To curb the wave of crimes in the national capital, Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier made a book on social epidemics a required reading for police officers. The book is "Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. Its about New York City's efforts to stop its transit system from further decay by cleaning up its graffiti.

A famous author offered her $1. 25 million mansion in Ocala, Florida as top prize for a pet essay writing contest. The generous donor is Clementina Marie Giovannetti, who has several bestsellers including "Clementina's Love Story: Diary of a Healer", "Caesar: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told By A Dog," "Oh Fair Maiden" and "The Best-Selling Guide To Dream Interpretation. "

Pierre-Louis Colin, a speechwriter for the French foreign minister has written a new tourist guide on where best to ogle 'les parisiennes' or Frenchwomen. The 190-page book Guide des jolies femmes de Paris, which was released last month, lists the best places to ogle gorgeous women in the city. Colin has singled out bars, parks, metro trains and times of day to observe women in Paris.

The 1998 movie, "Fight Club', based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk, published in 1996, may have seemed far fetched, but it struck a chord with men who say they feel emasculated by the mundaneness of the corporate, high-tech world. ESPN reported that since 1998, a fight club has been meeting once a month in Cornell educated software engineer, Gints Klimani's, garage. Fifteen men, mostly white, middle-aged technology workers meet to beat each other using fists, toilet seats, and cookie sheets. The group improvises weapons, even stabbing each other with dulled knives.

Albert Hofmann, the inventor of the mind-altering drug LSD, died Tuesday at the age of 102. Hofmann was a Swiss chemist who discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 by accident in 1938 while studying the medicinal ingredients in plants. One April day in 1938 a bit of LSD seeped onto his finger. That's when he discovered the psychedelic effects of the drug.