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Name Games
Fourteen employees of a Framingham, Mass., pharmacy were indicted in December for defrauding the federal government by filling bogus prescriptions (despite an owner’s explicit instructions to staff that the fake customers’ names “must resemble real names,” with “no obviously false names” that might tip off law enforcement). Among the names later found on the customer list of the New England Compounding Center were: Baby Jesus, Hugh Jass, L.L. Bean, Filet O’Fish, Freddie Mae, Fannie Mac, Harry Potter, Coco Puff, Mary Lamb, all of the Baldwin brother actors, and a grouping of Bud Weiser, Richard Coors, Raymond Rollingrock and, of course, Samuel Adams. The indictments were part of an investigation of a 2012 meningitis outbreak in which 64 people died.
Cultural Diversity
Two recent innovations to the generations-old Middle East sport of camel racing boosted its profile. First, to cleanse the sport of a sour period in which children from Bangladesh were trafficked to use as jockeys, owners have begun using “robot” jockeys—electronic dummies that respond to trainers tracking the races with walkie-talkies (growling encouragement directly into camels’ ears) and joysticks (that trigger a whip at an appropriate time). Second, the firm Al Shibla Middle East of United Arab Emirates has introduced lycra-style, whole-body camel coverings that are believed to enhance blood circulation and, perhaps, racing speed (although the fashions are now used only in training and transportation, to lessen camels’ “stress”). Ultimately, of course, the coverings may carry advertising.
Great Art!
Overthinking It: It was billed as the first-ever art exhibition expressly for nonhuman appreciation—specifically, for examination by octopi. England’s Brighton Sea Life Centre featured the five-tank shared display in November (including a bunch of grapes, a piece of Swiss cheese and a plate of spaghetti—exhibits made of ceramic, plastic, wood and rope) that the center’s curator promised would, according to an ITV report, “stimulate an octopus’s natural curiosity about color, shape and texture.”
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Wait, What?
■ The Territorial Seed Co. of Cottage Grove, Ore., introduced a plant in 2014 developed by U.K. company Thompson & Morgan that sprouts both tomatoes and potatoes, the aptly named “Ketchup ‘n’ Fries” plant, or “TomTato.” Grafting (rather than genetic modification) splices the tomato onto potato plants to create single plants capable of harvests of 500 red cherry tomatoes and 4.5 pounds of potatoes each.
■ Jihadist Toddlers: Britain’s Home Office directed in January that the U.K.’s nursery school staffs report pupils “at risk of becoming terrorists,” but gave little guidance on what teachers and managers should look for. According to a description of the directive in the Daily Telegraph, staffs must “have training that gives them the knowledge and confidence to identify children at risk of being drawn into terrorism and challenge extremist ideas.”
Least Competent Criminals
Not Quite Clever Enough: Police quickly tracking two assault suspects in Holland Township, Mich., in December arrived at a residence at just the moment that suspect Codi Antoniello, 19, was starting to shave his head to alter his appearance. Antoniello’s now-Internet-famous mug shot shows him with a full head of hair, minus the perhaps one-fourth on top shorn by electric clippers (shown at goo.gl/ofDFQR).
Recurring Themes
When a small plane over Lake Taupo in New Zealand developed engine trouble in January, the pilot ordered evacuation. Fortunately, the six passengers were skydivers on a training mission and landed safely, even rigging the plane’s crew members to the divers’ own parachutes so that there were no casualties (except the plane). (Working skydivers also survived a November 2013 crash of two planes over Wisconsin by making an “unscheduled” jump.)
A News of the Weird Classic (June 2011)
The Belly Button Biodiversity project at North Carolina State University has begun examining the “faunal differences” in the microbial ecosystems of our navels, to foster understanding of the “tens of thousands” of organisms crawling around inside (almost all benign or even helpful). An 85-year-old man in North Carolina may have “very different navel life” than a 7-year-old girl in France, according to a May Raleigh News & Observer report. So far, only the organisms themselves and the host’s demographics have been studied; other issues, such as variations by hairiness of navel, remain.
© 2014 CHUCK SHEPHERD
