Oh, Canada 

Oh, Canada
Canadian company Bad Axe Throwing announced in June it is bringing its unusual entertainment concept to Denver. It's "like darts, but on steroids," founder Mario Zelaya says. Customers provide their own food and beer and learn how to throw axes at targets. "We'll be bringing along the competitive league side as well. That means that folks in Denver can sign up ... and compete at a global level," Zelaya said.

Smooth Reactions
Did you say french fries or fresh fries? Eiram Chanel Amir Dixson, 25, made a point of ordering fresh french fries at a Coon Rapids, Minn., Wendy's drive-thru in May. When the exchange between the dissatisfied Dixson and a Wendy's worker escalated, the employee threw a soda at Dixson, and Dixson fired back by spraying Mace through the drive-thru window. Police charged Dixson with one count of using tear gas to immobilize.

• Rachel Borch, 21, of Hope, Maine, was out for a run in June when a raccoon attacked her. Thinking quickly, Borch grabbed the animal and, despite being bitten, ran to a puddle on the trail and held its head underwater until it drowned. Bonus: Borch's father retrieved the dead raccoon and delivered it for rabies testing in a Taste of the Wild dog-food bag.

Insult to Injury
It was dark in the wee hours of June 30 in Jacksonville, Fla., and Cedric Jelks, 38, probably never saw the loaded gun on the driver's seat of his car as he got in, but he certainly felt it after the gun went off, wounding his manhood. When police investigating the report of a gunshot wound arrived at the hospital Jelks was taken to, they added possible firearms charges to his pain after discovering he had a prior conviction for cocaine possession.

Why Not?
A driver in Zhenjiang, China, took drive-thru service to the next level on June 10 when he carefully pulled his tiny automobile through the front doors of a convenience store, requested a package of potato chips and a bottle of yogurt, paid for his purchase and reversed through the doors with the cashier's guidance. Surveillance video shows the cashier waving and saluting as the car pulls away. He posited that the driver might have been avoiding getting out of his car in the rain.

Finer Points of the Law
A restaurant owner near Florence, Italy, was ordered to pay 2,000 euros in fines in June after judges in Italy's highest court declared it illegal to keep lobsters on ice in restaurants because it causes them undue suffering. "The suffering caused by detaining the animals while they wait to be cooked cannot be justified," the judges ruled.

• In a fit of law abidance, a resident of Yorkshire, England, called that country's emergency phone number to report that Queen Elizabeth II was not wearing her seatbelt as she departed the Palace of Westminster on June 21 after delivering her traditional speech at the State Opening of Parliament. Police warned that the 999 system is meant to be used only for emergencies.

Bright Ideas
Smoke bombs aren't just for celebrating our nation's birth! Mike Tingley of Grand Blanc Township, Mich., burned his garage to the ground on July 3 when he used smoke bombs to try to rid the structure of a bees' nest. When firefighters from three townships arrived, fireworks stored in the garage were shooting into the sky. "We really weren't going to celebrate the Fourth of July so much," Tingley said. His home, which was not attached to the garage, was not damaged.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Ventura County, Calif., sheriff's officers charged three produce workers with grand theft fruit after they were caught making unauthorized cash sales of avocados from a ripening facility.

Joseph Valenzuela, 38, Carlos Chavez, 28, and Rahim Leblanc, 30, liquidated up to $300,000 worth of off-the-books avocados. "It's a big product here in California," Sgt. John Franchi said. "Everybody loves avocados."

Fashion Emergency
To beat June's record heat, male students at Isca Academy in Exeter, England, protested the school's no-shorts rule by wearing the same uniform skirts the girls wear. One boy said the skirts were "quite refreshing." Another enjoyed the "nice breeze."

• Farther south, in Nantes, France, bus drivers adopted the same skirt-wearing strategy to oppose the bus company's strict no-shorts policy. Temperatures in the region have reached scorching highs this year, and female drivers are allowed to wear skirts. The company responded by allowing "shorts that correspond to the uniform's color scheme of black and beige."

News That Sounds Like a Joke
The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy reported in June that as many as 16.4 million Americans believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. In fact, the center's most frequently asked question on its website is, "Does chocolate milk come from brown cows?" (The answer is no.) Almost half of respondents to the center's survey weren't sure where chocolate milk comes from at all.

Crime Report
A Spencer's store at Park Plaza Mall in Little Rock, Ark., took on a Jerry Springer vibe on June 21 when a disgruntled customer tried to steal a stripper pole. A Spencer's employee chased the woman into the mall and in the ensuing struggle was bitten by the customer, who then relinquished the stripper pole and ran away. At press time, the pole-pilferer was still at large.

Too Much Time on Their Hands
An industrious group of Russian mechanics created a huge fidget spinner by welding parts of three cars together in the shape of the ubiquitous toy. The Garage 54 team, based in Novosibirsk, tried spinning the creation with one person in each car, but eventually had better luck with just one driver.

Recurring Themes
Two unidentified thieves managed to elude capture even after one of them nearly lost his pants during a Wellington, Fla., car break-in. The man, caught on a security camera June 18 while running back to a getaway car, tripped over his pants and landed facedown, clearly yelling, "My pants fell!" He managed to make it to the vehicle, and the thieves have yet to been apprehended.

Divine Revelations
Honduran housewife Iris Suyapa Cáceres Castellanos "felt something coming into my body from the soles of my feet" after finding a flour tortilla with a likeness of Jesus Christ. Since the discovery on June 14, Castellanos' home in Danli has been flooded with pilgrims who want a look at the holy tortilla, including Olga Marina, 71, who said: "You look at the little eyes, the little mustache and his hair. ... Can you imagine? It's a miracle." Castellanos hopes to preserve the savior-y tortilla for the rest of her life.

Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
A brigade from the Sawang Boribun Fire Rescue Center in Pattaya, Thailand, was called to a local hospital on June 24 when doctors needed help extricating a patient from two metal rings stuck on his penis. The patient, 33, who gave his name as Wirat, first said he didn't know how the rings had gotten there, but later admitted that he had been "experimenting" with them. When doctors couldn't dislodge the sex toys, they turned to firefighters, who worked for 30 minutes using pliers and cutting tools to remove them.

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