Watercooler Stories

Man finds $5,210 in sneaker

VERO BEACH, Fla., Dec. 21 (UPI) -- A 71-year-old man shopping for shoes at an Indian River County, Fla., mall discovered $5,210 shoved into the toe of a sneaker, a sheriff's office report said.

The report said a Dillard's store clerk brought the black Reebok shoes from a stockroom box after the customer asked to see a pair of size 10s, TCPalm.com reported Thursday. The customer, thinking the mass in the toe of the shoes was wadded up tissue paper, grabbed the cash and pulled it out of the shoe.

The money was handed over to the River County Sheriff's Office for evidence. Sheriff's spokesman Jeff Luther said the money will be advertised as lost property for three months. If it isn't claimed in that time, the money will go to the man who found it.

The manager of Dillard's told TCPalm.com that the sneakers were likely purchased and returned. He said the style used to lace up the shoes was different from the factory style.

Serbia military truck drops 18 bomb cases

BELGRADE, Serbia, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- There were no explosions when 18 cases containing hand grenades fell off a military truck transporting munitions to a depot in central Serbia.

The truck driver failed to notice the lost cargo which fell when he drove the vehicle through a toll gate on Serbia's major highway at Kragujevac, 70 miles southeast of Belgrade, the Serbian news agency Beta said.

The truck was heading from a military warehouse at the southern Serbian city of Nis to the depot at Kragujevac where the outdated hand grenades were to be destroyed.

Police sealed off the area as military experts collected the cases with grenades, which they claimed could not explode because they were packed in original cases.

The experts offered no further explanation, as the munitions were loaded on another truck and transported to the Kragujevac depot.

Hoodie makers not discouraged by ban

SANTA ANA, Calif., Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The makers of hooded sweatshirts that zip up to hide the wearer's face say they "understand" but don't "quite agree" with bans at California schools.

Kevin Delaney, brand manager of hoodie-manufacturer LRG, said the company will not change any of its practices as a result of a ban on the clothing items at six Orange County, Calif., schools, the Orange County Register reported Thursday.

"I understand why they're doing it, but I don't quite agree with it," Delaney said.

He said no orders have yet been canceled as a result of the ban and he predicted the prohibition could lead to increased demand among rebellious teens.

Delaney suggested the schools should allow the hoodies, but prohibit students from wearing them zipped all the way up to hide their faces.

Cliff Haddadin, chief executive of Anaheim, Calif., based Beach Bums Boardshops, said his stores will continue to carry the hoodies. He said the style of sweatshirt is "just like wearing a snow beanie. If you

pull it down, it will cover your face to an extent."

Christmas light knots untangled, sort of

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Scientists in San Diego have proved the theory that Christmas tree lights indeed tie themselves in knots while in storage.

Douglas Smith and Dorian Raymer of the University of California-San Diego published a paper this fall titled "Spontaneous Knotting of an Agitated String" that concluded that knots would form quite easily as strings are moved around.

The study was based on experiments using a washing-machine style bin that tumbled around pieces of loose string. The experiment was run more than 3,000 times using different sizes of string and bins, The San Diego Union-Tribune said Thursday.

While the research didn't offer much help in untangling strings of holiday bulbs, the results could be applied to research into DNA and its distinctive twisted "helix" shapes.