Merkel blamed for Burnt Pizza, Pokemon problems
Who’s to blame for socks with holes and empty beer glassesIJ Angela Merkel, according to a Facebook page set up by Germans with a satirical sense of humour. The page ‘Danke Merkel’ — meaning ‘thanks, Merkel’ — blames the German Chancellor for many of life’s little problems, including burnt pizza, broken pencils and overloaded Pokemon Go servers. While it’s unclear who created the page, it appears to be poking fun at German nationalists who regularly use social media to accuse the Chancellor of trying to harm her own country.
(AP)
Norway mulls giving mountain to Finland
Norway is considering moving a mountain — or at least its peak — to neighbouring Finland. Anne Nordskog, a spokeswoman for Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, said the Government is contemplating a proposal to give the Halti peak as a gift to Finland next year as the Finns celebrate 100 years of independence. Most of the mountain is on the Finnish side of their northern border but the peak of 1,331 m is in Norway. The proposal would redraw the border to put the peak in Finland.
While mountainous Norway has several peaks that are higher, Finland’s highest mountain is 1,325 m. Former Norwegian state surveyor, Bjorn Geirr Harsson, who came up with the proposal, said “it would be nice to give Finland an extra 6 m”.
(AP)
Maine restaurant cooks Up 100-pound burger
What started out as a joke became reality last weekend when a Maine restaurant cooked up a 100-pound burger to celebrate its first year in business. WCSH-TV reports the owners of Dirigo’s Public House in Yarmouth worked all day to cook a freshly ground, 70-pound beef patty that weighed in well over 100 pounds with all the toppings added.
Co-owner Ben Grant says he and his fellow owners were looking for something creative to celebrate their restaurant’s first birthday when someone suggested taking their burger to another level. Customers purchased tickets for a chance to get a bite of the massive burger, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting a local food bank. Grant says it seemed inappropriate to do something this excessive without giving back.
(AP)
Rare, foul-smelling ‘corpse flower’ blooms in New York
A foul smelling plant known as the “corpse flower” is finally blooming at the New York Botanical Garden in New York City. Visitors were waiting in line more than an hour to see the rare bloom. It started emerging last Thursday afternoon after more than 10 years of growth.
It’s native to Sumatra’s equatorial rain forests and emits an odour like rotting flesh while it is briefly in bloom. It’s one of the largest flowers on earth and can reach 6 feet in height. It emits the stench to attract pollinators. The bloom at its peak only lasts about 24 to 36 hours — and it could be years before the flower blooms again.
(AP)
Animal rescue centre advises Downing Street on cat fights
The renowned Battersea Dogs and Cats Home is offering Britain’s Government a bit of know-how to discourage cat fights on the doorstep of the national seat of power. The animal rescue centre said a feline welfare specialist has been in contact with Downing Street and the Foreign Office after No. 10’s resident mouser, larry, was reportedly in a scrap with Palmerston, the Foreign Office cat.
Battersea’s lindsey Quinlan says the cats were chosen “based on their sociable, bold and confident nature”. But Quinlan says the “downside to these behaviour traits is that aggression can sometimes occur when the territories of the cats overlap”. Battersea says it’s advisable that larry and Palmerston have temporary restrictions on their outside access to reduce the risk of them meeting in their early days.
(AP)
woman performs pole dance while in labour
A British fitness enthusiast posted a video of herself on Facebook pole dancing albeit with one very unusual twist — she was in labour at the time.
Kat Bailey, owner of PoleKat Fitness in Nottingham, England, posted a video to Facebook last Sunday showing her getting one last pole dancing session in before heading to the hospital to give birth.
“So...I’m officially in labour :) Got a few hours before we go to the hospital so thought I’d do some pole between contractions,” Bailey wrote in the video’s description.
The expectant mother’s condition doesn’t seem to impede her strength or flexibility.
(UPI)
Don’t register as ‘Jedi’ in census, Aussies told
Atheists in Australia have been urged not to register ‘Jedi’ as their religion to prevent results from a national census from being skewed to make the country appear more religious.
The Atheist Foundation of Australia shared a Facebook post, featuring cartoons of members of the fictional religion from the Star Wars films, discouraging Australians from marking their religion as ‘Jedi’ or other ‘joke religions’. “If old religious men in robes don’t represent you...don’t mark yourself as ‘Jedi’,” the post read.
According to the foundation, registering as ‘Jedi’ or other joke religions makes the country appear more religious, as they are filed as ‘not defined’ rather than ‘no religion’.
AFA President Kylie Sturgess told the Sydney Morning Herald she and her husband were among the 64,390 Australians who registered as a Jedi in the last census in 2011.
(UPI)