Lanzhou, China, collects bodies from the Yellow River (the murdered, the suicides, the accidentally drowned), offering them back to grieving relatives for a price. Distraught visitors pay a small browsing fee to check his inventory and then, if they identify a loved one, up to the equivalent of $500 to take the corpse home. Said Wei, "I bring dignity to the dead"; no overstatement for him since his own son drowned in the river (yet his body was never recovered).

-- Nov. 3 was National Sandwich Day, and several U.S. eateries capitalized by mixing up bar drinks in honor of such favorites as the cheeseburger, the BLT (bacon-infused rum), and the PB&J (peanut syrup, strawberry jam, banana and rum). The mixologist at Toronto's Tipicular Fixin's makes his cheeseburger cocktail with beef stock reduction, Roma tomatoes and iceberg lettuce water, garnished with a cheddar crisp and a kosher dill.

-- Researchers at the University of Queensland revealed in November that parrot fish, which reside on Australia's reefs and need protection from blood-sucking, lice-like parasites, shelter themselves at bedtime with blankets of "snot." Typically, the fish's mouth-slobber, once it starts dribbling out, takes about an hour to ooze into place.

-- Medical Marvels: (1) Six-year-old Alexis McCarter, of Pelzer, S.C., underwent surgery in December to remove the safety pin that she had stuck up her nose as a baby and which was lodged in her sinus cavity (having sprung open only after it was inside her, causing headaches, nosebleeds and ear infections). (2) Sharon Wilson of Doncaster, England, finally got a worthwhile answer for her nearly 10-year odyssey through a range of doctors' complicated misdiagnoses. She had complained of many, many days when she vomited more than 100 times, at "almost exactly" 10-minute intervals. The previous diagnosis was a tumor in her pituitary gland, but another specialist nailed it: "Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome."

-- Researcher Patricia Brennan of Yale University told a conference in July that a duck's penis may vary in length from year to year -- depending on their competition that year. Their penises waste away after each mating season and regrow, and Brennan found that they regrow longer if there are other males around. (Female ducks are known to have corkscrew-shaped vaginas, and thus a centimeter or two can make a big difference for success in mating.)

-- What's Weird is That it's Legal: The pharmaceutical company Genentech makes both Lucentis (a $2,000 injection for relieving age-related macular degeneration) and Avastin (an anti-cancer drug that many retina specialists prescribe for age-related macular degeneration because it is just as effective yet costs about $50). Using Avastin instead of Lucentis saves Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars a year, reported The New York Times in November, and, obviously, every dollar's savings is a dollar less income for Genentech. In response in October, the company commenced a lucrative rebate program for physicians, worth tens of thousands of dollars, that apparently passes as legal according to Medicare guidelines, but said one Ohio specialist, "There's no way to look at that without calling it bribery."

-- (1) Cell phones and GPS devices have led national-park visitors to do "stupid" things, confident that they will be saved from themselves, a Grand Teton National Park spokesperson told The New York Times in August -- such as the lost, cold hiker who called rangers to ask for hot chocolate or the visitors flummoxed by cold weather who wanted a personal escort back to their campsite. In August, a party of hikers in Illinois called for (and received) three separate rescues in 24 hours. (2) The Milwaukee teachers' union filed an equal-rights lawsuit in August challenging health-insurance cutbacks by the budget-challenged Milwaukee Public Schools. The union was denouncing the elimination of Viagra as discrimination against men.

-- In November, at a burglary scene near Seneca, S.C., deputies found Noah Smith, 31, naked and apparently drugged, perhaps on hallucinogenic mushrooms, and with a string-like object protruding from his buttocks. Smith was X-rayed, revealing (according to the deputies' report, which made its way to the Internet) that the object in his rectum was a "mouse." However, several days later, the sheriff's office clarified that the object was a "computer mouse." Smith told emergency room personnel that he had no memory of the incident.

-- People who accidentally shot themselves recently: Daniel McDaniels, 31, Sarasota, Fla., "trying to ward off a skunk" (October). Sanford Rothman, 63, Boulder, Colo., while sleepwalking (October). Reserve police officer Kenneth Shannon, 68, Gary, Ind., in the hand while loading his gun (and the bullet went on to hit his partner) (October). Sheriff's Deputy Miguel Rojas, Crestview, Fla., in the leg while firearms training (July). Darrell Elam, 52, Peshastin, Wash., in the buttocks as he holstered his gun (August). A 48-year-old woman, Clover, S.C., in the jaw while trying to kill a rat (September). A 25-year-old man, Juneau, Alaska, in the head after jokingly telling friends that there is "one way" to find out whether a gun is loaded or not (October 2009).

-- Ironies: (1) The man caught in November in Brainerd, Minn., with a computer drive containing 75,000 pornographic videos, including child pornography, was Steven Augustinack, 52, who had one month earlier been named by the Brainerd Jaycees as Citizen of the Year. (2) The man reported to police in Louisville, Ky., in November as "indecent(ly) expos(ed)" sitting in his car at a traffic light, masturbating in view of a woman in the next car, was Charles Lickteig II, 48, who is supervisor of a LaGrange, Ky., correctional facility's sex-offender treatment program.

In July (2005), film director David Lynch announced that he had formed a foundation to raise $7 billion to fund 8,000 Transcendental Meditation practitioners to bring world peace by creating a "unified field" of stress-free brain waves over the Earth (which TM'ers accomplish, as they unironically describe it, by detaching their minds from the "thinking process"). Training expenses have increased dramatically in 12 years, for TM maven Dr. John Hagelin only needed $4.2 million in 1993 to bring 4,000 TM'ers to Washington, D.C., to reduce crime for eight weeks, and TM founder Maharishi Mahesh Yogi asked for only $1 billion in 2002 to train 40,000 meditators to calm the world after Sept. 11.

Britain's National Health Service acknowledged in November that, because of a shortage of healthy lungs and other organs available for transplant, it was offering those on waiting lists the option of receiving them from former smokers, drug addicts, cancer patients and the elderly. "You have to say," said an official with the NHS's Blood and Transplant unit, "do you get a lung with more risk, or do you get no lung (at all)?"

-- French farmer Michele Rouyer, who was discovered by police with about 11 pounds of packaged marijuana and a dozen plants, said the weed was not for himself but for the 150 ducks he raises -- in that a specialist had suggested that marijuana is an effective dewormer and fever-preventer. (Rouyer did acknowledge that, well, yes, maybe he smoked a little of it himself.) In November, a court in Rochefort fined him the equivalent of about $700 -- even though he insisted, proudly, that his ducks are, indeed, worm-free.

-- Lame: (1) Former Groveland, Mass., police officer Aaron Yeo, who was fired in 2009 for sleeping on the job and lying to dispatchers about his locations, challenged the termination in October 2010, claiming through his lawyer that he had declined to reveal his locations only because he was "watching for terrorists." (2) Body armor company CEO David H. Brooks, charged with tax fraud and insider trading, argued at his trial in August in New York City that his company's hiring of prostitutes for staff and board members was a legitimate corporate expense because it could "make (employees) more productive."

-- In recent years frisky Britons have popularized "dogging" -- strangers meeting for outdoor sex in remote public parks -- and U.K. government agencies appear to be of two minds about it. Local councils want to see it stopped, but the police chiefs' association in Scotland recognizes that doggers have rights. (The Surrey County Council, for example, recently considered bringing wild bulls into one park to discourage doggers, although one critic said romping bulls "will probably make (doggers) even more excited." The chiefs' association issued a 60-page "hate crimes" manual in October that urged officers to be sensitive to "outdoor sex" practitioners, in that they are vulnerable to hate crimes just as are other disadvantaged minorities.)

-- In November, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously that some illegal immigrants are entitled to enroll in the state's universities at the in-state residents' rate (saving as much as $23,000 a year) even though U.S. citizens at the same schools may have to pay higher fees as non-California residents. Though federal law prevents special benefits to illegal immigrants, California's law grants anyone who has attended the state's high schools for at least three years, and graduated, to pay resident rates -- irrespective of their parents' legal residency.

-- Chadwick St.-OHarra, 59, and Steve Righetti, 59, filed lawsuits in small claims court in San Rafael, Calif., in November against the Seafood Peddler restaurant for "injuries." Cutting into the escargot at dinner in June, both men were squirted in the face by streams of hot garlic butter. Still, the men finished the meal and admitted that only later did they grow to resent the restaurant staff's insufficient remorse. Said St.-OHarra, "It was the friggin' rudeness" that provoked them to sue.

(1) Joe Druce, serving life in prison in Massachusetts for one murder (and who subsequently murdered fellow inmate and former pedophile priest John Geoghan), popped the question recently to Christian minister Shirl Borden, who agreed to marry him in October after five years of being pen pals. Borden said the pair's relationship turned romantic over their mutual love of NASCAR. (2) Harvey Westmoreland of Lawrenceburg, Ky., maintains that the $250 price he was asking for his tractor was reasonable, but the potential buyer felt cheated and, with a friend, attacked Westmoreland. Said Westmoreland, "(T)hey cut my beard and forced me to eat it." In November, the two men pleaded guilty to assault.

A Website for Everything: When a female New York City subway rider recorded video (on her cell phone) of a male exhibitionist flaunting himself at her recently, and posted it to the Internet, the regulars at one specialized website largely defended the man. Some visitors at DickFlash.com (evidently a favorite hangout for flashers) tore into the woman for being too sensitive. (Wrote one, "If she doesn't want to see it, she can just look away." And another: "She should be thankful he flashed his dick at her.") Others merely offered advice for the flasher on technique. (Wrote another, "OK, lets (sic) point out his mistakes: Subways or local buses must be done with sweats or some form of elastic band so that when u did (sic) get busted it's easy to slip back up.")

(1) Police in Gumperda, Germany, arrested a 64-year-old retired do-it-yourselfer in November after he drilled through a neighbor's wall in their duplex home. The man had spent two days trapped in his own basement, where he had laid bricks and mortar for a room but apparently forgot to leave himself an exit. (2) Sheryl Urzedowski, 38, was cited in September for DUI in Orland Park, Ill., after failing a field sobriety test to walk a straight line. According to the officer's report, Urzedowski put her hands on her hips and strutted to and fro "as if she were a (runway) model," after which, apprehensive about being arrested, she asked the officer to read her "the Amanda rights."

People Who Have Run Over Themselves Recently: (1) A 20-year-old man trying to push his car up a steep hill on Levering Street in Philadelphia lost control and was crushed and hospitalized (September). (2) Jackie Long, 52, crashed her car into a tree in Chipping Campden, England. Her door burst open just as the car went airborne, and she fell to the ground and was run over by the rear driver's-side wheel, requiring hospital treatment (September). (3) A 51-year-old woman was killed in Francis, Okla., by her riding lawnmower. She hit a pothole, was thrown about 14 feet ahead of the still-advancing machine, and could not move out of the way fast enough (September).

-- Jamie Riley, 27, was arrested in November for endangering her 3-month-old son by holding him "like a football," according to police, who had spotted Riley carrying on raucously while "celebrating" her recent "victory" over the state's Department of Children and Family Services, which had been investigating her for neglect.

-- Wrong Place, Wrong Time: In September, a tractor-trailer crashed on Interstate 70 near Terre Haute, Ind., and precipitated a traffic jam when the cargo caught fire. The truck was hauling a load of fire extinguishers. And in October in Macomb Township, Mich., a 22-year-old man was killed when he accidentally ran into the path of a passing hearse.

Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre made News of the Weird in 2004 and 2007 because of continued petty territorial fighting among the six Christian denominations that share management of the church, which is home to some of Christianity's holiest sites, including that of Jesus' resurrection. As Easter approached in 2007, three of the groups that control one 10-stall rest room could not agree how to divide responsibility for repairing it, leading to inaction and a pervasive stench in the building. Furthermore, the path of the outflow sewage pipe (which needed enlarging) passes under property of a fourth denomination, which has resisted helping with the problem unless it is granted exclusive control of one of the 10 stalls.

The collapse of the economy in 2008 might have reached the far corners of Earth, but evidently not to Planet Calypso, the make-believe asteroid containing make-believe real estate in the multiplayer online game Entropia Universe, where resort entrepreneur Jon Jacobs recently cashed out his properties for $635,000 -- in real (not make-believe) U.S. dollars. Since Jacobs' original 2005 investment was $100,000 (a record at that time), he thus has earned an average 35 percent annual return. As players landed on Jacobs' properties, to hunt or to mine precious substances, they paid fees, and Jacobs' buyers are obviously optimistic they can maintain that income stream. A recent study by the marketing firm In-Stat estimated that online players will spend $7 billion in 2010 on make-believe property and goods.

-- In September, the U.K.'s coalition government announced the imminent consolidation of anti-discrimination laws known as the Equality Act -- despite critics' warnings that it could stunt economic growth by tying up the workplace in a morass of lawsuits in which workers could sue for almost any perceived offense. Under the new concept of "third-party harassment," for example, an employee who merely overhears another person -- even a customer of his employer -- say something he finds offensive could sue the employer. Critics also complained that the law adds to the traditional group of specially protected, oppressed people the minorities vegans, teetotalers, Gypsies and "travelers" (grifters).

-- In October, Freddie Mac (the government-sponsored but privately owned home mortgage financier -- whose massive debts have been assumed in a federal "bailout" administered by the Treasury Department) filed a claim in Tax Court against the Internal Revenue Service, denying IRS's claim that it owes $3 billion in back taxes from 1998-2005. Should taxpayers care? If Freddie Mac wins, IRS (which is also housed in the Treasury Department) loses out on the $3 billion in alleged back taxes. If IRS wins, it gets its $3 billion, which will undoubtedly be paid with taxpayer bailout money. Lawyers for both sides seem to think that pursuing the lawsuit is important.

-- In November, patrons using rest rooms at City Hall in Chandler, Ariz., were stunned to see wall signs warning users not to drink out of the urinals and toilets. (Actually, as officials explained, the environmentally friendly facilities flush with "reused" water -- from the building's cooling system -- which must normally be colorized to discourage inadvertent drinking, and if it is not so harshly colored, must, by regulation, be accompanied by warning signs.)

-- After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, Congress underwrote $7.9 billion in tax-free bonds that Louisiana could sell in order to rehabilitate the area. According to an August status report in Newsweek, $5.9 billion in bonds have been sold by the state, but only $55 million of that (1 percent) is for projects inside New Orleans (and none in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward). By contrast, $1.7 billion (about 29 percent) is going to projects that benefit the state's oil industry.

-- One of New York City's (midtown Manhattan's) favorite meet-up spots, according to an October report in The New York Times, is Colombian artist Fernando Botero's 12-foot-tall "Adam" statue at Time Warner Center. However, since Adam is nude and the statue is so pedestrian-friendly, maintaining it has become a problem, according to the center's general manager. As the Times described it, "Most of Adam is deep dark brown," but the easily-accessible penis "is worn golden from extensive handling." (The Times also noted that "(a)t the Botero" is a less-popular meet-up suggestion than "(u)nderneath the penis.")

-- Artist Noam Braslavsky's life-size sculpture honoring the great Israeli army general and prime minister Ariel Sharon went on display in Tel Aviv in October. However, Braslavsky chose to depict Sharon (who he said is "kind of an open nerve in Israeli society") not in battle nor as a international statesman -- but in his hospital bed, where he has been confined, in a medically induced coma, since suffering a massive stroke in January 2006.

-- Sheriff's deputies in Manatee County, Fla., arrested two men in October after a traffic stop when, following a thorough search of the car's trunk, they found marijuana. In fact, the search of the messy trunk was so thorough that they also turned up a bong, which driver Mark Fiasco said he had lost and been looking for for seven years.

-- Responding to a domestic-dispute call at the I-77 Motor Inn in Fairplain, W.Va., in October, sheriff's deputies encountered Melissa Williams naked from the waist down and holding a knife. Two men in the room (one, her estranged husband) said Williams had threatened them. "(S)omebody," she reportedly said, "is going to eat my (vulgar anatomical reference) or I'm going to cut your (expletive) throat." The sheriff's report also noted that one of the men approached Williams to comply but was repelled by Williams' "horrible vaginal odor." In November, Williams was sentenced to 90 days in jail.

-- Irresistible: In September, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing appointed Ralph Godbee police chief -- a job he had held on an interim basis for several months. Godbee had ascended to the job when Warren Evans was fired for, among other things, having an affair with a subordinate, Lt. Monique Patterson. Before turning to Evans, Patterson had had an affair with Godbee, also.

(1) "Service" Animals: In July, Wayne Short's iguana was certified by the National Service Animal Registry and thus allowed to attend to him on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Md., where she had previously been barred. Mayor Rick Meehan, eyeing the NSAR card, asked Short what sort of "service" Hillary provided, but Short declined to answer. (2) Wandering Kids: In October, firefighters were once again called to a claw-toy vending machine to extract a boy who had crawled up the toy-release chute -- this time at a Walmart in Sun Prairie, Wis. As is often the case, the boy appeared to be joyously in his element among the toys and not immediately receptive to coaxing from firefighters or his parents.

When law enforcement officials staged a "Safe Surrender" program in Franklin, N.J., in November (inviting fugitives to give up in exchange for lighter punishment), 3,900 came in over four days, but it turned out that 550 of them were not wanted on any warrant. Said a parole officer, "For some people, this seemed to be a way to check." A few days later, in Wayne, N.J., hospital pharmacy manager Leonardo Zoppa, 34, was summoned to a meeting with the hospital's security director but arrived noticeably nervous, inquired about the agenda, and eventually volunteered that it was he who had set up that secret surveillance camera in a men's rest room -- and that he has "a problem." The security director said he was taken aback because the only purpose of the meeting was to advise Zoppa of routine security code changes.

Dave "The Dragon" Lockwood and his tournament-tested sons Max, 16, Jon, 13, and Ben, 10, of Silver Spring, Md., might become to competitive tiddlywinks what the Manning family of quarterbacks is to football, according to a January (2006) Washington Post story. Dave was previously ranked No. 1 in the English Tiddlywinks Association (and is currently No. 8, with Max No. 52). "Tiddlywinks doesn't sound very serious," said Max, but "(t)here's so much strategy." (For the uninformed: You mash a "squidger" down on a "wink" to propel it either into the "pot" or to "squop" it onto an opponent's wink to temporarily disable it.) Dave said he plans to get Britain's Prince Philip, a winker, to suggest tiddlywinks as a demonstration "sport" at London's 2012 Summer Olympics.