A sink faucet is the only thing left standing in the kitchen of James Abney's home after it was struck by a tornado associated with Hurricane Ivan, in Marianna, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 18. Abney was in his home when the tornado hit earlier this week. Abney is pictured bottom left. On Monday, Oct. 11, Delta Faucet, which made the fixture, gave Abney $10,000 toward a down payment on his new home in Abbeville, Ala.
Kendall Shaw, 3, from Palo Alto, Calif., plays on the winning pumpkin in the 31st Annual World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif., Monday, Oct. 11. At left are friends Honoka Kishino, 3, from Sunnyvale, Calif., and Tina Sato, 3, from Santa Clara, Calif. Joel Holland, from Puyallup, Wash., won with his 1,229 Atlantic Giant pumpkin with a prize of $6,145.
Washington artist Kayti Didriksen's painting "Man of Leisure, King George" depicts President Bush in the well-known style of Manet's "Olympia", as he is presented with his crown by a depiction of Vice President Dick Cheney. The cartoonish painting has been taken down from the wall at the City Museum of Washington, awaiting a more welcoming venue.
Carmen Cortez, 2, right, and Claire Wiedenfeld, 3, look at the ceramic ground mural at the entrance to the Livermore Library next to a misspelled Albert Einstein in Livermore, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 6. The city of Livermore paid $40,000 for the artwork by Maria Alquilar, but it included the misspellings of Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo, Shakespeare and Einstein among the 175 names on the tiles.
Spink auctioneers employee Jill Potterton holds up an Anglo-Saxon gold penny in their central London office Monday Oct. 4. The 1,200-year-old Anglo-Saxon penny sold for $409,000 Wednesday, Oct. 6, setting what the auction house said was a new world record for the most expensive British coin.
Zen, who is two, looks over the shoulder of her mother Kerra Fowler who has an anti-bush tattoo, Monday, Oct. 5, in Bedford, Ind.
Anne Baker's creation "Hef and the Bunny and the Mansion,'' featuring a blue-eyed Barbie in a Playboy bunny outfit, serving drinks to Hugh Hefner (played by Ken), is photographed Sept. 29, in Pittsboro, N.C. Baker has coerced Barbie and her friends to ditch the sequin gowns and pink roadsters for sexy outfits, outrageous poses and delinquent behavior.
Junko Suzuki, a radio DJ, demonstrates how she sleeps with a "Boyfriend's Arm Pillow" in Tokyo, Sept. 24. The pillow manufactured by linen maker Kameo Corp. consists of a headless torso and a stuffed arm that curls around the sleeper. It might make some people uneasy but have sold about 1,000 in Japan since the product went on the market last December.
A fiberglass statue of Jesus Christ from a crucifix leans against the wall of a small evidence room at the Eagle Pass Police Department in Eagle Pass, Texas, Sept. 23. The religious icon was found floating on the Rio Grande a few weeks ago by the U.S. Border Patrol. They turned it over to the police to be held in the evidence room for 90 days. Several religious groups have expressed interest in keeping the icon.
Dallas-based Alumnigolf.com has finally made it possible to get teed off and smack the presidential candidates in the head with a golf club without going to jail. Shown at the Ellis Park Golf Course in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Monday Sept. 20. The Ellis pro shop has stocked the tees for about a month and has almost sold out of them.
Katherine Williams holds a yellow ducky vibrating bath sponge Tuesday, Oct. 12, outside the Spring Hill City Hall in Nashville, Tenn. Williams, whose Passions & Pleasures business sells lotions and adult novelties at in-home parties, said the sponge she put on sale at a flea market is merely a child's toy. City officials say it's a sex toy but ultimately backed off from citing Williams for violating the city's sexually oriented business ordinance.
A super guinea pig with her litter looks on at Agrarian University in Lima, Peru on Friday, Oct. 15. After 34 years of patient tinkering, researchers at Peru's most prestigious agrarian university have bred a new culinary export they hope will scamper onto dinner plates throughout America and the world: the super guinea pig.
Some of the participants in an Underwater Pumpkin Carving Contest show their creations Oct. 23, 25 feet beneath the sea's surface in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary about eight miles off Key Largo, Fla. The wacky event was the brainchild of a local dive resort. Participants were judged on design originality, steadiness of carving hand and scuba skills.
Kyle Mahowald, 17, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Oct. 19 in Miami. Mahowald, is the youngest person to create a Sunday crossword in the New York Times. His work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.