By The Editors of WorldMag.com
Old dog digs
The newest example of pet owner excess: nursing homes for dogs. For Japanese dog owners who can’t simply put Fido down in his old age, there’s now a dog nursing home north of Tokyo where canines can spend their golden years-for about $820 a month. “It is extremely cruel to force people who think of pets as their own children to care for animals who are crying all night long,” said Takao Kanai, who says he plans on opening seven such canine old-age homes.
Streets of San Francisco
Something clicked in Karen Lodrick’s head the moment she saw a woman with a brown suede coat draped over her arm while waiting to order at a San Francisco Starbucks. Lodrick had seen the unique coat before: It was worn by a woman she saw in a bank security camera withdrawing money from her checking account. Face to face with a woman who had stolen her identity and cost her thousands in lost work, Lodrick did what every identity theft victim dreams of doing: She took off in hot pursuit of the Prada bag-wielding perpetrator. After tailing Maria Nelson for 45 minutes, Lodrick finally led police to apprehend her. Reflecting on the adventure to the San Francisco Chronicle, Lodrick criticized the thief’s priorities: “She had bad teeth and looked like she hadn’t bathed,” she said. “I thought, ‘You’re buying Prada on my dime. Go get your teeth fixed.'”
Home is where the hive is
Where have all the bees gone? While scientists take turns blaming pesticides, global warming, and even cell phones for the disappearance of many North American honeybee colonies, Pennsylvania resident Matthew Danchanko thinks he knows where all the bees have gone: his home. Tens of thousands of honeybees have taken over his four-bedroom house northeast of Johnstown, Pa., and have created about 100 pounds of honey in his house. Instead of eradicating the infestation, the Pennsylvania man says he’s arranged for a local beekeeper to remove and relocate the giant hive.
