Weird News: Golden Opportunity
Golden Opportunity
The town council in Neuville-sur-Saone, France, delivered good news to a homeowner on Nov. 5, CBS News reported: He can keep the $800,000 worth of gold bars and coins he unearthed while digging for a swimming pool in his backyard. The gold was stashed in plastic bags; the man alerted authorities in May, when he found the treasure. Police said they were able to determine that the gold had not been stolen, and the home’s previous owner had died, so it belongs to the current resident.
Shark Out of Water
As Colleen Dunn was walking her dogs on the beach in Manzanita, Oregon, one early evening in October, she came upon a beached shark. Rather than steering clear or calling the authorities, Dunn told KGW-TV, “I just made the quick decision to get him back into the deep Pacific Ocean.” A veteran viewer of “Shark Week,” Dunn knew that if she dragged the shark by its tail, it wouldn’t be able to bite her; with some effort, she was able to wrangle the shark first to shallow water, then push it into water deep enough for it to swim away. Shark expert Taylor Chapple of Oregon University identified the shark as a juvenile salmon shark and said it is not uncommon for the creatures to experience shock while swimming in colder waters and end up beached.
Iguana Storm
It’s falling iguana time again in Florida! With this year’s first cold blast making it all the way to the Sunshine State, The Guardian reported on Nov. 10, Floridians are being warned about paralyzed reptiles tumbling out of trees and hitting them on the head. While some people are moved to help the stunned iguanas, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission warns against intervening. “Once they recover and warm up, they could act defensively.” Also, it’s illegal to relocate or release captured iguanas. Just let ‘em lie, folks.
Abundant Arachnids
In an underwater cave on the border between Greece and Albania, scientists have discovered a spider web that spans 1,076.4 square feet along a wall, People magazine reported on Nov. 11. The web is home to an estimated 110,000 spiders of two different species. Istvan Urak of the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania in Romania visited the cave to analyze the web. “It is a unique case of two species cohabiting within the same web structure in this huge number,” he said. The cave is also home to 512 other species of spiders.
No Can Do
By his own admission, James Howard, 53, figures he is “going to jail for a long [expletive] time.” That’s because on the evening of Nov. 8, Howard rear-ended a car that was waiting at the traffic light at the end of an exit ramp off Interstate 90 in Missoula, Montana. It had all the makings of a run-of-the-mill traffic incident, reported KGVO, until the Montana Highway Patrol trooper who arrived at the scene detected alcohol on Howard’s breath and noted the large Budweiser can Howard had placed on the center console of his vehicle -- a can which, Howard informed the trooper, contained urine instead of beer. Court documents revealed that Howard crashed while he was “attempting to urinate into the beer can while driving.” Howard did not attempt the standard on-scene DUI tests, stating, “I just can’t do it.” No first-time offender, Howard is being charged with felony aggravated DUI, driving with a suspended license, and careless driving.