Triple-dog dare: This year's Flick lives in Boise

pole position

Triple-dog dare: This year's Flick lives in Boise

It has become an annual winter tale: A young boy gets his tongue stuck to a metal pole, perhaps as the result of a dare. This year, the scene straight out of the movie A Christmas Story unfolded Tuesday morning in Boise, Idaho, with a boy of about 10. Firefighters used a glass of warm water to free the unidentified boy from the metal fence pole. Fire Capt. Bill Tinsley says the boy's tongue was bleeding a little, but he was okay and went on to school. A woman driving by saw the boy standing there, figured out what was going on and called 911. Tinsley said there were no other kids around when firefighters arrived. Last year, the unlucky boy was a 10-year-old from Hammond, Ind., especially apt, since the 1983 movie is set in a fictional city based on Hammond.

Tricky fingers

Caught once? Just swap fingerprints

A Chinese woman managed to enter Japan illegally by having plastic surgery to alter her fingerprints, thus fooling immigration controls, police say. Lin Rong, 27, had previously been deported from Japan for overstaying her visa. She was discovered when she was arrested on separate charges. Tokyo police said she had paid $15,000 to have the surgery in China. Local media reports said Lin had undergone surgery to swap the fingerprints from her right and left hands. Skin patches on her thumbs and index fingers were removed and then grafted onto the matching digits of the opposite hand. Police noticed Lin's fingers had unnatural scars when she was arrested last month for allegedly faking a marriage to a Japanese man.

Drunken driving

Horse's slow gait gives driver away

A slow-moving horse and buggy led to the drunken driving arrest of an Amish man Sunday night. Elmer Stoltzfoos Fisher, 22, of Paradise, Pa., was found slumped over and asleep in his buggy after a police officer came up behind his buggy, which was moving at a walking pace. The horse was pulling the buggy along the road, straddling the center line. The officer stopped his car, and his passenger approached the buggy on foot and stopped the horse. Police said Fisher displayed signs of intoxication, and a breath test showed his alcohol level at 0.18 percent.

Tweet of the day

He can't spell yet, but he can Tweet

Last week, the more than a million people following Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on Twitter were treated to the following:

Support #WorldAidsDay, add a #twibbon to your avatar now - http://bit.ly/8j5HSO

8:19 AM Dec 1st from Twibbon

fvdfzsrsazxzzxcvbnmadgfhjjkqwrtyuuuiop

12:04 PM Dec 1st from web

and in the future I will turn my computer off when I am not using it - to save energy and avoid junior tweet interference

1:09 PM Dec 1st from web

The Browns' 3-year-old son, James Fraser, had managed to fire off the myserious message.

Compiled from Times wire services and other sources .