Month: October 2019

Soaring demand for avocado (to spread on toast?) has lead to extortion, kidnapping and theft in Mexico where it is referred to as “green gold.” Further north, apple thieves snuck onto a family farm and stole more than 3 tons of fruit right off of the trees. Meanwhile, there is a record surplus of bacon.

A man was airlifted was airlifted to a local Alabama hospital after being run over by his own four wheeler operated by his dog.

Face-to-face with a cougar on a mountain trail, Dee Gallant had to think quickly. She reached into her pocked and flipped thru her phone’s music library, set it on speaker and played Metallica.

Tan, a real estate developer in China paid Xi, a hitman, to take out his competitor, Wei. As is popular in the construction industry, the Xi subcontracted the job to Mo, who hired Yang, who hired another Yang, who hired Ling. The whole thing fell apart and Tan, Xi, Mo, the two Yangs, and Ling were all hauled into court and sentenced to intentional homicide.

Scientists have developed a skin-like mobile phone case that responds to being pinched and tickled. Tapping on the surface can be interpreted as seeking attention while stroking can be associated with providing comfort.

In order to prevent students from the sidelong glance during testing, Bhagat Pre-University College in southern India put cardboard boxes on the student’s heads.

A Bangladeshi lawmaker has been expelled from university after allegedly hiring as many as eight lookalikes to take exams in her place.

A former Apple lawyer in charge of preventing insider trading was indicted for insider trading.

Mats Järlström, a Swedish engineer visiting Oregon, challenged and successfully reversed his wife’s traffic violation there with a judgement that ended up changing the timing of traffic lights around the world. Never cross an engineer.

Qantas Airways completed the longest, non-stop passenger flight ever. Forty-nine passengers flew for 19 hours and 16 minutes from New York to Sydney. One Bloomberg reporter was on board and wrote about it.

The Society of Professional Journalists have trademarked the term “fake news” and plan to send the president a cease and desist notice for using the term incorrectly.

Los Angeles has hired robots to police one of its parks but it’s not working out. When a woman tried to report a crime, the robot told her to go away and then “trundled away while singing a song . . . pausing periodically to say ‘Please keep the park clean.’

Eliud Kipchoge, a 34-year old Kenyan, broke the two-hour barrier for the marathon. But it wasn’t exactly a marathon. To hit 1:59:40 in 26.2 miles you would need to run approximately 4:30 minutes/mile 26-times in a row!

Scholars in Japan found a missing chapter from The Tale of Genji in a storage closet. Game of Thrones fans complained about the one-year hiatus until the final season. The Tale’s final chapter had been missing since the 11th century. Junko Yamamoto, a professor who specializes in literature of the Heian Period could hardly contain her excitement.

A 73-year-old activist Berliner was arrested and fined for painting over racist and xenophobic graffiti with hearts.

Maybe just make the graffiti invisible? A Canadian company has invented something they call Quantum Stealth, “material is as thin as paper, inexpensive, and requires no power source” that can make things effectively invisible.

A GOP congressman (and former Army staff sergeant) wished the US Navy happy birthday on twitter with a photo of a battleship that others helpfully pointed out was a Kirov-class battlecruiser in the Russian navy.

The Air Force upgraded its nuclear missile command and control centers so they no longer require 1970s era 8-inch floppy disks.

The mayor of a village in rural Italy is blaming Google Maps for sending tourists down impassable roads where they get stuck and have to be rescued. In the past year, they’ve had to send out the local mountain rescue team 144 times.

Of course you could just send your robot. In a curious case of technology looking for a use, Japanese airline ANA unveiled a robot that they say will allow people to “experience faraway places without having to travel there.”

Isn’t the journey half the fun? Unless you’re on Amtrak.

A Nigerian palace announced that its resident tortoise has died following a short illness. Alagba, which means elderly one was 344 years old.

After hearing about the new border wall designed so that no one can climb over it, a group of rock climbers built an exact replica and held a contest to see if anyone could make it over. One climber was up and over in 40 seconds and eight-year old made it as well.

The Glenlivet company took inspiration from the Tide Pod controversy and designed a new way to consume their whiskey.

A Seattle man broke into an office building downtown and “devoured” $200 of chocolate and promptly passed out. Sugar coma?

An agricultural researcher discovered that pigs use tools to prepare their nests.

The Sacramento Kings basketball team is getting into crypto and will be giving their fans an Ethereum-based crypto coin which can be redeemed for future games or concessions within the stadium.

The Spanish maritime patrol agents were in hot pursuit of drug smugglers when their boats collided and all three agents fell into the ocean. After responding to a plea to help, the smugglers spun around and picked up the patrol agents. The smugglers were still arrested.

Idaho State Police responded to an overturned truck that spilled potatoes all across the interstate, delaying traffic. In Beverley Hills, a restaurant is serving a baked potato with caviar and creme fraiché for $100.

A man in Tokyo was arrested on suspicion of stalking a female pop idol by studying reflections of her pupils in photos she shared on social media and using Google Street View to find out where she lived.

The new arena for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team features a “rage room” where angry fans can go break shit because that’s how Philly fans roll. The room is available only via advance reservations so you need to plan for your anger.

$2.2 million worth of counterfeit Nike sneakers were found in a Long Beach container labeled as “napkins.”

In order to comply with a US Government executive order prohibiting “transactions and services” with Venezuela, software-as-a-service company Adobe done gone and cancelled all accounts in the country and is not give refunds.

I made it to 142 cities and 22% of the population on this page. Off the top of your head, how many US cities can you name?

For extra credit, how many of these 50 songs in this video below can you name?

A German company has developed the expertise to launch floating islands of solar panels. If you own 3+ acres of open water, they want to ask if you’d like to rent it out.

Defense One normally writes about new tanks or geo-political hotspots. This week they took time out for a deep-dive budgetary analysis of a Snake-and-Alligator boarder moat. “For the 1,954,000-member Snake Border Guard, the optimal force laydown should mix water moccasins (for maximum water effectiveness) and brightly colored coral snakes (for maximum visual deterrence)”

You can now ask Alexa to help you get a job at McDonald’s.

A protest in London got a little out of hand when the hose they were using to spray the Treasury building with fake blood got away from them and doused the street, trees, protestors, random passers by and pretty much everything but the Treasury, instead.

Chill out Spiderman, marijuana is now legal in the Marvel Universe.

Customers at an IHoP in Asheville, NC broke into a riot when they discovered their OJ refills were not free.

In San Diego, someone is renting out their backyard shed for $1050/month. It doesn’t come with parking.

Morale is down at Uber. Due to budget cuts they no longer give out Uberversary balloons and, the ultimate insult, they stopped serving free coffee brewed by the hip Portland roaster Stumptown and now only serve – Starbucks!