Monday 11/08/10

Human Interest News — Posted on November 8, 2010

Out of order
When Fiji celebrated the 40th anniversary of independence from the United Kingdom on Oct. 10, one item was conspicuously absent from the revelries–the legal document that first established Fiji as independent in 1970. Fijians have compared the loss of the Independence Order presented to Fijian officials by Prince Charles in 1970 to the United States losing its only copy of the Declaration of Independence. For five years, government officials in the Pacific island nation have scoured official records searching for the document. Sheepishly, ahead of the independence celebrations, the Fijian government called off the search and petitioned the United Kingdom for a photocopy version of its Independence Order.

Sleeper pick
A 62-year-old Ecuadorian native has been crowned the world’s best napper after winning Spain’s first Siesta Championship. Participants in the unusual contest were given 20 minutes in the early afternoon to nap in the middle of a busy Madrid shopping center. Pedro Soria Lopez was able to sleep for 17 of the 20 minutes, according to monitoring hardware used by the event’s organizer, the National Organization of Friends of the Siesta. Lopez’s snores even reached 70 decibels-equal to a person talking loudly-which earned him style points. For winning the contest, the unemployed Ecuadorian security guard earned a nearly $1,400 cash prize.

Duties of youth
Kyle Roberts has the best excuse to get out of jury duty. The Ontario, Canada, native is only 10 but somehow appeared in local jury pools and voter registration lists. Kyle received his jury summons in October, about three weeks after he received a voter registration card in the mail.