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Published January 13, 2015
You can’t have too much of a good thing — especially if you’re a fan of salad, and you happen to live in Gary, W.Va.
Dozens of dedicated dieters participating in a local weight management program together lost a whopping 500 pounds … and celebrated their accomplishment by chowing down on — what else? — a 500-pound salad, The Associated Press reports.
Creative chefs prepared the sizeable salad in a swimming pool with 110 heads of lettuce, 165 pounds of carrots and about 120 cucumbers.
It took the chefs more than two hours to make the massive pool-full of rabbit food, and the hungry event attendees scarfed the whole thing down in about four.
Cheryl Mitchem, the coordinator of the Tug River Total Fitness Centers Public Employees Insurance Agency Weight Management Program (try to say that three times fast), says that participants lost all that extra weight in just a five-month period.
"I think it is a phenomenal accomplishment," Mitchem said.
Much Ado About a Urinal
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — This city's hoped-for bragging rights as home of America's tallest environmentally friendly building could go down the toilet.
In a city where organized labor is a force to be reckoned with, the plumbers union has been raising a stink about a developer's plans to install 116 waterless, no-flush urinals in what will be Philadelphia's biggest skyscraper.
Developer Liberty Property Trust says the urinals would save 1.6 million gallons of water a year at the 57-story Comcast Center, expected to open next year.
But the union put out the word that it doesn't like the idea of waterless urinals — fewer pipes mean less work.
The city's licensing department, whose approval is needed for waterless urinals, has not yet rendered a decision.
The mayor's office has stepped in to try to save the urinals, which use a cartridge at the base to trap odors and sediment as waste passes through.
It is telling the plumbers that the city's building boom will provide plenty of work for them and that even waterless urinal systems need some plumbing connections, said Stephanie Naidoff, city commerce director.
Waterless urinals were introduced in the early 1990s. Thousands are in use around the country, including at such places as the San Diego Zoo, Walt Disney World and the Rose Bowl.
My Secretary's Drinking Out of the Toilet (Again)
NEW YORK (AP) — If you work from an office in your home, you probably have a pretty good idea of the meaning of the word "frustrating." Jason Welshonse does. He runs a computer support and consulting firm and has just won a competition called the "Home Office From Hell Contest."
Entrants had to list the top ten reasons they needed to escape their home offices.
Among the winner's reasons: "I have to yell 'Phone!' really loud when the phone rings to make sure all TV's and radios get muted so I can answer it."
Another winning reason: "I've started to refer to my pets as employees."
The contest was sponsored by offices2share.com, a Web site that helps small businesses find short-term, ready-to-use office space.
The prize is a pre-paid one-year office lease at any offices2share.com location.
Strip Club Owner Serves Up Art, but Boise's Not Buying It
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The owner of a strip club that made international news with its "art night" promotion has pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor charges that he violated Boise's anti-nudity law.
Christopher Teague, owner of Erotic City, attempted to skirt the city's anti-nudity ordinance last year when he gave patrons sketch pads and pencils so they could draw the nude dancers.
The city rules require dancers to wear at least thongs and pasties, though the law includes an exception for "serious artistic merit." Teague said he started art night to challenge the ordinance, which he believes is unconstitutional.
"What are they doing on stage? It's dancing," he said. "Is it an art form? Of course it is."
Magistrate Judge Thomas Watkins disputed Teague's claim that the ordinance is unconstitutional, citing a similar ordinance in Erie, Pa., that has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Teague — who faces fines of up to $300 and six months in jail for each of the three charges — has vowed to fight the ordinance "all the way to the top."
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Taylor Timmins.
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