UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

Easter bunny warned for lack of helmet

SAN DIEGO, April 1 (UPI) -- The California Highway Patrol said a man in an Easter bunny costume was pulled over for failing to wear a helmet while on his motorcycle.

CHP spokesman Brian Pennings said an officer observed the man riding in full rabbit costume without a helmet early Saturday on Interstate 8 near San Diego, CBSLA reported Monday.

Pennings said the man, who was on his way to a charity event, was advised his costume posed a safety concern due to visual impairment issues.

The man was issued a verbal warning but was not cited, Pennings said.

"This was the first time I'm aware that we got the Easter Bunny on a motorcycle," the spokesman said.

Service aims to match faces of ex-lovers

MADRID, April 1 (UPI) -- A Spanish dating website said it helps users "relive their previous romance" by using FBI-tested software to find possible matches who resemble past lovers.

Esther Lavilla of Exmatch, the company behind the Second Course dating service, said users can upload a picture of their ex-lover's face to the website, and it will then be run through FBI-tested facial matching software to find other users who most resemble the picture, The Local.es reported Monday.

The users are also asked to fill out forms listing their former lover's hobbies, tastes and bedroom skills.

"Most people use our service to relive their previous romance," Lavilla said. "But others end up using it as a healthy stress-relieving way to let out their frustration at having been dumped."

She said the service does not offer a money-back guarantee.

April Fools' Day: ABBA reuniting in Sweden

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 1 (UPI) -- Hoax stories circulating in the Swedish media for April Fools' Day included an ABBA reunion and lasagna found in horse food.

The arrival of April was celebrated Monday by hoax news stories including a report in regional newspaper Sydsvenskan claiming neighborhoods in Malmo were being renamed after stars competing in the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be hosted in the city in May, The Local.se reported Monday.

Radio station P4 Uppland gave false hope to fans of pop music hit makers ABBA by reporting the band was to reunite for a concert at an Uppsala airfield during the summer, and Helsingborgs Dagblad posted on online report saying investigations into strange horse behavior in the Helsingborg area led to the discovery the equines were being fed lasagna.

The Goteborgs-Posten newspaper said Gothenburg residents were being asked to help collect snails and turn them in to city officials so they could be ground up and placed on tram tracks to make the rides quieter and smoother.

The Vasterbottens-Kuriren newspaper published a report saying all dogs in Umea would be required to submit DNA profiles to the authorities so police could track owners who fail to scoop their canine's droppings.

Norwegian cousins meet by chance in Miami

MIAMI, April 1 (UPI) -- A pair of women who struck up a conversation at a Florida drug store said they discovered they were both from Norway and were actually cousins.

Inger Copland, 74, and Diane Crosman, 52, said they had never met before striking up a conversation about shoe insoles at the Miami CVS store last week and they soon discovered they had lived within 5 minutes of each other in Miami for the past 25 years, originally came from Norway were actually second cousins, the Miami Herald reported Monday.

"I think it's incredible," Crosman said, "that our paths intersected now, in that little wrinkle in time."

Copland, who is from Oslo, said the pair discovered they were related after Crosman mentioned she was from the small village of Hvittingfoss, where Copland's mother was born.

"Our great-grandfather's name was Abraham Foss," Copland said. "He would be so happy to know we've met now."

The women said they were delighted to have grown their families from the chance meeting.

"We could have just walked away and never known we were related," Copland said.

The Sodermalm police in Stockholm got in on the April Fools' Day spirit by posting a report on Twitter that the department would be ceasing helicopter patrols in favor of cheaper and more eco-friendly hot air balloon patrols.