Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Schwarzenegger statue headed for Ohio COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- An Oregon foundry that is casting self-commissioned bronze statues of Arnold Schwarzenegger said one of the statues may be headed for Columbus, Ohio. Advertisement Timothy Parks, owner of TW Bronze of Enterprise said he is casting at least two of the 9-foot statues, which depict Schwarzenegger in the prime of his bodybuilding career and are based on a 22-inch sculpture created by Ralph Crawford of Iowa in 1980, The Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday. "One of them is for Columbus, and I think the plan is to have it there for the next Arnold [Sports Festival]," Parks said. One of the statues has already been shipped to Schwarzenegger's native Austria for display in a museum set up in the actor and former California governor's childhood home. Parks said the second statue will be finished in time for the March 1-4 festival at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Advertisement However, festival organizers said they were unaware of the statue. "We have no direct knowledge of this coming here," said Brent LaLonde, a spokesman for organizer Jim Lorimer and the festival. "But if it were coming ... we would use it in the promotion of our event, for sure." Man patents 'perfect snowman' device MUNICH, Germany, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A New York state native living in Germany said he has obtained a U.S. patent for an invention designed to make creating snowmen easier. Marc Asperas, 45, a patent lawyer with a background in engineering, said his beach ball-like spheres create "the perfect snowman" when a small generator gives them an electric charge, causing snow to cling to the surface of the spheres, the New York Post reported Tuesday. "We have created the Internet. China is getting ready to send a person to the moon. And we invented Silly Putty, perhaps one of the all-time greatest inventions a big kid ever invented. Can't somebody build a better snow man?" Asperas' patent application reads. "Today is that day." Asperas, a Melville, N.Y., native living in Munich, Germany, said he obtained his patent after five years of attempts. "A lot of people poke fun at these type of patents, but this is a real project," he said. "I think I'm bringing snowman-making to Germany. I have this dastardly idea where I'm going to use my device to build snowmen during the winter at famous places here." Advertisement Utah school sets 'kissing chain' record LOGAN, Utah, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Utah State University announced students set a world record for the "longest kissing chain" when 1,450 people locked lips in the school's quad. The university said the kissing chain Friday night far eclipsed the previous record of 303 people, set this year at a school in India, KSL-TV, Salt Lake City, reported Tuesday. The event was organized by the USU Student Alumni Association as part of homecoming week festivities. The group said it is awaiting word from Guinness World Records. La. woman has world's largest afro NAPOLEONVILLE, La., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A Louisiana woman who has been growing her hair out for 12 years was awarded the Guinness World Record for the world's largest afro. Aevin Dugas of Napoleonville said she applied for the Guinness certification when a friend saw a picture of her afro picked out to its largest point, with a circumference of 4-foot-4, on Facebook and she soon heard back from the record keeping organization, WGNO-TV, New Orleans, reported Tuesday. "The whole Guinness thing is just a whole bunch of people, different people from all over the world, everywhere. To be included -- that is a big honor," she said. Advertisement Dugas said she loves her long hair, but it occasionally gets her into trouble. "Sometimes it gets in the way. Once I slammed it in a car door," she said.
