Odd News
Associated PressPython wrapped around armrest halts Japanese 'bullet' trainTOKYO (AP) — A passenger spotted a python curled around the armrest of another passenger's seat on a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen "bullet" train, forcing the train to make an unscheduled stop.
Associated PressSwooping, gliding over the Alps at free-flight festivalSAINT HILAIRE DU TOUVET, France (AP) — In wild costumes, wingsuits and even home-made flying machines, thousands of people are gliding through the French Alps in the world's oldest free-flight festival.
- Associated PressAlaska council to vote on cat leash law
KENAI, Alaska (AP) — Cats will need leashes just like dogs if a proposal before the Kenai council wins approval.
- Associated PressHold your nose: Stinky corpse flower blooms in New Hampshire
HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — A flower that got its nickname from its putrid smell is blooming at Dartmouth College for the first time since 2011.
Associated PressDriver caught using mannequin to drive in carpool laneBREA, Calif. (AP) — A California driver has been cited for using a mannequin — not the required human being — to drive in the carpool lane.
- Associated PressMichigan quintuplets work first jobs together at McDonald's
POTTERVILLE, Mich. (AP) — Three 18-year-old brothers and their two 18-year-old sisters have landed their first jobs, together, at a McDonald's in Michigan.
- Associated PressGerman girl bicycles to Poland to see her grandmother
BERLIN (AP) — German police say a missing 14-year-old girl has turned up safe and sound in Poland, after bicycling and hitchhiking some 400 kilometers (250 miles) to see her grandmother.
ReutersWork on sex life of rats, life as a badger honored at Ig Nobel PrizesBy Scott Malone CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - Scientific research into how polyester pants affect the sex life of rats, what it's like for a human to live like a badger and how different the world looks when viewed through your legs was honored at this year's Ig Nobel spoof awards. The group
- Associated PressSend in the clown complaints: Spate of reports raises alarm
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Police are encouraging caution amid a rash of public complaints and social media reports in a number of states of people dressed like clowns and acting suspiciously, even if they think many are knucklehead pranksters or simply bogus.
Associated PressScholars who studied liars, put pants on rats win Ig NobelsBOSTON (AP) — A Swede who wrote a trilogy about collecting bugs, an Egyptian doctor who put pants on rats to study their sex lives and a British researcher who lived like an animal have been named winners of the Ig Nobels, the annual spoof prizes for quirky scientific achievement.
Associated PressSold: New York mansion of 'Keeping up with the Joneses' fameRHINEBECK, N.Y. (AP) — A dilapidated New York mansion believed to have inspired the phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses" has sold at auction for $120,000.
- Associated PressShe ate 7 corncobs and was sick as a dog - but pup recovered
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — A dog who rooted through the trash from a family dinner and ate seven corncobs is recovering after a charity raised money for surgery.
- Associated PressTeen hospitalized after air freshener causes car explosion
BERLIN (AP) — A German teenager has suffered serious injuries after accidentally creating an explosion in the family car with air freshener.
Associated Press4 white lions, 3 white tigers born in zoo in PolandBORYSEW, Poland (AP) — Seven rare white wild cats — four lions and three tigers — have been born in the past week in a private zoo in central Poland.
- Associated PressFor sale: NY mansion of 'Keeping up with the Joneses' fame
RHINEBECK, N.Y. (AP) — A dilapidated mansion in New York believed to have inspired the phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses" is on the auction block.
- Associated PressCall from Barnstaple, UK, stumps police in Barnstable, Mass.
BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) — Police in Barnstable, Massachusetts, were stumped when a woman from a nearly identically named town in the United Kingdom called to report a car crash.
- Associated PressOut of the wild: Police chase bear through Alaska city
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A young black bear led police on a two-hour chase through the streets of downtown Anchorage, Alaska — scurrying down sidewalks and across lanes of traffic and even ducking behind a Pizza Hut along the way.
- ReutersCity issues subpoena over sinking San Francisco luxury high-rise
By Curtis Skinner SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco's city attorney on Tuesday issued a subpoena to the developers of a luxury condominium high-rise that is tilting and has sunk more than a foot (30 cm), to determine if structural issues were appropriately conveyed to purchasers. Some 400
- Associated PressWireless signals can detect your feelings with new device
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — What if your computer or smartphone could tell if you're happy or sad?
- Associated PressMan who lost phone fleeing cops posts online: Don't call me
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a Pennsylvania drug suspect who dropped his cellphone while running away from police took to Facebook to warn his friends not to call that phone number.
- Associated PressEau de urine: Flower that smells like death will soon bloom
HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — A flower that smells like a cross between a decaying animal and urine is set to bloom later this week at Dartmouth College.
- Associated Press'Lucky' to be alive: Calf with 2 faces born at Kentucky farm
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Visitors to a central Kentucky farm may do a double-take when they see the newest addition: a two-faced calf.
- Associated PressInn that inspired Longfellow: Guests, give us our stuff back
SUDBURY, Mass. (AP) — A historic Massachusetts inn that inspired poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and was once owned by automotive pioneer Henry Ford wants its stuff back — no questions asked.
- ReutersU.S. embassy accidentally sends settlement wine as Jewish new year gift
Ahead of the Jewish new year next month, the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv sent gift baskets to a number of Israeli organizations, as it does every year. Among the recipients was Peace Now, a group opposed to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. There was only one problem - among the gifts in
- Associated PressOlive oil helps free man stuck in jetty while fetching phone
NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (AP) — A man who got stuck head-first between two rocks on a Rhode Island jetty while trying to retrieve his cellphone has been rescued with the help of olive oil.
