“An Austrian stag had a weekend to forget after he became trapped in a freezing waterfall close to an Alpine ski resort. Rescuers and volunteers sprang into action when the stag became stranded near the mountain resort of Dienten am Hochkonig after apparently slipping while trying to protect the female deer in his herd. But when mountain rescue experts, firemen, skiers and a vet winched him from the river bed the stag slipped back off the waterfall into the icy water below, taking two members of his rescue team with him. Luckily neither stag nor rescuer was hurt in the fall and after being anesthetized the stag was lifted to safety by a road maintenance team. A fire-fighter said the stag’s ultimate cold shower would have seen him die of exposure if he had not been spotted when he was.” w/ photos

“This is the Biblical scene that met Northern Ireland farmer Gordon Flinn after a lorry overturned into his field, spilling tonnes of fish. The ‘fish farm’ accident caused an overnight internet sensation this week, as this photo taken by Mr Flinn’s daughter Louise went viral. ‘It was like a catastrophe, as though the fish had fallen out of the sky,’ the civil servant said today. ‘We really couldn’t believe it until we saw it. ‘It really was like something out of the Bible.” w/ photo

“Following a test run of the of the UK’s newest rollercoaster, due to open in just 49 days, some of the test dummies were left ‘alarmingly’ damaged following collisions with some of the rides ‘extreme “near miss” spots’. The theme park, located in Surrey, have confirmed ‘drastic measures’ have been taken to amend the problems after an emergency response team were called out to fix the ride. Some of the mannequins were left without any arms or legs following the hell-raising ride which promises to leave thrill-seekers ‘exposed and vulnerable to the extreme near misses and gut-wrenching inversions as it rips through the sky on its mission of complete annihilation.” w/ photos

“A man in Dorset has been left mystified after tiny blue spheres fell from the sky into his garden. Steve Hornsby from Bournemouth said the 1-inch diameter balls came raining down late on Thursday afternoon during a hail storm. He found about a dozen of the balls in his garden. He said: ‘[They're] difficult to pick up, I had to get a spoon and flick them into a jam jar.’ The Met Office said the jelly-like substance was ‘not meteorological’. Mr Hornsby, a former aircraft engineer, said: ‘The sky went a really dark yellow color. ‘As I walked outside to go to the garage there was an instant hail storm for a few seconds and I thought, ‘what’s that in the grass?” w/ photos

“These woodpeckers from California spend their day boring holes in granary trees before placing nuts into the empty spaces. The busy birds were snapped storing thousands of acorns by photographer Michael Yang at Stanford University. He said: ‘I spotted a family of Acorn Woodpeckers hard at work storing acorns for the winter. ‘They carefully pick acorns from oak trees and fly them to nearby storage/granary trees which sometimes hold up to 50,000 acorns. ‘The woodpeckers bore holes in the trees with their beaks to store their acorns in.” w/ photo

“An encounter between a snake and a baby ended in a surprising outcome, when the infant’s mother walked into his room to find him chewing on the dead reptile… According to Imad’s grandfather, Shaheen Shaheen, who recalled the family’s tumultuous morning, the boy woke up when his father left for work at 6:30 am. The 1-year-old left his parents’ bed and headed to his room, where he found the 13-inch snake. He then grabbed it and bit its head off.” w/ photo

“A Seattle community rights activist is going to the extreme to try and save a building in her neighborhood: she’s marrying it. Babylonia Aivaz has invited the Seattle public to attend what she calls the “gay wedding” to the building on Sunday. The building is an abandoned warehouse that is in the process of being demolished, according to ABC affiliate KOMO. Aivaz hopes to save the space for a community center. “Yes, I’m in love with a 107 year old building! Yes, ITS A GAY MARRIAGE! How is that possible? Well there must obviously be a deeper story,” Aivaz wrote on her Facebook invitation to the wedding.” w/ photo + video

“A Fond du Lac man was arrested after he told police a ‘ghost’ punched and strangled his wife. Michael F. West, 41, of 281 Fond du Lac Ave., was charged with strangulation and misdemeanors of battery, disorderly conduct and resisting or obstructing an officer. At about 8 p.m. Jan. 15, police arrived at West’s home to find the woman crying and bleeding from her nose. According to allegations contained in the criminal complaint: The woman was upset after West blamed her for the house being foreclosed. When the woman pointed out that she works while West sits on the couch, he became angry… Officers had to struggle with an intoxicated West to place him in handcuffs after he made the ghost comment.” w/ photo

“An inch long piece of dried glue that vaguely resembles soft hearted Simpson’s patriarch Homer Simpson is attracting bids of over $2,600 on eBay. Seller Christopher Herbert noticed its uncanny resemblance to the balding character, and immediately listed it on the auction site as the ‘missing piece’ in any Simpsons fan’s collection. To help sell the globule – which shares many of Homer’s attributes including his goggly eyes and inane gurn – Christopher wrote a glowing sales pitch. ‘This is a true to life likeness of Homer Simpson’s head made naturally by an overflowing tube of Uhu glue! ‘It is very small – about a centimeter from the bottom of his neck to the top of his head but it does have Homer’s trademark bald head, big eyes and grinning mouth. ‘The missing piece in any Simpson enthusiast’s collection.” w/ photos

“Four-and-a-half toilet rolls containing the words from Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick have gone up for auction on eBay for a whopping $400. The American seller – who goes by the name ‘The_Heppcat’ – claims he was challenged by a friend to write a book on a loo roll after joking that they should come with instructions. And he’s only decided to put them up for auction now in a bid to prove his end of the deal. The seller explained: ‘My friend and I once joked that toilet paper should have instructions printed on them for certain people. ‘One day, the conversation grew from there and turned into a wager that I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) be able to type out a novel on toilet paper.” w/ photo