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.