Post insane / odd / unique news releases here

[LWM]

Hoo-wah! Rejoice amid scent of a 'corpse flower' (June 15th, 2010 @ 11:29am) Policy >> Talk About It EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The "corpse flower" is alive at Michigan State University. But it won't last forever.

The 5-foot-tall Amorphophallus titanum that flowered Friday for the first time in 15 years is expected to finish blooming Tuesday.

Mike Grillo, a Ph.D. student, tells the Lansing State Journal that the randomly flowering plant "looks like something meaty that's dead" and seduces flies and carrion beetles by emitting a pungent perfume akin to the putrid smell of rotting flesh. Portions of its large leaves are blood-colored burgundy.

About 500 visitors have viewed the plant, which naturally grows in equatorial rainforests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Grillo said the plant will lie dormant for several months before regrowing.

[LWM]

Pet waste removal worker finds $58 in dog poop (June 15th, 2010 @ 12:12pm)

ST. LOUIS (AP) - This is why your mother says to wash your hands after handling money: A St. Louis worker found $58- packed in dog poop. Steve Wilson works for DoodyCalls Pet Waste Removal. On a recent call, he noticed money sticking out from doggie doo. Wilson wasn't sure what to do, but eventually pulled out the bills, sanitized them, placed them in a plastic zip-locked bag and returned them to the customer. It turned out to be $58.

The company said the money was torn, but the serial numbers were identifiable, which means the bills could be returned to a bank and replaced with new money.

The Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists says Wilson is the first person in his profession to find and report money in dog poop.

[LWM]

Cops find naked drunk men covered in mud in woods (June 15th, 2010 @ 12:14pm)

LEWISTON, N.Y. (AP) - Police in western New York said two Canadian men attended a church festival and wound up in the woods drunk, naked and covered in mud. State police said troopers found a 22-year-old man from Hamilton, Ontario sitting along a road in the town of Lewiston, just outside Niagara Falls, around 5:45 a.m. Sunday.

Troopers said he was caked in mud. After questioning him, troopers found a 23-year-old man from Hamilton covered in mud and passed out in a ditch nearby.

Police said both men were highly intoxicated.

Troopers say the men had attended the St. John de LaSalle Carnival on Saturday and afterward decided to make it a "Woodstock event" by dancing naked in the woods. Both men were taken to a local hospital where they were treated and released.

Neither man was charged.

[LWM]

Mother falcon attacks dog, people in Buffalo, NY (June 15th, 2010 @ 12:14pm)

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Her chicks have left the nest, but a peregrine falcon nesting on a Buffalo tower is proving to be an overprotective mother. Antoine Lanier said he saw the falcon recently chase a teenage boy across a street near the University of Buffalo's South Campus, where a falcon nesting platform is perched on McKay Tower.

Minutes later, Lanier said the falcon swooped in and attacked his dog, leaving the pooch with bloodied paws and ears.

State wildlife biologist Connie Adams said the falcon chicks hatched on the UB tower have left the nest, but the mother remains defensive of her territory.

She said the falcon attacked a pair of bird watchers and a man working on the roof of a Buffalo hospital.

Adams said the mother falcon should become less aggressive in about two weeks.