You could blow a week’s pay on fresh lobster, a bottle of bubbly and a quiet table with a waiter named Jean-Pierre to impress your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day.

Or . . . you could surprise her with your, ah, thrift and willingness to stand out from the crowd by taking her out for the Valentine’s special at your neighborhood White Castle, where, just for this occasion, they’re offering a candlelit dinner, with tableside service and flowers.

They’ve done this before. Some people even dress up and rent a limo, says Jamie Richardson, a White Castle spokesman.

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Howard County Sheriff’s Department deputy Matt Roberson tracked down a wanted fugitive through one of the most popular games on the Internet — World of Warcraft. And he got his man.

The sheriff’s department enlisted the aid of the U.S. Marshals this summer to track down a number of fugitives as part of Operation: Falcon, and Alfred Hightower was among those targeted. Unfortunately, authorities were unable to locate him. Roberson soon found out why. The suspect had skipped the country.

“I received information from a childhood friend, who tells me the guy is in Canada,” said Roberson. “I held onto the information in the back of my head. I spoke to the marshals and asked if we could confirm the guy’s location, would they help us get him? They indicated that they would.”

With the help of sheriff’s major Steve Rogers, Roberson began gathering information on Hightower through a number of sources. That is how they discovered that their suspect was a World of Warcraft fan.

“We received information that this guy was a regular player of an online game, which was referred to as ‘some warlock and witches’ game,” said Roberson. “None of that information was sound enough to pursue on its own, but putting everything we had together gave me enough evidence to send a subpoena to Blizzard Entertainment. I knew exactly what he was playing — World of Warcraft. I used to play it. It’s one of the largest online games in the world.”

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An urban myth has been proven as real in Florida, USA, where it’s raining iguanas…

Temperatures in normally balmy Florida state are so low that freezing iguanas are falling from the trees.

The warm, humid climes are perfect for cold-blooded reptiles but a prolonged cold snap means they’re plummeting to earth.

When temperatures fall below around 5C, iguanas go into a comatose state with very little blood flowing around their bodies. As their grip loosens, the creatures fall..

While they look dead, they usually revive when temperatures rise – although they can die if it remains cold for three days or more.

Iguanas are considered pests by many Florida residents as they are not native to the area. They were introduced from South America when careless pet owners released them.

Some think this is the perfect time to severely reduce their numbers. One Florida man said: “I knew of a gentleman who was collecting them all in the street and throwing them in the back of his station wagon. “All of a sudden as he’s driving along these things are waking up, crawling on his back and almost caused a wreck.”

Source: asylum.co.uk

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Diners at the Biscuit’s “N” Gravy and More restaurant in Port Orange received a surprise Wednesday when a car plowed into the side of the building.

A 92-year-old man was at the wheel when his vehicle crashed into the busy restaurant on Nova Road.

The driver wasn’t hurt, but the cook said a customer had just left the damaged seating area.

Investigators think Charles Pierce stepped on the gas instead of hitting the brake while trying to park, but instead of panicking and amid all that debris, he calmly got out of the sedan and placed his order.

The driver asked if anyone was hurt. There was very minor injury, but once Pierce was sure all was well, he dug in to his breakfast.

He was cited for reckless driving.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn.
According to Metropolitan Nashville Police, a man wearing a Santa Claus suit — including hat, beard and mustache — and dark sunglasses robbed a SunTrust Bank on Tuesday morning, demanding money from the teller at gunpoint. He also mentioned to everyone in the bank that he needed to pay his elves.

After the teller complied, the man fled in a gray midsize car.
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After ten years like these, the remaining 990 in this millennium have gotta be at least a little less goofy, right?

Full story here.

LONDON – A first edition of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”, which had been kept in a bathroom bookcase for years, fetched 103,250 pounds ($171,000) at auction on Tuesday, around twice its pre-sale estimate.

Christie’s auctioneer offered the book at a sale held on the 150th anniversary of the evolutionary work’s original publication.

The copy was bought by the family of the current owners for “a few shillings” over 50 years ago, the auctioneer said.

The vendor’s son-in-law recently visited an exhibition on Darwin where he saw another first edition on display. He realised it was the same work as that in his father-in-law’s guest bathroom, and it was duly offered for sale.

Source: Reuters

LAKE WORTH, FL — This homeowner is a force to be reckoned with. He’s 91, he was buck naked, but he and his dog decided to go after a would be burglar.

He held the man at gunpoint until police arrived. Deputies say they found the would-be burglar on the back porch by the pool drunk and trembling — probably not how he thought it would all go down.

He got more than he bargained for when he decided to mess with this elderly man and his trusty rottweiler mix. Robert Thompson, 91, and his 5-year-old dog, Rett, tag-teamed a thug trying to break into their Lake Worth home Friday night.

“I think the guy was scared to death,” Thompson said. “He was screaming.”

Thompson jumped out of bed, totally naked, and went to go check things out with Rett by his side.

“I went in and got my cell phone and dialed 911 and got my gun,” he said.

Thompson said Pascual was coming toward him so he fired a shot. Authorities said he held the drunk intruder at gunpoint until deputies arrived, but he’s giving his best bud Rett all the credit for the happy ending. “He’s the hero.”

“If anyone violates my home they better be careful, that’s all I got to say,” said Thompson.

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An elderly man who went out to fetch a morning newspaper ended up driving nearly 400 miles after getting lost and taking a wrong turn onto a major Australian highway, police said on Wednesday. The man, 81-year-old Eric Steward, eventually stopped and asked for directions after driving for nine hours, from the New South Wales country town of Yass to Geelong in the southern Victoria state.

Steward, who did not know where he was, eventually approached a policeman at a petrol station and asked for help late Wednesday.

“This little old man came up to me saying he was lost. He handed me his mobile and asked if I could speak to his wife,” said Victorian Police Senior Constable Clayton Smith.

Steward, who was reunited with his family on Wednesday, said he took the wrong turn and just kept on going.

“I just went out on the road to have a drive, a nice peaceful drive,” he told reporters, adding he did not need a satellite navigation device as he’d only been lost once.

Source: Reuters

A thief gets himself stuck in a tiny window while trying to break into a supermarket in Almancil, southern Portugal.

He even dropped his trousers in an effort to wriggle free.

According to police, the slim 22-year-old Romanian man had spent about 11 hours stuck in the window, including the two hours it took police and the fire brigade to get him out

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