Plymouth (England) University, with a small Arts Council grant, could not
quite test whether an infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number
of typewriters could produce the works of Shakespeare, but did see what
six Sulawesi crested macaque monkeys would do on a computer over a
four-week period. They produced about five pages of text among them,
mostly consisting of the letter S. According to lead professor Geoff Cox,
they spent a lot of time sitting on the keyboard. [The Guardian, May 9]

Zachary G. Holloway, 20, and a pal were arrested in Springfield, Ill.,
and charged with breaking into one car (and stealing a motorcycle helmet)
and attempting to break into another. To get into the second, locked car,
Holloway put on the helmet, stood back and charged into it, head-butting a
window. Unsuccessfully. Twice. [State Journal-Register (Springfield),
September 5]

Boston City Councilman Felix Arroyo announced in January that he was
going on a hunger strike to protest U.S. war threats toward Iraq. At
first, he said he would consume only liquids, but then limited the strike
to daylight hours, and, later still, restricted his hardship regimen to
only the second and fourth Fridays of each month. [Boston Globe, January
30]

North Korea's official news agency accused Japan of breaking a promise to
return five people to North Korea. The five are Japanese citizens who were
kidnapped by North Korea in 1978 but released to see their families in
October 2002. North Korea's position is that they were sent home only
temporarily and must be returned. [Japan Today-Kyodo News, October 19]

Two American Legion posts and two other veterans' groups in Pleasanton,
Calif., sponsored a class on dowsing to consider whether domestic
terrorists could be identified by pointing sticks at suspicious people to
see if the sticks move. Said one of the leaders, "You can't wait for the
FBI and police to come up with solutions when you have the bad guys living
among us." [Tri-Valley Herald, March 25]

Michael Christopher Harris, 24, was arrested after he tried to pass a $200
bill emblazoned with a photo of George W. Bush at a convenience store in
Roanoke Rapids, N.C., but then police found out that before that, he had
gotten a cashier at a local Food Lion to actually accept one and give him
back change. [WRAL-TV (Raleigh)-Associated Press, September 9]

The Pentagon, claiming an exception to the law, rejected a Freedom of
Information Act request by a reporter to see an internal training video.
The video was the 22-minute "Freedom of Information Act/The People's Right
to Know," for teaching Pentagon employees how to administer the act.
[Sarasota Herald-Tribune-Associated Press, February 13]

Elected as sheriff of Aiken County, South Carolina, was a fellow named
Mike Hunt, who prefers the name Mike and not Michael, and whose campaign
slogan was "Mike Hunt/Accessible For You." [Augusta Chronicle, May 14]

The Norwegian Newspaper VG's series on odd summer jobs included that of
teenager Svein Tore Hauge, who, armed with a shovel and a container, works
at Saerheim Plant Research, following cattle around and catching their
excreta before it can hit the ground. Because the work-product is used for
scientific study, it must he "pristine," free of grass, dirt, foreign
bacteria, etc. Sometimes, it's easy, he said, but, "Sometimes it just
sprays in all directions." [Aftenposten (Oslo), June 25]