Chuck Shepherd
The Bunyadi opened in London in June for a three-month run as the world's newest nude-dining experience, and now has a reservation waiting list of 40,000 (it only seats 42). Besides the nakedness, the Bunyadi creates "true liberation," said its founder, by serving only food "from nature," cooked over fire (no electricity). Waiters are nude, as well, except for minimal concessions to seated diners addressing standing servers. Tokyo's Amrita nude eatery, opening in July, is a bit more playful, with best-body male waiters and an optional floor show — and no "overweight" patrons allowed. Both restaurants provide some sort of derriere cover for sitting, and require diners to check their cellphones at the door.
Celebrating the wood tick
Milwaukee's WITI-TV, in an on-the-scene report from Loretta in northern Wisconsin, described the town's fascination with "Wood Tick Racing." The event is held annually, provided someone finds enough ticks to place in a circle so that townspeople can wager on which one exits first. The "races" began 37 years ago, and this year "Howard" was declared the winner. According to the organizers, at the end of the day, all contestants, except Howard, were to be smashed with a mallet.
Frog rescue
An ordinary green tree frog recently injured in a "lawn-mowing accident" in Australia's Outback was flown about 600 miles from Mount Isa to the Cairns Frog Hospital. CFH president Deborah Pergolotti spoke despairingly to Australian Broadcasting Corp. News in June about how society underregards the poor frogs when it comes to rescue and rehab — suggesting that "there's almost a glass ceiling" between them and the cuter animals.
Least competent criminals
Damian Shaw, 43, was sentenced in England's Chester Crown Court in June after an April raid revealed he had established a "sophisticated" cannabis-growing operation (160 plants) in a building about 50 yards from the front door of the Cheshire Police headquarters. … Northern Ireland's Belfast Telegraph reported in April that a man was hospitalized after throwing bricks at the front windows of a PIPS office (Public Initiative for Prevention of Suicide and Self Harm). He was injured by brick-bounceback off the shatterproof glass.
Armed and clumsy
More people — all are males, as usual — who accidentally shot themselves recently: Age 37, Augusta, Kan., while adjusting his "sock gun" at a high school graduation; age 28, Panama City, Fla., a jail guard "preparing" for a job interview; unidentified man in Union, S.C., who, emerging from a shower, sat on his gun; the sheriff of Des Moines County, Iowa, who shot his hand while cleaning his gun; a moviegoer adjusting in his seat in Salina, Kan., shot himself during the feature, three months after acquiring a no-test-required concealed-carry permit; age 43, Miami, demonstrating to a relative how to clean a gun; a teenager in Overland, Mo., trying to take a selfie holding a gun. The last two people are no longer with us.
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