Frigid Fiascos Multiply as Mercury Drops

It was a dare that likely won't be taken up again anytime soon, at least by one 10-year-old in the town of Selb, Upper Franconia. On his way to school on Monday morning, while the mercury was hovering at minus 18 degrees Celsius (minus 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit), the boy did what his friends egged him on to do, and stuck his tongue on a metal lamppost. Would it stick?

The answer? Oh yes, and immediately, as the panicked boy painfully found out.

Luckily for him, rescue workers were quickly on the scene, armed with warm water to free the unfortunate, if none-too-clever youth. The boy escaped with little more than bloody lips, something of a shock, and, one hopes, a little more common sense.

Petr Zeman's own cold-weather calamity didn't result from foolish behavior, but the call of nature. The 58-year-old truck driver from the Czech Republic had to go, so he took a bathroom break at a service station while driving through the German town of Lichtenau.

But after closing the door of the public toilet and attending to his business, he found he couldn't open it again. It had iced over in the minus 20 degree weather.

"I thought I was going to die in there, it was so cold," he said. "I kept shouting for help but nobody heard me."

Fortunately for Zeman, another man eventually came to use the toilet and heard his cries for help. He and several other truckers were able to pry open the frozen door and free the chilly Czech.

In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, a man who was desperately trying to defrost a frozen radiator turned to his blow dryer for help. According to police, the 46-year-old left the appliance running unattended in his bedroom for a short time, only to return to find the room in flames. His carelessness resulted in 100,000 euros ($123,000) in damages.

But at least his radiator's now ice-free.