You might have missed this last week: A pizza delivery to the space station, a British bat’s Olympian effort, trouble at the Tower, and a story that is utter horse hockey.
30 MINUTES OR FREE?
Northrop Grumman’s latest space station delivery included a mounting bracket for new solar wings, material simulating moon dust and dirt, slime mold, an infrared-detecting device – and pizza for seven. The company’s Cygnus rocket listed amongst its cargo fresh apples, tomatoes, kiwi, and a pizza kit and cheese smorgasbord for the seven station astronauts.
OLYMPIC EFFORT
A tiny bat that flew 2,018 km from Britain to Russia was hailed as a mini-Olympian by scientists who hope her flight will teach them more about how climate change is affecting the species. The Nathusius’ pipistrelle, which was about the size of a human thumb, had been ringed by a bat recorder near London’s Heathrow Airport in 2016 and was found in a village in the Pskov region of northwestern Russia, according to the UK’s Bat Conservation Trust.
“This is a remarkable journey and the longest one we know of any bat from Britain across Europe,” said the BCT’s Lisa Worledge. “What an Olympian!’’ Sadly, there was no happy ending for the creature, which was attacked by a cat and later died, despite the efforts of Russian conservationists.
IT WAS MEANT TO BE
Having just had her flight cancelled, a Missouri woman’s luck quickly changed when she won $1 million from a Florida Lottery scratch-off ticket. Angela Caravella, 51, of Kansas City, Missouri, claimed a $1 million top prize last month from The Fastest Road to $1,000,000 scratch-off game, according to a Florida Lottery news release. “I had a feeling something bizarre was going to happen after my flight was cancelled unexpectedly,” Caravella said. “I bought a few scratch-off tickets to pass the time and just like that – I won $1 million!”
LONDON BRIDGE WON’T STAY DOWN
London’s Tower Bridge reopened to traffic Tuesday after the famous crossing became stuck open for hours due to a technical problem. The City of London Corporation, which owns and runs the bridge, said the bridge was “stuck in a raised position” due to a technical issue.
The disruption caused roads around the bridge, one of the main crossings of the River Thames in central London, to be closed Monday afternoon and evening to vehicles and pedestrians. Traffic returned to normal in the early hours of Tuesday after the crossing reopened.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
A book checked out a half-century ago has been anonymously returned to a library in northeastern Pennsylvania. The 1967 copy of “Coins You Can Collect” by Burton Hobson arrived recently at the Plymouth Public Library in Luzerne County along with a $20 bill. An accompanying unsigned letter, written as if by the book itself, said “Fifty years ago (yes 50!), a little girl checked me out of this library in 1971. At this time, she didn’t know they were going to move from Plymouth. Back then, kids weren’t told things like that. As you can see, she took very good care of me.”
The writer, speaking in her own voice, then says she often intended to send the book back but somehow never got around to it, adding that she knew the $20 wouldn’t come close to paying the accrued fine and suggesting instead, “Perhaps you can pay off some fines of some kids with it.” The library did just that.
JUST GETTING A FEW BEAR NECESSITIES
Shoppers were startled last weekend to see a bear cub browsing the offerings at a Los Angeles supermarket. Video aired by CBS 2 shows the small bear strolling the aisles at the Ralphs store in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley. After sniffing around inside, the bear eventually walked out the front doors. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife found the 54-kg animal hiding under a trailer at a construction site behind a nearby Walmart. The bear was tranquilized and released into the Angeles National Forest, the department said.
HORSE HOCKEY
A statue of a sumo wrestler blamed for spooking horses in the equestrian ring at the Olympics was ultimately removed, but the course designer defended his decision to include the lifelike fighter in the first place, stating that the fierce, fat figure was not at fault for the refusals of several horses to jump the barrier beside it. Course designer Santiago Varela claimed he had planned on remove the sumo wrestler for the team competition all along.
HERD IMMUNITY
Tennessee has sent nearly half a million dollars to farmers who have vaccinated their cattle against respiratory diseases and other maladies over the past two years. But Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who grew up on his family’s ranch and refers to himself as a cattle farmer in his Twitter profile, has been far less enthusiastic about incentivizing herd immunity among humans. Even though Tennessee has among the lowest vaccination rates in the country, Lee has refused to follow the lead of other states that have offered enticements for people to get the potentially lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine.