Watercooler Stories

Ooh-rah! USMC Mud Run draws 4,500

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif., June 13 (UPI) -- U.S. Marines say more than 4,500 hapless civilians showed up at Camp Pendleton, Calif., to slog across hill, dale and puddle in the annual World Famous Mud Run.

As the name implies, the Mud Run pits contestants against a 6.2-mile course dotted with obstacles, most of which involve mud.

"I just hope they can medevac me out," runner Greg Copeland, 60, Irvine, told the Los Angeles Times at the starting line.

The Times said the Mud Run began in the 1990s as a modest event in an area where foot races ranging from marathons on down take place nearly every weekend. This year, the Mud Run was stretched across two days to accommodate its growing popularity.

Navy Corpsmen treated various cases of strains bruises and heat exhaustion while Marines stationed along the course bellowed out encouragement not to quit.

The reward was self-satisfaction and camaraderie among the filthy finishers. "When you're done and hot and muddy, we've got ice-cold beer and hot barbecue," said base commander Col. Nick Marano.

It's a steal -- mansion reduced to $16M

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., June 13 (UPI) -- A Miami Beach, Fla., mansion, listed for $25 million when it was finished in 2009, has sold for $16 million, a real estate agent said.

The mansion was sold to a German businessman, The Miami Herald reported, but the agent, Nelson Gonzalez of Esslinger Wooten Maxwel, declined to identify him. The German will not move to Miami Beach to live in the mansion, Gonzalez told the newspaper. "It's a vacation home."

The Herald said the 17,200-square-foot home has two docks, a staff house, a five-car garage, a marble staircase and an elevator.

Despite the reduced price, the Herald said it was the most expensive residential housing deal in Miami-Dade since Shaquille O'Neal's home was sold for $16 million last year.

Once again, horses prove faster than men

LLANWRTYD WELLS, Wales, June 12 (UPI) -- As has happened almost every year since 1980, a horse won the annual Man vs. Horse race Saturday in Wales.

Sly Dai covered 22 miles of mixed terrain on the edge of the Brecon Beacons in 2 hours and 7 minutes, The Daily Telegraph reported. The fastest human in the race was 10 minutes slower.

"It's great to have won," said Llinos Jones, who rode her own horse past the finish line. "I'm a local girl and I've been coming to see the race since I was a little girl but this was the first time I've competed so I'm really happy."

This year's field was a large one with 283 humans, 60 relay teams with three runners each and 44 horses.

The race began in 1980 to settle an argument in the local pub about whether a man or horse would do better over a long distance.

Race organizers say the humans have been doing better. The first horse won with 30 minutes to spare, a lead time that has been cut to a few seconds in some races.

In 2004, Huw Lobb, a champion marathoner, became the first man to beat the horses, a feat that has been matched once since.

The Times rules: Out with the 'tweets'

NEW YORK, June 12 (UPI) -- New York Times readers who come across the word "tweet" will know they are reading about birds, at least for the foreseeable future.

Phil Corbett, the Times standards editor, laid down the law this week in a memo, the New York-based Web site, The Awl, reported.

"Some social-media fans may disagree, but outside of ornithological contexts, 'tweet' has not yet achieved the status of standard English," Corbett wrote. "And standard English is what we should use in news articles."

Corbett said "tweet," whether used as a verb for the act of sending a Twitter message or a noun for the message itself, is a colloquialism, a neologism and jargon. The Times tries to avoid words that are any one of those things, let alone all three.

But he said the word had popped up 18 times in a single month in the Times.

Corbett also wondered if "tweets" have staying power: "Someday, 'tweet' may be as common as 'e-mail.' Or another service may elbow Twitter aside next year, and 'tweet' may fade into oblivion."