* Latest prices charged by parents to sell their kids (Covington, La., January, $7,400; Orlando, Fla., January, $1,000); latest game of automobile chicken that ended in a tie (Michigan Center, Mich., January, three hospitalized, one in critical condition); latest attempted robbery in which the unarmed perp simulates a gun with his thumb and forefinger but doesn't have his hand in his pocket at the time (La Ronge, Saskatchewan, December, not surprisingly, coming away with no money). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS OF THE WEIRD, founded in 1988, is a nationally syndicated newspaper column distributed by Universal Press Syndicate. To receive the columns by e-mail, free of charge, send a message to notw-request@nine.org with the Subject line of Subscribe. To read these News of the Weird newspaper columns from the past six months, go to http://www.nine.org/notw/notw.html (That site contains no graphics, no photos, no video clips, no audio. Just text. Deal with it.)