Watercooler Stories

Boy, 9, stopped car when mom passed out

CLEBURNE, Texas, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- A young boy in Texas pulled over his mother's car on a busy highway and dialed 911 after she passed out while driving.

Nine-year-old Jimmy Stevens said he learned how to stop the car and put it in park from watching his mother, Latisha, ABC News reported Monday.

"I hopped in her lap, and reached my feet as far as I could, and pushed the brake, and put it in park," he said.

Latisha Stevens, who doctors believe passed out from a severe panic attack while driving with Jimmy and his two younger siblings in the car, told ABC's "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" Sunday that her son has always been the take-charge type.

"He's always been that way," she said. "When his dad's gone, he says he's the man of the house. 'I've got to take care of things.'"

The boy's mother said she was "extremely proud. I couldn't be ... prouder," and said the family was planning special dinner at Red Lobster in Jimmy's honor.

Couples contest may include gay couples

DUNMOW, England, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Organizers of the Dunmow Flitch Trials are considering inviting same-sex couples next year to the British contest to find the happiest married couple.

Michael Chapman, one of three members of the Flitch Trials Committee, said he supported inviting gay couples after legislation on civil partnerships was approved earlier this year, the London Telegraph said.

Chapman said nothing precluded civil partnership couples from applying to the trials that were first mentioned 900 years ago, the Telegraph said. All entries are considered on their merits.

The trials, mentioned in The Wife of Bath Tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, are conducted every four years, the Telegraph said. Couples must convince a judge and jury that during a year and a day that they haven't wished they were single again. The prize is a flitch, or side, of bacon.

Aussie firm develops 'air guitar' T-shirt

SYDNEY, Australia, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Engineers in Australia have successfully merged science and rock 'n' roll to create an air guitar in the form of a T-shirt.

Known as a Wearable Instrument Shirt the garment is fitted with sensors that pick up the strumming and plucking motions of the wearer as each arm bends to choose a chord or swings to brush the strings, The Sydney Daily Telegraph reported.

The sound is triggered by a wireless transmitter at belt level that broadcasts a signal to a computer.

The shirt was developed by a team at CSIRO Textiles and Fibre Technology in Geelong, Australia, that was looking for an unconventional way for people to interact with computers.

"It is an easy to use, virtual instrument that allows real-time music making, even by players without significant musical or computing skills," said Richard Helmer, the chemical engineer who led the development team.

There is no word on when the shirts will be available commercially.

Other products developed by the company include a garment that prevents skins tears for the elderly and a "talking" knee brace that gives the user feedback on the best ways to move to avoid injury.

German countryside abuzz in bee theft

RATINGEN, Germany, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- German police said they are searching for professional thieves buzzing around with about $1,500 worth of stolen bees.

The thieves made off with six hives containing thousands of bees from a garden in the West Germany town of Ratingen, Deutsche Welle said.

Robbers broke through a stone wall and negotiated protective barbed wire to reach their quarry.

Police said bee experts probably were behind the theft, but exactly how many were involved remained unknown.

Police are seeking the public's help, asking people to be alert to anyone with lots of red welts, Deutsche Welle said.