The rural municipality of Hanover, Manitoba, has prohibited alcohol sales for more than a century — or at least that's what everyone in the community believed as recently as 2006, when the last attempt was made to repeal the ban (and failed by 30 votes). However, town officials finally decided recently to research the prohibition (examining records back to 1880) and in July revealed, astonishingly, that no city bylaw exists making the town dry. At least one restaurateur is expected to start serving booze soon.

Wait, what?

In August, Katja Kipping, the leader of Germany's largest opposition party (the liberal Die Linke), proposed to grant all welfare families a cash voucher of the equivalent of about $640 in order to allow each a summer vacation. "For me," she said, "the holidays of my childhood are among the most beautiful memories."

In October in Gresham, Ore., a 21-year-old man openly carrying a handgun he had just bought was robbed, at gunpoint, the same day. According to the police report, the robber apparently thought the victim's gun was nicer than his own: "I like your gun. Give it to me."

In September, Dr. Sean Perry of the Marathon (Fla.) Veterinary Hospital saved the life of Buttercup, an orange tabby who needed blood — by giving him a transfusion from a West Palm Beach dog blood bank. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, 62 cats have been known to receive such "xenotransfusions," and cats are apparently the only animals (besides dogs) that can safely process dog blood.

Two men ran out the door of a closed-for-the-night Houston Family Dollar store on Oct. 7 — empty-handed, after a failed theft attempt. According to the surveillance video, one man had removed items from a bottom shelf while the store was still open, and crawled behind the shelf space just before his partner came by and restocked the shelf (thus hiding his buddy). The partner then made a purchase and left. After the last employee had closed up around 11 p.m., the "hidden" man crawled out, but he was only able to take a few steps before a motion-detector sounded an alarm, and both men fled on foot.

Leading economic indicators

Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, revealed at an October conference in Chicago that even though his post-government income will be several times what he earned as Fed chairman, he was nonetheless rejected recently when he tried to refinance his home in Washington, D.C. Despite a probably seven-figure book contract and six-figure public speeches, he is no longer "employed" in a steady job, which apparently caused a computer program to signal him as too risky.

Cries for help

Victor Thompson, 46, arrested in St. Petersburg, Fla., in October for possession of the synthetic marijuana called Master Kush Spice (which he insisted is legal in his native New Hampshire), is apparently an out-of-control New England Patriots fan — having tattooed his entire bald head with a painstaking replica of quarterback Tom Brady's helmet. The attention to detail on the authentic design and colors is remarkable, including subtle add-ons such as the American flag, NFL logo and helmet manufacturer ("Riddell"). Not only is Brady's "12" properly placed, so is the green dot identifying the "helmet" as radio-ready for messages from the sideline.

After days of looking weary and walking lopsidedly, Ducka, a pet Muscovy duck, finally gave owner Vicki Hicks of Sydney, Australia, a clue to its behavior by coughing up a nail. Veterinarian Hamish Baron of the Avian Reptile and Exotic Animal Hospital ordered an X-ray, which revealed a small toolbox's worth of nails, screws and washers in Ducka's belly. The items had to be removed, one by one, in surgeries totaling five hours. Dr. Baron told Sydney's Daily Telegraph in October that although birds are attracted to shiny objects, Ducka's case was severe.

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