Dubai officials deny entry to world’s most pierced man
A German man who holds the world record for the most piercings was recently denied entry to Dubai. Rolf Buchholz was on his way to make an appearance at a hotel nightclub when he was turned away.
Buchholz, who has 453 piercings (including 278 in his genital area) told the Associated Press he had travelled through immigration with no problem but was stopped before he was able to exit customs. He says he was then taken to a room full of deportees and put on a flight to Istanbul.
The Cirque de Soir nightclub where the 53-year-old was due to appear told the news agency airport authorities cited “security reasons” in denying him entry.
Buchholz told the BBC that airport staff said they feared he may be practising “black magic.” He also complained his luggage was lost and took to Twitter to vow never to return to the Gulf city.
He tweeted: “On the way back home. Dubai, I will never come back!!!”Buchholz has held the world record for most piercings since August 2010.
(Huffington Post)
1,000-pound alligator pulled out from River
A team led by an Alabama couple was able to capture and kill a gigantic alligator that had been living in the Alabama River.
The 15-foot long alligator that Mandy and John Stokes killed is believed to be the largest that has ever been legally killed by an Alabama hunter. They had some help from Mandy’s brother-in law, Kevin Jenkins, and his two children, Savannah and Parker. The first attempt to weigh the animal failed because the winch which was used to hoist it broke, but Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries biologists finally determined the alligator weighed 1,011.5 pounds.
The team’s first try to kill the alligator by shooting it with a 20-gauge shotgun at the base of the neck was unsuccessful. “All it did was make this gator mad,” Mandy Stokes told Al.com. “Fear had taken hold at this point.”
After briefly considering giving up on taking out the massive beast, the team decided to try again with the shotgun. The second time was the charm.
“If it wasn’t for the grace of God, we never could have done it,” Stokes said. “At one time during this whole thing, I honestly thought, you know what; we didn’t sign up for that.”
The Stokes are still deciding what to do with the alligator’s carcass.
(UPI)
Spider photobombs TV news programme
BBC Scotland news host Graham Stewart had his broadcast interrupted when a spider crawled across the lens of a camera, making it appear as if there was a giant spider invading the Scottish airwaves. In the short clip, the spider can be seen grabbing a smaller insect and then retreating with its prey.
Stewart appeared unfazed throughout the incident, continuing to read off the teleprompter as if the invading arachnid was just another part of the average news cycle. Perhaps he learned a lesson from a fellow news broadcaster who was not able to maintain her composure when a spider invaded another news camera back in 2013.
(Yahoo News)
Elderly man crashes his car into swimming pool
Authorities say an 85-year-old man was unharmed last week after he crashed his car into a backyard pool. Officers responded around 11.45 am to a report in Altadena of a car crashing into a pool in the 2700 block of Scripps Place, the los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told KNBC-TV. The man was pulling into his garage when the crash occurred, los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Jeff Sims told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. The car went through a rear garage door and into a backyard swimming pool, ending up fully submerged, Sims said. Officials say the driver of the white sedan was able to get out of the car unharmed. No one else was in the car or pool at the time. The driver told authorities that his flip-flops were entangled with the pedals and caused him to lose control of his car. The California Highway Patrol is investigating the incident.
(AP)
First test-tube baby penguin is here
To science, she’s simply known as “184.” But on the empirical cuteness scale, the world’s first test-tube penguin scores a “100.” The still unnamed baby Magellanic penguin was hatched at SeaWorld in San Diego 12 weeks ago, but the first images of her were released to the public this week.
She’s the first penguin to be born using artificial insemination, a technique researchers say will help them increase diversity in the captive penguin population and help their studies of the creatures.
“The goal of our research centre is to study a species’ reproductive biology, to learn as much as we can about that and use this to not only monitor the health of not only our zoological populations but wild populations as well,” said Sea World’s reproductive center Scientific Director Dr Justine O’Brien.
The baby penguin is reportedly doing well. Twelve weeks after her birth, she is mingling with the natural-born penguin population and has transitioned from being hand-fed by a team of biologists to eating fish on her own.
(Yahoo News)