A Japanese prison housing a range of convicted criminals has unveiled a cuddly life-size mascot that bosses hope will help change the jail's forbidding image.

Officials say Asahikawa Prison in Japan's far north is too often thought of only as a dark place with imposing grey walls and not as a place of rehabilitation.

They hope "Katakkuri-chan", a nearly two-metre (6ft 6ins) humanoid with a huge square face and an enormous purple flower for hair, will make people understand the true nature of the institution.

"Prisons have the image of being isolated places that have no contact with the rest of society and are surrounded by imposing grey walls," said a public relations official at Asahikawa.



http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2013/09/09/japan-prison-unveils-kawaii-mascot-to-change-image

VANCOUVER, WA (KPTV) -

A quadriplegic from Vancouver, WA, received the surprise of a lifetime when a friend brought one of her favorite things to her home: a giant unicorn.

The 20-foot mythical creature stands proudly on East 6th Street in Vancouver and is drawing a lot of attention and crowds.

The unicorn used to be a Trojan horse that was used during a show at the Portland Art Museum two years ago. It was part of Circus Project, a nonprofit aimed at helping homeless youth.



http://www.kptv.com/story/23386590/giant-unicorn-godzillacorn-cheers-up-friend

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pay gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America widened to a record last year.

The top 1 percent of U.S. earners collected 19.3 percent of household income in 2012, their largest share in Internal Revenue Service figures going back a century.

U.S. income inequality has been growing for almost three decades. But until last year, the top 1 percent's share of pre-tax income had not yet surpassed the 18.7 percent it reached in 1927, according to an analysis of IRS figures dating to 1913 by economists at the University of California, Berkeley, the Paris School of Economics and Oxford University.

One of them, Emmanuel Saez of the University of California, Berkeley, said the incomes of the richest Americans might have surged last year in part because they cashed in stock holdings to avoid higher capital gains taxes that took effect in January.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/top-1-percent-took-record-share-2012-us-income

A Colorado man was arrested Monday after allegedly riding a horse while intoxicated, with a dog and pistol in his backpack.

Patrick Neal Schumacher, 45, was arrested near the University of Colorado in Boulder on charges of animal cruelty, prohibited use of weapons, riding a horse while under the influence of alcohol and reckless endangerment, The CU Independent reported.

Witnesses told the Colorado University Police Department that Schumacher was wandering into traffic while going up a busy road. Witnesses also said Schumacher was hitting his horse, Dillon. Schumacher told police he was trying to swat a fly off the horse's head, according to the Denver Post.

http://www.huffpost.com/us/entry/3899161?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

An assistant manager at a Deltona Burger King was arrested after he claimed he took a bag of cash home from the restaurant to teach a co-worker a lesson when he found the bag on the floor by the safe, a sheriff's office investigator said.

But investigators did not appear to believe Montrale Hamilton's story and charged him with grand theft, jail records show. Hamilton was released on Saturday from the Volusia County Branch Jail after posting $1,000 bail.

Hamilton, 32, of Deltona, was arrested Saturday after he showed up to work on Friday without the money bag that contained nearly $1,400, said sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.

While at work on Thursday Hamilton said he saw a deposit bag on the floor next to the safe. Figuring that the other assistant manager had dropped the bag while doing the deposits, Hamilton said he put the bag in the safe, but then removed it later and brought it home with him to teach the other assistant manager a lesson, Davidson said.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130909/NEWS/130909489/1040?Title=Burger-King-assistant-manager-arrested-for-taking-home-cash-receipts&tc=ar

Curiosity got the better of Christine Ridout a year ago when she browsed through an estate sale at a Buffalo home and spotted the gray cardboard glove box on a kitchen table.

Inside were six fragile, tattered documents. The timeworn parchment and graceful handwriting were eye-catching.

"I asked, 'How much?' and was told three dollars, so I said, 'OK, I'll take them,' " said Ridout, 52, a veteran bargain-hunter who hit more than dozen yard sales that day. "I had no sense of their history or value."

Taking a closer look later, though, the Toronto-area resident was stunned to learn that one of them - from 1771 - was signed by William Franklin, the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin and last colonial governor of New Jersey. Another from 1710 was marked with an elaborate British royal seal of the Court of St. James in Britain.

This summer, Ridout was again surprised, this time to discover that the documents - which she hoped to sell for a lot more than $3 - were being sought by the State of New Jersey.

http://articles.philly.com/2013-09-09/news/41876119_1_lottery-ticket-documents-state-archive

OUTDIP – Montana hiker Marc Ankenbauer, 37, plans on ending a 10-year quest today by plunging into Fishercap Lake in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park.

The swim will cap the goal he set as a seasonal park employee to jump into each of the 132 named lakes in the park, as well as the 38 in adjoining Waterton Lakes National Park.

Subtracting for the two lakes that straddle the border into both parks, Fishercap will likely be etched in his memory as Lake 168.

The goal “seemed unapproachable enough that it would be an epic life adventure yet doable enough that I might be able to do it,” he told the Great Falls Tribune, calling it “a normal guy’s crazy adventure.”

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/sep/08/hiker-bags-em-all-168-glacier-lakes/

The device had been converted from a coffee machine and accepted banknotes and coins, according to state-owned Ukrainian TV channel UT1. One shot of vodka cost just 7.50 hryvnia ($1; £0.59). The machine even dispensed a range of fruit juice mixers.

Ukrainian tax inspectors are not amused, says UT1, and want to interview the owners of this "wonder machine" in connection with suspected illegal trade in alcohol.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-23985916

PITTSBURGH -- Customs officers say they found a kilogram of methamphetamine hidden in two large picture frames of religious artwork. The frames were delivered to a Pittsburgh store from Mexico.

Federal court documents unsealed Friday say that customs officials intercepted the package at a shipping facility in Memphis last week and discovered the frames were hollow and contained long black packages filled with white powder.

A Pennsylvania state police trooper working undercover as a parcel delivery man allowed the Pittsburgh store owner to sign for the package. Court documents say another man picked it up about four hours later.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/07/carmel-rojas-perez-meth_n_3885964.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

Tomorrow night, the folks of Carrollton, Kentucky will gather on Court Street for their monthly First Friday festival and celebration, and this one is going to be one heck of a two-liter of Mountain Dew. That’s because parents will be bringing their kids to compete against each other in pageant format for a variety of honors, and they all focus on one theme – how much their children look like Honey Boo Boo Child.

The contest will be open to anyone ages 1 to 10, with two categories. The first category is glitz, which lets contestants dress up in false eyelashes, manicures and other fashionable ways.

The second category is “home style,” which will let entrants dress the way Honey Boo Boo does while at home with her pets. Both categories will be judged the same way.

A trophy, a crown and 10 new $1 bills will be presented for Prettiest Honey Boo Boo, Cutest Honey Boo Boo, Most Original Honey Boo Boo and Grand Supreme Honey Boo Boo. (Via the Madison Courier)


Read more: http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/09/city-kentucky-hosting-honey-boo-boo-child-lookalike-contest/#ixzz2e9XAwl4k