Odd News

DULUTH, Minn., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Election judge Shirley Graham said she was surprised to learn her absentee ballot was blocked from being added to the U.S. Senate recount in Minnesota.

DETROIT, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A trio of Detroit cab drivers say they took it pretty well after being stiffed by a passenger who asked them to drive him to Washington.

SEATTLE, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A car connoisseur from Seattle learned too late that a 1919 Turcat-Mery he purchased in France is considered a national treasure.

HOUSTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A would-be treasure hunter believes he has found a sunken boat carrying a fortune in gold on a ranch in South Texas and argues it is in a navigable waterway.

NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A member of a New York health club says in a lawsuit that the exercise club is liable for a clash last year between two people during a spin class.

OCONOMOWOC, Wis., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A Wisconsin man who helped establish a shuttle program to keep drunken drivers off the road is facing charges of driving while intoxicated, documents show.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Inspired by the 25-foot Snowzilla, the organizer of the Fur Rendezvous festival in Anchorage, Alaska, is planning to build his own giant snowman.

Man gets jail for 109th misdemeanor ... Tough Colorado kid foils kidnap attempt ... Pilot landed plane after going blind ... Bank apologizes for $145B overdraft error ... Watercooler stories from UPI.

Clintons chosen to drop New Year's ball ... Ice succumbs to front-loader's weight ... Kyoto organizes to protect geishas ... Facebook pages honor jailed mob bosses ... The world as we know it from UPI.

UPI Almanac for Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008.

KYOTO, Japan, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Kyoto residents and restaurant owners have organized to protect the Japanese city's geishas from pushy and obnoxious tourists.

ROME, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Two of Italy's most notorious mob bosses have fan pages on Facebook, with one group calling for Bernardo Provenzano to be made a saint.

GLASGOW, Scotland, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Scotland said an 81-year-old woman struggled with a man who tried to steal her purse and foiled the attempted crime.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A poll of U.S. adults found football was far and away the favorite sport of respondents, with 41 percent calling the game their favorite sport to watch.

CROOKSTON, Minn., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A Polk County, Minn., worker was sent home Tuesday after the front-end loader he was driving on frozen Red Lake River fell through the ice.