News of the Weird: Fruit fight lands victim in hospital

The Laconia (New Hampshire) Daily Sun reported on Jan. 5 that police were called to the Market Basket supermarket after a "fruity fracas" broke out in the produce section. Social media posts indicated that a watermelon had been used in an assault, and police Sgt. Andrew Salmon said one person went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries "from being struck by a produce item." A worker who answered the phone at the store said, "We have been instructed not to say anything."

King, a rescue dog at the Lost Our Home Pet Rescue in Tempe, Ariz., enjoyed a brief reign among his shelter buddies, Fox10-TV reported on Jan. 11. Sometime around midnight, King managed to break out of his kennel at the shelter and freed several other dogs. He also found a stash of food and enjoyed a little feast. In the meantime, alarms were triggered; Jodi Polanski, the shelter's founder, looked at video from the scene and saw the mess. "The police actually came because he set the alarm off," Polanski said. The unnamed responding officer cleaned up after King's free-for-all and got the dog settled back in bed. "I was just like, wow, amazing man that he did that," Polanski said. The rescue's website indicates that King is no longer looking for a home.

Rodney Holbrook, a 75-year-old retired postman from Wales, had been noticing for a couple of months that small messes in his shed were being mysteriously tidied overnight, the BBC reported. So he set up a camera and caught a mouse picking up pegs, corks, nuts, bolts and bird food. Holbrook aptly named the rodent Tidy Mouse. "Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the mouse will tidy up throughout the night," Holbrook said. "I don't bother to tidy up now, I leave things out of the box and they put it back in its place by morning. I've added different things to the desk to see if they can lift it," he said.

Kathleen Murray of Sandford, Tasmania, credits bandicoots for helping her win the first-ever World's Ugliest Lawn competition, the Guardian reported on Jan. 11. The marsupials, Murray said, have "liberated me from ever having to mow it again. I'm all for guilt-free weekends, especially since my ex-husband left with the lawnmower back in 2016." The contest began in Sweden as Gotland's Ugliest Lawn, which was conceived in 2022 to encourage water-saving. "It brings me a lot of joy to see all the little creatures who now feel safe to come out during the day in my yard," Murray said.

Wayne State University in Michigan has announced its 15th annual list of 10 "long-lost" words that should be resurrected, United Press International reported on Jan. 10. The Word Warriors program has identified "blatherskite" (nonsense), "curglaff" (the shock felt upon diving into cold water), "rawgabbit" (a person who speaks confidently but ignorantly), and "pawky" (having a cynical sense of humor), among others. Let's get together and twankle during our kaffeeklatsch.