Whacky Notes from All Over:

Hospital gives man drip-feed of vodka
From the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 10, 2007
BRISBANE, Australia -- Doctors plugged an Italian tourist into a drip-feed of vodka to save him at a hospital in Australia that ran out of the medicinal alcohol it would normally have used for treatment.

The 24-year-old Italian, who was not further identified, was brought to Mackay Base Hospital in northeastern Queesland state and was diagnosed as having ingested a large quantity of ethylene glycol, a common ingredient of antifreeze that can cause renal failure.

Dog saves family from fire blamed on cat

From the Associated Press
October 11, 2007
GREENVILLE, Maine -- Thumper, a black Labrador retriever, is getting credit for saving a Greenville man when a fire swept through his home.

Roland Cote said his wife and their 7-year-old grandson were away when the blaze started early Sunday in a converted two-story garage. He said Thumper grabbed him by the arm to wake him, leaving just enough time for him to dial 911 before fleeing the fast-moving fire.

While the dog is the hero, a cat is the bad guy in this story.

Cote said the fire marshal investigator believes the blaze was started when Princess, the family cat, tipped over a kerosene lantern. Cote says he and his pets escaped safely, but he says Princess did get her tail singed by the flames.

Cambodian police take cow in to custody for causing traffic accidents

From the Associated Press
October 9, 2007
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A Cambodian cow was taken into police custody for causing traffic accidents that resulted in the deaths of at least six people this year, a police official said Tuesday.

The cow's owner could also face a six-month prison term under a new traffic law that holds people responsible for accidents caused by their animals, said Pin Doman, a police chief on the outskirts of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh.


The white, 1.5-meter (5-foot) tall cow was standing in the middle of a main road Monday night when a 66-year-old motorcyclist crashed into the animal and died. Most Cambodian roads are dark at night.

Earlier this year, the same cow was responsible for another traffic accident that resulted in the death of five people and several injuries, when a truck veered off the road and crashed as its driver tried to avoid the animal.

Pin Doman said he was holding the cow at his police station.

He said the cow's owner had been warned four times in the past to keep his cattle leashed and could face prison time if relatives of those who died initiate legal proceedings.

(Note -- the cow has seen been butchered.)


Man jailed for trying to pass $1M bill


From the Associated Press
6:44 AM PDT, October 9, 2007
PITTSBURGH -- Change for a million? That's what a man was seeking Saturday when he handed a $1 million bill to a cashier at a Pittsburgh supermarket. But when the Giant Eagle employee refused and a manager confiscated the bogus bill, the man flew into a rage, police said.

The man slammed an electronic funds-transfer machine into the counter and reached for a scanner gun, police said.

Police arrested the man, who was not carrying identification and has refused to give his name to authorities. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail.

Since 1969, the $100 bill is the largest note in circulation.

Police believe the $1 million note seized at the supermarket may have originated at a Dallas-based ministry. Last year, the ministry distributed thousands of religious pamphlets with a picture of President Grover Cleveland on a $1 million bill.


Actor Cage confronts naked intruder

Robert Dennis Furo, who was arrested on suspicion of residential burglary. Police said he was found naked inside actor Nicolas Cage's Newport Beach home early Monday.
By Dave McKibben, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 4, 2007

A naked tailor allegedly found inside actor Nicolas Cage's Newport Beach home has pleaded not guilty to felony burglary.

Police said Cage discovered Robert Dennis Furo, 45, of San Pedro in a bathroom doorway at 1:30 a.m. Monday, wearing only a leather jacket belonging to the actor.

Police said Furo removed the jacket and Cage escorted him outside, where he was arrested.

Lt. Craig Fox of the Newport Beach Police Department said Cage did not know Furo, who was not carrying a weapon.

"There was no assault to Mr. Cage," and the suspect "didn't resist him or the officers," Fox said.

(My only question: when a man is naked, how do you know he is a tailor?)