UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Minor league stadium getting urinal games

ALLENTOWN, Pa., March 27 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania minor league baseball team announced it is installing urine-controlled video games in its men's rooms.

The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, a Class Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, said the "Urinal Gaming System" is being installed on the urinals at Coca-Cola Park n Allentown, Pa., making the venue the first sports stadium in the United States to have urine-based video games in its bathrooms, U.S. News and World Report reported Wednesday.

Captive Media, the British company behind the games, shows a snowboarding slalom game in the demo video for the systems.

"To turn left, pee left ... to turn right, pee left," the video said.

Players are given codes at the end of the games to put into an online leader board.

"These games are sure to make a huge splash," said Kurt Landes, the IronPigs' general manager.

$10 fine dropped for swearing cockatoo

WARWICK, R.I., March 27 (UPI) -- A Rhode Island city dropped a fine against a woman whose pet cockatoo was accused of repeatedly using profanity directed toward a next door neighbor.

Lynn Taylor of Warwick fought the $10 noise citation last year in municipal court after her neighbor complained about the bird's foul language and appealed the case to Providence Superior Court, WJAR-TV, Providence, reported Wednesday.

Police said the city decided to drop the case rather than continue to expend city resources attempting to enforce a $10 fine.

$30,000 cash found in dead woman's clothes

BRISTOL, Pa., March 27 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania woman said she found $30,000 in cash in a pile of clothes once belonging to her cousin's daughter's mother-in-law.

Carol Sutor of Bristol, Pa., said her cousin, who lives in Medford, N.J., called her recently to say her daughter's mother-in-law had died and asked if she wanted to look through the deceased woman's clothing for her own mother, Phillyburbs.com reported Wednesday.

"So I go through the clothes and I come across a canvas bag on a hangar. In the bag was a plastic bag," Sutor said. "So I'm thinking, well, maybe it's a pair of bedroom slippers or something. So I unwrapped the bag, and there was another bag in another bag in another bag, one of those deals, you know? So I'm thinking maybe what's in here are important papers. So I opened up the last bag, and got a surprise."

The surprise was $30,000 in $100 bills. Sutor said she knew the owner of the money was deceased but she decided to return it to the woman's family.

Sutor said her cousin's son-in-law gave her $1,000 of the money as a thank you for returning it.

Cold-weather swimmer prompts 911 calls

CHICAGO, March 27 (UPI) -- A Chicago man said his enthusiasm for cold-weather swimming has led to multiple encounters with police and firefighters when concerned witnesses call 911.

Boban Simic, 30, a bouncer, boxer and mixed martial arts fighter, said he takes weekly trips to Montrose Beach on Lake Michigan to wade through the ice and slush for a cold-weather swim that he believes to be beneficial to his health and well-being, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday.

"Every cell in your body is alive," Simic said. "You come out and you feel like a baby, like born again... the whole day after you do something like this, you feel happier you can deal with pressure, you can deal with a lot of things a lot easier."

However, Simic said his swims have resulted in multiple encounters with police and firefighters.

"One of the cops told me, the one that was kind of mean to me, he told me that next time he catches me, I'm going straight to jail," Simic said.

However, a police spokesman said Simic will not be arrested.

"He has been advised by officers that swimming in the lake at this time of year is dangerous," a police spokesman said.

Simic said firefighters have been more understanding of his hobby.

"Our guys understand what he's doing and it's not a problem," said Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford. "It's just a matter of notification. He should let us know when he's out there and when he gets out of the water ... because if someone calls, and we don't know, we gotta go."