…a woman came home to find a young bear eating oatmeal in her kitchen. The bear apparently entered through an open sliding glass door, broke a ceramic food container and started eating, West Vancouver police Sgt. Paul Skelton said. … Three officers who went to the home Thursday couldn’t get the bear to budge, so […]
Anguished over loss of oatmeal, one of 3 Bears strikes back
Posted by Ben on June 20, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/anguished-over-loss-of-oatmeal-one-of-3-bears-strikes-back/
Snake! On a plane!
No, really! Monty Coles was 900m in the air when he discovered a stowaway peeking out at him from the plane’s instrument panel — a 1,35m black snake. “Nothing in any of the manuals ever described anything like this,” the 62-year-old Cross Lanes resident said. But the advice given 25 years earlier from his flight […]
Posted by Ben on June 5, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/snake-on-a-plane/
Cheekiness gets you… bananas
Not particularly current or important, but curious and fun nonetheless: In 1986, Silo (a chain of home electronics stores) ran a television commercial in 23 markets nationwide, offering stereos for “299 bananas.” They never thought anyone would take them at their word; after all, “banana” is a widely accepted, if playful, term for greenbacks. Who […]
Posted by Ben on March 1, 2006
https://www.swordbilled.com/cheekiness-gets-you-bananas/
Oh, for a mere mouse
From a once-and-again AP article on Yahoo! News: LONDON – Aaron Balick expected to find a tiny mouse rustling behind the TV in his apartment. Instead, he found a venomous giant centipede that somehow hitched a ride from South America to Britain. “Thinking it was a mouse, I went to investigate the sound. The sound […]
Posted by Ben on November 22, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/oh-for-a-mere-mouse/
Always good advice (or, what not to do when stealing a valuable painting)
There was no one in sight, a guaranteed getaway, and loot worth millions. So it must have seemed all too easy to make off with a high-priced painting from a cargo warehouse at Kennedy International Airport two weeks ago. Except, the authorities said, for two small details: 1. It was all captured on videotape. 2. […]
Posted by Ben on July 26, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/always-good-advice-or-what-not-to-do-when-stealing-a-valuable-painting/
January 1st Is Meaningless.
May 18th, however, has all the meaning in the world. Well, not quite. A tutor (and specialist in Happiness) has devised a formula to determine the best day to come up with resolutions that have the best chance of being achieved. And that day, according to the formula, is May 18th. I personally don’t have […]
Posted by Ben on July 22, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/january-1st-is-meaningless/
Pigs at play
The event, staged as part of an agricultural exhibition on Moscow’s outskirts, is set up like soccer, with two teams of five piglets. Instead of goals, the teams try to move the ball into painted, half-circles located at the pen’s corners. To move things along, the ball is slathered in mashed carrots. Cheered on by […]
Posted by Ben on June 30, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/pigs-at-play/
Fire medicine
This is not new news, nor is it relevant in the sense of being anything anyone needs to worry about, but it certainly is curious: Seattle police launched an investigation on Friday to determine how a patient undergoing emergency heart surgery caught on fire at a local hospital in 2003. The male patient, who was […]
Posted by Ben on June 23, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/fire-medicine/
Astounding new scientific advantages
Maggots. They may not ever be the life of the party, but now they are qualified by the FDA for use in medical treatments. (via BoingBoing) Time travel. …is now okay. Which is to say that researchers have finally gotten around to speculating that, in the event of time travel at any point in the […]
Posted by Ben on June 20, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/astounding-new-scientific-advantages/
Slow and steady steals the house
Working in broad daylight, waving at passing motorists, two men slowly dismantled a three-bedroom brick house in order to sell it for drug money. (AP: “Thieves make off with three-bedroom brick house” [March 23, 2005])
Posted by Ben on March 27, 2005
https://www.swordbilled.com/slow-and-steady-steals-the-house/