Think, McFly, think!

Without a flux capacitor installed, Spencer White did not expect to engage in time travel when he sped down Highway 14 in Santa Clarita, Calif., in his DeLorean sports car on May 26. But he didn’t expect to get a speeding ticket either. Taking his mother for a drive in the Los Angeles suburbs, White noticed he was going 85 mph. Why not try to duplicate the famous scenes in Back to the Future in which a speeding DeLorean travels in time when it reaches 88 mph? That’s when officers with the California Highway Patrol stopped him and issued him a ticket.

Catch of the day

Dondi Mitchell knew he had caught something other than a fish on June 1 at Silver Lake in Athol, Mass. “I thought it was a rug,” he told The Boston Globe. But after he pulled his catch out of the water, he discovered it was a purse weighed down with rocks. That was only his first surprise. When he dug through the contents, he found a driver’s license and recognized the photo as being of Kim Flanders, a fellow member of the class of 1985 at Ralph C. Mahar Regional High School in Orange, Mass. Credit cards, a calculator, and rings from a previous marriage were also inside the purse, which Flanders lost in 1999. Flanders had since moved to Florida and remarried, but she and Mitchell were Facebook friends. He sent the purse to Flanders, who was shocked at the discovery. “I sent it insured,” Mitchell said, “just in case.”

Angry birds

An animal charity in Cork, Ireland, has managed to end a dayslong standoff between students of the Cork Institute of Technology and a pair of marauding crows. According to school officials, the birds had suddenly become aggressive, dive-bombing pedestrians on campus and attacking with talons and beaks. Several of the crow’s victims required tetanus shots. That’s when volunteers from the Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stepped in and discovered the two adult crows were trying to protect a juvenile crow that had fallen from its nest. The volunteers removed the baby bird from campus on May 30, and the crow attacks stopped.

Long haul

Most Uber trips don’t require the driver to get approval from both Uber and the driver’s wife. But Texas driver Brent Pfieffer’s late-night trip on June 4 was the most unusual not only in his driving career but in the ride-sharing company’s history. When Pfieffer picked up three Chinese passengers at DFW Airport, they told him in broken English that they wanted him to take them from Dallas to Nashville, Tenn. The passengers had missed their connecting flight in Dallas and needed to make it to a lunch meeting in Nashville the next day. After speaking to the company and his wife, Pfieffer drove the passengers to their destination, a 690-mile trip that took 11½ hours. Uber says Pfieffer’s run was the longest ever for the company. The fare: $774.70.

Cycle of defeat

Cyclist Luka Pibernik may have pedaled the race of his life, but after he lost track of his lap count, it mattered little. Believing he had already won stage five of the Giro d’Italia race on May 10, Pibernik raised his hands in victory and slowed. When other cyclists started zooming past, Pibernik realized he had only completed the penultimate 4-mile lap. By that time he had lost too much ground. The 23-year-old finally finished the race in 148th place.

Reckless mower

While most would be running for cover, Canadian Theunis Wessels had just one thing on his mind: finishing his lawn. The Three Hills, Alberta, resident was photographed by his wife cutting the grass June 2 even as a massive tornado swirled in the background. Later, Wessels explained that he was “keeping an eye on [the tornado]” and noted that the tornado warnings hadn’t started yet. Only after cutting the grass did Wessels and his wife Cecilia wait indoors for the threat to pass.

High flight

Customs and border officials in Kuwait apprehended and arrested a homing pigeon attempting to smuggle drugs into the country from Iraq in May. Authorities observed the trained bird flying high overhead and noticed something suspicious on its back: a tiny backpack. Customs officials then followed the bird to its roost where they were able to apprehend the trafficker and confiscate the pigeon’s tiny backpack filled with 178 ecstasy pills.

Airborne assault

Texans may soon be able to take to the skies stealthily for hunting. The Texas Legislature approved a bill on May 24 that would direct the state to issue hot air balloon hunting licenses for hunting feral hogs and coyotes. According to the state, nearly 2 million feral hogs in Texas cause massive damage to the state’s agricultural industry. Lawmakers in Texas had already approved helicopter hunting of the hogs, but the noise from the rotors tends to scare away the skittish animals.

Motion to finesse

A judge in Springfield, Mass., denied an unusual request from a defendant in an attempted robbery case. Representing himself in the case, defendant Orlando Melendez argued May 25 that the court should allow him to juggle for the jury in his upcoming trial. According to the motion, Melendez says he must be able to make the case to the jury that he is an actual clown—because his defense is that he was just clowning around when he waved a toy gun in a local convenience store at 3:15 a.m. and demanded money from the cash register. Presiding Judge Robert Murphy responded to the motion in one word: “Denied.”