ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Kansas residents activate tornado sirens by phone

HUTCHINSON, Kan.

Kansas authorities say a phone glitch is to blame for the mistaken sounding of tornado sirens in recent weeks, causing confusion and even panic among some residents in and around Hutchinson.

At first, officials suspected there was water on the phone lines or perhaps insects.

But The Hutchinson News reports the sirens are assigned local phone numbers and are activated when emergency workers dial those numbers.

A software glitch opened the lines to outside calls, and residents who mistakenly dialed those numbers activated the sirens.

Officials say they’ve fixed the problem by assigning new, secure phone numbers to the sirens.

Have a parking ticket? Try yoga bends, Mass. city says

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.

Drivers annoyed by parking tickets in Cambridge, Mass., are getting some calming advice from city officials — try yoga.

The city’s parking tickets include instructions on the reverse on how to bend into some simple yoga positions.

The city, which is home to Harvard and MIT, printed 40,000 of the tickets as part of a public art project by artist-in-residence Daniel Peltz. Cambridge parking enforcement officers hand out about 340,000 tickets per year.

Susan Clippinger, the city’s transportation chief, tells the Boston Herald the purpose of the tickets is to “debunk the idea that all parking tickets are a hostile action.”

Not everyone is buying it. Cambridge resident Hyunho Noh said “it’s not working” as he showed up to pay a $25 ticket.

Shivering Wyoming horses get an indoor exercise place

BAIROIL, Wyo.

Humans aren’t the only ones who can use an indoor place to exercise during Wyoming’s harsh winters.

The town of Bairoil has an 80- by 120-foot barn where people can give their horses a workout in bad weather.

The Rawlins Daily Times reports the barn has no heat and no seating, but it does have electric lights so it can be used after dark.

The Bairoil town government operates the barn. Town Clerk Barb Miles explains it this way: “We don’t have a lot of protection from wind and snow from any direction.”

Residents who pay a fee get an access code. They can get in 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Fees range from $35 a month for individuals to $100 a month for commercial use.

Associated Press