It’s A Weird World
For some folks, Disneyland and Walt Disney World are more than amusement parks. Take Jodie Jackson Wells of Boca Raton, Fla. In 2009, after her mother died, Wells smuggled in some of her ashes to Disney World and spread them on a favorite spot of her mom’s along the “It’s a Small World” ride. Later, she leapt over a barricade at Cinderella’s Castle and flung ashes from both hands as she cavorted on the lawn. “Anyone who knew my mom knew Disney was her happy place,” Wells told The Wall Street Journal. However, for the theme parks, the spreading of ashes presents a constant cleanup challenge, referred to by the code “HEPA cleanup” among custodians. Alex Parone of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., sprinkled his mother’s ashes in a flowerbed, then boarded “It’s a Small World.” “I was still crying. That song kept playing over and over again, and there are those happy little animatronic things. I remember thinking, ‘this is weird.’” But according to Disney, all this ash-spreading at its parks is “strictly prohibited and unlawful,” and the Anaheim Police Department confirmed that spreading ashes without permission is a misdemeanor. By the way, when cremation residue is found on rides, they have to be shut down; riders are told there are “technical difficulties.”
Putin Porn
According to a recent inspector general’s report, an unnamed employee of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) invited malware into the government agency’s computer system by visiting more than 9,000 porn websites on his work computer. The Washington Post reported on Oct. 30 that many of the websites were Russian, and the malware spread to the entire network at the USGS. The Office of the Inspector General made recommendations to the USGS about preventing future malware infections; a spokesperson for the office said the employee no longer works at USGS.
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Catholicism on the Go
If “Pokémon Go” has overextended its welcome, maybe you’re up for the Vatican’s “Follow JC Go,” a new augmented-reality mobile game in which players collect saints and other notable Bible figures as they move through the world. Pope Francis has approved the game, which asks players to answer questions about the characters and donate to charities to earn game currency. The Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported on Oct. 21 that the app is available only in Spanish, but other languages are on the way.
The Secrets of Dentists
Construction workers in Valdosta, Ga., were rattled on Oct. 30 when they tore down a second-story wall in a turn-of-the-20th-century building to find about 1,000 human teeth secreted inside. The T.B. Converse Building, constructed in 1900, was originally home to a dentist, Dr. Clarence Whittington, reported the Valdosta Daily Times. In 1911, Whittington was joined by Dr. Lester G. Youmans. Ellen Hill, director of Valdosta Main Street, said two other Georgia towns have had buildings, also home to dentists’ offices, where teeth have been found in the walls. “I’m not sure if it was a common practice” to deposit extracted teeth in the walls, she said.
What’s “Ewww!” in Vietnamese?
Doctors at the Hai Duong Hospital in Hai Duong Province, Vietnam, treated a man who arrived complaining of pain in his ear. Using an endoscope to look inside his ear canal, they found the cause: A large cricket was digging around in his ear duct. United Press International reported on Oct. 26 that the doctors were able to successfully remove the cricket.
Bookstore Chain
When October Books, a shop in Southampton, England, got ready to move just up the street into a new building on Oct. 28, about 250 people showed up as volunteers to form a human chain, handing the shop’s more than 2,000 books 160 yards from one location to the other. “It’s amazing. The power of community coming together and achieving something like this,” said Jani Franck, who participated in the chain. October Books was forced to move after a rent increase in its old building. “It was a tremendous show of support, and we’re moved and incredibly touched by it,” Clare Diaper, who works at the store, told The Guardian.
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