Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Welcome to the last Friday of October! It's hard to believe October is almost over! But let's end the month and start your Friday off right, with all the news of the strange you can handle.

And, as always, if today's silly news isn't enough for you, check out page 38 in this month (and every month's) issue of ec. You won't be sorry! (At least we hope not. . . .)

Run for the prize
We here at ec think marathon runners are amazing—and a little bit crazy. But what happened at the Des Moines marathon really makes us think marathons are just a little crazy themselves. Kenyan Simon Sawe was in the lead of the race when he made a turn in the course and had to stop for a train. That's right: a train. When Sawe turned onto the final stretch he was leading his closest competitor by 10 seconds, but had to stop and wait for a train. During that time, his competitor caught up with him and after the train finally got across the crossing, the two competed in a 400-meter sprint for the finish. Sawe did win, but said he couldn't believe the roadblock the train caused. The train was operated by Iowa Interstate Railroad which had been informed of the date of the race and its course well in advance. The company did admit the mistake and issue an apology. To learn more about this story, go here. To learn more about preparing to run a marathon, go here.

Go away, please
Police officers in some Columbus, Ohio, neighborhoods have been handing out advice lately that's infuriated a few of the residents. That's because the police officers are advising the people to move out of the neighborhood. Before you get all upset, the officers aren't just picking the people they dislike the most and advising them to get out of Dodge. The response has come most often when residents of the neighborhoods have complained about the crime levels in their neighborhoods. At least two city council members have heard the complaints from residents, one saying she'd received some 20 calls about the remarks. Another council member deemed the advice unhelpful and inappropriate. The police department said they'd investigate the officers in question if they were given names. One police official wondered if the officers callous statements come out of their frustration with the endless battle against crime in those neighborhoods. "It's like the OK Corral out there," he said. Read more here.

Do you have anything to declare?
If you've traveled to another country (or watched movies about it), you're familiar with the idea of Customs. Basically, customs is an agency of a country's government that controls the flow of goods (including animals, personal effects, and other materials) into the country. Recently, a man was stopped by Norwegian customs agents for trying to smuggle 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos into the country. But wait, there's more. He had taped the amphibians to his body! And upon further investigation, officials discovered he'd hidden a tarantula in his bag. Apparently, reptile smuggling isn't all that uncommon in Norway, which prohibits people holding many reptile species as pets. To learn more about this off-beat story, go here. To learn more about U.S. customs, go here.

Have a wonderful weekend!