Quick Takes

Oddball occurrences | The Editors

High and mighty

Some books in a world famous Oxford University library are now out of reach without moving an inch. That's because safety officials at the university have decided that using stepladders to reach rare books and manuscripts on the top shelf in Duke Humphrey's reading room at the Bodleian Library presents a serious safety hazard. Library administrator Laurence Benson said he's perplexed by the action. And he says the library isn't about to move the collection: "The library would prefer to keep the books in their original historic location—where they have been safely consulted for 400 years prior to the instructions from the health and safety office."

Shoe laced

Betrayed by bird droppings on his shoes and socks, a Vietnamese man failed to make it through customs at Los Angeles International Airport with more than $5,000 worth of tiny exotic birds strapped to his socks. Customs officers arrested Sony Dong in March when they grew suspicious of his excrement-laced socks and odd leggings. When authorities began undressing the man, they discovered more than a dozen red-whiskered bulbuls, magpie robins, shama thrushes, and others specimens—each with a street value exceeding $400 in the United States.

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June 06, 2009, Vol. 24, No. 11

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