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The Weirdo-American Community
A United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago was forced to divert to Denver on Feb. 9 after a passenger became unruly, LiveandLetsFly.com reported. The man was up out of his seat repeatedly and argued with flight attendants before demanding to know "Where are the Mormons?" One passenger said the incident "escalated into a big physical altercation and several passengers had to rush out of their seats to help the crew pin down this person." Although the troublemaker was removed from the flight in Denver, the plane sat on the ground for about five hours before continuing to Chicago.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Domino's Pizza UK has launched its first-ever eau de toilette, Eau de Passion, which is inspired by its Pepperoni Passion pizza and features notes of spice, pepper and a woody, warm base, the New York Post reported. The scent's bottle is shaped like a slice of pizza, and the cologne is free from Domino's website if you're lucky enough to be chosen to receive one. British star Luke Debono, who's promoting the scent, said it is "the perfect gift for passionate pizza-loving couples looking to spice things up this Valentine's Day."
News That Sounds Like a Joke
A high school teacher in Queensland, Australia, has taken to identifying as a cat, 7News-TV reported on Feb. 10. "Miss Purr," as she prefers to be known, teaches at Marsden State High School, where she "screeches and growls when (her students) don't listen," one person posted on Facebook. She also hisses and licks the backs of her hands during class and wears a headband with cat ears. One concerned mother said Miss Purr had made her daughter "purr for a lolly." The Department of Education said the school was aware of the complaints and the principal is speaking with the teacher.
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Cultural Diversity
On Feb. 10 in Inazawa, Japan, more than 7,000 men wearing only loincloths participated in the Konomiya Naked Festival at a Shinto shrine, The Mainichi reported. The event, which has been held for more than 1,200 years on the 13th day of the first lunar month, features a "god-man" who is thought to carry away misfortune if you touch him. This year's "god-man" was 26-year-old Ryota Kato, who threw himself into the crowd as the men chanted and fought to touch him. About an hour later, he emerged from the crowd and entered the shrine.
Inexplicable
Law enforcement officers in South Holland, England, are stumped by a rash of pet cats returning to their homes with patches of missing fur, The Spalding and South Holland Voice reported on Feb. 12. The cats have apparently been shaved. "This behavior is completely unacceptable," said inspector Matt Dickinson. "The cats in question are someone's pet, part of their family." Evidently, it's not the first time the mysterious cat shaver has struck; two Facebook commenters said their cats had been shaved in past years.
It's Come to This
A manufacturer of fortune cookies contacted the owner of a Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney, Australia, to announce they would no longer fill her orders for custom messages that are offensive or contain expletives. 9News reported that Nahji Chu, owner of Lady Chu, ordered profanity-laced cookies for Valentine's Day. But after the manufacturer mistakenly sent some of Chu's cookies to fulfill another order, causing distress with that customer, they changed their policy. Chu wasn't happy: "If you're getting it mixed up with other restaurants, that's not my fault," she said. Some of Chu's more PG-rated cookie messages include, "You are capable of great things. But all you do is look at your phone all day. You won't be that great sorry! #ladychu" and "The year of the snake bears good fortune! Your divorce is coming soon." She said she'll "take out the profanities and be creative" with her next order.
Oops!
The Lee County (Florida, where else?) Sheriff's Office is investigating after a Feb. 7 incident involving an allegedly intoxicated man riding on a lawnmower, WESH-TV reported. A video camera caught the mower plowing into a mailbox along the street; the man went heels over head and stumbled away from the mower, then returned and drove off, apparently hitting multiple other mailboxes along the way. Matt Clardy, whose mailbox was among the victims, called it "absolutely disgusting" but admitted, "It's so funny. I can watch it 100 times." The man left behind a Pittsburgh Steelers hat and sunglasses at one of the scenes; police are still trying to identify him.
It's a Dirty Job
Nath Wyld is a star at Magic Men, a strip club in Prahran, Australia -- or at least, he was, until he discovered a more lucrative line of work. Metro News reported on Feb. 10 that Wyld makes about 20,000 pounds a year by posting videos of himself passing gas on TikTok. The onetime carpenter joined OnlyFans in 2017 and soon made enough with his X-rated videos to quit his daytime job. About two years in, he got a request for a fart video, which he initially refused. "I was blown away (no pun intended) by the demand and I have been making them ever since," Wyld said. "Some want to see my facial expressions; others just want to see me from far away," he said of the custom videos he makes. Wyld said he "starts bloated -- kind of part of the process -- and go through the video until I feel lighter by the end. ... I've been doing this long enough to know that everyone's into their own thing, and that's cool."
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Awesome!
-- When Loretta, a 104-year-old resident of the Avon Nursing Home in Geneseo, New York, was asked what she wanted for her birthday, she replied that she'd never seen the inside of a jail. So, WHAM-TV reported on Feb. 11, the Livingston County Sheriff's Office obliged, inviting her to the station and giving her a good look around, then celebrating with cake and coffee. Loretta paid back the favor by sharing some wisdom with Sheriff Thomas Dougherty: "Mind your business."
-- Officials in the Czech Republic had been planning to build a dam on the Klabava River for more than six years, Yahoo! News reported on Feb. 11, but were stymied by negotiations over land use. Instead, some industrious beavers solved the problem for them and saved taxpayers $1.2 million. "They built a wetland with pools and canals," said Bohumil Fiser of the Czech Nature Conservation Agency. "The area is roughly twice larger than planned. They do a brilliant job."
Fish Story
It took Hayley Herzig, 22, of Van Dyne, Wisconsin, six years to harvest her first sturgeon, but when she did, it was newsworthy. WLUK-TV reported that on the first day of sturgeon-spearing season at Lake Winnebago, Feb. 8, Herzig landed a fish bigger than herself. The massive sturgeon weighed 180.5 pounds and was more than 79 inches long. "It was very exciting, did not feel real," she said. "I was in disbelief." She and her boyfriend buried the beast in the snow behind their house and plan to deep-fry or smoke it. "We're probably going to get a replica ... and hang it up in the house because it's ... a memory that'll never be forgotten," Herzig said.
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