Small Bites

Great Moments in Doughnutdom, Part One: A man was arrested in a Florida topless doughnut shop for causing a stir after finding his daughter working there, and trying to drag her away. (Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how were the doughnuts?)

Great Moments in Doughnutdom, Part Two: After robbing a Chicago Winchell's Donut Shop at knifepoint, the thief returned for a cup of coffee. He was arrested by police who were in the shop taking down the arrest report. (Nothing goes better with a bag full of cash than a nice hot cup of java.)

Has Fox Thought of This One Yet?: There's a very popular TV show in Japan called Endurance, where contestants are challenged to see how much physical and mental abuse they can put up with. One of the contestants, a 24-year-old man named Toshi Saegusa was named "Bravest Man in Japan," after allowing himself (among other things) to be lowered into a cage of Komodo lizards with a rotting fish strung around his neck; dunked in fish food, then dropped into a tank of catfish; smeared with bananas and placed in a cage full of orangutans; frozen nearly solid then fed ice cream and cold spaghetti; and starved for three days, then flown to Paris, where he had to watch other people eat in the best restaurants in town. He was also doused in gasoline and yanked through flaming hoops; and hung upside over a smoking fire with cockroaches in his pants pockets. (And we thought David Blaine was something!)

A plot was recently revealed by Beijing, in which two Chinese officials had been arrested for trying to drive up the price of garlic by secretly hoarding 3.3 million pounds of the stuff, only to be undone by neighbors who complained of a powerful stench coming from the warehouse in which the garlic was being stored.

In New York, a burglar was caught by police after breaking into a catering hall and stealing a radio and over $2000 in cash. It seems the burglar paused on his way out to help himself to some meatballs, which he flavored with ketchup, leaving fingerprints all over the Heinz bottle.

In a report titled, "In a Stew Over Frog Legs," Bangladesh zoologist Zakir Hossain reported to his government that the heavy exportation of frog legs "is sure to increase the insect population and damage the ecology." Hossain claimed in his report that gourmet diners consume about 400 million Asian frogs' legs every year, leaving the rice fields that were once inhabited by the frogs virtually undefended against insects.

A few days after thieves stole a car in Sydney, Australia, they returned it with a note explaining the car had been taken because of an emergency. The apologetic thieves offered a free meal at a local restaurant to the owner in restitution. The owner checked with the restaurant, found the meal had indeed been paid for in advance, and went, trusting in the inherent goodness of human nature. "While they were eating," reported an Australian newspaper, "their house was ransacked."