From Mars to Dusseldorf, and tipping tales to Norwegian knickers, there’s plenty of bad behaviour and unusual stories to fill our quota of unique and oddball news this week.
DON’T GET YOUR KNICKERS IN A KNOT
Conscripts in Norway have been ordered to return their underwear, bras, and socks after the end of their military service so that the next group of recruits can use them. The Norwegian military said that it is struggling with dwindling supplies, in part due to the pandemic. Spokesman Hans Meisingset said that with “proper checks and cleaning, the re-use of garments is considered an adequate and sound practice.” Until recently, the roughly 8,000 young men and women who every year do their military service returned their outer clothing but were allowed to leave barracks with the underwear and socks they were issued.
THE JOKE’S ON THEM
On Tuesday the Missouri State Highway Patrol alert sent cellphones blaring statewide: Authorities in Gotham City, Missouri, were searching for a purple and green 1978 Dodge 3700GT. But there is no Gotham City, Missouri, and the car referenced was the one used by the Joker in the 1989 “Batman” movie. Soon after the evening alert, the patrol sent another saying to disregard it. In a brief news release, the patrol said a routine test of Missouri’s Blue Alert system was inadvertently transmitted statewide. The system is meant to let the public know when a police officer is killed or seriously injured in the line of duty.
ROCK SOLID EVIDENCE
A 4-billion-year-old meteorite from Mars that caused a splash here on Earth decades ago contains no evidence of ancient, primitive Martian life after all, scientists reported recently. In 1996, a NASA-led team announced that organic compounds in the rock appeared to have been left by living creatures. Other scientists were skeptical, and researchers chipped away at that premise over the decades, with the latest belief being that tiny samples from the meteorite show the carbon-rich compounds are actually the result of water — most likely salty, or briny, water – flowing over the rock for a prolonged period. The findings appear in the journal Science.
WHAT A STIFF
A tourist made a big impression in a Key West, Fla., bar by ordering drinks three times on New Year’s Eve without leaving a tip. However, that enabled the staff to easily track him down after police released webcam video showing vandals setting fire to a Christmas tree, which ultimately caused more than $5,000 in damage to the city’s landmark marking the southernmost point in the United States.
Like other locals across the city, bartender Cameron Briody watched the video, and recognized the 21-year-old man who had stiffed him at Irish Kevin’s on Duval Street. Armed with their identifications and matching their movements to the vandalism down the street, police swiftly announced arrest warrants for the vandalism suspects, and city workers quickly restored the 20-ton concrete landmark.
BABY ON BOARD
A baby in Germany was reunited with its parents after they watched in horror as it sped off on a train without them on board. Police said the father had put a stroller with his 11-month-old child inside onto the train but was waiting on the platform for his wife to join them when the doors closed and it pulled out of Duesseldorf station. The panicked parents rushed to a taxi in hopes of catching the train at its next stop, but passengers who spotted the unaccompanied baby alerted the conductor, who ordered the train to return to Duesseldorf. The parents eventually returned too and the baby was handed back into the care of its grateful parents.
MONKEY BUSINESS
The Belgian city of Antwerp has put its faith in monkey business to put kids at ease for their first COVID-19 jab. With the expansion of the country’s vaccination campaign to include children as young as five, Belgian authorities are getting creative as they try to prevent kids getting spooked by the sight of vials and needles.
Antwerp has made use of one its greatest assets – the zoo in the centre of town, which is one of the finest in Europe. Close to the zoo’s entrance, specially designed safari tents were set up, with photos of zoo animals. To distract them inside the tent, kids were given light pointers to seek out the animals they liked best while they got their shot. If there was any pain, it quickly dissipated when they and their parents were allowed to stroll through the zoo’s greenhouse and visit the monkey enclosure.
THAT’S A LOT OF MONEY
A single page of artwork from a 1984 Spider-Man comic book sold at auction for a record $3.36 million. Mike Zeck’s artwork for page 25 from Marvel Comics’ “Secret Wars No. 8” brings the first appearance of Spidey’s black suit. The symbiote suit would eventually lead to the emergence of the character Venom. The record bidding, which started at $330,000 and soared past $3 million, came on the first day of Heritage Auctions’ four-day comic event in Dallas. Also at the event, one of the few surviving copies of Superman’s debut, Action Comics No. 1, sold for $3.18 million, putting it among the priciest books ever auctioned.