Once a leper colony and quarantine zone, North Brother Island is now home to nothing but crumbling walls and a healthy handful of ghosts missing their eyes and noses. Located a measly 350 yards from the Bronx in appropriately named, Hell Gate, it was shut down in 1963 and has been closed to the public since.

Are you a leper? It may be because of the nine-banded armadillo, and not because you are a sinful blasphemer, as previously believed: Based on new evidence, scientists think that the armadillo carries and can spread leprosy to human populations. DNA tests have matched the leprosy strains of some U.S. patients with those of armadillos—among the only animals that carry the bacteria—and though the majority of cases in the U.S. are contracted in countries with higher instances of the disease, these tests indicate that some American patients contracted leprosy through armadillo exposure. Now: It's unlikely the diseases is transmitted through armadillo-human sex—though it's gross your mind went there immediately—as leprosy isn't sexually transmitted between humans, but Dr. Warwick Britton of the University of Sydney in Australia says that he "would not cuddle armadillos," which strikes us as both an admirable personal confession on the part of Dr. Britton, as well as advice we should all consider following. [AP]

We apologize for taking so long to bring you this Vows news, but we have to admit, we kind of thought this one was boring. Well, we did like the part about how Frances Wu joined an online dating site because, at almost-30, she was worried about being considered a "Christmas cake." (Now we have a new insult for the Sadshaws in our lives!) But other than that: bleh! Rommel Nobay, Frances Wu's intended, speaks a lot of languages and went to many fancy colleges! Mr. Nobay and Ms. Wu both like NPR and bagels! We just fell asleep! Oh, but wait . . . what's going on in this paragraph?