A Florida man searching for his dog thought he saw it under his car. Nope. It was an alligator which bit both his hands when he reached for it. No word on whether the dog was in the alligator.

via Man reaches for dog, gets bitten by alligator | abcactionnews.com.

A Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, man was arrested for bank robbery Monday at the address he conveniently supplied the cops when he left his wallet on a teller’s counter when he made his getaway.

Did I mention that the “gun” in his pocket was actually a “blackened banana?”  I’m not quite sure what “blackened” means. If it was that ripe I hope he didn’t squeeze it too hard.

via Is that a banana in your pocket … — themorningcall.com.

Kira, a 5-day-old baboon, is fed by an employee of the Royev Ruchey Zoo in Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk November 5, 2009. Kira’s mother refused to feed her cub and now it will be bottle fed

viaEnglish_Xinhua.

Children on a remote Scottish island are to take what is believed to be the world’s shortest flight to and from school. The plane journey from Papa Westray to Westray in the Orkney Islands takes just 96 seconds, covering just over a mile, reports the Daily Telegraph.

Six teenagers will have to take the Loganair service to Westray Junior High after the local ferry service was suspended.

via Ananova – Children take ‘world’s shortest flight’ to school.

A Polk County [Texas] teacher is suing the state for requiring her to be fingerprinted for a background check, saying it violates her religious freedom.

According to her attorney, Scott Skelton, of Lufkin, Pam McLaurin believes the book of Revelation literally and that getting a fingerprint would bear her the mark of the beast and she would be “be tormented in burning sulfur.”

via  KTRE.com Lufkin and Nacogdoches |.

Charlotte Eisgrou, left, and Ann Primmack, right, identical twins, are celebrating their 100th birthday this weekend with family and friends from all over the country. The twins were born weighing only about 3.5 lbs each on Dec. 24, 1909. The doctor had to use the family’s oven as an incubator.

via South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

Police in North Wales are having to find £18,000 to refund motorists after issuing speeding tickets for people driving more than 30mph – in a 40mph zone…

North Wales Police Superintendent Simon Shaw admitted that police had wrongly believed the county council had changed the speed limit to 30mph in 1993.

via Ananova – Police to fork out for speed limit gaffe.

Baffled scientists are trying to get to the root of this astonishing plant dug out of the ground by a Chinese farmer.

Root boy /Europics

The two foot tall root weighs in at a massive 12 lbs and bears an amazing resemblance to a boy in even the smallest detail.

via Ananova – Getting to the root of the matter.

A UK design student has come up with a hat that can tell if you’re smiling. Should you wipe that silly grin from your face  the hat detects it and jabs you with a sharp spike. Smile, darn you, smile!

More via Frown if you dare … | The Sun |News.

An alleged burglar wanted by Welsh authorities sent a newspaper a picture of himself because he didn’t like the mug shot it published.

via Burglar sends paper homemade ‘mug shot’ – UPI.com.

Link

The picture is of one of the ski lifts in Stevens Pass (4100 feet) in central Washington State.

Stevens Pass | Mountain Cams.

Andrew J. Burwitz, 20, of Appleton, Wis., allegedly tried to do a drive-by shooting at the home of his ex-girlfriend’s family and another random house. Police found him because he failed to roll down his car window and shattered it when he made the first shot.

More at  Minneapolis / St. Paul News – City Pages – The Blotter.

It’s about 18 feet tall and looks like stainless steel.

The fork’s appearance a few days ago, tines firmly stuck into a little Caltrans-owned median, was a bit of a mystery at first.

“It’s a guerilla installation,” guessed Rochelle Branch, the city’s cultural affairs manager, who oversees the public art program. “I don’t know if it’s through Caltrans, but it is clever.”

via Pasadena’s Fork in the road is guerilla art installation – Pasadena Star-News.

An Indian holy man says he can cure the sick – by persuading them to wallow in the mud with him. Avinash Tripathi, 31, claims that immersing himself in the slime on the riverbanks in Varanasi gives him the power to heal others…

“Any ills can be cured when people let the earth flow through them.”

via Ananova – Muddy miracle worker.

The Ugandan ethics minister has put a halt to witch doctors advertising their services on the radio claiming that the stations “…are promoting witchcraft-related activities to the detriment of Uganda’s integrity” and are in violation of the 1957 Witchcraft Act.

via www.screenafrica.com

An Italian motorcyclist is appealing after he lost his license when speed cameras clocked him at an impossible 383 mph.

Paolo Turina, 26 – who also copped a £200 fine – claims the speed camera was clearly so defective the charge should never have been brought.

“If I could go that fast I’d enter my bike in the MotoGP world championships. Valentino Rossi would not stand a chance. What did they think they were clocking – a jet fighter?” asked Mr Turina, of Cernusco Lombardone.

via Ananova – Biker clocked at 383mph

The cops say the camera was working fine but the clerk who wrote it up wasn’t.

Halloween is over for another year and the ghost stories are put away. Or are they? There are many stories of ghosts-some benign, some not so benign-associated with Christmas. Here’s a starting point for you:

Ever since Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843, ghosts have been part of the Christmas tradition – a different kind of Christmas spirit, so to speak. Many people, besides Ebenezer Scrooge, have encountered ghosts at the Christmas season. Some of those spirits, like the eerie Ghost of Christmas Future, are dark and foreboding, while others, like angels, seem to embody the joy and hopefulness of the holiday. Light a yuletide candle and consider these true stories.

Link to Ghosts of Christmas

[A] novice flier instantly shot through the jet’s perspex canopy and was blasted 100 metres into the sky by the rocket-powered emergency chair [when he accidentally pulled the ejection seat handle]. Experts said the man was lucky to escape unharmed following the bizarre incident, which happened on Wednesday in South Africa.

It is thought he activated the ejector seat after lurching forward during an aerobatic manoeuvre and accidentally pulling on the black and yellow emergency handle between his legs.

via Telegraph.

A British ambulance driver who went home at the end of his shift forgot one crucial thing – he had left a patient in the back of his ambulance.

National Health Service chiefs have apologised to the 65-year-old Manchester man who spent an uncomfortable five hours locked inside the vehicle.

via 3 News: Ambulance driver forgets patient.