Interesting & funny news from around the world, Интересные и забавные новости со всего мира

Forgetful man wins two $500,000 prizes in one Powerball drawing

A forgetful Maryland man bought two identical tickets for the same Powerball Double Play drawing and scored two $500,000 prizes, for a total of $1 million.

The Prince George's County man told Maryland Lottery officials he was at the A-1 Laundromat on Riverdale Road in Riverdale on Aug. 18 when he couldn't recall whether he already had a ticket for the Aug. 20 Powerball drawing.

He ended up buying a ticket with the Double Play option and scored a $500,000 prize from the Double Play drawing, which occurred while he was out of town.

The man later returned home and discovered he had indeed already purchased an identical ticket for the same drawing from the Landover Hills Exxon on Annapolis Road in Landover.

The man said he quickly told his wife they had won double prizes.

"To look her in the eye and say I had a $500,000 win was good. It was really good to say I had a million," he recalled. "It's truly an unbelievable moment!"

The winner said his prize money will allow him to help his children and grandchildren. He also said he is hoping more lottery luck is in his future.

"That was Powerball. Maybe Mega Millions is waiting," he said.

Precocious parrot earns Guinness World Record for identifying colors

A precocious pet parrot from China earned a Guinness World Record for the fastest time to identify 10 colors.

Xiaogui, a pet belonging to Qin Feng, picked up colored straw balls and placed them into bins of corresponding colors in 33.5 seconds, earning the title for the fastest time to identify 10 colors by a parrot.

The parrot made one mistake during his attempt — placing a dark pink ball into a light pink container — but corrected the error in time to capture the record.

Feng, who adopted the parrot when it was just a baby in 2020, said Xiaogui showed an early love of playing with different colored balls, so he decided to train his pet to sort the colors.

Trio of men use slingshot to make cornhole shot from 151 feet

A team of three men used a slingshot to launch a beanbag 151 feet at an Idaho football field to break the Guinness World Record for the longest cornhole shot with a slingshot.

Joel Strasser, Luke Lorick and Garrett Smith said it took them multiple attempts at the Meridian Waters football field at Meridian High School before their beanbag landed neatly in the hole of the cornhole target.

Strasser has multiple Guinness World Records titles to his name, mostly involving putting objects into his beard. He and Smith previously teamed up with fellow serial record-breaker David Rush to break the record for the most chopsticks put in a beard in one minute by a team of two, managing 104.

Strasser's other records include the most chopsticks in a beard, 520; the most pipe cleaners in a beard, 1,150; and the most toothpicks in a beard, 3,500.

The cornhole shot marked Lorick's first-ever Guinness World Records title.

Barefoot woman breaks record for running across Lego bricks

A New Zealand woman showed the strength of her soles when ran barefoot over 100 meters of loose Lego bricks in 24.75 seconds.

Gabrielle Wall broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest 100 meters barefoot on Lego bricks when she attempted the 328-foot sprint in Christchurch.

The track was covered in 661 pounds of Lego bricks donated by Imagination Station, a New Zealand nonprofit that uses Lego pieces for robotics and mechanics education.

Wall said she spent two entire months barefoot to build calluses in preparation for her attempt, even attending a wedding without any shoes.

"I am proud to have pushed myself to new limits," Wall told Guinness World Records.

The record-keeping organization said the mother-of-two has "probably stepped on the plastic bricks more times than she can count."

"In our video, Gabrielle is wearing sunglasses, presumably to hide her tears from the pain of standing on all that Lego," Guinness World Records said.

Wall said she is considering attempting more Lego-based Guinness World Records, but for building rather than running.

Ontario restaurant cooks up 81-foot ground beef kebab wrap

An Ontario eatery attempted a Guinness World Record by preparing a massive ground beef kebab wrap that ended up measuring 81 feet long.

Smokies BBQ on Ottawa Street in Windsor took on the record for the longest ground beef kebab wrap on Wednesday, ending with an 81-foot wrap.

If the attempt is approved by Guinness World Records, the eatery will become the first to hold the record.

"We're the first to attempt this," Smokies owner Tigran Kadevchyan told the Windsor Star. "So I feel like we set the bar pretty high. Eighty feet is not bad, you know what I mean? And there is still room to grow and we'll come back stronger again."

Kadevchyan said he had hoped the wrap would reach 100 feet long, but it the record attempt was performed with minimal preparation and didn't account for shrinkage from cooking.

He said the eatery is already planning to beat their own record next year, with an aim toward making a 200-foot wrap.

The massive kebab wrap was sliced into 1-foot portions and served to the public after measuring.

Michigan zoo announces birth of pygmy hippo calf

The John Ball Zoo in Michigan announced the birth of a pygmy hippo calf, the first of its species to be born at the facility in its history.

The Grand Rapids zoo said on social media that the 11-pound calf was born Wednesday to first-time parents Penelope and Jahari.

The post said the birth was "a historic moment as this is the first pygmy hippo calf born at the zoo."

"Pygmy hippos are an endangered species with fewer than 2,500 estimated in the wild, so each birth is a vital step for conservation," officials wrote. "Our animal care team is keeping a close eye on mom and baby as they bond behind the scenes, and both are doing well."

Moo Deng, a pygmy hippo born last year at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand, took the Internet by storm, becoming one of the top TikTok trends of 2024. The viral celebrity celebrated her first birthday in July.

Black bear spotted loitering in apartment stairwell

Residents of a Florida apartment complex reported an unwelcome new neighbor lingering in stairwells — a black bear.

People living at Westbrook Apartments in Orlando reported seeing a black bear wandering the premises this week, and the bruin was caught on camera loitering in a stairwell area.

"When I saw it, the bear was coming out, and the bear was walking normally. Just walking," resident Irma Rodriguez told WOFL-TV. "I was surprised, but because I like bears I said, 'Oh, how beautiful.' And then I ran upstairs with my dog."

Bear sightings have also been reported at the nearby Marbella Woods condos.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it is monitoring the situation. Officials said it is not unusual for young bears to wander in search of new territory after leaving their mothers.

"Staff with our Bear Management Program are aware of reports of a bear at this apartment complex and have set traps to try and relocate the bear," the FWC said in a statement provided to WFTV. "Staff are also canvassing the area to provide guidance to residents on best practices to help prevent conflicts with bears and to identify potential attractants that should be secured to prevent bears and other wildlife from lingering in the area."

Spanish man breaks record for fastest backward 100 meters in heels

A serial Guinness World Record-breaker from Spain defeated one of his own titles by running 328 feet backward in 16.55 seconds — while wearing high heels.

Christian Roberto López Rodríguez broke the record for the fastest 100 meters backwards in high heels, which he previously set at 20.05 seconds during an appearance on Spanish TV series La Noche De Los Récords.

The record-keeping organization's rules for the record required Rodríguez's shoes to have heels of at leash 2.76 inches and be no wider than .59 inches at the tip.

Rodríguez currently holds more than 80 Guinness World Records titles, including the fastest 400 meters in clogs, 1 minute and 1.38 seconds; the fastest 100 meters wearing flip flops, 12.10 seconds; the fastest mile traveled while balancing a pool cue on a finger, 5 minutes and 52.30 seconds, the fastest 100 meters on a space hopper, 29.91 seconds; the fastest 100 meters carrying an egg on a spoon in the mouth, 17.21 seconds; and the fastest 50 meters backwards wearing swim fins, 8.82 seconds.

Man spits table tennis ball at a wall 51 times in 30 seconds

A serial Guinness World Record-breaker took some time during an ocean cruise to spit a table tennis ball at a wall and break one of his own records.

David Rush, who holds the most concurrent Guinness World Records titles at more than 181, said he was "somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean" aboard the Disney Wonder cruise ship when he broke the record for the most table tennis balls bounced against a wall with the mouth in 30 seconds for the third time.

Rush originally set the record at 43 bounces, and bested his own title in 2024 with 47 bounces at Guinness World Records headquarters in London.

He managed to break the record for a third time with 51 bounces on day 5 of his cruise.

"To the casual eye, it might look goofy. But trust me: this record is deceptively difficult," he wrote online. "The spit has to be perfectly aimed. Too much pressure, and the ball rockets back higher than expected. Too little, and it drops low and slows you down. Every bounce is a split-second calculation: pressure, angle, timing."

Microchip shows stray cat was 900 miles from home

A Florida family's missing cat turned up weeks later at a North Carolina shelter more than 900 miles from home.

The Currituck Animal Shelter in North Carolina said on social media that an officer responding to a report of an injured cat in Corolla was able to capture the feline and bring it back to the shelter on Aug. 27.

The cat, which was skinny and had an abscess on one foot, was scanned for a microchip, which identified her as Xena, a feline from Boynton Beach, Fla., which is more than 900 miles from Corolla.

Rachael Stone, director of animal services and control for the Currituck Animal Shelter, said Xena's owners told officials the cat had been missing since she wriggled out of a harness during their visit to Corolla during the Fourth of July weekend.

Ice skater breaks Guinness World Record for jumping rope

A champion ice skater from Hungary took her jump rope out on the ice and broke a Guinness World Record with her skates on.

Eszter Szombathelyi, who earned titles as both the Junior and Senior National Champion in Hungary, went out on the ice in Sun Valley, Idaho, and performed 136 rope skips in a single minute.

The feat earned her the record for the most rope skips on ice skates in one minute, handily defeating the goal of 45 set by Guinness World Records.

"I want to inspire other ice skaters and performers to dream big, and show them that everything is possible if we are brave enough to do it," she told Guinness World Records. "I would like to expand the world of figure skating shows with a new, spectacular acrobatic element."

Non-native gecko travels from Portugal to Guernsey in suitcase

A small gecko from the Mediterranean region found its way onto the Channel Island of Guernsey after stowing away in a traveler's suitcase, a local animal rescue said.

The Guernsey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals believes the reptile is a tarentola mauritanica, or common wall gecko, from the western Mediterranean.

The BBC reported that a traveler found the gecko in their suitcase while unpacking after arriving from a Portuguese island.

The GSPCA said it took in the lizard and has it in quarantine since it's not native to Guernsey. Also, because it would be difficult to return the gecko back to its native lands, the society has decided to find a home for it closer to home.

"We really do not know what we are going to have to help or arrive in Guernsey, GSPCA manager Steve Byrne said.

The society has named the gecko Rosey.

Zoo announces hatching of eight iguanas with no father

A British zoo announced the hatching of eight iguana babies with an unusual parentage — they have no father.

The Exotic Zoo in Telford, England, said the female casque-headed iguana laid a clutch of fertilized eggs, despite having never shared an enclosure with a male of her species.

The eggs hatched in late August and the zoo is now caring for eight babies, which are all genetic clones of their mother.

"These little lizards have no dad at all — they're being born through parthenogenesis," the zoo said on social media. "This means the babies are genetic clones of their mum — an amazing rare natural phenomenon that occurs in some reptiles, invertebrates and other animals."

Scott Adams, the zoo's director, hailed the hatchings as "one of the rarest events in the animal kingdom" in a statement provided to CBS News.

"When we confirmed the eggs were fertile without any contact with a male, our jaws hit the floor. These babies are essentially mini-mum clones, and seeing them thrive is incredible."

The hatchlings are currently being cared for in the zoo's reptile nursery and are expected to make their public debut in the coming weeks.

"For us, it's a powerful reminder that life finds a way in the most unexpected circumstances," Adams told the BBC.

Columbus Zoo announces birth of baby bonobo

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio announced the birth of a baby bonobo, an event hailed as a milestone for the conservation of the endangered species.

The zoo said on social media that the male bonobo was born Aug. 11 to first-time mother Kibibi and is now the 18th member of the facility's troop.

Kabibi's mother, Kimia, was born at the zoo in 1997, and the new mom's grandparents, Susie and Jimmy, are still living at the zoo.

"Both Kibibi and her baby are healthy and doing well," the zoo said. "While it took Kibibi a little time to adjust to motherhood, she's showing wonderful care and attentiveness to her son. In bonobo society, male offspring often remain with their mothers for life, forming strong lifelong bonds."

Officials wrote that a paternity test will eventually be performed to determine the identity of the new baby's father.

"Every bonobo birth is a vital step toward protecting and preserving this incredible endangered species," the post said. "These births not only support global conservation efforts but also help maintain a strong assurance population for bonobos in their native ranges."

Peru wins viral "World Cup of Breakfasts" with pan con chicharrón

Peru claimed victory in the "World Cup of Breakfasts," a viral online contest organized by Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, with its signature pan con chicharrón narrowly defeating Venezuela's reina pepiada arepa.

The final vote, cast by fans across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts, gave Peru roughly 12.8 million likes to Venezuela's 12.6 million, according to Infobae. Sixteen countries competed in the tournament, including the United States, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador and Japan.

The winning dish, a classic Peruvian Sunday street breakfast, consists of fried pork, sweet potato, onion salsa and French bread. Llanos, one of the world's most influential streamers, promised to travel to Lima to hand-deliver a "golden frying pan" trophy.

The result triggered a wave of celebration across Peru. President Dina Boluarte congratulated the nation, while the Ministry of Transport and Communications declared on social media that Peru had "the best breakfast in the world." Other government agencies and politicians also joined in.

Hilda Baci cooks up nearly 20,000-pound serving of jollof rice

Nigerian celebrity chef Hilda Baci earned a Guinness World Record by cooking up a serving of Nigerian-style jollof rice weighing in at nearly 20,000 pounds.

Baci, who rocketed to international fame when she broke the record for the longest cooking marathon at 93 hours and 11 minutes in May 2023, teamed up with food manufacturer Gino Nigeria to whip up 19,356 pounds and 9 ounces of jollof rice in Lagos.

Baci said it took about nine hours to prepare the dish, which included about 8,818 pounds of washed basmati rice, 362 pounds of fresh goat meat, 485 pounds of Gino Asun and peppered chicken cubes and 1,322 pounds of her own jollof mix.

"I didn't realize it would be this hard and it has been a challenge. It's a lot of hard work but really satisfying to achieve the record," Baci told Guinness World Records. "This achievement also belongs to the people of Nigeria as they all contributed to the achievement."

The jollof rice was dished out onto 16,600 plates and served to the thousands of spectators in attendance.

Stunt performer pulls a car while on fire to break world record

An Austrian daredevil lit his body on fire and pulled a car a distance of 328 feet in 56.42 seconds to earn a Guinness World Records title.

Josef Tödtling became the first person to hold the record for fastest 100 meter car pull in full body burn when he completed the stunt in Vienna on June 24.

A video of the record attempt shows Tödtling pulling the car while a member of his support team keeps pace with a fire extinguisher, ready to put out the flames if anything went wrong.

His support team used three fire extinguishers to keep his body from burning at the end of the attempt.

Tödtling already held multiple records that involved setting himself on fire, including the longest duration full body burn without oxygen, 5 minutes and 41 seconds; farthest distance pulled by a vehicle (full body burn), 1,909 feet and 5 inches; fastest 200 meter cycle during a full body burn, 49.55 seconds; and farthest distance full body burn on a zip wire, 201.60 feet.

Study: Chimps consume the equivalent of two alcoholic drinks per day

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found chimpanzees eating fermented fruit in their native habitats consume the equivalent of nearly two alcoholic drinks per day.

The research team, who published their findings Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, analyzed 21 species of fruit regularly eaten by chimps in Uganda and the Ivory Coast to measure the alcohol content.

"Across all sites, male and female chimpanzees are consuming about 14 grams [about half an ounce] of pure ethanol per day in their diet, which is the equivalent to one standard American drink," Aleksey Maro, a graduate student at the university's Department of Integrative Biology, said in a news release. "When you adjust for body mass, because chimps weigh about 40 kilos [88 pounds] versus a typical human at 70 kilos [154 pounds], it goes up to nearly two drinks."

The team drew on research by primatologists who found chimps each each about 10 pounds of fruit every day, making up about 75% of their diet. The Berkely researchers approximated the proportions of each fruit in an average chimp's diet to reach their conclusions.

"The chimps are eating 5 to 10% of their body weight a day in ripe fruit, so even low concentrations yield a high daily total — a substantial dosage of alcohol," Robert Dudley, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, said in the release.

Researchers said it is not yet clear whether chimpanzees are actively seeking out fruit with higher ethanol levels, but if that is the case, it is likely their alcohol consumption is even higher than expected.

Dudley authored a book called The Drunken Monkey: Why We Drink and Abuse Alcohol in 2014. His so-called "drunken monkey hypothesis" posits that common ancestors to humans and apes likely ate similar, alcohol-rich diets.

"Chimpanzees consume a similar amount of alcohol to what we might if we ate fermented food daily," Maro said. "Human attraction to alcohol probably arose from this dietary heritage of our common ancestor with chimpanzees."

A team from Britain's University of Exeter revealed in April that cameras set up at Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau captured chimps sharing fermented African breadfruit that was later confirmed to contain ethanol.

The researchers said the footage was notable because it could indicate the chimps were sharing alcohol as a social activity, similar to human behavior.

Ig Nobel Prizes awarded for painted zebra cows, pizza-eating lizards

The Annals of Improbable Science announced this year's slate of Ig Nobel Prize winners, including researchers who painted cows like zebras and a team who analyzed the pizza preferences of lizards.

The 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony was held Thursday evening in Boston and featured Nobel laureates handing out awards for scientific research that makes "people laugh, then think."

"The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people's interest in science, medicine and technology," the official website states.

This year's Literature Prize was awarded posthumously to William Bean, "for persistently recording and analyzing the rate of growth of one of his fingernails over a period of 35 years."

The Psychology Prize went to Marcin Zajenkowski and Gilles Gignac, who analyzed how receiving high IQ scores relates to "temporary state narcissism."

This year's Nutrition Prize was awarded to Daniele Dendi, Gabriel H. Segniagbeto, Roger Meek and Luca Luiselli, who determined rainbow lizards at a seaside resort in Togo prefer four-cheese to other varieties of pizza.

Julie Mennella and Gary Beauchamp received the Pediatrics Prize for looking into what a nursing infant experiences when their mother eats garlic.

Japanese researchers Tomoki Kojima, Kazato Oishi, Yasushi Matsubara, Yuki Uchiyama, Yoshihiko Fukushima, Naoto Aoki, Say Sato, Tatsuaki Masuda, Junichi Ueda, Hiroyuki Hirooka and Katsutoshi Kino were awarded the Biology Prize for experiments that determined cows painted with zebra-like stripes were 50% less likely to be bitten by flies.

The Chemistry Prize was presented to Rotem Naftalovich, Daniel Naftalovich and Frank Greenway for experiments that analyzed whether eating Teflon, a plastic scientifically known as polytetrafluoroethylene, would be an effective way to increase food volume without extra calories.

The Ig Nobel Peace Prize was presented to Fritz Renner, Inge Kersbergen, Matt Field and Jessica Werthmann, whose study found that "drinking alcohol sometimes improves a person's ability to speak in a foreign language."

Indian researchers Vikash Kumar and Sarthak Mittal received the Engineering Design Prize "for analyzing, from an engineering design perspective, how foul-smelling shoes affect the good experience of using a shoe-rack."

The Aviation Prize went to Francisco Sánchez, Mariana Melcón, Carmi Korine and Berry Pinshow for a study into how alcohol ingestion affects the ability of bats to fly and echolocate.

The Ig Nobel Prize for Physics was given to Giacomo Bartolucci, Daniel Maria Busiello, Matteo Ciarchi, Alberto Corticelli, Ivan Di Terlizzi, Fabrizio Olmeda, Davide Revignas and Vincenzo Maria Schimmenti for analyzing the properties of pasta sauce, "especially the phase transition that can lead to clumping, which can be a cause of unpleasantness."

"Digestion" was the theme of this year's ceremony, which featured guest speakers including Trisha Pasricha, who studied the link between using a smartphone on the toilet and developing hemorrhoids. It also featured the performance of a mini-opera titled The Plight of the Gastroenterologist.

Virginia orchard's massive peach breaks world record

A Virginia orchard officially captured the Guinness World Records title for the heaviest peach by growing a fruit that weighed in at 1.83 pounds.

The Chiles Peach Orchard in Crozet said peach pickers harvested the massive fruit earlier in September and suspected it could beat the world record, which stood at 1.8 pounds.

"We weren't intentionally trying to grow the biggest peach out there, just so happened that the weather that we had this year turned out good, got growing a ginormous peach," grower Henry Chiles told WVIR-TV.

The peach — a variety known as PF-27A — was submitted to Guinness World Records, which has now confirmed it as the world's heaviest peach.

"It's now official: we hold the record for growing the world's heaviest peach," the orchard said on social media. "Congratulations to Henry Chiles for growing such a massive fruit, and our thanks to Guinness World Records for their verification."

Man fishes 4-foot alligator out of the Washington Channel in D.C.

A Washington, D.C., man used a net on a pole to make an unusual catch in the Washington Channel — a 4-foot alligator.

The dockmaster at The Wharf Marina in southwest Washington issued an alert Thursday morning that what appeared to be a juvenile alligator had been spotted in the water.

The alert sparked the curiosity of Phoenix Norwood, 23, who was determined to find the non-native reptile.

Norwood located the alligator after about an hour of searching.

"I saw him right there suntanning, and they tried to get it, and he splooshed right back into the water," Norwood told NBC4 Washington.

He retrieved a net and pole from his family's houseboat and took it upon himself to ensnare the gator.

"If I had just let it be on its own, it would have probably swam away again, and authorities were about like 10, 15 minutes away at the time," Norwood told WTOP-TV. "I had to get it at that point in time. I probably should have had shoes on, though."

Norwood kept the alligator contained in the net until animal control personnel arrived.

Officials said the gator was likely a pet that was abandoned by its owner after becoming too large to care for. The animals are not legal to keep as pets in the District, and similar prohibitions are in place in the neighboring states Virginia and Maryland.

"Catching an alligator, that's a rite of passage in Florida, but in the District? Not so much," Norwood said. "You got your lawyers, your politicians, but alligator wranglers? Not exactly."

Animal control said it will work with a rescue group to find an appropriate new home for the alligator.

Monday marks final day to see 'Chicagohenge' phenomenon

The arrival of fall coincides with an unusual twice-yearly milestone in Chicago, the so-called "Chicagohenge" phenomenon where the sunset and sunrise line up with the city's grid.

The Adler Planetarium said Chicagohenge arrives twice a year, at the start of spring and the beginning of autumn.

The planetarium said the fall Chicagohenge began Friday, and Monday offers the final glimpses of the phenomenon until next spring.

East-facing onlookers saw the sun framed by Chicago's buildings in the morning, and a similar sight could be seen from the west at sundown — but some viewers this year reported cloudy weather spoiling the views.

Monday night's sunset — about 6:47 p.m. local time — will close out this year's Chicagohenge.

"Finding a place to spot Chicagohenge is a no-brainer! Simply find one of Chicago's east-west facing streets, pick a spot 5-10 minutes before sunrise or sunset, and enjoy the view," the planetarium said.

Big bruins go head to head for Katmai National Park's Fat Bear Week

Katmai National Park in Alaska released the bracket for this year's Fat Bear Week, an annual competition to find the public's favorite big-bellied bruin.

The park released the bracket Monday evening and voting on the first match-ups begins on Tuesday.

"The astonishing salmon runs in Katmai are essential to the survival of the park's ecosystem and brown bears," Katmai Park Superintendent Mark Sturm said in a news release. "Fat Bear Week enables people from around the world to actively engage in learning about bears while cheering for their favorite competitor."

This year's bracket includes 128 Grazer, a female bear who claimed her first Fat Bear Week title in 2023 and became the first pregnant bear to win the competition in 2024.

Other bears in the bracket include fan-favorite 32 Chunk, who recovered from a broken jaw during the summer; Bear 609, who was the 2022 Fat Bear Junior champion; and 128 Junior, Grazer's cub, who was crowned this year's Fat Bear Junior champion.

Japanese man breaks speed record for running on all fours

A Japanese man channeled his inner quadruped and broke a Guinness World Record by running 328 feet in 14.55 seconds — on all fours.

Ryusei Yonee, 22, broke the record for fastest 100 meters running on all fours, beating American Collin McClure's 2022 time of 15.66 seconds.

Yonee said he has been running on all fours since middle school.

"The teacher said that animals on all-fours can run faster. That made me think: I could be the fastest human on all fours," he told Guinness World Records.

Yonee said he prepared for the record by observing how four-legged animals like dogs, cats and monkeys run.

He said it took some time to adapt his technique to running on a track.

"I was mostly training in the sand," he told Guinness World Records. "The track has a lot more rebound, which changed my running form."

The athlete said more world records are likely in his future.

"I will train harder than ever before. I want to do whatever I can to grow the all-four sports, wherever that may be," he said.

'Very mean squirrel' terrorizing California neighborhood

Residents of a California neighborhood are warning other locals to beware of "a very mean squirrel" that has sent at least two people to the emergency room.

Joan Heblack, a resident of the Lucas Valley neighborhood in San Rafael, said she was taking her morning walk recently when the squirrel attacked her leg.

"It clamped onto my leg. The tail was flying up here. I was like, 'Get it off me, get off me!' I didn't want to touch it," Heblack told KGO-TV.

Another resident, Isabel Campoy, said she and her daughter were attacked by the rambunctious rodent while walking. Campoy ended up going to the ER with a wound to her arm.

Marie Ayoob said her husband, Joe, also had a confrontation with the squirrel when he tried to get the animal to stop biting his wooden fence.

"It took a big chunk of the wood and we thought, 'Oh my gosh, she's hungry or something.' Joe, my husband, took off his cap and hit it so it can go away, and [the squirrel] turned around and jumped on his head," she told KRON-TV.

Flyers were put up in the neighborhood warning residents to keep an eye out for the "attack squirrel."

"This is not a joke," the flyers read. "More than five people have been attacked by a very mean squirrel over the past few days on Diablo Circle and Mount Lassen."

A representative of the local WildCare wildlife hospital said squirrels do not carry rabies. The animals do sometimes turn aggressive when fed by humans, however.

"WildCare has received numerous calls about a squirrel attacking residents in the Lucas Valley neighborhood of San Rafael," the representative said. "Unfortunately, the squirrel is most likely approaching people and biting them because he was raised by people, or has been hand-fed by a humans, but is now on his own, uncertain about how to forage, and desperate for food. Squirrels are naturally shy animals."

Police hunt for pig on the loose in Virginia city

Police in Virginia are asking members of the public to keep an eye out for a fugitive pig that "remains at large" in Charlottesville despite multiple sightings.

The Albemarle County Police Department said reports starting coming in Thursday afternoon about a black pig wandering loose in the area of Owensville and Old Ballard Roads.

"The ACPD Animal Protection Unit is working to locate and confine the animal, but it remains at large,' the department said on social media.

The post urged residents to use caution while driving in the area, as the pig has been seen wandering into roadways.

Police are asking anyone who spots the pig, or has information on the animal's owner, to contact the department.

Oklahoma family find 2.79-carat gem at Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas

An Oklahoma family celebrating a birthday at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park discovered a brown diamond weighing in at 2.79 carats.

Raynae Madison said she and her family traveled to the park from Cookson, Okla., for her nephew's birthday and brought along a beach digging kit and sand sifting tools they bought from a dollar store.

The family went sifting near Prospector Trailhead, on the north side of the park, and after going through a few buckets worth of sand, spotted a shiny, oblong object.

"At first I thought it looked really neat, but I wasn't sure what it was," Madison said in an Arkansas State Parks news release. "I honestly thought it was too big to be a diamond."

They took the stone to the park's Diamond Discovery Center, where experts confirmed it was a 2.79-carat brown diamond.

"Brown diamonds from the Crater occur due to a process called plastic deformation, which creates structural defects during a diamond's formation or movement in magma," Emma O'Neal, an interpreter at the park, said in the news release. "These defects reflect red and green light, combining to make the diamond appear brown."

Madison dubbed her gem the William Diamond, in honor of her birthday-celebrating nephew.

The park said the William Diamond is the third-largest gem found at the park so far this year.

Ball python captured in New York park, two more still loose

Animal rescuers in New York said they captured a 4-foot ball python in a Queens park — but two more of the snakes are still on the loose in the area.

Rescue group Puppy Kitty NYC said a group member walking home in Queens witnessed people wrangling three snakes out of the roadway next to Forest Park.

Bystanders helped the rescuer capture one of the snakes, a 4-foot ball python, but the other two managed to escape into the park.

The snake, dubbed Kevin in honor of one of the locals who helped rescue it, was taken to Animal Care Centers of NYC to be placed into an incubator to warm up from the cold weather. Kevin has now been placed with a rescue.

Puppy Kitty NYC said rescuers are now trying to find the other two snakes before the cold weather threatens their lives.

The rescue said police have been made aware of the pythons' presence in the park.

Ball pythons are considered exotic animals in New York and are not allowed as pets in the city.

Vietnamese man earns record with more than 19 feet of fingernails

Vietnamese man who hasn't cut his fingernails in three decades earned a Guinness World Record when they were measured at a total 19 feet and 6 inches long.

Lưu Công Huyền earned the record for longest fingernails on a pair of hands (male) when his nails were measured at longer than the height of an average adult giraffe.

"These fingernails originally started because my father was a shaman," Huyền told Guinness World Records. "I wanted to become a teacher, so I grew them to look more majestic."

Huyền said he gave up his dreams of teaching at the urging of his father, but kept growing his nails.

"So, I just kept growing them from then on and they just kept getting longer. In short, if I were to trim them off I'd feel really uncomfortable and exhausted, both mentally and physically," he said.

He said maintaining his long nails is a lot of work.

"If it rains, I have to keep them dry. If they get wet, they will soften and fall right off," he said. "In a crowded place, if someone bumps into them, they'll be broken for sure, so I have to protect them. Furthermore, when working I have to be extremely careful. Climbing up and down the scaffolding, every move has to be deliberate. And I mean really careful."

Wallaby spotted wandering loose in Berlin

Police in Berlin confirmed a wallaby was spotted on the loose in the southwest area of the German capital.

Investigators said the wallaby, an Australian marsupial resembling a small kangaroo, escaped from a private enclosure Sunday in the city's Kladow district.

A witness captured video of the animal wandering loose in the city.

Police said they chased the wallaby for two hours on Sunday before the animal managed to escape into a wooded area.

A police representative confirmed the wallaby remained unaccounted for Monday.

Piglet that jumped from truck on the highway to get a new home

Animal rescuers in Iowa said a piglet that made a daring leap from the back of a truck on the highway will have a new forever home at a sanctuary.

Cedar Rapids Animal Care and Control said on social media that the young pig, dubbed Peppa in honor of the cartoon pig, "decided she was destined for hogging the spotlight and made a daring leap off a truck on Highway 100."

CRACC said Peppa was lucky to escape serious injuries.

"She's got a few bruises and some road rash, but otherwise she's doing sow well. Today she enjoyed what is likely her very first taste of grass (and lots of staff cuddles, of course)," the post said.

The organization said it is working with the Iowa Farm Sanctuary to find a new permanent home for Peppa to live out her life in comfort.

Alabama man earns world record for 3-foot, 6-inch beard locks

An Alabama resident took his facial hair to record-breaking lengths when his beard locks reached a staggering length of 3 feet and 6 inches.

Rudolf Martino, who moved to Birmingham from California in 2015, earned the Guinness World Records title for the longest natural beard locks on a living person after growing his facial hair to a length that is over a foot longer than the height of the world's shortest woman.

"The beard locks [were] inspired by the holy men of India, plus Jamaican Rastafarians who adopted their look from India," Martino told Guinness World Records.

Martino said he washes his locks once every two weeks, and they can take two or three days to fully dry.

He said he doesn't intend to cut his hair or beard anytime soon.

"Just as a tree has roots, branches, leaves and some fruit, I have as a symbol my hair, its roots, length and strength," he said.

Entangled squirrel rescued from sports net in Ohio

Police in Ohio came to the rescue of a squirrel that ended up entangled in a sports net that had been left out while not in use.

The Richmond Heights Police Department said on social media that officers were dispatched to a resident's backyard to free the rodent from its predicament.

The department said on officer was able to free the squirrel "with some patience, a few careful cuts and a steady hand."

"Once loose, he didn't stick around for an interview — he bolted straight back to the trees, tail high and freedom restored," the post said.

'Bummed' lottery player finds out he was the big jackpot winner

A Michigan man said he was disappointed to see someone had won the lottery's $564,219 Club Keno The Jack prize — until he found out the winning ticket was his own.

The 45-year-old Otsego County man told Michigan Lottery officials he bought a Club Keno The Jack ticket from the Gaylord South EZ Mart on South Otsego Avenue in Gaylord.

"I play Club Keno every now and then, but I only play The Jack when it gets over $100,000," the player said. "I bought a ticket for 30 draws, and when I got home, I decided that if the draws were still going, I would go somewhere to have a drink and watch the rest."

The player said he was initially upset when he used his phone to check the status of the drawings.

"I got on the lottery app to see what draw it was on and was bummed when I saw someone had won The Jack. I scanned my ticket to check it and was stunned when I found out I was the big winner! All I could think was: 'What am I going to do with all this money?' It was a good feeling!"

The winner said he ended up deciding to use his $564,219 prize to invest.

Moose stranded in Colorado canal hoisted to safety

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers came to the rescue of a young bull moose that plunged into a canal and was unable to find its way out of the water.

CPW posted a video to social media showing officers working together with Bureau of Reclamation personnel to rescue the moose from a canal in Estes Park.

The video shows rescuers typing the moose's antlers to keep it steady while they tranquilized the animal and tied a rope around its midsection.

The moose was then hoisted out of the water by a crane and returned to dry land.

CPW said the moose "survived with minimal injuries" and was released back into the wild.

Water-skiing squirrel delights crowds at N.C. fair

The Carolina Classic Fair in Winston-Salem, N.C., is pulling in large crowds with a talented headlining performer: Twiggy the water-skiing squirrel.

Twiggy proved to be a big draw during the fair's opening day on Friday, and is scheduled to perform multiple times a day until the fair closes on Sunday.

The talented squirrel is not the first to bear the name and skill-set — the first Twiggy was adopted by Lou Ann Best and her husband, Chuck, when Hurricane David knocked the baby squirrel out of its nest in Central Florida in 1979.

Best trained a total eight water-skiing squirrels before retiring. The latest squirrel to carry the Twiggy torch tours the country with her son, Chuck Best Jr.

Baby squirrel falls out of tree at Colorado mini golf course

An animal control officer in Colorado came to the rescue of a baby squirrel that fell out of a tree at a miniature golf course in Denver.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said on social media that an animal control officer was dispatched to Putter's Pride Mini Golf when "a tiny squirrel took a tumble."

Body camera footage from the scene shows the officer carefully picking the squirrel up from where it landed underneath a tree on the course.

"After mom didn't return, this little chatterbox was safely brought to Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance for expert care," the post said. "Loud squeaks, but a bright future."

Indiana woman's Joker collection earns Guinness World Record

A 22-year-old comic book fan from Indiana earned a Guinness World Record for her collection of 2,318 items related to Batman villain the Joker.

Bloomington resident Megan Pierce said she started collecting in middle school, and soon she had amassed items ranging from action figures and comic books to Joker rollerblades, a skateboard and milk caps from 1966.

Piece said she started posting content to social media about her collection during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was encouraged to apply for a Guinness World Record, a process she began in 2023.

Pierce had to measure and document each officially-licensed item, and the process had to be overseen by five expert witnesses.

"I had to provide a description of each item and a photo of everything," Pierce told the Indiana Daily Student.

She took the record with 2,318 eligible pieces of memorabilia.

She said her hobby has allowed her to make connections with Joker fandom figures including actor Mark Hamill, who voiced the character in several animated and video game projects, as well as other collectors.

Pierce said she ended up forming a close friendship with Angel Young, who collects items related to Harley Quinn, the Joker's sometimes-accomplice, sometimes-nemesis.

"Interacting with another collector that has such genuine passion for what they collect is one of the best feelings," Young said. "It's a sort of bond and understanding that this person gets what you're doing."

Young said her collection is always growing, and she isn't afraid of losing the record.

"It will only inspire me to collect more," Pierce said. "Go for it."

Australian woman performs 733 pull-ups in one hour

An Australian bodybuilder broke a Guinness World Record that had stood for nearly a decade when she completed 733 pull-ups in one hour.

Jade Henderson, 32, averaged more than 12 pull-ups a minute to break the record of 725 that was set by fellow Australian Eva Clarke in 2016.

"I decided to start training for the pull up world record because I liked the idea of doing something that nobody else has ever done. I also wanted to see what my mind and body were physically capable of," Henderson told Guinness World Records.

The athlete said she initially planned to go for the 24-hour version of the record, but an injury during training led her to change her plans.

"I did 3,500 pull ups in 12 hours and tore my bicep. I had a partial tear of the bicep tendon and muscle. I had to rest my arm for about six weeks before I was able to do pull ups again," she said.

Henderson settled on the one-hour record to prevent any further injuries.

"I didn't have a set number that I was aiming for," she said. "I knew it was going to be tough to beat the previous record of 725, so I was just aiming to get a couple more reps than that."

The record attempt was ultimately successful, with 733 pull-ups completed in the hour.

"I was really happy with the result. I gave it everything that I had and in that moment I don't think I could of done any better," she said.

Chicago family reunited with lost dog after 10 years

A Chicago man was reunited with his beloved family dog 10 years after the canine's disappearance, thanks to a microchip and an animal shelter in Indiana.

Edmon Lighthall, 51, said his poodle-doodle mix, Peter, escaped from his family's home a decade ago, and the family eventually assumed he had been brought into someone else's home — but Lighthall never gave up hope.

"I'd say, 'I think if he's alive, I'm sure that I'll see him again,'" Lighthall told ABC's Good Morning America. "I'd say things like that and people would laugh and kind of just go along with me."

Lighthall's prediction came true when he received a phone call Sept. 22 from a pet microchip registration company, revealing Pete had been found in Hammond, Ind.

"I immediately called the number, and I got in touch with Laney from Hammond Animal Control, and she explained to me that the police found Pete walking down the street," Lighthall said.

He traveled to Hammond the next day to bring Pete home.

Lighthall said he threw a "welcome home" party for the long-lost pet.

"We went to the park, we did a picnic, we introduced him to his sister [dog] and a couple of other pooches from different family and friends," Lighthall said. "It was just a great experience."

He said Pete is settling in nicely back at home.

"It is like we picked up where we left off. I'm happy. He is happy. Everyone who hears this story is happy. I am so thankful to those folks at animal control. They got me my dog back," Lighthall told NBC Chicago.

Ohio police chase runaway inflatable pumpkin

Police in Ohio shared body camera footage of the pursuit of a giant inflatable pumpkin that broke free from in front of a local home and went rolling through town.

The Parma Heights Police Department said on social media that officers found themselves "in hot pursuit of a giant inflatable pumpkin" rolling through town in the early hours of Wednesday.

The body camera footage shows the pumpkin being held in place at the side of a road by an officer and a member of the public.

The officer explains he had been chasing the pumpkin down the road.

Mystery cow roped by cowboy on horseback on Pennsylvania highway

A mystery cow found wandering loose on a Pennsylvania highway was successfully roped by a man on horseback, but the bovine's origins remain unknown.

The cow held up traffic Wednesday when it was spotted along the median of Interstate 79, near Cranberry Township and Evans City in Butler County.

Local farrier Kyle Carson heard about the situation and offered his services to local authorities. He responded to the scene with his horse, aptly named Highway.

"The crews there had traffic stopped, and we sat there for a little bit and just kind of assessed the situation and let the cow relax a little more and just hang out. And then I just rode right up here and roped her and then took her over to the trailer," Carson told WTAE-TV.

Pennsylvania State Police said they checked with local farmers, but the cow's origins are a mystery. The animal was taken to a local farm to receive veterinary care while authorities attempt to determine where it came from.

David Rush breaks fist-bumping record on sidelines of '99 to Beat'

Serial record-breaker David Rush teamed up with a longtime collaborator on the sidelines of FOX game show 99 to Beat and recaptured a fist-bumping Guinness World Record.

Rush and Jonathan "Hollywood" Hannon, who are both contestants on this season of 99 to Beat, took some time out of filming in London to attempt the Guinness World Record for the most alternate fist bumps in 30 seconds (team of two).

Rush originally set the record at 380 with Howie Mandel on the set of America's Got Talent, and later broke his own record with 398 when he teamed up with YouTuber Dr. Mike.

The title has since been taken by Nicole DeBonis and Eric Carr, who managed 406 fist-bumps in the allotted time.

Rush said he and Hannon managed 426 fist bumps in 30 seconds, enough to retake the record. Evidence must now be examined by Guinness World Records to become official.

Rush said other contestants from 99 to Beat served as witnesses and timekeepers for the attempt.

Hannon was eliminated from the series in the most recent episode, but Rush remains in the running to win the $1 million prize.

Rare calico lobster caught off Massachusetts coast

A rare calico lobster, bearing orange and black coloring believed to occur in only one in 30 million lobsters, was caught off Massachusetts and has a new home at a university.

Northeastern University's Marine Science Center in Nahant said the female lobster was caught off the Massachusetts coast by Gloucester-based lobsterman Mike Tufts.

"One day he sent me a message with a picture of this beautiful calico and asked if we had room in our tanks for another beautiful, rare lobster," Sierra Munoz, outreach program coordinator at the Marine Science Center, said in a news release.

"I said, 'Of course we do,'" Munoz said. "It's such a thoughtful — and fun — donation to our science education program."

Munoz's children dubbed the lobster Jackie, short for Jack O'Lantern.

The university is already home to Neptune, a blue lobster. The blue coloration is believed to occur in one out of 2 million lobsters, Munoz said.

"Normally, the lobsters that we see are reddish, brownish, or a little bit greenish," Munoz said. "In the calico lobster, the astaxanthin combines with other pigments and proteins in a really unique way that gives her this really rare kind of mottled or freckled look."

British farm boasts world's tallest donkey, another with longest ears

A British farm is now home to a pair of record-breaking donkeys thanks to one's staggering height and the other's impressively long ears.

Guinness World Records announced Dynamic Derrick is the tallest living donkey in the world, standing at 5 feet and 5 inches from hoof to withers.

His next-stall neighbor, Bambou, has the longest ears on a living donkey, measuring 1 foot and 1 inch long.

The donkeys, residents of the Radcliffe Donkey Sanctuary in Huttoft, Lincolnshire, were officially measured and earned their records on the same day.

Tracy Garton, owner of the Radcliff Sanctuary, said Derrick's parents were also tall, but not quite as gargantuan as their son.

"No one can believe he's a donkey: they all think he's a mule because he's so big," Garton told The New York Post.

Qualified quadrupeds compete to become Nova Scotia town's 'pet mayor'

he town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, is teaming up with a local animal shelter to elect the town's first-ever four-legged "pet mayor" into office.

Amherst and the Lillian Allbon Animal Shelter announced the top 10 candidates from a field submitted by local residents, and the public can now vote on the shelter's website for their preferred pet mayor.

It costs CA$5 — $3.56 in U.S. currency — to vote, and the proceeds go toward the care of animals currently at the shelter.

The dog candidates are Derby, Major, Susie, Raeya, Ducky, Nunya Beeswax, Jack, Mr. Bear and Nova. There is also one cat in the race, named Meowstache (aka Sherlock).

"The responses have been so creative, seeing the designs that people are putting together. I've been promoting it on my end, but the stuff that people are sending me to, the edits and the slogans and their campaign promises are so cute and creative, and people are really trying to win," Lori O'Connell of the Lillian Allbon Animal Shelter told CTV News.

Nova's campaign bio dubs him the "Fetch master of Amherst."

"Under novas leadership, expect more wood chips in the dog park, free balls at every poop bag station and town-wide treat dispensers (pending budget approval). Every citizen deserves a good walk," his bio states.

Meowstashe, meanwhile, is said to be: "Distinguished. Determined. Dapper. Mayor Meowstache."

"Meowstache is a very distinguished cat. She would make a great mayor of Amherst," her bio reads.

Derby's bio states his qualifications for public office.

"Derby has office experience, loves paperwork (well, shredding the paper) and has boundless energy," it reads.

Public voting closes at the end of the day Friday. The winner will be announced Saturday.

Security camera catches cat dropping mouse into human family's dinner

Animal rescuers in California shared security camera stills capturing the moment a foster kitten spiced up her human family's dinner with a special ingredient: a dead mouse.

The Merced SPCA shared photos captured by a home security camera in the foster family's kitchen.

The photos show the foster kitten, Wendy, dropping a dead mouse into a pot cooking on the stove.

"Wendy is a foster failure that was caught on the kitchen cam — or kitten cam — adding 'spice' to her mom's dinner," the post said. "We should all be as thoughtful as Miss Wendy!"

Wendy's foster owner said she was out feeding her dogs when the kitchen camera recorded the cat's attempt at cooking. She said the feline's suspicious behavior when she returned to the kitchen led her to check the camera footage and discover the surprise Wendy had left in the pot.

"As you can guess, it was takeout for dinner that night," Wendy's foster mom told KMPH-TV.

Numbers picked by ChatGPT earn Michigan woman a $100,000 lottery prize

A Michigan woman used artificial intelligence program ChatGPT to generate a set of lottery numbers that earned her a $100,000 prize.

Tammy Carvey, 45, of Wyandotte, told Michigan Lottery officials she decided to buy a Powerball ticket online when the jackpot was high in September.

"I only play Powerball when the jackpot gets up there and the jackpot was over $1 billion so I bought a ticket," Carvey said. "I asked ChatGPT for a set of Powerball numbers and those are the numbers I played on my ticket."

Carvey's ticket matched four white balls and the Powerball in the Sept. 6 drawing, earning her a $50,000 prize that was doubled to $100,000 thanks to the Power Play option.

"When I checked the winning numbers, I saw I matched four white balls and the Powerball and knew I had to have won something," she said. "Google told me it was a $50,000 prize, so that's what I thought I'd won. It wasn't until I logged into my Michigan Lottery account that I realized I added the Power Play to my ticket and actually won $100,000! My husband and I were in total disbelief."

Carvey said her winnings will allow her to pay off her home and boost her savings.

Bear steals bag of garbage from California trash bin

A California man captured video of a bear digging through a curbside trash bin and absconding with a bag of ill-gotten garbage gains.

Roberto Morales captured video about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday showing the bear rifling around inside a trash can that had been knocked over next to the curb in a Glendale neighborhood.

The bear emerges with a white bag full of trash its mouth and heads to a nearby backyard, apparently intending to make a meal of the waylaid waste.

Local officials said bear activity is common in the area and advised residents to keep garbage indoors until the morning of collection.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife shared video of another thieving bruin in late September. The footage shows a bear walking onto a front porch in the Ocean Shores are and making off with a delivered package, which contained a sweater.

Surfboard-stealing otter attacks resume at California beach

Visitors to a California beach are warning of an aggressive otter with a habit of stealing surfboards — and it isn't the first time.

Isabella Orduna said she was surfing Wednesday evening at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz when a sea otter bit her foot and climbed atop her surfboard.

"I'd call it an exploratory nip," Orduna told The New York Times. "It didn't puncture my skin or anything."

She said the otter remained on her board for about 20 minutes before being driven away with help from other beach-goers.

Mark Woodward, a local photographer who captured photos of Orduna's encounter, returned to the same area on Thursday and witnessed an otter commandeering another surfer's board.

Woodward said the surfer was a teenage boy who attempted to paddle away from the animal, but the otter grabbed onto the leash connecting the surfer's leg to his board and pulled him backward.

A sign was posted at the beach Thursday, reading: "Warning. Aggressive sea otter in this area. Enter the water at your own risk. Keep away from marine wildlife."

An otter dubbed Otter 841 became infamous in 2023 for a string of incidents where the female otter attacked surfers and stole their boards. It was not known whether the same otter is responsible for the most recent incidents, as Otter 841 is no longer tagged.

New Jersey safari park announces three zebra foal births

Six Flags Wild Safari in New Jersey announced the recent births of three Grant's zebra foals, and they are viewable by the public for a short time only.

The Jackson Township safari park said the babies were born over the course of a few weeks. One is a male, one is female and the third foal's sex has not yet been determined.

The foals are viewable by the public in the zebra enclosure with their mothers.

The safari park warned visitors the babies — and the rest of the park's animals — will only be on display until the attraction closes for the season Nov. 9.

AWS outage caused smart beds to overheat, get stuck upright

The Amazon Web Services outage that affected apps and sites ranging from Reddit to Roblox also caused some smart beds to overheat — and some said their mattresses were stuck in an inclined position.

Users of Eight Sleep smart beds said the AWS outage on Monday caused the heat settings on their mattresses to stop responding, resulting in numerous complaints of beds getting too hot with no way to cool them down.

Some users of the high-end Eight Sleep $5,049 Pod 5 Ultra beds, which are adjustable to reduce snoring and back problems, said they were unable to take their mattresses out of an upright position.

Matteo Franceschetti, CEO of Eight Sleep, acknowledged the issues on social media and said the company is taking steps to ensure the incident is not repeated.

"The AWS outage has impacted some of our users since last night, disrupting their sleep," Franceschetti wrote on X. "That is not the experience we want to provide and I want to apologize for it."

He said the company is working on "outage-proofing" their technology.

Full functionality was restored to all Eight Sleep mattresses by 10 p.m. Monday.

The AWS cloud services global outage affected websites, apps and businesses including Venmo, Snapchat, Roku, Reddit, HBO Max, Canva and many others.

Skateboarding pig earns Guinness World Record

A perfectly poised pig from Illinois earned a Guinness World Record when he showed off his skateboarding swine skills and took a 33-foot ride in just over 11 seconds.

Norbert the Pig from Buffalo Grove earned the record for the fastest 10 meters pushing a skateboard by a pig, managing the feat in 11.32 seconds.

Vincent Baran, Norbert's owner, said he discovered the pet pig's impressive talent when he found his old skateboard.

"I had my board from when I was a kid and figured I'd try him with it," he said. "I went outside, laid the board down and took out some unsalted peanuts as treats. In about 15 minutes, I had him standing on the board. After a couple more sessions, he was pushing himself down the street."

Baran said 175-pound Norbert now "looks like a natural on the board" and loves showing off his skills.

"After a handful of sessions, we finally hit the sweet spot and his run went perfectly," Baran said.

He said Norbert earned the nickname Tony Pork, in honor of legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk.

N.J. police blame hoax monkey sightings on AI-generated images

Police in New Jersey said reports of monkeys on the loose in Newark are a social media hoax perpetuated by photos and videos that appear to be AI-generated.

Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda said police received a report of wild monkeys on the loose at Georgia King Village on Thursday morning, one day after local animal control received similar reports of monkeys on the streets of Newark.

Police searched the area of the reported sighting but found no signs of non-human primate activity.

Miranda said the reports are now believed to be the results of a hoax.

"Officers have not located any monkeys," Miranda told WPIX-TV. "Any photos or videos posted on social media regarding this incident are likely AI-generated."

Indiana man digs up 2.71-carat gem at Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas

An Indiana man visiting Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas spotted something shiny on his shovel and confirmed it was a 2.71-carat white diamond.

Paoli resident Dewy White said he and his wife spent two days at Crater of Diamonds State Park at the start of their long road trip, and they enjoyed their time so much they decided to stop again on their way home.

White said he came armed with some screens he bought from a store in Murfreesboro prior to his second visit and he and his wife ended up in the Canary Hill area by the south wash pavilion.

"A very nice gentleman I met on my first day out here suggested that area," White told Arkansas State Parks officials. "He seemed like he knew what he was doing, and it looked like a nice, shaded spot."

White said he knew the object he unearthed was something different from the quartz he had been encountering before it even hit his screen.

"It looked like a metal piece of glass," he said. "The minute I saw it in my shovel, I knew."

The glittering gem on his shovel turned out to be a pea-sized white diamond weighing 2.71 carats.

White dubbed his discovery the Hope Diamond, explaining it was because he had hoped to find a diamond.

Officials said the Hope Diamond is the fourth-largest diamond registered at the park this year.

Police eject trespassing alligator from apartment hallway in Florida

Police in Florida were called to an Orlando apartment complex to eject an unwelcome squatter from a hallway area — a 5-6-foot alligator.

The Orlando Police Department said on social media that officers responded to an apartment complex on Lake Debra Drive on Tuesday night.

"When they arrived, they discovered a five to six-foot alligator in the hallway," police wrote.

The department shared a video of officers throwing a blanket over the gator's face and dragging it out of the hallway.

The alligator was released back into Lake Mann.

"No officers or the alligator were injured," the post said.

'Chunkosaurus Rex' wins Texas' inaugural Fat Squirrel Week

Rotund rodents from across the state of Texas competed in Texas Parks and Wildlife's inaugural Fat Squirrel Week, with a squirrel named Chunkosaurus Rex taking the top spot.

Fat Squirrel Week, inspired by Katmai National Park's annual Fat Bear Week, aimed to find the fattest squirrel across all of the Texas State Parks.

Chunkosaurus Rex, a resident of Dinosaur Valley State Park in the Glen Rose area, was crowned the competition's first-ever winner after a bracket-style competition using social media likes as votes.

Chunkosaurus Rex faced off in the finals against Chunk Norris from Fort Richardson State Park, after fellow final-four squirrels Nutella from Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Stanley "The Texas Tank" from Cleburne State Park were eliminated.

2,819-pound pumpkin grown by British brothers is world's largest

A pair of British brothers who have been growing gargantuan gourds for over 50 years finally broke a world record when they harvested a pumpkin that tipped the scales at 2,819 pounds, 4 ounces.

Twins Ian and Stuart Paton of Lymington, Hampshire, said they started growing supersized squash in their early teens, and at the age of 64 they finally harvested a pumpkin certified by Guinness World Records as the heaviest pumpkin of all time.

The full-figured fruit, which the brothers named Muggle, also broke the record for the largest pumpkin by circumference at 21 feet and 3.8 inches.

The pumpkin was officially weighed at the Wargrave Nursery Giant Vegetable Weigh-Off, near Reading, England.

The brothers said they were relieved the pumpkin was not damaged in the two-hour trip from their property to the competition, but they have plenty of experience.

"Moving giant pumpkins is fairly easy as we've been doing it for many years. We have our big lifting ring and literally scoop up the pumpkins," Ian Paton told Guinness World Records.

Sebastian Suski, a Great Pumpkin Commonweath assessor and regular Guinness World Records consultant, performed the official measurements,

"I was amazed to see this record come to the U.K.," Suski said. "This was massive news for the brothers who have been growing for over 50 years, but also for all British pumpkin growers. Ian and Stuart always shared lots of tips for growing giant vegetables with me, so being the one to confirm their pumpkin's record status was, from a personal perspective, extra special."

Austrian surfer rides wave for 8 hours, 5 minutes and 44 seconds

An Austrian surfer spent 8 hours, 5 minutes and 44 seconds on his board to break the Guinness World Record for the longest time spent surfing a wave.

Maximilian Neuböck attempted the record at RiverWave, a man-made wave that uses currents from nearly rivers to create a permanent surfing wave in Ebenesee, Austria.

Neuböck spent 8 hours, 5 minutes and 44 seconds surfing the wave without breaks, and even used a spoon to eat a cup of soup while continuing to surf.

He broke the record previously set by Panama's Gary Saavedra, who spent 3 hours, 55 minutes and 2 seconds riding a wave in the Panama Canal.

Utah man drops 1,917-pound pumpkin onto his Geo Metro

A Utah man said a final farewell to the Geo Metro he drove for 35 years by dropping a 1,917-pound pumpkin on it from a height of nearly 14 stories.

Millville resident Alan Gebert said his 1991 Geo Metro finally stopped running this year, so he decided to send the vehicle off in style by destroying it with a giant pumpkin.

Gebert's 1,917-pound pumpkin, which took first place at the Utah Giant Pumpkin Festival weigh-off, was hoisted about 14 stories into the air by a crane at Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove.

The pumpkin was dropped onto the 35-year-old compact car, caving in the roof in spectacular fashion.

"It's just something that we've talked, me and my wife have talked about for a long time, that this would be the best way for it to go, and it happened, so it's been kind of fun," Gebert told KSTU-TV.

Lost dog found 5 years later, 520 miles from home

A pint-sized pooch who went missing from her family's Mississippi home about five years ago was reunited with her owners after turning up in a Florida city about 520 miles away.

Kristy Taylor and Josh Craig said their dog, a chihuahua and dachshund mix named Penny, went missing from their home in Lucedale.

They never found out what became of Penny until the canine was found wandering the streets of DeLand, Fla., five years later.

Briana Rideout found Penny dodging traffic on a city street Oct. 21 and coaxed her inside the home she shares with her boyfriend, Daniel Lenoci. The couple cared for Penny while they posted on Facebook about the found pet.

The couple took Penny to a local shelter a few days later and a microchip scan showed she had been reported missing 520 miles away in Lucedale.

"I immediately said, 'How? How in the world does that happen?" Rideout told the Daytona Beach News Journal.

Taylor and Craig made the drive to Florida on Wednesday and were reunited with Penny.

Taylor said Penny appears to have been cared for during the time she was missing.

"She's a little bigger. She's put on a little weight," Taylor told WESH-TV.

The couple said they are happy to have Penny back home.

"We're so grateful that she was taken care of," Taylor said.

Ohio man forgets winning lottery ticket at home, wins another $500,000

An Ohio man who forgot his $50 winning lottery ticket at home decided to buy another of the same scratch-off game and scored a $500,000 prize.

The Roseville man told Ohio Lottery officials he went to the South 60 Market in Zanesville intending to cash in his $50 winning Best of 7's scratch-off, but he arrived and realized he had forgotten the ticket at home.

He decided to go into the store anyway and bought another ticket from the same game and scratched it off in his car.

The ticket turned out to be a $500,000 winner.

The player said his winnings will go toward paying off his house, buying a new car and cutting back his workdays so he can spend more time with his family.

Venomous snake rescued from backyard swimming pool

A pair of reptile wranglers in Australia came to the rescue of a yellow-tailed whip snake that found its way into a resident's backyard swimming pool and was unable to slither out.

Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 said on social media that Stuart McKenzie and another rescuer, named Howdy, responded to a Coolum property where a snake was spotted in a pool.

Residents were concerned the serpent may have been a highly venomous eastern brown snake, but it was identified as a yellow-faced whip snake, a mildly-venomous species often confused for eastern browns.

McKenzie fished the snake out of the water with his bare hands and the swimming serpent was returned to the wild.

Man uses cone to catch ice cream scoop from 55 feet, 5 inches away

An Idaho man with more than 300 Guinness World Records titles added another record to his name by using a cone to catch an ice cream scoop from a distance of 55 feet, 5 inches.

Serial record-breaker David Rush teamed up with Josh VanBattenburg, a member of YouTuber Josh Horton's team, to take on the title for the farthest ice cream throw and catch (team of two).

The duo took on the challenge in Simi Valley, Calif.

VanBattenburg threw the ice cream from a scoop and Rush was able to catch it on his cone from a distance of 55 feet and 5 inches.

"The catch was measured from the front of Josh's front foot to the front of mine when the ice cream landed in the cone and stayed there," Rush wrote.

Australian man reads out the world's longest name

The Australian man with the world's longest name read out his entire moniker — featuring more than 2,000 middle names — and it took him more than an hour to accomplish.

Laurence Watkins had his name legally changed in March 1990 to include 2,251 middle names, earning the Guinness World Record for the longest personal name in the process, with 2,253 unique words.

Watkins said it took the officiant at his wedding about 20 minutes to read his full name, but he attempted the feat himself for a Guinness World Records video and it took more than an hour.

His name begins Laurence Alon Aloys Aloysius Alphege Alun Alured Alwyn Alysander Ambie Ambrose Ambrosius Amias Amiot Amyas Anders Andre Andrea Andreas Andrew Andy Aneirin Anguish Anleifr — and those aren't even all of the names beginning with "A."

"I was always fascinated by the quirky unusual records that some people went for and I really wanted to be part of that scene," he told Guinness World Records. "I read the Guinness World Records book from cover to cover to see if there was a record I could beat and the only one I had a chance at beating was adding more names than the current holder."

He said the process involved a lot of paperwork and several trips to court. His successful name change was followed by the passing of new laws that prevented others from trying to take his record.

"My favorite name is AZ2000 meaning I have names from A-Z and I have 2000 names," he said.

Traffic cone used to rescue struggling raccoon from the ocean

A couple taking a sunrise walk along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina ended up using a traffic cone to rescue a raccoon struggling to swim.

Will DeLeo and Elizabeth Heffron were walking along the shore in Charleston recently when they spotted a raccoon struggling in the water below.

They watched as the exhausted animal tried without success to find an exit from the water, so they decided to step in and help.

A video posted to Instagram shows DeLeo bring a nearby traffic cone to the ledge and lower it into the water, allowing the raccoon to grab hold.

DeLeo was finally able lift the raccoon back onto dry land after it slipped off the cone multiple times.

The raccoon took a moment to rest on the ledge before running away from the scene.

Man plays 'Dance Dance Revolution' for 144 consecutive hours

A Hungarian gamer broke a Guinness World Record by playing popular game Dance Dance Revolution for 144 hours.

Szabolcs Csépe, 34, aka GrassHopper, took the records for the longest video game marathon as well as the longest video game marathon on a rhythm game title.

He broke the record of 138 hours and 34 seconds, which was set by American gamer Carrie Swidecki in 2015. She earned her titles by playing Just Dance.

"Ever since I learned about Carrie Swidecki's achievements in marathon gaming, I often caught myself thinking about how she pulled the all-time longest session off almost a decade ago," Csépe told Guinness World Records.

"I set up stepping stones long ago to chase after the No.1 spot by building up the required skills in all aspects. Every time I attempted another marathon, I told myself, 'It must feel like a dream achievement to all of us,' until the final days of each record attempt actually concluded."

Csépe previously earned the records for the longest video game marathon playing a Naruto game, 28 hours, 11 minutes and 32 seconds; and the longest video game marathon playing a puzzle game, 32 hours, 32 minutes and 32 seconds.

He also claimed the records for the longest video game marathon playing a racing game, the longest video game marathon playing a simulation video game and the longest video game marathon playing a racing simulator game with a 90-hour Gran Turismo 7 marathon in 2023.

Cotton-top tamarin monkey born at Minnesota zoo

A Minnesota zoo announced the birth of a cotton-top tamarin, a critically-endangered species of monkey native to the tropical forests of Colombia.

The Lake Superior Zoo said on social media that the baby, which has not yet been named, was born Sept. 30 to parents Mira and Dino.

The baby joins siblings Echo, Tango and Foxtrot, the zoo said.

Anna Schopf, an animal care specialist at the zoo, said keepers are keeping their distance while the baby bonds with its family.

"Babies being raised by like their parents and by their siblings is really important for their social development, and so we don't step in really heavily, so that we don't interrupt with that process," Schopf told FOX 21 news.

The baby, along with the rest of the tamarin family, is on display from noon until 2 p.m. each day in the zoo's Primate Conservation Center. The monkeys' time on display is currently being limited to make sure the baby gets plenty of rest and nursing time.

Three African servals escape Pennsylvania sanctuary amid storm

A powerful wind storm in Pennsylvania caused damage to a wildlife sanctuary and allowed three African servals to escape.

The Cricket Wildlife Center in Alburtis said on social media that a windstorm Wednesday night caused damage to multiple enclosures.

"The worst being our African serval enclosure," the post said. "A tree fell on the pen, allowing the three cats to escape."

The center said the cats "are older animals" and keepers fear they will not be able to take care of themselves while on the loose.

"They are not a danger to your kids or pets so please do not harm them," the post said.

Australian state weighs rule change to allow dingoes to be pets

The state government in Queensland, Australia, is considering a classification change that would allow for dingoes to be kept as household pets.

The Queensland Department of Primary Industries is weighing a potential change that would see dingoes reclassified as Canis familiaris, also known as domestic dogs.

The change is being considered as part of a review of Queensland's biosecurity laws ahead of legislative amendments expected to be made in the spring.

Dingoes are currently classified as an invasive species in the state, meaning they cannot be released, relocated, fed, sold or kept.

"Dingoes will continue to be protected in national parks and landholders will still be able to take action to protect their livestock from wild dog or dingo attacks under the general biosecurity obligation," a Department of Primary Industries representative told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The potential rule change has already received some push back from wildlife advocates and experts.

"Dingoes are not dogs," Alix Livingstone of the nonprofit Defend the Wild wrote in her submission to a Department of Primary Industries discussion paper. " They are a genetically, evolutionarily, and behaviorally distinct species that play an irreplaceable ecological role as Australia's apex land predator."

Kylie Cairns, a genetics researcher specializing in dingoes, said the canines do not make suitable pets.

"They're more wild so they don't do as well in home environments as domestic dogs," she said. "They're much smarter, they're much better able to escape traditional domestic household home environments in terms of climbing up fences, and so they just don't generally fit into most domestic settings as easily."

Dingoes are currently legal to keep as pets in New South Wales and Western Australia, but rescue groups said many of the animals end up being abandoned or surrendered by their owners.

Man snaps 65 cucumbers in 30 seconds to break world record

Serial Guinness World Record-breaker David Rush appeared on Spanish TV series El Hormiguero and captured the title for the most cucumbers snapped in 30 seconds.

Rush, who holds more than 300 Guinness World Records titles, traveled to Spain to appear on popular series El Hormiguero — which translates to "The Anthill" — to break a Guinness World Record "in the name of science."

Rush managed to snap 65 cucumbers in half in 30 seconds, obliterating the previous record of 50.

The record-breaker said his appearance on the show, like his entire record-breaking career, was aimed at promoting STEM education.

"It's about showing students, and everyone watching, that STEM can be exciting, hands-on and even a little crazy," he said. "Whether it's building robots, designing sensors, or yes, snapping cucumbers at world-record speed, it all ties back to creativity and problem-solving."

Zoo in Spain celebrates birth of male southern white rhino calf

A zoo in Spain announced the first southern white rhinoceros to be born at the facility is male and doing well under his mother's care.

Bioparc Valencia announced the rhinoceros, born Nov. 4, is nursing and bonding with his mother, Kwanza.

"The mother is recovering perfectly, and the lively calf scampers about with the typical clumsy movements of a baby, offering heartwarming glimpses," the zoo said in a news release Tuesday.

Zookeepers are following a "non-invasive monitoring protocol" to allow the mother and baby to recover and bond with minimal human intervention.

The mother and baby are spending most of their time indoors, but keepers have allowed them some time in the large outdoor enclosure to promote the calf's "growth and well-being."

The baby's father, Martin, and two other female rhinos, Nombula and Ami, have met the baby, and their interactions were described as "very positive."

"They approach with the curiosity and interest typical of this new situation, which suggests a natural integration," the zoo said.

The birth marks an important milestone for the European Conservation Program. Southern white rhinos are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.

Maine gym teacher sinks 1,516 three-pointers in one hour

A high school gym teacher from Maine may have earned his third Guinness World Records title by sinking 1,516 three-pointer shots on the basketball court.

Ryan Martin, a physical education teacher at Saco Middle School, took to the school's court Monday night and attempted 1,683 three-pointer shots in one hour, successfully sinking 1,516 of them.

Martin's goal to capture the record was 1,372 shots, a number he exceeded by 145.

He said the support of fellow teacher Nick Wilson and a crowd of students helped him power through the attempt.

"At 28 minutes I had real bad cramp in my side and then Nick had the crowd going crazy, it was like a message from god, perfect timing — where they just were loud at the perfect time and I fought through it," Martin told WGME-TV.

Martin, a former college star who was once named Mr. Maine Basketball, previously broke a Guinness World Record by sinking 1,134 three-pointers in one hour from the NBA-style three-point line, which is 3 feet further from the net than the high school version.

He also holds the record for the most free throws made in one hour: 2,494.

David Rush breaks pencil-bounce record after '99 to Beat' elimination

A serial Guinness World Record-breaker eliminated from FOX game show 99 to Beat sought "redemption" by earning a title similar to the challenge he failed.

David "Record Breaker" Rush said his time in the running for the $1 million prize on 99 to Beat came to a premature end when he took the rules of a pencil-bouncing challenge a little too seriously.

The contestants were told the pencils in the challenge had to rotate at least 180 degrees.

"Over the years I've done 400+ record attempts and been disqualified dozens of times for microscopic technicalities. So when I heard 'rotate a minimum of 180 degrees,' my brain instantly shifted into Guinness-mode," Rush wrote.

He said his desire to follow the instruction to the letter led to his being eliminated from the challenge.

Rush sought redemption by breaking the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to bounce 10 pencils into 10 glasses.

He managed the feat in 6.88 seconds, earning the title.

"Losing hurts," Rush wrote. "But failure doesn't define you: How you respond to it does. I don't know what's next, but I'll keep working, keep training and be ready for whatever opportunity comes my way."

Entertainment, 1990s culture dominate 2025's top pet names

The top trending names for dogs and cats in the United States for 2025 were mainly inspired by entertainment, and linked to the animals' looks and personalities — and they've remained consistent for more than a decade.

For its 2025 analysis of the top names given to new pets in the country, the animal boarding company Rover used the results of this year's survey to focus on names that are trending up, rather than focus on longtime options that remain popular.

"This year, we decided to really dig into the trends and separate them from classic, popular names," Rover said of this year's survey.

"The #1 names — Luna and Charlie — have grown less than 5% year over year," the company said. "In other words, popular names are classics and favorites, but they aren't necessarily reflecting future naming trends."

To determine the top trending names for the last year, the folks at Rover analyzed all pets younger than 2 years of age that were added to the company's database between August 2024 and September 2025.

From there, the names were split into a variety of categories ranging from overall top names and trending names by state to those referencing entertainment, sports and food, among others.

Additionally, a survey of pet parents, which Rover conducted via Pollfish, included 1,000 people who gave the company some insight to how they selected a name for their dog or cat.

For new puppies, about 33% of people already had an idea of what they would name their new animal, and nearly half — 45% — based it on their pet's personality or appearance.

For those who named their dogs based on personality, the most common sources for names were entertainment, breed, human names and nature — and the same was true for people with new kittens.

For male puppies, the three highest trending names during the 12-month period were Caesar, Mufasa and Oswald, while the top three for female puppies were Elphie, Tsuki and Rumi — all six increased more than 100% in use over the last year, and Elphie was up by 244%.

For kittens, the top three male names were Tater, Milton and Stewie, and for females they were Priscilla, Snowball and Pickle.

When considering popular names in individual states, people in the western United States leaned into "rugged outdoors" names — Aspen was tops for puppies in Alaska, Boots in Oregon, Remington in Idaho and Bandit in Montana.

For kittens, Washington named a lot of cats Ducky, Utah residents went with Sunny and in Colorado, Ranger was the top choice.

Other trends included sweets in the Southwest — Chiquita topped the puppies list in Arizona and Cocoa was popular for cats in Texas — while the Midwest leaned pop culture, choosing names like Simba, Loki, Butters and Nimbus.

For pop culture across the United States, the top puppy names included Forrest Gump, Gracie Lou Freebush and Willie Wonka, with kittens receiving Bill Murray, Mary-Kate, Fat Louie and Jack Sparrow.

For 2026, Rover said it expects to see many of the same names on the list next year, specifically noting that the new Wicked movie and K-Pop Demon Hunters are likely to influence pet names, as will others from Severance — Helly — and Taylor Swift references such as Ophelia, Elizabeth Taylor and Opalite.

"We're also keeping an eye [on] consumer trends," Rover noted. "Labubu and Zimono are brand new to the list this year, so we are curious to see more blind box-related names in 2026."

416-year-old grapevine in Tibet is officially the oldest in the world

A grapevine found in the mountains of Tibet was certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest wild living vine after being found to be 416 years old.

The vine, located in Zuoba Village, Zogang County, was first discovered during a survey of ancient and notable trees in Changdu city, and was later analyzed by scientists from the Wood Science Research Laboratory at Southwest Forestry University in China.

The researchers used ring analysis and physical measurements to determine the vine's age.

It was officially certified by Guinness World Records in September at the age of 416 years.

The vine, located at an altitude of nearly 7,900 feet, measures about 26 feet tall and has a diameter of more than 2 feet.

$980M Mega Millions winning ticket sold in Georgia

One or more people in Newnan, Ga., bought the only ticket to win the $980 million Mega Millions jackpot on Friday, which is the eighth-largest in the game's history.

The winning ticket was the only one with the winning numbers of 1, 8, 11, 12, 57 and the Mega Ball 7, Mega Millions announced on Saturday.

"$980 million is the largest jackpot that's been won since the Mega Millions game changed back in April," Mega Millions Consortium Lead Director Joshua Johnston said.

The win also ended the longest drawing streak between jackpot wins in Mega Millions history at 40 drawings since the last jackpot was won in Virginia on June 27.

The winning ticket's cash value is $452.2 million and was Quik Pik sold at Publix #1816 at 4000 N. Highway 29 in Newnan, which is about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta.

The store will also get a $50,000 bonus for selling the ticket.

The winner has the option of accepting annual payments from the $980 million jackpot over 30 years or taking a lump-sum payment of $452.2 million before paying taxes on the windfall.

The ticket was the first winner sold in Georgia since November 2016, and the largest jackpot won by an individual in the state's history.

Friday's jackpot win surpassed the previous Georgia record set on Oct. 23, 2024, when two people split a $478.2 million Powerball jackpot after buying the winning ticket in Buford.

The two opted to share the cash prize of $230.6 million in that Powerball win.

Man rides a unicycle with 7 bowling balls to break world record

A night out at a pizzeria led to an Idaho man breaking the Guinness World Record for the most bowling balls carried on a unicycle.

David "Record Breaker" Rush, who has broken more than 300 Guinness World Records, said he was eating with his family at Uncle Bob's Pizza in Meridian when a highlight reel of unusual world records on the TV screens caught his attention.

"Then I saw it. Someone balancing a stack of bowling balls on a unicycle. And I thought, 'Hey, I have a unicycle. I have bowling balls. Why not me?'" Rush wrote online.

Rush investigated the record and found he had to ride his unicycle for at least 10 seconds while carrying at least six bowling balls.

He teamed with Wahooz Family Fun Zone, located at the Galaxy Event Center in Meridian, to borrow some extra bowling balls and provide a venue for his attempt.

Rush managed to take the record by carrying seven bowling balls while riding his unicycle for the required amount of time.

Swedish man shoves 81 matches up his nose, earns world record

A Swedish man said his kids inspired him to stuff 81 matches up his nostrils and earn a Guinness World Records title in the process.

Martin Ströby, 42, told Guinness World Records his children were enamored by the latest edition of the organization's book, and told him it would be "so cool" if he broke a record of his own.

"At first I thought 'I'm not good enough at anything to be the best in the world,' but after my children showed me all the different world records I began thinking I might be able to find one I had a shot at breaking, thus began the search for a suitable one," Ströby said.

He landed on the record for the most matches held in the nose, which stood at 68.

"After doing the trial run, I discovered I could both stretch my nostrils a lot and also ignore the pain from putting all those matches in there, so I would say I'm a natural," Ströby said. "I did however try to find a good technique because matches kept falling out of my nostrils. Three inserted matches meant one or two falling out. I did some more trial runs and did eventually find a technique I could utilize to minimize the number of matches falling out."

He ended up taking the record with 81 matches.

"As a father I want my children to look up to me in the same way I look up to my father who has taught me more than I can write down," he said.

Mysterious bubbling off California coast tied to construction project

A mysterious bubbling off the California coast sparked speculation of submarine activity or flatulent whales before being revealed as mundane construction.

Residents of the Hermosa Beach area spotted the bubbling in the water this week, sparking speculation of phenomenon including blue fin tuna activity, submarines in the area, alien visitors or even farting whales.

The answer turned out to be work on fiber-optic lines that cross the Pacific Ocean from California to Asia.

Rick Devinney, who is overseeing the contract work, said Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is planning to add a line in the coming months, and part of the preparation process is blowing air through the line to ensure ducts are working properly.

The City of Hermosa Beach previously issued a construction notice Nov. 6 related to the same project. The notice warned of street closures along Longfellow Avenue, next to the shore, but did not mention the work off the coast.

New York woman's afro hairstyle is officially the world's largest

A New York woman's afro was certified as the world's largest — measuring 6 feet, 2.87 inches in circumference — and she was officially crowned by her predecessor.

Aevin Dugas, who earned the title for the largest afro on a living person (female) in 2010, visited a New York hair salon to officially pass the torch to new record-holder Jessica L. Martinez.

Martinez's mane of curls measures 11.42 inches tall, 12.2 inches wide and 6 feet, 2.87 inches in circumference.

Dugas, who was named a Guinness World Records Icon this year, said she was proud to pass on the title she had held for 15 years.

"What I hope people will think when they see [us meet] is that at the end of the day, I love myself, she loves herself, and we're both just trying to get people to love themselves," Dugas said. "It's not a competition, it's literally all love."

Martinez said she used to have her hair professionally relaxed until middle school, and then she stopped straightening it altogether during her freshman year of college.

"My last silk press was my freshman year in college, which was I believe in 2014, and I remember I straightened my hair and I looked in the mirror and it reminded me of 12-year-old Jess and I just knew, 'This is not you. There's nothing flat about you. You have a lot of personality,'" she said. "And after that, I just went cold-turkey."

She said it took a team of three people with a tape measure to take the measurements of her afro when she decided to go for the record this year.

"When I found out that I broke the record, I was actually in shock because it didn't quite sink in yet, it didn't quite feel real," she said. "But when I really started to process it, I was like, 'This is absolutely incredible,' because the younger version of me would be so proud of myself."

'Superman' No. 1 from 1939 auctioned for a record-breaking $9.12M

A 1939 copy of Superman No. 1 has become the world's most expensive comic book after being auctioned for a super-heroic $9.12 million.

Heritage Auctions said the comic book was found by a Northern California family while they were cleaning out the attic of their mother's home.

The comic book, which was in a cardboard box with some old newspapers, was examined by CGC, the world's largest third-party comics grading service, and given a rating of 9.0 out of 10, making it the highest-graded copy of Superman No. 1 known to still exist. It is one of only seven known copies with a grading of 6.0 or higher.

The comic sold for $9.12 million on Thursday, breaking the previous record of $6 million, which was set in 2024 when Heritage Auctions sold a copy of Action Comics No. 1, the comic featuring the first appearance of Superman.

New Jersey family's lost cat found 10 years later

A New Jersey family whose kitten escaped through an open window were reunited with their beloved pet 10 years later thanks to a microchip.

The Montclair Township Animal Shelter said on social media that a stray cat was brought in by a member of the public recently and officials scanned the feline for a microchip.

The microchip identified the feline and Asa, and a call to her owners revealed she had been missing for an entire decade.

"Ten years ago, a family adopted two kittens from a shelter. Not long after, one of them slipped out through a window and disappeared," the post said. "This family looked and looked and looked. They posted flyers, contacted every shelter, talked to neighbors — they did everything right."

The shelter shared a photo from the happy reunion.

"Microchips matter. Microchips work. And sometimes, they bring a lost family member home — no matter how much time has passed," officials wrote.

Lottery ticket rejected by another customer earns Mich. man $1M

A Michigan man decided to buy a scratch-off lottery ticket rejected by another customer and ended up winning the $1 million top prize.

The 33-year-old Wayne County man told Michigan Lottery officials he was at Fawaz Petroleum LLC on Schoolcraft in Detroit when he spotted the ticket next to the register.

"There was a Blazing Suits ticket set aside on the counter that someone else had decided not to purchase, so I purchased it," the player said. "I scratched the ticket off and couldn't believe it when I saw it was a $1 million winner! I never would have thought I'd win such a large lottery prize, so it's truly a blessing."

The lucky winner said his prize money will go into savings for the time being.

"Winning is a great feeling, but it's also a lot of pressure because your mind starts thinking of all the different things you can do with this amount money," he said.

Robot breaks world record with 66-mile walk in China

Chinese tech firm AgiBot earned a Guinness World Record when its humanoid robot, A2, went for a 66-mile walk from Jiangsu Province to Shanghai.

The robot set off from Jinji Lake and arrived at Shanghai's Bund in a single continuous walk made possible by a system devised to allow the robot to swap batteries while continuing to operate.

The 24-hour trek earned AgiBot the Guinness World Records title for the longest journey walked by a humanoid robot.

AgiBot said A2 followed all traffic laws during its long trek and walked across various surfaces including asphalt, tiled pavement and bridges.

The robot interacted with reporters at the end of its walk, stating that it might now "need a new pair of shoes," the Global Times reported.

School seeks help finding teddy bear that fell from the stratosphere

A school in England is asking for the public's help to find a missing teddy bear that was sent into the stratosphere with a weather balloon and fell to earth.

The Walhampton School said Bradford Bear was sent into the sky from Lymington, Hampshire, by seventh and eighth grade students working together with the Southampton University Spaceflight Society.

A camera on board the balloon recorded Bradford's journey into the upper atmosphere, and captured the moment the stuffed toy was jostled free from his perch in the stratosphere above Henley-on-Thames on Nov. 10.

Bradford Bear had been expected to parachute to safety along with the rest of the balloon's cargo in the Basingstoke area, but he is now believed to have landed somewhere between Earley and Fawley in the Henley-on-Thames area.

"If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, no matter how small, please let us know," the school said on social media. "Video footage or any details would be hugely appreciated."

Ellie Robinson, a science teacher at Walhampton School, told the BBC that Bradford Bear did "amazingly" by reaching an altitude of about 16.7 miles above the ground.

"I am sure he is fine as we have reassured the children he is very brave and resourceful," she said.

World's shortest horse measures just 21.1 inches tall

A therapy horse living in Germany was dubbed the shortest living horse by Guinness World Records, standing at a diminutive 21.1 inches tall.

Carola Weidemann said she adopted Pumuckel the horse in 2020, when he was only 5 months old and about 18 inches tall.

"I drove over, took a look at him and was truly, completely shocked. I had never seen such a small, little horse before," she told Guinness World Records.

Pumuckel's height was verified by Guinness World Records as 21.1 inches to the withers, making him the shortest living male horse in the world. He is about an inch and a half shorter than the previous record-holder.

Pumuckel is a trained therapy horse and makes regular visits to nursing homes, hospices, schools and facilities for people with disabilities.

"He has a very lovable character," Weidemann said. "He's incredibly good with children, he loves being scratched and cuddled. Pumuckel loves being the center of attention."

Firefighters fish deer out of water retention pond in Virginia

Firefighters in Virginia came to the rescue of a deer that found its way into a retention pond and was unable to find a path out of the water.

The Fincastle Volunteer Fire Department's Company 4 said on social media that the department was alerted to the plight of the stranded deer by a Botetourt County Sheriff's Office animal control deputy.

Crews responded to the water retention pond near the Roanoke Cement plant and found the deer swimming in the algae-covered water.

Firefighters corralled the deer into a corner of the pond and lassoed the animal so it could be pulled out of the water.

The deer was found not to be injured and was taken to the edge of the property to be returned to the wild.

'Bovine brigade' of three bulls take 'moonlight stroll' in Texas

Authorities in Texas responded to an "a-mooo-sing situation" when a "bovine brigade" of three bulls escaped for a "moonlight stroll" through San Antonio.

City of San Antonio Animal Care Services said on social media that a "troublemaker" bull somehow escaped from his owner's property "and decided a mooonlight stroll would be just the thing."

The owner set out to try to capture the escapee, and in the process left a gate open — allowing two more bulls make a "cow-culated exit," the post said.

An ACS officer arrived on the scene and found the "dark-as-night bulls" were "hoofing it down the road like beefy shadows with horns."

Two of the bulls were eventually returned to the property, but the third stubbornly refused to go any closer than a lot across the street from its owner's property.

"The property owner said he'd wait until the light of day to try and come to some sort of a mooo-tual understanding with the stubborn steer after he'd had some time to chew things over," ACS said.

San Diego Zoo announces arrival of three fossa pups

The San Diego Zoo offered the first glimpses of a trio of fossa pups who were born at the facility in July but have just started to explore their enclosure.

The zoo said in a news release that the pups — two males named Isalo and Fiaro and a female named Volana — were born in July and spent their first three months of life in the den with their mother before emerging.

The zoo said the pups are now "venturing out to climb, explore, and learn from mom. They're just starting to explore their habitat in the zoo's Africa Rocks area, making them visible to guests for the first time."

Kintana, the mother of the pups, was part of the last litter of fossas born at the zoo in 2017. The father, Charlie, was born at the zoo in 2008.

Fossas, considered a vulnerable species, are cat-like predators in the mongoose family.

"Fossas are a unique and little-known species," zoo officials wrote. "Since 1989, the San Diego Zoo has helped welcome more than 40 pups, contributing to global populations of this vulnerable species."

Ky. hunter declines call from his son, wins $1.1M online lottery prize

A Kentucky hunter passing the time in his deer stand by playing online lottery games said rejecting a call from his son led to his winning a $1.1 million jackpot.

The McCreary County man told Kentucky Lottery officials he was waiting for some deer to show up when he decided to pass the time with the lottery's Wolf Ridge Jackpots online game.

"I'm in the deer stand, and I was sitting there and I thought, you know what, I'm going to try," he said. "I got on there and I won $1,500, and I added another $200 to my account."

The man said his game kept being interrupted by calls from family members.

"It was making me mad because it was freezing up my phone from playing," he said. "Then my son tries to call, I decline it. And then it was the next thing I hit. The sound is kind of a rumbling sound, and I cannot play anymore. I'm like, 'There ain't no way,' and that is echoing through the woods."

The rumbling sound turned out to be the man scoring a $1.1 million prize on a $30 wager.

The winner called his wife and sent her a photo to confirm his win.

"I thought he was calling to tell me he had gotten a big buck," his wife said.

The player said he was overwhelmed when his wife confirmed what he was seeing on his phone screen.

"I couldn't believe it. We are both crying and stressing out," he said. "I probably would have fallen out of the deer stand that drops down 30, 40 feet into a holler."

The couple said their windfall will go toward buying a new home and sharing with their family.

"It's pretty awesome," the winner said. "I can tell you that right now. I mean, you go sit out in the woods and then all of a sudden you look down — and like I told her, I said, 'It took me 50 years to become a millionaire all at once.'"

48-hour dodgeball game takes aim at Guinness World Record in England

A group of 24 athletes played dodgeball for 48 hours in England to break a Guinness World Record and raise money for charity.

The record attempt, organized by Dodge Central and hosted by the Hartlepool Mavericks Dodgeball Club at The Dodgeball Center in Hartlepool, started at 9 a.m. Saturday and ended at 9 a.m. Monday.

The 48-hour game aimed to take the Guinness World Records title for the longest marathon playing dodgeball, which was previously set at 41 hours, 3 minutes and 17 seconds at Castleton State College in Vermont in 2012.

British hotel hosts Christmas tree made from 100,000 balloons

A hotel in England unveiled a unique holiday decoration: a 25-foot-tall Christmas tree assembled from 100,000 balloons.

The Balloon Christmas Tree, installed outside Moor Hall Hotel and Spa in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, consists of 100,000 balloons and a transparent dome to protect the tree's parts from popping or blowing away.

Naomi Spencer, a balloon artist and the proprietor of Balloon Color Blending, came up with the idea as a means of raising money for charity. Each balloon can be sponsored for $3.30, while $13.19 can purchase a memorial balloon in honor of a lost loved one and $165 can purchase a branded balloon bauble on the tree.

"This has never been done in the U.K. before. People don't realize the scale of building a balloon Christmas tree," Spencer told the Birmingham Mail.

"We had a massive team — we had engineers, blowers and a design team," she said. "We brought together 100,000 biodegradable balloons, precision engineering and a bespoke globe to create something magical — and all while supporting vital local charities."

Oklahoma dog's 7-inch tongue is the world's longest

An Oklahoma family's dog earned a Guinness World Record when his tongue, which usually hangs out the side of his mouth, was measured at 7.83 inches long.

Ozzy, a French mastiff and bull mastiff mix belonging to Angela Pick and her family, officially earned the title of the longest tongue on a living dog, when his mouth muscle's length was confirmed to have exceeded that of Bloomington, Ill., dog Rocky, whose tongue was measured at 5.46 inches in 2023.

"He has always had a tongue that sticks out of his mouth, ever since he was born," Pick told Guinness World Records. "But there's nothing medically wrong with him, we've had him looked at a couple of times by a veterinarian, and there's no dental issues or anything — it's just abnormally, awkwardly long!"

She said Ozzy's tongue isn't as much of a slobber-risk as its size might indicate.

"It's funny, for his tongue to be the way that it is, he doesn't really lick a whole lot," she said. "He doesn't give kisses — he gets in your face and kind of loves and rubs noses, but he doesn't really lick on a lot of stuff!"

GameStop customer's $30,494.70 Pokemon card trade-in sets record

GameStop announced a customer in Texas traded in a Pokémon trading card for $30,494.70, marking "the most valuable single trade-in ever recorded in GameStop history."

The gaming store chain released a statement reporting a customer in Grapevine, Texas, brought "a fully authenticated PSA 10 Holo Gengar" into their local store.

The card was put through required "inspection, verification and compliance procedures," and was found to have a fair-market valuation of $33,883.

The store paid the customer $30,494.70 for the card.

"This event now constitutes the most valuable single trade-in ever recorded in GameStop history," the statement said.

The store, which paid $3,388.30 under fair-market value for the item, also took a swipe at critics of its Power Packs Buyback Program.

"Furthermore, any trolls who publicly claim that GameStop trade-in values are bad are hereby factually and demonstrably incorrect," officials wrote. "Any prior and ongoing objections to our trade values are now deemed without merit and factually invalid."

British man's garden shed hits a top speed of 123 mph

A British man with a love of motorized vehicles built the world's fastest garden shed — a storage structure with a top speed of 123.43 mph.

Brian Cade, 61, said he decided to take on the challenge of breaking a Guinness World Records title while watching the TV series Record Breakers.

"I always had the idea to do a record attempt," Cade told The Sun newspaper. "I thought, 'What can I do?' I'm a builder and love classic cars, so let's put the two together."

His motorized garden shed was clocked at a top speed of 123.43 mph, taking the record from fellow Briton Kevin Nicks, whose shed set the record in 2019.

The official record attempt took place at Elvington Airfield in York, and his speed was measured with help from Straightliners motorsports.

Cade said he is planning to continue tinkering with his shed to make it faster, and he is hoping to eventually even make it street legal.

Baby fur seal wanders into New Zealand bar

A bar in New Zealand shared security camera footage of an unusual patron — a baby fur seal that wandered into the business.

Sprig + Fern The Meadows, a craft beer bar in Richmond, posted video to Facebook showing the baby seal wandering among the tables and customers inside the bar.

"Everyone was pretty shocked," co-owner Bella Evans told The Washington Post. "A lot of people thought it was a dog at first, because we are a dog-friendly establishment."

"It was a mix of shock, excitement and everything all at once," she said.

She said the seal was inside the bar for about 25 minutes. The animal was eventually lured into a dog crate using salmon from the bar's pizza special.

The seal was picked up by a Department of Conservation ranger and released on Rabbit Island, a small island in the Tasman Bay area that is considered safe for seals due to the absence of dogs.

Longhorn spotted trotting down Indiana highway

A traveler on an Indiana highway captured video of an unusual traffic hazard — a longhorn trotting down the interstate.

Haley Page posted a video to social media showing the bovine on Interstate 70 near Monrovia, southwest of Indianapolis.

"POV: You find a cow holding up traffic on the side of I-70," Page captioned the footage.

Page said she later heard the longhorn had been safely captured.

Black bear wanders into Tennessee Christmas parade

Spectators at a Christmas parade in Tennessee were treated to a surprise scene when a black bear wandered into the road and walked along the parade route.

Amanda Snook-Paige captured photos showing the bear walking down the route of Gatlinburg's 50th annual Fantasy of Lights Christmas Parade.

It was unclear how much of the route the bear walked, but another witness captured video of a bruin that may have been the same animal feasting on trash after the parade.

Snook-Paige joked on social media that the bear was such a hit with spectators that organizers "should've made him the grand marshal" of the parade.

World's largest Lego mural assembled in Switzerland

A charity event in Switzerland attempted a Guinness World Record by assembling a mural from 300,000 Lego bricks.

The mural, which measures nearly 79 feet long and more than 6 feet tall, was assembled as part of the Swiss Telethon, which raised money for people living with rare genetic diseases.

The mural, assembled in Yverdon-les-Bains, depicts various locations in Switzerland's North Vaud region.

The mural was designed and assembled by Brickmaster.ch, a Concise-based company specializing in Lego-related events.

The artwork must still be reviewed by Guinness World Records to officially earn the title of largest Lego mural.

83,427 cookies baked for world record attempt in Pittsburgh

Members of a Pittsburgh-area Facebook page organized a world record attempt that involved the baking of 83,427 total cookies for a massive exchange.

The attempt to hold the world's largest cookie exchange, organized by The Wedding Cookie Table Community Facebook page, brought together 583 bakers in 67 teams from 14 states — and New Zealand.

The bakers displayed 83,427 cookies on team tables at the Washington County Fairgrounds, and in the end 73,835 cookies were exchanged.

Laura Magone, the creator of The Wedding Cookie Table Community, said the cookies were Christmas-themed.

"So you had everything decorated like snowballs and Santa Claus and reindeer, just a lot of fun," she told CBS Pittsburgh.

Evidence from the attempt will be submitted to Guinness World Records in the hopes of originating the category of the largest Christmas cookie exchange.

Baby born in the back of Waymo driverless taxi in San Francisco

Autonomous taxi company Waymo confirmed a woman riding to the hospital in a driverless taxi ended up giving birth inside the vehicle.

The company said the woman was on her way to University of California San Francisco when she gave birth in the back seat of the Waymo car.

The company's Rider Support Team detected the unusual activity inside the vehicle and called 911.

The baby had been born by the time the taxi arrived at the hospital.

"We're proud to be a trusted ride for moments big and small, serving riders from just seconds old to many years young," a Waymo representative told KRON-TV. "We wish the new family all the best, and we look forward to safely getting them where they're going through many of life's events."

The company said in a statement to KTVU-TV that the taxi in question was "immediately removed from service for cleaning."

Thousands of golden retrievers gather in Buenos Aires for meetup

Nearly 2,400 golden retrievers and their owners gathered this week in Buenos Aires in what organizers and local media described as the largest meeting of the breed ever recorded.

A total of 2,397 golden retrievers assembled in the Bosques de Palermo, turning one of Argentina's most iconic parks into an unusual scene and surpassing the previous unofficial record of 1,685 dogs set in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Although the figure is pending certification by Guinness World Records, organizers described the gathering as a milestone for Argentina's dog-loving community.

The event was organized through a social media call inviting golden retriever owners from across the country to bring their pets to Buenos Aires. Participants arrived from several provinces, many early in the day, to ensure their dogs were counted.

According to Infobae, volunteers were stationed throughout the park to register each dog using lists and visual checks to avoid duplication and ensure an accurate count.

Organizers said the process was designed to maintain order and ensure the safety of both dogs and attendees.

Known for their gentle and sociable temperament, the golden retrievers roamed freely through the park under their owners' supervision. Despite the size of the event, no significant incidents were reported.

Many dogs wore festive accessories such as scarves, bandanas and hats, while families took photos and recorded videos that quickly spread on social media.

Several attendees said the gathering was about more than setting a record. In comments reported by local media, owners highlighted the event's sense of community and the opportunity to share experiences with other families who own the same breed.

Some said it was the first time they had ever seen so many golden retrievers in one place.

Golden retrievers are among the most popular dog breeds in Argentina, particularly among families with children, because of their friendly nature and ability to adapt to urban environments. Veterinarians often recommend the breed for its balanced behavior and ease of training.

The Buenos Aires event reflects a growing trend of large-scale gatherings organized through social media that combine pet culture with the use of public spaces.

Similar gatherings have taken place in other Latin American cities in recent years, though none on this scale.

Organizers said they plan to submit the required documentation to international record-keeping organizations and did not rule out repeating the event in the future.

Local authorities did not formally sponsor the gathering but authorized the use of the park, which is typically used for recreational and cultural activities.

California woman wins $1M lottery prize one day before her birthday

A California woman scored a $1 million top price from a California Lottery scratch-off ticket just one day before her birthday.

Latreice Presentine told California Lottery officials Sweet Time Donuts on East Compton Boulevard in Compton is her preferred spot to buy tickets.

"I always go to this doughnut shop and buy two $10 Scratchers every morning," Presentine said.

She said that was the routine she followed on the day before her birthday.

"The second one I scratched had a matching number, and underneath it was $1,000,000," she said. "I couldn't believe it. I kept looking and looking at the ticket, and I was like, 'God, for real god? This is how you're doing me a day before my birthday?'"

Presentine said her plans for the money include paying off some debt, purchasing a car and putting a down payment on a house.

Trespassing alligator removed from 7-Eleven store in Florida

Sheriff's deputies in Florida were summoned to a 7-Eleven store to remove a cold blooded loiterer refusing to make any purchases — an alligator.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said the gator, measuring about 10 feet and 3 inches long, wandered up to the 7-Eleven store on North River Road in Sarasota.

"Yes... it happened again. Another day, another gator — Sarasota's really determined to make this a weekly series," the sheriff's office said on social media.

The sheriff's office previously removed a 14-foot, 600-pound alligator from the middle of a road just one week earlier.

1,435 couples kiss under mistletoe to break world record

A total 1,435 couples locked lips under festive sprigs in Washington, D.C., to break the Guinness World Record for the most couples kissing underneath the mistletoe.

The DowntownDC Business Improvement District, which organized the attempt, said in a news release that the Saturday event at Anthem Row officially broke the record of 480 couples, which was set in St. Louis, Mo., in 2019.

"Breaking a Guinness World Record title is an incredible moment for DowntownDC, but what's even more meaningful is seeing our community gather and celebrate in the heart of the district," DowntownDC President and CEO Gerren Price said. "Events like this bring people together in such a memorable, joyful way and show the true vibrancy and energy in the city that we love."

The record attempt marked the second year Downtown DC has installed the "National Mistletoe" at Anthem Row.

German man collects 11,000 different snow globes

A German man who earned a Guinness World Record for his collection of 6,100 snow globes in 2002 revealed his collection has now grown to 11,000 pieces.

Josef Kardinal broke his own record for the largest collection of snow globes when a Guinness World Records adjudicator visited his Nuremberg home and confirmed he now owns 11,000 different snow globes.

Kardinal, who has been collecting snow globes since 1994, said the oldest item in his collection is an Eiffel Tower-themed snow globe made in Paris in 1889.

Some of his more unique possessions include a snow globe shaped like a Coca-Cola phone, one depicting the sinking of the Titanic and a globe depicting Santa Claus flying a helicopter. He also has snow globes depicting characters and locations from Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

"I love the romance of snow globes and how beautiful they are when you shake them up and the snow falls down," Kardinal told Guinness World Records. "People love snow globes as they encapsulate a perfect world. Obviously one that is not realistic and that is why we gravitate towards them."

92-year-old grandmother wins 'Tekken 8' tournament in Japan

A 92-year-old Japanese grandmother showed off her skills at popular video game Tekken 8 and was named the winner of an esports tournament.

The Care eSports Association, an organization specializing in video game tournaments for senior citizens, announced its 12th biannual tournament has completed, with Hisako Sakai, 92, taking the top spot.

The tournament featured eight senior citizens, ranging in age from 73 to 95, facing off in virtually-held one-on-one Tekken 8 match-ups.

Sakai defeated 74-year-old Goro Sugiyama in the finals to take the top spot in the tournament, which was livestreamed on Care eSports' YouTube channel with live commentary.

Man sings Christmas songs for 42 hours to break world record

The proprietor of a sandwich shop in England attempted a Guinness World Record by spending 42 consecutive hours singing Christmas songs.

Dave Purchase, aka "Mr. Toasty" of the On Toast sandwich shop, closed the store inside Gloucester's Warehouse 4 so he could attempt the record for the longest marathon singing Christmas songs, which was previously set at 40 hours by Confidence Survival Eyong in Nigeria in 2024.

Purchase's 38 songs included traditional classics like "Jingle Bells," as well as more modern Christmas hits from Mariah Carey and Wham. He rotated through the tunes and finished after singing 684 songs.

He was joined at various points in his attempt by a dementia choir, a children's choir and festive locals.

Disney+, Hulu unveil world's largest 'Home Alone' gingerbread house

Disney+ and Hulu are celebrating the 35th anniversary of Home Alone by constructing the world's largest gingerbread house, which resembles the film's McCallister home.

Guinness World Records confirmed that the structure, which is 34 feet long, 58 feet wide and 22 feet tall, is the world's largest.

The streamers' efforts over eight days won them the Guinness World Record for the world's largest gingerbread house, a press release says.

The structure, which is on display in Hollywood, consists of 7,350 pounds of flour, more than 6,600 eggs, 20 gallons of edible glue and 10 pounds of fondant.

Overdue library book returned after 36 years of world travel

An overdue library book was returned to the Chantilly Regional Library after 36 years and a trip to Greece.

The Fairfax County Library system posted about the book's return on Facebook Thursday.

Harry the Dirty Dog was initially checked out by Nov. 6, 1989 by diplomats living in D.C., their son, Dimitris, said in a note.

"They are now retired in Greece and I found this book on their shelves," he said. "It traveled the world and was well taken care of as you can see. And now it can find its way home."

"Thank you to Dimitris' parents for taking such good care of our book and to Dimitris for helping the book find its way back to our shelves," the Fairfax County Library system wrote.

Other books have been returned to libraries after decades away in recent months, including one arriving at the San Antonio Public Library after 82 years.

Wild koala rides the city bus in Brisbane, Australia

A bus driver in Brisbane, Australia, spotted a koala darting through traffic on a busy road and brought the animal aboard the vehicle to wait for rescuers.

Koala Rescue Brisbane South said on social media that the Brisbane CityGlider bus driver spotted the koala on Wiles Street at Camp Hill and got out to rescue the animal.

The koala attempted to climb a metal light pole on a median and the driver, fearing the marsupial would fall, covered its head with a jacket and brought it onto the bus.

"We don't recommend handling koalas unless you're trained. They have incredibly dangerous claws, can bite — and gripping them around their ribs can cause serious damage," the rescue's post said.

"If you find an injured koala, and it's safe to contain it without touching it until help arrives, please do so; anywhere dark is good for wildlife. Usually we recommend a laundry basket covered with a towel, but if needs be, a bus will do!"

Video and photos shared by the rescue show the koala, dubbed Peri by rescuers, holding onto a pole inside the bus while waiting for wildlife experts to arrive.

Rescuers took Peri to an RSPCA wildlife hospital, where he was given a clean bill of health.

Peri was relocated to the Seven Hills Bushland Reserve and returned to the wild.

Mystery boat washed up on England beach identified as missing lifeboat

A mysterious orange-red boat that washed up on an England beach was determined to be a lifeboat reported missing from a cargo ship.

The unusual vessel was spotted on the beach in Sidmouth, Devon, on Sunday, and the Beer Coastguard Rescue Team was summoned to investigate.

The aquatic vehicle was determined to be a lifeboat that had become detached from a cargo ship that departed Morocco Dec. 16 and lost the smaller boat en route to Belgium.

"It was confirmed no persons were involved," the BCRT said on social media.

The rescue team safely disposed of the boat's flares and stored the rest of the vessel's contents until it can be retrieved by the cargo ship's owners.

The rescue team used a tractor to pull the boat further from the water line to keep it safe until it can be removed from the beach.

"Special thanks to the lady who supplied drinks and sandwiches," the coastguard team said.