A Cornish man claimed to have kept awake for 11 days straight in an attempt to better the Guinness record for sleep deprivation. The 42-year-old horticulturist, Tony Wright had begun his "stay awake" program on May 14 as part of his research on relationship between physical state and sleep. He had undertaken similar experiments in the past but for lesser durations.

An 18-year-old California woman, who was apparently under intense pressure from her family to get into a good school but could not get admission, decided to make her wish come true by faking it. The woman, who is known as Azia Khan to fellow students, not only posed as a Stanford University student for a month but she also lived in dorms, ate in dining halls and pretended to worry about exams. Khan in reality graduated in 2006 from Troy High School in Orange County.

It isn't often that a man asks for sympathy because he is addicted to pornographic Web sites. That might be a good because it's revealing such an addiction is more likely to generate disgust than sympathy. Except if the sex addict was feeding his habit at work while being paid by his employer to work. Then such an addiction is likely to generate unemployment, as was the case with an American working for IBM. When James Pacenza, 58, was caught using an online sex chat room at work, IBM fired him. But Pacenza, a Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, claims IBM should have kept him on and given him sympathy instead of giving him a pink slip.

A 77-year-old father and grandfather in Concord, New Hampshire is being inundated with calls from people who think he is Brad Pitt. Retired teacher Richard Perkins, father of three and grandfather of three, doesn't have a clue how his phone number was posted on the Web Site Students of the World as Brad Pitt's number. The Web site belongs to six French teenagers who share numbers of their favorite celebrities.

A 1999 Volkswagon Golf claimed to be previously owned by Pope Benedict XVI is listed for sale on eBay. com for the second time in recent years. The black five-door sedan is being sold by the GoldenPalace. com, an online casino noted for buying unusual items. Nearly 70 bidders have thus far named their prices for the car with only a few hours left until the auction ends this afternoon. Photos of the car's registration list "Josef Cardinal Ratzinger" as the vehicle's original owner. Shortly before Benedict XVI became head of the Catholic Church, he reportedly sold the car in 1999 to an Italian man who did not know the car would soon become linked to the current Pope.