Some short ones...

• Here is a brief sample of some allegedly true but certainly eccentric news stories that lend themselves to role play in a practical way because they are so short...
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A man sued his doctor because he survived his cancer longer than the doctor predicted.

• Two robbers were in the process of their crime when one changed his mind and arrested the other.

• A woman had her husband's ashes made into an egg timer when he died so he could still "help" in the kitchen.
  
  
• Only 68 of 200 Anglican priests polled could name all Ten Commandments, but half said they believed in space aliens.

Enough said...

This not exactly a news story, but it's interesting and should be make for a challenging (?) role play and quiz.

Poker players

Run Out Of Money, Get Tossed Out A Plane

Just think about what would happen if they caught you cheating...

As if putting up $10,000 for a chance to sit down at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) wasn't big enough thrill for poker pro Phil Laak, today he and four InterPoker.com players embarked on the most adrenaline inducing poker tournament to ever be held in Sin City. Just days before the main event at the WSOP, and at 15,000 feet above Las Vegas, Laak, Nick Grudzien, Jamie Glasser, Fraser Linkletter and Patrick Neary went head to head in an electric game of Extreme Poker, in which four losers were literally thrown out of the plane -- with a parachute of course.

"Extreme Poker is all about keeping your cool under extreme duress -- and I can't think of a more stressful situation than knowing that you must fall 15,000 feet from a moving aircraft if your opponent calls your bluff," said Peter Marcus, spokesperson for InterPoker.com and creator of Extreme Poker. "Trying to concentrate in a bustling casino during the World Series of Poker is tough -- but after taking a bad beat and plunging to the desert below, the main event should be a walk in the park for our InterPoker players.

After fifteen minutes of flying, online qualifier Patrick Neary was the first to bust out and be pushed out the door. Minutes later, Nick Grudzien called an all-in move from Phil Laak, and sent the Unabomber packing his chute and freefalling above the desert.

"The pressure in this game was unbelievable, knowing that if someone called my bluff, I would have to jump out of a plane," said Laak. "Now that I'm done, I want to get right back up there and do it again."

Grudzien made quick work of his remaining two opponents, and emerged from the plane the latest Extreme Poker champion. After landing with the plane and thanking his competitors, Grudzien promptly re-boarded the plane for a personal skydiving adventure. As the newest Extreme Poker Champion, Grudzien not only has earned a place in the Extreme Poker Hall of Fame, alongside pros such as World Poker Tour event winner Juha Helppi and 2002 WSOP Main Event winner Robert Varkonyi, he will also receive a buy in and all expense paid trip to the 2006 Caribbean Poker Classic in St. Kitts, a package valued at $13,000.

"Everything about this tournament was extreme -- the height, the heat of the Vegas desert and the amazing skill of my competitors," said Grudzien. "I can honestly say this has been one of the toughest tournaments of my life, and I am grateful to InterPoker.com for giving me the opportunity to come to the World Series of Poker and participate in Loser's Leap, as well as the chance to unwind and play some poker in the Caribbean later this year."

Later this week, Grudzien will test his luck and put his skills to the test and he competes against over 6,000 poker pros and online qualifiers and the biggest World Series of Poker in history.

Wimbledon 'yoghurt row'

STRAWBERRIES AND EXCLUSIVELY MULLER-BRAND CREAM:
(Taken from "This is true" newsletter.)

Marilyn Still, 57, of Brighton, England, arrived at the All England Club to watch the tennis tournament at Wimbledon. But she was stopped over her contraband. Drugs? Weapons? No: two tubs of yogurt. They were the wrong brand; Muller was the "official" yogurt of the games, she was told. "I couldn't believe it," Still said. A Club spokesman called the practice "common policy across sports events" since "companies pay for the privilege to be associated with these events. It is not right that a potential competitor should be allowed to use the television coverage to push their own brand."

Still she should consider herself lucky: at the World Cup match, several thousand Dutch fans had their orange lederhosen emblazoned with the logo of a Dutch brewer confiscated; they watched the game sitting in their underwear.
(London Daily Mail)

Role play a conversation between Marilyn and a / some Dutch soccer fan(s).

The other students have to identify the characters, the events and what happened and give their opinions.

Optional 'in-character' interviews of the role players.

Dave