Oddlyenough

Panda’s weight snaps tree, sends fellow tumbling

A panda that misjudged its own weight followed its friend up a tree and caused a branch to break, sending its comrade falling to the ground. The video, filmed last month at a giant panda sanctuary in China, shows a panda named Qi Yi following another panda up a tree. The panda reaches a thin spot on the tree and a branch snaps, sending the panda further up the tree tumbling toward the ground. Handlers said the bears were not injured in the incident.

(UPI)

Maine creates carousel on a frozen lake

Residents in a Maine town believe they’ve created the world’s largest ice carousel on a frozen lake. About 100 volunteers cut a circle in the ice that’s 427 feet (130 meters) in diameter, and they used four outboard boat motors to get it rotating on Saturday. It happened in Sinclair in northern Maine. Mike Cyr, one of the organisers, announced, “we got ‘er spinning!” He says the ice carousel is big enough to break the world record held by a town in Finland. A surveying team confirmed the measurements on Saturday. Volunteers used augurs to bore more than 1,300 holes, along with chain saws and other equipment, to cut the massive hole in lake ice that was 30 inches thick. They waited for warmer weather to get it spinning.

(AP)

Student uses CPR to save squirrel

A Michigan college student said she used a CPR technique she learned from NBC’s The Office to save the life of a drowning squirrel. Central Michigan University student Natalie Belisto posted a video to Twitter showing her rescuing the drowning squirrel and later keeping it warm with a hair dryer.

Belisto said the squirrel had been drowning in a pond. “It was a super cool feeling to know that I saved an innocent life,” Belisto told WNBC-TV. “I watched a lot of Animal Planet as a kid, but for the CPR part was literally all from that episode in ‘The Office.’”

Belisto said the CPR technique she used came from a fifth season episode where the staffers learned to use the beat of the 1977 Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive” to time chest compressions.

Belisto said the squirrel’s release later in the day went well. “After he ran up the tree we all were screaming and our minds were blown honestly, the whole night we couldn’t stop talking about what happened,” Belisto said.

(UPI)

Man falls through ex’s ceiling, held

A Kansas man who was hospitalized after sneaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home and falling through the ceiling has been arrested for alleging stealing clothes from another home after leaving the hospital. The Salina Journal reports Tyler Bergkamp was arrested several hours after he walked out of Salina Regional Health Center on Tuesday. He’d been arrested last week, after authorities said he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home and hid in the attic for a couple hours before falling through the ceiling. On Tuesday, a woman reported finding a hospital gown on her bed and noticing her clothing had been disturbed. Salina police say they’d received a medical-emergency call about Bergkamp and later found him wearing the woman’s T-shirt. Bergkamp faces charges in both cases. Prosecutors didn’t respond to an email asking whether Bergkamp had an attorney.

(AP)

Queen Mary allows guests to stay in ‘haunted’ room

Officials with The Queen Mary in California said the retired ocean liner will be renting out a “notoriously haunted” room for the first time in 30 years. The cruise liner, since turned into a Long Beach hotel, announced Stateroom B340, which has been featured on shows including SYFY Channel’s Ghost Hunters and British series Most Haunted, will be available to guests starting at $499 a night beginning Friday, April 13. “The last time the room was occupied by a guest was in the 1980s,” Stephen Sowards, general manager of the Queen Mary, in a statement provided to KABC-TV. “For decades we’ve had thousands of visitors request to occupy the room, and after 30 years, we are excited to once again extend the offer to our guests.”

Officials said paranormal activity in the room has been reported as far back as the ship’s final ocean voyage in 1967. Guests staying in the room reported unusual activity, including lights and water faucets turning on and off by themselves, as well as covers being removed from guests while they sleep. Some reported waking to see a dark figure standing next to the bed.

(UPI)

Couple marry amid veggies in aisle 13

A couple who met at a supermarket have tied the knot there with canned carrots and peas among their wedding guests. The Valley News Dispatch reported 69-year-old Larry Spiering and 61-year-old Becky Smith married Sunday at the Community Supermarket in Lower Burrell, where they met 10 years ago. Smith said she was working at the supermarket when Spiering walked up and gave her a piece of paper with his name and phone number on it. She said it was only fitting that they married in the aisle where they met.

(AP)