Vandals smear cars with baked goods
There’s mischief afoot in one suburban Portland neighbourhood, but police say it doesn’t involve the typical spray paint or broken windows. No, we’re talking pastry here — maple bars smeared on cars, doughnuts left atop windshield wipers, pastries littering a yard.
One woman told officers she’s seen more than a dozen incidents of food smeared on cars. Not just pastry, but yoghurt, cakes and eggs. She alerted police last week.Then another woman told police her vehicle had been hit six times — twice with a maple bar, once with a cinnamon doughnut, once with pink yogurt, once with “bread soaked in a white slimy liquid” and once with red potato salad.
Police think the victims of the night-time vandalism are chosen at random and children are likely to be behind it.“In my 25 years in police services, I have never investigated or seen a criminal mischief involving pastries,” said lt Mike Rouches.
(AP)
Shark bites more than it can chew
Australian Department of Fisheries officials were surprised when they found a sea lion lodged in the throat of a great white shark after cutting it open.
Beachgoers saw the shark thrashing around in the water two days prior to it washing up on the shore on Coronation beach last week. They cut the shark open to find an Australian sea lion in its throat.
“This could explain why the shark was exhibiting such unusual behaviour in shallow waters off Coronation Beach. It is possible that the shark was trying to dislodge the blockage,” said Principal Research Scientist Dr Rory McAuley.
He added “Such a large object may have damaged the shark’s internal organs or impeded water flow into its gills, leading to death. Alternatively, it may have accidentally become stranded in its attempts to get rid of the obstruction.” The shark was 13 feet long.
(UPI)
lost lego cargo washes ashore after 20 years
Seagrass, scuba gear and ship’s rigging are familiar finds for Cornish beachcombers. But it’s the pirates’ cutlasses, green dragons and the odd black octopus they’re really after.The tiny plastic pieces are washing ashore on Cornwall’s north and south coast beaches, to the delight of children on holiday dreaming they must have come from countries far away.
little do they know they are some of the 4,756,940 pieces lost from one of 62 containers aboard the cargo ship Tokio Express, which was battered by storms just 20 miles off land’s End in February 1997.
The skipper reported his vessel being hit by a wave he described as a “once in a century phenomenon” which slammed the ship 60 degrees one way and then 40 degrees another. little is known about what was in the 61 other containers, but for Cornish beachcombers, the lego just keeps coming.
(Mirror)
village called Aladdin on Sale for $1.5 million
If you missed out on buying the tiny Wyoming town of Buford, another village is on the market. Aladdin is available for $1.5 million. The buyer will get 30 acres and 15 buildings in northeastern Wyoming, including a 118-year-old general store that’s still operating, The Gillette News-Record reported last week. Owners Judy and Rick Brengle are looking to slow down.
Aladdin is between Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming, and Belle Fourche, South Dakota. It draws crowds every August during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Aladdin also doesn’t have a Government population count, but about 15 people live there.
Buford sold last year for $900,000 and was renamed PhinDeli Town by its new owner. It’s in southern Wyoming, and it claimed to have only one resident.
(ABC News)
Wardrobe change for jail inmates
Black and white are the new orange in a Michigan county where the sheriff has made a wardrobe change for jail inmates after a TV series brought new popularity to the vibrant colour associated with prisoners.
The Saginaw County Jail is replacing its orange prisoner jumpsuits with horizontal black and white striped jumpsuits because the popular prison life series “Orange Is the New Black” has led locals to make fashion choices inspired by the behind-bars set, a sheriff said.
“For me, it was an easy decision. It was a cost savings and it breaks away from that cultural coolness. It’s not cool to be an inmate of the Saginaw County Jail,” said Sheriff William Federspiel.
Federspiel said the stripes will also help the public differentiate between an inmate and a fashionista.
(Reuters)