MANNEQUIN CHAllENGE CRAZE SPREADING lIKE WIlDFIRE
Forget dumping ice buckets, dancing or planking, the latest viral phenomenon sweeping the internet consists of people standing still as part of the mannequin challenge.
Videos of the challenge feature posing as mannequins in dramatic postures. They began to appear late last month online and by last weekend everyone from high school cheerleaders in Texas to the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks had taken part. The Dallas Cowboys went airborne for their challenge, complete with a stoic Tony Romo being stuffed into an overhead compartment on the team plane.
The challenge has become a victory celebration for some teams. Texas Christian, Penn State and Clemson’s football teams posted mannequin challenges after big wins last Saturday.
(AP)
RUFF JUSTICE: MICHIGAN DOG WINS RElEASE FROM DEATH ROW
A Michigan dog who spent weeks on death row has returned home after DNA tests cleared him in the death of Vlad, a dog next door. Jeb, a Belgian Malinois, was released to his owner last Wednesday. Kenneth Job was emotional, saying his dog looks “awful skinny but he’s alive.”
Jeb was seen standing over Vlad’s body on August 24 in St Clair Township, 50 miles northeast of Detroit. Authorities said the Pomeranian’s injuries suggest he was picked up and shaken by a larger animal. A judge ordered that Jeb be euthanised. But he also agreed to DNA tests on Vlad’s body. The result: No DNA from Jeb. The Port Huron Times Herald says Jeb’s owner has agreed to install an adequate fence.
(AP)
COlORADO USES TOIlET PAPER TO REPAIR CRACKED ROADS
It’s not pranksters or vandals who placed toilet paper all over the streets of littleton, Colorado, it was city workers. The Denver Post reports that littleton crews have used bathroom tissue to help seal up cracks along more than 120 streets.
Officials say toilet paper was applied with a paint roller over freshly laid tar used to fill asphalt cracks. The paper absorbs the oil from the tar as it dries, keeping it from sticking to pedestrian’s shoes or car and bike tires. The biodegradable paper will break down and be gone in a few days. littleton spokeswoman Kelli Narde says the toilet paper allows traffic to retake the road more quickly.
(AP)
TRUMP’S EFFIGY FEElS THE HEAT ON UK BONFIRE NIGHT
He turned “You’re fired” into his reality show catch-phrase, but it was Donald Trump who went up in flames last Saturday — or at least an effigy of him did — as part of Britain’s annual Bonfire Night celebrations.
An 11-metre-high model of Trump was burned at a fireworks display in the town of Edenbridge, 50 km south of london. The sculpture showed Trump, complete with his trademark mop of hair, holding Hillary Clinton in a headlock, and sporting a pair of Mexico-themed boxer shorts. “I think he would be quietly amused,” artist Frank Shepherd said of his muse.
Britain celebrates the failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 by letting off fireworks and lighting bonfires with an effigy of the “Gunpowder Plot” leader Guy Fawkes on top.
The celebrations in Edenbridge also feature effigies of unpopular celebrities and in the past have included former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and disgraced American cyclist lance Armstrong.
Other contenders for this year’s choice included Philip Green, the billionaire former owner of failed retail chain BHS who is under pressure to resolve the firm’s pension problems, and Sam Allardyce, who quit as England soccer manager in September, after one game in charge, after a newspaper sting.
Effigies of Trump, including one of him sitting atop a Mexican border control wall, were also due to go up in smoke at a fireworks display in the town of lewes, south of london.
(Reuters)
UNIVERSITY HEAD UNDER FIRE FOR BIGFOOT HUNT
The head of the University of New Mexico’s Gallup campus is under fire for spending money on Bigfoot-related pursuits. UNM Gallup’s Executive Director Dr Christopher Dyer organised a two-day, on-campus Bigfoot conference in February followed by a Bigfoot expedition, costing taxpayers more than $7,000, KRQE-TV reported.
“It was the largest and most well-attended event in the history of this campus,” Dyer said. UNM paid for advertising, meals for guest speakers, airfare and per diem. Self-professed Bigfoot expert Dr Jeff Meldrum was paid a $1,000 honorarium plus expenses. The other guest speaker, Rob Kryder, was paid a $500 honorarium plus expenses.
Dyer is an avid Bigfoot hunter in his free time and says he only pursues the mythical creature when he isn’t on the job. He has a collection of Bigfoot hair and photos of suspicious footprints. After the conference, Dyer and some of his companions went to the desert searching for Bigfoot. No students or faculty went on the expedition, but KRQE found UNM paid for the expedition. Dyer said he and his companions did not spot Bigfoot, but they did see habitat.
“I’d have to say it was pretty much a blown waste of money because we did not find evidence because of the snow. It was just impossible to get around out there. So in that case, would we spend money on that againIJ Absolutely not,” Dyer said.
(AP)