Online Casino Buys Naughty Kids’ Gifts
HOUSTON - An online casino that bought a cheese sandwich said to bear the Virgin Mary’s image and a cane sold to banish a young boy’s fear of ghosts has struck again — this time paying a man $5,300 for his naughty children’s Christmas gifts.  
The Pasadena man said last week that he decided to auction the three Nintendo (news - web sites) DS game systems because his sons, ages 9, 11, and 15, had misbehaved.
The family’s decision made national headlines, intriguing GoldenPalace.com, casino spokesman Monty Kerr said.
“Everybody knows Santa doesn’t come to naughty kids,” Kerr said Sunday.
The Antigua-based casino agreed to bid on the game systems as long the family promised to donate the proceeds to charity, he said. The family told him it will buy a new heater for its church and do other renovations.
The casino plans to donate the game systems to a needy Houston family, Kerr said.
The father, who has been identified only by his eBay seller name magumbo_2000, could not be reached for comment.
The casino has paid about $108,000 for eBay oddities in just more than a month.

Acting the goat
Looking for a last minute Christmas gift? Think goat!  
You will pay 24 pounds ($46) for a goat or 10 pounds for a brood of chickens, tell a friend or relative that this is their Christmas present, and it will be sent to a Third World family to provide milk, meat, manure and offspring for trade.
People have bought 31,000 goats and 500,000 chickens under the scheme set up by the international aid agency Oxfam, not to mention 650,000 tree seedlings to provide wood and shade and prevent soil erosion. Other aid agencies have similar projects.
“Not only do people like the idea of giving something so unusual at Christmas, but you can also see how a goat, chicken, bike or midwife will make a difference to a person struggling against poverty,” Oxfam manager Douglas Graham said.
 

Naked Germans dive in water
BERLIN (Reuters) - About 30 Germans wearing nothing more than red Santa Claus caps leapt into a Berlin lake for their annual Christmas Day swim on Saturday, a dip in the ice-cold water they believe is good for their health.  
The naked men and women, between the ages of 25 and 73, spent up to about five minutes in Berlin’s Oranke lake, where temperatures were 34 F.
Several complained there was no ice on the lake as in past years.
“It’s still pretty cold in here,” swimmer Andreas Beyer told Reuters. Members of the club known as the “Berlin seals” train year-round for the cold water Christmas swim and they believe the dips help them avoid illnesses.
The tradition dates back to at least 1980. The swimmers — outnumbered by media photographers drawn to the annual event — built up their courage for the dip by singing Christmas carols and sipping mulled wine.

Women Allegedly sexually Assault Man With Tongs
Police are looking for two women they say sexually assaulted a man with a pair of cooking tongs in a drug-related attack.  
Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan police say the victim, a 25-year-old man, awoke Saturday morning with a metal object protruding from his body.
The victim, who police say was using cocaine at the time, told police he does not remember much of what happened.
He told doctors he was drinking and using cocaine at his mobile home Friday night when he saw two women outside his home and invited them in.
The victim’s cousin took him to Memorial Health University Medical Center Saturday after he complained of pain. Doctors surgically removed an object identified as “one half of a pair of food tongs,” and turned it over to police.
No information was available on the man’s condition, according to a hospital spokesman.
The two women are wanted on aggravated sexual battery charges, but police say they aren’t having much luck finding them.
“We have no descriptions of the women, being that (the victim) is not cooperating with the police,” police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wilson said. “And there’s little we can do to urge cooperation.”
 

Tailpiece

Who Says Men Don’t Remember Anniversaries
A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband was not in their bed.
She puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front him. He appears deep in thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wipes a tear from his eye and takes a sip of coffee.
“What’s the matter, dear?” she whispers as she steps into the room. “Why are you down here at this time of night?”
The husband looks up, “Do you remember 20 years ago when we were dating, and
you were only 17?” he asks solemnly.
The wife is touched thinking her husband is so caring and sensitive. “Yes, I do,” she replies.
The husband pauses. The words are not coming easily. “Do you remember when
you father caught us in the back seat of my car?”
“Yes, I remember,” says the wife, lowering herself into a chair beside him.
The husband continues...”Do you remember when he shoved a shotgun in my face and said, “Either you marry my daughter, or I will send you to jail for 20 years”.
“I remember that too”, she replies softly.