Meet the NYU Streaker and other Pre-Weekend Weirdness

Here are a few of the nuttier stories in today's tabloids. Give yourself something to talk about while out and about this weekend:

Rocky should have come equipped with a gun The Post devotes 2/3 of page 5 to the saga of a raccoon trapped in a tree on E. 88th and First Avenue. The varmint was shot with tranquilizer darts in an attempt to safely get him out of the tree. Unfortunately, the darts were shot too deeply into the critter's skin, so he ended up being euthanized. More disturbing is the allegations that cops were joking about harpooning the raccoon.

Has he lost his mind? The Daily News introduces us to Rex Jameson, a software engineer who has made his own aluminum/electronic exoskeleton a la the blockbuster Iron Man. The suit allows Jameson to do as many of 500(!) repetitions of 200-lb. benchpresses. Watch out, Robert Downey Jr.!

Face the consequences The Daily News talks to the knucklehead who ran the bases at Yankee Stadium during graduation. He's been banned from a salute to NYU film students at Madison Square Garden tomorrow. He still doesn't regret the stunt, calling it "the best moment of my life."

Now that's a diet I can get behind The Post has been covering the bribery controversy surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The case takes a bizarre turn today as the paper reports that Slim-Fast founder S. Daniel Abraham funneled money to Olmert using cases of the diet drink that were stuffed with cash. Who wouldn't have a shake for breakfast and lunch with that kind of monetary motivation?

Finally, next week the Post's weekday editions increase their price to 50 cents. Arrange your pocket change accordingly. The paper is blaming "increased production and transportation costs."