TERRIFYING ClOWN DOll SCARES OFF TRASH-STEAlING BlACK BEAR
A Virginia resident captured video of the effective method they devised to ward off a trash-stealing black bear — a creepy laughing clown doll. The video shows a bear approach a trash can outside the filmer’s Salem home earlier this month and investigate the bin. The trash can, which has a large clown doll strapped to it, appears to entice the bruin, which attempts to tip the container over to go to the garbage inside. The movement of the trash can causes its clown passenger’s mechanism to trigger, making it laugh loudly, flail its limbs and light up from the eyes. The bear, sufficiently creeped out, stops its attempt and flees the scene.
(UPI)
RECORD FOR EXTINGUISHING MATCHES WITH TONGUE BROKEN
A New York man set a new world record by extinguishing more than 30 matches with his tongue in a minute. Ashrita Furman, who holds more than 200 Guinness World Records, claimed the new title for “most matchsticks extinguished with the tongue in one minute.” Furman, 61, sat at a table at the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Jamaica and individually lit a total of 37 matches and extinguished them on his tongue to surpass the previous record of 30. He was only permitted to extinguish one match at a time and was prohibited from using his breath to blow them out. last year, Furman completed a similar feat to add to his lengthy list of records by extinguishing 44 blow torches with his tongue.
(UPI)
SUSHI CHEF RECREATES NBA PlAYERS AND SHOES
A sushi chef and artist in Italy uses raw fish and rice to recreate the likeness of NBA players and their sneakers. Yujia Hu, a Chinese sushi chef based in Milan uses rice, seaweed and raw fish to recreate iconic Air Jordan sneakers and the likenesses of current and former NBA players including Michael Jordan, Paul Pierce and James Harden on his Instagram page theonigiriart. Hu attended art school, but left to work as the sushi chef in his parents’ restaurant and began creating the sushi-based art as a creative outlet.
“Driven by the urge to express his creativity, he started to experiment, applying components and techniques from his work,” his website states. “His passion for basketball led him to start creating onigiri portraits of NBA superstars.” His art also includes other types of sneakers and pop culture figures including former US President Barack Obama and Kanye West inside one of his Yeezy sneakers.
(UPI)
ARKANSAS PARK VISITOR FINDS 2.65-CARAT DIAMOND IN 10 MINS
A woman visiting Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park said she found a 2.65-carat diamond after less than 10 minutes of searching. Oklahoma resident Victoria Brodski, 25, said she decided to visit the park for her birthday after hearing about a 7.44-carat diamond discovered at the park in March. Brodski and her family entered the park about 9 am Saturday and after less than 10 minutes, she had picked up what she initially believed to be a pretty piece of glass by a culvert near the mine entrance. Brodski said it wasn’t until she was looking at photos of diamonds at the park’s Diamond Discovery Center a few hours later that she realised her find may not have been glass. “I was looking at pictures of diamonds on display and noticed their similarity to what I had found,” Brodski said.
Park staff were able to confirm for Brodski that her rock was a brown diamond. “Brodski was searching where running water had deposited lots of gravel in the plowed field. Diamonds are a bit heavy for their size, so they are often found near other heavy rocks and minerals,” Park Interpreter Waymon Cox said. “Brodski’s diamond is one of the more beautiful brown diamonds I’ve seen from the park. It’s about the size of a bead, with a dark brown colour, like raw honey.”
(UPI)
FRED AND PEBBlES FlINTSTONE HAlT SAlE OF WOMAN’S SUV
A Canadian woman was unable to sell her SUV after learning fictional characters Fred and Pebbles Flintstone had placed a lien on it. The Ontario woman, identified as Maureen, became aware of the strange situation nine months ago when she was informed that the sale of her Chevrolet SUV could not be processed until the fictional characters cancel the lien or the government intervenes.
“The answer that we got back from everybody was that Maureen had to go to court, had to engage the services of a lawyer, to fix up what is so obviously, and so clearly a total muck-up,” Member of Provincial Parliament Randy Hillier said. “This is just looney Tunes.” Documents listed the Flintstones address as 9 Yellow Brick Road, Markham, Ont. and included a birthdate of Jan 1, 1950 for Pebbles. Clearly, we all knew this was an act of gross incompetence as everyone knows the Flintstones live on Rocky Road in Bedrock, US, and Fred drives a foot-mobile, not a 2006 Chev Uplander,” Hillier told The Star.
Consumer Services Minister Tracy MacCharles said the bizarre lien was the result of human error and has since been corrected and Maureen was able to sell her vehicle. The fake names were used to test vehicle identification numbers in the government’s computer system, but since they were never removed the lien remained on Maureen’s SUV.
“It is a human error... Service Ontario, of course, is reviewing what happened. To my knowledge, there are no other similar cases, but I am committed to making sure the right protocols are in place going forward,” MacCharles said.
(UPI)