McMansion flame-broiled; 2 cars fried; shakes up neighborhood Clever headline, but kind of inappropriate for a tragedy when a house burns down and the story includes this: "She ran out the house screaming that her father was in the house," said a witness standing on Zaitz Farm Road near the wrecked household. "The father came out a little confused. Windows were popping, and people were screaming." I think this would be a time to be a little more McTactful and not give the impression you're McRibbing the family during a time when many of their possessions probably flamed out like a McDLT.

I haven't watched the summer reality TV filler I Survived a Japanese Game Show , but if it has anything like the video below, use of the word "survived" is appropriate. The Human Trebuchet: Source: Weird Asia News

On Monday night, I discovered that there is still a Miss Universe . This probably shows how out of the loop I am concerning the all-important industry of Pageants and Prettiness, but I'll admit it. Anyway, thanks to having a strange curiosity for the pageant and a wife who watched the whole thing, I watched the final hour or so. That was enough time to show me that a beauty-pageant contestant falling is sad, and yet very funny, and also that the Miss Universe Pageant is just plain weird. I guess there is no more talent competition, or at least that isn't shown on television. Perhaps it's because finding talent is getting more difficult, as shown by the show "America's Got a lot of Time to Fill and Very Little Talent" that airs on NBC. Or maybe it's because the Miss Universe contenders are busy with their other interests. One of the contestants listed her interests as shopping and spending time with family. Holy cow! At least make something up that gives...

I give credit to Dave Barry's blog for finding this . Mainly because I don't want anyone to think I was looking for it. After finding out about this product, I found some others talking about it: Leonardo's Notebook www.m3mphis.com

This is one of the weirdest robberies ever. Imagine this: You're a woman working at a restaurant, a man comes in to rob you in a disguise. Your co-worker attacks the burglar, knocks off his wig and then you scream, "Wait! Stop! That's my dad!" Even more strange for the woman ... her husband was driving the getaway car. And her mom was in the car. Here are some more details for the family scrapbooks .

My son Nathan, although only 5 months old, already has more hair than I've had in about 10 years. The hair is so long on top that he was starting to get the Cosmo Kramer look. I kind of liked that look, but my wife decided it was time for Nate's first haircut. We thought this could be a very traumatic experience for him, but as you can see from the photo, he liked it. He might actually be laughing to taunt me because he has such nice -- and so much -- hair. Actually, Nate seems to like just about everything these days. He really likes it when his older brothers talk to him, or anyone for that matter. But even staring at the ceiling fan for 15 minutes is wildly entertaining for him.

(Note: This is my column from a special section on men's health in The Dallas Morning News .) By MATT WIXON The Dallas Morning News A Harris Interactive survey last year revealed that many American men don’t go to the doctor for preventive care. Maybe “revealed” isn’t the best way to describe the survey’s results. It seems more of a confirmation of common knowledge, such as “babies are cute” and “cancer is bad.” We know most guys don’t go to the doctor. If it’s an emergency, sure. And if it involves sexual dysfunction, well, that qualifies as an emergency darn near Code Blue. But for other health matters, ignorance is bliss and doesn’t involve sitting in a waiting room reading a Reader’s Digest from 2006. Ignorance isn’t always healthy, however. Here’s a good example: Colon cancer to is expected to kill nearly 50,000 Americans this year. But the Center for Disease Control estimates that 60 percent of colon cancer deaths could be prevented if all men and women age 50 and over were ...

You've probably seen some entertaining tirades by baseball managers over the year, but Kash (sorry, spell-checker, tht IS how it's spelled) Beauchamp did something recently I've never seen before: He used two bat weights as pretend glasses to mock the umpire. Kash also took off his shoes to threaten the umpire, who ejected him from the game. "It's weird -- it just comes out of nowhere, the ejections and stuff," Beauchamp told the Wichita Eagle. "When I'm gone, (my brain is) gone. All I know is somehow I ended up in my socks. I don't even know how I got into my socks. I was looking for my shoes and I had no idea where they were." At least he wasn't looking for his pants. You won't see everything that happened in this video , but you will get to see what appears to be the strangest show of aggression ever: Showing the umpire your armpit. Maybe that's standard when you manage a club named the "Wingnuts."

If you're not traveling anywhere for vacation, instead opting for the "staycation," here's some positive news. You will not experience what happened to a British vacationer named Michelle Palmer. She is currently suffering through some severe Drinkers' Remorse after her trip to a beach in Dubai. Palmer was allegedly caught having sex on a beach with a man named "Vince" that she met while on vacation. Here's the story . If you read down a little bit, you'll find this tremendous timeline of events: The 30-year-old attended a "late brunch", with unlimited drinks - including beer, wine and spirits. Running for three hours until 7pm the event offered unlimited drinks for a flat fee of 250 dirhams (£34.50). She then moved on to a nearby club where friends say that she was arguing with Vince. It is alleged that several member of group, including Vince, were later ejected for fighting. They then moved on to a popular pub known as Long's Bar...

One bad thing about cell phones is that they always seem to ring at inopportune times. In the movies, for example, or during an office meeting, or when you forgot to silence the phone before church. Or even worse: When you are attempting to hide the cell phone in a body cavity. Excuse me, officers, I need to take this call.