Bipartisan science

Political conservatives and liberals have at least one thing in common: dinosaurs. Researchers from Yale, Cornell, and the University of Chicago who studied the book-buying habits of Americans across the political spectrum revealed in Nature Human Behaviour on April 3 that conservatives and liberals buy vastly different scientific books. Both, however, are equally fascinated by paleontology. “We wanted to see to what extent science is something that liberals and conservatives might agree on, and if that could serve as a bridge across the political divide,” Cornell researcher Michael Macy told The Guardian. The only other commonality the scientists found was a shared love of veterinary medicine.

Fine predicament

For five years, Ben Williams of Melbourne, Australia, has tried to convince parking authorities that he’s disabled. The 49-year-old, wheelchair-bound paraplegic says he has a handicap parking permit, but that didn’t stop authorities from handing down a $106 fine in September 2012 for parking in a handicap spot. When Williams petitioned for the ticket to be revoked, the local sheriff’s office issued a warrant. Williams said he planned in April to appear in local court, where he hoped his personal appearance would convince a traffic judge to dismiss the fine.

Seaside escape

An Australian man who executed a poorly conceived dine-and-dash said he had no regrets about skipping a $465 restaurant bill in Main Beach, Australia, south of Brisbane. On April 8, police say, 33-year-old Terry Peck ordered a pair of lobsters, octopus, 17 oysters, and multiple beers before fleeing the seaside restaurant. By the time police arrived, Peck had jumped into the ocean. Two officers on water scooters eventually corralled the man and hauled him to court on theft charges. “They should be apologizing to me for the … overpriced food,” he told reporters outside of the courtroom. “I told [the restaurant] to tell the chef it was overcooked.”

Easter egg hunter

No chicken egg is safe with a fox on the prowl, but who knew plastic Easter eggs were also at risk? A Virginia family’s planned Easter egg hunt was ruined when they woke up on Easter Sunday morning to find almost all their plastic Easter eggs—hidden around the yard the night before—had disappeared. The mother, Katie Joffee, at first suspected local teenagers had swiped the eggs and eaten the chocolate candies hidden inside. But when she and her husband reviewed security camera footage of their yard, they discovered the real culprit: a clever fox with a taste for Easter sweets. The Joffees told WJLA the animal made off with about 30 eggs.

Emergency breakup service

M. Vamshi Krishna needs to work on his relationship skills. Rather than confess to a girlfriend that he didn’t have money to buy plane tickets for their planned April 16 vacation, police in India say the Hyderabad man hatched an elaborate, and illegal, scheme to save face. Police Commissioner M. Mahender Reddy said Krishna forged tickets to Mumbai and then the day before the trip emailed a plane hijacking threat to legal authorities, prompting them to conduct emergency security sweeps at three airports. Indian authorities later tracked the email back to Krishna, who had hoped the airport emergency would persuade his girlfriend to stay at home. Police promptly charged him with making terrorist threats.

Taking one for the team

How devoted are Pittsburgh Penguin fans to their team? After being stabbed in the head with a screwdriver, one 43-year-old Pittsburgh resident refused the pleading of paramedics to seek medical attention until after the conclusion of the Penguins’ April 12 playoff game. Officers said an assault at the unidentified man’s auto detail shop left him with a serious gash on his scalp. After delaying officers and paramedics for more than an hour, the man agreed to go to the hospital—but not before witnessing the Penguins close out a victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Netflix vs. sleep

One thing that may keep Netflix CEO Reed Hastings up at night is the thing the tech boss probably needs: sleep. In an interview with The Independent, Hastings claimed that sleep was Netflix’s chief competition. “When you watch a show from Netflix and you get addicted to it, you stay up late at night,” he said. “We’re competing with sleep, on the margin.” Earlier in April, Netflix announced that its users had spent more than half a billion hours just watching Adam Sandler movies.

Not playing possum

Australian business owner Chantal Vaughan should have given the possums roaming her rafters the benefit of the doubt. When the owner of Bokwa CQ gym arrived at her Rockhampton, Queensland, establishment the morning of April 18 and noticed an animal-size hole in the ceiling, she immediately blamed the critters she knew had taken up residence in the ceiling. “I thought, yes, definitely possums have had a fight up on the rafters and one has fallen down and come through,” she told The Morning Bulletin. It turned out she was only half right. A day or two later a cleaning employee did find a possum—in the belly of a 10-foot snake curled up in the corner of a room. Vaughan called a handler, who relocated the bulging snake to a more natural habitat. “He’s going to probably lose some weight because he has to work for his food,” Vaughan said. “He hasn’t got a free meal up in the roof anymore.”

Stealing from children

Police in New Orleans are searching for a burglar who broke into a local preschool and stayed for eight hours overnight. After reviewing closed-circuit footage of the April 17 break-in, police said the man stole a snack, explored the closed preschool, took a nap with stuffed animals on a makeshift bed, and then absconded through a window with two bags of stolen goods. He left prior to 7 o’clock the next morning—too early to explain himself to the children.