UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Election predicted in unusual ways

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Halloween mask sales thus far predict President Barack Obama will win a second term, while a pair of Colorado professors picked challenger Mitt Romney.

Halloween mask sales, which have correctly predicted the outcomes of the last four presidential elections, indicate the Democratic president will have another four years in office after sales of his Halloween mask outpaced sales of masks in the likeness of the Republican challenger by 30 percent on BuyCostumes.com, ABC News reported Monday.

Meanwhile, University of Colorado Professor Michael Berry and a colleague said their complex political science model, which takes state and national unemployment rates and changes in per capita income into account, said their model has correctly predicted the outcomes of the past 8 elections and they now believe Romney will take the White House in November's election.

"Certainly, most of the polling data projects Obama is likely to win, but we don't account for any polling or public opinion," Berry said. "I would still bet that Romney wins."

However, online gambling numbers, which have predicted the correct outcomes of the past two elections, overwhelmingly predict an Obama victory, with website Intrade giving a 70 percent likelihood of a second term for Obama.

Thieving bear recorded in Calif.

SAN BERNARDINO NATIONAL FOREST, Calif., Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A California man who captured footage of a bear rummaging through a family's belongings said the animal earlier ran off with a backpack containing his iPad.

Jesse Dinkel, who spotted the bear Saturday at the San Bernardino National Forest, said the animal first ran off with his iPad-containing backpack and he later captured video of the bear riffling through a family's belongings at a picnic table, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, reported Monday.

"It was crazy," Dinkel said. "He was really not shy."

Dinkel said the bear took a Tupperware container filled with food back into the woods with him.

Forest officials said bear sightings are common at Jenks Lake.

Dinkel said the theft of his iPad by a bear has brought about a new problem.

"Try getting the insurance company to believe that," Dinkel said.

About 400,000 attend fetish fair

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Organizers of the 29th annual Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco said an estimated 400,000 people turned out for the fetish-themed event.

Some participants had sexuality-themed gear such as latex bodysuits, leather chaps, face-covering hoods, whips and studded vests, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday.

Demetri Moshoyannis, the fair's executive director, said the event began in 1984 as an anti-gentrification street fair and eventually became a celebration of alternative sexuality.

The fair featured vendors selling bondage gear and pornography and there were food stands, dance areas and DJs and bands playing music.

Organizers said the fair annually generates about $350,000 for local and national charities including the AIDS Housing Alliance, the Mission Neighborhood Health Center, the Queer Cultural Center and Westside Community Services.

Mom's artistic photo leads to police visit

PALMERSTON NORTH, New Zealand, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- A New Zealand mother said she was grateful for "art-literate" police officers after someone called police about a picture she took of her 7-year-old daughter.

Danu Sefton, a Palmerston North Polytechnic and Institute of Technology New Zealand student, said the picture of her daughter, Madeleine, fully clothed in a bathtub, won her the silver medal at the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography Awards, The Dominion Post reported Monday.

But, she said, some people were offended by the image, which she said represents "that in-between state" between life and death.

"Some people in my class said I needed to stop what I was doing," Sefton said. "I have been held and shaken because of it."

She said someone offended by the picture led police to visit her home.

Sefton said the officers demanded to see any pictures of her daughter that had been posted online.

"They saw it and said 'Oh, that's art'," she said. "It's nice to know the police are art-literate as well."

Sefton said her daughter has been doing theater since she was 4-years-old and "understands make-believe."