Interesting & funny news from around the world, Интересные и забавные новости со всего мира

Lost dog found in Philadelphia after four years

A Wisconsin man drove across the country during a snowstorm to be reunited with the dog he lost four years ago in Philadelphia.

The Animal Care & Control Team of Philly said a dog was brought in as a stray earlier this month and scanned for a microchip.

The chip identified her as Cipi, a dog reported missing in the same area of the city four years earlier.

Leovigildo Ramirez, Cipi's owner, moved to Wisconsin a while after Cipi was lost. He made the 16-hour drive to Philadelphia during major snowstorms to bring Cipi home.

Ramirez said the pet ran off in 2022 while the family was bringing groceries into the house. He kept Cipi's microchip updated in the hopes that she would one day resurface.

"That was incredible," Ramirez told Fox 29 News of the reunion. "She is my best friend."

11-year-old juggler breaks world record using a pindaloo

An 11-year-old juggler from Wisconsin broke a Guinness World Record by using a pindaloo to make 51 rotations in under 30 seconds.

Caleb Hunter used his pindaloo — a u-shaped juggling tool that takes a ball in one hole and spits it out the other — to break the record for the most loops of a ball with a pindaloo in 30 seconds, in the under-16 category.

"It goes out the front, it loops over back towards you, and it lands in the one that you're holding," Hunter told WBKO-TV. "You have to keep the momentum, but it's also fun to like play with it, see how high you can get it, see how fast you can go."

He said breaking the record took a lot of practice.

"Every time I practiced I usually dropped the ball before the 30 seconds was over. The first time I did it I got it and the ball fell exactly after 30 seconds passed, so even if I did make it one more time it wouldn't have counted, so it was like perfect," he said.

The boy said he was inspired to attempt the record by his father, a former Guinness World Record-holder.

"My dad actually has a biking world record from biking 6 states in under 24-hours," he said. "It got broken, but it's still super cool, and I thought I wanted one too."

Punxsutawney Phil, Staten Island Chuck predict 6 more weeks of winter

Famed Pennsylvania groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Monday morning, predicting six more weeks of winter.

Phil was pulled from his burrow Monday morning at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney and his prognostications were interpreted by a man in a tuxedo and top hat in front of a crowd of thousands of onlookers.

The man revealed Phil had seen his shadow, predicting winter will last another six weeks.

A study released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2025 revealed Phil has had an accuracy rate of only about 35% in the past couple decades.

Staten Island Chuck, who the NOAA study named as the most accurate weather-predicting groundhog with an accuracy rate of 85%, concurred with Punxsutawney Phil during his own Mo

Michigan teacher earns Guinness World Record for 67-year career

A 90-year-old English teacher in Michigan was awarded a Guinness World Record for her 67-year career in the classroom.

Beverly Hannett-Price, who teaches English at Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, was presented with her Guinness World Records certificate for the longest career as a language teacher (female) Monday at a surprise assembly convened in her honor.

Guest speakers at the ceremony included Courtney B. Vance, a former student who went on to become a Tony and Emmy-winning actor.

"She really taught me how to write and to put wonderful thoughts together, and because of that, we've stayed in touch," Vance told WXYZ-TV.

Hannett-Price, who started teaching in 1958, also counts actor Robin Williams and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer among her former pupils.

"I have no plans for retirement. I love this school. I love teaching," Hannett-Price said at the ceremony.

150-year-old bottle of alcohol found in Utah, tasted by experts

An archaeological team in Utah exhumed a bottle of alcohol estimated to be 150 years old — and experts gave it a taste test.

Ian Wright, Utah's state public archaeologist, said the bottle was among thousands of artifacts dating back to approximately 1870-1890 found on U.S. Forest Service land used by Alta ski resort.

"When they picked it up, it was still full. It still had a cork in it," Wright told The Park Record. "We realized, 'Oh my gosh, this is a real treasure.'"

Wright said the find is the only known intact bottle of alcohol to be found from the time period.

"They sometimes find them in Missouri and in places where the Mississippi has shifted and there's been a sunken boat or a ship, but never in Utah," he said. "We rarely find a bottle with a cork at all. Or if we do find one, the corks shriveled up and shrunk it inside of it, or just fragments of it. So that's pretty rare."

Wright's team enlisted the help of High West, Utah's oldest legal distillery, to analyze the bottle's contents.

The nearby Old Town Cellars provided a Coravin device to extract some of the liquid without damaging the cork.

Isaac Winter, director of distilling at High West, was the first to taste the liquid.

"I had a little bit of trepidation going into it, but you have to try it," Winter told FOX 13 Utah. "It didn't smell like gasoline, didn't smell like tobacco spit."

He said the flavor is "fruity, there's a little bit of leather, there's quite a bit of age on it."

Tara Lindley, director of sensory and product development at High West, said the flavors were complex.

"First, there was some kind of a, kind of an oxidized fruit note," Lindley said.

The experts said the liquid appears to be a low-alcohol beer, rather than liquor. They are now hoping to recreate the beverage.

"The very bottom of the bottle was sort of turbid — it was sort of milky. We're going to take that back and hopefully plate it out and find some usable yeast on it," Winter said.

Lost ring found after 44 years buried on Mississippi beach

A Mississippi man who lost his class ring during a trip to the beach in 1982 was reunited with the treasured item 44 years later.

Darien Ladner said he lost his Pass Christian High School class ring while attending a party at Pass Christian beach with some friends during his senior year of high school.

"I searched and searched but could not find it," Ladner wrote on social media.

Ladner said he even returned to the beach with an assistant principal who offered to search with his metal detector, but they had no luck.

Ladner received a Facebook message earlier this week from Sammy Jewell, who told Ladner he had found the ring while treasure hunting with his metal detector at the beach.

"Whenever I got the message Monday morning, I was ecstatic, I couldn't believe it, because it's been 44 years," Ladner told WLOX-TV.

He was amazed to learn the ring had been found in the same spot where he lost it.

"From the time I lost it, which would have been between January and May of 1982, to now, we've had seven hurricanes and five tropical storms," Ladner said. "So that ring's been through a lot, not considering all the heavy equipment running up and down the beach."

He said the ring is in excellent condition, except for a small scuff.

Wild turkeys terrorize Wisconsin neighborhood, chase postal workers

Residents of a southern Wisconsin town have been dealing with an unusual group of local ruffians: a flock of aggressive wild turkeys.

Janesville neighbor Lawrence Meyer, who recorded video of the turkeys chasing a postal worker down a neighborhood road, said his 8-year-old son also had a run-in with the birds while crossing the street.

"As he was approaching, crossing the street, the turkeys started chasing after him," Meyer told WMTV. "It's scary. Like these are big birds. They're as tall as my son. When they fluff their feathers, they're scary. They're huge to an 8-year-old."

He said the birds weren't always so aggressive.

"I love wildlife. At first, the turkeys were cool. They brought life to the neighborhood," Meyer said. "As it's developed, they've become a nuisance. They block traffic, they've caused accidents, they went after my mailman."

Jason Cotter, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist for Rock County, said turkeys tend to flock together during the winter, but its not common for them to become as aggressive as the Janesville birds.

"It's more of a rarity than it is common," Cotter said. "We have heard of flocks in urban areas, obviously around the state, but these particular birds in Janesville have been seemingly causing a stir with folks getting in and out of cars, mailmen, children going to school."

Cotter recommended residents take steps to make themselves appear larger, such as carrying an umbrella.

The Wisconsin DNR said it is consulting with USDA Wildlife Services to come up with a plan to resolve the Janesville situation. Officials said the birds might end up being relocated.

Stranded swan rescued from frozen river in Connecticut

Firefighters in Connecticut responded to a frozen river to rescue a swan that ventured out onto the ice and became stuck in place.

The Norwalk Fire Department said on social media that crews were called Tuesday to the area of the Wall Street Bridge on a report of a swan stuck to the ice covering the Norwalk River.

"Firefighters donned cold-water rescue suits and carefully entered the river to reach the animal," the post said. "Crews safely freed the swan from the surrounding ice and brought it to shore without incident."

The swan was taken to the VCA Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center.

"The swan is stable," veterinarian Melissa Salgado told the CT Examiner. "There were blocks of ice attached to him which we had to melt off using warm water, and he was given food and water. He's doing well and warming up. He has no serious wounds."

The swan will be released back into the wild once veterinarians give him the all-clear.

Dream of mother leads S.C. woman to $13,000 lottery prize

A South Carolina woman said a dream about her mother led to her using her mom's phone number to play the lottery — and she ended up winning $13,000.

The Kingstree woman told South Carolina Education Lottery officials she woke up from a dream about her mother and decided to use digits from her phone number to play Pick 4.

The player visited Harry's Xpress on North Williamsburg County Highway in Kingstree and bought five tickets, each bearing the same special set of numbers.

Each ticket earned a $2,600 prize — earning the woman a total $13,000.

"I was super excited, so I left work early," the winner said.

She said she plans to use her winnings to take a vacation.

Texas man folds 250 functional paper planes in one hour

A Texas man folded 250 paper planes in one hour — an average of four per minute — and proved they could fly to attempt a Guinness World Record.

Tyler resident Richard DeFreece, who first applied to Guinness World Records two years ago, said he got the go-head for his official attempt in December 2025, and he made his try at the record on Saturday.

DeFreece managed to fold 250 paper planes in the allotted time, besting the goal of 200 set by Guinness World Records.

Each plane was tested by an official at the end of the attempt to ensure they were all airworthy.

"It feels awesome," DeFreece told the Tyler Morning Telegraph. "It's a lot of hard work and practice that went into it and I'm glad to get the record."

He said breaking a world record is a longtime goal.

"I have always wanted to break a world record and I started thinking, 'What can I possibly do?' because I'm not the fastest and I'm not the strongest, so I started looking at obscure records," DeFreece said. "I contacted Guinness and they said the record was 200 for paper airplanes and I was like, 'OK, I think I can break that.'"

Evidence from DeFreece's attempt must now be reviewed by Guinness World Records to become official.

Man balances chair on his chin for 1 hour, 20 minutes

A serial Guinness World Record-breaker balanced a chair on his chin for 1 hour and 20 minutes to recapture one of his previously-held titles.

David Rush, who recently recaptured a similar record by balancing a ladder on his chin for 19 minutes and 11 seconds, originally earned the title for the longest duration balancing a chair on the chin at 1 hour and 8 minutes.

He lost the record to another balance expert who managed a time of 1 hour and 19 minutes.

"Over the past months, I have been training specifically to rebuild strength and endurance in my neck," Rush wrote online. "It is, quite literally, a pain in the neck. This record places constant load on the jaw, neck, and upper spine, and there is no moment of relief once the chair is in position. Every second requires active control."

Rush said he felt like he physically could have continued past the record-breaking mark, but the pain from holding position led to his ending his December 2024 attempt at 1 hour, 20 minutes and 30 seconds. Guinness World Records has now confirmed it was enough to recapture the title.

Dallas 12-year-old achieves nuclear fusion after four years of effort

A 12-year-old Dallas student's four-year-long science project may have resulted in his becoming the youngest person to ever achieve nuclear fusion.

Aiden McMillan, a Dallas Independent School District seventh-grader, said he started work on his ambitious project when he was just 8 years old, and spent the first two years studying nuclear physics concepts before building his first prototypes.

He said it took some work to ensure his mother was comfortable with his tinkering.

"There were some alarm bells with my mom, yes, she was like, ' Whoa, whoa, whoa, take a step back, tell me exactly what could go wrong, and how it could go wrong and make sure it doesn't go wrong,'" McMillan told NBC DFW.

The project concluded with McMillan achieving nuclear fusion.

"We got neutrons, yeah," McMillan said. "Kind of tearing up about it cause it was like, hard to describe. It was like the end of a long, long journey."

McMillan is now applying to Guinness World Records to be recognized as the youngest person to achieve nuclear fusion. The record is currently held by Jackson Oswalt, a Tennessee native who successfully achieved nuclear fusion just hours before his 13th birthday in 2018.

Serial underwear thief at New Zealand school identified as cat

A serial thief who has been stealing items including towels, shoes and underwear from a New Zealand school for over a year was finally caught on camera and identified as a literal cat burglar.

Marama Stewart, principal of the Apanui School in Whakatāne, said items had been mysteriously disappearing from the school for over a year, particularly during the season while the pool was in use.

"Initially we noticed single shoes and goggles and undies and towels left along the footpath into the school," Stewart told Stuff.co.nz.

The school posted a video to Facebook when the thief was finally caught on a security camera. The footage shows a black cat dragging a large towel across the playground.

"When a pair of togs [swimming trunks] and a towel went missing, my office lady checked the cameras for our wee offender and he was witnessed, and a large stash was found at the back of the PE shed," Stewart said.

She said the school's groundskeeper made contact with the cat's owner, who confirmed their pet was a notorious thief.

"Can we say his owner wishes that he remains anonymous? We're calling him Slinky Malinki," Stewart said.

She said the thefts are a learning opportunity.

"I think we're going to have a lot of fun writing stories about our own school's Slinky Malinki," she said. "And it might help our kids to remember to put their things in their bag!"

Art student stuffs world's largest sock monkey in Britain

A student at Scotland's Glasgow School of Art used nearly 200 feet of corduroy fabric to create the world's largest sock monkey sculpture.

Emilia Evans-Munton, 22, said she started work on her massive plushie as a passion project for her degree show, and only later realized it might be the largest in the world.

"My dad pointed out it was probably the largest in the world and encouraged me to contact Guinness World Records," Evans-Munton told Guinness World Records.

The final sculpture, which was stuffed with 40 straw bales, measures 49 feet and 6 inches long.

"A large part of my sculpture practice is focused on scale, and making my adult audience feel small again in comparison to such a big object to encourage the (perhaps repressed) childlike fascination that exists in us all," she said.

The sock monkey also has massive buttons for eyes.

"I repurposed recycled scaffolding board/wood into the giant buttons for the eyes, which were 1.5 meters [5 feet] wide each," the artist said.

The sock monkey was introduced to the public at Field Maneuvers Festival in Norfolk, England. Visitors were encouraged to interact with the massive toy.

"The more bashed and deflated a soft toy is, the more it has been loved. The interaction from the audience allows the rediscovery of their love for their once-favorite toys, all the while showering the sock monkey with a newfound love," Evans-Munton said.

She said the sock monkey's stuffing has now been removed and it is in storage in her grandmother's attic.

Illinois family's 33-year-old cockatiel is the oldest in the world

An Illinois family's 33-year-old pet cockatiel, named Sonny, was officially named the oldest bird of his species by Guinness World Records.

Sonny officially earned the record for oldest cockatiel living at the age of 32 years and 292 days old in October 2025, and he celebrated his 33rd birthday on January 10.

The bird's owner, Northbrook resident Janet Reicher, said Sonny came to live with her family when he was just a few weeks old in 1993. She said he quickly showed an aptitude for music and learned to whistle songs from Bridge over the River Kwai and the theme from the Andy Griffith Show.

"We used to do duets while I showered, and he sat on the vanity," Reicher told Guinness World Records. "He used to have a large vocabulary, but now it is just a few words with lots of baby babble."

She credited Sonny's good health and long life to a healthy diet and plenty of social engagement.

"He is a great companion to me," Reicher said. "He socializes with anyone that pays attention to him. My husband used to travel a lot, and Sonny kept me company and always made me laugh."

She said Sonny is paper trained, so he only has to go into his cage to eat seed, drink water and take naps.

"He usually spends waking hours outside of his cage, sitting on various size perches. In the evenings, he often sits on my knee while watching TV," she said.

Kentucky man wins $291,010 lottery prize thanks to a mistake

An Ohio man said a mistake he made while buying his usual Rolling Cash 5 lottery ticket led to his winning a $291,000 jackpot.

The Avon Lake man told Ohio Lottery officials he meant to buy tickets bearing his usual numbers for seven consecutive days, but accidentally purchased one ticket with his chosen numbers and six auto pick tickets — all for the same drawing.

One of his auto pick tickets, bearing the numbers 1-14-20-35-37, scored the $291,000 Rolling Cash 5 Jackpot in the Feb. 10 drawing. He also matched three numbers on another line of the ticket, earning an additional $10.

"Sometimes a mistake is quite favorable," the player said.

The winner said his prize money will allow him to quit driving for a ride-share service to spent more time with his wife. He said it will also help him to pay off his house, cover his wife's medical expenses and take care of other debts.

Researchers develop 'Smart Underwear' to track a wearer's farts

University of Maryland researchers designed "Smart Underwear" to track and measure flatulence — and they are seeking volunteers to wear them.

Brantley Hall, an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, led a team of scientists in creating the small device that snaps into a wearer's underwear and uses electrochemical sensors to track intestinal gas.

Hall said the device specifically records releases of hydrogen.

"Think of it like a continuous glucose monitor, but for intestinal gas," Hall said in a news release.

Santiago Botasini, an assistant research scientist at the school, led a study that found healthy adults produced flatus — passed gas — an average of 32 times a day, with individual variations reaching as much as 59 or as low as 4. Their findings were reported in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X.

Hall said doctors previously thought the average to be around 14, a number he attributed to the difficulties involved in measuring and self-reporting without the use of Smart Underwear.

"Objective measurement gives us an opportunity to increase scientific rigor in an area that's been difficult to study," Hall said.

The researchers are now working on a Human Flatus Atlas to objectively measure gas releases across hundreds of patients using Smart Underwear. The project will develop a baseline for normal adult flatulence patterns.

"We don't actually know what normal flatus production looks like," Hall said. "Without that baseline, it's hard to know when someone's gas production is truly excessive."

The team is seeking participants who fall into three categories developed from Botasini's team's research: Zen Digesters, those who consume high fiber diets yet pass gas rarely; Hydrogen Hyperproducers — "simply put, people who fart a lot;" and Normal People, those who fall between the other two categories.

"We've learned a tremendous amount about which microbes live in the gut, but less about what they're actually doing at any given moment," Hall said. "The Human Flatus Atlas will establish objective baselines for gut microbial fermentation, which is essential groundwork for evaluating how dietary, probiotic or prebiotic interventions change microbiome activity."