Man changes his name to KentuckyFriedCruelty.com

Chris Garnett, 19, says his new name "never fails to spark a discussion." His parents have been supportive since he went vegan at age 15, but they were shocked at first when he changed his name; they still call him Chris. (NBC5.com)

Burglar dangles for two hours after getting stuck in air vent

"The guy was basically goofy," says a cop. "He was like Santa Claus stuck in the chimney." (News-Leader)

Woman: "I saw an eyeball looking at me, and I freaked out"

Here's more on the vegan who received a skinned goat's head in a gift-wrapped package. "I've been asking all my friends, and I don't know anybody who would do something like this," says the head recipent. "My friends would all know that I take being a vegan seriously and wouldn't find it funny." (Daily Southtown)
> This mystery package contained kitty litter and feces

Michigan man bowls 300 game, then dies

"If he could have written a way to go out, this would be it,'' said Johnny D Masters, who was bowling with Ed Lorenz when the 69-year-old man died at Airway Lanes. (Kalamazoo Gazette)

Horse-sex story was Seattle newspaper's most-clicked story

No surprise, of course. (Here's the Seattle Times story from last July.) Columnist Danny Westnest writes: "A case can be made that the articles on horse sex are the most widely read material this paper has published in its 109-year history. I don't know whether to ignore this alarming factoid or to embrace it."

Japan's troubling trend: Young people who refuse to work

The Japanese government calls its slackers NEET, or "not in education, employment or training." The slacker phenomenon has shocked Japan because the nation considers its highly trained, hard-working labor force to be its most valuable resource. As a result, the NEET issue has set the nation abuzz. (Wall Street Journal)

Unusual house to be demolished after judge rules it dangerous

The late-1880s-era house, which owner Vladmir Deriugin dreamed of encasing in concrete and using as the core for a 500-foot office and condominium tower, will be torn down within the next couple of months. "I’m not going to get my cost out of it,” he says. Deriugin, 52, estimates he’s invested $2 million worth of time in “research and development” over the years. The legal battles with the city have “drained me dry,” he says. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Car nearly hits customer shopping inside a Kwik Mart store

If that wasn't enough excitement for one week for the convenience store, Dec. 21 brought Kwik Trip another car and driver gone awry. A 15-year-old boy with a temporary license drove through the store's front door. He told police he was attempting to apply the brakes of his 1999 Ford Taurus while parking in a stall. The boy said his foot slipped off the brake pedal, causing the car to careen into the store (Lake Country Reporter)

Teacher standing naked in the snow claims he's Jesus Christ

When Curtis Lofton was asked if he was okay, he responded, "No, I am ... crazy, and I need a menthol cigarette." Lofton is accused of hitting a police officer over the head with a long plastic toy trumpet. The officer used his pepper spray on Lofton, at first to no avail. Then a cursing Lofton advised the officer that "'Jesus' is now blind." (Patriot-News)

Winner of MTV's Miss Seventeen contest says it's all "like a fairy tale"

Jennifer Steele is so happy that her family name will finally make news for something good. Her father, Daniel V. Steele, 42, is in prison for his role in supplying a lethal dose of methadone to an 18-year old woman in 2003, while her mother, Jacqueline A. Steele, 44, is a repeatedly convicted drunken driver with a long criminal record. (Janesville, Wis. Gazette)