NEWS OF THE WEIRD

Improbably successful pick-up line

In September, school officials in Australia's Queensland state said they were investigating an incident earlier in the year in which two teenagers had consensual sex that they recorded on a cell phone camera. The girl reportedly said she was convinced to lose her virginity out of fear that the world would soon end as a result of the scheduled restart of the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, later this year.

Compelling explanations

Police in Deer Lake, Newfoundland, decided in August not to press charges against three boys whom they had previously believed had harassed a young moose so badly that it had to be put down. A final piece of evidence against prosecution came from the father of one of the boys, who vouched that the three could not have committed such a crime since they had been busy at the time, vandalizing a nearby church.

Not my fault

. A 60-year-old highway worker was injured when struck by motorist Catherine Stotts, 62, who was speeding down a blocked-off road construction lane near Willits, Calif., in July. The worker required hospitalization, but Ms. Stotts complained about receiving a traffic citation, telling officers that the man could have jumped out of the way faster.

. Alexander Kabelis, 31, was arrested for slashing tires on almost 50 vehicles in Boulder, Colo., in May, but offered several explanations, including being overwhelmed by radiation from the nearby Rocky Flats nuclear facility and having been forced by his mother to wear braces on his teeth as a child.

What century is this?

During the recent influence-peddling trial against Ottawa, Ontario, Mayor Larry O'Brien, local politician Lisa MacLeod, 34, gave seemingly important evidence for the prosecution. However, it was ruled of minimal value by Ontario Superior Court Justice Douglas Cunningham. The judge, 69, reasoned that since Ms. MacLeod, as a working woman with a long commute that leaves a husband and 4-year-old daughter at home, has "a number of rather significant things going on in her life" and must therefore be "distract(ed)" and thus a less reliable witness. One member of Parliament called Judge Cunningham's ruling "pathetic."

Undesirable medical specialty

Athena Sidlar, 28, was fired in August from her trainee job at the Allentown (Pa.) State Hospital after being accused of helping a mental patient swallow metal objects. Belatedly, hospital personnel discovered that Ms. Sidlar, herself, has a history of compulsive metalswallowing.

To fight sin, one must know sin

In April, the Arizona State Parks Board unanimously chose Renee Bahl, thought to be a dynamic, experienced professional, to be director of state parks. However, her employment record while an assistant parks director in California in 2001 included an incident in which she was disciplined for etching "Renee 2001" into the wall of one of the parks' historic adobe barns.

The continuing crisis

Two motorists inadvertently wound up in backyard swimming pools recently: In July, flat-bed truck driver Nicholas Sparks, 25, hauling two motorcycles and towing two trucks, learned that he could not also handle talking on one cell phone while texting on another and accidentally crashed into a house in Lockport, N.Y., ending up with his truck and part of his cargo submerged. And in Mesa, Ariz., in June, a 27-year-old man who had rigged a short sword to his steering wheel (aimed at his chest) and driven into a brick wall in an effort to kill himself, failed in the attempt when an airbag inflated, causing him to lose control of the car, swerve into a nearby home and plunge into the pool.

Things you thought didn't happen

. Several state law enforcement agencies raided a home in Shelton, Conn., in July, breaking up an alleged canary-fighting operation. (A neighbor called the raid "crazy": "I can't picture little canaries with razor blades taped to their feet.")

. Convenience-store developer Michael Sesera might have thought he was merely following New Jersey protocol when he offered Hanover Mayor Ronald Francioli $20,000 to intercede for him with zoning authorities (i.e., a bribe). However, Mayor Francioli actually called the police, and in August Mr. Sesera pleaded guilty.

People with issues

Three physicians, reporting in The Canadian Journal of Urology in July, described how they handled an emergency room patient who arrived with a ballpoint pen in his urethra. The man, 57, had assumed that the insertion would be pleasurable, and when it wasn't, thought initially that maybe the pen was not in far enough. After pushing further, to even greater discomfort, he thought that if he pushed it all the way through, it would exit in his rectum, where he could remove it more easily. (Actually, they're not connected.) Doctors removed the pen with the same procedure used to remove kidney stones