You let your grown son, his girlfriend and their child move into your house, and what thanks do you get in return? For a 43-year-old Lone Rock, Wisconsin, woman, "Happy Mother's Day" was expressed with a shock to the neck from a Taser wielded by her 22-year-old son, Andrew Peterson. According to The Smoking Gun, Peterson became upset on May 9 because he couldn't find his phone, so he stunned his mother, then left her home with 20-year-old Colleen Parker and their child. Peterson was arrested for the shocking assault; Parker also was arrested for allegedly punching Peterson's mom in the face earlier in the week. [The Smoking Gun, 5/10/2021]

Awesome!

Four-year-old Noah of Brooklyn, New York, knows nautical nonsense when he sees it, so he went all-in on SpongeBob SquarePants Popsicles, ordering 918 of them from Amazon in April without his mom knowing. When 51 cases arrived at his aunt's home, his mom panicked: Jennifer Bryant is a social work graduate student at NYU and has two other boys, The Washington Post reported. She couldn't pay the $2,618.85 bill, and Amazon wouldn't take the frozen confections back. A family friend set up a GoFundMe page, raising more than $11,000, which Noah's mom said will go toward his education. Noah is on the autism spectrum, and his mom hopes to send him to a special school. Amazon is working with the family to donate to a private charity of their choice, and as for the treats? They've mostly melted. [Washington Post, 5/7/2021]

Government in Action

Since 1989, Mauro Morandi, now 81, has been the caretaker of Budelli, an otherwise uninhabited island in the Mediterranean Sea off Sardinia. He stumbled into the job when his catamaran broke down near the island and he learned that its caretaker was getting ready to retire, The Guardian reported. Now known as Italy's Robinson Crusoe, Morandi lives in a former World War II shelter and keeps things tidy on the island, clearing paths and keeping beaches clean for day-trippers who visit. But ownership of the island has passed to La Maddalena national park authorities, who are evicting Morandi and turning the small isle into an environmental education destination. "I have given up the fight," Morandi said. "I'll be living in the outskirts of the main town (on neighboring island La Maddalena), so will just go there for shopping and the rest of the time keep myself to myself. ... I'll still see the sea." [The Guardian, 4/26/2021]

Weird Science

Angie Yen, 27, of Brisbane, Australia, had her tonsils removed on April 19, a simple surgery that went smoothly, News.com reported. But on April 28, as she got ready for work, she started singing in the shower and noticed something unusual about her voice. "I was singing in a different sound and also talking words in a funny accent," Yen said. She called a friend, who agreed that her accent suddenly sounded Irish and told her about FAS, foreign accent syndrome. Yen went to the hospital, but doctors told her to go home and see if the new accent would disappear in a few days. Nearly two weeks later, the brogue remains, and Yen is scheduled for an MRI and a visit with a neurologist. "I'm very lucky to have very supportive friends and family," she said. "If they find something hopefully there is a cure or treatment for it." [News.com, 5/11/2021]

Lost and Found

Parker Hanson, a pitcher at Augustana College in Illinois,] was born without a left hand, but he adapted over the years so that he could still play his favorite game. On May 3, Hanson realized that the backpack he had left in his car, which contained his prosthetic arm and some of its attachments, had been stolen. Hanson told the Argus Leader that he had lost hope of finding the expensive prosthetic and had started to focus on fundraising for a new one when he received a text on May 11. Nate Riddle and Tim Kachel, who work at Millennium Recycling Inc. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, found the arm as they sorted recycling materials. "I recognized it instantly," said Kachel, who had heard about the theft on the news. "I was jumping up and down screaming 'Stop!'" While Hanson is happy to have it back, he said the arm is "pretty banged up" and unusable. Shriners Children's Twin Cities has stepped up to provide Hanson with a new arm free of charge, and his fundraising money will be donated to help other amputees get their own prosthetics. "If I can help impact some kid's life for a positive, then that's what I'll take out of this whole experience," Hanson said. [Argus Leader, 5/11/2021]

Smile for the Camera

The Colonial Pipeline shutdown and subsequent gas shortage has produced its fair share of hysteria-fueled incidents in the Southeast, but Jesse Smith, 25, of Griffin, Georgia, may have set the bar. Police there were able to track down and arrest the would-be thief after he attempted to steal gas from a U-Haul truck on May 12 by drilling holes in its tank, resulting in a huge hazardous materials mess ... and no looted gas. WSB-TV reported that Smith was long gone by the time his handiwork was discovered, but security cameras in the U-Haul lot caught Smith walking around the trucks, and a camera trained on the area behind the KFC where Smith parked his own truck caught his hopeful arrival and the walk of shame that followed his failed gas heist. [WSB-TV 2, 5/13/2021]

Meanwhile in Florida

It wasn't a desire to relive her glory days that led 28-year-old Audrey Nicole Francisquini to pose as a student and trespass at American Senior High School in Hialeah, Florida, on May 10; it was the yen for Instagram followers. The Miami-Dade Schools Police Department reported that Francisquini arrived at the school around 8:30 a.m. and blended in with the students by wearing a backpack and carrying a skateboard and a painting. According to Click Orlando, the wannabe social media mogul said she was looking for the registration office when confronted by security, but she was later found outside a classroom handing out flyers with her Instagram handle printed on them. This time Francisquini fled, but police used her flyers and footage from the school's security cameras to identify and arrest her on charges of felony trespassing, interfering at an educational institution and resisting an officer without violence. [ClickOrlando.com, 5/13/21]

Least Competent Criminal

When Keith Adams, 37, was arrested during a traffic stop on April 24 in Largo, Florida, he was found to be sitting on a "glass pipe which contained a thick white residue which field tested positive for cocaine," The Smoking Gun reported. Adams, who wears a prosthetic leg, was asked during his arrest if he had anything concealed in his leg and was warned that if he did, it would result in another charge. Adams denied that there was anything in his leg, but when he was searched at the Pinellas County jail, officers found a gram of fentanyl and some Xanax pills. Adams was detained on three felony charges and one misdemeanor. [The Smoking Gun, 4/26/2021]

Mistaken Identity

Zhang Li, a Chinese woman who lives in Shanghai, decided in 2018 to get a pet. She wasn't really into cats or dogs, though, so she purchased a micro-pig, Oddity Central reported. Her research said that the animals were clean and intelligent, and usually grew to be about the size of a small dog. By the time Zhang's pig grew to 330 pounds, she was too attached to it to let it go. The breed, Bama Xiangzhu, is known in food circles for its tender meat and thin skin, and among owners for its healthy appetite. Zhang takes her pig for walks but says she gets annoyed at its laziness. [Oddity Central, 5/13/2021]

Sweet Revenge

On May 4, in Taipei, two masked men entered the G House Taipei restaurant carrying bags filled with more than 1,000 cockroaches, Oddity Central reported. They released the creepy crawlies at the reception desk on the second floor, then fled. Law enforcement officers who happened to be attending a banquet at the restaurant that evening initially thought the attack was directed at them, but as it turns out, the suspects are part of Bamboo Union, an organized crime ring, and the restaurant owner allegedly owed money to the mob. Police said they would pursue the perpetrators as if the stunt had been an act of violence, something like attacking someone with paint. [Oddity Central, 5/7/2021]

The World Toe Wrestling Federation has announced that the 2021 championship matches will go ahead in August in Derbyshire, England (what a relief!) and organizers are looking for people who want to dip their toes in the water of pro competition. Toe wrestling, The Northern Echo reported, takes place sitting down and barefoot, with the competitors' toes linked. But matches are no tiptoe through the tulips: Ben "Total Destruction" Woodroffe, who is ranked second in the world (and had his toenails surgically removed to give him a competitive edge), had his ankle snapped in two places by 16-time champion Alan "Nasty" Nash -- during a practice session. "It's a people's sport; there are no levels or qualifiers, and anyone can join," Woodroffe said encouragingly. [The Northern Echo, 4/24/2021]

Oops

-- A stone marking the border between Belgium and France dates back to 1819, but its provenance was no deterrent for a Belgian farmer who became annoyed that it was placed right where he needed to drive his tractor. The BBC reported that the farmer relocated the stone about 7.5 feet into French territory -- a move that has tickled officials on both sides. "I was happy, my town was bigger," said David Lavaux, the mayor of Erquelinnes in Belgium. "But the mayor of Bousignies-sur-Roc didn't agree." The farmer will be asked to move the stone back; "If he shows good will, he won't have a problem, we will settle this issue amicably," Lavaux said. Otherwise, he may face criminal charges. [BBC, 5/4/2021]

-- Kevin Johnson was arrested in Maricopa County, Arizona, after he left behind an obvious bit of evidence when he slashed two of his neighbor's tires, the Maricopa Monitor reported. Francesca Wikoff found her flat tires on April 15, along with a severed finger lying on the driveway, and police said a trail of blood led to a nearby home. The night before, Johnson had allegedly become drunk and belligerent at a neighborhood get-together, where he shoved and threatened Wikoff and her husband before being asked to leave. He was charged with criminal damage and assault, along with other offenses. [Maricopa Monitor, 4/24/2021]

Goals

A police officer in Leicestershire, England, finally got his wish, to "tick off a water-based pursuit in landlocked Leicester," on April 28. The 37-year-old perp was wanted for suspicion of assault and breaching a restraining order, Leicestershire Live reported. Police located his narrowboat, which has a top speed of 4 mph, on the Grand Union Canal, and one officer rode his bike alongside the boat for 8 miles as others waited for it at Lock 37. "The suspect was arrested as he left the boat to travel through a lock," a spokesperson said. [Leicestershire Live, 4/29/2021]

The Birds

There may be just 500 California condors left in the world, but about 20 of them are meeting up at the home of Cinda Mickols in Tehachapi, California. Mickols' daughter, Seana Quintero, said the imposing birds showed up at the beginning of May, the Associated Press reported, and have trashed her mother's deck. They've knocked over plants, scratched railings and ruined a spa cover and decorative flags. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suggested "harmless hazing" methods to disperse the protected birds, such as shouting and clapping, or spraying water. [Associated Press, 5/6/2021]

The Way the World Works

Matt Perkins and his husband were in the midst of having a pool installed in the backyard of their new home in Las Vegas when police and crime scene investigators showed up on April 26. The pool builders had unearthed some bones buried about 5 feet below the surface, the Associated Press reported. The bones turned out not to be human; they are those of a horse or other large mammal. More important, they are not recent: Nevada Science Center Research Director Joshua Bonde said they're between 6,000 and 14,000 years old, dating to Earth's most recent Ice Age. The area was once a watering spot for wildlife in the Mohave Desert. Bonde said U.S. laws give ownership of fossils to property owners; Perkins is deciding how best to preserve the antiquities. [Associated Press, 4/28/2021]

The Weirdo-American Community

In rural Moffat, Colorado, the body of 45-year-old Amy Carlson, known as Mother God by the spiritual group Love Has Won, was found dead and mummified on April 28. Her body was wrapped in a sleeping bag and decorated with Christmas lights, Fox News reported. One of Carlson's followers told police that he took in a group of people who he believes transported her body from California to his home. Saguache County Coroner Tom Perrin told police he believes Carlson died about four weeks ago. Seven people were arrested in connection with the case; they were also charged with child abuse, as two minors were found in the home. [Fox News, 5/5/2021]

Bright Idea

Here's one way to keep your neighbors at a distance: Build a wall made of cow dung. In Lodi Township, Michigan, one farmer did just that, constructing a 250-foot-long wall of manure after disputing a property line with Wayne Lambarth. The wall generates an unpleasant stench, Lambarth told Fox News, but the anonymous farmer who built it denies it's a "poop wall." "It's a compost fence," he said. Officials in the area have said nothing can be done about it because it is on private property. [Fox News, 5/4/2021]

Read the Label

Michigander Yacedrah Williams got into sticky trouble in late April when she mistook a bottle of nail glue for eye drops, Fox News reported. Williams fell asleep with her contact lenses in, and when she woke up, she wanted to take them out. She reached into her purse for eye drops but grabbed the nail glue she uses to fix broken fingernails -- and immediately recognized her mistake. "I was trying to pull my eyes apart, but I couldn't," Williams said. Her husband rushed her to the ER, where doctors opened her eyes and removed her contacts -- which they believe saved her vision. She did lose her eyelashes, though. Dr. George Williams noted, "If it's any comfort to her, she's not the first person to make this mistake." [Fox News, 4/23/2021]

Awesome!

Traffic outside a school in China's Henan province was so bad that one student's mother, Ms. Meng, spent $154,000 having two footbridges built over the road so that kids could cross safely. In addition, the school is located on lower ground, and students had to walk through puddles outside the building. "The water will spill over the stairs where schoolchildren stand to wait for their parents like little birds," Meng said, according to Oddity Central. "My child's feet turned white because they were soaking in water." Meng did not tell her son that she funded the footbridges. "I just did what I can afford to do. You can't take money with you after death." [Oddity Central, 5/5/2021]

Perspective

Madison Kohout, 19, moved from Oklahoma to Piggott, Arkansas, in March to be nearer to a family she had become close with. She found an apartment and signed a lease after sundown, with the landlord telling her she could move in that evening if she'd like: "No one's going to hear anything. They can't really hear very well." About a week later, she noticed a sign outside the complex that said "Senior Living Apartments." "I realized I moved myself into a retirement community," Kohout told The New York Times. "I can't believe I did this." However, in the spirit of lemons and lemonade, Kohout is making the best of it. "It's like having extra sets of grandparents," she said. [New York Times, 5/3/2021]

-- In Taiwan, where companies are required to give newlyweds eight days of paid leave, an unnamed bank employee in Taipei used a loophole in the law to claim 32 days of leave over 37 days last year, reported Agence France-Presse on April 21. The man and his wife got married four times and divorced three times, claiming eight days of leave for each wedding. The bank complained to the city labor department, which sided with the employee and fined the bank about $670 for violating the regulation, sparking public criticism. The labor department later revoked the fine "to recognize a mistake and improve," it said. [AFP via France24, 4/21/2021]

-- An unnamed civil servant in Italy is accused of collecting full pay at his job at Ciaccio hospital in Catanzaro since 2005 even though he never showed up for work. The man is also accused of threatening his supervisor if she filed a report against him; she later retired and none of her successors noticed his absence. The BBC reported authorities discovered the alleged fraud as part of a wider investigation into absenteeism in Italy's public sector, and six managers at the hospital are also under investigation. The truant worker reportedly collected about $650,000 over the years. [BBC, 4/21/2021]

Fine Points of the Law

Caron McBride, 52, applied to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to change her name on her driver's license after getting married in November, and was told to call the Cleveland County District Attorney's office in Oklahoma, where she learned she was wanted there on a charge of felony embezzlement for failing to return a VHS tape of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" to a Norman video store in 1999. "I thought, this is insane," McBride said, but prosecutors accused her of "willfully, unlawfully and feloniously embezzle(ing)" the tape, valued at $58.59, according to court documents. The Washington Post reported McBride had no memory of renting the tape, but guessed the man she lived with at the time must have gotten it for his two young daughters. On April 23, prosecuters in Norman said they would drop the charge and expunge McBride's record. [Washington Post, 4/26/2021]

Jungle Justice

A man suspected of poaching rhinos in South Africa's Kruger National Park was trampled to death by a herd of elephants on April 17, according to park authorities. Managing Executive Gareth Coleman praised the park's "successful weekend in the fight to keep our rhinos alive" as rangers arrested five suspects, carrying hunting rifles and an ax, in a continuing crackdown on poaching, reported The Washington Post. (BONUS: A skull and a pair of pants were all that remained of a suspected poacher killed by an elephant and eaten by lions in the park in 2019.) [Washington Post, 4/20/2021]

Awesome!

Police in the Hradec Kralove region of the Czech Republic were stunned when a man turned in a Soviet T-34 tank and an SD-100 artillery gun as part of a nationwide weapons amnesty program designed to legalize guns that had not been registered. Prague Morning reported on April 10 that the man was a collector of historic weaponry and has owned the 1950s-era tank, which had been painted pink, since the 1990s. Authorities checked the tank and gun to confirm they have been properly deactivated, and the man was allowed to keep them in his collection. The amnesty campaign continues until July. [Prague Morning, 4/10/2021]

Creme de la Weird

Anna Marie Choudhary, 33, of Boone, North Carolina, was sentenced March 31 in West Virginia to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, ending a case McDowell County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Dennie Morgan called the "craziest" his office has ever seen. Choudhary had been arrested, along with her father, Larry Paul McClure Sr., 55, of Pendleton, Kentucky, and her sister, Amanda Michelle Naylor McClure, 31, of Chicago City, Minnesota, in connection with the 2019 murder of John Thomas McGuire, 38, boyfriend of Amanda McClure, reported the Watauga Democrat. According to Morgan, McClure and his daughters "tortured" and killed McGuire on Valentine's Day 2019 and buried his body. Later, convinced McGuire was still alive, they exhumed the body and drove a stake through it before dismembering and reburying it. Larry and Amanda McClure then went to Virginia, where they were married, Morgan said. Larry McClure confessed to the murder after being arrested in Kentucky on unrelated charges. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without mercy. Amanda McClure pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years. [Watauga Democrat, 4/13/2021]

Opportunity Knocked

Kelyn Spadoni, 33, of Harvey, Louisiana, was fired from her job as a dispatcher for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office after she was arrested on April 7 and accused of refusing to return more than $1.2 million mistakenly deposited in her brokerage account by Charles Schwab & Co., said sheriff's office spokesman Capt. Jason Rivarde. According to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, Schwab meant to transfer $82.56 into Spadoni's account in February, but instead transferred $1,205,619; when Schwab tried to correct the error the next day, it was told the funds were not available. NOLA.com reported Spadoni is suspected of moving the money and using some of it to buy a new house and an SUV, but authorities have been able to recover about 75% of the money, according to Rivarde. [NOLA.com, 4/9/2021]

Canine Chronicles

-- Newsweek reported a dog lover in Hobbs, New Mexico, who identifies himself as girthbrooks1994 on TikTok, couldn't figure out why the English bulldog he'd been given didn't respond to any of the commands he gave it until he tried something different -- Spanish. Now named Senor Snax, the dog is shown on posted videos readily obeying commands such as "dame la mano" and "sientate" ("give me your hand" and "sit down"). "He's a bien boy and very spoiled," says the proud owner. [Newsweek, 4/26/2021]

-- The Edmonton Fire Rescue Service in Alberta, Canada, was called out on April 20 by reports of a dog driving a car down Guardian Road, United Press International reported. Firefighters determined the dog had been left alone in the car and accidentally shifted it into neutral, allowing it to roll along the road. They were able to stop the car and rescue the dog without incident. [United Press International, 4/21/2021]

Tribute

John Hinkle, 39, a two-time NCAA bowling champion for Western Illinois University, shot a perfect 300 game on April 12 at Landmark Lanes in Peoria, using a ball containing his father's ashes. Because he bowls with two hands, Hinkle said he is allowed only two holes in his bowling ball, so he had the thumb hole filled with some of his father's ashes after the elder Hinkle, who introduced him to the sport, died in 2016, United Press International reported. "I had tears in my eyes in the 11th and 12th frames. I couldn't tell you where that last ball went," Hinkle said. "He was there." [United Press International, 4/21/2021]