Crazy World: Gift a flu germ?...

Stuffed 'germ' toys catching on

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Jim Henson's Muppets made pigs and frogs endearing, and Walt Disney turned a mouse into a cultural icon.

Now, Drew Oliver thinks it's time for bacteria, viruses and other offensive little organisms to share the love. The oversized, stuffed toy germs produced by his Stamford-based company have spawned Facebook fan sites and a subculture of eager collectors.

The company, Giant Microbes, has grown so much that Oliver was able to quit his job as an attorney and run what's now an international business.

The stuffed germs and other microbes are showing up as offbeat gifts, sometimes among parents who want to comfort their sick children or explain good hygiene.

US touted Bollywood stars to help Afghanistan: WikiLeaks

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US diplomats suggested stars of India's hugely popular Hindi-language film industry could be sent to Afghanistan to help stabilise the troubled country, according to a leaked cable published Friday.

The confidential US document from March 2007, released by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, said that high-profile Bollywood actors could play a key role in India's "soft power" assistance in Afghanistan.

"We understand Bollywood movies are wildly popular in Afghanistan, so willing Indian celebrities could be asked to travel to Afghanistan to help bring attention to social issues there," it said.

Bollywood, based in the western city of Mumbai, is a two-billion-dollar industry which has become increasingly popular abroad, not just among the Indian diaspora but in neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Gulf states.

In Afghanistan, Bollywood films are regularly shown on television, though with the bare midriffs and plunging necklines of its sari-wearing actresses pixellated for a largely conservative Muslim audience. Movie soundtracks are also popular.

The suggestion, which did not come to fruition, was part of a role envisaged for India in what US diplomats called "people-to-people" assistance. Others included "symbolic" exchange programmes in areas like sports or business.

US diplomats in New Delhi described India as Afghanistan's "natural ally" and advocated using its vast wealth of well-trained -- and cheaper -- expertise to build capacity in areas including the civil service and electoral bodies.

But it warned that a key obstacle to increasing Indian influence would be Pakistan, which fears being encircled by its larger, powerful neighbour and traditional rival.

India has committed 1.3 billion dollars to Afghanistan since the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Islamist Taliban regime in late 2001.

Thousands of Indians are building roads, sanitation projects and power lines, while India is also building the new Afghan parliament.

But India's involvement has come at a cost, with a number of deadly attacks on its interests in the country, including at its embassy in Kabul.
 

Lee Harvey Oswald's coffin sells for $87,000

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The coffin in which Lee Harvey Oswald, the man charged with shooting president John F. Kennedy, was buried went under the hammer for over 87,000 dollars, the auction house which organized the sale said.

The pine coffin is partially water-damaged by the 18 years it spent in the ground before Oswald's body was exhumed in 1981 to lay to rest rumors that a lookalike Soviet agent was buried in his place.

The body -- confirmed as genuinely his -- was reburied in another casket, and the original was offered for sale for the first time Friday, by the Nate D Sanders auction house in Los Angeles.

A spokeswoman declined to reveal the identity of the purchaser who paid 87,468 dollars for the casket.

According to the Dallas News, the coffin was sold by Allen Baumgardner, a Fort Worth funeral home manager who had kept it after being present when Oswald's body was exhumed.

Oswald, charged with killing Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was himself shot two days later and buried on November 25, fueling conspiracy theories which still rage to this day.
 

For Canadian Santa fan it's Christmas every day

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What began as an innocent legacy from an elderly aunt has turned into an obsession with all things Christmas which has won retired Canadian teacher Jean-Guy Laquerre a place in the record books.

That gift, an early 20th Century Santa figurine, "awakened the child in me," said Laquerre, with a twinkle in his eye looking around at his collection, describing his unusual yuletide fixation as "Santaphilia," a term he coined himself.

"I started my collection in 1988. Over the past 22 years, I've accumulated 25,139 Santa baubles," he said proudly, with a chuckle.

Every year as yuletide approaches he methodically unpacks his figurines and collections from their boxes to deck his modest home in eastern Ontario province in Canada.

"I can't stop myself entirely, but I do restrain my urges. I surprise myself when I go into a store and I don't buy any new ones," confessed Laquerre, who bears more than just a passing resemblance to his Number One hero, with his white moustache, round cheeks and red Christmas hat.

But then he added with a regretful air, "it's because I just don't have any more room for more figurines."

Santa Claus figures whirl from the ceiling, others poke out red-cheeked and jolly-faced from the back of sofas; there are Santa tableclothes, cushions and blankets; dancing Santas, and Santa albums and from an earlier era, 1940s posters advertising Santa smoking cigarettes.

Every room, every nook and cranny is plastered with the decorations, even the bathroom, which is resplendent with a Father Christmas toilet-seat cover, and boxes of Santa tissues.

"It's just a small obsession," Laquerre said coyly, before breaking into a deep belly laugh as he surveyed his treasures.

Still, he takes great pleasure in meticulously classifying them, including old Christmas albums and Christmas cards. Chocolate Santa Claus and other holiday treats -- most too old to eat -- are displayed separately on shelves in the living room.

Other items in the collection are staggering: more than 1,300 table napkins bearing pictures of Santa Claus, all carefully catalogued and stored in plastic sleeves to keep them in pristine condition.

As a child, Laquerre collected stamps, then labels from wine bottles before turning to Santa memorabilia.

He broke the world record for owning the most Santa keepsakes in 2004, but it was not until 2009 that his name was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

"A Texas woman held the record for 30 years. She had 1,039 items. It was time that I came along and broke the record," he said.

As his reputation has grown so has his collection. Laquerre now boasts Christmas bric-a-brac from around the world, such as a hand-made reproduction of Santa's workshop that took a French-Moroccan friend some 600 hours to build.

Laquerre says he hopes the entire collection will some day be displayed in a museum.

But some might argue that his home is already a shrine dedicated to Old Saint Nick and ablaze with the spirit of Christmas.

Swedish med students get teacher's body at first autopsy

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It was their first ever autopsy, but students at one of Sweden's top medical schools were faced with a familiar sight in the classroom: the body on the table belonged to their late teacher.

"The first autopsy is really, really emotional, and we autopsied someone we knew!," one of the shocked students told news agency TT Friday.

"I feel something in the routines went a bit wrong," said another.

Chief physician Birgitta Sundelin called the event "extremely unfortunate."

She said that students were normally informed ahead of time of whose body they were to examine and that it was also the case this time.

But according to a student, the class did not find out until they saw their teacher's name on the body's toe tag.

The head of the department, Tina Dalianis, said she regretted the incident, but added the students needed to learn the tricks of the trade.

"It's terrible, but it's part of education sometimes. Unfortunately they have to deal with it," she told TT.
 
 
 

Shot-up prop car causes brief Philadelphia scare

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Police officers in downtown Philadelphia who came across a shot-up car with exposed wiring inside were about to the call the bomb squad when they found out it was a movie prop.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports police stopped Friday morning in the Old City section when they saw the car riddled with bullet holes and side windows shot out.

They also saw wires running from the trunk into the dashboard.

The officers were ready to close the street and call the bomb squad when a security guard told them it was for a film.

The thriller "Safe," starring Jason Statham, wrapped Thursday night after shooting in the city in recent weeks.

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