UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Goats ride together on tandem surfboard

PISMO BEACH, Calif., July 13 (UPI) -- A California goat owner said he was proud to get both of his animals to ride the waves together on a tandem surfboard.

Dana McGregor of Pismo Beach said he consulted with tandem surfing duo Mark and Debbie Gale to see if his goats, who have both previously spent time on surfboards, would ride the waves together in San Diego, The Orange County Register reported Friday.

Mark Gale said the goats seemed up to the challenge.

"They look pretty happy. Thinking this is going to be a little bit easier than surfing with the wife," he joked.

McGregor said it did not take a lot of time Wednesday to get both of the goats to ride the waves on the board.

Onlookers said they were delighted by the unique spectacle.

"Oh my gosh. That was hilarious. I never thought I'd see the day," San Clemente surfer Po Carbal, 22, said. "Goats on a surfboard -- I've seen it all. I think it's probably one of the oddest and coolest things I've ever seen at the beach."

Kitten stows away on 6,500-mile journey

LOS ANGELES, July 13 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in California said a kitten stowed away in a shipping container and made a 6,500 mile freighter trip from China.

Marcia Mayeda, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care & Control, said the kitten survived the trip without any food or water and was taken to the Carson Animal Center after the crate she was in was delivered Thursday to a Compton business, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

Workers at the Carson Animal Center said they have dubbed the 3-month-old kitten Ni Hao, which is Mandarin for "Hello."

"She's doing OK; she was pretty weak and dehydrated," Mayeda said. "It was touch and go at first, but staff has been taking good care of her."

Thieves take toilet seat from courthouse

KRISTIANSTAD, Sweden, July 13 (UPI) -- Police in Sweden said they arrested two people accused of attempting to steal items including a toilet seat from a courthouse.

Kristianstad police said the 24-year-old woman and 38-year-old man, who both had previous encounters with police, were arrested outside of the courthouse Thursday with pilfered coffee, tea, sugar and a toilet seat, The Local.se reported Friday.

Police said a security camera recorded the couple attempting to break into a storage locker.

The man and woman were held on suspicion of robbery and attempted robbery.

Study: Meal with ex can heighten jealousy

ITHICA, N.Y., July 13 (UPI) -- Researchers at Cornell University in New York say dining with an ex can suggest intimacy and create more jealousy in a current partner than a no-meal meeting.

Kevin Kniffin and Brian Wansink, co-authors of a study that appeared Wednesday in the journal PLoS On, said they asked undergraduates to rate their jealousy when confronted with hypothetical scenarios involving their romantic partners meeting up with former lovers, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The authors said the participants chose the scenarios involving food as those most likely to elicit jealousy.

"This is another way of looking at the degree to which people understand meals to involve more than just eating together," Kniffin said. "People view meals as more than just the concurrent consumption of calories."