No zombie apocalypse in Wisconsin: authorities
Authorities said that a zombie apocalypse had not occurred in central Wisconsin despite the discovery of an empty casket along a rural highway over the weekend. A driver alerted authorities after spotting the casket on the side of a road in the city of Friendship, about 80 miles north of Madison, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office said. An unidentified man came forward to claim the casket, telling authorities that it fell out of a boat he was pulling with his truck, according to a sheriff’s office Facebook post. “There was no sign that it was ever used for a burial,” Adams County Deputy Joe leBreck said. “We had no concerns that we had a grave robbery or a zombie apocalypse here.”
(Reuters)
Pastafarian can wear strainer on head in her license photo
A Massachusetts agency is letting a woman who belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster wear a colander on her head in her driver’s license photo after she cited her religious beliefs.
lowell resident lindsay Miller said last week that she “absolutely loves the history and the story” of Pastafarians, whose website says has existed in secrecy for hundreds of years and entered the mainstream in 2005.
Miller says wearing the spaghetti strainer allows her to express her beliefs, like other religions are allowed to do. A spokesman for the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles says policy does not permit head coverings or hats on license photos, but exceptions are made for religious reasons.
lawyer Patty DeJuneas calls Pastafarianism a “secular religion that uses parody to make its point”.
(AP)
piranhas, tigers to join crocodile prison guard
When Indonesia’s anti-drugs czar announced plans to guard a death-row prison island with crocodiles, the Government rushed to explain that it was just a joke, but last Friday Budi Waseso said he was now thinking of using tigers and piranha fish too.
Media quoted the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief as saying that he had already obtained two crocodiles from a farm to study their power and aggression and may ultimately put as many as 1,000 in place to keep convicts from escaping.
“The number will depend on how big the area is, or whether perhaps to combine them with piranhas,” he told reporters, according to the rimanews.com portal. “Because the (prison) personnel numbers are short we can use wild animals. We could use tigers too — for conservation at the same time.” Piranha fish, meat-eaters with sharp teeth and powerful jaws, are indigenous to South America and are not found in Indonesia.
Waseso and officials at his office were not immediately available to comment on the reports.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared a war on what he has dubbed a “narcotics emergency” after taking office a year ago, basing his campaign on a study that showed at least 40 people a day were dying from drug use.
(Reuters)
No Ticket, No Driver: Police Stop Google Self-Driving Car
A California police officer made a traffic stop, but wrote no ticket. There was no driver to give it to anyway. Mountain View police said in a statement that an officer pulled over a Google self-driving car that was being tested on local roads last Thursday.
The officer noticed the car going a road-clogging 24 mph in a 35 mph zone and realised it was a Google Autonomous Vehicle. He stopped the car and contacted its operators to let them know it was impeding traffic, but no citation was given.
A person is required to sit behind the wheel of self-driving cars. The Google project responded in a blog post, saying it has never received a ticket and adding, “Driving too slowlyIJ Bet humans don’t get pulled over for that too often.”
(Yahoo)
‘Warlock’ slapped with restraining order
A judge in Salem, Massachusetts, granted a self-proclaimed witch’s request for a restraining order to keep a self-proclaimed warlock and business rival from harassing her.
lori Sforza, 75, who calls herself a psychic and a “hereditary high priestess” had appealed to Salem District Court Judge Robert Brennan to issue an order stopping Christian Day, who calls himself the “world’s best-known warlock” and owns magic-themed stores in Salem and New Orleans from making what she said were harassing phone calls.
The two are well-known in Salem, infamous as the site of 17th century trials that led to the executions of 20 people found guilty of witchcraft. Modern-day Salem capitalises on its morbid reputation with tourist attractions both ghoulish and historic that help the city draw about one million visitors a year, with crowds peaking in the run-up to Halloween.
Sforza, who serves as founder and Head Mother of Our lord and lady of the Trinacrian Rose Church, in the waterfront city 26 km northeast of Boston, welcomed the ruling.
“I love Salem so much,” she told reporters after leaving the courthouse. “No one should ever be abused, man or woman.” Day told reporters he had never harassed Sforza.
“All of this comes from business competition. All of this comes from when you’re the best at what you do, you’re going to have people who want you to fail,” Day said.
(Reuters)