A 16-year-old would-be robber clearly didn't read the instructions.
The kid barged into a 7-Eleven in Dania Beach, Fla., Tuesday night and pointed a rifle at the counter clerk, reports the Miami Herald.
Then he paused a moment to try to load the .22-caliber gun — with .40-caliber ammunition.
"He's trying to cram a .40-caliber bullet into a .22-caliber rifle," Broward County Sheriff's Office (search) spokesman Jim Leljedal told the newspaper. "It's like twice as big as the gun will fit. It won't go."
Despite his weapon's lack of deadliness, the teen pointed the gun again at the cashier and said, "Give me the money — don't make me do this."
Three customers saw their chance and jumped on the gunman, tackling him, kicking him and finally standing on him until police showed up.
The boy was arrested for armed robbery. Broward County has not yet decided whether to charge him as a juvenile or as an adult.
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Nuclear Plant May Make Ostriches Fly
Don't scare the birds, a North Carolina woman is begging the operators of a nuclear power plant.
Madeleine Calder raises ostriches next to the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant (search) in Apex, N.C., reports WRAL-TV of Raleigh, N.C. For several years, the plant has disabled its warning sirens so as to not startle Calder's giant birds.
But due to local demand, the plant plans to sound its sirens at least once so that residents can hear what a real emergency might sound like.
"I mean, you just can't imagine how loud it is," Calder told the TV station. "[The ostriches] can't get away [so] they'll start to frenzy. They can either have a heart attack or try and climb the fence and get tangled up and all bloody and everything. I mean if that happens, it'll be horrible."
Calder sells ostrich meat and products, and says she didn't realize the power plant was nearby when she opened her Blue Ostrich ranch (search). She claims each of her 14 birds is worth $25,000, and will hold the plant liable if any come to injury during the siren test.
The nuclear plant operators don't think that's likely to happen.
"What we want to do is make sure that we provide people with that sense of security," Carolina Power and Light spokeswoman Heidi Deja said to the TV station. "We certainly haven't found any evidence that a siren — or even a fire truck, for that matter, which is very loud — would cause distress of these animals."
— Thanks to Out There reader Chad A.
Judge, Defense, Prosecution Agree: That's One Good-Looking Cop
A South Florida undercover police detective has a major problem: He may be too handsome to do his job.
A state appeals court on Wednesday upheld a lower court's dismissal of a criminal charge against a gay man who'd been convicted of selling drugs to Fort Lauderdale Detective Mike Nahum, ruling that the officer's actions and appearance were "outrageous" and constituted entrapment.
Julio Blanco, 37, was at a nightclub in early 2002 when Nahum met him, bought him a few drinks and said he'd like "to party," according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Blanco told the court that he thought Nahum meant he'd like to have sex. Nahum testified that he understood "to party" as doing drugs, but admitted asking Blanco for cocaine at least three times.
Blanco said that he refused and on the third occasion, began to leave. Nahum convinced him to stay, and after more drug requests, Blanco went into the men's room and bought methamphetamines for the undercover officer.
"The whole situation seemed very clear to me," Broward Circuit Judge Susan Lebow said during a 2002 hearing. "I mean, the detective walked in dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, and for the record he was a very attractive man and ..."
At that point in the original hearing, Blanco's defense attorney interrupted and asked the judge to make an official finding.
"I make that a finding. He's a very attractive man," Lebow said, according to the transcript.
Lebow apparently wasn't the only one to notice.
"Let's just say that all of the women in court that day were paying a lot of attention to him," defense attorney Kevin Kulik told the Sun-Sentinel Wednesday. "After he left the courtroom, they were all like, 'Wow.'"
Fort Lauderdale Detective Andy Pallen told the newspaper no photographs of Nahum were available because he was still working undercover.
Drop-Off on Trail May Lead to Drop-Off in Readership
LONDON (AP) — Britain's biggest-selling hiking magazine apologized Wednesday after its latest issue contained a route that would lead climbers off the edge of a cliff.
The February edition of Trail magazine gives advice on making a safe descent for hikers caught in bad weather on Ben Nevis (search) in Scotland, Britain's tallest peak.
But the magazine's directions would instead lead readers off the north face of the 4,406-foot mountain, which is notorious for its changeable weather and has claimed the lives of several climbers.
Guy Procter, the editor of Trail, acknowledged the magazine had inadvertently deleted the first of two crucial bearings needed to get off the summit. He said that happened during the editing process.
"We print up to 200 of these routes a year, and this is the first time we've got it wrong," said Procter.
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland issued an alert on its Web site about the mistake.
"Getting off Ben Nevis is probably one of the most infamous navigational tasks in the British Isles," said council spokesman Roger Wild. Describing the mistake in the magazine, he said, "Anyone following that route in poor visibility and with snow cover could easily have walked straight off the edge."
Trail was criticized by mountain rescue teams last year for claiming three popular hiking routes were snow-free in winter.
Terror, Shmerror — Let's Watch the Patriots
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' former public safety secretary spent $17,000 in state anti-terrorism funds on a 60-inch plasma screen television for his office, although the set has no special capabilities.
In June 2002, James P. Jajuga tapped into a special account set up after the Sept. 11 attacks to buy the television, the Boston Herald reported Tuesday, citing state records.
Jajuga, the focus of a federal investigation into possible misuse of grant money, did not immediately return a call for comment.
He is a former state trooper and Democratic state senator appointed public safety chief by acting Gov. Jane M. Swift. He lost his job with the election of a new governor.
Gov. Mitt Romney said he was "dismayed" by the report and instructed current Public Safety Secretary Edward Flynn to sell the television.
Compiled by Foxnews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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