January 2, 2012
In England, pig manure deters teenagers from drinking in the woods
The Middlesbrough Council came up with the cheap but effective method of combating anti-social behavior. It said residents had complained about young people drinking in the area. A council spokesman said: ”Following complaints, an inspection of the area revealed it was being used to drink alcohol and take drugs.” So Council staff thinned out the trees so the area was more visible from paths, then spread a thick layer of pig manure to deter the teens.
Since the muck-spreading, the area has been crime-free.
Do you have change for a million-dollar bill?
A North Carolina man is accused trying to use a fake $1 million bill to pay for his purchases at a Walmart. Michael Anthony Fuller, walked into the Walmart in Lexington, on Nov. 17. He shopped for a while, picking up a vacuum cleaner, a microwave oven and other merchandise, totaling $476, an arrest warrant says. When he got to the register, Fuller gave the cashier the phony bill, saying that it was real. Store staff called police.
Fuller was later charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretense and uttering a forged instrument, both felonies, court records show. A warrant says of the fake million-dollar bill: “There is no such thing.”
The largest bill in circulation is a $100 bill. In 1969, federal officials discontinued the use of $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills because of lack of public use. The largest note ever printed was the $100,000 bill, which featured President Woodrow Wilson. The bills, which were not available to the public, were printed from Dec. 18, 1934, through Jan. 9, 1935, and were used for transactions between Federal Reserve banks.
The Chicken Hotel
A British man opened a hotel for chickens. The avian inn, called the Chicken Hotel, is the brainchild of David Roberts, 31, who said that so many people keep chickens as pets these days that they need somewhere to board them when they travel.
Among the amenities: pens that are guaranteed fox-proof.
From The Winston-Salem Journal and The NY Post.
December 19, 2011
A California teen won’t ever again doubt Santa’s chimney-maneuvering skills.
An 18 year-old in Stockton, CA, got stuck in the chimney when he tried to sneak into his house after he broke a curfew. He was trapped for about 90 minutes until emergency crews arrived and saw his feet poking out of the fireplace. They used a firetruck ladder and ropes to pull him up.
Apparently, only his pride was hurt. Scare me, will ya! KA-BLAM! OUCH!
… A man hunting in Monroe, Ore., was startled when a squirrel suddenly ran up his leg. He immediately fired at the animal with his .22-caliber rifle. But he missed and hit his own foot. The squirrel escaped.
An Australian veterinarian holds obedience classes for cats – but says they learn to sit and fetch only if the lessons are one-to-one.
“If you get more than one cat in a room, the claws come out,’’ says Dr. Nicole Hoskin. She said she’s been able to teach hand commands to Buzz, a 10-week-old kitten with hearing problems.
Raise your right paw and swear your testimony will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Four dogs have taken the stand in a Portland, Ore., courthouse in the trial of two people accused of neglecting them. Merlin, Patches, Coco and Raven were subpoenaed by the defense lawyer, who thought jurors looking at them would be convinced they’d been well treated. One of the witnesses slobbered on the rug, but was not held in contempt. The trial was set to resume with human witnesses.
From The Boston Herald and The New York Post.
December 12, 2011
World’s Oldest dog dies at 26
Yumiko Shinohara with Pusuke
Pusuke, the world’s oldest dog at 26 years and eight months, has died in Japan after falling ill and refusing to eat or go on his morning walk.
Pusuke was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living dog last December. The fluffy tan Shiba mix was recognized as the world’s oldest living dog by Guinness World Records last year.
Owner Yumiko Shinohara, of Sakura, a city just outside Tokyo, said she ‘would just like to thank him for staying alive so long.’
The oldest dog of all time is officially Australian cattle dog Bluey, who managed 29 years and five months before dying in 1939.
Give you my money? I don’t think so, punk!
Two masked men confronted a couple walking through a Colorado Springs, Colorado neighborhood at 10 p.m., announced they were robbing them and ordered them to the ground. Instead, the husband — who, it turns out, is an American soldier — pulled out his gun and fired at them as they ran away as fast as they could.
Michigan and Wisconsin have taken the gloves off
Rival boosters of the two states are fighting a border war over which looks more like a mitten. “Only one state has the mitten mojo,’’ said Alex Beaton, of Grand Rapids, Mich., who inspired a group of her friends to tweet the same message. Tom Lyons, of Neenah, Wis., tried to make peace: “Wisconsin is the left mitten, Michigan is the right mitten,’’ he said. “One mitten doesn’t cut it when it comes to Midwest winters.’’
Next time you want to insult someone, don’t call him a rat.
Rats show compassion for fellow rodents, a University of Chicago study has found. Researchers put two rats in shared compartments, where one could roam free and the other was trapped in a tiny cage. The free rat soon learned how to open the cage and spring his companion.
South Australia tourism
Workers at the agency that promotes tourism to South Australia came up with what they thought was a great idea — sending newspapers and broadcast stations goldfish in bowls emblazoned with the words, “Be the big fish in a small pond.’’ But by the time the fish were delivered, most of them were dead. “This is about the dumbest p.r. stunt that I have seen in many years, said Aussie publicity guru Chris Rann.
But it got a lot of press.
From The Boston Herald, The New York Post and London’s Metro.
December 5, 2011
Man returns cash stolen from Sears in the 1940s
The manager of the Sears store in downtown Seattle says an elderly man has repaid – with interest – cash the man says he stole in the late 1940s.
KING-TV reports that the man hand-delivered an envelope Monday (11/28) addressed to “Sears manager.” Inside were a note and a $100 bill.
The note said the man stole $20 to $30 from a cash register decades ago and wanted to pay back $100.
Manager Gary Lorentson says he thinks the man’s conscience “has been bothering him for the past 60 years.”
Store security cameras recorded the man, but Sears officials said they don’t know who he is and they won’t release the video.
The store plans to put the money toward helping needy families in the holiday season.
Ohio homeowner captures and hogties burglar
An Athens, Ohio homeowner said on Thursday (12/1) that he exercised his right to protect his property when he chased down and subdued the man who robbed his home twice.
What began as a robbery call took an unusual twist by the time Athens County Sheriff’s deputies arrived to investigate, 10TV’s Jessa Goddard reporter.
Homeowner William Stanley said that a thief stole video gaming systems from his home earlier that day. When he arrived home that evening to find the man in his home again, he had had enough.
“He recognized him, chased him up into the woods, couldn’t find him there,” Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly said. “I think he knew where he lives, so he went to the residence and subdued him, hogtied him, put him in the back of his car and delivered him to deputies.”
Sheriff Kelly said that homeowners have the right to protect their property and themselves, but he cautioned others against taking the law into their own hands.
“Under the castle doctrine, you have a right to protect your property and your life,” Kelly said. “That’s what this man felt like he did so we’re not going to press any charges against him.”
The robber will not be identified until he is indicted by a grand jury on a felony burglary charge.
“There’s never been an animal that I haven’t caught, but this one is almost supernatural,” Rick George, the city’s animal control officer, said Thursday. “He’s definitely an escape artist.”
Last month, volunteers erected a steel fence around his hideout — a wooded lot in southeast Milford — but Waldo rammed it and jarred the pins that joined the panels loose.
Like many fugitives, Waldo has surrounded himself with accomplices.
“He’s been traveling with a herd of deer, and they like to hang out and graze together,” George said. “We know the location where they are, but it is private property, and the owner doesn’t want any publicity.”
“This steer is a Black Angus, a breed that is not known for liking people,” George said. “We’re lining up a date in the next few weeks when we can gather a team of about 20 volunteers, including large-animal veterinarians and representatives from the state (Department of Agriculture). It’s not going to be an easy operation.”
Among the options being considered are tranquilizing the animal — which has grown considerably over the summer — and carrying or dragging it from his hideout. That operation will take several men, George said. A bovine version of a Have-A-Heart trap may be employed, baited with hay or other tasty treats. A tow truck may be used to help hoist the heifer into a holding pen.
George said Thursday he has already located an animal sanctuary upstate that will let Waldo live out his days, rolling in clover.
“It’s a big farm and the owner likes to see his animals roam,” the Milford animal control director said. He would not identify the facility.
The farm that it escaped from does not want Waldo back, George said. It is possible that once the animal is captured, the city could seek to collect its costs from the owner, he said.
Flying squirrel invades New Jersey emergency room
Image of a Northern Flying Squirrel.
Firefighters were needed stat after a flying squirrel went nuts in a New Jersey hospital’s emergency room.
The squirrel kept launching itself from an 8-foot-high wall-mounted lamp into a glass wall after becoming trapped in a trauma room at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Rahway Tuesday night.
Fire Department spokesman Capt. Ted Padavano told The Star-Ledger of Newark it would climb up on a light and would jump off and glide.
A pair of firefighters threw a blanket over the squirrel and released it into a wooded area outside the hospital.
Padavano believes there may be a nest in the building because it’s the second time in two weeks that a flying squirrel got in the ER.
from the Boston Herald, Ohio’s 10TV.com, and the St. Petersburg Times and the Connecticut Post
November 28, 2011
Fishing boat owner Carlos Rafael shows off the 881-pound tuna caught on his trawler out of New Bedford, Mass.
Feds confiscate fishermen’s 881-lb. tuna
New Bedford, MA, fishing boat owner Carlos Rafael was elated recently when one of his bottom trawlers snared an 881-pound tuna.
The Standard-Times reports the fish was likely inadvertently snagged as Rafael’s crew was setting its net. A fish that big is hugely valuable — a 754pound tuna sold for nearly $396,000 this year.
Rafael drove to Provincetown to meet his crew, but found federal fishery enforcement agents waiting to seize the fish.
Rafael had tuna permits, but was told catching a tuna with a net is illegal. The fish will be sold overseas. Rafael will likely get a written warning, and no share of the proceeds if regulators find a violation.
A frustrated Rafael will likely give up his tuna permits, saying they’re apparently worthless.
California officials probe boxing kangaroo complaint
California wildlife officials are investigating a complaint that a circus traveling through the state is illegally staging an act involving a boxing kangaroo.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports that Fish and Game wardens were sent this week to Bakersfield, where the Piccadilly Circus was scheduled to perform two shows. The results of that inquiry were not immediately released.
The agency denied the circus a permit to bring kangaroos into the state. Two inspections in Northern California this month did not find any kangaroos.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals complained that a trainer forces a kangaroo named Rocky to box by agitating the animal.
Piccadilly Circus will visit 14 cities in California in November and December, according to its website. The site does not mention a boxing kangaroo.
Officer, it just swooped right down in front of me
A man drove past an accident scene in Palestine, Texas, and crashed into a helicopter waiting to ferry the injured from the scene. The cops arrested the guy for drunken driving when he asked, “Why was the helicopter flying so low?”
Why did the turkey cross the road?
To give out traffic tickets.
A cop in Las Vegas, dressed as a big turkey, handed out 64 citations to drivers who did not yield to the big bird.
It’s part of the Las Vegas PD’s pedestrian-awareness campaign.
Happily, the meter wasn’t running
Three young British men set a new Guinness record for world’s longest taxi ride.
Driving a 19-year-old black London taxi, they covered 32,000 miles, three continents, and 41 countries to reach Australia.
A man was elected to a Derby, Conn., board that monitors the town’s finances — thanks to a ballot typographical error.
James J. Butler was the top vote getter.
But his dad, James R. Butller, was the candidate.
The younger Butler would not say whether he wants the job.
With bin Laden taken care of, the folks at Homeland Security must have a lot of time on their hands.
To celebrate Thanksgiving, they’ve issued a warning about a new threat to America — turkey fryers.
“Use turkey fryers outdoors at a safe distance from buildings,” the DHS [Department of Homeland Security] tweeted.
“Never use turkey fryers in a garage or on a wooden deck.”
Three shiftless carjackers in Vallejo, Calif., were foiled because the car they targeted had a standard transmission.
The three forced the driver out and grabbed the keys, but fled after realizing none of them knew how to work a stick shift.
From the San Jose Mercury-News, Boston Herald and New York Post.
November 14, 2011
Utah mayor used alias to double as news reporter
SALT LAKE CITY – The mayor of Utah’s second-largest city is acknowledging he used a fake name to write freelance stories for Utah news outlets because he says the municipality needed more “good news.”
West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder quoted himself in some of the stories he wrote for the Deseret News, KSL-TV’s website and a community weekly.
Winder tells The Associated Press his career as a news reporter using the name Richard Burwash lasted several months until he decided to come clean this week. He says getting stories published was as easy as setting up a Gmail account and Facebook page under the alias.
Winder says he wanted to offer balance to what he saw as bad news coverage of his city. He complains that the media devotes too much time to covering crime.
North Carolina town with no candidates counts write-in votes
TAR HEEL, N.C. — One North Carolina town won’t let a lack of candidates stand in the way of democracy.
Voters in the Bladen County town of Tar Heel cast their ballots this week. All the election’s votes were write-in votes because no one registered to run for office.
The rural town of about 117 residents has four part-time elected positions. Bladen County Board of Elections officials say there were clear winners in all the races, with about 10 names being written in by voters.
Officials now have to make sure that the top vote-getters live inside town limits and are willing to accept the jobs.
Boy born at 11:11 on 11-11-11 to vet on Vets Day
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. – Jacob Anthony Saydeh (say-DAH’) won’t have any trouble remembering precisely when he was born.
Virtua Memorial hospital in Mount Holly, N.J., says Jacob entered the world at 11:11 a.m. on Friday , 11-11-11.
And to make the Veterans Day birth even more remarkable, the boy’s mother is an Air Force veteran and his father currently services in the Air Force.
It’s the second child for Staff Sgt. Christopher Saydeh and his wife, Danielle. They live at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, where he is a member of Air Force security forces. They are a third-generation military family.
Jacob weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces.
Maui bull freed after giant tire stuck on his head
HONOLULU – The 800-pound rode bull in Hawaii, named Skywalker, couldn’t eat or drink after he got his head lodged in the truck tire that someone dumped at the Triple L Ranch in Maui, ranch owner Paige De Ponte said.
“He was uncomfortable and it took all day to get him out,” she said Wednesday.
No one could get near the cranky bull Tuesday until Skywalker became exhausted enough for ranch worker Kawika Manoa to use a piece of wood to pry off the tire, which weighs more than 50 pounds. Skywalker didn’t put up a fight and then went straight for the water trough after being released from the rubber ring, De Ponte said.
She didn’t know how the tire ended up around Skywalker’s neck, but she said she hopes his plight will raise awareness about using the rural Kanaio area, in the upcountry region of the island, as a dumping ground.
(from philly.com)
November 7, 2011
Santa gets the pink slip at NY county store
Santa’s gotten the pink slip. Officials on New York’s Long Island say there is no money in the budget to pay a man $660 for playing Santa at a general store run by Suffolk County.
A spokesman for the county executive tells Newsday that officials already are considering layoffs for 750 employees to help close an estimated $135 million budget gap. They are looking for volunteers to replace 83-year-old David McKell. He has been playing Santa for nine years. County Executive Steve Levy and his top aide have offered to take a shift playing the jolly elf at the store.
Built in 1857, the St. James General Store is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was operated privately for decades until Suffolk took it over in 1990.
Man pays off mother’s 1954 parking ticket
A parking ticket issued 57 years ago in southeast Nebraska has finally been paid off. The fine: a dime. York Police Chief Don Klug says a man walked into the station Tuesday with the ticket and payment — mounted and framed. Klug tells the York News-Times that the man said he found the ticket among his mother’s things and wanted to settle the debt.
The ticket was issued on July 13, 1954, to a vehicle licensed in Oklahoma. The man told Klug that he believed his mother had been visiting York at the time and probably lost track of the citation.
Klug says he plans to hang the framed ticket on the wall of his office in York, about 50 miles west of Lincoln.
Truck hauling doughnuts overturns on NY highway
Authorities say one of the southbound lanes of an upstate New York interstate has reopened after a tractor-trailer hauling doughnuts overturned, spilling the baked goods across the highway.
Broome County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Sienko says the driver fell asleep, causing the truck to hit a guardrail and roll over around 2:30 a.m. Friday in the town of Chenango (sheh-NAYNE’-goh), just north of Binghamton. Police say the driver suffered minor injuries.
Sienko says “a lot of doughnuts” spilled when boxes split open, scattering the breakfast treats across the lanes of Interstate 81 and into the median. He says the southbound lanes were closed for less than an hour. The left lane remains closed as highway crews repair the guardrail and remove the doughnuts and rig from the scene.
UK may consider time zone switch
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government may reconsider long-touted proposals for the U.K. to switch to Central European Time, a move which advocates insisted Saturday would bring lighter evenings and possibly offer the country’s sluggish economy a boost.
Campaigners claim a lawmaker’s proposal made earlier this year to permanently switch Britain’s clocks 60 minutes ahead of current settings would extend the tourism season, cut road deaths and help promote outdoor activities.
Debate over the change, which would see British clocks synchronized with those in continental Europe, has rumbled for years and seen repeated attempts by legislators to press forward the case for reform.
However, opponents insist that northern regions would be badly affected, with darker mornings across northern England and Scotland. Some critics say that the sunrise in Scotland could come as late as 10 a.m. during some winter months.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking during a visit to Australia, said he continued to be interested in the idea of changing the country’s time zone — but stressed that semiautonomous authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would need to agree.
from The San Jose Mercury News
October 31, 2011
Owners of Chicago skyscrapers don’t decorate their buildings for Halloween — real spiders do it for them
Mead Elliot, who works at the John Hancock Tower, said the top floors of the 100-story building look like a “haunted house.’’ Every year at this time, the creepy bugs ride wind currents to the top of the buildings, where they spin their webs, he said.
He’s the luckiest pup in South Carolina
Tina Parker and her family were in a car near Liberty, South Carolina, when they spotted a little black Labrador on the roof of a double-decker freight car. They followed the train for six miles before they could signal the crew to stop. The dog now lives with the Parkers — who named him Boxcar.
The prime minister of Sweden is just a big teddy bear
After a young tourist from Belgium left her backpack with a teddy bear on the ground near PM Fredrik Reinfeldt’s Stockholm offices, he put the stuffed animal in a box and mailed it to the address the girl had left in the bag. She got the bear a few days later, along with a note from the prime minister and a photo of the security guards who found the bear.
OOPS!
A 16-year-old girl hoping to get her South Dakota driver’s license failed miserably when she plowed her car through the side of the DMV building. A police official explained, “She hit the gas instead of the brake.”
Talk about sibling rivalry.
Two brothers are running against each other in the nonpartisan mayoral election in Elmore, Ohio. A local councilman said Lowell and James Krumnow are both Republicans, but otherwise, “polar opposites.’’
From The NY Post.
October 24, 2011
Drew Manning before and after
This super-sized publicity stunt can’t be heathy.
Drew Manning — a 6-foot-2, 187-pound personal trainer from Eagle Mountain, Utah — is gorging on fast food and has ballooned to 270 pounds, all to make a point about fitness.
Manning plans to end his feast on Nov. 1 and then go on a six month workout to drop all his extra pounds.
Bear feasts at candy store in Tenn. mountains
A bear has feasted on pecan logs, caramel apples and other treats at a candy store in the Smoky Mountains resort town Gatlinburg, Tenn.
Employees reporting for work found the bear Wednesday morning at the Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen, where the animal apparently had knocked a hole in a glass front door to enter, according to The Mountain Press.
Police propped open several back doors and made loud noises, and the bear ran into the woods.
The animal had spread candy on the floor, and wrappers and packaging were strewn throughout a back storeroom. Pecan logs had been chewed and chunks were missing out of caramel apples.
Bob Miller of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park said bears are active this time of year, searching for food before hibernation.
A Southern California boy “rolled” into action when his mom was attacked by dogs.
The 31-year-old woman was walking her own pooches in Colton when two large dogs charged at her pets, then turned on her.
Her 11-year-old son sprang into action — swinging his skateboard at the attacking dogs and chasing them away. The mom was treated for bites, but it could have been a lot worse.
High Court judges in Ireland will no longer need to don their wigs.
To save money, the Irish government says it will no longer pay for judges’ wigs.
Until now, each new judge has received a white-dyed horsehair wig that costs taxpayers about $3,000.
The tradition of wearing the horsehair wigs dates back to the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660 and it survived the transition to Independence in 1921.
From The NY Post and The Journal.ie
October 17, 2011
No turkeys fall on Arkansas festival this year
Turns out turkeys don’t fly. The Baxter Bulletin reports that attendees at the Turkey Trot festival in Yellville were disappointed when no turkeys dropped from planes on October 7th and 8th.
The turkey drop is a mainstay of the event in northern Arkansas, though organizers don’t sanction it. Supporters say the turkeys can fly just enough to descend safely, but animal-rights advocates call it cruel.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals posted a $5,000 bounty for information leading to an arrest. The Federal Aviation Administration said any pilots dropping turkeys could lose their licenses.
People at the festival wore “I am the Phantom Pilot” T-shirts, and at least one sign offered a $10,000 reward for the arrest of the PETA employee who came up with the $5,000 bounty.
Runner disqualified for taking bus during marathon
LONDON — Rob Sloan boasted he’d completed an “unbelievably tough” marathon near Newcastle after crossing the finish line in third place with a personal-best time.
Apparently, he didn’t count the bus ride.
Sloan dropped out 20 miles into the race, hitched a ride on a spectator shuttle bus and emerged from the woods near the finish line to make the podium. “I’m convinced it was not premeditated,” Roberts said. “But he felt [tired], pulled out and flagged down a bus. It’s as bad as drug-taking in my book because it’s attempting to improve your performance by cheating. I’ve never known anything like it.”
Sloan will go before a district committee this month and faces the possibility of being banned from marathons.
One of the most famous cases of cheating in a marathon came at the Boston Marathon in 1980. Rosie Ruiz was the first woman to cross the finish line but was disqualified when officials discovered she jumped into the race about a mile from the end.
For $4,000, you can go as yourself for Halloween
A Japanese company has developed a way to make face masks of any person that are accurate right down to each hair and pore.
The masks, called 3-Dimensional Photo Forms, are manufactured by REAL-f. They sell for $3,920 for a face mask, and $5,800 for a mask of a person’s full head.
Gee, for that much money, you’d better get a lot of candy.
Nestlé ad goes ‘to the dogs’
VEVEY, Switzerland — Nestlé, the world’s biggest food company, is seeking to conquer the dog-food market with special advertising targeted at man’s best friend, the firm said yesterday.
“Nestlé Purina has created the first-ever television commercial especially for dogs,” it said in a statement.
“The TV commercial to be screened on Austrian television uses different sounds — including a high-frequency tone — to capture the attention of four-legged friends and their owners.”
From the San Jose Mercury News, the Boston Herald and The NY Post