Calif. Prankster Changing Traffic Lights - Yahoo! News: "Wed Jun 22,10:15 PM ET
SUNNYVALE, Calif. - A tech-savvy prankster has been tampering with traffic lights in this Silicon Valley town, turning them off and rejigging wires so the lights flash red in all directions.
The prankster also has surreptitiously turned traffic lights to face the wrong way, mixed up the audible crosswalk signals that help guide the blind and thrown off the timing of lights to delay drivers.
City officials have launched a publicity campaign in hopes of thwarting the unknown crafty engineer, who has evaded the law for months.
The trickster has been performing antics for three months and has used a key to open control boxes and reprogram the lights. Most audaciously, he or she recently used a cherry-picker truck to turn an overhead signal across a busy intersection — but no residents or city officials reported any unusual activity.
No one has been hurt because of the pranks. Nonetheless, after ruling out insiders who work for the traffic division, Sunnyvale officials are asking residents to put down their cell phones and handheld computers and look for anyone tinkering with lights."
17:03 Posted by David
Pizza Shop Robber Leaves Job Application - Yahoo! News: "Wed Jun 22, 8:51 PM ET
LAS VEGAS - A man accused of holding up a pizza parlor left behind a job application with his real name and address, authorities said. 'I would chalk it up to either inexperience or plain stupidity,' Clark County prosecutor Frank Coumou told the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a Wednesday report.
Alejandro Martinez, 23, of Las Vegas, was being held Wednesday at the Clark County jail pending a Monday appearance in Clark County District Court. He faces felony burglary and robbery with a weapon charges in the May 25 heist.
Authorities said Martinez ordered a pizza and started filling out the application before displaying a gun and demanding money. The clerk handed over $200.
Outside, a witness wrote down the license plate number of a getaway car, leading police to Martinez' home.
Martinez' lawyer, Deputy Public Defender James Ruggeroli, said authorities have the wrong man. He said said the pizza shop clerk couldn't identify Martinez as the robber, and the job application was not presented as evidence at a preliminary hearing."
17:00 Posted by David
Gas Station Owner Cashes in $1.4M Pennies - Yahoo! News: "Thu Jun 23, 4:56 PM ET
FLOMATON, Ala. - Edmond Knowles started out saving pennies in a 5-gallon can. Thirty-eight years later, he was storing them in four 55-gallon drums and three 20-gallon drums — nearly 1.4 million in all.
Knowles, who runs a gas station, cashed them in Wednesday, pocketing $13,804.59 after they were counted at a bank.
'It's just something that happened,' he said. 'I started so long ago that I don't even remember why.'
He got some help along the way from customers at Ed's Service Station.
'Customers would come by and say: `Ed, throw these in your drum,'' he said.
Coinstar Inc., a company that maintains coin-counting machines in banks and supermarkets, said Knowles' 1,380,459 pennies breaks the record of 1,048,013 held by Eugene J. Sukie of Barberton, Ohio.
Coinstar spokesman George White said the company's research and U.S. Census data indicate that coins worth more than $10 billion are sitting idle in American homes. White said the amount collected by Knowles is about the same amount that passes through a person's hands over the years. 'Ed just took the time to close his hand,' said White."
22:00 Posted by David
Cats use fax as toilet, spark Japan house fireFri Jun 10, 6:55 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Two kittens picked the wrong place to relieve themselves when they urinated on a fax machine, sparking a fire that extensively damaged their Japanese owner's house.
Investigators in the western city of Kobe have concluded that the fire in January was caused by a spark generated when the urine soaked the machine's electrical printing mechanism.
The fire damaged the kitchen and living room before it was put out by the house's owner, who was treated for mild smoke inhalation, said Masahito Oyabu, a fireman at the Nagata fire station in central Kobe.
The kittens quickly ran to safety, he added.
"If you have a cat, or a dog for that matter, be careful where they urinate," Oyabu said. "Especially keep them away from electrical appliances and wires."
