QUIRKY WORLD ... A daily look at some of the world’s stranger stories

USA: You’ve probably heard of beer-battered fish and beer-can chicken. But how about beer-fed turkey?

Sat, 09 Nov, 2013 - 00:00

Joe Morette of Henniker, New Hampshire, in the US, is raising about 50 Thanksgiving turkeys this year. He’s been feeding his birds beer since 1993, when a turkey knocked over a can left near its fence and started drinking.

He says beer bellies aren’t just a human phenomenon, and insists the beer makes birds fatter, more flavoursome and juicier. He prefers to feed them lagers over light beer, but takes what he can get.

Twitter penalty

USA: A woman has been banned from using Twitter for at least five years as part of her sentence for a stalking conviction.

Authorities say Sadiyyah Young, 34, of Pottstown, Philadelphia, used derogatory and harassing tweets against people involved in a custody case regarding her children, including a judge who ruled against her, lawyers, social workers and foster parents.

She pleaded guilty to charges of stalking, forgery, and identity theft. She also was sentenced to up to 23 months in jail and three years’ probation.

Cathedral prank row

ENGLAND: A senior church figure has issued a strong rebuke after four students had to be rescued from his roof by the emergency services when a drunken prank went wrong.

Two fire crews and a police helicopter were called to Durham Cathedral after the university students clambered on to the Dean’s House last Friday night, with the rescue estimated to have cost several thousand pounds.

The Dean’s House is part of the cathedral, which dates back to the 11th century and has protected status as a world heritage site.

It is believed the students were mimicking “night climbers” from Oxford and Cambridge who scale walls and buildings for a dare, but they got stuck and were unable to get down.

Space oddity

USA: A six-tailed asteroid has been discovered in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Scientists say they’ve never seen anything like it. Incredibly, the comet-like tails change shape as the asteroid sheds dust. The streams have occurred over several months.

A research team led by the University of California, Los Angeles, believes the asteroid, designated P/2013 P5, is rotating so much that its surface is flying apart. It’s believed to be a fragment of a larger asteroid damaged in a collision 200 million years ago.

Six-tailed asteroid spotted by @NASA_Hubble: http://t.co/RsvkkGTAO3 Researchers 'literally dumbfounded' by phenomenon pic.twitter.com/QEMDAO6Tsv
— Yahoo (@Yahoo) November 8, 2013

USA: A New Hampshire man who last year changed his name to “human” has gone to the state’s top court to defend his right to a vanity plate that insults police: COPSLIE.

The man formerly known as David Montenegro argued in the state supreme court that denying him the plate is a violation of his right to free speech.

The man, an unemployed accountant, made his request for the COPSLIE vanity plate in 2010, but was instead given one bearing his alternative choice of GR8GOVT.

New Hampshire associate attorney general Richard Head said the agency was within its authority to deny the vanity plate request.

“The primary purpose of a plate is to identify motor vehicles, not to engage in public debate,” he said in a phone interview.

The court is expected to rule on the case by early next year.

USA: Authorities in California are trying to crack the case of a nut thief who made off with 140,000 pounds of walnuts.

The theft, estimated at nearly $400,000 (€299,331), occurred last Sunday in the small Central Valley town of Escalon.

Investigators say it was one of the biggest to hit the booming industry.