NEWS OF THE WEIRD
Porch bomb
Last year during the holiday season, former NASA engineer Mark Rober of Santa Clarita, Calif., created a glitter bomb exploding package in response to having a package stolen from his front porch. This year, Rober has a new and improved version: When it is touched, the BBC reported Dec. 17, the box explodes in glitter and emits an unpleasant odor along with a soundtrack of police chatter. As a coup de grace, it also takes a video of the thief and uploads it to the cloud. One of the sponsors for Rober’s project is “Home Alone” actor Macaulay Culkin. Rober calls it a labor of love: “I have literally spent the last 10 months designing, building and testing a new and improved design for 2019,” he said.
Holiday shenanigans
Security officers at Vilnius Airport in Lithuania got in the holiday spirit with confiscated items seized during the screening process, reported United Press International on Dec. 12. Apparently having a lot of time on their hands, the officers built a Christmas tree using items such as scissors, knives, lighters and other goods. Lithuanian Airports called the tree an “educational masterpiece” and warned: “If you don’t want your personal, yet prohibited, belongings to land on our next year’s Christmas tree — better check out the baggage requirements before you pack for your next flight.”
No Good Deed
Virginia Saavedra, 37, ran to a home in Sophia, N.C., Dec. 11, telling the resident she had just escaped being kidnapped by a stranger. When the man let her sit in his truck to warm up while he called 911, Saavedra allegedly stole the truck, according to the Randolph County Sheriff ’s Office. Officers responding to the 911 call spotted the truck and engaged in a 26-mile highspeed chase before trapping the truck. The Associated Press reported Saavedra then rammed a patrol car before trying to flee on foot. She was eventually charged with more than a dozen crimes, including felony assault with a deadly weapon on a government official.
Oops
A driver in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, caused an “enormous bang,” according to witnesses, on Dec. 14 when he lighted a cigarette in his closed car after spraying air freshener. Nearby buildings shook from the impact, and the car’s windshield was blown out, along with windows of nearby businesses, the Manchester Evening News reported. The driver sustained only minor injuries. West Yorkshire Police implored people to open their windows when using aerosol cans and open flames.