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BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Sparkly reindeer-dung necklaces are going on sale at an Illinois zoo that hopes to attract the same holiday shoppers who swept up its dung Christmas ornaments last year. The limited-edition Magical Reindeer Gem necklaces will debut Friday at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington. The $15 pendant necklaces contain dried, sterilized reindeer droppings — sprayed with glitter — on a beaded chain. They'll be available at the zoo's gift shop, or by mail for $20. The ornaments are back, and 450 have already sold this season. About 1,500 are still available for $7.50, or $10 by mail. Miller Park Zoological Society spokeswoman Susie Ohley admits it's a bit silly but estimates the zoo could make $16,500. The zoo lost $200,000 under city budget cuts this year. Source Have any interesting articles you'd like to share? Article Request Thread.
Bolivian police managed to track down a man wanted for murder from what was described as the world's worst photo-fit. A taxi driver, named in Bolivian media as Rafael Vargas, was murdered in what police said was either a drugs-related hit or a crime of passion. In March, police found his body, which had been stabbed 11 times before being burnt, reports the Daily Telegraph. Officials issued an appeal for help, and one neighbour drew a picture of what she believed the suspect looked like - though many other people have said her drawing resembles nothing more than the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. The picture, more reminiscent of a child's school drawing than a piece of forensic evidence, consists of a pair of eyes, lopsided lips, a broomstick-shaped nose, and straight eyebrows topped with hair resembling a thatched roof. A newsreader presenting the image on Bolivian television has become a YouTube sensation. In keeping with Bolivian laws, the suspect could not be identified. Instead, media sites blocked his face with images of the bizarre photo-fit. Source
A car crash victim who was believed to have been in a coma for the past 23 years has been conscious the whole time. Rom Houben was paralysed but could not let doctors know that he could hear every word they were saying, reports the Daily Mail. "I dreamed myself away," said Mr Houben, now 46, who doctors thought was in a persistent vegatative state. Doctors conducted a series of coma tests before concluding that his consciousness was "extinct". But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally. Mr Houben said: "All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt." His case has only just been revealed in a scientific paper released by the man who 'saved' him, top neurological expert Dr Steven Laureys. "Medical advances caught up with him," said Dr Laureys, who believes there may be many similar cases of false comas around the world. Mr Houben, a former martial arts enthusiast, was paralysed in 1983. He is never likely to leave hospital, but as well as his computer he now has a special device above his bed which lets him read books while lying down. Mr Houben said: "I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me - it was my second birth. "I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life now that people know I am not dead." Source
A Dorset couple have named their new baby daughter Kia - after she had to be delivered on the back seat of a Kia people carrier. Tony Richardson and Samantha Smyth were heading to Poole Hospital in Sam's mum's Kia when they realised they were not going to make it. Baby Kia was born at 4.30am in the back of the car - and the couple decided to ditch their original name of 'Tilley' to mark the unusual birth. And Kia has now offered the couple a new Kia Carens - the same model baby Kia was born in - worth £18,000. Miss Smyth, 23, said: "Wow! I was not expecting this. We're over the moon. We could do with it. Between me and my partner we have six kids. We can't fit them all in the car." Michael Cole, managing director of Kia Motors, said: "All of us at Kia are delighted for Tony and Samantha and flattered that they have called their new baby Kia after she was born in granny's Carens. "We would like to welcome Kia to the Kia family and wish her a wonderful life." Source
Lorry driver Jason Ripley was almost killed when he was impaled on a pole which came within inches of piercing his heart. The pole smashed through the windscreen of his truck and continued through his chest. The father-of-two remained conscious long enough to telephone his disbelieving boss to say: "I've had a bit of an accident." Mr Ripley, 39, said he owed his life to paramedics who airlifted him to hospital. The delivery man was taking timber to engineering firm Henry Williams, in his home town, Darlington, when he collided with a steel horizontal barrier in August last year. He told The Sunday Sun in Newcastle: "I just didn't see it at all. It went straight through my chest and out the back. There was seven or eight feet of pole sticking out. "I just thought it was pinning me. I thought it was digging into my flesh but that was it. When I looked down I realised it had gone straight through I was very shocked. It was only two or three inches away from my heart. I was just staring up at the sky, thinking that's it, I'm going to die, I'm not going to see anyone again." As Jason resigned himself to dying, his thoughts turned to his partner Helen Todd, 38, and sons Joshua, 19, and Jay, 11. Fire crews cut a section of the pole away, before a helicopter from the Great North Air Ambulance arrived to take him to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. Within minutes, he was put into the hands of doctors who put him into an induced 24-hour coma. Surgeons cut into his ribs and slid the barrier out from the side, under his arm. He had to have one rib removed and another two bound together. Within months of the accident, he had returned to work. Source
Oregon police have charged a man with drunk driving after he called police to report that his marijuana had been stolen. Calvin Hoover, 21, told dispatchers early on Tuesday that someone had broken into his truck and stolen cash, a jacket and a small amount of marijuana while he was at a tavern. He called police again to complain they had not arrived, but the dispatcher had trouble understanding Hoover - because he was driving and stopping occasionally to vomit. He was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants, the local Statesman Journal newspaper reported. Medical marijuana is legal in Oregon, where nearly 21,000 people have permits for use. It was not immediately clear if Hoover had such a permit. Source Have any interesting articles you'd like to share? Article Request Thread.
An exhausted Australian man fell asleep while apparently trying to pick the lock of a shopping center after a "long night", police have said. The 35-year-old man was found snoozing outside a Perth shopping complex early on Sunday morning with a lock-breaking wire still in his hand, police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said. "It appears he fell asleep on the ground with the wire still in his hands and also in the door," he said. Keys found on the man opened a car parked nearby which was filled with a large quantity of prescription drugs linked to the burglary of a pharmacy earlier in the morning. "He obviously had a long night, whatever he was doing, and that got the better of him," Mr Dinnison said. "He was then found at eight o'clock, so he's probably worked through the night and was a bit tired, which probably isn't a good attribute for someone in that line of business." Police said the man has been charged with driving without a licence, burglary and attempted burglary. Source
A US man claims the face of Jesus appears every morning in the condensation on the side window of his pick-up truck. Jim Stevens, of Jonesbororugh, Tennessee, says the face has appeared nearly every morning for the last two weeks. It disappears when the condensation evaporates - but returns the following morning, he told the Johnson City Press. Even rolling the window up and down has not stopped the image from reappearing. Mr Stevens admits he's not a particularly religious person, but says he has been awed by the experience. He said he had not done anything to or had anything in the Isuzu truck to explain the sudden appearance of the image. "Of course, I'm not going to wash it," he said. "Why it happened to me, I don't know. I have no idea." Source
A wanted man taunted the authorities by sending in a picture of himself posing by a police van. Matthew Maynard, 23, texted the picture to a local newspaper from his mobile phone, commenting that he didn't like the photo issued by the police. The suspected criminal is being hunted following a burglary in Swansea in September. Mr Maynard was among eight people who were pictured in local media alongside a request for information from the public. Four were subsequently apprehended, but the rest – including Mr Maynard – remain at large. Police declined to comment on the provocative picture, taken on Mr Maynard's mobile phone and texted to the newspaper offices, but said that their recent drive to catch criminals was working. Acting Chief Inspector Nigel Whitehouse said the public had made a very important contribution to solving a number of recent crimes. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Swansea for the information they have provided, which, without any doubt, was instrumental in enabling us to effect a high number of arrests." Source
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Washington state has been found in a shipping container at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport. Customs agents found the 1965 van on Oct. 19 when they opened a shipping container bound for The Netherlands, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported. They ran the vehicle identification number and discovered it was listed as stolen. Law officers said the van, which is in great shape, was stolen from an upholstery shop in Spokane on July 12, 1974 — while Spokane was hosting the 1974 World's Fair. Authorities have not been able to find the original owner, whom they would not identify. The operators of a vehicle restoration business in Arizona were the latest to have possession of the van, which they refurbished and planned to sell overseas, said Michael Maleta, an investigator with the California Highway Patrol. Maleta said the shop is also considered a victim in the case, and he declined to identify it. The van now legally belongs to Allstate Insurance Co., which paid off the original owner's theft claim back in 1974. The Highway Patrol turned over the van to Allstate this week. Maleta said the van had been restored to pristine condition. "Now it's probably worth 27 grand," he said. "It's a beautiful van." Megan Brunet, a spokeswoman for Allstate, said the company is looking through old records trying to find the original policy and theft claim. "Trying to find paper files from that far back can be pretty challenging," she said. The company will likely have the van appraised and go through the process of getting a replacement title before selling it at auction, she said. Source
