News of the Weird
Compiled and Ridiculed by Joel Frady

Cleaned out

36-year-old Edward Peterson of Madison, Wisc., came home to find a most unpleasant surprise: his entire apartment was completely empty. Peterson had only been gone for five hours, plenty of time for a mainte-nance worker to empty the contents of the apartment.

Peterson's landlord, who manages several properties, said that the maintenance worker was supposed to clean an apartment in a different building that has the same number as Peterson's apartment. After Peterson called police, he found a majority of his property in the trash or at the rental office. But he claims that 150 CDs, 10 DVDs, book, credit cards and approximately $300 in cash were missing.

The landlord said that Peterson will be compensated for his losses, but Peterson claims that many of the items were priceless.

"I can't replace the vintage lamp I had on my end table," he said, noting that it "totally tied the room to-gether."

Don't taunt the police

Police in Duluth, Minn., said a 23-year-old man called 9-1-1 on Friday night asking if they knew where he could stay. He said his roommate had kicked him out, he had been drinking and had nowhere to go.

The operator suggested a homeless shelter, at which point the man became angry and hung up. Police say that he then stole a car and taunting officers who were chasing him by calling 9-1-1 to tell police that he was smarter than them and they'd never catch him.

Officers found the man hiding in a shed and arrested him, although the man kicked three police officers and ruined the back seat of the squad car in the process.

One officer noted that the man got his wish.

"He called us asking for a place to stay, and we gave him a place to crash," the officer said. "We just don't have a bar and you have to wear the exact same clothes as everyone else."

Square Root Day

Math fans across the world had reason to celebrate a special holiday on Tuesday, March 3, 2009: Square Root Day. The holiday, named because the date is 3/3/09, only happens nine times each century: the last Square Root Day occurred on Groundhog's Day 2004 (2/2/04) and will next occur on April 4, 2016 (4/4/16) and May 5, 2025 (5/5/25).

People have found different ways to celebrate the holiday, such as cutting root vegetables into squares or making cookies shaped like the square root symbol.

Experts say the holiday is growing in popularity but is still well behind Pi Day, on which many restaurants keep the desserts just as never-ending as the number.

Scouts' dishonor

K.C. Gettings, leader of Girl Scout Troop 40411 in Bremerton, Wash., visited a bank on Saturday to get change for her troop's cookie sale. But in the process, Gettings received some surprising news: several of the $20 bills used to buy the famous Girl Scout cookies were counterfeit, leaving the troop at a loss of $100.

Police say that the counterfeiters were using the fake bills at stores all over Kitsap County, which lies west of Seattle. They have already arrested three people in the case, and say a fourth arrest is probable.

Despite the arrests, Gettings is still angry about the ordeal.

"I understand how much people love Tagalongs, Thin Mints and Samoas," she said, "but cheating for cookies goes against everything these kids are taught. These criminals were obviously never scouts."