Creme de la Weird
The latest plane failure story — about the emergency slide that fell off a Boeing 767 leaving JFK Airport — gets a “whodathunkit” follow-up, the New York Post reported. On April 28, the slide washed up right in front of the beachside home in Belle Harbor, Queens, of Jake Bissell-Linsk, who happens to be the attorney who filed a federal lawsuit against Boeing after the Alaska Airlines door blowout in January. Belle Harbor is about six miles southeast of JFK. “I didn’t want to touch it, but I got close enough to get a close look at it,” Bissell-Linsk said. He said a Delta Airlines crew arrived a few hours later and threw the slide into the back of a truck. “We haven’t decided if the slide is relevant to our case,” he noted. [NY Post, 4/29/2024]
Animal Antics
The large animals are restless lately. On April 28, four zebras made a break for it from a trailer at a highway exit in Washington State, The New York Times reported. Kristine Keltgen was hauling them to her petting zoo in Anaconda, Montana, when the latch on the trailer became loose and the zebras “bolted out.” Police officers and volunteers headed up the effort to corral them, but David Danton of Mount Vernon, Washington, was a ringer: Danton is a former rodeo clown and bullfighter. He and his wife happened to be driving by and stopped to help. “It was kind of divine intervention,” Danton’s wife said. Danton built a makeshift chute leading to a horse pen on a nearby farm. “It’s just about being quiet, working them gentle, and not getting excited,” he said. As of May 2, one of the zebras was still on the lam, but Keltgen was sure it would be found. [NY Times, 4/29/2024]
The Golden Age of Air Travel
Passengers aboard an American Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Phoenix on April 25 were delayed by about 90 minutes after their flight had to make an unplanned stop in Oklahoma City, Simple Flying reported. While AA’s official statement called the problem a “mechanical issue,” social media reports indicated that the toilets became clogged, and the plane had to land for maintenance. One traveler posted: “I was on this flight. Apparently, the lavatory tanks were NOT emptied from the previous LAX to DCA flight the night before.” [Simple Flying, 4/27/2024]
Tourists Behaving Badly
Fujikawaguchiko, Japan, “is a town built on tourism,” said Michie Motomochi, the owner of a cafe in the city. So it says a lot that the town began constructing a large black screen on a stretch of sidewalk that is a favorite spot for viewing and photographing Mount Fuji in the distance. The Associated Press reported that construction began on April 30; the screen will be 8 feet high and 65 feet long. “I welcome many visitors,” Motomochi said, “… but there are many things about their manners that are worrying,” such as littering, crossing the road in traffic, ignoring traffic lights, and trespassing. The town has reportedly tried other tactics — signs in multiple languages and security guards — to no avail. [AP, 4/30/2024]
Questionable Judgment
After Jacob Wright, 24, and Cambree Wright, 19, exchanged wedding vows on Feb. 10, it was time for pictures, Fox News reported. So Jacob grabbed his Apple Vision Pro headset and wore it while the photos were snapped. Jacob said he saw an opportunity to have fun and create a viral moment. “I was like, ‘Oh, it’d be like such a meme. It’d be so funny if we just took some pictures with it on after the wedding.’” Sure enough, when they posted the pics, Cambree said she started getting “crazy” messages: “I woke up to 200-plus messages and just random girls telling me to divorce my husband.” But the bride said the photos “perfectly encompass Jacob and his personality … and what our relationship is like.” [Fox News, 3/13/2024]
Suspicions Confirmed
Ashley Class of Charlotte, North Carolina, was stumped by her toddler’s reports of monsters in the wall of her bedroom, NPR reported. For months, Saylor told her mom she could hear something, but Class chalked it up to the stress of a new baby in the house. She and her husband deployed “monster spray” (water) and pretended to look for the monsters. But finally, Class called a pest control specialist, who went into Saylor’s room with a thermal camera. “It lit up like Christmas,” Class said. “It was floor to ceiling.” Behind Saylor’s wall was a 100-pound honeycomb and about 50,000 bees, which the beekeeper removed. But not before the bees had done tens of thousands of dollars in damage. “It’s been a nightmare,” Class said. [NPR, 4/30/2024]
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NEWS OF THE WEIRD
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