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what.”
    Customer: David Hickey, 49, of Dublin, Ireland
    Bank Error: While Hickey was traveling in Spain in November 2001, he asked the Bank of Ireland to transfer £1,500 (about $2,150) into his Spanish bank account. With Spanish pesetas worth about 200 to the British pound, the bank should have transferred 300,000 pesetas into Hickey’s account. Instead, it transferred 300,000 euros into his account, or nearly $270,000.
    What Happened: As soon as the Bank of Ireland caught the mistake, it called in the Garda, the Irish equivalent of the FBI, and had Hickey arrested in Spain. Bad idea: Hickey didn’t appreciate being treated like a criminal while on vacation. “I have broken no laws,” he told a reporter, “I was unaware I had the money.”
    Outcome: Since Hickey really hadn’t broken any laws, the bank could not take the money back out of his account without his written consent, which he refused to give. Adding insult to injury, Hickey withdrew 60,000 euros before the Bank of Ireland could get a court order freezing the account, and threatened to spend it. He never did spend it, and he had no legal grounds for keeping it either, since it clearly didn’t belong to him. But he did teach the Bank of Ireland a lesson by returning the 300,000 euros slo-o-o-wly, in three installments, over the next twelve months.
    Customer: Ali-Kausar Barlas, a car salesman living in East Hartford, Connecticut
    Bank Error: In 1986 Barlas deposited a check for $374.03 into his bank account, but the bank mistakenly credited his account with $44,374.03.
    What Happened: Barlas withdrew $43,000 and used it to travel to his native Pakistan and get ready to marry his girlfriend. He paid her parents a $10,000 dowry, spent another $10,000 entertaining his future in-laws, and then brought his fiancée back to the United States, where he was arrested.
First presidential election held on the same day in all states: 1848. Zachary Taylor won.
    Outcome: In a plea bargain reached with prosecutors, Barlas pleaded guilty to first-degree larceny, received a suspended five-year sentence, and agreed to pay the money back. He married his girlfriend a week later. “He could have done worse with the money,” Assistant State’s Attorney John Massameno told reporters. “At least some romance was involved.”
    Customer: Philip Stagg, 33, an itinerant carpenter in Colorado
    Bank Error: In 1977 Stagg deposited $608 into his Bank of Breckinridge checking account, but when the bank failed to post it to his account, one of his checks bounced.
    What Happened: At first the bank agreed that there probably had been a mistake, and Stagg was owed $608. Then a bank official decided that Stagg was trying to steal the bank’s money and had him arrested for theft.
    Outcome: Stagg was charged with a felony, tried…and acquitted. Afterward, he sued the Bank of Breckinridge for defamation of character and intentional infliction of emotional stress. He won that case, too, and was awarded a $70,000 judgment against the bank. He later settled for $50,000, after the bank promised not to appeal the verdict. Shortly after the deal was worked out, the bank was sold to new owners, and they were the ones who got stuck with the bill. “If it had been up to us, we damn sure would have appealed it,” new bank president Dean Boyd told reporters.

    TWO WEIRD FLAGS
    • The Benin Empire is now part of Nigeria, but it was a nation from 1440 to 1897. Its flag depicted a man slicing another man’s neck with a sword—decapitating him mid-stroke.
    • Mozambique’s flag is layered: On top of green, black, yellow, and white stripes is a red triangle, and on top of that is a yellow star, and above that are the three objects that are apparently vital to the troubled nation: a book, a hoe, and an AK-47.
Some species of caterpillars are cannibalistic.

CELEBS’ GOOD DEEDS
Sure, it’s fun to knock famous folks down a peg, but sometimes they do nice things. Not as a PR stunt—simply because they