UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Expert says no apocalypse in 2012

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- An expert says the belief that ancient Mayans predicted the world will end Dec. 21, 2012, has one problem: The Mayans said no such thing.

The prospect of apocalypse now or at least in three years and a bit has spawned enough books to stock a small library, television documentaries and now a movie. The belief in the Mayan prediction is based on the long-count calendar, which covers 5,000 years and ends on that date as near as anyone can tell.

But an anthropologist says the calendar was not intended as a predictor of doomsday or of giant tsunamis and earthquakes more destructive than anything in the historical or geological record.

"It's just like a car odometer. The calendar clicks over to a new set of numbers," Geoff Braswell, an anthropologist at the University of California at San Diego, told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "The Maya certainly didn't expect the world to end. They wrote about stuff happening 400 million years from now."

William Gladstone of Cardiff, Calif., has written a novel, "The Twelve," about the Mayan calendar. He told the newspaper he decided on a novel "because the story doesn't work as non-fiction."

For those who want to experience the apocalypse, the movie "2012" starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet, opens Friday.

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Police: 911 caller made up potato attack

LARGO, Fla., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Police in Florida said they arrested a man who called 911 and falsely reported a man was "smashing potatoes" over a woman's head.

Largo police said Robert Turley, 51, called 911 three times Tuesday night, first saying a man armed with a knife was chasing a woman and then about 45 minutes later claiming the man was "smashing potatoes" over the woman's head, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Thursday.

The man called a third time to claim the man was punching the woman in the face.

Police found Turley, who was allegedly intoxicated, hiding in his neighbor's yard, and he admitted to making up the story because he was angry with his roommates, a man and a woman, the report said.

He was charged with false report of a crime and taken to the Pinellas County Jail in lieu of $250 bail.

Turley has been arrested 12 times since 1991 and has served jail time for crimes including possession of drug paraphernalia, the newspaper said.

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Police: Wife pulled knife over vodka

CLAWSON, Mich., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Police in Michigan said a woman charged with felony assault allegedly threatened her husband with a knife for throwing out her vodka.

Clawson police Lt. Scott Sarvello said the victim told police the husband arrived home from work Sunday night to find his wife, Rania Hijazi, 34, sleeping with a bottle of vodka next to her on the bed, The Daily Tribune, Mount Clemons, Mich., reported Thursday.

Sarvello said the husband threw out the vodka and Hijazi woke up a short time later and argued with him about the discarded alcohol. The husband told police Hijazi went back to bed for about an hour before getting up to reignite the confrontation.

"She kept asking him to go to the store to get her some vodka or food," Sarvello said. "He refused and she grabbed a knife out of the kitchen with a 7-inch blade."

Sarvello said the woman demanded her husband go to the store or give her the car keys but he held her at bay using a chair and called 911.

"When she heard him calling police she dropped the knife and went back to bed," he said.

Hijazi was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.

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Police say homeowner set trap for burglar

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A Salt Lake City man victimized by one burglar set a trap that helped nab a suspect in an attempted break-in, police say.

Police Lt. Craig Gleason said the unidentified homeowner, who lost jewelry and a laptop during a previous burglary, created a makeshift alarm device that alerted him a would-be burglar was attempting to enter his home Tuesday, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday.

Gleason said hearing the alarm, the homeowner chased a 50-year-old suspect and, thanks to the help of three other men, captured him.

Gleason said in addition to his homemade alarm system, the homeowner also used information from police officers to lure in the unidentified suspect.

"As it turns out, in the course of investigating the first burglary, the officers kind of mentioned to the homeowner that if you leave all your newspapers in the driveway and mail in the mailbox, that can make you a target for burglars," he told the Tribune.

"This homeowner, instead of removing the papers and mail, left the stuff there -- specifically with the intent of luring the burglar back in."