A rifle owner's near miss, and more

A rifle owner's near miss

A Canadian man nearly blew off his own head while trying to kill a mouse with a rifle. Dale Whitmell, 40, tried to crush the scampering rodent with the butt of his rifle, but when he slammed the weapon on the ground, it discharged. The bullet grazed his forehead but did not badly wound him. After being released from a hospital, Whitmell was charged with careless use of a firearm. “He was very lucky,” a hospital spokesman said.

Oprah's two-handed Indian meal

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Oprah Winfrey has angered the entire nation of India with her table manners, says the Daily Mail (U.K.). Winfrey, 58, visited a family in Mumbai while filming a show, and when sitting down for a meal, remarked, “I heard some Indian people eat with their hands still.” Upon being informed that, yes, it is common practice to eat with one’s right hand, Winfrey proceeded to use both her hands, saying that if she used just one, she’d “be here all night.” Indian journalist Aseem Chhabra said Winfrey didn’t need to bring up utensil-free eating. “It’s all the stereotypes and all the clichés the West has,” Chhabra said, “between the elephants and the palaces and the snake charmers and cows.”

Life savings go up in smoke

An Australian man lost his savings when he hid $15,000 in cash in the oven, on the mistaken belief his wife never used it. The man had just sold his beloved sports car to make a mortgage payment. But after he put the money in the oven for safekeeping, his wife turned it on to cook chicken nuggets for their children. She didn’t realize what was wrong until the burned bills filled the kitchen with smoke. “It was everything I had,” the man sighed. “I’ve got nothing to my name.”