Quirky World: Man’s lucky hunch pays off as he wins $10m lottery
A California man’s lucky hunch paid off when he won a $1,000 (€946) lottery prize, bought more tickets and scooped $10m (€9.46m).
Rodney Meadows, of Modesto, was running errands when he decided to pick up some $30 California Lottery 30th anniversary scratchcards at a local store.
Modesto man wins M lottery minutes after winning K https://t.co/7dh3J8eIrs pic.twitter.com/0z8hA19LXI
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) December 2, 2015
He won $1,000 on the first ticket he bought, then, KCRA-TV reported, bought three more. That was when he scratched the ticket that made him a millionaire.
Mr Meadows said he had to ask the assistant to check his ticket at the machine, because he could not believe he had won the huge sum.
A police officer picked up something unusual wandering along a rural road: A miniature donkey.
Officer Kyle Canaan, from Norman, Oklahoma, said it took a little pushing, pulling and some animal feed, but he finally got the creature, nicknamed Squishy, into the back of his patrol car.
The officer responded after a woman found the animal. She had a pen that could be used for the donkey, but no way to get it there.
The woman who found Squishy said if an owner does not come forward, she plans to keep him.
An arthritic penguin is being moved to a special pool with an access ramp so he can continue to go swimming.
Dippy the Humboldt penguin is due to move from the Seaview Wildlife Encounter on the Isle of Wight, which is closing down, to the Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre in Norfolk. The pool, which 20-year-old Dippy and his feathered friends will call home, is one of only a handful adapted for his needs.
Hundreds of people have attended the switch-on of more than 50,000 Christmas lights — at a family home.
Lee and Paul Brailsford have been decorating their mother Rosemary’s house in Brentry, Bristol, since 1994 to raise money for charity. They have raised more than £30,000 (€42,000) for Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
The £10,000 display, featuring 70 figures, took six weekends to erect and will take three days to take down.
Rare personal diaries and letters vividly describing one of the British Army’s worst defeats in the First World War have been published for the first time.
During the six-month Siege by Turkish troops of Kut-al-Amara in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq), British troops experienced starvation, a lack of ammunition and widespread disease, all of which led to eventual surrender in April 1916.
One hundred years on, the personal accounts of Lieutenant Henry Curtis Gallup’s gruelling mission are being published by the National Army Museum.
A friendly pig with pink toenails was rooting her way through a Florida flower bed when something caught her attention: Dog treats.
It turns out the wayward black-and-white animal had an affinity for canine snacks and was lured out by animal control officers.
Clearwater police have posted a photo of the manicured pig on their Facebook page in the hopes that its owner will come forward.
Japanese authorities are investigating after 11 wooden boats carrying decomposing bodies were found drifting off the north-western coast over the past month.
The nationalities of the victims were unknown, though officials also found signs written in Korean, as well as fishing equipment, suggesting the boats came from North Korea .
Dozens of wrecked boats drift towards Japan’s north-western coast every year.
