Watercooler Stories

11-year-old boy a Scrabble dynamo

ORLANDO, Fla., July 28 (UPI) -- Bradley Robbins, 11, attributes his success at the National Scrabble Championship in Orlando, Fla., to an abiding love of words.

The Orlando Sentinel says Robbins dominated the board game competition at Universal Orlando's Royal Pacific Resort despite facing competitors several years his senior.

"When I got my first computer last summer, there was a free Scrabble game on it, and I started playing," Bradley said. "Then I got involved in more competitions, and it just took off. I love words, and I love playing."

Phil Robbins said his son, who was in first place in the lowest division at Saturday's competition, was amazed to meet Scrabble stars at the annual event.

"He went right up and introduced himself to Mike Baron, who wrote a pretty famous Scrabble workbook," the elder Robbins said. "He was so happy. To him, it's like meeting Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan."

The Scrabble competition is scheduled to continue until Tuesday.

Trash sculpture erected in Russian city

ULAN-UDE, Russia, July 28 (UPI) -- A sculpture constructed entirely of garbage found on the banks of Russia's Lake Baikal was erected in the Buryat Republic's capital, environmentalists say.

Three pyramids as tall as 13 feet were placed in Ulan-Ude Saturday as part of the "Green Planet, Future Depends on You" campaign, ITAR-TASS reported.

Volunteers filled a truck with garbage left behind by tourists near Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake and largest by volume, which is often called the Blue Eye of Siberia, said Vasily Kuzichev of Moscow, who took part in the campaign.

The Russian news agency said plastic food containers, beer bottles and soda cans were among the trash collected and sculpted into pyramids designed by Anastasia Glinina.

The sculpture will be taken down and recycled this week, the report said.

Volunteers from around the world gather annually to remove massive amounts of garbage from the lake's shoreline, the news agency said.

UPS driver gets special funeral delivery

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill., July 28 (UPI) -- A United Parcel Service driver in Crystal Lake, Ill., was delivered to his grave following his death by one of the company's vehicles, his wife says.

Judy Hornagold said the fact her husband Jeff's body was taken to the cemetery Saturday in his friend's UPS truck was a great tribute for a man who worked for the shipping company for 20 years, the Crystal Lake (Ill.) Northwest Herald reported.

UPS driver Michael McGowan was in charge of the very special delivery, which included moving his former co-worker's casket from a funeral home to St. Thomas the Apostle Church.

The Herald said Hornagold died of lung cancer Tuesday.

New York's Naked Cowboy cuffed in Calif.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 28 (UPI) -- New York's Naked Cowboy says California cops didn't recognize him as a famed East Coast busker when they nabbed him for singing in his briefs a public plaza.

Robert Burck, known as the Naked Cowboy for playing a guitar in New York's Times Square in his underwear and a cowboy hat, was taken into police custody Friday in San Francisco, the New York Post reported.

Burck said police initially didn't realize who he was and made fun of his skimpy outfit.

"It was non-stop. They're laughing hysterically because there's this guy in his underwear. Then they were like, 'Oh, that's the Naked Cowboy'," he told the newspaper.

Police accused the Cowboy of breaking rules that prohibit soliciting and playing an instrument in San Francisco's Union Square.

Burck was cited for "violating a posted sign" and is to appear in court Monday, the newspaper said.