[prokroustis]

Woman rehearses own funeral with friends pretending to cry around her in rented coffin

Mayra Alonzo, 59, spent £710 on a rehearsal funeral as the 'the deaths from the coronavirus pandemic had inspired her to celebrate her life with the fake funeral'


The coffin with Mayra Alonzo inside

A woman spent hours lying in a coffin with her friends pretending to cry around her to rehearse her own funeral because she wanted to 'celebrate her life.'

Mayra Alonzo, 59, organised her funeral rehearsal at her home in the city of Santiago at the end of last month, inviting friends to pretend to mourn her.

Alonzo arrived at the funeral in a hearse, lying in a white coffin that she had rented for the day.

She has dressed head to toe in white and wore a flower crown and had cotton in her nostrils at times, replicating the treatment of a corpse in a mortuary.


Mayra Alonzo stuffed cotton up her nose to replicate the treatment of bodies in a mortuary

According to Dominican news site, Listin Diario, the party cost £710 with the money going to pay for the coffin, as well as refreshments for the dozens of guests.

Her friends, family and neighbours turned up to pretend to cry or to take pictures of the event, but all were thanked for helping organise it.


Alonzo organised a fake funeral inspired by the deaths fro Covid-19.

Alonzo described the event as a 'dream come true' and claims she doesn't want a funeral when she dies for real because she has 'done it all in life.'

Social media users were baffled by the event, with some criticising the woman for holding a fake funeral at a time when so many lives are being lost due to Coronavirus.

One commenter wrote: "Some things shouldn't be messed with. There are so many people that have lost loved ones because of Covid-19."

However, Alonzo said it was the deaths during the pandemic that inspired her to celebrate her life with the fake funeral.

But she also advised people not to die now, "because in the coffin it is very hot and it is very lonely."

[ozswede]

Animals laugh too, analysis of vocalization data suggests



Human laughter is common, but it's a somewhat mysterious part of our evolution. It's clear to evolutionary scholars that we laugh as a part of play, signaling our cooperation or friendliness. But how did laughter evolve? And are humans the only ones who do it?

Not a chance: Animals laugh too, researchers have observed.

In a new article published in the journal Bioacoustics, primatologist and UCLA anthropology graduate student Sasha Winkler and UCLA professor of communication Greg Bryant take a closer look at the phenomenon of laughter across the animal kingdom.

The pair combed through the existing scientific literature on animal play behavior, looking for mentions of vocal play signals—or what might be thought of as laughter.

They found such vocal play behavior documented in at least 65 species. That list includes a variety of primates, domestic cows and dogs, foxes, seals, and mongooses, as well as three bird species, including parakeets and Australian magpies.

"This work lays out nicely how a phenomenon once thought to be particularly human turns out to be closely tied to behavior shared with species separated from humans by tens of millions of years," Bryant said.

The researchers looked for information on whether the animal vocalizations were recorded as noisy or tonal, loud or quiet, high-pitched or low-pitched, short or long, a single call or a rhythmic pattern—seeking known features of play sounds.

There's much existing documentation of play-based body language among animals, such as what is known as "play face" in primates or "play bows" in canines, the researchers noted.

Since what constitutes "play" in much of the animal kingdom is rough-and-tumble and can also resemble fighting, play sounds can help emphasize non-aggression during such physical moments, the article suggests.

"When we laugh, we are often providing information to others that we are having fun and also inviting others to join," Winkler said. "Some scholars have suggested that this kind of vocal behavior is shared across many animals who play, and as such, laughter is our human version of an evolutionarily old vocal play signal."

While Winkler and Bryant say that further observation and research into vocalizations would be fruitful, they also note that such observations can be hard to come by in the wild, especially for animals whose play sounds might be quieter.

Paying attention to other species in this way sheds light on the form and function of human laughter, the researchers write, and helps us to better understand the evolution of human social behavior.

Source

My note: I knew that my dog was laughing at me when I spilt that cup of tea all over myself!

[JohnDoe0002]

Once a Janitor at the School, Now She’s Their Beloved Teacher After Continuous Study to Earn Degree

What’s the difference between having the dream and living the dream? Hard work and perseverance.
Wanda Smith always wanted to be a school teacher but sometimes meeting life’s demanding realities can mean a dream deferred.

A mother of three, Smith also cared for her mom. Squarely shouldering her family responsibilities, she took jobs as bus monitor and custodian for Brenham Independent School District in Texas.

The hours were grueling, but rather than let her dream die, at age 37, with the support and encouragement of her husband, she added night classes to her schedule.

Nine years on, she finally graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State University. She was a certified teacher at last.

Smith’s story came full circle when she was hired as a first-grade teacher back at Brenham Elementary School. Unfortunately, her mom and beloved sisters didn’t live to see her accomplishment, but she knows they would have been proud of her.

“When I stand in front of my classroom—my classroom—I am living my dream,” Smith said during a TODAY show Teacher Appreciation Day segment with Jenna Bush Hager.

During the pandemic, as some of her students struggled to meet the demands of distance learning, Smith stepped up to the challenge. Noting that many of the kids she teaches come from single-parent families, she began delivering packets of schoolwork to them at home.
It’s no wonder Smith’s kids adore her. In a special surprise ceremony, they shouted their praise and held up big colorful signs declaring their devotion.

The sentiment was echoed by Brenham’s mayor, Milton Tate Jr, who—using one of Smith’s own signature lines—officially declared May 4, 2021 as “Be the Best You Can Be” Wanda Smith Day.

The phrase was also inscribed on a commemorative schoolyard bench, and in addition, a scholarship for up-and-coming teachers at Sam Houston State has been established in her name.
Smith’s life is an example as well as an inspiration. By always striving to be the best she could be, with heart and devotion she graduated from cleaning classrooms to leading classrooms—and that certainly puts her on our honor roll.


source:https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/wanda-smith-from-cleaning-school-to-teaching-1st-grade/

[Fivetide]

Bear has close call on utility poles in Arizona border city


A bear is perched at the top of a utility pole Sunday, May 9, 2021, in Douglas, Arizona
Authorities say the bear eventually climbed down and scampered off, sending about two
dozen onlookers scattering.(Bruce Whetten/Sierra Vista Herald via AP)

Residents of an Arizona border city were left in disbelief by a surprise visit from a bear.

The Arizona Game & Fish Department said the bear appeared Sunday in downtown Douglas.

Bolder than your average bear, the animal climbed up two utility poles and even sat on the wires at one point.

State wildlife officials, Douglas police, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol closed off U.S. Hwy 191 and tried to get the bear to leave.

Authorities say the seemingly unfazed bear eventually climbed down and scampered off, sending about two dozen onlookers scattering.

No injuries were reported.

Game & Fish officials say this is the time of year where people in the area need to watch out for bears.

[hija]

Repurposing waste into wearable gems



Independent makers are going against the grain and embracing repurposing. Instead of mining the Earth, London-based jeweller Lylie’s sources its precious metals from the 155,000-tonne mountain of electricals that are discarded every year in the UK. The pile is enough to make around 850,000 gold rings, according to the Recycle Your Electricals campaign.

Lylie’s founder Eliza Walter told Positive News that planned obsolescence is a particular bugbear of hers: “It makes me despair that products are still being designed to break. It’s not just the financial cost of something, but the environmental cost.”

Meanwhile, the practice of using recycled metals generally appears to be going mainstream. Global player Pandora used only recycled gold in 2020 and plans to do the same with silver by 2025. London firm YagoEco is giving single-use carrier bags a second life, by melting them down and transforming them into colourful earrings, necklaces and cufflinks. Since February 2019, the company has diverted some 1,500 bags from landfill.

Australian company Dinosaur Designs makes pieces using a resin developed from oil industry byproducts; in Denmark, AYM handcrafts items from salvaged ocean plastics; and a whole host of UK-based makers, including Sadie Jewellery, The Strandline and Fresh West Silver, swap precious stones for sea glass that has been handpicked from local beaches.

[goldie0608]

10-Year-Old Refugee, Once Homeless, Becomes National Chess Master: ‘Very Happy’



A 10-year-old boy won the title of National Chess Master on May 1.

Tanitoluwa "Tani" Adewumi's win makes him the the 28th youngest person in the country to achieve that high ranking, per the U.S. Chess Federation.

Tani's remarkable abilities as a chess player helped him and his family, refugees from Nigeria, move out of a New York City homeless shelter, according to the New York Times.

Of his latest accomplishment, the 10-year-old told NPR, "I was very happy that I won and that I got the title. I really love that I finally got it."

Tani revealed he practices chess "every day" after school for 10 or 11 hours.

His next goal is becoming the world's youngest grandmaster, he shared with NPR.

The Nigerian refugee will turn 11 this summer, meaning he has just under two years to take the title from Sergey Karjakin, the New York Times reported.

Tani became recognized in 2019 after he won the New York state chess championship for his age group, earning himself a profile in the New York Times. The accomplishment came just a year after he learned how to play chess at school while living in a homeless shelter.

His family couldn't afford to pay his school's chess program membership at one point, but his chess teacher waived the fees, USA Today reported at the time.

Other individuals also stepped in to support Tani's talents.

His father set up a GoFundMe page that raised $254,448 and enabled their family to get housing and other necessities.

"Tani's life was changed in 24 hours. Generous donors and supporters came together outside of GoFundMe and provided us with the housing, legal, and educational resources we needed," an update to the page in April 2019 said.

The now-10-year-old went on to write a book titled My Name Is Tani . . . and I Believe in Miracles. The book was later green-lit for a Paramount film adaption with Trevor Noah as a producer, Deadline reported in November 2019.

https://youtu.be/M0cYd1ENDIU

[Fatima99]

Mum mortified as police swarm her house after she throws Halloween corpse out

A mum took to Facebook to share the embarrassing story of how police were made to believe she'd killed someone after people saw a fake corpse from a Halloween bash outside her house



A mum was left mortified after the police arrived at her door to attend to, what they believed, was a murder scene.

Cara Louise had been doing a spot of gardening when she moved a fake corpse wrapped in bin liners she'd made for a spooky Halloween party for her kids last November.

But in a mad dash to pick her eldest son up from school she forgot to move it back.

When she returned to her home in Houghton Regis, she was greeted by 10 police officers as three people had spotted the prop and called 999.

Luckily red-faced Cara, 28, was able to explain to the police what had happened.

She said: "My five-year-old boy is really into dressing up for every occasion so we did the inside up with a circus theme and he dressed as It.

"So the prop in the garden was part of our theme.

"I have a tip for all parents who go all out at Halloween like myself.

"Dispose of props or put them away safely."

Cara - who has two boys aged five and six months - said she was left mortified by what happened.

She said: "I arrived home from the school run to see two police cars driving away from outside my house.

"I get out of the car to my neighbour standing there in which I ask jokingly 'What have you done?'"

"Then I was told they were all at my house as three people had called in to report a dead body."



She said she had kept the prop behind her wheelie bins since November.

Hairdresser Cara continued: "But today I moved him out to clear the garden and forgot to put him away.

"Ten minutes later another police car pulls up in which I had to explain I have not killed anyone and I will put him away in a secure place.

"All whilst my five-year-old stood telling them how much he loves Halloween and we can't get rid of the body because he loves it.

"It certainly made me and my neighbours laugh.

"Luckily the police did see the funny side, all 10 of them."

Cara joked: "I said 'Who has legs that short?'

"The policeman said 'You might have cut them.'

"I said 'Oh, did you check my bins?'

"They looked a bit concerned and asked 'Should we?'

"I was asked to chop it up and get rid of it to which I said 'No, I'll just put him in the shed with the others until next Halloween'."


Cara shared the blunder in the Family Lowdown Tips & Ideas group on Facebook, where it racked up more than 27,000 likes and 2,000 comments from viewers in hysterics.

One person joked: "Did they actually check to ensure it wasn't a body?

"Or was this the perfect crime?"

Another said: "Neighbours obviously thought you were capable of murder and dobbed you in.

"I wouldn't speak to them anymore."

Whilst a third quipped: "He's armless."

Bedfordshire Police has been approached for comment.

[BigGlen]

One Charged After Ozark Boat Crash Viral Video



LAKE OF THE OZARKS (KTVI) – A video of a boating accident on the Lake of the Ozarks is going viral, and Missouri state troopers say that’s probably a good thing. They hope people will get the message about going too fast in crowded waters when they see the graphic images.

The incident happened on August 24th, though the video, shot by a Lake TV photographer, wasn’t uploaded to YouTube until September 1st. Since then the images, of the seven passengers being violently thrown into each other and to the deck, have been seen by well over 100,000 people online and countless more watching on television.

Locals like Lisa Reed, a bartender at Beaver’s on the Lake, were shocked, but not entirely surprised by what happened.

“It’s packed. You’ve got the jet skis dodging the big boats. You’ve got the big boats dodging the jet skis. The skidoos wanting to jump off the bigger boats wakes. And you see ‘em flipping over. Falling off.”

But the Missouri Highway Patrol isn’t entirely disappointed the video of the accident is getting so much attention.

“It’s a good example,” Sgt. Jerry Callahan said. “Unfortunately it’s the stories of the injury accidents when they get out there that people really start to pay attention. And we are lucky in this instance I think.”

The driver of the boat, Marvin Carter, III of Memphis, TN suffered moderate injuries and a blow to his wallet as well. He’s being cited for speeding and imprudent operation of the boat. Five of the seven people on board were hospitalized, four of them with moderate injuries including broken bones.

“In Missouri we don’t have a daytime speed limit but that doesn’t mean you can drive your boat as fast as you want,” Callahan said. “You have to look at the existing conditions and look at the boat traffic on the water. Are there more boats? In this instance, the waves. The wakes.”

He hopes that lesson will be driven home as more and more people watch the video.

“I hope people are looking and saying, ‘wow, that could have been really bad.’”

See The Video Here...

https://youtu.be/Qdw4bw1qda0

Crowd of angry villagers use tractors and a digger to remove boulders blocking beauty spot
FURIOUS villagers removed boulders blocking access to a popular beauty spot.

The huge rocks were reportedly put on a grass verge by landowners in an effort to stop campervans staying overnight. This incidentally stopped local villagers, including those with restricted mobility, being able to park at the local beach which they have loved visiting for decades.

The landowner’s move resulted in 5,000 people signing a petition demanding the boulders be removed.

When no action was taken, local villagers took the matter into their own hands to remove the huge rocks at Llanddona Beach on Anglesey’s east coast.

According to an eyewitness, over 60 villagers and “six or seven tractors and a digger” helped to put the boulders onto the beach.

Anglesey Council and Llanddona Community Council have been asked to mediate between the landowners and villagers, though ownership of the land has never been officially agreed.





Carwyn Jones, a councillor and one of the local members for the Serial ward, told Wales Online: “Local people have roamed freely for centuries on this beach and we must do everything to ensure that local access is maintained and that the beach is protected and managed effectively in future.

“We must maintain the dialogue, and I'm very willing to continue talking with Llanddona Community Council, Anglesey Council and all relevant stakeholders.

“There's a lot of interest and a petition having attracted thousands of signatures, so it's an issue close to a lot of people's hearts.”

A spokesperson four Anglesey Council said: “We are aware of the ongoing concerns about parking, in particular large numbers of motorhomes and campervans.



“The land on which this parking occurs is not within the ownership of the council, and therefore the council cannot take any enforcement action or implement any measures to prohibit or control or encourage use.

“The nearby car park has remained open and is available for use.

“We are currently engaging with local landowners and the community council to try identify appropriate solutions to address the issues and concerns that exist locally.”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/14351 ... eauty-spot

[PennySerenade]

Animal Rescue Has Released 1,000 Feral Cats into Chicago's Streets to Combat City's Rat Problem



A Chicago animal shelter has found a solution to the city's rat problem.

Since 2012, the Tree House Humane Society has released 1,000 feral cats into Chicago's streets as part of its Cats at Work program. After humanely capturing the feral felines, the rescue spays/neuters the cats and then releases them back outside to serve as environmentally friendly rodent control — and stray cat population control.

The program is a welcomed solution to Chicago's rodent issue, as the Illinois city recently topped Orkin's list of the "rattiest cities" in the U.S. for the sixth consecutive time, based on the fact that Chicago had the most rodent pest treatments in the past year.

"We've had a lot of our clients tell us that before they had cats, they would step outside their house, and rats would actually run across their feet," Sarah Liss of Tree House told Chicago's WGN 9.

According to the Tree House website, the rescue places two or three neutered/spayed cats at a time into residential and commercial settings experiencing rat problems. Only felines who cannot thrive in a home environment, or cannot be reintegrated into their feral cat colonies, are part of the Cats at Work program that provides rodent control. After getting approved for a working cat, property and business owners are responsible for providing food, water, shelter, and wellness for the cats they employ to combat rats.



"In most cases, our Cats at Work become beloved members of the family or team and some even have their own Instagram pages!" the website states.

Liss explained that although the cats don't typically eat many rats, they will usually kill a few when they first arrive in their new environment. After this, the rats tend to avoid the cat's area.

"They are actually deterring them with their pheromones. That's enough to keep the rats away," she said.

Scientists bring to life nearly 100 baby sharks through artificial insemination



Sharks are as fascinating as they are endangered, and scientists have been sounding the alarm on the rate at which shark populations are declining.

Sixteen out of 31 oceanic shark species are now critically endangered or endangered, a study published in the journal Nature found earlier this year. The number of oceanic sharks and rays in the world has declined by 71% from 1970 to 2018, the researchers observed.
Now, scientists have been able to use artificial insemination to bring 97 baby sharks to life, a new study published in Scientific Reports revealed, in what a release describes as the "largest-ever effort to artificially inseminate sharks."

Artificial insemination of sharks could foster healthier populations in aquariums by encouraging genetic diversity, removing the need to transport sharks between institutions for mating purposes, according to the researchers. Moving sharks from one place to another is a costly process that is also stressful for the animals.
The study was led by scientists from the South-East Zoo Alliance for Reproduction & Conservation, a nonprofit based in Florida, in collaboration with the Aquarium of the Pacific in California, Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Tennessee, The Florida Aquarium, Adventure Aquarium in New Jersey, and the Field Museum in Chicago.

How to engineer baby sharks
Scientists collected semen from 19 male whitespotted bamboo sharks and used it to inseminate 20 females. The study took four years to complete, according to lead author Jennifer Wyffels, who conducted research for the study with the South-East Zoo Alliance for Reproduction & Conservation and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Delaware.
Whitespotted bamboo sharks, or Chiloscyllium plagiosum, a species from the Indo-Pacific Ocean considered "near threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, were an ideal candidate for this research, Wyffels explained via email.

Reaching a maximum length of about 3 feet (1 meter), "they are a smaller shark species and easier to handle for reproductive procedures compared to 6- to 8-foot (1.8- to 2.4-meter) sand tiger sharks," Wyffels explained.
"Many aquariums have bamboo sharks and that was important so that we could exchange semen between institutions," she added.

The fact that whitespotted bamboo sharks lay eggs was also key.
"It is much easier to monitor eggs for embryo development than it is to examine a pregnant female shark," Wyffels said.
Two to three females were inseminated at a time, Wyffels explained, but they each had to be monitored for about six weeks prior to confirm they were laying eggs, and that those eggs weren't being fertilized with sperm stored in the body from previous mating encounters -- an ability of many shark species.
"Females that store sperm are no longer dependent on repeated mating with males to fertilize their eggs throughout the laying season and can instead focus their energy and efforts on other activities such as feeding," Wyffels said.
Each trial required nearly nine months to complete before a new one could start, according to Wyffels.
Shark mail
In some cases, male and female sharks involved in the study were located in the same aquarium, but scientists also experimented with the viability of cold-stored semen shipped overnight between participating institutions -- from New Jersey to California, and from Florida to Tennessee.

"The success rate was similar for both which is important because it highlights the feasibility and efficacy of transporting gametes rather than animals," Wyffels told CNN.
Out of the 97 baby sharks that were born, 16 came from parents located in different aquariums around the country, Wyffels added.
"This opens the door for international exchange of genes as well as collection of semen from wild sharks for insemination of aquarium females or even isolated populations of wild females," she said.
Importantly, scientists also observed instances of asexual reproduction, or parthenogenesis, a process that allows females to create an embryo without relying on genetic material from a male. These were most surprising to the scientists.
"There were three hatchlings from parthenogenesis from eggs laid by two females that were inseminated," Wyffels said.
"One female in particular had pups via sexual reproduction but then gave birth to two pups 74 and 78 days later via parthenogenesis," said study coauthor Kevin Feldheim, a researcher at Chicago's Field Museum.
In Feldheim's mind, there are many open questions on how parthenogenesis in female sharks actually works.
"Why didn't the female use the sperm that she was inseminated with? Was it no longer viable? Did she 'deem' it poor quality sperm and 'decide' not to use it again?" he said via email.
Feldheim performed DNA analysis on the newborn sharks to determine who their parents were. This was an important aspect of the study, confirming the pups were born as a result of the artificial insemination and not because of stored sperm or parthenogenesis.
The next frontier for sharks
Information derived from this study is already being applied to develop artificial insemination techniques for other shark species, including sand tiger sharks.
"Sand tiger sharks are a protected species that is critically endangered in some parts of its range. They are very charismatic, long lived and popular in aquariums, but they don't often reproduce," Wyffels explained.
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
"Eventually and with more research, we hope this technique will be used to help other rare and endangered shark and ray species," she said.

Can artificial insemination protect endangered shark species in the long term? Feldheim believes it can play an important role, but he pointed to bigger global issues that need to be addressed, among which are the creation of marine protected areas for species like sharks, cutting down on global bycatch, and tackling climate change.
"While I think artificial insemination will help, we obviously have bigger fish to fry (pun intended)," Feldheim said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/13/worl ... index.html

The $392,000 Lifeguard: ‘Baywatch’ as Union Shop

Savvy bargaining has gotten them handsome benefits and six-figure salaries.



Being a lifeguard isn’t easy, but in Los Angeles it can be lucrative. Auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found 82 county lifeguards earning at least $200,000 including benefits and seven making between $300,000 and $392,000. Thirty-one lifeguards made between $50,000 and $131,000 in overtime alone.

After 30 years of service, they can retire as young as 55 on 79% of their pay. The Los Angeles County Lifeguard Association makes all this possible. Since 1995 the union has bargained for better wages, hours, benefits and working conditions.

Over the past five years, lifeguard captain Daniel Douglas brought home $630,000 in overtime alone. His total employment costs in 2019 were $368,668—$140,706 base bay, $131,493 in overtime, $21,760 in “other pay” and $74,709 in benefits.

In 2009 the city of Santa Monica signed a 10-year, $25 million contract with the county for lifeguard services. In 2019 the city extended the contract for five years and $17 million. There were no identified competitors and the contract wasn’t put out for bid.

To be sure, being a lifeguard isn’t all fun in the sun: Some are EMTs and paramedics, and some are part of an underwater recovery team and participate in diving operations. Some are marine firefighters with specialized training for fireboat operations. Some are on duty for 24 hours at a time—though they’re allotted eight hours for sleep, and if they have a call that interrupts their slumber after five hours or less, “the entire 24-hour period shall be counted as hours worked,” the contract states.

Still, they’re handsomely paid beyond what virtually all other EMTs receive. By comparison, the top-paid public lifeguard in Florida made $118,000, including benefits—though the pay goes further in the Sunshine State, which has no income tax. Even in New York City, the top-paid lifeguard made only $168,000.

Think of the Los Angeles Country Lifeguard Association as the teachers union of “Baywatch.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-392-00 ... conditions.

[lush]

Ohio man tries to blame 14 cases of stolen beer on his wife
Thu, May 13, 2021, 10:00 AM *


Cans of beer connected by plastic six-pack rings

If I were to, say, steal 14 cases of beer, I’d try to prepare a good cover story in case I got caught. A few examples:

• NASA tasked me with defending the planet from an asteroid, and a giant beer tower is the only thing that’ll stop it.

• I work for a dog rescue organization that serves sad three-legged dogs who can only drink beer.

• The beer is for Poison frontman Bret Michaels, and he’ll pay for it later.

I would not try to blame the beer heist on my wife. Unfortunately, that’s what one Ohio man (allegedly) did when he was caught trying to pilfer 14 cases of Bud Light in Delhi Township, Ohio yesterday. Local news station WLWT5 reported on the incident, explaining that the unidentified man loaded up his cart with beer at a nearby Kroger, only to be caught by employees trying to exit the store with the beer. Police claim that, once caught, the man attempted to return the beer, “stating his wife bought the wrong beer.” Kroger employees reportedly tried to confirm the man’s story, but he eventually exited the store with his cart of stolen beer. That’s when Kroger employees called police, who reviewed the surveillance footage.

The Delhi Township Police Department is asking for information on the man’s identity, but I say let him walk. First, if you check out the surveillance photo, you’ll see that the man is wearing a practical sandal, like a Birkenstock. I’m not one to mess with a man in a practical sandal. Second, the man’s probably feeling guilty about trying to blame the fiasco on his wife. Let him sit with that for a while. Finally, maybe he’s got plans for all that beer. If you see a flaming asteroid bounce off of a giant beer tower, you’ll know exactly who to thank.

[johngriffen]

I sometimes get REALLY DEPRESSED reviewing the news these days.
It's always about a global pandemic threatening life as we know it,
protests around the world, stupid politicians, natural disasters,
or some other really bad story.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Welcome to The mobi weekly news magazine
IN OTHER NEWS
FRIDAY MAY 14
What is it?
Here is your chance to become an "ACE REPORTER" for our weekly news magazine.
It is your job to fine weird, funny or "good feel" stories from around the world and share them with our readers in our weekly magazine

How do you play?
Just post a story that you have come across that made you smile, laugh, feel good...
BUT NOTHING DEPRESSING

EXAMPLE POST

​Naked sunbather chases wild boar through park after it steals his laptop bag

A naked sunbather was seen chasing wild boar through a park after it stole his laptop bag.
Amusing photographs from Germany show the man running after the animal to try and claim the plastic bag back.
But the cheeky boar and its two piglets appear to be too quick for the sunbather, who can't keep up with their speedy little trotters.
As the incident unfolds, groups of friends and family sat on the grass watch on and laugh.
Heads are seen turning in surprise and amusement in the hilarious photographs.
The incident happened at Teufelssee Lake - a bathing spot in the Grunwell Forest in Berlin, Germany.

Rules:
Each Edition of IN OTHER NEWS will be open for 7 days...
You may post One Story in any 24 hour period
So in other words, you can enter only once a day
Each news day will start when I post announcing it
OR at:
9:00 AM CHICAGO TIME (UTC -5)
2:00 PM GMT (UTC -0)
on those days I space out and forget to post or can't due to Real Life
Stories may be accompanied with images - but No big images, please! 800x800 pixels wide maximum
Videos are allowed, but please keep them to under a minute, and post a short summary for those that don't like to click on videos
No Duplicate stories - Where a post has been edited resulting in duplicates, then the last one in time gets disallowed.
And please limit this to reasonably family friendly stories

Reward:
Each news story posted that I feel is acceptable (must be a real story, too few words or simply a headline are not considered acceptable) will earn you 50 WRZ$
If you post multiple stories on any given day, you will only earn 50 WRZ$ for the first story of the Day
All payments will be made at THE END of the weekly news cycle.
Special Bonus - Each week I will award "The Pulitzer Prize" for the best story of the week
The weekly winner of the "The Pulitzer Prize" will receive a 100 WRZ$ bonus
It's just my personal opinion, so my judgement is final

So help bring GOOD news to the members of mobi, and join our reporting team...

IN OTHER NEWS

[ozswede]

Video shows man making slow escape in alleged ride-on mower theft



Police have released a video for the public to help to identify a man who stole a ride-on mower for a joy ride, making the world's slowest getaway — beer in hand — in Cairns in Far North Queensland.

Senior Constable Heidi Marek said the man and his female companion pulled up on the side of a road to speak with the 63-year-old owner of the ride-on, who was mowing his lawn at the time.

"He told the owner he wanted to purchase a similar mower for a family member and asked if he could take the mower for a test drive," Senior Constable Marek said.

"The owner has agreed but became suspicious after seeing the mower head off down the street.

"He was expecting him to turn around and when that didn't happen, he chased him on foot but couldn't catch him."

Security vision released by police shows a bare-chested man in a red hat cruising down the side of the road during the incident, earlier this month.

The man's female companion, realising her partner had done a cut and run, drove off in their car in the opposite direction.

Senior Constable Marek said while the lawnmower was later found in a ditch, the story was not yet over.

"We are still looking for the offender, as well as the keys to the mower," she said.

"It was opportunistic … he thought he could get away with it."

She said the owner was “happy he’s got his mower back”.

The man is described as aged in his late 30s or early 40s, of Caucasian appearance and was driving a blue Toyota Aurion sedan.

Source and video here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-13/ ... /100137376