oddly enough

oddly enough

Library of Congress to get rare map of flat world

FARGO, N.D.

An Oregon man has given the Library of Congress a rare and unusual gift: a 120-year-old map supporting the theory that the Earth is flat.

Don Homuth, of Salem, Ore., says the map was given to him by his eighth-grade teacher. It was created by Orlando Ferguson of Hot Springs, S.D.

Homuth used to live in Fargo and was a North Dakota state senator.

Library of Congress spokesman Robert Morris told The Forum newspaper that officials checked more than 75 maps before confirming the design was one-of-a-kind.

He says the only other known copy of the map is in the Pioneer Museum in Hot Springs.

Boa constrictor: Not an enthusiastic camping buddy

ADDISON TOWNSHIP, Mich.

A man has discovered that a boa constrictor is not a willing camping companion after his 5-foot-long pet escaped as they vacationed in southeast Michigan.

The man alerted officials that the snake slithered out of his pop-up camper June 9 at Addison Oaks County Park.

Oakland County Parks and Recreation executive officer Dan Stencil tells the Oakland Press of Pontiac that the snake is young and doesn’t pose a threat to humans — “just small animals and so on.”

Stencil says the man has been cited for violating park rules.

Stencil says the snake might have slithered into a crevice in the camper but that herpetologists are scouring the 1,140-acre park 30 miles north of Detroit in hopes of finding it before crowds descend for a fireworks display July 1.

Woman photographs eagle and prey on power line

EAST MISSOULA, Mont.

A Montana woman photographing a bald eagle in a spruce tree near her house also made a picture of what was left of its prey — a fawn carcass dangling from a power line.

Lee Bridges, of East Missoula, says she photographed the eagle Wednesday morning because she had never seen one so close to her house along the Clark Fork River.

About the same time, a NorthWestern Energy employee responding to a power outage drove up. Bridges asked what caused the outage, and he pointed at the line and said, “It looks like you’ve got a deer with wings.”

The lineman told Bridges the fawn’s carcass hit the first line and swung into another line, sparking the 30-minute outage.

The lineman said he’d never seen anything like it.

Associated Press