cycle 081218

Usually when the wife lowers her head to hubby's precious jewels, it's a cause for rejoicing, but not when she only wants to sniff his stuff to see if he's been out messin' around. TCPalm.com (Stuart, Fla.)

Imagine the shock at the funeral of Wang Diange, when his body just up and exploded (creating a change in his "cause of death" from "lightning strike" to "accidental bodily reception of a weather-busting silver iodide rocket"). Daily Telegraph (London)

Asian-like behavior in Ottawa: a man and woman making 10,000 vengeance calls to 911 because of anger over the gov't's handling of a child custody case. New York Times

In a suburb of Des Moines, Iowa, this month, highly-seasoned streets (not de-icing salt, but de-icing garlic salt!). Associated Press via Yahoo

A guilty plea to violation of U.S. anti-gambling law, by another member of that fabulous family from India, the Dikshits. Associated Press via New York Times

In absolute numbers, the equivalent of six percent of the entire population of the U.S. lives in caves in China (20m people), but a lot of them are quite comfy (electricity, plumbing, cable TV, no interest-rate-resetting mortgages). McClatchy Newspapers

Today's Newsrangers: Steve Dunn, Keith Donovan, Bruce Alter, Sandy Pearlman, Philip Urban, Kathryn Wood, Emmitt Dove, Mindy Cohen, Stephen Taylor