“A one-cent copper coin minted in 1793, the first year that the United States produced its own coins, has fetched $1 million at a Florida auction. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the final bid by an unknown buyer for the coin was one of the largest sales at the Florida United Numismatics coin show and annual convention. The newspaper reported that the 1793 penny was sold at such a high price because it is rare and in excellent shape, showing no wear on its lettering, its Lady Liberty face or the wreath on its back.” w/ photos

“A man arrested in a theft from a convenience store is accused of attacking a police officer with one of the stolen items — a stuffed monkey. Preston James Phipps, 24, of Des Moines, was arrested late Saturday night after allegedly causing problems at the Git-N-Go convenience store at 2601 S.W. Ninth St. in Des Moines. Police Officer Andrew Pirtle said in a report that he saw a man carrying two stuffed animals leaving the store about 10:20 p.m. Moments later the officer was flagged down and informed that the man had just made a mess in the store. Officer Pirtle stopped the man near Southwest Ninth and Loomis Avenue. As they talked, Pirtle noted the man’s mood switched quickly from passive to aggressive. When Pirtle tried to take Phipps into custody, Phipps allegedly swung around and hit the officer in the face with a stuffed monkey.” w/ photo

“An unsuccessful Austrian inventor has won a $508,000 government grant to set up a museum of failed inventions. Fritz Gall dreamed up the idea of a museum dedicated to the flops and disasters created by other would-be entrepreneurs. Now – thanks to the grant – he and partner Friedl Umscheid have opened the Museum of Nonsense in Herrnbaumgarten, Austria. The museum prides itself on utterly useless creations like the ‘portable anonymyser’ – a piece of black card on a stick so people who don’t want to be in the public eye can black out their own eyes… The museum will move to a new expanded home later this year so it can cope with the thousands of visitors who now flock to it every month.” w/ photos

“A baby monkey continues to attract visitors at a zoo in Japan after it started riding the back of its boar pal. The little Japanese macaque, known as Miwa-chan, has been witnessed by more than 11million people online who have watched videos of the monkey saddled-up on the back Uribo, one of the wild boars at the Fukuchiyama Zoo near Kyoto. The pair, who are looked after by vet Akihiro Nihonmatsu, have become so popular that they have their own book based on their life as friends, written by Akihiro.” w/ photos

“A sea lion at an aquarium in Japan has stunned visitors by writing skilfully in Chinese characters. The mammal known as Jay uses a paintbrush to write in Chinese calligraphy as he perches on a stool at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama, Tokyo. Jay can be seen writing the word ‘Dragon’ in the picture above, as he uses his paint brush to make accurate strokes, to the surprise of many visitors who come to see the act for themselves. The word has much importance across Japan, China and other parts of Asia as 2012 constitutes the Year of the Dragon.” w/ photo

“This tuna is worth savoring: It cost nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. A bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record 56.49 million yen, or about $736,000, in the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market. The price for the 593-pound (269-kilogram) tuna beat last year’s record of 32.49 million yen. The price translates to 210,000 yen per kilogram, or $1,238 per pound — also a record, said Yutaka Hasegawa, a Tsukiji market official. Though the fish is undoubtedly high quality, the price has more to do with the celebratory atmosphere that surrounds the first auction of the year. The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said he wanted to give Japan a boost after last year’s devastating tsunami. “Japan has been through a lot the last year due to the disaster,” a beaming Kimura told AP Television News. “Japan needs to hang in there. So I tried hard myself and ended up buying the most expensive one.” w/ photos

“Art student Andrzej Sobiepan didn’t want to wait decades for his work to appear in museums. So he took matters in his own hands, covertly hanging one of his paintings in a major Polish gallery. By Wednesday, the young artist was getting plenty of attention after a nationwide TV channel reported on his stunt at the National Museum in the southwestern city of Wroclaw. He told reporters he hoped galleries would give more exhibition space to young artists as a result. “I decided that I will not wait 30 or 40 years for my works to appear at a place like this,” Sobiepan told TVN24. “I want to benefit from them in the here and now.” Sobiepan, a Wroclaw Fine Arts Academy student whose last name means ‘his own master,’ said he was inspired by the elusive British graffiti artist known only as Banksy.” w/ photo

“Talk about a wild ride. The driver of a car lost control and ended up parked on the roof of an apartment building in Fresno, Calif. Police say the speeding driver missed a turn [one] morning, hit some rocks, a tree stump and went airborne, landing on the roof. Amazingly, the car did not crash into the building and no one was hurt. The driver ran away wearing only boxer shorts. Police caught him a short time later. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.” w/ photo + video

“An Albuquerque wife had the habit of putting her wedding ring on the nightstand beside her bed before falling asleep. But one morning, when Rachelle Atkinson reached to put it back on, the ring had vanished without a trace. She and her husband originally thought a thief broke in, and they were partially right. Except this thief has four legs, and lives with them… After they figured out that Coraline was the culprit, Mrs Atkinson’s diligent husband Scott spent the next ten days sifting through the dog’s waste. ‘I had to go through all the ‘poos’ every day and squish them up and make sure there were no hard lumps in there.’ He added: ‘That wasn’t much fun. But a trip to the family veterinarian revealed that Mr Atkinson’s work was all for naught, as the ring was too heavy to pass naturally.” w/ photos + video

“A Chinese couple in Sichuan province were rightly unnerved when the meat they’d just bought took on luminescent properties in the dark. That they realized this after eating slivers of the meat for dinner was particularly unwelcome. The noticed it glowing after they’d hung the meat on the wall to keep it away from their cat. The blog ChinaSmack translated a report on the radiant meat from Chinese media outlet Sohu. It seems the butcher and local health officials rebuffed the Sichuan man’s widely reported concerns. So what could explain the worrying glow emitted from this guy’s bizarro meat?” w/ photos