Santas bring July Christmas cheer to Copenhagen
Chuckling “ho ho ho” and waving to the public, dozens of Santas brought some Christmas cheer to the Copenhagen summer as they began their annual World Santa Claus Congress. Drawing Santas from around the world, the three-day event in the Danish capital hosted a range of activities including parades, a Santa Obstacle Course and shows at the Bakken amusement park. It also allows participants — this year 125 Santas from 15 countries — to discuss professional issues.
“I think this year we need to talk about Santa having a few less cookies,” said Santa Douglas, who arrived from Washington. “The chimneys are a little bit smaller now and 15-20 cookies is a few too many. Maybe 12.” Santa Paradis Yamamoto from Tokyo said the congress would also look at “which presents to give” this Christmas.
The World Santa Claus Congress dates back to 1957 when its founder, Bakken entertainer Professor Tribini, decided to bring Santas together for some summer festive fun.
(Reuters)
Hemingway look-alike contest in Key West
A white-bearded Florida man has won the “Papa” Hemingway look-Alike Contest on his 15th attempt. Retired air traffic controller Charlie Boice of Palm Beach Gardens prevailed at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, a hangout of Ernest Hemingway during his Key West residency in the 1930s. A panel of former contest winners chose Boice, 56, who said he shares Hemingway’s passion for marlin fishing.
Celebrity cook Paula Deen’s husband, Michael Groover of Savannah, Georgia, finished in the top five. The contest attracted 122 entrants. It’s a highlight of the annual Hemingway Days festival honoring the author’s literary legacy. During his Key West years, Hemingway wrote the novel To Have and Have Not.
(AP)
Natural History Museum’s dino skeleton to go on tour
The Natural History Museum’s famous cast of a Diplodocus skeleton, affectionately known as Dippy, is to be sent on a tour of Britain. Millions of people have seen Dippy the dinosaur in its london home since it was first unveiled to the public in 1905. Since 1979, the huge skeleton has been the star attraction of the entrance hall, welcoming visitors to the museum in london’s South Kensington. However, from summer 2017 it will be replaced by the skeleton of a blue whale, which will be dramatically suspended so as to appear that it is diving.
The Museum announced that Dippy will go on tour throughout the UK from early 2018. “For many of us, that first glimpse of Dippy was a formative moment in our childhood, evoking awe and a genuine wonder at the natural world,” said museum director Sir Michael Dixon.
“A UK tour of this iconic dinosaur will surely prompt curiosity and a desire to explore, helping to inspire the scientists of tomorrow,” he added.
Never before has a specimen as big as Dippy been sent beyond the museum, and it will need to be dismantled and rebuilt at each venue it visits. Because it is a cast, the venues will have to be indoor. Each venue will be expected to host Dippy for a minimum of 4-6 months.
(Reuters)
pooper targets holes of Norwegian golf course
The groundskeeper of a Norwegian golf course said a mystery pooper targeting course holes must be a man “because the poos are too massive to be from a woman”. Kenneth Tennfjord, groundskeeper at the Stavanger Golf Club, said he has been finding human faeces and toilet paper in course holes since 2005. “He has a couple of favourite holes,” said Tennfjord. “And we know it is a man because the poos are too massive to be from a woman.”
“He poos only on weekdays. On weekends I have never found poo on the golf course,” Tennfjord said. He said the faecal discoveries are usually accompanied by used toilet paper. Steinar Floisvik, managing director of the club, said the mystery pooper arrives via bicycle. “In the early morning dew we observed bicycle tracks on the course. Footsteps showed that he had done his business, and the bicycle tracks disappeared back the way they came,” Floisvik said.
Frode Jormeland, another groundskeeper, said the club installed high-powered spotlights to discourage the defecation, but the poop-etrator disabled them.
(UPI)
half-naked Spartans on Beijing streets
A salad store paraded dozens of half-naked Western men dressed as Spartans through China’s capital as a publicity stunt, causing a stir and drawing a crackdown by police who were photographed restraining some of them on the ground. About 40 mostly blond and brown-haired men wearing bronze shorts, arm and leg guards and capes styled after the attire of people in the ancient Greek city of Sparta marched in Beijing’s central business district and an upscale shopping area recently. Bearing plastic tubs of salads, the bare-chested men attracted crowds of onlookers and posed for photos with women that circulated widely on social media.
(AP)