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Oddities

NYC iPhone owner tricks thief using dating app
A New York City musician used a combination of technology, seduction, a hammer and a bribe to reclaim his missing iPhone from a confused crook.
Cat used in Brazil prison smuggling try
Guards thought there was something suspicious about a little white cat slipping through a prison gate in northeastern Brazil. A prison official says ...
Utah city renames street due to sexual connotation
The Lehi City Council has renamed Morning Glory Road after a technology company planning to relocate to the street raised concerns about the name's ...
Family reunited with stolen 1938 heirloom telegram
A California detective has reunited a family with a stolen 1938 heirloom telegram. The Western Union telegram is described as the opening page of the ...
Berlin elephants feast on tasty Christmas trees
Elephants at the Berlin Zoo finally got a chance to tuck into their Christmas dinner: A feast of donated pine trees. The zoo treated its elephants and ...
Mass. cops caught egging superior officer's home
Massachusetts police responding to reports of teenagers tossing eggs at a house last month got quite a surprise when they tracked down the suspects.
Rare San Francisco river otter stumps researchers
A rapt crowd followed a trail of bubbles that zipped over the surface of a seaside pond in the ruins of a 19th century bath in San Francisco.
Cat that spent a week in Mass. tree found
A stray cat that spent at least a week stuck in a Massachusetts tree before plunging 80 feet to the ground and fleeing has been found, and all things ...
Zoo count begins: No creature too small to count
In a sea of flapping black and white flippers, Ricky is hard to miss: He's got spiky yellow feathers, a flamboyant character, and he's the only ...
76-year-old man trapped hunting for lottery ticket
What are the odds? A 76-year-old man trapped himself in an underground waste paper container in Amsterdam after he clambered in to hunt for a lottery ...
Twin mothers in Ohio give birth the same day
Aiden and Donavyn didn't wait until New Year's Day to come screaming into the world, but the circumstances of their births are still pretty special: ...
Royal Mail to issue 'Doctor Who' stamps
The many characters in the science-fiction show "Doctor Who" will be zooming through time and space on the edge of letters in 2013. Britain's Royal ...
Pa. railroad calendar delivered 63 years late
A northeastern Pennsylvania newspaper has just received a calendar to help ring in the new year — except the year is 1950. Scranton's The ...
Vultures pick at visitors' cars in Fla. Everglades
Visitors to parts of Everglades National Park are getting tarps and bungee cords to make their vehicles less delectable to vultures.
Wis. couple says pet chicken alerted them to blaze
A Wisconsin couple says clucks, not fire trucks, helped them escape a blaze at their home. Dennis Murawska, 59, said a pet chicken named Cluck Cluck ...
Good Samaritan finds ring on snowy Calif. highway
Finding a lost wedding ring along a snowy highway is hard enough. But a Good Samaritan in Northern California also has to track down the man it ...
South Africa president prefers people over pets
South Africa's president says a dog should not be man's best friend. President Jacob Zuma made critical remarks about pet care that touch on sensitive ...
Pony back with circus after Christmas kidnap
A tiny pony is back at its Austrian circus home more than a week after apparently being kidnapped by a woman who wanted to give her sick daughter a ...
Minn. soda shop rebuked for stocking candy smokes
Owners of an old-school soda shop in St. Paul, Minn., are being warned to kick the habit and stop stocking novelty candy cigarettes. City inspectors ...
Sweden: Foreigner angered over gray Santa outfit
Police in Sweden had to intervene after a foreign visitor to a spa and conference center grew angry because a visiting Santa Claus was wearing a gray ...
So. Calif. couple unlawfully wedded for 48 years
After spending nearly a half-century as husband and wife, Bob and Norma Clark are finally married. The couple from Redlands, an inland California city ...
Asian toad stowaway gets new home in South Africa
They say cats have nine lives. Now a Chinese toad has joined that club of wily survivors. South Africans are marveling at the endurance of a toad that ...
Denver sirens are just a test, not doomsday signal
Officials in Denver want people to know this is only a test. The city is testing new outdoor warning sirens on Friday, and they're well aware of all ...
German scientists seek to clone perfect Xmas trees
The hunt for the perfect Christmas tree may soon become a lot easier: just pick a nice clone. That's what German scientists are now working on: They ...
Hot spots draw believers, but not doomsday
As the sun rose from time zone to time zone across the world on Friday, there was still no sign of the world's end — but that didn't stop those ...