Weird News
Issue date: 4/18/05 Section: News
Sonic savers
Authorities in St. Petersburg, Russia, are offering prizes to the person who can find the best way of saving hedgehogs from being hit by cars. This project hopes to bring awareness to this problem. Contestants can submit details including pictures of any type of device that may spare some hedgehog lives. The contest will run for one year, and at the end of it, the best plan will win prizes including a holiday. Plans will be judged by a group of environmentalists who will take into account inventiveness and number of lives saved.
Numbing gnome
Jean Collop, a 69-year-old grandmother, awakened at 5 a.m. to find a burglar on her roof. She ran outside, grabbed a garden gnome and hurled it at the man. The gnome bounced off the man's head, knocking him unconscious on the roof. Collop then grabbed a rolling pin and her camera and took pictures of the thief as her neighbors called the authorities. When officers arrived the man was still passed out on the roof and six local citizens standing guard on the ground below. The woman said she grabbed her rolling pin because she did not want to break another gnome if the man moved.
Prince Harry fails computer test
Army instructors were surprised to see that England's Prince Harry failed a basic computer competency test. Prince Harry is to start as a trainee officer at the Royal Military Academy, and the test was part of a familiarization course for that training. Instructors said Harry was much less advanced in computer skills that other new recruits his age.
Player fined for raucous language
Stefan Effenberg, a 36-year-old football star was fined more than $113,000 for calling a policeman an "asshole" after he was pulled over for speeding. Effenberg was on his way back from a match when the incident occurred. The policeman reported that Effenberg yelled out the cursing as he was driving away. Effenberg said he said "have a nice evening." The fine was originally $128,000, but after an appeal it was reduced. Effenberg said that if he had indeed called the man an "asshole" he would have stood by his remarks.
Authorities in St. Petersburg, Russia, are offering prizes to the person who can find the best way of saving hedgehogs from being hit by cars. This project hopes to bring awareness to this problem. Contestants can submit details including pictures of any type of device that may spare some hedgehog lives. The contest will run for one year, and at the end of it, the best plan will win prizes including a holiday. Plans will be judged by a group of environmentalists who will take into account inventiveness and number of lives saved.
Numbing gnome
Jean Collop, a 69-year-old grandmother, awakened at 5 a.m. to find a burglar on her roof. She ran outside, grabbed a garden gnome and hurled it at the man. The gnome bounced off the man's head, knocking him unconscious on the roof. Collop then grabbed a rolling pin and her camera and took pictures of the thief as her neighbors called the authorities. When officers arrived the man was still passed out on the roof and six local citizens standing guard on the ground below. The woman said she grabbed her rolling pin because she did not want to break another gnome if the man moved.
Prince Harry fails computer test
Army instructors were surprised to see that England's Prince Harry failed a basic computer competency test. Prince Harry is to start as a trainee officer at the Royal Military Academy, and the test was part of a familiarization course for that training. Instructors said Harry was much less advanced in computer skills that other new recruits his age.
Player fined for raucous language
Stefan Effenberg, a 36-year-old football star was fined more than $113,000 for calling a policeman an "asshole" after he was pulled over for speeding. Effenberg was on his way back from a match when the incident occurred. The policeman reported that Effenberg yelled out the cursing as he was driving away. Effenberg said he said "have a nice evening." The fine was originally $128,000, but after an appeal it was reduced. Effenberg said that if he had indeed called the man an "asshole" he would have stood by his remarks.
