Ridiculous? You make the call.

Okay, I can understand where you'd get downright Sikh (hah-hah) of being confused with Osama Bin Laden all the time. Wear a turban, raise awareness. To understand what it feels like to be identified as a member of a different faith, non-Sikhs - including the Jewish mayor of Fremont and a Catholic state assemblyman - plan to wrap their heads in brightly colored cloth this weekend as part of "Sikh Turban Day," an international movement launched five years ago.

"I said, 'Sure, I'll do it,' " said Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman, who plans to show up early to the Fremont Sikh temple Sunday to get help winding the long piece of turban cloth around his head.

Wearing a turban is a first for Wasserman, who is Jewish. "It's just a way of showing unity and understanding for each other's culture," he said.

Out of work? Need a job? In the Netherlands you'll have to visit your past lives first. Maastricht Sends the Jobless to Reincarnation Therapy. The municipality of Maastricht has pressurised unemployed people to follow reincarnation therapy. Uncooperative welfare recipients were told that their attitude could have consequences for their allowance, local newspaper De Limburger reported Friday.

The Social Services, which grants allowances and attempts to get recipients back to work, urged at least one unemployed resident of Maastricht to accept the guidance of a reincarnation therapist. Returning' to a previous life, would supposedly help them regain their balance and enhance their chances of finding work.

Unh-huh. Operatic Oddity: Thirty Naked Pensioners at Ground Zero. For Americans, the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York is hallowed ground. For a theater in Germany, though, its the perfect setting for a provocative production of Verdi's "A Masked Ball" -- one that includes naked retirees, Mickey Mouse masks and burning Uncle Sam hats.
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