A homeowner in Upper Tantallon, Nova Scotia, received an unsettling phone call from a neighbor on Oct. 16, saying there were two strangers in her house. The door had been left unlocked so a neighbor could walk the dog, CTV News reported, and police expected to find that the home had been "cleaned out," said Nova Scotia Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesperson Cpl. Dal Hutchinson. Instead, the two women inside the house had cleaned up — they were employees of a cleaning company and had gone to the wrong address. They left without realizing their mistake. Hutchinson praised the neighbor for being so observant and noted the silver lining: The house was cleaned for free.
In step with the law
With the advent of driverless cars, new questions are being raised about a wide range of potential traffic situations. One example: What happens when police pull over an autonomous vehicle? According to the Washington Post, the company whose cars are now zipping around Phoenix is one car-length ahead of us: Alphabet's Waymo cars (Chrysler Pacifica minivans) will use "sensors to identify police or emergency vehicles by detecting their appearance, their sirens and their emergency lights," the company's "Emergency Response Guide" explains. "The Waymo vehicle is designed to pull over and stop when it finds a safe place to do so." Next, the car will unlock its doors and roll down its windows, allowing the police officer to communicate with a remote support team. The company will even send a human representative to the scene if necessary. So relax and enjoy the ride.
Family values
In Italy, an unnamed 48-year-old woman was ordered to pay $1,000 in late October after failing to peacefully settle a two-year dispute with her mother. The daughter, a vegan, threatened her mother with stabbing after the mother prepared Bolognese meat sauce. The daughter told the court she had long avoided sensory and olfactory contact with animal products before moving back in with her mother, but the Telegraph reports, there had been an escalation of aggression between the two women, and apparently the long-simmering sauce was the last straw. "If you won't stop on your own, then I'll make you stop," the March 2016 complaint quoted the daughter saying as she grabbed a knife. "Quit making ragu, or I'll stab you in the stomach."
Shark bait
David Weaver, 37, of Nelson, British Columbia, glibly avoided becoming dinner for 14 sharks at Toronto's Ripley Aquarium on Oct. 12 after stripping naked and jumping into a 3-million-liter tank and swimming about as other patrons looked on and recorded his stunt. Weaver arrived around 10 p.m. and quickly climbed to an overlook of the "Dangerous Lagoon," where the sharks and other animals are displayed. Onlookers exclaimed as he made several attempts to climb out of the tank, exposing both his front and back sides. "I thought he was a worker until I noticed he was naked," said one witness. The sharks "seemed angry but also frightened of him. They are fed daily, so I guess they had no reason to attack him." The National Post reported police also connected Weaver to an assault a few hours earlier outside the nearby Medieval Times dinner theater. He was later arrested near Thunder Bay, Ontario.
News of the Weird is compiled by the editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication. Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.
