Funeral directors in Germany are bidding for the pink pound - by launching coffins specially designed for gay customers.
The caskets feature homoerotic artwork on the outside and come with a series of tastefully luxurious plush designer interiors, say makers Mike Konigsfeld and Tom Brandl in Cologne, Germany. The designers - who have lived together for more than 10 years - say the images of muscular young men in classical poses are the perfect way to send off a loved one.
"Naturally there were some people who threw their hands up in horror when we had them on display in the window but they are tasteful and beautiful - like our customers," explained Mike.
"People are cutting back in the recession but the one group of consumers who still have high spending power are gay couples and very few people are designing for them in this market," he added.
Robbery usually isn't a laughing matter, but for one woman in Ohio, it eventually did become one after a man wearing a clown mask tried to mug her. "This character in a clown mask threw open my bathroom door. I was on the commode, so it was kind of a surprise." Seventy-year-old Jacqueline Cutright says she lost $28, about $1,000 worth of costume jewelry, and her Ford Escort after a guy wearing this mask broke into her Akron home early on Saturday morning. The one thing he did not rob her of was her sense of humour.
"Wanted to know where all my drugs and money were, and I said, 'Boy, did you break into the wrong house,'" says Cutright. Police say the man behind the mask waving a knife was 22-year-old Cory Buckley of Akron. He got in through this basement window, ransacked the house and found Jacqueline's prescription medications. "I said this is my blood pressure medicine. You want some of that? No. I said this is medicine to help me sleep. You want something to help you sleep? He said no, he wanted Oxycontin and money," Cutright says.
Jacqueline says she thought Buckley was going to take a little silver bracelet a friend had given her, but he gave it back. That's when she knew he meant her no harm. "The bracelet said 'A mother holds her children's hands for a while but their hearts forever,' which I think is lovely, and when he read that, he gave it back to me. That's when I thought, 'This man's not going to hurt me.'" After two hours of tearing the house apart, Buckley took off in Jacqueline's car.
According to a police report, he only made it to the end of the street. As police raced toward him, Buckley rolled the car twice, crawled out the window and made a full confession, right after his knife dropped from his pants pocket onto the pavement in front of the arresting officer's feet. After all that, Jacqueline's wondering if she could have taken him herself. "I thought about doing ninja stuff to him, but I thought no he's faster than I am so, I more or less just sat there on the lid," says Cutright.
A woman may have incriminated herself after giving a slurred interview to a TV news crew after crashing into the back of a school bus.
Denise Crull was interviewed late last week after she rear-ended a bus full of children on Roger Williams Boulevard in Orlando.
"Well, I was behind the bus ... and I accidentally hit the, um, instead of hitting the brake, I hit the, um ... gas pedal," Crull said.
Fortunately no children were hurt in the crash but Crull's car received serious damage to its front end. Police arrested her and charged her with driving under the influence.
A Florida woman who claimed to have mistakenly sent a photo of her private parts to men she was chatting with on the Internet was arrested last week and charged with battery for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend after he discovered her online activities.
According to an Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office report, while Kizzy Campbell was away from the home they share, Johnny Lowe came across some 'very provocative' chat messages between his girlfriend and ''other dudes'' on their computer.
Checking more closely, Lowe, 28, discovered that Campbell, 31, 'had taken a photo of her vagina and sent it out.' When she returned home, 'Campbell 'started tripping' because she 'hadn't meant' to send out the photo.' Lowe, who told a sheriff's deputy that he believed her claim that the image was sent out mistakenly, then gave Campbell a hug because 'he was simply trying to be understanding.'
But his empathetic gesture did not end her 'tripping' and she responded by biting, scratching, and cutting his arm with a kitchen knife (during the brawl that ensued, Lowe hit Campbell in the mouth). The pair, who have lived together for seven years, were both charged with battery and taken to jail where they posed for the mug shots at left.
A woman walks into a tattoo parlor and asks the tattoo artist, "Do you do custom work?"
"Why of course," says the tattoo artist!
"Good," she says. "I'd like a portrait of Robert Redford on the inside of my right thigh, and a portrait of Paul Newman on the inside of my left thigh. And I want them both looking at my tootie."
"No problem," says the artist. "Strip from the waist down and get up on the table." After two hours of hard work, the artist finishes. The woman sits up and examines the tattoos. "That doesn't look like them," she complains loudly!
"Oh yes it does," the artist says indignantly, "and I can prove it." With that, he runs out of the shop and grabs the first man off the street he can find; it happens to be the town drunk. "Well, what do you think," the woman asks, spreading her legs apart for the drunk man? "Do you know who these men are?"
The drunks studies the tattoos for a couple of seconds and says, "I'm not sure who the guys on either side are, but the fellow in the middle is definitely Willie Nelson!"
A herd of sheep being led to slaughter in Turkey have instead ended their lives by leaping off a cliff.
Herder Mejmet Gana was guiding his 52 sheep across a mountain range when suddenly one of the sheep turned to the edge of a cliff and jumped, quickly followed by the rest.
The sheep were being taken to a local market where they were going to be sold for for the upcoming Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday that involves animal sacrifice. The sheep carcasses were found at the bottom of the cliff.
But it's not the first time the European country has witnessed an unprovoked mass sheep suicide. In 2005, 1500 sheep jumped off a cliff in Turkey. The first 450 were killed, but the rest survived by landing on the dead bodies of the herd below.
A Goth was window shopping with his girlfriend when she spotted a beautiful diamond ring in a jewelry store window. "Wow, I'd sure love to have that!" she said.
"No problem, babe," he said, throwing a brick through the glass and grabbing the ring. A few blocks later, she admired a black leather jacket in another shop window.
"What I'd give to own that!" she said.
"Sure thing, honey," he said, throwing another brick through the window and snatching the coat. Soon they passed a Mercedes dealership.
"I'd do anything for one of those!" she said, pointing to a convertible.
"Damn it, baby!" cried the Goth. "Do you think I'm made of bricks?!"
