The website for the Republican National Convention features a photo of Milwaukee, where the convention will be held starting on July 15, on each of its pages. At least, it was supposed to. On June 4, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the section called "News and Updates" highlighted a photo of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam — not Milwaukee. The RNC declined to comment.
Vacation fun
Headed to Arizona this summer? Check out Williams, a town near the Grand Canyon, and drop into the Poozeum, the location for George Frandsen's extensive coprolite collection (which, in case you didn't know, is fossilized animal feces). United Press International reported that the Poozeum is home to 8,000 specimens. Admission is free — but don't bypass the gift shop!
Pinpoint aim
As a 32-year-old man and his 66-year-old father argued on May 28 in Commerce City, Colo., the father, who reportedly was drunk, allegedly shot at the son, CNN reported. The father's aim was right on, but a fluke saved the younger man's life: A .22-caliber bullet lodged in the 10-millimeter-wide silver chain link necklace he was wearing. The victim escaped with just a puncture wound; his dad is charged with first-degree attempted murder.
Weird science
Scientists in Japan are at it again, Oddity Central reported on May 31. The Japanese tech company Kirin Holdings has released the new Elecispoon, a metal-and-plastic, battery-powered spoon that will improve human taste buds' perception of salt, thereby allowing users to use less salt in their foods. The tip of the spoon's bowl transfers an electric charge to the food it touches and generates an electric field around the tongue, which causes sodium ions to bond together. The spoon, which sells for $128, has four intensity settings.
Almost dead
Constance Glantz, 74, was receiving hospice care at a Waverly, Neb., nursing home when she seemed to pass away on June 3, the New York Times reported. The nursing home transported her to a funeral home. But as a mortician began to prepare her for burial, they discovered she was still breathing. Glantz was taken to a hospital, where she actually died later the same day. "This is a very unusual case," said Chief Deputy Ben Houchin noted. "At this point, we have not been able to find any criminal intent by the nursing home, but the investigation is ongoing."
Think quick
If you thought quicksand only appeared in old episodes of "Gilligan's Island," think again. Jamie Acord, 47, and her husband, Patrick, were touring Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg, Maine, on June 1 when Jamie started to sink into the ground, the Portland Press Herald reported. "All of a sudden I was hip-deep in a wet slurry of sand," she said. "I couldn't feel the bottom, and I couldn't get a footing." After her husband pulled her out, she said, "I turned around and the hole was gone." State officials say patches of quicksand are startling but not really life-threatening, but just in case, they plan to install warning signs. Scientists say quicksand is denser than the human body, so the upper torso will remain buoyant at the surface.
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