All about unusual and funny news

I read this interesting article on The Daily Mail website. A British amateur inventor working in his garden has invented a flying saucer. The contraption is actually a cross between a helicopter and a hovercraft and although it is not large enough to carry people, it has already been brought by the US army who are considering adapting it to be used as a search and rescue device.

An illegal beaver has finally been apprehended in Perthshire. He was tracked down after trees began disappearing in the nearby area. It is not known whether there are more beavers still on the loose.

Driving a lorry can be tricky at the best of times but driving a lorry whilst three times over the legal alcohol limit and cooking sausages, well that’s a challenge. One German lorry driver did just that and managed to set fire to his lorry when the gas hob he was using fell over. 

Why put penguins on a treadmill? To monitor their heart rate of course. As part of an experiment to see how much energy penguins use to find food a group of scientists first monitored ten penguins progress on a treadmill, so that their heart rates could be calculated. The penguins were then released complete with monitors so they could be studied in the wild. I feel sorry for the penguins, they don't look very happy.

I remember playing hopscotch when I was a child. Whilst most people would see this game as innocent fun, it appears playing it could mean you get a visit from the police. That’s just what happened to one little boy according to an article on The Telegraph’s website. Ryan and five of his friends had just marked out a hopscotch court and were enjoying their game, when two policemen arrived at the scene acting on a tip off from a neighbour. Apparently, the children in using chalk on the pavement were creating graffiti. Obviously this is an incident that requires a rapid response; I’m surprised the police force didn’t feel it necessary to send out a swat team and a helicopter. Later that day it rained and the “graffiti” was no more. I can’t help thinking police time could better spent catching real criminals. 

Further to my previous post about YouTube being banned in Turkey a similar ban has now been enforced in Thailand. Thailand's government have blocked access to the website because it was showing a video which insulted their King. Insulting the monarchy is currently a criminal offence in Thailand. I wonder how many people would call for a ban if YouTube showed a video which insulted Tony Blair. Not many is my guess.

I found this funny story on a website about home exchanges. Basically on one home exchange an American couple were asked to feed the cat in their UK holiday home. However not knowing what the cat looked like, it wasn’t until the end of holiday that they realised they had been feeding a stray cat and ignoring the English couple’s beloved pet. It just goes to show how sneaky cats can be.

We all know that here in the UK it is very difficult to find a river or ditch that does not include a supermarket trolley. Well now it’s possible to see just how many abandoned trolleys there actually are out there. I found this bizarre website called trolley spotting. Basically it’s devoted to tracking abandoned trolleys in various locations. It includes maps to show the trolleys location and how far it is from its originating supermarket.