Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Welcome to the final Friday of March! And you know what that means . . . OK, maybe not, but here on the ec magazine blog it means our online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites."

Yep, we've been digging through this week's news of the weird and watching interesting videos and it's time to share some of what we found this week.

Let's get the weekend started right!

Delayed? Again!
No one likes a delay at the airport. Full of people rushing to get to their next flight or their destination, it's one of the best places to get a glimpse of someone having a complete and total meltdown. Delays usually come from weather issues, mechanical problems, or flights that are running just a tiny bit behind. That wasn't the case at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta this week. Apparently, on Tuesday, a coyote wandered onto a runway and delayed flights by a few minutes while the ground crews chased the animal off of the runway. The whole delay only lasted about five minutes (the time it took ground crews in a vehicle to chase the animal into a ravine), but that's five minutes at the world's busiest airport. You can read all about it here.

Snowball fight! Lawsuit!
Most of us think a snowball fight sounds like fun, but that's not the case for two Massachusetts men. In defense of the guys: this is not your run-of-the-mill fun-with-your-friends-in-the-snow snowball fight. Apparently, Charles Dow of Newton, Mass., and Robert Earley of Nantucket, Mass., were in Jay, Vermont, earlier this winter. On that fateful Friday, Earley was driving his car down the street when Dow fired off a snowball at the moving vehicle. The Vermont State Police report that Earley then stopped his vehicle and assaulted Dow for throwing the snowball. Dow was injured and treated at a Newport, Vermont, hospital. But both of the men now face charges: Earley was cited for simple assault; Dow was charged with disorderly conduct. They're both due in court in May. And we're glad there will likely be no snow around for that court date! Read all about it here.

A sweet story.

We love good stories about dogs as much as anyone. OK, if we're honest, maybe more than most people. But this week we ran across the story of Alice, an 8-week-old springer spaniel who had been abandoned by a breeder at an animal rescue shelter in Ireland because she was deaf. That's where Marie Williams and Mark Morgan ran across the puppy. Deaf themselves, they fell in love with the dog—the fact that she was deaf just made her all the more special. Alice's new family is working to teach her sign language. It seems like she's found a happy new home! Learn more here. Be sure to check out the video!

As always, if today's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" wasn't enough strange news and quirky stories for your taste, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) print issue of ec. You can subscribe to ec here: www.lifeway.com/ec.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Hey, ec fans! Welcome to the first Friday of March Madness!

And even if you think college basketball's biggest tournament is nothing to cheer about (we obviously do!), there's plenty news of the weird out there to get you laughing and ready for the weekend.

So let's see what we dug up this week:

A sticky issue
Steven Steel is a city councilman in Toledo, Ohio. A guy who prides himself on "living off the land," Steel and his family have chickens to lay eggs, collect honey from a beehive, and make their own soup. But the city says he took things too far when he tapped a century-old maple tree in front of his Toledo home and collected enough sap for two gallons of syrup. The local paper reported the tree was actually owned by the city (oops!) and a neighbor complained. Apparently, Steel is in the wrong, since Toledo law requires citizens to get approval from the forestry department before doing anything to a tree. Steel removed the taps and buckets right away. We guess he'll just have to buy his syrup at the store like we do! Read all about it here. Want to learn about how maple syrup is made? Go here.

It's MINE! 

Photo from the Hershey Farm Whoopie Pie Festival
near Lancaster, Pa. This year's festival is set for
September 17.

If you live in the New England area (or the East Coast) or have visited there, you've probably run across a popular dessert called a whoopie pie. It's basically a cake sandwich involving two small chocolate cakes that sandwich a creamy vanilla filling. Back in January, Maine state representative Paul Davis introduced a bill that would make the whoopie pie Maine's official state dessert. He says he got the idea when he was talking with people at the Maine Whoopie Pie Festival last year, an event that attracted 4,000 visitors to Dover-Foxcroft, which is part of Davis' district. The legislative committee has since dropped the term "dessert" in favor of "treat," but that hasn't stopped Pennsylvania residents from protesting. They say the treat actually originated in the kitchens of their large Amish population and dates back generations. The Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau fought back when they got wind of the bill, creating a website (www.saveourwhoopie.com) and accusing Maine of "confectionary larceny." So far, residents of each state are sticking to their guns and supporting their bakeries in the fight for the origin of the whoopie pie. Things may get heated, but both sides say the fight is all in good fun. Learn more here. Want to make your own whoopie pie? Go here.

Silly baby!

There's nothing like a good funny video to end a long week. The funny part about this one is the baby's very dramatic reaction to her mom blowing her nose. But it's funnier if you watch it. . . . so here:



As always, if today's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" isn't enough news of the strange for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) print edition of ec. You can subscribe to ec magazine here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's Friday! The last Friday in February! And since that seems like something we should celebrate, we thought we'd get the party started with this week's online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites." We just can't wait to fill you in on some of the crazy stories we found among this week's headlines!

Let's go!

GOAL!!!!!!

Soccer is exciting. . . but apparently one student took his love for soccer a little too far—and that decision had its consequences. While secretly listening to a soccer game during class, he got a little excited. Why don't we just show you the rest?

Thin mints in jail? 

Members of a Georgia Girl Scout troop may have wondered if they'd be munching on Girl Scout cookies in jail this week after a strange run-in with a local police officer. Apparently, the girls and their leader had set up a stand to sell cookies at a strip mall near Atlanta on Wednesday when the police officer approached them and asked if they had a peddler's permit. They didn't, and he then told them to pack up and go home. The younger members of the troop were convinced they were headed to jail and very frightened by the experience. Of course, the story hit the local news and both the city's police chief and mayor have now spoken with the officer in question. They say the whole incident was a "misunderstanding" and are planning to make it up to the girls with a pizza party. To read more about this story, go here.

Run, Robot, Run!

Once upon a time, we thought robots would rule the world—or at least do our household chores like on the cartoon "The Jetsons." And robots are doing a lot of cool stuff these days. There are robots used in medical fields and surgery, robot vacuums, and robots who do a lot of basic tasks in manufacturing that we'd never even dream of. And there are robots who run. Yep, run. The world's first robot marathon got underway yesterday in western Japan. According to the story we read, 5 two-legged robot participants are racing on an indoor track as a way to “demonstrate the machines' durability and maneuverability.” The race is sponsored by a Japanese robot maker, and the robots are 1-foot-tall and battery-charged. They will have to cover 26 miles and it's expected the race will last through Sunday. To learn more, go here. Check out a video here.

As always, if this edition of “Snippets and Soundbites” isn't enough for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec. You can subscribe to the print edition of ec here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Happy Friday! In honor of Friday (or as we like to call it, FriYAY!), the ec team thought we'd get things started right. . . with some of the strangest stories we could find in this week's news. Ready?!

It's a record! 

When Phyo Min Min Soe, 26, gave birth to her daughter Le Yati Min she asked the nurses if she was born complete with all her fingers and toes."They replied that the baby even has more than she needs," she says. That's because Le Yati Min was born with 12 fingers and 14 toes! (Yes, you read that correctly.) The little girl is now 16-months-old, and the family, who lives in Myamar, is seeking a Guinness World Record. According to the Guinness World Records website, the record for most fingers and toes for a living person is currently held by two people in India, who have 12 fingers and 13 toes each. Le lives with her family in a small wooden house on the outskirts of the Southeast Asian country's former capital of Yangon, where she runs around with seven toes on each foot. To learn more about polydactylism (being born with extra digits), go here. To read the original version of this story, go here.

Real-life Survivor

Henry Morello, 84, may never appear on "Survivor," but he's a survivor just the same. The 84-year-old was driving home from a restaurant in the Phoenix area last week when he realized he had made a wrong turn. So he made a U-turn and ended up with his car stuck in a ditch near Interstate 17 in the Arizona desert for five days. His car and cell phone batteries soon went dead. Morello couldn't get out and had to figure out how to survive, so he drank windshield wiper fluid when he got thirsty, used his car mats to stay warm—and read the car manual from cover to cover to pass the time. A group of hikers found Morello last Saturday morning, 5 days after his ordeal began. Doctors  said he arrived in good condition considering what he had been through. Morello will remain there for a few days while he is treated for kidney damage. Morello lives on his own, but a caregiver visits each day. His family and friends said he won't be driving on his own for a long time. Read all about it here.

No more headaches!

We'll end with the tale of a man from China who had been suffering from severe headaches, but won't be anymore. That's because doctors discovered the cause: a rusty, 4-inch knife blade that had been stuck in his skull for four years. A little back story: 4 years ago, Li Fuyan, 30, had been stabbed in the lower right jaw by a robber four years ago and the blade broke off inside his head without anyone realizing it. Surgeons successfully removed the blade this week. Read the whole story here.

As always, if today's dose of strange stories isn't enough for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec. Subscribe to ec here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Good morning! And greetings from a freezing cold Nashville! No matter what the weather's like where you are, we know you're ready to get this Friday off to a good start.

And the best way to do that, you ask? Well, "Snippets and Soundbites" on the ec blog! Let's see what random news and weirdness this week's news sites holds in store!

Flashing lights mean stop. 

Especially if they belong to a police car and an officer who's alerting you to that fact that you're speeding. But the police in Sandusky, Ohio, can't take much credit for nabbing a woman who was drinking and driving there this week. Apparently, the woman thought she saw flashing police lights in her rearview mirror and pulled over. The lights actually came from a nearby skating rink. Then, the woman's car got stuck in the snowbank (near the sign) that she'd pulled into. A passing motorist called the police, who came to the scene and arrested the woman on charges of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. For more info on this story, go here. 

Help! I'm trapped! 

The flight was set to leave Washington's Reagan National Airport for Hartford, Conn. Everything seemed to be going well. The baggage had been loaded. The cargo doors were shut. It was time to push the plane back from the gate, but no one new where the tug driver was. The man had also been one of the bag handlers in charge of loading passengers' baggage into the cargo compartments. At some point in the confusion, the co-pilot heard screaming and pounding coming from the cargo area. The crew investigated—and found the missing baggage handler. He had crawled into the cargo area while loading the plane and another baggage handler closed the door on him. He was quickly freed and wasn't hurt at all. The flight left on time. . .but we bet that guy has a talk with his coworker! Learn more here.

Good manners are important. 

Your parents have probably drilled manners into your brain. It's just polite to say thank you, yes ma'am and yes sir, right? Well, apparently, it's even important when robbing a convenience store. Seattle police made an arrest in a weekend robbery committed by the "polite robber." The man entered the store and politely informed the clerk: "I'm robbing you, sir." He explained and apologized, saying that he had bills to pay and a family to feed. He even promised to pay the money back if he ever got back on his feet. The man left the store with $300. Police quickly identified a suspect and arrested him after the surveillance video went viral and people called in with tips. You can learn more by clicking here.

If this edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" isn't enough, be sure to check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec. You can subscribe to ec here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's the last weekend of January, and we can't wait to round-up this week's news of the weird. We've got everything from a stray lizard to a car encased in ice in this week's news stories.

Ready to get this weekend started off right? Let's go!

The mystery of the grand piano: SOLVED!

Earlier this week, news sites all over the Internet were abuzz with the mystery of a grand piano that mysteriously appeared on a sandbar in Miami's Biscayne Bay. The piano was placed on the highest point of the sandbar so that it wouldn't be submerged when the tide came up. Theories abounded about how the piano got there and many people tried to take credit, but the mystery came to a close yesterday: 16-year-old Nicholas Harrington put the piano there and he has the whole thing on video. Harrington, his older brother, and two neighbors took the piano out to the sandbar on January 2 on the family's boat and left it there. Harrington doesn't like to call the escapade a prank, since his intent was to create an experience for boaters. It was also something he thought made help me get into a prestigious art school. The piano was an old movie prop (Harrington's dad is a production designer) that had been burned during a neighborhood New Year's Eve party. Harrington says he would have preferred to leave the whole thing as a mystery and had intended to remain anonymous (except for including the photos in his college application). But then the story went viral and others began taking responsibility. The piano has now been removed. To read more about this mystery, go here.

Out for a stroll

Residents in a Riverside, Calif., condo complex were in for a surprise earlier this week when they noticed a stray (nope, not a dog) monitor lizard ambling down the sidewalk of the complex. The lizard was so big that it even scared the animal services officer called in to do something about the 5-foot-long lizard. "She said she saw it and almost jumped back in her truck," said John Welsh, spokesman for Riverside County Animal Services. "The residents were freaking out because here's the Godzilla-like creature walking down the sidewalk." The officer used a catch pole (a long pole with a loop on the end) to catch the animal, which seemed calm at first, then started hissing. Black-throated Monitor lizards are carnivorous, legal to own in California and native to the African grasslands and parts of Asia. Young lizards generally cost about $100 in pet stores. Because this lizard is so big, the animal control officers think it was probably someone's pet and might have escaped its cage or gotten loose while the owner was gone. They're holding the animal at a local animal shelter with the hopes the owner will claim it soon. To learn more, go here.

It's an iceberg! No, it's a car!

And we'll just leave you today with this video of a New York man's car:


If today's online edition of the news of the weird just isn't enough for you, please check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec!

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It snowed yet again here in Nashville, but the ec team is ready to get this weekend started. We just had to chip our cars out of icebergs first!

We hope you're having a happy Friday. . . and we've got plans to make it even happier with this week's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites." And if this round-up of the week's news of the weird isn't enough for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec!

That said, let's get on with show!

RIP Paul (the octopus)
Remember Paul the German octopus who made all those (correct) predictions about World Cup soccer? Well, Paul passed away late last year and the aquarium where he lived has been looking for an appropriate way to commemorate his life. And according to aquarium spokeswoman Tanja Munzig, fans around the world have been asking for a memorial. Well, the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen answered their requests this week, unveiling the 6-foot plastic replica of Paul clutching a soccer ball in his eight arms yesterday. Munzig said Paul's cremated ashes were placed in a gold-leafed urn inside the ball.If you'd like to learn more or see pictures of the new memorial, go here. To learn more about Paul, go here.

Who's there?

In further animal news, a crocodile in the Ukraine isn't feeling too well after eating a cell phone. First a little background: Gena is a 14-year-old crocodile who lives at Dnipropetrovsk Oceanarium in Kiev. Last month, Rimma Golovko was trying to photograph the crocodile and dropped her phone. The crocodile promptly snacked on the phone—which has been ringing in his stomach!—and has been refusing food and acting listless. The phone owner wants her SIM card back, since it contains her photos and contacts. Officials plan to take Gena to a clinic for an X-ray next week to see if the phone is still there. Medics are considering surgery as a last resort. To read more about this strange story, go here.

You got married where? 

Book your special day. . . at a funeral home. Yep. You read that correctly. Apparently it's a growing trend among funeral homes to expand the ways their facilities can be used. More and more, funeral homes are building "community life centers" designed to house all kinds of ceremonies and celebrations, ranging from funerals to weddings, anniversaries to proms.

"Over the past five to six years, more and more funeral homes are offering the use of their facilities to the greater community, whether it's hosting a full-blown wedding reception or offering meeting space to an organized community group," says Emilee High of the Wisconsin-based National Funeral Directors Association. In a 2010 association survey, almost 10 percent of the 627 funeral home owners who responded said they owned or offered a community or family center in addition to traditional funeral facilities. It sounds a little weird to us, but who knows? As someone said in the story we read about this trend, "a chapel is a chapel." To read that story and learn a lot more, go here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

What's up, ec readers? We hope you're having a wonderful week and are ready for a great weekend. Since snow has covered Nashville for a week now, our team is ready for some warmer temps and fun. And we thought we'd get that started with this week's "Snippets and Soundbites." Enjoy!

The Last Supper . . . in lint.
Familiar with Leonardo Da Vinci's painting of the "Last Supper"? Sure you are. I mean, who isn't? Well, one Michigan woman thought she'd put her own spin on the painting and recreate it using a different medium. But she didn't go the usual route and pick sculpture or watercolor or some other classical art style. Nope, she chose to recreate the masterpiece in dryer lint! In order to create her lint masterpiece, she had to do about 800 hours of laundry to get enough lint. Wondering how she got lint in the right colors? She bought new towels in the colors she needed and washed and dried them separately to make lint in the perfect shades. The good news for Laura Bell, the lint artist? Ripley's Believe It or Not heard about the lint recreation of the famous piece of art and is interested in displaying it in one of their museums in the near future. To learn more, go here.

Pop Quiz! 

Those words may be words you dread to hear on any given school day. And so do Idaho lawmakers, it seems, especially after this week. On Wednesday, public schools chief Tom Luna appeared before the Idaho state Senate and House education committees to make a presentation about new technology that is being used in Idaho public school classrooms. As part of the demonstration, Luna asked the lawmakers two questions about their state's history and gave them each an electronic device that functions like a remote and allowed them to input their answers. Luna asked when Idaho became a state and which town was Idaho's first capital—and 17 percent of the lawmakers on the panels didn't know the answer to the first question and 15 percent missed the second. Oops!

But we at ec think we should give them a break. But mostly because if we were asked the same questions about our home states or Tennessee, we'd probably fail, too! If you'd like to know more about this story, go here.

Oh, opossum!
First off, we'd like to say that we at ec find possums a bit creepy. . . but we couldn't NOT tell you the story of Heidi the cross-eyed opossum. No, this isn't the beginning of a children's story; it's true! Heidi lives at the Leipzig Zoo in Germany and skyrocketed to Internet fame after a local news station posted a clip of a report about Hiedi and her new home in the zoo. The zoo didn't expect much to come of it, but the clip gained Internet fame and now the station has developed 10 episodes featuring Heidi and a local stuffed animal manufacturer has adapted its line of plush opossums to include a white one with black ears and crossed-eyes. Heidi is also quite popular on Facebook and as of Wednesday morning, had more than 111,000 fans. If you'd like to learn more about this story, go here. Want to see a video of her and her crossed-eyes? Go here. We're also posting a link on our Facebook page. 

And if today's online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" isn't enough news of the weird for you, please check out page 38 of this month's print edition of ec. Subscribe to ec here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

We've had a long winter's nap here at "Snippets and Soundbites," but we're all rested it up and ready to kick off the first full weekend of 2011 with all the strange news we could find in this week's news coverage.

Ready to get a quirky start to your Friday with the news of the weird, including a phone that saves lives, raining birds, and a poor, poor snowman?

Let's go!

A phone that does EVERYTHING.
We all know that cell phones do everything under the sun this day. We're long past just making calls or texting with today's iPhones and Droids. And a nightclub employee in Atlanta now knows that his phone does something else: saves lives. Well, at least it saves one life, his. On Thursday night, the man was working as a parking attendant at a nightclub in Atlanta and things were going as usual. Two men had been ejected from the club, though, and when they came out onto the parking lot, shots were fired. The parking attendant was hit, but he had his cell phone in his jacket pocket. The bullet hit the phone before ricocheting off the man's chest, leaving him with only minor injuries. So the man was safe and the two men were arrested a short time later. To learn more, go here.

It's raining. . .birds.
You've probably heard this week that New Year's Eve in Beebe, Arkansas, didn't go quite as most residents had planned. That's because thousands of dead red-wing blackbirds fell from the sky and as of yet, no reason for the strange event has been discovered. An ornithologist (someone who studies birds) said that maybe fireworks or some other loud noise frightened a flock that roosts in the town and they flew into confusion, slamming into buildings and other obstacles. Others have wondered if weather, chemicals, or diseases could have played a role. The fireworks/loud noise theory appears to have some credence, though, as residents did report hearing loud booming sounds on New Years Eve, though no one quite knows what caused the booming noises. An initial examination of the birds led scientists to believe they all died from hemorrhages caused from flying into something very hard. In other seemingly unrelated events, there was a large fish kill in the Arkansas River and more birds fell out of the sky in Kentucky, Louisiana, and even Sweden this week. To learn more, go here.

What does he have against snowmen?
A bus driver in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, apparently just doesn't like snowmen. We say that because a video was posted on YouTube a few weeks ago of the driver running over a snowman built in the middle of the street. And it's not like the driver didn't have room to maneveur around the snowman. The video shows only the bus and one other car on the street on the University of Illinois campus. The car carefully drives around the snowman and minutes later, the bus slams into the snow creation. No one knows who built the snowman or shot the video, but transit authorities saw it on YouTube. And the driver? Well, he resigned from his job after the transit authorities saw the video. Learn more here. To see the video, go here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Did you miss "Snippets and Soundbites" last week when the ec team (and we hope, you!) were all celebrating the holiday with our friends and family?

We hope so!

And we hope this week's stories get your first weekend in December off to a good start. Here we go!

Where the books are. 

Regina M. Smith loves to read, but she's currently without a job, so buying books isn't really in the budget. But that's not really a problem when her local Anniston, Ala., library is full of books she can check out for free with a library card. Which she has. But instead, the 42-year-old woman was arrested this week for stealing books from the library. Police say Smith had taken 222 books valued at $5,432 over the past couple of years. Her top picks? Crime novels, mysteries and vampire stories. A police investigator said the woman had a valid library card, but sneaked the books out and kept them rather than using it to check them out. To learn more, go here.


There's an app for that.
iPhones have definitely revolutionized the way we use our cell phones, with apps, games, and any number of special function. But a California man is taking his love for the iPhone and its applications a step further: he credits an app for helping him to save a player's life. Eric Cooper, a basketball coach, had downloaded an app called Phone Aid and studied CPR the night before his teen's basketball game. One of his players, Xavier Jones, stumbled, stopped, and collapsed during the game on the day before Thanksgiving. Seeing that Jones wasn't breathing, Cooper and his assistant coach delivered CPR and got the teen breathing again. Jones heart had also apparently stopped. He was later diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a sometimes-deadly thickening of the heart that impedes blood flow. To learn more, go here.

It's a tough economy.
Things have been a little tight financially lately, but Iowa's prison system is finding an interesting way to cut down on costs. Their inmates could soon be manufacturing the toilet paper that will be used in the prisons. Inmates at two prisons are testing a single-ply toilet paper processed at a Missouri prison. Officials say the Iowa inmates could start processing their own toilet paper next year if the state legislature supports the idea. Iowa prisons use about 900,000 rolls of toilet paper a year. Officials estimate that processing it in-house would save about $100,000 a year. It would also create jobs for the inmates. To learn more, go here. 

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Welcome to Friday! And since next week is Thanksgiving, that means the start of some vacation for most of the ec team. We hope you'll be taking some time to celebrate with your families and friends, too!

So let's get this holiday kicked off right—with "Snippets and Soundbites"! You know you want to hear about all the weird, randomness we've found in this week's news stories!

Like mother, like daughter.
Remember the story we told you a few weeks ago about the death of Fluffy, the world's longest snake in captivity? Well, the Columbus, Ohio, zoo where Fluffy made her home still misses her, but they have called in reinforcements to fill the void she left. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium announced Wednesday that it has acquired Fluffy's significantly shorter daughter. The new snake, whose name wasn't revealed, is 12 years old and 18 feet long. Fluffy was 24 feet long and 18 years old when she died at the end of October with an apparent tumor. To learn more, go here.

Dance the night away.
Are you a fan of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars"? Did you agree with the voters' decision to keep Bristol Palin this week? Well, apparently one rural Wisconsin man didn't agree—because after Bristol's routine on Monday night, the man shot his TV with a shotgun. . . which led to an all-night standoff with the SWAT team. The man was arrested Tuesday morning and is also accused of threatening his wife with a gun after he shot the TV. He appeared in court on Wednesday on a charge of second-degree reckless endangerment, and his bail was set at $1,500. The man's wife said he was under stress because of financial reasons, suffers from bipolar disorder, and had been drinking prior to retrieving his gun. Apparently, he was angry because Bristol, former U.S. Vice President candidate Sarah Palin's daughter, continues to do well on the reality show despite no dancing experience and according to some, little talent. Read all about it here.

Facebook causes asthma attacks?

An 18-year-old Italian man and his doctors are warning that Facebook could cause asthma attacks. Here's why: the 18-year-old was recently dumped by his girlfriend. Then, she unfriended him on Facebook. Distraught, he re-friended his ex-girlfriend using a new identity/nickname he created on the site and started keeping tabs on her. Apparently upset over seeing her friend new guys and pictures of her posing with guy friends, he had an asthma attack. It's important to note that the man had been taking two steroid drugs to help control his asthma. After noting that viewing his ex-girlfriend's profile on Facebook seemed to trigger his increasing attacks, a doctor suggested the man no longer log in to Facebook—and that seemed to stop the attacks. Italian doctors promptly published a paper in a medical journal saying social networks could cause psychological stress and trigger attacks in depressed asthmatics. To learn more, go here.

And if this wasn't enough news of the weird for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec. 

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Friday is here, meaning it's time for "Snippets and Soundbites"—and we know you're excited!

Let's see what random news of the weird we dug up from this week's news cycle.

That's my fence!
Good neighbors share a lot of things, right? Well, it appears a Minnesota man may have taken the whole concept of sharing a little too far—so far in fact that it became stealing. A Duluth, Minn., woman used to have an antique iron fence around the perimeter of her yard—until last September, that is. That's when 53-year-old Randy King took the fence down and installed it in his own yard just a few blocks away. King admitted to stealing the fence in court, but also implied that he had been given permission to to take down a fence in an adjacent lot and had simply gone a little too far. But the woman reportedly told police that a month before her fence went missing, a man had come by and asked to buy it. She had declined. Whatever really happened, King agreed to the terms of his felony charge, including probation and a $1500 restitution. The good news for the woman whose fence has been missing all this time: an insurance company is paying for a new fence and it's set to be installed on Monday. Learn more about this strange tale here.

That's harrassment! 

One of the ec team's driving pet peeves are the people who slam on their brakes repeatedly for no reason. And it's apparently not a favorite driving habit with the New Jersey state patrol, either. This week, police accused a New Jersey woman of harrassing other drivers on the Garden State Parkway by repeatedly braking. Apparently, she would slam on her brakes often, causing other drivers to tailgate. She was charged with harassment, falsely incriminating others and filing false reports to law enforcement, which leads us to wonder if she didn't repeatedly brake so that other motorists would hit her car. The police issued a warrant for her arrest after 22 incidents on the parkway this summer. The woman is currently free on $27,500 bail. Read more here.

Gran can rock!

Ruth Flowers is 69 years old. And at an age when many people are settling into retirement, she's just getting started. That's because Ruth Flowers, aka "Mamy Rock," is thought to be the oldest professional DJ in the world, and she's quite popular on the club scene in Europe. Mamy Rock got interested in DJing at her grandson's birthday party when she was 65. Eventually, her grandson introduced her to a music producer who taught Mamy Rock about the basics of electro rock and before she knew it, Flowers was working the turntables herself. She says she'd rather "sign a contract with a record company than sign up for a nursing home." Learn more about Mamy Rock here.

As always, if this just isn't enough news of the strange for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec! 

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's Friday! We hope your first week of November has gone well—and either way we intend to make it better with "Snippets and Soundbites." What's a better way to kick off the weekend than with random tales from this week's news that prove the world is a strange place?

Ready to see what weirdness we dug up this week? Let's go!

Mr. Clean doesn't make a clean getaway.

A Pennsylvania man was jailed this week after a strange crime: trying to steal $86 worth of body soap. The 38-year-old Erie, Pennsylvania man was charged with felony shoplifting after he stole 13 containers of soap from a Rite Aid store on Wednesday night. He failed to post his $5000 bond on charges of felony retail theft and receiving stolen property and was put in jail early Thursday morning. Police aren't sure why the man was stealing soap. . . or why he needed so much of it. Maybe he just liked the smell? Read all about it here.

Superheroes wouldn't do that. Or would they? 

When Halloween is over a weekend, there's always sure to be some interesting stories. This year, one of them comes to us from Connecticut. That's because police in Stamford had to break up a fight between Captain America, Spider-Man, and Poison Ivy in a parking garage on Sunday morning. When police arrived they found the man dressed as Captain America, presumedly for the holiday, beating the father of the man dressed as Spider-Man. Spider-Man then punched Captain America as police tried to break up the fight—and somewhere in the middle of it all, Spider-Man's girlfriend, dressed as Poison Ivy, got a punch in too. The two men were arrested on assault charges and the woman dressed as Poison Ivy was charged with breach of peace. Learn more about the superhero brawl here. And then, tell us who your favorite superhero is in the comments section!

How hard is it to find a palace?

This week we learned that a 16th century watercolor of King Henry VIII's "lost" palace will be auctioned off by Christie's next month. It's expected to go for up to $1.9 million. So why such a stir about a really old kind of faded painting? Well, it has to do with the fact that it's the only one of its kind and the palace it depicts no longer exists. Apparently, Henry VIII comissioned Nonsuch Palace to rival the one King Francois I of France had and to celebrate the birth of his first legitimate male heir. Construction began in the southeast part of Englan ind 1538 and took eight years to complete. The palace was built as a hunting lodge and called "Nonsuch" because supposedly no other palace could match its splendor. The palace was still incomplete when Henry died in 1547. It fell into disrepair in the 1680s and the countess who owned it at the time began demolishing it to sell off the materials in order to pay her debts. By 1690 the palace had vanished—and for almost 400 years historians could only guess at its appearance through written records and a few drawings. The ink, chalk, and watercolor painting Christie's is auctioning off is the only surviving representation of what the palace actually looked like. It was painted by Joris Hoefnagel in 1568 as a record of the most important buildings in Europe. To learn more about this story and see the painting, go here. To learn more about Nonsuch Palace, go here and here.

As always, if today's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" isn't enough news of the weird for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's hard to believe that October is already drawing to a close! We hope you have fun, safe weekends planned—and we at ec are here to help you get the weekend kicked off right with today's online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites."

Ready? Let's go!

Farewell, Fluffy.
Fluffy is such a perfect name for a cat, dog, and even a random guinea pig or rabbit? But a snake? Alas, Fluffy was the name of the longest snake living in captivity, and he passed away this week in the Ohio zoo where he lived. Fluffy held the Guinness world record for the longest snake living in captivity, measuring in at 24-feet long. Fluffy was 18 years old, about as long as a moving van, as thick as a telephone pole, and weighed 300 pounds. Zoo officials think the python died as a result of a tumor. To learn more about Fluffy, go here.

The sleepwalking shooter.
The story sounds like an episode of an crime procedural TV show: man is asleep in his house, wakes up when he hears a bang, and discovers he's been shot in the knee. Investigators would then search for the culprit and solve the mystery, right? Well, it appears the mystery police investigators in Colorado solved this week when a man called in with that story wasn't quite that simple. Police think the 63-year-old Colorado man shot himself while sleepwalking. After making his initial report, the man told police he had no clear recollection of the events early Tuesday morning and no one else was in his home at the time. The Boulder Colorado police did say that the man slept with a 9 mm handgun near his bed and takes prescription pain medication, which could have played a role in the shooting. He was treated at a local hospital and appears to be just fine. To learn more, go here.

"Weed dating"? 'Nuff said.
While this news story didn't happen this week, it's just off-kilter enough to be included in this week's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites." You've heard of speed dating, right? The phenomenon where couples meet and chat for a few minutes, trying to see who they connect with in the least amount of time? Well, in Vermont, local farmers have taken it a little further: weed dating. In weed dating, singles come to a farm where the event is being held and get to work weeding a row and chatting until a goat bell is sounded at 7 minute intervals. Then, it's on to the next person and the next conversation. Organizers say they came up with the idea after noticing that young, single farmers seem to have trouble meeting people to date due to their unusual work schedules and outdoor lifestyles. It's a plus for the single farmers who get to meet other people who share common interests. And it's a definite plus for the farmers who host the event. Who wouldn't want to get their field weeded for free?! To learn more about the concept, go here.

And if today's tales of world record-holding snakes, sleepwalkers, and weed dating weren't enough strange news for you, check out page 38 in this month's issue (and every month's issue) of ec!

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Hello, ec readers!

We hope your weekend is off to a great start. And if it's not, we've been poring over this week's news stories in hopes of finding some news of the weird gems to share with you and hopefully, brighten your day!

Ready to see what sort of strange goings on have happened this week? Let's go!

It's the world's biggest pumpkin, Charlie Brown. 

(Oh, how much the ec team loves that movie! It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, for those who have no idea what we're rambling on about.) Anyway, a Wisconsin pumpkin has run away with the Guinness World Record for world's heaviest pumpkin this week. The massive gourd, grown by Chris Stevens of New Richmond, Wisc., weighed in at 1,1810.5 pounds—85 pounds heavier than the previous record holder, a 1725-pound pumpkin grown in Ohio and took the title last year. Just so you can get an idea of how big this pumpkin is, the circumference is a little more than 15 feet. Stevens unveiled his award-winning pumpkin earlier this month at the Stillwater Harvest Fest in Minnesota. His secret to growing such a large gourd? Sunshine, rain, cow manure, fish emulsion, and seaweed. Eww. To see the pumpkin and read more, go here. To check out the Guinness World Records, go here.

Do you want fries with that?

It wasn't so strange when the Kocian Law Group in Manchester, Conn., opened a law office in a building that once housed a Kenny Rogers Roasters fast food restaurant. It was a vacant building and they needed an office. But what to do with the drive-through? Use it, of course! Clients use the driveo-through window at the Manchester site to pick up and drop off legal documents and other information. A paralegal works at the window, handing out whatever documents or paper work the clients need and answering questions they might have. The law office is clear that the drive-through is NOT where they'll be dispensing legal advice, though. All consultations and meetings will take place inside the building. If you'd like to learn more about the drive-through law office, go here.

The whole enchilada

Guinness World Records officials must have been busy this week—certifying the world's heaviest pumpkin in Wisconsin and also taking a gander at the world's largest enchilada in Mexico. On Sunday, residents of Iztapalapa, a borough of Mexico city, made a 230-foot-long enchilada. The enchilada weighed in at almost 1 ton and included ingredients such as corn tortillas, white onions, serrando chiles, avocado, cheese, and numerous kinds of salsas. . . among other ingredients! The city's tourism secretary said the record attempt (and win) was an effort to so the world that Iztapalapa is a "high-level tourist destintation." But if you think about it, good food does make a difference in where you travel. To learn more about this record and see the massive enchilada, go here. 

As always, if this week's online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" just wasn't enough news of the weird for you, be sure to check out page 38 of this month's (and every month's) print edition of ec. In the meantime, find us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and keep reading our blog!

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Welcome to Friday. . . which also means welcome to this week's online edition of "Snippets and Soundbites." We're doing everything we can to help you get your weekend started off right.

That's why we've been reading through some of stranger news stories reported this week and all ready to share some of the. . . err. . . more interesting ones with you. Ready?

Stand tall.
It appears the title of world's shortest man now belongs to Khagendra Thapa Magar of Nepal. The 18-year-old man measured in at 26.4 inches tall and his title was certified by Guinness record officials. Magar took the title form a Colombian man, Edward Nino Hernandez, who is 27 inches tall. Magar's family has been campaigning for years for him to be declared the world's shortest man, but Guinness officials rejected all earlier attempts because Magar was under 18 and there was a possibility that he would grow. So the family waited until he was 18. In addition to receiving the coveted shortest man title on Thursday, Magar also received presents for his 18th birthday. Magar's parents say that he's always been tiny. He only weighed 1.3 pounds when he was born and now weighs in at just over 12 pounds. His father says no one has ever really given them an explanation for why Magar will never grow any taller. His younger brother is 13 and of normal height. Magar's doctor for the past five years says he has the body of a 3-year-old. “His body structure is like that of a small child and he also thinks and behaves in that manner,” Hum Prasad Newpane said. To learn more about Magar and his new title, go here. To see a video about Magar's big day, go here.






He passed?
We all have worse-case scenarios in mind when it comes to taking the driving portion of the drivers license exam. What if you can't remember which way to turn the wheels when parking on a hill? What if you speed? What if you run a stop sign? What will cause the administrator NOT to give you your license? Well, one Pennsylvania teen had just passed his driving test when one of those worse-case scenarios actually happened. He was driving back to the state drivers license center in western Pennsylvania to drop off the man who had administered his driving test. The teen driver thought the car was in park, but it wasn't. And then the bad thing happened: the car crashed into the building. Three people were injured in the accident, but officials say none of the injuries were serious. To learn more, go here.

The role of a lifetime.
These days, people in any area of finance or stocks is used to drama—but Thailand's minister of finance is taking on drama of another kind: a soap opera. Korn Chatikavanij, the minister of finance, appeared on an episode of the popular Thai soap opera “Wanida” on Wednesday. The appearance was part of the government's effort to garner attention for their plan to help the public repay high-interest debt. The soap opera is set in the 1940s and Korn appeared in a scene with a debt-ridden character. During their discussion, he detailed how the government's real-life plan works, saying: "The government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has helped over 500,000 people and reduced debt burden by about 3 billion baht ($100 million) per month. It's lucky that Mr. Prajuab [the character] registered." To learn more about Korn's appearance, go here.

And if today's edition of “Snippets and Soundbites” simply isn't enough news of the weird for you, be sure to check out page 38 of this month's (and every month's) issue of ec! 

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's Friday—which means a long day at school followed by the weekend, football games, and "Snippets and Soundbites"!

We can't wait to get your weekend off to a quirky start with our review of the best strange news stories we've found reported by reputable sites this week. This world sure is a crazy place!

Let's see what we found. . .

Wait a minute!

Have you ever worried you'd mistake something else for your toothpaste? Use body wash instead of shampoo on your hair? Put the wrong kinds of solution in your contact case? Well, Irmgard Holm of Arizona doesn't have to worry about that anymore. That's because the woman, who had cataract surgery a year ago, mistook a bottle of super glue for her eye drops this week—and accidentally glued one of her eyes shut. She has to use several eye drop medications every day and just thought the bottle was one of them. Holm said the super glue burned when she put it in her eye, which is what made her realize it wasn't eye drops she'd just put into her eye. She then tried washing the glue out, but super glue is made to dry quickly and had already sealed her eye shut. She had to go to the hospital and the doctors and nurses had to cut off the hardened glue covering her eye. After the glue was removed, the doctors washed it out to prevent any major damage. It appears Holm will be fine, but we bet she'll put her super glue in a safe place—one that's NOWHERE near her eye drops! You can read all about it here.


Hot potato!
It's fall, meaning some of us (those who love food) are already thinking about all the wonderful things that will hit the table during the Thanksgiving season. Turkey. Dressing. Green beans. Mashed potatoes. Cranberry sauce. Yams. But even if you're not already dreaming about casseroles and cranberries, you thoughts probably would have turned to Thanksgiving foods this week if you'd been driving down Interstate 5 near Glendale, Calif., this week. That's because a tractor-trailer loaded with 50,000 pounds of yams caught fire on the southbound lanes of the interstate early yesterday morning, stalling traffic for 7 and a half hours. Two of the southbound lanes had to be closed while officials dealt with the truck fire, then the yams had to loaded onto another truck. No injuries were reported. To learn more, go here.

That's what you'd call a real fan.

Major Hester is a huge Michigan State football fan. So much so that when doctors wanted to install a pacemaker yesterday, he told them he'd prefer to wait until after the school's football game this weekend against Michigan. Seeing that Michigan is Michigan State's big rival, we get it. . .but really? Hester plans to watch his 17th ranked Michigan State Spartans take on the 18th ranked Michigan Wolverines on Saturday at home on his television. Hester says he's willing to risk death to watch the game and has already been thinking about the pep talks he's going to give himself during the game to keep from getting too excited. Hester says he put the procedure off mainly because he didn't want to risk something going wrong on the operating table that would prevent him from seeing Saturday's game. We wish him the best! Read more about it here.

If this week's online edition of all things weird just wasn't enough for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec. You won't be sorry!

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Welcome to October! And Friday!

We want to help you get this first weekend of October started off right, which for us means—you guessed it—"Snippets and Soundbites"!

We know you're excited to see our rundown of some of the strangest stories we found reported on reputable news sites this week. And remember: if today's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" isn't enough random information for you, check out page 38 in this month's (and every month's) issue of ec.

Ready? Let's go!

If the shoe fits. . .

Shoes are great, right? And no one loves a good pair of shoes more than ec's editor, Mandy. But even she was a little surprised when she read the story of a stiletto relay race that took place in Australia this week.The race, which helped to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, took place on a section of street near the Sydney Opera House. About 100 women (and one man, reportedly) competed in the 100-meter relay race—all while wearing 3-inch stiletto heels. A team of four women from Canberra (Australia's capital) won the competition and nabbed the world record for the fastest relay race in stiletto heels. To read more about the race, go here. To see raw video of the race, click here. To learn more about National Breast Cancer month (October), go here.

A dog's life.

The downswing in the economy has been tough for everyone—and that includes Wando, a drug-sniffing dog in Western Pennsylvania. That's right, Wando, and his handler, Officer Justin Scalzo, were laid off from the Jeannette, Penn., police force during a city council meeting this week. The financial situation was so bad that the city of Jeannette is predicting a $440,000 budget shortfall this year. Therefore, they had to lay off some of the city's 47 workers. That included three police officers (and Wando), two meter maids, a secretary in the police department, some trash collectors and public works employees. The layoffs will take effect on October 5, but some of the workers could be called back if finances improve. We hope Wando is one of them! To learn more, go here.

Just breathe.

If Wando decided to leave Jeannette in search of other employment options, Boston might be the city for him—and most pet lovers. That's because the Boston Fire Department received a donation of small oxygen masks designed specifically for pets this week. City officials say the masks will become standard equipment on every fire truck in the city. The masks are designed to fit on small snouts of dogs and cats and were donated by a pet food company and the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association. The masks will help pets' lungs recover from smoke inhalation. To learn more, go here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

Happy Friday! While the ec team is out of the office today taking part in Student Ministry Fun Day (a big gathering of all the people who work in any area of student ministry at LifeWay) and having a great time, we hope your Friday is off to a good start, too.

We want to help you celebrate the end of the school week with all the random news you can handle, so we've been scouring the Web for interesting news stories to confuse and befuddle you. We hope this week's edition of "Snippets and Soundbites" does just that.

And remember: if today's post doesn't contain enough news of the weird for you, check out page 38 in the September issue (and every other issue) of ec!

Ready? Let's get on with the show!

Nebraska's "toilet-paper" bandit pleads guilty.
No, we didn't make up that headline. It's the title of an actual news story we found this week. At first glance, we thought maybe it referred to a thief who only stole rolls of toilet paper. Then we read a little further. Apparently, the toilet-paper bandit is 29-year-old Joshua Nelson of Lincoln, Neb. He pleaded guilty to attempted robbery this week after prosecutors in Lincoln County District Court agreed to lower the charge and dismiss a weapons count. Nelson robbed a convenience store in Lincoln on April 24. He was armed with a knife and had concealed his face by wrapping it mummy-style in toilet paper. No one was hurt in the robbery, but Nelson faces up to 20 years in prison for the robbery. He will be sentenced on October 28. To learn more about this strange story, go here. 

Zucchini: the little known weapon.
Ever had zucchini? It's that green vegetable that looks kind of like a cucumber but tastes more like squash. And it's probably the vegetable you'd vote least likely to be used as a weapon, yet apparently a Montana woman recently used a veggie to fend off a bear. Yep. She used a zucchini to shoo away a charging bear. Here's what happened: the woman was awakened early Thursday morning by some noises in her backyard. She got up to investigate and found a 200-pound black bear attacking one of her pet collies. Trying to save her pet, the woman stood at her back door and screamed. This effectively took the bear's attention off the dog, but then the bear charged her. The bear swiped at the woman with its paw, ripping her jeans and tried to come inside the open door, so the woman grabbed whatever was closest to her on the kitchen corner. It happened to be a 12-inch-long zucchini she'd picked from her garden earlier in the day. She threw the veggie at the bear, striking it on the head. The bear then fled. The woman only sustained minor scratches that did not require medical attention, though she will be getting a tetanus shot just in case. Her dog didn't appear to have any bite wounds, but the woman plans to take him to the vet anyway. Learn more here.

What does that even say? 

Archaeologists say they've rediscovered a language no one has spoken since the 16th or 17th century at a Lima archaeological dig. The dig in northern Peru is near the city of Trujillo. The site is at the location of a collapsed church complex that had been inhabited by Dominican friars for two centuries. During the dig, archaeologists discovered a letter with a string of numbers and words in a strange language on the back. A recently released photo of the letter shows a column of numbers written in Spanish and translated into a language that scholars say is now extinct, but appears to be somehow related to Quechua, an ancient language still spoken throughout the Andes. The letter was discovered in 2008, but archaeologists kept it a secret until research showing evidence of the lost language was published in a journal this week. To learn more, go here.

Friday Snippets and Soundbites

It's Friday! And we're excited!

So we're kicking the weekend off in our usual fashion—with all the strange news you can handle! If today's edition of the news of the weird isn't enough for you, be sure to check out page 38 of this month's (and every month's) issue of ec!

It's a gnome thing. 

Yes, we love the Traveling Gnome for Travelocity as much as the next guy, but it seems that the Helena, Mont., police force has a little bit of a gnome mystery on their hands. Monday evening hikers found 10 garden gnomes resting alongside a popular hiking trail on the south side of the city. The gnomes didn't belong there and were presumed to have been stolen. The problem? No one has reported any kidnapped garden gnomes missing from their yard. Officers are contacting residents who have recently reported yard ornaments being stolen, but so far there have been no matches. Poor little homeless gnomes! To read all about it, go here.

Mmm, chocolate.

The ec team loves us some chocolate. . . and we're a little jealous we won't get to visit Armenia next month when the world's largest chocolate bar will be sampled in the main square of Yerevan, the country's capital, next month. The bar, which weighs in at 9,702 pounds, was certified this week by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest chocolate bar. It's made entirely of natural ingredients and is 224 inches long, 110 inches wide, and 10 inches thick. The Grand Candy factory made the chocolate bar to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary. They'll be dividing up the massive bar of chocolate on October 16 and sharing the tasty goodness to the people of Armenia. Read all about it (but sadly you can't taste it) here.

Go west, young man!
It appears people are still following Horace Greeley's advice to go west—it's just a different kind of people. We bet you didn't know that the Amish population is growing in the U.S., and they're moving further west. While people in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana might be used to the simple lifestyle and traditional beliefs of the Amish, it appears more and more Amish families are moving to western states like Colorado, South Dakota, and Montana. Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania tracks the Amish and recently released its annual survey. In the past year, the North American Amish population has grown by 5 percent and there are now Amish communities in 28 states.The highest rates of growth over the past year were recorded in New York (19%), Minnesota (9%), Missouri (8%), Wisconsin (7%) and Illinois (7%). To learn more about the survey, go here. To learn more about the Amish, click here.