Terrier loyalty, and more

Good week for:

Loyalty, after a Florida man dove into the water to save his small pet terrier from being eaten by a shark. Greg LeNoir fought off the 5-foot-long predator with his fists.

Health-food stores, after Italian researchers isolated an erection-inducing plant compound in a widely sold Chinese herb known as Horny Goat Weed. The compound, icariin, may be as effective as Viagra, researchers said.

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Michael Beaudet of Key West, Fla., who was rescued from his disabled sailboat after being adrift for six days. “First the rum ran out, then the cigarettes ran out, then the food ran out, and then the water ran out,” said Beaudet. “Thank God for the rain.”

Bad week for:

Biological warfare, after a West Virginia man was charged with battery on a police officer for passing gas in the direction of the cop who had pulled him over for drunken driving. A prosecutor later dropped the battery charge.

Ordering the shrimp salad, after a Pennsylvania Holiday Inn was fined for storing food in an empty guest room because its refrigerator had broken down. Employees assured health inspectors that they had turned the air conditioner all the way up.

Following orders, after a New York man drove his car onto train tracks because his GPS device told him to. The man and his son managed to scramble out of the car before it was demolished by a commuter train. “At least he had the sense to get out of the car,” said a railroad spokeswoman, noting that the GPS device did not help the motorist make that decision.