Strange but True

LAGUNA BEACH — The driver was sober. The bird he hit may have been under the influence.

A California brown pelican flew through a motorist’s windshield on the Pacific Coast Highway on Thursday, and wildlife officials said the bird was probably intoxicated by a chemical in the water.

Though toxicology tests take several weeks, the odd bird behavior was likely the result of poisoning from domoic acid, which has been found in the ocean in the area, said Lisa Birkle, assistant wildlife director at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach.

Birds can be poisoned through eating algae tainted by the acid.

The driver was not hurt. The pelican needed surgery for a broken foot, and also had a gash on its pouch.

"She’s hanging in there,” Birkle said.

The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center has received 16 calls of strange bird behavior in the past week, and was holding three other birds found disoriented and wandering through yards and in streets.

Liar liar

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Benjamin Ratliffe tried so hard to get out of jury duty that he found himself in jail.

Ratliffe, 21, of Columbus, was ordered to spend a night in jail after claiming he was a heroin addict and a killer during jury selection for a death-penalty case.

Ratliffe filled out a questionnaire for potential jurors and professed to having a "bad jonesin’ for heroin.” When asked if he had ever fired a weapon, he wrote, "Yes. I killed someone with it, of course. Right.”

On Thursday, Ratliffe, who charged with contempt of court and obstruction of justice, apologized to Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Julie M. Lynch.

"He didn’t try to defend his responses, and he lied under oath and he was insubordinate,” said Lynch, who ultimately removed Ratliffe from the jury pool and dismissed the charges against him. "You do not make a mockery of the process.”

Sleeping beauty

PHILADELPHIA — Comcast Corp. has fired an employee for sleeping on a customer’s couch during a house call after video of the incident became a minor Internet sensation.

Philadelphia-based Comcast also said in a statement that it had apologized to customer Brian Finkelstein of Washington, D.C., for the "unsatisfactory customer experience.”

Finkelstein posted video of the sleeping technician and told this story on YouTube.com, a site that lets users share videos:

His Comcast Internet connection had worked only intermittently since he moved to a new apartment June 1. A Comcast employee who came to Finkelstein’s home June 14 to replace the modem called the company for help. Put on hold for more than an hour, he caught some shuteye while he waited.

Finkelstein, a Georgetown University law student, picked up his video camera, added an Eels song with the lyrics "I need some sleep,” and sent it to YouTube.

The 58-second video has been viewed more than 227,000 times since it was posted last week. Finkelstein’s service has since been fixed.

Black widow wins

LYNCHBURG, Va. — The Black Widow strikes again.

Sonya Thomas, a 100-pound woman who earned her nickname by outeating many of her heavyweight male opponents on the competitive eating circuit, ate 60 ham biscuits Saturday to win an eating contest at the 16th Annual Virginia State Harley Davidson Owners Group Rally.

The 37-year-old from Alexandria beat out 11 other competitors from the International Federation of Competitive Eating and Harley Davidson owners from throughout the state.

Her closest competitor, Eric "Badlands” Booker, of Copiague, N.Y., ate 42 ham biscuits. The buttermilk biscuits stuffed with ham are a Southern favorite.

With their cheeks stuffed at the five-minute mark, Booker and Thomas continued to dunk the biscuits into pitchers and cups of water to help speed up the act of swallowing.

"Sometimes the water taste makes me feel a little bit sick,” Thomas said.

In the final minutes, Thomas started hopping, an action she says helps push down the food.<