Watercooler Stories

Man sets house ablaze while cremating dog

DALE CITY, Va., July 17 (UPI) -- A Dale City, Va., man accidentally set his house on fire while trying to dispose of the remains of his dead pet dog, officials say.

The owner of the large Rottweiler started the fire Wednesday morning by putting pieces of wood next to its body and boosting the flames with gasoline, the News & Messenger in Manassas, Va, reported.

Firefighters were called to the two-story, single-family home at 9:10 a.m., where they found smoke coming out the front of the house and flames from the outside to the attic in the back.

Prince William fire and rescue Battalion Chief Joe Robertson explained that the gasoline had pooled near the house, extending the flames to the home.

The blaze caused $70,000 worth of damage to the home.

Robertson said it was unclear why the owner, whose name wasn't reported, was disposing of the dog by cremating it or how the dog died.

The matter was being investigated and no charges had been filed.

Hacked business stuck with huge phone bill

BELLEVUE, Wash., July 17 (UPI) -- A Bellevue, Wash., business was victim of phone hackers, leaving it with a $90,000 bill, officials say.

Reliance Mortgage owner Hank Lo's average phone bill comes to about $1,000 a month, Seattle's KOMO-TV reported. His most recent bill from his long-distance provider, Integra, however, was for almost $90,000, chalk full of international calls to North Korea and South Africa.

"I don't know anybody in North Korea or South Africa," Lo said.

The phone bill indicates that on Feb 5 and 6, hundreds of calls were made to the two countries, which Integra admits is implausible.

What happened was hackers targeted the mortgage company's PBX or switchboard, so when the international calls were placed, Lo would be billed for them.

Integra offered to take about $47,000 off of the bill, leaving Reliance responsible for the remaining $41,000, which the phone company offered a payment plan of $500 a month for the next seven years.

"I don't know, I need help," Lo said, adding he can't afford to pay the amount.

Integra officials declined to comment on the situation since it's now a legal matter, KOMO said.

Sears accidentally advertises IPads at $69

CHICAGO, July 16 (UPI) -- Sears.com accidentally priced Apple's IPad at $69, much to the dismay of many online shoppers.

IPads are regularly priced at $744.99, so when Sears.com customers caught wind of the unbelievable deal, it went viral, CNN reported.

Unfortunately, Sears posted a statement online saying it would not honor the deal, as it was an error made by a third-party vendor.

"We want you to know that, unfortunately, today one of the Marketplace third-party sellers told us that they mistakenly posted incorrect pricing information on two Apple iPad models on the Marketplace portion of the Web site. If you purchased either of these products recently, your order has been canceled and your account will be credited," the statement said.

Many customers are unhappy with the announcement.

"I shop online all the time and I've never had anything like this happen," said Paula Knight, a disappointed customer who bought an IPad for her son who has Asperger's syndrome. "They want to blame a third party, but the order confirmation e-mail I got was from Sears. They are a huge company I thought I could trust and rely on, but if they don't honor this, I won't ever shop at Sears again. I just want my order honored."

Police: 72-year-old hid gun in candy aisle

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla., July 16 (UPI) -- Police in Florida said they arrested a 72-year-old man who allegedly pulled a gun on a fellow Walgreens customer and hid the weapon in the candy aisle.

Riviera Beach Police said a clerk at the Walgreens store told them he heard Robert Warn mumble a racial slur when he entered the store Wednesday, and the victim, whose name was not released, told officers Warn pulled a gun on him during a dispute about cash in the store's pharmacy, the Palm Beach Post reported Friday.

The victim exited the store and waved down officers who entered the store and asked Warn if he had a gun. The man initially told them he was unarmed and then admitted he had hidden the weapon in the store's candy aisle.

The gun, an unloaded "small Colt, semiautomatic pistol," was found beneath a row of chocolate bars.

Warn was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and evidencing prejudice while committing an offense. He was held in lieu of $150,000 bail and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.