I read it in the tabloids

■ A Connecticut man ditched his shoes nearly two decades ago and has gone barefoot year-round ever since. Joseph DeRuvo Jr. of Norwalk first went shoeless while awaiting surgery for painful bunions, but felt so much better that he canceled the surgery and went barefoot permanently.The Pilates instructor is daunted by neither snow, ice, nor broken glass, but his wife acknowledges the pair “get thrown out of a lot of places” after other customers complain. “Navigating the terrain is easy,” he said. “Navigating people is tricky.”

■ A University of South Florida biomedical engineering professor is living underwater for 100 days to test the effects on his body. Since March 1, former Navy diver Joe Dituri has been living in a pressured environment in Jules’ Undersea Lodge, a 100-square-foot habitat 25 feet below the surface in Key Largo. Dituri, who’ll be monitored by psychologists, believes pressurized environments could fight aging-related disease. “I am going to come out superhuman,” he joked.

■ A North Carolina building inspector made a surprise discovery in the third-floor attic of a home under construction—a live, 8-foot alligator. “I thought it was a stuffed animal that someone threw up there as a joke,” said Dean Brown. When he was “about two feet from stepping on its head,” the sleeping gator’s eyes popped open. He backed away and told the construction crew of his find. “They thought I was crazy,” Brown said. Animal control removed the gator, which evidently climbed three floors after wandering over from a nearby marsh.