All tears, no beers
An entrepreneurial businessman in east China's Nanjing city has had immense success with a bar where customers can get a good cry for the price of $US6 an hour. The Cry Bar features nothing but a couple of tables and a sofa, plus loads of tissues for the tears shed by the customers. The owner, Luo Jun, used to run a marriage agency only to discover that many of his clients had an immense desire to cry but could not find the right opportunity - and the idea for the bar was born. A customer said he was visiting the bar for the third time, always finding it a great way to shake off some of the pressure he was feeling in his daily life.
Life is not beautiful, is it?

 Bovine concern
The European Union (EU) knows the precise number of cows grazing its fields but not the number of citizens in the 25 member states, its chief statistician has been quoted as saying.
Michel Vanden Abeele, director general of statistics agency Eurostat, said the EU leaders should stop demanding unnecessary data.
"Because of the mad cow disease crisis, we know the exact number of cattle in Europe. By contrast, we can't give the precise number of people who live in the European Union," he said. In the EU at the end of 2001, there were 80,587,601 cows and 20,271,497 of those are dairy cattle, the most recent year for which full figures are published.
Holy cows!
Obese officers
Malaysia's armed forces are fighting the battle of the bulge. Too many servicemen are overweight and death rates from diseases linked to obesity have soared compared to deaths on active duty, officers say, prompting a new campaign offering rewards for chubby soldiers who eat less and exercise more.
Obese soldiers are being offered incentives to lose 10 kilograms in six months, a military spokesman said last week. The rewards are yet to be determined, but it won't be extra meals, the spokesman said.
Armed forces Chief Gen. Mohamad Zahidi Zainuddin said 20 per cent of 1,488 soldiers who died in the past decade succumbed to chronic weight-related problems such as high blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes.
Officers sans discipline! 		Bitter sweet controversy
Local politicians and environmental activists are protesting Swiss chocolate manufacturer Milka's plans to bathe Germany's highest mountain in beams of purple light, which is the brand's trademark colour. "We are entangled in a web of sponsors and money-grabbers and stand in danger of putting a price on nature," Ludwig Woerner, a member of the Bavarian regional parliament, has said.
Milka will illuminate the 2,962 metre-high Zugspitze peak in the Alps with 140 purple spotlights for 40 minutes, said a spokeswoman for Kraft Foods, the US food company which markets Milka chocolate. "We will raise money for local environmental projects from public donations and earn recognition for the Milka brand at the same time," the spokeswoman said.
Not so altruistic after all!
   
Floating store
A yachtsman selling duty-free alcohol and cigarettes from a boat anchored 21 kilometres off England's east coast has vowed to take British Customs to court after they detained his floating store. Phil Berriman, 46, was selling alcohol and cigarettes, which on shore are taxed heavily by the British Government, from his aptly named 22-metre schooner, Rich Harvest, until Customs officers intervened on the weekend.
"They came on board and said the agreement they had was null and void and were seizing the stock," said Berriman, who is from Stockton-on-Tees in north-eastern England. Customers have had to sail out across the North Sea to reach the shop off the coast of nearby Hartlepool but once aboard could buy leading brands of cigarettes and spirits for a fraction of the mainland shop price. Berriman and business partner Trevor Lyons, 53, a marine law expert, had hoped to make up to 20,000 pounds a week from the enterprise.
Wishful thinking, what says?!

Tailpiece

Husband and wife are getting all snugly in bed. The passion is heating up. But then the wife stops and says "I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me."
The husband says "WHAT??" The wife explains that he must not be in tune with her emotional needs as a Woman. The husband realizes that nothing is going to happen tonight and he might as well deal with it. So the next day the husband takes her shopping at a big dept. store. He walks around and has her try on three very expensive outfits. And then tells his wife. We'll take all three of them. Then goes over and gets matching shoes worth $200 each. And then goes to the Jewelry Dept. and gets a set of diamond earrings. The wife is so excited (she thinks her husband has flipped out, but she does not care). She goes for the tennis bracelet. The husband says "but you don't even play tennis, but OK if you like it then lets get it." The wife is jumping up and down so excited she cannot even believe what is going on. She says "I am ready to go, let’s go to the cash register." The husband says," no - no - no, honey we're not going to buy all this stuff." The wife's face goes blank. "No honey - I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while." Her face gets really red and she is about to explode and then the Husband says, "You must not be in tune with my financial needs as a Man!!!