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The skinny

By TIMES WIRES
Published March 1, 2007

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

THIS POTATO WILL JUST EXPLODE WITH FLAVOR!

Olga Mauriello of Naples, Italy, was about to start peeling some potatoes, perhaps for a nice dinner of gnocchi, when she noticed something in there that looked somewhat unpotatolike. Turns out it was a hand grenade, which is not a typical ingredient in almost any classic Italian recipe. Mauriello, 74, called her neighbors, who called police, who came and detonated it in a nearby park. Best anyone can figure, it came from France with the potatoes, and was probably leftover from World War II.

If the lamb has stitches, don't eat it

Medical students at a clinic in western Australia used some lamb shanks to work on their injection techniques. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, each of the cuts of meat was injected with the local anesthetic Lignocaine, then was closed up with some practice stitches and sent to the refrigerator. Problem was, a bunch of lamb shanks sitting in the fridge looked an awful lot like dinner to someone, because they disappeared. Officials are worried, because it's possible eating the meat could kill a young or old person. The effect on a healthy person could be dizziness or numbness.

BARBIE BANDITS

Don't disguise ... accessorize!

Yesterday's news was of the guy in New Zealand who robbed a gas station, but forgot to cover his face with the bandanna he was wearing. Today comes the story of a pair of young women - possibly as young as 16 - who robbed a bank outside of Atlanta using only big sunglasses as a disguise. Police spokesman Wayne Delk said one of the girls appears to be laughing in a bank surveillance camera image, as though "it's all fun and games to them." The two escaped with an amount of money described as "considerable." No one saw them make their getaway, but authorities are, like, soo sure someone is going to recognize them. "The pictures are too good," Delk said. That's them above.

ON THIN ICE

When in doubt, go much faster

Snowmobile riders were racing across a partially frozen lake in Maine - they didn't know about the "partially" part until it was too late - and survived not by stopping, but by gunning the engine and "skimming" across the water at 80 mph. They had to make the decision between stopping and speeding up in less time than it would have taken to say "Oh, (random punctuation marks)." Gary Huntley, pictured, traveled between one and two miles over the water, while his friend Jonathan Herbster went about a half-mile. Another friend, Paul Blanco, slowed down and sank. He has not been found. Skimming is illegal in Maine, but wardens investigating the incident say that it saved the lives of Huntley and Herbster.

[Last modified March 1, 2007, 01:20:14]