Weird Iowa: Howling in Marion, Bus Goes Up in Flames, and Cat Playing Volleyball

Weird howling noises have been heard in Marion for several months.

That roaring noise around town is nothing to be alarmed about, says Todd Stiegerwaldt, general manager of the Marion Water Department. The “loud, howling, roaring” noise is pressurized air being released as sand in removed from a new well on Echo Hill Road. The process began in January and should be completed by the end of May.

Will Iowa City see parking spaces all over town filled with patios in a few years?

Micky's Irish Pub in Iowa City is about to embark on an experiment in drive-up dining: A dining patio built on a parking space in front of its restaurant. The patio is raised up on a platform so it's not literally in the street. Interesting, in a weird way.

Weird in a tech way, or creepy? You decide.

A professor at Iowa State University in Ames made news last week by discussing the next step in advertising: Facial recognition software would make it possible for retailers to add shoppers' faces to data profiles and use it to display advertisements meant just for them. Brian Mennecke at ISU said most of us aren't ready for that type of privacy invasion, but the day that shoppers will walk past a digital sign with a display that changes to an advertisement meant just for them isn't so far away.

Anyone who can do math is weird to journalists.

Still, congratulations to a West Des Moines eighth-grader for his perfect score on the American Mathematics Competitions 8 exam, the best score in Iowa. Gabriel Mintzer is one of just 153 students nationwide with a perfect score on the test. Wow.

Speaking of champions, Sophie the cat, featured in this video on Urbandale Patch, can play an awesome game of volleyball. We invite you to share your awesome pet videos on our sites.

Is this a weird twist of karma? The project, could become nearly extinct by 2022 because of a fungal infection. The bats spend their summers in Iowa, so studies are required on any area road projects requiring the removal of trees before work can begin.

An environmental consulting firm will be paid about $35,000 to determine how the bat's habitat would be affected by the planned interchange with Interstate 80. Work was set to begin this week and run through the end of August.

And finally, a couple of weird items from police reports and court files.

First up, the father of a child who brought a loaded gun to a Johnston elementary school earlier this month had an initial appearance in court Thursday. Louis Friestad, 31, of Johnston is charged with child endangerment and making a gun available to a minor. He was charged after his 8-year-old son brought a gun to Lawson Elementary. 

An empty bus went up in flames in Cedar Falls -- weird, right? The 50-passenger bus owned by Dolly's Party Bus was only carrying the driver when it was engulfed in flames on Interstate 380 Thursday night.

The driver was able to get to safety without injury. Authoriies believe the fire may have been caused by the air conditioning system.