A big deal

It would usually be safe to assume that an egg weighing 3 pounds and measuring 28 inches around isn’t real. That’s what curators at the Buffalo Museum of Science thought about a model they had of an extinct elephant bird—until they realized while cataloging their collection that the egg wasn’t a model. The mislabeled egg in Buffalo, N.Y., is one of the relatively few real eggs left by the extinct elephant bird, a flightless creature that was native to Madagascar and typically grew to weigh about 1,000 pounds. The egg is now on display at the museum.

Monkeying around

A federal appeals court tossed out a lawsuit filed on behalf of a monkey attempting to collect on a copyright violation. Animal rights group PETA sued a British photographer last year after he took payment for a selfie photograph snapped by an inquisitive crested macaque in 2011. According to PETA lawyers who brought the suit, the copyright for the photograph belongs to the creature that pressed the button to drop the shutter on David Slater’s camera. Slater claimed the photo belonged to him because he set up the shot. A district court ruled in Slater’s favor and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed PETA’s appeal on April 23, stating that monkeys lack standing to sue and that animals cannot hold copyrights.

Firing line

Repeated false alarms from a smoke detector reportedly led a frustrated Leroy Mason of Barton, Vt., finally to fire two shots from a shotgun at the device in his apartment. The shots also hit a wall adjoining another apartment, causing no injuries but prompting emergency workers to respond and disarm and arrest Mason. Police say he had previously asked fire crews to relocate the smoke detector, a request they denied.

On your marks …

The runners may have been slow, but the event sold out fast. Event organizers for the inaugural Boerne 0.5k race announced April 18 that there were no more tickets left for the unusual May 5 race stretching just 546 yards. “Join your fellow underachievers for a day (actually more like 10 minutes) of glory, celebration and participation trophies,” the event website advertised. The half-kilometer race also featured a rest stop at the halfway point where runners could refill on coffee and doughnuts, or light one up in the designated smoking area. Runners who completed the event got a T-shirt and what the website called “a pretentious oval Euro-style 0.5k sticker.”

Musical solution

Concerned that panhandlers and loiterers were making customers feel unsafe, the 7-Eleven convenience store chain has turned to Mozart and Bach. Stores with problem loiterers are using outdoor speakers to blast classical music, and it seems to be prompting noncustomers to leave. Manuel Souza, a homeless man in Modesto, Calif., told The Modesto Bee that the music makes it difficult for noncustomers “to hang out and gossip and joke around” at 7-Eleven. The chain reports “very positive feedback” from customers about “the atmosphere created by the music devices.”

Renter beware

The trial of a “landlord” accused of breaking into a stranger’s home to rent it out began April 19 in Snohomish County, Wash. Police say Matthew Robert Paul, a 35-year-old Marysville, Wash., resident, played the long game. He’s accused of breaking into a home, staging it with photographs of himself, lighting the fireplace, and attempting to rent the home out to the general public in 2017. According to police, victims of the scam paid Paul nearly $6,000 to rent the home. During the time that police say Paul was renting to unsuspecting victims, the homeowners were on an extended vacation to Mexico.

School in the stands

When fourth-grader Tucker Speckman cut class and attended the Chicago Cubs’ matinee home opener with his brother on April 10, he made a sign with a special message: “Skipping school … Shh! Don’t tell Principal Versluis.” The sign caught the attention of broadcasters and social media—and Principal Patrick Versluis, who had taken the day off to be in the stands with his own son. Versluis eventually decided to go greet the Speckman brothers, signal his approval, and pose for a picture with the sign. “Attendance is important. But, we also learn from these experiences in life,” Versluis told WQAD. “Who’s giving up opening day? Come on.”

Animal house

Many Americans have long considered the University of California, Berkeley, to be a campus full of nuts. So it makes sense that a squirrel would become a university leader. Last month, sophomore Stephen Boyle’s joke candidate “Furry Boi” garnered more than 500 votes in student senate elections, enough to earn one of the body’s 20 seats. Boyle, who appeared in a squirrel costume on social media advertisements as Furry Boi, said he plans to take the legislative seat. Editors at the student newspaper, The Daily Californian, were not amused: “It’s a shocking display of privilege to vote for a squirrel over candidates who have actual plans to help students.”

Driven to help

A group of 13 truckers helped the Michigan State Police defuse a potential suicide attempt on April 24. Police were called to an overpass of Interstate 696 near Detroit at 3 a.m. to negotiate with a man threatening to jump. While officers talked to the man, Michigan State Police shut down the interstate and rallied more than a dozen truckers to park their rigs underneath the overpass. If the man had fallen from the bridge, the trailers would have prevented him from falling far. Eventually the man was persuaded to climb down from the edge of the bridge and was transported by police to a local hospital.