ROBOT CARS TO TAKE OVER MAIN AUTOBAHNS IN BERlIN, MUNICH
Driverless cars are being road-tested on one of the busiest autobahns between the two main cities of Berlin and Munich. Germany is to turn a section of one of its busiest autobahns into a no-go zone for drivers — it will be reserved instead for robot cars that steer themselves.
A section of the A9 between Berlin and Munich will be the testing ground for the new technology called the Digital Testing Ground Autobahn, said transport minister Alexander Dobrindt. “Cars with assisted driving and later fully-automated cars will be able to drive there”, Dobrindt said, adding: “The German car industry will also be able to be world leaders in digital cars”.
The German automobile industry has invested billions in self-driving cars with Audi recently displaying a model at the Consumer Electronics Expo in las Vegas. The A9 experiment will begin later this year.
(Mirror)
ZOO OFFERS ROACH, SCORPION TO SCORNED lOVERS
The San Francisco Zoo is bringing Valentine’s Day cheer to scorned ex-lovers by allowing them to adopt cockroaches and scorpions in the names of their exes.“This Valentine’s Day, if you care enough to send the very best, you’ll choose our charming Madagascar Hissing Cockroach package,” the zoo said on its website.
The zoo suggested the adoption package for the hissing cockroach, which grows to a size of 2-4 inches long and is believed to be the only hissing insect, is the perfect way to show “your favorite ex” that you have “moved on” with your life. The zoo also suggested jilted lovers consider adopting a giant hairy scorpion in the name of a “low-life ex”.
(UPI)
BABY CRAWlS ONTO A BUS WITHOUT HIS PARENTS
A wandering toddler caused a stir when he crawled onto a bus in China without his parents. The cheeky tyke hadn’t learned to walk on his own two feet, but that didn’t stop him giving his parents the slip. He’s seen in astonishing CCTV footage crawling up the stairs onto the bus as passengers looked on in amazement.
The intrepid traveller even pulled himself up onto a seat near the driver. The driver looked for his parents, and when he saw they were not around he decided not to carry on with the journey and called the police. The youngster was reunited with his parents an hour later, after they were found in a nearby shop. It’s not known whether he had the right change for the journey.
(Mirror)
DEPUTY lOWERED FROM CHOPPER FACES BEARS
As los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Ricky Hernandez was being lowered from a helicopter to inspect an abandoned car in rugged terrain, his team spotted a bear on the ground. But when team members tried to warn Hernandez, they lost radio contact. luckily the bear was startled by the chopper and ran off into Angeles National Forest.
Still, Hernandez was in for a shock when he peered inside the car and came face to face with some bear cubs that had made themselves at home. KABC-TV reports the two or three cubs had torn up all the upholstery and made the vehicle into a den. After a brief investigation, Hernandez got out quickly. Hernandez says he learned a valuable lesson: Always be on the lookout, even on routine calls.
(AP)
‘YETI’ PROWlS BlIZZARD-HIT STREETS IN BOSTON, TWEETS
A “Yeti” prowling the blizzard-hit streets of a Boston suburb is posting to Twitter about school closings and its inability to hail a cab.
The “Boston Yeti,” a person who has been passing the time during the blizzard by dressing up as a mythical ape and posting pictures to Twitter, was recently seen walking around the Boston suburb of Somerville and urging “everyone to be safe.”
The Boston Yeti, who has been posting to Twitter as @BostonYeti2015, identified itself to ABC News as a creature that “was raised and educated by the woods”. However, that education failed to help the mythical beast catch a cab on McGrath Highway in one picture posted to Twitter last week.
Another tweet by the Yeti took credit for last week’s school closings, attributing them to “multiple #BostonYeti2015 sightings” in the area. The Yeti — a mythical Himalayan ape also known as an abominable snowman — follows in the Sasquatch-like footsteps of a similar costumed prankster spotted last year in Washington.
(UPI)
WOMAN GETS BAG FUll OF CASH AT BURGER KING
A New Hampshire woman got a surprise at a Burger King drive-thru: a bag full of cash instead of food. Janelle Jones says she discovered on the way home that the bag did not contain the sweet tea and junior spicy chicken sandwich that she had ordered Friday at the Rochester fast-food restaurant.
Foster’s Daily Democrat reports that Jones called her husband and they decided to return the $2,631, which was a Burger King bank deposit. Matthew Jones says the couple briefly considered keeping the money, which they certainly could have used. But he says he and his wife are Jehovah’s Witnesses, and that “Jehovah sees everything”.
(Yahoo News)