By ,
Published January 13, 2015
It's a good thing Johnny Worthy got up to do the dishes.
As the Fontana, Calif., man bent over the sink, a large chunk of ice crashed through his roof and landed in his living room.
"I just heard this tremendous boom," Lena Worthy, his 20-year-old daughter, told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of Ontario, Calif. "I thought two trucks collided on [the street]."
The house's front door blew open, and bits of ceiling tile were jammed into the living-room wall.
"This came from a long ways up in the air," Johnny Worthy said. "You could hear it before it got here."
The block of ice, about three feet across and four inches thick, landed right into a often-used living-room chair.
"Anybody sitting in that chair would clearly have been maimed," said Lena.
The Worthys aren't sure where the dirty-looking chunk, about three feet across and four inches thick, came from, though samples of it are in their refrigerator.
"We really don't know what hit us," said Lena.
They doubt it's from an airplane, since, according to Johnny's wife, Correan, planes don't normally fly over their house.
However, the Inland Empire (search) region, in which Fontana squarely sits, is part of a normal approach corridor to Los Angeles International Airport (search), about 60 miles to the west.
Lena did some Internet research and discovered that large chunks of ice called megacryometeors (search) sometimes form in the upper atmosphere before plunging to earth.
One crashed into a house in Florida last fall, but those giant lumps of ice are usually rounder than the Worthys' flattened chunk.
Correan Worthy, who got home from work soon after the invasion from above, took the fact that the chunk hit no one as a good sign.
"I just looked up and laughed," she said. "All I could say was 'Thank you Jesus.' As often as we sit in that chair."
— Thanks to Out There reader Trysta S.
Somewhere in California, Steve Jobs Is Smiling
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A rush to purchase $50 used laptop computers turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over.
"This is total, total chaos," said Latoya Jones, 19, who lost a flip-flop in the ordeal and later limped around on the sizzling blacktop with one foot bare.
An estimated 5,500 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway (search) to get their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks.
The Henrico County school system was selling off 1,000 of the computers. New iBooks cost between $999 and $1,299.
When the gates opened at 7 a.m., it became a terrifying mob scene.
People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. A little girl's stroller was crushed in the stampede. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.
Seventeen people suffered minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment. There were no arrests and the iBooks sold out by 1 p.m.
"It's rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer — and laptop computers that probably have less-than-desirable attributes," said Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County.
[For the record, a 2001-model iBook (search) would have generally have a 500-MHz G3 processor, a 10-gigabyte hard drive and a 12-inch screen — far from today's top standards, but enough for casual use.]
Blandine Alexander, 33, said one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself.
"I've never been in something like that before, and I never again will," said Alexander, who brought her 14-year-old twin boys to the complex at 4:30 a.m. to wait in line. "No matter what the kids want, I already told them I'm not doing that again."
— Thanks to Out There readers April S., Sean W. and Derrick B.
Click in the photo box above to see possible previews of the next Apple ad campaign.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — An energy company is apologizing to its customers after accidentally listing a sex-line phone number as one low-income customers should call for financial help.
The mailer went out last week to about 4,000 We Energies (search) customers who qualify for a new energy assistance program, company spokeswoman Beth Martin said Friday.
But instead of the company's 800 number, it listed a phone number with one different digit that connects callers to a recorded message.
Sultry music plays in the background as the line picks up, and a woman says, "Wanna get with the sluttiest girls your imagination can dream up?"
"We can be whatever you want us to be, baby. After all, it's your imagination," the recording says.
It goes on to offer services for up to $2.99 a minute with a credit card number.
Martin said numerous people proofread the cards, but the wrong number still made it through before the cards were sent to the printer.
New cards offering an apology for the mistake from the company's customer service director — and with the correct phone number — are going out this week, she said.
"The most important thing is for us to apologize to our customers. It was a typo, it was human error," Martin said. "It's really a shame because we were really trying to do a good thing."
Attempted Car Theft Goes Embarrassingly Wrong
FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — Police say a man who broke into a car severed his left wrist on some shards of glass, then kicked in a door to the car owner's home and asked for help.
Avis Pilcher, 78, called police to aid Joseph G. McQuade, 29, of Huntington, who initially said he had cut himself while being chased.
Police later discovered blood in Pilcher's garage, presumed McQuade cut himself while breaking into the woman's car, and arrested McQuade.
Pilcher said she awakened to screams for help about 12:35 a.m. Monday and that McQuade entered her room, blood shooting from his left wrist, a police report said.
McQuade was arrested on suspicion of burglary, breaking and entering a vehicle, breaking and entering an unoccupied structure and on other warrants. McQuade was taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Homeless Woman Found Carrying Big Wad of Cash
JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) — She had $60,000 in cash — but no roof over her head.
Janesville police say an 87-year-old woman found snoozing in a discount store over the weekend had the money in her purse.
"I'd never seen $60,000 cash until they put it on my desk last night," Lt. Keith Lawver said.
The woman was examined at Mercy Hospital and released, said Nancy White, property manager of the Golden Acres Apartments (search) for the elderly across the street.
White said she fed her, washed her clothes and allowed her to stay with her until Monday morning.
"She kind of reminded me of a female Scrooge," White said. "She was very unappreciative."
Police said they temporarily took the money for safekeeping while the woman's status was clarified, but they returned it Monday.
Lawver told the Janesville Gazette the woman does not have a fixed address and has been staying at various apartments and hotels for the past year, while under the care of a Rock County social services caseworker.
"Hopefully, her caseworker will help her get a bank account set up and help her manage it," Lawver said.
Man Gets Usual Life, Movie Equation Backward
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Inspired by the movie "Forrest Gump," a U.S. man is running across the United States from Newport Beach, California to Newport, Rhode Island.
The cities are nearly 3,000 miles apart. Jonathan Williams is shooting for an average of 25 miles a day on his trek, which he has dreamed of since seeing the 1994 movie's title character, played by Tom Hanks, run across the U.S.
The 26-year-old from Connecticut notes on his Web site that he's not the first to run across the country. But after seeing the movie a decade ago, he knew it was something he wanted to do, he said on his site.
By Tuesday, he was in Pittsburgh, Pa., and declared the city's hills the toughest part of his journey yet.
"Why settle for just having a job and getting married?" Williams told the Tribune-Review newspaper in Pittsburgh, when questioned about his motivation. "Why not just do something different? Why not just live?"
Williams' girlfriend, Sara Hubeny, is tracking his trip.
Friends post encouraging messages on Williams' Web site, http://www.runwillyrun.com. The site's name is based on his nickname and the line from the movie in which Gump's girlfriend implores him to "Run, Forrest, run!"
Williams started in May and expects to finish in Rhode Island in September.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Paul Wagenseil.
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