Odd & Interesting

An attempt in Wyoming to break a world record for the most sparklers lit simultaneously failed on a technicality.

A group of students at Yale University has set up a drone delivery service on campus.

Cannabis companies are using a loophole in Colorado’s strict limits on marijuana advertising by sponsoring state highways and putting their names on roadside signs.

An invasive bug was discovered feeding on avocado leaves across the state of Hawaii and was most recently found on Maui plants in retail outlets, entomologists said.

Police in Hawaii are investigating the theft of fruit valued at about $1,000 including durian, which is known for its powerful odor.

A Southern California aquarium has successfully bred the rare weedy sea dragon, the lesser known cousin of the sea horse that resembles seaweed when floating.

A Florida city shut down a section of a lake Thursday after receiving reports of swarming snakes. Turns out, the slithery creatures were just celebrating Valentine’s Day a little early.

German police say they nabbed a drunk driver who tried to flee a traffic stop after finding him hiding behind a hedge “in a cloud of perfume.”

A pack of peacocks that has wreaked havoc on a Miami neighborhood will be relocated after city commissioners voted Thursday night to side with residents and agreed to have the birds taken away.

An orphaned black bear cub has been placed with a substitute mother this week after being saved by a dog and brought to safety.

A Japanese man with a sweet tooth who believes in smiles has become the world’s oldest male at 112 years and 344 days old, according to Guinness World Records.

Uganda scrambled to respond to the arrival of the biggest locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in decades, while the United Nations warned Monday that “we simply cannot afford another major shock” to an already vulnerable region.

David Hockney’s exuberant painting “The Splash” sold at auction Tuesday for almost $30 million.

There are jigsaw puzzle nights at coffee shops and libraries. Puzzle groups and puzzle games online. Hand-cut wooden puzzles that cost thousands of dollars. And puzzle designs that range from edgy, original artwork to your own, custom-ordered family photos.

A German man’s marriage proposal got a bigger audience than he had planned, after it showed up on an aerial picture used by Google Maps.

A 63-year-old Florida man who stopped a sheriff’s deputy to ask how to get to an auto parts store on Saturday night instead got directions to jail when the deputy arrested him on DUI and cocaine possession charges.

The digging of a swimming pool revealed what could have been a dangerous discovery in South Carolina.

Target admits a onesie it carried in some stores misidentified the mascot for the largest university in its home state.

A man who said he swam across the Detroit River from Canada to try to deliver handmade books before Christmas won his release Tuesday after two months in U.S. custody.

A deer stranded on a chunk of ice on a river that caused bystanders a lot of anxiety made it across the water, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said Tuesday.

A federal appeals court has ruled that a legal fight over a lost dog could continue in Mississippi, even after the dog’s owner has died.

A West Virginia man is accused of organizing a network of shoplifters, many of them drug addicts, to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in store merchandise that he then resold on the internet.

Authorities in Tennessee say they busted a well-organized burglar after he allegedly dropped a notebook during a break-in that contained a list of other places he planned to target.

Europe and NASA’s Solar Orbiter rocketed into space Sunday night on an unprecedented mission to capture the first pictures of the sun’s elusive poles.

While much of northern Europe hunkered down Sunday and hoped that Storm Ciara would blow over quickly with its hurricane-force winds, an intrepid band of cyclists made the most of the conditions to take part in the Dutch Headwind Cycling Championships.