The picture above shows Inspector Javert faced off against Monsieur Thénardier. Click on the image to see several more screenshots, an explanation for the name "Arm Joe", and a link allowing you to download the game and drop a barricade onto Éponine.

YNetNews.com — New for Hanukkah: Vodka donuts!

The who with the what now?

Alcohol importers in Israel have decided to market their vodka in an original way: By hiring a pastry chef who is also a bartender to create vodka-soaked donuts ahead of the holiday of Hanukkah. "Adults await sufganiyot (Hanukkah donuts) no less than children do," a source from the company that imports "Hortiza", the vodka to be infused into the donuts, said. "Therefore," he added, "we have decided to launch a line of donuts suitable for adults and party-goers."

Naturally, I think that this has to be one of the greatest ideas in the history of ever … except … is it really a good idea for a group of people sitting around up to nine open flames to be eating flammable pastry?

A 100 gram donut, sold at the price of ₪4.5 (about US$1.18), contains 90 milliliters of vodka diluted with jam. The vodka contains 35% alcohol, and the alcohol content of each donut is equal to that of a bottle of beer. In other words, anyone eating more than one vodka donut had better hand over his or her car keys to a friend.

Are you kidding? I want a couple of dozen of these at the next long, boring company meeting.

In order to meet the requirements of the law, the vodka donut will only be sold to adults presenting the appropriate ID. The vodka donut trend seems to be spreading this year, and has also reached many bakeries in lower concentrations.

Spreading is good; I expect my Jewish friends to let me know when these appear locally. However, I cannot in all good conscience approve of that "lower concentrations" phrase. (Thanks to irishrose888 for notifying me of this development.)

Providence, RI — A man who acts as a mascot for the New England Patriots is among 14 people who have been arrested for prostitution-related crimes in Rhode Island since a new law went into effect that banned indoor prostitution…

It's a relatively-little-known fact that, for several years now, "indoor" prostitution has been legal in Rhode Island due to an accidental loophole caused by a poorly-designed law. A defense attorney for one arrested John managed to get his client off by finding and exploiting that loophole (thus getting the client off for the second time); and once the precedent had been set, other judges were throwing out cases which also fit the loophole. Eventually, the police stopped making arrests which they knew weren't going to be upheld. Every year, the RI general assembly tried to pass a law to close the loophole, but they failed for a variety of reasons. The ACLU opposed any attempted to close the loophole, as did some families with Italian-sounding last names. Apparently, just last month, a new law made prostitution a misdemeanor crime "regardless of where it occurs".

State Police say Robert Sormanti of Warwick was among those arrested in an undercover sting at a hotel. The Providence Journal reports Sormanti is among the team's mascots…

I realize that it doesn't count as "furry" since the New England Patriots' mascot isn't an animal (it's a Patriot, duh), but I still think it's funny imagining he was in the costume at the time of the arrest. You know, while that loophole was still in effect, maybe the Patriots should have just used her (NSFW) as their official mascot. A football stadium counts as "indoors", right? (No, wait, they play in Massachusetts. Never mind.)