You be the photographer and direct that, uh, sexy model.

A spokeswoman for an Eden Prairie firm that produced a yearbook for a Texas high school with bizarre altered photos of students has apologized.

Photos of about 580 McKinney High School students were altered by the company that produced the yearbooks, Lifetouch Inc. of Eden Prairie.

Some girls’ heads were plunked on boys’ bodies, and vice versa. Necks were stretched in some photos and clothing altered. Several students are wearing the same outfits. One student’s arm is missing, and another girl appears to lack clothing altogether.

Officials at the school, in an upscale suburb north of Dallas, were reportedly appalled by the changes. All told, 39 percent of the 1,486 photos were changed, according to news reports.

Sara Thurin Rollin, corporate director of public relations and events for Lifetouch, said Saturday that the mistake was unprecedented in the company’s 70-year history. Each year, Lifetouch produces 28,000 yearbooks.

“We take full responsibility; this is certainly not standard practice,” she said.

You don’t say.

Georgia retailers soon will be banned from selling candy flavored to taste like marijuana to children.Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed a measure into law Wednesday that bans the sale of “marijuana flavored products” to minors — anyone under 18 — and calls for a fine of up to $500 for each offense. The measure takes effect July 1st.

It targets businesses that sell the candies with drug-inspired names such as “Kronic Kandy” and “Pot Suckers.” The law says the candies promote drug use.

Senator Doug Stoner pushed the bill in the senate. “I don’t think that folks are aware this is going on,” Stoner told Channel 2 in April. “It’s mainly, from what I can tell, particularly targeted to minority communities.”

This looks like fun.

But can he compete with the Waco Kid?

Geeks at play.

The retired men’s drill team.

Susan Gertson sent us a tip on this video — soldiers having fun on their day off making a music video, spoofing the Beach Boys.

LA.com: 

There’s this company in Anaheim that’s trying to sell a toilet built for two.

I’m not making this up.

The contraption - it’s not in stores yet - is called the “TwoDaLoo.” It’s being billed as the first toilet two people can use … “at the exact same time.”

Can’t get a visual? OK, imagine two toilets crammed so close that their porcelain sides are touching. Now flip one of them around so they’re sitting facing each other, yin and yang style.

And there you have it. The TwoDaLoo.

Look on the bright side: with this design you could also arm wrestle while answering nature’s call.

Take this test and find out. I scored a 61 — not nerdy, but not hip.

See here.

Actually they call the show X-Factor in the Czech Republic.

A grieving widower claims to have been receiving calls and text messages from beyond the grave. Frank Jones, whose wife Sadie died five years ago, says he has been plagued by SMS messages and missed calls since she was buried—her beloved cellphone in the coffin beside her.

The weirdest part of all of this is that 20 years ago, when Frank and his family moved into their house in the British resort town of Blackpool, they were plagued by paranormal behavior. Doors were slammed, bedclothes pulled off the kids while they slept, taps were turned on—and all this was put down to a malevolent presence called “The Thing.”

Back in the days of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Red Army had an official choir composed of male soldiers and musicians.  It still exists.  The Red Army Choir performs throughout Russia to this day.

Now consider the Finnish rock band called The Leningrad Cowboys.  A little while ago, they held a concert in Russia, in which - to the screaming applause of Russkie teen-agers - they got the Red Army Choir to join them on stage for a performance of “Sweet Home Alabama.”  In English.  You couldn’t make this up.

…even if you don’t buy the premise:

From the New Yorker:

8. Who publicly apologized for, as he put it, “the conduct that it was alleged that I did”? 

(a) Representative Don Sherwood, for having an affair with a woman half his age who said that he beat her.

(b) Senator Bob Packwood, for decades of making unwanted sexual advances toward women.

(c) Representative Gary Condit, for having an affair with an intern who was later found dead.

(d) Representative Newt Gingrich, for the affair he was having while calling for Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

Politicos score well, can you? Answer 23 questions.

That’s Peeps, not street talk for people. Those marshmallow chicks that show up every Easter. I like ‘em stale, the staler and tougher the better — like sugar jerkey.

The Washington Post has a slide show of Peeps dioramas submitted by their readers. More than 800 entered. Here are the best 37.

Where did the term Ivy League come from? Was it from the Roman numeral IV denoting four schools who formed an athletic league? Or from the ivy growing on the walls?

Answer here.

You’ll never have to ask, “Are you ready yet?” Via Coyote Blog.

Flip Wilson had his own Geraldine. Here “she” is with Muhammed Ali.

Stefan Nadelman recounts US wars since WWII with food as characters: croissants for the French, sushi for the Japanese etc.

Get the cast of characters here.

This story appeared all over the world:

An American woman’s body had became attached to her boyfriend’s toilet after she sat on it for two years, police in Kansas said.

“She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body,” said Bryan Whipple, the sheriff of Ness County.

It appeared the 35-year-old woman’s skin had grown around the toilet seat, he added. “It is hard to imagine. … I still have a hard time imagining it myself.”

The woman initially refused emergency medical care but her boyfriend, 36, and police officers finally convinced her to go to hospital.

“We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital,” Mr Whipple said. “The hospital removed it.”

The county attorney still has to decide whether any charges should be brought against the boyfriend.

Charge him with what? Being a patient host?

The man told investigators that he brought his girlfriend food and water, and asked her every day to come out of the bathroom.

“And her reply would be, ‘Maybe tomorrow’,” Mr Whipple said. “According to him, she did not want to leave the bathroom.”

She’s not the first person reluctant to give up the throne.

American Idol did the Lennon-McCartney songbook last night. Some were quite good, a couple terrible.

Which reminded me of William Shatner’s version of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, animated by someone in cyberspace. It is regularly voted one of the worse song covers of all time.

Wikipedia says George Clooney chose this as one of the Desert Island Discs he would bring along if marooned - as an incentive to leave the island. He said, “If you listen to [this song], you will hollow out your own leg and make a canoe out of it to get off this island.”

From the New York Times, via Tigerhawk.

Secure link here.

A 42-year-old woman was injured when what authorities called a stash of “homemade fireworks” stored inside her oven exploded.

Tracy Shimkus, of West Holly Avenue, suffered injuries to her face, hand and stomach after she allegedly attempted to turn on the stove and it exploded Monday afternoon, police said.

Via Assistant Village Idiot:

For most of us, making a cup of tea is one of life’s simpler tasks.

For Mavis Price, however, it is fraught with danger - because she can blow up kettles just by touching them.

The 60- year- old grandmother seems to have a freakishly high level of static electricity coursing through her body.

She estimates she has destroyed 15 kettles in the last few years. Housework has also become a problem, with 20 irons and ten vacuum cleaners biting the dust after falling foul of her apparently supercharged touch.

And her friends and family are often left with their hair standing on end after touching her.