Watercooler Stories

Mating Polish elk become traffic hazard

WARSAW, Poland, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Police in northern Poland are warning motorists that elk -- currently in mating season -- are leaving wooded areas after dusk and roaming roadways.

Authorities appealed for cautious driving after an accident Tuesday night when a car crashed into an animal crossing a road, Radio Polonia reported.

The car's driver was injured, the elk died instantly and the car was a write-off.

The Polish government will cover repair costs of traffic accidents involving elk, but the driver must prove it was not a deer or a wild boar that was struck, the report said.

Snowe crabby over langostino lobster

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Maine lobster fishermen are angry and red in the face over losses from the marketing of langostino lobsters they claim are just prawns.

While Maine lobster sales totaled $290 million 2005, the Maine Lobster Promotion Council claims it lost $44 million to the langostino market, and U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, has taken the case to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Portland (Maine) Herald reported.

"Permitting this inferior product to be improperly marketed as 'lobster' not only pollutes consumers' appetite for real lobster but it also exposes consumers who suffer from certain allergies to potentially life-threatening allergic reactions," Snowe wrote to acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.

Kristen Millar, executive director of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council, told the Herald "langostino" is Spanish for prawn, leading to the contradictory name "shrimp lobster."

However, scientists aren't helping the Maine uproar over langostinos.

"I think it is defined as a lobster," said Bob Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine. "It's a clawed lobster."

Drunken bear released after sleep-off

LYONS, Colo., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Wildlife officials used a tranquilizer dart to bring down a bear stumbling drunk through Lyons, Colo., as children set off for school.

Around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, a woman watering her backyard said she was startled by the female bear, estimated to be about 4 years old, KCNC-TV, Denver reported Wednesday.

Deputies responded quickly, as many children would soon be on the streets headed for Lyons Elementary School, the television station said. Those already at the school were herded into the gymnasium as a precaution.

The deputies fired a beanbag projectile at the bear in hopes it would set off on its own but it kept meandering near the school. State Division of Wildlife officers shot the bear with a tranquilizer dart.

They said the bear had most likely been eating rotting apples in preparation for winter hibernation, which made it drunk, the report said.

The bear was tagged for its first offense and Wednesday was taken to a higher elevation for release, officials told KCNC.

Japanese man recites 100,000 digits of pi

KISARAZU, Japan, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- A Japanese man has recited 100,000 digits of mathematical constant pi from memory, breaking his own previous world record.

Akira Haraguchi completed his 16-hour task Wednesday morning at Kazusa Academia Hall in Kisarazu, Chiba Prefecture, Mainichi Shimbun reported.

"The figure 100,000 is just an extension of last year's record, and I wasn't really caught up with that particular number. I'm certainly no genius. I'm just an ordinary old guy," Haraguchi said.

Haraguchi, who set the previous world record of 83,431 digits in July 2005, said he uses rhyming Japanese words to memorize the numbers.

He said he plans to submit his accomplishment to the "Guinness Book of World Records."