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Grave filler nearly gets buried alive

NEW YORK, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- A 59-year-old New York cemetery worker had to be rescued by firefighters after falling into an unfilled grave.

The unidentified man was preparing to fill a 7-foot grave Saturday when the ground under him gave way and he slid into the hole and was pinned against the coffin. Rain soaked dirt then began falling on top of the man, threatening to bury him alive, the New York Daily News reported.

The local fire department's "trench rescue" unit was called to the Farmingdale St. Charles Cemetery to rescue him.

The walls of the hole had to be shored up before the man was fastened to a backboard and lifted out, said East Farmingdale Fire Department Chief Anthony Nicholes.

The gravedigger was treated for neck, back and leg injuries at Nassau University Medical Center in Long Island.

Alien sighting brings eBay opportunities

STEPHENVILLE, Texas, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- An alleged UFO sighting in Stephenville, Texas, has created sales opportunities on auction Web sites, including souvenir T-shirts.

A small jar of burned or metallic dirt from an alien landing site appeared on eBay for $9.99, plus $8.95 shipping, but it received zero bids, The Fort Worth (Texas) Star Telegram reported.

Stephenville alien shirts have been selling better.

One shirt with the phrase "cowboy capital of the world" but with "cowboy" crossed out and replaced with "UFO," has been selling well. So has a Dublin Dr Pepper UFO T-shirt showing an alien ship "beaming up" cans of Dr Pepper with the phrase "We all know why they're here."

Scotland offers ugly places for edgy films

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Scottish Screen has begun offering the country as an ideal location for filmmakers needing rundown cities, prisons and housing projects as locations.

Excelsior Stadium, home field of the soccer team Airdrie United, is being touted as a great place to film prison dramas, The Scotsman reports.

Scotland has long been known for its beauty, depicted in movies from "I Know Where I'm Going," a romantic comedy set on an island, to the horror classic "The Wicker Man" and the Harry Potter series -- where the Hogwarts Express crosses the Glenfinnan viaduct. More recently, movies like "Trainspotting" have shown the underside of Scottish life.

Belle Doyle, the Scottish Screen location manager, said Scotland has a hard time competing for films in need of unspoiled nature.

"Places like New Zealand and Canada are unspoilt while in Scotland there are pylons, lights and city lights," she said.

But she said Scotland has much to offer.

"Some locations are so spectacularly ugly they become cinematic," said Doyle.

Star Wars-inspired hovering chair coming

LONDON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- The Lounger, a hovering chair inspired by the land speeders from the "Star Wars" science fiction movies, is set to go on sale in Britain in March.

The furniture hovers above the ground using three strong magnets to give a feeling of weightlessness, the Sunday Times of London reported.

Keith Dixon, 40, of Middleton said he has already gotten response about his invention from around the world.

"Sitting on it is an incredible sensation," he said. "You are defying gravity."

The chair is comprised of a base and a see-through acrylic seat all with magnets repelling each other, forcing the seat to float up to 14 inches above the base. A pair of connecting rods stops the seat shooting off sideways but allows it to move up and down.

"The lounger moves when you sit down, but then it finds its own level," said Dixon, adding that it can hold up to 266 pounds.