News of the Weird: Week of April 6, 2023

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Can't Possibly Be True

Pastor John Lindell of the James River Church in Springfield, Missouri, claimed on the congregation's livestream on March 15 that a "creative miracle" had taken place the day before at the church's Joplin location, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Lindell explained that "prayer team members" had prayed over Kristina Dines, who had had three toes amputated after her husband shot her in 2015. "As the ladies prayed for Krissy ... all three toes grew, and by that point, were longer than her pinky toe," Lindell said in the livestream. "Within an hour, nails began to grow on all the toes," he added. While Dines hasn't commented to the paper, she said in a video on Twitter that she saw the toes reforming. "Listen, do you understand? I can stand on tippy toes. No, I couldn't do that (before) because I didn't have toes to tippy on," Dines said. During the livestream, Lindell also suggested to parishioners that other miracles are coming: "... some people in this room -- you're gonna raise people from the dead. It's going to happen." Stay tuned.

Weird Science

Australian company Vow has wowed the science world with a meatball made of meat cultivated from the genetic sequence of an extinct mammoth, the Associated Press reported on March 29. "This is not an April Fools' joke," said Tim Noakesmith, founder of the company. Using publicly available genetic information from the mammoth, along with data from the African elephant, Vow grew the cells in a lab. The large meatball -- somewhere between the size of a softball and a volleyball -- was displayed at the Nemo science museum in Amsterdam. "We wanted to get people excited about the future of food," Noakesmith said. "We thought the mammoth would be a conversation starter." People who were there as it was being cooked said it smelled good.

News That Sounds Like a Joke

Here's an item you can share at this weekend's cocktail party: The animatronics at your local Chuck E. Cheese may be powered by a 3.5-inch floppy disk. Of 600 restaurants around the world, about 50 still use the floppies, BuzzFeed News reported. In related news, a robust subculture of Chuck E. fans builds and restores the iconic animatronics at home, and vintage memorabilia has a strong market online. Here's the less cheery news: Subway trains in San Francisco run on floppies, and Boeing 747s and 737s get their updates on the '80s-era medium, too.

Saw That Coming

The Irish Times reported that The Virgin Mary, the only alcohol-free bar in Dublin, closed its doors for good on March 27. But Dubliners, do not despair! The bar's owners said the closing "marks an exciting new chapter for us," as they will provide a mobile experience all around the island. "IRELAND GET READY TO DRINK DIFFERENT!" a social media post read. Slainte!

Great Art

• As you drive along the EastLink toll road in Melbourne, Australia, you might be tempted to spend the night at the Hotel EastLink, Oddity Central reported. But it's literally impossible to get a reservation there, because it's not really a hotel. It's a sculpture that was unveiled in 2007 by artist Callum Morton. At only 20 meters tall, the "hotel" isn't exactly a high-rise, and it sits in the middle of an empty field. But it fools passersby with lights that come on at night in the "rooms" -- enough that people try to call for reservations. "Putting something in a space that is slightly beguiling or is a little bit strange ... changes the way people think about art or practice," Morton said.
• Wilma Flintstone, eat your heart out. French luxury brand Coperni has revealed a fall 2023 limited-edition handbag that'll put buyers back $43,000, Oddity Central reported on March 24. The Mini Meteorite Swipe Bag is made of a meteorite that fell to Earth 55,000 years ago. It weighs about 4 1/2 pounds empty, is too small to hold much, is nonrefundable and will take about six weeks to arrive. So yeah -- maybe yabba dabba don't?

Compelling Explanation

Springfield, Missouri, real estate agent Clifford Craig Edwards, 52, got caught up in the wild and crazy atmosphere of spring break in St. Petersburg, Florida -- at least that's what he told police after he was arrested on March 16 for felony criminal mischief, The Smoking Gun reported. Edwards was spied by the owners of a van standing near their vehicle and "making motions." When they confronted him, he laughed and ran away. The owners discovered their car had been vandalized with a butter knife, causing "extensive paint damage" to the tune of $1,000, police said. Edwards had put his number down on a wait list at a nearby restaurant, so police got in touch with him; that's when he said his actions were a "spring break mistake." He was released on a $2,000 bond.

Wait, What?

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have found that using mindfulness to treat social anxiety is more effective when combined with sniffing body odor, Sky News reported. The body odor for the study was collected from people watching films, but it didn't matter whether they watched comedy or horror. Women who participated in a mindfulness session while exposed to the odor saw a 39% reduction in social anxiety, while those who did mindfulness alone saw only a 17% reduction. The scientists aren't sure why human sweat affects the response to the treatment.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

"Sammie," a housekeeper in Tampa, Florida, is cleaning up with a twist on the usual duties of the job, the New York Post reported. She makes $300 an hour -- before tips -- to tidy up a home while topless. "Today I cleaned five houses ... I have a security guy who sits out in the car and waits for me just in case something happens," Sammie said on a TikTok video. With tips, she made more than $2,000 that day. "If you think you needed a sign, this is your sign," Sammie advised. "Topless maid cleaning service for the win." One commenter noted that the security guy had the sweetest deal: $800 to sit in the car.

Smooth Reaction

On March 24, a sheriff's deputy from Chisago County (Minnesota) pulled over a driver who had been speeding through Franconia Township, WFLA-TV reported. When the officer asked for the driver's identification, he was handed a driver's license and a "Get Out of Jail Free" card from a Monopoly game. "Unfortunately the state of Minnesota does not recognize this as a valid document," the sheriff's office posted on its Facebook page. "Points for the effort and humor though!" The driver was issued a "verbal warning" and allowed to proceed.

It's a Mystery

For about two weeks, the Highland Park neighborhood in Los Angeles has been inundated with Uber Eats deliveries that the residents didn't order, KTLA-TV reported on March 19. One man reported receiving 13 deliveries in one day. "It was bag after bag after bag, sometimes three at a time, 3 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon," said William Neal. He said the food was "a nice treat at first," but that he had been trying to find places that would accept donations of the food. Other delivery services have also been involved; Uber told the Los Angeles Times it is investigating the source of the mysterious deliveries.

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

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