Birthday granny, 102, blows out candles, loses her teeth
A 102-year-old Connecticut grandma became a viral star with an Instagram video from her birthday showing her losing her dentures while blowing out the candles. The video, posted to Instagram earlier this week by lisa Addario, shows her grandmother, louise Bonito, attempting to blow out the candles on her birthday cake and erupting in laughter when her dentures popped out from the force of her blowing. Addario said the event was a belated birthday party for Bonito, who turned 102 on April 26. “We were just singing ‘happy birthday’ and we were all gathered around,” Addario told ABC News. “She blew out the candles and her teeth just flew out!”
Bonito said she was just as amused at the mishap as her family members. “I took a deep, deep, breath and with all my might I blew out the candles and then my teeth came out,” Bonito said. “Well my grandchildren went crazy laughing, and laughing.” The grandma said she was happy to share “a good laugh” with her family.
(UPI)
Cat’s record-breaking purr as loud as AC
Guinness World Records confirmed a British woman’s cacophonous cat is the new record holder for having the world’s loudest purr. Tracy Westwood of Torquay, England, said her cat, Merlin, became a minor Internet star in 2013 when she posted a YouTube video of his thunderous purring, and Guinness World Records confirmed last Wednesday the cat’s purr was measured at 67.8 decibels, beating the 2011 record of 67.68 decibels set by a cat named Smokey.
Guinness — which measured Merlin’s purr as part of filming for an episode of British TV special Cats Make You laugh Out loud 2 — said the purr is comparable to the sound from an air conditioner and nearly as loud as a dishwasher.
“Occasionally when he’s really loud I have to repeat myself. When you’re watching films you have to turn the television up or put him out of the room, if he’s eating he’ll purr loudly. I can hear him when I’m drying my hair,” Westwood said. Guinness shared a preview of Merlin’s appearance on the TV special on its YouTube channel.
(UPI)
US museum returns monkey god statue to Cambodia
A US museum has returned a 10th century statue of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman to Cambodia last Tuesday, saying research suggested it had probably been taken from the gate of an ancient temple complex. The Cleveland Museum of Art said it was voluntarily returning the stone figure with a human body and a monkey’s head and tail, which it acquired in 1982 from an art dealer in New York who had since died.
Khmer ballet dancers threw flowers for good luck at the handover ceremony, attended by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and dozens of ministers in Phnom Penh. Officials hung flower garlands around the statue’s neck. “I am sure that if Hanuman were alive, we would see a smile on his face showing his joy at being here among us where he belongs,” Sok An said after signing handover papers with Cleveland Museum of Art Director William Griswold. The statue joins five others from the northern Koh Ker region recently returned to Cambodia from the United States.
The Cleveland museum said research had found the statue’s head and body had been offered for sale in Thailand in 1968 and 1972. Experts said it had probably come from the east gate of the Prasat Chen temple complex.
(Reuters)
Icelandic TV network airs 24 hours of sheep birthing
An Icelandic public television network aired 24 hours of live sheep birthing to give the country’s residents “insight into the traditional farming life”. RUV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, ran a live feed from a farm in Skagafjordur from noon Thursday until noon Friday to bring the lambing season to living rooms across the country. “The sheep birthing season is an unforgettable time for those able to see the little lambs being born into this world,” RUV said on its website.
The broadcaster also kept up with the action on Twitter, posting a series of pictures from the lambing marathon. The event was inspired by “slow television” broadcasts by Norwegian public TV network NRK, which previously aired a 12-hour knitting marathon, a 12-hour programme of wood burning and a 100-hour marathon of chess.
(UPI)
Beijing police warn ‘strange outfits’ may cause stampedes
Beijing police are patrolling the city’s subways and trains to stop people wearing face masks, strange costumes and forming flash mobs, warning commuters that such actions could jeopardise public safety by causing stampedes. State news agency Xinhua said law enforcement teams, which started the patrols on May 1, and have encountered 83 cases of “improper behaviour”, including hawking, begging and distribution of advertising flyers. Costumes and masks are likely to attract the attention of other passengers, Xinhua quoted liang Jianwei, vice head of the Beijing municipal traffic administration corps, as saying.
(Reuters)