Fred Flintstone, Spider Man and ET loom large this week, along with rude nudes, a hunter with chips for brains, and proof that one person’s trash is another’s treasure…
ONE MAN’S TRASH…
German police are looking for the possible owners of two 17th-century paintings discovered in a highway rest stop dumpster. A 64-year-old man found the oil paintings at the rest stop near Ohrenbach in central Germany and later handed them in to police in the western city of Cologne.
An initial assessment by an art expert concluded the two framed paintings were originals: One is a self-portrait by Pietro Belloti showing the Italian artist smiling and dating to 1665. The other is a portrait of a boy by the 17th-century Dutch artist Samuel van Hoogstraten, date unknown.
OH, DEER!
Australian police have fined two men who had to be rescued from a forest after they were startled by a deer while nude sunbathing on a beach and became lost. The men, whom police commissioner Mick Fuller called “idiots,” called for help after they became lost in the Royal National Park south of Sydney. Their rescue involved police aircraft, the State Emergency Service and ambulance officers. They were fined A$1,000 each for breaching a stay-home pandemic order that restricted them to Sydney. police said.
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
Christian Santos, 17, was spearfishing in Portugal’s Azores islands when he found a crumpled plastic Powerade bottle that was tossed into the sea near Rhode Island in 2018. The note was written in orange marker on a notecard that reads, “It is Thanksgiving. I am 13 and visiting family in Rhode Island. I am from Vermont.” The note included an email address to respond. Santos’ mother, Molly says that she sent an email to the address, but never received a response.
BLESS YOU, MY, ER, SON?
While Pope Francis is usually the star at Vatican gatherings, Spider Man, or at least an Italian who dresses up like the character, was the attention-grabber among the public lined up in rows during the pontiff’s recent weekly audience. Matteo Villardita, 28, dons the comic-book and movie super-hero outfit to cheer up hospitalized children, like those at the Vatican’s pediatric hospital. Sweating under his costume in Rome’s heat wave, Villardita said he asked Pope Francis to pray for the children and their families. The Vatican described Villardita as “really a good super-hero” and quoted him as saying that during Italy’s long months of pandemic lockdown he made more than 1,400 videocalls, since he wasn’t able to visit in person, to help ailing children smile.
A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK
A 32-year-old man was accidentally shot in the head in Milton, New Hampshire, after a bullet fired by his 8-year-old nephew ricocheted while they were out plugging chipmunks. The man is expected to recover; the chipmunk was not as lucky. Milton police chief Richard Krauss defended the troubling incident, stating, “It’s not against the law for anyone to teach a child how to shoot and take them hunting, even at 8 years old. There are kids who learn how to hunt and shoot a lot younger than that.”
ON THE FLIP SIDE
At least someone in New Hampshire was using their brain for something productive last week: A customer at a restaurant in Londonderry who ordered a couple of chili dogs, fried pickle chips, and drinks left a big tip – $16,000 – on a bill of only $37.93. The staff didn’t notice at first, but Mike Zarella, owner of the Stumble Inn Bar and Grill, said, “It was on the credit card statement, (the customer) put it down next to the register and he said three times, ‘Don’t spend it all in one place.’” Zarella thought it was a mistake, but the bar manager talked to the customer, who wished to remain anonymous, who confirmed it wasn’t and wanted to recognize the staff’s hard work.
CLOSE THE BLINDS?
Feeling like you’re being watched? It could be from a lot farther away than you think. Astronomers took a technique used to look for life on other planets and flipped it around – so instead of looking to see what’s out there, they tried to see what places could see us. There’s a lot: Astronomers calculated that 1,715 stars in our galactic neighbourhood – and hundreds of probable Earth-like planets circling those stars – have had an unobstructed view of Earth during human civilization. Could ET be having a peak?
YABBA DABBA DO!
The owner of a fanciful Flintstones house in a posh San Francisco suburb settled a lawsuit with the town of Hillsborough which will allow Fred and his friends to remain. In a dispute that pitted property rights against government rules, retired publishing mogul Florence Fang defended her colourful, bulbous-shaped house and its elaborate homage to “The Flintstones” family, featuring Stone Age sculptures inspired by the 1960s cartoon, along with aliens and other oddities.
The town, however, called the towering dinosaurs and life-size sculptures “a highly visible eyesore” and sued Fang, alleging she violated local codes. Hillsborough went to court in 2019 after Fang failed to comply with multiple stop-work orders, as well as an order to remove the features around the multimillion-dollar property with its 254-sq.-m. home. Fang counter sued.
The settlement stipulates that the town will review and approve a survey of the landscaping improvements. In turn, Fang will apply for building permits. The town will also pay Fang $125,000, and she will drop the lawsuit — which was dismissed in state court on April 27.