News of the Weird and Unexplained

Electrician hit by 11,000 volt blast saved by his watch

2009-11-24T17:39:00.000-08:00

An electrician has revealed that his wristwatch might have saved his life after he was hit with 11,000 volts while working.

Steve Edwards, 51, spent five days in intensive care being treated for burns to his face, chest, neck and arms after the horrific incident.

The father-of-four, from Bristol, puts his early recovery after the shock on September 18 down to the skill of nurses - and his metal watch.

The cable jointer, from Bedminster Down, was connecting a high-voltage switch, thinking the power was off, when the charge went through his body.

Mr Edwards said: 'I should have died from an 11,000-volt explosion - I think it was my watch that took the electricity down to earth rather than my body.

'After I was burnt, I was fully aware of what was going on - I can remember coming away and trying to put myself out and then my colleagues threw me on the floor.'

Link

Kangaroo tries to drown dog, attacks owner

2009-11-23T05:25:00.000-08:00

A kangaroo startled by a man walking his dog attacked the pair, pinning the pet underwater and slashing the owner in the abdomen with its hind legs.

The Australian, Chris Rickard, was in stable condition Monday after the attack, which ended when the 49-year-old elbowed the kangaroo in the throat. He said he was walking his blue heeler, Rocky, on Sunday morning when they surprised a sleeping kangaroo in Arthur's Creek northeast of Melbourne. The dog chased the animal into a pond, when the kangaroo turned and pinned the pet underwater.

When Rickard tried to pull his dog free, the kangaroo turned on him, attacking with its hind legs and tearing a deep gash into his abdomen and across his face.

"I thought I might take a hit or two dragging the dog out from under his grip, but I didn't expect him to actually attack me," Rickard, 49, told The Herald Sun newspaper. "It was a shock at the start because it was a kangaroo, about 5 feet high, they don't go around killing people."

Kangaroos rarely attack people but will fight if they feel threatened.

Winston Churchill D-Day cigar discovered

2009-11-21T06:09:00.000-08:00

The cigar has now been valued at £800 by an expert during the filming of the Antiques Roadshow.

Student Christian Williams, 33, was given the cigar when he was just 12 by his grandad Ronald Williams, a WWII veteran.

At over six inches long the cigar has never been touched by its owner, who keeps it safe in a sturdy wooden box.

It was taken from a historic meeting between Churchill and the other Allied leaders at the famous Casablanca Conference.

Placecards bearing the names of the world leaders taken with the cigar from the conference combined with Mr William senior's testimony helped the authentication of the cigar.

Mr Williams, a student at Lincoln College who lives in nearby Horncastle, said he felt like he owned a piece of history.

He said: "I've kept the cigar a secret and completely to myself since my grandad gave it to me all those years ago.

Link

Alleged burglar warms up bottle for crying baby

2009-11-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

An 18-year-old is in police custody after he warmed up a bottle for a crying baby inside the house he was allegedly robbing. Indianapolis police arrested the suspect at Arlington High School on Tuesday after receiving a tip from a television viewer saw surveillance video on a newscast.

Detectives said two suspects forced their way into a home on Friday morning and began ransacking the house. Police said that when a baby started crying, one of them warmed a bottle in a microwave oven and gave it to a child to feed the baby.

The suspect was being held on charges of burglary, robbery, criminal confinement and pointing a firearm.

Link

'Captain America' wins rock-paper-scissors title

2009-11-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

A Michigan man has won the world Rock Paper Scissors championship in Toronto. Tim Conrad clinched the title after five hours of play and nine matches at the Steam Whistle Brewery on Saturday night.

Facing off against his best friend in the first all-American final in championship history, Conrad beat Tom Butkin with paper covering rock.

Organizers say Conrad dressed as Captain America during the competition to honor his home country.

Conrad takes home $7,000 in prize money.

Link

Fla. police seek alleged bad breath bank robber

2009-11-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

Authorities in Florida are searching for an alleged bank robber with "notably bad breath" who asked a teller to fill an orange Halloween bag with cash.

The Broward County sheriff's office says the man wore sunglasses when he held up the TD Bank branch in South Florida on Monday morning.

The man told a teller to fill the bag with cash and motioned toward his waistband. The teller didn't see a gun during the heist.

Authorities believe the man fled the scene in a white Honda Accord.

Link

Mona Lisa 'had eyebrows'

2009-11-16T06:02:00.000-08:00

Pascal Cotte said Leonardo built the painting up in layers, the last being a special glaze whose optical properties increased the illusion of a three-dimensional face. Above the glaze Leonardo painted details such as the eyebrows.

Cotte said: "That could explain why the eyebrows have disappeared – they have faded because of chemical reactions or they have been cleaned off."

He has uncovered a host of secrets about the Mona Lisa using a 240 megapixel camera. It can measure light so sensitively as to see through the top paint surface and uncover the layers below.

For example, infra-red imaging shows Leonardo moved the position of a finger on the left hand "to give a more relaxed position, consistent with the smile", Cotte said.

Link

Overdue library books returned half century later

2009-11-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

A high school librarian in Phoenix says a former student at the school returned two overdue books checked out 51 years ago along with a $1,000 money order to cover the fines.

Camelback High School librarian Georgette Bordine says the two Audubon Society books checked out in 1959 and the money order were sent by someone who wanted to remain anonymous.

Bordine says the letter explained that the borrower's family moved to another state and the books were mistakenly packed.

The letter said the money order was to cover fines of 2 cents per day for each book. That would total about $745. The letter says the extra money was added in case the rates had changed.

Bordine says the money will buy more books, and the overdue books will be returned to the shelves.

http://www.kpho.com

Man calls 911 looking for sex

2009-11-13T12:37:00.000-08:00

Tampa Police say Joshua Basso called 911 early Wednesday morning. But this was no emergency; at least not as far as police were concerned.

"He called up and asked her if she had a nice chest area, to put it in politically correct terms," according to Laura McElroy with The Tampa Police Dept.

Basso they say, was looking for sex. He made approximately four attempts to get it by calling 911.

Here is a snippet of the call:

Operator: Tampa Police, 911, what's your emergency?
Caller: What's up? Um, can I talk to you for a sec?
Caller: What are you wearing?
Caller: You got a nice butt?

Most of the 911 calls are not suitable for broadcast. Even through some rough language and heavy breathing, police say the operator was able to keep her composure to track Basso down.

Operator: Give me the address and I can get you some help.
Caller: You gonna get me some help?
Operator: Yeah if you give me your address.
Caller: You're going to come see me?
Operator: Yeah.

Police went to see him alright. When they showed up at his apartment on North Nebraska Ave., he had locked himself in the bathroom.

Link

Man provides photo for his own wanted poster

2009-11-12T08:36:00.000-08:00

A British man on the run from police sent a picture of himself to his local paper because he disliked the mugshot they had printed of him as part of a public appeal to track him down.

South Wales Police had issued media with the photo of Matthew Maynard, wanted by officers investigating a house burglary, as part of a crackdown on crime in Swansea.

When it appeared in the South Wales Evening Post, the 23-year-old sent the newspaper a replacement photo of himself standing in front of a police van. They obligingly printed it on the front page.

The police thanked him for helping them in their appeal, saying: "Everyone in Swansea will know what he looks like now."

Link

Woman diagnosed with fear of vegetables

2009-11-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

Vicki Larrieux, a 22-year-old student from Portsmouth, claims she is unable to keep to a healthy diet because she is frightened of vegetables.

She suffers from a fear known as lachanophobia, which leaves her sweating and stricken with panic attacks at the merest sight of a sprout or a pea.

Miss Larrieux survives on a diet of meat, potatoes, cereals and an occasional apple but refuses even a single slice of carrot on her dinner plate.

"I have always had an irrational fear of vegetables even as a child I used to properly freak out if some carrots or a few peas were on my plate," she said.

"But as it continued into adult life I started to think it might not just be a dislike for vegetables but an actual phobia.

"Every time I would see vegetables not just on my plate, but anywhere I would get feelings of panic, start sweating and my heart rate would shoot up.

"People might think it is a bit of a laughable affliction but I have a genuine fear of greens it's not just that I dislike the taste of sprouts or broccoli, but the actual sight of them fills me with dread and I could never touch them."

Link

Villagers confine rare turtle, say it is God

2009-11-10T05:38:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of poor Hindu villagers in eastern India have refused to hand over a rare turtle to authorities, saying it is an incarnation of God, officials said on Tuesday.

Villagers chanting hymns and carrying garlands, bowls of rice and fruits are pouring in from remote villages to a temple in Kendrapara, a coastal district in eastern Orissa state.

Policemen have struggled to control the gathering and have failed to persuade the villagers to give up the sea turtle.

"We have asked the villagers to hand it over as it is illegal to confine a turtle, but they are refusing," said P.K. Behera, a senior government wildlife official.

The turtle is protected in India and anyone found keeping one without permission can be jailed for a year or more and fined.

But adamant villagers have refused to give up the reptile, saying the turtle bears holy symbols on its back and is an incarnation of Lord Jagannath, a popular Hindu deity.

Link

Odd Signs

2009-11-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

Large Hadron Collider broken by bread dropped by passing bird

2009-11-08T04:53:00.000-08:00

The 27-kilometer (16.8 mile) LHC suffered serious overheating in several sections after the small piece of baguette landed in a piece of equipment on the surface above the accelerator ring.

Dr Mike Lamont, the LHC’s Machine Coordinator, said that a “a bit of baguette”, believed to have been dropped by a bird, caused the superconducting magnets to heat up from 1.9 Kelvin (-271.1C) to around 8 Kelvin (-265C), near the mark where they stop superconducting.

A failure like this, known as a “quench”, can be expected at around 9.6 Kelvin, CERN engineer Dr Tadeusz Kurtyka told The Register.

In theory, had the LHC been fully operational, this could cause a catastrophic breakdown like that which occurred shortly after it was first switched on last year. However, the machine has several fail-safes which would have shut it down before the temperature rose too high.

This would have forced it out of action for a few days, but nothing like the year-long breakdown last year’s quench caused.

As it is, the LHC was only undergoing test firing. Full particle-smashing duties are scheduled to restart this month.

Link

Woman Calls 911, Says Boyfriend Won't Marry Her

2009-11-06T17:15:00.000-08:00

Clarksville police said they arrested a woman on Wednesday morning after she repeatedly made non-emergency calls to the city's 911 system.

Hee Orama, 34, was arrested after police said she recently made frequent calls to 911 complaining about a man lying to her about marrying her.

Police said they responded to two calls from Orama and explained that this was not an emergency situation and to stop calling.

Orama then called again and was cited by police and told she would be arrested if she kept calling them with non-emergencies.

Police said the woman then called a 911 dispatcher a few minutes later but would not say why she called. Police then arrested Orama and took her to the Montgomery County Jail.

Orama's bond was set at $250.

Police said Orama's calls cost city workers many hours addressing the situation. 911 supervisor Julie Vogle said they receive non-emergency calls frequently, which often forces two or three officers to respond.

"If the officers are running emergency traffic, that's putting several lives in danger, including the citizens," said Vogle.

Police said they also arrested Orama last week for repeatedly calling 911 because she couldn't find her car.

Link to story: http://www.wsmv.com/news/21521559/detail.html

South Korean woman passes driver's exam on 950th try

2009-11-06T04:53:00.000-08:00

A woman in South Korea who tried to pass the written exam for a driver's license with near-daily attempts since April 2005 has finally succeeded on her 950th time.

The aspiring driver spent more than 5 million won ($4,200) in application fees, but until now had failed to score the minimum 60 out of a possible 100 points needed to get behind the wheel for a driving test.

Cha Sa-soon, 68, finally passed the written exam with a score of 60 on Wednesday, said Choi Young-chul, a police official at the drivers' license agency in Jeonju, 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of Seoul.

Police said Cha took the test hundreds of times, but had no specific total. Local media said she took the test 950 times.

Now she must pass a driving test before getting her license, Choi said.

Link

Woman pleads guilty in road rage dressing case

2009-11-05T03:25:00.000-08:00

An Idaho woman accused of ramming her pickup into another car, then hurling ranch salad dressing at the vehicle, has pleaded guilty to aggravated battery. Tiffany M. Wallace, 18, entered the plea in 4th District Court Monday in a deal with prosecutors. The Idaho Statesman reported Wallace was scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 11.

Wallace was arrested June 1 after police said she used her truck to ram a sedan several times over a road rage episode. The driver of the other car told police the encounter began after he was cut off by Wallace. He said she later cut him off again, yelled at him and threw coins and plastic containers of ranch dressing at his car.

The victim said the woman later rammed his car at least three times in a parking lot.

Link

Somali man, '112', weds girl, 17

2009-11-04T05:52:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of people have attended a wedding in central Somalia between a man who says he is 112 years old, and his teenage wife.

Ahmed Muhamed Dore - who already has 13 children by five wives - said he would like to have more with his new wife, Safia Abdulleh, who is 17 years old.

"Today God helped me realise my dream," Mr Dore said, after the wedding in the region of Galguduud.

The bride's family said she was "happy with her new husband".

Mr Dore said he and his bride - who is young enough to be his great-great-grand-daughter - were from the same village in Somalia and that he had waited for her to grow up to propose.

"I didn't force her, but used my experience to convince her of my love; and then we agreed to marry," the groom said.

Link

Space hotel says it's on schedule to open in 2012

2009-11-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost $4.4 million for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. They would wear Velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.

Link

Pumpkins Stolen, Returned Carved

2009-11-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

Someone played a Halloween trick on at least two Virginia families: stealing pumpkins from front porches and returning them carved.

Chrissi Blasius of Manassas says that she had a basketball-sized pumpkin on her front porch. It was taken and returned with: "two triangle eyes, a triangle nose and a mouth with two teeth missing."

Her neighbor, Lisa Harlow, also reported one of her pumpkins was taken during the night and returned. Her pumpkin was taken from her porch and came back with one eye carved like a star.

Link

LOL! I sure wish someone would have taken my pumpkins and carved them for me, would have saved me a lot of work!!

TN mechanic disabled parked cars for repairs

2009-11-01T04:52:00.000-08:00

Tennessee police said a mechanic was drumming up business by tampering with parked cars, then charging to help start them. Police arrested 41-year-old Christopher Walls of Johnson City on Thursday night.

Investigators said Walls disabled cars parked at restaurants, waited for the owners to try to start them and then offered his services as a mechanic. Police said Walls charged between $40 and $200 to get the vehicles running again.

He's charged with two counts of theft under $500, but police suspect there are other victims. They're urging anyone else who thinks they were scammed to call them.

Walls was held at the Washington County Jail where a jailer said there was no record of him yet having an attorney.

Link

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T04:24:00.000-07:00

Woman swallows 78 items of cutlery Ouch!

2009-10-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Surgeons in Rotterdam, Holland, removed 78 different items of cutlery from Margaret Daalmans's stomach after she came to hospital complaining of stomach pains.

An astonishing X-ray taken before the operation showed dozens of forks and spoons trapped inside the 52-year-old patient.

"She seems to have been suffering from some sort of obsession and every time she sat down for a meal she would ignore the food and eat the cutlery," said one medic.

Daalmans works as a secretary in a local estate agents and told doctors: "I don't know why but I felt an urge to eat the silverware – I could not help myself."

Medics also revealed it was not the first time that she had been treated for eating the cutlery.

They said she has been diagnosed as suffering from a borderline personality disorder that left her with an urge to eat cutlery and she was now getting therapy.

Link

Woman scares off burglar by acting like a dog

2009-10-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

Police are investigating after an Athens woman scared off a would-be burglar by acting like a dog. The Athens Banner-Herald reported Monday that the woman scared off the suspect around 11 p.m. Saturday. According to police, the woman got on the floor and began scratching at the door and acting like a large dog when the suspicious man tried turning the woman's door knob.

The police report did not say what specific dog-like behaviors, such as barking, the woman mimicked.

The woman said the man, who appeared to be homeless, quickly ran from the porch.

Police searched the neighborhood for him, but were unsuccessful.

Link

What ever works I guess? LOL

Woman, 88, walks 10,000 miles in husband's memory

2009-10-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

An 88-year-old woman in Colorado Springs who walks laps around a nursing home in memory of her deceased husband has hit a major milestone: 10,000 miles. Martha Michel walks laps daily around the lake at Namaste Alzheimer Center. Michel started walking the lake with her husband, Lester, who was a patient at the center. After Lester Michel's death in 1998, Martha Michel kept up the walking in his memory.

The two were married 56 years and enjoyed hiking Colorado peaks until Lester Michel got too sick. Martha Michel keeps meticulous records of her walks around the lake, and on Saturday, she hit 10,000 miles. That's about the same as walking across the United States three times.

http://www.gazette.com

Man stuffs mouth with 16 cockroaches in record bid

2009-10-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

A Michigan pet store employee got himself a mouthful of cockroaches — on purpose. The Lansing State Journal reported Sean Murphy on Friday stuffed 16 Madagascar hissing cockroaches into his mouth. He was trying to set a new Guinness World Records mark and said the old record was 11.

Murphy initially got 12 squirming cockroaches into his mouth, but then kept adding them until he got to 16. He says it was a "big surprise" since he's never fit that many in his mouth before "in one try."

The employee of Preuss Pets in Lansing says each cockroach was at least 2 1/2 inches long. Murphy says he might try for 20 next year. A video of the feat was posted on the newspaper's Web site.

Murphy's effort would need to be certified by Guinness for it to be official.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com

Real-life Harry Potter laments name

2009-10-24T06:13:00.000-07:00

A Briton named Harry Potter said the fictional wizard who shares his name has made his life seem as if it were under the influence of a "bad spell."

Potter, 20, of Portsmouth, England, who bears a similar forehead scar to his fictional namesake due to running into a lamp post at age 15, said the series of books by J.K. Rowling and the films based on the novels have made his life more difficult, The Sun reported Wednesday.

"My life has changed completely since the books were written, at first I thought it might be quite a good thing to have the same name," he said. "But now it is like someone has cast a bad spell on me, the reactions I get from people range from making fun to plain aggressive.

Link

Man pleads guilty to DWI in motorized La-Z-Boy

2009-10-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk. A criminal complaint says 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers.

Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.

Police said the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower and had a stereo and cup holders.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland stayed 180 days of jail time Monday and ordered two years of probation for Anderson. His attorney, David Keegan, did not immediately return a call for comment.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com

Dracula’s Cellar Found

2009-10-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

Archaeologists believe to have discovered a cellar owned by the Wallachian Duke Vlad III, commonly known by the name of “Dracula.” The cellar was discovered in the university town of Pecs in southern Hungary.

According to reports, Tomas Fedeles, tutor of medieval and early modern history at the University of Pecs pointed out that his research showed that Vlad III or Vlad Dracula lived in a two-story house located today in the city’s central square.

Fedeles found a document containing a detailed description of the house and its owners, among which the name “Drakulya” appears. The researcher believes that the cellar most likely belonged to “Dracula.”

A local archaeologist, Oliver Gabor, said that the cellar was one of the most impressive medieval cellars found to date and considers that further excavation could reveal important information.

Continues here

9 lives per gallon? Cat stuck in SUV engine is OK

2009-10-21T04:53:00.000-07:00

A cat who rode two miles through New York City while stuck in the engine compartment of an SUV has lived to meow about it. Wilfred Rodriguez heard rattling while he was driving Monday in the Bronx. After he parked, he spotted a bushy tail and a paw sticking out of the SUV's front end.

His initial reaction: "Oh my God! I killed a cat." He was relieved when the paw moved.

Detectives with the New York Police Department's Emergency Service Unit freed the grease-covered kitty by removing the SUV's battery and other vehicle parts.

Richard Gentles of New York City Animal Care & Control says the tan-and-white stray appears to be in good physical shape.

http://www.nydailynews.com

Man allegedly takes car on 1,000-mile test drive

2009-10-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

A Massachusetts man who allegedly kidnapped a car salesman during a test drive and drove the vehicle more than 1,000 miles was in custody in Wisconsin. Authorities said a Wisconsin State Patrol trooper pulled over a 32-year-old man near Edgerton, Wis. on Friday for speeding, reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle without owner consent.

The suspect is expected to be extradited back to Massachusetts to face charges of kidnapping, larceny of a motor vehicle and unarmed robbery.

The incident began Thursday afternoon when the man and a Honda car salesman went on a test drive but the man refused to turn back around. The salesman was able to get out of the car when it slowed at a tollbooth near the Massachusetts state line.

http://www.gazetteextra.com

Chinese Scientists Build Working Black Hole

2009-10-19T05:14:00.000-07:00

Researchers theorized how to design a table-top black hole earlier this year. Now two ambitious Chinese scientists have actually built one—using the same materials that made invisibility cloaks possible.

The theoretical model for the black hole aped the properties of a cosmological black hole, whose intense gravity bends the surrounding space-time, causing any nearby matter or radiation to follow the warped space-time and spiral inwards.

The working Chinese model consists of a cylinder, made up of strips of a special material that increasingly affects electric fields. As rays of light approach the device, they curve inward towards its center, where the permittivity (a characteristic that describes how the material affects an electric field) is such that the light cannot escape. The device then converts the light into heat energy.

Link

Funny Signs

2009-10-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

Elvis' Locks Up For Auction

2009-10-17T03:03:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley fans keen to own a chunk of their idol now can: locks of what is claimed to be The King's hair are up for auction next week.

The large quantity of hair is one of about 200 items of Elvis memorabilia collected by the late Gary Pepper, who was the president of the Tankers Fan Club set up for Elvis fans.

Chicago-based Leslie Hindman Auctioneers said the hair, which is expected to sell for between $8,000 and $12,000 at the October 18 auction, was given to Pepper to mail to Presley fans and was believed to be from when the singer had his hair cut to join the U.S. Army.

"In 1958, the nation's newspapers announced that Elvis Presley, having been newly recruited into the U.S. Army, had received two haircuts trimming his famous locks and sideburns down to a greatly modified crew cut," said a statement by the auction house.

"Individual strands of Elvis Presley's shaved locks have since been treasured by his fans who wish to own a piece of The King himself."

Link

Tweance, the Twitter seance, aims to contact Michael Jackson

2009-10-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

Jackson – booked for his first posthumous appearance on 30 October, the day before Hallowe’en – is only one of the dead celebrities the Tweancers hope to contact.

The organisers, including “psychic” Jayne Wallace, also have their spectral sights set on Patrick Swayze and Farrah Fawcett, both of whom died this year.

Twitterers can also make suggestions of other big late names they would like to contact. One, @andywartrol said they would like to speak to “The Beatles.....oh yeah, I forgot Ringo is still alive (everyone knows Paul is dead).”

@AlanPIMPChung said, controversially: “I'd like to see you talk to Adolf Hitler.”

Benjamin Webb, a spokesman for the Angels Fancy Dress shop where the event is taking place, said: “I’d love to hear what Elvis Presley would have to say”.

This is not Mrs Wallace’s first beyond-the-veil star-spotting. She claims that she “spoke” to Jade Goody, the Big Brother star who died of cervical cancer in March.

Link

Black And Blue Moon Ouch!

2009-10-15T05:48:00.000-07:00

A German man mooning at railway staff in a departing train got his trousers caught in a carriage door and ended up being dragged half naked along the platform, out of the station and onto the tracks.

The 22-year-old journalism student shoved his backside against the window of a low-slung double-decker train when staff forced him off in Lauenbrueck for traveling without a ticket, a spokesman for police in the northern city of Bremen said.

"It's a miracle he wasn't badly hurt," the spokesman said on Monday. "This sort of thing can end up killing you."

Instead, dangling by his trousers, the man got pulled along for about 200 meters, all the while managing to keep his legs away from the wheels of the train.

The ordeal ended when a passenger pulled the emergency brake. Rescues services were called in, causing rail services between Bremen and Hamburg to be suspended for over an hour, delaying 23 trains.

Link

Woman calls police to report theft of pot plants

2009-10-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

There are limits to being a crime victim, as a woman who called Saginaw County sheriff's deputies to report the theft of marijuana found out. Detective Sgt. Randy F. Pfau said the 54-year-old woman was arrested early Sunday after reporting two men had broken into her home in Brant Township, 80 miles north-northwest of Detroit.

Pfau said the woman told deputies the men fled after one of them demanded her marijuana plants. He said the woman then was booked on charges of manufacturing and delivering marijuana.

Pfau told The Saginaw News the woman claimed the drug was for personal use but didn't possess a medical marijuana card. He said police will seek charges pending test results on the marijuana they did confiscate.

http://www.mlive.com/saginaw

Pa. man sleeps through house fire, survives

2009-10-13T04:03:00.000-07:00

A suburban Pittsburgh man slept soundly as his home caught on fire and partially collapsed. It wasn't until firefighters did a walk-through of the home more than two hours later that he woke up. Ross Township Fire Marshal John Reubi said he was "flabbergasted" that anyone survived the blaze. It broke out around 2:40 a.m. Sunday and was reported by a passer-by.

Firefighters were initially unable to search for victims because part of the roof collapsed. After controlling the fire, firefighters walked through and found the man in a bedroom. Reubi said it appeared the man had no idea what was going on.

Officials said the house had several additions, perhaps shielding the man's room from flames. He was treated for smoke inhalation.

Link

Looking For A Great Vacation Idea?

2009-10-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

How about visiting this really weird monument in Headington Oxford?

The Shark became the most famous resident of Headington when it landed in the roof of 2 New High Street on 9 August 1986.

The headless sculpture, with the label "Untitled 1986" fixed to the gate to the house, was erected on the 41st anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Created by the sculptor John Buckley, it is made of fibreglass, weighs four hundredweight, and is 25 feet long.

This is truly weird lol!

You can read more here

Amazing Toddler!-Two-year-old with same IQ as Einstein

2009-10-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Assessors at the Gifted Children's Information Centre in Solihull said Oscar, with an IQ of at least 160, is one of the brightest children they have every come across.

He has been ranked in the 99.99th percentile of the population and has been ranked off the scale as the Stanford-Binet test cannot measure higher than 160.

Oscar's father Joe, 29, an IT specialist from Reading in Berkshire, said: "Oscar was recently telling my wife about the reproductive cycle of penguins.

"He is always asking questions. Every parent likes to think their child was special but we knew there was something particularly remarkable about Oscar.

"I'm fully expecting the day to come when he turns around and tells me I'm an idiot."

Mother Hannah, 26, told The Daily Mail: "He amazes everyone. We knew at 12 weeks he was extremely bright. He was unusually alert."

Mrs Wrigley, a housewife, added: "His vocabulary is amazing. He's able to construct complex sentences.

"The other day he said to me, 'Mummy, sausages are like a party in my mouth'."

Dr Peter Congdon, who assessed Oscar, said he was a "child of very superior intelligence".

"His abilities fall well within the range sometimes referred to as intellectually gifted. He demonstrated outstanding ability," he said.

Link

Baby's voice 'helped E-coli mother wake from coma'

2009-10-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

The 32 year-old was played a recording of the gurgles of 10-week-old son Oliver as she lay unconscious in a hospital bed.

She has now told how it gave her the will to live despite the agony of chronic poisoning.

The librarian was struck down by E.coli food poisoning suspected of being from a vegetarian burger at a takeaway bar at the end of July when little Ollie was just ten weeks old.

Doctors decided to induce her into a coma for her own health in the hope that her body and medication would help battle the infection.

She spent five weeks in a coma and on a dialysis machine before coming around at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

Link

Police Looking For Chubby Naked Backyard Dancer

2009-10-09T05:10:00.000-07:00

Dallas police are looking for a man who they said repeatedly sneaks into backyards, dances around naked and then runs away. Police believe the man has been exposing himself in the same neighborhood since 2005. The most recent incident was on Sept. 30.

Police said he usually climbs a fence or goes through a gate and either dances naked or jumps in a swimming pool naked. Police said he also has danced naked on top of a backyard air conditioning unit.

Police said they're looking for a pudgy man who is about 6 feet tall and covers his face while dancing.

Dallas Police Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther said police want to catch him before it escalates into something worse.

Link

Daring escape with newspaper, raisins

2009-10-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

State prison officials said an inmate is in solitary after he tried to escape from Columbia Correctional Institution. Department of Corrections spokesman John Dipko said 49-year-old James Frederick was supposed to pick up food carts when he bolted for the perimeter fences. He had stuffed his clothes with newspapers to protect him from razor wire that lined the top of the first fence. He also had a large bag of raisins with him.

Frederick tried to climb the first fence, but still cut his hand on the razor wire and fell to the ground.

Dipko says Frederick escaped from Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution in 1981 but was recaptured.

Link

Pa. woman put stolen check in church plate

2009-10-07T04:57:00.000-07:00

Police said a woman put a forged $50 check in a church offering plate and stole a woman's wallet from a pew in the same western Pennsylvania church. New Brighton police Chief Charles Van Fossan said Tuesday that police were still searching for a 20-year-old woman. She allegedly committed the crimes at First Presbyterian Church in New Brighton on Sunday.

Story here

Silly Animals

2009-10-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

Nude man accused of pounding on cars on a highway

2009-10-05T05:04:00.000-07:00

A man who told officers he was a medical marijuana provider has been arrested for allegedly standing naked in a Colorado highway, pounding on passing cars and spitting at a state trooper. Dustin Robbins, 27, of Westminster, faces 13 counts including indecent exposure, assault and driving under the influence of marijuana.

Robbins was arrested Sept. 25 on U.S. 34 east of Greeley. Witnesses told investigators he was cursing at cars and hitting some.

Two women in their 70s and 80s told deputies a naked man jumped on the hood of their car, broke windows, walked across the roof and jumped off the back. Damage was estimated at $1,200.

Authorities said Robbins spat on the state trooper who arrested him.

Deputies said he told them he was a medical marijuana provider, and they found certificates for medical marijuana but no state provider's license.

Link

Giant candy store to open in gigantic mall

2009-10-04T02:58:00.000-07:00

A Dubai-based company is opening what it says will be the world's largest confectionary store in Dubai as it looks to tap demand from the Gulf Arab region's hunger for candy.

Candylicious, which initially opens in one of the world's largest shopping centers, The Dubai Mall, is also planning a second store in Singapore early next year, Sunaina Gill, director of Retail Is Detail, a Singaporean family business in Dubai told Reuters on Wednesday.

"We are planning 10-15 stores in the Gulf Arab region over the next 3-5 years, with additional stores to open in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the next 12 months," said Gill.

Dubai, one of seven emirates comprising the United Arab Emirates and the tourism and trade hub of the Middle East, already has the world's tallest skyscraper and one of the longest driverless train systems globally after investing billions of dollars to propel the emirate on to the international map during a six-year oil-fueled boom.

Dubai is an ideal place for the store, said Gill, adding there was a gap and sufficient demand in the market for a confectionary store of this type, especially with 30 million visitors a year expected to visit the Dubai Mall.

Gill said the group, which will sell everything from chocolates, soda and popcorn, was aiming for sales of $10 million annually.

In addition to its sweets, the 10,000 square foot store features a huge 10-meter singing chocolate tree decorated with lollipops.

Link

Strange Winners of the 2009 IG Nobel Prize

2009-10-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

Designers of a bra that turns into gas masks and a team who found that named cows produce more milk were among the winners of the 2009 Ig Nobel prizes.

The aim of the awards is to honour achievements that "first make people laugh and then make them think".

The peace prize went to a Swiss research team who determined whether it is better to be hit over the head with a full or empty bottle of beer.

The full list of winners:

Veterinary medicine: Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson of Newcastle University, UK, for showing that cows with names give more milk than cows that are nameless.

Peace: Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for determining whether it is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle.

Biology: Fumiaki Taguchi, Song Guofu and Zhang Guanglei of Kitasato University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in Sagamihara, Japan, for demonstrating that kitchen refuse can be reduced more than 90% in mass by using bacteria extracted from the faeces of giant pandas.

Medicine: Donald L Unger of Thousand Oaks, California, US, for investigating a possible cause of arthritis of the fingers, by diligently cracking the knuckles of his left hand but not his right hand every day for more than 60 years.

Economics: The directors, executives, and auditors of four Icelandic banks for demonstrating that tiny banks can be rapidly transformed into huge banks, and vice versa (and for demonstrating that similar things can be done to an entire national economy).

Physics: Katherine K Whitcome of the University of Cincinnati, Daniel E Lieberman of Harvard University and Liza J Shapiro of the University of Texas, all in the US, for analytically determining why pregnant women do not tip over.

Chemistry: Javier Morales, Miguel Apatiga and Victor M Castano of Universidad Nacional Autonoma in Mexico, for creating diamonds from tequila.

Literature: Ireland's police service for writing and presenting more than 50 traffic tickets to the most frequent driving offender in the country - Prawo Jazdy - whose name in Polish means "Driving Licence".

Public Health: Elena N Bodnar, Raphael C Lee, and Sandra Marijan of Chicago, US, for inventing a bra that can be quickly converted into a pair of gas masks - one for the wearer and one to be given to a needy bystander.

Mathematics: Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank, for giving people a simple, everyday way to cope with a wide range of numbers by having his bank print notes with denominations ranging from one cent to one hundred trillion dollars.

Link

Zombie Plan Axed

2009-10-02T10:51:00.000-07:00

The University of Florida's response plans for a zombie apocalypse are no longer available for public consumption.

UF spokesman Steve Orlando said Friday the university removed a link to a disaster recovery exercise, which detailed how the school could respond to an outbreak of the undead. The link was taken down late Thursday afternoon.

Orlando says officials felt the joke "didn't really belong" on the site, which also included plans for dealing with hurricanes and pandemics.

The exercise lays out the university's response to attacks by "flesh-eating, apparently life impaired individuals." It notes that a zombie outbreak might include "documentation of lots of strange moaning."

Orlando says the employee who wrote the gag wasn't punished.

Link

Cops: Woman fried, ate goldfish amid fight with ex

2009-10-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Authorities say a Houston-area woman who was burned up at her former common-law husband fried their pet goldfish and ate some of them. Pasadena police say it's a civil matter and no charges will be filed. The seven goldfish were purchased together by the couple during happier times.

Mitchell says the two argued earlier about some jewelry the man had given her but took back. She wanted the jewelry returned.

Officers who were dispatched to the woman's home arrived to find four fried goldfish on a plate. The woman said she already ate the other three.

Link

Girl, 10, sells her 'moaning' gran on eBay

2009-09-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

A cheeky schoolgirl tired of her grandmother's 'moaning' decided to sell the pensioner on eBay.

Zoe Pemberton, 10, from Clacton in Essex, put her 61-year-old grandmother, who she described as 'rare and annoying and moaning a lot', up for sale on the auction website with no reserve price.

But Marion Goodall, who was also described as 'very cuddly and loves word searches', attracted bids in excess of £2,000.

Read more: here

18 months for pellet gun hot dog theft!~

2009-09-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

A Massachusetts man who stole a hot dog from another man sitting under a tree in a park has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Antonio Judd pleaded guilty Monday in Worcester Central District Court to charges including larceny from a person. Police said Judd grabbed the hot dog in August after flashing what appeared to be a gun in Elm Park in Worcester, New England's second-largest city.

Full Story

Bulawayo man lives with 100,000 bees

2009-09-28T04:46:00.000-07:00

THE buzzing of bees sends shivers to many but not to a Bulawayo man from Emakhandeni as he lived with the dangerous insects for more than two years.

The bees, believed to have been more than 100 000, had camped in the kitchen cupboard and roof of House Number 652 but that did not bother the owner of the house who only identified himself as Mr E Ngwenya.

The bees were only driven away on Saturday by the Fire Brigade and a team from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, bringing relief to Mr Ngwenya’s neighbours.

Although Mr Ngwenya has been co-existing with the bees, the same cannot be said of his neighbours.

A neighbour identified as Mr Themba Ncube said earlier this month the bees caused terror in the neighbourhood.

“That day they were so vicious, you could hear their buzz from a distance. School kids and those going to work were forced to remain indoors as they attacked anyone on their path,” said Mr Ncube, showing an area above the eye where he was bitten.

Link

SillySigns

2009-09-26T18:51:00.001-07:00

Giant baby draws spectators to Indonesian hospital

2009-09-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

Indonesia – Indonesia's heaviest-ever newborn drew curious crowds Friday to a hospital where the boy named Akbar — or the Great in Arabic — came into the world at a record 19.2 pounds (8.7 kilograms).

Akbar Risuddin was born to a diabetic mother in a 40-minute cesarean delivery that was complicated because of his unusual weight and size, Dr. Binsar Sitanggang said.

"I'm very happy that my baby and his mother are in good health," father Muhammad Hasanuddin said Friday. "I hope I can afford to feed the baby enough, because he needs more milk than other babies."

Crowds pushed to get a peek of the extraordinary boy, who measured nearly 24 inches (62 centimeters) when he was born Monday, at the Abdul Manan hospital in the northern town of Kisaran on the island of Sumatra।.

Link

Arkansas Pregnant Woman Is Pregnant Again

2009-09-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

A pregnant woman in Arkansas surprised doctors twice over when she went in for a routine ultrasound this June.

Doctors successfully located Todd and Julia Grovenburg's growing baby girl Jillian, but then discovered another smaller baby -- what could be Jillian's younger brother -- growing beside her.

The Grovenburgs may have conceived their son Hudson a full two-and-a-half weeks after Jillian, according to statements given to KFSM-TV in Ft. Smith-Fayetteville, Ark.

Different from identical twins or fraternal twins, the Grovenburg babies would have separate due dates and are considered to be a rare medical occurrence.

Story link with video

Store launches underpants for left-handed men

2009-09-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

A British store is launching a range of underpants for left-handed men, an innovation it says will save them both time and embarrassment in front of the porcelain.

The new range, by UK-based Hom, will have a horizontal opening instead of a vertical slit accessed from the right-hand side, breaking a tradition that has lasted for 75 years.

"In our view, this is a vital step toward equality for left-handed men," said Rob Faucherand of Debenhams store.

Almost 10 percent of British men are believed to be left handed but men's Y-fronted underpants have traditionally had a right-handed opening from the time they were invented in 1935.

"As a result," Debenhams said, "left-handed men have to reach much further into their pants, performing a Z shaped maneuver through two 180 degree angles before achieving the result that right handed men perform with ease."

Previously, it added, boxer shorts, with an adaptable, ambidextrous opening in the middle, have been the underpants of choice for left handed men.

Story link

Couple forced out of home due to mysterious noise

2009-09-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

A couple who say a mysterious vibration and noise drove them from their home are appealing for the source to be identified.

Brian and Jane Williams, from Treaddur Bay, Anglesey, say they are plagued by ill health and have been forced to move to live in a caravan.

But despite extensive investigations by Welsh Water and Anglesey council, no cause of the noise could be traced.

Investigations into the couple's complaints have ended.

The couple say their problems began after Welsh Water carried out upgrade works to the sewage system in 2004/5.

Welsh Water say it has found no fault with its equipment.

Mr Williams said they first noticed the noise towards the end of May 2005.

"We were in the kitchen and we turned round to each other and said there's that noise again," he said.

Story link

Pair trying to catch fish net $87,000 in cash

2009-09-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

Two Australian teenagers who found almost 100,000 Australian dollars ($87,000) in cash during a fishing trip have handed it over to police — after spending some time thinking about it. The pair discovered the money earlier this month near the New South Wales town of Nimbin — a center of hippie culture where members of numerous communes annually celebrate a festival to promote cannabis use.

The teenagers contacted police on Friday, after revealing the find to an unidentified adult they know and getting some legal advice, police said in a statement.

Inspector Greg Moore said police were investigating whose money it might be, and whether the stash of cash was linked to crime. "It could be proceeds of ill-gotten gains," Moore told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Monday.

Police had searched an area at Tuntable Creek where the teenagers found the money, but found no more cash and no clues, he said.

He said the teenagers, who were not identified, might be able to claim the money if no one else comes forward with a legitimate claim.

Link

Blind Woman Sees With 'Tooth-in-Eye' Surgery

2009-09-21T04:43:00.000-07:00

Forget about an eye for an eye -- doctors in Florida have taken a blind woman's tooth, and used it to help restore her vision.

A team of specialists at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine announced Wednesday that they are the first surgeons in the United States to restore a person's sight by using a tooth. The procedure is formally called modified osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis (or MOOKP).

Sharron "Kay" Thornton, 60, went blind nine years ago from a rare disorder called Stevens-Johnson syndrome. The disorder left the surface of her eyes so severely scarred she was legally blind. But doctors determined the inside of her eyes were still functional enough that she might one day see with the help of...

Story continues here

Fast-food surprise found lodged in man’s lung

2009-09-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Doctors say a North Carolina man who was plagued with coughing fits should be OK now that they have removed a 1-inch piece of plastic from his lung, where it had rested since he apparently inhaled it nearly two years ago while sucking down a soft drink at a Wendy's restaurant.

Doctors at Duke University Medical Center say the plastic fragment of an eating utensil — with the Wendy's logo still legible on the side — was likely to blame for the coughing, fatigue and pneumonia spells that plagued John Manley for almost two years.

Wahidi said foreign objects in the lungs are much more common in children, but he's extracted false teeth, nails, and even a peanut from adults who have held the items in their mouth and accidentally sucked them in. Patients often don't realize there's a problem until their bodies begin to react.

But Wahidi said the piece of plastic was a first.

Story link

Man litters national park with 3,000 golf balls

2009-09-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

A man who said he hurled thousands of golf balls into Joshua Tree National Park for more than a year to honor deceased golfers will be explaining his tribute to a federal magistrate.

Park rangers cited 57-year-old Douglas Jones for abandoning property, littering and feeding wildlife. Park spokesman Joe Zarki said Wednesday that Jones tossed some 3,000 golf balls from his vehicle.

Jones also scattered a few tennis balls and park literature and left fruit and vegetables along park roads. Jones says rangers spent 370 hours cleaning up, at a cost of $9,000.

Finally spotted in action last month, Jones allegedly told rangers he threw the golf balls to leave his mark and honor deceased golfers. The food was for stranded hikers.

The Desert Sun, http://www.desertsun.com

Snake with foot found in China

2009-09-16T04:19:00.000-07:00

Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night.

"I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw," said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China.

Mrs Duan said she was so scared she grabbed a shoe and beat the snake to death before preserving its body in a bottle of alcohol.

The snake – 16 inches long and the thickness of a little finger – is now being studied at the Life Sciences Department at China's West Normal University in Nanchang.

Snake expert Long Shuai said: "It is truly shocking but we won't know the cause until we've conducted an autopsy."

A more common mutation among snakes is the growth of a second head, which occurs in a similar way to the formation of Siamese twins in humans.

Such animals are often caught and preserved as lucky tokens but have very little chance of surviving in the wild anyway.

Link with picture

Ala. boy fakes kidnapping to hide bad grades

2009-09-15T04:53:00.000-07:00

An 11-year-old boy gets high marks in storytelling after staging a hoax to cover up his bad grades. Police said the boy faked his kidnapping Friday to avoid bringing home a bad report card, saying that a man with a pistol snatched him after he left Ed White Middle School. The boy said the man forced him into a "beat-up car" and threatened to kill him.

The student said he escaped by jumping out of the car but wasn't able to grab his bookbag, which contained the report card.

He ran to his grandparents' house and later confessed to lying. His grandfather called police to apologize.

Sgt. Mark Roberts said police were suspicious that the boy was able to "escape" with his band instrument, but not his bookbag.

Link

Man turns BLUE after he self-medicates for a skin condition

2009-09-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

A man who turned blue after self-medicating for a skin condition says his hue is lightening.

Paul Karason, 58, has the strange Papa Smurf look as a side effect of using a silver compound which he used more than a decade ago to treat a bad case of dermatitis on his face.

'I’m in a place right now where it’s very difficult for me to make my own, and my resources are limited and it’s very expensive,' he explained to host Matt Lauer, a year after first appearing on the programme.

Colloidal silver is a suspension of silver in a liquid base - in this case, distilled water.

Silver has antibacterial properties and has been used to fight infection for thousands of years.

But it went out of use when penicillin, which is far more effective, was developed.

Story link

11-year-old boy finds pink grasshopper

2009-09-13T05:51:00.000-07:00

The insect was found by 11-year-old Daniel Tate who thought it was a flower until he saw it jump and then he realised it was a grasshopper.

The insect was later identified by wildlife officers as an adult female common green grasshopper, which has been born pink.

Daniel, who attended the wildlife event at Seaton Marshes, near Sidmouth, Devon, with his great grandfather, said: "I was looking for grasshoppers when I saw something pink.

"I thought it was a flower but I saw it moving, so I tried to catch it. It jumped and then I knew it was a grasshopper."

He added: “I was really excited to hear that no one else had found a pink grasshopper at that place before.”

“Pink grasshoppers are unusual but not unheard of. However the intensity of the pink in this case must make it highly unusual.”

Mr Rush said the pink grasshopper was “a natural variety of the species, albeit a rare one. It has not been caused by any mutation, or any environmental effects.”

Story link

Ark. baby born 9-9-09 has sibling born on 8-8-08

2009-09-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

At least it will be easy to remember their birthdays. An Arkansas couple welcomed a new baby girl into their lives Wednesday — giving her the birthdate of 9-9-09. Andy and Alison Miller's newest daughter Molly Reid will come home to sister Campbell, who was born on August 8, 2008, or 8-8-08.

The coincidences don't stop there. Molly Reid has nine letters to her name, while Campbell has eight.

The Millers don't appear poised to go for a third child on 10-10-10.

Alison Miller tells Rogers, Ark. television station KHOG that she and her husband are going to take a rest.

Link

Dangerous Biscuits!

2009-09-10T04:49:00.000-07:00

CUSTARD creams are Britain's most dangerous biscuits, it was revealed yesterday. A study claimed an estimated 25million people in Britain had been injured by biscuits.

Hidden dangers included flying fragments and daredevil dunking in scalding tea. And custard creams were the worst offenders, posing the biggest risk to innocent dunkers.

Around 500 people a year need hospital treatment because of biscuit injuries.

The study by Mindlab found 29 per cent of adults had been splashed or scalded by hot drinks while dunking or trying to fish the remnants from hot tea.

They also found 28 per cent had choked on crumbs and 10 per cent had broken a tooth or filling biting a biccy.

ore unusually, three per cent had poked themselves in the eye with a biscuit and seven per cent were bitten by a pet or "other wild animal" trying to get their biscuit.

One man ended up stuck in wet concrete after wading in to pick up a stray biscuit.

Mindlab have now devised a Biscuit Injury Threat Evaluation, or B.I.T.E. Custard creams get a risk rating of 5.63.

Story link

Police: Ohio robbery suspect asked victim for date

2009-09-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Ohio police said a suspect in a robbery was arrested when he returned to the home about two hours later to ask the victim out on a date. Police say 20-year-old Stephfon Bennett of Columbus was among three men who robbed a couple late Sunday.

Columbus police Sgt. Sean Laird said the woman recognized Bennett as one of the robbers when he returned to ask her out. She had a relative call 911.

Police said Bennett was arrested in front of the home. He was arraigned Tuesday on a charge of aggravated robbery and was being held in the Franklin County jail on $100,000 bail.

Story link

Father shares home with scorpions

2009-09-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

A Thai father has adapted his house so that 4,600 scorpions can live with him and his family.

Suang Puangsri has decorated part of his house in Fark Ta in Uttaradit with tree branches and stones so that the creatures feel more comfortable.He said he has done it to atone for years of breeding scorpions to sell to restaurants.

Link with video

Fragment from worlds oldest Bible found hidden in Egyptian monastery

2009-09-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

A British-based academic has uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest Bible hiding underneath the binding of an 18th-century book.

Nikolas Sarris spotted a previously unseen section of the Codex Sinaiticus, which dates from about AD350, as he was trawling through photographs of manuscripts in the library of St Catherine's Monastery in Egypt.

The Codex, handwritten in Greek on animal skin, is the earliest known version of the Bible. Leaves from the priceless tome are divided between four institutions, including St Catherine's Monastery and the British Library, which has held the largest section of the ancient Bible since the Soviet Union sold its collection to Britain in 1933.

Academics from Britain, America, Egypt and Russia collaborated to put the entire Codex online this year but new fragments of the book are occasionally rediscovered.

Mr Sarris, 30, chanced upon the fragment as he inspected photographs of a series of book bindings that had been compiled by two monks at the monastery during the 18th century.

Over the centuries, antique parchment was often re-used by St Catherine's monks in book bindings because of its strength and the relative difficulty of finding fresh parchment in such a remote corner of the world.

Article link

Oops! Pa. man fires cannon, hits neighbor's house

2009-09-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

A Pennsylvania history buff who recreates firearms from old wars accidentally fired a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of his neighbor's home.

Fifty-four-year-old William Maser fired a cannonball Wednesday evening outside his home in Georges Township that ricocheted and hit a house 400 yards away.

The cannonball, about two inches in diameter, smashed through a window and a wall before landing in a closet. Authorities say nobody was hurt.

State police charged Maser with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

Link

Chupacabra Caught?

2009-09-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

A Texas farmer may have found what some would call a "chupacabra," a legendary animal known for sucking the blood out of goats.

Woman steals 24 pack of cold beer with her thighs

2009-09-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

Grocery store cameras caught the woman taking a 24-can case of beer from a cooler, exposing the 20-pound case between her thighs by pulling up her housedress, pulling her dress back down, and waddling out of the store. But it took a while to identify and find her.

Lisa Newsome, 42, of Baker, didn't deny anything when she was arrested Monday, said Capt. David McDavid of the Zachary Police Department.

"She wanted to demonstrate it ..." he said. "I told her, no thanks, I wasn't into that."

She was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on a theft charge, he said.

"We weighed a case," he said. "It was 20 pounds."

The theft was Aug. 22. McDavid said police learned the woman's identity last week and located her Monday afternoon.

Casey Rayborn Hicks, spokeswoman for the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, said she did not know whether Newsome had an attorney. Newsome remained in jail Tuesday in lieu of $1,000 bond.

Story link

Mariachis set world record in Mexican city

2009-09-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

Ay, ay, ay, ay! Guadalajara finally boasts the world's biggest mariachi band.

A total of 549 musicians got together to win the record for the birthplace of mariachi Sunday, playing several songs in just over 10 minutes, closing with favorites "Cielito Lindo" and "Guadalajara."

A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records, Stuart Claxton, made it official at the International Mariachi Festival.

The old record belonged to 520 mariachis who performed in San Antonio, Texas, in 2007, said Francisco Beckman, an organizer of the record-breaking attempt.

Link

Police baffled as dozens of 'suicidal' cows throw themselves off cliff in the Alps

2009-08-31T04:59:00.000-07:00

In the picturesque Swiss village of Lauterbrunnen, the locals are worried.

Dozens of alpine cows appear to be committing suicide by throwing themselves off a cliff near the small village in the Alps.

In the space of just three days, 28 cows and bulls have mysteriously died after they plunged hundreds of metres to rocks below where they were killed instantly.

Read more:

Himalayan Bigfoot to undergo DNA testing

2009-08-30T04:01:00.000-07:00

Making big news in China this week is a story about Himalaya's legendary Yeti or Bigfoot.
For centuries rumours of a half-man, half-ape that roams the upper Himalayas have circulated. The creature said to stand 3 metres tall has been allegedly seen by many locals as well as hikers visiting the area. In Chinese Yeti is often referred to as 'Xueguai'.

A number of locals living near the Nepalese border claim not only to have seen the creature, but to have collected strands of its hair. Now, it has been reported that a team of scientists have collected these strands and have already confirmed that they do not belong to any local known animals.

The scientists plan to do further testing on the hair strands.

One theory regarding the Yeti is that the sightings of the supposed cryptid are in fact that of a rare bear that lives in the area but is unknown to scientists. The scientists hope to settle this mystery with the DNA tests

Story link

Woman sues zoo over splashing dolphins

2009-08-28T05:19:00.000-07:00

A woman is suing a Chicago-area zoo for a 2008 fall near a dolphin exhibit, accusing zookeepers of encouraging the mammals to splash water and then failing to protect spectators from wet surfaces, local media reported on Thursday.

In her suit filed earlier this week, Allecyn Edwards said she was injured while walking near an exhibit at Brookfield Zoo, where a group of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins were performing, media said.

Officials "recklessly and willfully trained and encouraged the dolphins to throw water at the spectators in the stands, making the floor wet and slippery," but failed to post warning signs or lay down protective mats or strips, the suit said, according to the reports.

Edwards is demanding more than $50,000 for lost wages, medical expenses and emotional trauma from the Chicago Zoological Society and the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, which operate the zoo in Chicago's southwest suburbs.

Article link

Sued over a mermaid?

2009-08-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

An American organization claiming to defend the rights of mermaids is threatening to appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague against the Israeli city of Kiryat Yam, after its municipality offered a $1 million prize to whoever could provide proof for the existence of a mermaid off the northern city's shores.

A letter received by the municipality over the weekend states that the organization, presenting itself as the Mermaid Medical Association in Brooklyn, New York, was shocked to hear about the prize offered by the city.

This offer, the organization said, "badly and outrageously damages the legendary mermaid legacy."

In the letter, the organization informed the municipality that it had 10 days to take back its announcement on the prize, or else the organization would approach the International Court of Justice in Holland and demand that it intervene.

The suggested prize has raised a lot of interest across the world, promoting international networks like CNN and Sky News to send television crews to Kiryat Yam to interview Mayor Shmuel Siso. The Municipality has also begun building a mermaid-shaped statue near the beach.

Link here

Is the Loch Ness monster on Google Earth?

2009-08-26T05:08:00.000-07:00

A security guard claims to have spotted the Loch Ness monster while browsing Google Earth.

Jason Cooke told The Sun he spotted "Nessie" while browsing the website's satellite photos. Mr Cooke, 25, of Nottingham, said: "I couldn't believe it. It's just like the descriptions of Nessie."

Researcher Adrian Shine, of the Loch Ness Project, told the newspaper: "This is really intriguing. It needs further study." The image can be seen by entering coordinates Latitude 57°12'52.13"N, Longitude 4°34'14.16"W in Google Earth.

Earlier this year it was reported that climate change may have killed the Loch Ness Monster. There have been "no "credible sightings" of Nessie for over a year.

Veteran American monster hunter Bob Rines thinks environmental conditions in the Highland loch have changed and can no longer sustain the elusive reptile.

Gary Campbell, of the monster's official fan club, said: "I'm concerned. There have been none of the normal sightings that verify that Nessie and her family are still alive and well."

Link and pictures here

Man gets glued to toilet seat at Australian mall

2009-08-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

A man who used a public toilet in a shopping mall was taken to a hospital to have the toilet seat removed from his backside after someone smeared it with glue in what an official condemned Monday as a sick joke. Police urged possible witnesses to come forward after the 58-year-old man was humiliated in the northeastern city of Cairns by the prank.

An ambulance was called to help the man after he was found stuck by fast-acting adhesive glue to a toilet seat on Saturday in the busy shopping mall.

Paramedics removed the seat from the toilet and took him to a hospital, where medical staff used industrial solvents to get it off.

Cairns local government official Di Forsyth said the man, who was not identified, was not injured but was "extremely embarrassed" by his experience.

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TV channel attempted to 'hypnotise viewers'

2009-08-24T05:35:00.000-07:00

The communications watchdog has found Channel Nine breached the TV Code of Practice in a stunt that aimed to hypnotise viewers.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has found that the segment broadcast on the program, A Current Affair, in September last year was designed to induce a hypnotic state in viewers.

During the segment, entitled Think Slim, references were made by the program's host, the reporter and a hypnotherapist to the fact that the story would feature a demonstration of a hypnotic process designed to help with weight loss.

The segment culminated with a brief hypnotherapy session that lasted for about one minute.

The Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice (2004) states that a licensee may not broadcast a program designed to induce a hypnotic state in viewers.

The watchdog also found that Channel Nine breached the code by failing to provide a substantive written response to someone who complained about the segment.

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Goldfish survives being flushed down lavatory and is rescued from sewage plant

2009-08-22T17:43:00.000-07:00

A goldfish which survived being flushed down the lavatory is enjoying a new lease of life today after being rescued from a sewage plant near East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire.

Worker Jake Huey noticed the fish flailing on a mesh filtering screen he was cleaning at the Scottish Water site.

He picked it up and rushed to the treatment building, where he put it in water in an emergency tank.

The fish, nicknamed Pooh, is now being looked after at the Philipshill Waste Water Treatment Works until a new home can be found for it.

Mr Huey said: ''Obviously someone thought their pet was on its last legs and flushed it down the toilet, which obviously we wouldn't advise.

The fish has rallied as it made its way through the waste water network underneath the streets of East Kilbride and popped up in our screens totally revived.

''This is one lucky little fish. We just need to find a good home for him now.''

Pooh was rescued late last week. Scottish Water urged customers to flush only human waste and toilet paper down the loo.

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Tunisian woman who claimed to be expecting 12 babies exposed as a fraud

2009-08-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

Known only as AF, the 34-year-old woman told medics in her home town of Gafsa that she was due to give birth to duodecaplets later this month.

But an investigation by the country's health ministry has revealed that she has "psychological problems and is unlikely even to be pregnant".

A spokesman in Tunis, the capital, added: "Our staff interviewed her at length, but even her pregnancy appears to be in her imagination.

"She's claiming to be nine months pregnant with six boys and six girls, but there's absolute nothing about her appearance which indicates this.

"The woman has refused point blank to undergo a medical examination. Now we can't even contact her. She's gone into hiding.'

A doctor at No'man al Adab Hospital, the only one in the town of Gafsa, confirmed that the woman had never been in their care, and had "undoubtedly" made the whole thing up.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/6053662/Tunisian-woman-who-claimed-to-be-expecting-12-babies-exposed-as-a-fraud.html

11-foot python unexpected guest for Calif. family

2009-08-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

A Southern California family got a slithery surprise when an 11-foot python turned up in their front yard.

Francisco Delgadillo says he was chatting with his sister on their porch Sunday night in Lake Elsinore when he saw an enormous snake moving across the fenced yard.

The first animal control officer who saw the size of the critter had to call for backup. Two officers then wrangled the 50-pound snake into a truck and took it to a shelter.

Authorities say the Burmese python probably was somebody's pet. If the owner doesn't claim it by the end of the week, it probably will be given to a snake rescue group.

Link to story

Fan mad about Archie engaging Veronica sells comic

2009-08-17T05:29:00.000-07:00

When comic book store owner Dave Luebke heard that after 67 years, the carrot-topped everyman of the comic world, Archie, was proposing to va-va-voomy rich girl Veronica instead of girl-next-door Betty, he decided to protest by selling his copy of the series' rare first issue.

Luebke's Archie Comics No. 1 sold for $38,837 when Dallas' Heritage Auction Galleries offered it Friday. Heritage spokesman Noah Fleisher said the buyer was a longtime Archie reader and collector from Virginia who did not want to be identified.

"Betty is it. Not Veronica," said Luebke, whose Richmond, Va., store has more than 1 million comics in stock. "This is serious."

And, he said, 99 percent of his customers agree that perky, blond Betty is the clear choice over shiny dark-haired Veronica in the seemingly never-ending love triangle.

"It's amazing how many stories they've gotten out of this over the years," said Barry Sandoval, Heritage director of operations of the comics division.

Story here

Skydiver survives 10,000ft fall to the ground

2009-08-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Paul Lewis, 40, jumped from a plane and plummeted through the air before crashing on to the roof of a hangar at Tilstock Airfield in Whitchurch, Shropshire.

He was rescued by firefighters and treated for head and neck injuries, before being airlifted to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, in Stoke-on-Trent.

The accident happened at around 3pm on Friday when Mr Lewis, a freelance cameraman, was filming tandem jumps for the Parachute Centre, a skydiving firm based at the airfield.

Witnesses said that his main parachute failed to open, and then his reserve parachute failed to work properly.

A spokesman for the West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “The man is reported to have fallen approximately 1,000 feet (3,000 metres), spiralling to the ground following a 10,000-foot skydive.”

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Georgia cat gets GED

2009-08-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

Oreo the cat spends her days doing typical cat things and some not so typical. She enjoys sitting with her owner Kelvin Collins and reading the newspaper.

"Oreo's a really smart cat... She keeps up with current events," said Collins.

Oreo's so smart, she has something many people don't: a G.E.D. She got her diploma from Jefferson High School Online. Collins took the test for her, but found out it doesn't take a genius to pass.

"I realized if you miss a question, it's going to come back and give you a hint that tells you exactly what the answer is," he said.

With the extra help, Oreo got mostly A's. Some of her credits came from a life experience essay where Collins wrote about Oreo's adoption into the family.

"She always lands on her feet and that's one of the things that I put."

He says he hardly lied on the application.

"I did lie about one thing. You have to be 18 to take the test and Oreo is only two, but that could be 18 in cat years. Who knows?" he said.

Janet Kelly with Middle Georgia Technical College in Warner Robins says true GED programs don't give clues to the test answers and don't give credits for life experience.

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Giant 'meat-eating' plant found

2009-08-14T04:38:00.000-07:00

A new species of giant carnivorous plant has been discovered in the highlands of the central Philippines.

The pitcher plant is among the largest of all pitchers and is so big that it can catch rats as well as insects in its leafy trap.

During the same expedition, botanists also came across strange pink ferns and blue mushrooms they could not identify.

The botanists have named the pitcher plant after British natural history broadcaster David Attenborough.

They published details of the discovery in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society earlier this year.

Story here

Mermaid Fever Makes A Splash In Israel

2009-08-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

Israel is in the grips of mermaid fever after numerous sightings of the mythical sea creature off its coast.

One town council is taking the reports so seriously it is offering a $1m (£609,000) reward to anyone who can prove the existence of a mermaid in its waters.

Kiryat Yam municipality, near Haifa, says it has been told of dozens of sightings in the past few months.

Link

Guantanamo ex-prisoners get jobs on golf course

2009-08-11T05:10:00.000-07:00

Four Guantanamo prisoners who were released to Bermuda in June have been given jobs tending a public golf course on the tiny Atlantic island.

The four members of China's Muslim Uighur minority began working last week to help prepare the lush, seaside Port Royal course to host the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in October.

The hiring raised eyebrows in the British territory, where employers can only take on foreigners if no qualified local wants the job. Wendall Brown, chairman of the board of trustees for Bermuda's public golf courses, said the men replaced a group of Filipino workers who left at short notice.

"They have been offered a temporary position at Port Royal until the Grand Slam," he said. "There are still special projects that we need to do like cleaning up and beautifying the course ... All four of them have been given a job there. It's on a temporary basis. Two of them speak fairly good English."

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Obese Texas inmate hides gun in his flabs of fat

2009-08-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

An obese inmate in Texas has been charged after officials learned he had a gun hidden under flabs of his own flesh.

Twenty-five-year-old George Vera was charged with possession of a firearm in a correctional facility after he told a guard at the Harris County Jail about the unloaded 9mm pistol. The Houston Chronicle reported Thursday that Vera was originally arrested on charges of selling illegal copies of compact discs.

The 500-pound man was searched during his arrest and again at a city jail and the county jail, but officers never found the weapon in his rolls of skin. Vera admitted having the gun during a shower break at the county jail.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com

Oops!

2009-08-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Woman getting married to fairground ride

2009-08-07T02:03:00.000-07:00

Amy Wolfe, a US church organist who claims to have objectum sexuality, a condition that makes sufferers attracted to inanimate objects, plans to marry a magic carpet fairground ride.

This follows a "courtship" of 3,000 rides over ten years with the 80ft gondola ride called 1001 Nachts.

Miss Wolfe, 33, from Pennsylvania, will change her surname to Weber after the manufacturer of the ride she travels 160 miles to visit 10 times per year, according to reports

“I love him as much as women love their husbands and know we’ll be together forever,” she said.

Miss Wolfe first fell for the ride when she was 13: “I was instantly attracted to him sexually and mentally.

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Woman Sues College Because She Hasn't Found A Job

2009-08-05T08:11:00.001-07:00

A recent college graduate is suing her alma mater for $72,000 -- the full cost of her tuition and then some -- because she cannot find a job.

Trina Thompson, 27, of the Bronx, graduated from New York's Monroe College in April with a bachelor of business administration degree in information technology.

On July 24, she filed suit against the college in Bronx Supreme Court, alleging that Monroe's "Office of Career Advancement did not help me with a full-time job placement. I am also suing them because of the stress I have been going through."

The college responded that it offers job-search support to all its students.

In her complaint, Thompson says she seeks $70,000 in reimbursement for her tuition and $2,000 to compensate for the stress of her three-month job search.

Story here

Fans urged to drink whisky to ward off swine flu

2009-08-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

Russian soccer fans have been told to drink whisky on their trip to Wales for next month's World Cup qualifier to ward off the H1N1 swine flu virus, the head of the country's supporter association (VOB) said Monday.

"We urge our fans to drink a lot of Welsh whisky as a form of disinfection," VOB head Alexander Shprygin told Reuters.

"That should cure all symptoms of the disease."

Russia's Health Ministry has issued a public warning against traveling to Britain because of the spread of the H1N1 virus but Shprygin said he expected at least several hundred fans would go to Wales for the September 9 qualifier in Cardiff.

Story here

Say What??

2009-08-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Seattle bank teller chases robber, loses job

2009-08-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

A Seattle bank teller has lost his job because he ran down a would-be bank robber and held him until police arrived. Jim Nicholson, 30, who had worked for more than two years at a Key Bank branch near the Seattle Center, says he understands the bank's strict policy that employees comply with robbery demands and avoid confrontations.

But he told The Seattle Times that instinct took over when a thin man in a beanie cap, dark clothing and sunglasses pushed a black backpack across the bank counter on Tuesday and demanded money.

Nicholson threw the bag to the floor, lunged toward the man and demanded to see a weapon. The man bolted for the door with Nicholson in pursuit.

He chased him several blocks before knocking him to the ground with the help of a passer-by. Nicholson then held the man until police arrived.

On Thursday, Nicholson was fired. Key Bank spokeswoman Anne Foster declined to comment on Nicholson and his actions.

Police and the FBI discourage such heroics. Bank tellers are trained to get robbers out the door quickly and are advised against possibly escalating a situation over money that's federally insured.

Article link

Mysterious UFO Crashes Into the Ottawa River Monday Night

2009-08-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

Dozens of residents of Canada’s capital city, Ottawa Ontario and nearby Gatineau, Que., witnessed an object streak across the night sky at about 10pm local time Monday night and crash into the Ottawa River with a “thunderous boom.”

The object had lights on it and appeared to change course several times, like a small plane struggling to stay airborn, before it hit the water.

It was such a sight that emergency rescue and search crews in the area sprung into action and began searching the area using sophisticated sonars and underwater cameras to try and figure out what the object was. Even helicopters from the Canadian Forces Base (CFB) in nearby Trenton took part. On Tuesday at 1:30pm, they discovered an object about 9 meters (30 feet) below the surface, but because of currents and nearby rapids, sending divers down would be extremely dangerous since they would be instantly swept away by the currents.

The mystery? Authorities and residents have no idea what this object laying at the bottom of the river is. There are no planes missing from the area, no other aircraft like helicopters, etc. are missing. There is no derbis, no oil slick and even space agencies that were contacted said nothing disappeared from orbit.

Read more: http://www.inquisitr.com/31081/mysterious-ufo-crashes-into-the-ottawa-river-monday-night/#ixzz0Mwts9dZd

Dillinger pistol sold at auction for $95,600

2009-07-30T04:07:00.000-07:00

A small pistol belonging to 1930s gangster John Dillinger has been sold at auction to a private collector for $95,600 -- more than double the pre-sale estimate, the auction house said on Sunday.

The Remington .41 caliber Double Derringer was said to have been found hidden in one of Dillinger's socks when he was arrested in Tucson, Arizona in January 1934, said Dennis Lowe of Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas.

According to affidavits, the pistol was given by the then Tucson sheriff to a probation officer and kept in the family until selling it in 1959.

The owner, who wished to remain anonymous, sold it because he was in declining health, Lowe said. It had been expected to fetch about $35,000 - $45,000 at the auction on Saturday in Dallas. A private Los Angeles collector made the winning bid of $95,600.

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