DAVID ADAMS writes about the odder side of life…
PICTURE: Googlemaps
• The Pennsylvanian village of Reduction, invitingly known as “The Town That Garbage Built”, has gone on the market in the US. In the ownership of the Stawovy family since it was purchased in 1948 for $US10,000, the 30 hectare property features 19 family homes, a one room schoolhouse and farmland and was originally the home of the 400 employees of the American Reduction Company which operated a plant dealing with the garbage of Pittsburgh until 1936. About 60 people still live in the village. The owners are asking $US 1.5 million.
• The world’s biggest coin – a 100 kilogram solid gold coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007 and known as the ‘Big Maple Leaf’ thanks to the image of the national Canadian symbol it bears – has been stolen from a Berlin Museum. The thieves apparently used a wheelbarrow to steal the coin which has a diameter of 53 centimetres and an estimated worth, despite its face value of $1 million, of $US4.5 million. There are fears it may have already been melted down.
• Four-year-old Hunter may be a dog but the Canadian-based hound hasn’t let that stand in the way of a career as an artist. The pooch’s owners have told Huffpost that Hunter was looking for a new hobby when they gave him a brush. Using his mouth to hold the brush, Hunter’s ‘abstract’ paintings are now on sale on website Etsy (he’s also apparently donating them to the local dog shelter to help raise money for them).
