It wasn't all bad

Plumbers find rings flushed down toilet

Diane Buckalew of Southaven, Miss., felt heartsick upon discovering that the two rings she’d left on the bathroom counter the night before were gone. She suspected her cat had batted the amethyst ring and a four-carat, $40,000 diamond engagement ring into the toilet, where they’d subsequently been flushed. Her husband, Carl, called plumbers, who dug a hole near the front door and went fishing in it. One lifted a hand holding both rings. “The other guy looks at me and he said, ‘Who’s your favorite plumber?’” said Carl.

Ice cooler saves family adrift at sea

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Seven members of one family, including a grandfather and his 5-year-old grandson, survived 20 hours at sea clinging to an ice cooler after their boat sank 30 miles off the coast of South Carolina. Wearing life jackets, the Gouge family abandoned the 38-foot powerboat after its engine compartment flooded. A Coast Guard helicopter, running low on fuel after hours of searching, spotted the boat’s bow by moonlight. The family was “cold, they were tired, but—most importantly—they were alive,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Evanson.

Indonesian toddler quits smoking

"The notorious smoking toddler has kicked the habit. Aldi Rizal, who lives in an Indonesian village where nearly everyone smokes, had his first cigarette at age 18 months. Internet videos of the 2-year-old boy smoking—he had a two-pack-a-day habit—sparked an outcry. Psychologist Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia’s National Commission for Child Protection, took the child into his home for a month of rehab, during which Aldi refrained from tobacco. “He is happy and now he can play just like other children of his age,” Mulyadi said. “He can laugh.”