Feed:Irresistible News

Nearly 6,000 pounds of watermelons stolen

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:55:59 GMT

Police have identified two men accused of stealing thousands of pounds of watermelons from grocery stores in Oregon.

Brad Taylor, 40, and William "Billy" Traverso, 42, were arrested using surveillance video and a description by an employee at the WinCo Foods store in Beaverton, Portland TV station KPTV reported.

The men are accused of stealing six pallets of watermelons weighing nearly 5,800 pounds in the early morning hours of June 7, Portland TV station KPTV reported.

A similar fruit heist involving 11 pallets of watermelons that same day at the WinCo store in Tigard.

A worker at the Beaverton store confronted the two men as they were loading the watermelons into a truck. The employee went inside the store to get a supervisor, but when they returned, the men -- and the watermelons -- were gone, KPTV reported.

Taylor used to deliver watermelons and investigators believe the men intended to sell the stolen fruit, according to police.

Detectives said the stolen watermelons are valued at around $7,000.

Police were able to recover five of the stolen pallets have been recovered from a storage building on a nearby farm.

WinCo workers picked them up, but the fruit will not be sold to the public, according to KPTV.

Giant snake opens door

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:17:35 GMT

The latest pet to experience internet fame is not a cat playing the piano or a dog "singing" to the camera. It's a giant python letting itself out of a closed room by turning the door handle without any human help and then slithering away.

The 16-foot albino Burmese python named Julius can work its way up a door and turn the handle, unaided, according to the snake's owner and Vimeo user Jenner. The beloved family pet has been known to do this on multiple occasions, so its owners now keep doors locked. "We don't need her harassing the neighbors," Jenner adds in the video description.

Snake opens door video

Man wins lottery twice in 24 hours

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:10:52 GMT

Talk about having a lucky day.

Cary Collings of Puyallup, Wash., recently won the lottery not once, but twice, within 24 hours.

The 61-year-old initially won $55,555 in the "Red Hot 5's" scratch-off ticket lottery on June 14.

The next morning, after claiming his prize money at Washington's Lottery Federal Way office, he stop to get a pizza for lunch, Seattle TV station KCPQ reported.

While waiting for his pie, he went to the Fred Meyer next door and bought three "Bring on Bens" scratch-off tickets.

As luck would have it, the first ticket proved to be a winner, and Collings raked in another $200,000.

Collings told KCPQ he plans to use the funds from his first win to pay off debt. He has yet to decide what to do with the rest of his winnings, but did say he plans to return to his job at the Boeing plant in Auburn, Wash.

Mom, son accused of stealing gopher feet

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:57:41 GMT

A mother and son in Minnesota are accused of stealing frozen gopher feet and selling them for money.

Tina Marie Garrison, 37, and Junior Lee Dillon, 18, have been charged with theft and receiving stolen property in the unusual (and more than a little disgusting) case.

The pair are accused of stealing the feet from a gopher trapper and giving them to local townships that offer rewards for the feet to keep gopher populations down, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reported.

According to police, Dillon turned in more than $1,000 in feet in November of last year.

Garrison turned over nearly $4,000 in feet the next month.

She blamed her son, telling police she got the feet from Dillon, who had gotten them from a friend, according to the criminal complaint.

Dillon claims someone used his name in the crime, the Post-Bulletin reported.

Koch's tombstone with wrong date corrected

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:09:42 GMT

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch has been dead for more than four months, but a mistake on his tombstone likely would have amused him.

Koch was born Dec. 12, 1924, but his tombstone at Trinity Church Cemetery in Upper Manhattan made him appear 18 years younger than he was -- Dec. 12, 1942 was set in stone.

The company responsible for the etchings on the marker became aware of the mistake Monday. The transposed numbers were fixed Tuesday morning using composite granite, according to George Arzt, Koch's former press secretary as mayor and his spokesman until his death.

The birth and death dates were added within the past 10 days, according to an etching company representative.

Koch hired an inscriber after he purchased his tombstone in 2007. He was able to see the engravings were etched as he wished; however, there were no dates at the time, according to Arzt.

"Ed would have loved this attention and called the situation 'ridiculous!' " Arzt told CNN on Tuesday.

Koch was a U.S. congressman from 1968 until he ran for New York mayor in 1977. He served three terms as the city's 105th mayor, from January 1978 to December 1989.

Koch died of congestive heart failure on Feb. 1. He was 88 -- despite what his tombstone temporarily calculated.

'Anti-pervert' hairy leggings all the rage in China

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:07:56 GMT

Hairy leggings meant to keep unwanted male attention at bay are all the rage among girls in China.

That's right. Leggings covered in hair.

"Super sexy, summertime anti-pervert full-leg-of-hair stockings, essential for all young girls going out," @HappyZhangJiang wrote in describing the item on China's popular microblogging service, Sina Weibo.

It's hard to say whether the hairy leggings are synthetic Sasquatch or real human hair, but one thing's for sure: they're bound to repel just about anyone in sight.

A cheaper alternative, of course, is just not shaving your legs, girls.

Sesame Street: 'P' is for prison and that's OK

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:45:52 GMT

"Sesame Street" has created its first Muppet whose parent is in jail. And some people aren't happy.

The long-running children's program show launched the "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration" educational program last week as a way to help kids cope with one or both parents being in jail, according to the Sesame Workshop.

"Alex" has blue hair, a green nose and wears a hoodie. He seems like any other inhabitant of "Sesame Street," except his dad is in jail.

"I just miss him so much," he tells a friend on the program. "I usually don’t want people to know about my Dad."

The program outlines a number of ways that adult caregivers can help a young child cope, as well as tips for the incarcerated parent, according to Business Insider.

"Coming from a Muppet, it’s almost another child telling their story to the children," Jeanette Betancourt, vice president of outreach and educational practices at the Sesame Workshop, told NBC News.

But some aren't fans of the idea.

Mike Riggs, a blogger with Reason Magazine, wrote, "Congratulations, America, on making it almost normal to have a parent in prison or jail."

Sesame Street parent in jail video

Man survives 15-story fall in New Zealand

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:43:37 GMT

A British man is lucky to be alive after surviving a 15-story fall from an apartment building in New Zealand.

Tom Stilwell tumbled from his neighbor's balcony at about 2 a.m. on Sunday, according to BBC News.

According to police, he locked himself out of his apartment and was trying to lower himself onto his balcony -- directly below his neighbor's balcony -- when he missed and fell.

"He just requested 'Can you please let me jump off from the balcony? I will not bother you, just let me use your balcony,'" neighbor Geraldine Bautista told the New Zealand Herald. "I never thought he would really do that. In my mind I thought 'OK, I'll just let you see that it's really impossible. I didn't think he'd jump, because it's really scary.'"

Stilwell suffered bone fractures and some internal injuries but is otherwise "fine" and "a very lucky man," his friends told New Zealand's Fairfax Media. He was awake and laughing on Monday, but had no idea what had happened.

"He looks all right," roommate Beth Goodwin told Fairfax Media. "It's more internal injuries. He's broken some bones in his ribs and neck but they're not important bones."

The 20-year-old was said to be in New Zealand on a working vacation.

Cat runs for mayor in Mexico

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:17:47 GMT

Voters in the eastern Mexican city of Xalapa should be tired of voting for rats, one campaign slogan suggests.

The candidate behind it should know. He's a cat.

The black and white feline named Morris has popped up on campaign posters and garnered a devoted social media following, with more than 100,000 likes on his Facebook page.

Morris' name isn't on the official ballot for the city's July 7 mayoral election. But his supporters say his growing popularity shows widespread frustration with corrupt politicians -- known as rats in local lingo.

The surreal tale of a cat campaigning first picked up steam with local media coverage, then quickly caught the eye of national and international media.

Now, Morris has a website featuring a slick campaign video telling his story -- and a red and blue picture of the cat that looks like the well-known portrait of U.S. President Barack Obama that became popular during his 2008 campaign.

"Facing the quantity of rats that lurk in these posts," the feline's Facebook page says, "only a cat can bring order."

His campaign platform? He "promises nothing more than the rest of the candidates: To rest and to frolic."

Bank error shows woman $300 million in debt

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:12:41 GMT

A series of bank errors has caused a woman's bank accounts to be $300 million in the red.

Georgia native Ann Wiley told WSBTV Channel 2 Action News that she recently had problems paying bills online or paying for gas, which prompted her to check her accounts. That's when she learned she was nearly $100 million in debt. After double-checking she realized that it was $100 million from her savings and $100 million from her checking account. Overnight, the situation got worse. "I wake up the next morning, check again. Maybe this is a bad dream. It's another $100 million, so $300 million I'm having a problem with right now," Wiley said.

Wiley was told by Sun Trust Bank that the problem was with the Georgia Department of Revenue (DOR), who says they have no documents showing that they are in the wrong. Sun Trust and the DOR are working together to investigate the issue.

Since Wiley has no money, she is staying afloat with help from her friends and is positive that the bank and the DOR will get to the bottom of it and rectify the situation.