Complaints by activists started a two-month government investigation into whether or not Canterbury does enough to promote homosexual culture. The "sufficiently gay" seal of approval came after 60 days and a cost of thousands of pounds. The town council proved its gay friendliness by giving details of "touring plays and musicals, for example, which would be of interest to the LGBT community." Spokesman Rob Davies, said, "Obviously we're delighted with the outcome of the investigation. We feel we do a great deal for the gay community in Canterbury and we have always tried to support various gay events and promotions. But at the same time it is not the duty of any council to set up a gay bar — that's not what councils do."

Robots may be cooler than clowns at a birthday party, but they are also 90% more kill effective.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that scientists have found that if you want to get someone to do something, ask them in their right ear. Known as the 'right ear advantage,' scientists believe it is because information received through the right ear is processed by the left hand side of the brain which is more logical and better at deciphering verbal information than the right side of the brain. 'Talk into the right ear you send your words into a slightly more amenable part of the brain,' say researchers. The team, led by Dr. Luca Tommasi and Daniele Marzoli from the University of Chieti in central Italy, observed the behavior of hundreds of people in three nightclubs across the city where they intentionally addressed 176 people in either their right or their left ear when asking for a cigarette. They obtained significantly more cigarettes when they made their request in a person's right ear compared with their left. 'These results seem to be consistent with the hypothesized specialization of right and left hemispheres,' say researchers. 'We can also see this tendency when people use the phone, most will naturally hold it to their right ear.'"

Canadian scientists are breeding a type of cow that burps less, in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gases. Cows are responsible for almost 75% of total methane emissions, mostly coming from burps. Stephen Moore, professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science at the University of Alberta, hopes the refined bovines will produce 25 per cent less methane. Nancy Hirshberg, spokesman for Stonyfield Farm says, "If every US dairy farmer reduced emissions by 12 per cent it would be equal to about half a million cars being taken off the road."

Have you ever rolled over, looked at your partner, and thought, "I didn't know that I could hate someone so much, but I would love to go on vacation with you." If so, a Chinese travel agency may have just the package for you. For £1,350, a fighting couple can take a five-day tour of Hainan Island, where they can have such classic arguments as: Why are you so distant? Why do you always get drunk during the holidays? And how many times can you say nothing is wrong when something obviously is? An ad for the tour reads, "If it's destiny for us to break up, then let's have more romantic memories than painful ones."

Jeff Shantz writes "A 17-year-old Romanian girl is dead after being electrocuted while tweeting in the bath tub. Apparently, she plugged in her laptop after her battery started to die, and it is unclear as to whether or not she dropped the laptop in the water, or simply dripped enough water on the device to cause the shock. Needless to say, it is probably good advice not to tweet in the tub."

If it says tomorrow is going to be 4000 degrees you have to trust us.

If it says tomorrow is going to be 4000 degrees you have to trust us.

Two six-year-old boys built a toy nuclear power plant complete with a radiation warning sign, and managed to freak out an entire German town. The boys left their creation on the street after they had to go home for dinner. A passer-by notified authorities, who cordoned off several streets, raised a public alert, and rushed a radiation detector to the scene to figure out how hot the empty computer case with a sign taped to it was. "It wasn't a prank, they were just playing," a local police spokeswoman said Tuesday. "The boys tried to go back later to carry on but the fire brigade wouldn't let them through."

Bills over 90 days late will lead to extraordinary punitive measures.

Morgan Jones has plead guilty to selling firearms without a license in federal court, putting an end to his famous "flamethrower" parties. Morgan is known in Clarion County, Pennsylvania for building his own "lightning machine," being able to make a cannon out of a car's drive shaft, and as most likely to overthrow Lord Humungus after the pocylyps. A search of his home turned up 93 guns and 60,000 rounds of ammunition.

tonywong writes "Mrs Ethelston's Church of England Primary School, in Uplyme, Devon, prohibited parents photographing their own children during a school event, claiming it was due to changes in child protection and images legislation. This may be harsh but not as bizarre as another UK school attempting to cover up photos of all the students with smiley faces last year. Perhaps the UK has more bogeymen per square kilometer (kilometre if you're a non USian) than the rest of the world, or is the UK on the leading edge of things-to-come?"

Hugh Pickens writes "Watch a video of comedian John Hodgman speak after Barack Obama at the recent Radio and Television Correspondents Association dinner in DC and discuss the central question of our age: "how we can heal the great and shameful division that has plagued our nation for so long — the age old conflict between jocks and nerds" and ask Obama: Are you now, or have you ever been, a nerd?"

Dave Chapman got so drunk Saturday that doing laundry almost killed him. After a night of drinking with his friends, a pantless Dave looked into his dryer for a pair of clean underwear. He didn't see a pair, so he stuck his head in a little farther. Still not finding a pair, he managed to get his shoulders inside to get a better look. Next came his arms, and finally the realization that he was stuck. "I was panicking because there was no air," he said. With the help of his friends, ambulance staff, a female police officer, and two fire brigades, Dave was freed from the machine and was finally able to put on some pants.

Pay attention to the clown behind the curtain.

The National Institutes of Health has given $423,500 to researchers at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute to figure out why men don't like to wear condoms. The institute will also study why men have trouble using condoms and investigate "penile erection and sensitivity during condom application." "The project aims to understand the relationship between condom application and loss of erections and decreased sensation, including the role of condom skills and performance anxiety, and to find new ways to improve condom use among those who experience such problems," reads the abstract from Drs. Erick Janssen and Stephanie Sanders, both of the Kinsey Institute.

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have created a device dubbed the "cargo-screening ferret" that is able to detect drugs, weapons, and even illegal immigrants concealed in cargo containers. The 30cm-long robot is equipped with tiny sensors that are more sensitive than any currently employed in conventional cargo scanners. The ferret will attach itself magnetically to the inside of a cargo container and sweep it for contraband, while sending a steady stream of information back to its controller. Project leader Dr Tony Dodd said, "It's essential we develop something which is simple to operate and which border agents can have total confidence in. The ferret will be able to drop small probes down through the cargo and so pinpoint exactly where contraband is concealed."

A 1-square-foot block of frozen urine crashed through Hans and Irene Schueler's roof this weekend, and they are pissed. The couple has asked air traffic controllers to leak details of flight movements over their home. So far the stream of information has been weak at best. One neighbor said, "They're lucky it didn't hit them, and they don't see why an airline should get away with it."

A neo-Nazi group who adopted a half-mile section of highway in Springfield, Kansas last year may find their pure highway renamed after rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Although lawmakers were not happy about the adoption, they had no choice but to accept the group's application. In 2005 the US Supreme Court ruled that a group can't be denied entry to the Adopt-A-Highway program because of its political beliefs. The final solution for Kansas lawmakers seems to be renaming the highway.

"Adam was the luckiest man in the world. He had no mother-in-law."