Rapper buys every seat to take strangers to movies
A Maine rapper surprised moviegoers with free tickets to a sci-fi satire movie. Rory Ferreira, who goes by the stage name Milo, bought all 129 seats to the 4.20 pm showing of the movie “Sorry to Bother You” at the Nickelodeon in Portland, Maine, on Saturday. The Portland Press Herald reports employees told patrons they could see a movie for free as they arrived at the theater. Ferreira says he was inspired by the movie’s director, Boots Riley, to do something good for society. Ferreira, of Biddeford, also attended the movie, and tweeted an invite for anyone interested to “catch a flick wit me.” The movie follows the story of a black telemarketer who takes on white speaking mannerisms to try to succeed at his job.
Dream job: Company seeks ‘Snoozetern’
A Houston-based mattress company is offering a dream job for those who want to “be paid to sleep” — a bed-testing “Snoozetern.” Mattress Firm said it is accepting applications through July 23 for the paid internship, which would involve testing out new and popular beds while chronicling the experience in videos and on social media platforms. “Pursuing a degree in catching Z’sIJ Would you rather carry a pillowcase instead of a briefcaseIJ This Fall, you can snag the internship of your dreams as Mattress Firm’s first ‘Snoozetern,’” the job posting on the company’s website reads. The posting says applicants should have a specific set of sleepy-time skills. “If your greatest skills include sleeping in, constant napping and a passion for a good night’s rest, we have the internship for you,” it reads. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age; be “proficient in napping, regardless of time of day;” be “interested in exposure to different surfaces, textures and sleep positions;” and be “passionate about sleep and comfort.”
Toys, eyeglasses, cellphones surface in Ohio sewer system
Workers in a metropolitan sewer district in Ohio have amassed an impressive collection of toys, eyeglasses and other objects that made their way through the sewer system.
The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati provides wastewater collection and treatment for businesses and residents in Hamilton County and small portions of adjacent Butler, Warren and Clermont counties. Its combined sewer system takes in water from storm drains and sanitary sewers. WVXU radio in Cincinnati reports that most of the water cycling through Hamilton County eventually ends up at the district’s Mill Creek Station, where solid items are stopped by bar screens and transferred to a conveyer belt.
Brad Blankenship, a plant supervisor at the station, says items including balls, cellphones, credit cards and watches have been found. Blankenship and co-workers grab the interesting finds and add the sanitised objects to a shelf in the plant.
Blankenship says items on the shelf include a baseball, a miniature rubber duck, eyeglasses and toy cars. “Imagine a 3-year-old who likes to flush things down the toilet,” Blankenship said.
District officials warn that some waste is small enough to get through the screens. Keith Heffner, the sewer district’s assistant superintendent says that includes cooking grease and fat, which some people pour down the drain. “Even though you put some soap with it, you put some hot water with it, it’s gonna break it up, but it’s going to re-congeal once it loses temperature and gets into the collection system,” Heffner said of cooking grease and fat.
Grease will mix with anything it comes into contact with, including plastic, leaves and baby wipes, Heffner said. He says even though wipes may be flushable in toilets, they will not break down before they get to the treatment plants.
Another Mud Day held in Detroit
Made in the shadeIJ It was more like made in the mud for hundreds of people at a Michigan park. Scores of children — and some parents — participated in the 31st annual Wayne County Mud Day on Tuesday at Nankin Mills Park in Westland, west of Detroit. They sloshed and slid around in a shallow “pool” of mud and engaged in various races and a limbo line.
In keeping with tradition, there was something royal amid the soil: Three-year-old Charles Daviskiba and four-year-old Molly Kofahl were crowned Mud Day King and Queen. After the festivities, a local fire department rig sprayed water to rinse the mud-caked masses.
Motorised shopping cart gases up
A visitor to a Tennessee gas station captured video of an unusual vehicle gassing up — a motorised shopping cart. The video, filmed at a Sunoco station in Jefferson City, shows a man sitting in a modified shopping cart next to a pump. The cart moves on its own with a gas engine and is controlled with a steering wheel. “This video was filmed at our local gas station. To me, it was interesting to use a shopping cart with a motor attached. He saved a lot of money on gas!!” the filmer wrote.