I’ll Have the ‘Crying and Vomiting,’ Please
In Ghana, the reaction of mourners at a funeral is a measure of the deceased’s position in the community. But for family members who are unable to express their emotions openly, professional mourners will cry on their behalf. A leader of one team of criers told BBC Africa in July that they charge based on the size of the funeral, and the Kumasi Funeral Criers Association offers different styles of crying, such as crying with swag, crying and rolling on the ground, and crying and vomiting. Ghanaian funerals also feature dancing pallbearers and giant billboards to announce the funeral arrangements.
What’s ‘OCD’ in Armenian?
In 1985, Tosya Garibyan of Arinj, Armenia, asked her husband, Levon Arkelian, 44, to dig a pit under their home where she could store potatoes. But once he got started, Radio Free Europe reported, he just couldn’t stop. Twenty-three years later, the underground oasis Arkelian created is a tourist attraction. Working as many as 18 hours a day with only a hammer and chisel, Arkelian created seven rooms, stairwells and passages running as deep as 65 feet—adorning them with carvings and decorations made from found objects. Arkelian passed away in 2008, and his widow welcomes tourists to her museum, which includes his shredded work boots and tools.
Bad Weather? Blame Israel!
Brigadier Gen. Gholam Reza Jalali, the head of Iran’s Civil Defense Organization, announced in a press conference on Monday, July 2, that Israel has been manipulating the weather over Iran to prevent rain. “Israel and another country in the region have joint teams which work to ensure clouds entering Iranian skies are unable to release rain,” Jalali posited, according to YNet News. “On top of that, we are facing the issue of cloud and snow theft.” However, the head of Iran’s meteorological service was skeptical: “It is not possible for a country to steal snow or clouds. Iran has suffered a prolonged drought, and this is a global trend that does not apply only to Iran.”
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A Fourth of July to Remember
A 62-year-old security guard named Ramdin in the city of Kanpur, India, told doctors he was robbed in June of about $722 (proceeds from the sale of his motorbike) by muggers who attacked him and knocked him out. When he woke up, Ramdin was suffering from severe abdominal pain, which brought him, 10 days later, to Rama Hospital, where a scan revealed a steel cup lodged in his abdomen. Senior surgeon Dr. Dinesh Kumar told Metro News: “It seems that the metal cup was inserted into Ramdin’s rectum by the goons, and it got stuck near the intestines.” Doctors couldn’t remove the cup using the route it went in, so they had to operate. Ramdin was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, July 4.
Weird Canada
• In what can only be a testament to curiosity, a Staffa, Ontario, Canada, man has created an eBay listing for the McDonald’s meal he placed on a shelf in his home six years ago to see what would happen to it, according to a CBC Radio report on Thursday, July 5. The McDonald’s meal has held up—perhaps not surprisingly—rather well over the years. “The fries are stunningly good looking,” Alexander said, “and the burger itself has darkened a little bit. The bun is about as hard as a hockey puck, but it looks just like it’s brand-new cosmetically.” He has listed the meal as “original owner, never eaten” for $29.99. “We live in the country, and we’ve never seen a fly land on it. Ever,” he said.
• Finished with her shopping at a Cornwall, Ontario, Canada, Walmart in late June, an unnamed woman returned to the parking lot and drove off in her black rental car she had just picked up. Two weeks later, when she returned the car to the rental agency, she complained about the car’s overall messy condition and the set of golf clubs that had been left in it—apparently by a previous renter. But she was returning an Infiniti, the Nation Valley News reported, when the “slightly confused” manager informed her the car she had rented was a Nissan Sentra. Meanwhile, Cornwall Police had received a report of a stolen black Infiniti that had disappeared from the same Walmart parking lot. When the woman and the agency manager returned to the lot, the Nissan Sentra was still there. The woman was reportedly “a wee bit embarrassed,” the police reported.
