Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe 1,524-pound monster wins pumpkin weigh-off HALF MOON BAY, Calif., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A 1,524-pound giant took home the top prize this year at the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Advertisement Thad Starr of Pleasant Hill, Ore., a newcomer to the elite world of growing great pumpkins, defeated the reigning champion, Joel Holland of Puyallup, Wash., whose 1,384-pound entry took second place, the San Jose Mercury News reported. The winner also broke all records for the Pumpkin Weigh-Off, considered to be the world's top pumpkin competition. Starr, who only began growing huge pumpkins two years ago, adopted an unconventional choice for seed. The seed came from a pumpkin that weighed only 227 pounds but was from two good lines of large pumpkins. "People chase large pumpkins from big-name growers," Starr said. "Very few people would even give that seed the time of day." Advertisement The winner was actually not intended for the championship but was one he grew as a backup -- until it outgrew everything else in the garden. NYC pol bellows way to YouTube stardome NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A New York city councilman is the latest YouTube favorite after his obscenity-laced tirade at a prankster posing as a television reporter. The New York Daily News said Minority Leader James Oddo threw out a slew of profanities after catching on that the City Hall interview was a goof being conducted by Norwegian comic Pia Haraldsen. Oddo is seen on the video letting a hapless staff member have it and also threatening to pummel the Norwegian crew. Its not known if Haraldsen was impressed, but the News said the show attracted more than 17,000 YouTube hits in a matter of days. Fla. cab thief gets away with aches only MIAMI, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A Miami cab diver won the battle by kicking an alleged mugger in the groin, but he lost the war when the hurting thief crashed the taxi into four parked cars. Norman Klein, 68, who delivered a swift knee to the youthful suspect earlier this month, now has to rent a cab from another driver since his own vehicle was totaled as the mugger tried to escape. Advertisement ''It's devastating to watch that happen to my own car,'' Klein told the Miami Herald Monday. "I had to turn around and junk it for $400." Things didn’t turn out too well for the suspect, either. Michael Bermudez not only endured that most painful of injuries, but was also arrested few days later for strong-armed robbery and carjacking. Big African lizards loose in Florida ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Biologists are afraid that a large African lizard has set up housekeeping in a central Florida town. Officials in Edgewood, a few miles south of Orlando on Lake Conway, have been trying to trap a 4 1/2-foot African Nile monitor lizard that has been spotted in recent weeks in backyards and even taking dips in swimming pools. Smaller lizards have also been caught or killed, including one that made its way into a house through a dryer vent and got stuck in a pipe, The Orlando Sentinel reported. The lizards have become entrenched in some areas in Florida, including Sanibel Island. Biologists believe that they were originally pets. But the African Nile monitor grows to be as much as 7 feet long, and it is fast and powerful, with sharp claws. The females lay up to 80 eggs at a time. Advertisement "They make terrible pets," biologist Gregg Klowden, said.
