Sideswipe: August 31: Finally, escape...

A little bull goes a long way

A bull escaped from its pen last week, setting off a panicked scene in the streets of a central Israeli city before entering an office building and evading capture for half an hour as it scampered through the hallways. Bank Leumi said the bull entered its offices in an industrial zone in the city of Lod, near Tel Aviv. Amateur videos showed residents scurrying for safety as the bull roamed the streets. Several cars were damaged, and the bull nearly gored one man who got too close. Inside the building, the animal slid around the tiled floors as it ran through a hallway with several men chasing it. The men unsuccessfully attempted to capture it with a makeshift lasso — a piece of rope that quickly frayed. After being chased out of the bank offices, the bull was tranquilised by city veterinary employees and taken from the area. Despite the chaotic scene, the bank remained bullish. "No one was injured and no damage was caused," it said in a statement.

Stuff of nightmares

How many bones in the human body?

The idea that every person has a tidy 206 bones is sort of a misconception. For one thing, it only applies to adults. Babies are born with somewhere in the range of 270 to 300 bones, some of which are made completely of cartilage. As a baby grows, a bunch of bones fuse together and calcify, decreasing their total bone count. Infants, for example, typically have 33 vertebrae, compared to 24 for adults. Then there's those people who have extra, like a bonus vertebra, the L6, at the base of the lumbar region of their spine. Others have additional sesamoid bones: pea-shaped protrusions in the muscles or tendons near your foot, hand, and wrist joints. Most people have 24 ribs — 12 on each side — but it's not uncommon for someone to have one or two more than that. These cervical ribs are located above the rest of the ribs. In short, 206 is the most common answer to the question, but not the only answer.