[FRKJ]

Ig Nobel Prizes awarded for poop knives and helium-inhaling alligator
The 2020 Ig Nobel Prizes announced in a virtual ceremony included awards for researchers who made knives out of frozen poop and a team of scientists who had an alligator shout after inhaling helium.



The Ig Nobel Prizes, given out each year by the satirical journal Annals of Improbable Research in a ceremony at Harvard University, were distributed in a virtual ceremony Thursday.

The Materials Science Prize was awarded to a Kent State University team who crafted knives from their own frozen feces as a means of investigating an ethnographic account of an Inuit man who claimed to have made a knife from his own frozen poop. The Kent State team found the knives melted and deteriorated too quickly to be of much use.

A group of researchers from Austria and Japan received the Acoustics Prize for putting an alligator in a helium-filled box and having it vocalize. The scientists were aiming to determine whether the vocal communications of crocodilians relate to their body size.

The Ig Nobel Peace Prize went to the governments of India and Pakistan for "having their diplomats surreptitiously ring each other's doorbells in the middle of the night, and then run away before anyone had a chance to answer the door" in a reported 2018 incident.

The Ig Nobel Prizes, founded in 1991 to "honor achievements that make people laugh, then think," also included awards this year for researchers who suggested narcissists can be identified by their eyebrows, a scientist whose research suggests widespread fear of spiders among entomologists and a research team who vibrated earthworms at high frequencies to detect changes in their body shapes.

‘Tropical’ bird turns out to be a seagull someone dyed electric blue


The seagull had been dyed blue and black and left to wander Carlisle

A ‘tropical’ bird with vibrant blue and black feathers fooled people into thinking they had discovered something truly extraordinary.

The bird was found wandering a car park in Carlisle by shocked onlookers who alerted the RSPCA. But welfare officers soon confirmed the bird was not tropical and was just a regular seagull that had been dyed electric blue. After trying to clean the blue dye from its feathers, mystery still surrounds what happened to the seagull.

RSPCA officer Graham Carter said he has never seen anything like it in 20 years on the job. He said: ‘We have similar situations before where gulls have got themselves into trouble after falling into containers of beer, curry or oil. ‘We have also seen situations where some birds have been dyed pink before, but we just don’t know what happened in this case with this poor bird. ‘I wonder if some kind of blue powder has fallen on him and left him in this state. We would really like to hear from anyone who knows how this happened.

‘If it’s a case of the bird falling into a liquid or substance we would really like to know so that we can find the source and make sure this doesn’t happen again. ‘Or if it was done on purpose we would really like to know so we can look into this further. At this stage we simply don’t know if this was an accident or malicious.’ Stephen Wakelin, from Wolfwood Wildlife and Dog Rescue, said: ‘We are doing our best for this poor gull and are hoping that he makes a full recovery. ‘We still don’t know what the substance is but we are concerned that it is affecting him as he is a little dazed and is still unable to fly at the moment. ‘We think he is around two years old. It will take some time for him to go back to normal colour as he will have to moult and grow new feathers first. ‘We are doing everything we can for him and making sure he is safe and well looked after.’

https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/14/tropical ... -13269734/

[hija]

Mobile library gets rural kids reading



As a teacher in a primary school in rural Italy, Antonio La Cava (pictured above) was worried about his young pupils’ growing lack of interest in reading books. His response was to transform a three-wheeled van into a mobile library.

Now 73, he has spent nearly 20 years driving his Bibliomotocarro to bring books to children in the remote villages and communities of Basilicata, a region in Italy’s far south.

“I was worried about growing old in a country of non-readers,” he says. “Without a book, so often a child is alone.”

La Cava chose a Piaggio Ape van for its humble, homely associations, giving it a house-like roof: “As soon as you see it, it puts you in a good mood,” he says. “It suggests the idea of a refuge, of relaxation, which is what every book offers.”

Besides the library, La Cava also runs creative writing workshops and shows short films inspired by books, all of which underpins his belief that books and culture, as he puts it, are “made by and for everyone, not just a privileged few.”

[Governor3]

Forget the Stock Market. The Rare-Plant Market Has Gone Bonkers.



The 1600s had the Dutch tulip market bubble. Now 2020 is doing the same for rare plants.

Interest in greenery has grown during the pandemic, with more people stuck at home and bored—and Instagram posts have helped send the market for unusual varieties into a tizzy. Growers, nurseries and plant shops are scrambling to keep up. The most coveted flora now fetch thousands of dollars. Plant flippers have jumped in to make a quick buck.

Jerry Garcia, a 27-year-old aircraft mechanic in San Diego, said in recent months he has been besieged by requests from people eager to buy a piece of his vast tropical-plants collection. During one week in August, he sold two small cuttings of a highly coveted Variegated Monstera Adansonii plant for $2,000 apiece. With proper care, the cuttings will eventually turn into plants.

“It’s better than the stock market,” Mr. Garcia said. “I got a bunch of these plants when they were in the double digits, and now they are in the four-digit realm.”

Enid Offolter, a grower who runs NSE Tropicals in Plantation, Fla., figured that a sharp downturn in business would follow coronavirus lockdowns. Instead, she’s working 12-hour days, seven days a week, to meet the highest volume of orders she’s had in two decades in the industry.

On Labor Day, Ms. Offolter listed 300 young plants of different types, including some rare ones, for sale online; the entire batch sold out in seven minutes. She recently sold a Variegated Monstera Adansonii for $3,500. “Nothing’s making sense anymore,” she said. “It’s gotten out of control.”

Flora with sought-after features, such as splashes of color and holes in their leaves, are often the result of genetic mutations that make them susceptible to minor changes in temperature, humidity and light, plant experts say.

The ghostly white streaks of the Variegated Monstera Albo can send prices up to $250 per leaf. Those same colorless patches, however, mean the plant has trouble photosynthesizing and often requires extra help from humidifiers or grow lights.

Stella Barnum, a plant buyer for Urban Sprouts in Renton, Wash., said she sees a lot of newbies snapping up ultraexpensive plants, which quickly shrivel and die. “I would rather pay my mortgage than throw money away like that,” she said.

Longtime plant lovers say the craze for rare plants is reminiscent of a housing bubble, or the tulip mania that gripped the Netherlands during the 1600s, when bulb prices hit stratospheric heights before crashing.

“It’s going to burst at some point,” said Ms. Barnum. “It’s too crazy.”

Botany bandits are interested, too. A few months ago, Mr. Garcia, the San Diego collector, began noticing that valuable plants were disappearing from his rented greenhouse. He set up motion-activated cameras to figure out what was happening. Those gadgets began vanishing as well.

Mr. Garcia almost did a stakeout in a hammock, but decided to splurge instead on a camera that sent live footage to his phone. It caught a man, toting a gun, making off with thousands of dollars worth of plants.

“This man was picking up plants as if he was shopping at a nursery,” said Mr. Garcia, who quickly moved his collection back home.

Collectors Nick Watchorn and Lani Dy have installed cameras both inside and outside their house near Portland, Ore. In recent months, the couple has sold off thousands of dollars’ worth of cuttings and plants from their trove of greenery collected over the years. “Now we can get 10 times what we paid,” Ms. Dy said.

Among recent sales: $4,990 for a four-leaf Variegated Monstera Adansonii, whose prominent features include holes in the leaves and streaks of color; $2,800 for a cutting of the same variety with one leaf; and $1,250 for a cutting of a Monstera Obliqua Peruvian with one leaf and a root.

Collectors who have made a little cash by chopping off a stem here, a leaf there, said part of the appeal is that plants can rejuvenate themselves over time.

“Does your Chanel handbag grow another Chanel handbag in a month?” said Lily Liu, who works in biotech in Oakland, Calif. The 30-year-old said she’s sold a handful of cuttings to people in her area, and befriended some other plant-obsessed people in the process.

Kaboo Bill, a wedding photographer in Sacramento, Calif., said she got the idea for flipping plants after she started buying some for herself while sheltering in place. She has been able to import $500 worth of rare varieties from Thailand or Indonesia, chop them into multiple plants, and sell the whole load for triple the amount, she said.

“It’s definitely an obsession now,” said Mrs. Bill, 39. She built a greenhouse in her backyard to house the hundreds of plants she’s recently acquired.

Mrs. Bill said she’s made a few thousand dollars so far. Part of the lure of flipping, she said, is the thrill of gambling on living things that can die before being sold off. She recently paid $500 to buy “the saddest cutting” of a sought-after variety—essentially a stem with no leaf and a tiny root. Similar cuttings have been priced at $1,200, she said, so it was a bargain.

“It was scary,” she said. “I took the risk. If it dies it’s $500 down the drain. But if it survives, that’s $2,000.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/forget-the ... 1600437284

[Governor3]

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
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19th

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
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
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

[FRKJ]

Police free man from handcuffs after girlfriend lost the key




Police in Britain responded to an early morning call from a man who became trapped in a pair of handcuffs in an apparent case of romance gone awry.

The Greater Manchester Police's Rochdale station said officers responded to a home at 4:30 a.m. Friday to help a couple having difficulty with a pair of handcuffs.

"Male phoned requesting help as his girlfriend had locked him in some handcuffs and they couldn't now find the key," the department's tweet said. "Wanted police as he feared the fire brigade would cut them and they were expensive."

Police said the man was "released" from the cuffs, but the department did not say whether the expensive restraints were damaged in the rescue.

[Fatima99]

'Karen' is set to be most popular costume for Halloween this year - with £140 mask



Halloween is fast approaching and as always there are so many different costume options to pick from.

While we might not be able to have traditional celebrations due to the global pandemic, there's nothing to stop you getting dressed up and enjoying the spooky season with five of your nearest and dearest pals.

Gotta stick to that rule of six people!

If you're stuck for fancy dress ideas, it seems there's one costume that many people are preparing to put on this year - The Karen.

According to Vice, off the back of the Karen meme, Karen costumes are set to be a big Halloween trend in 2020 with asymmetrical blonde wigs and T-shirts that read "I want to speak to the manager".

Sellers on Etsy have been offering a Karen wig which will set you back £27.44 while Karen costume tops are available on Amazon in the US.

Similarly those really committed to their costume are able to purchase made-to-order latex Karen masks.



LA-based artist Jason Adcock has been making handmade masks which cost around £140 and feature a woman wearing make-up, with blonde hair and a very angry, scrunched up, facial expression.

Jason has been selling his creepy masks on Etsy, and they've proved so popular they've since sold out.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/karen-set-most-popular-costume-22700396

[PennySerenade]

New ‘Toronto’ sign unveiled at Nathan Phillips Square



The new “Toronto” sign has been unveiled at Nathan Phillips Square, with a wrap recognizing the diversity of people of African descent in the city. The sign, which was first installed in 2015 for the Pan Am Games, has become an iconic symbol and one of the most visited attractions in Toronto. It was initially intended to be a temporary fixture, but with increasing popularity, was left in place. The sign began to show “significant wear and tear,” and officials decided to replace it with more durable — though largely identical — material.



The new sign, unveiled on Friday, had its first wrap titled “Patterns of the People,” recognizing the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent.

“This new and more durable Toronto sign will ensure that it continues to be part of our city’s landscape for years to come,” Mayor John Tory said in a statement.

“I am pleased to see that as part of the unveiling of our new sign, the first wrap will recognize the International Decade for People of African Descent. This sends a powerful message to our residents and the world that Toronto is committed to ending anti-Black racism here and that we are prepared to make the systemic changes that are needed.”

Wraps are changed around every 12 months, officials said. Past displays have included Canada 150, Toronto Neighbourhoods, Indigenous Iconography and the Pan Am Games.

[goldie0608]

Electrician Comes To Repair Lights For 72-Year-old, Then Enlists Entire Community To Fix Her Crumbling House—For Free



Like many elderly Americans, Gloria Scott lives on a limited income. Sometimes, that means making hard choices. If money’s tight, home repair and maintenance are often the first things to fall by the wayside.

When Scott’s overhead light fixture went out, however, she decided living in the dark wouldn’t do. Though she knew her budget would take a hit, she called in electrician John Kinney to make the necessary repairs.

Little did the 72-year-old know, she wasn’t just getting an electrician, she was getting a knight in shining armor as well.

Deeply troubled by the extreme state of disrepair he found Scott’s house in, Kinney couldn’t get the woman’s desperate situation out of his head. “No lights, running water… I [saw] her on a Friday and it stuck with me over the weekend… I said, ‘I got to go back there,’” Kinney told CBS.

Rather than walk away, Kinney went back to Scott’s place and started working on some other much-needed repairs—free of charge. But he didn’t stop there.

Kinney set up a “Nice old lady needs help” Facebook page to solicit other local tradespeople to lend a hand as well. The enthusiastic response was pretty amazing.

With an impressive chunk of the Woburn, Massachusetts community rallying to the call, so far, Scott’s home has gotten new electricical and plumbing systems, new windows, and extensive repairs to the crumbling walls, ceilings, front steps, and porch.

Meanwhile outside, as neighbors toiled on landscape cleanup and new planting projects, a steady flow of food donations streamed in to feed the volunteers.

To say Scott was blown away by the outpouring of generosity is an understatement. “Look at these people!” she exclaimed. “…[You] can’t even comprehend the gratitude that I have.”

The project was such a success, Kinney decided to take it to the next level. Naming the initiative Gloria’s Gladiators, he hopes to inspire a legion of like-minded knights in shining armor—electric or otherwise—to help needy seniors in their own communities.

That sounds like a pretty bright idea to us.

Class Ring Lost 50 Years Ago on A Florida Beach Will Be Reunited With Its Owner


Jerry Pope was sweeping a Florida beach with his metal detector on Nov. 22, 2019, when he found this class ring, lost 50 years ago. The ring will soon be reunited with its owner.

• Metal detector enthusiast Jerry Pope found the ring on a beach east of Orlando.
• Pope watches for just the right weather conditions to go treasure hunting.
• He and a friend tracked down the owner, 50 years after the ring was lost.

Jerry Pope watches the weather.
He looks at winds and currents and waves – things that might wash away some sand and "open a beach up."
Then, when conditions are just right, he goes treasure hunting with his metal detector along the coast near his home in Indialantic, Florida.
That's what Pope was doing on Nov. 22 when he found a men's class ring, encrusted in green gunk and a little bit of white coral.
Pope cleaned it as best he could and set out to find the owner who, it turns out, lost the ring five decades ago while on a date at the beach with the girl he had taken to prom the night before.
"After cleaning it up, everything was there," Pope told weather.com. "I had a school, a graduation date and initials."
The ring was from Central Florida's Auburndale High School, Class of 1970. It had the initials KEB engraved inside.
Corinne McClanahan, a friend of Pope's and a fellow metal detector detective, posted photos on social media. They were shared on the Auburndale High School Facebook page, and within 24 hours, McClanahan was talking on the phone to the ring's owner, Kenneth Boards.
Boards was flabbergasted. McClanahan explained to Boards that Pope had found the ring on Melbourne Beach, about 75 miles southeast of Orlando on Florida's Atlantic Coast. Boards told McClanahan that, shortly after he had gotten the ring, he had lost it at another beach a few miles to the north.
"He said 'Wow, this was 50 years ago.' And it took me a minute to process that," McClanahan said. "I knew the ring was made in 1970 but didn’t know when it was lost. I pictured a thousand stories but I didn’t see this one coming. He was so excited. He was confused, he was excited, he was in disbelief."
Boards then called Pope.
“And I just couldn’t believe that it really was my ring," Boards said. "He asked me a few questions on the phone to identify it and from that point he says 'Yeah, when do you want to meet me and come pick it up?'”
Boards was a senior in high school when he lost the ring, and had taken his prom date to the beach . His ring was on a towel when the outing was interrupted by a storm.
“Dark clouds started coming in somwhere around lunch or a little after and a heavy rain storm came in,” he recalled. “We grabbed the four corners of the blanket and put it in the car and when I got home it was not there.”
Home was some 100 miles away from the beach, so there was no point in going back to search. Boards assumed the ring was lost forever, and now he wonders about its years spent potentially rolling around on the sea floor, pushed by tides and currents.
“It probably won’t be worn very much unless it can be cleaned up but it’ll be a keepsake,” Boards said.
Pope has found class rings before and has reunited a few other pieces of jewelry with their rightful owners, but never anything that's been lost for so many years.
"It was such a long shot," Pope said. "I was thinking, ah, it would be terrible to find out the person passed away, and do I try to contact one of the family members?"


Jerry Pope found the 50-year-old class ring and several other treasures with his metal detector on a Florida beach.

Pope is a commercial fisherman by trade, so he's used to keeping tabs on things like wind speeds, tides and wave heights. He uses those same indicators to pick the best days to walk the beach with his metal detector.
“With certain weather patterns, the beach will open up," he said. "It’s when the winds and high seas sweep the beach away and it cuts down to where you’ll find objects from not only hundreds of years ago, but you’ll also find objects that are more recent.”
He found one of his best treasures – an old musket – in the days after Hurricane Irma brushed his local beaches in 2017.
Pope and Boards plan to meet soon so Boards can retrieve his long-lost ring.
“He can’t even believe that I didn’t just melt it down or sell it or whatever," Pope said, adding Boards is still surprised the ring was found.
"Every time he calls me, he just still cannot believe it. It’s such a good feeling, not only for him, but also for me.”

https://weather.com/news/news/2019-12-0 ... in-florida

[Fivetide]

Australian couple buy $450,000 lottery ticket by accident


An Australian couple from New South Wales stopped into a store in Queensland while driving across
the country and accidentally bought a lottery ticket worth more than $450,000 while trying to purchase
a different ticket.

An Australian couple who won a lottery jackpot of nearly $500,000 said they actually bought their ticket by accident while trying to enter a different drawing.

The Hastings Point, New South Wales, couple told The Lott officials they were on a road trip across Australia when they stopped into the newsXpress Central Highlands in Emerald, Queensland.

The couple said they bought their ticket for the Sept. 12 Saturday Gold Lotto drawing by accident when trying to buy a ticket for a different drawing.

"Can you believe I was actually meant to buy a ticket into another draw? This was actually the wrong ticket," the man said. "It was a complete mistake, a very good mistake."

The "very good mistake" turned out to be a $453,135.59 winner.

The couple said their winnings will help them upgrade their traveling plans.

"We've been living in our caravan in Queensland for the past few months, so this means we can update it and get a new one," the man said.

"We will also share it with our family and use some for more traveling. The rest we will save for the future."

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/09/18 ... 600462256/

[Governor3]

In Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Old Brooklyn Neighborhood, Residents Pay Tribute To Venerated Justice



In the Brooklyn neighborhood of Midwood, where Ruth Bader Ginsburg grew up in, residents paid their respects on Saturday morning to the homegrown Supreme Court justice who died on Friday at age 87.

For residents who spoke to Gothamist/WNYC, Ginsburg served as a mark of pride for Brooklyn, where Ginsburg spent her early years before pursuing studies that would eventually lead her to become a trailblazing modern Supreme Court justices.

At Ginsburg's old home on East 9th Street, current owners William and Diana Brenneisen lamented the loss of Ginsburg, offering condolences to her family. Diana has taken pride in being the owner of the house Ginsburg once lived in. The couple learned about their connection with Ginsburg a year after purchasing the home in 1969.

"“I found out through people that were here prior to us. You know, that’s Ruth Ginsburg’s house,’” recalled Diana. "I was a legal secretary and I mentioned it to my bosses. Finding out that she formerly lived here, it was a beautiful experience, knowing that we were raising our family here, and that she came from here."

Diana said Ginsburg will be missed across the country.

"She's a wonderful woman, she'll be truly missed by everyone, the community, even the country itself, because she was a strong powerful woman in her judgement on various matters," said Diana, adding, she was a "big influence."

A mile east from the house, a pop-up memorial was set up outside of James Madison High School, where Ginsburg graduated in 1950. Signs reading, "We Love You RBG," and "Love RBG" were found taped to a pillar as lavender flowers laid on the ground. Sitting at the steps was Ella Frederick, 44, a Brooklyn public school teacher, who brought her two kids to the school to understand where Ginsburg came from.

Frederick, 44, recalled meeting Ginsburg last year at the Supreme Court when her friend was brought in to take photos of Ginsburg. Frederick told her that she too was a Brooklyn resident. The two connected.

"She said 'Oh, I'm from Brooklyn, I went to Madison High School," and I said 'everyone knows that,' and she said where do you teach, and I said IS 234, and she said, 'oh my aunt taught there, she taught PE,'" said Frederick, who brought her two children, Ray and Lee, to the school to pay respects. "As Brooklyners, she is a part of us, and the diversity in Brooklyn is what brought her the perspective she brought to the court those roots are around us, so I'm feeling grateful for Brooklyn, and terrified for our future, and grateful that she was born under a bright star that she could give so much to us."

Susan McMillan, a Brooklyn public school teacher who accompanied Frederick to the school, felt shock over Ginsburg's passing.

"We wanted to bring the kids to pay tribute because Justice Ginsburg. Just means so much to so many people and she's played such a major role in all of our lives, particularly as women," said McMillan. "And for these kids growing up, we wanted them to just get a sense of where she came from, her roots and what she means to everyone who is feeling this sadness right now."

The school took pride in Ginsburg's accomplishments so much that it created a practice courtroom. Danielle Goonan, another Brooklyn resident who attended the school, said classes were regularly held inside the courtroom named after Ginsburg.

"I think her legacy in this neighborhood is one of a shining light again. Students--until James Madison is knocked down--will walk into the lobby of James Madison High School, look up at her picture and say, 'I could be like Ruth.' She came from Brooklyn, and she came from the neighborhood and we were all working class kids," said Goonan of Ginsburg. "I used to say I want to be a Supreme Court justice."

In her sophomore year, Goonan was sent tickets to the Supreme Court by Ginsburg herself.

"We all went down and we met her afterwards in her chambers," said Goonan. "And, you know, it was like she was just one of us."

[hija]

Berlin Wall wins protection



As the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaches, the future of the longest remaining section of the wall that became a symbol of the Cold War has been secured.

The 1.3 kilometre-long East Side Gallery, near the centre of the city on Mühlenstraße, had faced the possibility of demolition because of a construction boom in the area. But the Berlin Wall Foundation, which runs other memorials and museums in the city, has now taken control of what’s known as “the world’s longest open-air gallery.”

This stretch of wall was transformed after 1989 when 118 artists were invited to paint on its concrete surface. Their paintings express the euphoria and tremendous hopes for a better, freer future. One of the murals, by Russian painter Dmitri Vrubel, depicts a kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker.

The East Side Gallery is one of the city’s most visited landmarks. Foundation director Axel Klausmeier describes it as “a symbol of joy.”

[Governor3]

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
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 20th

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
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
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

[FRKJ]

'Spooky' cat with no eyes or fur has become Instagram star with over 80,000 fans
A eyeless and hairless cat named Jasper has become a social media sensation, garnering thousands of followers who adore the unusual-looking animal.

It's no secret that Instagram is full of photos of people's adorable pets - from dogs that look like they've stepped out of a Disney movie to animals that look so human it's unreal. But one cat is causing a stir on the social media app right now and not for the reasons you might expect.

Over on @jazzy.purs a feline named Jasper has garnered over 80,000 followers thanks to his rather unusual appearance. The unique kitty is both hairless and eyeless, meaning he has no eyes or fur.



Jasper, or Jazzy as he is also known, was adopted by his owner Kelli when he was just two-years-old. At the time he appeared to be perfectly healthy, but she quickly realised that wasn't the case.

Soon the cat started to have the occasional flare-up of the feline herpes virus, which caused runny eyes. He later developed a corneal ulcer in his right eye in November 2013, which got so bad the eye had to be removed.

Jasper was left with one eye, until a few years later he developed the same problem in his left eye and it also had to be removed. If that weren't all enough, the poor animal suffered a stroke in April 2019, which he found it difficult to recover from.



Speaking to Today.com about her beloved pet, Kelli explained how he has adjusted to life without his eyes. She said: "He does pretty good. The first day home from the vet, he was climbing on the couch and on my shoulder and all over the place trying to explore. It was amazing to watch him."

"A lot of people seem to have concerns I'm stretching this out and think he has no quality of life. Through every step of the way, I made sure I was keeping in touch with my vets and asking, 'Are we at a point where a quality of life discussion needs to happen?' As strange as it sounds, he has a good quality of life. He's a happy cat."

Kelli recently also rescued two other cats, meaning Jasper has some companions. One of them, named Tessa, is also blind and she and Jasper were said to have "immediately bonded".

Fans on Instagram can't get enough of the trio - especially Jasper.