Dr. Oliver Di Pietro of Bay Harbor Islands, Fla., is a leading prescriber of the "K-E diet" that offers desperate people drastic short-term weight loss by threading a feeding tube through the nose to the stomach and dripping in a protein-fat solution, as clients' only "meals," for 10 straight days. "Within a few hours," Dr. Di Pietro told ABC's "Good Morning America" in April, "your hunger and appetite go away completely." Fat is burned through "ketosis," he said, and a loss of 10 to 20 pounds in 10 days is possible. Such short-term loss might be important, for example, for a woman prepping for her wedding day. One client said she doesn't have "all of the time on the planet" just to exercise, "so I came to the doctor." [Good Morning America via Yahoo News, 4-16-2012]

-- The late Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha was a Capitol Hill powerhouse, and among his legacies is the federally funded airport in his district that largely served him and the local companies heading to Washington, D.C., to lobby for government contracts. (By contrast, the Pittsburgh airport is nearly 60 miles away.) Murtha died in 2010, but the airport (which cost $150 million in earmarked funds to build, upgrade and maintain) still, according to an April Yahoo News dispatch, handles only three flights a day, all from Washington, D.C., and about $100 of every passenger's ticket is subsidized by the federal government. [Yahoo News, 4-3-2012]

-- Officials in Burnsville, Minn., have brought the full force of the law to bear upon Mitch Faber (who was arrested, forced to pay a high bail, and released under electronic monitoring and only on condition of drug testing), whom they have charged with the crime of not putting proper siding on his house. According to a March report on KSTP-TV, Faber said he started re-siding, but when the economy turned bad in 2008, he stopped, assuming that the worst he could eventually suffer would be a fine. [KSTP-TV (St. Paul), 3-23-2012]

-- There are big plans in the city of Chiang Rai, Thailand, for a massive Buddhist temple that priests aim to make one of the most beautiful structures in the world, and have entrusted artist Chalermchai Kositpipat to design it in all-white with glittering glass and arrangements of "rich symbolism derived from Buddhist and Hindu traditions." If Kositpipat has his way, according to an April Huffington Post dispatch, the temple will also have images of Superman, Batman and (from the movie "The Matrix") Neo -- all of which, Kositpipat said, further Lord Buddha's "message." [Huffington Post, 4-26-2012]

-- Architect Sou Fujimoto recently unveiled his public restroom (for women only, though) whose one transparency-enclosed toilet sits in a 2,160-square-foot private garden of cherry, plum and peach trees. The 6-foot-high-walled park is located beside a railway station in Ichihara City, east of Tokyo. Japan is a world leader in fanciful toilets, and Fujimoto said he thought the scenery would enhance the user's "feeling of release." [Japan Broadcasting Corporation via CNET News, 4-14-2012]

Kelly Ervin, 48, was arrested in Salisbury, Md., in April and charged with littering "under 100 pounds." According to police, Ervin routinely goes for a run every morning at 4 o'clock, and just as routinely, has a bowel movement after about two miles. Most days, that puts him in a certain neighborhood, whose residents have been complaining. When questioned, according to a Salisbury Daily Times reporter, Ervin basically shrugged and said he thought many distance runners do the same thing. [Salisbury Daily Times, 4-19-2012]

-- In March, Jose Romero-Valenzuela, 34, in a hurry to get to the courthouse in Oregon City, Ore., for a hearing on drug charges, managed to pick up three speeding tickets on Interstate 84, one right after the other within the space of an hour. A sheriff's deputy and two different state troopers charged him with speeds in excess of 92 mph. (Another trooper, specifically monitoring Romero-Valenzuela after the third stop, reported that, finally, he obeyed the speed limit.) [The Oregonian, 3-8-2012]

-- William Todd arrived in Nashville, Tenn., on April 9 via Greyhound bus and faced a nine-hour layover. According to police, Todd committed at least 11 felonies during that time, one after another, with more charges still possible. Among Todd's alleged diversions: shooting up a restaurant, setting it on fire, robbing four people at a bar, carjacking, breaking into a law office and defecating on a desk, trolling hotel rooms seeking theft opportunities, and stealing a taxicab and robbing the driver. Said a police sergeant, "I've never seen anything like this before." He was finally captured at Opryland, where he had hidden by submerging himself in water up to his nose. [WSMV-TV (Nashville), 4-9-2012]

-- Suspicions Confirmed: In March, WTNH-TV in New Haven, Conn., obtained an "internal" police memorandum referencing a challenge from state troopers in one barracks to "outperform" colleagues in another barracks -- in writing traffic tickets. The memo, from Lt. Anthony Schirillo, refers to the need "to issue at least 60 infractions/misdemeanors each shift." "One day Troop F issued 301 tickets. Troop G responded by issuing 345 ... We can do better." "I am asking that everyone, myself included, contribute to this effort." "Note: If we happen to issue 350 tickets in one day that would be stellar." (The station spoke to Lt. Paul Vance of the Connecticut state police, who denied that quotas are given.) [WTNH-TV, 3-29-2012]

-- Crime Does/Doesn't Pay: Convicted embezzler Antoinette Galluzzo, who admitted stealing more than $50,000 from a city youth agency in Englewood, N.J., was ordered in April to pay "restitution," but the amount Judge Eugene Austin settled on was $10 a month -- and only during the period of probation (three years). On the other hand, in federal court in New York City in April, Kerry Haggard, 47, was sent to prison for 6 1/2 years on one count of selling fake movie lobby posters. [Associated Press via NJ.com, 4-12-2012] [Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald, 4-10-2012]

Didn't Think It Through: (1) Eric King, 21, was leaving a store in Eagan, Minn., in February when a police officer in the parking lot noticed his pronounced waddle. King was arrested when the officer found a shoplifted 19-inch television set down his pants. (2) In March, a 34-year-old Lithuanian-born man led police in Wiltshire, England, in a nighttime foot chase after he had aroused their suspicion. Thermal imaging equipment was used from a helicopter to spot the man in the darkness. He was arrested "hiding" face-down in a manure pit. (Though he originally fled, there was little evidence against him, and he was released.) [KSTP- TV (St. Paul), 2-24-2012] [BBC News, 3-30-2012]

"Weekend at Bernie's" -- and More: Thomas Parkin inherited real estate from his elderly mother before she died, but quickly lost it in a risky business venture. To get the deed back, according to New York City prosecutors, he concocted a scheme to pretend that Mom was still alive (it would actually be Thomas in a dress) and still owned the land (and thus that the current deedholder was a fraud). Lawyers arranged a meeting with "Mother" (conducted in a darkened room because of Mom's "recent cataract surgery"), at which she mostly remained silent. Parkin improbably stayed in character, according to a trial dispatch on the Daily Beast, and jurors apparently kept straight faces as Parkin testified that recent "communications" between him and his mother were "mostly one-sided." In May, Parkin was convicted on 11 counts, and at press time, he was awaiting sentencing. [Daily Beast, 4-29-2012]

In April, a woman in Switzerland identified as "Anna Gut," in her early 50s, starved to death after trying to prove that she could survive by "consuming" only sunlight, just as had happened to several others before her. An earlier practitioner, Australian Ellen Greve, died in 1999 at age 54 following a short career promoting "breatharianism," subtitled in her books and public lectures, "Liberation from the drudgery of food and drink." None of the ones who have made similar claims and survived have submitted to 24/7 monitoring. [The Local (Stockholm), 4-25-2012]

Thanks This Week to Roy Henock, Susan Quinn, and Sandy Pearlman and to the News of the Weird Board of Editorial Advisors.

Britain's ITV1 television network announced plans in April to accept "prop placements" to blend into production of its new reality talent show in which actors compete for the lead role in the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar." The network said, for example, that it was seeking coffee machines, which piqued the interest of the De'Longhi brand manager, who offered its top-of-the-line Magnifica ESAM4200 and, according to its public relations firm, suggested perhaps interrupting the play's climactic song "The Crucifixion" while Jesus savors a cup brewed from the Magnifica. An April report in London's The Independent noted that the opera's composer, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, was on board with the idea, but that the original lyricist, Sir Tim Rice, called it "tasteless" and "tacky." [The Independent, 4-10-2012]

NOTE: From time to time, News of the Weird reminds readers that bizarre human adventures repeat themselves again and again. Here are some choice selections of previous themes recently coming around again (plus a couple of updates on earlier stories):

-- Each spring in Dongyang, China, the aroma of urine is in the air -- specifically, the town's specialty of eggs boiled in the discharge of young boys (under age 10, typically gathered "fresh" from toilets at local schools). Townspeople have believed for centuries that the eggs, properly cooked, bring health and prosperity. "By eating these eggs," one shopper told a Reuters reporter in March, "we will not have any pain in our waists, legs and joints. Also, you will have more energy when you work." In fact, Dongyang officials have proudly proclaimed "virgin boy eggs" as an "intangible cultural heritage." [Reuters, 3-29-2012]

-- And once again this spring, the Chinese marked the Qingming holiday with celebrations honoring the dead by making offerings to their deceased relatives. At the "tomb-sweeping" festival, people present paper replicas of items their ancestors are believed to need in the afterlife. Uncreative relatives give play money, but the offerings can be elaborate, such as shoes, cars and TV sets, or this year's hot item -- paper iPads, which were selling in Hong Kong for the equivalent of about $3. [The Register (London), 3-29-2012]

-- Sound Familiar? McDonald's still proudly serves its coffee hot, notwithstanding the notorious 1992 lawsuit for burns suffered by Stella Liebeck. In March 2012, Mona Abdelal filed a lawsuit in Cook County, Ill., over severe burns that her granddaughter, 4, suffered when fetching Abdelal's coffee order from a McDonald's server. According to the lawsuit, the server violated company policy that requires tightly closed lids on coffee cups and prohibits handing the cups to young children even if they are tightly sealed. [Chicago Tribune, 3-23-2012]

-- With Afghanistan's moralistic Taliban in retreat, one social scourge grows stronger than ever (according to an April Washington Post dispatch from Dehrazi): "bacha bazi," which are Afghan men's "dancing boys." Underage, often poor or fatherless kids become willing "companions" of wealthy men, often for sex. Since young girls are sheltered and chaperoned, only boys are available. Said one man, "You cannot (even) take a wife with you to a party, but a boy you can take anywhere." The usefulness of a bacha bazi typically ends when he starts growing facial hair, and the boys often drift into becoming pimps or prostitutes. [Washington Post, 4-4-2012]

-- The most recent government employee to defraud his agency's worker compensation program (according to prosecutors in Los Angeles) is firefighter Rafael Davis, 35, who received disability payments for about 30 months during 2008-2011 while at the same time engaging in mixed martial arts matches as "The Noodle." Davis' record (according to LA Weekly) was 12-2, with seven of those matches coming during his disability period, including six victories. "MMA" (as noted by the newspaper) requires similar "stamina, muscle and coordination" as is required for firefighting. [LA Weekly, 4-10-2012]

-- More and more newspapers are assigning reporters to pore through local birth records to sample the diversity of names parents are giving their kids these days. An Edmonton Journal reporter noted in March that the nearly 51,000 babies born in the province of Alberta in 2011 included a boy named Moo, two girls named Unique, an Einstein, a Messiah, a J-Cub, a Smiley, a Tuff, a Tuba, a Jazz, a Camry, an Andromeda and an Xxavier (sic), and a boy named R and a girl named J. [Edmonton Journal, 3-6-2012]

-- An increasingly mainstream treatment for the gastrointestinal bacterial infection C. difficile involves transplanting the contents of a healthy colon into the unhealthy one, on the belief that the best way to kill the destructive germs and flora is to attack them with the beneficial bacteria and flora that already reside in a healthy colon. In March an unidentified man in Sydney, New Brunswick, who had been turned down for a transplant by doctors at Cape Breton Regional Hospital, performed a risky transplant of an unreported substance, by himself, in his own bathroom. He apparently suffered no ill effects, but doctors told the Chronicle Herald of Halifax, Nova Scotia, that since the "product" must get into the large bowel, merely giving yourself an enema does not assure success. [Chronicle Herald, 4-3-2012]

-- Through the years, unusual highway tractor-trailer spills have fascinated News of the Weird readers -- such as the time a truck carrying pork collided with a truck carrying eggs, creating a highway dish of ham and eggs. In March on Highway 11 in northeastern Ontario, a Brinks tractor-trailer carrying nothing but $1 and $2 Canadian coins hit a boulder in the roadway, scattering a "debris field" of millions of dollars, forcing the closing of the road. Among the cleanup equipment required: a "magnetic" crane and a front-end loader that scooped up most of the soil in the field so that the coins could later be sifted out. [Canadian Broadcasting Corp. News, 3-28-2012]

-- Least Competent Criminals: (1) In Twin Falls, Idaho, in April, Dylan Contreras, 19, became the most recent person arrested while trying to avoid police by giving a fake name ("Velesco") even though his real name (the one on outstanding warrants) was tattooed in plain sight on his forearm. (2) In April, a teller at Chicago's Northwest Side bank became the most recent to thwart a robbery simply by telling the perp (who had presented a holdup note) that the bank is now closed and suggesting that the robber come back the next day. (The perp walked out and did not return.) [Twin Falls Times-News, 4-4-2012] [Chicago Tribune, 4-4-2012]

-- Fine Points of the Law: A woman who was injured while traveling on business in November 2007 in New South Wales, Australia, was denied worker's compensation by the workplace safety tribunal on the grounds that the injury occurred in her motel room while she was having sex with a friend. (A wall light fixture came loose as a result of the pair's vigorous antics.) However, in April 2012, Australia's Federal Court overturned the decision and granted the compensation, ruling that since the woman was on assignment at the time, the overnight stay, and even the sex, were "ordinary incidents" of the situation her employer placed her in. [Sydney Morning Herald, 4-19-2012]

-- A New York City system-gaming public school teacher, Alan Rosenfeld, 66, continues to show up for make-work (such as photocopying "duty"), at a salary of $100,000 a year, rather than retire. Rosenfeld was accused in 2001 of making lewd comments to female students in his typing class and removed from classroom duty, but he protested and continues to exercise his union "due process" rights. In a January status report, the New York Post noted that Rosenfeld could have retired four years ago, but that by remaining on the "job," the value of his pension increases, and the light duty enables him to conduct his real estate business while at "work." [New York Post, 1-29-2012]

-- Fun for Everyone: The Ahlgrim Family Funeral Services in Palatine, Ill. (first reported in News of the Weird in 1991), continues to serve its community with the unique game room in the basement that it rents out for parties (except during actual funeral events). Even though the arcade games, shuffleboard and billiards are popular, the main basement attraction is still the nine-hole miniature golf course with its own "hazard" rules (e.g., two-stroke penalty for disturbing a "grave" on the course). [Time Out Chicago, 3-27-2012]

Sophisticated automobile technology makes high-performance engines purr in relative silence, but automakers fear that their most demanding drivers are emotionally attached to the engines' roar. Consequently, as Car and Driver reported in April, the 2012 BMW M5, with 560 horsepower tempered with sound deadeners, has installed pre-recorded engine noise, channeled into the car's cabin via the stereo system. A computer program matches the amplitude of the engine's growl to the driver's accelerator-revving. In other automobile tech news, Peugeot technicians announced in March that they were preparing "mood paint" for the body of the company's iconic RCZ model. The paint's molecular structure would be alterable by heat sensors in the steering wheel and elsewhere that measure a driver's stress levels. A calm driver might see his car turn green, for instance -- but watch out for road-rage red! [Car and Driver, April 2012 (not online)] [DieselCarOnline (Leamington Spa, England), 3-31-2012]

-- With only 30,000 hotel rooms in Rio de Janeiro, and 50,000 visitors expected for the June United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, officials persuaded owners of many of the city's short-time "love hotels" (typically renting for four hours at a time) to change business plans for a few days to accommodate the delegates. A BBC News stringer reported that the hotels will remove some special fixtures and furniture, such as "erotic chairs" and velvet wall coverings, but that the large, round beds would stay. Fortunately, the conference does not begin until June 13. The night of June 12 ("Lovers Day") is a big income-producer for short-stay hotels. [BBC News, 4-11-2012]

-- The Marine Wounded Warriors Battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C., generally enjoys excellent support from the community, but in an April report of the Government Accountability Office, Marines complained of a "petting zoo" environment in which civilian charities and advertisers use the battalion to seek out "poster" faces and bodies that "looked the part" of wounded veterans, such as those severely burned or missing limbs. Warriors who suffer post-traumatic stress or brain injuries often appear outwardly "normal" and are likely to be ignored by the support organizations, thus setting a "bad tone" among the wounded. [Washington Post, 4-5-2012]

-- Not Your Classic Perps: (1) In October, Dr. Kimberly Lindsey, 44, a deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control's Laboratory Science, Policy, and Practice Program Office, was charged with two counts of child molestation and bestiality involving a 6-year-old boy. (2) In April, Yaron Segal, 30, a post-doctoral researcher at a physics lab at MIT, was arrested upon arriving in Grand Junction, Colo., after arranging with a woman online to have sex with the woman's underage daughter (an adventure that was the product of a law enforcement sting). (Two weeks later, Segal was found dead in his jail cell of an apparent suicide.) [WSB-TV (Atlanta), 10-11-2011] [KMGH-TV (Denver), 4-17-2012]

-- Oh, Dear!: (1) At a March Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance, the music continued uninterrupted as two patrons engaged in a fistfight over box seating. Conductor Riccardo Muti "never stopped conducting," said a patron. "He very gracefully, without missing a beat -- literally -- he brought (the second movement) to a very quiet and subdued close." (2) It costs $8,500 (plus $3,000 annual dues) to join the ultra-prestigious New York Athletic Club, which counts Olympic champions among its upper-crust members. However, an April brawl in a back room, said to have begun over a woman, saw (according to witnesses) fighting "wolf packs" in a "lion's pit" that resulted in several bloody injuries, with two people sent to the hospital and three arrested. [Chicago Sun-Times, 3-10-2012] [New York Times, 4-24-2012]

(1) Arrested for felony battery in Bloomington, Ind., in April: Ms. Fellony Silas, 30. (2) Announced as eligible for parole in June by the Kansas Prison Review Board: Mr. Wilford Molester Galloway. (3) Arrested for hit-and-run in April in Roseville, Calif.: Mr. Obiwan Kenobi, 37. (4) Arrested on drug and weapons charges in Clarkstown, N.Y., in April, Mr. Genghis Khan. (5) Among the silly town names uncovered in an April report on SmarterTravel.com: Why, Ariz., Whynot, Miss., Hell, Mich., Pig, Ky., Elephant Butte, N.M., Monkeys Eyebrow, Ky., and Embarrass, Minn. The report also found towns in Wales and New Zealand that are 58 and 57 letters long, respectively. [The Smoking Gun, 4-16-2012] [Lawrence Journal-World, 4-9-2012] [KXTV (Sacramento, 4-26-2012] [The Smoking Gun, 5-1-2012] [SmarterTravel.com, 4-5-2012]

-- Following her recent holiday in the United States, in which she passed through Boring, Ore. (pop. 12,000), Scotswoman Elizabeth Leighton returned home to suggest that officials in her hometown of Dull, Scotland, arrange for the two towns to become "sister cities," even though they did not qualify under normal protocols because of Boring's larger size. (The Oregon town was named for a Civil War soldier, William H. Boring.) [BBC News, 4-24-2012]

-- Some villagers in China's Shandong Province who are too poor or isolated to hook up to home heating fuel service have an alternative, according to a March report by China News Center. They take giant, heavy-duty balloons that resemble 15-foot-long condoms and walk to filling stations to inflate them with natural gas every four or five days. The danger of explosion is high, but the balloons remain many villagers' best option. [China News Center (ChinaMedia.com), 3-1-2012]

-- A Better Reason to De-Fund Planned Parenthood: The organization has survived a controversial de-funding campaign over its limited abortion program, but its Washington state chapter, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, began a quixotic safe-sex campaign in February in which thousands of condoms were distributed with scannable barcodes. The plan was that users would automatically register information about their locations during sex, and, if the users chose, other information about the particular sexual experience they just had. Among the choices: "Ah-maz-ing," "Rainbows exploded and mountains trembled," "Things can only improve from here." [New York Daily News, 2-29-2012]

-- At the 10th Arab Shooting Championships in Kuwait in March, as medals were presented and winners' national anthems were played, officials were apparently ill-prepared for medalist Maria Dmitrienko of Kazakhstan. Consequently, her "national anthem" was, inadvertently, the humorous ditty from the movie "Borat." (Instead of such lyrics as "sky of golden sun" and "legend of courage," the audience heard "Greatest country in the world / All other countries are run by little girls" and "Filtration system a marvel to behold / It removes 80 percent of human solid waste.") Dmitrienko reportedly kept a mostly straight face throughout, although Kazakhstan later demanded, and received, an official apology. [Daily Mail (London), 3-23-2012]

-- Clumsy: (1) In March, Germany's celebrity rabbit -- the genetically "earless" bunny Tiny Til -- was accidentally crushed to death in a zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna when a cameraman accidentally stepped on it while setting up for a news conference. (2) In 2011, a photographer snapping pictures for an art magazine moved a 2,630-year-old African sculpture to get a better shot, and accidentally smashed it ("to smithereens," according to the owner, Corice Arman, who filed a $300,000 lawsuit in April 2012 against the photographer and his magazine). [Spiegel Online via New York Daily News, 3-16-2012] [New York Post, 4-26-2012]

Lawrence Cobbold, 38, has a house in Plympton, England, but has to make living arrangements at his parents' home or elsewhere because his place is totally taken over by his 21,000-item collection of bird ornaments and doodads. Before heading off to sleep elsewhere, he spends an average of four hours a day tidying up the collection. His dad (who described his other son as "completely normal") said, "I just hope I die before (Lawrence). I don't want to (have to) clear all this out." [Plymouth Herald, 4-5-2012]

Questionable Strategy: Robert Strank, 39, was arrested in Beavercreek, Ohio, in April and charged with trying to rob the Huntington Bank. According to police, he had approached the bank's counter but become ill and asked a teller to call 911 to summon medics. There were conflicting news reports about when medics arrived to treat Strank, but there was agreement that Strank recovered and subsequently presented the same teller his pre-written holdup note demanding cash. He was arrested in short order. [WDTN-TV (Dayton), 4-20-2012; WHIO-TV (Dayton), 4-23-2012]