Moscow, Russia -- A Russian man blew up his apartment while trying to clean a pair of pants with gasoline. According to Itar-Tass news agency, the man was trying to remove a stubborn paint stain so he poured a quarter-gallon of gas into his washing machine, which caused the machine to combust.

TOKYO -- Enough millipedes swarmed the tracks of a train in Osaka, Japan, that it brought a one-car train, ascending a slope, to a skidding halt. It's not clear how many crushed millipedes it took to stop the train, but reports say it was an "enormous amount."

MERIDIAN, Miss. -- Subway pitchman Jared Fogle recently found himself in a pickle. The slimmed-down superstar was in Mississippi for an early-morning publicity appearance and could not find a restaurant where he was allowed buy a cup of coffee. It seems Jared's contract keeps him from eating at other "Quick Service Restaurants" competing with Subway, so he had to pass up spots like McDonald's, Wendy's and Pizza Hut without getting his caffeine fix. The "Washington Post" reports Jared finally caved in and bought some coffee at a quickie mart.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Reality TV is now a topic of examination for academics. Freshman students at Indiana University in Bloomington are taking a course titled "The (Sur)Real World of Reality TV." Scholars who take the class study the reality show trend from various perspectives, including historical, psychological and ethical.

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