“For teetotal Ron Carter, temptation is never far away. He’s stocked a room in his home with his collection of 1,600 beer glasses. The 51-year-old has spent the past 33 years scouring car boot sales, charity shops and breweries to amass his collection from around the world. But, despite being known as ‘the beer man’, he has not touched a drop in 20 years. ‘I gave up drinking because it was taking a toll on me. I live a much healthier lifestyle now – but it hasn’t dampened my appetite for collecting the glasses,’ Mr Carter said. Every glass he owns belongs to a different brand or brewery – and has cost him $2,782. The collection has grown so large that he has been forced to leave most in boxes piled up in his garage and loft. His obsession began when he first started going to pubs. Fascinated by the designs and variations of drinks available, he would keep a memento every time he tried a different one.” w/ photo

“Jamie Giese and Jared Thompson performed an unusual rescue when they gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dog. The firefighters found seven-year-old Labrador Retriever in shock, sitting in a rocking chair in the room where the fire is believed to have started. The men carried the stricken pooch to safety where they performed mouth-to-snout resuscitation. They also poured water over his soot-covered fur and used an oxygen mask to try and revive the animal. Speaking after the rescue, Giese admitted “It was all improvised” while Thompson said he had remembered tips from former reality TV show Rescue 911. The heroes’ quicking thinking paid off, as Coda was taken to two different pet hospitals, staying overnight at the second to recover.” w/ photos

“At a Downtown Austin game development company in Texas, the boss man is stiff, clumsy, a little bit scary and a whole lot weird. His given name is QB60, but to a man named Richard Garriott, he is known as ‘Mini-Me‘… It wanders around much like the two-wheeled self-balancing Segway personal transport machine. But it also does much more. Equipped with two cameras, a microphone and a speaker, it enables one to use a laptop computer to operate the machine from anywhere one can find a functional broadband Internet connection.” w/ photo + video

“A Detroit-area restaurant has cooked up another giant burger. The Detroit News reports that Mallie’s Sports Grill & Bar in Southgate made a 338-pound Absolutely Ridiculous Burger. A crowd of people gathered to salivate over the unveiling of the massive $2,000 menu item. The 3ft-high sandwich packs 540,000 calories and takes 22 hours to cook. Manager Jason Jones says it comes with fries and a drink. Over the years, Mallie’s has drawn attention for cooking up monstrous burgers. In 2008, the restaurant produced a 134lb burger. Six months later it made one weighing 164lbs. In 2009, it built 186lbs burger and in January it created one that topped the scales at 319 lbs.” w/ photo + video

“A hawk with a nail in its head is alive and still flying free around a San Francisco park after being shot with a nail gun and foiling rescuers’ attempts to catch and help it. This week saw members of the WildRescue group fail in their third attempt to capture the red-tailed hawk after it was spotted in the city’s Golden Gate Park eating a gopher it appeared to have captured. The group were told about the injured bird on Sunday and set about using wire-mesh traps – rather than nets, in which the nail could get caught and further harm the hawk – to try to catch it. According to its rescuers, the bird is likely to have been born in the park to parents that live in the area. They believe it was intentionally targeted with the nail gun, prompting one donor to add to WildRescue’s existing reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprit.” w/ photo

“A porcupine is getting around a bit easier after a New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officer and local police chief helped pull an arrow out of its back. Danville Police Chief Wade Parsons tells the Eagle-Tribune newspaper that the animal had to stop walking every four or five feet. He couldn’t move forward without getting caught in the brush. Conservation officer Chris McKee used a snare pole to rein in the porcupine — and took care not to come into contact with his quills. He said the arrow had missed muscle and bone. The porcupine ran off afterward. McKee said the animal had been chattering and seemed to be in good health, otherwise.” w/ photo

“An elderly Russian woman was arrested – after she stole her neighbor’s stallion on her 80th birthday to tick off one her dreams on her bucket list. Agrafena Vasilyevna was quizzed by police for rustling after steeping into neighbor Igor Vasilev’s stable, saddled up his horse Lyme and galloped away. When she returned an hour later she found her neighbor and a police car waiting for her. Mrs Vasilyevna, from Tverskaya, told stunned officers that she had always wanted to ride a horse but had never had the chance. ‘They told me off but it was worth it. I’ve fulfilled a dream I’ve had since childhood and I was running out of time,’ she said.” w/ photo

“A picture which purportedly shows an alien lurking in the Amazon is being put forward as evidence that there is supernatural activity on earth. The image, which shows an unidentified being standing with its back arched a few feet from a what looks like a floating orb of light behind a group of children, was apparently taken from video footage captured by two British tourists visiting the Mamaus region of the Brazilian rainforest. The video was obtained by noted paranormal writer Mike Cohen, who says the area is known for its ‘intense UFO activity’. He said: ‘This is highly compelling footage that will be hard to discredit.” w/ photos

“Council workers were left shame-faced after a town’s ‘welcome’ sign was hung upside down. The sign – which proudly declares ‘Welcome to Chadderton’ – was fitted on Lees Street in the Greater Manchester town. But the blunder was spotted by a resident, who said it was left in the incorrect position overnight. A spokesman for Oldham Council said “a genuine error was made by staff”. Workers from the council have now rectified the mistake. Andrew Robinson, of Chadderton, said he noticed the sign had been put up the wrong way as he passed it. He said: “They were picking up the old sign and packing it in the van to drive off and I assumed they’d be back to fix that and put that right. “I checked again this morning and took some photographs because I thought I’d either dreamt it or can’t have seen it properly – but the sign was still upside down.” w/ photo

“A man used a frozen armadillo to attack a 57-year old Pleasant Grove woman, Dallas police said. The incident happened in an apartment complex parking lot. According to investigators, the altercation occurred when the suspect was selling the carcass to the victim, who planned to eat the animal. The pair apparently began arguing over the price of the item when the man twice threw the armadillo at the woman. The animal first struck the woman in the leg and then in her chest. She was reportedly bruised by the attack. Detectives have been unable to find the man, who could face assault charges.” w/ photos