Distant Shore ($0.99, iPhone/iPod Touch) is a profoundly weird application. Is it a game? Is it a chat client? Is it a kind of wish-maker? Well, it's all of these. Let me explain. Last fall, budding iPhone development powerhouse The Blimp Pilots released Koi Pond, a pond simulator with interactive digital fish. Unexpectedly, it shot to the number 1 spot on the iTunes App Store. A pond simulator as the top iPhone app? Indeed. It was one heck of a pond simulator -- with realistic, soothing water... READ ON

Psychotic Episode is Performance Art Art student Anna Odell of the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Sweden staged a suicide attempt and got herself admitted to the psychiatric ward of St. Göran's Hosptial in Stockholm. She struggled with the staff, but later admitted that the whole episode was an act for her senior art project at the school. The hospital staff is understandably upset that Odell not only assaulted health care workers when she was admitted, but she also tied up resources... READ ON

Eyebrows Shaved for Charity 72-year-old Si Burgher had eyebrow hairs as long as three inches. They were so long he brushed them every day. Not anymore -the Bloomfield, Illinois Rotary Club  sold people turns at trimming Burgher's eyebrows! Trimmers paid $100 each, with Burgher's wife Amy getting the first shot. The stunt raised $1,600 for PolioPlus, a polio eradication campaign. Burgher himself has donated about $7,000 over the years to the campaign to pay for polio vaccine in developing countries.... READ ON

School Drops the Word "School" Watercliffe Meadow in Sheffield, England opened in September to replace three schools, but don't call it a school. The institution is referred to as "a place for learning" instead. Headmistress Linda Kingdon has banned the word "school" because it has negative connotations for the parents of many of the students. The decision has drawn some ridicule from parents, and from those who read the story around the world. German Lovers Try to Elope to... READ ON