Oddly enough

Oddly enough

40-year-old Twinkie still going strong

BLUE HILL, Maine

In a glass box in a private school in Maine sits a 40-year-old chemistry experiment still going strong: A decades-old Twinkie.

ABC News reports the experiment started in 1976 when Roger Bennatti was teaching a lesson to his high school chemistry class on food additives and shelf life.

After a student wondered about the shelf life of the snack, Bennatti sent the students to the store with some money. When they returned with the treat, Bennatti ate one and placed the still-surviving Twinkie on the blackboard.

Bennatti has since retired, but the snack now resides in the office of George Stevens Academy’s Dean of Students Libby Rosemeier.

Rosemeier told ABC News she isn’t sure who will inherit the Twinkie when she retires, but joked that the Smithsonian hasn’t called yet.

Cat blamed for turning on faucet, flooding shelter

POMPANO BEACH, Fla.

A cat came with a flood warning when it was adopted from a Florida animal shelter.

Officials at the Florida Humane Society in Pompano Beach tell the Miami Herald that one of its cats turned on a faucet last week, leaving the water to run for 17 hours.

President Carol Ebert says the flooding caused water to run out the shelter’s back door.

No animals were injured, but the shelter is seeking donations to repair floors, cabinets and other damage estimated about $5,000.

Volunteer Terry Arbour says the shelter suspects a 6-month-old kitten known to play in the sinks.

The cat’s name was not released. Arbour says the cat was recently adopted and its new owners were told it was “intelligent enough to turn on water faucets.”

Driver flips car after slipping on snail slime

BERLIN

Is this the definition of a slow-moving hazard?

German police say a driver lost control of his car after slipping on a slimy trail left by a procession of snails that were making their way across the highway.

The car – an old East German Trabant – flipped over and was wrecked, but the driver was unhurt.

Police said the incident happened early Wednesday near Paderborn, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) west of Berlin.

Associated Press