MEDFORD, OR - Despite evidence that the planets are aligned in his favor, local pagan Jeff Birch, 27, said Monday that he would "rather have a peaceful weekend at home" than attend his family's Vernal Equinox celebration on March 21.
"I realize it's supposed to be a festive time of conception and new growth in the womb of Mother Earth and all," Birch said. "But I just know that within an hour of arriving, things will get so bad that I'll be reverting to my 12-year-old self, hiding in the rec room downstairs, wearing my Iroquois false face mask and fingering my runes for comfort. It's not worth it."
The Secret - the new self-help book and DVD that purports to channel ancient wisdom and claims that if you ask the universe for something, it will be delivered - has become a nationwide phenomenon. Here are some of the book's tips:
BILLINGS, Mont. - A man told police not to blame him for crashing his truck into a light post _ it was that unicorn behind the wheel. Prosecutor Ingrid Rosenquist said Phillip C. Holliday Jr. initially denied driving the truck involved in the March 7 crash in Billings. He told officers at the scene that a unicorn was driving, she said.
TOKYO - Police found more than 4,000 pieces of lingerie in the home of a Japanese construction worker who used climbing skills developed on his job to steal women's underwear.
AFPWed, 14 Mar 2007 10:32 UTC
A circus elephant came to the aid of city chiefs in southern Bangladesh after they were ordered to demolish illegal buildings without heavy equipment.
Discovering that there were no bulldozers available, officials decided to employ a pachyderm from a travelling circus to help do the work.
"We didn't have any bulldozer to conduct the demolition drive in the city so our officers had to hire an elephant from the circus," said Barisal city corporation chief executive Abdul Mannan.
Rupam Jain Nair
ReutersWed, 14 Mar 2007 10:30 UTC
Police in India's Western state of Gujarat are to wear new uniforms impregnated with the fragrance of flowers and citrus to help improve their image.
"Most policemen look hassled, drenched in sweat after coming from any scene of crime," said Somesh Singh, a designer at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad that drew up the uniforms on request of the state government.
"They are surely not the best person one would like to meet, but if they smell good and fresh one might as well approach them," said Singh.
Bonnie Hall is convinced her pub is haunted but says she doesn't want the prankster of a ghost to leave.
Hall says strange occurrences have been a daily thing since she and her husband, Robert, took over the fire station and converted it into the FireHall Pub and Grille in 2005. Firefighters had told her that the building, more than a century old, may be haunted, she said.
It's little things that make Hall and others believe the place is haunted: The popcorn machine turns on by itself, lights flicker, doors latch by themselves and tools seem to move on their own, among other things, she said.
The rumor is that a firefighter named Frank hanged himself at the fire station many decades ago and his spirit remains inside, Hall said. The story has not been verified. She said the ghost has been harmless and should not be forced out.
"This is Frank's home," she said.
Cathy Simpson, a restaurant manager, said she, too, has experienced many things at the restaurant that are unexplainable. However, she said, she finds them comforting in a strange sort of way.
Scenario: You meet Jim. He is sweet, kind and most importantly, easy to talk to. It's as if you've known him your whole life. And hugging him, no matter where you may be, feels like home.
A six-year-old girl has caused a conundrum of global proportions after her attempts to send a message in a bottle to Norway ended up in New Zealand.
When Marilyne Simony sent a suitcase of her boyfriend's photographs, books and clothes to South Africa, she never expected to see it again. But after travelling more than 1,000 miles by sea, the suitcase was washed up on Branscombe beach in Devon, less than two miles from where it started its journey.
Ms Simony, 27, only realised that all her belongings had been on the MSC Napoli that ran aground nine days ago when she saw a framed photograph of herself with her arms around Kobus Pretorius, 20, pictured in the local newspaper as an example of wreckage.
Comment: Apparently, following the publicity of the above article, the men who had taken Mr. Pretorius's possessions had a pang of conscience and returned them.
Comment: Apparently, following the publicity of the above article, the men who had taken Mr. Pretorius's possessions had a pang of conscience and returned them.